Chapter Text
"come on!" Eddie screamed, fighting back against the angry large bats hungry for his blood.
He flung his makeshift shield at two, huffing and breathing hard, as a sudden chill hit him.
Suddenly without warning, a bat latched around his neck, growling and tightening it's hold on Eddie's airway.
Fear filled Eddie's eyes as he held onto the tail, failing to stop it's painfully growing grip on him.
He fell to his knees, being rotated and held by the other bats on all limbs.
He tried, tried so hard to escape, screaming and kicking back. All to fail as they bit into his torso.
He screamed. This can't be the end
He couldn't feel his arms anymore, he stilled, the only thing he could do was scream.
Scream he did, even as the bats fell to the ground suddenly.
Pain grew all over his body, this was the end.
He could barely hear as Dustin called out his name, could barely feel the cold dusty air around him.
Could barely feel the hands wrapped around him and lifting him up.
"-ddie! Eddie!" Dustin tried, holding him close.
"Oh god eddie..." He mumbled, holding him as close as he could.
"B-bad huh?" He tried, mouth filling up with blood.
Eddie couldn't remember what happened next, just a simple line running loops in his mind.
"I didn't... run away this time... right?"
Everything faded into a blur.
Nothing. Was. There.
Unsure if he was even there.
A machine beeped in a messy unorganized manner, making steve want to tick with every straight line on the monitor.
"Dustin, honey, staring won't make him wake up any faster. Let's go home.." robin held Dustin's shoulders from behind as he sat close to the bed, Steve huffed and held his temple, "the kid won't leave his side, just leave it rob" he sighed, she's been trying for 8 Hours by now to get him to go home with them, Dustin hasn't slept or eaten the entire time, keeping a close eye on Eddie's unconscious body.
"Rob, you seem on edge" Steve mumbled, "how about you go home and rest, I'll call you if we need anything.." "why should I be the one to leave? He's 15! He should be asleep, playing with his friends, living life as a 15 year old!" Robin freaked, breathing heavily.
Steve led the two of them outside, so Dustin couldn't hear what they were talking about, Dustin resonated, not like he could hear anything with how closely he was paying attention to Eddie and his heart monitor.
Because Eddie was still wanted, they had to shave off his hair and change his style, not bald, just short hair.
Eddie had nothing that didn't look like, well, Eddie, so Steve gave him his clothes.
he looked... Not like himself anymore.
It hurt, seeing him like this, the pain suffocating Dustin, he saw him practically die in his arms, he couldn't let him actually die.
Dustin worried that if he left, even for a second, he'd die.
Dustin shoot up as the door opened, dried up tears straining his eyes as he looked up at Steve.
"Robin went home, she'll come back tomorrow morning" he explained, not that Dustin really cared.
He'd stay by Eddie's side even if the hospital tried kicking him out.
"..ste..ve" Dustin tried to not cry when he called his name, so he talked slowly.
He felt like he cried enough for a life time.
"Yes dusty?" He grabbed a seat right beside him and scooted as close as he felt was right, placing a comforting hand on his back.
"I... Miss him" he whispered, staring with tired eyes at Eddie.
"I know" he pulled Henderson into a hug as Dustin finally silently agreed to fall asleep for a while, knowing Steve will keep a close eye on him and wake him up with any change.
"I've come with the report" the doctor spoke slowly, Dustin listening closely through the wall.
"He... He might not wake up. His brain lost a lot of oxygen, and if he does wake up" the doctor emphasized at the 'if'
".. he'll have lost a lot of motor function. The good thing is, that he could relearn most"
Dustin took a deep breath, lies, he told himself, all of that is lies, Eddie WILL wake up. He will. he has too.
After a while, Steve finally walked back into the room.
He told him the news, knowing better than to lie to him.
Eddie being wanted made it difficult to find a hospital that didn't know him, because of that, Steve had to pay the main doctor and nurse to keep his identity a secret.
The rest knew him as William Smith, a fake name the group came up with.
By this point, max has healed enough to be moved to a wheelchair, coming to visit Eddie once in a while, Lucas of course, joining her with each visit.
The rest made time in their schedule to visit him regularly, as a group, at mostly once a day if not less.
It's been a month since Eddie entered his coma.
In that, Dustin now agreed to go home once in a while. Eddie's room being filled with gifts, including his guitar and posters, and max is fully healed, but can't do sudden moments and such.
Steve sat by his side this time, after carrying Dustin back home to rest.
Maybe if he tried hard enough, he could use his 'powers' to get Eddie to wake up like eleven does?
He tried copying els hand movements, failing of course.
He sighed, "well now I'm out of ideas"
Moments later, eddies eyes fluttered, moving beneath his eyelids erratically.
It's so, empty.
A wave of empty nothingness flooded his system.
Eddie finally felt like he could move, so he opened his eyes, suddenly in a forest. He looked around a Forest, there sat Chrissy, peacefully with her arms held together in such a gentle manner.
She smiled at him, biting her bottom lip.
"You're so funny Eddie, i.. I Really missed you" she spoke, tilting her head to the side, waiting for him to sit down.
Eddie walked over for the table, and suddenly heard something shuffle on the left.
Chrissy turned her head toward the noise.
She kept looking, expressionless, like someone paused her.
After a while, Eddie called out her name, she didn't move.
He stepped closer, finally sitting down.
She finally turned her head back to him, giggling as if nothing happened.
The same empty feeling filled Eddie.
"I'm sorry." "For what?" She hummed back,
"Eddie?" She whispered.
"EDDIE!" she Shouted immediately after. Eddie got up, backing away.
"Wake. Up." She said sternly, getting up as well.
A shiver went down his spine.
He shoot up, fighting for air, shaking.
"Eddie!" Someone shouted again, and he was enveloped in a warm hug.
Steve.
"You- you're finally awake!" He shook him by the shoulder.
"I... I am?" He asked, looking at his hands.
"Yes! Finally!" "How long... Has it been?" Talking was hard, it hurt a bit.
"Almost two months, we were all so goddamn worried man" steve let out a shaky breath he was holding.
"I need to call Dustin right now" he remembered, "let him talk to you as well"
Eddie paused, his brain felt like mush, and he wanted comfort so badly.
"Can you hold me?" He reached his arms out towards steve, "yes of course.." he wrapped him in a hug, sitting at the edge of the bed.
"My brain feels numb" he mumbled
Everything felt dizzy, but warm.
Eddie felt, dead, but he wasn't.
He gripped onto Steve's shirt, tears flooding his eyes and trailing down his lip and chin.
"Eddie! Oh god Eddie! You're.. alive!" Dustin cried into the phone, "I'm on my way! Stay please" he begged, Eddie and Henderson kept talking, about how he felt, Eddie reassuring him that it's actually him and not a bot or something and so on. "Yes yes Henderson! it's me! It's.. it's actually me"
Steve stayed by his side all the way, even as the gang flooded the room.
Even max and Lucas made it.
They all took their fair time for a big hug from Eddie, some even crying.
"We thought we lost you"
... 1986 June ...
Eddie has been having... Troubles.
Everything felt like a loop, but a restart as well.
Sometimes, small flashes of what happened filled his mind.
With Chrissy. Poor little Chrissy.
Sometimes, Eddie my love played on the radio, he felt as if it was a message.
From whom? That thought never crossed him
He never truly had a lover, never actually had a crush, he never truly had the privilege for such... Things.
Because he was nothing. A number, he always knew of himself as nothing but a background character.
Sometimes, he could see himself in the third person.
As nothing but a black hole, sometimes, he could see himself, but his face blurred.
"Please Eddie, don't make me wait too long" the radio sang a sweet tone.
He looked out the window by his hospital bed.
He wanted home.