Chapter Text
Eddie Munson had been apart of many fights in his 20 years on this earth.
They started off pretty mild. Aged 5 he had hit another boy in the face for stealing his toy truck at kindergarten. Aged 7 he started a fight when Andy Johnson tripped one of his friends over on purpose. Aged 11 he threw the first punch at the other kids in the trailer park who took such joy out of tormenting him daily.
He was pretty lucky when he was younger. He was taller than all the other kids and his dad , if nothing else, taught him how to properly defend himself. If he was involved in any fights, he had probably started them.
But as the other kids started growing, so did their knowledge of the world around them. In high school, the people who thrived on being as unique as possible slowly learnt to conform and this left Eddie as one of the only people who were authentically themselves. Unfortunately, this also meant this made him more of a target. He didn't have the advantage of being bigger than the others anymore or the advantage of picking when he would be in these fights.
Aged 14 he got into a fight with several members of the basketball team for simply pointing out that they were just carbon copies of each other and all would have peaked in high school. He didn't make that mistake twice, but now, alas, he was a target. Aged 15 he got called a fairy and punched because he dared to look back at the boy he had a crush on for one second too long. Aged 17 he was locked in school changing rooms after being beat up by little Jason Carver and his cronies for getting hellfire club the permission to use the sports hall for one night, making the basketball team have to miss practice one time. The only fight he had started recently was when he saw some of the popular crowd pick on some geeky freshman. Those geeky freshman turned out to be Dustin Henderson and Mike Wheeler so he has no regrets there.
What he's trying to say is, that no matter how many fights he's been in, he wasn't expecting a fight with supernatural bats in an alternate dimension to be added to the list. And Jesus H. Christ did this one hurt.
He wasn't running away this time. He's been a coward one too many times and where has that got him? Being a wanted 'murderer' who is in a battle against death. Now that he was in this position though, he wasn't sure whether being a hero was for him.
He had never been in so much pain before. It was like his insides were being pulled out and burned all at the same time. He was struggling to feel his legs and he didn't want to look down to see what state they were in. Even if he did want to, he didn't have the energy. Wet blood was oozing out of his face and stomach from where the demobats had bitten. It was a miracle when they all flew away. It was at that moment he knew that their plan had worked and just hoped that the others were okay.
He was starting to lose feeling in his arms now. Fighting off sleep was getting harder and his vision was growing blurry. He had pretty much accepted by this point; he was going to die.
"EDDIE!" a voice screamed out.
Eddie dismissed it as his hopeful imagination until that voice got closer and more and more desperate.
It wasn't long until he realised who it was. Henderson, it was bloody Henderson.
"Dustin!" he attempted to call, but he made virtually no sound.
The footsteps came closer, then he found Dustin cradling him by his side. This was so so stupid. He was supposed to be the one looking after Dustin, not the other way around. And by the look of horror on Dustin's face, Eddie could tell that his injuries were bad. He was just repeating Eddie's name through muted sobs, helpless to do anything.
"I didn't run away this time, right?" He needed some sort of validation that he wasn't the coward he always believed he was. Something to prove to him that he wasn't going to die for nothing. Even if he was going to die labelled as both a freak and a murderer. He had expected the former from when he was young, but not the latter. He could still be a hero in Dustin's eyes.
"No, no you didn't run away. Come on, we need to get you to a hospital."
Dustin tried to prop him up and Eddie really did put all of his might into standing. He really did try. But his useless legs gave up on him and he collapsed down.
He knew he had to accept his fate.
"You're gonna have to look after those little sheep for me, ok?" He had created hellfire as a safe space for all those people who didn't fit in anywhere. He wasn't letting it disappear, not after all of this.
"No! You can do that yourself!" Dustin sobbed back.
He really did admire Dustin's naive optimism sometimes.
"Nah, man. Say I'm gonna look after them. Say it."
"I'm... I'm gonna look after them."
"Good. Because I think I'm actually gonna graduate. I think it's my year Henderson. I think it's finally my year."
School seemed quite pointless after all of this. Yet shallowly, he was quite pleased that he had found one way of graduating. After all these years of trying and failing at English and Math and all the school subjects, except maybe music, he had proved to himself that he had other skills outside of academics. He was loyal, great at planning car thefts and weapon shopping and maybe now he could say that he was brave, just once.
"I love you man"
"I love you too." Dustin had seemed to sober up slightly now, and determination now painted his face, "but I'm not letting you give up on me that easy."
Sure enough, Dustin tried once again to get Eddie up and this time proved to be successful. Despite all the searing pain and desire just to accept his death, Eddie saw the look on Dustin's face and knew that he had to try. If not for him, then for the freshman beside him, that for some reason has found some likeable traits in him and decided not to give up on him, unlike most other people. Through the tears and the groans of pains, Eddie found the power to fight through and began walking along with Dustin. He was still propped up heavily and guided by him , but he was up and that was all that mattered.
The lack of significant landmarks in the upside down really didn't help to navigate their way around it, but Eddie could tell that Dustin was leading him to his trailer. It was the nearest gate and they were going to need to get to their world as quickly as possible if Eddie really was going to survive this.
He needed to keep his brain occupied, so he didn't give up the ghost. He thought about all the events that lead him to this very moment. To the insistence that he was going to do something that mattered and help his friends. To helping form the 4 phase plan to kill Vecna, god he hoped the others were alright. It would be alright if he went. Sure, they might be upset for a week or so, but he was a new addition to the group. He was nothing special. Replaceable. The others, they were one of a kind, each with their own special skill set that he had only discovered very recently.
Turns out appearances can be very deceiving. Who knew?
And from the very start, the person who got him involved in all of this in the first place: Chrissy Cunningham. Poor Chrissy. He didn't blame her in the slightest. He only wishes that he could have done more to help. Maybe if she wasn't the first victim. Maybe if they had figured out the power of music when she was attacked. Maybe he could have saved her.
Eddie was interrupted from this spiral of thoughts by Dustin screaming, yet again.
"STEVE! ROBIN! NANCY! HELP! WE NEED HELP!"
To Eddie's surprise, the three others were actually in the distance. Not just an attempt from Dustin to get someone's attention. From what he could see, they all looked relatively unscathed which was a relief. If him buying them more time had done nothing, that would have really rubbed his early death in.
In response to his cry for help, the three older teenagers came running. One by one they got closer, only to stop and gawk at the state Eddie was in. He could only guess he probably wasn't looking his best right now. Each of their mouths dropped open and stared in shock. Even Robin, with all her rambling, was rendered speechless.
"Why the glum faces guys?" He said with a half-hearted smile.
"Eddie...what...you..." Nancy tried to make out.
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! What happened to you Eddie?" Robin spouted out. Ah... there was the Robin he knew.
"I didn't run away this time" Eddie claimed, once again attempting a smile to lighten this sombre mood.
Whilst Eddie and the two girls seemed to share a knowing look, this proclamation seemed to move Steve into action. Eddie had been the most surprised by his reaction. Sure, he knew him and Steve were friends but he couldn't even describe the look on his face when he had discovered Eddie in all the blood. It was like his entire world had been ripped apart and ... was that a tear? He really didn't think he was worth that reaction. Now, however, Steve just shook his head and started to do what he does best; take care of others whilst simultaneously acting like he resents you.
"Goddammit Munson I told you not to be a hero!"
And with that Eddie found himself being scooped up by the other man and carried. This was definitely an improvement to being dragged along by Dustin and much quicker as well.
"Well, I couldn't let you get all the credit could I big boy?"
Yes, he was shamelessly flirting with Steve right now by hey, if not on your death bed, when can you flirt with a completely unattainable boy? He revelled in the reluctant laughter his comment earned from Steve.
He knew Steve was a jock, but he wasn't completely aware of how much strength and stamina he had. To be completely honest, Eddie couldn't run as fast as Steve was right now without carrying an entire other person. He wasn't sure whether it was some sort of fight or flight adrenaline thing that kicked in or just his natural ability, but if he survived past this moment he was definitely quizzing Steve on it. As the others tried to keep up, he willed them along since he could feel himself losing more and more blood. The pain was getting more unbearable and he wouldn't be able to stand it for much longer.
Before he knew it, he found himself within eyesight of his trailer. His beautiful, small but homely trailer. Christ he had never been so happy to see it.
For once Steve put himself first and entered the trailer first, subsequently entering their Hawkins first through the gate. The jock carried him onto the couch and , ever the gentleman, helped the others down down. After that it was all systems go.
"Dustin, call an ambulance! Now! Nancy, get the bandages out of my bag! Robin get towels right now, anything that we can press on the wounds to stop them bleeding!"
Steve stayed right by Eddie's side, adopting the worried look he had had before he brought Eddie back to safety. He had never expected it of him, but Steve Harrington really was one of the most caring people he had every met. Of course he was totally jealous of this trait.
"You're ok Eddie, ok? You're gonna be just fine?" Steve insisted. "Just stay awake for me, that's all I need you to do."
He hadn't even noticed his eyes were desperately fighting sleep. Sleep seemed like such an appealing option. Despite, Steve's attempts at reassuring him, they weren't convincing. How was he going to be fine? Steve's facial expression and the panic swarming around him didn't match his statements. Everywhere hurt. It felt like his limbs were being torn off one by one and he just needed it to stop. How was he going to be ok after this? How could he recover? He needed to rest. He felt his eyes start to close
"EDDIE! EDDIE! Come on, man! You can't go on us now. You can't leave us. What will Dustin do without you? Who will carry on the legacy of Hellfire? Come on, you can't leave me." Steve cried.
As he felt all the different towels pressing on him and heard Dustin saying the ambulance was on the way he tried to calm down. This would all be ok. But would it really?
"Eddie, keep your brain active. We need you to do that!" Dustin told him.
"Come on Munson. Speak me through the tracklist of your favourite albums. We all know how much you love to rattle on about your apparent 'music'. " Steve goaded.
"It is music!" Eddie chuckled feebly. All credit to Steve, it was a good idea. If one thing could keep him alive, it was his passion for metal music. "Alright then, so you have Scared Heart by Did. First is King of Rock and Roll... then you have.."
And as he rambled on about all his favourite music, he grew more emotional as he tried to fight the sleep his brain so ached for. He had so much to live for. He had friends now! Hell, he would even go as far to say family. Of course he always had Wayne and his bandmates, but this group of friends weren't forced to stay with him. They didn't have to save him.
"Steve?" Eddie interrupted as he was complaining to Nancy how long the ambulance was taking.
"Yeah?"
"I don't want to die. Not yet."
The tears now kept coming for Eddie and didn't show any sign of stopping.
"I know Eds, I know." And if he wasn't mistaken, Steve's red face was also covered in tears. "You can do this Eddie, now you were telling me about Born Again by Black Sabbath".
And there Eddie was sent on another tangent, desperately hoping that he could be saved.