Work Text:
“Anyone seen Dawn”? Robin asked as she, Steve, and Dustin got out of Steve’s car and walked to Nancy’s house, where the rest of the gang had been meeting for the last couple of days to plan a way to save Hawkins.
“She hasn’t left her room in two weeks,”’ Dustin said, looking at the floor as he walked. “I went to her house yesterday, her mom let me in but I couldn’t talk to her. Her door was closed and she was crying when she heard me.” The teenager sighed. “Her mom says that she doesn’t cry as much now, but she doesn’t leave her room at all.” He stopped at the door and looked up at his friends. “We need her here, she’d be a good addition to the team.”
“I don’t know, man. Eddie’s death hit her pretty badly.” Steve replied, placing his hands on his hips.
“I’m sad about it too, but we need to fight this,” Dustin argued back.
“Yes, but he wasn’t your boyfriend, Dustin,” Robin said, looking down at him.
The trio stayed quiet at the door, all looking down at their feet when Steve sighed and ran his hand through his hair.
“You guys go in, I gotta do something.” He said, turning around and walking fast towards his car, taking his keys out of his jeans pocket.
“Where are you going?” Robin asked.
“Steve, we need you! Steve!” Dustin shouted at him.
“I gotta talk to her.” Was all Steve said, closing the car door and starting the engine, driving off.
-----------
“It’s so hard, I don’t want to do it anymore!” Dawn said, throwing her arms up in the air, Eddie’s guitar falling on her crossed legs.
Eddie just chuckled and moved from his sitting position on the floor to stand. “Come on, princess, don’t give up.” He said, making his way to sit behind her on his bed, a leg on either side of her and his arms going around her, grabbing her hands and guitar.
“You just gotta show her some love,” He kissed her temple as he moved her hands around the guitar to place them in the correct position.
Dawn scoffed. “That’s easy for you to say, you’re like a guitar god.” She mumbled, pouting. Eddie chuckled a bit more, pecking her cheek, and started playing a soft tune for her.
“You’ll do it just fine, don’t worry.” He whispered in her ear, leaning his head against hers as he played.
Both of them sat on his bed in silence, the only sounds around them were the tune coming from Eddie’s guitar and the birds outside.
“Eddie?” Dawn whispered.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“I love you.”
Dawn could feel Eddie’s smile against her short curly hair, could feel how he let go of the guitar to hold her to his chest, one hand going to her face to turn her to look at him.
“I love you, too, princess.”
He leaned in, connecting his lips to hers in a sweet kiss, holding her tighter. When they both let go, he pressed his forehead against hers, running his nose on hers, both with smiles on their faces, eyes closed.
“Dawn…” Eddie said.
“Yes?” She replied, not opening her eyes.
“...Dawn…”
Dawn opened her eyes and moved back, her confused look morphing into terror as she took him in.
Blood covered his neck, dripping from his mouth, staining his beautiful white teeth a bright red. She tried moving away from him, but he held her tighter.
“Dawn!” He said louder, repeating her name over and over, getting louder every time, holding her tighter, not letting her get away from him.
“DAWN!”
She woke up with a start. She sat up on her bed, looking around, only to find herself in her bedroom. Dawn took a deep breath to calm herself down, letting the tears run down her face.
“Dawn.”
She tensed up, startled as she heard knocking on her door.
“Dawn, open up.”
She recognized Steve’s voice then. She groaned under her breath and rubbed her eyes, trying to wake herself a bit more.
“Dawn, it’s Steve. Can you please open up?”
“Leave me alone, Steve.” She said loudly, hearing a gentle sigh coming from her best friend.
“Honey, please. Let me in.” He waited for her to say something or to open the door, but her response was silence. “Dawn, I’m worried about you, please let me in.”
Her eyes started tearing up again, gasping a bit to get herself together as she removed the covers off of her and stood up. She walked to the door, taking a deep breath, not ready to face anyone.
Steve waited patiently as he heard her steps, the happiness he felt when he heard her unlock the door vanishing in a second when he saw the state she was in. Her dark curly bob was a mess, clearly not being washed or brushed in days, face and eyes red and puffy from crying, tear stains down her face. But what hurt him the most, was to see her wearing Eddie’s Hellfire t-shirt. Seeing her like this broke his heart- how did the spunky, sassy, funny girl he knew turn into this empty shell?
“Hi,” she mumbled, not looking up at him.
“Hey, honey,” Steve whispered. She moved aside to let him in, and closed the door behind her. Steve took a look around her room, noticing all the tissues crumbled on the floor, her unmade bed, the clothes on the floor…
Dawn sat down on the edge of the bed, still not looking up at Steve, playing with the hem of Eddie’s shirt.
“You saw me, I’m fine. You can leave.” She said under her breath, making Steve’s worried frown become deeper.
“How about you and I go to the library, get some books, then go get some ice cream? We can get cookie dough ice cream if you want. That’s your favorite, right?” Steve sat down next to her, a hand on her shoulder.
“I don’t want to go out. I’m fine. I want to be alone.”
Steve sighed. He stood up and, placing his hands on his hips, he spoke.
“Dawn, look at me.” He said with a stern - yet gentle - tone to his voice. But the girl in front of him didn’t look up. “He wouldn’t want you to be like this, you know that.”
Dawn snapped her head up at him, an angry look on her face as her eyes filled with unshed tears. “Oh yeah?” she said through her teeth.
“How do you know, huh?” She took a deep breath. “Maybe if he didn’t want me to be like this, he would’ve gone up the rope. Maybe if he didn’t want me to be like this, he wouldn’t have gone back.” She stood up and walked towards Steve. She could see that moment again, playing across her mind like a film, a film she never wanted to see again but it kept playing over and over without stopping.
-----------
“That’s not gonna hold!” Dustin shouted as the demobats were about to destroy the door to Eddie’s room in the Upside Down.
“We gotta get out of here!” Dawn said, walking backwards and holding her shield as she did.
“Let’s go! Let’s go!” Eddie screamed as he and Dawn faced the door to protect Dustin as he climbed up the rope.
Once they heard Dustin fall into the other side, they turned to look at each other. “It’s your turn, princess,” Eddie whispered, looking her straight in the eye as she nodded and dropped her spear and shield.
Jumping up, she grabbed a hold of the rope and pulled herself up as fast as she could, losing her breath once she hit the mattress on the other side, Dustin pulling her up and off it.
“Eddie, come on!” Dustin urged, standing up next to the mattress as both he and Dawn looked up at Eddie as he dropped his weapons and jumped to grab the rope.
But, when he heard the door to his room cracking, Eddie stopped moving.
“Eddie?” Dawn said, watching Eddie turn to look at the door. “Eddie come on!” She shouted, fear marking her features.
“Eddie, you’re so close! Let’s go!” Dustin urged, jumping on the mattress.
Fear took over Dawn as she watched Eddie let go of the rope and look up at her and Dustin. “Eddie, what are you doing?!” She said quickly, going to climb the rope, but Dustin grabbed her around the waist to stop her. “Dustin, let me go! Eddie!”
She escaped Dustin’s grip and jumped on the rope, starting to pull herself up when she felt gravity taking her down. She looked up and saw Eddie with his spear in hand, moving the mattress off the floor. She looked next to her and saw the rope. He cut the rope. Eddie cut the rope.
“Munson how dare you!” She shouted at him as she stood up.
“Eddie, stop! Stop!” Dustin begged him.
“Eddie, don’t do this!” She screamed as tears started to pool in her eyes.
“I love you, princess.” He said, with a bow, then turned up to look up at them again one last time.
“Eddie, what are you doing?!” Dustin asked.
“I’m buying more time,” Eddie replied, then ran out of the trailer.
-----------
Dawn’s breath was picking up as she stared up at Steve, glaring at him as her whole body shook from the anger she was feeling.
“If he didn’t want me to be like this, maybe he wouldn’t have left me! Maybe he-” A sob interrupted her as her shaking legs gave up and she fell to the floor.
Steve watched as Dawn kneeled on the floor, a hand covering her mouth and her other arm holding her up, back shaking as the sobs wracked her body.
“Y-you weren’t there!” She said between sobs. “You don’t know what happened, you didn’t see it!”
She continued sobbing for what felt like an eternity for her, letting out all the tears that; even though she’d cried nonstop during the past two weeks; she felt like she was crying all the tears she had saved from that day.
Steve kneeled down next to her slowly, careful not to startle her, and gently placed a hand on her back, running it up and down her spine.
“Then talk to me, Dawn,” he whispered. “Tell me what happened.”
Dawn sniffed, leaning her head on Steve’s shoulder. “I… I see it happening, again and again, every day, Steve. It-it’s like I’m there again, and-and-and I just can’t take it.” She whispered.
Steve stayed quiet, allowing her to breathe her way through this, continuing to rub her back.
“It was horrible, Steve. He… he was surrounded by the bats and-and I couldn’t get to him soon enough.” She said, gaze far away, eyes glassy. “J-just a tornado of bats around him, attacking him… I saw him go down,” she sniffed, “I-I-I ran as fast as I could to get to him, but I… I just wasn’t fast enough…”
-----------
“Eddie!” Dawn screamed as she ran, watching as a demobat wrapped its tail around Eddie’s neck, dragging him down. She could hear Dustin behind her screaming for Eddie, but the poor boy had hurt his ankle when he fell into the Upside Down, not waiting for Dawn to set up the mattress for him.
Through the screeches from the demobats, she could hear Eddie’s cries as they bit into his flesh, making her run faster than she ever run before.
Just as she was about to reach him, the demobats went all down, as if they had died at the same time. Dawn hesitated for a moment, looking at Eddie laying on the floor, not able to see his chest rising.
“No…” she whispered, “no no no no, Eddie!” She then sprinted to him, Dustin right behind her. The moment she reached him, she kneeled down and pulled his face to her, his beautiful brown eyes in pain, but the moment his eyes found hers, he smiled a blood-covered smile.
“Hello, princess.” He mumbled through his teeth, clearly in pain.
“You’re- you’re gonna be okay. We-we just have to get you up and to a hospital, okay?” She said as she pulled him up to her lap. “Dustin, help me get him up!”
“I need a minute, princess.”
“O-okay…” Dawn whispered, trying to keep her tears at bay, Dustin sitting next to her.
“I didn’t run away this time, right?” Eddie said through clenched teeth, but with a smile.
Dustin shook his head rapidly, whispering “no” over and over.
“No, baby, you didn’t run,” Dawn said through a teary chuckle.
“You’re gonna have to look after those little sheep for me, okay, Henderson?”
“No, Eddie. You’re gonna do that yourself!” Dustin said, barely able to keep himself from crying.
“Eddie we’re getting you out of here!” Dawn said, tears freely falling down her cheeks.
“Say it, Henderson” Eddie whispered.
“I’m… I’m gonna look after them,” Dustin’s voice broke as he said it.
“Thank you, man. I love you.” Eddie said, looking at Dustin.
“I love you, too.” He whispered.
Eddie then turned to Dawn, who squeezed her eyes shut as she sobbed.
“Lady Dawn…” Eddie whispered, his hand weakly looking for hers, but squeezing it tightly when he found it. “Look at me, darling.” She did, seeing Eddie’s gentle smile.
“This is our year, baby. We’re gonna graduate, and we’ll get married right after.” He said making her laugh a bit.
“Going straight to Vegas.” She replied with a broken voice.
“Getting married by an Elvis impersonator and the whole shabang.” He said as tears ran down his face.</p>
“I love you, princess.” He whispered, eyes locked on hers as he took off one of his rings.
“I love you too, Eddie.” She whispered.
“Take this”, he said, placing the ring in her palm, not taking his eyes off of her. She nodded, taking his hand in hers and raising it to her lips, placing a gentle kiss on his knuckles.
Eddie started choking then, eyes slowly losing focus as a tear ran down the side of his face.
“No- Eddie don’t! Eddie don’t leave me!” Dawn begged him.
“No no no Eddie!” Dustin cried.
Neither of them could stop Eddie from taking his last breath, both falling on him as they cried on his chest for their lost friend and, in Dawn’s case, the love of her life.
-----------
“He died in my arms, Steve,” she mumbled, eyes still on her hands. “He died in my arms and I couldn’t help him.”
“I…I had to leave his body down there, I couldn’t even give him a proper funeral! He’s still down there and there is nothing I can do about it!” She sniffed, and Steve turned to wrap his arms around her and bring her towards him, letting her cry into his chest as she wrapped her arms around his torso.
“And…” she sobbed, “And this fucking town still calling him a murderer when he was a fucking hero! He sacrificed himself for them, and they still think he’s a monster when he’s not!” Her voice broke. “My Eddie was sweet, funny, gentle, soft, and a hero!”
Steve kept quiet as she went on, knowing that she needed to let it out. He just rocked her back and forth slowly, running his hand through her hair.
“I just… if I only could trade places with him…” She whispered.
“How do you think he’d feel if you were gone?” Steve whispered back, “Don’t you think he’d be just as sad as you are right now?”
Dawn kept quiet after that. She knew Steve was right, but she just couldn’t find it in her to live without him in her life.
“I know you miss him, and I know his loss hurts so much, but try thinking of the happy memories you had with him, and try to think that he’d want you to live your life to the fullest.”
Pictures of Eddie went through Dawn’s mind as Steve ran his fingers through her hair. When they first met on his second time as a senior. When she started tutoring him. When he realized her favorite bands were Queen and Aerosmith. When he asked her out and took her on their first date - burgers and milkshakes. When he asked her to be his girlfriend and when he kissed her for the first time - a picnic under the stars at Lover’s Lake. All the times they cuddled under the covers after sex in his trailer… all the beautiful memories they made together that she won’t ever forget.
“And,” Steve continued in a soft tone, “you can go out there, help us destroy the Upside Down, and you can avenge him. Prove to this hellhole what kind of man Eddie really was.”
Dawn looked up at him through wet lashes, Steve looking down at her with a soft smile. “What do you say, honey?”
Sniffing, Dawn let go of Steve’s torso and stood up, wiping the tears off her face. She walked towards her vanity and grabbed one of her old necklaces, taking the charm off it. She opened a drawer and stuck her hand in, grabbing something Steve couldn’t see. She placed it inside the chain and wrapped it around her neck, turning to look at Steve.
It was then that Steve could see Eddie’s skull necklace around her neck, making him smile a bittersweet smile.
“Let’s do it.”