Chapter Text
"Go, go, go!"
Jonathan raced behind the rest of their group, looking fearfully behind his shoulder down the long hallway. He couldn’t see the dark forms of the Demodogs behind them anymore. But he could hear them, trampling over one another with frenzied hunger as they chased after him and his friends.
Things had really gone to shit.
Will and Eleven had been tricked by Vecna, who had captured the two of them. Joyce and Hopper had left to get their kids, joined by Mike of course. Meanwhile, the rest of them had armed up to face down the horde of creatures Vecna had sent after them to help buy the others time, and to rescue Eddie Munson from the Upside Down (Steve and Dustin insisted once they discovered it was possible).
After successfully bringing Eddie back, Jonathan, Nancy, Steve and Robin found the rest of the kids and fought for as long as they could against the monsters until they realized that falling back was their only option. Staying and fighting a losing battle would just get them all killed.
Now here they were, running for their lives through the dilapidated and corrupted remnants of his old high school. Just a regular day for them honestly.
"In here!" The sound of Max's voice jolted him from his thoughts. The red-headed teen held the door to the school gym open, gesturing for their group to get inside ASAP. With a much-needed burst of energy, Jonathan quickly followed Nancy's heels and sprinted through the doors, which were immediately slammed shut and locked once everyone was inside.
"Everyone, down!" Nancy hissed. Sure enough, they were soon alerted by the sound of pattering feet and bloodthirsty Demodogs who had pursued them across Hawkins and into the school.
They all dropped to the floor, clutching their weapons nervously in sweaty palms and keeping as silent as possible. The Demodogs raced past the main door, not noticing that their prey was inside the gym, and moved on. However, as Jonathan got to his feet, he could still hear the Demodogs echoing around the school.
They hadn’t escaped. They had simply bought themselves a brief respite.
"What in the hell do we have to do now?!" Eddie panicked, pacing back and forth. He had been ecstatic upon his miraculous return (Jonathan had felt his ribs practically break from Eddie’s hug) and clearly wasn’t keen about being stuck in the Upside Down any longer.
"We've got to get to Eleven. If we can get her free, she'll be able to take down." Max told them all, leaning against the door just in case any Demodogs tried barging into the gym,
"What about Will?" Dustin asked with worry. He and Lucas both had expressions that showed how anxious they were about the danger the two other members of their party were in.
Jonathan looked away in fear at that. His little brother was in danger, and he wasn’t around to help him. Again. It made him feel terror at the thought of where Will was now. Had he been saved? Was he even still alive?
He tried to clear his head of those doubts. It wouldn’t help anyone. Will would be fine, he had to believe that.
"Joyce, Hopper and Mike will have got him. They'll definitely be heading to Eleven right now." Nancy reassured everyone, glancing over towards him. She knew how helpless he felt not being there to save Will. He could only pray that their distraction had allowed his mom and Hopper to find and rescue Will.
"We can meet up with them and help." Steve agreed, standing up from his haunches. They were all exhausted.
"We can't. We're trapped in here!" Erica suddenly shouted at them.
The grim reality of their situation set in. There were monsters all around them that would easily catch them if they went out through the main doors. Jonathan’s mind was thrust back to the Hawkins lab, and all the dead there. They would suffer the same fate.
Trapped in school with deadly monsters from the dark world that had invaded his hometown. It almost made him wish the days when he was simply trapped in school with a bunch of assholes.
"There's got to be a way out, right?" Robin chimed in with a hopeful look in her eyes, her pupils darting around for someone to agree.
"There's nowhere we can go where they won't be able to catch us. And we're almost out of ammo!" Lucas cried out.
He was right. They had expended most of their bullets against a variant of the Mind Flayer that had been keeping Eddie trapped, and against the Demodogs and Demogorgons that they had encountered chasing the other teens. Jonathan had been forced to ditch the assault rifle he had reluctantly taken from one of fallen soldiers, and had nothing left but a big revolver Hopper had given him before they set off for the final battle.
And it was clear the rest of the group was in a similar situation. They couldn’t fight their way out of the school.
"Well we can't just sit around here arguing! The Demodogs will be here any second now." Dustin reminded them frantically.
“Is that what they’re called? That’s awesome!” Eddie suddenly added, making jonathan silently chuckle at the metalhead's confusion.
"Well somebody better think of something fast, otherwise we're all dead." Max yelled at the group. Everyone was getting more frenzied and frantic.
Jonathan silently watched the group debating amongst themselves. They were all terrified, panicked, trying to figure out any way they could avoid being killed. It had all seemed so easy when they were planning their final attack against the Upside Down. But here they were, with things looking worse than ever.
His head suddenly throbbed, aching with visions. What had begun as nightmares had soon transformed into terrifying images that pounded his head. Vecna's voice entered his head to torture him with thoughts of his family dead, Nancy dead, the world in chaos and destroyed. Thoughts of Hawkins in ruins, and then the entire world. It took every last ounce of strength in Jonathan's body not to collapse to the ground at the seering pain in his mind. Could this have happened at a worse time.
He had kept them from everyone, never letting them know that he was in pain, and terrified for their lives. They had enough to worry about without him losing his mind.
"Come on, let's look for a way out." He heard Nancy instruct the rest of the group. Taking charge, like she had done so many times before. He loved how strong she was. At the sound of her orders, their group quickly split up to scour the room for anything they could use to keep alive and escape the death trap they had found themselves in.
He was about to join the rest of the group in scouring around the gym for an exit, but suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.
This wasn't right. Something felt off. He had no idea how he knew this, but Jonathan was certain that he couldn’t just run away.
He realized that Vecna's visions hadn't been warnings, but threats. For as strong as he was, Vecna was afraid. Scared of Eleven. Scared of them, fighting against him at every turn.
That was why he had reached out through Jonathan's mind. Trying to scare him, to make him think that the only way they could survive was if they stuck together. He wanted them to be afraid, confused, and reckless.
He wanted Jonathan to be too scared to fight him.
Well fuck that.
"Byers, you okay?" Steve suddenly asked. Ever since the two had made up when Jonathan returned to Hawkins, they had become a surprisingly good team. Hell, they had become good friends. Especially now that they weren’t fighting over Nancy. When Steve asked him to help rescue Eddie, he hadn’t thought twice about it. It would suck to lose his friendship just when they had begun to bond after years of tension between them.
“Yeah….” Jonathan muttered to himself. Steve clearly wasn’t thrilled by his response, his stare turning more concerned by Jonathan’s odd sense of calm.
Jonathan quickly scanned the room with alert eyes. In the dark and desecrated remains of the school gym of Hawkins High, he spotted a side door that opened onto the football field. From there, he could circle back to where they had run from. Back into town. And towards Vecna. He remembered the door was used by teachers, and could be locked from the outside. Perfect.
He eyed the big revolver in his belt. Hopper had given him the gun (a freaking hand cannon basically) before they had all split up, with the parting words that he would know when to use it.
Now he knew.
"Jonathan?" Nancy’s concerned voice made him glance away from the side door and back towards the others.
The rest of the group had all stopped and were looking at him. He felt the eyes of Dustin, Lucas, Max, Robin, Erica, Steve, the recently resurrected Eddie Munson and Nancy staring at him. There was a time where they were complete strangers to him. But now, they were all his family. He’d give his life for every single one of them without hesitation.
"I have to go." He announced.
"What?" Nancy asked with confusion written across her face, walking towards him urgently.
Her worried face made him want to break down at the thought of what he was about to do. To wrap her up in his arms and never let go. To take her away from this place to somewhere sunny and peaceful, where they could just be together. But it wouldn’t be possible this time.
He stepped forward and placed his arms on Nancy’s shoulders, rubbing her soft skin soothingly. Fuck, this was going to hurt so much.
"I'm sorry, Nance." He whispered, just loudly enough for her to hear.
"For what?" She was getting more nervous now, her big soulful eyes searching his for an answer.
Nancy was a mess. Her hair was in complete chaos, covered in dirt and grime, as untameable as she was. She was wearing makeshift body armor over brown cargo pants, a green jacket and her favorite Blondie t-shirt (a gift he’d given her for her last birthday). She was stained in the gooey blood of monsters, just like the rest of them, and carried her trusty shotgun in her hands like it was second nature.
She was the most gorgeous thing he’d ever seen. Practically glowing with an angelic light. Her strength, kindness, cleverness and compassion was all encompassed in that aura surrounding her. Nancy Wheeler was an incredible person, and she had chosen him. She had chosen him.
How did he ever get so lucky?
He leaned down slowly and kissed her tenderly, holding her by the waist so he could pour every ounce of his love into the kiss. He wanted this to be the kiss she thought of when she remembered him. As confused as she was at his behavior, Nancy returned his kiss eagerly. For several seconds, they shut off the world around them. Their rough and dirty lips pressed together, as they had done so many times before. He didn't care about the monsters outside, or even their friends watching. All he felt was Nancy.
When he finally broke off of her lips, he refused to let her out of his arms. Staring deep into her big doe eyes, and the dazzling blue pupils within them, he smiled.
"You look so beautiful, you know that?" He told her, brushing a strand of hair out of her face and behind her ear like he did when they lay in bed together on the weekends. She remembered it too, her face softening at the gesture in spite of her confusion at his actions.
He knew if he looked at her for one more second, he'd lose the will to do what he had to do. He just wanted to spend the rest of his life with her - no matter what their future would be.
Without a second thought, he stepped out of Nancy’s arms and darted to the side door as fast as he could. Before anyone could react he had gone through and slammed it shut behind him, twisting the lock as he did so. He breathed deep, trying to keep his heart from bursting out of his chest.
He was outside now, in the open for any creatures to get him. He didn’t have long now.
Jonathan looked through the large window to see Nancy racing towards the door Steve and Robin hot on her heels. The others were further back, unsure what was going on.
Nancy slammed into the door and began frantically pulling at the handle, trying to get it opened. It made him want to cry.
"Jonathan! What are you doing?!" She cried out in a panic. She pounded on the door, but it wouldn’t budge.
"I'm going to save you." He said firmly through the door. His body trembled but he forced himself to stay calm.
"What are you talking about?" Nancy's agitation had hit its boiling pointas she wrenched at the handle.
He moved closer to the window, forcing Nancy to stare back at his focused face. "I'm going to lure the monsters away, and find a way to get to Vecna. Buy you some time so you can find Eleven and take him down for good."
"What?!" Steve yelled from behind them. It would have Jonathan laughed, if he wasn't scared out of his mind.
"No! You can't do that!" Nancy shouted with aghast fear when she realised what Jonathan meant, still trying to get the door open no matter how impossible it was.
Jonathan steeled himself and kept speaking. "There are too many of those creatures for all of you to get free. But if I can get them to follow me, you guys can get out of the school to meet up with the others."
"That's suicide!" He heard Robin exclaim from just behind Nancy, but he kept his eyes on Nancy. He wouldn’t look away from her. He couldn’t.
"It's the only way you guys all survive." He said resignedly. He knew it, and so did they.
But Nancy shook her head obstinately. "I don't care, get back in here right now."
That was why he fell in love with her. Nobody could ever tell what to do, or keep her from being silent. Even when the odds were against her, when the world told her that it was hopeless, she kept on fighting for the people she loved.
That’s why he knew that there was nothing that Vecna could throw at him that would hurt as much as leaving Nancy behind.
"Listen to me, Nancy." He tried to get her to listen to him, but there was no stopping her.
"I told you we weren't going to be apart ever again! There's no way I'm letting you do this!" Nancy cried out again pulling forcefully at the handle to try and get it to open. Her refusal to let him go made him want to scream with all the emotions that threatened to overwhelm him - frustration, anger, love, fear.
He couldn’t leave her like this. He needed to say goodbye properly.
"Please, Nancy! Please!" He yelled out urgently. Nancy stopped trying to pull the door open and looked up at him through the window.
At the pain in his voice and the tortured expression he wore as he begged her to listen, Nancy’s face changed from desperation and stubbornness to sadness and understanding. Jonathan took a deep, trembling breath. He had so much he wanted to say, but he knew they didn’t have much time.
"You saved me.” He let his eyes well up, not caring at all how he looked. “The moment you came into my life, you saved me. You made me a better person. You completed me. I can never thank you enough for that. You made me feel wanted, protected, loved. Like I actually mattered."
"You do matter, Jonathan! You don't have to do this." Nancy pleaded with him, already blinking away tears.
Jonathan nodded tearfully. "Yes, I do."
He leaned into the door, desperate to get as close as he could to Nancy before he had to leave her
"You have given me so much happiness. I can never repay you for how much you've changed my life for the better. For giving me so much love, and being so incredible that I couldn’t help but love you. I will never forget a single moment we’ve spent together” He gave her a watery grin, clenching his fists to keep himself from breaking down.
"Stop talking like this! Please!" Nancy begged him through the glass, tears streaming down her beautiful face. He longed to kiss them all away one by one and stroke her hair comfortingly until she smiled at him again.
"When you were in danger, I wasn't there. Now I'm here. And I won't let you get hurt again. Not when I can do something about it."
Jonathan took several deep breaths, wiping his eyes so he could gaze at Nancy.
"I love you so, so much. I always have.” He reminded her emphatically, desperate that she never forgot that. She let out a noise of pain at that, making his voice crack. “And if I don't come back…."
"No! You're coming back!" Nancy interrupted him with force.
Jonathan had to squeeze his eyes shut to stop the tears from falling uncontrollably at that. His lips trembled when he opened them again to speak, trying to keep his voice from shaking.
"If I don't come back, I know that you will live an amazing life and do amazing things. You are the most incredible, inspiring person I've ever met. And I will be so proud of you, wherever you go in your life."
He could see the hurt, the denial, the heartbreak in her eyes. He felt it all himself; but above all of those things, he felt love. Love for Nancy Wheeler, the girl who had given his life more meaning and promise than he ever could have imagined. And though he wished he’d be there by her side to support her as she did, being able to make sure she had a chance at that future would be good enough for her.
"Make sure she goes with you guys, Steve." He looked over her shoulder to the other guy, who was standing just behind her and watching their goodbye sadly.
"Alright." Steve gave a subdued nod in response. A promise, a goodbye and a thank you all rolled into one.
Jonathan turned back to Nancy, trying to put on a face stronger than he felt right now for her. The sight of her crying silent tears, a far cry from the undefeatable badass that she was just a few minutes ago, made his body tense up in sadness. He was doing this to her.
"Tell my mom and Will that I was brave. And that I always loved them." He choked a sob at the end, not even trying to hide his tears. If this really was the end of his life, he wished he had been able to see his family one last time. At least they would be alive, though. He could take comfort in that.
"Jonathan, please, please! Please don't do this!" Nancy begged him one last time, her voice cracking through her tears. He brought a hand up to the window and so he could trace around her soft cheek, longing to hold it once again.
"I am so in love with you. That will never change.” He professed firmly. “But I need you to let me do this."
Nancy wiped away her tears, but they kept coming. She shook off the despair on her face, and stared up at him through the window with the belligerent, focused glint in her eyes he had come to know so well.
"You're coming back to me, you got that? That's an order." Nancy instructed him sternly, using her voice that brokered no objection.
"I'll try." He let out a shaky laugh.
"No, you will.” Nancy insisted through her tears. “You're going to come back to me, and I'm going to yell at you for being an idiot, and then I'm going to kiss you and tell you how much I love you."
She had the same expression on her face when she told him they’d be okay even when he was moving to California, and when she promised him in the woods that they wouldn’t be torn apart from one another again. Full of strength and courage, knowing that together they could overcome any obstacles.
But this, Nancy couldn’t hide the fear and heartbreak in her voice or eyes that they both felt. This wasn’t something they could solve so easily.
"Promise me you're going to come back." She whispered, her defiant expression breaking down into anguish and her voice trailing off at the end.
Jonathan trembled in response, unable to say a word else he broke down and opened the door again. He hated himself for doing this to her; but if it meant her life was saved, it was worth it. He didn't know if he would be coming back. But if Nancy wanted him to do, he was going to every thing he could to do so.
"I promise." He placed his hand on the glass. His scar had faded in the years since they cut one another, but the outline still remained. She raised her own hand up to press opposite to his. Her scar fit just above his own perfectly- a symbol that they were made for one another ever since that night in the cabin.
And although he couldn’t touch her, he could still feel her comoforting presence in his palm, sending a warm jolt through his fingers. And giving him the strength to do what needed to be done.
"Besides, what's a little more shared trauma?" He smiled at her through his tears.
"Oh, Jonathan..." Nancy sobbed, shaking as much as he was.
He stared at her beautiful face, perhaps for the final time. Memorizing every single little detail about her, reliving every single moment they shared together. He didn’t want to forget a single thing about Nancy Wheeler. His true love.
God, he would have loved to marry her.
"Bye, Nance." He whispered.
Tears streaming down his face, his heart aching from the sight of Nancy's crying face, Jonathan forced himself to walk backwards and turn his back on her. It made his heart break. But he had a job to do. He took a few steps forward into the open, looking around at the infected football pitch ahead of him. The wind of the Upside Down whipped his face and chilled his bones. It was as if Vecna himself as tormenting him through the weather.
Without a second thought he raised his revolver in the air, pointed it upwards and fired it. The gun let out a fearsome bark, buckling in his hand, but he kept his grip strong. The gunshot echoed across the field. The monsters were sure to have heard that, wherever they were in the school
"No, Jonathan! No, no! NO!" Nancy's cries of anguish cut into his heart. Somehow, he pushed himself forwards and began to run as fast as he could across the football field. Trying to run away from Nancy's screams. He didn't want that to be his last thought of her.
"Hey! Come and get me, you ugly fucks! Come on, I'm over here!" He screamed at the top of his voice, sprinting away from the school. Away from Nancy. he didn't dare look back.
It only took a few seconds before he felt the ground shudder beneath his feat. Before he heard the howls and barks of Vecna's hunting dogs. They had killed Bob years ago, and would do the same to him if he slowed down for even a single second.
If he tripped, he was dead. If he fell, he was dead. If he stumbled, he was dead.
Daring to glance behind him, he saw that the Demodogs were coming after him and coming after him fast. His plan had worked, at least. Now he just needed to survive himself.
He quickly spun around, pointed the gun towards his pursuers and squeezed the trigger. The roar almost deafened him, but the sight of one of the Demodogs collapse mid run with a gaping bullet hole through its neck gave him the burst of hope to turn back around and keep running.
Step by step. Just trying to keep ahead for as long as he could.
Jonathan had never liked guns. Ever since his dad forced him to kill a rabbit when he was just a kid, he had done everything he could to stay away from them for as long as possible. He was perfectly happy for Nancy to be the gun-wielding badass. But now the feeling of the revolver in his hand was one of the only things keeping him moving.
He ran as far as possible through the ravaged streets of Hawkins. His heart pounded so fast he was sure it was going to fall out of his chest, his legs burned like they were on fire, but he kept going.
If he stopped, he was dead. And he had promised Nancy that he would return.
So he kept on running. No matter how hard his body screamed at him to stop, he never faltered. He had no idea where he was, or how far the Demodogs were behind him. But he knew that if he wanted Nancy and his family to survive, he had to keep going.
The minutes passed by and he kept going, trying to find his way through the once familiar streets, until he realized he had stumbled to a stop in front of the cinema. Once his place of work where Nancy would visit him to tease him at the counter, or convince him to sneak into one of theaters to make out with her at the back, it was now a dilapidated crumbling ruin.
The bulletin had the letters of the film 'Pretty In Pink', a new one named after one of his favorite songs by the Psychedelic Furs - it always made him think of Nancy, and how stunning she was in wearing pink clothes.
He would have loved to take her to see the film. Then they would have gone to a diner for burgers and a milkshake, and driven his car out to a field so they sit on the hood and stargaze hand in hand. And then, under the moonlight, he would kiss her dizzy until the sun began to rise in the morning.
His mind was full of comforting thoughts and memories of Nancy that kept him breathing. He remembered walking through the hallways at school with their hands together, kissing by the lockers like a regular couple. He remembered all the mixtapes he’d made for her, full of romantic songs from his favorite bands (The Smiths, The Cure, The Talking Heads and the Furs), that they would dance to in their bedrooms. He also made sure to put in her favorites as well - ‘Time After Time’ by Cyndi Lauper, ‘We Belong’ by Pat Benatar and ‘Only You’ by Yazoo - so he could see the delight on her face at the first notes of the songs.
If he survived, he promised himself that he would dance with Nancy again.
His heart pounded in his chest like a drum. Panting hard to try and regain his breath, Jonathan slowly turned around to see how close his pursuers were.
The pack of Demodogs stood before him, snarling and spitting. He counted at least a dozen of them, so close he could see their slimy skin and rows of teeth underneath their weird petalled heads. But they didn't attack; they just circled his front in an arch, chomping at the bit to approach him. Jonathan shuddered, trembling with adrenaline, pushing down his fear.
"Come on! Come get me!" He shouted defiantly at the monsters.
But they didn’t.
All of a sudden, the creatures parted to the sides. And through the gap in the middle came the twisted, terrifying figure of Vecna. No longer a vision in his head..
Vecna stood before him, tall and terrifying like a demon from hell. Surrounded darkness, dark tendrils snaking out from around him across the ground. The Demodogs flanking him bowed their heads as it stepped methodically until it was just a few meters away from Jonathan. Its aura was that of pure evil; a monster that put anything he had ever seen in a horror movie to shame.
Jonathan felt his blood freeze. His brain screamed at him to run away while he still could. He had no idea how Eleven had been able to face it, even with her powers. But he had come here to overcome his fear, not be defeated by it. With the comforting image of Nancy in his head, he stood his ground against the evil creature.
"Jonathan Byers. Are you ready to die?" It's cold, echoing voice chilled Jonathan's bones, almost pinning him in place. Its voice promised death.
With his right hand clinging onto the revolver so hard he was almost scared he would break the handle, Jonathan reached with his shivering left hand into his back pocket and pulled out his most precious belonging, and looked at it longingly.
It was a photo of Nancy he took just before he had left for California, one a perfect summer's day almost a year ago. The same one he had carried with him everywhere he went since the day he took it, no matter what he was doing. When possible he would put it in his front pocket so it was as close to his heart as possible.
She was looking above the camera into his eyes with a gentle blushing smile, shining in the sunlight that day. Her hair glowed a rich caramel brown, her blue eyes dazzled like the oceans of California and her beauty put all other girls in the world to shame. She wore one of his blue sweaters she had stolen, even though it was too big for her. He had told her he loved her just as he took the photo, and he could see the same love reflected back at him in her eyes.
This was his Nancy. The reason why he was here.
Not to die. But to find a way for them to live.
Jonathan faced Vecna. He looked straight into the monster's cold, withered eyes without any fear. He raised the revolver in his hand and pointed it straight at its head.
"Not yet." He said, and pulled the trigger.