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Life is a cruel master. It takes and it takes and when you cannot give anymore, it takes again. Life has no regard for love, pain, joy, or grief. It does not care for anyone or anything. But sometimes life gives back and these gifts, although rare, are all consuming.
A year ago, Eddie Munson would describe himself as life’s punching bag. He lived in a trailer park and was repeating his senior year for the second time. He was an outcast with two friends and zero prospects. A year ago, Eddie was doomed for a life of shortcomings and failures. A year ago, Eddie didn’t have (Y/N).
(Y/N) was everything that Eddie wasn’t. She was smart, brave, and charming. Instead of the world shunning them like it did Eddie, it welcomed them with open arms. For everything the life took from (Y/N) it was just as generous when it gave back. (Y/N) never had a deadbeat criminal for a father or a mother who never cared.
But somehow, despite their differences they had found each other, and Eddie swore he would never let them go. (Y/N) was the one good thing he had going for him. She inspired him to do better, to be better, than he was. And despite all of his flaws, and there were many, Eddie felt himself become more than he thought he would be, more than anyone thought he would be.
(Y/N) was Eddie’s saving grace.
From the day they met, Eddie had been waiting for the other shoe to drop; waiting for the moment when life would get back at him for the small sliver of happiness he had. Maybe (Y/N) would leave him for someone better or she would get into some Ivy League college and never return to Hawkins. But he never thought he would lose them like this.
The Upside Down had become Eddie’s worst nightmare. He had been framed for cross-dimensional murders and dragged into a new form of Hell. But Hell was nothing compared to the pain of holding (Y/N)’s body as it turned cold.
Eddie clung to them as if she was his lifeline. He knew that they wouldn’t be coming home with them. So, he held on to them as the blood pooled from their abdomen and onto himself. (Y/N) had gone limp a while ago, but their eyes stayed focussed on him.
“You’ll be okay,” he whispered, still gripping onto his love, “the party is coming, and Wheeler will know what to do. You’ll be okay, you have to be.”
“Eds… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have le-”
He shushed her. “Don’t apologise. Just stay alive, okay? You can’t leave me, you understand?”
“I’m tired Eds.” (Y/N) looked away from him, focussing on the dead demobats surrounding them. On the ones closest to them, she could still make their own blood in their claws and teeth. “I’m really tired.”
“It’s okay, baby. You don’t need to stay, not for me. It’s okay to let go.”
And they did.
Eddie would learn to move on, he would have to if he wanted to survive. He would also learn how to forgive; how to forgive himself and forgive the circumstances of which he had he had found himself. He would forgive because if the roles had been reversed, and it was Eddie killed, (Y/N) would have forgiven life long ago.