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The battle was over.
Warriors, both those who came from the world of living and the world of dead, looked at each other, finally letting their weapons down. “We’re not gonna take it” started to finally fade away. The Upside Down was quiet for a moment.
Then they started saying their last goodbyes. In particular, a tall figure walked over to Nancy. She could barely recognize Barb, but there couldn’t be decay strong enough to keep them apart now. Robin looked over at them with tears in her eyes. She watched Barb say something to Nancy, and then take her hand. Nancy looked shocked, and in the dim, red light, her tears looked like bloody diamonds.
Just as Robin looked away, trying to find Steve, trying to wipe her tears, but only making her face even more dirty, she felt a tap on her shoulder.
“Robin,” a voice, painfully familiar, but almost forgotten, shook her to her core. She turned to see Barb, still holding Nancy’s hand. Nancy was smiling now, but still crying.
Robin smiled too.
“Hi, bestie,” she said, “long time no see.”
Barb’s face changed, with what Robin could only assume was a smile.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “I’m sorry I left you. Both of you, but especially you, Robin. You didn’t deserve it, nobody does,” Barb’s voice was still the same, if only a bit raspier, as if she smoked cigarettes now by a pack a day.
“It’s alright,” Robin said, “It doesn’t hurt anymore. At least not as much.”
“You’re a bad liar, Robin,” Barb smiled again, and pulled both Nancy and Robin into a hug. Despite the unpleasant smells around, and directly from Barb, Robin could swear she could smell that stupid flowery perfume Barb used to wear in middle school.
Her eyes hurt from crying, and her throat hurt from screaming, so she did neither. She just smiled and let herself hug her friend for the last time.
“Keep safe out there. Yourselves and each other,” Barb whispered, and then she started to become lighter and lighter. Robin opened her eyes, to see her friend decay and fly away like ash on the wind.
She took Nancy’s hand, as Barb’s voice echoed in her mind.
“Goodbye,” she said one final time.
It was time to go.