Chapter Text
“...It’s not lining up,” Lucas murmured at first, then his voice rose to a shout, “It’s not lining up!”
Everybody looked up to see what Lucas was talking about, and Steve saw what the kid was talking about. The tip of the radio tower was going to miss the hole by a few inches. The tower was going to hit the impenetrable rock roof; the bottom of the other world was coming down faster than any of them expected. Steve’s mouth dropped open as he watched the impossible ceiling coming down on their head.
“Hopper, whatever El is doing,” Dustin hollered into the phone, “she needs to hurry it up! We are about to get crushed!”
Steve watched in horror as the roof hit the tip of the radio tower. Unexpectedly it caused the entire tower to shake. Steve almost lost his footing, but the railing held him up. The others cried out and all grabbed onto each other for support. The metal creaked and groaned as it folded. The tower only became more shaky, and Steve wasn’t sure he’d be able to stay on the platform much longer.
“HOPPER!” Dustin bellowed.
Steve heard a louder creak than the others and his head snapped up in time to see the top snap in half. It was going to fall down on top of them. Dustin was right in its path.
“Watch out! It’s coming down!” Steve shouted the warning.
Amidst all the shouting and creaking, nobody could hear him. Shit… shit shit shit.
Steve grit his teeth and right as the thing was falling. He pushed off the wobbly railing and shoved Dustin with all his might away. Luckily he managed to get out of the metal beam’s way, but the impact of it on the platform caused Steve to completely lose his balance. Steve flailed his arms out, but everyone was too far away.
“STEVE!” Dustin cried.
Everything moved in slow motion after that. He watched as Dustin’s face contorted into one of sadness, pain, and anger. He promised him that he wouldn’t leave him, not like Eddie. He promised. The feeling of free falling felt exactly like the dreams. The terrible, overwhelming dreams of falling. His stomach dropped, his heart was in his throat, and the feeling of fear overcame his entire body. In those dreams, he always woke up before he hit the ground. This wasn’t a dream.
Then it all came rushing back full speed and Steve twisted in the air, throwing his hands out to just barely catch the grating. His shoulder felt like it popped out of its socket, but he was hanging on- though the wobbling of the radio tower wasn’t helping.
“Hang on Steve!” Nancy called out. She was on her knees slowly crawling towards him. Jonathan was closer though- and almost to him. Faster, faster, faster!
Steve fingers ached and suddenly the radio tower lurched- and his grip was lost. Simultaneously Jonathan threw himself halfway off to try and grab his hand. He felt the rough hands of the photographer lightly brush his finger tips.
He missed.
The wind rushed around him and as he plummeted to his inevitable death, the last thing he saw was Jonathan’s horrified face- and the tower stopped shaking. The roof stopped moving. El did it.
Steve closed his eyes and felt the tears get whipped off his face. He wasn’t sure how close to the ground he was anymore, probably really close, but he didn’t want to think about it. Instead, he thought about Nancy. About the short time they were together, and Steve wished he would’ve been better to her. He thought about, despite all the problems they had, how Nancy still jumped into the water to save him without a second thought.
He thought about how he’d grown over the years, and the new, better, friends he’d made. Robin and Dustin especially. How Robin trusted him with her biggest secret, how he was an older brother to Dustin. God his death would wreck that poor kid. He promised. And he broke it. His last thought was a wish. A wish that Dustin would be able to move on, and be happy without him.
The darkness of closing his eyes became permanent.
—
“STEVE!!!” Dustin screeched.
The only thing holding him back from throwing himself off the tower after Steve was Nancy. Lucas watched somberly as a distressed girl held back a devastated boy. Nancy was crying as she held back Dustin. He was trying his darndest to break free, but after Nancy whispered a few words, his fire seemed to seep out of him. He fell into Nancy’s arms and they both sat like that for several moments, sobbing.
Lucas looked up at Robin. Her head was buried in her hands, but Lucas could tell she was just as distraught over the death of Steve by her rapidly shaking shoulders. He couldn’t believe that Steve “The Hair” Harrington was gone. Lucas got up shakily and wobbled over to the edge. Jonathan was still staring at the bottom, and despite himself, Lucas looked too.
He couldn’t see details, but it was impossible to miss that body on the ground. He wondered if Max and Vicky saw it happen.
“Guys…” Mike murmured, “we have to go.”
Lucas turned around. Mike looked like he regretted being the one to push them forward. Lucas nodded, and before he could say anything, Nancy was up and already shuffling herself up onto the railing to fit into the portal to Dimension X. Mike quickly moved to her side so she wouldn’t fall.
“Careful,” he suggested.
Nancy didn’t say anything. She handed her gun to Lucas and broke through the slimy barrier. Before he knew it, it was his turn. The brightness of Dimension X was a sharp contrast compared to that of the Upside Down. Lucas held out his hand to lift Will through the hole. He was the last one. Lucas looked into the distance and saw a multitude of black spikes pointing up to the sky.
“I’m guessing that’s the direction we’re supposed to go?” Lucas commented, “looks kinda like a dead spider.”
“Everyone stay close together, we don’t know what sort of monsters are here,” Nancy ordered.
Immediately everybody found a pair. Will went with Joyce, Lucas fell in step with Mike, Robin and Dustin walked silently next to each other, and Jonathan jogged up to Nancy. It wasn’t a very exciting walk, and nobody talked except a few whispers. Lucas was constantly looking backwards to check on his friend. Dustin’s eyes were always on the ground, and he never spoke. Robin walked next to him, but she was constantly blinking back tears, and subconsciously playing with her jacket.
“Crazy to think this will all be over soon,” Mike mentioned, “if nothing goes wrong at least.”
“Yea, and after all we’ve been through,” Lucas murmured, “we deserve a win.”
“I still can’t believe it really,” Mike said.
“What?” Lucas asked.
Mike’s hands moved as he spoke, “everything! Eleven, Will having powers, a whole different dimension.”
Lucas nodded in agreement, “some crazy shit has happened to us.”
“Let’s win this,” Mike stated. He stopped walking and held his hand out to Lucas. “For everything and everyone we’ve lost.”
Lucas smiled and took his hand. They pulled into a hug before continuing to walk forward.
—
BACK IN VECNA’S MIND
Max watched as Vecna- or Henry came back through the window Eleven threw him out of. Her heart rate spiked; he was staring right at them, but she knew he couldn't see them. He looked even more unhinged since the last time she saw him. I guess that’s what bringing two worlds together does to people, she thought wryly.
Eleven was waiting in the center of the room for him.
“Where are they?” he snarled.
“With Max,” Eleven answered, “far away from here.”
Henry grabbed her throat and lifted her off the ground. “Where are they?”
“I already said with Max,” Eleven choked out.
“What is he doing?”
The sound of the kid's voice brought Max back to the reason they were still here and not running away. “He is the black thing. He’s evil, and wants to destroy the world.”
The kids still didn’t seem to believe her, but Max wasn’t good with words, so she turned back to Henry and El and was hoping he would show his true nature to convince the kids.
“I can see everything, Eleven,” Henry growled.
Suddenly his right hand started to morph into the red and purple flesh Max had come to know. The slimy vines that made his arm became known, and started to wrap around others to make a claw, with the middle finger being way longer than the rest.
The kids behind her gasped and one exclaimed, “he is the black thing!”
Max sighed inwardly, relieved that they finally understood.
Henry’s monster arm was raised and hovered above Eleven’s head. El’s head snapped back and she screamed. Max didn’t know what was happening, but she knew she had to get the kids out of there, and fast.
“Let’s go, come on!” Max ushered.
The kids followed rapidly after her and they sprinted out of the house and into the woods. She prayed Max and Kali would just finish Vecna off in there, and Lucas would be safe and rescue the kids from the real world.
They’d only made it halfway when Derek called out, “keep going without me!”
Everybody skid to a stop and Max and Holly rushed back to the half bent over Derek, who was gasping for air.
“Come on Derek!” Holly pleaded, “we aren’t leaving you!”
“I can’t!” Derek panted.
“No no no, come on-” Max begged, “we’re close to the cave, you can do it.”
Holly was pulling on his arm, but wasn’t making him move. He looked up at Max, straightened his glasses and started into his slow run again. Suddenly something rustling in the woods made them freeze again.
Max’s head spun all around trying to find the source and moved instinctively in front of the kids. She was ready to shout and go run at whatever came through the bushes. To her surprise- but joy- Eleven and Kali burst out. Max let out the breath she was holding.
“What happened? Did you kill him?” Max questioned.
Eleven shook her head. “We have to go. How close is the cave?”
“Close,” Max confirmed.
She nodded to the group of kids watching them and they all set off running again. The 3 teenagers barely got a few steps in when Eleven and Kali suddenly disappeared. Max knew she only had a second.
“HOLLY!”
The girl turned around with a concerned face, “get them to the cave!”
Max closed her eyes, ready to dissipate from the demonic dreamworld she’d spent too much time in. But when her eyes opened, she was still there.
“Max.”
Her heart skipped a beat. Her breathing quickened. She turned around and out of the blue Vecna had his ugly claws wrapped around her throat. She struggled in his grip, gasping for breath.
“You can’t escape me that easily, Max,” Vecna growled.
“Let me go,” Max whimpered. Tears sprung to her eyes. She didn’t want to die. Not again. She just got her life back. She just got Lucas back.
Vecna hummed slowly. “You’ve become too much of a problem Maxina.”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Max kicked helplessly at his rock solid stomach. Vecna narrowed his eyes and stared at her before closing them fully and tilting his head backwards. Max cried and tried to pry his clawed fingers loose from her neck.
She felt something around her. The hairs on the back of her neck rose. She knew this feeling. “Nononononoooo,” she moaned.
Her mind became cloudy before her left leg snapped and pain flared up in her entire body. She screamed out. Her eyes were on the bright blue sky- and something in her was saying it was wrong. Wrong to die in such a beautiful place.
Her other leg crumpled under whatever magical force Vecna was using, followed by her arms. It hurt worse than the first time. Her eyes stung as the thick and salty blood slipped out and slid down her cheeks.
Please. God, please!
Vecna lowered Max so she was eyelevel with him. She looked at him numbly. “Please,” she whispered.
“Goodbye Max,” Vecna chuckled slightly.
In one quick motion, he squeezed his claw and her neck was snapped.
…
Vickie watched in horror as each of Max’s limbs were snapped. She covered her mouth to avoid screaming and throwing up. As far as she could tell, the redhead was still alive.
“What the hell is happening!” she whispered tightly.
Max’s eyes were rolled into the back of her head, and suddenly blood started pouring out of them. Vickie’s vocal cords froze up. She wanted to scream or cry or both, but no sound was coming out- which was slightly a good thing due to the military searching the place currently.
Max’s neck abruptly snapped and made a sickening sound. Vickie found her voice. She screeched and her whole body shook in fear. She fell backwards and down the concrete stairs. She tumbled down and pain laced her body. Then her head hit the edge of a step hard.
The nurse went limp and didn’t open her eyes. The scratching of the shelf being moved echoed through the stairwell.
“Oh, God.”