Chapter Text
The Upside Down was too quiet.
Not silent—that would have been easier. Instead, it hummed with a low, living vibration that crawled beneath Steve Harrington's skin. Every vine clinging to the dead trees seemed to pulse in time with his heartbeat, and crimson lightning flickered across the ash-filled sky.
Steve adjusted his grip on the nail-studded bat resting on his shoulder.
"I hate this place," Eddie muttered, nudging a twitching vine with the end of his spear.
"You've said that every five minutes," Robin replied.
"Because every five minutes I find another reason."
Despite everything, Steve laughed.
Somehow, Robin rolled her eyes before he even said anything.
"You agree with him, don't you?"
"Oh, absolutely," Steve admitted. "I'd give this place zero stars. Bad atmosphere. Worse customer service."
Robin snorted.
"You know, if we survive this, I'm making sure everyone knows your last review was for another dimension."
Steve grinned.
"If I survive this, I'm never leaving Hawkins again."
Nancy glanced over her shoulder.
"You said that last time."
"I meant it this time."
Jonathan shook his head, smiling faintly.
"You always mean it."
Hopper held up a fist.
Everyone stopped.
Ahead, woven between the skeletal trees, a massive cluster of vines wrapped around an abandoned house. The pulsing mass rose and fell like the chest of some sleeping animal.
"The nest," Hopper said quietly.
Nancy checked the rifle slung over her shoulder.
"Same plan?"
Hopper nodded.
"We burn it. If anything comes out..."
Steve tapped the bat against his palm.
"We introduce ourselves."
Robin leaned close enough to bump his shoulder.
"You know, one day that confidence is going to get you killed."
Steve smiled.
"Nah."
It wasn't arrogance.
He genuinely believed it.
Because somehow, through impossible luck and a ridiculous amount of hairspray, he'd always managed to come home.
The first Molotov shattered against the nest.
Fire spread instantly.
The vines shrieked.
Not metaphorically.
They screamed.
The sound echoed through the forest like every nightmare Hawkins had ever buried.
"Move!" Hopper shouted.
The ground shook beneath them.
Dark shapes burst from the trees.
Demodogs.
Half a dozen.
Nancy fired first.
Jonathan followed, dropping another before it reached them.
Eddie jabbed wildly with his spear while Hopper blasted one apart with his shotgun.
Steve swung the bat with a crack that echoed through the woods.
One down.
Another lunged.
Robin drove an axe into its shoulder.
"Ha!" she shouted.
Steve laughed.
"That's my girl!"
"Oh my God, don't call me—"
A deafening roar interrupted her.
Everyone froze.
The trees ahead split apart.
A Demogorgon stepped into the clearing.
Larger than any Steve had ever seen.
Its flower-like face opened with a wet, clicking hiss.
"Run!" Hopper barked.
The monster charged.
Nancy's bullets struck its chest.
Jonathan's rifle cracked beside her.
It barely slowed.
Robin grabbed Dustin's arm.
"This way!"
They sprinted toward a gap between the trees.
Then Dustin's foot caught on a thick vine.
He hit the ground hard.
Robin skidded to a stop.
"Dustin!"
She reached for him—
—and her own foot slipped on the ash-covered roots.
She crashed beside him.
The Demogorgon turned.
Its attention locked onto them.
Time seemed to stop.
Steve saw Dustin trying to stand.
Robin desperately pushing him behind her.
The creature lowering itself to pounce.
He didn't think.
He just ran.
"Steve!" Nancy screamed.
He threw himself between the monster and the two teenagers a heartbeat before it struck.
The impact knocked the air from his lungs.
Claws ripped across his chest.
Pain exploded through him.
Still, he shoved the bat sideways into the Demogorgon's open mouth, forcing its jaws apart.
The creature roared inches from his face.
"NOW!" Steve shouted.
Hopper fired.
The blast staggered it.
Eddie drove his spear into its side.
Jonathan's rifle barked again.
Nancy fired until her magazine clicked empty.
The Demogorgon twisted violently.
One claw caught Steve across the ribs before Hopper's final shotgun blast tore through its head.
The creature collapsed.
Dead.
For one perfect second...
Everything was still.
Robin scrambled to Steve first.
"Steve?"
He didn't answer.
His eyes were fixed on the crimson sky above.
Then he blinked.
"...Ow."
Relief washed over her.
"Oh, thank God."
She reached to help him sit up.
Her hands came away red.
Too much red.
Steve looked down.
His torn jacket was soaked.
Blood poured through deep gashes across his chest and side.
His smile faltered.
"...Huh."
Robin's breathing became ragged.
"No."
She pressed both hands against the wounds.
"No, no, no."
Steve hissed in pain.
"Easy..."
"We're getting you out."
"Robin..."
"We're getting you out!"
Dustin dropped to his knees beside them.
His face had gone completely white.
"This is my fault."
Steve turned his head.
"No."
"I tripped."
"You always trip."
A tiny smile.
"It would've happened anyway."
Dustin grabbed Steve's hand with both of his.
His fingers were shaking so badly he could barely hold on.
"I'm sorry."
Steve squeezed weakly.
"Nothing to be sorry for."
Nancy knelt opposite Robin.
One look told her everything.
The wounds were far too deep.
Jonathan silently removed his jacket and helped press it against Steve's side.
Hopper looked away for a moment, jaw clenched.
He'd seen enough battlefields to know.
Enough to recognize when there was nothing left to save.
Steve noticed the expression.
"So..."
He managed a crooked grin.
"...that's bad, huh?"
No one answered.
Which was answer enough.
Steve closed his eyes for a second.
Then opened them again.
"Dustin."
"I'm here."
"You still owe me that movie night."
Dustin laughed through tears.
"Yeah."
"So don't skip it."
"I won't."
Robin's tears fell freely now.
"You are not doing this."
"I'm... kind of doing it."
"No!"
She shook her head violently.
"I still have a thousand things to tell you."
Steve smiled softly.
"You'll tell me later."
"There isn't a later!"
Her voice broke.
"There has to be."
Steve looked at her for a long moment.
"Thank you..."
She swallowed hard.
"For what?"
"For making me less stupid."
Robin let out a watery laugh.
"I failed."
"You definitely improved me."
Nancy reached for Steve's hand.
He looked at her.
"So..."
he whispered.
"I guess we don't get six little nuggets after all."
Nancy's eyes filled instantly.
She remembered.
A joke from years ago.
A dream about a future neither of them expected to have.
She smiled through tears.
"No."
She squeezed his hand.
"But I think you'd have been a pretty great dad."
Steve laughed once.
Weakly.
"I think so too."
His gaze drifted to Eddie.
"Take care of them."
Eddie nodded before Steve had even finished speaking.
"I swear."
Steve looked around at all of them one last time.
His family.
The people he'd gladly choose again.
Every single time.
"I got you."
Barely above a whisper.
Robin leaned closer.
"What?"
Steve smiled.
"I got you."
His grip loosened.
His chest rose one final time.
Then...
Nothing.
Robin stared at him.
Waiting.
For another breath.
Another joke.
Another sarcastic comment.
Anything.
Instead...
Only silence.
Dustin let out a cry so full of heartbreak that even the Upside Down seemed to fall still.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
Hopper was the first to stand.
His voice was rough.
"We're taking him home."
No one argued.
Because Steve Harrington had carried them through every nightmare Hawkins had thrown at them.
Now...
It was their turn to carry him.