To Hell and Back Again

Chapter Two

It was worse than last time. The upside down had gotten darker and red-er some how. Steve hands begin to shake as he holds up a flashlight, the light vibrating slightly. Robin holds his other hand as they walk into the darkness. "Steve, I know you're trying to do the right thing for you and Dustin but don't you think you'll be better off... not seeing his body again." Steve dropped her hand.
"Don't say that. He's alive." He continued to walk towards the site where he died. The image sparked a memory in him. A bad memory, but his last memory of Eddie. Steve looked over towards the trailer. It was dusty and starting to degrade. "Do you think he's already been turned into a..." Steve was interrupted by a loud wine from feedback. The speaker. Steve looked questioning into the distance. He walked closer to it slowly, Robin trailing behind him with her hand on his shoulders. "Why are you hiding behind me? That's extremely sexist to think I'd be the stronger one of us two."
"Shut up, doofus." Robin whispered as they got closer. "Do you hear that?" There was a faint humming coming from the trailer. Steve started humming along with it. He looked at Robin.
"Dio. That's Dio playing." He ran out of robins grasps and slammed through the door of the trailer. Vines and dust had taken it over. The humming got louder as he walked towards Eddie's room in the trailer. He opened the door to Eddie's room. He first saw a radio which was clicked on and, "Eddie? EDDIE!" He ran to the wall where Eddie was being held against it with vines. He was unconscious but breathing. "Robin! Robin! Get in here damn it!" Steve's eyes filled with tears as he ripped the vines off Eddie. Robin ran up behind him and she was stunned. The flashlight slipped out of her hand and fell to the ground. She helped Steve with ripping the vines off the wall.

Meanwhile, Dustin was sitting next to the portal. He had his head in his hands and let himself doze off a couple times. Then he would snap awake. And the vicious cycle would continue. A hand reached out of the gate. Dustin snapped awake for real this time and grabbed the hand and struggled to pull up. Robins head came through the gate, then the rest of her body. "Ladder? Where's the ladder?" Robin asked looking around frantically. Dustin grabbed the ladder and shoved it through the gate. Then Steve climbed out, with unconscious Eddie on his back. He put Eddie on the concrete in front of him and looked over at Robin.
"Do you know mouth to mouth?" Steve watched as both Robin and Dustin shook their heads no. He felt Eddie's pulse again and it got fainter and fainter by the second then began to stop. He looked back over at them. "Fuck it." He started doing chest compressions then he held Eddie's nose shut and blew two breaths of air into his mouth. "I have no idea if I'm doing this right!" He shouted as Robin covered her mouth and Dustin stood shocked. He continued to do chest compressions. He counted out loud under his breath then would go back in for another breath of air. "Come on, breathe..." He went back in for one more breath of air and Eddie's eyes shot open. Steve sat up, still kneeling over him. Eddie let out a couple loud, heavy coughs as he rolled over onto his side. He gasped for air then laid back down on his back.
"Harrington?" He let out a weak chuckle. "I'm gonna tell everyone you kissed me." Steve stood up and backed away a couple steps. Dustin immediately grabbed Eddie's guitar pick necklace out of his bag and handed it to Eddie. He smiled as he took the necklace from Dustin. "I'm sorry." He said weakly as he stared at them. But he wasn't staring at Dustin. Steve's eyes met Eddie's. "I'm sorry, Steve."

Back at Steve's house, Eddie was sitting on the couch. He held his leg with one hand and waved the other in the air while he was talking. "I don't understand. I remember that I was torn up. My leg was chewed to all hell, my shoulder too. I don't understand why I'm okay now." He was talking with Dustin. Dustin opened his dungeon master book and looked through for any possible answers while Steve and Robin were up in Steve's room.
"Why did he tell you specifically he was sorry?" Robin asked while she wiped the remanence of the upside down off her skin.
"Well... do you remember when I went all Ozzy on that bat?" Steve sat on his bed with his legs crossed. "I was all torn up. Like my sides got eaten by those flying fuckers. And Eddie offered me his vest. And he told me that..." Steve gulped then looked away from Robin. "He said, 'it's for your modesty' or something. And I was so confused. But we had a moment." Steve looked back up at Robin and her mouth was completely open with shock. "It's not like that. I'm not gay. But that's the first time when I saw Eddie as someone other than 'the freak.'"
"Well are you sure you're not gay?" Robin asked smiling and raising her eyes brows at Steve. "You voluntarily kissed him back there."
"It was not a kiss. Even if I was gay it wouldn't be Eddie." Steve stood up and grabbed Eddie's vest off the dresser. "It was mouth to mouth so he didn't die."
"It was a kiss." Robin corrected. "Did you feel all fluttery and sparkly inside like a little girl holding hands for the first time?" Robin teased at Steve. But it was weird because her saying that... made him realize that he did.

After a while, Robin and Dustin headed home. Steve walked down the stairs to find Eddie with his shirt pulled up looking at his faint scaring from the bat attack. Steve stood leaned against the banister looking at him. "Dude, it's so weird." Eddie looked up at Steve who was walking towards the couch. "You gotta feel it." Eddie grabbed Steve's hand and made him feel the scaring. "Usually scars are slightly raised. These aren't." Steve turned slightly pink in his cheeks.
"Eddie... If you tell people I kissed you, which I didn't, then I'll kill you and you'll die for a second time." Steve's hand traveled across Eddie's scars then up his chest. He grabbed the edge of Eddie's shirt and pulled it down.
"Oh but you did. Technically." He smiled and fixed his shirt. He grabbed his hair and pushed it back away from his face.
"Real funny, Munson. I'm going to bed it's been a long day." He started up the stairs. "You can sleep in my parents room because they moved out of Hawkins. It's up the stairs to the right."
"Hey, Harrington." Eddie stood up and started to follow him. "I don't want to be alone."