Reddie Nights

🔸Shot 115 ~ What'll I Do? II🔸

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Eddie's parents hadn't even given Eddie time to say goodbye when they decided to move back home the very next day.

They packed everything and left that very morning, leaving Eddie heartbroken and miserable. Eddie watched out the window as he was leaving everything he loved behind.

Richie drove by the house after work to apologize but he was too late, Eddie was long gone. Richie was devastated. There was nothing he could do but cry and be with Stan and Bill.

"He loved you, Richie. He really did" Bill comforted him.

Richie may have given up that night, but he was only trying to do right by Eddie. He loved him with all his heart. So every week for the next year, Richie sent Eddie a letter. But after a year of silence, Richie assumed that Eddie had moved on.

Richie moved to New York with Stan and Bill, finding work in construction. And in November of 1942, he, along with Bill, were drafted into the military.

Stan protested it with all his heart, but he was powerless. He stayed home to watch the house and go to work.

"I'll write to you every day, I promise. I love you" Bill consoled him, smiling, but Stan could sense how scared he was.

"Please, don't be a hero, Bill"

"I'll look after him, Stan, I promise" Richie assured him.

Stan smiled. He and Richie may bicker and kid around a lot, but besides Bill, there was nobody he trusted more than Richie.

He hugged Richie, then kissed Bill goodbye.

They were deployed in Africa, and after two years of crawling in the sand they joined Patton's Third Army in Europe.

While marching along the frozen road, an air raid ripped their unit apart. Foot soldiers ambushed them and over half of their unit were killed or wounded, including sweet Bill Denbrough.

The survivors were being forced to retreat, and as Bill lay bleeding, Richie grabbed him by the straps of his rucksack.

"Come on, Bill, we gotta move!"

Bill groaned in pain as Richie dragged him away. But before Richie could load Bill into a truck, he was pulled back by his shoulder.

"We gotta move, Corporal! Move your ass!"

"No, I can't leave him!"

Richie watched as he was hauled away from Bill, helpless. He was broken, lost. So much for no man left behind.

- - -

A few months later, the war ended, and Richie, now a staff Sargent, was finally sent home.

He returned home to his best friend, only to have his heart shatter as Stan broke down in his arms at the news of Bill.

"You promised me, you both promised, goddammit!" Stan sobbed.

He knew that Stan didn't mean any anger toward him, but he was angry too. He was never actually informed of Bill's fate, but he could only assume the worst, and he did his best to move on and comfort the grief-stricken Stan.