You're panicked, asking the question again at Steve's silence "Where is Eddie?" Your lip quivered, your whole body ready to shut down any moment from exhaustion and agony.
"He, uh.." Steve started quietly with a small shake of his head, a frown twitching on his lips.
All it took was that one head shake to send you spiralling, to end your world as you knew it. Youu could be stuck in the upside down, you could be in Hawkins while the ground gave way.. as long as Eddie was alive, you didn't care where you were or the state of the world because a world without him was hell on earth to you.
"No, no he's not.." Steve speaks quickly, trying to undo the damage he just did in a matter of seconds "He's not, you know," he drags a hand over his neck to signify the word dead.
Your heart jumped into your throat, he's alive.
"Then where is he?" That was really the last remaining question, is he in Hawkins.. did he manage to get back in with Steve before all the gates closed or was he still stuck in the other world, now possibly permanently stuck forever.
You weren't sure what was worse, death.. which was so final or Eddie being stuck in the upside down, knowing he was out there but knowing you two could never see each other again.
"Well uh.." Steve started hesitantly, climbing up the trailer stairs in pain, wincing with every moment.
His clothes completely shred apart and sharp wounds covering all skin visible,
dripping wet from what you thought was sweat.
He lowers himself down slowly at the table, "We got out through the gate that opened when Patrick died," Patrick being one of Jason's friends "It closed seconds after we got back in Hawkins, we had no choice but to swim.."
"Not easy, considering." He waved his hand over his body "Then the world started splitting into two.." Steve's brows knit in confusion.
oh no. Did Eddie fall into.. whatever the cracks lead to?
"There was police and ambulances everywhere," He pauses, looking up at you "They took him in." Steve's eyes are now down at the ground, his voice filled with defeat.
"Took him in?" You question, puzzled "He wasn't.." you trail off "Yeah, they arrested him.." Steve admits quietly, huffing loudly and then groaning in pain.
"Okay, okay hear me out.. this may not be such a bad thing." Dustin raises his hands, bringing them down slowly as if he was calming you down "He's alive, Y/N. He's not stuck or banished.." Robin trails off, "Yeah but now he's sitting in a cell for a crime he didn't commit," you shake your head in rage.
"No, no. They took him to the hospital, after that.. I don't know. They might transfer him," Steve shrugged lightly "Well its a good thing we all need to be checked in then, isn't it?" You give a tight lipped smile.
Sitting down beside him as you hold onto your injured leg, Steve glancing at it "Are you okay?" He whispers, you look him up and down "Are you?" You ask. "Fair enough," he lets out a soft laugh.
"Okay, right. Hospital. Uhh.. now it's just avoiding falling into the earth," Robin stands up, flattening out her equally disheveled clothes as she got back in the driver seat.
Robins sudden brake in front of the hospital sends you all flying to the front, "why?" Dustin asked incredulously "Why did you have to do that?" He complained.
You're biting down on your tongue, Steve's body weight having landed on your injured leg. You now felt the pain again and it was more than just pain, it felt like your leg was being ripped in half very, very slowly.
"I'm so sorry," Steve groans, in an equal amount of torture, if not more. You try to shake it off, Acting like you're perfectly fine.
"Eddie Munson - I'm here to see Eddie Munson," you're panting and groaning, feeling like you put your all into just getting inside the hospital but making your way to triage also.
The nurse behind the desk looks you up and down "You want to see a criminal?" She narrows her eyes in disgust, "Kids today.." she mutters to herself, going back to typing at her computer.
"Where is he?" You're ready to launch yourself across the check in desk at the nurse "Sweetie, he's under arrest. No one can see him." She scoffs, peering up from her glasses.
"Yes, hi Ma'am.." Dustin interjects "if you haven't noticed, my friends and I are a little fucked up.." he motions around to the four of you "You're going to have to get us rooms regardless," somehow he was still able to manage his child like smile.
"Fine," she rises to her feet "But no funny business." She points sternly "Have you looked at us? We can barely move," Steve snaps at her. "You're not going to deny us the help we need.. are you?" Robin fakes a scoff, knowing this lady could lose her job in a second.
She shoots a glare at Robin as Robin gives a shrug, "Why don't you kids have a seat while I check you in?" The lady was condescending, taking everything in you not to lunge at her.
Now you knew that Eddie was in this hospital, in what condition.. you didn't know. When you last saw him he was in rough shape enough, you can't imagine what he and Steve had to deal with once the gate closed and then fighting their way back into Hawkins under time constraints.
If he is under arrest, you could bet there would be security by his door. You could also bet that there was no way he'd be allowed to leave whatever room he was in and that getting in to see him was going to be… risky, to say the least especially as you had to get checked out yourself.
Hoping and praying your leg wasn't broken and an infection wasn't starting, you wanted to heal as fast as possible and not be in this hospital longer than needed.
Steve was called first, he tried to switch places and let you go first but you rejected the idea. He was severely injured himself and those injuries could turn nasty fast, you may be eager to get out of here but you don't want Steve to suffer.
You were called second and you were pretty sure the nurse was intentionally getting on your nerves. The urge to go off on her was incredibly strong.
Using a wheelchair as Robin pushes you, you guys pass by rooms on the way to the one you're told to wait in. Looking at the names on the doors just in case they put Eddie in plain view
"STOP!" You almost shout but cut your tone lower half way through "You're going to give me a heart attack," Robin stops pushing you. "Max," you breathe out, seeing her name on a clipboard beside room 34.
"Oh my god," Robin gasps, "That's why! that's why the ground did the," she pauses to make a cracking noise. "She was the fourth and final one Vecna needed," your eyes darted back and forth in realization.
Robin goes to open the door to the room when another nurse comes by to stop her "She's not having any visitors right now," the nurse spoke in a whisper "Is she.. what happened?" You look up at the nurse, feeling so sick to your stomach you could throw up right there.
"I'm sorry I can't give out that information," This nurse is much more kind and compassionate as she speaks. You understand confidentiality but you wish she could give you even the tiniest bit of information.
Knowing that Max was okay in some capacity made you feel slightly better. Hoping you could get information from Lucas and Erica who were with Max in Hawkins trying to lure in Vecna.
They should know better than anyone what happened, maybe she got hurt from the town breaking in two.. maybe she wasn't that hurt.
Those thoughts gave you hope.
Max was to stay in Hawkins so she was safe, yet still she got hurt. If you could kick yourself in the ass you would, losing her would be like losing your sister as she was much more than just a best friend to you.
"Looks like we're sharing a room," you chime as you spot Steve on the opposite side of the room, in another hospital bed.
Due to Hawkins going haywire, they were running out of space to put people so now.. they were doubling up rooms.
Though you felt bad for Robin and Dustin who got stuck with strangers, but they only had superficial cuts and bruises. They probably would be out with in hours.
"Companies better than no company, right?" Steve says sheepishly, leaning back on the bed, his stomach all stitched together in different places, his arm and leg bandaged.
"Are they keeping you?" You ask as the nurse helps you in bed, your leg was wrapped as well. Getting 78 stitches in total, that was not fun. You thought the leg pain was bad but being cleaned, treated and stitched was much worse.
Now you were just waiting for X-rays, blood work and all those fun things.
"Looks that way," Steve tries to shift his body but ultimately fails. "You?" He winces, staying in place. You nod, the nurse going over your chart. She turns on the TV before heading out of the room.
The town is in shambles, people fleeing, people dead, people injured and the news saying that it's like the gates of hell have opened up. Boy, how they were spot on.
You take the pain medication that's on the night stand beside the hospital bed. You wish it could take away all of your pain, every single ounce of it. It was all just balling up into this.. time bomb.
Max, Eddie, Steve.. how the world was right now, what was next.. though no one knew what was next. All anybody knew was that this wasn't going to be good.
None of this could be real, your mind was refusing to accept it. Maybe you fell and had a really bad concussion, imagining all these things happening.
These things didn't exist, it wasn't normal.. monsters, different world, super powered kids.. it can't be real. This can't be your world.
Between fighting all sorts of different battles in your head, you managed to drift off to sleep, only to wake from night terrors a few hours later.
You were back in the upside down, flashes of Eddie getting strangled by the bat over and over again. Then it would seep into him using his body as a shield for you as the bats lunged towards the both of you, attack after attack.
You saw the gate close over and over and his face fade away each time. Every detail was so clear, it truly felt like you had been pulled back in.
All you wanted was to see him again, to see that he was alive; that he was going to make it. Everyone knew it had two ways of ending, dying in the upside down or arrested by Hawkins police.
You roll over in the bed, it's so stiff and uncomfortable no matter which way you lay. Looking down at the ring on your finger, Eddies ring.. well, now yours. It's now all dirtied and scuffed up, such a simple thing but it completely breaks you.
"Are you okay?" Steve's groggy voice whispers from across the room, "No," you simply say through sobs.
You can hear him shuffling in his bed, you sit up slowly as your eyes adjust to the darkness. Watching as Steve struggles to climb out of his hospital bed, let alone get his feet on the floor,
"What are you doing?" You whisper, worried one wrong move will hurt him worse than he already was "You're not okay, I'm not okay." He grunts, using the bed for support when standing.
"No one's okay," he lets out a small chuckle, trying to hide how he actually felt "I think we all need our friends right now, and unfortunately for you," Steve groans louder as he hops towards the end of your bed "you're stuck in a room with me,"
He sounds like he's apologizing, "you're going to hurt yourself." You try to urge him back to his bed "Good thing I'm in a hospital then." He takes one big hop on his non injured leg towards your bed.
Grabbing the end of your bed to steady himself "Close one," he whispers. He uses the guard rail to walk around the side that was currently free, shifting the rail down and groaning as he sat down beside you.
"You know you're going to have to make the trip back all the way over there," you point towards his bed, "Don't remind me," Steve says through gritted teeth.
Steve adjusts on the bed, getting as comfy as he can get as he leans against the rough headboard. "Yeah there's no way I'm moving any time soon," He stayed very still, any and all movement causing pain.
Huffing out a breath, he looks over at you as you sit up beside him.. also leaning against the headboard.
"How did this become our lives?" It wasn't really a question directed at him, just at the world in general. "One day we are dorky ass kids seeing who can get the highest score on Pac-Man to… this,"
"I don't know," Steve gives a small shrug "Got to admit, I'm really missing those pac man days right about now." You can see a hint of a smile on his face in the darkness.
"It was so.." you trail off in thought "Simple?" He laughs "Compared to this, yeah." You laugh in return,
"we will figure this out, all of it. Maybe not tonight.." Steve says in fairness, his arm slowly raising as he puts it over your shoulder. Groaning as he did so.
"Don't hurt yourself on my account," you give him a small smile "When the gate closed and you disappeared right in front of mine and Eddie's eyes.. we didn't know what happened," he started
"We didn't know if Hawkins no longer existed, If they were merging together, if we were all dead and living in hell." The last part was suppose to be a joke, you noticed but it was as close to the truth as you knew it.
"For all we knew, you guys were all dead too. Just like you thought Eddie and I were. We didn't know what we were returning to," Steve bows his head, playing with his fingers as a distraction.
"I'm really glad this is what we returned to, well… not the world caving in but you- all of you, being alive." His voice goes an octave deeper, you could tell he was crying.
"I'm glad you made it out too, alive. I really thought I'd never see you again." so many days of crying and yet somehow you still had more tears in you.
You lean your head into his side "Ow," he grunts as you quickly move away "No, no.. it's fine," Steve draws in a sharp breath "It's worth the pain." He pulls you back into his side.
You weren't sure if it was being totally exhausted, talking to Steve or having him comfort you.. but somehow, you drifted off to sleep in his arms.
The phone on the bedside table rang loudly, over and over again. Waking you from the deep sleep you had been in, you look over to see Steve still sat against the headboard asleep.
You instantly felt bad, you were sore from how you were sleeping and your leg being injured but you can't imagine how uncomfortable he was all night.
The phone stops ringing and seconds later starts up again. You manage to reach over and pick it up, trying not to tangle the cord "Hello?" You ask, puzzled by who would be calling your room.
"Princess.." Eddie's voice drawled on from the other end, your heart skipped a beat.. maybe even two but before you could get a word out, static took over it and all you heard after was
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.