"Something's not right," Steve groaned as soon as his feet hit the floor and the vines stopped choking the life out of him and his two companions. How they didn't all die from their prolonged strangulation, he'd never figure out. Especially since his throat hadn't recovered from the last time, with the bats. He hated this place.

"That's a terrifying statement to make in a place where literally nothing is right," Robin huffed, rubbing her neck.

"What is it?" Nancy asked, checking her weapons before they resumed their trek to the final boss. Steve glanced toward the boarded up windows, even though he couldn't see through them. He knew he was wasting precious seconds they didn't have, but something was pulling him away from where they were supposed to be going. Like a feeling in his gut that told him something was wrong.

"Do you think you can do this next part without me?" Steve asked, turning back toward the girls.

"What?!" Nancy and Robin hissed in unison, looking at him like he'd just said that he thought maybe Vecna was a good guy and misunderstood.

"I have to go back."

"Go back where?" Nancy demanded, shaking her head incredulously.

"The trailer. I just… something's not right," Steve repeated, shrugging helplessly at Robin. Out of anyone, she understood the kind of relationship he had with Dustin. They both had willingly been captured to ensure that he and Erica had been able to get away from the Russians. They had a bond and it couldn't be explained.

"Go. We've got this," Robin declared, nodding in support. Steve shot her a grateful look. Trying to articulate what he was feeling would just waste more time. It was nice having someone who got him so completely.

"We do?" Nancy questioned, sounding unsure. She had been off since her run in with Vecna. To everyone else, she seemed confident and ready to fight, but Steve could see how much what she'd seen affected her. They were all struggling, but none of them liked to show it. If they survived this, all the splitting up needed to stop. They were better together.

"We're the dream team. Wheeler and Buckley. Or Buckley and Wheeler. We can decide later when we're done kicking ass," Robin proclaimed, holding out his ax for him to take.

"Be careful," Steve pleaded, looking between the two of them. If something happened because he wasn't there to stop it, he'd never forgive himself. But he knew he had to go.

"You too," Robin whispered, shooting him a sad smile as he took his ax and passed by her to go back down the stairs. Their conversation from earlier was running through his head. He was going to do everything he could to give them the win she was so unsure of. Steve looked up at them one last time when he got to the bottom of the stairs, appreciating this last moment while everyone was still okay, as far as they knew. Once they kept going, that could change. But for now, he cherished the ignorance. Then he took off.

Steve was exhausted. There was no arguing with that fact. It had been a long few days with rarely any breaks. And the blood loss from the bat attack didn't help. But right now, none of that mattered. He sprinted through the wrong version of Hawkins like his life depended on it. Like the life of someone more important than him depended on it.

He couldn't remember how long it took his group to get to the Creel house, but it felt like a lifetime and no time before Steve got to the edge of the Upside Down trailer park. If Eddie and Dustin were safely in their world, wondering why Steve came back, he'd feel like an idiot and hug them like there was no tomorrow. Why he would with Dustin was a given, but Eddie's inclusion in that was a bit more surprising to him.

Steve hadn't ever given the guy much thought. No version of Steve in school ran in the same circles as Eddie Munson. He was just another classmate that he hadn't noticed. But now that he'd met him, Steve couldn't get Eddie out of his head. Maybe it was the shared trauma of all this. It was easy to bond with someone you were fighting to stay alive alongside. Basically all of Steve's friendships were borne from monster fighting chaos. So it shouldn't have been surprising for Eddie to slide in as well. But was there more than that?

Steve had to admit that he'd been sort of jealous of the guy. Watching him pal around with Dustin had given him a pang in his chest that he hadn't been expecting. Steve was so used to being the older guy that the kids looked up to and he still was, but he was sharing that role now. It wasn't like the kids couldn't have more than one person, since they also had Robin, Jonathan, and Nancy. And having more people looking after them was safer. But Eddie was the only one who Steve felt would be able to take his particular spot. That was his issue to deal with though. And at a much less stressful time. For now, they all had to focus on surviving.

It was quiet when he made it onto the path to the trailer. After all the screeching and the squelching, it was a bit unsettling. There didn't seem to be any threats around or really any movement at all. Eddie and Dustin were tasked with distracting the bats, but there was nothing flying in the sky. Had they flown off to somewhere else? God forbid they flew into the normal world through the trailer gate. Steve didn't know why they hadn't done that already. The demodogs seemed to go through gates fine. And that damn tentacle that pulled him into the water.

But the mystery of the bats was solved just as Steve tripped over one. They were laying on the ground, seemingly dead. But Steve didn't have time to feel relief at that fact. He sprinted forward faster than he'd been going before, hyper-focused on what was in the center of it all.

"Dustin!" Steve shouted, racing those last torturous yards to get to the boy in question. Steve dropped his ax in despair, now that he knew the danger was gone. There was something completely different to be worried about. Dustin was kneeling next to something that Steve didn't want to admit to what it was, but there was no denying it once he skidded to a stop by his side. "Eddie."

"He's dead," Dustin cried, clutching one of Eddie's hands to his chest. Eddie's eyes were closed and he wasn't moving, as far as Steve could see in the darkness. He'd been too late. His instincts that something was wrong had been correct, but he'd still failed. And somehow, this hurt just as much as if it had been Dustin in his place. It couldn't end this way.

"Hell no. We're not doing this," Steve growled, yanking Eddie's hand out of Dustin's. The boy looked at him in shock, but Steve didn't have time to worry about being an asshole. "Put pressure on his wounds." He pulled the headband off of Eddie's head and tossed it at Dustin.

"What?"

"Do it!" Steve snapped, moving Eddie's body so it was flat on the ground. It had been a while since he'd done lifeguard training, but he remembered the steps. Steve got on his knees, placed his hands on the center of Eddie's chest, and started pumping.

"What are you doing?" Dustin sniffled, taking off some of his layers and balling them up against Eddie's stomach. Each of Steve's compressions was pumping out more blood from Eddie's wounds, but he couldn't worry about that now. Restarting Eddie's heart and getting oxygen to his brain was more important.

"Just apply as much pressure as you can. Tie things off if you're able to," Steve directed, pausing his compressions. He tilted Eddie's chin up and swept his finger in his mouth, getting as much blood out as he could before delivering rescue breaths. Steve didn't even care about the blood that was smearing onto his lips. He saw Eddie's chest rise slightly with each blow, which was a much needed win. As long as nothing was blocked, he could keep this up as long as he had to. Steve would go all night if it meant saving Eddie's life.

"It's too late," Dustin choked out hopelessly. He was too damn young to sound so defeated. Steve needed to give him this win.

"No, it's not. We live in a world with mind flayers and demodogs and Vecnas. If those can exist, so can Eddie's chances," Steve insisted, jerking his head to the side to try to get rid of the sweat dripping down his face. "Do you give up in your dumb little game when the odds are stacked against you? When you have to make an impossible roll to win?"

"You've been paying attention?" Dustin asked in a quiet voice.

"More than you realize I do. And you all have taught me to never stop fighting, so that's what we're going to do. I'm gonna fight and you're gonna fight and Eddie's gonna fucking fight!" And then Eddie sucked in the tiniest breath, followed by another one. Steve pressed his fingers under Eddie's jaw, feeling the barely there flutter of his pulse. But that was enough.

"He's alive?" Dustin sobbed, tipping down and resting his face against Eddie's shoulder. No matter how confident Steve tried to sound earlier, he knew this was a miracle they couldn't waste. He secured the cloths around Eddie's waist as well as he could, trying to replicate the technique Nancy used on him not so long ago. If Steve could make it through that, Eddie could make it through this.

"Let's go," Steve said, nudging Dustin aside and sliding his arms under Eddie's limp body. He ignored his aches and pains as he stood up, pulling the older man off the ground. The trailer seemed miles away now that he had this extra weight to carry, but that didn't matter. Steve would power through it. "Hurry."

"I'm coming," Dustin groaned, climbing to his feet gingerly and hobbling along in front of him.

"What happened to you?" Steve demanded. If Dustin was hiding a major injury, Steve was going to freak out. He couldn't handle much more than what was already going on.

"Bad landing, but I'm fine," Dustin waved off, picking up his pace to try to prove his statement. "Eddie sent me back to our side, then cut the rope so he could distract the bats alone. But I wasn't gonna stand for that."

"You're both idiots! What happened to sticking to the plan?" Steve snapped. If they'd both gotten to safety, none of this would've been happening. The bats might've tried to get back to the Creel house, but given their current state, they probably wouldn't have made it. And if they had, his group would have dealt with it.

"You being here wasn't part of the plan either," Dustin shot back.

"Well then, I guess we're all assholes," Steve huffed, finally climbing back into the trailer. They were so close, but he had no idea how he was going to get all three of them back to the other side. The only thing stopping him from giving up were the tiny puffs of air he could feel on his neck. If Eddie wasn't giving up, neither was he.

"What do we do?" Dustin implored, looking to him for guidance. Steve glanced around the room, trying to come up with a plan. Even if they had a rope, Eddie wouldn't be climbing anything.

As much as it pained him to do so, Steve set Eddie down against the wall. He propped him up to lean against a counter, so he wouldn't flop over and make things worse. He was going to need his hands free for this next part. Steve grabbed the sturdiest looking chair in the room and slid it under the opening of the gate. It would take a miracle for it to hold, but maybe they had a few more of those left in them.

"You're gonna climb on this chair, then climb on my shoulders and jump through the gate," Steve directed, waving his arms at himself to signal Dustin to get moving.

"But what about Eddie?" Dustin asked, carefully climbing up just like Steve said.

"I'm gonna chuck him up after you and you're gonna catch him," Steve replied. Dustin stared at him like he was out of his mind. Maybe he was. The concussions had to catch up to him sometime.

"How the hell are you going to do that?"

"I just am," Steve shrugged, boosting Dustin up on his shoulders. Steve's back screamed at him, but he ignored it, holding the back of the chair to keep steady as Dustin grabbed the opening of the gate. "You're gonna stand on a chair and once any part of Eddie comes through, you're gonna grab him and pull."

"That's insane!"

"Maybe," Steve muttered, going up on his toes to give Dustin that little extra height. "Watch your landing!"

"Not all of us can be as graceful as you!" Dustin shot back, twisting as the pull of gravity got stronger in their side of the world. Steve watched with a grimace as Dustin landed heavily on his back, then laid there for a few seconds.

"Dustin!"

"I'm okay," Dustin said weakly, raising one arm to wave.

"Then get off your ass and get ready!" Steve yelled. He could worry about the kid later. Steve moved back over to where Eddie was, checking him over again. His pulse felt even weaker, but as long as it was still there, there was still hope. Steve threw Eddie over his shoulder this time, trying to get him as high up as physically possible. He didn't even know if this was going to be possible due to physics or whatever, but he felt like even the best scientists would be shitting their pants over some of the stuff they were dealing with. Laws of physics be damned.

Dustin had the mattress back under the hole and was standing on a chair by the time Steve got there, holding his hands up like he was about to catch a bouquet at a wedding reception. Steve hoped that what he did next wasn't going to be the thing that officially killed Eddie. But doing nothing wasn't any better, so he was going to try.

"Here we go!" Steve called out, stepping onto the chair Dustin had just used. It squeaked under their considerable weight, but held. Just another minute was all they needed. He shifted his hands under Eddie's armpits and took a deep breath, knowing that he only had one shot at this. His body was shutting down, whether he wanted to admit it or not. And Eddie was running out of time.

"You got this!" Dustin cheered, staring up at him with determination. He used Dustin's faith in him to fuel him on. Steve yelled in exertion as he lifted Eddie up. He'd heard stories of parents performing impossible feats of strength to save their children from danger. This wasn't exactly lifting a car off of someone, but if they could do that, he could do this. Steve pulled from a reserve deep down inside of himself that he didn't even know existed, summoning the strength to surge upward. The feeling of Eddie's weight leaving his shoulder felt wrong, but that's what he needed. Just one part of him needed to clear the opening. Just one finger for Dustin to grab onto and pull. But in the end, it wasn't a finger at all. It was that long, ridiculous hair.

Dustin got a fistfull of it and tugged, using the momentum to pull him to the good side. Eddie limply fell up, which was weird to see from Steve's perspective. Dustin did the best he could to try to control their fall, but they both ended up in a heap on the mattress. Steve didn't waste a second, jumping up and pulling himself through the hole. His landing wasn't nearly as soft as the one earlier, but he managed to avoid landing on the two of them. He scrambled to Eddie's side, checking again for a pulse. It was still there.

"Let's go!" Steve shouted, picking Eddie up again and darting out of the trailer. Dustin was right behind him, shuffling as best he could. Steve looked around, setting his sights on the nearest car. What was one more count of grand theft auto on his record? He didn't even worry if anyone was watching, walking right up to the driver's side and ramming his elbow through the window.

"Whoa!" Steve stuck his hand into the opening, unlocking the doors. Dustin scrambled into the backseat, letting Steve set Eddie up against him.

"Keep him upright," Steve directed, squeezing under the steering wheel to get to the wires connected to the ignition.

"How do you know how to do that?" Dustin asked in wonder, watching him pull and twist the different cords.

"I paid attention," Steve muttered, feeling his heart skip a beat as the car roared to life. Dustin cheered as Steve climbed into the driver's seat and floored it. The hospital was ten minutes away, but Steve was going to get there in five.

Steve kept flicking his eyes to the rearview mirror, checking on how things were going in the back. Dustin had all of his attention locked on Eddie, who had his head resting against Dustin's shoulder. Dustin wasn't panicking, so Eddie was still alive, but Steve wished he could be the one checking to make sure. But getting to the hospital was more important than settling his nerves.

Steve didn't even bother trying to park in a real spot, stopping the car right in front of the emergency room entrance. He smashed his fist into the horn, making as much noise as possible to get anyone out who could help. A few angry looking orderlies stormed out, looking ready for a fight. But once they caught sight of the scene in the car, they changed their tune.

It was chaos after that, with doctors and nurses running around and yelling things that Steve couldn't understand. He stood to the side of it all with Dustin, making sure they weren't in the way of anything important. Eddie was still alive when they got him strapped down on a gurney and wheeled him in and Steve finally let out the breath that had been trapped in his throat from the moment he'd come upon the scene in the trailer park. Eddie was in the best place he could be at the moment and there was nothing else he could do.

"Come on!" Dustin urged, pulling Steve's arm as he walked toward the hospital entrance. Steve took a step, before everything suddenly came crashing down on him. He stumbled, dropping to his knees before he could stop himself. Dustin started yelling, but Steve couldn't make out anything he was saying. His vision swam as he tipped to one side, falling heavily into Dustin's chest. Dustin's screams melded into the ringing in his ears that Steve hadn't noticed before now. They'd gotten countless miracles to get to this point, but maybe they had come at a cost. And as Steve's eyes drifted shut, he realized he didn't mind if he was the one who ended up having to pay up.