Eddie biked like hell to get the bats away from the trailer, away from Dustin and Nicole. He was done hiding and he was running away in a sense, but he was running so he could fend off the bats. What ever happened to not wanting to be the hero he thought as he biked and could hear the blood curling screeches of the bats behind him. He knew damn well why, to protect Nicole. Eddie swore to Simone that he would protect her and he vowed to himself when he first made love to Nicole that he was always going to love her. It was that love that made him get on that bike so he could give her a head start to run. Her life matter so much more to him and he prayed he could return to her in one piece. The Upside Down was ravaging in thunder and lightning, the sky becoming more red and dark as moments passed. He had given his greatest show he would ever perform but deep down he hoped it wouldn't be his last. This couldn't be the end as he had so much to live for, including a lovely if conformist family life with Nicole. When they got out of here, he was going to promise and swear to Nicole he would marry her. No other woman in this world would ever compare to the sheer bravery, heart, and mind Nicole has and he was lucky he had her.

He didn't want to die here, he couldn't die here. He kept repeating those words over and over to himself, but fear crept in as one of the demobats finally caught up to him and bashed him off his bike. For kind of small demonic hell spawn incarnate of bats, they were dense and forceful little fuckers.

"Shit!" he cursed.

He started to run on foot, swarms of the bats gaining on him but he knew he had to fend them off. This would be shame in running and he knew it. He wasn't Eddie the self-exiled, but Eddie the warrior and Eddie the hero, Nicole's hero. He wanted to give as much time as he could and he was for hell going to do that...perhaps even if it killed him but hoped that maybe it would just be heavily wounded. Eddie grabbed his shield and his 'sword' and got into position.

"Alright you fuckers, it's all of you against me. Come and get it! Come on you little shits!" he yelled.

At first he seemed to be doing well as each hit was knocking down a bat to the ground with a loud screech. However more and more were swarming and it seemed like more were coming. His face fell a bit as some started to dive bomb in his hair. Some nipped at his head and arms but he wasn't going to let them win. He swatted them away and slashed the sky with an overhead swing. That must have taken down at least ten of them but more seemed to be encircling him. He felt a stray tear fell and it was dawning on him that this wasn't going to end well for him. It was like he had rolled a solid 2, the damage on these bats were going to be an all out onslaught to kill him. Eddie was cynical and knew this was the end, but at least the others were going to kill Venca and that he saved Dustin and Nicole. He was going to go down swinging until his last breath and his last pump of his heart. He staggered backwards and felt a bit of blood spilling. Shit, it was game over.

"Screech!" the bats chimed.

He closed his eyes but he couldn't feel the bats rampaging him anymore. Carefully, he opened his eyes and saw the bats were in a trance. Eddie was confused. What was causing the bats to stop their aggressions on him. More and more bats shifted their attention from Eddie to something or someone in the distance…back towards the trailer. He was at a loss until some very familiar guitar chords….Crazy Train and his heart dropped. No no no he thought in absolute horror. The bats screeched in agony and in anger as they flew up into the sky and were flying back towards the sound of a guitar.

"Nicole!"

He staggered his way to the bike and despite the pain he was feeling from the multiple gashes and bites from the bats, he needed to get back to Nicole. Why…why….why he thought as he pedaled as hard as he could. At that moment he recalled Nicole's sweet words telling him

'I love you'.

"Baby, I'm coming. Please god don't let anything happen to her, please!"

He kept on pedaling, praying, and hoping to God or whatever higher power was watching that he would make it in time to either stop Nicole or save her from certain death.


Nicole knew she was going off the rails on this crazy train that was her life right now. No going back, she was committed and the bats would be getting a second show from her. She was focused on playing and she sang the song to calm herself despite the sheer danger she was putting herself in. Crazy Train, a song that brought her and Eddie together. It was the song she was humming absentmindedly to herself, thinking know one in the small town would know or appreciate it. But she had found someone, Eddie Munson and it was that wonderful, unique, and downright kick ass man that she was staking her own life for. He'd saved her multiple time; from despair, from loneliness, and from literally drowning to death at Lover's Lake. How could she claim to be not like the other girls if Eddie always had to save her. She wanted to save him the only way she knew how; playing Crazy Train like a manic in the Upside Down while it was storming like hell to make sure the bats didn't maul him to death.

"Mental wounds not healing! Life's a bitter shame! I'm going off the rails on a crazy train! I'm going off the rails on a crazy train!" Nicole sang as she focused on the sky.

Her movements were shift and soon she could hear faint screeching approaching from the distance. Her blood was turning cold and could feel sweat dripping down her body in terror. Shit those bats were faster than the first time during the Master of Puppets performance. She wondered if they had already gotten a taste of Eddie's blood and she was royally pissing them off now from disturbing them meal. As she played, a cold shiver went down her spine and she perhaps should just give up and retreat to the real world with Dustin. No, that would be cowardly and she didn't want Eddie to be killed. If she stopped, she sealed Eddie's fate and she didn't want to have his life end. She had too much hope for them and a future she could imagine living with Eddie. He was her soulmate and she was going to do her fucking hardest to save him.

"Nicole! The bats are coming! You don't have a lot of time!" she managed to hear Dustin during a lull in the song.

Call her brave, stubborn, reckless, stupid or any other adjective in the book, she was going to see this through. They had to cut Master of Puppets short and she wasn't going to stop until Eddie was safe and when she was done. When she got to the second verse, she thought of her Uncle Rudy the pastor and fools like Jason Carver. They would never understand who she truly was and she wanted to live her own life and not what they or anything thought her life should be. If she truly listened, she wouldn't be here at this moment but she found it noble being a guitar goddess to save Eddie and to buy Steve and her sister some time to kill Venca. They needed all their attention on Venca and not have to worry about the bats returning to roost and protect their master. This was her moment she thought and she was living the role she was giving herself. It was coming up, the solo that inspired her, that motivated her, that changed the course of her life, the solo that made her fall in love with heavy metal. She smiled as she sang,

"I know that things are going wrong for me! You gotta listen to my words! Yeah!"

She played the notes that were ingrained in her memory, playing them flawlessly even with her less dominant hand. Nicole let the music consume her, as if she could feel the energy of the Upside Down compelling her to play. Eddie had his moment and now she had hers as she played out the rocking solo. In the distance, she could hear the bats screeching and the wings flapping. They were enraged, they were angry, they wanted vengeance and they wanted her blood.

"Nicole, we gotta get out of here! They are coming! Get down, you have about 45 seconds!" Dustin yelled.

She looked at where the bats were and thought she could give Eddie a bit more time to recover and to distract them more. Nicole took a deep breath and vowed to finish the song as she finished the last verse of the song.

"Nicki! You're not going to have the time to finish! Get down here please!" Dustin yelled.

Nicole looked down to Dustin and cracked a tiny smile. A stray tear fell but she needed to finish. A good performer and a good bard's work wasn't done until the song was dumb. It was going to be that mindset that might kill her, just like it almost always did in D&D. Lucas always told her she was crazy and this moment all but confirmed that she truly was crazy to the core. Yet by always some sheer luck or miracle she pulled through so maybe someone would be looking out for her. Foolish yes but she couldn't give up. She didn't know how injured Eddie was and just hoped her actions would be the difference between his life and his death.

"Mental wounds not healing!

Who and what's to blame?!

I'm going off the rails on a crazy train!

I'm going off the rails on a crazy train!

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Nicole looked up to the sky and she knew the bats were mere moments away as Nicole placed the Warlock guitar on her back. She got her shield and ax ready and cursed,

"Come and get me you blood-sucking fuckers! I'll take you just like Ozzy! Come at you!"

The bats let out a chorus of screams as they dived bombed on her. If Eddie was out of his depths fighting them, Nicole was sure as hell out of her league. She was mostly on the defensive with shield bashes and missing her ax swings. Some did fall but they were only stunned and not killed as Eddie and Dustin were able to do back at the trailer. One of the bats got past her shield and dug its fangs at Nicole's neck. She let out a loud blood curdling scream as she tried to get the bat off her in a panic. Her guard was down and Nicole knew she was screwed. More bats lunged at her, feasting on her head and bashed her hands so she dropped her ax. Dustin saw the ax fall to his feet from above and his stomach sank.

"Nicole! No!"

Nicole did the best she could with her bare hands, but it did more damage to her than it did the bats. It pissed them off more than anything and they were gnawing at her neck. She tried to scream but to her horror, she couldn't hear anything coming out and felt streams of blood falling down from her neck.

"Nicole!"

Nicole was able to see faint figures from beyond the bats and she was able to see Eddie. He was alive, bloodied, bruised, and bitten, but he was alive. She did it she thought. This gave her just enough strength and adrenaline to rip the bats off her neck, slug the bats that were near her, and did her best to shield herself from what she was planning to do.

From the ground Eddie could see that Nicole was going to charge down off the trailer and he braced himself to catch her. Nicole used her remaining strength to break through the swarming spiral of demobats and jump off the trailer. She was bracing herself for a rough landing on the ground in case she missed or misjudged the jump, but instead she felt herself crashing onto Eddie and gently placed her on the ground. Dustin ran by them, taking off his coat to use to stop Nicole's bleeding. Nicole cupped Eddie's neck happily with a smile, tearing softly. She tried to speak but Eddie yelled,

"Don't speak now okay! God why Nicole why!"

Nicole simply put a hand on his cheek, giving him his answer with warm and tearful eyes. Eddie was crying and he was fearing the worst. He was trying to save her, but she wanted to save him. His life wasn't nearly worth hers and now he was worried that they were both going to die. Dustin continued to apply pressure on Nicole's neck, hoping the bleeding would stop and that Nicole's damaged vocal cords weren't permanent. Eddie used his whole body to become a shield for Dustin and Nicole when suddenly the bats were screeching….in agony. They all looked to see the bats exploding, crashing down in a fiery blaze, or dropping dead to the ground. Nicole was able to see this and smiled as they gave Nancy, Steve, Simone, and Robin the time they needed. They did it she thought.

Eddie noticed it but he wasn't so focused on that as much as his girlfriend. He took her pulse and she was still fighting, it was oddly strong and maybe, just maybe they would have the time to save her. Dustin was sobbing as he was putting as much pressure on her neck as possible to stop the bleeding. Eddie placed his hands on his neck to stop the bleeding, taking off his bandana to help soak up the blood.

"Why Dustin….why didn't she take you back to the real world. Why?"

Dustin sniffled and he first looked to Eddie, then Nicole, then back to Eddie.

"It's all my fault. I convinced her to help me get you back, to save you. We both love you Eddie and there was no way we wanted you life to end. You were being stupid! Steve told us all to abort when it went south. We had done our part!" Dustin defended.

"How is this better!? Instead of my life being risked, we risked Nicole's! You risked Nicole's!" Eddie yelled in anger.

"Look, we both didn't want you to risk your life! Nicole didn't want you to always be the one to save her, she wanted to save you just as much, if not more! She loves you, more than anything in this world. She wants a life with you, one with a family and perhaps kids!"

Eddie looked at Nicole and she nodded a bit weakly in agreement at Dustin's statement. He saw her putting up fingers, five to be exact. At first, Eddie was at a loss. Five, five what? Nicole looked to be silently laughing as she placed the five on her stomach and his eyes widened.

"R-Really Nicki? Five…five children? You really want me to spread my Munson seed, don't you?" He managed to joke while still crying.

Nicole mouthed,

'I'm just that crazy, crazy in love with you."

Dustin sobbed since that was so beautiful. Eddie and Dustin didn't give up and continued to apply pressure on her neck carefully. Moments passed and soon they were able to get the bleeding to stop.

"We need to get her out of here, to a hospital. I'm not sure how long she can be like this. We need to make sure she's okay and gets medical attention. She's going to need surgery and medicine." Dustin told Eddie.

Eddie nodded and carefully held Nicole in his arms. He kissed the top of her head and Nicole's smile was starting to fade and her eyes were slowly closing.

"Nicki! Don't you dare close those eyes yet! Fight through the pain! We're going to get you help! Hang on sweetheart! Hang on so I can marry you and you can have as many children you want okay! Don't you dare die on me!" Eddie yelled.

Nicole's eyes snapped open and clung on to Eddie as he helped her to get back to their world with Dustin before the portal closed. Now comes the most important objective; saving Nicki.


Never see many fan fics where the OC goes to these sort of extremes. I had this idea from the very conception of making this story since Eddie's death the show shook me as much as it does all of you. Now more will come since we should see how the story will unfold in the Venca aftermath. He's dead and gone, but what will Nicole's fate be? Simone will be pissed and deeply upset that's for sure that her baby sister is in this state but Nicole is so devoted to Eddie like Eddie is to her. Feedback is always nice. Much love and more to come.