Later that evening Steve was back in his bed. There was a marked difference though. Everybody had crowded around to watch. Steve tried to ignore them and closed his eyes, Eddie's jacket in one hand, necklace in the other, trapped between his and Eleven's hands.
"Ready?" He asked and she nodded. He sighed and tried to relax. Unfortunately, nobody else seemed to understand and the silence was punctuated with whispers. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes to glare at them. "You know, Eleven's right. I need quiet."
"Sorry." Everybody left the room except Eleven and Robin.
Steve looked at them both. "No talking."
Eleven handed him a pair of headphones. "It's easier."
With them firmly in place to muffle any conversations from downstairs, Steve found it easier to drift off.
"Steve… Steve!" His eyes snapped open at the sound of Eddie's voice and he sat up slowly. Eddie was sitting in the chair at the end of the bed, looking hopeful. "So?"
"Eleven's coming." Steve jumped up and grabbed his hand, going downstairs to the darkened living room. "She'll help."
"How?"
"Wait a second." Closing his eyes, Steve focused on trying to find Eleven. He could sense… something. A moment later a small hand slipped into his and when he looked down, Eleven smiled back at him. "Hey."
"Hi." She looked at Eddie and gave him a bright smile. "It's nice to meet you, Eddie."
He stared at them both wide-eyed. "Holy shit."
"Dude, she's fourteen."
"Sorry, sorry." He hastily apologised but then he was grinning. "This is happening, isn't it?"
Eleven pulled Steve to the front door and opened it. "It's dark."
"Yeah." Steve looked at the blackness and sighed. "Can you sense anything?"
"I can see, can't you?"
Steve tried harder and this time, the darkness shifted. It was almost fluid. Still, he couldn't see through it and shook his head. "There's a veil?" Eleven squeezed his hand, fingers brushing his wrist and it was like an electric shock, a vision, maybe a memory, slammed into his head so hard it left him gasping.
He was sitting in a chair, a child probably because everything looked bigger. There was a man next to him, Dr Brenner his mind supplied. He was talking but the words came out fuzzy. Something about danger, emotional states and they were going to block him? Suddenly there was a sharp pain at the back of his neck and Steve slapped a hand to it, bringing himself back to the present.
"They… they did something to me. Something to make it stop." He whispered, fingers tracing where a fine scar usually resided just below his hairline. "Do you know what?"
"Soteria. I'll be back." In a blink, she vanished.
Steve stumbled, out of balance without her presence and Eddie caught him. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, I'm just trying to get a grip on this whole you have powers thing." He met Eddie's astonished gaze with a small smile. "Yeah, tell me about it. I'm like Eleven apparently. But they decided I was a failure? I'm not sure, doubt I'll ever know. Suppose I should be glad they didn't kill me."
"You can… do things?"
"I don't know. Maybe? Something's wrong though, I can't use my powers. Eleven knows what's wrong so she'll fix it I think. When she does… I'll be able to find you."
"So can you levitate shit?"
"No."
"That'd be cool."
"Not yet," He amended.
"So purely hypothetical scenario here but… when you pinned me down on the sofa that was hot. Now… if you threw me on the bed with psychokinesis I'd probably cream my pants."
"Jesus Christ, what happened to you being all shy and embarrassed."
"Well, now I know you have the hots for me I'm gonna lay it all on the table," Eddie smirked and Steve would never admit how flustered that made him. "Which includes a lot of dirty fantasies I hope you're up to fulfilling."
Steve swallowed, regained his composure and managed an easy smile as he tugged on a lock of Eddie's hair. "Whatever you want, Eds. I'll get on my knees as soon as we're out of here." He almost laughed as Eddie's expression changed between several different emotions, finally settling on something close to neutral. He leaned in close, voice dropping to a whisper. "You wanna take my virginity?"
This time, Eddie choked. He flipped Steve off as he bent over, coughing. Finally, he straightened up and opened his mouth, presumably to say something to embarrass Steve but a sharp pain at the back of his neck made Steve gasp and slap a hand there. "What's wrong?!"
"I don't know!" There was nothing there but Steve could feel it. Somebody was digging around in his neck.
A small hand reappeared in his and Eleven smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. I'm keeping you here. Dad is taking out the Soteria."
"Soteria?" He relaxed as Eddie took his other hand.
"It's blocking you. Makes you weak. You'll be able to see." She pointed through the open door into the darkness. "Not much longer."
Steve felt something being pulled from his neck and again slapped his hand there, only to find nothing was wrong. He was sure it was a different story in the real world. "Steve?" Eddie asked softly. "You doing okay?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm good."
"Look." Eleven tugged on his hand and pointed outside again.
So Steve looked. It was still dark outside but he could see the red sky, lightning illuminating the floating particles in the air. "The Upside Down," He whispered, turning to grab Eddie. "You're still in the Upside Down!"
"W-What? But there's nothing out there?"
"It's like there's a veil around the house or something. That's why the house is weird, it's stuck in the past!" The layout, stupid carriage clock, the water bottles, all of it. "It's why there's no power. We can come get you."
Eleven tugged on his hand. "We should go. It will get dark soon. Do you want to wait until tomorrow?"
"No, even if it's dark I'm going." She smiled and let go. In a blink, she vanished and Steve turned to Eddie. "I'm coming, the real me."
"No more weirdly perfect Steve?" Eddie touched his side and smiled. "We'll match."
"I have to go." Steve hugged him tightly. "Next time you see me, I'll be knocking on the door."
"Is that a promise?"
"Yes." Eddie nodded but Steve could feel his hands trembling against his back. "Just a few hours and I promise, you won't be alone again."
"Get going already, Harrington."
Steve pulled back and smiled. "I'll see you soon." And he kissed Eddie chastely before opening his eyes back in the real world. It was scary how easy it was to come back to himself without some external force waking him. Slowly, he sat up and wiped his face clean. Eleven had left the room, leaving behind an anxious-looking Robin. "He's in the Upside Down."
"W-what? But… why hasn't he communicated? I mean, the lights!"
"I don't know. Something's off about it but it's definitely the Upside Down. We'll figure it out when we get there."
"Get there?" Robin followed him out into the hallway. "Slow down a second. Steve!" He stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to her. "We're just going back? No planning, no prep or anything?"
"I'm not waiting another damn second. We know where Eddie is and it's about time we got him back." Steve grabbed his bat at the bottom of the stairs and pulled on his shoes. As he opened the door though it was slammed shut. Turning, he saw Eleven and everyone else crowded behind her. "Are we going or not?"
"What about a plan?" Mike asked.
Dustin beat him to it. "Who cares about a plan? Steve knows where Eddie is so let's go get him!"
"We should at least be prepared." Joyce blocked the door and held up a finger as they went to object. "Weapons, protection, an idea of what we're going to walk into. No exceptions. Eddie can wait at least another hour. And you need to rest, we did pull something out of your neck."
Steve recognised the logic in this and became aware of the stinging pain in his neck. He didn't want anyone to get hurt rescuing Eddie. So he steeled himself and turned to the kids. "You're staying here." He gave them his best stern expression, hands on hips - his mom stance Dustin would call it - and waiting for the shouts of indigence to die down before continuing, "Eddie wouldn't want any of you to get hurt. Besides, the fewer of us the better. We don't want Vecna to notice us."
"He's right," Robin added. "Do you want more demobats attacking? Eddie's probably very weak and not up for a fight."
"You can't expect us to just wait!"
"Fine, fine! You can wait at the gate but you're not coming through." Hopper sighed in exasperation. "Now can we go before it gets dark? I'm not walking about after curfew, it's there for a reason."
Half an hour later they were piling into Hopper and Nancy's cars and driving to the Creel House as it was the closest gate.
Max stayed behind in the car with Lucas. "I'll say hello out here. I don't want to go back in there."
Steve hugged her and nodded. "Sure thing. We'll be back soon."
The others were forced to stay outside with her as per Hopper's instructions. After a call with the General, they were allowed through by the soldiers and up to the attack. In the end, Jonathan, Nancy and Joyce agreed to stay by the gate and protect it whilst Steve, Robin, Hopper and Eleven went ahead.
"So how far to your house?" Hopper asked, sidestepping a vine and helping Eleven over it. "Will Eddie be able to make it back?"
"Ten minutes maybe? He's fine, well, he can move around and I'm sure he can make it to the gate. Might need a doctor to look at him though." Steve led the way down the street towards his house.
They had to wait inside a rusted van as a swarm of bats flew by. Steve watched as they circled the centre of the town and flew in the opposite direction, away from them. Robin poked her head out and sighed in relief. "No bat rabies today."
"I never got rabies, you know."
"That we know of." Robin grinned and jumped down to help Eleven out. "You're a bit more aggressive."
"Yeah, nothing to do with nobody believing me about Eddie," Steve muttered back and he tightened his grip around the bat. "Come on, I promised we wouldn't be long."
"Let's take it slow in case those bats come back," Hopper warned and Eleven nodded.
"They're searching."
"For what, us?"
"Maybe. Not sure."
"Eddie?" Robin asked, casting a worried glance at Steve. "If Vecna knows he's alive, he'll be looking for him too."
"Why hasn't he found him then?" Hopper asked.
"Steve," Eleven answered simply. "Steve is protecting him."
"Right." Looking thoroughly unconvinced they continued forward.
Steve's heart was practically coming out of his mouth as they entered his street. He could see his house and swallowed thickly, wiping his sweaty hands against his jeans. The house looked remarkably ordinary for the Upside Down which surprised Steve and also worried him. What if Eddie wasn't here?
Ringing the doorbell, Steve opened the door as it echoed around the house but there was no answering call. "Eddie?" Still nothing. "Something's wrong. Let's split up and find him."
Five minutes later they grouped in the kitchen without Eddie. Steve was standing very rigid, jaw clenched as he fought not to show his disappointment. He'd been so sure Eddie was here... but he wasn't.
"Steve," Eleven took his hand. "He's here. I can feel him."
"Where?"
She closed her eyes to concentrate then slowly lead him to the living room and pointed at the sofa. "Here. He's waiting for you."
Steve stared at the empty sofa. "Residual self-image," He whispered, turning to look at Hopper and Robin's confused faces. "Eddie's here but not his body. He's separated like when I sleep or Eleven remote walks. We need to find his body."
"It could be anywhere. How do we find him?" Robin asked worriedly, staring at the sofa with wide eyes. "Can he hear us?"
"I don't know." Steve took out Eddie's necklace and focused on the sofa. After a moment, like a VHS tape clearing up, he could just make out Eddie sitting chewing on his fingernails nervously. "No, he doesn't know we're here."
Without thinking he reached out to touch Eddie. His fingers barely made contact with his shoulder when his senses were assaulted. He was no longer in his house or with the others but somewhere else. Looking around, he spotted the Welcome to Forest Hills Trailer Park sign down the road and turned to look at the jumble of trailers. There, halfway across the lot, he could see something on the ground.
"Eddie?"
A loud screeching brought him back to reality and he stumbled backwards into Hopper's firm grip. "We have to go!"
Disorientated, Steve allowed himself to be dragged from the house as the wailing, shrieking noises continued. Looking back he saw a swarm of bats circling the house and his stomach contracted with fear. "Wait! We can't leave Eddie in there!"
"Vecna knows we're here, we can't stay!"
Finally coming back to his senses, Steve struggled free. "I'm not leaving! Not until I find Eddie!"
"You want to get yourself killed? Wherever he is, he's safe for now, unlike us." One of the bats swooped down and Eleven quickly dispatched it. "We are leaving! Robin, grab his other arm."
"Sorry, Steve." With both of them holding him down, he had no choice but to get dragged along. As they stumbled up the path to the Creel house more bats attacked but Eleven held them back.
"Jim, the gate!" Joyce called, opening the door as they ran inside.
"The soldiers will kill them if they get through!"
Steve panicked as they reached the attic. "I can't-"
"Don't start, kid." Hopper and Jonathan had him by both arms now and Steve really began to struggle. Despite his best efforts, they were stronger. "We'll come back."
"No, no! Let me go!"
"Steve," Nancy was at his side, talking fast but soothingly. "We can't help him right now. We need a plan."
Eleven took Joyce's hand and with a sad smile they both jumped through the gate, Robin close behind them. "Go, Nance," Jonathan panted. "We're right behind you."
She too gave Steve one last look before disappearing. Steve redoubled his efforts to get loose. They were mere inches from the gate now, one step away. "Get off!" Steve felt the panic inside him reach a crescendo and then it exploded out, knocking the two from him. Both were stunned and he took his chance, stooping to grab his bat. As he straightened he met Jonathan's wide eyes. "I'm not leaving without Eddie."
"Don't you dare-" Hopper was struggling to his feet but Steve was already running down the stairs. "Harrington!"
He burst through the front door and took off as fast as he could run. At the end of the street, he stopped to look back. The bats were still swarming around the house but none had moved to follow him, not yet at least. Feeling eyes on him, Steve continued at a jog towards the main road into Hawkins. The trailer park was on the other side of the town and it would take a while to reach it.
If he made it at all.
