Eddie got Nicole and Dustin into his van and he drove like hell. His feet floored the gas pedal, hands were tight on the steering wheel, and he wasn't going to stop until he brought Nicole to safety. Dustin was in the back with Nicole and he looked at the mauling her throat went through. It was ravaged, multiple bite marks littered her neck, and there was no way this wasn't going to scar. Nicole was in intense pain and clung on to her neck. She tried to speak but no voice came out to her horror. Dustin took her hand and gave it a light squeeze for comfort. Nicole was strong, she needed to be strong.

"Don't worry Nicki, you're going to be okay." Dustin spoke, trying to calm her down.

Nicole felt herself crying at her mangled vocal chords and she motioned it to Dustin with pained eyes. He knew what Nicole was pantomiming, how would she go on as a singer? How would she accomplish her dreams to sing now? Dear god she hoped they weren't severed. She felt woozy and light headed, so much blood, so much she thought and her head was spinning. Dustin checked over her neck and it was bleeding out again. Oh no he thought as he scrambled to get something to cover Nicole's neck.

"Eddie step on it! She's bleeding out again!" Dustin yelled.

Eddie slammed his hand on the steering wheel as he peeked in the back to see Nicole's neck was bleeding again. She couldn't lose much more or she was going to die. Shit! Fuck he thought as he could feel his blood pumping and stress coursing in his veins. He couldn't break down, he needed to keep going for Nicki.

"Then apply some more pressure Henderson! We can't lose her! We're almost there! God please hang in there for me Nicki!"

They were so focused on getting Nicole to the hospital they ignored their walkie talkie. Eddie sniffled a bit and he was hoping he would make it in time. He couldn't lose Nicole, he couldn't lose his girlfriend, his dearest and true love. When they got to the hospital, Eddie slammed open the back of his van and took Nicole in his arms. He was working on pure adrenaline to get Nicole into the hospital and clung onto her. He didn't care if he made a scene, a scene would actually be perfect as he kicked the hospital door open.

"We need a doctor! My girlfriend is bleeding to death! Hurry your asses and save her please!" Eddie yelled.

A nurse noticed him and quickly motioned staff to get a gurney for Nicole. Eddie placed her down and was soon greeted by two doctors. They were horrified by all the blood and how beaten up Eddie looked. Something serious had to have happened and checked over Nicole's pulse. Nurses were already covering her neck to stop the bleeding and were doing routines. They made note of her lacerated vocal chords and the fact Nicole was starting to lose consciousness.

"What happened?" the older one asked.

Eddie sniffled and he lied,

"Nicole and I were out camping and we were exploring some caves. We accidentally disturbed a bat colony and she got the worst of it. She's A positive, please help my Nicole."

The older doctor was a bit unconvinced by the story but the young one, Dr. Clarke told him,

"We have to get more blood into her, she's lost too much. Once that's done we need to look over her neck and see if we can repair the damage to her vocal chords. If the correct procedures and surgeries are done, we will be able to save her and recover her vocals. Do you hear us Nicole and understand?" Dr. Clare expressed.

Nicole nodded as some nurses took her away to the ER for blood transfusions and for her eventual surgery. They couldn't waste anymore time and the pit in Eddie's stomach grew as they took her away. Eddie felt his whole body collapse as he fell to his knees and was hoping they got her here on time. Dustin joined Eddie inside and helped him off the floor. They got him into the waiting room and Eddie couldn't help but bury his face in his hand. Dustin got out the walkie talkie from his pocket and got in touch with the others.

"Hey." he spoke weakly.

"Thank fucking god Henderson! We were worried sick! Where the hell did you, Eddie, and Nicole go?" Steve asked.

Dustin got a bit choked up and started to cry a bit. He sniffled and finally was able to sob out,

"The hospital."

The walkie went radio silent for a moment. It was deafening since they as well as the others hoped no one would be injured or dead.

"Dustin…who the hell is in the hospital." Nancy asked.

Dustin couldn't answer, even more so when Simone got on and asked in a yell,

"Dustin, why are you at the hospital? Who. Is. Hurt!?"

"Is everyone else okay?" Dustin asked, trying to buy time.

"Yeah sure is. Somehow El was able to like piggyback off Max in her trance and was able to kick Venca's ass in the mind world. We all killed Venca in Upside down and saw that it spanned to his monsters too. Max is safe, we're safe. Everyone else is safe. The portals are closed and the Upside Down is no more. We did it." Robin rambled with excitement.

"Don't be to excited Robin. Yes Nancy, you, me and Steve took down Venca's ass but clearly something's horribly wrong. Now Dustin tell us, why are you at the hospital is it Eddie or…."

Eddie took the walkie from Dustin and ran his fingers in his hair in a frazzled motion. He wiped the tears from his eyes and sniffled.

"I tried to protect her. I was trying to buy you all more time and save her but…she wanted to save my ass. It's Nicole, god damn Nicole should have left with Dustin like I told." Eddie answered with his voice slightly breaking from the sadness her felt.

Eddie could hear the walkie on Simone's end drop and it took some time before someone picked it up. He could hear Simone crying hysterically and begging that Nicole wasn't hurt, that her sister couldn't be dying in the hospital.

"We're all going to stop by man okay. Don't you or Dustin leave without us okay?" Steve told him.

"Yeah, I'm not leaving. To hell with that idea. We will see you all soon."

The radio went silent and Eddie couldn't help but feel on edge and upset. Nicole truly must have loved him but he worried that her devotion was going to cost her life. No, don't think like that Eddie told himself since Nicole was stronger than she appeared. Dustin could see Eddie was trying so hard to be strong and Dustin was also worried for Nicole. He needed to make Eddie calm or at least, have him hope in a positive way.

"So…now you know Nicole wants kids and a lot of them." Dustin said, trying to cheer Eddie up.

Eddie managed to laugh a bit softly but also smile tenderly at that.

"Yeah…she wants five kids…wow I'm surprised she loves me that much. I mean I would be okay with two kids someday, maybe three but she wants five kids. Least she's not as crazy as Harrington who wants six with his future wife…still think it would be Nance and I would wager that for sure."

Dustin smiled a bit and saw Eddie stroking one of his rings. It was a torn looking gold like ring with an onyx like stone and was fiddling with it nervously. Eddie always wore that ring like his other heavy metal rings, but he saw Eddie remove it and look it over with careful and soft eyes. They might be young, but their love was going to be forever he thought, stroking the crude stone on it.

"You know Dustin…this whole Vecna shit changed all of us. Most often say having a relationship within a band is destructive and you know, I sometimes worried if Nicole and I could last. However, seeing how we both were willing to die for the other and how Nicole performed Crazy Train to save my ass…I know we're always going to have that love for each other. When she gets through this…I'm going to give her this ring as a promise that I am so going to marry her someday. I'm never going to find a woman that could hold a candle to her Dustin and I know it. Yeah this might be some conformist promise ring shit but I want to tell her I'm in this until the end." Eddie spoke softly.

Dustin smiled at that and patted his arm. He saw just how kindred he and Nicole truly were. Both had this metal spirit and a deep loyalty to those they loved. Dustin also felt it was his fault that Nicole was here as he prodded her to save Eddie.

"You know, I'm not completely mad at you Dustin. If you were still in this reality while Nicole was performing in the Upside Down on her own…she could have been dead. You took care of her and helped to stop the first onslaught of blood bleeding out."

"I wasn't going to leave her, Eddie. She's like the cool older sister I always wanted and I would be ashamed if I didn't help her after convincing her to get you back and save you."

Sister he thought and his stomach dropped. Simone was going to fucking kill him. She had told him to protect her sister and he swore he was…It's just that Nicole truly loved him like Juliet did Romeo. Unlike Juliet, she did a badass concert to get the bats away from him. He would have been one more gash to the neck from death and left Nicole with a broken heart.

"Yeah I just hope Simone…Simone's going to kill me man."

Dustin was about to reassure him when the hospital doors slammed open and they heard a hysterical,

"EDWARD MUNSON!"

Eddie gulped as he saw Simone in full blown tears go up to him and placed her hands aggressively on his shoulders. She slapped him and shook him, breaking down and bawling heavy tears. Simone's eyes were red, cheeks were stained, and her body was shaking in anger.

"I TOLD YOU TO WATCH OVER MY SISTER AND PROTECT HER! SHE SHOULDN'T BE HERE EDDIE, SHE SHOULDN'T, SHE SHOULDN'T! She exclaimed, sobbing profusely.

She was soon joined by Robin, Steve, and the others and Robin had to be the one to try and pull her back. Simone shoved her off and she couldn't stop crying and shaking up Eddie.

"I CAN'T LOSE HER EDDIE, I CAN'T LOSE MY BABY SISTER!"

Eddie frowned as Robin was successful in getting Simone off of Eddie so he can try and explain what happened in the Upside Down to the others. Steve glared at him and stressed,

"I told you all to abort if things got bad. You didn't have to worry for us!" Steve expressed in a whispered yell.

Eddie sighed and stroked the back of his neck.

"If we all left, the bats would have returned to the house. Vecna controls them like he's a puppet master and we…okay I didn't want you to have to face a swarm of bats and Vecna all at once. I made the dumb choice to bike like hell away from the trailer to give you more time. I argued with Dustin and Nicole to return back and wait for us…but Nicole, she wanted to save me."

Steve looked to Dustin and asked,

"Please tell me you tried to stop her."

Dustin hung his head down and shook his head.

"I actually encouraged her to save Eddie. She was very upset Eddie left us to protect everyone and…I convinced her to save Eddie so they could have the life they wanted once this all ended. It's my fault Nicole's in the hospital, not Eddie. Simone please, she's going to be okay." Dustin explained.

He went on to explain what Nicole did and how exactly she saved Eddie and by extension how she ended up in the hospital. Simone was still crying and once she heard that the bats mauled her sister's vocal chords, this only made her cry harder.

"I may never hear her speak again…or worse, she might not make it. Please don't join our parents sis, we still need you…I need you." Simone sobbed.

Robin held Simone in her arms and stroked her back. Nancy raised an eyebrow at how Robin was treating Simone but she decided to maybe ask later. Lucas and Max joined them and Dustin breathed a sigh of relief to see Max was alive and very much well. In fact, looking over everyone else; they mostly looked unharmed. Steve had a slight gash on his head, Simone had some scratches on her face, and Robin had a cut on her cheek; but they were all flesh wounds compared to what Nicole sustained. He looked at Eddie and he was pretty beat up, with puncture and bite marks over his face, and a slight gash on his own neck. It wasn't deep and Nicole had probably acted at the most perfect moment. Blood was caked on Eddie's neck and Hellfire shirt, but it was a badge of honor for his heroics.

"How long ago did they take her?" Steve asked.

"She's been with the doctors for an hour. They need to give her blood and then they are going to have her go through surgery to help fix her vocal chords if it's possible. We're not sure about if the damage is permanent but she couldn't speak when we got her out." Dustin shared.

Simone sniffled and Robin motioned her to walk with her to clear her head. She nodded and they stepped outside for a minute to walk. Robin was worried about Nicole too and she was upset about this whole thing. She knew Simone and Nicole were very close and could see Simone was very distraught.

"Eddie should have just left with them, we had it handled. But because he had to play the hero, Nicole felt like she needed to save him. I love my sister…but she's…she's…"

Simone couldn't finish her thought but Robin knew what she was thinking. They would often talk about how Nicole in her own way was like hers and Simone's mother. Robin often heard stories from Simone about how in love their mother was with their father and how when they could, did anything and everything together. Hopelessly devoted was the term Simone used to describe her mother in a tender way and Nicole was the same with Eddie. It showed in her actions in not wanting to lose him, she pulled off a song in the Upside Down with her right hand to distract the bats off him.

"Honestly, things with Vecna were hairy for a bit. I was worried if Vecna would overpower us; over power you. My mind was set to protect you at all cost so I can understand Nicole's devotion to Eddie. We've only been a couple for a few hours but I would just do anything for you Simone. Honestly and truthfully if it meant you being safe." Robin expressed and rambled sweetly.

Simone glanced at Robin as she wiped a loose tear.

"No way you'd do that for me."

"Of course I would. When you love someone, you'd do anything to love and protect them. Eddie did that and Nicole wanted to do the same. If Vecna was going to do some sort of death strike to make you a kebab or something, I would protect you."

Simone sighed but she did give Robin a hug.

"And I would protect you because you mean so much to me. I'm just hoping this didn't cost Nicole her life…I can't lose her Robin."

Robin hugged her tighter and noticed they were alone. She kissed the top of Simone's head and stroked her cheek.

"Nicole is going to get through this. She's going to get the blood transfusions, have her surgery, and she will be with us. No way if there is a higher power like a god and if your parents are with them that they are just going to let Nicole go. They would want her with all of us, especially her loving and badass sister."

Simone laughed softly at that and Robin added,

"I mean how many women have a katana and can cut down monstrous tentacles from hell? Far as I know, only you."

"You know you can be a dork sometimes?" Simone teased lightly.

"Yes I know, but I am your lovable dork and you're my serene badass girl. Now let's head back and wait for Nicole. I have the utmost faith she's going to make it."

Simone nodded as she walked into the hospital with Robin and sat in one of the hospital chairs. She didn't know how long Nicole would be in surgeries but she was hoping she would survive. The odds could go either way but Simone knew that she could have faith in her sister but it didn't lessen her fears. Simone begged to some higher power, to her late parents, to not take Nicole yet. She had dreams and a life to live, she couldn't be dead and her life couldn't be over.