Hey guys! How's everyone doing today? We have finally arrived at the penultimate chapter of this story and man, what a journey it has been! This chapter took me quite a while to figure out considering it continued the Losers overcoming their own personal fears, the final confrontation with It, and the revelation that It was indeed gone forever.
There were quite a few changes that I've implemented throughout considering the crossover aspect of this fic and there is a lot of focus on each of the Losers throughout, especially Mike cause he deserved his own sequence on overcoming his fear instead of the 'oh, he already overcame it because he's always remembered' bullshit that I don't buy for a second. Also Stan makes a reappearance, since I didn't kill him, because you can't have a Losers vs Pennywise showdown without all of the Losers participating in some way. Anyways, I'm not gonna keep you long here and just end my little tangent now. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter and what I have for you all in it!
Like always, I enjoy comments, in fact I thrive off of positive comments and love constructive critique ones cause it shows an author that their readers are actually paying attention and enjoying their work. Thanks for reading this story! Virtual hugs and cuddles to y'all.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything except any OC's that may come up, any world building that has not yet been officially stated by any medium, and any plot points/structures that have not been used in the movies.
Warning:No beta, we die like canon cause superhero timelines are the worst.
Chapter 14: The End of IT
XXXXXX
Bill bobbed in the water, still trying to comprehend the fact that he was floating in the middle of his childhood house's flooded basement, when he heard footsteps coming from behind him. He turned around to see the 13-year-old version of himself coming down the stairs and stopping at the water's edge.
13 looked at something behind him and Bill wondered what it could be when an all too familiar child's voice spoke sadly.
"I lost her, Billy."
Bill froze at the sound of a voice he thought he would never hear again. He whirled around to see the shadowed silhouette of his younger brother in that damned yellow raincoat standing in the corner.
He gasped quietly in disbelief. "G-G-Georgie?"
"She just floated off," Georgie said as he slowly stepped out into the dim basement light.
"I-I-I'm not m-m-mad at you," 13 stammered in a sorry attempt at being reassuring.
"But it's your fault for what happened to me, isn't it?" Georgie asked innocently though there was a sinister undertone.
Bill's face fell as the memories of that day were finally unlocked from the closet they had been forcefully shoved into, stepping out into the spotlight front and center.
"You weren't really that sick that day, were you?" Georgie asked.
13 hesitated before shaking his head. "No," he softly admitted as his eyes glazed over with tears, "I just p-p-pretended cause I didn't want to play with you."
Georgie didn't say anything or react to 13's admission.
"I just didn't want to," 13 tearfully finished, voice going quiet at the end.
"You lied and I died," Georgie said, matter of fact.
Tears formed in Bill's eyes when he saw his sweet younger brother's face contorted with rage. He turned to see 13 also trying to hold back his own tears as Georgie continued to shout the same five words over and over and over again. Each time he shouted it was like a knife was being driven into Bill's heart repeatedly.
"That's right. You died because of me Georgie. Me," 13 agreed through his tears.
Bill shook his head in denial, stammering, "No, no, no, no, no…"
Then he stopped when he realized he was holding something in his hand. He slowly looked to his left, eyes trailing up his arm to where he saw a yellow raincoat held in his hand that suddenly turned around to reveal the face of a decomposed Georgie.
"Lied and died! Lied and died! Lied and died!" Georgie angrily shouted in accusation.
Bill swiftly moved Georgie into the water and covered his mouth, garbling his little brother's words as he slowly pushed him deeper into the water. He held firm and steady even as small hands grabbed at his arms, trying in vain to remove his hands. He closed his eyes as a tear finally trailed down his face, feeling the life slowly leaving his little brother even if he was just an illusion created by an alien monster.
The air bubbles soon disappeared and the weight in his hands did too, leaving behind a yellow raincoat that slowly sank into the depths until it disappeared from view. Bill let out a choked sob at the empty weight in his hands and the tears began to fall earnestly.
XXXXXX
Bev stood in the stall, her hands pressed against the walls as she desperately searched for a way out. She grabbed at the door and tried to force the lock open but it refused to budge. The door suddenly rattled and she jumped back in fright.
The various voices of childhood bullies and her abusive husband hurled insults and verbal vitriol at her, taunting her about anything and everything it could. How she was ugly, how her red hair was an eyesore, how her designs were trash, how she should be seen and not heard, a submissive toy for other men to play around with and use because that was all she would ever be good for.
She backed away with a whimper and huddled in the corner by the toilet with her hands over her ears, trying to block the voices out as the stall door continuously rattled.
Just as suddenly as it started, the door stopped rattling and the voices were silenced.
For a moment, she thought it was over and was about to have another go at the door when she saw blood pooling at the bottom. She stared at it in confusion which soon turned to horror when blood came rushing into the small stall by the gallons.
She tried to back away from the flood and then hopped on top of the toilet when it reached up to her ankles. She banged desperately on the ceiling and grabbed the top of the stall to push herself up and away from the rising blood.
XXXXXX
Ben flinched when the wood board walls shook violently as dirt slowly filled the underground hideout he abruptly found himself in. He looked for any way out of his situation but the open hatch seemed too high for him to jump for it and there was no ladder or elevated surface in sight.
Then the walls stopped rattling and the dirt stopped flowing. For a moment, he thought he was safe.
Suddenly, the dirt poured in in waves and he shouted helplessly as he was slowly being swallowed by it. He tried to claw his way up and out in a growing panic. He looked up in terror when Pennywise appeared above him, holding the hatch door with a manic grin on Its face.
"All that success, all those sit ups and push ups and pull ups," It taunted, "But deep down inside, still just a fat, fat, fatty loser!" It laughed maniacally. "Always knew he'd die…alone!"
It slammed the hatch door closed over him, trapping him in darkness as dirt continued to fill the hideout and swallow him whole.
Ben screamed out in frustration, fear, and denial.
XXXXXX
Mike stumbled onto the ground and his head shot up when he felt wood instead of rock underneath his hands. He stared in slack jawed shock as he took in his surroundings.
He was in the living room of his childhood home.
He locked onto a nearby table that displayed a single large photo of himself as a small child being lovingly held by his smiling parents. He slowly stood up and moved to walk towards it but stopped when he heard something squeaking behind him. He turned to see a beat up old tricycle slowly wheel its way towards the middle of the living room and he braced himself.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the tricycle caught on fire and it quickly spread throughout the apartment.
XXXXXX
Patty sat by Stan's bedside, dozing away as she lightly held onto her husband's hand.
Stan's hand twitched and she immediately jolted awake, staring at her husband in hope as his hand twitched again and then his facial muscles twitched as well. She thought that he was finally going to wake up.
Then that hope turned to fear when Stan's face twisted and he began to jerk wildly, tossing and turning as the monitors screeched in warning from how his heart rate jumped through the roof in a snap.
Patty cried out as the doctor and nurses rushed into the room. Another nurse gently coaxed her out so as to not get in the way.
She fell to her knees in despair and clasped her hands tightly in prayer, knowing that there was nothing she could do except hope that she would not be watching her beloved Stan die before her very eyes.
XXXXXX
Eddie and Richie run down the tunnel, trying to get as far away from the three doors as quickly as possible. Halfway through, they spot another tunnel that branched off from the one they were in. It was curved in such a way that they wouldn't have realized it was there when they first ran down the tunnel they were in. They made the split second decision to go down the branching tunnel and hope it didn't lead them straight to Pennywise.
Just as they entered the new tunnel, they collided with two solid masses of muscle and fell onto their backs, banging their heads on the ground as a result.
Richie groaned as he grabbed the back of his head in pain. "Did anyone get the license plate of the truck that hit me?"
The two Losers looked up and saw that said 'trucks' were actually a very stressed Erik and bemused Moira who both looked back down at them.
Richie gaped at Moira in surprise. "Okay, Erik I can get cause the man looks like he's as built as a tank but you? Really?"
"I am a federal agent, you know. Being fit is a bare minimum requirement," she wryly said as she reached out to help both him and Eddie up to prove a point.
"You know what, fair enough," he conceded.
"Where is everyone else? Are they down here?" Erik asked, getting straight to business. He made to go down the tunnel Eddie and Richie just came from but they got in his way.
"No, no, no! You do not want to go down there," Richie shouted in warning.
Eddie nodded vigorously and gesticulated wildly with his hands. "There's a bunch of doors and a pair of disembodied dancing legs and a fucking demon dog and uhhh…anyways, point is, don't go down there or the other way cause of the alien tentacle with teeth-"
Moira firmly placed her hands on his shoulders. "Eddie, shut up and breathe."
He obeyed, snapping his mouth shut and then taking very exaggerated deep breaths in and out until he calmed down.
"Alright, we good?" She asked. Upon his nod, "Good. Now what should our next move be?"
Richie looked at her incredulously. "Shouldn't we be asking you that?"
She deadpanned at him. "We literally just arrived on scene and thus have no information on the developing situation at all besides the fact that there is a giant alien clown rampaging in the nearby central cavern and the tunnels were probably where you all were so we went down one and hoped for the best."
Eddie blinked at her in surprise. "Wow, your outsider theory's basically proven if Pennywise ignored you guys running through the cavern."
Erik shook his head. "No, we did not run through the cavern. The exit of the main tunnel was too narrow to not be spotted and we didn't want to take the chance that It might find a way to retaliate."
"Then how the hell did you end up here?" Richie asked in growing confusion.
Moira gestured back at the tunnel she and Erik came through. "There was another tunnel in the main one that you wouldn't have noticed unless you were looking for it."
Richie and Eddie nodded simultaneously in understanding.
"Now that we've established how we got here," she continued, "We need to figure out how to help the others."
"I will go help Bill," Erik stated without room for arguments.
Moira snorted in amusement. "Of course you will. We should probably go back to the entrance of the tunnel you guys came from since that will lead us back to the cavern."
"Why can't we go back through your tunnel?" Eddie asked, clearly not wanting to have a rematch with whatever nightmare fuel It wanted to throw at them next.
Richie nodded eagerly, looking at the agent as if she'd gone crazy. "Yeah, didn't you hear us before? We only ran down here cause we were being chased by a rabid alien tentacle which is totally not as kinky as hentai made it sound."
Eddie glared daggers at him. "Beep beep trashmouth."
He shrugged unapologetically.
"Sorry but no can do guys," Moira interjected as the subjective voice of reason, "Your tunnel is the one with the clear view of the cavern. Ours goes back to the entrance, remember?"
The two Losers shared looks of dejected resignation and sighed.
"Alright, fine. Let's go before my flight response kicks in," Richie reluctantly conceded.
With their next course of action determined, the four of them ran to the entrance of Richie and Eddie's tunnel. When they arrived, they saw Pennywise looking around for the other Losers, angrily glaring down each tunnel and fortunately coming up empty so far.
"So uh, from what I saw, Bill jumped into that pool over there," Eddie pointed at the pool of water all the way across the cavern, "And Mike ducked into a hole over there," he pointed at an outcropping with a deep gouge in the ground not too far from the pool, "And I think Ben and Bev went down there together," he finished, pointing at a tunnel opposite from the pool and outcropping.
Moira nodded as a plan formulated itself in her mind. "Alright then, here's what we're going to do," she said, "I'll go help Mike, Erik will go help Bill, and you two sit tight, stay hidden, and don't do anything stupid."
"Yes ma'am," Richie muttered, completely fine with that course of action.
Moira and Erik moved to leave but Eddie caught her arm. She turned to him and saw his eyes full of concern that just barely managed to outweigh the fear.
"Wait, what about Ben and Bev?"
Moira and Erik shared a look, silent communication and amused smiles passed between them before she turned to Eddie.
"Don't worry. They'll be able to help each other just fine."
Eddie looked at her in bewilderment. "What the hell does that mean?"
But Moira and Erik were already stealthily cutting across the cavern. Pennywise completely ignored their presence as they made their way to their respective target locations.
"What did she mean?" Eddie asked, turning to Richie now that the main recipient of his question had vamanos-ed.
Richie rolled his eyes. "You can't be this blind."
Eddie frowned, almost stomping his foot like a toddler who wasn't getting his way. "What? What am I missing?"
Richie resisted the urge to coo at him and instead, grabbed him by the jacket sleeve to drag them back into the tunnel to hide from view. "Come on, dumbass."
Eddie followed along reluctantly with whispered protests and insults thrown the entire way.
XXXXXX
Bev looked around frantically for a way to escape the flood of blood when she suddenly heard a voice that caused her to freeze. Her heart jack rabbitted in terror and a chill went down her spine.
"Bevy? Can you open up the door for me?" The voice of her father crooned playfully.
She began screaming and shouting, banging on the walls in a wild panic as fear overwhelmed her. The stall door shook violently as her father continued to ask her to open the door.
Ben looked up, straining his ears to hear the echoes of her screams as if they were coming from nearby. He put more effort into his attempts to push himself up above the dirt.
"Beverly!" He shouted as loud as he could, "Can you hear me?"
But Bev didn't respond, too stuck in her head as the desire to escape filled her entire being.
"Come to daddy now," Bev's father purred disgustingly.
"Bev! Don't listen to him!" Ben yelled.
Bev's hold suddenly loosened on the stall walls and she fell into the blood with a scream.
"Bev?! Bev!" Ben cried out in concern.
She resurfaced with a gasp and grabbed hold of the stall walls again.
"Are you still my little girl, Bevy?" Her father asked, tone growing more aggressive when she refused to answer.
"Beverly, I…" Ben called out but hesitated. Then he steeled his resolve and took a shot in the dark. He shouted as loud as he could, "I LOVE YOU, BEV!"
Bev managed to hear him clearly this time.
"Ben?" She asked in confusion and tentative hope.
Ben grinned like a love sick fool, sole attention on her and completely ignoring the dirt still pouring in. "I love your red hair, I love your heart full of fire to match it, I love your smile that can shine so brightly with mischief and confidence, and I love how kind you are, the only one to reach out to a lonely kid, not out of pity but understanding and solidarity."
"Ben…" she murmured, tears gathering in her eyes as she finally dared to hope.
"I love you Beverly Marsh!" Ben cried out to the heavens, "And if you're still anything like the girl I've loved for the past 27 years, you'll never let It win!"
Bev gasped as she was hit with a startling moment of clarity. She looked over to the stall door that was still violently rattling.
"Are you still my little girl, Bevy? Are you still my little girl?" Her father angrily demanded.
Rage filled her, swiftly replacing the fear she had been feeling not even a moment ago. She adjusted her grip on the walls and reared back for a powerful kick.
"I'm NOT your little girl! Not now and not ever again!" She yelled out with the force of all the emotions she'd repressed for 27 years. She kicked the door and shut out the voice of her father for good. But the blood still continued to pour in.
Ben smiled proudly, knowing exactly what she did even though he couldn't see it. Then he finally realized he was almost neck deep in dirt and there was no way he could push himself out, not anymore.
"Your hair is winter fire," he recited, already struggling to speak from the dirt now pouring on him, "January embers. My heart burns there too."
"Ben!" Bev cried out.
She reared back and kicked the door again, trying to force it open. With each hard kick, she shouted out to him.
"Don't you dare give up on me, new kid! You don't get to say all those things and then die, you hear me! You are not dying here today, Ben Hanscom! Not if I have anything to say about it!"
With one last kick, the door was finally forced open and the blood flooded out to reveal Ben sinking deeper into the dirt with only an arm still free.
"Ben!" Bev shouted. She reached out for him as he blindly reached out for her.
With strained effort, the two of them eventually grabbed hold of each other. With a shout, she pulled him up from the dirt and they fell back into the tunnel they were just in.
Ben looked at her like she was the most beautiful person who ever existed despite being covered head to toe in blood. "Bev, I-"
She put a finger up to his lips to shush him. Then touched his face reverently like he held all the answers to the universe. "I know," she said softly, "I love you too, Ben."
He smiled and they looked like they were about to kiss when manic laughter echoed from the cavern. The two shared a look and quickly got up, gunning it out of the tunnel.
XXXXXX
Mike scrambled up from the floor and looked around for a way out of the burning apartment. He made a beeline for the front door that was slightly ajar. He grabbed hold of the doorknob and hissed, quickly releasing it when it burned his hand. He then tried to pry the door open through the slight opening but it seemed to be jammed on something. He looked around frantically but couldn't see the cause of the jam. His heart pounded as he attempted to brute force the door when the heat of the flames grew exponentially.
Then the voices started.
At first it was a whisper that he had to strain his ears to hear.
Then the voices grew louder and louder, until they were shouting at him, pleading with him, and sounding more familiar until he could clearly hear them scream for him to 'open the door, Mikey! Please open the door!'
And it clicked. The voices were his parents from when they desperately pleaded for his toddler self to open the door as they burned alive. Once it registered, the voices began screaming accusations at how he failed them, how he let his parents die.
But Mike was undeterred, having already accepted and grieved and moved on from his parents' death.
"There wasn't anything I could do! I was just a child!" He shouted, standing firm and refusing to bend so easily from It's tricks.
Suddenly, the voices stopped and the flames seemed to dim in temperature and intensity. Mike re-doubled his efforts with the door but then the voices began again. However, they were not of his parents anymore but of his friends.
They accused him of being a coward and leading them to their deaths. And that was when he began to falter, backing away from the door as the flames spread and grew hotter until the only safe space left was the middle of the room.
He dropped to his knees, shaking his head in denial. He placed his hands over his ears as the voices of his friends continued to call him a coward and claim that he killed them.
He wanted everything to just stop.
Then he heard a distant shout and lifted his head in confusion. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw Moira standing before him.
"Moria? Wha- How?"
"I'm an outsider, remember? Nothing It does can affect me," she gently reminded him. She crouched down and put her hands on his shoulders. "And whatever you're seeing, whatever you're hearing, whatever you're feeling…it's not real. None of it is."
She waved a hand out around her at the burning walls of his childhood home, not seeing what he was seeing. "There's just rocks, rocks, and the angry screams of an alien clown. So come on, let's go."
She got up to leave but stopped when she realized Mike wasn't following. She looked at him in confusion. "Come on, what are you waiting for?"
He swallowed thickly before he shook his head. "I can't. I can't go."
"Why not?" She demanded.
"I'm…I'm a coward," he confessed, "The worst kind of coward. A coward who led his friends to their deaths."
"Hey! None of that is true," she firmly said, crouching before him again.
"But it's true!" He rebuked as he spiraled into a depressive funk, "I was the one who stayed behind, I was the one who sought out the Shokopiwa, I was the one who brought everyone back and almost got Stan killed. Hell, I led everyone down here just to be killed. I don't deserve to go back. I don't deserve to live. I-"
Moira slapped him across the face and he grabbed at his cheek more in surprise than pain.
"Ow! What the hell did you do that for?"
She ignored him and grabbed him by the shoulders again. She looked him dead in the eyes with such seriousness he immediately shut his mouth. "You listen to me, Michael Hanlon, and you listen good."
He unconsciously straightened at the use of his full name.
"I may not have known you long but Bill has. He trusts you and considers you a close friend no matter how long it's been since you two last saw each other. And I've known Bill long enough to know he is a damn good judge of character and from what I can tell, you may be many things Mike, but a coward is definitely not one of them."
After Moira finished her impassioned declaration of his character, Mike could no longer hear the angry voices full of accusation. The fire in the room had significantly dimmed.
"Don't let your past chain you down. Don't let fear stop you from moving forward," she continued, his heart now pounding for entirely different reasons, "You already took that first step. Now you just gotta keep on walking."
She released her hold on his shoulders and got up, holding a hand out to him. "Now come on. Let's get out of here."
This time, Mike took her hand without hesitation and she pulled him up. He blinked and suddenly, his old apartment was gone. The familiar walls were replaced by the rocky interior of the hole he dove into earlier.
Moira let go of his hand once she realized he was back from whatever illusion he was stuck in.
He smiled gratefully at her. "Thank you, Moira, for everything."
She shrugged, an action meant to help her seem nonchalant as she tried to fight back the bashful blush that wanted to appear. "I wrangle CIA agents and give counseling to mutant teenagers on a regular basis. This is a cakewalk in comparison."
Somehow, that was what sent Mike over the edge and he laughed with a slight hysterical edge to it. She patiently let him get it out of his system.
"Alright, I'm good, I think…" he said once he was done and had caught his breath.
She smiled wryly. "Well that's as good as you're going to get I suppose. Now you owe me dinner and a dead clown and it's very rude to keep a lady waiting, don't you know?"
He grinned back. "Yes ma'am."
Then he took that next step forward and followed Moira out of the hole.
XXXXXX
Bill breathed heavily as he tried to process what just happened. He distantly heard someone walking into the water and turned around just in time for 13 to grab him by the neck with both hands.
"You deserve to die," 13 whispered, as if too afraid to say the truth aloud.
Bill shook his head in denial. "N-No, you were the best big brother you c-could be."
"No! We killed our little brother!" 13 shouted tearfully in rebuttal.
Then he forcefully pushed Bill under the water. Bill struggled against the strong grip on his neck. He thrashed about wildly, sucking in desperately needed air whenever he managed to push himself up through the surface but he was starting to lose energy.
"We killed him! We killed Georgie! We deserve to die!" 13 shouted as if those words were gospel and by speaking them, they were the truth and nothing but the truth.
Bill went back under the water again but this time, he was losing the will to continue his struggle.
'H-He's right,' he thought, 'I killed my little brother. Maybe I…I do deserve to die…After all, what kind of big brother kills their little brother?'
And with that, Bill stopped struggling and let 13's hands hold him underwater. He was ready to die as penance for what he'd done and slowly closed his eyes in acceptance.
Then his eyes snapped open when he felt someone's hands pushing him up to the surface. He let out a sharp gasp when he broke through the water, 13's hands no longer gripping his neck. He turned around to see Erik floating right behind him.
"Erik?!" He cried out incredulously, not quite trusting that it was actually his fiance before him and not another trick by It.
Erik nodded and placed a warm, reassuring hand on Bill's cheek. "Yes. It's me, der liebling."
A quick scan of his mind was all Bill needed as he clutched the hand on his face like a lifeline. "Erik! I-"
"We killed Georgie," 13 said, his throat clogged with tears and snot, reminding Bill that he was still there, "We killed our little brother. We deserve to die."
"I-I-I-" Bill stammered, not knowing what to do.
"Don't listen to It, Bill," Erik said, trying to draw Bill's attention away from whatever he was seeing, "It's not real, don't listen."
"But he's right!" Bill shouted, "I killed my little brother! I-I-" He let out a heart-wrenching sob. "Georgie died because I lied. I lied and he died."
Erik's heart broke from seeing the man he loved, the man who stood so tall and so strong when faced with adversity, break down before him. But he had a job to do and dammit, he was going to do it. He grabbed Bill by the shoulders and shook him firmly. "William Charles Xavier!"
Bill immediately shut up and gaped at Erik, eyes wide in surprise at the other full-naming him which was something he'd never done before.
Erik began speaking when he was sure he had Bill's full attention. "I don't know the full story of your past and I don't know if you will ever be able to tell me that story no matter how many years may pass." His gaze softened and his hands dropped from Bill's shoulders to hold his trembling hands above the water. "But I know you, Bill. And the you that I know would not have done anything to intentionally bring harm to those he loves."
"Erik…I…" Bill stopped suddenly, a bad feeling in his gut. He turned to see 13 now holding a nail gun in his hand.
"We lied and he died," 13 softly whispered, "It's only right that we die too."
When Bill looked back on this moment in the future, he'll never know or even remember what changed or how it changed. But it did. Something finally clicked inside him and he found himself shaking his head.
"You're wrong," he declared without a single doubt left in his mind.
"I'm not! I'm not wrong!" 13 agitatedly shouted, "Georgie is dead because of me." He raised the nail gun to aim dead center at Bill's head.
Bill shook his head, mentally laughing at the circumstances and how long it took for him to come to such a simple conclusion. "No. Georgie…he loved you. A-And just because," he swallowed past the sudden clog in his throat, "Just because you didn't wanna play on a rainy day…j-just one time…" He looked 13 dead in the eyes and said with firm conviction, "Does not make it our fault."
13 pulled the trigger on the nail gun. Bill didn't flinch even when nothing fired. 13 shouted in tearful rage as he cocked the nail gun and fired again but nothing left the chamber.
Bill yanked the gun away and latched onto 13's wrist.
"And you will never be able to tell me otherwise ever again."
He aimed and pulled the trigger, nailing 13 with a headshot.
13 bent over backward, body arching at an impossible curve. Then he reared forward and his body shook violently as his eyes turned yellow and he grinned demonically with a mouthful of sharp teeth. He lunged at Bill and they both fell back into the water. Erik followed after with a shout of Bill's name.
In a blink, 13 disappeared and Erik grabbed hold of a disoriented Bill. They both pushed themselves to the surface, emerging back in the cave with a gasp. They pulled themselves out of the pool with strained effort and laughed in relief as they lay next to each other.
Bill looked at Erik as if he were falling in love with the man all over again. He reached out and held his offered hand. "Thank you."
Erik squeezed his hand with a loving smile. "Always."
XXXXXX
Moira and Mike watched Pennywise look around the cavern for the other Losers, glaring into tunnels and greedily clawing at the ones he knew they went down.
"So what's the plan now?" Moira quietly asked Mike.
He scrutinized Pennywise and then saw Bill and Erik pull themselves out of a pool in a tunnel that was way too close for comfort. "Stall and improvise."
She nodded. "Okay." Then it hit her. "Wait, what? No! That's a terrible plan."
He shrugged. "Only one we got." He scrambled out from behind the outcrop they were hiding behind before she could react.
"No! Mike! Get back here you idiot!" She hissed. But Mike ignored her and rushed to stand before It.
"I know what you are and that's why I'm not afraid, not anymore," he boldly and bravely declared.
It grabbed hold of Mike, pushing a sharp claw threateningly at his neck. It grinned when Mike barely held back his flinch and continued to put on a brave face. "Are you sure?" It crooned, "Because I know what you are…a lying…little…coward!"
It's jaws opened impossibly wide revealing many rows of sharp teeth. It went in to bite Mike's head off when It was suddenly hit by a rock.
"Hey fuckface!"
Ben and Bev ran out of the tunnel and groaned in exasperation when they saw what just happened.
"Richie…" Bev sighed, shaking her head.
"At least we can always count on him to lighten the mood no matter how inappropriate the moment," Ben wryly remarked.
It growled menacingly at Richie as he grabbed another rock. It tossed Mike aside, no longer interested in playing with him, and he landed on the ground with a pained grunt.
"You wanna play truth or dare?" Richie stupidly taunted.
Bill nudged at Erik to start making their way towards Richie. "That trash mouth is gonna get himself killed unless we help him so let's go."
Erik scrambled up to his feet. "I'm going! I'm going!"
Bill nudged him harder, practically shoving at him to hurry. "Well go faster!"
The two sprinted over to where Richie was, making sure to take the route in It's blindspot.
"Well here's a truth, you're a sloppy bitch!" Richie jeered, "That's right. Let's dance!" He pulled back for another throw. "Yippie ki yay mother fu-"
He was cut off when It opened It's jaws and caught him in the deadlights. The deadlights floating in the middle of the cavern clashed violently as It drew its powers to float Richie into the air.
Eddie arrived on scene not a moment later and was taken aback by what he saw. He quickly backed away into the tunnel and clutched at his pipe.
"This kills monsters if you believe it does. If you believe it does. If you believe it does," he chanted with growing determination, "If you believe it does."
He stepped forward from the tunnel and pulled the pipe back for a javelin throw. "Beep beep mother fucker!"
He launched the pipe and it soared straight into It's mouth, striking true with a fatal hit.
Richie fell like a puppet with its string cut, no longer in the deadlights' hold. Erik dove just in time to soften his landing with Bill arriving shortly after.
It coughed out molten fire, choking on the pipe with eyes bugged out in excruciating pain. Then It tripped back on the tangle of It's feet and impaled Itself on one of the black spires. It gasped weakly as black blood oozed from It's gaping wounds.
"Holy shit!" Eddie breathed out in shock. He ran over to Richie and patted him insistently on the face. "Richie! Hey Richie! Wake up!"
Richie's consciousness slowly returned. He blinked rapidly as he became aware again and slapped Eddie's hand away.
"There he is!" Eddie said with giddy excitement, "Richie, listen, I think I got It, man. I think I killed It. I think I killed It for real!"
Richie looked at him like he was speaking a foreign language and grew three heads. He turned to Bill who looked as if he couldn't believe what was happening either.
"I think he did," Bill weakly laughed, dazed by the sudden turn of events.
Suddenly, Erik shouted, "Look out!"
Then he bodily shoved Eddie out of the way just as one of It's tentacles shot out to impale him. The tentacle managed to get Eddie in the side and lifted him and Erik up into the air. Everyone screamed and cried out in horror and disbelief. From everyone's perspective, it looked like the tentacle was also impaling Erik as well. Bill completely blanked out from the sight.
It laughed and the two were thrown clear across the cavern into another tunnel where they both tumbled down to the bottom with a pained groan.
Erik pushed himself up from the floor and patted his body down. There was no impalement injury to be seen, not even a hole or anything in his clothes. Then he went to check on Eddie and saw that the injury he sustained hadn't struck anything vital.
"Are you alright?"
Eddie gave a pained groan. "I feel like I just got stabbed by an evil alien octopus and tossed down a steep tunnel."
Erik laughed weakly and clapped him on the shoulder. "I think you'll be just fine. You are very lucky that nothing vital was hit."
"Yay me," Eddie sarcastically cheered, wincing at the sharp pain in his side. "What about you? You good?"
Erik nodded. "Bruised and sore from the fall but I'm fine. We should probably wrap your injury to decrease the risk of infection though."
"That would be great, thanks," Eddie eagerly agreed.
Meanwhile, back in the cavern, everyone ran over to where the two men were tossed but stopped when they realized Bill wasn't following them.
"Bill?" Mike asked, eyeing his still and silent friend in concern.
But Bill couldn't hear him over the rapid beating of his heart that filled his ears and drowned everything else out. He turned sharply on his heel and slowly walked over to where It was trying to push itself up from the spike. The others watched in growing confusion and concern as he got closer and closer to the struggling It.
"Bill! Are you fucking insane?!" Richie shouted at him, believing the telepath had finally gone off the deep end, "We're supposed to be running away from the homicidal clown, not walking towards it!"
"Bill!" Bev shouted.
She and Ben ran over and each grabbed Bill's arms to stop him. Meanwhile, Mike urged Richie and Moira to go check on Erik and Eddie. They did so reluctantly and he followed after but not before glancing back at Bill hesitantly.
Bev and Ben jerked back in surprise when Bill finally turned to look at them. The whites of his eyes had bled over with black and there was a faint glow in the middle that was reminiscent of the deadlights.
"Bill?" Bev asked, fearful and concerned for her friend.
Bill pulled his arms out of their grasp with surprising strength, pushing them back with a light telekinetic pulse. Then he continued to walk towards It who had finally managed to pull itself off the spike.
"Billy, Billy, Billy," It croaked, "Always running from his loveless home, from what he'd done to his little brother."
"Shut up," Bill quietly said.
"And poor little Georgie," It crooned, "His older brother, the one he loved most in the world, lied to him and he died because of it. But ohoho, that's not all."
"Shut up," Bill said a little louder.
It grinned gleefully. "Billy replaced little Georgie with a little sister," It jeered, "A lonely raven who wandered into his home and 27 years later, he got the family he always wanted at the cost of his own."
"Shut up! Shut up! SHUT! UP!" Bill shouted, louder and louder with his voice growing more distorted with each shout.
He raised his right hand and unleashed a blast of power that harshly shoved It away from him. It landed heavily on the ground, now looking slightly fearful of the power Bill was displaying. The other Losers were scared as well.
"Is he supposed to be able to do that? I thought he was just a telepath!" Ben asked almost hysterically.
"He is! Something's wrong!" Bev cried out in concern, "Bill!"
But Bill ignored her, walking towards It who struggled to scramble away from him. It's movements were made more difficult by its large size and wounds. He finally stopped only a few feet away from It, somehow managing to look down at It in disdain despite the drastic size difference.
"You really are just a sad little clown," he said in a distorted voice that sent shivers down everyone's spines.
It hissed and jabbed at Bill with a razor sharp tentacle but he raised a hand that stopped the appendage in place. With a sharp twist and flick of his wrist, the tentacle was ripped from It's body. It roared in pain and rage, trembling from something akin to fear as Bill raised his hand up. Black stalagmites broke away from the impact site and hung ominously in the air. With the slightest twitch of his fingers, a few stalagmites launched and impaled the rest of It's tentacle appendages.
"And now, I'm going to make sure you never take another little brother away ever, again," Bill said when Ben and Bev suddenly grabbed hold of him again and spun him around to face them.
"Bill!" Erik said, standing in between the other two Losers.
Bill looked confused at the sight of him and faltered. "Er-ik?"
Erik nodded eagerly. "Yes, yes. It's me, der liebling."
"You're…not hurt?" Bill asked, eyes still completely black but there was a hint of coherence returning.
Erik shook his head. "No, I'm not. See?" He stretched his arms out to show he was clearly fine. No blood, no wound, not even a giant hole in his shirt where he'd been 'stabbed.' "I'm alright. It can't hurt me."
Bill furrowed his brow as the power influencing him and the logic before him warred within. "But It hurt Eddie…and It can hurt us…kill us…" Another twitch and more stalagmites were launched. It screamed in pained rage.
"No! Bill! You can't give into your pain and anger," Erik said pleadingly, quietly finding the current situation rather ironic but putting that away into a box for processing after everything was said and done.
"But It killed all those children…It killed Georgie," Bill said, voice trembling as a tear rolled down his face.
"And It will be punished, It's end will come," Erik agreed, "But not like this. Never like this.."
"When will It stop if not here and now?" Bill insisted.
Erik grabbed hold of Bill by his shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes. "Remember what you taught me? That I was more than my pain and my anger. That all I needed to reach my potential was to find that point between rage and serenity." He smiled softly. "You are stronger than you think you are, so don't give in."
Something sparked within Bill's eyes. Something that wasn't sinister like the deadlights but gentle…powerful…ancient. The black slowly bled away from his eyes to reveal the deep brown irises Erik loved to get lost in whenever he had the chance.
"You're…alright…you're…" Bill mumbled incoherently.
"That's right, come back to us Bill," Erik gently coaxed.
Bill slowly came back to himself and stumbled, hand reaching up to clutch at his head with a groan. The remaining stalagmites dropped to the ground and crumbled upon impact. "W-What happened? What did I do?"
Bev laughed in relief. "It was just you being you."
Erik brought Bill in for a passionate embrace and broke away only to grin brilliantly at the now breathless and slightly dazed telepath.
"Uhh…" Ben interjected nervously, "This is great and all but maybe we should move away before the killer clown gets its bearings and kills us?"
That snapped the two lovebirds immediately back to reality. "Oh!" Bill's blush grew darker at the reminder that they were still in a life or death situation and it was a highly inappropriate time to be doing any kissing whatsoever. "Yes, come on."
They quickly made their way towards the tunnel Erik and Eddie were thrown down and entered just as It let out a shriek of rage, having finally removed the last of the stalagmites pinning It to the ground. Thundering footsteps could be heard and It shortly appeared, glaring through the narrow entrance of the tunnel before clawing at it.
"CoMe oUt ANd pLaY LosERs!"
Ben, Bev, Bill, and Erik swiftly climbed down to where the others were.
"Are you okay?" Bill asked upon seeing the blood staining Eddie's shirt and jacket.
"No," Eddie groaned pitifully.
Moira tsked and shook her head. "He's just being a baby. I mean, yes he got stabbed, but it missed anything vital and we were able to wrap it up."
The newcomers saw that strips torn from the bottom of Moira, Richie, and Mike's shirts were wrapped tightly around Eddie's wound, staunching most of the bleeding.
"But he's still hurt. We gotta get him outta here," Richie said, on the verge of a full blown panic attack.
"And how are we supposed to do that Richie?" Bev asked not unkindly while gesturing to where It was still clawing at the entrance of the tunnel.
Richie could only shrug helplessly but the others took that as their cue to find another way out. It wasn't long before Ben and Moira found something and left to investigate.
"I almost killed it…the leper," Eddie said, wincing in pain as he tried to push himself up. Richie and Mike hurriedly supported him and he nodded gratefully to them.
"My hands were at its throat," he continued, "And I could feel it choking. I made It small. It seemed…seemed so weak…"
Bill's eyes widened in remembrance. "When I ran into It at the funhouse, when I made those mirrors explode…It seemed so scared and so…small."
Bev nodded. "And the same thing happened again when you had your…episode."
"The Shokopiwa," Mike breathed out in realization, "All living things must abide by the shape they inhabit."
"What are you trying to say here, Mike?" Richie asked, not understanding what everyone seemed to be clicking onto.
"You need to make It small, right?" Erik asked, "Small enough to confront, small enough to fight…"
"The tunnel!" Bev shouted in conclusion, "Pennywise would have to shrink down to get through the entrance of the cavern cause it's so tight. If we can get back there, we can force It down to size. We can make It small!"
"Small enough that we can kill It," Bill finished resolutely.
"But we're stuck here! How the hell are we gonna get there?" Richie asked.
Before anyone could respond to that very valid observation, Moira poked her head back out from the tunnel she and Ben found.
"Guys! There's a passageway through here!"
Everyone began to feel the giddy rush of hope flooding into their bodies and making their hearts pound in anticipation. Then a particularly harsh clawing turns their attention back to It.
"I can smell the stink of your fear!" It taunted.
"Let's go," Mike urged, slinging one of Eddie's arms around his shoulders to help Richie bring Eddie back onto his feet.
Then they quickly moved out, supporting Eddie who was still able to move albeit in quite a bit of pain considering the stab wound in his side. Before long, they came out the other end of the passage and saw It still clawing away at the same tunnel, not noticing they weren't there anymore. The entrance to the tunnel they needed to get to was on the other side of where they were and too close for comfort to It.
"Wait," Moira said before they could leave the outcropping they were hidden behind, "We should probably hide Eddie here so that he doesn't aggravate his injury."
"What, no!" Eddie vehemently protested, "I'm not letting you guys go at Pennywise without me!"
"Dude, you already rammed a pipe down It's throat, which was metal as hell by the way and I'm upset I couldn't see it but I think you've done enough," Richie rebuked.
But Eddie stood firm. "Hell no. I'm a Loser too and there's no way I'm letting you guys finish this without me."
"And I'm not gonna let you risk bleeding out on me," Richie argued back.
"Psh," Eddie waved him off, "Moira said this wound was nothing so I'm totally fine."
"You got stabbed by a fucking alien tentacle and tossed down a flight of rock stairs!" Richie cried out incredulously.
"And I'm still alive aren't I?" Eddie shot back.
"Well…"
"Guys! Seriously?" Bev hissed, completely done with everything, especially the messed up foreplay happening before her, "You two wanna start making out right here and now when there's a killer clown not even a hundred fucking feet from us?"
Eddie and Richie started sputtering and protesting but quickly quieted down with a hard look from everyone to shut up and start moving. So they did start moving but unfortunately, It spotted them when they were halfway to the entrance.
"Oh shit! Run!" Mike cried out.
They all ran as fast as they could but before they could reach the tunnel entrance, It landed right in front of them with an earth shaking crash.
It laughed sinisterly at them. "You filthy little children."
"You got a plan B, man?" Richie nervously asked, "What the hell do we do now?"
"You die, that's what you do!" It answered with a cackle.
"Mike," Ben said urgently.
"Um, um," Mike muttered, scrambling to think of something, anything. Then a light bulb went off. "There's more than one way to make someone small!"
"Excuse me?" Richie looked at him like he'd finally lost the few remaining marbles he had left.
"We have to make It believe that It is," Bev said, immediately catching onto what Mike was suggesting.
"Wh-Wh-What?" Bill asked incredulously.
"Make It believe that It's small!" Mike repeated with the tone of a man who knew exactly what he was doing when he was actually just flying by the seat of his pants.
"You're kidding me. That's your great plan?" Moira asked in disbelief.
"It's the only one we've got right now," Mike retorted.
"Well then how the hell do we make It believe It's small?" Ben asked hysterically.
"Oh? Me? Small?" It laughed like that was the greatest joke It ever heard, "I am not small. I am the eater of worlds! The conqueror of-"
"Not to us you're not," Mike declared with shoulders set firmly and eyes shining with determination.
It stopped, looking almost shocked by the interruption.
"To us, you're just a clown," he said with an unshakable resolve and not a hint of fear left in his heart.
It lunged forward, intent on scaring them with its mouthful of fangs and sharp teeth.
"You're a weak old woman!" Bev shouted in retaliation.
It recoiled at her words before rearing back to slice their heads off. "I am-"
"An imposter!" Bill shouted.
It shrieked in rage.
"A mimic! A mimic!" Ben yelled at the top of his lungs.
It's head rapidly changed shape as if trying to figure out what could scare the Losers but no longer knew what could anymore.
"You're a fucking bully," Richie spat out with as much vitriol as he could muster.
The changes stopped abruptly and It stared at them with a horrified expression.
"You're just a fucking clown," Eddie yelled, nailing the final nail into the coffin.
All of the Losers started shouting at It, viciously calling it a clown. Eddie managed to push himself away, ignoring Moira and Erik's protests, adrenaline racing and allowing him to move without being inhibited by his injury.
Erik and Moira watched in fascination as It backed away, slowly growing smaller and smaller with each insult hurled by the Losers who in turn became braver and less afraid.
XXXXXX
Stan twitched restlessly in his hospital bed, brow furrowed as he murmured the same words over and over again like a broken record.
"Clown…clown…clown…clown…"
The doctor and nurses stared at him in utter bewilderment as his heart rate slowly returned to normal. All of them wondering how their coma patient could exhibit this much activity but still show no signs of waking up.
Off to the side, Patty watched her husband with hope shining in her eyes.
XXXXXX
The Losers followed the retreating It back onto the meteor impact site. It had now shrunk to be half their size, throwing rocks and weak jabs to try and get them to stop. But they refused to back down and continued to viciously insult the physical embodiment of their fears.
It continued to shrink and shrink, growing wrinkly as it deflated in on itself. When It tried to jab at them again, Richie grabbed the clawed appendage and yanked it free from It's body.
"A clown!" Ben shouted.
"A clown!" Bev taunted.
"A clown!" Mike yelled.
"A fucking clown!" Richie spat out.
"A motherfucking clown!" Eddie screamed.
Eventually It collapsed, now the size of a newborn baby, all wrinkled and deflated. It's chest slowly opened to reveal a grotesque heart with bulging black veins beating inside.
"A clown…with a scared beating heart," Bill said with a finality that rang louder than the Losers' hurled insults.
He reached down for It's heart. It tried for one last scare, jabbing another clawed tentacle at Bill's face. But he wasn't deterred, not even flinching when It cut his cheek.
It tried to push Bill's hand away with tiny hands as its heart raced and pounded rapidly.
It cried out as Bill grabbed hold of its heart and slowly pulled it out.
It reached out for its heart in vain while everyone grabbed hold of the hand that held it.
"Look at you," It weakly said with strained effort, "You're all…grown…up."
It giggled, not nervously at its impending death but as if the now grown up and fearless Losers before it were the greatest joke of all.
As one, the Losers crushed It's heart, watching in morbid fascination as it crumbled to dust with black blood dissipating into the air.
It let loose a pained croak as the deadlights slowly went out in its eyes. It let out one last gasp of air and its body slowly broke apart into black dust.
When the last of the dust faded, the deadlights vanished.
Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief, feeling a weight lifting from their hearts now that it was finally over. They grasped each others' hands and pulled each other in for hugs. Moira and Erik looked at them with pride and relief.
Then the cavern began to tremble.
"Oh what now?" Richie cried out in exasperation as the tremors grew stronger.
"The cavern! Now that It's gone, it's breaking apart!" Mike cried out in realization.
True to his words, the cavern shook violently and slowly began to break apart.
"We gotta get out of here, let's go!" Bill shouted urgently.
The cavern fell apart around them as they made a break for it, getting back into the sewer just as it collapsed completely. They raced through the sewers and back into the house, stumbling out just in time. They watched as the house collapsed in on itself, burying everything underneath and leaving only a ruined overgrown lot in its wake as the only remaining proof of the Neibolt House and It's existence.
XXXXXX
The Losers, plus Erik and Moira, slowly walked up to the cliffside with the same old sign still proudly stating 'NO jumping or diving at any time.'
They walked up to the railing and stared down contemplatively at the water below. Then the Losers completely ignored the sign as they always did and climbed over the railing.
Erik and Moira shared a look but didn't say anything, choosing to follow after them wordlessly.
They kicked off their shoes and placed their phones beside them. Then one by one, each Loser ran to the cliff edge and jumped into the water.
Erik and Moira shared another look wondering what the hell was going on. But they decided to just go with the flow and joined the Losers at the bottom shortly after.
They all swam to the middle of the lake where they could stand waist deep in the water and washed off the dirt, grim, and blood in silence.
"You know, it's quiet," Ben softly said, breaking the still air around them.
Bev looked at him strangely. "We did just destroy the embodiment of our childhood fears not even a couple hours ago. Of course it's going to be quiet as we process all of that."
He shook his head. "No, I mean…it's quiet." He looked pointedly at Eddie who hadn't said a word as he mindlessly splashed his face with dirty lake water.
The other Losers immediately caught on and smiled deviously.
"You're right. It is a little too quiet," Bev agreed.
Bill snorted. "Yeah. A certain someone would've raised all sorts of hell about this."
"About what? Cleaning ourselves in dirty lake water?" Mike asked, grinning widely.
They all looked at Eddie who finally noticed they were making fun of him.
"Oh fuck you guys. I'm trying to turn over a new leaf," he brilliantly retorted.
Bev raised a skeptical eyebrow though the effect was ruined by the amused smirk she had. "Really now? So you aren't going to be telling us that we'd get some stupidly long named disease like streptacocal-something?"
Everyone laughed as Eddie opened his mouth to say something but opted to close it instead, shaking his head.
"Uh uh. Nope. You're not gonna get anything outta me. No more lectures about health and safety. No more carrying around my trusty fanny pack. No more being afraid of getting dirty," he said like a liar.
Bill grinned and nudged him knowingly. "Oh come on Eddie. Not even a little PSA?"
Eddie kept shaking his head, mouth firmly shut. But they could tell that it was getting harder for him to keep it all in.
"It's okay Eddiekins. You don't need to pretend you're all grown up," Richie cooed at him like he was a toddler trying to stifle a growing fit, "Just let it all out and you'll feel so much better."
And that final taunt was the straw that broke the camel's back as Eddie finally gave in.
"Alright, fine! You wanna know what I've got to say? I think we all need to get the fuck out of this lake and book it to the nearest emergency room asap! Who's bright idea was it to jump off the cliff, which was a great way to break all of our bones, especially our necks, by the way-"
"But didn't you jump off with everyone else without any protest?" Erik couldn't help but point out, confused by Eddie's passionate ranting.
Eddie pointed at him in warning. "You are not a Loser. You don't get to have an opinion."
Erik frowned, contemplating whether he should protest with his words or by breaking the finger pointed at him. Bill rolled his eyes at his fiance's thoughts and pulled him in for a kiss before the German Rambo could commit assault and battery. The Losers and Moira started cheering and whistling, making the two break apart with a blush and a smile.
But Eddie frowned in disapproval. "Guys! That was so unsanitary! Who knows what kind of bacteria and contaminants are in this lake water?" He scolded fiercely.
"In fact, we should get out right now because the risk of infection jumps to like a thousand percent with each second we stay in here and-" He touched his side where he was stabbed and paused. Then he touched the wound again before removing the makeshift bandages to everyone's surprised protests only for them to gape in shock when they only saw unblemished skin as if there hadn't been a stab wound there to begin with.
"What the fuck? Where did my stab wound go?" Eddie asked in complete bewilderment. Then he looked at the others and did a double take. "Where did your injuries go?"
This prompted everyone to look down and see that their cuts and bruises had disappeared. Even Erik and Moira looked fine with no bumps or bruises on their skin.
"What the hell? How?" Ben asked, gaping at his uninjured skin in shock.
"Bill?" Mike asked, noticing that something was up with the telepath.
Everyone turned to see Bill looking up at the sky with a knowing grin.
"Let's just say we got a little cosmic help and leave it at that," he said cryptically.
Richie scowled and protested, "What? You can't just act all coy and mysterious and leave us hanging like that! You're totally blue balling us, man."
Bill grinned. "Beep beep Richie." Then he splashed the other with a faceful of water.
Richie sputtered indignantly. "Oh, it's on now. Come here!"
A water fight broke out among them with everyone splashing and dunking each other in the water. They were all laughing freely, high off the feeling of being alive, being together, and being free of their past burdens. Then as it winded down, they all gathered together into one big cuddle pile in the middle of the lake.
"You know, this is great and all but, I don't have my glasses on so I don't know who you people are. But thank you for the cuddles," Richie said, breaking the moment.
Everyone laughed.
"Oh fuck you, dipshit," Eddie said, flipping him off.
"Fuck you too, blurry stranger!" Richie cheerfully retorted.
Then they stopped laughing and really looked at Richie, realizing he did in fact not have his glasses on or anywhere near his person.
"Wait, you serious?" Ben asked for confirmation.
"As a motherfucking heart attack," Richie solemnly said.
"Well they have to be around here somewhere," Bill said, pulling away from the cuddle pile to start looking around the lake bottom.
Everyone divided from the pile and swam off to help find Richie's glasses.
Bev waved Ben over to where she was floating with a smile. "I can see them right here."
Ben swam over, none the wiser, and looked down at where she was pointing. "Where? I don't see them."
Her smile turned mischievous. "Right there!" She pushed him down before he could react and dove after him.
Ben looked around the water, a bit disoriented by the sudden dunk. But he soon spotted the glasses and grabbed them. He looked up just in time for Bev to grab him and the two shared a kiss underwater.
Bill looked over to where Bev and Ben were submerged and smiled to himself.
"What are you smiling for?" Erik asked, looking at his fiance knowingly.
"Oh nothing. Just happy," Bill responded nonchalantly.
"Yeah?"
Bill turned to face him and gently cupped his face. "Yeah. I am."
Then the two shared a smile before meeting in the middle for a loving kiss.
Richie squinted around, hands out and feet shuffling to make sure he didn't unintentionally drop into deep water while looking for his glasses. He misstepped and slipped underwater with a shout. Then he was abruptly pulled back up to the surface by Eddie.
"This is the third time I've saved your ass, trash mouth," Eddie smugly stated.
Richie coughed and sputtered. "My hero. Now we gonna kiss or did I misread your incoherent signals? Which by the way, how the fuck did you even get married in the first place when you can't even flirt properly you-"
"Just shut up already," Eddie growled in warning.
"Make me, Kaspbrak," Richie taunted.
Eddie grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him in for a bruising kiss that was all clashing teeth and lips as much as it was a confirmation that the other was truly alive and well and real. After a heart stopping moment, the two broke apart.
"How's that, Tozier?" Eddie said breathlessly.
Richie blinked, a bit dazed from the kiss but still aware enough to say, "Dunno. Felt like kissing your mom."
Eddie snorted. "Fuck you too."
Then the two giggled and laughed, leaning their foreheads against each other and basking in the other's presence.
Mike smiled as he saw his friends alive and safe and, most importantly, happy.
"You good over here, Mike?" Moira asked.
He nodded, feeling surprisingly settled and content as if he'd finally gotten the closure he never realized he'd been chasing after. "Yeah. I think I am."
She smiled. "That's good. Also, how's your phone?"
He turned to her, taken aback by the strange question. "Uhhh, fine, I think. It's up on the cliffside. You saw me put it there. Why?"
"You'll need my number for that dinner you still owe me," she casually stated.
Mike gaped at her and when he saw she was serious, he stopped gaping and grinned. "It's a date."
She nodded. "Damn right it is."
"Hey Mikey! Hot FBI Chick!" Richie called out in the distance.
Mike and Moira turned to see everyone had already made their way to the nearby shore and were trying to wring the water out of their clothes.
"It's Moira and I'm with the CIA!" Moira shouted back.
Richie waved her off. "Yeah, whatever. You coming outta the water or what? Eddie's about to throw the fit of the century if you don't get out in like the next second."
Eddie squawked in protest. "I will not you asshat! I was just saying we should dry off and get a nice change of clothes before we get sick!"
"It's the end of summer in Maine, dumbass. We're not going to get sick," Richie retorted.
"You don't know that," Eddie argued back.
Before an argument could break out, Mike interjected, "Alright! Alright! We're coming!"
"I sure hope you are," Richie said with a shit eating grin.
Bev scoffed and shook her head with fond exasperation. "Beep beep Richie."
"Oh come on!"
Everyone on shore laughed. Mike and Moira shared a chuckle and a look. Then made their way to shore.
XXXXXX
The group slowly walked back into town. Ben and Bev were holding hands, Bill was leaning on Erik for comfort and support, Mike walked shoulder to shoulder with Moira, and Richie and Eddie walked beside each other with their hands brushing occasionally.
Bev brought her hand up to brush her hair aside when her eyes widened in shock. She gaped, touching her scar free hand in disbelief. "Guys. Look!"
They all stopped and stared when she presented her scar free hand. Then the other Losers all quickly looked down at their own scar free hands.
"Well would you look at that," Ben said.
Mike smiled wryly. "Nothing lasts forever."
They all slowly looked up from their hands and in the large glass window of the shop before them, they saw their 13 year old selves looking back at them. Their 13 year old selves smiled proudly at them, then got on their bikes and rode away leaving their grown up reflections behind.
"So now what?" Eddie asked.
Bev grinned as she brought Ben in close. "Well we have each other again so there's that."
Bill nodded. "We've got the whole future ahead of us as well."
"And I, for one, look forward to finding out what it has in store for us," Mike said.
"I'll drink to that," Richie cheered with an imaginary champagne glass.
"Isn't it a bit too early in the morning to be drinking," Ben jokingly said.
Richie shrugged. "It's happy hour somewhere. Now come on Losers, let's blow this popsicle stand!"
"Beep beep Richie," Eddie muttered dryly.
"I didn't mean it like that!" Richie said indignantly.
Eddie rolled his eyes. "Sure you didn't."
"Fuck you!"
"Fuck you too!"
"You kiss your momma with that mouth?"
"Well I kissed you didn't I?"
"Now listen here you little shit-"
Bev palmed tiredly at her face. "Guys, seriously?"
"Get a room, you two," Bill sighed and shook his head.
Ben groaned. "Don't encourage them, you guys."
Richie and Eddie stopped their back and forth foreplay to share a look and matching shit eating grins. "You know what, I think we just might."
Ben winced but still smiled. "Now look at what you've done."
Richie jokingly tried to make out with Eddie who pushed him away with ears burning bright red from embarrassment. They all laughed and walked further into town.
The sun rose on a new day and a new future.
And scene! Man was this chapter a doozy. I hope you guys liked all the changes I made, the new things I added, and the ships that have now been fully established all within this one chapter which is probably why it took me so long to get it out to y'all.
I tried to make sure every Loser got their chance to shine plus their own little scene where they overcome their fear. With Ben and Bev, I thought the scene between them was very lacking so I padded it with that whole "declarations of love you give before you die" gimmick while still making sure Bev was as much of a badass as possible. And yes, Eddie does not die because Erik was there to make sure he only got minorly injured instead. Stan also made his appearance which wasn't a lot cause again, he's still in a coma but I hope you guys enjoyed what I did with him.
As for any of you who hoped Bill would whoop Pennywise's ass, well, that doesn't fit with the whole thing of the Loser's defeating It together plus I thought it was a good place to do a full circle thing with the "point between rage and serenity" thing back from First Class. But since he did whoop It's ass somewhat, I hope that was enough to satisfy y'all. Anyways, all that's left now is to tie up some loose ends in the epilogue and we will have officially finished this story. Until then!
