Hopper radioed ahead to have maintenance workers in place to repair the generator the moment the Humvee pulled up in the parking lot. He also called for doctors to be on standby with a gurney to transport the wounded soldier. And he had informed the party that Wayne was gone.

Eddie hardly paid any attention to what was being said and done around him as he felt the Humvee come to a stop some time later and saw nurses opening the back hatch to remove the soldier. Another group of people came by to transport the materials to the generator and get it working as soon as possible. He remained sitting curled up and hunched over with Hopper's arms still fastened across his chest for security as if the guy expected Eddie to still attempt to leap out and run all the way back to the crash site in the hope of saving his uncle.

Knowing he would have to move eventually just as soon as Owens told him that the generators were back online, Eddie suddenly had an overwhelming urge to find his family. He needed Chrissy, Max, and Isaac.

Scooting along on his butt to slide out the back hatch, he touched down on the parking lot pavement and scanned the surrounding area for the two women who had promised to wait for his return. He didn't know whose presence he craved most. Well, no, he did know, but that was no longer an option. It was always those who weren't there whose presence was missed the most. Never one much for affection from his uncle, Eddie wanted nothing more than to give the old man one last hug goodbye. It had probably been years since the last time he had allowed Wayne to hold him, a fact which now cut deep through his heart.

He tried to remember at what age he had grown out of hugs, as they were considered uncool by the general population and he had a reputation–however small-to uphold at school as a kid who did not allow others to hug him. Wayne had accepted those changes in full stride, for he and Eddie had never exactly been on those terms to begin with. It had to have been middle school when Eddie found himself leaning away from his uncle's one-armed embraces, so that would have given him about five years of parental affection before he started to resent physical touch. Five years of being considered Wayne Munson's kid before he considered himself too old to be anyone's kid. Only five years out of the twelve he had spent living in that trailer that had been more of his home than his parents' place had ever been.

He remembered that first night in the trailer after the cops dropped him off at Wayne's following the news that Morgan had been arrested for vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence. Isaac had gone to the station to answer questions as a prime witness, leaving no one at home to watch Eddie. An officer had taken him from his house and delivered him to Wayne who had set Eddie up in his spare bedroom on a rinky-dink old mattress that smelled of cigarettes and body odor. Eddie had been unable to sleep that night, wondering if this meant that his mom was coming home to look after him once Wayne explained that Morgan was most likely going away for a long time.

There had been tears of frustration and fear that night as Eddie's eight year old mind tried to piece together what he had been told, that this trailer could very well be his new home, that his uncle could be appointed as his legal guardian, that he might not see his dad again for weeks, months, or maybe even years. Eight years old and his little messed up world had been shattered further.

Wayne had sat up with him all through the night and held him as he cried into his pillow and asked for his brother. He knew his uncle well, for Wayne had taken up babysitting duty on numerous occasions when Isaac was at school or working and Eddie's parents had drank themselves into a stupor. Wayne had always been a comfort to him, even if he wasn't quite sure how to parent a kid properly. He had been there for Eddie whenever it mattered most…except for now.

So in lieu of his uncle's embrace, Eddie had Chrissy and Max who both looked as if they had been crying as they approached him. It was Max who stepped up in front of him and met his gaze for the longest few seconds of Eddie's life. They had been in this situation before with Eddie grieving and Max trying to be whatever she could for him. Not the family he was given, but the family he had chosen. They had an understanding that couldn't be shared with anyone else because both of them had lost family to this other world and seen it happen right in front of them.

Wordlessly, Max took his hands, bowed her head, and stood there with him. After a time, she moved in to lean her face against his sternum and hold him while he rested his bloodied chin atop her head. A complete emotional breakdown was a luxury he couldn't afford just now, so he was relying heavily on these moments with Max to give him the strength to hold on for just a bit longer. He would need every ounce of mental stability he had to face Isaac's exorcism in the knowledge that it was only possible thanks to his uncle's sacrifice.

When his legs started to sway after being in a locked position for too long, he finally let go of Max, only to find himself surrounded by the rest of the party in what looked to be an intervention of sorts. The last time he had had their attention to this degree, he had been showing them all the devastating scar on his stomach, so now he was wondering what sort of bad news they were about to deliver, what more there possibly could be to tell him when he was certain that he could take no more. Instead of delivering any sort of news, however, they converged on him, all reaching over, under, and across one another to touch him in some way, to grasp his arms and shoulders, to hold him and offer condolences in the only way they knew he would accept just now.

None of them knew Wayne well, having just properly met him a few days ago, but they knew that Eddie had just lost the only father figure he'd ever had, the only real parent he'd ever had, and they were trying to lend him some of their own strength for the task ahead, for the long night that had only just begun.

And to think that it had been in Wayne's trailer when he had first discovered that all these people cared for him. After having the shit beaten out of him by Jason, he had been properly moved when one by one, they all swore to stand beside him and defend him, a social outcast, a nobody, someone who most of them had only just met. They had stood by him then as they did now and he felt his throat swell with gratitude he couldn't convey.

They led him inside like an honor guard and sat him down in the cafeteria area where Mrs. Hargrove made him a strong, steaming hot cup of coffee and Murray slipped him a sample bottle of vodka to spike his drink. Figuring he would need some liquid courage, Eddie tipped the entire bottle over his coffee and inhaled the whole thing in one go, feeling it burn on the way down from both the heat and the liquor. He sat in the quiet company of his friends and family for perhaps forty minutes before Owens came hurrying into the room, winded and red in the face just as the lights came back on in a blinding flash.

"Generators are up and running," said the doctor a bit unnecessarily.

Eddie stood abruptly, mind set. "We're doing it now."

"What?"

"The burn, we're doing it now."

"You mean right now?"

"Do you need an invitation to light my brother on fire? Yes, right now. We can't wait. You said twelve hours max and that was about five hours ago. So go get him, strap him down, and let's burn this motherfucking thing out of him."

"He's still unconscious."

"That's probably for the best. It'll make moving him easier if he's not fighting us because as soon as he feels the heat, he's gonna put up one hell of a fight. But we take this all the way and get this out of him tonight. I am not losing the rest of my family."

Owens, as the practical-minded being he was, had a shred of sympathy where Brenner did not and Eddie was thankful that Owens had been left in charge of this operation. He may be a bit neurotic, but he had seen enough of the Upside Down's inner workings to understand the severity of the situation and separate it from emotional bias. With a request for Eddie to meet him in the observation room, he departed to give the order to prepare Isaac for the burn.

"It'll be worse than mine was," Eddie predicted. "And for that reason, there needs to be minimal people present."

"D'you want me on standby, just in case?" offered Steve.

"Nah, man, I couldn't ask you to make that decision twice. I've been through it, so I know how much my brother can take and I'll be the one to make the call if I need to, but I appreciate it."

Chrissy, Max, and Eleven also stood up as if they knew he would ask them to join him. The rest of the party collectively gave him words of encouragement, hoping for a similar outcome this time around as Eddie had had. They weren't fooling him with their optimism, of course, but he appreciated their attempts all the same.

The two-way mirror in the observation room had not yet been replaced but the glass had been cleaned up so at least no one was in danger of cutting themselves. Eddie didn't see what use it would be to stand in the observation room if there was no glass separating them from Isaac. If Isaac awoke and saw them watching, it could anger him or make it harder for him to displace himself from the reality of what was happening to him. Not to mention that they were all about to dive into this humidity-free sauna together since there was no protection from the experimentation room's heaters.

But there was no time. No time for any of it.

Isaac had already been brought in before Eddie and the others arrived. Like Eddie had been, Isaac was heavily secured to the floor with all the usual methods of restraints but he didn't wake up for any of it, still out cold and showing no signs of waking up anytime soon, though Eddie expected that to change once his body alerted him to the danger of heat. Unlike with Eddie's burn, however, there were armed guards stationed outside for the worst case scenario.

Eddie had no intention of letting them anywhere near his brother because even if Isaac didn't remember the conversation they had had in the kitchen when Eddie caught him with the gun to his head, Eddie would not go back on his word. He had assured Isaac that he would be the one to pull the trigger if it appeared that Vecna would win for this fight over Isaac's soul. If this exorcism didn't work, it would be on Eddie to perform euthanasia on his brother.

The thought had been lingering at the back of his mind all night and had gradually crept to the forefront with each passing hour until it was all he could think about. Tonight might very well be the night where he became a murderer on behalf of his own brother. Tonight might very well be the night where he became the sole surviving member of his family. He could be digging a grave by dawn.

"There's no point in prolonging any of this, so shall we just get started?"

It took a moment for Eddie to realize Owens was waiting for his confirmation. Everything was in place; all that remained was the order to crank up the heat and keep all fingers crossed. Eddie nodded.

Though he was not as sensitive to heat anymore, he was less than thrilled to have to be exposed to the intensity of it twice in less than forty-eight hours. His mind was forcing him to relive every painful second as he watched the reddish-orange glow of the heaters coming to life. It took maybe two minutes for sweat to start prickling across his forehead and another three to feel the dampness in his armpits, down his back, around his waistline. The combined persperation of Eddie, the girls, and the two doctors made for an unpleasant aroma in the enclosed space, but it was nothing to the smell curdling off of Isaac in the next room.

Eddie had already started chewing on his fingernails as he waited for Isaac to come awake and for the part of Vecna inside of him to fight back before he realized that he had no more nails to chew and was just gnawing on skin at this point. He expected a reaction from Isaac's body to come as a surprise, but an awful clammy feeling running down his spine made him look to Eleven at the same time that she glanced at him to confirm that Vecna was here. He shouldn't have been able to sense that, but to his utter despair, it appeared that Vecna hadn't been lying when he told Eddie a small piece of him remained behind, a part that connected Eddie to the presence of the Upside Down. Forever a slave to it, forever playing host to evil.

He winced as if he had been jabbed with something sharp and watched Isaac's unconscious body lurch upward with a violent jerk. His back formed a graceful arch while his limbs remained immobilized. It was deeply unsettling to watch as if a separate entity inside of him was trying to break out by whatever means necessary and all the while, his face remained lax and unresponsive, as he was still too sedated to be aware of what was happening.

Max's hand curled into Eddie's. "He's okay," she told him without sounding confident at all. "He's gonna be okay."

A mournful moaning sound seemed to be coming from over the loudspeaker but as it grew, Eddie realized it was on the very air itself, carrying all the way over to them from the original source, wherever Vecna was hiding. He could feel his lieutenant being attacked and it wounded him, as he was linked to Isaac as he never had been to Eddie.

Isaac's eyes snapped open, fully dilated and demonic. There was no white to be seen there, only complete black. Vecna was in full possession now and if the burn didn't work, the creature that would be left behind would have Isaac's body and nothing else, no part of him that Eddie would recognize as his brother.

Brenner manned the controls that turned each heater up an additional fifteen degrees and Eddie's freshly seared skin started to burn at the exposure. The thermometer on the control panel read 108 degrees.

Vecna's voice was coming from Isaac's throat, roaring in pain as the body grappled with the restraints to break free. As Eddie suspected they would, he saw the black webbing making its way to the surface of the skin like dead tissue sprouting up. The veins rippled and moved of their own accord just like the vines connected to the hive mind that were now branching out all across Hawkins. For five straight minutes they watched Isaac squirm and battle against the restraints, wailing the entire time with no change in the condition of his body.

"It's not working," Eddie told the doctors. "He's too deeply attached to Vecna to be able to burn it out alone. We'd have to find the source and light it up, like the others did for Will."

"You realize that if we stop, he'll be stuck in that possessive state for however long it takes us to send a team to the hub?" said Owens carefully.

Isaac's eyes searched about for the source of noise and found the six of them standing on the other side of the partition.

"I'll fucking gut you all!" he thundered. "Let me go, you motherfucking piece of shit! Let me go!"

His eyes rolled over onto Eddie and Eddie saw–nothing. His brother didn't recognize him anymore; he was gone. Seeing those completely black orbs glower at him with an intensity that swore to murder him made Eddie reach for his Colt and bring it to his side.

"What are you doing?" asked Chrissy in a horrified whisper.

What I promised him.

"Wait," said Eleven, lowering Eddie's arm. "I can do it." Without giving any of them time to contemplate her words, she climbed over the empty mirror frame and came to stand at the end of the table where Isaac could clearly see her if he lifted his head. The part of Vecna that recognized her was absolutely seething and strained against the bonds to reach her.

Eleven focused in on him with that glare Eddie knew well and he watched Isaac start to levitate just a few centimeters off of the table as her powers began to take effect. The black webbing was traveling now, all migrating to the point of original entry, which was Isaac's head. His entire body started to vibrate, then his head snapped back and the garbled cry born from his throat was lacking anything other than the most basic human undertone.

"Eddie!"

His heart leapt into his throat at the sound of his brother's voice battering through Vecna's hold. He dared not trust a hope but that had been living proof that Isaac was still in there, holding on as Eddie had. It would require ten times the effort from Isaac to beat this, but Isaac had survived worse than this and with no help. With Eleven, there was an inkling of a chance.

"Hold on," Eddie called out to Isaac. "Hold on in there, bro."

Eleven held out both hands and brought them together as if in prayer, then began to make a pulling motion, slowly bringing her arms back to her chest. Isaac's entire neck and face were hashed in black markings now and the table was shaking so violently underneath him that Eddie was sure its legs would break and send Isaac crashing to the floor. A horrible, wet, choking sound came from Isaac's throat as his head whipped back and forth like it was trying to deny him the act of vomiting up what his body could no longer keep down. Black froth issued from his mouth mixed in with a few drops of red. His limbs were writhing like each one was attached to a string being controlled by a different puppet master who had vastly varying opinions on how to operate him.

He's dying.

Eddie stuck one leg up to climb into the room and make Eleven stop, but Chrissy pulled him away and backed him into the wall with her hands on his chest. "You have to let El finish it."

"She's killing him," Eddie objected.

"Only Vecna's doing that. She's trying to save him."

He heard Eleven's small strenuous pants as she sought to withdraw the infection before it could completely consume Isaac. In turn, Isaac was watching her attempt to save him, screaming at her as his only method of coping with the pain. He was calling for help whilst Vecna was howling in agony and Eddie added his voice to the din, encouraging his brother to keep fighting, throwing his support behind Eleven. Chrissy and Max joined in until both rooms could no longer contain the raucous pandemonium.

Ripping her arms down through the air with a winded finality, Eleven gave a shout of exhaustion as a swirling, pulsating black cloud spewed out of Isaac's mouth. She cast it aside before it could hunt about for another victim, banishing it from the room where it fled with the shriek of a wounded animal.

Eddie sprang over the partition and hurried over to the table where Isaac lay motionless but awake judging by the way his eyes were roaming back and forth over the ceiling as if trying to make sense of where he was. There were still black veins cupping his jaw and as Eddie placed his hands on his brother's chest, he felt a coldness there that should have been impossible, given the sweltering heat of the room.

Eleven hadn't gotten all of it or even most of it. It had been planted too deep to reach without fleshing out the source first. Isaac was still Vecna's vessel, but he was also himself, thanks to Eleven's efforts. She had taken out just enough to give him back his mind, for however brief a time.

Eddie shook Isaac lightly by the shoulders and urged, "Say something."

"He's pissed off," said Isaac raspily. "You all just royally pissed him off."

Frankly, Eddie could not have cared less how pissed off Vecna was; he was just relieved to hear his brother's voice. After assuring the doctors that Isaac was as safe as he had been before his second dose of Vecna contamination, Eddie stood back to let the orderlies release him from his restraints. Like Eddie's had been following his burn, Isaac's ankles and wrists were bloody and raw but he paid them no heed as he listened to Eddie recount the generator blow out and the burning process in quick, undescriptive detail.

"I saw you going for the supplies," said Isaac, touching a finger to his head. "He made me watch, hoping you'd fail. I saw Wayne…"

Here, he looked to Eddie for proof, hoping against hope that it had all been a nightmare and that their uncle would walk into the room at any second, but both of them knew that if Wayne was alive, he would have been there the second Isaac woke up.

Eddie hadn't often–if ever–seen his brother completely lose his grip on a situation. A neglectful childhood had made him closed off and bitter about displaying such vulnerability. Maybe a handful of times Eddie had caught him looking teary-eyed, the last one in memory being the day he packed his bags and left Hawkins with the promise to come back and check on Eddie as often as he could. Even learning that he was a marked man before his disappearance into the Upside Down hadn't rattled him enough to make him shed a tear. Even discovering that the little brother he had buried in his own timeline was alive and tangible wasn't enough to make him stoop low enough to exhibit regular human emotions.

This was enough. Losing their uncle, the only real parent either of them had ever had, was enough. Isaac covered the lower half of his face with his hands and hung his head in shame, shame that it had been his predicament that had led to Wayne volunteering in the first place.

Eddie couldn't let Isaac wallow by himself in that gut-wrenching guilt. Wayne had done what he did for both of them. He had been stoic in his decision to accompany Eddie to retrieve the supplies, saying that Isaac was his motivation. But he had stayed behind because Eddie's hallucination of Henry had bought the UDC's time to catch up to them. He had been the one to push Eddie into the Humvee, the one to shoot down the beast, the one to march into death's arms to give one nephew a chance to save the other. Wayne was still trying to do right by his boys right up until the end.

Hopping up to sit on the table beside his brother, Eddie laced an arm around Isaac's shoulders and wished he could offer more to console him. The two of them sat marinating in their own sweat as the room temperature gradually returned to normal and the doctors conversed on the appropriate action to take to refortify the lab in case of a vengeful attack by Vecna. They were joined by Chrissy and Max who each took turns gingerly leaning in to hug Isaac and whisper a word or two of condolence to him with Chrissy kissing his cheek and Max holding on for an extra few seconds that Eddie was sure Isaac appreciated.

Quick to recover from his lapse in strength to a degree Eddie had always been envious of, Isaac called out to the soldiers waiting in the corridor and asked one of them for a new set of handcuffs.

"What for?" asked Eddie.

"My condition for leaving this room is to be handcuffed at all times. It's not the best solution, but it's what's necessary until we can finish this the right way, which would mean finding where the Upside Down opened and torching it at the same time as me, otherwise we're just wasting time and putting me through unnecessary torture, which I would really love to not do again until we have to."

It was a reasonable enough request, though privately, Eddie agreed that it was not the best solution at all since Vecna's strength could not be contained with a simple pair of puny mortal handcuffs. It was a bandaid to a wound gushing blood and gave a false sense of security, but he understood Isaac's reasoning that the cuffs might at least buy them a few seconds to detain him if he showed overpowering signs of aggression again. When he had been cuffed and the soldier had given Eddie the key, Isaac asked Chrissy and Eleven to run ahead and inform the others that now would be the time to bring all the perimeter guards up to speed on how best to deal with the UDC's.

"And what are you going to do?" asked Chrissy, surveying Isaac up and down who didn't look entirely steady on his feet.

"I'm gonna go take a cold shower and then I'll meet you out there."

"You understand that we can't allow you to be armed, given the circumstances," Brenner pointed out when he heard that Isaac was planning to help man the fort.

"I didn't ask to be armed, did I? I said I'd meet the others outside," said Isaac airily. "Eddie, mind if I use your shower? I never exactly got set up with a room of my own."

"If you can make it to the shower, yeah, go ahead."

Isaac draped his arm across Eddie's shoulders for support and Max fell in behind him to catch him if necessary as they made their way up the stairs to the second floor. From here, Isaac had gained a bit more interior balance and insisted on walking himself the rest of the way but Eddie knew that prideful streak was wont to let Isaac down a time or two, so he stayed within reach just in case.

Not four feet from Eddie's door, Isaac came to a full stop and Eddie, who had been following close enough to nearly step on his heels, collided with him from behind. Sad to say, he was familiar with this sort of behavior and rapidly turned Isaac around to look for symptoms of possession: white-out eyes, a blank stare, a gaping mouth. But Isaac wasn't lost in his own head; he was staring in horror at Max and Eddie swore he could see a shadow pass from Isaac to Max like clouds temporarily blocking out the sun over patches of the earth.

Max was reaching a shaking hand into the back of her jeans for her 36 revolver, cocking back the hammer…

"Eddie, help me!"

He used Isaac as a launch pad, throwing himself forward and nearly taking Max out completely as his hands closed around the one that held the revolver. The only part of her body that seemed to be able to move of its own free will was her head; the rest of her was frozen in place apart from the right arm and hand which were breaking out into spasms as she fought against the power of Vecna influencing her to raise the gun to her head and shoot herself through the brain.

Eddie grappled with her arm, but it was like fighting an entire person who was stronger than him and more determined. He should not be losing this battle against a fifteen year old's arm, but he couldn't make her let go; all he could do was hold the arm at bay.

Isaac joined them, trying to work his fingers underneath Max's to pry the gun loose, but she might as well have been superglued to it for all the good it did. He tried to loop the handcuff chain around her wrist and tug away, but it was fruitless.

"Go get help," Eddie told him. "Hurry!"

"You can't hold it on your own–"

"I'll hold, just go!"

Isaac took off down the corridor and Eddie redoubled his efforts to keep the revolver pointed at the floor, as far away from Max's head as possible.

"Dammit, why can't you just drop it?" he hissed.

"I'm trying," said Max desperately, hyperventilating at the prospect of being unable to control her own body as it sought to kill her. "Eddie, I'm scared–"

"Try to stay calm."

"Don't tell me to stay calm when my hand's trying to kill me!"

"Look at me, Max. You look at me."

She did, pleadingly and without hope. He had been unable to reassure her that she wouldn't have to watch something kill him and relive her worst memory, unable to give her that comfort that those words would bring. But he could tell her that he wouldn't allow anything to hurt her. He could tell her what he had told her before when he had watched her rise into the air and wait for Vecna to snap her body in half. This was a promise he could and would keep.

"I'm right here. I'm right with you and I'm not letting go."

He couldn't gain any more momentum to try and wrestle the weapon away, but he was afraid to move her and give up resistance for even a second. She couldn't physically release the gun and Eddie couldn't get it out of her hand unless he chopped the whole appendage off with his machete. His grip on her was sweaty and slipping, his hands burning from their prolonged strenuous position. He would have to readjust sooner or later and the moment he did, he would fail her. There was no other choice if he wanted to save her.

"Max, I'm sorry, this is gonna hurt like hell," he warned.

"Wait, what're you doing?" she asked in panic.

"The only thing I can. Be brave for me, kiddo."

Biting down on her lip and squeezing her eyes shut, Max relinquished control, placing her life in his hands. Eddie released her hand, moving his grip to just above and below her wrist bone and with an almighty wrench at a downward angle, he snapped the bone. Max let out an agonizing shriek at the crunching sound of her wrist breaking and then she and Eddie stared at her hand hanging limp and useless as it released the revolver. When it hit the floor, the loaded and prepped gun shot off a single round on its own which hit the opposite wall and then Eddie kicked it far out of Max's reach.

In the two seconds it took for him to turn his body into the act, Max's left hand reached for the machete at his side and withdrew it from its scabbard. Eddie caught her wrist just as she was attempting to stab herself through the gut.

"No, goddammit!"

Swearing to high heaven, calling for Isaac, Eddie was considering the possibility that he might have to break Max's other wrist when the lights above them went into a strobe effect, making it nearly impossible to see each other properly without getting an immediate headache. Then the bulb above them went out completely, followed by the one immediately preceding it down the line, down the hall until they stopped right above a skeletal silhouette at the far end of the hallway that was walking toward them menacingly. With every step he took, the ground underfoot trembled like some gargantuan beast was beating at it from below, trying to break out.

"No, not now, you bastard," Eddie cursed. With some effort, he turned his head away, hoping that by denying Vecna direct eye contact, he could delay the negative effects likely to come. He hadn't even considered that Vecna might not even be there for him, as the prick had never passed up the opportunity to torment him before, but a quick glance at Max told him that she could see Vecna too and the demon had come for her this time.

"Don't look at him," said Eddie sharply.

"He can't save you, Max. You were mine from the moment you watched your real brother die. You belong to me, like Billy did."

"You can be with me again, Max."

Eddie whipped his head around in horror to see Billy Hargrove, bloodied and smirking as he stalked toward Max. He wore what had once been a white tank top but it was now absolutely covered in black and red stains and underneath the numerous rips and shreds, Eddie could see what looked like freshly butchered skin. Even as a dead apparition, Billy had those wide, watery, penetrating eyes that housed more than just an unstable mind.

"He's not really there," Eddie told Max. "Just keep looking at me, okay? Just me."

"You tried to replace me, didn't you, Max?" Billy taunted. "You thought it would help you forget, make the guilt easier to live with if you got yourself another brother."

"No, I didn't," said Max in a small, petrified voice. "I wasn't trying to forget I–"

"Don't lie to me," said Billy sharply. "You know what happens when you lie."

"I'm not!" Max insisted. "I'm not replacing you, Billy, I'm just–"

"That's right; you can't replace me because I'm the only brother you will ever have. This piece of shit could never replace me. He can't do the things I did for you. He'd put you in the line of fire and make you take the bullet if it meant saving his own precious skin. It's what he's done before to his so-called family, it's what he'll do to you. It's what he's doing to you. You're about to die to teach him a lesson and he knew you were a target, but he did nothing to prepare, did nothing to try and keep you safe. He wouldn't fight for you. You don't mean half as much to him as he does to you."

"Max, please, don't listen to him," said Eddie despairingly. "I'm fighting for you right now. I'm here for you."

"You went looking for a substitute in the wrong places, little sister. And this time, it'll cost you everything. This is what happens when you don't listen to me. You'll learn that soon enough. In another few minutes, you'll be dead, and he won't grieve for you."

"Fuck you, you piece of shit," cursed Eddie, moving himself in front of Billy to block him from Max's view. She was on the edge now, ready to give up and give in to this wretched sin that had been eating away at her for so long. Now, more than ever, Eddie had to prove himself to her, prove that she hadn't wasted her time in choosing him. He wanted to hold her, to turn her face away from this nightmare and ensure that she was safe from it all so long as he was beside her, but he couldn't let go of her hand.

"That's not Billy," he told her. "No matter what sort of ugly things he said to you in life, he would never say anything like that. That's not him behind me. That's just Vecna trying to make you give up but he and Billy don't know shit about me, not like you do. You chose me, now I'm choosing you, so don't you check out on me. I love you, kiddo, and I'm staying with you all the way."

Two trails of tears ran down Max's face at his words, these words she wanted to believe in more than anything.

"You know he's lying, Max."

Eddie didn't have to turn around to know Vecna was there. He saw Max's eyes shift to the side before locking onto him determinedly, fighting back. He couldn't say how, but he could feel her resilience in the way she was looking at him, holding onto the sight of him and his promise to not let go.

"He's lying, Max," said Billy.

"No, he's not," said Max faithfully.

The lights stopped flashing, the ground stopped rumbling, and everything was dead silent for a brief moment in time. It could have been a mundane moment in which nothing was happening if not for the machete still poised to enter Max's stomach. Then, Max's skin took on a darker tone, almost washed out as if something were siphoning out all the color from her entire body. Her left hand pulled inward with a newfound strength that nearly took Eddie's feet out from under him.

He wouldn't be able to combat that power in this position, so Eddie swiped Max's legs out from under her and fell with her, pulling back on her hand as she hit the floor on her tailbone and he leaned away. His grip was solid, but the force driving her left hand was too mighty, too powerful.

"Eddie, please, don't let me die. Not like this," she begged.

"I'm trying, just get your hand away from it! Try to move, try to do something!"

"I can't! I can't do it! Stop it, please, Eddie! Make it stop, please!"

He wasn't strong enough, not anymore. Vecna was taking advantage of Eddie's completely human self and making him pay for removing the infection that could have countered this power and spared Max's life. He was going to prove Eddie wrong, prove to Max that he was a liar and that he couldn't protect her and the last thing Max would ever know was that her brother had failed to save her from his own mistakes.

He felt it happening, felt the final surge of energy shooting down Max's arm that would take her out beyond the point of no return. Eddie screamed as he held on, powerless to stop it, watching the razor-sharp knife tip slide slowly and unforgivingly into Max's stomach.

Her exhale was short, small, childlike, and afraid.

"MAX!"

Then Isaac was on his knees beside them, plunging a syringe into Max's neck. With tears clinging to her lashes, Max's eyelids grew heavy as the instant effects of the sedative began to take over. Blood was dribbling from her mouth now and her fist was clinging to Eddie's shirt tight enough to rip it. Eddie dared not remove the machete from her stomach for fear of her bleeding out.

"Don't…let go…of me," she said faintly.

"You're not going anywhere. I promised you that," Eddie told her, cradling her head in his lap as Isaac hailed down the doctors who had come running after him. "I've got you."

"Eddie…don't go," she whispered.

She was being taken from his arms and borne away on a gurney as the doctors raced her toward the other side of the building where they had set up an emergency wing to tend to the injured in case of events such as these. Eddie stumbled after them without being entirely aware of his own actions but Isaac caught his arm and demanded to know what had happened. Any fatigue his brother had previously shown was gone, drowned in the rush of adrenaline that was required to bring that syringe full of sedative.

"I tried to stop her," Eddie told Isaac through a broken voice. "I couldn't–I wasn't strong enough to–I didn't mean for–I tried."

"I know, I know, it's okay. The doctors have her now, they'll take care of her."

"I wanna be there with her."

"They'll let you in as soon as they can but they only just took her. You need to stay out of the way until she's stable. There's nothing you can do for her now that they can't do better."

"No, I need to be there with her. I need her to know I'm sorry. Vecna came after her like he promised me he would just like he went after Wayne. He's doing this to punish me. That kid just stabbed herself because of me and I need her to know that I tried–"

"She knows," said Isaac firmly. "She could see you trying to protect her.."

"I can't lose her. I can't do this again."

Was nothing sacred to him anymore? How much longer could he hold out until his mind caved in on itself under the sheer pressure of losing his entire family? In one night, one single night, he had seen death come for his uncle, his brother, and his little sister–all because of him. Vecna had assured him damnation and was now following through on it.

Fuck him. Fuck that heartless, soulless, vindictive undying son of a bitch.

Isaac placed his hands over Eddie's ears to block out the frantic sounds of the doctors shouting to one another just a few corridors over. The chain between his wrists hung just below Eddie's eye level. Eddie clapped his hands over Isaac's, desperate to not have to hear or see or think or feel any longer. Isaac started to kneel down, pulling Eddie with him until both of them were on their knees in the middle of the walkway, crouching low and holding on to one another for all they were worth.

Breathe, Isaac mouthed to Eddie, making an exaggerated inhale with his shoulders and chest in a motion to have Eddie copy him.

Eddie tried to mimic the movements but his lungs had stopped working, cut off with uncertainty about whether or not Max was even still alive. But she had to be. He refused to accept the possibility of a future in which Max did not exist. He convinced himself that the stab wound to her gut hadn't been as deep as it could have been. Less than a quarter of the blade had gone in, maybe four or five inches at most. If Eddie hadn't been holding on, she could have impaled herself completely through, but he had been there to stop the worst of it. If not for him, she would have shot herself in the head.

If not for him, she wouldn't have been a target for Vecna in the first place.

If not for him, Vecna would have taken her the first time in the trailer park all those months ago.

If not for him, she, Chrissy, and many others would be dead already.

And what had Isaac told him then, when he had doubted that him being there had any profound effect at all?

"It has to count for something. It has to."

There had to be a reason that he existed at this point in time, that he was here to suffer through all of this and see these people hurt on account of him. There had to be a reason. God, how he hoped there was a reason.

Hold on. Isaac's lips formed the words and Eddie clung to them with everything he had.

Isaac's words to him, Eddie's words to Isaac, the only words that made sense. It was all any of them could do. Keep trying, wait for it to pass, and hold on.