Note: This one is prettty long, but I couldn't find a good place to split it up. We've got two more chapters after this! Forgive me for the cliffhanger :) Enjoy!

It was easy getting down there. Not much had even changed from when they had crawled out of the hell beneath Derry. The only thing Rich could tell was that the hole had grown and the town looked more deserted than when he'd left it.

Still, he had to wait until nightfall to start his descent into the dark underbelly of Derry-there were still cops and even a few established families around. Rich wondered if they would ever be able to bring the town to its former..mediocrity, maybe? He wasn't sure and didn't plan to stick around long enough to find out.

Rich would get in, satisfy his lingering survivor's guilt, bring up the body (hopefully), and put this whole thing to rest-literally. There wasn't really any option if there was something other than a corpse waiting for him down there, was there? And he figured whatever it was would have its own plans anyway. And without the rest of the Losers, he would quickly become a corpse himself.

It didn't help that he didn't know where to go at first and panicked-old memories bubbled to the surface like those faces he'd seen down there the first time-the first time—

And suddenly he knew. Take a right. It was like a force guiding him softly, pulling him by the hand he was holding the flashlight with (for once he had come prepared).

He tried to memorize the path, but quickly lost track of the lefts and rights and down down downs.

The force was kind, felt like a companion, felt like comfort and safety and Eddie. But Rich knew something else must be down here and he was able to discern the tainted underside-barely contained ferocity, longing, obsession. He was unsure of whether this was Its stain on the person he once-still-always-loved or something else he could not explain.

He was unsure of whether he would care either way if Eddie was truly alive.

Rich crawled through the tunnels, the smell revealing more and more memories to him. It was different now though-the smell that is. It was similar to Its own scent, but different now-fading, not as strong. He couldn't put his finger on it, the feel was somehow less frightening, less established if you can dig it.

He made it to the cavern, the huge chasm that expanded in all directions around him. He briefly wondered if he'd float away like they did when they weren't holding hands or huddled together in the dark. He quickly shook the thought out of his head as he felt a vague dissociation from himself.

Purposefully, Rich approached the door, now blank besides a few cobwebs. This was where they had left Eddie. Rich was simultaneously alarmed and not at all surprised to see the body was not where they had left it.

On one hand, it confirmed that maybe he was not going completely crazy from his guilt. Yet on the other hand, how else could he explain what had been happening to him? Besides the obvious reason, of course.

The child-sized door was slightly ajar and that almost made the situation worse. Rich stared at it a moment before dropping to his hands and knees and charging through. It squeaked a little and Rich flinched, before quickly admonishing himself. Anything that's alive probably already knows you're here, stupid.

He stood in Its chambers, webbing still evident in corners, but slowly, surely fading. There were corpses-some half eaten, some preserved-around the room. Rich quickly shone the flashlight across to the dark corner It had escaped through twice-once to heal itself, once to die.

Rich made to begin that way, before he heard a rustling from the tunnel. His heart stopped. What would he see down here? What would he—

"Richie?" a voice called out, before coughing. The rustling-he now recognized it as footsteps-approached. His stomach sank even as his heart soared. Could he even believe his ears?

"Eds?" Richie asked, before running toward the corner.

"Wait!" the voice shouted and the urgency in it made Richie stop in his tracks. "I've been down here a while, don't shine that thing in my face, I'll go blind! It happened to some miners back in the 70's!" Richie felt tears brimming his eyes-no creature on Earth could replicate an Eddie Kaspbrak health lecture. He angled the flashlight down and continued running.

"And don't call me that, you know I—" Richie grabbed hold of the smaller man, lifting him and spinning him around.

"Eddie!" Richie yelled, kissing the man on his cheeks, his forehead, anywhere he could reach.

"Richie!" Eddie laughed for a moment, before patting Richie's back harder than necessary. "Put me down, you huge drama queen!"

Richie released him, holding him at arm's length to get a better look. Eddie gazed up at him, their grins almost matching in vivacity. Eddie's arm was still gone, but the stump was tied off with some tight bandages that extended under his dirty clothes. His other looked like it had been reset and was held with what looked terrifying similar to webbing. The smaller man was dirty-far more than he would've tolerated in any other situation for sure-but he was still beautiful and so Eddie that Richie could hardly breath for his own happiness.

"I didn't think you'd come back for me," Eddie's eyes shined even in the dim light the flashlight reflected off the walls from where Richie had absent-mindedly dropped it. There was something off about the light there, but Richie easily disregarded it.

"If I'd have known, I… I never would've left," Richie replied, still holding Eddie's shoulders, his neck, his face. "H-How…?"

Eddie looked away somewhat.

"There's-There's something I need to tell you, Richie, but I-I think we should at least sit down or catch up or something first?" he offered and Richie felt the familiar uncertainty and fear crawling back up.

"Eddie, how did you survive?"

Eddie looked up again and Richie could see it now-the faint reflection of light

(star light, deadlights,

oh won't you float with us tonight?)

in his eyes. Richie's grip tightened somewhat.

"I wasn't dead," Eddie started. "I was unconscious. I think It was trying to pull me-at least one of us-in with Its final moments. I think I was in the Outside. I don't remember much because I was dying, but Bev was helping-she kept me alive long enough… long enough to…" Eddie trailed off, before slumping to the floor, dragging Richie to sit beside him.

"Who was in charge of killing Its children?" Eddie asked, suddenly. Richie's stomach sank, but he didn't immediately connect the dots.

"Ben, why?" Eddie tore his gaze away, breaking eye contact.

"He didn't get all of them."

Richie felt like his entire world was collapsing around him. It wasn't alive-they had killed It, but they hadn't finished the job. If Its children had survived, then…?

"He got most of them," Eddie rambled, his voice changing-the pitch fluctuating. Richie stared on in dull horror-his hands had dropped to his sides. "We heard them-our siblings-cry out their last breath as he crushed the life from them. We didn't stand a chance really. Funny, you held It in reprehension for doing the same to your own young."

"Eddie," Richie felt his mouth get out around numb lips.

"But that's neither here nor now, is it?" Eddie's eyes had taken on their own sort of glow in the darkness and Richie fought the urge to scout backward from him. "We were smaller-your kind would've called us runts. It-our mother, our father-thought we would be the only ones to die of Its brood, but Fate is so funny.

"We barely gave off any light. We were smart-smarter than our larger siblings, or at least more desperate. We hid among their corpses and we crawled and crawled and crawled our pathetic way-struggling-dying to live really-" Eddie put his head down, shaking it. Richie silently begged him to just stop, please stop, he didn't want to hear it.

"The ones that managed to survive Ben are strewn across the tunnel and this room-only two made it to Tom's corpse-only one made it to-to me." Eddie flinched. "I was still alive and Bev must've been caught up in mourning. One of the smallest made it to me and-and slipped inside."

"Don't-" Richie managed to find his voice again.

"Fr-from my understanding," Eddie choked out, regardless. "It thought you would take me with you, get me help and therefore, get it help. It needed a body to help it completely form, something to shelter it from the world-like the premmie bassinets at the hospitals. We-They," Eddie shook his head again, "weren't ready to born yet. It couldn't fix me-couldn't heal me, but it could block the bleeding and it did. I was still in a coma-when you're dying from blood loss, your body shuts down to reserve energy-but I wasn't dying anymore.

"Unfortunately, for it, you all left us," his voice became a growl and Richie flinched. "So, it took days for me to wake up and a week for us to move more than just necessary to stave off the thirst."

"Eddie, I'm so—" Richie started, but Eddie cut him off with a snarl.

"I drank my own spent blood, Richie. I don't think sorry's going to—" Eddie sighed, his mouth twitching. He gently leaned his head down to rest on Richie's shoulder. "It's-It's alright. I know why you did it, I know you wanted to bring me. I honestly think it's better it turned out this way. I think if you guys had brought me and got me help, it would be much more in control."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Richie asked, softly.

"I think it's pretty obvious, Trashmouth," Eddie stifled a giggle. "We worked together to bring me back to health. If I hadn't contributed anything, it might've gotten strong enough to keep me in the Outside or keep me mentally submissive. As things are, in order to keep me alive, we've had to come to a sort of agreement." Richie still felt sick to his stomach, but found he was running a hand through Eddie's hair.

"Is there any way we could…?" Richie trailed off meaningfully and Eddie actually chuckled this time, albeit a little darkly.

"It's inside me, Richie, do you even know the damage it could do before I even had the inkling to try?" Richie nodded.

"I don' know, Senior, I've got ze flashlight y ze knife," Richie slipped into a Voice, subconsciously. Eddie grinned at him, shaking his head exasperatedly.

"Good to know your Voices are shit again." He replied. "No, I've-I've come to terms with it. It's not It-this is Its child. I wasn't even supposed to survive and-and I guess things could be worse."

"Yeah," Richie trailed off, remembering what Eddie had mentioned earlier. "We could be a guy who dropped dead at the sight of a pregnant spider? Who apparently is a home for said spider's wayward children now?" Richie glanced around for said corpse, suddenly worried at the prospect of two more tiny Its running around.

"About that…" Eddie looked around as well. "They should be done by now." He added almost as an afterthought.

"What?" Richie asked. "Done with what?" Eddie's eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment, before he sidled Richie a look-one he unfortunately could not decipher.

"The ones that took Tom's body-they were a little larger than the one that got to me, so they've actually been fighting over the remains." Eddie explained, seeming to be focused on something else.

"Like to eat, or…?" Richie's eyes trailed to where he guessed the door to the chamber was. Was Tom's body still there when he came in? He couldn't quite remember.

"Probably, I think they were going to try and use it as a body until they fully-formed, but I don't know if it's still suitable for that."

"You don't know?" Richie whipped to face Eddie again, who still seemed to be zoning out. "Eds?"

Eddie looked up at him with narrowed eyes. "I've been trying to avoid them. When they're fighting, it's like they're continuously screaming in my head. It kind of hurts sometimes to be honest. And don't call me Eds—"

"I know, I know. So, you're just letting them duke it out-maybe hoping they take each other out?"

"I mean, I am." Richie gave him a confused look. Eddie chuckled. "The wayward child occupying my body would prefer to have at least one sibling left in this lonely world."

Richie could tell Eddie meant it as a joke, but it struck the wrong cord somehow. "We could help them along, if you feel me." Richie nudged the smaller man beside him who offered a tired smile.

"You think little wayward's gonna let me involve myself in all that?" Eddie gestured to his missing arm, raising an eyebrow.

"True, buuutttt…" Richie stood up suddenly. "Little wayward doesn't have any power over my life." He winked before reaching for the flashlight. Eddie might be infected with the last dredges of It, but as far as Richie was concerned, that would be the only remains of It in this world.

"Wait-what?" Eddie asked, attempting to stand.

"I'm not sure how much control that one has over you, but I'm about to ensure this ends with us. I'm going to finish what we started." Eddie finally managed to stand, as Richie was running the light of the flashlight across the chamber. "I'll get them while they're down and we can get out of here."

"Wait, Richie, no!" Eddie shouted, running toward him. As he got within a few feet, Richie whipped around with the flashlight to face him. Eddie shrunk back from the beam somewhat.

"Eddie, don't let that thing control you! We have to do this, we can't let It spread!"

"No, you don't understand Richie! They're not letting—" Eddie took a step forward.

"Letting us what?" Richie shouted back, feeling his anger and fear get the best of him. He couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. "What aren't you telling me?"

Eddie had shrunk somewhat at the volume of Richie's voice, but suddenly the smaller man steeled his expression.

"I'm sorry, Richie." Before Richie could respond, Eddie solidly pushed him backwards. Only having one arm though, Eddie's force was not enough to push Richie over and he stumbled to catch himself. Unfortunately for Richie, he tripped over something that had only moved there once the conversation had turned south.

Richie crashed into the ground, his head cracking against it last, narrowly avoiding a concussion. Something was immediately on him, forming in the moments before his vision cleared.

Richie was not surprised to see Pennywise shaping above him.

"Can't you be a little more creative, fuckface?" he muttered as he moved to push it off. And even though, the thing (things?) felt heavy, had substance, Richie felt a familiar power rushing through him. He easily rolled the shape over and reveled in its shocked face.

Richie began punching it-the only thing he could think of doing-before a better strategy pushed to the forefront of his mind. If Ben was able to kill them by crushing them, maybe he could do the same. As quick as he could, Richie stood and stomped on the creature with all the force of his weight.

It screeched beneath him, but he continued trying to crush it even as it tried to slither away. As Richie raised his foot for what he hoped would be the killing blow, something else struck the back of his head. Foggily, he realized he'd forgotten about Eddie as he fell to the ground.

Dazed, Richie watched the other man rush to the mewling, writhing things on the ground. When Eddie noticed Richie's eyes were still open, he sharply turned toward him.

"Richie, why?" Richie couldn't seem to form an intelligible response as he could barely understand the question. "I was trying to save us, I… I can't protect you now. I-I'm sorry."

Richie tried to lift himself to answer, but found Eddie blocking him from rising. "You brought this upon yourself… it might not even be enough for them." The arm on his back moved and Richie gazed over, feeling his consciousness slipping, only knowing something was wrong and he needed to stay awake.

"Edd—" the raspy word died in his throat as he finally saw what Eddie was talking about. The smaller man was collecting the remains of the dying creatures with his one hand, but that wasn't right was it?

A monstrous spiky leg extended from the bandaged stub on the opposite side. This was what was holding him down. A scream formed in the back of Richie's throat as the ends of the horrific appendage seemed to melt around his torso, pushing him farther into the ground.

Eddie afforded Richie a glance as the scream escaped as a small squeak. The deadlights seemed to shine through his hooded eyes.

You brought this upon yourself… The words seemed to echo in Richie's mind and he renewed his struggles even as sharp pain filled his head. Eddie moved toward him and the atrocious appendage moved with him. Richie finally managed to scream when the still-forming limb forced its way into his mouth, opening it at the jaw.

"It should only hurt for a moment. I'm sorry." Eddie began force feeding him the pieces of Its' other children. As Richie tried gagging, tried vomiting, Eddie continued. "I might still be able to save you. It's just going to be much more difficult… Don't struggle, they're still alive." True to his word, Richie could feel them squirming down his throat as his entire body felt like it was slowly catching on fire from the inside out. He screamed around the moving pieces, tears streaming from his eyes as the pain kept rising.

"You almost ruined it, Richie. This is your punishment, but don't worry." Eddie cooed. Richie felt his eyes shutter close on their own. "We'll take care of you, I promise."

And then Richie knew no more.