KAS The Bloody Handed

Don't Leave Me

Your POV

You woke up wrapped in Eddie's arms. He was stroking your hair and breathing heavily in your ear. He must've noticed that you'd awoken as he shifted his body to make space for you to roll over. You smiled at him... but it wasn't the usual smile. Not the one full of love and happiness. This smile was filled with sadness. With regret. Today was the day that you might lose him again. As much as you know you shouldn't think negatively... well, it was hard not to. You asked Eddie last night if you could all just leave Hawkins... pack up, move away and forget about it all. Why should you have to deal with supernatural beings and be fighting for your lives? You hadn't even had a chance to live yet. As much as he loved the idea, he was adamant that he would never run away again. Why he felt so much shame and held onto that you didn't know. He didn't need to be so proud. He'd already died once for this town... and once was more than enough.
"Please don't leave me" you whisper to him, begging him to understand your deeper meaning.
"I'll be back..." is all he replied. You felt like he was going to say more.. but didn't. Why make promises you can't keep? He couldn't guarantee he'd come back. The crushing weight on your chest was suffocating. You sat up, thinking gravity would pull that weight down... but it didn't.
Nobody else had woken up yet, so you and Eddie just sat in silence, holding each other. There was no conversation... yet you knew you were thinking the same things. Today was a sorrowful today.. for you at least. For the others, maybe today was a day of hope. Eddie, El and Kali could go into the Upside Down and retrieve the Sword of Kas and make it out without a scratch. That was the best outcome. You tried not to think of the worst... what if they don't make it back? What if they get caught? What if... Bloody 'ifs'! You'd had enough of them.
"Have you shared your memories with them yet? So they know what to listen out for?" You ask Eddie, being the one to break the silence.
"Yes my love. They know what to listen for." He solemnly replies.
"Y/N, try not to overthink too much. We're a solid team, and everything should go according to plan" Kalis voice carried across the room. She's must've been awake for a while.
Everyone stayed eerily quiet as they woke up one by one. As much as there was hope.. there was the unspoken fear of the 'what ifs'. Mike wasn't happy about today's plan at all... you weren't either, but Mike voiced his opinions loudly; you stayed quiet. Before you all went to bed last night, Eddie, El and Kali made it abundantly clear that they would be the only ones to go and retrieve the sword. If anything went wrong, the rest of you were needed here to help the people of Hawkins.
"So... is there a time limit for you guys before we send in a search party?" Asked Steve.
"We can't give a time.. we don't know where the sword is or what we'll run into along the way. I would say that anymore than 24 hours is a given that somethings gone wrong though..." Eddie replied.
"Ok, so if you're not back in 24 hours we will come in looking for you" Dustin stated.
"Hopefully it won't come to that" El mumbled as she started packing supplies into a back pack.
The mood stayed solemn as you all quietly sat around and ate breakfast. Eddie dipped out to fulfil his special diet as you gathered all the make shift weapons you had made. You dispersed them amongst the group and handed Eddie his shield on his return. It had just gone past 11am when your friends started saying their 'goodbyes'. There was a chorus of 'good luck', 'come back in one piece', and a cheeky 'try not to die' from Dustin. Nobody actually said goodbye.. that would sound too final.
Eddie grabbed hold of you and wrapped his arms around your waist. You clung to him like a leech.. not wanting to let go. He tilted your chin upwards and kissed your forehead, before kissing you on the lips. It was a strong, deep, meaningful kiss that you eagerly returned. A kiss full of promise, hope and determination. Again, no words were spoken.. they weren't needed. When he broke his grip on you, he gave you that playful smirk that you'd come to love.
"Be back before you know it" he whispered, "forever and always".
The next few minutes were a blur. Eddie grabbed onto Kali and Els hands and in a split second they were gone. You'd all but forgotten that Eddie was a gate to the Upside Down until that moment. He had so much on his shoulders... his world was flipped in a matter of days and he carried a lot... but he carried it well.
"What now?" Asked Steve, looking as lost as the rest of you.
"Now we wait..." Robin replied. You knew that with every passing minute your anxiety would grow. Your overthinking would become unbearable. You would not be ok until they returned... IF they returned.

Eddie's POV

It took a split second. Within the blink of an eye Eddie was  in the last place he wanted to be. The Upside Down. He'd transported from Mikes basement, so he was in the equivalent in this horrid place. It looked the exact same, yet everything was covered in gross black vines.. dust everywhere.. things were broken and it just smelt like old, decaying rot. As soon as he touched down with the girls, Kali instantly put up a shield around them. A sort of invisibility shield.
"Guys I need you two to either lend me your strength to make this shield stronger, or add to it with your power... we need to keep this up for as long as we are here.. but we don't want to deplete our energy" Kali whispered, looking around and taking in the scenery from this hell hole. Eddie and El instantly pushed their power outwards to strengthen the shield.
-Riiiiiing. Claaaaaang- the noise was so faint, yet detectable.
"Do you hear it?" Eddie asked, instantly alert. The girls both nodded. They made their way out of the house, where the sound rang a little louder.
"I guess we just follow the noise right?" Kali questioned.
"Slow and steady" replied El as they headed off.
They all stayed utterly silent as they followed the sound of the sword. Ten minutes had passed when they realised they were walking right towards a hovering, screeching cloud of demo bats.
"Not this shit again" Eddie sighed as he came to a stop. Admittedly, he was terrified.. vampire or not, they were the death of him. No one likes to face Death.
"It's time guys, push out more of your power, as much as you can... then reign it back in. Let it hover just above the surface of your skin and allow it to help you.." Kali whispered. Eddie and El had practised this enough to know what to do. All three of them were going to make themselves completely invisible, and walk right on through those bats unnoticed... or so they hoped.
Eddie took a deep breath, collected hisself, and called his power to him. He felt his power dim as he pushed it outwards, then felt it pulsating as he drew it back to the surface.
"That should do it.. we're good. Let's go." Kali was the first to stride towards the bats. This young woman who was so full of anger and hatred, showed so much courage. It was understandable considering her childhood, but it was also scary. It was like she didn't have a care in the world. She didn't care if she died, as long as she had fun doing it... or was getting revenge doing it.
When they had reached the cloud of black winged creatures, El held up her hand in a 'stop' motion.
"Do you feel that?" She whispered. Kali and Eddie looked at her in confusion. They couldn't feel anything.
"We're being watched" El stated. She was right. Kali and Eddie stared forward, and sure enough, the crazed winged creatures that were normally so abuzz were deadly still... deadly silent.. staring right at them.
Well shit.