Another Life

Chapter Two

Steve was swinging his way through the thick of monsters alongside his group of friends. Every time one of them seemed to be in trouble, he was right there. And every time he seemed to be in trouble, someone was right there to save him. It was throwing off his plan and he was getting frustrated. He needed to find a way to put it into action without anyone interrupting.

The next time he was saved it was Nancy who'd saved him. Then she was hugging him, and Robin soon followed. Of course he hugged them back, he needed to. Then Nancy started talking, words that were making his head spin.

She'd broken up with Jonathon. Because she wanted him back. She wanted that dream Steve had talked about. It broke Steve's heart. He loved her as a friend but nothing more and he couldn't give her what she wanted.

"Nancy I can't."

"What?"

Nancy's voice came out soft, small.

"I can't. That's not my dream anymore. I have a different one. And it isn't with you."

He could see the moment he'd broken her heart but he had to push through. He swung his nail bat into the skull of a demodog that was approaching and then he ordered Nancy and Robin to keep fighting, to keep the kids safe. To tell the kids that he loved them. Told Nancy and Robin he loved them too.

Then he was swinging his way into the center of the army, seeking out Vecna. And finally he did. Before Vecna could attack, Steve dropped his bat and raised his hands.

"I'm not here to fight you. Not this time."

Vecna's voice came out as a low gutteral growl.

"Then what do you want?"

"I want you to take it all away. I want you to end my suffering."

Vecna's head tilted, as if studying Steve.

"Please."

This time Steve's voice came out shaky and pleading. He was ready for it all to end, he was ready to go into the next life. He had nothing left here. Because Eddie wasn't here.

"I want to make your friends watch."

With a telepathic command to all of his monsters they all stopped attacking and separated, revealing all of Steve's friends.

"Steve!!!"

That yell was Nancy and Robin, both of them terrified to see him standing in front of Vecna.

"Your friend is asking me to end his suffering. He's begging me to kill him."

Everybody started protesting, screaming and yelling for Steve to fight back, that he was loved and he wasn't alone and that whatever he was going through they could help him. They were already crying, Nancy, Dustin and Robin most of all. And Steve shook his head, indicating that dying was what he wanted. That he was ready for it.

"I'm ready."

With Steve's confirmation Vecna rose him into the air. Slowly his bones began to snap. He could feel the pain, and he could hear his friends screams. First his arms. Then his legs. Then his fingers. Then his jaw. And then his eyes, blood trickling out of them before they were smashed in and his body dropped.

Steve wasn't sure what death would be like. He expected darkness and that came when his eyes were the last to go. He felt like he was floating and then. Nothing. Just an empty void. Steve Harrington was gone.

In 1990 a baby boy was born to two loving parents in New York. They named him Alex. Alex was an energetic soul and as he grew older he loved sports, he loved the outdoors, he loved 80's pop music. In 1995 Alex was old enough to start forming memories. It was then, at the age of five, that the first memory of his previous life came.

A memory of him as a little boy, going on a business trip with his parents. Little Steve Harrington holding hands with his mother and walking down a street in Italy. From there, the memories started coming as he grew. Memories of himself at each age, but something told him he was supposed to be searching for something.

In 2000, when Alex was ten he discovered he was bisexual. That triggered his memory of discovering that about himself in his previous life. Which in turn, triggered the rest of his previous life's memories. And then he was crying himself to sleep in his room. Because he remembered Eddie.

And he remembered he'd made a vow. To find Eddie in this new life. He remembered asking Vecna to end his suffering, to take it all away. He'd killed himself so he could come into a new life and find Eddie. When he'd calmed from those onslought of memories, he told his parents that he was bisexual.

He wasn't sure what to expect because his previous parents had been distant and homophobic. But his new parents, Alex's parents were only loving and supportive. They accepted what Alex had told them, hugged him and told him they loved him and that it was ok to love whoever he wanted.

Relief flooded through Alex, but he no longer saw himself as Alex. He knew who he was. He was Steve Harrington. He didn't change his name, he knew that would be too much, couldn't tell his parents that he remembered his previous life.

He knew that once he found Eddie, they would be Steve and Eddie to each other and to the rest of the world, they would be Alex and whoever Eddie was in this new life. And for the next ten years Alex searched and searched, hoping desperately to find Eddie in this new life. To find the man that he was hopelessly in love with. To find the man that he'd died to come back to.