Steve opened the Creel house, and vines were everywhere. They needed to be very careful. There was not a lot of room on the stairs they were able to step on without touching a vine.
They tiptoed their way inside the dark house. Slowly Steve took the first step up the stairs. Melody was intrigued by the texture of the walls. She extended her hands to touch it, but Steve gazed down at her and moved her hand. He looked down at her and shook his head.
Julia was careful not to touch any of the vines that were on the walls and staircase. Robin grunted with every step she took.
Everything seemed to be going well for the group when all of a sudden, an earthquake occurred, making them almost fall down the stairs. They held into each other, trying to keep their balance.
Nancy and Steve helped keep Robin on her two feet. Julia placed her hand on Nancy's shoulder for support.
The earthquake only lasted a couple of seconds. They thought they were out of trouble, but as they were going to continue walking, a vine moved upward and wrapped itself on Robin's leg. She was roughly pulled backwards. Her back hit the hard wall. More vines moved around her body. "Steve," Robin yelled as a vine slithered its way to her neck.
Everyone jumped into action. Steve, with his axe, tried to set Robin arms free. Nancy, with the back of her gun, began hitting the vines near Robin's side. Julia took out her dagger and started slashing the vines. She was able to cut the thin vines by Robin's feet, but the thicker ones were harder for the blade to go through.
It was no use; they couldn't free Robin. Shortly after, Steve was also pulled against the wall. "Steve," Julia yelled. He was pinned against the wall. His hands were secure, the vines were around his hands, pulling them. She tried to free him or at least take Melody out of harm's way, but before she could take another step closer, something wrapped around her arm.
Everything happened so fast that she didn't have enough time to react.
She was pulled, making her fall hard to the ground face-first. When she hit the floor, she fell on top of her hand. She heard a crack from underneath her. She grunted in pain.
From her leg, she was also dragged to the wall and pinned next to Steve. She dropped her dagger since her right wrist was dislocated.
The tentacle vine moved up her arm. The vines were tight around her arms and legs. It was mostly painful on her right wrist.
The more she fought against it, the more it tightened around her.
She could hear how her friends were struggling to breathe and how her daughter began to cry.
There was nothing she could do. She was tied up. She tried to look around to find a way out, but her weapons were out of reach, and her friends were fighting for their lives.
"Mama," Melody yelled in distress. She didn't have vines around her like the older teens did, but she could see how her parents were in danger.
While the group was trying to survive, Eleven was fighting Vecna and keeping Max safe. Both girls were in Vecnas Mind Lair, a place where he was stronger, or so he thought.
He had Eleven pinned against a tree trunk the same way he had the other bodies of the teens he had killed.
He was after Max; she was alone with no one to protect her. Her plan of thinking of her happy place didnt seemed to work against him.
He moved his long hand with his sharp nails close to Max's face. It was her turn to die.
She was stronger than the other ones he had killed, but he was up for the challenge.
As his hand moved closer to Max, Eleven was able to get the vines loosened up with her powers. She lifted her hand and pushed Vecna away from her friend's body.
Eleven was barefooted and had bruises on her neck and dried blood on both nostrils.
It was Vecnas turn to be pinned against the tree. With no fear in her eyes Eleven walked closer to him.
He was stuck on the tree trunk; the vines were now wrapped around him. "You can't defeat me," he said, looking down at her.
It was true she couldn't do it on her own luckily for her, the others were helping out too. Because Vecna's army was attacked in different parts, he grew weaker. He couldn't take everyone at once.
Murray burned several demodogs. Hopper killed the demogorgon. Eddie killed a few of the bats. Steve and the others were able to burn Vecna's body.
He was becoming weaker. Smoke was coming out of his body. His skin was burning more.
Eleven pushed Vecna's body deeper into the tree trunk. At the bottom of the tree a bright white portal opened.
Eleven yelled louder, pushing him further. Eleven was using all of her strength on him. She wanted to get rid of him once and for all.
The young teen used both of her hands and walked closer to Vecna; the white portal was sucking in the monster.
He extended his long hand, trying to escape. "I'll be back," he promised, and the portal closed again.
Eleven fell on her knees, weak from using her powers.
It was over. He was finally gone.
Vecna was destroyed. Eleven had killed him.
Even though Vecna was gone for good, he was able to leave behind complete chaos.
He left destruction in the small town of Hawkins. Several houses were demolished, the roads in some streets were uneven, and sadly many people were injured and others died. They were in the middle of something they weren't aware of, and others died saving their friends.
Eddie Munson was one of them. With everything in him he fought until his last breath to keep Dustin safe to keep the bats away from Julia.
He died for a town that didn't like him that didn't see the good in him. He left behind many people who knew who he truly was. He made a few new friends and reconnected with people in the last couple of days before he tragically died. It helped him make peace and gave him strength to fight.
It destroyed Julia seeing Eddie's bloody body on the ground.
The group had walked back to Eddie's trailer to meet up with Dustin and Eddie, but when they got closer, they saw a figure out in the distance.
"Is that Dustin," Robin asked.
It was hard to tell. Julia squinted her eyes to have a better look as she made her way closer to the person. The person was kneeled on the ground, and someone else was laying down.
Julias heart stopped seeing the unmoving body on the ground. The others saw the body too, and walked faster.
"Dustin," Steve called out his friend.
The young boy looked over his shoulder with tears in his eyes. He opened his mouth, and his lips quivered. He didn't look injured, only shaken up.
Julia moved her sight to Eddie's body. His body was almost unrecognizable. There was blood everywhere. He was missing pieces of flesh from his stomach.
"No, no, no," Julia whispered.
She couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it.
She kneeled down beside Dustin. Eddie's chest barely moved up and down. He had blood on his face and tears in his eyes.
"Julia," he said weakly.
"I'm here," she said, holding his arm gently, not wanting to hurt him even more.
"You're fine. We are going to take you to the hospital," she said, looking up at Steve, but Steve lightly shook his head.
There was nothing they could do. He didn't have much time.
"They will help you feel better," Julia insisted, looking down at Eddie.
"It doesn't hurt," he whispered.
Tears ran down her face. "Steve, help me carry him."
Steve placed his hands on Julia's shoulder. "Julia, he's gone," he said slowly.
She moved her shoulder away from him, hurting her wrist in the process, but she didn't feel the pain then.
He was lying to her. She couldn't lose someone else.
"He's not," she broke down crying.
Even when she saw him take his last breath she was in denial.
They were barely back in contact, and now he was gone. It was the second opportunity to have him back in her life, and it was cut short.
Another person died in front of her, and there was nothing she could do about it. More tears ran down her face as she saw Eddie's big brown eyes.
The ground beneath them shook again; this time, it was stronger.
"We have to go," Nancy yelled.
Dustin and Julia resisted; they didn't want to leave Eddie behind. Because Dustin twisted his ankle, Robin helped him walk back to the trailer.
The bats that lay on the ground began to disintegrate.
The things around them started to break down and lifted up in the air. A white hole had appeared up in the dark sky.
"What is that," Steve asked, looking up.
No one knew what it was, but they knew they needed to get out of there. The portal was sucking everything in.
Hand in hand, Steve and Julia ran, almost falling as the ground continued to move. They dodged a few things that were flying toward them.
They ran to the trailer, but when they tried to go back to their Hawkins, they realized the rope was gone. "Eddie cut it so I wouldn't follow him," Dustin said quietly.
The rope was created from the normal Hawkins; the upside down Hawkins must have the same things. Steve ran to Eddie's room. He came back carrying a lot of bedsheets. Steve and Nancy began to connect them.
Dustin leaned against Robin to not put all his weight on his bad ankle.
Outside, everything was breaking apart. The trailers were disappearing. The only thing that was left from the trailer across from Eddie's was a door.
They needed to hurry.
Steve threw the rope back in the gate how Dustin had done it not too long ago.
Since Dustin was injured, he was the first one to climb the rope. The front door began to shake and loosen up.
"We have to go now."
The fake wooden floor began to shake. The walls broke down, and piece by piece were sucked into the hole.
"Julia, we have to go," Steve yelled at her.
She was too distracted with what was going on around her; she didn't notice they were the last ones. She looked at the unknown place one last time, with her good hand, she struggled to climb up the rope.
She couldn't hold on tightly on the rope; her grip was losing up.
With the little upper body strength she had, she was able to make it to the other side. They were all back at Hawkins, almost everyone.
Eddie was gone forever, he would never come back, but the future of others was a little bit brighter.
Max was alive. She barely made it out alive, but she was responsive.
She was in the hospital with other people who were also injured because of Vecna.
She would need a lot of therapy to practice walking and moving her hands again. If she continued going to therapy and using her muscles, eventually she would be able to have mobility in her legs and arms not as good and fast as she did before Vecna, but because she was young she had a better chance in getting better.
The doctors were very optimistic with her development, the doctors were amazed she survived.
Her eyesight was something she would never have fully back. Max wouldn't be able to see things far away, and she could only see certain things a few inches away from her.
The young redhead was going to have a lot of changes in her life, but she wouldn't do it on her own; she had a lot of people who cared about her.
One of them was Lucas, who never left her side.
He read to her and kept her company. The others visited her occasionally and saw her process.
Julia only had two doctor visits to check on her dislocated wrist and her broken pinky. It wasn't severe, and it would heal on its own. She needed to rest and keep her wrist elevated to help with the healing.
It was hard to do nothing when for the last week, the only thing Julia and the others had been doing was running away from the police and fighting Vecna.
It's something that would take time for them to get used to. There was no more reason to fear or be on high alert.
They could finally be normal teens and worry about simple things.
Julia and Steve could worry about normal parents things, like their daughter trying to eat dirt or climbing up the stairs, not worrying if their daughter was going to have a future with monsters.
For the first night in what felt like forever, Steve and Julia were able to sleep in their own bed.
That night Melody slept in the same room as her parents. They felt calm, knowing that she was near them, and the little girl enjoyed having her parents close to her. The big bed she slept in was also a big plus.
Julia tossed and turned, trying to sleep, but the night she saw Eddie's body wouldn't leave her mind.
Noticing that Julia was having trouble sleeping, Steve slowly hugged her. "Do you want to talk about it," he asked.
It was something she had asked him when he had his nightmares after what happened last summer. If she wanted to talk about it, he was going to be there to listen to her; if she wasn't ready to talk, he just wanted her to know he was there for her.
She turned to face him, hugging him back and resting her face on his bare chest. "No," she said softly, closing her eyes.
He brushed her hair down.
"Just hold me close."
He pulled her closer to him and kissed the top of her head.
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞
𝙸 𝚍𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚒𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚏𝚒𝚟𝚎; 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚍, 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚖𝚢 𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚙𝚕𝚘𝚝. 𝙸𝚏 𝙸'𝚖 𝚑𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚝, 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚒𝚏 𝚋𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚞𝚝, 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚊'𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚞𝚢𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚊 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚛 𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚜𝚘 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚌𝚞𝚝𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜.
𝙸 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚞𝚢𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚎 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚘𝚜💜