The losers climb into the cave that It had swung Eddie into. At the bottom, his paled body lays motionless, pained noises coming out of his lips along with a stream of blood. They crowd around him, tears streaming down their faces. Beverly helps Eddie sit up properly while Richie shrugs off his jacket.
"We-- we gotta get him out of here!" Richie insists weakly, leaning down to press his bundled up jacket against Eddie's wound. Suddenly, Victor's stomach wounds seemed a lot more minuscule.
"How are we supposed to do that, Richie?" Beverly sobs.
It taunts them from the cave opening, maniacally begging them to 'come out and play.' This falls on deaf ears to the losers, who are far too consumed with their friend dying in front of them to pay any mind to the psychotic clown.
"I'm sorry, Eddie." Jaime cries. "I'm sorry."
He only forces a tiny smile up at her, brows knitted together.
"I... I almost killed the leper. My hands were around his throat, I could feel him choking. I made him small."
Rocks and debris rain down from It's incessant clawing. Victor scowls up at the clown, "Just a minute, fuckface!"
"He seemed... so weak." Eddie continues obliviously. "He seemed so weak."
"All living things must abide by the laws of the shape they inhabit!" Mike reminds them.
"Guys, there's a passageway through here." Ben motions over to a slim-fit tunnel in the cave.
"The tunnel! Pennywise has to make himself small to get through the entrance of the cavern! So, if we get back there, we can force him down to size. We make him small, small enough so we can kill him." Beverly explains.
"I can smell the stink of your fear!" It sings.
"Let's go!"
Beverly, Ben, Mike, Bill, and Victor rush through the tunnel without hesitation. Meanwhile, Jaime and Richie linger back with a half-alive Eddie. She rubs his shoulder gently, forcing a smile through her tears. Blood had pooled under his wound and seeped out from under his body, staining Jaime's shoes.
"You saved Richie," she says, "you saved him, Eddie. You're a hero."
Eddie scoffs. "'M not a hero. I did what I had to do." He looks up at her deliriously. "Keep him in line, Jaime. Make sure he starts writing his own fucking material."
She laughs brokenly. "I'll try, Eds, I'll try."
"And Richie..." Eddie coughs. "I fucked your mom."
Jaime leaves after that, not forcing Richie to come with her. He deserved to stay with Eddie during his last moments alive. He didn't even spare her a glance as she wormed through the tunnel and emerged on the other side. She jogs up to the other losers just in time to catch the tail-end of Beverly's sentence.
"--have to make him believe that he's small."
"What?!" Bill cries, voicing Jaime's inner dialogue.
"Make him believe he is!" Mike repeats.
"Me? Small?" It cackles. "I am the eater of worlds!"
"Just how much world-eating have you done lately?" Victor remarks sarcastically.
"Not to us, you're not." Mike says. It's face falls. "You're just a clown."
"You're a weak old woman!"
"A headless boy!"
"Imposter!"
"A fucking phony!"
"A mimic!"
With each insult, It charges at them, then halts before It can do any damage. The confidence within the group arises. "A fucking bully!"
"A psychopath!"
"You're just a fucking clown!"
It grows smaller as It shrinks back, twitching and crying out at the harshness of their words. The surround It, yelling words and insults that would have their mothers trembling. Richie jogs over and tears off It's claw that penetrated Eddie. Eventually, It is no larger than a newborn baby. Mike reaches forward and, with a sickening squelch, tears It's heart from It's chest.
"L-look at you... you're all grown up." It murmurs. One by one, the losers place their hands on the beating heart and dig their fingers into it. It hisses in pain as they crush It's lifesource. And just like that, the losers were one again.
-
The House on Neibolt Street collapses right as the losers burst into the morning fog. It crumbles to the ground, the air being invaded with dust. Richie calls for Eddie and makes a move towards the house, but Victor and Mike hold him back. Jaime spews some nonsense to him in a weak attempt at comforting him, but he seems adamant on getting back in there for the dead man.
Once the house is nothing more than a pile of rubbish, Richie falls silent. He complies to whatever the losers tell him to do and follows them to the quarry. Jaime sticks alongside him, but she knows better than to try to force words out of him. Silently, she grabs his hand and squeezes it with her own. He interlocks his fingers around hers.
The cliff now adorned a sign that read, "No Jumping or Diving at Any Time." As if that would stop the losers. They jumped over the metal bars and took their shoes off. They approach the quarry, Beverly jumping in first, as she had done all those years ago.
The green water seems unappealing initially, but once they're in, they can't imagine getting out. It's warm with the morning sun and cleanses their dirty bodies. Victor's wounds had clotted, but Jaime still frowned worriedly at him.
"If Eddie were here, he'd be telling you to get out right now before your cuts get infected or start mutating." Jaime points out humorlessly. Still, the losers chuckle.
"Yeah, he would've hated this." Ben says.
"He'd be telling us we'd get strep-de-cocle-something." Beverly smiles.
"He would've made us laugh, though." Mike nods fondly.
"He'd be looking out for us, the way he always was. Ain't that right, Richie?"
Bill's words cause Richie to begin sobbing, the floodgates unleashing. Wordlessly, Jaime swims over to him and wraps her arms around his upper body from behind. She presses her chin onto his shoulder, holding him as tight as she could. The same way she did when he'd sneak into her bedroom window, face decorated in various shades of throbbing bruises. His body rumbled under her chest, though he leaned into the touch ever-so-slightly.
The other losers join in, piling together in a group hug. Richie presses his face against Mike's arm and cries. They all each mourn the loss of Eddie Kaspbrak, and even Stanley Uris. Their best friends, the ones who had been so determined to help, yet too constricted by their own fear. Each had passed away as heroes, and never again would they be forgotten.
"Thank you. I don't have my glasses on so I don't know who you people are, but thank you." Richie says after a moment. Everyone laughs, but he continues, "I legit can't find my glasses."
"Seriously?" Chorus the losers. All of them, save for Richie and Jaime, dive underwater to search for Richie's second eyes.
Jaime says nothing, just positions herself so she's sitting on the rock next to him.
"I wouldn't change anything about the years I spent with you, I hope you know." He blurts out, squinting over at her. She raises her brows, egging him to go on. "Just because... I wasn't... you know, it doesn't mean I regret those years. You showed me what love was supposed to feel like. Maybe I never had a real relationship after that because I was unknowingly holding everyone to your exceedingly high standards." Jaime snorts at that. "I'm serious, Jay. I think your husband is a fucking idiot."
"I wouldn't change anything either, Rich. And for the record, my husband is a fucking idiot. I don't... I don't want him anymore." She gulps, rubbing a smudge of dirt off her hand underwater. "It's not fair, though. That you... Eddie's not here..."
Richie hums. "No, it's not fair. It's not fair at all."
A/N: this is so short and kinda half-assed i know but i am just REALLY excited about the next chapter and that one will be infinitely better. on the plus side i updated two days in a row so...