Chapter Text
Eddie
Eddie was no hero; anyone could tell as much. Sure, he liked to verbally insult pretty much anything and anyone, but the moment he sensed real danger he knew better than to face it. He knew better than to run towards it. Because, as he would tell himself, he might be a coward, but he wasn’t an idiot.
Except that this time it wasn’t just him who was in danger. It was also Dustin. Mike. Lucas. Max. All the kids, even the ones that he hadn’t gotten to know yet. And even Robin, Nancy and Steve fucking Harrington of all people, who apparently lived up to the praises the kids had been speaking about him and then some more. And then there was also the rest of the world. Because Eddie might have been late to the movie, but he knew enough about the plot to realise that they had to stop Vecna whatever the cost. And he wanted nothing more than to go back home and pretend that nothing ever happened. Leave the world saving stuff to the others. He wanted to go home and hug Wayne and apologize for every single early grey hair he had ever caused him.
But there wouldn’t be any home to go back to if the plan failed. Eddie had to do his part. He had to buy them more time. So, Eddie cut the rope, took his makeshift spear, and bolted out of the trailer to try and drive the bats towards him. Leaving behind him the sounds of a very angry Dustin.
Which was, admittedly, not his brightest idea. It had seemed pretty simple: he just had to get the bats attention, but he hadn’t counted on actually having to deal with the swarm of bats that surrounded him from every front in less than a minute. He hadn’t even made it that far from the trailer. Just a couple meters.
When the first bat bit into his skin he knew he was a goner.
When the second bat teared away a chunk of his face, he thought that at least he hadn’t run away this time. And that maybe it had been enough for the others to finish the job.
As pain started to bloom on every inch of his body everything started to feel kind of surreal, as if the world was blurring at its edges.
When he fell to the ground, he didn’t even feel the pain of the fall, it was nothing compared to the rest.
When Dustin knelt by his side, having somehow dragged himself on a clearly broken ankle, he was too gone to even think about how he had gotten there. He could feel him crying against his body, but he couldn’t find the strength to try to calm him down before slipping into unconsciousness.