Chapter Text
Chrissy’s eyes tightened shut for a moment before they opened, blinding light assailing them before she could process it, and for a moment, she had to shut her eyes again, whimpering as she turned her head. One of her arms lifted to block her face, and she felt grass when the other hand flexed. She opened her eyes again, purple holographic images flashing for a moment as her eyes adjusted again, and she sat up, squinting and trying to figure out where she was. Hills. There were trees in the distance, but primarily hills, and further, there were roads. Her head turned, and there were several buildings. Homes? It looked like Hawkins, but there hadn’t seemed to be many houses this far out of town.
Looking down at herself, she was still in the cheer uniform and matching white jacket, Reeboks, and socks, and she felt the scrunchie and ponytail as she felt for bumps or blood, anything that might indicate that she’d hit her head. That had to be how she suddenly woke up there. Nothing seemed to hurt; it was like she’d just laid down and napped, having not gotten hurt. Standing up slowly, she squinted again and turned around, having to monitor her balance because she’d been lying on the slope of a hill. She heard a scream, what sounded like a man’s scream, and her head turned toward the trees. She couldn’t tell just how far away it was. A cold chill ran down her spine, and she didn’t move for a moment. She was observing the trees. No movement. No crazy person running with a chainsaw soaked in blood.
Once she managed to relax, she took in more of her surroundings. More homes, closer, and what looked like a few other types of buildings. They were all still a couple of miles away, at least. It was possible she just hadn’t been out this far in a long time, seeing as she was a senior on the cheer team, did some (sober) partying, studied her ass off when she could, and was trying not to get caught making out and having sex with her boyfriend in her free time, if you could even call it that.
“Hello?”
Nothing.
She started to head down the hill in the direction she was fairly sure would lead her to the woods near Kerley, a part of Hawkins she’d rarely gone to. Except what she last remembered when she’d seen whatever monster it was that had been stalking her and then what felt like had killed her. She wasn’t dead, though, or at least this didn’t feel like death. She reached down and pinched the skin on her other hand, then sighed slightly with relief when she felt it. If this was death, she was fully immersed, and this must be the afterlife. It sucked that she’d still be in Hawkins if that were the case, considering she’d had plans to go to college somewhere else, possibly with Jason, if he stuck to the plan. She started into the trees, knowing Skull Rock wasn’t too far.
There was no way of knowing how long she’d been walking, but it couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes before she spotted Skull Rock. She half expected to see Steve Harrington with some girl there. Once she got closer, she spotted a figure crouched down, almost turned entirely away from her. Steering her course and trying to crane her neck to make the person out, she recognized those dark curls, the leather jacket, and the bandana.
“Eddie?”
***
It felt like a jolt of electricity woke his body up, and he gasped for air. Hands both went to his neck and when he felt his nails claw at it, he realized there was no tail. His eyes darted over tree tops and blue sky, and he hadn’t even realized he’d been screaming.
Eddie’s mind spun immediately, and he scrambled to stand and back away several steps from where he lay in the forest. He backed into a tree, cried out when he felt something solid, turned his head, and realized what it was. It made him stop moving, and he panted as he looked around, eyes wide and terrified. He was not in the Upside Down anymore. Was this Hawkins? He could’ve sworn he was dying. It had felt like he was; if he hadn’t, there had to be someone upstairs who really fucking liked him. The fact that he wasn’t there anymore didn’t do much to calm down his frantic mind.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.
What the fuck had happened?
“Dustin?” He turned around slowly, trying not to make himself dizzy, and reached up to rub at the back of his neck. Nobody was nearby. He couldn’t hear anything. He wasn’t even sure which part of the woods–oh, there was Skull Rock. Maybe the Vecna gang was there. They could’ve made it an unofficial hang-out spot or whatever you’d call it.
As he neared it, he called out for Dustin a few more times, and after he searched, including some climbing onto it, he realized no one was there. Once he landed back on the ground, his mind suddenly snapped to something, and he lifted the hem of his Hellfire Club shirt under the jacket he’d been wearing. There were no bite marks on his skin.
“What the f–” He backed up again as if he could escape his own skin, and when he felt the solid and unforgiving surface of the rock, he found himself slumping down. He didn’t land on his ass, instead on the balls of his feet. He didn’t sit on the ground at Skull Rock very often, as people sometimes didn’t use blankets when they, uh…yeah. His mind continued to spin as he tried to figure this out. He had no clue what could have happened between the bats and Skull Rock. It didn’t make sense for him to wake up there, a pretty good goddamn sized hop, skip, and a jump from the trailer. There might still be a gate there, but he had no idea. Maybe he should head there?
“Eddie?”
That small, feminine voice that was almost saccharine sweet startled the fuck out of him, and he sprang back up to stand on his feet. His mouth fell open when he spotted the source of his current torment. “Chrissy?” It was small and soaked in shock, quivering at the end for every reason imaginable. It was her in the flesh. Completely unwounded and as beautiful as she had been a few days ago when she’d come to him, the damsel in distress he couldn’t possibly save.
“Yeah, um…” Her big, sapphire eyes darted away, and her fingers fidgeted with each other in that nervous way they had before. “I don’t know what happened, I was–”
Eddie didn’t even hear anything. His eyes blurred over with tears as he felt his chest practically cave into itself. She was alive. She was okay. She was speaking to him, and the weight of the guilt he harbored overwhelmed him instantly. “Oh fuck,” he heard himself say tearfully, and the heels of both of his hands went to his cheekbones, covering his eyes as if that would keep her from seeing him cry.
Chrissy blinked as she watched him breaking down, concern rising in her throat. “Are you okay?” She froze when she didn’t get an answer, but Eddie turned his body to face away from her like a child would when they were embarrassed.
Some unfamiliar instinct kicked in, and she started walking toward him. “Eddie, what happened?” As she got within arm’s reach, she touched his jacket near his wrist but didn’t pull or rest more weight than a feather might. It didn’t seem to help; his shoulders bounced as he started to sob. It was silent until he drew in a breath, then a strangled sound of pain that sent a pang into her chest, and she almost couldn’t breathe herself.
“I’m sorry,” he managed to croak out but didn’t dare lower his hands. He could not control his movements. He didn’t even realize he’d turned away. His brain was a cacophony of confusion and emotional exhaustion, having come to the brink of death before whatever happened next. He’d accepted his fate. He’d become at peace with it at the very last moment, knowing he had done what he could to save his friends. One last act that he could be proud of, that he hoped eventually Dustin would be proud of, and that he’d hoped might somehow help Chrissy–wherever she was–to know he hadn’t abandoned her. He hadn’t forgotten her, even if he had run before. He’d fought for her.
Tiny arms wrapped around him, and he almost didn’t feel them until they started to squeeze. Chrissy precariously tugged Eddie in closer, hugging him as tightly as possible. She was short and might have been able to rest her head on his shoulder, but his arms were blocking her, so she let the side of her head rest against one of his forearms. “I don’t know what happened, but I’m here, and you don’t have to apologize for getting emotional.”
Eddie’s arms moved outward so he could pull them away from Chrissy’s head, then wrapped around her tight. His head went down to her shoulder, and Chrissy’s eyes widened. It was as though Eddie were collapsing, but he wasn’t resting much weight on her. Eddie took a minute or two to ride a wave of dizziness and labored and strained breathing, all while his head was tucked into Chrissy’s shoulder, and Chrissy waited while Eddie’s panic came and went.
“You were dead.”
Vecna's tall, shriveled, monstrous form returned to the forefront of her mind. His hand reached for her face and brushed away a tear with what was more like a talon than a nail. She had thought he was killing her, and then she woke up here as if the amount of time between was a blink. Chrissy's arms were unwrapped from around Eddie, and she stepped back. Now, it was her turn to panic. "What happened to me?"
He opened his mouth and struggled to speak. "Uh...um..." He shook his head, his eyes squeezing shut as he nearly began to stutter. "It was like you were in a trance. You couldn't hear or see me, and I tried patting your shoulders and your face, but nothing. And...you floated in the air." He could see it, plain as day, her body slamming up. "Then you were just there, stuck to the ceiling like something was trying to yank you up even higher. And, um..." He drew in a shaky breath. "Your bones. They broke. Pretty much all of your limbs, and your jaw, and your fingers, everything. And it was in ways that no person could do it, and there was nothing there that I could see doing it." He hesitated as a wave of nausea rushed through his stomach and up his throat. "Your eyes...disappeared." He lifted his hands to the sides of his head and jerked them back. "It was like something sucked them into your head, and that's when you fell, and I was scared shitless." Tears were starting to slide down his pallid cheeks before he knew it. "I ran. I-I know I should have stayed, but I didn't..." His voice grew thick with emotion, and one of his hands lifted to cover his eyes. "I'm sorry."
Chrissy's mind reeled as she stared at Eddie, then looked down when he started to cry, her own throat getting tight and her sinuses burning. Her knees wobbled slightly, and she almost wanted to sit down, but the ground was a little muddy, and for some reason, she cared about her bloomers getting dirty. She drew a deep, trembling breath and stepped closer to him again. "Eddie," she said quietly, reaching for his hand and holding it in hers. His other went up to wipe almost violently at his cheeks while his gaze stayed away from hers. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for.” She swallowed a lump growing in her throat, but she was crying as well. “I’m glad you ran. If that monster did those things to me, I don’t want to think about what it might have done to you if you stayed, especially if you couldn’t see it.”
Her voice became as tearful as Eddie’s. “I’m sorry for bringing it to you. I should never have come to you; I should have handled it alone.” Her chin dropped, and she looked over the rings on Eddie’s fingers, watching them blur before a tear fell.
“Shit.” Eddie sighed heavily and pulled her back in for a hug, his stomach doing a flip when she buried her face in his chest, which immediately made him feel like an asshole. He couldn’t help that he had a crush on her and a girl hadn’t touched him in an embarrassingly long time, but he needed to pull it together. This wasn’t a romantic situation. “As dumb as it sounds, I’m glad you came to me.” One hand slid down her back, gently rubbing and frowning as he felt her sob against him. He never did know what to do when someone was this upset. “Shit happened, yeah, but when we were in the woods?” He drew in a sharp breath, knowing that saying this could be a huge mistake. “I had the most fun I’ve had in a long time, hearing that cute laugh and seeing you smile when I could tell you needed it. I’m not always an arbiter of slapstick, and I probably could’ve given myself a concussion, but it was so worth it.” He heard and felt a little laugh, and his heart skipped a beat this time. “I know that you didn’t mean for anything to happen that came after. You should know it, too.”
They stood there like that until Chrissy finally stopped crying and leaned back, her fingertips wiping under her eyes, but Eddie loosened his arms rather than letting go. “I needed that,” she said with a shy chuckle, continuing to wipe until she was almost pulling at her skin. “I must look like a mess.”
It was Chrissy’s turn for her stomach to flip when Eddie smiled crookedly and shook his head. “Even if you did look like a mess, you’d still be beautiful.” His hand lifted to brush the backs of his fingers across her cheekbone, nearly giving himself a heart attack in the process. He held his breath, fully expecting her to smack it away, but she didn’t. In fact, the way she looked up at him seemed to mirror what was on his swirling mind, and there was a tension that wasn’t quite a tension between them. Electricity? Chemistry? He wasn’t that lucky, was he?
They both jumped when a voice echoed some distance away, and Eddie grabbed her hand. “We gotta find Henderson, Wheeler, or Harrington to figure out what happened. Maybe even Red.”
“Steve Harrington?”
“Yeah. And, uh…” He paused a moment. “Everyone thinks I murdered you.” Her jaw dropped. “It’s an even longer story. I’ll tell you once we’re not in the thick of shit creek without a paddle.”