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By the time she was 14 years old, the thought of soulmates had embedded a dreadful, striking fear into Robin Buckley’s bones with such fierceness she worried they would snap.
She was different, and deep down she had known it for a while. However, soulmates were supposed to love and cherish each other until the day they died, whether that was a romantic love or platonic love. Robin couldn’t help the painful, gnawing feeling that she’d be one of the freaks that her soulmate didn’t want at all. It was rare, but nothing was impossible with a close minded society that often spoke like love between a man and a woman was the only love to ever exist.
She had spent so long hiding behind curtains of sarcasm and tough words that she almost forgot what it was like to have non-clouded vision—what it was like to see without a curtain hanging in front of her face. One day, Steve Harrington had walked into her life and he actually acknowledged her. Robin still thought he was a jerk for a while, but then she was solving Russian codes and sharing matching bruises with him, and she felt the urge to cry because of course she was stuck with him for a soulmate. King Steve. Steve ‘the hair’ Harrington. She almost felt sick of the idea of being glued to his side, no matter how much he had grown on her in their time as co-workers.
Then, the two sailors were being drugged and spilling out any and every secret they had to offer to some Russian guards. They were laughing until they cried, faces aching as their lips stretched into smiles. Dustin Henderson and Erica Sinclair had found them not long after, too concerned about their drugged up state to care about their matching black eyes and bloody noses.
An escape from an underground Russian base and some moments in a movie theatre later, they were throwing up their insides in the mall bathroom, all joy they’d felt moments ago washed away with a newfound feeling of almost-sober.
Robin knew she wasn’t as sober as she wanted to be when she was coming out to Steve, her lips moving faster than her brain like she was on autopilot. Was this some sort of soulmate shit? She wanted to just stop talking and run away but then Steve was jokingly judging her for her taste in women, claiming Tammy Thompson sounded like a muppet—which Robin had to agree that on some level, she did—and suddenly Robin’s vision was clear for the first time since she was 14 years old. The curtain was pushed aside and her soulmate didn't think of her any different. Being a platonic duo worked for them just fine. Robin decided in that moment that she didn’t mind being glued to his side anymore.
”Steve!”
At the sight of Steve being pulled deep into the depths of Lover’s Lake, the cry that escaped her lips was desperate and involuntary, and her fingers were gripping the edge of the boat before she could think. She heaved in a breath, legs shaking, arms trembling, and Nancy jumped into the water first.
Her mind was clouded with fear as she prayed on every star in the sky that her lack of coordination wouldn’t make her fuck this up, because that was her best friend. That was her soulmate.
She ignored Eddie’s complaints as she pulled herself up onto the edge of the boat, and she threw herself back into the water. An icy cold enveloped her, and she started pushing herself through the water with a heavy heart. Her hair was rushing back as the water ran through it, and on any normal day she would’ve thought it was calming to let herself sink and sink as her body lost feeling to the nothingness around her, but right now she was scared.
Her throat began to close in on itself and at first she thought it was the paralyzing fear, but with a start, she realized how it felt like some invisible force had a hold on her neck, gripping tightly. She stopped mid swim, a faint glowing red ahead of her, and she began clawing at her neck desperately. Her face contorted painfully and she felt a gut wrenching fear for not only herself, but for Steve. She knew the pain she was feeling was not her own.
She flinched at the tap on her shoulder, and turned, coming face to face with Eddie. His eyes were almost as wide as hers at the sight of her fear and the red mark going across her neck. Robin kept clawing at her neck but then Eddie was grabbing her wrists, shaking his head alarmingly. Robins face muscles were strained in a terrifying open-mouthed frown, and Eddie’s heart was racing. What is going on? he wanted to shout—and he would’ve if not for the water encasing them. He didn’t know if they should go back up for air or not, but then Robin was pointing down at the red glow, which was unmistakably the gate.
With a feeling of doubt, he was tugging her flailing form to the gate. Robin flinched wildly at a burning sensation on her lower stomach, and she would’ve cried out into the water if it weren’t for the constricting feeling on her throat. Eddie gave one last tug, and pushed them both through the gate. A rush of air filled his lungs, but Robin was still gasping for air, leaving red marks from her nails on her throat as her face was turning purple. There was faint dots of red staining the bottom of her shirt, and Eddie felt immediate concern, but Robin was holding out her hand again, pointing at Steve who was struggling on the ground of the Upside Down. There were small bat-like creatures wrapping around his throat and choking him, while others were eating away at his stomach with wild screeches.
Nancy was there, hitting the bats with an oar as angry yells fell past her lips. “Guys, a little help would be— gah!— fantastic!”
Eddie looked at Robin with panicked eyes, but gave in to her shaking hand gesture, and grabbed another oar with terrified limbs, wildly swinging.
Robin felt uselessness squeeze at her heart as she laid wincing on the empty and dry bottom of the lake. Steve was hurting, and she couldn’t even lift a finger without a jolt of pain crashing into her.
The pain on her stomach lessened, fading into a dull ache as Nancy knocked the bats off of Steve’s stomach. Robin would’ve gasped in relief if not for the fact that she still couldn’t breathe. Through hazy eyes, she saw Steve bite the bat that was wrapped around his throat, and the air was rushing into her lungs in an instant as the bat wriggled away from Steve, only to be caught in his hand before it had the chance to fly away. “Come here!” Steve’s voice had an anger to it that Robin had never heard before. She wanted to say he was angry at the bat for hurting him, but with a floating feeling of unobtrusive joy, Robin knew he was mad that she was hurt as well.
Steve gave a hard tug, slamming the bat into the ground. One time. Two times. Three times. He held it down with his left foot, then tugged on it with his right arm. With a gross, wet sound, the bat was torn in two. Robin felt an overwhelming wave of relief as she realized that Nancy and Eddie had gotten rid of their share of bats as well, and her muscles gave out completely. Where she was once on her hands and knees heaving and gasping for air, she was now lying on her back, the pain in her stomach coming back all too quick at the lack of distracting bats.
Steve was rushing forward in an instant, on his knees and at her side, cupping her face in his hands. “You all right?” His tone was worrisome. His eyes widened at the sight of the blood seeping through her shirt. Robin coughed. “Am I all right? How the fuck are you even walking?”
”What the fuck is going on?” Eddie was pacing around, nervous eyes trained on Steve and Robin, every now and then flickering to the monster filled world around them. Nancy was looking with watchful eyes at the duo, head tilted and mind reeling. When Steve lifted Robin’s shirt to get a look at the wound, Nancy’s eyes lit up in realization.
”You two are soulmates.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement, as she knew it to be a fact.
Robin groaned, sitting up with great effort and Steve’s help. “Platonic with a capitol P.”
Nancy nodded, smiling faintly. “Right.” In all truth, they really were the perfect duo, as they had formed a bond to last a lifetime. It only made sense that they were soulmates.
There was a loud screeching in the distance, and they were all stumbling back with screams held in their throats and fear holding them stiff. More bats surrounded the gate—guarding it. There were only a few, maybe five or six, but Robin still felt fear pulsing through her veins. “All right,” Steve had hoisted Robin up, standing in front of her protectively. “There’s not that many. We can take ‘em.” Robin wanted that to be the truth, but when more screeching reached her ears, dread pooled in her stomach and she looked up to find that the blood red sky was full of swarms of bats. She would honestly drop dead right now but the only reason she was still standing was for Steve.
”You were saying?”
Nancy was looking around frantically for an escape, and when her fearful eyes caught sight of the dead, broken trees of the Upside Down, she jolted. “The woods!”
And then they were running. Robin had a hard enough time doing that uninjured, but now she was growing dizzy from blood loss, and the freezing cold from Lover’s Lake and the Upside Down was certainly not helping in the slightest.
Skull Rock was where they took their shelter, and they narrowly avoided the bats, sighing in relief when the screeches grew lesser. The others began talking, but Robin couldn’t hear a thing over her heart beating in her ears. Her vision was blurring and her nails dug into the rock to keep herself upright. She was startled, again feeling a tap on her shoulder from Eddie. He didn’t say anything, he just gave her a look.
”I’m fine.” Robin said instantly.
”No, you’re not.” Eddie frowned like he was stressed. Robin saw that Nancy was checking on Steve too, and he also looked on the verge of passing out. There was blood coating his torso and Robin could only imagine she looked the same under the fabric of her shirt.
There was a tearing sound; Nancy was ripping off the bottom of her shirt and tying it around the wound over Steve’s abdomen. Robin felt a searing pain when the fabric met with Steve’s cut open flesh, and she hunched over with a groan. She could’ve sworn it felt like someone was pressing hot coals onto her stomach.
Nancy finished off the knot on the fabric, and pulled her hands back, both Steve and Robin sighing with relief. Robin was sitting down again, and she almost laughed at how weak she felt at this moment. The pain wasn’t even directed at her, and yet Steve was still standing! She felt ridiculous.
”You two all right?” It was Nancy who spoke. Steve was nodding saying yeah, yeah I’m all right, but then he was looking at Robin with those sad and concerned eyes that made her want to tear up. She eventually nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, fine.” Not a single one of them believed her, but no one said anything.
”Okay, well, we need to wrap up your wounds too.” Robin already knew that Nancy would say that at some point, and she was dreading it, but she didn’t want to bleed out so she gave a slow nod.
Nancy ripped the bottom of Robin’s shirt off, and Robin put her hands behind her neck, already gripping at her hair to distract herself. “Ready?” Nancy’s question was partially directed to Steve, but only Robin nodded. When the fabric came in contact with Robins bloodied skin, she hissed. Steve flinched lightly, but held back as much as he could.
If feeling Steve’s pain was bad, this was far worse. Robin might not pass out from blood loss but the pain was so unbearable that she could already feel unconsciousness looming over her like a dark cloud.
”All done.”
It had happened so quick yet it felt so slow, but Robin was already falling back into the rock behind her. “Hey, woah, woah, woah. You all right, Rob?” Steve was suddenly holding her by her shoulders, eyes tracing the red line on her neck, then falling onto her half closed eyes. “No, no. You gotta stay awake, all right?”
There was a screech in the distance, and with a jolt, Robin’s eyes snapped back open. She didn’t want to die here. “I’m awake.” And she’d have to stay awake if they wanted out. She pushed herself up with a groan, and Nancy went and held her up to give Steve a break.
Keep your eyes open, Robin thought to herself as she stared out into the darkness of the Upside Down. Don’t fall asleep.