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It's dead silent. No noise apart from the slight hum coming from an X formed by portals.
There he lies. A body drained of life, surrounded by its killers. Left by its friends. Yet, not left by its courage. It takes a great amount of strength to give your life for a town that wants to take it.
His body lifts up from the ground, floating about 2 meters above it and moving towards the burning house in this strange dimension.
The body arrives in the attic, dropping down while kneeling as the life slowly creeps back into it. With a loud gasp it's eyes open, wanting to move yet this invisible force is keeping it in its place.
"Edward"
A coarse voice echo's throughout the building, a figure floating with tentacles attached to it's back is infront of him. The force snaps Eddie's head up quickly, forcing him to look at the being called Vecna Infront of him.
"Y- You fucker let me- let me go!"
Eddie's talking is interrupted by chocked back sobs, spitting of blood and groans of pain. His side's are burning, his head is throbbing and his throat is raw from screaming.
"I promise great things, Edward. I recruite you as my lieutenant as I plan my next attack. You are to keep peace and listen to my commands. You will be rewarded handsomely with another chance at life."
All Eddie thinks of is his life in Hawkins. The people he left without any goodbye. Even though it's absolute shit, nothing sounds worse than death. Taking a deep breath, he makes his decision.
"Alright, I'll be your fucking lieutenant. Do whatever you want and all that bullshit."
Although Vecna barely has any facial features left, he smiles -almost smirks- at his response. He summons a sword, holding it towards Eddie as the force around him weakens and eventually fades away.
"Take this blade, Edward. Accepting my offer will give you the great gift of life under my leadership. You will achieve greatness in your role."
Eddie struggles to reach for the blade, the wounds slowing him down. Yet, he manages to grasp the hilt of the sword. He feels his pain going away, his skin restoring by itself. As an armor grow over his body, he stands up. He feels almost like a god, wielding a sword that is more powerful than it seems
"I will not disappoint, Vecna."
Why was he being so respectful to someone who killed innocent teenagers? It's this or nothing, plus, just because he says it doesn't mean it has to be true.
After saying his goodbye, he leaves the house. The fire seemingly having doused itself. He returns to his trailer, seeing the swarm of bats still decorating the ground around it. Sighing, he enters a trailer that isn't split in half. Why did they just leave his body? Did they know Vecna would recruit him? They couldn't have know, right? Well at least he's alive now, somewhat.
"𝔜𝔬𝔲 𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔪𝔲𝔠𝔥 𝔪𝔬𝔯𝔢 𝔭𝔬𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔣𝔲𝔩𝔩, 𝔈𝔡𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔡."
Eddie hears a faint whisper, yet there is no one around. He checks the trailer for any type of radio or television, nothing is recieving any signal. There's a glow emitting from the sword as the whisper returns.
"𝔜𝔬𝔲 𝔠𝔞𝔫 𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔠𝔬𝔪𝔢 𝔄𝔢𝔠𝔫𝔞, 𝔜𝔬𝔲 𝔠𝔞𝔫 𝔰𝔩𝔢𝔦𝔤𝔥 𝔥𝔦𝔪. 𝔜𝔬𝔲 𝔥𝔞𝔳𝔢 𝔞𝔩𝔩 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔭𝔬𝔴𝔢𝔯."
What the fu- is the sword talking to him? It must be, as the glow goes away with the whisper. What does he have to loose? Definitely not his life.
"Alright, sword. Guess we'll go cut some tentacle meat."
With a determent look in his face, his chest puffed and sword drawn, he marched through the woods towards the house. He pushes open the door, stomping up the stairs.
Eddie is faced with Vecna, like he knew what Eddie was planning on doing without needing a word of explanation.
"I wouldn't if I were you, Edward. You are merely a dust particle against my power. You're making a mistake."
Eddie stares at him, rage taking over his body as he screams while charging the being. Vecna fights back, his hand clawing at Eddie's face. The sword slices his hand clean off, it falling to the ground a writhing around.
The battle is draining, seemingly never ending. Blood is spilled and décor is broken. Yet there is always a winner in every battle.
The house shakes when Vecna falls to his knees, slowly starting to crumble down. Eddie was just able to flee the building before it no longer is there. Looking at the debris, he feels his eyelids become heavy. Also he falls to his knees, thinking this is where it ends. This is where Eddie Munson no longer is.
___
Steve is broken.
Having to act all happy and chipper around everyone drains the life from him. As he closes his front door behind him, he drops everything to collapse on his couch.
He was no longer Steve, only a shell of a person remaining. Right when he thought love was looking him right in the eyes, it slipped away before he could reach it.
As he burrows his head in the pillows decorating the couch, he lets it all out. Tears stream from his face, his wails fill the house and echo in the halls. Life really had it out for him. Ever since his first contact with the upside down, his luck went downhill.
Nothing mattered anymore, his life is nothing. Worth was nowhere to be found, love left years ago, don't even get him started on hope.
'oh, I hope it goes well.' and 'let's hope we make it' were just empty promises. He never meant any of it, he just said what everyone else would.
Just a shell of a man, a man who once loved, and a man who will never try again thanks to one loss that will forever change his life.
________
God, Eddie has to stop waking up like this. On the floor, but this time not surrounded by bats. He still held the sword in his hand, but the weight of the armor has been lost to a more light garment.
Confused, Eddie sits up quickly, grabbing at his head hoping it could easy his headache. He observes his body. His skin is pale, no blemish to be seen. His hands, they were bonier with slight claws at every finger tip. A cloth garment was surrounding his body, a cape decorating his back. The colour palette was red, black with golden accents, it looked way to rich to surround his body.
(His outfit is Based on this picture I took off the Forgotten Realms wiki aka D&D wikipedia)
Grabbing his sword, he stands up, finding a scabbard to slide his sword in. He finds himself still standing near the disintegrated house, so he figures he'll just find a good hidden place to climb through the portal.
Walking through the woods, he does what he always did which is run his tounge over his thee-
"Ow! What the fuck?!"
Something... Something pricked his tounge! As he hands fly up to run over his teeth, he feels a pointed tip on his canine teeth.
He's a goddamn vampire.
That explains the claws, the skin and the teeth! But why? Oh fuck why! Eddie fucking Munson is a vampire!
Not even caring about the odd garment, he runs deep into the woods, and after a few seconds of contemplating, he enters the portal.
As he gets ricocheted into his known dimension, he lays in the moonlight for a few seconds. As he slowly gets up, his senses heighten after being too excited to actually focus on himself. He can smell blood from miles away, hear the tiniest bug crawling and his vision is impeccable.
Aside from the overstimulation, he keeps walking through the woods. His first stop will be Steve's house. God, would he love to see Steve right now.
But... What would Steve think of him? What, what if he sees him as a monster? Would he run from Eddie?
No. It's Steve. Steve wouldn't run from Eddie. Because Eddie loves Steve, and Steve probably loves Eddie. Nothing should turn out bad. Ever. Not between Steve and Eddie.
Finally, after walking for what felt like hours, he reaches Steve's house. It's late, so he'll probably be in bed. Should he knock? Or ring the doorbell? He should probably ring the doorbell, he'll definitely hear it. How would Steve know it's him though? Oh, wait. I know.
Ring ring ring. Riiing riiing riiing. Ring ring ring.
S O S, he'll remember. He has to.
Meanwhile Steve shoots away, startled by the doorbell. Why is it ringing this much? All Steve heard was 3 long and 3 short rings.
Lucky for him, whoever is dumb enough to go door to door with whatever, rings the doorbell again.
Ring ring ring
S. Huh, wier-
Riiing riiing riiing
O? Is tha-
Ring ring ring
S, SOS, wait. All thoughts of Eddie in the upside down flash before his eyes, making him sprint towards the door. He violently swings open the door and jumps back, falling to the floor at the sight.
It was Eddie, or was it? His cheeckbones were more defined, his jaw was sharper and his eyes glowed red. His hands had claws and he was wearing some wierd robe with a cape. What the fuck?
"E... Eddie? Wha- no! You're dead! You're not real you're dead!"
As tears well up in his eyes he slowly crawls back a meter or two on the floor, away from whatever was infront of him.
Eddie comes in and closed the door, kneeling down next to him as his sword clanks against the floor. He slowly grabs his hand, amazed as the claws slowly soften into simple almond shaped nails.
"I don't know what happened Steve, but I'm real. I'm here. I'm alive."
He pulls Steve's hand to his chest, giving it a soft kiss. Steve sits up, looking at Eddie with big, watery eyes.
"I... Wh..."
Giving up on his words, Steve slowly inches his face towards Eddie's, giving him a soft kiss on his lips before dropping his head on his chest as tears erupt from his eyes again. Eddie lifts his hand to Steve's head, running his hand through his hair as he holds Steve close.
Even if Eddie's skin is cold, Steve can't help but feel warm and safe in his grasp. Who knew a shell of a man just needed the embrace of a monster.