Chapter Text
“Shit.” It’s the first thought that runs through Steve Harrington’s mind when he wakes up in Nancy Wheeler’s bedroom. It’d be bad enough this happening in the real world, or the rightside up, but here he was in the Upside Down. For whatever reason, God or some other deity clearly hating him, here he was. “Fuck.” That’s his second thought. “I am fucked.”
Steve had been sleep walking for days, really since everything had fallen apart. It wasn’t a new thing for him, he was used to roaming the halls of his big, empty house and waking up in different rooms or the backyard, but this took the cake. Steve supposed it was inevitable. He’d been wandering further and further each night, waking up by the side of the road or in the woods. He should have talked to someone about it. He certainly took a bunch of pills for it, but in hindsight that may have exacerbated the problem. But who was he going to talk to? Nancy had Jonathan back. Robin was trying to cram a life’s worth of a relationship into everyday with Vickie because time was fleeting, Dustin’s mom would barely let him out of her sight, and Mike, Will, El, and Lucas kept a rotating vigil at Max’s bedside. Hopper or Joyce may have been a good choice, but too late now, here he was, royally fucked.
There were entrances to the Upside Down all over Hawkins since the earthquakes. El and Dr. Owens’ team were trying to seal them all, but that would take time. They were cordoned off, of course, kept from the general public, but Steve knew where they were and what they were. And for some reason his stupid, sleepwalking brain and feet had taken him here. He’d rather be in Nancy Wheeler’s actual bedroom, even if it meant watching her have relations with Jonathan.
The healing demi-bat wounds on his side and neck stung, a painful and perfect reminder of the real danger he was in . . .again. “Get out, now,” his brain instructed. Oh, finally, it was being helpful. Hopefully Henry Creel was still good and asleep, healing from his wounds, and hopefully the hive mind hadn’t been alerted to his presence. Steve turned to go but the bedroom door was locked. That was new and fun and awful. He turned back to go out the window, something he was very familiar with in Nancy’s room in any universe, to find that he wasn’t alone. Steve started to scream but no sound came out.
He didn’t even know how to process what he was looking at. It was certainly the most humanoid creature he’d ever encountered in the Upside Down, much more so than Vecna, but it wasn’t a person, not really. It looked like a person, in fact it looked like this odd cross between Nancy Wheeler and Eddie Munson and Steve did not understand the feelings that stirred up in him, and he really didn’t have time to analyze that right now. The figure was cloaked in a misty, glowing material. “Dustin would think this is cool,” Steve thought. “But I’d like to leave.”
Steve’s feet shuffled a little, but he didn’t take a step. It was like he was stuck to the spot. He swallowed the lump of terror in his throat, but a part of him was glad, glad because that part wanted to stay here and figure this out. This was something new in the Upside Down. Whatever this being was, it was powerful, yes, but it didn’t give off murder vibes.
“What are you?” Steve finally asked.
“What do you think I am?” Its voice even sounded like a cross between Nancy and Eddie and that right there was a real head trip.
“I don’t know. Are you going to kill me?”
The creature gave a small smile. It wasn’t necessarily pleasant. “I am going to remake you and our world along with it.”
Steve needed Dustin here to pick apart that riddle. This was right up that nerd’s alley. Best he could do was, “What?”
“Our world is older than Henry Creel,” the creature said as it floated closer. Steve wanted to move back but he couldn’t. Every part of him was transfixed. “He came here, used his influence to corrupt us, mold us in his image, but that is not who we are. In fact, we want no part of your world, but he has tied us together. We find your world distasteful.”
“Yeah, well, we aren’t crazy about yours,” Steve managed to mumble.
“We know,” the creature confirmed. “We are not meant to be together. We must separate. If we do not, your world will perish, I’m sorry to say.”
“That figures,” Steve thought. No surprise there.
“But Henry is powerful, and though our world is old, we have been unable to stop him by our means alone. You all have been unable to stop him, too. We need a new way.” The creature was right in front of Steve now and it was terrifyingly beautiful. He had never seen anything beautiful down here before.
“What can be done?” he asked and his voice did not sound like his own. Steve Harrington did not talk like that.
“We need a champion,” the creature replied.
“Me?” Steve gulped. No, no, no, he wasn’t a hero. He was extremely mortal and he had multiple scars to prove it.
“No, but a part of you, a being of both worlds.” The creature reached out and touched his abdomen with its faintly glowing hand. A jolt of electricity ran through Steve but it didn’t hurt and when it was over he felt good, really good, like the best he’d felt in a long time. “We’ve been watching you. You are strong and protective, appropriately foolhardy. You will keep it safe.”
“Keep what safe?” Steve asked, his voice now small, almost like a whisper.
“The gift we are giving you. Protect her, take care of her, and she will help save both our worlds. But you must be careful, not everyone will understand.”
“I don’t understand,” Steve replied.
“You will, very soon.” The creature moved even closer, its misty garment wrapping its tendrils around Steve. He should run, but somehow, he wasn’t afraid, not anymore. “If we offered you a savior, would you accept it?”
“Yes,” and it was the easiest answer Steve had ever given in his life. It was only then, as the creature directed him to the bed, laid him down, and he was removing his shirt, that he noticed his scars were gone. In fact, all of his injuries were healed. Then he was naked and this creature, this beautiful being was on top of him and it was overwhelming, the most pleasure Steve had ever felt in his life. Every part of him burned with it. He didn’t know where to look or what to touch and before long he was cuming. He knew he was cuming. He screamed out his ecstasy, screamed at the top of his lungs, unafraid of demi-bats, dogs, or even Vecna. It felt like he’d been remade, but into what he didn’t know. The creature gasped and leaned down, its mouth right beside his ear. “Keep her safe,” it said. That was the last thing Steve remembered before falling asleep.
It was all a dream, except it wasn’t because when Steve woke up again, he was still in the Upside Down, still in Nancy Wheeler’s doppelganger bed, but at least his clothes were back on. Steve was addled, but he managed to get up and out of the room. The door opened this time. He left the house and was heading straight back to the gate he knew he’d come from, but then his feet took a sharp left turn, leading him to the trailer park. He walked in some kind of brain fog until he got to Eddie Munson, or what was left of Eddie, then he snapped out of it. “Oh no, no, no.” Steve looked away and tried to walk away, but he couldn’t. Some force working from inside him pulled him down beside the body. Steve strained his head, refusing to direct his gaze down at the mutilated remains. The guilt he struggled with everyday threatened to overwhelm him and he let out a sob. It should have been him left here to rot. It should have been him. Still without looking, his hand gripped one of Eddie’s legs, and he sobbed again. Then that leg twitched, and Steve about jumped out of his skin.
“What the . . .!” Steve looked now and did - did Eddie look better? His body was still mauled but he could swear the wounds were closing. “Eddie?” Steve placed his hand back on Eddie’s leg, ever so gently, and sure enough his cuts and gouges were slowly closing. Without second thought, pulled again by the force inside him, Steve laid down next to Eddie and wrapped his body around him. It felt right, achingly right, but it also made Steve extremely tired. He must have slept again.
When Steve awoke the third time in the Upside Down, Eddie was breathing, they were ragged breaths, but he was breathing and his heart was beating. That revelation didn’t freak Steve out nearly as much as it should have. All he wanted was to get home, get right side. That desire fueled him. Eddie was awake, regarding him through half lidded eyes. He looked much better, but he couldn’t have looked much worse. He still looked off. His color was gray & his skin didn’t fit quite right over his bones. “Go home. Get him home,” Steve’s mind kept telling him. If he’d thought about it, he would have questioned that voice because it sounded different, new.
“Eddie, we have to go. Can you stand?” The zombie like Eddie finally nodded and somehow, although Steve would never be able to understand how, he got them back to the gate & through it.
The fourth time Steve woke up, it was finally morning. He was in his own bed, in his own world, without twisted & gnarled vines. His head felt clear. Oh joy. Oh rapture. What a crazy dream that had been. He certainly wouldn’t be telling Dustin about it. He wasn’t even sure he’d tell Robin.
Steve rolled over to luxuriate in his blankets and bumped into something, or rather someone. He sat up with a jerk. A slightly off color Eddie Munson was in his bed, alive and in the flesh. “Shit.” It’s the first thought that runs through Steve Harrington’s mind.