Chapter Text
They are, apparently, only a few minutes away from Hopper when what Steve had been waiting for happened. “Demo!”
A demogorgon rushes from the trees, snarling. Steve raises a hand, slows it in its tracks as El shoves it into the nearest tree. The force of it combined with the fact that it was in slow motion tells Steve that it won't survive, no matter how sturdy it was.
Another demo breaks through the brush, clawing at the air like it sees something they can’t. El raises a branch and skewers it through the middle.
Something howls in the distance. Several somethings. “Uh oh.”
“We can’t take them all.” Jonathan decides, and he’s probably right. “Can they track us?”
El nods. “But maybe I can hide us.”
“Then come on.” Nancy cocks her gun. “Over here!”
They hide behind a half broken building that used to be the diner Steve loved to frequent. After several minutes of thunderous growls and stomps, he feels the goosebumps that ripple along his arms settle. “I think we’re good.”
“Yeah.” El confirms. “They ran past. I think they’re looking for something.”
That’s never a good thing. “Let’s find Hopper, but first, El, water.”
Steve waits until everyone is digging through their backpacks for rations and water, thoroughly distracted, before starting.
He needed to be discreet, with his next move.
Sitting down against a viney rock, he takes an offered water bottle as the others take their own rest. The moment everyone looks away, bottle to his lips, he slows time.
Making sure to keep still, he surveys his surroundings without moving. The Upside Down is kind of nice, like this. Dark and dreary of course, but for some reason he feels at home.
Exhaling softly, he opens up his mind. Come on, Henry. Let's have a chat.
There's no response, of course. With his mind newly, fully opened, he sets time back on course. Finishes taking a drink of water.
Nancy sits next to him silently. He knows that silence. “Nance-”
“What you want to do.” Her voice is hard. “Is stupid. Foolish. Suicidal. You know that, right?”
He gazes at her sadly. “There's so much on the line. I couldn't live with myself if those kids got hurt and I couldn't help them.”
There's tears in her eyes. It's all his fault. “There is a better way than giving yourself up as bait.”
He stays quiet. Nancy doesn't offer a better solution. She'll find one, eventually. He just doesn't know if they have the time.
Her face crumples, pain and sorrow breaking her features. Her voice cracks. “Steve.”
Panic erupts in his stomach. He gathers her in his arms, holds her close, whispers sweet nothings because what else can he do?
“Please don't do it.” She whispers, twisting his heart. “Please, I'm begging you.”
And his heart falls, because he knows himself, knows Nancy, and Nancy knows him.
She knows he can't say no to her. Not when shes like this. She's rarely ever like this. She didn't argue his plan because she knew she didn't need to, knew all she had to do to stop him was… this. “Nancy…”
Her eyes, wide and wet, stare up at him, cheek pressed against his chest. Waiting. Knowing. After a long, long moment, Steve sighs. “Alright, Nance. We'll find a better way.”
Nancy holds him closer and sobs. Steve feels like a dick for multiple reasons.
He waits with her until she's calmed, time slowed to give her the privacy she deserves. They keep walking so after, heading Hopper's way.
It’s… a bad idea.
But, like, what else could he do? There are several children in danger, even younger than the party when this all started for them. Steve did a shit job protecting them at the beginning, he’s not going to let that happen again.
Hopper finds them before they find Hopper, pointing a gun at them even after seeing them because he was pissed. “What are you doing in here?!”
“They brought Steve here.” El explains simply, ignoring how Hopper’s eye twitches.
“Okay… and?” He looks like he’s about to have a conniption. “How are you here, El? How are the rest- who is that?”
“Our sister.” Steve throws an arm around Kali’s shoulder. “Kali, this is Hopper, El’s pseudo dad. Hop, everything has turned to shit.”
Hopper blinks. “Explain.”
“This is a wormhole.” Dustin says helpfully. “Vecna’s kidnapping kids and taking them to the world on the other side.”
“He tried to take Holly too.” Nancy continues. “We think he’ll go after Will now, since he couldn’t get her.”
Steve finishes it off. “Which is why we need to get out of the Upside Down and get Will away from Henry.”
It’s quiet for a moment. Kali shrugs. “Dr. Kay also plans to use our blood to create more children with our capabilities. That’s why they took Steve and I. Why they want Jane.”
Hopper stares at all of them, silent. Will snorts, which gets Hopper’s attention most of all. “Your mom is probably worried sick.”
“I’m not going to sit on the side as everyone else fights.” Will crosses his arms. “Deal with it.”
Hopper runs a hand down his face. “The only way out of the Upside Down is through the military’s portal. How did you get in here, El?”
“I made a smaller one.” El shrugs. “We slipped through. It was exhausting, though.”
“So that’s off the table.” Jonathan mutters. “If we can only go back through the base-”
“The base is in shambles right now.” Will grins. “El fucked the entire place up.”
El looks pleased. Hopper looks like he’s managed to get a migraine. “Alright, okay, anything else I should know? Like how the hell you two and Dustin-”
Will stumbles, clutching at his head. Steve is at his side in an instant. “What's wrong, kid?”
Will grimaces. “I- He- it's like he's here. He's watching-”
Steve blinks. Will no longer stands in front of him.
In fact, none of them stand in front of him.
A bell rings. Someone brushes past him, kissing at the neck of a teenager that looks a little like Joyce. He pauses, stares a little harder.
His eyes go wide. “Dad?”
His dad, of course, doesn't hear him. Just continues on his way, flirting with Joyce.
“Steve!”
Someone slams into him from behind. He nearly falls, barely holding himself up as he spins around.
Max Mayfield stands behind him, eyes wide and fearful. Max, here, alive. “What the-”
The world around them flickers. Max fades in and out of view. Eleven yells his name.
He slams back into his own body with the force of a truck, almost flying through the air, back slamming into the ground. “Jesus-”
“Steve, oh my god-” Jonathan reaches him first, Nancy and Kali right behind. He gasps, wheezing. The breath was knocked out of him. “What happened? Are you okay?”
He grasps at his chest, eyes fluttering. “M-Max-”
Will stills. “What?”
“I saw her.” He pants. “Max. She was there-”
“She wasn't real.” El says. “That was Vecna’s mind, Steve.”
“She was.” Steve sits up, eyes wide. “She's trapped there, she's been trapped there, in his mind, we have to-”
He pauses, a dreadful understanding coming to mind. Nancy catches his expression, tone full of warning. “Steve-”
“I'm sorry.” He cuts her off. “I know you don't want me to, but Nance, it's Max.”
“We'll figure something out.” Nancy kneels next to him. “But offering yourself up as bait is not the way, Steve!”
He's left Max alone, in Henry's mind for months. He's not waiting another second. “I'm sorry.”
“Steve.” El cuts in. “I won't let you.”
Steve pauses, looks at El. Feels her presence keeping his mind closed. He smiles sadly. “Then I'm sorry to you too.”
El opens her mouth. Steve slows her as she speaks her first word.
Her defense around his mind disappears. Come on Henry, come find me!
His fingers tighten around El’s anchor. Kali looks at him with a solemn frown. Nancy looks devastated. Dustin and Will are terrified. “Please, Steve.”
He smiles. “Ain't it ironic, Nance? Cause I know you wouldn't hesitate. Hell, you didn't before, did you?”
When he was dragged into the Upside Down and Nancy came for him without a second thought. How many times have they all helped him, even at the detriment to themselves?
Max was there. Max, all alone, after dying… he couldn't leave her there. Couldn't leave her alone for a second more.
“Sorry.” His voice feels dry. “You might have to carry me around for a while. Or leave me somewhere safe and go about your day.”
Dustin looks like he's about to creep up behind him, grab him. Try to break his hold on El. He holds up a finger, slows him too.
Jonathan’s hand clasps around his neck, grounding. He presses their temples together. “Are you sure about this, man?”
Steve scoffs. “When am I not? Just don't let El kill me, please. Or Nancy.”
Nancy's crying again. He just admitted to thinking about someone else romantically, and now this? He's the worst boyfriend ever. “I'm-”
Viney hands clamp around his skull. He has time to see Will crumple right before his mind is torn fully out of his body.
Hello Seven.
His eyes flutter open. He's on a grassy knoll, surrounded by trees. It’s bright and sunny and perfectly serene. Distantly, very distantly, he hears children laughing and playing. “What the fuck?”
Shoes appear in his peripheral. A hand, held out to him. “I must admit, you managed to surprise me with this one.”
He knows that voice. Still, he’s put himself in this mess, might as well let Henry Creel help him up. “I thought maybe we could bargain.”
“Bargain?” Henry scoffs. “Why would I bargain with you?”
“The same reason why you haven’t killed me yet.” Steve smiles. “You want something with this wormhole, but you can’t control it, can you? Can you get what you want with only one wormhole?”
He’s yanked closer, nearly nose to nose with the not decaying face of One. “Careful, brother. Don’t speak of things you don’t understand.”
“Then make me understand.” Steve presses. “Why are you doing this? To get back at papa? He’s dead, Henry.”
Something flickers in his eyes. Then, he pulls away. “You can’t change what’s already started.”
“My question is why.” He doesn’t understand. “Why are you doing this? Why do you want this? What is this going to accomplish?”
“A better world, brother.” Henry smiles. “And if you’re lucky, you and our other siblings can experience it as well. Away from those that kidnapped us, kept us in cages and cells. Why wouldn’t you want that?”
“I’m sure this plan of yours isn’t going to target only the people who deserve it?” He crosses his arms. “Come on Henry, if this was about justice and revenge I would have been on your side.”
“Good thing I don’t need you.” He presses a finger to his chest. Steve feels woozy. “Your power, maybe. It does make me curious, how they’ve come to be. Ever come across something strange in your childhood?”
“What?” That was a weird change of subject. “I spent my childhood stuck in a lab-”
“Before that, Seven.”
“I don’t remember.” Steve scoffs. “If you want to know when my powers manifested, I’ve had them since birth. I shocked the nurse coming out of the womb.”
He vaguely remembers that, being told it. He was taken at 4, but he remembers the vague notion of his father helping him, making him feel safe and loved and normal, saying that they’ve known since the beginning, that this changes nothing for them. Henry stares at him like he’s grown a second head.
“Maybe it dispersed.” He murmurs, before turning around. “Well, I’m sure you want to try and convince me to have a change of heart.”
“I doubt I can.” Steve starts after him, towards the sound of laughing kids. “But it’s worth a shot.”