(Ep. 9: The Piggyback)

Dying had never been a plausible option for Steve Harrington.

Despite being the most self-sacrificial person there is, he never thought death would hold him in its claws one day. Maybe there's something smug about believing he's immortal, but when having faced tons of dangers and being safe in the end, it's safe to say his survival streak made him pompous. He never thought the grim reaper would say enough is enough and cut his life string short. He always looked ahead and never looked back.

That is until now.

As he holds the lifeless body of his soulmate, he can't stop thinking about death. He can't stop pondering on different ways on how to join her. Maybe heading into the swarm of bats would be great or perhaps going to Lover's Lake would be easier.

There's lots of options... so many to choose from.

He's quiet, completely still as he stares at her resting face. She looks like she's fallen into a deep slumber, like a spell has been casted and she's waiting to be rescued. Even amidst the world crumbling and transforming into hell, she remains in her deep state of tranquility. She's stuck in her perfect and pacific thoughts while his mind is being corrupted by painful cries and begs that the clock turns back to a time where she's still with him.

Steve slowly glances up, his expression emotionless yet tortured. His eyes are glossy and his face is a pale contrast to his hands covered in her blood. He wants to move, to carry her away from this world, but he's become trapped in this inferno – trapped in his own personal perdition. How will he continue? How can he deal with living in a world where his light isn't in it?

Before her, his life used to be black and white. It was a constant cycle that went on for years on end, one he never expected to escape. He had come to the conclusion that some people were meant for joy and for a grand life while others weren't – that he was one of the unlucky ones meant for darkness.

His previous relationships had been void of any color. They were nothing but pastimes. Something meant to be locked into the vault of oblivion. Something he used to be content about. If he never caved to his feelings, maybe then, pain wouldn't come knocking at his door. Maybe, he would be spared from the curse of a maddening love.

Everything had been adequate, simply what anyone would dream of – until she arrived and painted his world golden.

The colors were brighter, the breeze was no longer suffocating, and the chains of a drained existence were broken as he was finally liberated from an abysmal life.

Everything was glorious, truly what dreams were made of.

Finding love had been a gift sent from heaven... or so he thought. Maybe it wasn't God that sent him this present. Maybe it was the devil himself. It would explain why this happened and why he's being punished. Perhaps letting his guard down and believing someone like him could be meant for something as golden as this had been his retribution.

Maybe he shouldn't have held on to hope. Maybe believing in a happy ending had been the worst possible mistake he could've made.

How can he move on from this and resume his life?

Gwen Henderson is everywhere. She's in the forest ground, in the lake, in the skies, in the trees, and the breeze. She's everywhere and it's cruel never being able to reach her.

Just thinking about facing Dustin makes him dread the moment. He has her eyes, her sarcasm, her witty remarks, and even walks the same.

She's not going to be here anymore, but her ghost will always remain. She will be with him all the time and instead of being a source of comfort, it creates a deeper sorrow as it would mean settling in accepting she's gone. That he would never feel her warmth against him, get to hear her musical laugh, admire her hair blowing in the wind, or the way her spirit remained lively up until the very end.

He will never see her again, but he will always find her everywhere.

"Steve, we have to go," Nancy softly whispers, her voice low and raspy. "We need to take her home."

He doesn't acknowledge her words. Instead, he glances back down at her and continues caressing her, gently rubbing circles on her cheeks. She looks so beautiful sleeping peacefully and even through her closed eyes, he can tell they're shining majestically like the blue sky. She's truly perfect and even in her death, that will always be the truth.

Not even when his friends try convincing him of getting up does he listen. With the harsh reality hitting him, he doesn't see the point of leaving. If she's here, then that's where his home will be. Wherever she is, that's the place he'll remain in.

Slowly, he rests his palm against her heart. Maybe if he gives her his warmth, maybe then she would wake up. Maybe then, they could finally leave this place together and head into the sunset.

Her cold temperature sends a shock current through him. He flinches lightly, bringing tears to prick at his eyes. She's never been this cold and never has been this pale. She's always had the color she radiates, but now she's resembling his past life.

Maybe it's his mind playing tricks on him, but he swears feeling her warmth returning. Her coldness is starting to fade and her heart is starting to resume its beating. It's faint, but it's there. He can feel it and that's enough to return the color back to his life.

"She's not dead," Steve declares, making Robin and Nancy exchange concerned looks. "Her heart is beating again. I can feel it."

"Steve-"

He cuts Nancy off with a loud voice, "Feel her heartbeat!"

Choosing to cave, Nancy checks for her pulse and instant relief is felt when realizing he's right. Her heart is beating again and she's alive. "Oh, my God. She's back."

"We have to take her to the hospital. Let's go," Robin sighs in relief as a soft smile tugs at the ends of her lips.

Steve doesn't think twice in rushing out the Creel House. His once faded hope has returned like the light that is Gwen Henderson. She didn't leave him. She kept her promise and now, they'll be able to live the lives they want. He was wrong in losing hope, because this is an example that miracles can happen and she's an example of that.

Two Days Later

Hawkins has been destroyed.

Everyone's leaving town and packing their remaining belongings. Some have chosen to stay behind to help those in need and have gathered all kinds of things to donate. While some weren't as affected by the supposed earthquake, others lost their homes and had nothing left. It might not seem like donating things is doing much, but it's better than doing nothing.

Things have been hectic and filled with heartbreak. Everyone's having trouble dealing with the aftermath after losing three of their own. No one could find any comfort. No one knew what to say, what to do, or what to expect.

With Eddie being gone and Max and Gwen in a coma, the group was having trouble speaking about what happened. They know they have each other, but talking about this tragedy makes it worse from feeling as if they failed everyone and themselves.

"So I've been telling Robin that she needs to go on a date with Daphne soon, but she says she's afraid everything will get awkward and ruined," Steve paces around the hospital room, shaking his head disapprovingly at his best friend's overthinking. "I keep telling her to just push her doubts aside and live in the moment. I mean, that's good advice, right?"

The sound of the ventilator and monitor beeping are the only things that answer him. Her shoulder has a tight bandage around it and there's a cast around her ankle. Her breathing is low and her heart is still weak, but it's a miracle doctors were able to fix the damage. Now it's just a matter of waiting until she wakes up. If she ever does since nearly all medical experts have said there's a high probability she never will. It's a miracle that she's still alive, but with her heart having stopped for over a minute, it complicated things much more.

Regardless of what the doctors say, Steve knows she's going to wake up. She's the strongest person he knows and he'd be a complete fool not to have faith in her. She's going to come back and very soon, all their hopes and dreams will come true. He knows it will.

Steve sits right next to her bed. He holds her hand and gently squeezes it before placing a kiss. "You know, I've been thinking that when you wake up and get better, we should travel the country with the others. We can rent a trailer and go anywhere we want. Of course, we'll come back before college starts, so don't worry about that. I'll make sure you don't ever miss a class."

He waits for her to say something, praying she'll wake up, but only the monitor's beeping answers him.

The door suddenly bursts open and Steve is surprised to find a frantic Jonathan under the doorframe. He's out of breath and his eyes are extremely puffy. His appearance is extremely disheveled all while he trembles uncontrollably.

Steve doesn't say anything and just watches as he walks over to the bed. Knowing how close he and Gwen are, he can't imagine how terrible this must also be for him. He remains in silence and tries ignoring his shaky breath and broken voice, simply watching from the corner of his eye how he holds her hand and tries shielding his cries.

"Is she going to wake up?" Jonathan manages to say, continuing to stare at his best friend with tearful eyes.

"They- umm, they say she won't," Steve clears his throat, unsure of what to do considering he and Jonathan have never seen eye to eye with each other. He knows Gwen would want them to get along, but it's hard considering he had been one of the people that made his life a living hell. They've never shared a proper conversation that isn't filled with awkward silences or humorless jokes, so of course he's going to struggle in offering comfort.

Jonathan takes a deep breath, still not looking away from her, "What happened?"

Quite frankly, it's not a question Steve has the answer to. All he knows is that it happened when the vines entrapped them, but the thing is, he's unsure of how her injury appeared. "I'm not exactly sure-"

"How can you not be sure?" Jonathan's tone falters into an irritated one as he shoots daggers at Steve. "Weren't you supposed to keep her safe? Isn't that what you claimed you were going to do?"

Steve doesn't say anything as he just averts his gaze to anything but him. He knows he's right as he had promised to take care of her, and right when she needed him, he wasn't there to protect her. Everything that happened, it's all on him and there will never be a day where he doesn't forgive himself for it.

Before he can even attempt to form a response, the door opens again and this time, it's Dustin with Hopper beside him. Steve gasps when seeing the chief again even though he saw him this morning, but it's still shocking seeing him back. From having spent months believing he had been dead, it's hard getting used to this. He just wishes Gwen could have known that her pseudo father is alive and that finally, she could become free from the pain that came from believing she had lost him.

Dustin hands Steve a cup of coffee and places various cassettes and her walkman on one of the end tables, "Brought her favorite songs and your needed caffeine."

"I thought I told you to go home," Steve protests as he reluctantly takes the coffee from his hands. He tries not staring directly into him as it only makes him feel worse when seeing her in him, but right as he performs that action, he realizes it isn't fair on Dustin. The kid lost his sister and brother figure in the span of a day, so pulling away from him is not what he needs. With a strong sense of composure, Steve decides to face the youngest Henderson, "But thanks for bringing this. You didn't have to."

Dustin doesn't say anything and instead just takes the spot at the edge of the bed, "Any changes?"

Steve shakes his head, "No. She's still the same."

Hopper tries to speak, but his throat runs dry as he sees the girl he helped raise lying in this hospital bed. He never thought he'd be back here – especially to visit the person he views like a daughter. Just being here reminds him of Sara and remembering the terrible pain of losing her makes him terrified that he'll lose Gwen as well.

"She will get better," he brings himself to say. "I've taught her well, so I know she's not going to pull anything funny on us."

Jonathan takes a deep breath and nods agreeingly at his words, "Exactly. She's always won every fight, so she's going to win this one. I know she will."

Trying to switch the topic of conversation, Steve turns to Dustin and asks, "Is your mom alright?"

Dustin hesitates on telling the truth since it would only worry him more, but his sister wouldn't want him to deal with this on his own. He promised he would take care of himself, so that's exactly what he's going to do. "She's been... dealing with it. I can tell she's trying to be strong for me, but I know this is killing her. I'm scared she's going to lose herself like she did when dad died and I'll be completely alone."

"Hey," Steve pats his shoulder reassuringly. "She's not going to lose herself and you will never be alone. I'm right here. We all are."

"Exactly," both Hopper and Jonathan say in unison.

Dustin forces a smile before looking back at his sister, "She promised me she would return, so she better wake up 'cause I'm not letting her live it down if she doesn't."

The door opens once again, causing them to turn around and see Nancy, Mike, Will, El, and Robin standing by the entrance.

"You guys came," Dustin stands up and walks over to his friends. "We've been trying to make contact with you for days."

"We came as soon as we heard," Mike tells him as he and Will embrace their friend.

"Do you know about Max?" he asks.

"Yeah, we do," Will tells him.

"We just came from there," El says in a low voice before walking over to Steve. She had seen how affected he was and it was painful not having been able to do anything to keep her safe. She leans in for an embrace, taking him by surprise, "I'm so sorry."

Steve doesn't say anything and just observes her as she walks over to the bed. He leans against the wall and takes a deep breath, "It was... strange. Her heart stopped for over a minute. She was..." he pauses as he tries shaking the image of the light leaving her eyes away. "She was dead and then she... came back. Doctors don't know how it happened, so they're calling it a miracle."

Mike, Will, Dustin, and Hopper exchange knowing looks as they glance at El, knowing she had been the reason for this.

El sits herself at the edge of the bed. She holds her hand before closing her eyes. Her mind sends her into a deep trance – one that allows her to enter Gwen's mind and hopefully find her and bring her back. She focuses extremely hard and it isn't until feeling extreme cold and water on her feet that she opens her eyes.

"Gwen?" Everything is dark and there's not a single soul in sight. She walks slowly and looks around, waiting for her to say something, to maybe appear and greet her like she always does, but nothing happens. "Gwen!"

No sign of any movement.

No sign of life.

This can't be happening. She can't be gone. El made sure to bring her back, so why isn't she here? First it was Max and now her?

El starts panicking and sprints all around, hoping that by some miracle, she would find her, "Gwen! Gwen!"

Nothing.

There's absolutely nothing.

__________________

With lots of insistence, Steve had been able to convince Dustin to go home. He promised if any changes happened, he would be the first to know.

Robin and Daphne were taking him to Hawkins High School to donate some things. Even if she doesn't have a license just yet, Steve let her drive his car as long as she drives carefully and doesn't leave a scratch. Now it's just a matter of trusting that nothing would happen.

He grabs a few of the cassettes that Dustin brought and smiles when seeing Cyndi Lauper's album, "She's So Unusual." Their song is on it and usually he would have chosen to play it, but it feels wrong listening to it without her. He sighs heavily and sets it aside, deciding that when she wakes up, they're going to have their dance.

Steve continues going through the rest of the cassettes and settles on putting the album, "Songs from the Big Chair" by Tears For Fears. He opens her walkman and places it inside, but before he's able to hit play, the blaring sound of the thunder grabs his attention.

The light from outside has gotten dimmer and the once blue skies have been replaced by a dark sinister color. He walks over to the window and notices dust flakes falling like snow – the same way they did back in the Upside Down.

And that's when Steve knew.

Their fight was far from over.

It was only the beginning.

Author's Note

This story is officially finished!
I would like to thank you for all the support & for following me in this journey.
It's been so much fun writing it & I'm really going to miss it 😭

This story will be completed until season 5, which I hope comes out soon before I leave this app.

Depending on how the next season goes, we'll see if Gwen & Steve will have their happy ending 🤭

For updates and edits, you can follow my TikTok @interstellargazing.wp

Until then, over and out!