epilogue

☾ ⋆*・゚:⋆*・゚

°•. ┊ Daylight┊.•°
✧ ˚ ━ i understand, act three

— epilogue








As the three older teens accept the fact that despite their best efforts Vecna is still alive; they make their journey back to the gate or rather their starting point seeing as the gates are everywhere. Robin's the first one to take notice of the huddle of teens on the ground and no sign of Sam. This sends the blonde into absolute distress and she moves into a run, catching the attention and concern of the two brunettes beside her. As Robin gets closer, the tears and distress are present on their faces and a glimpse of red hair tells her exactly what she needs to know. Her breath catches in her throat and she spins on her heel, rushing back towards Steve. She places her hands against his chest and pushes him back to shield him from the sight of the Mayfield girl. As Robin fights back tears, Nancy moves to see what has caused this reaction, while Steve fights against the Buckley girls' shoves. "Oh my god." As the words fall breathlessly from Nancy's lips, Delilah chokes out a sob and the distraction team have all become aware of the elder teens presence. The panic that's surging through Steve's veins comes to a climax, as he finally breaks free from Robin and despite her dismay, he approaches the group.

"Steve." Dustin looks up at his friend and it's as though he can hear his heart shatter. Steve's entire world comes crashing down at the sight of Sam lying in Eddie's arms; cold, bloody and lifeless.

"We had plans..." Those are the only words that Harrington can muster, yet it feels like a stab to the chest for those around. Steve feels the entire weight of his body and his legs give out, as he fights the tears that threaten to fall from his eyes. He drops to the ground and all he can think about is all the things he never got to do. Never got to kiss her one last time. And the fact that he never said it. 'I love you.' He never said it one last time. He never said those words, he had the perfect opportunity, but he convinced himself that they'd have more time. They were supposed to have more time. All of the things they'll never get to do is playing in his mind like a scratched record. Robin moves to comfort her friend, placing a hand on his shoulder, knowing that it won't bring much comfort.

"We have to get out of here." Nancy states, sniffling slightly and taking action. Wheeler knows that out of them all, she has to get it together. She has to ignore all of the emotions consuming her and make sure that Sam didn't die for nothing. That they all get out of the Upside Down. That they're all okay. Physically, at least.

"We can't just leave her here." Eddie huffs, glancing over his shoulder. Robin gets a grip around one of Steve's arms and pulls him to his feet, allowing him to lean against her. Her heart aches for multiple reasons. She can't imagine what her best friend is feeling right now; the thought of losing Delilah isn't comforting. Robin also couldn't imagine what it'd be like to lose Steve either. The two people she cares about most are going through quite possibly the worst pain of their lives right now and she fears that she won't be able to help them. Not to mention her own pain from the loss of someone who loved her and accepted her, when most people wouldn't have. Nancy places a hand on Dustin's shoulder and it seems to pull the young teen from his grief, causing him to quickly rise to his feet. Henderson runs off to the side and empties the contents of his stomach. Delilah begrudgingly goes to check on him, not wanting to leave Sam's side, but her sisterly instinct takes over.

"Come on." Nancy says softly, while placing both her hands on the Munson boys shoulders. Eddie shrugs out of her touch, his grip on Sam tightening and the salty taste of his tears becomes evident to him, when he opens his mouth to speak. He can't find the words, any words. The idea of leaving his best friend to rot in a nightmare dimension. She died saving him. That means something. It means everything. Eddie isn't going to abandon her. She deserves a proper burial. A funeral. In his opinion, she deserves a life. The life he gets to live because she gave up her own. And he intends on doing just that. Living. Living for her. "We're not leaving her. She's small, we can get her through the gate. We just have to be careful. So, come on." Eddie looks up at her and then rises to his feet with the Mayfield girl in his arms. He takes a look at Steve, finding sorrow across his features, but the look in his eyes is distant; empty. The Henderson siblings rejoin the rest of the group, as they slowly and silently walk towards the trailer.

"Eddie, you fucking moron." Lila sighs. "The rope."

"What? What about the rope?" Robin's voice is hoarse and her questions prompt Delilah to explain that Eddie cut their easiest way out of the hell hole they're currently stuck in. Thankfully, with the rift in their world, they can stack miscellaneous items in the Munson trailer to climb through. Nancy makes her way through first, landing uncomfortably onto the other counter, assisting the others. Delilah and Dustin go next. "Alright, come on, Steve. You have to climb through." Her words go in one ear and out the other, but he moves. Harrington goes through the motions to get to the other side, not particularly concerned with any of it. Eddie and Robin look at one another, before gently maneuvering their friend's body through the gate. Nancy and Delilah, are on the other side, making sure that nothing happens to her. Once she's through and the two girls have gotten her out of the way, Eddie and Robin climb out. They all pack into the RV; driving back to Creel house to check on the rest of their group. As they arrive, so does a patrol car. Nancy orders no one to move, but as a familiar figure exits the vehicle, their anxiety subsides. Sarah. "How- how are we supposed to go in there? I mean, they went into this fight thinking that the hard part was killing Vecna, which by the way, we didn't even do. The Mayfield's, despite knowing that there was a slim chance of it working out the way we planned, had some hope that they'd see each other again. And now, Sam's dead. She's dead. And we have to tell her little sister that the last shred of normalcy she had is gone. Forever. And Sarah, her mom. We have to tell a mom that she outlived her child. It's not fair. None of this is fair. And when it comes to Lucas, I'm pretty sure that she's the closest thing he's got to a big sister. Griffin, he's gonna lose a friend. From what he's told me, the first person who he confided in about his shitty home life. You know, like really confided in, not just joked about. They're world is about to come crashing down and we're the ones who have to do it. How do we do this? How do we live like this? She's dead. How- how'd she do it? She's taken care of all of us countless times and we failed her. We failed her. We failed-" Robin's rant stops, when she loses her breath and she begins to sob. Delilah gets up, pulling her into a hug, as the blonde's words sliced through everyone like a knife. She just put into words exactly what they were all thinking. Dustin looks down at the bag that he's got an iron grip on.

"Maybe we don't have to..." Henderson's voice pierces the silence and causes everyone to look over at the young teen. Dustin digs around the backpack, until locating exactly what he's looking for. He pulls out thirteen envelopes. Each with a different name written in her frustratingly perfect handwriting. The boy shows the rest of the teens, the objects in his hands. They all take a moment, a slight sense of relief that they've got something left. It's interrupted by yelling from outside the RV. They rush out and watch Erica run towards them in a panic, her words are so quick that the only thing any of them understand is; 'help' and 'gunshot.' Nancy and Dustin run inside, heading up each flight of stairs, until reaching the attic. They find Max with her knees pulled to her chest, rocking back and forth, in clear distress. Lucas is sitting beside Griffin's body. The blonde is bleeding out from a gunshot wound to the abdomen, while Sarah applies pressure in an attempt to slow the bleeding. "Oh shit."

"We need an ambulance." Sarah breathes, looking up at them. "Use the radio in my car to call it in. Go! Now!" Nancy spins on her heel, running back outside and doing just as Sarah ordered. In the process, the Wheeler girl fills everyone else in on the situation as much as she can. Dustin walks over to Max and crouches down beside her.

"Max...are you alright?"

"She's gone." The young redhead lifts her head revealing her puffy, tear-stained cheeks. "My sister's dead. She sacrificed herself. For me. Me and El."

"And Eddie." Henderson adds, catching Max off guard. This moment happens while chaos continues five feet away from them. "Max, what happened?" The girl explains how Vecna got to Sam. That Sam gave herself up. That she put the world on the line, to protect her sister. "When Sam saved you, she was- she was already dying. The bats swarmed Eddie and she got their attention, taking the hits. I think that she thought her powers would be enough to save her or protect her. But they, uh, they weren't. I'm so sorry, Max." The pair find comfort in one another, while Lucas mourns the life that he feels responsible for. Griffin took a bullet for him and the Sinclair boy is already feeling the extreme weight of guilt consuming him. Sarah looks at Dustin and Max through furrowed brows, wondering what the hell happened to her niece in Vecna's mind realm. The woman also begins to wonder where her daughter is and why she isn't the one up here comforting Max and barking orders to save Griffin. Sirens start to blare through their ears, as they quickly approach the house. Paramedics rush in and take over for Sarah. The blonde woman moves towards the Sinclair boy, helping him to his feet and holding him back from interfering with the first responders work. They lift the boy onto a gurney and carefully bring him downstairs and out of the building. As they load him into the ambulance, the teens stand on the lawn watching with misty eyes and heavy hearts. Seconds later, Sarah, Lucas, Dustin, and Max appear in the doorway, before making their way towards the group.

"Where is she?" Sarah swallows hard, fearing the worst.

"Sarah-" Delilah starts, twisting the ends of her hair in anxiety.

"She's in the van." Robin cuts her off, giving the woman in front of them false hope. The rest of their group gives her a look that says 'what the hell was that?' and this causes the Buckley girl to cave and tell her the truth, in a way. "Well, her, uh, her body's in the...van." And just like that, Sarah's life comes crashing down. The floor seems to fall from under her feet and she feels as though her lungs have collapsed because she can't seem to catch her breath. Her vision becomes spotty and she feels off-balance; her eyes roll to the back of her, as she hits the ground. The kids quickly move to inspect her physical state and Nancy has them put her into the patrol car; she and Lucas take her to the hospital. Leaving everyone else to deal with a corpse. The corpse of someone they all love. It seems as though they all realize that Max is standing there and the energy shifts. All eyes fall upon the young redhead, as she stares blankly at her feet and ignores the feeling of their eyes burning into her skull. She knows. And they know. But still nobody speaks.

"Sam's dead?" Lucas' question isn't directed at anyone, but rather a personal moment of complete disbelief. No one moves. No one speaks. The first to break from the group is Steve, as he gets back into the RV. He avoids looking at her body lying across the couch in the back of the van, but gives in to his urge and approaches her. The boy falls to his knees and wipes her hair from her face, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. A sniffle pulls him from his own emotions, causing him to turn and find Max standing a few paces away. Neither of them speak. There's a silent understanding being shared, as Max moves to sit beside her sister's lifeless body.

The group parks the RV at Sarah's house for the remainder of the night and none of them sleep or eat. Dustin hands out the letters Sam left to those around, leaving the rest in her bag. Everyone opens the envelopes, taking in the words on the pages and no one really has anything to say. It's just a few hours of silence, until the sun rises and they head to the hospital to check on their friends. They sit in the waiting room, while Robin goes up to the nurses station to ask for Sarah or Nancy. The woman sitting there calls up to the Mayfield woman's room and Robin stands impatiently for any information. Nancy steps off the elevator and approaches the blonde. "Hey, how's Sarah?"

"She'll be alright." Nance breathes, glancing around Robin to look at the group sitting around the waiting room with the most gut wrenching expressions on their faces. Looking as though they've seen a ghost. "Just dehydration mixed with the news about Sam. Bad combination. And Griffin's still in surgery, so we're just waiting on an update...how are they?"

"Still alive." The Buckley girl sighs, not knowing how to put the feeling into words. "For whatever that's worth." Steve stands abruptly and turns down a hall, needing a minute. The group watches him leave and Max decides to follow, knowing that none of them should be alone.

"Steve..." She says softly, finding him sitting on the linoleum floor with his letter in his hands. The young Mayfield girl moves to sit beside him, leaning her head on his shoulder. He doesn't say anything, just hands her the paper.


Steve,

I'm just gonna start with this; I never meant to hurt you. I was in pain and I handled it poorly, I'm sorry. When I first moved here, I wasn't expecting any of this. But I sure as hell wasn't expecting you. I love you, Steve. I always will. Take care of yourself. And please watch out for my sister, you're gonna need each other. She trusts you. Keep an eye on our boys. I'm sorry. I love you, Steve Harrington. I fell in love with you the moment we met at that Halloween party and I have never stopped. I never will. And as much as I hate to say it; I'm glad that I died before you. I wouldn't have been able to survive that pain. But you are so much stronger than I am and I know that you'll get through it. You have to get through it. You can't ignore it and you can't pretend it never happened. Because it did. And you have to lean on the people around you. You'll need them. You can't hide your pain because you're all feeling it. In different ways and at different capacities, but if I lived my life correctly, then you'll all feel something. I can't wait to see what you do with your life, even though it will no longer include me. You're going to do great things. And I hope you find true happiness. Fall in love as much as possible. Live in the moment and cherish every second you've got with the people around. And when Robin tells you to do something, listen to her. Because she's probably right.

I love you more than anything.

~ Your Firefly


    "It's gonna be okay, right?" Max questions, looking at him.

    "Yeah, we're gonna be just fine." Steve answers, not sure he believes his own words.



[word count: 2809]

lexi's letters; this was just me breaking y'alls hearts a bit more- i am so thankful for all the love and support on this story!! and i love Sam and Steve with all my heart; in another life they got married, had kids and got to take yearly trips with the party and the older teens to some beach in California.

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