(Ep. 7 & 8: The Massacre at Hawkins Lab & Papa)

If there was one thing Gwen despised most, it was herself.

This past year had been the worst one of her life and that's without counting the years where she had to swallow her grief for her mom's sake. She used to be carefree, she used to be livid, she used to be hopeful, and she used to be happy. Sure her life had plenty of ups and downs, but ever since that Fourth of July, her life started going into a downward spiral.

Her relationships got destroyed and her emptiness had been the main culprit. She didn't see a point in keeping any of her friends close. She could see the way they looked at her, so concerned, so scared, and so disappointed at the person she became. The girl they used to know had disappeared and Gwen didn't know how to bring her back, so she did what she knew best.

She ran.

It was pointless to continue. It was pointless to continue with this life that was rendered to be useless when it's only bound to worsen. She would spend all night thinking on how it'd be better if she just disappeared. If everything just stopped and for once, she could acquire that breath of fresh air. Nothing made sense, so what was the point?

Steve didn't love her, her friends didn't care for her, her brother was distancing himself, her mother looked at her like she was a glass about to break, and worst of all, the person she considered her second dad had died. Her life was terrible and even if she was acquiring her dream of studying film in NYU, her heart was still aching and her mind kept telling her she wasn't worthy of anything.

Gwen had become empty. She was a shell of the person she used to be and as much as she tried getting her old self back, she had to settle that she was dead. She had become a walking corpse and her home was just a cemetery. Her bed was her grave and her agonizing thoughts were the nails on the coffin.

Happiness was something she settled on never feeling again. It was something meant for people that deserved it, for people that were worthy and good. Something she wasn't. Darkness had become her shadow, it was her friend, her companion, her partner, and a part of her soul - and she accepted it.

When she chose to come back to Hawkins for Spring Break, she didn't expect her life to change. She didn't expect to reconnect with her friends and most of all, she didn't expect Steve to still love her.

Even if this week had been terrible, Gwen can't deny that being around the people she loves had brought the light back to her life. She's not as alone as she used to believe. She has people that care for her and she has found the hope and joy that's been missing from her life.

Slowly, but surely, her light was coming back and it's at risk to fade at the hands of Vecna.

She's not sure where she is, but the last she remembers, she had been climbing the rope into the other side. Only the second she let go, she started falling into an abysmal pitch of darkness. The coldness slammed against her back, emitting painful jolts as if syringes had been placed in the epicenter.

"Steve?!" Gwen calls out, her eyes watering with haste when realizing she's completely alone. "Steve! Dustin! Please help me!"

She starts running in whatever direction and even if she might not know where to go, all she knows is that she needs to hide. She has to escape Vecna and make sure he never finds her.

"Gwen."

Hesitantly, she turns around and as if her movements had flipped the switch, she's now standing in the dark forest. She looks around and recognizes this is the exact location where she and Barb had tried fighting against the demogorgon. It was the place that ended with Barb sacrificing herself to save her.

"You're finally here," Barb walks out of the shadows and right as she sees her, Gwen's heart drops to the ground and her entire body runs cold. Her clothes are filled with blood and there's a fresh amount emitting from her mouth as she speaks. "I've been waiting a long time for you to join me."

She shuts her eyes and pinches her forearm, hoping that when she opens them again, she'd be awake and back in the safety of the real world. But when she does, all of her faith becomes forgotten about when still remaining in this place.

Barb is now standing in front of her and is sporting a sinister smile, "Why are you scared? Isn't this what you wanted? Isn't this what you've been praying for every night?"

"No- no I haven't-"

"You were right in wishing this," Barb's voice is low yet grating, "I'm only here because of you. You killed me. I'm dead because of you."

"I'm sorry," Gwen cries, her cheeks staining with tears as she tries apologizing for her mistake. "Barb, I'm so sorry! I never meant for anything to have happened to you!"

The redhead chuckles, "Don't lie. You know you wanted me to die. I wanted to hide and you forced me out. You made me go after you and now look at where I am. Dead."

"That's not true! I wanted to help you and take you home. I wanted to save you," she rushes through her words, hoping they're more than enough to convince her that her intentions were good. "I didn't want you to die and if I could do everything again, I'd do things differently."

Barb ignores her words and walks closer to her, causing Gwen to take a few steps back as she tries controlling her sobs. "Why do you think you feel guilt? Why do you think you pray for everything to end? It's because deep down you know it should've been you that died. I should've lived. I should've escaped. Not you. Not any of your friends."

"No! Please stop!"

"If you really feel guilty for what you did, then you'd know it's best that you follow me into death. You know it's what you want, so stop fighting and give in. Come with me and I'll end your suffering."

"No!" Gwen's feet stumble against a tree root and her body comes crashing down. Her head slams against one of the rocks, causing her vision to become a blurry mess. She reaches for it and becomes afraid when seeing blood on her fingertips.

"Come with me."

Just as she looks up, it's no longer Barb standing in front of her. Her presence has morphed into the monster of her nightmares, it has become the specter that's been haunting her all this time, it has now become Vecna.

"It is time, Gwen."

She pushes on her heels and starts running as far from him as possible. Her head continuously whips back and forth as she focuses on not stumbling over anything. She needs to hide. She needs to find someplace safe, someplace that will give her friends time to help her.

The forest around her suddenly starts glowing a bright red. The fog starts dissipating and the once rustling leaves have come to an abrupt stop. She knows better than to stop and catch her breath, but like a magnet drawing her in, she starts following the glowing pathway. It's certainly the worst mistake she could make, but her body appears to have developed a mind of its own that she has no other option than just go forward.

Gwen turns around and notices she's no longer stepping on forest ground, but is standing on what appears to be a stairwell. The dark skies are no longer present and instead have been replaced by a bright red. The clock chiming sends shivers down her spine, causing her to turn in its direction and see it floating a couple feet next to her along with a few debris of what appears to be pieces of a house.

"It seems you finally found me," Vecna growls. "You're so close. So close to the truth. What did your friends say about old, blind, dumb, Victor?" She tries ignoring him and carefully walks down the steps as her eyes wander to every corner of this place. "Did he miss me? I've been meaning to check back in, but I've been busy. So very busy."

She comes to a stop when seeing the body of Chrissy tied around a tree. Her mouth is hanging wide open, her jaw is dislocated, and her eyes have been sucked out of her skull. Gwen gasps and tries averting her gaze anywhere else, but she finds herself unable to that she remains in place like a deer caught in headlights. That is until the familiar door with stained roses disrupts her line of sight.

Like something out of a movie, the red hues start vanishing and she finds herself standing inside the Creel House, but not the ruined one, the once perfect and safe one. She takes a few steps back when a family enters through the door. It seems they recently just moved in based on their amazed faces and wandering eyes.

A young girl with blonde hair and a bright smile gracefully walks around in wonderment, "It looks like a fairytale! A dream!"

Gwen remains perfectly still, not daring to move a muscle, as she watches the young girl walk up the stairs excitedly. She doesn't understand what's happening or why Vecna's showing her this, but regardless of why, she's just grateful that it's giving her time until figuring out how to get out of here.

"Alice, no running," the girl's mother says while standing alongside who appears to be her husband.

"This is nice," the man says with a smile as he stares adoringly at his wife.

Gwen suddenly notices a little boy standing in the corner. He's clearly not excited over this move based on the way his posture is hunched, his face is adorned with somberness, and the way he keeps staring at the floor like he's dreading stepping further in.

"I didn't fit in with other children. Something was wrong with me. All the teachers and the doctors said I was broken. My parents thought a change of scenery, a fresh start in Hawkins, might just cure me. It was absurd. As if the world would be any different here."

The boy starts wandering down the hall and Gwen trails after him while looking around the house. The Creel House looks completely normal and strangely calm, not knowing that it would soon become the house of horrors that are read about in scary ghost stories or told around a campfire.

"But then, to my surprise, our new home provided a discovery. And a newfound sense of purpose."

She continues walking down the hall and sees the boy sitting down on the bathroom floor. He's looking down at one of the vents like he's just discovered pirate treasure. In a swift motion, the boy removes the lid off the vent and places his hand inside the dark hole.

"I found a nest of black widows living inside a vent. Most people fear spiders. They detest them. And yet, I found them endlessly fascinating. More than that, I found a great comfort in them. A kinship."

Gwen tenses when seeing a spider resting on his palm. Spiders have always been a fear of hers and seeing the boy admiring it like it's some kind of pet, causes a mountain of nerves to start piling in. She continues staring attentively at the sight, but that same boy suddenly runs up behind her and takes her by surprise.

"Like me, they are solitary creatures and deeply misunderstood. They are gods of our world. The most important of all predators."

Following after him, she walks past the set of stairs into another room. There, she sees him walking up to the attic and trails after him. The boy is sitting on the attic's floor with candles surrounding him and is inspecting a mason jar that has a black widow inside. The way the jars are positioned, it resembles a shrine and that it's enough to bring goosebumps to trail down her skin.

"They immobilize and feed on the weak, bringing balance and order to an unstable ecosystem."

Gwen walks closer, noticing the boy is drawing the spiders with such a pristine sense of attention and accuracy.

"But the human world was disrupting this harmony. You see, humans are a unique type of pest, multiplying and poisoning our world, all while enforcing a structure of their own. A deeply unnatural structure. Where others saw order, I saw a straitjacket."

She walks down the set of stairs and follows him into the hall. He starts looking up at the grandfather clock like it's some kind of masterpiece

"A cruel, oppressive world dictated by made-up rules. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades. Each life a faded, lesser copy of the one before. Wake up, eat, work, sleep, reproduce, and die. Everyone is just waiting. Waiting for it all to be over. All while performing in a silly, terrible play, day after day."

The clock ticks and something in the boy's expression makes her grow concerned. There's something off about this and the fact that Vecna's the one showing this, just makes her think that maybe all of them were right in believing the Creel House has a connection to him besides being where he hides.

"I could not do that. I could not close off my mind and join in the madness. I could not pretend. And I realized I didn't have to."

A distorted chiming takes over, the same one in the same tune that's been torturing her for days. She looks at the boy and when seeing his eyes closed, it becomes obvious that it's him that's doing this. The clock continues going off uncontrollably and the chiming becomes more intense with every minute that goes by.

"I could make my own rules. I could restore balance to a broken world. A predator... but for good."

A loud shriek fills Gwen's surroundings, causing her to turn around and when she does, she's no longer inside the house. She's standing in the front yard and a couple feet from her is the boy and a rabbit shrieking in pain. Her eyes widen in complete fear and her chest starts heaving uncontrollably when noticing it's the boy that's responsible for the animal's pain.

"As I practiced, I realized I could do more than I possibly imagined. I could reach into others, into their minds, their memories."

Gwen's heart pounds against her chest as she stares horrifically at the sight in front. The boy doesn't even seem remorseful about what he's doing. It's like he doesn't care and actually enjoys torturing the rabbit. She clenches her jaw and takes a step forward, but that's when the rabbit's bones crack and he falls down dead.

"I became an explorer. I saw my parents for what they truly were. To the world, they presented themselves as good, normal people. But like everything else in this world, it was all a lie. A terrible lie. They had done things. Such awful things."

Refusing to be near the boy, Gwen slams the door open and hurries inside. She rests against the door and takes deep breaths, wishing for this vision to be over and finally get home safely. Why is Vecna showing her this? Why is he letting her know his truth?

"I showed them who they really were. I held up a mirror."

She suddenly hears a baby wailing and hesitantly, she looks into the living room and sees a crib burning in the fireplace. The boy's father is sitting on the sofa and is horrified when seeing the sight.

"My naive father believed it was a demon cursing them for their sins. But my mother somehow knew. Knew it was I who was holding up that mirror, and she despised me for it."

Out of nowhere, the song, "Dream a Little Dream," starts playing from a distance. She starts heading in its direction despite knowing she's bound to regret it, but she figures if she's already here, then might as well know the full truth.

"She called a doctor, an expert. She wanted him to lock me away, to fix me, even though it wasn't I who was broken. It was them. And so she left me with no choice. No choice but to act. To break free."

In the dining room, the Creel family is gathered for dinner. The boy's dad is walking over to the radio to turn it off while the rest of them watch. She notices the boy glancing over at his mom with such a hateful look. It's the same way he was staring at the clock and the same way he looked at the rabbit. Such a despicable and sinister gaze that can only belong to a monster.

The lights start flickering uncontrollably and in a quick instant, the boy's mom rises into the air as she lets out a loud scream. Her bones start cracking, her jaw becomes dislocated, and blood starts coming out of her eyes before sinking into her skull. She comes crashing down onto the table right in front of the boy, whose nose is bleeding and eyes contain a satisfied look.

"With each life I took, I grew stronger. More powerful. They were becoming a part of me."

His dad carries him and his sister out into the hall, but the boy is able to put them into a trance that leads to his sister dying and his dad becoming trapped in it.

"But I was still a child. And I did not yet know my limits. And it nearly killed me."

Gwen stands under the archway, completely horrified at what's unfolding, and the fact that everything started because of a young boy. Victor wasn't crazy and wasn't a man who snapped and killed his family. It was a demon and that demon had been his son before transforming into Vecna.

The electricity continues buzzing and suddenly comes to an abrupt stop. The boy comes tumbling down and his dad escapes the trance. He turns around and is horrified when seeing his entire family is gone and without thinking twice, he runs in his son's direction and holds him in his arms.

She becomes filled with anger and pain for this family. This happened because of their evil son and now Victor had been imprisoned for life for a crime he didn't commit. She tries to prevent the officers from taking him away, but it's like she's a ghost stuck in some kind of video playing back that leaves her unable to do anything.

"He was arrested, blamed for the death of my sister and mother, just as I had planned. But I was far from free. I woke up from a coma only to find myself placed in the care of a doctor, the very doctor I hoped to escape. Dr. Martin Brenner. But the truth, the truth is he did not just want to study me. He wanted more. He wanted to control."

Gwen's entire body is shaking as she watches the boy having a number tattooed on his wrist, one that is too similar to the one Eleven has.

"When he finally realized he could not control me, he tried to recreate me. He began a program. And soon, others were born."

"All done," Brenner assures a trembling Henry, "Not so bad, was it? See? There's nothing to be afraid of. Is there, Gwen?"

Instant shivers run down her spine and her heart starts to race uncontrollably. This is no longer a flashback and it seems that Vecna's curse is officially starting. She takes a few steps back and the image of Brenner turns to look at her. His eyes are completely dark and he's staring at her like she's some kind of intruder.

"Why don't you take a seat?"

Gwen starts running out of the room and into the hallway. There, she's met by the gory sight of tons of bodies sprawled all around. Distant screaming can be heard, leaving her completely frozen in place, as she tries figuring out a way to get out here. She clenches her hands into tight fists and wills herself to run down the corner into hopefully, a hallway with an exit.

This can't be the way she dies. She can't die at the hands of Vecna and she certainly is not about to let him find her any time soon. Her friends, her brother, Steve, must surely be trying to reach her... right? But what if they don't know her favorite song? What if they just let her die? No, they wouldn't, right?

Back on the normal side of Hawkins, Steve cradles Gwen's head as his panics start getting much more uncontrollable. He's been calling her name nonstop and shaking her shoulders, hoping it's enough to bring her back, but her eyes remain white and she's still trapped in her mind.

"Gwen, just stay with me! Stay with me, okay?" He looks up at the gate and screams out, "What's taking so long?! The tape is in my glove compartment! Hurry up!"

Erica runs towards the rest of the group while yelling, "Steve says you need to hurry!"

"Yeah? No shit!" Dustin's frantically searching into his backpack for Steve's keys, but they don't appear to be anywhere.

"We're trying! We can't find anything!" Max yells in a panic while eyeing in disappointment at the selection of tapes Eddie has.

"What is all this shit?!" Robin exclaims as she struggles in holding his music selection.

"Jesus, Eddie! Don't you have anything good?!" Nancy panics while running through various cassettes and tossing nearly all of them aside.

"What are you even looking for?" Eddie questions.

"Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles? Music! We need music!" Robin explains as a few tapes fall from her hands and crash to the ground.

Offended by his music taste getting criticized, Eddie holds up an Iron Maiden cassette, "This is music!"

Back inside her head, Gwen is running through the lab's corridor with a sense of hopelessness that there's no way out of here. She's been looking for a way out, but every time she opens a door, Vecna would be standing there surrounded by tons of bodies.

Panicking and with tears streaming down her cheeks, she continues running into what appears is the exit. There's a large door at the end that's barricaded with wooden planks and even if it's a long shot, she starts prying the planks out of it. She curls her fingers around the edge and pulls as hard as she can, praying to whatever holy divine is out there that this works.

"Please work!" She breathes out and tosses one of the planks to the ground.

Before she can even attempt to continue, a growling voice behind her starts calling her, "Gwen. What are you doing?" Her blood runs cold when seeing Vecna standing a few feet in front of her. His footsteps are loud with every step he takes as he stares menacingly at her like a spider about to entangle its prey into its web. "It's not time for you to leave."

She turns around and resumes attempting to remove the planks. Its nails are rooted deep into the wall, making it twice as challenging to pry them off, but regardless of how hard it is, Gwen keeps trying and using all of her strength to escape before he gets to her. A few planks start coming off, but instead of finding relief, she starts panicking when hearing his footsteps getting nearer.

"Now that you've seen where I've been, I would like very much to show you where I am going," Vecna growls, his steps becoming louder and unbearable to hear.

Gwen tries ignoring him and focuses on escaping. She doesn't care for what he wants to show her. All she wants is to get out of here and return to her loved ones safe and sound. She soon manages to remove the plank and quickly slams through the door that sends her back into the first room.

Brenner is standing there with his eyes completely dark. His hands are placed behind his back and there's a medical chair next to him. "Take a seat, Gwen."

The lights above her start flickering before turning completely off and leaving her in the pitch darkness. She breathes uncontrollably and remains still, not daring to make a sound in case he attempts taking her. She pinches herself one more time, but finds her hands unable to reach the other. Something's preventing her movements and cutting the circulation from reaching her hands.

Out of nowhere, the lights turn on again and Gwen's not sure what to expect, but she certainly didn't expect to be entrapped into the chair. It's not a rope or an object holding her down, it's the slithery vines that are keeping her trapped and tightening themselves around her hands, legs, and throat.

She tries gasping for air, but with every breath she takes, the more the vines tighten their grip on her. Her hands and legs start frantically attempting to free themselves, but the vines remain in place with no intentions of letting her go. She looks around the room for anything that can help, but that's when she sees Vecna standing by the corner.

He breathes heavily as he strides in her direction. His claws are sharp and the vines that are a part of his body are moving continuously with excitement. He comes closer and begins hovering over her as he stares into her fearful eyes.

Gwen stays silent, her breathing shaky and eyes filled with tears, as she continues trying to free herself. She notices his claws start to place themselves above her face and she starts to move around in an attempt to prevent what he's planning from happening, but that's when she starts seeing the Creel House, Eddie's trailer, the road where Fred died, and Lover's Lake splitting wide open. Hawkins is destroyed, tons of people are dead, and worst of all, she sees her brother and Steve dying at the hands of creatures flying out of the gate into town.

"No!" she screams, her voice breaking as sobs rake her body. "Please stop! Please don't hurt them!"

The clock chimes four times and its sound feels like blazing knives stabbing her ears. "You need to see what will happen. You need to see everything," Vecna growls, ignoring her pleas and moving body.

The entire world becoming destroyed suddenly stops. The visions he planted in her head were gone, but he still remains hovering over her. He showed her his plan, which means he doesn't intend on letting her go. These visions were just a way to show her what life would be like when she's dead. It's a way to torture her, a way to let her know that despite her attempts in trying to protect those she loves, it won't be of use since they're bound to die anyway.

"Why did you show me this?!" she yells, causing the vines to tighten around her throat.

Vecna comes closer and says, "No matter what you do, everyone you love is going to die." He wills the tentacles to tighten their grip on her and is satisfied when hearing her try to breathe, "There's no use fighting. You belong here with me."

"You're- you're not... real," she manages to say and gasps for another breath. "You're in my... head. You're- you're nothing."

"I am real, Gwen," Vecna starts placing his claws above her face, "I'm very much real." His eyes roll to the back of his head and hers starts to lean back at the immense pressure coming from his power.

She knows this is the end. There's no way she's bound to survive this. She's completely alone and there's no use fighting anymore. She's just going to die regardless, so what's the point?

Gwen closes her eyes and accepts this is the end of the line for her, but suddenly, she hears the familiar tune of her favorite song.

"Lying in my bed, I hear the clock tick and think of you..."

It's the song she and Steve danced to at the Miss Hawkins Ball, the one they declared to be theirs, and always belted out when driving around town.

"Sometimes you picture me. I'm walking too far ahead..."

"Gwen! Please come back to me!"

Steve's voice makes her eyes flutter wide open. She looks behind Vecna and sees him trying to get her back. Headphones are placed on her ears and she can hear the voices of her friends and brother calling out to her.

Vecna glares at her menacingly, "They won't be able to help you, Gwen. You pushed them away and there's a reason for that." The vines tighten around her throat, causing her face to start turning a bright red as her ears start pounding intensely. "You know you belong here with me."

"And I fall behind. The second hand unwinds..."

Gwen tries speaking, but his claws return to hover above her face. She tries fighting herself off his grip and moves her body frantically around. This worsens things when the tentacles start digging deeper into her skin and constrict themselves around her neck.

At Eddie's trailer, her body starts levitating a couple feet from the ground. Steve is able to hold her arms and attempts to bring her down, but the powerful force of Vecna's grasp prevents him from doing so. "Gwen! No, no, no! Come back to me, please!"

Dustin doesn't twice in climbing down as he calls out to her, "Gwen, please! Don't let him win!"

The rest of the group call out to her, begging her to stay and fight him, and pray her favorite song is able to bring her back. If Kate Bush helped Max, then Cyndi Lauper has to do the same for Gwen.

Gwen continues staring at them trying to get her back. Her eyes fill with tears at seeing that she's not alone like she believed. She has her friends, she has Steve, she has her family. She squeezes her eyes shut and starts remembering everything that made her life worth living.

"If you're lost, you can look and you will find me. Time after time."

Steve declaring himself for the first time back in New Year's, taking silly pictures with Jonathan at the Snow Ball dance, bonding with Nancy back in '83 and finding a true friendship with her, singing with Dustin on the way home after he came back from Camp Knowhere.

"If you fall, I will catch you. I will be waiting. Time after time."

Meeting Robin for the first time, laughing with her and Steve at Starcourt's bathroom, making milkshakes with Max and creating a huge mess.

"Watching through the windows, you're wondering if I'm okay."

Babysitting the kids and looking over them as they play D&D, going to Lucas' game and watching him score the winning shot, dancing with Steve at the Miss Hawkins Ball, hearing him confess his love to her in front of the Creel House.

"Secrets stolen from deep inside and the drum beats out of time."

Helping El get ready for the dance, having game nights at Hopper's, Halloween at the Byers, kissing Steve at the back room of Scoops Ahoy, singing in his car as loud as possible, watching him graduate, telling each other 'I love you' at Weathertop.

"If you're lost, you can look and you will find me. Time after time."

Gwen opens her eyes and before Vecna is able to take her, she uses all of her strength and is able to dig her nails deep into the vines that release her. She moves her legs forward and kicks him against the chest, proceeding to rip a piece of his neck from him that causes him to groan in pain.

"If you fall, I will catch you. I will be waiting. Time after time."

She runs out of the room in the direction of her escape, focusing on the voices of her family calling out to her. Her head whips back and forth, checking to see if Vecna is following her, but he remains at the end of the hall just glaring at her. She starts running faster and suddenly, the walls of Hawkins' Lab start crumbling down. The ground underneath her starts shaking and begins cracking open.

Her feet trip over one of the raised pieces of the ground, but no matter how much pain is ricocheting through her body, she pushes herself up from the floor and continues running in her loved ones' direction.

"Time after time. Time after time."

One of the ceiling lights falls down in front of her, but she dodges it and sprints at the most rapid speed she's ever run in. She's not going to let him win. She's not going to let him take her. It's not her time and she'd be damned if she doesn't fight for her life. She has so much to live for and death is far from what she wants. She wants to live, she wants to be with her family, she wants to be with the love of her life, so with determination and a profound sense of will, Gwen dodges all of Vecna's attempts in trapping her.

"I've got a suitcase of memories that I almost left behind. Time after time."

Her veins are pumping with adrenaline and her heart is racing like never before. She takes a giant leap when the ground rises, a clear attempt at Vecna wanting her here, and crosses successfully to the other side. More parts of the ceiling come tumbling down and she dodges every single one of them.

"But you say to go slow but I fall behind. Time after time."

Her escape is getting nearer and the voices of her loved ones become louder. She's so close, so close to making it out of this.

"Time after time..."

Just as the last lyric faded, she ran into the light.

Gwen gasps as her body comes falling down. She feels Steve's arms catch her and automatically she knows she's safe. He's here and wherever he is, she knows she's finally home. Her breathing starts to get even and her heart starts to become steadier. She looks up at him and buries her head into his chest.

Steve holds her tightly against him and cries into her shoulder. He almost lost her, he almost lost the love of his life, and will forever be grateful for fate bringing her back to him. He doesn't know what he would've done if he had lost her. His life would have become nothing but darkness, unwilling to live in, as he can't fathom living a life where his love isn't here. She's his lifeline and he'd be damned if he ever were to lose her.

"I thought we lost you," he cries, his grip never once loosening as tears stream down his cheeks. "I thought you were going to leave us."

Dustin places his arms around his sister, his body raking with sobs, as relief consumes him at not having lost his person. "Oh, my god. I thought you were going to die."

"You were..." Robin breathes out, her eyes wide and filled with relief her best friend is still alive. "You were floating and I thought..."

"I thought we wouldn't get you back," Nancy says, her voice low and shaky that's barely a whisper.

"Holy shit," both Max and Lucas say in unison.

"I'm here," Gwen assures them and her voice shakes as her grip on Steve never loosens. "I'm still here. I'm alive."

The moonlight shining through the windows reflects onto them as they wrap their arms around her and cry in happiness that she's still with them. Her heart becomes warmer and fills with immense love as she's alive. She's still with them and that's all that matters.