The trailer park was cordoned off, all the still liveable residences moved to a government piece of land and those that had been damaged left where they were. There was a big chain-link fence all around it, but only two guards on the gate. It was a big area, so the party chose a point diametrically opposed to the guards, leaving Steve's car and Hopper's truck on the road close by, before breaking in. El made light work of the fence before putting it back as soon as they were through, so no one would have known.

Steve had brought his bat, his axe had been lost in the final confrontation with Vecna. It felt like an old friend in his hand. He still kept it in the trunk of his car, just in case anything popped up from the Upside Down.

"Here," El said as they reached the Munson trailer.

Steve knew Eddie's Uncle Wayne had taken everything salvageable from the parts that hadn't been destroyed, but it still felt like an invasion somehow as they all clambered inside.

"I will open the gate," El said, sitting on the ruined carpet in the middle of the wrecked living room.

The way she was supremely confident comforted Steve in one way and saddened him in another. She was just a girl and yet she had seen so much that opening a portal to another dimension was second nature to her. El deserved to be a child before it was too late. He felt kind of useless standing there as this waif of a girl set up a small radio to hiss, pulled on a blindfold and prepared to do something impossible.

"Be careful," was all Hopper said as she readied for her task.

"Of course," was her simple response.

For a while nothing happened, as they all stood around waiting. Nancy had a rifle slung across her back, Robin had a spear and Hopper had four different guns. The kids all had short range weapons in case anything came through, and Mike also had a handgun Hopper had given him with strict instructions to only use in a dire emergency.

Steve shivered as electricity ran up his spine. He could feel what El was doing, sense the tendrils of whatever power it was she wielded. Shifting his feet and clenching his fingers did nothing to dispel the otherness he could feel down to his bones. It was no longer a remote thing, something out there he had to deal with. It was something inside as well.

The awareness of Eddie began to sharpen even before a red line began to form above where El was sitting. Steve didn't need the obvious visual to tell him the gate was opening. He watched, but the feeling was clearer. He didn't need El whipping off her blindfold, regrowing curls bouncing, to tell him it was done. Every nerve told him.

Fear, hunger, want. It all resonated through Steve as the full force of what he had been sensing and dreaming about for months called to him. Closing his eyes, he counted to ten, demanding perfect control. He pushed it down. It made his teeth itch.

Robin stepped forward the moment El was out of the way and pierced the membrane that covered the gate. Without any hesitation, Hopper stepped forward and threw a rope through the opening. Just like the knotted sheets they had used before, the rope held, suspended between two realities.

It was time.

"I'll go first," Steve said, reaching out to take the rope before Hopper could.

The older man looked at him, but Steve held his ground. He flicked his gaze to where there was a long-discarded knife lying on the floor. Hopper got the message.

It was ridiculously easy to climb and flip. No effort at all. Once on the other side he flipped the mattress that was still propped against the wall into place. He barely looked up, scanning what was left of the trailer as Hopper came through behind him. It seemed so much emptier than before, not as dark.

Even with everything from Eddie squeezed to the back of his mind, it was hard to focus on more abstract thoughts.

"The vines are gone," Nancy said after she came through, and it was suddenly obvious what was so different.

"I'll take your word for it," Hopper said.

"I'm going to check outside," Steve said, without waiting.

He needed some space before his instincts got the better of him.

They hadn't seen much of the Upside Down after Vecna was defeated. The final battle had taken place half in the real world, half in the other dimension and the rifts had begun closing almost immediately. It was still the weirdest place Steve had ever seen, but it was brighter, less oppressive than he remembered it. And some parts of Hawkins from 1983 seemed to be being erased. Looking around the trailer park, the edges appeared to be changing into something else.

There was still some ash in the air, but much less than he remembered. The whole place felt more natural.

On high alert, he waited as everyone filed out of the trailer behind him.

Steve gripped his bat in both hands, putting himself right at the front of the group, even though Hopper was also right there.

"Steve," Robin said, and he turned. "Holy fuck what happened to your eyes?"

"Oh my god, they're red," Nancy added for good measure.

He blinked. It only occurred to him then why everything might be looking a lot brighter than it usually did in the Upside Down. During his enforced solitude he had figured out he could bring out his physical changes individually, but he had had no idea he'd apparently done it automatically.

"Um," was the best he could do.

"Hangover from the bat attack," El said, fully in no-nonsense supergirl mode.

"Only found out this week, sorry," he said, hoping against hope that none of his other peculiarities showed themselves before he had time to talk to at least Robin about everything. "I need to explain, but Eddie comes first."

"We don't have time for this now," Hopper said in a tone that begged no argument. "We need to find Eddie Munson and get the hell out of here before any of the local fauna decide we might be tasty. Which way?"

Steve was not about to play games when it could mean danger to the others. He lifted his arm and pointed.

"You lead," Hopper said. "El, stay behind Steve. I'll take the rear."

That was perfectly okay with Steve. He sent Robin one more apologetic glance before setting off and letting his instincts lead. He could hear Nancy and Robin talking quietly as they walked, but he refused to dwell on what they might be talking about. Blocking them out he focused on where he was going and any dangers that might be lurking in the facsimile of Hawkins around him. It was worryingly quiet. Even though he knew Vecna was gone, he could not help searching for monsters.

They'd been walking for what he estimated to be maybe two miles when he put his hand up, coming to a halt.

They were surrounded by trees, but there was a solid concrete building, some kind of utility by Steve's estimation a few yards in front of them. His instincts said Eddie was close and he was also pretty sure he'd seen the structure in his dreams.

"Close," El said, walking up to stand next to him.

He nodded.

"He is afraid," El added.

"Very," Steve agreed.

There was very little humanity in what he was sensing. He could feel the spark of it, but it was buried completely by a need to survive. He'd experienced an echo of it when he had refused to obey his need for red meat, but it was that multiplied many, many times. The real Eddie was being suffocated by pure instinct.

"He in there?" Hopper asked.

"In there or nearby," Steve replied, not taking his eyes off the building.

"How do you know?" Nancy asked.

"I saw it in a dream," Steve said, because there was no time for details.

"I will open the door," El said, holding out her hand, "be ready."

No one chose to argue with her.

The large metal doors on the front of the structure squealed as they began to move. They were old and rusty, beginning to decay away like many of the other things they had seen on their walk. The Upside Down was reclaiming the things that had been superimposed on top of it. It was almost poetic in a way, but Steve had little time to dwell on it. Before the door was completely open, a figure shot through it, hunched down and running for the trees.

"No," El said, throwing out her other hand.

An animalistic snarl answered her instruction as her target slammed to a halt. It sounded like a trapped big cat crossed with a bear as El dragged the writhing figure back the way he had come.

It was Eddie. Steve knew it with every fibre of his being, but only as El lifted him from the ground could Steve finally confirm what he sensed with his eyes. Eddie was filthy, clothes ripped to pieces, hair a wild mess, but what had most of Steve's attention were the physical changes. Scales, fangs, claws, even the red eyes Steve had stared at too often in the mirror, they were all there.

The way he was fighting, Eddie appeared more animal than human. It should have scared Steve much more than it did. He felt drawn. Eddie was a ferocious thing, but Steve had to fight to keep himself in place. At his heart, Steve sensed kindred.

"Oh my god," he heard Nancy whisper.

Eddie didn't stop struggling or snarling, even as El pinned him against the wall of the building. His fear and panic thrummed through Steve like a siren. It was full on survival mode and Eddie was not snapping out of it.

"Fuck it," Steve muttered under his breath, handing his bat to Robin, and stepping past El. "Eddie," he said in as calm a tone as he could manage.

Red eyes flicked to his own, opening in shock as something got through the terror. Knowing, with no idea how he knew, that Eddie needed more, he let the monster inside out to play, only this time he pushed too. He felt the physical changes, even as vulnerable skin morphed into scales in various places, just like Eddie. He'd never done that at home, wasn't even sure he could. It felt easier here, more as if that's how he was meant to be in the Upside Down. He point-blank refused to analyse that too hard.

"We're here to take you home," he said, and his voice held a peculiar growl to it. "I felt you."

Eddie stilled for the first time, face still twisted in confusion and fear, but clearly listening. Steve walked forward until they were in touching distance.

"El, please let him go," he said even as he reached out, gently placing a hand on Eddie's chest.

The sense he had of Eddie that had been lurking at the edges of his mind under all the confusion and fear lanced forward, slamming into his consciousness, making him gasp. Eddie's presence was unmistakable.

"Steve?" Eddie asked in such a confused and frightened tone that Steve just wanted to hug him.

"Yeah," he replied. "Thought you were dead, man."

"Thought so too," Eddie said.

"Ready to go home?" Steve asked.

Eddie nodded, and then Steve had exactly what his instincts had been demanding, because he ended up with armfuls of crying, shaking man. Unfortunately, it also seemed to crack Eddie's survival mode, which was apparently the only thing keeping him going, because Eddie suddenly looked normal and collapsed into the embrace.

"Woah," Steve said, but didn't hesitate to hoistEddie into his arms, bridal style. "I've got you," he did his best to reassurehis friend.