eddie had tried his hardest to listen to steve's fleeing words, really he had. don't be a hero. like he would even think of it, yeah fucking right. hard emphasis on the fucking. but facing down the barrel of the gun, looking up at the downward facing dustin from the upside down. he couldn't go back. eddie couldn't go back to hawkins. nothing was waiting for him. nothing good at least. it was for the better, this way. for his friends, for his uncle.

it wasn't without tears blinding him as he retreated from the trailer, and from the desperate shouts from henderson, begging him to come back, hearing his name so fucking violently punched from the younger boys lungs when he realized what eddie was doing. there will be no more retreating, from eddie the banished. it sounded good, on their make shift battle field as they gathered supplies, fashioned weapons, and walked through their battle plan.

this wasn't included in any of them. this being eddie, pedaling as fast as he fucking could on shakey wheels, the echoing of the demobats all around and above him. given that the bats were still very much alive, undead?, he didn't know, but given that they were still swarming around him, the others needed more time. steve, nancy, and robin - they needed more time, and dustin needed protecting. eddie wasn't as stupid as people thought, sure, he was repeating his senior year, again, again, and again, but that didn't matter now.

all that mattered was that he played the part of distraction, that he did his part in the plan of saving hawkins. a dark chuckle escaped him, and the wheezing of his lungs as he moved every muscle in his body to get further away from the approaching swarm of monsters. hawkins didn't deserve his bravery, eddie was aware of that. but fuck if he didn't know that the innocence there, the flowers and the children, they deserved it.

a laugh bubbled from his lungs, loud and ringing through the echoing sound of thunder and gloom. "i'm right here! come and get me you, cocksuckers!" eddie felt high, endorphins pumping through his body more than it was blood, of that eddie was sure of. his laugh was cut off, the sound ripping through him as he was thrown from his bike and onto the ground, his shield and makeshift spear clattering down next to him. "fuck off." he winced, pushing himself up on bloody hands as he once more stood his ground.

his knees were bent, grounding himself down into the eart as he held the shield out in front of him, raising the spear in one hand as he watched the swarm of bats beginning to circle down at him, impending doom. big, brown doe eyes began to burn, tears wetting his lashes and fuck. "fuck!" he yelled, loud and booming, gone was the gentle timbre of his voice, the childlike excitement he usually had, fading. it was time for eddie the freak munson to grow up. to become an adult.

"that's it, i'm right fucking here, you overgrown fucking blood bags." he seethed, venom in his words as he began to shove his spear into the air, hitting and killing bats that fell near his feet like paperweights, thudding and bleeding out. "fuck you, fuck you, fuck you." maybe he wasn't just talking to the monsters now, maybe he was talking to hawkins. to all those that hated him for being different, who looked down at them from their big houses, and loving families.

"fuck you," to all those who believed he was the devil reborn, to all those who believed he killed fred, and patrick. and chrissy... fucking chrissy. he had never been in a fight that wasn't justified, had never done harm to anything or anyone. he had loved chrissy. in his own fucking way, in his own loser, pathetic fucking way. "fuck you!" to those who believed he was murderer, who took jason's side and began to look for him, intending to hunt him down, break him apart, kill him.

"fuck you," to vecna, who ruined the lives of so many people he cared and loved for. for ruining his own fucking life, for taking away his chance of graduating, for taking him from uncle wayne, and hellfire, and "fuck you." he panted, lungs burning as he lifted the shield with a shaking hand, holding it up as bats began their onslaught of trying to get him, to taste his blood, to kill him. but eddie was no longer running, he was no longer backing down, he was no longer hiding.

"fuck you." eddie the banished spoke, tears sliding hot down dirty cheeks. "fuck you!" eddie the fucking returned screamed as red lightening spat from the dark skies. maybe he wasn't a hero, maybe he wasn't a savior. but '86 baby, it was going to be his year.