end zone | STEVE HARRINGTON

fifty

C H A P T E R   F I F T Y

season 4 episode 9 - TWO DAYS LATER

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THEY TRAVELED BACK THROUGH FROM THE UPSIDE DOWN. Eddie and Dustin were carrying a now cold Anastasia in their arms as they dragged her through, tears stained Dustin's cheeks as he held onto her inside Eddie's trailer, waiting for the others to arrive.

Meanwhile, Lucas, Max and Erica were on their way to the Hospital for Max. The other four grabbed their things, rushing back through the Upside Down as they pushed their way through the barrier between the two worlds, Delilah was the first to get through and gasped when she noticed Anna laying on the ground.

Next was Nancy, who had the same reaction. She looked up at Steve who was receiving a pep talk from Robin, it wasn't like he was listening though as he could hear the distant cries from Delilah and Dustin. The two best friends climbed through together, and Steve stopped moving when he noticed everyone crowding around Anna. Nancy had already called an ambulance but they knew it was too late, so they stepped out of the way as Steve kneeled down beside her, gripping her hand in his.

The tears blurred his vision as his hand touched her cheek, wiping away the final tears Anna had let out. He rested his head against her chest, sobbing into her as the others blinked away their own tears, he sobbed for a long period of time when Nancy heard the distant sound of the sirens, Delilah and Eddie needed to leave before they got caught. "Lilah, Eddie, you two need to get out of here, Now."

They nodded, hugging everyone before they ran out of the doors without saying another word. Dustin and Nancy kneeled on the other side of Anna, as they cried too. Steve whispered sweet nothings into her ear. "Anna, wake up for me."

"Come on, just wake up! Dustin, what happened? What happened?" Steve asked, his voice cracking between every word.

Dustin shook his head, he and Eddie weren't even sure what happened either. "I-I don't know. She left with Eddie to get the bats away but they split off, I don't know, Steve."

"She was supposed to come back, man." Steve whimpered, "It wasn't her time to go yet."

Neither of them knew what to say to him, so they sat down beside him, comforting him as the ambulance then arrived. They rushed inside, though their eyes didn't widen when they noticed the large gaping hole in the ceiling, which only confirmed Nancy's suspicious, they weren't the usual paramedics. It seemed as though hours passed by as they waited in the hospital room, the Sinclair's were beside Dustin, as they all remained silent. Max and Anna were both being treated, and they had yet to receive any news.

Suddenly, a woman in a suit walked into the waiting room, "Mr. Harrington? Can you come with me for a moment."

Steve stood up; his head lowered with puffy eyes as they walked into a different room. "Anna?"

The woman looked up to him, she was an old friend of Owen's and was tasked with making sure everyone was safe, based on Eleven's request. "I'm sorry, she's gone."

Steve sobbed, lowering his head again as the woman allowed Dustin to come into the room, the two boys clung onto one another, crying in each other's arms without saying a word to one another. Steve was trying to understand how he had lost the love of his life, and Dustin was sad that he would never see Anastasia again, she would never get the chance to experience the world the right way. She never lived.

Lucas knocked on the door, walking inside. "Max is out of surgery."

They nodded, breaking apart from one another as they headed into Max's room, meanwhile, the rest of the Hawkins population were moving out because of what Vecna had caused, though they blamed it on something else. The Byers, Eleven and their new friend Argyle were arriving back at the small town, Eleven had cried the entire way there. Everyone believed that Eddie and Delilah were both dead, but they had found her brother, Tobias, and he had heard the entire story, thankfully believing them as he let them hide out in the Archer's old home.

* * *

Arriving outside of the Wheeler's home that following morning, Robin had convinced Steve to come and help Nancy move out. He had been staying with Robin, trying to fill the void in his life from the loss of Anastasia but nothing was helping him get over it, he knew he would never recover from her death. They were packing away Nancy's belonging's when a Pizza van parked up on the driveway and Eleven, Jonathan, Mike, Will and Argyle all showed up.

They didn't hesitate in running to one another as Eleven rushed over to where Steve and Robin were, she stood in front of him, both their eyes watering as she held onto his hand. Steve didn't hesitate in bringing the girl into a hug as she cried in his arms. Unfortunately for Eleven and Will, they didn't know about Max, El had thought she had survived because of Anastasia and her, but Max was fighting for her life in the Hospital.

They rushed there without another word, and spotted Lucas reading a note to Max. Once he spotted them, they rushed in and Eleven and Lucas hugged one another, "I'm so sorry." Eleven whispered in his ear.

The girl then walked over to where Max was laying, she grabbed onto the girl's hand and closed her eyes, putting herself in Max's mind but when she opened her eyes darkness engulfed her and she was soon crying again.

On the other side of town, Robin, Dustin and Steve were carrying in boxes of donated things for the residents of Hawkins. Robin walked over, placing her box of donations in front of the teenager, "Uh, so these are blankets and sheets. And some...some clothes and...and some kids' toys." The nervous teen rambled on.

The woman behind the table smiled gratefully at them, "Wow. It's already so organized. We appreciate that. Do you want a tax receipt for it?"

"Um..." Robin said, looking over at Steve whose eyes were still a blood shot red, his eyebags even worse. "No. I don't think that we need one. Thank you, though. But is there anything else that we can do to help?"

The volunteer nodded, handing them over to someone else as Steve followed an older woman, gesturing for them to follow her as she gave them instructions on what to do including where everything was placed. "Okay, then we sort by age. We've got infants, girls, boys, men, women...Oh, if anything is in too bad shape, we really don't want that."

Steve listened in carefully to the instructions being given to him as he got to work, his mind going over and over what had happened in the past forty-eight hours. His entire life had been changed drastically, with the death of Anastasia, the love of his life, the woman he thought that he would marry some day and fulfil his childhood dream of having six children with, but in just a few moments, all of that was completely stripped from him.

Anastasia was a breath of fresh air for Steve, after his past behavior towards...well anyone, he wanted to change for her. And now, she wasn't here to see him grow anymore. And that thought, destroyed him.

He tried to look on the bright side of everything, Robin was speaking to her crush, Dustin was happy knowing that Eddie was alive and well with Delilah - though they were still hiding from everyone - and the others were surrounding Max, praying for her recovering.

He still felt like he was being trapped in the darkness though.

Anastasia had no other family that he could speak to her about her, and he wasn't exactly close with his family either. All of his friends were busy dealing with their own issues after Vecna and he didn't feel as though he had anyone to speak too.

Steve Harrington felt completely and utterly alone in the world.

All he wanted was for Anastasia to suddenly appear out of nowhere and tell him that everything was going to be okay.

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author's note!

Sorry for the late update but I have been really busy lately and I haven't gotten the chance to write anything. However, the final chapters will be posted within the next week so keep an eye out.

Lots of love, k.