( all eddie could think of was the possibility that the captain had made a grave error that let them go home. or he was full of shit the whole time. both are preferable to finding out this is just a new hell for them, a new form of torture.

it's still not ideal, though, because they're still faced with the impossible task of dealing with vecna, saving max, saving hawkins, and clearing eddie's name somehow. it's a damn shame he and steve can't just fuck off, but he adores those kids too much to abandon them now just to save his skin. just seeing dustin's face again broke his damn heart as he remembered being held by him in his final moments, before waking on the cruise ship.

and he would do it again. except now he has something to live for, a reason not to give up and sacrifice himself. )

I don't think this his all his doing. Sending us here, it feels like an accident. Do you think...they found a way to free us?

( it's a nice notion, anyway. he hopes everyone else was able to be freed. he might miss some of them, but so long as he's got steve here, that's really the most important thing, right? )

Of course, none of this matters if we don't figure out a way to defeat Vecna that doesn't end in my death.