Chapter Text
Nancy surveyed the attic as they entered. They had all gone quiet, anticipating Vecna stepping out of the shadows at any moment. Robin walked ahead, examining the vines that covered every inch of the room. There were more here than anywhere else.
A crack sounded behind Nancy. She looked back, turning her light on the attic door. Just Steve, still making his way up the stairs, checking that they weren’t followed. Letting her heart rate drop again, Nancy held her flashlight on the same spot, waiting for Steve to catch up.
She heard a gasp, then a bang. Nancy flipped around and saw Robin against the wall, limbs outstretched and covered in writhing vines.
"Robin!" she screamed, already running with her gun in hand. "Steve! I need help!"
Robin grunted, trying desperately to break her limbs free.
Nancy tried to pull the vines off of her but they held strong, finding their way around Robin's chest and up her neck.
"Robin!" Steve came, and without hesitation he swiped his axe through the vines that fixed Robin's arm to the wall. "Hang on, I've got you!"
Robin could only respond in muffled cries. The vines now covered her mouth, her nose, her forehead. Only her eyes were visible, wide and wet, terrified.
Nancy whacked the vines around Robin's torso with her gun, only managing to stop their coiling for a moment each time. They tightened, closing together, and Nancy heard Robin's panicked noises stop as the last breath was squeezed from her body.
"No!"
Nancy didn't think. She tugged on Steve's arm, grabbing for his axe.
"Nance—!"
She ignored his protest, whipping the axe from his hands and immediately taking to the vines at Robin's chest with new strength, hitting them again and again. She didn't think, she didn't know anything but her blade on those tendrils. Nancy sliced through the fibres and gave them no time to reform, just cutting over and over until she reached the wall.
Steve sawed through the vines around Robin's face with a knife, soothing her in a tone that frightened Nancy more than anything else. She made quick work of freeing Robin's arms, now the vines had stopped fighting back. From the sound of Steve's voice, she guessed they stopped because they had done their job.
"I've got her, Nance, I've got her," she heard Steve say. In her periphery she saw him holding Robin around her middle, but she couldn't bear to look straight on. Nancy focused on releasing Robin's legs. Her knees came away from the wall, limp. Steve supported her body as Nancy cut the final tether from Robin's ankles and at last he pulled her away and laid her on the ground.
Nancy remembered what she said to Robin when they first got trapped in the Upside-Down, walking through the forest.
"We’ll be out of here soon, don’t worry.”
“If you say so,” Robin replied with fake cheer.
“Robin. We're getting out of here. We'll survive this."
And Robin went silent for a moment, looking down at her feet as she took each step. "I'm not being pessimistic or anything– like… genuine question– how can you be so sure?"
"I just am. I am not going to let this place take anyone else. Not Steve, not Eddie." Nancy turned to Robin, looking her in the eye. "Not you."
"Or you," Robin added softly. "Right?"
"Yeah.” Nancy touched Robin’s arm, nodding firmly. “We’ll get out of this together.”
In the present, Nancy steeled herself. She dropped the axe. Finally, she looked.
Robin lay on the floor, completely still, her face hidden by Steve's hands as he held her head carefully.
"You're okay, you're okay, Robin." Steve's voice was hoarse and broken from crying. He glanced up. "Nance— here, Nance. Support her head."
Nancy fell to her knees and gently took Robin's head between her hands.
Steve began removing Robin's armour as Nancy looked down at her face.
Even in the worst moments, Robin cracked jokes, had a nervous laugh to herself. She couldn’t make it stop. Now Robin's skin was colourless, her lips blue, any hint of a smile was lost. Only a thin sliver of white between her eyelids. There was no Robin as Nancy knew her, just a shell.
"Robin," Nancy sobbed. "Oh god— Robin, please."
Steve put his head to her chest.
Nancy felt around her neck, looking for a pulse. She could feel something in her fingers, but she couldn't tell if it was her own blood pumping. "Is she breathing?"
Steve shook his head. "I—I can't hear—I can't tell—"
Nancy stopped listening and tilted Robin's head back, letting her jaw fall open. She took a deep breath, pinched Robin's nose, sealed her lips over hers and exhaled, forcing air into her lungs.
She said she wouldn't let this place take anyone else. She promised Robin. She promised herself, because there was no life beyond this if she lost someone else. Nancy couldn't do it again, she couldn't grieve Robin like she did Barb. She wouldn't.
Nancy watched in the corner of her eye as Robin's chest rose mechanically. She took another breath to give to her, praying it would bring her back.
Removing her mouth from Robin's, Nancy leaned back, searching for signs of life in her face. She placed her hand on Robin's forehead, smoothing back her hair. "Come on, Robin. Come back to us." She wiped her tears with her free hand. "Please."
Robin didn't move.
Steve sighed and moved into position to start compressions, searching again for a pulse in Robin's wrist. And then he saw it, a small sort of spasm from her body.
"Nance—"
Robin coughed, lurching up from the floor.
"Robin!" Nancy cried. "Steve, help me get her up!"
They pulled Robin into a sitting position and Nancy got behind her, supporting Robin between her knees. She rubbed her back firmly. "Breathe, Robin… breathe..."
"Robin, open your eyes," Steve urged, patting her face. "Now, Robin, come on…"
Slowly, Robin's eyes flickered open and some semblance of awareness crossed her features.
"Hey!" Nancy laughed, delirious with relief. "Hey, Robin… you with us?"
Robin blinked slowly and swallowed, squeezing her eyes shut in pain. "Mm."
"It's okay, don't talk," Steve said, taking her hand. "Squeeze. Let me know you're okay."
Nancy took her other hand as Robin's fingers clamped around hers.
"Good, Robin." Steve kissed her temple. "You're back, you're okay."
Robin coughed again, gagging and straining her whole body. She fell forward, Steve and Nancy holding onto her, and coughed up some dark grainy fluid from deep in her chest. It dripped off her chin as she wheezed, tears streaming down her face.
Steve wiped her mouth with the end of his jacket. "It's okay. You're gonna be okay. We've got you."
Robin continued to struggle, barely filling her lungs. Nancy loosened her hold on her, supporting her against her chest, and lifted Robin's shirt.
"Try to relax, okay? I just want to check you out…" Nancy felt down her sides, looking for any sign of broken ribs. Robin squirmed and groaned, every move and touch seemed to hurt, but Nancy didn't find anything except deep red welts where her armour had compressed against her. She ran her hands lightly over Robin's limbs, making sure everything was in place. Her arms were ringed in red lines, the very same presenting on her throat. It was a miracle her neck didn't snap. If this was the state of her whole body, she had to be in agony.
Steve winced, watching his best friend suffer. "We have to get her out of here, Nance. She can't breathe this shit."
“What can we do, Steve? We aren’t done here.” Nancy wished she could scoop Robin up, leave this place and never come back, but it simply wasn't an option. "Let's just wait a minute and see how she does. We'll figure out what to do."
Steve scrubbed his face in his hands, smearing dirt with the tear tracks. “Yeah. Yeah, god, okay, we’ll— we'll take a minute.” He stood up and turned away from them, scrambling for a plan. "Don't move. I'm just going to look around."
"Don't go far.”
Steve nodded. "I won't."
Nancy held Robin very gently in her arms, listening intently to every breath she took. "You're alright. Just keep breathing for me."
Robin nodded, and scrunched her eyes shut as she felt the strain on her neck. Nancy waited for them to open again, but they didn't. Robin's face fell slack.
"Robin!" She squeezed Robin's hand so tight it must have pinched, forcing her back to consciousness.
"Hah… yeah?" Robin rasped, her voice barely a whisper, but it was the sweetest sound Nancy had ever heard.
"Don't— please, Robin, don't close your eyes."
"Oh… okay…"
They sat quietly for a few minutes, Nancy just trying to get used to the fact that Robin was still alive, holding her fingers to her wrist so she could feel her pulse. She knew the difference now, between Robin's and her own, though with Robin's back pressed to her chest it felt like their hearts had synced up. For all Nancy's promises that it would not end that way, she really thought that she’d lost her, but here was the proof. Robin's heart still beating, her lungs breathing—just about.
“Nance,” Robin whispered, her head lolling into Nancy's neck. “Nance?”
Pulling her closer, Nancy put her ear by Robin’s mouth. “Go ahead— don’t strain yourself.”
“Do you—”
Nancy shivered as Robin’s stuttered breaths hit her cheek, whistling slightly as Robin inhaled.
"Take your time."
"Vecna," Robin breathed.
"Yeah?" Nancy asked worriedly. "What is it? Was he in your head?"
"No… the uh—the vines…"
"Yeah?"
“Do you… do you think… it’s because… I threw a brick through his window?”
Nancy's mouth fell open. She dropped her head onto Robin’s shoulder. “Oh my god, Robin.”
Against Nancy’s skin, Robin’s face broke into a smile. “Couldn’t’ve helped, right?”
Nancy couldn’t help but laugh. She sounded manic, but it didn't matter. Robin was back.
Steve came running. “Are you okay? Is Robin?… Robin?"
Nancy gazed back at Robin, smiling dopily despite her pain. She had some colour back.
“Yeah. I think she’s gonna be okay.”