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They'd given up. They'd simply stopped fighting for their survival. Or at least Jonathan had, and he'd tried to convince Nancy to follow his decision.
Because he didn't want to spend the last minutes of her life trying to break down a door while that slime continued to rise, soaking her jeans, sticking to her skin.
But she seemed to have other ideas.
Nancy had always been stubborn, and she was proving to be so even on the brink of death.
But denial and denial soon gave way to reality, and then only tears remained. Tears and Jonathan.
In the last four years, she'd never thought about what her death would be like, perhaps because with everything she'd been through, she hadn't had the time, perhaps because after emerging unscathed from all those disastrous situations, she'd begun to feel almost immortal.
And now that death was no longer just a distant thought, but a fact, she panicked. She'd always had the situation under control and couldn't accept all this.
Jonathan was calm. Or at least he seemed calm. Because he wanted to appear calm to reassure her, now that the world was melting around him.
That's why she finally joined him on the table in the center of the room, which the slime hadn't yet reached.
She nestled into his arms and felt for the scar they shared.
"It's my fault, I-I shouldn't have shot."
"That's not true, we didn't have the slightest idea."
"Oh m-my God, I'm scared, Jonathan, I don't want to die."
He held her tighter. He was scared too. Of course. But that was okay.
"You know, I wouldn't change a thing about my life. You're the best thing that ever happened to me."
She stopped crying. Maybe she just gave up, maybe she was truly reassured. But the slime didn't stop rising, and neither did their anxiety.
"Think of everything we could have done... Our first shared home, our first trip together, maybe even our wedding day or the first time we held in our arms the one who could have been our child..."
Jonathan's throat tightened. The ring in his pocket now weighed like a millstone. But she was there. And she would be there forever.
''I prefer to think about the things we've already done. We may have made mistakes, but deep down we're still together, even here, don't you think?"
"I just wish I'd had more time..."
The slime was now reaching his waist, but the minutes that followed were the longest of their lives.
They remembered when they'd gone shooting together, when she'd entered the Upside Down and how he'd spent the night with her just to comfort her.
They remembered how they'd fallen in love.
They remembered the first night they'd truly understood each other, in Murray's garage-house, and they remembered the Snowball.
They remembered the Christmases they'd spent together, just as they remembered working on post-production.
Even the worst memories found their way into their memories: the fights, the long-distance relationship, and their flaws.
All of which, however, had been fixed when he'd hugged her as soon as he returned from California.
Finally, they thought about what they could never become, their dreams and their plans.
Ultimately, neither of them cared if things went exactly as they'd planned, because the other was enough. But there was still one thing Jonathan could do.
His fingers found the ring in her pocket. He sighed, and in a broken voice said:
"Nancy Wheeler, would you take me as your husband and be faithful to me forever, in good times and bad, in sickness and in health, and love and honor me on this, our last day of life?"
Her eyes were shining. They were shining with tears, with joy and fear. But behind that veil of melancholy, a smile could be seen.
"Yes, I do!"
He took her trembling hand, the one with the scar, and slipped the ring into her. Then he cupped her tear-streaked face and kissed her, the slime enveloping his chest. Their heartbeats, however fast, were synchronized.
"I love you, Jonathan Byers."
"I love you, Nancy Wheeler."
They remained silent as the apple reached their necks, submerging them forever.
"To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die."
Their heartbeats were the only sound in the room for a while, then they stopped, leaving only silence.