Chapter Text
Steve stares up at Robin with a look of pure hatred she's never seen on him before. He's scarred, almost to the point of resembling Vecna. His hair is gone, his eyes are almost swollen shut, Robin doesn't even know how she recognizes him.
"You.."
Robin winces, prepared for the words that always come on nightmares like this. 'You did this to me.'
'You deserve the guilt you feel.'
'You fucking bitch why did you leave me!'
Then she realizes she knows it's a nightmare.
'Steve' trails off.
"I miss you."
Although Robin understands this dream is lucid and she must be manipulating it, somehow, the words still shock her.
"Please don't be sad."
Robin didn't feel the tears until they started to sting her already dry cheeks.
Suddenly they're thrust into the bathroom at the mall, which is somewhere Robin definitely didn't ask to be. This can't be a lucid dream if she doesn't have control, Can it?
Steve doesn't look quite like he did that day. He has a few scratches on his face but no where near what the Russians did to him, and his neck has a distinct red mark around it. He's wearing a dusty polo shirt with a few small holes from ash, and she can see the outline of bandages from under it. More than anything he looks tired and in need of a shower.
"Robin. Oh my god I missed you."
His voice sounds crackly and rough, like either he hasn't used it in weeks or he's been screaming for hours.
"I've just been alone here for so long, I don't know how long it's been. I've been finding things to eat and drink around town, but it's starting to get harder. I think the quakes have gotten worse."
"Around town? Steve, Hawkins is gone. You... You died."
"No, not Hawkins. Well, kind of Hawkins. Upside down Hawkins."
The bathroom then begins to burn away, like caught by a spark, and they're back in the upside down, but Steve looks the same as he did before, and he's rushing to move things of shelves as the place begins to shudder.
He looks over to her desperately.
"Please hel-"
A phone rings and Robin sits straight up in bed, sweat mingled with tears covering her forehead and cheeks.
The phone rings again and she wipes at her face frantically, trying to remember where the hell she put the landline.
The ringing sounds directly to her right and she turns, grabbing the receiver from her bedside table.
"Hello?"
Static crackles on the other end of the phone, then a voice.
"Hel-lo? I'm sorry I'm calling very late, is this Ro-bin?"
Robin catches the time from her clock and groans internally. 4:07.
"Who is this?" She says instead of complaining.
"E- Jane."
"Oh, Hopper's kid? I thought you went by- nevermind. Uh, what can I do for you?"
"I have to tell you. I was in the void and I saw the boy you were friends with. Will told me to call and tell you."
"The void is the place where you spy on people, right? What boy?"
"Yes. The boy, the one with the hair."
"Wait Steve? Oh god you saw his body? Shit. Oh my god."
"His body. But not dead. He is stuck."
Even before El/Jane/Eleven said it Robin knew.
"Upside down."