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Eddie follows Robin into the lake because what the hell else was he supposed to do? Nancy was already gone, and Robin was quick to the same. Not only would he feel like a dick for leaving them, he’d also really rather not be alone right now and he can no longer see the kids on the shore. Plus, he kinda gives a shit about the three of them.
So he dives in after her.
She still has her flashlight so he’s able to locate her in the murky water pretty quickly. He starts following her because despite having no sense of direction other than down she seems to be making progress. And then she stops moving altogether.
Robin lets go of her flashlight and starts clawing at her own throat, making noises that Eddie can barely discern due to the fact that they’re underwater.
If Eddie wasn’t already losing his shit this certainly didn’t help.
He catches up to her and grabs her slowly-floating-away flashlight. She grabs at him, eventually clinging to his shoulder, and starts making a series of gestures he can’t quite discern. He’s too focused on the look of fear in her eyes. Is she choking on something? Is she actively drowning? He should get them out of the water, right? However, the second he goes to do so Robin is yanking him downwards. He looks at her, hoping his face carries all the desperation he’s feeling. She’s drowning or some shit, going further under water isn’t smart. For fucks sake, just let him try and save her, he doesn’t want her to die. Robin persists, even though she’s still grabbing her neck, she starts pointing aggressively in one direction. It’s still just down. She has a pleading look on her face and he relents because when he looks up there’s light hitting the surface of the water and that can’t be good.
He tucks Robin under his arm the best he can and tries to swim them both towards whatever the fuck this gate is. It’s a pretty fucking hard feat to acomplish, considering Robin has begun flailing. He refuses to abandon her though and after what feels like forever, finds a fleshy, nightmarish looking hole that’s been broken open.
If this isn’t the gate he might as well give up.
But it is and he pushes Robin through it before making his way through himself. On the other side is land and he’s grateful for a breath of very-not-fresh air. He only glances at his surroundings but quickly decides the only way to describe it is: gross. In the next second he’s throwing himself to the ground next to Robin.
Robin can’t take a breath. Her throat looks constricted but there’s nothing around it other than her desperate hands, digging at something that isn’t there. She’s kicking and whimpering. How long can someone go without oxygen? What the fuck is happening to her?
“Robin!” He shouts, “Robin, what’s happening!” She obviously can’t respond but he doesn’t know what else to do.
“Eddie!” Someone else yells and he whips his head around. A little ways away is Nancy with an oar, fighting off some weird looking bat things while Steve struggles with one on the ground. “A little help here!?” Nancy screams as she narrowly avoids a dive bomb.
“Robin’s hurt!” He yells back, “One emergency at a time!”
“Eddie!” Nancy screams as a bat attaches itself to her back.
He looks from her to Robin, whose eyes are unseeing as she struggles with an invisible force. He looks back to Nancy and Steve, neither of which seem to be faring much better. He looks back to Robin, “Fuck, I’m so sorry.” He says before jumping up and running over, picking up his own oar and joining the fray.
He helps to get the one off of Nancy which, of course, breaks his oar. He sees Steve struggling on the ground, actively being choked to death by one of them but Eddie’s a little too preoccupied to help. While Nancy struggles with putting down the one they knocked to the ground, he works at impaling the other littler fucker flying around.
Throughout the chaos, he gets to witness what is probably the most badass thing he’s ever seen. He watches with wonder and fear (of Steve or the bat who knows) as Steve Harrington bites down on the creature, smashes it into the ground repeatedly, and rips it in half with his bare fucking feet. The noises he makes as he does so sounding animalistic and desperate in a way Eddie hopes he’ll never have to experience or witness again.
The three of them stand there for a moment. Nancy takes a step towards Steve but Steve has already locked eyes on Robin- oh fuck, Robin- and is booking it towards her before anyone says anything.
“Rob!” Steve shouts, his voice hoarse as he drops to his knees beside her. She isn’t struggling anymore and for a split second Eddie fears the worst but then she’s taking in heaving breaths and clinging onto Steve’s arm.
“Holy shit, Steve!” She pulls herself up just enough to hug Steve and he practically attaches himself to her in return, like she’s his goddamn lifeline. “God, are you okay?” She asks, more so mumbles, into Steve’s neck.
“I’m okay, I’m okay, are you okay?” His face is in her hair as he speaks. He has a hand behind her head, holding her as close as he can.
“I’m okay.” She whispers, and they sit there taking gasping breaths and holding each other.
Nancy turns to him, “What the hell happened?”
This launches Eddie into a frantic retelling of events, like he’s afraid he’ll be blamed for it despite there being no malicious intent in Nancy’s voice. “She went in after you and- and- she started choking or some shit and I tried to bring her back to the surface but she wouldn’t let me and It- it was like she was being choked but there wasn’t anything there and then I had to go help you with the bats and…” He trails off as he starts to put it together.
Nancy seems to be doing the same if the look on her face is anything to go by.
Steve and Robin are completely ignoring both of them. Eventually, Steve pulls away and looks down, “Shit, Rob, is that your blood or mine?”
That’s all the confirmation Eddie needs to know that Steve and Robin are soulmates. Because he’d been with Robin this whole time and he didn’t see any bats go for her while they were separated- she shouldn’t be injured like that. Steve, however, was nearly mauled by the damn things. And when Robin rolls up her shirt to look, she and Steve have matching wounds, both bleeding pretty badly.
Robin laughs wetly, “Probably both.” Steve laughs in much the same way.
And they slowly stand, leaning on each other to do so. When they start to stumble, he and Nancy are on either side, ready to catch them.
Once they’re stable enough Nancy asks what they’d both been thinking, “So you’re soulmates?”
“Yeah,” Steve says, “It’s platonic, though.”
“Capital P.” Robin adds and even though they’re still clinging to each other, Eddie believes her. “Trust me,” She says, “It’s not fun to have such a self sacrificial idiot as a soulmate.. Hence why I almost died over there.”
Steve tries to fake gasp but it comes out as more of a wheeze, “You wound me, Robin. Literally.”
“You’ll manage.”
“I always do.”
“I’m holding you to that.” Robin says and even though they’re joking (like they hadn’t both almost died not even five minutes ago) there’s all the sincerity in the world in her voice. Steve nods. And before Eddie can ask any of his hundreds of follow-up questions the ground begins to shake and suddenly there’s a lot more to focus on other than who’s soulmates with whom.