Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dissociative amnesia: When a person blocks out certain events, often associated with stress or trauma, leaving the person unable to remember important personal information.

xXx

His back hit his disgusting mattress (he really had to get a new one pronto) with a hard thud, it may have been a mattress, but that didn’t mean it was made for catching twenty year olds.

“That was fun, sh¡t!” He grabbed Robin’s extended hand and let himself be hauled up. With floppy limbs he fell back onto his Uncle’s recliner and kept his gaze on the literal portal in his ceiling, waiting for either Wheeler or Harrington to come through.

For the first time in days he let his muscles relax whilst he waited, neither Wheeler or Harrington would need his help, he’d just get in the way. 

Everything was fine… Until Harrington’s panicked voice floated from his ceiling.

“Nancy? Nancy!” It didn’t take long at all for Eddie to jump up and peer through the portal. Harrington was frantically shaking Wheeler’s shoulders whilst she simply stared through him, her eyes locked on nothing and everything simultaneously.

“Vecna,” Robin murmured beside him, as if it wasn’t obvious Wheeler wasn’t simply napping standing up.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit. ” Eddie hissed, mostly to himself. His hands unconsciously flailed at the wrist as his mind ran a mile an hour, trying to come up with any idea to help. Then it was like a lightbulb flicked on in his head, “I have an idea!” He yelled and went to run towards his room before skidding to a quick stop, spinning on his heels and looking up at Harrington.

“What’re you thinking?!” Dustin shouted but Eddie ignored him.

“Harrington!” The King’s head snapped up and their eyes met. “Go check if my amp’s in my room!”

“What?!” Nearly everyone shouted.

“Now! Wheeler’s not gonna physically go anywhere!” Apart from up, he thought as an afterthought.

Steve gave his ex (or current girlfriend? Eddie was struggling to keep up) one last longing look before he bolted towards the other version of Eddie’s room.

After a second of tense silence he returned. “Yeah!”

“Okay! Great!” He yelled back before scurrying away to the slightly nicer version of his room. “Hello darling, we’re going to help a friend,” he greeted his guitar as he gently unhooked her from the wall.

“Catch my baby!” Harrington stumbled as Eddie threw his darling towards the roof. It should have come sailing back down, but thankfully the gravity change pulled it away from him, straight towards Harrington who nearly fell flat on his ass as he caught the instrument.

“What’s your plan exactly?” Harrington asked, his gaze flicking quickly between Eddie and the possessed girl.

It didn’t take long for Eddie to haul himself back into the mirror dimension. “What’s her favourite song?” He grunted as he landed (shockingly feet first) with a thud.

“Erm… I-I don’t-” Harrington stumbled over his words.

“Think Harrington, think!” Eddie borderline shouted as he dragged a very viney version of his amp through the trailer. By the time he returned Harrington was vibrating with energy, “Lay All Your Love on Me by ABBA!” 

“God, I knew Wheeler was basic but come on.”

“It’s the one she liked to dance to when she was home alone,” Harrington actually glared at Eddie as he defended Wheeler.

“You don’t need to defend her, man. Bring her outside, I’m gonna need more space.”

xXx

ABBA wasn’t his favourite genre of music, he preferred the heavier, more metal tunes. It took him a few tries to get into the swing of a song he’d only fully listened to twice, but he got there eventually. To repent for his metalhead sins he really let himself loose on the chorus and rejoiced as he felt the melody flow through him.

He never thought he'd be grinning as he played an ABBA song, but there he was on the roof of his (evil) trailer, loving every second of it.

Beneath him was Harrington and Wheeler, the jock had her leaning against the trailer wall as he cupped her jaw in his palms. Eddie couldn’t tell what he was saying, but from his teary eyes and wobbling lips he could understand it was something he shouldn’t hear anyway.

“Harrington!” He yelled, never missing a beat. “Sing to her! Sing to your lady!”

Those massive brown teary eyes snapped up to meet Eddie’s, “I-I don’t-”

“Just fucking sing!”

Harrington nodded, seemingly trying to catch the beat. When Eddie’s fingers strummed the chorus he started singing very quietly. “D-don’t go w-wasting your emotion, lay all your love on me. Don’t go sharing your devotion…”

Eddie joined in when Harrington’s slightly pathetic words didn’t seem to be cutting it. “Lay all your love on me!”

It was then Wheeler’s eyes snapped open, she gasped like she’d been waterboarded as her knees buckled.

“Oh my god! Nancy?!” Harrington caught her and held her close.

“I’m here, I’m here, I’m here,” she repeated. “V-Vecna is Henry C-Creel.”

“Wait what? I thought he was dead.”

“That was the idea,” Wheeler muttered into his chest as she stumbled to her feet. Eddie made his way down, guitar slung over his shoulder as he made his way over to the duo.

“Nice playing Munson,” the King of Hawkins High clapped his shoulder as they made their way back inside. They made sure Wheeler went first as the kids spewed question after question at them.

They’d answer as much as they could as soon as they were in the right dimension. 

xXx

Eddie left the Party talking amongst themselves as he hooked his guitar back on the wall, right where she belonged. The kids were all sitting on his mattress under the tarp they’d haphazardly tacked up to block the gate from view, whilst the love birds (and Robin) were lounging across his chairs.

He could hear their chatter as they brainstormed a plan. Everything was okay.

“You did so good, dear.” He kissed his fingers and strummed his guitar, “back in a bit my love.” With confident steps he marched out of his room and towards the little meeting in his living room. “Alrighty! What's the plan?”

Nobody replied as they kept their heads facing away from him.

“Guys?”

Silence was his only answer, he could only stare at the backs of their skulls as his heart rate began to pick up.

“Seriously guys this isn’t funny.”

Every muscle in his body jumped when their heads turned to face him simultaneously. Their faces were normal, apart from their piercing eyes that somehow seemed to pierce his soul.

“Munson,” Harrington snapped.

“Harrington,” he muttered back and subconsciously shifted from foot to foot.

“We know what you are.” They all said simultaneously, their voices perfectly insync.

“I-I-” He stuttered pathetically.

“We know what you are!”

“No-”

“Freak!”

“Please-”

“Faggot!”

“I’m sorry!”

“Loner!”

“Guys-”

“Wimp!”

“Freak.”

“Freak!”

“FREAK!”

Before they could yell anything else Eddie found himself falling backwards through the trailer door, he closed his eyes and tensed in anticipation for the impact with the steps.

What he didn’t expect was to hit tiles, cold unforgiving tiles.

With a groan he dragged himself up and looked around. It looked like a hospital corridor of sorts, whites tiles covered the floor and walls, overhead the fluorescent lights flickered which created little shadows all over the place.

Eddie didn’t recognise the place, but he felt like he should. The sensation of familiarity niggled at the base of his skull.

“Eddie…” A deep voice called to him. He slowly turned around, his heart raced in his ears as he looked behind him. From the shadows emerged a humanoid figure, but the obscene squelching sound as it walked was incredibly off putting.

“Eddie…”

“V-Vecna?”

It chuckled, or at least did something that sounded like a chuckle. “One of the many names I have been known by.”

“I-I not guilty of anything,” he tried to reason.

“Aren’t you?” It stopped half in the shadows, its face was difficult to make out but he could see the moving vines that invaded its body. “We are not so different, you and I.”

“We are nothing alike!” He hissed.

Vecna simply stared at him.

“I- No- Just- Piss off you veiny fucker!” Then Eddie did what Eddie did best.

He ran for his life.

The hallway seemed to go on forever. The walls all looked identical; he had no clue how long he’d actually been going for, but all he knew was the cold tiles hurt his feet and the flickering lights hurt his eyes.

Finally a clinical looking set of double doors came into view. With newfound energy he bolted towards them, the squelching of Vecna getting ever quieter as he ran.

The doors easily gave way as he pushed through them, but he came to an abrupt halt when he saw what was ahead of him.

A boy, maybe five, stood there. He was dressed in a set of grey sweatpants with a matching jumper. His head was also shaved, for some reason that was the part that sent a cold shiver down his spine.

“Erm… Hi?” He gave the kid an awkward wave but the little guy didn’t budge. He simply kept staring back at him.

Then Eddie noticed the tiny mole sitting just in front of the kid’s left ear, which usually wouldn’t bother him… only Eddie had that exact same mole…

He blinked, and suddenly the tiled hall was gone, replaced by a room with all white walls. One wall had a huge mirror on it and a bed sat beside him, but apart from that all he could see was white.

He couldn’t hold in a gasp when he really looked at the mirror.

There was no Eddie in the room, only the boy. When Eddie raised his hand, the boy raised his hand.

He was the boy with the shaved head.

He wasn’t sure why but the realisation brought tears to his eyes as panic started flooding his system.

He blinked again.

He was still in that fucking room but so much was different… The legs of the metal bed frame were bent out of shape which immediately struck him as odd. Corpses littered the floor, three to be precise, all black and charred like they’d been burnt in a horrific fire. One was even half melted into the tiles.

Then the smell hit him like a train, burnt flesh. Eddie wanted to throw up, but he couldn’t. It felt like his stomach was in knots so nothing could come or go.

When he noticed the door was slightly ajar he bolted for it like a frightened cat.

He was back to running, again.

Several more doors were run through until he somehow found himself stumbling straight into a broken house. The ground was murky and boggy as his shoes slightly sank into it. A grandfather clock floated overhead as it chimed a fucked up noise that instantly gave him a headache.

On several pillars were bodies strewn up like trophies. He openly gagged when he saw Chrissy, her corpse twisted and broken. Mouth agape like she was forever screaming for help.

“Oh Eddie.” Vecna was there to his left, so close it was like all that running had been for nothing.

“Please,” he wasn’t sure what he was begging for, mercy perhaps?

“You and I are not so different,” you said that already. “We are both killers.” 

“I didn’t kill Chrissy or Patrick! You did that!” He yelled, his voice cracked from pure frustration.

“Oh I am aware, they are still with me.” It's more human hand moved to tap its temple twice. “But you, Eddie Munson. You killed all those guards. Those poor guards who had families, and loved ones, and-”

“What are you on about?!” He tried to move away from it, but he stumbled over a vine and fell right into one of the pillars. He couldn’t bring himself to move away, his legs felt like jelly.

“You don’t remember, I am not surprised.” Vecna stepped forward, right towards him until they were inches apart. Its clawed hand moved to grip his jaw and Eddie couldn’t help the squeak of fear that escaped him.

“Remember Eddie. Remember.”

xXx

He woke up suddenly from a nightmare he couldn’t remember. The bed frame he dragged himself up from was bent out of shape, like it had been melted at an impressive heat so it had buckled under the weight.

The guards had noticed straight away. Three entered and examined the frame.

“Fuckin’ hell,” one muttered as he smacked it with his cattle prod. Eddie couldn’t help but flinch as it crackled.

“Another damn frame.”

“You know what Brenner said to do if it happened again, bathtime kiddo!”

“Yeah yeah I remember, grab him.”

Rough hands grabbed Eddie’s stick like arms and tried to haul him out the cell. Eddie kicked, screamed and shoved with all his might.

Not the bath, anything but the bath. The bath was cold and lonely and horrible and he felt like he was drowning.

What if they forgot about him? They’d done it before, left him in there until his skin was pruney and his bones were shaking with the cold.

Eddie screamed until his throat was raw and he could taste blood.

Next thing he knew the three guards were on the floor, their skin like charcoal and their faces melted into terror. He bolted for the open door and ran until his feet were sore from slapping against the freezing tiles.

He wasn’t sure how he’d managed it, but he found himself in the garage surrounded by cars he didn’t recognise. He didn’t know what to do, so he picked a random car and sat beside it. With his head resting against his knees he hid there for what felt like an eternity.

Until a hand grabbed his shoulder.

With flailing limbs he tried to get away but the mystery person soothed him with a rough voice and calming words. “It’s okay kid, I’m gonna get ya outta here.”

Eddie didn’t know what else to do, so he simply nodded.

xXx

“Good, you remember.” Vecna’s rumbling voice met him as he snapped back to reality.

“I-I killed them,” was all he could say. The realisation hit him like a mountain of bricks, he was a murderer who had killed three men, and what for? Because they’d threatened to bath him?

“Yes, you did. Like I said, we are not so different.” That clawed hand never left his jaw.

“I’m like you,” he said with a painfully neutral tone.

“You could join me,” Vecna murmured, “together we could rid this world of the parasites that infest it. We have the power to do that.”

“Power?”

“Yes Eddie,” The human hand moved to grip his wrist. “We are not so different.”

The vines along his arm shifted and Eddie could see as plain as day:

001

Vecna held his own pale wrist up to his eyeline, where had his bracelets gone?

009

We are not so different, you and I.

“You are tired of running.” Vecna stated and Eddie could only nod. He was so tired of being a coward, of running. “Then stop running Eddie, I can help you rest.”

That clawed hand crept up his face until it gripped his skull tightly. Eddie wasn’t sure if it was tears running down his face or blood- he didn’t care either way.

“Okay…” He whispered and smiled slightly to himself, a rest sounded nice.

“Good…” The pressure increased, it felt like his temples were about to implode but he couldn’t bring himself to resist. It felt… almost right .

Suddenly the pressure and hand was gone. Eddie opened his teary eyes and saw a blurry Vecna who was busy staring off into the distance.

“Eleven,” it grunted before looking back at Eddie. “I will be back for you, after I am done with her.” Then he was promptly thrown to the floor like he was nothing more than a bag of trash.

Next thing he knew, it had all faded to black.

xXx

With a strangled gasp Eddie returned to the land of the living, he was dropped from the air like a sack of potatoes and he hit the floor with a painful ‘THUD’. That would ache later.

“Eddie!” He felt large hands grip his jaw and it reminded him too much of how Vecna had held his head meer moments ago. He violently flinched back so his spine smacked into the corridor’s wall.

When he finally managed to open his eyes he came face to face with King Steve himself crouched in front of him, his hands still raised to where his jaw had just been. Behind him Wheeler and Buckley stood shoulder to shoulder, effectively blocking the kids from tackling him.

“Are you okay?!” Someone asked.

“What happened?!”

“Guys seriously back off, he needs space.”

“That was less than an hour between attacks, he’s getting stronger!”

“Eleven,” Eddie gasped and buried his face in his hands.

“What?” Everyone asked.

“Eleven, V-Vecna is going after her. She’s i-in danger.”

“Shit!” Dustin shouted before the kids all scurried out the trailer, Robin and Wheeler hot on their heels, probably making sure they didn’t try and hijack anyones car.

Harrington stayed where he was but kept his hands raised, like he was approaching a spooked animal. At least there weren't any broken beer bottles nearby.

“You good?” Harrington asked, Eddie hated how genuine he sounded.

“I’m fine,” he grunted.

“How’d you know about El?”

“You mean Eleven?” Harrington nodded. “Vecna… sensed her or something, he seemed real pissed. Let me go so he could go get her.”

“Wait,” a sad look overtook the King’s face. “So if El hadn’t… distracted him then you would’ve…”

Eddie could only shrug.

“Shit,” Harrington hissed. He sounded… both upset and pissed off which confused him. “Just… stay here, okay? We’re gonna go deal with some… superpower related shit.”

He didn’t wait for Eddie’s reply before he threw his walkie at the metal head and ran out the door, leaving him alone in his trailer with a portal to another dimension a few metres away. Thankfully it was hidden under a tarp, or else he’d be really screwed (note the sarcasm).

With shaky limbs he dragged himself up and stumbled toward the door- he definitely wasn’t staying in that trailer for any longer than necessary.

Chapter Text

Everything hurt as he dragged himself through the woods, the bulky walkie hanging limp from one hand. He was making the ridiculous walk back to Reefer Rick's place based on the slim chance the cops had left his van alone. 

Eddie had no clue what was happening with everyone else. The radio had been silent so the only company he had was the snapping twigs he walked on and his thoughts, none of which were great. 

He had discovered… a lot about himself in the past hour. Apparently he had powers of some sort, possibly something to do with heat if the melted bodies had anything to do with it. His earliest memories had been born in a hospital of some sort, why couldn’t he remember any of it until then? Until Vecna unlocked his mental chest of goodies.

Maybe none of it was real? All fabricated by Vecna…

Eddie lifted his wrist and shoved his bracelets away with the walkie. A small tattoo stared back at him.

009

Nope, not fabricated. All real, lucky Eddie.

Which meant… he’d really hurt those guards. Not just hurt, murdered. He may have been young but that didn’t excuse it, right?

He felt sick to his stomach thinking about those three men, how their bodies had almost liquified like hot lava. The look of open jawed horror on their faces would never leave him, that was something he was sure of.

He had to physically shake himself from his thoughts as he saw a very familiar van haphazardly parked in the forest.

“Oh! My baby!” He was just thankful the cops hadn’t bothered to tow her away. Perhaps the local P.D. budget was already stretched too thin, that would make sense considering how holey their uniforms were getting.

It didn’t take him long to pull the van onto the road and drive away, he wasn’t sure where he was going but he knew he couldn’t go too far. The walkie would only work for like… a few miles maybe, he didn’t know the exact distance. He hadn’t really been listening when Henderson explained it all.

How he ended up at the quarry he’ll never know, he just kind of let his arms turn the wheel automatically until the van was as quiet as the water before him.

xXx

It was dark, the sun had long set leaving the quarry in darkness. There were no lights, nothing to pollute the sky so the stars were all easy to see as they sparkled above him.

But Eddie wasn’t looking at the stars, instead he was busy burying himself in the various blankets he’d collected over the years. Yet somehow he was still shivering. Hawkins really sucked ass, especially at night. Without the sun it was cold and damp and horrible and reminded him far too much of that other fucking dimension he was in a few hours ago.

God he hated this place.

After yet another round of violent shivering he somehow managed to fall into a restless sleep.

xXx

“It’s okay kid, I’m gonna get ya outta here.” The man with his hand on his shoulder said in a calming voice, Nine managed to stop his panicking flailing for a minute to really look at the guy.

“W-who are you?”

“I’m a guard here-” Nine’s flailing started all over again at his statement. “Hey, hey, hey! Calm down!” He gripped Nine’s shoulders and forced him to stop, and he obeyed.

“I-I don’t want to go back.”

“And you ain’t gonna go back, I’m a guard, but that doesn’t mean I agree with all… this.” The guard gestured to the building around them. “So you can follow me and get outta here, or you can stay and get caught by a nastier guard.”

The decision was easy to make. “You.”

“Alrighty then,” the man led him over to a pretty blue car, it was shiny and it made him want to run his fingers over the paintwork. He tensed when the man popped open the trunk. “I need you to get in and stay here, okay?” Nine nodded. “You’ll be in there for a few hours, but when my shift’s over I’ll drive us away from here.”

It wasn’t like he had a lot of options, so with tentative movements he hauled himself into the trunk. The guard gave him a scratchy red blanket and a small smile before closing the trunk as gently as he could.

The boot was dark, pitch black, no light was allowed to seep through the seams. Nine couldn’t do a lot apart from literally twiddle his thumbs and mentally count his times tables.

The night could end in one of two ways. He could be helped to escape by this mysterious guard or he’d be caught, hurt, and possibly killed by Papa.

He really, really hoped it would be the first option.

He was there for an eternity until the car rumbled to life and they started moving. The actual journey was uneventful, every now and then the whole car would shake as it hit uneven ground, but apart from that nothing happened.

Eventually the car stopped and the trunk was opened. The first thing he saw were little bright lights speckled in the night sky, he couldn’t help but be transfixed by them as he climbed out of the car with slightly numb limbs.

“Whatcha lookin’ at kid?” Nine jumped at the guard’s words, he simply pointed at the lights instead of replying. “Oh shit, you’ve never really been outside before. Those are stars, don’t worry, you’ll get to see them a lot more in the future.” The guard explained before letting himself into a slightly rundown looking trailer. 

Nine couldn’t help the ball of excitement that settled in his stomach at the prospect, a feeling that was rare and cherished. 

Not too long later he found himself slightly damp from a shower, dressed in comfy clothes that were several sizes too big for him, with a mug of a warm drink clutched in his hands. Sitting across from his was the guard and a new, more bedraggled looking man. 

“Okay kid, you’re gonna be stayin’ this man, he’s a friend.” The guard waved at the bedraggled man. “You’ll refer to him as Uncle Wayne, okay?” 

Nine nodded. “Uncle Wayne.” He parroted. 

Uncle Wayne glared at him, “you’ll be going by Edward from now on, that was my late brother's name. He kinda looked like you when we were kids.”

“Edward.”

“Yeah, Edward,” the guard said with a smile. “You’re gonna be safe here, you may not feel safe for a while, but I’m hopin’ one day I can do enough to earn your trust enough.”

You’ve already done enough, he wanted to say, but sipped his lovely drink instead.

He was safe. Uncle Wayne was okay and the guard was nice, not like one of the ones that would throw him in the freezing bath. He was safe.

He was safe.

It was late that night, when he was curled up in a bed that felt way too big, when he heard a hushed argument float through the door. 

“You can’t expect me to look after this kid, Peter!”

“You owe me Wayne, and he ain’t your kid, he’s your nephew. Get used to it.”

The next morning it was just Edward and Uncle Wayne in the trailer. The guard was nowhere to be seen, and he never got to see him again. 

xXx

Eddie awoke with a hiss as he sucked a harsh breath through his teeth. A sharp noise from his left caught his attention, after a second he realised it was a human voice… specifically Dustin’s voice coming from Harrington’s walkie.

“Eddie! Are you there? If you got Vecna’d again I’m going to… well I don’t know what I’ll do but it won’t be pleasant!”

With a groan he grabbed the device and clicked the button. “Hey shithead,” god he sounded awful.

“You sound awful,” Henderson stated as if he read his mind.

“Well hello to you too.”

“I’d be more polite if I didn’t have to shout at you for nearly twenty minutes!”

“I was asleep!” He figured that would be a reasonable excuse.

“Where?! We’re at your trailer and you’re not here!”

“Ah shit,” he grumbled as he sat up, letting his mountain of blankets settle around his waist. “I didn’t really wanna spend the night near a portal to another dimension, is that okay?” He sasses.

“I suppose it is…” Dustin muttered as if Eddie had actually been asking permission. “Where are you?”

“Erm…” 

“Eddie, we kinda need to know where you are.”

Corpses littered the floor, all melted, charred and frozen in terror. He’d caused that, he’d killed them.

“Nah I’m good.”

“What-”

“Did you get the whole interdimensional space wizard situation sorted?” He deflected with all the grace of a baby giraffe.

“Erm… Yeah, Vecna’s all sorted. El fought him, and it turned out they had some sort of history. We haven’t got the full story yet.” 

“Good to hear!”

“But seriously Eddie, where-”

“Gotta go, bye!” He shoved down the antennae and hid the device under the passenger seat, like it would maybe add an extra layer of protection against Henderson’s questions.

xXx

The roads outside of Hawkins would be the perfect setting for a good slasher movie. He could easily imagine a masked killer wandering the fields either side of him, perhaps with an axe or chainsaw… or maybe it would be one of those monsters the kids had told him about. One of the six foot tall ones or the small, more dog sized ones. Both sounded equally scary with their lack of face and million sets of teeth.

With a sigh Eddie pulled over, turned off the engine and settled back against his seat. He wasn’t sure why he’d stopped, but it felt pointless to keep driving so aimlessly.

He wasn’t sure what he was doing. Avoiding everyone was the obvious answer, but apart from that? He was clueless.

Eddie had always known he was different his whole life. When others had gushed over the latest pop songs, he’d focused more on the latest rock releases. When boys in changing rooms had gossiped over girls, Eddie had struggled not to stare at their exposed chests. When others had thrived and made friends, Eddie had always felt more at home in his fantasy novels, which quickly evolved into a small (large) DND obsession.

He’d always been different, now he just had another thing to add to the list. He wasn’t called The Freak for nothing.

When he’d first spotted Wheeler and Henderson sitting alone on that lunch table all those months ago he knew they would be the perfect additions to the Hellfire Club. The way they would flail their arms as they talked, chatted endlessly about non-existent worlds, and were so unashamedly themselves made Eddie instantly drift towards them. It didn’t take long for him to adopt them into his club, they ended up being fine additions. Their tactics, courage and creativity were all highly valued.

It didn’t stop Eddie regretting inviting them in. If he’d just left them alone then they wouldn’t be associated with him and the Hellfire Club, then they wouldn’t be tied to the deaths. They’d be free kids, just like they should be.

They wouldn’t be tethered to a murderous freak like him.

If he wasn’t panicking before, he definitely was now. His heart rate was through the roof as it hammered against his ribs. He could feel sweat soaking the shirt along his spine and his hands were shaking until he gripped the steering wheel just to get them to stop.

Keep them safe.

Eddie wasn’t good for much, but he could manage that… hopefully.

xXx

He spent the next week living from his van. He floated between the quarry, fields, Rick’s place, and the woods.

He was starving, freezing, and feeling hopeless… but he was fine.

Everything was fine.

xXx

Day one he managed to ignore the walkie under his passenger seat successfully. Food was scarce but he’d managed to scavenge what little food remained at Rick’s place. Cold beans weren’t ideal but they’d do. 

On day two he flicked it on and jumped when a voice called out to him.

“Eddie? It’s Dustin, if you’re there could you say something? We just want to know you’re okay.”

He shoved it away just as fast.

On day three he flicked it on and got nothing but static. The cold beans were growing on him. 

On day four it was Mike’s voice who chimed.

“Hey Eddie, we’ve just got back. The guys filled us in on everything and we filled them in, a lot’s happened, you know? I really want to introduce you to Will, I kinda hyped you up so if you could come over and prove me right that would be great. ”

Day five was static.

Day six’s voice came as a shock, Steve Harrington.

“Hey man, erm… we’re having a meetup at Joyce’s place tomorrow. You know the one, in the middle of nowhere, kinda creepy, turns out she never sold it. We’re having like… a meal. Joyce is cooking, she’s a good cook, not great but good, you know?”

Eddie didn’t know.

“Anyway I have no clue if you’re listening to this but tomorrow at six. Joyce’s place, see you there… maybe.”

He wanted to say something so badly but the words got lodged in his throat, so instead he threw the walkie back under the seat and went about his meagre existence.

xXx

Sleep was a valued state of being. A time when his mind would switch off and silence would take over, at least that’s what it used to be like. 

These days it was crammed full of nightmares (or memories?) he was forced to live through. 

Eddie quickly grew to hate sleep. 

Good job smoking way too much weed so he passed out didn’t count… right?

xXx

The world was a complicated place, it didn’t take him long to figure that one out. There were certain things you could and couldn’t do, rights and wrongs, lefts and rights blah blah blah. 

To put it bluntly- being human was just one long headache, and he’d only been in the real world for a few weeks. 

It took him a few days to figure out how to approach people, and which people to approach. The lady in the trailer next door was nice, she offered him cookies in exchange for brushing the leaves off her little decking area. The man across from them was nice, his son had recently passed away so he’d given Edward a trash bag full of clothes that were too big on him. “You’ll grow into them,” he’d explained and Edward could only nod and resist the urge to hug the man. 

Approaching people was nice if they were nice people- an easy system to follow. 

The people who were not nice to approach were the men dressed in black from their toes to their hairline who kept snooping around the trailer park. 

He’d first spotted one when he was busy pulling weeds out from gaps in the bricks. The man had his back to him as he looked under a trailer, the gun strapped to his thigh was hard to miss. 

The logo printed on his arm was even harder to miss. 

“Hawkins Lab Security Team.”

With a sharp gasp he’d scrambled back to the trailer, tripping over rocks and random debris as he went. Only when he was safely behind the locked door could he let out his breath. 

Until someone banged on his door several times, making the whole thing shake. He clamped his hands over his mouth and squeezed his eyes shut before mentally counting down from one hundred. 

Ninety nine. 

Ninety eight. 

“H.L.S. Open up!”

Ninety seven. 

Ninety six. 

“I know someone’s home!”

Ninety five. 

Ninety four. 

“I’ll knock this door-“

“Oi!” A new voice spoke up, a voice he’d recognise anywhere. Cookie lady! 

“Ma’am, do you know where the owners of this trailer are? We’re talking to everyone in the park.”

“They’re not home, and you have no right!” Edward felt so happy at her words, she knew he was home. Uncle Wayne was catching up on sleep before his night shift. But she’d lied anyway. 

“Ma’am-“

“Are you the police?”

“No, bu-“

“Then get off our land! You have no right to be harassing us.” A tense silence followed, Edward could hear his heart beating quickly. 

“Fine, but we’ll be back.”

“I look forward to it!” Cookie lady hissed as footsteps retreated from his door. 

If Edward stayed with his back pressed against the door until Uncle Wayne emerged for work, well… No one had to know. 

xXx

He awoke with a pained groan as his heart lurched in his chest. The headache that hammered against his skull made him want to bash it into the van’s floor, but he figured that would only make it worse. Eddie was just happy he hadn’t had another nightmare, but it hadn’t exactly been a dream either. It was more like a dream limbo experience, where it made him feel neither happy or sad. It hardly made him feel anything at all if he was being totally honest.

Eddie counted that as a win. 

With a sigh he flopped dramatically back onto his pile of blankets and ignored how dirty they felt against his skin. The most he’d been able to do in the laundry department was rinse his stuff in the quarry and leave them in the breeze to dry, he was convinced he’d become immune to the smell but he could only imagine what others would think. 

Good job he was avoiding everyone. 

A glance at his watch told him it was five in the evening. The time when people were making their way home from work and Hawkins really came alive, well… as alive as a beat up town in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere could get. It meant it would be the worst time for Eddie to make any trips, too many eyes around for people to spot him. Too risky. 

His time would be more useful getting more sleep… but he knew that wasn’t going to happen. So instead he sat back up and glanced around his van. 

He wasn’t in the mood for his beloved guitar, a rare phenomenon. He wasn’t at the quarry so clothes could be “washed”. He was running low on food so eating wasn’t a great idea either…

With an angry hum he tugged out the box from under the driver's seat, maybe there would be something to numb his mind for a minute or two. 

An old water bottle, a million wrappers, scrunched up tissues, and a few hair grips greeted him.

With another groan he hauled himself up, that's when the map caught his eye. He’d bought it years ago when he got fed up of trying to remember all his dealing spots and the best ways to get around town to avoid Chief Hopper.

The map had torn edges with mysterious stains marking the field and houses, whilst a chunk of mould was nibbling away at one corner. Eddie figured he was better off throwing it away, wasn’t like he’d be dealing any time soon. People buying off him weren’t exactly law abiding citizens but he highly doubted they’d want anything from a murderer. 

He was about to throw the map onto his trash pile when something caught his eye, an area not far from Hawkins, scratched out and unintelligible. 

Usually he’d ignore something so random, it wasn’t hard to believe the things a drugged up Eddie had gotten up to. But something in the back of his skull bugged him, like he should go there, like he needed to go there… he could get there without crossing onto any larger roads…

Eddie nodded to himself and the decision was made, today's job was exploring the scratchy area of the map. He wasn’t sure why, but it felt like an awful idea.

Chapter Text

Eddie was never one to follow rules, and whenever he had to he’d never liked doing it. Rules felt like restraints, like shackles holding him down, and Eddie was fed up of being restrained. That was the main reason for the extravagant hair, not only was it inspired by his favourite bands, but also felt like his own little slice of rebellion. It was shaved once, which felt like it had been a lifetime ago, he’d hated the buzz cut with all his heart. It wasn’t like the boys who played the balls-in-hoops game, it wasn’t in a mullet like others, it was long and fluffy and not what others wanted from him … and that felt amazing. 

Rules sucked, and so did signs saying “DO NOT ENTER”, so Eddie promptly ignored the rusted sign as he clambered over the chain link fence. He only got his jeans caught once, but it would be easy enough to play the rip off as intentional. Afterall, his jeans used to be whole until he’d tripped and ripped the knee open, everyone had thought it to be a style choice, and Eddie just rolled with it. 

The forest he had to traipse through was thick with undergrowth, nothing like the usual forests around Hawkins. The tree trunks were incredibly thick which left barely any room to squeeze through. It was like they were bastions waiting for a call to arms, all standing guard… over what, Eddie didn’t know.  

He only tripped twice, a new record for him. He had never been the most coordinated person so usually ended up falling face or ass first on wonky terrain. The only time he ever managed to get his body to do what he wanted to when he wanted to was when he was playing his beloved guitar. For a second he regretted leaving her in the trailer, but van living was no life for such a gorgeous instrument. She deserved better, and Eddie couldn’t do better right then. 

With a grunt he finally managed to push through the last barrier of foliage and stumbled out onto a grassy plain area. He imagined it was once all perfectly cut and maintained, but now it was overgrown and waist high with dead leaves and weeds. 

However, it was the building beyond the plants that grabbed his attention. 

Intimidating was the first word that came to mind. It was like, a million stories tall with murky glass panes all over. It looked like it was made of concrete and the vines growing up it added to the whole post apocalyptic vibe. 

Overall it screamed abandoned government building and something in the back of Eddie’s mind kept murmuring ‘you’ve been here before’ . Which wasn’t possible… right? He’d never seen this place, or at least not the outside, even with his new memories this place was a mystery. 

He must’ve stood there for a while just gawking at the structure and in that time no alarms had been sounded. No security came looking and no noise was to be heard at all. 

Maybe it really was abandoned, like fully left for nature to reclaim.

He could work with that. 

With slightly wobbly steps he started weaving his way through the grass straight for the front door. 

xXx

It didn’t take long to get in, apparently government funding didn’t stretch further than planks of wood over the doors and windows. Even though his hands were scratched and covered in splinters by the time he was in he didn’t care much, he kind of liked picking the little suckers out anyway. 

The first room, as expected, was a reception area, but it looked like something from a zombie thriller. The chairs were all tipped over, glass covered the floor in a thin layer and all the doors were either cracked or off their hinges completely. It looked like a lot of people had come scrambling through at some point, their actions frantic as they’d run into furniture and slipped on the floor. 

What added to the whole panicked feeling was the blood pool staining the floor in a large browning circle. Someone had died here then. How? Eddie wasn’t sure, he wasn’t even sure he wanted to know. 

The sign above the desk made his breath catch in his throat. 

HAWKINS LABORATORY. 

Well, that explains that. This was where he’d… grown up? Been born? Been tortured? Been experimented on? He didn’t recognise the joint, probably because he’d left via the garage last time he’d been in the building. 

Eddie wasn’t sure which was the correct way to go, mainly because he didn’t know why he’d decided to come here. So, like any other idiot, he started wandering. 

He couldn’t get into too much trouble… right?

xXx

So… it turned out the facility was well and truly abandoned, meaning there was no electricity or running water. The water he could live without, the lack of lights, however, made everything a bit more awkward. 

He mentally thanked a “Dr Johnson” when he found a flashlight in their office. It made walking down the endless corridors a million times more spooky, but he appreciated seeing all the tripping hazards around him. 

Eddie was a coward, something he’d come to terms with a long time ago, even before he’d realised he liked boys rather than girls. On any other day the whole exploring an abandoned building would have been at the top of his Nope List , but for some reason he felt compelled to keep exploring, he wasn’t sure why, but he kept walking down the dingy hallways. 

xXx

Did you know Las Vegas casinos have no clocks or windows. This is to make sure the players don’t worry about the passing of time, and so their attention stays on the game. 

Eddie felt like that, like he was stuck in a casino with no idea how much time had passed. He could have been wandering for minutes or hours, he honestly had no clue. At some point he’d shuffled up a few flights of stairs and found nothing but offices, boring offices decorated with wonky abstract paintings and dead potted plants. 

Each door had a name printed on it in white blocky letters. 

DR NIGELS. 

DR STEVENS. 

DR GIBSON. 

DR BRENNER. 

That caught his eye. Dr Brenner… the name was so familiar yet he couldn’t quite place why. It wasn’t like he had any other leads, so with a sigh he shoved the door open with his shoulder. 

It was big, bigger than the other offices. One wall was completely glass which gave him a good (but slightly dirty) view of the forest surrounding the building. The desk and chairs were tipped over, the contents of the draws scattered around the room. It was like someone had been frantically rummaging around at some point. 

The only thing left standing was a gunmetal grey filing cabinet shoved to the side. Eddie figured that would be a good place so start because… why not?

It was locked, just his luck. The drawers did nothing but jiggle in place. 

Thankfully it didn’t take long to find a crowbar. He found it in a conference looking room, perched on the head chair like it was running its own little meeting. What would a crowbar even host a meeting about? Equal pay? The thought made him snort. 

The cabinet popped open with a “KACHUNK” that echoed around the room, he spent a few seconds frozen in place as he listened for any movement. He half expected something to growl as it beelined towards him, or the rapid steps of a security team, but there was nothing. He was alone. 

He’d honestly never been happier to be alone.

The cabinet contained a handful of your average looking files, like the ones in Ms Kelly’s office, only these were thicker. Each was at least a finger thick with aged paper wrapped in brown folders. Eddie didn’t hesitate to grab them all before flicking through the pile.

006.

002.

004.

010.

009.

Bingo, he threw the rest off to the side as he clutched his file tightly. The overturned desk became his nest as he settled down for a reading session.

xXx

The words were scribbled down more like notes rather than any official document. The handwriting was neat but rushed, if the frantically crossed T’s and dotted I’s were anything to go by. 

Age: 3 years, 2 months | Nine has begun to show signs of powers, CCTV (dated 03/02/1968) showed him moving a block roughly two inches when he couldn’t reach it.

The next few paragraphs were scribbled out.

Age: 5 years, 5 months | Nine’s powers are almosting evolved to deviate away from the other experiments. Whilst the others are excelling in telekinetic capabilities Nine is excelling in a way we cannot quite make sense of yet. Blocks are becoming misshapen after he’s played with them, his bed frames are bent every morning, and the tiles of his room are coming loose.

This evolution is costing the department, something must be done.

Age: 5 years, 6 months | Dr Gibson had made a breakthrough regarding Nine’s powers. The others can move objects such as blocks, coins, or even people on rare occasions. Nine, however, seemingly has developed the ability to vibrate molecules, as a result creating heat. This would explain the bent (half melted) objects and damage to the tiles, which weren’t purchased for their ability to withstand high temperatures.

This ability is unexpected, I have decided these abilities should be reined in as much as possible. A punishment will be decided on shortly.

Age: 5 years, 7 months | Cold baths seem to be an effective method to deter the “heat episodes” as they’ve been dubbed by the security team. Nine has had two sessions after melting a bed frame and popping the tiles off the wall, he quickly decided the baths were less than ideal, so a light sedative must be given for the safety of the guards.

Age: 5 years, 8 months | The baths are 90% effective in deterring the episodes.

A few pages were missing, torn out, nowhere to be seen.

Age: 8 years, 1 month | Another guard was wounded by Nine, a severe burn on the officer’s palm when he took Nine by the arm. This cannot go on. Longer periods in the bath have been recommended and enforced. 

The rest of the papers were ruined by a combination of water damage and mould, but Eddie felt like he’d read a decent amount of information. He had a lot to mull over. 

Heating up molecules? He vaguely remembered one science class involving atoms vibrating or something, but he’d never fully understood it (a fact his awful grades proved). But the heat thing… that oddly made sense. The charred bodies, cracked tiles, distorted bed frame… the pieces were starting to fit together. 

There was still a lot he couldn’t explain, but it was information he didn’t know before. That was something… right?

The file was clutched to his chest like it was a lifeline, his only link to sanity. His knuckles were white and the paper was wrinkling under his grip, but it was safe.

Somehow the hallways didn’t seem so scary anymore, perhaps the file was giving him some sort of magical courage, or maybe he was just eager to get out. The latter seemed like the more reasonable option, but Eddie played DND, so reasonable wasn’t part of his vocabulary. 

Maybe it was simply because he knew he could heat shit up to a potentially deadly temperature… he couldn’t help but shake his head at the thought. He wasn’t a superhero like something from an X-Men comic, he was just… Eddie ‘The Freak’ Munson. He wasn’t cool, he wasn’t useful, he wasn’t-

A noise in the distance broke him from his thoughts, it sounded like two metal pipes being smacked together. As the noise echoed throughout the building all of Eddie’s muscles seized up from pure panic. 

Nothing happened for a moment, then he heard footsteps. Periodic harsh noises that reminded Eddie of his own doc martens when he would strut his stuff across the school lunch benches- an activity that felt like a lifetime ago. 

Since then he’d been framed for murder by an inter dimensional demon, hunted by his own town and didcovered he had superpowers after a weird bonding sessions with the inter dimensional demon…

More footsteps echoed through the hall. 

What was he going to do?

What was he going to do?

What was he going to do?!

The crowbar! 

With flurried movements (that definitely made him look like a newborn deer) he ducked into Brenner’s office and grabbed the crowbar he had tossed aside. Any weapon was better than none, plus a crowbar could pack a decent punch, even with a stick like Eddie wielding it. 

The footsteps were dangerously close now, as in ‘about to walk past’ kind of close. So he slotted himself between the wall and open door, hoping they wouldn’t bother to actually go into any of the rooms. 

“You sure someone’s in here?” A gruff voice, slightly muffled by a mask of some sort, asked. 

“Well the front door didn’t just open itself,” another lighter voice reasoned. 

“Maybe it did.”

“No, it didn’t.”

“Fucking knew this place was haunted.”

“Oh my god, shut up.” They were painfully close, just outside the room. “Wanna check Brenner’s office?”

Eddie trapped the file in his arm pit so he could clamp a hand over his mouth. 

“Didn’t he say not to go into the offices, top secret shit and all that.”

“Just a glance, whoever’s in here could be anywhere.”

“Fine.”

Eddie's breathing halted and his muscles tightened when he saw the beam of light flash across the room, originating from right beside him on the other side of the door. It crept across the carpeted floor like an alien beam hunting down its next victim. 

It slowly scanned the room, giving the mystery guards enough time to survey it. 

It paused on the filing cabinet. 

“Was that always open?” Gruff Grunt asked. 

“Probably,” Lighter Grunt answered, “the evacuation was pretty quick. I highly doubt anyone had time to shut drawers behind them.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

The light beam continued along the wall, past some freaky looking ornaments and paintings, before settling mere inches away from the tips of his boots. All they’d have to do was crane their necks and they’d spot him, they’d find him.

Eddie’s chest burned from the lack of oxygen, his throat felt like it was swollen as every fibre of his being screamed at him to just fucking breathe. But breathing wasn’t an option, not now. Don’t even get him started on his heart, which was hammering against his ribs like a miner trapped in a tunnel collapse.

“Empty.” Gruff Grunt stated and the beam of light vanished with a ‘click’. Eddie only took a gulp of air when the sounds of boots could barely be heard.

That was close, too close.

After shakily poking his head out the doorway and finding the hall empty he gathered his options.

Option One- Follow the guards, a choice that would surely lead to being caught and/or death,

Option Two- Go the opposite way to the guards, which would mean staying on the same floor as them.

Option Three- Cross the hall and head for the stairs, a choice that would potentially lead him to the way out. 

The answer was obvious, so with slow steps he slinked his way across the hall like a two-legged cat. Crowbar in one hand, file in the other. He was so close to the door, just two steps away, when his boot caught on something. 

The debris he tripped up on made a heart stopping scraping noise against the floor which echoed off the tiles and down the hall.

Eddie froze for a split second before the panic set in, and he naturally bolted towards the door. 

He threw it open haphazardly and dived down the many flights of stairs until he saw a door labelled “RECEPTION”. 

Bingo!

The main door he’d bullied his way through was just around the corner. All he had to do was ignore the thumping of his heart in his chest, the rush of blood in his ears and the nervous sweat trickling down his spine. He could do that, Eddie was well practiced in the art of ignoring problems until they just… went away. 

The metal head stumbled through the door, fully intending to make a dash for the tree line, until he looked up and his heart dropped through the floor. 

Four men, all heavily bulked up with fancy black armour, were standing a few feet away from him. Their features were covered by masks and thick goggles. They all looked tense as they levelled their very scary looking guns at his chest. 

Yes, guns. Eddie swallowed a thick lump of fear at the sight. 

“Hello!” He tried to sound friendly but the panicked wobble of his words did nothing to help. 

“Put the weapon down!” One shouted. 

“Weapon? Oh!” He waved the crowbar slightly but froze when four trigger fingers tensed. “I’ll just-“ He very slowly lowered the weapon to the floor. 

“This is private property!” Another yelled.

Eddie had no clue what to say so kept still. 

“You have a confidential file, hand it over.”

“How do you know it’s confidential?” He asked. 

“Everything here is,” was the cryptic reply. “Hand it over.”

“I-I can’t do that… sorry.”

“Last chance kid.” They all took simultaneous steps forward. 

“No, I can’t!” I need this file, went unsaid. 

“Are you obstructing us?”

“No!” Eddie pleaded, the situation was escalating faster than he liked. The tears pooling in his eyes caused the four men to turn into black blobs against the dried grass behind them. 

“He is.”

“Don’t make us take it by force.”

Eddie simply clutched the file closer to his chest. 

“Fine,” one of the four muttered and took another step towards him. 

After that everything happened at once. 

The man raised his gun higher, aiming for his head. Eddie felt adrenaline flood through his veins. 

The trigger was being squeezed slightly. He ducked to his head in his arms, he wasn’t brave enough to face death head on. 

Suddenly a choked off gasp could be heard. By the time Eddie raised his head the guard was lying on the floor in a heap of limbs, like a marionette with its strings cut. The three remaining guards stared at their colleague (or friend?) before flicking their gaze back to him. 

If Eddie was being completely honest, he had no clue what just happened. But he knew one thing- the left over guards were stunned, so he took his chance to bolt for the tree line. 

He ducked and sheaves around the bullets that whizzed past his head, and soon, when he was in the safety of the trees, the bullets stopped. 

But Eddie didn’t stop running, he couldn’t even if he wanted to. 

xXx

Eddie drove, he wasn’t sure where to, but he had his foot on the gas and the wheel grasped in a white knuckled hold. The file was perched on the passenger seat where he’d tossed it. 

Where would he go?

What was the plan now?

He had no idea, and that scared him more than anything. 

Ditching the van was probably a good idea. If they had guns and armour that specialised then they probably had a way of tracking where his van went. He hadn’t exactly been careful as he tore away from the lab, he was sure he’d left tire marks all over the road as he frantically drove away. 

Ditch the van was job number one. 

xXx

The van was ditched. 

He’d left his poor baby as hidden as he could manage behind some tall bushes and trees, fingers crossed she’d be left alone. 

So, Eddie was left wandering through the woods, with nothing but the clothes on his back and the file rolled up like a newspaper fly swatter. 

He had nothing, no fresh clothes, no guitar, no drugs to wash the night away, and no food. He was fucked . 

Then the headache kicked in. 

A pounding against his skull that did nothing but make the world tilt and generally made existence hard. 

Eddie thought he tasted blood, the metallic taste was all too familiar from his time as the local Freak. That didn’t make any sense though, he hadn’t been hit by anything. 

On wobbly legs he stumbled through the woods, often tripping over a stray twig and falling into a tree. It was a miracle he wasn’t sprawled over the floor, because he wasn’t sure if he had the willpower to get up again. 

He could still taste blood, but he ignored it. It wasn’t his main problem right then. 

Everything hurt, from the tips of his toes to his scalp- everything hurt. Somehow his hair was aching, which was something he didn’t want to think about for too long. 

What was he going to do now? He’d pulled off step one, he had no van. Step two was to… find shelter? Yes, that sounded like a solid next step. He couldn’t go to Rick’s, the trailer, Skull Rock or the quarry. Where else was there to go?

A twig snapping behind him made him spin on his heels (causing him to stumble into a tree). There was a blob before him, distinctly human shaped, in dark clothing. 

They’d found him. 

“Hey,” the blob said, but Eddie could barely hear it over his panicked thoughts. 

He was going to die, they’d kill him and pry the file from his still warm hands. Would they leave his body there? The town would be more than happy to stumble across the Satanist’s corpse. Who would mourn him? Dustin and Mike maybe but that was it. Wayne was nowhere to be found. He didn’t know anyone else. The band could replace him easily (probably already had) and he wouldn’t be welcomed back anyway. 

He was alone. 

When had the ground got so much closer? 

The blob was standing over him, if he concentrated hard enough he could feel calloused hands feeling his neck. A snapped neck wasn’t the worst way to go… quick, fairly painless, it sounded better than death by gut shot as his intestines fought to stay inside his body. 

His eyelids grew heavy. The hands shook his shoulders roughly, but he wasn’t planning on waking up. If they wanted to kill him whilst he was awake they’d have to wait, because a nap sounded great right then. 

So he let his eyelids shut, ignored the yelling of the blob, it kind of sounded like he was underwater which was funny. 

It didn’t take long to slip away into the comfortable void that was unconsciousness.