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candied-cae · 2 years

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And Who Are We At The End Of The World? - He's Innocent

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Chapter 6/? - - - Read it on AO3

Word Count : 7,257

Summary: Now it's go time. Time to stand in front of the Hawkins Police and convince them Eddie's innocent. Without having any physical evidence to use, only the personal accounts of a bunch of children... But it's fine. It can't be too hard to exonerate an innocent man. Right?

More ST Fics

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Once all the parents were satisfied with checking in on their children, they were all escorted to the conference room that was set up for them. Steve was in a wheelchair, which he told them he didn’t need, but the doctors insisted. They said he had to ride in it if he went anywhere further than his room for the rest of the day. So there he was, being pushed by Nancy through the creepily, sterile white halls, only slightly stressing about how they were supposed to play off the days since Spring Break started. When everyone arrived in the room, they saw Chief Powell and Officer Callahan sitting on the other side of the table.

Once they all settled, Callahan was the first to speak,“ You kids are in a lot of trouble.”

“We didn’t do anything wrong.” “Eddie didn’t do it." "We were trying to help.” “In trouble for what?!”

“Alright” Powell silenced them with a firm tone,” If we’re going to make this easy, we have to agree that we’re not going to talk over each other. I want clear answers on everything that has been happening since the night of Chrissy’s death. I don’t want anyone stalling for time, coming up with lies, or covering asses. We are going to sit in this room until we figure everything out.”

“And you want to know ‘in trouble for what?’…” Callahan spoke in a mocking tone with a finger pointed at Steve, who was indeed the one who asked.

Powell clasped his hands together and leaned back,“ Well, the most straightforward of the charges would be that stolen RV that’s currently sitting in the hospital parking lot-”

Ted Wheeler interrupted, loudly expressing,“ You kids stole an RV?!”

Powell didn’t look pleased,“ Thank you, Mr. Wheeler. But let us take it from here." he cast his eyes back to the youth," There’s also the fact that Officer Callahan witnessed Ms. Sinclair pop a tire on a police cruiser.”

Callahan narrowed his eyes at the girl, like he really saw the eleven-year-old child as some hardened perp,“ Saw her do it right from the Wheeler’s window.”

The Chief sighed, almost more exhausted by his officer's character than the children were,“ Now, obviously, this sort of stuff can be forgiven and forgotten if you kids answer our questions. Because the most important reason we’re here... is for the obstruction of justice as you aided and abetted Eddie Munson’s evasion of the law. Evasion of charges in a serial murder case. So, I want to know what happened.”

Nancy shook her head at them,“ You don’t want to believe us. You just want to believe he did it because that’s the easy answer. Just like everyone else around here.”

Callahan butted in, again pointing his finger at who he was talking to like it made him any more intimidating,“ Hey! We are talking to you about crimes. Actual crimes, that have happened in Hawkins. No more of this-" he waved his hand over her," this teen angst and drama, Little Miss Sass-”

“Callahan.” Powell snapped at him.

The room settled into a tense silence as the Chief sighed, again, before he looked back at the children,“ The police are here to listen and find out the truth of what’s happened. We are here now, with pencils and paper, to listen. So tell us why you were running from us and hiding him?”

Dustin huffed,“ Because he didn't do it, and there was a psychotic jock hunting us.”

“Alright, we can stop there for a bit if you want. A nurse…” Powell checked his notes,” Gladwell, tells us when you came in last night, you said this was Jason? So explain that to me. Because I’m looking at a lot of hospital records that spell a whole lot of hurt, and I don’t know how to make much sense of it. Officer?”

The other man pulls from the table a manila folder and begins reading off the summary they were given by the hospital,“ In the case of the seven patients received by Hawkins Memorial Hospital’s Emergency Room on the night of Thursday, March 27th, checked in at 11:48 pm, notable injuries include:

“Stephen Joseph Harrington - signs of ligature strangulation, severe animal bites to the abdomen, open wounds on the back, multiple cuts and bruises. Nancy Olivia Ann Wheeler - signs of ligature strangulation, multiple bruises, and displaying other signs of a struggle. Robin Mary Buckley - signs of ligature strangulation, multiple bruises, and displaying other signs of a struggle. Dustin Leroy Henderson - tenderness in the right leg, multiple cuts, and bruises. Erica Michelle Sinclair - hand-shaped bruising on the left forearm, tenderness in the left shoulder, minor scraps on the face. Lucas Charles Sinclair - multiple facial lacerations and contusions, including a black eye and broken nose, two broken ribs, bruised and bloodied knuckles, and multiple bruises the size of fists indicative of an altercation. Edward Alexander Munson - signs of ligature strangulation, severe animal bites to the abdomen and neck, multiple cuts and bruises, remains unconscious. And finally, Maxine Beatrice Mayfield - complete blindness in both eyes and multiple fractures from hyperextension of major joints, currently in medically assisted comatose.”

Callahan closes the file and finishes,“ And Maxine's-"

"Max." her mother cut in. She couldn't look at anyone. She just started at the table like she was barely there. But she spoke to insist. Insist that they call her Max, like how she preferred.

Callahan paused for a second before he continued," Max... uh, her condition is identical to the cause of deaths of three victims: Chrissy Cunningham, Fred Benson, and Patrick McKinney. With the exception, that Ms. Mayfield has survived to this point with her eyes still in her head.”

Susan Mayfield shuttered at the last line. “Survived to this point” Like they were waiting for her to die. To become a fourth victim to tack to his sentence, like she wasn’t her little girl. Her little girl… who she hasn’t been watching out for enough. She's been missing from Max's life so much recently. Around all the work and the drinks she drowns herself in at night, she hasn't been around. Not like she should've been. And the other half? "Eyes still in her head" It made everything in her writhe at the idea that her child could have lost her eyes. That someone could have just- taken them- just-

Powell continued,“ And you say all of that….”

Lucas finished,“ Was Jason.”

The rest of them agreed in one way or another. With nods or comments, they confirmed. It was him, Jason Carver, who did all this damage.

More or less.

“Alright. Callahan, write that down.” he instructed,” We will come back to that. You say this was Jason, so walk me through it. From the beginning. Because I need to understand why he would do this. So, let’s start with the night of the 21st, the night Chrissy was killed.”

Robin started,“ When we talked to Eddie about it, he said that earlier on Friday, Chrissy came to him looking to get some drugs.”

Powell supplied,“ A theory Jason himself completely refuted when we questioned him the next morning. Said that she didn’t mess with drugs. Why would she have suddenly changed her tune and not mentioned it to her boyfriend?”

“She wasn’t well,” Dustin answered solemnly.

“Meaning?” Powell waved his hand for Dustin to elaborate while he wrote his notes.

Dustin’s mother rubbed his shoulder to bid him to continue,“ She was freaking out. Told Eddie she was having nightmares and seeing things, it was so bad she couldn’t sleep. I don’t know what was wrong with her, but Eddie said she seemed super messed up and like she was scared of something, or someone.”

“Can anyone outside of this room corroborate that?” Powell asked.

“I don’t think this was the kind of thing she’d have told any of her friends, but Eddie said she had already tried talking to the counselor and it wasn’t helping. That’s why she was so desperate to score. She didn’t want to have to survive Spring Break in the state she was in.”

“And this counselor, that’d be Ms. Kelley at the high school?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright, we’ll talk to her after this.”

“Anyway," Dustin continued," Eddie and Chrissy met up in his usual spot during school, he was just going to give her some marijuana so she could relax. But she was acting really scared and wanted anything stronger. He told her he had something like that, but he doesn’t carry that stuff around with him. If she wanted it, she’d need to let him get it from his stash.”

Lucas jumped in,“ They agreed to go to his trailer together after the game before she came to the afterparty at Benny’s.”

“That's where she told her boyfriend she was just going to run home and change clothes, but never showed up? Correct?” Powell asked to confirm.

“Yes,” Lucas answered.

“And?”

Dustin resumed,“ And they went to his place. He was looking around for what she asked for while she waited in the living room. Eddie said he was barely gone a minute, but when he came back out Chrissy was on the floor.”

“And afterward, Eddie said he thought that Jason saw them going off together before the afterparty and followed them,” Steve added.

“Followed them?”

“It’s what he thought.”

“Now, Lucas, you said on the 22nd that you didn’t see Jason go off at all,” Callahan mentioned.

“Well, not after the party started.” He clarified,” But once the game let out, we all split up and took different rides to the abandoned diner. We were all arriving at different times for the first half hour or so. I didn’t see Jason at the very beginning.”

“And no one rode with Jason?” he pressed.

“I don’t think so. A few of us were going to, but he said he wanted to drive Chrissy over. That was before she said she was going to run home and get changed. So I went with Chance, Andy, and Patrick. A little while later, we saw him show up saying Chrissy was going to be on her way.”

“So, Jason was unaccounted for before the party, Chrissy went to Eddie’s Trailer, he claims to have left her alone for a minute, only to come back to find her on the floor.”

“Yeah,” Robin took over,” Said she was unconscious, or maybe she was already dead. But he was just worried that she’d just found some pill in the trailer and took it while he was in the other room. So he tried to shake her awake-”

Callahan remembered their investigation of the body and muttered to himself,“ Fingerprints on her shoulders, but nowhere else…”

“And that’s when he noticed her legs were broken. Then Jason tried to get him.”

“Tried to get him?” Powell asked.

Steve stepped in,“ Yeah, said he tackled him from behind. Was talking like he was crazy and just looked really wrong. He tussled with him a little, and when it was clear it was a fight he wasn’t going to win, he got out from under him and bolted for the door.”

“And why didn’t he call anyone?”

“He was scared and in shock.” Dustin argued,” Max heard him scream and saw him nearly fall out of his own front door, terrified. If you want to arrest him for getting scared, then go for it. But he didn’t kill Chrissy Cunningham.”

“Did you see any of this Ms. Mayfield?” Powell asked Susan.

“I wasn’t- I was asleep by that time of the night,” she answered, but a few of them figured it meant she had drunk herself into a blackout by then.

“And did Max say anything the next morning?”

She shook her head,“ Nothing specific. We just saw the cop cars arrive, and I said something about the boy getting into trouble. She ran off a little later, said she needed to see a friend.”

“Alright. So Jason killed his girlfriend because she snuck off with Munson, according to him, and then he just went to this party? Like it was no big deal?” Powell asked, pointing the question at Lucas.

“I don’t know. When I saw him, he seemed fine, he got more pissed as he drank, but he kept saying he was just mad Chrissy hadn’t shown up yet. We didn’t push it.”

“And by this point, where’s Eddie run off to?”

Robin answered,“ Rick Lipton’s house on Lover’s Lake. He’s stayed over there before, so it was the first place he thought of while he was trying to figure everything out. By the next day, everyone saw the news and heard on the radio that some kid was killed in the trailer park. He knew if there wasn’t already an arrest made on Jason, then he was probably the first suspect.”

“And why didn’t he come in and explain that to us? Why not report what happened if he wanted to claim he was innocent?"

Wayne felt like he’d bitten his tongue enough, hearing so many times what Eddie should’ve done when he witnessed something so horrible,“ Please…”

He shook his head before he continued,“ His mother’s gone, his father was in prison damn near his whole life, he lives in the trailer park, and sells pot while he does his damnedest to graduate high school on his third time through his senior year. He has tattoos, likes loud music, doesn’t dress how all the good kids in town dress, and he plays a game that people, who don’t know any better, say comes from the devil. He knows what he looks like to the police and to the whole town. You might not think it, but he’s smart enough to know how much he wouldn’t have been listened to. Especially, if it was his word against a kid like Jason Carver’s.”

“Mr. Munson, we are not judging your nephew-” Callahan tried to say.

“But you are! That’s what this whole thing is. You want to pick apart every detail about him, take every trait of his that you think makes him a bad seed, and tally it against everything these kids are going to tell you actually happened. To decide if your assumptions about him and his character can be outweighed by their testimony. And he can’t even defend himself...”

Wayne’s hot, angry tears had built up again, and he turned his face away while he reined them back in.

The words barely cracked through his breaking voice," It's not right."

There was a moment of silence like they didn’t know what to say before Powell decided to simply voice,“ Let’s continue. So, the morning after, what happened at Benny’s?”

“I woke up late feeling like I was going to die-” Lucas cast his parents a wary eye.

“Keep going.”

”It was the first time I’d ever drank before, so I was over the toilet while most of the people who woke up were clearing out. The only thing I remember before you came by was coming out of the bathroom to catch Andy making some joke about Chrissy being the dead kid on the news.”

“He did? And what did Jason have to say?” Powell asked.

Lucas recounted,“ Nothing. It was Patrick who told Andy that the joke wasn’t cool. Jason didn’t say a word. Just went towards the windows when we heard the sirens.”

There was something in Powell that carefully processed that answer. He scribbled into his notes. Clearly, something piqued with the fact that Jason wouldn't have said anything to a joke about his girlfriend being dead.

“And what happened after we finished talking to you boys?”

“Well, you saw him storm out. He just walked off into the woods alone. When he came back, he jumped in his car and left. He didn’t talk to anyone until later that night when he showed up with some Hellfire Club poster that he must’ve snagged from the school and got everyone all riled up.”

“Riled up?”

“He started going on about Eddie killing Chrissy for his cult. I tried to explain to them that it was just a club for a nerdy game, not some satanic cult, but none of them listened. Then he told us we were going to go ‘hunt the freak’ because the cops just wanted to call Chrissy a druggie, and he wasn’t going to let that happen. Every single one of them were cheering for it. Like Eddie wasn’t even a person to them. But I knew Eddie, I liked Eddie, and I didn’t want to believe he’d do something like Jason was saying he did. But I didn’t know for sure. What I did know, was that I cared about a lot of people in Hellfire, including my sister. And the best thing I could do for them was to keep an eye on Jason and make sure he didn’t go too far.”

“When was this happening?”

“Probably around 8:30 or so, the sun was setting, so he said we’d strategize at Denny’s and get started fresh in the morning.”

Powell and Callahan shared a look before the former asked,“ So nobody had eyes on Jason from about 3 pm and 8 pm on the 22nd?”

“No, none of us saw him between then.”

They didn’t say anything, but the way the two of them nodded, the Party knew they were putting together that Freddie disappeared and was killed somewhere within that timeline. Leaving Jason without an alibi for the first or second murder

“Alright, and where was everyone else, the day we found Chrissy’s body?”

They run through the rest of the stories about their day. Most of it was the truth anyway, just a bit of twisting to make it believable. Of course, Max wasn’t marked with a curse from a dark wizard in another dimension. She was triggered, after seeing Chrissy in such an awful state.

Dustin was remembering the morning Max came to his house,“ She saw the body in the trailer. She’s the one who told me it was Chrissy. She was terrified, said she didn’t feel safe anymore after she lived next door to someone who could’ve… But I knew he didn’t do it. Not Eddie. There was no way.”

Callahan tried to argue,“ But, son, you can’t have actually known that-”

“No” Dustin affirmed,” I did know that. Eddie Munson was the guy who saw Mike and me alone in the cafeteria. While Lucas was getting to know the basketball team, Will and Jane had moved, and Max just wanted her space… We were alone. We’re the kinds of guys that have gotten bullied every day since elementary school. Until he saw us. He gave us a place to belong…"

Dustin looked at Wayne before he continued. The older man had looked so beat down. Over and over again he has had to listen to people say terrible things about his boy, the closest thing he'd heard in his favor was Nancy even bothering to listen to him... But this kid believed in Eddie from the very beginning. Never stopped being sure that Eddie was a good kid. Wayne looked so relieved to hear someone hold out faith for his boy.

Dustin pushed," So I knew Eddie didn’t do it. Not Eddie, who didn’t like us biking home when it was dark even though we did it all the time. Not Eddie, who loaned Mike cassettes of his favorite music to try out. Not Eddie, who insisted ‘Metal was the only real music’ and still sang along to the radio with us when I switched the station on the ride home-”

“Alright. You’ve made your point.” Powell wanted him to move on.

But Dustin didn’t budge,“ I don’t think I have. Because unless you listen, unless you agree that Eddie is a person - a good person - who’s just a little unconventional by your standards and does things his own way. Until you decide that he deserves a fair chance, just like anyone else, then you won’t get it. You won’t listen to what happened.”

“Alright. We’re listening. Callahan?” Powell gave in.

“Yeah, yeah,” Callahan said it like an afterthought. Like he got swept away in Dustin’s passionate defense for a moment,” We’re listening.”

“So, please, continue. What happened when you told Max that Eddie didn’t do it?”

“Well, she and I went over what she did see. She said she saw them show up at the trailer the night before, and only a few minutes after, she heard yelling, saw him run out, and speed off. And, at first, she wasn’t sure if he was just scared of what he did, but when she thought back… she said he might’ve just been regular scared of something else.”

“Ms. Henderson?”

“Well, I didn’t speak to her. But she did drop by early that morning. And she did look real shaken up. I asked if she was okay, and she just said she had something she needed to ask Dusty about. They went into his room and, not fifteen minutes later, they were out the door saying they needed to check on someone.”

“We figured that Eddie saw something and was hiding because of it,” Dustin said.

They go over the biking to Family Video and calling everyone they could think of who knew Eddie, using the account system to find phone numbers. They mention someone telling Max about how he stayed at his supplier, Reefer Rick’s, place sometimes. Then they sorted through the Ricks in the computer and used the rental history to figure out the right address. They closed the store early and went out to find him and give him a chance to explain himself.

Powell asked,“ I have to ask. Eddie might've been scared of coming forward, but why you didn’t call us in? Before confronting a possible murderer on your own, why didn’t you reach out for backup?”

Steve shrugged,“ I said we should.”

“Steve-” Robin smacked his arm.

“What? I did. I didn’t know the guy. At the time, I didn’t know how innocent he was. I figured we should catch everyone up with what we knew.”

Dustin took over,“ And I told you the same thing I’ve been saying: Eddie didn’t do it. But, if we went to police before we found him and with no proof, we’d just doom him to pay the price for a crime he didn’t commit.”

“If he would’ve told us-”

“No." Steve argued," Okay, I was wrong about trying to bring more people into it too soon. When we found him, he was still scared out of his mind nearly a whole day after. Barely even recognized Henderson, even though he’s known him for months! Didn’t want to believe us when we told him we wanted to help and would listen to his side of the story. Even when we were able to get him to calm down enough to tell us what happened, he was still shaking just remembering it.”

Dustin nodded along,“ He wanted to run. Wanted to find some way to a different state and change his name, because was so sure no one else would believe him. He was terrified to go down for this. He said he didn’t want to end up in prison like his father. That he wanted to be better than that… We barely convinced him to trust us and wait.”

Robin explained,“ The only reason he stayed in Hawkins, is because we promised Eddie that we wouldn’t turn him in until we had a plan to prove he didn’t do it. We just wanted to give him a chance so someone would actually listen to him.”

The pair of police officers seemed to finally register that the kids were truly desperate to help Eddie Munson. Not to cover for him and get him off the hook, to help him because they honestly believed, with everything they had, that he didn’t do it. That he never killed anyone, and he’s just been petrified since the night of the 21st, trying to find some way out of it…

Then it was Lucas’s turn to talk about what he saw while riding around with Jason. He emphasized having a really bad feeling about Jason’s plans when they tracked down members of Eddie's band to Gareth's garage.

“They started asking questions about where Eddie was. Gareth made some comment, like, 'Look around, he's obviously not here'… and it was like Jason just snapped. One second, he nodded like he understood and was going to be reasonable. The next, he was punching Gareth, screaming in his face, throwing him against the drum set, standing on his fingers, and threatening to break his hand, all while Andy and Patrick held the other two back from helping him… And I was frozen…”

Lucas’s mother squeezed his hand, to silently assure him. He took a breath and continued,“ I wanted to run away, I wanted to pull them off of him, I wanted to start crying, I wanted to call for help. I just wanted to make them stop. But I didn’t know how. Then Gareth told them Dustin called looking for Eddie. Said he might’ve found him. And I knew Dustin would’ve.”

“He’s just that smart?”, Callahan sarcastically asked with a glance at the other boy.

“He is, sir.” Lucas insisted,” So I told them how to get to Dustin’s place, hoping he wouldn’t be home. While they were busy trying to figure out if it was empty, I climbed into Dustin’s room through his window and used his radio set to warn them. Told them I had a really bad feeling and that they should stay away from his house. They told me if I could get away to go to Steve’s and meet up with them. And then, when Jason caught me in there, I told them I found a clue to where Eddie was hiding. I lied and said that he was in this busted cabin in the woods I knew about. Once I got them out there and had them distracted looking for nothing, I just split and ran for Steve’s.”

The group substituted their investigation for Venca with trying to find proof of Eddie’s innocence. Instead of turning the whole world over in a search for how they could get to the Upside Down and kill a being that was less man than monster at this point… they were simply trying to find proof. Trying to find some way to connect Jason to the murders beyond circumstance and witness testimony.

Then they got to Patrick’s death on Lover’s Lake. They tell them that Eddie got on a boat and was rowing himself out just to put some distance between him and Jason. He honestly expected one of the boys to call the cops, and at the very least, they would all get brought in together. And he would just have to explain himself and hope it would be enough. But then Jason started swimming after him. Andy was still riffling through the house, and Patrick was hesitant to jump in after him, but he did.

Jason was yelling that he was going to kill Eddie. Then Patrick started getting cold feet. Saying that Jason needed to cool down, reminding him that the plan was just about scaring him into confessing, that sort of stuff. Eddie realized Jason must not have told them what really happened. Eddie started pleading with Patrick. Told him what he saw Jason do. Patrick started to believe him. He started asking Jason what Eddie was talking about. Asked if he was telling the truth. It must’ve started to add up because Patrick tried to stop Jason from getting into the boat with Eddie. And just like with Gareth, he switched. Turned on him in an instant and started hurting Patrick.

Eddie fell out of the boat and swam off while he was busy.

“Now kids, I want to you know I am listening. I am.” Powell clarified,” But this- to say Jason Carver did all of this? I just can’t understand why he would want to kill three people. He’s a good kid, an upstanding member of the community, comes from a good family, has decent grades, athletic talent... He's got a bright future ahead of him. Why do all of this just because he might’ve seen his girl go get some drugs from Eddie Munson?”

“It was because it was Eddie Munson,” Dustin asserted.

Lucas added,“ Jason hated Eddie.”

“He did?”

“Oh yeah. Jason was the top dog this year. Everyone respected him or feared the basketball clique enough to stay out of his way. Everyone except for Eddie.” Dustin paused,“ Eddie didn’t care. He didn’t care that he was an outcast, didn’t care that he was at the bottom of the food chain, didn’t care that Jason was ‘better than him’. And he wasn’t quiet about it.”

Lucas continued,“ Jason couldn’t rule over Eddie. He was openly mocked by him, just on Friday at lunch. That’s just how Eddie was. He didn’t care about the stuff other people cared about. And he thought they were ridiculous for caring about it at all.”

Steve pointed out,“ And Jason’s always been a little explosive. It usually just looked like he was competitive at games… but he can really go off on the refs when things don’t go his way.”

“And you’re right.” Dustin nodded to the Chief,” He had a good future ahead of him. But then he snapped and killed Chrissy. Then he had witnesses and people poking around. Then he had people turning against him, instead of falling in line behind him…”

Nancy wondered,“ Had Fred and I found out it was him?”

“Had Patrick or I turned him in?” Lucas asked.

“Had more people found Eddie and believed him?” Robin leaned in.

“All that bright future would’ve gone away,” Dustin concluded.

“So, why would Andy put himself in that position? Doing violent stuff for a crazy guy?” Callahan asked.

“You were at the town hall.” Erica spoke up, arms crossed,” You saw how he talked to everyone. Ranting and raving, obviously out of his mind. And yet, you saw how they all ignored you in favor of him. Some high schooler. He made a student club public enemy number one in minutes, and you two couldn’t do anything about it.”

“Erica…” Her father said, not liking her usual tone when it was directed at officers.

“Just the facts!” she argued before turning back to Callahan, her manner of speaking like she was spelling it out to a child,“ He’s charismatic, like Bundy. People listen to him, even if he's crazy.”

“Alright, so what happened after that? When we had four of you kids together under one roof, we tried to ask you what was going on, and you all lied before running off on your own again?”

Nancy started,” We were trying to come up with a new game plan on where to store Eddie since Rick's wasn't an option anymore when we heard you coming through the woods. Before we even had a chance to try to come up with a solution, Max stood up and pulled her ‘I saw the killer, this way!’ scene. Then Lucas and Dustin ran after her while we were still in the brush. They weren’t supposed to run off and-”

“And,” Dustin took over,” we didn’t have a plan about getting brought in with the cops. We didn’t really know where we were going from there. So, we sat on that couch and made it all up as we went. Couldn’t even get our story straight and didn’t know how we could get you to calm down about Eddie and stay away from him while the four of them tried to find something.”

“We camped out in the woods after the kids ran off with you guys,” Steve answered, looking at Nancy and Robin,” We didn’t have anything with us, and we left my car too close to Rick’s house to try and go back for it since with the police team still there. And we were so exhausted. We were completely out when we fell asleep out there, especially Munson and me. We didn’t even come to until the girls woke up and chased off the critters that swarmed us. Hence all the bites.”

Robin pitched in,“ After that, we knew we needed to get them in to see a doctor. When the kids called us on the radio, we met at Max’s trailer and tried to figure ourselves out. But we had no car, and Eddie couldn’t be seen just walking around. So we stole an RV. We felt really bad about it, we swear, but we needed a ride, and everything felt so critical. So, life and death. We just drove out to the abandoned Creel house Nancy and I read about, to do a little bit of damage control on the way to the hospital.”

“I got wrapped up, and we did our best with Eddie. And I think it had to have been because of all the blood, Max started having, like, a panic attack.” Steve continued.

“We didn’t want to leave the younger kids behind, but she couldn’t even look at the two of them.” Robin added,” She was shaking and crying and just- we couldn’t put her on that RV where she would have to keep looking at it. Where she’d be trapped with it…”

Nancy continued,“ We left the kids at the Creel house with her, except for Dustin because he messed up his leg while we were running. We planned to get everyone checked in and call parents from the hospital once we knew we had Eddie somewhere he could be watched and kept safe from the crazies. Then everyone would get picked up, and we’d just have to figure it out from there.”

Lucas spoke next,“ I was just going to sit with her while she listened to her favorite music to get her mind off of it. She just sat there, eyes closed trying to breathe while Kate Bush helped her settle a bit.”

Steve got quiet,” But somehow Jason found them…”

“Erica was outside to keep a look out for when parents, or police, would show up. But it was Jason and Andy.”

“Jason went straight for the house while Andy chased after me." She recounted," He was raging about Lucas, and I wanted to warn him… but Andy jumped me, pinned me to the ground, and pulled my arm behind my back. He told me he’d break both my arms if I wasn’t quiet. I only got away because he got startled when we heard gunshots from the house-”

“Gunshots?”

“From Jason. From them, I was able to get out from under Andy and kick him between the legs before I gave him a hit with my flashlight. He should be wearing a nice shiner on his left eye the next time you see him. Courtesy of Erica Sinclair.“

“Jason came into the attic. Started attacking me. Said it was because I switched teams. Then he saw Max in the corner, just trying to hold herself together. And his face just went… sinister. It was just like Gareth, but I saw it from a new angle. Then he was just on her, so fast. I saw him break her arm… I tried to stop him, but he knocked me out. When I came to… he had…" Lucas shuttered, remembering the way Max's limbs broke as she dangled in the air," And he was kneeling over her and pressing into her eyes. I slammed into him and got him away. He was unconscious when the earthquake started.”

“I made it up the stairs and saw Max was all messed up. I was running to get the walkie I dropped outside when the earthquake started. And the house-"

Lucas took over," I don’t know if it was old - or just a bad foundation - but it just cracked open.”

"Cracked open?" Powell asked.

"Right down the middle. I'd never seen anything like it."

“So, now Jason is?”

“I don’t know. Not really. He was passed out right where it came apart, and when I looked up… It was like it just swallowed him. I don’t know how far he fell, I just pulled Max and me out of the way.”

“Erica called us after the earthquake. Eddie got thrown around the RV and was bleeding worse again, but when they said how bad Max was... we turned right around, got the kids loaded in, and came here. And on the way, when Lucas told us what happened… told us what he said to him on top of everything else…” Steve let his voice seethe.

“What he said?”

Lucas remembers the words Jason had said. The real parts that hurt with such familiarity within the othered look in his eyes...“ When Jason was hitting me… he said he thought I was ‘one of the good ones’. That he was wrong about me. He ‘never should’ve let me in the door’. Like Patrick.”

Lucas's mother's hand tightened on his shoulder, and his father clenched his jaw.

And Chief Powell stiffened, his eyes going hallow. He kept his composure, but he knew. He knew what those words meant from boys like Jason. He knew about all the things that happened to Lucas that his parents had to fight for the school to report. He knew how it felt to be that kid in this town, one way or another.

“I’ve heard enough…” he muttered

The other officer looked at him like he wanted to dispute,“ Calvin-”

“I said, I’ve heard enough. All that’s left is you kids came to the hospital, right?”

“Yes sir.” they all answered, practically in unison.

“We have the hospital records for everything after that. I have heard everything I need to. We’ll still need to speak to Eddie and Max when they wake up, but we will start verifying the information you’ve given us in the meantime. Now, all of you, just stay out of trouble. I want those of you that the hospital signs off on to go home and stay there while you rest up. No one is to go running off or doing anything stupid. Am I understood?”

“Yes sir.” once more.

Powell nodded them along, and each kid and adult emptied out of the room so the two policemen could discuss.

Robin volunteered to push Steve back to his room while everyone started on their paperwork to get checked out. Once she put a little distance between her and her parents, she started having fun with her best friend after the tense morning. She was weaving him side-to-side in the hallway like she was providing him a ride on an exclusive Robin Buckley Wheelchair Rollercoaster. Then she brought up that now they all have ultimate power over one another from the questioning... they all found out each other’s middle names. It was like childish weapons of mutually assured destruction had just been handed over to them.

“Edward Alexander? He has to hate that so much. And Beatrice? For crazy, badass Mad Max? Beatrice? Oh my god- I need them to wake up and get in trouble asap, just so I can whip those out when they least expect it!” Robin giggled along, imagining the situation.

“And you? Mary? I mean, once I saw those parents, Mary made sense. But I would’ve never pegged you for a Mary if I was guessing!” Steve laughed too.

And then suddenly Robin stopped in her tracks,“ Oh my god…"

"What?" Steve asked, a little worried.

"We’re Mary and Joseph!” She loudly exclaimed.

Steve leaned his head back to look at her and let another laugh break through his chest,” We are! Seems pretty fucking fitting, right?”

Robin nodded along as she continued rolling him down the hallway,“ Never had sex, and yet we’ve got mouthy kids who end up in a lot of bloody, end of days shit? Yup, sounds just like us.”

“But I remember the originals only had the one who was getting caught up in trouble..." Steve ran over the list in his head: Dustin, Lucas, Erica, Max, El, Will, and Mike.

"So how’d we end up with a litter of seven?”

“We’re overachievers?” Robin suggested with a shrug.

“I’m not,” Steve counters,” I for one would happily return a couple of them at this point.”

“Sure, buddy. I’m sure that wouldn’t make you the saddest little boy in all the land.” she teased as she took a hand to ruffle his hair, knowing this was one of the few chances she’d have a good angle on him to do so,“ Come on, you love those little shits.”

Steve fought away her hand with difficulty since she was behind and above him“ And what makes you say that?”

She hummed the answer at him as they crossed back into the room,“ Just about everything you do.”

“Yeah, yeah. Let me get back to my nap.”

“Fine. They going to let you outta here tomorrow?” she asked as she went to help him get back into the bed.

He swatted her hands away again,“ That’s the plan.”

She got a touch more serious as she formed the next question,“ Are your parents…?”

Of course. That would’ve been the obvious thing to ask, given how well she knew him. Robin and Steve spent arguably too much time together after Starcourt. She noticed no one showed up for him when the other parents started to filter into the parking lot after the fire. At the end of the day, they always seemed to be somewhere else. So they shared lots of movie nights in his empty house, filled with their lamentations of love and loss, sometimes fears. But, whenever she tried to worry about him, he’d remind her that he'd been semi-independent for a while. And now that he was out of school, his folks didn’t need to be around so much. He assured her of it all the time over snacks. But she worried anyway.

“Nah” he answered simply as he started to pull the covers around him.

“Do you need a ride?”

Steve’s face deadpanned at her,“ You can’t drive.”

“I know that-” she smacked his arm,” It just, you know, seemed like the moment when a person’s supposed to offer?”

“Don’t worry about it, revered chauffeur. Mrs. Henderson’s going to come collect me.”

“Alright. You'll call me when you’re feeling up to do something? The high school’s running as the relief center right now, so we decided this morning before you woke up that we’d all come together and donate some stuff.”

“You want me to give away my own things after I just bled for this town?”

She shoved his shoulder again,“ You’re gonna be there.”

He smiled,“ Alright. With bells on. Just for you though, Rob.” and threw her a wink.

“Then it’s a plan. You’re going to call me?” she asked one more time to make him promise.

“I’m going to call you. Now go away, you’re too loud.” he shooed her out the door and shuffled around in the bed to get comfortable.

“Alright. Get your much-needed beauty sleep,” she called before heading out to go home herself.

#And that's how we save a freak besties #I spent so much time making the plan for the frame job... Then rewatching the season as I re-went over it... And editing it...#It took a while. And I'm very tired. But pretty much every single word of this is canon-compliant.#Nothing I wrote in goes directly against the canon the d*ffers provided. Sure I wrote in details they didn't give us that helps my case.#But! I did not fight what they gave me to make it work. So this is my 'fuck you' to their 'there was never going to be a way to save Eddie'#It took me just about 7k to fix their mess. If they wanted to let Eddie return to normal life #they could've #Anyway #This was an important chapter for me to write to open the story back up for our little metalhead.#Now - when he wakes up - he gets to live a life. And oh what a life that will be 😉#Steve Harrington #Eddie Munson #Steddie #Steveddie #Steve x Eddie #Nancy Wheeler #Robin Buckney #Ronance #Robin x Nancy #The Fruity Four #Stranger Things #Stranger Things 4 #Stranger Things 4 spoilers #Stranger Things 4 volume 2 spoilers #stranger things fanfiction #ST4 fanfic #Steddie Fanfic #Ronance Fanfic

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