#or ! better yet !! duffer brothers pls let me know !!!

[literallymikewheeler]

i have been thinking about this for a while, but there was literally no reason at ALL to add the part in grave digging scene where mike looks at will, then immediately looks away once they make eye contact, before quickly repeating that process again UNLESS it was to hint at byler

like... what was the point duffers ??? are u trying to show us something perhaps ???? something that rhymes with "jyler" maybe ????

[lvlycheri]

❀˳ ⁺𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞

summary: eddie has been caught up by the entity after his encounter with the demobats resulted in his almost death. now, his fate is to escape death for eternity, and to get lucky enough to meet you – surprisingly, the killer – in the most trials he can

includes: small gore (death description)

words count: 2,5k

authors note: pls behaviour and duffer brothers make this happen 🙏 we need another stranger things license on dbd

The first thing Eddie could feel was the fog spreading through his body

The second thing wasn't as nice as the first. His ears registered a scream piercing through the darkness and he quickly got up on his feet. And then the memories hit him, consuming him for a few moments. The demobats, the blood, Dustin crying, the upside down. Wasn't he supposed to be dead? He still had the dirty clothes he was wearing since Chrissy died on his body, he still had the bandana tied around his head, but his necklace that contained his guitar pick was gone. But that was no thing to think about it for now, because Eddie decided that the scream that was still echoing through the air was a more important matter. The rush from fighting the demobats was still running through his body, and he felt that maybe if death hadn't come for him yet, it was because he needed to be a true hero first by helping the woman who screamed moments ago

Looking around, Eddie noticed that his arounds were a total contrast from where he was last standing. It ressembled a forest, minus the destroyed walls and their lack of doors, plus the broken wooden pallets laid around the floor. Trying to shake the dirt of his pants – it was more of a habit than an effort, since he knew those clothes would not be clean so soon –, he got up from the place where he was laid down, only to be meet by a stranger bumping into him

"Who are you?" The person asked, not even worried about Eddie's current state. The stranger didn't even seemed to notice that he had bumped into Eddie "The Freak" Munson, and it certainty didn't looked like he wanted to murder him like the rest of Hawkins wanted

"I'm Eddie. Munson." Eddie answered, a little too quickly, nervous about how the man would react to his answer "You know, the local freak of Hawkins?"

"Hawkins? You are in no Hawkins, man"

"What do you mean?"

"It's better for you to know about it after the trials" The man looked slightly worried "For now, let me explain how you get out of here"

Eddie was told by the man, who he now knew was named Jeff Johansen, that he needed to do those generators to power the gate that would lead them to their escape. He had never seen a machine like this, but had some ideas on how to work on it based on what his uncle used to complain about it every night, and for that Jeff seemed to be relieved

It was then that Eddie felt his heart beating faster, echoing in his ears and getting louder and louder each minute. Was that how much he missed his uncle, his only family, that just by thinking about him, his heart seemed like it would explode? But no, that wasn't only him, because he soon noticed that Jeff had stopped doing the generator they were working on together and seemed to be hearing the same heartbeats that Eddie was feeling

"You see that locker?" Jeff pointed behind Eddie, and he followed his finger to see a red locker that was a few meters away from him "You can feel the heartbeats. You go there and hide and when you feel calmer, you come out and finish this gen', understand?"

Eddie nodded, knowing too well the feeling of going into hiding while someone stayed to protect him. But he decided that this was the best option, since the heartbeats represented an unknown danger to him, nothing like the monsters from the Upside Down that he had seen it already. And Eddie had the gut feeling that maybe this was another supernatural animal coming for his flesh

Running towards the locker, Eddie quickly opened the door and cursed himself at the loud sound it made, feeling like the whole forest was able to hear him. The heartbeats seemed to get stronger, only for them to calm down a bit when he finally got inside the locker and closed the doors. It was then that he heard a loud sound of someone falling, and then he heard the screams of Jeff's voice. Eddie had known the man for a few minutes, but his voice was deep enough that he could hear the similarity in the scream, plus he was the only other person around. He could hear the sounds of struggle outside, plus the few spaces at the locker's door let him to see the view of someone carrying Jeff, who was trying to escape out of his captor's arms

Eddie's vision was limited by the door, so he could only presume what had happened when he saw Jeff getting lift up and being put at some kind of hook. Another scream came out of Jeff's mouth, and Eddie covered his mouth, trying to not make a sound at the scene he had just seen

That's when Eddie saw dark claws coming from behind the wood post that the hook was held, and he had to control himself to not make any noise of surprise. The claws had grabbed Jeff's body and were lifting him towards the grey sky, where he then disappeared in a white fog that made an explosion sound that could be felt on every surface of this forest. Eddie then heard the sound of the hook falling down, like no body had its flesh pierced by the object just moments ago

Forcing himself to look away, Eddie noticed that his heartbeats had gone calmer, and deciding that it was the best moment to step out, to at least check what happened, opened the door – slowly, this time – and stepped outside. There was no sign of human life, like he and Jeff had never even existed in the first place, and he took this as a sign of good omen, as he resumed to his work of fixing the generator

A few minutes had passed and Eddie was at the middle of completing his task, still wishing that he had the help of his new found friend, and wondering what had happened. But he knew that right now, the priority should be someone himself who is still alive

"This time I can be the hero and escape, I bet Dustin won't believe me when I tell him this" Eddie started to talk to himself, a way of calming his nerves "Jesus H. Christ. I can't believe how unclucky I am"

Another scream pierced through the skies, and that's when Eddie started to wonder if those could be his friends. But he was sure he had already heard Steve screaming, plus the scream was male and wouldn't match any of the girls that he had met so far. He already had heard both Lucas and Dustin's screams, and they were both too high pitched to belong to the deep voice that had just recently screamed

Eddie felt goosebumps run through his neck, and the hot breath of someone standing behind him hit his senses. His hands that were finishing the generator slowly came to a stop, and he could feel eyes staring him down

Slowly turning his body around, a hand grabbed his throat and quickly turned him to look at his captor's face. Eddie saw this woman staring him down, with a mask that ressembled those of a plague doctor covering her face, and for a moment, he thought that she could be just a more aggresive survivor of this madness, who wanted to preserve her identity using something she found, but after a few seconds, his eyes lingered towards her right hand and he saw that she was holding scissors that were the size of his arm. His eyes explored more, noticing the old victorian dress you wore, and how it was cut shorter than what was originally its lenght. Your clothes were all a dark brown, which blended well with the scenary

He noticed that the big dark circles that were supposed to be the eyes of the mask were staring him down, analyzing Eddie just like he did to you, and he felt like blushing at the moment, only to remember that you were still choking him with your hand and that was probably why he felt his skin going red

"P-please..." His throat hurt, but he needed to try pleading for his life "D-don't..."

Your head tilted to the side. Being a new killer, you hadn't had the chance to meet a lot of survivors, and neither of them tried to strike a conversation with you, since your scissors were quick to bring them to the ground so you could carry them easier to the hook. Hearing this man's voice, even if it was raspy because of the pressure you were applying to his throat, made you feel your heartbeat increase, like you were the only being chased, not the other way around

"Me... no?" You let go of his throat, using your hand instead to point at yourself

Eddie knew he was crazy, but the butterflies that erupted at his stomach after he heard your voice were a confirmation that he was also stupid

"No... kill me?" Eddie tried again, mirroring your action and pointing at himself

"She... no let" before he could try to make sense of who was 'she', you grabbed him by the neck again and threw him on your shoulder, walking towards a trail that only you knew what would lead to

Eddie tried to escape, throwing his body around and beating his hands on your back, but it seemed that you were made of iron, because nothing he would do were able to make you even flinch. The only thing that got a reaction out of you was when he grabbed your hair and pulled, and Eddie noticed quickly how you stopped on your tracks for a moment, only to keep walking

When Eddie decided to look up, he finally was able to see that you were nearing another hook, and he was sure that now there was no escaping from death. Those things were dirty, which meant that even if he could escape, that would leave him with a nasty infection. He kept on moving, trying to escape your grip, but it was no use, because you were already lifting him up to put at the hook

The pain that pierced through his body was nowhere near the pain of having thousands of demobats eating off your flesh, but it was near. He could feel the instrument tearing his skin and going through his bone, and tears started to run down his face

You stepped on front of him, your body language expressing how sorry you were that you had to do this, and Eddie almost felt pity, because the way you talked made you seem like you were as much of a victim of this world like he was. Your hands grabbed his face and your fingers traced his dirty cheek, cleaning the tears that were rolling down

Your face came closer to his, and he felt the cold touch of the mask's long nose on his face. You noticed his discomfort and tilded your head so your mask wouldn't be causing him even more pain

"Me... prove... me... sorry" You spoke slowly, and you grabbed your mask and lifted slightly so your lips could be shown. Eddie swore that no girl had made him notice their lips so quickly, but with you, it was like something was attracting him to look at it in every moment. He couldn't make his eyes stop looking, and for a moment, he forgot the pain

It was then that you came closer to Eddie's face, careful to not touch him so he wouldn't feel more pain, and your lips touched his

That was not his first kiss, but Eddie could swear that he felt like it was, because his heart was beating fast like he was a school boy again – maybe it was the fact that he was so close to the person who had hooked him – and his palms were sweaty – because of the way he had just been sent off to die by the prettiest masked woman he had ever seen ‐

Eddie could sense that you were inexperienced by the way you didn't opened your lips so he could let his tongue explore your mouth, but it was okay, because only the touch of your lips against his were enough to send sparks through his body

Then you stepped back, putting your mask down so it could cover your whole face again, and Eddie felt like something had been taken from him, maybe it was the best kiss he ever had, or maybe it was his life, because the dark claws that had once claiked David's life were now forming around him, and he quickly grabbed one of it that tried to stab him right in the middle of his chest

"What is this? What is happening?" Eddie asked, his voice getting louder from the fear, but you were already turning on your heels and walking away "Don't go, please help me!"

Eddie felt like the strenght had left all his body, because the claw that he was holding forced its way through his chest, and he wasn't able to do anything but watch as the other claws stabbed him in other parts of his body. His body was lifted and he felt the cold air of the night hitting his face. Closing his eyes, Eddie wished that maybe this time he could have some peace

"Hey, it's the newbie I was telling you about" A familiar voice ringed through his ears. Eddie could also hear a faint music that sounded like it was coming from a guitar in the distance

"I thought you were full of shit, because you know no survivor appears without a killer" Another voice answered, this one he couldn't recognize

"Hey, I did!" A female voice spoke far away

Eddie felt a slap hit his cheek, and opening his eyes, he encountered himself laid down on the ground, with other people of different ages sitting around a campfire. Only some were looking at him. He looked around and saw Jeff, who he thought had died, offering a hand so he could get up

"I thought you had died..." Eddie said, directed at Jeff, and like he remembered something, started to touch his body, starting from his chest and going to his arms "I though I had died. What happened?"

At this question, the music stopped. Eddie noticed that the blonde girl who was playing the guitar was looking at him, like everyone else around the campfire

"We need to explain you a few things, Eddie Munson. And you have to believe us" Jeff said, mentioning with his hand towards everyone else

"I have seen a few things before I appeared here. You believe me, nothing will scare me anymore"

Eddie was proved wrong very quickly after the discovery he was now stuck with killers and death itself for eternity. The only thing that was keeping him sane was the fact that he had the small chance of seeing you again in another trial.

[bettsfic]

i know in the past you've made "fix-it" scenario posts where you write out how you would've wanted a certain story to go (like the star wars sequel trilogy) and they are always so brilliant and fun and so much better than anything boring men in the writer's room came up with. in your ideal world, how could stranger things s4 plot have gone if/how chrissy survived? (i'm looking at this through my grubby lil hellcheer glasses) (pls don't feel obligated to answer! only if you have time ofc.)

very cool question!

(stranger things s4 spoilers ahead)

this got long, so i'm putting it under a cut.

so when i've written fixit things in the past, it's usually pretty easy because the writing is so sloppy and the character motivations are flat and uninteresting. so really all i do is tidy the story up and give the characters a touch more nuance.

the problem with stranger things is that it's working in the total opposite direction. it's too tidy. in fact after i got this ask i thought about it for a good half an hour and every single time i moved or changed a piece of plot, it had major repercussions for the rest of the plot. the s4 plot was woven so well that at the end i was like, there's no way i'd ever be able to write something as tightly woven as this. i lack the skill for it definitely but i also lack the interest. big plotty plots with many characters reacting to outright, unquestionable evil is just not my aesthetic wheelhouse.

which is all to say, there's nothing to really fix, exactly. i think eddie and chrissy are a huge missed opportunity, but i don't think chrissy dying is bad writing. (eddie's death was some of the weakest writing in the whole show imo [because he could have lived, like the plot did not force him to die, it just decided to, and i think there's a big difference], but the duffer brothers keep writing themselves into a corner where they make these phenomenal one-shot characters and can't keep them because there are already too many characters.)

so i think what we'd have to do is go back to season 3 and have billy live so he can stick around for the repercussions of his actions to be addressed in season 4. i really liked billy conceptually (and dear god dacre montgomery is hot) but ofc they made him a racist and so i just couldn't give a fuck about him. let's say they didn't do that and billy is still fucking awful but redeemable. (also while we're rewriting season 3, let's also say he boned mike's mom.)

billy is alive for season 4, and so max's plot would involve billy somehow so she doesn't get cursed. possibly redemption arc? we just need max out of the cursed ptsd kid fodder lineup. (by the way, that is my least favorite trope of all time. curse/monster attacks kids with ptsd only. like i watch stories like that and i'm like, yeah that'd be me. i'd be dead.)

we now have a totally unnecessary E plot in addition to plots A through D. but we're not bound by the physical constraint of production, so it's fine. i don't know what exactly would go in E plot except billy, max, and lucas feeling their feelings. which honestly i would be okay with.

that frees up max's story in plot B to go to chrissy. so she's not as far along in her vecna symptoms as the others yet but still having enough trouble to reach out to eddie for some weed. (this is where things get tough because there are so many tiny threads to consider.) but let's just say nancy's friend, vecna victim #2 becomes vecna victim #1, and his death happens near/around/in eddie's trailer somehow, so that chrissy is implicated in the murder and they both have to go on the run.

jason's plot would then turn into finding chrissy, who is missing and presumed dead because he believes eddie is a murderer on a rampage, etc. so instead of avenging her death, he's just trying to find her. all of this to say, i need chrissy and eddie trapped in a boathouse together with nothing to do but talk and fall in love. and this fits aesthetically with the "opposites attract in states of extreme danger" trope that littered 80s action movies.

so chrissy is with eddie the whole time. they escape on the water together running from jason, because by this point chrissy has sided with eddie and knows that if she gives herself up, jason will harm/kill eddie for kidnapping her or whatever.

the guy, jason's friend, is vecna victim #2 and opens the gate to the upside down. now chrissy's plot is tied firmly into plot B and everything happens basically the same except chrissy is in the upside down with the rest of the big kids and we would get some gratuitous protective eddie. which i think would also lower the pressure on steve/nancy which, i mean, i love a good love triangle and i enjoyed that tension but it feels a little hamfisted to me.

meanwhile, in our newly forged plot E, billy has started to exhibit vecna symptoms. and we know he is Doomed, because there would be a scene where he hangs out with max and has a good time and maybe even smiles. but! we don't know how far along he is in comparison to chrissy, so we aren't sure who is next.

imagine: chrissy in the upside down, her cheerleading uniform all torn up and dirty. she has no idea how to fight but she is doing her best. she's lost that cute little sweater she has. eddie gives her his jacket.

here's where i a little bit lose track of things, but roughly what would happen is that plots B and E would merge so that the big kids + dustin and lucas could try to help billy, which would fail and billy would die. (listen i hate redeemed characters dying as much as anyone else, but this is about hellcheer so sacrifices must be made.)

that leaves chrissy and eddie to take over the final scenes that max and lucas have, and eddie can still get his big damn hero moment by fighting jason, which makes more sense than lucas fighting him anyway. there is no random bat protection setup, because that's stupid. i know we sacrifice eddie's guitar solo but let's say there's a scene in episode 1 where we get to see him play at the hideout or something to make up for it.

imagine: instead of max listening to kate bush (sorry kate bush), chrissy's song that helps her get away from vecna is eddie's demo tape or something. so she's just constantly listening to eddie's music because it makes her feel safe and eddie has to pretend he's not dying about it.

imagine also: earlier in the season we have a very tender moment between chrissy and eddie, and because she is a Sad Girl that's what becomes her happy memory when she's trying to get away from vecna, forcing her to realize that even through all this nonsense that this time with eddie has made her happier than anything else ever has. she is determined to live through this so they can be together.

eddie fights jason. chrissy's in vecnaland. plots A and B merge and eleven is fighting vecna. unfortunately this part gets really wobbly because eleven and chrissy have no connection to one another. let's just ignore that because we're not even really addressing plot A here.

let's say this is either the final season or we don't know if there will be a season 5, and therefore things have to wrap up rather than escalate, which means when vecna goes to give the final blow, eleven does her thing a little earlier, preventing chrissy from having all her bones broken and dying for a minute to open the gate. let's say also that vecna is dead and not tease that he's coming back next season, so that the resolution is firmer.

chrissy falls from where she's levitating a few feet off the ground. eddie has knocked out jason or something and he goes to chrissy, holds her, there's crying, there's some cheesy line that joseph quinn somehow fucking nails about how they could have had something real.

and then! chrissy wakes up! she says something romantic and vulnerable. eddie spouts a cheesy one-liner callback to something said earlier to lighten the tension. joseph quinn also nails this because he understands the assignment. they kiss! plots A through E resolve in some way i am not going to bother thinking about.

hellcheer resolution: chrissy is in the hospital. eddie is playing an acoustic guitar. chrissy brings up the tough question: what's he doing after graduation? eddie, who still can't believe he's dating chrissy cunningham: basically nothing. maybe go on tour eventually. maybe record an album. chrissy admits she doesn't really have any plans. no decisions are made, but in the silence they both kind of realize nothing is stopping them from being together. eddie brings up jason. chrissy says her relationship with him is no longer an issue. everyone comes to visit chrissy, because they're all friends now.

tiny epilogue: chrissy and eddie (and the other big kids) at graduation. cute 80s montage set to rock music of all of them getting their diplomas. we see chrissy and eddie making out because they are now That Couple and everyone is already exhausted about it. happily ever after! the end.

bonus epilogue that provides the music for the credits, which are rolling on the right side of the screen: chrissy goes to see eddie play at the hideout.

i know this is a mess but like i said, i am no good at balancing multiple plotlines. or any plotlines, really. and i know i forgot a bunch of stuff because honestly i was playing a game on my phone while watching season 4. i'm not even going to reread this because i'll want to add to it, so. this is the best i can do.