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Eddie was tired.
He hadn't been on the run for very long, and he guessed it was only a matter of time before he was found, yeah, but he didn't really expect the ones to find him to be his favorite little shrimp from Hellfire, Steve "The Hair" Harrington, that one band kid he's almost sure is a closeted lesbian, and the redhead girl who lived in the trailer across from him and Uncle Wayne.
They wanted to know what happened, and he told them about Chrissy's death and that he swore he wasn't lying, and strangely fuckin' enough, they believed him. For some reason, they believed him.
Chrissy's freaky supernatural murder reminded him of shit he'd long tried to forget, and now those memories were all shoved to the surface and all he could see around him were the blood of his siblings in their hospital gowns, limbs twisted and mangled and red dripping from their eye sockets.
Well, siblings in a relative sense. None of them were his blood siblings, of course. Just a bunch of kids that their Papa had grown in his freaky little prison-lab because their mothers were part of some experiment.
After Eddie had escaped that blood-infested night and Uncle Wayne found him hunting for food in the woods to survive, heavily concussed and confused and a little bit hysteric, he was taken in and Eddie spent the next couple years obsessively researching Papa and Project MKUltra, looking for any possible chance of other survivors even though he'd wandered those white halls and saw them all mangled and dead.
Now here sat Dustin Henderson telling him about this Upside Down shit and their friend with superpowers named Eleven, and Eddie, after many years of having zero hope, finally allowed himself to cry in some semblance of joy. Relief. He wasn't exactly sure what he was feeling, but Eleven lived and that was all that mattered.
He fiddled with the watch on his wrist that covered his tiny 010 tattoo, and he looked up at Dustin and the rest of the weirdos who tracked him down with nervous eyes.
"Hey, uh, Eleven, is she..." he sighed shakily. Took his watch off. "Where is she?"
Dustin gave him a weird look but answered anyway. "The government relocated her and a few others to California so she'd be far from Hawkins and all this stuff after she lost her powers. For protection."
"She lost her powers?" Eddie's eyes widened. "How?"
Harrington shrugged. "Overused them or something against this big gooey blob monster the brats called the Mind Flayer."
Dustin waved an arm behind him at Harrington dismissively. "Don't mind him, he doesn't understand DnD references. But, essentially, yes, that. Why?"
"Did she—Did she have a tattoo on her arm? The numbers 0-1-1."
Red narrowed her eyes. "How do you know that? What does this have to do with this Vecna creep who killed Chrissy?"
"It—Nevermind," Eddie shook his head, letting his hair fall to cover his eyes. "It doesn't, you're right."
"No, no, wait," Dustin put a hand on his arm. "Eddie, you can trust us. How do you know that about El?"
"El," he smiled. "That's cute. 'Course she got a longer number she could get an adorable lil' nickname from."
The others stared at him weirdly.
Eddie cleared his throat awkwardly. "Do any of you like, have anything of hers?"
"Creepy," Band Lesbian wrinkled her nose. "She moved to California, so no."
Red looked suspiciously at Eddie. Protectively. He respected it. "I have a key-chain she got me when shopping together at Starcourt. I won't give it to you until you tell us why."
Eddie sighed through his nose and refused to look at any of them as he offered his arm out to Dustin. "...Her tattoo look like that?"
"...Holy shit," Dustin breathed. "0-1-0. Ten. You're—"
"Yep," Eddie chuckled sadly. "God, I haven't seen Eleven in... about six or seven years, I think? I don't know, I lost count. Thought she was dead like all the others. Figured I was the only one left alive."
"What happened to the others?" Harrington asked, genuinely curious from what Eddie could tell.
Eddie shook his head. "I don't—Uh, I don't really like to talk about it. Haven't thought about it in years, actually. Repressed that shit so hard I thought the memories were gone for good. 'Til Chrissy, I guess. It was... so similar. I mean, I didn't witness the others' deaths, but I saw the aftermath. All broken, blood from the eyes. Just like her. Scared the living shit out of me."
A small piece of metal was slapped into Eddie's hand. Red was giving him the key-chain.
He hadn't used his powers in many, many years, but almost like second nature, he could feel tiny traces of his little sister's signature on the item. It felt familiar, warm, and he almost felt like crying again.
Instead, he smiled and rubbed his thumb across it softly, chuckling emotionally. His voice cracked when he unconsciously spoke, but no one called him out on it when he whispered to himself, "Hey, little sister."
Eddie tearily looked up at Dustin. "What's she like? How has she been? Is she doing okay?"
Dustin smiled softly at him and held his free hand. "El's a total badass, for one. You'd be so proud, man. We found her wandering the woods in the rain in this Benny's Burgers t-shirt that was absolutely enormous on her. She helped us find our friend Will when he went missing and he was taken to the Upside Down. She kinda went missing too for a bit but she came back eventually, Chief Hopper was actually hiding her at his cabin so no one from Hawkins Lab would find her again. Last year she totally went ham on the Mind Flayer and kicked ass. She lives with Will and his mom and brother now."
"Wow..." Eddie grinned, shaking his head. He was way too emotional around these weirdos and he didn't like it, but whatever. At least they were on his side. "Little Eleven's all grown up now. She was always so small, disconnected from a lot of us. Spent more time with Peter than any of the rest of us, which makes sense because Two was a fuckin' bully and everyone thought the sun shone out his ass, but she used to—Ah, shit, sorry. I'm getting all reminiscent and shit."
"Do you think... you could contact El?" Red asked, eyebrows raised and arms crossed uncomfortably. Fair enough, Eddie guessed. She didn't know him very well and here he was getting all sappy over his long-lost-not-dead-kinda-sister. "Are your powers like hers?"
"I don't... I don't know," Eddie sighed. "I haven't used my powers since I escaped the lab and Uncle Wayne took me in. I don't know if I could contact people through them, all I was ever tested on was seeing things. Brenner would sit me down and hook me up to his stupid machines and tell me to close my eyes and look for shit."
"Well," Dustin paused. "El uses sensory deprivation to find people. Blindfolds, static in the background, stuff like that. I don't know if she's ever contacted anyone besides her mom and Billy. That wasn't really contact though, it was more like she entered their minds and watched their memories."
"Henderson, I swear to God if you ask me to go get 1,500 pounds of salt, I'm never driving you anywhere ever again," Harrington piped in, and Dustin threw his arms in the air in frustration.
"I wasn't gonna ask!" he protested. "We don't even know if a sensory deprivation bath will work for Eddie like it did for El, anyway."
Eddie fiddled with the key-chain. "Probably not, I never needed my senses taken to See. But I could try the blindfold thing you said, I guess. It's been a long time, but if I use this key-chain it might be easier since it's a link to her. It has little traces of her signature on it, like I can feel that she's held it before. I don't know if she'll be able to see or hear me if I do find her, though."
"Oh, hey, you'll probably see Mike if you find her!" Dustin suddenly blurted. Eddie's eyebrows drew in, showing his confusion.
"Wheeler? Why would that little shitheel be with my sister?"
"He's in California visiting her and Will," Red filled in for him.
"And why is that."
"He and El are dating," Harrington said.
Band Lesbian nodded. "Yeah! It's actually kind of adorable, in a sickening way. You know? Like they're an adorable couple but so cute it's disgusting."
Eddie's eye twitched. "Wheeler. Is dating my sister."
"Yes," Dustin nodded.
"I'm gonna beat his ass."
Red snorted. "Please do. Oh, El, I love you so much, I missed you while you were gone for the last thirty seconds, where did you go, why did you leave my side, I can't live without you. Disgustingly codependent."
"I'm gonna beat his ass."
"No offense, Munson, but you're skin and bones."
"So is Michael goddamn Wheeler," Eddie raised his eyebrows. "Your point?"
Harrington nodded. "Fair."
"Not that I'm not all for it," Red chimed in, "but you're also like 20 and he's our age. A minor. That's a crime. Don't think you need another one of those added to your list, for real this time."
"A minor misdemeanor," Eddie waved it off. He was only joking anyway. Kinda.
Dustin clapped his hands. "So! We doing this or what? Trying to contact El to tell her what's going on here? Reunite some long-lost siblings? I think it's worth a go."
Eddie took a deep breath. "Guess we'll find out. Alright, man, let's do it."
Fifteen minutes later, Eddie sat inside the dingy, gross boat in Reefer Rick's shed with a makeshift blindfold over his eyes (a torn piece of the blue tarp laid out under his ass, totally uncomfortable and itchy but whatever works, right?). He held Little Red's key-chain in his hand, the one that Eleven had given her, hoping that it would give him a better chance at finding her if when he made it to the dark space he always went to when he used to use his powers.
They didn't have running water in the shed, or a TV to put static on, so Dustin offered his walkie and turned to a channel that played nothing but static instead. Same noise, different source.
Though he hated thinking about his so-called Papa with a fucking passion, Eddie also barely remembered how to use his powers at all, so thinking about Papa was his last resort. Trying to remember his training from years ago that he'd been suppressing for so long it was hard to think up.
Close your eyes. Don't try to force it. Let it come to you naturally.
So Eddie did. He closed his eyes, even though he had a "blindfold" over them. He breathed in deep, focusing on the sound of the static from Dustin's walkie and the faint sloshing of Lover's Lake around a short distance away. All other noises faded, and then there was darkness.
When Eddie opened his eyes, no longer hearing the sounds of the walkie or the lake, he saw darkness, and a black car.
Looks like the feds, Eddie narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Why would Eleven be with the feds?
Nonetheless, he approached the vehicle. There was a window open in the backseat, on the opposite side that Eleven sat with her arm propped against the car door, head leaning into her palm. She looked to be asleep.
Her hair was long. It looked a lot like his own, actually, only thicker. Same length, too, just about. He could see the tattoo on her arm from where her flannel sleeve had shifted down, the numbers 0-1-1 standing out against her pale skin, and Eddie felt his heart leap into his throat.
It was really her.
He really hoped that Dustin was right as he reached into the open car window, hesitating for only a moment before he laid a hand gently on her shoulder. To his surprise, it connected, and Eleven's eyebrows scrunched in her sleep.
"...Eleven?" he murmured. "Eleven, can you hear me?"
Eleven's eyes shot open and she whirled to the side, grasping Eddie's bony wrist in a tight grip instinctually. She eyed him strangely, confused, and Eddie really didn't even know what to say. He looked a lot different now than he did years ago.
"Who... are you?"
Yeah. She didn't remember.
Eddie held his hands up in a surrender motion. "Wait, wait! I swear, I'm not here to, like, hurt you or anything. I don't... Jesus, I really don't know what I'm doing."
Slowly, Eleven opened the car door on her side and got out, almost top-toeing to the side he stood on. For a moment, he was sort of stunned, because how the fuck did she get out of the car if that's where she is in real life right now? Wouldn't she have done it there too and fallen out? But then he remembered they're both in the weird mind void place, and the rules are absolutely fucking bonkers here so it was whatever. She was sleeping before, so maybe she was in a dream now because of Eddie? He didn't know, fuck.
"Look, I don't know if you remember me or not, but uh, I'm like you?"
Eleven's gaze narrowed. "You're... like me?"
Eddie nodded. "I'm from the lab. I'm... I'm your brother."
Her breath hitched, and she reached out to snatch Eddie's arm again, finally letting him lower them from their position, and she pushed up the sleeve of his jacket. The watch had been removed in the real world, so his 0-1-0 tattoo was on full display for her to see.
"Ten," she breathed. "Brother."
"Yeah," he smiled, relieved. "Yeah, little sister, it's me. Do you remember me?"
Eleven frowned. "A little bit. Vaguely. I thought... All the others...?"
His stomach dropped. "You remember that too, huh?"
She shook her head. "Flashes. Blood everywhere. But... Didn't see you."
Eddie felt tears prick at his eyes. "I wasn't in the Rainbow Room where you were. Papa took me for training, remember? All I got was a concussion from being slammed into a wall."
Her thumb rubbed over his wrist softly, like she couldn't believe he was there, and honestly? Same. Eddie really wanted to hug her, but he didn't want to make her uncomfortable.
Instead, he rose his other hand and playfully tugged a strand of her hair. "I'm digging the new look, sis. Already on your way to stealing mine, huh?"
He grinned when it brought a giggle out of her, and she launched forward to hug him. His arms wrapped around her easily, like it was something that they had been doing all their lives. He was never as close with Eleven as Eight was before she was gone, but she was his sister. His sister, whom he'd thought was dead for years now.
"God... I thought you were dead," his voice cracked and he hugged her tighter. Eleven rested her head on his chest, palms flattening on his back, and he breathed in her warmth like a drug. A hole in his heart that had been empty for years finally felt like it was starting to fill again.
"I am sorry I don't remember. I have been trying since I started seeing the flashes."
Eddie shook his head, pressing a kiss to the top of her head and rocking her back and forth where they stood. "Never apologize for that, Eleven. I'm just happy you're alive."
"How did you find me?" she asked, pulling away from their hug but keeping within an arm-length's distance.
"Your little friends, actually," he smiled. "Dustin's also my friend, goes to school with me. You know the fantasy game he plays with his little party? I lead a group at school who plays on Friday nights. Wheeler's in it, too."
"Mike?"
"Yeah, sorry," he laughed. "Little Wheeler. Your boyfriend. Which, by the way, when I see him again, I'm giving him a talking to. Brother's duty and all."
Eleven giggled again, and Eddie pulled her into another hug.
"Can't believe a little shit from my DnD club led me to finding my long-lost sister," he shook his head, grinning. "Who knew?"
"I am happy he told you," Eleven smiled into his collarbone.
Eddie's grin melted into a softer smile. "Me too, little sis. Me too. You gonna come back to Hawkins for a visit anytime soon? Maybe I can hitchhike my way to Cali, skip school for a few weeks. No one would notice anyway."
"Soon," she said. "I will be back in Hawkins soon. I am going to get my powers back and help."
"Ah, so you know, then?" he asked.
She nodded. "Yes. I will help. I need my powers first."
"Take as much time as you need, sis," Eddie said. "We'll hold down the fort here as long as we can."
"Will you come to see me again?" she lifted her head to look at him, her eyes vulnerable and open and hopeful. "I want to know you."
Eddie kissed her hair again before he ruffled it, chuckling when she halfheartedly batted at his hand. "Every day."
"Promise?"
"Promise."