#it's based on the Kas!Eddie theory

[fox-mulder-gets-pegged]

Proud to announce that instead of just writing 7 sentences, as that's how many votes the winner got, I instead wrote 20 sentences since it got 20% of the votes 💅

My demons continue to hunt me and today they took the form of a writing game tag and won!

Rule is make a 24 hour poll with your WIPs, then write one sentence for each vote the winner gets. Tagged by @fembutchboygirl

For fic references, my ao3 is Tide_Pod_Juul_03 tho not all these are on ao3 yet.

Tagging: I don't actually know rly anyone on here who writes so if u write and u see this I'm tagging you!

[hargrcves]

[arislore]

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆.˚જ⁀➴ You Take My Breath Away

this is an angst(?) blurb based off the kas!eddie theory if it were to happen in my au that i have yet to write about. peace and love. not proofread or beta read. 499 words.

This movie night was going to be the death of you.

Yeah, it was nice that Nancy invited you over, but you only said yes because you knew she would worry, and when Nancy worries, she smothers. But now you were cold, and all the blankets were in the wash. The popcorn is burnt and the candy melted into one giant ball. And, on top of all that, the VHS player wasn’t working.

“Just the TV on the side,” She said, as if it were that easy.

That was a half an hour ago. Nancy decided to start baking snacks to make up for the candy a little while after. You were kneeling in front of the TV, cursing under your breath every time something happened.

The doorbell rang. You hoped that she called for a pizza delivery, because you were not in the mood to deal with nosy neighbors.

“Can you get that?” Nancy called from the kitchen.

You stood up from your position in front of the TV, walking towards the door and opening it. You gasp, your hand flying over your mouth.

You jog up to the meeting place, counting four people instead of five.

“Max, Lucas, and Erica are in the hospital,” You tell them. “It’s bad.”

“Well, we should go then,” Steve said.

“Hold on�� where’s Eddie?” You ask Dustin, your head on a swivel. “Is he okay?”

He looks at you, letting out a soft sob.

“Dustin…” Your hands ball in and out of fists, your breath quickening. “Where is he?”

“He’s gone.”

“Wh…” You pause, your eyebrows furrowing. “How?”

He steps toward you, silent. You return the favor, eyes widening as his fingers wrap around your throat. You cough, clawing at his hand.

“Stop!” You scream, but it comes out more like a whisper.

It’s me! It’s me! I love you, stop!

You felt his skin begin to build up under your fingernails as you clawed at his hand, his wrist, his arm–anything you could grab. His head tilted to the side as his grip tightened around your throat.

“Ed–” You choked, your eyes rolling back.

He lifted you by the neck, your legs kicking wildly.

“Who was it?” Nancy called.

Your foot hit the door, sending it flying into the hall table behind it. Nancy called your name, her voice frantic. You didn’t–couldn’t answer.

The sound of feet running past you and up the stairs barely registered as he lifted you higher, walking into the house another couple steps. Tears streamed down your face, into the crevices of his fingers and your neck.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

You crumpled to the floor, gasping for air. You brushed your hands around your neck, sobbing as you stared at the lifeless body in front of you.

“What the fuck just happened?” Nancy asked, squatting down next to you and putting a hand on your shoulder.

You jumped at the contact, turning to look at her with wide eyes.

“My dead boyfriend just tried to fucking kill me.”

[kakerutori]

I keep getting asked what I’d like to see / theories for s5, so I’m listing them here!

(In blurb form because I have too many lol)

MORE. WILLEL. OR. DEATH. I’d particularly love some parallels from s1, maybe Will talking to El in the void or something? Because

Will has powers!! I’d love to see him have some kind of time/energy/electrical/celestial powers to mirror his Will the Wise persona

JOPPER WEDDING OR DEATH ALSO THIS IS A NON NEGOTIABLE DUFFERS

Robin being a BAMF and impressing Vickie or vice versa (I’m currently more sold on Robin being the BAMF because if switched that’s just Ronance. Which also. Ronance endgame please and thank you???)

Stonathan endgame or at least bonding. Can you tell that the CGI snippets made me insane

Flickergate duh

Pocketgate!!! And specifically Mike confessing to Will, Will thinking it’s too good to be true, then Mike pulling out the letter to prove it in dear desperation

Based on the “6 little nuggets” anecdote, I think Steve might unfortunately be toast because he has his dream with The Party, y’know

There will be a dragon of some sort based on Will’s painting? Maybe like Vecna, the Mind Flayer, and the demogorgons will combine into one big ugly creature to defeat? Dramatic but I have no idea

The spores might also be more lethal and infect people? Or maybe cause widespread hallucinations? They were everywhere in that finale and that cannot be healthy. Yes I know that Hopper and Dustin didn’t suffer any side effects of them in s2 but Vecna’s still alive so I think maybe they could become a new force

I believe in the Kas theory! But not for Eddie. I’m between Kas being Will, El, or Mike

I hope that Nancy doesn’t end up with anyone or it’s implied that she, Steve, and Jonathan, are happy being single for that time until they completely understand themselves and what they want

Vecna appearing in nightmares!! I’d love to see the subconscious come into play and it would serve to flesh out our main cast even more than they already are (especially Mike Wheeler and his internal gay crisis)

Jonathan, Mike, Lucas, Erica, and Murray in the Upside Down please!! They have never been that’s why, and no, I don’t count the tunnels in s2 because they didn’t flip upside down to enter those so I don’t think it was quite the Upside Down

Full and integrated Hopper-Byers family scene at the end of the season. Like them playing Monopoly or something or just existing together in the same house. Being happy. Please dear God.

Will coming out to his mom or Jonathan or Dustin or Lucas or anyone, really

EVERYBODY WANT TO RULE THE WORLD BY TEARS FOR FEARS preferably in the ending scene but anywhere would suffice and I’m not saying this just because I love this song but the lyrics literally fit so well I don’t think I’ll recover if his song isn’t in s5

A gate may exist at the library - it’s in the center of the earthquake and it’s where Will was taken in s1. I think Henry may want to destroy it because it contains so much information

I’d love a s2 parallel where Lucas talks to his dad again. Maybe about Max, maybe about all the stress, something. More sweet parent moments

Based off of the Byler fights in episodes 3 (s3) and 2 (s4), I think maybe they’ll fight again in s5e1?

And then resolve by s5e5

Wherein Heros (Bowie’s og version) will play when Mike and Will kiss

I just really really want Dustin being the lord of the demodogs. Like d’Art returns and recognizes Dustin and they help to fight against Vecna like fighting fire with fire it’d be so epic you see the vision right?

I’d love to see a return of Kali!! Either as a friend or villain recruited/controlled by Vecna it’d be pretty cool either way

Max lives. Period

[cosmos-night]

Ok. Recently I have found something strange. There is this official Stranger Things Tarot deck. I love finding some hidden meaning in those cards. And I love how many cards represent Will. That said. Recently while watching the deck on youtube I found out that some decks have one card replaced. The Hanged Man card. The original card looked like this:

But now in some decks it looks like this:

Why would they change it? I have heard complains that original deck did not include Eddie, but nowhere did they announced that they added it to deck. Was it intentional? Or are they hinting at something?

Will Byers Castle Byers Classics playlist include many songs that allude to the Rockstar lifestyle, teenage rebellion, addictions, nonconformity, rejection of school education, or even mention Lucifer = Satanism. The story of Will Byers in season 1 is somehow similar to that of Christopher Byers, Eddie Munson was based on Damien Echols. Both inspired by West Memphis Three.

Will Byers is called "Zombie Boy". In one comic he is asked by Owens if the character he draws craves for human brains. Will replies no - just their flesh. Not only is that metal as fuck but it somehow resembles vampiric cravings for blood. Eddie was compared to Vampire Kas.

Both during the death of Will and Eddie plays the same song by Moby. We have this tearful goodbye with Dustin. And just some scenes later we have this touching reunion with Will where they hug. It's like the timelines are fucked up or something...

Will being this anti drug advocate just to some time later in life becoming drug dealer himself would be so hilarious.

Lets not forget about Mike crush on Eddie... Are we to believe that Mike is not fully interested in Will now but would be in few years or on different timeline?

The new hairstyle for Will in season 5 suddenly becomes more curled? Another resemblance to Eddie...

And finally this post by Noah Schnapp hinting at certain death:

Was he hinting at Eddies death?

I know this theory is crazy but at the same time it's crazy fun. Does anyone here has the Tarot deck I've mentioned? What card do you have? The one with Will Byers or the one with Eddie?

[roxy-bat-wolf-pack]

😈Vampire Eddie/ Reader ⚡️

Readers gender is not mentioned

Oneshot

This is being posted before the release of the final season. This story is operating under the fan theory that Eddie will be brought back as vecnas right hand. Based on the D&D campaign being played in the show.

Left Unsaid

I groaned at the sound of my alarm. This had to be the fifth time I hit snooze. If only the action led to any actual sleep. Instead, I just lay and watched the flicking red letters.

9:25

How does time go by like this? I glared at the clock, remembering how Chrissy had confided in me about seeing the grandfather clock. Back then, I didn't listen. I was too blinded by the news that she had been spending one on one time with Eddie. I sighed, silently scolding myself, realizing how stupid I was for letting the jealousy get to me. I shut my eyes tight, trying not to let my mind wonder to this past year.

So many people lost so suddenly. So many things left unsaid. The guilt of it all was eating away at me. My mind flashed to what Robin told me the other day, and although I was awake, the memory felt like a fever dream.

"Steve said he saw him, that he's somehow alive, but it's all wrong. He's not like himself. Vecna has some sort of hold on him."

"That can't be true. We all saw his body. He's..." I chocked on my words. " He's gone, and I- we just have to deal with that."

She looked down solemnly, and it was strange to see her face so serious.

"Steve said," She paused as if she was trying to think of the right thing to say. "He said that Eddie is under Vecna's control. That he's been, I dont know, resericted somehow, but it's not really him? Like who he was is still dead."

I nodded. Despite my denial of it all, I trusted Steve and Robin. God knows they have saved my life more than once this past year.

"And Steve thinks it was Ed- Kas?" I corrected using Dustin's chosen name. The name from one of the characters from our campaign, "that is reporting back to Vecna. All our plans?"

The question from my memories went unanswered as I forced myself to sit upright, ripping the memory from my mind. Angrily, I grabbed the nearest pair of jeans and slipped them on. I didn't even look at the shirt I reached for from my closet before slipping it over my head. My socks slipped on the carpeted stairs down to my living room. Mom was looking in the fridge and glanced over its door at me.

"Going to Wayne's place?" She questioned. She tried to hide the worry in her voice, but it still shown through as she glanced me up and down. I paused at the entry to the kitchen, looking wide-eyed at her. It was as if an invisible barrier was up between us.

"How did you know?" I muttered stupidly, but she just smiled at me.

"Oh, um.. the foil covered casserole in the fridge." She answered casually before moving the gallon of milk in her hand to the table. She set a box of cereal next to it for my little brother. "I thought I heard you in the kitchen last night. What is it this time? Green bean? Sweet potato?"

I sighed, sneaking up behind her and slipping the tray from the fridge.

"Chicken pot pie." I answered simply.

"As a casserole?" She questioned.

"Uh yea, he needs more protein." I answered back. Before she could give me her usual retort about how what he really needed was to cook for himself, and how I shouldn't be helping someone who raised a "murderer", I slipped out the door. I heard a faint,"Be safe, honey!" and it only made me scoot across the yard to my car faster.

Wayne had wanted desperately to move, yet his finances wouldn't allow it. Especially since he put so much of his m money in trying to recover Eddie's body. Not bringing it back from the upside down had grown to be another one of my regrets. Because he couldn't move, he put a fair amount of effort into repairing the trailer. I think it helped him to pretend it was a different place.

I noticed the door had changed color since my last visit and hoped the glossy, green paint had fully dried when I knocked.

Wayne opened the door quicker than usual. I must have caught him right before he left for work. But instead of saying his usual greeting, he just stared at me. Well, perhaps not right at my face. His gaze was hard on my torso. I glanced down and immediately closed my eyes. Embarrassment and frustration ran through me. The shirt I grabbed this morning was Eddie's Slayer shirt. The bottom I had haphazardly tucked into my high waist jeans, making the letters look all crooked and cutting off the bottom of the y.

"Mr. Munson, I'm so sorry! I should've asked permission. I didn't even realize what shirt I grabbed this mo-"

"No, it's alright." He said softly, stopping my ramble. He stepped to the side. "Come on in."

I sighed before stepping inside.

"He has more shirts. Really, they're just collecting dust. You and that Henderson boy are the only ones who are interested in any of his things." He gestered to Eddie's room. "Feel free to grab more. It uh...it keeps his memory alive, you know?"

I set the casserole on the small kitchen counter. If only he knew how much of Eddie's things I had collected.

"That's ok, Mr. Munson. I actually have to go soon." Before he could respond, a noise drew our attention to the back window. Like someone was lurking just under the window sill.

"Damned kids!" He muttered under his breath before turning to me. "I would think after a year they would start leaving me alone. I guess between what happened to your friend here and Eddie. Hell, the whole towns gone to shit with that earthquake."

"It's ok. I'll go tell them to leave this time." I started, hoping to spare him from the pain of dealing with the hecklers. He simply smiled.

"Thanks for doing so much to help me. Does my heart good to know Eddie had such good friends."

I gave him a sidehug before leaving.

The door closed behind me, and I looked down at my trembling hands. A small green smear of paint covered my knuckles.

I took a deep breath and circled the property. No one was there, but they couldn't have gotten far.

I looked around and saw out of the corner of my eye the faintest movement in the tree line. I hesitantly stepped across the tall grass that lined the woods.

"Hey, leave him alone. I don't care who you are. He doesn't deserve to be stalked like that."

Nobody answered. I stepped deeper into the forest, the mobile homes behind me growing smaller.

"Hey! You heard me? No ghost! No portal to Hell! No murderers! You got that?"

As my voice died down , I realized just how quiet it was. My heart quickened. It was as if some kind of natural instinct was taking over me , and it screamed through my veins to run. A twig snapped behind me, and I whipped around to see him.

It was him, yet at the same time, it wasn't.

Eddie stood there, his clothes ragged and torn. He looked wrong with his signature vest missing. Despite his ragged clothing, he looked...healthy? When Steve said he saw him, that he was brought back from the dead, I had pictured a reanimated corpse. Thin, pale, fangs. His face had color, his hair was just as big, he stood just as tall.

The only indication that something was wrong was his eyes. They were dead, glazed over, somehow looking at me and not at the same time. I was hit in the chest with pain at the memory of his smile. The way his eyes crinkled at the ends. We had just been staring at each other, neither speaking.

"Eddie?" I tried my voice, and it wasn't as strong as I had hopped. He said nothing.

"Eddie, do you remember me?"

Some faint memory of Steve's warning lingered in the back of my mind. He's dangerous now. Was everything I was saying just going back to Vecna? I saw him look down at my shirt. His shirt. He inhaled deeply, as if he could smell his own scent on it, as if he was searching for something.

"Yea, it's yours," I answered the question he didn't ask.

"Dustin and I went through your things, you know, to help your uncle out. Some of it was too precious to put in a box."

He stared back up to me, and as our eyes locked. My body screamed at me. My legs begging me to let them move, let them take me far from here.

"I've been helping him. He's a mess. We all are."

The words felt stupid. I had so much to tell him. My mind swimming with words, struggling between them to form a sentence.

I miss you

RUN

I'm sorry

RUN

it should have been me

RUN

"I love you!"

The words came out without me realizing. Fast and dangerous. His eyes stayed locked on mine, somehow more intense, while still remaining empty. The words started to spill out of me like vomit.

"I've loved you for a long time, and I regret not telling you before. God, I don't even know if you can hear me. I know, I know you liked Chrissy, that's fine. I just needed you to know how I felt. It's been eating me up insi-"

My words stopped abruptly as he was suddenly in my face. In the span of a blink, he went from two yards away to almost nose to nose with me.

He inhaled deeply, and I wasn't sure if it was a threat or not. His head dipped down, almost as if he was leaning in for a kiss, but my body shouted DANGER. Then he passed my lips and moved to my neck.

This was it. He was going to kill me. My mind, body, and soul could end up anywhere, and I had thrown it all away to confess to a boy who was dead, who couldn't hear me. I closed my eyes shut and waited for pain. Instead, he inhaled deeply again.

His body relaxed. The tension I didn't realize he was holding floated off his body like steam. His eyes were suddenly back to mine, face to face, but this time they were alive. They were Eddie's eyes.

"You love me?" He questioned. His voice was weak. As if it hadn't been used in a year.

If it wasn't for the wetness of my cheeks, I wouldn't have realized I was crying. One of his hands came up slowly, as if his own body was fighting the motion, and he brushed the tears from my cheeks.

He tried to speak again. "I...lo..v"

And then he was gone. My brain hardly possessed the sudden absence of him. So fast, his voice still lingered in the air. His smell, holding me in place. I fell to my knees. My body shaking, adrenaline rushing through me.

I wasn't sure how long I had been laying there when Dustin found me.

"Dude, are you ok? Steve, over here!"

I barely heard footsteps shuffling through the leaves on the forest floor.

" Dude, everyone's been looking for you." Someone's voice said as I was lifted from the ground.

I faintly realized they were taking me to Wayne's house. Part of me registered that he wasn't home. Dustin must have used the key he took months ago. They sat me on the couch and threw a coat around me to try and warm me. I hadn't realized I was cold.

"I saw him." I mumbled

"What?" Steve asked, leaning closer to hear as he rubbed my arms, trying to warm me.

"I saw him." I said again, no louder than before.

"Saw who?" He asked, growing frustrated.

Dustin looked at me, eyes widening, in realization.

"You saw Eddie?" It wasn't a question, at least not one that needed a response.

They suddenly stopped trying to warm me, both in shock. I looked up to see the fridge across the room. It was decorated with Eddie's band practice schedule, Metallica, and Dio magnets, but right in the center was a photo.

Hellfire club. The whole group smiling. Eddie and I stood there, his arm around my shoulders. I had always seen it as friendly, but now as my mind raced I wondered if their was more to his actions, more to his touch, more to driving me home late after D&D, more to inviting me to his band practice, more to his weak voice trying so desperately to tell me something,

"I lo-v-" the sound of it replaying in my mind.

I looked to Dustin and put all the determination I had into my voice.

"We are going to save him."

That was a promise.

✨️Authors note✨️: Hey loves, thanks for reading! I just want to say that I take requests🦇

[steddieunderdogfics]

Imma ask you a dumb question— what’s kas eddie mean. I see it everywhere but have no idea

Hi! This isn't a dumb question at all!!

After the unfortuante ending our dear Eddie Munson received in Season 4, Volume 2, among the fix-it fics in the early days of the steddie fics, the Kas Theory developed. Now I don't play D&D nor do I read Kas fics very often, so bear with me on this.

The Kas Theory is based on the D&D character, Kas the Betrayer. Kas started as a general to Vecna, one of his trusted soldiers due to his bloodlust. Kas fought on Vecna's behalf, until he was propositioned by another character to betray Vecna. To add to this, Kas the Betrayer is considered the first Vampire. I'm not entirely sure how the vampire curse comes into play, but I believe it's a consequence of his betrayal -- his bloodthirst was turned into something literal.

Considering Vecna's the big bad of Season 4, the Kas Theory is something that some fans started to develop to cope with Eddie's death. The theory is: Eddie's death by demobats is going to turn him into a vampire creature. Adding in the hive-mind of all Upside Down creatures, Eddie (or Kas at this point) would be fully under Vecna's control. In the next season, the Party would have to fight Kas (Eddie) in order to defeat Vecna for good. In doing so, they would try to appeal to Eddie's human side and their connection with him would break through the hive-mind. With Eddie on their side, fully betraying Vecna, they'll be able to defeat the Upside Down for good.

Kas!Eddie fics don't always go into detail about the battles with Vecna and the Upside Down. Mostly, it's Eddie coming back from the Upside Down wrong. Sometimes he's just a vampire and others he's a creature, almost unrecognizable from the Eddie they all knew and loved.

It's a really fun theory to explore for potential Season 5 ideas or a way to bring Eddie back from death without rewriting or avoiding the last episode of Season 4.

I hope that helps! And please, Kas fans, forgive me if this isn't 100% correct!

Thanks for asking!!

[henrysglock]

Hi! So I've been away from st fandom since around mid season 3, and I've been getting really into creelarke! I was going through your blog to catch up on what I've missed, and saw your post about how creelson is an instant softblock, and after looking up what the ship was, I don't really understand why?/gen

It looks like a goofy crack ship steming from kas!eddie theories and memes, not really a very serious ship. I think i missed whatever is problematic about it/ the shippers.

I really don't want to start any shipping drama, but just am really confused and feel like I'm unaware of something/I'm missing something from the tags

Sorry if you're uncomfortable and don't want to answer this, no pressure

Yeah okay for sure I can explain!

Creelson is an instant softblock based on ages alone. As of ST4, Eddie's either 17 or 19 depending on your source, and Henry/Edward/One is 39 or 42, again depending on your source. There's also the version that ships Victor Creel with Wayne Munson, even though Wayne talks about being a kid when the Creel murders happened, i.e. when Victor was 35 or 40 (once again depending on the source).

Either way...the ages in both versions make me massively uncomfortable.

I can get with Creelson along the lines of Alan and Henry, since they went to school together/they were in the school play together, and Alan gives me major fruit vibes. I can get with that, if it's done well and stays in character.

There's also the fact that, on a more personal-opinion basis...a lot of Creelson Henry stuff gets his characterization way wrong. Like...intolerably wrong, imho. It's grating to me, and I don't want it on my dashboard. I'm a stickler for characterization, it's make-or-break for me when it comes to any ship.

[alatariel-gildaen]

📌☕️🗑 :) <3

📌If all your fics/WIPs fell off a ship and were drowning (go with it), and you could only save one, which would it be?

Oh god that's harsh. Really, really harsh. Maybe The Colour of Heartbreak, because it's the only fic I've written that's over 100K words, although it's also one I've just never been able to write the final chapter to. I know what has to happen. I'm just not sure how. I know some people can knock out fics of that length overnight, but I'm not one of those people, so getting anything of that length, I'm really proud of!

☕️ Do you drink anything when you write? Coffee, tea, alcohol, etc?

Nothing specific - just what I fancy, when I fancy. I drink a hecking lot of sparkling water (I don't get the hate for it, I love it!) but also I'm English and my blood is made up of 90% tea.

If I've got a glass of wine, you can almost guarantee I'm writing smut though

🗑 What is one fic idea that you loved at first but then scrapped?

So, so many.

I made a damn good start on a Stranger Things Eddie fic, based on the theory that he might come back as Kas, but it just slowly got abandoned. I hate thinking any of my fics are scrapped forever, though. I try to remain optimistic that one day they'll be finished!

Thank you for the ask!

[joe-moi]

Before the whole Noah thing i thought, if they'd kill someone, it'd be Jonathan so Steve and Nancy would be endgame (based on what we saw in s4, at least). Now I'm not so sure how that's going to pan out. As for Eddie, if the kas theory isn't happening, I suspect we might get a vision or something about him from Dustin's pov, or perhaps a fleeting mention of him in dialogue/voiceover/written in an article at the very end, proving his innocence and how the so called 'town freak' sacrificed himself to save everyone who hated him.

maybe? I thought oh yes of course jq will come back! But now with the FF thing in January….im a bit like oh maybe not….

[sketchy-scribs-n-doods]

“Charm Person”

“Charm Person,” Eddie breathes the words like a curse, a tragedy, a salvation he dreads.

“‘The creature affected by this spell will regard the caster as a trusted friend and ally to be heeded and protected. The spell does not enable the caster to control the charmed creature as if it were an automaton, but any word or action from the caster will be viewed in a favorable way.’” Eddie says, his voice rough with the weight of concept he is painfully assembling for them, the cadence making obvious the fact that these were words he had memorized.

“It makes sense. It- He- I wasn’t led by a string like a leashed dog or some fucking limp marionette. I could think. I could feel. I wanted. It took everything that made me, me, and twisted it to suit its goals. I could strategize. I could choose what I wanted to do–  and what I wanted to do was serve him. I wanted to protect him. I wanted to kill you.” 

[ariiamgoblin]

Fanart of Steddie based on the Kas!theory. I love the idea of Eddie turning into some kind of vampire, there are so many possibilities…And to think that Steve goes back to look for him and…he doesn't find what he expected…

[morwap]

𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐌𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐇. 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐇, 𝐁𝐎𝐘

➸ vampire!eddie munson x fem!reader

➸ STRANGER THINGS S4 V1&2 SPOILERS

➸ smut, angst | A/N: i don’t know much about dnd or kas, but this is based off kas theory BUT do not come at me for not getting the kas shit right or whatever bc this is my own version and y’all are gonna get what you get and DONT throw a fit😋🫶 also vecna earthquake has happened but the upside down is slowly leaking into hawkins its not rapid like the end of season 4 anyways hot horny vamp!eddie

➸ nav • e.m m.list

dom!eddie, sub!reader, p in v, “character death”, depression, blood/blood sucking, biting (eddie cant turn you bc i said so), oral f! & m!receiving , praise, pain kink,, “cunt”, pet names, choking, creampie

♡ ───────✧ 𓆩♡𓆪 ✧─────── ♡

four months, four fucking months of sleeping with eddies extra hellfire shirt and wearing his pick necklace constantly.

hawkins school had simply passed everyone, you graduated officially without eddie and without a celebration since everyone was helping gather things and rebuild things from the earthquake. just the piece of paper that meant fucking nothing to you while you knew this was what eddie was working so hard for, all this year, wanting to graduate with you, by your side.

you couldnt even look in wayne’s direction at first, knowing he loved eddie just as much then you figured it was better to comfort him and honestly you were surprised when you went to talk to him and all he did was hug you, squeezing the breath out of you and sobbing into your shoulder. you heard him mumbled that he had some things he wanted you to have.

at this point your tears had ran out, feeling like you couldn’t cry anymore and it was just numb. not bothering to get out of bed or even answer the phone when steve, nancy or dustin tried to call, the only thing you could do was close your eyes and replay that terrible day.

the way eddie kissed your forehead before ushering you up the makeshift rope before cutting it, the way you and dustin both screamed for him to not do this. tears streaming down your face as you watched him run out the trailer. your shoulder still gets some pain from you landed on the ground without the crash pad, chasing after him with dustin close behind. both of you screaming eddies name then seeing the swarm of demobats.

chest burning and shoulder in pain as you ran as fast as you could to him, seeing the demobats fall to the ground and not even knowing what happened for them to do that unless they had gotten to vecna but that couldnt even cross your mind at that point. literally no one crossed your mind other than eddie.

getting onto the ground immediately, scuffing up your knees as you did so. dustin was at your side almost immediately. crying and trying to get eddie’s head in your lap without hurting him.

the rest was a blur, you remembered him talking and you responding while it felt like your hearing had gone muffled.

you remembered having to leave him there, dustin tell you that you both needed to go and that they did it but something else happened, something bad. dustin basically had to drag you to the trailer to leave and regroup with steve, nancy and robin.

steve tried to comfort you but nancy had stopped him, shaking her head ‘no’ and telling him to try later.

you forced yourself to help gather things for the things they were doing for people that need help from the earthquake. knowing if eddie was here he would want to help and would want you to help.

when steve saw you dropping things off he asked you to follow him to his car, needing to give you something.

almost breaking down in tears as he got out eddies vest from his trunk, giving it to you and hugging you.

since then you’ve barely left the house, either sleeping all day and night or staying up all hours and fighting sleep since sometimes you’d dream of him. sitting in the shower for hours until your mom was knocking at the door and asking “are you okay in there?” and still denying phone calls. you havent even seen max at the hospital yet, which made you upset and curse yourself for being a bad friends but it was dreadful to even think about leaving your house.

-

you moved around in your bed, flipping from one side to the other. you had been trying to sleep for hours now, finding yourself not tired at all once your head hit your pillow. it was well past 12 am and your mother had gone to your aunts house to help her do somethings which left you alone in the house.

something felt off, knowing no one was in the house but you still felt like you were being watched. you clicked on your lamp before sitting up in your bed, pulling the blanket off you and putting your feet on the cold hard wood.

shivering as you looked around your room, expecting something to be there but, it was empty. getting up and heading out if your room, going all the way down to your kitchen slowly.

you took a look around, the feeling of being watched never left you—if anything it felt like it was getting more intense. you grabbed a yogurt out of the fridge and a spoon and sat at your dinning table.

eating the yogurt quickly, wanting to be back up in your room as fast as you could and be surrounded by the comfort of your blanket and probably now cold sheets. you tossed the empty yogurt cup into the trash by the back door, taking a peek through the thin curtain that dangled in front of the small square window.

almost expecting something to be looking back at you or at least just something be there but, there was nothing, just pitch black and a lonely street light that flickered like crazy and barely casted any light. sniffling as you moved the curtain back to how it was before and tossing the spoon into the sink, cringing the loud clinking it made against the side of the sink and a glass cup.

you went back to the door and made sure the door was locked, thankfully it was and then going to the front door and checking it as well.

a little squeak came from upstairs, furrowing your brows, you had never thought of the windows or maybe it was just the house settling and if anything it would be dustin or steve and robin just checking up on you or something…right?

calming yourself down and starting to walk up the stairs, you didn’t hear any talking if it was steve and robin so you ruled out the noise being your friends because even dustin would talk to himself if it was him.

your nerves settled when you saw no one in your room, and you came to the conclusion that it was most likely the house settling. getting back into bed and pulling your blanket over you, it was colder than you remember.

you turned and took in a shaky breath, your window was open, fully open and the curtains you had were blowing in the wind. shooting up in your bed and scrambling to your window to shut it.

slamming it down and moving the lock, hearing another noise as you laid back down and pulled your blanket over your head. squeezing your eyes shut as you heard another noise, now it dawned on you that if something did come in you had shut and locked and exit point.

feeling the mattress dip next to you, hoping whatever it was would just go away. a hand pressed against your thigh.

“i didn’t mean to scare you princess”

your breathing stopped, it sounded like eddie. exactly like eddie.

the blanket was slowly being taken off you, you forced yourself to open your eyes and look at whatever was speaking to you.

it was eddie but something was off.

your lamp gave a decent amount of light, enough that you could see him. your eyes looking into his, his brown eyes now had a red tint to them and his skin was more pale.

“eddie?” you asked in a choked whisper.

eddie’s red stained lips curved into a smile, you looked at his teeth and furrowed your brows. were those fangs?

“the one and only” eddie quipped, he watched as your eyes became glossy.

you wrapped your arms around him quickly making him gasp a bit from the sudden movements. your face in his neck and hands fisting his leather jacket.

“m’sorry! m’so sorry, i didn’t wanna leave you there” you cried, gripping onto him tighter as his hand came to rub your back and he hushed you in soft voice.

eddie took in your scent, god you smelled good. it was overwhelming and made him go fuzzy.

“don’t worry about it sweetheart, all that matters is that i’m right here” eddie whispered, pulling you from him and taking his thumbs and wiping the tears from your cheeks and under eyes.

eddie brought his lips to yours, a soft kiss at first but quickly turning rough, your arms wrapped around his neck as his tongue slipped into your mouth. his body pushing your back down to your mattress and moving between your thighs.

“i missed you so much baby” eddie mumbled into the kiss, you whined against him as if saying you missed him too.

you gripped at his leather jacket, trying to push it off him and eddie helped take it off. tossing it onto your bedroom floor, you noticed his shirt wasn’t his hellfire shirt instead it was just a black tshirt.

your hands went to his hair, you could feel him grow hard against you. eddie lifted up, yanking off his tshirt and tossing it beside his jacket, your eyes locked on the faded scars on his sides. eddie leaned back down and kissing you softly before moving down to your chest.

kissing your skin and moving down lower and lower, lifting your shirt so he could kiss down your stomach. you left a bit embarrassed that you were horny just when your boyfriend comes and you should be doing something wholesome and probably crying more but eddie seemed like he wanted this just as much as you did.

you grabbed the hem of your shirt and pulled it up and over your head, eddie was already at the elastic of your shorts.

“eddie i want you-” you whined, sitting up on your elbows and looking down at him.

“and you’ll get me, i’m gonna taste you first. its been too long” eddie said sternly, cutting off your whining. he looked up at you and you couldn’t help but wonder about the red eyes.

the red eyes, pale and fucking fangs…god you would sound fucking crazy if you said it out loud, actually maybe you wouldn’t just four months ago you were in a different dimension fighting a demobats and vecna and hearing all the stories about some girl eleven and robin, steve, dustin and erica’s starcourt shit so maybe a vampire wasn’t something too out of the ordinary.

your shorts were being slipped off of you, along with your panties. his lips on your inner thigh, leaving sloppy kisses along your thigh.

“this might hurt a little bit” eddie muttered against your thigh. you bit your lip and took a deep breath, this wasn’t the first time you two had done things with pain involved but you were a little nervous.

you felt his teeth against your skin, feeling fangs start to puncture your skin. your hands fisted your sheets and your eyes squeezed shut. a soft moan slipped from your lips.

eddie let go of your thigh, licking the blood that leaked form the puncture wounds and humming in delight.

“tastes so fuckin’ good” eddie groaned, moving to your other thigh and biting again. you let out a whimper and your hand moved to his hair.

it felt good in a odd way. you hummed as he licked up the mess he was making and a gasp came as his tongue went from your thigh to your cunt.

eddie licked a stripe up your cunt before pushing tongue through your folds, one of his hand moving up to your boob.

his tongue lapping at your clit, you fought the urge to close your legs around his head.

“just like that eds” you mewled, back arching as he sucked and licked your clit. eddies fingers played with your nipple.

it was embarrassing how close you were already, but not having him or even masturbating was too blame.

“m’gonna cum, m’gonna fucking cum eddie” you moaned loudly, your legs closing around his head. your cunt clenching around nothing and you rocked your hips on his face. hearing him hum as he continued what he was doing.

your mouth stayed agape as you came, gripping his hair and trying to get him closer. moans fell from you as your rode out your high.

“off, off, its your turn” you panted, looking down at him as a he wiped his mouth the back of his hand. you pushed yourself up as he got up and off your bed.

eddie started unbuckling his belt and unzipping his pants and getting them off as fast as he can, your lips went to his neck, sucking on his skin hoping to leave as many marks as you could.

you kissed down his body till you got to his cock, taking his shaft in your hand as you licking up to his tip.

“oh fuck, it has been too long, no wonder you came so fast” eddie teased, you smacked his thigh with your free hand causing eddie to laugh.

wrapping your lips around his tip and moving your tongue on him, hollowing your cheeks and sucking on his tip before taking him all the way in your mouth.

hearing eddie groan, his head going back as his hand went to the back of your head.

moving your mouth up and down on his cock, taking him to the back of your throat and fighting the urge to gag.

fuck you missed his cock in your mouth, your cunt was getting wetter and wetter by the second and you were waiting for him to start fucking your throat.

it was almost like he started reading your mind because, his hand held your head still and he started to thrust into your mouth. the tip of his cock hitting the back of your throat over and over.

you looked up at him and he moaned loudly, cussing under his breath. you breathed through your nose and let him fuck your mouth.

“doin’ so fucking good f’me baby, so proud of you” eddie praised, spit dripped down your chin as you hummed around his cock.

“just breath baby, almost there then im gonna fill your fucking cunt” eddie said in a breathy moan, feeling eddies cock throb in your mouth. you moved your hand to his balls, massaging them and letting your eyes close.

after a few minutes eddie stilled, his cock down your throat as you breathed and waited for his cum to shoot down.

cumming into your mouth as his thighs tensed, you swallowed around him and opened your eyes to look up at him.

eddie’s hair was messy, bangs sticking to his forehead. he pulled his cock out of your mouth, his thumb wiping spit from your chin.

“perfect fucking cock sucker” eddie whispered, grabbing your jaw and bringing his mouth to yours.

your thighs we’re sore and you whimpered into the kiss, eddie guided you to lay down and he hovered over you. you wrapped your legs around his waist and winced at the contact on the wounds.

eddie’s hard on pressed against your stomach, “please eddie” you begged in the kiss.

eddie broke the kiss and leaned back, “only because you asked so nicely” he teased. eddie slid himself between your folds, making sure to graze your clit over and over before bringing his tip to your entrance.

you moaned as he pushed into you, stretching you out just like you remembered. eddie was moaning too, relishing in how you clenched around him.

“fuck, you’re so tight” eddie mewled, finally all the way inside you and watching you squirm underneath him.

eddie’s head rested in the crook of your neck as he started to thrust in and out of you, making sure to brush against your clit with his pubic bone. your nails dug into his back, clawing it up without any thought.

you felt eddie’s fangs brush against your neck, feeling his tongue lick where he was about to bite as you prepared yourself for the pain that was about to come.

a squeak came from you, your nails digging deeper into his skin and cunt squeezing him cock as he bit into your neck, hearing him moan as his fangs were in your neck. eddie’s pace never slowed, it was actually gradually getting faster.

“you feel so good” you whimpered, eddie let go of your neck, licking up the blood that poured out.

eddie’s hand grabbed your throat, squeezing a bit as you moaned loudly. eddie was panting loudly.

“i love you” you choked out, one hand leaving his back to grip his wrist. your cunt clenched around him, spasming as you got closer and closer to your climax.

“i love you so much” eddie groaned, feeling that you were close.

“cum- i know you’re close, fucking cum for me” eddie ordered, his hips hitting harshly against you. your eyes squeezed shut as you focused on cumming.

your legs tightened around his waist and your mouth made an o shape, your brows furrowing together as you came around his cock, ragged breaths and moans coming from you as he continued to pound your cunt.

eddie’s hand still around your throat tightening as your orgasm triggered his, your cunt squeezing him so tight it made it hard to keep thrusting.

his cum painting your walls, after a few thrusts, his hand easing around your neck as you took in deep breaths.

both of you panting and resting against each other. you rubbed his back trying to ease the scratches, if he could even feel them.

eddie pulled out of you and got up, he grabbed his shirt and came back to clean you up. you smiled at him.

after you both were cleaned up enough eddie threw his shirt back to the ground and crawled in bed with you.

eddie laid on his back and pulled you to him, snuggling into his side and holding him tight. you weren’t gonna let him go anywhere.

“i missed you so much” you mumbled into his side, closing your eyes and tangling your legs with his. eddie’s finger was drawing shapes on your skin, he smiled and mumbled “i know, i missed you too..”

[ssadiemariesworld]

After Dark

after dark pt. 1, after dark pt. 2 

Summary: You thought your boyfriend Eddie Munson died and you even saw him die with your own two eyes, but was he actually dead? 

Pairing: vampire!Eddie Munson x fem!reader

word count: 2.6k words :) 

warnings: death, blood, fluff, mental health issues, dealing with loss, and vamp shit OBVIOUS SPOLIERS FOR VOL. 2 ( I would say this is pretty dark )

A/N: This is loosely based on the theory that Eddie is Kas and died and became a vampire and made his way back to Hawkins. Decided to take my creative take on it! So I hope you enjoy and let me know if you want a part 2! :) 

Watching Eddie die in your arms that night in the upside down never felt right with you. After the amazing show he put on to distract the demo bats he still went out his trailer door to keep the demobats off Steve, Robin and Nancy, and he paid the ultimate price for it. Dustin and you were already on the other side of the gate in the ceiling when he decided to give you a grim look like he knew he might not make it out of it. 

“I love you Y/N, remember that.” Eddie said before cutting the sheet and grabbing his spiked trash can shield and makeshift spear confidently strutting out of view.

“Dustin! We need a new sheet or rope or something! we need to get back there!” You shouted words just spewing out your mouth with the worst feeling in your stomach as you started to freak out numerous scenarios popping into your head as each minute felt like an eternity as Dustin constructed another way to get into the gate. 

The world painfully spun around you knocking the air our of your lungs and making you shake with fear. Your heart racing like crazy as you paced back and forth in Eddie’s living room littered with his uncles collection of hats. Flashes of you and Eddie’s years together replayed in your mind. All the late night drives, cherry slushie runs, his live shows with his band, the way he smelled like weed and cheap cologne, the way he kissed your forehead, how he never let you leave mad no matter what, how you guys would get high in the back of his van, and how he taught you DND so well you even beat him at it and how he was so proud of you when you did. You even remember how proudly he shouted “that’s my girl” after and everyone staring at you as you blushed.

“Y/N as much as I’m freaking out you need to calm down and breathe or else you’re gonna explode.” Dustin shouted breaking you out of your anxiety induced daze in a mildly panicked voice. 

“How can I not panic when my boyfriend is about to sacrifice himself? He couldn’t possibly take on hundreds of demobats, we couldn’t even do it with three people let alone just himself. I can’t lose him Dustin, I can’t.” You winced as the thought crossed your mind of him being torn apart by those stupid ass hellbats gnawing on his flesh as he screamed in unimaginable pain. 

“Y/N! He knew that risk and he took it, all we can do now is try to get back through that gate and I promise you even if I have to throw you up and through. we will get him back” Dustin stern and serious assured you with a calm tone which made you feel slightly better, but nothing could truly make you forget the awful feeling growing in the pit of your stomach like you just knew something wasn’t right.

Dustin finally found another way through the gate with another sheet rope and as you climbed down into the upside down you ran as quick as you could outside. Bursting through Eddie’s trailer door it’s like time was going in slow motion as you screamed seeing Eddie being brutal torn apart by the demonbats thrashing and screaming.

“EDDIE!” You screamed horrified it echoing through the upside down as you ran to his side poking and prodding any demo bat with his spear who even got close to you or him. They were pretty much done with him by that time you got there his flesh all over his chest and neck torn into and blood flooding out of his wounds.

“Eddie no no..” You sobbed tears streaming down your face uncontrollably holding him in your arms as he barely had any strength on his own.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be the hero you wanted me to be.” He said smiling choking up blood in his throat after he spoke.

“Don’t say that, you died for us, for a town that hated you..they didn’t deserve you Eddie.. You should’ve ran.” Tears continued to form in your eyes as Eddie tried to put on a brave face one more time for you smiling as you caressed his face hands soaked in his blood, but you didn’t care he was still your Eddie.

“Please take care of yourself for me and look out for Dustin and the little sheep of mine.” He breathed out coughing up some more blood as he continued, “I love you, please no matter how hard it is…hold…on for me okay.”

After that sentence his eyes started fluttering closed and the light of life slowly was fading as a tear streamed down his cheek as he held yours. With one last smile his expression faded away and he was gone. You knew it as soon as his body went limp and his hand that was once on your cheek fell to his side.

You just lost it after that gripping his lifeless body screaming and crying as you laid your head on his still chest. The pain of grief overloading your senses and whole body feeling like you just wanted to go to as you held onto his lifeless body. 

“Please don’t go..please don’t do this Eddie…I need you I-“ You chocked out inhaling and exhaling between sobs as you looked into his lifeless eyes blood covering your hands as you tried waking him back up to no avail.

“We need to go Y/N” Dustin said tears brewing in his eyes and streaming down his cheeks as he limped over to you and Eddie.

“We can’t just leave his body here!” You protested holding on to him as you looked up at him your eyes red and puffy as tears continued to stream from them.

“We lost, Max is seriously injured and gates are opening everywhere.” After hearing the horrible news and feeling the upside down tremble you knew what you had to do as you slowly let go of Eddie gently placing his body back down on the concrete as Dustin pulled you away. Looking back at him laying there you couldn’t help but feel disgusted by yourself that you left his body here out of all places and not properly like he more than deserved. You knew you would have no grave to visit cause people wouldn’t think he died a hero for that matter cause no one would believe your story about the person who everyone believed to be a “satanic fucking murderer”, but that wasn’t Eddie it never was. Eddie didn’t deserve this. He really fucking didn’t. He died a villain in Hawkins history not the person who gave them a fighting chance, but instead seen as a murderer out of all things.

As you were pulled back into Eddie’s living room the pain of his loss just hit you even harder as you ran in his room to grab whatever you could. You grabbed his stash, polaroid's of you guys, his cologne, his rings and a couple more of his shirts and even his guitar because he wouldn’t forgive you if you left his “baby” behind. You couldn’t help but want to grab more but you could see the earth cracking at the seams incinerating everything in it’s path and as much as you wished it to all end you made a promise to Eddie that you were gonna live a good life and you were more than gonna keep it. As you ran out of the trailer you noticed that Eddie’s uncle had already left which was good considering as soon as you were far enough away the whole trailer tore in half. The last place that reminded you of Eddie was gone just like him in one night.

𖤐 𖤐 𖤐 𖤐 𖤐 𖤐 𖤐 𖤐 𖤐 𖤐 𖤐 𖤐 𖤐 𖤐 𖤐 𖤐 𖤐 𖤐 𖤐 𖤐 𖤐

Two days had passed since we tried to take on Vecna and lost of course. Max is blind and in a coma plus Steve and Robin dragged you to help out at the school where people were taking shelter in after what is now called the fall of Hawkins. Gates to the Upside Down glowed and tore throughout the city and safe zones were made and everyone still looking for missing people including Eddie who they still believed was the one who sacrificed Vecna’s four victims excluding Max. Jason who blamed Eddie for all this bullshit was gone and you’d think justice was served, but it still wasn’t worth losing Eddie. Even if you would’ve had to go on the run with Eddie you would’ve rather done that then ever lose him. To be honest the thought never crossed your mind that the days with him were numbered and maybe that was a good thing because you didn’t put the pressure on everything being perfect even though it was. He was perfect. Part of you couldn’t accept that he was really dead but of course denial was one of the very first gruesome stages of grief.

“Y/N! earth to Y/N.” Steve chimed waving his hand in your face after folding a polo shirt and jeans.

“Yeah..sorry was spacing for a minute there.” You murmured realizing you were folding a Metallica shirt which immediately had Eddie popping up in your mind, but you didn’t say anything because you really didn’t want to talk about and face that grim reality that he’s really gone for good.  

“You good?” Steve asked his bushy eyebrows furrowed giving you that concerned mother of six look with his hands on his hips. 

“Yeah! yeah totally good.” You exclaimed feeling like you were putting on the best performance of your life considering you felt like you were dying on the inside. 

“Good I was just checking.” Steve responded laughing your response off still seeming a little suspicious of your state of mind but he could tell by how well you brushed it off that you probably didn’t want to talk about it. 

“So why did you break me out of my thoughts Harrington?” You mused looking over at him intently folding clothes and placing them in their respective laundry baskets. 

“Because look at Robin she’s finally making some progress with Vicki.” Steve gushed looking over at him pointing his head in the direction of Robin laughing and smothering pieces of white bread with jelly and peanut butter with Vicki giggling right along with her. 

“You’re planning their wedding as we speak aren’t you?” You joked nudging him in the shoulder making him laugh in response. 

“Maybe I am.” He said smiling proudly. 

Steve wasn’t so bad considering you guys really didn’t hang much besides when you guys were in the Upside Down fighting otherworldly beings together. He was mostly known for being the king of Hawkins High since you had gone there and also the notorious boyfriend of Nancy Wheeler, but they have since broke up. After that he kinda fell of the face of the Earth having not graduated and working at Scoops Ahoy with one of your best friends Robin who seemed to begin hanging with Steve much more after. You would always see her working at Scoops whenever you and Eddie would have an ice cream date and it would be like you were best friends again. You understood that you both grew up and had lives and you had began hanging out and dating Eddie, but you couldn’t help but feel like Steve stole your best friend away. There was so much more to the story you would later find out, but you for sure held a little bit of a grudge. 

“You know I could get you a job at Family Video if it isn’t obliterated, if you want it. I know Robin misses hanging out with you despite having my wonderful company.” Steve sarcastically blurted out.  

“Would that mean I would have to work with you too?” You asked poking fun at him.

“Yes I would think so.” He replied looking over at you a nervous smile on his face.

“Then I’ll think about it.” You smiled shyly folding your last piece of laundry.

“Hey uh you were Munson’s girl right?” Steve asked blurting the question out as you started to walk away the ‘were’ making you wince as you turned around to answer him. If Steve was trying to make you like him more before he is defiantly not helping that idea now.

“Yes, why are you asking?” You quickly spewed out just wanting to get out of there as fast as humanly possible. 

“Here’s his vest I know if anyone he would have wanted to have it, it’d be you.” He muttered laying the folded jean vest in your arms as you blankly looked down at it trying not to burst into tears in front of him. 

“Thanks. Appreciate it Steve. See ya around.” You quickly got out not looking up at him as you turned around and started walking fast out of the gym until you felt yourself bump into someone.

“Oh Y/N there you are.” As you look up you see Eddie’s uncle standing before you tears fresh in his eyes.

“You know about Eddie?” You ask looking at him trying not to get upset but it was getting a lot harder each passing minute. And seeing the look on his face made you believe he knew what happened.

“Yeah that kind young man Dustin told me..and I sat and thought Eddie would’ve wanted you to have this more then me.” He placed something in your hand patted you on the back and walked away. 

After processing that quick encounter you slowly open your hand to see his guitar pic necklace laying there a little dried up blood on it. All that pain and grief hit you again and felt like it knocked the wind out of you. As you frantically left the school you looked up at the sky as what seemed like snow was falling, but instead of snow it was the Upside Down particles which was new. What a fucking shitshow. Of course as soon as you lose your boyfriend the town you grew up in had to go to shit too. As you drove home and thought hard about the fuckery that is your life blasting music all while holding in the emotions you’ve been holding in for these past two days making you feel like you are about to boil over. You speed walked inside your house not even caring to acknowledge your parents and going upstairs to your room. Finally after shutting the door you just broke falling to the ground as you sobbed. Clutching your arms to your chest and tears just streaming down your cheeks effortlessly but you couldn’t care less because the pain was too much to bear. The loss of Eddie having you feeling like a hole has been punched right threw you. You had to let it out.

“Why are you crying Y/N?” As you looked up from your sad little world you saw Eddie smiling at you wearing a blood stained and torn Hellfire shirt his skin paler than usual shining through with no wounds in sight. At first you thought you were seeing things so you wiped your tears and adjusted your eyes but he was still there.

“Are you a ghost?” You gulped fear gripping you and making every hair on your body stand as you saw your last time you checked VERY dead boyfriend whose body isn’t here sitting on your bed.

“I know what you are thinking and it’s not what you think.” He said shaking his hands as you stared at him with fear in your eyes. 

“How else am I suppose to think Eddie? You were dead.” You stressed running your fingers through your hair staring at him.

But I’m here. I woke up here.” Eddie explained as his eyes glinted red for a second, “Come sit down please.”

A/N: YES I left this on a cliffhanger, but let me know if you want a part two because I defiantly plan on writing one :) vampy Eddie is the only thing I’m holding onto rn. Thanks for reading! Follow for more stories I decide to write! I will have part two put somewhere on this part when its finished! 

[mamibaddie]

When The Heart Beats || Vampire!Eddie Munson x Reader

Chapter 1: The Wicked Grasp of Grief

Summary: Reader unknowingly makes a deal with the Devil.

Authors note: hey everyone! This is my first chapter for this story. I had talked about it in a post and voilà, here it is. I’m very excited about this story, it’ll have some elements from some of my favorite vampire movies like; Salem’s Lot, Dracula, and possibly The Lost Boys. I was also inspired by a certain Greek Mythology story. 👀 I was inspired by people coming up with the theory that Eddie could possibly come back as Kas in DND. However, I don’t know a thing about DND so it’s very loosely based on that. I don’t consent to my story being posting any where else or translated. Without further ado, let’s get into the story!

Warnings: Blood, violence, death, both religious and non-religious elements (same as any other vampire story) and some angst. 18+ only please!

You don’t know how long you’ve been staring at your wall. Unmoving, only being kept conscious by the shallow breaths your tears allowed you to take. You’re sitting in the middle of your room. Dawn starting to break into the sky and seep into your room through the cracks of your shades in your windowpane. You finally blink and if it weren’t for the tears, your eyes would be incredibly dry. You look down at your hands and clothes, stained with blood. His blood.

Whenever you close your eyes you can still see him. Eddie. Your Eddie. Laid on the ground, blood coming out of his mouth and tears flowing down his cheek. He was littered with bite marks and cuts from the Demobats that sunk their fangs into him. It wasn’t meant to be this way. You two were supposed to graduate together, then heading out on a road trip around the country. You can still hear him gently whispering, “I love you.” With his last breathe.

You kept shaking him, at first whispering his name. Then the whisper became a stern tone, then became a rippling scream. You refused to believe he was gone. Dustin, clearly broken and grieving, tried to pull you away. “We have to find Steve.” As if Steve had the magic potion to bring him back to life.

You’ve been on autopilot ever since. You blinked and suddenly you were in the shower. Not knowing when or how you got in. You lazily spread the bubble-soaked wash cloth over your body. You looked to the right of you to see his shampoo and body wash. Both a crisp, fresh apple scent.

The more you thought back to the previous hours, the stranger it became. After the tear rippled through the entire Upside Down, effecting Hawkins, you all made your way back to Eddie’s body; still there, still warm. “We need to bring him back up.” You said. About to lift his body up and ask Steve to grab his legs when Nancy replied. “There’s no way we’ll be able to do that. We’ll do good getting ourselves back up there.” “Well, we can’t just leave him down here like this.” Dustin croaked. You close your eyes and wipe your hands over your face. Streaks of Eddie’s blood on your forehead and cheeks. “We aren’t. Just for now, until we bring the right supplies to bring him back up there.” You couldn’t believe it. You felt so helpless. It didn’t sit right to just leave him down here. In the cold, dark, and empty nothingness. “No.” You said shaking your head. “You try to lift him up but you don’t have the strength. Your mental won’t allow you, let alone your physical. But that won’t stop you from trying. “Y/N… he’s dead weight. He’s much heavier to carry than you think…” Nancy said. She walked over to you and gently put her hand on your shoulder. “I know how you feel. We’ll make this right. As much as we can. But for now. Let’s regroup tomorrow and think of what supplies we may need.” With that you shook your head. Gently laying him back down, balling up your jacket to place underneath his head. You give him a kiss on the forehead before you go. Your very last kiss.

—————————

Eventually you all made your way back to Hawkins through the crack and that’s when you faded out only to come to staring at your wall in your room. You walked out of the bathroom and into your room. The light beginning to pour into your room. You shut your blinds and it was practically dark. It was still and quiet. Normally, Eddie would’ve spent the night. You two cuddled and snug in your bed. Either a movie like Nightmare on Elm Street or Poltergeist playing on your tv.

You couldn’t sleep. You tossed and turned but every time you closed your eyes, you just seen him. You got up and went to the door of your bed. You grew up in a religious household. Having went to church every Sunday growing up. You weren’t a particularly religious person due to what you have witnessed from people at your church and in society. Some people thought they were superior to those who didn’t think like them or act like them. It effected the way you viewed religion as a whole. However, you needed a miracle. Whether it was your grief or being in denial, you got on your knees, clasp your hands together and swallowed your pride. “…hey God…. It’s me.” You cringe. It’s been a while since your prayed and you didn’t know what to say. “I know I haven’t been in touch with you but I need a miracle. Please God….or whoever is listening….Please bring me back my Eddie, my love.” You started to break down in tears, sobbing. “I don’t… I can’t … do this without him. If you bring him back… I’ll do whatever… I’ll be devoted to you…. Just please.” You were pleading on your knees. The carpet burned into your skin. Your bones became stiff with how long you stayed in that position, wishing, hoping, praying that a higher power would hear your pleads.

You didn’t know it but someone…something…was listening, watching, lurking. In the dark abyss where souls don’t rest. A wounded but alive spell caster has heard your cries, has felt your suffering. And it’s almost at an end.

Taglist: @lunar-flwr @capmedusa @celestixldarling

[wheeler-things]

Mike Wheeler, the Hand and Eye of Vecna, and D&D as Foreshadowing

I'm about to say something unhinged.

It's going to take a fair amount of words to unpack (sorry about that) because I need to give context before I just come out and say it. And I'm fully aware that it's just one of hundreds of possible options for s5, so I'm really not trying to convince anybody of anything just... I was thinking about foreshadowing and analogies again, and something occurred to me and then it snowballed and.... hm.

Okay, so, I talked about it a lot more in this post, but the key point for what I'm talking about here is my belief that the Party's first D&D game in s1 actually foreshadows all of the main Upside Down antagonists from seasons 1-4, with the D&D Demogorgon actually representing Henry. Essentially, my breakdown came down to this:

"Something is coming. Something hungry for blood." -> s1 -> the Demogorgon. "A shadow grows on the wall behind you, swallowing you in darkness." -> s2 -> the shadow monster. "An army of troglodytes charge into the chamber!" -> s3 -> the Mind Flayer and the Flayed. "The Demogorgon!" -> s4 -> Henry Creel.

So, the remaining unaccounted for villains (assuming that the way the characters use D&D enemies as analogies is not necessarily representative of/accurate to what they actually foreshadow within the narrative) are:

Mike's Thessalhydra

Will's Juju hoard

Eddie's Vecna

I have some speculation on the first two, but it's the third that I'm going to do a deep dive into my thoughts on.

Since this is pretty long and it takes a bit of time to get through the contextualizing, let me clarify up front that this ties into the "Mike has a connection to the Upside Down" theories which I love, but which I know are not to everyone's tastes.

Who IS Vecna (in Stranger Things)?

From the campaign in s4e1, we learn:

Vecna is hiding in plain sight among his own cultists

"His skin is shrivelled. Desiccated. And [...] he is not only missing his left arm, but his left eye"

Vecna was believed to be dead/killed by Kas

An 11 isn't enough to defeat him, but a 20 is (notably, we don't actually hear what Dustin and Erica were trying to roll to do-- based on the context of the scene, we assume that it was combat-based, but it is not explicitly laid out)

Later, in s4e2, Vecna is described (in terms that the characters start to tie to the entity we later learn is Henry, in an effort to theorize about what's going on) as:

An undead creature of great power

A spellcaster

A dark wizard

Note: In the context of Eddie's description of what happened to Chrissy, the term "Vecna's curse" is brought up. This leads into the description of Vecna's characteristics listed above, but no further details (as far as I can find or remember) are given about what Vecna's curse is like in Eddie's game. Which leads me to...

Who IS Vecna (in D&D)?

Alright, I have to admit-- I've played D&D before, but my friends have a tendency to prefer MotW/PbtA-based games, and even when we HAVE done D&D, the storylines and characters have been entirely from the DM's mind/not from anything official. As a result, everything I'm about to say here is based on what Google can tell me (I'm aware others have talked about this before, but I think it gives some useful context for where I'm going to go in this analysis, if I make sure we’re all on the same page about the background D&D lore).

The main websites that I used to get information for this part can be found here, here, and here.

So! The long and short of it seems to be that in life, Vecna was a wizard who built a "terrible empire". In order to avoid death, he turned himself into a lich, and in undeath, he continued to grow his empire. He had a lieutenant named Kas, who Vecna gifted a sword to. For unknown (though the speculation does not paint him in a positive light) reasons, Kas murdered Vecna, leaving behind only Vecna's eye and left hand along with a pile of ash. However, his spirit survived the attack and he spent "eons" regaining his former power. In the meantime, his artifacts, cults, and "dark secrets" continued corrupting others/pushing them towards evil.

It may also be notable that Vecna was known to have a "formidable and hideous" temper.

And... that's the short version of everything that I could find about Vecna in D&D.

Henry Creel as Vecna

So, this is the obvious conclusion, because the characters call Henry "Vecna", which seems to have largely lead to the audience assumption that the Vecna in Eddie's campaign definitely foreshadows Henry. And I want to start out by acknowledging that I do think this is absolutely a possibility! I could 100% be wrong about the Demogorgon in Mike's campaign representing Henry, and even if I'm not, there's nothing that says there can't be two moments of foreshadowing for the same antagonist.

If Henry is Vecna, I know there are a lot of theories about who Kas is, and I'm not interested in getting too deep into the weeds on that particular debate. With that being said, I will say that when I first watched s4 I personally thought it was obvious that, if Henry was actually the person foreshadowed by Eddie's Vecna, then El was clearly Kas and had already fulfilled her part in that role?

I mean, Henry didn't have any real power in the lab so obviously El wasn't his lieutenant. But she was clearly his favourite (or, depending on how you read his character, he at least did a good job of pretending that she was his favourite). He gave her a weapon (in that he taught her to use her anger to weaponize her powers). At first she helped him with things (ie. getting Soteria out of his neck), but later she turned against him and used the "weapon" he "gave" her in order to, as far as she understood at the time, kill him (literally turned him to ash, and he appears when we see him next in the Upside Down). But, of course, he wasn't actually dead, and in line with Eddie's campaign, he came back. El tried to face him alone, but it failed/missed just like the eleven roll.

You may or may not agree with me on that, but I personally think it's the most likely scenario. I just... can't see them recreating everyone thinking Henry has been killed for a THIRD time only to bring him back AGAIN. And in my opinion, El-as-Kas (but she's already fulfilled the role) does fit very well with what we know about Vecna from Eddie's campaign/with a number of the details from D&D.

I will also concede that you could make the case that Henry was hiding in plain sight among his cultists during the time when he was interacting with baby!El (as in, he was disguised as a lab assistant, and obviously the whole Lab is dedicated to, essentially, recreating Henry's powers so that's sort of like a cult to him, I suppose), and that he is certainly, as of the present timeline in s4, something like an undead creature as well was being very powerful and functionally a dark wizard. His flesh is even shrivelled and desiccated after his time in the Upside Down.

All of which is to say, without speculating heavily about the potential events of s5, Henry does look incredibly appealing as the thing foreshadowed by Eddie's campaign.

But…

The Case for Someone Else as Vecna

There are a few main reasons why I think that Henry is a red herring as the thing Vecna was foreshadowing.

Firstly, and least compellingly (I have to mention it, but it's not evidence that stands on its own), if Mike's Demogorgon foreshadows Henry, but the Party mis-used its name for the UD's Demogorgon because it was the monster they happened to be fighting at the time, then it stands to reason that it's possible that they may have mis-used Vecna's name to apply it to Henry for the same reason-- it was the most recent/most superficially relevant enemy the Party had fought in D&D and, as such, made for a decent enough analogy to the current situation.

Secondly, just on a narrative scale, if El has already played the Kas role in the s4 flashbacks and then has also already made her failed roll in present day s4... then literally all that's left is to roll a 20 and win? It's too smooth/too easy to take up a whole season. Obviously, the writers can throw in extra drama and struggle and tension, but if we're already past the failed 11 roll, then... it can't be too intense or else the foreshadowing loses its tight 1:1 dynamic with what's happening in the plot. And “not too intense” is very rarely what people are going for when they write a finale season.

Thirdly... despite how well Henry aligns with almost all of the descriptions of Eddie's Vecna, he does not align with what I would argue are the two most emphasized descriptors (the two that Eddie puts the most passion and physicality into describing, and the two which seem to actually make it clear to the Club that the unknown cultist is Vecna). Namely: Henry very much is not missing an eye or an arm. His left arm is odd looking, but that's not because he ever lost it and had to replace it. It appears to just be part of whatever the Upside down is doing to him/turning him into (God, I hope he's turning into a Demogorgon-- I saw someone suggest that at one point and I wish I could find the post to link it here, because I think it would be the funniest and most fitting option). And Henry's eyes both look kind of odd/cloudy now, but not only does he have both of them, but the flashback to him wandering the Upside Down after El threw him in there make it explicitly clear that his injured/initially damaged eye was his right eye. It would have been just as easy, and changed nothing about the overall narrative, if they had made Henry’s left eye blind instead/to subtly align with the Vecna analogy, so the fact that they so pointedly didn’t suggests to me that, in terms of foreshadowing, Henry may not actually be Vecna at all. In fact, there is nothing at all that I can remember connecting Henry to the idea of left eyes, except that the characters call him Vecna, and Eddie's Vecna is described as being devoid of one.

Also (and this is just a small point), I do think that it's interesting that in D&D, Vecna's backstory includes him creating a dark empire, and there are a lot of theories abounding about the idea that someone in the main cast created or significantly altered the Upside Down (I've mostly seen them about Will and Mike, but I imagine there are other similar theories for other characters). Because what we know for sure is that Henry absolutely did not create it, and likely did not significantly alter it either (at least not until he met the shadow monster), I do think that it's worth noting that this is another way in which Henry's character diverges from at least the D&D version of Vecna.

Detour: How do Superpowers Work in Stranger Things?

I may or may not have driven myself mad trying to figure this out. And I also may or may not have spent a long time resigned to the idea that Kali had been retconned by s4 showing that all the other numbers seem to have basically the same powers as Henry and El (with the possible exception of El's ability to open portals into the UD-- unless Henry had this ability as well before the Mind Flayer took a chunk out of El in s3... we simply don't know yet).

I feel like I maybe heard something, at one point, that suggested that all of the kids in the lab had telekinesis and then also at least one other power. However, I can't find a source on that? Also, I don't believe there's any direct evidence of this shown in s4 (and Kali's powers outright contradict it), given that the only non-telekinetic power that we were shown by anybody but Henry and El was 010 who was able to see what others were doing in his mind (which seemed to be very similar to El's mind void abilities, if maybe a little stronger or more well-practised).

Either way, I think the evidence given in the show suggests that there are three possible ways to develop or obtain supernatural abilities in the Stranger Things universe.

Via experimentation. This was the case for El, and very likely also most of the other kids in the Lab. It also seems to have been the case for El's mother, who we see being able to flicker the lights and change the channels on her television with her mind.

Through infiltration by and/or extended exposure to the Upside Down. I'm a little more tentative on this one, because my main example of this is Will, and we all know that there are a LOT of theories about Will's abilities. And I want to stress that I cannot definitively say they're wrong. All I can say is that, as the show exists right now, one of many possible readings is that Will's abilities, such as sensing the Mind Flayer, seem to be a result of his experiences with the Upside Down. If this is accurate, then it represents a method of obtaining powers that is distinct from how El got hers. I’m not at all trying to discount the possibility that Will could have other powers that he was born with or developed due to experimentation (I love a good Will-born-with-powers theory!), I just want to consider the possibility that Will’s powers could be a result of his experiences with the Upside Down.

Being born with them/developing them spontaneously. Henry is the obvious example of this, but I also believe that Kali is another example. Her powers are completely different than those of the other numbers. Moreover, Kali was abducted when she was five, unlike El who was abducted as an infant. To me, this suggests that Kali was likely not the result of Brenner's experimentation, but rather, more similar to Henry in that she spontaneously developed powers, and Brenner took advantage of that fact. If this is the case, it would explain why Kali's powers are so different from those of everybody else that we've seen-- because it is likely that Brenner used Henry Creel as the basis upon which his experiments were developed, explaining why they largely seem to have powers very similar to Henry.

If this assessment is correct (and I cannot stress enough how speculative I am being here because this is still a huge mystery in the show itself), then I do think it's interesting that Henry (who is almost certainly going to be the main/active antagonist for the vast majority of s4, even if he doesn't turn out to be "Vecna" from Eddie's campaign in the end) represents 3/3 of these points (he was experimented on by Brenner, he has been changed by the Upside Down, and he developed his powers spontaneously), and yet, out of our protagonists, only 2/3 of those points are currently represented (El who developed her powers via experimentation, and Will who likely/possibly-- I know everyone has their own strong opinions on this developed them via exposure to the Upside Down)?

In reality, I think that if my interpretation of how getting superpowers works in this universe is accurate, then it seems to me that we will very likely have a character with powers that developed naturally to complement El and Will.

However, both for narrative reasons (it would feel too shoehorned in/too Deus ex Machina) and for fitting in with the other established characters who seem to have spontaneously developed powers reasons, it would not make sense for any of our protagonists to all of a sudden start moving things with their minds. Narratively, it would just seem like it was being added in at the last minute and, anyway, it seems like Kali developed her powers/showed clear signs of them before the age of five, and Henry developed his around the age of twelve, so it’s likely that if any of our characters were going to develop powers, it would start before their teenage years.

So, assuming we're not getting Erica (God, I wish) or Holly (...I mean, I wouldn't complain) suddenly developing powers of their own, it seems likely that if any of our characters are going to have spontaneous powers, they likely already have them/are already using them. However, I don't think any of our beloved ensemble cast would know they have powers and not share that with the class. They all want to beat the Upside Down, and El and Will have already more than shown how useful superpowers are in that effort.

And... on a narrative level, let's be real. If this is the direction things are going, the reveal of these powers/abilities cannot be a joyous occasion. It has to hurt. Because if it doesn't hurt, we're back to the Deus ex Machina issue. But if it hurts-- if the reveal causes severe conflict for the character in question and with the people around them, if it breaks them down and reveals new things about them, if the reveal feels like a loss, in the moment when it comes about, rather than a win for the cast... then it might work.

For that to happen, the repressed/extant but unknown powers have to connect to the Upside Down. They have to have had a significant hand in all the pain that our characters have gone through. Possibly via either creating the Upside Down or the shadow monster, or else through some other connection. But the connection has to be there, because the reveal needs to cause fear, pain, and conflict for the characters.

Detour Cont'd: So... Who Is It?

So... if my wild speculation above is in any way accurate, I think it's worth taking a look at our established characters to see who could have done it.

So, Henry was wandering the Upside Down from 1979 onwards, El opened her first gate in that same year, so I suspect that if any of our characters did accidentally create/influence the Upside Down it likely happened starting around this time. In '79 (dangerously assuming my math is correct), Nancy (also Jonathan and Robin) would have been 11-12, and the Party would have been 7-8, making them the primary possibilities. - I think it's fair to assume that if they're doing this, it would be a major character that we've known since s1, so that discounts Robin and Max. - Additionally, given the composition of the final shot of s4, I think it's reasonable to assume that this character would be in that final shot, because they would have a significant role to play in s5. That cuts out Lucas and Dustin as well. - I'll also say that we can cut out El and Will, since their powers are (under this specific interpretation) already accounted for. - That leaves the remaining options as: Nancy, Jonathan, and Mike. - And, I mean... Mike's the one who's in the middle of that final shot, just as much as Will is. Mike's the one who always knows weird random stuff about the Upside Down and about El's powers. Mike's the one whose plans always work out. Mike's the only one who has never managed to land a punch/at least not managed to land a punch in the A plot of a season climax. Mike's the one whose emotions are a total mystery to the audience (outside of those who engage in intense rewatching and analysis to pick it apart lol). And… Mike’s the one who’s always depicted in a trio with El and Will (I know this is love triangle imagery, but it could potentially have a double meaning). - My point being-- if all of my previous reasoning/interpreting is accurate, then Mike is the only character who makes any sense in this role.

Also, just talking about logistics here-- in order to be comprehensible to audience members who are not about to sit down and rewatch the show a million times in order to pick up on subtle clues and hints, there are a few issues that are going to require a decent amount of screen time in order to explain/develop in s5. To my mind, (outside of ship dynamics) those are:

Where is Max? Why can't El find her?

What is Will's connection to the Upside Down? Did the Demogorgon really take Will in s1? Why is Henry/the Mind Flayer so focused on him?

Why is the Upside Down stuck in time/why and how did it start looking like Hawkins?

What the hell is going on in Mike Wheeler's head?

How will everybody react to the Upside Down and its monsters now that they're bound to start becoming common knowledge around Hawkins?

How are they going to deal with the military? What is going to happen to El if her location is compromised? How will this impact the fight against Henry/the Upside Down?

What is the relationship between Henry and the shadow monster/Mind Flayer? Is it possible for the gang to kill/destroy/incapacitate both? How will they do that?

My point is, there's one question on this list that doesn't seem to be connected into the Upside Down plot in any way-- and that's point 4. The question about Mike. Because realistically speaking, Stranger Things has a Mike Wheeler-shaped problem. He's a protagonist every season, and he's literally equally sharing the centre of the screen with Will in the final shot of s4, so if we're getting a Will Byers protagonist moment in s5, I think it's safe to suggest that we're also getting a Mike Wheeler protagonist moment.

But generally speaking, people don't want a Mike Wheeler protagonist moment, because people don't like him. And obviously that's because the underlying issues that he's going through have been hidden from plain view, but, like... you don't do that for no reason. Narratively speaking, you only do that if you're amping up for a big reveal.

And, yes. Mike and Will getting together would absolutely be a massive reveal and I can fully understand why they wouldn't want to spoil it... but. To get people to care about Mike again, and to believe that he "deserves" Will, they need to devote time and narrative space to explaining Mike's emotional state, both regarding his sexuality, and regarding whatever mental health issues he's struggling with. And they could have put more of this in s4! Mike and Will had FOUR heart to hearts, discounting the van scene. They very much could have had Mike express some of his (likely) experiences with depression and/or PTSD, without having to show their hand about his sexuality/feelings for Will. Doing so would have helped the audience have more sympathy for/understanding of Mike, AND would have significantly cut down on the ground they have to cover with his character in s5.

Because... they're going to need to take up a fair amount of time in s5 to show all of the stuff they need to cover with Mike if they actually are intending to follow through with him being queer and also, like, not beloathed by a large swath of the audience, they're going to need to connect his emotional issues to the Upside Down/A plot somehow. Which they can absolutely do! Henry's whole thing is perfect for that. And it worked with Max-- but there's a difference.

Because, with Max, her experiences with Henry/Vecna's curse were used to give the audience new information to help solve the mystery of the season. But we don't need that again. And... sure, Mike could get cursed/attacked and learn something useful in the fight against Henry, in addition to showcasing all the stuff that's going on inside his head, but given that Will's back in town and is already psychically linked with Henry/the Mind Flayer... I mean, it seems more natural to have that dynamic fall to Will?

This is a lot of talking, but my POINT is... they did not have to hold Mike's emotional state so close to their chests. Let's be real-- they could have at least started to outline the idea that Mike might be struggling with mental health issues, and nobody who isn't already reading the writing on the wall for Mike/Will would be jumping to assume it meant he was struggling with any gay feelings. Like, let's be absolutely real here: they could have had Mike outright say "I don't know, it's like you left and all of a sudden I didn't have the energy to do anything all I could do was sit around and miss you" to Will and people would have understood it as "ohhhh he was depressed because he missed El/has trauma about El disappearing on him/leaving him".

So, if we're reading Mike correctly-- if he's struggling with mental health issues and they're putting in all the little clues and hints to it that we're picking up on/that will be obvious on a rewatch after some huge reveal... then whatever he's going through has to tie into the supernatural plot in a big way. And, more than that, it needs to be linked to it in a way that is surprising enough/enough of a twist to warrant all this secrecy about it.

AND (and this is a hill I am prepared to die on)... Will and El are both main characters, but so is Mike. The plot would not have started without Will. The plot would not have started without El. But also... the plot would not have started without Mike. Without Mike things are totally different, because whoever found El instead would not have been the exact combination of nurturing and feral that made s1 Mike hide her in his basement/believe her the instant she implied she even maybe knew how to find Will. And that's just the first thing that he did which unquestionably pushed the plot in the direction it's going. There's a reason he shares centre screen with Will at the end of s4 (after El had her extended closeup because I'm sure she's going to continue having her protagonist moment in s5, AS SHE SHOULD). Mike isn't just a love interest. He's a protagonist in his own right-- this is his coming of age story, just as much as it is Will's and El's. And, while it's entirely possible that they might have a plan that includes him being the only one of the trio without any particular personal connection to the supernatural plot, I do think it's worth considering that, just as is the case for Will and El, it's at least possible that Mike might have a plotline outside of his romantic relationships, and that, as the third protagonist/third leg of the protagonist trio... it's at least possible that said plotline might have direct ties to the supernatural A plot.

(Also, yes, the ending shot does also suggest that Hop, Joyce, Nancy, and Jonathan are also protagonists for s5-- I feel like this tracks with their roles in s1, and I fully expect them to play major roles in s5, but if this is actually a coming of age story, then it's the Party who are, really, the ones spending this whole time coming of age. That's why I'm making the distinction.)

I bring all of this up, because I believe that it lends context to why I think it is possible that Eddie's Vecna actually references/foreshadows Mike, in particular's, s5 role.

Mike as Vecna

So, here's the thing. If Mike did create the Upside Down, or at least the shadow monster, then he (or at least his repressed emotions and/or dark thoughts) is an antagonistic force in the show. That doesn't mean he's bad or evil (Will was an antagonistic force in s2, and he's sort of the exact opposite of bad or evil). Meaning that it would make sense to foreshadow him as an antagonist, even if ultimately he is a protagonist/on the side of the rest of the gang.

Returning to what we know about Vecna from the show, I'd like to combine it with some of the common theories/ideas that I've seen floating around regarding Mike's potential plot/future in s5.

First of all, Eddie's Vecna is shown hiding among the cultists. Mike obviously doesn't have a cult, although, if he is (unintentionally) the cause of all the Upside Down business, he is hiding in plain sight, both to the other characters and to the audience.

^ Bringing back this screenshot for absolutely no reason at all

I would also point out that Mike is the only character, of the viable list (even expanded back out to include Will and El) of those who could even maybe have played the role in creating/influencing the Upside Down, who is also a member of the Hellfire Club. By which I mean, Mike might not actually be in a cult, but Hawkins at large sure thinks he is.

Now, obviously, Mike isn't dead/hasn't been killed by anybody. But everybody is always talking about all of he death flags around Mike coming into s5, and I, at least, am of the opinion that he can't die permanently (for the same reason that Will and El can't perma-die-- all of them are way too self-sacrificial and willing to throw their lives away for everyone else, so killing them would literally just be them... doing what they always do, which is not ideal for a death scene, especially in a show where the death of major characters is used as infrequently as it is in Stranger Things). If he dies and then comes back to life, or at least seems to have died, this might fulfill the "undead" requirement.

Obviously, how the issue of Kas would come up in this storyline, would be much more questionable than in Henry's. If I'm on the right track here, though, I wouldn't really expect us to know at this point, because it would likely come up in s5 anyway. What I will say is that, if I were to speculate about s5... since Mike is the leader of the Party, and Kas was Vecna's lieutenant, if this is the direction they're going, then I would expect one of the Party members (probably not Will or El because I have some... thoughts about them in the context of the Vecna analogy) to play the role. However, I really can't see any of them intentionally killing/betraying Mike, so my best guess is that if this is happening, it's going to be more a thing of Mike self-sacrificing/endangering himself in order to protect one of the Party members, rather than them intentionally/personally striking the blow. That's SUPER speculative, though, and not founded in very much except... Mike's character as a whole. Also, in D&D's lore, all that was left of Vecna after Kas had killed him, besides the Hand and the Eye, was a pile of ashes-- which fits really seamlessly into Mike's narration of his D&D character dying a fiery, self-sacrificial death at the end of Will's campaign.

Eddie's Vecna is a spellcaster/dark wizard, which are terms that would fit anyone, Mike included, in the scenario where they created/significantly influenced the Upside Down/shadow monster.

In terms of Mike's appearance, obviously he does not appear shrivelled and desiccated (though we'll have to see what s5 brings on that front), but I will note that there are a LOT of theories about Mike losing an arm and possibly an eye as well. Additionally, Mike's left eye, in particular, is often shrouded in shadow. I've already written a different post about that, so I won't go too into detail, but you can look at it here.

^ A sample of some of the left eye shadows

If the theories about Mike creating the Upside Down or at least the shadow monster are accurate, then that fulfills the D&D Vecna's backstory of having built a dark empire before his undeath.

In the context of Mike, I also think it's interesting that one of the things D&D's Vecna is known for is his "dark secrets". Like... I mean, we all know Mike is full of secrets. And it's very likely that they're "dark"-- not necessarily in the way that D&D Vecna's secrets are dark, but more so in the way of, like, mental health issues can be very dark when you're living through them. I mean... Max had "dark secrets" this season, too (though, obviously, totally different in nature and context than Mike's), but the narrative difference (outside of all the cool character stuff they were doing with Max-- this is not a Max post so I won't get too into it, but I just want to make it super clear that Max has a LOT of interesting stuff going on in s4 in her own right) is that those came to light, while Mike's stayed hidden.

Also... okay let me just put this here:

(Link to the site I got that from is in the Vecna in D&D section)

"The godlike supremacy they crave". Does that... not sound like Henry? I mentioned Henry turning into a Demogorgon back in the Henry as Vecna section of this post, but... I think I'm just saying that it could legitimately be happening? I don't know. Maybe I'm just being overly enticed by the idea of Henry's hubris making him believe that he's the one in control of the Upside Down/the shadow monster/Mind Flayer when, in reality, the truth is that he's simply blinded to what's happening to him by his own arrogance and ambition.

Anyway... finally, I'll point out that D&D's Vecna is also known for his "formidable temper". And, like... I just... okay, so a lot of characters in Stranger Things have tempers and anger issues. But the thing with Mike's is that it's portrayed... kind of differently? Like, if you push Jonathan or Steve hard enough on the right pressure points, they'll snap and physically fight you (we've seen it), and El's basically the same except that she generally has the psychic force to skip the fight and simply toss you aside like a ragdoll. If you push Will or Nancy or Hopper hard enough on the right pressure points, they'll get sarcastic and frustrated and snippy (and depending on who you are, Hopper and maybe also Nancy might also punch you lbr-- here's hoping for Nancy punching someone out in s5). But Mike?

a) Mike's kind of constantly on the verge of getting mad (except, typically, when he's alone with Will and usually also El pre-s4). He's annoyed by everything, prickly towards basically everyone unless he knows them very well, and easily upset if he doesn't get his way/doesn't feel consulted about what's happening. None of which erases his positive qualities, and all of which are explainable, but it's undeniable that there's an angry element to his character.

b) When Mike does actually get properly mad, he shoots to kill. "What is WRONG with you?" "It's not MY fault you don't like girls!" "She didn't LOOK fine...", like. Every season, he says something so harsh it leaves the other person/people speechless. And that's NOT to say that Mike's a bad kid. He's a child who has suffered a lot of trauma, and who was already prone to fits of annoyance before all the bad stuff started happening. Of course he lashes out. AND it does seem like he's making an attempt to improve especially as of s4 (probably because the rain fight really scared him tbh). I'm not saying he's bad, I'm just saying that one of his flaws, which he does seem to be working on, is that he has a tendency to get angry and say things that he might mean in the moment, but which are more hurtful than he wants them to be.

c) I find the scene where Mike breaks down in Hopper's arms in s2 incredibly telling. Obviously, this was Mike under extreme circumstances. I'm not suggesting that level of rage and pain is Mike's typical baseline level. But what I am saying is... that breakdown did not develop overnight. That was something Mike was building towards since s1e1. And then he lets it out with fists and screams and sobs. And then he boxes it away and gets back to plotting how to stop the Mind Flayer and save Will like nothing happened. And nobody brings it up ever again (I mean... let's be honest... the only person who WOULD 100% have brought it up later was passed out in a drug-induced nap at the time, so it's very likely that Will doesn't know about that breakdown... just like he probably doesn't know about the quarry). And just like every other character, Mike keeps getting traumatized on top of all the pain that caused that original breakdown. And...

I don't know. I guess I'm just saying that it's undeniable that Mike has a temper, though he's not the only character who does. And that Mike's inevitable s5 breakdown will probably involve rage as well as tears. Does Mike have a "formidable and hideous temper"? I don't know. I think that sort of depends on who is judging. I am pretty sure that Mike thinks he does, though.

And... lastly... this is just a parallel that I thought was interesting, which probably doesn't mean anything, probably it's just a coincidence, but I'm already deep enough into this analysis that I've lost my mind so...

^ s1 Mike covers his left eye while indicating/faking a headache

^ s4 Eddie covers his left eye with an upside down hand to mimic being Vecna

The Eye and Hand of Vecna in This Context

Something that has been bothering me is this:

Mike, Will, and El are obviously paralleled to two trios from other franchises, with Will and El, respectively, as the "head"/primary character in the trio.

They're paralleled to Harry/Ron/Hermione (no, I don't like talking about HP parallels very much because //gestures at everything about JKR with my very trans hands, but I don't think that discomfort on my end negates the obvious parallels), with Will generally functioning as Harry (although I'm aware that Will and Mike get the Ron/Hermione treatment in the airport), with everything to do with his connection with Henry.

They're also paralleled to Luke/Leia/Han, with El generally functioning as Luke.

So, the thing that has been bothering me is: if Mike is just as much a protagonist as Will and El are, and not just a romantic interest for the two of them, why isn't there also a trio in which Mike gets to play the leading role? And, uh... so... I have a thought about that, but it requires me to dig a bit deeper into the lore behind the artifacts left after Kas (nominally) killed Vecna in D&D lore: the Hand and the Eye.

The Hand of Vecna:

The Eye of Vecna:

(link to the site where I took these screenshots from is included in the section about Vecna in D&D)

So... if (and I'm very aware that it's a big if) Mike is going to turn out to have been foreshadowed by Eddie's Vecna, then I believe that this is the trio he's at the head of. Vecna/Eye of Vecna/Hand of Vecna, with El as the Hand and Will as the Eye.

I mean, the Hand's thing is strength (El's telekinesis lends strength to her/anybody she is helping use it for-- ie. flipping the car in s3, where flipping it back over requires multiple people and Mike's lever system). It improves attacks during combat (again... El's telekinesis sort of makes her the gang's heavy hitter). It can apparently also freeze creatures (we see El do this at least twice in s1-- she freezes Troy in place after he tries to attack Mike, and freezes the Demogorgon in place when it's trying to attack the Party). And it can be used to cast a number of different spells including Teleport (El can't exactly teleport, but she can use the mind void to travel anywhere a given person is in her mind) and some necromantic spells.

Interestingly, although they're not spells the Hand can provide according to screenshot above, bringing back the dead, like El does to Max at the end of s4, can be done using a necromantic spell in D&D.

And the Eye... I mean. Truesight is right there. But in general, it's a lot about being able to see through just about everything (including time, which is pretty interesting), with fits pretty well with Will as the spy/Will as the sensor of all things Upside Down. The spells it can cast are pretty interesting as well, and do make me wonder if the fact that Will was (or possibly still ever so slightly is?) part of the hivemind might give him some ability to control what the hivemind does? I don't know, but it's a thought.

Also, the effect of using the Eye is really interesting, given the fact that Will was infected by the shadow monster/Mind Flayer right at the moment when he tried to order it to "go away" (failed Dominate Monster?), and then the whole possession got worse/his soul was almost consumed leaving him essentially a puppet under the control of the shadow monster/Mind Flayer after he attempted to spy back (possibly failed Clairvoyance?). Also, fun fact: Disintegrate causes a "thin green ray" to "spring from your finger" in order to turn a target to dust. I can't help but think about Will the Wise's green fireballs.

I don't know… I just think the parallels are worth thinking about.

To be 100% clear, I'm not saying that Will and El's powers/abilities come from Mike (just like in the HP parallel, Will paralleling Harry/the Chosen One doesn't take away from El or Mike's positions as co-protagonists with him, or in the SW parallel, El paralleling Luke doesn't mean that she's the only protagonist/Chosen One in ST). Nor am I suggesting that Mike in any way owns Will or El. I'm only pointing out that there are some striking similarities between their powers/experiences and the effects of Hand and Eye in D&D, so if the theories about Mike creating the Upside Down/shadow monster are correct, then... those similarities are interesting.

(But, hey, I mean, fun fact-- if this is actually the intended read, then all three are paralleling powerful wizards in popular culture, which is fun.)

Also also... something I've always found super weird is that Will's eyes go brown when he's possessed, never black. Which... is odd, because black is traditional for possessions, and it would look more unnatural, it would align more with the shadow monster's colours, and it would be a really clear signal to the audience that there's something wrong with the colour of his eyes because as it stands, unless you already know that Will has hazel eyes, nothing seems off (especially because the characters never mention the change either). I mean, the shadow monster is black/dark grey. Henry's eyes are blue and never go darker than that. But Mike's eyes are just about that same shade of brown that Will's were when they were at their darkest...

I mean, if nothing else, Mike as Vecna and Will and El as the Eye and Hand would explain why Mike keeps losing (being cut off from) both of them.

And, I mean... we all know Will tends to hang out on Mike's left, but so does El (it's just less obvious with El, because she also has a motif of facing Mike head on). Largely (though not always-- if there's a true pattern, I can't tell what it is), when they're not in this alignment is when they're disagreeing/not on the same page/not pretending to be on the same page with Mike. I mean... you know. Something something, Vecna's left hand and left eye?

No, Seriously, Will and El are So Often on Mike's Left

^ Just a sample of the relevant shots

The Good News

Now that I've gotten through all of this, I do want to say that, even if Eddie's Vecna is foreshadowing something about Mike's role in the supernatural plot of s5, I don't believe they're setting him up to be a true villain. Like... if Mike did actually create the Upside Down/the shadow monster/in some way impact them, I very much do not believe that he is aware of it as of s4, nor do I believe that he would ever intentionally hurt any of the people that the Upside Down has tormented all these years. Well, except himself [gunshot]

Obviously he would be absolutely ripped open if he learned any of what happened was in any way his fault. He'd be absolutely gutted. If you're a "Mike needs to have a sobbing, screaming breakdown in s5" kind of person, man would you get your wish and then some.

My point is, even if they're setting up a twist where Mike('s repressed emotions) have been an antagonistic force all along, I very much do not believe that Mike is being set up as an antagonist, in his own right.

This is where I'm going to bring it back to the fact that we don't actually know what Dustin or Erica were rolling to do. Most likely, in the game itself, they were rolling for various attacks. But we don't hear that. And we don't actually hear Eddie ever say that Vecna was killed, it's just implied from the context of the scene. Which to me means that the ending is not set in even analogous stone. If Vecna does foreshadow Mike's role in the supernatural plot, then all we know is that an Eleven alone can't defeat/solve whatever's going wrong with him, but a twenty (whatever is defined as a twenty) can.

By which I mean, I don't think Mike has to die in the end in order to fit with the analogy.

Also! I think it's really important that Eddie's D&D session is the only one that we see Mike participating in, where he doesn't do any active narrating. Obviously he narrates for the Demogorgon and Thessalhydra campaigns. However, he also takes over narrating for Will's campaign, when he decides to light a fire and sacrifice himself to destroy the Juju hoard.

In Eddie's campaign, though, he follows along. His PC 0's out (which could reference a future physical injury, or an inability on his part to keep fighting for some other reason), and they call a time out to discuss. During that conversation, Dustin specifically asks Mike for his opinion on what they should do (which I have some Thoughts about in the broader context of Dustin's characterization in s4, but those are so wildly outside the bounds of this post-- I'll make a different post later), and Mike really does act like a good leader. He asks Dustin and Erica for context on their HP, and assesses that if they keep fighting it will be difficult, but in the end he tells them that the call is up to them, because their characters are the only ones left on the battle field. That's all he says about the game. And I think the fact that all he says is that the fight will be "difficult" is really good news, because it means that the ending is more open.

Finally, it's possible that if Mike is actually the person being foreshadowed by the use of Vecna in Eddie's campaign, and if Will and El are intentionally paralleled to the Eye and the Hand respectively, then Mike's lost hand/eye signals may not necessarily literally mean that he's going to lose his body parts, but rather that he's going to lose or feel like he's lost both Will and El one more time before everything is over.

The Bad News

IF any of this is correct-- specifically, IF Mike did create the shadow monster or the Upside Down or even just influenced it in some way... even if Henry was somehow exercising power over it to make it more dangerous than necessary... I'm just not convinced that everybody would be able to forgive him.

I mean... Will, obviously would. That's kind of a foregone conclusion, especially since at least in the scenario I'm speculating about, none of what happened would be anything Mike knew he was in any way complicit in until after the fact.

I also think El would probably be able to understand pretty quickly given that she knows what it's like to do something without knowing you can do it, and to have to come to terms with the fact that others have suffered as a result. That being said, if we DO get Mike in the scenario I've been outlining, and then we DON'T get a parallel to the s1 "I'm the monster" "no you're not the monster-- you saved me" scene, except with Mike saying that he's the monster, and El assuring him that he's not because there's no such thing as being a monster or a superhero, but he was her first ever friend so she could never consider him a monster? I'll sue.

A lot of the others I'm way more up in the air about, because I really think it would come down to a lot of context in how it was portrayed, whether the others could manage to get into a somewhat normal groove with him ever again (though I highly doubt they'd have the Party end the show broken up, so I suspect they, at least, would find a way to come to terms with what happened).

But really... it's Nancy that concerns me? In literally any scenario where Mike might have had ANYTHING to do with the Upside Down in any capacity outside of what we've explicitly seen in the show. Whether he knew what he was doing or not. Whether Henry was the one orchestrating things in s1-s4/presumably at least early s5 or not. I just...

I can see a path where she could forgive him, right? Though I'm really worried that's a path where she would forgive him and take all that blame and put it onto herself because he was he little brother and she didn't notice.

But I just... I don't know.

I just know how horribly she's raked herself over the coals over Barb's death ever since s1, and I just worry about whether she would be able to accept that, in the scenario I've been outlining, Mike didn't actually mean to do anything/couldn't actually have stopped it because he didn't know it was happening. Because I suspect that in order for Nancy to get to that place, she'd have to confront the fact that SHE isn't at fault for what happened to Barb, either. That she did not do anything wrong (at least, not wrong enough that she deserves to be still agonizing over it four years later) by telling Barb to go home that night. That there was no way Nancy could have known that something bad was happening to Barb, and that the fact that she didn't stop what was happening BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T KNOW THERE WAS ANYTHING FOR HER TO STOP, doesn't mean she's in any way at fault.

And... I REALLY hope we're going to get to see Nancy confronting that head on in s5. But it just.... concerns me in the context of these theories about Mike's potential supernatural role.