#au outline

[goliath-de-senfina-sango]

Astrotech Dragon Au thoughts compiled

I have apparently made a whole ass au now so here’s a compilation of it since I can’t think of a new flavor of Prisoner’s of Love yet

Parental Bonding: Danny uses his powers like he has a brain and Sam goes on an adventure with Dora while Danny and Tucker explore the world of actually going on a date. Sam winds up with Aragon’s amulet. (Maybe she has to attune with it or something to be able to control it and when it harmonizes with her, it turns her into a smaller dragon which must grow in power)

One of a Kind: Skulker is given the appropriate amount of fear reaction in at least commentary, and Jazz’s interview stunt gets word out about Fentonworks’ technological wonders via the magazine.

Splitting Images: Danny befriends Sidney Poindexter and they prank Dash deviously until Sidney decides to try and just kill Dash to make an example out of him. Danny stops him as Fenton, gaining Dash’s respect and admiration (and perhaps infatuation who knows?)

Attack of the Killer Garage Sale: Dash invites Danny to his party because of The Big Gay, Danny acts the way he did also because of The Big Gay. Dash sees Danny transform, the trio + Sidney convince Technus to abandon world domination (which is lame) and challenge himself to fix the world’s problems through technological innovation.

What you Want: Danny jokingly wishes for a dick when he meets Desiree, who’s wish granting smoke he mistakes for an attack, triggering his first ghostray. Tucker, jealous of Sidney’s new bond with Danny and Danny’s cool powers, wishes to have spirit powers like Danny. Desiree grants this in that Tucker experiences being struck by lightning in a thick cloud of pure ectoplasm. Danny wishes Desiree to the worst part of the deepest pits of the Spirit World and does his best to comfort Tuck through becoming Ghoul.

Bitter Reunions: Vlad’s first reaction to the ghost of a child telling him not to hurt Mr.Masters’ guest is to reveal himself as Mr.Masters. Danny reveals himself in turn. Vlad makes the plan to endear himself to Maddie and Jazz while teaching Danny how to half ghost, and possess Jack every now and then to escalate his behavior into the realm of unbearability for Maddie. Harriet Chin gets the promise of an interview regarding Jack and Maddie’s technology out of them at the party.

[halcyonterror]

idea!!!

Watcher!Branzy with his devoted follower Vitalasy.

Watcher!Branzy who falls, and the first person he contacts is Vitalasy.

Vitalasy who loves Branzy and helps him in any way he can.

Vitalasy who gives and gives and gives for Branzy and is glad to do it.

Subz doesn't like Branzy.

Enter the Clown.

[withgirl-sq]

Avalance- Nate and Ava as siblings

A follow-up from my last post about the AU where Ava and Nate are sibling, a few people seemed interested so I figured that I would post the word vomit that comes with outlining fics, this is as far as I got with this one!

With all of my WIPs I could do more of these so let me know if you would be interested in reading notes for fics that I won’t get around to writing! 

Just tagging those who responded to my last post :)

@weendycarr @heyfarfallina @zariscellphone

Click ‘Keep reading’ for the word vomit that emits from my brain when I’m planning fics! XD

Backstory- 

Hank was super homophobic so kicked Ava out when she was fifteen and she went to live with her Aunt Tamsin Sharpe. 

Nate missed her but he was only 12/13 so didn’t feel like he could say anything.

Ava joined the army when she was old enough because she and Nate were both super into Commander Steel when they were younger.

She gets injured and is honourably discharged - Rip recruits her for the Time Bureau because he promised Commander Steel that he would take care of his family.

Season 3- 

The Legends meet Ava in the same way as the show but Sara notices a look between Ava and Nate when she takes Ray down – She doesn’t find out the truth until the Romans take Ava and Nate says something along the lines of ‘I can’t let her go again!’ and he has to explain to the rest of the team that Ava is his sister.

The season would mostly go the same after that but add in Ava and Nate boding again after being apart for so long while the Avalance relationship blooms - Would also include *protective* brother Nate 

Season 4- 

Nate joins Ava to help with the bureau meeting like he does in the show but they both freak out when they see Hank is the one that arrives for the meeting and they try and send Gary to do it but have to intervene – Hank is super formal with her 

In this AU Hank isn’t working with Neron, he’s there to check on Nate but didn’t put it together that Director Sharpe was Ava because she didn’t change her name until she was recruited by Rip. 

This isn’t fully figured out in terms of how I would actually write it (which is why I haven’t lol!) but here’s some scenes that I would include:

- Nate tries to calm Ava down about the whole ‘Hank’ situation and so she gets high on a pot brownie just as Hank drops into the Waverider for a surprise inspection - Ava would snipe at him with this kind of exchange - Hank - ‘This place is a mess, it’s looks like it’s been abandoned’ / Ava - ‘Well you would know all about that, wouldn’t you Hank?’ — Sara pulls Ava away and finishes the inspection with him 

- Ava finding out that Nate dated Vixen and being shocked because they spent their childhood obsessed with the JSA 

-  The birthday scene in Ava’s office but 100x more awkward — There would also be a much more innocent birthday with the siblings sharing cake and avoiding the fact that Hank didn’t once mention that it’s her birthday 

-  Nate tries to invite Ava to Thanksgiving but she refuses — Something goes wrong at the Bureau so she has to come and get Nate and sees her mom for the first time since she was kicked out 

- Hank spends a lot of time antagonising Sara and she keeps trying to be respectful until she snaps at him for hurting Ava 

- At some point, Ava gets hurt [Maybe by Neron?] and needs a blood transfusion but Nate and Hank are not the same blood type as her so they get her mom to come and give blood- she snaps at Hank for letting this happen and apologises to Ava for not stopping Hank years ago and also hugs Sara when she meets her for looking after her daughter 

- Hank remains stubborn and keeps trying to be professional with Ava at work until Nate demands to know why since Ava has started coming home again (maybe she was invited to Christmas?) and Hank admits that he doesn’t know how he can make up for what he did

- Hank apologises to Ava and reveals that he has been carrying around a newspaper clipping about her getting a medal after her honourable discharge - Also reveal that he has been using his position to keep tabs on Sara and making sure that she has been good to her 

- Not sure how this would be achieved but their relationship would slowly start to mend 

- Just a funny scene to finish on, some time later Avalance find out that they’re having a baby and we can have the Friends-type scene- ‘She’ll have lots of aunts and uncles’ - Zari / ‘But I’m actually her uncle’ - Nate / ‘You’re all her family’ - Sara / ‘But out of all of us, who would you come to for a blood transfusion?’ - Nate / ‘Our baby is not getting your serum blood’ - Ava - Cue Nate being super offended!

[helpful-hardware]

forces au time wheeeee

ill add onto this with more details as i think it out but ANYWAY

Gadget's backstory:

gadget is trans girl (hey now custom hero is perfect for some self projection)

she had transphobic parents (i didnt), and seeks out someone online that might be supportive

unlucky for her that someone is Zer0 (infinite before the ruby), an edgy pricc who seems nice enough at first

but soon enough revealed himself to be a canine supremacist fascist

shortly after that her parents somehow found out about gadget's online life and, well, ill spare the details there.

the war starts soon after and gadget is on the run, and feeling isolated

Sonic:

sega are fuckin cowards.. when yall say he were tortured for 6 months actually DO SOMETHIN WITH IT

anyway infinite psychologically tortured sonic with illusions. being drowned, crushed, you name it, he did it the bastard

worst part were seeing his friends die in gruesome ways, and developing massive guilt over being caught in the first place and letting them all down.

after being busted out he sees "oh shit, its actually a hellscape out there like in that teaser trailer"

determination to fight and to keep his emotions from being seen.

eventually we arrive at a final battle of sorts, sonic panics over the idea of friends dying for real.. combine that with chaos energy from the emeralds and

dark sonic emerges, no mercy for infinite or eggman

in fact he beats the latter to DEATH, shocking everyone including himself when the power dissipates

everyone gets a glimpse of how sonic really felt all this time and it aint pretty

after being looked over by the med team sonic isolates himself in a resistance dorm room

a few days after, shadow visits to check in on the poor boi

sonic spills it all out.. HE SAW THEM DIE-- HE LET THEM DOWN

shadow is understandably shaken, but does not hesitate to be there to comfort

oh and tails prolly distressed that his bro will never be the same again.. a fate worse than death? he aint sure but he isnt doin well either. no one is

After the war, with Gadget:

gadget found companionship in tails during the last few weeks of the war, but hasnt really opened up much

an offhand mention of having known infinite leads shadow to question gadget about it

that is all covered in this audio drama i made:

but tl;dw its war trauma on top of childhood abuse and betrayal and she cant really cope that well

shadow does his best (we love him for it) but its not an easy road to recovery for the wolf

oh and gadgets also sensitive to everyone else being ✨TRAUMATIZED✨ gahh she needs a hug..

surprise robo angst!:

okay this may just be inspired heavily by @wonderinc-sonic and their cyber virus au but anyway

eggman during the war sends out a virus to disable all eggtech, since he got word of some civilians hacking it

this means that omega, metal, etc will fuckin DIE unless they are out of those bodies

using pieces of some stolen scrapped tech relating to a "roboticizer" and a chaos emerald, the resistance is able to give our robo friends new organic bodies!

this is something none of them take well

omega takes a massive hit to her self esteem as her greatest trait, firepower, is forever gone

and metal... poor thing has been bottling up some feelings that let loose with the whole being a mobian thing

oh yeah both omega and metal are trans, and we got some metamy yuri as well

now back to shadow and sonic

shadow has ended up taking after sonic a bit in trying to be there for absolutely everyone even when there isnt much he can do

it takes such a heavy toll and team dark encourage him to reconnect with his old therapist because of it...

speaking of therapy! sonic.

his mental health has been absolutely shattered.. unfortunately to the point where he's been hurting himself

so his friends and shadow make frequent check ins while making sure that he is seeing a therapist for well, everything.....

it will be difficult as hecc but eventually everyone will (somewhat) adjust to this new era of mobius

after some time sonic actually starts feeling okay enough to move back into tails workshop

shadow comes by to check in and thats this other audio drama

the mental issues wont ever fully go away, but everyone is there for each other, and theyll find new ways to live

[sweetsmalldog]

The problem about having brainrot for your own fic is that I want to talk about it constantly but I don’t want to spoil anything but I want to talk about motives and characters and just the events but I want to preserve mystery and suspense

[drawnfamiliarfaces]

Heroes of Millennium (HoM) AU

Act 1, Omake (Extra): Master of Time - (here)

Act 1: What was left behind. - read here

[starry-bi-sky]

a half-ghost--? no- no wait, that's a changeling. that's even worse.

so i'd like to preface this by saying this stems from me going entirely off the rails thinking about tales of the passerine-- which is frankly quite on brand for me to think of one au, and then develop it so far left ways that it makes another au entirely.

bUT. Context! Danny's ancestors sometime before they immigrated to America had a fae marry into the family. This had its Side Effects. Naturally. The Fentonnightengale responsible for this charmed a fae thanks to their swagless nature and awkward demeanor, so instead of getting eaten the fae thought it was cute instead. The fae marrying into the family had an affinity for music, but that kinda repressed itself by accident -- blame the salem witch trials.

By the time Danny is born, the fae blood has become so latent that it really doesn't show up anymore other than the Fentons Eccentricity and obsession with the supernatural (a latent desire to return home to the fae realm - aka infinite realms). There's an unnatural charm surrounding the fenton that really only creeps almost every human within a visual radius, and Danny is no exception.

hoWEVEr. the accident that turned danny into a halfa in one timeline did no such thing in this one -- it just reactivated his latent fae blood, and reactivated it with a fervor. Effectively turning Danny from a human into a changeling.

Danny just thinks at first that he's a half-ghost -- only to realize later on from Clockwork that he's not one at all. He's very much fae -- which is a wild discovery for Danny to make. It also means his rogues are quite a bit more intimidated by him. Fae are above ghosts in the Infinite Realm Creature Hierarchy, no matter how powerful they are. A fae can still Steal the name of a ghost, so Danny's rogues are rather skittish/unsure around Danny until they realize he doesn't know he's a changeling -- after that, many of them vow to try and keep it secret amongst themselves.

Danny's 'ghost' form is rather birdlike, and in human form his appearance warps to match his comfortability. When he's alone with his friends he starts taking on unnatural features. -- his blue-green eyes brighten and his pupils elongate, his teeth sharpen, and his ears grow longer and animal-like. His hair softens to be more feathery, his nails sharpen. In general he takes on more 'bird-ish' features. At school, around his parents, and when he's stressed, tense, or scared, he looks completely human -- an instinctual survival mechanism.

As a ghost, he has large, pretty wings that gradient from black to dark purple-blue, with a shimmer across the feathers that resembles the aurora borealis. His limbs elongate, his legs becoming bird-like and his talons grow on both his feet and nails. His ears vaguely resemble a rabbit's, although they don't flop down like one. All his teeth sharpen. Razor sharp chompers, capable of biting through bone. His eyes take on a greenish-hue, but otherwise remain the same color, albeit his sclera becomes blue-ish and his pupils become diamond-shaped and white. Rings of seafoam blue circle around his iris, creating a reflective sheen. He makes chirping, creaking noises, and when he speaks there's a faint overlap that is very enchanting.

Overall he's rather beautiful in a terrifyingly inhuman way, its hard to take your eyes off him. He has a lot of feathers. He's very drawn to singing and music in general, and gets into music sometime after his accident. He likes flutes/ocarinas/woodwinds the most, followed shortly after by strings, and then piano. He also slowly loses the ability to lie -- which is really annoying and also terrifying until he learns how to reword himself and become a better wordsmith.

SInce this stemmed from an older brother dpdc au, its gonna stay an older brother dpdc au alsfh. i'll just get to the dpxdc part in another post since i wanted to get this off my chest first

[spidehpig]

sleazy retired SAS now car mechanic Soap relentlessly flirting and leering at you every time you come by the shop. He’s gross and pushy, definitely a bit of a perv, but god is he so flirtatious and handsome you can’t even be bothered to push him away when he finally crowds you against the door of your own car to shove his tongue down your throat. Calloused fingers still covered in motor oil sliding past the waistband of your jeans as he kisses you with entirely too much tongue, all wet, sloppy and eager. He tastes like cigarettes and the cinnamon gum he’s always loudly smacking in your face :(

[esprei]

possessed!volo au doodles

[ophieli]

SCUM VILLAIN WRITERS, THIS IS A CALL TO ARMS!!

instead of bingge or bingmei, what if we spoke about OUTLINE luo binghe? i will be calling him bingdi from here on out

bingdi wasn’t supposed to have a harem. he was supposed to end up alone. like yeah he’d bang when he wanted to but no wives. shen jiu was supposed to have a fleshed out back story. the entire thing was supposed to be deeper and darker.

let’s drop shen yuan into the mix (as per usual) and see what happens. i personally think he’d be a wandering cultivator and shen jiu’s little brother. that adds to his og fleshed-out backstory. ofc he’s gonna meet airplane (platonic soulmates in the worst way possible) and he’s gonna wifebeam bingdi into submission

i just think it would be fun and new and interesting to drop him into THIS universe because i’ve never seen anyone use the draft as a setting. it’s just so fun to think of a non-bingmei binghe not occupied with wives. wtf is that guy doing? i wanna know. AIRPLANE ANSWER ME. anyways what is svsss fanfiction for if not experimenting??

also if anyone has recommendations like this tell me please i’ve looked everywhere

[transvampireboyfriend]

no no but wait.

Eddie who made it with Corroded Coffin and is this big rockstar that tours the world and he would NEVER let Wayne keep working at the plant.

He sets his uncle up with a ranch all of his own, makes sure his account is padded enough to pay for staff so he only does what he wants to do. the kids LOVE visiting, they love the animals and the vegetable patches and the bees and they all help out. the ranch is all of their summer jobs.

One thing leads to another and it turns out Steve is remarkably good with animals, and Robin gets it in her head for them both to study to be vets. So they do, the years pass they graduate and work and live full time at Wayne's ranch. Technically in Eddie's payroll but they almost never see him. He calls a lot though, and Wayne's over the moon when he does.

Cue one Christmas, when the planets align and Eddie is coming home! to find Steve and Robin have gone full cowboy vets and they're thick as thieves with Wayne. They show him around, Eddie's super jealous of them. Plus he sucks at farm stuff, he's a rockstar! Guess what happens next

[oyster-sauce-tart]

Barbatos and Morax: *enter a barrage of insults and fighting noises*

Guizhong: uhhhmm…they’ve been fighting like this for awhile… *turns to The Creator* your Divinity don’t you think we should-

Guizhong:

Guizhong: y-your Divinity…?

The Creator: *obsessively staring at the huge mess of limbs that is the god of freedom and the god of contracts fighting with elated interest*

Cloud retainer: …one believes that the Divine One is…how do you say…rather enthused by their spat…

[jamblasted]

doodle for @lumineary-arts ‘s MD swap au :3c

i like this au very much and nori and doll’s designs are so cute. i was thinking about what nori would be like if she was a human teenager with rich parents like tessa…. she would totally have an elaborate gaming setup, right?? it made sense for nori.

doll’s being a creature like always and chewing on poor nori’s many many cords.

[ghouljams]

PLEAAAASEEEEE just a lil knight smooch on the hand, even just a light kiss to her lock of her hair

EVEN JUST LOVE FILLED GLANCES PLEAAAAASEEEEEEE

or maybe medivel konig romance i am so lovesick i wamt to hear fluff aND UR DENYING US WITH GHOST KNIGHT YEARNING

OK but only because I'm really beating this poor princess down in two other asks.

You spend most of your day with Ghost, he's your escort for every outing, your companion for every event. You'd think you'd get tired of seeing him all the time but you never do. You love seeing him, and you think he likes seeing you too.

"Good morning," you smile up at Ghost as he comes near, your favorite part of your mornings.

"Morning," he pulls out the chair next to you, grabbing a thick slice of bread as he sits. You don't even need to ask your maids to set a place for him anymore, don't need to coax Ghost into joining you for breakfast. He leans his elbows against the table and breaks the bread apart between his hands, as he watches you.

"How'd you sleep?" You ask, too casual, he nudges you with his knee. "Did you sleep well?" You try again. He's worse than your old etiquette tutor sometimes.

"Same as usual, were you alright after the-" he pauses, clicks his tongue, like he's annoyed he doesn't have a polite word for it. He doesn't want to say "tantrum" but you know he's thinking it.

"I- yes. Thank you." You stare down at your hands, embarrassed. You're too old to be acting like that. Ghost stares at you a long moment before setting his bread on his plate. He reaches across the table to grab meat and fruit, filling your plate before you can stop him.

"Eat, you'll feel better." He plucks another slice of bread free of its warm basket and butters it. You watch him slide the little silver knife against the crumb and he stops, pointing the utensil at your plate. "Eat," he's not asking you.

You pick up your fork and knife to do as he says. You really don't know why you bother listening to him, you're in charge, not him. It's just that, you sort of like doing what he says, he always looks so pleased when you do. He doesn't even look at you when you take your first bite, but his eyes still smile and you know it's for you. His smiles are only ever for you.

"Good girl," He mumbles, sliding his bread onto your plate, neatly jam and buttered just the way you like it.

"You're free to leave," you tell your maids, glancing at them over your shoulder. You know they're hovering, waiting to refill your tea or bring another plate of food. You also know they're waiting for more information on last night's... fit. Gossips the lot of them. "You've left the pot, if I need more tea Ghost will serve me. Go."

The maids exchange a glance and drop to curtsy before scurrying out. You go back to eating. Ghost waits a beat before removing his mask and serving himself breakfast. You don't bother with glances or peaking at his face, you look. It's your right to look, he's yours after all.

"You're staring," he grumbles. Astute observation, you think with a smile. You know what he means, you spear a strawberry with your fork and pop it in your mouth.

"I'm eating."

"Don't talk with your mouth full," he hums, ignoring you in favor of his own meal. Does he know that you only breach etiquette to hear him correct you? Does he see you behave as a perfect princess for others and think he did that? No, you think he must know you're teasing him.

You set your fork down and reach to wipe away the crumbs that stick to his lip. Ghost catches your hand before you can touch him, his tongue darting out to do what your finger would have. His eyes hold yours, each of you waiting for the other to pull back. You don’t want to.

His lips are so much warmer than in your dream, softer, more substantial as Ghost bows his head to press them against your knuckles. You tilt your head, watching him turn your hand to kiss your palm and the delicate skin of your wrist. He looks at you with every promise in his eyes, and you love him for it.

"Good morning, my lady," he murmurs, holding your hand to his cheek. Your heart clenches, fingers curling against the stubble on his jaw.

"Good morning, my knight." You whisper back. The breath he lets out is almost pained, far too heavy for breakfast. He kisses your palm again, and you almost understand why before he drops it. I love you, you both seem to think at each other, I love you.

[carolperkinsexgirlfriend]

Steddie Upside-down AU Part 21

Part 1 Part 20

Steve’s dragging his feet on their way out the door, not that Eddie can blame him. He’s practically been vivisected by that thing twice now, and Eddie can’t blame him for not wanting to see it again.

Eddie wants to sandwich Steve in the middle. He’s listing on his feet, and his skin’s ashy and pale from all the blood loss. But he’d shoved Will in-between them like usual, and that was that.

He keeps his pace slow and measured without making it obvious he’s doing it. Steve will kick up a fuss if he realizes it’s to accommodate him. He keeps his ears peeled.

They’re walking around in a hellscape, weaponless. Just like old times.

They don’t make it to the quarry. They’ve barely made it anywhere at all when there’s a scream that sounds alarmingly human.

It, of course, comes from the woods. The trees tower over them, casting looming shadows. They all freeze like dear in the crosshairs of a car’s headlights.

It’s quiet.

So, so quiet.

Then, “Nancy?” muffled, like it’s being screamed through a straw. “Nancy, are you there?”

“Jonathan,” Will says, taking off into the woods, Steve right behind him because “Nancy” can’t mean anyone other than Nancy Wheeler.

“No, no don’t,” Eddie says, knowing it’s too late. “Son of a bitch!” The trees cast shadows, long and menacing as they swallow Steve and Will up. Eddie runs. “Oh, this is so stupid, this is so stupid.”

“Follow my voice!” Jonathan calls again. Eddie does.

He doesn’t hear the clicking of the Demogorgon until he sees it. Will and Steve are frozen, watching it stalk toward where Nancy Wheeler is crouched, peering into a pulsing red light between two trees.

Steve turns toward Eddie, eyes wild. “Keep the kid alive, Munson.”

Eddie’s stomach lurches violently enough that bile fills his mouth. Because Steve is standing there, weaponless and injured. There’s ash coating his hair, band-aids plastered to his forehead, dirt caking his pants to his thighs. A fallen angel in the making.

“No,” he whispers, voice gaining volume as his words gain speed. “No, no, don’t do this to me.” He takes a step toward Steve, not caring at the twig snapping beneath his foot. “Come on, come one, I dare you to stay alive.”

Steve smiles with his whole face. Blood drips down from beneath the bandages on his forehead. It looks black in the shadowed wood. “I didn’t pick dare he says.”

Then, beautiful, brave, fucking stupid Steve Harrington runs at the Demogorgon, screaming as he punches it in the back of its head.

“Come get me, you fucker,” Steve spits. The Demogorgon’s face splits open, and it screeches, guttural.

“Steve?” Nancy calls. Her hands stuck in the red light now, but she’s just sitting there, staring at Steve like she’s never seen him before.

The last thing Eddie sees of Steve Harrington is his back as he bolts through the trees, the Demogorgon following close behind.

“Eddie,” Will cries. He’s tugging Eddie relentlessly toward where Nancy’s still crouched. They’re stumbling over every root and rock because Eddie refuses to look away from the spot Steve had been. If he looks away, that’ll be it. Steve will be gone.

But then the kid shoves him, hard, and he falls. Nancy Wheeler latches onto his arm hard. Just as unrelenting as Will’s grip on his waist.

They’re pulled through the pulsing red hole in the world. It’s a squeezing, almost violent pressure, that pops along with his eardrums once they’re free.

It’s nighttime in the real world. He doesn’t realize the shadows of that place had been wrong until he seems the right once more. His breath comes easy, clear of ash and that pulsing red. He doesn’t care.

Eddie turns back to where they’d come, but it’s just fucking bark. Innate fucking wood. He slams the heel of his palm on it, trying to find any give at all.

“Will?” Jonathan says, voice breaking. Eddie doesn’t care, barely registers it at all.

“No,” Eddie cries. He doesn’t feel his nails give as he starts clawing at the thing, like he can scratch his way back to where he’s supposed to be. “No, no, no!”

He doesn’t stop until someone pulls him bodily back and away. He struggles like an animal in a trap. Doesn’t stop until another set of arms box him in, holding him back.

He sags, bringing all three of them to the ground. His throat feels raw, like he’s been screaming. Maybe he has.

He lands partially on other bodies, feels them shove him off. Doesn’t care. Just stares at the bark where Steve Harrington isn’t until Will calls, “Eddie?”

He turns on hands and knees. The ground is cold, but Eddie barely feels it. Will’s in his brother’s arms, face pressed into Jonathan’s chest, one eye watching Eddie, wide and trusting.

Nancy is on her butt in the dirt, mouth still parted in shock as she looks at the same spot Eddie was just staring at. She’s wearing a brown jacket with pristine white trim, hair in a perky ponytail. Eddie wants to yank it clean off her head.

Beside Nancy, her redheaded friend sits, squinting suspiciously between Eddie, and Will, and Nancy, then back to Eddie, like she can’t figure out who’s fault this is.

It’s Eddie’s. He sinks his fingers into the dirt, clutching it in his fingers, even as his messed-up pinkie screams. He barely feels it past the shock.

He can still see Steve Harrington’s back as he turned away for the last time.

“I’ve got to go back,” Eddie says, looking up at Nancy imploringly. “How do I go back?”

Nancy shakes her head, shaking loose a few tears that trail down her cheeks. “I don’t—” she says, swallowing. “I don’t know.”

Eddie makes a sound like a wounded dog, full of unwanted pain and impotent rage.

“Why the hell would we go back?” Nancy’s friend asks.

It’s like the words are the last cut needed to break him. Eddie starts sobbing, barely hears Will’s answer over his own devastation.

“It’s Steve,” he says. “He’s still there.”

Part 22

[d8tl55c]

they are dancing.

rendered again a lil different in minecraft /artmap bc i can't use normal art programs lately ig