hold on tight, it won't be long
ALL I'VE EVER KNOWN / chapter thirteen.
cause the darkest hour of the darkest nights come right before the dawn.
UPON WAKING UP, TODD was greeted with nothing but pain and a brightly lit room. It was something he was far too familiar with, but with his father absent from his side, instead his mother sat at his bedside. She sat closely enough that one hand was clasped within his own while the other hand onto a book─ a copy of Frankenstein that Todd knew was his own rather than hers considering up until the summer of the year before, Delia only delved into typical romance novels.
Squeezing her hand gently, it prompted Delia to look up from her book and meet his gaze. "Oh my god. . ."
"Sorry. . ." He said, trying his best to sit up when she let go of his hand to place the book on the table next to his bed. Todd regretted doing so, pain continuing to course through his body but somehow even worse, bending over himself, he struggled to breath, prompting Delia to gently push him back onto the pillows, raising the bed in the process.
"Do you need anything for the pain? More morphine?"
Todd shook his head. "Just tell me where the damage is so I know where to avoid moving," he huffed out.
Sitting down again, she scooted her chair closer and reached for his hand once more. "A few broken ribs" ─ that made sense ─ "bruising on your leg, but we won't know the damage until we get you on your feet. Also got shot in the arm so there's that too."
Right. . .
Todd rolled his head to the side to properly look at her. "I'm sorry. . ."
"You're just lucky that regardless of what happens, Jason Carver will still be charged with something."
"What─?"
"I can either explain everything now, or we can wait until you're up for it."
He shook his head. "Now, please. . ."
Delia nodded before explaining everything. Apparently, around the time when Todd started losing consciousness, Max had been pulled out of her trance, and Erica who had apparently managed to lock them inside the attic, let them out and they found Todd passed out as Andy finally thought that Jason beating up an unconscious person was where he drew the line and not the fact that Jason had shot someone earlier. It didn't, however, stop August from grabbing the gun that Jason had used against Todd and hitting Jason over the head with it to knock him out before gluing herself to Todd's side as they tried to stop the bleeding. All while Lucas ran off to find a phone booth to call for an ambulance. In the end, it had been thanks to Nancy and Agent Stinson─ the latter of whom ended up showing up at Max's trailer a few minutes before those in the Upside Down had emerged from the portal─ that one had arrived.
"Are. . . Are the others okay?"
She nodded her head, but Todd couldn't help but notice her hesitation. "Max is safe─ she and August are staying with the Sinclair's tonight. Steve is next door dealing with his own wounds, and Robin's keeping him company."
"And Eddie?"
Again, there was that hesitation, one that Todd was all too familiar with, especially when she pursed her lips.
"Ma. . ."
"I'm not supposed to tell you. . . Not yet."
"If he got arrested─"
"No that isn't. . . Powell is looking into Jason Carver after what he did last night, and apparently you said something to that other boy that has him turning on Jason, as well as some other things Lucas said," she explained. "I don't. . . I don't know everything, but he got hurt, lost a lot of blood, Steve said he had a weak pulse that Dustin thought. . . Thought he died. . ."
Tears welled up in Todd's eyes, causing him to wipe them away the moment that he realised they began to form. "Is he. . ."
"They managed to do everything that they could. . . Although it took Stinson putting her foot down since those idiots wouldn't help him but. . . It's just a matter of when he wakes up. . ."
"That fucking. . . It was─"
Whatever he was about to say got caught in his throat as a sob tore right through him, it fucking hurt. While Todd couldn't care less about what had happened to him, the thought that something had happened to Eddie, the very person he was desperate to protect and shelter from everything, broke him. He felt a dip in the bed near him and it was a few seconds later before Delia, as carefully as she could without hurting him─ not that it mattered, his breathing was erratic enough that the pain was constant.
Todd wasn't sure how long he cried within his mother's arms. By the time he settled within the pillows once more and his mother returned to his bedside, orange hues began to paint the sky, illuminating Hawkins in a soft glow that would only grow as the sun began to rise further. He knew that she should've left his side to tell someone that he was awake, but she remained as he grew tired, exhausted from not only how many tears he had shed, but everything else.
They don't talk about it further; he didn't know if Delia knew anything further than what happened to him, but he didn't ask. Part of him didn't want to know, but deep down, Todd knew he already did. Eddie had been in the Upside Down, and while he could envision various scenarios involving the various monsters that lurked within the darkness, it was obvious that something had gone wrong with the bats, something that Todd feared.
He thought that arming them with fire might've aided them, but clearly it wasn't enough. Unless they never used it.
Todd knew it was useless even trying to figure it out, but he couldn't stop fixating on it. It stayed with him as he finally drifted off to sleep to the sound of Delia's voice reading Frankenstein to him.
When he woke up once more, he hadn't been through nightmares, something he couldn't help but be thankful for. The room was different from when he fell asleep earlier that morning, his mother no longer sat where she had before, but rather Steve was now there, hands signing to Robin who sat next to him, their chairs pulled together that there was barely any space between them. On his other side, Erica had taken the last empty seat. She was the one who noticed he was awake, jumping to her feet and without thinking, she climbed onto his bed and threw her arms around him. She wasn't careful with his wounds, but Todd could barely find it in himself to care, not when Erica began to cry into his shoulder.
"I'm okay. . ." He said, his hand running up and down her back to soothe her.
"I heard─ I heard the gun go off─"
"Erica, I'm so sorry. . ." He interrupted, his own tears beginning to trail down his cheeks once more. "I. . ."
"I know," she said. "You owe me so much ice-cream now."
Todd couldn't stop the laugh that escaped him. "Triple."
"Deal."
"What happened to yelling at him?" Steve rasped, reminding Todd that he and Erica weren't alone.
She adjusted herself so that she remained tucked up next to Todd─ he was beginning to suspect that she wasn't going to let him out of her sight─ and also able to glare at Steve. "He's got until he gets out of the hospital for that to happen."
And Todd wasn't going to argue with that. He turned to Steve and Robin, catching sight of the matching red rings around their necks.
"What the fuck happened to you?" He asked, gaze unwavering as he reached for the plastic cup that sat at his beside.
It was Robin realising what he wanted, jumping to her feet and filling it with water before handing it to him. "The vines," she replied. She and Steve then shared a look. "Delia said that she told you. . ."
Not daring himself to speak, far too worried about breaking down once more, instead he simply nodded over the cup as he drank. Once he was done, Robin took it from him wordlessly before returning to his bedside.
"What. . . What happened last night?"
Steve sighed, running a hand through his hair─ that was when Todd saw the ring around his wrist and when he looked over at Steve's other hand along with Robin's, he found the same thing. "You sure you want to know?"
"No use beating around the bush considering. . ." He then gestured to them both. "I'm a big boy, I can handle it."
Only he doesn't. . . He was able to handle it for a bit.
Robin took the led with explaining how everything had been going right, Eddie managed to get the bats away with his performance─ Todd had to refrain from making a joke about how he was probably showing off like he did every other time he had that guitar of his within his hold─ and therefore allowing Team Flambé to enter the Creel House. But something had happened and they ended up disturbing the vines that led to them being trapped within their hold. Somehow, they managed to survive and collect themselves quickly before venturing on. Despite the small hiccup, they managed to succeed however, burning Vecna to a crisp all while Nancy was shooting up a storm. Very much to the point in which Vecna stumbled out the window; thanks to Todd's advice about not letting him out of their sight in the case he'd pull any tricks, Robin remained in the attack while Steve and Nancy dealt the final blows, further taking Todd's advice by decapitating Vecna and stashing his head far away from his body to ensure he wouldn't stitch himself back together again.
"By the time we got back to the trailer park," Steve continued for Robin. "We found Dustin hunched over a bleeding Eddie. Turns out, they hadn't covered over the vents in the trailer so there was nothing stopping those bats from getting in there. Dustin managed to get through the gate, but Eddie apparently cut the rope before running out to give us more time, by the time Dustin caught up to him─"
"Eddie was bleeding out thanks to the bats," Todd continued.
Steve nodded. "He was still awake but weak by the time we got there. . . It was close."
Swallowing the tears that threaten to spill, Todd nodded. "Ma said it's just a matter of when he wakes up."
"Yeah. . . Does Wayne know?"
"He's sitting with him," Robin replied. "He's still under suspicion with the police so he's the only one who can be with him because he's family. But Nancy and August are with Stinson now trying to figure out a cover story. Not that it would take much considering Andy threw his own friend under the bus."
"What did you say last night?" Steve questioned.
"I uh. . ." Todd then adjusted himself, trying his best to not to disturb Erica who was sitting quietly beside him still. But she took one look at him and moved so that she was sitting on the other side of the bed, her hand wrapping around his ankle from the top of the blanket. "I said that Benny's was shut down due to a gas leak and that maybe Carver was seeing things─ apparently Andy saw nothing the night so I jumped at the opportunity to continue convincing everyone that maybe Carver was behind it." He sighed, growing exhausted again. "Didn't think he'd believe me."
"Andy's a dick," Erica spat. "Only stopped Carver when we came along to stop him."
Todd shrugged, wincing at the pain that shot through his body. "Can't complain too much when it kept Max safe and also you," he said, poking her knee.
She rolled her eyes. "No wonder you and Eddie are perfect for each other."
He knew that Erica's words were meant to be playful, but it was just another reminder of the state that Eddie was in. That like Todd, he was lying in a hospital bed with his uncle at his side who was probably holding onto Eddie's hand and waiting for the moment in which Eddie would wake up.
"Hey Erica," Robin said, pulling the mentioned girl's attention to her. "You hungry?"
Erica hesitated, gaze lingering upon Todd before nodding and hopping off the bed. "You know you're paying right?"
Standing beside her, Robin wrapped her arms around her shoulders. "Oh trust me, I am aware."
Once they were out of the room, signalling their exit, Steve brought his seat closer. "Are you okay?"
"Define okay."
"Well, I'd ask you about the pain, but you'd probably glare at me because it's obvious. But I meant about Munson."
Sighing, Todd leaned his head against the pillows and stared at the ceiling. "There are so many things I could say right now but half of them would have someone calling me a hypocrite for doing the same shit. . . I just. . ." He twisted his fingers into the fabric of the bed sheet, suddenly missing his own bed. "I don't want it to be it, you know? I mean. . . I didn't think I was going to make it, even before Carver. . . Felt like Vecna gave me a timestamp on my life, the 28th of March, 1986. . . But he's─ what, dead?"
"As one can be for a decapitated corpse."
"And we survived─ wait, we did right?" He asked, looking over at Steve. Delia had told them they were, that Max had managed to escape Vecna's trance unharmed, Steve had mentioned that Nancy was working alongside August to clear Eddie's name, but there was still this small part of him that thought that maybe something else had happened.
Steve was on his feet and his hand went to Todd's shoulder. "Breath, okay? Everyone's alive, Munson might not seem like it, but he's breathing."
Nodding, Todd placed his hand over Steve's. "I just. . ." He sighed, unable to find the right words to say. "I need him to wake up. . . He's a stupid asshole if he can just tell me he loves me and kiss me and then just die. . . Although. . . He'd probably be saying the same thing about me."
A quiet laugh escaped Steve as he sat down next to Todd on the bed. "Erica wasn't wrong when she said you and Eddie are a match."
"I will punch you."
"No you won't, for one, I'm also injured, and two, you're also injured."
Todd scoffed, but wasn't going to argue, especially when his threat was an empty one. "What. . . What happens now?"
Sighing, Steve sat down next to Todd on the bed, holding onto his hand. "Nancy got a call this morning, apparently El and the others from California are on their way back. I can't tell you what happened with them but Max did mention El saved her from Vecna by a pizza freezer."
"Supergirl has her powers back?"
"Apparently," Steve replied. "Means she can hopefully close the gates when she arrives."
Todd nodded, yet before he could say anything else, Erica and Robin had returned, carrying various snacks that came from the cafeteria but also the vending machines.
"Considering you haven't eaten since yesterday," Robin said, placing a packaged sandwich next to him along with a pudding cup. "Better get used to hospital food."
"How long am I even going to be here for?" He asked, unwrapping the sandwich. Everyone stared at him blankly. "Fair enough. . ."
"If it makes you feel any better, I don't even know when I'm getting discharged─"
"They're wanting to cheek if you have rabies, Steven─"
"I do not have rabies."
"Would you two shut up about the rabies?!" Erica exclaimed, huffing as she returned to Todd's side on the bed, causing Steve to return his seat next to Robin.
The conversation shifted from there to what Todd would consider mindless conversation, talking about everything but anything in relation to Vecna and the Upside Down. It was a distraction, Todd knew it was, it happened every time where they slipped into that idea and while it most often worked considering in the aftermath, Todd wanted nothing more than to forget about everything that had occurred and begin the slow and painful process of moving on as best as they could.
But all he could think about was Eddie lying in that hospital bed in a room similar to Todd's own. Despite not being in there, Todd could imagine how silent it would be and therefore, it would be unnerving. Silence never suited Eddie, in fact, Eddie could never stand it. He always had to fill it with something, whether it was his own music playing at a rate that had Todd questioning how he still had his hearing or simply by throwing himself headfirst into some sort of tirade of whatever topic was bothering him or rambling about something D&D related as Todd listened, asking the right question to keep him going. The idea of Eddie lying in a bed, completely still and quiet, it was one that he couldn't stand.
He tried to focus on what was being said around him, but nothing seemed to have been working. Todd knew that his unfocused nature was becoming obvious to the others. They tried to pull him into the conversation, but he didn't feel like talking, giving them short answers that left their concern growing.
The best distraction occurred when a nurse entered the room, ushering everyone out of the room─ especially Steve who apparently wasn't meant to have left his own room─ and checked on Todd.
She was nice, but she wasn't Delia, but Todd knew he couldn't be stubborn on the matter considering according to Nurse Caswell─ a government assigned nurse─ Delia had opted for keeping an eye on things during the night shift. Caswell was careful enough with him so as to not bring him anymore pain, especially since it was slowly dying down.
But it was fucking awkward when Todd admitting that he wanted a shower. It had been something he never liked asking the first time he had been in the hospital, especially since back then, he could barely stand. Yet Delia's words from the night before came back to him, and when Caswell checked him over, he could see the bruising on his leg that proved Jason had purposefully aimed there. It was a sight that made him frown and grow worried about his walking capabilities. But Todd also didn't want to have to rely on someone to hold him up in the shower.
"Your mother prepared for this, we already placed a shower chair in there" Caswell said, as if somehow reading his mind. "I would also offer you crutches but─"
"It'll risk bothering my stitches, I know, don't worry."
She nodded. "I'll also stand outside the door for you, but it'll have to be ajar so I can hear you if you fall."
"Good thing I'm a fucking expert." Todd then sucked in a deep breath before getting to his feet. But the moment he stood on his right, pain shot through him, causing his grip on Caswell's arms to tighten. "Fuck. . ."
"You're okay," she said. "If it's too much─"
"Nope, I can do this."
It was a struggle. The limp that was once subtle on most days was somehow more clear that it would be on his bad days. It's a fucking mission that if it weren't for the fact that Todd felt clean by the time he was settled back into his bed, he might've regretted it.
"I'm going to have to use a cane now, aren't I?" He found himself asking, looking at Caswell as she checked over his stitches before putting on fresh bandages.
"Well, you might─ which there's nothing wrong with─"
"No. . . I know there isn't, I was always told there might come a time but. . . I thought I had more time, you know?"
She smiled sympathetically as she finished with the bandages. "Like most things, some things we just can't predict. Now that we're all done, is there anything else you need?"
He hesitated before saying, "what are the odds you can let me see Eddie?"
Caswell sighed. "Stinson is working on it. But anything else?"
"When can I go home?" He asked, voice quiet with every word. He had a sense as to what the answer was going to be.
"I'll see what I can do," was her reply, something that came to a surprise to him. "Just rest up, okay?"
Rest didn't happen, not when a few minutes later August burst through the door, her hair falling out of her bride and cheeks flushed in a way that Todd suspected that she had run to his room.
"You fucker. . ."
"Gus─"
"No. . . What the fuck is wrong with you? Why do you have to put yourself into the firing line without any regard for your life whatsoever?" She said, barely looking at him as she paced the length of the room. "First there was the Demogorgon and then you took a break, only for the Russians to happen and we know how that ended and now this. What were you thinking?"
There were a lot of things that Todd could've said. He could've admitted that he felt like he was fulfilling some kind of prophecy, not only made by Vecna with that tombstone that was still taunting him even as Todd sat there breathing and aware of the fact that he was alive, but also thanks to all Meredith Rivers had said. But he couldn't admit that. Todd could barely admit to Steve that he felt like there had been a clock hanging over his head, counting down the minutes until he finally took his last breath.
But that would mean that he'd have to admit to her that it ran deeper than that. That everytime Todd put himself in danger, it was always within the assumption and intention that he'd never make it out alive. Todd knew what that said about him, and while he could say that openly to Delia─ despite how much he knew it would upset her─ he couldn't when it came to her.
"I was thinking about what would happen if Jason were to get in that house," he admitted, while it wasn't the proper truth, nothing he said was a lie either. "Think about it. It would've made him worse."
Sighing, August collapsed into one of the chairs. "He's already worse. He was rambling about how you were involved with Eddie's satanic rituals and probably helped him kill Chrissy─ that was why I knocked him out. He was incredibly unstable last night and apparently it's only getting worse. What you said about the gas leak at Benny's was enough for Andy to turn on Jason, although if you ask me, I think it was also to save his own skin when mom started throwing around that she wanted to press charges against him and Jason."
Todd scrunched up his nose. "Am I going to have to?"
August shrugged. "Last I spoke with Stinson before she went to talk with Jason, she said that they might be able to twist it into a story of Jason finding out that Chrissy went to Eddie's and grew jealous and with the fumes in Benny's. . . He killed her in a jealous rage─ his attacks against you and Gareth help with making it believable."
"That doesn't explain Fred and Patrick."
"That's what Nancy said, but Stinson said that she has a plan and not to worry about it."
Todd scoffed. "Easier said than done."
She nodded her head. "I'd ask if you were okay but I know for a fact that you're probably tired of hearing it."
"I'll be okay."
August hummed, tapping her fingers against her knee. "I was talking to Wayne."
Todd could only nod.
"He's uh. . . No one's told him the truth, he knows something happened but. . . We're not exactly sure if we can tell him."
"Wayne knows that not everything is normal in Hawkins, he's never admitted it outright but I can tell, you know?" He said, August nodding in understanding. "But. . . I wouldn't tell him anything unless Eddie said it was okay."
"No, that makes sense." Sighing, August slouched down in her seat. "I, uh. . . Dustin was meant to do this out of moral obligation to Eddie, but Claudia has grounded him after everything, doesn't help that he twisted his ankle jumping out of the gate─"
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Steve told you how Eddie cut the rope?" Todd nodded and August continued. "Dustin went after him, managed to stack from things to give him more height but because Eddie also took away the mattress so his landing was less than stellar. Anyway, his mom won't let him out of her sight so I said I'd do this."
"Should I be worried?"
"Maybe?" She said, pulling something out of her bag that Todd couldn't see. "Eddie wanted you to have this." Moving so that she was sitting on his bed, she grabbed his hand and placed the item in his palm.
He knew what it was immediately. Holding his hand close to his body, he rolled the ring underneath his thumb. It was the silver ring with an onyx stone in the middle, the only one that he wore on his left hand. Eddie had told him that it was one of the few things he managed to have that once belonged to his mother and before his father had taken everything she once owned and tossed it after her death. It had always been Todd's favourite, and Eddie knew that.
"He. . . He knew that you were going to be mad at him. . ."
"I want to be, but like I said to Steve earlier. . . It would be hypocritical of me to be angry at him," Todd admitted.
August hummed in agreement. "Max and I were talking. . . El's coming back to Hawkins to ensure that everything is well and truly over with, maybe. . . Maybe she could help wake him up."
Todd sighed, eyes dropping to the ring that he had placed on his middle finger. "Maybe. . ." He then found himself wanting to change the subject, only being able to think about Eddie in that fucking bed. "Speaking of you and Max. . ."
Her eyes widened. "What do you mean?"
"Look, I get that my love life is a fucking mess right now and I just. . ."
"Don't want to think about it for a while?"
He nodded.
"Okay. . . Okay. . . Uh, well. . . She might've asked me out."
Frowning, Todd stared at her. "Might've? She either did or she didn't."
August huffed, sinking further into her chair. "Max said that she's got some things that she needs to figure out but asked if I'd be there when she did. I said of course and then she asked if we could get milkshakes like we used to when this was over."
Todd nodded slowly. "Sounds like she might want to sort herself out before jumping into anything."
"Makes sense. . . I talked to Stinson and said that maybe we should be allowed therapy after everything that happened."
"Probably would be useful," Todd admitted. "I feel like everyone has shit that needs talking about to a professional."
August laughed. "We can't all get high and ignore our problems."
"I wouldn't recommend that."
The air felt lighter as they continued to talk; again, everything that occurred during the days prior became an unspoken subject, even when Steve and Robin returned to sit by Todd's bedside once more, they didn't talk about it. The closest that it did was when Erica too returned─ instantly moving to sitting back on Todd's bed next to him─ along with Max. Max instantly turned her glare at him and had a similar reaction to August upon seeing him, directing her anger at him for doing something so stupid. It went unsaid, but he knew the hidden meaning behind her words when she had said "believe it or not, we want you here, alive."
He knew it now.
They stayed with him, even when Caswell disapprovingly shook her head when she came to check up on him.
What caused the mood of the room to change was when Delia arrived with Dustin limping behind him, crutches tight within his grasp as he walked. One look at Todd and an apology slipped from his lips before he burst into tears. Todd wanted nothing more than to stand and pull him into his arms, but he couldn't. Thankfully, Steve was quick to his feet and wrapped his arms around the younger teen before taking him out of the room.
"He's been a mess since everything happened," August said quietly.
"Doesn't help that no one can see Eddie."
"Well, that should be fixed come tomorrow," Stinson said upon entering the room.
With her arrival, Todd wasn't sure whether or not to feel relieved or worried by her presence.
"Come on," Delia said. "Why don't you all hang out in Steve's room?" It was posed as a question, but everyone knew that it was more of a demand than a request.
Once everyone left, Delia and Stinson took their places on either side of Todd.
"Mr Rivers, glad to see that you're doing okay."
He scoffed, glaring at the agent. "I think that's putting it lightly. So, what are we going with? Gas leak again?"
"Yes, but you already knew that," Stinson said. "You did a good job with throwing suspicion off of Mr Munson, made my job easier."
"Yeah, well. . . I shouldn't have had to. Owens said that it was over with last year."
For once, Stinson looked ashamed. "We thought it was. But there were some things we overlooked."
"Henry Creel," Delia said.
Stinson nodded. "Unfortunately, that was before my employment, but yes. I spoke with Jason Carver today, due to his violent assault against you, he's currently being kept within police custody. He's mentally unstable, talking about─"
"How Eddie and I are killing people and sacrificing them in the name of satan."
"Yes. Nothing that he's been saying makes any sense, even the Sheriff doesn't know what to do with it all. It's enough for them to drop their suspicion completely, especially after Augustine had provided an alibi for Mr Munson that has been corroborated by Max Mayfield and I have a sense you will as well."
Todd nodded. "And Steve, Robin and Dustin."
With her notepad that sat on her lap, Stinson began writing something down.
"That doesn't explain how you're going to say that Jason Carver killed those people," Delia said.
"August said something about him killing Chrissy in a jealous rage."
"It's the angle we were hoping to go with," Stinson stated. "First death was one committed out of jealousy, that he caught wind of Miss Cunningham wanting to buy off Mr Munson that he assumed that she was intending on cheating on him and therefore went to the trailer to with the intentions of comforting her─ Augustine suggested we say that Mr Munson was with you that night. That he didn't know Miss Cunningham was to be there and only did upon discovering her body."
Todd couldn't help but look at his mother who was sitting there listening intently, meeting his gaze, she simply nodded.
"I suggested it early on," Todd admitted. "Steve and Robin have already agreed."
Again, Stinson wrote something down and nodded her head. "When it comes to Fred Benson, it was a matter of being at the wrong place at the wrong time, he died in the middle of the night when it's plausible for him to have disappeared. With Patrick McKinny, killed out of anger when they were unable to catch Munson at the lake."
Todd scrunched his nose up in thought as he allowed her words to sink in. "Look, you're not from Hawkins, while this could be completely plausible anywhere else, Jason Carver is too much of a holier-than-thou person that this town might not buy into it. The reason why it was so easy for them to point fingers at Edward was because he's someone who is the complete opposite of their ideals. This town isn't going to take lightly to the switch."
"That was something that was discussed," Stinson admitted. "However, with Max Mayfield willing to put Mr Carver at Forest Hills the night of Miss Cunningham's death and you giving an alibi to Mr Munson's whereabouts, it becomes plausible."
Todd found himself twisting Eddie's ring around his finger.
"I don't know how I feel about putting the blame on that boy," Delia admitted.
Stinson tapped her pen on the notepad a few times. "Unfortunately, it was either allow Mr Carver or Mr Munson take the fall for the murders. It should be known however, that when I spoke with Mr Carver's parents, not only did they admit that they no longer recognise their son, but when I admitted that his behaviour could have been due to him inhaling a substance that caused his erratic behaviour, they believed it without question. It gives us a reason to explain why he did what he did, especially since it gave Andy Montgomary reason to consider Mr Carver had done it."
Todd sighed. "It's somehow the lesser of two evils."
Stinson nodded. "It should also be noted that Mr Carver's case wouldn't be a normal one, it wouldn't rely on anything but evidence and witness testimony due to Carver himself being unable to say anything that makes sense. If this were to go to trial, it'd be easy enough for him to use an insanity defence."
"If?" Todd repeated.
"Jason Carver has seen too much," she stated. "We can't have him running around and talking about people floating in their air before their bones were snapped right in front of his eyes, even if he believes it was an act done by the devil. If everythings works out, he'll be institutionalised."
"What are we going to tell Wayne?" Todd found himself asking. "He's going to want to know what happened to his nephew."
"We can't tell him the truth─"
"No, I know that, even I wouldn't tell him the full truth without Eddie's permission. But you need to tell him something, especially since Eddie's wounds, if they're anything like Steve's, it's going to be hard to keep Wayne in the dark," Todd explained.
"Maybe. . ." Delia started, sounding hesitant to speak up. "We just twist the truth, like what you did with Todd three years ago. It was dark, he was hiding─" she waved her hand around "─wherever, something attacked both he and Steve and they ran for Forest Hills where you found him. In a way, it's the truth─"
"But also hiding it," Stinson said, jotting down something. "Anything else?"
"When can I see Eddie?"
"Hopefully, Edward Munson will be a free man in a few days." She then stood up. "You won't have to deal with the Hawkins Police knocking on your door as this is now my investigation. As far as they're aware, this discussion was to get your events of the night. Focus on getting better, Mr Rivers, the sooner that happens, the sooner you can go home."
And with that, she was gone.
From beside him, Delia sighed. "I don't know how you've dealt with those people for so many years."
He shrugged, wincing the second he did it, the action causing Delia to get to her feet. "Come on, you need your rest and I brought you some things from home."
"Does that include clothes?"
When she nodded, he couldn't thank her enough.
But there was something unsettling about her presence by his bedside. He remembered what Wayne had said to him, that he wasn't sure that Delia could handle him being in the hospital again. Third time, Todd realised, but even then, did it also count when he had brought him a broken and bruised Steve Harrington with broken shards of a plate in his head that Delia carefully removed from his head, all while Todd sat in his boxers in the bathtub, surrounded in warm water thanks to his overexertion of his leg. It probably did, which made it worse.
He expected her to cry when she saw him, but she hadn't, and even then, it seemed like she was far too busy being his nurse as opposed to being his mother. And he understood why she was, it was easier for someone who knew to watch over them, But Todd couldn't help but hate that she wore a mask in front of him.
"I'm surprised you haven't yelled at me," he said once he was settled back into bed, comfortable in his own clothing.
Her eyes widened, startled at the question, but they relaxed. "I did, just not at you," Delia admitted. "Admittedly, wasn't my proudest moment and I did apologise to everyone. But I told them how stupid you all were for doing something so reckless, while, yes, it worked out in the end, you, Steve and Eddie are here." She sighed deeply. "I do have to ask, though. . . Was this like the last time?"
Todd wasn't sure if the fact that he didn't need her to clarify what she meant was a good or a bad thing.
"As far as August is aware, she assumed that it was something involving your martyr complex."
He grimaced. "She's not far off. . . But I think it was one of those situations where the lines are blurred between that and suicidal tendencies." Todd then proceeded to admit to her that for a time, Vecna had him within his clutches. That with everything he had seen, Todd believed that in order for them to win, that Todd wasn't going to survive, something that stayed with him with every punch that Jason Carver threw his way. "I knew that keeping Carver's attention away from the house would've been the best thing, but. . . I could've fought back. . . But I didn't. I can't deny that I thought it was it. . ."
As he spoke, Delia had grabbed his hand and was holding onto it tightly.
"I know. . . I know I told you I was going to try, but. . . I can't keep running towards death. . . I don't. . ."
"It's okay. . ." She said, getting to her feet and pulling him into a hug, being gentle with him. "Stinson and I were talking, you kids need someone to talk to, and I told her that until she does that, I'm not signing whatever NDA until she delivers on that."
The laugh that escaped Todd shocked him, but he allowed it to run wild. "From experience, that's one way to piss her off."
She shrugged, pulling back from the hug slightly, but still kept him close. "Well, it's the least they could do considering almost four of you died." Delia then began to wipe the tears from his cheeks. "I have to check in on Steve before Eddie, do you want me to bring you?"
He shook his head. "I should. . . I should get some sleep."
She nodded, her hands dropping to her sides. "I'll still wake you up to eat, okay? Especially since you missed breakfast."
"I had lunch."
But she was gone, Todd's words merely hitting the door on her way out. It caused him to sink into the mattress and pillows with a slight pout on his face.
At least sleep easily took him, causing Todd to realise just how tired he was. That wasn't the problem, however. The problem came with his nightmares; something that he had seen before all thanks to Vecna. One by one, his friends dropped in front of him by some creature that lurked within the upside down; the bats, the demogorgon, demodogs. . . All of them just killing without hesitation. And Todd only watched on, unable to move, unable to save anyone, he was stuck, the sound of his screams falling on deaf ears.
Even in death, it still felt like Vecna was torturing him.
When he finally awoke─ admittedly the next day, Todd would eventually find out that Delia didn't wake him up as she knew she needed the sleep─ it wasn't a pretty sight. Sobs racked through his body and nothing that Steve nor Delia could do to calm him down. They tried their hardest to reassure him that everyone was fine, alive and breathing, but it was hard for Todd to hold onto their words. Not even when visitors were allowed and everyone that could were piled into his room, proving that what he had been told was in fact true.
And yet despite that, it did nothing to pull him out of his head, becoming nothing more than a ghost of himself. It would be something that Todd would classify as a bad day, where no matter what was going on around him, Todd was incapable of being nothing more than there. He could be listening to what everyone was saying, but one would be lucky enough to get a response from him.
He couldn't help but think they had been warned because no one expected anything from him. Upon arriving, Erica had once more glued herself to his side─ he knew that really, she shouldn't be sitting on the bed with him, but he didn't stop her─ colouring book and pencil case in her lap. From time to time, she'd silently hold up two different coloured pencils, asking for his opinion, and always did he give her an answer. It was the most that anyone managed to get out of him.
Eventually, everyone─ excluding Steve and Robin were ushered out of the room, the younger teenagers moving to Steve's empty room while Caswell checked his bandages.
"You'll probably be discharged today," Caswell commented, looking over Steve's wounds.
Todd frowned as he looked at him, Steve's alone were bad, not as bad as they once were─ no longer an irritated pink hue, nor were they bleeding, yet it didn't mean that they were nice to look at, they wouldn't be until they were properly healed. Todd noticed the way that Steve was tense as they were exposed for everyone to see, shoulders hunched up in a way that had Steve curling in on himself as best he could. And it wasn't until Steve was once more wrapped in bandages that he finally relaxed.
"What about Todd?" Steve asked, shooting him a look.
"I can barely get out of bed, I'll be lucky enough to get out within a week," he said bitterly, something that didn't go unnoticed by Caswell.
"Pain on a scale of one to ten?" She asked, unravelling Todd's own bandages from around his arm.
"Who the fuck knows," he replied. "I haven't even left the bed all morning except to go to the bathroom and you were there for it."
And it was a mission on it's own thanks to Todd's stubbornness in inability to accept help made it harder than it should've been─ but Todd was going to work on it, he swore he was.
"Think you're up for another walk just to Steve's room?"
"Do I get pudding if I do it?"
"You and the goddamn hospital pudding."
Todd glared at Robin. "It's honestly the only good food that they have here. Trust me," he said as Steve helped him to his feet, Todd's right leg shaking underneath his weight.
"He's right," Steve agreed. "Especially the vanilla."
His nose scrunched up as he clasped onto the crutch that had been offered to him─ deep down, he'd thank Jason Carver for making his life a little easier by shooting him in the right arm as opposed to his left─ Steve hovered wearily. "Vanilla, really?"
"What? Sometimes simple is good."
Robin huffed out a laugh. "Are you sure it isn't because you're sick of deserts in general after last summer?"
Steve gaped at her. "I'm only sick of the smell─ why are you two acting like vanilla is bad?"
For a brief second, Robin and Todd shared a look, the former of the two struggling to keep her laughter at bay and Todd could only allow a ghost of a smile to grace his face. As he reached the door, Caswell opened it for him, stepping out as she waited for him.
"Listen. . . We're not saying that it's boring, but there is a reason why Vanilla is used. . ." Todd trailed off.
The moment he stood outside of his room, he caught sight of Wayne Munson for the first time since Todd had been hospitalised─ not that anyone was to blame for the fact considering Todd could barely leave his room without someone watching over him to ensure he couldn't collapse under his own weight, but no one could blame Wayne to remaining by his nephew's side. He had asked Delia about him and that due to the fact that Wayne was the only person aside from herself and Caswell who could sit with him, they had set up a cot for him to sleep in. It was clear that Wayne had barely left Eddie's side.
Due to the fact that Wayne was speaking with Stinson, Todd made no effort to make his presence known. But as if sensing his gaze, Wayne looked over at him. Something was said before Stinson nodded and nodded in Todd's direction before walking away, giving Wayne the opportunity to approach.
"Do you want us─"
"I've got this."
He didn't, Todd was pretty sure that with the way his emotions were going, that anything would cause him to break down, that he'd probably end up in tears whether or not he wanted to. But that wasn't something he was going to admit out loud.
Steve squeezed his hand while Robin pressed a kiss to his cheek before they went back to Steve's room where Todd suspected everyone else was hiding in.
He looked over at Caswell, "I suppose you're going to be hovering the entire time?"
"Well, depending on what Ellen spoke to Mr Munson about, I might not have to."
Todd could barely question her further, Wayne stood in front of him. From where he stood, he could see the redness that painted the whites of his eyes and the bags underneath his eyes. Upon seeing him, Todd couldn't help but think the worst, that right underneath his nose, before he could even see him, Eddie had stopped breathing.
Before he could register it happening, Todd's own breathing became panicked, something that Caswell caught onto quickly as she as carefully as she could, led Todd to one of the chairs and sat him down on it.
"Todd, I need you to breathe with me, okay?"
But Todd could only look up at Wayne. "He isn't─"
"No, kid," Wayne quickly replied, understanding Todd's words before he could get them out. "He's. . . He's still breathing."
Swallowing, Todd nodded and that was when he allowed himself to calm down. Once he had, he said, "sorry. . . I'm all over the place."
Shaking his head, Wayne sat down next to him. "I don't blame you."
"I'll leave you two to talk, just come and get me if you need help getting back to your room," Caswell said, squeezing Todd's shoulder before heading to the nurse's desk that was nearby.
The moment they were alone, words began to start without Todd thinking about what he was saying. "I'm sorry about Eddie. . . I. . . I wanted to keep him safe, since the second we found him in that boathouse. And I. . ." The tears began to fall and out of frustration, Todd wiped them away, he had grown tired of crying and breaking down. "I can't. . . Dustin at one point said that I should go with him and Eddie, and I. . ." His hand dug into his thigh, uncaring about the pain he forced upon himself. "I said they'd be fine without me, I'd only slow them down─"
"Kid. . . If you're about to start blaming yourself, I'm going to stop you." Todd opened his mouth to protest but Wayne continued speaking. "They just told me that his name has been cleared, and I don't think that woulda happened without you."
Todd's grip on his thigh loosened. "I just. . . I wasn't sure what they were going to do or if they'd even help. . . I just did what I had to."
Placing a hand on his shoulder, Wayne squeezed it. "You and I both know that it was more than that, just wish you didn't hospitalise yourself to do it."
"I, uh. . . I could've fought back," he admitted. "I just knew it would make it look worse." Todd let out a deep huff. "Can't say it was my best idea."
"As long as you're aware," Wayne said sternly. "Listen, now that Eddie's a free man, he's allowed to have visitors, your ma told me you've been wanting to."
Todd simply nodded before he and Wayne were on their feet─ Todd not doing so without a little bit of help─ and the two of them slowly moved to Eddie's room, Caswell warning Todd that she'd come and get him when he'd need rest.
When he stood in front of Eddie's bed, the state of him was something everything that Todd had imagined─ the paleness of his skin, the eerie silence that felt strange and unnatural when Eddie was in a room. On the right side of his neck, a bandage was pressed against the skin, it was the only that could be seen, but Todd knew that it was worse underneath his hospital gown.
Todd fucking hated it.
Sitting next to his bedside, Todd reached over and grabbed Eddie's hand. Todd was far too used to Eddie's hands being decorated in rings that Eddie seemed naked without them. He was almost tempted to take off the ring that was wrapped around his own finger and return it to where it belonged. But he didn't, not when he could hear Eddie's voice in the back of his head scolding him for giving it back.
"I'll give you a moment with him," Wayne said, hands wringing.
Todd nodded without watching as Wayne left the room.
He gripped into Eddie's hand tighter, silently hoping that Eddie would do something, even if it was a mere twitch of a finger.
"I want to be so fucking mad right now," he said, glaring at Eddie's unconscious body. And as he did, Todd wanted nothing more than to see those doe eyes of his. "But it would be stupid of me to be that way, you'd probably call me a fucking hypocrite. . . I just want you to know though, that if you don't fucking wake that, that's when I'll be angry and never forgive you."
He didn't wake up.
Todd fucking hated it.
He remained by Eddie's side, even when Wayne returned with a cup of coffee for both himself and Todd. With his hand keeping its hold onto Eddie's, he and Wayne quietly converse with each other; it was better than being plunged into silence that Todd didn't think he'd be able to stand it.
Eventually, Caswell came knocking and practically forced Todd into his own room, something that Todd attempted to protest against, only for Wayne to agree with Caswell; "you're falling asleep in your seat kid." But it did come with the promise that Todd could sit with him whenever.
After that, everything became a routine for Todd; mornings his siblings, along with Robin and Erica─ sometimes Lucas and Max would be there too─ would sit in his room with him. With Steve being discharged made getting rides a lot easier, especially for Robin who's mother in the first two days hesitated in allowing her daughter to be out of her sight, but suddenly it was fine when Steve knocked on their door asking for Robin ("the only good thing to come from them thinking that Steve and I are dating.").
During the first morning, he found out that everyone from California had ended up in Hawkins─ "yeah, apparently Joyce discovered a message from some Russian guy and it turned out that Hopper didn't die. So the reason why we couldn't get a hold of them was because while she was over there, her children along with Mike and Argyle were. . ." August then looked over at Max. "Does anyone have an understanding of what they were doing?"
"Long story short, El smacked someone in the face with a roller skate, she got taken to some lab somewhere to get her powers back, she did but turns out that asshole who asks her to call him papa was involved. Some stuff happened but they ended up overhearing our planning which caused El to, and I quote, "piggybacked from a pizza freezer" into my mind and helped with Venca," Max explained.
Todd had frowned and turned to Steve and Robin who looked just as confused as Todd was. Sharing a look, the three of them silently agreed that it was one of those things they were going to accept and move on from without any question.
Afternoons on the other hand consisted of sitting by Eddie's side, something that became an agreement that once he finished eating his lunch, everyone would leave knowing where he would end up. Who sat with him changed from day to day, often it was Wayne─ who generally spent the morning with Dustin who, like Todd, hated leaving Eddie's side─ other times it was Gareth Emerson on days when Wayne wanted to sleep in a proper bed for a few hours.
The first time that Gareth visited when Todd was already there, he had taken one look at the ring on his finger and huffed out a "fucking finally," before proceeding to sit down and go on a tangent about how Eddie was an "oblivious idiot who couldn't see his own feelings even if they slapped him in the face."
And despite Todd knowing that the words were spoken in a more humorous manner at Eddie's expense, he couldn't find it in himself to laugh. Instead Todd said, "I wish it slapped him a lot sooner."
He didn't mean to sour the mood, but it happened and thankfully, Gareth managed to change the subject, removing the awkward tension that Todd threw into the air.
Todd spent a week in the hospital before he was finally told that he was okay to go home, Delia saying that it would be better for him to be at home where he was more comfortable. And it wasn't something that Todd argued with, not when he was growing tired of seeing the same four walls and hospital food─ something that she had been hearing about every night that she sat by his bedside during her night shifts. It threw a wrench into how often Todd would've been able to visit Eddie, it being worse now that it was a question as to whether or not Todd would be able to drive.
But by the time he laid on his own bed with Steve and Robin somehow fitting on the mattress with him, he missed it.
"Hey, uh, Todd. . ." Robin said as she stood at his desk looking for a piece of paper to write something down. When she turned, she held an envelope in her hand.
"What is that?" He questioned.
"It's from the University of Chicago. . ." She replied.
Todd raised his head from Steve's shoulder. "Fuck. . . I totally forgot about that. Did you get one?"
Robin nodded, climbing onto the bed and placing in between the three of them. "I, uh. . . I opened it. I don't know why. . . Part of me just wanted to know but. . . If you two aren't leaving then I'm not."
"Did you get in?" Todd asked.
Again, she nodded and without saying anything, Todd grabbed the envelope before anyone could stop him.
Holding the letter in front of him, Todd read through the first sentence before he said, "I got in."
It should've been a moment where they'd throw their arms around each other and find some way to celebrate in a way that was perfect for the three of them. But the air was heavy around them, none had to say anything to understand what the other was thinking; they finally had their out but none were sure enough that they should take it.
"How much of an asshole would I be if I said that I don't think we should put our lives in pause because of everything happening here again?" Todd blurted out.
He remembered what Eddie had said to him that day that they found him in skull rock; before Steve had gotten eaten by bats, before Todd had been taken by Vecna. That holding off living his life was a shitty way to live. Todd realised that Eddie hadn't been wrong in saying so.
"El closed all the gates," he continued. "Will no longer can feel the Upside Down. I know we've said this before, but. . . Maybe it is over, and even if it isn't, we know they'll call us and we'll be back."
Both Todd and Robin looked over Steve, knowing that he'd be the most stubborn about it.
"What about Munson?" Steve asked, eyes on Todd.
"We'll have time before we'd have to leave for college. But. . . Hopefully he's awake before that. And. . ." He trailed off, not exactly knowing how to say that he would hope that Eddie would come with them, not even knowing if Eddie would.
"And?" Robin prompted.
He sighed. "And maybe he'd come with us. . . I don't know. . ."
Robin and Steve shared a look, one that Todd was too tired to figure out.
"I don't think it'd take a lot of convincing," Robin said.
"No, especially not when in his dying moments the only person he could talk about was you," Steve added on.
Todd wasn't exactly sure whether or not it was something that made him feel better. But when he yawned, it was a sign that they'd continue the discussion in the morning.
Only it didn't happen, not when by the time Todd emerged from his room the next morning, it was to an empty house. Steve and Robin having left the house to run from errands for Delia, something that Steve had taken up doing since Delia had changed to doing the night shifts just to watch over those who had been hospitalised, and it would probably remain that way until Eddie was discharged. He knew that August wouldn't be home for a while as she and Max had decided to sleepover with El─ something that was beginning to become a frequent occurrence now that she and the Byers were coming back to Hawkins.
But Todd was fine with an empty house, just as long as he filled it with noise.
By the time he emerged from the bathroom after showering─ the downstairs bathroom having been adjusted to allow him to sit down, something Todd was extremely thankful for─ he found August sitting on the couch.
"Um, should I be worried?" Todd asked, hovering in the kitchen, leaning against the counter to put weight off his leg.
"It's nothing bad," August told him. "We might have a way to help Eddie."
"What do you mean help?" He asked, moving to sit down on the empty armchair in the living room. "Eddie's in a coma, it's just a matter of when he wakes up."
"I asked El if she would be able to find him."
"Augustine─"
"No! Okay hear me out! El was fine with it. She. . . It didn't take a lot of convincing when she asked if Eddie waking up would make you less sad," August admitted. "So we went there yesterday. I told Wayne that I was reading The Hobbit with El and that maybe if we read to Eddie, it might've done something, so he agreed. Instead, El went into his mind."
"I'm taking it that due to the fact that Wayne hadn't called me that Eddie was awake that it didn't work."
"Well. . . Not really? She found him but. . . Apparently he's stuck? Or hiding─ one of the two─ in his memories," she said. "El tried to reach out to him but it was like she wasn't there. But there was a common person in the few memories that she stayed in. She thinks that maybe if that person goes with her, they might be able to reach him in the memory."
"Can she even do that?"
August shrugged. "But she's willing to try, she just can't do it without you."
Todd sighed, running a hand over his face. "Does Hopper know?"
She shook her head. "We weren't planning on telling anyone honestly, just you─ oh, and Max knows."
"We're probably going to have to tell Steve since he's been driving me everywhere."
"Does that mean you'll do it?"
"You're stupid for thinking that I would've said no."
"Good thing I already knew you'd say yes."
AUTHOR'S NOTE / so,,, i very much debated how this was gonna go. there was a point where i was gonna just let todd die (albeit a little differently, but still at the creel house with jason being involved) and therefore, eddie was also going to die. but i was far too in love with the orpheus and eurydice thing i started, that i wanted to finish it.
although, it is a little different, i don't think todd literally going to hell is something that would work with this, so trying to wake eddie up from a coma by going with el into his mind it is. is that something el can do? i don't remember but honestly if you ask me, it's more realistic than her suddenly being able to bring max back from the dead.
i also hope that how they managed to pin the murders on jason makes sense, i tried to make it as realistic as possible, the only thing that isn't is whether or not a gas leak can influence someone into becoming erratic and murdering someone brutally, but it's one of those things people would accept because it's coming from someone higher up who sounds like they're telling the truth. it's probably a controversial choice to some people because i know that some people like his character and will defend him. for me personally, i don't have an opinion on him, like anything i think about him is more my feelings towards how fucking useless the cops were in s4. jason was also just easy for todd to throw under the bus because in fanfics i've read, people either use henry or victor creel or jason as a scapegoat (this is made easier if they were to keep him death, this was harder for me since he never went into the creel house). and it's not like this wasn't hinted at, considering todd has been nudging the cops to jason since chapter 9.
i'll admit there was a lot more i could've done with this chapter, but it was getting long so i do apologise for glossing over things (like everyone not part of the hawkins group coming back), for cutting interactions between other characters (the trio of todd, jonathan and argyle, you will be missed). but i was about 7k words in and realised that it was beginning to be extremely repetitive so i had to cut a lot. this chapter could've been better.
there are also probably some plot lines that i've forgotten to patch up since this fix is officially a fix-it/no longer canon compliant since vecna is dead and to that i say: todd doesn't know about it and due to my writing being third person limited, it means the reader doesn't know.
but anyways, next chapter is one i'm excited about, but i hope you all enjoyed this one. don't forget to vote/comment.