The Freak and the Jedi

"Delivery service!" Dustin said as we all piled at the door of the shed.

I grinned at Eddie's scared face at the sudden noise. We gave him the bags, filled to the brim with food and drinks he liked. My fingers brushed his when I gave him the bag I was holding, his favorite snacks in it that I remembered from our time together. He softly smiled when he peered inside, looking back at me with a glint in his eye.

Thank you, he mouthed inaudibly as I motioned him to sit down. Eddie quickly opened one of the cereal boxes and hungrily ate it, crumbs falling from his face.

"So we got, uh, some good news and some bad news," Dustin said as he sat down on a stool. The shed's water door was opened, letting the fresh morning air bathe the room. "How do you prefer it?"

"Bad news first, always," Eddie answered, his mouth full of cereal.

Dustin braced himself. "All right. Bad news. We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you," he started. "Also, they're, uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy."

"Like, a hundred percent kind of convinced," Max butted in.

I pursed my lips, knowing the situation was complicated.

"And the good news?" Eddie didn't even seem fazed at that point, his somewhat positivity drawing a smile on my face.

"Your name hasn't gone public yet," Robin answered. "But if we found out about you, it's a matter of time before others do too, and once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you."

"Those are not good news, Ro," I told her with a pointed glare after seeing Eddie's hope slowly leave his soul, his shoulders dropping.

"Hunt the freak, right?" he looked at her.

"Exactly."

"Shit," Eddie looked away.

Dustin quickly intervened. "So, before that happens, we need to find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence."

Eddie stared at him. "That's all, Dustin? That's all?"

Even Eddie could see the difficulty of it.

"Yeah, no, that's pretty much it," Dustin was nodding his head, trying to keep everyone's spirits up.

"Listen, Eddie, I know everything Dustin's saying sounds totally delusional, but we've actually been through this before. I mean, they have a... a few times, and I have once. Mine was more human-flesh-based, theirs was more smoke-related, but bottom line is, collectively, I really feel like we got this," Robin spoke, while the rest of us nodded at her words, memories fresh on our minds about everything that had gone down these past years.

"Yes, we usually rely on this girl who has superpowers, but uh, those went bye-bye so..." Steve added to the conversation, backing Robin up.

"So we're technically in more of the..." Robin struggled to find the words.

"Kinda..." Steve offered as well.

"Brainstorming phase," I concluded, Steve snapping his fingers at me in approval.

Dustin spluttered. "There... There's nothing to worry about," his voice got an octave higher.

Steve scoffed next to him, trying to reassure a still scared-looking Eddie, shifting his gaze among all of us.

Police sirens sounded in the distance, all of us tensing immediately and looking through the windows as the sound got louder.

"Tarp! Tarp! Tarp!" Robin pointed the tarp to Eddie, who quickly put it above him as he lay on the boat again.