Beyond the Battle: Action & Consequence (Steddie, Stranger Things)

Chapter 9: Verdicts

Dustin got told off by just about everyone but seemed mostly unrepentant. By the time lunch was over, Steve wasn't sure whether to be pissed or thankful. Dustin's little experiment had proved a valid point, a useful one too. It didn't really help Steve's peace of mind, however.

El and Will had been up for helping him figure out if he had other powers too, and possibly the other way round, but Joyce and Robin had ganged up and point blank refused to let him. Robin had gone on a long rant about hypothermia and its aftereffects, and she'd been building up to dissect bringing Eddie back from the Upside Down as well, so he'd caved.

He was feeling much more with it and even Eddie seemed to be managing to stay awake, but he could occasionally be made to see sense.

"Sorry about earlier," Dustin said quietly as El and Eddie had a talk a few feet away. "Maybe I should have waited."

"It's fine," he said, bumping their shoulders together. "Kind of good to know, but at this rate I'm going to have to go on another grocery run because I'm eating enough for three people."

"You're not pregnant, are you?" Dustin said with a grin.

"Do not even joke about shit like that, Henderson," he replied. "With how plain weird everything is at the moment, I refuse to take the risk."

"It's not weird, it's cool," Dustin told him.

"It's weird," Steve insisted.

"You have powers, dude," Dustin insisted right back, "that is awesome in my book. You can heal people. Do you know how next level that is? Even El can't do that."

"She can, kind of," he disagreed. "It's probably just she hasn't used that part of what she can do much."

"Steve, you've had powers for three days and you already brought Eddie back from the dead," Dustin said.

"Eddie wasn't dead and El brought Max back too," he pointed out.

"The way El tells it, she restarted Max's heart," Dustin said, "and what Eddie told me is he was nearly dead a second time when you fixed him. You fixed my ankle too. It's like brand new."

It seemed Steve was not going to win this discussion.

"Still weird," he said, even though Dustin's point of view kind of helped a little.

The kid was so upbeat and passionate about everything. Some of that spark had been subdued ever since Eddie died, but it was clearly back with a vengeance. No doubt, when Dustin thought he could get away with it, Steve would find himself bombarded with questions so he could be analysed by the young genius. It was as inevitable as taxes and dying.

"May I?" he heard El ask, dragging his attention to the conversation she was having with Eddie.

"Have at it, Supergirl," Eddie replied, placing his hands in hers.

Both of them closed their eyes and sat there, perfectly still for a while. Steve hadn't caught what they were doing, but they looked serene doing it. That was until El smiled and then giggled. She opened her eyes at the same time Eddie did.

"You are funny," she said, still smiling.

"I do my best," Eddie replied. "So, what's the verdict?"

"There is no trace of Henry left," El said, expression turning serious again, "but I sense something other, something from the Upside Down. It is very faint, but it is there."

"Forever tainted then," Eddie said as if he had been expecting something like that.

"It does not feel bad," El told him. "You are just different now. Like I am different, and Will and Steve. We can be different together."