abraxaslogs | EVENT #24: RESOLUTION

Entry tags:

EVENT #24: RESOLUTION - IC LOG

Event #24 - Resolution

News of the increasing tremors across Abraxas soon reached the minor territories. Though Nocwich, the Feywilds, and the Nether are more insulated from the effects of the Singularity, they'll feel it, too: intermittent quakes that knock books off of shelves, cracked foundations in old buildings, and large tidal waves that swallow ships and boats into the ocean, destroying coastal buildings.

By APRIL 16, it's clear that something worse is coming. The air in the crater hums with electricity, the ground shaking. For weeks, quakes have spread throughout the region, all emanating from the ancient relic. As dawn breaks on APRIL 18, the sun rises behind the solid stone structure, a shadow of a shadow stretching long across the desert.

As the territories struggle to maintain order, the very fabric of reality itself begins to shatter.

If you have any questions about specifics for this event, please don't hesitate to ask. Because the world of Abraxas is so large, and because so many of you have had your unique plotlines, we are not able to provide every possible detail all in one post - but that doesn't mean we don't have those details to share!

Part 1: Convergence

Within minutes, Abraxas watches the world peel away like old paint. A vendor in Aquilla falls through a shard beneath their feet that reflects the deep ocean of Earth; a Royal Guard in Thorne is swept up into the vacuum of space. What doesn't fall into the shards falls through them, dropping landmarks, creatures, and familiar faces onto a quickly unraveling Abraxas.

Between the fragments of Abraxas's reality, a dark fleshy substance presses through. A raw, meaty film stretches across a myriad of undulating limbs, wet with a thick milky goo. It pulses with the beat of a racing heart, eager to break free but unable to squeeze through. Where it can manage, bone-like tendrils sprout up and wide in any direction, appearing like blackened trees after a devastating fire. Through them, the pulse of life can be felt and seen as the "bark" shakes with each heartbeat.

Veins slither forward from the pieces of reality and encase the Singularity. One by one, multiple shards, large and growing - the source of all things - appear around the Singularity. Through them peer the reflections of another world, turned upside-down but most certainly recognizable to those once torn from their homes: a glimpse of a great modern city, the interior of a spaceship, the stretches of an ancient dark road.

While smaller shards can appear and disappear across Abraxas, catching unaware Abraxans in their wake, the primary "canon world" shards are only in the crater. These are the ones that must be closed, which only the Summoned can reach.

Return

Across these shards, the Singularity's tendrils stretch beyond imagination. No mages are required this time to break down these barriers. Instead, the shards themselves can be seen from the other side, too, frightening passersby as they glimpse another realm amid destruction.

Regular people cannot survive going through the shard. If anyone is curious enough to try and enter Abraxas, they will disintegrate immediately. But the previously Summoned are different. They can willingly enter if they choose. And, in cases where they don't, the Singularity's instability might force them through regardless, opening a shard up at their feet and dropping them back into a world they thought they had left.

Returning Summoned will only remember they were once in Abraxas after the shards breach their canon world. Once the veil has dropped, the memories will come flooding back - and they will realize that the place they temporarily called home, however long or brief, is now in trouble...along with those they left behind.

Because each Summoned is unique, please don't hesitate to ask us about your character's return if you're unsure how it might work for them!

Converging Realities

The reflections of another world are not the only thing breaching the fabric of reality. You realize, with dawning horror, that the pieces of a previous reality entirely shaped by your mind - the Horizon - are pushing through into the physical world...and some of them belong to you. A friendly sheep you created as a friend might bound out of the crater toward you. A monster you trapped in your psychic basement tears through a small village. Pools of lava from your special corner in the Horizon set fire to a flowering shrine.

But that isn't all. Some of you who have been here longest might recognize the portion of an enormous stone labyrinth that emerges through cracked shards the desert. As the light hits them, the walls of the maze shift between gritty granite and glass, flashing iridescent colors. Should anyone approach the reflection, they will find themselves at the entrance of the maze or lost somewhere within it.

Others of you will recall the same sickly-sweet smelling goo that shrouds a tower of oddly stacked containers. Bits of the substance leak out of the shards, staining the sand they land on.

Long ago, you might've suspected that these were the domains of the Gods. Now it's clear that that's exactly what they are: sections of the Horizon, just like yours, belonging to those who carry the potential to ascend.

Across Abraxas

All across Abraxas, particularly throughout the major territories, chaos reigns. Officials struggle to retain control of their population, no longer able to effectively direct their citizens as panic sets in and destruction is wrought over the land.

Kingdom of Thorne

In desperation, the forces of Thorne are attempting to siphon off magical energy in hopes of at least slowing the encroaching threat. While the artifacts and spells they have on hand were not designed for this particular purpose, they are making do.

The real push comes not from Thorne's castle but from Nott. The current High Mage, Mace Hemmet, is inexperienced in the face of such an unprecedented crisis. As a result, Ambrose Rhett steps back onto the stage, once again. He knows more about the Singularity than any mage. It's time for the former High Mage to come out of hiding.

Lord Veda fully supports Ambrose, lending the strength of Nott's forces behind him and offering whatever is needed. Even shelter and supplies for castle mages sent to battle the rifts and a promise to work hand in hand with the castle's forces. Meanwhile, King Rudolph Sidwell - himself more of a soldier than a scholar - returns to Borrel to be with his men. Against his advisor's counsel, he travels out to sea in one of Thorne's warships to rescue sailors trapped under the roiling and shaking ocean at great risk to himself. Queen Lia is thus in charge, and she sees the value in inviting both Ambrose and Lyle Veda back to Castle Thorne.

The Free Cities

Already mistrustful of magic, citizens in the Free Cities are gripped by a multiplying fear. Some believe Thorne is responsible for what's happening, while others grow angry that the end has now arrived due to Marlo's inaction against the Singularity as promised.

Prime Minister Marlo Reiner is in a frenzy. The only thing keeping her from utilizing every resource at the Free Cities' disposal - tested or not - is the calmer head of Quilleth Kaur. It's no secret among the upper authorities of the desert region that the two are closer than simply friends or fellow politicians, and Quilleth remains close by Marlo's side in Portam Hall to present a united front.

Curfew is reinstated. Massive generators are carted to stations along the outsides of the walls to defend them against unknown threats from beyond this reality. The cacophony permeates the desert - a loud grinding of mechanisms and the crackle of New Magic that drowns out everything else. Soldiers patrol at all hours, a rotation of everybody available and able. Outposts and mining operations are treated the same, ringed, and defended as best as possible. Trade and travel between the cities halts.

All the while, the Free Cities' population becomes increasingly restless. They expected to be better protected by their advanced technology and armies - and it's clear that their government and soldiers have let them down.

Solvunn

The normally placid Commune is more divided than ever. Having fostered a deep devotion to the Gods for centuries, extremists and fanatics sing the praises of the end times. Some take to proselytizing the centers of towns and villages or along roads about how the end of this world will bring them together with the gods. Fervent prayer is common no matter the level of faith, and the oldest shrines see an increase in pilgrimages. Some people scatter themselves in earnest, while others hide away in their homes.

As reality crumbles, the most fervent believers begin to throw their most prized possessions into the reflections to be one with the Gods, whether it be material goods or loved ones. Fights break out between families and neighbors, clashing over true devotees and fear for the safety of others. The Elders try to mitigate, torn between their duties to the Gods and their fellow man.

Isar Hart is rumored to be a true believer, but he stands beside his friend and current Head of Council Rowan March. They call for all Solvunnites to return to the Primary Settlement to "take this hallowing moment in reverence. Meanwhile, without a direct call to action on the Gods' behalf, Edda Hagen, despite her recent appointment, is scarce - though some report seeing her on the roads late at night.

The Commune is in chaos.

Part 2: Doorways

As reality splinters further, it becomes clear that the answer lies in the epicenter of the Singularity's crater. Unlike previous crises, there are no officials or territory leaders that will guide the Summoned or make requests of them. Instead, it's up to you to figure out what to do. Logic dictates that one should approach the Singularity to determine the next steps.

A certain God will chime in - and he might be worth listening to.

Due to the thinning veil between the mortal realm and the domain of the Gods, the Summoned can now communicate with the Gods through the Network. Using the information they learned from the minor territories last month, plus the knowledge they've gained regarding Abraxan magic throughout their time here, characters can come up with a solution.

We'll outline the solution for players to know OOC, but this does not mean characters can't have doubts or concerns. However, for the sake of moving the endgame plot to its conclusion, the majority of characters should believe it's their best chance to prevent further destruction despite the risks.

RESPOND TO THE GODS HERE.

Coming to Terms

As you work together to gather what you know, it becomes clear that the only way to stop the Singularity from overwhelming not only Abraxas but all worlds, is to permanently seal the shattered rifts - which, according to what you know, will require at least some of you to remain on the other side of the rifts while others stay behind.

The spell must be performed during the lunar eclipse taking place tomorrow night. Everyone will have a brief 30-minute window to perform and complete the spell using various runes learned from the Gods, the Fey, and Solvunn. You're told that you may need to channel an immense amount of energy, so much so that the process could leave irreparable, lasting effects upon you and your soul.

You cannot receive assurance of the outcome. While all sources indicate that this method grants you and the universe the highest chance of survival, it's unclear what the impact will be on you and your friends. You'll have to take that risk if you want any hope of seeing the next sunrise.

A few Gods may fill in the gaps for rifts that do not have a Summoned willing to go to that canon world. For some of you, it would be possible to stay in Abraxas while one of the Gods takes your place. Remember, too, that the person stepping into a canon world does not need to originate from that world. The process only needs someone on the other side.

Defining Fate

You and the Summoned gather into the crater, now expanded many miles in all directions. It's evident that the crater is safest: here, the quakes do not affect you, and though the rifts continue to fracture and shatter, the creatures emerging do not seem interested in attacking anyone within the crater - only outside of it.

Having learned you must wait for the arrival of the lunar eclipse, there is little else to do except spend time together. Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise. You have time to make your decision. You can say your goodbyes. After all, even if this works as intended, some of you may not be with each other tomorrow. And, if it doesn't go as planned...you'll want to get anything off your chest you haven't yet shared.

Things will be relatively quiet at the Singularity's crater to allow characters to have any final moments they wish to have together. They may use the Network to communicate or speak to each other in person! Once the lunar eclipse arrives and they proceed with the plan, there will be no turning back and no time for long discussions.

When the lunar eclipse arrives, you must act quickly, each of you locating the correct rift. You'll have had time to identify each rift the night before, so navigating there should be easy, to a degree. As the eclipse takes over the sky, you begin to experience a powerful rush of energy from the Singularity that makes it difficult to breathe and blurs your vision. While you can fight through this, it'll take all of your strength - and relying on your gifts from the Singularity will help.

◎ The spell itself is simple: you copy the runes from the research you've done, drawing them around the rift itself. How you do so depends on the power you possess. You can paint it, etch it with a weapon, use a magical design in the air, mark it using a floral pattern, or so forth. You're drawn naturally to the method that feels most intuitive to you and the power you wield.

◎ Once drawn, you must reach into yourself and channel the power that connects you to the Singularity. Physically, you may experience the following symptoms: a splitting headache; feeling as though you're torn in half or your soul is rendered; an overwhelming rush of emotions; or all of the above. You might feel you can sense the very universe crying out.

◎ The longer you persist, the less certain you are that you will survive the process unscathed. You can try to stop, of course...but at a certain point, you'll be too late and the power continues to flow from you regardless.

Closure

Flashes of light pulse with the closure of each shard. You hear the crackle of glass as the rifts are crushed and reformed. The ground shifts and shakes in every territory, the night air vibrating with chaotic power. This could be everything...or it could be the end. For a terrifying moment, you don't know which.

Your body is suspended in an abyss, a reminder of your entrance to Abraxas. You feel once more a light and the oppressive water around you. As the world stitches back together, the veins on the scorched trees shrivel and crumble to dust. The trees turn to ash.

The eclipse passes. The night is calm. Most significantly, the relic that cast its shadow over Abraxas for thousands of years has vanished. The crater is empty. There is no more Singularity. Yet, Abraxas still stands.

As for you - that's another matter. In your quest to restore the universe, what has become of you?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

{ open & closed starters to follow

muttonchops // poultrylegs @ discord
so long, friends <3 }

Edited 2025-04-23 01:30 (UTC)

[ They’re going home. He, Steve and Robin. That’s the plan, at least, but Eddie…feels odd about it. He’s tense and outright cold with anxiety, focused on nothing but the pit in his stomach—a nasty mix of dread, worry, and fear that he just doesn’t know what to do with.

Robin and Steve keep telling him that they’ll figure it out and it will be fine, but the reassurance doesn’t help to soothe him. If he doesn’t drop dead the minute he steps though the doorway, then he’s still a wanted man. He can’t just go back to his life in Indiana as if 1986 never happened. So where does that leave him? Where does he go?

He’s uncharacteristically quiet for a large chunk of the evening, biting his nails to nubs and staring into he middle distance. ]

Hey—

[ Should someone he knows approach, however, he’ll come alive once more. He’ll reach out from his spot on the ground to grab them by the hand. You’re not going anywhere, friend. ]

You know, I can’t think of a better going away gift to offer than…my anxiety.

[ He spreads his arms with a wide, clownish grin. ]

Want to bottle some of it to take with you?

Edited 2025-04-23 02:57 (UTC)

( it's not like wanda was hoping to steer clear of eddie, though. so him grabbing her hand to keep her there isn't entirely unwelcome, though she does act like she's being put upon. how tedious, all this! and other dramatics. )

Some of it, or are you hoping I can bottle all of it away?

( her expression of grievance is, however, short lived, as she steps closer to be the recipient of eddie's embrace.

wanda holds on tightly onto him, unwilling to let go. )

...would you like me to pretend I don't know?

( his thoughts, emotions, as always—are an easy read for her. )

[ Eddie has spent the last several months worrying about losing people, agonizing over the thought of watching them all drift away one by one until there’s no one left. And now that the time has come for them to make their decisions as to where they want to go…what he worries about most is forgetting them. He’ll never see these people again, and it doesn’t seem right for such vibrant personalities to fade into mere memories stowed in the recesses of his mind.

It’s kind of a subconscious act, the way he grips Wanda’s hand as if it’s enough to just keep her alongside him. But logically, he knows it isn’t, and he wouldn’t wish Hawkins on anyone anyway. ]

Well, I wouldn’t say no if you wanted to take all of it off my hands. But, uh, it seems to have this weird way of coming back? Like a really ugly stray cat that you’re not supposed to feed.

[ He punctuates his joke with a grin, but it’s tight and brittle and doesn’t quite meet his eyes. His anxiety is more than apparent. ]

What? You can see through my cold and hardened exterior?

[ He widens his eyes in mock surprise, knowing full well that he’s fooling no one, least of all Wanda. ]

And here I thought I was doing an incredible job.

[ she's seen the anxiety in eddie before, but this feels like a whole new level. she even wonders if she should be more cautious about her approach, but something tells her he'd prefer a little more normalcy about it, even if it's coming with the sadder undercurrents of a farewell. ]

[ when he reaches out, she takes his hand and yanks him up to his feet with relative ease. sorry, man, you're still a twig compared to her. ]

I've got plenty of my own, thanks. Got any other ideas?

[ Eddie has never really tried all that hard to hide his fear and anxiety. He makes jokes, but that’s really more of a coping mechanism for himself. If he can put some humor int he situation, he won’t fully break. If he doesn’t fully break, maybe he can get through it. It’s worked for him in the past, and he’s just hoping a pinch of grim humor will serve him well again.

He’s self-admitted coward. It waxes and it wanes, it comes and it goes, but fear is alway going to be a part of him. In the end, maybe that’s how it’s meant to be. Maybe it’s not a bad thing, but it doesn’t help to make him any less terrified of the unknown right now. ]

You don’t want a souvenir? Seriously? Wow. Talk about ungrateful.

[ He rolls his eyes, but grins as he he allows himself to be yanked to his feet. It’s true; a slight breeze could still push him over. ]

Alright, alright. How about we still start with bottling it up...but you pawn it off on your enemies?

[ Despite the hum of conversation and teary goodbyes, it’s still oddly quiet in the crater. It doesn’t seem right, and it does nothing for Eddie’s nerves. He needs to be doing something with all those thoughts bouncing around in his head, so he cups his hands around his mouth and calls out: ]

So, uh…one last round of D&D, or are you all too chicken?

Edited 2025-04-23 03:45 (UTC)

[ Presented totally unprompted, a game of hangman: ]

[ What could he be trying to tell you all... ]

Edited 2025-04-23 03:56 (UTC)

E.

Did you all ever play other morbid variations on hangman?

i would argue hangman itself is morbid enough already

[ The goodbyes and well-wishes rack up throughout the evening, but they don’t really help matters. As the eclipse inches closer and closer, within minutes of happening now, Eddie finds himself feeling sick to his stomach, worried for those he's formed close bonds with over the last few years, and worried for himself.

Maybe he shouldn’t go. Maybe it should just be Steve and Robin. Maybe this is an awful, awful idea. Maybe—

He’s about ten seconds from a total meltdown, and this isn’t the time to have a total meltdown. Only one way to soothe himself now. ]

Hey. Harrington.

[ He heaves a deep, dramatic sigh and drops his head against Steve’s shoulder. Totally annoying, total dead weight. ]

So just to confirm in the last…oh, two minutes we have here, if I like, turn to dust the minute we’re on frankly unhallowed Indiana ground, you’re definitely gonna mourn me til you’re old and senile, right?

[ In typical Eddie fashion, it’s hard to tell just how much he’s joking. And in typical Eddie fashion, said joke is likely the only thing keeping him from totally freaking out. He’s terrified. This is exactly what he’s been agonizing over for nearly three years.

If only he knew the way this is actually going to go in the end. ]

And I am talking like, white walls and jello levels of old and senile.

Edited 2025-04-24 03:21 (UTC)

[ there's a point during the night that steve just sort of... settles into it all. it reminds him a lot of home- the slowly growing anxiety, the plans that they've talked over, and then talked over, and then talked over again. it reminds him of the nights back home, with the kids trying to figure out how to save hawkins, save their friends, save the world. the only difference, here, is that it feels a lot like there are plenty of adults, plenty of smarter people, planning. but until the eclipse hits, until their moment happens, none of them will know if it works.

steve knows their parts - that he, eddie, and robin are going to go through the gate. they're going to go back to hawkins, and deal with whatever they find there, whenever they end up there, and that is where he's landed. they all know it won't be easy, but eddie is going to get a second chance, and that's the only thing steve really needs to remember to keep whatever anxious coiling is happening in his stomach.

the goodbyes are hard- harder than even steve wants to admit. his head hurts from trying not to cry, and the eventual failing, but it will be worth it in the end. it will. they're going to go home, eddie's going to get to see his uncle again, it's going to be fine.

it's minutes away- they're so close.

the dead weight and familiar hey, Harrington settles something in steve's chest. makes it feel a little more like he can breathe. he leans his cheek against the top of eddie's head, assuming the contact is all eddie is really looking for. it's the followup that has steve frowning, the mention of dust and jello and white walls, and steve knows it's just eddie's anxiety - hell, his own is threatening to swallow him whole - but it's fine. it's going to be fine. and while they sit here and wait for the last few minutes of the eclipse to fall into place, steve is almost comforted by the fact that this is something he can do. ]

Dude.

[ it's soft, fond, as steve turns and wraps his arms around eddie's shoulders - pulling him into a tight hug. he's hoping it helps, knows that sometimes all eddie needs in these moments is to joke about it, to say it, and then they can work through the rest together. ]

You're not gonna turn to dust. [ it's not the first time steve's said it, and it probably won't be the last. he squeezes eddie a little, pressing a kiss to his temple, happy to just sort of spend these last couple of minutes like this.

somewhere, robin is probably gagging. making a whole scene of it. but steve can roll his eyes at her later. ] And if I do end up getting put away in some looney bin, you're coming with me. No one at home is gonna believe any of this.

[ You don’t know that, he thinks. You can’t know that for sure. But Steve sounds so sure of himself, and the loud hum of anxiety coursing through Eddie’s brain and body make it difficult for him to find the energy to argue. So instead of bothering at all, he closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and leans in closer, quietly soaking up what he can in these last few moments and trying to commit all of this to memory. Just in case.

Robin has been sure to remind him that this—the two of them and their disgustingly public displays of affection—isn’t exactly going to fly back in Hawkins. She hasn’t been unkind, and he knows it’s concern and anxiety on her part, but for Eddie, it’s just another reminder that he’s just as terrified of making it home as he is of failing to make it home. If he steps through that portal and end up back home in one piece, he won’t be able to simply pick up where he left off.

For a brief moment, he contemplates breaching the topic of just staying. They could avoid the unknowns entirely, allow Eddie one last opportunity to run away from something. But it’s far too late to waver now, and this has always been the plan; get Robin and Steve home, no matter what that means for him. ]

You kidding? They’d kick me out, dude. You know they straight up don’t let you wear black in places like that? Apparently you have the old timers thinking they’re seeing Death all the time or something.

[ At least, that’s a rumor he’s heard floated around. It’s not like he knows anyone who stays in a nursing home or a hospital. ]

You seriously don’t think the group who trek through a freaky alternate dimension Hawkins on what honestly sounds like a regular basis are going to believe a word of this? I think you’re underestimating them. Just a bit.

[ He manages to snort out a laugh, not truly relaxing, but finally loosening up just a bit. Talking helps. Knowing he’s not alone helps. ]

But…I guess this was all kind of a little bigger and freakier than Hawkins, wasn’t it?

[ When all is said and done, when the dust clears and the doorways are sealed…Eddie is still there. He never made it through the portal. They’d been so close. He could see Hawkins through the crack, eerily unchanged, and he’d watched as Robin stepped right through.

He wishes she was here with him now. He’s glad she’s not.

Eddie doesn’t know how long he’s been sitting here in a near catatonic state. Maybe it’s been minutes, maybe hours, maybe even longer. He’s dimly aware that people have tried to speak to him, but their voice have been nothing but a hum—songs from an out-of-range radio station trying to peek through the static. He doesn’t know who they were, or which one of them wrapped a blanket around his shoulders to ensure he wouldn’t freeze. He doesn’t know when they finally managed to pry Steve’s fingers from his own. He doesn’t know where they took his body.

He doesn’t know what to do with his grief.

What did he do before? He was only six when his mother passed, and she had been sick for as long as he could remember. Watching someone you love waste away is horrible and Eddie will never forget what that was like to experience as a child, but it’s a different type of grief. Steve wasn’t sick. Steve was here, and then he wasn’t.

As he begins to regains awareness, he immediately wishes he hadn’t, because the discomfort he’d managed to shut out floods in all at one. He’s exhausted and sore and cold to the point of his teeth chatter despite the blanket. He feels heavy, like there’s a weight tied to every limb—plus one smack dab in he middle of his chest that makes it hard to breathe. When he swallows, his throat feels like sandpaper, and he couldn’t raise his voice above a ragged whisper if he tried. ]

I guess—I guess I’m in for an extended stay after all.

[ Jokes have always been like medicine to him; a way to soothe his fear and anxiety, a way to smooth over rough patches and momentarily avoid confronting bothersome things.

He closes his eyes and takes a deep, shaky breath. Tears prick at the corners of his eyes as he forces out a broken laugh and buries his face in his hands.

That medicine isn’t working anymore. ]

Edited 2025-04-26 07:29 (UTC)

[So much happens —- all at once sounds cliche, and it also sounds like anything about this feels quick, when it’s more like being stuck in slow motion trying to catch up to a universe in normal speed —- but there’s no better word. It isn’t anything: it’s all just watching and waiting, exchanging glances with those nearest; straining to see last glimpses of friends further off. And then, as the shadow of the world eats the moon, it is: all of it, the power of the rift, the runes, the flux of the energy from the Singularity singing in discordant echoes through Teddy’s veins.

Teddy’s aware, vaguely, that for some people this is going more smoothly than others. Their attention is drawn away to where they can just, barely make out Eddie and Steve —- weren’t they only going home? —- lit up in some kind of bluish glow, but they can’t figure it out or stop what they’re doing: they’re the only one closing their own rift. The power surging through them feels like the few times, in that other reality, when they’d made or unmade something big. At the edges of their consciousness that power hums, calls: the ability to hear the symphony of life, to play it like a song: the percussion of tectonic plates and infinite tiny insects and the million respirations of trees. They could lean into it so easily, become more than what they are and touch everything, set so much to right so easily —- restore life, ease suffering —-

Teddy tears himself from it. No. That’s not what I want. He shoves it away, focusing on using all of that to close the corridors between here and West Virginia. To stitch the universe back together.

It feels like she’s being ripped into pieces. Not emotionally (although she can tell the toll of shoving the doors to home shut will hit sometime later); physically, agonizingly rending what can only be the power of the Singularity from what feels like every cell. It steals breath, movement, thought or plan, except for a vivid, horrible instant where Teddy’s keenly aware that no one going the same places thought to say their goodbyes to each other in case — in case —-

And then it’s over.
They hang, in a deep nothingness, a floating darkness, distant. Then suddenly all the people, the other rifts, their fears come back and they surface from the darkness like water, breaking into a too-bright, too-loud world.

Whatever Teddy thinks he’s going to see, looking around, he’s not ready for what he does.]

Oh — oh no, no — fuck —

[It’s half whispered, too far away to be heard or to uselessly attempt to do anything, which it’s too late to, except. Except for Eddie, maybe: though Teddy feels perfectly useless even as she harshly shoves the sick chill of loss into a box to make sure she helps get the things that need to be done done. People are already approaching, talking.

Through it all, Eddie just sits and stares, unresponding: vaguely lifts his head at the blanket, but that’s it. It’s its own kind of horror. Whatever else — even if he should be alive and well in Indiana with Robin and Eddie and the rest, happily becoming aging Gen Xers —- Steve isn’t suffering now. Eddie is.

He’s so quiet that when he does speak Teddy nearly jumps. They’ve been giving him space while he hasn’t been responding, but even before he buries his head in his hands their eyes go a little wide and they just slide to their knees, wrapping their arms around him. Unless he shrugs or flinches away, they intend to deliver a real candidate for the most solid, protective hug of all time.]

God, Eddie. I’m so fucking sorry. I — Christ. That doesn’t even…

[Teddy shuts up, and just presses her face into his hair for a long moment. Eventually:]

You’re gonna freeze.

Edited (Nitpicking!) 2025-05-03 13:05 (UTC)

[ It’s funny. Mere hours ago, Eddie’s head was filled with worries of home—what would happen when he got there, if he’d even get there at all. But home is the furthest thought from his head right now. He no longer has to worry if he’ll crumble to dust or if the world will still view him as a guilty man.

But now—the portal is closed. Robin isn’t coming back. Dustin isn’t coming back. He isn’t going home and no one is coming back for him, and he doesn’t know what steps he’s meant to take to continue his life here. It's strange (and probably unhealthy) to hang so much of his life on another person, but he and Steve had truly been together every step of the way. They arrived together, roomed together from the start without even questioning it, and stayed that way for three years—plus centuries. The only way this story should have ended is that they’d go home together, whatever that may have meant in the end—but that didn’t happen, and Eddie feels as though he’s lost a significant part of himself.

His shoulders shake as that broken laughter ebbs into silent sobs, and he’s only dimly aware of Teddy’s voice through the static—apologizing, as if they had anything to do with it. Apologizing, as though that will bring him back. Apologizing. Apologizing. It feels…pointless. And even in his half-stupor, he knows Teddy means nothing poorly by it, and there are only so many words to be said. He still recalls hearing “I’m sorry” and “my condolences” countless times when his mother passed away, but it’s just—noise.

He’s cold to the bone and beginning to grow painfully aware of his discomfort. The chattering of his teeth, the stiffness in his legs from hours without movement, the aching in his chest when he tries to breathe but just can’t. He isn’t terribly reciprocative to Teddy’s embrace, but he doesn’t push them away and slowly, he does lean in closer. Nothing can really help right now, but knowing that someone is still here softens the pain a little bit.

You’re gonna freeze, he hears eventually. ]

Okay.

[ His response is a mere acknowledgment in a soft, strained voice. He doesn’t fight or argue, but it’s clear that he would just be content to sit here and freeze if that’s the hand fate should choose to deal. His tongue fairly is useless beyond that, and all he can do is repeat: ]

Okay.

[Teddy sits on their knees, half curled around Eddie for who knows how long. They’’really only half aware of the edges of their body and at the same time, their heartbeat, the way their pulse echoes in their hands, the strange feeling of tears they didn’t notice crying cooling on their face all feel like they’ve been turned all the way up. They can’t help but keep thinking of that other universe, too. Eight centuries and —

What was this for, all of this choosing, this weighing out of life and belonging, who to stay with and who to leave, whether to embrace or put down that power if in the end —

Okay, sure. Teddy knows damn well life isn’t a storybook with a purpose or a neat tied up storyline. He never could stand that God’s plan bullshit in church even when he did believe.

It just.
Couldn’t things just once go, yeah, hey, you deserve the good endfor people Teddy cares about?

As it is, she does what she does: she looks at a fucking disaster and she finds the thing she can start with. She can’t fix this, can’t even try, but she can make Eddie not freeze.

His ‘okay’ is so small and tired and Teddy can’t even tell if it’s okay, I’m going to freeze or okay, I know I need to get up. It makes her feel like someone reached right through her rib cage and left the shards behind.

But it’s something.]

Okay.

[They get up, slowly, coaxing him up too. Teddy’s stronger than they look: they probably could’ve fireman-carried Eddie up that mountain, and they — fuck. The funny memory comes with a sharp jolt, remembering Eddie’s fond mimic of Steve.

Teddy takes a breath and holds onto Eddie’s arms, steadying them both.]

We should get inside. Is there…
Anywhere you want to be? Or …don’t want to?

[She can imagine any of several places being either horribly painful or comforting right now. Or maybe it doesn’t even matter, but it feels right to ask.]

[ He allows Teddy to hold him, allows them to just exist alongside him for a time, grateful for their presence, but feeling increasingly guilty that they have to be the one to deal with him while he’s in the state. Maybe he should isolate himself. Maybe he should run away again—

But Teddy isn’t going to let that happen. They help him to his feet and help to steady him, and continue to do their best.

Anywhere you want to be?

The only place he wants to go is a place he can’t even access anymore. The Singularity is gone, and the Horizon is barred to him now. If he could take refuge there by the lake, by their lake, it’s where eh’d be now. If he could go there to outrun his grief, he would. If he could stay there forever, he would.

He laughs, but it’s like dust in his mouth. There’s no humor or joy to it, and how could there be? Eddie is barely even Eddie right now. He’s a mourning shell with none of his youthful, Lost Boy-type energy, just cycling through his usual coping mechanisms in hopes that one of them might relieve the crushing weight on his chest. He drags his sleeve across his eyes, and lifts his head with great effort, finally looking Teddy in the eye. With a deep breath, he manages: ]

I just—don’t want to be here.

[ It’s a vague enough statement that it could take on many meanings: he doesn’t want to be here, still at the scene of Steve’s death. He doesn’t want to be here in, Abraxas. He doesn’t want to be. He means all of them, all at once, and if he could feel anything right now, he’d see the delicious irony in no longer wanting to outrun death.

But as it stands, he'll go wherever Teddy may take him, without argument or a fight.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

EVENT #24: RESOLUTION - IC LOG

Eddie Munson | Stranger Things

goodbyes & fakeout goodbyes, he’s not actually leaving in the end; ota

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

jokey d&d interlude; ota

network; ota

no subject

no subject

steve; closed

no subject

no subject

teddy; closed

Re: teddy; closed

no subject

no subject

no subject