ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴜʀɴ

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Eddie! Eddie! Stop!" Dustin pleaded with Eddie.

See what had happened was Dustin and Max ran to the family video store, with the assistance of Steve and Robin—the two were able to find out where Eddie was hiding out. At Reefer Rick's house, the local dealer. They poked around in the shed at the back of the house until they found a very paranoid Eddie, not knowing who to trust.

And that's why the Dungeon Master was holding a knife up to Steve "The Hair" Harrington's neck.

"Eddie! Eddie! It's me!" Eddie turned to his young friend. "It's Dustin. This is Steve—he's not gonna hurt you, right, Steve?"

"Right. Yeah."

"Steve, why don't you drop the oar?" Steve dropped the oar that got him in this situation in the first place, poking and prodding around. Eddie still held the knife colder to his neck.

"He's cool. He's cool."

"I'm cool, man. I'm cool."

Eddie quickly muttered a sentence. "What are you doing here?"

"We're looking for you."

Robin spoke. "We're here to help."

"Eddie, these are my friends. You know Robin, from band." Robin pretended to play an instrument. "This is my friend Max. The one who never wants to play D&D." He still didn't look fully convinced. "Eddie—we're on your side. I swear on my mother! Right guys?"

"Yes. Yes. We swear."

"On Dustin's mother."

"Yeah, Dustin's...Dustin's mother." Eddie gazed at Steve one last time before letting him go.

"Jesus..." Dustin said under his breath. "Eddie, we just want to talk."

Eddie leaned against the wall, and Dustin tried to reach out to him, but he recoiled.

Robin crouched down beside him. "We wanna know what happened."

He sniffed. "You won't believe me."

"Try us."

"No—no, you won't—"

"Eddie...we'll listen." Dustin racked his brain for a way to comfort him. "Soleil! Yeah, Soleil you know her, she wants to help you too, she told me to give you this." Dustin reached into his back pocket slowly and placed the film right in front of Eddie, Eddie looked at them before picking it up and slightly smiling at the happy faces of him and Soleil. He turned it over to see words written on the back of it "You helped me, I have to return the favor. -Sunny"

Steve rose an eyebrow. "Wait? You're talking about the chick that can do fire tricks at the Circus?"

"Maybe she's one hell of a sleuth too," Robin commented.

Even after everything, even with the trouble, this might bring her, with the trouble she had now—she was still willing to help him.

Now that was one hell of a friend.

"She really wants to help?"

"Yes, and we want to help you too so we need you to tell us exactly what happened."

Man, what a fall from grace this was.

—㋛—

The very next day when it was bright outside, Dustin had radioed Sol to tell him that they found him. A heavyweight in her chest was lifted, grateful that nobody but them had gotten to him. But she also had a few questions, like what the hell was going on in Hawkins, with no other way out, Dustin told her. About Will's vanishing, Demogorgons, El, Vecna, the Upside Down, the Russian lab they found underneath the StarCourt Mall, the real reason they had to rebuild it, everything. The only way to describe Sol's reaction to all of it was surprised and unsurprised, she was in the middle, seeing her fair share of weird crap but not as weird as what Dustin had told her.

She spent the rest of the early morning trying to make sense of it. While she ate her breakfast sandwich she went over the Vecna story a million times when she got dressed in blue jeans, a copper-colored bralet, and a multi-colored coat with Cheetah print on the inside—she thought of ways to save Eddie's hide. Maybe by getting rid of the problem entirely? Dustin did say creatures from the Upside Down didn't like heat, Vecna was probably the same. Though that wouldn't solve the charges of attempted murder and everyone else was currently trying to get rid of Vecna.

And she also thought about Vecna's curse, which was the reason all of these teens were getting hurt in the first place—which led her to the realization that Cassie could've met the same fate.

Her morning wasn't a peaceful one, in simple terms.

And on this same morning, another tragedy struck. Another person was just almost murdered, in the same fashion as Chrissy Cunningham who was transported to the hospital, fighting for her life.

The Ringmaster, Soleil, and Cassie gathered up in Sol's trailer to listen to the breaking news. Sol couldn't even pay attention to it, she just looked at the fresh cast and sling Cassie sported and how the woman kept rapidly tapping her feet to the ground, it was a nervous habit of hers.

That just bothered the young woman even more, Cassandra didn't just fall and slip and break her arm. Cassie was a tightrope walker, she wasn't that clumsy but she had managed to convince the Ringmaster that she was, or maybe, that was more comfortable for him to believe.

The Ringmaster sprung up from his seat. "This is outrageous!"

"What—what is it?" Soleil stopped zoning out.

"These people think that someone from our Circus was involved? Can you believe them? After what we have done to light this horrid town up?"

Cassie scoffed. "Two people have almost died Everett, we can't be worried about that now."

"Oh, so I can't be worried about the safety of my damn workers now huh? They don't see us as people, we're just a joke to them!"

"They have nothing pinning us to this, we will be fine—"

"This town always will point the finger at who's most convenient, we are the most convenient Cassandra can't you see that?"

Soleil inhaled, watching her father's growing rage. She could feel he had a sort of disdain for Hawkins and as she had discovered, this town was where her older sister went missing—missing, nobody found a body. Soleil must've been in a bold mood that day because she couldn't help but question it.

"Why did you come back to Hawkins if Adelaide went missing here Dad?"

"Excuse me?" Her father turned to her. "Your sister died here Soleil."

"You said she went missing Dad then she died here but you don't know that that wasn't just a slip-up."

"You know how it ended for all of your siblings Soleil!"

"I know that we aren't just a normal family that lives down the road either, why did you come back here anyway?"

He stared at her, he messed up and wasn't quick enough for Sol to disregard his words. Just like Dustin, he couldn't avoid this one.

"Closure." He was already halfway out of the door before he quietly uttered something under her breath. "And to convince me she isn't still out there."

Her father closed her trailer door, unaware that she heard his last statement. He too thought there was a chance Adelaide was still out there—maybe she was the reason why Soleil felt like someone was there with her even though she was alone.

Maybe she was wrong.

Cassie plopped herself right back on the couch. "So..."

"Cassie, you didn't slip and break your arm, did you?"

She looked down. "No."

"Why didn't you say anything to my dad?"

"Have you seen your father? He'd freak out and high tail it out of this town."

"And you don't want that?"

"No—I..."

"You think Adelaide is still out there."

"Yes...I didn't want to leave without being sure, after breaking my arm, I know she's still here, I feel it."

Soleil sat next to her on the couch, this situation just got more complex by the second. "You saw something."

"I was in my trailer then the lights flicked off, when they came back on I was on an empty street." She gulped. "That was the place I would be at if Everett never found me but then, my family, you, your siblings—all had distorted faces and it scared the shit out of me."

Soleil held her hand, the one without a cast. "Take your time."

"Then this wrinkly, veiny, humanoid thing came close to me saying this wasn't personal I would be in a better place, that he need to have a distraction. He put his hand on my head and I—I felt my head hit the ceiling and my arm snap before I blacked out and woke in the middle of the living room. Adelaide had to have saved me."

"How are you sure it was her?"

"I saw a small dragon, it was just floating in front of me Sunny...it was her, that was her way of letting me know it was her."

Soleil pursed her lips together. An epiphany  came to her, Adelaide was watching over her all this time, it all made sense... "I saw a dragon too." She stood up. "Adelaide's been here this whole time—she's been saving everyone from being killed—"

"What are you talking about Sol?"

"The two kids that they found, almost murdered. You remember Eddie right?"

"Yes."

"His friend told me about all this crazy stuff that happened in this town. The guy that came after you is Vecna and he had every intent to kill you, Adelaide stopped it."

Cassie was shocked beyond measure. "He didn't seem like the type to let anyone go, I think you're right Sol."

"Adelaide's illusions, how powerful were they?"

"Very, she was able to make hundreds of people in the crowd see what wasn't there."

"Maybe she was fighting fire with fire, y'know like how Vecna made you see things, she countered with her illusions—this further proves Eddie's innocence!"

"Now you've lost me again. Why does Eddie need to be proven innocent?"

"Sorry-" She paced. "The gist is, Eddie's friend and a couple of other people tapped into a police radio, they think he tried to kill those two people which he didn't, but the whole town is gonna blame him. It's natural for these people,"

"And he didn't, this was Vecna's doing right? So, if I'm hearing all this correctly, you wanna prove him innocent?"

"Yes!" Soleil stopped talking, realizing she was speaking at a hundred miles a second. "...Does half of anything coming out my mouth make sense to you?"

"I'm kind of following, you're gonna have to explain who Vecna is."

Soleil spent the next few minutes telling Cassie about the Upside Down and Vecna, the two main things she needed to know for everything to make sense to her.

"You get it now?"

"Yeah...this is a lot—"

"Trust me, I know. I'm just trying to make sense of everything here and knowing my sister has my back,"

"Feels good."

"Damn right, it does."

Cassie leaned forward. "Vecna is the one behind all of this attempted murder and Adelaide has been here the whole time, possibly fighting him off. That's clear but what isn't is how you're gonna clear Eddie's name."

"I have an idea and it has to work." She ran a hand over her slicked-back hair. Cassandra looked up at her from the couch, noting the emotion on Sol's face. She was stressed out, thinking all of this could just fail.

"It has to work because if it doesn't, you'll feel like you failed him."

"Failed tremendously." Sol slumped, thinking she was getting her hopes too high, unsure that she could do anything to help the young man.

"You didn't even say what your idea is yet,"

"I don't wanna get my hopes up."

"But don't you wanna try?"

"You should be telling me to stop."

"I won't. You're an adult, I can't tell you what to do. You were chipper as ever when telling me all this so, what changed?"

"I don't want to fail."

"You didn't even try. You'll regret it if you didn't try."

She rubbed her face, cursing herself for being so indecisive about this. "Right again Cassie."

Cassandra nodded, sighing. "When you were little Sol, I felt you'd be different from your siblings. You wouldn't just heed your dad's every command—you lived a bit of life, they never did, they spent their whole lives in a Circus and died in a Circus. Adelaide was like that too, she was the only child of Everett that 'lived' per se. Not anymore though since you've arrived."

"You are telling me to go."

"You have the gift of fire and you know how to use it, I'm not afraid of danger coming your way but if it does, give it hell. Do what you need to do."

Soleil felt a newfound hope build in her, all thanks to Cassie's words. She had good faith that she could help Dustin and that she would help Eddie too. There wasn't going back, even if her idea failed, she could at least look Eddie in the face, knowing that she didn't lie about trying to help.

She took her yellow handbag and dug into her desk drawer for a pencil and an empty notebook she had never used.

"What's the plan?"

"If I can't rationalize what's happening here in Hawkins I'm gonna create a believable perception of whatever I find."

"A story?"

"Sort of." She wrote in the top corner of the notebook, 'The Findings of Callum Sol P.I.'"Writing a good story is similar to giving people a good show, you have to make sure they leave satisfied with the ending. So, we could say that these crazy murders attracted a private detective who was determined to find the truth."

"Like Sherlock Holmes. And you think this could help uh, maintain his innocence?"

"If I make it convincing enough and, there are some other people on his side that are trying to stop whatever is going in this town. I don't think they have enough time to get a cover story for Eddie."

"You'll need evidence to prove it wasn't him, a story about a P. I. working in the shadows isn't gonna be enough."

Soleil bit down on her pen. Cassie was right, she could write this cover story all she wanted but if she didn't have anything that would point to Eddie being innocent, it wouldn't mean anything. Especially since Callum Sol P. I. doesn't exist.

"But." Soleil looked at Cassie. "I think I know a guy. A little secret, your dad isn't much of a good ruler follower. This guy is good at fake IDs, licensing, and anything you need. One hell of a con man, funny how he used to be a cop considering the family he comes from."

"Who is he?"

She inhaled. "My brother. He only helped your dad because of what he did for me."

Who knew Cassie's family of law-breakers would come in handy?

"Looks like I'll get an actor for my script."

"And what's a good movie without any props?"

"Got a guy for that?"

"Now that is gonna require some digging into the phone book but, I got you. My other brother shouldn't be too hard to find. He's helped people fake a few deaths before, makes him good money."

Sol just stared at Cassie. "I knew your family was unorthodox but this takes it to a whole new level. Didn't even know you still talked to your brothers."

"We reconnected a few years back, they owe me a few favors from me covering for them when they snuck out of the house. Now, you go do your research so you can make this story so believable that not even the judge could argue with it. If I can convince them to help, they can get here within a day."

"I'll make sure to unearth my creative writing skills and get going." She pulled Cassie into a side hug to not hurt her. "Thanks for ever—" A harsh knock on the door alarmed the two.

Soleil approached her blinds to peek through them, she was taken back to see the whole of Hawkins' basketball team at her front door, they had to be here for Eddie. This is not how this was supposed to go.

"Open up Alastair! We just wanna talk." She heard Jason's voice.

"Shit, shit, shit!"

"What? Who is it?"

Sol whispered. "People who want revenge against Eddie, the first victim was the girlfriend of one of them."

"You need my help?"

"No—it's better for me to talk to them alone." The knocking continued. "Coming!"

Soleil looked around her trailer, her bathroom door was wide open and her robe hung on the door. Bingo. Sol bolted to pull the robe over her clothes and take her earrings off—luckily for her, her makeup was pretty natural so it wouldn't be completely unbelievable if she said she just woke up.

She glanced at her yellow handbag and after a few seconds of thought, quickly unzipped it and checked the chamber of her revolver, which was fully loaded with six bullets. She hid it behind her back as a last resort, finally opening the door and fake yawning.

"What are you doing here? You woke me up." Jason stood in front of her while most of the other boys gawked at her, all except for Patrick and a teen she heard the jocks call Lucas, and he looked away.

Jason gave her the most unnerving smile she had seen. "Soleil, we don't mean to disturb you we just need to know if you've seen Eddie Munson?"

"Why do you think I know who that is?"

"Because a little birdie told us you do."

She narrowed her eyes. "What did you do?"

Jason tried to force the door open but she stood her ground, holding him back. His smile faded, turning to a much more unhinged, sinister look.

"Look, that freak tried to kill my girlfriend, she's fighting for her damn life because of the things he did to her. He-he's in that Hellfire cult—that guy is not good news so just make this easy and tell us what you know."

Sol slowly shook her head. "He didn't do anything—"

"What? You sticking up for him?" Andy approached her. "Just tell us what you know so we can get this freak."

"Fine, you wanna know what I know?" She huffed. "What I know is all Eddie has been a sweetheart to me for the past few weeks I've known him. He is nothing like you say he is, I don't care how any of you look at me, I'm confident in his innocence. I know that D&D is a game based on Lord Of The Rings and that you roleplay as fantasy characters that go on quests and fight. No devil magic there because that's thrown everywhere to make things seem scarier."
She watched as Jason's fists tightened. "And finally, I know that your vigilante justice is gonna get you hurt Jason and I can understand you're grieving but you're looking for trouble."

"I refuse to stand around while my girlfriend has almost been murdered by a freak! While they call her a druggy. Would you?"

"Look, I didn't know her so I couldn't tell you what she was going through, and if she was using maybe she had a reason behind it. People don't tell you everything."

"Where are you going with this..." Patrick's voice was calm.

She stared him straight in the face. "You're already losing yourself, Jason."

"What?"

"What happens when you find Eddie huh? Your gonna murder him? Make him suffer, huh?"

He went quiet.

"You can't solve murder with murder. You'll only regret what you have done down the line. There's already been too much suffering and no matter what you think, hurting Eddie Munson wouldn't give you your closure."

"We aren't murders like him and-and how the fuck do you know?"

"I know a man, he's had the same look in his eyes as you did and he lost himself. C'mon man, you don't want to be in jail for this, you don't want to spiral downwards."

He wasn't having it. "I'm not gonna stand by here and listen to this."

"God, listen Jason! Believe me, I'm not saying you should sit around while your girlfriend has gone through this crap all I'm saying is that this won't end well for you if you do this."

"Bullshit."

She got closer to him. "You are so hellbent on revenge that it might already be too late for you. This will destroy you, Jason."

"You know something."

"If I did, I rather pull my hair out than tell you."

He went quiet again then, she was startled by him harshly shoving the door, pushing it wide open. Cassie stood up in shock while Sol, thinking fast pulled her revolver from behind her back. Most of the boys backed away from her, hands up, but Jason simply chuckled.

"You're not gonna shoot me."

"If you tried anything, I wouldn't blink if I had to put two between your eyes. Do you think this is the first time someone like you tried to barge in here?"

"Just tell us what you know, c'mon, it's that simple."

"Take that Starsky and Hutch shit somewhere else before you don't leave my doorstep, Jason." She pulled down on the hammer, cocking the .22.

"Let's be re—" Soleil aimed the gun at the sky, shooting upwards, the basketball players almost jumped out of their letterman jackets.

She aimed it at Jason again. "If you don't want to think about what I said, fine. Someone else on your team who has a bit of common sense might." Sol removed her robe, which almost made them pass out, revealing her full self. Still holding the gun she took a step outside, looking at Lucas and Patrick.

"This town has more secrets than you'll have years to live. Listen, boys, taking this into your own hands without knowing the full story is dangerous, stupid, reckless, and all of the above. Frankly, even though you had the nerve to show up at my home, I don't think you're stupid just misguided and grieving. That's fine but just know, not everything is what it seems." She looked back at Jason. "Now riddle me this Captain America, how's that for a speech?"

Jason glared and her and scoffed until he finally talked. "We're going." He directed the team to walk away from the trailer, still, he was fuming. Sol could hear one of the players muttering to Patrick, "You still sweet on her?"

"And by the way Jason! If you see me around, don't try anything—I always have a .22 on me, and I never leave home without it!"

Once they were far away enough, Soleil slammed the door closed, threw her robe onto the couch, and tucked her gun in her purse before slinging it over her shoulder.

Cassie had a look of approval on her face. "That's my girl!"

"It's like they have rocks for brains, can't let that bother me we got bigger fish to fry. I have to radio Eddie's friends, tell them to watch out, and explain my plan."

"Where are you heading first?"

"Trailer park, Eddie's uncle lives there with him, could find something to build the story on there."

"That's a good drive away from here."

"I thought about setting up a deal with Jackson to get him to drive me or something." She went over to her bed to pull her walkie-talkie out.

"Alright, I can cover for you and get in contact with my brothers."

"Do they work fast?"

"Time is money and money is time now—go before you miss Jackson on his smoke break."

"Right—thanks for everything, Cassie."

"No problem kid, just go!"

Sol took all of her stuff and hightailed it out of her trailer, heading to a part of the Circus where all of the vendors were located. Sol knew that Jackson liked to smoke near a shady tree area that was close to his pretzel stand. Jackson was smoking a cigarette.

Sol ran up to him. "Hey, Jackson? I need a favor."

"What is it?" He outed his smoke.

"I need you to be my chauffeur for a few days in exchange, I'll be your wing woman so you can...possibly get with Kara."

He jumped up. "Where are we going first?"

"The trailer park."

"Wait—isn't that where that one student got killed?"

"Yes but, this is important and you don't have to come in there with me, just wait on the outskirts, I'll come back when I'm done."

He looked around before sighing. "Let me go get the car, Meet me at the front gate."

"Thanks for this Jackson."

He walked off and Soleil pulled the antenna of the walkie-talkie to radio Dustin about her plan.

"Dustin? You there?"

A few seconds passed before Dustin responded. "Yeah, I'm here."

"I got a plan, I think I can make a story convincing enough that clears Eddie's name."

"Wait, you know how to prove him not guilty?" She heard someone else's voice, another guy.

"Uh yeah, plus, it's not gonna include any of the crazy stuff you've seen."

"That's kinda was what Nance did for Barb..." The unknown voice said quietly before Dustin came back on.

"You think that's gonna work?"

"Yeah because a little birdie in a snapback told me that people think Hawkins is strange so maybe, just maybe, the people can believe a slightly strange story."

"Fair enough."

"Heading to the trailer park first."

"Alright, we'll radio you later. Over and out."

Soleil retracted the antenna and let out a breathy sigh before making her way to the front gate of the Circus to wait for Jackson.

She certainly knew making a believable story for Eddie's innocence wouldn't be an easy task but that was no way in hell she'd let that stop her.

Edit & A/N: Next chapter will be coming soon. Working on it! Hope you like the story so far.

-Rose♥︎