ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴜʀɴ

Soleil never meant to keep Jackson waiting. She just needed to clear her head from that awful altercation. She needed to refocus.

Soleil crouched down under the Ferris wheel, it was turned off for the night and probably would be for the rest of the spring if the Circus stayed in Hawkins. There was no way for her to know anymore because as far as her father was concerned, she wasn't part of them, Regal wasn't her home.

Well, it wasn't like she would need a home for long now anyway.

She saw speckles of stars across the transitioning sky, morning was coming soon. In fact, it was almost bright daylight oddly. She didn't realize how long it took to walk around the whole place, one last time. Sol went to the concession stands she got food from when her dad was too busy, the rides she had grown to love so dearly, she remembered how magical her former home used to be but how that was gone and there was no turning back.

The young woman felt a stinging pain run through her right leg. She slightly lifted her jeans up and there she suspected, fresh burns right there on her ankle. She felt them up to her knee.

It was getting even worse, without using any fire at all, she was getting burned. She was quickly running out of time so she pushed herself to pull it together.

"Get off your ass Soleil, we got work to do."

She spoke quietly as she grabbed her duffel bag and her notebook, this was no time to forget why she was doing all of this.

The girl made her way to the front gate to exit the place for good. She was halfway out the gate till a sound stopped her in her tracks, it sounded like someone was crying. Soleil turned to her left to see Kelly of all people bawling her eyes out and holding onto something.

If Sol could she honestly would've left the woman right there but her conscious wouldn't let her. Being the bigger person was hard sometimes. Soleil walked right up to the woman who slowly looked up at her once she heard footsteps coming her way.

"Kelly? Are you okay?"

Kelly looked off to the side. "I'm-I'm fine."

"You don't look fine to me."

"Well, I am, alright? You're the one who looks rough."

Soleil rolled her eyes. Well, she tried. "Alright then, I was just trying to be nice..."

The young woman turned away getting ready to walk back to Jackson's car but, Kelly held her leg in place. Sol turned around, confused by the action.

"Damn it, wait Soleil."

"What? I thought you wanted me gone?"

A few tears rolled down Kelly's face before she mustered up the strength to talk. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to push you away."

Soleil couldn't believe it, Kelly was apologizing to her.

"You're actually apologizing to me?"

"Look I know I haven't made life easy for you and I'm sorry. You're the only one I can tell about this."

"Tell me what?"

"I'm getting there," Kelly mumbled something to herself. It sounded like she said, "I can't believe I'm saying this to her." 

"I was—taking a walk and I saw an old friend." She looked down at her full hands that contained a paper folder. "It was someone I never thought I'd see again and she looked so young."

The woman stopped herself. Soleil grew more fidgety by the second, she couldn't take the anticipation, wishing Kelly would get to the point.

"Who did you see Kelly?"

"I can't say, she just wanted me to give you this folder. You know what it means I guess..." Kelly hand Sol the paper folder and she immediately opened it up. In it were a collection of letters and strange drawings of black widows, and a monster over what looked like to be the town of Hawkins, and the creepiest part is that they looked real, not like some fake prop. When Sol looked at the bottom of one of the letters, she gasped when she saw whose name was signed.

"Henry Creel." She read it ten times over again. Soleil instantly knew who was doing this,  and the girl behind this was getting bolder and bolder with her presence being known. This was almost all she needed, besides a written confession by Henry Creel but Cassie's brothers could handle that. Now only if she knew a little more about what truly happened on the night the Creel family fell.

Sol's eyes darted back up to Kelly. "You saw something."

"I told you I can't—"

"That's not what I meant. I don't buy that you were just walking."

Her jaw locked, and Sol had caught Kelly in her lies. "I, well, I, um I saw that kid."

"What kid?"

"C'mon! The kid who almost got killed, I saw him, and I...I ran away." Kelly's bottom lip shook, what she saw broke her psyche, it had no logic to it, there was nothing to hold onto and Soleil understood that feeling.

"I see."

"S-so you know what to do with that folder?"

"It's just what I needed. And don't worry Kelly, you won't be seeing me around much anymore."

"What the hell does that mean?"

Soleil sighed, her cognac eyes lowered to the ground. "It means I'll be with my brothers and sisters soon."

"Oh, oh God Soleil I'm sorry."

"Don't be, I'm not going out sad."

Soleil finally took all of her belonging and headed back to Jackson's car, but before she took one last look at the Circus not being able to fully let it go, oh well. It was time to suck it up.

When Soleil got to Jackson's car, the young man was cooked out behind the steering wheel, she didn't realize how tired she had got him, it made her feel a little bad.

Sol tapped the glass to the driver's window, which instantly woke Jackson up, she knew he was a light sleeper from the times he nodded off at work. When he saw her, he unlocked the side door ready with a bunch of questions.

"So, what happened?"

Soleil bunched her stuff on the seat, retrieving her walkie-talkie. "Dad kicked me out of the Circus so that's fun. But on the bright side, I got some more info for the hunt I'm doing."

"Holy crap! The boss kicked you out?" Jackson's eyes widened. "That's gotta suck, sorry about that Sol."

Soleil chuckled, it was strange. All these people feeling sorry for her lately. "It's alright don't feel sorry, it was a long time coming." She pulled the antenna of the walkie-talkie putting a little distance between herself and Jackson.

"Dustin, do you copy? It's Soleil."

"Yeah, I copy. What do you got for me?"

"Good news. I got something your gonna wanna see and I'm almost done with the story for Eddie. Tell Nancy and Robin I really need that background info on what happened the day the Creel family died."

"Alright I will but, we can't meet up right now. Can you, I don't know stay put till we can swing by the Circus."

"Negative. I got kicked out of the Circus."

"Shit, really? Where are you gonna go now?"

Soleil rubbed her face till she got an idea. "I'll go keep Eddie company. I don't have any other business anywhere else."

"You sure about that? You'll have to be careful—"

"I know Dustin and I will be." She paused. "What's going on over on your side?"

Dustin sighed heavily. "Bad news, Vecna coming for Max next."

"What? How do you know?"

"Vecna targeting people with bad trauma, it's-it's a long story. I can tell you later."

"Okay and Dustin?"

"Yeah?"

"...Tell Max not to worry, someone's looking out for her."

"Wh-what are you talking about? That's cryptic as hell—"

"There's something I need to tell you. It's important but I think everyone should hear it in person."

"We can't stay in one spot for too long—"

"I'll go to Eddie. If you need me that's where I'll be. Over and out."

She turned off the walkie-talkie knowing that she left Dustin and the others left with a bunch of questions but, they would have to wait for the answers while Sol was working the rest of the case out. She walked back to Jackson's car who was waiting for her to speak.

"Well, it's the end of the line Jackson."

The young man tilted his head. "So...you're leaving on your own."

Soleil took a deep breath, her voice sounded like she was drained emotionally, physically, and mentally, she was standing on her last leg. "I have no other choice, Jackson. Sorry, I couldn't help you out with Kara but, I'm pretty sure she already likes you for you. Thanks for everything."

Sol gave him a weak smile as she started to gather up all her things, shutting the car door. Jackson had a distraught look on his face, not knowing how to react to the news.

"Where are you going? I-I can drive you there—"

"No need Jackson, it's not that far, don't come looking for me alright? See you when I see you."

Before the young man could ask any more questions, Sol started the trek through the dense woods that surrounded the Circus grounds and Lover's Lake to Reefer Rick's house Eddie hid out. She only knew where the place was because Eddie showed her when they were out one night, she wasn't sure how many more of that kind of nights they would have together.

She walked and as she walked her bag became heavier on her shoulder, it was only when she finally saw the old house by the road that she felt some relief. The crisp cold air of the awaiting day graced her lungs but it was the only thing that was floating around. Fear had also joined the party, so much so that Sol almost felt like she couldn't move, the weight of the situation sure took its time to settle in on her.

"Adelaide, if you can hear me. Protect my friends, please."

The young woman looked around to make sure the coast was clear before bolting to the front door of the house, the sun was starting to make an appearance. Before Sol could even knock, she heard some muffled radio chatter. Her walkie-talkie.

She dug through the bag and when she found the device, she pulled the antenna out. Immediately, Dustin's voice was heard over the radio.

"Sol? Holy shit, you were right, someone is watching over Max. Vecna almost got her but somehow music created this lifeline to break her out, I don't know—"

Man, was Sol thankful that Cassie had that Blondie tape on repeat.

"Dustin, slow down. Max saw something?"

"Max saw quite a few things. She saw some girl in dark clothing that—hey, what are—" She heard the sound of shuffling over on Dustin's end till a different voice came over the line, it was Max herself.

"That girl freed me from Vecna, I don't know who she was and I didn't see her face but she took me to the exit while holding Venca back. I was being choked out the next thing I know, I'm at a beach in California. Who the hell has the power to do that? Who is this girl Soleil?!"

She was quiet, not sure about responding to that question. Soleil gulped, feeling a lump in her throat.

"You said someone was looking out for me Soleil, who is she?"

"...My dead sister."

"What?!" A few others joined Max in her confusion.

"Look she isn't really dead and we really shouldn't be talking about this right now—it's hard to explain but I will try my best in person."

Max sighed over the line. "Alright, fine."

"Talk later." She lowered the antenna and stuffed the device back into her bag finally reaching for the front door but, something was odd. The door was already opened up a little and the worse came to Sol's head.

"Eddie? It's me, it's Sunny!" She called into the house, but nothing. What the hell?

She looked around the back of the house to the shed, Sol could've sworn that she saw some movement behind the blinds, and against all her rational thinking, she started to make her way to the small shed.

Sol got to the old wooden door and took one last look around before she knocked on it, calling out for Eddie once again.

"Eddie? It's me." To her surprise, behind the door sounded like someone moving something out of the way. The door was opened just a little bit at first and after a few seconds, Eddie pushed it wide open wasting no time to grab Soleil and lock her into a tight hug.

Sol was caught off guard, dropping her bags as she winced a little from the pressure on her wounds but, that didn't stop her from hugging Eddie right back.

Eddie let go and took a few steps back, making sure that what he was seeing was real, that Soleil was here with him.

"Sunny...I'm more than glad to see you. Wait, why are you here?"

"I can prove you innocent, I'm just waiting on some more information and we have a case...plus I missed you." Sol mumbled the last part which Eddie barely caught though, he didn't bother her about it, only kept a smile on his face.

Eddie ushered Soleil into the shed before closing the door behind them and sliding something in front of the door to block it. Soleil looked around the shed, there was a half-eaten box of cereal on the floor ground which Eddie rushed back to eat while sitting on the floor, Sol joined him while placing her bags next to her. At that moment, the two were unsure of what to say to each other.

She started to dig through her duffel bag, feeling a little hungry herself after seeing Eddie eat, she was hoping that Cassie had put some snacks in the bag for her.

Eddie watched her and she looked but without warning, the jacket she wore shrugged off her shoulder slightly, exposing just how bad her burns had gotten. Her shoulder and upper arm were covered and as nature intended, Eddie started to freak out.

"Sunny? What the hell is that—" His eyes widened. "Yo-you're getting worse, oh God, you're getting worse. See I knew it was a bad idea to get you involved in this and you're dying now and-and everything is just bad right now."

"Eddie, take a breather."

"How Soleil? Everything in our lives is going to shit! And you're probably in so much pain—"

She pulled her jacket up to cover her
and put her hands on each of Eddie's shoulders. "I'm not dying right now alright? Eddie please, can we enjoy the time we got left?"

Eddie stared at her with wide eyes, Sol was right. There was no use in panicking when all that would do is make things worse, there was only time left, and that time had to mean something.

"Okay, I'm sorry for freaking out."

"It's all good."

Soleil continued to search through her bag, still for food but she found something she didn't expect. In the bag was her cassette tape player already loaded with a Metallica tape. There was also a pair of high-waisted dark jeans and a graphic tee. Well, a change of clothes was needed. Cassie did look out for her.

Sol looked up at Eddie. "I'll go change then I got a surprise."

He tilted his head, now curious. "Yeah, yeah, of course."

Soleil rested the cassette player on top of her bag while grabbing her clothes and heading to the very back of the shed to change. As she tucked the shirt inside her jeans, she looked over at the jacket that she placed in the corner, debating on whether she should keep it on.

But then the young woman looked at the injuries she sustained that covered her from her shoulders to her palm. The jacket it was.

She slipped the jacket back on and returned to Eddie, crouching down to plug out the headphones from the player as Eddie watched. Finally, she switched the player on, Metallica on low volume filled the shed. The look on Eddie's face was priceless, that had been the most positive thing that had happened to him in the past few days, besides seeing Soleil and his friends again. Things started to return to normal, just a little bit though.

Eddie cupped his face with his hands before speaking. "So...you think you can get me out of this?"

"I don't think, I know Eddie. I'm just waiting on Nancy and Robin to get back to me with some info and we're all set. Cassie will take care of everything from there on."

"I literally cannot express my appreciation for you. Putting up with me like this."

"Hey, I don't forget the people who help me."

He moved closer to her. "I still don't get how I of all people did that."

She chuckled. "You still don't get it, Eddie?"

"No, that's why I'm asking."

"Besides not treating me like a Circus act, you were kind enough to somehow make my last times on Earth worth something. God Eddie, you've made my life worthwhile even for a moment."

Eddie's face started to turn crimson, and he stretched his shirt collar. "I did all that huh?"

"Mhm, and you gave me something to fight for." She took his hand in hers. "Which is why I'm not going anywhere, no time soon."

He froze, he was expecting everything else but this from Sol, her forwardness wasn't fully unwanted, however. Eddie just had a lot on his mind, not enough room to process all of this, like how quickly they were moving, or the tension that he had just noticed starting to build in the air as Sol poured her heart out in front of him. The only way to avoid making himself seriously melt into a puddle was changing the topic.

"Ha, that's, that's something. Thanks for that, makes me feel like I'm not a complete failure."

"Your uncle thinks otherwise, we all do."

"Y'know speaking of everyone else, is Henderson and the whole mystery gang alright?"

"Yeah, they're fine it's just that uh, Vecna is targeting Max now."

"What? Mayfield?"

"He tried to get her but they saved her with music, long story Dustin could probably explain it better."

"Glad she's okay." Sol took a deep breath in and started to twirl a loose piece of her hair about her finger like she was holding something back, Eddie could tell and Sol knew Eddie could that's why she wasn't taken aback when he asked.

"You sure that's it?"

"Nope. I'll tell you when everyone else is here."

"Oh, okay." He searched for another topic. "Aren't they gonna notice you're gone at the Circus?"

That was when Eddie wished he had just stopped talking.

He saw a few tears sprout from Sol's eyes. "My dad uh, I came clean to him about what I was doing and he kicked me out so, he sure isn't looking out for me."

"Oh, Sunny I'm sorry, I didn't know." Great, he thought he messed everything up yet again.

She quickly wiped her face, clearly not wanting Eddie to see her like that. "No, no, it's fine. It'll be alright, I've been preparing myself for that for a while now."

Eddie's eyes drooped as he slowly moved to sling his arm around Sol's shoulders. It seemed like they were both in personal hells, they fought to find the good within their situations but it was getting hard. Hard to be an optimist, no matter how hard Soleil tried to look on the bright side, trying to tell herself that she could handle being kicked out of the only home she had ever known. She had started to crack, in more ways than one but this one move from Eddie was all it took to put her at peace.

Her skin felt unusually hot then it returned to normal temperature after Eddie had pulled her closer. It felt so right not just for Sol, but for Eddie too.

Beautiful was the word to describe Sunny's presence to him. Her company was the only thing that stopped him from going mad with paranoia. In his personal hell, she was Elysian.

They looked into eyes of each other once again, this time their collective presence was a little less intimidating but at last, it wasn't the right time for this. They ripped their glazes from each other once again, their faces both warm with the feeling of blood rushing to the surface.

Eddie scrambled for a new topic. "Hey, you hungry? Saw you looking when I was eating cereal."

"Oh, right." She laughed nervously, momentarily forgetting her hunger. "Yeah, I am."

Eddie popped up from the ground and held out his hand to her, he helped her off the ground. He spun around to pick the walkie-talkie he had with him off the floor."C'mon, I'm sure Rick has something in that house that we can eat."

"You sure that's a good idea?"

"Nothing I do is a good idea, besides anything that has to do with you of course."

"Smooth Eddie, real smooth."

The two peaked outside of the shed, checking if the coast was clear then, the two booked it to the main house, through the back door which Eddie promptly bolted locked once they were inside.

Sol and Eddie went I the kitchen where they both ransacked the cabinets for something to eat they were successful.

"Look what I found." Eddie held up a can of Spaghetti-O's and shook it. "Care for a childhood delicacy?"

She gave him a half-smile. "Sure, haven't had that in years."

Eddie grabbed a pot and lit the stove, he poured the Spaghetti-O's into the pot and started to heat them. They were done in no time. The two older kids ate the food straight out of the pot while Eddie radioed Dustin.

"Hey, Dustin, this is Eddie the Banished along with Soleil the Knight. You there?" The radio clicked, but there was no response. "Dustin, can you hear me? Dustin? Earth to Dustin—"

"Hey, it's Nancy."

Eddie and Sol looked at each other with surprise. "Wheeler! Hey. Um, I'm gonna need a food delivery, like really soon, unless you want me going out into the world."

"No. No, no, no. Don't do that. Stay where you are, and we'll be there as soon as we can."

"Yeah, yeah. Listen, um...can you pick me up a six-pack?" Soleil looked at him as if to say really, Eddie? "I know, it's stupid as shit, drinking right now, but a cold beer would really calm my nerves."

"Hey, I'm gonna have to call you back." Nancy's tone of voice seemed frazzled like something just went wrong. Soleil fluttered her eyes, realization came to her, she had a question for Nancy.

Soleil gently took the walkie-talkie from Eddie. "Nancy? It's Soleil, what did you guys find out about—oh, great she hung up on us."

What luck they had indeed.

—㋛—

Sol and Eddie bypassed the time by heading back to the shed, talking, and eating a few snacks Sol had found in her duffel bag.

Eventually, the two were out of things to do and started to throw rocks into an old can, that's how bored they were. For a while, it was only the sound of rocks clattering against metal that was heard...until a vehicle rolled up to Reefer Rick's house.

Oh shit.

Eddie and Soleil instantly jumped up from their spots and looked out of the window in the shed. They watched as the Hawkins basketball team jumped out of a Jeep, with weapons, heading towards the house. Suddenly, this situation had gone from zero to a hundred in a matter of seconds.

"Shit. Shit." Eddie whispered as he moved to look out the side window.

Soleil's eyes widened but there was no panic in her tone when she spoke. "We need to leave now."

"How?!"

"I'm working on it!" This was not good, so many things were going through Soleil's mind as she gathered her things ready to run if needed.

Eddie picked up his walkie-talkie again, desperately trying to get a hold of the others. "Hey, Dustin. You there? It's Eddie. You remember me, right? Hey, if anyone's there, I really think I might be in a bit of trouble. Okay? Wheeler? Anybody?!"

"We don't have time for this Eddie, we gotta move it's either that or hide. Keep away from the windows."

He nodded profusely while crouching beside Sol, who was already on the ground. She could hear his intense breathing, he was panicking again. Sol held the side of his face, she couldn't have him doing this, it'd only make the current situation worse.

"Deep breaths Eddie, focus on me. Everything will be alright." Sunny started to inhale and exhale and a calmer pace which Eddie followed, he didn't expect it to help him so much but it did. He needed something to stabilize him, who knew how long they would be there? The jocks weren't leaving anytime soon, Eddie knew Jason and he knew how persistent he was. If they were no doubt in the Hawkins Basketball team leader's mind that Eddie has done something to Chrissy, he was going to have his revenge.

The minutes the two spent in the shed felt like hours, and eventually, hours did pass and the jocks were still searching the house, Sol's deep breathing methods were starting to fail as anticipation grew.

"The hell? How have they still not left yet?" Sol's eyebrows furrowed.

Eddie franticly picked up his walkie-talkie again. "Dustin? Please. Are-are you there? Never mind." His eyes darted to a speedboat, it had a tarp half draped onto it, there was an idea. "Sunny, help me get this thing in the water."

"Alright, escape plan it is then. Go, I can fend them off. I'll meet with the others so that I can finish your cover story."

"Are you serious—there is no way in hell I'm letting you do that."

"Ed—"

"No way Sunny! You're coming with me whether you like it or not."

"Fine..." She groaned, so close to finishing Eddie's cover story but now the jocks had put that on hold.

The two worked to lift the speedboat into the water via the small dock that was integrated into the shed, they loaded themselves and their belonging onto the boat before Eddie started paddling like hell, just in a nick of time before Jason and the other players broke down the door to the shed, putting a bit of distance in between the two groups.

However, that didn't last for long.

"Hey, freak!" Jason called out to Eddie but when Soleil looked back at him, to say he was surprised was an understatement. "Where the hell do you two think you're going?"

"Shit." Eddie breathed out as he gave up paddling, trying to start the engine.

"Jason! Don't come any closer, I'm warning you!"

"Just. Come. On!" Eddie was becoming frustrated with the boat. All of Sol's efforts to ward off Jason were failing, they were running out of ideas quickly as the team started to get underdressed to go into the water.

"Jason, listen, remember what I said? He didn't do this! Please, just hear us out!"

Jason wasn't having it as he and Patrick got closer and closer to the boat. Eddie had picked up the paddle again, and Sol thought about using her powers, but was that such a good idea in this case? Everything seemed hopeless like this was the end for them till Patrick stopped swimming.

"Come on. Let's go, almost have them!" Jason called to Patrick but all the older teen did was look around like he was spooked, even Sol tilted her head at his actions. "Hey Patrick, Patrick!"

He went underwater, Soleil could hardly believe it. Eddie's eyes were wide open, looking for where the basketball player went, that question would soon be answered as Patrick shot out of the water and into the sky, floating there as some invisible giant had grabbed him out of the water.

"What the..." Soleil had no words left and she was only moved by the sound of Eddie falling out of the boat into the water. "Eddie!"

It was tough to try and help Eddie out of the water while observing Patrick who was still floating in the air and soon, his left leg snapped like a twig, it was horrid to see in person. Soleil felt her skin get hot even when Eddie's wet hand held onto her arm. She was clueless, hopeless about what to do so she did the only thing she could do, shut her eyes tight and pray that Adelaide could hear her.

"Adelaide, oh God, Adelaide if you can hear me somehow—help!"

She heard one last snap and a scream that didn't sound like Jason or Eddie before the body of what she assumed was Patrick dropped back down, that's when she finally opened her eyes. Eddie grabbed onto her and she pulled him up.

As Eddie shook the water off his body, Sol felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up like someone was behind her. So, naturally, she turned around to be met by a little black mystical dragon, the kind you'd read about in stories, the ones that knights fight. Ironic, she thought this was.

More shockingly, the dragon spoke to her in a low, feminine voice. "I am with you, sister. Soon we will meet." The dragon, flew away eventually bursting into sparks leaving Soleil amazed.

She wasn't alone.

"Crap, the walkie-talkie fell into the water. We gotta go, now—"

They didn't know it then but soon, Sol and Eddie would quickly figure out that they just took a brutal blow to the head, maybe proving Eddie's innocence wouldn't be as easy as Sunny thought.

A/N: Sorry for the wait y'all but I hope this chapter being long makes up for it! I have another question though, after this fanfic which would you guys rather read a Dallas Winston fanfic (for the Outsiders Fans) or a Stranger Things—X-Men crossover with Billy Hargrove (Sounds wild but I have an idea in the works)? Let me know and as always, thank you so so much for reading!

-Rose ♥︎