Chapters: 1/?Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016)Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence,

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Relationships: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson Characters: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Dustin Henderson, Nancy Wheeler, Robin Buckley, Vecna (Stranger Things), Wayne Munson Summary:

One of my readers suggested I turn this one shot into a short little fic and I loved the idea, so here it is

Updated version of chapter one, Also on AO3

Another Life

Chapter One

1986. The Upside Down. They'd taken down Vecna but the clock had chimed four times. Max had died. The ground had rumbled, the giant gates had opened into Hawkins. Somehow Max had come back and was in a coma, probably blind and had broken legs and broken arms. And Eddie. Steve had found Dustin sobbing and holding Eddie's limp body in his lap, the swarm of bats dead all around them.

That moment had mixed feelings for Steve. He wasn't sure what to think about those feelings. Intense grief that he didn't understand, he'd barely known the guy. He'd felt the world stop spinning, he'd lost all sight of everything except Eddie. He didn't cry, though he wanted to. Instead he let anger flow through his veins.

Yes he had only known Eddie for about a week, but he had been charming and sweet and had been awakening something unknown in Steve. Eddie couldn't hurt a fly, even if he wanted to. So why did Eddie have to die? What made him so unworthy of life? It wasn't fair.

Pulling in a deep breath, he wasn't even aware that his eyes were brimming with tears. He walked over and scooped Eddie up, settling him on his back.

"What are you doing?" Dustin says, sniffing and wiping his eyes.

"Bringing him back to Hawkins. So his Uncle has a body to bury."

Steve didn't leave any room for argument. He carried Eddie back through the gate. The next few days were a blur. Presenting Eddie's body to his uncle Wayne. Telling him that Eddie had been a hero, that he'd died to save this town. Helping Wayne organize a funeral and paying for everything.

Time began to pass and Steve did cry. He mourned Eddie's loss. He started closing in on himself, hiding himself. He stopped going to work and ended up losing his job. It wasn't that big of a deal, his parents still sent him money and took care of paying for the house. The house that was too empty.

He stopped seeing his friends, not even Robin could bring him out of his shell. The only time he ever saw them around was when he needed to go shopping and he'd cross paths with them, only offering a simple nod. Somehow, Wayne had figured out what Steve was feeling before Steve even figured it out.

Steve had been visiting Eddie's grave when Wayne had found him. Laying down a bouquet of lillie's, and sitting in the grass, lost in thought, tears rolling down his cheeks.

"You alright there son?"

Steve blinked and wiped at his eyes, turning his head to look up at Wayne.

"No. I don't know why it hurts so much. I barely knew him."

Steve's voice cracked a little as he spoke, a little hoarse from crying.

"You knew him. Even for a little bit. It's ok to grieve for someone you knew and lost."

Wayne seemed like a kind man, someone who understood.

"It feels like. There's a hole in my chest. One that I can't fill."

A look of understanding had crossed Wayne's features then and he took Steve to the old trailer. It was mostly destroyed by the opening gate but Eddie's room had remained untouched. There, Wayne gathered all of Eddie's cassette tapes, his jewelry, some of Eddie's clothes, his cologne and his stash of drugs and put them all in a box. And then he grabbed Eddie's acoustic guitar, the one that had the words 'This machine slays dragons' written on it in black ink.

"I want you to have these. I got no use for em. I got all the pictures I need. Maybe these will help you feel closer to Eddie. Like he's with you."

Steve started crying again because was giving him a chance to grieve and remember, maybe to try and help fill that hole in his heart. He'd thanked Wayne profusely then and the two had hugged before Steve went home.

Metal wasn't really Steve's scene, but it reminded him of Eddie. So he started listening to it. He'd wear Eddie's clothes, spritz them with Eddie's cologne, he'd started teaching himself how to play that acoustic guitar. Sometimes, when the pain was too much, he would get high on some of Eddie's drugs.

He wore some of Eddie's rings, sometimes on his hands, sometimes on a chain. He would go to Eddie's grave every week and lay down fresh flowers, remove the vandalism and just sit, pretending he could feel Eddie's presence. His friends never stopped trying to pull him out of his shell, to interact with them.

He always turned them down. It took him an entire year to figure out why Eddie's death was hitting him so hard. First, he had a sexuality crisis. Analyzing every interaction he'd ever had with Eddie, how it had made him feel and think. He figured out he was bisexual.

Then he analyzed those moments again, in a different way. Now that he knew he was bisexual, what did those moments mean to him? And he came to the conclusion, that he'd fallen in love. Those feelings he held for Eddie were far more intense than he'd ever had for Nancy.

And all the bullshit about wanting Nancy back, that dream he'd told her about, it hadn't been real. He'd been subconciously deflecting, pretending that he and Eddie were nothing but platonic, even if Eddie was a little touchy and flirty. He'd pretended that's how Eddie was with everyone.

Coming to the conclusions that he did, Eddie's death hit him so much harder, even after a year. An intense wave of grief, like a cloud that loomed over him and he couldn't get rid of it. Not that he wanted to. He wanted to wallow in his grief. Eddie deserved to have someone grieve for him.

Then and there, he vowed that in the next life, in another life, he would find Eddie. No matter what it took, he would find Eddie again. Two years after Eddie's death, in 1989, Steve was sitting at Eddie's grave, laying down fresh flowers and removing the 'Burn in hell' that had been painted onto the headstone.

Things were changing again. Steve could feel it, in his bones, in his soul. It was like he could feel that another fight was coming, that Vecna was coming back and he would be stronger and angrier. He could feel that some of Nancy's visions were going to come true. He could feel the change in the air.

And then it did happen. An army of monsters, pouring into Hawkins. People screaming and running, people dying. He hadn't spoken to or seen much of his friends in the last two years but he still loved them. Still cared about them. Still would die for them.

So he brought out his trusty nail bat and started fighting through the thick of monsters. His only goal was to keep his friends safe, keep them alive. Because they deserved to live. And Steve. Well Steve had a plan for himself. He was at peace with that plan.

He had a goal for that plan. It would be based on belief, luck and hope, but he had to try. Nothing and no one was going to stop him from going through with that plan. Not the kids, not Nancy. Not even Robin.

Can anybody help me? Years ago I read a Hermione and Snape fanfiction on Wattpad where Ron gets cursed when he proposes to Hermione and it's because she's already bound to Snape in a marriage bond. The bond has to be activated by a kiss and though they never kissed she gave him CPR during his recovery from the war and she called it the kiss of life. I've been trying to find it and I can't find it anywhere

I love the whole Steve's parents started leaving him alone at a young age. But what if it's reversed? In Flight of Icarus Eddie's mother dies when he's six and he's raising himself and living alone by the time he's eight. So what if his father starts leaving him alone after his mother's funeral? Little six year old Eddie, who's father left for a couple of weeks. Then a couple of months. And then a couple of years. I just think that's something we could explore. Also in the book, Eddie doesn't move in with Wayne until his house burns down when he's 18

Chapters: 5/5 Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Relationships: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson Characters: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Dustin Henderson, Nancy Wheeler, Robin Buckley, Vecna (Stranger Things), Wayne Munson Summary:

One of my readers suggested I turn this one shot into a short little fic and I loved the idea, so here it is

Final chapter of Another Life

Chapter Five

Jayden ended up taking the whole week off, trying to wrap his head around what Alex had told him. At first he didn't believe Alex and he spent two whole days trying to pretend what he said wasn't real. But there was a nagging feeling that something had been missing from his life, and maybe this was it.

On the third day he finally worked up the courage to go on his computer and do some research. He booted up his computer and then went onto the internet.

"Okaaaay, Hawkins."

He typed in the name and the first thing that came up was Hawkins Indiana. He clicked on it and went through a few pictures and articles. Pictures of Hawkins High and Hawkins Middle School. Pictures of a few neighborhoods. The schools seemed familiar and so did Forest Hills Trailer Park. It was like he'd been to those places before but he couldn't pull up any memories.

The articles he read were about tragedies that had befallen Hawkins from 1983 to 1989. A Barbara Holland going missing and reported dead and a little boy named Will Byers that had gone missing, was found dead in the quarry, then miracelously was not dead and labeled Zombie Boy, both happening in 1983.

In 1984 it was strange crop deaths that were never explained, and a man named Bob had died a mysterious death. In 1985 there was a mall fire and a lot of people had died. The names that for some reason stuck out for him were Billy Hargrove and Jim Hopper, Hawkins local police chief. 

In 1986 there was a massive earthquake as well as three satanic ritual murders. Those among the dead were Chrissy Cunningham, Fred Benson, Patrick MacKinny, Jason Carver and Edward Munson, along with others that died in the earthquake.

Finally, in 1989 there was a town wide panic, that the gates of Hell had opened up and monsters had flooded Hawkins. Many had died and among them was Steve Harrington. Edward Munson had been blamed for the satanic killings, at least until 1989 when the town saw Steve Harrington die the same way the other killings had happened and by a monster that had come into Hawkins.

His mind reeling, Jayden stepped back from his computer. This was a lot of information to process and he was struggling to believe any of it was real. According to Alex, he had been Steve Harrington in his previous life and Jayden had been Eddie Munson in his previous life.

None of it made sense, yet all of it made sense. Over the next three days, memories started slowly coming back to Jayden. Memories of his previous life. He remembered his parents, Alan and Elizabeth Munson. He remembered that his mother loved Muddy Waters and had records that she would take everywhere she went and called them her plane tickets.

He remembered his father teaching him how to play guitar. He remembered his mother putting those records on and dancing around the living room with him. He remembered his father was away from home a lot. He remembered his mother singing him to sleep when he had nightmares or reading him a story before bedtime.

He remembered his mother getting sick. He remembered her dying and her funeral when he was six. He remembered that when he was eight, he started living in his childhood home alone. His father would disappear for years at a time. He had to teach himself how to cook and clean and take care of himself. Sometimes he would go without heat or electricity.

He remembered his Uncle Wayne would come by every two weeks with groceries and to check on him. He remembered in middle school he was forced to participate in the school talent show, so he'd formed his band Corroded Coffin with his best friend Ronnie and a couple of other kids, and they'd played Painkiller by Judas Priest.

That was his first interaction with Chrissy Cunningham. She'd sat with him before the talent show and talked to him, pointing out that her mother was there to see her do her cheer routine, but he'd picked up on some issues, though he'd never questioned it.

He remembered high school, and the torture he'd endured. Being labelled a Freak, a Cultist, among other things. He remembered that he had been bisexual, but he remained steadfast, that in this life he was gay. He remembered Senior Year, 1984. He was 18 years old. 

Whenever his father would come back into his life, it was always to try and rope Eddie into some illegal activity. At 18, Eddie was a bartender at The Hideout, a little dive bar in town. It was where his band was allowed to play, Tuesday evenings for an hour. In previous years he'd tried to kiss Ronnie and it turned out she didn't like him that way but they'd still remained best friends.

She was supposed to get ready for college. His father had strode in, roped him into stealing 20 pounds of weed and selling it to Reefer Rick for $15,000. He'd only agreed because he had a girlfriend who'd scouted him and gotten him an audition at a record label in LA and he was going to move in with her. He was poor so he needed $5,000. 

He'd had a gun pulled on him twice, the second time he'd been shot at. He'd quit his job, Principle Higgins had called him a rotten apple infecting others, blackmailed him into dropping out of high school by threatening to ruin Ronnie's chances of going to college. 

The people they'd stolen the weed from had been his fathers old coworkers, worked for a drug kingpin. His father had lied to him, manipulated him. They'd set fire to Eddie's childhood home, burned his mothers records, which he'd tried to save but to no success. They'd shot a cop, Officer Callahan outside the burning house.

His father had tried to tell Eddie he needed to run, that he'd be arrested just for being a Munson. But Eddie had refused, tried to help Callahan, tried to put pressure on the wound and stop the bleeding. And his father had stolen his keys, took off with his van. Bailed on him.

He'd been arrested, he'd called his girlfriend to tell her he couldn't make the audition. She'd freaked, called him an asshole for possibly ruining her job and broke up with him. He'd been bailed out and then moved in with his Uncle Wayne, who'd managed to save his guitar from the wreckage.

He'd noticed his uncle drowning in overdue bills so he'd tried to get a job. No one would hire him so he'd turned to dealing drugs for Reefer Rick, who'd said if he ever needed it, he'd have a job with him. He'd found out Higgins was a drug addict and blackmailed him into letting him go back to school and keep his D&D club Hellfire Club open.

He'd failed senior year. Twice. Ronnie and another guy from the band had gone off to college and he had two new members, Gareth and Jeff. Throughout these memories coming back to him, Jayden tried to put them off as just dreams, because they would only come to him when he was asleep.

But on the seventh day, Jayden was starting to go crazy. So he'd done some more research. He'd found a picture of Steve Harrington, and his mouth dropped. Alex looked almost exactly the same, though his hair was a lighter blondish brown than Steve's and his eyes were more amber gold than Steve's.

Wanting to dig deeper, he found a picture of Eddie Munson in 1986. And all Jayden could do was stare. Because Jayden looked exactly the same as Eddie Munson did. The only difference was that Jayden liked eyeliner and black nail polish. He had more tattoos and different tattoos than Eddie Munson.

And then visions flooded Jayden's mind. Vivid ones. Chrissy's death. Meeting Steve. Patrick's death. The Upside Down. The bats. Shredding Metallica's Master Of Puppets. Bats tearing at his flesh.

Memories. Jayden gasped and rubbed his head which was now starting to hurt. He remembered. He remembered it all. He scrambled off his chair, searching frantically for Alex's address, because calling him just wouldn't do. Once he found it, he got in his car and drove to Alex's apartment.

Alex was eating a frozen dinner and watching a rerun of Friends when he heard frantic knocking on his door. Frowning he got up and went to the door, swinging it open. Jayden was there, eyes wide and breathing heavily.

"I remember. Steve. I remember."

Alex blinked a few times.

"Eddie?"

Jayden surged forward then, mouths crashing together and hands cupping Alex's cheeks. It was a hungry and desperate kiss, mouths and tongues tangling as Alex pulled him in, kicking the door shut behind them. They kissed until they could barely breathe and finally they pulled away.

"You remember?"

"I remember it all. God, why did I tell you to make him pay instead of fucking kissing you?"

Alex started crying then. Because Jayden did remember. He held Jayden tighter. 

"God, why didn't I kiss you? I knew that wasn't what you really wanted to say, I knew there was something else there."

"Neither of us expected it to be the last time we would see each other. But Steve you found me. In another life, you fucking found me."

"I was always looking. Always looking, and I never gave up. I would spend this entire life looking for you if I had to."

"God I love you so fucking much."

"I love you too Eddie. In our previous life. In this life. In the next one. In every life."

(Most elements of this chapter is Eddie's canon past from the book Flight Of Icarus. It's just a brief summery but this is a disclaimer. I do not own any elements from Fligh Of Icarus, just adding it into this fanfiction to give backstory to Eddie and the memories of Eddie that Jayden recovers when they start coming back to him)

You know what I'm kinda mad about? In the first Bayverse movie we see that Raphael has a chain, he uses it to pull April onto the roof. But then we never see the chain again. I thought it was a really cool throwback to the chains he uses in the 2007 animated movie with the stone generals but we only get a glimpse of the chain and I'm kinda mad about it. I wanted to see him use the chain in action

Chapters: 4/? Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Relationships: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson Characters: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Dustin Henderson, Nancy Wheeler, Robin Buckley, Vecna (Stranger Things), Wayne Munson Summary:

One of my readers suggested I turn this one shot into a short little fic and I loved the idea, so here it is

Another Life

Chapter Four

In 2010 Alex is 20 years old. Ever since remembering his previous life, Alex had spent his life searching for Eddie. Every school that he went to, every area around his home, every area around his apartment when he moved out on his own. Desperate and searching, he never gave up.

Finally on a slow Thursday afternoon he spots it. A tattoo parlor called Aces and Spades. What caught his attention was the person in the window. Alex looked slightly different, but mostly the same as when he was Steve. He still loved his hair just as much, though it was a lighter color, blondish brown. His eyes were more amber gold than anything, but the rest of him remained the same.

And standing at the counter inside the tattoo parlor was a man that had plagued Alex's dreams his whole life. He looked exactly the same. Same wild brown curls down to his shoulders. Same beautiful vibrant chocolate brown eyes. Same style in fashion, though this man added eyeliner and black nail polish.

Alex's heart leapt to his throat. He'd vowed in his previous life to find Eddie in the next one. And he had. The shop didn't seem to have any customers and immediately he knew what to do. He was going to get a tattoo. He prayed that Eddie remembered just like Alex did. Taking a deep breath Alex opened the door and stepped inside.

And the second Eddie's head lifted and that beautiful smile appeared, the wind was knocked out of him. He was just as beautiful as Alex remembered. This Eddie had much more tattoos and different tattoos than the previous life's Eddie, but he still looked gorgeous. Eddie stuck out his hand. 

"Hi, I'm Jayden. What can I do for you?"

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Alex shook Jayden's hand.

"I'm Alex. Um. I was. Wanting to get a tattoo."

There was no recognition on Jayden's face, just a kind smile that lit up when Alex said he wanted a tattoo.

"Sure thing, you have an idea?"

"Oh, yeah."

Together the two of them worked out what Alex wanted and Jayden drew it up. Then Alex was sitting in a chair with his shirt off. Jayden shaved half his chest so the tattoo could go right above Alex's heart. The two chatted throughout the long session, easy conversation. And Jayden was much the same as he had been when he was Eddie.

"So. The 80's look," Alex says.

Jayden's face lit up.

"Oh yeah! I really like the look. My dad was a big 80's metalhead fan so I kinda grew up with it."

Alex couldn't help but smile.

"It suits you."

Alex kept throwing out hints of their previous life, hoping Jayden remembered something. But nothing came of it. When Jayden finished the tattoo it was beautiful. Exactly what Alex wanted. Eddie's Warlock guitar crossed with Steve's nail bat.

He hoped the tattoo would stir something. And now that Jayden was actually looking at the finished tattoo, he was frowning.

"These look familiar. Don't know why, but they do."

Alex sucked in a breath.

"You don't remember your previous life, do you?"

Jayden's eyes lifted to meet Alex's, his eyebrows shooting up.

"I don't think anybody remembers their previous life."

"I remember mine. I was born in 1966. Lived in Hawkins Indiana. Rich parents who were. Pretty shitty actually. I played basketball and baseball, was on the swim team. And after high school. I met you. I mean previous life you. This," Alex says tapping on the Warlock guitar tattooed on his chest.

"Was your guitar. You were in a metal band, Corroded Coffin. A year older than me, but still in high school. And the nail bat was mine. Because we fought against an alternate dimension, supernatural creatures in 1986. That was. That was the year you died. And I died two years later. Fighting the same thing."

Jayden was staring at him now, blinking and trying to process this information.

"I. This sounds. It sounds crazy."

"I know. I know it doesn't make sense, but I remember. I remember everything. I remember vowing. That I would find you in another life. The next life. And maybe that vow is why I remember that life, I don't know."

Jayden's eyes were wide, mouth opening and closing.

"How do you know it was me? I mean in this life, how do you know it's me?"

"You look the same. Nothing about you has changed. Maybe your life and your family, but your soul. Your soul has remained the same, who you are has remained the same. What you look like has remained the same."

Jayden blinked again. 

"If all of this is true. Why. Why would you make a vow like that, I mean what was I to you?"

Alex's mouth went dry.

"We never got the chance to figure that out. We never got the chance to talk about it. We were dealing with bigger things, scarier things. But I. Jesus, I fell in love with you. And I never got to tell you and then you. You died. So I vowed that in another life I would find you again."

Jayden sucked in another breath.

"How am I supposed to believe any of this?"

"I don't know. And even if you never do. I just. At least I got to tell you this time. What you mean to me."

Alex could tell Jayden needed time so they awkwardly finished up, Alex paid, left his address and phone number just in case. And then left.

(Incorporated part of the one shot into this little fic to tie everything together and make everything make sense)