i am ember burning down your empire

STRANGER THINGS
SEASON 1 — ??

☆☆☆

EMBER.
eddie munson x fem!oc

EXPERIMENT ZERO WAS BORN INTO HELL.

Hell from an outsider's perspective, anyway. To anyone unfamiliar with their living situation, the underground tunnels that Zero and her siblings called home would certainly seem like some kind of torture. But, to the eighteen children who resided there, it wasn't Hell. How could it be? They were kept there for their safety, they knew that perfectly well.

Because the outside world is dangerous. There's a war going on, don't you know? And they must train to be able to fight whatever may come for them.

They also know that this basement isn't forever. One day, when they're all grown up and their powers are at their strongest, they will become weapons. They will fight for their country and they will win.

So, when ten-year-old Zero is told that her training is done, she's excited. She'll be allowed out earlier than the rest, even though Two is already fourteen and even he's still in training. She expects to be suited up and shipped out to fight the Commies, to win her Papa's love and approval.

Only, instead of taking her to the surface, they bring her back to her bedroom and lock the door behind her. They deliver two meals a day, someone sits on the other side of the door to talk with her, sometimes they even slip her a book. But they don't let her out, save for a few, infrequent, demonstrations for her siblings. Because, although Zero's power — the ability to create and control fire — is the strongest the Lab has seen in a very long time, they don't believe she will ever truly be able to control it.

Her confinement is for her safety, they say. It is also for theirs.

It takes years of the same routine in that little room — wake up, eat, read, train in secret, eat again, sleep, repeat — for Zero to become tired, bored, restless. She's finally had enough.

So, she leaves.

It isn't all that hard, either. After six long years, nobody really paid her much attention anymore. Nobody sat by the door and told her bedtime stories. Zero has no eyes watching her on the night she left.

Besides, the Lab had to have known that a simple locked door couldn't stop somebody with telekinesis.

Zero steals away, out of the Lab and into a cold, rainy November night with nowhere to go and nobody to run to. She just chooses a direction and goes, and goes, and goes until she winds up standing on Eddie Munson's front lawn, soaked to the bone with rainwater.

Eddie Munson, a boy she'd later find out was the town freak, a pariah, a complete and utter social outcast with no friends and the worst reputation anyone could imagine, takes her in. He gives her a place to stay, clothes to wear, food to eat.

And Zero, shedding her past as a lab rat, takes on a whole new identity.

Allison Floyd spawns into existence that night, shaped from the blood on her hands, tethered down by the lives she's taken, and just when she's adjusting to what could be her new, peaceful way of life, her sister has to go and open up an inter-dimensional portal.

Suddenly dragged into a new type of Hell, Allison realises just one thing:

She can't hide from the flames within her, no matter how much she wishes the embers will burn out.

cast;

abigail cowen is ALLISON FLOYD

joseph quinn is EDDIE MUNSON

with;
joe keery as STEVE HARRINGTON
natalia dyer as NANCY WHEELER
charlie heaton as JONATHAN BYERS
millie bobby brown as ELEVEN
joel stoffer as WAYNE MUNSON

recasts;
jaeden martell as WILL BYERS
eric lange as MURRAY BAUMAN

DISCLAIMER:
— i do not own stranger things. i only own my original characters and their storylines. everything else belongs to the duffer brothers.

TRIGGER WARNINGS:
— this story contains explicit language, major and minor character death, graphic descriptions of violence and gore, underage drinking and drug use, references to sex, references to mental health (anxiety, depression, ptsd), references to familial neglect, descriptions of torture (psychological, physical), references to abuse, mentions of eating disorders, homophobia, sexism, racism, references to suicide, and other various horror themes. please stay safe. <3

OTHER INFO:
— this is a repost of a fic i originally wrote back in 2022, but the idea itself originated in 2019. ember, under whatever title it had at the time, used to be a steve draft, but after watching season 4 i realised that allison fit so much better with eddie to not pair them up. i posted about a season and a half's worth of chapters until i discontinued the story bc it was an eddie fic barely any eddie, then posted a remake starting in season 4, discontinued that because we were missing too much of allison's story even with flashbacks, and now we've got this iteration which is working MUCH better.
— a HUGE thank you to the incredible skainatblida for the amazing cover!!! i'm blown away at how amazing it is <3
— all other graphics for this fic are by me and if u take them i will hunt you down

ONGOING!!

☆☆☆

started — late 2019
originally published — august 1, 2022
re-published — july 12, 2024
completed — ongoing

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