zero || eddie munson (UNEDITED!!!)

1 ~ d&d (edited)

Null woke startled from her nightmare, sitting abruptly upright, throwing her covers off her body. It was a nightmare she'd been having continuously for the past few weeks. It seemed as if every time she closed her eyes, everything that had ever haunted her, everything that had ever lurked in some dark corner of her mind, had teamed up and come to light, determined to swallow her with darkness.

Null ran her fingers though her hair, hands unsteady and shaking. She took a few deep breaths, and tried to focus on the feeling of her breath filling her lungs, breaths then escaping to fill the air. 

As she calmed down, she felt the cool air of a damp and dewy summer morning moving swiftly through the cabin window she'd left open as she fell asleep the night prior. She quickly moved to pull her blankets back up, nestling in the fuzzy fabric, pulling it up to her chin.

It was then she'd gotten a phone call. It wasn't unusual for her. Between Steve calling to check in, Eleven calling to update her on her progress in her new school, Will calling to talk about his latest piece of artwork he'd been working on, and the struggles said artwork posed, or even Jonathan calling, evidently high out of his mind, which was the only phone call that gave Null a small hint of comfort.

She'd been through too much, to put it mildly. She was raised and trained in a lab for what she assumed was around 14 years of her life, give or take. Her first family she ever had, she left, to save a sister from the lab. Since then, she'd been put to the take of saving Hawkins three times, from multiple threats. Null didn't want to be the hero anymore. She just wanted a normal life.

Luckily for her, her life now was just about as normal as it was ever going to get. She, like Eleven, has struggled with her powers since the last fight. Where Eleven lost them completely, Null just found it exceedingly difficult to use them. Null relied heavily on strong emotions to channel her powers, and now she just felt numb and desensitized, a ghost of her former self.

She'd gotten used to being fearful, to being extra cautious, paranoid. And even all of that couldn't save them all, in the end. Hopper still paid the ultimate sacrifice, countless people still died in the mall fire, as well as countless people dying from the mind flayer's possession. 

It was because of this that Null had broken up with Steve several weeks ago. She claimed she needed to mourn the loss of the only father she'd ever had, though it was more than just that. She just needed time, more than what her friends wanted to give her, that was for sure. 

Robin dropped by about 3 days after Null had made it clear she wanted to be alone, in complete solitude. Robin had banged on the door.

"Null! I know you're in there!"

Null strained herself to keep herself invisible, barely even able to accomplish that.

"That's okay. Don't show yourself. I just wanted you to know that I brought you some things. I've got some food, and bagels, just so you don't starve in your self induced isolation. I uh- well I also set up an account for you at Family Video, so I'm leaving some movies that I think you'd like, too. I'll come back in a couple days, when the movies are due back. You can just leave them outside. And if you need anything, food or toothpaste, whatever, just leave a list on top of the stack of movies and I'll try my best to get you whatever you need."

Null had smiled at that. Time after time she'd protected her friends, and now Robin was trying to do the same. 

Thus, Null had fallen into a routine. She'd wake up, making herself a half full pot of coffee. Whatever she didn't drink, she poured into a pitcher in the fridge. Eventually the pitcher would fill up, so she'd stop making fresh coffee and start drinking from the pitcher. Either way, she had a cup or two of coffee each morning.