Chapter Text
Claudette Morel
Ever since childhood, Claudette has been quite good at distracting others... and herself. She’d daydream during any lesson that wasn’t related to science. She’d cunningly change the subject when her parents asked about friends that she didn’t have.
She’d thought she could finally stop treating every conversation like a landmine after Jake confessed his feelings for her. Yet when she’d finally found love, she was still forced to distract her boyfriend whenever his temper seemed to be getting the better of him.
Neither of them did well in social situations; Maybe that’s what brought them together in the first place? After living in voluntary seclusion for so many years, all of this shouting and chaos at the campfire could make Jake’s blood boil in a heartbeat. The stress brought on by the revelation of this strange new trial was making things even worse, Claudette could tell.
She felt just as anxious about it as him, but his recent mood swings were concerning.
They upset her. One minute, he’d be holding her hand, looking at her like she was a prized jewel; The next, he’d treat her like a stranger, like just another obstacle to navigate in this horrible place.
What had happened to the standoffish yet sweet boy who had eventually opened up to her about his old family troubles? Where was the man who had spent countless trials gathering flowers for Claudette when she’d told him about her interest in botany? How long had it been since he’d shown her any affection? Too long, that’s for damn sure.
Oddly enough, despite distancing himself from his lover, Jake was now more overprotective of Claudette than ever. She’d found it endearing, even comforting, at first, but it had grown out of control. The others couldn’t so much as look at Jake or Claudette the wrong way without him flying into an indignant rage. He’d storm off into the forest, and Claudette would have to chase him down and corral him back to the campfire. He’d look at her in a way that almost made Claudette doubt his love for her. Then, he’d come to his senses and mutter a curt “Sorry.” This cycle repeated itself between just about every trial.
Even now, she notices his fury nearing a crescendo: He taps his boot on the ground, wraps and unwraps his scarf, crosses and uncrosses his arms. It’s happened enough times for her to see it coming.
That’s what she hated the most. This incessant pouting was now their routine. She felt less like a girlfriend and more like a therapist.
Once again, Claudette swoops in with a perfectly timed---and perfectly rehearsed---distraction.
“What do you miss most, Jake? F-from your old life, I mean.”
He looks over at her, almost confused for a bit, before responding with a “Why are you asking?” and turning away again.
After all they’ve went through and spoken to each other about, he was still defensive about the littlest things. It baffled her. She remembered those times where everyone else was asleep, or at a trial, and they’d stay up together and just…talk: Their pasts, their hobbies, their childish gossip about the rest of the group. Sharing their feelings had been so easy during those moments.
Why couldn’t it stay that way? Claudette thought herself to be an empathetic person, but loving Jake Park had become exhausting. Thinking that made her feel like a monster, but it was true.
“Why am I asking?” The exasperated girl replied, livid---well, as livid as the meek Claudette Morel could be, anyway. “We’ve going to get out of here. We’re going to go home, Jake! Is it a felony for me to ask what you look forward to getting back to?”
He scoffed at that, as if Claudette had said something utterly ridiculous, but he at least had the decency to give Claudette a satisfactory answer. “My cabin….my mom….peace and quiet, mostly. Maybe a video game or two.”
From what Jake had told Claudette, his mother had been Jake’s sole lifeline to the rest of the world after he moved away from home. From the way Jake described her, she was only a few steps away from sainthood. Claudette loved hearing Jake reminisce about his fond memories with her---mainly because they were the only fond memories he had from his old life---but bringing up any member of Jake’s family, benevolent or not, wasn’t a good idea with Jake’s current mood.
Instead, Claudette latched onto Jake’s last sentence as if it were the holy grail of convenient diversions.
“Oh, you like video games? You never told me until now.” She said a little too quickly, faltering when Jake merely gave her a look of disinterest. ”Umm, w-what kind?”
He answered into his scarf, too embarrassed to say it very loudly, but Claudette was willing to be patient with him if it meant getting a short glimpse of the man she’d once fallen in love with.
Eventually, she heard it loud and clear: Animal Crossing was Jake’s favorite game. More importantly, his face lit up when Claudette revealed her mutual interest in it. Seeing him smile like that made her feel…better. Much better. Better than she’d felt in a long time, actually. Chasing the newfound high, Claudette suggested that they talked to Feng about it; She’d know if there were any new additions to the series for Claudette and Jake to enjoy when they (hopefully) escaped from this nightmare in the next trial.
Weaving their way through the crowd, Claudette’s question for Feng went unanswered when Dwight came out of seemingly nowhere and dragged the gamer away from the rest of the group. She’d not gotten a good, long look at him, but she could tell that he was nervous about something, more than likely the “grand trial”. Everyone was, of course, especially the anxiety-riddled Claudette, but Dwight has a bigger weight on his shoulders than the others. He’s the leader of this dysfunctional group, after all. Claudette understands that such a big responsibility could eat away at a person like Dwight. She’s known him longer than almost everyone here.
She can tell that they’re talking about something important, but she wants to respect their privacy. Claudette remembers the time her college roommate logged into her forum while she was gone, reading all of her private messages. Claudette didn’t have the backbone or courage back then to properly express her frustration; She’d just cried until there weren’t any tears left to shed.
Claudette turns to head back to the fire, but Jake beckons her closer to Dwight and Feng’s hushed conversation. She’s determined to put her foot down for once instead of giving into Jake’s childish desires…
Her resolve crumbles when he flashes her another smile.
Nancy Wheeler
One day your little brother’s friend is being controlled by a monster from another dimension; The next, you and your ex-boyfriend are trapped in another another dimension full of serial killers.
It had taken a lot of getting used to, but after what they’d been through, Nancy Wheeler and Steve Harrington have learned to adapt quickly. The Demogorgon was far less threatening now than it was before, since nobody could permanently die here, and The Spider was just a watered down Mind Flayer. “Been there, done that,” as Steve put it.
Even the stress of this new “grand trial” hadn’t really fazed them too much. They were both confident that Eleven would find them and figure out how to free them shortly. It had been almost three months since they’d vanished, and they haven’t heard anything from her in that time, but having Steve by her side through this ordeal has helped Nancy keep her mind off of that.
What was on her mind, however, was the fact that the leader of this group didn’t know how to lead.
Nancy spent most of her time now interviewing the other survivors about themselves and this realm while also saving the girls from Steve’s terrible ice cream-related pick-up lines. In fact, that’s what she had been doing at the very moment she’d seen Dwight and Feng slink away from the campfire, shortly followed by Jake and a reluctant Claudette.
From there, Nancy, being the young newshound she was, had dragged a protesting Steve and an exhausted Quentin---She felt sorry for him, and wanted to let him sleep, but if this was related to the grand trial, he needed to know what was going on---over to investigate. It didn’t take long before the entire group took notice and joined them in what was revealed to be a strategy meeting for the next trial.
If things hadn’t been chaotic before, they certainly were now.
“And when the hell were ya planning to tell u about this, eh?” David (The British one) hollered. He reminded her a bit too much of her misogynistic coworkers, but he was a tiny bit smarter and much, much braver. Unfortunately, that came at the cost of him being far meaner and shorter-tempered, which he was demonstrating now.
“He has a point, y’know.” Jane butted in from the back of the large crowd. “We don’t know when this grand trial will start. For all we know, it could begin in the next couple minutes, so if you want to come up with a plan, you two need to discuss it with all of us.” Jane wasn’t as aggressive as David was, her tone simply being that of a scolding teacher or parent. She had the charisma to stand up for what she believed in without adding fuel to whatever fire happened to be burning. After hearing about Jane’s motherless childhood, Nancy both admired and pitied the celebrity.
Dwight stammered, at a loss for a good rebuttal. It was clear to Nancy that someone else needed to be calling the shots, but being so new to the group, her opinion on this kind of thing likely wouldn’t be as valued. It was just so bizarre to her that they would choose such an indecisive person to make all of their difficult choices.
Then again, it had been challenging for Nancy to choose between Steve and Jonathan, so she couldn’t criticize Dwight much on that front.
While the nervous wreck was struggling to do his job, Feng was stuck justifying both of their actions to everyone. “Look, why the hell is this such a big deal? We were planning to tell everyone soon, Dwight just wanted to get some ideas together first so we didn’t make asses of ourselves.”
“Bitching and moaning isn’t going to fix anything, that’s for goddamn sure.” Bill intervened, causing the overwhelmed Dwight to let out a sigh of relief. Laurie, who had quickly bonded with Nancy due to their similar time periods and personalities, chimed in. “Exactly. Let’s just set our differences aside and get down to business.” Bill, along with the other semi-reasonable Survivors, seemed thankful for her support of his statement. Like now, Bill is often a voice of reason (As long as Nea isn’t talking, anyway), but Nancy tries not to speak to him unless it’s absolutely necessary.
When it came up that Bill had died before coming here, Nancy had hoped in vain that Barb had somehow ended up here, too; Nancy could apologize to her for all the things she’d said and done to her best friend at Steve’s party. That flicker of hope was snuffed out just as quickly as it had been lit, though, much to Nancy’s bitter disappointment.
She doesn’t really have anything personal against the old soldier, but now, every time she looks at him, she remembers the guilt and grief brought on by Barb’s death.
Everyone was still a bit on edge, what with the trial that determined their fates and the constant fighting that came with it, but that just made them more motivated to cooperate (At least, temporarily). After much debating, a rudimentary plan was made:
Laurie, Ash, Meg, David, Feng, and Nea would be the distractors; They’d do their best to divert the Killers’ attention away from the rest of the group long enough for the generators to get finished. Laurie in particular seemed to be almost eager to be chased, likely on the off chance that her brother would be in this trial. Laurie confided in Nancy enough for the brunette to know the gruesome details of her past. Nancy had been appalled by Laurie’s story of Michael Myers stabbing their older sister Judith to death.
Nancy imagined her brother Mike under that mask, stalking her through the streets of their neighborhood. It made her sick.
When any of the aforementioned 6 distractions were inevitably hooked, others would step in to swiftly save them. Claudette, Adam, Bill, Jane, and Steve volunteered to focus on unhooking and healing anyone who needed it. In the meantime, they’d repair generators with the third and final group: Dwight, Jake, Kate, Nancy, David Tapp, Quentin, and Jeff. Ace said something about just looting chests, but after a stern look from Kate, he also volunteered to repair generators.
Once the groups had been decided, Feng took the time to remind everyone of where the best pallets and windows were. They had no clue which place they’d end up in, so Feng went place by place: The small shack that was usually in the corner of each map, the gas station in Autohaven Wreckers, and so on. This part made Nancy nervous, and she could tell Steve felt the same. They were subpar at best when it came to being chased, and they hadn’t been here long enough to memorize the layouts of the many enormous places in this realm. Nancy studied the various buildings during trials, and being such a good student helped her learn some of them, but Steve was another story. He was capable, even without his baseball bat, but Nancy was worried for him.
She swore right there and then to get her friend and the others back home, safe and sound, no matter what.
No compromises.
No sacrifices.
No one left behind.
Quentin Smith
Quentin’s immense exhaustion had put him into a state of perpetual delirium, and recent events had only made it more severe.
The letter from the Doctor made him paranoid that the Killers, including Freddy, could physically interact with them even outside of trials.
This fear made him sleep even less than he already was.
Freddy haunted his dreams the few times he slept, and the only way he knew it wasn’t the real Krueger was that he wasn’t bleeding when he woke up.
The other Survivors could tell from the beginning that Quentin needed help, but they didn’t know how to stop his suffering. Someone would occasionally find some sleeping medication in the hospital during a trial, but it didn’t last long and wasn’t very effective.
Combining all this with the arrival of Steve Harrington and Nancy Wheeler and Quentin was sure that he was being taunted by The Spider.
Her porcelain skin. Her gorgeous dark hair. That same determination to keep going, even when staring death in the face. Nancy Wheeler was so much like Nancy Holbrook, and it made Quentin yearn for his crush even more.
After all they’d been through together, Quentin wondered if Nancy Holbrook was still looking for him. She probably thought that Freddy had taken him, and she wouldn’t be entirely wrong. The Spider had brought him here, but Freddy Krueger was still his main tormentor.
He missed Nancy so much. This Wheeler girl’s arrival had twisted the knife already stabbed into his heart.
And that wasn’t even the end of it.
Steve and her had come here together. Were they dating? He didn’t know, and it didn’t really interest him. What mattered was that they’d been allowed to stay together. That’s so unfair.
Quentin knew it was selfish, that he should be grateful that Nancy Holbrook is finally safe from Freddy, but he wanted her here. He wanted to see her again, even if it meant she had to suffer here with him. Why could this Steve guy have this Nancy with him, but Quentin couldn’t have his?
Bullshit.
And it knew. The Spider knew how this made him feel. This was intentional, it had to be. As if this place wasn’t hellish enough. He wanted his Nancy. This cruel replica, here to mock him, fueled his desire for freedom.
Quentin had to get out of here, he had to find Nancy Holbrook. The real Nancy. He’d escape. He’d find her, and she’d be his.
And if he didn’t, he’d at least make sure this Nancy knew how painful it is to be separated from someone you love.
Rin Yamaoka
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and Rin Yamaoka was (just barely) living proof.
She still feels the sting of her father’s betrayal, literally and figuratively. He’d taken everything away from her: Her beauty. Her mother. Her future. She hated him. Every time she sunk her katana into a victim’s flesh, she imagined how satisfying it would be to do the same to her dad.
Rin’s rage could not be quelled, and it was worsened due to her being tricked by The Spider. She’d been promised revenge, but Rin hasn’t seen her father here even once, let alone made him feel her pain. He probably isn’t even here at all.
Now, though, she’s been given the chance to leave, to finally get what she’s wanted for so long. She’ll die as soon as she leaves this place, but that won’t be an issue; Her grudge is too strong to be stopped by death. She’ll haunt that man for the rest of eternity for what he did to her.
Rin remembered every little detail of that night: The cool breeze on her face as she biked home from work, finding her mother’s mutilated corpse, that distant look in her father’s eyes as he tore her apart in their own home.
There was a small part of Rin that remembered different things about her dad.
Her birthday parties, which Father always made sure were extravagant and fun, even when money was running low.
She remembered how much he and Mother loved each other before Mother fell ill. Before their shouting matches started.
Rin remembered that she had wanted to be an English teacher in Kyoto. She recalled how proud her father had been when the university’s acceptance letter came, the happiness shining in his eyes.
As she discarded the Doctor’s letter and tossed her katana into the fire, a small voice in the back of her mind reminded Rin that she had once loved her father, and he had once loved her.
That didn’t matter.
She silenced that voice immediately, burying it in more rancor.
The Rin Yamaoka that misses those sweet moments is the Rin with the bleeding heart.
The Rin Yamaoka that wants bloody, gruesome revenge is the Rin with the broken soul.