Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Part I

December 11, 1781
West Wycombe, England

The light from the lantern cast an eerie glow upon all things inside the carriage. Sir Francis Dashwood—sitting inside the horse-coach with quill in hand, was writing diligently at his will. It would be requested by him, for almost everything he owned, to be passed into the hands of his daughter Rachel Fanny Antonina.

Pain ricocheted through his arms and legs, a sharp, spasmodic feeling, which one now might suggest to be arthritis.

Finishing the document with a last signature, and rolling it between his fingertips, the stockier-set man stepped outside of the now stopped wagon, and began to walk towards his home.

“Welcome back, Sir. There is a warm bath drawn for you, and Porter poured by your nightstand.” One of his maids said, as she dutifully took his coat from his back.

He nodded with a gruff sigh, and began to walk towards the bedroom, when his foot slipped beneath him, and he collapsed.

The maid hurried to kneel at the floor. “Sir! Are you alright?” She asked, with no response from him. “Sir?”

There Sir Francis Dashwood did pass, will clutched loosely in his cold and clammy hand. They claimed he must have fallen ill, and old with age took death in, but though no one knows exactly the truth, they do know, however, his legacy of The Hellfire Club.

The day of his funeral, the people he once knew surrounded his casket, and lowered his body to the ground. But though he died, the mysteries unlocked by the group he ran lived on, growing darker and darker with each passing year.

October 3, 1985
Erie, Pennsylvania

The houses in Erie were built much closer together than the ones in Hawkins, and the streets were much busier. That wasn’t a bad thing to the Byers family, as it meant neighbors would be easier to reach, and they’d be harder to be pinpointed in case of another destructive situation. But that was the best part about Erie, it meant they were two states away from the danger that had occurred.

However, as relieving as that was, they were also two states away from the people they knew and loved. Mr. Clarke, Steve, and more than anything: the party. They had promised to go back to visit Hawkins come Christmas, and Mike had planned to come visit during Thanksgiving, yet that didn’t shake the bit of sadness that both kids—especially Will, had felt in not having the group together.

Would they find a new cleric? Would they abandon D&D all together? Last Mike and Will had spoken about the game, they agreed to always only play together, but how long would that last, before the rest of the party grew out of it for good? It was one of the few things Will had that connected him to his life before getting stuck in the Upside Down, and with them all being high school students now, it was inevitable that everyone would gain new hobbies, but what if they were so drastic that everything changed?

What was preventing their reunion during winter, to wind up with him learning that the party had gone in different directions? Surely it was all in his head with these worries, as after everything they’d been through, they were each other’s only solace, but that didn’t stop the boy’s rambunctious thoughts from twirling about in his pessimistic mind.

Eleven could sense his distress in the way he chewed at the beds of his nails, and tapped his foot anxiously. Despite not being the closest of friends, they were siblings now, and she didn’t like seeing someone she liked upset. Sure, maybe they hadn’t talked much, but she liked Will. She liked his drawing that she had seen whilst packing, and she especially liked how he always offered her the last eggo. She felt the same for Dustin and Lucas, and even Max after some time. Mike liked them, and so did she.

“Halfway happy?” El asked the boy, causing him to turn and face her with a face of question. She spoke again. “Are you halfway happy?”

Grasping an understanding of what the girl meant, Will shrugged. “I guess yeah. Don’t get me wrong I’m… I’m happy to be away from the, you know, monsters and everything. But I also am gonna miss Lucas, and Dustin, and Max and, and-“

“Mike.” She said completing his sentence.

Will let out a shuttered breath of air. “Yeah, Mike.”

El nodded, a solemn look on her face. “I will miss them too.”

It was in that short moment of confidence between them, when they realized that at the end of this all, they had each other now. It might take some more time to adjust to their new lives, but they’d be doing so together, and to them, that was okay.

After a few minutes from their arrival in Erie, the family pulled into the driveway of their new home. It was a pale yellow color, with dark grey shingles lined upon the rooftop. It was modern, and nice, and much cheaper than expected, but there were no complaints about that.

Joyce had told them each where their rooms were located, so as they pulled boxes labeled ‘BTHRM’ ‘KTCHN’ ‘WILL’ and more out from the car, they were able to place the packages into each designated room. The coolness of the early autumn made the back and forth trecking from inside and out, easier for them all, and after about an hour, all boxes were placed where they needed, and the necessities such as toothbrushes, sheets and blankets had been unpacked.

The movers had already brought the larger things they needed, meaning their couch, tables, the fridge, chairs, beds, and dressers were already placed, and just needed adjusting.

At one point, Jonathan had stopped to pull out a Polaroid photo of him and Nancy that had fallen in a box, and he placed it on the fridge with a solemn smile.

“Well, I guess we can stop for today.” Miss Byers stated, much to the relief of everyone else. “I’m going to look in the phone book for some place we can order in. Any requests?” She asked, tired from the day of heavy lifting.

Nobody made a move to say anything, too uncomfortable with the adjustment of a new home.

Just then, the doorbell rang. “Um, I can get it.” Will announced, jittery with nerves that he wanted to shake out.

He opened the door to reveal a girl about his age, with shoulder length black hair, and tan skin. “Hi, I’m Caroline, but most people call me Carrie. My family and I saw that you all just moved in and thought it might be nice to invite you over for dinner. If you want, of course.” The girl said sweetly. “Figured after all the moving you probably aren’t in the mood to cook today.”

Will smiled hesitantly. “Oh that’s, that’s really kind of you. Let me just ask my mom. Here, uh you can come in if you’d like. Sorry about all the boxes.” He said.

Carrie shook her head with a smile, showing it was no trouble, and followed after the young Byers boy, her yellow dress swiftly moving by her knees.

“Mom, this is Carrie, she’s one of our neighbors. Her family invited us over for dinner. Carrie this is my mom, Jonathan, Ele- uh, Jane, and I’m Will.” He said sheepishly as Joyce flipped through the yellow pages.

They decided it’d be better if El went by her given name Jane in this new town, to save for questions regarding the nickname of a number that The Party and Co. called her.

The woman looked up from where she was standing by the phone, and walked over to the two of them. “It’s nice to meet you, and that’s such a nice thing to do, but we really don’t want to intrude I mean-“

The girl shook her head again. “You won’t be intruding! My parents already actually made more for you in hopes you’d come, if I’m being honest. They love to meet new people.”

Joyce smiled. “Are you sure?” She asked.

Carrie nodded firmly, grinning back at her. “One-hundred percent!”

So that’s how the three—or rather four, Byers found themselves in the company of the Sung household.

“This is delicious, Mister and Misses Sung.” Jonathan said, chowing down on various dumplings, bok choy, and noodles that he couldn’t quite remember the name of.

“We’re glad you’re enjoying it.” Mrs. Sung said with a chuckle.

Will ate quietly, with Carrie sitting between the him and Jane.

“So, what brings you all here to PA?” Mr. Sung said, pronouncing the state like pea-aye.

All the Byers looked down at their plates, not knowing what to say, save for Joyce. “Ah, we just decided we needed a change of scenery.” She told them. “Sometimes it’s good to get away from things that hold bad memories.”

Will silently lifted a dumpling into his mouth, avoiding the curious eyes of the neighbors.

“What bad memories?” Carrie asked.

Her parents gave her a scolding look. “It’s not polite to ask things like that Caroline. If the Byers feel comfortable sharing, they will, but don’t intrude.” Her mother told her.

Carrie shifted in her seat, and apologized quietly. The next few minutes passed in a tense silence, the only sound being chopsticks and forks clinking at the dinnerware.

“Will, Jane, you two are Caroline’s age, yes? Grade nine this year?” Mr. sung asked the two of them, to which they nodded. “Are you twins?”

It was an innocent question, but it was one that confused Jane. “Twins?” She asked.

Jonathan was quick to take over. “Actually Jane is adopted.” He stated.

That was a word she knew, it was how Hopper referred to how and why she was his daughter. The memory made her somber, and she placed her hands on the lap of her jeans.

Mr. Sung looked amongst them with a guilty look upon his face. “Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude on a possibly sore subject.”

Joyce shook her head in reassurance. “You didn’t mean any harm.” She smiled lightly.

The dinner progressed with small talk being made here and there, until eventually the seven of them were finished, and the sun began to set.

“This was amazing, really. Thank you so much for having us. When we get settled into the house we’ll be sure to invite you over for dinner as well.” Joyce said graciously to the family, as she gathered up her kids.

The couple grinned at her. “It was really no trouble at all! We love meeting new people.” Carrie let out a little chuckle beside them. “If you ever need anything just let us know.”

The amber haired woman nodded her head in thanks, and they all headed towards the door, saying their goodbyes.

“They seem, nice.” Joyce said shortly.

Will looked beside himself to her. “Yeah. And Carrie said she’ll help El and I find our classes tomorrow. She was kind.” He responded.

Next to him, Eleven piped up. “Pretty.” She said, a light smile grazing her face.

They continued to walk across the street to their new house, each thinking about the new journeys ahead of them. The youngest two had highschool, soon Jonathan would need to look at a college, and overall this would be a new state filled with new people to meet.

October 3, 1985
Kamchatka, Russia

“Быстрее, быстрее! Идти! Бегать!” Yells ricocheted through the halls between the men, scrambling to leave the building.

Behind them, a shrill, deep scream echoed closer and closer, as more blood splattered onto the walls.

“Быстрее!” The men demanded relentlessly, racing to to the door as the lockdown procedure continued.

The sliding metal doors were quickly coming to a close over top of the exit, and with their footsteps came The aching fear that they wouldn’t make it in time.

“Restart.” A dark haired lady muttered in Russian, to a girl standing beside her, multiple floors up, behind borosilicate glass—an almost indestructible matter.

The girl, Adeen, closed her eyes as the woman placed her pale hands upon her shoulders.

When she opened them, the chaos was no longer present, and she was sitting in her room like when she had gone to sleep. Time had been restored for them all, and the people would have to try again.

“There is no stopping, until we get what we want.” She said harshly, whilst Adeen grimaced, with a plan of her own taking place in her head.

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faceclaims
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Chapter Text

October 3, 1985
Kamchatka, Russia

It had been twelve years since Adeen had first been brought to this place, which she had long learned was called Russia. When she was five, she had been in another facility, alongside her many brothers and sisters.

The brunette haired girl had been the second of twelve to have arrived in the place she could barely remember now. Before her, had been a boy with dark hair and hazel eyes, who to her was called Nohl, but back then had been known as Zero.

She had been whipped throughout the age of six, when she would slip up and call him his old name.

When she was five and a half—although she hadn’t known her age, a woman with pin straight, black hair had ushered her and her siblings down a hallway she had never been through before.

At the end of it, a small sign in red letters said “EXIT” although she didn’t know how to read.

Not all of them had made it out, the woman only being able to gather out ten of them late at night, after having successfully sleep darted the majority of the guards that stood outside their bunker, with the help of her other friends it seemed. She had seen this woman before, a scientist, she had thought, who was now doing something no one else ever had.

Two other girls—younger than herself but one not by much, had been in another room. She had only met them each once, a pale blonde haired girl, and one with darker, olive skin, and two braids.

Everyone had told her they were her sisters, much like all the other girls she had known, and the boys were her brothers. She didn’t question this, and it only made sense, seeing they all had something in common.

They could do things, the people in white lab coats had said, things that other people couldn’t do.

There was another room too, one she had never been in, but had heard was there for when ‘Thirteen’ had arrived. She didn’t know there was a Thirteen at the time, only meeting up to twelve—a boy aged three who could make people fall into a deep sleep when he touched their skin.

When her and the others had been moved into a large vehicle, she didn’t feel wary. Dva—called Two then, had mentioned the word ‘free.’ She didn’t quite know what this word meant, but it sounded nice, so she was compliant to the lady who ordered them to stay seated.

It was often during the nights that Adeen remembered this event, dreaming of how she and the others were lifted into the sky and traveled across the ocean.

A plane, was what the woman had called it, when someone asked her as she sat in front of them, eyes monitoring everyone.

The girl never did know what happened to Thirteen and whether or not she or he had arrived. At the time she felt sorry, that Eleven, Eight, and Thirteen wouldn’t be able to experience ‘free.’

Now, these twelve years later she didn’t feel so bad. She wasn’t free, none of her or her siblings were. Instead, they had been rigorously forced to learn the Russian language—having to almost abolish speaking English from then on, and trained day in and out to use their powers.

They would have sparring matches against each other daily. Both with and without their powers.

But a month ago, her time, Adeen had been separated from the rest, and made to stand by the same lady who had never revealed her true name, and stuck solely to ‘Дама’, or to one’s ears, Dahmah.

The first day it happened, she had been confused as to why she was being rushed upstairs instead of to the sparring room with everyone else.

Though her confusion didn’t last long.

Standing behind a clear panel, she was made to watch a mess unfold beneath her as some hideous thing she had never seen wreaked havoc on all the workers she had been surrounded with for the majority of her life.

She wanted to be sick. To cry, or scream. But she knew better than to express such strong emotions, for she could be whipped again. Or worse. Looking below, there was so much death, but she knew she could prevent it, and that’s what she assumed her position was for.

“This will continue to happen, Adeen.” Dahmah spoke. “Every day, until your siblings find a way to stop it.”

Adeen looked at her curiously. “My siblings?” She asked, her small voice echoing in the small compartment.

The woman lightly glared at her question, for it was a sign of curiousity, but she answered regardless. “Yes. We cannot tell them exactly what will happen, as it could cause a sort of rift in time. However, you child, will be in charge of redoing the days until they’re able to work it out themselves. We humans are certainly not capable of solving this ourselves, but you?” The woman placed her cold hands upon Adeen’s shoulders. “You can fix this, you can help.”

The girl nodded her head with a wobbly lilt, and shut her eyes gently.

“Go back to last night, and rest up. There are big things ahead of us child.”

Adeen could feel her long brown shift slightly in front of her face as she had thought to the night before.

It had become a routine to do that then.

Wake up, eat the first meal, study with the others, eat second meal, then go to the glass box with Dahmah and wait and see if something would change. When it hadn’t, she’d restart the time to the night before.

She had felt very strange with the new sleep schedule, not used to such short feeling days, but certainly getting used to—and annoyed with, the repeated conversations she had to pretend she never heard before.

Soon enough she would figure out what that thing she was preventing was—she had asked but to no avail, and she’d escape the place before she went insane with repetition.

Soon.

October 4, 1985
Erie, Pennsylvania

It was the first day of school for the Byers kids. They wasted no time jumping right into the schedule of being students once again, and if Will was honest, it was much more nerve wracking than he expected it to be.

To make matters worse, the young boy had had trouble falling asleep the night before. The average amount of nightmares combined with first-day anxiety had created a molotov cocktail of on-edge feelings.

“Kids, I’m going to go shopping in a little bit so you’ll have to suffice without fresh breakfast today.” His mom had frowned.

He didn’t think he could stomach it anyways.

“But, here’s each five dollars, you can get breakfast at school. Oh, and lunch too.” She smiled into the rear view mirror, reaching carefully to hand them the crumpled bills.

Will grinned back at her. He tried to make it seem genuine, but he knew that with the way he was feeling, it probably looked more fake than anything.

Beside him, El perked up. “Eggos?” She asked.

“They might have them at the school, I don’t know though. Hawkins usually just had french toast sticks.” He told the girl.

She nodded in understanding.

The two of them had spent about three weeks in Hawkins High, learning the jist of highschool, right before transferring to Strong Vincent High. It was quick for Will to realize that fitting in was twice as important as it was in middle school.

For El, that had been the first month of her being in school in general, and it fascinated her greatly—despite gaining a detest for English class.

That was another thing she liked about Will though. He helped her with English a lot, and to her it seemed he was quite fond of it. Meanwhile, she had taken a knack for understanding math.

It had been in the best interest of them all to place her in a one-on-one math class with what they called a Special Education Teacher until she had a better grasp of it, but for what she was learning, she picked up quick.

So it worked both ways. What El didn’t understand in the English department, Will helped her, and what he didn’t understand in maths, El helped him. Well, she tried her best at least.

It was also in Joyce’s best interest, that she had formally set up 504 plans with the school for each of the kids, so that they wouldn’t face repercussions from missing days or classes due to anxiety attacks and their post-traumatic stress.

Jonathan was against having one at first, trying to be the ‘man of the house’ but any argument with his mother was a lost one, especially when she brought up that he was more of a man than anyone she knew—what with his help in “saving the goddamn world.”

So there they all had it, ready and prepared for school, all slightly nervous, and all as quiet as the day before, sitting inside their car as it got nearer and nearer to the tall brick building up ahead, until eventually, they were parked.

She sighed. “All of you, please try to have a good day. If anything happens than go to the office and call me, they should have the phone number with them.”

They all nodded at her, exchanging a silent conversation of gratefulness for having each other.

“Alright, get going. I’m gonna go get groceries. Any requests before I leave?” Joyce chuckled, starting the car back up.

The kids all stepped out of the car.

“Eggos, please.” Will said, giving a grin to El, who he knew was a bit too shy to ask herself. The once bold girl had become more reclusive ever since the incident at Starcourt. They all had, in one way or another.

She smiled back at him, a quiet thanks.

Joyce nodded. “Anything else?” She asked, to which no one responded. “Okay, have a nice day, love you!” She said, then drove off.

Will let his shoulders sag as he looked in front of him at the building. It was much bigger than any schools he had seen before, not doing anything to ease his stress levels.

“Will, Jane, over here!” A voice yelled out.

All three Byers looked to see a familiar face, wearing a purple sweater and jeans.

“I’m gonna go look around.” Jonathan said. “You guys go on ahead.”

Will and El nodded at the older boy, and walked to where Carrie was standing cheerfully by the bike rack.

The brisk breeze made the morning chilly, and Will found himself regretting wearing short sleeves, hoping that the inside of the building would be a be a bit warmer.

“I’ll bring you to the office and you can get your schedules. We have about twenty minutes before school starts and I’ll show you ‘round.” The girl said to them as they approached.

Suddenly El’s stomach lightly grumbled.

“But first, we can go to the cafeteria.” Carrie chuckled humoressly, adjusting the bag strapped on her shoulder.

The two youngest Byers followed after their new acquaintance quietly, and let her do all the talking as she explained the hallways and some of the more important rooms.

“Okay, here’s the caf, and the office is just down the hall so you can get your food and then we can head there.” She told them, following them into the line.

Will still wasn’t hungry, so he kept the bill pocketed in his jeans. El on the other hand lit up when she saw the frozen waffles packaged in little paper bags.

She picked up a strawberry one, and waited until it was her turn to pay.

Carrie turned to the boy in question. “Not gonna get anything?” She asked.

He shook is head. “Too nervous, I guess.” He responded.

She gave him a pitiful smile. “Yeah I get it. Well obviously I don’t get it, get it, but… What I’m trying to say is, it’s okay to be nervous. I’m not sure about where you used to live, but here everybody is actually pretty nice.” The girl reassured him. “I mean, sure we’ve got our handful of Reagan supporters, but most students here wanted Carter to win the last election.”

Honestly, Will didn’t know jack when it came to politics, unless you count the harsh support of Reagan that Mike always complained that his dad would bring up during dinner.

The one thing he did know, was that Reagan’s administration called the aids epidemic the “gay plague” and that didn’t settle with him well at all.

With this in mind, Will nodded to her, and felt a little bit more at ease to be himself. Troy and James were left behind in Hawkins, hand in hand with all the zombie-boy and fairy comments.

Nobody here knew about his incident “in the woods” as they called it. Nobody had a clue about the way he had been caught looking at Trevor Benson in gym class in fifth grade, which was what had started the fairy comments in the first place. It was all behind him.

‘Maybe this won’t be so bad.’ He thought to himself quietly.

It wasn’t long before El had paid for her eggo, and the three of them were out the door to head to the office.

But before that was able to happen, suddenly somebody knocked into Will and he was on the ground in an instant.

On top of him, a boy with tan skin and chestnut spiked hair was pressed.

“S-Sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going!” The boy hurried out.

Will was lying with his back to the cold tiles, as the other student had his hands pressed one beside his head, and the other by his shoulder. Their legs were patterned with one splayed between each other’s in a jumbled mess.

They met each other’s eyes for a split second, before the stranger was scrambling to stand up. He reached his palm out to help Will up, but quickly realized his hand was dirty with shoe kicked stones and dirt and he retracted it.

Standing up as well, the boy cleared his throat. “It’s uh, it’s okay neither was I really.” Will stated.

The latter gave an awkward smile, and was about to walk away, when another guy joined by his side.

Both of them were dressed in ripped jeans and band tees, with denim vests and over top leather jackets. They could’ve been twins with how they dressed, save for the stark white of the new arrival’s skin that literally paled in contrast to the honey melanin that was the other’s.

“Quite the fall there buddy. Who are you?” He questioned Will.

He was about to respond when the guy who knocked him over cut him off. “Just some guy I accidentally ran into. Just- come on I wanna get a pop-tart or something.”

‘Ouch.’ Will thought, at the action of being referred to as “just some guy.”

The three split ways, and the Byers boy resumed his position in walking beside Carrie and El.

Carrie was standing with her lips rolled onwards and obviously trying not to smile.

“What?” El asked her.

She shrugged her shoulders slowly, smile becoming more obvious. “That guy Will just bumped into? His name is Matéo, and he’s literally the hottest guy in the entire school. I mean did you see him? God I would totally date him if he asked, but I don’t even think he knows my name.” She laughed dreamily.

Carrie wasn’t wrong, if Will had to admit. The guy was not lacking in the looks department, but like hell he’d say that out loud. It was bad enough he was reduced to being the fairy boy at Hawkins, but that wasn’t going to happen here.

Deeply rooted within him, he sometimes still feared himself if he was telling the truth. Sometimes he felt like maybe all those things his father Lonnie had said were true. That he was that word and that he would be going to hell. Maybe the upside down was his little trip to hell as a sort of punishment.

This was something he had never talked about before, and he wouldn’t be doing so anytime soon.

It took him a few seconds of thinking before he snapped out of his own thoughts, to realize Carrie was still talking enthusiastically about the boy.

“-e even wears black nail polish sometimes. He has like, a complete rebel style and it makes me swoon!” She said, emphasizing the last word. “Wouldn’t you agree that he’s totally dreamy?” The girl giggled to his sister.

“I have a boyfriend.” El told her, a light smile on her own face, knowing better than to compliment another boy when she wasn’t single. “Celebrities are an exception.” Max had told her one night.

Carrie’s eyes lit up at the news. “Oh! You have to tell me all about him! I hope we have lunch together. What’s his name?” She rambled on.

“Mike.”

Carrie cooed at the way a blush rose to Eleven’s face. “Do you have any photos together?” She asked her.

The dirty blonde looked to Will, realizing she didn’t. Not with her, anyways.

Will swung his back off his one shoulder, and opened up the front zipper. “I-I do.” He said. It was a photo from their last day of school. Jonathan had insisted on taking a few shots of them all graduated from middle school, and for reasons he absolutely did not feel like sharing, he had carried around one solely of just Mike and him to school today.

Carrie didn’t question it, as he handed her the photo. She held it carefully in her hands, and smiled. “He looks nice.”

El nodded happily. “All nice.” She said.

The girl looked at her with one eyebrow raised, not quite understanding what she meant, as she handed the photo back to Will.

“She means our friends. All of our old friends, they’re nice.” He filled in, placing the picture back inside his bag carefully.

Carrie made a sound of understanding. “Maybe one day we can meet.” She said.

“I’d like that.” Eleven told her.

Will agreed.

The girl continued to grin gleefully, and they headed back on track to the office.

Chapter Text

After a short distance, the three kids arrived inside the red and white office room, which matched much of the rest of the school.

“Hello, here to get the schedules for two new students.” Carrie stated.

The lady at the desk had her hair pulled up into a bun, and she wore a navy blue and black dress, that matched her pointy eyeglasses.

“Names please.” She requested.

Will stepped up closer to the desk. “William Byers and Jane Byers.” He informed her.

The woman typed into her Commodore computer, waited a few seconds, then stood up and walked to a filing cabinet behind her. She flipped through Manila folders, and pulled out one marked with a B on the tab.

“Byers… Jane, and Will. Here you go. Will that be all?” She asked, handing a sheet of paper to both the kids.

Will shook his head yes, gave a small grin of thanks, and they all headed back out into the hall.

To make things easier, apparently the school had given Will and El almost all the same classes together, save for health, gym, and math in which El was to go to a room located by the library for. Will also had an art elective in place where El had speech.

Carrie on the other hand, shared history with them in first period, English in third, B Lunch—thankfully, art with Will in fourth, and gym and health with El in fifth. In second period, Will had chemistry with the sophomores, having had tested out of biology in eighth grade.

It was a fairly simple schedule, and most classes were placed in a way where all similar types rooms were in the same areas, meaning next year they wouldn’t have much trouble finding their new classes.

It took the group another few minutes of basic touring until agreeing to head to their first class. They’d be a few minutes early, but that was perfectly fine for Will, as he and El were new students.

“We can make a good first impression.” He had said, to which El agreed with her own “Good first impression.”

Carrie thankfully kept to herself about the girl’s speaking. If she had asked about her repetitive tongue, or shortened phrases, the go to response Joyce had told them to reiterate was that she had been mute for a while and was seeing a speech therapist.

It wasn’t technically a lie, but it wasn’t all true either, and Will worried she’d get the brunt of teasing for it, but also kept in mind that there wasn’t much need to be worried for a girl who was as badass as Eleven.

The trio made it to room 202 briskly, and saw it was only occupied with two other students, who were preoccupied in talking amongst themselves.

“Ms. Hannigan should be here soon, she’ll probably ask you to introduce yourselves.” Carrie informed Will and El. “You can sit wherever you’d like in here, most teachers will say the same.”

Knowing that, Will sat adjacent to El, who was behind Carrie. It was the second row, so he wasn’t too close to always be seen, and wasn’t in the fourth row where the notorious ‘bad kids’ sat at.

Taking out his folder with ‘History’ splayed across it, as well as a pencil, the young Byers boy decided to doodle in the lined paper to pass time.

His creations had tended to be quite mundane recently. The depressed mood he had been in from particular events had left his mind in a bit of a dry spout most days.

The only times he had really found the inspiration to draw the colorful works of art he was known for, made from the crayons that used to always stick out his back pocket, was when he had spent a day with The Party.

Being so preoccupied with packing and high school in Hawkins, that meant those days had dwindled a portion.

Without knowing quite what to doodle, Will let his pencil decide for him. He found himself sketching a nose, button tipped at the end, and dusted with freckles. It wasn’t long before brows and pouty lips took form, and the eyes staring back at him mirrored those he knew all to well.

Mike Wheeler. Of course.

Huffing a sigh, he moved his hand to cover the small drawing, and began to draw someone else. He didn’t want anyone to see the drawing of a boy on his paper.

Maybe it was paranoia, but he wasn’t taking any chances on someone making assumptions which would lead to teasing. or worse. Regardless of what Carrie has said, he was still worried about the possibility. For sure not every student had such liberal views, and who knew what the difference might be for her even, on what’s ‘liberal’ and what’s ‘wrong.’

So, he began to doodle Max Mayfield. Her long braids placed anything but delicately behind her ears, and her smile graced upon her face. The sketch wasn’t particularly amazing in comparison to that of Mike, but that could be excused for the lengths of which he knew each of them.

And that he was no aficionado at drawing girls in general. But that didn’t have to mean anything unless he wanted it to mean something, and he didn’t, so it didn’t either.

Right as he had finished placing the last few eyelashes on the girl, did he realize the seats around him had become full of more students. Faces, he didn’t recognize at all, but would become familiar with as time went on.

As he noticed this, the teacher walked in. She was a tall woman, lanky and in what seemed to be her mid thirties. Her graying blonde hair was wrapped up in a bun, and she wore a lime sweater over a bright teal dress. Her pink glasses were perched on her nose, and a warm grin laced her lips.

She immediately seemed like a nice woman to him, and El, who was smiling beside him, seemed to agree.

“Good morning everybody, today if you remember we have two new students joining us. William, Jane, if you’d stand up please?” She requested of the two of them.

Hesitantly, they both rose from their seats and looked dartingly around the room at their peers.

“Where are you two coming from, mister and miss Byers?” Ms. Hannigan asked.

El looked to Will, asking him silently to lead the conversation. He obliged, of course. “Hawkins. It’s uh, it’s in Indiana.” Part of him wanted to shrink back in his seat, nerves growing at the fear that someone would recognize the same. That someone, anyone might have seen or remembered something about the news of their small town. That they might know about him and his quote unquote ‘disappearance’ those few years back.

But no one said a word.

“Ah, how lovely! I’ve never been to Indiana, is it nice there?” She questioned invitingly.

“It can be.” Will answered her honestly, a singular gruff of laughter following his words forcefully.

“Our friends there are nice.” Eleven stated quietly.

Ms. Hannigan smiled at her. “I’m sure they are, I don’t doubt that for a second. I also don’t doubt, that the two of you will make plenty of new friends here as well.”

El liked the sound of that, nodding once as her and Will sat back down.

“Actually, you’re both here on the perfect day. The end of the first marking period is in five weeks, so we’ll be starting a project worth half of your grade for finals today.”

Internally, the boy groaned. Not even twenty-four hours in the state and he was already being pushed into a large and most likely stressful project.

“Class, I’ll be putting you all in random pairs, and I want you and your partners to pick anything in history and tell the rest of us about it in your way of choice. It can be anything! An essay, a play, a speech, it’s all up to you.” The woman reached for a packet of paper and handed them to a girl in the front right corner of the room.

“There are some guidelines, so take this paper and when I announce your partners than make sure to sit with them, get acquainted, and read the rubric together.”

There was a boy sitting beside Will, who had short and flat black hair, and dark skin. He was wearing the school’s SV logo embroidered on the breast of a white and red jacket. A clear sign that he was an athlete of some sort.

The boy handed him the stack of papers, and he took one of the stapled packets and handed the rest to El.

Whilst the papers were being passed around, Ms. Hannigan took her time to write down something on two popsicle sticks. When the papers were done, she announced why.

“Everyone’s names are written on here, I’m going to put you in pairs of three and when I’m done you can all go sit with your group and get to know each other and decide what you want to do your project on.” She informer the class. “In your packets there’s a list of ideas, and as always, the bookshelf is in the back or you can sign out to the library to get a book. Two groups at a time for each please. By tomorrow morning I want each of you to come write down your names and what event, person, etcetera in history you’ve selected.” The teacher finished.

Sitting upon her desk, she reached for the can that held all the popsicle sticks and placed it on her lap. In one hand she pulled out two sticks, and in the other, one, which she read said “Sarah Weathers, Charlie Kansing, and Emily White.”

Will took this as his opportunity to learn the names of his classmates.

“Jane Byers, Rick Wilson, and Carrie Sung.” El smiled beside him, and Carrie turned around to let out a grin of her own, the two new friends thrilled to be paired together. Carrie then made eye contact with the boy sitting beside Will, and gave him a small beam.

”Must be Rick, then.” he assumed—correctly at that.

The listing when on for a little while until Will perked up at the sound of a familiar name. “Matéo Hernandez-“ the boy hadn’t even realized that he was in the class. “Chris Harrison, and William Byers.”

He looked around, trying to avoid where the Matéo boy might be, and tried to see if another person was perked up in their seat looking for him.

Finally, Will spotted a guy lounging in a back seat. His long legs were spread out aimlessly on the ground, and he slouched in his chair, making the tie-dye shirt he was wearing ride up slightly in the back, exposing pale skin.

The guy gave him a jerk of his head in acknowledgment, and made a peace sign with his hand.

Will responded to the action with a tight lipped smile, awkwardly trying to assess the situation.

The stranger, Chris, was definitely on something, and the other guy Matéo had quite literally shoved him aside. He could see this project going very, very well, if well meant to absolute shit.

October 3, 1985
Kamchatka, Russia

That morning Adeen took matters into her own hands. What good was being done by reliving every day, seeing a massacre happen, and nothing changing? Nothing would change, this much she knew, as not even a single, minute detail was different from day to day.

So she wasn’t going to relive it.

It had been hurtful at first to see the people she knew be killed by something she could barely see, but these were the same people who treated her and her siblings like robots all these years.

These people hurt them, and made her hurt her siblings, just like they had hurt each other.

The brunette could recall, even, one day months ago, when they had been held back from in the mess hall; through the windows of the door heavily guarded, they could see someone being dragged down the corridors.

It was a man, presumably, because his hair was cut short. Other features weren’t recognizable from the distance at which the children stood, added on to the fact that the windows were only a foot by half a foot large—one on each of the two doors.

That was the first time that had happened, and still Adeen and her siblings aren’t sure of who he was or what had happened, but he wasn’t the last to appear.

After this mysterious man was brought in, two others were as well. However, unlike the first, these two were conscious and angry. Scared. They screamed as they were dragged down the halls to a place Adeen didn’t know.

She never asked who they were.

Nohl had, only to receive the punishment of being cuffed to a chair and whipped as the rest of them were made to watch.

They learned not to ask again.

In fact, they had learned countless times to not question authority, yet that didn’t stop the few times in which curiosity had gotten the better of them.

An onlooker might make an attempt at persuading the siblings to overpower the facility, but they were chipped. Small implants placed on the vagus nerve, which both tracked their location, every body function as it was happening, mental cognition, and most importantly, it was controlled by any of their superiors. A small little button they all had accessible to them, which would send an electric shock through their entire nervous system.

Chetyre was an exception of sorts. She was electrokinetic. Her body responding normally to sparks of energy. Instead they jolted the TRPM8, part of the TRPM family which is responsible intragastric administration of 1,8-cineole, or in layman's terms: it’s the main regulator of thermodynamics in the body. By manipulating Chetyre’s, they sent short bursts of hypothermic reactions throughout her system.

Adeen hated seeing her siblings hurt in the way these people did, but it wasn’t until recently that the realization of just how much she resented them sunk in. With that, came the thought that maybe, just maybe with these monsters of sorts attacking, she might be able to create a distraction of sorts. One that would get her and her siblings out of the hellhole.

Where would they go is the question. None of them knew about the outside world besides what they had read in their books. Just a black and white textbook version of reality.

But it was that or nothing but a repeated life of misery locked up as experiments for the rest of their time.

So today she wouldn’t go back. Today she wouldn’t even go up the stairs. She had a different plan, and she needed to be quick before Dahmah figured her out.

She just had to get her siblings on board without releasing what she knew, about how the people that hurt them, the people who raised them, would be dead in a matter of time.

Chapter Text

October 4, 1985
Hawkins, Indiana

“Mike can you just, slow down‽” Lucas yelled out to his friend, who had been biking far up ahead of him, Dustin, and his girlfriend Max.

“Yeah Mike, why are you always in such a hurry to get to school anyways?” Max asked, her forehead scrunching up in tire.

There was no response from the ivory haired boy, who kept pedaling fast against the tar of the street.

“Mike‽ Mike!” Lucas tried once more.

The Wheeler boy swerved his bike slightly, making the other three able to catch up to him. “W-What?” He asked, caught off guard.

Dustin gave a glance to Lucas, one which held eyes of pity and of slight discomfort. Their friend had been in a slump since Will and Eleven had moved away the day before, his mind completely elsewhere, making the entire group tense with worry.

It was as if they were all stepping on glass now.

Everyone was used to firey, short-fuse Michael Wheeler who was passionate and stubborn and always strived to get what he wanted.

Nobody knew how to handle this subdued, quiet Mike who sat in complete silence when they had arrived back at his house, the day before.

After sending off the Byers to their new house, The Party—minus two, had gathered in the Wheeler’s basement for ice cream and to talk about good memories with Will and with El.

But Mike stayed as quiet as a mouse, this ice cream melting into a cold sludge, which felt sickeningly sweet against the pad of his tongue.

“Mike… Are you okay? You’ve been, spaced out since yesterday.” Lucas asked his friend.

“Yeah bud, for a second there you looked like Will every time he saw the upside down.” Dustin chuckled.

Everyone shot him a dirty glare, clearly a silent gesture that his phrase was an unwelcome memory.

“I’m fine.” Mike shot at them, his eyes trained darkly upon the street ahead.

“Are you sure? Yesterday you didn’t even eat your ice cream and we had to wait for you to catch up on your bike.” Max spoke. “I mean, just now you almost swerved off the street into the-“

“I said I’m fine, okay‽ Stop asking.” He said harshly, making them all go silent.

They continued on their path to school, and nobody uttered a word.

By the time lunch rolled around that day, the group—sans Max, made their way to the table they had been sitting at since the first day of the school year.

“-so then Mr. Bradbury yelled at him for doing it, and oh my god you should have seen his face. Completely priceless!” Dustin elaborately explained what had happened in his mathematics class, grin on his face.

“Did he get detention?” Lucas asked him.

The curly haired boy shook his head. “Nah, only a warning.”

Suddenly a girl with a head of red hair plopped down in the seat beside Lucas. “Ms. Magditch kept me a minute extra because apparently my essay for her class was ‘inappropriate’.” She fumed.

“What was it on?” Her boyfriend asked.

“The assignment was to pick an important part of American history in the last ten decades and write an essay on it, so I chose to write about Harvey Milk!” She exclaimed exasperatingly.

“Wait is that the, you know? Gay man from California?” He asked, a hesitant, quiet tone to his voice.

Max rolled her eyes. “Yes stalker. The gay man from California. He was a politician who fought for a bill to ban public discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.” She said.

Lucas shifted uncomfortably. “Max… This isn’t California though. This is Hawkins and people aren’t really, accepting of the whole ordeal.”

She looked at him appalled. “What, so you agree with her?” She asked, fire on her tongue.

“No, no! I’m just saying that I don’t expect for her mind to change, and that Hawkins is different and I thought you knew people weren’t happy talking about that.” He said.

“Obviously not, but I’m not just going to be a sitting duck! She failed my paper just because of the topic, didn’t even bother to read it with an unbiased view!” The girl exclaimed.

The two of them went on in their spat, Dustin listening intently to the subject, while Mike picked at the food on his tray with a clouded mind.

The school’s popcorn chicken was bland, as per usual, and it didn’t help his queasy appetite in any way possible.

“No, what it sounds like is that you’re defending a homophobe! I didn’t think you had a problem with this what with Will and everything.” She huffed.

Mike perked up then, ice in his eyes.

The boys all looked at each other in silence, as if communicating that an unspoken barrier had been passed.

“What about, Will?” Lucas asked her.

She looked at them all incredulously. Then huffed a humourless chuckle. “Never mind.” She said.

“Max?” The boy beside her pressed.

“Nothing. God, just forget I said anything.”

Mike sat bouncing his knee up and down in an unsettling manner. There was something about what the girl had said that made him feel unnerved, angry.

“Then why did you say something in the first place?” He bit back.

She shot her eyes at him, eyebrows furrowed in anger. “Excuse me?” She asked rhetorically.

“I mean since we met you, you always demand to be heard. Why decide to finally shut up now?” He asked, making everyone look at him with stifling confusion and vexation.

“Mike, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Lucas said, more as a disagreeing statement than a question.

It was the dark haired boy’s turn to let out a frustrated chuckle. “Oh now you decide to take your girlfriend’s side?”

The two opposite from him glared.

“I mean just a minute ago you two were arguing and now you’re just gonna be mad with me for calling her out on assuming what she did?” He asked the boy.

“Which was what?” Max asked him.

Mike looked at her, smocking his forehead.

“Say it. What did I assume?” She pushed.

They locked eyes, lips tight and angry fire in both of their eyes, but while Max was silent in waiting, the latter was quiet in uneasiness, not knowing what to do next.

“See, you can’t even say it.” The redhead picked up her lunch bag and stood up.

Lucas reached for her arm from where he was sitting. “Where’re you going?” He asked.

“To the library. I’m not dealing with this right now. Will and El just left yesterday, and instead of I don’t know, getting closer to remember them or whatever movie shit, we’re fighting.” She hissed.

Mike stood up to meet her eyes—though looking down with his height. “Yeah we’re fighting because of the stupid shit you brought up!”

Max smiled wickedly, tongue pushing at her cheek before glaring back at him. “There would be no fight if you weren’t such an asshole! When I first met you you were all over Will. ‘Oh I have to protect Will’ ‘nobody but me can take care of Will’ and all that.” She stated. “All the summer you pushed him away like you don’t even care, and now I think I know why.”

The Wheeler child felt a crimson heat rise to his face and ears, throat feeling tight. “The hell are you insinuating? Will is my best friend, I didn’t- I didn’t try to push him away. I didn’t try to push anyone away! And I tried to fix it!” He declared.

“Maybe so, Mike. But when was the last time you actually asked how he felt? Even I could see something was troubling him yet you’ve been too much of a shitty friend to notice.” She asked him.

He stepped a foot closer to her. “Funny. I don’t recall you ever asking, Max.”

“Because if I’m being honest, I barely knew him. So even if I had asked him it’s not like he would’ve told me.” Her voice was less harsh than before, but still had a scolding tone, similar to the one Nancy used whilst talking to him on multiple occasions. “You’re his best friend, Mike. If there’s anyone he’d open up to, it’s you.”

Mike could feel the heat pulsating unwelcomingly in his throat again. “If I really am as shitty of a friend as you say I am than how do you know he even would?” He asked.

Max looked at him quietly for a second, before speaking. “Because you’re more oblivious than you are shitty.” With that she stepped past him and made her way out of the cafeteria, maneuvering carelessly through the marsh of teenagers.

The boy sat back down besides Dustin, speaking his thoughts into words. “Oblivious? Oblivious to what?” He scoffed.

The curly haired of the trio looked in front of him to Lucas, a silent question being passed through between them, to which the latter pursed his lips and looked to Mike.

“I think I know what she’s getting at… But I mean i-it’s far fetched. Wouldn’t you say Dustin?” Lucas asked awkwardly.

“Yeah, yeah.” He paused. “Totally.”

Mike looked between them, utter confusion splayed upon his face, about to ask a question before the bell rang and the two hurried up from their seats out of the room, leaving their friend behind for a moment, before he too collected his tray and brought it to the stack by the rest.

The rest of the week passed by for everyone in a tense aura.

Mike had been either fussy or completely silent and out of it like since the moment the Byers left and took his girlfriend—all but willingly, along with them.

Max and him hadn’t spoken a word since lunch on Monday, and it felt like everybody had been walking on eggshells that had fire inside them, ready to burn if cracked open.

It didn’t help that Mike was pretty sure he failed his chemistry test. Chemistry, a unit of science, aka his second favorite class.

His head was high up in dreary clouds, thinking about how he could’ve been laughing at ‘mouth breathers’ in math with El, or admiring Will’s drawings in art class, coming up with elaborate stories for his little character doodles.

Although if he was speaking truthfully, Will’s doodles had dwindled to become very far and few from what he had seen.

With a mental kick in the shin, Mike reprimanded himself, realizing that he should have realized something was bothering the shortest boy of the bunch, just like Max had said.

It was a few hours after school on that same friday afternoon, when Lucas Sinclair found himself in the Wheeler’s basement with a bag of swedish fish in his lap. Dustin would’ve been there, but instead he had decided to visit Steve and Robin at FamilyVideo.

The two boys had been passing the bag of sweets between themselves for the past ten minutes, idly watching Back To The Future play in front of them, when suddenly Lucas spoke up.

“Hey, remember that day in your basement when we were talking about the girls? But then Will got all upset about D&D?” He asked.

Mike cleared his throat, and looked up at his friend in confusion as to why the topic was being brought up. “Yeah… Why?” He asked.

The boy shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just… With everything that happened at lunch yesterday, it got me thinking. He never came back inside with you. What happened?”

The pale, freckled boy sighed. “We uh, we fought.” He answered.

Lucas stopped what he was doing, looking alarmingly at the latter. “Wait, really? You and Will? I mean I know he was like, frustrated in the basement but…” He paused to think. “What did he say?”

Mike tilted his head back onto the couch. “He was just mad that I was being an ass and leaving Dustin behind and shit which, he was right about but- but said I was just doing it to quote “swap spit with a stupid girl” and I got mad.” He said meekly.

“What’d you say back?” Lucas asked.

The boy hugged a sigh. “I said El wasn’t a stupid girl and…” He started.

“And, what?”

“And that it wasn’t my fault he didn’t like girls.” The ravenette rushed.

Beside him, the eldest Sinclair child groaned. “Mike! Why, why would you? Why did you?” He tried to work out.

“I didn’t mean to say it! I felt so bad, you should’ve… You should’ve seen the way he looked at me, dude. It felt awful. I mean, I’m sure it’s just some time before he finds some awesome girl, but I didn’t mean to treat him like he wasn’t mature enough for one or whatever.” Mike sighed.

Lucas shook his head. “Mike I don’t think that’s why he was upset by what you said.” He stated to his friend.

“What?” The taller asked.

“Forget it.”

Mike groaned. “Why does everyone keep saying that?”

Shaking his head again, Lucas responded. “Because if what we’re thinking is right, then you need to figure it out yourself, or let Will tell you on his own.”

Grabbing a handful of the chewy, gooey red candy, Mike stuffed them into his mouth in frustration, and focused heavily on the movie in front of them.

But his eyes drifted upwards to one of the drawings on the wall. It was one Will had gifted to him when they were in the first grade, just months before they had met Lucas, and a year before meeting Dustin.

In the picture, stood Will and Mike, smiley faces much less elaborate than the young Byer’s skills had developed into now. The crayons colored green onto Will’s wizard cloak, which his purple starred one marveled in comparison to, next to Mike in gray knight’s armour.

Two pointy triangles were behind them—mountains, and a yellow sun was drawn in the corner like every child did.

Between the blue-lined clouds and the peaks of the mountaintops, wrote “M + W = Best Friends Forever” in a bright red, waxy glory.

He needed to do something. He needed to Call Will as soon as possible—he would have on Sunday but his Mom had said to give them time to settle in. He needed to fix things.

But also, he was determined to figure out what piece it was that he was missing in the puzzle of their lives.

Chapter Text

October 3, 1985
Kamchatka, Russia

“Возвращаться! Один возвращаться, ныне!” The nimble woman yelled at Adeen, screeching for her to reset time.

“I have a plan.” She responded to her, not making eye contact, and keeping her gaze narrowed at the ground floor.

Dahmah grabbed the brunette girl’s wrist, grip tight and cold. “What do you think you're even doing, you reckless child?” She spat.

Adeen kept silent, training her focus on the door which led to their training hall. The sparring room behind it was where her siblings were located, and the door opposite was where the facilitators had rushed out from less than a minute before, now screaming weakly or splayed on the pristine white floor and walls, covering them in crimson blood.

“Our workers are not all expendable you foolish child! Go back at once or you are well aware of what will happen.” Dahmah stated, referring to the remote in her pocket which controlled the electric punishment.

Just as the tall woman was about to pull out the device, the doors to the sparring room swung open, a facilitator ran out with his weaponry to try and aid his coworkers outside the room—however he was too late.

Following him, the siblings peered out of the door, the wailing screams caught their attention like rabbits.

Adeen could see them gasp at the sight of bodies strewn aimlessly along the floor tiles, dark liquid oozed and dripped from every surface.

They had yet to notice the six foot, pale, gangly creature down the hall, standing on four limbs and face like a five sided Venus Flytrap—a plant species Adeen was familiar with due to her affinity with plants.

Dvinatsat’s abilities coincided with plants, and every time she got to witness him bring the flora to glorious livelihood, her heart swelled with joy in seeing the greenery so vivid and beautiful. Which was why it broke her heart so, every time they made Tree bring the plants to a withering death.

They weren’t allowed to keep the reminder of nature outside the facility, indoors, most likely in case Dvinatsat decided to try and use them to his advantage one day.

She wondered if he could possibly control the creature—if it happened to be somehow related to plantlife. For reasons though, Adeen didn’t think that would happen.

The four limbed beast let out a blood curdling screech, charging down the hall.

“Adeen! Stop this instance you meddling child!” Dahmah yelled at her, again reaching for the buzzer.

She didn’t stop still. Instead she waited.

Then she ran.

The long haired brunette pushed open the door and hustled down the stairs, catching the attention of every living being nearby.

Dahmah—distracted, stopped what she was doing before and tried to go after the teen girl.

“Do whatever you can, try to kill it!” Adeen yelled at her siblings from the stairs as the woman grabbed her arm and attempted to yank her back up.

Disoriented from the shock of the unknown creature, the siblings took a step back in fear. All except Pyat who transfigured into what they saw before him. Clearly it confused the other being, who stared at him with his mouth—face? closed.

Pyat was acting as a distraction, and a good one at that.

Dyevyat then grabbed hold of Chetyre, kneeling down so the younger girl could jump onto her back. Once mounted safely on her sister’s back, Dyevyat lifted up from the ground, high enough to reach the second floor, and low enough for the creature to—hopefully, not be able to jump to them.

She flew them right above it, but the distraction of their brother was not enough to grace them going unnoticed by the ghastly monster on ground level.

Chetyre stuck her hand out in front of her sister’s face, a small spark of static energy shocking at Dyevyat’s neck from where skin met skin.

In the younger girl’s palm, formed a buzzing sphere of electricity, which she then thrusted down at the grotesque thing below.

Instead of tumbling over in an electrifying way that would only make sense, the being seemed to absorb the blue glow of energy, zapping lightly until its veins pumped a deeper shade of purple beneath pale convalescent skin.

It let out a blood curdling screech, slowly stalking towards the rest of the siblings.

The tan skinned girl tried once more to shock the creature, but to no avail. “It’s not working!” She yelled out. “Nohl!”

Said brother stepped forward signaling for Pyat to back up, and leave the eldest of siblings to make an attempt of rescue.

Along his wrists a hot glow arose, spreading fire along his arms and hands, which he propelled towards the monster, sending it retching backwards and wailing at the sense of heat.

Nohl smirked.

If fire was its weakness, then he had plenty more where that came from.

He sent flame after flame towards the four-limbed beast, making it recoil in pain, before it jumped up onto a metal beam from the wall, climbing and hopping back and forth, agilely avoiding the tall brunette’s attempts.

“Nohl, careful!” Pyat yelled behind him, now transformed back into his blonde self.

It was then that the boy noticed that the monster was strategically making its way towards where Adeen—and Dahmah, had been standing on the stairs, watching the situation unfold with calculating vision.

”They’ve been here before.” Nohl realized in his head. ”But they must not have come this far.” He concluded, with notice towards how Dahmah had been in mid position to reach for his sister, with stress evident in her eyes.

He might’ve been the one with pyrokinesis, but it was Adeen who was playing with fire.

“Syem, get Adeen. Be careful.” He said to one of the brothers, who was just slightly shorter than himself.

In the blink of an eye the boy was up on the stairs and dragging Adeen back to the group.

Dahmah, still on the stairs reached into her pocket again to try and get the small electrifying device, hands fumbling in fear.

“Ты ищешь это?” Syem asked, holding the buzzer in his hand. On her own, Dahmah didn’t have much power over them.

“Children just… Go! Go then, get out!” Dahmah yelled, confusing the siblings.

Adeen stiffened her body at the change of instruction.

Nohl, who was trying to guide the flames and monster away from Dahmah now, looked back to his sister, and nodded his head once.

The girl started scrambling around to reach one of the facilitators, hands becoming sticky with blood as she reached into the pocket of one of the white lab coats.

She wanted to gag. The skin had been ripped clean off from the man’s neck, a chunk missing from his ribs. The rancid smell of iron permeated the room, and she was only noticing it now.

No keycard.

Stumbling over to another lifeless body—and slightly slipping on a pool of blood in the meantime, Adeen gasped at the sight of the woman whose face was a crushed skull, face completely missing, and brain matter spilling out.

She held back her vomit.

Looking away from the body, the brunette kneeled down and reached into the lady’s pocket, thankfully finding a keycard.

Just as she went to stand, a hand gripped her ankle, causing her to trip onto the body of a guard—the side of her face pressing into the man’s bloody thigh.

Yelping she noticed another male facilitator had gripped her, jaw shaking, red crimson liquid oozing from his mouth. His arm was disconnected from his body. It was a sight of horrors, and he certainly wouldn’t be making it.

Adeen pulled her ankle back and pressed away from the bodies, heart violently hammering against her chest.

They’d never be able to escape if it weren’t for the circumstances, but with all the death she wasn’t so sure anymore if it was worth it.

“бегать!” Dahmah yelled one last time.

Jerking her head towards the hallway, Adeen directed her siblings away from the area. Nohl followed after, running down with them.

Making one last glance at Dahmah, a feeling of sorrow eating at her before turning away with tears in her eyes as the woman was about to meet her end.

The group hastily ran down the lengthy hallway, up stairs, and down another one. “Wait!” Adeen yelled suddenly as they passed by the room Dahmah kept filing cabinets in.

Using the keycard, she opened the white door and looked around the room, before dashing across the hall to a storage room and opening that one as well.

The tall girl came out quickly after, holding two black bags that the guards carried on their backs some days.

She ran back into Dahmah’s filing room and pushed open the drawers, grabbing the Manila folders and thick blue and orange documents, and dropping them into the bags.

A screech echoed somewhere below them, causing her to jerk her head up to her siblings.

“We gotta go, go, go!” Nohl said reaching for one of the bags and pushing Adeen in front of him, so he was in the back as they raced up more flights of stairs.

The yell of the monster was getting closer, but nobody dared to look back at it.

Up ahead of them, just down the next hall was the door to the exit, unguarded.

With shaking hands, Adeen swiped the card in the scanner, but it didn’t work.

“Adeen hurry up.”

She shook her head, breathing heavily, and swiping it repeatedly. “It won’t work!” She yelled out, panicking.

A green light showed up, and the door pushed open, relief washing over all of them.

The group filed out the door, slamming it behind them and running through the contamination zone, before landing themselves upon a door labeled “ВЫХОД” in green.

Adeen looked at Nohl, eyes speaking quiet gestures, agreeing over how much life was about to change for them.

Putting her hand on the small of Chetyre’s back, the eldest siblings pushed open the door for everyone, bright light flooding their senses.

October 7, 1985
Erie, Pennsylvania

It was later that week where both class groups—sans Rick who had a basketball game, found themselves at the Byer’s house.

Joyce, proud of her and the kid's assembling of furniture and decor, told Will and El that the teens were more than welcome to work there.

Will wasn’t sure what the girls and Rick had decided on for their project, his group had agreed on the Jonestown Massacre. He wasn’t really the one who chose it, Chris had been. The topic in all honesty was quite discomforting for him, considering how much death he’d already been familiarized with.

Matéo and him for the most part had gotten over their awkward, tense phase following their collision on Monday morning.

The boys sat at the kitchen table, books from the library and lined paper notebooks splayed out in front of them.

For now they were collecting facts and writing them down, later to decide what to keep and what could be removed.

The books Will had chosen from the library were a Britannica encyclopedia, and a pictureless book called “People’s Temple, People’s Tomb”

After scanning through some pages of the book, Will—parched, reached for his glass of water, and took a sip.

“So what actually happened in Hawkins when you went missing?” Chris asked out of the blue, causing Will to splutter and choke on the water he was drinking.

The boy with a buzz cut looked at him apologetically. “Probably should have asked after you put that down.”

Will’s eyes were lit aflame with fear and, what was that that Matéo was seeing? Anger? He didn’t think the boy had an angry bone in his body.

“How do you know about that?” He asked the boy sharply.

Matéo himself was also quite confused. First off, the boy had gone missing at his hometown? And second—with them being states away, how would the other even know about the situation?

Will stood up from his chair, going to the counter to avoid eye contact.

“I do my research.” Chris said, then waved his hand. “Kidding. My Uncle Murray lives there. We don’t really keep in contact with him ‘cause Pa says he’s a bad influence on me.”

The tan boy turned his head towards the boy next to him, a single eyebrow raised in a sort of way to say really?

The latter shrugged. “What? I didn’t say he was wrong.” He replied. “Anyways, last time I was there it was like, this whole manhunt for some Byers kid and then they found some other girl’s car, Barbie or somethin?”

“Barbara.” Will responded.

“Yeah, that, and like I was there for the week ‘cause I had been suspended for smoking one in the bathroom-“

That time it was Matéo who cut him off. “You were in the seventh grade.”

Chris let out a chuckle. “Listen man, I’m here for a good time, not a long time.” He said.

Matéo shook his head with an exasperated sigh.

“So, like I said before I was interrupted by someone” the someone shifted in his seat, “I had been at his house since I was suspended and my dad had a work trip and didn’t want me home alone all day and couldn’t get any nannies on short notice. I was bored and Uncle M is quite the paranoid dude, so he went ramblin’ off about shit about aliens and the Russians and government conspiracies. Then a couple months ago I saw that whole Hawkins Hell ad on the newspaper.”

Will stayed silent, absorbing the info by the counter. His eyes were now glued to the floor tiles, biting his nail in nervousness.

“So, spill. What actually happened man?” Chris pressed.

The youngest of the three stepped away from the counter, and sat down on the chair opposite to the two others, closest to the wall. He pulled his knees up to rest his arms on. “What else do you know?” He asked. “I mean, I doubt you just happened to come across the ad on the Indiana Post. That doesn’t even come here. You had to have been looking for it, or… I don’t know, keeping updated, somehow.”

The eldest nodded his head in acknowledgment. “A’ight, you’re a smart kid Byers.” He shifted in his seat. “So my Pa? He works for Microsoft, and they’ve got this new search engine comin’ out sometime pretty soon, but since he works there we get these special perks, meaning this thing called a search engine where if someone looks up like, certain things they’ll get some results. Pa brought up Uncle M and I remembered the conspiracy stuff so I searched up the name of your guys’ newspaper.”

Will and Matéo both listened intently to the boy’s explanation.

“What I know is that, that they had a funeral for you. They found a body in the water and thought it was yours. That, and that the government or Hawkins Lab rather, they completely covered up Barbara’s death and said she ran away. That and that guy Bob’s unexplainable death.”

The light haired boy lightly gasped and looked at his knees, hands clenched tight together. Only Matéo must have noticed, because Chris continued to speak.

“What’s weird is that they never said who they found in the quarry. But what’s even weirder is what happened in July; thirty more people dead, and they said it was a fire in that Starcourt mall at night, but wouldn’t they have been locked up at night? And it was the Fourth of July, most people were probably celebrating at that carnival the mayor—who got arrested the day after, threw. There was also something about a chemical leak? But I’m having trouble piecing that part together, unless that’s what killed all the people and the Mayor was the one who spilled it.” He finished, his hands elaborately explaining his thought process.

Will looked over to him, his eyes in concentration, calculating how to respond to his unwelcomingly observative classmate.

“Thirty people?” Matéo asked surprised, breaking the dirty blonde’s train of thought.

“It was…” He paused. “It was, more than just some chemical leak. It wasn’t even a chemical leak at all, and look! I’d rather not bring it up, hell, legally I don’t even think I can still, but- stop your researching. What happened to me isn’t any of your business and if I’m being honest, you probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you, which I won’t.” Will said, standing up and staring down at the theorist, his heart rate elevating rapidly.

“Will?” A voice piped up.

The three of them looked over to see Eleven and Carrie standing by the door frame in confusion.

“Heard yelling.” She told him. “Are you okay?”

“El, I mean, J-Jane, I’m… I’m fine I just-“ Suddenly he it seemed like the room around him was getting darker and darker, his heat beat getting louder in his eardrums, pulse pumping blood through his veins so hard he could feel it. It was like all his senses had been dialed to ten, except his sight which was quickly becoming close to none.

“I-I can’t, he, he-“ Will tries to stammer out. The empty blackness in his vision was a reminder of the cold void of the upside down, and the time he spent trapped there with the demogorgons and demodogs and all the other bone chilling creatures that may have inhabited the alternate universe.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to freak him out.“ He heard Chris say.

“Not you. Not-“ He cut him off.

He heard the sound of footsteps running down the hall, and then come rushing back. A warmth was draped over top of him, cradling him as a pair of hands lowered him down to the floor.

El had grabbed the heated blanket that was given to him for his birthday months ago. “Right side up.” She said gently.

Slowly his vision was coming back to him, and the dizzy feeling he hadn’t even recognized he felt at first, was going away.

When everything around him was once again bright with iridescent kitchen lighting, and the glow of the sun peeking in through the window, he sighed a breath of relief.

The hands however, that helped him sit carefully upon the tiles, weren’t his sister’s. On his left kneeled Matéo, who was clutching his hand lightly, probably not even realizing it.

Will looked into his eyes hesitantly, and the latter only looked back, searching to make sure the boy was okay after his unexpected outburst.

The moment was broken when Carrie cleared her throat by the table. Matéo pulled back his hand, and Will tucked his own into the blanket, cocooning the fabric around himself.

El stood up and reached for Will’s glass on the counter. “Yours?” She asked, to which he nodded. The girl walked to the sink to get him more water.

“What happened?” Carrie asked softly, outright confused by the situation that happened before her and Jane walked in.

“I accidentally brought up Hawkins Lab and stuff, I think it freaked him out.” Chris said guiltily.

Hearing the name of the place made the Byers-Hopper-Ives (she was still personally trying to figure it out) girl gasp, and drop the glass. “Shit!” She yelled.

Just then, Jonathan and Joyce opened the front door.

“What happened here?” Joyce asked, placing the grocery bags on the counter by the fridge, then she noticed the glass that El was bending down to pick up. “Oh no no, Eleven honey, don’t pick that up with your hands. Jonathan can you get the dustpan?” She asked him, taking the bags from him.

The older boy nodded and went to the closet down the hall.

“Eleven?” Carrie asked.

“Eleven? No, I um... I said Ellen! It’s Jane’s middle name. You know, being called by you middle name. It’s a mom thing.” Joyce covered up.

“I don’t have a middle name but I’ll take your word for it.” The girl responded awkwardly.

The auburn-haired woman nodded with a tight lipped smile, then took the dustpan and broom head from her oldest son, who had arrived around the corner.

After all the mess had been cleaned up, all who weren’t residents of the house left, leaving the two youngest to explain what had happened and why Will was previously on the floor with his special blanket.

“Chris knows. Sort of.” He told their mom.

She widened her eyes.

“Murray, he’s his uncle.”

Joyce let out a small, humorless laugh. “Small world.”

“Yeah… And his dad works for an internet company, so he looked up Indiana Post’s news. He doesn’t know anything more than what normal people do, but, the paranoia must run in the family because he’s onto the fact that something is being hidden.” Will explained.

She sighed, nodding her head in understanding, knowing there wasn’t much else that could be done. “Let him be curious then. God forbid if- if something happens again and he gets caught in the middle of it than I suppose he’ll know, but that’s in the past now.” She told her son, who shook his head in agreement. “Now, Jonathan and I got stuff to make tuna-noodle-casserole for dinner. Sound good?”

Both kids smiled lightly and nodded yes, then got scurried out of the kitchen by Joyce.

When the two were about to part ways and go to their respective rooms, Will turned to face the girl. “Hey uh, El?” He spoke.

She looked at him in question.

“Thanks for helping me, really.” He said to her. “Do you wanna come hang out with me until dinner’s ready? We could draw and listen to music, or do whatever.” He asked.

A grin graced the brunette girl’s face. “Sure.” She told him, and followed him to his room where they stayed until it was time to eat. Will doodled drawings in pen and pencil, which El then colored in using crayons the boy had in his pencil box, as a mix of AC/DC and Led Zeppelin played on a mixtape Jonathan had given him.

Things might have been messy at times, but they were also really beginning to look up for the Byers family, and they could only hope it would stay that way.