Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jim Hopper had been in the Upside-Down for what he assumes was a couple months, before then being tortured in Russia, then suddenly, he notices an opening in the wall giving way to light. Cautiously, he approaches the hole, and ever so slowly, he steps through the gateway. After all the time in the dark, his eyes scream in protest to the light. He crawls through a thick mass of pinkish slimy goo, cringing all the while. When he breaks free, frigid air bites his nose. He looks around at his surroundings, squinting.

Meanwhile at the Byers in Illinois, Joyce, El, Will, and Jonathan are locking up the house to go to their old home in Hawkins for Thanksgiving. 

"The strangest thing just happened to me this man who looked crazy just came up to me and asked where he was. Oh, he looked like that man there" Says Will's Friend Kristen. She points to a picture of Hopper. 

"But with longer hair and a big beard. What was his name? El asks with hope it's Hopper. I think Tim Tapper Oh. El looks down in disappointment.

"Anyway, I'm so excited for you to meet Mike, Max, Dustin and Lucas!" Will says happily. 

"Yah me too, I just hope they like me though." Kristen whispers nervously. 

"They definitely will! Well maybe not Mike because he doesn't like new people. Will jokingly tells her. Both El and Will laugh at this. Joyce walks in to tell them that they're almost ready to leave. Will and El nod to show that they heard her.

"I honestly can't believe that I'm finally going to Hawkins!" Kristen says smiling. The other two nod.

"Well it's not that good." El says. She looks over at the photo of Hopper before leaving the house.

Kristen looks at the Welcome to Hawkins sign.

"Wow it's pretty here!" Kristen says with wonder. 

"Yep here it is wonderful Hawkins!" Will says sleepy.  Once they get out the car Will, El and Kristen walkover to Mikes house. 

"I'm so nervous right now I'm so afraid no one will like me." Kristen says trailing behind them.

"Trust me they will like you! Even if not at first but that's ok though!" El says smiling. Will goes and rings the door bell.

"El! Will! And... wait who are you?"

"Oh, I I'm Kristen you must be mike?"

"Umm yah... well come in."

 "So this is Kristen she wanted to come and meet you all." Will said cheerfully. A couple hellos were said.

"Hey I'm Max I'm just happy there's another girl to hang out with." Kristen just nods. 

Somewhere in the woods Hopper was walking to god knows where but he was pretty sure he was heading to the Wheelers house he still has no clue with how close he is or what's making him think that going to the Wheeler's house was a good idea. 

Kristen looks out the window in Nancy's room.

"Hey Max who's that at the door?" She asks Max.

"I have no clue Kristen but he looks like he needs some help." Max says looking at the girls.

 "Girls dinner! Joyce yells from the bottom of the stairs.

"Just coming." All of three of them say at the same time. They come running down stairs.

"There's this man who looks like he needs help." Max says.

"Oh, really let's go look." Joyce, Max, El and Kristen open the door.

"Excuse me sir do you need any help." Joyce asks.

 "Yah...yah I do." The man looks up as he says this.

 "first of all, what your name." Joyce looks up.

"Jim?"

Chapter Text

“Jim?” 

“Joyce is th...that” Hopper passes out before he can continue speaking.

“HOP!” Joyce yells. “We have to go to a motel now! Everyone grab their things Max can you get everyone else here and make reason to leave.” 

“Sure can Ms.Byers.” Max replies.

“That's who I saw.I forgot the name.” Kristen looks guilty. 

“It's ok Kristen. I'm just happy he's back.”El replies.

“YES! HE'S IN MY GODDAMN LIVINGS ROOM! You better!”.Joyce hangs up the phone.

“Mom, who was that?” Will asks.

“No one Will.” 

“Steve Robin! Who invited you?” Joyce asks the two older teens as they come inside.

“Dustin did Ms.Byers.”

“ Robin sweetie, it's Joyce.”

“So what the fuck has happened this time?” Steve asks. 

“We found Dad!” El points out.

“Wait you're not lying are you El?” Steve asks.

“No, I'm not come into the living room.” El replies.

Murray gets there and starts rambling.

“I can't believe this I thought he would be in Russia if anything! We should take him to a hospital because we don't know how bad he's condition is.”

“I'm going to call Owens.” Joyce buts in.

“Sounds great Joyce.” Murray replies.

Three hours later Hopper wakes up in a hospital room. He sees Joyce.

“Joy...ce?” Hop asks. 

“Yeah Hop?” Joyce says.

“Wait you're not real!” Hopper get up. “I'm not that fucking stupid! Oh look there is everyone! ha! I honestly can't believe that you dumbasses would think I would do it again or am I going crazy! 

“Hop! it's real.” Joyce says.

Hopper looks at Joyce. Hop turns around and falls down.

“DAD!” El yells.

Doctor.Owens walks in.

“Ummm what just happened?”

“I...I I don't know!”Joyce says with tears in her eyes.

“Joyce, it's fine we'll figure everything out.”

 “Ummm guys what the fuck is happening? Who is he?” Kristen asks. 

“He's Jane's dad and I honestly have no clue.”

Steve replies. 

“Oh and by the way I'm Steve and this is Robin.”

“Do you know what's wrong?” Joyce asks concerned. “We don't know much but we can tell he's been drugged, beaten and tortured. It also doesn't help that he was in the upsidedown for six months. He has broken ribs and left arm, he will probably have some memory problems as well.” Doctor Owens replies with sadness in his voice.

30 minutes later Hopper wakes up confused. “

Dad! Are you ok?!” El asks.

“Who are you? Better who are most of you?” Hopper replies.

Chapter Text

“What do you mean by who are most of you?” Joyce asks.

 “It  means I don't know who the hell these people are!” Hopper snapped back. 

“Before we get around to what's happening I need to talk to Jim alone. Joyce you're ok with that?” Doctor Owen asks.

“Yeah it’s alright.” Joyce nods.

After everyone is out the room. Doctor Owens starts talking to Hopper some questions. 

“So begin with introducing  myself. I'm Sam Owens. I'm going to ask you some questions. What's the last thing you remember?”

“Don't know why you're asking me that but I think the last thing I remember is going to work and I'm guessing you want the date as well?”

“Yeah, that would be great.” Owens replies.

“It was November 6th 1983.”

“ Ok ok. Why did you you say this is all a trick?”

Owens asked. 

“I was in this place or whatever it was that looked just like here but off and there always was this girl who would make people come out of nowhere and  basically make them bully me, it was always people I knew as well. I don’t know if it’s a dream or not.”

“Ok thanks I'll get everyone back in and we will have a big discussion over all this ok?”

 “Sure thing doc. “Hopper answers with a hit of insecurity. Back in the waiting room. El asks Joyce. “Mom what's wrong with dad?” Eleven asks with sadness in her voice. 

“I don't know sweetie. I think something bad happened and I don't know what.” Joyce replies. Owens walks into the waiting room.

“So the problem is hopper doesn't remember anything after the morning of 83. He doesn't remember looking for Will or meeting Jane. I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do now but I'm already working on it. There was this girl Messing with him but I don't know who.” Owens tells the group.

“He-he-he doesn't re-remember m-me?” Eleven asks with disappointment in her voice. 

Unfortunately yes, he doesn't remember anything at all.”Joyce says looking down.

“Will he go home?”’El asks Owens. 

“Yeah, I was thinking with you Joyce so maybe he can remember stuff. Owes says. Joyce agrees.

It's been two hours since Hoppers been at the Byers house and so far nothing has happened. Hopper and Joyce are sitting in the kitchen. 

“So what I'm getting from this is we become friends agin?” Hopper asks Joyce.

“We did it's manly because of the kids. Otherwise we probably never would of rekindled Hop.” Joyce says. Hopper smiles. 

“Dad! DAd! DAD!” Eleven comes running down the hallway who clearly just woke up from another nightmare. She comes and hugs him, while Hopper awkwardly stands there looking at Joyce for help. 

“Sorry I forgot.” She looks down at her feet. 

“Uhh no problem kid. It's ok I can't blame you it must feel weird for you because it most definitely does for me.” Hopper says trying his best to make El feel better. Joyce then goes and takes Eleven back to the living room where everyone else is.

Chapter Text

“So I’m guessing you're house never got sold then?” Hopper asked with caution.

“Yeah it never did but I guess you could say where lucky then.”Joyce replies with a small smile on her face.

 “I’m sorry about everything that I'm causing,you and the kids... I-I just don't know what to do with everything that's happened recently. It's like all of my memories are there but they got a lock on them that I don't have the keys for.” Hopper says this with a mix of guilt and pain. Joyce didn't know how to respond to that. He's not known for showing his emotions, what happened to him while he was in the upsidedown. How do you respond to that without making things worse. She wants to tell him everything that's happened since '83. “You have nothing to be sorry about Hopper.” Joyce tells Hopper. Can she even call him Hop? She did before Will went missing.Joyce just hopes he can't tell with what she's feeling... it's for the better. “Well last time I checked if you jump though a portal to a different dimension to save yourself isn’t something to be sorry about.”Hopper looks like a kicked puppy. Joyce feels like god himself just dropped her into a caldron of guilt. It's her fault in the first place. She wasn't fast enough 

too turn the keys.

“It's getting late let's go get some sleep.” Joyce says to Hopper.

Steve and Robin were put in charge of all the kids. Right now they all were eating some pizza they got a couple hours ago. It got cold due to Eleven getting upset over Hopper, Not that anyone can blame her though.

“You kids ok staying here while me and Robin go to this boring and unfortunately mandatory work Christmas party?” Steve asks.

“No problem Steve we will be okay.” Will responds since he's the only one without food in his mouth.

“Thanks!” Steve thanks the boy. A course of goodbyes were said and Steve and Robin were out the door.

Once they both got there they already could tell that this was good to be one of those never ending (storyyyyy) and super dull party's well that was in until Kathryn Gills came to the party, she had just started working here a week ago and all Robin knew was her name and a terrible description from Steve. 'Hey Robin, you might want to stop staring now because she's coming this way now.” Steve said with the biggest smirk Robin has seen on him.

“I-I wasn't staring!”

“'Sure you weren't Robie-Bobbie.” Steve walks off just as Kathryn walks up. 

“ Hey I'm new here you're Robin right?” Kathryn asks.“I...umm... I-I why yes I am the one and only.” Robin as soon as she said that she felt her cheeks heat up. Oh god I hope she doesn't notice. I'm normally pretty good at hiding my crush's why is this one so difficult. She thinks to herself.

Thank goodness I was worried for a bit Kathryn tilts her head back as she has the most adorable shy giggle. “You’re new here right?” Robin asks with her voice just maybe a few keys higher then normal. 

“Yeah,I just started last week so far all my shifts seem to have Steve on as well.” Robin looks to her left and see's Steve trying to get a girl.

“Oh are you guys dating? I'm not hitting on him or anything.?” Kathryn looks worried as she asks her this. “Oh What no just unfortunately close friends.” Robin replies.

“Well that's good I guess...well hopefully we have a shift together soon.” 

“Yeah same here.”Robin looks at where Kathryn just was hoping she didn't scare her off.

Back at the Byers house Hopper was standing in the hallway.

“Umm...Joyce where am I going to sleep? If you don't have anywhere I can always just go and sleep on the couch.” Hopper says.

“No, no it's fine Hopper, you can go into my room and since the kids are going to be back soon I can just go sleep on the couch.”Joyce replies with a sad smile on her face. To think that we could've been in the same.

Joyce get yourself together! You can't be thinking of that he just got back and now now... he doesn't even remember…Joyce thinks to herself 

“Joyce if you don't mind I mean you don't have too... but it would be umm how do I word this without sounding weird.”

“Trust me Hopper I've seen some weird sounding things in the couple of years by I'm pretty use to anything by now.” Joyce smiles as she says this. “Ummm is it ok if you're in there with me it-it doesn't even need to be in the same bed.”Hopper sighs heavily. 'It's just that I don't want to be alone.”

“No it's fine I understand why you would want that.” Joyce replies.

“'MOM WE'RE HERE!” Will yells down the hallway.They both jump a bit.

“Okay sweetie thanks for telling me, make sure to get ready for bed.

“Yeah we know!” Will replies. Both Joyce and Hopper take a step back so they don't get in the way of the kids.

 “I did keep some of your clothes so you can just look in the box with Hopper on it while I go and change in the bathroom.” Joyce says. Hopper nods his head. When Joyce goes back to her room she finds Hopper looking in the mirror. “Hey Hopper you ok?” She asks him.

 “Yeah I guess. It's been so long since I've looked at myself in a mirror.” Hopper replies. Joyce looks up to see that Hopper doesn't have a shirt on. At first she was embarrassed for looking but then she realized just how thin he was. 

“Is there something wrong?”

“'Oh! Sorry it's just the fact you've lost some weight since I last saw you…” Joyce looks down in embarrassment that she was caught looking.

 “That’s what I thought.” After they're both ready Joyce goes to say goodnight to El and Will. 

“How are you guys holding up?” She hears sniffing from El's bed.

“He-he-he doesn't even remember ME! Why couldn't he just come by and remember! It’s not fair!” Joyce just realized how much this has affected Eleven. 

“I know it's not fair but at least we have him back now.” El looks up at Joyce and says good night to her and Will. Once Joyce gets back to her room she can already tell that Hopper is already asleep.

Chapter Text

Hopper woke up and when he looked where he was he realized that he was back in the Russian base from before they sent him into the upsidedown.

“It's been far too long since I've last seen Jim." It was that girl again! 

“What do you want?" The girl looked him up and down. "Well Papa says you know where my sister is.”

Hopper’s confused with what the girl was talking about. "What do you mean? I have no clue who this Papa person is or who your sister is!" 

"Lies!" the girl responds. 

Hopper was now in a panic; he tried to move but then he woke up. He can feel someone's arm on him looking to see who it is and it's Joyce. He can feel his heart rate go down and went back to sleep. Hopper woke up again but at this point he doesn't know how real it is. He can hear people! When he gets a closer look he can see Joyce and him standing next to each other. He could hear them but not that good. 

"Seven o'clock?"..... "So it's a date?"...... “pick up.” 

Then he woke up. From how fast Hopper woke up he also woke up a sleeping Joyce.

"I just had a memory come back!” Hopper says. 

"Oh my god Hop! That's great, what was it?" She asks. Hopper looks at her before speaking. 

“Well it involved us and you asking me to go to Enzo's" Joyce didn't know what came over her but she kissed him.

"Uhhhhh I don't kill if I still feel that way, I'm sorry Joyce." She could feel her cheeks heat up.

"No...No it's my fault...it's just that I thought maybe your feelings came back with the memory" Joyce says.They sat there in silence until Hopper got up and said 

"I'm going to make some coffee and I can't remember the last time I had it."

 As he walked out the room Joyce couldn't help herself but she just sat there and cried into her pillow. How could I be so stupid! It's far too soon to do anything yet!

Will wakes up and can hear something from his mom's room so he gets up quietly and walks to her room. "Mom, are you okay?” Will walks into the room to see Joyce crying. 

“Oh hello Will". She looks up at him. 

"Mom"? Will looks at her with a worried look. 

"Will I'm fine...It's happy Hopper remembered a bit from the night he went missing" Joyce says with a small smile one her face. 

"Well that's great mom!” He didn't ask her what one because from the sad look on her face tells him Hopper didn't remember the whole memory. 

"Should I go and get El up? Oh and yeah by the way Jonathan went with Nancy last night to get some photo albums". Will nods and goes to get El. 

El had heard Will get up so she followed him but then she saw Hopper in the kitchen. She couldn't do anything but stare at him.

“Kid, you alright?” Hopper asked her. She couldn't keep it in. She ran up and hugged him while balling her eyes out.

“I'm sorry! I'm sorry! If I had my powers I could have saved you!" Hopper stood there awkwardly. He gave in and hugged her back.

"I highly doubt that it's your fault.” Just then he remembered their first day together. He hugged her back with his own tears.

"I'm happy you decided to stay with me that day instead of running when I yelled at you about Sara's box" El looked up and said with a shaky voice.

"Me-me t...o.” Joyce had just stepped out of her room and walked into the kitchen to El and Hopper hugging. She smiled at them.

"Did you remember something else"? Just then Will came running out of their room.

“El's not... oh hi Hopper". Joyce was in the middle of trying to make them breakfast when the phone rang. Will went to go and answer it. After he was done talking Joyce asked who it was.

“It was Jonathan saying that Kristen is coming back with them and they're now on the way back". 

"Oh that's great".

It was around noon when they got back.

 "We're back!” Nancy yelled over the amount of noise that Will and the party were making. 

"Oh that's great sweetie!" Joyce replies. Nancy put down the box. Kristen came in and asked where the party was and went to Will's old room. 

"What do you have there Joyce?" Hopper asks. 

“Oh you know some photo albums to help with your memory." Joyce says, looking at him wholeheartedly.

“Oh my god look at what I found Joyce, it's our last high school yearbook." Hopper does a small chuckle. Joyce goes over to him and takes a look at the yearbook. Joyce cringes a bit when she thinks of their final year of high school. They started looking through it. 

“Oh Hop look at Karen. I forgot with how dark her hair was." When Mike heard his moms name he thought he had to leave so he got up and the rest followed him, Nancy also was thinking the same thing but when they got out of there rooms they saw Joyce and Hopper on the floor talking and laughing while looking at what looks like a yearbook.

“What are you guys looking at?" Jonathan asked his mother. 

“Oh! I didn't see you guys come in." Joyce grinned. 

“We are just looking at some photo albums and found our high school yearbook." Before anyone could do anything Dustin asks with a look of shock on his face.

“Oh my god is that Hopper?" Hopper just nodded with a blank expression on his face. Max looked over his shoulder and spoke up.

“Oh shit! Really?" After that there was a bunch of comments saying how much of a jock he looked like and other similar ones. Hopper was now blushing. "Hop you're blushing." Hopper just looked at Joyce. Whilst everyone was bothering Hopper Will was looking at more photo albums. He had just found one without a name or date. When he opened it was photos of El. It looked like Hopper had found the photo album and put some photos of El in it as well.

“Hey El I found a photobook of you" El turned around to look at him with a confused look. 

“What do you mean? Hopper never got to make one" When Hopper heard his name he looked at Eleven. "Oh! Oh! Oh!" Hopper remembered something! It was a week after El had joined Hopper in their cabin. Hopper felt like he should start a photo album of her.

"I remember making this!" Hopper said with a small smile one his face. 

“After the first week of you living with me I decided to make one because I thought that you would be staying for a while." El was now close to tears. She couldn't believe the fact that Hopper did something so early into their relationship.

“Hey guys you want to see middle school Hopper." Everyone nodded in agreement. Before Hopper could move they were already looking at it. Lucas says how he looks like a Big Mac.

 "geez thanks."

It's been about an hour of them looking at photos. Hopper got to show off some embarrassing photos of Joyce. As Joyce was putting them away a letter fell out. Mmmm what's this? Joyce thought to herself. As she opened it she realized that it was for her. It read. 

"Dear Joyce,

I know you must be thinking who I am, well it's me Hop. I don't know how to say this in person because I'm too much of a pussy." Joyce laughed at this.

"I didn't want our relationship ruined so I never told until now. I hope you are reading this before I leave but I will never know. The thing is I love you. I have a feeling you don't feel the same as me because of Lonnie and the fact before you started showing interest in him we were on and off again. Even if you don't love me back just remember I will always be your friend."

Love, Hop

Chapter Text

   The next morning, Will woke up and looked out his window to see a sky full of storm clouds .The sky reminded him of the storm in the last dungeons and dragons game he played. He didn't like thinking about it too much but suddenly, an idea came over him. He wanted to get together and play D&D with his friends! Even though the last time they played it had not ended well but that doesn't mean he and his friends can't try and play it again. At least this time Max, El and Kristen will hopefully be playing with them this time.

He grabbed his walkie talkie off of the bedside table and called the group. "Guys you there?" He asked.

 “Yeah, what Will?" Mike answered. Although Will wouldn't admit it to himself, he loved the sound of sleep in Mike's voice.

 "Wanna come here and play D&D?" Will walked to the kitchen to get some eggos from el's secret Stash.

 "Yah, sure! I'll be right over". Mike said. Lucas and the others soon answered and showed up at his door. They headed to the basement and set up. Mike sat down beside El and Will sat down on Mike's other side. Mike caught Will looking at him and thought nothing of it.

“Wait I want to use the Will the wise character Kristen, I'm always him". Will said, snapping out of his daze.

 "Oh, sorry, will. I didn't know". Everyone turned to look at Will as Kristen turned her face to her lap, she had never liked uncomfortable situations.

“it's okay." Will said, and then added "sorry I snapped at you, I didn't really mean to." Because Mike had kicked him in the shin for the sad puppy look on her face. Will thought Mike had left his foot on his ankle longer than necessary, and the thought made him blush.

  "I'm always the wizard character". Kristen giggled with    embarrassment. Then the game started, a very intense one too. Mike started to get uncomfortable because Will kept touching his foot with his. Will was only doing it because of what Mike had done earlier. God, he loved how his hair got in his eyes. Kristen kept looking at Will and when he saw her they both turned away blushing. When El caught Kristen smiling she asked "What's so funny?" 

 Kristen just smiled bigger and said "nothing". 

Later that evening, Steve and Robin went out dancing to meet people. Robin was keeping a close eye out for Kathryn, who she would have invited if she hadn't ran off before she got her number.

About a half hour later, Robin saw Kathryn walk in. 

 "Hey!" Robin said, trying to play it cool, but dramatically failing. On her way over to Kathryn , she tripped and fell, spilling her drink all over the guy's feet standing next to her.

 “Oh!" Kathryn helped Robin up.

 “Oh, thanks". Robin mumbled. Then to the poor fellow who's sneakers were now soaked with punch 

“sorry man".

 “Whatever". He said then walked away with his girlfriend. 

"It's good to know that I'm not the only clumsy person here." Kathryn says with a huge smile. Robin didn't reply because she was too distracted looking at her.   Kathryn looked at her funny for a couple seconds then said; "Hey, do you want to hang out sometime? I've seen you at school and I'd say you are pretty cute." Robin was starting there with her mouth open.

"It's okay if you don't feel that way." 

 Robin replies "Yeah I would love that."

 “Oh thank god I was worried for a bit there." As Kathryn walked away Steve came up to Robin. 

"Steve, I just got a date with Kathryn!" Robin says with a bundle of excitement. 

“Wait really?! Good job Robin!" She was happy that Steve was still friends with her and loved her for her. 

The next day the party was out and about. 

“Hey Will can we talk for a bit?" Will turns to look at El "Yeah sure?" Will says.They walk behind a local store. El looked behind her to make sure no one was following them. 

 "Will do you love Mike?" Will doesn't reply. 

"It's just that you have been looking at him and things like that."  Sure Will likes Mike. He would do anything for Mike. It's just that he also likes Kristen. He doesn't understand how that works. How can he like both? "No, I don't love him". As he was saying this he could feel his heat brake. 

  "Oh well do you like Kristen because she told me she likes you". Will was happy to hear that at least one of his crushes likes him back.

 "I think I do?" And that was that he and El met back up with the others.

"What took you guys so long ?" Kristen asked. El looked at Will and giggled. Everyone else is just standing there confused. 

Everyone is now doing their own thing. 

“umm... Will, I have something to tell you." Will looks up to her in concern. He just hopes she doesn't tell him she loves him because he's not sure if he does. He knows he likes Mike but is about eighty percent sure he likes her back. 

“Today when we were playing D&D I saw El move a pillow that was behind Mike and put it on her lap without moving. Do you know anything about that?" 

 Will looked up at her in shock. Had Eleven gotten her powers back without telling anyone or was she still confused with how it happened.       

“No, I don't know anything about that. are you sure you weren't just seeing things?" 

“Yeah I'm sure but if you don't believe me I don't care." After that they walked off.

While everyone else was out of the house it left Joyce and Hopper alone. Joyce didn't know what to say because of what she found the night before. Lucky for her last night Hopper slept on the couch.

 When Joyce went to go get breakfast, she couldn't help checking on Hopper. When she got to the living room, she didn't see Hopper on the couch so she began to worry. What if he had left? She wondered to herself, mentally kicking herself for not looking sooner.Just as she was about to call for him, Hopper came around the corner.

"Oh hey Joyce, how are you?" Joyce's heart stopped racing at the sight of him.

“oh I'm fine, you?" She asked, acting casual.

“I'm as fine as I could be." He looked at her for a bit before saying.

"Do you mind driving me around town or something similar?" Hopper sighed before continuing. 

"It's just that I want to get out of the house for a bit,  and I'm guessing it's not the best idea for me to go out by myself." Joyce held his gaze a few moments before saying that she would. They ate breakfast, then Hopper went to the bathroom to get changed. Joyce didn't know this though. Joyce went to go brush her teeth and walked in on Hopper Changing.

 "Oh!" She exclaimed, tearing her eyes away.

 "I'm so sorry Hop!" She said after closing the door. Hopper turned bright red before saying 

"it's all good" awkwardly. Joyce noticed that Hopper seemed to have lost a ton of weight. It made sense though because he was in the Upside Down and before that Russia. She sort of wishes that Owens had not told her this. Once they both were finished getting ready, Joyce kept saying sorry over and over again.

"Joyce, it's ok. Shit like that happens all the time." But what Hopper was actually thinking was that he was done with Joyce always doing this. She would do something that might hurt him and always apologize after. He just wants her to treat him like a human, not some poor puppy who you could hurt by saying the wrong thing.

"So where do you want to go, Hop?" Joyce asked.

 "I would like to go to the mall or what is left of it, before you say anything I want to go because I think it could help me with my memory." Joyce looked at him with guilty eyes."I haven't been there since that night." Joyce goes to look for her car keys while Hopper has to look around the house. Once Joyce was back she wrote a note for Will and or Jonathan.  The drive there was quiet.

"So this is the place.?" When Joyce looks at him all she can see in his eyes is fear, not that she could blame him for it. 

"So are there any memories coming back?" Joyce asks with her hands in her jacket pocket. At first nothing was coming to Hopper until...

    Hopper was standing on a platform next to a sparking machine. He can feel his heart beating against his chest. At this point in time he had so much adrenaline he could feel his hands shake, though that could be fear. He knew he might die tonight but he didn't care too much because Joyce and the boys would be safe and so will El. Oh El... He felt bad for leaving her but he knew that this is how it must end. He thought of Sara. At least he could see Sara again. Hopper looked  up at Joyce and just simply smiled at her, telling her it's all going to be okay that he loves her. Joyce managed to turn both keys, but just as she does Hopper realized that he could jump through the portal. So as the machine exploded he jumped...

      Hopper looks at Joyce then at the mall. It's  1987 now, not 1985. He doesn't know why he is outside. Why is he so scared? He begins to shake with tears falling down his red cheeks.

 "Jim?!" Joyce begins to worry. What is happening? Why is he so upset? She knew That coming back here would be a mistake. Hopper couldn't think straight. He kept seeing the platform, the machine, Joyce's face and the portal. The feeling of fear and guilt started to bubble inside of him. Joyce doesn't know what to do, she just stands a few feet behind him. She feels guilty because she has no clue on how to help him. For Hopper it seemed like everything would not stop spinning. 

"Jump just jump." Joyce could hear Hopper whisper this under his breath over and over again. Hopper kept whispering to himself as he kept walking closer to the mall's entrance. Even though he could hear Joyce calling his name all he could see was the platform and Joyce being in the control room above him. 

“Hopper!" Joyce could feel tears in the back of her eyes. Oh Hop! Why must you keep going through hell? Joyce starts to run after him, when she finally catches up with him she gently touches his shoulders.

“Hopper you're not in the base." He falls to the ground and puts his hands to his face. Joyce can feel him shaking. She joins him on the ground and hugs him. "Shhhh, everything is okay." Joyce would say if she could take away all of his pain, but, unfortunately, she can't.

“I-I'm sorry... for all of this." Hopper takes a deep breath. 

“I'm sorry for putting you through all of this for thinking I died for making you see me like this." Before Joyce can say anything he continues.

"This is all my fault! Everything that has happened is my fault!" Hopper finally finishes. 

“Oh Hop!" Joyce says with so much pain in her voice. "None of this is your fault. Nothing that has happened is because of you." This just makes Hopper worse, he goes into the fetal position on the ground.

“Hopper the only person to blame for anything that's happened is that monster Brenner. I know you may not remember who that is but he is to blame. He is at fault for all of this, he is the one who should feel guilty!" Joyce takes a couple of deep breaths. 

“We should go before someone finds us." Hopper responds by doing a shaky nod. 

Later In the car, Joyce kept looking over at Hopper, who was still looking shocked and fearful.

 "So," She said, approaching with caution 

" Do you remember... everything?"

“Well... I think so". Hopper said, not really there. He was still stuck looking at Joyce's face before he went into the Upside Down. 

"How am I supposed to know if I remember everything?" He asked, he felt angry. Joyce didn't know what he was going through!

"Well, I can ask you a few things to see. Would that help?"

“Yeah, I think". 

“Do you remember what El's favourite food is?" She questioned lightly.

He smiled.

 "I'm pretty sure it's eggos." 

“Do you remember the first time El called you dad?" Joyce asked, feeling relief and happiness for him.

“Yes, it was before some dance and I gave her Sara's hair tie and without thinking she said 'thanks dad'." Hopper said with a small amount of confidence. 

"I remember that El and Mike are a thing. I remember El asking about Christmas. The smile on his face was replaced with pain. 

“And I remember something about this place. I think the kids called it the upsidedown, I remember me and you going into it to save Will and that's...that's it." 

"Hop, don't focus too much on those memories yet if you aren't ready. Think of the good ones." Joyce said, patting his arm.

 "Please don't tell them ; I don't want El to get her hopes up." He said softly .

“Yes, of course Hop." Joyce squeezes his hand.

They were silent the rest of the way home until they saw the sky start to go black. It turned from a clear, blue sky to a cloudy, pitch black canvas with purple lightning.

"What the fuck?!" Hopper said, getting out of the car. “Joyce, I'm taking the wheel!" He said. As they made the switch, the wind started to pick up, leaves smacked the windshield with enough force to stay there. It was nearly impossible to close the doors, for they were against the wind.  As soon as they were in the car, it started to storm . "Where are the kids?" Hopper had to yell over the rain.

 "They went into  town! They said that at one they'll be  on the hill!" Joyce answered, fearfully. They were both terrified.  Hopper took off, racing as fast as he could against the growing storm.

Some how it seemed as the strange storm started everyone involved with the upside down had a muterul under standing of well fuck, I guess it's back.

Chapter Text

"So is anyone going to tell me what the fuck is happening? Because it seems as if you know what's going on!" Kristen yelled.The rest of the party didn't do anything, they just stood there staring at Kristen without saying anything. 

“Will explain what's going on when everyone is here, okay?" Kristen just sighs. 

“Fine we’ll tell you but we have to wait until everyone else gets here.” Mike says. They have no clue how long they waited, but after some time,Robin, Steve and Erica met up with them. Not too long after both Joyce and Hopper showed up.

"So now can I get an explanation of what the actual hell is going on here?!" The storm had stopped by now. "Kristen promise me that you will have an open mind when I tell you what's happening, okay?" Will asks her in a serious voice.

 "Yeah sure whatever just tell me." After Will  told her everything, Kristen just stood there .

"Back to the main problem, what are we going to do?" Robin asks everyone. Joyce sighs before replying. 

"I have no clue but we should head back to the house."

"How about we go to my house; no one is there and there's a small chance that whatever monster is after us this time knows where I live." Says Steve.

“I think that's a good idea." Says Joyce. 

“Although... if you’re parents they do come, your home might get wrecked". Joyce thinks a bit before saying. "Yeah, lets do that Steve."  They all pile into Joyce and Steve's cars and head down the road. There are fallen trees, power lines, and leaves everywhere. The ditches beside the road are full of water, like little creeks. The drive was very bumpy and rough. Steve's house was in the woods just outside of Hawkins . He now lives on his own, so he's not sure how clean it was. Steve stops the car and gets out. He goes and unlocks the door. They get inside before the storm starts up again.

“So," he says. "This is my house. It's small, but it's better than nothing." He continues, picking up a basket of laundry and moving it to another room.

 "It's cozy". Says Robin, making herself at home. Steve grinned at her.

"I'm still pretty confused." Said Kristen. She sat down and crossed her legs underneath her next to Will.

"Well, I have been feeling off, I didn't think much of it at first but now I'm worried ". Even though the monster was out of him, he still had a sixth sense when it came to the Upside Down.

“What do we do?" Max wondered aloud. Her face was scared and she was holding on to Lucas's hand. Everyone was either sitting down or standing up but either way the atmosphere was a mix of emotions. Everyone puzzled over that for a bit while Hopper had a flashback...

He was standing in Joyce's living room but it was a bit different. There were messy drawings everywhere. He was looking at her front door with his gun at the ready. Out of nowhere a dog-like creature was thrown through the window. He could feel the whole room tense up. Then the door opened by itself, everyone was ready for a fight but El then came through the door. After this everything is kind of fuzzy. He remembers part of the plan they made…

 "I got it!!" Hopper said."El, come with me and we are gonna test your powers". El got up confused and followed Hopper anyway to the yard. The storm had calmed down a bit.

 "Ok, so remember last time when we went to the lab to close the gate?" El just nods her head, still confused. "Let's test how strong your powers are." El took a couple of steps forward and focused on a painted rock that was by Hoppers foot. The rock slowly came to her. It only got half way before it stopped.

“I'm sorry." El says with her head down.

"Strange, what if you try closing a door?" Hopper replied.

"Ummm, okay." El turns to the back door and opens it. Hopper walks over to her and ruffles her hair.

“Good job kid." El can now finally move the rock to her as well as making a garden chair float. Kristen comes out of the house to see this but before she could say anything it dropped and broke on the ground. 

"Maybe do it more gently next time." El looks up at him confused.

“I didn't drop it, something came over me and I did." Kristen walks up to the pair before speaking.

"So I guess you do really have powers." She does a small chuckle before continuing. 

“When we were playing D&D I saw you move a pillow. I was so confused about it. I had to ask Will about you but he said that nothing had happened, I suppose it makes sense why he didn't want to tell me." El and Hopper look at each other. 

"I guess he didn't want me to go and tell Papa." El looks at her with shock. How did she know about Papa, she had never told her when they explained him, everyone had called him Brenner.

"Papa? I never told you about him, only that his name was Brenner." Kristen just looked down.       

“Yeah you did." El didn't care enough about it so she let it drop.

“Okay whatever". El said before walking into the house to tell everyone the news about her powers. When Mike heard about the news, he came up and planted a kiss on her cheek. Hopper had a distant look on him, Joyce smiled at them, and Will clenched his teeth.

“Are you being over protective Hop?" Joyce elbows him and smiles.

“Hahaha...no" Hopper said awkwardly. In reality he didn't like the fact that El...his little girl was getting older. He was sad that he had already missed so much of her life. He awkwardly caught El's eye and returned her genuine smile.

Chapter Text

"I'm gay?... no that can't be I like it Mike and Kristen."

Robin walked by just as Will was saying this. As much as Robin didn't want to keep listening to what Will was saying, she does.
“Isn't it called bisexual or something... Oh I don't know! Why can't I be like everyone else because then I wouldn't have this problem. Oh, who am I kidding I bet no one else talks to themselves into a mirror. "

Robin slowly walked over to him

"Hey bowl cut, how are you?"

Will jumped back in surprise. He could feel his face heat up and his eyes water up.

"How...How... How long where you there for?" Robin looked at him with a small smile on her face.

“Oh, I've been there long enough and..." Will looks at her in fear. Oh god! She's going to hate me now! Wait! Is she going to tell everyone now? Will thought to himself. He could now feel himself crying. Now she's just going to think your just another fairy.

"I'm gay, I don't care if you are gay or bi or anything for the matter." Will just looks at her. "If you need anyone to talk to just come to me or Steve."Will looks at her in confusion now.

”Wait why Steve?" Robin chuckles a bit. "He's the first and only person who've I've told other then you."Will Hugs her and she hugs him back.
"Jim you're doing a great job. "Joyce gives hopper a smile.

“Yah? I thought so too. By now I probably would've burnt the pizza." Hopper laughs.

"I didn't mean the food, Hop."  His face falls. Joyce walls over to him and rubs his arm.
"I'm doing my best to hold myself together... in front of everyone." He flashes her a sad smile.

“Oh, Jim. You don't need to pretend you are okay in front of me. I want to help." He's quiet for a minute. Joyce goes back to the salad. Out of nowhere Hopper is still...

“Help! Someone help me!" Hopper can feel himself move forward.

“Now now Jim... no one can and or will help you now." Dr. Brenner stands next to him. "Ten is now going to play with your mind for a bit. I hope you don't mind, not that it matters."Dr. Brenner walks out of the now white room. Hopper sewers he can hear Russian in the background. A girl with long blonde hair walks into the room.
"You took my sister away from me, it only seems fair for me to take her away from you and everything else you knew of for the last couple of years." The girl walks closer to him.
”What is your name?" Hopper asked her with fear in his voice.
”Not that you'll remember but it's Lilliana January." She started to get closer to him.

"What do you mean I won't remember tha...."

"Hopper!"

Hopper woke up on the coach with everyone looking down at him. He looks around for a bit before saying

"The fuck am I doing here. Last I checked I was in the kitchen.” Joyce looked at him with a worried expression on her face.

"Hopper you passed out." Joyce looks worried.

"Oh, umm..." Hopper blinks a few times to focus his eyes. He can hear blood pounding in his ears and he is soaked is sweat.

“Hop, I'm really worried about you." Joyce says.

 "Well Joyce what the fuck do you expect? I've been through hell." Joyce fails at containing her grimace.

“What you don't like me saying that? It's true. Of course, I'm going to pass out from time to time. My body is weak." Hopper clenches his jaw. Joyce raises an eyebrow. Then she stands up, brings Hopper some ice-cold water, and heads to the bathroom for a good cry. She pushes open the door sniffling, and sees Will bawling in the tub. Cautiously, she approaches him. With each step, she hears Will more and more.

"Will, honey? What's wrong?" Joyce squats down by her son. Will freaks out at first before saying

“Nothing..."

"Will it's okay you can Tell me anything." Joyce says as she goes in to hug him. All Joyce wanted is for everything to back to normal.

"I just don't want to tell you okay?" Will snuggles up closer to his mom.

Joyce strokes his hair.

“It's okay sweetie. If you ever do want to talk, I'm here for you. Always." She kisses his forehead.

Mike was happy that him and El had reconnected, but Will has been acting strange since they came back. It was starting to make Mike worry.

"Hey El do think there's something wrong with Will."

Just as Mike had said this Will walked into the living room. Mike looks up at Will and notices that Will looks hurt. He looks like he's about to turn but Joyce walks by and kisses his cheek.

"Guys super is ready!" Jonathan yells from the kitchen.

The get a bowl of pasta each. The kids go into the living room.

Chapter Text

Hopper was sitting in the living room eating his pizza thinking about what he just saw. Lilliana seems familiar, he just doesn't know how though. He feels bad for yelling at Joyce, but he's done with everyone walking on eggshells. Sure he may not be doing okay, but still. El looked out the window and saw the upside down. It's here.

"Guys it's here!" She yells to everyone. The gang is getting everything ready to leave except for Kristen. It seemed that only Hopper had noticed this. Everyone got into the cars and left as fast as they could to the lab. Dr.Owens always said that if they need to use it they can. Hopper was walking around with Joyce next to him. Out of nowhere he fell.

"Hopper!"

Hopper was somewhere that looked like his house he used to have in New York. This confused him. 

"Oh hello." He turned around to see Kristen. 

"What do you want and why are you here?" He asked her.

"I could tell that you had just got a memory from your time in Russia and I knew that I needed to act fast about that little problem. Since you know it's not good for me or Papa." Hopper looks confused.

"I know that you're confused right now, but all you need to know is that soon you will be my puppet!"

Everyone was sitting around Hopper, waiting for him to wake up.

"Mom, do you think he'll be okay?" El asks Joyce.

"Yeah he will, it's Hopper." Joyce says, even though she doesn't really mean it. He's been doing this a lot. She's guessing it has something to do with PTSD. Even though she doesn't know much about it. It just makes the most sense. Hopper wakes up. He jumps up and looks around in fear.

"Hey...hey. It's okay. You're in Hawkins." Joyce says. Hopper just nods. Kristen smirks. Only Will notices this.

"Wait... we should go to Murray's place instead." Joyce tells the group. Everyone nods in agreement. Joyce knocks on the door while yelling to let him.

"Joyce!" He opens the door.

"I still can't believe he's alive, after what happened." Murray says to Joyce.

"What do you mean after what happened?" Joyce asks him. With a confused look on her face.

"Oh, right, we never told you, did we?" Murray says to Joyce. While her and everyone else was looking at him in confusion.

"Anyway, about five months ago me and Owens found out that Hopper was in a Russian prison. So, after three months of looking for him we were finally able to go to Russia. "

"What do you mean by that?" Joyce asks him. Robin looks around at everyone before speaking.

"Before you continue, we should probably go and sit down." They nod in agreement. Joyce makes sure to sit down next to Hopper. She even holds his hand. She knows that for him it's in a comforting way, but for her it's so much more than just that. She knows it's not right to be thinking this way. She still does it anyway. Joyce looks at everyone, but when she does, she notices that Kristen looks at her in a strange way. She doesn't think much about it.

"So, as I was saying we get there and we know right away that something is off, but we keep looking anyway. Now this is when everything goes downhill from here on out. We get to this room and to our surprise we see Hopper was in said room. Owens opens up the door and before we can do anything he comes charging out of the room and attacks us. So, we start running down a hallway and go into a room and little do we know there's another way in the room and of course Hopper knows about this way in. I tried to fight him off, but then he fell down to the main level of this room. And that's when Owens notices the big portal to the upside down or whatever you kids call it. So, when he tries to get back up, he takes a wrong step and falls into the portal and before we could do anything a bunch of Russian guards came out of nowhere and luckily neither of us were hurt." Murray says to the group.

"So, what you're telling is that you knew this whole time that Hopper was alive! And you never told me!" Joyce says yelling at Murray for keeping something so big away from her, most importantly El.

"We didn't tell you about this because we didn't want you to get your hopes up." He tells her. Joyce nods her head in understanding. It made sense and she knows and so does Murray that if she was there with them, she would have jumped right after him. Hopper's hand starts to shake in Joyce's. He holds on to her hands. Before he can do anything, he passes out once again.

"Are you ready to attack them?" This time Lilliana asks him. Hopper is confused at this. Last time it was Kristen. Maybe this Lilliana used someone he was unsure about to put more fear into him.

"No...please not them..." Hopper pleads with her. She just shakes her head.

"Let's get Joyce. She seems like an easy target to kill."

Hopper wakes up and looks at Joyce dead in the eyes before getting up and walking into the kitchen.

Chapter Text

Everyone looked at Hopper in confusion. He opens up a draw and takes something from it. He turns round and makes eye contact with Joyce. He takes a deep breath before throwing a knife at Joyce. As she ducks down, she screams. He takes another knife out and jumps over the counter. Joyce stands back up looking around at everyone and noticing that everyone looks confused and sacred. Hopper runs over to her. Joyce tries to move out of the way, but she doesn't move in time and Hopper rams into her, because of her small size she gets knocked down right away.

"Mom!" Both Will and Johnathan yell. El is just standing there confused. Why is her dad doing this? She knows that something was wrong. This is not the Hopper she knows and loves; this Hopper is an evil version of his former self. It was almost as if something in him snapped or even that someone was controlling him.

"Hop!" Joyce says shocked as he tries to stab her. She has no clue what has made him change, but whatever it is it scares her. He keeps aiming for her and keeps missing. Joyce gets up and runs, but is not fast enough. He pushes her into the next room. This time he gets her arm and she screams in pain. She can hear people yelling in the other room, but right now she can't do anything. She knows that it's a big cut, it's from her shoulder all the way down to her elbow. Just as he's about to stab her, she hears El yell from the other room. Everything freezes. She can't move and nor can Hopper. He looks shocked. El comes walking in the room and takes something out from her pocket.

"Dad, stop! This is not you." Hopper just grunts and looks like he's trying to move, but of course he can't.

"I even have proof!" She opens up the piece of paper she took out from her pocket just moments earlier. She starts to read it and Joyce realizes that it's the heart to heart letter he wrote to her.

"There's something I've been wanting to talk to you both about. I know this is a difficult conversation, but I care about you both very much. And I know that you care about each other very much. And that's why it's important that we set these boundaries moving forward, so we can build an environment...where we all feel. Comfortable, trusted, and open to sharing our feelings.Feelings.Feelings. Jesus. The truth is, for so long, I'd forgotten what those even were. I've been stuck in one place, in a cave, you might say. A deep, dark cave. And then, I left some Eggos out in the woods, and you came into my life and for the first time in a long time, I started to feel things again. I started to feel happy. But, lately, I guess I've been feeling...distant from you. Like you're - you're pulling away from me or something. I miss playing board games every night, making triple-decker Eggo extravagances at sunrise, watching westerns together before we doze off. But I know you're getting older. Growing. And I guess...if I'm being honest, that's what scares me. I don't want things to change." Hopper's whole demeanour changes, but he still hasn't said or done anything yet. Joyce doesn't know how to think about that.

"So, I think that maybe that's why I came in here, to try to maybe...stop that change. To turn back the clock. To make things go back to how they were. But I know that's naive. That's just...not how life works. It's moving. Always moving, whether you like it or not. And, yeah, sometimes it's painful. Sometimes it's sad. And sometimes...it's surprising."Joyce now notices tears falling down from Hopper's face. She takes this as a good sign. Now that Joyce thinks about it, she didn't even know that El kept this with her at all times. Not that she could blame her for keeping it though.

"So, you know what? Keep growing up kid. Don't let me stop you. Make mistakes, learn from 'em, and when life hurts you, because it will, remember the hurt. The hurt is good. It means you're out of that cave. But, please, if you don't mind, for the sake of your poor old dad, keep the door open three inches."

Hopper finally drops the knife. He looks at Joyce than at El. He looks at Joyce again. Johnathan comes running in. As goes to get Joyce he glares at Hopper. El notices the hurt look on Hopper's face.

"It's not your fault. You didn't kill anyone, but I have." She just walks up and hugs him.

"Yes, it is! Joyce now fears me and so does everyone else."

"What the fuck. What the fuck!" Mike keeps repeating to himself. Everyone turns around when the hear both Johnathan and Joyce walk out of the room. The first thing anyone notices is the big cut Joyce has on her right arm.

"Mom!" Will says while running up to her.

"I can't believe that Hopper would do something like this,'' says Max.

"It was not Hopper." Joyce says slurring some words because of the blood loss. Murray comes out from one of the bed rooms with a first aid kit. He comes and at sits near her and bandages her wound.

"T-t-thanks." Joyce says before passing out.

Chapter Text

Joyce woke up and looked around and realized that she couldn't find Hopper, but then she remembered what happened and wasn't sure if she wanted to find him.

"Joyce you're up." Nancy says to Joyce walking over to her with a glass of water.

"Here, drink this." She tells her. Joyce says a small thank you before taking a sip.

"Ummm...where's Hopper?" Joyce asks Nancy nervously. Nancy looks at her with pity before answering.

"He's still in that room with El. Neither of them have come out of that room. El just uses her powers to get food. I feel bad for Mike because he's worried that the same thing that happened to you will happen to El." Nancy tells her. Joyce feels kind of bad for him, but she still did fear him which made her feel terrible. She still loves him because she just knows that whatever happened in that room it wasn't the Hopper she knew, but that still didn't mean that she was not going to be careful around him.

"Wait how long was I out for?" Joyce asks.

"Oh yeah. Probably should have told you that, anyway you've been out for a day and a half." Joyce sits up quickly and winces in pain. 

"Shit!" Joyce mumbles under her breath. Will walks over to her and Nancy.

"How are you doing mom?" Will asks, sitting down next to her as Nancy leaves. 

"I'm doing good, but I can't believe I've been out for over a day. Also, Will do you mind telling me what happened while I was out?" Joyce asks him. Will nods before speaking.

"Well about an hour after you passed out Hopper tried to come out of the room to apologize to you, but 

Johnathan made him go back into the room and after that he never tried to come out again. Nothing else really has happened. Well there was Mike trying to get El out of the room, but she wasn't having any of that. She even used her powers to keep the door closed." Will says.

"Why didn't she want to leave the room?" Joyce asks.

"Well she thinks that someone was controlling him like the Mind Flyer was controlling me." Will informs her.

"I mean I guess that makes sense since that's not something he would do on his own free will, but I still don't think that she should be in the same room as him though." Joyce tells Will. Will just nods in agreement.

"I'll go and talk to her." Joyce tells him to get up and walk over to the bedroom. Joyce knocks on the door. It opens by itself. When she walks into the room to see both Hopper and El sitting down on the ground next to each other. She notices the fact that the knife isn't too far from them. When she looks around on the ground, she can see blood, her very own blood. 

"Hello mom! It's good to see that you're up now." El tells her. Hopper doesn't say or do anything.

"So, what are you two doing?" Joyce asks them. El stands up and walks over to her.

"I'm trying to see who is controlling his mind." El informs her. This time Hopper does nod.

"Oh okay." Joyce says as El walks out the room. Joyce is about to follow her, but before she can Hopper tries to grab her left arm. Joyce turns around fast in fear that he will attack her again. She looks at him in fear. She can see Hopper's face change from one of confusion to one of hurt.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have done that." Hopper says as he walks out of the room hurt and angry.

"Hop wait...I'm sorry." She says following him. As they walk out of the room and everyone watches them. He keeps walking, when he gets to the door, she thinks that he's going to stop there, but he doesn't. When she looks around, she remembers how close they were when they were last in this spot. She follows him outside.

"Hopper, where do you think you're going?" Joyce asks him.

"Anywhere but here!" He tells her. Joyce just looks at him worried. 

"Don't. You can't leave, you don't have your memory back fully yet." She tells him with tears in her eyes. Joyce knows that Hopper will leave and if she's being honest with herself, she doesn't want him to leave.

"Why does it matter, no one wants me to be with them! They all fear me." He says that last bit with what Joyce would say self-hatred.

"And how do you know this! Huh!" Joyce says getting mad, well she doesn't know if she's mad or sad at the idea that he may be leaving.

"Did you not see how everyone was looking at me when we left the room? Huh!" Joyce just shakes her head.

"Well they all looked at me in fear. Fear Joyce. And don't say too don't feel the same because we both know what just happened in that goddamn room!" Hopper yells at her. The worst part is that fact that he's not wrong, she does fear him, but she still loves him. She can feel herself-shaking from where she's been crying. No one says anything and Hopper just continues walking. Joyce can't bring herself to move. So, she just stands there in self-pity.

"Well good that you're up now." Brenner says walking into Hopper's cell. Lilliana follows just behind him. She makes eye contact with Hopper. He can feel himself freeze.

"Are we almost done with him Papa?" Lilliana asks Brenner.

"Oh, we're almost done. I think this may even be the last time, but let's make sure." Lilliana nods.

"And how do we do that?" Lilliana asks, tilting her head to the left.

"Well just ask him some questions about his life after November sixth." Brenner answers her. While this is all going down Hopper can feel his heart rate go up. He has no clue who these people are or what's so special about November sixth. To be honest he doesn't even know how long he's been here for, he could only guess that it's been at least ten months.

"Who is this girl?" Lillian asks, holding up a photo of El. Hopper just looks at it confused.

"No." Hopper answers. Both Lillian and Brenner look at each other.

"What is the date?" Lilliana asks him.

"Well last time I checked it was the fifth of November." Hopper answers. They both looked happy with that answer. They kept asking similar questions. And he kept answering them the way, confused.

"Now we're done questioning you, Lillian will just give you this needle that will make you very sleepy," Brenner tells Hopper.

Hopper looked up and saw the sky. He sits up and rubs his head. He had no clue what that vision or memory was. Hopper stood up and started to walk into the forest, but before he could, he saw what looked like a giant shadow monster. For some reason it looked very familiar. He took one last look at it before running back to Murray's place. He wasn't quite sure if it was still following him. Hopper didn't know if looking behind him was a good idea, but he did it anyway. When he turned around, he felt his heart drop, he saw that the shadow monster thing was still chasing him.

Joyce had walked back inside to Murray's house with a solemn look on her face. She saw El in the corner of her eye.

"Where did dad go?" El asked her as she was getting up to sit next to Joyce. Joyce can feel herself tear up. She felt bad for treating Hopper like she did. It's not like he knew better and all he remembers of her is from high school and after he came back to Hawkins.

"He left. I-I don't even know where he went, I'm sorry sweetie." Joyce says. El looks up at her betrayal. She gets up and walks out of the house. Joyce got up to follow her, but by the time she got to the door she realized that she couldn't open the door. She instantly knew that El was using her powers on her. She was angry at her for this, but at the same time she was proud of her because she managed to get her powers back. Joyce knew how hard El had been working on gaining her powers back since she lost them, but just like Joyce thought it had something to do with Hopper's death.    

El was mad at Joyce for making Hopper run away. She never treated Will like she was treating her dad. They were both under mind control. It's not like Will didn't try to kill them, because she knows that he did. El knows that when she runs into whoever hurt her dad, whoever made him lose his memories of the last three years. El kept walking until she saw the Mind Flyer chasing after Hopper. She knew she had to tell the others about this, so she took one last look at Hopper and the Mind Flyer and took off running back to Murray's.

Will was sitting on the couch with Lucas and Dustin. It was kind of annoying because they kept trying to see if one of them was smarter than the other. He looked over to see His brother, Nancy, Steve and Robin talking about something. He kept thinking about what Robin had told him. He knows that he should probably tell his mom about him being...he didn't want to think about it. He knows that Robin hasn't told anyone other than Steve. So why should he go and tell his mom. He had no clue how she'll react. He knows that basically everyone he knows will accept him no matter what, but it's Hopper's reaction to him that matters. Even though Will is embarrassed to admit it, he looks up to him as not just a hero, but some kind of father figure. And he knows that if Hopper doesn't accept him it will break him. Will felt goosebumps on his neck, he looked out the door to see El and Hopper running inside as the Mind Flyer followed them closely.

Joyce turned around to see what the hell was going on. All she saw was Hopper and El out of breath.

"What is going on?!" Joyce asks both El and Hopper. 

"There was this huge ass shadow looking thing that started to chase me then El." Hopper says clearly freaking out. Joyce now felt even worse. He never really saw it before and of course, he doesn't remember the whole monster thing. 

"What are we going to do when the Mind Flyer is back! We're not ready to fight it." Dustin says. As much as Joyce didn't want to admit, what Dustin said was true. They were not ready.

"El, do you think that you can take it down?" Asks Max. El looks over at her.

"I don't know. I just got them back. I don't even know if I have them back fully." El says with a sad look on her. Joyce watches as Mike walks over to her, she hugs him. Joyce looks over at Hopper and notices a small smile. Out of nowhere the shadow monster ripped off the roof. 

"El!" Hopper yells running over to her. 

"Dad, I don't know if I can do it." El tells Hopper. He looks at her sadly.

"I may not remember everything, but what I do know is that you're strong not just with your powers by with how much you care for everyone that you love." Hopper says smiling. He hugs. El was surprised by this, but hugged him back anyway.

"Thanks dad." El says happily.

"Now go and fight that thing." Hopper tells her. El nods. She walks over to the Mind Flyer and starts to attack it. It clearly doesn't like it. Will tries to move somewhere else, but the Mind Flyer notices him. It looks like it's trying to gain control of him, but each time it does it seems to get just a little bit weaker each time.  Joyce and Hopper shared a look.

"Ummm...is that normal?" Hopper asks Joyce. She shakes her head.

"No, that's not normal. I didn't even know that was a thing." Joyce informs him. Hopper just shrugs.

El and the Mind Flyer keep fighting and Will just stands there as it weakens from attacking him. Then out of nowhere a girl came and started to make the Mind Flyer smaller.

"Who is that?" Robin asks Steve. He just shrugs.

"Nope, but I honestly don't care if they're helping us." Robin nods in agreement.

El looks over at the strange girl who had just come and started helping her.

"Who are you?" El asks. Said girl turns to look at her before she says anything.

"I'm Six." Six tells her. El just looks at her in shock.

"You're from the lab as well?" El asks her in surprise. Six shakes her head. This made El feel confused. How did she get away with having powers and Papa not finding out about them, but before El could ask Six more the Mind Flyer smashed a wall near them.

"I swear if Owens doesn't pay for this!" Murray yells over all of the noise. 

"Is it me or is the Mind Flyer getting way smaller now?" Nancy asks everyone. Most nod in agreement.

"But it seems to make it angrier though." Johnathan points out. Just as he says this it attacks Joyce.

"Mom!" Will shouts. It looks as if it's trying to possess her, but before it can continue Hopper pushes her.

As Hopper pushed Joyce away the Mind Flyer started to try and take control of him, Hopper noticed that he wasn't stuck standing there. He was in pain, but he knows he's been in even worse pain before.  

"Hopper!" Joyce screams. Hopper was still standing there while the Mind Flyer was trying to possess him. Both El and Six run over to the group.

"Dad!" El says with tears falling. Six looked at both El and Joyce before using the last bit of her powers to destroy it. She knew that it was gone, just back in the upside down for now. As she was doing all of this Will looked at her and noticed that she looked like she knew something else. He didn't think much about it because he was happy that the Mind Flyer was gone.

"Hop!" Joyce said, hugging him as he came to.

"You okay?" He asks her. Joyce just nods tearfully.

"I should be the one asking you that. Why would you do that Hop?" Joyce says.

"Why wouldn't I save you," Hopper said with a small smile. Everyone else leaves the area where Joyce and Hopper are.

"I remembered some things from last summer," Hopper tells Joyce. She looks up at him with hopeful eyes.

"That's great! What is it?" Joyce asks him. Hopper nods his head.

"Well..." Hopper began. Before Joyce could do anything, Hopper kissed her. 

"Why?" Joyce asks, blushing. She didn't know what to think about what just happened. She guessed she was kind of happy, but she was more confused than anything. Hopper looks at Joyce blushing.

"Well we never got to go to Enzo's," Hopper says smirking. Joyce looks up at him before kissing him again.

Robin looks at Six before talking to her.

"So, your name is Six, does this mean you're from the lab as well?" Robin asks her. Six turns around and looks at. She hesitated before she answered.

"Well technically I am, but a couple of years ago me and my sister moved to Russia." Six informs her. Robin just looks at her. Robin looks at a clock and realizes the time. She goes over to Steve.

"It's six! I've missed my date with Kathryn!" Robin tells Steve. He looks at it with pity.

"Oh shit...I'm sorry," Steve says as he sits down. Robin sits down next to him and puts her head on his shoulder. Steve looks at her with a small smile. 

"She probably hates me now," Robin says with self-hatred.

"I bet she doesn't hate you. All you need to do is go and explain to her why you were busy." Steve tells her.

Murray called Dr. Owens and told him everything.

"Owens is coming over to help us," Murray tells everyone. 

"That's good!" Joyce says. Everyone turns around when they hear a thunk. What they see is Hopper on the ground, but what was strange was the fact his eyes were open and showed just white.

Chapter Text

Hopper woke up, he looked around and realized that this was the place he keeps dreaming.

"I know your here! " Hopper yells.  Lilliana walks into view.

"Well, of course, I'm here."  She replied.

"Hello, Kristen," Hopper says smugly.  She looks at him shocked.

"What? How? How do you know this?!" She asks him.

"Honestly I just kind just guessed," Hopper tells her.  Lilliana pins him to the wall with her powers.

"Oh well lucky you! I bet you don't know that "Six" is my sister!" She yells at him. Hopper looks at her confused. Well, he really didn't know that one.

"Well by the looks of it you didn't know that! Also, her name is Kathryn...so once I let you leave here you will...kill her! And this time no one will stop you!" Lilliana tells him. The only thing Hopper can think about is how insane she sounds.

"Where are we even?" Hopper asks her. He has no clue if she will answer him, but he can only hope for the best.

"No clue...Papa always told me to bring you here. He says that it makes it easier for you to forget stuff here because if you come here unwilling it stores your memories here." Lilliana trails off.

Why was she telling him these things? Was she going to make forget more things about his life or is she going to kill him? Hopper honesty didn't know what was the worse option. If his memories are stored here does that mean he would be able to find them again? It didn't matter he took off running anyway. He could hear her yells at him to stop and come back, but he kept running. As he was running it felt like he was going through time. He kept getting glimpses of what happened last summer. He kept running until he found an opening.

Mine while, Joyce was sitting on the sofa as Murray and Doctor Owens were talking about what to do with Hopper. No one knew what to do, luckily, he seemed to be more relaxed. That was until he started to breath heavily. It was as if he was running...which made no sense to Joyce. She looked at Owens hoping that he knew what was going on, but he didn't look like. He looked very confused.

"Mom is he going too be okay?" El asks Joyce. She looks at her not knowing the answer. She doesn't want to lie to her, but she also doesn't want to make El worry.

"We don't know sweetie. I think he will." El looks at her then sits down next to Mike and Will who are at the table. She looked over at Six and Kristen. She noticed that they look very similar. She didn't think much about. 

"Hey Kristen?" Robin says. Kristen doesn't move she just sits there swaying. Robin and Six look at each other confused. No one makes a noise until Six speaks up.

"Stop!" Nancy and Johnathan look at Six confused. 

"Do you know what's she's doing?" Steve asks Robin. Kristen stands up quickly.

"So, it was you the whole time." Six says to Kristen. She just shrugs in response. On the other side of the room Hopper wakes up.

"Hop, you okay?" Joyce asks. Hopper just nods. He walks over to Kristen and Six.

"Hello, Kristen." Hopper says. Both him and Six make eye contact, while everyone else, but Kristen look at them confused.

"So, you remember then?" She asks with her. Hopper just nods. Joyce gets up from where she was sitting and walks over to Hopper.

"Remember what?" She asks confused. She looks at Hopper.

"I remember what happened last summer and what I've been doing while away, all thanks to Lilliana." Hopper says adding a smug tone to her name. Everyone, but Six looks at her confused.

"Lilliana?" Will asks. No one says anything to him.

"Hello...sister." Lilliana says to Six.

"Don't sister me!" Six says back. El looks at them both in shock.

"Oh, do you want me to call you Kathryn instead?" She asks mockingly.

"Kathryn! As in new girl at work Kathryn?!" Steve asks. Kathryn looks away from Robin, who is trying to see her reaction.  Kathryn just nods.

"Yeah...that's me. I was under cover trying to find out what happened to both Hopper and El." She says. Robin doesn't look at her. 

"That still doesn't explain the whole Lilliana Kristen thing though." Max says. Looking at the twin sisters.

"Well, her real name is Lilliana and she works for Brenner. She's the one who made Hopper lose all of his memories of last summer." Kathryn says. No one knows what to do.

Chapter Text

Kristen who we now know is really Lilliana teleporting herself away from everyone but not before saying.

“I will be back!” No one moves. There’s lots of whispering happening when someone breaks the tension of the room.

“Wait wait hold up! So Kristen is actually Lilliana. And She’s been working with Brenner the whole time?!” Steve says trying to get everything to make sense. Though it’s not likely to be happening anytime soon.

“Yep. I know it’s all so confusing.” Kathryn says. No one really knows what to do. 

“I guess we should try and make a plan to finally finish all this shit.” Will says being the first person to speak up.

“You're right but before that let’s let everyone settle down.” Kristen replies graping Robin’s arm and dragging her to another room.

“So does anyone want a snack?” Steve asks

“What are you doing?” Robin asks Kathryn.

“I’m sorry about not telling you about this. I just hoped this year it would leave you alone this year but I was wrong.” Kathryn says back to her.

“Do you still like me or is that also fake as well?” Robin asks while hugging herself.

“No! God no! I honestly think you’re amazing! I still would love to go on that date with you! Just you know after all this bullshit is over.” Kathryn says.

“Oh. Good good! That…that makes me really happy.” Robin says. The two girls hug.

“Do you guys ever think that if no one found me in the upsidedown none of this would have happened?” Will asks everyone. The room goes silent. No one makes a move to do anything.

“What no! Will why would you think that?” Mike says. Will just shrugs his shoulders.

“Will we all care about you. Nothing would ever be the same again if we didn’t find you. I mean sure stuff changed now but if we never found you. None of us would be here. El would have been found. Your brother would never get with Nancy. Your mom would be a mess. Probably in some insane asylum by herself. And the party won’t still be together.” Lucas says. He gets up to give Will a hug. The rest of the party joined in.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that sometimes I wonder how different things would be. For example none of this would be happening.” Will speaks up.

“But you would be dead.” Dustin points out.

“Sorry to break up this little moment but we should start planning.” Kathryn says walking in the room with Robin just behind her.