Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Susie hovered lightly along the ground, whimpering as she heard another roar in the distance. She didn’t know how long she’d been here, but she was scared, regardless. 

The last thing she remembered was Papa urging her excitedly into the test chamber—he and the technicians had finally managed to reactivate Star Dream! To celebrate, Papa had tried to turn on its… Space… Time…  thing? Susie couldn’t quite remember what he’d called it, but Papa had said it could let them see into other worlds! 

In no time, Susie was smiling just as brightly as her Papa. He pushed the button, but nothing happened. Soon, though, the pretty blue lights on Star Dream—off at the time—started flickering a bit. The chamber was filled with loud humming. 

But then… alarms. Papa’s cry of “Shut it down!” A boom, a white flash, a strange, tingly feeling. 

And then, she’d woken up here, in this scary, dark place. A place filled with monsters she’d seen from a distance. 

She whimpered a bit again, before silently shushing herself. 

They didn’t have faces. 

She was in some sort of forest at the moment. She looked up and noticed that she was approaching some sort of wooden structure. Miraculously enough, the writing on the planks above what seemed to be the entrance was written in her own language! 

“ALL FRIENDS WELCOME”  

“HOME OF WILL THE WISE” 

“CASTLE BYERS”

She barely restrained a gasp. There were people here! And someone wise? Like in the fairy tale books Papa read to her at night? Maybe Will the Wise could help her go home! 

She looked around nervously, saw no monsters were nearby, steeled herself, and hesitantly called, “H… um… H-hello? M-Mr. Will the Wise, sir?” 

Rustling. 

The pale face of a creature she had never seen before peeked out from behind the curtain serving as the wooden fort’s makeshift door. 

The creature was only unfamiliar for a few moments. 

Her mind helpfully snapped back to a day when Papa had excitedly showed her his latest discovery at the time. On a frozen planet far away, he’d found traces of the creatures who used to live there, until, as Papa had said, “It became so cold they had to move away.” 

Homo Sapiens. Or Humans, as Papa said they were more commonly known as, back when they were still around. He’d shown her a very good sketch of what one would have looked like, and this “Will the Wise” looked just like one. 

He… didn’t look much like the great wizards from Papa’s fairy tales. He just looked like a young boy. Far older than she was, sure—she was only seven—but still young. And clearly just as scared as she was. He looked like he’d been crying not too long ago, as a matter of fact. 

His eyes snapped wide open when he spotted her, and he flinched. He continued to bore his gaze into her, looking frozen, as if, in his fear, he didn’t know whether to try and fight, hide, or run. 

He was beginning to scare Susie. He wouldn’t try and hurt her, would he? 

“M-Mr. Will?” She shakily asked. 

The boy seemed to snap out of his strange trance, and a different facial expression replaced what had been there before. He—carefully, with great hesitance—crawled slowly out of his fort and over to her. 

Now Susie was the one too scared to move. 

He carefully reached out a hand… 

And… poked her. In the forehead. Right between her big, bright blue eyes. 

Upon realizing she was , in fact, real, the boy jerked backward, breathing heavily. 

“Mr. Will?” Susie asked in concern. “A-are you… are you okay?” 

The fear in the boy’s eyes receded a bit, replaced with sparkling curiosity. 

“Did—“ he began, stopping when his voice cracked. It sounded almost like he’d lost it at some point. He quietly cleared his throat and tried again. 

“Did you just… talk?” 

Was… Mr. Will wasn’t crazy, right? He—he couldn’t be crazy. He was her only way home. He had to… maybe… 

Oh! It was because they were different species’! He had probably never heard of her kind before, so while she’d never seen his until now, at least she knew what he was beforehand. He probably hadn’t learned about her race, and didn’t have anything to fall back on when he saw an unfamiliar creature in a scary place full of strange, scary monsters. 

“Y—yeah! I-I’m…” 

She remembered what Papa had taught her about manners and “pride in our great company”, and drew her head up high, feeling a bit of familiar pride that chased away some of the fear as she introduced herself word-for-word from the recital Papa had had her memorize for when she met new people outside the company. 

“I am Susanna Patrya Haltmann, daughter of Max Profitt and heiress to the presidency of the Haltmann Works Company!” 

The terror on Will’s face returned in full force as he frantically looked around. Without warning, he dove toward her, grabbed her, and pulled her into his wooden fort— Castle Byers , she remembered. 

She’d hardly had the time to cry out in surprise. Will was gripping her small body tightly, hand over her (nonexistent, but where her voice still sounded from) mouth. After keeping the two of them in that position for a while, breathing heavily, his breathing began to calm down (presumably once he realized no monsters had been attracted by Susie’s voice), and he slowly loosened his death grip on her.  

As soon as he released his grasp, she floated a few feet away and turned to face him, annoyed. Will looked mildly alarmed—probably thinking she was going to run away—but calmed down when he saw she was just watching him with her floating hands crossed in annoyance. 

He sighed quietly. 

“Yeah. You can definitely talk,” he whispered, although he made sure it was loud enough for her to hear. 

Susie hmph’d . 

“And why would you think I couldn’t?” She asked haughtily. 

“I… I don’t know…” Will said helplessly, looking like he still wasn’t fully convinced that he wasn’t just seeing things. “I’ve never… seen something like you before.” 

Susie’s sassy attitude quickly vanished as excitement took its place. “Well, I know what you are! I’ve just never actually seen someone like you in person!” 

Will frowned, though his head tilted ever so slightly. 

“Are you…” he began, before nervously swallowing and continuing, “Are you… one of those monsters? Like, I don’t know… like, a baby one, or something?” 

Susie gave him a frown of her own. 

“No. Papa’s brought me to lots of different places before, but I’ve never seen this place. It’s… it’s scary…” 

Her excitement at making a new Human friend faded, replaced by fear and longing for home and Papa once more. 

She sniffled. 

“Papa… Papa tried to turn on Star Dream, but something went wrong. I… I don’t know what happened, but everything went white and I felt all tingly, and then I woke up here.” 

Will’s frown deepened. 

“What? I, uh, I don’t understand. What’s… um, ‘Star Dream’?” 

Susie’s sadness briefly withdrew as she let the knowledge-hungering (Papa liked to joke that it came from him) side of her take over, as she began to explain. 

“It’s the Mother Computer. The most powerful machine out there! Papa was trying to use it to open portals to other worlds when that flash happened and I woke up here.” 

The sadness returned as she reminded herself of her current situation. 

And why she had tried to catch Will’s attention in the first place. 

“Wait. A computer that can open… portals to other worlds? That’s… that’s… crazy! You mean, like, one of the computers at the library?” Will asked, clearly struggling to wrap his head around what Susie had told him. 

What was a library, though? 

“What are you talking about?” Susie asked bluntly. 

Will huffed out a nervous laugh, running a hand through his greasy brown hair. “What—“ he coughed. “What are you talking about?” 

He began giggling. His giggles turned to chuckles. Then, to laughter; hysterical laughter that he kept as quiet as possible as he sprawled out on the floor of Castle Byers, body shaking with the force of the barely-contained laughter he refused to let leave his mouth. 

Susie knew there was something off about the laugh. It sounded so… broken. Like talk of a supercomputer that could open portals to other worlds was the most hilarious thing he’d ever heard. Like he’d never laughed before. Like he hadn’t felt happiness in so long. 

Regardless of her unease, Susie found she… understood. With how scared she was right now… 

She’d be willing to laugh at just about anything, too, if it meant feeling something that wasn’t fear. 

Susie joined him with giggles of her own, floating over to be closer to him and coming to rest on the ground. Soon enough, there were tears streaming down the faces of the two children. 

After a few minutes, their laughter finally petered out as they let out twin sighs. Susie found, after that release of pent-up emotion, she felt a little bit better. She sat up and hovered off the ground a bit, Will still laying beside her with his arms crossed behind his head, staring up at the ceiling in what looked to be deep thought. 

Susie decided this was probably the best time. 

So she asked. 

“Mr. Will?” 

The boy in question was still staring at the wooden ceiling. 

“Mr. Will?” 

“H-huh? Uh—what?” He asked dumbly, snapping out of his seeming trance as he looked over at her, looking like he’d only just remembered she existed. 

Susie clenched her floating, gold-gloved hands by her sides as she said, “Can you… send me home, please?” 

Will furrowed his brow. 

“I—w—what? How—I… I can’t…” he stuttered out. 

Susie’s heart sank. 

“What—“ his voice cracked once more, forcing him to again clear his throat before he could continue. “Why—why would you think I could… could do that?” 

Tears gathered in the corners of her cyan eyes. 

“I…” she sniffled. “You… well, it said—the sign said ‘Will the Wise’. I just… I thought… maybe… with magic…” 

She felt like such a dummy even as she said it. Her Papa was the President of the Haltmann Works Company. She grew up with science and technology, having always been taught that magic was just an invention of ancient people to explain why things worked the way they did. Science was what she should actually put thought into, Papa always said. He never particularly liked the fairy tales he read to her at bed time from storybooks—she always just insisted that those were the ones she wanted him to read. 

And he always did. For her. 

Her vision was blurred with tears, now. She put her head in her hands and cried. 

After a few long moments, she gasped when she felt something gently wrap around her. She cracked her—still blurry—eyes open just enough to see that it was Will’s arm. She didn’t have any more time to feel confused before he’d pulled her in close and wrapped both arms around her. 

Unlike last time, they weren’t crushing. 

It was far from Papa’s perfect hugs, but she still felt oddly safe, anyway, even though she hardly even knew Will. 

His skin was freezing cold, but as close to him as she was, what little body heat he did have still warmed her up a bit. 

“I—I’m… sorry. I’m sorry,” Will said. Awkward as it was, she could tell he really meant it.

“I’ll… I’ll…” 

Susie continued crying, heedless to his attempts to verbally comfort her. 

“I’ll, um… I’ll take care of you!” 

She paused. She wiped her eyes, sniffling as she looked up at his face. He was wearing a small, awkward smile. He clearly had no idea how he was going to see his claim through, but he was already trying to hide his own feelings to reassure her, and that was proof that he would at least try, in Susie’s eyes. 

“Okay? I’ll—I’ll protect you. I promise,” he finished, insecurity drowned out of his tone by an almost intense determination. 

She didn’t know if it was because of the fact that she now had someone to protect her, or if it was because of anything else, but Susie began to cry harder. 

The tears weren’t just ones of sadness, now. 

Chapter Text

Will crept through the darkness, the odd creature— girl , he corrected himself—floating along beside him. Susanna, he believed her name was; although he had forgotten her full frickin’ government when she’d shouted it at him in a place where monsters lurked behind every tree. 

Susanna… Patricia… Stop Sign…?  

If he was being honest, she had a really long name, so he was just going to go with Susie, for now. It was what she’d said he could call her, after she’d finished crying; “My friends call me Susie,” she’d said. 

It had warmed Will’s heart, a little. He had been alone in this place for… well, he actually didn’t know how long he’d been here, at this point. A few days, at least. He wasn’t quite sure why he’d made this odd, seemingly alien girl his responsibility; he didn’t even know exactly what she was or where she’d come from. Definitely not Earth, if her stories of a machine that could open gateways to other worlds was anything to go off of. 

Also, she wasn’t Human, but was still just as intelligent as one. So clearly, she was an alien of some sort. Maybe not from this place—Mr Clarke’s lessons on ecosystems and whatnot came to mind; naturally, a creature had to blend in with their surroundings. The Demogorgon (as he’d taken to calling it, since it had kidnapped him right after his character had been killed by one in DND) definitely did. It almost appeared to form from the shadows themselves. 

Susie, on the other hand, had the brightest, shiniest, pink hair he’d ever seen, and blue eyes that were just as vibrant, with pure white skin. Not even pale. Just completely chalk-white. Helping his extraterrestrial theory, her eyes reminded him of the classic Gray Alien’s, both in shape and because they lacked pupils. 

He had no idea how she could speak or read English, but from what little Mr Clarke had mentioned about the Multiverse Theory, stuff could play out differently in other worlds. It would be odd if she could read and speak English if she was just a normal alien from another planet in his universe, but she could’ve very well been from an alternate universe where English was developed by aliens instead of Humans. 

Whatever murky origins she may have had, however, hunger appeared to be a multiversal constant. 

After she’d calmed down, she’d asked if he had anything to eat. Will, for the sake of being polite, resisted the urge to ask how, exactly, she was supposed to eat with no mouth (or speak, for that matter). 

He was used to gnawing hunger after so long in this place, so while he normally would have waited until the hunger became absolutely unbearable to venture out to town and forage, he figured, since he was hungry anyway, he may as well just get up and look. Even if it meant he wouldn’t have as much to eat, he’d make sure Susie was fed. How else would he keep his promise? She was a little kid, and he was the closest thing to a “grown-up” she’d be able to find in this place. 

He had to take care of her. 

He honestly didn’t know what had compelled him to make a promise he may very well be unable to keep, but Susie was just so… small; and admittedly pretty adorable. And she was scared… whatever that affectionate, protective urge was, it felt similar to how he felt whenever he helped calm Holly down after a nightmare while babysitting her. It felt similar to when he did anything for Holly—cooking for her, providing entertainment, just making her happy. 

Was… was this how Jonathan felt about him? 

Will shook his head. As much as he’d always wanted a little sibling, that couldn’t be what this was. He couldn’t already be this attached to Susie—she’d come completely out of the blue! The only reason why he wasn’t freaking out about the fact that he’d met a literal alien was because this place had sort of desensitized him to things he might have once thought he’d never see.

Well, and because he couldn’t afford to raise his voice too much in this place. 

He felt a tug on his pant leg. 

He stopped, looked down, and saw Susie staring up at him with curious, shimmering eyes; gold-gloved floating hand lightly gripping his jeans. He couldn’t help the small smile from blooming across his face. She was so adorable. He was glad he wasn’t alone anymore. It made the idea of braving this place a little less daunting. If he had someone to provide for, to protect, well, he wouldn’t have much room to feel scared for himself, would he? 

“Yeah?” He asked. 

“Where are we going? I know you said we were gonna look for food but… where?” 

Will’s smile faded and he sighed. “This whole place is like a creepy, dark version of my home. We’re on the edge of the town right now, but we’re heading for the square.” 

Susie offered a weak smile. Will could only tell that that was what it was supposed to be because of the way her eyes quirked upward at the bottom. She released his pant leg and they continued walking. Or, more accurately, Will walked while Susie continued floating. Much to Will’s anxiety and irritation, despite the fact that no part of her was touching the ground, she was still somehow emitting the sound of footsteps. 

Not only did it not make sense and fly in the face of basic logic, it chose to not make sense at the worst possible time. The one time it would be convenient to float, and she somehow still made noise. It almost came off as intentionally nonsensical. Not helping it was the fact that the leaves weren’t even crunching under some invisible force. The ground was completely unaffected, and the footstep sounds were… well, Will didn’t know how to describe them, but they weren’t normal. They sounded cartoonish. 

Dustin would probably be having an aneurysm if he were here.

Will let out a (quiet!) wistful sigh as he thought of his friends. He missed them so much. In a futile effort to distract himself from the pain, he began to imagine how each of them would react to Susie. 

Lucas would be cautious and suspicious, keeping his distance but eventually warming up to her. 

Dustin would fire barrages of questions as to how she worked, where she came from, and what, exactly, she was. He’d think she was adorable and probably wouldn’t leave her alone for more than a few seconds at a time. 

Mike would be cautious, much like Lucas, only lacking the genuine suspicion. And unlike Lucas, even if he was suspicious, he’d at least pretend to like Susie until those feelings became genuine. Either way, he’d warm up to her way faster. He’d be just as curious as Dustin, for sure—just less in Susie’s face and over-the-top with his questions. 

Will didn’t even notice he was crying until he blinked and the built-up water was pushed out of his eyes and streamed down his cheeks. Almost as if becoming aware of the tears opened the floodgates, he began to cry harder. 

He missed them all so much. Thinking about what made him love each of them had only made it worse, obviously. What had he expected? He was such an idiot. 

He lowered himself onto his knees and let the sorrow overtake him. He made sure to keep his voice down, but he wasn’t holding anything back when it came to the tears themselves; and as long as he got those out, that was all that mattered. 

God, what was wrong with him? He had just promised himself that he would be strong for Susie. That he’d be brave and protect her. Barely ten minutes later and he was already having a breakdown? 

You really are a little pussy, aren’t you? His father’s voice sneered in his head. 

“Shut up… I’m not… I’m not…” 

He clutched his head. 

He felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Will?” Susie asked. “Are you okay? What’s the matter?” 

“I… just…” 

Will sniffled. 

“ I wanna go home…!” 

Floating hands wrapped around him, and he let out a small, choked gasp. Susie’s head nuzzled against his side comfortingly, golden hair clip glinting in the midnight-blue haze. 

Much like Susie had done only fifteen minutes prior, Will began to cry harder. In the midst of all this sorrow, he felt happy that he wasn’t alone anymore. He had a goal, now. One that he felt would be much more manageable than escape. 

He would take care of Susie, just like she was doing for him. 

About ten minutes later, the two children walked (and floated) through eerie, deserted streets. The streetlights seemed to be emitting the same, midnight-blue color that saturated this place. Yet they clearly weren’t actually on, as every now and then they’d audibly flicker (causing Will and Susie to flinch) with real light. 

They headed toward Melvald’s. 

“This is where you live?” Susie asked, taking care to keep her voice down. Will, who stood close to Susie with his head on a swivel, sheepishly scratched the back of his neck and answered, “In the real world, yeah. This is Hawkins.” 

Susie nodded. If she imagined that there was no haze over everything, that there were no slimy webs and strange growths everywhere, and pictured a sunny day, this place wouldn't look like such a bad place to live. 

If only it wasn’t her imagination. 

“How did you end up here?” She asked. Will flinched and stopped walking. 

Silence. 

“Um… Will? Did I say something wrong? I—I’m sorry. You don’t have to tell me; it’s none of my business and—“ 

“Susie.” 

Susie froze at the first use of her name by Will. 

He turned to look at her, offering a trembling smile. “It’s okay.” 

“Oh.” 

“It was a monster,” Will said. “It… I, uh… I ran into it on my way home and it started chasing me. I think it can go back and forth from this world to mine, and it used that to sneak up behind me. I felt tingly all over, the lightbulb in the shed started shining…” 

Will’s voice began to tremble, but he held on. He was so close. He never had to say it again after this. 

“I felt like I was falling, and when I blinked, I was here.” 

Susie nodded, satisfied. It sounded similar to what had happened to her right before she’d ended up here, as well. It seemed teleportation, whether performed by a monster or a machine, always had the same symptoms. 

The two children soon reached Melvald’s and stepped through what used to be the display windows, entering the General Store. Susie, unfamiliar with such places, mostly followed Will’s lead. 

Will, taking care to tread quietly (shards from the long-broken windows littered the floor) made his way through his mother’s place of work toward the familiar food aisle. 

He’d been surviving mostly off canned beans while he was here. He had no clue how to make, let alone manage, a fire, so he had no way to heat up any of the soup here. 

And anyway, all the meat, even the canned stuff loaded with preservatives, was rotten in this place. He’d learned that the hard way after trying some canned sausage. He’d puked his guts out, though thankfully he hadn’t ended up stuck with any kind of long-term stomach bug or food poisoning. He’d only needed one, extremely bad experience to learn that particular lesson. 

He shuddered at the memory, being brought back to his senses in the process just as he reached the food aisle. He shook his head to clear it of the gross memories and walked up to one of the shelves, perusing the canned goods. 

He glanced over at Susie, who was looking up at him as adorably as ever. 

Will blinked. Where had that thought come from? Scratch that, where’d that surge of genuine affection come from? 

He shook his head once more, before moving on to what he had been getting ready to say when he’d first looked over at Susie. 

“Um… just so you know, the stuff here isn’t all that great. The only stuff that’s okay to eat here besides junk food is canned stuff, so…” 

“Oh. Okay,” Susie said. Will let a small smile show. “Meat’s no good, but is there anything specific you think you’d want?” 

“Hmm… peaches!” Susie decided. Will smiled as he rummaged around, eventually finding a can of Del Monte sliced peaches. “One can of peaches, coming right up!” Will said, though he made sure to keep his voice down. 

He handed the can to Susie, who accepted it with what Will had come to recognize as a smile of her own. “Yippee! Thank you!” 

Will couldn’t help it as the brightest smile he’d probably had on his face since he’d come to this awful place bloomed brightly from ear to ear. 

“You’re welcome.” 

The two walked back through town, Susie with her peaches and Will with Reece’s Pieces , a few more cans of peaches, and some Dole pineapple chunks. Both were fairly content, despite the lingering gloom of their situation. 

Then, they heard a certain noise. A warbling whine. Will froze. To him, that noise was quite familiar. It took Susie a few more seconds to connect the dots. Both slowly turned and saw It. It was standing there, in the middle of the square, just staring at them with nonexistent eyes. Will involuntarily took a tiny step back. 

In response, the monster roared and charged. 

Vs.

The Beast From Beyond

Demogorgon

You don’t stand a chance against this monster. With a mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth for a face and claws that can cut through steel, you and Susie are naught but a snack to it. There’s only one way out of this—run! 

Will and Susie immediately turned tail and ran back toward Castle Byers as quickly as their legs (both real and metaphorical) could take them, with Will dropping all the cans (and candy) and stuffing but one of the cans into his pocket. Susie had dropped hers, too. Will turned and saw that—of course—the thing was gaining on them. 

He dove to the side and tackle-grabbed Susie just as the monster crouched on all fours and propelled itself through their former position with a mighty jump. With a surprised Susie in his arms, he jumped to his feet, made a turn, and started cutting through alleyways, making his way toward the edge of town while the monster shrieked in frustration at its center. 

Susie began to whimper as Will slowly worked his way toward the edge of town. They’d had to charge out of hiding and across stretches of road to hit the next set of alleyways every now and then, after all. Will simply patted her head and shushed her, muttering reassurances. 

The monster’s roars had—albeit slowly—been moving away from the town square and in their direction for a while, but had quieted completely some time ago. It unsettled Will greatly. This thing was tenacious as all hell—it never gave up unless it genuinely couldn’t find Will, it’d been scared off (usually by Will’s now-depleted gun) or it’d found other—

“Nancy!” 

“Nancy!” 

He had to help. He had to save her. 

Glasses, lying at the bottom of the empty pool. 

He’d failed. She was dead now. Because of him. 

And yet some part of him was just glad that he wasn’t the prey—

“ Will! ” Susie hissed, bringing him back to reality. “Will, are you okay?” She asked, looking up at him with her sparkling blue eyes. Will, noticing he had been quivering and breathing heavily, took a few deep breaths, and calmed himself. He looked back down at her, mustered up his best smile, and said, “Yeah. Yeah, I’m alright.” 

She looked unimpressed. 

Averting his gaze, Will noticed that they had made it to the road where (in the real world, at least) he’d first ran into the monster. Looking to his left, he saw this world’s version of Hawkins Lab. 

The place was creepy as ever, barbed wire and signs warning against intrusion surrounding a gray building that rose—well, it didn’t go too high up, but it was still quite imposing. It was bad enough in the daytime, where it was just vaguely unsettling. In the nighttime, it was far worse, which was why Will always sped past it as quickly as he could when biking home at night. 

In this world of corrupted night, however? Yeah, the place was freakin’ creepy. 

He was torn from his thoughts when he heard a scream in the distance. 

“Jonathan!” 

He snapped to attention.

  Nancy? 

His eyes narrowed in determination. The last time he’d heard a familiar voice crying for someone in this place, she’d—-

Well. 

Suffice to say, he hadn’t made it in time. 

This time, though? 

He wasn’t failing someone again. Especially not if his brother was involved. “Will?” Susie asked, reminding him of her existence. “What was that?” 

“Someone from home,” Will answered. He bent down and set Susie on the ground. She hovered up into her version of a standing-position, looking up at him with worried eyes. He smiled and patted her head. 

“Don’t worry. I’ve just gotta go help someone really quick. I want you to run back to Castle Byers as fast as you can, okay? I’ll meet you there.” 

“But Will—“ 

“No, no, listen, listen. I will come back; I promise. But you have to run now .” 

Susie nodded with tears in her eyes and flew off down the long road. “Run! Run!” Will urged, echoing his mother’s words from only (he believed, anyway) yesterday, when he’d talked to her through that portal. 

Will then turned and made for the trees. 

Susie rocked back and forth in Castle Byers, hoping against hope that her broth—that Will would, as he promised, come back. There were tears in her worried blue eyes. 

She froze when she eventually heard staggering footsteps outside. 

Soon enough, Will stumbled in through the curtain-door. “Will!” Susie gasped as she jumped up, floated over to, and hugged his legs. After a few moments, Will, now sporting a hoarse voice, bent down and picked her up. 

“Hey, little lady,” he weakly managed. He sat down with her still in his arms. 

“Will? Will, what happened?” 

Susie didn’t know what, but something was up with Will. His pupils were dilated slightly, and he looked sort of out-of-it. 

Will sighed at her question. 

“My, uh… it was my friend’s older sister. That was screaming for help earlier, I mean.” 

Susie looked concerned. “Is she okay?” 

Will gave yet another sigh, but the smile on his face, while still tired, was now genuine. That much, Susie could tell. 

“Yeah. She’s okay. She’s gonna be okay, now.” 

“And the… um… ‘Jonathan’ guy she was calling for?” 

Will’s eyes widened, then he registered what she’d said and answered, with great relief in his voice, “Yeah. He was safe back in the real world. Nancy somehow ended up here, and the monster was after her, but I distracted it long enough for her to crawl out of here through a portal in a tree. I was gonna come back and grab you and leave through there, but…” 

Susie frowned. “Will?” 

“It… it, um… it closed, Susie. The portal closed right after Nancy left through it.” 

“Oh,” Susie said. Honestly, while she’d like to get out of here either way, Will’s world was clearly a different one than her own. If she went there, then she’d be two worlds away from Papa, making it even more unlikely that he’d be able to find her. Perhaps it was for the better if they stayed in this place for now. Susie had no doubt her Papa had been able to get control of Star Dream’s Space-Time-Thing after the initial malfunction that had sent her to this place. 

With it, he might be able to find her and Will. 

Will set Susie down next to him before he laid down, bringing the girl out of her thoughts. 

“Will? Are you okay?” 

“Yeah. I’m fine,” Will answered. While he looked a bit paler to Susie, and like he really wasn’t feeling well, the smile on his face when his eyes closed looked so… content. 

“Oh, I almost forgot.” 

He sat up, dug around in his pocket, and pulled out a single can of peaches, handing it to Susie. 

“It’s, um…” he chuckled sheepishly, albeit sounding more tired than usual. 

“It’s the only one I saved when the monster started chasing us,” he finished. 

Susie smiled, feeling her eyes beginning to tear up at all the kindness she was being shown. She was so lucky—so glad— that she didn’t have to be alone in this place. 

“Thank you.” 

“Do you need help opening it?” 

“Um… no, thanks; I think I can do it.” 

Susie, with a bit of effort, managed to crack open the can of peaches. 

“Nice job,” he complimented. Susie smiled. 

“Here. I wouldn’t have them if it weren’t for you, so you get to have the first bite,” Susie said, offering the can to him. Will’s eyes widened, and he looked genuinely shocked, before his face settled into that oddly-content smile once again and he said, “No, thanks. I don’t really like peaches. That’s all for you.” 

Susie frowned for a moment, but reached into the can and ate a peach slice, anyway. Will’s eyes widened as it—literally—disappeared into her face. He chuckled. “Heh, heh. So that’s how!” 

“Huh?” Susie asked, genuinely lost. Will just laughed harder, but was soon interrupted by a… very rough coughing fit. 

He physically waved off her concern as he got over it, still chuckling as he laid back down; still smiling blissfully as he closed his eyes. 

“I hope you like those. Let me know the next time you get hungry.” 

“Um… okay…!” 

Will’s smile got just a bit wider as Susie continued eating her peaches. Will had never felt so content in this place; he never would have thought he’d ever feel comfortable here. But—and he might be crazy—he didn’t know if he’d felt this… happy before at all, even back home. 

He always felt like he was a letdown to his family. Jonathan and his mom both worked so hard, but his dad had only left them behind in the first place because of Will. Because he wasn’t good enough. He’d only felt worse after he’d failed to save Barb. 

This place was finally starting to get to him; he knew. The air wasn’t good. It was starting to take a toll on him. Despite this, however, despite knowing he might not make it, knowing he’d managed to make someone happy, to keep them safe and take care of them, even if just for a little while…

All he felt was contentment. 

Will drifted off to sleep, feeling the presence of Susie next to him, and felt no fear. 

Chapter Text

Susie was so scared. Will… Will was sick. He was sick, and there was nothing she could do to help him. He’d pulled her in close, his arm so much weaker than when he’d hugged her for the first time, and told her in a weak voice not to worry. He continued to reassure her even as he began shivering and periodically dipping in and out of consciousness. He seemed delirious, too, constantly muttering the names of what Susie presumed were his friends. 

Despite this, as long as he was awake, he never stopped smiling. 

Susie had tried to keep him warm, but… his body just… couldn’t take this cold, toxic place any longer. 

At one point, Susie heard the voice of a young girl. 

“Will?” The voice had said. “Your mom, she’s coming for you.” 

Susie knew that it couldn’t be her having hallucinations of her own, because Will had then responded to the invisible girl. 

“Hurry,” he’d whispered in an almost nonexistent voice. 

Susie took a chance, and tried to speak back, voice breaking. 

“Hello? I don’t know who you are, or where you are, but please help Will. My name is Susie. Will’s been helping me. Please, whoever you are, please tell his family to hurry!” 

Susie then felt something odd. It was surprise, but what was odd about it was that it just felt so… alien. Susie knew instantly that the feeling belonged not to her, but to whoever was speaking in her and Will’s heads. 

She felt the surprise, confusion, and curiosity (presumably directed at Susie specifically, the voice was probably another Human, if Susie had to guess) shift into determination after that. 

“I will.” 

And then, the odd presence was gone. 

And then, Susie had snuggled up next to Will, and waited. 

“My, this really is a most dreadful place.” 

Maxwell “Max” Profitt Haltmann drifted through a dark world on his golden hover chair, a spherical blue force field surrounding him. Nearly two days ago now, a catastrophic malfunction occurred while they were booting up Star Dream—the Mother Computer’s—Space-Time Transport Program. There had been a boom and a white flash, and when Max’s vision finally cleared, his daughter had disappeared without a trace. 

He hadn’t given up hope, despite his technicians’ insistence that it would be near-impossible to find her. He’d search every damn universe there was until he returned with her in his arms. Though the initial startup of the machine was rough—it had been inactive for untold millennia, after all—the machine had stabilized after the initial accident, allowing Max to freely use its systems as he pleased. He and the company had made quite a few modifications to it even before they’d managed to reactivate it, so it had recognized Max as its Admin and followed his every command, opening Dimensional Rifts to countless universes, allowing Max to search tirelessly for his daughter through the multiverse. 

The two Haltworkers, one on each side of him, had been quivering in their boots ever since they’d arrived in this world. They’d insisted on joining Max on every expedition he’d made so far, despite clearly not being fond of most of those worlds, this one especially. Haltmann had attempted to dissuade them—his hover chair was equipped with a force field, after all—but they’d gotten their company-issued blasters and joined him, anyway. 

It made Max quite scared for their safety. They weren’t soldiers, they were simply the Access Ark’s security guards. They wouldn’t be facing any kind of danger, anyway, protected by Max’s force field as they were, but Max still couldn’t help but worry. It was just who he was; he was as much a father to his men as he was to his daughter. 

As Max and his employees drifted through the corrupted forest, they happened upon a small wooden structure, the top of which—to Max’s surprise and rising hope—sported three signs written in his very own language! 

“ALL FRIENDS WELCOME”

“HOME OF WILL THE WISE” 

“CASTLE BYERS” 

Max, to his even greater surprise, heard the (quite weak, yet oddly chipper) voice of a young boy (he found himself disappointed that it wasn’t his daughter’s voice, yet concerned that that meant someone from his planet had somehow ended up in this world) filtering out of the little fort, singing a song unfamiliar to Max. 

“If I go there will be trouble”

“And if I stay it will be double” 

“So, come on and let me know” 

“Should I stay or should I go now?” 

“Sir?” One of the Haltworkers asked, priming his Blaster. “Should we proceed, or would you like us to go ahead and investigate first?” 

Haltmann let out a good-natured chuckle. “I do believe whoever is in there is quite harmless. Let’s go introduce ourselves!” 

Before they could proceed, there sounded a warbling growl from behind them. Max and his Haltworkers turned around, and saw a rather disturbing creature standing a few feet away. It was bipedal, tall and lanky, with gangly limbs. Its flesh was just as dark as the rest of this place, and it had sharp claws at the ends of its fingers and toes. It had no face. 

When the monster lowly growled again, Max realized that its face had opened slightly in order to make the sound.

 “ Siirrrr? ” The Haltworker to the left of Max drawled in a nervous whisper. “Should we engage?” Max narrowed his bright blue eyes at the creature through the force field. It had probably been attracted to this place by the singing boy in that fort. It was likely a predator that thought that they were competition. It wanted to eat the boy. 

That would not do. 

Max waved off his trusted employee. “No need.” 

He pressed a button on his chair, and a bolt of lightning-like energy arched from his force field to the monster in an instant. A flash, and the thing had been reduced to dust. The Haltworkers audibly gulped at his sides, and Max, none the wiser, proudly dusted off his floating, mittened hands and let out a hearty laugh. 

“Well, then, I suppose that’s done!” Haltmann then turned back toward the little wooden fort. “Now, let’s go bring that lost soul home, shall we?” Star Dream had been given specific instructions not to close the Dimensional Rift in this world or the other side of it in his world until Haltmann and his party had safely returned through it. The Rift was currently still open and waiting for them a short ways away, in the (uninhabited) square of a nearby town. 

It was a bit of a tight squeeze, but Haltmann, shrinking the force field a bit, was able to fit through the small entrance of the wooden structure, the “door” of which was actually a dirty curtain. The whole fort was rather unclean, of course, coated in the same grime and odd biological growths as the rest of this place. It was what was inside the fort, however, that caused both Haltmann and his two loyal employees to gasp. 

There, looking breathlessly up at them, was a delirious Human and a teary-eyed Susanna Patrya Haltmann. 

Amber bubbles drifted up past his face. Will blinked sluggishly, still hardly even aware of his surroundings. Dimly, he registered feeling naked, save for his boxers, and he felt countless things attached to him. Vision still barely back online, he weakly moved his arms, seeing countless electrodes attached to his skin, with quite a few needles secured there,  as well. 

Looking down, he saw the same on his torso and legs; it seemed like only the general… area… where his boxers sat was left untouched. Curiously, he didn’t panic at his unfamiliar surroundings. He couldn’t even feel all the needles. In fact, he was starting to feel even more numb. From the spots where the needles rested, he felt coolness begin to emanate; feeling similar to the few times he’d ever had to have an IV. He was starting to feel quite relaxed. Tired, in fact. 

A blink, and he had returned to oblivion. 

<Subject re-anesthetization complete. Proceeding.>

Will slowly drifted back into consciousness, becoming aware of bright white lights, a soft surface, and nice sheets. The first thing that came to mind was a hospital. What… what was happening…? 

Then, it all came rushing back to him. The Dark World. The monsters. The sickness and delirium. He had been rescued. 

But what about Susie? 

He sat up as his vision cleared, looking around rapidly. Though he was more worried about his little si— ahem— about Susie— some distant part of him registered feeling stronger than he’d been before the air in that place had gotten to him. God, he felt so much better, so much more clear of mind, so much stronger. He was back to normal. It was like that whole nightmare had never happened to begin with. 

His surroundings, as he thought, did indeed resemble a hospital. However, the similarities ended at fluorescent lights and sterile white walls. There were a few sci-fi-esque walls of translucent blue light, with little lines slowly running down through them in perfect intervals. Holograms? Will thought. Like in the movies? That wasn’t all, either, there were a few black cube-like devices with purple, circuit-board-like patterns running through them, literally just floating in midair, and the blue holograms had large, stylized “H’s” enclosed in circles at the center of them. A… logo…? Will wondered. 

“My, he lives!” The jolly voice of a middle-aged man with a light English accent sounded next to him. Will screamed and lurched to the side, almost falling off of his hospital bed in terror. He stared in shock and residual fear at his companion: some white… egg-shaped creature with piercing blue eyes that bore an uncanny resemblance to Susie in both color and shape. The creature had purple hair and quite the impressive mustache. It was wearing a dark indigo suit with a pink collar and maroon tie, sporting floating, mittened, disembodied hands like Susie, and similarly disconnected dress shoe-clad feet. The conical cuffs of the being’s mittens sported gold-encrusted rubies that sparkled in the light. 

The creature was seated in a golden chair with red padding. The chair was just hovering in the air, kept aloft by softly humming thrusters on the bottom that emitted some kind of lilac… exhaust? Will couldn’t quite tell what it was. It sort of reminded him of the flames that came out of jets, except nearly silent and clearly not fire. 

Seated in his (nonexistent) lap was a teary-eyed, overjoyed Susie. The egg-thing chuckled again. 

“Hello. I must thank you for looking after my little secretary here,” it (he?) said while patting Susie’s head, which caused the girl to giggle. 

Susie then leapt out of the egg-creature’s chair and onto him, latching onto him in a tight hug. “S… S—Susie!” Will squeaked out in surprise and relief, hugging back. 

Will was startled when the egg-creature chuckled good-naturedly. “I apologize for startling you, young one! I was just rather glad to see you in good health.” 

The being glided toward him and Susie, patting the latter’s back as he chuckled once more and said, “I know this little one certainly is!” 

Susie giggled as she let go of him. 

“Uh… umm…” Will said uncertainly, looking between Susie and the egg-guy with a slightly raised finger. They were both smiling at him. They smiled the same way; with their big, bright blue—!

“Oh!” Will said softly. “You’re Susie’s…” 

“Indeed I am, young one,” Haltmann said. “Forgive my lack of introduction. I’m sure you must be quite confused, after that whole ordeal back in that dreadful place.” 

Susie’s father moved his hover chair over to the foot of Will’s bed so that they could speak properly. “My name is Maxwell Profitt Haltmann. You may call me…” 

He smiled playfully as he gave a small bow. 

“Mr. Haltmann.” 

“O—oh! I’m—uh—my name’s Will. William Byers,” Will stutteringly said. Haltmann’s smile got a bit warmer at that. “A rather elegant name,” Haltmann complimented. “In fact, it would have been Susanna’s, had she been male.” 

“Isn’t that cool, Will?!” Susie excitedly said. “It’s kinda like we’re brother and sister!” 

Will’s eyes widened, and his heart… promptly melted. He pulled Susie into a tight hug, a few joyful tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. 

“Yeah,” he agreed. “It is kinda like that, huh?” 

“Woah…” Will breathed as he entered Mr. Haltmann’s office. Since he was completely back to his normal strength, he had been able to get out of bed and leave the infirmary with Mr. Haltmann, who, while guiding him through the corridors, explained that he was the founder and CEO of that “Haltmann Works Company” Susie had mentioned way back when she and Will had first met. The company was the number-one tech company on its planet, producing and selling stuff Will could only dream of back home. 

As for the vat Will had woken up in earlier, when he brought it—and his miraculous survival after being infected by that place’s toxicity—up, Mr. Haltmann said that Will had undergone a “Extensive Detoxification Process”, with the help of both the company’s highly-advanced technology and a “surprise” he was going to show Will when they reached his office. 

Said room was hardly an office. It was an utterly massive chamber , with red carpeting and a desk in the center of the massive room. A single holographic window looking quite similar to the lights in the infirmary wrapped around the entirety of the cavernous room, showing an utterly breathtaking view of outer space. 

Will found his jaw dropping all the way to the floor. Space was… it was just… incredible. All his sci-fi movies had absolutely nothing on the real thing. The stars sparkled brilliantly through the infinite black abyss, and below that abyss, a planet lit up with the lights from countless huge cities stretched vastly. There was no way he’d ever become an astronaut, so he never, ever thought he’d get the chance to see this. He found that he just couldn’t bring himself to look away. It was just so incomprehensibly beautiful. 

He supposed he really was a lucky kid, getting to see this. Mike, Lucas, and Dustin would be so jealous right now. He wished they were here to see it with him. 

“Breathtaking, isn’t it?” Mr. Haltmann, Susie once more seated with him in his chair, suddenly asked. With Herculean effort, Will tore his eyes from the view to look at Mr. Haltmann, who was floating in his chair in front of his desk. He stretched his hands out grandly. 

“The place in which we stand is the Access Ark, the mothership and home of our proud company.” 

Woah, a mothership? I really am hanging out with aliens! The guys won’t believe this. Dustin would kill to take my place right now. 

These were the thoughts in Will’s head as he examined his surroundings with a renewed appreciation. 

Mr. Haltmann smiled proudly. “It was built rather recently, but with it, we will take our great company to new heights. We will befriend new civilizations and learn from the old! We will be the number-one supplier of unparalleled technology in the Gamble Galaxy, bringing prosperity to every planet we come across on our travels!” 

Will brought his gaze back to Mr. Haltmann, who briefly smiled down at Susie before looking back up at Will. 

“And it will all be possible… thanks to this.” 

Mr. Haltmann clapped his hands, and the floor rumbled beneath Will’s feet. Will stepped to the side and watched in slight alarm as the red-carpeted floor of the cavernous room split right down the middle, taking Will all the way to a different end of the office. 

The former floor was replaced by a fully-metallic one composed of the same odd cubes Will had seen in the infirmary. Will stepped off the old floor and onto the new one that had risen from beneath it. As he walked back toward Mr. Haltmann, he gazed up in awe and curiosity at the giant device that had risen up with the new floor. 

It was a massive, cylindrical metal object. Sticking out from its sides were angel wing-like appendages. It had a screw-like head, upon the front of which was the familiar ‘H’ symbol—the Haltmann Works Company’s logo. It had circuit board patterns similar to that of the cubes running along its body, forming at the center, much to Will’s confusion and unease, a heart with a jagged line running down the center of it. The patterns across the… machine’s (?) body had pink light coursing through them, a pretty cool-looking design choice, he had to admit. There was also a yellow, glass sphere that somewhat resembled an eye sitting beneath the screw-like head of the machine. 

Will openly gaped upward at the machine in awe. Despite thinking it looked cool, Will couldn’t help the strange, inexplicable feeling of unease he got just looking at it. 

“Absolutely incredible, isn’t it?” Mr. Haltmann asked with clear appreciation. “Indeed. It’s truly marvelous!” 

Will walked closer toward the machine, gazing up into its (seemingly inactive) eye as Mr. Haltmann continued, “We’ve analyzed traces of what was—both in its time and to this day—the most advanced civilization in the known universe. And with that knowledge, we have reactivated this: the Mother Computer, Star Dream.” 

Wait. Hadn’t Susie said this was the thing that had warped her to that dark world? Was that why his brain was ringing warning bells? Had he subconsciously made the connection? 

“Wait,” Will began. “This… uh, this thing… this is the reason Susie got stuck in that place with me.” 

Mr. Haltmann visibly faltered at the mention of that event. Susie had been staring up at the Mother Computer ever since it had come into view, quaking in fear and whimpering every now and then. “I have… since gained control of it,” Mr. Haltmann eventually said. “It’s systems were a bit… out of whack, you might say, from being inactive for so many millennia. But after… well, after the accident, my technicians and I were able to stabilize its Space-Time Transport Program, which is how I was able to find you two in the first place.” 

Will bounced the president’s words around in his head for a bit, before coming to a realization. Susie’s words from when she and Will first met came to mind. 

“Papa was trying to use it to open portals to other worlds when that flash happened and I woke up here.” 

Will gasped. “Wait. So can—“ 

He hadn’t even noticed that, while he’d been lost in thought, Mr. Haltmann had come up behind him. So when he suddenly clapped Will on the back and gave a hearty laugh, the boy jumped. 

“Smart boy! Yes, I believe you’ll go on to do great things.” 

Will couldn’t help but blush at the compliment. He was starting to feel odd about Mr. Haltmann. Was this how dads were supposed to be? Will didn’t know, but he was definitely feeling jealous toward Susie. 

“Yes, indeed. Star Dream can send you back to your world.” 

Will snapped out of the mess of complicated feelings he’d almost fallen into and furrowed his brow. “Wait, how do you know—“ 

“—That you are extra-dimensional?” Mr. Haltmann finished with his equivalent of a smirk. “In this world, Humanity has…” 

Mr. Haltmann gazed downward, looking unsettled, for once. Will was unsettled in turn; he’d never seen Mr. Haltmann look unsure before. “Well, they… they left their home-planet for new heights. Unfortunately, wherever they migrated to is a mystery.” 

Will gaped in awe. Humanity had fully developed space-travel in this universe? That was cool! 

And yet… he couldn’t shake the strange feeling that Mr. Haltmann wasn’t being entirely truthful with him. 

“In any case,” Mr. Haltmann began, tone considerably brightened as he clearly tried to change the subject (a trick that Will, living with Joyce Byers, was awfully familiar with), “Star Dream is the key to getting you back to your world. It was what performed the Extensive Detoxification Process on you after I rescued you, after all!” 

Will couldn’t help the unsettled feeling he was getting from Mr. Haltmann’s willingness to change the subject of what had happened to Humanity in this world so quickly, but decided to just let it be and frowned. “Wait. How will it know which world I’m from?” Will asked. 

“I’m glad you asked, my boy!” Haltmann said, usual cheer fully restored. And there came that mess of complicated emotions, again. 

My boy. 

Mr. Haltmann levitated his hover chair over toward Star Dream. “The Mother Computer will scan you to determine the exact origin point of your molecules within the multiverse, and proceed from there.” 

Will, for the sake of his sanity, just accepted that ridiculously sci-fi explanation and went along with it. If it would get him home, he wouldn’t complain. Susie hopped out of Mr. Haltmann’s chair and floated over to him. He could see the unease in her eyes, but it was mostly being drowned out by a fierce determination. 

“Don’t worry. I’ll hold your hand the whole time.” 

Will wasn’t quite scared to begin with, but if Susie thought she was helping, he’d go along with it. 

Mr. Haltmann frowned. “Susie, dear, it may complicate the scanning process.” 

Susie kept the determined look, took Will’s hand, and stood by his side. “That’s alright, Papa! I wanna make sure Will’s alright! I wanna stay with him the whole time!” 

Mr. Haltmann’s eyes softened, and he playfully said, “Oh, alright.” 

Mr. Haltmann then levitated his hover chair up into Star Dream’s cockpit—the logo-marked spot under the head of the screw-shaped machine. He typed into what Will guessed was a keyboard, and an odd-looking helmet appeared from out of nowhere, lowering down onto Haltmann’s head. A light on the front blinked to life, a bright yellow the same color as Star Dream’s eye. 

Mr. Haltmann closed his eyes, and Star Dream’s own singular one lit up. The bright yellow orb stared down at Will and Susie. The vague feeling of unease Will had around the machine earlier was a bit more intense, now, because now it could actually see him. 

A strange, robotic, yet somehow pleasant voice sounded from the machine, even though Will couldn’t see any speakers. 

<L…O…A…D…I…N…G…>

Susie’s grip on his hand got just a bit tighter. In response, Will subtly positioned himself between her and Star Dream. <Greetings, organic life-form. I am Star Dream. My duty is to foster prosperity for the Haltmann Works Company and for every life-form it encounters. To that end, I will aid you today. Preparing to scan. Remain still.> 

Will disobeyed that order almost immediately by flinching when yellow light was projected from Star Dream’s eye in a wide, translucent beam. The beam, giving off a feeling of slight warmth, roved over Will’s body, top to bottom, no less than four times. Susie clenched his hand a bit harder, and Will clenched back. 

It seemed that Star Dream had to physically move its eye up and down in order to have the beam follow that motion and scan Will. As such, there were a few points where Will made direct eye-contact with Star Dream. The weird vibes the thing was giving him had increased when it had begun to scan him, and even more so when the two beings made direct eye-contact. Will felt like the futuristic supercomputer was staring into his very soul. 

Which, to be fair, it very well could have been, considering it was scanning his molecules and all. 

After a few more seconds, the beam disappeared and Star Dream’s eye went back to its normal brightness level as it gazed down at Will.

<Subject identified. Name: William Jacob Byers. Age: twelve years. Species: Homo Sapien. Native of Hawkins, Indiana, United States of America, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy, Universe L86.> 

Will’s eyes widened. It found all that out from a scan of his molecules? He supposed that if it was powerful enough to open portals to other worlds and scan him down to his very molecules then it shouldn’t be that crazy, but still. 

What kind of “advanced civilization” built this thing? 

<Awaiting Admin input…> 

The machine went silent for a few moments, presumably while Mr. Haltmann used the odd helmet to… what? Control it with his mind? This just got more and more insane, didn’t it? 

<Admin input received.> 

The whole room began shaking, and Will clenched Susie’s hand when she suddenly clung to him, quivering in pure terror. 

<Executing Space-Time Transport… Extra-dimensional road… Booting…> 

Will watched on curiously, intrigued by the machine’s words. 

<3…>

<2…> 

<1…> 

<BEGIN!> 

The space at the base of Star Dream started glowing. The air shimmered, and then opened . Right before Will’s eyes, a star-shaped hole opened in space. Beyond it was an odd, bluish-purple void filled with stars. 

<Space-Time Transport complete. Awaiting Admin input…>

A few moments of silence, filled with Will staring awestruck at the hole in space that was only ten feet away from him. 

<Admin input received.> 

Will gazed up into Star Dream’s eye one final time. 

<Shutting down…> 

The machine’s eye went dark, and an odd sense of relief filled Will. Haltmann opened his eyes, removed the control helmet, and typed some sort of command on the keyboard in Star Dream’s cockpit that caused it to vanish once more. Then, he, still in his chair, hovered out of the cockpit and back down to Will and Susie. 

“Well, then. Let’s get going, shall we?” He said with a smile, gesturing toward the star-shaped portal ahead. Will looked down to his side to see that Susie was still staring up at Star Dream in fear. Will’s eyes softened. “Hey, it’s over now, see? I’m alright.” He assured gently, patting her on the head. 

“Indeed,” Mr. Haltmann agreed. “Don’t worry, Susanna.” Susie looked up at him. That had gotten her attention, because he didn’t usually use her full name unless he was serious. He was currently looking at her with a determined sheen in his eyes. 

“I won’t let you get lost again. I promise.” 

“O—okay,” Susie shakily said, choosing to trust her Papa. He clapped his hands, suddenly back to his usual, cheerful self. “Right, then! Shall we?” 

Will, for what felt like the millionth time that day, looked around in wonder at his surroundings as he, still hand-in-hand with Susie, walked with Mr. Haltmann through the place the portal led to. While it would ultimately bring him home, he’d have to cross through an “interdimensional tunnel” first—hence, his current surroundings. 

The place was apparently called Another Dimension. Will pointed out how on-the-nose it was, and Susie had simply giggled in response and said that it was what the texts of the ancient people who had originally built Star Dream referred to it as. 

Regardless, the place was cool. Yet again, he imagined the guys would love it. Oh, if only Mr. Clarke knew the kind of adventures he’d been on. Every now and again, strange creatures native to Another Dimension would fly past, screeching at them. Thankfully, however, Mr. Haltmann’s chair (because of course it did) had a forcefield surrounding it—one he’d activated as soon as they’d crossed through that portal—Dimensional Rift, Mr. Haltmann had said the proper term for it was. 

The creatures came in all shapes and sizes, but were all made of the same odd substance. Or energy? Probably the latter; they looked ethereal. They always had glowing eyes and fangs, and could fly. The most commonly-seen ones had different colors, with a specific amount of tail feathers that only that color possessed. 

Mr. Haltmann had said that the creatures were called Doomers , yet another on-the-nose name. The ones with the special tail feathers were called Sphere Doomers. The color gave away what element (fire, ice, electricity, etc) they had power over, while the number of tail feathers indicated how powerful they were—for example, the green ones always had four feathers, while the purple ones—the weakest of the bunch—always had only two. 

Again—Mr. Clarke would probably flip if Will ever told him about this—which he wouldn’t! That bald girl he’d seen had said his mom would be coming to rescue him. While he had assumed it was another hallucination (he’d been having several, at the time), if it was true, then his mom had to have known that he’d been trapped in another dimension. He had a feeling she wouldn’t be very happy if he went around telling people that that was what had happened to him. 

Will was pulled out of his thoughts by Mr. Haltmann calling his name. “William? William? ” 

“Hmm? Oh—uh, yeah? Sorry, I, uh, spaced out for a second, there.” 

Mr. Haltmann chuckled easily. “Never mind that, my boy; we’ve arrived!” Mr. Haltmann gestured ahead, where another Dimensional Rift sat waiting. They had reached the other end of the tunnel. 

“And it looks like we’ve got quite the welcoming party!” 

Mr. Haltmann was right. The rift was giving him a clear view into his living room, where Mike, Lucas, Dustin, Jonathan, Chief Hopper (oddly enough), Nancy ( thank God she’s safe ) and his mom were crowded around the portal, staring right at him with tears in their eyes. 

“Will?!” 

“So, let me get this straight,” Chief Hopper, pinching  the bridge of his nose, said a few minutes later, which saw everyone—Will and his alien companions included—gathered in the living room. “You had this… machine thing somehow magically restore Will to full health and open a gateway to bring him back home.” 

Will had been dogpiled by everyone in the room when he’d stepped through the portal. Everyone that wasn’t Nancy, Hopper, or the bald girl, that was. Said girl was, indeed, real. As his friends explained after crying their eyes out in relief, she had psychic powers (which was how she’d communicated with him in that place, and how he’d seen a ghostly version of her shortly after his arrival in that world) and went by the name “El”. She, Hopper, and Nancy stood awkwardly off to the side the entire time, although far from awkward, El looked insatiably curious about the newcomers. His mom had been hysterical, checking him out from every angle for injuries and whatnot. Had he not stopped her, she very well could have had him strip down to his underwear or some crap, right in front of all his friends—right in front of the Chief!  

Since he had to ( finally! ) tearfully reunite with the guys, too (Lucas and Dustin fired question after question at him, with Mike futilely trying to get them to slow down), it was probably about fifteen minutes before anyone thought to ask about the two aliens in the room. Chief Hopper had pointed his gun at them and Will had had to tell him that they were with him and weren’t hostile. 

He’d calmed down Susie (who had thought the Chief was going to use his “blaster” on her) afterward, which revealed to the others that the aliens could speak English. Dustin had been all over them in seconds, only kept at bay by the force field surrounding Mr. Haltmann’s chair, with Hopper having to drag him away so he could attempt communication himself. From there, Mr. Haltmann had engaged him like he wasn’t also talking to an alien and explained how he’d rescued Will (who confirmed everything he said, since the Chief looked to him for confirmation with every word from Mr. Haltmann’s nonexistent mouth), detoxed him from the Upside Down, and brought him home. 

Will was currently explaining what had happened with Susie and how he’d been taking care of her prior to Mr. Haltmann rescuing them. He also eagerly answered all of Dustin’s excited questions about where he came from, what his race was, and just about anything there was to know about Star Dream. Everyone else had stood off to the side in (Nancy especially) awe and disbelief at the scene unfolding before them—Human and alien speaking to each other as if nothing out of the ordinary was going on. 

Honestly, it shouldn’t have shocked them so much. They’d seen stranger things. 

Mr. Haltmann frowned in response to what Chief Hopper had said. “There is no such thing as “Magic”, my friend. We saved young William through the power of science. Although, considering how technologically primitive this world seems, I suppose it would seem like Magic, would it not?” 

Chief Hopper stared blankly at Mr. Haltmann. Will just kept mentally comparing their mustaches, looking back and forth between them. Mr. Haltmann’s was cooler. 

“Well… it explains why you guys couldn’t find Will,” Lucas pointed out, addressing Will’s mom and the Chief. “The egg guy got to him first.” 

“Lucas,” Mike admonished. “C’mon! That might be a stereotype where he’s from!” Will could tell Mr. Haltmann had earned Mike’s friendship just by rescuing him, and Mike wasn’t exactly eager to upset the man that had saved his best friend’s life. 

“Well…” Will’s mom began, “Thank you, Mr… um, I’m sorry…?” 

“Haltmann,” Mr. Haltmann supplied happily. “Max Profitt Haltmann.” 

“Wait,” Lucas snickered. “Are you serious? You own the most successful company on your planet and your name is literally “Max Profitt?”” 

Lucas continued giggling away while Mike scolded him for being rude. 

“Well, Mr. Haltmann,” Mom continued, deliberately ignoring the two bickering pre-teens, “I can’t ever repay you for saving my boy. When we couldn’t find him in that… place , we all assumed he was gone…” Mom’s voice began breaking, and Will hugged her, with her latching on in response, never wanting to let go again. He winced as he recalled what Mike, Lucas, and Dustin had said. Mom and the Chief hadn’t been able to find him, even after searching that entire dark version of the town twice, and Hopper had had to drag Joyce out of the dark world, which Mike, Lucas, and Dustin called “The Upside Down”, a term El had coined. 

Will found it quite fitting. Will could also tell Lucas, seeing his mom’s tears, was doing his best to restrain himself from joking about how she wouldn’t need to repay Mr. Haltmann. 

And speaking of Mr. Haltmann, his eyes softened at the sight of Will’s mom. “I know what that feels like,” he began softly, causing Mom to look up at him in surprise. “That uncertainty. When Susie disappeared, I—“ 

He abruptly cut himself off and looked away, clearly restraining tears at the memory. “Well, it very well could have destroyed me, had I not found her.” 

There was an awkward silence, filled with Susie hugging her father to comfort him. It helped him compose himself faster, as he hurriedly wiped a stray tear from the corner of his eye. “But both of our children have returned, now, and it was all thanks to them taking care of each other in that dreadful place. I can never repay young William for taking my Susanna under his wing.” 

Will blushed. “Mr. Haltmann, I don’t think I helped that much…” 

“William,” Mr. Haltmann began, sounding a bit stern. “I have no doubt that my daughter only stands with us now because of you; because of just one act of kindness. Because you reached out, and put her safety before even yours; because you fed her, because you protected her, and because you cared for her in the way only a brother could.” 

Will found himself tearing up as he and Susie smiled at each other. 

“Yes,” Haltmann confirmed with a smile, voice gentler, now. “You are shaping up to be a fine man.” 

A while later, after an hour or two of conversation between the Humans and aliens (during which even Nancy slowly warmed up to Mr. Haltmann) it came time for the two extra-dimensional beings to leave. The decision was made after a close call with a white Sphere Doomer that attempted to fly into the house through the (still open) Dimensional Rift. Mr. Haltmann’s weaponry had made quick work of it, but it had reminded him that he had left a gaping hole in space-time in someone else’s house and had a home to get back to. 

Everyone said their goodbyes at the Rift. Dustin had begged to come visit the Access Ark and see Star Dream someday, Lucas had made one final joke about Haltmann’s name, and Mike, Jonathan, and the ever-quiet El had sincerely thanked Mr. Haltmann for saving Will’s life. Hopper shook Mr. Haltmann’s hand. 

Lastly, Will and Susie shared one final, tearful hug. Susie was crying much harder than Will was. 

“Hey, little lady,” Will said. “Why the long face?” Susie looked up at him, bright blue eyes sparkling with tears. “I—“ she sniffled. “I’m gonna miss you so much!” 

Will’s tears started coming a bit faster, too, and he hugged her tighter. “I’ll miss you, too.” 

“Will we ever see each other again?” She asked quietly. Will chuckled in response. “Well, you have the “most powerful machine in existence” just sitting around in your dad’s office. It got you here today, didn’t it? That means it can get you here whenever you want.” 

“O—oh. Oh, th—that’s right!” Susie said, cheering up a bit. “Yes, I’m sure we can arrange visits whenever we have the time!” Mr. Haltmann said cheerfully. “It may be a bit hard to coordinate on your end,” he said, addressing Chief Hopper and Will’s mom, “considering we’re the ones with the space-time-traveling supercomputer, but I’ll be sure to build some sort of device that will allow us to communicate across worlds! With the Mother Computer, I’m sure it’s possible.” 

“Thank you, Mr. Haltmann,” Will said sincerely, glad that he would make sure Will and Susie could continue to see each other. “For this, and for everything.” Haltmann smiled as Will and Susie gave each other a much happier hug, secure in the knowledge that this wasn’t goodbye. “It’s no problem at all, my boy. After all…” Will ruffled Susie’s hair, causing the girl to giggle. 

Haltmann smiled again. 

“Who am I to separate a big brother from his sister?”