Chapter Text
In the early hours of a mid autumn morning, in the kingdom of Hawkins, shrouded in mist, a boy cries out. He is alone in the woods beyond his house on the outskirts of the city, vulnerable to creatures beyond his understanding. He is alone yet he is watched, as he is dragged away from all he has ever known- too small to fight back, too late to run.
The boy is swallowed by the cruel Wild of the outside, and never comes out.
-
"Steve! Hey, dingus!" the private chambers of the noble Harrington household were set alight by Robin's yelling, interrupting Steve and Eddie quite rudely. Smoke flew from Steve's nostrils in irritation, and Eddie laughed as he flung the door open.
"What, Rob!? I'm busy!" he roared back, Eddie cackling in the background.
"You've been summoned! Your parents want you in the dining room!" she yelled back, quite disgruntled at having to be the messenger for this. "Like, right now!"
Steve violently rolled his eyes. He turned to his boyfriend, wincing apologetically, and Eddie snickered understandingly, motioning with his tail to the door.
When Steve entered the dining room, he immediately had to school his expression into being neutral. His parents were there, of course, with their perpetually disappointed expressions. However, also present, were the Wheelers. The Wheelers were a family Steve was very well acquainted with, due to his unfortunate betrothal to their eldest, Nancy. They'd been promised to each other at age eleven, and neither were very invested in the relationship- hence Nancy's boyfriend, a medic by the name of Jonathan Byers (who Steve knew quite well), and Steve's boyfriend Eddie. Both were aware of the other's relationship- truth be told neither really cared much, not interested in being anything more than somewhat reluctant friends.
The rest of the family was more foreign to Steve. Their parents were more his parents' territory, as was their youngest, a little human girl called Holly. Mike, their middle child and a drider like his eldest sister and mother, never really liked Steve enough to let him get to know him. The kid seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face- though that may just be Steve's presence- and beyond that, all Steve knew was that he was friends with the princess Maxine, and had known the youngest Byers brother, Will. Steve turned to his parents.
"You requested me?" he spoke. His father's reply was cold.
"The Queen has requested a quest be carried out. The outer town of Curly, bordering the Wild Woods, has been overtaken by the One Wizard's forces." Steve nodded- this was old news. Curly had been one of the first villages under Hawkins' reign to be overtaken by the One Wizard, referred to sometimes as Vecna, the dark mage who seemed intent on overpowering and ruling Hawkins as a base for his operations. He'd been slowly advancing towards the Capital for nearly six years now, tearing down everything in his path.
"However, scouts of her excellency have reported Curly abandoned by the enemy forces. She has requested a party of at most three to venture out to Curly and determine whether the area is safe enough for the city to set up an outpost." Steve's father shared a glance with Mrs Wheeler. "We have volunteered you and Nancy for this quest." he finished, and Steve had to will his smoke to stay dwelling in his throat. Nancy, however, had no such inhibitions.
"What!? Mother!" she exclaimed, the six spindly arms on her back flexing in her outrage. Mr Wheeler huffed quite sarcastically.
"Nancy, come now. It's quite a safe mission- and it can be a bonding experience for the two of you!" Mrs Wheeler spoke up, her voice saccharine sweet yet her words slightly biting. Steve and Nancy shared a look.
"Exactly." Steve's mother's voice was icy in comparison. "You leave at moonfall. Pack your things and say your goodbyes. We will be waiting at the stables for you." Steve barely concealed an eye roll. Nancy's extra limbs were twitching. Both left without a word.
-
Eddie, as expected, wasn't the happiest with this development. He clung to his boyfriend at their secretive goodbye, and they shared a long farewell kiss that neither could bring themselves to break away from. Across the courtyard, Steve glimpsed Nancy and Jonathan doing the same.
They both then left to walk into the stables, where a small crowd had gathered to bid them farewell. Both their parents were there, as well as Mike- though he didn't seem very happy about having to be there (really, did the kid ever smile?). The Queen stood there as well, expression schooled- and finally, the princess Maxine stood with a knight, a nice looking boy Steve had never learnt the name of. She seemed a little pale- understandably so, as the One Wizard had targeted and shaken her not a year ago- somehow gaining access to her mind. She had been under watch ever since, and mentions of Vecna's doings always seemed to affect her.
Both Steve and Nancy bowed respectfully, letting stable boys take their bags and load them onto their horses. Steve's goodbyes to his parents consisted of a simple spoken farewell, while Nancy took a little longer hugging her parents and brother. At long last, they mounted the horses- Steve's being a mare he'd ridden since he was little, and Nancy a strong looking stallion- and started out of Hawkins into the woods that surrounded it at a trot.
A bend came around the dirt path, and finally Steve let out the smoke that had been filling his lungs, throat and mouth, brimming at his nostrils. At the same time, Nancy's drider legs flexed and twitched, her grip tightening on the reins.
"This is such bullshit! What on earth are they playing at!?" she huffed through gritted teeth, and Steve felt a growl bubbling in his throat.
"They're playing at us actually getting along. Or falling in love~." he mocked in a sing-song voice. Nancy scoffed.
"It's bullshit." she muttered again, quieter this time, as they fell into a walk beside each other.
-
"Two knights with secrets of hellfire and healing..." Lucas recited, arm in arm with Max as they walked from combat training. Mike scoffed. This conversation came up with every patrol that was sent out.
"Come on Lucas, seriously? My sister isn't one of the knights from the prophecy!"
"Could be!" he chirped back, and Max simply chuckled. She'd heard this conversation a thousand times and knew how it ended.
"What secret of hellfire and/or healing could my sister possibly have, Lucas?"
"...Her boyfriend?" Max spoke up, tilting her head. A moment of silence engulfed the trio.
"Her what!?" Mike sputtered, outrage on his now increasingly pink face. Lucas and Max shared a glance.
"Come on Mike, you really haven't seen the way she looks at Jonathan?" Lucas snarked, rubbing at his left eye. Mike violently rolled his eyes.
"Like I pay that much attention to what Nancy does." he muttered, though clearly he cared to a higher extent than he let on. Max just huffed out a laugh.
"Come, idiot stalkers. My mother will cut me down if I'm any later than this." she said to her knights with theatrics, motioning to the castle and picking up the pace. Lucas sighed and rolled his eyes, not missing how Mike wilted just slightly at the affectionate nickname.
-
The forest was darkening around them. For now, the path was clear as their horses walked down it, nothing but the occasional excrement of previous steeds. But around them, the trees became darker, their leaves becoming thick and blotting out the sun, bathing the woods in darkness. The sound of birdsong slowly faded into scarcity, then nothingness, leaving only the occasional scuffling of unknown critters in the trees.
"These woods are sickly." Nancy hummed as something shuffled through the foliage above their heads. Steve scoffed.
"The entire kingdom is sick at this point, Nance. I'll bet this isn't the worst of it." he muttered, and she glared at him, eyes piercing.
"Oh, because you know so much about our kingdom, Steve-" she halted, or rather her horse did, considering she wobbled a little on her saddle. Steve was about to snark at her lack of control when his mare stopped as well, a little further down the path. He squeezed her sides, attempting to urge her on- no response.
The dragon turned, raising an eyebrow at his companion, who shrugged. Her horse shook his head. His flipped her tail.
Neither moved.
The sound of something falling from the branches above them reached their keen ears, and splinters rained from between the leaves. Something chittered, high pitched and grating against their eardrums, and they could almost feel the tension rise as the horses stiffened.
There wasn't enough time before the horses bolted. Nancy screeched and Steve roared in surprise, branches snapping against their armour and falling to the ground as the path vanished behind them. Nancy managed to hook her upper spider arms over some sturdy lower branches, tearing herself from the saddle and leaving her suspended in the air. Steve, in his panic, simply let go of the reins and tore his feet from the stirrups, falling back and spreading his leathery wings as a last ditch effort to cushion his fall.
Still, Steve toppled unceremoniously into the thick layer of rotting leaves on the ground, eyes wide and chest quick as he sat up.
"You have got to be kidding me!" he heard Nancy yell from behind him, and a dull thud as she presumably dropped from the tree she had been hanging in. "All we had was in those packs! Our food, our bedrolls-"
"We'll figure something out, Nance. Curly can't be much further on foot- I'm sure there will be things there that we can salvage."
"And if the scouts are wrong? And Curly is still inhabited by the enemy?" she asked with fire.
"Then we find somewhere else! From what I remember, Curly was the largest town this side of the capital, but it laid among a cluster of villages! Surely the dark forces can't be inhabiting all of them. We'll be okay, Nance. Seriously." he huffed, words reassuring yet tone quite exasperated. Smoke was drifting from his nostrils, and Nancy waved it away from her face, looking at the dragon sternly.
"How far is Curly, anyways?" she asked, skirting around the subject of her panic. Her eyes focused on the lack of path around them, surrounded by the dense foliage of the woods.
"I'm afraid we don't really have a way to tell, Nance." Steve retorted, voice deadpan, wings shifting behind him as if gesturing to their surroundings. She tilted her head towards him.
He raised an eyebrow, then hissed.
"Nancy, no."
"Steve."
"Nancy Wheeler."
"Steve. You need to."
"No, I don't!"
"How else are we going to know?"
"We'll find a way! You could...climb, or something. You're good at climbing!"
"Steve Harrington."
"Come on Nance, you know how bad I am."
"It's not that difficult, just go up!"
"Fine!" he huffed, the back of his throat glowing momentarily. His great wing spread, albeit slightly shakily, and Nancy smiled smugly at her success.
Steve had never been particularly good at flying. His parents had tried; they'd willed him to be as good at flight as his father, but he'd never quite clicked with it, much less their teaching methods. His first proper flight had involved him barely hovering off of the ground (as most's first flights happened), before launching himself backwards out of his parents' bedroom window and giving himself his (first) concussion. He could fly, but he was shaky at absolute best, swayed like a drunken bargoer on the winds, and always had to exert a tremendous amount of energy just to get himself to an acceptable height, to the point of pain (which was something he was pretty sure he should be worried about and maybe ask Jonathan about). Steve had never been good at flying. Which is why he'd expected to fall flying through the canopy to scout out the distance of Curly. And fall he did. But...not because of his lack of prowess in flight.
There were creatures in the trees.
They stank of rot and death, crouched in the branches like some hellish birds. Although, their wings resembled those of a bat's anatomy more, if the bat had had all its fur burnt away. Their flesh was bulbous and disgusting, covered in welts and ugly markings. Upon noticing Steve hovering in the air, their formless faces (how they'd known, Steve had no idea- the things didn't have eyes) opened into a grotesque flower of bloody rows of teeth, and a harrowing screech shook the air.
He heard Nancy scream his name from below, but she could do nothing as a cloud of the vile creatures descended upon him. A barbed tail reminiscent of a whip curled around Steve's neck, and in his desperation a burst of flames erupted from his jaw as he was slammed with surprising force into the leaf covered ground. Distantly, he heard the sounds of his own choking- cut off, haunting sounds- and the dull crunching of the leaves around him as he thrashed, wings stretching and flapping in panic. His claws were wrapped around the strange bat-thing's tail, trying to slice through it and grant himself some relief. His own thick blood bubbled under the hooked barbs in the creature's tail, and he let out a shrill cry to rival the monsters tearing him apart.
The sound of his own sword being unsheathed reached his ears, and hazy confusion overtook him. The lack of oxygen reaching his brain was clearly affecting him- his vision was blurred, and he could just barely see a fuzzy, dark shape above him. Over him, Nancy screamed in rage, raising Steve's sword and hacking at the devillish bat that seemed intent on suffocating her fellow knight. Eventually, the blade found purchase, and the bat fell limp, Steve hacking as his airways were finally left unconstricted. The remaining cloud of creatures let out another deafening screech, and Nancy hissed, falling to the side and covering her ears. But instead of prolonging the assault, the gathering launched themselves into the trees and above, abandoning the two.
"...Huh. Wonder why they did that...where are they going...?" Nancy panted, sitting up with her eyes fixed on the canopy above them. Steve just slumped back into his bed of leaves with a "whumph" sound.
-
"Did you hear that?" Jonathan hummed, his gaze fixed on the window. Robin and Eddie shared a glance. The room had been peacefully silent before the healer had spoken.
"...There's nothing to hear, Jon." Eddie replied, raising an eyebrow. Jonathan shook his head and pointed at the woods past the city.
"Out there. It was like...a screeching sound. It felt...bad." he murmured, finger pressed up against the glass of Robin's tower window.
"...You need to get off whatever that Argyle guy is giving you..." Robin muttered, rolling her eyes. Jonathan turned.
"I'm not high, Robin. I heard it. It was like all the other sounds, just...quieter," he met the sceptical eyes of his friends.
"I swear."
Eddie sighed, standing and joining Jonathan at the window.
"I hope they're okay..." he muttered, leaning against the frame Jonathan was sitting against. Robin scoffed.
"Nancy is strong, and smart, and Steve is...Steve. They'll be fine."
"Reassuring." Eddie rolled his eyes, and Jonathan snorted, a shy smile on his face.
"Exactly." said Robin, ignoring the sarcasm and standing up, brushing down her pants. "Now come on, I'm going to suffocate if I have to stay in this room any longer." the boys shared a glance before following her out of the door and onto the stairs of the tower.
-
"Mike? You okay?" Lucas spoke up, trying not to sound hesitant. The two were waiting outside of the Head Healer's office- Max was in one of her bi-weekly appointments.
The knight looked up.
"What? Yeah, I'm fine, Lucas. Totally normal." he replied, brushing his hair from his eyes. A curse filled his mind when he saw Lucas' unimpressed look, however.
"Don't bullshit me man, we've known each other almost our whole lives. I saw you after training." he bumped their shoulders together, their armour creating a thick clanking sound. "Its been bothering you lately, hasn't it?" his voice had gone quieter now. Mike huffed.
"It's stupid. I just...Nancy left at dawn with her idiot betrothed. I don't want her to get hurt, especially since she's going out to Curly." Lucas hummed. "and...I love Max, but she wasn't there. She didn't know us back then and I don't...want to talk about it with someone who doesn't understand."
"Hey." Lucas flicked his temple. Mike threw his hands up and glared in bewilderment. "I understand. I'm still here, you fool, so talk to me about it. Okay?" he raised his eyebrows expectantly at him. "Oh-kay?" he prompted again, slower.
"Okay! Okay." Mike eventually replied, snapping out of whatever reminiscent daze he'd found himself in.
"Good." Lucas sat back, returning to staring at the door Max had disappeared into on the hour.
"...Thanks, man." Mike mumbled, ears turning pink, and Lucas simply huffed in response, knowing Mike wouldn't want any more acknowledgement.
-
The greyish leaves were sliced cleanly apart by Steve's slightly tarnished sword, falling and joining their comrades on the ground. Steve hissed.
"We couldn't be that far from the path. We should have reached it by now!" he panted, quite exhausted from their constant movement. Nancy followed behind him, now moving on her six drider legs while her humanoid ones hung suspended in the air, resting.
"Well, it did get dark a bit ago. Perhaps...we got turned around?" she suggested, and Steve coughed a little s he groaned.
"This is hopeless! We're going to die out here!"
"We won't die, you idiot! We're going to be fine."
"You sure about that? Because we're lost and those freaky bats could show at any second-"
"We'll deal with them this time. We won't get caught off guard." Steve grumbled at her- frankly much too optimistic- words, rubbing at the raw marks on his neck. "And we aren't lost. We're just...turned around." she added, and the dragon raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "Okay fine, yes, we're lost."
Steve growled.
"Going to die out here!" he said again, and Nancy pinched the bridge of her nose, groaning. They went still, however, when a small amount of forest debris fell from the branches above them.
They waited for a couple of seconds, with baited breath, but nothing descended to attempt on their lives. Once they were sure an ambush wasn't about to happen, they moved on, tension buzzing in the air.
-
Above them, two yellow eyes peered through the thick canopy of leaves, thin white eyelids flickering frequently- yet sideways- over them in the darkness. They tilted to the side as the knight began to raise their voices, slitted pupils beginning to widen. They shifted, causing a pause, and then the knights were moving again. Slowly, the eyes vanished back into the darkness, having gone unnoticed.
-
Max had always been aware she wasn't the favourite of her family. She wasn't the eldest nor the original in line for the throne, and she was sure should the circumstances be different, that she would have never been considered. But a year past, her brother Billy had...turned, from his parents, and died corrupted by the One Wizard.
She'd been terrorised by it from the moment her eyes had laid on her brother's dead body.
Which is what she recognised was happening now. Her brother stood before her, eyes blackened and teeth stained with blood.
"Maxine..." his body shuddered as 'Billy' spoke. Max closed her eyes.
Billy never called her Maxine. Only Max.
They were in an unfortunately familiar void, total black enclosing on them. 'Billy' stepped forwards, a sickening grin on his face.
"Maxine...join me. We can be family again..." his voice was wrong, distorted between something familiar and something foreign. It was...twisted, the unfamiliar voice, husky and cracking and crawling like a chill up her spine.
This wasn't Billy. Couldn't be Billy.
"Maxine! Join me! Maxine!" he was roaring now, expression rageful and bloodied spit flying from his lips. But the image was fading into muddy colours, the void encasing her as the cracked, half-Billy voice faded into something more familiar, one softer, yet more panicked.
She gasped violently, eyes snapping open and locking onto Lucas, who was literally on top of her- his dark eyes reflecting the low candlelight of the room.
"Max!" he yelled again, his hands gripping at her nightclothes. Out of instinct she pushed herself up, sweat covering her in a thin, uncomfortable sheen. Of course, this caused her and Lucas to butt heads, and the knight jerked back, toppling over onto her legs. Max couldn't bring herself to laugh at his clumsiness, breath quick and harsh.
"Hey...Max. It wasn't real." another voice brought her attention to Mike, who she hadn't noticed up until that point. He was kneeling to her side, hands now limp and facing up from where she presumed he had been holding one of hers. His face was filled with a strange amount of understanding.
"Whatever you saw. It's not real. You aren't in danger." Lucas nodded from where he was sitting up on Max' bed. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she swallowed, mouth dry. She nodded silently.
Lucas and Mike shared a look.
"Do you...need water, or anything?" Lucas eventually spoke up. Max immediately shook her head.
"No." she croaked. Her desperation for companionship outweighed the dryness in her throat. Lucas just nodded. Mike looked out the window at the lights of the city.
It was going to be a long night.
-
There was a knock at the door.
Jonathan rose quickly in bed, peeking out of his bedroom door. The living room was empty, but there was a shadow through the frosty glass window in their front door. Through another door, he heard his mother shuffle in bed, still asleep. Resigning himself, he haphazardly pulled a shirt over his head, tripping over the maze of clutter- remedies and plants and bottles alike- that made up his living room floor. Eventually, he reached the door, pulling it open to reveal a dishevelled Eddie Munson on his doorstep.
"I can't sleep. It's cold." he muttered, leaning his shoulder against the doorframe with his arms wrapped around himself.
Jonathan raised an eyebrow. "You're a fire creature. From a hellscape." he responded slowly.
"He's warmer." Eddie whimpered, his expression reminiscent of Jonathan's dog when he was a puppy.
"Oh my- you're so pathetic. Get inside." Jonathan all but dragged Eddie into the house, shutting the door much too hard for a house with someone asleep inside, leaving the street deserted.
On the floor, on the doorstep, the shadow of no-one vanished from the steps.