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Seasons change, children grow up - but Hawkins moves slowly, picking itself up after the Upside Down was destroyed. But just like spring after a harsh winter, the town regained its livelihood, and soon enough people walked the streets without fear of living, without fear of losing everything again. Our heroes moved on, and aimed to live their lives honoring the sacrifices previously made. Their mage lived in their memory. Or so they thought.
December 21st, 1991
The party - including the elder members - have all come home for the holidays, just as they swore to do after leaving for college. Lucas and Max travel from California, both studying in state colleges near the coast. Dustin comes back from MIT, his mind full of ideas and theorems. Will, along with the newly recoupled Nancy and Jonathan, drive from New York City to Indiana, Robin hoping along for the ride. Mike had finished his first semester of junior year at Purdue, and though his depression was not as bad as the previous year, he took his time RSVP'ing his attendance to "The Christmas Party" hosted by Steve and his fiancée Crystal, soon to be wed in the spring of '92. Despite his hesitation, he arrives at Harrington's new two story house in Maple Street with an expensive bottle of red wine, thanks to the advance he'd received for his manuscript "The Rightside Up". He'd finished the first draft last year, and after a long editing period, the publishing house had finally given the greenlight for printing.
Mike braces himself, and swiftly knocks the door. A minute later, it opens up to reveal the warm smile of Steve Harrington.
"Mike! I'm so glad you could make it man, come in!" Steve speaks with the warmth and care of an elder brother, the unofficial role towards the younger members of the party. Both men hug quickly and leave the doorstep and the cold outside. The festive yet sad lyrics of Last Christmas by Wham! rumble across the first floor, and Steve leads him to the living room, where the rest of the party all chat animatedly, everyone with a different beverage in hand. It's been months since they last saw each other, and maybe hairstyles and clothes are different, but the foundation of their group stays the same - Dustin’s effervescent smiles, Max’s quiet demeanor, Lucas’ comfort, Nancy’s questioning glances, Jonathan’s steady presence, Will’s understanding. Everyone had the chance to grow up and into themselves, leaving their trauma behind, but Mike can’t help to think about El, the one person who should be in the room right now.
Mike’s eyes slightly cloud as the echo of the girl he loved crawled into his mind, never leaving, but also never letting him move forward.
“So Wheeler, how’s the book coming along?” Max’s voice draws him out of his musings, and the redhead crosses looks with him, giving him the chance to better his mood. Mike explains to everyone how the publishers are aiming for a summer release, and how he has had to fight to keep the ending the same, with his image lost in time.
“Well, if there’s a release party you have got to let us know in advance,” quips Dustin, sat across the room where Crystal, Steve’s girlfriend, had sat before excusing herself to go for a last minute run to the grocery store,“‘Cause there’s been a project I’ve been working on at MIT which I cannot disclose yet but it could truly change the course of physics and I’ll probably stay there all summer.”
“What could you, a junior undergrad, possibly be doing to change the course of physics?” Lucas asks incredulously, while the rest of the party laughs, bracing themselves for Dustin’s arguing back.
“Oh sorry, Mr.Sports Big Shot, but for your information, I am diving into the world of theoretical time travel,” Dustin takes a pause as the rest of the group get suspiciously quiet, “I am being serious guys, we saw what the Upside Down truly was, and the study of wormholes has increased since we graduated, who knows, maybe in a few years time…”
Dustin’s speech is interrupted by a slight, but steady, flickering of the lights. The room suddenly goes dead quiet.
“Are you having power troubles again, Harrington?” Jonathan asks teasingly, but as Steve negates with his head, the rest of the people exchange knowing glances. It’s been years since the last time they saw this. It’s been years since the feeling of danger.
Suddenly, the lights start flickering erratically, and everybody lunges into a war stance, muscle memory deeply etched in their bodies. Nancy takes out her gun, and the rest stand up expectantly, as if waiting for a Demogorgon, or worse, Vecna, to come out of their worst nightmares. The lights collectively shine the brightest they have for the past few minutes, blinding them all, and they hear a loud thud in the kitchen, separated by a door from the living room. The lights turn off, and the party hears a low grunt coming from the kitchen.
Mike steps towards the kitchen door, Will by his side, and as they open the door, it hits something - someone - in the head with a loud whack.
“What the fu..!” a male voice exclaims, and the party steps back for the door to open, revealing two young, and confused figures into the living room.
A boy, who cradles his forehead in pain, and a girl stand before them, both slowly adjusting their vision into the lack of light. The girl, still not facing them, is getting up from the floor, dressed in a strange attire of jean shorts and a very thin camisole.
“Damn it Jack, I strictly told you not to touch Dustin’s stuff!” she whined, her voice soft and airy. Dustin raises his head, confused, but unable to speak, “He’s going to murder me and sell my body to science…”
The girl can’t finish her sentence as she turns around and is unable to speak, finally glimpsing at the group who is fiercely gazing towards them with guns, and makeshift weapons with cushions and iron poles. The girl hits the boy’s arm, and his blue eyes widen as his gaze also settles in the group, a trace of recognition passing through them. The girl raises her hands and frantically speaks. “We’re neither Russians nor government officials nor burglars, I swear,” her voice does not waver, and her eyes settle in Nancy, “And I mention Russians or government officials because you never know in Hawkins.”
Nancy’s gun waivers, but her aim does not falter.
“Who are you, and how did you get in here?”
The boy is tall, with blond curls and deep blue eyes, and he backs towards the wall, searching for support while he holds his forehead.
“Technically speaking, we did not get in here as we actually appeared into thin air,” the boy says, and the girl huffs, annoyed, and turns towards him.
“And how would they know that we suddenly appeared, Jack? I honestly think too many hits to your head have killed countless brain cells…”
Mike is getting a headache from their bickering, and he can see the rest of the group lowering their guards. He presses the button next to him to turn on the lights completely.
“Stop bickering like children and please either tell us who you are or get the hell out of private property.”
The girl takes a look at him and her gaze softens, her lips mold into a soft oh as she gasps almost inaudibly, and then swears under her breath. Mike holds her gaze, taking her features in. Light brown eyes, pale skin, prominent cheekbones, long brown hair. She looks a little bit younger than Holly (fifteen, maybe?), and her clothes are not appropriate for winter in Indiana. Her eyes are familiar, but foreign at the same time. The boy, also dressed in summer clothing, finally gets past his head injury and steps in front of the girl, lightly shielding her from the rest of the people.
“My name is Jack and this is Astrid,” Jack signals them both, “And I don’t think you’ll believe us if we tell you who you are.”
“Try us,” “Astrid?” Robin and Will overlap their sentences, and Mike frowns. The mage in his book is named Astrid, as a node to his unfulfilled fantasy with El in Iceland. Mike had mentioned it to Will while he read the last draft of his manuscript before turning it in last year.
“Yes, Astrid,” the girl answers, lowering her hands, “And Jack, as he already mentioned. Is this the nineties?”
“What other year could it be?” Robin half speaks, half laughs, while eying Astrid up and down. Astrid smirks at her.
“Well, considering Jack and I were in 2010 a few minutes ago, I’d really like confirmation that uncle Dustin achieved time travel.” At this statement, the room's hostile demeanor changes to wonder and surprise.
“Uncle Dustin?!” “Two thousand and fucking ten?” “Who the fuck are you?”
The last phrase came from Steve, who’s eternal patience has run out and has an exasperated look on his face. Jack faces him and smiles, with a loving, and funny look on his face.
“My name is Jack D. Harrington, born in 1994, in this very house actually…” the boy muses, while Steve’s expression changes into disbelief, “My father had a baseball game that ran late, and my mother was in so much pain she couldn’t get to the hospital on her own, and dad was so stubborn on not getting a mobile phone that mom had to call aunt Joyce and Mrs. Karen instead…”
“I think I have heard the story of your birth more than the birth of Jesus, J,” she says affectionately.
“Wait, you're my kid? Mine and Crystal 's?” Steve questions, and Jack nods, a tad uncertain.
“Yeah, Dad,” Jack almost whispers, “Surprise!”
Steve stares at the boy in front of him in awe, and suddenly grasps him into a tight hug, his trusting nature winning over his skepticism. Nancy finally lowers her gun, in shock. She turns towards Astrid, whose eyes shine staring at Jack and Steve.
“And your last name is?” Nancy asks, with the answer at the tip of her tongue. The nose, and the laser eyes are a dead giveaway.
“Who do you think I am, aunt Nancy?” Astrid asks rhetorically, turning herself towards Mike.
“Mine,” he mutters, and closes his eyes for a second. His eyes move up to lock eyes with his daughter, which sounds maniac and impossible, but deep down knows it’s the truth.
“Jackpot Dad,” she says, “Astrid fucking Wheeler.”
“Language kid,” Steve can’t help but exclaim, which brings everyone back to their feet.
“This has got to be a joke,” Max, ever the rational one, says as everybody moves carefully towards the sofas. Jack and Astrid share the loveseat, while the rest sit surrounding them.
“I could tell you about the magazines you found on your brother’s room in the eighties and we could see if we’re fucking with you,” Astrid gets a bewildered reaction from Max.
“Astrid, stop,” Jack tells her, which makes her stop talking, “We are who we say we are, and we don’t need to air anyone’s dirty laundry to prove it, but showing you this.”
Jack takes a small wristlet from his pocket, which gets a loud gasp from Dustin, who had been silent until now.
“My time travel wristlet!” Dustin approaches the teens, and takes the object out of Jack’s hands, “But… this can’t be possible…” He stares at the wristlet as if it were to disappear, “I just drew this. Yesterday.”
Will takes the wristlet from his hand, and then hands it to Mike, who stops to analyze the wristlet. It looks like a sci-fi version of his watch, with a small screen, and buttons, and two small dates written on the screen: 07-04-2010 to 12-21-1991.
“For us, it’s been 19 years since you first started project Chronos, “Astrid explains softly, “You work with NASA as a theoretical physicist studying wormholes, and you also work from Hawkins most of the time, which is how you told us about this earlier today, and adamantly told us to. not. touch. it.” Each of her last words came with a soft nudge towards Jack. The boy winces.
“Could you stop hitting me, for the love of God,” he tells her, and Mike notices a certain tone in his voice, which he’d heard on himself once upon a time, “Yeah I completely disregarded Dustin’s warnings, aaaaand now we’re here. Cool.”
There’s a sudden silence in the room, as nobody dares to speak, or ask unwanted questions. Will is the first to speak up.
“You’re both from Hawkins?”
“Born and raised, although I’m older than her,” Jack says.
“You’re literally four months older, dingus, “Astrid argues, which earns a smile from Robin, “We grew up across the street from each other, too.”
“Did you come today for something important?” Jonathan asks carefully, and the party stares at the teens, an edge of worry in their features.
“Are you safe? Are you running from something?” Lucas asks, frowning.
Both teens stare at them bewildered.
“No, no, nothing is wrong,” Jack stutters to speak, and Astrid intervenes.
“We were just messing with Dustin’s trinkets because it’s the fourth of July and the house was crowded and the moms wanted us to help with the food so naturally we bolted, and we somehow ended up going through Dustin’s stuff and yeah, one thing led to another…”
“It’s not broken, is it?! Oh god, Astrid, if we can’t return they will find a way to kill us, or send us to Uncle Lucas’ camp as punishment, or be babysitters for the rest of the summer!” Jack stands abruptly and starts pacing back and forth, and Astrid rolls her eyes and stands next to him.
“Calm down or you’ll get an anxiety attack,” she takes his face between her hands to make him stare at her, “Dustin, could you please if everything is okay with it?”
Mike, still holding the wristlet, throws it at Dustin as if it were a nonfragile ragdoll. Two things happen at the same time.
Dustin is nowhere near the direction Mike throws the wristlet at, and everybody freezes when the artifact is on the verge of shattering against the wall. Which it doesn’t.
The wristlet stands, suspended in the air by an unknown force, a terribly familiar unknown force. The wristlet flies across the air, and lands on Astrid’s extended palm, as she breathes deeply.
A small drop of blood falls from her nose, and lands on the carpet.
“Shit, Dad, you had to throw that, didn’t you.”
Astrid lowers her gaze to the ground, and her previous bravado vanishes, leaving a girl who knows is in deep shit now.
“You’re…” Mike’s mouth is dry, and he can’t think coherently, but he forces himself to speak up because the suspense is killing him.
“Who’s your mom?”
Max approaches Astrid, and urges her to look at her. Her eyes are familiar. Everybody knows those eyes, but had not been able to recognize them yet. She holds her hand towards the girl’s cheek, but Astrid turns around, unable to face them.
Astrid’s eyes shine with unshed, nervous tears. Jack grabs her hand in support.
“You believed the mage escaped, right?” she starts, her voice shaky, “ If you believe that, you can also believe that father and her friends found a way to force The Order of the Black Hand to leave them alone once and for all. That the paladin reached the waterfalls, and found his way back to his mage. You can believe that the mage is happy, and alive, and well, but everything needs to be done at the right moment in time, otherwise the mage’s daughter will not exist, right? You mess with time and it messes right back at you?”
Jack’s hand leaves her own, and she turns around to find Mike in front of her, his expression both warm and icy, as if contradiction crossed his mind at a hundred miles per hour. Mike takes her by her arms.
“Where is Eleven?” he asks, words clipped and tight.
“My mom is well, and safe,” Astrid says harshly, “But you could put her at risk, and my own existence for the matter, if you dig into questions you cannot know the answer yet.”
“You cannot disrupt our time, come here announcing yourself as El’s daughter, and just expect us to not ask questions, we saw her in the Upside Down, we saw her disappear!” Mike’s hold on her becomes a little too tight, and one moment he’s facing her and the other he’s thrown against the sofa; once again Astrid nosebleeds.
“I know now where I get my insufferable streak,” Astrid releases her hold on him, and sits next to him, “You can’t know everything Dad, you of all people should’ve guessed that by now.”
“I thought she was dead,” Mike starts, ready to argue, but Astrid interrupts him.
“You all did, for your own safety, she chose to let you believe that, but if the timing is right, you’ll see her again, soon enough,” Astrid’s voice waivers, and she holds her breath.
“Where we come from, Jack and I grew up together. Hawkins is a nice place to live, and it’s been 23 years since the Upside Down disappeared. Our extended family is overbearing, but we all love each other fiercely. Uncle Steve is our soccer coach, and sometimes he lets me use my powers to move the ball if the other girls are particularly bitchy. Aunt Robin takes our requests at their local ready before others. Aunt Max sends incredible gifts, paid by Uncle Lucas’ money,” you can hear a pin drop into the room, nobody dares to speak, “Uncle Dustin who’ll probably murder us is the smartest person I know, and is making Jack the second smartest person I know. Uncle Will is my favorite person, even if Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Nancy try endlessly to take his place… My dad is stubborn and we clash a freaking lot, but my mom,” she takes a pause, overwhelmed with emotion, “My mom makes him see reason, and makes him let me go to parties, wear short skirts, go to concerts, and even get a phone! My mom is the greatest person I know, but she can’t become my mom if you do not wait, do you understand?”
Mike is silent. Astrid shakes her head in disbelief, and aims to stand, but she feels a pair of long arms engulf her into a hug. She can feel her father’s younger self cry silently, and she hugs him tighter in response.
“At least let me know something, kid, can’t take the suspense,” he whispers into her ear, and Astrid sighs.
“Winter comes after spring, and miracles come after weddings, is that a good enough riddle for you?”
Mike nods, and hugs his daughter again, finally settling into his bones that the future is not as heavy as he thought it would be.
“Astrid we have to go back, the fireworks were about to begin,” Jack breaks the tense atmosphere with such a Harrington way of speaking the entire room breaks into a laugh. The party is shaken to the core, but they all manage to say goodbye to this two kids, their future kids, who came to wreck havoc and become a wrinkle into their time.
“Should I erase your memories of the past 10 minutes? I can do that in a second…” Astrid says, facing a string of loud no’s. Will comes to hug her apparent favorite niece.
“We’ll wait for the right moment, we promise,” the kind soul that is her uncle states, and she knows that it has become an understanding between the people in the room.
Astrid smiles wholeheartedly, and in that moment, she’s the vivid image of Eleven Jane Hopper.
Dustin gives them the wristlet back, and the kids take it, count to three. The lights flicker again, and when they’re back to normal, Jack and Astrid are no more. Only the heavy weight of knowledge, and hope remain.
The door opens, and Crystal Smith almost Harrington rushes in, carrying several bags and another bottle of white wine.
“Honey I’m so sorry! There was a power failure across town and the cashier was a mess…” Her blue eyes stare at the blubbery mess of tears that are her future husband’s friends, and frowns, “What the hell happened?”
The room turns back into normal. But Mike stays silent. One minute he’s in Steve Harrington’s living room, and the other he’s surrounded by darkness, and water dampens his feet.
He hears steps behind him, and when he turns around, he can’t help but smile.
In 1992, Steve Harrington marries Crystal Smith in a small ceremony in their backyard.
A day later, Mike Wheeler takes an international flight to Reykjavik, Iceland.
In 2010, Jack Dustin Harrington and Astrid Joy Wheeler get grounded for the rest of the summer.
Their punishment?
It will be decided by Astrid’s mother.