Chapter Text
The Upside Down. It always made Nancy's skin crawl. It felt like a reflection of all the negative parts of her soul. Her guilt seeped through her mind in this place. Her shame drowning her in its thick musk of air. And now, she was trapped in here. But this time, there was purpose. A way to end this once and for all. At least, if Dustin's theory was true.
Her, Steve, Dustin and Robin had walked through the infested hellscape towards its centre. Hawkins National Laboratory. The lab gave Nancy just as many nightmares as the Upside Down itself. Everything bad that had ever happened to Hawkins came from those two places. But if the "exotic matter" as Dustin called it could be destroyed, the nightmare would be over.
"Hey Nance?" Robin asked.
Nancy's mind raced back.
She wasn't quite sure when things with Robin first developed. Was it when Jonathan came back from California? Pennhurst when she stood up for her like no one had before? Or even sooner at the library? The answer didn't matter though, Robin had become a constant in her life. Always by her side, no matter what. And when Nancy broke things off with Jonathan, things only grew between the two of them. Nancy couldn't let the world end without telling the girl how she actually felt about her.
It was a night on Robin's rooftop. They'd sat close together, knees bumping, shoulders brushing, sharing beers between them both when Nancy feelings boiled so heavy, she couldn't keep them to herself anymore.
"Hey can I tell you something?" the words breaking the laughter between them both.
"Of course, you can tell me anything," Robin smiled reassuringly.
"Now that things have ended between me and Jonathan, it gave me time to think. Really think. About what I want. And I didn't want it to slip away before the world gets even shittier."
"What do you mean?" Robin asked.
"I like you Robin. Like more than just as a friend. You make me laugh, you make everyday with you feel like it's the best damn day I've had in my whole life. You make me feel, complete. And what I want, I-I hope, is that you feel the same about me." Nancy confessed.
"You're drunk Nancy Wheeler," Robin laughed, unable to believe what Nancy had just told her.
"No. I'm not. It's something I've known for a while. And-"
Nancy without a second of hesitation leaned in and kissed Robin. It was slow, but affirming. Robin didn't pull away, she froze for a moment, her brain trying to decipher everything. But then she leaned in too, giving herself into Nancy's warm embrace.
"Is that convincing enough?" Nancy grinned, their lips hovering over each other.
All Robin could do was smile. She never thought that she'd find someone in Hawkins. Let alone that person be Nancy Wheeler. But here she was, sitting on her rooftop, with her girlfriend.
From then on, they were inseparable. Every crawl no matter how dangerous, they'd always go together. So when they'd tagged the Demogorgon when it came for Derek Turnbow, they wasted no time in following it into the Upside Down.
"Nance? You ok?" Robin's worry cut through Nancy's thoughts, bringing her back into the moment.
"I'm fine," Nancy shot her a half smile, but Robin knew how to read Nancy, and knew she was lying.
Robin took Nancy's hand in her own, just a small way of letting her know that she was still with her. Nancy's hand trembled in Robin's, and Robin only tightened her grip.
The group made their way into the lab, traversing through its seemingly endless corridors. Dustin and Steve bickered the whole time, but Nancy was too in her own head to notice them. They reached a stairwell at the edge of the building. They needed to split up to cover more ground, groups of two. Steve pleaded to go with Nancy, but she interjected.
"We don't have time for this. We stick to the normal teams. Got it?"
Steve and Dustin protested but she dragged Robin up the stairs with her.
"Oh thank God you split us up from them. I don't think I could take anymore of their arguing," Robin relieved.
Nancy stayed quiet, but gave Robin's hand a squeeze to let her know she'd heard her. But right now, Nancy was focused on destroying the exotic matter. That's what mattered. They stumbled into a corridor, near the top of the building only to find half melted bodies of soldiers and a white ooze coating the walls. They made their way through, stopping as the door to the roof came into sight.
Nancy paused, turning towards Robin, "Hey, I just wanted to say, in case things don't work out, I-I love you, okay?"
Robin stepped closer to Nancy, "I love you too Nance. But we're getting out of this. And when we do, we'll have the rest of our lives together. We can go to college, our own little apartment. Maybe we could make something out of being like the best investigators ever," she smiled.
"Promise?" Nancy asked.
"Promise."
They both leaned in together, sharing a kiss, not knowing whether it'd be their last. But for what could be their final moments together, it was perfect.
Suddenly, the ground began to shake beneath them, causing the corridor to become rapidly unstable. Robin was clumsy as it was, on solid ground, but when the ground shook, she fell over onto the ooze covered floor, plummeting through it. Nancy tried to grab her but to no avail.
"NANCY!" Robin yelled out.
For a moment, Nancy's heart stopped, thinking Robin was gone. But when the shaking settled, she looked down the now melted floor to see Robin laying on the level below.
"Robin! Are you okay?" worry ran through her.
"Yeah, I'm fine, maybe bar the bruised back," she groaned.
Nancy let out a small exhale of relief knowing Robin wasn't injured.
"I'll try find another way up, you head to the roof and blow that shit up."
Nancy hesitated before agreeing, but then turned and headed onto the roof.
There it was. A floating ball full of glowing energy, twisting and contorting in on itself. The end was finally in sight for her. One shotgun shell should do the trick and then they can all go home. She stopped for a moment, wishing Robin were with her. But this had to be over, right here, right now. She raised her shotgun towards the exotic matter and then-
BOOM
A wave of energy burst out of the matter, rippling through the air. Nancy flinched, caught in the wave. Her body now enveloped by the matter. But it didn't hurt her. Instead, she felt as if her body was vibrating, her very atoms buzzing. Was this what death felt like? But then she heard a distinct voice, her own voice.
"I like you Robin-"
It was Nancy, but back when she sat on that rooftop with Robin, confessing how she felt. She opened her eyes to see a faint ghost of herself, of that memory.
Another voice called out causing Nancy to turn towards it, "GO. TO. HELL!"
The slam of a fire extinguisher as it hit Bruce's skull. Was her life literally flashing before her eyes?
One voice was closer to her, "You were saying?"
It was Barb's. Nancy saw herself, her younger self, before the nightmares began. She was holding the note Steve had given her, asking to meet in the bathroom. She stood watching her younger self and Barb. Just seeing the both of them wracked Nancy's mind with guilt. If she just hadn't gotten involved with Steve, Barb would still be alive, Hawkins might be better off, and maybe, just maybe, she'd have figured herself out sooner. Figured out she loved Robin before it was too late.
Nancy reached out to her younger self, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she wept, pulling her hand to her younger face. But when it made contact, the vibrations that ran through her body shook harder, like static coursing through her. Nancy tried to pull away but couldn't until the energy built up, blowing her back.
She heard another voice this time, but not her's or Barb's.
"Nancy! Oh my God are you okay?"
It was Robin's voice. Nancy blinked open her eyes to find she was back on the roof, staring up at the still standing exotic matter. A set of arms wrapped themselves around her.
"I heard the explosion, I thought…" Robin paused, tears running into her eyes, "I thought I lost you."
"I'm here, I'm okay. I promise," Nancy comforted her, "Let's find Steve and Dustin and get the hell out of here."
The plan had failed. The exotic matter would need more than a shotgun to be destroyed. For now, they needed to get back to Hawkins, the real Hawkins. Robin and Nancy ran through the lab, crossing paths with the other two. They all turned and headed out of the lab. Stumbling across a small gate opening that a demogorgon must've left. They crawled through it, appearing not too far from the radio station.
When they walked through the front doors, they were greeted by everyone else who had reconvened there. Jonathan stepped forward, directly facing Nancy.
"We have another problem," he said. He sounded cautious in his voice.
Before Nancy could say anything back, he directed her towards the couch in the back room of the station. Nancy couldn't believe her eyes. It didn't make sense. On the couch sat a girl, very preppy in style, in a pink sweater, with long hair. It was Nancy, exactly as she'd seen herself when the wave hit her. But how? How was that even possible?