Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The sky flashed red. A young Will lay on the ground inside Castle Byers, shivering. When would he get out of the Upside Down? Would he even survive? A cool breeze nipped at him, soaking wet, making him feel even colder.

"Should I stay or should I go now?" Will was singing his favourite song. If he could try distract himself in any way from the hellscape around him, it was by reminding himself of all the memories held in the song. Dancing around with Jonathan at 2 in the morning, then getting told off by a tired Joyce, drawing with Mike in his bedroom, his 9th birthday party where Lucas, Dustin and Mike had all sang him their own (quite frankly, terrible) rendition of it, all these thoughts flooded his mind as he sang this song. It was strangely comforting, although Will was constantly scared that that- creature would find him.

"If I go there will be trouble, and if I stay it will be double." His voice cracked. The thought of that creature came back to him. The way it had grabbed him, forced him through some portal into this strange dimension, completely isolating him, taking him away from all his friends, from his family, from Mike. "So, come on and let me know, should I stay or should I go?"

A crack.

Will's head shot up, instantly terrified. Footsteps coming closer. Closer, closer, closer, until the tell-tale sound of the creature entered Will's ears. The clicking, the whining, all of it identical to the one that took him earlier that week. His breath hitched. He had to be quieter. He needed the monster to not hear him, or any chance at escape was gone. Will tried to stop breathing, held his breath for as long as he could. A shadow passed across the twig walls. 5 seconds, 10 seconds, nothing.

Out of nowhere, a sharp hand shoved itself through the wall, demolishing half of Castle Byers. Will's heartrate increased dramatically as he let out a sound of terror and instinctively grabbed the gun Lonnie, his father, had taught him how to shoot a year previously. He cocked the gun and fired as the monster's flower-shaped face opened up to reveal rows upon rows of teeth. He fired it. The bullet hit the creature right in the middle of it's- mouth? Face? Whatever it was, it caused enough damage to get the creature to move back, giving Will enough time to pick up his bag and sprint out of Castle Byers from the other entrance. Will ran, and ran, and ran, not looking back but hearing the creature clearly enough to know it wasn't far behind. Don't slow down, slow down and you're dead.

After what felt like hours, he saw the tree. It had branches low enough for him to climb up it easily, but he wasn't sure what he would do once up it. Maybe he could read a book, play with his figurines? God, he wanted to play D&D right now, but how could he do that from here, with no friends around him, without Mike and his brilliant campaign ideas? Don't look down, the creature could be right there. He got to the top. The tree swayed with the wind, making Will feel like he could fall at any given moment. Will stared down, seeing the shape of the monster nowhere to be seen. He still felt... Off, though, so he continued to look at the ground to spot any movement which could be coming for him.

The thunder flashed, everything turned red again. But this time, he could see movement coming from below the fog. A slow, crawling movement, inching towards the tree he was at the top of, looking around for where Will could be. The fog covered it again. His heartbeat slowed slightly, the creature couldn't see him up here.

Another flash. A sudden movement. Next thing Will knew, the monster was on the tree, climbing towards him too fast for him to outrun. His only choice was to jump off the tree. He could die from the fall, but it would sure as hell be a better death than being eaten alive by that thing. He looked around for any branch he could aim for, settling on the tree to his left, which had a branch that looked thick enough for him to land on and for it to not immediately break upon contact. A deep breath in, a deep breath out. The pounding of his heartbeat was so intense, it might as well have been shaking the whole tree more than the creature climbing it. It was getting closer and closer. He had to jump now, or he was most definitely dead.

He jumped. The creature's arm stretched out towards him, barely missing his leg as he screamed, flying through the air. The tree bent in such a way as he jumped that it propelled him a good few feet forward extra, meaning he was much more likely to land in the tree than on the floor. The branch hit him directly in the chest, spinning him slightly, causing him to start falling. The branches he was landing on were all breaking. This is it, Will thought, I'm going to die. His life hadn't even been a good one, what with Lonnie abusing him and Jonathan for the most part of their lives. Well, the parts he'd spent with his friends were good, great, actually. But they weren't here to help him. No one was. He only had himself, and he had to act on it. He tried to grab the branches around him, if not to stop him falling, to at least turn him in such a way that he would land safer. As if on cue, his rucksack got stuck on one of the sturdier branches. Will let out a sigh of relief he didn't realise he was holding in. But it was not long at alI until his bag started to irritate his arms, he felt like they would fall off if he didn't get free quick enough. Will had never been one to sit still for very long, soon wriggling around so much he saw the left strap on his bag become looser, tipping him to the side slightly. Shit. That's not good. The fall from here was nowhere near as threatening as the fall from the top of the tree, probably being closer to 7 metres, compared to the possibility of over 20. Soon enough, his bag straps had completely loosened, with Will watching as the rest of his right side undid itself, and Will plummeted towards the ground. He'd been knocked unconscious from the fall.

Next thing Will knew, there was some foreign, slimy vine-like thing covering his mouth, as something dusty, sharp and painful was being pumped into his body. He was up against a wall, bound there with even more vines, with no chance of escape. There was the vague shape of a human in front of him, but the textures seemed all wrong. He couldn't really tell, though, since his eyes were becoming foggier and foggier by the second, the dust creature settling inside him, as if waiting to be reborn. The almost-man was talking to him, but Will couldn't make out much of what was being said. All he knew is he needed to get out of there, and the grunting and struggling was proving useless.

 · · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

NOVEMBER 3RD, 1987

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

It was, for some reason, a relatively warm day in Hawkins, Indiana, although Winter was nearing. The Wheeler's house was full of activity, being occupied by both the Wheeler and Byers households, as their house had been pretty destroyed 18 months prior from the rift the Upside Down caused. Holly, the youngest sister of the Wheelers, walked through to the dining table, slightly struggling to set out all the needed plates due to how heavy they were. Half way through doing so, she looked out of the window, curious, seeing the outline of a man, her probably-imaginary-friend, who waved at her once she had waved to him. Of course, that window was being slightly obscured by the water from the sprinkler, so she couldn't be sure that it was him, but it seemed like him, the outline of his (quite dated) hat, the colors of his suit, the stance and height were all matching the same man who she normally saw.

"Holly." Karen Wheeler, Holly's mother, called for her from the kitchen. Holly had no response, too entranced by the outline of her friend through the window. Karen tried again. "Holly!" Still nothing. She got closer to her daughter. "Holly!" Her head turned sharply to face Karen. "I've been calling you!" Karen let out a slightly disappointed sigh.

"Sorry." Holly's voice was small, soft, unsure if she was getting told off or not.

"Could you round up the troops?" Holly nodded, before sprinting towards the staircase. Once on the 4th step, she shouted as loud as she could.

"Breakfast!!" Barely any time passed before Mike shouted down to her, waiting outside the bathroom.

"Coming!" He returned his attention towards the bathroom door, knocking on it 3 times. "Nance, come on." No response. He continued knocking. "Let me in or I'm gonna take a whiz on the floor right here!" The door opened. It was not, in fact, Nancy, the eldest of the 3 Wheeler children. Mike stumbled back, suddenly embarrassed. Joyce Byers, the mother of Mike’s best friend, walked out of the room. "S-sorry, Mrs Byers." He pursed his lips together.

"Whiz away." She smiled at him while walking away. As if waiting to make fun of him, Nancy exited her bedroom in her pink nightgown. She looked him dead in the eyes.

"Wow." She whispered, with enough malice that Mike had to resist full-body tackling her right then and there. He stood there for a while, processing everything that had happened in the past 20 seconds.

"Shit." He stepped foot into the bathroom.

Holly was still "gathering the troops", opening the door to the basement, where Will, Mike’s best friend, and Jonathan, Will’s brother, groaned at the sound of her shouting “Breakfast!” towards them. You’d think they’d be used to this after 18 months, but every morning they reacted to being woken up like this, whether by Holly, Nancy, Mike or an alarm. Well, Mike’s were never as bad as Holly, Nancy or the alarm, he generally came over to the two of them and tapped them, shook them, or anything like that until they woke up. Will turned onto his front, lifting up his head, as Jonathan checked the alarm clock.

“Shit, dude, we overslept.”

“I thought you were setting an alarm?” Will turned towards his brother, who was looking at him confused.

“I thought you were!” Both boys groaned, this happened too many times for them to even be surprised anymore.

By the time they got up and ready, everyone else was sitting at the dining table, grabbing pancakes, buttering toast, filling up their glasses with orange juice, cracking eggs. There was shouting from everywhere on the table. A few voices rang out over all the rest, like Joyce calling out “It’s not always Jonathan’s fault!” and Will responding back with “It’s always Jonathan’s fault.” Jonathan, of course, instantly responded back.

“It wasn’t my fault! I- I told you,” The rest of the sentence couldn’t be heard over the overlapping voices.

Ted Wheeler, who had done nothing useful since the day he married Karen, called out to his daughter. “Holly, can you pass the bacon?” Holly, however, was too engrossed in her book to hear him the first time. She was reading A Wrinkle In Time, which she had been given by her school. “Holly! Bacon!” Her head snapped towards him, an unreadable expression on her face, before she reached out with one hand to grab the bacon. By the time it had been passed along the table to reach Ted, everyone had taken the pieces, all except from one tiny section that had clearly broken off of a normal sized piece of bacon. It was as if no one in the house respected him.

Around 30 minutes later, everyone was cleaning up. Nancy, clearly having places to be - namely, school - put her plate on the side of the sink, and was immediately scolded by her mother. She groaned, and moved them to inside the sink, before telling her, "Be back at 5:00 or 6:00, let me know if you need me to pick up anything!" And then she left. Soon, of course, followed by Jonathan, telling Will to hurry up.

"Dude, hurry up!" he exclaimed, anxious that they'd arrive late.

Will sounded incredibly bored. "Ugh, I'm coming."

The entire household was full of overlapping voices, with Karen giving Holly her jacket before hugging her, Mike doing a final round of the house to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything, and Joyce apologising.

"I'm so sorry I can't help to clean up, I'm running late..." Karen pitied Joyce. She had so much on her plate, all the time, what with her abusive asshole of an ex-husband, being a single mum of two with no stable source of income, and not to mention her house being destroyed by the earthquake...

"It's okay, Joyce! Really, I under-" The door slammed in her face, leaving her alone with no one but her useless husband. "-stand."

And, of course, he had to voice his opinions.

"How much longer..." She turned around rather aggressively.

"What do you want me to do, Ted, huh? Kick 'em to the street?" She walked away, making sure to lace her voice with malice. God, she really couldn't stand him sometimes. They'd all gone to high school together, their sons were best friends, and their daughters were both integrated into their son's friendship group. She couldn't just let them... Starve? Be homeless? All horrible ideas.

She heard him as she left the room, saying, "Is that an option?" He really was horrible. Why had she married him again? Oh right, money.

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

 The kids headed out of the driveway, following Nancy, Jonathan and Joyce in their various cars, heading to their schools and work. Mike, Will and Holly were on their bikes, Holly trailing behind the older two.

“Hey, wait up!” she shouted. Her shorter legs meant her bike went slower than the other two’s, but they slowed down for her to catch up.

“Come on,” Mike turned his head towards her, continuing forward, “We gotta go!” This was one of the rare occasions where Mike wasn’t starting off his November late to school, and he was going to do his best not to change that.

Once she had caught up, Holly reminded the two to channel into the Morning Squawk, Robin and Steve’s new radio segment, which was on almost every day in the mornings and at lunch. Holly was very insistent about it, saying that they would miss it if they didn’t tune in right that very second, so Mike gave up and turned it on. It was too early to start a fight with a sibling.

 Robin’s voice filled the air, all the way from the Radio Tower. “Good morning, Hawkins! This is WSQK The Squawk!” Holly looked pleased. Mike looked stressed. He just wanted to get back in bed. His facial expression turned to disgust as a new sound effect entered their radio, a rubber chicken.

In their car, Nancy turned to Jonathan, finding the sounds funny. Jonathan was focusing in, in case Robin dropped any clues. That was a new system they’d set up over the last few months. Robin would often be told when a crawl was being set up in the Upside Down, and would insert subtle hints into her regularly scheduled broadcast, like the coordinates, time and how long the crawl would last. Mike, Nancy and Hopper took turns decoding them each time, taking their positions as leaders among the different age groups.

Robin continued. “It’s looking like a regular day in Hawkins. Fifty-five degrees, low chance of rain,” A helicopter went past the Radio Tower, “medium chance of arrest, high chance of helicopters. But, general banality aside,” Steve looked over at her, confused at what ‘banality’ even meant. Robin ignored him, “It’s an exciting day for me, your friend, entertainer, and DJ, Robin Buckley, nice to meet you, AKA Rockin’ Robin!”

She’d been waiting for this day for what felt like weeks. The vinyl started spinning over the record player, and music filled the air. “And, why is it a big day for me, you ask? Well, it’s my 500th broadcast!” Steve stared intensely, reading the sign Robin had placed in front of herself, before grabbing a new sound effect, labeled applause, from the shelf and inserting it into the machine. “Yeah, you heard that right, folks. Five-double-O! Which means it’s been even longer since you’ve heard the sultry voice of Jimmy ‘Fast Hands’ Lee.”

No one thought his voice was sultry. In fact, people were very irritated by it most of the time.

“But while Jimmy was fleeing Hawkins even faster than he moves those hands,” insert a scream sound effect from Steve, “yours truly was watcing slack-jawed as the earth split open beneath her feet and coughed up that… tsunami of mysterious dandruff.” She couldn’t say the truth about what it was on air, the MAC-Z would block her from broadcasting and she wouldn’t be able to help her friends. “And now, I’m stuck here with you, my fellow quarantine compatriots.” Robin was proud of that one, she’d come up with it a few minutes before the broadcast was set to air. “And, if I can be brutally honest, I couldn’t be happier. Because when you really think about it,” Steve was definitely confused now, he wanted to get out as soon as possible, “Why would you want to live anywhere else?”

He shot Robin a look, wondering where this was going. “I mean,” she continued, “what town on Earth can match our very impressive military-to-civilian ratio?” Whistle sound effect- well, not sound effect, Steve actually played a whistle by the microphone. “And those free, mandatory, medical checkups? I mean, very cool! ‘Cause after we inhaled those springtime snowflakes…” Steve had pretty much gone into autopilot at this point, tuning out all of Robin’s nonsense. What was she even talking about? He drank his cup of coffee to wake him up, it was too early. Robin was just doing her daily warnings by this point, all MAC-Z, stay away, et cetera.

“In the meantime, be thankful that this is your home! Study for that test, enjoy that TV dinner, go on that date!” Robin smirked. “Which, by the way, is exactly what yours truly is doing tonight.” Steve did not know this, leaning on the wall where the chicken was up, so he pressed it in celebration for Robin. “That’s right, Rockin’ Robin has a date, ladies and gentlemen!” She laughed. She was so excited. Nothing could possibly make this day go wrong.

“And now, who is this lucky someone? Well, don’t be so nosy, kids.” She was whispering into the microphone now. “They know who they are.” Steve smiled, proud of her. “That is, if you’re listening. Which I hope you are, ‘cause this next one, it’s for you, babe.”

Rock music cried out from the speakers of a small orange car, with a small, ginger woman, Vickie, who had now started working in the hospital, grinning to herself. She was listening, Robin didn’t need to worry. And then, of course, the static started. Vickie was immediately confused, wondering if her car was malfunctioning, while Robin, a few miles away, was panicking. Was it a power surge? What was happening?

“What- What’s going on? What the hell, what the hell!” She ripped her headphones off, taking a few hairs with it - ouch, - and her and Steve ran out of the broadcasting box and around to see the power.

“I told you to stop thumbing your nose at the military.” How dare Steve accuse her of such a thing? She was only being informative. She mashed the buttons around the power supply, reminding steve that she was only reiterating their rules and encouraging compliance. “Right, no sarcasm there.”

“Yeah, says the dingus with the rubber chicken.”

“These are very serious people, Robin!” Steve made his way over to the Walkie-Talkie he had in case of emergencies, trying to get Dustin’s attention, while Robin swore behind him, getting louder and louder. “Henderson, do you copy?”

Silence.

“Henderson!”

“Yeah, I copy.” Steve let out a long sigh. “God, you sound swell. Let me take a wild guess, you’re not calling to wish me a good morning.” He was still cycling into school, having just arrived at the gates.

“Well, no. It’s not exactly a good morning. We’ve got a-” he turned to robin, still pressing buttons and turning knobs, “situation. At the Squawk. The signal, it’s… it’s gone all wonky.” He covered his mouth with his hand to make his words quieter. “I think Robin finally pissed ‘em off.”

“Doubtful, she was encouraging compliance.” Robin clearly heard this, spinning around and shouting “Told you!” towards Steve. He gave her a look, and she went back to fiddling with the buttons.

Dustin was continuing to explain everything to Steve. “The remote radio head’s the more likely culprit.”

“The remote what?”

“Just read the manual, Steve!”

As if on cue, the lights flickered. Robin was starting to properly panic now, getting flashbacks of the past two years, where the only thing flashing symbolised was Him. But, surely it couldn’t be, right? She checked the calendar on the wall, and-

Shit. It was November 6th. The same day all of this started, the same day this reccured on every year. And she immediately knew it would get worse this year, with Vecna having all his portals open, and having fully tore Hawkins into four the previous year. God, she really hoped no one would get injured this year, they already had Max in a coma for almost a full year.

She couldn’t tell Steve, she didn’t want to worry him.

Meanwhile, he was still bickering with Dustin, unaware of all that had just gone through Robin’s mind.

“Henderson?” Robin assumed Dustin had turned off his Walkie Talkie. “God!” Ever since Eddie had died, Dustin had been a lot more distant than he was before. Eddie was her friend too, but he had always been closer to Dustin than her, what with their whole D&D campaign business. She’d tried explaining to Steve that he was just reacting to losing someone close to him, but she couldn’t get the correct words out, confusing him.

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

Dustin wandered down the school hallway, wearing his Hellfire Club shirt. Everyone looked at him in disgust for it, but by this point he had grown used to it. It was his shirt. It was his way of memorialising Eddie, since the mouth-breathing kids his age thought it was funny to vandalise his grave.

He got to his locker, turning his key and opening it up. The inside was covered with pictures of him and his friends, and a few of his old pets, including Dart, the demogorgon he had accidentally befriended at the age of 13. And, of course, his wonderful bullies had to appear.

“What’d I tell you about that shirt, freak?” Was he seriously about to start this now? School hadn’t even begun yet. He ignored Andy, and so, Chance piped up.

“Andy asked you a question, freak. You deaf or what?” Andy slammed his locker door closed, towering over Dustin, despite not being especially tall himself.

“For his sake, I hope he is, because I thought I was pretty damn clear when I sid I didn’t want to see you in that shirt.” Andy was trying so hard to be intimidating that it was almost funny. Moreso pathetic, but Dustin still had to put up with it, because Chance could certainly throw a punch when he had to. Perks of playing basketball, he supposed.

“Yeah? Well, you also told me to stop screwing your mom, and that didn’t stop me, did it?” Dustin turned to face Andy, and both boys knew he wasn’t scared of them. They’d have to up the stakes to get a reaction out of him. Andy nodded, and within a split second had Dustin pinned against the next locker down, and had his hands ripping apart the collar of the shirt, while Dustin squirmed around, trying to break out of Chance’s grip.

“Something funny, Henderson?”

“Let go.” Dustin was still trying to escape, he didn’t want to be the centre of attention.

“Hellfire is over, you hear me?”

“Let. Go.”

“Or what, what are you going to do?” Andy had, by now, successfully managed to start ripping Dustin’s shirt properly, tearing through the lettering at the top of the shirt. A shout was heard from behind them, and all three boys turned around. Lucas was there, thank God. Andy shoved him back into the locker, and Chance turned around to face Lucas.

“Well, well. If it isn’t the traitor.” Dustin stood up properly behind the two, shirt ripped, face injured. Lucas was not going to deal with them today.

“Remember that time my sister kicked your balls so hard, you limped for a week?” Lucas had his hands on his hips, looking Andy directly in the eyes. Andy was clearly embarrassed, turning around to Chance behind him, who was looking back at him. A smile spread across his face, glad for his friends. “Yeah, if you touch Dustin again, I’ll kick ‘em so hard they’ll pop like water balloons.” Andy nodded slowly, when Chance heard a noise, and his head shot towards it.

“I say kick away.”Mike and Will were walking towards the scene, with Mike gladly taking the opportunity to insult Chance and Andy. “Stop this meathead from reproducing and further infecting the word with his unique brand of idiocy.” Both boys had now surrounded the remaining spaces around Andy and Chance, Will glaring at Chance, Mike glaring at Andy.

Andy scoffed, turning to Chance, who nodded in his direction. Lucas stared at them, hands on his hips, so he went to face Dustin, and shoved him into the locker once more. “Hope you brought a change of clothes. No one wants to see that shit.” Dustin rolled his eyes, and both the bullies walked past Lucas to leave, making sure they shoved him before leaving. As they walked away, Dustin threw up his middle finger.

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

“You’ve gotta stop provoking them, man.” They were walking down the hallway, voices overlapping from all sides.

“Oh, so this is my fault?” Dustin felt offended by this, they’d come up to him. He hadn’t done anything wrong. “For what, wearing a T-shirt?”

“You know it’s more than just a T-shirt!” Lucas was getting irritated by Dustin. He didn’t want to see his friends hurt, but Dustin kept ignoring them when they tried to help.

“I can’t just be like you and turn the other cheek while they spread their bullshit about Hellfire, about Eddie.” They all understood. They’d all either participated in or heard about Hellfire (in Will’s case). None of them specifically wanted their friend’s legacy to go this way, but there was only so much they could do.

Mike chimed in. “Eddie never gave a rat’s ass about what those mouth breathers were saying about him, and you know it. You know what he would care about? Finding and killing Vecna!” He was moving his arms around frantically, as if it would emphasise his point, walking slightly behind Dustin, while Will and Lucas walked in line with him.

“Do you seriously think I don’t care about that, Mike? Really?” Dustin had turned around, so all 4 of them stopped in the centre of the hall. Mike sighed as a response.

“I think you’re fighting two battles.” Will nodded at him. “You need to be fighting one.”

Will’s turn to speak. “Mike’s right, Dustin. What if you get hurt- like, seriously?”

Lucas’s voice overlapped Will’s. “You’re drawing attention! Remember what Hop said, we need to keep our heads down!”

“Follow the rules. Blend in.”

“Stay focused on our next crawl.”

They were all in agreement, leaving Dustin to feel like an outsider. That was too far for him.

“Do you even hear yourselves right now?” He let out a breathy laugh. “Blend in? Follow the rules? That’s not what we’ve ever done!” His voice was getting louder, as he got more and more irritated at his friends’ reactions. Mike muttering “Jesus Christ” under his breath was the last straw. “We stay true to ourselves! We’re supposed to stay true to our friends! We stand up for what’s right, no matter the cost!”

“You’re not listening to us!” Now Lucas was irritated, too. That barely ever happened. Will wanted to take a step back, to leave, but he didn’t want to attract attention while the others were all like this.

“No, you’re not!” Dustin walked away from them, travelling quickly down the hallway. Will called out to him, but got no response, so he gave up.

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

El was going through her homemade obstacle course, which Hopper had constructed nearby to the Radio Tower, in a small, densely forested area. This was the fifth time in the last hour, but she wouldn’t let herself rest until she was good enough to help Hopper in the crawl. Her ears rang, her head ached, her feet were killing her, but she couldn’t stop. She had to be there in case anything bad happened to Hopper. He’d done so much for her, it was her turn to pay him back.

She rolled underneath a fallen tree, swiftly standing up and continuing her sprint onwards. Jumping over another obstacle, she burst a hole into a plank of wood, and made her way up the ramp. From here, she had to hop between four cars, burst a pumpkin from behind the hood of one, land on a ladder, running up it, and after getting off, smashing another pumpkin, and propelling herself through the air over a parked bus. El, of course, performed it all flawlessly, looking over at Hopper, who was holding up a stopwatch.

“Twelve minutes, thirty-three seconds.” He held the stopwatch up to show her. Joyce was standing next to him, chiming in and telling her that it was a new record. El sighed. It wasn’t fast enough.

“So, how are we feeling?” Joyce was slightly jogging to catch up with El, determined to get under 12 and a half minutes.

“Okay.”

“Okay? Come on, that was 12:33!”

“It’s four seconds too slow.” El explained where she could be faster, where she hesitated, and ignored when both the adults were telling her to slow down, to take a rest.

“El, you have to take it easy on yourself, I-”

“You think Henry’s going easy?” She snapped at Joyce. El didn’t understand how they genuinely thought if she couldn’t complete an obstacle course in under 12 minutes that she could defeat the man that had been terrorising their entire town for half a decade.

“You know what I think?” El turned towards Hopper. “I think, we still have some more of that waffle mix. And I think we should celebrate this record time with a stack of those.” El glared at him. What was he thinking? “And then maybe we could watch a Miami Vice marathon.”

He outstretched his hand towards El, who promptly ignored it, walking around him. “I can beat the time. Reset it.” She was going back towards the start of the obstacle course.

“If you’re tired, you’re just gonna injure yourself-”

“Reset it!” She had to do this. For her friends. For her family.

Hopper sighed, and him and Joyce started to put all of the obstacles in the correct positions, including the pumpkins.

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

Back in the Radio Tower, Robin was searching through the file cabinets, praying that something - anything - could tell her what had happened that morning. But, of course, no luck.

“I swear to God, this- this stupid thing does not exist.”

“Can someone try Dustin again?” That was Jonathan, who had come to help, alongside Nancy.

“No, he turned off his walkie!” Dustin had never been that bad before, so Robin said the sentence with a sense of shock, before continuing towards the table where Steve was looking through documents.

“What’s up with him lately?” Nancy was down on the floor, sorting through a large pile of papers.

“Don’t even get me started.” Steve didn’t even lift his gaze off of the strangely folded up sheet he was reading. Robin stopped at the small desk behind him.

“Yeah, please don’t.”

“Hey!” Nancy’s voice called out. Robin turned around, to see her holding up a manual. “Got it.” She slammed it down on the table, and the others all crowded behind her. Flicking through the pages, her eyes scanned for any information that could help them, until Steve leaned over her.

“Wait, wait, wait, there it is.” Steve definitely hadn’t meant to get this close to her, and both of them stepped slightly further apart from each other. Steve moved the book closer towards him. “Remote radio head, yeah.”

“And, uh, where exactly are we gonna find this remote thingimajig?” Robin looked over at Nancy, who was looking back at her. Nancy quickly looked away, reading more information on the page, before sighing.

Outside, they looked up at the radio tower. God, this would take a while…

“I don’t see it.”

“It’s up there somewhere.” Nancy and Robin were staring at each other again, before both looked away abruptly. “It’s gotta be.”

Robin spoke again. “So, I guess somebody’s gotta climb to the tippy top of this bad boy and, uh…” She immitated the noise, sounding more like a mouse than anything else.

Nancy looked at her again. “Without a harness or anything, it seems kind of dangerous.”

“AKA, a job for good old Steve Harrington.” Robin shot her gaze in his direction.

“No third person, please!”

“All right.” He waved her off.

Steve made his way towards the ladder, positioned on the side of the tower, when Jonathan walked up to him. Steve threw his coat towards Robin, who reluctantly caught it, holding it up by two fingers as if it was radioactive. Nancy looked at Robin, at the coat, then at Steve, and rolled her eyes.

Jonathan made a grab for Steve’s jumper. “Uh, voltage? Don’t get on it yet, I’ll give the signal.” Steve smiled at him. Jonathan smiled back. “Unless you wanna fry,” he let go of Steve, smirking now, “in which case, step right up.” He walked off, opening the door to the electricity box.

The air hummed with static around him, and he made his way to the gray dial in the centre of the room, turning it all the way to zero. The static stopped, leaving the room to feel slightly damp and eerie, so Jonathan quickly exited and got back in line with Nancy and Robin. “Alright, go.”

Steve, being, well, Steve, took this as a chance to show off. “I’m practically a quarter monkey, watch this. Robin, timer.” Robin rolled her eyes, grabbing the timer out of her pocket that she had for situations just like this one. She set it off, nodded at him, and he ran.

Admittedly, he was quite fast. But none of them would tell him that, or anything that could inflate his ego any more. It was for the best.

Meanwhile, a truck was driving through the military checkpoint to enter Hawkins. It was Murray, and he gave the staff a cheerful look, before handing them very much forged documents. They did a quick rundown of the vehicle, and let him through the gates.

A few minutes later, that same truck drove up to the Radio Shack, and Jonathan, Robin and Nancy all turned towards the noise at the same time. Conveniently, the exact moment when Steve had reached the top, shouted “I fixed it!” at the top of his lungs, fixed it - well, tried to, anyways - and started the journey back down.

“I thought grocery delivery wasn’t till tomorrow?” Robin looked very confused. What could Murray possibly be here a full day early for?

Murray opened up his van. “Santa’s brought a full stack today!” He started pulling the important things off of several piles and handing them to the others. “A fresh telemetry tag. Scarcer than hen’s teeth, these things.” Robin nodded along, pretending to have any clue what he was talking about. To be honest, he annoyed her. A lot. But she couldn’t tell him that, that was mean, so she kept it in. He rummaged into another box. “Enough bullets and shells for Hop to start a small war, if he should so choose.” Nancy picked them up from the front of the van and put them on the ground next to her.

“Anyone order a salad?” He was holding up a… lettuce? What the fuck? “Grenade salad?” He’d turned around to pick up a grenade. That made more sense, but he was still weird. His joke didn’t land, and he could very much tell, leading to him to explain it, making it even less funny. “I hid the, uh, grenades under the, uh, lettuce.” Robin and Nancy smiled awkwardly at him, while Jonathan looked concerned behind them.

“Gatorade for El’s battery!” His energy levels were concerning. Maybe he’d drank a ton of the Gatorade on the way.

“Did someone say Gatorade?” Steve ran around to the back of the truck, having finally gotten back down from the tower. “Let me get one.” Murray threw it into his hands. “Thanks.”

“Sure thing. But, I don’t think it’s gonna go too well with…” Oh God, what was he going to find now? “Peanut butter!” Steve’s eyes practically lit up. He hadn’t had one of these in years.

“Boppers! God, I missed these things!”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Byers, I got you a present too.” Well now Jonathan was worried. He held up a cassette. “I know you’re allergic to jazz, but, just give it a whirl. I think you’ll find it quite… engaging.”

Shit.

Fuck.

He grabbed it from Murray’s hand, looking away from the others as he did so, clearing his throat while Nancy looked at him, confused. It didn’t last too long, as Murray then hit her on the head with a stack of papers.

“And for the station manager, the reason for my premature delivery.” Nancy took it, sending Murray a glare, and started reading through the files. The others once again crowded around her, Steve making sure he was by Robin and not Nancy.

“A burn? Tonight? But that’s-”

“Too soon, I know.” Murray interrupted her. “Whatever they’re doing in the Upside Down evidently needs serious resources.”

Robin looked at the sheets underneath as Nancy turned the top page. “That’s a lot of cargo.”

“I figure a supply drop this big takes two hours, minimum.” Murray may have been irritating as shit, but in situations like this, he was really needed.

“Which gives Hopper plenty of time for a crawl.” Nancy looked up at him.

“Maybe tonight’s the night we finally find that bastard, and end this.” Everyone nodded in agreement, and in hope. They all wanted nothing more than for this to be over, so they could live out normal lives, but it felt like they’d always be haunted by Vecna. They had to kill him, before he killed them

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

The school bell rang, signalling the start of lunch. Dustin left his classroom, looking around cautiously as he went into the Reptiles room, closing the door behind him. He felt like they understood him more than most people, so felt obliged to keep them alive and feed them in his breaks.

His first stop was the small white snake he’d named Jake, and when Dustin saw Jake, a plan entered his mind.

“Hey there, Jake. You up for a little field trip?”

While this was happening, the rest of the party were sitting around their table in the lunch hall. Lucas opened his Dr Pepper, looking up at Will. “I’m telling you, he’s lost his mind. He actually told me he wanted to start Hellfire again!”

Will hadn’t heard this before. “What? When did he say that?”

Lucas was looking at Mike this time. “This weekend. He was talking about finding the lost sheep?” Mike sighed. Will put his hand down on the table.

“And we thought the shirt was bad.”

“I’m telling you, he’s lost his damn mind.” All three of them started nodding, in agreement.

A tray hit the table between Mike and Will, and Will, startled, turned his head towards the noise. It was Dustin, who sat down rather aggressively.

“Who’s lost his damn mind?” Shit. No one had an answer for this. Will looked at Mike with wide eyes, clearly begging for him to think of something. He’d always been the one with the quickest brain.

“Uh… The-” Will started, before Mike saved him.

“Andy.” He’d said it with such composure that Will himself almost believed it. Will and Lucas followed suit, backing Mike up.

“Andy lost his mind.”

“Yeah." Dustin didn’t look convinced, so Lucas continued. “Like, when he came at you this morning.”

“Yeah, that was-”

“Messed up.” Mike finished the sentence for Will. This was extremely common for them, they’d always been the closest out of the group. They knew how each other thought, how they’d react, they relied on each other.

Dustin still looked unconvinced, but seemed to drop it. Will looked at him guiltily, he didn’t like lying. Especially not to his friends. All of them awkwardly shifted their gazes to their lunch trays, and as if she was saving them, Robin’s voice came through the radio. The static before she spoke grabbed all their attention, and then she spoke.

“Hey there friends, this is Rockin’ Robin.” Dustin leaned in. “Sorry about the abrupt departure, I hope you survived without me. We had some… annoying technical difficulties.”

Back at the Radio Shack, Nancy, Jonathan, Steve and Robin were all inside the recording box. Steve was, of course, playing the effects when needed, while Nancy and Jonathan were leaning against the panels of glass.

“But, to make it up to you, we have a very special treat that’s sure to turn your day upside down…” She pressed the button, and the vinyl started to play. The song was Upside Down by Diana Ross, which had become their signal song. Mike grabbed a pen and Will handed him some paper from his bag, they all knew he’d have to decode Robin’s attempts at a cryptic message. Well, it was barely cryptic. It just had to be subtle enough that the military wouldn’t catch on to them. Joyce and Hopper were doing the same, while El finished her run on the obstacle course for the millionth time that day.

“Now, before you start bumping,” Robin started, “here’s a few fun facts about the boss. She was born Diane in the North End of Detroit” Mike wrote down North. “Berry Gordy, that’s Gordy with a G, signed her to Motown in 1961” G was written next, “And one is the key number,” One followed soon after. “Because between 1964 and ‘67, the Supremes had 10 songs hit the top of the charts. That’s right, ten.” 10. “Then in ‘78, she tried to make it big in movies like The Wiz, which was a colossal flop-a-roonie, but, in my personal opinion, I still dig it. I mean, Michael Jackson as a scarecrow? Give it a chance.” Robin proceeded with more information to throw off anyone else listening.

“But make sure you bring your super-sized popcorn, because this movie has a run time of over two hours.” That was plenty of time for the crawl. “All right, class dismissed. I hope you were taking notes, there will be a test later. Take it away, Diane.”

El had finally finished her run of the course, turning to Hopper to tell her how fast she was, but he was packing away everything. “Crawl tonight. Come on.” Nancy lead the group in the Radio shack to their secret room, hidden behind a bookshelf. She slid over the box, revealing an opening, and unlocked the lock. She then opened up the door, and let everyone in.

Hopper was leading Joyce and El into their secret bunker, entering the abandoned school bus, and walking right to the back. There, he kicked up a chair, and went down the hole they’d dug underneath. Once everyone had entered, he pulled the rope, and the chair fell back in place.

The party had gone with a much simpler approach, heading into the woods in their school grounds. There was a bench there, where Mike laid out a map, and Dustin pulled out the small figurines they used for D&D.

Nancy and Mike were both having similar trains of thought, explaining the plans in almost identical ways.

“So, assuming Murray’s intel is correct,” Nancy paced towards the projection of the different sections of Hawkins. “the supply convoy is set to reach Hawkins at 10:00 sharp. Meaning, I want Hopper in the tunnels and en route to MAC-Z no later than 9:00.”

“Lucas, we’ll take our usual observation post.” Mike looked over at Lucas, while Will and Dustin stared at the map. Mike placed down the two figurines of a paladin and a ranger onto where they would be positioned.

“Barring unusual traffic,” Nancy was pointing at the projection with a pencil, “I expect the convoy to reach the MAC-Z at 10:15.”

“Once the burn starts and there’s sufficient cover,” Mike turned to all three of them, “We’ll signal to Hopper, who’ll make his move.” Mike found a truck and a barbarian, putting them both on the map.

“And, now the crawl begins. Hop is now in the Upside Down, travelling at what I hope to be a gentle 30 miles an hour.” Both of them were saying almost the same thing simultaneously, even though they were far away from each other. “Which will allow Dustin and Harrington to follow along in the Rightside Up.”

Mike was looking at Dustin. “Just remember. Try to keep the telemetry signal within-”

Dustin cut him off. “Negative 60 and negative 70 dB. Easy-peasy.”

Nancy turned to Steve and Robin, who had their feet up on a table. “I expect the convoy to take the same route as last month. Main to Cornwallis, one turn. But, if you guys hit any red lights-”

Now it was her turn to get cut off. “I’ll blow right though ‘em.”

“Only if there’s no MPs around.” Nancy waved the pencil down with such force that the wind around it made a whooshing sound. “Remember, if you guys get pulled over, we lose Hop, we’re toast.” She glared at him, as he held his hands out, as if he was about to tell her to calm down. He was about to speak, but Robin elbowed him before he got the chance.

“Ow! Ugh, I got it!”

Mike was giving Dustin the instructions too, as although he wasn’t driving, Steve had never been known to have the best memory. “You’re gonna travel up Cornwallis for about six miles.” He moved the small cars up the map, before he turned the page and placed them back down.

“We radio Hop to disembark.” Nancy was pointing up to the top-right square.

“Which will drop the old man at the border of G1.” Mike lifted his hands off the map, leaning them on the table. Nancy, meanwhile, was pacing. “Where he’ll have two whole hours to search for Vecna, which is ample time. He’s cleared zones much faster. So, all in all, signs point to another successful crawl.” Nancy had walked all the way to the staircase, where she turned around.

Jonathan cleared his throat, and Nancy’s smile dropped. “Is there a problem?”

His head moved back and forth frantically. “Uhm… No. No, I mean, I think it’s good.” He shrugged several times, which did not convince Nancy.

Steve spoke up. “Yeah, yeah, it’s good. It’s really good.” Robin turned to face him. “It’s just that, uhm…”

Robin continued for him. “Zone G1 is not that exciting. Or Vecna-y.” Nancy scrutinized her. “What does it have? A Circuit City, a couple of houses, and a…”

Mike was having the same issue, but with Dustin. “Big Buy? What are the chances Vecna’s shopping for Lucky Charms?” Mike looked offended.

“It doesn’t matter! We stick to the plan.” They couldn’t change it, because then they might accidentally run into the military. “We break into the Upside Down the only way we can,” Will was staring at him. He’d always found it so amazing how passionate Mike could get when he cared about something. “through the MAC-Z gate, under the cover of a burn. Once inside, we search one zone at a time, methodically. Until we figure out wherever the hell he’s been hiding.”

Steve, back in the Radio shack, seemed extremely bored. “Unless… He’s already dead.” Jonathan turned to face him, while Nancy stared daggers into him. Had she always been this terrifying? “Again, your- your plan is great. It’s just… This is crawl what? Are we in the 30s now? And not a single baddie in sight?” Nancy’s expression had turned pained, as if she wished he would permanently shut up. “El can’t find him in her bath, and Will hasn’t had his goosies since the shake ‘n’ quake.”

“Goosies?” Jonathan spoke up. That was his brother Steve was talking about, not a toddler.

“And last we saw Vecna, he was roasting like a turkey and pumped full of lead. And that was before he fell three full stories.” Nancy sighed and looked away from Steve, who was still speaking. “So don’t you ever think we’re scouring a battlefield that we already, like, won?”

“Have you forgotten what he showed Nancy? Hawkins on fire. Karen, Holly, everyone. Dead.”

“Yeah, man. He also showed Max her brother walking around with a hole in his chest. That’s what he does, he gets in your head and tries to scare you.”

Nancy didn’t need Jonathan to argue for her. “Yeah, well, he did a good fucking job because I am scared. And you should be scared too, because if he’s still out there, he’s planning to end our world, so…”

Back to Mike in the woods. “We don’t stop looking. Even if it takes 100 more crawls, 1000.” Will was nodding at him again. “We don’t stop until we’re goddamn sure that wrinkled, noseless, rotting bastard is dead, and gone, and never coming back.” He stretched his hand out to the middle. “Everyone in?” Lucas slapped his hand onto Mike’s, followed by Will. As soon as this happened, Mike’s eyes shot up to look into Will’s, who smiled at him. Mike smiled back, tilting his face downwards slightly. Eventually, Dustin put his hand on the pile too.

“I want to see Vecna’s heart on a platter. Just wish I could do it myself.” Dustin looked at Mike. “For Eddie.” Mike followed suit, leading Lucas and Will to do the same.

“On three, “Kill Vecna.” One, two, three,” All four of them broke out into a shout. Lucas started whooping, so Mike and Will started laughing at him. This encouraged him further, as he jumped up onto the table and jumped into Dustin and Mike. They both pretended it hurt, staggering backwards, calling out various “oh no!”s.

Will, meanwhile, suddenly felt a ringing in his ears, his smile fading into a look of concern. He turned around, and started walking off away from them. His breathing got heavier, it felt as if his throat was closing up. His world started spinning, and his head started to tip backwards. The sound of children’s laughter filled his ears, as his vision spun faster and faster, until he fell forwards, landing on a tree.

Mike was first to notice, shouting his name, and all three of the boys started to run towards Will.

“Will!” Mike reached him first, placing his hand on Will’s back. “Hey, are you okay?” He looked so concerned.

“Y-Yeah, it’s fine, it’s okay- it’s okay. I’m fine.” Will was still leaning on the tree, out of breath.

“Was it him? Was it Vecna?” Mike’s grip on Will’s back wasn’t going to release at any point. Lucas tried to help Will up, but Mike’s head shot back towards Lucas, so he put his hand back. He was just being protective of Will. What if Will didn’t want anyone else to hold him?

“I don’t know, I just- I just had this crazy feeling, and then the sky was spinning, and,” Will took a deep breath in, while looking upwards. “I don’t know, I guess maybe it’s nothing, right?” He’d turned to lean his back against the tree while facing Mike. “I don’t know. Maybe I just get nervous sometimes before crawls?” He looked into Mike’s eyes.

“Yeah, I… I get nervous too,” Lucas started, “But the sky doesn’t spin for me.” He turned to Mike. “It ever spin for you?”

Mike looked worried, his eyes not leaving Will, almost like if he looked away, Will would get taken by Vecna. “Maybe he’s close.” The school bell rang in the distance, so Mike helped Will up, holding him close around the waist. “Okay, Squawk, six o’clock, not a second later, right?” Turning to Will again, he asked, “Are you okay?” Will nodded.

Dustin packed everything up into Mike’s bag, and brought it to him. He was so preoccupied with Will, he almost left all his notes.

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

Holly Wheeler was lying down in the kid’s playground, while her friend spun her gently. The metal creaked around her, as she stared up into the sky. She could hear Mary talking to her, explaining how as soon as the wheel started spinning properly, Holly would be having so much fun, until Derek came over, Dipshit Derek, as they called him.

“Blast off!” He started spinning the wheel even faster, startling Holly.

Mary was fighting him, trying to push him away. “Derek! Stop! Come on, get off, Holly!” The world above Holly span as she was unable to get up. Eventually, Derek did leave, and Mary pulled Holly up. “You okay? Come here.” Holly stood up with her help. “Let’s get you off.”

Holly almost fell forwards, still extremely dizzy. She sputtered, and Mary started to panic, holding her up straight. Mary couldn’t reassure her for too long, as their teacher came out and rang the bell.

“All right, my dears, playtime’s over.” she called out, and everyone headed on inside. Holly, however, seemed to have her attention focused on something by the school gate. She slowly walked towards it, smiling and waving. “Holly? Holly!” Her teacher was calling her, but Holly showed no recognition of it, so she followed Holly to the gate. Once she reached there, Holly was talking to someone, looking upwards, but no one was on the other side. She was seemingly talking to herself.

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

El, Hopper and Joyce were down in the tunnels, walking towards their shack. It was dangerous for El to be up on the surface, there were military all around, and she was known to have powers. She was also thought to be missing, so who knows what they’d do to her if they saw her.

“The last run. What was my time?” El walked faster , so she was alongside Hopper.

“I’m not sure. I didn’t see. I was distracted by Diana Ross.” A section of the tunnels that was reaching down slid over his shoulder.

“I saved four seconds.”

“Highly doubt that.”

Joyce spoke up from behind them. “No, no, it was very fast.”

El ignored her. “One second on the climb, one with the log, two on the bus.”

“Great. You did that today, you can do it again tomorrow.”

El let out a grumble, clearly irritated by him. “The crawl is tonight, Hop! If I’m under 12:30, I can come with you. That is what you promised.” She was almost shouting.

“Yeah, I promised that. I promised it.” He pulled down the ladder. “But I didn’t see it. So blame Diana.” And then he went up, into the supply shed of their shack.

El followed him, still upset. “You didn’t think I could make the time, did you?”

“I think you can, but no, not today. I don’t think you made that time.”

“Are you saying that I lie?”

“No, I’m saying you’re mistaken.” He was tired of this. He didn’t want her to get injured in the Upside Down, so she couldn’t come with him.

“I’m not mistaken.”

“Okay,” he let out a sigh. “So you’re on your sixth run, you’re totally drained, and you just happened to break your second record of the day,” He took his hat off once in the kitchen, and opened up the fridge. “Right before a crawl.” He cracked open his Dr Pepper. “I don’t think so, kid.”

“You saw the time. I saw you look down. You have to let me go with you.” El wasn’t backing down, grabbing him by the wrist.

Hopper had a harsh expression. “You wanna find Henry so bad, don’t you? So bad. Do it.” He pointed over at the bathtub across the room. “Do it from the tub. Do it remotely.” Hopper turned around, and started to walk away. “You’re not coming with me. Not today. End of story!” The door closed, and he’d gone into his bedroom.

El turned around, walking away from where Joyce was standing. Joyce sighed, wondering why the two of them couldn’t agree on one thing, so she followed Hopper into the other room. Closing the door behind her, she walked up to him.

“Why are you being so hard on her?”

“I’m not being hard on her.”

Joyce scoffed. “I- She’s just trying to help.” She sat down on the bed, and Hopper looked over to her.

“It’d be great if Will could help. But, you keep that kid wrapped up in bubble wrap.” He walked over to his desk, packing things he would need for the crawl.

“Come on, that’s different. I mean, El… Look at her, she’s- She’s ready.”

Hopper was breathing heavily. “Thirty seven crawls. The only thing I found down in that damn place are soldiers. Lots of ‘em. We don’t know how they’d react if they saw El. She has powers. They crave power.” He turned to face Joyce. “So there’s no reason to put her life on the line and bring her down there, especially not for some recon mission.” His eyebrows furrowed, emphasizing his point. He started walking away, as Joyce responded.

“Well if it’s just some recon mission, then what’s with all the guns?” Joyce looked back up at him.

“It’s in case I run into trouble.”

“Yeah, or in case you run into him.” She tilted her head, having the same expression as a concerned mother.

“No. No! I run into that psychic freak, I’m tucking tail and running.” Joyce, once again, looked unconvinced. His tone of voice softened. “I’m nuts. I know I’m nuts. But I’m not that nuts.” Joyce shook her head, as Hopper sat down beside her. “I’m gonna need El. I know that, I know that. Which is precisely why there’s no point in risking her life, over some stupid recon crap.” Hopper sighed. “I want her primed, but I want her safe. Safe until the very last minute, okay?” Joyce understood that. She closed her eyes and nodded.

“Yeah, okay. But her time, on that last run. Did she make it?” She was curious.

Hopper stared forward, leaving some room for suspense, before turning to face Joyce. “With a second to spare.” They both smiled. Joyce leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on his lips, feeling his smile widen. She knew now that he was trying to protect El, and she admired it.

Joyce left the room, and Hopper turned around. The atmosphere suddenly became… tense. He stood up, walking towards a small panel at the back of the room, and crouched down, shifting it out of place. Once it was removed, he picked up a small, square object, before putting the panel back, and shoving it at the bottom of his bag.