She wasn't repulsed by it.

The change had happened gradually over the years. Really, there wasn't any way to tell that Henry had once been a human. Humanoid, yes, but the basic structure of a human was all that remained. Two arms, two legs, a head, a torso, and some semblance of a face. Other than that, Henry was mostly vines that ran along his damaged skin. He had just enough bits and pieces missing to make someone second guess what exactly he was or had been.

But he was still the same Henry underneath the mutilation. Emily missed his old appearance of course, but she had gotten used to the new one. Though, she mostly missed his eyes, one of her favorite features of his. The bright blue was replaced by a cloudy grey much like her own damaged eye. Once upon a time, Emily could have mistaken him for an angel.

Though, to Emily, beauty was more than skin deep. More than blue eyes and golden blonde hair, more than sharp cheekbones and soft smiles...

Maybe she missed the old Henry more than she cared to admit.

For both of their sake, Emily didn't think about it that much. Constantly she reminded herself that she fell for Henry for reasons outside of what he looked like. They had shared trauma, the same goals, similar interests... the blue eyes were just a bonus, really. Though, even now he still laughed at how discomforted around spiders she was.

"They're more scared of you than you are of them." He constantly reminded her.

"I still don't love them. I'd much prefer black moths or bats." Emily would usually respond. "Things with wings."

"Some spiders have wings, you know."

"God, I don't even wanna think about that."

For Henry's sake, Emily tried to get more comfortable with spiders. They were surrounded by monstrous bats that Emily had more of a liking for, so it was only fair she got used to spiders. The bats in this other dimension were very close to Emily. She thought of them like a clan of pets, messengers to a more useful extent.

Ever since they had arrived here and had integrated themselves accordingly, Emily and Henry found themselves a part of a hivemind. It connected everything in this dimension, from the bats to the vines, from the creatures the party in Hawkins had given strange names to. Demogorgons and the Mind Flayer, specifically. All of it was connected, and it connected back to Henry and/or Emily. As the years went by, they slowly started maintaining more complete control.

Emily's bats were her babies, but she also controlled nearly everything they did.

The vines that surrounded them were also a part of it. A combination of their abilities and control of the hive mind allowed for them to control the vines around them. Nowadays Henry rarely left the house, but Emily used the vines to get around when she didn't feel like walking. It was as close to flying as she could get aside from living vicariously through her bats.

She also liked having fun with them. Emily would use the vines to walk on the ceiling of the house and swing upside down, oftentimes right in front of Henry. She would plant upside down kisses onto his scarred lips, forehead, or what was left of his nose.

No, Emily wasn't repulsed by his appearance.

Oftentimes days would go by where Emily wouldn't see the sun. This world, what the kids had dubbed the Upside-Down, had no source of light like that, not really. As such, Emily herself underwent a physical transformation of her own. Nowhere near as severe as what had happened to Henry, but she was pale and gaunt, everything about her was thin. Eddie could call her "The Phantom" all he wanted, she wouldn't stop it because she knew it was an accurate description, especially with her scars.

Put simply, the Upside-Down unearthed what could be considered as their true forms. A demon predator and a vengeful spirit, both hellspawn in their own ways.

Color only returned to Emily's cheeks after Chrissy's sacrifice. Henry killing meant he took in everything the victim was and ever will be. Emily reaped the benefits as well. Chrissy was young, fit, and Emily took those aspects of her.

"It's a bit strange knowing the next time I'm going back to the overworld, it'll be after the change begins." Emily said, laying in the Upside-Down version of what had been Henry's parents' bed. Alice's bed was too small and Henry rarely ever went into what had been his room. Vines curled along the bedposts and the floor, almost creating a canopy.

"Are you going to miss it?" Henry asked, laying next to her. Emily pursed her lips tightly as she examined the split ends of her hair.

"Maybe a little bit. The people, no way, but... I don't know, the woods are calming and the sunsets are beautiful." She replied. Henry's more monstrous hand reached for hers, rolling the tips of her fingers in his long clawed ones.

"That's the best part about what we're doing. We're the ones rebuilding, so we can do what we please. We can create as many forests as we want with the most beautiful sunsets. Whatever you desire we can create, no one to tell us no."

Emily beamed, holding a pair of wire framed glasses in her left hand. She looked through the lenses without putting them on, the ceiling curving strangely through them.

"Who knew such a dorky kid could have been hiding such a disturbing secret." Emily said. "A well put to use secret, but still."

"I still think you look nice with glasses." Henry said. Emily scoffed with a smile.

"I'm never putting on a pair of those things again. The amount of times Two tried to break them..."

"Even seven years later, you still have quarrel with him." Henry chuckled in his throat, a sound that had gotten more unsettling the more deformed he had gotten.

"Well, you still have problems with your mother." Emily replied, taking Henry's hand in such a way that her thumb ran over his 001 tattoo on his wrist, one of the few things left of his original form. A constant, mocking reminder.

"The amount of reprimands she gave me... She yelled at me until she was red in the face after I crushed her flowers by accident. Meanwhile Alice--" Henry practically spat her name out. "--spills a whole pitcher of water onto dinner and suddenly it was 'just an accident.'"

"Do you ever wonder if your father suspected it was you all along?"

"Of course he doesn't. He's too stupid to believe it was anything other than something otherworldly. You heard how he described it to Wheeler. Then of course it leads to Maxine running away."

"She's not completely lost yet. She'll be our last one. We have three." Emily laced her petite fingers between Henry's veiny, malformed ones. "We just have to bide our time, and then everything falls into place. Maybe once we start with razing and rebuilding, we can find a way to fix this, at least a little." She tapped her thumb on the back of his hand. Henry chuckled again.

"I thought you said you had grown used to it." He said.

"I have, but you know I miss your sweet face. Now you may look appropriately intimidating, but I miss the way you smiled, or the way your eyes crinkled and your hair bounced when you laughed or the way you flushed when you were flustered... I'm rambling." Emily sighed and sat up, hugging her knees to her chest. "I don't want you to think I'm disgusted by you, because I'm not. It's just been a lot to handle... all of it. Being thrown here, being trapped for twenty years in the lab..."

Henry sat up and rested one of his long, clawed fingers under her chin to raise it so she could look him in the eyes. His more human hand cupped the side of her face, using his thumb to wipe a stray tear away.

"We've been through a lot, way more than anyone should. But that's what's going to make this matter even more. We've spent fourty years trapped in one place or another and now we're so close to being able to change all of that. Take the world that hurt us and hurt it back, turning it into something we can look at and smile. I want to be able to see you smile, really smile and be satisfied with the life you've led. You're the only thing I've ever loved and I want to see you happy."

At this, Emily had to smile. Henry put on the closest thing to a smile of his own as he pulled her close. His texture was an interesting one for sure, but Emily didn't mind it at all. She rested the damaged side of her face against Henry's chest as he used his humanoid hand to gently stroke her hair. It probably looked beyond odd but neither of them cared.

Outside the window, one of Emily's bats shrieked. Quickly unfolding herself from Henry's embrace, she opened the window so the bat could perch on the windowsil. It chittered a few times, Emily understanding what it was trying to say.

"Four people from the overworld were seen on bikes just around the corner from here." Emily said aloud. She turned back to the bat. "What did they look like?"

The bat chittered again and what it told her made Emily smile.

"Thank you, sweetheart. Remind me to feed you extra later." She cooed. The bat gave a squeal before flying away. Emily turned to Henry, now standing nearby. "Never in a million years did I expect to see Eddie here, let alone with Robin, Steve, and Nancy. They're biking towards Eddie's trailer."

"To get through the gate there." Henry deduced. "Should we have a little fun with them?"

"Well, how could I say no to messing with Eddie again? I say we're so close to upending their world that we may as well tell them our true intentions. Success is inevitable."

"That, and we can get a message to Eleven. Goad her into coming back so we can see her one more time and make her watch as everything she loves crumbles." Henry agreed. "Nancy is the reporter and she has been the most militant in uncovering the truth."

"Then trap her in a trance and tell her everything." Emily climbed onto the windowsil and willed for some vines to grab her feet. "I'll send a message when the time is right."

With that, Emily lept out the window and sped through the woods. It was a faster route than the road the quartet was biking down, and she had to get there first.

What's one more time pulling Eddie's leg?

***

"Eddie!! Eddie, is that you??" Emily cried.

"Em? What the hell, what are you doing here? Where are you?" Eddie's voice sounded muffled from the other side of the door.

"I'm in your room, hurry!" Emily called. The vines around her wrists and legs pulsated, Emily willing them to curl tighter. Eddie slammed the door open, seeing Emily bound against the wall next to his guitar. "Eddie, thank god."

"Em, what are you doing here. What happened?" Eddie asked. Emily opened her mouth as if about to speak before she willed the vines to pull her off of the wall and out the door. She screamed before she stopped moving, now being held against the wall adjacent to the gate. Eddie rushed back to where she was, standing by his three companions.

"Emily?" Nancy Wheeler asked in disbelief. Emily gave the girl a wave with a halfhearted smile.

"Fancy meeting you here, Wheeler."

"We could say the same for you, how'd you end up here anyways?" Steve Harrington asked.

"I... I don't know. I was just going down Morehead as usual, I made a left and found myself going down the street where the second murder happened. I guess I wasn't looking where I was going and I fell through the gate in the road. I ended up in this... other world. Once I figured out it was like our world, I started looking for familiar places. I came here and then the vines got me."

"That's a string of shit luck, huh?" Robin Buckley said.

"Yeah, no kidding. I mean, had I known that was the road where Fred died, I would have avoided it." Emily said.

"Well, we gotta get you down from there." Eddie said. "Do you know anything that might get the vines away?"

"Well--"

"Fire, right?" Steve asked. "Although I don't know if we have anything that could start a fire in here."

"Knowing Eddie, he probably has a Zippo in his pocket." Emily snorted.

"Bold of you to assume, Ripley. But you're right, I think I might have something." Eddie started shuffling in his pockets.

"Hang on a minute." Nancy interrupted. Eddie held up a grody old lighter triumphantly before he realized Nancy was talking.

"If you're worried about the flame being too small--" Emily started, but Nancy started walking towards the trapped woman with a suspicious look. She stopped when she was practically nose-to-nose with Emily. "Got something to say, Wheeler?"

"Fred's name was never released to the public." Nancy said flatly. Emily held Nancy's gaze.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't bullshit me. I of all people would know who's names have been publicized. Chrissy's was, but Fred and Patrick's haven't been."

"Nance, please, it may not have gone public, but you know how fast gossip spreads in this town. Everyone and their mother knows." Steve said. "You're being paranoid."

"Maybe, but doesn't she leave town frequently? Eddie, you said she left the last day of school before break."

"Don't drag me into this, Nancy. Whatever you're hung up on isn't true, Em's got nothing to do with this." Eddie defended.

"Now's not the time for this. Help me get down, Nancy Drew." Emily said cooly. Nancy's face contorted strangely.

"Did she strike a nerve or something?" Robin asked. Nancy turned away from Emily, but not looking back at Robin or Steve behind her.

"The guys at the Hawkins Post called me Nancy Drew." Nancy said flatly.

"Fitting name." Emily said. Nancy turned back to the woman sourly.

"They were Flayed." She said.

"Flayed? What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"And... and now that I think about it... how did you know we call these things gates?"

"Portal sounds dorky. There are only so many things you can call them." Emily said, keeping her composure.

"And Eddie says you're usually found going down Morehead when you're actually in town... also it's where you said you were before coming down the road where Fred died."

"So what? It's a nice road."

"Nancy, I think you're pulling your red string a little far." Robin piped up.

"No, actually I think I'm right on the money." Nancy got close to Emily's face again. "Eddie, is she usually close to the intersection of Morehead and Cornwallis?"

"Yeah, but you know we go down Cornwallis to get to the trailer park. I think seeing my best friend near a road to get to where I live is normal." Eddie replied. "You're overreacting, Wheeler."

"And yet, just a few short yards from that intersection is the Creel House, isn't it?" Nancy asked.

"What's the murder house got to do with any of this?" Emily spat.

"I could ask you the same thing. Tell me, Emily, if you know nothing about the murder house when you're usually seen near it, why do you have tattoos of the stained glass rose from its door on your arm?" Nancy gripped Emily's left arm, her thumb right under one of the roses. "And look at this, they're intermingled with black vines not unlike the ones that are all around us."

"Nancy, for god's sake, so what if the roses are on her arm? It's probably a common design." Steve said.

"And those 'vines' are the brambles from her childhood home." Eddie added. Nancy ignored their protests.

"You know Fred's name, you know they're called gates, you know the guys at the Post called me Nancy Drew, you're usually around the Creel House, and your tattoo is of its stained glass roses dotting vines that look exactly like the ones holding you right now. Admit it."

"Admit what, Nancy Drew?" Emily asked snidely.

"Don't. Bullshit. Me." Nancy seethed. "I caught you in your massive lie. A lie you've been telling for God knows how long."

"Wheeler, she's got nothing to do with this!" Eddie said. "Now let me get my best friend out of there so we can all go home."

"Admit it. You're full of shit and you slipped up."

For a moment the only sound that could be heard was the group's breathing and the hollow wind outside. Nancy and Emily held tense eye contact for a long moment, neither of the women willing to back down.

Then, Emily smiled.

"Oops." She said innocently. The smile grew into a psychotic smirk. Nancy backed up a few steps. The vines binding Emily's wrists and ankles uncurled and slid away from her. She landed softly on the ground, folding her arms in front of Nancy. Her expression was a mix of satisfaction and confusion. "Nancy Drew is a rather appropriate nickname."

Now. She thought in her mind. Not a moment later, Nancy's eyes rolled upwards, the irises going a glassy white. Steve rushed over to Nancy, shaking her by her shoulders.

"Nancy!! Nancy, can you hear me? Wake up, Nancy! Nancy!"

"She can't hear you, Steve. And she won't. Not until the message is delivered." Emily made a point of wiping the thin stream of blood coming out of her nose.

"The blood..." Steve said. Emily wordlessly extended her tattooed arm towards Steve, flipping her wrist over so he could get a clear view of the 004. "You're..."

"Another experiment like Eleven, yes."

"You know Eleven?" Robin asked.

"Oh, yes. We go way back. I haven't really seen her since she banished us here, but there's a long history. She was a part of the second phase, I was part of the first phase of four."

"There were others before El?" Steve asked.

"Well, she was number eleven for a reason. Brenner didn't start with her."

"And you were her number four?"

"I was the first number four. Brenner phased what was left of my group out and moved onto her group, about sixteen, seventeen kids. Born, not made."

"The first?"

"I'm thirty-seven."

"You're what?" Eddie squaked. "Em, what's going on? You've been held back three times, not like... nineteen?"

"Oh, Eddie, so naive." Emily mused, approaching her confused best friend. "I only posed as a high school student. Hawkins only has one high school, so inevitably Mike, Lucas, and Dustin would come in. I had hoped for Eleven or even Will Byers to come, but I suppose they moved away. I missed my... little sister."

"The little sister who pushed you into the electric fence to give you your scars?" Eddie asked.

"She wasn't pushed into an electric fence." Robin cut in. "The Upside-Down is hazardous, right? When Eleven banished her and... whoever she came here with, it must have damaged her face."

"You've always been quick, Robin." Emily said. "Not at learning to walk, but quick intellectually. It took you six months longer than all the other babies, right? That's what you said?"

"How did you know that?"

"You think I didn't know about your little field trip to Penhurst?"

"So it's you? You've been doing this?" Steve asked. Emily laughed.

"Of course not. I can't break bones and take eyes like that."

"So what's your connection to Vecna?"

"What a funny little nickname." Emily laughed again. "Maybe I should be wearing a cloak like your cultists, Eddie. Hail Lord Vecna. Hail Lord Vecna..."

"You know who he really is?" Robin asked.

"Of course I do. You don't fall in love with a face like that without knowing his history. Oh well... that's not really my story to tell." Emily gestured to Nancy, still stuck in her trance.

"'Fall in love?'" Eddie echoed.

"I've been trying to tell you this whole time, Eddie. Maybe I lied a little bit. His name isn't really Peter... not technically."

"Then what is it?"

"He goes by many names. But if he choses to tell any of them to Nancy, that's his choice."

"No way, bullshit. My best friend isn't like... the Bride of Vecna." Eddie deflected.

"Too bad there isn't any DnD equivalent."

"None of this makes any sense. How can you be with him? I mean, shit, how are you almost fourty?"

"It's a hivemind. When he kills, I get some of the benefits. Human souls are rather sustainable. When he kills, he takes everything. Why, ever since Chrissy..." Emily paused, moving a few of the vines so they raised her up off the ground a little bit. She jumped, backflipping. The vines caught her again, gently setting her back down. "...I feel like I'm seventeen again."

Eddie stared at Emily, his expression morphing from confusion to processing... to fury. He charged at Emily, only to be stopped by a few of the vines pinning him against the kitchen counter across the waist.

"You killed her!! You killed Chrissy!! You're sick, you killed her, you bitch!" Eddie snarled, hissing and scratching at the vines that pinned him.

"Eddie, language, please." Emily smiled. "And no, I didn't kill Chrissy. I just took what I wanted from her. Her youth, her ability to do a backflip... He, Vecna, I suppose, took everything else. She's part of our hivemind now."

Emily slowly strutted over to Eddie, making sure he couldn't attack her. He looked at her angrily, she just wore a smug smile.

"I can still hear her, you know. She keeps calling out, searching for an escape. She's crying out for you, Eddie. I suppose I should give over my title. You won over Chrissy Cunningham. Too bad nothing can come from it."

Eddie didn't even have the energy to scream. He just slumped over, choked sobs threattening to burst out.

"You're sick, you know that?" Steve snapped. Emily turned to face him and Robin.

"Sick? No, no I'm not sick. It's you all who are sick if anything. Humans are disgusting, loathsome creatures. They're weak, they're hateful. They impose their will on the world when they don't deserve to. They poison everything they touch."

"But you're human. I'd also wager that Vecna was once human, too." Robin said.

"Maybe born, but now we're something beyond human. Something superior. Once we can cross over fully, we're going to raze the earth. Reshape the ashes into something beautiful. Destroy everything so it can be remade into something perfect in our image."

Nearby, Nancy shuttered and gasped, coming out of her trance. Steve caught her before she fell, Nancy looking visibly shaken. She spotted Emily, looking up at the woman with a mix of understanding and hatred.

"You... Henry...He--" Nancy whispered.

"Ah ah. That message isn't for me. Share it with your friends once you leave." Emily turned to Eddie. "I could very easily string you up and let my bats devour you all, but I'm letting you go for the sake of our friendship, Eddie. I expect Henderson and his band will be here soon, so I'll go before I change my mind."

Emily climbed out the window of the trailer, looking back with a dark smile.

"Hawkins will burn. I'd suggest getting your affairs in order."

With that, she turned away. Some of the vines grabbed ahold of her legs and carried her further away though the decaying woods.

***