"Well, how do I know if I'm doing it right if there's no soul to steal from it?" Emily asked, sat next to Henry on a sofa in one of the sitting rooms. "I can make things break all I want, but how do I absorb?"

"That usually just happens naturally. It's like I explained, you just kind of have to reach inside and pull. You know, like pulling a loose thread from a sweater. You take the thread and then it unravels." Henry said. Emily pursed her lips, but shrugged.

"So have me practice on a human. Even if it doesn't work exactly right, that's one less to worry about later."

"I could, but I've thought about doing this for years. Alice played with this stupid thing all the time, and Mother would have had a fit if it turned up broken."

Emily raised an eyebrow, not breaking eye contact as she raised the nasty looking Barbie doll off the ground and willed the plastic limbs to bend. It fell to the table in front of them in a mangled heap not dissimilar to Henry's human victims. The doll's sultry eyes remained, however.

"There's a difference between plastic and flesh and bone." Emily said, wiping her nosebleed away. "You can't 'curse' a toy, I can't give it visions or scare it." She raised her left hand in front of Henry's face in a clawed gesture, simulating the visual of when he claimed his victims. Henry gently grabbed her wrist, using his thumb to stroke the inside of her palm. Emily's fingers twitched at the contact.

"It may not look like that when you claim your victims. We're similar, but not identical." Henry said, wrapping his clawed hand around Emily's waist to pull her even closer to punctuate his point. Emily exhaled sharply through her nose before perking back up.

"Maybe like a kiss of death?" She asked. "That was an ability my Hellfire character had. She put poison on her lips and kissed people to kill them. It was a slow death, but it was always funny to watch everyone look at me like I was crazy whenever I would use it on an NPC."

"It only requires direct contact with the victim, so theoretically that would work." Henry replied, turning to face her with an amused smile. "But why would you go around kissing humans? Aren't I enough?" Emily laughed.

"You're so dramatic. It's only in their minds. I'd argue it's crueler because they're being kissed while the life is being sucked out of them." Emily moved to straddle Henry's waist, resting her forehead against his. "Think of it like how a black widow kills her mates after sex. You always likened me to a black widow, did you not?"

"I thought you liked the bats more." Henry said with a small laugh. He brushed back the hair that had fallen in front of her shoulder.

"I can be both." Emily shrugged. "Besides, for you, this isn't a death sentence." She leaned in closer to gently kiss him. Emily thanked her lucky stars every day that they weren't still in the lab. Ever since she and Henry had massacred everyone inside and were subsequently banished to the Upside Down, they had made it a habit to show all the physical and verbal affection they had been banned from for years towards each other. To them, that was true freedom.

"Hey. Assholes!" An echoey girl's voice said from the entrance of the room. There was no body to go with it, but Max's voice was easily identified. Emily jerked away from the kiss as she and Henry looked at the spot where Max's voice had come from. "I'm here. No more music, no more games."

"What is she doing here?" Emily asked. "She ran away, why would she come back?"

"Could be a trick."

"It's absolutely a trick. No doubt her friends are here with her."

"Do you hear me? What are you waiting for, huh? Come on, do you want me or not?" Max yelled. Emily looked at Henry, slightly bemused.

"She's acting as bait. Once you invade her mind, they know your body's defenseless. They probably have a team on this side." Emily said. Henry didn't answer. Instead he stood up off the sofa and began walking out of the room. Emily got up after him, an eyebrow raised. "What are you doing? It's a trap."

"I know it's a trap." Henry said, ascending the stairs in the foyer. "But it's also a golden opportunity. Even if her friends come, that doesn't mean I can't be quick. She'll be gone before they even arrive and their pitiful efforts will be for nothing."

"I believe you have that ability, but you're still defenseless. Knowing Wheeler, she has a shotgun strapped to her back with enough amunition to make the Soviets jealous."

"Which is why you'll defend me until they're no longer a problem. I can probably take a good guess as to their plan. They're going to draw your bats away, assuming you'll follow. They'll come in here and try to gun me down. They're not stupid, but we're not, either. You'll let your bats go, but you won't follow. You'll stay in the attic with me and wait until you hear people come inside. String them up, then come into my mind so we can be sure Maxine won't run again."

Emily opened her mouth to voice another concern, but none came out. It was actually a pretty foolproof plan.

"Alright. But I'm pulling you out at the first sign of danger." Emily said as they stopped right in the middle of the attic. Henry smiled, resting his hands on her shoulders.

"Always so protective." He said.

"Well? What are you waiting for, asshole?" Max's voice rang out again. "Hmm? I'm right here. I'm right here!"

"Persistent little shit, isn't she?" Emily grumbled.

"I know you can hear me. I know you can read my thoughts. Even the worst ones. Maybe mostly the worst ones."

Max paused before continuing. When she spoke again, her voice sounded lower. She was sitting. Emily stood off to the side as vines started slowly approaching Henry. They started affixing themselves to his back like tentacles as he shut his eyes. It was a gross process to watch, but it had to be done in order to access Max's mind.

"I thought about what you said. About how I wanted my brother to die. I thought you were just trying to upset me. To anger me. But you weren't, were you? You were just telling the truth. Billy, he made my life living hell. Every chance he got. So, sometimes... when I would lie in bed at night, I would... I would pray... I would pray that something would happen to him. Something awful. I knew that he drove too fast, so I would imagine him crashing. Dying in that stupid car. I just... I wanted him out of my life. Forever. I wanted him to disappear.

"The day that he died... I think that's why I just stood there. Watched. Not because I was scared or... weak. But because... I didn't know if he deserved to be saved. And I've tried to forgive myself. I've tried, but... I can't. I can't. So now... now, when I lie in bed at night... I pray that something will happen to me. That something terrible will happen to me. So that's why I'm here. Because... I just want you to take me away. And I want you... to make me disappear."

Emily sensed a shift in the room. More accurately, she sensed a shift in her awareness of Henry's consciousness. He was physically present in front of her, but his mind was elsewhere. In Max's, to be precise. It meant she was alone. She could only hear the sound of the thunder outside and her own breathing.

Emily sat down on the floor, crossing her legs and just stared at Henry, suspended above the ground. She honestly couldn't put a name to what she was feeling right then. Not quite anxiety, not quite excitement, and not quite relief. Maybe a blend of all three. She suddenly felt very small again. Young. She was reminded of her days in the orphanage as a child, seated on the floor in the corner alone with hard to describe feelings and her own thoughts being the only things to keep her company.

In the distance, Emily suddenly heard a loud screech. No, not exactly a screech, more like the sound of a guitar. Like the one in Eddie's god awful so-called music. The notes sounded vaguely familiar. Her bats shrieked and Emily then understood. The distraction to draw them away.

Emily stood up and opened the attic window, seeing her bats already swarming in the direction of the noise. The trailer park, Emily saw.

"Munson." She seethed. A bat landed on the windowsil with a chitter. "No, go ahead. It's all part of the plan. Go to whatever is making the noise and tear it to shreds." The bat gave a shriek in response and flew away to follow it's siblings.

Eventually, she saw all of them vanish into the trees and silence fell once again. Emily sighed, shutting the window.

Downstairs, she heard the front door open. Faint whispers and the sounds of boots bouncing around. Emily smiled, finding the door to the attic and peeking around the side of it to see the stairs. Below them, she saw Steve, Robin, and Nancy attempting to avoid the vines covering the floor.

So, she decided to humor them.

Emily waited until they ascended the stairs to the landing before the attic. She didn't do anything when they did inevitably accidentally touch a vine. She led them right into a false sense of security as they grabbed weapons.

The house shook inexplicably. It could have been for any number of reasons. It would tremble once in a while, largely because of the hazardous terrain. Emily as such paid no mind to it. The three teenagers breathed a sigh of relief when the shaking stopped.

Emily moved the vines, willing them to grab Robin first. The girl shrieked as she was thrown around and then pinned up against the wall.

"Steve! Nancy!" She cried. The two started beating the vines that had ensnared Robin, sending jolts of pain through Emily's arms. She was unfazed, grabbing Steve next to attach him to the wall, then binding Nancy. They struggled as Emily tightened the hold. Just enough so they could still breathe, just a little bit. She didn't leave room for much else.

"I have ears, you know." She said, her voice echoing around the house. She didn't reveal herself to the teenagers; they were smart enough to know she was there. "Valiant effort, but your little plan was rather easy to decipher. It's exciting for you, though. You get front row seats for what's to come."

Emily chose to leave them at that, hearing their struggles and gasps for breath as she went back inside the attic. To her, it sounded miles better than Eddie's music.

She once again sat in front of Henry in a cross legged position. Emily shut her eyes and evened her breathing. She felt blood start to fill her nose as she searched for Henry's mind. It was a practice she wasn't as used to using as of late, but back in the days of the lab, she and Henry went into each other's minds to talk all the time.

Finding his consciousness, she dove inside.

When she opened her eyes, she was inside a school gymnasium decorated for a dance. The decorations were silver and blue framing a large set of suspended letters spelling out "SNOW BALL."

By the doors, she spotted Max, standing still with her back facing Emily. She couldn't see the girl's face, but she could feel her rising anxiety nearly boiling over to full blown panic. Emily looked over her shoulder and saw a lavishly decorated sound system with a record slowly spinning around. She wordlessly walked over to it, sitting in the chair behind the table and propped her feet up.

"It's time, Max." Emily heard Henry's voice echo around the gym. Emily pushed up one of the dials next to the spinning record to increase the volume, a distorted version of 'Dream A Little Dream' beginning to play. Max turned around to look for the source, her eyes landing on Emily. She waved innocently with a smile on her face. Max stumbled backwards, running into Henry standing behind her imposingly. "It's time."

Henry flung his arm out, launching Max through the air. She screamed as her back made contact with the wall. Henry stalked forward, passing by Emily still seated at the stereo. He parted the hanging streamers to stand right in front of Max, struggling to break free. Emily turned the music down, not even testing the chance that it could break Max out. She listened silently, eyes scanning the room for danger.

"You are brave, Maxine. Much braver than your brother. But in the end, you are weak and fragile, just like him. Like all the rest of them. And you will break." Henry growled, raising his hand in front of Max. Not for the first time.

Out of nowhere, Henry was suddenly launched backwards, breaking his hold on Max. He was frozen, suspended two feet off of the ground. Emily looked around for the source, knowing she hadn't done such a thing.

From the left side of her vision, someone stepped out.

A girl, to be precise. Barefooted and wearing white pants matched with a white and pink top, Emily didn't recognize her at first. Then she spotted the shaved hair and brown eyes... And the nosebleed. The girl turned Henry around to face her, his face turning from confusion to recognition.

"You." He hissed.

"Hi." Eleven replied, throwing her arm to the side so Henry was launched into the wooden bleachers, crashing right through. Emily shot out of the chair, staring at Eleven with murder in her eyes. She was too shocked to even stop Eleven from rushing to Max's location. "Max, are you okay?"

"Huh?" Max asked, clearly confused.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Are you... are you real? Di-did I make you?"

"I'm real."

"How?"

"I piggybacked from a pizza dough freezer."

"...what?"

"It seems like you've learned a lot since I last saw you, Eleven." Emily said, pushing through the streamers to stand by the two girls. She smiled, her eyes cold as she looked at Eleven, much more grown up than she remembered. Emily still stood taller than Eleven, but only by an inch or two. Emily reached down, cupping Eleven's cheek and swiping her nosebleed away with her thumb. Eleven flinched, but didn't cower. "If only your brothers and sisters could see you now."

Eleven moved in front of Max defensively before they heard the creaking and splintering of wood behind them. Eleven and Max moved past Emily, emerging from behind the streamers just as Henry climbed his way out of the broken bleachers.

"Stay back." Eleven said to Max. Emily stood next to Max, folding her arms and watching Eleven and Henry circle each other. Max paid Emily's proximity no mind.

"Twenty bucks says Eleven's gonna get her ass kicked." Emily said casually. Max looked at her in confusion, left speechless.

"If you touch her again, I will kill you again." Eleven said lowly.

"Is that what you did? Did you kill me?" Henry asked. He hummed in the back of his throat. "I am so glad you are here, Eleven. This is going to be beautiful. So beautiful."

Henry raised his arms, several of the wood splinters rising with them. Emily casually side stepped so she was just out of range.

"And it's all thanks to you."

Henry threw his arms forward, sending the splinters sailing towards Eleven. She intercepted it, redirecting the splinters to shoot into the bleachers instead. Too fast for Eleven to counter, Henry threw her into the air to crash into the wall. She landed and he picked her up again, throwing her into a table with a loud crash. Eleven struggled to stand back up as Max picked up a sharp piece of wood. Emily saw it out of the corner of her eye and stuck her hand out, stopping Max from charging.

"Where do you think you're going, Max?" Emily asked, throwing the girl to the wall. Her head made direct contact as she slid down, knocked unconscious. Emily walked over and started gathering Max up as Henry froze Eleven on her feet, dragging her closer until their faces were barely six inches apart.

"Before I kill you, I want you to watch..." Henry hissed before throwing Eleven through a cloud of red colored smoke. Emily hoisted Max onto her shoulders and followed Henry through it. They found themselves inside Henry's mindscape, a red void stretching for miles.

In the middle of it all sat a broken recreation of the Creel House. It could hardly even be called a house here, most of the walls were missing, the stairs led to nowhere, and the grandfather clock floated around amongst chunks of drywall and wood. The door decorated with the stained glass rose held firm to the ground, a centerpiece. Stalagmites twenty feet tall jutted out from the ground with vines curled around them. Three of them held broken bodies once belonging to Chrissy, Fred, and Patrick.

Henry controlled some of the vines, curling around Eleven's limbs to drag her through the blood colored mud and pin her against the door, her head level with the rose. Emily meanwhile threw Max's limp body to the ground and used the vines to pin her similarly to a wall. It was like Emily and Henry were bug collectors, pinning their finds to surfaces in a proud display, each specimen more rare than the last.

"Papa is dead!" Eleven cried. Her voice echoed around the void, forcing Emily to stop in her tracks. A chill ran down her spine and her eyes went wide as the grandfather clock chimed once. The echoing silence permiated around broken only by the dull ticks of the clock and the occasional clap of thunder.

Emily and Henry turned around to face Eleven, thrown off guard.

"I know what he did to you." She continued. Henry slowly approached her as she spoke. Emily stood still, a bile rising in her throat. Processing Papa's death was harder than she would have expected. Not because she held any sympathy, but because it meant her nightmares were truly over. He could never cause harm again. Emily steeled herself, her demeanor hardening. "You were different. Like me. And he hurt you. Both of you. He made you into this. He is the monster, Henry. Not you. Not either of you."

"You're right. You and I, we are different. And Papa did hurt us. But he was no monster. He was just a man. An ordinary, mediocre man. That is why he sought greatness in others. In you... and Emily... and me. But in the end... he could not control us. He could not shape us. He could not change us. Do you not see, Eleven? He did not make us into this. You did."

Emily left Max hanging against the wall as she walked over to where Henry stood in front of Eleven. She shut her eyes, projecting images into Eleven's mind. Memories. Emily's memories of them first falling into the Upside Down.

"At first, I believed you had sent us to our death. To purgatory. But I was wrong. We were somewhere new. So, we became explorers. Explorers of a realm unspoiled by mankind. We saw so many things. And soon, we found the most extraordinary thing of all. Something that would change everything. A means to realize our potential. To transcend our human forms. To become the predators we were always born to be."

Eleven's eyes widened as Emily showed her what exactly Henry was speaking of. The Mind Flayer burned into Eleven's mind, all the horrible things it had done. Controlled Will's mind, created an army of Flayed humans, controlled then killed Billy... And if Henry and Emily were the ones who formed it...

"It was... It was you. Always you." Eleven whispered, realizing. Every single horrible thing that had happened in Hawkins over the years... it was them.

"All we needed was someone to open the door. And you did that for us. Without even realizing it. Didn't you? And when you did realize, you chose to resist. So we sought a means to open our own doors. We sought... your power. So, don't you see? Once again, you have freed us."

"No." Eleven protested. "You don't have to do this. You can still stop this."

"It is over, Eleven. Your friends have lost." Emily changed the images in Eleven's mind, tapping into the hivemind to show her.

The shattered Walkman on the floor next to Max while Lucas was getting the shit beat out of him by Jason, unable to break Max's trance.

The Demobats swarming around Eddie. One of them grabbed his foot, tripping him so he landed on his back. Four of the bats grabbed Eddie's limbs as the rest started biting and clawing into his flesh.

Steve, Robin, and Nancy pinned to the wall. The vines around their arms and legs tightened, the light slowly slipping from their eyes as the vines coiled tighter around their throats.

"There is nothing... nothing you can do to stop this now." Henry continued, gripping Eleven by the chin so she was forced to look into his dull, grey eyes. "Hawkins will burn and fall. And the rest of this senseless, broken world. And we will be there... we will be there to pick up the pieces when it does. And remake it into something... beautiful. There was a time when I had hoped to have you by our side. But now I just want you to watch."

Henry stalked away, leaving Emily alone in front of the frightened girl. Eleven looked at her, faint sobs escaping from her throat.

"Emily... please..." Eleven whispered. "You... you were the closest thing I had to a mother in that place. Remember? We drew pictures together. You would sharpen my pencils when they broke because I pressed too hard. I drew a picture of you, me, and Henry. Outside of the lab in the sun under a rainbow... a real rainbow. I wanted you both to take me away from there, away from Papa. When I hid in the closet, I thought we were going to... before you... I thought we were going to escape and be a family. A real family."

"Don't be afraid." They heard Henry say next to Max. "Try and stay very still. It will all be over soon." Eleven continued, gaining back Emily's attention.

"We could have found a house to live in. You would teach me more words, about how life is supposed to work. Teach me to use my powers in a supportive way. Not using fear and punishments like Papa. There would be a garden out front with blue and yellow flowers mixed with roses. We'd run around the yard and play games. We could dance to whatever song came on the radio."

Henry raised a hand, caging Max's face like he had the others.

"I could go to a real school and make real friends. Henry could help me with my homework while you made dinner. Real food. We'd go to the park and go on the swings, each of us trying to go higher than the other two. We'd ride the Ferris Wheel on the fourth of July while the fireworks exploded over our heads. We'd host sleepovers for my friends and eat too much ice cream."

Emily's limbs tingled slightly the closer Henry grew to taking Max's soul.

"I never wanted to destroy the world or remake it. I never wanted to hurt people. I just wanted to escape, escape with you so we could create our own world for ourselves. A family. But after what you and Henry did to the others in the lab, I knew that we could never have that. I wanted to believe that you were both good people who were trapped like I was. And part of me still does, still believes you both can put a stop to this before it's too late." Eleven was fully crying at this point, tears dragging down her cheeks and dripping from her chin. "Please, Emily, listen to me. You were my protectors once... what you're doing is wrong, all of this is wrong. Stop this before it's too late to turn back."

Emily just stared at Eleven, an emotionless expression on her face. Eleven was right, there was no denying that. Once upon a time, they had been the ones protecting Eleven like she was their own child. They wanted to take her away from the lab, away from Brenner's abuses that they, too, had suffered.

But the picture Eleven had painted wasn't the one she or Henry had in mind. Eleven may have wanted to live a normal life with them, but they couldn't accept a life like that. They'd be playing right into the falsified reality she and Henry were trying so hard to break away from and destroy. 'Joining in the madness' as Henry put it. Eleven may have had pure intentions, but it just showed Emily how far away their lives had grown.

Emily willed a vine to curl over the top of the door. It slowly slithered down and coiled around Eleven's throat, cutting off most of her breathing. The girl gasped and choked for breath as Emily stared at her coldly. There was a pleading look in Eleven's eye that she couldn't verbalize.

Emily simply walked away.

"El! El! Can you hear me? El! El!" The echoing sound of a boy's voice called. Emily's lips pursed, recognising it. Mike Wheeler. She seethed, tightening the vines that had Eleven pinned.

"El? I don't know if you can hear this, but... but if you can, I want you to know I'm here, okay? I'm right here. And... I love you. El, do you hear me? I love you. I'm sorry I don't say it more. I... It's not because I'm scared of you. I'm not. I've never felt that way. Never. But I am scared that one day you'll realize you don't need me anymore. And I thought if I said how I felt, it would somehow make that day hurt more. But the truth is, El, I don't know how to live without you.

"I feel like my life started that day we found you in the woods. You were wearing that yellow Benny's Burgers T-shirt. And it was so big, it almost swallowed you whole." Eleven faintly laughed, recalling the memory. Emily's teeth clenched. "And I knew right then and there, in that moment, that I loved you. And I've loved you every day since. I love you on your good days. I love you on your bad days. I love you with your powers, without your powers. I love you for exactly who you are.

"You're my superhero. And... I can't lose you. Okay? Do you hear me? I can't lose you. You can do anything. You can fly. You can move mountains. I believe that. I really do. But right now, you just have to fight. Okay? El. Do you hear me? You need to fight You have to fight. Fight! Fight!"

Try as Emily might to stop it, Eleven started loostening the hold the vines held on her. Emily tried to push her attempts back, but she couldn't. The more Mike screamed at Eleven to fight, the harder it became for Emily to fight. Emily looked back over her shoulder to see Henry almost finished with Max. If Emily could hold on just a little longer...

Eleven screamed as she dropped to the ground, extending an arm. Henry was thrown back from Max, sent flying backwards to smack hard against one of the vine covered pillars with a groan of pain. Eleven went for Emily, raising her other arm to throw her to the side. She wasn't pinned, but Emily's head did make contact with the edge of a broken wall. She saw stars, struggling to reorient.

Emily felt a sudden flash of extreme pain, a stinging heat all over her body. She and Henry both felt it. They both cried in pain, roaring and seizing up. Emily wasn't sure how it was, but she knew what was happening. Someone was torching Demodogs, lots of them. As each one fell and died, a searing pain struck Emily's chest.

She sensed the vines letting Steve, Robin, and Nancy go. They were so close to death...

She sensed her bats falling out of the sky, littering the ground. She couldn't tell if they were just unconscious or dead. If they were dead, Emily would skin someone alive.

Damn the hivemind. She thought as she continue to cry out.

Slowly, the pain started to fade as the last of the poor creatures who'd been torched died. Eleven kept Henry pinned to the pillar, the pair making deadly eye contact as Emily struggled to stand back up.

"You and your friends believe you have won, don't you? But this is only the beginning... the beginning of the end. You have already lost." Henry seethed.

"No." Eleven replied, her tone even and cold. "You have."

In the end, in the entire hivemind, they both could feel everything that went on. But Emily was connected to Henry the closest. The second something happened to him, she felt it and vice versa. Which meant the second she saw Henry roar in pain once again, she felt the source. An extreme heat right in her chest. She clutched at it, letting out her own gutteral cry.

Then Henry's mindscape began to disintegrate. Eleven was gone and Emily blinked, suddenly back inside the attic. She collapsed out of her crosslegged position with a gasp, suddenly made aware of the fact that the attic felt hot. In the corners of her vision, she could see the orange color of flames licking at the wood. She saw Henry burning, falling out of his vines and effectively disconnecting him from his own mindscape... meaning Max was lost in the process.

A growl formed in the back of her throat as she heaved herself off of the floor. Emily's gaze landed on Robin, Steve, and Nancy, weapons drawn. Robin lit another molotov and chucked it at Henry. It made contact with a crash and an explosion to his side, something Emily also felt. She stumbled, hissing. She regained her footing and charged for Robin. She saw Emily charging and had enough sense to meet the aggression.

Wordlessly, Robin stuck her foot out, kicking Emily square in the torso. She stumbled back, unaware of Robin's hand coming for her until her fist made contact with the side of Emily's head. The blow hit squarely by her ear, knocking Emily off balance. She hit the ground, seething in pain and stars in her vision.

Seeing Emily injured, Henry roared in rage just as Nancy fired the shotgun in her hand. The bullet hit Henry, knocking him back. Nancy reloaded and fired again, ignoring the fact that Emily was in the fetal position on the ground, strangled groans of pain emerging every time a shot made contact.

Nancy reloaded one last shot and fired.

The force sent Henry so far backwards that he flew out the window, falling through the air and landing on the ground outside in a heap. Emily suddenly stopped convulsing, pushing herself off the ground. She coughed harshly, blood spurting out of her mouth and down her chin. The trio looked at her defensively as she heaved a few breaths. Emily looked at them with murder in her eyes as Nancy shoved another bullet into the chamber of the gun.

Emily, however, didn't charge for them. She stood up, woozy, before she realized that something felt... empty. To the trio's surprise, Nancy's especially, Emily suddenly looked worried. Terrified, even, looking like a scared little girl before she ran for the window. She looked out of it and saw Henry's flaming and splayed out body several feet below.

And she screamed.

Hardly even thinking of the teenagers behind her, she stuck out a hand to summon one of the vines draped along the roof of the attic. She grabbed it and used it like a rope to get her down to the ground safely. Emily sent it back up as she stood over Henry. Her hands shook and her lower lip quivered as she sank to her knees in front of him. She fanned the remaining flames away before placing her hands on his shoulder and shaking him. He jostled loosely, his face still stuck in an open mouthed expression, staring up at her blankly.

Salty tears poured down Emily's face as she finally let out a choked wail and started to sob, resting her arms over his torso and laying her head overtop. As she sobbed into Henry's chest, a realization hit her.

Emily had learned a long time ago to bottle up her emotions, use them to fuel her as she trained with her powers. This was the first time she had cried in twenty one years, the first time since Two and Three had run away. But Emily was thinking of a time before that. One of the last times was when she was just twelve, a fresh face in Hawkins Lab. Just a few months after she had first showed up, she had been particularly combative and aggressive with the guards, screaming obscenities and throwing things at them. Emily vaguely remembered one of them hitting Henry for a reason she had forgotten.

Whatever it was, her defense of her friend, the only one she had ever had, led her to being dragged kicking and screaming from the Rainbow Room. The shock collar was clamped around her neck and turned on, sending shocks of excruciating pain through her body. She never knew who was controlling the remote, but the intensity kept increasing as she screamed. The lights flickered in the room she was in as the pain finally died down. She coughed up a glob of blood and saliva as the collar was removed. Hoping she would be taken to her room, instead she was taken by the arm and thrown into an empty closet only about five feet deep and wide.

She cried through the whole thing, and when Papa appeared in the doorway, she continued to do so. Emily probably looked so pathetic curled in the corner of that small room, tears running down her face and her nose covered in snot.

"I hope you've learned your lesson, Four." Papa said as he shut the door. The room was pitch dark and Emily was alone with only her tears and thoughts for company. She cried for another ten minutes before she had nothing else left to give. Exhausted, she laid down on the ground and began to fall asleep. Yet as she did, she kept thinking about Papa, standing at the door and watching her like she was an abused puppy.

From that day on, she refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry ever again. For the next two decades, she refused to show any such weakness, no matter how many punishments she was subjected to. Instead she channeled it and used it to fuel her powers. In later years, she had no access to her powers, yet she still bottled those emotions up.

Maybe that was part of the reason she had snapped so badly when she and Henry had started their slaughter.

She screamed, she groaned, she roared, she hissed, but Emily never cried. Never in the past twenty one years. And yet all it took to break that streak was seeing Henry mortally wounded. The idea that he could be dead...

Emily felt something in the back of her mind. Faint and flickering, yes, but familiar. Relief washed over her.

Henry was still alive, barely.

It wasn't over yet. She'd get them both away from here so they could recover and plan their next course of action. The rage and pain didn't immediately wash away, though.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Robin, Steve, and Nancy rush out to the porch. The thought of them seeing her so vulnerable didn't bother her as much as it usually might have. They weren't Papa. They had still hurt her, though. Emily sniffed and glared at them, still hunched over Henry.

"You may think it's over." She snarled, her tone getting angrier with every word she spoke. "You may think you've won, but you haven't. You will never know peace as long as I am alive. I will rain down pain you can't even fathom until you will beg me for death. But I will make you suffer. I will shatter every bone in your bodies, rip out your organs, and make you scream as my bats feast upon what remains. Then, and only then, will I grant you death. I will make your friends watch before I do the same to them."

Maybe Emily was unaware of the vines slowly emerging and wrapping around her limbs. Or maybe she noticed and didn't care, welcomed it, perhaps. They curled partway up her arms, seemingly fusing directly to her skin. They wrapped around her legs and feet, ripping through her pants to fuse to her calves. Her fingers seemed to stretch, morphing into something vaguely claw like. She kept talking, the trio split between listening to the threats and watching what was happening.

"And then, I'll do the same to the rest of Hawkins. Every man, woman, and child will suffer. I will tear everyone apart until there is no one left. All their problems and lifelong suffering will end as we take their souls, everything they are, have been, and will be. I will bathe in their blood if only to serve as a reminder as to what we did. Billions of disgusting, pathetic creatures gone to make way for what's to come."

Emily's right eye was grey and cloudy, but her increasingly crazed expression could be made out. Her eyes dialated as she began to smile. A disturbing, crazed grin revealed slowly sharpening teeth, yellow-white needles, really. Emily's skin seemed to impossibly pale further, her fair skin turning ever so slightly greyish-purple.

Steve and Robin could hardly make sense of what they were seeing, but Nancy could take a guess as to what was happening. The Upside-Down was proverbally poisoning Emily. Not in a traditional sense, but it was changing her, morphing her into something more monstrous and perverse and fueled by her rage. An outer reflection of the demon inside.

"When this world finally takes over your world, we will raze everything and everyone so it can be remade into something perfect, beautiful. No humans to poison it, never again. We make our own world with our own rules. It will be built upon your corpses, mere fertilizer for what will be. You will never get to see it, nor do you deserve to. It will be a quick end for everyone else, but I will make sure your agony will last. We will make the remainder of your lives a living hell before we bring hell to Hawkins and everyone you've ever loved."

It almost seemed like Emily was talking less to them and more to the air around her. People she couldn't see and who couldn't see or hear her. The skin of her shoulderblades began to stretch and pull as if something was fighting to push through. She gave no indication that she felt any pain, probably the most disturbing part. Steve held back a gag as her skin ripped. Blood seeped from the wounds as something started coming out. Covered in blood and slime-like puss, grotesque wings unfolded, reminiscent of those found on the demobats Emily was so fond of. Vines started to form around those as well, curling around the wings and digging into the wounds they had emerged from.

Emily gave no indication that she was going to continue speaking. Her expression turned neutral again as she danced her elongated fingers across Henry's neck and face. She closed his mouth and eyes as she could faintly see the movement of his chest. Breathing. She cupped the side of his face with her hand.

Emily sensed something new as she did so, a warm feeling spreading in her chest coming with a sense of revitalization. She instantly knew what it was.

Oh poor, poor Maxine...

"Is he...?" Steve started quietly, his voice sounding tight as if his throat was sore. The corner of Emily's mouth quirked up.

"Barely." Was all she replied before the faint sound of a clock ticking emerged. At first, she was the only one who heard it, her smile turning back into a grin the more times it ticked.

The trio looked tensed by her expression until they heard the first chime.

They looked at each other when they heard the second chime.

They looked at Emily when they heard the third chime.

They ran inside with fearful expressions when they heard the fourth chime.

Yes, poor Maxine...

The ground began to shake as the ticking and chiming began to blend together. Emily saw a red-orange light come from the attic before she grabbed Henry by the shoulders and dragged him away from the path leading to the front of the house. The light grew brighter until it burst out from the highest window of the house. The front of the house cracked as the light turned into a line, hitting the ground and slowly tearing a straight path forward. Emily could see in the distance three other lines of light slowly growing.

She smiled sadistically as it happened.

Emily felt Henry shift in her arms as he suddenly came to. He blinked a few times, very clearly still in pain. His gaze met Emily's as she held him.

"Are you okay?" He asked her. Emily's smile softened as she looked at him. Henry's eyes roamed, suddenly noticing her strange new changes. "What happened to you?"

Emily pressed a claw-like finger to his scarred lips before gesturing to the gate expanding in front of them. Henry looked at it, his eyes widening. He stood up in bewilderment, still shaky. Emily stood up with him as they held onto each other. The gate's red light illuminated both of their faces.

"It's begun, Henry. The gates are open." Emily said. The loud chime of the clock echoed from the sky to emphasize her statement. Henry's expression went from disbelief to satisfaction as the realization sunk in. His hand went for Emily's chin as he tilted her face to look at him.

"We're going to remake the world into something beautiful. We're going to end their suffering and create a haven from the ashes. It's all finally going to be possible, and with you by my side, we can do anything we please." Henry said. Emily raised a hand to place it on the side of his neck. The vines on her arms seemed to pulsate, curling around the side of Henry's neck and shoulder as if finding a connection. It made it hard to distinguish where she ended and he began. Henry turned his head to the side faintly, pressing a small kiss to the inside of her left wrist, right where her 004 marking was. He pulled back, a vine curling to cover the number.

"And I'm never leaving your side, no matter what happens. We're in this together and we will rebuild together." Emily replied. Henry finally leaned down and kissed her as the ticks and chimes stopped. They seemed to almost meld together, basking in the red glow of the gate they had opened, the start of something new. They separated, both of their eyes holding so much love for the other. Love that, by all rights, two evil creatures such as they should not be capable of feeling. Long ago, maybe the would have thought they simply couldn't. Yet, they did.

Until the time was right, they would remain there. They would lick their wounds and plot their plans moving forward. Emily and Henry turned to move deeper into the sprawling woods, the slowly growing sounds of destruction echoing behind them.