↬ previously ↫

"Mama? It's me. Jane. I'm home."

"No."

"RUN!"

"Breathe."

"RUN!"

"Three to the right, four to the left."

"Breathe."

"Sunflower."

"Rainbow."

"Three to the right."

"RUN!"

"Four fifty."

"RUN!"

"Rainbow."

"Three to the right."

"RUN!"

El rips the blindfold off her eyes in panic, her breathing heavy and uneven. As she is brought back to reality she looks up at her mother in her rocking chair. There are tears in her eyes and she is sadly uttering the same words.

"Run. Breathe. Sunflower. Rainbow. Three to the right. Four to the left."

As she feels a pair of arms wrap gently around her, she finally notes the trembling down her spine—the rapid rise and fall of her shoulders. She feels a hand grab hers and immediately recognizes it as Y/n's. It is a comforting gesture for El to squeeze her hand and Y/n shows her support by gently tracing circles with her thumb.

El savors the warmth of Y/n's embrace and the security of their interlocked hands, and it helps to still her quaking body and soothe her anxiousness.

She sits in silence, embracing the support presented to her as she tries to calm her racing heart. For a while, no one speaks, and only her mother's murmurs are heard.

||𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

"And it just kept repeating?" Becky asks.

The three had returned to the kitchen, Becky and El sitting across from one another while Y/n stood leaning against the counter behind El, a glass of water in hand. El frowned at the foreign word.

"Repeat?"

"Like a circle?" Becky answered. "Just showing you the same image over and over?"

El thought about this, and her eyes glanced in Y/n's direction without moving her head.

"She kept showing the woman. And the girl in the room."

"The rainbow room?"

El nodded, flinching ever so slightly at the invasion of the flashback. A memory that wasn't hers, trapped in her mind.

Becky thought about this. Her fingers drummed lightly against the back of her hand, lost in thought. She shrugged, her hand waving slightly before falling back onto the table.

"I guess that makes sense. Terry always believed you weren't the only..." Becky trailed off, her eyes fixed on the other young girl in her kitchen.

Y/n had her eyes fixed on the tile floor, a glass of water gripped tightly in her hand and clutched against her chest. There had been a faraway, somber look in her eyes throughout El's story. But Becky's sudden silence brought her out of it. She looked between her and El, curiously as if she had missed something.

But then she noted that Becky's eyes had fallen on her glass. Y/n looked down at the cup to find that the water had begun to bubble. Y/n's eyes widened, and she cursed under her breath. Quickly she set the cup down on the tile counter and the bubbles disappeared within moments. She cleared her throat, uncomfortable with the attention and her eyes fell to the floor once more. Except for a few glances at Becky, who still eyed the glass with a knowing look hidden in her gaze.

The older woman must have decided it best to carry on with El's story. Though not without the occasional glance at her niece's friend.

"The woman she kept showing you, what did she look like?"

In the time between El's departure from her mother's mind, and their current discussion at the table, she had briefly filled them in on each image she was shown. And while they had gotten the picture, it was still out of focus, details were fuzzy and nearly impossible to identify.

Until now.

El thought about the question carefully. She had seen it fully fleshed out, but only once. It didn't help that the woman had been at such a distance. But this didn't stop El from trying. She spoke slowly with a frown on her face as she reached farther and farther into her memory.

"She was pretty." She began, smiling sadly.

"She had... short, h/c hair," El touched a lock of curls growing wildly on her head. While it was the longest it had ever been, she understood now that it was considered short by the world's standards. "She... her face... She looked like Y/n."

El met her aunt's gaze and nodded, confirming her suspicions.

"I think..." her sympathetic eyes burned into Y/n's tearful ones. "it was your mom."

"My- My mom? She showed you my mom?"

El nodded sadly, and Y/n fell silent. The knots tightening in her gut were easily noticeable in her shifting feet and wringing hands.

The air around the three was thick and demanding as the truth sank in.

Y/n took a deep breath and attempted to swallow the lump hardening in her throat. "So, my birth mom, she's...?"

El nodded again, and for a moment she studied the body language of her friend. El didn't quite have a solid grasp of body language, but she knew enough to know her best friend was in deep distress. Tentatively, she reached out her arm over the back of the wooden chair and extended her hand, offering what Y/n had offered her countless times in their friendship; a lifeline.

"I'm sorry," El croaked, pained both by the tragedy she had witnessed and the heartbreak it caused in someone so very dear to her.

Y/n eagerly accepted El's offer and sniffled, squeezing her hand in thanks. No one judged her when she stepped forward, grabbed a napkin from the center of the table and blew her nose before joining them at the table. Both El and Becky had shed their fair share of mournful tears, if not in the last hour alone.

"Why did they take her?" Y/n couldn't help but ask, though she realized El's guess was as good as her own. "Why did they, you know... What did she do?"

Again, El thought carefully on this. She ran through her mother's memory with a fine tooth comb, disappointed to come up with so many blanks.

"I'm not sure," answered El, slowly. "She said Mama 'could still make it.' That she knew where to go."

Becky's sudden sigh drew the girls' attention. They were both a bit shocked to see the woman so uneasy. Becky planted her face in her hands and rubbed tiredly. It was clear to them that Becky was already regretting the words she had yet to speak.

"You two have to realize, I only did what I thought was best for Terry. I really thought it was all some trauma response or something, okay? I mean, after everything she was put through, I wouldn't blame her... That's why I didn't believe her."

They looked at her curiously, having already understood this. It made it all the more difficult for Becky. To see the spitting image of her sister in this little girl, it brought back so much guilt and anguish.

"There was something else she tried to tell me about, something else I should have believed before," Becky faltered, and meekly gestured to her sister in the other room. "Terry thought she could have gotten you out. Terry thought she could have gotten you out because someone else did."

"For the longest time, she kept telling me about someone else in the program. Y/m/n, I think. I didn't really believe her, but according to my sister, another woman had a baby." Becky paused, eyeing Y/N who was hanging onto her every word. "A special baby. Like you, El. And the big 'They' Terry claimed was after her, They wanted this other baby, too. And, I guess, based on what you saw, she really did it."

All attention gradually crept over to the Henderson girl who sat frowning at the intricate patterns of the wooden table. While she still looked shocked, a closer look at her stillness revealed it wasn't. It was clarity, and a profoundly sad one at that.

"I was found." She muttered.

El and Becky shared a glance.

"My mom, she was still pregnant with Dustin, I think, and... She was in town, visiting family. And Mom said she had found me. Just off..."

She shook her head and laughed bitterly at herself in disbelief. Tears brimmed as the realization fell fully on her shoulders. Y/n felt nothing short of ridiculous for not putting it together sooner.

"My mom found me near the edge of Wright's farm. That old pumpkin patch. It's not that far down the road from Hawkins National Lab."

Her whole life, Y/n had never had any reason to possibly associate the two. For twelve years of her life, it was known as the place she was found, not 'that farm down the road from the lab'. It was always the general assumption that she had come from somewhere closer to Forest Hills, or even a short way north of Mt. Sinai. Some old government building that few knew existed wasn't exactly an obvious candidate.

Even throughout the week of Will's disappearance, the discovery of the lab and the dark truths hidden within had felt not like the missing puzzle piece it was, but a different puzzle altogether.

Now, the picture had been completely reshaped. What once was a reflex thought had been completely flipped upside down. It suddenly didn't make an ounce of sense for her to have come from any other place. The truth of it all was now a searing hot weight crushing her down.

"On her way into town. Just off the edge of the property. She always told me she nearly crashed her car trying to go back for me. I guess she passed me and slammed on her brakes when she realized," Y/n blubbered, reciting the story she had heard countless times. Hastily, she wiped her nose with the napkin again and took several deep breaths. "She said she nearly didn't see me, I was so small, and... Well, she asked all around, filed it with the police—even quit her job and found something part time in town just so she could stay longer and make sure I was safe and everything was sorted out. Reunited with whoever I might have been separated from, even."

Becky's sympathetic frown deepened, touched by the story.

"When it was decided I didn't have anyone—that I would have gone into the system—my mom she..." Y/n laughed tearfully. "Well, apparently she had jumped through every hoop she had to just to be the one I came home with."

"I guess it all makes sense, her always saying it was a miracle I survived as long as I did."

El tilted her head, clearly confused. "Miracle?" She asked softly.

Becky answered absentmindedly, "Something unnatural or unlikely. A good something."

Y/n nodded halfheartedly, and a small sniffle tore through the quiet. Her lips cracked the tiniest of smiles as she spoke, "I guess that answers that question."

El smiled weakly. Becky didn't understand but Y/n quickly explained.

"It wasn't until last year that I found out I had, erm," she quickly shrugged, embarrassed. After all this time, Y/n still felt a little ridiculous saying it. It didn't help that she almost never spoke it aloud but she guesses, in this instance, she could. "Well, that I'm like El."

"To be perfectly honest, I'm still finding things I didn't know I could do." Y/n added.

"That doesn't really surprise me," Becky said. "Then again, it's getting kinda hard to surprise me at the moment. Terry went on about you a lot. She said they were after Y/m/n's daughter because she—you—were supposed to have--"

Becky stopped, the same words from last year popping back into her mind. The very same she had shared with that Byers woman and the Chief.

"Supposedly had some 'untapped potential for the greater good.' Some real pseudoscience shit."

She bit her lip before she could say the words and Y/n's frown hardened. She leaned forward, urgently. "What?"

Becky looked at the child before her. Those doe eyes of hers were pleading and Becky's guilt doubled. But she also couldn't dump such a heavy load on a child, especially after she had learned what she had just learned.

Becky sighed and looked at the girl.

"Potential. Apparently, whoever was after you had plenty a' reason to believe that you can do a whole lot more than boil some water. Let's just leave it at that." She said, gesturing with her eyes to the forgotten glass of water sitting on the counter. Y/n gave her an incredulous look in return.

"What do you--? That can't be right. I mean, sure my birth mother must have been, well you know, experimented on when she was pregnant with me, but I didn't grow up in a lab like El. I wasn't trained, or--"

She stopped, choosing her words carefully.

"I never learned how to use my powers. How could I have as much potential as El?"

Becky shrugged her shoulders and looked between the girls, wincing. "I really don't know, sweetheart. To be honest, I'm still getting used to the fact that all this stuff is real."

A defeated sigh escaped her chest and her chin came to rest on her arms that lay folded on the surface of the coffee table. There was a brief silence apart from the mumbles of the television and El allowed herself to dwell on the loop of borrowed memories playing over in her head.

"The girl," she reminded them tentatively. "She also kept showing me the girl."

Y/n turned to her, quizzically, the gears turning in her head.

"What about her, El?"

"I think Mama wants us to find her."

A frown found its way onto Y/n's face, but she gave her friend the benefit of the doubt. She was still unsure about all of this. Not unlike El's aunt, Y/n was still in the process of swallowing all of this new information herself. El looked at Becky who nodded in thought before rising from the table. El and Y/n followed curiously as she led them into the next room, the small office space adjoining the living room. Becky bent over and pulled open a drawer from a steel filing cabinet. It was filled with several manilla folders and littered with sticky note bookmarks sticking out from the dividers.

"When Terry was looking for you," Becky began, her fingers riffling through the dozens of file folders. "She kept these files of other missing kids. Kids she thought were like you."

Still lost in her search, Becky grabbed small handfuls of files as she combed, dropping them at Y/n and El's feet should they want them. Immediately, the pair of friends knelt down to the ground and began pouring over the folders.

"Maybe that girl is in here somewhere." Becky finished, grabbing the last of the folders before joining the girls on the carpet.

Everyone had taken a few folders each. Every photo Y/n came across, she would show El. But she would only shake her head. Y/n found the act of hope silly and daring, but she kept a careful eye out for any possible leads as to her possible birth mother. She had a first name and a description. That was something.

"Does anyone look familiar?" Becky asked.

She was met with silence as El continued to rifle through her folder. El had nearly reached the end when she unexpectedly froze, grabbing the attention of those in her company. Before either her friend or her aunt could attempt to sneak a glimpse of the photo, El grabbed the photocopy and closed the folder. It was another newspaper article, featuring a photo of a very young girl with dark braids and checkered overals. The caption read, "VANISHED! Indian Girl Missing in London".

"Is that her?" Becky asked softly.

El looked up, her heart racing, and nodded.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

El found herself in the void for the third time that day. Her toes sank into the imaginary water, and she was greeted by the usual chill. Like a visible mantra, she repeated the image of the girl her mother had shown her, not the picture she held in her hands. The girl in the rainbow room, the girl playing with blocks, and before she knows it El can hear a small crackling behind her.

She turns and her heart leaps with hope. In the distance, she spots a figure standing before a rising cloud of smoke. The figure had their back turned to El and the closer she approached, the easier it was to make out the source.

This figure was standing over a large metal barrel with fire bubbling over the top. It was a very strange sight for El, but in a way, it was quite rewarding. She had finally found some luck, this being the first sign of the girl El had found since her first attempt.

After finding the article, she had set out to search for the girl but had no luck. Night had fallen by now, and Y/n had thanked her past self for packing an extra set of clothes. Y/n was wary of staying the night but ultimately agreed they needed more information.

Becky had been more than accommodating. She had pulled out a futon for the girls to share. This was where they now lay. Few words had been exchanged, given the tremendous load the friends had been through. Though they had still managed to crack a smile when El had learned from Y/n what the term sleepover meant.

"Thanks for bringing me along El," Y/n mumbled. She had wrapped herself under their shared blanket, her head sinking into her pillow.

El had turned her head to look at her friend and nodded simply. Between themselves, Y/n was slightly better at holding a conversation. But it was nice. Y/n never pressured her to talk.

"I'm sorry it wasn't under better circumstances, but, at least we get to have our first sleepover," she had whispered sleepily.

Y/n quickly noted the confusion on her friend's face. Grinning weakly, Y/n fought the weight of her heavy eyelids.

"A sleepover is something best friends do. They stay at each other's houses for a night—usually, they watch a movie or play a game or something but," Y/n trailed off, a yawn escaping her. "Well, you know. But you get to talk after dark, and even see each other in the morning. Anyways," she yawned into her blanketed hand and nestled further into her pillow. "I know it's not a traditional spleepover, but I still think it's nice that we get to spend some time together."

El found herself smiling at the words and her spirits soared for the first time since their arrival. It gave El a spark of hope. Hope that, when all of this was figured out, and everything had smoothed over—

maybe she could have a normal life.

El, in that moment, could see a normal life for herself with her aunt. She could have a real chance at seeing Mike, and have sleepovers with Y/n, and play outside. El could be a kid.

But that was on the back burner.

She needed to find this girl. She had done what she had set out to do, she had found her mother. Now that she had, El couldn't help but feel like her mother was telling her something. El needed to find this girl.

And that's exactly what she did.

It hadn't been long until Y/n had turned over on her side, mumbling a soft goodnight before she was fast asleep. But El was still wide awake. Her mother's memories haunted her and she felt restless. El picked up the picture of the girl from the newspaper. She had kept it in her pocket and decided to try it again.

So here she was, creeping cautiously towards her fate with bated breath. Guardedly, she called out to the figure, smoke billowing into the air from where the makeshift firepit stood before it.

"Hello?"

El approaches the figure and as she gets closer and closer her suspicions are quickly confirmed when she recognizes them. The girl, from her mother's memories. The article. She was here, and noticeably older than herself.

El noticed the girl was dressed in dark shabby clothing, and her hair looked... purple? El isn't sure, but her heart is pounding too hard in her chest to worry about it. Before she has time to glance at her face she is gasping for air, back in reality. Back in bed.

Excitedly, she turns to Y/n. Her smile tootby smile falters when she realizes her friend is lost in sleep. So El allows her friend a few more minutes. Like herself, she had been through a great deal and it seemed to have taken a toll on her. But she could tell her aunt.

El bursts up from the mattress and out into the hallway, running for the stairs. Fighting the urge to shout, she calls out to her aunt when she reaches the top of the stairs.

"Becky! Becky, I found her!"

When she reaches the kitchen, she looks around excitedly for the woman. Surely she would know what to do next.

Only seconds pass until she tunes into her aunt's voice echoing in from the porch.

"I just-- I didn't know who to call."

El stepped further into the kitchen, her head peeking around the corner to find her aunt Becky, pacing on the porch. She held a lit cigarette to her lips, and the long cord from the kitchen phone stretched out behind her. Whoever she was talking to, she sounded anxious. She also seemed focus on a small slip of paper she held in her other hand.

"He gave me this number, and he came here looking for her. I thought maybe he could help me."

El felt a sick feeling bubble up in her stomach, and a dark and heavy weight settle on her heart as she watched the all too familiar exchange. Suddenly she was back with the nice man, Benny. He had been the very first to take her in after her escape. He gave her food, and what clothes he could find. But El desperately tried to banish that memory from her mind given how it ended.

"Yeah, Jim Hopper, he came here with some woman named Joyce Byers?"

El watches disgusted and hurt as her only remaining family turns her in. Their own private conversation from before plays mockingly over in her head. Of when she was invited to stay. In the lovely and comforting room that was supposed to be hers. And although her mom wasn't the same, she could still be with her.

Just as soon as it had been offered, the dream life she had conjured for herself just minutes before evaporated into thin air. A normal life with no rules, where she could go outside, or at the very least, look out of a single window.

Visits with Mike, sleepovers with Y/n. A normal life. Gone. Just like that.

"Well," sighed Becky, her figure temporarily stepping out of view. "that's a little hard to explain. Uh..."

El shifted uneasily, the dark sludge in her stomach swelling in volume at what Becky said next.

"There's another girl, uh—yeah, a different one. She's some friend of hers, I think? I don't know much, but it sounds like this kid comes from the same side of the tracks as the first. But as far as I know, she's got a family. Said she was adopted..."

"No, I did not," Becky says after a moment's pause. "I did not catch a last name, but she goes by Y/n. Look, I don't know if she's a runaway, or what, but she showed up on my doorstep with the other. I just put them to bed... No, mam, it's just those two, but I think another one is missing. Oh, it's all so confusing. I just-- I just didn't know who to call... Thank you, thank you. And you are?"

"Florence," Becky repeated, though she paused when she heard the distant sound of the front door opening.

"I'm gonna have to call you back." She mumbled nervously into the phone.

Quickly, she scuttles back inside, discarding the phone and the slip of paper. She looks on in disbelief as she finds the contents of her purse spilling out across the counter. And in the center, wide open and empty, was her leather wallet.

Picking up her speed she races through the front room and towards the front door. Becky stops when she sees it. The sight of it makes her stomach drop.

As Becky Ives stands before her wide open front door, she feels the cold autumn air seep in. It's harsh and brisk like the reality she faces. And like the dreams El had conjured, the girls were gone as quickly as they came.

_________

📝: if you noticed any changes in reader's backstory, no you didn't