Warnings: Abusive behavior. Canon racism. Animal death

||𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

Will continued to draw, never faltering. And his movements never slowed.

Several sheets of paper, with similar purple and blue features.

The second he was done, he would swiftly swipe the drawing behind him and it would land on the floor like the others. Not unlike a printer would.

Joyce grabbed a handful and returned through to the living room, where Hop sat, looking at a handful of Will's drawings himself.

"This is more of the same," she said, joining him on the couch.

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just scribbles."

The pages they held before them, as well as the ones still being made in Will's room usually featured a black page with some variant of purple-blue sections. Ranging from corner to corner, corner to side, bottom to side, top to corner and so forth. Some of them were just pure purple and blue.

"Wait," Joyce had caught sight of the drawing Hopper was currently looking at. "Wait."

"What? What?"

"Wait. These black lines, see?"

She held up one of the several drawings she possessed up to Hopper.

Hopper was still confused.

"What?"

The drawing she held matched perfectly with the one in his hands.

"They connect. They connect!"

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Hopper had now pushed aside all the furniture in the living room, opening up space for the drawings.

They grabbed more piles and scattered the drawing all over the floor, matching piece after piece.

Finally, the duo stood, marveling at the large intricate design the pictures had made. They were sprawled out all over the room, so much so in fact that they twisted and curled and began creeping up the walls.

"Does this mean anything to you?" Hopper asked.

Joyce scoffed, gesturing to the work before them. "No."

"I mean, is it some kind of maze or a road?" She wondered.

They began wandering around the room, careful as to not step on the drawings.

"I-I mean, it's sort of forking and branching like... like lightning." She gestured to the many twists and turns below her feet.

"You think it's that storm?" He asked, referring to the drawing.

"No, the storm he drew was completely different. He used red." She said, certain about her son's artistic patterns. "And this is all blue and it has some sort of weird dirt color. I mean, maybe it's roots."

"'Cause remember," she continued, lost in thought. "he was saying it was spreading and--"

"killing." He finished. "he said they were killing."

Hopper felt his chest sink at the words. Familiarity tugging at his mind. He hoped he was wrong. But he was almost certain he wasn't.

"Vines." Joyce looked to Hopper just as he retreated to the front door, gathering his things. "He's drawing vines."

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

The bell rang harshly, signaling the end of the school day. Just as he had hoped, Lucas found Max at her locker.

"Hey, Max. Have you seen Dustin? We're supposed to meet after class."

Max slammed her locker door and stomped away.

Lucas frowned and called after her. He chased her trailed after her, and it wasn't until they reached the steps outside the school that she answered.

"Hey, Max! Hey, where are you going? Come on! We've gotta go look for Dart."

"Yeah, good luck with that." She spits, not looking back.

Max made it to the parking lot when Lucas finally caught back up to her.

"What is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me?" She scoffed. "What's wrong with you?"

She brushed a stray piece of hair from her eyes angrily as she walked.

"I don't understand!"

Max whirled around on her heels, looking at Lucas for the first time in the conversation.

"No! I don't understand!" She shouted, and Lucas jumped back slightly. "You guys act like you want me to be your friend but then you just treat me like garbage!"

"That's not true!" He said defensively.

She scoffed and nodded.

"Actually, you're right," she smiled, and Lucas briefly relaxed.

Her face quickly hardened once more.

"Y/n hasn't. She's the only one of you jerks that have actually been nice to me. The only one who's making an effort to get me in the party. But, ya know what? Tell her I said thanks but she doesn't have to try anymore. I don't want to be in your stupid party anyway."

Lucas tried to find words but Max stopped him before he cod say anything.

"All you guys do is lock yourselves in the AV room keeping secrets like we're in second grade or something. You know, I thought you actually wanted me in your party."

"I do. But it's..."

"But what?"

He sighed, at a loss for words.

"There... there are just things. Things we can't tell you, all right? For your own safety."

"My own safety?" She repeated, fuming.

"Yes!"

"Because I'm a girl?"

"What? No! Why would you think that? Y/n's in the party."

"Yeah, do you keep secrets from her too? Or El?" She asked, her voice lowered but was still hostile.

Lucas stiffened.

"How do you know about El?"

"Did you?" She pressed.

"That was different. Trust me. Okay? That was just... different."

"Okay. You know what? Forget it. Have a nice life."

Max spun around and stomped away, ignoring his cries if protest.

"You still stink by the way!"

Lucas's heart sank as he watched Max walk away. He frowned and hesitantly brought his sleeve to his nose.

He recoiled at the stench.

"Oh, shit!"

Max set down her skateboard and stepped on. Besides one little push, she let gravity do its work and she steadily rolled down across the parking lot towards her stepbrothers car.

Unbeknownst to her, he had watched the whole exchange.

When she approached the car she hopped off her skateboard and tucked it back under her arm. Billy pushed off from where he was leaning against the hood and he stormed around to the driver's side door.

"That kid you were talking to, who is he?"

"He's no one."

"No one?"

"This kid from class." She replied impatiently.

She got in the passenger side but Billy lingered, glaring at Lucas as he looked in their direction in curiosity.

Billy narrowed his eyes and got in the front seat, slamming the door behind him.

He placed a cigarette between his lips and he lit it. Staring ahead, he took a puff and held it out the window as he rested his arm.

"Why was he talking to you?" He asked lowly.

"It was just about a stupid class assignment." She muttered.

His jaw clenched and he fidgeted with the cigarette at the end of his fingertips.

"Then why are you so upset?"

"I'm not!"

"He causing you trouble?"

"Why do you care?" She snapped, looking at him.

"Because, Max, you're a piece of shit, but we're family now whether we like it or not meaning I'm stuck looking after you."

She rolled her eyes and threw her arms up in a shrug.

"What would I ever do without- Hey!"

Billy grabbed her wrist tightly in his hand, his knuckles turning white. She froze in fear and he leaned in, teeth gritted.

"This is serious shit, okay? I'm older than you. And something you learn, is that there are a certain type of people in this world that you stay away from, and that kid, Max..." he tightened his grip on her wrist and tugged on it. "That kid is one of them."

Max tried to pull her arm back but he gave it a shake, his eyes burning holes in hers.

"You stay away from him, you hear me?" He growled. "Stay. Away."

He roughly shoved her arm away and returned to his cigarette, and started the engine.

Max turned to the window in an attempt to hide her tears and quivering lip.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

The tires of the chief's car blew sent dirt and dust flying in his tracks. The car bounced as he crossed the end of the dirt road and onto the bumpy field on the pumpkin patch.

He drove to the center of the pumpkin patch wasteland and the car swerved to an urgent stop. Hopper got out of the car and grabbed the shovel he kept in the truck bed and closed the trunk.

He walked through the fields, shovel over his shoulder to the very center of the field. He stopped when he reached the strongest patch of rot and decay, the patch where the most flies occupied.

Where everything had been killed.

Shovel in hand, he threw it into the ground and began his excavation.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

El started at the files before her. Familiarity tugged at the back of her mind at the words 'missing experiment'

Curious she opened it.

El frowned as she read, understanding only bits and pieces.

Before her was a collection of papers stapled together that were typed, like it belonged in the folder. On top of that were scraps of paper, one of them was a photocopy of an old news article, a small section of it highlighted, and then several handwritten notes in red ink. It looked like Hopper's handwriting, El thought. There were scribbles of red ink on several pieces of paper, off to the side with several footnotes in different articles

The first thing she examined was a piece of paper from Hopper's notepad, the one, she recognized from the Don't Be Stupid Rules. It was a messy jumble of words like he was trying to get them down on paper before he forgot. They were scribbled quickly and were barely legible.

"Another volunteer pregnant. Either escaped with kid, or escaped and gave birth?? Woman killed, daughter lived (presumably) Somewhere in Hawkins???"

El frowned, reading further, intrigued.

"Hiding?" The word was scratched out with a single line, next to the words, "she wouldn't remember."

Below that was a small bullet point list of the kid's possible traits.

"13/14 y/o female

Orphan?

Adopted?

Living on the streets?"

El's mind snagged on the familiar word, 'adopted'. She remembered when she first heard it, Mike's voice echoed in her mind.

《●●●》

"...It's funny actually, Y/n is from Hawkins. Or at least that's where they found her."

"...Dustin was so young he doesn't remember any of it, but I think him and his mom were visiting family here and they just... found her, I think?"

《●●●》

El's' first initial reaction was to dismiss the thought, it couldn't be Y/n. But the doubt vanished almost as soon as it came. Memories of her week with Y/n came flooding back to her mind. Granted, she often dwelled on this week, but this time was different. She looked at moments in a whole new light, and it only made sense that it could be Y/n.

《●●●》

"Oh, he was such a great student. Oh, he's going to leave a hole in the community." A boy farther down the bleachers mocked, beginning to fake sob.

Y/n began shaking, El noticed, facing the boy who spoke, visibly furious. El's eyes fell to Y/n's hands. They were gripping the bench she sat on and El noticed the hot shade of pink her friend's hands were turning.

"Y/n!" She heard Lucas whisper, making Y/n look at him.

"What?!" She asked.

El watched curiously as Y/n's eyes fell to her own hands and seemed shocked at their hue. Y/n's mood seemed to change drastically El noted, and then she realized Y/n was looking back at her, slightly panicked and confused. El's eyes fell to Y/n's hands one last time, knowing something peculiar happened that couldn't be easily explained.

It almost reminded her of when she used her powers for the first time...

No. It couldn't be.

She shook her head ever so slightly and remembered the word Y/n had taught her. Looking at the boy that upset Y/n, she repeated it back to her.

"Mouth breather."

Much to El's excitement, Y/n chuckled slightly and smiled at El, seeming to feel slightly better.

"Yeah." Y/n nodded. "Yeah, mouth breather."

《●●●》

El thought about that moment a lot. Y/n had always shown that she cared about her, and was truly the first real friend she ever had, besides Mike of course. But she always felt close to Y/n in a different way. A way she couldn't really explain. And she felt truly happy and proud to be the one to make her friend feel better in that moment.

It was no big feat, but to El, it meant a lot.

The only thing that came to mind to explain how she saw Y/n, was another word she had learned from Mike.

Sister.

But she supposed that's why she often overlooked the odd moment with the bench and her red hands.

Then, of course, there was that moment at the school, minutes before she said her goodbye.

It was very hazy though, and she could only remember bits and pieces. After all, she was fighting consciousness when it happened.

El never really understood how she was rescued from Papa that night.

But she did remember being knocked back slightly. And how all the bad men had been standing around her, holding her friends hostage, and then the next thing she knew everyone was on the ground. And a sense of warmth in between. She had still been awfully cold from the bath, her clothes were still slightly damp, but in between consciousness she felt a small and brief burst of warmth. She remembered thinking it felt nice on the still damp and cold dress she wore.

El realized she never really stopped to think about how they escaped. Especially when she hadn't done anything, that she could recall of course, besides getting rid of the woman that killed the nice man who fed her. And the guards with her.

Then Papa showed up. And she called out to Mike. And then the warmth.

As El dwelled on the memory more, she remembered something she didn't before. Something that was said after the warmth.

"'Surprise'" El repeated her voice barely above a whisper.

Y/n. It must have been. Y/n must be the missing experiment, she realized.

It only made sense.

She remembered how tired Y/n had been after they escaped Papa. She must drain easily like she does.

And she must have done something when they got briefly separated when they were all fleeing from the vans. That would explain why Y/n passed out.

But had known? She must not have, El thought, because she was almost certain that Y/n would have told her.

El realized she had been rereading the same sentence over and over again this whole time, as she considered these things.

Shaking her head slightly, she focused all her attention on the words once more, trying to make sense of what they meant.

It was a single sentence at the bottom of the same notepaper, in quotation marks. It was a quote.

"This baby was supposed to have some sorta,"

The words she read next, made her shiver. She couldn't quite say why, but she knew it was important.

Familiar.

"untapped potential for the greater good"

Maybe it had been one of the many things Papa and said to her to get her to work harder.

How she could be just what he was missing.

No, no that wasn't it. How she was what he had to work with.

'She would be enough.'

'They didn't need the other one.'

'Eleven had her potential.'

El hadn't realized her eyes were watering until she noticed she could barely make out the words anymore. Her vision was blurring.

Was Y/n the one Papa had been whispering about all this time when he thought she couldn't hear?

She sighed heavily, setting down the file folder down in her lap.

El looked around the room, steadying her breathing. Her eyes fell on a pinkish-red folder than sat in the box.

She set the missing experiment files down next to her, and picked up the new folder.

El realized her knees were aching so she rose to her feet, taking a seat on the couch.

"Ives. Terry." She read aloud.

She recognized the name from the small mention in the other folder. Curious, she opened it.

Not unlike the other folder, it was an organized mess of articles and files. The first one she read was in big letters and it caught her eye first.

"INDIANA WOMAN SUES D.O.A. CLAIMS CHILD WAS STOLEN"

She looked to the picture below it, and her heart ached thumped. She had no memory of ever seeing this woman but for some reason she felt like she knew her.

She turned the pages over, and found another article.

"DAUGHTER JANE TAKEN WHEN SHE WAS A BABY, IVES CLAIMS."

"Jane," she whispered.

El noticed a small handful of things, too short to be pinned in like the others, and was paper clipped to the side.

"CHILD ABDUCTIONS AGAINST HAWKINS LAB THROWN OUT."

and

"TERRY IVES SUING - 'They Took My Daughter' By Benjamin Buck"

A specific passage from this article had been highlighted and underlined more than once, like Hopper had looked over it several times.

"Ms. Ives suit seeks unspecified damages against Dr. Brenner and his facility, alleging physical abuse, sleep deprivation, malnourishment, and multiple allegations of kidnapping both attempted and successful..."

Next to it was another note from Hopper.

A question of his had been crossed out, and statement was written beside it, as if he answered it.

"Attempted and successful? 'Attempted' must be missing experiment."

El was about to flip the page when she noticed a small corner peeking out from under those two articles. Placing one hand on the files, she grabbed the corner with the other to find a photo.

It was a photo outside Hawkins Lab, of Terry and next to her was,

"Papa," she whispered in slight fear.

Eli suspected who the woman was, but something in her needed to know for sure.

She could contact her.

No, the TV was still broken. But the radio wasn't, El realized.

With picture still firmly in her hand, El grabbed the radio from the bookshelf and her blindfold before returning to her spot near the files.

She knelt down on the floor where she left the missing experiment folder and turned on the radio, switching through all the channels until she finally heard the static she was hoping to find. El placed the radio on the floor next to her and secured the blindfold over her eyes. Holding the photo tight in her hands and bringing it up to her heart she searched.

She was back in the familiar void. She saw a woman in a rocking chair, facing away from her. El couldn't see her face but it looked like the woman from the photo.

She was muttering something El couldn't quite decipher until she walked closer.

"Three to the right. Four to the left."

El had reached the woman she believed to be her mother, her heart pounding. She walked around the chair to see the same woman, but older, aged by time and trauma.

Her eyes were closed, but she was still mumbling passionately as she rocked slightly back and forth in the chair.

"Rainbow. Three to the right. Four to the left."

El was standing in front of her now, watching her with worry and confusion.

"Rainbow. Three to the right. Four to the left. Four-fifty..."

Her eyes ripped open and she looked at El lovingly.

"Jane,"

It was her. All the doubts she bad washed away and she looked at her mother.

"Mama?"

She stepped forward, leaning down ever so slightly. She extended her hand out to her mother, her mother's finger twitching slightly as if she were trying to reach out to her daughter.

El placed her palm on her mother's hand, having given her nothing more than a loving squeeze when suddenly her mother disappeared under her very fingertips.

El breathing picked up and she looked around frantically, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Mama!"

She grasped feverishly thought the air, where her mother once was, watching the dying smoke of her image escape from her grasp.

"Mama?" She wailed.

She dropped to her knees in defeat, sobs wracking her body. Back in the living room of the cabin, El cried out still clutching the photograph.

"Mama! Mama!" El shrieked, pain enveloping her heart.

She ripped the blindfold off her eyes and she felt her upper lip grow wet from the blood mixing in with her snot, tears staining her cheeks.

"Mama..." she sobbed as if by some miracle her mother would hear her cries and come for her, comfort her.

She was told her mother was gone. Hopper had told her that. And there her mother was, alive, somewhere out there.

And just like that, she was gone again.

El collapsed in on herself, holding her own head in her hands as she wept.

||𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

The trip to Will's felt like hours, but eventually, we rounded the corner and found ourselves on Will's lawn. Mike and I ditched our bikes and ran up the porch steps. Both of us were still panting from our ride over here, we went as fast as we could.

I knocked on the door quietly but urgently, and waited. That was until, Mike sighed growing impatient and pounded on the door a little harder.

"Hello?" He called.

"Will? Mrs. Byers?" I added.

I heard muffled footsteps and then the deadbolt unlocking.

Mrs. Byers peeked her head out, reluctant to show any more than her own frame.

"Hey,"

"Hey, Y/n, hi Mike" She eased.

"Mrs. Byers, we don't mean to intrude but is Will here? We were hoping to ask to him, see if he's okay."

She looked over her shoulder, growing antsy.

"You know what? Now is not really a good time,"

Mike beat me to it.

"Is he okay?"

She sighed, looking over her shoulder briefly once more, and stepped out onto the porch with us. She closed the door behind her.

"Yeah. You know, he's... he's just not feeling real well."

She kept walking, putting a gentle hand on either one of us, politely ushering us away.

"He's lying down, so I'll tell him you two stopped by, okay?"

She gave us a polite smile and retreated to the door.

I didn't bother to stop myself from what I said next.

"We know about the shadow monster."

She turned to look at me, worry and recognition flashed across her face.

"Will saw him, didn't he?"

||𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

"Mew-Mew! Where are you? Mew-Mew!"

Mrs. Henderson poured out her cat's dinner in the usual bowl, just as her son walked in the front door.

"Hey, Dusty!

"Hi, hey. Hey, mom." Dustin spoke quickly, his movements just as quick.

He was anxious to get to his room and check on Dart.

Mrs. Henderson frowned and straightened up.

"Everything okay, Dusty? Where's your sister?"

"Oh, uh, yeah she's hanging out with Mike and Will. Everything's fine" He said quickly.

He slipped past his mother and into his room. He closed the door and locked it behind him, making his way to the terrarium and shedding his hat and backpack on the bed.

"Dart, I've gotta talk to you, buddy. It's about my friend, Will. I think-"

He ripped off the pink sheet and his stomach dropped.

The glass was broken and slime was everywhere. It was a pale olive green and it dripped from the remaining shards of glass and all over the sand.

And exactly where Dustin had left him, was what looked like a thick, slimy sheen of green film.

Hesitantly, Dustin picked it up to examine it, and he cringed in disgust.

"What the hell?" He whispered, horrified.

Dart had shed his skin.

Dustin jumped in fright and whipped around when he heard a deeper but familiar screech come from the opposite end of his room. Behind his chair.

"Dart?" He said.

Dustin heard a horrible squelching noise, followed by grunting.

His heart pounded loudly in his chest and slowly he crept forward slowly.

His eyes fell to his rug and he noticed a trail of shredded pieces of skin. These pieces were much darker, almost black, and they looked less smooth.

Dustin still heard grunting and growling from behind his chair and he gulped as the trail of skin turned into streaks of blood. It was stained into his carpet and up his chair.

He heard a sickening crunch as he approached the corner, what he found behind the bloodied chair made him gasp in horror.

A dark green slimy creature on four legs hungrily and viciously attacking the lifeless and bloodied body of Mews.

Dart looked up from his meal and faced a horrified Dustin, his long slimy tail flicking back and forth. He roared, causing his head to open up, hundreds of bloodied teeth showing as any other Demogorgon would.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Dusk had fallen over Hawkins, and Hopper panted heavily as he dug. He had been digging all day and it was growing harder to see. The horizon was now a soft lilac bleeding into a darker shade of blue.

His limbs ached but he never yielded, striking the shovel in the dirt for the thousandth time. He had dug a miniature crater that he now stood in, the dirt and untouched ground around him reaching the top of his hat.

Dirt flew over his shoulder and landed in the many mini hills of dirt that had formed around the edge of the crater.

Panting, he threw his shovel into the first once more, and just as he was about to give in to the doubt that he dug in the wrong place, he felt the shovel slow and heard an odd squelch.

His hopes rising, he swallowed his exhaustion as best as he could and dug faster. He held the shovel in the air, before heaving it into the ground with a forceful grunt.

He felt the shovel break the oddly thick wall and pulled the shovel back up with all his strength. He heard the substance rip and tear as it broke and it was soon followed by a sharp hiss as air escaped from the opening. A hiss reminding him of a hiss of compressed air leaving a can of beer.

A small hole formed as dirt filtered through the hole he had created.

He brought the shovel up once more and slammed into the ground. He heard it bubble as he prodded the ground. He cringed at the smell that wafted into his face and chunks of the ground came up with the shovel.

Hopper paused and looked on, mystified and concerned.

He didn't know what he would find below his feet and the thought scared him now. Nevertheless, he dug a hole big enough to fit through and he lowered himself into the ground.

He planted his feet on the ground and caught his breath. Flashlight in hand he looked at his surroundings. He was in a dark tunnel and familiar flakes of dead earth floating in the air.

"Oh, Jesus,"

It was the same purple-blue tunnels from Will's drawings.

Tunnels from the Upside Down.