𝐒𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐘.
━━ ,∙˚✧ ❝ ᵃ ᶠⁱᵍʰᵗ ᵃᵍᵃⁱⁿˢᵗ
                             ᵒⁿᵉ'ˢ ˢʰᵃᵈᵒʷ, ᵗʰᵉ
                           ᵐᵒˢᵗ ᶠʳⁱᵍʰᵗᵉⁿⁱⁿᵍ
                        ᶠⁱᵍʰᵗ ᵒᶠ ᵃˡˡ. ❞

( this series and summary will contain MAJOR spoilers for my series, 'moonmaiden', so if you care about that i recommend you read those books first, and make sure you've finished the final chapter of act three. this takes place immediately after those events. though the story should make sense if you haven't read my 'moonmaiden' series, this is a spinoff book of that franchise so i would recommend reading it first. characters and events established in ' dreamwalker' and 'moonmaiden' will be referenced recurringly. )

ᵗʷᵉˡᵛᵉ ᶜʰⁱˡᵈʳᵉⁿ ʷᵉʳᵉ ᵃˡʷᵃʸˢ
ᵐᵃᵈᵉ ᶠᵒʳ ᵃ ᵗʳᵃᵍᵉᵈʸ,

ʷʰᵒ ᵏⁿᵉʷ ᵗʰᵉ ᵗʷᵉˡᶠᵗʰ ʷᵒᵘˡᵈ ʰᵃᵛᵉ ᵇᵉᵉⁿ
ᵒⁿᵉ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ˡᵃˢᵗ ᵒᶠ ᵃˡˡ?

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐊𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐑 was a child,
her name had been twelve.    she was
little more than a number,    certainly
not a little girl.       she was a weapon,
a plaything, and       the laboratory in
which she grew up intended to     use
her as such.  but she'd been loved by
those people    she was proud to call
her family,      and when she was still
young, she'd escaped.

𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄    to ask katie hopper
the four things she loved most in her
life,   they would be: sara hopper, the
girl she had chosen     to be her sister;
james hopper, the boy she considered
her brother;               the man who had
adopted her as his daughter;          and
sunflowers in the morning sun. those,
she thought,       would always be her
top four favourite things.   there was
simply no changing it.

𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒, 𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐋    the year katie
turned fourteen,            when she was
supposed to be   celebrating the sun
and summer and freedom.   and she
lost two of the things she loved most
in the world. another of those things
faded quickly too. what were yellow
sunflowers     without the smile of a
sister, the love of a father?     and so
only one was left. she couldn't bear
to look at his face, his eyes, knowing
everything they'd loved together and
lost. what were a brother and sister
without everything they'd loved?

𝐊𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐄 𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐎𝐍𝐄         who
had lost part of their world too.  a girl
with hair like    poppies and eyes that
captured oceans inside them,      who
wore a constellation     of freckles on
her face and tried         to pretend she
she was was tough. that girl. who had
lost her brother and her friend in the
process, who katie had known for so
long, who had been her true friend.

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇 other,
in ways that no one else could.      still
too young to     understand the world,
yet too damaged to be unaware of its
horrors. they were a              pair made
standing over coffins,    some empty.
they were that pair.

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐒 all of the
things they love, and the final reminds
them too much of      what they'd lost,
where is there to go?  no sunflowers to
turn to,    no sister or father, a face she
couldn't look at,         and the rest just a
gaping abyss of      mourning and pain,
trying to drown yourself in it            and
forget it all.         katie was not that girl.
she could not be that girl,         and she
never would be.      neither, decidedly,
was maxine mayfield.

𝐍𝐎, 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐒𝐄 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄  the kind of girls
who marched            into the unknown
with sunglasses and rollerblades and
gasoline,              and spat with bloody
baseball bats in their hands,          and
cursed and       screamed at hell itself
until it would open to let those  they
loved out. those kind of girls.

༉*ೃ༄

━━ 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡, they lost.

༉˚*ೃ 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐓!

young! elle fanning as 𝐊𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐄 "𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞!" 𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐑
━━ ,∙˚✧ ❝ ⁱ ᶜᵃⁿ'ᵗ ᵈᵒ ⁱᵗ.
                              ⁱ'ᵐ ⁿᵒᵗ ˢᵗʳᵒⁿᵍ.
                                  ⁱ'ᵐ ⁿᵒᵗ ˡⁱᵏᵉ ˢᵃʳ.❞

the runaway. ༉˚*ೃ

sadie sink as 𝐌𝐀𝐗 𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐅𝐈𝐄𝐋𝐃
━━ ,∙˚✧ ❝ ˢᵒ ᵃʳᵉ ʷᵉ
                                 ᵍᵒⁿⁿᵃ ᵗᵉᵃʳ ᵗʰⁱˢ
                              ᵖˡᵃᶜᵉ ᵗᵒ ᵗʰᵉ
                            ᵍʳᵒᵘⁿᵈ, ᵒʳ
                        ʷʰᵃᵗ?❞

the skateboarder. ༉˚*ೃ

young! leonardo dicaprio as 𝐉𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒 "𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫!" 𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐑
━━ ,∙˚✧ ❝ ⁱ ᶜᵃⁿ ˡᵒᵒᵏ
                              ᵃᶠᵗᵉʳ ᵗʰᵉᵐ, ⁱ
                             ᵖʳᵒᵐⁱˢᵉ.❞

the boy named four. ༉˚*ೃ

gabriella wilde as 𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐀 "𝐬𝐚𝐫!" 𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐑
━━ ,∙˚✧ ❝ ᶜᵃⁿ ʸᵒᵘ
                                   ʳᵉᵐᵉᵐᵇᵉʳ?❞

the ghost girl. ༉˚*ೃ

tashi rodriguez as ?????
━━ ,∙˚✧ ❝ ᵗʰᵉʸ ʷᵉʳᵉ ᵐⁱⁿᵉ,
                          ᵒⁿᶜᵉ. ᵒⁿᶜᵉ, ˢᵒ
                            ᵛᵉʳʸ ˡᵒⁿᵍ ᵃᵍᵒ.❞

the left behind. ༉˚*ೃ

❝ 𝐈𝐅,      ʸᵒᵘ'ᵛᵉ ᵉᵛᵉʳ ᵗʳⁱᵉᵈ
ᵗᵒ ᶜᵃᵗᶜʰ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵘⁿ ⁱⁿ  ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵇᵃʳᵉ
ʰᵃⁿᵈˢ,      ʸᵒᵘ'ˡˡ ᵏⁿᵒʷ. ʰᵒʷ ⁱᵗ
ᶠᵉᵉˡˢ ᵗᵒ  ᵍʳᵃˢᵖ ʳᵃʸˢ     ⁱⁿ ʸᵒᵘʳ
ᶠⁱⁿᵍᵉʳˢ ᵃⁿᵈ    ˢˡⁱᵖ ᵉᵃᶜʰ ᵗⁱᵐᵉ,
ᵗʳʸⁱⁿᵍ ᵗᵒ ᵈʳᵃᵍ ᵗʰᵉᵐ     ᵇᵃᶜᵏ,
ᵇᵃᶜᵏ ᵗᵒ ʸᵒᵘ.    ˢᵒᵐᵉ ᵗʰⁱⁿᵍˢ
ⁿᵉᵛᵉʳ ʳᵉᵗᵘʳⁿ.   ᵐᵃʸᵇᵉ ʸᵒᵘ'ˡˡ
ᶠⁱⁿᵈ ᵗʰᵉ ᵐᵒᵒⁿʳᵃʸˢ  ⁱⁿˢᵗᵉᵃᵈ.
ᵐᵃʸᵇᵉ ᵗʰᵉʸ'ˡˡ      ᵇʳⁱⁿᵍ ʸᵒᵘ
ʰᵒᵐᵉ. ❞

༉*ೃ༄

━━𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐑.    i do not own
the stranger things tv show.     i only
own katie, sar, james,          the other
children   of the lab and most of the
plot in this fic.    all other characters
and plot belong to              the duffer
brothers and netflix.

art in the cover is by sibylline meynet.

━━𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆.    this story contains
graphic violence,  horror themes, gore
and violence,       abuse, mental illness,
homophobia, disturbing imagery,  and
mature themes.         the worse of these
will be labelled    with trigger warnings
at the beginning    of the chapter. also,
spoilers for  moonmaiden and dream-
walker, obviously.

━━𝐃𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒.            dedicated
to my angels              and supporters of
moonmaiden , kingschteve , deIiquio
, raspberrysberet , AnAnonymousPotato
, -sarcasticpotter ,            theeffingunicorn ,
cheerybIossoms ,               athenasvoid ,
shortageonthestars .     ily all sm, thank
you for supporting my work and being
my friends <3

━━𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄.          been
working on this   fic since early 2019
and i'm       so excited to finally get it
going! maybe no one will read it but
i love it sm and it's pretty important
for the moonmaiden canon,        esp
in regards for       what's going on in
the world while sar's gone.    i'd say
it's actually       a necessary read for
some   sections of act four to make
sense!     so i hope everyone enjoys
this and their  fun / trauma-rooted
adventure across america. also can
i just           say that lumax is my fav
canon ship    BY FAR but i just knew
when i was writing katie    and max
that they were         going to end up
together, okay!!          enjoy hopper
family trauma time.