ada 🤍

i sat in the back of nancy's car, with steve and dustin, snacking, trying to erase the feeling of impending doom.

"i just can't stand to see those doe eyes of eddie's break again, i really, really can't." robin replied to something nancy had said.

"at least he can drink himself into feeling better." steve held up the pack of beers we had bought for him, speaking through a mouth full of chips.

"that's what my mom does." max sighed.

i shot her a look.

"why don't we just give it a trial run?" robin asked. "hey, eddie. uh, good news first this time. we got you some dustin-approved junk food and that six pack you requested. oh yeah, and we found vecna, only the bad news is that he's in that other, darker, much scarier dimension that we told you about, and the gate's closed, so we have no way of getting to him, like he's entirely shut off to us, so basically you're screwed. and, no, i know that basically you were already screwed, but now you're doubly, triply screwed."

my heart dropped a little hearing robin talk about it like that. if we were really not going to find vecna, what was going to happen to max and i?

"wait, wait, maybe we don't put it like that." lucas interrupted robin.

steve ran his hand down my back, and i leaned into his shoulder.

"we're one step closer to finding vecna." nancy rephrased. "that's what we say, that's what's important."

"see, robin? positive spin can make all the difference." steve smiled.

i tried to shake the bad feelings off, zoning back in on the chips and the upbeat music blasting through the stereo

"oh, shit." nancy whined as we pulled into eddie's neighborhood.

there was a large crowd of people, including cops and reporters, gathered in the center. nancy pulled up discreetly, and we all followed her around the back to get a better look.

we heard officer powell talking about another murder that had occured, in the lake. another senior from hawkins high, patrick mckinney, who i had known, and who i would've been graduating with.

then, he held up a photo of eddie, officially naming him as the suspect.

"oh man." steve sighed. "this is not good."

"dustin, can you hear me? hopper?" eddie's voice suddenly rang out through the walkie. great timing.

"holy shit, eddie, are you okay?" dustin picked up.

"nah man. pretty goddamn far from okay." he laughed.

"where is he?" i asked dustin.

"where are you?"

"skull rock. do you know where that is?" he replied.

"uh yeah, that's near cornwallis and-" dustin started.

"garrett, yeah. i know where that is." steve finished.

of course we knew where it is. steve practically invented skull rock as a makeout spot.

"hold tight, we're coming. we're coming." dustin told eddie as we all started running off towards skull rock.

as we made our ways through the woods, dustin pulled out his compass in an attempt to navigate.

"dude, i'm telling you, you're taking us the wrong way." steve told him.

"it's north, i'm positive, i checked the map." he replied.

"you do realize skull rock, it's a super popular make-out spot? steve answered back.

"yeah, so?" dustin asked.

"yeah, well, it wasn't popular until i, and well, y/n, made it popular. alright, i practically invented it. we're heading in the wrong direction"

blush rushed to my cheeks as everyone turned to look at me.

"yeah, uh, he's right." i smiled slightly. "it's that way." i pointed to the way that steve had started heading.

after a few minutes of me listening to steve and dustin bicker, finally,

"boom! there she is henderson, in your face. in your stupid, cocky, little face." steve pushed through a bush, and there was skull rock.

"doesn't make sense." dustin whispered, looking at his compass.

"yeah, yeah. even with it staring you in the face, you can't admit it. you just can't admit that you're wrong, you little butthead." steve stared up at the rock. i looked at it too, reminiscing on a time where life felt more simple, and we weren't dealing with end of the world shit.

then, eddie jumped down from wherever he had been perched.

"i concur." he said, dramatically. "you, dustin henderson, are a... total butthead."

"jesus, we thought you were a goner." dustin rushed forward to hug him.

"yeah, me too man." he replied.

"oh, here." i grabbed the supplies from nancy and handed them to eddie. "here's your stuff." i smiled.

"thanks, hopper." he smiled back.

i turned around and walked back to steve, who had an unimpressed look on his face.

"you okay?" i asked him.

"yeah." he shook his head. "all good."

eddie moved under the ledge of skull rock, squatting and digging through the back. he took a sip of a beer the second he pulled it out of the packaging. he started explaining what had happened the night before. "my walkie was busted, man. drenched. so, uh, i did the thing that i do now, apparently. i ran." he chuckled.

"do you know what time this was?" nancy asked him. "the attack?"

dustin continued staring at his compass, pacing behind nancy.

"yeah, no i know exactly what time it was. my walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked." he took off his watch and tossed it at nance, who i moved closer to.

"9:27." i read off the watch.

"same time our flashlights went kablooey." robin connected.

"which means what, exactly?" steve shrugged.

"that that surge of energy was vecna attacking patrick." i stated. "c'mon steve." nancy tossed the watch back to eddie.

"well, we're one step closer. we know how vecna attacks." robin explained.

"and where he attacks from." lucas added.

"so, now we just need to sneak into his lair in the upside down and drive a stake through his heart." max said.

"if he even has a heart." robin joked.

"a stake? is he like a vamp? is he a vampire?" steve looked at me.

"no, probably not, steve." i sighed, moving closer to his side.

"it was a metaphor." max rolled her eyes.

"a bullet should work on him, right?" eddie asked.

"i say we chop his head off." lucas suggested.

"yeah, i'd say all of the above, but we can't do any of that 'til we find a way into the upside down." nancy reminded us.

i groaned. "we need el to get her powers back." i ran a hand through my hair.

"everything was like way easier." steve said. "we had this girl, y/n's adopted sister, she had superpowers." he explained to eddie.

"yeah, you mentioned her. hey, uh, henderson's not, uh, cursed is he?" eddie asked.

"cursed?" steve asked. "no, uh, he's fine. mental? absolutely."

"boom!" dustin shouted suddenly. "bada...bada...boom. i was right. skull rock was north."

steve rolled his eyes. "seriously? you're serious?"

"mm-hmm." dustin nodded, a huge grin appearing on his face.

"this is skull rock. okay?" steve gestured wildly at the rock behind us. "okay, you're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. right now."

"yes." dustin confirmed. "and no."

"oh my god." steve shook his head, covering his eyes with his hands in disbelief. i started laughing, partly at the interaction and partly in confusion.

"this compass worked correctly when we lest the wheelers'." dustin started. "it was correct when we got in the car on kerley, but it started to slip the further east we went. now, it's way off. when i was leading us here, i wasn't wrong. the compass was."

"so you're using faulty equipment. dude, you're still wrong." steve told him.

"except it isn't faulty. lucas, do you remember what can affect a compass?"

"an electromagnetic field." he responded.

"yep."

"i'm sorry, i must've skipped that class." robin furrowed her brows.

"wait, i think i know." i stood up straighter. "my dad taught me some of this. in the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle of the compass will deflect towards that power."

steve gawked at me.

"so either there's some super big magnet around here, or..." dustin trailed off.

"there's a gate." lucas finished.

"but we're nowhere near the lab." nancy shook her head.

"but what if, somehow, there's another gate? a gate that we don't know about. it'd have to be smaller, way less powerful."

"snack size gate." robin joked again.

"how? why?" steve asked, placing his hands on his hips.

"no idea." dustin shook his head. "all i know is that something is causing this disturbance, and the last time we've seen anything like it, it was a gate. and i hope it is, because then we'd have a way to vecna. and a shot at freeing max and y/n from this curse." he started walking off.

"where are you going?" steve wondered. "hey, hey, hey. eddie's still a wanted man, we can't just go for a hike in the woods."

"this little steel capsule might be the key to saving both max, your girlfriend, and eddie. what say you, eddie the banished?"

we all turned our heads to face him, who was still squatting with his beer.

he took a brief pause before answering. "i say you're asking me to follow you into mordor, which, if i'm totally straight with you, i think is a really bad idea. but, uh, the shire... the shire is burning."

dustin started hopping up and down as eddie stood up. "so mordor it is."

"what is mordor?" steve asked, exasperated.

"another metaphor." i told him.

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the compass eventually led us to the edge of lover's lake.

"you gotta be shitting me." steve said.

"yeah," eddie agreed. "i thought these woods were familiar."

"lover's lake." i stated. "there's a gate in lover's lake?" i questioned.

"this is confounding." dustin said.

"whenever the demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening." nancy replied. "maybe vecna's the same way."

"yeah, only one way to find out." steve said.

"wait, follow me." eddie quickly said, running off around the corner to where he apparently knew a boat was docked.

we started lifting it into the water, and loading ourselves in. the four of us older teens, minus steve, got in, and then dustin attempted to follow.

"hey, hey, hey, you trying to sink us?" eddie stopped him. "this thing holds like four people tops, okay?"

"it's better this way, you guys stay here with max, keep an eye out for trouble." nancy explained to him.

"you keep an eye out." dustin scoffed. "it's my goddamn theory."

"you heard nance." robin told him.

"who put her in charge?" dustin exclaimed.

"i did." she answered simply.

"compass?" she held out her hand, and dustin tossed it to her reluctantly.

"ready?" steve asked, then pushed us out into the water, climbing in quickly.

"you said four!" dustin shouted at him.

"sorry." he shrugged, holding up a peace sign.

"bedtime at nine, kiddos!" robin shouted at the kids back on shore. "miss you already!" she waved.

i felt bad leaving max, as we were in the same boat. well, we actually weren't. but, you know what i mean.

we paddled out for awhile, nancy intently watching the compass.

suddenly, "whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down." she told us.

"come on guys, what's going on?" dustin said over the walkie as we watched the compass needle flick back and forth.

"uh, dustin, your compass has done from wonky to wonky with a capital "aah!"" robin answered him.

to my right, steve started taking off his socks and shoes.

"steve, what are you doing?" i asked.

"somebody's gotta go down there and check this thing out." he replied. "unless one of you four can top being a hawkins high swim team captain and a certified lifeguard for three years, then... it's gotta be me. no complaints, all right?"

"hey, i'm not complaining. i do not wanna go down there." eddie said, wrapping a flashlight in a plastic bag.

"steve..." i tried to stop him as he stood up on the edge of the boat, taking his yellow sweatshirt off.

to my dismay, he could not be stopped.

"good luck, be careful." i told him, handing him eddie's flashlight. he leaned down and placed a soft kiss to my lips before leaping off.

nancy started timing him, and we sat in silence for about a minute.

"where we at, wheeler?" robin asked her, clearly as concerned as i was.

"closing in on a minute." she answered.

we continued to sit in extremely uncomfortable silence, every now and then taking deep breaths or letting out shaky sighs. this pattern was interrupted by steve shooting back out of the water with a large splash, making us all jump.

"i found it." he told us, out of breath.

"you found it?" nancy exclaimed.

"i found it, yeah, i found it." he held onto the side of the boat.

"dustin, you are a goddamn einstein, steve found the thing!" robin spoke into the walkie. "dustin?" she asked when he didn't respond.

"it was pretty wild." steve told us. it was more of the snack size gate than the mama gate but still, it's pretty damn big." then, his grip slipped from the side of the boat as he fell back under.

we all reached for him, but he came back up a second later. he was only up for another second before he was snatched back under the lake.

"steve!" i screamed, my friends shouting around me as well.

"what the hell was that, man?" eddie cried.

i stood up to go after him.

"wait, wait, wait! you're not going in there are you?" eddie shook his head at me.

"just wait here." i silenced him.

as i jumped in after steve, i heard robin, nancy, and eddie screaming after me. i swam down as quickly as i could, albeit not the very best swimmer despite my father's insistence that i take lessons.

after my joints began to get sore and i felt like i was about to lose air, i found the gate, shining red up at me.

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a/n: finally wrote this chapter.... sorry it took forever! like it literally took months. let me know if you found any grammatical/spelling errors, if you'd like to join the taglist, and what you're thinking of the story. thanks for reading like always!! love youuu

now back at her home, y/n was gearing up to fight off, what she now knew was called, the demogorgon. jonathan decided to drive back home, and y/n let nancy sit next to him in the front, taking the back seat.

the back allowed her to have space to breath, something she knew she probably wouldn't have much time or space for over the next few hours, or how ever long this process would take.

when they pulled up the driveway, the three of them jumped out of the car, running around to the trunk to get the supplies out.

they quickly grabbed everything and moved inside, getting to work. they started by screwing each and every christmas lightbulb back into its plug, and then, the girls watched as jonathan prepared the trap for the demogorgon to fall into. it was chained pretty tightly into the floor, and y/n hoped that it wouldn't budge.

then, they each grabbed a weapon of choice, y/n and nancy heading towards the guns, and jonathan hammering nails into a bat.

next was lining the carpet with oil, and as y/n poured it in her own room, she grimaced at the smell that she knew would be sticking around for awhile. she sighed as she walked back into the hallway. she figured the rest of the house was a disaster, so what was a little more?

the final aspect of the plan was to source the blood that would attract the demogorgon. jonathan grabbed three small but powerful knives from the kitchen drawer and some bandages for after, before meeting the girls in the middle of the living room.

"remember..." he started.

"straight into will's room.." nancy continued.

"and don't step on the trap." y/n concluded.

"wait for the yo-yo to move,"

"then..." jonathan turned the switch on his lighter for a moment. "all right. you guys ready?" he asked them, looking into both of their eyes.

"for will. and for barb." y/n nodded.

"ready." nancy agreed.

they each placed the blades against their palms, ready to slice.

"on three." y/n said, beginning to count. "one, two..."

"you don't have to do this." jonathan interrupted, looking at nancy's worried expression.

"jonathan, stop talking." she told him.

"i'm just sayi-"

"three." nancy cut him off, slicing deep into her hand, just like y/n.

y/n let out a hiss after the cut was made, dripping blood from her palm onto the carpet. nancy grimaced alongside jonathan at the pain, letting the blood drip as well.

they needed this to work.

when they decided that enough blood had sunken into the rug, y/n wrapped up nancy's hand, and then in return nancy began to bandage the byers' hands, taking on the role of nurse. as they all sat on the couch together in nervous silence, every small creek that the house made felt like incoming danger.

"did you hear that?" nancy asked, attention turned to the noise outside."

"it's just the wind." jonathan concluded, after a moment of anticipation, turning back to his sisters hand that was currently being wrapped. he had decided to let his sister go first.

nancy quickly finished hers up, before moving onto jonathan's.

"don't worry, nance." y/n told her. "our mom, she told us that the lights speak when it comes, so we'll have a pretty good warning ahead of time."

"speak?" she questioned.

"blink." jonathan corrected. "think of them as alarms."

nancy cautiously examined the lights strung through the house before resuming her work on jonathan's hand.

"is that too tight?" she asked him.

"no, it's fine. thanks."

y/n watched carefully as nancy's fingers began to wrap around her brothers. it made her smile sweetly, ironic for the situation. nancy had never had a boyfriend, and his brother had never had a girlfriend. she knew they both had been on small romantic outings with other people, always ending unhappily, so she hoped that maybe her brother and best friend would be the perfect match for each other.

she was immediately sucked out of her daydreaming by an obnoxious banging on her front door. the three of them whipped their heads towards the door, fear taking over. but wait, y/n thought, would the demogorgon really be knocking on the door?

"jonathan!" the culprit shouted. well, the demogorgon certainly wouldn't be shouting their names, so it definitely wasn't on their front porch, unluckily for her, y/n knew exactly who it really was out there.

"are you there, man? it's... it's steve!" her suspicions were confirmed. "listen, i just want to talk!"

jonathan moved to answer the door, but his sister stopped him.

steve had rarely made his way out to the byers house, y/n opting to drive herself or getting her brother to drive her places. she wasn't exactly embarrassed by her living conditions, but she knew they didn't quite match steve's and didn't feel like adding to the gap in their relationship. additionally, now was not the best time to see what was going on inside, so when she answered the door, she kept it angled so that only her face could be seen.

"hey, jo- oh, hi babe." steve said, out of breath, his beaten face appearing.

"steve, listen to me." y/n spoke confidently. "you need to leave."

"no, no, i'm not trying to start anything, i swear, i just want to apologize to your brother, and you."

"no, i don't care about that. well, i do, but not right now, shit. listen, you just need to leave." y/n told him.

"no, i really messed up, and i know that, okay? i messed up. i messed up! please, i just want to make things right."

y/n was really proud of steve's maturity, but was still pissed.

"steve..." she started to reason with him.

"hey, what happened to your hand?" he asked her softly, noticing the bandage wrap. he grabbed y/n's wrist gently. "is that blood?"

"uh, it's nothing!" she told him, getting nervous. "it was an accident."

"what's going on?"

"nothing! it was an accident, i swear." y/n pleaded.

"no, let me in, y/n" he shoved past her, bursting through the door. y/n watched, distraught, as steve took in his surroundings. she had to admit, they were pretty incriminating.

nancy and jonathan stood in front of the couch, each with matching bandages on their hands, and weapons around them.

"what.. what is this?" steve asked frantically.

jonathan moved forward and shoved him back towards the door.

"you need to get out of here." he told him.

"whoa, what is all-"

"listen to me, i'm not asking you, i'm telling you, get out of here!" jon demanded.

"what is that smell? is that gasoline?" steve yelled.

"steve, get out!" nancy shouted, attracting their attention. y/n's eyes widened, she was holding a gun, pointing it at steve.

"what!" he yelled. "wait, what is going on?"

"you have five seconds to get out of here!" y/n shouted, backing nancy up.

"okay, stop, is this a joke? put the gun down." he told nancy, glancing at y/n.

"she's doing this for you." y/n told him.

all around them, the christmas lights started to flicker.

"nancy..." jonathan said, causing y/n to realize what they were doing.

amidst nancy and steve's quarrel, she started shouting at her.

"nancy! stop! the lights!" she screamed.

"it's here." jonathan ran to grab his bat, and y/n picked up the second gun that was next to it.

"where is it?" she asked.

"wait, what's here!? woah, easy with that!" steve yelled behind them.

while steve was shouting out more and more requests for an explanation, the demogorgon started emerging through the ceiling of the living room.

nancy and y/n immediately began to take shots at it's flower shaped head, but jonathan grabbed their shoulders and told them to run to will's room. he pulled steve along as well.

"watch the trap!" she shouted at him.

when they were "safely" in will's room, steve asked, "what the hell was that?"

"shut up!" the three of them told him.

as the growling outside of will's room increasing, they stood ready with their weapons in hand.

"what's it doing?" nancy asked, watching to see if the yo-yo was going to move or not.

"i don't know." jonathan answered her.

then, the flickering and rumbling seized.

it was gone.

"do you hear anything?" y/n wondered.

"no." her brother closed the lighter.

they carefully made their way out of will's room, ready to attack, but nothing was there.

they made their way down the hallway and into the living room where nothing but the smell of gasoline and blood remained.

"this is crazy!" steve was muttering to himself before he ran to the phone.

nancy had had enough of him, snatching it out of his hand.

"what are you doing, are you insane?" he asked her.

"it's going to come back! so you need to leave, right now." she told him.

he looked around the room, eyes finally landing on y/n.

"you should go, steve." she nodded. "please."

he nodded back before booking it out of there and back to his car.

as steve fiddled with his keys, trying to unlock the door, all he could think about was how he didn't believe his own girlfriend. i mean, he still didn't think this was believable, even though the proof was right in front of his eyes. when he finally, got the door open, his attention went back to the house, the lights inside flickering again.

"fuck." he said to himself.

inside, y/n, nancy, and jonathan were back to back, ready to shoot whenever the thing emerged again.

"where is it?" nancy cried.

"come on, come on you son of a bitch!" jon shouted.

then the lights went out. pitch black night filled the room.

the only thing y/n heard next was a slimy growl, the monster looming behind her only brother left.

"jonathan!" she screamed at him, but before he could react, the demogorgon swept him off of his feet, knocking his weapon to the ground, leaving him defenseless.

nancy and y/n were screaming, shooting at the monster in an attempt to get it off of jon. instead of hurting it though, they only made it more angry.

it stalked towards the girls, and almost as if it were a scene in a movie, they both ran out of bullets at the same time. luckily for them, a superhero shot in, hitting the monster out of their way and fighting it off.

"steve!" y/n shouted.

steve swung at the demogorgon like y/n had never seen him do before. he played baseball in the spring season, so y/n had obviously seen him swing a bat. but this was a whole new level, and thanks to him, the monster was in the trap.

"jonathan, now!" y/n screamed, to which he got up off of the floor and tossed his lighter at the creature.

the four of them watched as the hallway went up in flames. the demogorgon writhed and screeched. they covered their eyes and y/n coughed at the intense fumes.

before the entire house could burn down, jonathan told the others to get back as he used the fire extinguisher. the fire died down, and the room filled with smoke, causing the others to join in on the coughing.

"where'd it go?" nancy asked, once the smoke had cleared out of the room enough to make things visible again.

"it has to be dead." y/n shook her head. "it has to be."

they approached the trap with caution, and saw sizzling goop coating it. if it wasn't dead, it was at least seriously injured, and wouldn't be coming back anytime soon.

well, so they thought, as the lights began to flicker again, one at a time. steve led the pack back out to the living room, bat still in hand. y/n couldn't lie, as mad at him as she was, she couldn't help but find the move pretty attractive.

steve and nancy may have thought it was the monster, but the byers knew who it really was.

"mom." they both whispered.

they followed the flickering lights outside, and nancy asked,

"where's it going?"

"i don't think that's the monster." jon answered her.

the best that they could do was wait. so, thats what they did. they waited for an extremely long hour to hear the shrill ring of the phone play throughout the byers house.

the second it rang, y/n hopped up.

"i'll get it." she announced, making her way to the phone.

"hello?" he spoke into the speaker.

"y/n? it's hopper." a gruff voice responded.

"hopper, hi." she turned to look at everyone in the living room, who were all staring intently at her. "h..how're... things?" she didn't quite know how to ask, not wanting to come out with 'is my brother dead? did you find him?'

"we found him, kid." hopper let out a small laugh.

"you did?" she exclaimed. "how.. how is he?!" a wide grin took over y/n's face, relief washing over her, jonathan walked over to the phone as she said these words.

"he's weak, but he's going to be fine. we're in the hospital right now, you guys get down here, okay?" hopper explained.

"okay, we're leaving right now! don't go anywhere!" y/n said frantically, as if they were going to go anywhere.

"they found will!" y/n shouted, running back into the living room, her brother right behind her.

"they did?" nancy smiled.

y/n hugged her tight, then turned to her brother and hugged him too. she didn't let go of him for a few long moments, tears rolling down both of their faces. she was on a roll of hugging people, so when she was done with jonathan, she pulled steve in too.

at some point during their hug, y/n realized how awkward it felt in that moment, and pulled away.

"okay, they're at the hospital, we need to go." she re-directed, grabbing her keys. the four of them loaded into ther car, and she reversed out of her front yard and sped down the driveway.

when they arrived, y/n parked, quite poorly, and they rushed inside. the waiting room held lots of familiar faces, mr. and mrs. wheeler, hopper, and the boys.

"nancy." mrs. wheeler sighed when her daughter appeared. she rushed over to pull her in for a hug. nancy then went to hug mike, relieved he was okay.

y/n noticed that the girl from before wasn't in the room, and made a note to ask about that later. for now, it was about will.

"your mom's just down the hall with will." hopper told the byers kids. "he's still asleep but the doctor said he could wake up anytime."

"thanks, chief." y/n thanked him before pulling jonathan down the hallway to find their mom, and thankfully, now their baby brother too.

the joy that y/n felt when they found the room was more than she had ever felt in her life. she was comforted by the sight of her mom as well, but when she saw will lying in the bed, his actual body right in front of her, she started crying again.

the tears attracted joyce's attention.

"oh, thank god." she gasped, pulling her kids in tight against her chest. "i was worried about you two."

"we were more worried about you, mom." jonathan answered, laughing through his own tears.

y/n couldn't pull her eyes off of will.

"he's a sight for sore eyes, huh, sweetheart?" joyce joked, rubbing her daughters back.

"i thought i'd never see him again." she sobbed into her mom's shoulder.

"he's here, sweetie, don't worry." she reassured her only daughter.

when y/n felt a little better, the three of them sat in a row next to will- joyce closest, y/n in the middle, and then jonathan - waiting anxiously for him to finally wake up.

y/n wouldn't let go of his small hand as she examined his every feature. his brown hair, his pale pale skin that looked extra worn out, his slow breathing, everything.

after what felt like a very long time, and probably was in reality as well, his eyes started to flicker open. y/n was of course the first to notice, considering she couldn't tear her eyes off of him, but her mom noticed too before she could say anything.

"hey, hi sweetheart." she cooed, her baby finally waking up.

"where... where am i?" will asked, smiling.

"you're home, will." y/n answered him, more tears running from her eyes.

"why are you crying?" he asked her.

"i'm just really happy to see you." she laughed.

"you're safe, buddy." jonathan told him, getting his attention.

"jonathan!" he exclaimed quietly.

"yeah, it's me." he grinned. "we missed you. we really missed you."

will's eyes travelled to jonathan's bandaged hand.

"are you okay?" he asked.

y/n laughed again, more tears falling as she did so. leave it to will to be lying in a hospital bed and asking if his siblings are okay.

"what, this? it's just a cut, it's nothing." jonathan chuckled, joyce too. "you're worried about my hand."

y/n took it upon herself to show off the gift basket that they had compiled while they were waiting for the call, a pre-emptive measure that could've been useless had the call been bad news.

"look, little man." she said. "we brought you some fun stuff, so you don't get bored while you're stuck in here for a little while." she flicked through the coloring books and pencils.

jonathan reached into the basket.

"i made you a new mixtape." he explained. "there's some stuff on there i think you really might like."

will took it from him, his eyes lighting up.

after spending a little longer as just the byers, will asked if his friends were there. jonathan went to get them, y/n staying with will for a second before his friends came running in.

"byers!" they all shouted when they entered.

"be careful!" joyce laughed.

y/n stepped back from her brother, standing next to jonathan.

nancy had come in too.

as the boys told will about every crazy thing that had occured over the past week, y/n turned to her best friend.

"you know, nance, i'm really sorry i didn't pay more attention to barb this week." she told her.

"it's okay, your brother was your priority, and i get it. i'd probably feel the same way had it been mike." nancy smiled slightly.

"will might've been my priority but i could've balanced it. i feel really awful, and... and i can't believe she's gone." y/n looked down, switching her weight back and forth on her feet.

"me neither." nancy whispered.

"we'll get our justice someday. i promise you." y/n turned to nancy, smiling at her.

"we will." nancy said back.

"hey, i'm gonna go talk to steve, okay?" y/n scratched the back of her neck.

"good luck." nancy grimaced jokingly.

"yeah, i'll probably need it." y/n laughed as she walked out of the room, and back into the waiting area. the second she stepped through the doorway, steve was on his feet.

"hey." y/n said to him.

"hi. how's will?" he asked, tucking his hands into his pockets.

"he's tired, but he's okay. and he's here, which is the most important part." y/n nodded.

"of course. shit, i'm so glad he's okay." steve ran a hand over his face.

"language." mr. wheeler grumbled. "you kids are in a public space."

"ted." mrs. wheeler warned.

y/n giggled. "wanna talk outside?" she cocked her head in the direction of the exit.

"yeah, sure." steve said, starting to put a hand on her back to walk out, before putting it back in his pocket.

when the two had made it to a bench right outside the hospital, steve started talking.

"y/n, i really am sorry for what i did. and i'm sorry that i didn't believe you.. i mean, fuck, i definitely believe you now." he stated.

y/n laughed a little. "i'd hope so." she fell silent again. "i'm not mad that you didn't believe me, and i'm not mad that you told tommy and carol. i'm not mad about what tommy wrote, and i'm not mad that you got in a fight with my brother. i'm just mad about what you said about us."

"i know. rightfully so." steve nodded next to her.

"do you really think we're a bunch of screw ups?" y/n turned to look steve in the eye. "do you think i'm a screw up?"

"i don't think you're a screw up at all, y/n. i don't think anyone in your family is. i... i honestly envy you guys." steve let out.

"you envy us?" y/n gawked.

"this town is full of all sorts of people, but i was raised to believe that the people who are just like me, who live in houses like mine and who drive cars like mine, are the better ones. i knew what people said about your family, especially after your dad left. i didn't care though, i always noticed you in our classes together, and i always thought you were the prettiest girl in there, hell, in the whole school. i didn't believe what people said. and as i got to know you, and even though i haven't spent much time with you all, as i got to your family, i saw how much you all loved each other."

steve paused.

"i can't remember the last time my family sat down for a proper dinner and talked about our days. either my parents physically aren't there, or they don't care enough to ask how i'm doing. the most my dad ever says is, 'steven, how's the girlfriend?' or 'steven, are your grades still low?' and i mean, my mom cares, she calls when they're away and sends me presents, but she's not like your mom. i don't think she'd go to the end of the earth to find me if i went missing."

y/n sucked in a deep breath when he paused again.

"so no, i don't think you guys are screw ups, even if that's what i was told to think about people who live in smaller houses than me. i think your family is the coolest family ever and i wish that i could be apart of it instead of mine."

when he was finally done, steve let out more air than he knew he was capable of letting out in one breath.

"that was really brave of you to tell me, steve." y/n smiled, placing a hand on his knee. "thank you."

"anything. anything to make up for what i did." he blushed slightly.

"i think you need to explain that to my brother, even if it's a simplified version. he'll really need to hear it." y/n told him.

"okay, i can do that."

"but, uh, steve, i still don't think we should be together right now." y/n decided.

"what?" he furrowed his eyebrows.

"this week has been literal hell on earth. i lost my brother temporarily, one of my best friends permanently, and got my heart broken. now, two of those situations may have been resolved, but i realized something else while i was dealing with all of this. i realized that i can't remember the last time i was truly myself. don't get me wrong, i've grown to enjoy dressing this way and doing my hair every morning. but i don't know that i act like myself. and it's not because of you, it's not you forcing me to be someone else, it's just that i wanted to fit in so badly, and being with you and dressing like this did that. i realized that i don't care what people think of me anymore. i can dress how they like and be myself at the same time. so, i need to do that, but i need to do it on my own."

steve looked down, confused.

"i think we can get back together in the future, steve, i just don't know when." she explained. "and we can still be best friends, i promise you. we can still hang out all the time, we can still do our cheesy couples costumes, we can still do everything normal, just maybe minus the kissing and stuff."

"but i really love kissing you." steve said, making both of them laugh.

"well, i guarantee you'll get to do it again in the future, you just have to be patient, okay?"

steve nodded. "as long as the cheesy couples costumes still happen, i'll be as patient as i need to be. for you."

"thank you, steve. i love you." this time that y/n said it, she said it with the most truth she had ever said it with. "one more thing, thanks for saving my ass from that demogorgon earlier."

"is that what that thing is called?" he asked.

"yeah, there's a lot i gotta fill you in on." y/n smiled sheepishly.

"i've got time." he smiled back.

one month later

it was finally christmas eve, and y/n was finishing up wrapping the presents she had gotten for her family. her mom was in the kitchen, and jonathan was at the wheeler's picking up will.

a few minutes after she was done, jonathan's car rolled into the driveway. her two brothers bounded into the house, trailing snow in with them.

"hey, guys!" y/n greeted them, standing up from the carpet.

"hi, y/n!" will ran over to the couch, turning on the tv.

"did you see nancy?" y/n asked jon.

"yeah, why?" jonathan asked, confusedly.

"well, y'know, did she say anything, like, romantic?" y/n smiled stupidly, forcing jonathan to take the hint.

"oh, stop." he got quiet, cheeks flushing red at his sisters teasing. she was still trying to get her best friend and brother together.

jonathan walked over to his mom in the kitchen, saying hi to her, and y/n could hear their excited chattering. as she looked at her happy family, she couldn't help but think of someone who was probably lonely.

she ran to her room and began to dial steve.

"hello?" he picked up.

"hi, steve." she answered him.

"oh, hi, babe." he hadn't dropped the pet names yet and wasn't planning on doing so anytime soon.

"how's your christmas eve going?" she asked him.

"well," he sighed. "i'm currently sitting on my couch eating cereal if that answers anything for you. how's yours?" he asked.

"it's pretty festive and jolly." y/n joked. "care to join?"

"seriously?" his voice suddenly filled with happiness.

"seriously." since steve had sat down to apologize to jonathan a few weeks ago, tensions had been lowered. it was safe to say the two still had their grudges against each other, but there were no feuds anymore.

"uh, yeah, okay. i'll be there in like fifteen minutes, thanks!" steve hung up quickly, and y/n chuckled to herself. she could tell she had made his night. part of her still thought of him as her boyfriend, and that part ached a little every time she called him. but, she was overall just grateful that he was coming over at all.

"hey, mom?" y/n shouted, walking out of her room.

"yeah, sweetie?" she called back.

"i hope there's room for one more at the table."

true to his word, steve arrived at the byers' doorstep fifteen minutes later, a pile of gifts in his hands.

"merry christmas!" he said when y/n had opened the door.

"wow, steve, you didn't have to do all of this!" she gasped at the sight of the presents.

"yeah, i did." he just stared at her as if it would have been sinful to show up empty handed. "there's one for everyone. well, actually, there's two for you."

"thank you, steve." y/n blushed.

she led him inside and had him plant the gifts under the tree, when jonathan entered the living room.

"oh, hey, steve." he greeted.

"hey, jonathan. oh, you know what? you should open this now." he handed jon the square box.

"oh, okay, thanks man." he looked at him in surprise. will turned his attention to the presents, excited to see what was inside.

jonathan's eyes widened when he saw the brand new camera.

"shit, you didn't have to do this man." he knew how expensive those things were.

"yeah, i really did. i was an asshole." steve shook his head. "oh, sorry, will."

"he's heard worse." y/n laughed.

"i'm gonna go test this out!" jonathan ran into his room to set the camera up, and steve, who was wearing a christmas sweater similar to y/n's settled onto the couch with her.

"can i open mine?" will asked, impatient as ever.

"no, you can wait, will." y/n calmed him down.

he groaned before turning back to the tv.

when jonathan came back into the living room, camera ready to be used, will got down in front of the tree and started shaking his presents to see if he was able to tell what was in them.

"what you got there? that one yours?" jonathan asked him, taking a picture.

"yeah."

"it's pretty big. be careful, you'll break it." he turned to y/n and steve who were still sat on the couch. they were careful not to be too close to each other, trying to maintain their boundaries of just being friends. well, more like y/n was trying to.

"smile." jonathan instructed them.

for the photo, y/n broke the rules and leaned in, smiling big to match steve.

jonathan shook his head, faking disgust as his sister laughed. and after he left the room, y/n didn't dare move from her comfortable position leaned up against him.

they watched will shake more of his presents before joyce called out that dinner was ready.

the three of them in the living room made their way to the table.

"thank you so much for having me, ms. byers." steve thanked y/n's mom.

"of course, steve, the more the merrier." she smiled.

"it's definitely an atari." will exclaimed.

"an a-what-i?" jocye faked confusion.

"the green present. i felt dustin's today, it's the exact same weight." he explained.

"really? well, we'll have to see, won't we?" joyce grinned.

will suddenly stood up, moving towards the bathroom.

"hey, no more snooping." y/n nudged him.

"no, i forgot to wash my hands, i'll be right back." he told everyone.

"he's washing his hands?" joyce whispered, laughing, once will had left the room.

everyone made their plates, and after a minute will was back. when he came back, he looked a little off.

"you okay, bud?" y/n asked him, frowning.

"yeah, i'm fine." he reassured her.

"okay." she put it off.

everyone fell into discussion about the food, dungeons and dragons, and more.

at the end of the night, steve had to go home. y/n walked him out to his car, against his insistence for her to stay inside where it was warm.

"thank you again for having me. really." he told her, taking her hand.

"it was no problem, really, we wanted you here." y/n smiled, stomach fluttering at the contact.

"well, maybe jonathan didn't." steve joked, making y/n laugh.

"yeah, maybe not." she shrugged. "but i did."

"and that's all that matters."

"right." y/n smiled again.

"merry christmas, y/n." he told her, dropping her hand to get in his car.

"merry christmas, steve." she walked back inside the house.

on her wrist, as she opened the door to her room, was a gold bracelet with her and steve's initials. when she had opened it, he told her that he bought it before, as he put it not wanting since he didn't want to label it as breaking up, everything had happened. he decided to still give it to her, and claimed that it was just a best friends bracelet. y/n had nodded, playing along, as if it were really that simple.

but deep in her heart, she knew. her choice to wear the bracelet represented the choice she had made in her heart. steve and her were meant to be, and even if in that moment they weren't aware of it, they'd come to their senses.

for now, they'd just have to be patient.

a/n: season one is complete! i am so happy with the way that this season ended, and can't wait to begin working on season two. i have so many plans... keep letting me know what you think of the story and also let me know if you'd like to join the taglist, i will happily add you on! thank you so much for reading, i love you all sooooo much <3

y/n byers didn't ever want to talk to steve harrington again.

not today, not tomorrow, not a year from now, not ever.

beating up her brother was an inexcusable act in y/n's opinion, and calling her family a bunch of freaks was another one. so, therefore, she never wanted to talk to steve again.

currently, she sat next to nancy and said brother at the police station, waiting for her mom to show up. she ran her fingers over the rough wood of the desk she was leaning on, trying to calm down. it wasn't working though, as her hands were shaking, and her breath was quavery. the three of them sat in silence, y/n too embarrassed that this had happened over her to speak, jonathan too worried what his mom would think, and nancy too unsure what to say.

unfortunately, the silence couldn't last much longer, as joyce byers burst through the door and starting interrogated her son.

"jonathan? what the hell happened?" she shouted, anger evident in her face when she saw jon's wrapped up hand.

"ma'am... he's fine." callahan tried to explain.

"why is he wearing handcuffs?" joyce freaked out.

y/n stared at her mother, also beginning to become unsure of what to say to the situation.

"well, your boy assaulted a police officer, that's why." callahan stated.

"bullshit!" y/n finally spoke. "he didn't mean to hit him."

"take them off." joyce stood her ground.

"i'm afraid i can't do that."

"dude, just take them off." y/n sighed.

"you heard her, take 'em off." chief hopper ordered.

powell entered the room then, and said, "chief, i get everyone's emotional here, but there's something you need to see."

the two deputy's led the chief out to the car, and joyce pulled y/n aside to talk.

"sweetie, what is this all about?" joyce frantically asked, running her hands down y/n's arms.

"it's a mess, mom. steve is... ugh, he's just awful." y/n looked down at her feet, ashamed she had ever fallen in love with him. "he wrote this stupid thing on the sign at the movie theater, making fun of me, and..."

"wait, he was making fun of you? publicly?" y/n's mom's eyes widened.

"well, yeah, i mean i guess it wasn't really him, tommy wrote it, but steve was there so he basically did it." y/n shook her head to stop herself from rambling. "long story short, he then said something about will after i slapped him, and jonathan threw him down. it was pretty badass, actually." y/n smiled.

joyce sighed. "steve's an asshole, sweetheart, i'm sorry. and i'm proud of your brother for sticking up to him, but now's not the time to be getting into trouble." she explained.

"i know, mom, believe me. i actually need to talk to you. i really do beli-" y/n was cut off from admitting that she knew will was out there by the officers walking back in, the box of weapons in hand.

hopper slammed it down on the desk, and joyce asked once she had moved back over to it, "what is this?"

"why don't you ask your kids? found it in their car." hopper said, monotone.

"what?" joyce exclaimed.

"why are you going through my car?" jonathan snarked.

nancy still sat in silence.

"is that really the question you should be asking right now? i wanna see you in my office." hopper leaned forward, attempting to intimidate jon.

"you won't believe me." jonathan told him.

"why don't you give me a try?"

hopper, joyce, jonathan, y/n, and nancy then proceeded into the chiefs office. they brought the weapons and photographs of the creature, ready to explain the new discoveries they had made.

joyce sighed as she looked at the photos.

"you say blood draws this thing?" hopper asked.

"we think so." y/n nodded.

"but it's just a theory." nancy added, speaking at last.

at the end of all of the explaining, joyce let out a long and upset sigh.

"can i talk to you two outside?" she practically insisted, leading her children into the hall.

"we're sorry, mom." jonathan told her.

"what, you're sorry? you're... you're sorry? that is not good enough. that's not even in the ballpark, that's not even close." joyce cried.

"we know, mom. honestly." y/n crossed her arms over her chest. "i tried to tell you earlier-"

"what if this thing took one of you, too?" their mom asked, in distress. "you both risked your lives, and nancy's."

"i thought i could save will." jonathan said.

"me too, and... we still do." y/n agreed.

"this is not yours to fix alone. you both act like you two are all alone out there in the world, but you're not, you're not alone."

neither of the byers kids could look their mother in the eye. both of them were rather sensitive people, taking after their mother, and when in the face of emotions, they shied away.

"i know, mom." y/n whispered.

"god damn it, jonathan." joyce ran a hand over her eyes, pulling her son in for a hug, and then opening up her arms and pulling y/n in as well.

the endearing moment was interrupted by a lady shrilly shouting from down the hallway, "i want an apology!"

hopper emerged from his office, and told them to stay in the hallway.

y/n didn't want to, she liked eavesdropping, but decided that hugging her mom was more important in that moment.

across town at the fair mart, steve harrington sat beat up on the back of his beamer as tommy and carol bought him some aspirin and a coke inside. steve was lost in thought, regretting everything that had played out that afternoon.

the night before, as steve hung up the phone with y/n, who had just called him terrified, tommy and carol sat on his couch.

"talking to the lover?" carol joked.

"yeah, she... she said the weirdest thing though." steve rubbed his temples, confused at what his girlfriend had been ranting about.

"like what? she got some weird kink or something?" tommy laughed.

"gross, man, no. she said something about being in the forest with nance, and then... some monster chased her through a tree." steve explained, laughing at himself.

"dude, she's probably high, or drunk." tommy said.

"i mean, she might've been a little tipsy, but she seemed really shaken. i don't know." steve plopped down next to tommy.

"weird." carol sighed, leaning into tommy.

the conversation ended temporarily, until the next day, the three of them + nicole were bored. tommy decided it was a perfect day for some vandalization, and was just planning to go out and spray paint some alley ways, until he noticed that the hawk was doing a flashback showing of psycho.

"y'know what that reminds me of?" he asked.

"what?" steve questioned.

"your girlfriend, man." tommy laughed, climbing up on the ladder that was leaning against the wall.

"dude, what are you doing?" steve shouted at him.

"you'll see!"

when tommy's work was complete, carol burst out in laughter.

"oh my god, wait until she sees this!"

steve didn't understand. did his friends not like y/n? he had thought she had grown on them, and that her background didn't matter.

clearly he was wrong, but as he looked at the sign, he couldn't help but think it was a bit funny.

his gaze was locked on tommy, as he followed him into the alleyway where the pre-planned graffiti took place. then, disaster struck, and now he was beaten to a pulp, and probably girlfriend-less.

his thoughts were shaken when tommy came back from inside the store.

"you owe me $1.20." he said, handing steve the supplies. he instantly took the medicine.

"don't worry, he'll need more than aspirin when we're done with him."

"yeah, if the creep ever gets out." carol shook her head. "the cops should just lock him up forever."

steve placed the coke against his wound.

"did you see the look on his face?" carol started to fake punch tommy, mocking jonathan.

"he probably had the same look on his face whenever he killed his brother, right?" tommy patted steve on the shoulder.

"oh god, i just had a disgusting thought. i mean you see how close y/n and him are, right? well, i just had an image of him making that face when he screws her." carol laughed at the disgusting joke, and so did tommy.

steve had had enough.

"carol, for once in your life, shut your damn mouth!" he shouted.

"what?"

"hey, what's your problem, man?" tommy defended his girl.

steve took a moment to contemplate his next words. "you're both assholes, that's my problem." he stood up from his seat on the car.

"are you serious right now, man?" tommy asked.

"yeah, i'm serious, you shouldn't have done that."

"done what?"

"you know what!"

"you mean call her out for what she really is?" tommy shouted. "oh, that's weird, because you seemed to think it was pretty funny and i don't remember you asking me to stop. let's just say, she's not the queen anymore."

the boys had gotten close together now, ready to engage in another fight.

"i should've put that spray paint right down your throat." steve told him.

"what the hell, steve?" carol asked, confused.

"you know, neither of you ever cared about her. you never even really liked her. you treat her like shit, as if she's not a person, right in front of her face. well, i know why you don't like her, because she's not miserable and stuck up like you two! she actually cares about other people, like y'know, her brother who just died. god, how could you even think to make fun of a family who is going through that?"

"right, cause you can trust what a psycho says about her family." carol rolled her eyes.

"i told you to watch your mouth!" steve yelled at her.

"hey!" tommy shoved him back. "i don't know what's gotten into you, man, but you don't talk to her that way."

"get out of my face."

"or what?" tommy grabbed him by the collar of his jacket. "or what? you gonna fight me now too, huh? cause you couldn't take jonathan byers, so i wouldn't recommend that."

steve then got in the car, and sped away, ignoring tommy's shouts outside.

back at the police station, hopper loaded everyone into his car, and explained that they were going to the wheeler's.

when they arrived, he hopped out, using his binoculars to watch the vans loading up anything to do with this missing girl that y/n had just learned about.

nancy got out of the car, and y/n followed her, eager to help comfort her friend.

"i have to go home!" nancy cried.

"you can't." hopper told her.

"my mom... my dad, they're in there." she said.

"they're gonna be okay."

nancy started walking off in the direction of her home.

"nance, don't do it." y/n called after her. hop grabbed her arm.

"hey, listen to me. the last in the world that we need is them knowing that you're mixed up in all this."

"mike is over there!"

"they haven't found him, not yet at least." he pointed to a helicopter in the sky.

"for mike?" nancy asked, appalled.

"come on, get in the car."

y/n grabbed nancy, and led her back to the car, squeezing her hand.

"look, we need to find them before they do." hopper explained from the front seat. "do you have any idea where they might've gone?"

"no, i don't."

"i need you to think."

"i don't know, we haven't talked a lot, i mean, lately..."

"i have an idea." y/n spoke, suddenly.

"what?" hopper asked.

"well, i don't know where he is, but i know how to ask him." she explained. she remembered the walkie-talkies that will always had laying around. often times they were in her way.

the group sped back to the byers house once y/n had informed them of her plan. she hopped out of the car as quickly as possible, everyone else hot on her tail. nancy seemed dumbfounded as she stepped through the doorway, where none of the others were even phased by the havoc that had occured in the room.

y/n burst through will's bedroom door, her and jonathan starting to dig through drawers. their search was cut off by joyce shouting that she had found it from under will's bed.

"go on, nancy. find him." y/n nodded as her mom handed nancy the walkie.

she hesitated for a moment before pressing the button and speaking. "mike?" she called. "are you there, mike?"

silence.

"mike, it's me, nancy! are you there?" she asked again. "mike, we need you to answer."

still nothing.

"this is an emergency, mike. do you copy? i need you to answer. we need to know that you're there, mike!"

y/n watched nancy fall deeper into distress as hopper swiped the walkie from her hand.

"listen, kid, this is the chief. if you're there, pick up." he demanded. "we know you're in trouble and we know about the girl. we can protect you, we can help you, but you gotta pick up. are you there? do you copy? over."

when the machine still fell quiet, hopper slammed it down on the dresser. y/n felt embarrassed that her plan hadn't worked out. however, the feeling was cut short when a voice crackled through.

"yeah, i copy. it's mike, i'm here." it said. "we're here."

mike confirmed his location, and hopper rushed out the door to pick them up. nancy tried to follow but was forced back inside.

as the sun went down, the three byers plus nancy were expected to sit on the couch and wait. impatiently, of course.

finally, a light shone through the window and the familiar sound of crunching gravel accompanied it.

the group ran out the front door, and saw mike getting out of the car alongside three other kids and the chief.

"oh my god, mike!" nancy engulfed him in a hug.

y/n smiled at dustin and lucas, and the small girl whom she didn't know yet.

nancy seemed to have noticed her too, asking, "is that my dress?"

the girl was small and fragile, wearing one of nancy's old pink dressed with a blue jacket on top. what intrigued y/n the most was her lack of hair. when she looked at this girl, she saw will. she saw a scared little kid. she immediately felt the need to comfort her, a maternal instinct per se.

the chief led everyone back into the byers house where mike started explained everything that his group had figured out.

after mike had used the analogy of a flea and an acrobat, and they had established that hopper had seen a gate to this world, y/n felt the need to add her story.

"i... i've seen it too." she started.

everyone turned to her.

"well, uh, i guess i didn't see the same gate that you two are talking about, but i saw this other one, in a tree."

"a tree?" dustin gaped.

"yeah, i went through it, actually, and i saw the monster there."

"you went through it?" lucas shrieked.

"why would you do that?" joyce asked her daughter.

"well, we were looking for the monster, to kill it, and i saw that portal thing. i thought it would be in there, and i was right. and i knew then that will was in there too. i could just tell."

joyce seemed in shock, but asked the girl, eleven, "is there anyway that you could reach will? that you could talk to him in this-"

"the upside down." eleven corrected her, nodding.

"and our friend, barbara, could you find her too?" nancy asked, hopefully.

eleven nodded again.

they all quickly moved to the table, where the girl was going to attempt to find barb. jonathan brought out the photo he had of her, setting it down in front of eleven next to the one of will. she closed her eyes after turning on the walkie.

the static rang and the lights flickered.

"i'm sorry." she murmured.

"what.. what's wrong?" joyce stammered.

"i can't find them." eleven cried, voice breaking.

joyce's lips quivered, nancy hiding her face in her hands, and jonathan moving to stand next to y/n.

once eleven had excused herself to the bathroom, y/n whispered to jonathan.

"i really don't know if we're gonna find him anymore, jon." y/n's voice cracked.

for once, jonathan had nothing to say in the form of comfort.

mike began to tell them that her battery was probably just drained from using her powers so much earlier.

"well, how can we make her better?" y/n asked.

"we don't, we just have to wait and try again." mike told her.

"well, how long?" nancy asked, impatient.

"i don't know." he shrugged.

"the bath." a quiet voice spoke from behind them. it was her.

"what?" joyce asked.

"i can find them. in the bath." eleven explained.

a plan had been made, and the process had begun.

dustin called mr. clarke while the others waited around him.

"alright, yep, we'll be careful. i'll see you on monday, mr. clarke." dustin hung up. "do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?" he asked y/n's mom.

"i think so, yeah." she answered. y/n knew it was still in the shed.

"good, then we just need salt. lots of it."

"how much is lots?" hopper questioned.

dustin reviewed his notes before stating, "1,500 pounds."

"well, where are we gonna get that much salt?" nancy scoffed.

"the school." hopper answered. "let's go."

at his words, everyone stood and started loading back up into the cars. before she left, y/n gazed the picture of will sitting on the table. now, more than ever, she felt the guilt. the guilt of telling him he needed to bike home all so that she could make out with her boyfriend. ugh, now the memories of what had happened earlier that day were coming rushing back and the pain in her wrist from slapping him started up again.

as she looked at will's big eyes, she promised herself that they were going to find him. for real.

"y/n, you coming?" nancy called out.

"yeah, sorry." she shrugged her jacket back on, and ran out the door, loading up into her car.

when they got to the school, they all split into groups, y/n going with her mom and eleven to help her prep for the bath. she helped her mom tape up some goggles to keep the room dark.

"these will keep it dark like your other bathtub." she explained, showing them to eleven, who just nodded.

"you're a very brave girl." joyce told her. "you know that, don't you? everything you're doing for my boy, for will... for my family... thank you." she finished.

eleven smiled slightly, then looked at y/n. y/n smiled back.

"listen." joyce took her hands. "we are going to be there with you the whole time. and if it ever gets too scary in that... in that place, you just let me know, okay?"

"yes." she answered.

"are you ready?" y/n spoke softly, placing a hand on her shoulder.

she sat up straighter, took a deep breath, and said one word. "ready."

it took some grueling effort, but eleven now laid in the pool with everyone surrounding her. dustin and lucas on one side, hopper and joyce behind her, and nancy, jonathan, y/n, and mike on the other side.

as she began to float, the lights flickered off, leaving them in a dark gym. y/n grabbed jonathan's hand to the right of her and nancy's to the left.

eleven was starting with barb, and y/n hated to admit it, but she hadn't been thinking of her much during all of this. everything was about will, and then it became about steve, and then it was back to will. of course, y/n hoped they could find her friend as well, and she felt extra guilty that she hadn't been putting more thought into it.

the lights began to flicker again, turning off completely that time.

"what's going on?" nancy asked her brother.

"i don't know." he responded.

"is barb okay? is she okay?" nancy raised her voice at eleven.

"gone!" she started to say nervously. "gone!"

nancy raised her other hand to her mouth, tears starting to form in her eyes.

y/n sucked in a sharp breath, thinking back to how the last time she had ever seen one of her best friends was a dismissive goodbye as she rushed upstairs to hang out with nancy and steve.

but, her thoughts were now on will again, wondering if this meant he was gone as well.

y/n couldn't bear to watch her mom comfort the girl floating in the pool, so she squeezed both jon and nance's hands tighter and clasped her eyes shut.

"castle byers." she heard, and opened them back up again, looking at jon. the day they had made castle byers was one of the most memorable ones in her life.

her breath came out shaky as eleven spoke, "will."

she looked at her brother, their eyes meeting and hope shimmering inside of them. then, she looked at nancy, tears still formed but excitement over will being okay present as well.

"you tell him... tell him i'm coming." her mom spoke.

"hurry." will's voice came over the radio.

"oh my god." y/n whispered, a single tear running down her cheek at the sound of her baby brother's voice.

hurry.

"listen, tell him to stay where he is. we're coming, we're coming okay?"

low growling and panting played through the walkie as eleven shot up out of the pool. she clung onto joyce's arm as her noise gushed blood.

the boys then helped eleven get out of the pool, drying her off on the bleachers.

"so, this fort, where is it?" hopper asked the byers family.

"it's in the woods, behind our house." y/n answered him, helping her mom get her coat on.

"he used to go there, to hide." jonathan added, nodding.

hopper started walking away, and the byers looked at each other in confusion, following him.

"hey, get back inside." he told them once he had noticed they followed him out to his car.

"are you kidding?" y/n scoffed.

"look, if something happens to me, i don't make it back-" he began.

"yeah, well, then i'll go, you stay! are you insane? he's my son, hop, my son! i'm going." joyce argued.

she turned back towards her kids.

"listen, i need you to stay here. and watch over the kids" she told them, placing a hand on each of their shoulders.

"mom..." they both protested.

"no, mom, i can help!" jonathan told her.

"please." she cried. "i need you two to stay, please." she pulled them in for a quick hug, and y/n hoped deep down that it wouldn't be the last one.

"joyce!" hopper started rushing her.

"i'm gonna find him."

and then y/n's mother walked off and got into the chief's truck, leaving jonathan and her in the dust.

as they turned to go back inside, y/n noticed nancy sitting against a wall, staring ahead. she rushed to sit down next to her, ready to talk about barb.

nancy didn't flinch when the byers sat down on either side of her.

"we have to go back to the station." she said softly.

"what?" jonathan asked her.

"your mom and hopper are just walking in there like bait. that thing is still in there. and we can't just sit here and let it get them too." she explained.

"you're right." y/n agreed. "so you still wanna try it out?"

"i want to finish what we started." nancy finally looked at them. " i want to kill it."

"so we will." y/n said.

and as they left the school, leaving the kids unprotected, y/n knew that what they were going to do was the right thing. for will, but mostly for barb.

a/n: thank you for reading this far!! if you'd like to join the taglist then let me know, and do the same if you find any grammatical/spelling errors. additionally, please continue to comment your thoughts on the story, it is my favorite part of writing this for you!! i hope you enjoyed this chapter, and i love you guys <3

y/n could hear her brother's voice screaming alongside her best friends. they were screaming her name. she couldn't find them, even though their voices sounded so close. she was in the woods, but the sky seemed blue. and where had that creature gone that she had seen just a moment ago?

"jonathan!" she shouted. "nancy!"

where were they??

"where are you?" she screamed again.

"we're right here!" nancy's voice echoed back at her.

"follow my voice!" jonathan added.

the byers girl made her way through the woods, attempting to follow jonathan's voice, when she was met with the monster, face to face. she let out a shrill scream, immediately running away from the thing.

she hid the best she could behind a slimy tree, the goo dripping down her back and into her hair.

the monster chirped from somewhere she couldn't see.

y/n byers knew her little brother was in this place somewhere. the monster had taken him, god knows why, and hopefully barb was in there too.

the second she heard its footsteps fade, jonathan's voice called out again, attracting her attention back towards the tree she had ventured through prior.

when she deemed it safe, she started making her way towards the hole, climbing through the fastest she could. her shoulder hit a sharp piece of bark sticking out, digging into her shoulder. y/n assumed it drew blood and sucked in a breath. she didn't feel like she would get past the wood without help, so she stuck her hand out, hoping it would get through the portal, and jonathan or nancy would be able to grab it.

as she did so, she felt slightly warmer air touching her palm. she knew her hand had gone through.

"jonathan!" she shouted, shaking her hand in hopes that he would grab it. her eyes were shut in fear that the creature would come up behind her and snatch her by the legs.

then, she felt her brother's hand on hers, pulling her towards him. eventually, she made it out of the alternate forest, sobbing into jonathan's shoulder, her own in immense pain.

"what happened?" nancy cried, gripping her arm gently.

"i don't know." y/n admitted, hissing in pain at her shoulder. as she pulled away from jonathan, she turned to look back at the tree she had come out of, where there was no longer a hole.

"no, no." she shook her head in defeat. "will's in there, i know it." she cried. "how are we going to get him?"

"we'll get him, don't worry." jonathan told her. "but we need to take care of this."

he gestured at the skin between her shoulder and chest, which had been torn open through her shirt, and was spilling blood. y/n wished that it wouldn't get further infected by the gross goo oozing from her hair and clothes.

she nodded, taking nancy's hand to stand up, and followed them quickly out of the woods.

to y/n, it felt like an infinite walk back to the wheeler's, one full of extreme danger.

that creature could be lurking behind any one of the countless trees. any sound that came from the forest made her flinch, to which her brother or nancy would try to calm her down.

once they had safely made it back to the wheeler's, y/n and nancy quickly snuck up to her room to avoid questioning, and jonathan snuck in through the window attached to her room.

nancy led y/n to her bathroom, where she showered carefully, avoiding further injury to her shoulder. nancy sat on the toilet so that she wouldn't have to feel alone.

when y/n got out and was all toweled up, nancy helped bandage her wound. they did so in silence, before returning to nancy's bedroom.

when they walked through the door, they were met with jonathan rolling out a sleeping bag from nancy's closet.

"i figured we were staying here." he shrugged.

"yeah, of course you guys can." nancy replied.

"are you feeling any better?" jonathan asked his sister.

"a little." she said softly. "do you mind if i make a phone call? in private?"

"oh, sure." nancy furrowed her brows.

"i just need to talk to my mom." y/n told them.

"right, okay, but do call mom." jonathan said, rolling his eyes and seeing through his sister's lies.

nancy looked at them confusedly before her and jonathan walked out. as they did, he whispered in her ear. "she's calling steve." to which nancy smiled and nodded in understanding.

y/n sat down on nancy's bed, ready to make the quick phone call. she dialed his number.

"hello?" his voice answered.

"hi, steve." she sighed.

"oh, hi, baby." he replied. "feel like we've been doing a lot of calling lately." he joked, unaware of what had happened that night.

"right, yeah." y/n frowned. "sorry about that."

"no, no, it's all good. you've been dealing with a lot of shit." he explained.

y/n remembered that just earlier that day had been will's "funeral". it felt like a lifetime ago now.

"did you rethink that movie? it's a little late but i bet there's a midnight showing of something." steve brought up his earlier offer to take y/n, nancy, and jonathan to see all the right moves.

"no, uh, actually, i need to tell you something." she told him shakily.

"what's wrong? are you okay?" he asked immediately. steve had a good sense of when his girlfriend was upset.

"um, well.." she let out a small laugh. "you're gonna think i'm kinda crazy, but do you remember how nancy told you she thought she saw a masked man or something in your yard?"

"yeah?" he replied.

"well, jon, nance, and i went out to practically hunt that thing. we're pretty sure it's responsible for will and barb's disappearance."

"what? what, i don't underst-" steve started, getting cut off by y/n.

"just let me finish, okay?" her voice shook. "so, we went hunting, that's what we were practicing for earlier, actually, and i found this tree with this sticky hole in it. it was like a portal, and i made the decision to climb through it, which took me to another forest, but the sky was darker, and... and, this monster that was in the photo and that my mom keeps saying she saw was there. it was really there." she let out a deep breath.

"y/n..." steve trailed off. he had been with y/n for awhile now, knowing her common use of alcohol to numb pain, and assumed she was going crazy from the amount she had drank that evening.

"steve, i promise you, i'm not going crazy, and i'm not drinking. i promise." she tried to persuade him.

he didn't believe her.

"okay, honey. that's.. uh, really scary. but, your brother, he uh, he's probably out there, and you're gonna find him." steve lied straight through his teeth. hell, he had been at the funeral earlier that day!

but it was all that y/n needed to hear in that moment. reassurance from someone other than her brother or nancy that they were going to find will.

so she believed his shitty lie.

"thanks, steve." she sniffled. "hey, nancy's waiting on me, so i better go."

"okay, sweetheart. uh, get some rest, okay?"

"yeah, you too, love you." y/n smiled.

"love you too."

then he hung up and for the first time in a long time, the pair didn't make plans to see each other the next day.

before she forgot, she quickly dialed her home phone, hoping her mom would pick up.

"hello?" a deep voice answered. y/n could tell it was hopper's.

"oh, hi, hopper, it's y/n." she told him. "is everything okay?" she asked, wondering if the reason hop was at the house was because something new with will had come up.

"could be better, but yeah, where are you kids?" he asked.

"jon and i are at nancy's. we're spending the night, so you can tell my mom that we're alright, okay?" she explained.

"sure, kid. have a good night."

when both phone calls had been made, she opened nancy's bedroom door, revealing her and jonathan standing right outside.

"i'm done." she smiled, allowing the two to re-enter.

nancy quickly changed into her pajamas, and allowed y/n to borrow some, while jonathan stood still outside the doorway, and then the three of them climbed into bed.

well, jonathan climbed into his sleeping bag, while nancy and y/n climbed into her bed.

" do you want the lights off or..." jonathan spoke up, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"on." both y/n and nancy replied.

"you know, it can't get us in here." jonathan told his sister.

"we don't know that." y/n replied, before closing her eyes, and wandering off to sleep.

y/n tossed and turned for the entire night, fading in and out of sleep. however, every time that she did successfully fall asleep, visions of the monsters and the weird forest flooded her brain.

she grew restless by the early morning, and turned over to face nancy. when she did so, nancy opened her eyes.

y/n whispered, "oh, sorry. i didn't mean to wake you up."

"don't worry, i couldn't sleep either." nancy smiles softly.

"hey, do you have any books on animals in here?" y/n asked.

nancy hopped up quietly, and ran down to her basement quickly. when she returned a moment later, she carried two books on predators and prey.

for a few hours, y/n and nancy whispered back and forth, talking about what they had both seen and what that creature could possibly be.

by late morning, jonathan was awake as well.

"couldn't sleep?" he sat up from the floor, moving to sit on the end of the bed.

"no." y/n shook her head. "not when i know that thing is still out there. listen, jon." she started. "nancy and i did some research. we think that it lives in that place, wherever that tree took me. it fed on the deer there, so."

"yeah, and that means that if will and barbara..." nancy got choked up before she could finish her sentence.

jonathan leaned forward towards the girls.

"hey," he said to nancy. "our mom said she talked to will. if he's alive, then there's a chance that barbara is too."

"that means that she's trapped... in that place..." nancy frowned.

"we have to find it again." y/n decided, making both of them turn towards her.

"you really wanna go back out there?" jonathan looked at her.

"well, we might not have to." she corrected him. "listen, when i saw it, it was feeding on that deer, which means its a predator, right?"

the others nodded.

"and it seems to hunt at night like a lion or a coyote." y/n pointed to the book that lay open on nancy's bed.

"but it doesn't hunt in packs like them." nancy nodded.

"right, it's always alone, like... like a bear. and nance, remember at steve's when barb cut herself?"

"of course." nancy responded. "and last night, the deer..."

"was bleeding too." jonathan finished.

"one sec." nancy grabbed the other book, opening to the page they had seen about sharks. "sharks can detect blood in one part per million. that's one drop of blood in a million, and they can smell it from a quarter mile away." she read.

"so you guys are saying it can detect blood?" jonathan asked them.

"it's just a theory." they both responded.

"well, we could test it... but if it works..." he shook his head.

"at least we'll know it's coming." nancy reassured him.

then, the doorknob rattled, startling the three of them.

y/n watched as her brother and best friend grabbed hands out of fear.

"honey, are you up?" mrs. wheeler said from behind her bedroom door.

the three of them let out sighs of relief.

"yeah, i'm- uh, i'm getting dressed." nancy stammered back.

"i made some blueberry pancakes!" mrs. wheeler called out.

"i'll be down in a second."

the three of them waiting until the footsteps had fully receded, jonathan and nancy dropped each others hands, and then he said,

"your mom doesn't knock?"

the two byers kids quickly snuck out of nancy's window, y/n a bit slower due to her shoulder, while nancy got dressed for the day. jonathan rewore his outfit from the night before, while y/n borrowed another outfit from nancy. she had a lot of laundry to do once this was all over.

the three of them eventually loaded up into one car before driving downtown to the weapon shop.

taking advantage of the 30% off autumn sale, the three of them stocked up on as many different violent devices as they possibly could. anything that could be useful in destroying this thing, they grabbed it.

after thirty minutes of wandering around the store, they moved towards the check out counter to pay for the assortment of stuff they had grabbed.

y/n was aware as they pulled everything out of the baskets that they probably looked insane. screw it, she thought. she had experienced plenty of that.

"and i'll have four boxes of the .38s" jonathan told the man working behind the counter.

he looked at the kids in shock, who stared back seriously.

"what you kids doin' with all this?" the man asked.

"uh..." y/n scratched the back of her neck while looking at jonathan.

"monster hunting." nancy told him.

well, nancy wheeler wasn't anything if not factual.

the man scoffed before checking them out.

once everything was paid for, they carried their haul out to the car, loading it into the trunk.

"monster hunting?" jonathan laughed as they exited.

nancy smiled. "you know, last week, y/n and i were shopping for a new top we thought steve might like. it took us and barb all weekend, it seemed like life or death, y'know?" she glanced at y/n who smiled at the irony and everything that had changed since then.

"and now you're shopping for bear traps with jonathan byers." he chuckled.

"yeah." nancy let out a breath.

"what's the weirdest part?" y/n chimed in.

"yeah. me or the bear trap?" jonathan asked.

"you. definitely you." nancy laughed, making the rest of them laugh as well.

unfortunately, their moment of fun was ruined by a red car driving by and honking.

"hey, princess!" a guy in the passenger seat shouted.

y/n instinctually turned, used to the nickname.

"can't wait to see your movie." he winked before the car drove off.

"what the hell was that?" her brother asked.

"i have no idea." y/n shrugged.

behind her, nancy had turned to face the hawk movie theater.

"um, y/n?" she said, voice cracking.

y/n turned and saw what she was looking at, immediately taking off in the direction of the theater.

jonathan ran after the girls, shouting out "where are you going?"

up on the marquee, right below the ad for all the right moves, lay an ad for a flashback screening of psycho. but below that, in red spray paint, read, "starring queen y/n byers"

her brows furrowed at the joke, not understanding who would write that. sure, she had been called crazy plenty of times, and so had the rest of her family, but what had she done to get her name written under psycho?

noises coming from the alleyway next to the theater attracted her attention.

she walked over, anger in each step, and saw tommy, carol, nicole and steve, testing out spray paint in the alley.

"what the fuck is this?" she shouted at them.

"awe, hey there princess." carol laughed.

y/n thought that carol was somewhat a friend, so this attitude confused her.

"oh, look who it is. the crazy queen." tommy taunted.

tears welled in y/n's eyes.

"uh oh, she looks upset." tommy said in a baby voice.

nancy and jonathan had come up behind her.

as y/n looked in steve's eyes and saw little regret, she let her anger get the best of her and slapped him straight across the face.

gasps came from the crowd.

"what is wrong with you? did you do this?" she asked her boyfriend.

"no, it was tommy." he spat out.

"oh, but you clearly let him do it!" y/n gestured towards tommy and his spray paint.

"what, you think you can go all psycho on the phone blabbing about some monster and we won't think you're crazy?" tommy let out another laugh.

"oh, so you told them." y/n looked at steve again, her heart dropping.

"i mean, babe, come on." steve laughed. "you said it yourself, you did kinda sound crazy last night."

"i trusted you." y/n frowned.

"awe, the princess's crown is tipping." carol mocked.

"listen, i was just telling them because it sounded unbelievable, okay? you didn't want to hang out so i got with carol and tommy, then you called. it's not that big of a deal." steve tried to explain.

"but you know i hate people talking about me like this. about my family. for gods sake, my brother had a funeral yesterday, steve, and you're letting these assholes write shit about your own girlfriend on a sign in the middle of town?" y/n started to raise her voice.

"i don't-"

"you don't what, steve?"

"gosh, i mean, your family's a disaster, your brother is missing, yet somehow, i'm the one getting yelled at? classic."

"screw you, steve." y/n spat.

"you already did, sweetheart." steve smirked.

after his last line was let out, jonathan couldn't hold back anymore. ever since he was a kid, he always played defender for his sister. even when she didn't need it.

on the playground, he would fight back against bossy bullies, which would usually end in them picking on him, and y/n fighting back in the end. no matter what, he tried his best to stick up for his older sister.

so, when steve said his nasty comment, jonathan initally held back, but tried to diffuse the situation.

"let's go, y/n. this idiot doesn't deserve your time anymore." he grabbed her shoulder, beginning to lead his sister away, before steve grabbed his shoulder in response.

"y'know what byers, your a psycho too. you're just a big screw up from a family of screw ups." steve said to jonathan. "oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that house is just full of screw ups. i mean, your mom..."

nancy and y/n tried to get jonathan to walk away, no matter how hurtful the words were to y/n.

"i'm not even surprised what happened to your brother."

that was it for y/n. she stopped in her tracks, but before she could do it, jonathan punched steve instead.

the crowd around them fell silent in shock.

steve almost instantly lunged back, throwing jonathan to the ground. the group was no longer silent, a mix of "yeah, get him!"s and "stop it!"'s.

y/n was stuck between encouraging jonathan to beat steve's ass and demanding that steve stop hurting her brother.

eventually, the obnoxious back and forth bickering was halted by sirens moving closer in the background.

"cops!" tommy shouted.

by the time the cop cars had pulled up in the alleyway, jonathan was on top of steve, repeatedly busting his nose open.

"jonathan, get off of him!" y/n yelled, more in fear of his getting arrested than steve's face.

the fighting kept going as callahan and powell appeared, the former getting accidentally struck down in the mix of the fighting.

in the end, powell was able to pin jonathan to the cop car, while steve got away.

for a moment, he looked back at y/n, hoping she would come with him. but as she looked at him in disgust and surprise, his heart filled with regret at what he had let tommy do and what he had said to both byers.

he didn't know if he was ever going to see y/n byers again.

a/n: okay yayyyy the next chapter is finally out. i'm hoping to get the next out asap while i am still motivated from this one... let me know if you'd like to join the taglist and pls keep commenting your thoughts on the story! it makes me so happy to see what you guys think :) ily!

taglist: @ethereallyastral @femurgetokill @loser-vile @marajade888 @pillkits @cozyfqwn @heartheejake @niasbubble @cherryheairt @sired4urmama @matrixmoxi @brxght-world @sanaxo-o @cheetoscmj @harry-luver @multifandombliss @sunsetenthralled @nchhuhi @readinf @gigrat @k3mtyfriox @mrspossessiveleclerc @urm0msoldcar @mercy0000 @mystargirl-interlude @olivia21blunt @gennywennypenny @onlyangel-444 @zuncorvemi @kathypellar @khumiko @marvelousstorm @onefootinthepast @ilovechanyeol16 @counterst1ke @the8thsky @faithsturniolo @mellarkslovergirl @helaenabugmom @cherryrulestheworld @mannstarkey @lortheswiftie @fantastucbaby @michael-loves-chickens @counterstr1ke @jadoredjo @elodiebeau @lilsteveharrington @anti-3lvva @serena6728

after a silent ride home to the wheeler's, i tried to pull max aside and discuss what the hell had just happened. if i truly did have this curse too, i wanted to be prepared to experience the floating that she just had.

"max, hey." i grabbed her arm as she trailed behind the rest of the group. "can we talk?"

"about what?" she wouldn't make eye contact with me as she spoke.

"uh, i think you know." i let out a small laugh.

"i don't really want to talk about it right now." she told me.

"right, totally understandable." i nodded, furrowing my brows. "it's just... i kinda wanted to know what happened since i have this thing too, y'know?"

she nodded. "i don't want to talk about it." she walked back into the house.

so, i guessed that i wasn't going to get an answer from her. at least not that night.

we made our way down to the basement, the rest of the family asleep, and found our respective places on the couch and floor. i was sleeping next to steve, head in his lap.

except, i couldn't fall asleep. not with my mind being consumed from every direction.

if i wasn't thinking about vecna, i was thinking about el. how was her spring break? how were mike and will? joyce? jonathan? what were they doing and why couldn't we reach them?

if i wasn't thinking about my extended family, i was thinking about my dad. gosh, i was always thinking about my dad, especially in hawkins. i couldn't escape his face, not with the curse providing images of him to me.

i curled tighter into steve's lap, trying to coax myself to sleep like i would a baby as his hand ran through my hair. i could tell he was approaching sleep, so i didn't wake him to talk. i glanced at nancy, who also seemed to be asleep, robin the same. the only person i really wanted to talk to was max, but we know how that went before.

i looked over at her, her headphones tight around her head playing kate bush. i suddenly felt like i needed music too, just to be safe. i quietly maneuvered myself out of the basement, walking slowly to nancy's room. i dug through her tapes to find madonna, and placed it in the walkman that i had in my bag.

just to be safe.

the next morning, i awoke to a voice coming from dustin's walkie. i hadn't been woken up in the night for the so-called "max watch" since technically that involved watching over me too.

"earth to dustin." the walkie spoke. i watched to see if anybody else was going to move towards it, and was met with absolute stillness.

i took it upon myself to respond to the voice that i had now recognized to be eddie's, moving carefully off of steve's lap and over to where the walkie sat.

"hey, it's y/n, what's up?" i asked, a crackle in my voice.

"hopper! hey, i'm gonna need a food delivery real soon, unless you want me going out into the world..." eddie informed me.

i sighed. "no, stay there. we'll bring you some stuff, we'll be there as soon as we can." i promised.

"yeah, yeah, yeah, listen." eddie spoke again. "could you pick me up a six-pack?" he asked, causing me to roll my eyes. "i know it's stupid as shit drinking right now, but a cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves."

i glanced around the room as he spoke, hoping that my companions would wake up, when i noticed max wasn't asleep on the couch anymore. in fact, she wasn't on the couch at all. my heart raced as i spoke to eddie.

"yeah, i'll see what i can do. listen, i'm gonna need to call you back." i instantly turned the walkie off, running over to dustin who i assumed was supposed to be watching for her. i shook him awake.

"dustin!" i whispered loudly. "wake up."

"what?' he drooled.

"aren't you supposed to be watching max and i?" i asked him firmly.

"yep, yep, yep, yep." he rubbed his eyes quickly, apologizing.

"well, where is she then?" i asked.

"she's right there... a second ago. i swear, i just dozed off for.." he glanced at his watch. "an hour!"

he shot up as my eyes widened, and we ran up the stairs to check for her. the smell of breakfast welcomed me as i saw her at the wheeler's dining table.

"morning, sleepy-heads!" mrs. wheeler greeted us as we both let out deep breaths. "everything okay?"

"yeah, everything's okay." i smiled at her, attracting max's attention.

"i just think it's so sweet that you guys are sticking together like this." she told us.

"could try sticking together at a different house for a change." mr. wheeler replied.

"oh, you know, mr. wheeler, your home just wins us back everytime." i joked, making him crack a small smile.

"you know you're welcome here anytime." mrs. wheeler corrected him.

"totally. you're like family." dustin told her. "may i?" he pointed to a pancake.

"absolutely!" she sung, handing him a plate. she offered one to me too, but i declined politely, too on edge to eat.

i walked over and sat down next to max. she quickly pulled her headphones off of her ears. i could hear kate bush playing softly through the speaker.

"hey." she said quietly, embarassed.

"are you okay?" i smiled gently.

she shrugged. "just couldn't sleep. people kept blasting music in my ears for some reason."

i laughed. "oh, yeah, i had some too."

"but, holly let me borrow some of her crayons." she told me. "we've been having a fun morning, right, holly?"

i looked across the table where the youngest wheeler sat, pigtails high, playing with her lite-brite. she made a sound of approval, focused on her toy.

i then looked at max's many drawings.

"this is what you saw last night, right?" i asked her, looking at the grim red world she had been drawing.

"i mean, it's supposed to be." she replied. "i thought it'd be easier to draw it out than to explain it but, not so much." she sighed.

"i only saw a little bit." i shook my head. "but this looks pretty spot on."

i then noticed a drawing where there were two distorted bodies hanging on what looked like pillars. "are those..." i trailed off.

"it was like they were on display." max confirmed. "and then this red fog was everywhere, it was like a dream."

"a nightmare." we said at the same time.

"yeah, i've been having my fair share of them." i nodded. "do you think maybe vecna's just trying to scare us?" i asked, hopeful.

"with billy? yeah. but when i made it here, i dunno, something was different. he seemed surprised, almost. like he didn't want me there."

dustin sat down at the table then, and nancy made her way into the kitchen, having just woken up. she probably got worried when she saw we were both gone. i watched as her face relaxed when she spotted us, and sat down next to me. her eyes scanned over max's drawings.

"maybe you infiltrated his mind." dustin suggested. "he invaded your mind, right? is it that big a leap to suggest you somehow wound up in his? like freddy kreuger's boiler room."

"freddy kreuger?" holly questioned.

"he's a super burned up dude, with razors for fingers, and he kills you in your dreams." dustin explained.

"dustin, seriously?" i cut him off, concerned for the child's innocence.

"sorry. it's a movie. it's not real." dustin quickly reassured holly.

she went back to her lite-brite.

"just... think about it. what if you somehow unlocked a backdoor to vecna's world? like, maybe the answer we're looking for is somewhere in this incredibly vague drawing. god, we need will."

"tell me about it." i replied. "have we been able to reach them?"

"no, i tried it again this morning and it's the same busy signal." max explained.

nancy took the drawing that dustin was holding and asked, "is this a window?"

"yeah." max said.

"stained glass with roses." nancy detailed.

"yeah, see? i'm not that terrible after all." she joked.

"yeah, well it helps that i've seen it before." nancy told us. i looked at her in confusion and concern. had she been having visions too?

she folded the drawing in half and started shuffling the papers around to make a design. the three of us watched her concentratedly as she worked.

"it's pieces of a house." max finally spoke.

"not just any house." nancy corrected her. "it's victor creel's house." she stood.

"where are you going?" dustin asked her, mouth full.

"waking the others."

i ran a hand through my hair - my messy hair from last night of not brushing it - as she left the room.

we all stood and followed her back down to the basement.

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after waking the others up, and some brief explanation, we all loaded into nancy's car, and drove to the edge of town. there, sat the creel house, a run down, blue mansion.

i hopped out of the car, walkman in my pocket, and gazed at it. the energy i felt there was like nowhere before.

the seven of us moved up the stairs towards the front, looking at it still.

"yeah, that's not creepy." steve finally commented.

we kept moving towards the front door, steve using a hammer we had brought to remove the nails holding the board onto the door.

"what exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?" he asked.

"nancy is confident, so i'm confident." i told him.

"thanks, y/n." she smiled. "well, we're not sure what we're looking for," she told steve. "we just know this house is important to vecna."

"because max saw it in vecna's red soup mind world?" he asked.

"yep." i ended that conversation.

"great."

"maybe it holds a clue to where vecna is." dustin added. "why he's back. why he killed the creels. how to stop him before he comes back for max or y/n."

"we don't think he's in here, do we?" lucas asked.

an uncomfortable silence fell before max said, "guess we'll find out."

nancy and steve had finished unboarding the door, as i stood next to robin, and they pulled it off.

their efforts revealed a dusty, grimy, old stained glass door.

when i laid eyes on it, my vision flickered red, and i was momentarily transported back to that world from last night. i blinked, hoping it would clear my eyes as if an eyelash was stuck. luckily, for the time being, it did.

steve tried to open the door. "it's locked. should i knock, see if anybody's home?"

"no need." robin said from behind me. i hadn't seen her pick it up, but she was now holding a brick, ready to throw. "i found a key!"

steve took it from her, afraid of her aim, and tossed it through the stained glass. he then reached through the new hole, opening the door.

it creaked open as we all filed in one by one.

lucas fiddled with a lamp, "looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill." he joked.

we all held up our flashlights, luckily coming in preparation.

"where'd everyone get those?" steve asked, looking between dustin and i.

"do you need to be told everything? you're not a child." dustin asked in response.

i let out a small laugh, taking steve's hand.

"we can share." i told him.

we started to look through the rooms, cobwebs and dust coating the many items that had been left behind.

"they just left everything." nancy commented.

"guess a triple homicide isn't good for resale value." robin jested.

"hey, guys?" max called. i turned my head to see what she had found, and my heart dropped when i spotted the grandfather clock in the corner. "you all see that, right?" she asked.

"well, i certainly do." i said.

"is that what you guys saw?" nancy wondered. "in your visions?"

max nodded, and i did too. steve clutched my hand tighter.

"i mean, it's just a clock, right?" robin said, moving closer to it. she brushed the layer of dust off it. "just a normal old clock."

"why's this wizard obsessed with clocks?" steve questioned. "maybe he's like a clockmaker, or something?"

"i think you cracked the case, steve." dustin rolled his eyes.

"all i know is the answers are here. somewhere." nancy promised. "okay, everybody stay in groups of two." she ordered. "robin, upstairs. dustin, go with y/n and steve."

"aye-aye, captain." i smiled.

max and lucas ran off to the living room as the other girls walked upstairs.

steve sighed when he saw dustin, somehow sad that the kid had crashed what he was acting like was a date night.

"was that a sigh?" dustin caught on.

"no, i did not sigh." steve sighed again.

"why'd you sigh?"

"i didn't sigh, just come on dude."

"i heard you."

"all right, enough about the sigh." i cut them off, sighing myself.

we moved upstairs as well, going into a different section of the floor from nancy and robin. it really was a nice house. dustin led the pack, steve and i still clinging to each other behind him.

"hey, uh, henderson?" steve asked after a while of silence.

"yeah?"

"could you maybe, uh, clarify what kind of clues we're supposed to be looking for here?"

dustin stopped. "the world is full of obvious things, which nobody by any chance ever observes." he said, in a british accent.

"sherlock holmes." i smiled, when steve just stared.

dustin smiled back, happy that somebody got his reference.

"that's great." steve scoffed. "thanks, that's great. really helpful."

"steve, just keep looking. i think we'll know if we find something." i told him.

we took about two more steps forward before he stopped, letting go of my arm and crouching down by a vent.

"what is it?" i asked.

he didn't reply as he reached in and pulled out a jar. i could see that there were cobwebs and a dead spider inside.

"gross." i commented.

that's when i noticed the spider on his shoulder.

"steve!" i shouted.

he shot up, and i pointed at his shoulder. he looked and batted it off, stumbling backwards through some cobwebs and out a door. i chased after him, meeting him and nancy in the hall.

she was plucking cobwebs out of his hair. i watched the interaction.

"if there's a spider nesting in there you're never gonna find it till it lays eggs and babies spill out." robin stated, laughing.

"what's wrong with you?" steve asked her. "robin, seriously."

she moved into the next room, still laughing.

"she's got problems." steve told nancy.

"tell me about it."

"it's cool you all are like friends now." he said. "maybe after we find vecna, kill him, save the world and stuff, we can all go out. you know? me, y/n, you, robin, jonathan when he's back."

my attention again shifted to my sister and makeshift brothers. why weren't they picking up the phone?

"maybe we can find someone for robin to go with." i commented, looking at steve, who turned over his shoulder to look at me.

"okay, all done." nancy finished, brushing the cobwebs off her hands.

"thanks." steve smiled. "guess we should, uh, get back to the investigation. 'the obvious things are not what people observe.' or, do.. don't observe. or... sherlock holmes." he tried to quote.

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we were still there by the time night had fallen. we had all gathered up in the living room, staring at a flickering chandelier.

"it's like the christmas lights." i whispered.

"the christmas lights?" robin asked me. right, she hadn't been there for that part.

"yeah, uh, when will was in the upside down, the lights came to life." i explained briefly.

"vecna's here. in this house." lucas added. "just on the other side."

then, it flickered out. i gasped.

"i think he just left the room." robin said.

"did he hear us?" max looked at me frantically.

"can he see us?" steve looked at her.

"headphones." lucas demanded, and max threw them on. i pulled mine out too, loading the tape in.

"wait, wait." i could barely hear nancy over madonna, but her voice shone threw. "everyone turn off their flashlights and spread out."

we started to do as she said when steve commented. "we're not gonna be able to see if we turn off our flashlights." he stated obviously.

as we walked through the house in the dark, madonna sung cheery tunes in my ear. it didn't really match, but it helped to lighten the mood.

"i got him!" i heard robin faintly shout.

we all reconvened where she stood, and the light flickered in her flashlight before fading out.

"i had him." she frowned.

the flickers moved to steve's flashlight. "woah, i think he's moving." we followed the light to the top of the stairs before it flickered out.

"shit, i lost him." steve grimaced.

"no, you didn't." max corrected him, leading us to to the attic door, where the whole rooms lights were flashing.

i had serious flashbacks to the night that we fought the demogorgon at will's house. i did not want these flashbacks.

"hold up, guys. what if he's leading us into a trap?" dustin shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

we didn't listen and kept moving up.

at the center of the room, there hung a single bulb. it shone brightly, and so did all of our flashlights.

"guys... the flashlights." i brought attention to them.

when we all stood directly under the bulb, our flashlights shone brighter than ever.

"okay... what's happening?" steve asked, nervousness creeping into his voice.

after a moment, our lights shattered, and so did the bulb.

complete darkness filled the attic.

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a/n: ahh finally i'm getting this out! sorry it took forever! let me know if you found any grammatical/spelling errors, if you'd like to join the taglist, and what you're thinking of the story. thanks for reading like always!! love youuu

by the time y/n and jonathan made it home, their dad was inside. they stumbled through the door, on edge after the discovery they had made with nancy. they both stopped at the sight of their parents, together, sitting close on the couch.

y/n glanced at jonathan to make sure she wasn't imagining things. she knew that her brother had gone to talk to their father, but knew only that will was not at his house. he had not told her anything else of their conversation.

"hey, princess. hey, kid." he said, greeting his only daughter and eldest son, getting up to hug them.

"oh, hi dad." she said wrapping her arms around him reluctantly. jonathan refused the hug.

"what's going on?" he asked.

"your dad's gonna, uh, stay here tonight." joyce stammered, an exhausted expression in her eyes. "on the couch."

"yeah, i'm here as long as you guys need me, okay?" he told them, fake sincerity in his voice. "how are you holding up?"

jonathan was moving to the other side of the room before y/n could fully process the question. she followed after him as he lifted a blue tarp off of the wall, revealing a huge gash in the their house. y/n's heart dropped.

"mom, what happened?" she asked.

"don't worry about that." her dad tried to calm her.

"did that thing come back?" she asked again. "the thing you saw before. mom, did it come back?" she urged.

"y/n, that's enough." he silenced her. she shared another look with her brother, anger in both of their eyes.

"can we talk? alone?" jonathan spat out at his dad. lonnie nodded.

the youngest byers and their father moved to jonathan's room.

"you need to leave." jonathan told lonnie.

"look, i know you're upset. we all are. but you need to listen to me. your mother is sick. really sick." he tried to explain to his kids.

"yeah, well you being here, you're just making things worse like always."

"worse?"

"yeah."

y/n watched in silence, clutching her arms around herself as the two men fought. she seemed to be standing back in fights a lot lately, something that she wasn't used to doing.

"she took down that wall with an ax. she said that will was inside, that he's talkin' to her."

"maybe he was." y/n spoke up, the boys eyes turning to her.

"this isn't some kind of joke." lonnie looked her in the eyes. "your mom was half frozen to death when i got here. trembling, scared out of her mind. you come in here and start feeding into her hallucinations, or whatever the hell you want to call it, you're gonna push her over the edge."

"we're all scared, dad." she cried. lonnie's eyes softened.

"look, i'm on your side. i'm here to help, i'm gonna make things better around here for all of us." he promised.

y/n rolled her eyes and jonathan laughed. "oh, thank god you're here." he joked.

"do me a favor," lonnie replied. "at the funeral tomorrow, just behave. if not for me, for your mother."

the byers kids fell quiet as lonnie looked around jonathan's room. his eyes landed on his evil dead poster.

"take that down." he demanded, starting to walk out of the room. "it's inappropriate."

as their dad left the room, y/n looked at jonathan apologetically.

"don't you dare take it down." she told him. "it's perfect." her brother cracked a smile.

"night, jon." she smiled back, walking out of the room, and moving to her own. she got ready for bed before climbing under the covers. she knew she needed to call steve and tell him to come to the funeral, btu before she could, someone knocked on the door.

"come in." she called out and the door open. her dad's face was revealed and y/n tired at the sight of him again.

"hey, princess." he walked in. "i just wanted to check in."

"about will?" she asked.

"no, about you. i haven't talked to you in awhile." he said.

he had always had a gentle spot for his daughter. the day she was born, lonnie's heart softened. he wanted to be there for his daughter, raise her to be the perfect girl he thought she needed to be. then, shortly after, his first son was born. he thought he needed to raise him to be a man. turns out, he wasn't man enough to do either.

"oh, uh, i guess other than everything with will, i'm doing..." she thought. "i'm actually not doing that good." she looked down.

"really?" he furrowed his brows. "your mom said you seemed happy otherwise. that you have friends and you're still with the harrington boy. hell, you're doing a lot better in jonathan in that respect."

"don't talk about him like that." y/n glared at him. "but uh, well, my friend, barb, she is also missing right now. and things with steve are weird. so, i'm not doing that good, i guess." she nodded slightly, realizing just how fragile she really was.

"geez, kid, i'm sorry." he rubbed the back of his neck.

"uh, how's... cynthia?" she guessed, trying to seem like she cared at all.

"oh, she's alright. she keeps talking about how much she wants to meet you, get your nails done or something."

y/n wasn't surprised by this, the girl was barely older than her.

"oh, okay, well maybe after everything here calms down." she tried to promise, but knew it wouldn't happen.

"alright, princess." the familiar nickname came back once again. "i'll let you get some sleep, you've gotta be ready for the funeral in the morning."

every time someone said funeral, y/n felt her heartstrings tug. if this monster thing was responsible for will and he was still out there, then who or what were they burying tomorrow? and if it really was will, then she didn't want to believe her brother was truly gone.

"okay, dad. goodnight." she smiled softly, tucking herself back in and turning off my lamp as he walked out.

the next morning, the air at the byers house was heavy. honestly, the air in all of hawkins was different. y/n awoke slowly, rubbing her eyes free of sleep. the second her mind cleared, she realized what the day held. she also realized that she hadn't called steve. she instantly walked over to her phone, knowing she needed to call him.

she dialed and waited for a few moments before she heard his voice, his parents still weren't home.

"hello?" he asked.

"hi, steve."

"hey, sweetheart."

"i realized that i forgot to tell you will's funeral is this morning."

"shit, really? i'll be there, i promise." he frantically replied, as if the late notice was his fault.

"are you sure? i know i told you super late, you don't have to come."

"are you kidding? i'll be there. and i'll stay away from jonathan, i promise." he joked slightly.

"okay. i love you, see you soon." she hung up, moving to get ready.

y/n's hands seemed to move at a snail speed as she pulled on the black dress she had selected. it was another case of 'if i don't do this thing, it'll never actually happen'. but, y/n did her makeup, a much more toned down version, and did the same half up half down hair do, tucking a clip will had gotten her for her birthday the prior year in the back.

she opened her door, it creaking as she moved. the rest of the byers family stood in the living room, ready to go, and they all silently got into the car. nobody talked as the radio played almost silently in the background.

they drove through town, parking at the church and walking over to the cemetery. she sat next to her brother and mom, holding jon's hand. she felt the crowd's eyes on her and family. she hated it.

small tears ran down her face, at the attention and at the possibility that her brother was really gone.

after the ceremony was over and people moved to the church for the reception, steve instantly found her, pulling her tight against his chest.

she allowed her self to sob for a little, still so confused as to whether or not will was really gone.

"i'm so sorry, baby." he just rubbed circles on her back, unsure of what else to do and say.

eventually, y/n pulled away, seeing nancy and jonathan watching her.

"hey, i'm gonna go talk to nance and my brother, i'll meet you at the church, okay?" she wiped her eyes.

"okay, sure. i'll see you over there." he smiled, walking away.

she continued to wipe the remaining tears off of her eyes before hustling over to where jonathan and nancy stood. they exchanged quick remarks, nancy hugging y/n, and then crouched down behind a couple tombstones to discuss. jonathan had brought a map of hawkins, unbeknownst to his sister, and had marked it according to where the monster had been seen so far.

"so, that's steve's house?" y/n asked.

"yeah, and that's the woods where they found will's bike." jonathan nodded. "and that's our house."

"it's all so close." nancy commented. the three red x's were in fact remarkably close together.

"yeah, exactly. i mean it's all within in a mile or something."

y/n's brows furrowed. "so whatever this thing is, it's not moving very far. or at least not yet." she said.

"you wanna go out there." nancy looked at the byers.

"we might not find anything." jonathan replied, saying yes in his own way.

"nancy found something." y/n corrected.

"and if we do see it, then what?" nancy asked.

"we kill it." y/n ended the conversation bluntly, accepting no other answers. jonathan looked at her, nodded, and walked off to his das car. all of the byers had decided to take his that morning, which worked out in their favor. as nancy and y/n followed him, she knew what her brother was searching for in the sleek back vehicle.

jonathan fiddled with the glovebox, breaking it open, before pulling out a gun.

"are you serious?" nancy asked, her eyes widening.

"what? you wanna find this thing and take another photo? yell at it?" jonathan teased, loading the gun, shutting the glovebox, and getting back out of the car. y/n's hands rested safely in her warm pockets.

"this is a terrible idea." nancy looked at her friend.

"yeah, well, unfortunately, it's the only idea we currently have." y/n looked back.

"you can tell someone but they're not gonna believe you, you know that." jonathan agreed.

"your mom would." nancy contested.

"she's been through enough."

"she deserves to know!"

"we'll tell her when the things dead, nance." y/n interjected, starting to walk towards the church, ready to get to the service.

once they had gotten there, the byers siblings spent more time receiving apologies and messages of sorrow. y/n thanked everyone who gifted her one before making her way over to steve, who sat in a corner, talking to one of the random adults who y/n didn't recognize.

"oh, here she is." steve commented, reaching out to take her hand, and kissing it.

"oh, yes, lonnie's one and only girl." oh, so it was a friend of her dads.

"hi, sir." she smiled tightly.

"don't remember me? ah, well that's alright, i do suppose its been a while." he took another inhale of his cigarette. "the names matthew, i worked with your dad. sorry to hear about your kid brother."

y/n nodded in response.

"well, i'll leave you two alone, tell your dad i said hi, harrington." the man stood and walked away.

"i wonder how one of my dads friends knows your dad." y/n leaned into steve's side, laughing slightly. "they don't exactly run in the same circle."

"school i'm guessing." steve kissed her cheek.

the funeral reception wrapped up sweetly, ending with the three boys will was friends with greeting y/n. mike, dustin, and lucas. mike had always been a favorite of y/n's, but partially only because his friendship with will opened the door to her friendship with nancy.

she said goodbye to steve, heading home with her family. after about an hour of silence at home, y/n jumped in her car and drove to the wheelers. they were going to meet jonathan in the forest shortly after.

it was time to start training for the imminent battle against this monster.

when nancy and y/n reached her house, she pulled up in front of the garage door and opened it. the girls ran upstairs to nancy's room to change out of their funeral attire. nancy let y/n borrow some jeans that fit her and a cute sweater. they walked back downstairs to the garage, rummaging through the various golf clubs, croquet mallets, and other sporting equipment belonging to mr. wheeler before settling on baseball bats.

they swung for a little while before y/n heard a brief gasp, which made her turn around, swinging the bat around with her. she was met with steve, whom she almost hit with the bat.

"woah, woah, woah." he flinched.

"what are you doing here?" y/n asked quickly, surprised to see steve.

"what are you doing?" he asked in response, looking between her and nancy.

"uh, practicing self defense?" y/n tried to explain. it wasn't completely false.

"well, i hope it's not meant for me." steve cracked a small smile.

"it's not. at least, not yet." y/n joked in response.

"good." he smiled wider. "well, i was driving home and i saw your car parked outside, then i saw you two in the garage and thought i'd come say hi."

"well that was nice of you." y/n told him.

"yeah, that and, well, today got me thinking and i wanted to apologize for what i did to jonathan's camera. i should've apologized sooner, i know, but," steve ran a hand through his hair. "i now know that i was a real dick."

"yeah, you were." y/n nodded.

"did you get in trouble with your parents?" nancy asked. y/n turned to face her.

"totally, but, you know, who cares? screw 'em. any news about barbara?" he asked both of the girls who shared a sad look.

"no." they both replied, no louder than a whisper.

steve glanced at his car for a second before turning back to them.

"hey, listen," he started. "i know it's been a tough day, especially for you, y/n, so why don't we all catch a movie tonight? jonathan could come too. we could just kinda pretend everything's normal for a couple hours." he explained. "all the right moves is still playing. you know, with your lover boy from risky business." he said to nancy, who blushed. y/n let our a laugh remembering the drunk conversation they had all had at steve's party about celebrity crushes. she was honestly surprised steve remembered, but was shaken from her thoughts when he started singing a shaky version of old time rock & roll.

y/n looked at nancy again, this time sharing a knowing look, before turning back to steve.

"i wish, but we can't tonight." she frowned. "i just need, i need a night with nancy. this whole thing has just been a disaster." she shook her head. "but let's do something tomorrow, okay?"

"okay, yeah, i understand." he nodded, looking dejected. "so, i should go." he smiled leaning in for a quick peck on y/n's lips, which she reciprocated.

"i'll call you later to make plans, is that okay?" the girl asked.

"of course." he ran a hand down her arm before walking back to his car, still singing.

once he was out of earshot, nancy spoke.

"back to the self defense training." she smiled.

"yes, sir." y/n laughed.

but as she laughed, she felt a twinge of fear deep in her chest. a twinge she simply could not shake.

an hour later the girls started walking to the woods where there was a small shooting range. jonathan waited for them there, and as they approached they could hear multiple gun shots going off.

when they got close, they could see him missing the cans through the trees.

"you're supposed to hit the cans, right?" nancy called out jokingly.

jonathan turned at the sound of her voice, smiling sheepishly.

"no, actually, you see the spaces in between the cans?" he asked as they ended up next to him. "i'm aiming for those."

"right." y/n raised her eyebrows, setting down her bat.

"you ever shot a gun before?" jonathan asked nancy.

she scoffed. "have you met my parents?"

the byers siblings laughed as jonathan emptied out the gun he was holding. "yeah, i haven't shot one since i was ten." he replied. "my dad took me hunting on my birthday. he made me kill a rabbit. i cried for a week."

"a rabbit?" nancy asked.

"yeah. i guess he thought it would make me into more of a man or something."

y/n thought back to those days, very unfondly. she remembered when her dad would take jon out, something he always dreaded. she remembered him coming home, running into her room and sobbing. she dropped everything and went to hug him, asking him what was wrong. he explained and she went and yelled at her dad for making him kill an innocent animal.

lonnie told her to stay out of it, since hunting wasn't lady like.

"jesus." nancy sighed.

"what? i was a fan of thumper."

"i meant your dad."

"oh, yeah. i guess he and our mother loved each other at some point but, we weren't around for that part." jonathan joked, making y/n smile. she held out her hand to take the gun from him, to which he placed it in her palm.

"the first time i shot a gun was that same night." she admitted. this was a story nobody, except maybe steve, had ever heard.

"what?" jonathan looked at her, dumbfounded.

"oh, yeah." she smiled. "i was so pissed that dad told me it wasn't my business to shoot a gun, so after everyone was asleep, i went out to the shed and grabbed one of the guns. will tried to follow me out actually, but i didn't let him, he was too little. anyway, i went into the forest with a lantern, and i shot a single bullet. it didn't hit anything, at least that i know of, since i literally shot it straight into nowhere. but, i felt proud, that i had loaded it, and done it all by myself. not ladylike my ass." when y/n was done with her story, she aimed the gun at the target, and missed. she took a second try, and knocked down the can.

both jonathan and nancy let out surprised and amazed laughs at the shot and the story. next, nancy wanted a turn.

"i don't think my parents ever loved each other." she started to explain.

"they must've married for some reason." jonathan said.

"my mom was young. my dad was older, but he had a cushy job, money, came from a good family. so, they bought a nice house at the end of a cul-de-sac, and started their nuclear family."

"screw that." both the byers said. they always seemed to be insync.

"yeah, screw that." nancy aimed and hit the can first try.

jonathan smiled while y/n cheered. "of course you hit it first try, you overachiever." she joked, making nancy blush again.

a little bit later, they started walking through the rest of the forest, in search of the monster. they went through different conversations, but walked most of it in comfortable silence. eventually, it got dark. yet, they continued to search for any signs of the creature that they could possibly find.

suddenly, y/n heard a soft whimper coming from somewhere nearby that made her stop in her tracks.

jonathan turned to look at her after he had realized this and asked jokingly, "what, are you tired?"

"shut up." she demanded. "i heard something."

the whimpering continued.

"i hear it too." nancy agreed, and the girls started walking in the direction of the noise, jonathan following closely behind.

quickly, they found the cause of the noise, an injured deer.

"oh, god." y/n whined, looking at it's slashed throat.

"it's been hit by a car." nancy stated. "we can't just leave it." she said empathetically, lifting up the gun to put it out of its misery. she couldn't seem to get herself to shoot, so jonathan took it.

"jon, you don't have to." y/n told him.

"i'm not nine anymore." he replied.

they stepped back, and he cocked the gun. nancy hid her face in y/n's shoulder and y/n closed her eyes.

just before he pulled the trigger, something pulled the deer back, and it disappeared.

the three of them jumped a foot back in shock, gasping.

"what the hell just happened?" y/n asked nervously.

they continued walking, looking for what could have happened to the deer, and as nancy and jonathan looked, y/n followed a blood trail to a tree.

it was caved in, and in the hollow part was some sort of liquid dripping. there was more blood pooled at the base. y/n watched the drips fall in disgust and confusion, stupidly sticking her hand out to touch it.

"jonathan?" she shouted. "nancy?"

no response.

she wiped the sticky goo off on nancy's jeans that she was wearing, noting to herself to apologize and pay for the dry cleaning.

as she shone her light at the weird hole, she noticed that it went deep into the tree. so deep that it would've gone past the circumference of the tree.

y/n examined it to see if she'd fit before making the decision to crawl in. she took a deep breath so that she wouldn't need to open her mouth and expose it to the goo, set her bag and bat down, and started making her way in.

she was instantly covered in slime, and when she made it out of the tree, she was back in the forest. this time, it had crazy blue lighting and there were weird white particles falling down.

she tried to shake off an excess goo on her limbs as her lantern flickered. she groaned in annoyance at the timing, and hit it to get it to work again. then, she heard it growl. she looked to her left, already knowing what the sound came from, but the monster that she saw proved her right.

it was bent over devouring something, so y/n tried to back away as quietly as possible.

just to her luck, there was a wet stick right in her path, there for her to step on, which she did. the sound alerted the attention of the creature, which whipped around to look at her, roaring. she screamed out of instinct and ran back the way she came, dropping her lantern as she ran. she screamed the names of her brother and best friend.

but, no matter how hard she screamed or how hard she looked, she couldn't find a way back to them.

a/n: yayy this chapter is soooo good. omg okay, thanks for being so patient though!! hope you enjoyed itttt

in the archives of the hawkins library, we rolled through articles and articles about the creel family.

unfortunately, we weren't having much luck.

"anything juicy over there?" robin asked nancy and i.

"nothing new." nancy said.

"nope." i agreed.

"victor seemed like a normal guy, dead family, missing eyes, took a plea deal, sent to pennhurst, blah, blah, blah." robin blabbed. "what are we looking for exactly?"

i didn't know the answer, and nancy didn't respond, so robin knocked rhythmically on the side of the machine.

"nance?" i asked.

"any mention of dark wizards and alternate dimensions? anything in that vein?" robin assumed.

"i don't know. okay?" nancy seemed exasperated. "it's starting to seem like this was a big waste of time. so, why don't you just call steve? i'm sure he'll come pick you up, and i mean, i'm not really in danger here, so."

i was shocked at her outburst. the way she had said it made it seem like she was jealous of steve and i, but that couldn't be true. she was with jonathan. she ran down to the next level of the room.

"well, that was strange." i told robin.

"that's for sure."

we got up and followed her down the stairs.

"nancy, you're not boring us or anything, it's just.. maybe we should get back together with the group if there isn't anything here to find."

"i'm sure there's something down here." she pursed her lips.

"okay, then we can help look." i glanced at robin, widening my eyes at nancy's persistence.

"yeah, totally." robin said through a fake smile.

we got to work digging through the files, and robin found a report she knew well.

"holy shit." she drew our attention. "the weekly watcher, i can't believe they have this."

i moved over to her drawer to look at it. "oh my gosh, i used to watch these with... with sarah." i held the file in my hands, smiling.

"don't they write about like, bigfoot and ufo's?" nancy asked incredulously.

"yeah, but it's still fun." i shrugged.

"okay, first of all, ufo's are absolutely real." robin told us. "bigfoot i'm still on the fence about. but may i remind you that we are looking for information on dark wizards?"

"you're right, rob." i grinned. "it'd be the weekly watcher if anybody was gonna write about that."

nancy looked at us, a pleased glimmer in her eye.

we ran back over to the machine, inserting this file. the first headline to come up was,

"elvis cloned by aliens." nancy said sarcastically.

"you never know." robin looked at her, scrolling through the machine rapidly. nancy walked away.

"victor creel claims vengeful demon killed his family. the murder that shocked a small community." robin read out in a spooky announcer voice.

"ha ha, that's very funny." nancy rolled her eyes.

"she's not kidding, nance." i spoke. nancy turned back towards me, moving to the machine.

"according to several insiders, victor believed his house was haunted by an ancient demon. victor alegedly hired a priest to exorcise the demon from his home. pretty novel for the 50s, exorcist wasn't even out yet." robin explained.

"keep... keep going." nancy replied frantically.

"okay, so victor claimed this exorcism failed, but it angered this demon, which then murdered his family, removing their eyes." i read out the next part. "gross. victor believed he was spared as a punishent."

"oh, well that's pretty convenient for victor." nancy scoffed.

"yeah, or super inconvenient." robin burst in. "victor was declared legally insane by the court, right? what if this is why? i mean, it sounds pretty insane but it just didn't go insane because of the..."

"the plea bargain." nancy remembered.

"the records were sealed!" i exclaimed. "what if a demon did invade victor's home? it's just, this demon wasn't any old demon."

"it was vecna." nancy finished.

we ran out of the library, met with a now pitch black sky. as soon as we were out of the building, robin pulled out the walkie.

"dustin, do you copy?" she asked.

"yeah, i copy." we got an instant reply.

"so, nancy's a genius. vecna's first victims date all the way back to 1959. her shot in the dark was a bullseye." she explained.

"okay, uh, that's totally bonkers, but i can't really talk right now." dustin replied, out of breath.

"what are you doing?" i spoke into the walkie's speaker.

"breaking and entering into school to retrieve confidential and extremely personal files." he replied briefly.

"oh, right." i nodded.

"just get your asses over here, stat. we'll explain everything then." he told us.

"okay, let's get back on the road then." i turned to the car.

"i thought they were talking to ms. kelley." nancy replied angrily.

"we left them alone for two hours. of course, they aren't just talking to ms. kelley." i rolled my eyes, getting back in the passenger seat.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

nancy sped to hawkins high, pulling into a parking spot as fast as she could. the three of us hopped out of the car, running into the school to try and find the others.

i rounded a corner and stopped when i saw max, dustin, and steve, all facing a wall. nancy and robin followed me, running up to them.

"hey." i greeted steve, out of breath from the running.

"hi." he pulled me into his side, a worried look on his brow as he pointed his flashlight at max and the wall.

"it was here. right here." she promised us.

"a grandfather clock?" nancy tried to confirm.

max nodded. "it was so real. and then when i got closer, it was like... suddenly i just woke up."

"it was like she was in a trance. exactly what eddie said happened to chrissy."

"that's not even the bad part."

we started to walk back to the room that the boys and max had been in previously, but as i rounded a corner, suddenly the hall was filled.

it was filled with all of my old classmates, and it was all lit up. i was extremely confused as i walked past them, trying to find where steve and my friends had gone.

i called out for them, looking in each door. as i reached the end of the hallway, i opened the last door on the right.

through the entrance, was a room that looked more like how it was supposed to be. dark and quiet. but on top of that, there was slime and vines covering the walls. it looked like the upside down. a loud chiming played in the background. it must've been the clock that max had seen.

"y/n..." that same deep voice from my dream called out.

i ran back out of the gross room, wanting to get back to the happy, people filled hallway, but as i did so, the hallway began looking like the room i had just left as well. i turned another corner, calling out my friends names, when i saw it.

the clock, submerged in the wall. it was fascinating. i stalked closer to it, reaching out to touch it, when a spurt of orange gas sprayed out of the center. i screamed, i knew what it was.

it was agent orange, the gas that my father had been exposed to. the gas that had killed my sister. the gas that had torn my family apart. somehow, i had avoided the curse of it's health problems, but my sister didn't receive the same fate.

"y/n..." the voice spoke again.

it started saying my name rapidly, and it felt like the whole room started to shake.

then, i opened my eyes and gasped.

"y/n!" all of my friends were surrounding me, max in the front with steve.

"what.. what was that place?" i asked, more confused than i had ever been. the hallway we were in was dark, but it wasn't slimy.

"what place?" steve asked, hands on my shoulders.

"i know what she's talking about." max spoke, her voice quiet. "she was in the trance too.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

we finally made it to the room that we were trying to get to in the first place. when we all sat down, max started recounting what they had been talking about before us girls had gotten there.

"fred and chrissy, they both came to ms. kelley for help. they were having headaches, bad headaches that wouldn't go away. then the nightmares, trouble sleeping, they'd wake up in a cold sweat." max explained through tears, my heart pounding as i took in her words. "then they started seeing things, bad things, from their pasts. and these visions, they just kept on getting worse and worse, until eventually, everything ended."

i felt like i was going to be sick. all of those things had been happening to me since i got back to hawkins. sure, the nightmares longer, but not the ones where i felt like i was being tortured.

"vecna's curse." robin labelled.

"chrissy's headache started a week ago. fred's six days ago, i've been having them for five days." she finished, and all eyes turned to me.

"uh, i've been having them for two." i tried to say.

"i don't know how long i have." max cried. "all i know is that for fred and chrissy, they both died within twenty four hours of having their first vision. and.. and y/n and i just saw that goddamn clock."

"i.. i had my first one last night." i sobbed into my hands.

"so, looks like we're gonna die tomorrow." max said.

then, a loud noise came from behind us. we all whipped around to see what it could've been.

"stay here." steve said quietly to us, grabbing a lamp post and moving out into the hallway.

none of us listened, and we instantly followed him out. footsteps got closer to us. lucas came bolting around the corner, and we all screamed, including him. i stood behind the rest of the group with max.

"it's me!" he shouted.

"lucas?"

"jesus, what's wrong with you sinclair?" steve yelled.

"i'm sorry." he panted.

"i could've taken you out with this lamp!"

"sorry guys... sorry. i was biking for eight miles." he held out a finger. "give me a second, shit." he caught his breath.

"we've got a code red." he explained.

"what?" steve asked.

"dustin, i've been with jason, patrick, and andy, and they've totally gone off the rails. they're trying to capture eddie and they think you know where he is. you're in terrible danger." lucas said in between deep breaths.

"all right, yeah that definitely sucks." dustin groaned. "but we've got bigger problems than jason right now.

the whole group turned to look at max and i as dustin spoke those words.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

we all spent the night in the wheeler's basement after filling lucas in on what we had discovered. some of us slept, some of us didn't. i got an hour, reluctantly, but if i was going to die the next day, i didn't want to sleep half of my last hours away.

max had the depressing idea to write everybody letters, it felt like a suicide mission, like accepting that our end was near would be what killed us, but i didn't mind the idea of getting to give my loved ones some final words. so, when she and i couldn't sleep, we stayed up writing letters to everybody. the next morning, steve, dustin, and lucas, sat on the couch as we were at a desk, talking about the article robin had found the day prior. i droned their conversation out, since i knew they were mostly talking about us.

i only focused back in when robin and nancy came back downstairs. max stayed busy at the desk, but i needed a break, so i joined the group.

"okay so, we have a plan." nancy informed us.

she handed us all files filled with a forged transcript.

"thanks to nancy's newspaper minions, we are now rock-star psychology students at the university of notre dame." robin explained.

"i'm now ruth." nancy said.

"and i'm rose."

"ruth?" i asked, smiling.

"nice gpa." dustin commented.

"thanks."

"so, we called pennhurst asylum, told them we'd like to speak with victor creel for a thesis we're co-writing on paranoid schizophrenics-"

"to which they said no."

"but, we landed a three o'clock with the director."

"now all we have to do is charm him and convince him into letting us meet with victor."

"then maybe we can rid you and max of this curse, y/n." nancy looked at me.

"yeah, about that." steve cleared his throat. "we've been doin' our victor creel homework and uh, we got some questions."

"lots of questions." lucas clarified.

"so do we, hopefully victor has answers." nancy replied,

"wait, wait, wait a second. where's mine?" steve asked.

i held back a laugh. nancy stood up and started walking to her room to look for clothes before steve could question it. i followed her, and so did robin, therefore, steve did too.

"nancy, you're outta your mind if you think i'm babysitting again." he whined.

"okay first of all, they're not babies anymore, and max is in real danger. so is your girlfriend! they need people around them."

"i know, i know." steve ran a hand through his hair. i sat down on nancy's bed, admiring her perfectly curated room that i had helped her decorate shortly before i left for california.

"oh my god," robin finally entered the room. "you have a tom cruise poster!!"

"that's... old." nancy's cheeks flushed red as robin started digging through nancy's stuff. "can you please not touch anything?"

"i just, i can't do anything here, nance." steve stressed. "maybe i can be helpful with this asylum director dude. i don't know, i could turn on my charm."

"steve, i don't think that's the kind of charm they're looking for." i smiled sheepishly at him.

"ouch." he looked down.

"no, i just, i did a little digging last night, and it turns out this dr. hatch is a distinguished fellow of the american psychiatric association, and a harvard visiting scholar, okay?"

steve shrugged like he didn't get her point.

"this is a lifelong student of the world, and if we're gonna win him over, we're gonna have to convince him that we are too. that like him, we are true academic scholars."

i turned my head away from nancy and steve as i heard robin open nancy's music box. the sweet melody playing reminded me of our childhood.

"holy shit, there's a little ballerina in here." robin whispered. i laughed quietly, and steve stared.

"academic scholar? she's giving you an academic scholar vibe?" he asked nancy.

robin slammed the music box shut in annoyance.

"no, but she will." nancy held up a ruffly pink blouse that i remembered her buying at starcourt before... everything.

"oh, please tell me that you're joking."

"fine, if you can't bring me, at least bring y/n. she's like, one of the most academic scholar like people in this town." steve explained.

"we have a third transcript printed in case you want to come." nancy turned to me. "but i figured you might want to stay with max."

"yeah, i think i do. but have fun being scholarly." i smiled at them.

steve exited the room, making his way back downstairs to leave rob and nance to change. i stood up to follow him, but they both engulfed me in a hug before i could leave the room.

"don't go dying on me, okay?" nancy said.

"at least while we're not there." robin added.

i laughed. "i'll sure try my best." i squeezed them tight, and left the room before i started crying, not knowing if this was the last time i'd see my two best friends.

i went back downstairs and rejoined max at the desk, finishing up my letters. i had written one to steve, lucas, dustin, nancy, and robin, all of the people here in hawkins with me. then, i of course wrote one to el, my sweet sweet sister, will and jonathan, joyce, and mike. i thought about them, wishing i had time to call and tell them the situation.

as we were sitting at the desk, i could feel their eyes staring holes into my back.

"we know you're staring at us." i called out.

"what?"

"sorry?"

"you said you needed something?"

"just... hanging out."

i looked at max out of the corner of my eye and we were able to let out a small snicker.

"how you think your eyes boring into the back our heads is protecting us from vecna, i don't know." max scoffed, picking up her letters and walking over to where the boys sat on the couch and got their attention. i did the same.

they forcibly didn't look at us after what we had said, even though we were standing right there.

"uh, you can look at us now." they all said sorry, setting down their assorted playthings, before looking up at us.

we started passing them out.

"oh, and give these to mike, el, and will." she handed her extras to lucas, i handed mine to steve.

they all started looking inside the envelopes.

"hey, no, what are you doing?" max and i stopped them.

"that's not for now." i shook my head frantically. "don't open it now."

"not now, sorry." dustin tucked his letter back in the envelope. "i'm sorry, what are these?" he asked.

"uh.." max didn't know what to say, even though it had been her idea.

"they're just.. failsafes. for after, y'know. if things don't work out." i picked at the skin around my nails while i explained.

"whoa, guys, things are gonna work out." lucas tried to tell us.

"no." max cut him off. "we don't need you to reassure us and tell us that it's all gonna work out. i've been hearing that my whole life and it's never true."

i looked down. i knew what she meant. i had been told my entire life that it wasn't my fault, but i had such survivors guilt that i could never believe them.

max walked over to the walkie on the table and picked it up.

"if we got to east hawkins, will this reach pennhurst?" she asked.

"of course, yeah." dustin replied.

"wait, why are we talking about east hawkins?" steve asked confusedly, to which we all stared at him.

"no, no, no." he tried to stop her.

max grabbed her bag and started running out of the house, i followed closely after her, and so did the boys.

"max, seriously, i'm not driving you anywhere." he attempted to explain.

"steve, if you think i'm going to spend what is likely the last day of my life in the armpit that is mike wheeler's basement, then you're out of your mind. so either take me where i need to go, or you're gonna have to tie me down, which is technically kidnapping of a minor, and if i live to see another day, i swear to god, steve, i will prosecute." max rambled as we all walked to his car. she tried to open the door, but it was locked.

"open the door."

"uh, no." he responded.

"i know a good lawyer." she threatened him, glaring.

"i'll take you, max." i responded, reaching for steve's pocket to grab his keys.

"absolutely not." steve said. "fine, i'll take you both, but henderson, that super walkie of yours better reach pennhurst."

he unlocked the car, letting us all in. as i walked over to the other side of the car to get in the passenger seat, i heard the clock chime, once again.

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al kerbey played on the radio as steve sped down the road towards the trailer park. i was anxious enough going back there after everything that had occurred recently, but my anxiety was heightened now that i seemed to have the curse as well. the trip went by in silence.

"all right, this better be fast, mayfield." steve told max as he pulled up right outside of her trailer.

"twenty seconds." she replied, hopping out quickly. i felt like i should follow her, but i also knew she needed to do this on her own.

"that thing's got batteries in it, right?" steve turned over his shoulder to ask dustin as i watched max run inside her home.

dustin sighed. "i'm not even answering that question."

steve looked annoyed before dustin replied. "yes, it has batteries in it."

"yeah, i got it." he scoffed.

a minute passed before steve got impatient and got out of the car, he was close to running to find max, but i stopped him, also getting out.

"babe, just give her a minute." i pleaded. "she'll be back soon."

he nodded as lucas and dustin got out of the car as well. as if i summoned her, only thirty seconds later, max rounded the corner.

"hey, that was longer than twenty seconds." steve berated her, i rolled my eyes. she walked quickly to her side of the car, out of breath.

"hey, max, is everything okay?" i asked her, i could see the panic in her eyes.

"i'm fine, just drive." she looked at steve, taking her seat once more.

"did something happen?" lucas asked worridly.

"can we please just go?" max snapped back.

steve got back in the car, buckling and resting his free hand on my thigh before reversing quickly out of that creepy neighborhood.

she started to give him directions of where to drive to, our next destination unknown. every now and then he'd look in the rearview at the kids, especially max, to make sure they were okay. it was as if they could disappear at any moment. hell, maybe they could.

"turn here." max directed.

"here?" dustin questioned her.

she just nodded.

we pulled into the roane hill cemetery, a grim expression on all of our faces. the second steve stopped the car, max was out and running, lucas trailing after her.

dustin, steve, and i watched their conversation like we were at the movie theater, but we could only hear bits of it. eventually, she walked off, leaving lucas behind.

he sat on the front of the beamer, and dustin stood near him. max was in view, but it still didn't feel safe. i wanted to go be with her, but cemetery's were on my list of places to avoid. they reminded me too much of the people i had lost and the ones that i could lose. one of those people was now myself. of course, it was always possible for me to die, a fact that was seemingly permanently on my mind due to my dad's chemical exposure, my sister's unfortunate disease, and the increasing amount of threats facing hawkins. but now, i was cursed, beyond what my dad had always said killed sarah, beyond any of that. so, i didn't want to get out of the car. i didn't want to see yet another name belonging to someone i had once loved, billy, on a headstone.

however, steve didn't mind going himself once he had gotten too impatient.

"alright, it's been long enough." he remarked, standing up and starting to move towards max.

"steve, just give her some time." lucas groaned.

"i have, alright, sinclair? i'm calling it. she want to get a lawyer, she can."

"steve, let me go." i said, suddenly full of confidence.

"are you kidding me?" he asked me, looking at me with the same worry that had been in his eyes for the past day.

"if anyone is going to go up there, it needs to be me." i explained, beginning to climb up the hill to get to the gravestone. the way i said it must've stopped steve from following.

my breath caught when i got there, seeing billy's name on the stone. i had thoroughly enjoyed our time together, despite however hung up on steve i had been. plus, i was forever indebted to him for sacrificing himself for my sister.

"hey, max, i hate to do this but steve is getting impatient." i told her.

she didn't respond or even flinch.

"max." i said again, crouching down next to her. then, i noticed her eyes. they were rolled far back into her head and twitching. no matter how many times i said her name or shook her, she was stuck. stuck in his trance. vecna's trance.

i started to shout her name, telling her to wake up. i screamed at the guys to help and they came running up to me. tears were already rolling down my face by the time they were up there.

they tried to help me wake her up, but no amount of snapping and shouting could help our dear friend.

"call nancy and robin." i pleaded, sobbing.

steve grabbed dustin's sleeve after my words. "call 'em, go!" he ordered. dustin ran back towards the car.

as i cried into my hands, flashes of red started appearing in front of me. i saw fog, i saw trees, a darker world.

no, no, no. it couldn't be getting me too. i rubbed my eyes, hoping it would go away. and it did, but only for a moment.

"do you want to join your friend?" vecna's deep voice boomed.

"no." i cried, wondering if steve or lucas could hear me, or if was already fully in the trance.

"you don't have much time." he hummed.

"leave me alone." i sobbed harder.

"y/n?" steve shook my shoulder. i guess he could hear me.

i jumped at the contact, unsure who was touching me.

"oh, god." i sighed. "oh, steve." i looked at him, before looking back to max. i continued to shake her, the sky turning red again.

"please, max, get out of there."

dustin then came running back. he threw down a bunch of different tapes and max's walkman.

"what is this?" lucas asked.

"her song, what's her favorite song?" dustin asked, ignoring him.

"why? why?"

"robin said if she listens- it's too much to explain right now. what's her favorite song?" he shouted.

i tried to rack my brain, but because i had been living in california for almost a year, i didn't really know what music she was listening too. it was no longer the time where we were all listening to my tapes in my room.

we flicked through the different tapes that lay on the grass before i picked up kate bush. i recalled max writing about kate bush in one of her most recent letters.

"this one. it's this one!" i shouted, grabbing her player and putting the tape in with shaky hands. dustin placed the headphones over her ear's as i pressed play.

as soon as the music started playing, i could see a portal open. i could see max and vecna in this gross red world. i gasped, not knowing how i was seeing two of max. just as soon as it appeared, it was gone.

but, i knew max was in there.

she started levitating, the player dangling at her side.

we were all screaming, the boys standing. i couldn't seem to get up off my feet.

then, she dropped. and she too was screaming.

we were at her side in mere seconds, still repeating her name.

lucas pulled her in as she panted in his arms, steve placing a hand on his back and using his other arm to console me. i was a sobbing mess.

i didn't know what was going to come next for me, in all honesty. but what i did know, was we had found vecna's weakness.

music.

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a/n: yayyy omg this chapter took me so long to write. hence why it took me so long to get published for you all!!! thank you for your patience. i really appreciate it!! love u

as always let me know if you find any grammatical/spelling errors, if you'd like to join the taglist, and what you think of the story so far!! bye bye for now!!

the sirens got closer to where y/n, jonathan, and their mother, stood, distracting them from their hug.

"w-what are they doing here?" joyce asked her children shakily.

"i don't know, mom." y/n cleared her throat. "let me go check."

y/n pulled away from her brother and her mom, moving to stand in front of the two cars that were stopped in the middle of the driveway. as the cop cars rounded the corner, they stopped at the sight of her waving her arms.

chief hopper led the pack, pulling to a stop close to y/n, and getting out of the car.

"what the hell are you all doing out here?" he asked gruffly.

"jonathan and i were coming home, and our mom was running out this way." y/n explained. "what are you doing here?" she asked, fearing the worst.

"i think it's best if we talk about this inside." hopper told her, walking back to his truck.

y/n stood frozen for a moment before shouting at jonathan to get back to driving the rest of the way home. joyce got in his car, y/n and the cops following him up.

as they all pulled up in front of the house, joyce was frantic to know why they were they, assuming they had found will.

hopper tried to lead everyone inside, but joyce resisted.

"i'm not going back in there." she shook her head. "not until i know it's gone."

"what's gone?" jonathan asked, furrowing his brows.

"that thing. it came out of the wall, the one right there." she pointed to the wall of the house right in front of them.

"something came out of the wall?" hopper replied.

"yes! some creature, i don't know what it was, but it took my boy." joyce said. "just check that it's not in there."

hopper looked at y/n and jonathan.

"just check, hopper." y/n pleaded.

"alright, powell, you come with me." hopper directed. "callahan, stay out here with them."

callahan reluctantly stayed outside with the byers, who were holding their mother tight. he made uncomfortable small talk, knowing something they didn't.

when hopper came back outside to confirm that there was nothing in the house, he led joyce inside, sitting her down. callahan and powell were sent out. joyce's eyes widened as they walked through, seeing that the wall she claimed a monster came out of, was completely sealed and normal.

y/n and jonathan looked around in shock over the hanging christmas lights. you'd think it was the week before christmas in a crazily obsessed household, not the beginning of november in one who barely decorated. y/n scanned her eyes over the letters painted on the wall, and the lights hung above them. they stood near where their mom sat, staying close to each other.

"so, i've got some terrible news." hopper stated nervously. "uh, about thirty minutes ago a trooper found something in the uh, water, that's at the quarry."

"oh, god." y/n put a hand to her mouth, knowing what was going to come next.

hopper looked down as he spoke, joyce staring directly ahead at the wall.

"our working theory right now is that will crashed his bike, made his way over to the quarry, and uh, accidentally fell in."

y/n let out a sob, hiding in her brothers chest. she could feel his heart racing and his arms that were wrapped around her shaking.

she didn't hear the rest of what hopper was saying as she was too focused on the fact that her baby brother was dead.

she could see his smile, his green eyes, his ridiculous hair cut.

she was only brought back to reality when she heard her mom speak.

"i talked to him... a half hour ago." joyce explained, like it made perfect sense.

y/n craned her head out of jonathan's grasp to look at her mother. she watched as she ran forward and opened the storage cabinet, pulling out a tangled mess of christmas lights.

"he was talking with these." she added.

"talking?" hopper asked.

"uh-huh. one blink for yes, two for no."

y/n sobbed more watching her mother descend into madness, she tried to wipe the tears from her eyes, but more kept coming.

joyce stammered. "and then i made this," she gestured to the alphabet wall. "so he could talk to me. 'cause he was hiding, from that..." she whispered, "that thing."

"that thing that came out of the wall?" hopper wondered.

jonathan let go of y/n, leaving an arm wrapped around her, guiding her towards their mom.

"yeah, yeah." joyce nodded.

"mom, please." jonathan spoke. "you gotta stop this." he walked towards her, grabbing her arms, an exhausted and saddened look on his face. y/n stayed put where she was, clasping her arms around herself.

"no, it's after him!" joyce shouted. "he's in danger, we have to find him!" she grabbed hopper's arms.

"what exactly was this thing? some kind of animal?" he played along.

jonathan stood dejected, shaking his head.

"no, it was almost human, but it wasn't, it had these long arms, and it didn't have a face."

when his mom said that, jonathan walked away, in disbelief at her words. he made it to his room, slamming the door.

"it didn't have a face?" hopper confirmed, as confused as ever.

"mommy, please, you're not making sense." y/n sobbed.

"i swear, i'm telling the truth." joyce reached her arm out to jonathan in response to the door slamming, and also to y/n in response to her words. she didn't have the heart to leave her mother in a time like this, so she walked forward and guided her to the couch, where hopper crouched down in front of them.

"listen to me, listen to me." he started. "after sarah, i saw her too. and i heard her. i didn't know what was real, and then i figured out that it was in my mind. and i had to pack all that away, otherwise i was gonna fall down a hole, that i couldn't get out of."

tears ran down all of their faces at hopper's story, but joyce stayed insistent.

"no, no, you're talking about grief. this is different." she promised.

"i'm just sayin' that you..."

"no, i know what you're saying, hop. i swear to you, i know what i saw. and i'm not crazy." she explained hoarsely

"i'm not saying that you're crazy." he tried to tell her.

"no, you are." she said. "and i understand, but, god, i need you to believe me."

y/n didn't know what to say, so she spoke without reason.

"i believe you, mom." even though she didn't.

"thank you, sweetie." joyce cried into her shoulder, y/n looking at hop knowingly, communicating that she didn't know what else to do.

he reached out, placing a hand on her empty shoulder and started speaking softly again.

"listen. i think tomorrow you should go down to the morgue and see him for yourself. it'll give you the answers that you need. but tonight, i want you to try and get some sleep if you can."

hopper stood finally, letting go of joyce's hand and y/n's shoulder. he said goodnight and made his way outside, back to his car. the byers watched as he left and joyce moved closer to the wall that was inspected earlier.

"mom?" y/n tried to say, her voice barely audible.

"you should go get some sleep, honey." joyce told her. "please."

"are you sure you don't need me?" y/n worried.

"i need you to get sleep, okay? i love you." joyce hugged her, placing a long kiss to the top of her head.

"i love you, mom." y/n cried, walking slowly to her room. she broke down when she passed will's room across from hers. she stared at the door for a whole minute before retreating in to her room. she slid against the back of the door, sobbing into her hands.

y/n sat and cried for a solid ten minutes before she got up and moved to the phone. despite the events from earlier that day, she knew she needed to call him. she needed to call steve.

she dialed his number that she knew by heart, letting it ring three times before he picked up.

"hello?" his voice said.

"hi, steve." her shaky voice responded.

"oh." he spoke again, surprise evident in his short response. "hi, sweetheart. i'm surprised you're calling me."

"i'm surprised i'm calling you too." she sobbed.

"hey, hey, what's wrong?" steve worried.

"they- they found my brother's body in the quarry." she stuttered.

there was a pause, steve not knowing how to respond. "oh, god." was all he could get out. "oh, god."

"i don't know what to do." y/n told him.

"do you want me to come over?" he asked instantly. "or you can come here if you want. i'll come get you."

"no, no, steve, it's okay. i need to stay here, by myself. i need to be with my brother and my mom." she explained.

"yeah, okay, that makes sense. shit, y/n, i'm so fucking sorry."

"thanks, steve." there was another pause. "i love you."

"i love you too. i'll see you tomorrow, maybe?" he responded.

"no, i won't be at school tomorrow. but, i'll see you the next day, probably." she nodded even though he couldn't see, sniffling.

"okay, honey, let me know if you need me to come check on you. bye."

"bye." she hung up, the silence frightening her. she stood up, too exhausted to take off her makeup, brush her hair and teeth, or even put on pajamas. but, she did so anyway. y/n wasn't anyone if she didn't stick to her routines.

when she finished, she started to get into bed, wanting to at least try to fall asleep, even though she knew she'd be haunted by the image of will in her dreams.

she lay in her bed, unable to even close her eyes. she knew what she needed. she quietly opened her door, walking one room down the hallway. she eased the door open, not bothering to knock on the entrance to jonathan's room.

"hi, jon." she smiled softly.

he removed his headphones, wiping his tears. "hi." his voice shook.

"can't sleep either?" she questioned, sitting down on his bed.

"not even close." he told her.

"mind if i stay in here tonight?" she asked him.

"no, go ahead." he lifted the covers for her. she climbed into his bed, taking solace in just being near her brother. they were only a year apart, just considering themselves twins. they were each others true best friends, even though they never said it to anyone.

with the presence of their sibling, y/n and jonathan were able to get, albeit just a little, sleep that night.

the next morning, they woke up, tired yet a small bit more peaceful than the night before. y/n hadn't set an early alarm, and so she didn't have to do her hair the normal way. she pulled it back in a simple half up and half down look, did toned down makeup, and threw on a sweater and jeans. it was a look she didn't sport often, but made her feel a bit more like herself.

when her and jonathan noticed their mom was fast asleep on the couch, axe in hand, they glanced at each other before moving to wake her up.

"mom," jonathan said. "mom, wake up."

she shot up from her resting place, eyes wide.

"what... what time is it?" she asked, flickering her eyes around the room.

"it's almost 8:00, mom." y/n told her. "we need to go."

"go? go where?" joyce shook her head back and forth, trying to wake up.

y/n looked down, and jonathan swallowed. "to see will." he spoke.

joyce took a shaky breath, before nodding slightly, and standing up. the kids led her to y/n's car, the one they had decided to take, and sat her in the front seat, jonathan taking the back.

y/n drove slowly to the coroner's office, thinking that if she took longer to get there, will would eventually come back to life. she parked next to hopper's truck, getting out, and then moving to help her mom out.

hopper greeted them sadly, holding open the door for the three of them. they all walked inside, instantly being met with the doctor ready to show will's body. hopper stayed behind in the waiting room.

despite being immediately taken to the back, the process felt like it lasted for an eternity. y/n and jonathan held hands, shaking.

finally, the doctor got the body on the table, the byers staring at the covered up figure. when joyce didn't confirm they were ready, y/n nodded to do so for her.

the doctor slowly peeled back the sheet covering will, revealing, unfortunately what appeared to be y/n's youngest brother.

his body lay on the table, pale as snow, and still like a photograph. jonathan's hand shook even though it was intertwined with hers, and he pulled away, gagging. y/n couldn't hold back her tears at the evidence that her mother was in fact incorrect. will byers was dead.

she left her mom alone, following jonathan back out to the waiting room, feeling nauseous herself. they sat next to hopper in silence.

"how's your mom doing?" he finally asked.

jonathan sniffled. "i don't know." he said.

"i don't think that good." y/n added.

the phone rang.

"how long has this stuff been going on? with the lights and, will, and uh, the thing in the wall?" hopper turned to them.

"since the first phone call, i guess." jonathan answered.

"she's always been a very anxious person." y/n nodded. "she's had problems with it in the past. but this... it's a whole new level." she fell back to silence.

"i'm worried it could be..." jonathan started. "ugh, i don't know. she'll be okay. we'll be okay."

they all nodded as if acting like it was a fact would make it true immediately. y/n didn't know how they'd be okay without will. she did know that the lights in the office felt way too bright. she thought about how they would need to have a funeral, and that meant she'd need to see her dad, and also will's body again.

"our mom is tough." was one thing y/n did know to be a fact.

"yeah, she is." hopper smiled.

the door to the morgue burst open, breaking apart the hopeful moment.

"ma'am!" the doctor shouted, chasing after joyce. they all stood. "i need you to sign!"

"i don't know what you think that thing is in there, but that's not my son!" joyce screamed back.

"joyce, wait a second." hopper tried to reason with her.

"no!" she walked right out the door.

"mom." both y/n and jonathan called after her, following her out the door.

"ma'am.."

y/n got into the drivers seat, jonathan hopping in next to her. they drove out of the parking lot, following their mom down the street. they rolled down the window closest to her.

"mom, will you please get in?" jonathan cried.

"no, i need to think." she stammered. "just go on home."

"mom, come on."

she shook her head, walking away faster. y/n pulled up next to the sidewalk, put the car in park, and jumped out, chasing after her mom. jonathan was right behind her.

"mom!" she shouted.

people started to look at them as they chased joyce across the crosswalk.

"just go home!" she yelled at them.

"no, this is not an okay time for you to shut down." jonathan told her.

"shut down? what-"

"we have to deal with this, mom, we have to deal with the funeral." y/n explained, the words feeling like poison on her tongue.

"the funeral?" she exclaimed. "for.. for who? that thing back there?"

"okay, let me get this straight." jonathan laughed. "will, that's not his body because he's in the lights, right? and there's a monster in the wall? do you even hear yourself?"

y/n fell silent again. this was her worst fear. she looked at all of the people staring at her and her family, exactly what she hated. she loved being a byers, but hated being a byers. there were implications that came with the name, public breakdowns being one of them.

"i don't care if anyone believes me! i am not gonna stop looking for him until i find him and bring him home."

a crowd had formed by then.

"yeah, well, while you're talking to the lights," jonathan screamed, louder than before. "the rest of us are having a funeral for will! i'm not letting him sit in that freezer another day!"

the clock chimed as jonathan walked briskly back to the car. all eyes were now on y/n waiting for her to have an outburst too.

"show's over." she spat out, a piece of confidence she had obtained from her so-called throne at school.

by then, y/n knew she wasn't going to school. she got back to the car where jonathan had sat back down, and let out a deep breath.

"hey." she said to him. "wanna get some food?"

he looked at her like she'd grown a third eye.

"i just figured we could use some sustenance before heading to the..." she couldn't finish her words.

"yeah, okay." her brother let out a chuckle. "let's get food then."

they went to the closest restaurant they could find, which was a small quick-service place.

they walked in and ordered.

"ya'll are the byers kids, right?" the woman working the register asked.

y/n took a breath before answering. "yeah, that's us."

"this is on me. so sorry 'bout everything." she handed them their order ticket before they could pay.

"oh, wow, thanks." jonathan replied.

they moved to table and sat down, waiting for their food to be ready. once it was, they ate quickly, telling stories about will to pass time. it was similar to y/n's driving earlier. they felt as if the more time they spent in the restaurant, the less necessary a funeral became.

by the time that they left the place and headed to the funeral home, school was almost out for the day. they walked in, their brains on auto-pilot as the worker explained types of caskets and their prices.

he spoke softly. "this one's made of soft wood with a crepe interior."

y/n had no clue what a crepe interior, but didn't give a shit.

"now, i don't know what your budget is, but over here we have copper and bronze." the man led them to the other side of the room, but y/n stopped in her tracks as she saw nancy in the doorway. jonathan turned back to see where his sister had gone, and joined her.

"can you just give us a second?" he asked the man.

"of course."

the byers joined nancy in the doorway.

"hey, nance." y/n greeted her sadly.

"hey. your mom, um, she said you'd be here." nancy explained.

jonathan nodded.

"i just..." she inhaled. "can we talk for a second?" she pointed to the hallway behind them.

y/n said yes, and followed nancy out to a bench. y/n sat on her left, jonathan sat on her right. nancy pulled one of jonathan's ripped up photos out of her bag, explaining the weird part she had noticed in the corner.

"it looks like it could be some weird perspective distortion, but i wasn't using the wide angle." jonathan told her, holding the pieces together. "i don't know, it's weird."

"and you're sure you didn't see anyone else out there?" nancy asked, referring to the night of party at steve's, also the night that barb disappeared.

"no. and she was there one second, and then, um, gone." jonathan said. "i figured she bolted."

"the cops think she ran away." nancy said flatly. "but they don't know barb... and i went back to steve's."

y/n perked up at the mention of her boyfriend. no matter how mad she was at him, he'd always make her heart race.

"i thought i saw something." nancy explained. "some... weird man or... i don't know what it was." she let out a big sigh.

y/n's heart started racing, connecting some dots. they sat in silence as she thought.

"i'm sorry." nancy suddenly spoke. "i shoudn't have come here today, i'm so sorry." she stood, beginning to walk out.

"nance, no. it's okay." y/n promised, calling her back. "it's just..."

"what'd he look like?" jonathan asked, on the same page as his sister.

nancy turned around. "what?"

"the strange man." y/n repeated. "what'd he look like?"

"i don't know." nancy struggled. "it was almost like... like he didn-"

"like he didn't have a face?" y/n finished for her, nancy's face dropping.

"how did you know that?" she asked.

later that afternoon, the three of them went to the place that jonathan always got his photos developed.

on the ride over, they had explained what their mom had seen to nancy. while jonathan tried to enlarge the figure in the photo, nancy kept asking questions.

"did your mom say anything else?" she groaned, wishing there was more to go off of. "like, uh, where it might've gone to, or..."

jonathan was encompassed in his work, so y/n responded.

"no. all she told us was that it came out of the wall, and that it didn't have a face. just like you said." she explained.

her brother turned off the machine then, turning to soak the photograph in the solution.

"how long does this take?" nancy asked again.

"not long." jonathan promised.

"have you been... doing this awhile?"

"what?"

"photography?"

y/n watched as her brother and her best friend talked back and forth. she assumed nancy was trying to flirt a little, even if it wasn't purposefully. this brought out a smile in her.

as they got distracted in conversation, she noticed that the picture had developed.

"guys, sorry to break this up, but..." she pointed at the photo.

nancy turned to look. "that's it. that's what i saw." she confirmed.

y/n's heart pounded in her chest, unsure what to think, or what the hell that thing was in the photo.

"my mom... i thought she was crazy." jonathan got out.

"yeah, cause she tried to tell us that it wasn't will's body and that he was still alive." y/n shook her head in shock, moving closer to the photo.

"and if will's still alive..." nancy trailed off.

"then barbara."

a/n: wowww this is def my favorite chapter so far, no questions!! i am obsessed. i feel like i got to show so many emotions in this one, and it was just such a meaty, content filled episode, so i'm glad that i did. please let me know if you found any errors or if you'd like to join the taglist below! i love you guys, thanks for reading!

taglist: @ethereallyastral @femurgetokill @loser-vile @marajade888 @pillkits @cozyfqwn @heartheejake @niasbubble @cherryheairt @sired4urmama @matrixmoxi @brxght-world @sanaxo-o @cheetoscmj @harry-luver @multifandombliss @sunsetenthralled @nchhuhi @readinf @gigrat @k3mtyfriox @mrspossessiveleclerc @urm0msoldcar @mercy0000 @mystargirl-interlude @olivia21blunt @gennywennypenny @onlyangel-444 @zuncorvemi @kathypellar @khumiko @marvelousstorm @onefootinthepast @ilovechanyeol16 @counterstr1ke @the8thsky @faithsturniolo @mellarkslovergirl @helaenabugmom @cherryrulestheworld @mannstarkey @lortheswiftie @fantastucbaby @michael-loves-chickens

after i had first met eddie, i went home with steve. he helped me unload my stuff from his car into his house, where i was going to be staying for the next week.

"shit, babe, i'm sorry that your spring break is ruined. of course it's this supernatural crap again." he told me, running a hand down his face.

"well, i'm glad i'm here to help deal with it, though i bet we could benefit from my sister being here. that is, if she had her powers." i explained, smiling at the thought of el.

"as much as i agree, and i am glad you're here, don't get me wrong, i'd much rather you be on the opposite end of the country while this shit is going down." he pulled me into his side after he grabbed my bag from the car, shutting his door.

we walked up the path to his front door, making our way inside.

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in a dream that night, i was in the cabin with my dad. dreams i had often, but was used to and less afraid of now.

this time, the scenario was a game night between steve, el, mike, me, and my dad, something we did frequently in the summer of '85.

el had just won a card game, and she cheered while the rest of us groaned.

"i feel like maybe the one with powers shouldn't be trusted if she wins." steve joked, making everyone smile.

"hey, i'm gonna go to the bathroom real quick, shuffle the cards and we can play again." i told the room.

i stood up from my place on the ground around the coffee table, moving towards the bathroom. as i opened the door, i was met with a agonizing scene.

rather than the toilet and the shower, i saw a hospital room. an ever so familiar hospital room, with a bed containing a small girl.

sarah. my sister.

in front of the bed were my parents, holding each other tight, and straight ahead, to the right of the bed was me, holding sarah's hand as her eyes fluttered closed.

"sarah, please." i sobbed. "we love you too much."

the doctors rushed in around us as her heart monitor beeped like crazy. one of them gently pushed me aside, breaking the grip i had on her hand as they tried to save her.

i could see in her eyes it was too late.

dream-me couldn't move, she was stuck staring at the scene in front of her. as i watched my sister die once again, the bathroom door slammed shut. i turned around, wondering if the group behind me had scene that, but was met with another horrific scene. it was my dad, scratched up, burnt, and torn apart, the way i had envisioned him looking in one of my first nightmares after his death.

"dad, no." dream-me cried.

"do you see, y/n?" a deep voice boomed throughout the cabin, startling me. "they're all dead." i whipped around again, and was in a cemetery. six tombstones laid there. in order they read, sarah hopper, james "jim" hopper, jane hopper, michael wheeler, steven harrington, and lastly, the one that made my heart drop, "y/n hopper."

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i shot up in bed, tears running down my face, and my chest heaving. steve awoke next to me from the commotion.

"hey, hey, baby, it's okay." he told me, used to the frantic dreams i had been having for almost a year now. "another nightmare?" he asked.

"it was so bad." i cried into his chest.

it was true, i hadn't had a nightmare quite so gory and graphic for a few months now.

it must've been because i was back in hawkins, i assumed. this place seemed to trigger the worst.

steve calmed me down, coaxing me back to sleep in his arms.

i woke up again the next morning with a pounding headache, but assumed it was just from jetlag and stress over the dream. i was able to mainly move past it, since i had been having them for so long.

a few hours later we got back together with max, dustin, and robin. i was aching to see nancy at this point, my best friend since forever. but, i knew i would see her soon, and that helping eddie out was more important at the moment.

we walked up to the boathouse, entering without any warning, scaring eddie out of his mind.

"delivery service." dustin smiled.

he panted, out of breath from being scared, and stared at us. we all had smiles on our faces, perhaps too bright for what was at stake.

i handed eddie some bags of snacks, and he immediately dug in, shoving food into his mouth.

"so, we got some good news and some bad news." dustin explained. "how do you prefer it?"

"bad news first, always." eddie replied like it was obvious.

"good choice." i remarked.

"alright, bad news. we tapped into the hawkins pd dispatch with our cerebro."

my heart pounded. this happened anytime that police were brought up, especially the hawkins ones. i couldn't visualize a cop who wasn't my dad.

"and they're definitely looking for you." dustin finished, eddie's face dropping. "also, they're uh, pretty convinced that you killed chrissy." he added.

"like, 100% kind of convinced." max said.

"yeah, maybe we shouldn't have started with the bad news on this one." i said, under my breath.

"and the good news?" eddie asked.

"your name hasn't gone public yet, but if we found out about you, it's only a matter of time before others do." robin told him.

"and once that gets out," i started. "everyone in this town is going to be after you."

"hunt the freak, right?" he said.

"exactly." robin confirmed.

"shit."

"so, before that happens, we need to find vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence." dustin listed.

"that's all, dustin, that's all?"

"yeah, no, that's pretty much it."

"listen, eddie, i know everything dustin's saying sounds totally delusional, but we've actually gone through this kind of thing before." robin spelled out.

"dustin and i the most." i pointed between us. "we've dealt with this for awhile now, i promise you."

"yeah, and i only have once," robin interjected. "and mine was more human flesh based and theirs was more smoke-related, but bottom line is, collectively, i feel like we've really got this."

"yeah, see, we usually rely on this girl who has superpowers." steve spoke up for the first time in awhile. "y/n's sister, actually."

i smiled at the mention of el.

"but, uh, those went bye-bye." steve finished.

"yeah, so we're kind of in a.. a," i snapped my fingers hoping the words would come to me.

"a brainstorming phase." max completed.

"brainstorming." steve repeated.

"there's nothing to... to worry about." dustin's voice pitched up, as it always did when he lied. we all faked laughter and scoffs, as if this was the truth.

then, the sirens started.

"shit." we all murmured, throwing the tarp over eddie.

steve, dustin, and i ran to the window to see where they were headed. thankfully for us, they drove right past the boathouse, continuing down the road.

"we should go check this out, right?" i commented, as the others were already heading out the door. "okay, then. we'll be back, eddie!" i whisper-shouted since the door was open. we loaded back into the beamer, each of us taking our practically assigned seats, and following the cop cars down the road. steve's hand rested on my thigh.

as we approached the scene, i saw a familiar face talking to the cops.

"nancy?" we all said.

steve pulled over quickly, and i jumped out of the car the second it was nearly safe enough. she had noticed us, and i flashed a small wave and a concerned look, getting the same thing in response.

my headache from this morning came back instantly as we pulled up, but i assumed it was now due to the loud sirens, another thing that reminded me of my dad.

when we were eventually allowed to cross through the barricades, i ran up to nancy, pulling her into my arms and into a tight hug. she wrapped her arms around me, too.

"oh gosh, nance. i missed you. are you okay?" i pulled away, checking her body for signs of injury.

"i missed you too, y/n." she smiled. "and yes, i'm okay. they.. they found my friends body out here."

my stomach dropped. "oh god."

steve, max, dustin, and robin were close behind me, watching her with concern as well.

"let's go sit down and talk, huh?" i suggested, and nancy led us to a picnic bench.

we discussed what we had already known, then opened up the conversation to further questions.

"so, you're saying that this thing that killed fred and chrissy is from the upside down?" nancy clarified.

"if the shoe fits." steve replied.

"our working theory is that he attacks with a spell, or a curse. now, whether he's doing the bidding of the mind flayer, or just loves killing teens, we don't know." dustin explained.

"all we know is that this is something different." max said.

"doesn't make sense." nancy emphasized.

"it's only a theory." i told her, shrugging.

"no, fred and chrissy don't make sense." nancy corrected. "i mean, why them?"

"maybe they were just in the wrong place?" i mean, they were both at the game. and the trailer park."

"we're at the trailer park..." steve reminded us. "and some of us were at the game. uh, should we maybe not be here?"

"there is something about this place." nancy agreed. "fred started acting weird the second we got here."

"weird, how?" i asked.

"scared, on edge, upset." she listed.

"max said chrissy was upset, too." dustin remembered.

"yeah, but not here." she said. "she was crying in the bathroom, at school."

"serial killers stalk their prey before they strike, right?" robin proposed. "so, maybe fred and chrissy saw this vecman-"

"vecna." dustin corrected her.

"dunno 'bout you guys, but if i saw some freaky wizard monster, i would mention it to someone." steve stated.

"well, maybe they did." i replied.

"she might be right." max looked up. "i saw chrissy leaving ms. kelly's office. if you saw a monster, you... you wouldn't go to the police. they'd never believe you. but you might go to your-"

"your shrink." i finished.

we decided to load back up into the car to head out to our next destination - the guidance counselors - when i saw nancy trying to secretly walk the other direction.

"woah, woah, woah, nance!" i called out. "where are you going?"

"oh," she turned around, caught red handed. "there's just something i wanna check on first." she tucked her hands in the pocket of her denim jacket.

"something you maybe wanna share with the rest of us?" dustin encouraged.

"i don't want to waste your time." she explained. "it's a real shot in the dark."

"yeah, okay, are you out of your mind?" steve asked. "flying solo with this vecna creep on the loose?"

"yeah, nance, it's too dangerous." i agreed. "i'll go with you."

"woah, what?!" steve shouted.

"oh, come on, this is stupid." robin replied. "us ladies, will stick together." she walked towards nancy and i, joining our group.

"unless, you think that we need your protection?" i joked, keeping a straight face. robin and nancy played along.

"fine, just be careful." steve looked at us, but especially me. i gave him a look that insinuated i meant the same for him.

as we loaded into nancy's stationwagon, i heard steve shout,

"always the goddamn babysitter!"

the three of us let out a laugh.

"i'm ready for some real girl time." i commented. "even if it's under these circumstances."

"me too." nancy smiled at me, beginning to pull out of the trailer park.

"so, where are we going?" robin asked.

"the library." she decided.

i turned and faced robin, who was raising an eyebrow, and i just shrugged, letting nancy lead the way.

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"so, help me get this straight." robin said, as we walked up to the library. "eddie's uncle, wayne, thinks that victor creel escaped from pennhurst asylum, and that he's the one running around hawkins committing all these murders?"

nancy and i's heeled boots clacked against the pavement of the steps as she replied. "pretty much."

"but, victor committed the eyeball murders way back in the 50s." i added to her story.

"well, '59."

"so, that means that these murders predate eleven and the upside down by about 30 years?"

"yeah."

"which makes spooky victor creel like 70 years old."

"yep." nancy rung the bell, clearly worn out by our incessant nagging.

"so, he's a grandpa murderer, who can turn invisible and lift people into the air." robin rested her head in her hands against the counter.

"it doesn't make sense, i know." nancy looked at us. "that's why i said it was a shot in the dark."

"i know, but i thought by shot in the dark you were being modest or hiding something super solid up your sleeve that you were gonna wow us with later."

"robin." i said to her, telling her to calm down.

"this is like, really, truly, a shot in the dark. like we're snipers with blindfolds on who've been spun around 50 times."

nancy rung the bell again.

"robs." i whispered, shaking my head as she turned to me.

"comingggg." the librarian called out, rounding the corner into our sight.

nancy relaxed slightly at the sight of her. "hi, sorry, we're in a bit of a rush. could we get the keys to the basement archives?"

"of course, give me one sec." the librarian went back around the corner to grab the key, and robin tried to explain to nancy that she has trouble shutting up.

"alright, ladies. here ya go." she handed us the key with a huge grin on her face.

nancy took the key. "yep, we'll try." she started walking to the basement.

"good to see you, ms. hopper." the librarian smiled at me, i smiled back.

then, we made our way to the archives.

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a/n: yay! this chapter was really fun to write... i hope you guys enjoyed reading it! i think there was a lot of fun allusion to the future of the story in this one...

as always let me know if you found any grammatical/spelling errors, if you'd like to join the taglist below, and what you're thinking of the story!! thanks for reading, love you guys!

y/n and nancy spent hours at steve's house doing their hair and makeup, dressing up in steve's mom's expensive clothing, and modeling for photos that he was taking on y/n's camera. they blasted music on the radio, dancing around his room.

at one point, they heard noises coming from the pool, and y/n ran to turn down the music, curious as to what it could be. but, it was such a distant sound, and none of them could figure out what it could be, so they wrote it off as more moaning coming from tommy and carol's temporary room.

eventually, nancy realized what time it was and needed a ride home. so, the three of them loaded up in the car, steve simultaneously kicking out tommy and carol, and took nancy home.

"do you need me to walk you in?" y/n asked, hoping nancy wouldn't be in too much trouble for staying out late.

"no, it's better if you don't. but thanks. i had a lot of fun." nancy smiled at both y/n and steve.

"me too, thanks for coming." y/n smiled back.

"well, i'll see you guys tomorrow." she hopped out of the car, running quickly up the steps to her house.

y/n watched as she made it safely inside, then told steve to head back home.

"your friends are pretty nice." steve commented, resting his right hand on y/n's thigh.

"i've been telling you." she laughed. "why wouldn't they be?"

"i guess i had stupid tommy in my ear telling me they were nerds too much." steve sighed.

"yeah, that makes sense."

they soon pulled back up at steve's house, running inside to escape the cold. the quiet air that now filled his home reminded y/n of her missing brother.

"hey, you okay?" steve asked after shutting the door behind them.

"yeah. thanks for tonight, it definitely took my mind off of things for awhile." she leaned in to let him hug her, which he did.

"of course, i could tell you needed it. you weren't yourself." steve told her, resting his chin on her head.

y/n's small smile faltered. the 'self' that he was talking about, wasn't really herself. it was her perfectly crafted image that had been cracking more every day since will disappeared.

"you wanna go upstairs? nobody else is here now." steve pulled away to look her in the eyes, smirking.

"yeah, of course." she put a smile back on her face, and headed upstairs.

the next morning, y/n woke up, wrapped in steve's arms, to the alarm she had set blaring in her ear.

she heard steve groan before he told her to turn it off.

"it means we have to get up, y'know." she rubbed her eyes, trying to loosen his grip around her waist. it did not work.

"i know what it means." he sighed. "doesn't mean we have to listen."

"unfortunately for me, i want to get good grades." y/n finished the conversation, pushing out of the bed, immediately met by the cold air in steve's room.

"regretting your choice?" steve said, a smile evident in his voice. "i can see you shivering."

"shut up, harrington." y/n said, rubbing her arms and walking to her bag. "good thing i brought a sweater."

she started changing as steve sat in his bed and watched, eventually getting up and starting to get ready. he only did so when he realized that y/n truly wasn't going to get back in the bed.

they did their hair at the same time, both of them perfecting their signature looks.

when they were finally ready to go, they moved downstairs to hop in their respective cars. they followed each other closely on the road, arriving to hawkins high at the same time, and parking in their regular spots.

y/n looked to see if jonathan had arrived yet, but it seemed as if he hadn't, so she took steve's hand and walked in to the school.

"mind if we go talk to nancy?" she asked him, pointing at where she had spotted her friend at the lockers.

"sure." he squeezed her hand and they walked towards her.

"hey, nance." y/n spoke, opening her locker wider.

"oh, hey." she replied, worry in her eyes.

"what's up?" y/n's brows furrowed. "you didn't get in too much trouble, did you?"

"no, no, not that much." nancy smiled. "it's just, i haven't seen barb yet. usually she's here by now."

"oh, yeah, you're right. well, maybe she's late today for whatever reason." y/n thought.

"maybe. it's just unusual." nancy nodded.

"yeah, you're right. but hey, don't worry, she's gonna show up. it's far more likely that she's late than skipping altogether." y/n smiled.

"that's true. i'll see you later?" nancy shut her locker.

"yeah, for sure." y/n replied, turning away and walking with steve again.

"that's so weird." y/n spoke.

"about barbara?" steve asked.

"yeah." she sighed. "about barb."

in all honesty, y/n didn't have the mental capacity - or sanity - to be thinking about another missing loved one.

at lunch, y/n sat in her regular spot with steve, tommy, and carol. while trying to eat, all y/n could think about was will, like she had been for the past three days.

she was a little distracted by carol's gross foot on the table. she had pieced together something about frostbite from steve's pool, to which tommy had pointed out was heated, when she saw nancy, looking around the cafeteria.

y/n waved her over. "nance, over here!" nancy turned to look towards her before shuffling over to the table. usually, nancy and barb had lunch together, while y/n sat with her other group. but today, since barb apparently still hadn't shown up, y/n didn't want to let nancy sit by herself.

"hey, sit down." y/n smiled, scooting over to make room for her.

"thanks." nancy said, sitting on the bench.

tommy and carol were silent for a moment before she went back to talking about her foot.

"i don't care what it is." steve shook his head. "it's gross, get it off the table. we're eating here."

carol rolled her eyes before pulling her leg down.

"hey, tommy." nancy spoke up, all eyes turning to her. "when you left, did you see barb?"

"what?" he asked.

"barbara. she's not here today." nancy explained.

"i seriously have no idea who you're talking about." tommy told her, carol laughing.

y/n scoffed, nancy shrinking in on herself.

"come on, don't be an ass, man." steve commented. "did you see her leave last night or not?"

"no, she was gone when we left." tommy finally admitted.

"probably couldn't stand listening to your loud music." carol mocked.

"more like probably couldn't stand listening to your obnoxious moaning." y/n told her.

"whatever." carol smacked her lips.

"listen, i'm sure she's fine." steve said, still laughing at what y/n had said about tommy and carol.

"yeah, yeah probably." nancy looked down.

y/n tried to comfort her before noticing jonathan in the hall. he happened to look in to the cafeteria just as she noticed him.

"hey, guys, i'll be right back." she stood up quickly, running off to talk to him.

"jonathan, hi." she said. "how's mom?"

"she's... she's convinced will is talking through the electricity." jonathan said, laughing out of pure disbelief.

"what?" y/n let out a laugh as well. "you're kidding, right?"

"no, unfortunately, i'm not." he shook his head. "uh, did you have fun at steve's last night?" he cleared his throat.

"oh, yeah, i mean, as much fun as i could have under these circumstances. i honestly feel kind of bad that i went. i probably should've been at home with you and mom." y/n looked down.

"no, it's okay. i wasn't home all night either." jonathan admitted.

"oh? where were you?" y/n smiled. "hot date?"

"no, i was looking for will." jonathan looked at her.

"oh, right." she dropped her smile. "right, sorry."

"it's okay." he smiled back.

"listen, i'll be home tonight, i promise. i'll be home until we find will." y/n explained.

"okay. me too." jonathan said.

y/n walked towards him and pulled him into a hug.

"we gotta stick together." she said.

"together." jonathan repeated.

the bell rang, and they pulled apart as the empty hallway filled up.

"i'll see you later, okay?"

"okay."

y/n ran back into the cafeteria to grab her bag before she ran off to class.

after the last bell rang, y/n met up with jonathan outside of his english class.

"what are you doing here?" he asked when he saw her.

"sticking together." she smiled.

"oh, right." jonathan cracked a smile too.

"let's go home." she sighed. "finally."

they walked in silence the rest of the way to their cars, where y/n saw steve, tommy, carol, and this other girl, nicole, sitting.

"what are they doing?" jonathan asked her, assuming she'd know.

"i have no idea." y/n admitted, running forward.

"hey, what is this?" she asked steve.

"you'll see." tommy taunted.

jonathan caught up when steve said, "hey, man."

"what's going on?" he asked.

"nicole here was telling us about your work." steve explained.

"we've heard great things." carol teased.

"yeah, sounds cool." tommy agreed. they all hopped off of the car, stalking forward the byers.

suddenly, y/n felt like a freshman again, the same freshman who was tiny and quiet, not loud and strong.

she felt little like her missing brother.

"we'd just love to take a look, y'know, as connoisseurs of art." steve added.

"i don't know what you're talking about." jonathan shifted his weight between his feet.

"yeah, steve, what are you doing?" y/n spoke timidly.

jonathan walked forward trying to get into his car, when tommy snatched his backpack.

"please, give me my bag." he pleaded.

y/n fell quiet as tommy tossed the bag to steve.

"man, he is like totally trembling, he must have something to hide."

steve unzipped jonathan's backpack, pulling out a stack of freshly printed photos.

y/n walked forward to look at them, seeing that they were all photos of the party at steve's last night.

"what?" she whispered, flipping through. there were some taken through steve's window of her and nancy dancing.

"yeah, this isn't creepy at all." carol said.

"i was looking for my brother." jonathan murmured, y/n's heart aching.

"no. no this is called stalking." steve said. "stalking your own sister."

nancy showed up then.

"what's going on?" she asked innocently.

"here's the other leading lady." tommy taunted, flashing the photos in nancy's line of sight. her mouth opened in shock as she looked.

"see, you can tell he knows it's wrong, but that's the thing about perverts. it's hardwired into them." steve explained.

"steve, he's not a pervert." y/n corrected, her voice cracking.

he ignored her. "so, we'll just have to take away his toy." he ripped up the photos before walking back over to jonathan's bag.

"no, please not the camera." jonathan begged, moving forward, tommy pushing him back.

"no, no, tommy, wait. it's okay." steve held out the camera.

y/n let out a sigh, thinking it would all be okay. as her brother reached forward to grab the camera, steve let it drop, shattering into pieces on the cement.

as the crowd around her laughed, y/n's eyes filled with warm tears, and she covered her mouth with her hand. jonathan leapt forward to pick up the pieces, but y/n was glued in place.

"come on, let's go. the games about to start." steve started walking away, grabbing y/n's shoulder.

"stop, steve." she whispered.

"what?" he asked.

"just go." she shouted.

his eyes widened, and tommy laughed at him.

y/n felt like she was frozen in place, unable to move. she just watched as nancy moved to help him pick up the camera. she just watched as they looked at her. she just watched as steve walked away.

for once, y/n didn't know how to smooth this situation over. usually, steve made everything better. this time, he made everything worse.

"y/n?" jonathan said, his voice shaky. he looked up at his big sister who was falling apart in front of him.

"i-i'm sorry, i need to go talk to him." y/n wiped her tears, marching back inside of the school, where she knew she'd find steve.

she walked through the halls, following carol's voice. she was talking about something to do with blowing a teacher. gross.

"i bet mr. mundy's still a virgin."

"so a virgin."

"maybe you should blow him, carol. help your grades a bit." she heard tommy say.

she rounded the corner, and finally saw them.

carol gasped. "the princess is angry. she's coming to defend her freak brother."

tommy laughed. "off with their heads!" he mocked y/n.

"steve." y/n called out.

he stood up, to meet her. "what the hell was that?" she asked him.

"what? me defending you?" he scoffed.

"i don't need to be protected from my own brother. besides, jonathan didn't do anything wrong. he was looking for will." y/n stood her ground, staring up at him, straight into his eyes.

"right, in my backyard? wouldn't you know if he was where you were standing?" steve joked, not understanding the seriousness of the situation.

"steve, it's not funny." the tears began to flow again. "my brother is literally missing. fine, maybe jonathan was crossing some lines taking those photos of us, but why is that more important than will?"

"it's n-" he started.

"it's not, oh, right." y/n rolled her eyes, sarcasm rolling off her tongue. "right, whatever."

she turned around, beginning to walk away.

"where the hell are you going?" steve shouted, his hands dropping to his sides. "you're not coming to the game?"

"no. i'm going to look for my brother. since he's still missing and nobody seems to care."

y/n exited the school, making her way back to jonathan who was sitting on his car, examining the pieces of his camera.

"hey, jon." she sniffled, catching his attention.

he stood up, seeing how distraught she was.

"y/n, it's really okay." he tried to soothe her.

"no, it's really not." she shook her head. "i yelled at him. a lot." she laughed through the tears.

"i'm sorry i took those photos, y/n." jonathan truly apologized. "i didn't think it was creepy, i was really out there to look for will."

"i know, it's okay. don't apologize. hey, let's go get dinner okay? we can go to that new place and pick up something for mom." she started a new conversation in order to show that she really wasn't mad at him.

"okay." he smiled.

"oh, hey, where'd nancy go?" y/n realized she was gone.

"i'm not sure. she looked at the photos and then ran off." jonathan explained.

"huh, okay." they got in their separate cars, following one another to the restaurant.

after the eldest byers siblings ate their food and packed up the to-go order for their mom, it was fully dark outside.

"gosh, i'm exhausted. i'm ready to go home, for real this time." y/n smiled.

"me too."

they yet again loaded into the two different cars, driving towards the byers house. y/n followed jonathan's car carefully, but coming to sudden stop behind him when they were close to the house.

she cranked down the window, sticking her head out to see why he'd stopped, when she saw her mom running towards them. both of them practically flung themselves out of the car to see what was wrong.

she muttered incoherently as jonathan and y/n held her tight.

y/n was the first to notice the trail of police cars making their way towards them.

a/n: woooo! third chapter done and it's a good one! thanks for reading, keep reblogging/commenting, and let me know if you want to join the taglist!!!

the morning of my flight to hawkins, joyce woke up early, 4am to be exact, to drive me. i had said goodbye to my sister, will, and jonathan, the night before.

she drove me to the airport, dropping me off in front.

"are you sure you don't want me to park and wait with you?" she asked.

"i'm sure, joyce. thank you, though." i smiled, starting to get out of the car.

"okay, honey." it seemed as if she had something to tell me, something serious. "have a great trip, stay safe." whatever it was, it wasn't important enough to tell me now.

"thank you, see you next week!" i got out of the car, grabbing my suitcase from the backseat and waved goodbye.

i made my way through the airport, and waited for an hour before my flight was boarding. i took my seat, and began the nearly six hour journey back to indiana.

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when i got there, i was buzzing with excitement to see steve. i got my bag out of the overhead, and waited to get off the plane. as i exited the boarding area, i saw steve waiting at the gate. as soon as i could without people in my way, i ran up to him, practically leaping into his arms.

"hi!" i squealed, hugging him tight.

"hi, sweetheart." he laughed, setting me down.

"i missed you so much." we kissed, before grasping hands and moving through the airport.

"i missed you too. ready to drive to hawkins?" he asked.

"ready as i'll ever be."

on the drive back home, steve told me that he had work that day, and i was welcome to come to the video store with him and robin, or i could go hang with nancy until he got off. i told him i'd happily hang with my favorite ice cream scoopers, to which he grimaced.

we drove into town, the welcome to hawkins sign feeling like a slap to the face. it still hurt slightly, knowing my dad wasn't here, protecting people like he should be.

"hey, you okay?" steve glanced over at me.

"yeah, i'm okay." i smiled. "just weird."

"i get it." he nodded. he pointed out things that had changed as we drove through town to the video store.

we eventually pulled up to family video, where i jumped out of the car, ecstatic to see robin. she clearly felt the same, as the second i walked through the door, she screamed my name. the few customers inside turned and looked, concerned.

"y/n!" she shouted, running up to me.

"robin!" i exclaimed back, hugging her tight.

"careful with her, rob." steve scowled as he trailed in behind me.

"she's not made of glass, dingus." robin rolled her eyes, making me giggle.

"okay, so, can i tell you about vickie?" robin changed the topic.

"yes, please. tell me everything you didn't tell me on the phone." i replied.

she delved into a story about her and vickie during the game last night as her and steve stocked shelves. i helped the best i could with not knowing quite where anything went.

"and then vickie laughed! and it wasn't like a cheap, fake laugh, either. it was a real, genuine laugh." she explained.

"of course, she did. it was my muppet joke, it's hilarious." steve added.

"my point is that vickie laughed, and everything was just like, it was perfect."

"but?" i sensed.

"but i'm having this problem where i feel like i should just stop talking. i have said everything that i needed to say. but then i guess i get nervous, and the words keep spilling out, and it's like, my brain is moving faster than my mouth, or rather my mouth is moving faster than my brain."

steve and i looked at each other as she rambled, doing exactly what she was explaining. we smiled knowingly.

"i'm digging this hole for myself, and i want to stop digging, i'm trying to stop, but i can't. and i'm doing it right now, aren't i?" she finally realized.

"yeah, you are." steve confirmed.

"just a little." i shrugged, making a pinching motion.

robin sighed, backing into the wall. "i'm hopeless."

"you're not hopeless, rob." i told her. "you just need to work up the courage to ask her out."

"it's just so hard." she fake-cried into her hands, before looking back up, and saying.

"ooh, i think i found our morning movie!" she walked forward to grab it.

"guess that's all done for now." i laughed, steve taking my hand.

"doctor zhivago!" she pulled it off of the shelf.

"ugh, you know i don't do double vhs." steve shook his hand, waving it away.

"but it's about doomed love!" she explained. "and julie christie is b-b-bonkers hot in this. like seriously, the most beautiful creature i have ever seen in my life." robin ran to the tv to insert the tape as steve pushed the cart towards the back. i followed, taking a seat on the counter to watch.

robin clicked on the tv. it opened to the news channel.

"we're in the forest hills trailer park in east roane county." it reported. steve joined us, watching in concern.

"we don't have a lot of details as of now, but we can confirm that the body of a hawkins high student was discovered early this morning."

my eyes widened. "what the fuck?" i asked, in shock, moving closer to the tv as if that would help me make sense of the situation.

"the police have not released the name of the student although we're told they are currently in the process of notifying the family."

"yeah, holy shit." steve commented.

what a great start to my spring break.

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we continued to watch, until dustin and max showed up. i smiled at the sight of them, a happy break from the events on the news.

"hey, steve." dustin said. "y/n, you're here!" he ran up to me, hugging me, max following suit.

"hey, guys." i smiled.

"you see this?" steve asked, pointing at the tv.

"right. how many phones do you have?" dustin asked.

"someone was murdered." steve scoffed.

"how many phones do you have?" dustin repeated.

"two, why?" steve answered.

"technically three, if you count keith's." robin added.

"yeah three works." the kids conversed.

dustin threw his backpack on the counter, knocking down robin's stack of tapes. she complained loudly about that part. dustin threw himself over after his bag, moving to the computer.

"dude, my tapes! what are you doing?" steve groaned.

"setting up base of operations here." he explained simply.

"base of operations?" i asked.

"get off." steve told dustin.

"i need it." he replied.

"for what?"

"for eddie's friends' phone numbers." he responded, as if that answered everything.

"oh, your new best friend that you think is cooler because he plays your nerdy game?" steve asked. he had told me in length about how annoyed - more like jealous - he was about eddie's presence in dustin's life.

"yes." dustin replied, before pausing. "i never said that."

"seriously, you guys." robin interrupted. "maybe on a monday you can play around, but it's a saturday. it's our busiest day."

"robin, i empathize, but this cannot wait." dustin droned.

i pulled max to the side. "hey, how are you?" i pulled her in again.

"i'm.. okay. it's really good to see you." she commented.

i knew she had been going through similar grief as i had, and i hadn't checked in on her recently.

"it's good to see you too, max. i miss you a lot in california. we switched states." i laughed softly.

"we did." she nodded.

"could you fill them in while i do this?" dustin turned around and shouted at max.

"fill us in on what?" i asked.

she explained that eddie was the main suspect in the killing. i knew who he was, from being in school at the same time, but our paths never really crossed. dustin claimed he knew that eddie wouldn't have committed this crime, and that they desperately needed to find him. therefore, we were calling his friends.

"hey," i said to the friend that i was in charge of calling. "i was wondering if you have seen eddie, eddie munson, lately? well, thanks, i do have a nice voice, don't i? no, you haven't seen him? okay, thanks." i sighed, hanging up.

"hey, guys. i might have a lead." max called out.

"seriously?" we all turned to face her after lots of failed attempts.

"yeah, apparently eddie gets his drugs from some guy named reefer rick, and sometimes he crashes there." she explained.

"sounds promising." i nodded.

"yeah, where does reefer rick live?" robin asked.

"see, that's the thing. no one knows." max said. "he's more of a.. a legend, than someone that people actually know."

"well, what about a last name?" dustin wondered.

"i don't know that either."

"bet the cops know the last name." steve responded.

"what?" max asked.

"cops." he said simply. "i mean, listen, if this reefer rick is actually a drug dealer, i guarantee you he's been busted at some point. means he's in the system."

"the cops?" i asked him. "we can't go to the cops."

"really, steve? that's your suggestion?" dustin scorned.

"i just think that at this point, they should be filled in on what we know, what's going on." he explained.

"you think eddie's guilty, don't you?" dustin asked.

i looked between the two of them.

"whoa. i believe in innocent until proven guilty and all that constitutional shit. i just, you know, don't think that we can rule it out." he clapped his hands together.

"that's precisely what we're trying to do here, steve." max told him.

"and maybe we'd have a little bit more luck, if you stopped staring at your girlfriend and helping shoppers, and more time, trying to find eddie!" dustin exclaimed.

steve looked at him confusedly. "god forbid i want to spend time with my girlfriend who i get to see like once a month." he rolled his eyes. "plus, someone has to attend to the customers."

"especially if they're babes, right?" i joked.

"hey! i attend to all the customers. we've got a big selection in here. it can be super overwhelming to these people." steve furrowed his eyebrows.

"yeah, it can be." robin grinned, moving to the computer.

"what are you doing?" i questioned.

"maybe we don't need a last name." she explained. she typed 'rick' into the system. "twelve rick's already have accounts here."

"that's a lot of ricks." max commented.

"so, let's narrow it down." we went through the different ricks, ruling them out, until we reached,

"rick lipton." i read outloud.

"fast times at ridgemont high, cheech and chong's next movie, cheech and chong's nice dreams, cheech and chong's up in smoke."

"i think we got him." i said confidently.

"bingo!"

"lipton?" max clarifyed.

"spelled like the tea. 2121 holland road." robin said.

"that's out by lover's lake." i told them, recognizing the drive there. "middle of nowhere. it's a perfect place to hide."

we grabbed our stuff, and robin flipped the open side to say closed. we ran out to steve's car, and i took my resident place in the passenger seat.

"sorry, robin. i guess this became your seat while i was gone." i smiled sheepishly at her.

"no, you're the girlfriend. you come before me in order of passenger seat occupants." she explained. "according to steve at least."

"well, thanks." i laughed.

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by the time we made it out to the lake, the sun had gone down, and the fog had settled over the town. we pulled up at 2121, getting out of the car.

we all got the job of shining flashlights since it was so dark and there were no street lights. dustin got to ring the doorbell, doing so repeatedly to no response.

"oookay." steve sighed. "well, that settles it. i guess he's not here."

"quick to give up, huh harrington?" i nudged him in the side with my elbow. he scoffed.

dustin hammered on the door with his arm. "eddie! it's dustin!" he shouted out.

"great." steve sighed.

us girls started to shine light through the windows, to see if there was evidence of anyone being there. it looked like the house hadn't been touched in awhile.

dustin and steve kept shouting at each other.

i followed max around the house where we noticed a shed in the back.

"hey, guys?" max yelled out, getting the others to join us.

we walked over, examining the building cautiously. robin pushed the door open slowly.

"hello?" she asked. "is anyone home?"

"it sure doesn't look like it." i replied.

"what a dump." steve said, shining his light around the room.

he grabbed an oar off of the wall and started stabbing at the lump covered up by a tarp in the boat centered in the room.

"what are you doing?" dustin whisper-shouted.

"seriously, steve?" i ran a hand over my face.

"he might be in here." he reasoned.

"so take the tarp off." dustin replied.

"if you're so brave, you take the tarp off." steve replied, continuing to jab at whatever was under there.

"hey, look over here." max said. "someone was here."

"maybe he heard us, got spooked and ran." robin suggested.

"oh, don't worry, steve will get him with his oar." dustin joked. i laughed.

"i know you think you're funny henderson, but considering everyone in this room has almost died a hundred times, i don't find it funny in the slight-" he was cut off by someone leaping out from under the tarp. steve was shoved against the wall, a broken beer bottle to his throat.

"whoa, whoa, whoa!" i screamed. "steve!"

"wait, wait, wait, wait!" he shouted at the same time.

"whoa, whoa, whoa, eddie, eddie, stop!" dustin encouraged him.

"eddie!" he got his attention. "it's me. it's dustin, this is steve. he's not gonna hurt you. right, steve?"

i watched as steve shook his head.

"steve, why don't you drop the oar?" i told him.

he did so, and eddie pushed further with the knife.

"he's cool, man!" dustin said. i covered my mouth with my hand, stressed out.

"what are you doing here?" eddie croaked.

"we're looking for you." dustin explained.

"we're here to help." robin added.

"eddie, these are my friends. you know robin, from band."

she mimed playing the horn.

"this is max, the one who never wants to play dnd. and this is y/n, the one who moved last summer, to california. she's steve's girlfriend."

it was sweet to know that dustin had told his new friends about me.

"eddie, we're on your side. i swear on my mother! right, guys?"

"yes, yes, i swear on dustin's mother." i said quickly, amongst everyone else's responses.

finally, after an excruciatingly long pause, eddie released his grip on steve's neck, dropping the bottle. i instantly ran to steve, not wanting to let go.

"are you hurt?" i whispered in his ear.

"no, i'm alright." he told me.

we watched as dustin approached eddie who was shaking.

"eddie, we just want to talk." he told him.

steve ran a hand through his hair, massaging his neck. robin tried to get closer to dustin, who held a hand up, holding her back.

"we want to know what happened." she explained.

"you won't believe me." eddie sniffed.

"try us. we probably will." i smiled, hoping to come across as friendly.

"chrissy." his voice cracked. "she came to my trailer, hoping to buy drugs."

gosh, i remembered chrissy. she was in my grade. i was never really friends with her, but we had shared classes and done some projects together.

"and when i came back out to where she was waiting, after grabbing them from my room, her body just like, lifted up into the air and uh, she just like, hung there." he explained, staring off into the distance.

"and her bones, uh," he closed his eyes, whimpering. "her bones started to snap. her eyes, man, it was like there was something, inside her head, pulling. i didn't know what to do, so i... i ran away." he stuttered.

"i left her there." he scoffed. "you all think i'm crazy, right?"

"no, we don't think you're crazy at all." dustin reassured him.

"don't bullshit me, man! i know how this sounds." eddie cried.

"we're not bullshitting you." max promised.

"we believe you."

"honestly?" i said. "this is like one the less weird things we've heard."

"look, what i'm about to tell you might be... a little difficult to take." dustin explained.

"okay..." eddie nodded.

"you know how people say hawkins is... cursed? they're not... way off." dustin stated. "there's another world, a world hidden beneath hawkins. sometimes, it bleeds into ours."

"like ghosts and shit?" eddie asked.

"there are some things worse than ghosts." max told him.

"these monsters from this other world," i cleared my throat. "we thought they were gone. but they've come back before."

"that's why we needed to find you." dustin added.

"if they're back again, we need to know." i nodded.

"that night, did you see anything?" robin asked.

"dark particles, maybe?"

eddie shook his head, his eyes blank.

"it would almost look like dust, swirling dust." dustin clarified.

"no man, there was nothing you could see, or, uh, touch." he replied.

i looked at steve, slight fear growing in both of our eyes. he uncrossed his arms, wrapping one around my shoulder.

"you know, i tried to wake her, man." eddie said through tears. "she couldn't move. it was like she... she was in a trance, or something."

"or under a spell." dustin spoke up.

"a curse."

"vecna's curse."

"who's vecna?" steve asked.

"an undead creature of great power." dustin said.

"a spell caster."

"a dark wizard."

well shit. i guess if couldn't have summer break free of demons, it's only fair that i can't have spring break, either, right?

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a/n: yayyy, another chapter complete! i feel like this season is going to be a fun one to right, and i'm super pumped for season five too, so i want to get there as fast as i can!! thanks for reading!

as always, let me know of any grammatical/spelling errors, if you'd like to join the taglist, and your thoughts on the chapter. love you!

the morning after they discovered will was missing, jonathan and y/n made a pact to stay strong for their mom. this involved them getting up to make her breakfast - together - and to stay super organized. y/n made sure she knew where joyce's keys were so that she didn't have something other than will to put her energy into looking for.

at 7:00, their mom sat at the dining table while the two of them worked on breakfast. she was fiddling with the posters, a cigarette in her other hand.

"all right, mom." jonathan broke the uncomfortable silence. "breakfast is ready." he moved to put the plate down in front of her before joyce stopped him.

"careful of the poster!" she sighed. "i can't eat."

"mom, we need you to eat." y/n responded. "please."

"listen the xerox place opens in 30 minutes. i don't want you two going alone.."

"mom, we've got it." jonathan tried to soothe her.

"so, i'm going to have karen take you, cause i should be here." joyce finished.

"fine, that's okay, mom." y/n ran a hand over her face.

"we need to make, what, 200, 300 copies? how much is a copy?" joyce frantically asked. "ten cents?"

"mom," jonathan and y/n tried to calm her down while she started rummaging through her wallet.

"you can't get like this, mom." y/n crouched down, next to her. "it's not good for you. if jonathan and i can stay strong, so can you, for will."

"i'm sorry, i'm sorry." joyce cried.

"it's okay, mom. really." jonathan assured her. a knock on the front door broke up the moment, drawing the attention of all three of the byers.

joyce put out her cigarette, hopping up to answer it.

"we've been waiting six hours." she whined, revealing hopper outside on the porch.

"i know, i came as soon as i could." he sighed, shutting the door behind him as he stepped through the door.

y/n leaned on the doorway behind her, crossing her arms. jonathan stood close by.

"six hours." her mom emphasized.

"little bit of trust here, alright?" hopper argued. "we've been searching all night, went all the way to cartersville."

"and?" y/n's voice cracked.

"nothing."

the girl let out a shaky exhale, leaning into jonathan's chest for a hug. he weakly wrapped his arms around her, distraught himself.

"flo says you got a call?" hopper asked.

the word call brought back the memory of y/n's promise to steve.

"i can call you, for sure." she had told the boy.

"shit." she groaned. she made a note in her head to apologize to steve and explain what had been going on, then listened back in to what hopper was saying.

"storm barbecued this pretty good." he analyzed the phone, detaching it from it's post.

"the storm?" joyce exclaimed.

"what else?"

"you're saying that that's not... weird?" joyce gestured to it, tears still in her eyes.

"no, it's weird." hopper slammed the phone back into the wall.

"can we, like, trace who made the call?" jonathan suggested, to which joyce rapidly nodded.

"no, it doesn't work like that." hopper cut him off sharply. "now, uh, you're sure it was will?" he asked joyce. "because flo said you just heard some breathing."

"no. it was him, it was will." joyce confirmed. "and he was scared, and then something-" she started to get even more emotional, so y/n and jonathan moved to comfort her.

"it was probably just a prank call, it was somebody trying to scare you." hopper shook his head.

"who would do that?" jonathan asked.

"somebody insane." i scoffed.

"look, this things been on TV now. brings out all the crazies, you know. false leads, prank calls, uh..."

"no. hopper, it was not a prank. it was him."

"joyce..."

"how 'bout a little trust here?" she recalled. "you think i'm.. i'm making this up?"

"i'm not saying that you're making it up, all i'm saying is this is an emotional time for you."

"and you think i don't know my own sons breathing?" joyce weeped. "wouldn't you know your own daughters?"

y/n sucked in a breath as the room fell silent. she remembered when hopper had moved back to hawkins, one of her mothers old friends. they had gotten together to catch up, and an eavesdropping y/n, who thought that her mother should ditch her dad for this nice guy, learned that his daughter had just died. at that point, she couldn't fathom anything happening to her brothers, and was shocked that it had happened to hopper's daughter. she took a vow to protect will and jonathan.

now, she felt as if she had broken it.

eventually, hopper convinced joyce that he was going to go take a look at lonnie's, even though she knew he wasn't there.

jonathan chased after hopper to talk about it, while y/n stayed inside to comfort her mom.

"don't worry, mom. i promise you, we're going to find him. you know i don't break promises, right?" she felt as if this was a lie, but she told it to her mother anyway.

"right, i know." y/n shook in her daughters arms.

"hey, i'll go call karen and tell her that jonathan and i can handle getting the posters printed, alright? i promise that we will be alright."

"okay, honey. are you sure?" joyce asked.

"of course. i'll go right now." y/n walked to her room where she had a desk phone, and called the wheelers. when she was done, jonathan entered.

"you're gonna go see dad, aren't you?" y/n asked him.

"yeah. yeah, do you want to come with me?" jonathan replied.

"no. you should go." she glanced at the clock. "we should probably head to get the posters printed. i convinced mom to let us go."

jonathan nodded and they walked out to head to their cars. they each said goodbye to their mom, who was still shaking on the couch, and y/n grabbed the poster off of the table.

after 30 minutes spent at the printers, jonathan and y/n had made it to school with just a few minutes to spare before the first bell.

y/n pulled in to her usual parking spot, one that was right next to steve's. she noticed him in his car, waiting anxiously for her to park so that he could jump out.

just as she thought he would, he did, running around to her door. she got out of the car, grabbing her bag, and hugging him.

"are you okay?" he asked, holding her tight. "i was worried."

"yeah, i mean, i guess. i'm sorry i didn't call. uh, my brothers missing." she looked down.

"jonathan?" steve looked over to where the middle byers had just parked.

"no," y/n let out a small laugh. "will. he never made it home two nights ago and he hasn't been home since."

steve's eyes widened. "shit."

"yeah, and we were looking for him last night, and then our phone like, got fried by the weather or something, and i just, forgot to call. i'm sorry." y/n looked back up, making direct eye contact with her boyfriend.

"don't be sorry." he tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "that must've been really scary."

"yeah, yeah, it is. we still haven't found him, so i'm gonna help jonathan put up missing posters today." y/n explained.

"okay, do you want me to help?" steve asked cautiously.

"um, no. that's okay, i should do it alone with jonathan. but thanks." she leaned in and pressed a loving kiss to steve's lips.

the real reason she denied him is because she didn't want his pity. she had had enough of that from people throughout the years. she needed to stay strong to look for will, and not be distracted by people feeling bad for her. also, she worried steve didn't actually want to help, thinking it would weigh his reputation down. she knew that this was probably just her insecurities speaking, but couldn't help but feel nervous that there was a lurking truth.

"i'll meet up with you guys later, okay?" y/n said.

"yeah, baby, okay. during second break?"

"sure." she smiled, walking away and meeting jonathan.

the siblings mostly walked in silence, only conversing about where to hang posters. the two of them didn't agree on steve's place in y/n's life, so it led to some awkwardness between them.

they put up posters quickly out in the front of the school until the bell rang and they split up to go to class. now that will's disappearance had been reported about on the news, y/n could feel people's eyes on the her more than usual. she knew it was in a bad way, which was always her worst fear.

she hurried to find jonathan again to keep hanging posters, this time in the hallways. they talked about the classes they had just attended while hanging them solemnly.

"oh, man. that's depressing." y/n heard, recognizing tommy's voice. she didn't ever get along too well with him. without looking, she could tell he was referring to the hanging of the missing posters. she didn't even turn her head, refusing to acknowledge his teasing. she ignored the bickering until she heard tommy inappropriately joke.

"how much do you wanna bet one of them killed him?" y/n's hands shook. if jonathan had heard them he turned a blind eye.

"oh, shut up." she heard steve berate him.

"hey, i gotta go, jon." her voice shook as well. "i'll help hang more up around town later, okay?"

"okay, sure. i'll see you later." he smiled softly at her before walking away. as soon as he was gone, y/n scowled, turning to tommy.

"are you fucking kidding me?" she raised her voice. "you think it's funny to joke about this?"

"woah, princess. calm down."

"don't call me that. and don't tell me to calm down." she glared at him.

carol snickered at tommy, while he rolled his eyes. steve pulled her into his side, rubbing circles in her hip with his thumb. it was his quiet way of saying he was sorry for those assholes.

"hey," he interrupted. "i have a bit of good news. my dad's left town on a conference and my mom's gone with him, cause you know, she doesn't trust him. so, i was thinking of having a small get together tonight. just us, and you could invite your friends, y/n. only if you're okay with it, y'know, with everything going on." steve explained. "i was just thinking it could help you let some steam off."

"yeah, yeah, okay. i'll just have to tell my mom. sounds nice." she appreciated the effort. "you're sure nancy and barb can come?"

"oh gosh, not the nerds." tommy joked again.

"seriously dude, watch it." steve glared at him too. "yeah, of course they can come."

"okay, i'll let them know. we'll see what they say."

then the next bell rang, and they walked to the class that they all happened to share.

at lunch, y/n hung out with nancy and barb like usual. she met them in the cafeteria where they were waiting for her.

"oh my gosh, y/n are you okay?" nancy lept up, pulling her in.

"yeah, we heard about will." barb added.

"oh, yeah. yeah, i'm alright. we're gonna find him." she smiled.

"of course." nancy let go, sitting back down.

"hey, so steve is having like a mini-party tonight. just me, him, tommy, and carol. he says its so that i can relax for a night. anyway, he told me to invite you guys." she grinned. "wouldn't that be fun?"

the two otheer girls looked at each other before staring back at y/n.

"what?" nancy asked, confused.

"what do you mean what?" y/n asked back.

"a party?" barb added.

"it's tuesday." nancy scoffed.

"well, yeah, i guess it is." y/n scratched the back of her neck. "yeah, it's tuesday, but, uh, we're just gonna hang out by the pool. and there will probably be drinks, but you guys don't have to drink anything at all, i promise. just come have fun, please?" she took their hands.

"okay, fine." nancy smiled. "for you." she did seem pleased at the idea of letting go for a night.

"i guess i'll go too." barb agreed.

"ugh, i love you guys. seriously, this is going to lighten the mood for a night. i'm so glad. i'll call you guys when i know what time you should come to steve's, okay?"

they nodded and then they moved on to a different point of conversation.

that afternoon, once school had ended, y/n and jonathan walked around downtown hawkins hanging up poster after poster.

"man, this is depressing. your friend was right." jonathan grimaced.

"oh. you heard that?" y/n looked at him.

"of course i heard it." he chuckled.

"he sucks. and he's not my friend." y/n pretended to gag.

jonathan laughed before pointing out, "he's steve's friend."

"doesn't mean that he's mine, trust me." y/n promised.

"okay." after a minute, "do people really think we killed him?"

"oh gosh. no, i don't think so." y/n thought. "probably just tommy. he's an idiot. he's behind in like, all of his classes."

"figures. i just don't want people thinking that way about us. why would anyone assume that in the first place?" jonathan asked.

"i don't know, jon. i really wish i did." y/n sighed, hanging a poster outside of the hawk movie theater.

they kept walking, attracting sad looks from adults they had known their whole lives, practically.

"this is depressing. why do all of these grandmas keep looking at us like that?" y/n frowned.

"they all like will. that's why."

it's true. will was a helpful kid, and although other kids at school might have picked on him, the grown-ups around town felt differently.

"well, they'll see him again. soon. i know it." y/n said to jonathan, and to herself.

"yeah, soon." jonathan said slightly doubtfully.

"soon."

y/n packed a small bag of overnight stuff to take to steve's. she planned on staying there to make everything easier.

"hey, mom?" she called out.

"yeah, sweetie?" her mom responded sadly.

"i'm gonna be staying at steve's tonight, if that's okay."

"oh, sure, honey. just stay at his house, please, don't go anywhere once it's dark, and if you need to come home, let me come pick you up, don't drive. and be safe, physically and sexu-" joyce rambled, paranoid.

"okay, mom." y/n cut her off. "i will. i will do all of those things." she laughed slightly, kissing her mom on the cheek.

"i love you." joyce told her distractedly. y/n sighed.

"i love you too, mom." she went out front after going to call nancy and barb, and drove to steve's.

it took an hour for nancy and barb to show up after y/n got there. she knew they were apprehensive about showing up to steve's. the last time they had gone to something that y/n had invited them to like this, it turned out to be a rager and they immediately turned around and went home.

but, they pushed through and made it into steve's backyard, where they were all sitting on pool chairs. he had just gone inside to grab everyone beers while the rest of them stayed outside.

y/n had gotten carol to talk to nancy and barb a little, and it went shockingly decent. they talked about some movie that they had all happened to have seen, agreeing over how hot the main actor was, which worked out in y/n's favor.

then, tommy came up behind them and swooped carol up. she shrieked, piercing y/n's ears.

he threatened to throw her in the pool before setting her down.

"god, you are such an asshole, tommy!"

luckily, steve came back then, handing y/n a beer, along with tommy and carol before setting the other two down near where nancy and barb sat.

modern english played on the stereo that had been brought outside, while steve cut a hole in his can, chugging it in one go. his long-sleeve rode up while he did so, and y/n watched, pleased at the sight.

she turned to nancy, who was watching intently, studying how he drank the beer.

"you want one?" y/n offered.

"yeah, why not." nancy smiled.

the two of them stood while steve grinned, handing y/n the pocketknife.

"woah, so wheeler can have fun." tommy joked.

nancy rolled her eyes while smiling waiting for y/n to be done with the knife. y/n cut a similar hole to steve's in her can, quickly putting it to her mouth, while handing nancy the knife at the same time. nancy mimicked her perfectly, chugging just as quickly.

the boys and carol shouted "chug" while the girls did so, cheering them on. they finished at almost the same time, y/n throwing her can down only a few seconds before nancy.

the tiny crowd celebrated, minus barb. y/n noticed this and offered her a beer as well.

"barb, you wanna try?" nancy asked as y/n handed it to her.

"what? no. no, i don't want to, thanks." she responded.

"come on, yeah. come on." nancy and y/n tried to persuade her gently.

"i don't want to."

everyone pressured barb into taking it, y/n feeling slightly bad.

finally, she did, standing up and attempting to slice the hole. it backfired, and she did so in her hand instead.

"oh, shit." y/n's eyes widened, trying to find a towel or a napkin or a bandaid, or something, at all.

"barb, you're bleeding? are you okay?" nancy worried.

"i'm fine." she said firmly. "where's your bathroom?" she asked steve.

he stood up to direct her, standing by the door waiting, as nancy and y/n stood close by. tommy and carol were by the edge of the pool. unfortunately for her, carol had her back turned, and before she knew it, tommy had pushed her in. she screamed.

everyone laughed as tommy jumped in too, then steve.

y/n looked at nancy.

"don't you dare!" nancy laughed.

y/n pushed her in, following right after. they all played around, splashing each other, and as steve tossed her under the water, she felt free.

until she came back to the surface, and remembered that her family was falling apart.

after they all got bored, they made their ways inside. drinking more beer on the way in. they dried off with the towels that steve had run off to get.

"i'm freezing." carol shivered.

"well, i hear his mom's room has a fireplace." tommy raised his eyebrows, leading carol up the stairs.

"oh, gross." y/n shook her head.

"are you kidding? okay well, you're cleaning the sheets." steve told him.

"you all right?" he came over to ask the girls that were left in his living room.

"yeah." both y/n and nancy responded. "i can get you some dry clothes upstairs." he led them up. "hey, nancy, we should like do our hair and makeup, or something." y/n slurred, only slightly tipsy.

"that sounds fun." she responded, feeling the same way.

barb came out of the bathroom then, calling their names.

"where are you going?" she asked nancy.

"nowhere. i'm just getting clean clothes." she explained.

the girls watched as barb just stared.

"why don't you go ahead and go home?" nancy suggested. "i'll just get a ride or something."

"nance..."

"barb, i'm fine."

y/n watched the interaction. she and barb were close, but nancy and barb were closer. she didn't really know how to insert herself into the situation. nonetheless, barb was one of her only real friends, and had helped her get through some dark times.

eventually, nancy reasoned with barb, getting her to go home.

"bye, barb. love you." y/n said, before retreating upstairs as well.

that was the last time she ever saw her.

a/n: thank you for making it this far!! i hope to get chapter three out this weekend, as well as the next chapter of the chief's daughter if you read both. okay, love you guys!!

california. i had been living there for a little over half a year, and i still hadn't gotten used to it.

the lack of snow, the constant sun, and the beach. i have to say, i loved the beach. i also loved smoking what el called "smelly plants" with jonathan. it reminded me of smoking in hawkins, but at least this time i was actually getting high off of it.

i had gotten used to living with the byers, who helped me through my grief. they were the perfect family for me to be living with.

one thing i missed most about hawkins, of course, was my boyfriend steve.

however, i had been writing him, often spending time with el writing letters to our respective boyfriends, calling him, and visiting him. it really felt like i had never left in certain ways.

but of course, i had. other than steve, i missed hanging out with nancy, taking care of the kids, watching movies with robin, and despite everything, i kind of missed working at scoops ahoy. the thing that i missed the most, obviously, was my dad. sadly, there was nothing i could do about that.

i thought about him every single morning. it was weird to see el, but not him. i couldn't watch miami vice anymore, or do any of the other regular activities that we did together. but thank god i had the byers with me. they were such fun people

luckily, spring break was just around the corner, which meant i was seeing steve. until then, i just had to finish up one more day of school, before my flight to indiana.

this morning, i was hanging out in jonathan's room, smoking, until we heard his friend argyle honking outside in his pizza van. i drove us to school some days, but i didn't mind argyle being our chauffeur.

"shit!" i helped him stuff the bongs under the bed before running back to my room to grab my stuff. i nearly ran into joyce in the hall, hoping she couldn't smell me. in my room, i added some extra pumps of perfume. that probably wasn't masking anything, but it was worth a shot, i guess.

i grabbed my stuff before meeting el, will, and jonathan outside, walking to the van.

"hold on to your buts, brochachos." argyle told us, once we'd taken a seat. then he started speeding out of our neighborhood in lenora hills, turning up the radio that was playing california dreamin' by the beach boys.

when we got to school, i threw my sunglasses on, hopping out of the van. thank goodness for the california heat. it was much needed after all of the snow i had dealt with my whole life. that day i was wearing a neon pink t-shirt and some denim shorts.

i said goodbye to my sister, and basically, my brothers, before making my way into the hallway of the school. jonathan and argyle were also seniors, unlike will and el, but i usually hung out with the couple of friends i had here rather than them.

speaking of, i found kelly, amanda, and jean waiting for me to join them by the door.

"hey, y/n!" amanda smiled, linking her arm through mine. "woah, you smell like we-"

"shhh." i quieted her. "no need to bring it up."

"right." she said.

as we walked through the hallway, one of the jocks that had constantly been trying to get me to go out with him since i had transferred, matt, came up to me.

"oh, hi, matt." i grimaced.

"hey. so, did you think about that date anymore?" he asked me.

"um, no. i have a boyfriend." i told him, yet again.

"right, well, i'll believe it when i see it." he nodded.

"i have shown you the picture in my wallet, like, countless times." i scoffed. "what more do you need to see?"

"maybe pretty boy can fly out here to see you, that way i'll believe it."

"well, that's too bad. i'm actually going to see him for spring break." i smiled.

"all the way in indiana, huh? shame." he walked away then.

"gosh, i can't believe you're reject matt!" kelly exclaimed.

"seriously, he's like, the cutest guy in the school." jean nodded along.

"you guys can have him. i'll stick to my boyfriend." none of them had met steve, even though they believed he was real, unlike matt.

"steve's pretty cute too, you should stick to him for sure." amanda told me.

"thank you for your common sense." i laughed, walking with them to class.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

at break, i was walking out to the first quad with my girls, when i spotted el, moving towards me, holding her diorama of our cabin in hawkins. when she had first started making it, she asked me for help. we worked on it together and when it was done, i broke into tears. then she did too.

when she spotted me, she waved in my direction, a grin lighting up her face. i smiled back.

then, this bitch, named angela, who had been bullying her for awhile, tripped her, the diorama sliding across the ground.

"what the hell?" i said, running up to them. the interaction started garnering a crowd.

before i could catch up, some other guys stepped on it and crushed the project, my heart pounding in my chest.

"what the fuck is wrong with you?" i shouted. all eyes turned to me. "you think it's funny to make jokes about someone's dead dad?"

angela and her minion's eyes widened, taking in what i had said.

"angela!" el shouted from behind them. they turned, and el stuck out her hand, screaming. she tried to use her powers.

when they didn't work, i covered my mouth in shock and sorrow for her.

then the laughter followed.

"oh, shut up, you idiots!" i shouted again, running to el.

one of the teachers, mrs. gracey pushed through the crowd once she noticed the scene.

"what's going on here? what's going on? jane?" she rambled. "did someone do this?" she asked once she finally made it to el and i.

"i tripped." el explained.

"what?" i exclaimed, looking towards angela, narrowing my eyes.

mrs. gracey followed my gaze, and el tried to cover it up.

"it was just an accident." she said.

mrs. gracey sighed, before getting upset. "all right, angela. you come with me."

"what? why?" she scoffed. "i didn't do anything, tell her jane!"

the crowd oohed and awed as she was pulled away towards the principals office.

"yeah, wait till your dad dies, then we'll all laugh about it too!" i shouted after her, helping el grab the pieces of the diorama. will was there by then too.

"shit, i'm sorry." will said, looking at both of us. he knew it hurt me too.

"yeah, what is it you guys used to say? they're mouthbreathers?" i joked.

"definitely. they're definitely mouthbreathers." will smiled.

when el picked up the figure of our dad, now split in half, i gasped softly. we all had tears welling in our eyes.

"i'll help you fix it." i said, shakily. "when i get back."

el just closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

i offered to walk home with el if she needed to get out of school for the rest of the day, but she was determined to push through. i tried my best to make it through the day without breaking down, but i had to take a break to sob in the bathroom.

it was an accidental ritual that had formed in my time at lenora hills high school. the first day there, i didn't know anybody yet, except my three adopted siblings. i missed steve, nancy, robin, everyone from hawkins so much that i couldn't help but escape to the bathroom during lunch and let it out. it got better once i met kelly, amanda, and jean, but the tears came back every now and then.

thankfully, the rest of the day went relatively quickly, and it was time to go home and get ready for my flight the next morning.

the first time i had gone back to hawkins after losing my dad was rough. it was the holidays, on top of that, so i was extra sensitive. but spending time with steve, nancy, and robin healed part of me. so, now anytime i went back, it didn't feel as hard.

this time, i was expecting it to be great, a much needed vacation from school, especially after today.

after we all ate dinner and resigned to our rooms, i waited until the exact minute i was supposed to call steve. when the clock hit 11:00, i instantly dialed. almost as quickly, he picked up.

"hey." i spoke softly into the phone.

"hi, baby. how are you?" steve responded, his voice a little muffled.

"i'm... alright."

"no, you're not. i can tell. what happened?" steve spoke as if he was frowning, which he probably was.

"well, remember that school project of el's i told you about? the one where she had to make a replica of my old cabin?" i explained.

"oh yeah, totally."

"well, that brat angela and her other bully friends stomped on it in front of everyone." i sighed.

"what the hell?" steve scoffed.

"i just don't understand why they're comfortable making fun of someone's dead parent." i ran a hand through my hair, leaning back on my bed.

"it's messed up, honey, i'm so sorry. how did el feel?" steve asked.

"uh, well, she tried to use her powers. in front of like at least 50 people." i told him.

"did they work?"

"no, not at all. she looked so embarrassed, steve."

"i'm sorry. how did it make you feel?"

"her embarrassment?" i questioned.

"no, silly. the project getting ruined."

"oh, well, i was mostly just pissed at the disrespect, until i saw the figurine of my dad... it was... split in half. and i tried not to cry, but i had to run to the bathroom and sob." tears started coming back when i told him about it.

"shit, i wish i was there with you right now. i'd kick that girl's ass for both you and el."

"i know you would. but it's okay, i can get through this one night by myself, steve, i promise."

"alright, baby."

"how was your day?" i asked him.

"it was pretty good. i drove robin to school like always, she's super excited to see you by the way, then went to work, and then went to the championship game."

"oh right, that was tonight. how'd it go?"

"we actually won. i mean, of course it was right after i graduated."

i laughed. "how did lucas do?"

"he's the reason they won, believe it or not."

"wow, that's amazing!"

we continued to talk for a little while before we were both yawning between every sentence.

"okay, pretty girl, you better get some sleep. you've got important things to do tomorrow." steve instructed me.

"like what? drive to the airport then sit on a plane?" i laughed quietly.

"yes, and then hug me."

"right, okay. how could i forget? i can't wait." i smiled.

"i can't either. i love you, see you tomorrow. i'll be at your gate waiting."

"okay, i love you too! bye!"

after we hung up, i laid down, tucking myself in, and turning out the light.

i dreamt of my perfect spring break, and how amazing it would be.

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a/n: hi guys! i hope you enjoyed this short intro chapter to season four. sorry it took me a little to get it out, i was trying to publish the first chapter of my new series princess byers at the same time!

as always, let me know if you find any grammatical/spelling errors, if you'd like to join the taglist, and what your thoughts are on the series so far! i love you guys, thanks for reading!

the morning of november sixth, 1983.

y/n was awoken by a sharp three knocks on her door. it was a code she knew well, to alert her to who was knocking. she had one with each of her brothers, a system they established when they were young. this time, it was will.

"come in." she coughed, barely awake.

"y/n!" will threw open the door. "you need to take me to mike's!" he exclaimed.

"will, what time is it?" she rubbed her eyes.

"it's 11:00, i can't believe you were still asleep." he sighed.

"it's sunday." she shrugged, throwing the covers off of her bed, and standing up. "why can't you bike?" she asked.

"i can, but you told me you'd drive me." will explained.

y/n knew how much she meant to will, serving as a second motherly figure and someone to lean on. jonathan might've been more of a role model for will, but y/n taught him half the things he knew. she always knew that their car rides were something he looked forward to, something they had been doing since she got her license.

"right, i vaguely remember that." she glanced at her calendar that was above her dresser, seeing a star next to the date. another system she had put in place. a star meant a party, this one specifically being hosted by steve. there were a lot of those that they went to, and she could barely keep track.

"how long do you think you'll be there?" y/n turned back to will.

"a long time. mike's been planning this campaign for weeks."

"okay, well, i have plans tonight. do you think you could bike home if i drive you there? we can throw the bike in the back of my car." she told him, opening her drawers.

"sure, that works. get ready fast." he smiled. "i'll make you toast."

"thanks, buddy." she ruffled his hair before he ran off. then she picked out an outfit and did her makeup. she threw her hair in a ponytail, not having time to style it fancily, and walked out to the kitchen, where she found will.

"thanks for the food." she grabbed it from him, taking a bite, before throwing her shoes on. she picked her car keys up from out of her purse that was on the couch, and led him out to the front. he helped her load his bike into the trunk of her car then went to get in the car.

"hey, back seat, dude." y/n told will.

"what! you always let me sit in the front when you're driving." he frowned slightly.

"yeah, yeah, whatever, just get in." she smiled, opening her own door, as will grinned.

y/n started the drive to the wheeler's, one she knew like the back of her hand.

"i think i put my clash tape in the glove compartment, if you want to get it out." she gestured, taking another bite of the toast she was still holding.

will instantly started digging around until he found the beloved tape.

"awesome." he said, putting into the player.

the familiar tunes started and a couple songs played until the byers reached their favorite, should i stay or should i go?

they sang in unison together, albeit not well, until they reached the wheeler's.

"hey, let me help you get the bike out." they both hopped out of their seats and walked the bike to the garage. simultaneously, will's friend dustin arrived.

"will! y/n!" he exclaimed, excited to see them.

"hey, dusty!" y/n smiled back, calling him by his nickname.

"it's good to see you." he grinned.

"you too, henderson. okay, will, have fun, i love you."

"thanks, y/n, you're the best." he threw his arms around her and y/n hugged him back. "see you later." he waved before he and dustin made their ways inside.

"see you later! say hi to nancy for me!" she called out.

y/n heard will shout an okay to that before she turned around and walked back to her car.

then, she made her way back home.

later that night, y/n pulled up to steve's with a more party appropriate outfit and look. she made sure to get there early so she had room to park.

she walked up to his door at 7:00, an hour before the party was expected to begin, carrying two beers from her fridge. one for him and one for her.

she rang the doorbell, expecting steve to answer, but was met with carol's face instead.

"good, you're here." she smiled. "and you brought me a beer!"

carol took one of the beers from y/n's hands before she could protest. the two had become friendly with one another, mainly just because they were both girls. they still probably wouldn't be considered friends.

"yeah, for you." y/n sighed. "enjoy."

steve must've heard her voice, because he emerged from his living room with tommy.

"babe, you're here!" he pulled her in for a kiss.

"i'm here." she smiled.

"it's party night!" tommy slurred, clearly already tipsy.

"it's also sunday night." y/n laughed. "who's idea was it to throw a party on sunday night?"

"hey, if the parents are out of town, it's party night." steve corrected before leaning in for another kiss.

"ugh, gross." carol whined.

"you're one to talk." steve grimaced.

"okay, well, we better get this stuff set up!" y/n diverted, walking into the kitchen to find the crazy amount of alcohol that steve was able to supply.

by 8:30, the party was in full swing. by 9:30, crowds of people filled each room, some dancing, some making out, some talking, but most drinking.

y/n was talking with a couple girlfriends that she'd made through helping host these parties until steve came up and grabbed her from behind.

y/n shrieked before realizing who it was, sloshing some of her drink on his shoulder.

"steve! put me down!" she laughed.

"fine, fine, whatever the lady requests."

"you're crazy." she replied, once she was safely back on the floor.

"you love it." he smiled, kissing her again.

"right."

"hey, wanna go upstairs?" steve asked her, pulling her in even closer.

"who am i to say no?" y/n shrugged jokingly, before letting steve drag her to his room.

they instantly were kissing more when they shut his door, y/n’s drink discarded on one of the steps on their way up.

"you look beautiful." steve told her in between kisses.

"thank you." she smiled. "you don't look too bad yourself."

he pulled away, looking her in the eyes.

"i'm really happy you're here." he said.

"well, why wouldn't i be?" she asked, confused.

"i don't know, i'm just glad you're here." he looked down.

"me too." she leaned back in.

as time went on, the soft crackling of the radio filled his room while steve and y/n lay on his bed. he pressed soft kisses up her neck while she had her eyes closed, letting it happen. eventually, he pulled away.

"we should probably head back downstairs." he admitted. they had been up there for awhile.

"and i should probably head home." y/n glanced at the clock, worry seeping into her mind.

"it's like, 10:30." steve scoffed.

"yeah, but it's sunday, need i remind you. my mom's gonna be on my ass." y/n stood up. "plus, i don't know if my little brother is home completely alone or not. jonathan might've taken an extra shift and my mom's always at work." she rambled.

"okay, well, can i drive you?" he asked earnestly.

"now how is that going to work? this is your party, steve. i'll be fine, you need to stay here." she placed a kiss on his cheek before grabbing the bag she had set in his room when she first got there.

"are you sober enough?" he furrowed his eyebrows.

"yeah, i didn't really drink that much. just the one beer." y/n nodded. "like i said, everything will be okay."

"fine, just be safe." he stood up, pulling her in one more time.

"wow, you're really not helping. now i wanna stay." they laughed.

"no, it's fine, you're right. you should go. get home safe." steve finally let y/n go, and she went downstairs. as she exited the quiet of steve's room, the deafening excitement that was happening in the rest of the house rang in her ears.

she got to her car, and drove home, extra carefully to please steve.

when she got there, she noticed that nobody else's cars were out front yet. she figured that jonathan would be home soon and her mom shortly after that. she knew will was probably in his room.

she got to the door, realizing it was unclocked. weird, will must've left it that way on accident. she'd have to remind him not to do that tomorrow. she thought about knocking on his door to see if he was awake and ask about the campaign, but ultimately decided to let him sleep.

then, y/n went to bed, unaware of how the next day would proceed.

the next morning, y/n woke up to her alarm, hopping out of bed to get ready. ever since her purposeful makeover, she needed to get up extra early to achieve her desired look. she really didn't mind as it was kind of therapeutic to get ready the same way every morning.

after she was all ready, she could hear movement in the rest of the house. it meant that her brother was probably making breakfast while her mom was running around looking for her keys.

as y/n left her room, she saw that she was exactly right. bingo!

"where the hell are they?" she heard her mom groan. "jonathan?"

"check the couch!" he shouted back.

"ugh, i did." y/n walked further into the living room, just as her mom dug under the right pillow, finding her keys. "oh, got them!"

jonathan was, like he often was, making breakfast for them.

"good morning, guys." y/n smiled.

"good morning, sweetie. how did you sleep?" joyce asked, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"pretty good. smells great, jonathan." he nodded in her direction.

"okay, i'll see you guys tonight." joyce ran over to him, squeezing his shoulder before asking, "where's will?" once she noticed his absence at the table.

"he's not up?" y/n questioned, looking towards his room.

"no, i didn't get him up yet, he's probably still sleeping." jonathan admitted.

joyce sighed. "jonathan, you have to make sure he's up!"

"i'm making breakfast!" he said.

"sorry, that's my bad." y/n sheepishly smiled. "i usually knock."

joyce groaned and ran over to his door. "i told you both this a thousand times." she clapped while saying, "will, come on honey, it's time to get up."

there was a moment of silence before everything erupted.

"he came home last night, right?" joyce asked.

"what do you mean?" y/n replied, taking her seat at the table. "thanks, jon."

"what, he's not in his room?" he added, setting down the plates and setting a hand on y/n's shoulder before sitting down himself.

"did he come home or not?" joyce asked again.

"uh, i don't know."

"you don't know?" joyce looked at her children, surprised.

"i got home late, i was working." jonathan stammered.

"you were working?"

"eric asked if i could cover, and i said yes. figured we could use the extra cash."

y/n smiled in appreciation at her brother while taking slow bites of her food.

"jonathan, we've talked about this. you can't take shifts when i'm working." joyce explained.

"i know, i know." he looked down.

"and what about you, y/n?" she looked at her daughter expectantly.

"oh, uh..." she hesitated. "i was at steve's." she blushed.

"steve's? really? and why were you home so late that you didn't know if your brother came home or not?" joyce antagonized.

"i really thought he was home! i drove him to the wheeler's and he said he'd bike back, i'm sure it's not a big deal, he probably just slept over." y/n explained hopefully.

"yeah, mom, i'm sure that's what happened." jonathan agreed.

joyce sighed again. "i can't believe you two. i can't believe you sometimes." she walked over to the phone, ready to call the wheeler's.

the byers siblings droned out their mothers conversation, whispering to themselves.

"steve's, really?" jonathan scoffed.

"oh my gosh, again with this?" y/n rolled her eyes.

they were only brought back to the conflict at hand when her mom asked, "he didn't sleep over last night?"

they both turned their heads towards joyce worriedly, occasionally glancing at each other.

eventually, joyce ended the conversation with, "um, you know what? i think he just left early for school. thank you so much, bye."

when the phone call was over, there was a heavy air in the byers household, one that hadn't been there since lonnie left. all three of them knew that will usually wouldn't have left early for school.

y/n tried to put will out of her head for the day, focusing on getting to school on time. she and jonathan parked and made they way in, fbefore separating, y/n finding barb and nancy in the halls.

"hey, guys." she smiled.

"hi, y/n." they responded.

"hey, nancy?" y/n couldn't resist. "what time did my brother leave your place last night, do you know?"

"oh, uh, i think around 8:00, 8:30, maybe? why?" nancy answered, confusion in her eyes.

"oh, he just wasn't home this morning. i'm thinking maybe he just left for school early for some reason." y/n rambled.

"maybe he got together with my brother for their dragon game." nancy said.

"yeah, that's a possibility." y/n felt hopeful, realizing that it would've been too early for will to be hit by a drunk driver from steve's party. she was a little relieved, but still concerned. the three girls made it to their lockers, which were conveniently placed close to each others. as y/n opened hers, a small note fell out.

it read: meet me. bathroom. - steve.

the girl smiled. finally, a distraction from her worry over her brother.

barb and nancy came up behind her, reading the note.

"good to know you and steve are still going strong." barb commented, smirking.

"that's for sure." y/n laughed, checking her watch. there was still five minutes until class started. "hey, i'll meet you in class, okay?"

they said their goodbyes before she hurried off to meet steve.

instantly, his hands found her waist and their lips met, once she got to the bathroom.

"oh my god, steve." she laughed, in shock at his aggression. "you're acting like you just came back from war. it's been less then twenty-four hours. in fact, it's been less than twelve."

"and?" he smiled. "a boy not allowed to miss his girl anymore?"

y/n exaggerated her dreamy sigh. "wow, i'm steve harrington's girl. i bet all the freshman girls wish they were me."

"and i bet all the freshman boys wish they were me." steve replied.

"because i'm your girl?" y/n grinned.

"that and because of my hair."

"right." she laughed. "how could i forget?"

then the bell rang.

"hey, want to come to my place tonight?" steve asked.

before y/n could say yes, the memory of her brother came back.

"oh, i don't know if i can tonight." he frowned. "but, i can call you, for sure."

"alright." he placed a hand over his chest. "i'll settle for that, i suppose."

they shared another kiss before saying goodbye, then, y/n went to class.

the rest of the day luckily passed in a blur. when y/n and jonathan pulled up at home, their mother was pacing on the porch outside.

"hey, hey, mom? what's going on?" she jumped out of the car, running to her mother.

"he's still not home." joyce said shakily. both y/n and jonathan's eyes widened.

"what?" jonathan asked.

"will still isn't home." joyce said again.

"okay, uh, okay. maybe he got lost in the woods last night. maybe he went to castle byers?" y/n suggested.

"good idea, let's go look." jonathan replied. y/n took her mothers hand and squeezed it, the three of them walking in the direction of will's hiding place.

"he's gotta be around here somewhere, mom. don't worry too hard."

joyce looked at her daughter, but didn't seem convinced.

they eventually got to castle byers, where joyce pulled the curtain open. no luck. will was not inside.

the three of them went back to shouting his name, y/n's voice cracking after awhile.

after they gave up looking in the forest, they went back to their house. y/n and jonathan took on the painful task of looking through photos of will for the missing posters while joyce called lonnie's.

"cynthia, this is joyce." their mother said.

"oh, it's cynthia now, huh?" jonathan joked, making y/n crack a smile.

"no, no, not later, now." joyce said. she then slammed the phone into the wall, shouting, "bitch!"

y/n jumped slightly at the aggression, something she didn't see her mother do too often.

"mom." jonathan said.

"what?" she shouted.

"you have to stay calm."

joyce chuckled before calling the number again, so the kids went back to sorting the photos. the second phone call ended in the same result.

just then, y/n noticed a police car pulling up out front. she nudged jonathan, catching his attention, and pointed to the scene.

"mom?" they both said.

"what?" she replied, even more annoyed this time.

"cops."

joyce all but ran to the door, y/n and jonathan following after her. they went outside, and saw chief hopper loading a bike out of the back of his cruiser.

"shit, that's definitely will's." y/n muttered under her breath.

the cops led the byers back inside, while joyce shouted all sorts of questions at them.

"it was just lying there?" was one of them.

"yeah. cal?" hopper said, directing one of his officers towards the other room.

"did it have any blood on it, or-"

"no, no, no, no, no." hopper sighed.

"if you found the bike out there, why are you here?" jonathan asked to which y/n swallowed.

"well, he had a key to the house right?" hopper asked.

"yeah."

"so, maybe he came home."

y/n scoffed before joyce replied. "what you think i didn't check my own house?"

"i'm not saying that." hopper walked over the backdoor, noticing a dent in the wall. "has this always been here?"

"what? i don't know. probably, i mean, i have three kids, two of which are boys. look at this place."

hopper opened the door, aligned the knob with the dent perfectly. y/n narrowed her eyes, the dent definitely wasn't familiar, but she couldn't be for sure.

the dog barking outside caught hopper's attention, joyce trailing after him.

jonathan and his sister stood still and silent in the kitche, unsure of what to say.

late that night after the cops had left, the three byers sat down on the couch to look at the photos again.

"wow, jonathan. you took these?" joyce asked, amazed.

the rain fell heavily outside, depressing the mood further.

"i know i haven't been there for you." she began.

"mom-" both of the kids tried to cut her off.

"no, no, i've been working so hard, and i just feel bad. i barely even know what's going on with either of you. alright? i am sorry about that."

tears started to form in both jonathan's and y/n's eyes.

"hey, what is it?" joyce asked in response to jonathan's quiet sobs.

"nothing." he sniffled.

"tell us." y/n leaned forward.

"it's just... i should've been there for him." jonathan said.

"no, no, if it's anyone's fault, it's mine." y/n corrected him. "i should've left steve's earlier and picked him up, and not told him to bike home. maybe he wouldn't have gotten lost, or hurt, or whatever happened that way." y/n explained through her own sobs.

"no, oh no, you can't do that to yourselves." joyce took both of her childrens hands. "this was not your fault, do you hear me?"

y/n took a deep breath.

"he is... close. i know it." joyce stated. "i feel it in my heart. you just have to trust me on this."

"yeah." jonathan sighed.

"oh, look at this." joyce picked up a photo of will from a few months prior. he looked so little. all three of them laughed while sobbing agreeing it was the one for the posters.

suddenly, the phone rang, and joyce hopped up. y/n scooted closer to her brother and pulled him in to a deep hug.

"i love you, jonathan." she said.

"i love you." he said back, crying still.

"lonnie?" joyce said on the phone.

"dad?" y/n questioned, pulling away from the hug.

"who is this?" the siblings got off the couch to meet their mother by the phone, concerned at her expression. they couldn't hear any words coming from the other end of the phone. "will?" joyce asked.

"it's will?" jonathan asked frantically.

joyce started screaming into the phone. "who is this?"

"mom?"

"what have you done to my boy?" she shrieked.

jonathan and y/n looked at each other, scared out of their minds.

"give me back my son!" then the phone electrocuted joyce's hands, causing her to fling it down.

jonathan lunged at it, picking it up from where it dangled near the floor. "hello? hello, who is this?" he hit the phone.

y/n pulled her mom into a hug, sobbing into her shoulder with her.

"mom, who was it, mom?" jonathan asked, turning around after hanging up.

she sobbed incoherently, all that was understandable was will.

"what did he say, mom?" y/n asked, letting go of her grasp around her.

"he just breathed." joyce weeped.

the crying and confusion continued for the rest of the night, until eventually, y/n and jonathan resigned to bed.

in the quiet of her room, she took off her makeup, brushed her hair, and changed into her pajamas. in the bathroom, she looked at herself in the mirror. all she saw was her brother, looking back at her.

and all she felt was guilt.

a/n: thank you for reading the first official chapter of princess byers!! i am so happy with it. i really put a lot of effort into it, so i hope you enjoyed. literally while writing it, i got a message saying they needed more princess byers. so, if that was you anon, ask and you shall recieve! let me know if you found and errors and if you'd like to join the taglist! and of course keep commenting what you think, it is the most rewarding part of writing.