Chapter Text
Eleven stared out over the hill, watching as the chaos erupted.
There were four clean cuts running straight through the center of Hawkins. She was aware that this had happened already, if only for a minute. When Max died. Before Eleven brought her back.
But it was different seeing it in person. The cracks were glowing with energy, with the threat of monsters just barely below the surface.
There were screams, and helicopters, and car alarms, and what looked like fire.
And all of it was her fault.
She twirled a dead poppy in her hand, the one she had plucked from the hill below them. It was pretty, in a macabre way. The split between the beautiful spring blooms and dead, decaying flowers. It was as though Eleven could walk across the hill and venture from the normal world straight into the Upside Down. No portal necessary.
Even if Henry had done this, not her, she hadn’t been able to stop it. And she made Henry into what he was today.
It was her fault.
“Monster,” She muttered beneath her breath, feeling the rest of the group creep up behind her.
“We need to go. We- guys, we need to go.” Mike snapped all of them back to reality with his yell.
They did need to go. But what could they do?
She was the one meant to stop this. And it had happened anyways.
...Was Max dead?
No.
“He is right,” Eleven announced. “We have to go help.”
Jonathan and Nancy shared a glance. So did Hopper and Joyce. Eleven noticed Will attempting to do so with Mike, but the latter’s eyes were trained on her.
Suddenly there was a loud, booming noise. The ground shook underneath him, and everyone collapsed to the floor, holding their heads.
Was this an earthquake? They happened in California a lot. But this was Indiana. Why here?
For around half a minute, the Earth rumbled. Until it went silent.
Then there were more screams.
Hopper was the first to stand, and his face blanched upon surveying the scene.
“We... we do need to leave.”
He pointed shakily in front of Eleven.
The dead half of the hill had gotten bigger.
The world was dying.
Eleven gripped the flower so hard it turned to ash.
The hospital room was quiet.
Of course, it was only Lucas and Erica, and they weren’t talking.
And Max. But she couldn’t speak at all.
She couldn’t speak, or hear, or see, or anything, really. All she could do was sleep. Right there.
Lucas had lost her for a moment. That was the worst moment of his life. At least she was here now.
Even if he’d lost her, once again.
He should’ve been there for her. The whole year. After Billy died. He should’ve-
No, Lucas. No dwelling on the past.
He and Erica weren’t paying attention to Max right now, though. They were staring at the window, watching the snow fall.
It wasn’t snow, was it? It was ash.
Ash only fell from the sky when there was a forest fire, or when you were in the Upside Down.
And there weren’t any forest fires, not that Lucas could see.
So what had happened?
“We should get outside,” Erica suggested, but Lucas held up a hand.
“No. We’re not leaving her. We don’t know what’s going on.”
“O-kay. But one of us should check what’s going on, and my leg is falling asleep.”
Lucas sighed in annoyance. “I can’t believe I let you boss me around like this.”
“Maybe don’t be such a pushover, then.”
He and Erica made eye contact. And then they both smiled.
“Be back in five.”
Before leaving the room, he took in Max one more time. Her heart rate beat steadily, and her chest subtly rose and fell.
He gave her a tiny nod before opening the door.
It was considerably louder in the rest of the hospital. God, it was nearly earsplitting, actually. Doctors and patients were running around the hallways.
Barely did Lucas hear someone mutter in a quiet conversation, “It’s like lava, apparently. Or it looks like lava. A few people fell in. A few people... they just vanished.”
He stopped to listen to the remainder. It couldn’t be.
“This can’t be real. Maybe I’m dreaming. Or you’re dreaming.”
“If I could wake you, I would.”
Lucas’s breathing quickened sharply. He kept walking as people rushed past him.
At least, until the earthquake.
When it started, he immediately ducked for cover, but remembered his sister and Max.
So, keeping his head low, he walked back toward the room, calling out, “Erica! Erica! Max!”
He stumbled just a little right near the door, and he heard something crack.
“Woah!”
There was a large rift splitting through the hospital.
Like lava. The person passing by was right. It looked just like lava.
The world stopped shaking, and the rift stopped right near a wall. Luckily it didn’t create too much damage. But who knows what could’ve happened?
Just then, the door burst open in front of him. Erica ran into his arms.
“Lucas!”
“Erica.”
He clutched onto her.
“We should get out of here.”
“We- Not without Max. Not until-“
“Lucas.”
Erica looked him in the eye.
“We can’t stay here forever. She’ll wake up when she’s ready.”
Blinking back tears, Lucas nodded, “Okay.”
They got out of the hospital as quickly as they could. But what was outside was even worse.
It happened before Steve could process it.
Look, one minute everyone was staring out the window, watching the ash- the same ash as the goddamn Upside Down- fall from the sky, and the next?
The floor was being torn open.
This wasn’t just any earthquake. The ground was literally splitting apart, opening the gates to hell itself.
Honestly, Steve was terrified. Max had lived, right? Well... maybe “lived” isn’t the best word for it. More like “survived”.
But why would whatever-they-were-calling-this happen, then?
The world was falling apart. Or maybe just Hawkins, actually.
Robin and Vickie had scampered off to a corner, holding onto one another so tightly Steve thought they might pop each other’s eyes out. Robin clutched onto a butter knife with white knuckles. How exactly that would help her, Steve had no clue, but at least her fight or flight reflexes were improving.
And the break in the ground, the red fracture serving as a gate, was spreading, getting closer and closer to the auditorium.
Most people inside were ducking for cover. But Steve was watching, and screaming for everyone to get out of the way.
They didn’t seem to be listening.
Those who were outside were running. Steve could see Henderson and Munson’s uncle getting out of the way. But inside, nothing.
“The ground is splitting open! Get out! Get out of the way!”
He sounded like a broken record. At least some people were crawling away now, though.
Suddenly, there was a loud crumbling sound. The wall right next to him, right at the window, burst open. And the Earth continued to break apart, tearing straight through the center of the gym.
Steve looked outside. Dustin was moving towards him, eager to help. God damnit.
The cracks spread out like tree branches, actually; they were less uniform and more so resembled veins.
Then they stopped, along with the earthquake.
Steve watched in horror as several people were swallowed whole, falling straight in.
“Oh my god,” Dustin said to his right.
“One day,” Steve muttered, “Can we have one day?!”
The crack stopped just short of where Steve had been working just five minutes ago.
This was bad.
Quickly, people flocked over to the rift, staring into it.
“They definitely should not be getting so close to that thing,” remarked Henderson, frowning with distaste.
“You’re right. You... are right, actually.”
Steve shoved through the crowd, announcing, “Alright, nothing to see here, folks, just... stay away. Come on. Back in the gym, or whatever, anywhere away from this.”
He gestured dramatically to the ground a few times.
Elsewhere, Robin and Vickie made their way outside. The former shook her head, smiling, which prompted a head tilt from the latter.
“There goes Steve,” Robin said, tucking the butter knife into her pocket. “Town babysitter. As per usual.”
She looked over at Vickie, hoping to meet the other one’s eyes, or to make her laugh.
That had been the only positive of the earthquake: she’d gotten to hold Vickie, even if it was probably completely platonic. It was a shared experience. Shared trauma! Woo-hoo!
But Vickie was looking away with wide eyes, and began pulling on Robin’s shirt.
“Robin, Robin- what is that?”
“What?”
“The hand! Over there! What is that?”
Robin tried to see where Vickie was pointing, and her heart dropped.
Right through the center of the gate, was a hand. Yet that was no regular hand. It was pale, and veiny, pure white. Nothing like Robin had ever seen before. But she had a hunch as to what it might be.
And the hand was right next to Steve.
“Steve! Steve!”
She bolted, stumbling a little, into the crowd, continuing to scream his name.
Eventually he made eye contact with her, mouthing the word “What?”
Before she could say anything, the hand shot out and grabbed him by his ankle. He yelled, falling into the ground and gripping it for dear life.
Henderson, who had trailed along with her, was instantly at Steve’s side, trying to kick down the hand. The people around them tried to grab onto him, pulling him away from the rift.
Naturally she and Vickie joined them, tugging him away, away, before Robin got an idea.
She pulled out the butter knife. There was still a bit of jelly on the end. Although it wouldn’t be sharp enough to cut, it might be able to puncture.
Robin knelt over Steve, reaching toward his ankle, and stabbed the claw straight through.
A loud hiss emerged from inside the rift, and the hand let go, swiftly ducking back in.
For a second, the whole crowd just breathed. A collective sigh of relief.
Then chaos continued.
Most people fled the scene. Someone shoved another person in. Steve grabbed ahold of Dustin, dragging him towards the car. So Robin and Vickie followed suit.
“This is a disaster,” Robin whispered, “What the hell happened?”
“God knows. But we have to find Nance.”
“Who’s Nance?” Vickie asked.
Nancy Wheeler was barely keeping it together.
It had been less than a week since 001 escaped- less than a week since the last major catastrophe. And here was a new one. Completely out of the blue.
Now she was packed into a pizza van with everyone else who had been at Hopper’s cabin because no one else had a ride.
Luckily Jonathan had given her the front seat. Actually, Argyle had.
“Okay, brochacho, this seat is, like, primo. It leans back if you want to. Just gotta pull this lever, and-“ Argyle pointed to the seat, which sprang backwards- “Boom. It’s magic. Also there’s some Surfer Boy Pizza coupons in the cushion, but they’re kinda expired.”
“Thanks.” She flashed him a smile.
“Oh! There might also be some purple palm-tree delight in the cushion. Lemme check, and, yup. I might actually take this. Unless you want it, my dude.”
“No, thanks.” Nancy said again, flashing him a more passive-aggressive smile.
“Oh, and-“
Jonathan stepped in between them, saying, “Alright, thanks, Argyle. Do you
mind not wearing a seatbelt? We don’t have enough seats.”
Argyle perked up a bit more at this. “No problem, my dude! I love breaking the law!”
Hopper and Joyce stared at him. Argyle didn’t seem to notice or care.
“Okay, everyone in,” Nancy ordered. “We’re gonna be packed in pretty tight. The kids get the seatbelts first.”
“Come on, Nancy, we can handle ourselves,” Mike complained, hovering just outside the door.
Will stepped by him, opening it up and taking a seat. “I don’t know, Mike, I’m fine with having seatbelts.”
Eleven said nothing, merely following her brother in.
“Looks like you’re vetoed,” Nancy smiled.
Mike rolled his eyes in discontent, and filed in. Then came Joyce, Hopper, and Argyle.
Finally having loaded everyone in, she took a second to rub her temple. Jonathan, noting her obvious tiredness, grabbed her hand and gently squeezed.
“We’re going to get through this. Together.” Gently he planted a kiss on her forehead, moving aside her bangs to do so. “Let’s go get the others.”
It was a winding road from Hopper’s cabin, one with too many twists and turns for Nancy’s liking.
But she could understand wanting the privacy. To be away from it all, only coming out when you needed to...
She understood that. A quiet life.
The sentiment reminded her of Steve, who had just recently confessed to her.
While Nancy did love Jonathan, she’d be lying if she said that she didn’t consider her ex as an option. Jonathan just... hadn’t been there when she needed him. And Steve had been.
But she’d never ditch Jonathan like that. Never. And now that he was back, well, things were great!
By great, she meant incredibly awkward, but he was back. And things were going to be great.
Scratch that. She’d thought that things would be great.
But here they were, once again, on this road. Fighting monsters and the Upside Down.
God damnit. Not fun.
Argyle was singing “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” in between the seats. Mike and El were cuddling close to each other in a moderately gross display of PDA, and Will looked on the brink of tears. Then there was Joyce and Hopper, engaged in quiet conversation.
Where were her parents, actually? Hopefully safe.
Ugh, was this how Steve felt all the time? Monitoring the children? Gross. Nancy could see why he was so annoyed with his role.
Oh, speaking of Steve!
“Jonathan, watch out!”
“Woah!” Jonathan gasped as another car came barreling towards them, swerving off to the left. Instinctively he brought their car to the right.
No collisions, not today.
And out of the other car came Steve, Dustin, Robin, and some ginger girl that reminded Nancy of the redhead from Peanuts.
“Jesus christ, man, are you trying to kill us?” Jonathan complained as he stepped out of the van.
“No, but the Demogorgan will.”
Instantly Nancy met her boyfriend’s eyes.
“What do you mean?”
Dustin stepped in front of her ex. “One tried to pull Steve into the Upside Down. Luckily it didn’t actually come out. It just stuck its arm through.”
“So what you’re saying is that they’re back.”
“Yes.”
“Okay. This is worse than we thought,” Jonathan frowned, before gently asking, “Did Max...”
“No.”
Everyone turned around as Eleven interrupted. She seemed to falter slightly due to the spotlight.
“I... still feel her. She is alive. For now.”
“Wonderful,” Steve pursed his lips. “Great. Hawkins is split down the center, the Demogorgans are just hanging out, and Max is alive ‘for now’.”
Mike trotted up towards the Family Videos employee and pointed his index finger into his chest.
Come on. Did her little brother really have to do this right now?
“Hey, jackass, you’re not the only one freaked out by this.”
Apparently he did.
“Obviously, but did you almost get dragged away like the girl in Ghostbusters by a Demogorgan? Hm? I don’t think so, Kid-Wheeler.”
“Kid-Wheeler?!”
“Cool it.” Hopper’s authoritative tone killed the conversation, and Mike stepped away. “Here’s what’s gonna happen. You’re all going to go back home to your families-“ he held up his hand before anyone could protest- “who are no doubt worried sick about you, and we are leaving this one alone until we have a solid plan.”
For a moment, everyone faltered, uncertain if arguing was the right move. Nancy was tempted to do so, but couldn’t find the right words.
Oddly enough, it was Will who spoke first.
“But we can’t wait! We can’t afford to. 001 is out there, probably killing people right now, or at least plotting to. Who knows who he’ll take next?”
“That’s exactly why you kids need to get home.”
“We have been fighting this thing for years, and now you don’t trust us to?”
“Because we don’t know what we’re up against.”
Will laughed, looking around for backup. Mike nodded, so the boy continued. “We know more than we ever have before! He’s hurt! Now is the time to get him.”
“Will.”
Joyce’s voice was soft.
“We can’t risk losing any of you.”
Lowering his head, Will conceded.
“Alright. Glad that’s settled. Mike, Nancy, Dustin, the redhead, and the other girl, go with Steve to pick up Lucas and Erica from the hospital. Then bring them to their houses. Joyce, Jonathan, Will, El, and the long-haired kid are going back to the cabin.”
Just barely could Nancy hear Hopper whisper to Steve, “No detours, or I swear to God, I’ll have your head on a stake.”
He blanched, nodding.
The consecutive groups split up, each heading into their designated vehicles with little fussing, save for a couple longing gazes. Nancy lead the way, turning around to see Jonathan one last time.
As soon as Steve’s car was piled in, Mike said, “This plan is bullshit. Let’s just go to my house.”
“Woah, woah, woah, I gotta get you little shits home first.” Steve smiled slightly, continuing, “But... you’re free to go do whatever once you are home.”
The kids whooped and hollered in the back. Nancy looked over at Steve, shaking her head fondly.
Robin’s friend frowned, though.
“Uh, hey, quick question. Who are you guys?”
Dustin grinned from ear to ear. “We’re the kids who are gonna save the world.”