Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Klaus opened his tightly closed eyes half expecting to be dead, he found himself and his siblings on the ground in the seemingly middle of nowhere. He climbed up to his feet looking in all directions trying to get an idea of where they were as all his siblings other than Five and Vanya began to stir. Diego jumped to his feet looking around the area for any signs of danger and before looking at himself and his siblings. To his surprise and relief he found that he and his siblings did not revert to there 13 year old bodies, well all excluding Five who was currently lying in the dirt unconscious and still trapped in the body of a kid. 

“Where-Where the hell are we?” The only conscious girl in the group questioned as she held her head in slight pain. 

“That’s the million dollar question.” A voice unheard by anyone except Klaus replied. 

Allison quickly remembered everything that had happened and ran over to Vanya’s unconscious form, leaning down and making sure that her sister was okay. Diego spotted Five on the ground and headed towards him in slight fear of his brother possibly dying do to over exhausting himself. 

“Well, we may be stuck in the middle of god knows where but, wait.....should I say “god knows when”? Cause we traveled through time and-“ 

“Yes we get it Klaus” Luther interrupted. “Are they both okay?” The giant asked. 

Allison nodded in response. “Yeah, I think they’re both just unconscious.” Diego replied.

A sigh of relief escaped Luther’s mouth before he began to scout out their surroundings. 

“Why the hell did we end up in a prairie? And what time even is this?” Allison questioned as she held Vanya’s upper body in her arms. 

“You’re asking the wrong person. I’m not the one who zapped us here.” Diego stated. 

“To bad the person who should at least have an idea of where the hell we are is out cold.” The disembodied voice only heard by Klaus commented.

“We need to find out where we are and get these two somewhere where they can rest.” The number one of the group spoke. He looked toward Allison who was still sitting on the ground holding her sister, Luther strode over to the girls and gave Allison a somber look as he knelt down to lift Vanya off the earth and into his arms.

Diego decided to follow Luther’s example and picked up the oldest but somehow youngest of their siblings. Five looked exhausted. Despite the fact that he was a prick and Diego had wanted to sock the hell out of him more than a few times, he couldn’t help being worried about his ‘little’ brother. Bringing 5 people (well 6 if you count their ghostly brother) along with him in a time jump must have drained the hell out of the kid. Diego walked toward his giant of a brother and movie star sister beginning to open his mouth say something when he was interrupted by Allison who looked around in worry.

“Wait... Where’s Klaus?”

The two other men looked around in confusion and slight panic before Luther sighed. 

“God damn it...”

“We just get zapped into an unknown place and time, and the idiot disappears in less than 5 minutes” Diego groaned in annoyance.

Honestly they didn’t know why they were surprised, even as a kid Klaus tended to be the most impulsive of them. Even more so than Diego who rushed into fights no questions asked, and would often be scolded by their father for doing so.

“Yoo-hoo!! Hey guys! I don’t know if this will be of any assistance but I found a road with a sign that tells us exactly where we are.” Klaus yelled in a playful tone.

The group of adopted siblings turned to look behind them and spotted Klaus a few yards away waving by a sign right next to a road. Diego thanked whatever god was out there that they at least found a road. Now they could follow it to wherever the closest town was. Luther headed toward their ex junkie brother followed by Allison and Diego who the latter of which was carrying Five.

“Welcome to Hawkins.” Allison read the sign.

“Never heard of it.” Ben uttered. He turned to the only one of his siblings that was able to see him and found Klaus standing on the very edge of the road with a thumbs up. Ben sighed and looked at his other siblings. Allison was looking towards the horizon where they assumed Hawkins was with a unsure face, something told Ben that his sister had a bad feeling about the place and he couldn’t blame her. Looking into the distance gave Ben an odd sense of dread, it was a feeling that was somewhat familiar to him, the same mixture of uneasiness he felt right before Five went missing. The same nervousness he felt right before they all went into the theater to try and stop Vanya, the same angst he felt on his last mission before his death…

Luther began to walk in the direction of the sign, “It doesn’t look to far off, if we start walking now we can probably make it within and hour or two.”

Diego and Allison trailed behind their number one along with Ben who was right by their side unbeknownst to them. Allison looked around noticing that once again Klaus was no where to be seen. Looking behind her she spotted him in the exact same place on the side of the road holding up his thumb.

“What are you doing Klaus?” she asked. Klaus didn’t respond and continued to stand there with his thumb out.

Diego turned around, “Come on you idiot, let’s get a move on!” Still no response. “Klaus! What are you doing?” he began to raise his voice.

Finally Klaus open his mouth, “What does it look like? I’m trying to hitch us a ride!”

The 4 siblings (including Ben) simultaneously sighed at their brother.

“Klaus there’s no one coming, let’s get moving.”

“You don’t know that!” Klaus yelled back to Luther. He returned to looking in the opposite direction of the way they were headed and squinted his eyes trying to spot a car in the distance that might be kind enough to give them a lift.

“Klaus, there’s no one coming down this road.” Allison stated. “And even if there was, there’s no way they’d give us a ride.” the ghostly brother agreed. 

“And why not?” Klaus asked with a sassy look on his face.

“Because we’re in the middle of no where, not to mention it’s dark!”

Diego nodded his head in agreement with Luther.

“Plus there’s no way in hell someone is gonna give a ride to 6 strange people, two of which are out cold!”

“You might wanna check your math there mi hermano, there are seven of us!” Diego looked at his brother with a confused face until he realized that there were in fact 7 of them, one of which was invisible to all except the idiot currently holding out his thumb.

“Whatever!” he shouted “No one besides your dumbass can see Ben so it’d be 6!”

At this point Luther had had enough. They had to deal with the academy collapsing, Pogo and Mom’s death, running around a theater trying not to get shot by the stupid commission or whatever that was after Five, Vanya almost destroying the world and then being teleported through space and time into the middle of nowhere. All Luther was concerned about was getting his family somewhere safe, specifically for the two unconscious of the seven and he was too tired for Klaus’ idiotic games.

“Klaus! Let’s go!” the giant shouted.

“Come on, I’m tired and I don’t wanna walk.”

“To bad! We’ve got no other options!” 

“Yes we do if we just wait for a sec-“

“Klaus! It’s dark and we’re in the middle of nowhere! Nobody's going to come down this road!”

“You don’t know that!” Klaus hollered.

“Yes I do!”

“Oh do you?”

“YES!"

“Oh yeah?"

“YEAH!”

“YEAH?"

“ENOUGH KLAUS! THERE IS NO ONE COMING TO-“ Just before Luther could finish his sentence he was cut off by two bright headlights and the sound of a horn. A big yellow rig pulled to the side of the road and the siblings watched in aw as the passenger window rolled down to reveal a sort of chubby middle aged man with a brown trucker's hat. “You folks okay?” he asked.

Klaus turned to his ape of a brother and smirked. “Pardon me good sir, but would you be so kind as to drive me and my family to, Hawkins was it?”

“Uhh...” The trucker gazed at Klaus and then the 3 other people noticing that man, with the biggest build he’s ever seen! Was holding a woman in a white tuxedo and the man next to him in what seemed to be black leather was holding a young boy no older than that runaway girl in overalls that he’d given a ride home not to long ago.

Allison took notice of the mans eyes and where they we’re directed. She quickly moved into action as she put on a gloomy face and walked toward the truck's window. 

“Could you please give us a ride? We’ve been walking for hours. Our car was stolen by some people pretending to be hitch hikers and my sister and broth- son! My sister and my son are to exhausted to walk any further.” Allison inwardly smirked thanking the lord for her acting skills, not to mention the fact that they were all ready a little beat up from their fight with Vanya which made her on the spot cover story all the more believable. 

The trucker gave her a sympathetic look and glanced at the three other men with her who put on tired faces. Once again the man peered at the boy being held by the man in all black and sighed. Focusing on Allison once more he nodded his head. “I can’t fit ya’ll in the truck though, some of ya are gonna have to sit in the trailer. That okay?”

Allison smiled and nodded her head quickly. The man leaned across the passenger’s seat and opened the door, Allison stepped in the truck and took the front seat. After shutting the door the man opened his door and got out of the truck walking to the back of the trailer. He opened it up and let the nice woman’s family climb inside, “Now I’ma have to shut this, so it’s gonna be dark.”

“No problemo my friend, I happen to have this!” Klaus pulled out his phone and the lock screen lit up. “What in the sam heck is that?” the guy asked with a bewildered expression.

“Ohh... Ah-“ 

“It’s a new state of the art clock!” Luther cut in.

“Ah yes. Yes! My dear old dad got it for me on my birthday!” Klaus held the phone to his chest as if it were a teddy bear.

The trucker gave them an odd look before bringing down the shutter and returning to the driver’s seat. After closing his door he started the truck back up and began to drive. Luther, Klaus and Diego all flinched when the truck started to move and they all tried to lean against the walls of the trailer for in sort of way to stay steady, which was particularly more difficult for Luther and Diego seeing as how they held their passed out siblings in their arms. Meanwhile in the front, Allison looked ahead and noticed the truck driver glancing at her more than once, he must of picked up on the fact that she knew he was staring because he gave a nervous chuckle.

“Sorry, it’s just I ain’t never seen ya’ll ‘round these parts before. So to Hawkins then? Shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes, do ya want me ta drop ya off at a specific place or?”

“Oh, yes! The nearest motel please if it’s not to much trouble.” Allison responded kindly. 

“Alrighty then. Ya know I hope your boy and sister are okay…. You too.” the driver stated giving her a quick and worried look. “Your neck okay there miss?”

Allison looked at him questioningly before realizing and holding her hands to her throat. Her neck! She could talk! Everyone was too caught up in the moment of being transported to another time that they completely forgot about Allison’s injury. But how could that be possible? Vanya had sliced right through her vocal cords, the only sounds she could make a little awhile ago were whimpers and she had to write with a pen and pad to get people to understand her! She even had both the pen and pad with her right now! Five did say time travel was a crapshoot, but it didn’t make any sense. When Five traveled back from the future his body was returned to it’s 13 year old state, so shouldn’t the rest of them have the appearances of kids as well? Did there bodies only return to how they were before Five came back? Allison began to get a migraine just thinking about all this, seeing as she wasn’t a time traveling super genius like Five, the star decided to leave all the questions for her ‘little’ brother to deal with.

Klaus felt himself nodding off before Luther jerked him awake, “Hey. Come on, we’re here.” Klaus groaned and slowly got to his feet slightly blinded by the light shining into the darkness as the trailer shutter rose, jumping out of the trailer Klaus stood turning to the right and peered at a motel. Klaus preferably would've liked to stay somewhere else considering the last time he was in a motel he was tortured by those crazy assholes looking for Five, but seeing as they had no idea where or when they were Klaus couldn’t really complain.

“We can’t thank you enough for this.” Allison spoke. 

“It’s no trouble at all ma’am, ya’ll sure I can’t drive you home or something?" 

“Oh no, no. It’s like you said we aren’t from around here, we came from somewhere really far away.” Allison answered. Technically what she said was true, they were probably far from home in not only distance but time as well. 

The trucker slightly chuckled and re-adjusted his hat. “Alright then, well ya’ll have a good night, and make sure your son and sister get a good rest.”

“We will.” Luther walked over giving the man a grateful nod.  

Turning the key the driver started the engine and began to drive away leaving a smell of gasoline in the siblings noses. After a small chitchat Allison and Klaus entered the lobby leaving Luther and Diego outside holding their two other siblings, Klaus swaggered to the front desk and rang the reception bell thrice with Allison trailing behind. After a minute of silence Klaus began to ring the bell again repeatedly making Allison roll her eyes and causing her to spot a newspaper rack, the movie star’s bowling shoes tapped against the flooring as she stepped toward the rack. Ha. She forgot that they never changed back to there regular shoes, which were probably incinerated when that piece of the moon crashed into earth. Taking a paper she began scanning for a date with the continued ringing in the background. 

Hawkins News 1985

Spring is Here!

Spring rolls around once again in our sweet little town of Hawkins, Indiana and that means it’s time to start a planting those crops to prepare for this year’s harvest.

Hawkins, Indiana 1985… Wait 1985?! You’ve got to be kidding. It’d be a little over 4 years before her and her siblings were even born. “Holy shit! Klaus!” Allison turned around. “Klaus we’re in-“

The door behind the desk slammed open cutting off Allison and startling both siblings, a chubby, gum-chewing, middle aged woman stood in the doorway. After a minute of awkward silence the woman waddled over to her seat with a sour look on her face, she sighed and sat down before raising her head to Klaus giving him an annoyed expression. “Can I help you?” she spat.

Klaus glanced back at his sister with a nervous expression before composing himself and giving the the lady a fake smile. 

“Ah, yes! Si señorita, we would like your largest AND cheapest room if you don’t mind.” Klaus vocalized. The lady gave her a blank stare and blew a bubble before looking down and rummaging through some papers. Allison returned the newspaper to its original place and stepped forward next to her brother, the two watched the woman with anxious faces as she continued looking at papers. 

“$35 for room 107, two full sized beds and 1 bathroom.” the woman blankly spoke. Allison leaned against the counter, “You don’t have anything bigger?”

“No. Why? How many are staying?”

“Six.” Allison replied. The lady blew another bubble raising one of her eyebrows.

“Seven actually.” Klaus corrected, earning an odd look from Allison before she remembered there deceased brother.

The woman blew yet another bubble, “Well 107 is the biggest room we got regardless of price.”

The two siblings gave each other a swift look before Allison reached into her jacket pulling out her wallet. The star opened the leather wallet and pulled out one $20, and two $10’s handing it to the woman. The lady looked at the bills then to Allison, then to the bills once again. She opened the cash register handing Allison a $5 and a room key. “Enjoy your stay.”

“Danke!” Klaus smirked, Allison stuffed the cash in her pocket and gave the woman a small nod before following her brother out of the lobby entrance. 

Luther readjusted his grip on Vanya and looked toward Diego. His brother looked exhausted and frankly Luther couldn’t blame him after what they’d all been through over the past 8 days. First there was their dad’s death, then the return of their long lost brother, the academy being shot up, hearing the end of the world was in less than a week, learning about Vanya’s overwhelming powers then having to face off against those powers, and finally, being transported through time and space as pieces of the moon fell down to earth destroying everything. Luther was ready to crash as soon as he had the chance and he expected the rest of his siblings, (including Ben) also couldn’t wait to rest.

The giant and knife thrower looked towards the door and watched their other two siblings exit the motel lobby. Klaus held up the room key with a stupid grin and skipped towards the two with Allison following behind. “Our luxury 5 star room awaits!” Klaus sang. 

The conscious siblings made their way up the stairs to the second floor, putting the key in the lock and tuning it, Klaus opened the door and immediately belly flopped onto one of the beds with a sigh of relief. The rest made their way into the room, with Allison shutting the door behind them. Luther walked to the other bed and gently placed Vanya on one side with Diego doing the same with Five, it helped that both were relatively small so they had plenty of room. Luther took a deep breath and sat in the room’s cushioned chair, he closed his eyes welcoming the feeling of drowsiness overtake him. Diego pushed Klaus over to the side of the other bed and sat down putting his hands over his face and groaned. Unsurprisingly, Klaus had already crashed and Luther seemed to join in on the snoozing after he shut his eyes. Allison looked from Luther to Klaus as she walked over to the bed and sat next to Diego.

Diego dragged his hands down his face and gazed at Allison, “Would it be too much to hope you found something that’d give us a clue on where the hell we are?” 

Allison began to remove her bowling shoes with a tired expression, “Indiana.” 

“What?”

“We’re in some small town called Hawkins in Indiana.” she muttered. “And it’s 1985..”

Diego turned to his sister with a shocked look. “Are you serious? 1985?!”

Allison nodded while kicking off her other shoe.

“Great..” Diego whispered holding a hand to his head as if he had a major headache. The man in all black took a deep breath and stood finding his way over to a empty space on the cheap motel carpet and proceeded to lay down. “You take the bed, I’ll be fine on the floor”

“Thanks Diego.” Allison smiled, she turned and laid down on the bed stretching out her legs and facing her back to Klaus before shutting her eyes with Diego mimicking her on the floor. The last thing she could remember was thinking about Vanya and Five before overpowering desire for sleep pulled her into the darkness.

Five slowly blinked opened his eyes and found himself lying down and facing toward a sleeping Vanya. The boy sat up and scanned his surroundings, he appeared to be in a motel of some kind. Five looked over to the other bed spotting Allison lying down on one side with Klaus on the other slowly falling off in the process, Luther and Diego were also asleep with the former in a crappy looking chair and the latter lying on floor.

Five sighed planting his feet on the ground and walked toward the bathroom, opening the door he flipped the light switch before turning on the sink and splashing his face in water. Five looked up at his reflection in the mirror with an irritated expression, even after 8 days Five still couldn’t get used to the fact that he had returned to his 13 year old appearance. The scars and wrinkles he gained after years of surviving in the apocalypse and working for the commission had disappeared, his height, strength, and stamina were returned to that of a child’s much to his frustration. 

After another splash of water to the face the boy turned off the sink leaving the bathroom and headed toward the motel room’s door. With a swift click he opened the door and stepped outside, greeted by the blinding light of the rising sun. Five walked across the balcony, down the stairs and through the parking lot toward the motel’s lobby. Stepping inside Five quickly took notice of the newspaper rack and snatched one, looking it over he spotting the location and date. Hawkins, Indiana. 1985. Great. Five always hated going back to before he and his siblings were born, they weren’t supposed to exist yet so them being in a time before their birth could cause some problems. Returning the newspaper to it’s stand, Five stepped towards the receptionist’s desk, the boy stood and lifted the heels of his bowling shoes to get a proper view. How irritating. Peering over the desk he locked eyes with a sour looking woman chewing gum.

“What do ya need kid?”

Five fought the urge to climb over the desk and stab her in the eye with a pen for giving him an attitude.

“Yes, can you tell me the date and time?” he gritted through his teeth. 

“24th of March. 9 o’clock.” the woman answered blowing a bubble then looking down at some papers.  

The "old man" put his heels to the ground and wandered back outside. Probably best examine the layout of this Hawkins place just in case a predicament arose, knowing his powers were fried for the time being the boy exhaled in irritation and made his way to the sidewalk. Looking toward the street he observed a few cars drive by, putting his hands in his pockets he strode along the pavement in the direction the cars went assuming they’d be headed to the more populated part of town. Five could only hope his powers would return soon allowing him to quickly travel around, walking was such a pain.

Chapter Text

Eleven woke up to the smell of eggs and bacon, she squinted at the clock on her night stand seeing the time was 8:15. Rubbing her eyes with a yawn, El got up to use the bathroom. Afterwards the girl made her way to the kitchen table and watched as Hopper finished up making scrambled eggs. Today the policeman was going to drive her to Mike’s house before work so she could spend time with him and the rest of her friends.

“Mornin’” The man said as he glanced behind him towards Eleven.

“Get a good sleep last night?”

Eleven nodded before yawning once more causing the chief to chuckle. “You might wanna wake up a bit more before we head out”

The cop placed the finished eggs onto two plates before turning off the stove and placing the pan in the sink. He grabbed both plates and placed them on the table.

“Milk or OJ?” He asked grabbing two cups and opening the fridge.

“OJ.” The girl responded with a tired answer. He filled the two cups with orange juice and sat down handing one to Eleven. She took a few gulps, then began to eat her breakfast. The cop also began to eat as he cleared his throat.

“Thank you.” Eleven spoke.

Hop smiled, “No problem kid. You and the gang planning on playing that dragon and dungeons board game?”

Eleven nodded. It was going to be her first time playing the game the boys talked about so much and Mike was super excited. He and Will banded together and worked on setting up the campaign for almost a month, they said since it was her first time they had to make it special. Usually when El went over to Mike’s house they’d watch movies, TV, and talk whilst eating a bunch of junk food that Mike had stashed away. Eleven was a little disappointed they wouldn’t be doing that stuff today, but either way she was happy to spend time with Mike and the others.

After getting to know Max and finding out that she liked Lucas, the tension between two girls almost completely disappeared. They’d talk a little bit and laugh at the boys whenever they argued about something stupid. Eleven also got to spend some time getting to know Will, with everything that had happened to him involving the Upside Down he and Eleven really connected. Even though he was really shy at first, with time he began to open up to El and she did the same. Everything was so calm and happy lately that Eleven would often forget all about the Upside down, but ever since she opened her eyes this morning she couldn’t help but have an unnerving feeling. Everything was fine when she went to bed last night but for some reason the girl had an odd taste in her mouth when she woke up and she didn’t like it.

Finishing her breakfast, Eleven returned to her room to change as Hopper cleaned the table. The man put on his police belt and hat before grabbing his keys and shouting to Eleven.

“Alright, let’s head out!”

Eleven quickly finished doing her hair and rushed from her room and out the front door. After locking the door, the pair walked to the side of the house and got into the truck.

“Seatbelt.” Hopper said while shutting his door and starting the engine. With a click Eleven fastened her seatbelt giving the officer a little nod. Hopper smiled at the girl and backed up onto the road, shifting gears the man began to head down the road, to the Wheeler’s house.

Mike sat in the basement with a impatient expression, ever since the Snow Ball Mike couldn’t help but get slightly flustered every time he spoke to Eleven. It’s seems like it was just yesterday when he, Lucas, and Dustin found her in the woods while searching for Will, and now he was sitting on the couch waiting for her to arrive so they could all play Dungeons and Dragons. Mike began to bounce his right leg in stress.

“Dude, you need to relax.” His dark skinned friend spoke. “You always get like this whenever El comes over to hang out.”

“What do you mean?” Mike questioned, playing dumb.

“You know exactly what I mean.” Lucas replied.

A red-headed girl joined in the conversation with some teasing. “Oh El, I just can’t stop thinking about our kiss at the dance! W-Would you please marry me?“

Mike scowled as the two began laughing together. “Oh yeah, like you and Max don’t get embarrassed whenever someone mentions YOUR kiss! Aren’t you supposed to be boyfriend and girlfriend?”

Lucas and Max stopped chuckling. Max’s ears turned a little red as Lucas shot back to Mike.

“We don’t get embarrassed!”

“Oh you do too! You get all sweaty and nervous. ‘Max I just want to tell you that I think you’re sooooo pretty and your hair is the color of the setting sun!’ “ Lucas felt his face heat up, not knowing if it was in embarrassment or anger.

“Shut it Mike! At least we can admit our feelings to each other unlike you and El, you two act like you’re in some shitty romantic comedy! If you like her then make a move already!”

“Okay guys, let’s calm down.” the redhead tried to reason. Alas, the two boys continued their bickering. Sometimes Max wondered why she even tried. She turned to the stairway after hearing the door click and nodded her head as a greeting to the pair that entered. Mike and Lucas were so focused on their argument that they hadn’t even noticed that the Byres brothers walked into the den.

“Another argument?” the younger brother asked.

“Yeah…” Max answered.

“What the heck are you two even fighting about?” The elder of the brothers asked. The two bickering boys turned to the source of the voice and finally noticed their new guests.

“It’s nothing….” Lucas crossed his arms.

“Hey Will. Hey Jonathan. Sorry we were just…uh”

“They were arguing about romance.” Max spoke up, knowing that Mike would try to avoid Jonathan’s question. Which resulted in the pale boy glaring at her.

“Maybe you can give them some tips?”

Jonathan stiffened. “Oh, oh no I’m not really good with any of that stuff.”

“Come on you should have at least a little experience right?”

Jonathan shifted on his feet, I mean, I guess you could say that? Ever since the incident at Murray’s and dealing with The Mind Flayer, Jonathan and Nancy had become a couple. Steve had taken it surprisingly well when Nancy broke it off, but then again ever since winter he had become more mature, if you consider hanging out with Dustin an act of maturity. He and Nancy spent more time together but the whole dating thing was still a little new to him so he really wasn’t sure he had any advice.

“No I really don't.” The older brother mumbled. Max gave a disappointed look before throwing herself onto the couch, she hoped Jonathan could give them at least some advice about dating. Maybe she should ask Steve? She heard he used to be a major ladies man during high school.

“Anyways,” Jonathan broke the silence. “I’ll pick you up around 8:30, 'kay buddy?”

Will smiled at his brother, “Got it.”

Will’s brother left up the basement stairs and out of the door before Will made his way over to the table grabbing the D&D box. “Wanna set everything up before El and Dustin get here?” the three other kids agreed and took seats at the table, beginning to set up their campaign.

Meanwhile, outside a truck stopped in front of the Wheeler’s house before the driver turned to his passenger and spoke, “Okay, we’re here. I’m might be working little late tonight so I’ll pick you up around 9:00 okay?”

The short haired brunette nodded her head with a small grin. After a hugging her adoptive father, Eleven opened to door, and eagerly stepped out of the truck and made her way to the Wheeler’s front door.

“Make sure you eat some actual food and not just chips and candy!” Hopper shouted after Eleven who was headed for the front door of the house.

“And stay out of trouble!”

Eleven rolled her eyes with a smile before turning to the door and giving it a knock. Hopper turned around his truck making sure he saw Eleven enter the house before driving away.

The truck drove smoothly against the pavement while the police chief pulled out a pack of cigarettes, placing one in his mouth as he continued down the road. It’s been about 4 months since the the gate to the Upside Down was closed but the man couldn’t help but stress over his newly adopted daughter. After finding out she left to the city on her own, he made sure that he always knew where Eleven was. She was allowed to go to the kids places and other non-crowded areas as long as she was with someone, but until then it was a no to school and crowed places.

Which Hopper honestly didn’t mind, teaching El himself had been surprisingly fun and she really had no reason to go out to crowded areas in the first place. What he really was beginning to worry about was El's relationship with Mike. It was obvious the two liked each other but so far they hadn't made it "official” much to Hopper's relief. As a father his dad instincts were going nuts with the feeling to protect when it came to his daughter and boys (aka Mike).

The Police chief’s train of thought was soon interrupted by the sound of his radio, “Hey chief?” his radio crackled. Hopper grabbed and spoke into it.

“I knew today was gonna be a pain in the ass, I haven’t even clocked in and I’m already getting called. What is it Cal?”

“Yeah sorry ‘bout that. But uh we got a report about some weird kid downtown, lady says she’d never seen him before and he looked lost.”

“What does this kid look like?” Hopper asked hiding his anxious feeling. Why would he be anxious? Why is he anxious?! It’s just a strange unknown kid who suddenly turned up in Hawkins... Well, considering what happened the last time some strange unknown child wandered into Hawkins, he felt he had the right to be at least a tiny bit uneasy.

“Uh, around the Wheeler's son's age, wearing some kinda... school uniform?”

What? 

“Alright I’ll check it out, I was gonna head downtown real quick anyways.”

“Ohhhhh, you off to see Ms. Byres again?” Cal teased.

“No, I’m just going to Roane’s to tell them they’ll be getting a new body in if someone doesn’t shut their damn mouth.” Hopper threatened.

“Ok, ok, chief” Hopper didn’t bother to try and say anything else knowing the conversation was over with Cal’s mildly intimidated voice.

So what if he was going to see Joyce? Again…

They’d been friends since high school and he liked talking to her, plus she had a two kids and it’s normal for parents to talk to each other about their kids right? Hopper lit his cigarette and continued driving, 'got a feeling today is gonna be complete shit' he thought.

Mike, Lucas, Max, Will, and now El waited in an awkward silence. After another minute Lucas finally stood from his place on the couch. “Ok I’m not waiting 4 hours just for Dustin to get here! So let’s just start already!” He walked over to the table where the DnD campaign was set and took a seat. 

“Wait, let’s just give him a few more minutes.” Will uttered.

“We’ve been waiting for nearly an hour! It’s already almost 10!” 

“I’m with Lucas on this one. We all agreed to be here by 9:00, and it’s 9:45. It’s not our fault he forgot to get here on time. Besides he can just join in later.” Mike sided with Lucas as he also took a seat at the table. Max as well as El took their seats too, with Will giving a small sigh of defeat.

“So who’s gonna be dungeon master?” Mike questioned.

“Dungeon master?”

Four heads turned to the short haired girl who had asked the question.

“Shit, that’s right it’s El first time.” the dark skinned one of the group proclaimed in realization. How the hell did they forget? They we’re planning this campaign just for her and somehow miraculously forgot all about the fact that El doesn’t know how to play. 

“Oh boy.” Will muttered.

“Ok, this is fine we’ll just teach you the basics and you’ll do fine.” Mike assured. “What about you? Have you ever played Max?”

“I know the gist of it I think, but I’ve never played before so I’m really sure what to do...” the redhead replied.

“Ok then, we’ll teach both of you. So basically Dungeons and Dragons is a role-playing fantasy game, which means-“

*BANG*

Mike was cut off by the sound of the basement door being slammed open. Everyone jumped and turned in shock as their curly haired friend stomped down the stairs panting.

“DUSTIN WHAT THE FUCK?! YOU ALMOST GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK!” Max screamed.

“I know, I know but-“

“But what?! You not only show up late to our campaign but you probably just broke my basement door! If my mom finds out-“ Mike again was cut off by his friend.

“I know! I’m sorry but there’s something seri-“ 

“No! What the hell dude?! If your not gonna show up on time then maybe you just shouldn’t come at all” Lucas interjected.

“Guys I-“

Will quickly stepped in attempting to be the mediator, “Look, it’s not that big of a problem! We’re all here now so let’s just play.”

"Guys-“

“NOT THAT BIG OF A PROBLEMl!? This asshole just broke my fucking door!”

“Guys-"

“We don’t know if it’s broken or not-“

“Will! Did you not hear the sound it made? I bet they could hear that all the way from China!-”

“GUYS!!!!!” Dustin screamed as loud as he could, silencing the room in the process. “There’s something wrong my compass!”

“Huh?” Lucas questioned as Max stood from her chair.

“What does that have to do with anything?” she demanded. 

“It’s not pointing north! As in true north!” Their hat wearing friend stated impatiently.

Mike stood from his chair as well. “What? But that’s impossible, the only time that ever happened was when-“ 

A cold silence quickly swept over the room. As every one but Max and Will stood still in realization. “Was when what?” Max questioned. 

“Was when El first appeared after she opened the gate…” Lucas answered in a slight whisper. “Which means that it’s open again.”

Elven looked at Lucas with disturbed expression. That’s not possible! She closed it! She remembers closing it, and how much of her power she used to seal it. Hopper was there! He watched her close it! So how?

Eleven felt like puking, and the others felt just about as scared as she did. Mike wanted to start breaking everything around him, Max thought about finding somewhere to hide and Will felt his anxiety begin to overflow as tears built up in his eyes.

"Shit..." Lucas huffed.

“But that’s the thing!” Dustin began, catching everyone’s attention once more. “The reason I was so late is because I was following it for a little while, and it’s not pointing towards Hawkins Lab!”

“Where is it pointing?” Eleven finally spoke.

“I’m not sure I didn’t follow it far enough to find out.”

Will finally calmed himself down enough to work up the courage and speak. He turned to the girl who knew most about the gate, “Does- does t-that mean that the gate moved?”

"Is that even possible?" the only ginger asked as well. 

All eyes were on her.

“I-I don’t know…” She responded with a worried look. Once again the room was drowned in an eerie silence.

“Then let’s find out.” Mike stated, “If the gate really did reappear then we need to see it for ourselves! And if we find it, El can just close it right then and there right?.” Everyone exchanged uncertain looks, refusing to speak.

Lucas sighed. 

“Alright then. Let’s go.” he spoke with slight annoyance.

The rest agreed and they began to leave. 'At least the basement door is still in tact' Mike thought as he walked by it, but only for a second until his mind returned to the thought of where they were going.  Did the gate really move? How was it even able to be re-opened? Hopper made sure that the experiments at Hawkins Lab came to an end and wouldn't happen again, but what if he was wrong? What if someone did open the gate again but it wasn’t Hawkins Lab this time? What if it was someone else?

Like the FBI or Russian spies? Yeah right! Like the Russians would even know that the Upside Down existed. So who other than the lab would have the resources to do that? Mike scratched the back of his head in irritation. Either way he knew that whoever or whatever was causing this, needed to be stopped now before something seriously bad happened. Why couldn't the world just let them play DnD in peace?

Chapter Text

Hopper’s truck slowly pulled up to Melvald’s and parked. It’s wasn’t hard to find a parking spot since the lot was pretty much empty, guess a lot of people were eager when that new mall to opened up. It wasn’t technically finished, and wouldn’t be for a few more months but they opened up a few of the stores that were completed for about 3 times a week. It wasn’t even completely built and it already had herds of people flocking over.

Opening his truck door Hopper stepped onto the black top and breathed in the last of his cigarette before dropping and stepping on it, to put it out. He closed the door and took a quick scope of the street. He hadn’t seen that kid Cal told him about while driving his way here, maybe the kid left downtown? Either that of he was in the other part of it, the police chief decided he’d check that part later after his visit.

Placing his hat on he casually walked up and into the general store. The little bell above the door jingled as he stepped inside, looking around the store he found it completely empty.

“Geez, guess everyone’s really pumped about that new mall?”

Hopper heard some shuffling and then a voice coming closer.

“Not everyone. We get plenty of customers! Just…. not really on the days when the mall is open.” A brown haired woman voiced as she carried a bunch of paper towels towards one of the isles.

“That may be true Joyce, but what’ll happen when the mall's finished?”

Joyce slightly hesitated before speaking again, “Then we’ll try to make do I guess. There’s really nothing we can do but I’m sure people will still come here. I mean the store’s been here since like 1920s or something.”

For some reason Hopper always found Joyce’s optimism refreshing, it was a nice contrast to his pessimistic and aggressive tone. After what happened to Bob he was worried she’d be depressed for a while, but despite the hardships in the last 2 years she still had that friendly vibe to her.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” he replied.

“So what’s up?” she asked.

Shit. Hop quickly looked for an excuse for why he stopped by. No way in hell he’d tell her it was just because he enjoyed spending time with her. “I got a call to come downtown, so I thought I’d stop by and say hi since I was in the area.”

Nice save!

“A call about what?” she looked at him as she continued shelving the paper towels.

“Some kid I guess? A lady said he looked lost and didn’t recognize him. You haven’t seen him have you? Around Will’s age, wearing a school uniform or something?”

Joyce finished shelving the paper towels as she answered, “No. I mean I don’t think I have, we had some people come in a little earlier but it wasn’t anybody I didn’t recognize.” She made her way back to the store’s counter to get more items to shelve with Hop slowly following behind.

“Did you check the east side of town?”

Hopper leaned against the counter giving a sigh, “No not yet. Whoever this kid is I just hope I can find him soon so I can head down to the station and get some donuts.” Joyce chucked at this.

“Yeah, things didn’t go too well the last time some kid suddenly appeared out of nowhere. By the way how is El?”

“She’s doing great, hanging out with the kids on the weekends and eating Eggos. I’ve started teaching her algebra, through I still think math is the most useless subject. At least when you finish algebra it is. How’s Will?”

“He’s been great! He started drawing a lot more recently, I think it might be sort of a stress relief thing.”

“Yeah well you can’t blame the kid after all he’s been through. Not to mention 8th grade, ugh middle school was such a pain in the ass.” The bearded man told.

“Even more so than high school?” Joyce teased.

“No, but it’s pretty damn close.” he chuckled, running a hand through his hair. Joyce joined in with a small laugh, and thought about some of the times she and Hop would get in trouble and put in detention. Or when she and Hop would just completely ditch class to go smoke and play cards in the junkyard.

She continued placing items on the counter with a small smile glued on her face.

“Well I should probably head out. Go find this kid or whatever.” Hop straightened up. Unbeknownst to him Joyce look at him with a small disappointed frown. She really wanted to talk more but he had work to do and so did she. A quick sigh escaped her mouth.

“Just don’t scare him off- try to be nice” She suggested, although it sounded more like a command.

Hop put on his hat, ready to make his way to the door with a smirk. “No promises, but I'll cuff him if decides to be a little pain in my ass"

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

With the ring of a bell the two turned to the door and saw a completely unfamiliar kid wearing some kind of uniform, walk in.

Damn it! Why was it so hard to find a job? He’d be looking for weeks and yet miraculously no job offers were even suggested.

Oh Steve how far you’ve fallen, he thought.

How did he go from the king of high school to just some loser who can’t get a job? Guess it just goes to show that the labels and other things you think are important in high school, mean jack shit once you set into the real world.

Running fingers through his luxurious hair, he let out a sigh and leaned against the front of Bradley’s. Ha! At least there was one thing the adult life didn’t take form him, and that was his perfect hair. Nothing would bring down 'The Hair' Harrington. But his pride was soon over shadowed by curiosity as he spotted Dustin along the rest of his friends across the street. They all were looking down at something he had in his hand.

“Hey, Henderson!” He hollered to get the kids attention. They all turned to him as he began to walk across the street towards them.

“Oh hey Steve!” the hat wearing kid greeted. “Still on the search for a job?"

“Yeah….It’s actually pretty hard to do when everyone’s already got employees and shit.”

“You’ll find one! The new mall being built’s gonna need a lot of workers once it’s finished.” Dustin sympathized. He was going to say something else but was cut of by the redhead of the group.

“Sorry to interrupt your little conversation but we more important things to be doing, right Dustin?” she barked.

“Oh- yeah! Yeah! Sorry Steve but we gotta go!” Dustin nervously responded.

“What? Why? What are you shit-birds up to?”

“Nothing!” Dustin replied a little to quickly. “I-I mean, nothing just hanging out you know…”

Oh really?

“What’s with the compass?” Steve innocently questioned which threw off Dustin. The kid hesitated to answer before Mike stepped in, “Nothing, none of your business. Let’s just go.”

Steve and Mike glared at each other before the elder broke eye contact to look at the other members of they’re little group. Max held a stern expression and Lucas had on his poker face. As for Will and El, well let’s just say they didn’t look to calm. With Will continuously trying to avoid eye contact with him, Steve knew there was definitely something going on.

“You guys in trouble?” questioned the former high school student.

“No! We’re fine. Just we’re just walking to the arcade.” Mike quickly lied.

Sharp kid. But Steve wasn’t giving up.

Staring down at Dustin, he raised his eyebrows in a skeptical expression.

Dustin felt himself begin to sweat. Should he tell Steve? He know’s how to fight, even though he’s lost pretty must every fight he’s been in but… He looked over to his friends with Lucas and Mike giving him a ‘don’t tell him’ look. They had Eleven so it shouldn’t be that dangerous. But it’d still be nice to have some back up. Shit…..

Fuck it!

"We think the gate to the Upside Down opened again!” he blurted out.

“What!?” the oldest of them exclaimed in response, while the other kids besides Will looked at him with a pissed expressions.

Lucas punched him in the arm, “What the hell Dustin!?”

“Why would you think that?” Steve asked.

Knowing that it was all ready to late, Mike spilled the beans. “His compass. It’s isn’t pointing to true north, which means that some powerful magnetic force close by is altering it.”

“The last time this happened was when El first appeared. It was pointing to Hawkins lab where the gate was.” added Lucas.

“Damn it.” Steve groaned as he ran his hand over his face. It’s been like what, 4 months since the demo-dog thing and now that shit alternate world was fucking with them again? What did this town have to do to get a break?

“I’m coming with you.” he stated. Max, Lucas and Mike were ready to oppose, but then Eleven spoke.

“Okay.”

“Ok? El he can’t come with us!” Mike turned to argue. 

“Why not!? It’d be pretty useful to have some back up!” Dustin retorted.

Will stood quietly as he voiced his opinion as well, “I think I’m with Dustin. We can’t just rely on Lucas’ slingshot and Eleven’s powers all the time.”

Mike wanted to say 'no' but Will had a point. If El used her powers to much, she’d pass out and that’d make things even more difficult for them. Especially if they ran into some serious trouble. Mike recalled 2 years ago, in the school hallway when El killed almost all the people after them. However afterwards, she fainted and Dustin (who was the strongest of them at the time) had to carry her.

With more of the people surrounding them, they where helpless. All they could do was scream as that creep doctor held her while they were restrained. During that moment Mike was feeling a way he never had before. Pure rage as he saw the bastard put his hands on Eleven. But he couldn't do anything...

If the demogorgon didn't appear when it did and massacre those assholes, then El probably would've been taken away. How ironic. The very thing that kidnapped Will and killed Nancy's friend, was the one to save them. Even if it was indirectly.

The boy looked to Eleven, then to Will. The two people who had suffered the most at the hands of the Upside Down. He looked back to Steve, "Fine..." he sighed giving the man a nod of approval.

Steve clapped his hands together and rubbed them a little bit. “Alright then. Where are we going?”

Diego opened his eyes and groaned. He look up at the ceiling as he started to massage the temples of his head. He had major fucking headache. It felt like someone put an arrow through his eye and out the back of his skull. What the hell happened to give him such intense pain? But then he remembered last night’s events.

The academy, Vanya, the moon, time travel, truck drivers, and motels- God he needed a drink. Sitting up from the floor his gaze landed on his siblings. Luther was snoring in his chair, Klaus was slipping of the bed with Allison soundly sleeping on the other side and Vanya was still out cold on the second bed. Wait…..

Diego’s brain malfunctioned for a second, snapping back to reality he decided to look over this again.

Luther, Klaus, Allison, Vanya and- are you serious? Five had only returned to them 8 days ago, and in those eight days he made constant disappearing acts. Sure it irritated him, (and the others he assumed) and Five was an adult technically, but the kid didn’t have a cell phone! So how the hell were they supposed to get ahold of him when he was m.i.a? He knows Five can do what he wants and will do what he wants regardless of anything, but pulling this shit when they were in a foreign place and time was crossing the line!

Diego groaned in frustration. The knife thrower aggressively stood up and walked over to his largest brother. “Luther....Hey Luther?” he whispered.

No response….

“Yo Luther!” he said a little louder.

Still no response….

“Number One!?” he hissed, and surprisingly Luther still remained asleep.

'If this doesn’t wake his ass so help me… ‘ he thought with a sigh. Shifting his legs, he raised he raised his right hand and smacked the giant as hard as he could.

Luther woke to this with a jerk. “Wha-What the fu- Diego what the hell's your problem?!” He held one of his hands to cheek.

“Nothing I said would wake you up so I improvised.” Diego answer in a rude tone.

“What is it?” the giant man asked, knowing Diego wouldn’t just slap him awake if there wasn’t a problem.

“Five’s gone…”

Luther looked across the room and saw Vanya resting alone in the bed where they had placed her and Five.

“Are you ser- Ugggghhhh” He breathed, muffled due to him yelling into his hands.

“Yeah. That’s something we can both agree on.” Diego stepped away and continued, “Let’s wake the rest up and find that old bastard.”

“Wait!” Luther boomed, stunting Diego.

“Don’t wake Vanya. Leave her.”

Diego wanted to argue but Luther was actually right for a change. It would probably be safer for Vanya to wake herself, otherwise she might bring the whole motel down in a panic or even anger...

"Alright…” Number Two agreed.

“I’ll wake Allison and you get Klaus up.” Of course Luther would make him wake up Klaus. But Diego knew it wasn’t to spite him, it’s just cause he wanted to wake Allison.

“Klaus, get up.” Diego commanded, but got not even a twitch in response.

With a sigh he picked up the half of Klaus’ body that was falling off the bed and pushed him over. Now Klaus was complete on the bed laying on his back but still dreaming. 

“Klaus, wake up. Five’s gone, we gotta find him.” he hit Klaus’ face quickly 3 times in a row, though not nearly as hard as he hit Luther.

This got a response from the medium, but not the one Diego wanted. Klaus simply scrunched his face in annoyance and slapped Diego’s hand away with a groan. Why did he have to be such a deep sleeper? Diego thought about hitting him again until a he had an idea. This was gonna be a little weird.

“Ben?” He began, catching Luther and the newly awaked Allison’s attention. “Are you there, Ben?”

This was weird.

“C-can you tell Klaus to wake his ass up?” he questioned

Silence was all the three could hear. It was weird talking to Ben after so long, even more so since they can see or hear him. A minute passed before Allison and Luther glanced at Diego.

“B-Ben?” he stuttered. Damn it! Why was he stuttering? He knew Ben was there, he saw him clear as day in the theater. He was still here with them…..Right?

But Diego’s doubts completely vanished as his sleeping brother began to stir.

“Fuck off Ben…” Number Four mumbled. The three conscious siblings looked at their brother in fascination. Klaus groaned once more beginning to sit up. He began to slowly open his eyes.

“Geez Ben, some people need their beauty rest.”

He then turned to his three other siblings with a some-what surprised expression that quickly faded.

“Oh, good morning guys. Did everyone have good dreams? Five? Did you get enough sleep? You know if you don’t get enough sleep, it will stunt your growth young man.” he teased.

Klaus then saw the space next to Vanya and realized that it was only he, Luther, Allison, Diego and Ben in the room. (Though he was the only one who could see Ben.)

“Where’s our baby brother?” he frowned.

“That’s why we’re waking you. Five disappeared again!” Luther answered before Diego got the chance.

“Well then let’s go find him!” Klaus stood and quickly made his way over to the doormat, not bothering to put on his shoes.

“Wait, we can’t leave Vanya here alone.” their sister spoke. "You three can go, I’ll stay hear in case she wakes up”

Everyone flinched.

“Allison, you can-“ Luther began. Allison was confused until she remembered what they were so surprised at and put a hand to her throat.

“Oh yeah, I’ve been able to since Five brought us here.” The three boys, (four counting Ben) internally smacked themselves. How the hell did they not notice?! Were they all really that exhausted?

“But how-“ she cut off Diego.

“I don’t know, I was gonna ask Five when we woke up but…” Allison made an annoyed expression. “Anyways, you three go and I’ll stay with Vanya.”

"No!” Number One commanded.

“What? Luther, why not?” she questioned.

“I can’t leave you alone with her. She's too dangerous.”

Allison scoffed. “She’s our sister!”

“She blew up the moon!”

“Okay okay okay,” Diego interrupted before they started a fight. “Klaus and I will go look for Five and you can stay here with Vanya and Allison. How does that sound?”

Luther nodded to show that he approved of this plan. Number Three sat on the empty side of Vanya’s bed “Fine.”

And with that Diego turned to Klaus who was already standing outside the door and wondered over to him. Luther watched his brother quietly walk outside and close the door, leaving the room in an awkward silence.

Klaus and Diego walked down the motel stairs and through the parking lot. Looking at the opposite direction they came from in that truck last night, they turned to see some buildings and what looked like a pool in the distance. “Oh!” Klaus bounced in excitement. 

“Don’t even think about it.” Diego shot him down. Klaus responded with a  whine, making him receive and eye roll from his invisible brother.

“We’re looking for Five remember idiot?” Diego voiced as he began down the sidewalk towards town.

“Well, maybe Five went for a swim?” 

His ghostly brother looked to him, “Really? When have you ever in your life seen Five go swimming?”

Klaus tried to think but it was useless. They never went out as kids except for when they were on missions or when they snook out to Griddy’s Donuts, and the academy didn’t have a pool.

The closest thing they had to one was bathtub in the biggest bathroom, and even then Klaus doubted Five had ever used it. The brat always acted arrogant and more mature than he was, so Klaus wouldn’t be surprised if the kid hadn't taken a single bath in his life. Only showers, because showers were “grown up”. Klaus inwardly chuckled and lavished in the fact that he wasn’t so uptight that he’d keep himself from taking serene bubble bathes while listening to music. 

“Well? Come on tell me!” Ben smirked.

“Well, maybe or smallest brother decided to jump in for a bit?” Klaus proposed.

“Right…”

Turning back to his living brother, Klaus tried to convince Diego.

“Aw come on just 10 minutes?”

“No.”

“Pretty please? It’ll be so much fun! And get our minds off of all this timey-wimey stuff”

Diego continued walking.

“Please, please please?" he begged.

Abruptly, his brother stopped walking leading Klaus to bump into him. Uh Oh. Maybe he was pushing for this a little to much? The seer frowned in fear that he upset his brother, but a large sigh caught his and Ben’s attention. Diego gave in.

“Fine. But we find Five first, got it?”

With a smile Klaus put a hand to his forehead, “Ai, ai, captain!”

Ben sighed, a little disappointed that his brother gave in to Klaus’ antics but he seemed like he didn’t mind going either so Ben guessed it was ok.

All that mattered right now was finding their brother. Hopefully Five hadn’t got himself in trouble, although he new Five was more than capable of handling himself. But still, he felt it again.

That unnerving feeling that he got when he first laid eyes on the town from a distance. What was going on? The ghost tried and failed to forget about it as he continued to walk with Diego and Klaus in search of their brother.