0 0 2 ━ [ 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘰𝘯 ]

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟿: 𝙸𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜

"H-how is this possible?" Sarah stammered, her eyes unable to leave James' form standing before her. She subconsciously took a few steps backwards, nearly tripping and falling to the ground. "You're dead, I killed you!"

James tapped the side of his forehead with a knowing look and Sarah immediately understood.

"When you merged with me, I also merged with you," James began to explain. "I'm not technically alive, but the part of me that merged with you before you destroyed me and the Upside Down still exists within you. And lucky you, you got the fun part: my ability to control others!"

Sarah didn't want to believe him but she knew that it was true. She glanced back over her shoulder to see the sand monster still frozen to its spot with Amelia cowering beneath it. She knew James hadn't done that, she had felt it within herself. "I-I don't want it," she whimpered. Then, much more confidently, "I don't want you!"

"Oh, come on, it'll be fun!" James laughed, shrugging his hands into his pants pockets and bouncing on his toes. "It'll be just like old times, only this time, you can't escape me."

"You're sick," Sarah sneered with a look of disgust.

"My dear One, I'm in your mind! So if I'm sick, that means you're sick."

"Why now?" Sarah asked, ignoring James' comment. "It's been almost a week since I destroyed the Upside Down. Why am I suddenly able to use your abilities and hear you now?"

"I thought it was obvious," James answered with a chuckle and a playful roll of his eyes. "Self-doubt. I'm the angel on your shoulder."

"More like the devil," Sarah muttered, but what he said began to make sense. Right before she had stopped the sand monster, she had felt completely useless, and every interaction with her team leading up to that point had severely damaged her self-esteem.

"The last thing we need is some freak of nature getting in our way."

"It's not that we don't trust you...it's that we don't trust your powers."

"You can't be one of us because you're not one of us."

"Ah, yes, that's the stuff." James shut his eyes and smiled, seemingly having heard her thoughts.