0 0 1 ━ [ 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘰𝘯 ]

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟷𝟻: 𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝙿𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚜

"Come along, number Seven." the guard put a firm hand on the boy's shoulder and pushed him ahead. One's eyes remained glued on him the entire way, and for some reason she couldn't shake the feeling that encapsulated her when they made eye contact. One continued to stare at him until the woman shut the door in her face, but even then her gaze didn't move from its spot.

"Seven," she whispered.

The party sat in their own silence for several minutes after the portal snapped shut, each of them unsure of what to do or say next.

"But that's impossible, Dr. Brenner is dead," Mike said after he could no longer take the unnerving quiet. "He was eaten by the Demogorgon!"

"No," Eleven said quietly. "The man said he was alive. The man that Eight and I..." Eleven couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence as she relived the terrible memory.

"Eight? More of us escaped?" One asked hopefully. Eleven nodded her head and triggered a relieved smile on One's face. That smile disappeared quickly when she remembered the other bit of recent news. "But the message came from the Upside Down, so that means Papa..."

"Yes," Eleven agreed solemnly. The relief they had held at never having to see that terrible man again quickly dispersed and was replaced with a deep dread that spread through their bodies. "He's in the Upside Down."

"So the Demogorgon took him back to the Upside Down, like it did with Will and Barb," Dustin said.

"Um, are we not going to talk about whatever Future Me and Future One were hiding from? Why was it just us two?" Steve asked impatiently, trying to hide his ulterior motives. While he was definitely worried about whatever was making that dreadful noise in the portal, he had secretly brought it up just so he could address the fact that him and One had been alone together in the cabin. He had his own hopes for the reason why...

"Yeah, what was that?" Lucas asked. "A new monster?"

"I don't know," One answered. The party didn't get much time to deliberate further when the sound of the basement door opening interrupted them.

"There you are," Hopper's voice echoed into the basement as the heavy clomps of his feet made their way down the stairs. Joyce's lighter footfalls followed behind.

"Hopper," One greeted him in surprise.

"You want to explain to me where you disappeared to last n—,"

"What was the message?" Joyce cut Hopper off with her own question before he could finish his. Hopper's mustache furrowed angrily at the interruption.