𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎
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𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚞𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗
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The next day was another long one. Genie was taken back to the testing room and told to read the minds of people across the globe. Of course, her response was, "Are you serious?"
Training grew gradually more difficult and Genie hated it. She knew it was only helping her, though. It was making her stronger.
She didn't know what she was helping Brenner do with all these weird training sessions, something bad she assumed.
One morning while the large men carried her to the training room, Genie started up a casual conversation with Brenner. "Y'know, it's pretty ironic that I'm twelve and my number is twelve."
Brenner was taken aback. Genie never talked normally or even relatively friendly to him. It was usually insults involving plenty of cuss words. "I suppose it is." He mumbled.
They reached the training room and sat in their respective spots. "Now, Genevieve, I want you to just listen today. Listen to anyone you want and report back to me when you're finished."
Genie nodded and closed her eyes. She was actually looking forward to this. With her eyes shut tightly, Genie instinctively drummed her fingers against the table and exhaled slowly.
"The Vale Of Shadows is a dimension that is a dark reflection or echo of our world." Dustin said, "It is a place of decay and death. A plane out of phase. A place of monsters."
Excitement bubbled up in Genie's chest. They were doing it, they were finding Will.
She opened her eyes just a crack and found Brenner staring at her, well glaring at her really. She shut her eyes again and focused.
"I'm sorry if I'm not the most focused on school when my sister is missing!" Steve's voice yelled and Genie could only assume he was yelling at their father. This brought the excitement down ever so slightly, her heart sinking. Steve was worried sick about her. It killed her to hurt him like this but she had to stay. She had to learn more about these weird powers.
And learn she did. Most days were relatively the same. Training, sleeping, searching, e.t.c.
One night, Genie was curled up on the floor in her room with her fingers tapping the floor rhythmically. She had her eyes screwed shut and her breathing was slow and steady.
The first thing she heard was, "Should I stay or should I go now..." his voice was quiet and shaky but Genie knew she had found Will again. It was more difficult to find him for reasons she wasn't aware of yet. When his voice ran through her head, a chill ran down her spine. She was suddenly unnaturally cold and scared.
This was what Will had been feeling since the day he went missing and that thought made Genie tremble. This feeling was awful. It was like being dunked in a bucket of ice water so cold that it felt hot, and having a cactus pushed down her throat. Death would seem like a spa day compared to a week feeling like this.
She couldn't handle any more of it so she forced her eyes open and gasped. Will's condition had gotten worse and she wasn't there to help him. Not that she'd be any good to him away since she would probably be just as sick.
The room suddenly felt really warm. Genie decisively made the choice to go to sleep now in an attempt to leave this mess of feelings in her dreams.
The next morning wasn't quite the same as the ones previous. She was taken down a different hallway. Something stood out to Genie and she twisted her head to look at it. A red door. How odd.
When they sat her down in the chair across from Brenner, he pulled something different from his pocket. A small picture of a girl. A familiar girl who's head was shaved almost to the point where she was bald. Her gaze was scared and her nose was dripping with blood. Something clicked in Genie's head and she blurted, "You're using me to find Eleven!"
She wished she hadn't said that as soon as the words escaped her lips. Eleven was supposed to be a mystery to her. If Brenner figured out that she'd been talking to Eleven, she'd be in deep shit.
"What did you say?" He asked darkly, his voice a low hum. Genie bit down on her lip nervously.
"Nothing." She mumbled, shaking her head and leaning back in her chair. "I didn't say anything."
She stared into Brenner's eyes, channeling any sense of serenity she could find in herself and surrounding him with it. Hopefully it'd be enough to make him relax about what she'd said.
Fortunately, it worked. Brenner sat back in his chair and pushed Eleven's picture further towards Genie. "Find her." He said coolly.
Of course, Genie knew exactly where Eleven was—where ever Mike, Dustin and Lucas were— but she'd never tell Brenner the truth. Friends don't do that. Friends protect each other, no matter what.
Genie took the picture nonetheless and closed her eyes. She had to warn Eleven.
The black place came faster this time. Genie met Eleven almost immediately. He two girls ran towards each other with wide eyes. "Um, El, where are you?" Genie asked, kicking at the watery floor gently. El grimaced.
"The bath." She muttered. Genie tried her best to read between the lines, that was something she learned was often necessary when interpreting whatever El was saying, but she ultimately failed. She didn't ask questions, though. There was no time.
"Alright, um I'm suppose to..." Genie lowered her voice so she was sure only she and El could hear, "Brenner wants me to find you."
El's eyes grew wide, "Papa..." she mumbled. Genie nodded grimly.
"What do I do?" The taller girl asked. She was worried. El stayed silent.
"I have to find someone." She whispered, reaching out and grabbing Genie's wrist. Genie was confused but she followed El through the blackness. Genie almost didn't realize when El had stopped. They were standing over something covered in slime and vines. It took Genie a moment to figure out what it was but when she did a gasp escaped her lips.
"Barb..." El whimpered, her eyes glossing over.
The redhead's skin had turned the colour of stone and her arms were tied to the ground by some slithering, green vines. Her open mouth had slug-like creatures sloshing out of it and all the life had left her eyes.
Genie's hand flew to her mouth, her other hand grasping El's. Genie never knew Barb all that well but this still wasn't a pleasant sight.
"Gone." El didn't take her eyes off the body, "Gone! Gone! Gone!" She broke into sobs and Genie instinctively wrapped her arms around her. She opened her mouth to speak but couldn't find any words to fit the situation. I'm sorry? It's okay? Don't cry? Nothing worked but comforting silence.
"Genie." El whispered, her chin resting on the other girl's shoulder, "Gone."
"Yeah..." Genie breathed, "Gone." Tears trailed down her face and she closed her eyes carefully. El seemed to be listening to voices in her head, probably from whoever she was with. All Genie got was,
"Who's gone? Genevieve, who's gone? Answer me dammit!" Bouncing around her busy mind. Genie ignored him, focusing on the black void behind her eyelids.
The image of Barb faded away into the shallow, black water and both girls moved on with their walk. Both were sill shaken up by what they had just seen but they tried to move past it.
Another image appeared. Castle Byers. Genie and El hurried towards it, holding their breathes in hopes that Will was alive in there.
Thankfully, he was. When they pulled open the curtain, they spotted the boy immediately. He was on his side in a small ball whimpering. His skin was almost the same tone as Barb's was and he was in much worse condition than Genie had left him in.
"Will." Genie bent down next to him. She hesitantly placed a hand on his shoulder and he raised his head. His eyes were staring just past her face.
"Genie..." he weakly muttered before laying his head back down.
"Will. Alive." El smiled at Genie. He was. Genie let out the breath she had been holding since she found the fort and smiled back.
"He is."
Castle Byers faded away and the two were left in darkness.
"Will!" El cried out, looking around frantically. Genie placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"They'll find him." She smiled. Something in her brain clicked and her smile dropped to a look of realization. "Wait, are they coming to Hawkins Lab?"
El nodded hesitantly before staring Genie in the eyes excitedly.
"AHA OPERATION RESCUE MISSION IS A GO!" She blurted, totally forgetting that Brenner could hear her and was now shouting loudly in her ear. "Shit. Wait, El can the others hear me?"
El nodded and giggled slightly. Genie smiled widely. "Oh well in that case, hey guys! I'm alive! Woo hoo!"
"They laugh." El said quietly. Genie's grin grew larger.
"Typical. Well, I look forward to seeing you but I must deal with this bag of dicks for a person that keeps yelling at me. Bye!" She waved briefly to Eleven and the black void disappeared around her. She opened her eyes and saw Brenner glaring at her.
"Lock her up." He ordered in a low voice.
"Shit." Genie muttered getting up and attempting to sprint out of the room. She was caught by the two large men and she groaned. "Shit!"
They carried her down the hall and put a blindfold over her eyes, ignoring her curses. Finally, Genie did about the only thing she could do to help her situation. She closed her eyes and listened to the footsteps of the men.
Fear, anger, exhaustion. Emotions had become easier for her to control since she arrived at the lab. The men didn't expect her to have enough energy to use her powers. She didn't but she still tried. She'd escape this place if it was the last thing she did.
Much to Genie's pleasure the sound of many bodies hitting the floor echoed throughout the empty hall, Genie being one of them. She pushed herself to her feet, swaying slightly. The blindfold just barely hit the ground when Genie fell back down too. She collapsed and her vision went dark.
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Here's a longish chapter :)
I don't remember if Joyce and Hopper went through the lab to get to the Upside Down but imma say they did cuz idk how else to get Genie outta there in time for S2 heh.
I feel like S1's been super short and I apologize for that, I'm also way to lazy to go back and write more so yeah there's that.
I'm excited to write S2, there's gonna be a lot more Will and Genie stuff.
I tried making them a ship name and it was with Gill like the bubble guppie or Wenie, self explanatory. I spose Willnie or something would work.
See you in part four <3