The door to the gymnasium flew open to reveal Stanley, stomping over to the Party who were all sat down on the bleachers. Joyce and Hopper had gone off to get Will back from the Upside Down, leaving the others at the school. He bit the inside of his cheek, holding his hands to his hips as his eyes darted around the hard, polished floor beneath him, preparing himself to tell the kids some not-so-good news.
"Jonathan and Nancy left." Stanley exclaimed, slapping his hands to the jean fabric against his thighs. Y/n sat up from where she was on the bleachers leaned beside Bradley, her eyebrows furrowing and her eyes filling with uncertainty.
"They left us?" She scoffed, catching a glimpse of Mike who looked just as confused as she did. She didn't even really know what to say. Of course, they all still had Stanley who would definitely do whatever he could to protect them all but still, how could they just leave them here without saying a word?
"They said something about killing the monster and then they just left." Stan explained, sitting down right next to Bradley and leaning back on the set of seats behind them.
Y/n shot to her feet, making fast hand gestures, "We have to go after them!" She told them, looking to the guys who were all giving her looks with mixed emotion.
Mike stood up with her, "She's right! This is crazy. We can't just wait around." He flared his nostrils a bit, his eyebrows knitting together as he spoke.
Lucas scoffed, shaking his head as he sat up in his seat a bit, "In case you forgot, we're still fugitives. The bad men are still looking for us." He reminded them all, his voice dripping with a tad bit of aggression.
"Okay, okay, okay." Stan jumped up, waving his hands in the air to try to signal them to be quiet, "As the adult here, I say that we're staying right here until Joyce and Hopper get back." He demanded, peering between each of the kids one by one.
"Okay, I get that but what if the bad men find us and we're just sitting here like live bait?" Dustin spoke up, his voice gradually getting more and more panicked as the sentence went on.
"Exactly!" Mike and Y/n told them in unison, their eyes a bit wide as they looked towards Dustin.
"The first thing that we need to do is let El recharge." Bradley piped up, all eyes turning to him. He looked completely sure of what he was saying, "If the bad men or even the Demogorgan find us and both of us aren't recharged enough then we all have almost no chance." His voice was soft and quiet yet it seemed to fill the entire room.
They all knew he was right.
>>>
Y/n plopped down onto the bleachers, shoving a spoonful of chocolate pudding into her mouth. Dustin had found a bunch of pudding to help El recharge and they all were digging in. Brad sat down right next to her, them being the only two in the room.
Mike and Eleven had disappeared off somewhere while Dustin and Lucas went into the kitchen. Stan had gone to check out a noise he heard outside and he had been gone for around a minute by now.
Y/n turned her head, meeting Bradley's eyes. All was silent in the room until Y/n broke the silence, twirling the spoon with her pointer and middle fingers as she gazed at the boy, "You know, uh... Bill, is it?"
"It's um, It's Bradley." He corrected with a nervous smile.
"Bradley, that's right." She looked at him, a glint he couldn't identify sparkling in her eyes as she gaped at him for a long minute, "That suits you." She smiled sweetly.
His smile slowly contorted into that of a genuine, gleeful smile and he uttered out a small 'thank you'.
Y/n shrugged it off, peering down at her pudding with a thought in her eyes, "I um, I just... I wanted to say just in case we didn't..." She paused, pursing her lip, "... make it out." She then turned her head to look back at him to see he was already staring at her, "I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for saving us. Thank you for helping me find my brother. Thank you for sticking by us. And... and thank you for being my friend, Bradley."
Bradley stayed silent for a long minute, a tension in the air growing. There was an intense thought in his eyes as they flickered about on the floor.
He, then, shook his head before snapping his entire body and face to look at her. She felt the soft texture of his hands sliding into hers and she gasped, spinning around to look at him with wide eyes.
"No, Y/n. Thank you. You and your friends took me and Eleven in. You've helped us. You never stopped believing in us. You taught us to see the world in a better way. You got us away from the bad people. I don't..." As she stared at him in awe at his words, he looked down with a dreamy smile on his face, "I don't know how I can ever thank you. Nothing I can ever say will be enough. I know that, but I'll never stop trying. For you."
Y/n's mouth was popped open, her awestruck eyes broad on him as his speech settled into her mind and his words dissipated into the air. The words stayed on repeat for a full minute before she could fully collect herself.
"I... I don't know what to say." She admitted.
Once more, the boy shook his head, "You don't need to say anything to me, Y/n. I just needed you to know that."
Abruptly, the doors flew open and there stood the others, "Guys! The bad men found us!" The two flung away from each other, turning to Dustin – who had been the one to say that – before looking back at each other with wide, frightened eyes.
>>>
The group of six bolted through the hallways, Stan taking the lead whilst holding a pistol that Hopper gave him just in case this happened. He had been hiding the gun in his back pocket, not wanting to freak out any of the kids.
"How did they find us?" Lucas hissed as they all darted down some stairs, almost tripping a few times but disregarded it, continuing on.
"I don't know, but they knew we were in the gym." Mike replied, a little pant in his voice. The sounds of the bad men talking echoed a few rooms down causing them to all run even faster.
"Lando." Dustin mumbled.
Suddenly, a group of agents came running from a set of double doors in front of them, "Got 'em!" One of then yelled.
"Go, go, go, go, go!" Stanley shouted, pushing a few of them towards the other way.
It felt like they were running for forever. All Y/n felt was the aching in her legs and the comforting hand of Bradley's in hers. She knew what would happen to him and Eleven if she stopped running so she knew that no matter how badly her legs cramped she had to keep going.
Y/n hadn't even been looking, her eyes stayed trained on the ground and the legs of her friends running in front of her. She knew how dumb it was not to look when there were literally people chasing them but she couldn't even bring herself to do it.
But when Y/n closed her eyes and opened them to find that her friends were gone, she began to panic. She spun her head around, finding that even Bradley was gone. Her hand was so cold without his hand in hers.
Y/n hadn't even noticed the cold air blasting against her body and the vines dried onto the floors. She hadn't even noticed the particles that filled the air and how dark everything was.
All she noticed was that she was all alone.
As always, Y/n M/n Byers was all alone.
>>>
Y/n's throat burned and ached, swallowing harshly for gasps of air or even some saliva that her throat seemed to be completely rid of as she cried and screamed at the top of her lungs for her friends attention in the other dimension that seemed so far away.
She didn't want to be here, not at all.
She'd rather be running away from the agents of Hawkins Department of Energy than be trapped in this arctic hell.
She hated it here, she really fucking hated it here.
Her skin was almost a pale blue, frozen to the touch. She rubbed her elbows, her jaw clattering as she shuttered and shivered. Even the nice sweater that her great aunt Darlene had made her for Christmas couldn't save Y/n from feeling the numbing cold prickle her flushed skin.
The cold was twice as bad as the times that she went to the Upside Down before. It was almost like she had been here for... much longer than she actually had.
She had almost forgotten that she was even walking and her feet were wobbling sideways. Her knees were slowly locking up, causing her to walk in an almost limp. Her full attention was set on not falling over and trying to warm herself up unsuccessfully.
She pitied Will, realizing that he definitely had it so much worse than him. She knew that he would be home soon, she would too, she just knew it.
They both would be warm in bed, Y/n feeling the lavender quilt that her grandmother made for her when she was eight years old. She would feel Chester licking her hand and cuddling up next to her all the way through the night. She would feel the relief of waking up to see her brother bopping his head along to the music tape that Jonathan gave them that played softly in the radio as he got dressed for the day.
They all would find Eleven's family and Bradley would finally be with his family. They could all be happy.
Everything would be better.
Everything would be normal just like before.
She couldn't even really remember how she got here.
Just last week, she was happy with her friends, playing Dungeons and Dragons as much as possible. Just last week, she was with her brother. Just last week, she was just a kid who knew nothing about all the monsters and dangers that lurked in the corners and crevices of the world.
Knocking her out of her thoughts, Y/n collapsed to the ground, tripping over her own shoes. Her hands shot forward, breaking her fall as they connected with the icy floor. The freezing marble floor tiles felt like she had been touching ice itself.
As soon as she dropped to the floor, a faint voice reverberated through the hallways, calling her name, "Y/n..." She lifted her head, squinting her eyes to see if she could see anyone.
All there was right in front of her was an empty hallway full of crusty vines that scattered all over the walls and floors, and the grey particles that filled the chilly air.
The voice continued getting louder and louder as they yelled her name over and over again. Slowly, she realized that this was multiple familiar voices calling for her.
"G-Guys?" She began, her eyebrows knitting together. Her voice was a bit hoarse and even a bit sore from screaming and crying. The voices sounded like they were right next to her now, "Guys!" She ignored the aching in her throat as her voice progressively got louder to get their attention, "Mike? Bradley? Dustin?"
Her voice cracked yet she didn't care. She needed to try and get their attention, "Lucas? Eleven?" She screamed out, "Mr Patel?"
The voices came to a halt, almost like they weren't even there to begin with, "Guys?" She whimpered, unable to take the agonizing silence, "Guys?!"
No answers came back at her causing her to shed a few tears that slowly froze on her cheeks. A feeling of hopelessness boiled through her body as she realized that she might be here for a lot longer than she wanted to be. A sudden sleepiness washed over her as she shut her eyes, resting her head onto the ground. She let out a small sob that seemed to be muffled by the floor.
And for what felt like an eternity, Y/n laid there helplessly until finally she slipped into a well needed rest.
>>>
Strong arms holding Y/n and carrying her was what mainly caused her to open her eyes. She was resting her head onto someone's chest, her eyes meeting something gold and shiny. It was a badge.
She was too tired to even read whatever the badge said so she shut her eyes back, snuggling her head into the warmth of whoever's chest this was.
She found that she was a lot warmer than when she past out and it was even a lot brighter here.
Was she... home?
>>>
A light came flooding to Y/n's eyes as she opened them, meeting the white ceiling. At some point in time, Y/n had fallen back asleep in the strangers arms. But now here she was with what felt like two tubes shoved up her nostrils.
Her eyes were squinted as she rolled her head to the left, meeting the sight of Will Byers laying in the hospital bed about two or three feet beside her with nasal cannula lodged up his nose too. Joyce and Jonathan Byers stood over Will, hugging and making sure that he was okay. Jonathan was showing Will a bunch of stuff that him and his mom had brought the twins in case they got bored while they were in here.
"Will?" Y/n croaked, almost convinced that the sight before her was a hallucination or even a dream. It felt so unreal but she really was seeing her twin brother once again.
The rooms attention snapped over to Y/n, shocked that she was even awake. Will's entire face lit up as he whispered her name in almost disbelief. Y/n shot up from the bed and rushing towards her twin brother who sat up in his bed as the long delivery tube of the nasal cannula trailed behind her.
"Be careful, sweetie. Your brothers still pretty fragile and so are you." Joyce told her daughter, her tone soft.
Y/n heeded Joyce's words and basically melted into his open arms as they both hugged the life out of each other. Will smiled into her hair as she basically began crying with happiness, "I-I thought that I lost you, Will." She sniffled, looking into his eyes before kissing his temple and hugging him again.
Will hugged her even tighter, feeling the warm arms of the person that he loved most in the world. He too felt like this moment wasn't real, that it was just a dream and that he was still laying in the Upside Down, waiting for the demogorgan to catch him at any given moment. He proceeded to hug her as tight as his weakened self could, refusing to let go of her if the monsters came back for him.
Joyce and Jonathan grinned over at the two, Joyce turning to her oldest son, gently patting his arm without looking away from the twins, "Go get the boys." She whispered to him as he nodded, even though she couldn't see him.
Mike, Dustin, and Lucas had stayed over at the hospital all night even when the doctors suggested that they went home and even when the waiting hours were over, the three boys insisted that they stayed no matter what. Steve, Hopper, Ted, Nancy, and Karen had accompanied them both, Nancy biting her nails as her mind raced with the realization that she's never going to see her best friend ever again.
Every hour or two, Jonathan would stroll down to the waiting room and tell the boys how Will and Y/n were doing and if they were awake yet.
So when Jonathan had came down and told them about how they both were finally awake, the three didn't hesitate to run as fast as they could, ignoring anyone who told them to stop running, until they finally got to their hospital room.
They burst into the room, meeting eyes with Will and Y/n who were more than excited to see them. "Byers!" Mike yelled out, bolting over to Y/n and Will who had only then got done hugging.
Mike took them both into a group hug as they both laughed and smiled. Lucas basically got on top of Mike, trying to pry him off them so he could hug them as Joyce pleaded for them all to be careful with her kids. "Move!" Dustin attempted to push Mike and Lucas so that he could get in the group hug.
"Guys, guys." Jonathan sighed, holding the door open, "Go easy on them." He chuckled a little, walking towards the bed.
Y/n shed herself from the group hug as she noticed the absence of two people. She furrowed her eyebrows, blocking out her friends voices as they all quickly tried to catch Will up on what was going on.
She moved towards the door, Joyce and Jonathan looking at her as she watched the hallway, waiting to see a certain two people rushing down the hall to go say hi but they never came. "What's wrong, honey?" Joyce asked, everyone turning to look at her.
Y/n snapped her head to look at her friends and family, "Where's El and- and Bradley?"
"Who?" Will asked, he hadn't entirely understood what the guys meant when they told him about the kids with powers who had helped them get him back.
A pained expression hit Mike like a truck at the mention of Eleven and, Dustin and Lucas even turned their heads to look at him. "El... she's gone. She saved us and then we all lost her." Mike's eyes fell his shoes as he began to recollect the memory of Eleven's diminishment.
"What do you mean 'we all lost her'?" Y/n asked, accidentally sounding a lot harsher than intended.
Mike shrugged his shoulders, refusing to meet anyone's eye, "She killed the demogorgan but I guess she had to go too." Y/n met eyes with the obviously torn apart Mike and she decided to leave it alone. Her eyes fell to her bare feet, sadly for a moment before looking back at the boys, "And Bradley? Where's he?"
But before anyone could even answer Y/n's question, someone rushed in the room almost knocking right into Y/n.
There stood Bradley, Stanley Patel walking at his side into the room with two trays of hospital food in Stan and Bradley's hands.
Brad and Y/n locked eyes, smiles dancing on their faces. Bradley rushed over to the desk right next to Y/n's bed setting the tray he got for her down before rushing into her arms, "You had me so worried."
"I-I missed you so much." Y/n mumbled into her friend's shoulder.
"I missed you too." Bradley tore away from his friend's grasp as everyone still watched them. "You should sit down, come on."
Y/n nodded, beginning to walk over to the bed. Bradley rushed to her side, holding her hand and her shoulder, being sure that she had any help if she needed it. When Y/n got back into the warm covers of her bed, everyone went back to talking about their own topics.
Stanley watched with a smile budding on his lips as the two hugged each other again, "You're okay." Bradley laughed, pulling away to look at her face, "I-I knew you would be." He smiled, happily, the last sentence was completely wrong in every way.
Even after the Patel's had let Bradley settle down in the guest bedroom and given him food and water. Even after he had basked in the comfort of his new home, he found that the wasn't completely satisfied, registering that Y/n had still been in the hospital. He didn't know if she would be okay so he had spent all night, worrying about whether she was okay.
To ruin the happy mood in the room, Y/n and Will both let out a series of coughs at the exact same time, bringing their balled up fists up to their mouths. Will and Y/n locked eyes, the room going silent. An eery feeling rose in the room as Will's and Y/n's eyes stayed locked.
"Are you guys okay?" Dustin asked, breaking the silence and the eye contact between the twins.
"We're fine." They both answered at the same time, meeting eyes again for just a split second before going back to their conversations.
>>>
One Month Later
"Come on, Y/n. Beat his ass!" Iris Patel cheered, watching as her brother, Bradley Patel and Y/n Byers played an intense game of chess on Mike Wheeler's basement couch. Her blonde curls bounced with her frantic movements as she grinned.
"Traitor." Bradley let out a laugh at his sister, using one of his knights to jump over one of her pawns and unintentionally right beside her queen.
A smile stretched on Y/n's lips as she grabbed her queen and knocking his knight over while holding eye contact with him.
Iris laughed, loudly as her brother stared down at the chess board, his smile falling, trying to understand what exactly he had done wrong. "Good game!" She grinned, "You're getting better every time we play, I swear!"
The boy then smiled up at Y/n with a small, pink blush tinting on his milky cheeks, "Good game!" he exclaimed cheerfully.
"Something's coming. Something angry. Hungry for your blood. It is almost here." Mike's voice echoed through the basement at the table a few feet away from Iris, Y/n, and Bradley. Lucas Sinclair, Will Byers, and Dustin Henderson exchanged looks of intimidation.
"What is it?" Will spat out, his voice rapid, just wanting to figure it out.
"It's the thessalhydra, I'm telling you." Dustin told him, speaking a bit worriedly. Lucas scrunched his face up, not believing a word Dustin said.
"It's not the thessalhydra." Lucas assured him, making fast movements with his hands.
"Yeah, you should know that, Dustin. Seems how Lucas is always right." Y/n taunted, looking from the chess board to Lucas as she placed down a knight.
"Bite me." He growled, turning to her. She didn't even hesitate to bite the air, making a clinking sound with her teeth as he rolled his eyes. She chuckled, shaking her head and turning back to the game. Dustin watched her, in awe before turning back to the game.
"I'm telling you, it's the thessalhydra!" Dustin argued.
Mike slammed down the thessalhydra figurine onto the board, exclaiming out, "The thessalhydra!" as the sound of Mike slamming the figurine onto the board echoed.
"Damn it!" Dustin cursed as Lucas threw his hands up, groaning.
"It roars in anger! Will, your action!"
Will frantically looked down at the board, unsure of what exactly he should do, "What-What should I do? I-" He asked Dustin and Lucas, his head spinning from each of his friends.
"Fireball him!" Lucas demanded.
Dustin adjusted his hat as Will looked to him, Dustin considering the two options on the table, "Fireball the son of a bitch."
Will smiled, taking the dice and shaking them. Will tossed them onto the table as everyone watched, even Iris, Bradley, and Y/n were watching, "Fourteen!" Mike, Dustin, Will, and Lucas all roared in unison, excitedly.
Y/n and Iris joined the boys cheering as Bradley looked to them in confusion before awkwardly joining. "Direct hit! Will the Wise's fireball hits the thessalhydra!" Mike basically shouted, excitedly, "It makes a painful..." Mike stood up, imitating some weird screeching sound as all eyes remained on him.
"... and then... it crumbles to the ground!" He sat down on the ground, reaching an arm out into nothingness, "It's clawed hand reaches for you one last time and-and-and-and..." Mike fell all the way to the ground, signaling that the thessalhydra had died and everyone, including Bradley who had a sense of what was going on, cheered loudly. Will, Dustin, and Lucas even began to run in circles all over the room, applauding their victory excitedly.
"Lucas cuts off the seven heads and Dustin placed them into his bag of holding." Mike continued, plopping back down into his seat as three of his friends slowly sat back down, "You carry the heads out victoriously and you present them to King Tristan. He thanks you for your bravery and service."
"Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's not it, is it?" Dustin asked, Lucas and Will also sharing the same look of confusion.
"No, there's a medal ceremony-"
"Oh, a medal ceremony? What are you talking about?" Dustin cut Mike off.
"The campaign was way too short." Lucas added.
"Yeah!" Will joined in.
"It was ten hours!"
"But it doesn't make any sense!"
"What are they talking about?" Bradley asked Y/n as they both continued their game of chess. She met his eye with a small smirk as she shook her head.
"I-I don't even know."
The sound of the basement door flying open along with footsteps stomping down the stairs causing all seven of them to snap their heads to see Jonathan Byers at the base of the stairs, "Jeez, what's that smell?" He questioned, holding the railing tightly, "Have you guys been playing games all day or just farting?" He asked Dustin, Will, Lucas, and Mike who he had first seen in the room.
The four boys just chuckled, Lucas shaking his head, "Oh, that's just Dustin. He farted." He chuckled, turning to Dustin.
Dustin's smile fell, turning his head a little to Y/n who rolled her eyes playfully before he turned back to Lucas, "Okay. Very mature, Lucas." Dustin sighed as Lucas blew raspberries teasingly, "Shut up, Lucas."
"Will. Y/n. Come on." Jonathan told his little siblings. Will got up, laughing at Lucas and Dustin before Will and Jonathan turned to Y/n who was getting up.
Y/n pointed to Bradley, "You." She spoke, getting his attention before pointing to the not even halfway done chess game, "Tomorrow. You're going down, Patel." Her face was completely serious as they kept eye contact for a minute.
"I-In your dreams, Byers." Brad shot back at her, he spoke with a voice crack. He fought to keep his face completely serious too before they couldn't help but let two smiles stretch on their faces.
He stood up, hugging her as she hugged back, feeling a warmth dance on their skin wherever the other touched. She rested her head on his shoulder as he buried his head in her hair. After a few seconds, they pulled away, feeling an emptiness in their arms that they both simply ignored.
Iris and Y/n met eyes with smiles tugging on their lips. They both exchanged their goodbyes, with Iris thanking Y/n for inviting her.
"Bye guys." Y/n and Will told them in unison as they both slipped their coats on and walked towards Jonathan.
"Bye Will. Bye Y/n." Everyone called back at them.
Jonathan pointed to Bradley and Iris, "You two have a ride home or do you want me to drop you guys off?" He asked them, he hadn't have heard Iris.
"We have a ride home." Bradley told him in his usual soft voice that made chills ghost over Y/n's body.
"Okay."
The three jogged up the stairs, listening as everyone said their goodbyes again and they said them back. "You two have fun?" Jonathan asked, Y/n shutting the door behind them with a little clicking noise.
"Yeah it was fun." Y/n smiled.
"Yeah." Will echoed.
"Hi guys!" Karen Wheeler smiled from the kitchen as the three of them entered.
"Hey, Mrs Wheeler."
"Hi."
"Hey, wish your mom a Merry Christmas for me, okay?" Karen grinned, putting toppings onto the cake that she had been baking for the Wheelers Christmas dinner.
"Of course, thank you. Uh, Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas."
>>>
Soft pellets of snow flew down from the clouds as the Byers family settled around the set table. "It's definitely an Atari." Will beamed, sitting at his designated seat at the table right beside Y/n, "The green present. I felt Dustin's today and it's the same exact weight."
"Wait, actually?" Y/n smiled, bouncing excitedly as Joyce smirked at Jonathan.
"Really? Well... we'll have to see, won't we?" Joyce chuckled before Will suddenly got up from his seat and started walking away without another word, "Hey! No more snooping."
"No, I-I forgot to wash my hands. I'll be back."
Y/n watched with furrowed eyebrows as her brother walked into the bathroom. She shook her head, turning to the food, "Mom, it looks delicious." She beamed at her mother who smiled.
"Thank you, sweetie but I'm not sure." She grabbed a spoon, stirring the mash potatoes and lifting the spoon. Y/n watched as the mash potatoes ran down from the spoon like water, "The mash potatoes are a bit... runny?"
"Mom, don't worry." Jonathan told her.
"Yeah, like I said it looks great."
Suddenly, a sore feeling burned in Y/n's throat and a weird taste was left in her mouth almost like the aftermath of when she threw up. Her attention flickered to a cup of water that sat right in front of her and she began taking sips of it until the taste was almost gone.
After a minute, Will returned to the table wearing a weird expression as he met eyes with his sister. She could've sworn she recognized that look. She ignored it, shaking off the strange feeling in her gut as they all began to dig into the food, striking a few conversations about whatever really came to mind.