Welcome to the second chapter! Just so you know, I made some mistakes with confusing Catalina for Will when writing the first chapter. Thankfully, I fixed the mistakes, but if I make any in this chapter and any future ones, please let me know 😅
Also, I just wanted to clarify that Nine is Varian's assigned number from Hawkins Lab. It was just a random number that I gave him since I didn't want to copy El. Also, I'm going to make it so he finds a paper with his real name on it so he remembers what it is. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
As the rain poured harder and harder outside, the party and the mysterious boy were in Y/n's basement. They had indeed taken the boy home with them and weren't sure what to do. While the boy was awkwardly sitting on the couch, fiddling with his oversized T-shirt, everyone else wanted to ask him questions.
"Is there a number we can call? For your parents?" Y/n wondered.
"Where's your hair? Do you have cancer?" Ruddiger piped.
"Did you run away?" Rapunzel asked.
"Are you in some kind of trouble?" Y/n inquired.
"Is that blood?" Rapunzel said puzzled. She reached for the boy's face, when Y/n smacked her hand away.
"Stop it! You're freaking him out!"
"He's freaking me out!"
"I bet he's deaf," Ruddiger challenged. He clapped loudly in front of the boy, causing him to flinch (That's totally me lol). "Not deaf."
"That's enough, all right? He's just scared and cold," Y/n pleaded. She walked over to a nearby laundry basket and grabbed something for the boy to wear. "Here, these are clean, ok?"
With some hesitation, the boy took the clothes and tried to remove the oversized T-shirt from his body.
Both Ruddiger and Rapunzel covered their eyes and looked away, yelling out things like, "No" and "Oh my gosh".
Y/n quickly stopped the boy before he could fully undress. Her face was a deep shade of red.
"S-see over there? Th-that's the bathroom. Privacy. Get it?" Y/n stammered. She lead the boy to the bathroom across the room. When the boy stepped into the bathroom, Y/n tried to close the door, but the boy stopped her. "You don't want it closed?"
"No," the boy mumbled.
Y/n's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, so you can speak. Ok, well...um, how about we just keep the door..."
She slowly closed the door and stopped at around four inches open.
"...just like this. Is that better?"
"Yes," the boy agreed. Y/n smiled slightly and left the boy to change.
"This is mental!" Ruddiger decided.
"At least he can talk," Y/n defended.
"He said no and yes. Your three year old sister says more," Rapunzel scoffed.
"He tried to get naked!" Ruddiger emphasized.
"There's something seriously wrong with him. Like, wrong in the head," Rapunzel added.
"He just went like-" Ruddiger pantomimed flipping his shirt up.
"I bet he escaped from Pennhurst," Rapunzel began.
"From where?" Y/n asked.
"The nuthouse in Kerley County."
"You got a lot of family there?" Ruddiger joked.
"Bite me!" Rapunzel snapped. She turned to Y/n. "Seriously though, think about it. That would explain his shaved hair and why he's so crazy."
"Why he went like-" Ruddiger pantomimed flipping his shirt again.
"He's an escapee is the point. He's probably a psycho."
"Like Michael Myers!"
"Exactly!"
Y/n rolled her eyes.
Rapunzel continued, "We should've never brought him here."
"So you just wanted to leave him out in the storm?" Y/n accused.
"Yes! We went out to find Catalina, not another problem."
"I think we should tell your mom," Ruddiger suggested.
"I second that," Rapunzel agreed.
"Who's crazy now?" Y/n growled.
"How is that crazy?" Rapunzel questioned.
"Cause we weren't supposed to be out tonight, remember?"
"So?"
"So, if I tell my mom, and she tells you mom and your mom..."
"Oh, man!" Ruddiger cried.
"Our houses become Alcatraz!" Rapunzel realized.
"Exactly! We'll never find Cat," Y/n proved. "Here's the plan: he sleeps here tonight."
"You're letting a boy-"
"Just listen! In the morning, he sneaks around my house, goes to the front door, and rings the doorbell. My mom will answer and know exactly what to do. She'll send him back to Pennhurst, or wherever he came from, we'll totally be in the clear. And tomorrow night, we go back out. And this time, we find Cat," Y/n explained.
Ruddiger and Rapunzel shared a quick glance at each other before agreeing to Y/n's plan. It seemed weird, but it was worth a shot.
Y/n was busy making the boy comfortable while Ruddiger and Rapunzel were leaving. She had set up a blanket fort for the boy and she made sure that he felt right at home.
"Hey, um, I never asked your name," Y/n said shyly. The boy showed Y/n the tattoo that read 09 on his wrist. "Is that real?"
Just as Y/n reached for the tattoo, the boy hid his arm behind his back.
"Sorry, I've just never seen a kid with a tattoo before. What's it mean? Nine?"
The boy gestured to himself.
"That's your name?"
The boy nodded. "I had other name before. Varian."
"Varian. Ok. Um, well, my name's Y/n. Maybe we can call you Var; short for Varian."
Varian nodded.
"Um, well, ok. Night, Var!"
Y/n stood up.
"Night, Y/n."
Y/n smiled shyly before closing the entrance to the fort and walking back upstairs. When she laid down in her bed, she could feel her face flush and she couldn't help but smile.
Time Skip
The next morning arrived quicker than Y/n had expected. For breakfast, she toasted some Eggos for herself and snatched a ham sandwich that was laying on the counter. She put it in her pocket. She stuffed the Eggos into her mouth, trying to finish up quickly. Adira looked at Y/n in disgust.
"Slow down, Y/n. That's disgusting," Adira complained.
"You do a lot of studying last night?" Y/n replied sarcastically.
"Yeah, actually, I did."
"What was your test on again? Human anatomy?"
Adira kicked Y/n's shin as hard as she could.
"Hey, what's going on?" Karen questioned.
"Nothing," they said in unison.
Meanwhile, down in the basement, Varian had found Y/n's walkie talkie and was flipping the switches on it. He had never seen anything like it before and it intrigued him. He heard footsteps and jumped before realizing that it was only Y/n.
"Hey, you found my supercomm. Pretty cool, right? I talk to my friends with it. Mostly Rapunzel cause she lives so close. Signal's pretty weak," Y/n chuckled. She was now sitting across from Varian.
Varian didn't speak a word.
"Got you breakfast," Y/n offered, taking the ham sandwich out of her pocket. She gave it to Varian, who gladly accepted it. "So, listen, this is gonna sound a little weird. I just need you to go outside. Then, go to the front door and ring the doorbell. My mom will answer and you'll tell her that you're lost and that you need help. But, whatever you do, you can't tell her about last night or that you know me. Understand?"
Varian gave Y/n a confused look.
"Really, it's no big deal. We'll just pretend to meet each other again. And my mom, she'll know who to call," Y/n continued.
Varian stopped eating his sandwich. "No."
"No?"
"No." Varian resumed eating his sandwich.
"No... You don't want my mom to get help?"
Varian shook his head.
"You're in trouble, aren't you?"
Varian looked away, his eyes filled with tears. He sniffled.
"Who... Who are you in trouble with?"
"Bad," Varian whispered.
"Bad? Bad people?"
Varian looked at Y/n and nodded.
"They want to hurt you? The bad people?"
Varian made the shape of a gun out of his fingers and moved it to the side of his head. He then did the same to Y/n. "Understand?"
All Y/n could do was stare at Varian, wondering what she could do. Is she didn't do something, these bad people would kill them!
"Y/n, where are you? We're going to be late! Let's go!" Karen called from upstairs.
Y/n turned to Varian. "All right. I'll be back. Just stay here, ok? Stay here." She covered the entrance to the blanket fort, leaving Varian all by himself. He soon heard a car start and it left. Y/n rushed downstairs.
"You wanna explore?" Y/n asked. Varian nodded and followed Y/n as she took him up to the kitchen. "You want anything to drink? We have OJ, skim milk... What else?"
Varian flipped around and headed to the living room, interested in the TV. Y/n took notice of this and stood beside Varian.
"Oh, this is my living room. It's mostly just for watching TV. Nice, right?" Y/n rambled on. "It's a twenty two inch. That's, like, ten times bigger than Ruddiger's!"
Varian quickly lost interest and walked over to the picture frames that rested on the fireplace. He smiled at all the pictures.
"Pretty," he said. His eyes were settled on a particular photo.
"I guess so. That's my sister, Adira," Y/n shrugged. She pointed out the other photos. "And that's baby Holly. And those are my parents. What are your parents like?"
Varian didn't respond. He didn't remember his real parents.
"Do they live close?" Y/n continued. Instead of responding, Varian approached a very soft looking chair. His eyes were sparkling with interest and it made Y/n's heart skip a beat. "That's our La-Z-Boy. It's where my dad likes to sleep. You can try if you want."
Varian glanced at Y/n, feeling like he needed some encouragement. Y/n nodded and gestured towards the La-Z-Boy. Varian carefully sat down in the La-Z-Boy and leaned backwards so that his head touched the headstand.
"It's fun!" Y/n assured as she reached for the lever on the side of the La-Z-Boy. "Just trust me, ok?"
Scared and confused, Varian nodded before Y/n pulled the lever and the La-Z-Boy retracted backwards, causing Varian to freeze up temporarily.
"See? Fun, right?" Y/n smiled. She pulled the chair back up to seating position. "You try."
Varian nodded before pulling the lever and the chair's headstand fell backwards again. A moment of silence passed before Y/n and Varian both laughed.
"You wanna go upstairs to my room?" Y/n asked. Varian nodded.
Time Skip
"Ready, are you? What knows you of ready?"
Y/n decided to show Varian all of her Star Wars Minifigures, hoping that he would have an interest in it. She was currently playing with a Yoda toy and was mimicking his voice. It sounded funny, due to Y/n's voice being more feminine than Yoda. This amused Varian and he quietly giggled as Y/n continued to played with the Yoda toy.
"His name is Yoda," Y/n explained. She was excited that she could geek out. "He can use the Force to move things with his mind! Like this."
She demonstrated by shoving some of her toys off of the table that her and Varian were using. Unfortunately, Varian lost interest and moved on to Y/n's bookshelf. Trying to keep up the conversation, Y/n picked up a toy dinosaur.
"O-oh, this is my dinosaur, Rory," she said. "Look, he has a speaker in his mouth so he can roar."
Varian still isn't interested. He continued to look at Y/n's trophies and picture frames. Y/n finally gave in and stood beside Varian.
"Oh, these are all my science fair trophies. We got first every year," Y/n said sheepishly. "E-except for last year when we got third... Mr. Frederic said it was totally political."
Varian analyzed a photo of Y/n, Rapunzel, Ruddiger, and... Catalina. Varian's lip trembled and he pointed a shaky finger at Catalina. Y/n's eyes widened.
"Y-you know Cat? Did you see her? Last night on the road?"
Varian couldn't answer those questions. Not at the moment. He was too focused on the photo. Soon, the sound of Mrs. Wheeler's car pulling into the driveway dragged their attention away from the photo.
Y/n cursed under her breath. "We gotta go."
She grabbed Varian by the wrist and dragged him halfway down the stairs before freezing up. Karen and Holly were already in the house.
"Crap, crap, crap!" Y/n whispered. She dragged Varian back upstairs, causing Karen to hear the stomping.
"Ted, is that you?" Karen asked. Y/n ignored her mother and pushed Varian into her room, shutting the door.
"Just me, Mom!" Y/n yelled.
"Y/n, what are you doing home?"
"Uh, one second!" Y/n quickly thought of a solution. She led Varian to her closet and shut the door momentarily before opening it again. "Stay in here. I'll be right back, ok?"
Varian made a pleading expression at Y/n.
"Please, you have to get in, or my mom will find you. Do you understand?"
Varian shuffled his feet nervously.
"I won't tell her about you. I promise." (Oh, gosh! Noooo 😩)
Varian tilted his head in confusion. That was a word that he didn't recognize. "P-promise?"
"It means something that you can't break. Ever." (Man, I couldn't explain what a promise means even if my life depended on it lol)
Karen's voice was getting closer. "Y/n?"
"Please?" Y/n begged. Sighing, Varian nodded, allowing Y/n to close the closet door.
As Y/n's footsteps became distant and quiet, Varian's breathing became shallow and quick. He backed up far enough to run into the wall, and he slid down to the ground, covering his ears with his trembling hands. He was having flashbacks from when he was in Hawkins Lab.
Varian was being carried and dragged by two stronger men from the lab. He was struggling as hard as he could but failed to escape. He turned his head around and saw Dr. Gothel standing behind him in the middle of the hallway, her expression dark.
"Mama!!" Varian cried. Dr. Gothel didn't stop the men at all.She just continued to stare at Varian, clearly annoyed with him. "MAMA!!"
Along with Varian's struggling, he started to scream and cry. "No! Mama!"
Nothing much could be done now. The men had already thrown Varian into his isolation cell and quickly shut and locked the door before Varian could stand up. Varian, scared and upset, started to bang on the door, calling out for Dr. Gothel. They all refused to open the door for him.
"M-Mama..." Varian fell to the ground, wrapped his arms around his knees, and sobbed inside the dark, cold, and empty room.
Meanwhile...
Y/n and an annoyed Karen sat on the couch.
"I just... I don't feel good. I woke up and my head-- it really hurt bad-- and my throat was all scratchy. I-I wanted to tell you, but the last time I told you I was sick you made me go to school anyway and--"
"Y/n," Karen interrupted.
"Y-yeah?"
"I'm not mad at you."
Y/n gave Karen a look of surprise. "No?"
"No, of course not," Karen sighed. She scooted closer to Y/n and placed her hand on Y/n's shoulder. "All this that's been going on with Catalina... I can't imagine what it's been like for you. I just... I want you to feel like you can talk to me. I never want you to feel like you have to hide anything from me. I'm here for you, ok?"
Y/n was in disbelief. She'd never seen this side of her mother before. Before she could say anything, however, a loud thump that came from upstairs was heard.
"Is there someone else here?" Karen asked.
Y/n had to stay calm. "No."
She rushed upstairs, closed and locked her bedroom door, and opened the closet door. Y/n's expression softened at what she saw. Varian was at the floor of the closet, crying and shaking. Y/n bent down to Varian's level and wiped away Varian's tears.
"Varian, is everything ok? Var?" Y/n inquired. Varian looked up at Y/n, sniffling.
"Y/n..."
"Is everything ok?"
Varian hesitated before nodding. Y/n could tell that he wasn't ok.
"Are you sure?"
Varian tried to smile to show that he was ok before nodding once again.
Time Skip
During Rapunzel and Ruddiger's rode over to Y/n's house without noticing a man looking through the Wheeler's mailbox. He wore a Hawkins Power and Light uniform. When they opened the door to Y/n's bedroom, their faces fell when they saw Varian.
"Are you out of your mind, Y/n?" Rapunzel accused.
"Just listen to me," Y/n pleaded.
"YOU ARE OUT OF YOUR MIND!" Rapunzel spat.
"He knows about Cat!" Y/n argued.
"What do you mean he knows about Cat?" Ruddiger asked skeptically. In response, Y/n snatched the science fair photo off of her bookshelf and showed it to the others.
"He pointed at her, at this picture. He knew she was missing. I could tell," Y/n explained.
Rapunzel crossed her arms. "You could tell?"
"Just think about it!" Y/n sputtered. "Do you really think it was a coincidence that we found him on Mirkwood, the same place where Cat disappeared?"
Ruddiger looked at Rapunzel. "That is weird."
"And he said bad people were after him," Y/n continued. "I think maybe these bad people are the same ones that took Cat. I think he knows what happened to her!"
Rapunzel scoffed. "Then why doesn't he tell us?"
She approached a confused Varian.
"Do you know where she is?" Rapunzel firmly grabbed Varian's shoulders. "DO YOU KNOW WHERE CATALINA IS?!"
"Stop it! You're scaring him!" Y/n cried.
"He should be scared!" Rapunzel turned to Varian. "If you know where she is, tell us!"
Varian's crystal blue eyes filled with tears and he sniffled. Rapunzel huffed and turned to Y/n.
"This is nuts! We have to take him to your mom."
"No! Varian said telling any adult would put us in danger," Y/n defended.
"What kind of danger?" Ruddiger chimed in.
"His name is Varian?" Rapunzel mocked.
"That's his real name. I call him Var for short. His name from where he came from was Nine," Y/n shrugged.
"Y/n, what kind of danger?" Ruddiger asked again, his voice getting a little bit louder.
"Danger danger!" Y/n made a finger pistol and pointed it at Ruddiger's forehead before doing the same to Rapunzel. Rapunzel swatted Y/n's hand away.
"No, no, no! We're going back to Plan A. We're telling your mom," Rapunzel demanded. She marched to the door. It shut all on its own. Frustrated, Rapunzel opened the door again, only for it to shut itself. Rapunzel, Ruddiger, and Y/n pause, then stare at Varian, who was standing. His nose was bleeding.
"No." Varian insisted.
Time Skip
It was now dinnertime at the Wheeler's house and the party were invited to stay. All three were lost in thought and weren't eating much.
Karen's eyebrows furrowed. "Something wrong with the meatloaf?"
"Ah, no, I had two balogna sandwiches for lunch," Ruddiger lied. "I don't know why..."
"Me too..." Rapunzel said with a shy smile.
"It's delicious, Mom," Adira soothed, trying to make things less awkward.
"Thank you, sweetie," Karen smiled.
"So, there's this special assembly thing tonight for Catalina at the school field. Barb's driving," Adira announced.
"Why am I just hearing about this?" Karen asked.
Adira looked up from her food. "I... thought you knew."
"I told you, I don't want you out after dark until Catalina is found," Karen reminded.
"I know, I know, but it'd be super weird if I'm not there. I mean, everyone's going."
Karen sighed. "Just... be back by ten. Why don't you take the kids with you?"
"No!" Y/n, Ruddiger, and Rapunzel blurted. Y/n took a sip from her milk to seem less suspicious.
"Don't you think you should be there? For Catalina?"
Behind Karen, Varian was exploring the hallway. When Y/n saw him, she spit out her milk. Karen gave Y/n a weird look before turning around to see what's behind her. Ruddiger suddenly slammed his hands on the table, bringing Karen's attention to him.
"Sorry. Spasm," Ruddiger chuckled. Holly looked like she was about to cry.
"It's ok, Holly. It's just a loud noise," Karen reassured.
"Nice," Adira scolded.
Time Skip
Varian was flipping random switches on the supercomm inside his blanket fort.
"Var?" Y/n called. She held a tray of food in her hands with Ruddiger and Rapunzel behind her. "No adults. Just us and some meatloaf." Varian gave Ruddiger and Rapunzel a look. "Don't worry! They won't tell anyone about you. They promise, right?"
"We never would've upset you if we knew you had superpowers," Ruddiger grinned. Y/n smacked Ruddiger across the back of his head. "OW!"
"What Ruddiger is trying to say is that they were just scared... earlier. That's all," Y/n continued.
"We just wanted to find our friend," Rapunzel admitted. She looked down at the ground, trying to not admit that she was tearing up a little bit.
"Friend?" Varian tilted his head.
"Yeah, friend. Cat?" Rapunzel repeated.
"What is 'friend'?" Varian asked.
"Is he serious?" Rapunzel scoffed. Ruddiger shrugged. "Um... a friend is someone..."
"A friend is someone that you'd do anything for," Y/n explained.
"You lend them your cool stuff, like comic books and trading cards," Ruddiger added.
"And they never break a promise," Y/n continued.
"Especially when there's spit," Rapunzel clarified.
"Spit?" Varian questioned.
"A spit swear means..." Rapunzel paused, spit in her hand, and shook Ruddiger's hand. "You never break your word. It's a bond "
Ruddiger pulled his hand away with a disgusted look on his face.
"That's super important because friends...they tell each other things. Things that parents don't know," Y/n concluded.
Varian didn't respond to anything that the party told him, but he still wasn't sure that he liked the whole"friend" thing.
Time Skip
Varian sat at the D&D table, staring at the six pieces that were resting on the playing board.
"What's the weirdo doing?" Rapunzel asked. Varian held his hands above the board and closed his eyes. He was in complete concentration.
"Var?" Y/n calls gently. Varian opened his eyes and held the wizard piece up to his face.
"Catalina," he stated.
"Superpowers," Ruddiger whispered, earning an eye roll from Rapunzel.
"Did you see him on Mirkwood? Do you know where he is?" Y/n inquired.
Varian suddenly flipped the board upside down, knocking all the pieces off of it. The underside of the board was black. He placed the wizard piece in the center of the board.
"I-I don't understand," Y/n said.
"Hiding," Varian stated.
"Cat is hiding?"
Varian nodded.
"From the bad men?"
Varian shook his head.
"Then from who?"
Varian placed another game piece on the board. It was the Demogorgon piece.
Word Count: 3908
Sorry that this took so long to post! I've been busy lately. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter 😄