𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐧: 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲
❝ᴡᴇʟʟ, ᴛʜᴀᴛ's ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ.❞
𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐃 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐑, 𝐇𝐄𝐑 arm behind her head with her eyes closed. the party was sprawled out in the basement, still processing everything that happened in the av room. mike was sat on the couch with eleven, who was laying on her stomach, trying to get her strength back. lucas was sat in one of the arm chairs, his head in his hands as he thought. dustin was sat on the stairs, looking down at arlo with worried eyes. she had used her powers at the school, and even though she wasn't as exhausted as eleven, he could still see that she was drained. but he didn't know if that was from her using her powers or if that was from her lack of sleep. either way, it worried him.
"what was will saying?" mike questioned, breaking the silence that had filled the basement. this made arlo open her eyes and look over at him. "like home. . . like home. . . but dark?" he repeated as he got up from the couch.
"and empty." lucas quickly added, mike stepping over arlo as he turned to face his friends.
dustin sighed, looking up at the wheeler boy. "empty and cold. wait, did he say cold?"
"i think he did." arlo mumbled, sitting up from the floor. "it was just hard to hear because the radio kept going in and out."
"it's like riddles in the dark." dustin muttered as he looked up at the ceiling.
"like home. like his house?" mike asked, looking at hist friends with raised eyebrows.
"or maybe like hawkins." lucas quickly suggested, making arlo point to him in agreement.
"upside down." eleven spoke up, her tone of voice beings soft. arlo looked at her with knitted eyebrows, trying to see if she had actually said that or if her sleep deprivation was finally catching up to her.
"what'd she say?" lucas asked, his face scrunched up into a look of confusion. arlo hummed, glad to know that she hadn't imagined eleven speaking.
"upside down." mike repeated, looking down at eleven.
"what?"
"upside down."
"god, are you death, now, luc?" arlo mumbled as she got up from the floor, using the nickname from when they were younger. the sinclair boy rolled his eyes, following her over to the table that mike had just sat at. dustin joined them.
"when eleven showed us where will was, she flipped the board over, remember?" mike reminded, following said girl's actions from nights before. "upside down. dark. empty."
"do you guys understand what he's talking about?" lucas questioned, looking between dustin and arlo with a bored look.
"no." dustin answered simply.
"i think i do." arlo said, the wheels slowly turning in her head. mike smiled slightly, glad that she was able to catch on. she was always the one to catch on faster than the others. "when eleven took us to find will, she took us to his house." she continued slowly, starting to put the pieces together.
"yeah. and he wasn't there." lucas told her.
"but what if he was there?" mike shot back, looking at the dark skinned boy with raised eyebrows.
arlo looked at the wheeler boy, it finally clicking. "what if we just couldn't see him? what if he was on the other side?"
"exactly." mike agreed, quickly flipping the board back over to the right side. "what if this is hawkins?" he continued, flipping the board back over to the under side. "and this is where will is? the upside down."
"it all makes sense now." arlo mumbled.
"i'm sorry. what makes sense?" lucas asked, looking at the girl with furrowed eyebrows.
"my nightmare from the other night. . . when will was crying out for me to help me? remember i said that it wasn't here in hawkins, but it felt familiar? maybe it was the other side. the upside down." the harrington girl quickly explained, her hands waving all over the place as she did so. that was something that happened when what she was talking about mattered or meant something. that's also something that steve does when he was serious.
"like the vale of shadows." dustin compared, looking at his friends with a slight gleam in his eyes. this made arlo look at him, having some kind of knowledge on what he was talking about. she knew that it was from d&d, but she had no idea what it was. the henderson boy caught onto this, quickly getting up to retrieve the d&d manual from somewhere in the basement. he flipped through the pages before he stopped on one. "'the vale of shadows is a dimension that is a dark reflection or echo of our world. it is a place of decay and death. a plane out of phase. a place of monsters. it is right next to you, and you don't even see it.'"
"an alternate dimension." mike concluded, still trying to process the situation at hand. i mean, all of this shit was suppose to be a fantasy. but it was the completely opposite of that.
"but. . . how - how do we get there?" lucas questioned.
"you cast shadow walk." dustin answered quickly.
"in real life, dummy." lucas told him, his usual bored look returning to his face. arlo tilted her head at dustin's suggestion, wondering if she could do that because of her powers. her shadow powers.
"we can't shadow walk, but. . . maybe she can." dustin then said, looking over to where eleven was laying. this made the three other members turn towards her.
"do you know how to get there? to the upside down?" mike quizzed, making sure his voice was soft as he spoke to her. arlo smiled slightly, never seeing the wheeler boy like that. eleven slowly shook her head, not moving any other part of her body.
"oh, my god." lucas mumbled, rolling his eyes as he turned back around.
mike then turned to look at arlo, seeing that the wheels were still turning inside of her mind. "can you, arlo?"
"i don't know. i haven't these powers for a week yet." arlo answered, shrugging her shoulders. "but. . . it might be a possibility. at this point in time, nothing is impossible. but until we figure that out, we gotta go get ready for will's funeral, tomorrow."
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𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐀𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐈𝐊𝐄 as the three of them, plus dustin, walked up to mr.clarke. it was the service after will's funeral, everyone that attended being in a room that was inside of the town's main church. it felt weird attending a funeral for someone who she knew was actually alive. but no one besides the party and eleven knew that. for now. dustin immediately grabbed a plate from the table and started to place various cookies onto it, grabbing arlo's attention. the harrington girl quickly moved over to him, whispering in his ear to grab her some. the curly haired boy nodded, doing as told.
"mr.clarke?" mike called, making the science teacher turn towards the group.
"oh, hey there." he greeted, his voice full of sympathy as he looked down at the preteens. "how are you guys holding up?"
"we're in. . . mourning." lucas says slowly.
"man, these arent real nilla wafers." dustin mumbled, looking down at the cookies in his hands. arlo nudged him, making the curly haired boy look up.
"we were wondering if you had time to talk?" mike questioned, putting on a sad voice.
"we have some questions." lucas adds.
"a lot of questions." arlo finished, making sure that she kept her voice soft so it could seem like she was sad.
mr.clarke nodded, the party leading him over to an empty table. arl was sat next to dustin, taking some cookies off of his plate while the curly haired boy stuffed some into his mouth. lucas discreetly rolled his eyes at the two before he looked over to the man across from them.
"so, you know how in cosmos, carl sagan talks about other dimensions? like beyond our world?" mike started.
"yeah, sure theoretically." mr.clarke says.
"right, theoretically." mike repeats.
"so, theoretically, how do we travel there?" lucas questioned.
"you guys have been thinking about hugh everett's many - worlds interpretation haven't you?" mr.clark asked, a proud look on his face as he looked between his four students.
the tweens looked at each other before they looked back at him, nodding their heads. "yeah, sure." arlo confirmed as she bit into a cookie.
"well, basically, there are parallel universes. just like our world, but just infinite variations of it. which means there's a world out there where none of this tragic stuff ever happened." mr.clarke starts to explain, thinking they were talking about the current events. well that were, just not the events he was talking about.
"yeah, that's not what we're talking about." lucas told him.
"oh." mr.clarke let out, his eyebrows raising.
"we were thinking of more of an evil dimension, like the vale of shadows. you know the vale of shadows?" dustin quickly elaborated, arlo pointing to him as she nodded her head.
"an echo of the material plane, where necrotic and shadow magic -" mr.clarke started to explain.
"yeah, exactly." arlo interrupted, making the teacher look at her. "sorry, it's just - if that did exist, a place like. . . the vale of shadows, how would we travel there?" she then asked.
"theoretically." lucas adds
"well. . ." mr.clarke started, trying to see how he could explain this to his students. he then grabs a paper plate from under a used one and takes a pen from out of his jacket, clicking it. he then draws two lines on it. "picture. . . an acrobat. . . standing on a tightrope." he continues, drawing a stick figure above the lines. "now, the tightrope is our dimension. and our dimension has rules."
arlo leaned onto the table, wanting to take in as much information as she could. she was just as smart as the boys and could comprehend anything, but having a visual representation helped. thank god for mr.clarke, right?
the older man then draws arrows around the acrobat. "you can move forward, or backwards. but, what if. . . right next to our acrobat, there is a flea." he then draws a little bug besides the acrobat. "now, the flea can also travel back and forth, just like the acrobat. right?"
"right." mike nods.
"here's where things get really interesting. the flea can also travel this way. . . along the side of the rope." he continues, drawing arrows between the two lines. "he can even go. . . underneath the rope." he draws in arrow from the flea to underneath the rope.
"upside down." the four tweens realizes.
"exactly." mr.clarke says.
"but we're not the flea. we're the acrobat." mike confirmed, his eyebrows raised.
"in this metaphor, yes, we're the acrobat." mr.clarke nodded.
"so, we can't go upside down?" lucas questioned.
"no." mr.clarke answered.
"well, is there any way for the acrobat to get to the upside down?" dustin asked.
"well. . . you'd have to create a massive amount of energy. more than humans are currently capable of creating, mind you, to open up some kind of tear in time and space, and then. . ." mr. clarke starts again, stopping so he could fold the paper plate in half. he then pokes the pen through the paper, making arlo raise her eyebrows once again. "you create a doorway."
"like a gate?" dustin concluded.
"sure. like a gate. but again, this is all -"
"theoretical." arlo finished.
"but. . . but what if this gate already existed?" mike asked.
"well, if it did, i - i think we'd know. it would disrupt gravity, the magnetic field, our environment. heck, it might even swallow us up whole." mr.clarke explained.
"well, that's great." arlo mumbled sarcastically.
"science is neat. but i'm afraid it's not very forgiving." mr.clarke tells his students, who was trying to take in all the information.
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𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍, 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐀𝐓 mike's house. mike was explaining to el what mr.clarke had told them about the gate. lucas was sitting opposite of them while dustin paced around the basement with a compass in his hand. arlo watched him from the stairs, her eyebrows raised as he went back and forth. she wondered what had gotten him so riled up so fast since he wasn't like this ten minutes ago.
"what we want to know is, do you know where the gate is?" lucas questioned. el shook her head, no. "then how do you know about the upside down?"
el looks down before looking over to dustin, who was still pacing around with the compass in his hand. mike followed her gaze, his eyebrows furrowing once he saw the curly haired boy. "dustin, what are you doing?" he asked him, getting no answer.
the group looks at each other with furrowed eyebrows.
"dust? dustin!" arlo called out, not receiving any answer. the boy didn't even look at her.
"dustin!" lucas yelled, finally getting the henderson boy's attention.
"i - i need to see your compasses." dustin tells them.
"what?" mike asks.
"your compasses. all of your compasses, right now!" dustin demanded.
mike, arlo, and lucas shared a look before they shot up, searching the basement for any compasses. mike went up to his room, coming down with two. bex found some in a box that was stuffed into the corner, and lucas found some in one of the drawers. they all dropped them onto the table, wondering why dustin needed them.
"what's exciting about this?" mike questioned.
"well, they're all facing north, right?" dustin asked.
"yeah, so?" lucas mumbled, shrugging his shoulders. they had bigger things to worry about, not some compasses.
"well, that's not true north." dustin informed, making arlo tilt her head slightly.
"what do you mean?" mike asked.
"i mean exactly what i said. that's not true north." dustin repeated. he then looked between lucas and mike, seeing the confusion written all over their faces. "are you both seriously this dense?" he asked them before looking at arlo. "arlo? what about you? do you understand?"
"uh, elaborate more. i catch on easy." the harrington girl told him.
he nodded, sucking in a breath. "the sun rises in the east, and it sets in the west. right? which means that's true north." he quickly explained, pointing past arlo.
"so what you're saying is the compasses are broken." mike tried, still not getting what dustin was trying to say.
"do you even understand how a compass works?" dustin shot back, getting frustrated. "do you see a battery pack on this?"
"no." the wheeler boy says.
"no, you don't. because it doesn't need one. the needle's naturally drawn to the earth's magnetic north pole." dustin explained as he placed his compass down onto the table.
"so what's wrong with them?" lucas questioned.
"well, that's what i couldn't figure out, but then i remembered. you can change the direction of a compass with a magnet. if there's the presence of a more powerful magnetic field, the needle deflects to that power." dustin tells his friends, arlo watching him closely. "and then i remembered what mr.clarke said. the gate would have so much power -"
"it could disrupt the electromagnetic field." mike interrupted, finishing for him. the wheeler boy, arlo, and lucas all realizing what dustin had been trying to tell them.
"meaning, if we follow the compasses' north. . ." lucas started, looking at the curly haired boy with knitted eyebrows.
"they should lead us to the gate." arlo finished before she sucked in a breath. "well. . . it looks like we're going on an adventure, boys. and el."
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daij speaks!
I FINALLY UPDATED LORD.