You wake up in the Upside Down and you're not exactly human anymore.
. .
. .
Eyes snapping open, you gasp for breath and scramble into a sitting position as you wildly glance all around you.
It's dark, some sort of particles drift all around you, and the sky lights up with flashes of red lightning.
You're in the Upside Down.
It takes a moment for your brain to reboot so you remember exactly why you're in this nightmarish place and then you remember the plan to sneak up on Vecna. You'd been part of the decoy team- distracting the demobats so Steve, Nancy and Robin had a fairly clear way to enter Creel House.
You remember Eddie putting on the most metal concert ever- his fingers flying over his guitar as he played Master of Puppets to draw the demobats to you. But the demobats proved to be too much for you, Eddie and Dustin, and you and Eddie made sure Dustin was in the clear before sharing a look of resignation.
In order to give the other team as much time as possible, either one or both of you weren't going to walk away from this.
And from the looks all around you, you realize you're the one who apparently didn't walk away.
Suddenly remembering the demobats taking chunk after chunk out of you, you start patting down your arms and legs and abdomen. But there are no wounds present.
Startled, you quickly stand and check yourself again. You know you'd been attacked, hell you were overwhelmed by the demobats while Eddie screamed your name, but there's not a single wound to show for it.
Kill. Feed.
The raspy words in your head send a shiver down your spine.
Lead my army and unleash hell on earth.
You reach up to rub at your temple, eyes closing as a pain pulses behind your eyes. "Get it together," you mumble to yourself.
When the only sounds you can hear are your heavy breathing and the chattering of the creatures of this hellish dimension, you open your eyes and gather your bearings. You realize you're not far from the trailer park Eddie lived in and pick up one of the abandoned bicycles to make the trek back.
The gate between the two dimensions that resides in Forest Hills Trailer Park is a lot bigger than it was the last time you'd seen it. Before it was just a hole in Eddie's trailer's ceiling and now it's practically swallowed the whole trailer park. It pulses red and angry, and there are hundreds of demobats standing guard. You hesitate upon approaching, but then the strangest thing happens.
As you near the gate, the demobats chatter as they stare at you before backing off and making room for you to pass.
"Huh."
The gate looks a lot more threatening and hostile, but something tells you that it's still a gate. So, steeling yourself, you find a point where the gate seems the most accessible and push yourself through. The nearly translucent membrane is harder to push through, but after struggling for a bit your hand is the first part of you to break through.
You do not understand the physics of crossing dimensions, so while you enter the gate standing up and exit it falling on your side, you readily pick yourself up and dust yourself off.
The trailer park is abandoned seeing as numerous trailers have fallen victim to the enormous pulsing gate. As you start walking towards the main entrance/exit of the park, you realize the area has been cordoned off with police tape and wooden barriers.
Feed. Kill.
Your head throbs and you stumble at the pain. But then it vanishes as quickly as it had come on and you let your feet carry you further and further into Hawkins.
It's eerily quiet in your hometown and you're surprised not a single vehicle is out and about. You're not sure why your first instinct is to completely bypass your home, but you do, and you eventually find yourself roaming the streets of Loch Nora.
Realizing Steve lives nearby, you urge your feet to carry you in that direction.
The only vehicle you see at the Harrington household is the one that belongs to Steve, so you feel a bit better about knocking on the door so late at night. You try to pay attention to the noises on the other side of the front door and are surprised when you can actually hear the footsteps of your friend walking around.
You flinch back as the door opens and you and Steve stare at one another in surprise.
"Y-YN?" He stammers.
"Stevie?" You question, heart pounding.
A beat passes and then Steve's throwing himself at you, arms wrapping around you in a heartwarming embrace. Your arms go around his waist as your face presses into his neck. Seconds pass and the most beautiful aroma fills your senses.
Kill. Feed.
As your eyes fall shut, your nose skims the skin of his neck. The sound of his heartbeat fills your ears, your mouth salivates, and your tongue is centimeters away from his flesh when he says, "I thought you were dead! Eddie and Dustin-"
You snap back to yourself, heart pounding at the thought of what you were about to do. "I- I think I was."
Steve tenses and then pulls back. "What?"
Your eyes fill with tears as you meet his gaze. "I don't- I think someone's wrong with me."
"Hey. It's okay. Don't cry. We'll figure this out." A sob breaks free from your throat and Steve brings you back into his arms, leading you inside his house. "I'll, uh, I'll just call a code red and the party will know what to do."
Inside, Steve wastes no time calling anyone and everyone in the know about Hawkins' dirty little secret. You sit in his living room, arms crossed over your stomach as you hunch in on yourself. But the grumblings of your stomach become unbearable, so you get up to raid the kitchen.
By the time Steve is done calling in everyone and telling some of the party to bring in the others who had no phone to reach them at, he finds you in his kitchen surrounded by various lunch meats.
"Everyone's on their way," he tells you.
"Okay." You're eating sandwich meat right out of the packaging, grimacing at the taste. It's nowhere near what you're craving.
You chug glass after glass of water and when it doesn't do anything to sate your thirst, you give up and go back to the living room.
"Do you, uh, do you maybe want to shower and change clothes?" Steve eventually asks. "No offense, but you look like shit."
Huffing a short laugh, you nod. "Please?"
"Follow me."
Steve leads you upstairs to his room, pulling out some of your clothes that had somehow migrated over to his place over the past several months. You collect the clothes and a towel, and head into the bathroom to clean yourself up.
You're not sure how long you've been showering when you finally decide to get out. You pull on your clothes and towel dry your hair as much as you can, and then make your way downstairs where several voices can be heard.
Hesitantly walking into the living room, you stand there as all eyes flick over to you.
"Holy shit," Dustin mumbles.
You clasp your hands in front of you and smile sheepishly as you stand under the archway leading into the room. "Hey, Henderson."
Eddie, Dustin, Lucas, Will, Mike, Eleven, Robin, Nancy, Jonathan, Joyce and Hopper all stare at you with trepidation etched in their every feature.
Kill.
You wince at the voice and gulp when you see Will sit a little straighter in his seat.
"YN?" Your gaze slides over to Eddie who has stepped forward ahead of the gathered group. "Is that really you?"
You nod. The group seems to exhale with relief, but then tense all over again when you utter, "Mostly."
Eddie holds himself still, but decides that he just doesn't care.
You're here.
You're alive.
And he's so fucking relieved because while the two of you were cordial with each other in school, you lost touch after you graduated and then reconnected while he was on the run. And just as something started to simmer between the two of you and there was an understanding you would explore it after you defeated Vecna, you died.
Eddie is on the move before anyone can stop him and the second his arms are around you, you start crying all over again. The two of you hold tightly onto each other before he pulls back, grasping your face in his hands as his lips press to your forehead.
"I knew they had to be wrong," Robin says as she moves next, pulling you from Eddie so she can hug you as well. "There was no way you were dead."
"But that's the thing though," you say as she steps back. "I did die."
"What does that even mean, kid?" Hopper asks.
Everyone watches you as Eddie leads you over to one of the recliners and pulls you down onto his lap. His arms wrap loosely around your waist as you settle against him and he hooks his chin over your shoulder. "Exactly as I said. I died."
"But you're here." Eleven frowns. "How?"
"I dunno." Your brow furrows as you try to recall your last moments. "One second I'm telling Eddie that it was going to be our year, and the next.. the next I'm waking up all alone in the Upside Down."
Nancy frowns as she stares between Eddie and Dustin. "Did you guys even check for a pulse? Maybe it was just really weak."
Dustin opens his mouth to defend himself, but you shake your head. "I'm pretty sure I died... and woke up different."
"Why do you say that, sweetheart?" Eddie asks, squeezing you a little.
"Because when I approached the gate to come back home, it was surrounded by demobats. The demobats were scared of me," you admit. "They backed off the closer I got."
Robin's eyes widen. "Is this- is this a side effect of rabies?"
Your lips twitch in amusement as Steve groans. "Will you shut up about rabies, Robin? YN isn't foaming at the mouth or whatever."
You clear your throat to gain their attention. "What ended up happening?" You ask. "After I.."
"Died?" Mike asks, eyebrow arched.
"Yeah." You grimace. "That."
"Max is, uh, Max is in the hospital," Lucas says. Everyone glances at him, sympathy in their eyes. "Steve, Nancy and Robin got to Vecna, but not before Vecna got to Max."
"She died and all four gates opened," Steve then says.
"But I brought her back. Just not fully," Eleven admits.
"They say she's brain dead," Lucas finishes.
Your eyes fill with tears as your bottom lip trembles. "I'm so sorry, guys."
Lucas shrugs. "Wasn't your fault. You did all you could. We just underestimated him."
"The good thing is he's gone now, so..."
"But he's not." The words leave your mouth before you can stop them and the atmosphere of the room becomes tense all over again.
"What do you mean by that?" Eddie asks.
You nervously shift in his lap. "I, uh, I can hear someone in my head. Raspy voice. It's only happened a couple of times, but it's not- it's not a pleasant experience. And given what we know about Venca and how he controls things from the Upside Down, I'm assuming it's him."
"What does this voice say?" Joyce wonders, gaze darting to Will who shifts uncomfortably in his own seat.
"To kill. And feed. And lead an army that will unleash hell on earth."
The room goes so quiet that you can hear a pin drop- well, at least for them maybe. You're left listening to pounding hearts and smelling the fear that is slowly starting to waft off of them.
Before another word can be uttered, however, a heart stopping screech sounds from Steve's backyard.
"Oh what now?" Hopper groans.
Everyone scrambles out of their seats, staying behind Hopper and Joyce, as they rush towards the back sliding door. When you stand up from Eddie's lap, he keeps hold of your hand without a word and walks with you to see what the hell's going on now.
As everyone files onto the back patio, you and Eddie end up at the end of the line as everyone slowly spreads out. For a moment everyone kind of breathes a sigh of relief when there's nothing to be seen, and then the screech sounds again.
Your skin prickles, your heart hammers inside your ribcage, and alarm bells start to sound as you watch a gangly, seven-foot-tall creature walk out from the shadows. It looks almost humanoid, the way it stalks towards the backyard gate and pulls itself up and over it.
Kill. Lead my army. Kill!
◈◈◈
Another screech sounds, but the gathered group are confused because the screech has come from their side and not from the demogorgon who was across the pool.
Everyone looks to YN who's rooted to the spot and whose skin has gone a pale gray. Eddie takes a couple steps forward to get a look at her face and his eyes widen when he notices that YN's eyes have gone pitch black, the skin around her eyes having darkened as well to give them a sunken look.
"Sweetheart?"
YN's head twitches to the side, her jaw opening as she makes a chattering noise to the demogorgon on the other side of the pool still. And it's then they notice the mouth full of pointy teeth.
"Shit. What is she?" Mike asks, trying to pull Eleven behind him.
"I don't know," Eddie says.
The demogorgon shrieks again, but the group only have eyes for YN who walks forward and crouches near the edge of the pool. Her shoulders roll and then their eyes are drawn to her back where they can see something moving underneath her shirt. From one moment to the next, her shirt rips and enormous leathery wings sprout from each shoulder blade.
"Jesus Christ!" Eddie yells, stumbling backwards.
"Are those wings?!" Robin yells.
Hopper, Joyce, Nancy and Jonathan do their best to push the kids back, but the kids are stubborn as ever. The demogorgon shrieks, YN shrieks back, and then she's launching herself across the pool when the demogorgon leaps.
"Holy shit. It's a monster battle royale," Dustin exclaims as YN tackles the demogorgon mid-leap.
The group watches in shocked awe as YN rolls with the demogorgon on the ground, getting the upper hand as she straddles the shrieking monster. She manages to grasp the demogorgon's wrist in her hands, pinning them on either side of its flowered head. They shriek at one another, monster to monster, and then YN's mouth opens far wider than it should be capable of before latching onto the demogorgon's meaty shoulder.
The demogorgon snarls and tries to buck off YN, but she leans back up with black blood smeared around her mouth. Releasing one of the demogorgon's wrists, she then shoves her clawed hand into its chest cavity. As she pulls her hand free with whatever passes as a heart for the monster, she watches as the demogorgon stills before taking a bite out of its heart.
"Gross," Mike grumbles.
His voice garners YN's attention and she looks at them with eyes still black as night. She crawls off the demogorgon, chattering at them in curiosity as she perches herself on the edge of the pool once more, wings raised above her.
"Shit, shit, shit," Dustin utters.
Eleven puts herself in front of the stunned group and they watch as YN lowly growls, dipping her head low as her top lip trembles in agitation. Eleven raises her hand, but Eddie's quick to lunge and push her arm back down.
"Don't! She's still our friend."
"She's about to attack us!" Lucas exclaims. "That's not YN anymore, man."
Eddie looks pained at the words and then glances back over at YN, only to come up short as he sees her staring down at her reflection in the water. "Wait. Just.. wait."
◈◈◈
Staring at your reflection in horror, you scramble backwards. You can't remember anything from the last few minutes, so you're confused as to why you're on the opposite side of the pool with a now dead demogorgon and your friends staring at you in fear.
Pain shoots down your back as something scrapes the concrete ground and you yelp as you fall onto your side. Then glancing over your shoulder, your stomach drops at the sight of leathery wings attached to your back. "What the.."
"YN?" Eddie calls out.
Your head whips forward before you hesitantly climb to your feet, trying to balance with the newest additions to your back. You somehow end up looking down at your hands, only to frown when you see your right hand clawed and covered in black goo. Blood.
"Sweetheart?"
You look up, tears filling your eyes. You've never had anyone look at you the way your friends are looking at you right now and it hurts. But not only are you hurt, you're terrified as well. You don't know what the hell is going on.
Kill. Kill. Kill!
"I.. I'm sorry," you say, slightly shaking your head to rid yourself of the raspy voice. "I didn't-" Your wings start to flap, lifting you in the air just enough so your feet are inches off the ground.
"YN." Eddie's voice cracks as you look at him once more and your heart aches for the boy you had hopefully seen a future with. "It's okay. We can figure this out. Just- just come back down, sweetheart."
You shake your head with a sad smile. "He won't stop until I'm in his control for good. It's not safe. I'm not safe." Your smile wobbles as the first tear falls. "It was almost our year, Munson. Almost."
And then with one strong flap of your wings, you shoot off into the sky, your friends shouts following you into the night sky.
You fly high up in the night sky for hours, intent on getting as far away from Hawkins as you can. The raspy voice is no longer at the back of your mind, but the longing for your friends is still there. You want nothing more than to let them help you, but you know that can't happen in Hawkins or as long as Vecna is still alive.
You wind up in California of all places, breaking into an abandoned warehouse to hide from the sun.
For the next few days, you find out a few things about yourself. The sun only hurts when you've been exposed to it for too long. You learn to hide your wings and bring them out on command, and you realize that the gnawing hunger you feel is the hunger for blood.
You're not comfortable with killing, but the hunger is too much to ignore. So, you hunt, but you hunt miles outside of the town you've hunkered down in. Then taking the money from your victims, you go shopping for jeans, shorts, and backless shirts so your wings don't ruin them.
Then when you're comfortable enough, you finally decide to wander the apparent murder capital of the world- Santa Carla.
The boardwalk has drawn your attention and you're grateful that the flashing lights and whistles and smell of sugary and greasy foods mask that of the blood rushing through everyone's veins.
You're walking through the crowd, smiling at passing teens and children as they rush to and from the rides. Hands tucked in the back pocket of your jean shorts; you're not paying attention to those you've suddenly caught the attention of.
At least not until you hear, "Am I dreaming or is that you, YLN?"
You freeze and turn towards the sound of the voice, eyes subtly widening at the boy smirking right at you. Your tense shoulders drop as you chuckle, shaking your head in fond amusement. "Yeah, it's me. Don't cream your pants, Hargrove."
To be continued...