⋆⭒˚.⋆ 𝐎𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐍 ᵃ ˢᵗʳᵃⁿᵍᵉʳ ᵗʰⁱⁿᵍˢ ᵃᶠ

𝟎𝟎𝟖

EIGHT

-- THE FLEA AND THE ACROBAT --

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

HOLLY CLOSES the front door behind her. she's not sure who's home at the moment, so she does it quietly, and zach, matty, and sev tiptoe into the hallway as they follow her.

"basement?" holly whispers, turning back to look at the three boys. she's met with a nod from zach and a thumbs-up from matty. sev doesn't respond, but she didn't expect him to.

the four of them walk the few feet to the basement door, and holly eases it open. they start quietly down the stairs, but once the door is closed behind them, matty speaks up.

"i seriously can't believe we just heard all that, i mean..."

holly stops on the second step from the bottom.

"...seriously, i felt like i was eavesdropping..."

zach stops too, and sev's eyes widen on the fourth step as he looks into the room below him.

"...don't you think it was weird that it seemed like she was talking to someone? and what did she mean, stuck? where—"

matty, who's not paying the most amount of attention as he speaks, reaches the fourth step and smacks right into sev's back. sev jumps, stumbling, and hits zach, and zach has to grab holly's shoulders to stop all of them from tumbling down the remaining stairs.

the reason holly had stopped in the first place? sitting on the couch in the center of the basement, staring at the dnd board sev had flipped over a few days before, are mike, dustin, and lucas.

"um...hey, guys..." holly chuckles awkwardly, turning around slightly to shoot matty her best stink-eye. matty shrugs helplessly.

"hey, holly!" mike smiles at her with false sweetness. "what are you guys talking about?"

holly glares at him. "none of your business, mike."

mike raises an eyebrow at her. "okay..."

holly turns abruptly to face her friends. "let's go back up to my room, actually! i think that's a better—"

"why don't you stay down here?" mike interrupts her, feigning innocence. "i'm sure we'd all love to hear what you're just dying to discuss, right guys?" he turns to dustin and lucas, who nod their approval. holly feels very much like she's been set up.

"i actually don't think that's a very good idea," zach speaks up, "you probably wouldn't believe us."

lucas, dustin, and mike share a look. "try us. i'm sure it's not the craziest thing we've heard."

holly looks back at matty, who raises his eyebrows at her. your call. she turns to zach, who shrugs with his hands up. same message. holly sighs deeply. who named her the decision-maker of the group?

"you know what?" holly turns back to face her brother and his friends again. "why not?" privately, she thinks, they won't believe us anyway— it can't hurt.

the four kids sit down on beanbags and holly begins to tell them about what has happened to them since meg disappeared. matty and zach interject at some points, and sev shows them his tattoo— holly catches the look mike shares with his friends when they see that.

she keeps some things to herself, like what they had heard specifically in the av room today, but otherwise she tells them nearly everything: how they'd found sev and, as weird as it sounds, how he had powers. how he knew meg, and how he might be able to help them find her. and, finally, how they think there's some alternate dimension they need to get to. when she's finished, there's silence for a few moments as everyone processes.

she watches carefully as mike looks at dustin, and dustin looks at lucas, and lucas shrugs. mike turns back to them. "well, this all seems to be a lot more complicated than we originally thought."

holly's eyebrows furrow, and matty and zach frown. "huh?"

"yeah," dustin narrows his eyes at sev. "can we see that tattoo again?"

slowly, sev rolls up his sleeve again, revealing the xvii tattoo on his wrist.

"man," lucas leans forward, glancing at mike. "again?"

"what do you mean, again?" matty looks at holly and zach in confusion, as if they have a clue what's going on either.

"well, it can't be brenner, right?" mike runs a hand through his hair. "he's one hundred percent dead. so, we're in a lot of trouble— either he, like, revived or something, or someone else took control."

"i'm so lost right now," zach shakes his head. "do you believe us or not?"

"uh, yeah," dustin grimaces. "unfortunately, yeah, we do."

"why now?" lucas puts his elbows on his knees and rests his chin on his hands. "it's been ten years."

"ten years since what?" holly asks, looking between the three adults in front of her.

"since..." dustin glances at the kids in front of him, worry flashing in his eyes. "since—"

"maybe we shouldn't say everything," mike interrupts frantically, glancing at holly. holly's jaw drops angrily.

"um, yes, you should!" she cries, meeting her brother's eyes.

mike grimaces. "i really think that wouldn't be—"

there's a clatter from the corner of the room— something just fell off the bookcase. zach stands up, crossing the room. he picks up an object and shows it to them, shrugging. "just a compass. don't know what made it fall, but..."

"shit!" dustin shoots to his feet and holly's head whips around to look at him. "shit, shit, shit! you're kidding me!"

"what?" holly says, "what is it?"

"how is everything exactly the same?" mike stands up too, lucas close behind him. the three of them rush over to zach, who's standing at the bookcase, looking as bewildered as a person can be. dustin snatches the compass from zach's hand and holds it up to his face.

"this is north, right?" he points to the wall across from him, looking at mike for confirmation. mike nods. "you're actually kidding me!"

"can you guys stop freaking out and tell us what's happening?" holly stands up now, too.

"okay, listen up," dustin returns to the couch and sits down, leaning forward to show holly, sev, and matty the compass. lucas and mike return to their seats on either side of him, and zach slowly makes his way back to the beanbag chair he'd been sitting in. "we're going to start with this," he waves his compass in the air, "because telling you everything will take literal hours."

matty squints at his cousin. "what is happening. since when do you guys have so many secrets? you're not cool just because you're mysterious, d."

dustin rolls his eyes. "just shut up for a second. we'll explain...the basics. you guys will end up finding a lot of stuff out eventually, honestly. but right know, we're starting with this compass."

matty opens his mouth to speak again, but zach nudges him. "let's just let them say their piece." and matty, sighing, sits back in his beanbag.

"see how this compass is pointing north?" dustin gestures to the needle of the compass, which is perfectly on top of the N.

"yeah?" holly says.

"it's not north," lucas says, "north is that way," and he points at the wall across from the bookcase that dustin had referenced earlier.

"you guys are crazy," zach says, staring at lucas. "why would the compass be wrong?"

"will explained the flea and the acrobat theory to you guys, right?" mike asks.

"sure, but don't change the subject, mike," holly says, "why would the compass be wrong?" "yeah, i'm getting to that," mike says, rolling his eyes. "he told you how you need an insane amount of energy to go to the other dimension, right?"

holly and her friends nod.

"yeah, well, that amount of energy is, apparently, back in hawkins." here mike hesitates, meeting dustin's eyes and inhaling deeply. "this is going to sound crazy, but...well, thirteen years ago, this company called hawkins national laboratory opened up a gate to what we call the upside down."

"the upside down..." matty murmurs, and then his eyes widen and he turns to holly. "the =upside down! that's what sev was telling us about, with the vale of shadows!"

holly looks over at sev for confirmation, and the boy nods ever so slightly. in front of holly, she sees dustin share a look with mike, shaking his head. she catches his murmur of, "seriously, are they, like, mini us? this is crazy." she ignores him.

"so, anyway," lucas picks up from where mike had left off. "it turned out that will, who had gone missing, which you guys already know...it turned out he had been taken by this monster and was stuck in the upside down."

holly's eyes widen. "then...is that where meg is?"

"that's...the most likely possibility, honestly," lucas says.

"so what's the problem?" zach asks, "if you guys know how to get there, why haven't you already?"

"well, that's the thing," dustin says, sighing. "we don't know how to get there. we thought that hawkins lab had shut down when the head died, and that's where the big gate was, but..." he shrugs. "and now sev here, and he's like—"

"he's from hawkins lab, we think," mike interrupts dustin, nudging his friend slightly. holly frowns at him. "they did all kinds of crazy experiments years ago, so...they're probably doing them again, and that's where sev's powers come from."

they all look over at sev, and as they do, holly sees mike nudge dustin in the corner of her eye. she hears him quietly murmur, "don't tell them about el, okay?" she frowns at the floor, privately wondering what mike is talking about.

"okay, so what are we supposed to do?" matty turns back around, looking at dustin. "how do we find the gate and get meg back?"

dustin lifts the compass again. "with this," he grins at lucas. "just like before."

"right," holly says, raising her eyebrows. "so, what do we do?"

"ah," dustin nods, as if he's just remembered that they hadn't actually explained anything about the compass, other than the fact that it was apparently wrong. "right. so, the reason why the compass is wrong is because there's another source of energy, a big one, that's close enough to us that it can draw the compass's needle to itself, instead of north. like a magnet. and that energy...it's coming from the gate."

matty nods slowly. "so...we just have to follow the compasses, and we can find the gate? that's easy enough, isn't it?"

mike slaps his hands on his knees and stands up. "yep! so, that's what you guys are going to do, okay? and then, when you find the gate, you'll stay away from it, come back home, and tell us where it is. and then we'll go from there. just do not go anywhere near the gate, okay?"

holly looks at zach and matty, and the three of them nod slowly, together. "okay."

"perfect!" lucas grins, but holly sees something in his eyes like nervousness. she frowns. "that's all!"

"er...okay, then," matty shrugs and stands up. "we'll see you in a few hours, i guess?"

dustin nods, meeting matty's eyes. "come back as soon as you can. don't get distracted."

zach glances up at mike just as he is looking at sev, a frown on his face. zach narrows his eyes at holly's brother. does mike not trust sev? or is he just worried? an unnerving feeling settles in zach's gut, and he looks away quickly.

as they stand up, holly and her friends are too distracted by all of the information they've just been given that they don't notice how sev is frowning at the floor like he's nervous, or scared. or both.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

"ella? is that you?" ella freezes, the axe in her hands slowing in midair as she looks over her shoulder with wide eyes.

josh is standing in the open frame of her garage door, frowning as he stares at the axe she'd just been swinging. he tilts his head. "what...are you doing?"

ella opens her mouth, trying to think of a good reason as to why she's using an axe in her garage to chop invisible monsters. "oh, this?" she purses her lips, "um...well, i'm practicing, because my dad...yeah, my dad asked me earlier if i wanted to go find a christmas tree with him, and you know, we like to cut them ourselves!" she laughs awkwardly as josh raises his eyebrows.

"in november?"

"yeah!" she says, "totally! i mean, if you cut them yourself, they're fresher," she winces, "so they...last longer?"

josh nods slowly. "well, i don't know anything about trees, so you're probably right." ella exhales, relieved.

"so...what're you doing here?"

josh's face lifts. "oh, right! yeah, i was just wondering how you were doing with tate? i heard she was missing, or something?"

ella's face falls into a frown. "oh...yeah, i'm actually pretty upset about it. two people missing in a week? i mean, it's crazy."

josh nods. "yeah, totally. and, i was also going to say that i'm sorry you had to see that whole thing with chris the other day. he deserved it, but still."

"uh-huh..." ella glances at her watch. she's supposed to meet chris in twenty minutes. "listen, i actually have something to do now, so...i'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"oh, sure!" he stuffs his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "it's just...i was sort of wondering if you might want to go out with me tonight? we could go to the movies, or dinner, or something? maybe both?" he grins at her, holding his hands out in question.

ella winces, smiling apologetically. "oh...yikes, sorry, i actually have something tonight, too. maybe some other time?"

josh's eyebrows lift. "oh, uh, yeah, okay! that's fine. i'll just catch you later. see you."

"yeah, see you..." she watches as he turns and walks away, back down her driveway and into his car.

then she picks up her axe again and keeps swinging.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

"hey!" ella jogs up to chris, her eye catching on the gun in his hand and the soda cans lined up on a row of tree stumps across from him.

chris looks over at her and his face lifts. "hey! i see you found that axe?"

"yeah!" ella reaches his side and squints at the cans, raising her hand to block the sun. "so...what's this? i see you haven't quite hit any yet."

chris grins. "well, actually, i've been aiming for the space between the cans, so..."

ella laughs and holds out her hand. "can i try?"

"oh, sure," chris sets the gun in her hand carefully— gently. ella offers him a small smile. "just...aim and shoot, really. that's all it is."

ella slips her finger into the loop of metal where the trigger rests. she focuses on the can directly in front of her. "aim and shoot? alright. how'd you get this gun, anyway?" she adjusts her grip— sure, she's a little nervous to shoot it, but she's not stalling.

"oh," chris shrugs. "it was in my garage. think it used to be my dads, maybe."

"he never taught you, or anything?" she looks over at him— he's staring straight ahead.

"nah," he clears his throat, "he left when i was thirteen, after he got drunk and locked me outside for the night as punishment for not going hunting with him."

ella's eyebrows lift. "he actually did that?"

chris nods grimly, still keeping his gaze fixed on the cans in front of them. "yeah, probably not the best dad. so, my mom divorced him and that was that. they were in love once, i guess, but not for long."

ella turns back to look down the barrel of the gun. "my parents didn't marry for any reason other than money. i used to babysit this girl who's a few years younger than me, and i was always...so jealous of her family. my mom's a drinker, and my dad's always working, but this girl...her family was so good, all of them. she has a brother and a sister, who are older, but they were always nice to her despite the age gap. and her parents...i don't know, something about them. i wanted to be part of that family instead of mine."

chris looks over at her. ella squints against the sun and shifts the gun just slightly to the left. "yeah?"

"yeah," she adjusts her finger on the trigger. "but then highschool started. four years, no contact. i didn't talk to the girl who used to be like my sister for four years. and my mom and i started fighting, every night, and dinner was always silent and angry, and my dad spent more and more time at work. and there went any hope i still had that i'd have a real family." her eyes don't move from the can.

"shit," chris's eyebrows furrow as he looks at her. "well, i bet that girl misses you, too."

"yeah, maybe," ella's lips tilt up at the corners at his words.

"family trauma, huh?" chris follows her gaze.

ella inhales softly and pulls the trigger. her bullet pierces through the center of the can and it drops off the stump.

"nice shot!" chris's face splits into a grin as he turns to her. "damn, ella, i'd never have guessed."

ella smiles back at him, slipping her finger from the trigger. "neither would i."

"it's all that family trauma," chris bends down to pick up ella's axe. "think i can channel it to get a tree in one clean swing?"

"definitely," ella reloads the gun. "think i can channel it to kill that monster in one clear shot?

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

"guys...i feel like we should turn back," matty looks down at the compass again— it's still leading them forward. "we've been walking for like, three hours."

"one hour, matty," zach rolls his eyes. "and don't you want to get meg back?"

matty sighs and looks over his shoulder at holly and sev, who are a few feet behind him and zach. he leans closer to zach and whispers, "she, like, totally has a crush on him, right?" zach widens his eyes and nods. "ok, yeah, i thought so." matty makes a face. "dude, why, though? he's basically bald!"

zach smacks him on the arm, laughing.

"hey, guys!" holly calls, "the compass just turned that way." she points to the right, where the forest thickens and begins to slope upwards. they turn in the direction the compass is pointing and continue walking.

a few minutes later, sev taps holly on the arm. she looks over. "yeah?"

sev shakes his head slightly, meeting her eyes. "not..." he looks at matty and zach up ahead. "not safe."

"what're you talking about?" holly shakes her head, grabbing sev's wrist as she jogs closer to matty and zach. "it's fine! mike wouldn't tell us to go somewhere if he didn't trust that we'd be fine, okay?"

sev looks away.

zach turns around at some point to check that holly and sev are still close behind them. they are, and he goes to look in front of him again, but his gaze stops on sev as the boy wipes his nose with his sleeve. zach frowns, but keeps walking. it's probably nothing.

after an hour and a half, they reach a clearing on a hill, where an abandoned bus sits. they take a break here, and zach speaks up.

"okay, i know i just told matty that it's fine, but i feel like this is weird," he looks down at his compass as matty sits on the grass. "and..." he squints. "my compass just turned back the way we came?" he frowns, spinning in a slow circle as he stares at the compass. "wait, what?" he looks up at holly. "we're going in circles!"

holly shakes her head. "no, we can't be!" she takes her own compass out of her pocket. "i...mine's pointing that way too! this doesn't make any sense,"

zach looks over holly's shoulder at sev— and just in time, too. he watches as sev looks away from the three of them and wipes his nose on his sleeve again. zach's eyes follow sev's sleeve, and once his arm rests at his side again, zach can see a line of red— blood— staining the fabric. zach's eyebrows furrow as he stares at the blood. hadn't his nose bled when he'd used his powers in the av room? and when he'd closed the basement door? his eyes widen.

"he's using his powers! he's messing with the compasses!" zach glares at sev as holly shakes her head.

"what? no, he isn't, zach. he wouldn't do that," she turns around to look at sev, whose eyes are wide and fearful. "you wouldn't, right?" she waits. "right?"

"he would, holly!" zach looks away angrily. "i mean, i honestly can't believe we actually trusted him! why?! why would he want to help us? you heard how your brother described the people at hawkins lab! this is how he's meant to act!"

holly whirls around to face him, glaring. "mike also said that meg is out there! which means that when sev made us hear her, that was real. he's been helping us, so why would he stop now?"

matty has stood back up now, and is looking back and forth between his two best friends desperately.

"i don't know, but it's possible! and here's your proof!" zach waves his compass in the air. "do you know someone else who has powers and can control a compass? yeah, i didn't think you did. so," he walks past holly and grabs sev's wrist, showing her his bloody sleeve. "how else do you explain this?"

"maybe it's just a nose bleed! it's a normal thing, you know!"

zach scoffs, dropping sev's arm. "right, of course. it's so normal to have a nose bleed for thirty minutes straight!" he steps closer to sev. "you know what? you're a traitor. those bad men you were talking about? the people at hawkins lab? you're worse." he turns back to holly. "i can't believe we trusted him."

holly's eyes are shining now, a lump in her throat. matty reaches out to her but she steps back, glaring at zach. "what is wrong with you? he's helping us find meg! i thought you wanted to find her!" she wipes her eyes furiously. "she would never give up on us like you're giving up on her."

"i'm not giving up on her! i'm being realistic! sev is interfering. just because you think he's cool and mysterious— and you have a crush— doesn't mean he can suddenly find meg and bring her back to life!"

a tear trails down holly's cheek as she stares at zach. "i can't believe you!" she says.

matty looks between zach and holly. "guys—"

"yeah, and i can't believe we trusted a traitor."

holly's face twists and she steps forward, shoving zach backwards. "he is not a traitor!"

zach stumbles, trying to get holly's hands off of him, but her face crumples and she pushes him again. he grabs her arms and throws them off him, making holly stagger backwards.

"stop!" zach doesn't have time to think before he's flying. sev's hand reaches towards him in an instant, and then zach is in the air, and then he's slamming into the abandoned bus. his head knocks back against it hard, and his eyes slip closed.

holly regains her footing just as matty starts running over to zach. she follows after him, blinking the tears out of her eyes. "oh, god, zach?" matty slaps his friend's face, trying to get him to wake up. "shit, man, wake up!"

holly blinks rapidly, turning back to face sev. "why would you do that?" she cries, glaring at him. "why would you do that? he's hurt! because of you!"

sev's eyes are wide as he breaths heavily, blood dripping out of his nose. "i—"

"no!" holly shouts, looking back at zach. "why would you do that?" she inhales shakily. "just...just leave us alone!"

she turns back around just as matty shakes zach awake. "thank god," matty mutters, shaking his head.

"zach, are you okay?" holly bends down next to her friend, but he looks past her at sev, scowling.

"you know what?" he pushes himself to his feet, wincing. "as long as he's helping us, i'm not. i'll come back to the party when he's gone."

holly stands up after him. "zach, wait—" matty catches her sleeve.

"let him go," he meets her eyes. "it'll be fine. he'll be fine." holly nods quickly, looking away.

"uh, matty?" matty follows her gaze to where sev is standing— except, he's not there anymore.

"shit," matty mutters, "where'd he go?"

"i don't know!" holly looks around, walking in a circle. "sev? sev!"

matty joins her, looking into the forest and beyond the hill.

"SEV?!"

mimi & zoe's corner!

- ohh juicy fight???????? totally didnt see this coming...!

- so we're gonna pretend like mimi and i didnt act out both the fight scene & the josh and ella scene on multiple occasions........guys we were js testing out the flow of the scene i promise...

- anyways sorry for the late post, mimi and i have been incredibly busy with sports (#lost my softball game 11-0 today!!!!!!!!) and getting ready for high school next year (kill me now!!!) so since spring break we haven't had too much time to work on it. but trust over the weekend we'll get chapter 10 finished up and finally start/finish chapter 11

- mike, dustin, and lucas were so pookie this chapter...also in case anyone was wondering where will was, he was wedding planning (also we wanted it to be like the personality parallels) but he was def wedding planning..!

questions, comments, concerns here!

happy reading <3

⁴²⁷⁷ ʷᵒʳᵈˢ

(not proofread, mimi was eating chipotle/zoe was showering)