C H A P T E R T W E N T Y - T W O
" THROUGH THE GATE "
author's pre-note : i recommend that if you have not yet seen the
stranger things season 4 announcement video above, that you do so before reading this chapter to understand my references !
anyways, i hope you enjoy this one ! xoxo
･ ｡ﾟ ⋆✩⋆ ･ ｡ﾟ
| D E C E M B E R 25th , 1986 |
H a w k i n s , I n d i a n a
"ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY SURE THIS IS GOING TO WORK?"
Jonathan questioned his mother worriedly once again as she was adjusting her oxygen tank to better hang on her back.
"Jonathan," She breathed, her voice muffled through the suit. She cast a glance towards Mike, knowing how much this meant to them both. "It has to work."
Joyce wanted to save the man she loves, and his daughter, whom Mike was in love with himself.
"El described exactly what she saw when she touched the gate, so I know what I'm looking for. Don't worry." Joyce added, brushing a few stressed strands of hair from her son's face.
The Hoppers and Mike were both depending on Joyce, and she couldn't let them down.
She won't.
"Mom.." Will walked forward, placing his hands on either side of his mother's face through the suit, "Mom, please be careful. Please." He croaked, his eyes soft.
Will knew exactly what lied beyond the gate because he's been there himself. It was terrifying to know what his mother was walking in to, but he knew he couldn't change her mind.
"Will, honey." She smiled empathetically, "I'm going to be fine. I promise." She pulled her son in for a hug, joined by Jonathan as they really tried to believe their mother's promise.
"Please look out for each other. All of you. And you guys need to wear those gas masks when the gate opens, cause the toxins are gonna leak through." She warned, earning playful eye rolls from them.
"We got it." Will smiled thinly.
They pulled away from the hug reluctantly, casting looks at Murray,
"You watch out for her. Watch out for each other, alright?" Jonathan demanded, obviously worried for his mother's safety.
He couldn't lose her, and neither could Will.
"Absolutely." Murray's words muffled because of the suit, but nodded. He understood their concern, as he was skeptical of this too.
Nancy places a comforting hand to Jonathan and Will's shoulders, easing them to step away to leave Joyce at Murray's side.
Joyce looked at Mike, his eyes wide and determined as he cast a knowing glance. She smiled thinly, "Everything's gonna go just fine, Mike. We're gonna bring them both back—you'll have her back before you know it."
Mike nodded understandingly, arms crossed as he looked more anxious than anything.
This was it. This was it.
Months of grief and depressive thoughts after Y/N's death was finally going to be made up.
Thoughts of what they could've been had he not made the mistake of letting her go, would now be carried out. He would finally hold her in his arms again.
Soon.
He wanted to hold Y/N. He wanted to cherish her in the way he stupidly never did. He wanted to apologize a million times until she forgave him.
He wanted to make up for lost time.
He wanted to play D&D with her like they used to as kids.
He wanted to take her out on dates to Lover's Lake.
He wanted to watch rom-com and drama movies that Y/N claimed to hate, but only Mike knew that she secretly loved those movies.
He wanted to watch those movies with her all night as they cuddle and she snuggled into his side with his arms wrapped around her.
He would never let her go again. He would never let anyone hurt her.
He wanted to show her how much she means to him.
He wanted to show her how much he's always loved her.
"Please." His words came out almost as a plead, almost like a beg as he looked at Joyce with vulnerable eyes.
Please bring her back to me.
Joyce nodded understandingly, his eyes communicated just what he wanted her to know.
She then turned to the rest of the group as she and Murray walked closer to the gate, to put a good distance away between them and the group for their own safety.
She turned to Murray, taking a breath. "Are you ready?"
Murray shrugged, "As long as you are."
"Remember," Robin called out, stepping forward a little bit. "The oxygen won't last forever, it'll be good for about an hour and a half, so keep an eye on your watches."
Murray scoffed, "No pressure, huh?" He shook his head before looking down at his watch, moving the suit to read the time that pointed to 3:30 AM.
That gives them until 5:00 AM before their oxygen runs out.
Hopefully, time in this alternate dimension is relatively similar to Hawkins, and abides by the same rules, but that's a big 'if.'
Joyce tolled her eyes at his comment, and nodded at Robin, "Got it."
She then looked down at her own watch, mentally calculating the time she had.
An hour and 30 minutes.
That's an hour and 30 minutes to trek through the alternate dimension, find the Russian gate entrance Hopper and Y/N used to get to Russia in the first place, find them, rescue them, then bring them back through the gate.
No pressure.
Nerves were beginning to catch up with Joyce and Murray, their fingers fiddling with their flashlights in their hands as they turned to face the intimidating gate.
Eleven stepped forward to walk up to the wall again, a new sense of control inside her as she turned to Joyce and Murray one more time.
She gave them a look of question, making sure they gave her the 'okay.'
Joyce glances at Murray, then to the gate with a determined look before nodding in Eleven's direction. "Now."
El nodded, turning to face the gate's wall.
With a hesitant and shaky hand, everyone's breath quickened as she raised it to hover next to the gate.
With a calming exhale through her lips, she pressed her palm flat against the wall, causing a rumbling behind the wall and the ground underneath her.
A crack began from the ceiling to then run all the way down the gate's wall.
It cracked and thud, a large winding crack opened slowly to reveal vine-like organisms to immediately reach out and grab onto the wall around the opening.
Nancy then ran to help El away from the wall and join the group. Opening the gate had taken some of her newfound energy away ; she was still getting used to it.
Joyce and Murray watched in awe as the alternate dimension opened itself up to them, their eyes wide as well as the group.
Thin, slimy threads of vines also ran across the entrance, a glowing red, gaping hole now ran all the way from the ceiling to the bottom of the gate.
The gate was open.
The group looked up with wide eyes at the grand entrance that was beheld, the reddish hue reflecting off their faces while they stared from the safety of behind the older teenagers.
Joyce turned to Murray, their eyes meeting through the suits as they gave each other looks of encouragement.
They took bold steps closer to the gate, the radiation of the other dimension already affecting them as they suddenly found themselves face to face with the entrance.
Joyce and Murray paused to turn and give the group of teenagers one last reassuring look.
Joyce saw the glossy eyed looks from her sons as they leaned into each other, as well as the hopeful and reliant eyes of Mike, and the prideful ones of everyone else.
It was then that Joyce and Murray gave a nonchalant salute, before turning and taking a bold step through the viney and slimey entrance.
Mike let out a shuttered breath, leaning into Nancy's side as she rubbed his arm to comfort his anxiety and nervous thoughts.
And with that, the group watched as the adults disappeared into the alternate dimension, only hoping that everything went well.
Joyce stumbled out of the thick tangle of sticky and slimy threads that were strung across the gate entrance.
She groaned, cursing to herself as she got up to her feet, scraping off some of the goo residue that lingered on her hazmat suit.
She looked to the side of her to see Murray standing to his feet as well, looking back behind him to see the entrance that they had just walked through.
He looked up and all around him, his eyes searching the alternate world that surrounded him.
It was incredibly dark, it was eerie and cold as he looked around him at what seemed to resemble the buildings around the mall, only covered in vines.
Little particles of god knows what floated all around him, and he was glad he had a gas mask built into the hazmat suit.
"You alright?" Joyce asked as her eyes followed where Murray was looking, her voice now more muffled due to the change in atmospheric pressure in the alternate dimension.
She swallowed nervously, memories of being in the upside down before—when Will was missing and she and Hopper came searching for him—and it frightened her all over again.
But this time, she knew exactly what she had gotten herself into and she had a plan, and somehow, it didn't scare her as bad.
Murray nodded briefly, "Yeah, as good as I can be..in an alternate dimension." He semi-joked, mostly telling the truth. "Are you okay? How are you so..less scared than me?"
Joyce smirked, shrugging as she turned on her flashlight to illuminate her path ahead of her as she began to walk and lead Murray. "Believe me, I have no idea."
Murray followed promptly behind Joyce, their steps sticking to the ground as it didn't take long before they found their way through to a clearing, which Joyce assumed to be the main town complex.
Town Hall.
It was the same town hall that she found Will inside, unconscious and barely clinging on to life. Dear God, she hopes she doesn't find Hopper and Y/N that way..
Despite Mike telling her that Y/N visited him through some sort of way, and she seemed find, Joyce couldn't help but fear the worst.
They paused, standing as they looked around them. It was an exact replica of the entire town, only deserted and covered with tentacle-like vines.
Murray exhaled, shaking his head with disbelief as he looked around him. "Where..where are we?"
Joyce chuckled for a moment, amused because even she didn't know exactly where they were.
She only knew this alternate dimension by the name her kids nicknamed it, but it was much too complicated to explain the entire game of Dungeons and Dragons and her kids' slang to Murray at that moment.
"Let's just say—..," Joyce starts, glancing down at her watch through her suit to check on their time before hearing the town clock ring with an echo.
She glanced up to see the clock tower, covered and swarmed with black tentacle-like vines as it chimed to the hour 4:00.
They had already spent 30 minutes, however, the time seemed to past differently here.
"Let's just say," She began again, waiting for the clock's eerie chimes to halt with a dull and lasting echo.
"..We're not in Hawkins anymore."
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Author's Note :
OHHHH SHITTTT HERE WE GO!!!!
yes yes yes yesssss!! did you catch the references i made to the stranger things season 4 announcement clip that came out a while ago ?
LETS FUCKING GOOOO!!
i can't wait to keep writing, its getting ME hyped.
thoughts? predictions?
HERE WE GO.
THE BEGINNING OF THE END.. or is it?
.
what do you think about all this ??
any theories ? any predictions?
thanks for reading.. stay tuned !!
.2029 words.