The clicking of shoes echoed down the hallway outside of One's room. She listened to them eagerly with her ear pressed to her door and willed them to stop when they reached her. Click, click, click. Silence.

One could feel her heart beat in her throat as she anxiously awaited the next noise. Ever since she had failed to reopen another time-transcending portal, Papa had started visiting less. They made her try a few more times after that but eventually Papa had given up.

The last time she saw him was two months ago when they used her to plant a spy at a Russian government facility. He had stood behind the glass divider the entire time and didn't speak a word to her. Pangs of pain reverberated in her heart with each beat as she recalled the memory.

Click, click, click.

One's ears perked when they picked up the new sound. The shoes had started walking again but now they were moving farther away from her. Papa wasn't coming for her.

One fell against the door and let out a defeated cry. Her cheeks drowned in wet sobs as a waterfall of tears cascaded from her face to the floor. She had never felt so alone. Papa was the only family she knew and he had abandoned her.

No, she couldn't think like that. Papa still loved her and cared about her, he was probably just busy. She had heard more children lately, that must be why he wasn't visiting. She would prove that he was still her Papa!

One turned to face the door and stared at a scuff by the door knob. She tuned all her concentration in on Papa as she pictured his face. Her fists subconsciously clenched as she strained to open a portal to him, but at last she did it.

"Papa!" One cried excitedly at the sight of him. He wore a look of surprise at the sound of her voice.

"Leave me be, One!" he growled, looking away from the portal to turn his focus back to something out of frame.

"Papa?" One asked in hurt confusion. Didn't he love her? Why was his voice so rough?

"Who is that, Papa?" another voice asked with a foreign accent. It sounded like a young boy, maybe about her age. It must have been one of the other children.

"Nobody," Dr. Brenner sighed. He gave One a sharp glare as an indication to close the portal. One's lip quivered and she took several deep breaths to hold back her sobs, but she obeyed his command. Once the portal was shut she let the tears break free again.

There was her proof. She was abandoned. She was alone.

☆ ★ ☆

"Who is that, Papa?"

"Nobody."

The boy studied Dr. Brenner's features as he stared into a strange black void that had opened between them. The boy couldn't see anything but he could tell that whoever was on the other side was a kid like him.

"Let's continue," Dr. Brenner said with a smile once the strange anomaly disappeared. The boy was taken aback by how quickly Dr. Brenner's expression shifted. It was like nothing had even happened.

"Yes, Papa," the boy nodded his head.

"Good boy, Seven."

"I know, I know, I'm here. No need to get all excited," Steve announced as he hopped down the stairs to Mike's basement. One followed after him, but a little less dramatically.

"Steve!" Dustin yelled, jumping to his feet at the sight of him.

"One!" Eleven called out with a smile on her face. She was relieved to see her sister again.

One met her eyes for a brief moment and flashed a quick smile. She was still ashamed about what had happened.

"What are you guys doing here?" Mike asked curiously. They were in the middle of a D&D session and they had just started a new campaign to teach Eleven and Max how to play.

"She's got a dire warning for you guys or something," Steve responded casually, stepping aside to give One the floor. All eyes were immediately on her.

"Coming," One said quietly, finding a voice she didn't realize she had lost. "Something's coming."

"What is it?" Eleven asked, slowly standing and taking a few steps towards One.

"I don't know..." One looked down as Eleven approached her. "But it's coming from the Upside Down."

"Dammit, not again," Dustin muttered. "We just got rid of the last one!"

"Did it say when?" Max asked. One just shook her head.

"How do you know something is coming?" Will asked next.

One's cheeks flushed bright red and she found it hard to meet Will's eyes. She had forgotten to leave a note for Joyce about the demolition she had done to the wall...

"Um, the lights told me..." One answered quickly, rubbing the back of her neck. Everyone except Max shared a collective look. Apparently, they knew what she meant. "Sorry."

"So what are we going to do?" Lucas wondered aloud now. "We don't know what's coming or even when. Are we just supposed to wait until something bad happens?"

"Can you open a portal to the Upside Down and see what's coming?" Mike asked One. One quickly shook her head no.

"That might be what it wants," One explained. "I don't want to repeat...previous events..." One's eyes glanced over to Eleven for brief second. She looked down at the precise moment Eleven looked up.

"Well, we don't know who or what it is," Max pointed out. "It might not even be bad."

"It's the Upside Down," reminded Lucas. "Everything is bad."

"There might be another way..." One offered. Everyone's ears shot up and their full attention was once more on her. "I was only able to do this once though..."

"What is it?" Steve asked, rejoining the conversation. He had been leaning against the railing while he listened to his children negotiate matters.

"A long time ago I was able to open a portal," One began before taking a deep breath. "into a different point in time." She was met with the dropped jaws of her audience.

"No. Fucking. Way," Dustin gasped. "She's fucking Doctor Who you guys!"

"So you can look into next week and see if we're all demogorgon chow?" Steve asked.

"It doesn't work quite like that..." One clarified. "I have to focus on someone specifically and find them in their timeline, but theoretically, yes."

"So theoretically we'll be demogorgon chow..." Max said.

"But theoretically we'll see what's coming," Mike argued. His look transferred from Max to One. "I think you should try it."

One agreed with him but she was hesitant to say so just yet. Heavy expectations weighed on her shoulders. She wasn't even sure if she could do it! Her regular portals weren't even cooperating with her. But then she looked at Eleven.

Eleven's face wore confidence; confident gaze, confident smile. She believed in One. And that's all that One needed. After taking a deep breath, she pushed her worrying thoughts away and stood tall. "Okay, I can try."

"How can we help?" Mike asked, rising to his feet. The rest of the party followed his lead.

"Like I said, I need to focus on a person, so I need a volunteer," One explained.

Steve pushed himself off the railing and took a step forward. "I'll be your volunteer," he offered, raising a finger and then pointing it at himself.

"Okay, just stand there and be quiet so I can focus," One instructed him.

"You got it, boss," Steve confirmed. He pretended to zip his lips and throw away the key before freezing his body in place. One zeroed her stare in on him and began to focus.

"That might be difficult for him," Dustin snickered to Lucas and Max, who in turn laughed with him.

"I heard that, Henderson!" Steve growled, breaking his statuesque pose along with One's concentration.

"Guys, please!" One snapped. She needed absolute silence if this even stood a chance of working. Steve, Dustin, Max, and Lucas all collectively apologized and One returned to work.

One attempted to focus on his features again to call forth a portal but she found herself staring at him for other reasons...His dark brown eyes. His corny smile. His stupidly good-looking hair...She quickly shook these thoughts out of her head and started over.

Okay, you can do this.

His dark brown eyes. His thin nose. His square jaw.

She repeated these thoughts over and over in her head like a mantra. She put everything into it and concentrated like she never had before. She needed this to work. She needed to know that her friends would be safe.

His dark brown eyes. His thin nose. His square jaw. His...

Portal.

A surprised smile spread across her face as a small portal opened up right in front of her. The rest of the group gasped in shock and strained their necks to see but since she was facing towards them the portal opened to her and only she could see what was in it.

"Well, what do you see?" Steve asked anxiously. He had his fingers crossed behind his back and was repeating "Please don't be demogorgon chow, please don't be demogorgon chow," over and over in his head.

One's face turned bright red at the scene that played out before her. She had found Steve, but she had also found herself. The two were together, and they were kissing...

"Nothing important!" One answered in a fluster. She tried to wipe the redness out of her cheeks but she just made it worse. Thankfully, the portal was small and out of their future selves' line of sight so they didn't see her. "You're alive."

"That seems pretty important to me..." Steve muttered, a bit offended.

"So if Steve is still alive next week, that means we all probably will be too, right?" Lucas asked hopefully.

"I don't know if this is next week," One confessed, bringing her voice to a whisper in case it carried through the portal. Future Steve and Future One hadn't appeared to have heard them but she wanted to play it safe. "I don't know how to find a specific time, just a specific person. But Steve doesn't look any older so I think we can assume that this takes place within the next year."

"Do you see anything else?" Eleven asked.

One forced herself to look back at the portal and was relieved to see that the make-out session was done. Now that she felt comfortable enough to stare through the portal for more than two seconds she began to notice other details.

Future her and Future Steve were sitting on a couch in what looked like Hopper's cabin. They were holding hands so tightly that their knuckles were white. A low rumbling sound began to shake the cabin and emanate through the portal. As time passed it got louder and the rest of her party began to pick up on it.

"Um, what is that?" Max asked nervously. One met her with a look of fear. Future One and Future Steve were becoming visibly more terrified as the walls around them began to shake so much that they were almost vibrating.

"I-I don't know," One replied. The party all rushed to see through the portal for themselves, nearly crowding One out of sight.

"Wait, is that you and Steve at Hopper's cabin?" Dustin asked. Dustin didn't get a confirmation to his question because in that moment Future One's face overtook their view.

"Coming," Future One warned, staring straight into the eyes of her younger self. Everybody except One shot backwards from the jump-scare. Even though this version of herself didn't look older, her eyes were different. Changed. Ancient.

"I know!" One replied in frustration. "But what is coming?"

"Not what, who," Future Steve corrected her as he entered the frame. Despite the situation, present Steve couldn't help but smile and look to his friends when he saw his future self. He felt like a celebrity. The rest of the party was less enthused.

"Who then?" One asked again, growing impatient. She didn't know how much longer she could hold the portal open for and the increasing closeness of the rumbling was scaring her.

Future One dominated the portal again and took a deep sigh. The rumbling was now almost as loud as a jet plane and the party found themselves having to cover their ears from it. Future One opened her mouth to answer but they couldn't hear her response.

"WHAT?" One yelled over the noise. Her future counterpart's mouth moved again but the second it closed she disappeared from view.

One word escaped the portal as the mysterious rumbling overtook the cabin and shook the portal shut:

"PAPA!"

★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★