One dropped through a portal that landed her in the woods. She would have gotten lost in the monotony of the trees had Diane not informed her about where she was going. One wanted to hope that she had arrived in the right time and location because her portals were finally listening to her again, but it was more likely that the portals had a pre-determined course that she had finally become privy to.

One's boots crunched through the snow, leaving ghosts of themselves in their wake, until she found where she was supposed to go.

Hopper's cabin.

One slipped around the backside of the building, careful to avoid windows and to keep her ears open for the tenants inside. At this point in time, her past self, Eleven, and Hopper were waiting in the living room for Steve to arrive and take her past self on their date. Even though the date had already come and gone for One, she still felt the same butterflies that she had felt then as she crept around looking for the shed.

The shed loomed into sight and One made a dash for it when she felt the coast was clear. She quickly and quietly shut herself inside before rummaging through the contents it held. In order to complete her mission, she needed a few tools first.

After collecting what she needed, One moved around the rest of the cabin with her back pressed to the wall until her eyes settled on her intended prize: Hopper's truck.

One took a deep breath and triple-checked the windows before she made one last beeline. Luckily, the part of the truck she needed access to was on the side that faced away from the cabin.

One used the wheels to cover her feet and ducked below the line of the windows as she popped open the fuel door, twisted off the gas cap, and inserted a long rubber tube inside. She fought back repulsion as she placed the other end of the tube in her mouth and deeply inhaled until the thick, black liquid inside the tank reached her taste buds. She immediately spat out the gas that had filled her mouth and yanked the tube from her lips to the bucket at her feet.

One carefully peeked her eyes above the truck window to check that there was still no movement as the gas siphoned into the bucket. Once the flow slowed to a drip, One removed the tube, grabbed the bucket, and snuck away back into the woods that she had came from. However, in her haste, she forgot to put the gas cap back on and shut the fuel door.

She deposited the rubber tube and the bucket of fuel along the base of one of the trees farther away so that Hopper wouldn't find it. One fought back the guilt that grew in her chest from emptying Hopper's truck, but it was the only way to ensure that everything went according to plan.

If Hopper's truck didn't stall out on the side of the road that night, Eleven and him would have been at the cabin when Steve and One arrived. If they had been there, Steve wouldn't have come inside, James wouldn't have possessed him, and One wouldn't have been able to pass along the message to her past self.

It's the only way, One convinced herself as she slipped through another portal.

One gritted her teeth as she stepped through the next portal, mentally preparing herself for the location on the other side.

The Upside Down.

The only thing that enabled One's foot to step through the portal was that her mother had made assurances that she would get back out. That, and she would be far away from the site of the show-down between her past self and James. She didn't know how much time had passed during her recent travels, but it was still nowhere near enough time for her to return.

One landed in exactly the same spot in the Upside Down that she had left in Hawkins. This would be a short trip, because she also needed Hopper's truck for this part as well. While the truck was currently moving at another point in her world at this present time, it couldn't move in this world so it would be stuck in its original spot.

One clambered into the front seat of Hopper's truck and quickly shut the door behind her when she heard a monstrous scream in the distance. Her hand moved towards the radio and the broken digital clock, but her fingers faltered when a faint voice entered her ears.

"We're going to find her."

Hopper.

"I know."

Steve.

One choked back tears as she listened to the conversation between Hopper and Steve as they drove the truck around Hawkins looking for the rift that would take them to her and Eleven. The rift that was only found because of the coordinates they received through the digital clock in the radio. The coordinates that were only delivered because of her.

After One had imparted the coordinates given to her by her mother by twisting and turning the dial that changed the time on the clock, she hopped out of the truck. She tried her hardest to continue on and not look back, but a loud bang echoing from the distance stopped her in her tracks.

Her past self had already begun her fight with James.

It was time to go.

One felt like she was getting whiplash as she pushed herself through another portal back to Hawkins, but this time she landed somewhere different. Somewhere else she really didn't want to go.

The Lab.

One's portal brought her to a small, darkened room that consumed every shred of light that poured through. She had to light her hands in order to see and the blue glow illuminated a row of filing cabinets. Not sure where to begin, she decided to start at the first one to the right and work her way down.

The first drawer One opened offered the information she was looking for. This cabinet contained all of the information Dr. Brenner had about her and she had to fight the urge to comb through each and every piece of paper. She believed that there were some things she was better off not knowing.

One had to push herself on her tiptoes to dig her arm around the back of the drawer but her fingers finally found the item she was looking for: a VHS tape wrapped in stiff brown paper with the date, "06-05-1971" written across it in blank ink. It was the security footage from the hospital where she had "died" that Brenner's team had stolen.

She cradled the tape to her chest as she opened another portal. As badly as she wanted to watch it, it wasn't for her. It was for someone else.

☆ ★ ☆

One's trail of footsteps left the only evidence that she had been at Hopper's cabin. She looked over her shoulder at the small, brown package she had left on the front step and felt a large smile overwhelm her face. She had been the one to bring them together then and she would be the one to bring them back together now.

It was time to finish it.

One's next portal brought her back to the Upside Down, but this time she was okay with it. This would be the last time she'd have to step foot in that wretched place and it was the last thing that Diane had instructed her to do to complete the loop.

One stood atop a hill that overlooked the decrepit town of Snikwah, the vine-covered welcome sign standing to her left. Part of her had always wondered if this had been her, and now she knew for certain:

She was the one to open the portal that led her past self from the cabin in Upside Down Minnesota to Snikwah where she was able to open a portal to Hawkins.

It suddenly felt very fitting to One that this was the last task she had to complete.

She was starting and ending it all at the same time.

One found a spot to hide where she would be out of sight of her past self before she opened the portal. She spotted a patch of weeds in the middle of the cracked and crumbled road to focus on as she pictured her past self and soon a whirring circle of fizzing light grew above it.

One held her breath as she waited and within minutes she watched a figure slowly climb through the portal. The figure took careful steps towards the sign, studying the letters that were visible.

It felt strange seeing herself. Not much had changed physically -- in fact, when One looked down she realized that she looked pretty similar to her past self, from her outfit to the scrapes, cuts, and bruises decorating her body -- but so much had changed emotionally. One knew so much more now than she did then and it had only been a matter of weeks (at least, in linear time). She may have looked the same, but she felt like a completely different person from the girl standing before her.

As her past self continued to stare at the welcome sign, One snapped the portal shut, trapping her there. She watched her pace and panic until she turned back to face the sign and opened her own portal. After she disappeared into the portal and it faded away, One stepped back out onto the road.

One felt her fatigue drain from her body as relief settled in its place and a smile grew on her face. She had done it, she had closed the loop. James was dead, the Upside Down was destroyed, and now she could move on with her life.

She could go home.

One took a deep breath before she summoned a portal out of Snikwah. She kept Hopper's cabin firmly planted at the front of her mind as she channeled her abilities and eagerly waited for it to open. But when it did, she was met with an entirely different scene than she was expecting.

She was back in the flowers.

One sighed and stepped through the portal, glancing around for Diane, who she assumed to be there. She spun around several times searching for her mother but she still somehow managed to appear from out of nowhere.

"Is it done?" Diane's voice asked from directly behind One, although One got the sense that she already knew the answer.

"Yes," One responded as she turned around to meet her. "Can I go back to Hawkins now?"

The stems of the wildflowers outlined Diane's shape as she took a few steps towards One. Her footfalls were silent, but each carried a heavy weight. "Not yet, my flower," Diane answered somberly. The lines beneath her eyes accentuated the sympathy that they held.

"But you told me that if I finished the loop that I could go home, that I would see them again, that--" One stammered incredulously. Her breaths became shorter and she could feel her heartbeat accelerating. All the relief that she had felt after completing the loop rushed from her body. She felt like she was on the verge of a panic attack and she had to distance herself from Diane in order to calm herself down.

"And you will one day," Diane said. "I know this because I have seen it. But unfortunately, today is not that day."

"So when is it then?" One snapped, her voice becoming increasingly flustered. "Hmm?"

The second One finished speaking a glowing golden seam ripped through the sky, unzipping the atmosphere. A nearly undetectable humming filled the air followed by a strange electricity that wasn't her own. The rift seemed to fade in and out in rhythm with One's quickened pulse and she immediately looked to Diane for an explanation.

Diane's smile seemed to hold all the answers, although exactly which answers she'd divulge was hard to tell. "I know that you would like to get back to your father, your sister, and your friends, but I was hoping that I may take you somewhere else first."

"Where?" One asked, her eyes unable to look anywhere but the rift. Like a moth drawn to a flame, it elicited a strong desire within her to go to it.

"My world," Diane answered simply. "I believe you know it as 'the Diagonal'".

★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚍...

...𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝚗𝚘𝚠.