"Roar, I'm coming to get you!" her father shouted, running through through the crisp fall leaves. The high-pitched tinkles of Sarah's laughter hung in the air as she once again eluded his outstretched arms. Her mother watched from nearby, a rosy smile attached to her cheeks.

Sarah's little blonde pigtails bounced with every step as her dad lumbered behind her making a variety of animal-like noises and flailing his arms. With each step he was getting closer and Sarah's laughs were getting louder.

"It's troll's favorite food! Princess!" her father shouted, finally reaching her. He swung her up into his arms and started to fake chomp on her stomach like he was eating her.

"No daddy!" Sarah giggled. "No daddy, no!"

"Roasted princess with paprika and gravy!"

Sarah closed her eyes as she got lost in her own happiness and laughter. The warmth of her father holding her and the sound of her mother's laugh beside them made her feel so serene. But then her mother's laughter stopped. And she couldn't feel her father's big, strong arms anymore.

Sarah opened her eyes and gasped when she found herself in a different place. It looked the same, but it was different. Everything she knew, her neighborhood, the houses, the fences, the lawn ornaments...everything was there, but everything was black and lifeless. Dark ash fell around her, creating a contrast as it collected in her light hair. New sounds began to enter her eardrums: distant roars and screams. But not the ones that her father had been making.

Her chest heaved in and out, in and out as her eyes darted around the haunted wasteland. She could hear her mom and dad but she couldn't see them. Where were they? Where was she?

"Whoa, hey! You all right?" her father asked.

"What's going on?" her mother's voice joined.

Sarah tried to look for them, but her body wouldn't move. She blinked her eyes a few times, hoping to reopen them and find the home she knew. But when she did everything was dark. Completely dark. And that was the last thing she remembered.

"Come out, let us see!" Max called to One through the dressing room door. After a few moments One stepped out hesitantly, her eyes flickering back and forth between the curious gazes of Max and Eleven, and the ground.

"Yes," Eleven said with a smile. One accepted Eleven's evaluation without saying anything, and continued to stand silently as Eleven ran to the cashier to pay for the new clothes.

The three walked out of the boutique at Starcourt Mall in style: Max brandishing a new floppy tweed hat and sunglasses, Eleven wearing a multi-colored romper, and One showing off an oversized blue pin-striped button-up shirt with black skinny jeans that had intentional holes in them. One also wore the beaten black leather jacket they found her in because she refused to dump it.

"Wait." Max stopped One as they walked towards the food court. She unbuttoned the wrists of One's sleeves and pulled them over the sleeves of her jacket. She stepped back to admire the completed look.

"Bitchin'," Eleven nodded in approval. The phrase prompted a smile to appear in the corner of One's mouth, though she tried to hide it quickly after.

"El!" A shout from across the food court caught their attention, and their heads all turned to see the source: Mike, who was accompanied by Will, Dustin, and Lucas. The two groups met halfway, collapsing onto the nearest table that could fit them all.

"Mike," Eleven smiled, resting a hand on his as he sat down across from her. He smiled back.

"Have you learned anything more?" Mike asked, glancing over to One, who sat quietly at the end of the table. She felt Mike's gaze and looked up to meet it, sending his glance downwards.

"Her name is One," Eleven responded. Max nodded along, having been filled in by Eleven prior to reaching Starcourt.

"Anything else?" Mike pressed.

"Geez, Mike," Max interrupted. "Why don't you ask her instead of talking about her like she's not even here."

"Sorry," Mike mumbled in embarrassment. He turned to address One, whose icy eyes were staring at him in curiosity, but again found it hard to lock into her line of sight. "Can you...tell us anything about yourself?"

One looked to Eleven and Max, as if to ask them what she should do. The two girls nodded their heads at her in reassurance. She gulped before speaking one word: "Private."

"Private?" Dustin repeated loudly, having barely heard her from the opposite end of the table. The rest of the group immediately began to shush him but he ignored them and continued to speak at a decibel that worried his companions. What if someone overheard? What if they overheard? Dustin considered neither of these thoughts. "What does she mean 'private'? She won't tell us?"

"Or maybe she means that she wants to speak about it in private," Will spoke up, to which One gave him a grateful look and he returned it. He knew nothing about her, but something gave him the feeling that they were more alike than they knew.

"What about Mike's basement?" Lucas asked. The group contemplated it but were too anxious for answers to travel that far. Even if it wasn't actually that far.

"I've got a place," Dustin smiled, slapping his hands against the tabletop. "Follow me."

☆ ★ ☆

"Scoops Ahoy?" Lucas asked in disbelief, as the group stood before the ice cream parlor.

Dustin rolled his eyes as he entered the store. The group slowly followed after, Lucas taking up the rear with an exasperated wave of his arms.

Dustin stood eagerly at the counter, waiting impatiently for the cashier facing away from them to notice their presence. When Dustin felt like it was taking too long, he began to tap the bell at a million miles a minute.

"Welcome to Scoops Ahoy, be prepared to board the SS Delicious as it sets sail across the sweet, sweet seas of flavor..." the cashier repeated his script boredly as he turned to meet his new customers. The white of his eyes became larger as he realized who he was about to serve.

"Dusty!" Steve Harrington yelled, nearly jumping over the counter in excitement.

"Steve!" Dustin shouted with a smile so big he could barely see. The two stood staring and smiling for a moment before Mike jabbed Dustin's shoulder and he was released from his stupor. "We need your help! You've gotta let us use the passage!"

Steve sighed and stretched his hands out across the counter, leaning forward to look Dustin in the eye when he noticed an unfamiliar face in his peripheral vision: One.

"Who is this?" Steve asked flirtatiously, giving One a once-over. Unsure what to think, One frowned and clenched her fists.

"Never gonna work, dip-brain!" Robin's incorporeal voice called from the back. Steve slapped his hand against the corner and turned to give a sharp eye to the divider between them.

"This is One," Eleven answered, drawing Steve's attention back forward.

Steve looked between One and Eleven in confusion until it finally clicked. Numbers for names? "Oh shit." He looked again. "Oh shit."

"How 'bout that passageway, Steve?" Dustin reminded him.

Steve stared at the group for a full minute as he processed things before responding, "Right this way."

★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★