"It's time, One," Dr. Brenner announced as he opened her door. She glanced up from where she was sitting on her cot, a broken look smeared across her face.

"Yes, Papa," she answered dully, her body moving robotically as she pushed herself to her feet and joined Dr. Brenner at the door. He put his hand on her shoulder and led her down the hallway.

One shuffled slowly at his side in her white hospital gown, her eyes staring ahead but not really seeing anything. It had been four months of constant trials, and she had quickly gotten better and stronger. She had been forced to make so many portals that it almost became second-nature to her. Sometimes she would awake in the middle of the night from a loud noise and open her eyes to see a portal to an airport floating above her head. One time she accidentally opened a portal to the middle of a forest and a squirrel got into her room.

She never considered escaping through these portals, though. Perhaps because she was too broken and dead inside. Perhaps because she didn't even know what she would escape to. Any memories of her former life, of whatever family she once had, were either deeply buried or gone forever. Or replaced. Replaced with memories of the Lab and Papa, the only home and family she knew.

She continued along at his side, her hand hanging limply in his. She didn't know where he was taking her but she assumed it meant she'd have to use her powers again. She instinctively wiped her nose.

At last they reached their destination and Dr. Brenner motioned for her to step inside. Before her sat a squat man with an impatient gaze. He looked her up and down with an unimpressed glare before sighing and checking his watch.

"It's been exactly a year, Brenner," Mr. Munson said plainly. "Show me what you've got."

"I won't let you down, sir," Dr. Brenner promised.

"You better not," Mr. Munson huffed. "For your own sake. You remember what's on the line?"

"Yes, sir," Dr. Brenner stammered.

One stared up at him curiously. She had never seen him act this way before...afraid. A small part of her reveled in it. Now he knew how she felt.

"Go ahead, One," Dr. Brenner directed her.

One continued to stare up at him wordlessly, before stepping in front of the table that Mr. Munson was sitting at. A large black briefcase sat on the metal table between them. Something to focus on.

Usually it didn't take her long to create a portal. They often happened just by thinking of them, but in that moment she was struggling. Maybe it was the pressure, maybe it was the speculating glare of a man who scared the man who scared her.

After a few minutes passed, Mr. Munson checked his watching again, a tutting noise coming from his mouth.

"One," Dr. Brenner whispered harshly between clenched teeth. "Do it."

One concentrated as hard as she could, her body visibly shaking from the effort. She knew what failure meant for her.

Impatient, Mr. Munson reached for his suitcase, but right as his fingers were about to touch the handle it dropped from his grasp. His mouth hung open as he stared at the table. There was a hole where his suitcase had sat, and through the hole he could see the rough waves of the ocean. The smell of sea salt wafted through the portal and into his nose and his ears were filled with the sound of gulls.

Entranced, he began to reach for the portal. He hesitated when he reached its edge, but curiosity drove his arm through. His fingertips caressed the tips of the waves and a smile immediately spread across his face. It felt so cold. And then it felt nothing.

Loud gasps erupted from Dr. Brenner and the guards as they watched the portal snap shut on Mr. Munson's arm, severing it in half. It took a moment for Mr. Munson to register what had happened, but when he looked down and saw a bloody stump where the rest of his arm had been, he screamed so loud it shook the entire room.

Wide-eyed, Dr. Brenner immediately grabbed One by the shoulders and pushed her out of the room. He rushed her down the hallway at a speed that almost had her tripping over her own feet. She could hear the piercing screams of Mr. Munson the whole way.

She expected him to throw her in her room and lock her away for days on end, but they passed it. She looked up and met his eyes, searching for answers, but all she found was fear. And...pride?

When they got far enough away that the screams were barely audible, Dr. Brenner stopped and looked around wildly before leaning down to peer into her eyes. He placed one hand on her cheek and stroked her buzzed head with the other. Her hair had begun to grow back during her time at the lab, but anytime it grew past a few centimeters they shaved it off again. Her big blue eyes swam with worry and confusion.

"What you did in there..." Dr. Brenner began, pausing to sigh and bite his cheek. One winced, prepared for the punishment. "I'm proud of you."

"Proud?" One said as if it was a word she'd never heard before. Dr. Brenner nodded his head.

"We will do great things together," he smiled. For a brief moment that smile made her feel safe. "We'll save the world."

"Okay Papa," One smiled.

"That's my girl."

"Dude, you've missed so much in the last eight years," Dustin said from the back of Steve's car. With the exception of Will, who was picked up by his mom, and Max, who was picked up by her brother, they had all crammed into Steve's beat-up BMW like a clown car. "Ghostbusters, the Walkman, Skittles..."

"Ghost-busters?" One asked cluelessly.

"We'll get you caught up, don't worry," Mike assured her.

"You will?" One asked in surprise.

"Yeah, you're our friend now," Mike answered simply, like it was obvious. "You're a part of the party."

A warm smile spread across One's lips and she sheepishly looked down at her feet. Friends. It had been a long time since she had one of those.

"All right, you hooligans," Steve said as he parked in Mike's driveway. He turned around to stare them each in the eyes with his best stern-dad look. "Stay out of trouble." With each word he pointed at Dustin, Mike, Lucas, and Eleven in order. When he got to One her intense gaze made his hand go from pointing at her to not-so-casually brushing his hair.

The three boys rolled their eyes as they clambered out and bid their farewells.

"Next stop, the Chief's," Steve announced.

The rest of the car ride was short and silent. Each of them were processing the day's information in their own ways. Eleven and One thanked Steve for the ride when they reached Hopper's cabin, waving at him through his rear-view mirror as he drove away. As he was driving, Steve's eyes lingered on One a little too long, and they laughed as they watched him swerve to avoid hitting a tree.

"There you two are," Hopper greeted them, holding the door open for them. "Nice clothes," he commented when he saw One.

The rest of the night seemed to go by in a blur. They ate microwaveable meals for dinner, watched a Western, and then got ready for bed. Hopper grabbed One some extra pillows and blankets and she once again settled in on the couch.

As One drifted to sleep, familiar visions began to enter her mind. Darkness. Ash. Monsters. When she finally fell into a deep slumber, she was transported.

Distant roars emanated in her ears. She turned wildly in circles, trying to pinpoint their location. They were coming from everywhere. They were getting closer. One's hands crackled with blue electricity as she prepared herself for the attack.

"One," a voice echoed around her. It didn't come from the monsters... "One," it repeated itself.

"Who-who's there?" One asked, searching for the source. That voice...it sounded so...familiar.

"One." One stumbled as the voice came from right behind her. She slowly turned to meet the owner, her whole spine tingling in fear. She knew who it was before she even saw them.

"Papa," she whispered, but when she turned fully around nobody was there. For some reason it made her feel more afraid that she couldn't see him than if she could. She began to run.

"ONE!" the voice yelled, following after her, but it sounded different this time. It sounded like...

"ONE!" Hopper yelled, shaking her out of her nightmare. One's eyes flashed open and she found herself back in the cabin. "Close that thing!"

One looked beyond Hopper and Eleven's horrified faces to see a portal the size of a hula hoop floating five feet off the ground. The shadowy familiarity of the Upside Down peeked through on the other side. But there was something more, something in the distance...

The roar she had heard in her dream erupted from the portal and One watched in fear as a charging demogorgon got closer and closer. Her body froze in place.

"CLOSE IT!" Hopper yelled, pulling his gun from his holster and aiming it through the portal. Eleven raised her arm in preparation, ready to fight it off when it got close enough.

One concentrated and tried to shut the portal but it wasn't working. The demogorgon was getting closer. She tried again and again and again. Still closer. The petals of its head opened to reveal infinite rows of jagged teeth. It was now within feet of the portal.

"NOW!" Hopper shouted. Loud pops from his gun shot off through the portal, striking the demogorgon and setting it back a few feet. The bullets only temporarily delayed it, however. It leaped for the portal, its head snapping and growling at them as it began to pass through.

Hopper stared down its endless throat of teeth and darkness, mentally preparing himself for his own death. He took a deep breath and shut his eyes, awaiting the inevitable. But the inevitable didn't come. Hopper slowly opened one eye at a time, afraid of what he might see, but when he looked around the portal and the demogorgon were gone. Well, most of the demogorgon.

Hopper jumped five feet in the air as he looked down to see the head of the demogorgon laying at his feet. The petals were flopped open, displaying itself like a grotesque evil flower. "WHAT IN THE HELL WAS THAT!" Hopper shouted at One after rushing over to check on Eleven.

"I-I'm..." One stuttered.

"What?" Hopper snapped. "Trying to kill us?"

Tears built up in the corners of One's eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Eleven tried to get to her, but Hopper shielded her from One.

"El, a word," Hopper said harshly, leading Eleven into the kitchen and away from One. One stood rooted to her spot in the living room, tears flowing freely down her face.

"What?" Eleven snapped, mad that he wouldn't let her check on One. She tried to look around him to catch One's eye but he kept blocking her view.

"What did I tell you?" Hopper asked with his hands on his hips. "Anything happens and she's gone. Well, something just happened!"

"No!" Eleven yelled, crossing her arms defiantly.

"She just opened a doorway for all the monsters who want to kill you!" Hopper argued. "I cannot allow her to stay here knowing that it's going to jeopardize your safety!"

"I'm fine!" Eleven yelled.

"This time you are!"

"She didn't mean to!"

"So it will happen again!"

Eleven screamed in frustration and collapsed onto a chair. Both of their faces were a matching shade of bright red. Seeing how upset she was, Hopper's features softened a bit. He knelt beside the chair so that their eye level was even.

"Look kid," he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't want to kick her out but you are my responsibility. If anything were to happen to you..." Hopper paused to stifle a cry as he imagined a life without Eleven. "We'll find her somewhere else to stay, I promise. Just...not here."

Eleven was too angry to say anything so she just continued to glare at him. When she couldn't stand to look at him anymore, she hopped up from the chair and pushed him aside to get to her room. But when she got to the living room she noticed that something was amiss...

"Where's One?" Hopper asked, following behind her. The living room was empty, and after a thorough check, they realized that the entirety of the cabin was as well. She was gone. Hopper sighed, realizing that she had overheard them. "Shit."

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