the shortest road trip ever

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The past two times Upside Down related shit had gone down, Alina had learned that wherever the party went, danger followed. When they stayed behind, said danger came to them, rearing its ugly head and clawing at their door, its fangs sharpened and prepared for them. So it was safe to say that Alina wasn't really expecting to have a good time at Murray's. Something would happen before they got there. And her friends might be in more danger if she was with them.

This was why, when she was supposed to say goodbye and good luck to her mother, she went to instead ask for permission to come with her on this venture. Hopper might not like it, but Alina was a warrior now, and her abilities would be extremely useful when it came to all of the Russians in the underground base. Besides, it would be a nice change to use them against non-flayed people instead of monsters. Although she wouldn't kill anyone, she would hurt them if they stood in her way. She was confident now that she could clear out the place without breaking a sweat, even with the pain flaring up in her ribs.

She headed up to Joyce now, who was already hugging Will, muttering things to the boy. Jonathan was busy being shown all of Murray's many keys to his home. That man was completely mental, whether he shut down the lab or not. He had more keys to his house than fingers and toes, probably.

Joyce smiled when she saw Alina, and added her into the hug, too, her body trembling a little. Alina bit her lip. It seemed that Joyce knew it was possible that things would go really wrong.

Eventually, she broke the embrace so as to speak to her kids clearly. They both towered over her, which was a little bittersweet, but there was no time to think about how much they'd grown now. Instead she just spoke. "Listen to me, I need to end this, but I will be back before you know it, okay?"

"I don't know, Mom," said Will, seeming as apprehensive about this as Alina.

Joyce grabbed his shoulders. "No, listen. You're gonna be safe there. It's—it's far away from all this. You both just stick close to your brother and—and do whatever he says. No matter what, okay?"

"I'm not worried about me, Mom, I'm worried about you," said Will.

"Me, too," said Alina. She took a deep breath. "Which is why you have to let me come with you. I won't do good sitting around in Illinois for however many hours without being able to help you. El and I—she said that we could watch you, see whether you're okay, but what if... what if you do end up dying, right in front of us? What if it's something I could prevent? Mom, my powers are stronger, now. El's been giving me training! And did you know that I threw one of the flayed against the wall? And—and—"

Joyce interrupted her before she could say more. "Sweetie, I know it was Hopper who said he didn't want to bring any kids down there, but I agree with him, especially for you. It's too dangerous. And from what Mike said, the Mind Flayer is after you and El—"

"It's after all of us!" Alina shouted. "It doesn't even want to kill me! Please, Mom, you have to let me come. I can help protect you."

Then she winced, because she'd shifted wrong, and pain had flared up in her ribs. Joyce's motherly instincts immediately kicked in, and she stroked her daughter's hair. "Listen, Alina. We know you're powerful. We know you've been in danger before. But you're already hurt. I don't want anything else to happen to you. Either of you," she added, looking to Will. "The Mind Flayer was already inside both of you, and—" she closed her eyes, heaving out a breath. "Please, Alina. Please just stay behind. I promise I won't let anything bad happen to you."

Alina felt tears trickle down her cheeks. "I'm—I'm scared. I just... I've already lost my dad, and Bob... even to some extent Linda. I can't..." she blinked furiously, trying to get the tears away. "I can't lose you, too."

Joyce immediately pulled her children into another hug. "Oh, honey, I'm gonna be fine," she told them. "Okay? I'm gonna be fine." This embrace was tight, fierce, and both siblings immediately winced, Alina because of her ribs, Will because it was hard to breathe.

"Okay, Mom," he gasped. "Okay, Mom. That's enough."

Joyce didn't let go. "I'm gonna be fine," she said again, and Alina wondered that, if this time, she wasn't trying to convince her kids that she would be okay. She was trying to convince herself.

Will didn't seem to notice. "Okay," he said again. "Mom, we can't breathe. You're suffocating us."

"My ribs," Alina winced, and Joyce finally let go, reaching out to brush a stray lock of hair out of Alina's face.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I love you. Both of you. You're gonna be fine, I promise."

"I love you, too," said Alina. She really did. "But I don't want to put anyone else in danger. I just—I just know something's going to happen. Like, in the gym two years ago, where we got attacked by the scientists. And El killed the Demogorgon. And last year, when Billy attacked us at home."

"Which is why you're leaving," said Joyce. "You're not staying here, at the mall. You're going far away, where no Demogorgon or Mind Flayer or Billy can hurt you. You're going to be safe. I promise."

Unfortunately, it was a promise she couldn't keep. But their time had run short. El had already broken away from the battered Hopper and rejoined her friends. Murray had finished explaining all of the keys to Nancy and Jonathan (who probably wouldn't remember any of them). Everyone was waiting expectantly for them. It was time to go.

Alina gave Joyce one last hug, for good measure. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you for everything. I love you, Mom. I love you so much. Be conscientious in there."

It had been hard to start calling Joyce 'Mom.' It had taken a while after Alina's adoption to get used to, just like with her new last name. Perhaps it was because a tiny, idiotic piece of her still thought of Linda—who had yet to be arrested—as that, even though Linda had never been a mom to her. Not really. So it had been six weeks after Alina's adoption when the name had first slipped out.

It had been at breakfast—eggs, as usual. Skywalker was winding around Alina's ankles as she sipped orange juice and dusted pepper on her plate, and she was smiling ear-to-ear because Lucas had officially asked if he could be her boyfriend. The morning was a golden winter one, with glittering flakes cascading down from the sky, and as Alina finished adding pepper to her slightly undercooked eggs, she finally noticed her insistent cat's whining.

"Oh, alright," she'd muttered. "I'll feed you, you spoiled bastard. Mom, can you get the cat food down for me?"

At first, she hadn't understood why everyone at the table—including Will and Jonathan, who were spooning eggs into their own mouths—had suddenly stopped and stared at her, and why Joyce had put a trembling hand over her mouth, tears springing into her eyes. Then Alina realized what she'd said and had to go outside for a couple of minutes. It didn't feel like a betrayal to Linda to call Joyce that, it was just strange. What was stranger was that it felt so... so right.

Then Joyce had come outside holding Skywalker, sitting beside her new daughter. It was clear from her tear-streaked face that she'd been crying. As she sat down and Skywalker snuggled himself onto Alina's lap, she'd said, "Mom, huh?"

Alina had wrung her hands. "If you don't want to be called that—"

"Are you kidding?" Joyce had laughed. "Of course I do! You're my daughter, Alina. It doesn't matter whether or not we're blood-related. You're as much my kid as Will and Jonathan are. I adopted you for a reason. Because you're part of the family."

Alina had smiled at that, and that smile had developed into a grin, and she'd leaned her head on her mother's shoulder for a couple minutes before going inside to feed Skywalker and finish that golden breakfast.

Now, Alina watched Joyce smile sadly at her as she and Will went to meet their friends, Jonathan and Nancy hurrying after them. Just before they turned the corner and the woman went out of view, Alina whispered to her, imagining that whisper carrying across the air and right into her ears.

I love you, Mom. Please stay alive.

And then she was heading out with the others. Lucas was carrying beef jerky and trail mix he'd nabbed from the car, and he offered her a packet of the former. Alina shoved some into her mouth and looked back again, but Joyce was no longer in view. And they were heading out into the terrifying summer night.

All of them, so brave, hiding in a bunker. It almost didn't seem right.

She walked out of Starcourt Mall with her friends, but instead of the sense of finality she'd expected to come along with this feeling, there was a twinge of fear. Fear that she hadn't seen the last of the Mind Flayer, or the last of the mall. Her eyes kept straying back to the illuminated sign, wondering what would happen after the general public found out there was a secret Russian base hiding underneath it (well, maybe not the general public. They'd be fed some other story. The government, on the other hand, would have to be notified). Would it shut down? Would the city dwellers get their jobs back?

Her hand found Lucas's, as usual, and her boyfriend held on tight. For a moment, with their hands interlocked, everything seemed like it would be all right, like they could deal with whatever cards they were handed. Even though they were going to Illinois and hanging around in a bunker when they could've been useful. She flexed her fingers, and did something she'd never risked before when it came to Lucas. She let red light encase them.

Except... there was no pain. No, instead, the red light had dimmed to a gentle pink, and the normal scorching hot heat had blinked down to the warm temperature of someone hovering their hand over a fire. Not enough to burn. Not enough to hurt.

Lucas gaped at their linked hands, which were now glowing. "Whoa. It doesn't hurt." He looked to her. "Shouldn't it be hurting?"

"I guess it only hurts when I want it to," Alina mused. A drop of blood slipped down to her upper lip, and she quickly wiped it away. "I'm using less energy, which means less heat and light." She wondered if she could ever learn to make it so there was bright light and little heat, or scorching fire and dim light. There was still so much she didn't know. So much she could find out if she didn't die today.

She was glad, if anything, to have Lucas by her side. They could maybe hang out one-on-one at Murray's, because they hadn't had many opportunities to as of late. Or maybe the party could watch movies and play D&D when Dustin came back. She tried desperately to stay positive, to quell her growing feelings of unease. She tried to stop glancing back at the mall like something was wrong.

Alina got into the car, snuggling in beside Lucas and Will. The trunk was reserved for El, who needed legroom, and Mike, who didn't want to go anywhere without his girlfriend. She bit her lip, shoved another handful of beef jerky into her mouth, and waited for the car to start. Waited for Starcourt Mall to disappear, like the Mind Flayer had. Waited for all of this to be over.

But it wasn't over. And as Nancy turned the keys and the engine merely sputtered, Alina got a sinking feeling that it was just beginning.

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: alina calling joyce 'mom' for the first time flashback 🥺🥺🥺 she's SO CUTE i miss writing her so much 🥺

next chapter we've got the arrival of billy 🤢🤮 i'm sorry, it was unavoidable... alina and gabe have to confront him eventually 🤮

also i literally HAD to mention the fact that the party finds themselves in trouble every time they stay behind... like alina definitely notices the patterns by now and how they always find themselves in some deep shit LMFAOO 

i'm so excited for these coming chapters, like after we get through the drudge of flipping cars or whatever, we'll finally get into the scenes with the mind/meat flayer!! there are two specific non-canon scenes (before the mind flayer dies) that i am HYPED to post... i can't wait to see your reactions :)

'till next time!