C H A P T E R O N E :

" THE DEATH OF THE HOPPERS "

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･ ｡ﾟ  ･ ｡ﾟ

| J U L Y 4th, 1986 |

JOYCE CLOSED her eyes, her eyelids clenched with a sense of fear of seeing the two people she loved perish and disintegrate into ashes from the laser's electricity.
She turned the keys with a twist of her wrist, hearing the large turbine shutter to a halt, the laser's light and power dimmed before Joyce finally opened her eyes—seeing no remains of Hopper nor Y/N.

She felt a tear slip down her cheek, knowing that it was too good to be true that her old feelings from high school arose for Hopper all over again—only to have her heart once again, be ripped out of her chest, was too much.
"Joyce!"
The faint shouts of her name surfaced over the ringing of her ears, not able to see or hear anything besides the overwhelming grief that washed over her body as she stared at the spot on the ramp where Hopper and Y/N once stood.

Joyce was roughly shaken out of her blurred thoughts by two broad hands on her shoulders, violently quaking her back to reality.
The broad hands turned her around to face them, making Joyce look up with teary eyes to see Murray.

"Where's Hopper?"
His words came out in a rushed and hurried tone, making Joyce feel the tears prick her eyes all over again.
Her pained silence wasn't enough.

"What about Y/N?"
Murray pressed on, continuing to violently shake Joyce to try and get her to answer him, but her gaze was blank and pained.

Murray's voice was barely audible through the ringing in Joyce's ears.

"Where are they?!"

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Her boots crunched the thick blackened leaves beneath her feet as she walked along the oozed trees, wincing as she knew she was breathing in all the flakes floating around in the air.

The air was bitter and cold, this place should be almost uninhabitable to any living thing.

She held the logs of wood in her arms, her breathing was unsteady as she trekked through the dark forest, her lips quivering with a mixture of fear and coldness.

She was only a couple feet away from the camp she had made with her father, yet she had been scarred from the creatures she's seen and fought for the past week.
At least she thought it's been a week since she and her father jumped through the inter dimensional gateway that was left open barely 3 inches to the point where they could walk through before it was closed behind them.

Time works different in this place—in this horrifyingly dark and terrifying place.
In reality, they had no idea how long they were stuck in there.
She couldn't imagine going through this alone like Will had to—at least she wasn't alone.

She made it back to the camp she had made with her father, remembering to look down and step over the bear traps and trip wire they made in case any demogorgon were to storm them.

"I got the firewood."
She muttered while she saw her breath come out in a fog in front of her lips as she dropped the logs of wood in front of a camp that she and her father had been using as shelter through the night.
Her father emerged from the damaged yet usable cabin that was covered with thick, slimy vines that enveloped the entire structure.
He shuffled through his pockets for the lighter he had been using to make fires in this freezing place.

He finally found the lighter, clicking it round and round until it finally sparked a small flame, lighting the dead grass on fire along with the fire wood to make a small heating source for them.
They stood in front of the damaged cabin that resembled their own home back in the normal world, watching as the flame licked the chilled air with it's yellow tongue.
The air here was toxic, and using the fire was killing some of the toxins so that the air was more or less breathable.

She felt her father's arm wrap around her shoulder to help warm his daughter, feeling her shiver under his arm.
They both wore the same attire—a russian military uniform that they had to wear before they entered this dimension.

They knew exactly where they were, and they knew this was going to happen when they made the decision to walk through the gate before Joyce closed it with the double keys.

It was the only way.

"Dad..?"
Y/N muttered, shivering with her arms wrapped around her shoulders in an attempt to warm her a little more.

"Yeah..?"
Hopper answered, his eyes focused on the orange core of the fire's flame.
He knew this warmth wouldn't last long in this place, but he needed to be strong for his daughter.

"We didn't think this through."
Y/N joked, a small smirk creeped through her curled lips as she heard her dad chuckle at the fact that they really didn't think it through when they walked through the gate.

"Yeah, guess we didn't, huh?"
Hopper laughed, his smile contagious as he looked down at Y/N who was staring back at him with a weak smile, knowing that either of them hadn't smiled in a while since they entered this place.

But they survived, because they were fighters.

They survived because they had each other.

They only hoped that they wouldn't have to keep living in the same constant fear every night.
  Y/N walked into what looked like their cabin, she walked into her room to lay down in what should be her bed.
When she closed her eyes that night while Hopper was on his shift to keep watch over her, she always saw the same creature in the darkness of her shut eyes.

The Upside Down was an unforgiving place for the father and daughter..

Hopper and Y/N.

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| O C T O B E R  11th, 1986 |

  MIKE WIPED his teary eyes with a weak chuckle at the subtle humor Y/N
exhibited on her love note that she wrote him, knowing that he would miss her cute snort when she'd laugh at her own joke, or when she would gently shove his shoulder when he'd make her laugh at a stupid joke.

He was going to miss all of that, and he only wished he could've said something different when she told him she loved him.
  How could he have been so stupid?
How could he have been so blind?

  "Mike?"
Joyce interrupted Mike's overwhelming train of thought as he jumped up to his feet, frantically wiping his tears with the back of his hand.
"Yeah?"

"We're about to leave.."
Joyce's voice sounded hesitant, but Mike knew they had to leave at some point.
Joyce had insisted on moving with having no reason to stay besides Hopper, but with him now gone, she didn't want to stay.

She had planned on becoming his detective with him at the Hawkin's PD.
She planned on having dinner with him, yet her unforgiving love life never gave her a break.

"Yeah..okay, coming."
  Mike quickly sniffled his tears away to follow Joyce out to the front yard—the dreaded moment had come to finally say goodbye to Will and El.

  Mike could barely handle going to Y/N's funeral a week ago to say bye to her, or seeing all the newspapers discussing the headline: "THE TRAGIC DEATHS OF THE HOPPERS" So, the last thing he needed now was to have to say bye to Will and El.
  The funerals for Y/N and Hopper were difficult to comprehend that they were actually gone, and it still really hurt to think about the empty casket they had to bury—not even able to say goodbye to an actual body.

"We'll see you guys for Christmas, right?"
Mike's voice surfaced through a shaky tone, his tears skipping down his cheek as he said bye to Will and El in a group hug.

"Definitely."
Will shuttered into Mike's shoulder, his own tears seeping into his best friend's shirt.
Will wasn't doing well either, having just lost what seemed like his sister.
Y/N wasn't just like a sister to him. She practically was his sister in so many ways, and he missed her so badly.

As the party all said their goodbyes, El and Will entered their cars to drive their moving trailers away from the Byer's house.
  Mike felt his tears worsen as he watched the cars get further and further away from him as he stood in front of the Byer's house along with Max, Dustin and Lucas.

  There was an unsettling silence among the remaining party members as they watched two more of their friends leave, knowing that it was going to be different now without Y/N, El, and Will.

Their silence was interrupted by the screeching of wheels of a car driving up towards the 4 kids, making them cough when the dust from the dirt road clouded and drifted to their faces as the car came to a halt.

"That's my ride. I'll talk to you guys later."
Max excused herself, kissing Lucas goodbye before hugging Mike and Dustin.
She walked backwards with a sympathetic smile to the party before she turned around to get into the passenger seat of the blue Camaro.

With his sister safely in his car, the driver emerged from his seat.
"Hey, shitheads."
Billy Hargrove called out to the party as he opened his car door and stood up behind it—a cigarette in between his lips as he spoke.

He was uncertain at first, staring into the eyes of the kids that had already seen too much and endured too much trauma for their ages.

"Sorry about your losses."
Billy's voice seemed tense and hesitant, since he wasn't usually this partially nice to
people—especially kids.

But in his eyes, he truly felt for the kids, because they all know a big secret that he was now a part of.

And because of that secret with the demogorgons and the parallel universe that Billy was now unwillingly a part of, there was no way he was going to let Max go home by herself when it was already sunset and almost dark.

Yet these weren't just same random kids.

They were kids that practically saved his life a few months ago, so being partially nice was the least he could do, and that was all he would do.

Mike gave him a thin smile as a thank you from him, Lucas, and Dustin, watching as Billy scoffed before flicking his cigarette to the dirt road before sliding back into his car, shutting his door and peeling out—leaving the party in the dust.

  It wasn't long before Steve Harrington drove up to pick up Dustin to take him to his house, because he knew he would be hurting and he just wanted to check on him. As soon as he left, so did Lucas, leaving Mike alone to sulk on the Byer's porch by sunset.

During the duration of the entire heart-aching day of heartfelt goodbyes, Mike was painfully reminded that Y/N was gone.
  He missed her so much to the point where it would hurt him, and today was one of those days.

He didn't want to go home yet, no.

He decided to take his bike, and ride down the dirt road, riding it towards the dark forest through the frosty cold night air—passing a few certain oak trees to make it to the secluded bunker in which the girl he loved lived.
  The night seemed darker when the porch light wasn't on like it usually was.

Mike walked up the creaky steps leading to the door, glancing over his shoulders around for anything or anybody at all before he knocked on the front door—as if somebody were going to answer.

Of course, his knocks were met with silence as they echoed in the night before he picked the door lock with one of Nancy's bobby pins, and opened the front door, feeling himself become mournful all over again just at the sight of the empty—uninhabited cabin.

He walked inside, his sneakers creaked the floorboards as he shut the front door behind him, walking around as he noticed that everything was the exact same—nothing changed from earlier today when he helped Joyce clean out the cabin.

But when he opened the door to Y/N's room, everything was different to him.

There was no bubbly girl laying on her bed with her walkie talkie, speaking eagerly to Mike on the other end as she kicked her legs behind her.

He could almost imagine the sound of her bubble gum popping as she spoke, being dramatically gross as she smacked it loud because she knew it annoyed Mike, laughing when he grimaced.

Mike walked further into her room, gazing at the walls filled with band and movie posters.
He sat down gently on Y/N's bed with it's quilted sheets and fluffy pillows, running his hand over the blankets with the tips of his fingers.
He felt safe sitting on Y/N's bed for some reason, knowing that this was like a safe spot for him.
  He smiled softly to himself, remembering when he and Y/N would play Hide&Seek around the cabin as kids, always giggling with each other and running around Hopper as he got annoyed.

"Y/N? Where are you?"
  Mike called out frantically because he feared he would lose this game for he could not find her.

He heard the iconic giggle that belonged to his best friend, Y/N Hopper, come from behind the couch.
  He heard his sneakers creek the cabin floorboards beneath his feet, jumping in fright as Y/N lurched out to scare him.

" I win."
Y/N's squeaky, pre-puberty voice announced her winnings, holding a proud stance as she declared herself.

"Woah! How did you find such a good hiding spot? I could've sworn I checked behind the couch!"
  Mike exclaimed, his heart still beating fast from her jump scare on him—flailing his arms as he looked where she was hiding.

  "I just hid in places you already checked. You never saw me, so I win!"
Y/N's giggly voice echoed throughout the cabin as Mike was in complete awe.

  "I call a rematch! But new rule : your bed is base, so the hider is safe there!"
Mike declared, already running from you as he circled Hopper who was walking to the kitchen, getting annoyed as he saw the two little kids running around and under him.

  Mike smiled weakly to himself as his memories dissipated to yank him back to his harsh and broken-hearted reality, glancing around the empty room.

He slowly laid down on Y/N's bed, not wanting to get under the covers out of fear he may ruin her bed.
As soon as his head hit the pillow, Mike could've sworn he felt like she was still here as he stared at the ceiling above him.

He felt her, like a feeling of home.

He felt..at home.

He curled his knees up his chest as he laid on his side—his body quivering as his tears dropped down his nose and onto Y/N's pillow, staining the fabric with Mike's sorrow and grief.

He cried until he couldn't feel it anymore, and just let his eyes drift and take him away into a slumber.

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and so the story begins !

welcome to chapter one, my loves !
i'm so excited for where this story is heading, it's gonna be crazy.

any theories so far? any predictions?

thanks for reading.. stay tuned !!

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