C H A P T E R   T H I R T Y

" THE REUNION : PART TWO "

hope you guys enjoy..

it's the big one.

OVER 4000 WORDS !

･ ｡ﾟ ⋆✩⋆  ･ ｡ﾟ

| D E C E M B E R  25th , 1986 |

H a w k i n s , I n d i a n a ?

t h e  u p s i d e  d o w n

( picks up right where we left off
at the end of chapter twenty-eight )

Y/N WAS WILLING TO do whatever she had to do, in order to kill the man that scarred her for the rest of her life.

She could feel herself becoming more angered by the second.

Part of her was worried that the gate would close on her, but now that Hopper and Joyce and Murray are safe on the other side, she felt better.

She wanted to finally get back at Brenner, and she wanted to do it right. She figured that this was a start.

It wasn't long before the pack of trained demogorgons caught up to the standoff, lining up and standing at the ready behind Brenner and his army of brainwashed soldiers.

Y/N glared intensely at Brenner, hating how confident he felt because of his protection.

It was an army, against one.

"Although your telekinetic levitating wave was quite impressive, I'm afraid you'll have to step out of the way, now."
Brenner spoke, in his overly calm I'm-talking-to-a-dangerous-ticking-time-bomb, tone.

Y/N allowed her telepathy to search Brenner's mind, feeling the emotion that she was pleased to find.
He was nervous to speak with her, and she relished in that.

"There's no way in hell you're getting past me." Y/N rebutted, her eyes narrowing.

Brenner instead narrowed his eyes in return, questioningly. He hummed. "Why is it that you feel so obligated to risk your life for the people on the other side of the portal?"

The question took Y/N by surprise, not expecting him to ask about her family. He didn't seem like he had all the time in the world.

Y/N squinted with a look that said, are you stupid?

"Because they're my family."

Brenner nodded, his hands clasped behind his back as he took a few steps to the side.
"And you believe that you'll be welcomed back with opened arms, and everything will go back to the way it was?"

Y/N narrowed her eyes, wondering what kind of game Brenner was trying to play. But for now, she decided it wasn't important.

She remained silent, and she could see that Brenner enjoyed that.

"My dear, you aren't like them anymore. You're too different, do you really believe they'll accept you like this?" He gestures and wagged his finger to refer to Y/N's entirety and her new abilities.

Y/N glared at him, her anger was so raw and intense, that a wave of telepathic fury pulsed from her stance, rippling towards Brenner. Brenner stumbled by the wave of powers but smirked.

He's just trying to get in my head, shut him out. Y/N kept thinking to herself, mentally closing off her mind.
But Brenner continued his monologue.

"There's too much about yourself that you don't understand now. 015, your father, has great power, but you have an incredible multiplex of powers, as I'm sure you've noticed, and you're still uncovering new abilities."
Brenner gestured to the gate where Y/N had just used her telekinesis wave to lift her family to safety.

Y/N gritted her teeth, unhappy with what he was saying.

"You've noticed that along with your abilities, you're experiencing other changes as well? That's because of your successful testing with the DNA from the otherworldly creature, as the DNA sets into your blood stream and creates a new strand. You're much different."
Brenner explains, and at first, Y/N didn't understand why he would reveal all this to her.

But then she realized, it was because he knew she would have questions. He's trying to lure her back to him.

Her eyes widened as she realized what all of this new information meant for her. She couldn't bare to accept it—the very thought terrified her.

"You're not entirely human anymore, 016."

Brenner's words echoed throughout Y/N's mind, forcing her to confront her worst fears. She knew that this was the truth, how else would you explain what had been happening to her and her father?

"Isn't that fascinating, 016?"

What had this bastard done to her? What kind of monster had he made her into?

But then, Y/N realized something else.

I'm not entirely human.

At least that's one advantage she has on Brenner, despite his army of brainwashed soldiers and demogorgons lined up behind him.

But Y/N remained silent, her anger bubbling up inside her, ready to explode any minute as her fists clenched at her sides.

She was a ticking time bomb, ready to go off at any moment, and it would not be pretty.

Y/N was livid.

How dare he speak like that to her? How dare he tempt her and taunt her?

Y/N continued her glare but remained silent out of pure spite, and she could tell that Brenner was becoming irritated by her resilience.

"However, you're going to have to move out of the way to allow me through. You wouldn't want to spark any unwanted conflict, now would you, 016?"

There it was again, that goddamned number.

That was the trigger that set off her ticking time bomb.

Y/N looked up through her short hair confidently, tilting her chin up challengingly.

"That's not my goddamn name!" She yelled, her scream reverberating through the ground all the way towards Brenner, unbalancing him.

Brenner looked down at the ground beneath him that shook the rest of his army, shaking his head disbelievingly before looking up at Y/N to meet a fierce glowing grey.

Y/N smirked to herself as she stared at him with warning eyes.

And to add to her satisfaction, Brenner had a panicked look in his eyes. He's scared of her.

This was it, this was her chance. This was where she finally got back at the man she loathed.

This was where she killed the man that scarred her for the rest of her life.

But before she could do anything more, all she could see was Brenner raising his arm to point at Y/N affirmatively with narrowed eyes.

And before she knew it, the brainwashed soldiers were barreling towards her while the demogorgons trailed closely behind them—all heading toward their target : Y/N.

"Oh shit.." She panicked as she stood in place. She couldn't take them on all at once, but it seemed she had no other option.

So she stood her ground, planting her feet into the dirt beneath her as she braced for impact. The soldiers all ran towards her, engulfing her underneath the middle of a kill circle as they toppled over each other to try to get closer to her below them.

Y/N felt as if she were going to suffocate underneath all the bodies that toppled over her, trying to inflict pain to her in any way possible—just as they were brainwashed and ordered to do.

She tried fighting them off one by one, but there were too many of them at once.
She felt jabs and jerks of pain sent shooting through her from her legs all the way up to her stomach, from the fangs of the demogorgons and the punches from the soldiers.

She felt helpless.

This feeling reminded her too much of how Brenner would experiment on her, and how helpless she felt then. Brenner did this to her.

Brenner made her into the version of herself that she hated. He made her into this hybrid monster. A roaring flame of pure anger rose inside Y/N ; it was uncontrollable.

Each jab and cut angered her, each kick and stab pissed her off.

She could feel her emotions ignite the flames that powered her abilities, her eyes flashing a grey before suddenly, an enormous wave of power surged through her.

She screamed with fury as she controlled her power to exert a pulsing wave with a bright flash and a loud crackle that sounded like thunder, forcing away all the soldiers and demogorgons as she sent them flying.

Brenner watched with astonishment as he watched his soldiers and creatures skid across the ground as they were thrown.

His eyes then turned to meet Y/N's furious ones as she got up from the ground, her knees slightly bent as her hands were balled in fists at her sides.
Her veins that ran along her arms were a bright grey as they ran all the way up her neck. Her eyes glowed their bright stormy grey, her abilities powered to their full potential.

And they were fueled further and more powerful because of her fury.

Her grey eyes stared dauntingly at Brenner's, their gaze locked in a challenging duel.

She knew she had the upper hand here, and she knew that Brenner didn't know she could do this.

But then, her telepathy picked up on someone shouting—someone else's words filled her mind as they echoed loudly with worry.

"Y/N!"

The voice belonged to her father, her telepathy being able to connect to Hopper without even trying because of their strong bond. He was terrifyingly worried.

"Stay away from my daughter, you sick son of a bitch!"

That was directed toward's Brenner, Y/N's telepathy just picked up on Hopper's wavelength.

No, dad. Stay there, make sure no one comes through the gate. Please.

She tried to push those thoughts into her father's mind, hoping the connection was strong enough.

Please, just listen to me. Trust me.

She tried to mentally beg her father to stay put, to stay safe on the other side of the gate. But her focus was lost when he first shouted her name.

And Brenner took advantage of that.

Before she could even understand what was happening, Brenner sent more of his soldiers and demogorgons running for Y/N.

But this time, she was prepared.

She clenched her fists as she planted her feet into the ground beneath her, her eyes glowing brightly as did the veins in her arms - her animalistic blood flowing strongly through her body.

As each soldier took their shots at hurting her, she simply fought back, using her combat skills she learned back at the Russian facility, effectively injuring multiple soldiers.

She watched the soldier run towards her as she used her telepathy to determine what each soldier's ability was, and just counteracted it.

One raised his arm to punch Y/N, only to have his fist stopped midair, Y/N's own hand stopping his arm from making another move. She smirked, twisting his arm so that she shoved him backwards, kicking him in the ribs to prevent him from attacking again.

Kick, shove, knee, punch.

Aim for the eyes, throat, jaw, ribcage, kidneys, and knees.

And that's exactly how she kicked every one of the soldiers' asses as they came and fought her in crowds, trying to carry out Brenner's orders.

But the more they tried, the more bodies wound up on the ground as she used her telekinesis to fling them away from her.

As for the demogorgons, they all tried their best to inflict damage to her, but they were so easy to flick away with her strengthened telekinesis, that they hardly hurt her at all.

Which prompted them to take a different approach.

In a desperate attempt to get his way, Brenner sent the demogorgons running past Y/N instead.

As she was fighting her best to keep the soldiers away from the gate, she saw of the corner of her eye, the monsters making their way to the gate.

Her heart dropped as she saw them disappear through to the other side of the gate with a bright hue and hum.

"No!" She yelled, pushing the soldiers down to the ground, trying to use her telekinesis to prevent some demogorgons from continuing to enter the gate, only to be stopped by the soldiers who kept trying to fight her.

Y/N turned to look at Brenner, who stood confidently yet unsure as he watched Y/N battle his creations.

He's a fucking lunatic. He's willing to kill innocent lives just to get what he wants.

He's willing to sacrifice my family for his own selfish reasons.

And it pissed her off.

"You're a fucking maniac!" She yelled at him while she punched and fought her attackers expertly, her eyes glaring at him with glowing gray.

Brenner seemed slightly shaken as he watched his creations fight 016, but her moves were done with such expertise, his soldiers didn't have a chance to land any hits on her.

He wasn't winning.

But then, before he could make another move, the gate flashed another small hue.

Brenner's attention turned to the gate, his eyes narrowing at the puzzling sight.

Y/N had just punched another soldier in their brainwashed expressionless face when she felt an odd presence of someone enter the upside down.

A familiar presence.

She saw movement out of the corner of her eye from across the field by the gate's opening, feeling piercing eyes on her skin.
She looked between the bodies of soldiers, trying to see through to see the gate.

And that's when her glowing eyes met with an unmistakeable pair of golden brown ones from across the battle field she had created.

Time seemed to slow as she was locked in a trance with his eyes.
His hair had gotten longer, he had gotten taller, his face looked tiredly worried yet relieved now.

But he was still her first best friend that she had fallen in love with over the years.

And her breath seemed to grow heavier from fighting, but also, from her telepathy picking up on what his lips said from across the field.

"Y/N.."

Y/N's glowing grey eyes widened as her the glow ran all the way down her veins of her arms, allowing her emotions to get the better of her for the moment.

For a moment, she had forgotten that there were soldiers running towards her.

Because at that moment, his eyes were all she could see. At that moment, it was only the two of them in that battlefield.

"Mike.." Y/N breathed, her voice slightly shaky as she tried to catch her breath.

She then saw Mike break out into a fast sprint towards her, her telepathy picking up on what words were running through his mind.
Y/N, Y/N, Y/N.

Brenner watched the exchange from afar, his eyes narrowed at how easily Y/N had ignored the soldiers about to attack her, just to stare at the young man sprinting towards her.

It didn't take an idiot to understand why. It was so plain to see.

That was her weakness.

That boy was her weakness. Her distraction.

Brenner understood that he wasn't going to win this.

He understood that he wasn't going to be able to take 016 back to their Russian base as easily as he had hoped. Y/N was stronger than she let on.

So if he couldn't bring Y/N back to base alive, he was going to have to change his plan to aim to kill her.

He raised his hand to his demogorgons, signaling toward's Y/N.
He was going to use them against her, but this time, with the intent to kill.

And with her guard down, now was the perfect time.

Y/N watched with stormy grey eyes as Mike sprinted towards her, his gas mask dangling on his neck. He was close enough to where she could hear the faint sound of his running footsteps.

But her focus was soon broken as she felt claws at her sides, tackling her to the vine-swarming ground below her.

She could hear Mike shouting her name from across the field, too far to do anything to help except run as fast as he could.

"Y/N!"

Y/N looked up to see her attacker, their flower shaped mouth opening to bare its multiple rows of teeth that dribbled with saliva.
Claws reached up to drag themselves into
Y/N's skin, sending a burning pain through her body as she hissed.

"Y/N, no!"

But Y/N wasn't fazed.

An almost animalistic instinct arose inside her, making her eyes glow again to challenge the monster above her.

Her hands reached up to grasp the monster's neck to stop his attack, her grunts of struggle sounding more like animal growls as she caught the monster off guard.

'You're not entirely human anymore, o16.'

Her growls turned into a loud yell, screeching as her yell created another power surge through her, another telekinetic wave making the demogorgons surrounding her be knocked off their feet and thrown away from her.

Her breathing slowed down as she tried to catch her breath as she was still laying on the ground, waiting for her psychic healing to heal her wounds on her body before she got up.

But it wasn't long after, that she saw a figure walk to hover above her, kneeling down slightly to offer their hand.

Reluctantly, she accepted their hand as it helped her up to her feet, their touch sending blushing shivers through her that she chose to ignore.
She brushed off the dirt off her legs, watching as the blood trickling down her legs began to heal themselves.

She looked up again, and was met with those same golden brown eyes standing right in front of her.

Her intimidating glowing grey eyes widened before they faded back to their usual eye color, her breath beginning to settle again.

"Y/N.." Mike whispered, a look of shock spread across his face. He had seen what she did with the soldiers and the demogorgon just now.

He was confused beyond belief, and had so many questions, but right now, Y/N was standing right in front of him.

"Mike.." She breathed with disbelief.

Mike examined her face, dirtied with slime and sweat, her hair now shorter as it hung just above her shoulders. She had cuts and wounds all over her body that should have been fatal, but here she was, standing strong.

She was amazing.

Before Y/N realized what was happening, Mike engulfed her in a hug, wrapping his arms tightly around her shoulders as she stood stiffly.
She wasn't used to hugs after so long in that hostile unsafe environment, but feeling Mike's arms around her made her feel safer than she had been in months.

She wrapped her arms around Mike awkwardly at first, but then returned the same amount of care as she buried her face in his neck, clutching onto his y/f/c shirt that she just noticed he was wearing.

"Thank god.." Mike murmured into the crook of her neck, sending tingles through her now warmed body.

The tingles sent shots of buzzing electricity through her body, making her blush as her emotions rekindled her powers.
The feeling of being reunited with her best friend, her first love, and to be in his arms after so long, was pure bliss.

In that moment, it was just her and Mike.

It was just them two, in their own little bubble.

The butterflies in her stomach grew more intense as her blissful emotions rekindled her power.
And without even realizing it, her power created some sort of barrier around them that prevented the few soldiers and demogorgons that were left from coming at the two lovebirds.

It was just them right now.

They missed this. They missed each other as not only their first love, but as their best friend.

They pulled apart from the hug slowly, not quite wanting to let go yet as Y/N's hands stopped at his shoulders, their eyes meeting in an intense trance again.

Mike's eyes drowned in hers, their breathing becoming unsteady at the closeness of their faces.
He could see every little freckle or mole on her flawless face, and Y/N could see his dimples and freckles along his cheeks.

Mike couldn't resist his hand reaching up, allowing his fingers to gingerly brush against Y/N's soft, yet tough, cheek.
He stroked her jawline as he stood closer to her, his eyes just soaking in all her beautiful features that he had missed looking at so much.

She's really here.

Y/N's body instantly warmed up at Mike's touch, sending tingles of electricity through her body that embarrassed her.

He still looked as good as ever.

She reached her own hand to cup over the hand that Mike held to her cheek, stroking the back of his palm sweetly. He stared into her eyes longingly, her own eyes staring at his lovingly.

She dreamed of this day. She dreamed when she would be reunited with Mike, the best friend she's loved since they were small kids.

She melted at his touch, her tough persona that she had made in the facility completely washed away with his comforting touches.

She missed him so much, more than she realized.

But it was then that Y/N remembered what Mike did.

It all came back to her.

The way he ignored her instructions, the way he sent Joyce and Murray to come get Y/N even though she specifically said not to.
The way he just came through the gate without his gas mask on, completely ignorant to her warnings.

The way he was the reason Joyce almost died.

Mike smiled softly at their exchange, but furrowed his eyebrows when he saw Y/N's eyes change from their soothing e/c, to their furious glowing grey again.

The hand that was holding Mike's to her cheek, was now clenched around his hand hurtfully, her teeth gritting as she yanked his hand from her cheek to throw his arm away.

Mike looked confused, he looked a bit hurt by her rejection of his affection.

But before he had a chance to ask, his jaw was met with a stinging throb, doubling over in pain.

He leaned to spit out a pocket of red blood, before he looked up with shock to meet Y/N's furious eyes and realized, he had just been punched.

"You idiot!" She spat, angrily.

His hand went up to touch his flaming skin, hissing when he brushed his hand along his raw and now bruised jaw. Y/N's strength was definitely different since last he saw her.

And with that punch, she was holding back.

She could have done a lot worse in damaging Mike's face, but she contained her anger for now.

"I told you to stay out of our way!" Y/N yelled harshly, her eyes glowing brighter the angrier the became.

She shoved Mike harshly by his chest, making him stumble back and away from her. She was frustrated with him, and he knew it.

A side of her was rising because of her anger, and she didn't like it. Yet, she had no control over this animalistic side of her.

"Y/N-.." Mike began to try to explain himself, knowing that this was the kind of reaction he expected. But certainly, not getting punched and pushed.

Although this wasn't the reunion he hoped for, although Y/N wasn't running into his arms and letting him embrace her, although they weren't professing their love for each other, he knew that was just wishful thinking.

"Get out of here, Michael." Y/N said with the upmost seriousness though gritted teeth, her voice cold and her eyes stone.

It was then that Mike truly understood her anger and irritation towards him when she called him by his full name. She never called him by his full name, so he knew she must really be upset.

And she had every right to be.

But Mike's stubbornness prevailed.

"I'm sorry, Y/N. I really am, but there's no way I'm leaving you," He replies with a surrendering shrug of his shoulders. "You know how stubborn I am." He tried to joke with a light smile, but that only angered Y/N further.

She looked up with an intense glare, her eyes staring right into his as her grey glow reminded him of a thundering storm.

Y/N rolled her eyes, scoffing. "And that right there," She began, referring to Mike's stubbornness. "Is what almost killed us in here."

Y/N was referring to Joyce and Murray's near death experience with the demogorgon, but Mike didn't know that.

Mike's face fell, the entirety of his careless decisions that he made a couple days ago to not listen to Y/N, was finally setting in.
He was being careless, and selfish just to get what he wanted fast, and he finally saw that.

"Now just..get the hell out of here before so I can take care of this myself." Y/N demanded.

She gestured to the soldiers and demogorgons clawing as they tried to get through her emotion-driven barrier that she created just because of Mike's touch. 

"Y/N, I'm sorry for not listening to you, I really am. But there's no way I'm leaving you now. I'm not leaving you alone to die when I just got you back!"
Mike fought, the desperation to not lose Y/N was evident in his voice.

Y/N shook her head, clenching her jaw. "Believe me, I can take care of myself."

"Y/N, I'm not—.."

Before Mike and Y/N could continue their argument like an old married couple, Mike was cut off by a humming hue out that caught his attention out of the corner of his eye.

He turned to see the gate flashing a dull glow that signified something trying to come through the gate across the field.
Y/N's eyes followed Mike's gaze to the gate's opening, looking at the opening with the same peak of curiosity.

She took a few steps closer to stand beside Mike to see what or who was trying to make it through the gate, not understanding who it could be. Please tell me it isn't you, dad.

But when the gate opened enough to reveal who stepped through the gate, the bodies stumbled through into the upside down with unbalance.

She narrowed her eyes, trying to see who it was with better clarity. Her eyes widened with realization at who it could be, her breath hitching with disbelief.

And that's when her theory was confirmed when she saw the five people stand up to their feet, their eyes meeting hers from all the way across the field.

"Goddammit, does no one listen to me?"

⋆

Author's Note :

AHHH OKAY SO WE GOT A MIKE AND Y/N  REUNION.. IM SO HYPEDDD

yeah i didn't want them to makeup so quickly cause y/n's pissed off at him & he deserves to understand her frustration PERIODT

..a lot of you guys
wanted that
anyways sooo

BADASS Y/N
that's it that's the tweet.

if you have any questions about what has happened in this chapter , just ask, & I'll answer! 

N E X T  C H A P T E R :
REUNION PART 3??  ( oops, spoiler?) oh well, IM JUST SO HYPEDDDDD

it's not proofread  :3

.

what do you think about all this ??

any theories ? any predictions?

thanks for reading.. stay tuned !!

PUBLISHED
AUGUST 25, 2020
at 11:33 PM

4656 words

now i'm gonna go write for the next chapter
of my finn wolfhard book, ( infatuated ) 
and wait for all your comments
because i love reading them xoxo

honestly can't wait
to read the comments
on this one..