Brileigh and Five continued to wander around the abandoned wasteland with "Delores", Five mostly ignoring Brileigh for the mannequin as she rolled her eyes at his ridiculous behavior. They scavenged for food, hoping to find something to keep them going, since they'd be trapped there for god knows how long.

While they sat down sharing a half eaten sub, the gears in Brileigh's head started turning, creating an idea.

"Five, I've got a genius idea!" Brileigh exclaimed with her mouth full of food.

"You've got a what now?" Five asked, barely understanding her speech.

"I think I've got an idea on how we can get out of here," Brileigh began.

"We're listening," Five turned Delores's head to face Brileigh, who rolled her eyes once again.

"I can't focus on my plan with her creepy eyes staring through my soul," Brileigh pointed out.

"Ugh, fine," Five turned Delores's head back the other way. "Now can you talk? Or does the cat have your tongue now?"

"Whatever, imbecile," Brileigh sighed. "Anyway, what I was saying was maybe we could combine our powers together and create enough energy to time travel back to the past and just prevent this all from happening."

"I like it, except it's a horrible plan," Five began, Brileigh raising an eyebrow. "So maybe instead if I planned it, it'll be a good plan."

"You make no sense—"

"What I was saying before you rudely interrupted me was that maybe we can somehow create a greater energy source combining our abilities since we're too weak to do it individually and time travel back to when we came from. But we don't know what even caused this, so how could we go back to prevent it without knowing what even caused it in the first place?" Five explained.

"You know you just restated what I said, right?" Brileigh asked.

"But I said it cooler," Five winked before Brileigh shoved him.

"I guess you've got a point, though," Brileigh shrugged. "But what if us coming here somehow caused it? Like our time travel triggered the end of the world?"

"It's possible I guess."

"So the only way we can really find out is if we go back to the moment we left so it's like nothing changed," Brileigh concluded.

"Your plan has so many flaws, but I haven't had coffee in god knows how long, so I'm just gonna go with it," Five sighed. "Let's try it."

The two stood up and faced each other, locking eyes and matching their breathing as they grabbed each other's hands.

"You ready?" Brileigh asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess," Five replied. "On my count... one... two... three!" The two used all of the energy they had left, focusing as hard as they could to open a vortex in between them, gushes of wind blowing past them.

"I think it's working! I see something!" Brileigh exclaimed, the wind blowing her hair all over her face.

Five squinted as he stared into the vortex. "I don't think that's the Academy, Bri."

"We're probably close enough, just a few locations off, come on!" Brileigh yelled before grabbing Five's arm and leaping in, the vortex closing behind them.

The two screamed as they landed hard on their backs on the ground in what looked almost like a forest, leaves underneath them crumbling.

"Five, where the hell are we? And ugh, I hate getting leaves in my hair," Brileigh whined as she pulled them out one by one.

"Really? That's what you're complaining about when we're in the middle of fucking NOWHERE?!" Five yelled.

"Language," Brileigh stood up and began walking. "And relax, I can see the end of the forest from here, we can probably find a sign or something if we keep walking. Keep up, slowpoke."

"Hold up Miss Bossypants, I'm trying to find Delores," Five looked around frantically before finding her a few feet away next to a tree. "Glad to see you've joined us on our journey, Del."

"Five, this is ridiculous, it's a mannequin," Brileigh protested.

"Oh, shut up, she has feelings too you know," Five replied.

"Ah! See? A sign!" Brileigh ran up to a sign a little further down the road, which read: Welcome to Hawkins!

"We're in Hawkins now, wherever the hell that is," Brileigh announced before they continued walking for a while until spotting a sheriff's station. The two walked in, hoping to get answers.

Brileigh noticed a woman sitting at the front desk on the phone, so she stood in front of her in hopes to get her attention.

"Can I help you?" The woman asked.

"Hi, we were just wondering where we are and what day it is," Brileigh began. "You see, we were on a road trip and just got a little lost and hoped you could help us."

"You're in Hawkins, Indiana, and today is November 22, 1984," the woman replied, eyeing them strangely.

"Great! Thank you," Brileigh gave the woman her sweetest smile before walking out with Five and Delores.

Once they were out, she turned around and glared at him, his face going red, already knowing what she was going to say.

"I think... maybe I took us a little too far back," Five admitted.

"'A little'? Five, you took us to Hawkins, Indiana in 1984!" Brileigh yelled.

"Me?!" Five laughed. "We did it together! This was your idea!"

"Yeah, well, it was a great idea, so if something went wrong with it then it has to be your fault," Brileigh defended.

Five scoffed. "You're just lucky you were the only other person left on earth, or else I'd be leaving you right now."

"Whatever you say, Wonder Boy," Brileigh rolled her eyes before continuing to walk down the road into town, Five following the adventurous girl with a mannequin in his arms.

•••

Chief Hopper pulled up in front of the sheriff's office, running late once again. He walked in and greeted everyone and went for his coffee, as per usual. The only unusual part about his morning routine was Flo knocking on his door and saying, "Hop, this morning I had a couple of kids come in—"

"Did someone go missing again?" Hopper asked, tensing up in his seat.

"No, they didn't say anything about that," Flo replied, Hopper relaxing and sitting back in his seat. "They claimed they were on a road trip and got lost and asked me where they were. A couple of odd kids at that... the girl was asking all the questions while the boy stood behind her with a mannequin in his arms? Strange, I tell you."

"Well, I've seen some stranger things," Hopper laughed. "They were probably just lost, Flo, nothing to freak out about."

"I don't know, Hop, I got weird vibes. I think you should check them out, maybe keep an eye on them to make sure everything's alright," Flo replied.

Hopper sighed as he took another sip of his coffee. "Alright, fine. Where were they headed?"

"They didn't say, but something tells me they walked into town," Flo answered.

"Alright, I'll go," Hopper took another long swig of his coffee before putting down the empty mug and heading back into his car and into town, hoping to find the two mysterious kids Flo mentioned.

•••

A/N: 🤠 is officially my favorite emoji because it's the best, change my mind

anyway i hope you all enjoyed this chapter! if so please don't forget to vote comment and share because i love your feedback!

thanks, until next time ;)