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━━━━ " 📂  "

𝙋 𝘼 𝙍 𝘼 𝘿 𝙄 𝙎 𝙀

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WHEN SADIE GOT OUT OF THE CAR after the short journey to the Byers' house a mere ten minutes from the long strip of road that diverted any passerby away from the lab, she refused to look at anyone. Steve's hand fell away from her own as she climbed out of the passenger seat and looked away, arms wrapped around her stomach, clutching at her sweater, as she made her way inside.

"Well?" Dustin blinked in the direction of the Harrington still sat alone in the passenger seat. Behind the younger, Hopper pulled the door open and they jumped out, Steve slowly climbing out of the passenger seat, looking just as uneasy. "Dude - if you're going to crush on my sister then at least you could go after her and comfort her, shit."

Dustin turned towards the house, following behind Max and Lucas. In Jonathan's car pulling up beside them, Nancy climbed out. Steve turned away from her and took a step up the front porch and disappeared inside.

"Sadie." He called, watching as a head of blonde hair headed into the kitchen, stopping by the sink and leaning over it, shoulders heaving up and down. Behind her, Joyce had shut a door behind her and Jonathan lay Will's unconscious body down yet Steve found himself ignoring all that, ignoring the hastily scribbled, odd drawings in crayon and taped up against the walls, floors and ceilings and making his way to her. "Sadie." He repeated.

Despite him spending hours with her, no - days on end, sleeping in the same bed as her that night before, Steve had no idea what to do in this situation. It was strange. The night before she had been in a panic, tears bleeding from the corner of her eyes during some kind of anxiety attack (not so unfamiliar to Steve; he faced a couple when he was younger and would never ever admit it to anyone for reasons he couldn't explain). But now, she was sad. She was grieving. That was a different kind of upset, something that couldn't just be fixed by calm words and a hug.

But Steve might as well try anyway, even if he was becoming increasingly aware that any time now he would have to face Nancy, face her questions and be able to tell the truth, but also have to recognise the pain caused on the night of Halloween. But whether or not he had feelings for Sadie, for a lot longer he had been her friend.

"Hey - hey." Steve didn't say her name again but instead watched as her knuckles around the edge of the basin tightened, and footsteps filed in behind them. "Sadie." he placed a hand on her shoulder and she turned then, hugging him, arms wrapping around his waist.

Leaning against the counter, his gaze travelled over the people dotted around, finding Dustin's eyes and nodding in response to his expression, tightening his grip around her. Hopper was saying something on the phone that he hadn't quite taken notice of and when Sadie moved away, her arms around him moved to clasp his hand, gaze directed towards the floor.

"Sam Owens. Dr Sam Owens." Hopper said into the receiver, frowning at whatever the other person said. "I don't know how many people are there! I don't know how many people are left alive!" Steve haphazardly pulled Sadie's hands up to press a kiss to her knuckles and squeeze a bit tighter, comforting.

"I am the police! Chief Jim Hopper!" The man shouted down the phone. "...Yes, the number that I gave you, yes... I will be here." He hung up, placing the phone back and turning towards the kitchen, where Max, Mike, Lucas and Dustin sat around the table, where Sadie Henderson was silent in grief for a friend and mentor she never properly considered so, hanging onto Steve Harrington like he was her lifeline.

Well... not exactly. But she might as well have been, her hand closed around his so tight her knuckles turned white and she would feel an ache in no time.

Nancy and Jonathan were in the living room with the unconscious Will, who they had found out was now a 'spy' for the Upside Down through his so-called 'possession' (so-called because nobody really knew what else to call it), and whatever creature that was behind it had forced Will to trick the soldiers into going a trap, as what seemed like some kind of revenge for hurting the Upside Down during the burning of the tunnels that the men within Hawkins Lab had been partaking in.

"They didn't believe you, did they?" Dustin said, although that was obvious and Sadie shifted in her position, Steve's hand dropping down to his side because of it. She didn't know what was going on with him, whether his confession outside the metal fencing of Hawkins Lab was genuine or just fear-invoked and someway to stop her from going into the laboratory alone and even if it was true, what he was planning on saying to Nancy about it. And for that, she didn't want him to be forced into some kind of confrontation in the midst of the situation they were in. Even if Nancy had been with Jonathan, practically M.I.A for several days. Either way, Sadie needed to focus on that, employ what she knew and had figured out to try and help.

"We'll see," Hopper replied, but despite the gravelly tone of a policeman who was often confident in his thoughts and opinions, they knew that something was quite so assured about it this time.

"'We'll see'?" Mike repeated, agitation apparent. "We can't just sit here while those things are loose!"

"We stay here, and we wait for help," Hopper said, teeth gritted.

"They came out of the tunnels, though." Sadie spoke up, tear stains evident on her cheeks although something in her jaw had set now, in full agreement with Mike Wheeler for once in her life (he could be rather annoying, and tended to be an overarching source of such emotion). "You managed to dig a hole in it, and who says that isn't there? Those... those.. creatures are running rampage around Hawkins Lab and let's be honest if Eleven can escape then they can too!"

"Sadie." Hopper stopped her. "I understand that you're upset but-"

"But?" Sadie repeated. "But what? We can't just sit there if they're going to be able to get into the town. They already killed my cat and that was before they got bigger. We have got less than twenty-four hours until they shed their skin and become fully-fledged Demogorgons and-"

"Then how do you expect a group of... ten people to fight against them?" Hopper shook his head. "We can't do that, it's impossible. We stay here, and we wait for help."

"She has a theory," Steve added, very suddenly and eyes flickered towards him. "She has a theory and I'm pretty sure it makes sense. I think she knows what she's talking about."

"I..." Hopper sighed. "I know she knows what she's talking about, but so do I. There's no way we can fight against them, we need to stay here." And without another word he turned away, setting off down the hallway which one had homed a burning Demogorgon as Sadie, Steve, Nancy and Jonathan fought it, and knocked on the door of Joyce's room.

"Thanks." Sadie muttered, her hand hanging by his and fingertips brushing against his, gaze tilted downwards as she felt his fingers flex and hold her's loosely. "I appreciate it."

"No worries." Steve brushed her off, a quick squeeze of his hands all the more reassuring. "Sorry I couldn't say more."

"It's okay." She replied, voice soft and void of the fight that had been in it when protesting against the police chief. "You couldn't have done anything more."

Nobody really knew what to say after that. The underlying feeling of them knowing that, truly, help wouldn't be sent was overwhelming and that Bob Newby, who many of them had known was laying dead in the lab amongst all the other deceased workers, at the hand of these creatures that clearly could, and would kill.

They couldn't mourn, not properly, they were too worried for that, a bitter taste in their mouth as they envisioned the scene they had narrowly left behind and escaped from. Instead, they just sat there, in the kitchen covered in scribbled drawings mapping the extent of the tunnels below their town, trying to process it all.

Mike stood up, wandering through into the living room and picking up the blue Soma cube kept together in rubber bands sat atop the Pythagoras game Sadie was quite familiar with, his back to them. "Did you guys know that Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?" He said.

Sadie was the only one who nodded; Bob had fought her case during her middle school days when she wanted to join but wasn't allowed simply because she was a girl. It had worked.

"Really?" Lucas asked.

Mike turned at the acknowledgement. "He petitioned the school to start it and everything. Then he had a fund-raiser for equipment. Mr Clarke learned everything from him - and got them to allow girls to join." He gestured over to Sadie, who nodded. "Pretty awesome, right?"

"He always helped me," Sadie added. "Gave me parts I needed, was always up for a talk about theories and other.. interesting things." She sniffed and Steve produced a handkerchief from his pocket. His initials were embroidered in the corners. She stared at it for a moment before accepting it.

"My mom gave me it," Steve muttered.

"It's just.. Bob was a friend more than anything." Her shoulders constricted as she wrapped her hands around her waist. "He helped me with everything. He was always so... nice to me." It was then that Steve realised how close Sadie had been to him, a figure in her life to take on her questions and wonderings when her mother couldn't.

"We can't let him die in vain." The Wheeler proclaimed, following this. Steve nodded, swallowing.

"What do you wanna do, Mike?" Dustin spoke up, surprisingly explosive. Although he couldn't be blamed for it; they were all feeling pretty useless at that point. "The Chief's right on this. We can't stop those Demodogs on our own."

Whatever point Sadie was supposed to make died in her throat. "Demo-dogs?" Max repeated, clearly sardonic.

"Demogorgon dogs." Dustin clarified, hands out either side, before merging them together. "Demodogs. It's like a compound. A play on words."

"Okay." Max nodded, too much information thrown in her face.

Dustin faltered and his hands fell, Steve looked as disappointed as he perhaps felt; his advice couldn't help so much here. But Dustin was a little more resilient than that. "I mean, when it was just Dart, maybe...." He adjusted the topic back to what Mike had been saying.

"But there's an army now." Lucas added.

"Precisely."

"His army." Mike looked as though some great revelation had come to him and they waited to hear an explaination.

"What do you mean?" Dustin asked.

"His army." Mike repeated, and Sadie stood up a little taller, beginning to understand what he was saying. "Maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army, too."

"Hey - that's what you were saying." Steve pointed out. Eyes were on Sadie. "Dustin - you remember right, what she was saying after those... Demodogs disappeared from the Junkyard.

"Yeah - yeah, you were saying something about that." Dustin agreed, then gestured to the group.

"It was just a theory." Sadie began, hands up. "But... when the dogs retreated from the Junkyard it was pretty easy to figure that something had had to have called them away. Like an alarm signal in predatory animal communication. It calls them away from something dangerous or whatever. In this case, I thought that maybe something was calling them back because it was in danger of being hurt and it needed fighters - an army, like he said."

"What's it?" Mike asked.

"Something bigger. Like..."

"This?" Mike held up a drawing. "Will's been seeing it in his visions, he says that's what possessed him." He held forward a drawing of some kind of landscape, the sky red and amongst it a looming shadow of a spider-like monster that towered like a giant over it. "This could be it."

"Yeah - yeah. That's the something bigger." Sadie nodded. "And the something bigger was being hurt. I thought it was the gate but I didn't really consider that there was other creatures in the Upside Down. Whatever this is - it might well be the leader. But back to the Gate - it's like a cut between their world and ours, and it's infected, spreading into the ground with it's tunnels and trying to protect itself from the Lab's efforts to contain it. Who has direct contact with the Upside Down - not by choice, but Will. And this creature is using Will to access our world."

"So what are you saying?" Mike asked.

"We need to keep Will asleep for as long as possible until we discover what the hell to do." Sadie replied, spreading the crumpled drawing flat on the table surface. "What even is this." Her brow crumpled. "It's like... an aboleth or an oversized shadow monster."

"Yeah, a shadow monster." Dustin nodded.

"It got Will that day on the field - and using Sadie's analogy of the growth of the tunnels and stuff from the Gate being infected and a doctor said it was like a virius - Will is infected." Mike continued.

"And so this virus, it's connecting him to the tunnel?" Max said.

"To the tunnels, monsters, the Upside Down - everything." The Wheeler continued.

"Whoa. Slow down." Steve said, looking confused. "Slow down."

"Okay, so, the shadow monster's inside everything." Mike said, in what seemed like simpler terms. "And if the vines feel something like pain, then so does Will."

Steve glanced towards Sadie. "Like sympathy pain, or something?"

She shook her head, but was more than open to explain despite the boys scoffing. "No - just think about it as a collective. Like... they're all parts of a body, right? Will, the monsters, the tunnel, they're all a body of the Upside Down. So if I was to... body slam you into the wall you would feel pain all over, not just the pimary points of impact."

"Right. Okay. So it's a body and it's feeling all the pain." Steve said. "Okay - yeah, go on. Will feels the pain."

"And so does Dart." Lucas added.

"Yeah. Like what Mr Clarke taught us. The hive mind."

"A hive mind?" Steve repeated.

"Words can't explain how proud I am right now." Sadie muttered to no one in particular, but Steve's eyes grazed over her and found that he was far too glad to find that she was smiling now. "Dustin?"

"A collective consciousness." Her brother explained. "It's a super organism."

"And this is the thing that controls everything." Mike pointed down at the drawing. "It's the brain."

And whilst Sadie could argue that just because the monster was big that wasn't necessarily the case, they had come to an answer for it for now, she wouldn't say anything.

"Like the Mind Flayer." Dustin pointed out, Lucas clicking his fingers and after several confused reactions from Steve and Max he launched through the house to retrieve one of Will's DnD books, flicking through the pages until he found it, settling it down in front of them, the drawing of Will's version sat beside it to compare. "The Mind Flayer." Dustin began, pointing it out.

By this point, Hopper had heard all the movement and his attention was brought back to them, patting Sadie on the shoulder in apology before standing by the table and concentrating on Dustin. Nancy and Jonathan joined them. "The hell is that?" The Chief asked.

"It's a monster from an unknown dimension. It's so ancient that it doesn't even know its true home." Dustin began. "Okay, it enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using its highly-developed psionic powers."

"Oh my God, none of this is real," Hopper said, shaking his head. "This is a kids' game."

"Just give it a chance, Chief." Sadie was ready to plead their case. "It's worked before, you know, theorising with the Demogorgon and stuff. And besides, it lines up with the hive mind and everything." She smiled, somewhat hopeful. "Please?"

"Fine. Go on."

"This - this is a manual." Dustin pointed down at the book. "It's a manual - and it's not just for kids. Sadie... Sadie used to play, there's a club at the high school... it's not just for kids, okay?" He swallowed. "And unless you know something that we don't, this is the best metaphor-"

"Analogy." Lucas corrected.

"Analogy?" Dustin repeated. "That's what you're worried about? Fine. An analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is." His gestured down to the page.

"Okay, so this mind flamer thing-"

"Flayer." Sadie corrected. "Mind Flayer." Nancy's eyes flickered up to her, the first time they had properly spoken since Wednesday. "Sorry... it's the Mind Flayer."

"No - no, that's fine." Nancy swallowed. "This Mind Flayer thing. What does it want?"

"To conquer us, basically." Dustin replied. "It believes it's the master race."

"Like the Germans?" Steve stammered out. "Uh - the Nazis." He added, when he got several looks from across the table. Nancy's brow furrowed, head tilting when she watched Sadie turn towards him.

"Sure, Steve, the Nazis." She nodded, in a much nicer tone than anyone expected. "....If they were from another dimension." She added with a little more snark.

"Totally." Dustin looked suspicious before turning away from the two. "Sure... if they were from another dimension. Okay. Yeah. Uh, it views other races, like us, as inferior to itself."

"It wants to spread, take over other dimensions." Mike added.

"Like the 'infection' coming from the gate. The tunnels, the dead crops in the farms, the weird goo stuff we found in the woods whilst walking." Sadie chimed in as well. "That's how it's spreading and taking over."

"We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it." Lucas said.

"That's great." Steve exclaimed, hands gesturing in front of him. "That's great. That really great, Jesus!" He turned back from the table as he sighed, Sadie reaching forward and pulling him back by his collar.

Nancy seemed to have realised something, whether it was to do with the people stood in front of her or the creature they had come up with. "Okay, so if this thing is like a brain that's controlling everything, then if we kill it..."

"We kill everything it controls." Mike nodded.

"We win." Dustin said.

"Theoretically." Lucas countered.

"But then there's the risk of...." Sadie's gaze turned towards the sofa where Will lay. They swallowed and turned back to the table where the crumpled page lay flat.

"Great." Hopper shook his head. "So how do you kill this thing? Shoot it with Fireballs or something?" He reached for the book and began flicking through it.

"No, no." Dustin chuckled. "No fire - no Fireballs. Uh, you summon an undead army, uh, because... because zombies, you know, they don't have brains, and the Mind Flayer, it... it.. it lies brains. It's just a game. It's a game." He gave up, stepping back.

"What the hell are we doing here?" Hopper slammed the book shut and dumped it on the table.

"I thought we were waiting for your military backup." Dustin scoffed, not to appreciative of the set of reactions he got.

"We are!" The Chief turned back to them.

"And what about when they come?" Still wholly upset at the prospect of just sitting them, Mike spoke up. "How are they gonna stop this? You can't just shoot this with guns?"

"You don't know that!" Hopper shouted. "We don't know anything about this! Nothing!"

"We know it's already killed everybody in that lab," Mike replied.

"We know the monsters are gonna molt again - and it's only a matter of time until they're full-fledged Demogorgons!" Lucas pointed out, turning towards Sadie. "She said so - less than twenty-four hours - and we trust her!"

"Yeah - we trust her." Dustin chimed in, and Sadie was sure that if he realised what he was saying then he wouldn't be as insistent on it. "And we know that it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town. The farm isn't that far.".

"They're right." A foreign voice, thick from crying, joined the group and they fell silent, turning to find Joyce having emerged from her room, still in the hospital scrubs that the Lab had provided them. "We have to kill it." Hopper broke from the group and approached her. "I want to kill it."

"Me too." The police chief insisted. "Me too, Joyce, okay? But how do we do that? We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here."

"No." Sadie spoke up, brow furrowing. Faces turned towards her. "We know exactly what we're dealing with." She insisted, even when she got weird looks. "We know enough about this creature and - and the hive mind Mike mentioned, and we know how we know about the monster."

"...What?" Steve asked.

"We have Will. We have the upper hand - he's our link between this world and the Upside Down. We just have to take the right precautions and... then we've won." Sadie finished. "Mike - Mike, you know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah." The Wheeler took her side, as he had for her over the course of the night. "If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will. He's connected directly to it. He'll know its weakness."

They turned towards the unconcious form on the couch, Mike approaching. "But I though we couldn't trust him anymore," Max spoke up. "That he's a spy for the Mind Flayer now."

"Yeah," Mike began. "But he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is."

❛ AUTHORS NOTE ━━ hi, so i don't think i've actually done one of these for this particular story, however i just wanna say thank you for all the attention this story has been getting over the past month or so, and i really hope everyone is enjoying it so far!

i have every intention of continuing this story through to the end of the series, and i have thousands of words of notes for next season and the rest of this one. i also just want to warn you on the length of the epilogue for this season as i'm pretty sure it's gonna reach over 10k words bc i have so much planned for it.

also, for the beginning of act three it's going to start a few days before the actual plot of s3 begins just because i love the idea of steve and sadie in summer (without giving too much away)

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