Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I mean who does he think he is? Wait for us to meet up with you guys. Like my sister isn't missing!” Nancy rants as she paces across the church floor, barely letting up for even the slightest of breaths.

Nance abruptly stops in her tracks, eyes full of determination, “We should start moving on our own. Start searching for Holly while we can.”

Dustin and Jonathan were quick to agree with Nancy, having no real reason to stay; not without El coming to remove the Beemer, which by the sound of static through the comms, was not happening anytime soon.

Steve was, so to speak, caught between a rock and a hard place. He wanted to find Holly as much as the rest of the party, but was wandering around the Upside-down really the best course of action? Hopper and El were currently the only two people that knew where they were, and leaving just felt…rash.

“Steve? What do you think?”

All eyes were on him.

He could see the emotions flitting around the three before him. 

Dustin, though trying so hard to put up an uncaring front, to be Eddie, was filled with an overwhelming amount of grief and depression. Steve had tried, many times, to be there for Dustin, and show him that he could be relied upon to confide in, but he had been angsty as of late. Quick to lash out, uncaring, pushing the party away. He was honestly like a whole different person, and it was starting to scare Steve. He just hopes that he will snap out of it sooner or later.

Then there was Jonathan, filled with insecurity, anxiety and most of all, jealousy. Look, Steve can tell when a ship has sailed. Him and Nance. Sailed. End of story. Jonathan's the one with his panties all in a twist over it.

Nancy's filled with confidence, a determination to get her sister back. Nancy, while really smart, is also incredibly stubborn. In her mind, she's always right. Case and point. Once she sets her mind to something, that's it. Steve knows no matter what he says, no one will be staying in this church. 

“I say let's leave this dump. Staying here gets us no closer to Holly,” Steve tries his best to sound as on board as he can. He pushes satisfaction onto everyone to really solidify his response. 

Nancy nods, “Good. Let's head out.”

 ~~~~~~~

Fuck.

That about summed up all Steve had been feeling for the last five minutes. He could feel how many people were ahead of them. They were headed straight for the fucking military base and Steve couldn't say shit; not without delving into his very personal and not so fun life.

Nancy stopped, causing Dustin to almost face plant into her, stopping mere millimeters away.

“Why are we stopping?” Dustin whispers, or tries, to Nancy.

Steve can already guess, and is proven right as he walks up next to Nancy, feeling a bit of jealousy and ire coming from Jonathan at that. The military base is just down the hill they were standing on, red lights flashing throughout. If Steve concentrated enough he could hear a faint alarm.

“Something bad is going to happen, Eight! I just know it. I can feel it.”

“That's why we have to leave tonight. I know you want to help our siblings but we have to help ourselves first.”

“By leaving them. With him.”

“Nothing will happen to them. I promise, Seven. Just come with me tonight, I can't escape alone.”

“...Okay.”

While Seven was being escorted to his training for the day, he stopped, forcing the guard hanging on to his wrist to stop as well.

“What's the hold up? Get a mov-” The guard cut off sharply, his eyes widening and his breathing increasing rapidly. The guard falls to his knees, letting go of Seven's hand to clutch his heart.

“H-help me…” he choked out before falling over on the floor, dead.

Seven wiped his nose before swiping the guard's keycard and booking it down the hall to a door with the number “8” on it. He quickly unlockd the door to Eight standing right behind it.

“Nice job, didn't know you had it in you!” Eight laughed.

The alarms blaring sound cut their meeting short.

“Come on, follow me!” Eight led them to the exit, hiding them from the guards that they passed along the way.

Once they got to the door, Seven used the keycard to unlock it.

They ran. And they keep running until they got past the fence and start into the woods. Eight could no longer hold up her hallucination, so Seven took care of any guard he could feel behind them.

Until he started running out of energy. He could feel them getting closer; hear the gun shots.

Seven and Eight looked to each other in silent agreement before nodding and running in opposite directions.

“-olly! Or do you not even care, Jonathan! My sister is missing. We need to be out here looking for her a-and not getting fucking high or whatever the hell it is you'd rather be doing!”

“I'm just saying we have a gate right in front of us, wouldn't it be smarter to go through and regroup with the other? Or better yet, find Hopper and El. If the alarms are going off they probably had something to do with it.” Jonathan reasons, looking rather taken-aback by Nancy's claims.

“We don't know that Jonathan. We don't know shit! And neither does anyone else back in Hawkins, so what's the fucking point in going back when we could be looking for Holly?” Nancy bites back.

Steve steps in before anything gets too out of hand. “Why don't we just look for Hopper and El down there quickly. And if we don't find them we could at least get some supplies before going out to look for Holly again. Sound reasonable?”

“Whatever…” Jonathan murmurs.

Nancy looks at Steve gratefully before nodding and starting down the hillside.

Chapter Text

Steve has seen a lot of bodies in his lifetime; many of his own doing, but nothing quite as gruesome as the scene before him.

He felt it happen. The confusion turned to pure, unadulterated fear. Worst of all he could feel the energy just…poof. He could sense the energy surrounding the emotionless beasts within the Upside-down. Nothing from this place never felt like anything, and was instead just a being of wrong.

Steve knew that through this outer fence lay a graveyard lined with a fresh layer of soil. He should've stopped them from having to experience that.

In the end, Steve did what he does best. Played the ignorant, unknowing character he'd morphed into.

Nancy shrieks, taking a step back before turning towards Jonathan, and burying her head in his chest.

“Oh god…” Jonathan whispers, while rubbing soothing circles along Nancy's back.

Steve moves slightly in front of Dustin's line of sight, hoping to shield him from the gore fest in front of him.

From the looks of it, the Demogorgons weren't even eating any of the prey they hunted. Calling any of these bodies in the first place was generous. Blood and organs were everywhere, some even strung from the rooftops. They were severely dismembered, limbs and body matter spread across the whole of the facility.

Dustin tries to push his way past, and catch a glance, but Steve holds firm between him and the horror behind him.

“You shouldn't have to see that,” Steve says somberly.

“I can handle it Steve! You're not my mom!” Dustin rebuttals, stubbornly. He wiggles against Steve's hold, trying and failing at escape.

“Steve, he's gonna have to see it eventually. We still need to get through there after all.” Nancy says gently, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Reluctantly, Steve loosens his grip on Dustin and allows him to peak over his shoulder. 

“Oh, shit.” Dustin gasps, going slightly pale in the face.

“Come on, we've got to keep moving,” Nancy exclaims, pushing past the both of them, into the base.

                                  ~~~~~~~~~~~

It's the longest walk of Steve's life, going from the entrance to the main building. Everywhere they step, they're stepping on bits of people rather than the floor. Everything Steve hears and feels the squish under his shoe, it makes him want to hurl. Add that to the gross vines and atmosphere of the place, and Steve can already tell you he's never vacationing here again. Second worst place on earth, for sure.

Nancy leads them into a large, main building in the center of the military base. By now the alarms had stopped, making the air eerily quiet.

“So…nice weather we're having, huh?” Steve says awkwardly, trying to break the silence.

Nancy whips around, glaring at him before saying, “Let's spread out, me and Jonathan on the left, Steve and Dustin on the right. Don't stray too far, keep to this room to start.”

“Right…okay. Shout if you find anything.” Steve adds.

Nancy nods, turning around while leading Jonathan over to the left side of the center room.

Dustin started off towards their side of the room. The room itself was filled with rows of desks and lab tables, scattered throughout. The centerpiece was what really caught Steve's attention. It was a massive glass cube, and inside was what looked to be one of the many vines that were dispersed throughout the Upside-down.

“Henderson! Get away from that thing!” Steve chastises. Dustin's hand had been inches away from the door, going to get a closer look.

“I'm just looking around like Nancy told us to. They had to have been using this thing for something!” Dustin retorts, pulling open the door.

The vine stays stagnant for a moment, as if caught off guard, before shooting towards Dustin. He lets out a shocked cry as he stumbles backwards, trying to get out of its line of fire. It was moving too fast.

And for once, Steve doesn't hide. He reaches within himself, pulling on the energy within the space around him, and aiming it towards the vine.

Dustin lays panting on the floor, the vine screeching and worming around in the air, inches from his face.

The pained squeaks of the vine crescendo, and then come to a halt as Steve overloads it with energy. Its sludge-like insides are sprayed along the walls and Dustin's face.

Steve quickly wipes his nose on his sleeve.

He knows there's no point. He's the only one around, and things don't just die. Not from the Upside-down at least. He was so fucked.

Dustin turns around in awe, “Holy shit! That was amazing El!”

Wait what?

El?

Steve slowly turns around to see El standing behind him, (how did he not feel her?), wiping her nose.

When Steve looked closer, he saw no blood come away on her sleeve. She smiled at him, giving him a slight nod.

“Brother.”

Steve smiled, nodding, “brother.”

El rubbed her thumb over his wrist, his number. She stared at it for a minute, almost like she thought it might vanish after each stroke.

Steve could feel the moment her doubt turned to acceptance, and pure joy.

She slowly dropped his wrist and wrapped her arms around his middle, latching onto him like a koala.

Steve laughed and pulled her closer, not wanting to let her go again.

After a few minutes, El sat up a bit straighter in his arms, seriousness waved around her.

“Sister,” was all she said.

Steve blinked.

“Sister” El repeated.

And then it clicked.

“Eight,” Steve whispered, eyes wide.

El nodded, then elaborated, “I meet sister.”

“You saw Eight?” Steve pried.

“Kali. I found her. In the void.”

“Where is she?”

“Come with me,” El urges, striding over to where Nancy, Jonathan, and now Hopper stand across the room.

Dustin scrambled to his feet, trailing behind Steve as they made their way to the group.

“Now that everyone's here, do you mind explaining what the hell you two are doing here? Or what the actual fuck happened outside?” Nancy seethes, gazing flickering between El and Hopper, before settling on the latter.

Hopper scoffed, “we could ask you the same thing.”

“We were doing what you should have been. Looking for Holly.”

“I told you to wait at the church! It does us no good to risk losing you guys down here!” Hopper yells, temper increasing rapidly.

“And leave Holly!” Nancy snaps, “She is my sister and I'm not just leaving here to fucking die down here while you run around doing whatever the fuck you want!”

“Stop it!” El commands. Nancy and Hopper snapped their heads up towards El. All around her objects are floating a few inches off the tables they were once resting on.

El closed her eyes and took a few, visible deep breaths. Slowly, the objects start to lower back down.

“We came here to look for Henry. We…believed that the military were keeping him here.”

“I'm guessing he wasn't here?” Dustin inferred.

“No, he wasn't, but we did find something else.”

El nods her head towards a corridor before starting down the hall, stopping once they reach a door at the end.

Hopper pulled the door open, revealing a figure, connected to all sorts of machinery.

“Who is that?” Dustin asks loudly.

“Eight.”

Chapter Text

Kali and her crew had been on the move ever since El had left. Though with the police on their tail, they hadn't stayed together for long.

Kali was left on her own with the van, which she quickly abandoned. Between hot wiring cars and hitchhiking, Kali eventually landed in Indianapolis.

Steve found himself standing outside of a rundown apartment complex on the east side of Indianapolis.

El had looked for Kali in the void at Steve's request, and had found her working at some bar a few blocks down the street.

Even though Steve hadn't seen Kali in years, hadn't felt her, he could still pick her emotions out of a crowd.

Everyone has a different way of feeling, different emotional energy surrounding them that makes locating them fairly simple once he's met them.

He could feel Kali on the other side of the door. She was relaxed at the moment; or as relaxed as Kali could be. She always had an underlying air of awareness about her. Never one to fully allow herself to relax or believe she was out of danger.

The same could be said for any of them, really. Even with the lab being gone and Brenner being dead, for real this time, there will always be the fear of the wrong people finding them.

Steve took in a deep breath, mentally preparing himself, before knocking on the door.

There was a spike of panic.

One second. Two seconds.

The doorknob turned and the door gradually fell open.

Standing before Steve was a middle aged guy. He was a bit taller than Steve, with receding brown hair and the starts of a beard. He was wearing an old stained t-shirt and a pair of boxers.

Steve made a face. He must have with the way this guy was staring at him.

“I'm sorry. I must have gotten the wrong address. I'll ju-” Steve paused.

He could still feel her.

Steve reached his hand through the image until he grabbed Kali's arm and pulled her towards him.

“Should have known you'd try something like this…” Steve whispered to himself.

Kali ripped her arm out of his grasp, before throwing a punch at Steve. He had barely just dodged the first punch before more were coming his way.

“Kali wait!” Steve pleaded, pushing calm onto her.

She faltered for a split second, and then choked out, "Seven?"

Steve didn't even reply, he could already feel the acceptance within Kali. He just hugged his sister like it was the last time he ever would.

                                     ~~~~~~~~

“So how the hell did you even find me? Like, I get you have your weird emotion tracking thingy, but there's no way you found me this far out. No offense little bro, you're good, but not that good.”

“Little bro?” Steve questioned, "Last time I checked, I was Seven, and you were Eight.”

“Still act older though!” Kali countered from the kitchen. 

A shriek from the tea kettle cut off any further argument. Kali steeped the tea and brought two mugs over. Steve murmured a quick thanks as Kali handed him a mug.

Kali sat down beside him on her old, green sofa, slightly angled towards him. She took a sip of her tea before setting it aside on the coffee table and looking up at him expectantly.

Steve stared at her blankly. Processing for a moment. Oh shit. She had asked him a question.

“El helped me track you down. Through her void thing she has going on.” Steve finally answered.

“El found you too?” Kali pried.

Steve hesitated.

Of course! Kali thought he had gotten the hell out of dodge like her.

“She kinda didn't have to look super hard.” Steve sheepishly looked away.

Kali paused, then stammered out “I- What's that supposed to mean?”

“Kali…I never actually left Hawkins.”

Neither of them said anything for a few minutes. Kali stared at her tea, deep in thought. She was…processing. A whirlwind of emotions flitted around her, too miniscule to make out.

Finally, after what felt like hours, she let out a near silent sound. One word.

“Why?”

And that was the question, wasn't it? Why in god's name had he stayed in that shithole of a town. A town that never brought him anything but pain.

The lab was mere minutes away. One small slip up and his ass would be shipped right back to that white walled hell.

So why?

“After we separated in the woods, I ran towards emotions. Good emotions. I ran until my feet were blistered and cut up, but I didn't stop until I reached a house. There was a couple inside, and I could feel their frustration, their want for something they couldn't have.”

Steve took a breath before continuing, “I went up to the house and knocked on the door. They were…surprised to say the least. I mean, it's not every day a bloody kid in a hospital gown, with a shaved head stops by your door.”

“Anyway, turns out they were trying for a kid, so they forced some documents and I was adopted. They aren't the best parents, but I make do. They only really wanted a kid for the publicity, and to have an heir to Robert's company. I did get a nice house and more money than I know what to do with, so I'll take what I can get.” Steve finally finished. It felt…good, to tell someone about anything.

“So you stayed in Hawkins because you bagged some rich parents?” Kali concluded.

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Only you could pull something so stupid and still live to tell the tail, Sev.”

“Steve.”

“Huh?”

“My name. It's Steve.”

Kali snorted, “Steve? You could've chosen any name and you landed on Steve?”

“Hey, it's not like I had any choice in the matter!”

“How lazy are your parents? Like seriously, changing one letter!”

It took Steve a moment before it clicked.

“Oh my god. They just added a fucking ‘t’.”

Kali burst out laughing, Steve following suit.

Once they had finally calmed down, Kali turned towards Steve, fondness waving around her.

“I'm really glad you came back and found me Steve. I missed this.”

Steve smiled, “You should swing by Hawkins sometime. With the lab out of business, it's bound to be safe enough for a visit from time to time. I know El would love to hang out with her sister more.”

“We'll see. I still don't trust that the lab is truly gone for good.”

Steve looked down at his watch, reading the time as 11:32.

“I should start heading back. Hoppers’ doing check-ins with everyone after what happened,” Steve started making his way towards the door, stopping with his hand on the doorknob.

Steve turned his head back, “I'll see you in Hawkins sometime soon!”

And with that, Steve turned back and headed out onto the snowy street of Indianapolis.