Summary:
Ancient sun cast your light
Cause there's no hope in endless winter
When you fall from the sky
My blood runs cold and I feel paralysed
- Jamie Campbell Bower (Paralysed)
A/N: I've been sick, sorry for the late-ish update. I've realized that I've developed a habit of updating around once a week, which is weird af for me.
DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. As the author I do not always agree with the actions the characters take. The MC has Haphephobia. The depiction of such in the story may not be entirely accurate and I do not claim it to be so. The depictions of anxiety and OCD are based on my own personal experience and do not apply to the illnesses as a whole. There will be mentions of various sensitive topics which are updated in the tags, read at your own risk.
November 8, 1983
Silence. Pure, unadulterated silence. The trio had not spoken a word since Mads returned from the Vale with the news. Tris had been confused until Eddie pulled his D&D manual from his knapsack, wordlessly turning to the page about the Vale. The horror that overtook them then, was nothing short of debilitating.
Mads didn't even know how Will got there, much less how to bring him back. He couldn't have been in the Lab when that… portal opened up. It would have been absolutely impossible. If that was the case… then something must have been let out.
The monster she encountered… that must have been what was set free. It escaped the Lab somehow and took Will for whatever reason, to eat him… or something much, much worse. And it was hunting him still.
How could she face Joyce, knowing what she knew? That her boy was alive, not too far from home, but that he was being hunted within an inch of his life and Mads had no idea how to bring him home to her? That it was all her – and 011's – fault in the first place? How could she look that sweet woman in the face and not tell her everything?
Fucking hell.
The school was the same when they walked in that morning. Everyone was talking, laughing, joking around as though a little boy wasn't missing. As though the brother of one of their classmates wasn't trapped in another dimension fighting for his life. Fuck them.
"Hey, Mads," Eddie stage whispered, breaking her from her reverie. "Maybe cool it with the death glare, huh? The Hair looks like he's gonna piss his pants."
Sure enough, Steve Harrington was standing several feet away with his two cronies, Tommy and Carol. Surprisingly, Barb Holland and Nancy Wheeler were standing with them, also looking in her direction. Though Tommy and Carol sported a look of disgust, they all expressed an undercurrent of fear which was palpable in the cool November morning.
"Hey, Wheeler," Mads called, stalking forward – the buckles on her books clanking loudly – ignoring Tris and Eddie's identical groans of frustration. "How's your brother doing?"
The Wheeler kid was friends with Will. Maybe he knew something so she could help bring him back, it couldn't hurt to ask. But it could hurt her chances if she didn't appear a little more friendly.
Steve and Tommy moved to stand in front of Nancy, protectiveness in the lines of Steve's body. Tommy just wanted a fight, that much was obvious. She didn't give a shit this morning. Nancy wasn't in any danger from her.
"He's friends with Joyce Byer's kid, right?" She asked, peering around Steve, with a hopefully, friendly smile on her face.
It had the desired effect because Nancy returned it, pushing her way around Steve as gently as she could. "Yeah, he is. He's taking the whole thing pretty hard. How did you know?"
"I work with Mrs. Byers at Melvald's. They stopped in a few times to say 'hi' to her and she introduced us."
"Oh," Nancy smiled again. "That's right, he mentioned you, but I didn't register that it was you he was talking about. He said you were nice."
They both ignored Tommy's mocking scoff and Steve's uneasy posture.
"Did he…" Mads hedged, fidgeting with her leather wristband. "Did your brother notice anything strange that night? Were they even together?"
Nancy's perfect brows furrowed as she thought over Mads' question. Mads could see into her head clearly though. The only weird thing she noticed the night Will left their home was the power outages.
"Yeah, they had a Dungeons and Dragons session at my house… it's this dorky game where you—"
"I know what it is," Mads interrupted. "I'm in the school's Hellfire Club, we play D&D."
Mortification colored Nancy's face and Barb stifled a laugh behind her. Steve, Tommy, and Carol looked mutinous. Tris and Eddie now moved closer to hover behind Mads, nervous energy rolling off them in waves.
"R-right," Nancy continued uneasily. "So, my brother's friends all left and the next day we heard that Will was missing. That's all we know. Why are you asking?"
"We were thinking of joining the search party later after school if they'd let us," Mads explained nonchalantly, shrugging a shoulder. "I just wanted to know if there was anything I should tell the group."
"Well…" Nancy hedged, looking uncertainly back at Barb, who nodded her encouragement. "Will rides home on this road the boys call 'Mirkwood'. It's where the roads Cornwallis and Kerley meet, but the boys already told the Chief about it."
"Oh, God," Carol interrupted, a pinched expression on her would-be pretty face. "Look."
The group all turned to see what she was talking about. Johnathan Byers stood at one of the cork boards, posting a flier with Will's picture on it, the words "have you seen me" printed in big block letters.
"Oh, God. That's depressing," Steve said indifferently.
Nancy, however, looked sympathetic. Their brothers had been friends since kindergarten after all. "Should we say something?"
Carol stifled a laugh. "I don't think he speaks."
Mads leveled her with a glare that would have curdled any milk within a five-mile radius. Carol tried to smirk, but it came off as a crooked grimace. Good. Be afraid little bitch queen.
"How much you wanna bet he killed him?" Tommy joked.
This time it was Eddie's turn to glare. "Have some respect," he hissed, a whirlwind of leather and metal and wild hair. "The guy's brother is missing."
"Maybe you helped kill him, Manson," Tommy sneered, stepping up to Eddie's challenge. "You and your witch bitches for your family's helter-skelter Devil's sacrament or whatever."
"Shut up," Steve commanded, shoving an arm between the two boys before anything could escalate further.
Nancy shoved her way around the group, heading straight for Jonathan, Mads hot on her heels. He looked a wreck. His hair was always disheveled, and his clothes always appeared a little ratty – he was poor after all. But never had either girl seen Jonathan Byers look so… so ghostly. The bruise-like smudges under his eyes indicated he hadn't been sleeping and his despondent manner made Mads' heart squeeze painfully in her chest.
"Have you seen me?" jumped out at her from the bulletin board. She had seen Will. She had touched him, spoken to him, but she had no way to return him to his family. No way to make things right.
"Hey," Nancy said, catching his attention.
"Oh," Jonathan said, seeing the both of them standing there. "Hey."
"I," Nancy looked over at Mads. "We, just wanted to say, you know… um… Sorry about everything."
"If there's anything we can do, let us know," Mads interjected, trying not to side eye Nancy.
"…Right, thanks," Jonathan said warily.
"How's your mom?"
"A wreck."
Mads' chest ached. Of course she was a wreck… Her little boy was missing. Good lord, she'd become so soft. Or she already was and Kali just sharpened the hard parts of her until she forgot about the softness.
"Everyone's thinking of you," Nancy said, looking back at the crowd they'd left behind. Tris and Eddie, who stood off to the side from Nancy's group, waved. Everyone else, besides Barb who also gave a little wave, looked bored and uninterested. Jonathan and Mads remained silent, knowing Nancy's words were very nearly false.
"It sucks," she continued, fidgeting slightly.
Mads could barely keep from rolling her eyes. Nancy just pitied this boy because their brothers were friends and she was actually somewhat decent. Her platitudes fell flat, though, mostly because she fell in with the preppy, white picket fence rebels who enjoyed tormenting everyone who differed slightly from their pattern of perfection.
"Yeah," Jonathan, his frustration obvious in his tone and stiff body language.
Before Nancy could make things any more awkward, Mads gingerly placed her hand on Jonathan's shoulder, patting it once. "Will's a smart kid, we'll find him. I know it's hard, but he'll be okay."
Though she doubted the truth of her own words, Jonathan seemed to appreciate them. He met her gaze with such a hopeful sincerity that hardened her resolve. She was going to bring Will home.
The bell rang shrill and loud in their ears.
"I have to go." Nancy laughed nervously, backing away. "Chemistry test."
"Yeah," Jonathan said as Mads nodded, eyeing her pointedly.
"Good luck."
"Thanks."
Eddie and Tris joined them as Nancy and her group left without another word towards their classes. The principal's voice filtered over the PA system announcing an assembly to support the Byers family. Mads ignored it, grateful for Nancy and her friends' departure, there was something she needed to ask Jonathan.
"Did…" she began nervously, looking around to make sure they weren't being overheard. Tris and Eddie made good privacy blockers as they were both taller than her. "Did something weird happen last night? Anything you can think of?"
"Why? What's this about?" Jonathan asked, looking between the three of them warily.
Tris crossed her arms, leaning her weight into her left hip. "Just answer the question, Byers."
"Hey," Eddie admonished, pulling her ear. "This isn't an interrogation. We're tryin' to help."
Jonathan continued his wary stare as Tris rubbed her sore ear, but his eyes lit up. "Yeah, actually… There is something. The phone electrocuted my mom last night and blew up. She thinks Will was on the other end before that happened. Hopper said it was because of the electrical storm, but I've never heard of that happening before. Mom should be out right now getting a new one in case Will somehow tries to get ahold of us."
The phone. The phone. Will was calling his mom last night when she was in the Vale with him. She heard Joyce's voice on the other end and it electrocuted her. Which means there might be a way for the two worlds to connect so Will can get through, outside of the Lab.
"That is weird," Mads agreed, Tris and Eddie exchanging glances behind her. "Thanks Jonathan, and good luck finding Will. Like I said, let us know if you think of anything we can help with."
"You're welcome…?" He said as she rushed from the building.
The three of them stood there awkwardly, Tris fidgeting with her bracelets.
"Nice poster," she commented, then reddened in mortification. "I-I mean, you did a nice job making it, not that a missing persons poster would be cool or anything."
"My god," Eddie muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose while Jonathan actually cracked a genuine smile.
Mads burst through the double doors again, startling them.
"Guys," she shouted, waving them over. "Van. Now. We're ditching today."
"You didn't hear that, Byers," Tris warned good-naturedly with a mischievous grin, rushing to meet Mads.
"Got it," he replied with a slightly hollow laugh.
"Hey," Eddie said, sticking his hand out. "We're gonna do everything we can, okay?"
Jonathan shook the other boy's hand; a firm resolve alight in his eyes. He didn't know these three well, and wasn't sure he wanted to, but he trusted them when they said they wanted to help. "Thank you."
"Gimmie some of those fliers and we'll post them while we're out?" Eddie requested gently.
Jonathan complied, feeling slightly shaken up. Eddie "The Freak" Munson patted his shoulder on his way past, holding the papers out to the girls who were gesturing wildly for him to hurry up. Jonathan couldn't help but feel taken aback by their insistence on helping. He'd barely exchanged a few words with any of them growing up, much less the new girl. And they all looked more like outcasts than he did.
Shaking his head a little, as if to clear it, Jonathan turned and followed them out of the school. Hopper had warned him to stay in town, to be close for his mother, but he had other plans. The trio of oddballs had sharpened his determination to find his brother tenfold. He knew what he had to do. It was time to see his father.
"So why are we ditching?" Eddie asked, the three of them in his van, headed towards town. "Not that I'm complaining or anything. Today was gonna be a real drag."
"Mirkwood," Mads said cryptically.
"I don't think Will is traipsing around with Wood Elves getting drunk off his ass, Mads," Tris said, pouting because Mads had called shotgun before her.
"Did you even hear what Nancy Wheeler told us?" Mads asked, peering back at her over the seat.
"That Will takes some spooky road home from the Wheeler house?" Tris supplied, still petulant.
"Mirkwood, or the road where Cornwallis and Kerley meet," Mads said patiently, a smug smile plastered on her glossy pink lips. "That road borders the Hawkins National Laboratory."
"No," Tris gasped, earlier complaints all forgotten. "How did you know that?"
"I've been canvasing this place for over a month, Tris." Mads tried to hold back her laughter. She really did.
"That's incredible…" Tris breathed. "It's coincidental at best, but knowing what we know… The Lab has to have had something to do with him disappearing."
"What are we headed towards town for, then?" Eddie asked.
"Supplies," Mads replied just as cryptically as she answered his first question.
Minutes later, they were parked in front of Melvald's in the spot right next to Joyce's green 76 Pinto, heading inside. The store was busy, filled with people shopping for Christmas, but Mads easily spotted Joyce. She looked even worse than Jonathan. Her hair was a mess, her face was reddened and puffy like she couldn't stop crying, and she looked like she had slept in her clothes.
Don was behind the cash register, writing her a check, a pack of Camels' brand cigarettes and a new phone sat on the counter next to them. Without hesitation, Mads hurried to the counter, pulling her wallet from her backpack.
"Don," she said, catching his attention by laying a hand on his arm. "It's on me, okay? Whatever Joyce needs, it's on me."
"No," Joyce started, argument forming on her lips. "I can't let you do that sweetie."
"Joyce, anything you need, please, let me get it for you. I have plenty in savings, please. Let me help," Mads insisted, pulling the money from her wallet.
Did she feel guilty? Yes, absolutely. Would buying Joyce a new phone fix anything? Probably not, but it would make both her and Joyce feel better if she had it. This was the very least Mads could do for her right now. Until she could see Will safely into Joyce's arms in any case.
"Don, no," Joyce continued to protest.
"I'll pay for the smokes…" Eddie stepped forward, placing a dollar-twenty-five on the counter.
Joyce, having met Eddie on a few occasions – scaring him with her motherly nature as much as she had Mads at first – glared fiercely at him, her eyes filling with tears. She was glaring at them so hard that she didn't even notice Tris sneaking a small bag of chocolates and the necessary cash for them onto the counter.
"Mrs. Byers, let us help," Eddie begged, and the tears began to fall.
Don, patiently, rang up all the items and put them in a brown paper bag at the end of the counter while Joyce gathered Mads into her arms, holding her tightly for a moment, then doing the same to Eddie, who reddened and looked mortified. Tris handed the bag to Joyce when she released the poor, blushing boy and found herself wrapped in a bone crushing hug of her own.
"Thank you," Joyce said fiercely, eyes blazing. "All of you."
"Please don't thank me," Mads said, she was totally undeserving.
"Thank you," Joyce repeated and kissed her cheek before taking her check from Don and exiting the store.
They stood there for a few moments, watching her struggle into the Pinto with her bag. Once she pulled away, Don cleared his throat, giving the kids a pointed look from across the counter.
"And what are you three doing out of school?"
They all smiled sheepishly at him, fiddling with their hair or jewelry. Mads had better come up with a good explanation or they were all going to be in big trouble should Don decide to tell the school.
"I just couldn't concentrate knowing Joyce was struggling so much…" Mads said, turning her big doll eyes on him. "We decided to get her a few things to help her out and maybe cheer her up."
"I guess we picked a good time to show up…" Tris said, toeing the ground with her shoe.
Don sighed deeply, shaking his head. "Madison, I can't fault you for wanting to do something nice for Joyce, but don't let me catch you three ditching school again."
"Right, of course," Mads agreed, nodding her head, with pursed lips and a comically serious expression.
Don stared at them for another beat, then waved them off and headed to his office, closing the door pointedly behind him. Once he was gone, Mads turned to her friends, eyes sparkling. They glanced at each other cautiously. There was never a dull moment, that was for sure.
"Jeffery's the only one manning the store right now, but Don could come back out at any time so we have to hurry," Mads said, grinning like the cat that caught the canary.
"And what are we getting, oh mischievous one, great planner and destroyer of suburban show-offs?" Eddie asked as they followed her through the store.
She led them through the aisles, brightly colored Christmas decorations, candies, and stocking stuffers on nearly every endcap. Christmas had never been a holiday she enjoyed. There was nothing to explode, no wild parties to attend, and was always wet and cold. But she finally stopped at the aisle she was looking for, smiling.
"Snacks!" She gestured to the rows in front of them.
After Melvald's, the three teenagers posted Jonathan's fliers then ransacked the Hunting & Camping store, ignoring the suspicious glances of the owner as they purchased their items: a hunting rifle, four boxes of shells, two hunting knives each, kerosene, lighters, and Tris had to have the animal bone keychain she found – Look, it was so cool.
They were on their way to Mirkwood, Mads elbow deep in a family sized bag of nacho cheese Doritos, orange dust stuck in the lip gloss she hadn't eaten off. She needed to keep her energy up for whatever they were about to do, and high calorie foods were going to help with that. Hence, the snacks.
While driving, Eddie leaned over and pulled some paper napkins from the glove compartment, causing the car to swerve. Tris, who wasn't wearing a seatbelt, fell against the van wall with a shout.
"Hey!" Mads shouted, glaring at him. "I'm going to drive if you keep this up!"
"You have Doritos all over your face," he grinned at her, holding out the napkins. "Makes you look like a three-year-old."
Mads "harumphed" and snatched the napkins from his hand, wiping her face and fingers carefully.
"Next time you decide to play mother, can you warn me?" Tris asked, rubbing her head.
"Maybe you should wear a safety belt," Mads commented.
"Says the girl who exclusively drives a motorcycle."
"Touché."
An eerie silence greeted them when they reached their destination. There were no forest sounds, nothing to indicate any wild animal activity. Even the trees were silent. Unease settled over them like a heavy blanket as the frigid air kissed their exposed skin. Something wasn't right here.
"So, what are we looking for?" Tris asked, hands deep in the pockets of her coat.
"Anything out of the ordinary," Mads replied, taking both her knives from the bag at the back of the van and snapping the guards onto her beltloops. She didn't need weapons, but it had made her friends feel better for having them. And they looked wicked cool.
Eddie loaded the gun and shoved a box of shells into his coat pocket. His uncle wasn't one for hunting, but since he had to leave his nephew home alone so often, he made sure to teach him how to properly use a firearm. Something Eddie was never more grateful for than right now.
Both he and Tris copied Mads, snapping the knives onto their beltloops before the trio headed into the forest, dead leaves crunching beneath their feet. It wasn't long until they could no longer see the road. Much of the ground had been disturbed in the search for Will, leaving them little to comb over. Thankfully, the volunteers had turned to other places to search.
After walking for a while, they came across a large drainage pipe, big enough for a small child to crawl through. Barely big enough for her when she was just eleven years old and terrified, bleeding, and desperate.
"Here…" She breathed, touching the concrete with shaking fingers. "I came through right here."
"You mean this drain leads to the Lab?" Eddie asked, kicking at it with his booted foot.
"There's an opening on the grounds…" Mads replied, but her voice sounded far away… her eyes glazed over, wide and fearful.
Thin, coltish legs stumbled through the dark splattered with mud and wet grass. Her bare feet were cold and pain shot up through them each time she stepped on some sharp, unidentified thing on the ground. The hospital gown she always wore clung to her thin frame.
Mads hadn't remembered being so skinny… she had begun "budding", as Papa – Dr. Fucking Brenner – called it, early and 002 and some of the others would make fun of her for the hips and painful breasts she had started developing. Peter and the nice nurse told her it was normal, that it happened to everyone, but she had been skeptical because Peter didn't have breasts. He laughed at that and patted her cheek. Told her she was going to be so, so lovely.
She now hated that she liked it when he said that.
So… why was she so thin? Her frame slid through the tunnel with ease, and Mads had remembered having to wriggle her hips a little bit to get through. The fear, the utter near-debilitating terror, was the same. The need to run was the same. The hospital gown was the same. But her body felt wrong, different.
Then she exited the drain and ran, wet leaves sticking to her feet, legs, arms. But… where was the rain? Why were there so many leaves? It was a forest, there were always leaves, but when she left it was before they began to fall from the trees. It had been storming, washing the blood from her neck, stinging her cuts. There was no rain, and no dull, throbbing ache in her neck. Just fear, thick and palpable.
The leaves made her feet slick as she bolted through the trees, running towards who knows what, and who knows where.
Mads felt very confused. Sure, it had been cold when she escaped, it had been storming after all, but not this biting. And no one had been in this forest when she escaped. No one had known she escaped in the first place until 001 likely stumbled back up the stairs with an embellished story of her flight.
Now she was in a big, yellow t-shirt, and the rain was back. It was cold, so, so cold… Hiding, she was hiding. She ran and ran, and hid again when people came walking by calling the same word over and over. "Will". That was what they were saying.
This memory was wrong. All wrong.
Finally, she deemed it safe to make a run for it, scrambling out from her hiding place in the sparse underbrush, right into the beam of a flashlight. Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no. She couldn't move, she would have – Mads would have attacked – but this wrong body wouldn't obey her. It just stood there in the freezing rain as three young boys stared back at her in shock.
She knew their names. Lucas Sinclair, Dustin Henderson, and Mike Wheeler. Will's friends. But they couldn't be there, she was at least four or five years older than them. If this was her escape memory, then, why were they here the same age as she met them this year?
Everything was different.
Everything was wrong.
"Mads?" Tris whispered, touching her shoulder.
A violent shudder wracked through her, sharp pain slicing through her palm. 011. Her wrist was bare. 011. Her body was different. 011. It wasn't raining. 011. It was the end of summer. 011. Will wasn't missing.
011 had escaped.
And she saw everything.
A howl shattered the silence of the woods, jerking her aggressively back to reality. She looked this way, and that but saw nothing. The dam on her abilities broke and she reached out in every direction at once, searching for whatever it was that made that god-awful sound.
And there, not a hundred feet away, standing to its full height from the undergrowth was the monster. Staring right at them. Or, she assumed it was, it had no eyes that she could see.
"Fuck," Eddie squeaked, voice trembling. His knuckles turned white as he gripped his gun tightly.
"What the hell is that?" Tris hissed, fumbling with her knives.
"The monster." Mads shifted into a defensive stance, though her hands rested at her sides.
The creature gave off a warble, moving as though it was scenting them. Then it charged, its lumbering forms sending seismic tremors through the ground, the trees trembled with every step. Mads' eyes locked onto the monster, the anger and hatred she felt from her escape still coursing through her; though, she was no longer in the memory – hers or 011's.
"Mads," Tris shouted in alarm, legs poised to flee. "It would be real nice if you could demonstrate those powers of yours for me right about now!"
"I second that motion!" Eddie yelled, aiming the rifle at the creature with trembling hands.
A deep breath in and Mads closed her eyes, sensing along the forest floor for the monster's next move. When she exhaled, her eyes snapped open.
Boom!
A shockwave burst through the piles of leaves, growing wider with each foot it traveled. The cries of her friends were drowned out by the sheer noise of the amount of energy she sent coursing toward the creature. It didn't stand a chance. When the invisible mass of energy reached it, its massive body was flung backwards with a sickening crack.
The impact when it landed could be heard for miles around, but it was nowhere to be seen. Without a moment's hesitation, Mads charged off in the direction of the noise, legs pumping beneath her faster than she'd ever run before.
She would kill it.
That thing threatened her friends.
She would kill it.
"Mads!" Eddie screamed after her. "Mads what the fuck are you doing!?"
Tris bolted off after her, finally having freed her hunting knives from their sheathes, and left Eddie on his own. Shit. Fuck. Dammit. Shit. Shit. Shit.
"Aww, fuck," he said emphatically, shaking in his boots. Literally. Then took off after them, screaming. If his friends were going to jump off a bridge, then he guessed he would too. Dammit!
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" he yelled as he ran.
While the sound of the monster's impact was deafening, it hadn't flown very far, just far enough that it was out of sight in the dense foliage. Its body had taken a few trees down with it, which only served to slow it down some.
When her friends reached the scene, Mads was already engaged in a heated battle with the monster. Its screeching cries made their ears ring and its stench, like rotting meat and pond scum, filled their nostrils. They had never seen anything like it, not even in horror movies. And Mads… Mads was standing before it, untouched, like some… some superpowered freak. Which she was, but come on, it was easier to take her word for it than to see it in action. Especially like this.
With each lunge, it was flung backwards into a tree without so much as a finger lifted on Mads' part. Each swipe was met with an invisible force, blocking its attacks before they ever touched her. The anger she felt was radiating off her in waves, sinking deep into the ground and the air she breathed. Her blood roared in her ears and her vision blurred red. Her hands curled into fists, something warm and wet met the fingers on her right hand, but she paid it no mind.
It paced warily in front of her, warbling and growling as it looked for an opening. Mads smiled, beckoning it closer. This must have been how 001 felt when he massacred those children. Powerful, untouchable. Godlike.
A rush of air brushed past her ear and Tris screamed, but the thing didn't even reach her. It was flung backwards again, like Mads hadn't thought it would go for them. Stupid creature. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
This time, however, she kept it held aloft in the air, watching as it writhed and struggled against her telekinetic grip. She bared her teeth. Cocked her head.
Snap
Crack
A wounded shriek.
And then she released it, relishing in the shudder the ground gave when it landed. The clank of her boot buckles rang out sharply over the whimpers the creature emitted. When she reached it, observing the odd angles of the creature's right arm and its disjointed fingers with a detached sort of pleasure, she kicked it over.
Its responding shriek sent a thrill up her spine.
She raised her hand for the first time since she began her attack.
"Wait!" Eddie's cry rang out from behind her. "Mads! Don't kill it!"
"Are you fucking crazy!" Tris shouted in protest.
He jogged hesitantly over to her, stopping a few feet shy of her and the creature, rifle at the ready. Something had occurred to him, and if he was right, then this monster had to stay alive, for now.
"There's no way it's coming through that portal in the Lab still," he explained, hands trembling as he aimed the rifle.
"And?" Mads asked in that awful, detached voice she sometimes used when she saw things she didn't want to see. Or remembered things she didn't want to remember.
"And," Eddie continued, voice cracking a bit around the edges, much like his sanity. "That means this thing can jump between worlds another way. Either at will, or it's got its own portal somewhere else. And if we kill it, we won't know if we can get to Will or not."
"God – fucking – dammit," Tris breathed, eyes wide.
"You're saying I should let it go?" Mads asked.
"No, God no," Eddie insisted, inching closer. "Just… Let's see where it goes or if it can jump on its own so we can know for sure."
"He's right Mads," Tris agreed, shuffling up behind them. "If we kill it now, we might never get to Will."
Well fuck if they weren't right. This thing took Will, but it couldn't have dragged him into the Lab to bring him to the Vale. Ice filled her veins, her stomach, her head. The late November chill sliced through her clothes and past her skin, leaving her very soul frozen.
Kicking the creature away from her, Mads gestured for her friends to move backwards, slowly. It whimpered in pain when she stepped away, but stood on all fours, stumbling when its right arm couldn't hold its weight. It scrambled away on its remaining three legs, not daring to look back at its would-be prey.
But Mads was sure she hadn't seen the last of it yet. Will was still to be found.
They waited a few beats, at Eddie's insistence – which was fueled more by terror than survival instinct, before following its trail. The strange tracks it left were easy to follow in the muddier areas, and the drag marks of its injured limb where it was dry. The forest was still eerily silent, not even the wind whispered through the bare trees. Mads wondered how long it would take for the people at the Lab to send guards out here to check out the noise she and the monster made.
But for now, it was silent.
Even the monster's shuffling and cries of pain had ceased. They picked up their pace, uncaring of the noise their steps made in the deafening quiet. That was when they saw it.
Membranous and wet, like the gate Mads dreamed of – or the one she helped to create in the Lab, carved into the base of a tree. It pulsated and trembled, attempting to close over itself as though it had just been entered, but stayed the same size. It was baffling how such a large creature could fit through such a small hole. Like Alice, down, down, down into a topsy turvy place of nonsense and doom.
She was losing it, wasn't she?
"Well, that proves it," Eddie said, poking at the membrane with his rifle. "The thing can either create portals, or had another one that was created by something else."
"I'm leaning toward creating them," Tris agreed, also poking at it with her knife. "I mean, I'm no expert on the Vale in D&D, especially not the 'real life' version… but this looks fresh. Like a new wound."
"It is," Mads said, staring at it in horror.
If this thing could create its own portals, then there had to be more, meaning anything could come through from that world if it wanted. Anything. Anything, anything, anything.
Which meant that thing could come through and hunt her down. The being that sounded like a rasping, ruined version of the man she loved as a child and betrayed. Who betrayed her. Who wanted her dead or worse. Who showed her beautiful and terrible things.
And he would kill her friends, the people she was soft enough to let herself care for, love even. Then, once he was finished, he would take her. He would take her and do God knows what with her, but she knew she wouldn't survive it. Not whole, in any case.
Mads hand lifted of its own accord, dried blood crusting the heartlines, and squeezed. The portal folded in on itself, squelching wetly like a horrible wound. Eddie jumped back with a yelp, yanking his rifle with him before he lost it and Tris did the same with her knives.
Mads didn't stop until the bark reappeared, untouched, like the monster had never jumped through it to escape her. Her head throbbed, like the cut on her hand, and a rushing filled her ears. The familiar, sticky feeling of blood trickling over her lips told her that she had a nosebleed. Black spots dotted her vision and she began to sway on her feet.
But fuck, they needed to not only find Will, but close these portals before something worse got through. Something like that being who sounded like 001.
Tris caught her – dropping her knives in the leaves – before she fell to the ground, passing her to Eddie who was arguably stronger. His wiry arms wrapped around her, pulling her to his chest like a princess in the movies. She hoped, deliriously, that he'd put the safety lock back on his gun.
"Mads," he said as they walked. "I know you closed that for a reason, but don't you think you should let us in on why? We've gotta get to Will."
He sounded tense, scared.
"It can jump," she said wearily. "No doubt about it. There will be more portals, and each one left behind could let something else in. We don't need to leave each one open. You don't know what's in there…"
"Then why don't you fucking tell me!" He seethed. From what she could see through her blurred vision, his face was white save his reddened cheeks and nose due to the cold.
He was terribly frightened. Not for himself, she realized, but for her. Always for her. She had run off after the creature because she wanted to protect him, not thinking that he would fear for her life. Not thinking that the act of protecting him could also cause him pain.
Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest.
"Give her a break, Munson," Tris hissed, in step beside them. "We knew this was gonna be dangerous as hell, and we signed up for it anyway."
"Fuck off, Beatrice," Eddie snapped, eyes flashing.
"Oooh, if you weren't carrying her, I'd deck you for that."
"I'd love for you to try."
Curling her nails into Eddie's jacket, Mads listened for any signs of armed guards. When she heard nothing with her regular senses, she reached out, only to find not much of anything. The riot of emotions and thoughts coming from the building was overwhelming. Anxiety, fear, stress, frustration all mixed into the worst sort of cocktail she could imagine.
Below it all, however, was that watchful desire. Still searching, still waiting. Still wanting her with a fierceness that made her flinch in Eddie's safe, safe, safe arms causing him to halt his bickering with Tris.
"What?" He asked, still a bit sore at her.
"Nothing," she whispered and he sighed.
Liar.
Liarliarlair
"I'm scared…" she admitted finally. "Something's after me and 011 escaped and I don't understand what the fuck is going on and I'm terrified."
Her voice rose in pitch with each syllable and by the end of her sentence it was a broken cry. They were in sight of the van now, and Tris jogged away in silence to give her privacy. She knew Mads wouldn't want to see her tears. They could fill her in later.
"I mean, I'm just a junkie DM," Eddie said, holding her close, the tension in his body wound so tight he could snap at a moment's notice. "And this is the weirdest shit I've ever been in, but you're tough as hell, Mads. If anyone can fix this mess, you can."
"But what if I caused it?" She asked in a small voice, eyes pleading. For what, she didn't know.
"Then we fix it, together. You and me," Eddie promised with his easy smile. "And Buckly."
"Okay," she agreed after a beat.
"Okay." He grinned, with wild eyes and even wilder hair.
And just like that, his anger melted away. That was something she loved about him, he was hardly ever mad, and when he was, it was never for very long. He was so good; she'd known it the night they met. A good, good person. Once they reached the car, and Mads was settled safely in the front seat, Tris was ready with her questions, talking a mile a minute.
"You said that 011 kid escaped?" Was the only thing Mads could make out in her weakened state. One needed to be at their peak to deal with Tris once she got talking.
"I think so," Mads said slowly. "I can't be sure, but when I touched that storm drain, I somehow accessed a memory of hers. I thought it was mine at first, but the details were all wrong."
"Wow, for a secret government organization they really are stupid," Eddie laughed, turning the radio up a bit, "Jump in the Fire" beginning to blare through the speakers. How fitting.
"How so?" Tris asked, twisting her bone key-chain around on her finger.
"Three superpowered kids have escaped that facility, two through that storm drain in the woods – that we know of. They should have guards there at all times," Eddie explained, seemingly enjoying the fact that Dr. Brenner and the people who ran the Lab had overlooked such a small detail.
"To be fair," Mads interjected wryly. "I think that monster was in the Lab the other night, all the guards were probably too busy being massacred to guard a storm drain."
That didn't deflate him, however, which was just fine by Mads. She was glad he wasn't angry with her. She never wanted him to be angry with her. That was something she didn't know how to deal with. Eddie was her person, and if her person was ever not happy with her it would be devastating. Absolutely devastating.
What did deflate Eddie though, was the sight of James Wilson standing, arms crossed, in front of Mads' door. The scowl on his face could put the fear of God in the most devoted of atheists.
"Oh shit," Mads breathed, gripping her armrest in terror.
"Oh shit," Tris agreed with a squeak.
"We're dead," Eddie said, sounding as though he'd aged centuries in a few seconds.
And he descended upon them like an archangel from Heaven, his eyes blazing as though they encapsulated a thousand suns. There was no need for weapons, for the look on his face cleaved them in two before he ever reached them. Mads had never known the wrath of a worried father, how was she to know it would be so godlike?
My ears are stuffy af and ringing like a motherfucker, I've got allergies and panic attacks man. Also, this chapter just did not want to be written. At all. It was mean and bullied me, so I bullied it back and wrote it. I hope you enjoyed, please spare me a comment, I like yelling at y'all about these dorks.
Also, Jamie Bower is such a king for reading those thirst tweets. Hearing him say "squelches wetly" like five times had me on the floor.
Title taken from "Paralysed" by Jamie Campbell Bower on the album "Prologue (Live from the Altar)" released in 2020 (if you couldn't tell lmao).
Thanks for the favorites, follows, and reviews! I appreciate each one! (Please don't forget to leave a review if you liked the story so far!)
This is the "mixtape" I created for this fic. It's not entirely period accurate, but I feel like these songs fit the theme of the show and characters.
playlist/2w0Fg6UPmVvj5L3EIMRYfw?si=d8e38810c96f4875
