A/N: Y'AAAAALL. It has been SO long! How have you guys been? I started taking a summer course and it was so much work that I hardly had time for any of my hobbies, never mind writing. I did a little bit here and there, but I ended up having to put this fic on a little hiatus in order to do my studies… But you might be happy to hear that I ended up getting an A overall. lol! Well, I won't make you wait any longer. Please enjoy!

Friday, May 29, 1987

'Shit. Shit. Shit, shit, shit!'

Her lungs burned like balloons full of fire as she ran through the familiar twists and turns of the back alley, her mind racing at 1000 miles a minute. She kept trying to convince herself to calm down, to mute all but the most sensible of the arguing voices in her head, but it was hard to do when her heart was throbbing in her chest. Nevertheless, she needed a clear mind so that she could navigate these streets and remember their escape plan. They had never really needed it before because her gift had always kept them safe, but now, she had somehow found herself sprinting between buildings and climbing over fences with little regard for the fresh blood splattered on her cheek. That was a trauma she would have to set aside for later. Instead, she tried to just focus on what she was doing, force her body to continue even as it protested, and push the relentless panic away: 'They saw us! They saw us! How the fuck did they see us?!'

"Keep running!" cried Funshine between gasps for air from somewhere close behind her. She didn't look, but she could feel Dottie to her left, part of her shirt torn by the jagged edge of the fence they'd just jumped and her face red with tears. When it happened, they all immediately scattered in two different directions, almost as if the action were choreographed. Axel and Mick could take care of themselves – Kali knew this – but Dottie was now the youngest member of the group and had always been the most emotionally vulnerable of them all. Kali was glad at least that she didn't end up alone in the chaos… but Koichi...

Kali never quite figured out the 13-year-old boy's story. He was a tall, lanky kid of Japanese descent, Kali figured, with a dark mullet that was slightly purple in some places (the result of a home dye job) and a piercing on the right side of his bottom lip. He reminded her of a miniature version of those guys Axel liked – X-Japan, Kali thought the band was called. One day, he just showed up like a shadow in the night with nothing but the clothes on his back and an acoustic guitar.

"Hey. I heard you could help me."

That was all he said the first time they'd met.

Koichi was very quiet save for the hours he'd spend laying around in their hideout, strumming on Joanie, his guitar which he'd named after Joan Jett (he had a huge, obvious crush on her). When he did speak, it was often with a mostly smoked cigarette hanging out of one corner of his mouth, his low raspy voice halfway through that of a man and a child. Koichi would mostly avoid the topic of his origins (although Kali suspected he was a runaway) and instead preferred talking about music.

"What do you listen to?

"You ever hear Symptom of the Universe by Black Sabbath?

"What about Alice Cooper? I can play some'n for ya if you like.

"Aw dude, there's a Guns n' Roses song about that exact kinda shit.

"I snuck into a Kiss concert once. Some guy punched me in the face. It was fucking sick."

He was a little like El in that he refused to kill, so instead, the homeless pre-teen ended up being a welcome pacifist fixture at their little shelter. They all came to view Koichi as a sort of little brother figure – this was especially true for team mom, Mick, who would often end up falling asleep to the gentle strumming of the little guy's guitar after a long discussion about philosophy and life on the street. He could be incredibly insightful when you caught him in the right mood.

It took a while to finally figure out what Koichi's talent was (aside from music, of course) since he never liked to talk about himself. Kali's realization didn't even come from any conversation directly on the topic (not that she hadn't asked, but he had a very peculiar way of being able to sidestep anything he didn't want to discuss further). They were all lounging about, Axel leaning against Koichi, strumming a song Kali didn't recognize on his guitar.

"Got a cig?" Koichi asked nonchalantly, putting a pause on his playing and carefully setting Joanie down beside him. He was way too young to be smoking of course, but no one really denied him the pleasure.

Axel dug in is jacket pockets until he produced a pack and held out a stick for the kid to take.

"Thanks, bro."

"Not too many of these, ya hear?" Axel's morals in this regard may have been a little lax, but even he wasn't entirely comfortable with limitlessly permitting Koichi's habit. As he reached around to grab his lighter, Kali noticed Koichi hold the cigarette by the tip between his thumb and forefinger, focusing hard on it until a thin line of smoke slowly began to wisp its way out of his hand. Kali couldn't tell if she'd seen Koichi's pale skin glow for half a second or if it was just in her head. Just then, Axel jumped up from his spot with a yelp, a sudden sweat breaking out all over his face. "Whoa! What the hell!"

"Ah, sorry! My bad!" Realizing that he'd just flash baked his friend by accident, Koichi grinned and stuck the unlit side of the cigarette in his mouth. "I still haven't learned to localize that yet."

And so it was confirmed that Koichi was just like Kali and El – gifted, Kali called it. He had no mark on him and had never been referred to with a number. The monsters who stole Kali's childhood had thankfully never touched his, and yet, her relief at that fact was short-lived when she remembered that he had nonetheless ended up there with her instead of living like a normal child. He was 13 years old and already homeless, smoking, and cussing like an aged rock star. His eyes were encircled by dark rings which gave them an almost bruised quality and, in his teeth, Kali noticed the beginnings of tobacco staining. Koichi had scars on his body that he would not explain and when he spoke about life (but never his life), it sounded like he had lived it 1000 times. No, Koichi had never been trapped in a stale depressing laboratory nor had he ever been treated like a science experiment by a group of adults who ultimately cared very little for him, but somehow his childhood had still been stolen anyway (by who exactly, Kali was unsure). The world damned them if they were inside of Hawkins Lab and damned them if they'd never so much as touched the soil around the facility. The thought kept her up some nights: Who in the world hated people like them so much that this could be true?

Maybe she had gotten her answer that night.

It all happened so fast that it seemed like a blur. When Funshine ran in saying someone was coming, they assumed it was the police again. No big deal. They would need to move their hideout, but they were used to constantly being on the run. Koichi had already learned the most important rule: When shit goes down, stick close to Kali and don't make a sound. And that he did. They all stood in place while Kali envisioned an illusion of an empty room in her mind. There were footsteps as the intruders ascended the stairs. The illusion user focused on them as the sound grew louder. Beside her, she could feel a sudden warmth wrap around her hand. She turned slightly to see Koichi, his chest rising and falling, an uncharacteristic anxiety in his eyes. He was afraid of being caught by the bad guys, it was like he'd hardly noticed that he had grabbed her. The cool, relaxed attitude he wore as a shield dropped, and for the first time, Kali could see him for what he truly was: just a scared kid who didn't deserve what was happening to him. She let her fingers wrap tightly, reassuringly around his trembling palm. A sudden intense feeling of resolve pulsed through Kali's body at that moment. She would defend her crew with her life if she had to. She would defend Koichi. She would steal back the bits and pieces of what remained of his childhood for him. With her comforting grip on his hand, she made that silent promise. Before the footsteps grew any closer, Kali cast her illusion as she had so many times before and to the outside world, the group ceased to exist.

Seconds later, two figures had made their way up and were standing in the group's temporary residence when Kali realized she could hear another sound. The intruders both wore dark clothing, their faces hidden underneath their hoods, and there was a tiny green light shining on each of their chests. One of them – a woman, presumably – seemed to be walking around muttering to herself. Kali was confused. Mick flinched inaudibly behind her. Those weren't police, so who the hell were they?

Kali's eyes fixated on the silent one – a young man, as far as she could gather from what little of his facial features the light of the green stone of his necklace illuminated. Even under his dark hood, she could still make out his eyes and there was something about his gaze that she found so… unsettling. It was so focused and meaningful. Unwavering, like an archer drawing his bow and taking aim at some unsuspecting animal from behind a layer of thick underbrush.

It was almost as if he could still see her.

Somewhere to Kali's left, the woman stopped pacing and turned to face the group. The green light only revealed the lower half of her face and her lips were still moving ever so slightly. She was just about finished with her whispering and that was when she drew her handgun. Kali felt a sinking feeling in her gut and the instinct to run began shouting at her in her head. That was when she realized… It hadn't worked. Somehow, Kali's illusion had failed. But there was an air of confusion that fell over the group. They had so much confidence in Kali's abilities that a part of them said the women couldn't possibly be aiming at them on purpose. Before any of them even could think to move, the woman's muttering finally met a conclusion.

"Amen," she whispered, the gun at her side making a clicking noise.

"Amen," echoed the young man, and the next thing Kali heard after that was a muted pop. Dottie shrieked in terror, Axel's voice cracked as a curse word struck the air, Mick called Koichi's name as if her voice could possibly reach him at that moment, Funtime roared at everyone to run, and Kali's now empty hand suddenly felt so incredibly cold.

Saturday, May 30, 1987

Will casually licked off the caesar dressing that had ended up on the top knuckle of his thumb and went back to mixing the bacon bits into the salad. Chester laid lazily in his dog bed, chewing on a rope toy and enjoying the setting sun in the corner of the room near the backyard. El in her neon colour-blocked top was at work beside Will, mashing potatoes and humming along with I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) on the radio. Dance-pop wasn't Will's cup of tea per se (thanks to Jonathan, Will was more of a rock music type of guy), but Whitney Houston wasn't bad. He liked her voice and a lot of her music was catchier than he'd like to admit. But it didn't really matter what they were listening to because Will was just happy to see El feeling so cheerful after the month she'd had. It was still hard for her to find sleep every night with the possibility of surprise visits, but the excitement of being able to see her older step-brother and his pregnant girlfriend was enough to take her mind off of how tired she often felt.

Will was excited too. With both their lives changing so much, he and Jonathan could not hang out exactly the way they did when they were kids. In the old days, it was so easy for Will to just walk across the hall to knock on his big brother's door for any reason he could come up with. Now, they didn't even live together in the same house. It wasn't that the two never saw each other. Jonathan always made an effort to make time for his brother and Will did the same. At least once every week, it was customary for Will and El to finish their homework quickly and make their way over to Jonathan and Nancy's apartment for either game or movie night (and when that was impossible, the couple came to the Byers-Hopper house instead). On some nights, the quartet would make mini-pizzas (something the brothers did out of necessity when their father was too hungover to go grocery shopping but it also happened to be fun) and fire up the Atari that Will had brought from home. On other nights, they would make popcorn on the stove and catch El up on all the great Disney classics she had missed in her childhood (Bambi was always Jonathan's favourite and Will and Nancy liked Sleeping Beauty, but El found she preferred Robin Hood so far).

Board game nights were fun too if not a little chaotic. Sometimes the night seemed to call for Dungeons and Dragons, a game that Nancy and Jonathan only kind of knew how to play while El had been growing into her mage role with the Party already, so she and Will the Wise would double as guides to their little fantasy world. Other nights were Monopoly nights where everyone's wild side tended to burst forth in a cloud of paper money, laughter and junk food-fueled drama. Thanks to Will's creativity, the chaos was matched by their use of props – among other things, a large cardboard box labelled "jail" that players sat in when their game piece was also behind bars, a crown for the prospective winner which would be mercilessly snatched from their head if they fell behind another player... If Mike wasn't too busy, they would often invite him and Holly over too. Surprisingly, the youngest sister at only 7 years old was the most competitive of all of them at Monopoly, but it all made things a little more interesting. Holly played as if she lived solely to wear the painted cardboard crown.

Peppered between these events were random trips to the ice cream parlour on Main Street, the local pizza joint or the old arcade where Will and Jonathan could have some alone time. Will missed having his big brother so close, but times had changed. He was mature enough in his mid-teens to understand that Jonathan had to take off in his own direction sooner or later and some day that would be him too, but that didn't necessarily mean he didn't miss the feeling of knowing that his brother was only a few feet away.

Suddenly, the timer on the oven went off, pulling Will back from his thoughts and alerting him to the fact that the salad was indeed thoroughly mixed just as Never Gonna Give You Up (a song Will despised, but watching El sway happily to it made it much more tolerable) started playing on the radio. In walked Joyce at a slightly rushed pace, still putting her nice earrings on before she opened the oven door to check on the pork chops. That night's dinner wasn't really formal – after all, it was just Jon and Nancy – but there was something in the air that made everyone feel like that night would be special. Maybe it was the pregnancy or maybe it was the young couple's long absence, but Joyce was thankful for an occasion to primp herself up a little bit outside of going on dates with Hop or to church on Sunday (something she could do now that she wasn't working ridiculous hours).

"Another ten minutes should do it," Joyce muttered to herself and adjusted the timer. She then turned her attention to the duo at the table. "How are the sides coming?"

"Just finished the salad," Will replied, pulling the plastic tongs out of the bowl.

"The potatoes are done too," reported El before going back to singing along with Rick Astley.

"Thank you both very much," Joyce smiled, checking over a plate of corn on the cob before turning back to the kids. The way she was hovering about made her look a little bit like a fancy bee, her yellow blouse that reminded her of sunshine tucked fashionably into high-waisted pants. "Would you two mind setting the table? They should be here any minute."

"Sure, mom," Will nodded and turned to get the good plates and silverware out of the cabinet to hand to his approaching step-sister.

As quickly as she'd came, Joyce was already gone to check on her boyfriend by the time the step siblings had laid the first silver spoon in its place. The two worked to the ambiance of the old radio cassette player which Jonathan had only used to make mixtapes back in the day. He'd upgraded some time while the family was living in Maine and left his younger siblings the old machine when he had moved out. There was a bounce in El's step as she continued to surround the plates Will placed with the correct silver pieces.

"What do you think they'll name them?"

"Huh?" Will asked, El's voice bringing him out of his thoughts.

"The baby's name. What do you think it'll be?"

"Probably something weird," Will chuckled to himself, holding the last kischy dish that Great Aunt Darlene had given them one Christmas in his hands. When El gave him a quizzical look, he explained further. "I mean, maybe Nancy likes normal names, but I remember Jonathan wanted to name Chester 'Zeppelin'."

"'Zeppelin'?" she repeated in disbelief. The aforementioned pet glanced at them in response to hearing his name, but swiftly went back to what he was doing.

"Like Led Zeppelin," explained Will. "Granted, he was like 12, he thought the word sounded cool, and I'm not sure if he knew it meant 'blimp', but still."

A smile stretched across El's face and she let out a little laugh. Will returned her laughter when their attention was suddenly diverted to the sound of the doorbell.

Hopper was coming up from the basement with a bottle of wine he'd gotten from the cold storage in one arm and some sparkling apple cider in the other when the teenagers zipped past him and almost made him drop everything.

"Whoa! Hey!" he cried out, clutching the two bottles closer to his body. "Jesus, kids!"

Will glanced back apologetically while El turned to face the older man. "Sorry, dad!" she called and continued to spin around until she was sprinting toward the front door with Will. In the light of the setting sun, they could see two figures, one a little taller than the other, standing together in the frosted window of the front door. Just as they reached them, the two had to stop abruptly when Joyce appeared seemingly out of nowhere to let their visitors in. She jumped and let out a little yip when she saw her son and her boyfriend's daughter just barely avoid colliding into her, Chester following briskly behind out of sheer curiosity for what all the commotion was about. When he finally detected a hint of two remarkably familiar scents, the dog began to bark excitedly, his tail wagging behind him as he jumped up onto his hind legs. The two figures at the door visibly shifted at whatever portion of the chaos they could gather from outside.

"Will! El!" Joyce cried out, a little annoyed that the teens were galloping about so carelessly.

"Sorry, mom," Will replied, bending down to try to get ahold of a bouncing Chester while his mother reached for the door handle with a sigh. She could forgive them for their enthusiasm.

El stood on her tiptoes and peered through the widening crack in the door with anticipation as it slowly swung open and Joyce's voice rang out at her guests. "Hello! Oh my gosh!"

Jonathan and Nancy stepped in, greeting the family with huge smiles on their faces and their arms flung open to hug anyone who reached them. Hopper had joined them by then with a loud 'Hey!' and caught Jonathan fresh from Will's arms in his one-armed embrace, giving the younger man a few amiable pats on the back while his girlfriend held her son's partner tightly as if she could somehow also reach her developing grandchild through Nancy's petite body.

"Ooooh, it's so good to see you!" Joyce said as she squeezed Nancy against her and shook her slightly from side to side.

Nancy laughed into the older woman's shoulder. "I've missed you, Joyce! I've been so sick these past few weeks."

"We've missed you both too," said the older mother. "I'm sorry you've been sick. Pregnancy isn't easy, hun, I've suffered through it twice… but I'm so happy for you two."

"Aw, Joyce…" Nancy wasn't sure if it was the hormones, but she had to fight back happy tears at Joyce's words. Seeing this and understanding the emotional toll of carrying a child, the other woman embraced her again.

"How's it goin', kid?" asked Hopper, pulling back to look at the future father and taking one shoulder in his hand.

"We've been good! How are things here?"

"Not bad, not bad," Hopper replied, proudly folding his arms over his chest. "We've been doing work on the house."

"I've heard," Jonathan nodded, remembering the sound of construction in the back of some of his phone calls to his family.

"Jon!" called Will, taking his brother's arm in the same way he always used to before he grew to match his big brother's height. "You should see my room now. I've got all this new shelving… and a new stereo!"

"Damn, a stereo!" Jonathan remarked in awe.

"Yup, saved up for it myself," Will announced proudly. He had recently landed a part-time job at the local movie theatre. The family was in a much better state financially than back when Jonathan was Will's age, so he was happy to see his brother's paycheque going toward fun things for himself.

"Come to my room after!" El exclaimed and then turned to Nancy, taking her hand. "Wanna come see? Max and I were redecorating the other day."

"Sure," Nancy smiled and then turned back to Hopper and Joyce. "Is that okay?"

"Of course, go on," waved Joyce.

"Give us another 20 minutes," Hopper said. "The kids have been dying to show you guys around anyway."

And with that, the couple was pulled up the stairs and in opposite directions down the hall by each teenager, Joyce giggling at their enthusiasm while she and her boyfriend made their way back into the kitchen.

Jonathan gave an impressed whistle at the stereo system sitting beneath the wall shelf as if he were eyeing a shiny new car. The sleek silver machine glistened underneath the light of the ceiling fan; its dark wood panels polished to perfection. Will took a lot of pride in caring for the thing. It was the single most expensive purchase he'd ever made in his young life. For a while, he had been thinking of buying a Philips model he'd seen while visiting Lucas at RadioShack. That one was also very nice and Lucas was willing to let Will use his employee discount to get it, but then he saw it. Will caught one chance glimpse at the expensive Sony stereo while sorting through mail and instantly fell in love. The Philips was nice alright with its dual CD and cassette players and its large speakers, but the model by Sony also had a turntable at the top that Will just had to have, even if it meant more hours at the theatre. Jonathan could also remember seeing the beautiful machine himself in the Sears catalogue that would always find its way into his and Nancy's mailbox, but with their financial obligations and tiny living space, a system like that was nothing but a distant sweet dream.

"Will, this thing's awesome," the older brother said, running his finger over the silver Sony logo and regarding the thing like unearthed treasure. "And this…" he turned his attention to the shelving above it, one row of which was filled with various CDs and cassettes. "I mean, you've got Television, Aerosmith, Queen, Pink Floyd…"

Jonathan stepped back to stand beside the grinning teenager and take in the sight before him. For a lifelong fan of 70s and 80s rock music like himself, this was truly heaven. He could only imagine the quality of the mixes he could have make on a CD rather than the little cassettes back at his apartment. "We have to listen to these someday," Jonathan said finally.

"Yeah, man," Will chuckled, leaning against an old David Bowie poster he'd inherited from his brother. There were so many posters and drawings that the sky blue paint almost didn't show through, but if Will wanted to have something gracing his walls, he had a way of finding space. "I can't listen to it too loud or else mom and Hopper get mad, but the sound quality's so good, it doesn't even matter how loud it is. It's like you're there."

Jonathan turned to say something else to Will until he noticed something just past his brother's shoulder – something leaning against the small wardrobe in the corner. He realized within less than a second that it was another poster, rolled up on the floor. "Couldn't find room for that one?"

Will turned to follow his big brother's gaze and when his eyes made contact with the thing, he suddenly seemed a little nervous. "Ah, no," he said, a sheepish smile on his face as he turned back to Jonathan. "Guess I'm finally running out of space."

"What is it anyway?" Jonathan began to make his way over to the thing to take a look, but just as he'd reached down to unfurl the poster, Will suddenly stopped him with a quick hand on his arm. Jonathan stood back a bit, bewildered surprise written on his face.

"It's nothing! It's uh," Will sputtered. "It's just something mom bought me."

"You… don't want me to see it?"

"No, it's fine. It's just um," Will paused, unable to come up with an excuse for his odd behaviour.

"I mean, I don't have to see it." Jonathan could sense his brother's discomfort and even though it confused him greatly, he didn't want to overstep.

The younger brother's mouth opened and no words came out until he relented, his face turning just a smidge pink. He knew Jonathan was the last person who would ever judge him, but something about this just felt different. It bothered Will that he felt a little embarrassed over something so small, but that was his feeling and he couldn't put his finger on the reason why. Will didn't like the idea of keeping secrets from his brother though, so he pushed that feeling aside. "Go ahead. You can look."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, it's fine. Don't worry about it."

Jonathan eyed Will cautiously but did as his brother said and bent slightly to grasp the poster before beginning to unfurl it with both his hands. He wasn't sure what to expect as the poster opened out in front of him. What could have had Will acting so flustered? The way he stood there awkwardly, Jonathan half expected to see a bikini-clad blonde sprawled out on a beach towel or something, but that wasn't something their mom would ever buy for him. Besides, the brothers had snooped in Lonnie's magazine collection before, so it wasn't like images of bikini-clad ladies should have been too embarrassing if it was just the two of them. Was that really something Will would hide from him?

It could have been a band poster – maybe something that was way outside of the realm of Will's usual taste, but Jonathan already knew about his brother's guilty synth pop music pleasures and never made him feel bad about them. Okay, so Will liked Depeche Mode. Big deal. Jonathan couldn't conceive of what humiliating thing could possibly have been printed on that poster even after it was staring right back at him. The last thing the brunette expected to see was a regular old movie poster.

It was a movie Jonathan remembered he had taken Will to see a week or so after it first came out. He had owned a copy of The Outsiders that he'd read in 8th grade and having enjoyed the novel himself, Jonathan figured maybe Will might like the film adaptation. Needless to say, he ended up loving it. The memory of a fun outing with his older brother might have had something to do with it, but The Outsiders instantly became one of Will's favourite movies. It was among the few VHS's that the family owned at the time and Will would watch over and over. But again, this was something Jonathan already knew about Will, so as he looked at the young faces of Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze and the others against a sunset sky, he still couldn't understand the boy's discomfort. The young man shrugged before speaking. "The Outsiders," Jonathan said. "Pretty cool."

"Yeah, it's okay."

Now Jonathan was beginning to feel awkward. "You've got no room for this?"

"Uh yeah," Will shifted his weight from his left foot over to his right. "I guess I'm finally running out of space."

He had already said that. Jonathan just nodded and stared back, unsure what to think. Then, quickly dropping the subject, Will turned slightly back toward his music collection. "Hey, but you know, I finally found the Godfather soundtrack!"

Jonathan made a mental note to himself about the whole conversation and allowed the topic to drop. He was sure Will would end up explaining himself sooner or later and he was willing to wait until his brother was comfortable enough to do so. Jonathan put the movie poster back then followed Will as he knelt down to the space built into the bottom of the stereo where a modest collection of vinyl records Will had found at the local mom-and-pop music store leaned cover to cover. "Oh sweet! How long did you have to dig to find it?"

Just as quickly as it had descended upon them, the weird air of tension dispersed once the topic shifted. Jonathan did not bring up The Outsiders again for the rest of the night, but the strange interaction would stick with him for a long time.

Nancy sat back on the bright violet cheetah-print bedsheets beside El, her hand finding the Gizmo plush that laid on the girl's bed and casually taking it to hug to her chest. She wasn't sure what a girl who had been locked in a laboratory most of her life would be inspired by, but she discovered that the answer to that question was Memphis style and the clear craze. El's love for vibrant colours and bold patterns should have perhaps been obvious from the trendy outfits she managed to put together for her dates with Mike, but it just hadn't occurred to Nancy that El's bedroom wall would be decorated with posters and magazine clippings of New Kids on the Block and Debbie Gibson, that her shelf would be full of Wonder Woman comics wherever her notebooks and high school texts didn't take up space, that there would be rollerblades and softball equipment stuffed into corners to indicate her openness to trying out new hobbies, or that she and Max would have chosen a checkered print accent wall to contrast with the pastel pink on the other three sides. El already felt to Nancy more like a normal teenage girl than she had when they first met, but this both cemented it and spoke more to her origins. After having to stare at shades of beige and gray for so many years, it was no wonder that the young girl was so fascinated with colour. And after living the monotonous life of a test subject, one can't be surprised by El's enthusiastic curiosity for the outside world.

"So, what do you think?" El asked, lifting Chester up onto her bed. He had followed the siblings and Nancy up the stairs and almost went with the boys until he remembered that El kept a stash of treats in her room just for him.

"It's pretty cool," remarked Nancy, glancing at the clear purple phone on the nightstand and then back at El. "I love that wall! It reminds me of something you'd see on MTV."

A grin spread across El's face. "That's exactly what Max and I were going for. I just wanted to make it as crazy as possible."

"Jeez, you guys grow up so fast," laughed Nancy, noticing the makeup on the little vanity by the window. It was something El and Max had only begun experimenting with on and off (Max had already started wearing her bright red now signature Revlon lip stick since 9th grade, but Hopper had only recently – and begrudgingly – allowed El to follow suit). Between the Rave hairspray and the Maybelline kissing potion gloss, Nancy could see she was starting to build a little collection. Even though she saw the kids every so often, it felt like they just kept on changing a little every single time. "You and Will… Mike too. All of you, really."

"Oh, yeah," the girl replied with a little shrug, Chester placing his furry little head in her lap. "I just started using those, but I don't really know what I'm doing."

"Seems like you're doing just fine, honestly. That's a good colour for you," said Nancy. She was close enough to El now that she noticed the little bit of blue she had applied around her eyes. It was true that her work was a little amateurish, but that was entirely appropriate for her age. It reminded Nancy of the times she had dabbled in her mom's makeup herself back in the day. She had gotten significantly more skilled since then. "Bring your makeup over some day and I'll show you how I do it."

As Nancy's eyes wandered the girl's face, she realized that something seemed a little off. Just beneath the near-skin toned base of the make up (neither El nor Max were quite experienced enough yet to find a foundation that suited them), there was something else – a darker color; something that made El appear just a little bit ill. Nancy may not have seen it if she hadn't grown up around younger kids, but she was used to taking a quick check of those she cared for whenever she laid eyes on them. Just past the eyeshadow, there was the faintest hint of a dark reddish ring around each eye. Nancy scowled softly, remembering what she had been told much earlier about El's strange dreams.

"El, have you been getting enough sleep?" Nancy asked.

The teen's smile faded into a frown. Chester lifted his head to look up at her, sensing the change in her behaviour. "Um, kinda...? No…"

"Are you still having weird dreams?"

"Well, not really," El lowered her eyes to her fingers, still gently scratching at the dog's fur.

"What do you mean by 'not really'?"

"I had one," the teenage girl admitted. "At your house. Mike and everyone were there, but that was a little while ago. I haven't had another one since but it's just harder to fall asleep now. I don't know when I'll have another dream like that."

"What are Hopper and Joyce doing about it?" Nancy asked slowly. She was well aware that many of El's problems had less to do with any of the things that typical humans could help with and more to do with supernatural phenomena way outside of their capabilities, but she knew that El's dad and his girlfriend were just as eager to try to solve those problems anyway. Hopper loved El like she was his own biological daughter and Joyce would likely adopt her too once the couple got marriage out of the way.

"Dad made an appointment with Dr. Owens," El replied, looking back up at the young woman. "We're just hoping he might know something…"

Nancy nodded. She could see that El didn't like being reminded of these nightmares and seeing how happy the girl was before, she felt badly for ever having brought them up. "This is really upsetting you, isn't it?"

The girl inhaled deeply, adjusting her position a little so she could sit more comfortably on the bed. Chester raised his head again at the disturbance but lowered it once more when El was still. "It's just…" she paused, looking straight ahead and trying to find the right words. "I feel like I'm really starting to adjust to life in the outside world, but every time I let myself think things are going to be peaceful, they're just not."

Nancy watched El lower her head, the emotional fatigue now more obvious even than the physical fatigue. At that moment, she looked a little bit like her old self – the El who still knew so little of the outside world and regarded everything with a slight tinge of distrust. After the treatment she had been exposed to for so long, it took El a while to learn not to associate new experiences with pain. She eventually warmed up to cats once she realized that her mere touch would not hurt them and pools were something she had only recently learned to enjoy. She still had a bit of a tenuous relationship with amusement park rides, but the party was slowly helping her learn the difference between a rush and panic. El had made so much progress in the years since her release. It had been a long time since Nancy had seen that traumatized little girl from before, but here she was, sitting right beside her. "I thought I knew the extent of my powers, but maybe I don't. And no one has any answers. I don't want to deal with this anymore."

The two sat in silence for a moment, the air around them suddenly heavy. Helplessness was a feeling Nancy was not entirely used to. When Mike came home crying in 3rd grade because Matthew Parker, a slightly older boy, was bullying him, Nancy too it upon herself to scare the kid away with the threat of a swirly in the girl's bathroom. She got suspended and Ted and Karen were unhappy, but it was worth it. Problem solved. When Holly was terrified she wouldn't make friends in kindergarten, Nancy bought her little sister a new Care Bears hairclip then instructed her on how to use it as a convenient conversation starter. Even years later, Holly still had a little soft spot for old Cheer Bear. Even with most of the supernatural situations, Nancy could never just sit back and be a victim. She always had to be proactive in some way. Whether she was solving her younger siblings' issues or following the trail of rabid rats, Nancy always managed to find some way to help, some way to lend her expertise, but this time was different. She couldn't exactly get inside of El's head and chase the nightmares away. She couldn't find their source and she couldn't even begin to imagine what they might mean if anything. She did the only thing she could at that moment.

El looked up at the young woman as she felt herself being gently pulled into Nancy's shoulder, the Gizmo plush now laying against one of El's pillows. After a brief pause, the teenager allowed herself to wrap her arms around Nancy's body to return the embrace. Chester adjusted himself accordingly so that his head was comfortable in El's lap again and the three of them sat there in an oddly comforting silence.

Friday May 15, 1987

Every morning, Azrael's routine was much the same.

She woke up at daybreak every morning, her blond hair braided and laying perfectly underneath her. She would spend an hour praying – this was what she considered to be the most important part of her daily ritual. It was always necessary for one to cover themselves in the armor of God to protect from the temptation of the enemy. She would not leave her bedroom until she felt sufficiently covered. After this, the next step was to wash up for the day and eat breakfast. At this point, she would seek out her Eldest Brother in his chamber and he would communicate her mission for the day, or the week – however long it took. This was the second most important part of her day and the reason why she needed to remain steadfast with her prayers. Every day, Azrael was thankful that she had been given the chance to serve her Lord in this way and rescue the begotten from eternal suffering.

Admittedly, she had not always been so selfless. Before dedicating her life to spreading His love, she was another person entirely. She did not like to think of that life she lived, and so she did not. None of that mattered anymore. That person no longer mattered.

Azrael made her way down the corridor to accept her mission, her spiritual armor as strong around her body as it ever was. She had tied her hair up in a neat little bun and wore the uniform that she had washed and ironed the night before. It did not take long for her to become aware of his presence as she could hear his slow footsteps before she saw him. Azrael could recognize the sound of his saunter anywhere. What she almost did not recognize was his limping form, walking in her direction, his eyes not even coming up to glance at her.

Azrael stopped in her tracks. She had heard of his past misdeed already and cursed her spiritual brother's lack of self-control but seeing him like this was different from anything she could have conjured up in her imagination. "C-Cassiel?"

The tall man paused as he passed her, one hand on the wall to support himself. He did not turn to face her.

"What–", Azrael stuttered in shock. "What happened to –"

"You know damn well what happened to me," the man called Cassiel laughed bitterly through a dark grin.

It was true. She did know. In fact, she had prayed that he would be shown mercy before bed the previous night.

"Cassiel," the woman turned to the man's back as she spoke. "You need to learn to control yourself. We're not here to punish them. We're here to save them. That man and those children had nothing to do with–"

"Don't you dare fucking lecture me, Azrael," spat Cassiel, swinging back in an attempt to stand up straight only to crash into the wall. Even given his disposition, he glowered at her all the same. "Save them…" he repeated her words as if they tasted sour on his tongue. "They all deserve to be slaughtered. Every last fucking one of them. Save them – what are you?" he stepped closer to her then, large and intimidating, and beat the wall to punctuate his final word. The sound reverberated throughout the hall but Azrael did not flinch. "Mother fucking Teresa? Huh?"

"Watch yourself, Cass," warned Azrael calmly.

"Is that what you did to what's-her-name?" the corners of Cassiel's mouth spread across his face into a big, mocking smile that made his teeth look more like fangs. "Little Beatrice? You saved her life? Right, Azrael?"

"Yes."

Just as quickly as it had formed, Cassiel's grin fell. "What?"

"I did save her life," Azrael replied, the conviction in her voice almost haunting. "I loved her so much. I couldn't possibly let her endure what fate had planned. My actions, unlike yours, were entirely pure."

Cassiel merely stared at the woman in front of him with his mouth hanging open, the disappointed of having been robbed of an opportunity to hurt Azrael deeply apparent across his face. He growled in defeat as she turned back around to continue down the corridor, but she stopped and faced him once again.

"By the way," said Azrael, her coat swishing to catch up with her movement. "I forgive you for trying to hurt me."

And after a very pregnant pause, the blond woman was back on her way to see the Eldest Brother. Cassiel scoffed and turned into the opposite direction toward his bedroom quarters. He really, really despised her sometimes.

A/N: Haha, little bait-n-switch with the "Baby Zeppelin" title. No, that's not the baby's name. lol I think I now know what their name and gender will be, but I'll let you guys find out. People aren't really leaving any suggestions anymore, but technically, I'm still taking them so let me know and maybe you'll sway me! Thanks for reading. 😊