Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

Karen looked up at her brother and sister, both of whom looked younger at the time, and crouched over her. Nick held her face and said as calmly as he could, "O-okay, just breathe, sis! Breathe!"

Giana nodded. "Y-yeah! Just breathe in and out! The ambulance is on its way! Just stay calm, alright?!"

Feeling only a bit of comfort from her siblings, she nodded at them and answered, "O-okay, okay, I'll try..." She held both their hands and before she even knew it...

She was lying in a cot, being escorted by two doctors, one of them telling her, "It's going to be alright, darling. Just stay with us!" She held onto her stomach, trying to get through the pain as much as she could.

...

Though this was a blur, she was finally in the emergency room, seeing a few doctors and hearing them talk, though their voices were nothing but indecipherable muffles. She was given a sedative and remembered a doctor pulling out a scalpel to cut her stomach open...she needed a C...?

...

After seeing the darkness, she woke up and saw a cleaned-up baby wrapped up in a pink blanket. She felt so overjoyed to see her, taking her newborn daughter into her arms and crying happy tears. The baby began crying, the woman stroking her head as she murmured, "Nancy...my sweet Nancy."

Nick and Giana were there too, looking at their new niece closely and smiling. "She's so adorable~," Giana said in a singsong voice.

"Can't wait to spoil her when she begins to grow up," Nick teased.

Karen scoffed at him. "Don't you dare, Nick."

It was four years later now. While she was cooking in the kitchen with a pregnant belly again, she heard a little girl say, "Look, mommy! Look!" She turned to see little Nancy with her long, wavy, light-brown hair, pearly skin, and light-blue eyes. She wore a cute little pink dress and carried a piece of paper in one of her hands. She held it up to reveal a picture of a sunflower drawn in crayons. "I drew a sunflower!"

She smiled and held it in her hands. "Awww~, that looks pretty, Nancy," she said to her in a singsong voice.

"I want you to keep it. Pleeeeeease?" She had on the cute puppy face the brown-haired woman couldn't resist.

She giggled and answered, "Okay, Nancy, I'll keep-" Suddenly, her water broke, making her gasp and drop the picture.

Nancy tensed up at the sound and asked, "Wh-what was that?"

She tried to smile reassuringly at her daughter. "Your brother...he wants to get out." Now she gasped.

"Michael's getting out?!"

She nodded, holding her stomach. "Y-yes. Tell your aunts and uncles to call the hospital, okay?"

She nodded back at her, but looked worried about her mom. "Are you gonna be okay?"

She kept her reassuring smile. "Yes, Nancy. Now go." She gestured her to get out.

The little girl ran out of the kitchen and yelled, "UNCLE NICK! AUNTIE GIANA! UNCLE JOHN! AUNTIE JEN!"

"Nancy?" Nick asked. "What's-"

Karen sunk into the floor as the pain of labor started to kick in. "MICHAEL'S GETTING OUT OF MOMMY! CALL THE HOSPITAL!"

Gasps were heard and John, who was Giana's newlywed husband at the time, answered, "I'll do it! Hold on!"

The curly-haired woman could feel like she was being split in half now, making her scream. She was going to bleed...like when she was pregnant with Nancy. She could see her older sister and Jen, whom Nick married a year and a half ago. "Breathe, Karen," the light-brown-haired woman told her calmly, she and Giana holding her hand.

"Breathe, Karrie. You can make it through this, like with Nancy!" She hoped so. After all...HE didn't get to have Nancy, so...

She was back in the hospital, holding her stomach as the doctors that escorted her assured her that she was going to be fine. Then she was in the emergency room once again, all of it being a blur as she was given a sedative and another C-section. The darkness that got to her was shorter than with Nancy though, as she woke up to see that her newborn son, Michael, was crying, covered in blood and taken away by a doctor to clean up. That very same doctor came back to look down at her with another doctor, the voices in the background drowning out as they both removed their masks. She couldn't believe it...

It was Ted and Brenner. She should've known her bastard of an ex husband was one of them with his glass...

...

After sleeping, she woke up and heard some sobbing and sniffling. She slowly looked to her left to see her older sister crying, her fiancee hugging to her his side while everyone else looked somber. She was confused. "Guys?" she asked in a weak voice.

Everyone looked up at her, still looking solemn. "Hey..." Jen greeted.

"What's going on?" She looked around, trying to find her son and being confused about not seeing him. "Where's Michael?"

Giana continued to cry and sob into her tissue as her hurt voice said, "We're so sorry..."

She looked even more confused. "About what? Where's my son?"

Nick sniffled, shaking his head. "How can I...say it?" Jen hugged him to comfort him.

Suddenly, Karen realized what they were thinking...that she lost Michael during birth. "Wait...I heard him cry. I heard Michael cry."

All of them shook their heads, Jen stating, "He wasn't breathing, the doctors told us."

She remembered seeing her ex-husband and his bastard friend as doctors...she wasn't surprised that they lied to them. She sat up a little. "I heard him CRY, I swore I heard him!" That just made her siblings and their loved ones more saddened than before. "I saw them there."

Her older sister looked at her with pink eyes. "Who...?"

"Ted and Brenner...they took him!" She tried to remove her IV, making the rest of the adults stand up and bound her down to stop her.

"NO, KARRIE!" Giana exclaimed.

"DON'T TAKE IT OUT, SIS!" Nick also exclaimed.

"CALM DOWN!" John shouted.

"KAREN, STOP!" Jen yelled.

"LET GO OF ME!" Karen kept yelling at them, prompting the nurses to come inside and give her another sedative before things went south.

When she woke up, her siblings and their loved ones drove her and Nancy home. The little girl didn't know about Michael's fate yet, looking worried. "Where's Mike?" she asked the adults, including her mother. She looked up at Karen. "Mommy?"

She just sniffled and held her close, deciding not to tell her about his true fate yet because she was so young.

The next day, Giana cooked breakfast just when Karen woke up and looked around Mike's room. She didn't set up this entire room just for it to be empty. She'll get him from those bastards, even if-

"Nancy?" Giana called out. "Hey, if anyone's upstairs, can you get her for me?" Karen sighed heavily. It was like the events of yesterday never happened...maybe seeing her daughter will make her cheer up.

"I'll get her," she replied in a rather solemn voice as she got out of his room and walked to Nancy's. When she opened the door, she saw that her daughter was nowhere to be seen in there. Her eyes widened as she looked around for her in the room. "Nancy? Nancy?!"

"Is she not in her room?!" Nick yelled from downstairs.

First Michael...then Nancy. "Bastards..." she muttered before yelling, "She's not!"

A missing child report was made to the police and there was a search party to look for little Nancy. It's been a few days and there were still no sign of her. To Karen, it wasn't surprising because she knew those two bastards took them. She had stolen files from Hawkins Lab to find out more about them and see if there was any way to infiltrate them.

Tonight, she wore a blue and red plaid shirt, skinny jeans, and slippers. As she was looking through one in her room, she heard someone knocking on it, hearing Giana's voice stuttering, "K-Karrie..." Concerned, she hid her file under her blanket, got up from the bed, walked to the door, and opened it to see not only her older sister, but also her older brother looking completely mournful.

"Wh-what is it? What's happening?" she asked them.

"It's Nancy." Her eyes widened.

"Nancy...?"

They drove her to a police scene in the woods. When the car stopped, Karen didn't waste any time getting out and running towards it in her flats. "Nancy!" she cried out as she saw medics lay her body on a cot. She managed to get close to see her daughter, seeing her limp and completely pale, having her hand over a large, bleeding wound. She began to cry. Did they discard her because she failed them...?

However, when she touched her skin, she felt that it was smooth...too smooth. The skin was also stiff at her touch. That told her everything she needed to know.

"M'am, we are so sorry about your daughter-" one of the medics said before she cut them off.

"No..." She shook her head, backing away from the dead body and pointing at it. "That's not her."

Her siblings looked like they were going to cry when she said that. "Sis-"

"No! THAT'S NOT NANCY! THAT'S A FAKE! THAT THING IS NOT MY DAUGHTER!" At the moment, it didn't matter to her that she made her brother and sister cry. She knew the truth.

Not much to her surprise, her siblings and their loved ones didn't believe her and thought she was crazy. That meant that she had to get her children back alone somehow.

It was a couple years later and she founded a safe Nick had in remembrance of their father. She wore a sand-colored turtleneck, a short and sleeveless brown coat, brown pants, and black high heels. With the files she had stolen from Hawkins Lab scattered around her, she moved the combination knob and muttered to herself, "Four to the right...two to the left." She heard the safe click, making her sigh in relief as she pulled out the gun her Dad used to hold once to teach Nick how to shoot. She didn't know how to...

But it was her best shot if her initial plan doesn't work out.

She grabbed the pistol ammo from the safe and loaded the pistol with them.

Later that day, she drove to Hawkins Lab, taking a deep breath to make sure she wasn't nervous about this. When she was arriving at the gate that was open for someone else, she closed her eyes and used one of her powers to become invisible to those who could see her. She parked at one spot and got out with her purse that hid the gun inside. She closed the door of her car and walked right inside with a few more women that were unaware of her presence. When she passed a security guard, she could feel her nose bleeding and her brain straining. She still kept it up to get inside without any problems.

Then over a loudspeaker, she heard Ted's voice announce, "This is a warning for all personnel, I repeat, all personnel." She froze at the sound of his voice as he continued, "An intruder is on the loose. Look out for her, she may be armed."

She gritted her teeth and muttered, "Damn it." How the hell did he know?! She used one of her powers to make herself invisible to everyone she saw.

Unless that excluded the cameras.

She huffed and continued on forward, taking out the pistol while some of the workers began to run away and the alarm began to sound. That meant she had to go to Plan B.

...

The curly-haired woman got up to the Labs floor and stopped using her power. Trying to ignore the headache she got from using it, she wiped the blood off of her nose with her hand. When the doctors say her with the gun, she aimed it at them and yelled, "Stay back! Stay back or I'll shoot!" They screamed and scrambled to get away from her, just what she needed.

She looked into rooms as she asked, "Michael? Nancy?" After seeing through a few different rooms, she turned and saw a painted rainbow near the door. Hoping that her children were in there, she walked towards it and was about to open it until she heard an unfamiliar voice say, "Okay, kids. Let's just stay calm and evacuate." Karen's hand was still on her knob, but she listened closely, pressing her ear against the door. "Nancy, hold your little brother's hand and don't let go, okay?"

"Okay, Mrs. Brenner," she heard a little girl reply. She gasped. Her voice was a little deeper, but she knew that was truly Nancy's voice.

She opened the door aggressively and pointed the gun at a woman in a white lab coat, her dirty-blonde hair down to a low ponytail, and her brown eyes widening. "Stay away from my children!" she yelled at her. She held her hands up and backed away from them.

"O-okay..." the woman replied, her ID badge reading, "Brenner, Teresa".

When her back hit the wall, Karen looked down to see her kids looking up at her, feeling overjoyed to see them again. Nancy was a bit taller and her hair was longer. She wore a white, long-sleeved turtleneck with a sleeveless navy-blue dress under it. Michael had a head full of black hair and had semi-transparent freckles. His skin was the same complexion as Nancy's and he wore a white collared shirt with navy-blue overalls. The woman was crying and smiling, putting her pistol back in her purse and walking to them.

Nancy's sky-blue eyes widened and beginning to tear up as she murmured, "Mommy...?"

It felt so good to hear her call her that again. "Nancy..." She looked at her son, for the first time in her life. "Michael...my sweethear-" Suddenly, the guards came and pulled her back, shocking her and making her kick around, struggling. "No, NO! LET ME GO! LET ME GO! THEY'RE MY CHILDREN!"

When she was getting pulled out of the rainbow room, she heard Nancy shout out, "MOMMY!" She saw her and Michael come out of the room, the little girl crying while the little boy looked rather sad. "NO, DON'T TAKE MOMMY AWAY!" The woman cried at that as she saw Nancy drag her little brother to get to her. Unfortunately, two other guards appeared and grabbed them, holding them back, especially Nancy, who began to struggle and reach her hand out to her. "MOOOMMYYYYY!" Mrs. Brenner appeared again, looking aghast at what was going on.

As much as she wanted to break free and kill those guards to get her children back...it was too late.

...

She was dragged into a secret room and was bounded down to a cot by the lab personnel. She tried her damn best to break free, yelling, "NO! LET ME GO! I WANT MY CHILDREN BACK!" The personnel finally bound her chest to the cot, making her unable to move and escape. "No...NO!" She then looked up, seeing Ted and Martin looking down at her with such apathetic faces. Seeing their faces again released much anger from her. "DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU BOTH!" Their expressions haven't changed as her head was tightly grabbed by one of the personnel. Another one placed a plastic brown gag in her mouth to muffle her screaming.

As two electric sticks were placed at the sides of her head, Martin looked at Ted and asked, "Which level do you think would be best?"

Her tears continued to stream her face as her ex-husband gestured the man near the shock machine and answered, "Four-fifty."

The bald and bearded man at the machine turned the knob to just that as she was screaming through the gag, continuing to cry. He then turned it on and before she even knew it, the volts had sent a large amount of pain to her head. She screamed as loud as she could through the gag as she felt her brain being scrambled like crazy. She held onto the bars of the cot so tight and then after what felt like forever...it was done.

That was it...that was the end of her functioning like a human being.

She slowly opened her eyes, thinking back to the past. "Breathe!" she remembered Nick yelling. She remembered being escorted on a cot...was it for Nancy or...

"The ambulance is on its way!" she remembered Giana also yelling.

"It's going to be alright, darling," one of the doctors told her that one time. "Stay with us."

Two flashes of both of her children crying as newborns appeared as she then saw Nancy's drawing and remembered her saying, "I drew a sunflower!" Sunflower...

She remembered her siblings, John, and Jen holding her back before a nurse gave her a sedative before remembering the last two moves for the combination. Four to the right...two to the left...

She remembered a gunshot, then the rainbow. Rainbow...

Then her ex-husband saying, "Four-fifty." Four-fifty...

Many images flashed into her mind so fast...breathe...sunflower...rainbow...four to the right...two to the left...four-fifty.

"MOOOMMYYYYY!" she remembered that girl yelling...sunflower...four to the right...two to the left...breathe...four to the right...two to the left...

Sunflower...rainbow...breathe...four to the right...two to the left...four-fifty.

Breathe...sunflower...rainbow...four to the right...two to the left...

Four-fifty.

Mike gasped hard and removed the sleeping mask from his face, his nose bleeding as well as his mom's. She kept muttering those words...now he knew why. He tried to regain his breathing from an intense experience like that.

"Oh my God, are you okay, sweetie?!" Giana exclaimed, the adults coming right to the boy's side to make sure he was alright. He didn't answer, still breathing unevenly as the adults hugged him. He held two of their arms as a hug back, still looking at his mom with tear-filled eyes. All of that...she went through all of that...and Nancy was his sister...and she saw Terry...and his dad and the doctor were the reasons why she was like this...

"It's okay...it's okay, we're here..." Nick whispered to him to comfort him.

Joyce drove her car with the kids and her boyfriend inside, now the sky being dusky. They were exactly where Bob predicted that Hopper and Terry would be: half a mile southeast of Danford. Both Joyce and Jane looked around, looking both puzzled and worried. "I-I don't get it," she said, looking at Will. "There's nothing here." He looked back at her and frowned.

"A-are we close, Bob?" the woman asked him.

"We're in the vicinity," he answered, looking at the marked down map.

"Wh-what do you mean by 'vicinity'?"

"I mean that we're close!"

While they were arguing, the auburn-haired boy closed his eyes to find the two adults. After a bit, he opened them and said, "Turn right!"

Everyone looked back at him with wide eyes. "Wh-what?"

"I saw him."

Joyce looked around her surroundings. "Wh-where is he-"

"Not here, in my now-memories!"

Bob looked puzzled. "Your what?"

"JUST TURN RIGHT!"

Without another second of hesitation, the woman did exactly that, the turn more rough and abrupt, nearly moving everyone out of their seats. Without a second thought, Will grabbed Jane's hand as the car accidentally ran over the farm sign and some hay, almost everyone screaming. When the hay cleared from the windshield, they saw that they were heading straight towards Hopper's car as well as Terry's. Joyce slammed on the brakes, making an abrupt stop that nearly launched everyone forward. She quickly put the car into parking gear and asked, "I-is everyone okay?"

While Jane panted, she noticed that Will was holding her hand...maybe to handle Joyce's driving at the moment. However, the sight of her mom's car made her feel completely shocked and sentimental. "Mama..." she muttered, squeezing Will's hand a little tighter. The boy looked at her worriedly.

"Wait, Terry and Jim are here?" Bob asked, completely puzzled by the situation. He looked at his girlfriend for an answer. "Joyce? What's going on?"

She didn't answer him and looked back at the kids. "O-okay...Jane, Will. You two need to stay here." She opened the door and began to exit out.

Will looked worried about his mom now and leaned forward. "No, no, no, Mom! It's not safe!"

"That's why I need you two to stay here."

"But my Mama's in there!" Jane said, her tone sad.

She gave her a reassuring look. "Don't worry, sweetie. Bob and I will make sure she's fine, okay?" She frowned, but nodded. As she and Bob finally got out of the car, she heard her yell, "HOPPER! TERRY!" They got into the dug-up crater to try and find them.

Jane deeply sighed and leaned her head against the back of the car seat, closing her eyes and still hoping that her mother was alright. She still wanted to go down there though. Will continued to look worried for her, especially since...he knew what was becoming of Terry and Hopper right now. If his mom and Bob get to them in time though, they could be saved. That was why they were doing all of this, to save them.

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze and said, "Jane-"

"I want to go down there and see her, Will," she somberly interrupted him. "She's my Mama."

He frowned again, but tried to look reassuring to her. "M-my mom and Bob...they'll find them, Jane. Don't worry."

She looked at him with pleading eyes. "Is she...a-are they..."

"They'll find them, Jane. I promise."

She smiled at him, loosening her grip on his hand. "You always cheer me up, Will."

He blushed at that comment, though "he" hated that...and the fact that he was holding her hand like he did. "We're...best f-friends, remember?" He tried to smile at her. She did spot the tremor when he said "friends", like...he did have a crush on her after all...why would he still be holding her hand?

Maybe he needed the comfort, so she let him keep holding her hand as she unbuckled herself. "Let's, um, go outside for a little bit," she suggested, opening the window.

He nodded and replied, "O-okay." He let go of her hand to unbuckle himself as well. They both got out of the car and walked towards the hole together.

Jane looked shocked at how big it was. "Jesus, Mama and Hopper dug all of this..." she muttered to herself before looking at Will. "D-do you see anything? In your now-memories?" His eyes big, he shook his head, making her worry a little.

Suddenly, they both heard vehicles approaching, making them turn around and see...the vans from Hawkins Lab coming their way. Neither of them looked happy to see them, the two looking at each other before looking at the vans again, parking close to Joyce's car.

Joyce had been calling Hopper's name as well as Terry's, finding the pieces of cigarettes at one path and going down there with Bob, who was actually fascinated by the tunnels, or "Will's map", he called them. They eventually reached to the room with the rotten animal carcasses, the brunette still screaming, "HOPPER?! TERRY?!" With her flashlight, she shined it at the now burnt-out torch and Hopper's sheriff hat, much to her shock and Bob's. "Th-this is..." She shined her light everywhere else in the room before finding Jim's limp hand and Terry's limp leg. She gasped in horror. "Oh my God, IT'S THEM!"

She and her boyfriend quickly ran to them, her saying, "I got Hopper! You help Terry!"

"O-okay!" he replied as they both got to their respective person and began ripping the vines off of them quickly. They saw their faces through the now torn-up "masks", seeing that they were gasping for air...barely. "She's choking!"

"S-so is he!"

They both have struggled to get them out of the choking position they were in before the police chief choked out, "Knife."

"Kn-knife?" Joyce asked frantically.

"Knife...near me..." Terry also choked out.

Bob shined his flashlight at the pocket knife, saying, "There!" He grabbed it and used the blade to cut the vine choking the dirty-blonde-haired woman. She gasped for air again, yelling, "M-my hands!" He then cut the vines off of both of her hands, making her finally able to rip the vines off of her.

"Give that to me!" Joyce yelled at Bob. He did so and she began to do the same thing to the vines on Hopper. When the two other adults were able to move, the couple helped them rip out the rest of the living vines off of them. They screamed as they exchanged the knife between one another to cut the more sturdier vines. Hopper was the first to break free from all of the vines first, standing up staggeringly as Joyce's eyes filled with tears and her hands cupped his cheeks. "Oh Hopper, are you okay...?"

"Joyce..." he muttered, glad to see her again.

"Are you okay...? Are you okay...?"

He looked to see the nerd he remembered from high school and greeted rather casually, "Hey, Bob."

"Hey, Jim," he greeted back.

Finally, Terry cut the last vine that cuffed her leg, making her finally stand before she began coughing. The rest of the adults looked worried for her, Joyce getting away from Hopper to pull her into a quick hug. "Terry!"

"J-Joyce?" she questioned, feeling a little dizzy and nauseous.

She broke the hug to grab her shoulders. "Are you okay?"

She nodded a little. "I'll be...fine." She let out another cough, covering her mouth with her hand. She saw Bob and looked puzzled. "Bob?"

He tried to smile cheerfully at her. "Hey, Terry." She didn't think it was him helping her let go. Everything was blurry back there...

"Jesus, Terry..." Hopper said, Joyce looking back at him and moving away as he moved towards her. The two then enveloped into a hug. "I'm so glad you're alright."

"I'm glad that YOU'RE alright, Jim," she replied, her voice cracking.

Joyce looked a little puzzled, muttering, "Jim...?" She didn't think that Terry would call him by his first name. Plus, they were hugging like this. What...no, she shouldn't think that right now. For now, they were both alright and should get back up to the surface.

As Bob turned, he exclaimed, "WHOA!" The adults turned to see a man in a hazmat suit with a flamethrower suddenly. When the hell did he-

"Go! Go!" he yelled at them, gesturing them to get away. "Clear the area!" They did, Jim picking up his hat and running away with the rest of the adults.

On ground level, many of the lab personnel gathered around the crater, chattering. Both of the kids looked around nervously when Will suddenly let out a scream and fell to the ground, holding himself and moving around like he was in pain. Jane gasped and crouched down to him, grabbing his shoulder. "Will! What's wrong?!" He didn't answer her, still grunting and moving around in complete pain. Now she was extremely worried about him. "Will! WILL! Are you-"

He suddenly went stiff and began screaming without pause, his eyes rolled to the back of his head as he shook violently on the ground. She shot up and backed away from him, covering her jaw-dropped mouth and having her eyes filled with tears. Seeing Will like this...

It was just like when the shadow monster got him in the middle of the school field...but worse.

And that's the end of this chapter. What do you guys think of this chapter? Any typos or mistakes I might've missed?

Is it bad for me to be sad about what I write? 'Cause I made Karen's flashbacks a bit more tragic than Terry's in canon. I always felt terrible whenever I watch the flashbacks Terry showed El in the show, so...here...yeah. Also, you guys get a glimpse of Terry back when she was working there and married to Brenner. The poor women...

Poor Will too...now things get way more serious and Jane hates it.

Keep supporting this fanfic as you guys do and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!