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klausinamarink · 6 months

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One Kid Gone, Another Up and Vanished (part 9)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 | next: Part 10 | ao3

If you miss a path, you take a new one or go back where you started (hiya! It’s been a minute ^^ i hope you’ve all been patient since the last update. and October is already almost over what the f-)

To say the drive to Forest Hills is a quiet one is barely an understatement. Because a quiet car ride wouldn’t send Joyce’s insides on a frenzy and make her debate about just opening the passenger door and jump out like in her younger years.

Wayne hasn’t spoken a word since he offered the ride to his home. He occasionally sends glances at her, but otherwise his eyes are on the road. Despite his soft expression, Joyce is certain that Wayne’s opinion on her is already changing.

At first, Joyce had been relieved that somebody actually believes her about Will. But now, she feels like a soulless bitch. Because what the hell was she thinking about throwing Eddie’s name to Wayne and manipulating his grief? What if the Eddie is with Will isn’t even Eddie Munson? And what would’ve happened if Wayne never believed her? How even would he reacted?

“This is your problem, Joyce. The second you hear someone having the same issue as you, you immediately assume you know everything and you bring them close just to hurt them. Just like how you keep hurting me. Can you please stop using people’s pain against them before this town decides to hurt you back?”

Joyce bites the skin around her thumb. She’s suddenly seventeen or nine again, head down to her chest after the clinic appointment or another school fight with Nicole Crawford. Her mother’s driving with her furious eyes on the road, never glancing at Joyce. And she’s giving the same scolding again and again-

Heavy guitar music suddenly fills the truck. Joyce jumps in her seat with a shriek. She looks over as Wayne immediately slams on the radio, stopping the deafening noise. A cassette tape pops out and he snatches it.

“Sorry about that.” Wayne says sheepishly, fondling the radio dials to a lower volume as another station comes on. “Sometimes Eddie sneaks in those tapes of his unlabelled. Swore to me up and down that it’s supposed to be some kind of wake-up alarm for my early shifts, but…” He trails off, staring at the tape long enough that Joyce’s worried they’ll drive off the road. But Wayne shakes his head and puts it on the dashboard.

Soon he tunes into a station that sounds like country music. Joyce looks at him again anxiously, but Wayne’s already staring through the windshield again. “Thought some music would help.”

“Oh.” Joyce says softly. She looks down at her thumb, already abused by her teeth and the hangnails torn off. She doesn’t say thank you because she’s certain that Wayne won’t like it right now.

The drive is still quiet, but some of the tension eases out of Joyce.

Eventually, they arrive at the Forest Hills park and Wayne’s pulling up to his trailer. Already, Joyce feels the resident’s stares on her even before she steps out. It might just be her paranoia, but she doesn’t dare turn around to check.

She forces her gaze forward as she follows Wayne up the porch steps. She notices how he freezes for a few seconds before he creaks the door open slowly. He pokes in his head through and Joyce wonders if there’s someone else there. But Wayne’s shoulders drop with visible relief and walks right in.

“C’mon in.” He tells her with a tiny beckon of his head. Joyce looks down at the threshold, takes a deep breath, and crosses it.

The Munson home is a bit bigger than Joyce expects, but she feels the rest of her stress lift away almost instantly. It could be just how homey it looks and feels. Warm and inviting without a single space left for the cold.

She just hopes that it wouldn’t turn against her.

As she looks around, Joyce sees a phone laying on the ground with one end almost blackened. A sense of déjà vu overcomes her as she picks it up. She holds it by her ear but, when she hears nothing, hangs it back on the hook.

“So.” Wayne starts, leaning back against the kitchen counter. He suddenly looks tired.

Joyce looks around, eyeing every lightbulb she sees. “W-Where exactly did your lights flicker?”

Wayne points over at the kitchen. “Saw ‘em at the living room too. One of the lamps next to the couch though. And I think one by the door.”

Joyce bites her lip as she studies the kitchen first. She starts making her way towards there, glancing at Wayne for silent permission. He gives her a small nod and she continues forward.

“..Will?” She calls out softly, watching the lights carefully. Wayne’s eyes are burning through her back, judging her. Joyce wraps her arms tight around her stomach, breathing slowly. “Will? Are you there?”

The lights don’t respond.

It brings her back to that first day when her lights had went haywire. Before Joyce had realized it was her boy trying to speak to her. It makes her nervous thinking about it. Why isn’t Will communicating to her?

“Eddie?” She tries, carefully keeping herself from glancing back at Wayne. “Eddie, are you here with Will right now?”

The lights remain dark.

Joyce feels herself biting around her fingernails again and forces herself to stop. She finally turns to face Wayne. He hasn’t moved from his spot, although she notices the lines around his eyes seem to harden. Her heart falls and she’s almost ready to let herself give up and apologize for hurting Wayne like this.

Instead, she braces herself again and asks, “Do you have any Christmas lights?”

Wayne furrows his brows in bemusement, “Christmas lights?”

Joyce nods, “It was better for me to talk to Will. Well, I had to paint the alphabet on the wall so I could understand…”

Wayne finally moves then, walking away further down the trailer. For a moment, Joyce believes he’s leaving. But then there’s sounds of rummaging and he returns, carrying a coil of Christmas lights on top of folded sheets. The ones with bigger bulbs that Joyce also uses.

“We don’t celebrate, but better to decorate and pretend.” Wayne muses, handing the lights to her. Joyce hesitates, waiting for him to snatch it back and bark at her to leave like the psychotic bitch she is. He doesn’t do that - only looks at her with weary eyes that seem to be more sad than angry. Like a man desperate enough to turn to such weird practices to find his nephew.

It feels like a truce when Joyce takes the lights. She’s careful in untangling them and finding one of the outlets to plug it in. She turns back to see Wayne laying the sheet down on the floor. It’s a ragged white with a few grey stains and a faded alphabet spray painted on it.

“When Eddie came to my door, he couldn’t speak at all.” Wayne starts, laying his hand over to smooth down any wrinkles. “The home he grew up in with his parents… it was pretty bad enough to make him mute. I had to do baby steps on figuring how to make him talk again. So I created a couple games.” He sits down on one side of the sheet, nodding at Joyce.

She kneels down first, carefully lining the lights up over each letter, listening.

“This game I made with this,” Wayne continued, “well, it doesn’t have a name, but how I taught him was I would throw a word at him, ask him what letter it starts with, and he would point at one of these letters.” He taps on the ‘M’. “I’d say, ‘Say, Eddie, what does the word muse start with?’ And he just walks over to the sheet I hung on the wall and points at the M.”

After the lights are done with, Joyce mirrors Wayne, sitting crosslegged. His gaze is on the sheet, almost watery.

“After a few weeks of that, I start pestering Eddie a bit. Tell him that he doesn’t need to get up and point all the time. He was a smartass even then so just he points at the alphabet and I have to tell him that I can’t see which letter he was pointing. And eventually… he starts saying the letters aloud.”

Wayne cracks a smile, “He had the most adorable voice. I nearly cried when I heard him for the first time because that’s my nephew, who wouldn’t love him? After that, he starts talking more, all in full sentences. So I folded the sheet, put it in the closet, and that’s how the game ended.”

He takes a shuddering breath, blinking rapidly and rubbing two fingers over his lips. Joyce blinks away the tears that were welling in her eyes and slowly reaches over to wrap a gentle hand around Wayne’s wrist. He meets her gaze and she offers a smile that she hopes is beyond than just sympathetic.

“You sound more like a father than an uncle.” Joyce says quietly.

Wayne shakes his head, wiping under his eyes. “I get that a lot.” He leans back, although he’s careful not to completely rip away from Joyce’s hold. He takes a few breaths before he looks back down at the Christmas lights and sheet. “Now, how is this supposed to work?”

—

“Country roads, take me home…”

The lyrics aren’t as familiar in Will’s mouth as the walk back to his house. He had heard the song a couple times on Jonathan’s car radio and the chorus was pretty catchy, but he doesn’t remember the rest of it too well.

But it’s better to fill the silence between him and Eddie. Maybe a change of songs would help Eddie talk again.

“To the place, where I belong…” Will sucks in a breath and cries out, “Indiana!”

He looks up at Eddie expectedly, but the older boy’s still staring ahead blankly.

Will sighs, feeling guilty for he wanting Eddie to be better and back to normal already. He squeezes Eddie’s hand three times as he looks up. His house is just appearing in view-

and so does the demogorgon.

Will immediately freezes in his tracks. He barely keeps himself from falling over when Eddie continues walking until Will roughly tugs his arm to a stop.

The demogorgon is stalking along the side of his house, its long claws dragging on the wall. They’re both far enough not to catch its attention, but it doesn’t stop Will’s heart from racing wildly. He watches as the monster walks to the front, altering between going on all fours to two legs, its flowery head fluttering close by the windows as if peeking through the glass. Even from this distance, Will can hear it growling.

When it rounds to the other side, Will slowly takes a step back. His grip on Eddie’s hand is deathly tight as Eddie mindlessly shuffles back with him.

They keep going even when the demogorgon disappears behind the house. Once the house is out of view and much farther, Will finally comes to a stop.

This is bad.

He almost can’t think with how hard his heart is racing all the way to his head. The demogorgon is here. It came here. But why would it go to his house instead of Eddie’s when they were there almost all day yesterday?

He tries to rack his brain more clearly. Tries to think about the demogorgon’s stats and the last time he’s seen it. Maybe he had actually managed to stab it with the spear and it had given the monster enough damage to stay in the yard and heal? That makes sense, but if it got better, it could’ve followed him and Eddie to the trailer park again.

“Oh no..” Will whispers when the realization hits him.

The demogorgon’s expecting them to come.

It has enough intelligence to know how important WIll’s house is. So like any predator, it would wait there instead and then-

Will gulps, huddling himself closer to Eddie’s side. He looks at both directions of the road and then at the woods, trying to make a plan. They have to escape, but they can’t go back to Eddie’s trailer. They have to risk going to town and hide there somewhere instead.

But where?

The possibilities suddenly feel too overwhelming. Will sucks in a shaky breath, tears welling up in his eyes. He doesn’t know where to even go and he feels like he doesn’t want to. Squeezes Eddie’s hand so hard that it should make the older boy to react, but looking up to see Eddie still blank-faced only makes him feel like he wants to rip his chest out.

There’s a funeral for him, he can’t go to his house, he can’t hear his friends or talk to Mom, the monster is still stalking them, and Eddie’s unresponsive. He feels cold and tired and little sick. All of it is crushing Will on his back and he wants to kneel on the ground and scream.

But if he does that, then it might attract the demogorgon and it’ll kill them and neither of them will go home. So Will lets himself cry as quietly as possible, hugging around Eddie’s legs as he does.

After he’s done, Will’s other hand goes to his pocket and finds the ZIppo lighter. He flicks the lid open and feels absolute relief when the tiny flame sparks to life.

“Will the Wise, what is your decision?”

“I attack the demogorgon with fireball!”

“Then roll for it!”

Will huffs softly at the memory, not even few days old yet feels like forever ago. He knows he can’t attack the demogorgon in this state. If only Eddie can do his DM voice again to help him out-

A lightbulb goes over his head.

Will takes another sharp breath, twisting his head towards the other end of the road. They can’t go back to the trailer park, no. But he can take them to a place at last where the demogorgon should never find them again.

With a renewed sense of vigour, Will once again tugs Eddie with him. Hopefully, their journey would feel like a few minutes pass by the time they arrive.

—

The sun sinks in the horizon behind the trees, turning the sky to a dark orange-red haze and making the leaves glow. On another day, Jeff would loved the sight.

But today isn’t that day. Even a nature walk can’t lift his spirits up.

He’s alone again, walking to a direction he hopes would led him to some secret place where Eddie might be. Alive, of course.

After their own thorough search through some of the woods yesterday with no luck, Frankie had told Jeff that they should go home and start tomorrow. But then Frankie called this morning and said that with that funeral for the Byers kid happening, he couldn’t bear to go looking again.

Jeff had been kind, telling Frankie that it’s okay and he would still look for Eddie by himself. But now Jeff wishes he could’ve either stayed home or that Frankie hadn’t chickened out today because he’s feeling really depressed being alone right now.

It’s been a new feeling that he can’t shake off him since he had seen Eddie’s poster. Or maybe it started when Wayne had asked about Eddie’s places. No matter, it doesn’t stop making his side feel raw like the worst road rash in his life.

He wishes he can take back every comment of calling Eddie a thorn in his side. Because nobody should feel like they’re bleeding nonstop after the thorn’s out.

Jeff kicks a pebble. A twig. Another rock. A few leaves. It makes him feel a little better until he remembers one story from Grandma how after the war, she had once found a body after kicking some sand on a beach. Their face, to be specific, with glassy dirty eyes staring at nothing yet staring at her too. Jeff shudders and keeps his shoes from kicking anything else.

He climbs up a hill, a small one but it feels like a mountain to him. He looks around and shouts, “Eddie!”

It echoes and vanishes. Just like every time before.

As Jeff glances down, he startles at two people suddenly appearing just a few feet away. “Oh shit- sorry! I’m just, uh, walking by. For no reason.” He grimaces at his excuse, but they’re just strangers so why they should care?

One of them, a teenaged girl with her arms crossed and pinched eyebrows, takes a step forward, “Well, sorry to bother you, but do you-”

Her companion, a boy probably about a year or two older than her, clears his throat discreetly. Jeff squints at him, trying to figure out why he looks familiar. The girl turns to the boy and makes some sort of expression that Jeff can’t decipher.

“We’re just leaving. Sorry, bye.” The boy ducks his head in further and starts to walk away, but the girl grabs his arm to stop. She hisses something to him under her breath, to which he responds in a low mumble.

Recognition hits Jeff. He snaps his fingers, catching the duo’s attention. “Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers, right?”

They stare at him for a moment that makes Jeff wish he didn’t say anything and just go back home. But then, Byers nods stiffly, “Yeah. Hey.”

“Hey, yourself.” Jeff replies slowly. “I’m, uh, sorry about your brother. Hope you and your mom are doing okay.”

Byers gives him a stare that almost looks a thousand-yards away of throttling him, but then Wheeler clears her throat. Speaking of which, why are these two on a walk together? Isn’t Wheeler Steve Harrington’s new girlfriend on the line?

“Sorry, your name is..?”

He’s not surprised that Harrington’s girlfriend wouldn’t even know who he is. “Jeff. Jeff Endes.”

“Oh!” Wheeler’s eyes light up in recognition. “I think we have geography class together? With Mr. King?”

Huh. Never mind. Jeff’s lips twitch to a small smile with warm butterflies in his stomach.

“Right, this might sound weird, but have you seen anything unusual recently?” Wheeler asks.

Yeah, my best friend is missing and I think his uncle is butting heads with the cops. Jeff almost says aloud, but he swallows it and shakes his head. Instead he says, “Not really, no.”

“So you haven’t seen Barb around here?”

Jeff tilts his head at her. “Isn’t she your best friend?”

Wheeler’s smile is strained. “Yeah, but-”

Byers gives her another elbow nudge at her arm, which makes her glare at him. And then they’re back at the whispering argument. Seriously, what is up with these two? Jeff wonders if he’s now a victim of a very weird prank right now and wow, doesn’t that remind him of a hypothetical scenario that Eddie had wrote in his Munson Doctrine.

They both look back at him. Jeff contemplates in just sprinting off when Wheeler opens her mouth again, but then Byers says-

“We’re tracking down a rabid bear to kill it.”

Wheeler gives him a wide-eyed look. Jeff blinks slowly, expecting Byers to burst into laughter and give him a pat like Relax! Just messing with you! But Byers’ gaze is dead fucking serious.

“You.” Jeff begins slowly. “Are. Looking. For. A rabid…” He trails off, not bothering to finish that sentence.

“That’s.. something like that.” Wheeler smiles, tight and sweet. There’s a moment where Jeff spots a maniac gleam in her eyes.

“Yeah, okay.” Jeff starts walking backward, something he wouldn’t normally do in the woods but it’s time for desperate measures. “You two enjoy, uh, that. Bye!”

He turns around and starts speed-walking the way back. He doesn’t dare to look back, afraid he’s going to fall in some weird-ass rabbit hole with Wheeler and Byers. Which, again, begs the question: why are these two together bear hunting??

He probably doesn’t go too far when he hears a faint sound somewhere on his left. He narrows his eyes and goes over to investigate. As he walks closer, he registers the sound as a whine as if someone is in pain.

Jeff’s heart quickens. He breaks to a run. Maybe it’s Eddie and he’s been hurt all this time-

He comes to a stop.

“Oh.”

It’s not Eddie. Almost a bit of a relief, but not enough to keep his stomach from turning at unpleasant sight of a wounded deer on its side.

Its head keeps lifting up, emitting faint squeaks of pain. Whatever happened to it must’ve been some wolf or a bear based on its nasty gashes on its flank and belly.

There’s a crunching of leaves as a certain pair approaches. Jeff looks up to see Wheeler covering her mouth with a hand as she sees the deer. She makes a tiny sympathetic noise, muttering, “Oh no…” Byers almost looks more distressed than she is.

Jeff breathes out slowly and catches their gazes. He gives them an unspoken question: What are you going to do?

Wheeler lowers her hand, biting her lip. She looks at Byers, who’s still staring at the deer. He catches her eyes for a moment before he pulls out a small pistol from his jacket pocket, clicking the safety off.

Byers glances back at the deer and a steely expression comes over him. He slowly lifts the gun up, aiming at the head.

Oh god, he’s actually doing it. Jeff shuts his eyes, turning his head away. The last thing he wants to see tonight is deer brains splattering on the ground.

Several seconds pass without anything happening. But then there’s some sort of thudding and Wheeler giving a loud shriek. Jeff opens his eyes and turns to see the deer is gone. Nothing left of its existence except for the bloodstained, disturbed leaves.

“What the-?” He looks at Byers and Wheeler but they’re both staring ahead.

“The- It just-” Byers stammers. And then Wheeler darts off before he could even give an explanation. “Wh- Nancy!” He calls to her before he chases her.

Jeff watches them run off. He wonders if he can run off the other way instead because who the hell goes after something that grabs a deer right in front of them?

But Jeff’s used to idiotic shenanigans so he groans and starts following them.

He’s already lost sight of Wheeler (whelp, she’s dead) but he can see Byers (probably good for another minute) through the trees. Jeff manages to run a little faster just before Byers stops in his tracks and they almost collide.

“Shit- sorry, man!” Jeff pauses to catch his breath before continuing, “Where did Wheeler go?”

Byers doesn’t answer. He’s looking down at something, blinking in bafflement. Jeff follows his gaze to-

What the…

On the trunk of an oak tree, there’s a large hole. At first, it looks like what a fox would dig for a den, but foxholes don’t really look like they’re glowing pink with weird cobwebs in front.

Jeff rubs his eyes before staring back at the hole, unsure if it’s some colour hallucination. But nothing about it changes except that the glow looks a little more orange now.

“I saw Nancy…” Byers swallowed. “She, uh, I think she…”

Jeff very slowly turns to him. “She went. Inside?”

Byers gives a slow nod without breaking his stare from the hole. Jeff looks up at the sky for a long moment, praying to his ancestors for advice to avoid further white people stupidity and apologizing for the most idiotic thing he’s about to do.

“Give me your gun, man.”

Byers shoots him an incredulous look. “What?”

Jeff shakes his empty hand out. “Give me your gun! I’m not going in there even with a very large branch.”

Byers hesitates before he hands the pistol over. “You know how to use it?”

Jeff doesn’t answer, only snatching the gun and crouching down to enter the weird foxhole. He hears Byers calling his name but Jeff ignores him as he ducks his head inside.

It’s… definitely very weird. A little bit squishy and uncomfortably fleshy. Jeff hates it even if he’s in it for three seconds. When he comes out, he takes a thankful gasp of air and almost chokes at the drop of the temperature.

Jeff stands up, brushing his jacket sleeves. When his vision adjusts to the dark, he feels like every blood in his body freezing up.

This is.. Well, he knows this is the woods. The same woods in Hawkins that he swears he just left a few seconds ago, but it’s not. How can it be the same when it’s much darker than night with weird ash sprites floating in the air and thick vines wrapping around the trees?

Jeff keeps a steady count of his breaths, slow and deliberate. He calls out, “Wheeler!”

“Jeff?”

Jeffs whirls around, almost shooting the damn gun in his hand. But it’s just Nancy Wheeler coming right around the tree with the hole - or a portal?

Wheeler looks as bemused as Jeff feels. “What are you doing here?”

Jeff raises his eyebrows. “Seriously? You crawl in a hole that leads to whatever this part of the woods are and you are asking what I’m doing here? What about you?”

Wheeler almost seems ready to argue but she shakes her head and looks around, “I-I saw it. Came through here and I- crap, I don’t really know what even is this place…”

Jeff feels a violent shiver ripple through him. He rubs on his arms in an attempt to get warm. Holy crap, it’s freezing and he can see his breath. Wheeler is shaking too and it’s probably not because she’s scared.

“Hey, listen, how about we ask about the meaning of this place when we go back-”

There’s a low growl.

Jeff snaps his back up straighter, whirling around. Wheeler spins her head to another direction, her sharp blue eyes examining through trees. Whatever the hell it is, it seems to come from everywhere and isn’t that a pretty sign. It almost sends Jeff back to Eddie’s brutal campaigns, but he shoves the memory away before it comes to further fruition.

Wheeler gasps, “Over there.”

Jeff follows her gaze, trying to spot what she’s seeing. He can only see some kind of wolf devouring something not far from them-

“Nancy! Jeff! Are you guys still there?”

Byers’ voice comes out of nowhere. Like literally nowhere because even when Jeff spins around and expects to see him, he only sees

“Jonathan?” Wheeler calls out. Jeff bristles and slaps her arm to remind her that there’s an animal right in front of them.

But it’s too late. It catches the wolf’s attention too as its head snaps towards them-

That isn’t a wolf.

Wolves definitely don’t look large and human-like with slimy-looking skin with a head that opens up like a flower and screeches at them with multitudes of teeth.

Jeff and Wheeler scream together and run.

Except when Jeff rounds back to the tree with the portal, Wheeler runs past him.

“Wheeler, where are you going!? Exit’s this way!” He shouts. But she keeps running and the not-wolf thing is already thundering close.

“Nancy! Jeff! Where are you?”

Jeff facepalms himself and chases after her. He tries to ignore the hairs on the back of his neck standing up as the not-wolf growls closer.

He manages to catch up to Wheeler and grabs her arm. She shrieks, her hand flying up to his face. It stings a bit, but Jeff ignores it and pulls her back to the other direction. He looks up in time to see the not-wolf, toothy face wide open, barging right towards them.

Jeff thanks his wits for taking Byers’ gun. While he screams unceremoniously at the sight, he instinctively takes aim and fires at its mouth. The bang almost deafens him and the recoil nearly makes him drop the weapon.

The monster collapses on the ground, its clawed hands gripping its head, making pained whimpers. Jeff’s not sure if he actually hit it or if the gunfire sound blasted its eardrums. Either way, he takes half a second to catch his breath before running again, gripping tight around Wheeler’s wrist.

“Oh my god…” He hears her mutter and he’s inclined to agree. They dash back to the tree and Jeff sees the portal. But as they get closer, he sees that some of the bark is starting to close over-

“C’mon!” Jeff yells. There’s another inhuman shriek from behind.

“It’s getting up!” Wheeler gasps out.

They make it to the tree. And then Byers is popping his head through the slimy webs-

“Oh no, you don’t!” Jeff puts a hand on Byers’ head and shoves him back, ignoring his yelps as he hurriedly crawls through the gross hole again, dragging Wheeler behind him. Suddenly, it feels too tight and Jeff’s chest constricts at the thought of being trapped and crushed.

And then a whoosh of fresh warmer air refills his lungs.

The three of the them collapse on the ground. Jeff rolls on his back, taking big gulping breaths. The muscles in his legs are spasming mad and he knows they’re going to hurt like hurt tomorrow.

“Wh- What…” He hears Byers say, but he doesn’t bother to try and answer him.

He looks over at Wheeler, seeing her kick her legs free just as the slabs of bark close over the portal. The pink-orange glow remains just for a few seconds as thin rays of lights before it fades away. Like there’s never a hole to the cold woods with a monster.

Jeff stares at the tree where the portal used to be. Then he looks at Byers and Wheeler, then back at the tree.

He stands up with shaking legs. Then he points at the tree, “Fuck that. Fuck that thing.” Then he points at the two people he doesn’t ever want to see again. “And fuck you two. I’m going home.” He throws the pistol at their feet, turns his back at them, and walks faster than he ever did in his life.

—

Taglist: @unclewaynemunson @steves-strapcollection @hellion-child @sidekick-hero @mmmmwaffles94 @hbyrde36 @princessstevemunson @sirsnacksalot @tartarusknight @lyriclight @kodaik97 @plsdontdrinkmylavalamp @bookbinderbitch @gutterflower77 @soaringornithopter @angeldreamsoffanfic @panicatthediaz @renaissan-vvitch @manda-panda-monium @newtstabber @little-trash-ghost @niniel-karenine @tinyplanet95

#hmmm i wonder where will is going?#sorry jeff but you’re in the main cast now #you can’t just walk away from a horror genre like it was nothing. steve almost tried that and look where he is now #klaus writes #eddie and will in the upside down au #wayne munson #joyce byers #will byers #eddie munson #jeff stranger things #nancy wheeler #jonathan byers #stranger things

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sunnytheclodsdire · 7 months

Text

Chapter 1- A storm at sea (Words: 1927)

There was a huge storm surging outside. And a fluffy hybrid torchic was feeling very uneasy about the water slowly filling up his home in the sharpedo bluff. He’d already moved all his things from around the ever growing puddle. He was on his wooden table at this point. Not exactly sure what to do in this situation. ”Oh boy.. What do I do now?” He had already put something there to absorb some of the water but it wasn’t really working as well as he had hoped. And just by luck, he didn’t have a drought orb on hand. Though, he doubted it would work anyways since, his home wasn’t a mystery dungeon. Well, not anymore at least.. He willed himself to hop off the table he was on. He stared at the puddle on the floor, approached it, and used the move, overheat. The water evaporated almost instantly. But it was a temporary fix. He looked out the eye (window?) and saw just how hard the rain was battering everything in its path. “Oh no…the town might be in a bit of a pickle tomorrow..” He scurried over to his cabinet and grabbed some more towels, the water was making a mess again. He placed it all around the soaking area and added another set just outside of the first layer. “That should hold for a little bit.. At least until the morning when I can ask Ms. Kanga or someone at the guild to help me..” He shivered uncomfortably at the thought of walking to the guild. The town already didn’t really accept him, they said it was because he was “from the wilds.” Whatever that means. He knew that Mr. Kanga already had a kid to take care of, he didn’t want to add an extra load on her back. He sighed, knowing the guild was his only option, he waddled over to his nest and pulled himself into it. He felt his eyelids fall heavy and drifted off into slumber.

She was running through the storm, they were right behind her, all of them. They wanted something from her and she wouldn’t give it to them. She ran through the undergrowth, wet tree branches slapped against her glass scales. She tripped on a tree root, pulled herself back to her feet and kept going. She ran up to a cliff and Grovyle was right behind her. He leapt in front of her and went into an offensive stance. She saw them all flooding onto the cliff and knew Grovyle couldn’t defend her from all of them. He leapt at one of the Sableye, violently clawing up its chest. She doubted he would survive. Lightning struck and she crouched down out of fear. Unintentionally dodging a Sableye. The wind picked up and they were thrown off the cliff into the raging sea below. Grovyle had blood all over his claws but was otherwise unharmed. Another wave of Sableye emerged from the forest. She and Grovyle backed up but were soon out of room to go. They knew they were surrounded, but Grovyle refused to surrender. “Grovyle! We can’t fight them all!” She yelled out of pure concern for her friend. He hissed. “I know.. But you need to get out of here..don’t worry about me. The mission is clear.” She stared at him, not really processing what he said. “What..?” He sighed.

“I’m sorry Rain…”

He picked her up and threw her off the cliff. She screamed for Grovyle and she plummeted into the waves below. She struggled keeping her head above the crashing waves. She inevitably sunk under. The rocks jutting up from underneath the sea were tearing up her delicate scales. Leaving nasty slices that resembled cracks against them. She somewhat winced, sucking up a bit of water. She began running out of air and tried swimming upward but she simply couldn’t tread water.

She heard a voice boom from somewhere around her. No, not around her. It sounded..telepathic. “You seem a bit out of place little one.. Allow me to assist you..”

She felt a white hot pain flood into her entire body. She screeched, releasing the breath she was holding. She couldn’t keep her consciousness and she went limp in the crashing waves, under the sea..

She woke up on a beach. Saltwater was flowing on her crack shaped wounds, causing discomfort. She winced and tried to remember what happened or how she ended up there. All she remembered was her name..

“Rain”

She attempted to rise but ultimately failed. She shivered and curled up into a ball. The water continued to rush over her body, stinging every wound it touched. Then, she passed out on the beach at the shore.

While this was happening, The torchic was pacing in front of a large tree with pale orange banners. The banner seemed to have 2 different claw patterns on them. He was muttering to himself about something. Finally, he approached the stand at the front. There was a Fidough intently reading a book there. She looked up, saw the hybrid torchic and rolled her eyes. “Ugh, you again? Listen, I already told you, you can’t form an expedition team without at least 1 other member. Must I show you the rulebook again??” The torchic hybrid shifted uncomfortably “Yes, I’m aware.. But I’m not here for that today. Uhhh my home got flooded in the storm last night..” He kept moving his wings around and shifting. The fidough’s intense glare was making him rather uncomfortable. “And uh..I was wondering if someone could possibly help me?” The Fidough chuckled. “The guild’s busy today. The town’s in a mess. I doubt they’ll have time to help a wildie like you…” The hybrid sighed “Alright.. Well uhhh, could you ask once they deal with everything else?” The fidough groaned. “Yeah, sure whatever. Now shoo wildie, I’m trying to read.” He turned and left. Holding back tears, he headed to the beach. He walked down the winding path and kicked a rock that was on the path. He wished he hadn’t been born in a mystery dungeon. He wondered if his life would be different if that was the case. He made it to the beach and flopped on the sand. He saw a seashell and picked it up. It was cracked. “Oh! Hold on!” He grabbed a string of seaweed nearby and wrapped it around the shell. Then he leaned it up against a nearby stone. “There you go! All better!” He was there for quite a while, until sunset actually. The Krabby came out and began blowing bubbles. Casting the sun’s rays onto the beach. It was a beautiful sight. It made him think about some good times from home. He remembered all his siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins. The bonds that were etched deep into his heart. He sighed, he could probably go back. His mom would accept him, surely. He shook his head. “I’ll stay here, I will prove him wrong.” An image of his father appeared in his head. It caused him to get irritated and he kicked a rock into the sea. He lowered his body onto the sand to calm down. When he cooled down he finally decided to go home, before he was at the beach all night. He turned to go and heard a groan from behind him. It was followed up with a whimper. Confused, he glanced behind him. He didn’t see anyone. He stepped back onto the sand, and called out “Uh, hello? Is anyone there?”

No response

He closed his eyes, detecting any auras nearby, like his oldest brother taught him to.

He spread out his aura all around him, He felt the Krabby, a few Shellder, and a pod of Finizen and Palafin. There. He found it. It was fluttering, like it was really weak. He opened his eyes and dashed to the spot where he sensed the weak aura. It was behind a rock. He peered around it and saw..

A Mudkip.

“Not just any Mudkip..” He realized. Taking note of the liquid filled body. “A glass variant..” It had crack-like cuts. “W-What happened..?”

He inched closer to the Mudkip and poked it. It whimpered and tried to move away but he stepped closer and got low.

“Hey.. it’s alright, I won’t hurt you..” He gently put his wing over the strange Mudkip. It seemed to relax quite a bit when he did that. It snuggled against him and he pulled away, clearly uncomfortable.

“That’s it, take your time.. Can you stand? No, probably not..”

He somehow managed to scoop up the Mudkip. He couldn’t treat its wounds here. A voice was nagging at his ear. “Y’know, you can’t take it home.. It didn’t really say that you could.. And it’ll be really confused when it wakes up.." He ignored the voice and grabbed a few ingredients from his fluff. He only had enough to make 1 Invisify orb. Meaning, that he would have to act like he didn’t have anything on his back, keep his posture upright and not act like he was hiding something. He groaned and worked his magic. “There, everything's in place. All it needs now is my special touch..” He focused a Safeguard on the pile of ingredients, creating a glassy, white orb.

“Awesome.” He congratulated himself. He pressed the orb on the Mudkip’s paw. The orb caused it to turn invisible. He picked it up and somehow carried it all the way to the sharpedo bluff. He moved the shrub blocking the entrance to his home. As he went down, he pulled the shrub back over the staircase, concealing it completely. He carried the Mudkip to his nest and gently placed it on top. He looked around and saw that his home was spotless. Everything was back in place. Like there wasn’t water in there at all the night before. There was something on his cabinets.

“A note?” He pulled it off and read it.

“Dear Phoenix, We saw that your home was a bit of a mess, so we cleaned it up for you. You’re welcome. Signed, Guildmasters Zen and Doku. ^^”

He found himself smiling and he placed the note down. He grabbed a first aid kit from a cupboard. And slowly approached the Mudkip. “Hey, I’m gonna treat your wounds now.. It might sting a bit..”

The Mudkip was unresponsive.

He sighed and began cleaning the wounds. When he started the Mudkip tried to bite him. “Hey hey! It’s okay.. I’m trying to help!” It took a little while but he finally finished. “Phew, done..” He looked out the window and the sun had completely set. He grabbed a blanket from a cabinet and gently tossed it over the Mudkip. “There we go… all better now!” He hoped that the Mudkip was okay, It was quite odd to see one on the grass continent. Now that he thought about it, it was weird to see a Mudkip anywhere near saltwater. They lived in freshwater. They knew not to go anywhere near the ocean. They couldn't possibly survive in the sea. Phoenix decided not to worry about that. So, he went over to his cabinets and pulled out his freshly created orbs. He sat next to his bed and began polishing them quietly. Before long the moon rose high into the sky.

It was waking hour.

"Welp, time to go.." He headed out of his home, shooting a look at the Mudkip.

Then, he went out. Where? Time will tell

#hmmm.. I wonder where phoenix is going..#pokemon #fakemon #mystery dungeon #pmd #pmd eos #pmd oc #sunnytheclodsire #writing #writers #fanfic #fandom #pokemon mystery dungeon #pmd explorers #woobat #mudkip #glass variant

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