Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It's been two months since Finney’s life changed. Two months since he was kidnapped by the Grabber. The very same grabber who had taken five boys before him, including Finney’s B̶o̶y̶ Friend, Robin. Nothing has ever been the same. First of all, it was all anyone could talk about, even if it was two months ago, never letting him forget it. Constantly reminding him of what he went through. Second is that Finney hasn’t had a single goodnight’s rest. Sometimes he dreams of waking back up in the basement, the Grabber standing over him, axe in hand.

Other times he sees Max on the ground, staring right at him, the axe still buried deep. His mouth slightly opened, as if he was trying to talk or maybe scream. He dreams of the basement every night. Even being awake isn’t any better, the whispers he hears whenever he walks throughout the hallways in school. The constant stares his neighbors give him whenever he and Gwen walk home. But none of that compares to the phone calls. He told Gwen about the calls with the boys, but what he neglected to tell her is that they never stopped. Even after escaping the basement.

The first call came two weeks after surviving the basement. It was when he passed by the phone in his very own home. But instead of it being one of his neighbors or even one of the ghost boys (he was sort of hoping it was Robin on the other side), it was the voice of the man who hurt him, who hurt Robin. He never answered another phone call again unless he knew someone else heard it.

But Finney wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore. After all, they will be leaving that all behind in Denver. Hawkins was supposed to be a new start, a fresh start. No one would know about the Grabber. Or that Finney talks to the dead or that Gwen has odd dreams that can’t be explained.

Hawkins is a little town located in Indiana, a town where not much happens, perfect place for the “Cursed family”. After mom’s death, many people kept their distance from the family, saying they were “cursed” as it wasn’t unknown that their mother heard things that weren't there. So when Finney went missing, that certainly didn’t help with their reputation. Especially when the official police statement about his case came out and the news got their hands on it. Everyone expected Finney to be this tall brave kid who was able to fearlessly take down the grabber all by himself, but that was so far from the truth.

Finney spent most of the long drive just staring out the window, watching as the trees passed by, watching as the once familiar place of North Denver morphed into an unfamiliar landscape. Meanwhile Gwen was snoring loudly in the back seat, but it helped to mute out the cheesy music that was on the radio. They’ve been on the road for a few hours at this point. But Finney knew they were close to Hawkins as he was the one holding the map even when his dad said he “ didn’t need it” (He very much did, after Hope’s death he never really left their hometown)

Eventually they made it to the "Welcome to Hawkins” sign. They were actually an hour early, it was only four in the afternoon. Terrence slowly drove around the town,cursing under his breath as he was looking for the street name their new little home was on, Mulberry or something (Literally the only street name I know lol)

“Gwen…Gwen” Finney turns around in his chair in the front seat, trying to get Gwen to wake up. He gives up and eventually just ends up reaching over to shake her awake (to her annoyance)

“…What?” Gwen mumbles. She looked outside the window just as Terrence pulled into the driveway (idk parking terms, I a bit dumb). It was a simple one story brick house. Very similar to their old house, but it was slightly bigger. The grass that was outside the house was dead in some patches, whoever once lived here clearly didn’t care about it.

Once they all got out of the car Gwen rushed inside, claiming she needed to “find the best room” while him and his father got the small amount of boxes they brought, mainly just clothes. Most of the other stuff they had, like tables, they just sold. Finney walked inside the new house, it was fairly empty as expected, but it was a house Finney would have to get used to.

Gwen had already chosen her room, and Finney took the room that was right across from hers, and even though her window faces towards the street, he personally liked how his window faced towards the woods. He dropped his box full of stuff on his new bed. When he opened the box, he didn’t care about all his clothes, at least in that moment, he only reached for the toy light rocket, still stained with blood, he tried his best to get rid of it but it was stubborn.

And even though it was permanently stained with the grabber, it didn’t affect him the same way other things like the clothes he wore that day did (he never put on the clothes he wore during his kidnapping again). For some reason it brought him a sense of comfort whenever he held onto it. So he put it onto his backpack once he took it out of the box, along with pulling out a random pair of jeans and a green shirt for tomorrow when he and Gwen would go to their first day at Hawkins Middle school.

“Finn?” Gwen’s voice cut through the silence unexpectedly, making Finney slightly jump. Ever since Robin’s death, Gwen was the only one that called him “Finn”. Gwen of course noticed him jumping and looked a bit worried, she always was once he came back home.

“Yeah?”

“…I was just… wondering if you’re ready for tomorrow”

Finney truly didn’t know if he was, would he get bullied? No. No, there was no way that anyone here would know about the Grabber or his sexuality or the fact that he would be considered insane if people outside of Gwen knew he talked to the dead. So maybe he was ready for school this time. Just maybe.

“… Yeah… Yeah I am ready”

Chapter Text

It was cold, so so cold when Finney woke up. No longer surrounded by the empty walls of his new room, but now surrounded by dark gray walls of the basement. The rust like material falling down the wall. No longer laying on the new bed but instead laying on the old one. He was in the basement again. The phone smashed up in the middle of the room. The very same weapon that allowed him to hear Robin just one last time. The same weapon that allowed him to take down the Grabber was destroyed, and so was any hope of escape.

The window was gone, and the hole he had dug up was gone, the bike lock code was gone, all that was left was the very same dirty bed Finney lay on.

He didn’t escape, he didn’t avenge Robin or any of the other ghost boys. He didn’t run outside to see his sister. He failed.

He failed Robin, Gwen, his father, Bruce, Pinnball Vance, Paperboy, Griffen… The Grabber won.

The door to the basement slowly opened, and it didn’t even need to be fully open for him to know who was on the other side. What monster was on the other side. The body of Max fell through the slight opening, landing on the ground with a “thud”. The axe still in his head as if he was some sort of messed up wood stump. Eyes full of fear managing to stare right at him. Mouth slightly open as if he was going to ramble on about how he had managed to find Finney, but not the other boys.

The door now was fully open, he heard the echo of the footsteps as they slowly torturously walked down the steps, the very same steps he so desperately wished to walk up and out of the basement. Finney tried to stand up, to run, to do anything but sit there but it was as if all control to his legs was gone.

“Łøøꝁ Ⱥŧ wħȺŧ ɎØU mȺđɇ mɇ đø”

His voice, full of anger. His voice, the one he wasn’t supposed to hear again. His voice…was ringing… loudly “Beeep…Beeep…Beeep” Finney almost fell out of his bed with how hard(?) he jumped. It took him a few minutes to calm down and convince himself it was just a dream. Right? Finney had to look around the room just to confirm that. No smashed up phone, no dead body, no locked door. He was safe, he would never have to deal with the grabber again. (Heh) After repeating that in his head for a few minutes he looked at the clock on his bedside table. It was 7 in the morning and both he and Gwen would have an hour to get ready for their first day at Hawkins middle, even though they were coming a few months late. Finney got changed into the clothes he pulled out yesterday and went to the kitchen where Gwen was already awake and making food, which was just a simple slice of toast. Terrence was still home, he did promise to drive them both to school for their first day, a luxury that they don’t get to experience often.

Finney followed his sister by getting himself a slice of toast. He started to wonder how different this school would be like, after all he thought it was still similar in size as his old middle school. Would the people treat him like shit or just completely ignore him? He honestly didn’t know what option was worse.

Soon, the whole hour had passed and both Finney and Gwen got their bags (Finney’s still had the bloody rocket on it) and drove off to school in their dad’s car. Finney was just hoping people wouldn’t notice him. After the basement, he hated being stared at, thinking that maybe one of the many pairs of eyes were the Grabbers.

As they got closer to the school, Finney saw that it was definitely bigger than his old school. I mean it was basically right next to the high school so it looked double the size. Finney saw some people getting out of their cars, some were locking up their bikes, and others walked.

“You guys all good?” Terrance asked, half yawning. Finney and Gwen just nodded in response, both too busy watching as people walked into the school, watching everyone. Mentally taking note of people that they should avoid.

As the car got closer, Finney and Gwen got out of the car and waved goodbye to their dad who’d already turned around. They both looked at each other before starting to walk to the school’s entrance.

“Whats your first class?” Gwen asked as she took in the surroundings.

“Science, what about you?”

“Math. Seriously there isn’t a worse subject to have first, I mean who wants to have math at eight in the morning”

As Gwen continued to rant about how bad it was to have math as a first period, Finney swore he already felt people staring at them. He wasn’t surprised by this, I mean they stood out like a sore thumb but he still couldn’t ever get used to it.

Soon both Finney and Gwen made it to the office that was actually well decorated, the lady however seemed like she’d rather be anywhere but here. Finney couldn’t really blame her, after all who really wants to teach a bunch of middle school kids.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh, this is weird” Dustin said as both him and Lucas sat down for science. “He’s never this late”

“I’m telling you, his stupid plan failed.” Lucas explained

“I thought you liked his plan”

“Yeah, but obviously it was stupid, or he’d be here.”

“If his mom found out a girl spent the night-”

“Then he’s in deepshit right about now” Lucas cut in before Dustin could even finish, not like it mattered since both were thinking the same thing

“Hey… what if she slept naked?” Dustin whispered that last part.

“Oh, my God, she didn’t”

“Oh, if Mrs. Wheeler tells my parents-”

“No, no way, Mike would never rat us out” Lucas cut in once again, but even after Lucas reassured him, Dustin still looked like he was imagining every scenario and ranking them by most likely

“Look, all that matters is, after school the freak will be back in the loony bin, and we can focus on finding Will and-”

“Class, Class, may I have your undivided attention please” Mr Clark cut in before Lucas could finish.

With Mr Clark being one of the few teachers that they liked, both Dustin and Lucas listened.

“Thank you, now I have some exciting news!” He really put emphasis on “exciting”, as if anyone was really paying attention besides Dustin and Lucas. “We will be having a new curious student joining us today!” Now that's how you get everyone's attention, immediately hushed whispers filled the room. Even Dustin and Lucas looked at each other wondering if this was some joke. Sure, people were spreading rumors the second that old hag on Mulberry sold her house, but a family actually moving into Hawkins? This is like telling someone that the government isn’t hiding something from you, it sounded impossible.

Everyone’s head snapped towards the door the moment it clicked open, and in walked a boy. Holding a piece of paper and looking like he was second-guessing himself with every step he took as he walked over to Mr Clark.

He looked about their age, medium length brown hair, brown eyes, more on the skinny side. He looked like Will, and if Dustin and Lucas were being honest, it hurt knowing that this boy was here and not Will.

“Welcome everyone from Denver Colorado, Finney Blake!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finney stopped outside the decorated door, this was the third time he checked the room number to his schedule. After an internal struggle with himself, and with sweaty palms, he opened the door slowly to see the face of a smiling teacher. Just with one foot inside the door he felt everyone looking at him, sure this was expected but still not wanted or welcomed.

“Welcome everyone from Denver Colorado, Finney Blake!”

Oh god. He was really underprepared for this.

“How about you share some facts about yourself, Finney?”

How about no? God he hated this, even back at his old school. Everyone would call him names and bully him. Even after the basement, things didn’t get any easier. Sure the bullying stopped but everyone stared at him as if he was some sort of bug under a microscope. Or as if he would jump out and attack them. He couldn’t tell if they were scared of him or pitted him.

“Umm… My name's Finney Blake” Great job Finney, they already knew that idiot.

“… I moved here with my sister, Gwen” How many more dumb facts would he have to give? His entire life story?

̶I̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶k̶i̶d̶n̶a̶p̶p̶e̶d̶ ̶

“I play baseball”

̶I̶ ̶k̶i̶l̶l̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶s̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶w̶h̶o̶ ̶k̶i̶d̶n̶a̶p̶p̶e̶d̶ ̶m̶e̶ ̶

“ And I enjoy learning about space” He hoped that last fact wouldn’t paint him as an easy target for some annoying jocks or something.

Finney looked back at who he assumed was Mr. Clark. Wondering (and hoping) that it was good enough.

“Well thank you Finney, why don’t you take a seat towards the back”

Finney did as told and tried his best to ignore the stares and the whispers and sat down as he wiped the sweat that had managed to form on his hands. Mr. Clark spoke up again, but Finney was too distracted to pay attention to what the man was talking about, not like it would affect him, he was always good at school. It’s the same reason why he and Robin always got along. Robin would protect him from his bullies, and Finney would protect Ronin from his bad grades.

He still remembers the first day he saw Robin. The Arellano’s were new to Denver and Robin just so happened to be in his grade. He really didn’t think too much about him when he first arrived, thinking he would he the story about “Finney the ( I don’t feel really want write it out but you know)” and would take to bullying or teasing him or at the very least ignore him

During his first day, Robin had picked three fights, one before school, and one after, but the one during lunch was the one that was actually important to Finney.

He was in the bathroom, hoping that Matt, Buzz, and Matty would leave him alone. Maybe they would be too distracted by the new kid or something, but as Finney’s luck goes, they didn’t and found him (not like it was hard as he always ate in the bathrooms or in the science rooms). Then someone had walked into the bathroom, he took one look at Finney, then at the three and he looked ready to start a fight.

“The hell is this about?” the boy had asked, not afraid that if a fight happened, he would be outnumbered.

“... Nothing man” Matt said, after a moments hesitation

“Well if it’s “nothing”, then get the hell out of my way, dipshits” Robin responded, at least Finney assumed it was Robin, he didn’t look like any kid he knew. The three looked at each other not knowing what they should do. Eventually they weighed the options in their mind, pick a fight with the new kid and risk having their asses handed to them, or just leaving. So with one option having more risks, they chose the other one and left, leaving Finney with Robin.

“...Thanks” Finney honestly only said that to cut the awkward silence, not even knowing if the guy did it out of kindness or just to boost his reputation.

“It’s whatever, just stick up for yourself sometime kid” Robin said as he walked past him towards the sinks. Wait… “kid”, weren't they the same age?

“I have a name, and how am I a kid even though we’re the same age?” Great Finney, you just talked back to the guy who picked a fight today and almost started another one against three boys. What's next? You going to tell him to Fuck off?

“ And this oh so special name is?’ Robin was now looking at him, while washing his hands, that had some blood on one of them, probably from the fight during the morning, or maybe he had gotten into a fight in the cafeteria while Finney was in the bathroom.

“Finney, Finney Blake”

“Nice to meet you Finn, I’m-”

“Robin” Fuck, now you sound like some sort of stalker or something. This could be a TV show named “How many times will Finney fuck up in just one conversation”

“Well it’s nice to meet you Finn” Robin then walked past him. Not even teasing him or anything, not looking at him as if he was some sort of thing that was incorrect or wrong. Surely he’s heard of the rumors by now right?

Finney was brought back to the land of the science classroom by the sound of the bell ringing. God he really has to get his brain under control. Just two more classes then he can see Gwen again. After getting his stuff, he planned on leaving the classroom but before he could he was stopped when Mr. Clark asked for him to stay for a moment and he handed him a large textbook. The textbook looked very similar to his old one back in Denver, but on this one had a little note taped to the front, “hope you have a good time here in Hawkins, if you need any help or are falling behind, please don’t be afraid to come to me -Mr. Clark”

After Finney said “thanks and goodbye” to his now new favorite teacher, he started his least favorite process of trying to find his next class, all while trying to not offend anyone or break some unspoken rule.

Finney had to snake his way through the crowd of people. Luckily, that very same crowd helped to hide him from anyone who’d pay attention to him, allowing him to get to the other side of the building.

Just two more classes till he can see Gwen again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of Finney’s classes (Math and Social Studies) were basically a copy of his first one. He would enter a classroom hoping it was the correct one, be stared at while he gave some random facts no one would remember, and he'd sit down.

Now it was lunchtime, Finney was waiting in line to get some cheap looking food, all while keeping an eye on the entrance to see when Gwen would arrive. The food for today was sandwiches, Finney just got baloney, as the others had eggs in them. He hated eggs.

After getting his lunch that he’d probably not even eat, he looked around for a place to sit, most tables were already full but there was one that was open towards the back. It looked like no one was going for it so Finney decided it would be good enough and hopefully not someone else’s.

It didn’t take long for more and more people to start entering the cafeteria, Gwen following the crowd. And after looking and finding him, she immediately made her way over to him, not even bothering to get food as she knew that Finney wouldn’t really eat a lot of his own.

“Hey” Finney said as Gwen very dramatically sat down, looking exhausted, most likely from the constant questions.

“Hey” Gwen replied with a sigh

“Already tired of answering questions?” Finney asked with as much sarcasm he could muster.

“Shut up” Gwen reached over and got one of the sandwiches from Finney’s plate. “Math sucked, the teacher whose name I didn’t even bother to remember basically made me share half my life just to make me sit down next the kid who picks his nose. And you're telling me I'll have to deal with this for five days a WEEK at EIGHT in the morning.” She went on and on complaining about her math class as Finney just listened while poking at his own sandwich, not really interested in eating it.

And even though Finney was too distracted by Gwen’s very dramatic telling of her classes to pay attention to any of the stares or whispers that may be directed towards them. But what Finney couldn’t ignore was the coldness that was slowly spreading across his body starting from his back.

Almost as if someone had their hand on Finney's back and he just couldn’t see whose hand it was.

Chapter Text

Finally, after several more hours, Finney and Gwen’s first day at Hawkins Middle School finished. 

While Terrence promised to drive them to school he didn’t promise to drive them home. Now normally, back in Denver, Gwen would have some friends she’d walk home with or she would go to her friend's house, leaving Finney to go back home alone. But ever since his kidnapping, Gwen hardly let him walk outside the house by himself because she thought that he would go missing again and this time he wouldn’t come back home. Sometimes it was suffocating or even annoying at times, but if Gwen were to go missing while walking home alone from school, he’d be just as worried.

“Well it wasn’t actually horrible” Gwen said randomly, probably just to cut the silence. 

“Yeah, after getting past the introductions it felt normal” Finney replied just to keep the conversation going 

“ Do you think it’s always going to be like this? Like everyone talking about us and looking at us?” 

“…” Finney honestly didn’t know, from what he’s heard, not many people move here, more like people move out. “For a while yeah, but give it a month or so and it should die down” 

Gwen continued to talk about something, Finney wasn’t paying attention to that at the moment. He normally would as he always valued being a part of a conversation, but right now he couldn't. He was paying attention to the missing poster staring right back at him. The smiling boy staring right back at him from the paper taped to the stop sign. 

Gwen seemed to notice the poster as she stopped talking and looked back and forth between him and the poster. Did he get a poster like this? His smiling face out for his whole town to see he was taken? Did this boy get taken too? Did the Grabber follow him here? Did-

“Finney…” Gwen cut through his train of spiraling thoughts. He finally looked away from the boy and looked at her. 

“…maybe he just got lost… or he ran away, it doesn’t mean he was taken” Gwen was probably trying to reason with him, knowing exactly what was going through his head. Did people say the same thing about him to her? Maybe he just got lost and would come home? Was it because they believed that or just wanted to give her false hope?

Finney turned to look at the boy one last time. Will Byers, he was in the same grade as Finney, hell he even looked slightly like Finney. He was last seen two days ago, riding home alone…alone just like Finney was alone when he was taken. 

Finney felt Gwen’s hand holding his as she slowly continued to walk pulling Finney with him before he could spiral again. At least that’s what the doctor said he was experiencing. The first time he saw black balloons since leaving the basement he just stared at it for a few minutes and when he looked away he was apparently panicking, according to his teacher. The doctor said that it was expected but would go away. 

The rest of the walk home was silent. Gwen not knowing what to say and Finney not having the words to speak. Did they move all the way here just for a different Grabber to be here? Or did Will Byers genuinely get lost or didn’t want to be found? 

Finney squeezed Gwen’s hand tighter 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s Finney’s second day of school and he was able to sign up to try out for the school's baseball team as a pitcher. He didn’t really play baseball since the grabber and it felt weird knowing that he’d never play against Bruce again or have Robin in the crowd cheering him on as he caused the other team to strike out. Not being able to run to Robin and celebrate the game whether it was a win or a loss. 

But now here he was, playing baseball again. Sure he was rusty but he still felt good in his abilities. Sometimes he would accidentally give the other team (which was just the whole Hawkins baseball team split into two teams) a good hit but most of the time they found it hard to even react. Finney guessed his arm was still mint.

Now he was just subbed out and was watching the game. Some people were just here to get out of a period, some were actually good, but not as good as Bruce. Some other students came out to watch the game. Finney even saw three boys, two he recognized from his science class yesterday, picking up rocks from behind the backstop (googled it, it’s the cage behind the home plate meant to prevent wild balls from hitting people I think). Normally he really wouldn’t care to listen into or eavesdrop on someone else’s conversation, but from what he could hear they were collecting rocks for… monster hunting? 

Odd, what monster could be here in this “quiet town where nothing happens”? Another grabber? A bear? Or maybe they were talking about a game they play. Finney only knew the names of the two of them, the kid with little teeth was named Dustin, and the other boy with the “sling rocket” was Lucas, he didn’t know the name of the boy with the black hair though. (It’s Mike if you can’t tell) 

Finney got his head back in the game by watching the next play. The other pitcher on his team wasn’t bad, he just gave very obvious pitches. And his footwork made it look like he was one strong gust away from falling over. Maybe he was being a bit harsh. 

But while he was watching the game, he heard someone fall over and grunt in pain. When he turned around he saw two boys standing over someone else on the ground. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mike, Dustin, and Lucas were working on collecting rocks for the sling rocket in order to take down the demogorgon, even if Lucas has his doubts on its existence. The best rocks for the sing rocket were behind the baseball field, where the team was currently practicing.

“How about this one?” Mike asked as he handed Dustin one of the many rocks. 

“Too big, it will never fit the sling” Dustin said as he dropped it to the side.

 “Do you think 011 was born with her powers or acquired them?” Dustin said quite loudly, as if he forgot 011 was supposed to be a secret for the time being. 

“The freak doesn’t matter right now, what matters is getting rocks for the sling rocket” Lucas replied annoyed. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Mike stopped picking up rocks, and was now fully turning to Lucas. 

“Yeah, what is it supposed to mean, Lucas?” Troy said as he and James walked over to them, drawing out Lucas’s name. 

Immediately Dustin, Mike, and Lucas stopped and faced both Troy and James. The two bullies had always found sometime out of the day to tease them, mostly Will. 

“What the hell are you freaks doing back here, huh? Will the fairy isn’t going to be back here.” James teased while making “fairy noises”

Troy and James were well known assholes. They always made fun of the gang and called them losers for playing DND and for Will’s sexuality. Now they would all love to punch that smirk off their faces but even with the three of them combined the other two would still win. 

While they kept imitating a fairy, Mike tried to just walk past them, not expecting Troy to push him, making him land hard on his chin. 

“Oops.” Troy snickered as if he didn’t do that on purpose. Mike now really wanted to punch him. 

Mike sat up and realized that he had landed on a rock and now his chin was bleeding, or at the very least cut. Dustin and Lucas were going to run over to him till James got in front, preventing that. 

“Why are you looking for Will anyway? My dad says he’s probably dead somewhere.” Troy just kept going on and on, joking about Will’s disappearance. 

“Or he’s off in fairy land, all happy and gay.” Troy added, putting emphasis on “gay”. 

Troy and James kept laughing as if they were glad Will was gone, as if they didn’t care he may be dead or suffering, and Troy looked like he was going to say sometime till he was interrupted. 

“Hey asshole!” Someone called out from behind him. And the second he turned around three things happened. 

He was punched in the face

He fell to the ground. 

And he let out an embarrassing cry as everyone else was silent, hell it felt like the whole world went silent.  They wasted no time in seeing the new person who showed up. 

Dustin and Lucas knew the person instantly. It took Troy (who was both still in the ground and holding his cheeks where he got hit) and James a second to know who it was and Mike couldn’t tell until it hit him like a truck (or like the fist that hit Troy) 

The person was no other than Finney Blake. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finney didn’t even register the fact that he was moving till he was past the backstop and walking towards the group. Sure he didn’t know the context of what was happening or if they were friends and this was an accident but he had to check.  

“Why are you looking for Will anyways? 

Will? He only knew one Will and that one was missing. Who wouldn’t look for a missing kid, I mean he knew firsthand. Half the town looked for all the boys, even him. Yet all it took was his sister to find him. 

“My dad says he’s dead” the same boy went on. Finney wondered how many people said the same thing about him. Probably most people. 

“Or he’s off in fairy land, all happy and gay!” Ok, now Finney or really anyone else could tell that this guy and his friend were assholes. Assholes for joking about someone’s disappearance in front of their friends. 

Finney didn’t know what he was doing till he was behind one of the boys. I mean what could he do, not like he was going to ask him to leave the boys alone. 

He had been in that position before, feeling helpless. Being bullied for his own sexuality. But someone had saved him, Robin,... ᴴᶦˢ ᴿᵒᵇᶦⁿ.... Robin helped him to stand up for himself, and hell he was even the reason he was still breathing right now and not buried right next to him in that empty house. 

He would be Robin for these boys 

“Hey asshole!” 

The second that boy turned around, with a smug smile on his face, it morphed. His smile grew wider, his eyes stretched outwards, his forehead grew small horns, his skin paled. His face morphed into the Grabbers smiling mask. 

Finney moved his arm, and before he knew it, he punched him right in the face, shattering the mask and reverting the face back to the face of the boy. But for a second he heard a muffled cruel laughter, one that haunted him. 

Oh shit. 

The boy fell to the ground, and the world was still for a few seconds till the other taller and bigger boy charged at him. Finney barely had time to react but was able to sidestep him, only making him get grazed by his punch that hit him on his arm instead of his chest. 

Finney lifted his arms, just like how he saw Robin do countless times. He was getting ready for a fight he wasn’t expecting. But that same coldness came back, even worse this time. 

It started at his elbows but quickly spread across his body. He felt like it was pushing his arms up, higher. (More in a fighting position where you want to protect your face) He tried to fight whatever was happening but the other boy got back up, now a two on one. He really was in deep shit. 

He felt himself get pushed back by the coldness hitting him on his chest, just barely avoiding a punch from the smaller of the two, who’d he previously punched in the face (Troy). What the hell was going on? Finney wouldn’t have time to question what was going on as the other taller boy charged at him again. 

Finney was able to sidestep once again (God he really was now thankful for all those footwork drills he had to do), but this time he went for a punch instead of standing still. He felt the same coldness grab his closed fist and his arm, pulling it back behind him. As soon as that feeling was gone, he launched his fist forward, hitting the boy (James) square on the nose. 

The boy fell back holding his nose as he cried out in pain. Did Finney break his nose? 

God what was happening? One second he’s playing baseball and now he’s fighting two people and having to deal with some coldness he can’t explain at the moment. 

Finney took a moment to catch his breath, he didn’t know how to fight. The only time he got into a fight was either when he got beat up or when he fought against the grabber. And in one situation he had a plan and a “weapon”, did a phone even count as a weapon? 

“James! Oh you fucker!” 

Finney turned around just as the other boy hit him across his cheek. Finney stumbled back a few steps but was able to face the boy, who was fuming. He looked just a few seconds away before smoke would come from his ears. 

Finney felt his cheek start to burn. He turned to face the boy. Finney decided to ignore the fact that he’d most likely get a bruise from that hit. He’d deal with it and the consequences later. 

Finney got back into the position he was in earlier, hands raised and feet slightly apart. The position he’d seen Robin in many times whenever he fought, Finney just hoped it was close enough to be useful and not make him look dumber than he already was. 

The other boy copied him, hands raised and feet apart, a bit more than Finney’s were. The boy was practically breathing just as heavily as a dog would. His face read as a tomato, teeth bared, and hands tightly closed into a fist as blood slowly started to trickle from his nose. Great, two broken noses. 

He would not let a bully like him win. He would not let this boy and his friend, James, walk away from this fight thinking they could tease about someone’s disappearance like this and get away with it. 

He would make them pay. 

“Bring it on asshole!” The boy screamed as he came closer. 

One step back 

The bot got his hands ready for a punch.

One step forward 

His fist came down, getting near Finney’s face. 

One step back

He missed. Finney took this opportunity to punch him. Hitting him on his forehead, knocking him down to the ground. Finney heard him let out a short cry that was cut off when he hit the ground. 

Finney immediately got on top of him, and it was a struggle as both boys tried to hit one another but Finney had the advantage and started hitting him. 

Once 

Twice 

T- 

Finney felt his fist stop above his head before he could bring it down to hit the boy again. It was cold, he tried to fight it but he felt the exhaustion catch up to him. He felt himself breathing heavily, he felt his heart beating against his chest. It was similar to when he ran away from the grabber during the night, during his first escape attempt. 

Finney let his hands fall to his sides as his breathing slowly slowed down. He looked up, meaning to look for the three boys, but instead he was met by a half ring of people. At least 20 people, some from the baseball team, were watching the fight. 

Finney stood up and looked for the three boys in the crowd that was staring right back at him, they didn’t get hit right? They were ok? 

While he was looking for them, he heard movement behind him as the other boy, James got up, nose still bleeding. 

God, could Finney fight someone else right now? His head was pounding and he felt his legs start to wobble as he tried to steady himself on the grass and the rocks. 

James seemed to be better than he was, as he wiped the rest of the blood away from his nose. God Finney really was about to get his ass handed to him wasn’t he? James was taller, probably stronger, and in a far better condition than him. 

“Get away from him you FUCKING TINY DICK COWARDS!” 

Finney heard the familiar scream of his sister as she ran through the crowd with a rock in hand as she got between Finney and James. Gwen being Gwen got ready to hit him as she raised the hand with the rock. 

“Gwe-“ 

“What in GOD’S good name is going on here?!” 

Finney couldn’t even finish calling out his sister's name before two teachers came pushing past the crowd. He recognized these two as the P.E teacher, Mr. Kowalski, and Mrs. Rodger, the chemistry teacher. These two were the ones meant to watch over the kids during this time outside, they clearly did a very good job about it. 

“Oh my god! What happened here?” Mrs. Rodger asked as Gwen moved closer to Finney, still holding the rock with one hand but the other found Finney’s hand and held onto it tightly. 

All four of them remained silent. Finney didn’t know if he could talk with how tired he was, Gwen didn’t know enough to explain and the other two probably got into fights or were in trouble enough to remain silent. 

“ Listen, I don’t know what kinda town you two came from but we will NOT allow any fighting like this” Mr. Kowalski said to the two of them before moving to the other two 

“Troy, James, you have already been told enough times by now to know that this isn’t allowed” Mr. Kowalski continued.

“ You four all go to the nurses office and then go to the principals office, got it?” 

The four just silently nodded. 

Both the whispering crowd and the teachers left after that, but Finney was able to see the three boys still standing in the same spot. He really didn’t know what to do in this situation. Say hi? Walk away? Act like it didn’t even happen?

“… are you all ok?” Finney asked, completely ignoring the scar forming underneath one of their chins. 

“ Y-Yeah” Dustin said 

Finney would’ve said more but Gwen was already dragging him away. Finney stumbled a bit but eventually was able to walk side by side with Gwen, who had dropped the rock at some point. 

“…What happened? They didn’t pick on you did they?” 

“No-no, they were… joking about the missing kid, I’m half sure that those three boys were friends with him” 

“That’s fucked up… I should’ve hit them with that rock” 

Finney chuckled at that statement, something he didn’t do often. 

“You really fucked them up, wished I could’ve seen it” 

“…I’m very concerned about who’s been teaching you all this language” 

“Shut up” 

Both Finney and Gwen chuckled at that.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“DID YOU SEE THAT?!” Dustin  screamed when everyone else left. 

“No, Dustin, we missed it” Mike said as they started to walk away, towards the school. 

“He punched Troy in the face! And-And he totally BROKE James's NOSE! And his sister came running in with a ROCK-“  

“Dustin, we were right there,” Lucas said, cutting off Dustin. “But yeah, it was cool as hell” 

As they all made their way back into the school and split up, Mike could only think of two things. 

1: The new kids were cool as hell 

And 2: Will would love these new kids. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

He watched as Finney fought the two boys.

Watched as he beat the shit out of one of them 

Watched as his little dreamer sister came in to help. 

Watched as Finney gained three new fans. 

He watched Finney.  

… 

ⱧɆ ₱Ʉ₮ Ⱨł₴ ₥₳₴₭ ฿₳₵₭ Ø₦

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was late at night, a bit past midnight to be specific when Finney woke up from yet another nightmare. This time it was full of dead bodies, he was in a sea of them. A sea of blood. 

He couldn’t sleep now, not like this. He was drenched in sweat and he kept seeing faces in the shadows of his room.

He needed to get outside. 

Outside, not inside a floor underground. Not drowning in a sea of blood and bodies, but outside and free. 

He put on a warm jacket and some socks and shoes. Then he quietly left his home and walked around his home till he was walking behind it and sat down on the old park bench that faced the woods, yet another reason why he preferred having a window in his room facing towards the woods. 

He didn’t need to be outside for long, just long enough to know he was outside and safe, not in a basement. 

Finney closed his eyes and let himself feel the wind blowing through his hair, the chill that ran up his spine, the smell of pine trees, the sounds of cricket chirping. 

Finney opened his eyes and was expected to see the trees, or even the moon shining on him, but it was all blocked by the man standing in front of him. 

He stared Finney down, his face hiding behind that smiling mask. He wasn’t breathing or blinking, why would a dead man need to do that? 

He put his hands on his knees and got closer to Finney, face just a few inches away from his own face. Finney didn’t flinch, Finney didn’t scream. This wasn’t the first time this happened. He wasn’t really there. (Right?) 

“…touch me… and I’ll scratch your face…”

And with that, the grabber faded away like all the other times, because it was all in Finney’s head. He was gone. He was gone. He was gone. He was gone. He was gone. 

ⱧɆ ₩₳₴ ฿Ɇł₦₲ ₩₳₮₵ⱧɆĐ 

Chapter Text

Finney and Gwen are walking to school like normal, not really talking or bringing up the fight that happened just the other day. Finney really doesn’t know how to feel at the moment. The boy, Will Byers, was found… well his body was found. 

Finney didn’t know the boy. He never met him, never talked to him or anything. He only knew him from the missing posters. His body was found in a quarry. People believed he got lost and fell in. But he knew what it was like to be missing, knew what it was like to have your face on some paper. Knew what it was like for people to believe you were dead. 

That could’ve been Finney. If he never got the phone calls, he’d be dead and buried right next to Robin and the other boys. Gwen tried to help him the best she could. Telling him that it wasn’t the grabber or some other messed up person, but a genuine accident. 

The school was going to be holding an assembly for Will today, sometime during lunch. Finney just hoped that his friends would be ok, and any family member he had, he hoped that they could cope with the loss like how he and the Arellano’s had to with Robin, or with the Yamada’s with Bruce and all the others. He wasn’t as close with Bruce as he was with Robin, but he still considered him a friend. 

“Did….. Did I get… an assembly?” Finney asked as they walked through the halls of the school. It was a genuine question as Finney knew some of the boys got an assembly, like Bruce. But both Robin and Griffin didn’t get one. 

“Yeah… mostly just bringing awareness to walking home alone. This one’s probably just going to be talking about Will and his death.” 

Finney hummed in response before waving goodbye to Gwen as he walked down a few more halls to reach his science classroom. As soon as Finney walked into his classroom he regretted it as he remembered that all of the boys that he helped yesterday would be in his class. 

Finney was glad that he was slightly early as he was able to sit down in his chair towards the back before the boys arrived. But of course, that didn’t help as two of them, Dustin and Lucas, sat down in their seats but the one whose name he didn’t know walked over to him. 

“Hey umm… I just wanted to say thanks… for yesterday. My name's Mike by the way.” 

“Oh, it was uhhh nothing… but nice to meet you… Mike.” Finney said as Mike walked away, back to his seat. Well that went better than expected, he thinks. He really didn’t know what could’ve come out of that conversation. Especially since their friend was found dead last night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finney’s class was one of the first to enter the gym for Will’s assembly. Gwen’s class  followed soon after and she wasted no time in pushing others out of the way to sit next to him on the very uncomfortable bleachers. 

Finney was pretty sure that if you gave the bleachers a few more years and more weight on them, they’d collapse. Finney didn’t know what to expect from this assembly. Sure he had been at the ones for Bruce, but this one would be different. Will got lost and died in the quarry, at least according to the paper, But Bruce got kidnapped and killed by the grabber whose identity they didn’t know at the time. 

The other classes were slowly flooding into the gym. If Finney was being honest with himself, he was only watching to see when (or if) Will’s friends would arrive. He saw them all in his science class, but maybe they’d be excused from it or maybe not want to show up. Finney couldn’t blame them, if it were Gwen who got taken, he’d probably skip school every single day till she was found, even if people said she was probably dead. Gwen never gave up on him and he’d never give up on her. 

He didn’t see them enter, so maybe they were excused or he just missed them. The principal, Mr. Coleman walked up and started talking about what the assembly was about. 

“We are here today to honor the loss of one of our students, one your classmates and friend, Will Byers” 

The principal went on and on with some scripted speech. Finney couldn’t find himself to care all too much, he probably got a similar speech for him. All filled with fake care and empathy for him. Hell if you looked at all the other students, no one was paying attention to this. No one but Gwen probably paid attention to the assembly for him. 

But everyone’s heads turned at the sound of the gym door opening, revealing Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Mr. Clark and a girl with blond hair Finney did know. Everyone just kinda stared at them all as the three boys and the girl found a seat all next to each other and Mr, Clark joined the other teachers. It was silent for a bit till Mr. Coleman went on with his lame speech. 

Finney could hear Troy and James making fun of it all. Even though he did get a few bruises and was talked to by both the principal and his father, Finney wished he could punch them again. Those were the types of people Robin would’ve hated, the types of people the rest of the ghost boys would’ve hated. 

Finally after a few more torturous minutes, the assembly came to a close and everyone was getting off the old creaky bleachers. Both Gwen and Finney were about to leave till they heard some commotion behind them. 

“You think this is funny Troy?” Mike called out as both Troy and James turned to face him, both of them had some bruises, Troy having more. Finney saw a small circle start to form around them and both him and Gwen made their way closer, just in case. 

“I saw you laughing up there, and I think that’s a really messed up thing to do.” Mike went on as the small circle started to grow. Finney was happy that he was at least standing up for his friend. He just hoped it didn’t escalate into another fight. 

“What does it matter? Will’s dead and off in fairy land. With all the other gay fairy’s.” Troy taunted before both him and James started to walk away. But they didn’t get very far before Mike walked up and pushed Troy from behind, making him fall on the hard gym floor. 

“..oh you’re dead Wheeler, DEAD!” Troy got up and started to charge at Mike. Finney got ready to run in, even if he still wasn’t in the best shape, but Troy just… stopped. In fact he looked panicked? Why were people laughing? Then Finney saw it. 

Troy peed his pants by the looks of it. Finney couldn’t help but feel bad for the guy. Peeing your pants in front of almost all of the school, everyone was laughing at him. Till the teachers came over and told everyone to leave. 

Finney and Gwen filled everyone out of the gym, but the moment they were out they took one look at each other and started to laugh along with most people. At least there was one entertaining thing about that assembly. If Finney was being honest, he was glad he wasn’t there for his own assembly. He could only imagine all the made up words of sympathy that all the staff and officers would talk about. After his mothers death most people just saw them as a sad cursed family. Finney hated they weren’t entirely wrong. 

Unfortunately, they still had school and both Finney and Gwen parted ways as they headed to their next classes. Finney’s was history, he didn’t have much to say about this subject. It wasn’t bad, it just didn’t interest him as much as science did. Unless it was learning about space, he liked learning about space even if it was seen as “nerdy” at his old school. 

It was about halfway through the period when the fire alarm went off. It was of course loud and unexpected that it made Finney nearly fall out of his seat. Really any loud noise did. Half the time his mind morphed the noise into the grabbers screams. Or even worse, it would morph into his laughter. 

Everyone was quickly evacuated and from what he could overhear it had something to do with some radio exploding or something. Luckily it was towards the end of school so they just let everyone go after checking for attendance. Finney quickly found Gwen and both of them made their way home. 

The walk home was mostly silent, but not awkward. Both just didn’t have much to talk about at the moment. Even if Finney wanted to tell Gwen about seeing the grabber more and more often. He was told that it was all just in his head, and to give it a few weeks and it would go away but it’s only gotten worse and worse since moving here. 

School would be closed for a few days to “honor Will’s passing”. Finney didn’t know what to feel about that. He was happy that Will at least got something, but it hurt knowing that none of the ghost boys got a day like Will did. That Finney wouldn’t have gotten a day like Will did if he died in the basement. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was around the middle of the day the next day when Finney arrived at the grocery store. He did plan on taking Gwen with him but she was still asleep since they had the day off from school. Lucky he didn’t have to get too much, just some snacks for him and Gwen to take to school. He did “forget” to get the eggs though. He hated eggs.

After paying, he left the store and passed by a girl? He couldn’t tell with the buzz cut and all the dirt that was on her. But she was wearing a dress that Finney swore he’d seen somewhere before. Finney quickly adjusted the grocery bag before he started walking out of the store. But he was stopped, not by a person calling out his name or even a realization he left something in the store. 

He was stopped by the sound of the pay phone ringing when we walked by it. 

It was just broken, right? Or maybe he was hearing things? Surely someone else had to have heard the ringing… it kept going and going, never once stopping. It was all Finney could hear. All he could focus on. 

Finney only picked up one phone call once back in Denver, and it was the first one he got. He didn’t even expect it to be a ghost or a dead person in the first place. The phone call happened in his own home. He didn’t even get to say anything because the second he picked up the phone he heard the grabber screaming. He doesn’t even remember what he said or if he said anything. He never picked up the phone again unless he knew someone else heard it. 

This was the first phone call he got in Hawkins. Finney thought that moving to a whole different place would make them stop. Maybe it’s just the ghost of someone who died here recently, like Will,  or it’s just broken. 

Curiosity got the better of Finney and he made his way over to the pay phone. He dropped the bag and listened to the noise for a few seconds. Then he let his hand rest on the phone till he finally picked it up and slowly moved it to his ear. 

All he heard was static for a few seconds. He almost put it down until the static abruptly stopped. It was just silent till the person in the other line finally talked. 

“…Hey Finn…” 

Robin. 

It was Robin. Robin on the other side of the phone. 

Finney nearly dropped the phone. Finney nearly forgot he had to breathe. It was Robin, his Robin on the other end of the phone. The very person he loved but never got to say the words out loud. The very same Robin who told him to stand up for himself. The very same Robin.

“.. Robin?” Finney didn’t know what to say. Why now? Why here? But Finney didn’t know if he wanted to ask those questions. He knew the time he could talk to the ghost was limited, at least in the basement. And he just wanted to cherish this moment. Cherish Robin’s voice. 

“ Yeah, it’s me…listen, I don’t have much time, but you need to follow the girl.” Robin said so fast Finney nearly missed it. Girl? What girl? 

“What-who? What girl? What’s-“ Finney was cut off when he heard the automatic glass doors behind him shatter. He jumped, nearly dropping the phone, his only way of talking to Robin. Someone had run into the door or maybe it slammed on someone, but he saw that same girl he passed by just a few minutes ago walking away with a concerning amount of Eggos and a nose bleed. 

“Follow her, you’ll know why soon but you need to hurry Finn.” Robin’s voice brought him back to reality as he kept his eyes on the girl who kept walking away, as if the loud noise of the door shattering didn’t bother her. Finney trusts Robin, he’d go back in that damned basement if he asked him too. But why this girl? What the hell happened with the door? Would he be able to talk to Robin again? What happened to the “last call” back in the basement? 

“… I… I will…”  There was so much more Finney wanted to say to Robin. So much he had to say and ask. It felt cruel to Finney. He not only wanted to talk to Robin, but also the other ghost boys. And who knows, maybe his own mother. 

“Go Finn. And remember, a man never leaves his friend behind.” Finney felt the coldness wrap around his hand that wasn’t holding the phone. He jumped and nearly dropped the phone, but the coldness didn’t go away.  

“I’ll always be with you, we all will… goodbye Finn” The static came back. Finney knew he was being greedy but he wished he could have just a few more minutes with Robin. The coldness slowly went away, but just knowing that it was him helped. 

Now for the girl. Finney lost sight of her a minute ago but he knew what direction she went. Finney trusted Robin and he put the phone away before he started following the path of the girl. Sure, he should stop and go get Gwen or at least call home to let her know, but with the urgency in Robin's voice he knew he needed to hurry. 

Finney didn’t know where this was going to lead him. Didn’t know how important this would be, but he went on and followed her even as she went into the woods. God he hoped this wouldn’t get him killed. He didn’t survive the basement and the grabber just to trip and fall and break his leg and die in the woods. 

He just hoped Gwen wouldn’t go crazy or get too scared when he didn’t make it home on time as he started walking in the woods. 

Little did he know how important this would be. 

Chapter Text

It had been around fifteen minutes since Finney stepped foot into the woods in Hawkins and it’s safe to say he was very much lost. I mean he looked like a headless chicken. Every tree looked the same, and no matter which way he turned he couldn’t see Hawkins. God he was in for an earful when he got back home. 

All he had to do was follow one girl because a dead guy that he had a crush on told him to. How hard could it be? Well, apparently, it's really hard for Finney. It would’ve helped if he knew the girl's name or why she was important. Man Finney was the wrong person for this job. 

He kept walking and walking, trying to listen for someone. All he heard was the sound of his own footsteps and a bunch of birds. He didn’t hate being out in the woods alone like most people would. He wasn’t even scared of it. He hated being stuck in a room for too long though. Especially if that room had one window and a very uncomfortable bed and a locked door. 

At this point, Finney wouldn’t be surprised if he walked in circles the entire time. He kept walking and walking and taking turns. He really hoped Robin wasn’t watching right now (he was). 

Finney only stopped when he swore he heard movement. Like something was moving the dead leaves on the ground. Finney slowly made his way around two trees that were right next to each other and was met by the same girl he passed by in the store. The same one Robin told him to follow. She was already looking up at him as she held a lot of Eggos.

Oh Finney did not plan this far ahead, hell he didn’t even plan for anything. Did he say “hi”? Did they already know each other? Finney swore he saw that dress somewhere, maybe at school? She seemed to be covered in dirt and the dress had some cuts in it. Was she ok? 

“Umm H-hey” Finney said after a very awkward moment of silence. 

He was met by even more silence. So this was going off to a great start. Finney had a lot of questions but he wasn’t sure if he’d get any answers. 

“… those are a lot of Eggos you got there-“ 

“Who are you?” She asked, having a small pause in between each word. Well at least she can talk? Finney honestly just tried to look at the bright side. 

“Oh, I’m Finney.” Finney just tried to not scare the girl. He still didn’t know why he was here in the first place. 

“Finn…ey?” The girl slowly said his name. 

“Yeah, Finney Blake.” Finney said with a smile, hoping to reassure the girl that he wasn’t a threat or a bad person. Or a creep in the woods. 

“.. do you like Eggos?” Thanks for asking the obvious Finney. Luckily the girl just nodded and went back to eating them, she had at the very least eight whole boxes of Eggos. Who even needs that many? 

“Do you like them with syrup?” Finney said as he slowly sat down, still keeping a comfortable distance. 

“Syrup?” 

“Yeah, it’s fairly good. I personally don’t like it but my sister loves it. She totally drenches her Eggos or any waffles in syrup.” 

Hey, at least they were talking? One step in the right direction.

“Sister?” The girl whose name he still didn’t know asked very quietly. 

“Yeah, her name is Gwen. What’s your name?” 

The girl, instead of answering, rolled up her sleeve and held it out for him to see. Finney didn’t know what he was supposed to look at till he saw it, the tattoo. 011. 

“.. Eleven?” Finney asked hesitantly. Was this girl's name really a number? Finney got his answer when Eleven nodded. Well at least he got a name, even if it was an odd one. And why did she even have a tattoo? They looked the same age, was she forced to get it? This was getting more and more confusing by the second. 

“…what’s that?” Eleven pointed to the rocket light he had in his pocket. He always brings it with him everywhere. Sometimes, whenever he was scared he’d hold onto it tightly, to remind himself of what he survived. 

“It’s a rocket” Finney pulled out the rocket and held it out for Eleven to see. It was still bloodied at the tip, Finney tried to wash it off but it didn’t work. Finney turned the light to the rocket on and moved it around in a sort of “flying motion” moving it up and down slowly. 

“Blood” Eleven pointed to the tip of the rocket “Whose?” 

“… A bad man’s” Well he wasn’t wrong technically. The grabber was a bad man. Finney thought that it may scare her or at least make her confused, but instead she looked in awe. Was it something he said? 

Eleven looked like she was about to say something but was interrupted by the sounds of someone screaming. Well the screams were saying something but Finney couldn’t make out the words. But he knew for a fact that he heard two separate voices/screams. 

Eleven got up and started walking towards the scream. Finney quickly got up and started to follow her, wondering if this was a good idea. What if they were heading straight towards some wild animal? Was it a smart idea to follow a girl whose name is a number in the woods? Nope, but Finney did anyway.

As they got closer and closer to screaming Finney could start making out the words, or more specifically word. The people, who were probably boys, were screaming “Eleven”. Like the Eleven he was walking with right now? Was there two Elevens? Who names a kid Eleven?!?

Eleven started to run towards the sound. Finney, after a few seconds, joined her. It seemed that the screams either stopped or were heading away from them. They both picked up the pace. Finney really wished Gwen was here right now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you had to ask Mike how his day was going he’d say it was one of the worst. First of all, Eleven was still missing. Second, Lucas was off looking for the gate while he and Dustin were in the woods looking for Eleven. And last but not least, they were being chased by Troy and James who were for some reason also in the woods. 

They both ran and ran, dropping their bikes at some point. Soon they arrived at the quarry where Will's fake body was found. Troy was still hot on their tail, but as they kept running James managed to get to the other side. Surrounding them both. Oh they were so fucked. 

They both picked up rocks while the other two got closer. Mike was facing James, he still had some bruises that were slowly fading away. Mike really wished Finney was here, even if he didn’t know the guy, he did help them. He heard Dustin yell out some sort of war cry. Then he heard both Troy and Dustin struggling behind him. He turned and saw Troy had his knife at Dustin’s neck. Were they being serious?

“What do you want?!” Mike yelled out towards Troy. 

“I wanna know how you did it” Troy practically spit out, he was pissed at them. 

“What? About how you pissed your pants in front of the whole school?” Troy somehow looked even more pissed at that.  Welp, they really were in for it now. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finney was almost out of breath by the time they made it to the quarry. The same quarry where Will’s body was found. But right now Finney was more concerned about the fact that Mike was way too close to the edge of the quarry and that Troy had a knife to Dustin’s face and James looked like he was reconsidering his life choices. What the fuck was going on? 

Then, Mike jumped. He jumped, and Finney froze. There was no way someone would survive that fall. Oh god no. Please let him be ok, please. Maybe Finney just saw it wrong, yeah that had to be it, right?

The other three quickly ran to the edge as Finney started running towards them… but Eleven just walked and her nose was bleeding. Finney stopped to look at her for a second. Did she not see him jump? Finney turned around at the sound of someone falling. 

It was Mike. Didn’t he just jump? None of this made any sense. How was he here when he just jumped? Why was Eleven's nose bleeding? 

Finney took a second to stop and catch his breath, both from the running and this very confusing situation. Eleven started to walk past him and towards the four boys. Dustin and Mike looked both happy and relieved while Troy and James looked confused, and annoyed at Finney’s presence probably. 

Finney was going to start moving forward to catch up with Eleven but he stopped when he saw James being thrown back by something. It was almost like he got hit with an invisible car. He didn’t seem to be the only confused one as Troy looked equally as bewildered. 

Then Finney heard a familiar sickening crack. Finney immediately moved to cover his ears. He kept hearing the crack over and over and over again and again. The same damn sound. The sound he could never escape. The one that hunted him. 

It was the sound he heard right before he killed the grabber. The sound he heard right before he’d be labeled as a murderer. The sound that will never leave him alone. 

Finney looked up from the ground slowly letting his hands leave his ears to see Troy and James running away. What had he missed? Finney wouldn’t have time to wonder about it ok much as Eleven started to stumble and fall. 

Finney’s legs moved before his mind did as he caught Eleven right before she hit the ground. She looked really pale and the nose bleed got worse. Finney wasn’t good at medical stuff at all and he didn’t know what to do. Luckily, Dustin and Mike ran over to them, they both looked at Finney in confusion before turning their attention to Eleven. 

Mike slowly took Eleven into his own arms, Finney guessed they knew each other somehow. Dustin was looking back and forth between Eleven and Finney. Finney very much felt like an outsider in this interaction. 

“…M-Mike” Eleven spoke very softly but it seemed like a challenge for her to even say his name. 

“… I’m sorry” 

“Sorry? No El, it's alright.” El? Nickname Finney guessed, but it did confirm that they knew each other. Still Finney was confused by this whole situation. Why would Robin ask him to follow this girl? How did Mike appear back up here when he jumped off the quarry? Who names a kid after a number? And what the hell was he getting himself into? 

“…the gate… I opened it, I’m the monster.” Gate? Monster? Weren’t Dustin. Mike and Lucas talking about “monster hunting” when he got into that fight a few days ago? Why was Eleven the monster? Where was Lucas? What had happened to Troy and James?  Finney knew he had no place in whatever was happening but he was quite literally two two feet away so how could he not care? 

“No no El, it’s ok, everything’s ok. You’re not the monster.” Mike reassured Eleven as they all slowly stood up, Mike helping to support Eleven as she shakily stood up. Mike and Dustin now both looked at Finney with varying levels of confusion. 

“Why are you here? How do you know El?” Mike asked accusingly. 

“I ran into her in the woods and we heard you guys yelling so we came here.” Finney hoped they wouldn’t ask why he was in the woods as he didn’t really have an excuse. Dustin looked like he was going to ask that very question till Finney continued. 

“It's going to get dark soon and I don’t think Eleven is in the best condition health wise so it’s probably best to just head home.” Finney made up some BS explanation even if it was halfway through the day and nowhere close to being dark. But it seemed to do the trick. 

“Our bikes are nearby. Do you want us to… walk you back to yours?” Mike asked as they all started walking back towards the woods. 

“N-no, it’s alright… what was-“ 

“Listen, you can’t tell anyone about this, about Eleven for your own safety.” Mike cut in, Dustin was still looking at him suspiciously and Eleven was just looking straight ahead, looking tired. What? Safety? What exactly did Robin send him to?

“I-uhh, ok?” Finney just said to cut the very awkward silence. His hand found the rocket and he held onto it tightly. Soon they got near the bikes and Mike got on with Eleven behind him but Dustin turned to look at him. 

“Seriously, you can’t tell anyone. Otherwise you’re putting your life and your family’s in danger. “Dustin said, putting emphasis on “danger”. 

“Alright alright, lips sealed.” Finney made a “zipping” motion over his mouth. And with that, Dustin got on his own bike and the three rode away, but Eleven did a small wave as they left Finney’s line of sight. Great, now he was all alone in an unfamiliar woods by himself. Now he was wishing he took them up on that offer. 

Finney followed the path they went down and eventually made it back to that supper market. That's when he realized he left the grocery bag by the pay phone, luckily it was still there. He made his way over to get it and head home. The walk home wouldn’t be a long one, so he allowed his legs to guide him as his mind wondered. Thinking over the events that had just unfolded. 

Thinking over the call with Robin. Thinking over Eleven and the ominous “threat” that Mike and Dustin left for him. Thinking over everything that had happened within the past hour or so. 

He felt the coldness, no he felt one of the ghosts, probably Robin. It started at his left shoulder before spreading all over. He turned and that when he saw her. Gwen, on her bike, heading right over to him with a speed that could probably get her a ticket somewhere. Oh he was in for it. 

Gwen slowed down and got off her bike, letting it fall to the ground as she ran and hugged him tightly. 

“Where were you?” She asked, not letting go. 

“It’s a long story, I’ll explain when we get home.” Yeah, Finney was going to completely ignore the warning and tell Gwen everything. 

“I’m sorry if I scared you” 

Gwen remained silent, but she eventually let go and got her bike. 

“I’ll never leave or go silent like that again, it was my fault and I’m sorry.” 

“…it’s fine you dork.” 

Gwen’s hand found his and they both walked home. The coldness left Finney after that, but god he really hoped the Ghost Boys didn’t see him. Didn’t see him wander around the woods like a blind man. Didn’t see him panic at the sound of something cracking. 

But it wasn’t just the Ghost boys who were watching him.

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Hopper was already near his end point by the time he and Joyce arrived at the station. Joyce’s oldest boy, Johnathan had been arrested for getting into some petty fight with Harrington. Then when the cops came he fought them. It only got worse when they investigated his car and found a small battle setup in the back. 

Now he’s having to deal with a screaming woman and her son who has definitely seen better days. She was screaming her head off about some “ crazy kid with mind powers who broke his arm.” Hopper only cared when the kid mentioned the shaved head. 

“Shaved head?” 

“Yeah… yeah shaved head. Covered in dirt! And- and she was with those losers and the new asshole!" The kid yelled just as loud as his mother did. Clearly not knowing or caring that Hopper was the chief. 

“Losers? New asshole? Names kid I need names.” Hopper replied sternly. If he could get the names of the kids maybe he’ll find out where the girl is, and maybe even where Will is. 

“Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson, probably also Lucas Sinclair… and Finney Blake.” The kid answered. 

“Blake? As in that new family?” 

Chapter Text

The first thing Finney did when he got home was immediately sit down on the couch, not caring about any mud or dirt on his clothes. Gwen sat down next to him as both settled into a comfortable silence. Finney knew he’d have to explain everything to Gwen at some point, but for now he allowed himself to enjoy the silence just for a few seconds.

“What happened Finney? You looked like you rolled in mud for a few minutes before getting attacked by a bird.” Gwen motioned to his dirty clothes and messy hair. He still looked fine compared to how he looked when he left the basement. 

“…when I was at the store, I got a call from Robin.” Finney just quickly ripped off the bandage with that. Getting straight to the point, he could see the gears turning in Gwen’s head. 

“How? Here? Didn’t he say that the phone call in the basement was the last one? Why now?”Gwen went on and on with many valid questions that Finney couldn’t answer at the moment. Sure he knew a little bit more than Gwen at the moment but he was just as equally confused. 

“He wanted me to follow this… girl.” Finney cut in before Gwen could ask more questions. 

“Girl? What girl?” Gwen asked, this time she didn’t ask anymore questions. 

“Her name was Eleven” 

“Like the number?” 

“Yeah.” Finney nodded, as he continued. “It’s all so confusing. She had a shaved head and a tattoo on her wrist.” 

“…what?” That made Gwen even more confused. 

“Then we heard screaming in the woods-“ 

“You followed a stranger into the woods?” Gwen was very much judging his survival instincts. 

“Yeah, and it was two of those boys, Mike and Dustin, I guess they were being chased by Troy and James.” 

“Those fucking assholes.” 

“And then Mike jumped off the quarry-“ 

“He what?!” 

“But then he was just… there, like he didn’t jump.” 

“… and you’re 100% sure you didn’t like… take anything beforehand.” Gwen asked after he finished explaining the very confusing situation. 

“Gwen!” 

“What? None of this makes any sense. Why would Robin want you to follow some girl?” 

(TW WARNING: SA its one sentence at the end of the next paragraph ) 

“I don’t know.” Finney didn’t even realize his voice was a bit shaky. He hated being in the dark, having information withheld from him. The grabber knew that. He never told him what was going to happen to him. Never told him if he was going to die. Never told him if he’d feel the grass under his hands again or even the sun on his face. He never told him what he did to him when he was asleep. 

“Finn… is ok, it’s ok, he’s not here.” Finney didn’t even realize Gwen was hugging him till she spoke up. He felt pathetic. He couldn’t handle hearing something snapping anymore. He couldn’t even see a black balloon or van without freaking out and now he can barely hold a conversation with his own sister.

“… do you want to take a shower? To clean off? I can make dinner tonight.” Finney didn’t want to admit it but yeah he really wanted to. He liked being clean right now, he was a textbook opposite of that. His legs had some mud on them, his hair was a mess and he probably stank or had some leaves in his hair. 

Finney couldn’t find the will to just say yes so he just nodded. Gwen slowly got up and walked to the kitchen while Finney went to the bathroom and he looked at himself in the mirror. He looked exactly like how he looked when he first left the basement. Down to the eyebags. Sure, he wasn’t as skinny or bruised but he was just as dirty. 

He hated it. He hated everything. Why would Robin send him after this girl? Why was this secret so important that if he told everyone his life would be in danger? Why did he feel like he was being watched half the time? Was it just the ghost boys? 

Finney found his mind drifting back to his time in the basement more and more. Sometimes he’d wake up and see the grabber watching him till he turned the lights on and it was just his clothes. Or other times he’d wake up after dreaming about the grabber strangling and breaking his neck instead of the other way around. And when he moved his hands to his neck, it felt so so cold. 

Finney turned on the water as he took off his shirt. He looked at his body again in the mirror and gently traced over the few scars he had. One of them he got when the window grate (?) fell on top of him. The other he got when he tried to escape his first time and got nicked by the knife. And the rest were from his bullies or his own fault. He wiped away the single tear that had managed to fall down his face.

Finney just let his body go on autopilot as he got ready to take a shower. Finney really wished that he could go back in time and stop all of it. Stop the grabber from taking any of the boys. Stop his mother from listening to the voices and taking her own life. Just stop it all and let them live a normal life, but Finney knew that would never happen. That his one wish would never come true. 

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Mike did not know how to feel when he got out of Hopper's car and saw his sister in the Byers house. Why was Nancy even a part of this? Eventually the small group that consisted of Mike, Dustin, 011, Lucas, and Hopper made their way inside. Nancy wordlessly made her way over to Mike and hugged him, something they didn’t do often. 

Now everyone sat down as Mike explained 011, the upside down, the government, all of it. 

“Then the government chased up and 011 flipped the van-“ 

“Wait wait wait.” Hopper cut in getting everyone’s attention 

“Troy said that there was someone else with you guys, with 011.” Of course it was Troy of all people who ratted them out. 

“… yeah-yeah… uhh when we were near the quarry 011 came and saved up and Finney, the uhh new kid was with her, right El?.” Eleven nodded as Mike finished explaining. 

“So does he or does he not know about Eleven's powers?” Hopper asked seriously, it was something that Mike and Dustin didn’t consider. He did see Eleven carry Mike when he jumped along with seeing James getting pushed and Troy getting his arm broken. Their silence and the expressions on their faces probably gave the answer away as Hopper cursed under his breath. 

“Do you know if he would’ve told anyone?” Joyce asked. 

“We told him not too-“ Mike was interrupted by Dustin. 

“His sister, he might’ve told his sister.” 

“So there’s one, maybe two people out there who know about Eleven?” Nancy asked as Hopped cursed again and Eleven seemed confused. Eleven liked Finney, he fought bad guys and his sister liked Eggos and he told her about syrup. 

“Ok, let's go.” Hopper stood up, and walked to the door while putting on his hat, leaving no room for argument.

And that's how Mike was again, in the back of the car with Hopper and Joyce all heading towards Mulberry. Soon Mike saw the small little brick house, the lights were on but luckily no car was in the driveway. Hopper turned off the car as they all headed towards the front door, Mike and Jocye were there to try and convince Finney and his sister to go with them as no one really trusted Hopper to go get two kids by himself. 

Hopper (very aggressively) knocked on their front door several times more than necessary. After a few moments, a girl who looked slightly younger than Finney opened the door, somehow matching Hopper’s annoyance. 

“Who are you? What do you want?” She asked, annoyed, Mike didn’t exactly know her name but he thought it was Gwen. 

“Listen kid, you and your brother need to come with us.” Hopper said while putting on the best fake smile he could possibly muster, but he was probably two minutes away from doing something illegal. 

“What Hopper means to say is that we believe that yours and your brother's lives could be at risk and that we want to help you” Joyce stepped in before Hopper said anything worse. She was always good at calming down the situation. 

“Who even are you people?” Gwen asked as she looked at all three of them with suspicion. 

“Wait… aren’t you Mike or something?” Gwen asked when she saw Mike standing awkwardly to the side. Gwen only heard a few descriptions of him and only really saw him once at the assembly. 

“Yeah” 

“… does this have to do with the…girl?” She asked while eyeing Joyce and Hopper. 

“Yes, yes it does so I’m assuming Finney told you about her.” Mike answered.

“Who’s at the door, Gwen?” A voice came from inside the house. Finney turned the corner, with a small towel in his hands actively drying his hair. He was wearing some jeans and a blue shirt.  He stopped and almost dropped the towel when he saw Mike at the door along with two other adults he didn’t recognize. 

“…hey Finney.” Mike waved.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He watched as Finney let a single tear fall down his face as he looked at himself in the mirror. While most people would pity the boy and even offer comfort, he found it amusing. He wondered just how many tears he could force out of the boy once he got his revenge. 

He didn’t want to just kill Finney. No no no no no, that would be too boring. He wanted to make Finney suffer. 

He watched as Finney and Gwen ( a bit hesitantly) got into the car with the three other people. He only knew one of them, the boy, from the fight little Finney got himself into just a few days ago. 

He watched as the car drove away and left his line of sight. He had been planning his revenge for a while now. Ever since he realized what had happened he started planning. He didn’t want to just kill Finney. No, Finney was too special for that. 

ⱧɆ ₩₳₦₮ɆĐ ₮Ø ₥₳₭Ɇ Ⱨł₥ ₴Ʉ₣₣ɆⱤ

Chapter Text

The last thing Finney was expecting was for both him, his sister, and Mike of all people squeezed in the back of a cop car all while the mother of Will, the same Will whose body was found not too long ago, explained that their lives were in danger. 

“We-we understand that this is a very confusing situation but I-I swear that you will not be harmed in any way.” Joyce went on, Finney wasn’t exactly convinced, but he did feel slightly safe. The woman, Joyce, explained that bad men out there may hurt both him and Gwen. It seemed like Finney was just a magnet, attracting the worse of the worse. 

Mike remained quiet for the most part, only talking a little bit here and there. Finney didn’t like the man driving, Hopper. Finney really didn’t like any older men for that matter. He had a hard time being in a room with his own father or any older man. This whole thing apparently had something to do with Will and Eleven. Eleven he gets, but he wondered what Will had to do with this. The boy's body was found just a few days ago. 

Eventually they arrived at a somehow smaller house than their own. The house was really near the woods, and were those Christmas lights inside? The house itself was a small single story one that was one the border of the woods. As they pulled up, he could feel Gwen leaning in to get a good view of the house, he could tell that there were a few more people inside but he couldn’t count as the car stopped and they hastily made their way out. Finney and Gwen followed after a few seconds, still wondering if this is a good idea, surely they could make a quick getaway if something happened right? 

Both  Finney and Gwen were the last ones to enter the house, and yep, those were Christmas lights. There were around eight or so people in the house, (Hopper, Mike, Dustin, Lucas. El, Joyce, Nancy and Johnathan). Finney didn’t know any of the adults or older teens, he only knew Mike, Dustin, Lucas and El. If Finney was being honest, the house was a mess. Somehow worse than his place back in Denver. 

While Finney and Gwen were taking in the (with all respect) absolute mess of a house, the other people in the house shared hushed. Probably talking about both the Blake siblings. Finney realized that Eleven had walked out of what he guessed was the bathroom and was looking at him with an unreadable expression. Finney simply waved and was internally happy that she had waved back before Lucas spoke up. 

“How much do you two know exactly?” Finney could overhear Dustin talking to the others about needing an insane amount of salt. Eleven at that point, sat down on the couch next to them, she was looking at Gwen who had also done a small wave.

“…just that our lives are apparently in danger.” Finney responded after a moment, still holding Gwen’s hand as she looked around the house more. 

“How much do you know about Eleven?” He asked, a bit annoyed at having to restate his previous question. He could see out of the corner of his eye that Eleven was watching both him and his sister. 

“…that-“ 

“She has powers or some bs.” Gwen cut in. Pretty much summing what both he and Gwen thought about the girl. Honestly, considering what they’ve been through, it wouldn’t be that weird or strange. I mean one talks to ghosts and the other can dream of the past and future in small fragments. 

“Look, you may know about El, but you don’t know what’s out there, you don’t know what took Will.” Lucas responded. Took Will? Wasn’t his body found? 

“Will? But the body-“ 

“Was a fake, he’s still out there.” Finney was trying to put two and two together. Firstly, Will was apparently alive and someone had made a dead body just to cover up his disappearance. And now Lucas is talking about something taking Will, as he used the words “what took Will”, not “who took Will”. At least it wasn't some old man, right? (lol) 

“What took Will?” 

“...Demo…gorgan” Eleven quietly spook up.   

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was not how Gwen expected to spend her night. First, she heard a story of some girl who may or may not have powers. Second, she was practically dragged away from her house by a bunch of crazy looking adults. And now she’s back at Hawkins Middle when she could be sleeping right now. 

The only good part about that night was meeting Eleven. Who for some reason kept calling her syrup. (Finney never explained why). Now both her and Finney are on the bleachers of the gym as the others keep dumping salt into the small pool. 

“ Do you know anything about her powers? Or what a “demogorgan” is?” She spoke up after a very boring amount of silence. 

“All I know, and from what Lucas told us, is that she can throw things with her mind. That’s how she was able to pick up Mike after he jumped. “

“What about the demogorgon?" 

Finney remained quiet. They both watched as Eleven slowly got into the pool. She had on some goggles that were covered in duck tape, making a makeshift blindfold. 

While yes, both Finney and Gwen had some form of ability, they didn’t know if it was the same as Elevens. For starters, both had specific requirements, Gwen needs to be asleep and Finney needs some form of technology, like a phone or radio. While it seemed like all Eleven needed was energy that could come from sleep or food. 

They both watched, she was looking for someone named “Barb” first, apparently she was also taken by the demogorgon. Well, more like she may have been killed by the demogorgan considering Eleven was screaming, “gone, Gone, GONE!”. Over and over again, only stopping when Joyce held her hand. Finney knew what it was like, what it was like to see a dead body. 

It hurt Gwen. What if her dreams had shown her Finney’s dead body instead? She found and squeezed Finney’s hand tightly. While it was painful to watch, seeing the older girl (Nancy) visibly start to cry, it was also reassuring in a way. She didn’t feel alone anymore, knowing that there was at least one other person out there who had a form of ability. Once they leave, Gwen hopes that she can be good friends with Eleven. 

Finney felt Gwen’s hand squeeze his own in a bone crushing grip. He watched the whole scene unfold just a few feet away from him. He heard the static radio go silent as someone, he assumed was Will, asked for them to hurry. But for just a split second, Finney swore he heard someone who sounded like Bruce, screaming for him to run before he was cut off. It was pretty amazing, Eleven’s powers. 

The rest was kind of a blur to the two siblings. All three boys and Eleven sat down next to them while Eleven was wrapped in a towel. The adults and the older teens went to go talk in a different part of the building, none of them had come back yet. It was mostly quiet, the only noise coming from Eleven moving the towel to dry off. 

Gwen sat one row above Eleven and was hesitanting. She wanted to ask what they had just seen. Was it a vision like Gwen’s own ability? Or was she actually talking to Will in the “upside down” or whatever it was called. Gwen was guessing on the second one, luckily Finney did it for her. 

“What did you see? In the uh vision thing?… if you’re comfortable talking about it of course.” 

“… Dark… Castle Byers…” Both Finney and Gwen looked towards the boys for an explanation for the “castle”. 

“It’s a small wood fort behind his house that he and his brother and mother built for him.” Mike responded. That sounds nice, maybe he and Gwen can do something similar, after all the woods are behind their house. 

Soon, the group moved to the cafeteria. Mike and Eleven sat down at one table while the others looked for food for Eleven. Dustin and Lucas were looking for pudding while Finney and Gwen just looked for any healthy food. 

“… Do you think my ability is similar to hers?” Gwen whispered.

“Maybe, we didn’t exactly get a good definition of her own visions. But we don’t know how she got her powers and we don’t know how we got our abilities so it’s not exactly off the table… but if we ask her, the others Mike, Dustin, Lucas, the adults, they might get suspicious.” 

“Do you plan on telling them?” 

“Gwen… I’ve only known them for a few days, and you’ve just met them. And what says they don’t rat us out to the shady government men or whatever?” 

Before Gwen could respond, Mike ran through the door and yelled at the others.

“We need to go. Now!” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In his opinion, the house was a mess. Firstly, Christmas lights decorating the whole house, floor included. Second, a hole in the wall that’s barely covered. And last but not least, half the wall paper was ripped or torn. But in an odd way, it reminded him of Max, his little idiot brother.  

While Finney and the other people left half an hour ago, he stayed, wanting to learn more about Finney’s new little friends. He listened in to their conversations, something about some boy being taken. Oh how it must bring back such wonderful memories for Finney. He did however, memorize the faces and names of all the boys his age, Mike, Dustin, and Lucas. He didn’t know much about the girl though, Eleven, such an odd name. 

If he had known that Finney and Robin were so close, he might’ve given the boy his friend's bloodied bandana. Not out of kindness of course. He sometimes wondered where the other boys were. He himself was some sort of spirit so where were the others? Maybe they stayed behind in Denver or passed on to some other place, it didn’t really matter to him.

He walked around the house, occasionally pulling out some of the sharper knives, after all he would need a weapon. But he dropped the one he was currently holding when he saw it. Leaning against a wood chair, head on the ground was a nice gleaming axe. 

He picked it up to inspect the weight and sharpness of the blade. It was similar to the one that was meant to kill Finney. It was almost like the universe was giving him a second chance. And this time he’d be smarter, he'd be faster and more brutal. He would make Finney suffer, make him bleed. He would kill his little sister, Gwen, and who knows, maybe he’d hurt Finney’s new friends. Mike, Dustin, and Lucas. Three new names he'd have to add to his list. 

He would kill them all, just like how he killed the others. Just like how he brutally killed Felix, Spike, and Cal. He would draw out their deaths just like he did for the deaths of Vance and Griffen. He’d watch them bleed out just like how he did for Billy, Bruce, and Robin. He would get his revenge. 

He left the messy house and made his way over to the Hawkins Middle school, axe in hand, grinning mask on, mind filled with only one thought. Kill Finney Blake. 

Chapter Text

The group ran down the dark hallways of the school as they heard the sounds of doors being forced open. Mike was leading the group, with Lucas and Eleven right behind him. And behind them was Finney, Gwen, and Dustin. 

At the start they tried to run as silent as possible, believing that they could sneak out of the school and run to one of their houses. But after seeing the amount of both cars and people surrounding the building, they gave up on that idea. 

Finney and Gwen could only imagine the type of people they were running away from. People with guns who wouldn’t hesitate to gun them down to get Eleven. People who, in Finney’s opinion, would be just as much as a monster as the grabber. 

They turned left just as the door was kicked down by men armed with guns and wearing military uniforms. Lights shining on them like a spotlight as they turned to run in a different direction. Finney was glad Mike was leading the group as Finney himself barely knew how to get to his own classes. 

The sounds of footsteps and shouting from the men filled the air as they continued running down the halls. Turning left to see yet another group of military officers running at them. Just as they ran forward yet another group of military officers being led by a woman with their guns aimed at the group. 

They were surrounded with lights shining down on them. Finney grabbed Gwen, wanting to put himself in between Gwen and the several officers whose guns were on them. He tried to put on a brave face and ignore the fact that his whole body was shaking. 

He was so focused on staying in front of Gwen and looking brave that he didn’t realize that the lights were flickering till the blood started falling out of the officers eyes. His heart was beating so loud in his ears that he didn’t hear the muffled whimpers and groans of pain coming from the military officers. 

Only when the bodies hit the ground did he snap out of it. He tried to not look down, he tried to fight the part in his brain that wanted him to look down and see the bodies of the soldiers. He tried to ignore the blood that was getting on his shoes. 

While Gwen or anyone else would’ve seen the bodies of the two military officers, Finney saw the two bodies of the brothers. One with his neck snapped in the wrong direction and the other with an axe in his head. 

He could feel his breathing turning into more painful wheezing. The bodies of the brothers were staring at him, right at him. Nothing else mattered, just the two bodies. Finney wasn’t even sure if he was still in the hallways of the school anymore, maybe he was still in the basement. 

He could hear the muffled sounds of shouts, but with his heart beating in his ears he couldn’t hear what they were saying. Maybe they were shouting his name, or maybe just shouting wordless screams.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gwen watched as Eleven made her way in front of the group as they were surrounded by men with guns. Finney was to her left, probably trying to protect her. 

Gwen looked up at the lights once they started flickering then towards the sounds of muffled pain coming from the men. Blood was dripping from their eyes, their ears. They looked like they were being forcibly held up by invisible puppet strings. 

Gwen watched as their bodies lifelessly fell to the ground, the strings being cut. Just as she was about to check up on Finney to see if he was ok, she heard another “thud”. She turned just as Mike yelled out Eleven's name. And god she looked so so pale and tired. 

As much as Gwen wanted to let her rest for a few minutes she knew that they had to go before even more men arrived. 

“Finney.” Gwen called out to her brother who hadn’t moved since the bodies first fell. 

“Finney? We have to go.” She called out once again. She put a hand on his shaky shoulder, which caused him to jump and turn around at neck breaking speed. That’s when Gwen saw it, the amount of fear in his eyes, the tears that fell down his face. 

“Finn-“ before she could ask if he was ok, they were grabbed from behind. 

“HEY!” Gwen kicked and scratched at the pair of hands that held her tightly, she could tell by the color of his shirt he was another military officer. A few others came and grabbed the other boys and Finney, who had still yet to move from his spot near the bodies. 

Then a man who appeared to be much higher up than the officer waked in and straight towards Eleven who was on the ground. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finney came back to the world of the living when he was grabbed from behind. After a few seconds he started fighting back while the others also got grabbed. Then he saw him, an older man with white hair wearing a suit ran up to Eleven. While all the kids were panicking, they all failed to notice Finney and Gwen being dragged away.

Finney didn’t care to listen to the old man talk to Eleven, he wanted out. Out of the arms that held him tightly, out of the hallway full of blood and bodies. He wanted out. He wanted the tears to stop falling down his face. He wanted to forget everything, the grabber, the basement, the fact that he killed someone. He wanted to forget all of it. 

He just wanted to be normal again. 

That’s why Gwen had to physically drag him away when the lights started flickering. In his panic he failed to notice that he wasn’t being held anymore and that they were running from someone…. Or something. 

It was hard to hear, it felt like he was much further away than he actually was. The lights were flickering, everyone was screaming, Mike was carrying what appeared to be an unconscious or tired Eleven. 

“…Gwen” Finney finally managed to say one word as he kept running. 

“It’s-it’s ok Finney, we- we’re almost out.” She stayed without turning around or letting go of his hand as they ran into a classroom he recognized, the Science classroom. The lights finally stopped flashing as Gwen helped him sit down in a chair as Eleven laid down on one of the bigger desks. 

“W-what?” 

“It’s ok Finn, it’s ok.” Gwen said as gently as possible as the other three boys panicked. He slowly stood up, with the help of Gwen as she explained what happened. 

“We were grabbed by these cowardly asshole bastard military agents then this old ancient looking bastard ran in and went to eleven or whatever but then this- like monster thing just came out of nowhere! Like at least seven feet tall with no face-“ 

She was cut off by the sound of the door being kicked down. 

Now while everyone else, Gwen, Mike, Lucas, Dustin and Eleven saw the humanoid flower faced monster, Finney didn’t. He saw a different monster, one that should have died months ago, one that he wished he could forget. Albert Shaw. 

“Finney.” His voice called out to him behind his grinning mask. He was still wearing the same clothes he died in, plus the grinning mask, but in his right hand was an axe. He was all Finney could focus on. Not the flickering lights, or the sounds of his new friends screaming or his heart beat in his ears. Just the grabber as he slowly got closer. 

Finney wanted to run but he couldn’t move his legs, it was like they were submerged in cement, maybe they were. Maybe he wasn’t even in his science classroom but instead back in that basement. 

“You know… I’ve been watching you, you and your sister and your new. Little. Friends.” He spit the words out as he dragged the axe along the ground making a screeching sound. Finney felt the tears fall down his face as his vision started to darken. He felt it getting harder and harder to breathe. 

“ I won’t leave you alone… even in death.” He went on, now his face was just a few inches away from his own. None of them were breathing, as one was a dead man that didn’t need to breathe anymore and the other one found it now impossible to suck in a deep breath. 

“Because you should know better than anyone else that dead is just a word.” Blood started to fall down his neck, most likely from the effort of talking with a somewhat broken neck. He let the words sink in, letting Finney know that he’d never be alone. Then, all in the span of a few seconds the Grabber was thrown back by an invisible force. 

His vision started to clear up as he blinked and wiped away the tears that were falling down his face. His heart slowed down to a more calm level as he heard the sounds of something screeching. There, pinned by an invisible force where the grabber had just been thrown too was a gray flowers-faced monster, and in front of it was eleven. 

Finney was aware of his sister standing in front of him. He was aware of Mike on the ground behind him with Dustin and Lucas. He was aware of the sad look on Eleven's face as she turned to face the monster. The lights flickered so much that Finney had to cover his eyes with his hands as Gwen wrapped her arms around him and squeezed her eyes shut. 

And then it was over. The monster was gone but so was Eleven. Mike cried and screamed for her as Finney stayed still, legs feeling numb. Just what the hell had happened?