A/N And here it is...the final chapter!

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Lily followed Jonathan and El along the decaying streets of the Upside Down. Wes walked a few feet behind, pistol aimed at their backs.

"I can barely breathe," Lily said, through coughs. She eyed the floating spores disdainfully. "You think this shit could give us cancer, or something?"

"Cancer's the least of our worries," Jonathan mumbled. He turned to El. "Who the hell is this Henry guy that apparently knows you?"

El tugged at her jacket sleeve and risked a glance at Wes. He glared back. El faced forward once more.

"I think I know," she whispered. "When I was in the Lab, there was an orderly named Henry. He was evil."

"How evil?" Lily asked.

"You know the Creel House murders that happened, like, 30 years ago?" El said. Lily and Jonathan nodded. "Well, that was Henry."

"What?" Jonathan said. "No, the Creels were murdered by their father, Victor."

"He was blamed for it," El said, "but his son Henry was like me. He had powers, except he used them to kill. He killed his family and the others at the Lab...he tried to kill me, but I sent him away first."

"Oh, god," Lily said. "You sent him here?"

El nodded.

"And now he probably wants revenge," she said. Tears welled in El's eyes. "This is all my fault."

"Don't say that," Jonathan said. "We'll get out of this. I'll make sure of it. I'm sorry, Lily. I should've let you go home when you wanted to."

"I'll forgive you," Lily said, "once we're back on our own side of the universe."

"Stop!" Wes shouted. "We're here."

The group turned to face a dilapidated mansion. Bats swarmed above it, their screeches echoing down the empty streets.

"The Creel House," Jonathan said. "Well, shit."

"What are you waiting for?" Wes said. "Get inside!"

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Meanwhile, in the regular world, Cynthia forced the others to sit on the forest floor quietly while waiting for Wes to return with his hostages. She aimed her shotgun at them, glowering and daring them to try something.

"What are we going to do?" Mike hissed. "El's in danger!"

"And Jonathan," Max said, "and Lily."

"Right, right. Them, too."

"We can't do much of anything," Robin said, "with a shotgun in our faces."

Will muttered to himself, tracing something in the mud.

"Uh," Gus said, "what exactly are you doing over there?"

"Jonathan tapped his leg," Will murmured. "He gave me a signal in Morse Code, but I can't remember the letter that dash-dot-dot represents."

Shawn scanned his memories and held his finger to his temple.

"The letter you're looking for is D," he said.

"He's right!" Dustin said. "So, what did Jonathan spell out for you?"

"S-H-E-D. Shed? What does that mean?"

"Maybe it's a metaphor," Lucas offered.

"Right," Max said. "Like, 'shed some light on the situation.'"

"I wish it meant 'We have a shed of weapons you can use now that the crazy lady stole ours,'" Steve said.

Mike's face lit up.

"Of course, shed! Two years ago, when Will was flayed, we kept him in the shed and talked to him so he'd remember who he is. And he used Morse Code to tell us to close the Gate!"

"That's right, Mike," Nancy said. "Jonathan must be telling us to talk to Cynthia. To try and get her to remember. If we can break the spell, or whatever, she might let us go in after them."

"Careful, Nance," Robin said. "She looks trigger happy."

Sure enough, when Cynthia saw Nancy stand, she leveled the shotgun at her chest. Nancy raised her arms in surrender.

"Sit down, girly!" Cynthia snapped.

"I just want to talk," Nancy said. "I know what the Mind Flayer did to you."

"He saved me!" Cynthia said. "Before he freed me, I was working a dead end job and living a miserable life. Now, I'm stronger than ever."

"But he controls you!" Nancy said. "That can't be what you want. Right?"

For a second, confusion and fear flickered on Cynthia's face. She started to lower the shotgun...

...and then she glared again and raised it once more.

"Sit down!" she yelled. "Or else!"

"Listen to her!" Mike hissed. "If you get shot, Mom and Dad will kill me!"

Nancy gave him a look as she sat back on the forest floor.

"And I'd like, miss you and stuff," Mike mumbled.

"Well, that was a bust," Dustin said.

"I guess we've just got to wait," Will grumbled.

Steve glanced toward the Gate, stomach twisting. Intrusive thoughts of Lily getting torn apart by demogorgons rattled around in his head.

"Lily will be fine," Robin whispered, sensing his unease. She squeezed his hand.

"I hope you're right," Steve said. "If anything happens to her...I don't know what I'll do."

"Any ideas?" Gus asked Shawn.

"Dozens of them," Shawn said. "They're all terrible and mostly end with you getting pumped with lead."

"C'mon, son," Gus said. "You know this isn't how I want to die. I want to-"

"I know, I know," Shawn said. "You want to die at 90 from a heart attack from having too much sex with a much-younger woman."

"What?! No! I want to die peacefully in my sleep, next to a beautiful wife, clutching my rosary."

"Nerd," Shawn said through a cough.

Before Gus could defend himself, Cynthia said, "No more talking!"

"Uh, excuse me!" Shawn said, holding up his arm like he was in school.

"What?" Cynthia snapped.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced," Shawn said. "My name's Shawn Spencer, and I'm a psychic detective. This is my partner, George Foreman."

"No relation to the boxer or his grills," Gus said.

"Psychic, huh?" Cynthia said. "Henry might like a word with you..."

"No, no!" Shawn said. "We don't need to go to the big, scary Coraline world. We just want to know what your friend Henry wants with our friends."

"I can't say," Cynthia said. "That's his business. Now, shut up, or I will shoot somebody!"

"Duly noted," Shawn said sheepishly. "Shutting up now."

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Henry Creel was not what the trio expected.

Years in the Upside Down had warped and corrupted him. He looked more monster than human, with leathery, mottled skin; writhing tentacles; sharpened claws; and icy blue eyes.

In the Creel House attic, El stood in front of Henry bravely, arms curled into fists by her sides. Jonathan and Lily stood on either side, terrified but wanting to be supportive.

Wes stood by the door, ready to shoot them if they tried to run.

"Hello, Eleven," Henry said, voice rumbling. He stepped down from his perch, moving closer to the group. "I have been waiting for the day we meet once more. I am so glad my monstrous messengers and mirages led you and your friends to the portal in the woods."

El thought of the beautiful woman Gus and Shawn saw running into the forest. She must have been an illusion.

"Hi," El said. She raised her chin. "What do you want from me?"

"What?" Henry said. "No pleasantries? Aren't you going to introduce me properly to your friends?"

El pointed to each of the older teenagers in turn. "Jonathan. Lily. What do you want?"

"I want to offer you a trade," Henry said. "I have something you want...or should I say, someone."

He held out an arm. A door behind him swung open, revealing-

"Dad!" El said with a gasp.

Chief Jim Hopper, a man presumed dead, was tied to a chair with a string of dusty old Christmas lights. Unconscious, his head lolled against his chest. A cut on his forehead indicated a struggle.

"But he died!" Lily said, a horrified look on her face. "In the mall!"

"He did not," Henry said. "He came to my realm to protect himself from the explosion. Unfortunately, with the Gate closed, he could not go back. He spent many months evading my capture, until just recently."

"Let him go!" Jonathan demanded.

"I will," Henry said. "But only if El promises to join me."

"Join you where?" Jonathan scoffed. "Here? If you think I'm going to let my sister live in this dump with you, you're way off, pal!"

"She does not need to stay. But I will return her father and her powers to her if she joins me in my fight to take over the world above."

El, shocked, didn't know how to respond. She looked between Henry, Hopper, and Jonathan, eyes narrowed as she calculated her next move.

"You want to take over the world?" Lily said, interrupting the silence. "Like...a cartoon supervillain?"

"The world is corrupt," Henry said. "Men go to war and kill innocents, then return home and are lauded as heroes. People toil at pointless jobs and foolishly obey the rules of time, which mean nothing. In my new world order, there will be nothing of the sort. My creatures will cause a mass extinction event and we will start over anew, like a phoenix from the ashes."

"You're insane," Jonathan spat.

"I am a man with vision."

"You don't look much like a man," Lily said, voice shaking.

"I was, until Eleven. But I will forgive you for your past transgressions only if you promise to work alongside me. If you do not...I'm afraid this is the end for you and your two little chaperones."

"Wait, what?" Lily squeaked. "But Wes said we could go home after we talk to you!"

"Did he now?" Henry said. He chuckled darkly. "I am afraid I instructed Wes to tell a mistruth."

"Oops," Wes said sarcastically. He cackled.

"You lied!" El said. Anger flooded her veins. She remembered her training with her sister Kali, who had instructed her to use anger as an activation tool for her abilities.

Something deep, deep inside El shifted. For the first time in a year, she felt it: the power she'd had since birth, like electricity under her skin.

"Of course I did," Henry said. He stepped closer to the trio, cracked lips curled into a sneer. "Now, will you be joining me, or which of your friends would you like me to slaughter first?"

Jonathan made a move to stand in front of El and Lily-although he had no interest in dying today, he didn't want anyone else to get hurt.

Before Henry could attack any of them, El screamed, "NO!" She threw out a hand and Henry sailed through the air, before body-slamming into a pile of old boxes.

Wes lifted his gun and aimed it at El. Before he could shoot, El sent it flying out of his hands. It skidded across the floor, a few feet from behind Jonathan.

"What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck!" Lily muttered. In Steve's brief recap of the things they've faced, he failed to mention that his friend El's full name was Eleven or that she had superpowers.

Henry stood shakily and stalked back toward the trio.

"You should not have done that!" he snarled.

He threw out an arm and sent El stumbling back.

Lily and Jonathan went to help her to her feet, but Wes tackled Jonathan to the ground.

"El, hold him off!" Jonathan shouted, while dodging Wes' punches. "Lily, get Hopper!"

El and Henry continued their superpowered battle, each going on the offensive with increasingly more intense telekinetic attacks. Lily skirted around the perimeter of the attic until she made it to the side room Hopper was unconscious in.

Lily worked to untie Chief Hopper from his festive bonds. She nudged him with her foot.

"Wake up, Chief," she said, voice an octave higher than normal due to panic. "Your children are fighting an interdimensional demon and could use the assist."

Jonathan finally got a few good punches in, sending Wes scrambling off him.

Back in the real world, Cynthia howled in pain and stumbled back, nose bleeding inexplicably.

"Whoa!" Shawn said. "What's happening here?"

"If memory serves from my D&D days," Gus said, "the flayed are always connected. If Cynthia's reacting like this-"

"Something is happening to Wes!" Nancy finished.

Cynthia scowled and sprinted toward the Gate. Before she could hop through and provide backup to her flayed nephew, Steve tackled her like a professional football player. She dropped the shotgun, and Nancy quickly scooped it up.

"Whoa!" Dustin said. "Go Steve!"

Cynthia, with inhuman strength, shoved Steve aside like a ragdoll. Lucas snatched up his wrist rocket and sent a stone into Cynthia's forehead. She howled in pain-

-and so did Wes in the Upside Down, as blood seeped out of a new wound and ran into his eye.

Jonathan blinked in surprise before snapping back to focus. He snatched up Wes' dropped gun and whacked Wes on the back of the head with it, knocking him unconscious.

Cynthia crumpled to the ground the same way, moments after Mike weakly kicked her in the shins.

"What the heck, Mike?" Max said with a laugh of disbelief. "Are you a secret badass?"

Mike preened.

"I just did what anyone would've done," he bragged.

"C'mon!" Will said. "We need to head into the Upside Down to help the others."

Robin pulled an old jump rope out of her backpack.

"Shawn! Gus!" she said. "Tie Cynthia up with this, and use the portable heater to de-flay her."

"Should we bake or broil her?" Shawn quipped.

"Broil for a better flavor," Robin said without missing a beat.

"I like her," Shawn said, turning to Gus. "Can we hire an assistant?"

"Nope," Gus said. "Remember Ken?"

Shawn grumbled but acquiesced. The men got to work incapacitating the unconscious Cynthia while the monster hunting veterans headed into the Upside Down with their weapons drawn.

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Jonathan tried to shoot Henry now that Wes was out of commission, with no luck. Henry sent the bullets harmlessly to the ground.

The spark that reignited El's powers seemed temporary, and her telekinesis faded once more. She threw out her arm helplessly. Nothing happened.

"Give in, Eleven!" Henry roared. "I have won. Join me, or watch everyone you love di-"

Zap! Zap! Zap! Someone lassoed Henry up with the Christmas lights and plugged them into the wall, electrocuting the beast.

Henry spasmed before careening toward the ground, seemingly dead. Behind him stood Chief Jim Hopper, worse for wear but awake once more, thanks to Lily.

"No one messes with my kids," he grumbled.

El sobbed with relief. She ran into Hopper's arms and he hugged her tightly.

"Dad!" she said. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too, kid," he said. He held out an arm for Jonathan, who joined the hug. "Both of you."

Lily hung back, a little dazed (and a lot confused) after the wild events of the past few minutes. Hopper pulled away from the hug and turned to her.

"You aren't one of my kids," he said, studying her.

"That's a correct statement," Lily said.

"But you saved me," he continued, "and you helped my family, so you're an honorary Hopper-Byers."

"Does that mean I have to fight monsters again?" Lily asked with a nervous laugh. "Because if so, I politely decline. Can we leave now?"

"Absolutely," Hopper said. "Let's get the hell out of here."

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24 HOURS LATER

"Gus, stop hogging the pie!"

Now that the evil lurking in Hawkins had been vanquished once more, Shawn and Gus decided to spend one extra day in town so they could really enjoy the fair.

Currently, they were scarfing down cinnamon pie. It had been paid for by Nancy, Mike, Lucas, Max, and Dustin, as a thank-you token for their (limited, but still useful) help defeating Henry Creel and de-flaying Cynthia and Wes (who were in the hospital with concussions and memory loss, but were going to be okay).

"I can't take pie on a plane with me!" Gus protested. "I need to eat as much as I can before we go back to Santa Barbara."

"Just ask Mr. Clarke for the recipe," Mike said, pointing to the science-teacher-slash-baker running the tent. "I'm sure he'll give it to you."

"Good idea," Gus said. "Be right back."

He ran off to pester Mr. Clarke.

"So," Nancy said, "you guys heading out tomorrow?"

"Yep," Shawn said. "Back to the murder capital of the world. But there are no monsters in Santa Barbara, to my knowledge, so it's automatically better than Hawkins. No offense."

"None taken," Max said. "This place does suck. But the people make it all right."

She playfully nudged Lucas' arm. He beamed.

"If you ever need help on a particularly tough case," Dustin said, "call us. We're kind of experts at solving mysteries, too."

"I will keep that in mind," Shawn said. He held his finger to his temple and made his signature I-have-a-vision face. "Ah, I'm getting something: it looks like a family reunion. Will the Hopper-Byers family be joining us?"

Robin, still in her fortune teller outfit after finishing a shift at the haunted house, plopped into the seat across from Shawn's.

"They're staying in tonight," she said, "trying to decide how to announce to the world that Jim Hopper lives again."

"They'll figure something out," Lucas said.

Gus returned to the table with an annoyed glare.

"He wouldn't give me the recipe!" Gus said. "He said I have to come back to the fair next year if I want more cinnamon pie."

"Maybe we should come back," Shawn said. "Make this an annual thing? Eat cinnamon pie, get chased by a monster, be held at gunpoint by a zombie-person, eat more pie."

"Speak for yourself," Gus grumbled. "I'd like to keep my monster fights to tabletop RPGs."

"The Supreme Court Justice? Why should she be on a tabletop?"

"That's RBG, Shawn."

"RPG stands for Role-Playing Game," Mike explained.

"Well, that's just ridiculous."

Steve and Lily joined the group at the table, hair a bit mussed. Faint lipstick marks peeking out from Steve's collar made Robin and Nancy share a look and giggle.

"Wait," Robin said with a fake gasp of shock, "I'm getting something." She held a finger to her temple in Shawn's usual way. "You two just came from the Tunnel of Love, and you're a couple again!"

"What?" Lily said with a scoff. "That's silly."

"Yeah," Steve said, running a hand through his hair. "We're not back together, guys."

"The spirits say otherwise," Robin teased.

"Can confirm," Nancy said. "The spirits disagree."

"These two rookie psychics are correct," Shawn said. "The spirits foresee many more rides on the Tunnel of Love in your future."

The younger teens snickered.

"Whatever," Lily mumbled. "I don't think I like 'the spirits' very much."

But when the conversation moved back to cinnamon pie, and when she thought no one was looking, Lily gingerly reached for Steve's hand and intertwined their fingers. He blushed, unable to hold back a smile.

Shawn's phone beeped.

"Ah, that's Jules," he said. "We have to head to the airport so we don't miss our redeye. But we'll be back next year."

"No, we won't," Gus said with a huff. "What Shawn means to say is that it was nice meeting and potentially saving the world with you, but-"

"We'll be back here in exactly 365 days! Or 366, if it's a leap year. Or less if I get bored."

"No, Shawn! No!"

Shawn waved goodbye to the Hawkins' teens and headed toward the waiting rental car. Gus followed, complaining the whole way.

"Those guys are so weird," Dustin said, watching them drive off.

"Tell me about it," Mike said.

"So weird," Max said.

"And there's no way he's actually psychic," Nancy said. "Right?"

"Definitely not," Steve said.

"I mean, maybe he is, though!" Robin said. "Stranger things have happened."

Everyone groaned.

"Okay, enough talking," Lucas said. "Let's hit the tilt-a-whirl."

The group headed toward the fair rides, happy to move on from the pain of Hawkins' dark past.

{Posted February 12th, 2023}

A/N Thanks for reading along with this miniseries!

My writing motivation has been kind of all over the place, so I'm not sure when I'll update any of my other stories. I may take a mini-hiatus of sorts.

QOTD: Would you rather get brunch with Vecna or Mr. Yang?

A: Mr. Yang for sure.