Sarah jumped aside just in time to miss the demogorgon's claws as they swiped over her head. She rolled into the undergrowth and sprung to her feet, assuming a pose that would enable her to strike the demogorgon with her electricity, but before she could attack, the demogorgon shot straight up into the air and flew back against a tree. It screamed as its body struck the hard trunk, its claws dropping to its sides and hanging limp as it fell to the ground.

Sarah watched as Amelia, Hazel, Sam, and Daniel ran past her towards the demogorgon. Sarah tried to follow but Amelia shoved her aside and Sarah fell onto her butt in a large, thorny bush.

"I told you to stay put," Amelia hissed.

As quickly as the team had taken down the first demogorgon, the second demogorgon was incapacitated as well, burnt into a crispy husk like its companion.

Sarah climbed out of the bush, blood smearing down her arms as she brushed aside the thorns that had stuck into her skin. A deep scowl cemented itself on her face as she approached Amelia, who stood to the side of the dead demogorgon with crossed arms and a smug smile.

"What the hell was that?" Sarah snapped, her face only inches from Amelia's. "I could have helped!"

"We each have a role to play," Amelia retorted, taking a step forward so that their noses were nearly touching. "Daniel finds the creatures, me, Hazel, and Sam take them down, and you taxi us where we need to go. The last thing we need is some freak of nature getting in our way."

"What's your problem with me?" Sarah scoffed. "What did I ever do to you?"

"You were born, sweetheart," Amelia answered with a venomous tone.

"What Amelia means to say," Sam said, stepping forward to separate the two. "is that we need more time to work together as a team to establish trust."

"You guys can trust me!" Sarah exclaimed. "I'm on your side!"

"It's not that we don't trust you," Hazel tried to explain. "It's that we don't trust your powers..."

"What?" Sarah took a step backwards in surprise, her eyes brimming with bewilderment.

"You're an Earth experiment," Amelia answered with a snide smile. With every word, she took another slow step towards Sarah. "A Helian hybrid, mutated mutt, the list goes on...Point is, you can't be one of us because you're not one of us. Your blood is tainted."

Sarah's lips parted as she tried to will herself the words to say, but the shock of what Amelia had said kept her mouth shut.

"Come on, we've still got another creature to track down," Amelia announced to the rest of the group as she turned to head farther into the forest. Hazel, Sam, and Daniel silently followed after, but Sarah remained behind.

"Taxi," Sarah muttered to herself as she kicked aside a rock and watched it scamper across the forest floor. "I destroyed the Upside Down!"

Sarah had hung back far enough that she couldn't see her team through the dense foliage, but she could hear their screams as they tore through the trees. Sarah immediately rushed in the direction of the screaming, nearly tripping on upturned roots several times along the way, but she picked herself back up every time.

Sarah was just starting to break through the edge of the forest where it met with the desert of scarlet sand when something collided with her and sent her stumbling backwards.

"Amelia?" Sarah asked once she regained her balance and fixed her eyes upon the source of the blow. Amelia's eyes were barely visible through the mess of dark hair that was covering her face, but they skittered around nervously as her whole body visibly shook. Daniel was close behind her, with an equally frightened look on his face. "Where's Sam and Hazel?"

"Gone," Amelia gasped, trying to suck in the air. "It got them."

"What got them?" Sarah asked, her eyes widening at the news.

Daniel shook his head vigorously. "Don't know. But it was so fast and I...I couldn't see it..."

Amelia threw a hand on top of Daniel's shoulder and said, "It's not your fault, Daniel. The sand's heat blocked your abilities."

"We've got to go back for them!" Sarah exclaimed. "We've got to try to save them!"

"How?" Amelia snapped, taking an aggressive step towards Sarah. "Our abilities are useless against it. It travels under the sand so Daniel can't see its heat signature, and when I hit it with my fire nothing happened."

"I'm not just going to leave them!" Sarah argued. She tried to step around Amelia but Amelia stopped her.

"I don't think so, princess," Amelia said. "Now open a portal and get us the fuck out of here!"

Sarah rose to meet Amelia's height and looked her straight in the eyes. She maintained a determined glare for a few moments before confidently saying, "No."

Before Amelia could react, Sarah used her electricity to zap Amelia and she shoved past her as her convulsing muscles sent her to the ground. Daniel tried to stop her, but Sarah was able to outrun him and before she knew it she was already to the edge of the woods. She stopped right before her feet could touch the sand, surveying the desert for any signs of something moving below.

A ripple in the distance caught Sarah's attention and she cautiously stepped out onto the sand to meet it. Sam and Hazel were nowhere to be seen, which meant that whatever was beneath her feet had them. Kicking off her boot, she picked it up and tossed it in the direction of the ripple, watching it land with a thunk in the sand just feet away from where it had last appeared.

Time seemed to pass slower with every breath she took until eventually the beast rose from the sand to reveal itself. Its massive size blocked out the sun and bathed Sarah in a cold, dark shadow, forcing her to stagger back a few steps in order to see the creature in its entirety. The Upside Down had prepared her for some strange creatures, but this was unlike anything she had ever seen.

Like a snake, it had a long, thin body that disappeared into the sand. Black scales rippled down its length, the sunlight changing their color every time the beast moved. A rounded snout protruded from its massive head, hosting a row of sharp teeth that were nearly half the size of Sarah. What looked to be a human arm protruded from between two of them like a toothpick and Sarah's stomach dropped when she recognized the bracelet Sam had been wearing resting around its wrist.

Sarah felt compelled to tilt her head back until she met the beast's giant, yellow eyes. Diamond pupils flickered back and forth as they glanced down upon her, waiting for the opportune time to strike. But before the monster could attack, a stone smashed into the side of its face, catching it off guard.

"Hey, you big, dumb piece of shit!" a shout echoed around them.

Sarah looked back to see Amelia standing on the fringe of the forest with another rock in hand. She catapulted it towards the monster before she took off running across the sand, waving her hands and calling out to keep its attention on her.

"Get into the trees, get Daniel, and get out of here!" Amelia shouted to Sarah as she passed her.

With a roar that shook the ground and blasted all the leaves on the trees, the beast dove into the sand in pursuit of Amelia. Its back arched in and out of the sand like a shark's fin as it chased down its prey, closing the gap between them with every second.

Sarah stood frozen to her spot, unable to run to the trees for cover or to chase after the monster. She felt useless. She hadn't been able to save Hazel or Sam because she had been too busy sulking in the woods and now she couldn't save Amelia because she wasn't strong enough. An overwhelming fear overtook her body as she watched the beast rise from the sand and tower over Amelia.

Right as the monster lunged at Amelia, Sarah felt a strange power growing within her that was threatening to explode. She didn't know what it was, but it felt natural to let it take the reigns, and she was too fearful to stop it. It culminated in a shout that carried on through the desert in a never-ending echo:

"STOP!"

And just like that, the beast did. Its entire body froze, its open maw stuck in the air just feet above Amelia's head. Amelia fell to the sand in surprise and Sarah nearly did the same. Where had that come from?

"I think you know," a new voice answered her.

Sarah turned on her heel to meet the voice and upon finding the source, her skin went stark white and her whole body trembled.

"No," Sarah whispered to herself, hardly able to even get the word out.

Standing before her was a boy with a mess of wild dark brown hair and eyes so dark that the light didn't even reflect in them. A wealth of freckles riddled his pale complexion like a galaxy on his cheeks.

"Cutting your hair...burning my jacket...did you really think you could get rid of me that easily?" James smiled.

After the reunion had ended, everybody hugged their farewells and shuffled out the front door. Sarah was lingering nearby so that she could say good-bye to the party members as they left, when somebody caught her attention.

"Hey, can we talk for a second?" Steve asked, catching Sarah in the doorway after she had said good-bye to Max, Lucas, and Mike. "In private?"

"Uhh..." Sarah said, glancing back into the living room nervously. She tried to catch somebody's eyes to find an out, but they were all too busy cleaning up. "Sure..."

Sarah slowly followed Steve out the door and to the side of the house. She kept her arms crossed over her stomach and her fingers gripped tightly onto her elbows. The last time that she had been alone with Steve they had shared their first kiss, and now Steve was engaged to another woman. Sarah could feel her stomach somersaulting in her body.

Steve's pace had been much quicker than Sarah's, and once Sarah had finally caught up with him by the trees, she found him anxiously pacing back and forth.

"Listen, I don't really know how to say this, but I wanted you to hear it from me before you heard it from someone else..." Steve began to say. He tried his hardest to maintain eye contact with Sarah but he found himself looking away every few seconds.

A slight taste of iron filled Sarah's mouth alerting her that she had accidentally bitten through her lip in her nervousness. She quickly wiped the blood away with the back of her hand as she waited for Steve to continue.

"I-I waited a long time and I thought you were dead and--" Steve continued when Sarah cut him off.

"Steve," Sarah interrupted him gently with a weak smile. She knew exactly where the conversation was going because she had had a similar one with James a long time ago. Although, this time it hurt much worse because she was on the receiving end. "You don't have to. I know."

It took a few minutes, but the realization finally hit Steve. "You were at my office..."

Sarah nodded her head before saying, "It's okay, really. I understand. It's been a long time and I've moved on too."

Lies.

"Y-you have?" Steve stammered.

"Yeah, I've found someone as well," Sarah continued with a confidence that was foreign to her. She could feel her heart racing in her chest but her body remained stock-still.

More lies.

"Oh..." Steve said slowly, his face completely falling. "Who is it?"

"Uh..." Sarah stammered, not quite prepared for his question. Her eyes swept across her surroundings anxiously for any kind of hint before answering, "Car...l...House...man..."

"Carl Houseman?"

Sarah nodded her head more vigorously than any normal person would in that given situation as a bright blush bloomed on her cheeks. Pressing her lips tightly together, she quietly answered, "Yup."

"Sounds like a lucky guy," Steve sighed as he swept his hand through his hair. He tried to force a supportive smile across his cheeks but the corners of his mouth were too heavy.

Sarah tried her hardest but she couldn't look away from Steve's crestfallen features. His big, brown eyes were trained on the dirt as his lower lip quivered, and he continued to shift his weight from foot to foot. Why was she purposely trying to hurt him?

Because you want him to feel the same pain that you do.

Sarah shook her head to quiet the voice.

"Maybe we can go out for dinner some time," Sarah suggested after a few moments of silence had passed. "To catch up."

Steve's head shot up and a small smile inched across his face. "Yeah!" Steve answered a little too enthusiastically. He cleared his throat before continuing in a much calmer voice, "I mean, that'd be nice."

"Great, tomorrow night?"

"Yeah, that should work!" Steve answered. "I have to work until five, but after that..."

"Seven at Enzo's it is, then," Sarah confirmed with a smile that Steve couldn't help but copy.

Steve and Sarah each took a step towards each other, laughing nervously as they wrapped each other in a quick hug before turning back to head towards the front of the house. Steve waved good-bye to Sarah as she disappeared through the front door, but he stopped when he noticed that Dustin was still sitting in his car in the driveway.

"I told you not to wait up for me," Steve told Dustin after tapping on the window to catch his attention.

"I'm not, I needed time to digest," Dustin groaned as his hands clenched his stomach. "Too many hot dogs."

Steve rolled his eyes and shook his head before rounding the car and hopping in the passenger seat. "I need a ride," Steve announced. "Whenever you're done dying."

"Where to?" Dustin asked.

"The Silver Cat," Steve answered. "I need to talk to Robin."

☆ ★ ☆

"Rob-i-i-i-n!" Steve's voice echoed through the empty space as the door slammed shut behind him. His eyes were met with several dark green booths pushed up against the walls, a large, dusty pool table sitting in the middle of the floor, and a long, wooden bar ahead of him. The bar stools pushed up underneath were mostly empty, save the one on the end that was occupied by an older gentleman with matted gray hair and a beer gut spilling over his holey blue jeans.

Once Steve's voice reached Robin at the bar, she immediately rolled her eyes and set down the glass she had been cleaning. "Unless you're planning on dying at sixty, you can't have a midlife crisis at twenty-nine," Robin informed him.

"Please Robin, I need your help," Steve begged as he collapsed onto a stool and splayed his arms out across the top of the bar.

"Fine, but you're going to have to buy something this time. My manager got mad at me the last time you came in with an existential crisis," Robin responded as she resumed cleaning the glass she had set down.

"But you're the manager..." Steve countered with a confused look. "You literally own the bar."

"Exactly," Robin said with raised eyebrows and a smile.

"Fine," Steve huffed. "Liquor. Your choice."

A mischievous smile erupted on Robin's lips as her arm reached towards the top shelf for a bottle of Macallan 18, but a glare from Steve sent her arm lower.

"Nice try," Steve grumbled. "Lower, lower, lower...yeah, that's the one." Steve guided Robin's hand until it reached a bottle of Windsor on the bottom shelf.

"Your funeral," Robin mumbled to herself as she poured two fingers into a glass and set it in front of Steve. "So, what the hell is the problem this time?"

"You remember Sarah?"

"You mean the girl that you kept abandoning me at Scoops Ahoy for?" Robin asked with a raised brow. "I still haven't forgiven you for that, by the way."

Steve waved aside her gripe to continue with his sob story. "It took me a long, long time to get over her. When Quinn came to town I thought that finally I could maybe move on with my life, but now Sarah is back and all these old feelings are resurfacing and I don't know what to do. And I'm pretty sure she doesn't feel the same way because she's moved on with some guy named Carl Houseman..."

Robin raised her eyebrows at "Carl Houseman" but ultimately decided not to question it. "Does Quinn know?" she asked.

"No," Steve answered with a shake of his head. "Do you think I should tell her?"

"If you still want to marry her then yes, you should, doofus," Robin said. She paused for a second when something occurred to her. "Wait, you do still want to marry Quinn, right?"

Steve's face flushed as he hesitated to answer and he quickly took a sip from his glass. "I think so."

Robin raised her eyebrows, pushing Steve to continue.

"I mean, yes, I do," Steve expanded, trying to sound more confident. "I love her, but I also love—loved Sarah and I just don't want to make the wrong decision."

"Making the wrong decision is kind of your thing, Harrington," Robin pointed out. "That's why you have me."

Steve wanted to argue but he couldn't deny that she was right. Being a popularity-obsessed idiot in high school, everything with Nancy Wheeler, skipping college to work for his dad and getting stuck in Hawkins..."So what's the right decision, then?"

"First, you have to tell Quinn about Sarah," Robin instructed him. "She deserves to know if you're having doubts. Then, you teach yourself to move on again. You've done it once before, it'll be easier the second time around."

Steve sighed before looking up at Robin with a sullen smile. "You're right."

"Women are always right!" the man at the end of the bar shouted, suddenly coming back to life out of his drunken stupor.

"You tell 'em, Mr. Lowe," Robin said.

★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★