One's foot made contact with a hard surface on the other side. As she passed through the glowing rift, she saw nothing but gold until she passed all the way through. It took her eyes a couple moments to adjust to the bright lights, but eventually she was welcomed by an idyllic scene that rivalled the one she had just left. The Diagonal.

A paved road of black-veined marble stretched from One's toes to the horizon before her, and a series of strange automobiles crawled casually along it, including intricate horse-drawn carriages, shiny sports cars, and floating metallic scooters. As they passed by, they kicked up a sweet scent that gave One a strong sense of nostalgia, although she couldn't pinpoint why.

Buildings unlike any One had ever seen grew along the sides of the strange street, covered from top to bottom in windows that reminded her of scales. If One turned her head a certain way, the buildings almost blended into the sky as big, fluffy clouds rolled by their reflections. They took various shapes and sizes, making for an interesting skyline that she felt tempted to trace her finger over.

All in all, it reminded One of if someone had collected all their favorite elements from various different worlds and times and scattered them across a flat plane. It was quite literally paradise, and for a split second One found herself ruminating on what her life would have been like if she had grown up there.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Diane's voice shook One from her imagination, and her head jerked back to see that her mother was now standing behind her and that the rift was gone. A scene similar to what laid before One was mirrored behind her as well.

"Yeah..." One answered absentmindedly, all of her senses still focused on the beauty of the Diagonal.

"This is Helia," Diane informed her. She slowly swiped her hand across the air, as if it present the new world to One. "I'm excited to show you around and to introduce you to the others."

At the mention of people, One's body instinctively froze to its spot. James had told her that this world was full of beings with power far greater than theirs, and she wasn't sure whether she was ready to formally grace their presence. From the few beings she caught roaming about, she could already tell that she stuck out like a sore thumb. Especially in her ripped, bloody clothes. Gorgeous men and women moved about around them, dressed in elegant outfits that One's eyes struggled to even comprehend, and she immediately felt inferior.

One felt the weight of a soft hand drop on her shoulder and she instinctively knew that it was time to move on. She followed behind Diane as they weaved down the street, trying her hardest not to get caught up in the sights and fall behind. Their short journey ended in front of the largest, most impressive building on the street. 

As One's head stretched back to follow the structure up to its peak, her mouth fell open. The building was tiered like a wedding cake, with long, rectangular windows lining each section. The entirety of it was armored in some sort of gold metal that absorbed the sun and created a warm glow that surrounded the building. One had very vague memories of New York from when she was little, but it reminded her of one of the skyscrapers you'd find at the heart of the city. 

Diane watched One's reaction with a contented smile before saying, "Welcome home."

Sarah's foot made contact with a soft surface on the other side. The second foot was slow to follow, for fear that what laid before her was just a trick that would send her tumbling into a never-ending abyss. Sarah looked back to Diane, who came out as a blurry blob through the tears glazing her eyes, for confirmation that this was real. A nod from Diane, or what she presumed to be a nod, established her other foot in the soil of Hawkins.

Sarah didn't even notice the portal snap shut behind her as her eyes settled on her new surroundings. The bleak, gray sky above her wasn't enough to dull the vibrant colors of the fall leaves that were just barely clinging onto the tips of the trees. A cool breeze blew beneath her nose and filled her body with a pleasantly contrasting sense of warmth. But that warmth didn't compare to the feeling she felt when she her eyes were filled with a new sight: Hopper's cabin.

Sarah's knees began to wobble as she fought with gravity to remain standing. She tried to lift her feet, but they had turned into bricks. Had walking always been this hard? Sarah took a deep breath and fidgeted with the blue hair tie clinging to her wrist. She hadn't taken it off since the day her father had given it to her, and the bright blue color had begun to fade and the elastic had begun to stretch so that it hung loose around her arm.

The blue hair tie provided Sarah with the determination to press forward, and step-by-step, she slowly found herself at the front door. Her fist raised to meet the solid wood, but it stopped a couple centimeters short. What if he wasn't even home? What if he had moved? What if something had happened and he had died? These thoughts plagued her mind and lowered her arm, until she glanced to her left and noticed the tan and cream police truck that Hopper had always driven parked in the driveway.

This sight sent a multitude of new fears swarming through her mind as she considered a million new "what-ifs", but Sarah shut them down immediately. She'd be standing on that front step for years if she entertained them. She raised her wrist once more and let her knuckles rap the smooth grain of the wooden door three times. Each knock sounded louder than the last, although none of them matched the volume of her pounding heart.

Years...decades...centuries...millennia passed as she waited for the door to swing open; for the weathered, but kind face of her father to meet her. But instead, she was met with the muzzle of a shotgun.

"You have exactly thirty seconds to tell me who you are and what you're doing on my property," Hopper's gruff voice said from the other end.

Sarah's hands immediately went flying up to her ears as she took a step backwards in surprise. Of all the reunions she had played out in her head, this hadn't been one of them.

Hopper pushed the gun up higher so that it was even with Sarah's eyeline. "Do I need to start counting?" he barked.

"It-it's me," Sarah stammered, her eyes flickering back and forth between Hopper's furrowed face and the deep, dark tunnel of the shotgun. "It's your daughter!"

A moment of silence passed between the two as the words hung in the air. When they finally dissipated, Hopper dropped the shotgun to his side and looked at Sarah like he was seeing a ghost. Which wasn't actually too far off, considering that he thought she was dead.

Unformed words lodged themselves in Hopper's throat until one eventually broke through: "Sarah?"

"Hi dad," Sarah answered with tears in her eyes. 

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