The fluorescent lights flickered overhead, momentarily casting deep, dark shadows across Alternate James' face that accentuated his unnerving smile and hungry eyes. 

"Well, he's a handsome devil," James remarked, his voice echoing in Sarah's head. She shot him a sharp glance which Alternate James and Alternate Sarah tracked with confusion to empty air.

"Fascinating," Alternate James commented, his attention once more returning to Sarah. He folded his hands behind his back and took a step closer to study her better. "So very, very fascinating...Am I correct in assuming that you're from an alternate universe?"

Sarah's mouth was too dry to speak so she gave a slow nod in response.

Alternate Sarah's head cocked in confusion at this. "You traveled here through a portal?"

"Yes," Sarah answered, finally finding her voice. Despite her nerves in the moment, a smug smile tugged at her lips and her eyebrow arched in contempt. "Can't do that yet?"

Alternate Sarah's eyes narrowed, a red tinge coating her cheeks.

"Tell me..." Alternate James continued, taking control of the lull in the conversation. Alternate Sarah shifted uncomfortably at his side, still stewing in her own anger. "What is your universe like?"

"Well, for starters, you're dead," Sarah answered and a deep frown appeared on Alternate James' face. "And just like it would appear in this universe, you were a megalomaniac."

"Rude."

"The work we do here is important," Alternate Sarah seethed, clutching the clipboard tightly to her chest.

Sarah's lip curled in disgust and her fists clenched tightly at her sides, a blue glow emanating from them that sent her hairs on end and the air bristling with electricity. "You sound like Brenner."

"Brenner wasn't wrong." The energy amplified as Alternate Sarah's hands also glowed blue.

"That's enough," Alternate James snapped, stepping between the two before the situation could escalate any farther. Almost immediately, the current rippling between Alternate Sarah's fingers diminished and she hung her head in defeat, her face a mixture of anger and embarrassment. Alternate James had used his abilities to make her stop.

"That won't work on me," Sarah informed him, her hands glowing brighter in defiance.

"I can sense that," Alternate James sniffed in frustration. "But there's no need. We can talk this through like adults."

"I don't think so. I'm getting out of here." Sarah turned to leave when Alternate James stopped her.

"We're helping these kids, you know."

The back of Sarah's neck burned hot. She knew she should walk away but her anger wouldn't let her. "Helping?" she snapped, her eyes bulging and bile rising in her throat as she turned back to face him. "Since when does helping include a prison cell?"

"On their own, these kids are a threat to themselves and others," Alternate James explained calmly. "But here, we help them to hone their abilities and to use them safely."

"And to use them for yourselves, correct?"

Alternate James paused, his lips pressed tightly together as he tried to maintain his tranquil demeanor. "While we are helping them, they are also helping us to create a better and stronger nation."

Sarah just laughed in disbelief. "You're so full of shit."

"You could help them too," Alternate James continued, unphased by Sarah's comment. "With your ability to traverse universes, you could bring us more."

A wave of words washed from Sarah's mind to her mouth but the only ones she let through the floodgates were: "I'd rather drop dead."

"So be it."

Alternate James snapped his fingers and the doors down the hallway popped open in unison, slamming against the white walls in one loud clap. Framed in the doorways were children of various ages and ethnicities, clothed in hospital gowns with shaved heads and weary expressions. They crowded into the hallway, their feet being carried by a force that they feared but were too tired to fight against.

The ground beneath Sarah's feet began to shake and she struggled to maintain her balance, even though she seemed to be the only one affected by it. She looked up to see a streak of red dripping down the nose of one of the kids closest to her and realized that Alternate James was using his abilities to make these children use theirs against her. 

"Coward!" she shouted at Alternate James, her voice wobbling and wavering with the vibrations that shot up her legs and through her body. She tried to open a portal out of there but the trembling made it too difficult to focus on anything. 

"How do I get out of this mess?" Sarah thought, looking to James for an answer but his voice was blocked out by a loud buzzing that filled her head and made her mind fuzzy. She clapped her hands over her ears to try to minimize the sound but it did little to help; the noise seemed to be coming from inside.

A slash of freezing air then scored Sarah's cheek, the coldness quickly replaced with the burn of a deep cut and the warmth of hot blood. The same sensation scattered similar marks across any other exposed skin on her body and she screamed in frustration. She refused to hurt any of the children, this wasn't their own doing after all, but there were so many and if she didn't act fast she was sure to die. And if she was dead then there was no way to save Steve.

Then a thought came to her: Alternate James wasn't the only one with the ability to control others. She hated using James' abilities but she could see no other way out.

Fighting against the trembling, the thundering, and the throbbing that was wreaking havoc on her body, Sarah lifted her head until her eyes met Alternate James'. He watched her curiously, his brows crinkled and his lips parted in a look of surprise. She nearly collapsed to her knees when an invisible force pushed her from behind but her gaze didn't falter. 

Alternate Sarah stepped forward, sensing that her counterpart was about to do something and struck her with a current of electricity to try to stop her. But since it was the same electricity that ran through Sarah, it did nothing but tickle. 

Eyes still locked with Alternate James', Sarah recalled what James had taught her and focused on what she wanted her target to do, repeating it over and over in her mind. She didn't stop until the ground stood still at her feet and the buzzing dissipated, until she heard sighs of relief from the children around her and watched them wipe away the blood dripping from their noses. 

"Th-that's impossible," Alternate Sarah stammered, dropping the clipboard to the ground in a clatter. "How did you do that?"

Sarah ignored her question, instead taking the opportunity while Alternate James was still frozen under her control to make a plea with her alternate self. Staring at her, a feeling of disgust initially consumed her but that disgust quickly turned to pity. Her alternate self was still culpable for the abuse that the children had experienced but her eyes didn't look too different from their own; trapped. 

"You can still make things right," Sarah said to her alternate self and with a snap of her fingers, Alternate James dropped to the ground unconscious. "So do it."

Alternate Sarah looked down to Alternate James before giving Sarah a small nod, her features still frozen in shock. 

☆ ★ ☆

"Where the fuck are we now?" Sarah groaned as her feet planted in a patch of green grass. A cool breeze met her once she exited the portal, her golden hair attempting to follow after as it danced through the leaves of the trees surrounding her. Upon initial impression, it didn't look like anywhere she'd ever been before. Beyond the grouping of trees they were standing in, a paved path dotted with wooden benches meandered through what she assumed to be a park, leading to an impressive marble fountain where two birds were chasing each other between the cascading spouts of crystal clear water.

"I don't know, but that was bloody brilliant back there!" James commended her as he followed her through the portal.

"This doesn't even look like Hawkins!" Sarah cried, ignoring James. Once again, she had pictured Steve and once again, her portal had taken her anywhere but. After her encounter with their alternate selves, she was ready to scream until her throat was bloody and her vocal cords were shredded...until she couldn't physically scream anymore.

"The way you just took control of him, no hesitation..." James continued, oblivious to Sarah's frustration. "I mean, he was me, or at least, a version of me, so it was a little unnerving but it was quite impressive. I applaud you for finally starting to accept your abilities."

"Shut up!" Sarah shouted, turning on her heel to face him. She let all the anger that had been burning in her chest explode out of her, the words nearly tripping over each other in a rush to get out. "Just shut up! For once in your miserable semi-existence just shut the fuck up! They're not my abilities, they're your abilities. I only used them because I had to! I'm not like you, I don't like controlling others! And now I'm stuck listening to your grating British voice telling me that things are 'bloody brilliant' as we jump from one universe to the next, none of which are mine, in some sort of mad dash to prove that I'll never get a happy ending. So unless you have some miraculous way to get back home, SHUT UP!"

"But that's just it..." James began, his eyes lighting up as he took a step closer. Sarah crossed her arms defensively over her chest, watching him carefully. "What keeps getting in your way?"

"You, mostly."

"Be serious."

Sarah huffed in frustration. "My abilities."

"So control them."

The only thing preventing Sarah from throttling him in that moment was his lack of a physical neck. "What the fuck do you think I've been trying to do this whole time?"

"No, I mean control them. Stop thinking of them as 'my abilities' and 'your abilities' and use them together."

Sarah remained silent, unwilling and unable to say anything in response. She didn't want to admit it but he was right. Ever since she learned that she had them, she kept referring to them as "James' abilities", consciously separating them in her head because she was scared of what it meant if they were her abilities. With these abilities, he had done unspeakable evil. With these abilities, she was scared that she was capable of doing the same. 

And most terrifying of all, that it wouldn't be because of James, but because of her own darkness. She refused to look, to search it out within herself. She kept her eyes straight ahead, her pace steady, but she knew it was there. It had to be. Her previous trip proved as much, didn't it? An evil rooted in the Lab, blossomed in the Upside Down. Or perhaps, even sooner than that; perhaps she had been born with it, inherited from her mother. 

But in the few times she had used James' abilities, her abilities, she hadn't been consumed. When she had controlled Dr. Brenner during her time travel back to the Lab...when she had controlled Mark's atoms to turn him back into himself...and just previously, when she had controlled Alternate James...She hadn't changed, she had kept herself each and every time.  

"Look," James said, diverting her attention back to him. He gestured towards a couple walking down the park path, their hands intertwined, and a German Shepherd leading them by a red leash. It wasn't until they stopped at a bench by the fountain about thirty feet away from them that Sarah was able to recognize them and she gasped. It was her...and Steve.

A fleeting thought told her to hide before they saw her but her feet remained planted where they were. Her eyes watched intently, unable to even blink, as her alternate self and Steve sat beside each other on the bench, his arm wrapping around her shoulders and pulling her close. He said something that made her laugh and she pressed her face into his chest, her whole body shaking with happiness. When she finally caught her breath, he tipped her chin up to his face and kissed her. They only had their lips pressed together for a moment when their dog interrupted them by dropping a slobbery ball on Steve's lap and barking in excitement. Steve ruffled the dog's fur before tossing the ball and watched with a beaming smile that even Sarah could see from where she was standing as the dog darted after it. With the dog distracted, Steve leaned back in for another kiss but it wasn't too long before the dog returned and the whole cycle repeated itself again. 

"You're wrong," James said, finally breaking Sarah's gaze. His tone was steady, his features unwavering. "There is a happy ending out there for you. Do you want it?"

Sarah wiped away a tear from her watery eyes before nodding her head yes. 

"Then you know what you need to do," James said with a confident nod. "You're ready."

She almost wanted to believe him but a question came to mind that made her pause. "Why do you care about my happy ending now?" she asked. "You were the reason I didn't get it the last time."

James sighed, looking down at his feet before meeting her eyes. "Because after being stuck in your head these last ten years, I've realized that I lost myself...but you never did. Not after the Lab, not after the Upside Down, not after...me. You're stronger than I ever was, you didn't let your darkness consume you, and you deserve something for that."

Sarah shifted her weight from one leg to the other and bit the inside of her cheek. She wasn't ready to forgive him, in fact, she may never be, but she was ready to accept that he was right. She was ready. And she did deserve a happy ending.

Sarah glanced back towards her alternate self and Steve for motivation, absorbing their laughter as it floated in the cool air. She then turned to the closest tree, picking a scar in the bark to focus on, and after taking a deep breath, she began. 

The first step was clearing out the doubt that clogged her mind. She had been in this exact spot numerous times and despite her confidence that then would be different, it had always been the same. But there was something deep down that told her that this time truly would be different, something she had been hesitant to trust prior to now but was now willing to give a chance. She let this guide her. 

This time instead of just focusing on Steve, she focused on getting to Steve. She willed time and space to bend to her, not the other way around. Bring me to my universe, to my Hawkins. Bring me to my Steve in the moments before his death, she commanded, repeating this mantra over and over in her mind. She tensed when she felt it begin to work, weary of how foreign it would feel, but it didn't. It felt right...daresay, it felt natural.

The hairs on her arms bristled, a surge of electricity running up and down her body and making her shiver. Her hands glowed blue as a portal began to open before her, glowing brighter the larger the portal grew. It opened up to something she had never seen before, something she didn't even have the ability to describe. A tunnel made of multi-colored beams of light, a jumble of stars and space, of nothing and everything...It was beautiful and yet it was also terrifying. 

And it welcomed her.

★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★