And I know you're down and out now, but I need you to be brave
Hiding from the truth ain't gonna make this all okay
I see your pain, if you don't feel our grace
And you've lost your way
I will leave the light on

-Leave a Light On, Tom Walker

THERE WAS A WAR HAPPENING IN CAROLINE'S MIND, AND SHE WAS LOSING.

The monster roared, tearing apart her sanity with every lost moment. She sat, huddled in the corner of her head, hands over her ears, screaming right back it it, but nothing was going to change.

It was winning.

Then, for a long moment, it went silent. Nothing but dark and black, almost as if she'd been put to sleep. But the monster never rested, even when its host's body was catatonic.

Caroline didn't know how they did it, but she was grateful it happened. Her and the person she was connected to... Will?... couldn't do any harm when they weren't awake.

Soon enough, though, she started to wake up.

Or, rather, He did.

And immediately, Caroline felt a burning pain spreading all over her body.

Caroline's eyes snapped open at the exact same time as Will's, deep brown irises staring into a flickering orange space that was too muggy to decipher yet.

She felt her chest begin to cramp as she struggled to breathe air into her lung. Her skin had started to burn.

"What's happening?" She croaked, the monster using her mouth to spit angrily.

"It hurts," she could feel Will to her left, struggling. Something was tying their wrists and ankles, keeping them held down as the heat increased.

"It hurts!"

Will started yelling, increasing her own anxiety. The monster in her head had started to roar again, causing her to cry out. "It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! Let me go!"

"Let me go!" Caroline shrieked. "It hurts! It hurts!"

Someone else suddenly cried out, a vaguely familiar voice. It was someone she had once hated; the monster sensed it and decided to feed on that. A girl with a wild curls, bright blue eyes, and long, nimble fingers. "Her ears! She's bleeding again!"

Caroline could feel it was true. Hot, sticky crimson trailed down her neck as the monster screamed.

"Mom," the voice was pleading. "Mom..."

"Let me go! Let me go!" Will screamed, "It hurts!"

Suddenly the heat increased, burning and melting her skin off her bones, she was sure of it. Her muscles contracted and a scream ripped itself out of her throat. Her back arched against the cot and her wrists and ankles burned as the ropes holding her down burned into her skin.

"NO!" The monster bellowed, using her mouth. Her voice sounded terrifying. "NO! STOP IT!"

"Mom!" Jonathan Byers ran a hand over his bangs, feeling tears well up in his eyes as he watched his baby siblings. "Mom, it's killing her-"

Joyce leaned over and turned up the heat until it was blasting right onto Caroline's skin. She glared at her daughter, at the monster in her dark brown irises, and seemed to speak right to it. "No!"

Will slammed his head against the metal edge of the cot and Caroline felt the pain echo in her own head. The monster was trying to get them to knock themselves out. If it were any regular person, they would have been unconscious now. "Let me go!"

"Let me go!"

"LET ME GO!"

"It's not working!" Jonathan shouted, a tear finally slipping from his eyes. "It's not working, Mom!"

It was, though. Caroline could feel the monster's anger stir in her mind as its roars got louder with every wave of heart soaring through her body. The one tiny part of her that was sill alive sobbed with relief.

It was almost over.

"Are you listening to me?!" Jonathan bellowed. "MOM!"

The sound swam back and forth through her head, bubbling through the blood dripping from her ears. It was excruciating, worse than when a bullet had been lodged in her stomach.

"Just wait!" Joyce shouted.

Wait. Wait. Wait, wait, wait...

"How much longer?' Jonathan sobbed. "Look! Look at them!"

Will screamed as Caroline started letting out cries of anger. She wanted out of these bonds, she wanted to hurt these people-

No, she didn't!

Yes, she did. And she could. She just needed this heat to stop. He was going to die if she didn't do something, if she couldn't stop the burning.

There was a flurry of movement to her left. Jonathan had shoved past Joyce, hands reaching towards the heaters.

"Jonathan, wait!"

"YOU'RE KILLING THEM!"

He wasn't wrong.

"Just wait!" Joyce shouted. The tiny piece of Caroline Byers that was left sobbed in relief, begging her Mom to believe it.

Jonathan stared at her, his lip trembling. he took one more look at the twins; Will thrashing against the cot and Caroline's ears slowly forming a small puddle of red against the white mattress. He shook his head desperately. "No!"

He moved to turn off the heaters and the monster used Caroline and Will's mouths at once, just a whisper.

"Yes..."

Joyce's head spun towards her daughter, lip curling at the small smirk growing on Caroline's lips. "No," she cried, using her entire body to move Jonathan backwards. "Leave it!"

"Mom, you're killing them!"

"LEAVE IT!"

"Wait, Jonathan!" Nancy Wheeler grabbed the side of her friend's sweaty T-shirt, pointing wildly at the twins. "Jonathan! Their necks! Their necks!"

It took a moment to see it; the blood dripping down Caroline's collarbone onto her sports bra smeared over her pale skin, making it hard to see.

Seeing they were distracted, Will suddenly let out a snarl and tore his hand out of its tie.

Caroline let out a laugh of delight as Will started to lift himself up, but Joyce rushed over to him. "No, no, no, no!"

She used her entire force to pin him back down, but Will had the strength of a supernatural monster. He bared his teeth and seized his mother's throat with a hand of iron, and Joyce Byers started to choke.

Caroline groaned with effort as she started to pull her wrists forward, digging them into the zip-ties. She could feel her skin started to break, pulling into the muscles, but it didn't hurt. Nancy let out a cry of horror when she saw her.

"Jonathan!" she shrieked, watching Caroline's wrists began to bleed.

But Jonathan's eyes were on Joyce as he moved forward, trying to pry Will's fingers off their mothers' neck.

Nancy, thinking quickly, grabbed a hot poker from the fireplace next to Caroline. She shoved Jonathan out of the way and thrust it into Will's side.

Both of the twins gasped with pain as a real burn spread across their skin, sharp and shocking enough to make Will quickly release Joyce. She stumbled backwards, gasping rattling breaths as she rubbed her throat, staring at her son in horror.

Joyce turned to Callie, whose wrists trickled blood down her arms as she snarled angrily.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY BABIES!" she roared.

Then, suddenly, a shift.

A weight starting to lift from her shoulders.

A release.

The feeling of starting to wake up from a nightmare.

Caroline felt a strange sensation in her bones, her mind shuddering. A hollow feeling spread through her abdomen and she let out a cry of pain, mirroring Will's.

She felt Him rising through her chest, her veins swelling and a scream tearing into the night as her back arched against the restraints.

It was almost over.

Then there was an ear-piercing shriek as her back arched up from the cot and her jaw wrenched itself open, and everything turned dark.

C.B + W.B

Someone was touching her face.

Soft fingers cupping her cheeks, pulling her out of the darkest corner of her mind. There was a faint bussing sound in her head. Her heart beat in her ears, ringing in deafening silence.

Will was moving next to her, gasping for breath. She could feel it. She started to panic. Why couldn't she hear him?

Caroline opened her eyes, her back arching weakly as she tried to suck air into her burning lungs. Every inch of her skin felt like she was badly sunburned. Will felt just as pained, her mind told her, and she trusted it.

If one thing never failed her, it was her Twintuition.

And if Will was alright, that meant she was too.

Something came in line with her vision and she focused on the blurry face. Dark curls hanging around tear-stained cheeks, big brown eyes and a narrow nose.

"Mom," she choked.

Joyce's mouth was moving, talking, and Caroline just stared at her in confusion. Why wasn't any noise coming out? What was happening?

A small, thin hand grabbed hers and she turned her head out of Joyce's soft grasp, her eyes landing on her twin.

Will's body shook with sobs of relief and his face was screwed up in tears. He clung to her hand like she was the only thing in the world, ignoring Jonathan's arms trying to pull him into a sitting position.

Caroline's chest began to cramp as a feeling of despair overtook her. Something was wrong.

The look of relief on Will's face quickly turned into one of concern. His lips moved just barely, trying to tel her something, before he stopped cold, his eyes widening.

He quickly turned to Joyce, looking absolutely terrified, shouting something that Caroline still couldn't make out.

"Will," Caroline croaked. At least, she thinks she did. She felt her chest rumble but it didn't seem like any sound was coming out. "Will..."

Joyce's hands quickly found Caroline's ears before her face went deathly pale. She pulled back her fingers, stained with red, before clamping a hand over her mouth. Her shoulders started to shake and her eyes squeezed shut, a tear spilling out onto her cheek.

"What?" Caroline mumbled. "What is it?"

Will's eyes found hers, cutting through her panic, and the despair etched into his features made her want to cry. Just looking at him, she knew. When her own mind couldn't give her an answer, her brother rocks supply one.

The monster had done something to her head. Blood coated the sides of her head and trickled down her neck, her ears pulsing weakly with every breath of her heart.

Caroline Byers was deaf.

A/N: Yall I cannot even express how sorry i am about how late this is. i've been mainly focusing on Ephialtes and Caroline just kind of hit a writers block.

It's okay, though, she's back in full force! i will be doing season 3 as well, so fear not.

Anyway, big chapter! Callie is deaf now. It's gonna be a big plot point, because my characters just have to be traumatized, you know?

Love you guys and thank you for waiting for my baby to come back! I hope you love her as much as i do!

Drink some water!!❤️