Chapter Forty-Three: Merry Christmas

(The Upside Down, Pt. 7)

***

"Ack! Robin!"

"Sorry, Chris!"

"No you're not."

"No, I'm not."

Rowan snorted as Chrissy glowered at a smirking Robin, wiping away the splotch of gingerbread dough that Robin had "accidentally" flicked onto her. The strawberry blonde gave Robin another glare as the taller girl returned to stirring the batter while Chrissy went back to decorating the house and gingerbread men that had already come out of the oven alongside Rowan as ABBA played in the background.

When the gingerbread house and men were aptly decorated and a new batch was added in the oven, the trio munched on the spare cookies they had, the rest plus the house intended for tomorrow's Christmas, sitting on the living room couch as Christmas Eve played on the TV.

As the credits rolled, Rowan glanced over to the clock and groaned at realising the time.

"Sorry, but I need to get going. Eddie's gonna be here soon and I need to get Al from the Wheelers," Rowan said as she got up and moved to get her duffle bag, which was already packed and had the presents Chrissy and Robin had for her and for her brother.

Robin and Chrissy nodded, understanding. Unlike Chrissy, Rowan couldn't stay over on Christmas Eve, so she usually either came to hers or Robin's place the night before so they could still have a Christmas sleepover.

Looking at her friends, she asked, "You sure you guys don't want to spend this Christmas with me?"

"Trust me, I would give anything to do Christmas with you and your family instead, but my parents are insistent that I 'spend Christmas with family'," Robin replied, rolling her eyes, feelings clear on that. Chrissy nodded, fiddling with her cardigan.

"Same here. My grandparents come up from Maine with my brother, and it's usually one of the only times I get to spend with him when he's out of boarding school, so I can't really skip," Chrissy said, eyes shadowed as she worried her lip.

Rowan nodded. She understood, but still wanted to ask since both didn't really enjoy spending time with their respective families.

"Okay, but if either of you manage to get away or need a break... our door's always open."

"Thanks, Ro," Chrissy and Robin said in unison, giving her small, appreciative smiles.

A horn honked and Rowan smiled.

"That's my ride," she said, slinging her bag on and heading to the door. "Merry Christmas, guys!"

"Merry Christmas!" Robin and Chrissy called back as Rowan closed the door behind her, jogging up to the van. Outside, flurries of snow drifted down, dotting the land around them with blankets of white. When it had first started snowing, Rowan almost had a heart attack, her mind briefly thinking that somehow, the ashy flakes of the Upside Down had found itself here, that she was back there again, but she had to remind herself that it wasn't, that it was just snow. It had always been snow.

Now, she smiled at seeing the tiny dots of white dance in the winter wind as she opened the door and crawled inside, seeing Eddie at the wheel as the engine idled, Black Sabbath booming from the speakers.

"Hey Graveswood," Eddie greeted.

"Hey, Munson," Rowan replied as she closed the door and propped her feet up on the dash, tapping her fingers along the windowsill.

"Ready to deal with the gremlin that is my brother?" Rowan teased as he drove away, slightly weaving along the road.

"I don't know. Is it too late to say no?" Eddie questioned, a grin on his face as Rowan scoffed and shoved him.

"Please, we both know you would kidnap my brother if you could," Rowan said and Eddie raised a hand. 

"You caught me Graveswood. You discovered my diabolical plan of stealing Al away and making him my little apprentice," Eddie declared dramatically, Rowan cackling from her seat.

The rest of the drive continued in momentary silence with the exception of the Black Sabbath tape, Eddie tapping his hands on the wheel and singing along as Rowan looked out the window and watching the snow fall in the dark night, joining in occasionally.

She still couldn't believe it had been a month since... everything. Since Will vanished and "came back to life". Since Barb. Since the Upside Down and the Demogorgon. Since she and Alistair had begun using their powers consciously and not ignoring or barely controlling them and discovered the new ones they had and without the fear of being taken, though they still used them in private, and around those who knew. Since El...

Rowan squeezed her eyes shut and tried to focus on the music and not think about El. That even a month after her sacrifice, it was still painful to think about her, and what could have been. Her brother and Mike felt her death the hardest—they'd been the closest to her—but Rowan missed her just as much, whether from her dream-walking through El's memories or her brief interactions with the girl that had Rowan know she would both die and kill for her, that she could have seen her as a pseudo-sister—an honorary Graveswood—she didn't know. Only that she did, and that her guilt of not being there, of leaving the kids alone, still lingered, joined with her guilt of not saving Barb.

That no matter how much she could be told otherwise, that guilt would always linger, that insistent thought of If I had done something more always sticking in the back of her mind for as long as she lived.

Eventually, they arrived into the quiet suburb of Maple Street and stopped at the Wheelers' by the cul-de-sac. Rowan could see Jonathan's car, hopping out before Eddie got the chance to park, slamming the door behind her with a cheery, "See you in a sec!" and jogging up to the door. 

She didn't bother knocking, striding inside and making a beeline for the basement, saying a quick, "Hi!" to Mrs. Wheeler after the older woman said it first. She saw Jonathan waiting by the door, and she asked, "Here for Will?"

The eldest Byers boy nodded. "Yep. You here for Al?"

Rowan nodded in affirmation, looking back to the door—she could hear muffled voices from inside, loud and clearly in some sort of argument. She smiled. The boys deserved normalcy like this, to be kids after all the shit they went through last month.

Jonathan gave her the same smile before he opened the door, cutting off the argument as Rowan followed, wrinkling her nose at the smell. God, did these boys ever take a break to shower during their campaigns?

"Geez, what's that smell?" Jonathan questioned, obviously noting the smell as well. "Have you guys been playing games all day or just farting?"

The boys all laughed at that as Rowan leaned against the stairs, a smile on her face at seeing all the boys, especially Will, with smiles on their faces.

"No, that's just Dustin," Lucas teased, and the smile instantly dropped from Dustin's face as the other boy went on, "He farted. Dustin farted."

Lucas began blowing raspberries as Dustin gave him an annoyed look and deadpanned, "Okay. Very mature, Lucas"

"Dustin farted!"

As Lucas laughed and kept blowing raspberries, Rowan looked to her brother and said, "Al, come on. Eddie's waiting."

Alistair nodded and got up at the same time Will did as behind them, Lucas kept teasing Dustin as the cap-wearing boy's face grew more and more irritated.

"Bye guys!" the two boys said in unison as they stood by their older siblings.

"Bye Will. Bye Al," Mike and Dustin replied back, Mike adding, "See you, guys."

Will nodded and Alistair hesitatingly smiled, obviously thinking that their friendship could be on the mend. Rowan hoped so. Mike and Al had both cared for El, had both mourned her and missed her via the blanket fort Rowan learned had been where El had slept still up in Mike's basement and the X-Men comics with the superhero Jean Grey in them beside Alistair's bed. Her death shouldn't tear them apart.

"Come on," she murmured to her brother as they climbed up the stairs behind Jonathan and Will as Lucas and Dustin bickered in the background, the door closing behind their laughter.

"So, you have fun?" Jonathan asked Will, and the boy nodded and said with a grin, "Yeah."

"What about you, squirt? You kick ass back there?" she asked, ruffling his hair.

Alistair scowled and swatted her hand away, but nodded and replied with a smirk, "Oh yeah, I did."

"Hey," Mrs. Wheeler said, and they all turned to face her.

"Hey, Mrs. Wheeler," the boys said at once as the teens greeted, "Hi."

"Hey, you boys wish your mom a Merry Christmas for me, okay? Same goes for your aunt, Rowan and Al."

"Yeah," Will said as he nodded, Jonathan doing the same. "Yeah, thank you. Uh, Merry Christmas."

"We will, Mrs. Wheeler. And yeah, Merry Christmas," Rowan affirmed, giving the woman a smile.

"Merry Christmas," she replied, smiling.

They gave her a smile and turned back to the door as Jonathan asked Will, "So, uh, you win?"

"Yeah," Will replied, a smile in his voice.

"Awesome."

"Hey, Jonathan, wait up," Nancy said, the girl heading down the stairs and walking in front of Jonathan as he stopped. She looked over to Rowan and Alistair and smiled. "Hi, Rowan. Hey, Al."

"Hey," the Graveswood siblings said at once, Rowan returning the smile while Alistair looked down, fiddling with his jacket sleeve. While Nancy had apologised for how she'd confronted him about seeing Barb's ghost, her brother had gotten shy around her. It didn't help that Barb's ghost had apparently vanished since Nancy learned that she was dead. Rowan wanted to believe that she had moved on, that the girl had found peace, but Alistair was quick to tell her that she hadn't, that while she had vanished, he could feel her presence, that she still lingered in this world. He just... couldn't see her.

It disconcerted Rowan, but she tried not to focus on it, and hoped that it meant Barb could move on and find peace.

Nancy gave her brother a concerned look, before looking back to Jonathan and raised a wrapped present Rowan hadn't noticed she was holding to him, saying, "Merry Christmas."

"Thanks, um, I... I didn't get you anything. I... I feel bad," Jonathan stammered, but the brunette shook her head.

"No. No, it's, uh, it's not really a present. It's um... Well, you'll see."

She pressed a kiss to Jonathan's cheek. The boy stared in some kind of shock, before he said, "Merry Christmas."

Nancy smiled, looked over to Rowan and Alistair. 

"Merry Christmas as well, guys."

"Merry Christmas, Nance," Rowan replied. However, instead of following after Jonathan and Will, she doubled back to the Wheelers' living room with Alistair in tow, where Nancy's dad sat snoring in his Laz-E-Boy armchair with Holly sleeping on his chest and Steve sat on the couch, wearing an ugly Christmas sweater that managed to look nice on him. In the past month, they'd hung out and tried the "being friends instead of sworn enemies" thing. It had been weird at first, but oddly it worked, mostly—it probably helped Harrington had started to become less of a jackass and cut ties with Tommy H and Carol. And Rowan found it was... kinda nice being friends with a Steve Harrington that wasn't complete asshole and had her not wanting to punch him again—sometimes.

She gave him a wave when he noticed her staring at him and said, "Uh, merry Christmas, Harrington."

"Merry Christmas, Graveswood," Steve returned, waving as well.

Rowan smiled, then tugged her brother by the arm and murmured, "Come on, we better go. Aunt Aco's probably gonna start a manhunt soon."

Alistair chuckled and the siblings headed back to the door and left the Wheeler house, going up to Eddie's van as Jonathan's car peeled away from the curb, driving into the night.

The siblings climbed in, Rowan managing to snag shotgun before Alistair could, the boy giving her a betrayed look that she snubbed as she closed the door before he climbed into the backseat.

"Hey mini Graveswood," Eddie greeted.

"Hey, Eddie," Alistair greeted back with a smile.

"So, how was your campaign?" Eddie queried as he drove away, and Rowan saw her brother's big grin as he leaned forward as much as he could.

"It was awesome!" he exclaimed. "We ended up killing the Thesselhydra that had been attacking the kingdom and got medals from King Tristan, but it was way too short! I mean, it did go on for ten hours, but it all ended too quickly and had lots of stuff that wasn't really answered like the lost knight and the proud princess, and these really weird flowers..."

It soon trailed off into a ramble of words and terminology that Rowan couldn't really grasp a hold of, letting Eddie and Alistair ramble and talk throughout the drive back to the trailer park, but she couldn't keep a smile off her face at seeing her brother being so energetic and happy talking about it with someone equally enthusiastic about this fantasy game, and she knew her brother would thrive in Hellfire Club, as would Will and Mike and Dustin and Lucas.

When they came back home, Rowan could see all the lights in her trailer were on, and that there were muffled voices and... was that smoke?

"Looks like your aunt's trying to cook turkey again," Eddie noted.

"God, I hope not. Last time we had to call in the fire brigade. I thought we'd never get the smell of burnt turkey out."

Eddie snorted as the three climbed out of his van and walked up to the trailer door where sure enough, smoke was creeping out and the arguing voices of Aunt Aco and Eddie's uncle came through.

Rowan opened the door and was treated to her aunt yelling, "Look, it's fine, Wayne!"

"Aco, that doesn't look edible and you know it. Didn't you learn from last time?"

"Have you ever heard of learning from your mistakes?" her aunt shot back, looking over and noticing her niece and nephew and Eddie coughing from the smoke. "Hey, kids! You're just in time for dinner!"

"Are we? I had no idea we were attending a cremation as well," Rowan snarked, eyeing the blackened husk that had once been a turkey. 

Her aunt glared at her as Wayne chuckled.

"Your kid agrees with me, Aco," he said and her aunt glared at him before sighing.

"Okay, fine. Guess we're not having turkey after all," she declared, throwing the charred carcass into the bin.

"What a relief," Rowan mumbled as she began popping windows open, letting the smoke out and breathing in the cold air. Outside, a raven croaked, throaty and slightly disjointed.

"That's the second time I heard that damned bird," Wayne muttered, and Rowan, Alistair and Aunt Aco shared a look. That croak came from the undead raven that was now attached to her little brother, who he'd named Hugin after a raven from Norse mythology. It took a while to get used to Hugin, but they did and now it was like the raven had always been there, greeting them with croaks and caws and roosting either on top of the trailer or inside Alistair's room and scaring off other birds, and was pretty protective of them—especially Alistair. Of course, given the fact that Hugin was, well... undead, her brother couldn't take the bird with him and they had to hide him from those who didn't know their secrets—Hugin's existence almost made Rowan tell Eddie the truth because she knew he would flip out over her brother having an undead raven as a pet that he raised from the dead and somehow joined its ghost back with its body, how metal was that?—and from the public in general because Rowan knew seeing a raven with an eye missing and with parts of skeleton being exposed would set off a panic and a witch-hunt after Alistair—a witch-hunt Rowan would expose her own abilities to stop if it meant protecting her little brother and keeping him safe from the small, conservative minds of Hawkins. Still, Rowan couldn't deny that she loved the undead corvid, and she knew her brother undoubtedly did and that the Party also liked him and found him cool, and her aunt had a soft spot for the bird.

But despite being basically a zombie bird that didn't rot due to her brother's powers, he was a very vocal bird that was often reluctant to hide and not be around Alistair; it was a wonder no one had discovered Hugin's existence yet.

Her aunt looked to Wayne and shrugged. "Guess the birds must be getting vocal at night. Now, kids, c'mon. Get over here and eat before it gets cold. Wayne and I spent a long time doing this and I'm not letting it go to waste."

They didn't need to be told twice, hurrying to the fold-out table and grabbing the food available to be put on their plates—mashed potatoes and casserole and assorted vegetables and gravy and, thankfully, a ham that Rowan knew Wayne must have bought from the store just in case her aunt cooked turkey and it failed—before digging in as the two adults ate at a more sedate pace, sharing conversation over dinner as Rowan, Eddie and Alistair discussed over what could be wrapped under the scraggly Christmas trees and Wayne and Aunt Aco talked about their careers, Wayne frowning as Aco recounted how she'd swindled a few parents and couples during the Christmas holidays but not saying anything against it, knowing that was how she provided for her kids. Alistair talked about the campaign again, Eddie shared how Corroded Coffin's latest gig went—which Rowan had been in attendance for, and had been ever since she went to the first one at the Hideout the Tuesday after everything went down—and Rowan talked about the new horror movie she and Eddie had watched together, Christine (and had dragged Robin and Chrissy to watch it with her to see it a second time because she ended up loving it, but she did see A Christmas Story with them, so they were even), mixed with funny stories that were often more embarrassing than not and incited laughter and humiliated groans from the embarrassed and merciless smirks from the teller, filling the trailer with humour, a little bit of humility, and the warmth of connection.

Christmas dinners were a tradition between the Graveswoods and Munsons, along with Thanksgivings. Due to being neighbours and having no other family but themselves for differing reasons, and mostly because of Rowan's and Eddie's friendship, they ended up coming together to celebrate, switching between trailers. It ended up making what would be slightly lonely holiday dinners into something fun and welcoming and warm as they came together, a family of their own making.

Rowan wouldn't want to have it any other way.

After dinner was over and the dishes were washed by Rowan, Eddie and Alistair—who may or may not have had a water fight, hush—the Graveswoods said goodbye to the Munsons as uncle and nephew walked back to the trailer, and soon after the family of three turned in for the night, Hugin swooping in through Alistair's open window and resting on the perch the boy had made for the raven.

Rowan, who'd seen that, gave her brother a hair-ruffle before she headed to her own bed, crawling in as sleep came to drag her down, the knowledge of what day tomorrow was doing little to hamper it as she fell into blissful darkness, with no dreams—or nightmares—disturbing it.

***

Christmas morning dawned surprisingly sunny and with Alistair's loud cries of "ROWAN WAKE UP IT'S CHRISTMAS IT'S CHRISTMAS!"

"God, it's too early for you to be acting like an alarm clock, squirt," Rowan grumbled as she stumbled out of bed. "Are you hyped up on sugar or something?"

Alistair didn't bother to respond, zooming toward the scraggly tree adorned with a string of Christmas lights—lights that Rowan would never look at in the same way again—and grabbed out the presents meant for her and him as behind them, their aunt trudged out and grumbled, "Kid, it's too early for this without coffee," and Hugin sat on a chair, cawing, and ruffled his feathers, bones rattling in the process.

Alistair ignored their aunt and tore into the first present he saw for him, Christmas wrapping paper flying as he ripped it away, mouth falling slack at what he saw.

"You got me a Super-Comm?!" he yelled as he held the walkie up.

Aunt Aco smiled. "After everything that happened, kid, I thought you may as well have one. That Newby guy gave me a good discount for it, too."

Alistair beamed as Rowan unwrapped her own present, gaping at what she saw.

"Oh my God," she whispered as she stared up at her aunt. "You got me a new Walkman?"

"Yeah," her aunt confirmed. "I noticed your old one was getting a bit worn out, so I thought I'd get you a new one."

Rowan grinned and hugged her aunt. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Her aunt chuckled and hugged her back before she returned to unwrapping the presents she'd gotten from Robin and Chrissy—a pair of ripped jeans she'd been eyeing, a new black nail polish and a pair of headphones from Chrissy and a coupon for the record store from Robin—and Alistair unwrapped his presents from them, before her brother's shocked gasp came as he unwrapped the present she and Aunt Aco had gotten him. How he didn't find it earlier, Rowan had no clue.

"Wh—a bike?!" he exclaimed, eyes as large as saucers.

Aunt Aco smiled. "Thought it was time you had your own."

Alistair grinned, but before anything else could be said, a knock came. Alistair looked at Hugin and only just told him via their telepathic bond to hide and the corvid in question ducking into Alistair's room just in time before the door swung open and Eddie and Wayne walked in, the family of three giving wide smiles to the Munsons.

"I see you started the unwrapping without us!" Eddie declared, shaking his head dramatically.

"Please, as if you didn't unwrap your presents earlier," Rowan shot back and Eddie grinned.

"Then I guess I should keep these to myself, huh?" the metalhead said as he shook two shoddily wrapped objects.

Alistair bolted forward and almost bowled over the gangly older teen as he shouted, "No way! Gimme, gimme!"

Eddie chuckled but acquiesced, handing his present to Alistair. The young boy tore the wrapping off, gaping at what he saw.

"No way! I can't believe you got this!" Alistair exclaimed.

"What is it, Al?" Rowan questioned.

Her brother looked up at her and shoved what appeared to be a comic in her face.

"It's the new Thor comic! I saw this last time we were in Indy to get that Daredevil comic, and I wanted to buy it as well, but it was too much!" Alistair exclaimed. He barrelled into Eddie with a hug as he yelled, "Thank you, Eddie! Best Christmas present ever!"

"Oh, is the walkie and bike chopped liver?" Aunt Aco questioned pointedly, but she was smiling.

When Alistair let go of Eddie, he turned to Rowan, bowing as he held aloft his present. "M'lady."

Rowan rolled her eyes at her best friend's dramatics and took the present, carefully unwrapping it.

Her eyes nearly bulged out of her sockets at seeing what was on top of the tape of Ozzy Osbourne's Bark At The Moon and a mixtape of Siouxsie And The Banshees and Fleetwood Mac.

"OH MY GOD! Are these what I think they are?"

Eddie grinned and nodded. "Yup. Tickets to the Ozzy Osbourne and Mötley Crüe concert in February."

"I... What the—how did you get these?!"

"Got a buddy working backstage for 'em," Wayne answered for Eddie. "Told him you and Eddie are fans of that type of music, so he gave me the tickets."

Rowan gaped, then grinned and hugged Eddie, then Wayne.

"Oh my God, I love you both so much right now!" she screamed. "Thank you!"

Eddie grinned and Wayne chuckled, patting her on the back.

"You're family, kid. It was nothing," he said.

"Still, thank you!"

Wayne grinned as Aunt Aco gave Eddie the presents from Rowan and Alistair—a mixtape of Ozzy Osbourne's music from Rowan and a new guitar pick from Alistair. As Wayne and Aunt Aco worked on dinner for tonight—Wayne was in charge of the turkey, thankfully—Rowan, Eddie and Alistair went into Rowan's room to play the Ozzy tape, head banging and yelling along to the music, Eddie performing an air guitar solo as Rowan and Alistair applauded. And if Rowan had made the light brighter, as if a spotlight was shining on Eddie, just as she made The Hideout's lights brighter for Corroded Coffin, well... that's between her and Alistair.

And when Christmas dinner was served, Rowan couldn't help but feel as if, finally, the shadows of her past and her demons, the horrors of last month, could fade away and disappear forever.

That it was all finally over.

***

 *narrator voice* It was not over.

Anyway... WE'RE AT THE END OF ACT ONE!!! Still can't believe this is over! But I've fully enjoyed writing this and Rowan and Alistair, and I can't wait to write and develop their characters further and the relationships they have! (especially in the romantic area ;) )

Hope you're all excited for Season Two, because I am!! Season Two is one of my fave seasons, and I'm so thrilled to be writing it and introducing some new characters (including my girl Max!) and showing off more of Rowan and Alistair's powers and, as I said earlier, developing existing relationships and new relationships!

Anyway, again, thank you all for reading so far! And keep your eyes peeled for the release of Act Two!

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!