"Normal is just an illusion. What's normal to a spider is chaos for a fly."
In which four teenagers are taken from their "normal" lives and are thrown into chaos.
A/N
This is a revamp/retelling of my discontinued fanfic of the same name.
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Mabel sat on the couch in Mike's basement with El's head on her lap. She rubbed her hand over her head as the young girl relaxed. Her head was still going a little haywire from the events back at the school. The best news she had received was that Daphne was alive, but in danger. Another dimension was a lot for her to think about and that was saying something since she was from the year 2023.
"What were Will and Daphne saying?" Mike asked, "Like... like home but... but dark."
"And empty."
Dustin nodded, "Empty and cold. Wait, did he say cold? Or did that girl say it?"
"I don't know." Lucas grew frustrated, "The stupid radio kept going in and out."
"Her name is Daphne." Mabel added.
Dustin groaned loudly, "It's like riddles in the dark."
Mike continued his pacing, "Like home... Like Will's house?"
Lucas snapped his fingers, "Maybe like Hawkins."
"Upside Down." El whispered from Mabel's lap. Mabel was definitely missing something because whatever she said the boys seemed affected by it.
"Upside Down." Mike repeated under his breath.
"What?"
"Upside Down." He said again but louder this time as he moved over to the game board, "When El showed us where Will was." He redid her actions, "She flipped the board over, remember? Upside down. Dark. Empty."
Lucas looked over at Dustin, "Do you understand what he is talking about?"
"No."
"Guys, come on, think about it. When El told us to find Will, she took us to his house, right?"
"Yeah..." Lucas blinked as he looked at Mike like he was stupid, "And he wasn't there and neither was Daphne."
"But what if they were there?" Mike inquired out loud, "What if we just couldn't see them? What if they were on the other side? What if this is Hawkins-" He pointed at the normal top of the board before he flipped it, "-and this is where Will and Daphne are? The Upside Down."
Dustin had an epiphany, "Like the Vale of Shadows. The Vale of Shadows is a dimension that is a dark reflection or echo of our world. It is a place of decay and death. A plane out of phase. A place of monsters. It is right next to you, and you don't even see it."
"An alternate dimension."
Mabel perked up at the sound of this, cold and empty and dark, that was a similar description of how the sewers became before they got here. Now she was wondering if that was how she got here with her friends.
"But... but how do we get there?"
"You cast Shadow Walk."
Lucas gave him a deadpan expression, "In real life, dummy."
