kingdomgladiator
When the world cages her speed, love teaches her when to stop.
Wilhelmina Jacqueline Byers has always lived between moments ⏱️
Between thoughts.
Between heartbeats.
Between the seconds no one else seems to notice.
As the younger sister of Will and Jonathan, Wilhelmina is autistic, observant in ways that feel almost prophetic, overwhelmed by a world that moves too loud and too slow at the same time 🧩🌊. When her differences are misunderstood, she is sent away to Pennhurst Mental Hospital, a place meant to quiet her mind but instead delivers her straight into the cold reach of Hawkins Lab.
That is where they break time.
Experiments meant to study her neurology unlock something ferocious and beautiful. Superspeed ⚡
Not just movement, but perception. She hears electricity hum like a choir. She feels emotions before words catch up. She can run from monsters, but not from memory.
When Wilhelmina finally returns to Hawkins, she is faster than fear but fragile with trust. Her anchor becomes the last person anyone expects. Steve Harrington. Babysitter. Nail bat hero. Soft-hearted jock with too much hair and not enough self-preservation 🦇💙.
Best friends first. Always best friends.
He learns her routines. She learns his silences.
He waits when the world rushes her.
She slows down just enough to fall.
As the Upside Down bleeds closer and the lab's shadows stretch long again, Wilhelmina must decide what speed really means. Is it escape? Survival? Or choosing, for once, to stay?
A story about neurodivergence, trauma, found family, and love that doesn't need to be fast to be powerful 🌌✨
Because sometimes the bravest thing isn't running.
It's stopping.