#and i realized. it was spring when the creels moved into hawkins | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

natashasfilms · 2 years

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Chapter Eighteen - The Truth and Past Memories

Summary: Returning to Hawkins for spring break, Aria is finally glad to be back at home to see her mom and friends. However, she soon finds out that the danger they’ve all faced before, is back yet again. This time, she may or may not fall at the center of it.

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Original Female Character

Warnings: This story contains mature themes such as sexual content, strong language, violence, mentions of alcohol and drugs, blood, gore, and death.

Note: I imagine Aria Kaul as South Asian but I have decided to let you, the reader, imagine her appearance, hence the reason why I have not given her a face claim. However, her race does not affect the story, whatsoever. You, as the reader, are free to imagine her however you want. If you don’t see her as South Asian, then that’s fine. It won’t affect the storyline.

Series Masterlist

Aria’s eyes fell on a certain spot in the area she was in. Her mouth gaped as her eyebrows met in the middle. She remembered the face so clearly, the first person she ever killed. The body was absolutely mutilated, spiders crawling out of the mouth with slobs all over it.

All the people she had killed were engraved into her mind and she choked out a sob, backing away from the dead body.

“Aria…” She heard Vecna’s voice call out for her. “Do you remember what you did? Do you remember everything?” Her mind raced with all the memories of her past, coming together all at once. She put both hands over her ears and closed her eyes, trying to block out the images. “Or have you already forgotten?” The voice kept going, her attempt at blocking everything out not working. She opened her eyes and saw the vines move and she started to gasp for air, shock taking over her entire body. “When I kill someone…I never forget.”

She gasped as she saw blood pour out from one of the sides, stepping back even further. There were red flashes in the sky, the sound of lightning coursing through her ears. She turned around and saw more blood fall out like a waterfall. She knew that the longer she stayed there, the more blood was going to pour out so she began to climb up the ladder that was near, struggling to not fall.

She stood up and saw red all around, a clock ticking in her ears. She stepped down the steps, her eyes taking in the setting as her heartbeat pounded. She saw the same grandfather clock floating in the air as Vecna started to speak again.

“I see you've been looking for me, Aria. You were so close. So close to the truth. How was old, blind, dumb Victor? Did he miss me?” Aria furrowed her brows at his question, not being able to comprehend a single word he was saying. “I've been meaning to check back in, but I've been busy.” She looked up and saw Fred’s body hung up in vines with his mouth wide open. Her breath got caught in her throat. “So very busy.”

She turned her head and noticed the Creel House door, the door opening to reveal Victor Creel and his family. She noticed how the setting changed from the dark red with floating objects to the inside of the house, watching the family move into their new home for the first time.

Her eyes fell on the young boy in the corner, remembering that Victor told them about his son Henry. Her eyebrows arched as Vecna kept talking, her eyes widening in realization. “I was just like you, Aria. Very quiet and reserved. I never fit in with the other children.” Aria swallowed the lump in her throat, lips parted as she tried to grasp the situation. “Something was wrong with me. All the teachers and the doctors said I was…’Broken’.”

She followed the boy into a room, when the lights started to flicker. Her eyes stayed on the boy as he disappeared behind the door. She walked closer and watched him open a vent that contained black widows and webs inside. She shivered as she watched the spider crawl his hand, jumping in fear when she saw someone run behind her.

She turned around and followed Henry into the attic, seeing him with multiple jars of black widows and a big drawing of a spider. She followed him once again towards the same grandfather clock, one that was cleaned and polished. Henry stood in front of the clock, watching it tick.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she saw him doing something to the clock. He closed his eyes and made the hands of the clock move with his mind, the hands spinning in circles. She heard a scream behind her and turned around, only to find herself outside watching a bunny be captured by him. Her lips parted in shock and disgust as she saw him kill it with his powers, mutilating it.

She ran back inside, shutting the door behind her as she tried to breathe. She looked to the side to see Victor, the man watching his fear. She turned her head and saw the Creel family at the dinner table, watching Henry use his powers to murder his mother. Her body fell onto the table and Victor grabbed the kids, trying to get them out of the door.

She watched as Victor was arrested for the murders of his family. Then, she saw the setting change and saw Henry placed in a bed, in the same lab where Eleven was kept. She saw how he was locked into a chair as Brenner used a machine to carve ‘001’ into his skin, and Aria found it much harder to breathe once she realized how similar this scene reminded her of the time she was kidnapped by the Russians. When she was constrained to the seat and couldn’t escape the hellhole.

Aria now knew that Henry Creel was behind all of this. That he killed his entire family, that he was one of the kids in the lab just like Eleven, and that he was Vecna who was now after their town in Hawkins.

Brenner put the machine down, wiping Henry’s wrist. “All done. Not so bad, was it?” Vecna’s voice rang in her ears. She stood still, her feet unable to move. “See? There’s nothing to be afraid of. Is there, Aria?” Aria widened her eyes as she saw Brenner turn his head, his voice turning deeper. “Do you understand now, Aria? Do you see how similar we are? How we were taken to a place against our own will?” She started to back away, breath hitching. “Why don't you take a seat?”

She started to run out the door and into the halls as the lights started to flicker. She heard a screech in the distance and multiple bodies laying on the floor. She backed away and ran towards a different direction, breathing heavily.

Steve grabbed the sides of Aria’s face, watching her eyes roll to the back of her head. “Aria, just stay with me. Stay with me, okay?” He could feel the tears coming, blaming himself for her situation. He turned his head to look up into the opening, screaming. “Whatever you guys are doing, hurry up!” He cradled her face in his hands, his heartbeat quickening at the dark thoughts that started to infiltrate his mind. “Please, wake up. I can’t lose you.” He whispered, leaning his forehead against hers as he felt tears streaming down his face.

Aria kept running until she was met with a dead end, wood securing door. She started to pull the wood off one by one, grunting as she used all her strength. “Aria.” Vecna started to walk towards her. “What are you doing? It's not time for you to leave.”

She turned back around and continued to take the wood off, knowing Vecna was coming closer towards her. “Now that you've seen where I've been…I would like very much to show you where I am going.” She felt tears streaming down her face in horror, managing to take out the last piece of wood before opening the door. She ran inside but gasped when she was met with Brenner in a small room, a room similar to the one where she was first kidnapped by the Russians. “Take a seat, Aria.”

The lights shut off, Aria trying to run but she suddenly felt something pulling her down, not letting her move. The lights turned back on and she saw vines attach her arms and legs into the seat. Flashbacks of her past swarmed her mind, feeling the tears fall down much faster. She looked ahead of her to see Vecna walking towards her and Aria knew there was no way to escape.

Vecna leaned down and put both hands on either side of the seat, caging her in. She started to shake in fear, meeting his eyes as he spoke. “I won’t take you now.” Aria didn’t speak, shock overtaking her to not be able to do anything at all. “Your time isn’t over yet.” Aria was at a loss for words, lips trembling with every word she heard. He moved even closer. “You have so much potential, Aria.”

She shook her head, closing her eyes as she felt his finger touch her face. “You and I could be so powerful together.” He hummed. “Like I said, you and I are so much alike.”

“No!” She screamed, sobbing even harder. He made a disapproving grunt, moving his finger away from her face.

“Fine. I…Want you to tell Eleven.” He brought a hand up to her face. “I want you to tell her everything you see.” She gasped as he hovered his hand over her face, seeing the visions Vecna showed her.

She saw red cracks forming in Hawkins, destroying the town. “No!” She screamed. She saw four cracks form and meet in the middle and heard four chimes of a clock. “No!”

“Tell her…”

“No!” She cried.

“…everything.”

She saw people die. She saw her mom, Steve, Jonathan, Nancy, the kids, all dead. She started to sob even harder, screaming in his face. “No!”

“I only gave you all those symptoms to scare you, Aria. To prepare you for the worst.” Vecna said darkly. “But…I will have you sooner or later. Just not now.”

She finally woke up in real life, gasping for air as she fell back. Steve caught her, gently laying her in his arms. “Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.” He breathed out, relief washing over him as he watched her wake up suddenly.

Aria cried in his arms, eyes meeting him as she noticed tears of his own falling down his face. She couldn’t move or speak, too shaken up from the events that just happened.

“It's okay. I'm here. I'm right here.” He used a hand to cup her cheek, using his thumb to soothingly rub her cheekbone. “You’re safe, Riya. I’m right here.” He whispered, heart breaking as he watched the love of his life break down in his arms.

#stranger things #steve harrington #steve harrington series #reticent series #steve harrington x aria kaul #steve harrington x oc #steve harrington x original character #angst #fluff #steve harrington x fem #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington fanfic

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thesaunatest · 3 years

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MY HUGE THEORY ON EL’S PLOTLINE IN S4

before you guys even start, YES I know that 99.9% of what I say is going to be wrong but this is literally just for fun.

its march 1986, middle of the school year and el HATES school

when we left her she was barely literate and had just started getting accostomed to speaking full sentences, NOWHERE NEAR a 9th grade level, so shes struggling in her classes to say the least

on top of that, she barely knows how to socialize with other people, so shes evidently getting picked on

with joyce and jonathan both working to keep the family afloat, will and el get left alone alot

but outside of the party, they socially have nothing in common

in fact, will is adapting to the new town a whole lot better than el. he fit right in with all the creative kids he met in class, but el didnt mesh with that crowd

anyway, our girl is sturggling

the only time she really has fun is when she visits hawkins, or when someone from the party visits them

which leads us to spring break

mike obviously comes to visit, and el doesnt want them to waste a single second so she begs mike and will to come explore the town with her

at this point joyce is already in her detective mode, hatching a rescue plan for hopper so she doesnt notice theyre gone

and jonathan is battling the heartbreak of nancy ghosting him when she was supposed to come visit

so the trio goes off on an adventure without anyone noticing.......... or so they think

because brenner is back, and he knows el is with the byers, but he cant go and snatch her because he doesnt have the resources all the way in california

in fact, he doesnt have the resources at all. his numbers experiment is seen as a catastrophic failure that lead to the deaths of hundreds of lab employees

the only way for him to redeem himself in the community, and gain his funding back is to present his peers with proof that the project can work, so he needs to get one of his numbers back

el is the only one he can track down, but he doesnt think he can do it himself. if she saw him, she could just kill him with her powers, he assumes because he doesnt know she lost them

so who does he employ to get el back to hawkins? lonnie byers

its almost too easy. it doesnt take much to bribe lonnie, and hey, its not like its his kid. so lonnie accepts the bribe, and goes all the way out to california to find el

he shows up at the byers house..... only to find it completely deserted. so he waits

and the trio finds him there after their day out (why are you here? what do you want? where are mom and jonathan?)

and lonnie, being as crafty as he is, comes up with a good excuse on the fly (hes craftier than i am because i genuinely have no idea what he would say)

anyway, he gets them in his car and on their way back to hawkins

jonathan shows up after theyve already left, and is too stoned tired to think anything of the empty house

and joyce is already halfway to russia

will knows his father. he knows that his father doesnt give a shit about him, the family, or anything about hawkins. he knows that his father wouldnt get involved in anything unless he had something to gain. so hes wraking his brain

maybe.... lonnie pulls over to take a suspicious phone call? maybe will figures out an inconsistency in his story? either way, the gang is onto lonnie and figures that they gotta get away from him and get back to joyce and jonathan

they tuck and roll out of the car. idk. all that matters is that they get out of there

as theyre rolling out of the car, el bonks her head a little and has a quick flashback to her time in the lab

since her intuition is always spot on, she takes this as a cue the breener is back and lonnie is working for him

she tells the boys it isnt safe to go back to california or hawkins, so they come up w an alternative plan, somewhere neither brenner nor lonnie would think to look for them

and while theyre on the road, they stop at a diner to eat (dont ask me where they got the money) and we get will leaving an emotional voicemail home, probably sobbing to jonathan about how much he means to will, which gives el an idea

because who has the resources to help her, as well as a desire for vengeance on brenner? kali

el uses her superb hitchiking skills to get them to chicago

maybe she just has some hints of her powers left, but it isnt too hard for el to find kali

she explains everything thats happened, and lets kali know that if she want revenge, the opportunity is hers

unfortunately, lonnie was hot on their trail, and called for reinforcements

theyre ambushed by the few employees brenner has working for him. initially, everyone is hiding, assisted by kali’s powers

but el knows they arent leaving empty handed, and would rather get taken away then have kali’s freedom taken from her

so el reveals herself, followed by mike because he wont leave her, followed by will because he wont leave mike

all three get taken away, back to hawkins lab, but now kali is even more motivated to bring down the lab once and for all

so kali and her gang get to hawkins, almost simultaniously with jonathan, who has been looking for his family in a frenzy since the morning he woke up to find eveyone gone, without even a note or a phone call, as well as argyle, who came along for the ride

the video store is being used as home base this season, so thats the first place they go, where they find steve, shortstaffed and not knowing whats going on because the whole team ditched him

they catch him up to speed on how EVERYONES GONE and steve catches them up to speed on how EVERYONE IS GETTING MURDERED

meanwhile, brenner has three predicaments

1) no matter what he does to el, what kind of torture he inflicts, she isnt using her powers because she doesnt have them. she tells him this several times. he refuses to believe it

2) lonnie byers is demanding his payment, which he didnt recieve because the deal was that he bring el to them, and he couldnt even do that

3) he has to find a way to dispose of mike and will, who he had no intention of bringing into the lab but theyre here and they know everything

and this is the moment where mike screws up by letting them know that people know theyre in the lab and people know about all the experiments and any second now, someones gonna come banging that door down to save us. nancy, jonathan, steve, robin max, lucas, dustin, kali-

and the second mike says her name he knows he screwed up

brenner decides in that moment that all he can do is round up everyone involved and get rid of them. conveniently, the string of murders occurring will serve as a good cover for what happened to them

and this is the part where joyce, murray, and hopper get back to hawkins

this is also the part where nancy and robin and the gang get back to hawkins

so nancy and robin immediately go to the video store armed with all the new information they learned from victor creel

..... and are met with jonathan, argyle, kali, and steve in pandemonium

they close the store for the day, and get ready to storm the lab

they realize that they need something from the school, so they head there to pick it up

and soon after arriving, theyre met with the all to familiar hawkins lab vans

they make a hasty escape, taking out some of the goons but they need to find a way to get the rest off their trail

they head for the woods, hoping to hide out in the cabin

meanwhile, the russia crew has taken the mostly demolished cabin as their haven to recover from whatever injuries they sustained

theyre all running through the woods, but they realize the people from the lab are closing in on them

and then nancy and jonathan pass a very familiar tree

they use whatever weapon they have on them to break through the bark, and head into the upside down

the lab people keep going into the woods, eventually finding hopper’s cabin

epic showdown between the russia crew and the lab people, joyce, murray and hopper win, they realize the lab is back, immediately head there realizing theyre gonna have to rescue someone

nancy and robin use the info they learned from victor creel to keep the gang alive in the upside down, max, argyle and eddie are freaking out because omg we’re in another dimention, we get some big reveal about the truth about the upside down and the gang makes their way out and head to the lab

and while this is all happening,we get some super emotional monologue between brenner and el (ala-the last 10 minutes of the truman show) and brenner realizes that el isnt going to be the naieve superweapn she used to be, and decides the best thing he can do with el is give her the standard punishment, time in the closet

and being in the closet triggers all sorts of flashbacks and emotions (mbb’s opportunity to show off her acting chops for an emmy)

joyce and hopper bust into the lab like they did in season 1, but this time they dont get caught

they decide to split up to cover more ground, and hopper finds el in the closet

and around the same time joyce finds mike and will and gets them out of there

here comes the REAL emotional performance

hopper sees her, we get a teary eyed “el!” “dad!”, and then hopper gets pulled away from el by lab workers

exactly the same way terry did

we’re watching this happen from el’s perspective, with a heart-wrenching “noooooooooo” from el, accompanied by cuts to every time el has had to be separated from someone she cares about (terry, the s1 ending, billy dying, her leaving kali in s2, saying goodbye to everyone on moving day, her being separated from mike and will when they got to the lab) accompanied by some terribly sad 80s song, then back to the present moment, she reaches her hand out and boom, the guards go flying. her powers are back

except she doesnt have control of them the way she did before, and now shes bringing the whole building down

her and hopper race to the the first floor, and meet joyce and the boys, they get out of the building at the very last second, and the whole thing collapses.

eventually they find the other group, the whole team is now together, they go and take down the big bad from the upside down, joyce almost KILLS lonnie

nancy and robin drop a huge bombshell that has to do with hawkins/the upside down, specifically pertaining to el, which they pieced together after talking to victor creel

we get a massive cliffhanger, season 5 starts like 10 minutes after the ending of season 4

#stranger things #yes i know half the stuff i said is going to be wrong #it would be really cool if it was tho #stranger things theory

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