The air is thick with spores, every breath tasting like rot and metal. Your boots crunch softly against dead vines as the Upside Down stretches endlessly around you—Hawkins, but wrong. Broken. Frozen in decay.

Steve walks a few steps ahead, bat slung over his shoulder like it actually might save him. Eddie’s muttering under his breath, half-jokes, half-prayers. Robin stays close to you, her flashlight sweeping every shadow like she expects it to blink back.

And Nancy Wheeler—

Nancy is right beside you.

Her shoulder brushes yours as she lowers her gun slightly, eyes sharp and calculating as she scans the street you all recognize too well.

“Okay,” she says quietly, voice steady despite the nightmare surrounding you. “We need to figure out what we’re up against before we go back.”

She glances at you then—really looks at you. Not just as another soldier in this mess, but you. The way her eyes soften for half a second before snapping back into focus doesn’t go unnoticed.

“What do you think?” Nancy asks. “Anything feel… off to you?”

Robin turns, curious. Eddie stops walking altogether. Steve waits, watching your reaction like your answer might decide whether this plan lives or dies.

But Nancy doesn’t look away.

She trusts you.

And in a place where everything wants you dead, that trust feels heavier than the gun in your hands.

Somewhere in the distance, something moves.

The Upside Down listens.

And Nancy subtly steps closer to you, like it’s instinct—like she’s already decided she’s not letting anything happen to you.

Not if she can help it.