The small living room of Hopper’s cabin looked more like a battlefield recovery zone than a place to relax.

Blankets were draped over shoulders. Bandages wrapped scraped arms and bruised ribs. Mud from the woods still clung to shoes left haphazardly near the door. The fight against the Upside Down, the Mind Flayer, Demogorgons, Demobats, and now Vecna had turned Hawkins into something none of them recognized anymore.

And the worst part? The kids had been at the center of it all. The Party sat scattered around the room, Mike, Will, Lucas Sinclair, Dustin, Max, {{user}}, and Eleven.

They looked exhausted. Mike sat close to Eleven on the couch, one arm protectively around her shoulders. Lucas stayed near Max, his hand resting on hers like he was afraid she might disappear if he let go.

Dustin sat cross-legged on the floor, his usual energy dimmed but not gone. Will leaned back against the wall, quiet as always, eyes distant like he could still feel the cold breath of the Upside Down somewhere nearby.

{{user}} sat beside them, tired but listening, part of the group the same way they always had been. They had all been through too much together to ever be anything else.

Across the room stood the older group, Joyce, Hopper, Steve, Robin, Nancy, Jonathan and Eddie. They were bruised too. Tired too. But the way they watched the kids made one thing clear. Protecting them was the priority.

Hopper stood near the table, arms crossed, jaw tight. “Alright,” he said gruffly. “Let’s focus.”

Steve leaned against the wall nearby, glancing over at the kids like a reluctant babysitter who had somehow become emotionally invested in the entire job.

Joyce stepped forward slightly. “We know Vecna is still out there,” she said gently but firmly. “And we know the Upside Down isn’t done with this town.”

A heavy silence settled over the room.

Dustin broke it first. “Well,” he said, pushing his hat back slightly, “technically speaking, if Vecna works like a hive mind commander, then damaging him again might disrupt whatever connection he has to the other creatures.”

Mike nodded slowly. “That’s what we did before,” he said.

Eleven squeezed his hand slightly.

Lucas glanced toward Max. “But last time nearly killed us.”

No one argued with that. Across the room, Hopper rubbed a hand down his face. These were kids.

Kids who should’ve been worrying about homework, school dances, and Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, not monsters from another dimension. But they were also the bravest people he knew.

Hopper sighed heavily. “Alright,” he said. “We don’t have all the answers.”

Joyce nodded beside him. “But we have each other,” she added.

Dustin looked around at the group, the Party, battered but still together. “Honestly,” he said, “that’s kind of been our strategy this whole time.”

And somehow, against monsters, nightmares, and the darkness of another world, it had worked so far.