As a warning: This chapter is incomplete. You'll only see this at the end, though.

Everyone was caught off guard by the appearance of the newbies. They looked like regular kids. A bit outdated in their style – far more outdated than the Turning Red crew – but completely normal otherwise. They began to stir, a string of half-conscious curses escaping the cluster of children.

"Everyone," Lou said enthusiastically, "I want you to give a warm welcome to the characters of Stranger Things! This is the last group I'm bringing here... for now. Just so you know."

One of the kids – a pale, lanky dude with jet black hair – woke up with a start. "Agh... w-what the fuck?" He quickly sat up, frantically looking around the room. "Where the hell is this?"

"Oh, shit," another kid hissed, his tight curls covered by a baseball cap. "Shit, shit, shit. I think we got kidnapped."

"Yes," Holly said with a confident smile. "Yes, you did!"

"Bro, shut up, you're not helping," Lou muttered to her 'friend.'

"Kid... Napped?" a person with a buzzcut and a pink, flower-patterned shirt murmured curiously.

Some sad child with a bowl cut looked just about ready to have a panic attack. "This isn't good..."

Two older teens, both likely female, said nothing, but seemed more curious than terrified about their situation.

The only other older teenager — or, well, he was probably in his early twenties — quickly stood, stepping in front of the younger kids and facing Lou. "What the hell is going on here? Who are you?"

"A kidney bean," was their deadpan answer.

"What?"

"Your hair's even better in person," Lou continued with a smirk.

"...What?" the guy repeated.

"Nevermind. Anyway, none of you freak out; you're all completely safe," she said to the newcomers. "I have no bad intentions."

"And why the hell should we trust any of that?" a girl, younger than the others, snapped.

A guy the same age as the first four kids sighed beside her. "Erica!"

"Tell me I'm wrong! You can't!" Erica clapped back.

"Well, I mean, first of all," Lou explained, an awkward grin on her face, "I'm kind of the one responsible for fixing all of your injuries because I figured out how to make a kind of 'healing barrier'–" she made air quotations with her hands– "that can patch up smaller injuries as part of the portal and, uh... yeah." Lou paused. "Anyways, if that's not enough, I still have something I need to do."

Lou weaved their way through the group of 80's children until they confronted a very tired-looking Lucas Sinclair, cradling in his arms the barely-alive body of Max Mayfield. Lou knelt down beside them, much to Lucas' confusion. She reached out her arm, extending her index finger and booping Max on the nose. Lucas was only more confused – especially when some random sparkles appeared to burst into the air at Lou's touch – until Max's eyelids slowly fluttered open.

Lucas softly gasped. "Max!"

"L-Lucas...?" Max smiled.

Strength suddenly flooding back to her, Max pulled Lucas into a hug, the pair ecstatic to reunite after their recent fight with the supernatural. The rest of the new kids approached the pair, relief and excitement clear on their faces. The other characters slowly began to approach the group. Lou sank backwards, defying the flood of the crowd and grabbing Holly by the arm.

"I'll be backstage. Distract them. If anyone dies, we're fucked," they quickly whispered before teleporting away.

"Wait, what?" Holly shouted at the air as Lou vanished.

~*~

A small explosion of pastel sparkles erupted in the middle of the backstage medbay for the second time in 24 hours. From the blinding glittery cloud, Lou emerged, giggling to herself at Holly's reaction to her "if anyone dies" comment. "Alright, but seriously, I gotta get this over with."

One curt snap of the fingers later, a fresh not-quite-corpse lay unconscious on the bed in front of Lou, breaths strikingly shallow. Lou muttered to themselves as they rolled up their flannel sleeves. "Vampire my ass. You're not coming back canonically; we all know it. Makes my life harder, but hey, at least the Duffers are moving forward with the story. Whatever. Healing magic, do your thing."

And with that, Lou began to remotely heal the numerous wounds of Eddie Munson.

Around the middle of the whole procedure, the metalhead's eyes snapped open.

"Oh, fuck me gently with a chainsaw," Lou groaned once they noticed.

"Wh-what the hell?" he said, alarmed. "What just happened?"

"Eddie, Eddie, bro, calm down," Lou said softly. "You just got brutally murdered, so I brought you here to heal you and then let you chill with your friends."

"Shit, Dustin." He met Lou's eyes. "Dustin. Where is he? I need to tell him I'm—"

Lou panicked as he quickly tried to stand. "Wait, Eddie—!"

Eddie cried out in pain, collapsing back on the bed. "Ow, motherfucker..."

"Here, try not to move too much." Lou waved their hands, the magical healing process resuming. "I still need to patch up some of the smaller bites..."

The DM's eyes widened as the wounds that had killed him mere moments ago started healing themselves perfectly in a matter of seconds. "Woah, how are you doing that?"

Lou frowned, raising in the air the saddest pair of jazz hands known to date. "Magic. Yay."

"Are you serious?"

"Yep."

Eddie grinned. "Wow. That's awesome."

"Thanks, I think."

A silent pause enveloped the room.

"Arcane or divine?"

Lou stared at him in confusion. "What?"

"Your magic," Eddie continued. "Is it considered, like... arcane or divine?"

Lou bit her lip. "I don't think I can categorize it like that. We're both stuck here for a while, so... should I just explain how it works?"

Eddie shrugged. "Go for it."

"Okay, uh... Once upon a time in the distant land of five-ish years ago, I was just a normal human like yourself. I come from a world many have collectively agreed to call the Original Reality. OR, for short. Basically, it's the world that creators of universes come from, yours included. I was chosen to become one of a privileged few who get to roam around the Multiverse and inspire creativity within ourselves and others. An Author. I just get a fancy set of powers and freedom to do pretty much anything, as long as I help create new ideas for universes every now and then."

"Okay," Eddie said.

"My main thing is creating stuff," Lou explained, a small plushie of an avocado forming in her hand. "Any non-organic substances. No animals, no people, no food, no plants — that sort of thing. If I'm really desperate, I can synthesize materials that are incredibly similar to fabrics or building materials usually derived from natural sources. I can destroy anything I create—" the avocado plushie vaporized— "but nothing else. If I really need to get rid of something I didn't make, I can always open a portal to a Bottomless Pit or something."

"You can open portals between worlds," Eddie said flatly, his eyes wide with shock that such a thing was literally possible.

"Portals, teleportation, flight, telekinesis — I've got the whole 'All-Powerful Borderline God Starter Pack' powers," she said with a grin. "That's how I got you here."

"And how you brought me back to life."

"Well, healing's a bit more complicated," they explained. "That, creating larger objects, making dimensions from scratch; they all take more MP."

"MP... Magic Points," Eddie guessed.

"Magic Power, but yeah, same principle. Different tasks take different amounts of it to do."

Eddie slowly nodded. "So, like... There's a set amount of magic you can use, and when you run out, you're just... done until it regenerates?"

"Not... exactly," Lou said awkwardly. "It's more a measurement of how much magic I can use within a given time frame without completely destroying myself from the inside out." Eddie's eyes widened at that. "I could go over the limit, but it would hurt like a bitch, and it might end with me no longer alive or seriously injured, depending on how far I go. If I stop using my magic for two hours straight, it will fully regenerate. That said,—" Lou's healing magic stopped, every last cut on Eddie's body completely healed— "I won't be using much magic for the next two hours!" Lou's sarcastic excitement made Eddie laugh.

The two teleported – via Lou's magic, obviously – to the corner of the Reaction Room nearest the Hall of Personal Spaces. A handful of people had dispersed into small groups, talking amongst each other, but at least half of the people in the room were sitting on the floor, gathered around Holly.

"...and, that's the story," she was saying, "of how I shut up the most vocal homophobe in my school!"

"Oh, God, I have never loved you more," Andrew suddenly snapped. "Not, like– not to be weird or anything like that! I just... wanted to punch that dickwad and his entire posse in their intolerant, dumbass faces since I met them."

"Same," Jack said with a smirk.

"Hey, guys, these are kids you're talking about," Kaito said firmly, attempting to calm the two Musketeers down.

"Homophobic and transphobic kids," Holly said. "I'm almost positive they're sexist. Probably racist, too."

"I hate kids," Ashido deadpanned.

"Doesn't everybody?" Priya asked, equally deadpan.

"Both of you are kids," Brian said.

Lou loudly and overdramatically cleared her throat, everyone turning to her. "Dustin Henderson, come to the foyer; I have a surprise for you!"

The kid with the baseball cap hesitantly stood and walked over to Lou. "Uh... what is it?"

Lou raised an eyebrow. "Are you blind?"

Dustin's gaze trailed to the figure behind Lou, his eyes immediately welling up with tears.

Eddie Munson smiled. "Am I really that forgettable, Henderson? You— woah!"

Dustin had quite literally tackled his DM to the ground in a hug. "Don't you ever fucking scare me like that again," he muttered in between sobs.

"I won't, promise."

"Oh my God, Eddie's alive!" Someone from the group of new people cried, causing the majority of them to sprint over to Lou and the two D&D nerds. Quite a few people in the group were confused by this grown-ass man Dustin had randomly hugged, but just as many were overjoyed and willing to explain the situation to their clueless friends. One heartfelt reunion later, Lou called everyone together once again to introduce themselves. The new group — Stranger Things, Lou informed everyone — started out:

"Hi. I'm Mike Wheeler."

"My name's Will Byers."

"Dustin Henderson, hey."

"I'm Lucas Sinclair."

"Erica Sinclair."

"Max Mayfield. Hi."

"I'm called... Eleven."

"I'm Steve Harrington."

"Nancy. Nancy Wheeler."

"Um, hey! I'm Robin Buckley."

"Munson. Eddie 'The Freak' Munson, great to meet you... all."

Everyone else introduced themselves as normal. The Boku no Hero students ended up quickly demonstrating their Quirks again, too.

"Alrighty," Lou said. "It's just about noon. Those SBEmails took way longer than I expected."

"So, are we doing lunch?" Holly asked.

Lou shrugged. "I mean, if everyone's okay with that."

Nods and quiet murmurs of agreement swept through the crowd, everyone most definitely okay with having lunch.

"Alrighty then," Lou half-sang, pulling out her iPhone.

"Stop being possessed by our gym teacher, Lou."

Lou stifled a laugh at Holly's comment. "Okay, anyway, I'm just going to order a suspiciously large meal from this restaurant online. Everyone can just, um... pass my phone around and add what you want. Stranger Things and Turning Red, if you need help navigating the website or using a cell phone, call me over. I'll get..." Lou tapped a few things on the screen. "...avocado-etcetera sandwich... small tomato soup... green tea." She passed the device to Holly.

"Caesar salad, chicken noodle soup... green smoothie." She then passed the phone to Ben. "Good luck."

Everyone divided into different groups, talking as Lou's phone was passed and traded around the room for the better part of fifteen mintues. During that fifteen minutes – and the half hour it took for the restaurant staff to complete the order – quite a lot happened. For one, Stewie finally confronted the perpetual liar who had piqued his interest from the moment he stepped into the room: the one and only Ōma Kokichi.

Coincidentally enough, to say it went smoothly would be a blatant lie.

"Come on, Brian! I can't walk up to him alone!" Stewie whined.

Brian rolled his eyes. "Why not?"

Stewie scoffed. "Are you serious? Look at me, I'm a damn infant! I'm still not convinced half the people here even know I can talk!"

"You've introduced yourself three times."

"Maybe they think it was a hallucination. You saw how the UA students reacted at the beginning; that was just yesterday!"

"Okay, okay!" Brian sighed. "I'll go with you."

Stewie looked up at his friend. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Well, then, come on!"

One race across the room later, Stewie and Brian were standing a formal distance away from Ōma Kokichi and Saihara Shuichi, both of whom were talking about something. Or, more accurately, Shuichi was trying his best to understand and learn more about Kokichi, who was, to put it bluntly, messing around with the detective like always.

"You know, it's rude to turn down an invitation from the supreme leader of D.I.C.E., Shumai," Kokichi childishly sang. "Not to mention a death sentence!"

Shuichi, his arms crossed, rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Kokichi, I really don't know if–"

Ōma cut him off with a curt "A-bup-bup!" and a finger to his lips, which the detective immediately pulled away from. "Your options are yes or die, Saihara-chan. So, don't keep avoiding the question!"

"Alright," Saihara said. "I accept your invitation."

Kokichi grinned from ear to ear as he clasped his hands together. "Yay! I'm having a picnic with Saihara-chan! Although, a picnic with only two people's really uninteresting. And it's a stupid romantic cliché."

A faint blush appeared on Shuichi's cheeks. "Wait, what?"

"We should invite more people! Hmm..." Ōma scanned the room, his eyes soon landing on Brian and Stewie. "Ooh! Those guys don't seem too boring. I'll ask them!" Saihara, still a flustered mess, did not bother trying to stop Ōma as he approached the baby and dog. The two had been quietly discussing something, but stopped once he was close enough. "Hey! You two!"

Stewie, his eyes wide, pointed to himself and Brian. "Us...?"

"My bestie Shumai and I are gonna have a picnic once the food gets here. Care to join us?"

"Yes!" Stewie immediately shouted in reply, earning a look from Brian, probably for being a bit too desperate-sounding. "Absolutely. We would love to join your picnic."

Ōma smiled. "Great! I'll go steal a blanket and some tea from Lou-chan."

Carelessly, the Ultimate Supreme Leader skipped off, leaving Brian stunned and Stewie ecstatic. "That was... way too easy," Brian said.

"Never look a gift horse in the mouth, my friend," Stewie said with a grin. "We got an invite, and that's all that matters."

Ten minutes later, the four individuals sat in a circle atop a blanket that had the entire Bee Movie script printed upon its surface. Kokichi, Shuichi, Brian, and Stewie each held a small teacup containing some mix of teas the first had concocted, a deep purple in color. Shuichi, the first besides Ōma to try it, thought that the flavor was similar to a mix of lavender, blueberry, and hot chocolate. An odd combination, sure, but by no means a bad one.

Kokichi and Stewie quickly found they had several things in common. Kokichi, after a few minutes of discussing plans for world domination with the youngest Griffin, dropped his typical act of head-spinning lies and teasing toward the child. The two held a nice (albeit chaotic) conversation about their favorite evil schemes, while Saihara and Brian shot each other confused or concerned glances every so often.

Meanwhile, the Authors were bored and supervising the entire room from the "Essentials Corner" of the Reaction room. Cabinets, counters, and drawers lined the walls of the area, containing everything from food to medical supplies. Anything that the Authors could not make with their magic was stored there in case of any kind of emergency. For clarity's sake, this was the series of random cabinets Izuku had first noticed in the Prologue, and a small kitchen island near the cabinets had been the table containing the tens of plates of pastries that Mei had first approached that very morning.

"Lou, you need to pick one queen," Holly said to her friend, leaning on said island and blankly watching the groups around them.

"Beheaded. Those are my favorite queens. Enough said," Lou said with a triumphant smirk.

"I literally just said to pick one."

"Beheaded. Boleyn and Howard. Final answer."

"Dude—"

"Who's yours, then?"

Holly smiled. "Catherine Parr."

Lou froze before shrugging. "Okay, yeah, I can respect that. She's an icon. Pushed for female education, got her portrait painted by a woman—"

"Don't think you can keep dodging the question."

"Damn it."

"Anne Boleyn or Katherine Howard. If it's so hard, just pick the one with the better song," Holly laughed.

Lou sighed, resting her forehead on the table. "Anne Boleyn," she soon decided. "With Howard in a very, very, very close second." She demonstrated exactly how close this second was by pinching her fingers together.

"Um... excuse me?"

Lou immediately looked up from the table to see Will Byers—he was the one to initially speak—and Dustin Henderson standing in front of the Authors. Both boys looked a bit nervous. Holly and Lou shared a quick glance. Were they really that intimidating?

"Hi," Lou awkwardly deadpanned. "What's up?"

Dustin spoke this time. "So, um, you guys know D&D, right?"

"I've played it," Holly said with a nod.

"I own two pairs of D20 earrings," Lou said. "That should count, right?"

"Oh!" Holly pointed at Lou. "And we've been to Comic Cons! Separately."

Lou frowned. "We need to go together some time."

"We do."

"We have fantasy OCs that we've both cosplayed before at Renaissance fairs," Lou added. "Emphasis on cosplayed."

Holly hummed in agreement. "Wigs, elf ears, corsets, hoop skirts—we kind of went crazy."

"In short, yeah, I'd say we know D&D," Lou said jokingly. "What about it?"

"Our party just reunited for the first time in, like, six months," Dustin said, clasping his hands. "And we're... really desperate to play. Eddie also told us you apparently have... magical powers? Actual, real-life magic? Like, beyond just portals and healing."

"So, we wanted to ask," Will continued, "if there was any way you could make the supplies we would need to start a new campaign."

Dustin started listing them off: "Dice, new character sheets, figures, Dungeon Master's screen—"

"And if you can't, it's not a problem," Will quickly said. "We just wanted to ask..." He trailed off when Holly held up her hand.

"Stop," she said with a smirk. "I get it. But, speaking from experience, it sucks to play with someone else's sets, let alone reset all the progress from every campaign you've ever done. Give me three seconds."

And three seconds later, the original supplies of every single party member present—Will,