warning¡! one gay slur
┐(´ー｀)┌

•••

"HE'S HERE." Will shuddered, feeling a chill go up his neck as the group all stood in the middle of the hospital waiting room watching the lights continuously flicker.

The group shares a look of caution as they faintly hear a screech, Levi grabbed onto what was closest to him which was Five's hand, the green-eyed boy glanced up at the slightly taller boy, concern washing over his features.

El leads the group out of the waiting room, walking past the front desk and ignoring the shouting from the lady at the front desk who was oblivious to the monster shrieking.

"Nancy's in trouble." Six stated, standing in the elevator next to Levi.

A perk of his power is he could sense when someone is coming to their death or in life-threatening danger, he really needed to teach Twelve more about it the more he thought about it.

Twelve whipped his head to look at the ghost not bothering to look at the teens looking at him weirdly. "Nancy?"

Six nodded, feeling sympathetic for the boy before glancing at Five who questioned the boy.

Twelve ignored the shouts from Five, looking straight at the sliding doors, tapping his hand against his thigh anxiously. Closing his eyes for a split second Levi gasped as he saw a flash image of Nancy running away from a monster that looked like the same spider shape of the mind flayer but this time it was gooey in a blood-red color.

Levi hurriedly opened his eyes, pressing the button of the floor Nancy was on, he didn't know if it was right but it felt like it.

"What's going on, Lee?" Max asked the boy softly.

Her soft voice caught the boy's attention over the shouting of the others. "Nancy's in trouble." the boy mirrored Six's words.

The elevator dinged loudly and the group hurriedly ran down the white halls that all looked the same.

Five looked down one of the halls, squinting his eyes as he saw Jonathan hitting a door with a fire extinguisher, screaming for Nancy.

"Guys?!" He yelled, the group followed Five, running down the hall panting.

When they finally got to the door, El didn't hesitate to use her powers and throw the door open with a loud bang.

"Jesus!"

"What the f--"

The monster that was on top of Nancy, screeched loudly, turning towards Max as she shouted, showing the rows of teeth coated in saliva causing everyone to flinch back as ringing filled their ears for a split second.

The Mind Flayer stalks towards them, El went to use her powers when she saw Levi glance at Nancy on the floor sobbing, rage-filled his chest as he glared at the monster with burning hate in his eyes that no one had ever seen in him.

Five watched in amazement, thinking Levi would be growing weak, but as he took in the boy's glowing eyes and the creatures wailing, Levi showed no weakness as he slammed the monster around the walls with an invisible force.

The walls cracked under the pressure of the large monster, Nancy backed into the corner of the room, tears running down her face as the monster slammed on the ground in front of her.

Twelve sighed, closing his eyes for a moment feeling slightly light-headed, the Mind Flayer started stomping towards Levi, growling.

El's eyes widened, grabbing onto Levi and nudging the boy towards Five and Max, before glaring at the monster with a shout the monster flew through the glass window falling down the side of the building.

Once the monster was gone Jonathan ran towards Nancy, concerned as she sobbed. The younger teens glanced at each other, Levi wanted to check if Nancy was okay but everyone was nudging him to run along as they ran down flights of stairs trying to see where it goes.

El pushed open the doors to the outside, Jonathan and Nancy both caught up to the group, they all stopped with wide eyes as on the concrete was the monster splattered and moving.

Levi scrunched his face at the sight of it, it was gooey and red, which didn't help when the fluorescent red emergency sign above them shined on it making it even redder than it already was. It looked like insides of things, like organs from people being held together by a big piece of jello.

It was moving, more like slithering, the squelching sound made Levi disgusted as it moved, pulsating with every slide.

The group watched as it slowly slithered into the sewer on the road, with curious eyes they watched as it disappeared only leaving a few spots of slime on the concrete but what got their attention was the human bones that didn't go down the drain since the bars didn't let them.

"What the fuck..."

•••

"It can't be safe for her to be in there that long," Mike said looking at the group in anger as he paced.

It was the next day and super early when the group arrived at the cabin, everybody had to sleep knowing that thing was still out there somewhere and with that, they didn't have a good sleep.

Right now Levi, Max, and Five sat on the couch, Max in the middle of the two boys as Nancy was on the phone, Jonathan was going through a phonebook while Will and Lucas were eating dry cereal.

"Mike you need to calm down!" Max sighed as Levi set his head on her shoulder, her resting her head on his as the boy fiddled with the purple bracelet on his wrist.

Mike stopped pacing, looking towards the girl with a glare, "Calm down? What if she gets brain damage or something?"

Five rolled his eyes, "She isn't gonna get brain damage, shithead."

"Yeah, Mike you don't know what the hell you're talking about." Max shook her head, letting a soft smile slip as Levi grabbed her hand when he sensed her irritation.

"Oh! And you do?" Mike exclaimed sending the girl an unimpressed look sighing at the glare he got from Levi.

Five threw his head back against the back of the couch exhaling as he heard Mike and Max argue, he had gotten used to the bickering between the two since they find every little thing they can to fight about, but it annoyed him easily and made him want to rip both of their tongues out.

Max stood up abruptly sending Levi, who was leaning all his weight on her, down and on top of Five's lap.

Five grunted before looking down at the boy who pouted while staring at his best friend, "How you doin?"

Twelve silently laughed, shaking his head before reluctantly getting up to follow where Mike and Max went with Five right behind him.

"Who do you think should decide El's limits? Mike or Eleven?" Max asked, staring at Jonathan and Nancy for their opinions.

"The way that you frame that is such bullshit," Mike grumbled.

"It's not bullshit, Mike. This is your whole problem. And it's also precisely the reason why she dumped your ass."

Six busted out laughing at Mike's face, "I like this girl!"

Twelve shook his head, facepalming as Mike went onto a rant about how careless they were of El's powers which is complete bullshit but whatever.

Five crossed his arms holding off his glare as he heard Mike's next words.

"I love her and I don't want to lose her again!"

As those words slipped from the boy's mouth an awkward silence loomed over them as the group gaped at the raven-haired boy who just now realized what he said.

Five clenched his jaw, glancing towards the empty space where Levi was whispering to knowing exactly who was standing there.

The boy had to hold back from flinching at the word 'love', he didn't hear it often and he didn't say it much. The last time he heard those words were when Levi said 'I love you' to Hopper.

Whenever Levi would tell Five 'i love you' Five would only respond with 'i know', Levi never cared about it though because he knew Five cared.

Five didn't quite understand the phrase, that was one thing he couldn't teach Twelve. He didn't feel much love in his life, that's why whenever someone does say it, it sometimes overwhelms him because the last time he felt true love was when he was five years old and he heard his mom say it to him.

Love was something Five couldn't teach El and Levi, it was something they taught him though, more so Twelve than Eleven.

As he stood there with a heavy heart, glancing towards the empty spot where he knew Six was standing, Eleven came out of her room looking at the awkward group with confusion on her face.

"What?"

Mike looked at the recovering group, "Nothing."

"Just a family discussion." Lucas smiled with a shrug.

Eleven gave them a suspicious look before shaking her head. "I found him."

"Found who?" Nancy asked.

•••

El gasped, pulling off the blindfold with force before telling the group sitting behind her what she saw. After telling them she went to get a glass of water, waving off the concerned look she got from both Five and Levi.

"And that's not normal, right?" Nancy crossed her arms looking at Max.

Max scoffed, "Billy, staying in his room on the Fourth of July? No that's not normal."

"He wants us to find him," Will said.

"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. If we go to Billy, then the rest of the flayed know where we are." Nancy explained glancing between the group around her.

"It's a trap, I agree. We'll be ambushed." Mike nodded.

Lucas shook his head, "We won't be surprised. We'll know that they're coming, and we will kick their flayed butts."

"You mean they'll kick their butts." Max deadpanned, gesturing to Five, Levi and El who all stood next to the couch they were sitting on.

"Killing the flayed won't stop the Mind Flayer. We have to find out where it's spreading from. We have to find the source." Nancy stated.

"Billy knows it. Billy's been there. To the source." Eleven whispered.

Mike looked at her, "Yeah, but--"

"It's a trap. I know. We can't go to Billy, but I think there's another way. A way for me to see where he's been."

•••

Levi ignored the metallic taste on his tongue as he bit his lip, sitting next to El while Five sat on the coffee table behind them and everyone else around them. Twelve could faintly hear Mike talking to El about how she doesn't have to do this but the boy didn't listen to them.

He was worried about what Eleven would see when she went in.

"I could go in," Levi said, turning to look at El and Mike who were now watching him. Mike felt relief he really didn't want El to go in, but at the same time, he didn't want Levi to since he thought of the boy as a little brother.

El shook her head, "No."

Five, who was listening to their conversation sighed, "You've been using too much of your powers, El."

"I could do it." El glared at the older boy even though her powers have been becoming weaker.

Five clenched his jaw, "How about this? T goes in there, but he holds your hand and projects it, I know you two have been working on it. And it will help not drain you fully."

Eleven stared at the boy for a few seconds before finally sighing with a nod.

Everyone watched as Levi closed his eyes along with El, holding onto El's hand tightly with a shutter.

When El closed her eyes she could see Levi in the void but knew he couldn't see her, because she wasn't actually in there.

Levi gasped, opening his eyes, black surrounding him as he looked around, his blue eyes falling on Billy.

Billy sat on his messy bed, staring straight ahead in space. Twelve walked closer until he was standing right beside Billy who didn't acknowledge him, unlike the last time.

Twelve swallowed nervously, glancing down feeling guilt crawl up in stomach as he saw Billy's burned hand that was still blistering red.

Levi slowly took that burned hand in his clammy one, feeling power radiating off of the man. "Billy."

The boy's whisper echoed, reaching Eleven's ears as she watched with teary eyes.

"C-can you hear me?" Levi said, gripping the man's limp hand in his, "I want to see what happened. Can I see, please?"

Eleven's breath hitched as Billy looked right at Levi, grabbing the boy's arm in a bruising grip.

El ran towards her brother as he tried to fight off Billy's grip, crying out in panic and feeling his hand go numb at the hard grasp. Eleven tried to touch the boy and pull him but her hands just went right through him, causing her sob out to him, but he couldn't hear her.

Suddenly Levi was flying back into the blackness, it was like slow motion. Different emotions filled him, anger, sadness, guilt, happiness, loneliness, greed.

Flashes of Billy crashing, him seeing a replica of himself in the upside-down, just like Twelve's nightmare were filling his head, making it ache.

Until there was nothing. And suddenly he felt pain clawing at his lungs and then he was choking.

Levi gasped before coughing up water, tears in his eyes from the sting in his lungs before looking around confusingly as he sees himself on the beach, but he knew there are no beaches in Hawkins.

The boy got up from the water, flinching at the sound of the seagulls squawking as they flew over him.

Tears fell down his face in fear when he realized he was all alone, it was comfortable in the void but this was terrifying because he couldn't see El like normal.

Levi panted, squinting when in the distance he could see a beautiful blonde woman smiling in her white flowy dress holding a yellow floppy hat and her sandals covered in sand in her hand as she laughed.

Levi calmed at the woman's laugh, tilting his head when he saw the woman looking at something behind him causing him to turn, seeing a little boy coming out of the water with a surfboard bigger than him under his arm.

"It's Billy." Twelve breathed out, looking at the once happy little boy, feeling his heart break because he hasn't seen Billy this happy or feel this good before.

Levi watched with soft and longing eyes as the woman congratulated Billy on being able to surf one of the big waves. He watched as the young boy goes back into the water, smiling widely.

A loud crackle of thunder startled Levi making him look in the direction it came from seeing a large dark cloud hovering in the air, flashes of red lightning coming from it while fog clouded the ground.

The boy hesitantly walked towards it, the air getting winder and winder with each step, furrowing his brows when he saw the familiar flecks of white floating in the air like how it was in the upside-down.

Twelve shivered when he felt a large amount of fear fill his body, knowing it wasn't his and then he heard shouting, he looked in the dust, squinting his eyes, seeing the outline of Billy's dad, Neil, and Billy walking towards him.

Neil grabbed Billy's arm harshly making the young boy look at him trembling. "What the hell is wrong with you? What did we talk about, huh? You gotta slide."

Twelve walked closer to them, his heart aching as he takes in Billy's quivering form as the young Billy stuttered, "I-i know."

"Wait. Afraid you're gonna get hurt again?" Neil shouted bending down to get in his face.

Billy whimpered out, "No!"

"No? What'd I raise a pussy for a son, a fagot is that what you are?!"

Tears fell from Twelve's eyes at the man's words watching as Billy broke out of his father's grasp and ran away, crying.

Levi ran after the little boy, glaring towards Neil who was mumbling curses.

As the boy ran it was like a big red tornado was surrounding his body, wind fast making it harder with each step as he keeps stumbling back.

It reminded Levi of Billy's feelings it was all over the place, he could hear words being thrown at Billy and arguments Billy heard from his parents blasting in his ears over the wind making it hard for him to breathe as it became overwhelming.

"I told you, I was with Wendy!" The woman who was Billy's mom yelled.

"Stop lying to me!" Neil's voice echoed. "You saw him again didn't you! You whore!"

Twelve kept running not even stopping to watch the memories cover in the dust, it was all too much, feeling the emotions on Billy alone was too much but feeling the anger from Neil and the fear come from Billy and his mom made it feel like Levi was suffocating especially when he heard a loud slap followed by Billy screaming for his mom.

"Please. Why are you doing this? Mom, please come home." Billy begged before the sound of a deadline filled the air.

"She left him?" Levi whimpered out, staring sadly at the boy on the phone.

Levi shook his head, feeling a lump in his throat as he watched Billy beating up a kid, repeating the words his father calls him. "Billy..."

"Billy, come over here, I want you to meet someone," Neil's stern voice said. "This is your new sister. Her name's Maxine."

"It's Max." the little redhead said, staring up at the older boy who glared at her.

Twelve kept walking, hearing all the different conversations and seeing all the different memories pass by him as he walked through the wind that was whipping around him violently causing the boy to put his arms in front of his face trying to block the wind when he heard Billy yelling.

"Who's there?!"

It was recently by the pitch so Levi ran faster, trying to find where it was coming from, seeing headlights in the red he hurried, hearing Billy scream making the boys heart stop.

All of a sudden the wind around him stopped and it was silent, and it was like everything around him was painted in blood as the world was tinted red.

He could see through the fluorescence, Billy's car, windshield cracked and parked in front of this broken down and abandoned building, squinting to see the name on the rusty sign.

"Brimborn. Steelworks." Levi mumbled to himself, when he felt like everything was over he closed his eyes with a deep breath.

Everything started going in reverse, all the flashes he saw rewinding, the mix of confusing feelings flooded back into his system, and it felt like he was floating.

Then suddenly Levi gasped, opening his eyes with tears falling down his face, the boy reached out for Five, expecting Five to grab him and whisper sweet nothings to him but that didn't happen.

Growing confused and scared, his blue eyes scan the cabin but it was empty. He couldn't even sense Eleven with him.

"Max?Five?" Twelve called out, his heart beating rapidly as no one responded.

He quickly got up from the ground, tears streaming down his face, as he sobbed. "Five!? Max?! El!?"

"They can't hear you."

A distorted voice said causing him to gasp and swiftly turn to see Billy come out of his and Five's room with a sinister look in his bloodshot eyes. "You shouldn't have looked for me. Because now I see you. Now we can all see you."

Twelve's breath hitched at that, his stomach dropping at the older's words, back against the wall as Billy walked closer to him, reaching up to caress the boy's cheek as Twelve whimpers, looking into the man's eyes not seeing a hint of the Billy he knows.

"Your sister, El." Billy said with so much hate, "She let us in. And you are going