[𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗘: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗚𝗔𝗧𝗘]

"ELEVEN," MIKE BREATHED OUT AS he walked towards eleven. "mike," eleven gasps and hugs him tightly.

"is that . . ." max began then looked at lucas and sage. they both nodded.

"i never gave up on you," mike told eleven with a smile after he pulled away. "i called you every night. every night for —"

"353 days," eleven finished for him. "i heard."

"why didn't you tell me you were there?" mike asked her. "that you were okay?"

"because i wouldn't let her." hopper said then walked up to eleven. "the hell is this? where you been?" hopper asks her. "where have you been?" eleven asked him.

hopper hugged her, rubbing her back.

"you've been hiding her. you've been hiding her this whole time!" mike said and shoved hopper.

"hey! let's talk. alone."

mike and hopper walk away. sage immediately rushes over to eleven, crashing her into a hug.

"protecting her! protecting her?" mike asked the chief. "listen. listen to me." hopper told the teenager. "the more people know about her, the more danger she's in. and the more danger you and your family are in —"

"so, what? i should be thanking you?"

"i'm not asking you to thank me! i'm asking you to try and understand."

"i don't! i don't understand!"

"that's fine. that's fine! just do not blame her! all right? she's upset enough as it is."

"i don't blame her! i blame you! i blame you!" mike shouted. "that's okay, kid. that's okay." hopper told him. "no! nothing about this is okay! nothing about this is okay!" mike shouted more and shoved the chief back.

"oh, jeez —"

"you're a stupid, disgusting, lying piece of shit!" mike said, punching hopper in the gut. "okay. all right! stop it." hopper told the teen and tries holding him down. "liar! liar! liar!"

"stop it. it's okay."

hopper wraps his arm around mike and hugs him, rocking side to side as mike sobs into his chest.

"you're okay, kid. you're okay. i'm sorry, kid."

"we missed you." lucas told eleven as him, dustin, and sage were in a group hug with the girl. "i missed you, too." eleven said with a smile.

"we talked about you pretty much everyday." dustin told the teen girl.

the teens pull away from the hug and eleven notices dustin's teeth. she reaches her hand to his mouth, touching his teeth.

"teeth," she simply says. "what?" dustin asks, concerned. "you have teeth," eleven tells him.

dustin smiles at lucas and sage. "oh. you like these pearls?" dustin purrs causing eleven to back up a little.

"dustin, no," sage says and facepalms.

"eleven," max say and walks up with a smile. sage smiles. "hey. um, i'm max." the red-head introduces herself, reaching her hand out for a hand shake. "i've heard a lot about you."

eleven looks down at max's hand then simply walks past the mayfield teen. sage throws her hands up, letting them hit her thighs when they come back down.

"why does no one like you," sage mumbles. "i swear they can't see how great you are."

max sighs then looks over at sage. "she'll also warm up to you, trust me." the red-head nods then looks over at joyce and eleven.

the red-head walks over, the rest of the teens following her.

"do you think if we got you back there, that you could close it?" joyce asked eleven.

eleven doesn't respond but she lets out a deep breath, debating it.

"IT'S NOT LIKE IT WAS BEFORE. IT'S grown." hopper says with a sigh. "a lot. and, i mean, that's considering we can get in there. the place is crawling with those dogs."

"demo-dogs," dustin corrected.

hopper sighs. "i'm sorry, what?"

"i said, uh, demo-dogs. like demogorgon and dogs. you put them together, it sounds pretty badass —"

"how is this important right now?"

"it's not. i'm sorry."

"i can do it." eleven speaks up. "you're not beating me." hopper tells the girl. "i'm hearing you. i can do it."

"even if el can, there's still another problem." mike says. "if the brain dies, the body dies."

"i thought that was the whole point," max mentions. "it is, but if we're really right about this . . . i mean, if el closes the gate and kills the mind flayer's army . . ."

"will's apart of that army," lucas says. "closing the gate will kill him," sage adds in and sighs.

joyce motions everyone to follow her into will's room. everyone gets up and follows joyce.

"he likes it cold." joyce states. "what?" hopper asks. "it's what will kept saying to me. he likes it cold." the byers woman said then closed the window to will's room.

"we keep giving what it wants."

"if this is a virus, and will's the host, then . . ." nancy began. "then we need to make the host uninhabitable." johnathan finished.

"so if he likes it cold . . ."

"we need to burn it out of him," sage says. "we have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time." mike tells the byers woman.

"yeah, somewhere far away." dustin adds.

hopper picks up will and walks out of the room. joyce and johnathan follow behind him.

"take denfield, then you'll see a large oak tree." hopper explains as he walks outside. "you're gonna swing a right. that road is gonna dead-end. and it's about a five-minute walk from there."

"okay. denfield to oak tree. swing a right. that's it. but channel ten, right?" johnathan asks the chief.

"it's channel ten. listen . . . you let me know when that thing is out of him." hopper tells the byers teen then pats his shoulder, walking off.

"i have to go with them," sage says to her brother.

"i agree. you'll be able to help burn the mind flayer out of him." mike tells his sister. sage nods then walks outside with everyone.

"just be careful, okay? i can't lose you again." mike tells eleven. "you won't lose me." eleven tells mike. "do you promise?"

"promise,"

eleven leans in and so does mike, but hopper interrupts.

"el . . . come on, let's go. it's time."

eleven turns to look back at mike and let's out a deep breath. she turns around and walks to the truck where hopper was waiting.

sage goes to walk off but mike pulls her back, hugging her tightly.

"be careful. i don't wanna lose you, too." mike tells his sister making her chuckle. "you won't lose me, mike. i promise." sage replies and hugs him back, rubbing his back.

mike nods then let's go of his sister, watching her run off to the car, getting in the back with joyce and will. johnathan immediately reverses out of the driveway the second sage closes the door.

it didn't take long for sage, joyce, nancy, and johnathan to get to the cabin. the four walk to the cain, johnathan holding will. sage opens the door and walks in with nancy, looking around.

"not bad," sage mumbles then sees johnathan put will down on the couch. "it's actually kinda nice," nancy said while looking around.

joyce walks over to the fireplace. "we'll do it here."

nancy and johnathan move a bed to the fireplace, taking off all the covers, before putting will down on the bed. nancy then begins to work on putting wood into the fireplace as johnathan ties down wills arms and legs. joyce puts all the heaters on each corner of will.

"are you sure this is a good idea?" johnathan asked his mother, looking at her as they all stood next to each other. "this thing has had will long enough." joyce says.

"let's kill this son of a bitch," sage declares.

nancy takes a match out then points it at sage. the wheeler twin looks at the match and punches her fingers around the tip, lighting it on fire.

"i think they're cool," nancy tells her younger sister as she throws the match in the fireplace.

"what's cool?" sage asks. "you're powers," nancy says and smiles at sage. "oh, thank you," sage smiles at her older sister then helps turn the heaters on that are surrounding will.

"NANCY?" STEVE ASKS AS HE LOOKS at mike causing the wheeler twin to furrow his eyebrows. steve groans when his vision clears up, bringing a hand to touch his face.

"no, don't touch it." dustin tells the harrington teen, moving his hand away from his face. steve looks over at dustin. "hey, buddy . . ." dustin shushes the older teen. "it's okay. you put up a good fight. he kicked your ass, but you put up a fight." dustin told the teen. "you're okay."

"okay, you're gonna keep straight for half a mile, then make a left on mount sinai," lucas informed max, who was driving. "what's going on?" steve asked, looking over at max. "oh, my god,"

"just relax. she's driven before." dustin assured steve. "yeah, in a parking lot," mike comments.

"that counts." lucas said to mike.

"they were gonna leave you behind," dustin tried telling the harrington teen. "oh, my god," steve started panicking. "i promised that you'd be cool, okay?"

"woah, woah, woah, woah, woah. what's going on?" steve said as max began to speed up. "oh, my for. no! woah! stop the car. slow down."

"i told you he'd freak out." mike told dustin. "stop the car!" steve raised his voice.

"everybody shut up! i'm trying to focus!" max shouted. "oh, wait, that's mount sinai. make a left." lucas told the red-head. "what?"

"make a left."

max takes a left, accidentally hitting a sign during the process causing everyone to scream.

BACK AT THE CABIN, WILL GASPS awake at the heat.

sage looks over at her best friend when she hears his gasp. will tries sitting up on the bed but feels that he's tied down to the bed.

"what's happening?" will asks his best friend. "it hurts," will grunts. "it hurts! it hurts! it hurts!"

"let me go! let me go! it hurts! it hurts! let me go! let me go! it hurts!" will screams.

joyce reaches over and raises the temperature of the heaters.

"mom," johnathan tried stopping. "no!" joyce shouted and raised the last one.

sage stands up, taking off her green flannel even though she didn't feel hot due to her being immune to the heat as she was practically the heat, because she had pyrokinesis.

"let me go! let me go! let me go!" will continues to scream.

will continues to scream in pain as the teenagers and adult watch.

"it's not working. it's not working. mom, are you listening to me?" johnathan told his mom. "just wait!" joyce said. "how much longer?"

"look . . . look at him!"

"johnathan, wait!"

"you're killing him!"

"just wait!"

johnathan reaches over to turn off the heaters but sage stops him.

"johnathan, leave it!" sage shouts at him. "we're killing him!" johnathan tells sage.

"i'll fucking kill you if you don't stop! leave it!"

"wait, johnathan, johnathan! his neck! his neck!" nancy shouts and points at will's neck.

sage shoves johnathan's hands back and lights her hands on fire. will breaks free one hand and reaches over to rip the rope off his other hand.

"no, no, no, no." joyce shouts and holds will down, but gets choked by him. "mom!" johnathan shouts and tries pulling will's hand away from his mom's throat.

sage reaches over and grabs will's wrist causing him to scream in pain, and drop joyce. the wheeler twin holds will's wrist down, her hands still on fire. will screams in pain and manages to get his other hand free, scratching sage's face.

the wheeler girl screams in pain, but doesn't let go of his wrist. sage uses her telekinesis to hold his other hand down until the mind flayer flew out of will, flying out of the cabin.

nancy watches as the mind flayer goes else where into the night sky.

sage breathes heavily, grabbing her face, before falling back onto the floor. johnathan unplugs the heaters as nancy runs back inside, kneeling down to her younger sister on the floor.

"will, baby." joyce cries, untying her son. "will. will. please, will. will."

"come on, buddy," johnathan says, his hand on will's head, shaking him. "please. can you hear me?" joyce asked, sobbing.

"come on,"

"please. will."

sage watches from the floor, her head on nancy's lap as nancy strokes her hair. joyce gasps when she sees will's eyes open.

"mom?" will asks. "oh, honey. oh god." joyce gasps and hugs her son. johnathan joins in on the hug and sage lets out a small smile.

"he's back," sage whispers, trying her best to stay awake, feeling exhausted.

johnathan grabs the walkie, "chief, are you there? chief, do you copy?" johnathan asks. "yeah, i copy." hopper replied. "close it," johnathan said while panting.

"sage," will said, noticing sage was on the floor with nancy. "hi, will," sage smiled softly at the byers boy. "you okay?"

will nods at the wheeler twin making her let out a soft chuckle. nancy keeps stroking sage's hair then sees the lamp light get brighter. nancy covers her own and sage's eyes from the light.

"she did it," sage said with a proud smile, feeling tears come to her eyes. "eleven did it,"

"she did it . . ."

AUTHORS NOTE //

ONE MORE CHAPTER AND SEASON TWO IS COMPLETE !!

bee <3