[𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗦𝗜𝗫: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗜𝗩𝗘]

DUSTIN RUNS THROUGH BUSHES AND peeks at his compass, noticing how rapidly it's changing direction.

"something's happening," he says to himself before continuing to run off. "dustin? can you slow down? dustin?" eddie calls out as max, sage, and lucas follow behind him with steve and robin and nancy behind him.

"i think we're getting close," dustin says, turned back to eddie with a smile before turning back around and getting his shirt gripped on. "watch your step, big guy," eddie says and he pulls dustin back from falling in the water.

"oh man," steve sighs as he walks over. "you got to be shitting me,"

"yeah," eddie agreed. "i thought these woods were familiar,"

"lover's lake," robin declared as she stared out at the lake.

sage and max glance at each other, memories of them swimming together in the lake appearing in their heads. the couple blush at the memory before listening to dustin talk.

"this is confounding," dustin whispers. "there's a gate in lover's lake?" max says, coming to realization, cheeks still pink. "whenever the demogorgon attacked," nancy started. "it always left an opening. maybe vecna's the same way?"

"yeah, only one way to find out," steve said in reply before eddie motioned the teens to follow him. "great, more walking," sage complained.

"calm down, wheeler," eddie told her then saw what he was looking for, and pulled the tarp off.

the teens looked down at the boat before steve and eddie took ahold of it, and carefully placed it down in the water.

"easy. i . . . i said easy, man," steve told the munson adult. "sorry, dude," eddie mumbled before robin used the harrington teen and munson adult's head as help as she walked onto the small boat. "thank you,"

"yeah, that works too,"

eddie got onto the boat after and reached his hand out for nancy, helping her onto the boat.

"wheeler," eddie said. "thanks," nancy replied and took a seat next to robin.

dustin was about to get onto the boat, but eddie stopped him.

"hey, hey, hey, you trying to sink us?" eddie asked, pushing dustin's head back. the henderson teen stared at the munson adult confused. "this thing holds three people tops, okay?"

"it's better this way, okay?" nancy told the teen as eddie walked past her. "you guys stay here with max,"

"i wasn't planning on leaving," sage told her sister as her arm holds max's waist. "thank you, sage. keep an eye out for trouble." nancy replies to her sister, turning her head to dustin.

"you keep an eye out," dustin shoots back, upset that he can't go with the older teens. "it's my goddamn theory,"

"you heard nance," robin said, looking at dustin.

"who put her in charge?"

"i did,"

dustin gives robin a confused look.

"compass," nancy says, reaching her hand out for the compass. dustin frowned like a kid and lazily handed nancy the compass, before walking back to his friends. "hey," steve called out. "here you go," the harrington teen tossed dustin his bag and pushed the boat out, hopping in quickly.

dustin's eyes widened. "you said three,"

"sorry," steve whispers.

"bed time at nine, kiddos," robin calls out to the four teens. "i don't sleep anymore," sage replied and dustin flipped her off. "miss you already!"

"well great," sage mumbled. "what do we do now? sit and watch?"

"i guess so," max replied and began to sink down to the floor with her girlfriend. sage looked down at max and sat down with her.

"woah," lucas said, looking through his binoculars. "they're stopping. what are they stopping for?"

dustin frantically grabs his comm and clicks the button. "guys, what's going on?"

no response.

"come on, guys, talk to me,"

"uh, dustin," robin answers, her voice unsure. "your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital "aah!" "

sage looks over at max, hand still around her waist before looking back at the boat.

"ugh," lucas groans. "when'd steve get so hairy?"

"right?" dustin agreed causing lucas to look over at him. "i keep telling him he needs to tame that jungle but he claims the ladies dig it,"

"what? let me see." sage says and gets up from the floor, taking the binoculars from lucas and looking at steve before snorting. "jesus, steve really needs some help," sage mumbles.

"let me see," max says, grabbing the binoculars from her girlfriend. "what?" sage asks, watching as max just stares at steve from the binoculars.

the wheeler twin looks out to the boat then back at max. sage tries to take the binoculars back, but max slaps her hand away. sage scoffs at her lover and crosses her arms. dustin, then suddenly spoke up.

"you guys realize . . . there's a gate down there? it's technically a water gate."

lucas and max shake their heads at dustin, but sage was biting back a smile.

"water gate!" dustin declared, smiling at sage seeing her smile before giggling.

max gives dustin back his binoculars and sage suddenly gets a gut feeling in her stomach that someone was behind them.

"guys," sage whispers. "i think there is someone, actually no, not just someone, but there are people behind us,"

lucas looks behind him then sees lights.

"shit, down!" he whispers and dustin immediately gets down.

sage puts a hand on max's back, going down with her behind a rock.

"you've got to be shitting me," sage mumbles as her eyes staring out at the lights. "dustin, you are a goddamn einstein," robin says from the walkie causing dustin to grab it. "steve found the gate —" dustin turns off his walkie before robin could continue her sentence.

sirens wail in the distance.

"cops," max whispers, noticing the uniform the men were wearing. "shit, shit, shit," dustin curses before lucas speaks up. "we can't let 'em find eddie,"

"i agree," sage replies before looking at max to see she was getting up. "stay with me," max tells her friends. "max, what are you —" sage tries saying but gets cut off by the red-head.

"hey, officers!" max shouts.

"max!"

"shh!"

"maxine, what are you doing!"

sage, lucas, and dustin try shushing the mayfield teen.

"over here! i found the killer! this way!"

"oh shit,"

"go!"

"damn it!"

the three teens get up from the floor and follow max through the woods.

"max, i love you, but what the hell!" sage exclaims as she runs through the forest. "do you have a better idea?!" max asked.

". . . nope, sorry!"

"get back here, you little rats!"

"rats?" sage whispered. "oh, that's foul,"

dustin suddenly trips over something and big hands grab onto him. the three teens turn around and sage's eyes glow orange-red as she was about to use her powers, but the teens stop, noticing chief powell.

"hey, there," powell says to dustin. the henderson teen notices sage's face and motions her to calm down. "chief, let us go," sage says, trying to stay as calm as possible, her face turned away.

"i'm afraid we can't do that," the man replied, looking over at the teens. "your mom called,"

"course she did," sage scoffed, her rage only getting bigger. "look over at me, ms. wheeler," chief powell said, standing back up, pulling dustin with him.

"i . . . i can't," sage replied, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath in and out. max gently taps sage's back and the brunette looks over at her girlfriend. "you're okay," max whispers and sage slowly turns her head to look at the officers.

the cracks on her face were slowly closing and her eyes were back to their deep brown color. powell stared at the teens, his eyes more trained on sage as he begins to lead them to the cop car. the wheeler twin feels eyes on the back of her head as her, max, lucas, and dustin make it to the car. the three teens get into the car and just as sage was about to get in, powell stops her.

"i need a word with you, kid,"

the wheeler twin turns to look at the dark-skinned man as he closes the door to the car sage's friends just went into.

"what is it, sir?" sage asked kindly, eyes watching as his hands reach for a photo in his pocket. when her eyes landed on the photo, her heart had dropped to her stomach. "recall this?" powell asked the wheeler teen.

the photo seemed to have come off of a video tape. it was will byers on a hospital bed, a man with bruised head, hopper next to joyce along with bob. mike and sage next to each other, but sage's appearance was different.

her eyes were orange-red, her face had cracks and the same color glowed through them, and blood fell from her nose.

sage stares at the photo, her breathing getting heavy at the memory. her head shakes.

"you don't recall this?" powell asks the teen girl making her head shake again. "that's not me," sage tells him, looking up at him. "that's not you?" his eyes squint at her.

"nope,"

"okay . . . what about this?"

another photo that seemed to come off a video tape. it was outside of the hawkins lab. her clothes were bloody, along with her nose and her face held the same appearance as the last photo. sage shook her head once again.

"where'd you even get those?" sage asks quietly, tears forming in her eyes, scared that he might've found out about her powers. "that is not something you should be asking me, ms. wheeler." powell replied with a sigh, putting the photos away. "turn around, hands behind your back," sage's eyes widened.

"what?"

suddenly, sage was turned around, being held by officer callahan.

"do we call sullivan?" callahan asked the chief before hearing banging on the glass window of the police car. "when we arrive at the wheelers," chief powell informed.

"sullivan? who's sullivan?" sage asked, trying to escape the officers grip. "hey, assholes! let her go! let her go!" max shouted from inside the car.

"let me go," sage said before feeling a cold metal come in contact with her wrist. "no, please, let me go!" the wheeler twin shouted, tears forming in her eyes. "calm down, kid,"

"let her go, assholes!" max continued to shout and tried getting out of the car, but it was locked.

"what are they doing?" dustin asks, trying to look at the situation. "they're cuffing her!" max said in panic. "what?!" lucas shouted.

"no, please," sage said, tears falling down her face as the cuffs were completely on her. "i didn't do anything, i didn't do anything,"

"take her to the other car," powell told callahan and he nodded, taking sage away.

"no, no, no, no! sage!" max screamed from inside the car. "sage! no, let her go!" dustin shouted.

"let her go!" lucas shouted as him and max try getting out of the locked car. "max, dustin, lucas, help me!" sage screamed, sobbing, her feet sticking to the ground in order for the officer to stop dragging her away.

"don't make this harder than it already it is, kid," callahan groaned before picking her up by the waist, making sage begin to kick. "no! please, i didn't do anything! why are you doing this!"

the officer reached the car and opened it, putting it inside, and shutting the door before she could get out. sage laid down on her back and began to kick the door as another officer sage did not know began to drive away.

"let me out, you son of a bitch, let me out!" sage screamed, continuing to kick the door until her legs began to grow tired. the wheeler teen slowly stopped kicking and sobbed softly. "what did i do? i didn't do anything . . ."

she didn't know what to do. her powers were weak and even if they weren't, she would not just burn the whole car. she'd kill herself. she couldn't even burn through her cuffs because they were metal. it'll take forever for them to melt. the brunette feels another tear fall down her face as she fixes herself position on the seat. the man driving, glances at sage before focusing back on the road. sage's mind immediately went to max.

please be safe, please be safe

sage closes her eyes and sighs out deeply before opening the back up, looking out the window.

she did not know what was going to happen to her . . . and she really hoped she wasn't going to die.

AUTHORS NOTE //

next chapter will be out soon !!

also, sorry this chapter might be confusing —

bee <3