[𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗘𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗔𝗧𝗧𝗟𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗧]

THE MIND FLAYER LOOKS AROUND the mall for the teenagers that were hiding. max, sage, eleven, and mike were hiding together behind a counter. nancy, johnathan, will, and lucas were hiding behind the red vehicle.

"griswold family, this is scoops troop! do you copy? over!" dustin says from the radio tower to the walkie that is lying on a bench. "griswold family, i repeat, this is scoops troop. do you —"

the mind flayer grabs the walkie. "griswold family, do you copy? do you copy?!"

the mind flayer roars into the walkie before throwing it to the wall near the car, breaking it.

"griswold family, this is scoops troop. please confirm your safety! griswold family, this is scoops troop! please confirm your safety! are you en route to bald eagle's nest?"

lucas, nancy, johnathan, and will breathe heavily, trying to stay as quiet as possible. the mind flayer crawls around, looking for the children. sage and max hold each other's hands tightly, trying to stay quiet as the mind flayer finds the creature that was inside elevens leg. the large monster allows the weak creature to attach back to its leg before the monster roars loudly.

sage and eleven look at each other, panting heavily. the creature crawls over to the space where the three girls and mine are hiding. the mind flayer hisses and snarls making the four holds their breaths.

mike takes a peek when the creature turns away then goes back down, whispering: "it's turned away. if we go up the stairs now, we'll make it."

"no way, not with the girls legs." max denies. "we have to try," mike tells her. "there's another way . . ." eleven cuts in. "to get out."

"through the gap."

mike takes another peek and looks at the creature before nodding. "okay," he whispers.

"now."

mike takes eleven's hand and gets up. max takes sage and follows the couple into the gap store. as they walk in, eleven accidentally kicks something causing it to fall to the ground.

the teens gasp and quickly find a hiding spot as the mind flayer roars, crawling over to the store. the creature lets out his flesh arm to find the children. the flesh arm screeches before quickly grabbing a manikin thinking it was eleven because it had the same clothes she had on.

the mind flayer throws it aside next to where the teens were hiding. the teenagers gasp, staring at the manikin as they breathe heavily.

johnathan takes a peek at the mind flayer from behind the car, seeing it was searching.

the flesh arm from the mind flayer continues searching for the teens. the arm chitters then snarls before attacking the air, thinking the teens were there, but they weren't.

the teens were at the different hiding spot. max, eleven and mike sitting close together as sage was  on max's lap.

johnathan sits back down, breathing heavily as lucas sits back down as well. the sinclair teen then takes out his wrist rocket, loading it with a rock. nancy looks at him.

"what are you doing?" she asks him. "don't worry," lucas assures.

the dark-skinned teen stands up, aiming the rock at the mind flayer, but then aims it at a red balloon. the tentacle from the mind flayer gets closer to the hiding spot the teens were at, screeching. lucas shoots his rock at the balloons and hits them causing them to pop.

the mind flayer snarls, it's head turning to the sound. lucas sits back down, breathing heavily.

the tentacle squeals as it goes back to the mind flayer as the creature crawls away. johnathan takes a peek then motions the teens to go.

they all stand up and jump over the counter, going through a room and up some stairs.

mike, sage, max, and eleven get up and go through a door that was in the gap store. the mayfield teen keeps her arm wrapped around her girlfriend tightly as they run outside.

johnathan, nancy, will, and lucas make it outside the mall and put the cable in. the younger teens get inside the car and billy's car engine revs.

nancy and johnathan look over at the car.

"get the car started," nancy tells her boyfriend, walking around the vehicle. "get the car started. go!" she repeats and cocks her gun, aiming it at the hargrove's car.

johnathan gets in the car and tries turning on the car. the engine sputters. nothing happens.

"no, no, no, no. come on."

billy revs up his car before driving, the tires screeching loudly.

"come on. we gotta go!" lucas tells the older byers teen.

nancy shoots her gun at the car as johnathan continues to try and turn the car on. the car gets closer as nancy continues to shoot, but once she realizes he's not stopping she stops.

"we gotta go!" lucas shouts.

nancy gasps and ducks, covering her body for protection, but another car hits billy's away from nancy and the car. steve and robin pant heavily as they stare forward.

billy's car sets on fire, him knocked out cold.

"are you okay?" steve asks robin. "ask me tomorrow?" robin replies.

the mind flayer snarls as it crawls up on the roof of the mall again.

"oh, shit!"

a car horn honks and the two teens look over to see nancy, johnathan and lucas and will.

"get in!" nancy says and robin and steve get out of their car, getting in the back of nancy's car, driving off quickly.

   "TURN AROUND. LOOK AT WHAT YOU see. in her face, the mirror of your dreams."

robin and steve look at each other in disbelief at the fact that the couple is singing on a very serious situation.

"make believe i'm everywhere," the couple sings in sync. "given in the light. written on the pages is the answer to a never-ending story,"

"reach the stars, fly a fantasy. dream a dream and what you see will be. rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds."

will and lucas give each other a weird, confused look before looking away to think to themselves.

"and there upon a rainbow is the answer to a never-ending story," suzie and dustin vocalize together. "story," the couple vocalize for the last time before suzie gives planck's constant.

"planck's constant is 6.62607004."

"you just saved the world," dustin told his girlfriend with a smile. "gosh, i miss you, dusty-bun," suzie said in reply.

"i miss you more, suzie-poo,"

"i miss you more, multiplied by all the stars in our galaxy,"

"no, i miss you —"

"enough," erica says firmly and turned off the radio. dustin turns to her, giving her a look.

back at the mall, billy regains conciseness and opens his car door, getting out while coughing. he shuts his door before slowly getting up, grunting in pain, before walking forward.

a buzzering sound was heard and billy turns his head to see max, sage, mike, and eleven walking out. the four teens see billy and immediately stop walking, eyes widened.

"shit!"

"go, go, go, go!"

the four turn around and rush back through the gates. max quickly lets go of sage letting her limp towards her brother and friend. the red-head pushes the button to the gate, letting them slowly begin to close shut.

billy quickly makes it to the gate and opens it before it could fully shut.

the four teens walk through the hall as the lights flicker rapidly. sage and eleven groan in pain due to their leg still being injured.

the teens turn a corner and mike finds a room.

"in here. in here." he says and turns into the room with his sister and friends.

mike immediately starts pressing the button to the elevator. max let's go of sage and walks to the door, walking out of the room to see billy.

"billy," max says.

the three in the room turn around and eleven immediately hides behind mike.

the hargrove teen continues walking towards max.

"billy, you don't have to do this. billy. your name's billy, billy hargrove. you live on 4819 cherry lane. billy please, i'm max, i'm your —"

billy slaps max hard across the face causing her to knock out. mike charges towards the blond but ends up getting thrown to the wall, his face getting hit by pipes causing him to knock out.

sage and eleven raise their hands at billy, but the blond grabs el's hand, slamming her head on the wall, and throwing her to the wall, knocking her out. sage gasps and tries running but the hargrove teen grabs her hair, pulling her back, and slamming her back on the floor hard, knocking her out as well.

billy grabs the brunette, throwing her over his shoulder then grabbing eleven and also throwing her over his shoulder. the blond walks out of the room and walks through the halls.

it didn't take long for the hargrove teen to walk back into the actual mall. he walks into scoops ahoy and lifts up the cage that covers the parlor before walking out to the lobby.

the blond slowly puts the girls down next to each other before whispering in both of their ears.

"don't be afraid. it'll be over soon. just try and stay . . . very still."

sage and eleven slowly regain consciousness, their vision blurry. a creature snarls and the mind flayer steps inside the mall. sage's vision clears but along with eleven's and the wheeler teen gasps, getting up on her elbows.

sage grabs el's arm and slowly begins to crawl away as a tentacle comes out of the mind flayer's mouth. suddenly, a firework goes off causing it to shriek in pain. the girls stop crawling at the sudden action.

"flay this, you ugly piece of shit!" lucas shouts from the second floor of the mall before throwing another firework at the mind flayer.

multiple fireworks get thrown at the creature and sage taps eleven. the hopper teen looks at sage then up at billy to see him grunt in pain.

billy falls to his knees, groaning in pain.

"el, we have to go," sage shouts and gets on her knees, crawling away with eleven.

a hand suddenly grabs sage's leg and she screams as well as eleven. he pulls them back to where they were at. the blond aggressively turns them around on their backs, holding them down.

the two girls scream as they try to escape the hargrove teen. sage tries punching billy as she sobs, wanting to leave. eleven breathes heavily and whimpers as she stares at billy, something suddenly coming to mind.

"seven . . . feet." eleven manages to spill out. billy suddenly freezes, staring at her.

sage stops punching billy and listens to what eleven has to say.

"you told her . . . the wave was seven feet." eleven continues, crying softly. "you ran to her, on the beach. there was seagulls."

sage felt billy's grip on her loosen up and she let out a breath, thinking and hoping it would be enough for her to escape him.

"she wore a hat . . . with a blue ribbon. a long dress . . . with a blue and red flower. yell — yellow sandals, covered in sand."

sage felt billy's grip loosen even more and she slowly began to crawl backwards, away from billy and eleven. he didn't seem to notice.

"she was pretty. she was really pretty." eleven said as billy closed his eyes, his mom coming into his head. billy opens his eyes again and nods at the hopper teen. "and you . . . you were happy."

eleven reaches her hand up to billy's face, cupping it gently.

sage stands up to her feet, wincing in pain when she puts pressure on her leg. the wheeler twin looks back at billy and eleven, a tear falling down her cheek. the brunette walks around to the escalator, panting heavily before the fireworks stop. the wheeler teen gasps and steps back.

the mind flayer takes out its flesh arm once again, roaring. eleven tries crawling away and uses her arms to cover her face when the tentacle strikes, but it never hit her.

billy catches it and holds it away from the hopper teen. "no!" billy yells, holding the creature back.

sage watches from the escalator then decides it was best to help him. she closes her eyes, letting out a deep sigh before snapping them back open — her eyes orange-red. the brunette lifts her hands up at the same time more tentacles pierce themselves into billy's body.

billy screams in pain before sage blasts fire at the mind flayer causing it to shriek in pain. the tentacles lifts billy off the floor and sage blasts more fire at the creature.

the wheeler twin then feels her feet come off the ground as the fire becomes more intense. the mind flayer screeches in pain again, but that doesn't stop it from taking out another flesh arm. billy screams as blood pours out of his mouth before the flesh arm digs into his chest.

"billy!" max screams when she sees her brother get stabbed.

the blond falls to the floor as sage puts the fire out from her hands, and begins to tear the mind flayer's flesh apart as it wails in pain.

the wheeler twin screams, blood falling from her nose as she floats in the air. she pulls her hands back, tearing the mind flayer apart just in time for it to collapse to the floor.

sage goes back to the floor, breathing heavily. the teen turns her head to see mike and eleven hugging each other tightly, and then sees max walking over to a slowly dying billy.

the brunette limps over to the situation, tears falling from her eyes from exhaustion. sage then hears max crying. her chest tightens at the sound and before she knows it she makes it to where her brother, girlfriend, and best friend are.

eleven holds max as she cries in her chest. sage falls to her knees next to the girls and max reaches her hand out to her girlfriend. the wheeler teen grabs her hand, kissing it softly as her lip quivered. sage reaches out to max, hugging her tightly as eleven wraps her arms around both of her friends.

  THREE MONTHS PASSED BY AND THE teenagers were at the byer's house, helping them back up for their move.

sage puts a box down, fixing her pink flannel that was on her. she was wearing blue jeans, white converse, a white shirt with her pink flannel over it. the wheeler twin walks into the living room where max, lucas, and dustin were.

"turn around, look at what you see," max and lucas sing in sync making sage chuckle. "in her face, the mirror of your dreams. rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds."dustin stares at them with a unamused look.

"wait, did we get that verse right? it's "unfold behind the clouds"?" max asks the henderson teen. "yeah, but you're butchering it, so could you please stop?" dustin replies.

"so then join in, dusty-bun," lucas teases and blows a kiss. "yeah, come on, dusty-bun, why won't you join us?" max also teases.

"you guys are so funny, you should be on carson,"

"can't we just hear your rendition?"

"no."

"please? just one verse."

"no! no way. it's reserved for suzie's ears and suzie's ears alone."

lucas and max look at each other with grins before singing again. "turn around, look at what you see." dustin flips the two off.

sage snorts and turns around, to see will putting the dnd campaign game in the donation box.

"woah, dude. that's the donation box." mike tells will. "i know. i'll just use yours when i come back. i mean, if we still wanna play."

"oh, we will," sage says with a smile. "yeah, but what if you want to join another party?" mike says, glancing at his sister for a moment when she speaks then looks back at will.

"not possible," will smiles at him, walking off.

soon enough, it was time for the byers to leave and everyone began to say their goodbyes.

sage immediately ran into joyce's arms, hugging her tightly. joyce let's out a small laugh and hugs the wheeler twin back, rubbing her back.

"i'm gonna miss you, mrs. byers." sage mumbles into the woman's shoulder. "oh, sage, i'll miss you too," joyce says, smiling.

sage pulled away from the hug then hugged johnathan tightly. they hugged for a while then pulled away. the wheeler teen then walked over to will, waiting for him and lucas to let go of each other. the brunette smiled at will when him and lucas released each other.

will opened his arms, tears falling down his face. sage frowned and hugged him tightly, letting out a small sob. she couldn't believe her best friend, her first best friend, was leaving. they had been with each other for for long and now they had to let each other go.

"i'll call you almost everyday and send letters, okay?" sage says to will once they pull away.

the byers teen nods at the wheeler twin.

the two brunette's pulled away from each other and sage turned to eleven. the hopper teen stared at the wheeler twin before wrapping her arms around her. sage was gonna miss eleven. very much actually. it's like they met yesterday. the two instantly had a connection when they met and they grew a bond with each other.

"they'll come back. i know it and i promise you they will." sage whispers in el's ear. "i'm gonna miss you . . . so much."

eleven lets out a small laugh, sobbing. "i'm gonna miss you too,"

it was until the byers had to officially go. they got in their cars and the teenagers stood by, watching the cars drive away.

sage stares at the vehicles, max having her arm looped through hers. when the cars were out of view the teenagers grabbed their bikes, getting on them, and biking away.

mike and sage stayed back, turning around to take one last look at the house. the twins look at each other before biking away, following behind their friends.

when the wheeler twins got home they went to the kitchen where their mother was, cutting up some food for dinner.

karen looks up from the counter to see her twins with frowns on their faces. the blonde women puts the knife down and walks over to her kids, hugging them both tightly. sage closes her eyes, sniffling as more tears fall down her face.

but what sage didn't know is that it was just the beginning of everything.

AUTHORS NOTE //

SEASON FOUR NEXT CHAPTER WOOO !!

bee <3