the first reunion

✧

NO ONE KNEW WHAT time it was anymore. They only knew it was late — perhaps it was midnight. But it felt like the moon had been out for hours, and the cool breeze that came with the night — it was blowing with the wind all day.

One thing they did know, this was the longest night of their life.

"Locked," Jonathan said after trying to open the mall's emergency exit doors.

"Are you sure?" Will asked him, stepping forward to open the doors himself — however, they were still locked. "Oh."

"Well, it's only about fifteen minutes after closing time," Alex informed, his lips stained with red from the strawberries. All of the kids had a similar red stain after they bullied Alex into sharing the snack he had bought. "Maybe ten?"

"Maybe. . ." Rue faked to be in deep thought, holding the bat with nails over her shoulder. "Maybe. . . if we just — " She stepped in front of the door, ready to swing the bat at the glass door before Nancy had stopped her.

"No, wait," She said in a hushed voice. "There might be an alarm."

"There wasn't one at Bradley's."

"This is different."

"How is this different?"

"This is the mall — it's famous and it's making a lot of money," She added when Rue rolled her eyes and said 'I know.' "That means they can afford alarms. And these are the emergency doors — the fire alarm will go off!"

"Why don't we go through the back doors? Where the storage comes—" Mike tried to say, but his voice was cut off by the sound of glass shattering. Rue had smashed the door with the bat anyway — it broke into millions of tiny pieces just like the one in at Bradley's store. An alarm didn't go off, and Rue had a shit-eating smirk on her face as she stuck her arm through the door and pulled on the handle from the inside.

"Not locked," she smiled innocently, opening the door for everyone. "Ladies first."

Alex had a skip to his step as he walked into the mall, Max right behind him. She looked at Rue and shot her a quick wink. Rue's hands suddenly became sweaty, and she nearly dropped the bat and let go of the door when Will and El came walking in after. El gave her two thumbs up while Will rose his brow, saying, "Couldn't have you just walked through the door?"

Rue mocked him as everyone else quickly stumbled in. The group walked into the mall and quietly moved forward, trying to make their way to the movie theatre. Rue could tell they were nearing the theatre when the smell of popcorn filled her nose, but she was stopped by El turning the other way, leading the group to the small balcony that looked over the food court. "I heard something. . ." she whispered.

Starcourt Mall was terrifyingly quiet — there wasn't the loud chatter from shoppers or the music that would play on the speakers for people to enjoy. But it was dead silent, and it gave off an eerie feeling that brought everyone to stay on their toes. However — that was how they began to hear the footsteps. Not their own — but someone else's. There were multiple footsteps, and they were still heard when they all stopped moving. They were not alone.

Everyone followed El and their eyes went wide when they saw what was happening before them. There were men dressed in all black with massive guns stalking the food court, clearly looking for something — or someone.

"Look," Max whispered, pointing at the infamous pizza place. And Rue could remember the first time Joyce had brought her and Will to Starcourt. They had eaten lunch there and bought extra slices for Hopper and El when they got home. But instead of enjoying that nostalgic feeling, her heart dropped at the sight of Steve, Dustin, Robin and — Lucas' little sister? — trying their best to hide under that counter, but failing miserably — Dustin's legs were seen, and Steve's bright blue Scoop Ahoy's uniform was sticking out from the side.

El gripped on the railing with one hand while she lifted the other, pointing it at the display car near the foot court. It began to tremble, shaking under the pressure of El's powers. And then, its lights worked to flicker, and its alarm was echoing around the empty mall. El sucked in a breath, her fingers shaking as she focused, ignoring the stares of the men. She let out a cry as she swung her arm in aim, and the car went flipped from its spot, following the direction of her arm and tumbling into the four men.

A single gunshot was heard, but the kids heard it hit the wall. The car crashed and flipped, crashing across the floor. It hit the pizza parlour — which Dustin, Steve, Robin and Erica had run away from — with a loud CRASH! Its alarms stopped chiming, and the headlights flick off. With wide eyes, Rue gaped at the sight of the men, who had gotten crushed by the car and were spread across the food court, lying limp in a gruesome position over their own pool of blood.

"Holy shit. . ." Rue breathed, her lips apart and her heart beating at her chest. "You just. . . you just killed those guys . . ."

"Yes, I did . . ." Eleven nodded slowly, and a smile grew on her face when she saw Dustin jump out from his hiding spot. He was beaming at the sight of his best friends, laughing in relief.

Rue watched as El hurried down the escalators towards Dustin with the help of Mike. She felt frozen to her spot, stunned at the murder that had happened before her eyes. Rue had never seen El kill people before, and she surely would never forget.

Rue looked away when she felt a small squeeze on her shoulder. She turned around to see Max, who smiled comfortingly at her. "Come on!" she said, pulling Rue to the escalators.

The couple ran down the stairs, catching Dustin's arms when El and Mike had pulled away. "You came!" He was jumping in the hug, gripping both girls tightly. "You're alive! You—"

Rue felt someone grip on the back of her shirt, and they had balled it in their hands, pulling her away from Dustin and Max. A scream of surprise escaped from her lips when her shoes barely touched the ground. She was getting picked up, and she thought it might have been one of those men with the guns, or it was Sky, or Billy or —

"Newby!" Rue was thrown and spun around in the air like a doll. Her worries had flown out the window when she spotted the Scoop's Ahoy uniform, blurred in the corner of her eyes before her face was shoved in someone's chest. She could smell the lingering scent of a fancy cologne she could never afford, and Rue could barely get a word out. "You little shit! Steve was so worried!"

Her arms were trapped at her sides as Steve Harrington held her tightly. Rue's shoes were brushing over the floor as he rocked her side to side, pressing his chin on the top of her head. Steve pulled away for only a second, letting Rue gain balance on the floor again before his eyes widened, and he gently cupped her cheeks. "What the fuck happened to your face?"

Steve's eyes were red and blown wide as he looked over every bruise and bandage he could see. His thumb brushed over the cut above her eyebrow softly before he was checking all around her head for any other injury he couldn't spot.

"What the fuck happened to yours!?" Rue shot back, shoving Steve off her and fixing the hair that had tossed over her face. Even though she had said it teasingly, Rue noticed his busted up face — just like he had gotten it last year. She scrunched her nose at his swelling eye and bloody shirt he had pressed her face on. "Who did this?"

"Russians," Steve shrugged, pulling her for another hug. However, this time it was a lot more comforting and much less aggressive.

"I don't understand what happened to that car," Robin had exclaimed, completely lost with the whole situation. She had the same wide-eyed expression as Steve as she looked at everyone.

"El has superpowers," Dustin pointed at the girl so Robin could see who it was. Rue and Steve pulled away from their hug, and he kept his arm over her shoulder.

Robin blinked hard. "What?"

"Superpowers. She threw it with her mind — c'mon catch up," Steve said as if it was the simplest thing to understand.

"Hey — Rue does too!" Alex added, nodding his head at the girl.

"Alex—shut—up," She told him through gritted teeth.

Max playfully rolled her eyes, smiling at Rue, "Oh, come on. We all knew at this point — there's nothing to hide."

"Oh shit, everyone knows, now?" Steve asked, looking down at Rue. "I don't have to hide it?"

"Wait, you knew?" Will rose a brow.

"Uh, I might've told him," Rue confessed, raising her hand awkwardly.

Lucas began to sputter with an offended expression across his face. "Wait for a—fucking—minute! Who else knew before tonight? Because I certainly didn't!"

Slowly but surely, Nancy, Jonathan, Will, Max, El and Steve raised their hands.

"I KNEW IT!" Mike shouted, "I FUCKING KNEW IT!" he was pointing at Rue, a bright look in his eyes. "I—"

"Yeah, you knew it — congratulations," Max patted his back.

Alex grinned, "So, —"

"Not again," Will mumbled, crossing his arms.

Alex glared at him before turning to everyone, but he barely got a word out when Lucas began to yell. "SO ARE WE NOT GOING TO ASK?" Lucas cut him off, his hands on his head. "HOW? SHE—" He pointed with both hands at Rue, "CAN GO — BOOM?" He made a weird sound, clearly reenacting the explosion that happened in Hopper's cabin. "I'VE WANTED TO ASK — BUT NANCY SAID —"

"Lucas, it's sad how little you know of your own friends," Erica scoffed, her hands at her hips as she looked up at her older brother.

Lucas's face dropped, and he turned to his sister. "What are you even doing here—?"

"Wait, who are you?" Nancy interrupted Lucas, pointing at the short-haired blonde who wore a matching uniform with Steve.

"I'm Robin," she said, "I work with Steve."

"She cracked a top-secret code," Dustin added.

Steve nodded. "Yeah that's how we found out about the Russians."

"Russians?" Jonathan echoed. "Wait, what Russians?"

"The Russians!" Steve motioned to the corpses on the ground.

Max's jaw dropped. "Those were Russians?"

"Some of them," Erica shrugged.

"What do Russians have anything to do with the Gate?" Rue asked.

"Didn't you hear my code red?" Dustin turned to her and then to the rest of the party. "Didn't you?"

"We couldn't understand," Mike told him, and Rue narrowed her eyebrows when she didn't see El under his arm anymore.

"Goddamnit! Low battery."

"How many times do I have to tell you with the low battery?" Steve said strictly.

Their voices slowly buzzed away. Rue looked around the group — everyone was yelling at each other — trying to inform the other what they had been through. — But where was Eleven? Rue had slipped from Steve's grasp, and she slowly stepped away from him, spinning on her heel. Everyone's argument echoed through the empty mall, but Rue wasn't listening. Instead, she listened to the staggering footsteps behind her.

She spun around again and spotted El, who tiredly walked away from the group. Rue watched as El looked at her surroundings blankly as her eyes became dazed, and her lips were paling. Her actions seemed so familiar, Rue felt as if she had seen this one before — but where?

Oh, that's right. Herself. On her walk back to the cabin. The walk she had barely survived in. Rue's eyes widened in realization, and when El began to cup her ears to block everyone's voices, she tugged on Steve's shirt. "Guys—" She said frantically, "Steve — Steve—"

"Rue, wait, give me a second—"

Rue ignored him and hurried down the two steps to the girl, "El — El," She called for her, and for a moment, it seemed like the few feet expanded into a long hallway. El was so far away, quietly calling for help, but the hall was so long — Rue wouldn't make it.

Rue got snapped away from her little psychopathic hallway at the sound of El's body crashing with the floor. It was like reality had hit her in the face — an elastic band snapping at the back of her neck. Rue stumbled forwards, rubbing her forehead and pulling off the gauze on it. Rue dropped to her knees, ignoring the spiking pain it brought to her bones. She frantically crawled towards El, who whimpered on the floor. "What's wrong?" Rue asked, and it felt like her voice was miles away. "El?"

"My leg, my leg!" Eleven cried, beads of sweat rolling down her pale face.

Rue didn't know when everyone had crowded to El's aid as well, but she was glad when Nancy pushed past everyone and took the lead of the situation. "Okay — okay," she said, shuffling to El's injured leg and carefully rolling up her pants and removing the bandages. El's breaths were short, but they were loud and heavy — her chest dropped and rose quickly, and as she cried in pain when everyone groaned in disgust at the sight of her wound — dark (nearly black) blood was rolling down her calf and dripping on the floor.

El's hand slapped around on the floor until it held onto Rue's wrist. She gripped on it tightly, her nails digging into her skin. "It hurts!" She sobbed, and blood rolled down her nose and ears, tears were shining on her face as she looked around at the group for help.

Rue's eyes widened when she saw something move in her leg, and she looked up at Max, who had kneeled next to her, letting El lean her head on her chest. Max was pushing El's hair out of her face, trying to keep her awake and propping her head up. Rue looked back down at El's leg when whatever as in there moved fasters, and a shiver of fear crawled up her spine. "There's something in there!"

"Get it out! Get it out!" El cried, pulling on Rue's arm, "Get it out, please, R-Rue, get it out!"

If Rue wasn't freaking out before — she sure was now.

"W—what do you mean 'Get it out?' What?"

"Rue, just go and get it out or something," Max told her, "You can do it."

"Your expectations for me are off the roof at this point— "

"RUE, JUST GET IT OUT!"

"Jeez!" Rue yelled, feeling her chest fall and rise faster than before. Her heart was beating at her chest and her shoulders were strained with the pressure everyone was putting on her at the moment. "Fuck — fine — move!" Rue exclaimed, pushing her way through the crowd. Rue let out a breath she didn't know she was holding as she sat where Nancy was. Everyone had parted to give her space and Rue felt like she could cry with all this pressure on her. She had already said this — Rue was not the superhero — that's El. El was the hero — she was the fighter.

"You know this isn't actually that bad," Robin started, trying to ease the tension in the air, "There was a . . . the goalie on my soccer team, Beth Wildfire — this other girl slid into her leg and the whole bone came out of her knee- six inches or something, it was insane!"

"Robin," Steve said, patting her shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"You're not helping."

Robin held her breath for a moment before nodding. "I'm sorry."

"No, no no it's fine," Rue said really quickly, her eyes not leaving El's bite. "One time — back in Portland on my baseball team, this girl Ava . . ." Rue trailed off, her mind blanking completely at the thought of the girl. Her mouth opened and closed for a few seconds before she said, "She got a rusty pipe stabbed through her chest — she's dead now. It's cool — Joyce said it wasn't my fault — but if we're honest. . . it was. . ."

Alex's gasp was loud, and he choked on the air he had inhaled. Rue jerked her head up to look at him, and he seemed paler than Eleven. "I — I — that's — okay. . ." His eyes rolled back before his feet had given up under him. Alex nearly fell to the floor before Will had caught him.

"I got him — I thought he was going to pass out when El killed the Russians — he'll be fine with me."

Rue muttered something to herself, looking back down to El's leg. She took a few breaths, thinking about a painless way to help Eleven. How was she going to do this? Rue didn't even have her powers for more than a year! Eleven had trusted her way too much. She's expecting too much of her. Rue let out a slow breath, closing her eyes as she snuck her shaky hand to hold onto the back of El's calf. "Okay — this might feel weird. . ." She mumbled, opening her eyes again and looking at her free hand. Rue thought about that day in Castle Byers — when she had stuck her hand through the wall — that time she had walked through Mike's bike. Bright gold flashed in Rue's green eyes as she focused. The usual blue and gold strands of light cried around her fingers before she softly pressed them at the center of El's bite.

El choked on a sob, and Rue quickly jerked her hand away — losing her train of thought and the light fading. "I'm sorry — I'm sorry — I'm sorry —" She stammered.

"No — keep going . . ." Eleven said, "I can take it."

Rue looked up at Max, almost asking for permission. When the girl nodded, she looked back down at El's wound and focused.

It wasn't long until the strings of light came back, and when Rue pressed her hand on El's wound, the blue and gold hue of light slipped from her fingers and sank into El's leg, making it glow. Max's eyes widened as she watched Rue carefully — the glow on El's calf looked so much like the shell Rue had around her the night she found her on the porch.

Eleven had stopped crying, and she had calmed down to the point she was only panting.

Rue pushed her hand onto El's bite, and everyone gasped when they saw her hand sink through her leg. "Shit," Rue mumbled, not thinking the situation thoroughly. Now, her hand was going within El's leg, and her palm was flat on the tiled floor under it. "Fuck — how—" Rue huffed and pulled her arm back out, making everyone groan and gag. "Oh, shut up!" She snapped at them, rolling her eyes. There was nothing on her arm — it had only gone through El like she was a ghost — as if she was liquid.