November 5th, 1984

The Byers Household

"Eleven?"

The room fell into a sort of intense silence as the two kids stared sadly, though longingly into each other's eyes.

"Mike." El whispered back as she stepped closer to Mike, the two soon colliding together, holding on to each other tightly. El instantly letting out a sob at the refounded sense of comfort that Mike brought to her.

"Who is that?" Steve whispered to me as the pair continued to hold onto each other. "Eleven, she's our friend." I whispered back as I got a good look at El as the two pulled apart.

She certainly had changed, her hair had grown back curly, though she seemed to have slicked it back tightly. She was clad in smudged black eyeshadow and her clothes looked to be more grunge styled which was certainly a big change from her previous look which was just Mike's old clothes.

What happened to her? Where did she go?

"I never gave up on you. I called you every night. Every night for-" "353 days." She cut him off, smiling up at him, tears still rolling down her face. "I heard."

"Why wouldn't you tell me that you were there? That you were okay?" Mike asked, his voice shaking slightly, not from anger, but from the sadness he still felt from when he thought he had lost her.

Shockingly a voice not belonging to El answered his question, "Because I wouldn't let her."

The group turned to face Hopper, only for him to walk towards El with a stern look in his eyes. "The hell is this? Where have you been?" He asked, with the same tone mom would use when she wasn't angry but rather disappointed.

"Where have you been?" El asked, her voice still holding the same soft tone that we had all come to get used to.

Wrapping his arm around the small girl, Hopper pulled El to his side in a small type of embrace while Mike stared up at Hopper in a mixture of confusion and anger.

"You've been hiding her." He stated, his voice quiet as his gaze slowly started to turn into a glare directed at the larger man. "You've been hiding her this whole time!" He yelled now, using as much force as he could muster to push Hopper to the side.

"Hey!" Hopper yelled, turning to grab a fistful of Mike's shirt to pull him towards him. "Let's talk. Alone."

The pair walked off, down the hall and into Will's room, leaving us all in a sort of awkward silence.

Leaving a tense El standing still and alone again in the middle of the room.

"Thank God, you're okay." I stated as I pulled El into a hug. "Nell." El whispered as she tightly wrapped her arms around me. "You are okay, right? No bruises, broken bones, or more monsters to worry about?" I asked slightly jokingly but also kinda serious, as I let her go in order to look down at her.

"I don't think so?" She spoke lightly as she looked down at her hands, turning them over to look at both sides.

"I don't blame her! I blame you!" Mike's voice could be heard from Will's room as he began to yell louder and louder at Hopper.

Startled, El quickly looked down the hall, slight fear and worry cast over her features. "Hey, it's okay." I said gently, pulling her attention away from Mike's voice.

"Boys tend to think yelling is the way to go in arguments, he should be okay soon." I stated, lightly placing a hand on her shoulder as Mike's voice slowly started to quiet back down.

"Eleven!" Dustin called out as he and Lucas walked towards us. "I'll let you guys catch up." I said with a smile as I watched El pull the two boys in a massive hug.

Walking away from the small group, I made my way back to Steve who awkwardly went between leaning against the wall and examining the handle of his bat.

"I know the night's shit, but don't look so miserable." I whispered to him as he quickly jumped away from the wall and quickly ran a hand through his hair.

"No idea what you are talking about." He stated with a cheeky grin as he pulled me into his side. "But, hopefully, we can do something next weekend that is better than this." He said quietly as I watched Max try to introduce herself to El, only to be completely ignored.

"We?" I asked, turning my attention back to him. "Yeah? Only if you want to. We don't have to. Don't know why I assumed." He rambled, seeming to drop the confident and smooth act that he usually put on.

"I'd love too." I grinned, grabbing his hand which seemed to bring him a sense of peace as the two of us just stared into each other's eyes, but that was before we got brought back to reality by the group moving out of the living room and back towards the kitchen.

"You opened the gate first, right?" Mom asked El as the two looked down at the paper that held the decoded message. "Yes."

"If you opened it, do you think you can close?" Mom asked though El stayed quiet as she continued to stare down at the message.

"Gather up." Hopper stated as he and Mike walked down the hall and into the kitchen, causing all of us to immediately surround the table.

"I need to close the gate." El stated, directing her gaze at Hopper. "What? You don't even know if you can do that?" He said back, furrowing his brow. "You don't know." She argued back.

"It's not like it was before. It's grown." He started, leaning against the countertop. "A lot. And, I mean, that's considering we can even get in there."

"That and the place is crawling with those dogs." He continued, listing for her the reasons that it wasn't safe nor guaranteed to work.

"Demo-Dogs." Dustin reminded Hopper. "I'm sorry, what?" Hopper scoffed slightly at the younger boy. "I said, uh, Demo-Dogs. Like, Demogorgons and dogs... you put them together and it sounds pretty badass-"

"How is this important right now?" Hopper raised his voice, cutting off Dustin. "It's not. I'm sorry." He whispered, slouching as he turned away from Hopper.

"I can do it." El stated, "You're not hearing me." Hopper groaned, putting a hand on his forehead.

"I am hearing you and I can do it."She stated again, her voice unwavering.

"Even if El can, there's still another problem. If the brain dies, the whole body dies." Mike stated, now grabbing all of our attention.

"I thought that was the whole point?" Max pointed out. "It is, but say if we are all right about this. If El closes the gate and kills the Mind Flayer's army-"

"Will's a part of that army." I whispered, piecing together what Mike was getting at. "Closing the gate will kill him."

My blood seemed to run cold because of Mike's words as I watched a horrified and pained look spread across my mom's face as we both faced this harsh reality.

Slowly making her way out of the kitchen, mom walked into Jonathan's room where he had put Will to rest.

Mom just seemed to stare down at him while the rest of the group followed in shortly behind her, gazing away from Will's unconscious form and instead towards his open window that let in the cool November breeze.

"He likes it cold." Mom stated, walking towards the window before slamming it shut. "We keep giving it what it wants." She said as she turned towards us.

"If this is a virus, and Will's the host, then-" Nancy started before Jonathan finished for her.

"We need to make the host uninhabitable."

"We need to burn it out of him."

~~~

Walking outside towards Jonathan's car, Hopper rushed the directions to some cabin that he knew Will wouldn't be able to recognize.

As mom and I made it to the car, I stopped in my tracks. The words, "Burn it out of him." Replaying over and over again in my head.

"What's wrong, honey?" Mom asked, stepping towards me and lightly rubbed my arm while I watch Jonathan put Will's still unconscious body into the back seat of his car.

"I can't..." I started though it felt like my throat closed around the words that I was trying to say. Feeling my eyes water, I shook my head lightly and moved my gaze from Will's body and back onto my mom.

"Why? Nellie, it's okay." She whispered gently to me as she pulled me into a hug. I nodded in response and pulled away from her, rubbing my eyes in hopes to get rid of any possible tears.

"It's just- I can't... I don't think I should be around for what you guys are planning." I stuttered out, each word hurting a bit more as I said them aloud.

"I want to be there for him, and I know it's not fully him, but he's still in there." I tried to explain while mom just nodded along with my words, her eyes showing no sign of anger or disappointment.

"You hated it when he cried." She said, bringing me slightly out of my panicked state. "Jonathan too, but, you didn't find it annoying. You would always tell me that it hurt you, knowing that he was hurting or upset. Since he was born to now, you would do everything to stop his tears."

I nodded, feeling like mom had found the words that I needed, for me. "It needs to be done, I know. But, if I'm there, you know I won't be able to handle it." I whispered to her while Jonathan stopped his conversation with Hopper to look in our direction.

"It's okay." She said, the sound of her voice and the look in her eyes bringing me slight peace as Jonathan made his way over. "So are we ready?" He asked awkwardly, placing his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

"Actually-" I started only to be stopped by Nancy as she made her way towards the car with a space heater. "I'm going too." She stated, stopping in front of us.

"Why?" Jonathan asked, turning to Nancy as the two stared at each other for a moment, seeming to say enough with their eyes without even needing to say it aloud.

"Well, then." I said, breaking the twos awkwardly long moment as I moved away from the car. "It's just gonna be you two and mom for this one." I stated as they looked at me confused.

"Why? The three of us work better as a team." Jonathan said, moving his hand around to motion between the three of us. "Yeah, Nellie. We shouldn't have excluded you. I mean, we went through so much together last year together. It should have stayed that way." Nancy tried, looking genuinely saddened by my choice.

"It isn't about any of that. Though, it's definitely a conversation we need to have." I said, looking between the two.

"But, it's agreed that I need to stay away from this one. It wouldn't be safe if I was there, for anyone." I stated, looking down at the ground.

Dumbly but still very ashamed of how sensitive I was for my baby brother. "Trust me." I said, holding my pinkie out towards Jonathan.

"Of course." He said gently before linking our fingers. And with that, a calm silence fell between the three of us for the first time in weeks.

Sadly, though, that was only one of many unresolved issues that needed to be rightened.