Cold air drifts through-out the vented room, with it comes the non-stop aching within your limbs. The cold a shrill reminder against your hardly normal life. "He's here." Will says, grabbing his neck. You shiver from the cold, you look around the room uneasily, hating the helplessness you feel.

You should be able to help, to help El.

Eleven breathes before exhaling deeply. Obviously trying to calm her nerves. "It's gonna be okay." You say, trying to ease her worries before You run off to the Elevator and frantically push the button to call for it, but nothing happens beside the button flashing a bright yellow.

Everyone follows behind you, piling up as they all glance at the bright yellow light and the non-moving elevator.

"The stairs." Mike figures, running to the stairwell door down the hallway, all of you follow close behind. Everyone runs up the steps, including you. Even with the aching you're faster than most of the other kids.

"This way." You say, following the cold feeling in your chest. You open the door to the seventh floor and run through the halls, you hear screams so you follow those instead, which leads you to Jonathan who stands in front of a light brown wooden door. A metal oxygen tank raised to its window.

He sees you and backs up in surprise, "Holy shit!" Mike yells, looking at Jonathan's terrible state. You look at him and feel a ping of sympathy in your chest. His pants legs bloodied, his face has a large cut across the cheek and a bloody spot on the right side of his forehead.

A yell comes from the room, you try the door but it doesn't open. "Back." El orders, you and everyone else step back while El uses her gift.

The door flies off its hinges and smacks the bloodied pulp of mass in the middle of the room, it screeches in anger, so loud that it feels as though your ears are bleeding. Eleven raises her right hand and grunts in pain. The beast flies into the right side of the wall, sending debris everywhere. She slams it into the roof and tiles drop down above it, white parts of the roof fly down like snowflakes in the winter.

In a fit of rage Eleven slams the monster from the roof into the ground, it screeches in pain, much louder now, so loud you have to cover your ears. It stops screeching and balances itself as best as it can.

Eleven exhales sharply, her eyes staring into the Mind Flayers face. It jumps towards her, a snarl forming in its malformed throat. Eleven yells in rage and sends it flying backwards, a window crashes and it slides through, leaving red goo on the windows rim.

Jonathan runs forward to help Nancy while everyone else runs down the hall, down the steps and out the hospital's front doors.

You all stop in front of the Mind Flayers goo, The bright red flashing light in front of the hospital makes the goo a neon red. It slinks over to a vent in the ground and slides down through it.

"Holy." A voice says from behind you, everyone turns around to see Jonathan and Nancy standing at the hospital doors, eyeing the vent where the Mind Flayer slicked through.

☆☆☆

No Ones POV

Hopper's Cabin, The living room.

All of the kids look around at each other uneasily, waiting for El to come out of the room to reveal Billy's whereabouts. The fight with the Mind Flayer left everyone scared and worried for the inevitable fight with the Mind Flayer.

"She's not supposed to be in there for that long!" Mike says, pacing around the room. Ten looks up at him, his eyes uneasy and bloodshot. "She's our only choice, I can barely move as is." He responds, his voice barely above a whisper. His neck has began to heal but its still having some effect on his vocals.

"Mike! Relax!" Max orders, leaning out of the chair, "It's annoying!" She adds in a frustrated tone.

"What if she gets, like brain damage or something?!" Mike counters, throwing his hands out toward Max.

Lucas leans backward, placing a handful of crackers into his mouth. "Shit. Is that a real thing?" Lucas questions as he stops shoveling the honey crackers into his mouth.

"It's not, he made it up. Now stop Mike, you're making everyone worried." Ten answers, looking up from the ground towards Mike.

"Oh, really?! I didn't see you use your power in the hospital, maybe because of the fight with Billy you have a brain tumor or some shit!" Mike stops pacing and looks towards you, eyes brimming with rage.

"Really?" Ten gets out of the chair and walks towards Mike. Mike steps backwards, his back lined against the wall. "Is that what you think?" Ten questions, "You and everyone else watched me get choked half to death, I don't want to hear it Mike!" Ten yells, Nancy looks over at him from the phone while all of the kids look down at the ground in guilt.

"Fuck you! How can you blame us? We were scared out of our minds, The fact is Ten, This is the reason why Max was trying to convince El to break up with you! You can't take the facts for what they are!" Mike rebukes, he shoves Ten backwards. Making him stumble.

"What! I wasn't trying to make them break up! Just strengthen their bond you know this how dare you blame it on me!" Max yells in anger.

Ten looks up at him, Mike looks at Ten, barely meeting his gaze. "Shit." Mike whispers, Ten runs towards him, faster then Mike can recognize the situation. Ten slams him against the wall, his eyes filled with anger.

"Holy shit!" Lucas yells, he throws his crackers on the table in front of him before running towards Ten and Mike.

Lucas tries to get in between the two of them to no avail. Ten grits his teeth, He looks toward his right arm cocked to the side, ready to punch Mike.

"Ten!" Jonathan and Nancy yell in surprise, Jonathan pushes Ten to the side lightly and steps in between him and Mike. "What's going on?! Why are you both fighting?!"

"They're fighting like babies over El." Max says, while getting out of the chair.

"Oh, You want to talk about being a baby? Is that why you sent El to spy on us?!" Mike counters, pointing at Max over Jonathan's shoulder.

"What?" Ten and Lucas ask.

"Oh she didn't tell you?" Mike asks rhetorically to Lucas.

"No." He answers anyway.

"Your girlfriend sent El to spy on us!" Mike tells him, Ten looks over at the green door behind Mike. Jonathan sighs and walks over to the Kitchen beside the phone. Everyone follows behind him, continuing to argue.

"First off, I didn't make her do it! It was her idea! Why does that matter anyways?!" Max asks, looking over at Mike as Jonathan steps behind the counter beside Will.

"Yeah guys, who cares?" Will asks, trying to calm the situation down.

"I care." Ten says.

"Yeah!" Mike adds.

"It doesn't matter! It was all a joke anyways!" Max scoffs, Mike shakes his head in disgust.

"Yeah, such a funny joke. What if I was on the toilet taking a massive shit! Huh? What then! Would it have been funny?!"

"But you weren't!"

Ten sighs, "Still, it doesn't matter. Mike was just showing us how careless you are with her gift, How careless we've all been with her power! El's not a machine, and she won't ever be..."  Ten thinks for a moment, trying to find the right words. "So can we please just come up with a new plan? I love her and I don't want to lose her." Ten finishes, he wipes tears from his eyes lightly. The gesture of emotion irregular for him.

Everyone looks at him in surprise. "What's going on?" A voice says from behind him, He turns back and El looks at him.

"Nothing." Mike answers.

"Family discussion." Lucas adds, smiling.

"Oh." She stops and looks over at Ten, their eyes meeting. "I found him." She finishes.

☆☆☆

Your POV

After Eleven explained that Billy was in his room, staring at the wall like in almost a dormant state. You and her decided it would be best to get a drink of water from Basements Kitchen.

"What was that about?" El asks, pushing the lever for the water to come out. She places her cup under the water.

"What?" You ask, she looks over at you. She hands the cup over to you after she refills it.

"I heard banging coming from outside." She says, watching you drink the water.

You finish the water and place it in the sink, "Oh that. Me and Mike were just playing around." You respond, you grit your teeth through the lie though it seems El doesn't notice.

"Oh." She responds.

"Ten." Nancy says to the right of you, you turn away from El and lean against the counter. Waiting for Nancy to continue. "If we can't kill the flayed, we can find the source, right? And stop it there?"

"I guess, but we don't know where the source is." You answer, trying to keep your voice low for minimum pain.

"Billy knows. He's been to the source." El says from beside you.

"But it's a-" Mike begins to say but gets cut off by Eleven. "It's a trap, I know, but I think there might be another way. A way for me to see where Billy's been."

Eleven looks over at you, she has to mean when she went into her mothers memories.

☆☆☆

Eleven switches the TV on, it instantly turns to a static channel. You look over at Jonathan who sits on the arm rest of the chair Nancy sits in, Jonathan and Nancy wait patiently. Giving you enough time to speak to El.

"I know you think you have to do this but you don't. The only other time when you did this was.." You gulp. "With your mother, and she wanted you to know what happened. Billy is sick-- diseased. The Mind Flayer is inside of him." You say, El shakes her head. She looks over at you, her bright brown eyes glinting.

"He can't hurt me." She smiles, "Not in there." Her smile disappears, she reaches out for your right hand, you let her grip it. She grips it as though it was her last chance at safety. "Ten, I need you to trust me." She finishes, her eyes looking into yours, waiting for a reaction.

"Yeah. Of course, stay safe." You say, letting go of her hand, "Ten." El whispers, you look back and she wraps you into a hug. You pat her on the back and she exhales deeply into your shoulder.

"I'll be right here." You whisper, she lets go of you, allowing you to stand up and sit in the blue recliner beside her.

El closes her eyes and wraps the blindfold around her eyes before tying it. She once again exhales, then goes quiet to concentrate. Leaving only the static from the TV audible.

The group begins to approach from the kitchen, they reach the living room and take their seats on the couch.

Eleven begins to whimper as her nose bleeds, "I think something's wrong." Mike says from the couch.

"El." You say, she doesn't answer. "El!"

El's whimpering stops suddenly, "I'm here. I'm here. I'm okay." She whispers softly. She gulps and regains her composure. "I'm on a beach." She adds.

"Alright guys, Call me dense but last time I checked there weren't any beaches in Hawkins.." Lucas speaks up, Max shakes her head before turning to look forward again.

"What else do you see?" Max asks.

"There's.." El stops for a moment, as though taking in the scene in front of her. "There's a woman.. She's pretty. I think she's looking at me." She stops again, probably waiting for the scene to continue in her head.

"There's a boy... It's Billy." Eleven adds, You look over at Max and she trades a glance with you, visibly surprised.

"It's a memory, it's California." Max speaks up, a hint of worry in her tone.

El is quiet again, "I think I found it. The source."

"Where El?" You ask, she exhales before speaking. "Brimborn steelworks."

Jonathan jumps off the recliner and dashes into the kitchen, he grabs the phone book off the counter and flips through the pages. "Steelworks.." He whispers while looking through the pages. "Here it is, four-six-four-nine Cherry road."

"Thats close." Nancy says out loud, her voice not hiding the worry.

"Get out of there." Mike says. El doesn't answer so you instinctively grab her shoulder. Then something happens, something you've never seen or felt happen.

...

You blink and the entire room changes, instead of El sitting in front of you, there's nothing. The TV is turned off and everything is unnaturally quiet. You look around the room for anyone, but there is no one. The couch and recliners sit in place, as though they were never sat on.

"El!? El?!" You yell through the house, El doesn't come through.

A snicker comes ripping through the air, shaking you to your core. You look around until you notice it, a shadow creeps along the doorframe past the bedroom in the basement. Instinctively, you stand up.

"She isn't here." Billy's voice rings out, monotone and no tune, almost as though he were a robot or being possessed. He steps out from the shadow of the stairs and walks closer, arms held gently in front of himself, like a doctor.

"You shouldn't have come looking for me." Billy adds, a smile creasing his face. It's ghoulish, too small or too big you're unsure. It just looks out of place on his face.

"You.." His voice deepens, "Helped let us in." He steps forward, instinctively, you step backwards.

"So now.. You're going to have to let us stay. Don't you see!" He steps closer, he throws his right hand out, gesturing towards the room. "Everything we've been doing, Everything we've been building! All of it has been.. for you." He says, his glinting smile forming into a snarl. Like a predator about to eat his prey.

"All of that pain, all of that suffering. Is.. for you." He adds, you continue stepping backwards. The wall stops you from continuing your retreat. Leaving you and Billy looking eye to eye.

"No. No. No." You whisper, tears beginning to form in your eyes. Fear rips through your body, bringing you down to your knees. You can feel the pure anger and hatred coming from the entity inside Billy.

"And now.. it's time to end it. To end you. And when you are gone, we are going to end your friends. And then.. we end everyone." He stops in front of you, he points his finger at your chest. He slowly raises his index finger till it reaches your chin and then he raises your chin up. Making you look him into the eyes.

"Goodbye Y/N.." The mind Flayer says, Y/N? Where do you know that from? It sounds so familiar.

"I'll kill you." You mutter, gritting your teeth, memory's silently flood your brain, but you feel them forget, you feel them leave. And it leaves you with the emptiest feeling you could imagine. He's toying with you, he knows.

You can feel a piece of your mind slip.

He knows.

Billy smiles, a smile so frightening because instead of seeming forced, it's genuine. In that moment it feels as though The Mind Flayer knows everything about you. About your friends, about your location.

And the most worrying is, if he knows about your power loss. What will he do?

That's the last thing you think of before the fear invades you, sending you unconscious.