Warnings: violence and blood

Word Count: 4505

Will and Doc were in the same state when Mike and Lucas found them outside. The two boys ran up to them and confusedly stared between them. Will's eyelids were still fluttering wildly, his body stiff as a board. Doc's hands were held tightly in his, the girl staring at him with her jaw dropped and wide eyes twitching every other second. She looked horrified, but also sick to her stomach. They were both still and silent, as if they weren't even there with them.

"Doc, what's wrong?" Mike asked his sister, but she didn't answer. He tried shaking her, then Will, but to no avail. He whirled to Lucas. "Go get help!"

Lucas nodded and rushed back inside the school. When he burst inside, Dustin and Max were standing there with Joyce, who looked worried out of her mind. He only needed to say one thing to have them following.

"The field."

When the four of them ran onto the field, Mike took his eyes away from the stand-still figures. "I just found them like this! I think he's having another episode! I-I don't know what's wrong with her!"

"(Y/N)?" Joyce tried to turn the girl's head to her, but Doc wasn't budging. "(Y/N), what's going on? What's wrong, honey?"

Her (e/c) eyes hadn't strayed away from Will for even a second. Every single part of her focus was on him. That horrified look was frozen on her face. She looked like she was in pain, like she couldn't escape, but she also seemed to be in a trance. Joyce reached between the two and held Will's face between her hands. "Will?! Will! Will!"

Joyce's pleas couldn't be heard where Doc and Will were. They were still within the dark, within the cold. The shadow was still forcing its way into Will, so urgent that its presence mostly blocked Will from Doc's vision. When the girl got glimpses of the poor boy, she could see that he was still staring at her. Not once had the two broken eye contact. The longer Doc helplessly watched him, the faster she saw the light within his eyes dim.

"Sweetie, wake up! It's Mom!" Joyce tried shaking her son. "Will!"

Mike, Dustin, Lucas and Max surrounded the three, all staring in unease. At some point, they had noticed that Will's fingernails were digging into Doc's hands.

"Will, wake up! Do you hear me?"

The grip he had on them was so violent that his nails broke skin, blood starting to leak from her hands.

"Will, please, just wake up! Please, wake up!"

Doc didn't react, she hadn't even flinched. In fact, they were sure she couldn't even feel the blood spilling down her hands and dripping onto the grass below them.

"It's Mom! It's me!"

She was still stuck in that place with Will. The shadow had reached its end and completely found its way into Will's body. With the shadow gone from her vision, she was finally able to see his full face. Will, at first, stood there in stunned silence, as if he was figuring out what was happening. Then, when he blinked and took one look at Doc, his eyes turned cold. Before she could do anything, he shoved her in the chest, the girl falling back.

Doc's surroundings went back to normal once Will opened his eyes with a gasp. As soon as he freed her hands, she fell back onto the ground with a harsh thud. Her body trembled and soft whimpers escaped from her lips as Mike dropped down beside her. "Doc?! Doc, are you okay?!" He fussed over her, pulling on his sleeve a bit to wipe at her face. She hadn't even realized she was crying.

Not being able to get a word out of her, Mike and Lucas helped her to her feet and guided her back inside the school behind Joyce, who was guiding Will. The walk down the hallways was completely silent. Doc was still shaking, but she found some comfort in Mike, who had his arms wrapped around her as they walked. Though she didn't look at her, she could feel Max's worried eyes on her.

The group had reached the front of the school and all exited through the doors when Joyce quickly turned to Doc. "(Y/N), honey, are you gonna be okay?"

Doc nodded. "Yeah," She rasped. "I'll take care of my hands. I-I'm just worried about Will."

"I'm so sorry about this, sweetie." Joyce gave her a short hug and a small smile before guiding a dazed Will to her car. The five kids watched them go, Max the only one finding the words to speak on what just occurred.

"Okay, that totally freaked me out. Did that not freak you guys out?"

They ignored her. "Two episodes in two days." Lucas reminded.

"It's getting worse." Mike whispered.

"You think it's True Sight?"

"What's True Sight?" Max asked. Seeing the glare Mike sent his way, Lucas shook his head at her.

"It's nothing."

Mike gently rubbed his sister's shoulder when he felt a shiver go through her. "I gotta get her home. She's still bleeding." He helped her down the stairs.

No one dared a word on the way home, even when Dustin and Lucas broke off to go their separate ways. Mike kept glancing at his sister from the corner of his eye. Her bloodied hands were clasped together at her chest as she stared ahead. Ever since the very short conversation with Joyce, Doc had gone mute. She answered questions with head nods and head shakes, but nothing else. "Doc, are you sure you don't wanna ride with me? You've gotta be tired."

She only shook her head, her eyes trained forward. When the two returned home, Doc hadn't even taken time to take her skates off at the door. She went straight to the bathroom and shut the door before Mike could say anything. Not wanting to leave her alone, he waited by the door. His foot tapped anxiously on the floor as he heard the water running and a few things clatter around. But not a single sound was heard from his sister.

When she opened the door, she stopped abruptly upon seeing Mike, her eyes wide. Her hands were no longer bleeding and were now clean, but they were still clasped together. "Do you need-"

She swiftly turned and went into her bedroom, closing the door behind her. Mike wanted so badly to give her space, since she seemed very traumatized by whatever happened on the field, but she had been suffering alone for too long without saying anything to anyone. Plus, he really needed to know what happened with Will. So, without knocking, Mike opened her door and walked in.

"Doc, what happened out there?"

She sat at her desk, staring at her bulletin board blankly as she absentmindedly wrapped one of her hands with a white bandage. On her desk, he saw a small, opened jar of petroleum jelly. It looked as if she had just used some of it. Beside the jar were a pair of tweezers with a bit of dirt at the edges.

Her hand that wasn't bandaged yet had small, but nasty markings on it. They glistened with the jelly applied and shifted as Doc wrapped her nondominant hand as if it were second nature. She still remained silent, still failing to answer any question he asked her. So, he tried to be firmer.

"Doc."

"I don't know!" She briefly paused her actions, tightly gripping the bandage. "I have no idea what the hell happened out there! I-I can't even trust myself to decide whether it was real or all in my head. But either way, there is something wrong with Will." For the first time in awhile, she finally looked up at Mike, her face grave. "Seriously wrong."

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At the Byers home, Joyce was trying her best to get any information out of Will. Though, it seemed Mike was having better luck with Doc than she was with her own son. The two sat at the dining table, Joyce gently asking him if he could remember what he saw, but Will shook his head after a moment of silence. "I can't remember."

She sighed. "I need you to try."

"I... I was on the field and... and then it... it all just went blank, and... and then you and (Y/N) were there."

"Did you know what you were doing to her? Did you know you were hurting her?"

"No, I had no idea," He shook his head. "But... I didn't like that I did it..."

Joyce nodded, relieved. "Well, I need you to tell me the truth about what you actually saw."

Will nervously stuttered, "I-I am."

But Joyce knew her son. She knew when he wasn't being honest. It wasn't often, which was how she could detect it so fast. With no other choice, she stood from the table and walked into the kitchen, returning with a scribbled sketch of some kind of entity. She set it down in front of Will, his expression telling all.

"This shape, I saw it on the video tape from Halloween night. It's the same shape as... as your drawing." She referred to the picture she had found of a menacing figure looming over their street. "These episodes that you're having, I think Dr Owens is wrong. I think they're real. But- But I can't help you if I don't know what's going on. So, you have to talk to me, please. No more secrets, okay?"

Will nodded.

"Okay. Did... Did you see this thing again on the field?"

    He tried to run.

"Yes."

"What... What is it?"

    The sort of shadow being, rising tall enough to tower over everyone, everything.

"I don't know...? I-It's almost more like a-a f-feeling...?"

"Like the one you had that night at the arcade?"

    The sky lit up in a frightening red as the storm brewed behind the creature.

"Y-Yes." Will whispered, wide eyes glossed over with tears threatening to fall.

"W-What does it want?"

    No matter how fast he ran, it was always right there.

"I don't know. It came for me, and..."

    Even as he screamed, it came nearer.

"And I tried. I tried to make it go away." His face crumpled in agony as Joyce covered her mouth with her hand.

    And nearer.

"But it got me, Mom."

"Well, what does that mean?"

"I felt it... everywhere. Everywhere." He cried.

    Until it had nowhere else to go but within him, forcing its way into his being.

"I-I still feel it. I just want this to be over!" Will sobbed as Joyce quickly brought him into a hug, her hand caressing the back of his head.

"It's okay, it's okay." She soothingly whispered before pulling away enough to hold his face in her hands. "Listen. Look, look at me. I will never, ever let anything bad happen to you ever again. Whatever's going on in you, we're gonna fix it. I will fix it. I promise. I'm here." And with a shudder, she embraced him again. She glanced over at the sketch of the creature, her face hardening as she made another promise.

I promise to that damned creature. She would end it.

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Keep the curtains drawn, don't open the door unless you hear the secret knock, and don't go outside. Those were the rules. Three rules to keep her safe and away from the people who wanted to harm her. And she managed to break every single one of them. Even the first one, which was clearly just an act of defiance rather than a way for her to leave the house.

Hopper knew Eleven would be back home. He didn't know when, but he knew before the sun came back from where it set. And just as he suspected, in the dark of the night, there she was. He was smoking a cigarette on the porch, just waiting for her. Eleven sighed and made her way towards the cabin, up the stairs and inside without a word. Hopper put out his smoke and followed her inside, slamming the door behind him.

"'Friends don't lie'. Isn't that your bullshit saying? Hey, hey!" Once again, El was going to end an argument with a door in his face, but he pushed it open before that could happen. "Hey! Don't walk away from me!" The two stared each other down before El started taking off her jacket. "Where'd you go on your little field trip, huh?"

No answer.

"Where?"

She threw the jacket onto her bed and looked at him as if it were obvious where she'd gone.

"Did you go see Mike? (Y/N)?"

She looked away. "They didn't see me."

"But (Y/N) can feel you, can't she?"

"She didn't see me."

"Yeah, well, that mother and daughter did and they called the cops," He walked further into her room. "Now, did anyone else see you? Anyone at all? Come on, I need you to think!"

"Nobody saw me!" She leaned in. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he leaned against her dresser.

"You put us in danger. You realize that, right?"

El pointed an accusatory finger at him. "You promise... I go! And I never leave! Nothing ever happens!"

"Yeah! Nothing happens and you stay safe!" He banged his hand down on the dresser, causing her to flinch.

"You lie!"

He quickly straightened up and moved closer to her. "I don't lie! I protect and I feed and I teach! And all I ask of you is that you follow three simple rules. Three rules. And you know what? You can't even do that!"

El watched as Hopper exited her room, slamming her hands on the dresser in anger. "You're grounded," She heard him from outside the room. "You know what that means? It means no Eggos, and no TV for a week."

Hopper went to pick up the television, grunting when it wouldn't budge. Turning around, he saw El now outside her room, focusing her power on the television. "Alright, knock it off. Let go."

She shook her head as blood began to fall from her nose. With a sigh, he went to pick it up again, but she still had a hold on it. "Okay. Two weeks," He tried again, but she wouldn't relent. "Let go!"

Again, she shook her head.

"A month!"

"No."

"Well, congratulations. You just graduated from no TV for a month..." He reached behind the television and ripped out every cord connected to it, the screen going blank. "...to no TV at all!"

"No!" El screamed and quickly moved over to it as Hopper moved away, the girl uselessly fixing the antenna around. "No! No. No!"

"You have got to understand that there are consequences to your actions."

She whirled on him in a rage. "You are like Papa!"

Hopper rubbed his face in exhaustion. "Really? I'm like that psychotic son of a bitch? Wow! Alright. You wanna go back in the lab? One phone call. I can make that happen."

"I hate you!"

"Yeah, well, I'm not so crazy about you, either. You know why? 'Cause you're a brat. You know what that means? How about that be your word for the day, huh?" He picked up their dictionary, pretending to flip through some pages. "Brat. Why don't we look it up? B-R-A-T. Brat-"

When Hopper tossed the book her way, Eleven held up her hand, the book stopping in mid-air. His face dropped just before she threw it right back at him. "Hey! What the hell is wrong with you?" He moved towards her, but she swiped her arm, sending the couch ramming into his legs. "Hey!" He grunted. El turned her back on him and went back to her room, knocking over a bookshelf as she went. Hopper followed after, still screaming at her. Just as he reached her, she shut and locked the door on him.

"Open this door! Open the damn door! You wanna go out in the world?! You better grow up! Grow the hell up!"

In a fit, she let out a shrill scream, every single window in the house shattering. Hopper covered his head as glass went flying everywhere. In silence, he slowly looked around the trashed cabin, El's muffled sobs sounding from in her bedroom.

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The pop of the toaster snapped Doc back into reality. For the past few minutes, she had forgotten she was eating breakfast with her family, in a deep, deep daze. Nancy stood from the table to retrieve her toast. "Hey, Mom, I was thinking about staying the night at Stacey's tonight? We were gonna have a girl's night. Romantic comedies, do our nails, gossip..."

That was when Doc remembered that she was supposed to have a sleepover with Brenda and Sheriece. She hated the idea of canceling on them, but she couldn't see how it would be a good idea anymore. She could barely force a word out of herself now, how could she spend an entire night with her two friends that knew next to nothing about what was going on with her?

"Sure! That sounds like fun," Karen smiled before turning to Doc. "Sweetheart, are you still going to Brenda's?" She frowned when Doc shook her head. "Poor thing... How are your hands?"

"They're fine," Doc quietly answered, feeling Nancy gently rub her back as she returned to the table. "I cleaned them as soon as I got home. I just need to change the bandages sometimes."

Karen sighed. "I can't believe you hurt them that badly doing skate tricks."

"You oughta start wearing safety gear," Ted cut in. "You know, helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, gloves."

Doc nodded to her parents with a tight smile before staring down at her food. Mike worriedly glanced at her from where he sat beside her, not liking how silent she was being. Not one bit.

Meanwhile at the Byers home, Joyce was on about her fourth round of calling the Hawkins Police Department in hopes of talking to Hopper. After Will's most recent evaluation, the Chief had told her to call him as soon as anything happened. But apparently, Hopper hadn't even come into the station yet, which frustrated Joyce. "Just tell him to call me the second he gets in. Please. Thank you." She spoke to the secretary before hanging up the phone with a sigh.

From behind her, she could hear almost silent footsteps coming towards her. Turning around, her face lit up at the sight of Will, still in his pajamas with a distant look on his face. "Hey. How you feeling, sleepyhead?" She greeted, ruffling his hair. "Any better?"

He hummed a no as he continued towards the kitchen table.

"Same as last night? Still weird?"

"Yeah."

Joyce sat the both of them down at the table before she felt his head for his temperature. "Alright... Hm..." She hummed when she felt that his skin was fine, a little cold if anything. Wanting to be safe, she grabbed their thermometer, placed it in his mouth and counted the 180 seconds before taking it out. She squinted to see if she was seeing the results correctly.

"Is it a fever?" Will asked.

"No. Uh, actually, it's cold. Do you feel cold?"

"No. Just a little... out of it. Like I haven't really woken up yet," Seeing the worry on her face, he quickly spoke. "You said no doctor."

"And I meant it. No doctor," She reassured him. "You know what? I'm gonna run you a nice bath and it'll warm you up and hopefully get you feeling better. How's that sound?"

Will gave a nod before silently watching his mother stand and leave the kitchen. A pit began to form in his stomach at the thought of what he was about to do.

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Dustin swiftly removed the sheet covering the terrarium Dart occupied. His pet turtle, Yertle, was on temporary conviction until he figured out a different living situation for them both. "Morning, Dart." He happily greeted. He took the top off the terrarium and smiled down at him. "Got you some breakfast. Your favorite."

Halloween night, the night Dustin had found Dart, he found out that the creature took a great liking to nougat, unlike his friends. He found out as much when sharing his 3 Musketeers bar. When feeding him the candy, he also found that Dart took a great unliking to heat, as he wouldn't step into the light that Yertle's lamp shone into the terrarium. Dustin made it a point to keep the light off.

Sprinkling pieces of the candy into the terrarium, he happily watched as Dart crawled over and ate with a chitter. "I gotta go to school, but I'll be back soon. Sound good?"

Dart paused his eating to look up at Dustin and chitter at him in response. Dustin smiled at him and placed the sheet back over the terrarium before leaving for school, forgetting to put the top back on.

Once the Wheeler siblings had silently made it to school, they immediately went to the back, where Lucas was waiting. When he saw them, he sighed and leaned up from where he was on the brick building, uncrossing his arms. "I was starting to look like a weirdo waiting by this dumpster by myself."

"You always look like a weirdo." Max's voice sounded as she rounded the corner on her skateboard. Mike rolled his eyes when she joined them, the girl hopping off her board and tucking it under her arm. Awkwardly, she and Lucas both smiled at Doc, who had yet to look up from the ground she had been staring down at. "Hey, (Y/N)..."

"How, uh... How are you?" Lucas nervously asked.

Mike quietly watched as his sister continued to lose herself in whatever world she was in. The thumb of her right hand gently ran over the bandaged palm of her left absentmindedly.

Most of what she had been doing since yesterday was absentminded. She didn't have a single thought behind her eyes, which resulted in not a single word out of her mouth. Not unless she felt it necessary to talk. It was fortunate that Mike was being patient with her given that most of their conversations were one-sided. He was able to read his sister, though. He knew her a bit too well.

"She's a little better. Her hands still hurt, though." He answered for her. Lucas nodded and looked down at the sticks he had found beside the dumpster. He bent down to pick them up before turning to her.

"Doc, you don't have to help."

She shook her head with a very, very small hint of a smile. "I want to." She whispered, gently taking one of the sticks from him. He nodded and looked amongst the rest of them.

"So... who's getting the trash bag?"

After drawing straws, the three watched Lucas trudge up to the dumpster with a look of agony on his face. "Can't we just wait and draw again when Dustin gets here?"

"We don't have time to wait on Dustin," Mike shook his head. When Lucas still showed his hesitancy even after climbing on top of the dumpster, Mike huffed. "Stop being a baby and do it already!"

With that, Lucas dove into the dumpster, the three cringing at the sight. "This is so disgusting. Is this really necessary?" Max complained. Mike shot her a glare as the sound of footsteps could be heard rounding the corner.

"What the hell's going on?" Dustin confusedly stared at his friends.

"What do you think? We're looking for Dart." Mike answered.

Just then, two trash bags flew out of the dumpster, causing everyone to rear back before they splat on the ground, some of their contents spilling out. Behind them, Lucas emerged from the dumpster, jumping and landing on his feet with a grunt and a look of annoyance directed to Dustin. "Well, well, well... Look who finally decided to show up," Sarcasm dripped from his tone. "After I drew the short straw. Real convenient."

"You stink." Max scoffed, moving away from Lucas and standing beside Dustin, who stared at her in awe.

"Hi, Max."

"Hi...?"

Dustin turned to Mike and Doc. "Where's Will?"

"He'll be here." Mike answered.

"How're you feeling, Doc?"

She shrugged.

"Are you just gonna stand there? Or are you gonna help?" Lucas said to Dustin as the group reluctantly walked up to the trash, poking at it with either their sticks or the tips of their shoes.

The bell had rung without any of them finding any clue as to where Dart could have gone. Some part of Doc felt a bit guilty for being partially at fault for Dustin's pet going missing. The rest of her, however, remembered that the thing tried to attack her, so she felt little to no remorse for it.

In all honesty, she tried her hardest not to think of Dart or anything else that had happened that day, but it hovered over her. All she could see was the shadow taking over Will, as if it were possessing him. The thought took up so much of her attention and thought process that she hadn't even noticed she was sitting in science class. Or that Will had yet to show up to school.

"All living things, from complex mammals to single-celled organisms, instinctively respond to danger," Mr Clarke lecured as both the Wheeler siblings glanced over at Will's empty desk. "Expose a bacterium to a toxic chemical, and it will flee. Or deploy some other defense mechanism. We're very much the same."

At that, Doc began to tune in.

"When we encounter danger, our hearts start pounding. Our palms start to sweat. These are the signs of the physical and emotional state we call..."

She slowly clasped her injured hands together.

"...fear."

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    "Hey, you reached Jim. I'm probably doing something incredible right now and I can't-"

Joyce hung up the phone before she could hear the voicemail greeting once again. She was just about to start muttering curses to herself when Will hurried into the hallway from the bathroom, a towel wrapped around the lower half of his bare figure.

"Mom."

"Yeah, sweetie, what is it?"

"It's too hot."

Frowning, Joyce headed into the bathroom, Will close behind her. She sat at the edge of the tub that was currently draining the water, something Will must've done himself. She gently swished her fingers in the water to check the temperature with a sigh. "I... I can cool it down a little bit, baby, but we gotta get your body temp back up."

"No."

Quickly, she looked back at her son. His body was tense, eyes wide. "What...?"

"He likes it cold."

That was all he said before stiffly turning and walking away from the bathroom, leaving Joyce to sit there in slight horror.