The Bathtub 

THE GROUP RETURNED TO MIKE'S BASEMENT. Dan had show the El and Eve to the bathroom while Mike and Dustin made plans for their next move. They were trying to show them what they could to used to clean up, mostly the dirt and blood on their faces. But El wasn't listening. Instead she stared at herself in the mirror and ran her hand over her scalp. Eve sighed. Though she didn't say it, he could feel her disappointment. The wig was long gone by now, she thought, and they certainly wouldn't give her another one.

Don't need it, Eve said in El's mind. 

El sniffled. She didn't seem to believe him. 

"Your hair will grow out, you know," Dan pointed out. Eve was startled, thinking Dan had somehow heard their mental conversation, before he realized that they had probably just picked up on El's behavior as well. "Not that it matters. I think you guys look kinda cool with short hair."

"Still pretty?" El asked.

"Yeah. People say that girls need long hair to look pretty, but I think they're wrong. I think anyone can look pretty, " Dan assured. 

That made El smile. Eve didn't think she needed to "look pretty" at all, but he knew it made her happier. 

In truth, Eve was just happy to be back in Mike's basement. He didn't know why. The group hadn't exactly separated on good terms and Eve had been spurious of then the entire time. Yet seeing Mike fall off that cliff had terrified him, and the moment the boys had rushed to their side almost had him in tears (he hadn't cried though. Eve was very insistent on that.) There had been such a wave of relief. They hadn't been mad at them. They had wanted them back. 

It was almost impossible to believe. If they had attacked someone in the lab, even on accident, they would have been punished harshly. Likely they would be separated and locked up for at least a day. Yet no one had been angry. In fact, Mike had apologized for upsetting them, and they insisted that Lucas was very sorry as well (they didn't actually think he was, which put Eve off at first, but he quickly realized it was more an attempt to comfort El than lie to her.) 

As Eve was thinking, he was vaguely aware that El and Dan had kept talking. It started off with the various things El could do with her hair (including dying, which Dan had to quickly explain was just changing its color.) By the time Eve was focused on them, the two were giggling as Dan tried to drape their hair over El's head and joked about how "if she wanted hair so bad, she could have theirs." Given the fact their hair was only about shoulder length, it was failing incredibly.  Eve didn't get it, but he had also never seen El laughing so hard, so there must have been something funny about it. 

Weirdly, Eve found himself wishing Lucas was there. 

The door slammed open. 

"Guys!" Mike shouted. Through the door, Eve could see Dustin listening to one of their hand held radios. "It's Lucas and Benny, they're in trouble."

They ran to Dustin's side. As they did, Mike explained what was happening. Lucas and Floris had gone to look for the Gate. Eve felt his stomach drop. Especially after he heard the shouting, her was certain they had found it. Which meant they had found the lab. He could only imagine the terrible things Papa would do to his friends (his friends? When had they become his friends?) if he found them. 

"What's he saying?" Mike demanded.

"I don't know, he's way out of range," Dustin said. "I know it's Lucas, though."

As if to prove that, a "Son of a bitch!" suddenly broke through the static in what was definitely Lucas's voice. Mike grabbed the radio and held it up to his ear. 

"Lucas, if you can hear us, slow down. We can't understand you," Mike said.

To his credit, Lucas did slow down. Except it was still near impossible to hear.

"'Mad Hen?'" Dustin repeated. "Does that mean anything to do? Like a code name or something?"

"They're coming towards the house," Dan pointed out. When it got them a confused look, they explained, "You can hear the static going away. We should be able -"

Dan was interrupted by a sentence breaking through the static:

"The bad men are coming!" 

El and Eve shared a look. The bad men. The boys ran up the stairs, leaving them alone. Likely to check. Eve didn't need to check through. The lab had found them. They were coming.

Which is why, when the boys returned, they were ready to leave. They ran out the basement door, to where their bikes were waiting. They ran around the back side of someone's house. When they got to the pavement, El climbed onto the back of Dan's bike and Eve onto Mike's. 

Just in time, too. They turned to see men walking towards them. Papa was in the lead.

 The children set off on their bikes. Behind them, Eve could hear the bad men run to their cars and start them. 

Dustin had a headset on, so he was bale to hear everything Lucas and Floris said. Eve found himself glancing back at the boy every so often. He didn't understand anything he said, but knew it was important. 

"Elm and Cherry!" Dustin finally shouted. 

Mike, in the lead, jerked his bike to the side. They road over a curb and cut through a grassy patch. It didn't slow them down any. 

There was a screech. Eve turned to see vans coming up behind them. The bad men and driven around the side, and were now attempting to cut them off. Instead they biked up someone's driveway and across their backyard. They ended up cutting right through a pair of girls. Dustin shouted for them to get out of the way. Eve barely had time to give them a sympathetic nod as the two glared after them. 

When they arrived at the nearly ran into Lucas and Floris. Everyone screeched to a stop.

"Lucas! Benny!" Dustin shouted.

"Holy shit!" Floris gasped for air as he looked over his shoulder. "This is worse than gym class." 

"Where are they?" Lucas asked.

"I think we lost them," Dustin said.

At the exact same time, a van screeched around the corner. The short cut had bought them some time, but the vans were catching up quickly. 

And then a van came out in front of them. 

It was only a split second, but that was all El and Eve needed to make a plan. Eve could see the man through the window of his van. Glaring hard, he forced him to slam on the breaks. There was a violent screech as the van lurched to a stop. At the same time, El used her power to slam down the front of the van, with enough force to send it flipping over them. It crashed in crumpled heap behind them, blocking off the rest of the bad men from following. 

But they weren't safe. Eve turned to see Papa watch them bike away. They never would be.

°。°。°。°。°。°。

BY THE TIME THEY STOPPED, FLORIS FELT LIKE HE WAS GOING TO THROW UP. His heart was currently making attempts to bust its way out of his chest and his legs burnt. He kept peddling, though, all the way to their final hiding place: the junk yard.

When El and Eve had started talking about bad men, Floris hadn't really taken it seriously. Mostly because he didn't know what they were talking about. But it seemed entirely fitting that it would end up being a government agency trying to hunt them down, because that was just their level of shit luck and the government's level of shady. 

El and Eve struggled to get off the bikes. They had to be helped off. Floris noted the way Lucas ran to help Eve sit down. 

"Did you see what they did to that van?" Dustin shouted.

"No, Dustin, we missed it," Mike snapped.

"Oh, come on, Mike, you gotta admit," Floris said. "It was sorta cool."

"Yeah. It was awesome," Lucas knelt next to the two. "Everything I said about you guys being a traitor and stuff...I was wrong. I'm sorry."

El and Eve shared a look. Floris had no idea what they were doing, but it almost looked like a silent agreement has passed between them when they nodded.

"Friends...friends don't lie," El said. "We are sorry, too."

"And, uh, Dan," Lucas stook to face them. This time he looked a little more nervous. "I'm sorry about what I said to you, too."

"It's fine. I knew you didn't mean it," Dan said.

"I shouldn't have said it anyway. It was total shit." 

Dan nodded slightly at that. Despite their insistence that it was fine, their expression visibly brightened at Lucas's apology. Floris was definitely glad it had been said. He agreed with being angry about El and Eve lying, but given how often Dan had been bullied for not hanging out with other girls, it had been a low blow. 

"I'm sorry, too," Mike added. 

Once again, Mike held out his hand for Lucas to shake. This time, he took it. 

°。°。°。°。°。°。

MOSES SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THIS WAS GOING TO BLOW UP IN THEIR FACE. Drive around with a truck full of weapons, they said. It will be fine, they said. Except it wasn't fine. Now they were arrested, and the police were showing off those weapons like it was a crime in of itself.

"Why are you going through my car?" Jonathan demanded.

"Is that really the question you should be asking right now?" Hopper leaned over the desk to glare down at them. "I wanna see you in my office."

Which is how they ended up in the chief of police's office. Moses leaned back in the seat, his arms crossed tightly across his chest. For many reasoned, he wasn't fond of Chief Jim Hopper. The fact he was Chief Jim Hopper in the first place was probably the top of the list. The same chief of police that had blatantly ignored all of the missing kids to...to what? Get drunk in his car? Harass innocent people? 

Still, Bonnie in particular was was insistent that they could explain what was going on. Moses wished he could have her optimism. Still, the photos were passed around. To his surprise, neither of the adults laughed in their faces. A start. maybe. 

"You say blood draws this thing?" Hopper asked.

"We don't know," Jonathan said.

"But that's what's most likely," Bonnie added. "It's not like we have any better theories."

Jonathan and Joyce went out to talk privately. Moses swallowed hard as he did. Already Bonnie had talked with her dad, even if she didn't tell him the truth. Now Jonathan and Joyce were reunited. Meanwhile Nancy's parents hadn't responded and Moses's had directly stated they ought to keep him at the police station. "It'll straight him up," they said, before being informed of the obvious fact that the tiny ass police station didn't have a holding cell. 

Their meeting was cut short by some woman shrieking. Something about "wanting an apology" and "humiliating her son." Moses snorted. Seems like someone was managing a worse they than them. 

°。°。°。°。°。°。

THE GROUP GATHERED TOGETHER TO LISTEN TO WHAT LUCAS AND FLORIS HAD DISCOVERED. Lucas collected items to make his demonstration. He was put in change after it was revealed Floris had been too panicked to actually memorize anything. Twigs were put together to make a sort of box. He also grabbed another for him to point and a discarded pop can. Dan watched him work with curiosity, already imagining how it all might come together. 

"This is Randolph Road, right here." Lucas draw a line in the dirt alone the side of the thickest branch. He then traced the branches themselves as he said, "The French starts here, and goes all the way around. And this -" He placed the can in the center. "- is the lab, right here. The gate's gotta be in there somewhere. It's gotta be."

Dan glanced over at El and Eve. The two had seemed nervous recently. While they didn't blame them, they had just been chased down and nearly killed, and the two had used a great deal of power, it still concerned Dan. 

"Well, who owns Hawkins Lab?" Dustin asked. 

"Sign says 'Department of Energy.'"

"Department of Energy? What do you think that means?"

"Probably the government," Floris said. "I mean, those guys looked pretty government-y to me, and there were soldiers out front."

Dan nodded. 

"That's what Dad says, right?" Dan turned to Mike.

"It's military," Mike agreed. 

"Do they make, like, lightbulbs or something?" Dustin asked.

"No, it's like...war energy. They make weapons," Dan explained. 

"Weapons..." Lucas muttered.

The group turned to look at El and Eve. Suddenly it make sense why they had been nervous. They were the weapons, living ones. There was no way the government was going to let living weapons run free. Which meant they were going to be hunted down to the ends of the Earth. 

Dan started to grow nervous. What were they supposed to do now? Movies didn't really cover this part. Usually some miracle swooped in and saved the day. Except there was no miracle. They were just kids, and they had already nearly died. If not for El and Eve, they would be paste on the ground. These bad men were willing to kill them and their only protection were two kids  no older than they were, already low on energy. 

"Oh, Jesus, this is bad," Dustin said. 

"Really bad," Lucas agreed. "Really bad. The place is like a fortress."

"What do we do?"

"I don't know," Mike said. "But we can't go home. We're fugitives now."

"Great, fantastic," Floris grumbled. "You know, when I said it would be nice to be wanted, this isn't what I meant! We're totally gonna die."

A sudden thudding came from above. They turned to see a helicopter approaching. The group barely had time to hid their bikes under an abandoned bus and climb inside before it came over them. Dan pressed their back against the seat. Helicopters. They brought out helicopters to search for them. Didn't even care the sort of attention that would draw.

What had they gotten themselves into? 

°。°。°。°。°。°。

BONNIE WRAPPED HER ARMS TIGHTLY AROUND HERSELF. They had gone to the Wheelers' house, only to find government agents swarming around it. Boxes of things - especially Mike's things - were being taken out. They couldn't even get close enough to see clearly, it was so packed. Instead, Nancy and Bonnie stood at Hopper's side while he watched through binoculars. 

"I have to go home," Nancy said.

"No, you can't," Hopper said. He didn't even look at her. 

"My mom...my my dad are there," Nancy insisted.

"They'll be okay, Nance," Bonnie insisted. She squeezed her friend's hand when she started to protest. "Your parents don't know anything, so they'll probably just grab a bunch of stuff and leave."

That didn't seem to satisfy Nancy. She shook off Bonnie's grasp and started down the hill. The only thing that stopped her was when Hopper grabbed her by the upper arm.

"Let go!" Nancy shouted.

"Hey! Listen to me, listen to me!" Hopper yanked the girl into place. "The last thing in the world we need is them knowing you're mixed up in this."

"Mike and Dan are over there -" Nancy started. 

She sounded close to tears.

"They haven't found them," Hopper insisted. "Not yet at least."

As evident, he pointe up into the sky. Bonnie raised her head to see a helicopter flying above them. She let out as gasp and hurried to follow them back into the car. 

"Look, we need to find them before they do." Hopper turned to the teens, who were crushed four to the back seat. "Do you have any idea where he might have gone."

"No, I don't," Nancy said. 

"I need you to think."

"I need you to think."

"I don't know!" Nancy insisted. "We haven't talked a lot. I mean, lately..."

"Is there any place that your parents don't know about that he might go?" Joyce offered.

"I don't know!"

"I might," Jonathan interrupted. "I don't know where he is, but In think I know how to ask him."

It turned out the boys had their own radio system, which they used to communicate with each other. Including one left in the Byers house when Will went missing. 

As they rushed inside the house, Bonnie barely stopped to look around. It was only when Nancy did that she back tracked. Letters were painted on one of the walls. Christmas lights were strewn about. She was pretty sure she saw a hole in the wall. The place was a mess. But she didn't have time to judge, because everyone was already heading back to Will's bed room.

The radio was handed to Nancy. They figured, being Mike's sister, she was the most likely to get him to answer. 

°。°。°。°。°。°。

MEANWHILE, THE KIDS WHERE STILL HUDDLED IN THE BUS. They didn't know where else to go. Houses were being searched, anywhere else could be seen from the air. This was the only place they could stay without being caught one way or another. 

All of which meant they were on edge when Nancy's voice came through their radio.

"Mike, Dan, are you there? Mike?"

They looked around to figure out where the sound was coming from. It was only at the second time they realized it was the radio in Mike's backpack. The boy ran to dig the radio out. He held it up so they could hear it better.

"Mike? Dan? We one of you to answer," Nancy said. 

"Is that your sister?" Lucas asked.

Dan shrugged. Just because it was Nancy talking, didn't meant they knew why and how she was doing it. How did she even know what signal they used? 

"This is an emergency," Nancy insisted. "Do you copy?" 

"Okay, this is getting weird," Dustin said.

Suddenly, Lucas went to grab the radio, and Mike yanked it away from him. 

"Don't answer that!" Mike snapped.

"She said it was an emergency," Lucas defended.

"With if it's a trick?"

"It's your sister!"

"What if the bad people kidnapped her? What if they're forcing her to say this?"

The terrible truth was, that wouldn't have been too surprising of a situation. Dan shifted nervously on their feet, suddenly uncomfortable in the crouching position. The bad men had arrived at their house just as they left. Mom and Dad were still there. Nancy could have gotten home at any time, they had no idea. All of them could be held hostage. 

"We should answer anyway," Dan insisted.

"What? No!" Mike shouted. 

"It's like Lando Calrissian," Dustin agreed. "Don't answer." 

"But what if they hurt her?" Dan argued. "She could be in danger, and it's all our fault." 

Nancy hadn't always been the best big sister. She was prone to ignoring them, especially recently. But she was still their sister. Maybe they didn't have to give away their location, or even hand El and Eve over, but if they answered at least then the lab wouldn't get mad at Nancy. At least then she technically did what they wanted, and they'd decide it wouldn't work, and they would let her go. Or at least let her stay were ever she was in peace. 

Suddenly, a new voice came over the radio.

"Listen, kid, this is the chief. If you're there, pick up. We know you're in trouble, and we know about the kids."

"Why is she with the chief?" Lucas asked.

"And why does he think he's any less suspicious?" Floris asked. "I mean, he's way more likely to betray us."

"We can protect you, we can help you, but you gotta pick up. Are you there? Do you copy? Over." 

Despite Floris's protests that Hopper was way less trustworthy, Mike ended up answering. It was a leap of faith, but they had to take it. It was their only chance. 

°。°。°。°。°。°。

MOSES HAD BEEN SURPRISED WHEN THE KIDS TOLD THEM THEIR LOCATION. A part of him thought that they never would. That was the real question. He doubted those kids would go anywhere without at least one radio, but they also didn't seem like the type to just submit easily. Especially when they knew the government was after them. 

While Hopper went out to pick them up, everyone else waited at the Byers house. The adults refused to let them come as well. Even after Nancy insisted she should come, that Dan and Mike would trust them more if she was there, Hopper said it was best he went alone. So instead the girl had been pacing in front of the window. Every once in awhile she would stop to peer out the window. 

"You know staring out the window isn't is going to make them teleport here," Moses said. 

He sat nearby on a couch. Nancy paused in her pacing to glare at him. It didn't seem like he was the one she was mad at, though. 

"I can't believe Mike and Dan didn't tell me about this," Nancy said. "I could have helped them. I could have..."

"What? Take on the government yourself?" Moses asked. It was a hypothetical question, which both of them knew the answer to. "It wouldn't have made a difference, you know. The only difference is you'd be out there with them, and maybe we wouldn't have been able to contact you."

"It was Jonathan that knew how to contact them. I couldn't even think of somewhere they might have gone." Nancy sighed and slumped onto the couch next to Moses. "I couldn't even get them to talk to me..."

"That's not a you problem, you know. They're just scared. Who wouldn't be?"

Nancy nodded slight. Moses could tell that didn't comfort her much.

"It's just...we weren't always close, but at least we did some stuff. Mike would invite me to help with his game, and Dan and I would have movie nights," Nancy said. 

"You should do that again," Moses suggested. "Maybe after this is over, we'll all have a movie day." 

Nancy gave him a confused look, and Moses didn't judge him. He couldn't believe he actually suggested that. Him? Hanging out with someone? Let alone someone like Nancy Wheeler and Bonnie Olen. Moses would have never believed it, and he certainly didn't want to admit that to either of them. But he also sympathized with Nancy. He knew how important siblings could be, along with how easy it was fall out with them. Maybe he could help with that.

Why did Nancy Wheeler's problems mean anything to him? Moses wasn't sure himself, to be honest. But she could have said the same thing about finding Clem, so he owed her that at least. 

°。°。°。°。°。°。

EVE COULDN'T BELIEVE THEY WERE REALLY DOING THIS. Sitting a bus (that was what Dan called it, anyway) waiting for a strange man he had never met. The boys - except for Floris -insisted that they could trust him, but how was Eve supposed to believe that? Hopper was the chief of police, they explained, which meant he was supposed to protect them. Except then Dan added that he wasn't really that good at it and Floris said he was a "jerk," and suddenly it seemed a lot less believable that he would actually do any protecting. 

What if he sold them out to the lab? They could be surrounded any moment, and they wouldn't know. 

The fact Dustin kept pacing up and down the center lane wasn't helping Eve's anxiety. The longer he watched the boy walk, the more nervous he grew, and he didn't even know why. 

"Will you stop pacing?" Mike snapped.

They had all been thinking it. 

"It's been way too long. Do you know what? Maybe you're right," Dustin said. "Maybe this is all a trap and the bad men are coming to get us right now!"

"Wow! It's almost like I said that or something," Floris retorted. 

"It's not a trap! Why would the chief set us up? Nancy, maybe, but the chief?" Lucas argued. 

"Well, I mean, it is usually the person they least expect. For the surprise," Dan admitted. They shouted and jumped away from Lucas when he slapped their arm. "Hey! Rude."

Eve glared over at the two. He sat in one of the seats, between Mike and El. Floris sat in front of them, Lucas and Dan across from them, and Dustin, of course, had been walking around the entire bus. Perhaps it was just the close proximity, but he was slowly growing annoyed with all of them. Eve was already anxious. He didn't need their anxiety seeping in, too. 

"Yeah! Lando Calrissian!" Dustin shouted.

Whoever that was. At this point Eve was close to throwing the next person to say his name out of the bus, if only for a moment of peace. 

"Will you shut up about Lando?" Lucas said, as if he read Eve's mind. 

"I don't feel good about this." Dustin began pacing. "I don't feel good about this!"

"You don't feel good? You don't feel good?" Floris repeated in a sarcastic tone (Eve would know, because Dan had explained sarcasm and it was currently his favorite type of tone.) "In other breaking new, the sky is blue!"

"I'm just saying!" Dustin protested. 

"And I'm just saying, shut up!" Floris leaned back in his seat. "None of us 'feel good about this', dude, but you're stressing everyone out. What do you wanna do, un-tell him?" 

They were cut off by the sound vehicles approaching, and hurried to see what it was. Through the window, Eve could see white cars pulling in to the junkyard. They had been found. 

At once they ran to the back to hide. Lucas and Dustin whispered between themselves, but were quickly silence. Closing his eyes, Eve focused on the thoughts of the men around them. It was three of them. With guns. Eve held his breath as one of them found the bikes, and then started towards the door. 

And then there was a thud. Followed by multiple other thuds. The children looked up to see another man enter. He was dressed all in brown, with a hat.

"Alright, let's go," the man said. When they only stared, he shouted, "Let's go!" 

°。°。°。°。°。°。

EVERYONE WAS SILENT AS THEY WAITED FOR HOPPER TO RETURN. Bonnie wished she could say something to lessen the nervous air. Nothing seemed right, though. A monster had always been terrifying, but they could at least convince themselves they could fight it.  Now the government was involved, with an evil lab that kidnapped babies and was now hunting down children. That was something they definitely couldn't fight. 

Except now they had to. They didn't have any other choice. 

A light flashed across the window. In the night darkness, it was practically blinding, but it was also welcome. It meant Hopper had returned. 

As soon as they were outside, Nancy ran to Mike and Dan. She did her best to engulf them both in a hug. Dan was more enthusiastic than their twin, but Nancy didn't exactly give either of them a choice, so Mike stood there awkwardly until she was done. 

"I was so worried about you!" Nancy said.

"Yeah, uh...us, too," Mike mumbled.

"We thought you were kidnapped," Dan said. "Mike wasn't going to save you, but Lucas and I thought we should, and I'm sure we would have convinced him." 

Mike elbowed them, to which Dan gave him a confused look.

"What? It's true." 

Bonnie had to resist the urge to laugh at the two, especially when Nancy just rolled her eyes. Would that be a little depressing in a situation where Nancy was actually kidnapped? Yes. But at this point they were just glad that they were all safe and sound. 

It was then that Bonnie actually looked over the children and noticed two she didn't recognize. A white girl in pink dress and blue coat, and an asian boy in a green sweatshirt. Both with shaved heads, though Bonnie could see enough of their hair to see it was brown and black respectively. Both small, and both looking absolutely exhausted. 

"Is that my dress?" Nancy asked.

Bonnie laughed. It was. The girl was wearing one of Nancy's old dresses. 

"I thought you lost that thing!" Bonnie said. 

Then, she bent down to look the girl in the eyes. The girl flinched as if she had been attacked, and the boy quickly stepped in front of her. It broke Bonnie's heart. Up close she could see their small stature wasn't natural, but likely due to lack of food. Clearly an attempt had been made to clean them up, but their clothes were still smeared with dirt and small bruises dotted their face. It looked like they had been sleeping in the woods for weeks. 

"It's okay. You're safe now, " Bonnie assured. 

The two glanced between each other.  

"Promise?" the girl asked. Her voice was so soft it was almost a whisper. 

"I promise," Bonnie said. "We won't let any hurt you again. Do you understand?"

Another glance. Then the two nodded and allowed themselves to be led into the house. 

Mike drew up an image to explain what was happening. Something about a gate in Hawkins lab? Bonnie wasn't really listening. While they were explaining, she went to gather some food for the two children. Eleven and Seven, though they went by El and Eve according to the boys. She was only able to find some small snacks and a few half-stale biscuits, but the two accepted them quickly when she handed to them. Eve seemed to like the biscuits in particular, which surprised Bonnie given the most she'd been able to better them was some jam. 

"Is there anyway that you could...that you could reach Will?" Joyce had just asked when Bonnie returned. "that you could talk to him in this..." 

"The Upside Down," El said. She nodded.

"And my friend, Barbara, and Moses's sister, Clem," Nancy said. "Can you find them, too?" 

The two agreed. 

They headed to the table to make a set up for them. The two were sat at the head of the table, right next to each other. A radio was turned to a station that played only static and placed in front of them. The only light was a lamp above them. Everyone collected to watch them. Bonnie could see the children's eyes moving under their eyelids. The light above them flickered. 

And then they opened their eyes. El knitted her brows and Eve frowned down at the radio.

"I'm sorry..." El whispered.

"What's wrong?" Joyce asked. "What happened?"

"We can't find them..."

El looked close to tears as she said it. Eve stared hard at the table in an attempt to keep his face expressionless, but Bonnie could tell he was just as upset. Gently she reached across the table to take their hands. They flinched and looked up at her.

"Remember what I said?" Bonnie said softly. She waited until they had both nodded. "We're asking a lot from you. Why don't you go rest, and then we can try again when you're feeling better?"

The two were quick to take the offer, though Bonnie suspected they didn't entirely believe her. Who had raised these kids? That thought infuriated her. Who had been so cruel to this kids that, when they failed something that no one else could even attempt, they were afraid for their lives? How terribly had they been treated that even a gentle touch made them expect pain? Bonnie couldn't imagine a parent treating children in a manner horrible enough to result in such responses. Then...that was assuming whoever raised them saw them as a human. 

"Whenever they use their powers, they get weak," Mike explained as the two retreated to the bathroom. 

"The more energy they use, they more tired they get," Dustin added. 

"Like, they stopped and flipped a van earlier," Lucas said. 

"It was awesome."

"Yeah, super cool," Floris agreed. After a pause, he added, "But probably super hard."

"Sort of like...uh..." Dan cupped their hands in front of them. "Like if you filled up a bowl with water. When they use their powers, it's like dumping out the water, and when they run out they have to wait to fill it up again. Except we don't really know how much water there is, or how much any thing they do uses, so..."

"You don't know when it will refill," Moses finished.

Dan nodded. Bonnie glanced over at the bathroom door. She imagined it would take them a long time. Flipping a van? That had to take a lot of energy. And it wasn't like they had been given time to rest. Even while they were in the bus, they must have been on high alert the entire time. How could you sleep when you were being hunted?

"Well...is-is there any way to make them better?" Joyce asked. 

"We don't," Mike admitted. "We just have to wait and try again."

"Food seems to help. And sleep," Dan offered. 

"They did seem a little better after I gave them food," Bonnie admitted. "Maybe we could make them some more biscuits?"

"And waffles," Dan added. "El likes waffles." 

A voice suddenly interrupted them:

"The bath."

The group turned to see El and Eve standing behind them. 

"We can find them. In the bath," El explained. 

°。°。°。°。°。°。

DUSTIN CALLED SOMEONE FOR HELP. Mr. Clarke. Eve recognized that name from their trip to the school. He was able to give them the instructions for a sensory deprivation tank (their name for the bath.) They needed a small pool, water, and a lot of salt. 1,500 pounds to be exact.

"Well, where are we gonna get that much salt?" Nancy asked.

The school, apparently. Dan explained on the way that it was used to melt ice. The roads would freeze over when it snowed, and they used the ice to clear a bath to bring kids to school. Eve had asked why they just didn't go. Dan could only shrug. There were some things not even they knew, apparently. 

Eve found Dustin, Lucas and Floris in a big room at the center of the school. He recognize it as the room they had sat in, where El had made Troy pee himself.  The two were struggling to set up the pool ("kiddie" pool, they called it, because it was for young children.) No matter how hard they tried, the walls kept falling down. They were too flimsy to stay up on their own. 

"Put water in," Eve said. "That would hold it."

"Damn, which we'd thought of that. Too bad we don't have water right now, " Floris muttered. Then he paused and looked up at Eve. "Wait a second, did you just talk to us? Like...actually talk to us?" 

Eve rolled his eyes. Seriously? That was what he got from this? Not the advice on how to help them?

Before he could say anything, Joyce came by to get him. She led El and him back into another room. It was full of seats, all turned towards a single desk. Joyce dug through one of the desks and returned with what looked like two goggles. She sat in a chair across from the two and wrapped the goggles in a dark material that stuck to them. Duct-tape, Joyce explained. 

"These will keep it dark for you. Just like in your bathtub," Joyce said. She sighed and looked up at them. "You are very brave children. You know that, don't you?"

The two looked away from her. Joyce's voice was so sweet and comforting. Eve almost wished she would shout at them. Order them around in the same manner Papa did. Maybe then it wouldn't hurt so bad to think they might fail her. 

"Everything you're doing for my boy...for Will...for my family..." Joyce sniffled slightly. "Thank you." 

She reached across, taking a hand from each of them into her own. Eve blinked down at them. He wondered why people were always holding their hands, and why it comforted him when before the idea would have been revolting. 

"Listen," Joyce said. "I am gonna be there with you two the whole time. And if it ever gets too scary in...in that place, you just let me know, okay?"

Let her know? What would should do if they let her know? Eve remembered the way they had cried when they first found the monster. How Papa had tried to force them back in. How he only stopped doing so when he realized they were too distraught to even try. Would Joyce really let them back out, even knowing this might be the only way to find her son? 

Eve wasn't so sure, but he wanted to believe. He wanted more than anything to believe that there was someone in this world who could love them that much, and that they had found her. 

Once the bath was made, the two stripped of any unnecessary clothing. Their shoes and socks, the watch El was wearing. El had to keep on her dress and Eve his pants and shirt, but they tried to remove anything that might distract them. 

As Joyce had explained, the goggles blocked out light completely. They had to be led into the pool. The water was a strange temperature. Just a little cool. In the lab, they would have been in separate tanks, but here they only had one pool. It was barely enough to fit them both, and they had to stay just the right position to avoid touching each other or the wall, but it seemed to work. Eve felt like he was floating in nothingness, just like in the lab. 

Darkness over took them. A thin later of water covered a "ground", though it could hardly be called that. The darkness expanded on forever below it. The only reason Eve knew something was there was the fact he stood on it. 

El materialized next to him in a wisp. 

The looked for Barb first. They didn't know why. Perhaps because her picture had been the one shown first. Beside him, Eve could hear El calling out her name. Then something appear in the distance. 

It looked like a pile of slime and goo. Vines crawled across a lump. Slowly the two approached. 

Then they saw the head.

Or what remained of the head. The skin was a sickly pale yellow. It was soft and lumpy and glistening. A liquid ran from the tattered remains of what had once been her eyes. Sa small slug slowly crawled its way out of her gaping mouth. 

The two stumbled back in terror. Eve felt his stomach roll, as if he might throw up right there. His first instinct was to reach for El. But he couldn't. He couldn't touch her. He couldn't feel her. El dissolved in the same wisp she had appeared in, and suddenly Eve was alone. Alone in the dark void with nothing but a corpse. 

Eve began to sob despite himself. It was cold. He was scared. His tears burnt on his cheeks, even in the void. Barb was dead. Gone. El was gone, too. he was alone. 

Suddenly, a warmth settled over him. He felt a weight on in his hand. Whispers broke through the darkness, seeming to come from everywhere and echoing through the void. It's okay. You're safe. I've got you. I'm right here. It was Joyce's voice. 

Eve took a shaky breath and closed his eyes. Slowly the connection was regained. He could see El again, and something new appeared in front of them. A small shack of sorts, made up of wood stacked together. A blanket was draped over the entrance. One of the boards of wood was nailed across the top.

"Castle Byers," El said, reading what was painted on the board.

This was it. Eve reached out to push aside the blanket, allowing them both to step through. In side they found two children, around the same age as them, also a boy and a girl. The two were huddled together. The boy had his arms wrapped around the girl and his head rested onto of hers, as if he was trying to shield her from sight. The girl coughed weakly. She kept an arm clasped tightly to her chest. Eve could just make out bandages wrapped tightly around it, stained with blood. Something must have wounded her, and they had done their best to stop the bleeding. 

Eve recognized the boy right away as Will. The girl, then, must have been Clem. The two knelt in front of them. 

"Will," El whispered. 

Only Will had the energy to look up at them. Eve would have thought Clem was dead, if not for her rattling breath. 

"You tell him...you tell him I'm coming. Mom is coming," Joyce said through the voice. 

"Your mom is coming," Eve whispered. 

He could hear El saying the same thing, but her voice was more distant. She seemed to be struggling to hold the connection. That was why he had spoken at all. 

"H-hurry..." Will said.

Before Eve could say more, his eyes closed. The image dissipated before him.

In the real world, the two jerked awake. Joyce leaned forwards and wrapped the two in a hug. Despite knowing better, Eve sobbed into her shoulder. Despite the horror they had just suffered, he had truly never felt more comforted in his life. For the first time, Eve believed them. He believe they would protect him. 

And some how that scared him worse than anything else. 

Ach! I know this took me so long to do. First I was busy, and then I really only had inspiration for a different book. But I'm back! And I'm hoping to get the next episode done by the end of this weekend and then post the season 2 chapters. Should be pretty easy, given how fast episode eight starts moving. 

I know this technically isn't the ending for this episode, but I felt it worked better than the teens preparing to hunt the Demogorgon did. So technically a little bit of this episode will end up in next chapter, but I feel like it just works better than that.

But anyway, stan Bonnie and Joyce. They really said "is anyone going to adopt these children?" and didn't wait for an answer. Eve finally feeling safe with someone has me crying. That's not even a joke by the way. My eyes started watering as I wrote this.

Also, yes! Clem is still alive. I was going to have her die in season 1, and it will eventually happen, I won't yank your emotions around with false hope like that. But I also decided on a season 2 plot that would allow both Clem and Moses to accept the trauma they suffered through this, instead of Clem just being a faceless kid that no one but the main cast cared about and then died. Hopefully that comes across when you read in next season because it's actually really emotional to me.