Holly, Jolly

FLORIS WOKE UP EARLIER THAN USUAL. Normally he'd sleep in until there was barely time to get ready for school, but today there was more important things to do. Operation Mirkwood. Once they collected all their materials in the Wheelers' basement, they would fake their way through school, and then go search for Will. Which Floris thought was the stupidest idea ever. The last thing he wanted to do was go to school. There was two kids with superpowers in the basement and Will was missing, he was pretty sure either of those two would have been a more interesting thing to explore. 

They were all supposed to bring their own supplies for their search, since this one was definitely going to be a long search. Floris tried to get everything he'd need. That would be easy. There was food in the cabinet, which he'd specifically chosen because it wouldn't go bad quickly and could be used in lunches. Then there was the stuff he kept hidden under his bed. A compass, a flashlight, and his radio. Kept there because it was his and, while he didn't think his dad would really do something to them, he couldn't be sure. 

And that was the problem. His dad. Who was still wondering around the house and Floris wanted to avoid no matter what. 

First Floris got everything from his room. That would be the easy part. Then he peered into the kitchen. Dad was making himself a sandwich, which meant Floris was going to have to wait until he left (or, perhaps, hope that someone else would bring their own snacks.) 

"You're up early," Dad said suddenly.

Floris startled. He hadn't realized his dad was watching him, or even knew he was there at all. At once his mind started running through excuses. What was he making excuses for? Floris didn't know. He just knew he probably needed one. Didn't he always?

"Uh..." Floris shrugged. "Yeah, I guess?" 

"What for?" 

What for? What for? Floris shuffled his feet and tried to think something of normal. He could say that he was going to the Wheelers, but then Dad would know that meant he was hanging out with his friends, and he didn't like most of Floris's friends. He never had a stable answer. People said things about them. Lucas was probably his most approved, a nice happy family and one of the few black ones, but the rest? He believed the horrible things said about the Byers. The Wheelers seemed perfect, but Dad disliked how little attention they gave their children (letting them run wild, he said, despite barely caring for his own child.) The same for Dustin - whose parents were also divorced. Divorce went against God's permanent bond between men and women.

Or something. Floris never really listened to his dad when he started talking about religion. Maybe there was a God, but Dad wasn't exactly the perfect symbol of Christianity. 

"School," Floris said quickly. "We have a...study group! Yep. Study group."

"That's good. I'm glad you're taking interest in your studies, for once," Dad said.

"Also, we have a AV Club meeting tonight," Floris added quickly, before his dad could think too long on the question. 

"Wasn't that last night?"

"Nope!" 

And, before anything could happen, Floris hurried out the door. It wasn't like Dad was going to question it. Sure AV Club did was last night. Yet he doubted his dad would actually remember it. The man barely payed attention to him personally, let alone notice any of his interests. Floris made sure of that. The last thing he needed was his dad's opinions on his personal activities. 

It did mean Floris wasn't bringing his own snacks, but the Wheelers' where sure to let him borrow some. Mrs.Wheeler at least never questioned when he took extra food. In fact, it seemed to make her happy. And Mr.Wheeler was sort of an idiot, anyway.

Upon arriving at the Wheelers, Floris hurried around the back to their basement door. Mike opened it before he'd even gotten to the door. 

"You're late," Mike snapped.

"Aw, miss me?" Floris teased as he hurried past. 

Mike just scoffed. Floris rolled his eyes, fully aware that they had, in fact, missed him. 

Lucas was already there, but Dustin had yet to arrive, so they were forced to wait until he did. During that time, Dan crouched in front of El and Eve's tent. They were passing them various items out of the armful they had stumbled downstairs with. 

"These are comics. They're super cool, because they've got pictures, so you don't really need to know all the words. I brought you some of my favorites. And these are some of Holly's books, which you can't keep because she'll miss them, but you can read them today," Dan explained as he dumped the books in front of the two. "And this is a dictionary. It's a list of every word ever, and they tell you want they mean, so you can learn some new ones. Cool, huh?" 

The answer came in the form of Eve frowning and El picking up one of the comics. She flipped through it. 

"They've got superpowers, like you," Dan explained as they pointed towards the pictures. 

"Superpowers?" El repeated.

"Yeah, you know, like," Dan held out an arm and waved it around, making whooshing noises. 

El mimicked them. Except when she did it, their book bag lifted off the floor. Dan squealed, and El giggled at their response. Then she caught Eve's nervous expression and quickly stopped. He seemed to be the shyer of the two. The girl was reluctant, but warmed up when shown kindness, while even that seemed to put Eve on edge. Floris wondered why. 

Finally, Dustin stumbled through the door. He was hunched under the weight of his backpack. The boys collected around the table as the two strangers sat on the couch. El was fiddling with the radio as Eve flipped through the dictionary, probably looking up all the words they'd been confused by in the past day. 

"You seriously think that the weirdos know where Will is?" Lucas asked, side eyeing the two.

"Just trust me on this, okay?" Mike insisted. "Did you get the supplies?"

"Yeah," Lucas opened his book bag and pulled out the supplies he was able to get, "Binoculars...from 'Nam. Army knife...also from 'Nam."

"What are you gonna do, stab the bad men?" Floris asked. 

"It's just in case," Lucas defended. He continued through his bag, "Hammer, camouflage bandana -"

"Awesome! It'll keep your massive forehead from giving us away."

" - and the wrist rocket," Lucas finished.

The boy held up a sling shot. It had metal handle with a bright yellow rubber string holding a cup onto its ends. Ever since he'd gotten it, Lucas had been totally obsessed. He seemed to think it was the greatest thing in the universe. That he could take on anything with it. Floris mostly just giggled at it, amused but not wanting to ruin his fun. 

"You're gonna take out the Demogoron with a slingshot?" Dustin asked.

"First of all, it's a wrist rocket," Lucas said. "And second of all, the Demogorgon's not real. It's made up. But if there is something out there, I'm gonna shoot it in the eye and blind it."

Lucas pulled back the string of his wrist rocket. It snapped towards Dustin's face when he let go of it, making the boy flinch. 

"I mean, maybe the monster's allergic too rocks," Dan suggested. When they only got a blank look from the others, they protested, "It could happen! We don't even know what this thing is, maybe sling shots are the perfect weapon."

Mike sighed and turned to Floris. "What did you bring?"

There was nothing particularly interesting on Floris's part. He was a little embarrassed, after Lucas's entire survival kit, to only be able to produce a few items. Not that any one else minded. Instead they just turned to Dustin...who proceeded to dump a bunch of snacks onto the table. 

"Well, alrighty," Dustin started, "So, we've got...Nutty Bars, Bazooka, Pez, Smarties, Pringles, Nilla Wafers, apple, bananas, and trail mix."

The other four shared a look. 

"Seriously?" Lucas deadpanned. 

"We need energy for our travels. For stamina," Dustin argued.

"Yeh," Floris agreed. "No offense, but if we get out in the middle of the woods with no food, I'm not eating grass or something."

"And besides, why do we even need weapons, anyway? We have them," Dustin motioned towards El and Eve.

"She shut one door!" Lucas protested.

"With her mind," Dan pointed out. They pointed to the sides of their head and widened their eyes. "And Eve mind controlled you. They're superheroes."  

"Are you kidding me? That's insane. Imagine all the other cool stuff they could do," Dustin said. "Like..."

Dustin hurried over to the model millennium falcon tucked under a blanket. He picked it up and carried it over to El and Eve. Eve, who'd been watching them all closely, scooted closer to El, who finally looked up as she saw him approach. 

"I bet El could make this fly!" Dustin announced. He held the model at arms length. "Hey. Hey. Okay, concentrate. Okay?" 

He dropped it. It fell to the floor. El wrinkled her nose and went back to playing with her radio. Unfazed by this rejection, Dustin went to drop the model again. At least he meant too. As soon as he held it at arms length, Floris intercepted and grabbed it from him. Because it was obvious El wasn't going to make it fly, and the last thing he needed was Dustin tossing a super important object round on a whim.

"You're gonna break it," Floris scolded. 

"I wanted to see -" Dustin protested.

"She's not a dog," Mike interrupted. "Neither of them are, so leave them alone." 

Mrs.Wheeler called that it was time for school. Floris swore under his breath and hurried to pick all of his things up. Leaving the Wheeler twins down stairs, he hurried up with the others. 

°。°。°。°。°。°。

MOSES WASN'T LISTENING TO WHATEVER RANDOM NONSENSE WAS GOING ON AT THE FRONT OF THE CLASS ROOM. It was just algebra. What the hell was he going to use algebra for? Instead he stared at the clock. As if it might somehow make the hands turn faster and the minutes fly away. Even thought he knew it didn't work - never did, never would - it was still the only thing that kept him sane. Kept him from jumping out of the seat and running away. This whole thing was a sham, pointless compared to finding Clem, but the last thing he needed was to get in trouble. That was what Bonnie said, anyway.

Bonnie had said a lot, actually. Despite her father's words being meant as a warning, they seemed to have inspired the opposite response in her. Suddenly she had a thousand and one plans. Moses didn't know how he felt like that. The last thing he needed was to become some popular girl's pity project. Yet there seemed to be know getting rid of her. So as long as she wasn't distracting...he supposed she could stay.

It was more help than anyone else was giving, that was for sure. 

Aside from the missing posters still up for Will and Clem, it seemed like everything had gone back to normal. It was disturbing. Moses suspected that they had decided it was no longer important once they had given their false condolences. Some people - mostly Bonnie - would have called that pessimistic, but he just called it realistic. When had Hawkins actually cared about its children? At least when they weren't from some affluent family that could pay them to give a shit. 

The second the bell rang, Moses leapt from his seat. The teacher shouted something about her dismissing them, not the bell, but that lecture went straight through his head. It was just a thing teachers said to assert power. They never actually did something. 

Bonnie was waiting where she said to - a lunch table. It was the only time they could meet and actually talk. After all, there was only three minutes between classes, and god forbid you where a moment late. Or worse, talked in class instead of listen to a bunch of bullshit that will never matter. Scandalous. 

"Are you going to get lunch?" Bonnie asked as Moses sat across from her. When he only shrugged, she passed him her applesauce cup and a spoon. "Here. I don't really want it, and it'd suck to throw it away."

Moses accepted the applesauce. It's not like he really could reject it. 

"I talked to my dad this morning. Apparently some new people went missing," Bonnie said. "Some hunters, I think?"

"Adults?" Moses asked.

Just the night before Bonnie's father had noted 'being children' as one of the trends. Something about kidnapper. Yet now, barely day later, that was being thrown out the window. Great. Moses ran a hand over his face. Was it so hard for things to just be consistent. 

"I know. It's freaky," Bonnie agreed. 

"So did he say anything useful?" Moses prompted. "Like where they went missing? We need to start looking as soon as possible. I mean, it's not like anyone else is doing it."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure -" Bonnie's voice trailed off. Moses turned to see what she was looking at. Nancy Wheeler was making a beeline for their table. "Hey, Nance!"

Moses hunched his shoulder and tried to ignore Nancy standing next to the table. It wasn't like he had a personal issue with him. That was impossible when she never talked to him. But she was King Steve's new girlfriend, which meant Moses could get trash dumped over his head for saying the wrong thing to her. 

"Bonnie..." Nancy knitted her eyebrows at Moses. She seemed to be trying to figure out his name. In the end, however, she ended up turning back to Bonnie. "You've seen Barb, right?"

"Uh, no? I thought she was sick," Bonnie frowned.

"Yeah, I...maybe she is. Sorry," Nancy said quickly. 

Before Bonnie could continue - and Moses could tell she meant to - Nancy shook her head and turned to leave, arms crossed tightly across her chest. It was easy to believe her. But Moses wasn't one to believe people, especially when they were so obviously lying. It made him suspicious. If Barb wasn't here, and clearly she wasn't sick given Nancy's reaction...

"You don't think..." Moses started.

"I hope not," Bonnie took a deep breath. She forced a smile back on her face. "We'll find them, and they'll be okay. I promise."

Moses stirred the applesauce in silence. He wished he could believe her. 

°。°。°。°。°。°。

THREE-ONE-FIVE. They had to meet the others at three-one-five. For what they called Operation Mirkwood. Eve wasn't entirely sure what they wanted. After he had mind controlled Lucas, they were all closed off. Actively trying to avoid thinking anything that might upset him. He was frustrated with himself for that. He shouldn't have shown his hand so quickly. Now they were more exposed than he wanted and what he could pick up from the boys was limited. 

El was growing anxious. They had eaten through all of the snacks, testing to see what they liked. She'd trying going through the many books Dan had left. Now she was levitating the object Dustin had told her to earlier, which she'd ignored out of spite. Eve understood she was frustrated. They had run away, the last thing they wanted was to be locked up again. But, as Eve reminded her over and over, they were safer hidden.

Eve was in the F section of the dictionary when El suddenly stood up. He called after her in her mind, and when that was ignored, aloud. Neither stopped her. He was forced to hurry about her.

Noise came from the living room. Eve found the girl crouched in front of the television. She was flipping through the different channels, until she came to one in particular. It played someone singing about beaches and sun. On the screen was a small red can with COKE printed on the front. El squeezed her eyes shut, breathing heavily. A memory of a test. Eve crouched next to her in concern. He could never tell what the memories were. Sometimes they were very bad. Sometimes they were just simple memories.

The screen began to be replaced with static. El gasped and opened her eyes, hitting the button to turn off the television.

Okay? Eve asked in her mind. El responded with a nod. She turned and continued into the house, once again despite Eve's protests.

They came across a room they hadn't come into before. It was stripped with pink and white walls. On the bed was a soft blanket with patches knitted together. Faint light came through the windows, where where blocked with thin blinds, and from two lamps by the bed. There was a seat in the corner with another blanket and even more pillows, paintings all across the walls, and clutter on the two bed-side tables. Eve ran is fingers over the bed and some of the objects. Everything was soft. From the colors to their feeling. It was light, like the lab, but it lacked the coldness of it. 

Soft music broke through the silence. Eve startled and turned. He saw El next to a box. She had slapped it close, stopping the music, but when she opened it it started again. Inside was a small woman, who spun as the song came out. 

One the wall was a collection of pictures. They were images of a girl. From abates, to people younger than them, to their age and older. Eve recognized one girl. The one Dan had called Nancy. All the pictures looked so happy and free. The image made her heart sink. 

°。°。°。°。°。°。

THE PARTY SPENT THEIR RECESS SEARCHING FOR ROCKS. Because, for as stupid as Dustin seemed to think the wrist rocket was as a weapon, it was their only weapon. Unless they wanted to stab the monster with Lucas's Army Knife From 'Nam, which Dan definitely didn't. Knowing their luck it might not be the Demogorgon, but it'd definitely eat their heads off.

Unfortunately, none of the rocks seemed just right. Most where too small or big for the sling shot. Or they wouldn't do enough damage, or they weren't cool enough, those less important problems. At least they had some. Just not a lot. Dan tried to find as many good rocks as they could. It would really suck if they ran to at the final battle. That was always when the worst luck seemed to happen. Right when you needed it not to.

"So, do you think Eleven and Seven were born with their powers, like the X-Men, or do you think they acquired them, like...like green lantern?" Dustin asked as he picked up a rock.

"First of all, it's El and Eve," Dan corrected. "Second, they were probably born with them. Usually superheroes get their powers when they're, like, adults." 

"They're not superheroes, they're weirdos," Lucas I interrupted. 

"They can be both," Floris said. "Like, uh, Skateman."

"Or Kiteman," Dan suggested.

"Kiteman's a villain," Floris pointed out. "And also he doesn't have powers."

"Yeh, but he's weird." 

"What about Swarm?"

"Or Bi-Beasts. He's got a head on his head. That's weird." 

They probably would have gone on listing more and more strange superheroes, if Lucas hadn't let out a loud groan of annoyance. Dan just rolled their eyes. It wasn't like any of them had a leg to stand on to call others weirdos. About 90% of the school would say the same thing about them. 

They didn't even know why Lucas hated the two so much. They were cool. They had superpowers. And, sure, they were Will, but they could help them find him. What were they supposed to do? Not help the two? Let them be taken away by the bad men they were running from? No one in their right mind would let that happen! Especially when they were already the twos' friends, and friends didn't let each other get hurt, even if it was scary or dangerous or just something they didn't want to do. 

"Look what we have here," A new voice interrupted. 

The party froze. They turned to see Troy approaching, James and Betsy flanking his side. Seriously? Dan shook their heads. Could the three not wait a week or something? 

"What are you losers doing back here?" Troy asked.

"Probably looking for their messing friend," James said.

"That's not funny. It's serious, he's in danger," Dustin snapped. 

Lucas slapped Dustin's arm. As if they weren't all thinking it. Troy was a total jerk on a good day, but that didn't mean they had to let him get away with making fun of Will's disappearance. 

"I hate to break it to you, Toothless, but he's not in danger. He's dead," Troy said. "That's what my dad says. He said he was probably killed by some other queer." 

This earned a laugh from James. Betsy gave the two a side glance, before forcing herself to give a shaky chuckle. 

"You're dad's a dick!" Floris said. 

Dan was pretty sure Floris was going to shove Troy or something, but Mike quickly stopped him.

"Come on," Mike said, starting to go past the bullies. "Just ignore them."

Because if they got in a fight, they knew exactly which group would be blamed. Dan scowled at the three. They hated them and their stupid jokes and their stupid faces. They hated that no one cared that they bullied everyone. They hated that everyone was blamed for how they behaved. 

As Mike tried to pass, Troy stuck out his foot, tripping him. The boy landed hard. There was a crack as his chin smacked into a rock. Dan ran over to his side, and the other soon joined them. 

"Watch where you're going, Frogface," Troy laughed. 

He high-fived James as they left. Mike rubbed his chin. A small cut was left where the rock had busted the skin, but he was fine other than that. Dustin bent down and picked up the rock.

"Hey," Dustin held the rock out for them to see. "How about this one?" 

"Yeah," Mike chuckled. "Yeah, this is it."

"Oh, yeah," Lucas took the rock to show it off to Dan and Floris. "This is the monster killer!"

The group laughed. Dan had to admit, it was perfect. 

°。°。°。°。°。°。

BONNIE HAD SPENT THE REST OF THE DAY TRYING TO TALK TO NANCY. The girl was doing the most she could to avoid her. Which took a lot of effort, since they shared almost all of their classes. More than once Nancy had shoved herself into a crowd to keep the two from meeting. But there was one place Nancy couldn't avoid her at. The lockers. While she was putting away her books, Bonnie had hurried to catch up with her. By the time she realized she was there, it was too late.

"What happened to Barb?" Bonnie asked. 

"Nothing!" Nancy insisted. "I just -"

"Can't find her?"

Nancy slammed her locker shut and started down the hallway. Bonnie hurried after her. 

"Nancy, come on, Barb's my friend, too," Bonnie insisted. "And with all these people going missing, I'm freaked out. What if something happened to her."

For a moment, it seemed like Nancy was going to just keep walking. Ignore what she said. Then she stopped.

It started at a party at Steve's, which Nancy and Barb had snuck out to go. They were having fun. At least, that was what Nancy said. It didn't seem like the sort of thing Barb would enjoy. She stayed down stairs while the two couples when upstairs ("I get the idea!" Bonnie had shouted, before too much information could be given.) When they came back down, Barb was gone. Nancy thought she just left early, got bored, but now she wasn't at school. She'd called her mom, she wasn't home either. 

"I'm so sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but I..." Nancy shook her head. "This is my fault, if something happened. I should have been with her."

"No, Nancy, you had no idea. How could you?" Bonnie insisted.

Nancy shrugged and wiped her eyes. 

They had been walking towards Steve Harrington's car, though Bonnie only just noticed it when she spotted them in the distance. It wasn't a good scene. Steve and his friends with another girl, Nicole. Not a main part of their group, but someone they knew well enough, and who was about as catty and Tommy H. and Carol. The four had cornered Jonathan Byers. Steve was flipping through something. 

"What's going on?" Nancy asked.

"Here's the staring lady," Tommy H. laughed.

"This creep was spying on us last night," Carol said. 

Once she was close enough, Bonnie could see Steve was holding photos. They were of the group at Steve's house. Some of them drinking, some with them jumping into a pool. Those where weird. Of course they were. But what really got Bonnie was when Carol passed her and Nancy a specific photo. 

One of Nancy, with her shirt pulled over her head. It was only her back, but she was clearly beginning to undress.

"He was probably gonna save this one for later. Maybe share it with his creep friend," Carol said.

"What -" Bonnie looked between the photos and the boy in front of her. "What the hell, Jonathan? This is so creepy."

She didn't even acknowledge Carol's accusation towards Moses. Some stupid dig they had no evidence of - in fact, everything Bonnie knew about him said the opposite. Jonathan, meanwhile, was stood there red handed. Trembling. He looked away. Bonnie couldn't help the frustration that built in her chest. He had no right to stand there, acting like the victim, like he hadn't gone out of his way to take and develop inappropriate photos of her friend. Why the hell had he even kept it? 

"See, you can tell that he knows it was wrong, but..." Steve clicked his tongue. "Man, that's the thing about perverts..it's hard wired into 'em. You know, they just can't help themselves."

As he spoke, Steve piled the photos together and ripped them down the middle. He threw the pieces in Jonathan's face.

"So, we'll just have to take away his toy," Steve started back to Jonathan's bag. 

"Steve -" Bonnie started. 

She hated what Jonathan had used the camera for, but that had to be expensive. Especially for a family as poor as the Byers. They should have taken the photos to the principal instead, she realized a little too late. 

"No, no, not the camera," Jonathan protested. 

Tommy H. stepped forwards to stop him, but Steve let him go.

"It's okay. Here you go, man," Steve held out the camera. But when Jonathan went to grab it, he tipped it off his fingers, sending it crashing to the ground. He turned and motioned for the others to follow. "Come on, let's go. The game's about the start." 

Bonnie shook her head. She left, but not to follow the others. She still had people to find. 

°。°。°。°。°。°。

THREE-ONE-FIVE. It was three-one-five, right there on the small wrist-clock. Watch? Eve was certain that was what Mike had called it, but he wasn't entirely sure. He didn't always listen to the specifics of what the boy said. What he had listened to was the part about how, at three-one-five, they had to leave and meet them by the power lines. Though they didn't know what that was when Mike said it, Eve had seen images in his mind and, when they went out to look, was able to find it easily. 

Even though there was no one outside, Eve couldn't help but hover at the entrance to the house. Papa and his men could be anywhere. If they weren't, someone could see them, and reveal them too Papa like Benny had. 

Still, they couldn't wait forever. Mike might be mad if they didn't show up. While the boys weren't always nice, Eve didn't want to be kicked out of the only place they had been allowed to stay.

Finally, they left. No one saw them when they left and, thankfully, the place they were supposed to meet was hidden behind a line of threes. The boys weren't there. 

El paced. She muttered the number under her breath as she studied it on the watch. She was worried, Eve realized, that they had come at the wrong time. Or the wrong place. He disliked that worry, because as soon as he thought of it, it began to creep into his mind. What if they were wrong? Worse, what if it was a trap? What if Papa showed up to take them away? 

There was a loud meow. Eve winced and turned to see an orange tabby on the other side of the fence.

The cat hissed as it backed away in its cage. Seven knitted his brows as he tried to force his way into its mind. Nothing seemed to work. No matter how hard he pushed, the cat seemed to push back harder. Blood ran from is noise. A dizziness seemed to come over him in waves. Seven didn't want to hurt the cat, any more than it wanted to be hurt. But he could feel the camera on him, just as real as the probes attached to his head and the beeping of the monitor nearby. If he didn't do what Papa wanted, he'd be locked up. Maybe even deprived of food. 

Again.

"Eve?" El's voice broke Eve out of his daze. "Eve?" 

Eve tried to blink back the building tears and recompose himself. El slowly reached out to hug him, but he quickly shrugged her off. They didn't have time for that. They needed to be ready when the boys arrived. And they did a few minutes later. Eve knew because he could hear Floris talking a mile away. 

The first night, in the rain, Eve and El had be put on the backs of the Wheelers' bikes. Eve had assumed they would do the same. 

Except, before Eve could get on Mike's bike, Lucas blurted out, "You can ride with me."

Eve stared at him blankly. Lucas quickly looked away.

"I mean, if you want," the boy mumbled.

Once again, just stared. Why would he want to ride with Lucas, after he'd called him a weirdo? Finally the boy seemed to give up. He shrugged and started peddling back the way they came. Eve ended up on the back of Mike's bike and more than a little confused. 

°。°。°。°。°。°。

DAN BOUNCED AS THEY WALKED. This was it. Operation Mirkwood. They were going on their first real adventure (second, if you counted the first time they went to look for Will. They didn't.) El had been giving them directions the whole way. Which was a little hard when they were riding their bikes. Sudden turns and all. But eventually their path had led them into the woods, which meant they had to get off and walk. Dan was getting more excited by the second. They were going to fight a monster. Awesome!

The group had spread out some what as they walked. Dan kept up with El in the front. Behind them was Mike, and behind him was Dustin, Lucas, and Eve. At first Eve had been stuck to El's side. But he'd been dragged into conversation with Lucas, and eventually ended up being taken back with them. Floris, meanwhile, seemed to drift between the three groups. He'd chat a bit, get bored, and then go find someone else to talk with. Last Dan had checked he was badging Mike about how the wound on his chin mad him look super badass, actually. 

"Why did they hurt him?" El asked.

"What?" Dan blinked at the girl, confused. El motioned to her own chin, and Dan turned to look at Mike. "Oh, him? That was Troy."

"Troy?" El repeated.

"Yeah. He's this kid at school - that's where we went, by the way, kids are forced to go and learn or something - and him and his friends pick on us a lot. That's called bullying. Now a lot of shows and movies and stuff, they'll tell you that bullies bully people for a reason, and you've gotta, like, befriend them or something. It's not true," Dan explained. "It's just made up to make people feel good. They're actually just mouth-breathers."

"Mouth-breathers?"

"You know how you breath through your nose, right?" Dan exhaled through their nose as an example. El nodded. "Well, it means they're too stupid to do that."

El smile slightly. 

"But don't tell Mike I said that," Dan quickly added. "The part about Troy tripping him, not the mouth-breathers thing, he'd think that's funny. But he doesn't like when we talk about him getting picked on. Boys are weird like that. They think it makes them weak or something."

"Friends don't lie," El pointed out.

"Well, yeah, but...it's different, you know? Sometimes you don't tell people stuff because it might hurt their feelings. You don't lie to them, you just don't tell them, because then it'd be rude," Dan explained.

El nodded slowly. They weren't entirely sure she understood, but it didn't really matter. Friends don't lie was a good enough rule for now. Nuances of things like not offending people could be explained later. 

Meanwhile, Floris was still talking. 

"I'm just saying, I totally could have beat them," Floris insisted. "Troy was being a total jerk. I don't care what he says or what his stupid dad says. Will's still out there, I know it."

Mike just shrugged. Floris scoffed. He didn't have to be in such a mood about it. It wasn't Mike's fault Troy and his friends chose it pick on them, yet he always seemed to think it was anyway. Some of the had been able to accept that they were being bullied. It sucked, but they could power through it, eventually ignore the words of those around them. Mike didn't. Even if he pretended otherwise. Maybe most of them thought it was Mike's job to support them, be there for them, but Floris had realized that he was sometimes more hurt than the rest of them. 

"It doesn't matter," Mike muttered.

"Exactly!" Floris nodded. "Well, I mean, what Troy says doesn't matter. But it matters that he's being a jerk. It's not fair. He's probably jealous of us or something - we're way cooler than them."

Mike scoffed. Like he didn't think they were cooler than them or something.  Ridiculous. 

And all the way in the back, Eve was surprised to find he wasn't even regretting walking with Lucas and Dustin. At first the two had fallen quiet when he joined them. He made them uncomfortable. Stared too much. Yet soon Dustin's questions bubbled up too much for him to keep inside his head, and so he ended up blurting them out. Stuff about Eve and El's powers. He didn't get to answer - assuming that he wanted to, which he didn't - because Lucas quickly slapped the boy's arm.

"Shut up," Lucas hissed. 

The sun had begun to fall as the walked. A chill fell over them. Eve was only dressed in a sweater, which had been warm when they started, but now seemed a little too thin. He shuttered and crossed his arms tight across his chest. Lucas, who had been watching him from the corner of his eye, suddenly held out a coat. It was so sudden that Eve nearly ran into him.

"Here. It'll keep you warm," Lucas said.

"That is...yours," Eve said. 

He eyed the coat. This seemed unusually nice for anyone, let alone Lucas, who had been hostile the entire time.

"Well, yeah, but I thought you seemed cold," Lucas shrugged and looked away. Color grew on his cheeks. "I'm not cold, anyway. I'm super tough like that."

Eve rolled his eyes, but he could help but smile slightly at Lucas's determination. Sure. Right. Super tough. Still, Eve took his coat. He was cold, after all, and it wouldn't benefit him to deny it. 

Soon, however, the group began to go down a familiar path. Dan looked around, confused. They knew where they were, but not why they were there. El was leading them to the Byers' house. When they arrived in front of the house, she came to a stop. Other others caught up soon after. Dan could see it in their faces, they were just as confused as they were. 

Why were they at Will's house? And how did El know where it was to show them the way?

"Here," El said.

"Yeah, this is where Will lives," Mike said slowly. 

"Hiding."

"No, no, this is where he lives," Mike said. "He's missing from here. Understand?" 

"Did you see him go in there? Before he went missing?" Dan asked.

Maybe Will had gotten home after all. It wasn't an idea that Dan had considered, what with his bike being found somewhere else, but maybe something had happened before Jonathan and their mom got home. 

But El shook her head. Dan could see Eve knit his brows, like something had upset him, but the boy stayed silent like he always did.

"What are we doing here?" Lucas demanded as he, Dustin, and Floris dropped their bikes.

"She says he's hiding here," Mike explained. 

"Oh, of course! Let me just -" Floris cupped a hand over his eyes and leaned to the side, looking around dramatically. "Weird. Don't see him. It's almost like he's missing or something."

"Shut up," Mike snapped.

Floris stuck out his tongue.

"I swear, if we walked all the way out here for nothing -" Dustin started to complain.

"No! No, no we didn't," Dan interrupted. "I bet they saw Will come in here, and then something happened after, so they think he's here. Why would they know this place otherwise? Right?"

They had turned to the two. El started to protest, but Eve cut her off by grabbing her wrist and nodding. The two shared a look. If Dan didn't know better, they would have thought the two shared a silent conversation. Eve wiped blood from his nose. He nodded again.

"I told you they didn't know what the hell they were talking about!" Lucas complained.

"Well, they thought they did," Mike defended. 

Lucas groaned. "Don't waste your time with them." 

Eve narrowed his eyes. It was then that Dan noticed he was wearing Lucas's coat, making them scoff. What was Lucas's deal? Whenever it was just Eve, he was super cool. Then as soon as they talked about the two of them, or god forbid just El, suddenly he was acting like they were the worst things to ever exist. It was annoying enough when Dan was just there to watch it. It certainly wasn't fair to Eve and El. Understanding how people felt about you was hard enough - Dan knew that all too well - let alone when someone keeps switching their opinion on you. 

"What do you want to do then?" Mike snapped.

"I don't know, go home?" Floris complained. "I tired! I came so we could find Will not go on some stupid hike."

"We'll call the cops, like we should have done yesterday," Lucas said. 

"No way!" Dan shook their head. "We'll get in so much trouble, and we'll never find Will." 

"We're not going to find him following around a liar, either."

"She's not a liar, I told you -"

"I don't care!"

"Guys!" Dustin interrupted.

The group fell silent. In the distance, they could hear sirens. A line of emergency vehicles roared past. There was only one thing it could have been for. Will.

They ran to their bikes and hurried after the vehicles, barely bothering to stay hidden. It took them around the edge of town and through the woods. Dan's heartbeat was pounding in their ears. Soon enough they were only following the flashing lights and the sound of the sirens. But they couldn't give up. This might be their chance to find Will.

The cars came to a stop they recognized as a quarry. A whole crowd of them. The group ran to hide behind a fire truck and watch them. 

The firefighters had waded into the water at the low end. They had a floating device. Dan frowned. What would they need that for? They seemed to be caring the thing they were lifting out of the water just fine.

Except the thing was a body. A body dressed in familiar vest with a familiar bowl cut. 

Will. 

"Holy shit," Floris muttered under his breath. "Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit." 

"It's not Will. It can't be," Mike insisted. 

Except that didn't make the body change. Will was still there, in front of them. Not moving. Gone.

"It's Will. It's really Will..." Lucas said.

"But - but that doesn't make sense. He was supposed to be alive," Dan insisted. 

That seemed to set something off in Mike. He whipped around to glare at El and Eve. At once El pushed Eve behind him and lowered her gaze. 

"You are supposed to help us find him alive!" Mike shouted. "You said he was alive! Why did you lie to us? What's wrong with you? What is wrong with you?"

El turned to look at the others. None of them looked at her. Dan could feel her staring at them, begging for some support, but they just stared at the ground. It didn't make sense. It didn't. They were supposed to find Will alive. They knew he was alive, he was just missing, they could save him. Will was supposed to come back, and have some crazy story to tell about how he got lost in the woods or something. He didn't die. He couldn't die. People only died when they were old and wrinkly and stuff, or if they were bad guys in movies they died early, not good people like Will.  

Mike suddenly shoved past them all. Ignoring them all, he broke into a sprint, running away from the crowd. The others could only stare after him. 

And the third episode! I know Bonnie and Moses aren't entirely involved yet, despite me promising. I meant to have a scene where Clem contacts Moses, but I decided I wanted to have it after Will's body was found. It adds drama to have him think she could also be dead for at least a little, you know?

So you'll get that first next time! Promise.