THE NEXT MORNING SAR WOKE UNDER RAYS OF SUNLIGHT. They lit her eyelashes silver. She groaned in pain, lifting an aching hand to her face. Her head was pounding. Small bruises were spattered over the back of her hands, coating her thin fingers. She could feel them rising on her face. When she pressed a hand to the edge of her nose she grimaced. That one hurt.

It happened whenever she used too much energy. Blood vessels burst beneath the skin, leaving painful bruises in the aftermath. She reached up another hand to touch them.

They'd made it back home safely after that. She'd been fine enough to walk inside, stumbling up the stairs with only the slightest bit of help from Steve. She hadn't even bothered to take off her clothes — simply just tumbling into bed. She'd been asleep by the time she hit the pillow.

Steve entered as Sar was forcing herself up slowly. She'd made herself much more comfortable in his house. The books he was lending her were making a little pile beside her mattress, and she had her things neatly arranged around the mess of his room. They'd even dug out a place for her to place her growing mass of clothes in his closet.

He was wearing a concerned expression on his face, holding a steaming cup of what seemed to be hot chocolate. Her eyes were slitted as she looked up at him, narrowed from the sunlight. Her lips were twisted into a downturned grimace. Steve leant down, passing her the warm mug. She smiled at it, "Thank you."

"What happened back there, Sar?" his voice was soft as he sat on the edge of her mattress. She cupped the hot chocolate in her sore hands. Her eyes focused on it for a moment. So it was time to talk about it.

He'd seen what had happened. There was no doubt about that. He knew, that somehow, she had made those men collapse. She could lie to him about it... come up with something, anything. But she didn't feel up to doing that. It would just trap her in another web of lies.

Sar could feel how good his intentions were. He wanted to find out what this monster was; what was going on in this town; what had happened to those kids. But she wasn't a fortune-teller. And she couldn't tell how he'd react to her truth.

Sar placed the hot chocolate down beside her mattress. Steve was looking at her with even more concerned now. Sar crossed her legs and straightened herself. "This... this, number." She extended her wrist out. She felt his eyes on it. "It's a brand. I was— I'm... I was an experiment in the lab." Her voice was very quiet in the silence that was enveloping Steve's room. If anything went wrong, she could always make him forget — right? "It's not like I was created there or anything," she added quickly. "I was stolen as a child, they got rid of my memories... I don't remember anything really from before then. I know I used to live here. Sometimes I get flashbacks." She shrugged her shoulders, as if the fact she couldn't remember her childhood was nothing at all. "The number... it's the number experiment I am. It's true, there are 12 of us... was, at one point. And they are my siblings. Perhaps not biologically, but they've always been there for me." There was a vulnerability in her voice that Steve had never heard before.

"What does this mean?" Steve asked her. "Experiment for what?"

"Steve. You can't tell anyone this. If they find out I'm here they'll hunt me down and put me back there." Her voice was frantic, eyes wide. "You can't. I can't go back there."

He placed a hand on her knee, eyebrows lowered in concern. "Hey. I'm not going to tell anyone. It's like the monster thing, okay? It's classified. Only us two." Sar inhaled deeply. "What was this experiment for?"

She was twisting her hands in her lap now, lips pursed as if she didn't want to say anything more. Her eyes were focused on the sheets draped over her. "Well, it was human experimenting. I think they were trying to use us as weapons against Russia. Basically — and this is going to sound crazy — each of us have some kind of mind power." She glanced up at Steve's disbelieving face. "I know it sounds like some kind of comic book. But it's true. I mean we now know there are monsters and alternate worlds, how far-fetched can this be?" Steve seemed to consider this, though he looked generally confused. "I can get into people's heads:" Sar clarified, "read minds, see memories, alter them, control them, pretty much. Kind of like Jean Grey — minus the telekinesis." There was a pause. "I don't like looking into people's heads, though. I only do it if it's necessary. You're safe around me," she added quickly. It was true.

Steve's hands were placed on his knees, eyebrows furrowed. "It is a bit hard to believe, Sar," he said cautiously.

"I know. I understand that. It's the truth. How else would I have made those soldiers stop? And why else would I know so much about the lab? I was raised there, Steve — my life from there is all I know." She held her hands in her lap. "It's something I've always been able to do. Just... get into people's heads." She looked back up to Steve. He was looking very unsure. "Like this." Her voice was soft in his mind.

The act startled him and his eyebrows furrowed. His eyes stayed focused on her lips to make sure she wasn't talking. "You're in my head?" he asked cautiously.

"Only transmitting to your mind. Not reading it. Think of it as mind telephoning, or something like that. I can teach you how to channel your thoughts so I can only hear what you want, so it's sort of a two-way conversation."

This seemed to be good enough for Steve, who was nodding. He was taking all this information quite well, really. But they had already been through a monster attack, so honestly, it wasn't too far out there. "So, you like have superpowers or something?"

She shrugged. "I guess. All 12 of us did. There was another girl who could move things with her mind, and another who could channel energy. One could make anyone see whatever she wanted. A boy who could kill you with a glance." Her voice faded pitifully. "Someone could even walk in dreams." She tapped her finger against her foot, as if suddenly thinking something else. After a second she seemed to regain her train of thought. "It was like all the psychic X-men thrown together as lab rats. Always being prodded and poked by scientists." She wrapped a single arm around herself.

He knelt down in front of her. "Look, they're not going to hurt you anymore." And she was reminded so much of Lune it made her heart ache in deep throbs, and her eyes burn and her throat dry and sting. She forced a swallow of a sob, hands tightening around her knees so they left red crescent moons behind.

"Thank you," she murmured. It was so sincere that it frightened him. She had been so afraid of these people. What could they have done to her?

"Look, I'm going to stay right here with you and we can talk more about it — or not, we can just watch TV or put on some movies." His words were comforting and sincere. "I've even got the new Return of the Jedi film. It's supposed to be really good."

The offer was appealing, but Sar slowly shook her head. "Steve, you've been skipping school all week. Your grades will slip. At least go today." She smoothed the comforter over her knees. "I'll be okay here."

He pursed his lips. "Fine. But we are going out to the diner tonight together, because I just found out my friend is a superhero." His words lightened the mood a little bit. She smiled at him as he left the room. Steve swiped his keys of the table. "This town just keeps getting more interesting," he muttered to himself.

•°•☆•°•

"STEVE. WHEN YOU SAID A DINER, THIS ISN'T WHAT I HAD IN MIND."

Steve turned around, a jacket chucked over his shoulder. He pulled the car door shut. "What?" he asked. The two teenagers were leaning against the doorway. A red-head girl was popping gum — which seemed very rude to do in a restaurant — and the boy who was muttering things to her, the both watching Sar. "Hey, they're my friends." The last word sounded fake, like it had been rehearsed many times. 

She leaned against the book of his car. "Okay," she said half-heartedly. Her gaze turned towards them. Now they were jeering at a teenage boy, who was carrying a pile of what seemed to be flyers in his hands. Tommy was clearly taunting him. The boy's shoulders were slumped, neck craned over just too slightly in a way that mustn't be good for him. He doesn't want to be seen, Sar thought. His shaggy hair fell over his face. She watched one of them shove the boy into the wall. Her lips twisted into an angry frown, eyes narrowed at the scene. "They look like assholes."

"They're not," Steve countered, and the two crossed the street. His friends were still laughing as they boy cowered off. She approached them, a twisted grimace on her lips. They straightened themselves as she and Steve stopped in front of them.

"Hey, you must be Sar," the boy nodded to her. "I'm Tommy. This is Carol." He pointed to the girl who was hanging off his arms. Sar didn't miss the way his gaze lingered on her breasts. Sar just folded her arms over her chest and gave him an unamused look. Tommy just raised his eyebrows and shot her a silent grin.

"Steve has told us a lot about you," Carol said. Her words were dragging, in a judgemental tone. Her eyes gazed up and down Sar, as if she was unimpressed by what she saw. The bubblegum popped against her lips and Tommy ran a hand around her shoulders.

Sar was just as unimpressed as Carol seemed. "Yeah, well, great. Yeah, I'm Sar." She pushed her hands in her pockets, one eyebrow was still raised. Silence hung between the group for a moment.

"Well," Carol said, and turned to walk into the door, Tommy's arm still around her. Steve trailed behind them. Sar's lips were pursed. She looked over at the boy who they had been hassling before. He was halfway down the street, pinning a poster to the pinboard outside another store before he walked away. Sar watched it fall to the ground, not stuck down properly.

"Sar?" Steve was calling to her. "It's cold, let's go inside." She took another glance back before she followed him into the diner.

•°•☆•°•

"SO, SAR, WHERE DO YOU COME FROM?" CAROL ASKED, LEANING HER ELBOW ON THE TABLE.

"Chicago," Sar answered simply. She stirred her coffee with her spoon. They were in a booth, Tommy and Carol sitting opposing them. Tommy's arm was still around his girlfriend's as she leant her head on his shoulder. Something about their behaviour irked them.

Sar was sitting beside Steve. He seemed to be oblivious to Tommy's constant grinning glances at Sar and the way that Carol's expression was clearly mocking her. Sar found herself constantly having to resist rolling her eyes. What a brilliant night.

"Shoved around Byers again this morning," Tommy chuckled, the statement clearly directed at Steve.

"Yeah, I saw." Steve was laughing. Sar turned towards him with her lip raised slightly in a lingering question of 'why?', disdain in her eyes.

"What a loser," Carol laughed, eyebrows raised in amusement. She picked at her cupcake. "Honestly. He should go get a life, the little perv." Sar was looking between the three with a confused expression on her face. "Will Byers' brother," Carol explained. "He's a total perv. We caught him taking photos of Nancy while her and Steve were getting it on." Sar raised her eyebrow at that statement, not needing to hear that much detail. "Scared him real good for it, didn't you Steve?"

Once they'd paid for their drinks, Sar was ready to leave. She had a throbbing headache from just talking to Carol and Tommy for over an hour. She was turned towards the door, waiting for Steve and his friends to grab their things. "She's so cute," Carol jeered to Steve. As if Sar couldn't hear. The blonde rolled her eyes and raised an eyebrow.

Steve muttered something back to her. No doubt she could look into their heads to see what they were thinking, but Sar couldn't be bothered to waste her energy on them. Steve's friends were dicks. He acted differently around them too. More cocky and arrogant. She didn't like it.

Then they were out on the street, walking to someplace else that Sar didn't know. Maybe for a drink? She didn't feel like it. Her lips had been pursed — in annoyance — practically the whole night, and that didn't change now. She just wanted to go home and crash, and talk to James and Katie and think about Lune and pretend everything was normal. They passed the pinboard from where she had seen the boy before. Her feet stopped before she would step on the fallen poster. It was slightly ripped at the edges due to the weather. She picked it up. The young boy on the paper was grinning. Words had been written beneath the picture. 'HAVE YOU SEEN ME?'

"That's the kid that went missing, right?" she asked. Carol gave her that mockingly 'oh-so-cute' look, which made Sar want to punch her. Sar took the pin from the board and stuck it back up, making sure all the details of poor Will's face could be seen.

"So sad," Carol mocked. The sound of bubblegum popping again made Sar cringe. "Still betting his creepy brother murdered him. Or his crazy-ass mother."

"Maybe they worked together," Tommy laughed. It was a sickly cruel laugh, one that made Sar's blood boil.

She spun on her heel, blonde hair flying around her face. "Oh, shut up!" Sar snapped finally. "The kid is bloody missing. He may be dead for all we know. Have some damn respect." Her face was morphed into anger. Sar turned back again and stormed down the sidewalk. She knew where Steve's house was, she would get there fine. The entire night had been a disaster, but making fun of a missing — possibly dead — boy made her insides boil.

"Firecracker," Carol mused. "Told you." Steve watched her walk away.

•°•☆•°•

i honestly love how sar doesn't take any shit she's just so unamused by their actions.

i know i don't really show steve being an asshole in this much yet like he was in season 1. that's mostly because he's different around sar - i mean, they both got chased by a monster together. it's kind of turned his life upside down. so he still is a bit of an ass, just not much around her at the moment. asshole! steve is coming up though so be prepared