𝐱𝐢𝐢. 𝒌𝒊𝒅𝒔
𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑻𝑾𝑬𝑳𝑽𝑬
❛ You did so so good. ❜
❦
Hopper and Malia are the only two to step out of his car, leaving the remaining three at the Byer's house, waiting anxiously for the children to be returned safely. The pair tiptoe carefully through the junkyard and towards the abandoned school bus that the children had claimed they were hiding in.
Hopper glances over his shoulder at the girl behind him, "I thought you were horrible with kids, and now you wanna come get them? Make you're mind up, kid." He hisses, his fingers tightening around the gun handle after hearing a few footsteps in the distance.
"Yes, Hop. I do want to come get them, and I also want to make sure you don't get dragged away while you're gone." She snaps back, "Now, shut up."
The two of them start to near the bus and his arm snaps out across her chest to prevent her from wandering any further. Ahead are two men, creeping around the old school bus, guns in their waistbands.
"They're here for them," Malia whispers, watching as one taps on the door, "Shit."
Hopper grits his teeth before stepping forward, Malia directly at his side with her hands curled into fists. She keeps her eyes trained one of the men, knowing Hopper has the other. They part ways, sending each other one last nod before speeding up towards their chosen opponent. When she as a reasonable distance, her hand smacks into the back of the man's head, sending his head flying forwards and straight through the weak glass of the large bus door and he collapses on the small steps, his unconscious body slowly slumping to the ground in a heap.
Malia's eyes flick from his body to her aching hand, "Holy shit. That was surprisingly easy."
Before entering the bus, she cranes her neck around the corner, noticing Hopper knocking out his man before dropping his body to the floor with a thud. He meets her gaze, sending her a nod so that she can enter. Quickly, she jumps past the step, and comes to a stop at the front of the bus, running her finger through her hair while the four children slowly rise up from their hiding spots. One girl, three boys.
"Hey," She smirks, waving her hand for them to follow before jumping back out of the bus, clapping her hands together, "Come on! Let's go! Hurry!"
The four kids rush after her, throwing their bags on and mumbling back and forth with each other. Malia walks in front of them towards the car and Hopper joins at her side, smirking down at her.
She stares up at him, her eyebrows furrowed, "What? Why are you smirking at me?"
He snorts, "Nothing."
Her eyes narrow and she inspects his face for a moment before rolling her eyes and turning away, causing him to chuckle once more and she runs her tongue over her teeth to prevent herself from pushing him in annoyance.
The children begin rampaging them both with questions, most of which Malia passes over to Hopper with a simple shrug. But one yell in particular causes her eyes to prick up at the familiarity.
"Malia?" A voice calls from behind them, and suddenly a small familiar boy is at her side, smiling up at her with a big grin.
Slowly, her eyes widen in realisation and she lets out a loud laugh before sliding to a stop, "Henderson? Dustin Henderson?" She laughs, pulling him into a hug while he smiles brightly, wrapping his small arms around her waist in return.
Dustin Henderson was the only child Malia ever agreed to babysit. He was well-behaved, on the most part and would bring the most fun to her week whenever she stayed over until late into the night. He was only nine when she nearly traumatised him by having a boy over at his house when he caught them together in the living room.
His smile grows while he pulls away, thankful that she could remember him, "How are you here? Involved in this?" Dustin asks, motioning his head towards Hopper and the car, "How are any of you involved in this?"
"Well, I was stupid and followed Johnathan and Nancy in the woods at night," She clenches her jaw, tugging on the ends of her sleeves, "We were looking for Nancy's missing best friend. Look, I'll tell you more about it later, but let's get you somewhere safe first, yeah?"
He nods gently and she throws her arm around his shoulders when they begin to walk again. She pulls the small boy into her side while her hand moves up to his head to rub his colourful hat playfully and he giggles, pushing her hand away.
❦
Back at the Byer's household, Mike scribbles messily on a thin sheet of paper before holding it up for the rest of the group to see and he uses the bright red marker pen as a pointer while he explains.
"Okay, so, in this example, we're the acrobat. Will and Barbara, and that monster, they're the flea. And this is the Upside Down, where Will is hiding." He explains, slowly dropping the paper, "Mr Clarke said the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space."
"A gate," Dustin simplifies, noticing Malia's confused expression.
"That we tracked to Hawkins Lab," Lucas adds.
Dustin purses his lips, "With our compasses."
Malia's eyes widen and she motions for the boy to continue explaining the complicated topic. She barely understands human cells, let alone gates to a magic world.
With a heavy sigh, Dustin continues, "Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the directions of a compass needle."
"Is this gate underground?" Hopper questions from the sofa chair, where Malia is perched on the arm of it next to him.
Finally, the girl speaks up, "Yes."
Hopper tilts his head, suddenly becoming more familiar to the location, "Near a large water tank?"
She nods gently, "Yes."
"How— how do you know all that?" Dustin asks.
Instead of waiting for the man to answer, Mike does it for him with wide eyes, "He's seen it."
Joyce shuffles closer to the small girl, her lip quivering and tears already beginning to well up in her eyes, "Is there any way that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this—"
"The Upside Down," The girl states, nodding and answering Joyce's question causing her to swallow thickly.
This causes Nancy's curiosity to grow, "And my friend Barbara? Can you find her, too?"
In a hurry, the group of children rush to the kitchen table, placing down their radio and flicking it on so the only noise playing is static. Jonathan slides the photo of Barbara's last sighting down in front of the girl while she gets seated. Mike hushed everyone as they crowd around the table, and the girl's eyes flick closed. Malia watches her carefully, her face screwed up in confusion while her and Hopper stand slightly further away.
A few moments later, the bulb above the table starts to flicker but instantly stops when the young girl's eyes snap over with a loud gasp. Mike is quick to be at her side, not saying anything but offering her a soft gaze.
"I'm sorry," She whispers, looking at Joyce.
The older woman's eyes grow wide with shock, "What?" She gasps, "What— What's wrong? What happened?"
The girl begins to tear up, "I— I can't find them."
Joyce is the first, and only one to break down into tears and Jonathan pushes away and sits slowly down on the sofa, his head resting in his hands while he attempts to hide his saddened sate. The girl slips out of the chair and carries herself to the bathroom, leaving everyone in a stunned silence.
"Right," Malia is the first to break it, "I'm beyond confused. Who is that girl? Why did she just go into some sort of trance? Is she a superhero or something? Can someone please explain because my mind is going crazy right now and I feel like I'm dreaming and—"
"Malia, stop," Dustin stands in front of her, clicking his fingers in her face to silence her rambling, "Her name is Eleven. Yes, she has magical powers. She has a connection to the Upside Down. No, she's not a superhero and you're not crazy."
"Holy shit," She whispers, turning around and covering her stunned face with her hands while she paces the room.
Mike watches her with a confused expression, and decides to switch the topic away from how deranged Malia believes she is. "Whenever Eleven uses her powers, she gets weak." He explains.
Dustin nods, "The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets."
"Like, she flipped the van earlier," Lucas says.
"She's drained, like a bad battery."
"Well," Joyce stumbles, "How do we make her better?"
"We don't," Mike states simply, "We just have to wait and try again."
"How long?" Joyce asks.
"I don't know," Mike shrugs.
"The bath," The girl appears beside Malia suddenly, causing the teenager to spring back in surprise, a shrill scream passing her lips for a second.
She lets out a breath, "Jesus christ, she's deathly quiet."
"I can find them," The girl whispers, ignoring Malia, "In the bath."
"The bath?" Malia's gawps and her head snaps over to Hopper, "Surely this is a fever dream."
He shakes his head, "Sit down, Mal," He points to an empty chair at the table, "Give that small brain of yours a rest."
She glares at him but does as he says anyway, quietly slinking down into a chair while Dustin dials his teacher's number into the Byer's telephone.
❦
Fifteen hundred pounds of salt, a large kiddie pool, a shit tone of water and Hawkin's Middle School's gym. That's what the plan consists of, and like usual, Malia is struggling to wrap her head around the absurdity of the situation.
Jonathan, Malia and Hopper and assigned to retrieving the salt, Lucas and Dustin set up the kiddie pool while Mike and Nancy work together to find a water hose.
"Can you stop throwing the bags so roughly, Hop?" Malia hisses, dropping another heavy salt bag to the floor.
"Stop complaining," He grumbles, passing one to Jonathan gently, and sending her a smug look, "Look, I don't want either of you near this, alright? Jonathan, your mum has been through enough already and Malia, I mean, you've been through enough."
"He's my brother," Jonathan snaps.
"Listen to me," Hopper grabs his shoulder, "I'm gonna find him, alright? You gotta trust me on this. I am going to find him."
Malia smiles at their interaction, chuckling quietly until another bag of salt is smacked against her body, and she stumbles back a few steps, groaning loudly and refraining from cursing at the Chief of police.
Across the campus, Nancy's hands are wrapped around a wheelbarrow and Mike throws a hose carelessly over his shoulder. She glances over at her brother while they trudge towards the gym.
"Hey," She comes to a stop, "No more secrets, okay? From now on we tell each other everything."
"Okay," He smiles, "Do you like Jonathan now?"
Nancy's mouth falls open and she knows that if Malia was with them, she'd be laughing her head off. She shakes her head firmly, gasping, "What? No. No, it's— it's not. . . it's not like that," She meets his eyes, "Do you like Eleven?"
"Ew! No, gross!" He exclaims, "Since when were you and Malia Garcia friends. You're constantly wittering on about how annoying she is, or how her anger has ruined something for you. She's been your enemy since you were a baby."
"She's still annoying, and her anger still ruins things," Nancy grumbles, "And she hasn't been my enemy since we were baby, we just haven't liked each other much."
Mike hums, clearly not believing her in the slightest, "Sure. Sure."
Once everyone was reunited in the gym, Nancy hurries to get the water turned on and Lucas shouts to inform her about the perfect temperature. Hopper, Jonathan and Malia empty the bags of salt into the water, swashing their hands in it so there's a fair distribution. Mike places the radio down a nearby trolley while Eleven removes her sock and places the blacked out glasses on that Joyce made for her.
Slowly, she makes her way into the water and the group falls silence while she positions herself correctly. Almost instantly, the lights flash off but no one looks away from Eleven. Malia's hands wrap around the edge of the pool, tightening with anxiety.
Gosh, she would do absolutely for a cigarette to relieve her nervous state. She promised Steve and Thomas that she'd stop, but the craving urge to have one between her lips to calm her anxiety is making her regret her promises.
Nancy's pleading voice brings Malia back to the current situation. The Wheeler sits leans forward slightly, noticing Eleven begin to mumble, "Is Barb okay? Is she okay?" Nancy questions frantically.
"Gone. Gone. Gone." Eleven begins to whisper but the more she repeats the word, the louder it gets, "Gone. Gone! GONE!"
Hopper grabs one of her fidgeting arms while Malia gently holds the other in place. She bites her lip, hating the sight of the young girl's face and how it's so terrified; whatever she is seeing, isn't good.
"It's okay," Malia tries her best to seem relaxing and for the first time in a long while actually attempted to truly comfort someone, "It's okay. You're okay. We're all here. Don't be scared. Mike is here," Malia nods her head at the young boy, who smiles softly, "So is Lucas and Dustin. We're all here."
The young girl falls still once more, and her body relaxes into the water, causing both Hopper and Malia to loosen their grips slightly.
"Will?" Eleven gasps, almost silently and if it wasn't for the tense atmosphere, she wouldn't have been heard, "Will?"
Joyce's eyes widen, "You tell him— tell him I'm coming. Mum is coming."
Eleven immediately repeats the woman's words, "She's coming. Your mum is coming for you. She is coming."
The radio crackles, causing everyone's heads to snap over to the troller in surprise. "Hurry. Hurry." Will's broken voice cracks out of the machine.
"Okay." Joyce moves her gaze back down to Eleven, "Listen, you tell him to— to stay where he is. We're coming. We're coming, okay? We're coming, honey." She rambles desperately.
"Just— just hold on a little longer," Eleven breaths, "Will?" Her body tenses, causing Malia's hand to wrap around the young girl's tightly, "Will? WILL!"
Eleven's body jolts up, throwing the glasses off and her arms wrap around Malia's forearm. The young girl presses her back to the edge of pool while she holds tightly onto Malia, who's now leant further forward so she's able to hug Eleven fully.
"I got you," She whispers into her ear, "I got you. It's okay. You did amazing. You did so so good."
Eleven let's out a loud sob and tightens her grip once more on Malia, who lets a single tone roll down her cheek. The rest of the group stare gloomily into the water, once more falling a terrifying silence.
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