GLORY DAYS ｡STEVE HARRINGTON

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE ; THE RETURN OF THE BLOODY NOSE

The corner of Max's pale lips turned up a little. "Thanks, Star."

"No problem, kid."

★☆

"So you're saying this...gate, could be closed again?" Stella asked, tucking her feet underneath her legs as she sat in one of the wooden chairs around the Byers' dining table. The entire group were all gathered around to discuss what their next move was, seeing as they had Eleven, who could probably save the entire world in her sleep if she wanted to. 

"Surely it can't be that hard, can it?" Jonathan asked, looking between El and Hopper, who seemed to have some sort of Father-Daughter dynamic going on, which was pretty adorable in Stella's humble opinion. "I mean, it can't be that big?"

"It's not like it was before," Hopper sighed, scratching the back of his head as he paced around the kitchen tiles. "It's grown. A lot. And this is considering if we can get back in there, that place is crawling with those dogs."

"Demo-dogs," Dustin rudely corrected, to which he received a handful of glares from everyone around him. From Hopper's confused and irritated expression, the boy cleverly decided to elaborate. "Demodogs. It's like, uh, demogorgon and dogs. You put 'em together...and it sounds pretty badass--"

"How is this important right now?" Hopper snapped, and Dustin sighed, turning away. 

"It's not, I'm sorry."

"I can do it," Eleven decided, looking up at the Chief, who didn't seem completely sure.

"You're not hearing me," Hopper said warningly, to which El challenged with a determined expression.

"I'm hearing you," she replied confidently.

"Even if El can, there's still another problem," Mike piped up, drawing the attention to himself. "If the brain dies, then the body dies."

"I thought that was the whole point," Max stated, a look of confusion evident on her features. 

 "It is, but if we're really right about this, I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayers army..."

"Will's a part of that army," Lucas realised quietly, to which a realisation of shock fell over everyone in the room. Stella felt her heart stop in her chest and she swallowed nervously, unsure of what to think or say. 

"Closing the gate will kill him," Mike concluded, and Stella's eyes fell to the ground, hoping there was a way around it. The poor boy had already gone through enough, he deserved nothing but happiness and love, but instead the universe decided to continuously throw a whole lot of bullshit at him. 

Joyce stood up from where she was sitting and trailed down the halls into her bedroom, where Will had been transported. Everyone followed suit, filling into the room easily. Joyce was staring at the window when Stella and Steve arrived, muttering to herself. "He likes it cold."

"What?" asked Hopper, his voice laced in uncertainty. 

"It's what Will kept saying to me," the mother elaborated, nodding towards the open window. She walked over to the end of the room and shut it quickly. "He liked it cold. We keep giving it what it wants!"

"If this is a virus, and Will's the host, then," Nancy trailed off, finally speaking up. She glanced down at Jonathan, who was kneeling at his brother's bedside.

"We need to make the host uninhabitable," he finished, and Stella quickly caught on. 

"So if he likes it cold," she continued, looking over at Joyce, who looked so exhausted in that moment, but fuelled by rage and the determination to save the dying boy she had failed to keep safe for so long.