Ana knew she should probably be comforting El, but she couldn't provide any emotional support to her daughter till she got herself sorted first. Besides, El had plenty of friends to console her in the meantime. Ana figured she deserved a few moments of selfishness, given the circumstance.
Murray floundered for a few seconds, his mouth gaping open and closed like a fish out of water. He eventually settled on, "I don't think that's a good idea, Ana."
If Murray wasn't going to give her what she wanted, then he was useless to her. Striding past the bespeckled man, Ana approached Dr. Owens with purpose in each step.
"Ana, I'm so sorry," the doctor echoed Murray's earlier sentiment, but she threw up a stiff hand, halting any unwanted condolences in their tracks.
"Shut up," Ana seethed. Then, she thought better of it and squared her shoulders while squelching down all other antagonistic impulses. Her voice was flat when she instructed, "you're going to take me down there, and you're going to take me down there now."
Dr. Owen's eyes traveled over her shoulder to Murray, where they undoubtedly shared a wary glance over her demand. "Ana, I can't do that," the doctor muttered. He felt for her surely, but dragging a pregnant woman down into the destruction that now was the Russian lair, was less than ideal.
Ana let out a bark of humorless laughter at his dismissal. Taking one step closer to Dr. Owens, her eyes bore into him. "You see how calm I'm being right now? Yeah, there's a finite limit to that. I wouldn't waste it arguing. Lest you're ready for what comes after."
There was no more debate as Dr. Owens succumbed to her request begrudgingly.
Murray and Joyce joined him and Ana on their trek back through the still burning mall, into the elevator shaft, down the long tunnel, until they finally reached the machine room. The entire journey was deathly silent. Ana could feel the other three sharing concerned stares behind her back, but she couldn't be bothered with their nervousness.
Smoke still lingered in the air, along with the smell of burning metal.
The room, the machine, were all much larger than she'd imagined. A thin orange line still glowed on the far wall where the gate was slowly closing itself.
"Where?" Ana questioned Joyce, the only person privy to the events which led to Hopper's demise.
Joyce lifted a shaky finger and pointed at the walkway, which ran adjacent to the now ruined machine.
Murray tried to catch her arm, tried to stop her from stepping forward, but Ana slipped right through his grasp.
"Here?" Ana whispered, staring down at the vacant platform. Joyce only nodded her head mutely in confirmation.
There was nothing there. Nothing but twisted metal and broken parts. No remnants of the man she loved.
Ana bit the inside of her cheek harshly, and her nails dug into the palms of her hands, leaving half-crescent indents in their wake. Anything to keep her grounded until the appropriate time when she could float away with her sorrow, but that time wasn't now.
"Where's what's left?" Ana muttered. Maybe to herself, maybe to the crowd carefully watching her every move. She wasn't entirely sure.
Joyce let out a heavy sigh before answering. "There's nothing left, Ana. He's gone."
Those words carried with them the impact of a freight train, colliding into her at a hundred miles an hour. Her whole body was numb, and her mind hazy, but Ana could feel her heart violently contract at the notion, and she was surprised it didn't cease all beating in that instant. She clutched to the barely perceivable bump on her stomach for some semblance of sanity.
YOU ARE READING
STRANGER THINGS HAVE HAPPENED_JIM HOPPER
Fanfiction[COMPLETED UNTIL SEASON 5] Ana Thompson always seems to wind up in the strangest predicaments... A perpetual victim of Murphy's Law, Ana finds herself arriving in Hawkins, Indiana just prior to the events of November 6th, 1983. And, just prior to f...
