||𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕||
Joyce and Hopper sat opposite one another at the kitchen table of the Byers' home. The house was cold and hardly lit, copies of newspaper clippings scattered all around the house. One of the only light sources was a dusty chandelier that hung from the kitchen ceiling above the table and their heads, illuminating the several papers.
"Look, we gotta go through this again." Joyce insisted.
"I told you everything that I saw."
"Oh, gosh," she sighs into her hands. "Tell me again."
"Upstairs or downstairs?" Hopper asked.
"Upstairs."
"There was a laboratory. It was where they must do experiments or something, and then there was... well you see, like I said, I got turned around."
Hopper was currently sharing all he had encountered on his rogue mission at Hawkins National Laboratory. Joyce, all the while was hanging on his every word.
"I told you, it was like, I don't know, it wasn't supposed to exist. That whole area, it was abandoned and... forgotten, like it was all some big mistake. Once I found my way back, I saw that... kid's room. That other kid's room, I mean. Like it was actually used, but it didn't even look like a kid's room, neither of them did. It looked like a prison."
Hopper sighed and rubbed the bottom of his palms into his eyes tiredly, is fingers held the lit cigarette inches away from his face as he did so. "If that even makes sense,"
"Well," Joyce began, trying to get to the bottom of this never ending mystery. "So why would you think it was a kid's room, then?"
"Because, I told you, the size of the bed, there was a drawing, there was a stuffed animal--"
Joyce interrupted the man quickly. "Y-You didn't say there was a drawing."
"Yeah, there was a drawing of a... an adult and a child. It said 'Eleven' on it."
"Was it good?" Joyce pressed.
"It was a kid's drawing, Joyce. It was stick figures."
Joyce had a knowing look on her face as she stood up with a sigh, retrieving a piece of crinkled line paper and slammed it down on the table for Hopper to see.
She pointed to the detailed drawing as she sat back down.
"Wasn't Will." She stated confidently, shakily bringing the cigarette back up to her lips.
Hopper examined the drawing and everything seemed to click. He returned his gaze to the anxious mother. Hopper quickly put out his cigarette in the ashtray and made a beeline for the coffee table.
"Earl..." he muttered, as he made his way into the living room. Joyce, who had abandoned her cigarette, was right on his heels.
"The night that Benny died, Earl said he saw some kid with a shaved head with Benny," Hopper and Joyce took a seat beside one another on the living room couch, Hopper's eyes fixed on the several news clippings splayed along the wooden coffee table. "Now, I pressed him, he said it might be Will, but maybe..."
The man began shifting through the papers, and Joyce spoke up.
"Wait... Maybe, it wasn't?"
Hopper pulled the article he had been looking for and pointed to the fuzzy photograph of the woman in the article.
"Look... this woman, Terry Ives, she claims to have lost her daughter, Jane. She sued Brenner, she sued the government... Now, the claims came to nothing, but what if... I mean, what if this whole time I've been... I've been looking for Will... I've been chasing after some other kid?"
||𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕||
Everything is a mess.
Will is still missing, the party is falling apart, Mike and Lucas are still angsty messes that won't speak to one another, and now, El left us. She probably thinks I hate her.
'But I don't! I was just scared'
(Ok but like,,,, who else ships El and reader cause damn I've been giving myself feels lately, dang)
'We need to fix this'
I sigh and sit up from my bed and make my my way to Dustin's room.
⊹ ⊹ ⊹
"I just... I can't believe she didn't come back." Mike sighed.
Dustin and I agreed we needed to talk some sense into the rest of the party. So we got our bikes and made our way to Mike's. Dustin was standing opposite Mike while I currently occupied one of the D&D chairs I had pulled up. Mike was worriedly pacing the floor in front of us.
"She's gotta be close." Dustin offered.
"She said it wasn't safe. She just messed up the compasses because she wanted to protect us. She didn't betray us."
"Mike, calm down."
Mike only ignored Dustin and kept talking, more to himself than anybody it seemed.
"I shouldn't have yelled at her. I never should've done that."
"Mike, this isn't your fault." Dustin said.
"Yeah, it's Lucas'."
"It wasn't his fault, either." Dustin countered softly.
For the first time in what felt like ages, Mike stopped in his tracks. He looked at my brother dumbfounded and took a few steps in his direction. "It wasn't his fault?"
"No."
"So you're saying he wasn't way out of line?"
"Totally, but so were you!"
"What?"
"And so was Eleven."
"That's ridiculous! Y/n, tell him he's being ridiculous!"
Very calmly, I stood up with my arms crossed and stood next to my brother, and sighed, eyes fixed on Mike. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but Dustin is absolutely right."
Mike seemed even more furious. "Oh, give me a break!"
Dustin snapped at these words and stormed up to Mike. "No, Mike, you give me a break! All three of you were being a bunch of little assholes! Y/n and I were the only reasonable ones! But the bottom line is... you pushed first. And you know the rules. You draw first blood..."
"No! No way! I'm not shaking his hand."
"You're shaking his hand." I press, stepping forward.
He was sure to make eye contact with me over Dustin's shoulder as he spoke. "No, I'm not."
So I strode toward him and gave him a slight glare.
"This isn't a discussion. This is the rule of law. Obey or be banished from the party. Do you wanna be banished?" I asked firmly.
Mike crossed his arms and pouted before speaking up meekly. "No."
"Good!" I chirp, my face beaming as if we hadn't just been fighting which seem to only terrify him more.
I all but skipped over to the chair grabbing my coat, Dustin following my actions.
"Where are we going?" Mike asked with a hint of frustration.
"Where do you think?" Dustin asked as he put his arms through the sleeves of his coat.
"We're going to get Lucas." I finished, straightening my jacket then looked back to Mike.
My face softened and I tilted my head slightly. "And then we're gonna find Eleven."
⊹ ⊹ ⊹
The three of us stood on Lucas's porch and I rang the doorbell. We stood waiting until the door swung open and Lucas stood there glaring at all three of us, but mostly Mike.
"What do you want?" He spit, resting his hands in his pockets.
There was brief silence which was then interrupted by a muffled smack of Dustin hitting Mike in the arm.
Mike sighed softly and looked to Lucas, clearly hating every second of this.
"I drew first blood, so..." he extended his hand for Lucas to shake but Lucas didn't move.
Great. Of course nobody was going to make anything easy. Why would they?
⊹ ⊹ ⊹
Somehow I had convinced Lucas to let us all in and now, we all stood in the middle of his living room as he paced silently across the floor considering Mike's offer. He finally stopped and stared at the three of us.
"Okay, I'll shake."
Mike sighed what I barely made out to be a "finally" as he extended his arm out once more. Dustin and I perked up, that was until Lucas continued.
"On one condition. We forget the weirdo and go straight to the gate." He finished, arms crossed defiant.
"Then the deal's off." Mike barked.
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
"No, no, not fine! Guys seriously?" Dustin yelled, as I threw my head back frustrated.
Dustin forced Mike to face him as he spoke. "Do you even remember what happened on the Bloodstone Pass?"
Lucas and Mike shared a confused glance.
Dustin seemed shocked and offended that they had no recollection and continued.
"We couldn't agree on what path to take, so we all split up the party and those trolls took us out one by one. And it all went to shit. And we were all disabled! So we stick together, no matter what!"
"Yeah, I agree. But this is the party, right here in this room."
"El is one of us now."
"Um, no, she's not. Not even close! Never will be. She's a liar, a traitor--"
"She was just trying to keep us safe! She didn't mean to hurt you. It was an accident!"
"An accident?"
"All right, accident or not... admit it, it was a little awesome." Dustin said.
"Awesome?"
"Yeah, she threw you in the air with her mind!"
"I could have been killed!"
"Would everybody just shut up for one second, please!" I snap.
Everybody looks to me, a shocked expression on their faces.
I step forward and begin my long awaited rant.
"I am sick of your attitude." I point at Lucas. "I am sick of your whining." I point to Mike. "I am sick of all three of you bickering," I gesture to all of them. "I love you guys and I can't thank you enough for taking me in and including me, know that, but GOD I am tired of being stuck listening to you boys argue about every little thing!"
I myself began pacing, my voice continuously rising. "I'm sick of putting up with all your petty arguing when we should be looking for Will only to come home at the end of the day, having found NOTHING and crying my eyes out because the only person who never gave a shit about who started what is missing and probably dead!"
I stopped pacing and looked to the boys who were all silent. I sighed and lowered my voice. "Lucas, you're right. You could have been killed. Which is exactly why we need her. She is more powerful than all of us combined."
"Y/n's right. Do you seriously wanna fight the Demogorgon with your wrist rocket?" Mike said, anger still in his voice. "That's like R2-D2 going to fight Darth Vader. We're no use to Will if we're dead."
Lucas looked torn for a moment, but then he shook his head and pointed at the three of us. There was disappointment in his voice. "If you three wanna waste your time looking for a traitor, go ahead, 'cause I'm not spending my time on her anymore. No way!"
I sighed, putting my face in my hands. Lucas continued.
"I'm going to the gate. I'm going to find Will."
Lucas shoved the boys aside and stormed off, leaving the three of us alone in more ways than one.