They sat in the police station and Anastasia was sitting at her brother's desk. Anastasia smirked as she saw Nancy hold a makeshift ice pack to Jonathan's face.
A few minutes passed and Hopper, Oliver, and Joyce walked into the station. "Of course, you're here too," Hopper said as his eyes found Anastasia sitting at Oliver's desk. "You shouldn't be surprised at this point," Anastasia said.
"Ana, I need to talk to you," Oliver said and Anastasia was confused. She followed her brother to Hopper's office. "What's going on?" She asked.
"We found your mom," Oliver said and Anastasia's eyes widened. "What? I thought she was dead," Anastasia said.
"No, her mental state is completely destroyed. She isn't able to hold a normal conversation. She repeats six phrases over and over instead," Oliver said.
"But Hopper told me that she was dead," Anastasia said and Oliver gave Anastasia a sympathetic look. "He told you that because that's what it said. Turns out she leaves with her sister, but there's another thing," Oliver said and Anastasia stayed quiet with an intrigued look on her face. "That girl you told me about, roughly how old is she?" Oliver asked.
"I don't know. Twelve, thirteen, around there. I can't say for sure," Anastasia said and Oliver nodded. "Okay. We believe that this girl is a girl named Jane Ives," Oliver said and it didn't take long for it to make sense in Anastasia's mind. "I have a sister?" Anastasia asked out of pure shock.
"Yes, Ana. You have a younger sister. If we are right about this, your sister should be a thirteen-year-old going by the name of Eleven," Oliver said and then the office door opened and Hopper, Joyce, Jonathan, and Nancy walked in. "Sorry to interrupt, but we've got a few things we gotta talk about," Hopper said.
The conversation started with Nancy handing Hopper the photo Jonathan took of the creature. "You say blood draws this thing?" Hopper asked.
"We don't know," Jonathan said.
"It's a theory. We haven't been able to test it out yet," Anastasia said.
—
They were stuck in the chief's car watching the lab bring boxes of Mike's stuff out of the Wheeler's house. "I have to go home," Nancy said.
"No, you can't," Hopper said and Anastasia sat in the car picking at her cuticles. "My mom and my dad are there," Nancy said.
"They're gonna be okay," Hopper said and Nancy tried to walk towards her house, but Hopper stopped her. "The last thing in the world we need is them knowing you're mixed up in all this," Hopper said.
"Mike is over there," Nancy said.
"They haven't found him. Not yet, at least," Hopper said as he pointed to a helicopter. "For Mike?" Nancy asked as Hopper started to drag Nancy towards the car.
Anastasia noticed one person who was the last person she wanted to see. She was surprised she even remember what happened or who he was. "You okay, sweetheart?" Joyce asked and Anastasia nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay," Anastasia said and the worry in her stomach got worse.
"Come on, get in the car," Hopper said and now all three teens were sitting in the backseat while the adults were in the front. "Look. We need to find them before they do," Hopper said and Anastasia started to dig through her bag. She had the walkie in there somewhere. "You've got something?" Hopper asked.
"Yeah, give me a moment," Anastasia said, and then she pulled out a walkie. "Will gave it to me once I started babysitting all of them," Anastasia said and she pulled the antenna and made sure it was at the right channel. "Mike, Lucas, Dustin. Do you copy?" Anastasia asked and silence followed.
"Guys, it's an emergency. If you are there I need you to answer right now," Anastasia said as Hopper started to drive to the Byers' house. Just to have somewhere to be. Radio silence followed again.
They arrived at the Byers' house and Anastasia sighed as she walked in. "I repeat. This is an emergency! If you are there I need you to answer. I know you are in trouble, you need to tell me where you are, over," Anastasia said and she waited. "Yeah, I copy. It's Mike. I'm here. We're here," Mike replied and Anastasia sighed out of relief.
"Good, now tell me where you are," Anastasia said and she began to pace. "We are in the old junkyard," Mike said.
"Ok," Anastasia said.
"You guys stay here. I'll go get them," Hopper said and Anastasia's brows furrowed. "I'm coming with you," Anastasia said.
"No, you're not. You are staying here, I am not arguing with you about this," Hopper said and Anastasia was not happy about this verdict. "Fine. Bring them back in one piece," Anastasia said and Hopper left the Byers and got into his car.
"You really care about those kids, huh?" Nancy asked and Anastasia nodded. "Yeah, they are like four annoying little brothers," Anastasia said.
"They are lucky to have someone like you in their corner. I mean, I'm lucky to still have you in mine," Nancy said and Anastasia smiled. "I'll be in your corner forever, most likely. I'm not sure what could change that," Anastasia said.
"Oh, how's your ankle?" Nancy asked and Anastasia shrugged. "It's alright. It still hurts, but it's not too bad," Anastasia replied.
"What happened to your ankle?" Oliver asked as he was pretty close to the two girls. Anastasia's eyes widened. "Oh shit. You didn't tell him?" Nancy asked as she covered her mouth and immediately regretted bringing it up. "I got scratched," Anastasia said which was obviously a lie. "Anastasia," Oliver said sternly.
"What? It's true," Anastasia said and he gave her a knowing look. To the people who know her, It's obvious when she lies. "I'm not technically lying. It's just not a cat scratch," Anastasia said.
"Then what happened?" Oliver asked and Anastasia shared a look with Nancy. "I don't want to say," Anastasia said.
"Why not?" He asked.
"Because you'll be mad at me," Anastasia said with an innocent smile. "Anastasia Mae Madden, answer my question," Oliver said and Anastasia gave him a surprised look for using her full name. "Uh, how do I explain this?" Anastasia asked Nancy.
"We found a gate into the Upside Down and we went inside. We found this creature eating a deer and we tried to escape. While Ana was escaping it grabbed her and dug its claw into her leg," Nancy said.
"You're kidding, right?" Oliver asked and Anastasia and Nancy shook their heads. "Unfortunately, no. We are not joking," Anastasia said.
"Why did you go inside?" Oliver asked.
"We had to get answers and Nancy was going to go in there anyway. So I thought it would be a good idea if I went in there with her," Anastasia said, slightly hinting at the fact that she didn't exactly need any weapons to defend herself. "It's still stupid. Please tell me you guys brought something to defend yourself when you went in there?" Oliver asked.
"Why do you think we ran away?" Anastasia asked.
"Survival skills," Oliver replied.
"No, we didn't bring any weapons," Anastasia said.
"I figured," Oliver said and then headlights shined into the house. Anastasia didn't hesitate to run out of the house. As she got closer to the car, she saw Eleven, Mike, Dustin, and Lucas get out of the car. Mike detoured to see his sister first, but the others went to Anastasia, who gave them all a big hug. "What happened?" She asked Eleven as she took in her tired state.
"She overused her powers," Dustin said as Eleven was having a hard time finding the words. "Okay, let's get you guys inside," Anastasia said and she guided them towards the house. Then a pair of arms wrapped around Anastasia. She looked down and Mike was hugging her, Anastasia hugged him back and once he let go of her she guided him towards the house.
—
"Okay, so, in this case, for example, we're the acrobat. Will and Barbara, and that monster, they're this flea. And this is the Upside Down, where Will is hiding. Mr. Clarke said the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space," Mike said.
"A gate," Dustin said.
"That we tracked to Hawkins Lab," Lucas said and Anastasia started to feel anxiety again. "With our compasses," Dustin said and everyone but Anastasia was confused. "Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the directions of a compass needle," Dustin said.
"Is this gate underground?" Hopper asked.
"Yes," Anastasia and Eleven said in unison, which made everyone give Anastasia a weird look. "Near a large water tank?" Hopper asked.
"Yes," Eleven replied.
"How do you know all that?" Dustin asked.
"He's seen it," Mike said.
"Is there any way that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this-" Joyce started. "The Upside Down," Eleven said.
"Down. Yeah," Joyce said.
"And my friend Barbara. Can you find her, too?" Nancy asked, Anastasia was a little worried about Eleven possibly overusing her powers, but at this point, she knew that she couldn't do anything to stop her. Eleven probably got that from Anastasia.
—
Everyone stood around the table watching Eleven tune the radio to where she needed it to be. The light began to flicker then stop. Eleven opened her eyes, she couldn't do it. She was too tired. "I'm sorry," Eleven said.
"What? What's wrong? What happened?" Joyce asked.
"I can't find them," Eleven said and Anastasia placed a comforting hand on her head. "It's okay. Go rest up and we can try again when you feel better," Anastasia said and a wave of exhaustion hit her. The number of hours she had got last night was catching up to her. You can only last so long on three hours of sleep. "Okay," Eleven said and she stood up and walked in the direction of the bathroom.
Anastasia rubbed her eyes trying to keep herself awake. "Are you okay?" Mike asked and Anastasia nodded and walked over to the couch. She laid down and she almost immediately went to sleep, which wasn't her intention but wasn't surprising.
Anastasia woke up in the middle school hallway. There were people with guns standing toward her with their guns aimed behind her. But when she looked there was no one there. Then the lights began to flicker and a tall shadow started to show up. Anastasia knew what this was. The sound of bullets being released from the guns echoed across the halls and then it was followed by the echoes of running.
Anastasia followed the sound of the footsteps and when she arrived the creature was already there. The kids all stood around the creature, throwing everything and anything at it. Then, Eleven stepped forward, she raised her hand and the creature was flung into the wall. Eleven kept the creature there. Blood started to come down her ears and Eleven began screaming. That sound was a sound Anastasia never wanted to hear.
The creature disappeared into dust and Eleven followed. Anastasia felt her heart break as she watched her sister die in front of her eyes. Then the sounds of sirens approached. "Ana. Ana! Wake up," A muffled voice said.
—
"She's definitely not okay," Mike said and Nancy nodded. "Yeah, she's tired. It's understandable," Nancy said.
"What's going on with the girl?" Nancy asked changing the subject. "Whenever she uses her powers, she gets weak," Mike said.
"The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets," Dustin said.
"Like, she flipped the van earlier," Lucas said.
"It was awesome," Dustin stated.
"But she's drained," Mike said.
"Like a bad battery," Lucas said as everyone was still standing by the table. "Well, how do we make her better?" Joyce asked.
"We don't. We just have to wait and try again," Mike said.
"Well, how long?" Nancy asked.
"I don't know," Mike said, then Eleven walked out of the bathroom. "The bath," Eleven said and everyone turned to look at her. "What?" Joyce asked.
"I can find them. In the bath," Eleven said and Dustin immediately went to call Mr. Clarke. "Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?" Dustin asked and Joyce nodded. "I think so. Yeah," Joyce said.
"Good. We just need salt. Lots of it," Dustin said.
"How much is 'lots?'" Hopper asked and Dustin looked over his paper. "1,500 pounds," Dustin said.
"Well, where are we gonna get that much salt?" Nancy asked and they came up with the idea of going to the middle school. "Someone wake up Anastasia. We got to go," Hopper said as he started to grab stuff around the house.
Nancy walked over to Anastasia and lightly shook her. Then she took in the panicked state of Anastasia. "Ana?" Nancy asked as she continued the light shaking. "Ana! Wake up," Nancy said as she began to panic. Anastasia's eyes opened, "what?" Anastasia asked.
"We're going to the middle school. Come on," Nancy said and Anastasia just thought back to her dream. She didn't want them to go to the middle school, but she couldn't tell them to not go. Anastasia nodded and she stood up, she felt slightly more awake, but also more tired than she had originally.
She got into the car and they began to drive to the middle school. Anastasia couldn't tell if her dream was real or fake. She thought it was her mind trying to cause her harm, but then again, maybe it was a warning.
Anastasia tried to ignore it and when they arrived at the school she immediately jumped into action to whatever her job was. Which right now was to help out the pool up, which was more complicated than she anticipated.
—
The pool was set up and the water was filled to the top. Now it was time for the salt to go into the water. As they were putting the salt in, Eleven joined them and she immediately went to Anastasia's side. "Are you sure you're ready for this?" Anastasia asked and Eleven nodded. "Yes, I'm ready," Eleven said and Anastasia hesitantly nodded. "We're ready!" Dustin yelled.
"Remember, Joyce and I will be right there with you the entire time. If it gets too scary then stop. You don't need to do anything that you don't want to do," Anastasia said and Eleven nodded. "Okay," Eleven said and she stood and walked towards the pool.
Anastasia followed her and helped Eleven into the pool. Joyce handed her the goggles and she put them on. She started to lay down, and Joyce and Anastasia guided her down. The lights began to flicker until they turned off entirely.
Anastasia sat by Nancy waiting eagerly for anything about her friends. "Barb?" Eleven called out and Anastasia shared a scared but hopeful look with Nancy. Eleven's breathing got heavier and more panicked which cause Anastasia's heart to drop. The emergency lights turned off. "What's going on?" Nancy asked.
"I don't know," Mike answered.
"Is Barb okay? Is she okay?" Nancy asked as she waited eagerly for an answer. "Gone. Gone. Gone," Eleven said in a panicked voice. Anastasia grabbed Eleven's hand as she tried to hold back tears. "It's okay, Eleven. Find Will now," Anastasia said as her voice broke mid-sentence. "It's okay, we're right here. We're right here, honey," Joyce said as she grabbed Eleven's other hand. Eleven started to calm down.
"Castle Byers," Eleven said and Anastasia felt her heart beat a little faster out of worry about what she will find. Anastasia carefully removed her hand from Eleven's and went over to Nancy and hugged her. Nancy cried into her shoulder and Anastasia let a few tears fall, but quickly wiped them away. Anastasia wasn't overly fond of crying in public.
"Will?" Eleven said which pulled Anastasia away from the hug. "You tell him I'm coming. Mom is coming," Joyce said.
"Your mom, she's coming for you," Eleven repeated.
"Hurry," Will's voice said over the radio. Anastasia sighed out of relief at hearing his voice. "Okay. Listen, you tell him to stay where he is. We're coming. We're coming, okay? We're coming, honey," Joyce said.
"Just hold on a little longer. Will. Will? Will!" Eleven yelled and the static returned for a moment before breaking to hear a low growling noise and panic became clear on Anastasia's face. "Eleven, it's okay. It's okay. You're okay," Anastasia said and Eleven shot up and took the goggles off. Anastasia quickly wrapped her arms around Eleven. "You did good," Anastasia said.
"I'm sorry," Eleven said as she leaned into Anastasia. "You have nothing to be sorry for," Anastasia said and Eleven nodded. This didn't cause Eleven to stop crying though. Anastasia didn't blame her, she had no idea what Eleven could've seen, but she knew it wouldn't have been good. "It's okay," Anastasia reassured and she managed to get the girl out of the pool and into a towel.
—
"So this fort. Where is it?" Hopper asked.
"Uh, it's in the woods behind our house," Joyce said as Hopper prepared to leave. "Yeah, he used to go there to hide," Jonathan said as Hopper started to walk away. Jonathan and Joyce followed him out of the gym.
Nancy walked up to Anastasia, who was trying to not cry in front of the boys. "How are you-" before Nancy could finish Anastasia quickly left. Once she was out of the gym she completely broke down. Nancy caught Anastasia as she fell. Nancy also had tears in her eyes. "It's all my fault. I knew I shouldn't have left her alone. I should've known better," Anastasia said through sobs.
"It's not your fault. You couldn't have known something was going to happen," Nancy said as the tears fell down her face. Anastasia was against the wall with her legs pulled up to her chest. "I know, but I shouldn't have left her. I should have convinced her to come with me or stay there with her. I mean I live right next to his house! I could've waited," Anastasia said and Nancy felt her heartbreak.
She didn't think about how guilty Anastasia could have felt when Barb went missing. It never even crossed her mind. She has never seen Anastasia so crushed by something and it hurt her to see her friend so broken.
Nancy sat down next to her friend. "You shouldn't feel guilty about it. It wasn't your call to stay there. If I just went down there like she asked she'd still be here," Nancy said hoping to make Anastasia feel less alone about her guilt. "I want to kill it," Anastasia said and Nancy looked over at her friend in surprise. "What?" She asked.
"I want to kill it," Anastasia said and Jonathan walked into the room and Anastasia quickly wiped her cheeks and pulled herself together the best way she could. He sat down next to Nancy and Anastasia zoned out while looking at the floor, all she could think about was how she failed her friend.
She felt guilty and selfish. She could have lasted in those wet clothes a little longer. Maybe she could've fought off the creature. Used her powers to destroy it before it could hurt anyone else, but no. She got cold and wanted to change and in return, her friend gets attacked and killed by an animal and it was all her fault.