while everyone was outside in the shed preparing, caroline sat next to the redhead who was in a state of shock.
caroline could hardly even bare the thought that her name was nicole granger, to her it sounded fake. it sounded like a pen name you put on those books you write for fun or on your school notes so the teacher doesn't find out you were the one who passed the letter to the girl across the class.
nicole granger or caroline harrington
she was at a crossroads on which name she felt was more her
as nicole granger, she had her parents who tried their best to protect her. until dr brenner took her and made her his own, made her his own experiment, giving her the title of 004. then steve came along that cold night she escaped the laboratory, he called her caroline. and from then on she felt truly at home, truly at home with steve.
"i cant believe this shit. you're such a badass" max chuckled as she squeezed her best friends left hand
•••
"okay, care, im gonna take will" the oldest byers boy said, walking into the house with a soft smile
"okay, do you have any meds? for pain?" caroline replied, standing up from her chair in the kitchen and holding her side
"oh, yeah, for sure. let me grab them for you"
jonathan byers came back with a bottle of medicine in his left hand and a glass of water in the right. he handed them to her softly, being careful to not hurt her previously injured wrist
"so, basically, my possessed brother sprained your wrist, and a demodog sliced your hip open" the byers boy said with a chuckle
"yeah, it's totally, totally tubular" she said with a giggle, watching as jonathan picked up his little brother from the couch, giving her a small laugh.
"i'm glad you're safe" he smiled, exiting the room
•••
from inside the house, everyone who wasn't in the shed with will sat around the kitchen table, reading caroline's file
"so your real name is, nicole granger?" nancy wheeler asked, passing the file back to max
"yeah i guess" caroline stuttered with a shrug
a tear ran down steve's cheek as the truth settled in that she probably wasn't going to keep the name caroline harrington. that was his sister, he helped nourish and build her back up. nicole didn't feel right, but if it's she wanted, he'd be more than okay with it.
"i can call you nicole" steve smiled, placing his arm around her waist, careful not to hurt her injury.
"no, i may not have originally been caroline, but that name is from you. that name is from my brother. the name, caroline harrington, it came right from your mind, steve. you're my family now, i'm never not gonna be caroline harrington" the girl sniffled, looking at her brother with the green eyes he'd found comfort in since day one.
the two siblings exchanged in a warm hug, leaving the rest of the members inside the house to question the relationship with their siblings. especially maxine.
"okay, okay, we get it you guys love each other. now let's go stop this mind flayer thing." max said with a chuckle
"oh, shut up." caroline said, pulling the redhead into her hug with steve
•••
it felt like hours had passed, but it had only been minutes since will byers was taken into the shed for a brief interrogation from his mother, his brother, mike wheeler, and jim hopper.
everyone else remained inside the home, doing their own things. dustin was constantly checking the window, nancy was standing against the wall, max and lucas were talking in the hallway, and steve and caroline were practicing their bat swings.
"so, you hold it like this" steve whispered, placing his hands at the lower area of the wooden bat
she nodded her head, sighing as she looked at the bat which was filled with nails
"and then you just, swing" he said, stepping away from his sister before swinging the bat
caroline jerked back as the bat slightly scared her
"and if it's a demodog, you swing like this"
he swung again, the girl tilting her head as she wasn't really scared anymore
"okay, now do you wanna try?" steve asked lightly, holding the bat towards her
"yeah, total-" caroline was interrupted by the flickering of every light inside the house
"holy shit" steve said, pulling the bat back to himself and swinging it over his shoulder
caroline quickly sat down at the table, focusing on will's voice from within the shed
"guys, he sounds wrong! it doesn't sound like will!" she screamed, her nose starting to bleed
"what's he saying?" dustin asked quickly, taking the girl's hand in his to keep her calm
"he's screaming 'let me go!' his voice is getting deeper and deeper" she gasped, breathing heavily as will's voice intensified each second
the anxiety rose in the room for a solid 30 seconds before caroline finally spoke the 'all clear' of will's episode
"okay, he's slowing down" she exhaled, the flickering lights inside the house stopping and going back to normal
she wiped her nose with a piece of tissue max had handed her and stood from the chair, "he's okay now, but it's inside of him. the mind flayer is inside of him."
•••
minutes later, hopper burst into the house, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen
"what happened?" dustin asked eagerly, hopper pushing past him to sit down at the table
jim hopper began to draw lines and dots, "i think he's talking, just not with words."
"hey, what is that?" steve asked, looking at the dots and lines on hopper's sheet of paper
"morse code" mike, dustin, and lucas said at once, leaving steve in a state of mind to feel like an idiot. he'd felt like that a few times in the past couple days, fighting monsters from the upside down didn't seem to be his forte.
steve nodded his head as hopper began to spell out the letters
"H-E-R-E"
"here" everyone said in unison, caroline and mike looking up at each other and raising their eyebrows. caroline sighed and stepped away from the table, grabbing her side in slight pain
"will's still in there. he's talking to us" hopper sighed, putting the pen down
•••
"dash, dot, dash, dot" dustin said, writing on the paper
"okay, got it." lucas stated, moving his finger down the coding sheet
"C" max blurted looking at nancy
nancy wrote a C on the paper with her pencil, biting her cheek as the process continued
the group kept doing the same process, hopper clicked the sounds through a walkie talkie inside the shed, dustin wrote them down as he listened to hopper, lucas found the letter, max named the letter, and nancy wrote that letter down
about three minutes had passed and the current letters were C-L-O-S-E-G-A-T-E
and those just happened to be the only letters they needed to solve the puzzle
"close gate" caroline said quickly, understanding the letters before anybody else could even begin to realize the word
the group of 5 looked at caroline, blown away on how she knew the puzzle so quickly
"jeez caroli-"
the phone began to ring, the group gasping as dustin ran over to the ringing phone
"shit! shit!" dustin yelled, quickly ending the call.
the phone began ringing again, this time nancy grabbed it, yanking it from the wall and throwing it down the hallway
"do you think he heard that?" max sighed
"it's just a phone. it could be anywhere. right?" steve replied, looking at his sisters best friend
"guys listen" caroline said, looking at the group
everyone stopped their light conversation and tried to hear what caroline was hearing. that sound being the monsters roaring in the distance "that's not good" dustin exaggerated, looking out the window towards the sound
everyone quickly turned around as hopper, mike, jonathan, and joyce ran inside the house, jonathan holding his younger brothers limp body
"hey. hey, get away from the windows!" hopper yelled, the 5 kids turning and backing away from the glass space on the wall
"do you know how to use this?" hopper asked, holding a gun out to jonathan byers
"what?" he stuttered, looking at the weapon frantically
"can you use this?" hopper emphasized, shaking the gun before his face
"i can." nancy yelled, stepping in front of jonathan, grabbing the gun from hopper's hands
steve tried to block caroline, twisting the bat in his hand and holding it behind his shoulders
"steve, what are you doing" caroline whispered, trying to get past him
"i'm not letting you risk yourself again, care"
"i can fight, steve, let me do what i'm meant too" the brunette stated, stepping next to her brother, lightly lighting a fire inside her palm
"holy shit" jonathan said, watching the girl rotate the fire in her hand. he was one of the few who hadn't seen her powers yet, and he had to admit, they were badass.
a few chuckles surfaced in the eerie room before the sounds of the demodogs low growling took the room into a silence
everyone had their guns and weapons at the ready, prepared to kill anything that came towards the house. if they stood as one, as a team, they could defeat the evil, it just depended on caroline being strong enough to do most of the work.
"where are they?" max yelled, hiding herself near lucas sinclair and his mighty wrist rocket he'd used as a trustworthy weapon for 2 years
a loud thud took place outside the house, everyone turning to their right to face it
caroline moved the fire between her hands, occasionally switching to wind considering she didn't want to burn joyce's house down if she didn't have to
"what are they doing?" nancy asked, holding the gun right before her face, ready to shoot
the bushes began to rustle outside the windows as another loud thud took place to their left
they turned again, everyone breathing heavily and plastering worried expressions across their faces each time the demodogs made a noise
a demodog groaned from outside, caroline quickly expanding the flame of fire inside her palm, the fire reflecting in her eyes.
the monsters screeching suddenly stopped, putting everyone on an edge. it wasn't supposed to be this quiet, something else was out there.
after a few seconds of sudden silence, one of the demodogs flew through the front window of the byers home, screams and gasps taking over the room as it laid lifelessly on the floor.
"holy shit" dustin and caroline said in unison, turning to look at the lifeless monster
"is it dead?" max stammered, looking closely at the creature
hopper moved the head of the creature with his foot, no movement besides the kind hopper inflicted onto it.
everyone began to rest their weapons as a lock on the front door suddenly moved. the door unlocked as caroline stepped in front of majority of the group. her fire power was definitely the best bet to kill the monster that was out to get them. she didn't have much strength left, but she was going to fight. she was fighting for her friends, fighting for her family, and she was even fighting for eleven.
the door began to creak open, a pair of white converse making their way into the room
everything acted in slow motion as caroline threw her hand down, watching as none other than eleven stopped in her tracks while stepping into the byers' damaged living room
mike came around caroline's side, his eyes filling with tears. el's mouth opened as she began to cry, blood running down her nose. eleven was finally able to see the love of her life after 353 days. and unknowingly, seeing her sister, 004, after many traumatizing years