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chapter eight

"JUST SAY IT," Diana demanded of Lucas, once Joyce had brought Eleven to see Will and a fuming Mike had disappeared with the Chief. Apparently Hopper had been hiding Eleven.

Lucas narrowed his eyes. "You were right." He said the words through his teeth and Diana smiled, she wasn't done yet.

"And what else?"

His eyes became slits, and he forced the next words out. "I won't ever doubt you again."

She patted his shoulder, satisfied. "She knew?" Dustin blanched as Diana went to the kitchen. She picked up the piece of cardboard that read 'CLOSE GATE'.

Eleven could be the one to do it. The question was, would she do it?

Diana sat at the table and put her head in her hands. She was starting to get a headache. A non-supernatural one. Behind her lids flashed a possible futures and glimpses of what needed to be done for the best outcome, yet the best outcome was never the perfect one.

That was unsettling.

"You opened this gate before, right?" Joyce's voice came, pulling her from her thoughts. She looked up to see Mrs. Byers and Eleven before her, staring at the same cardboard.

"Yes," the young girl answered. The line of blood dripping from Eleven's right nostril made Diana slightly uncomfortable. It also made her question what exactly happened in the girl's brain when she used her powers for it to happen every single time she used them.

Joyce leaned closer to Eleven. "Do you think, if we got you back there, you could close it?" Everyone, aside from Chief Hopper and Mike, approached the table. Eleven didn't reply to the question. Joyce looked to Diana. "What do you see?"

All eyes were on her. She thought for a moment, recalling the information she'd gathered. "I see the gate closing, and I'm 99.9% sure it's Eleven who closes it, but the timeline is wacky. And every time I see an ending, there's always more where there shouldn't be." She sighed. Joyce sat down at the table.

"Don't look that far into the future then," Mike said, entering the room with Hopper trailing behind him. The latter stood against the wall nearest the table and Mike came to stand around the table with everyone else.

She pursed her lips. "Can't help it, not when I'm looking specifically for an end."

"What do we need to do?" Steve asked from where he stood beside her.

"Decide on something, so I can gain some perspective," she suggested, squeezing her hands.

There was a long pause then Hopper sighed. "We know that it's not like it was before. It's grown. A lot." Spanning almost the entire town to be specific. "And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs."

"Demo-dogs," Dustin interrupted. Diana rolled her eyes, unsurprised.

Another sigh. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I said, uh, demo-dogs. Like demogorgon and dogs," he rambled. "Like you put them together. It sounds pretty badass—"

Aggravation flittered across Chief Hopper's face. "How is this important right now?"

"It's not. I'm sorry," Dustin said turning away in embarrassment.

"I can do it," Eleven let out softly, her voice holding conviction. That cleared things up slightly for Diana.

Hopper looked at the girl. "You're not hearing me."

"I'm hearing you. I can do it," she replied, her voice louder.

A look of defeat settled on the man's face. Mike began to speak then. "Even if El can, there's another problem."

Will. Diana shook her head. "She can't close it right now, not at this moment."

"No because if the brain dies, the body dies," Mike explained. That was another thing messing with the timeline.

"I thought that was the whole point," Max said, not understanding.

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

Lucas's voice came suddenly. "Will's apart of that army."

"Bingo," Diana said underneath her breath.

"Closing the gate will kill him," Mike finished. Everyone was quiet for a moment.

"I don't see that happening," Diana let out after a while. It could still be a possibility though. Her words weren't truly set in stone. She looked at Joyce's blank face. "Mrs. Byers will know what to do."

Joyce got up from her seat abruptly and everyone else followed her. Diana stayed at the table.

She sighed as her headache intensified. "There," she said as the timeline straightened itself out. She winced when the image of a struggling Will passed behind her lids. Then there was what she assumed to be the gate. It was a horrifyingly beautiful sight. The air around it was filled with white flecks. It was almost like snow, but instead of falling it floated as if there was no gravity. At the entrance she could just barely make out the shape of the mind flayer. Just as large as her drawings depicted it. It wasn't a physical thing, not even in its own dimension. It was a terrifying thing though.

It was reaching out, but the gate began to seal close. Its army would be a problem at this point, but the gate would still close. That should've been the end, but she only saw death after that, no one she knew personally, but death all the same. Then mounds of flesh, and snow, and teary faces. Then another demogorgon, fully grown nothing like the babies lurking around this town. Then darkness.

Her eyes fluttered back to the present. She could feel a pair of arms around her shoulders. Her brother's familiar jacket was a dead giveaway to who it was. Some of the group had returned, well everyone aside from Jonathan, Nancy and the adults. They stared at her with wide eyes. Steve's outstretched hand fell to his side once he realized she was aware again.

"You're not supposed to do that," Lucas, reprimanded, his voice shaking as he pulled away. She knew immediately what he meant. She'd gone too far into the future, stretched herself too thin. She could feel it now. A drop of blood tickled the skin below her nose. She quickly wiped at it. That hadn't happened in a long time.

"Sorry," she whispered, feeling stupid. "It was an accident."

"Yeah, whatever," he replied, leaving the room without a glance back.

Shit.

Dustin's loyalty was contingent on her being as safe as she could possibly be with her abilities.

"Care to explain what just happened?" Steve asked, breaking the silence.

Dustin spoke too, of course. "Yeah, it totally looked like you were possessed or something."

"You wouldn't stop shaking, and your brother swore that the only thing to do was try and hold you still," Steve finished.

Eleven stared at her, eyes burning into her head. "Looked too far into the future, which is not really safe for me to do."

Eleven moved silently to her side and took her left arm. The girl pushed up the sleeve of her jean jacket. Eleven frowned at the inside of wrist. "You are not like me?"

Diana gently pulled her arm away, giving the girl a sad smile. Eleven's brown eyes were confused. "Not in the way you mean."

"How far into the future did you go?" Mike asked, coming up behind Eleven.

"A year, maybe more. You're all still there," she said with a weak smile. She thought so at least. She looked at Eleven. "When you get to the lab, it'll be waiting at the gate. Remind Hopper to bring extra bullets."

She rose from her seat. They'd already made their plans it seemed. They all went out to the porch. She looked for Joyce, and jogged to the wide eyed woman. That was probably a mistake considering it had caused her some fatigue. "He's gonna make it, but it's going to get worse before it gets better."

She knew they were going to burn the Mind Flayer out of him. Make the host uninhabitable.

Genius, really.

Joyce squeezed Diana's shoulders and got into the car where Jonathan, Nancy, and an unconscious Will waited. Chief Hopper then called Eleven to his own car. They quickly drove off, leaving the rest of them staring in their wake.

"I'm going to go rest now," she announced as she went back into the house. She glanced at the dead demo-dog, slime dripping from its skin. "Somebody get rid of that thing please."

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Something crashed against the wall, and she jerked awake. She'd been in a dreamless sleep before then. Diana looked around the messy room, forgetting where she was for a moment then everything came flooding back.

Groggily she moved to the kitchen, eager to see what all the fuss was about. Max, Mike, and Dustin all wore horrified expressions. It was like a bucket of ice water had been poured over head. Her grogginess was forgotten as she noticed the cause of the expressions. Billy Hargrove had her brother pinned against a shelf. He screamed in her brother's face, something about his sister.

"I said let me go," Lucas growled, kneeing Billy in the nether regions. That forced Diana into action, adrenaline rushing through her blood. She grabbed Billy's shoulder as he promised Lucas he was dead now.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" She shouted at him. She kneed the boy too, he doubled over, probably regretting the tight jeans today. His chest rose rapidly through his unbuttoned shirt. "Don't. Touch. Him." She punched him squarely in the nose. "Again. You asshole." She punched him again, this time in his jaw. He groaned. She let her nails dig into the skin at his neck, but someone pulled her back.

She knew it was Steve just from the smell of his hair gel. His hands wrapped around her waist and placed her behind him. "Diana, stop."

She stood on the tips of her toes to look over his shoulder at Billy. "Try me bitch," she called, blood rushing in her ears.

Steve turned as Billy charged in their direction. Steve threw a right hook straight at him and it hit home. Billy doubled over for a moment before laughing as he came up. Freaking maniac. He nose was bleeding and so were the little tiny crescents on his neck. "Looks like you got some fire in you after all, huh?" He moved his arms in a wide motion. "I've been waiting to meet this King Steve everybody's been telling me so much about." Their faces were inches apart now. He was seething. "You and your little bitch gonna tag team me now? Is that how this is gonna go down?"

"If that's what you—"

Steve interrupted her, his eyes never leaving Billy. "Lucas, your sister." Two hands immediately locked her wrists in a death grip from behind. She didn't look back to see who pulled her away, as anger rushed through her. "Get out." Steve pressed two fingers to Billy's chest pushing him back.

There was a pause, then Billy threw a punch which Steve avoided by ducking. The kids began to cheer him on as he punched Billy two more times, leaving the latter pinned against the sink. The sicko laughed the entire time.

Billy then slammed a plate over Steve's head, effectively throwing him off his game. Things had taken a turn for the worst. Billy punched Steve passed them and into the living room. He grabbed Steve by his jacket. "No one tells me what to do."

Diana broke free then, hopping onto the boy's back, but he knocked her straight onto her ass, and kept moving as if she hadn't even done it. He had Steve on the floor, repeatedly punching the poor boy. Diana watched in horror.

Max moved past her, a syringe in hand. The redhead slammed it down into her step-brother's neck. His punching stopped and he staggered to his feet. He spoke almost unintelligibly before falling to the ground. Diana quickly moved to Steve, her hands moving to gently cup his blood covered, swollen face.

Tears burned at the back of her eyes. He was unconscious, not a good sign. She can't believe she'd missed all of this, forgetting to note events she was directly involved in.

Max yelled at her brother to leave her and her friends alone, using Steve's infamous bat to be even more threatening. Billy eventually slurred his agreement. Diana heard the bat clatter to the floor and a pair of keys jingling.

"Let's get out of here," Max said, voice calm.

"Uh, shouldn't Diana drive?" Mike asked almost timidly.

Eyes wide and hands shaking, Diana shook her head. "I am not driving a stolen car that belongs to a white man who, by the way, is unconscious right now. Do you know how that looks?" Silence. "Ok, then Max will drive. You've done it before haven't you?" She looked to Max.

"Yes."

She took a shaky breath, unsure with her decision but unwilling to say that. "Good, now somebody get me the first aid kit."

hey! there's only one more chapter for this season and i'll probably publish it soon. thanks for reading and don't forget to vote and comment.

-syd