"Are there any more children I need to know about, you think?" Sloane asked her half-brother, who could only respond with a shrug. Mike and this random girl that had just entered the house and seemingly killed all the monsters outside were now hugging and the blonde was more confused than ever. Now, considering the last 24 hours, that was saying something. Sloane had heard Max refer to the girl as "El," so she figured that was a start.

"I never gave up on you," Mike said as the two of them pulled apart from the hug, "I called you every night. I called you for--"

"353 days," the girl, El, finished the sentence. "I heard."

"Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?"

It was then that Hopper cut into the conversation, "Because I wouldn't let her. The Hell is this, where you been?"

"Where have you been?" was El's only response as he pulled the girl into a hug. Now, Sloane was somehow even more perplexed.

"You've been hiding her," Mike connected the dots. Oh, this couldn't go down well. "You've been hiding her this whole time!"

"Hey!" Hopper exclaimed, so loudly that Sloane found herself taking a step back out of instinct, "Let's talk. Alone."

The two went into one of the bedrooms to talk, leaving everyone in the living room. Dustin and Lucas went to grab El in a hug, but Sloane just let out a breath of relief. Whatever this girl had done, she just saved their asses from those Demo-dogs. Sloane may put on a brave front, but it was all a facade.

"Did you really pick up the phone as a weapon?" Nancy asked with a small, teasing smile.

"Yeah, not all of us have guns, Nance," Sloane scoffed, putting the phone down as she poked Nancy in the side. The danger may not be completely eliminated, but Sloane was going to take her chance to breathe while she still could. While they were talking, she noticed Joyce taking El into the room where Will was, leaving even fewer people in the living room.

The people flooded into the kitchen as El was now looking over the message Will had given them.

"You opened this gate before, right?" Joyce asked, "Do you think if we brought you back there, you could close it?"

El nodded, "Yes."

With this, they began to figure out their plan.

"It's not like it was before, it's grown," Hopper explained, "A lot. And I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs."

"Demo-dogs," Dustin corrected matter-of-factly.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I said, uh, Demo-dogs. Like Demogorgon and dogs--"

Sloane cut in, sounding exasperated, "Yeah, we get it, Demo-dogs, can we just get a plan started, please?"

"Exactly, thank you," Hopper sighed.

"I can do it," El interrupted before Hopper or Dustin could argue over anything else.

The older man shook his head, "You're not hearing me."

"I'm hearing you, I can do it."

Sloane may not know much about this girl or why she's dressed like a knock-off Joan Jett, but she did know that El is the reason they're still alive and didn't get eaten alive by Demo-dogs. If this girl swears up and down she can close the gate that's letting those things loose, then Sloane is inclined to trust her. Why Hopper doesn't, she can't seem to figure out.

"Even if El can, there's still another problem," Mike intruded into the conversation, "If the brain dies, the body dies."

"I thought that was the whole point," Max spoke from across the table.

"It is, but if we're right that means--"

"No, no," Sloane realized what Mike was getting at. "Will is part of the body. If we kill the brain, we kill Will."

"We need to separate Will from the Mind Flayer before we close the gate," Lucas stated, his brow furrowing in concern. Realizing Will's life hung in the balance was heavier than the plan initially seemed.

There was one person who was still strangely silent -- Joyce Byers. However, judging by her expression, her mind seemed to be racing. Silently, she walked into Will's room, the rest of them following her.

"He likes it cold," Joyce observed the open window, the wind causing movement in the curtains.

"What?" Hopper asked.

"It's what Will kept saying to me," the woman explained further, "He likes it cold. We keep giving it what it wants."

She went over to close the window while Nancy spoke, "If this is a virus and Will's the host, then..."

"We need to make the host inhabitable," Jonathan concluded.

Nodding, the girl continued, "So if he likes it cold..."

"We need to turn up the heat," Sloane finished. "How can we do that?"

"I know a place we can go where he won't recognize," Hopper realized. "All right, pack the kid up let's go."

So, they got to work wrapping Will up in a blanket as the man tossed the passed out boy over his shoulder. They exited the house while he gave directions, "Take Denfield, then you'll see a large oak tree. You're gonna swing a right, the road is gonna dead-end. And it's about a five-minute walk from there."

"Okay, Denfield to oak tree, swing a right," Jonathan repeated as he opened the back door of his car. "That's it, but it's channel 10, right?" he asked in reference to the walkie talkies they would use to keep in contact.

"That's right, now listen," Hopper pulled Jonathan close in order to get the point across, "You let me know when that thing is out of him."

He walked away back into the house and went to talk to the kids. Sloane watched from the porch while Nancy and Steve searched for things in the pile from the shed that could be used to generate heat. They began loading into the car, Nancy following Jonathan and Joyce.

After a moment, Nancy turned to face Sloane, "You didn't think I was leaving you here, right? Come on, I know you hate kids."

"God, you know me so well," Sloane said with a breath of relief as she took off towards the car. She was thankful to be included but way more thankful to not be responsible with four kids, her brother, and Steve Harrington. It was simply too much for her.

They followed the instructions and made it to Hopper's cabin where they began unloading all their materials. Looking around the cabin, Nancy commented, "It's actually kinda nice."

"I wonder if this was where he was keeping El," Sloane wondered, "I mean, it's secluded enough. What's her deal anyway? How come she's the one that can close this gate? What does the gate even lead to?"

"The Upside Down," Nancy explained, "It's where the Mind Flayer is. El has some sort of powers and connection to it, so she's the only one that can close it. That's how she killed those Demo-dogs, it's kind of badass, actually."

"Huh, maybe I can tolerate kids if she's gonna keep saving our asses," the blonde said with a shrug as they began to set up everything they had brought.

Looking at the fireplace, Joyce suggested, "We'll do it here. This can be the main source of heat and then we have the radiators and space heaters, how does that sound?"

"This better work," Sloane sighed, "Jonathan, go grab Will, we'll move the bed over by the fireplace."

Jonathan nodded and went out to the car while Nancy and Sloane worked together to move the bed where they needed it to be. Just in time, Jonathan returned with the boy and placed him onto the mattress. The three of them went to work tying him down while Joyce placed as much wood as she could into the fireplace.

Once everything was set up, they surveyed the scene. Jonathan asked, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"This thing has had Will long enough," was all Joyce said, which was clearly reason enough for her. "Let's kill the son of a bitch."

With that, Nancy lit the match and tossed it into the fireplace. Sloane and Jonathan went to turn on all the other things they had brought with them while they waited for Will to awake. The room quickly became sweltering as everyone took off their coats and jackets. Nancy walked over and helped Sloane put her hair into a ponytail while they waited.

After the room became almost unbearable with heat, Will awoke with a start. He was struggling against the ropes when he asked in a shaky tone, "What's happening? It hurts. It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!"

They were forced to just stand there while they waited. He continued screaming, "Let me go! It hurts! It hurts!"

Instead of letting him go, Joyce cranked the heat up as high as she could on all of the heaters while Will continued screaming. Sloane kept herself close to Nancy, not being able to watch as the boy struggled against his restraints.

"Mom!" Jonathan cried out in objection.

"No!" was Joyce's only response.

"Oh, God," Sloane muttered while Nancy held her. Will's screaming rang in her ears as Jonathan looked away. Nancy reached over and embraced him with her other arm, protecting both of them.

"It's not working!" Jonathan yelled, "It's not working. Mom, are you listening to me?"

"Just wait!" she shouted in response, her eyes staying carefully on Will.

Jonathan was still protesting, "How much longer? Look... look at him! You're killing him!"

The boy went to untie his brother, but Joyce fought him while Sloane and Nancy tried to hold him back while they screamed at each other. This was the best chance they had and infighting was not something they needed to be dealing with right now.

"Wait, Jonathan, his neck, look at his neck!" Nancy exclaimed, pointing to the blackened veins that were crawling their way up his neck and towards Will's mouth.

"Oh, what the fuck?" Sloane spoke, sounding exasperated as she observed the boy. "It looks... it looks like it's starting to work!"

The veins began to consume Will's face as he convulsed and broke through his restraints. He grabbed onto Joyce as they tried to hold him back down. He grabbed Joyce in a chokehold while the other three worked to restrain the boy. Amidst the chaos, Nancy reached for the fire poker and held it into the flame before jamming it against Will's side. The boy screeched, but let go of Joyce who took a deep breath gasping. Will began screaming his lungs out and soon enough a plume of black smoke tore its way out of him and burst the door open. Nancy chased after it with Sloane not far behind. It dissipated into the atmosphere and the two girls took a deep sigh of relief.

"Holy shit, it worked," Sloane spoke, panting and out of breath from the heat. Without a word, Nancy reached over and pulled the blonde into a tight hug, both of the girls laughing in amazement. "I'd kiss you, Nance, if I wasn't super fucking sweaty right now."

Nancy laughed, "Yeah, ditto."

They went back inside while Jonathan and Joyce were leaning over Will, waiting for him to wake up. Joyce gasped as his eyes began to open slowly and Joyce pulled him into a hug. Sloane smiled as she watched the scene, keeping her arm around Nancy's waist as they watched the scene. After a moment, Jonathan reached for the radio and spoke to Hopper, telling him that Will was free. Sloane sighed, thankful that this would be over soon.

A few moments later, the all-clear came through the radio from Hopper. El had done it. The gate was closed. It was over. Sloane squeezed Nancy a little tighter.

They were safe.

"Next time you tell me it's a matter of life and death," Sloane began with a small chuckle, "Leave me out of it."

END OF PART ONE.

This is the furthest I've gotten through a fic in a LONG time lmaooo anyway part two will be in a little bit and then we get to see Sloane and Nancy in 1985 so that'll be fun lmao I hope you guys liked this and I can't wait for y'all to read part two :)