judgement day

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

Gabe could hear Should I Stay or Should I Go playing from the shed as he sat inside with his new friends, receiving the radio signals from Hopper, who was relaying the Morse code he'd heard from Will. Since talking about past memories seemed to have worked, Jonathan was now relaying old stories to his brother, who was still inside, still trying to fight back against the Mind Flayer. The first signal blinked out of the radio now—dash, dot, dash, dot. Lucas scanned the guide, finding that their first letter was C.

They relayed it to Nancy, who was in charge of writing down Will's message, and it went on with Mike, Joyce, and Jonathan all telling stories to Will about his life before the Mind Flayer, all of the great things he'd done in his thirteen years of life. As Will listened, he fought against the Mind Flayer, tapping his code onto the side of the chair, and soon enough, the translating group had gotten his message. Two simple words.

Close Gate.

Nancy held it up, and all of them—Steve, Alina, Gabe, Dustin, Max and Lucas read it out loud. Close Gate. Gabe knew the gate meant the portal to the Upside Down that Eleven had opened last year, but before he had any time to process this—and how, exactly, they would go about closing it—the phone suddenly rang, its shrill, piercing tone rattling through the house. Gabe knew it could be heard from the shed, too, and tensed.

"Shit, shit." Dustin ran towards the phone, hanging it up quickly. For a brief, blissful second, the house was silent, but then it started to ring again. Before he could react, Alina had already shot a burst of energy at it, the red light crashing into the phone. It fell off the holder, dangling by its cord, and everyone knew they were royally screwed.

Everyone's eyes widened. Will may now know where they were, and he—well, the Mind Flayer—could send Demodogs after them. Here, inside the house, they were practically defenceless, with the exception of Hopper's guns, Steve's bat, and Alina's abilities. But Gabe knew that they wouldn't be enough, not against an entire army of those things. Apparently, full-grown Demogorgons were resistant, their thick, slimy skin somehow acting as a barrier against human weapons.

"Do you think he heard that?" Max asked, her voice tense.

"It's just a phone," said Steve. "It could be anywhere. Right?"

A screeching from the distance seemed to answer his question. Beside Gabe, Alina let out a cry, her vision splitting once more. Suddenly she was running across dark fields, saliva dripping from her teeth, heading towards her own home. Suddenly she had four pairs of legs and could feel other bodies like her beside her, but she somehow also was the other bodies, suddenly she could taste the blood in her mouth from her earlier meal and feel a force pushing her forward.

Alina opened her eyes, gasping, to find the others gathered by the windows, sick with anticipation. She got up to join them, peering into the darkened night for any sign of the Demodogs approach.

"That's not good," Dustin breathed, sounding tense.

"That's the understatement of the year," said Alina.

Mike, Jonathan and Joyce all soon burst into the house, Will slung over Jonathan's shoulder, unconscious again. Alina couldn't help but stare at the boy, thinking about what she'd seen in the void. Another ability she now knew she had.

There were only two.

Gabe, meanwhile, did not seem to take the news that they were about to be attacked very well. His chest heaved as he took in shuddering gasps, terror filling him as he studied the night. It seemed oh so very calm right now, with the soft strands of grass outside swaying gently in the wind, the clothes fluttering on the clothesline outside, and crickets chirping, owls letting out quiet hoots, but over all of that was the screeching as the Demodogs made their way over to the Byers household, where they all were sitting ducks.

Nausea rolled up in him, and he was about to proclaim how much he'd wished he'd stayed home before he remembered what Max had told him. How it was okay to be scared. That he had to fight back. He wouldn't let all of his new friends succumb to the darkness of the Mind Flayer.

Skywalker hissed at the door, and Gabe ran into the kitchen. He'd never been to Alina and Will's house before, but it was easy enough to find the block of knives beside the sink. He found himself clutching two as Hopper was the next to burst through the door, guns a-blazing.

"Hey," he barked. "Hey, get away from the windows!" For Alina, Lucas, Mike, Dustin and Max were all gathered there, peering through the curtains to look closer for any sign of an attack. They all jumped, scrambling to meet up with Gabe, Alina slower, hobbling on her still-injured leg, giving sheepish glances to the Chief.

Hopper held out one of the guns he was holding. "Do you know how to use this?" he asked Jonathan.

Jonathan blinked. "What?"

"Can you use this?!" Hopper repeated frantically. Sweat was beading on his forehead, and his voice was laced with panic. Gabe was starting to feel a lot less brave as he clutched his knives.

"Um—"

"I can," Nancy interrupted. Gabe blinked. Where had Nancy Wheeler learned how to shoot? That hadn't been a part of the whole story he'd been told back on the bus. Whatever. At least someone else knew how to fire a gun.

Hopper tossed her the gun without another word, and Nancy caught it, cocking it and aiming it outside. Steve, beside her, twirled his bat around in his fingers, and Alina was beside him, her palms sparking with red light. It sure did explain the scars he'd seen there on the first day they'd met, splotches of pinkish-red in the dead center. Hopper aimed his own gun at the window, and together, the four of them formed a shield. Of course, the Chief of Police didn't seem happy with a thirteen-year-old girl as one of the components, and tried to yank her back, but Alina dug in her heels, and finally he relented.

"Where are they?" Nancy asked frantically, her voice much higher than usual. "Where are they?"

Beside Gabe, Lucas pulled back the trigger of his wrist rocket, shielding his defenceless friends with his body. Gabe twirled his knives in his fingers, almost cutting himself in the process, and held them out, ready to stab anything and everything that tried to force its way through the door. He found that even though his breathing was extremely uneven, that even though he could feel the sweat forming around his collar, and could hear his heart thumping in his ears, he was in a strange sort of calm state. He'd surpassed extreme panic and now only felt his hands tremble in purpose as he awaited the inevitable attack.

Gabe turned to look at his friends. Alina's face was strangely blank, her jaw set. Lucas's mouth was open slightly, his eyes conveying the terror everyone else was feeling. Max looked like she was nearly about to cry, her lip trembling. Dustin stood, weaponless like Max was, his hat partially covering his eyes as he waited. Gabe saw the way his hands curled and uncurled into fists and knew he was thinking about Dart. Mike, on the very end, was clutching—what was that, a candleholder? —well, he was clutching something, his eyes wide, obviously having gone for the closest weapon possible.

And Will was unconscious yet again.

Brace yourself, Gabe, he thought to himself, clenching his knives tighter. It's Judgement Day.

There was a howling, then a barking from outside, and everyone gasped, swiveling towards the source of the noise. Skywalker hissed at the door, his claws out, and backed away, jumping behind the couch, hiding from the beasts that roamed outside.

"What are they doing?" Nancy asked, her voice breathless. Nobody had an answer for that.

There was a rustling in the bushes outside the window, and then a snarl. Everyone screamed again, twisting themselves for the second time, and Gabe found his clutch on his knives was getting even tighter. Blood trickled down his palm and he realized he'd cut himself with the blade, but his adrenaline and worry were both so high he could barely feel it.

More groans. More snarls. Alina let out a whimper from up front, her head bending for a moment, but after a moment she seemed to return back to normal. Gabe didn't even have time to wonder what that was about. Her palms were now so encased in the red energy that it had spread over her entire hands, looking as if they were encased in bright red gloves. He could tell it was hot from the moisture beading on her forehead and how her nose had turned red, but she held on, her fists clenched.

And then it all went quiet. Gabe had a moment of relief before a Demodog burst through the window, flying over the couch and landed awkwardly on the ground. Shards of glass flew everywhere, and everyone screamed yet again, trying to dodge the flying projectiles. Hopper let out a yell, and he and Nancy immediately began to shoot the creature, pounding it full of lead. It didn't move, and that was when Gabe realized it was already dead, flowery mouth open.

The group clutched at one another, Gabe finding himself holding onto Max and Lucas, and Dustin let out a faint yell as Alina accidentally burned his shoulder when she threw her arms around him. Hopper, always the brave one, took a couple of steps closer towards the dead Demodog, his gun at the ready in case it decided to move.

"Holy shit," Dustin breathed, rubbing at his burnt shoulder, which didn't look too bad.

"Is it dead?" Max asked, still unsure.

Hopper reached out and nudged the Demodog with his foot, the monster's head flopping away with a disgusting squelching noise. The creature didn't move, which confirmed it for those who had been skeptical at first.

A creaking at the front door suddenly sounded, and everyone whipped around yet again, their heart rates accelerating once more. As they all watched, horrified but also intrigued, the lock on the door twisted, and the chain holding the door shut slowly slid, falling off. Gabe was wondering when the Mind Flayer had taught the Demodogs how to pick locks, as he and the others held out their weapons, fear consuming them once more, when Alina spoke.

"Stop," she said. Gabe turned to look at her, finding that her hands were no longer red. Blood trickled down her nose, but she stared at the door with awestruck wonder, as if on the other side of the door was something truly spectacular. One hand now clutched her neck, which she'd somehow seemed to injure, but the other hand was on her stomach. "Stop," she repeated, her voice trembling with hope, "put your weapons down." She was somehow smiling now. "Trust me."

And it was a sign that everyone did that they lowered their weapons even while looking at her as if she was crazy. Gabe wondered if Alina was truly losing it when the door opened fully, revealing a pair of white sneakers and cuffed jeans.

Instead of a creature from Alina's worst nightmares, what entered her house was instead a girl. A ghost. A ghost with a black jacket and slicked back brown hair. The girl who entered, blood running from her nose, met Alina's eyes, her own rimmed with mascara, and Alina whispered one word, the word that had united them together so long ago.

"Magnet."

Because what had entered Alina's house was not a monster at all, but a ghost, because the girl standing in the doorway was Eleven herself.

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: we about to get that reunion!!! alina and eleven are finally back together again!! even though alina is possessed!! woohoo!!

how do you think alina's going to react when she finds out hopper hid her? she's definitely not going to be happy, is she. and do you think el will be able to sense what the others couldn't, and help her with her whole situation?? i guess we'll find out!!

'till next time!