CHAPTER 19
ELEVEN

A pair of dirty white Converse walked through the door, accompanied by rolled up jeans and and a black jacket with the collar up. The girl had slicked-back dark hair and dark eye shadow around her brown eyes. Blood slowly dripped from her left nostril, and the heavy stare she sent them said more to Veronica than anything else.

Hopper lowered his gun, mouth going agape. Mike Wheeler walked forward, as if gravity was forcing him to move towards the mystery girl. The rest of the kids stared in shock. When the girl caught sight of Mike, her eyes welled up with tears. A smile cracked on her once stone-cold face. Veronica slowly went to clutch Steve's arm, and even she was stunned at this action. Steve looked down at her gawkily, but Veronica felt his arm tense at her touch.

"Eleven," Mike breathed out, jogging towards the girl and engulfing her in his arms. The two kids looked so happy to see each other. They were so content in each other's arms, like they had been waiting for this moment for centuries.

Veronica's brow furrowed. She went close to Steve's ear and whispered, "This is the girl with the telekinesis, right?" She couldn't believe she was asking that question seriously, but she still watched Steve nod his head at the question. "I thought she was bald?"

Steve blinked at her. "Hair grows, Moreda."

Veronica looked away, opening her mouth to say something sarcastic, but then closed it when she realized she asked a stupid question. "Oh," she muttered, "right."

"I never gave up on you," Mike said as he leaned away from Eleven. Tears sprang from his eyes, and he couldn't stop them, nor did he want to. He felt a rush of butterflies flood his stomach as she smiled at him, and this was a feeling he had never felt for anyone before. It was truly exhausting. "I called you every night. Every night for –"

"Three hundred and fifty-three days" Eleven finished. "I heard."

Mike stared at her, hurt flashing across his eyes. "Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?"

"Because I wouldn't let her," Hopper answered, leaving everyone shell-shocked. "The hell is this? Where you been?"

Eleven snarled, "Where have you been?"

The two hugged, and Edward felt his eyes bug out of his skull at the sight. "So, wait," he said. "This is the reason why you've been requesting to leave early most nights?" Hopper tilted his head a bit to Edward, nodding his head.

"You've been hiding her?" Mike called out, glaring towards the chief. "You've been hiding her this whole time!"

Mike's fist pounded onto Hopper's back, who turned quickly to face the young kid. The punch barely made an impact on Hopper, though he was sure that he'd definitely have a bruise by tomorrow morning. "Hey," he called out, grabbing Mike by the collar, "let's talk. Alone."

Veronica watched Hopper usher Mike into Joyce's bedroom, and only seconds later, she heard the screams that erupted from Mike's mouth. She squinted at his loud voice, laying her head on Steve's arm, who found himself struggling on what to do or say with her clutching his arm. Maybe it was better for him to say nothing.

Eleven hesitantly approached Lucas and Dustin, who hugged her gently. The two boys relished in the warmth of their lost friend, even Lucas, who seemingly doubted everything about Eleven until he saw the true light of her powers last year. "We missed you," he said.

"I missed you too," Eleven replied.

Dustin giggled. "We talked about you pretty much everyday."

Eleven reached out as the two boys moved away. She caressed Dustin's face, flipping his lip up and furrowing her brow. "Teeth," she muttered. "You have teeth."

"Oh," Dustin grinned, "you like these pearls?" He growled flirtatiously, causing Eleven to frown.

Max stepped forward to stand in between Lucas and Dustin. "Eleven?" She smiled, putting out her hand. "Hey, I'm Max. I've heard a lot about you."

Eleven sent the new girl a glare and pushed through her. She walked over to Steve, who gave her a pat on the back with a large grin. His hair bounced as he did so. "Nice to formally meet you, kid." Eleven gave him an awkward expression as he nudged Veronica in the side. "This is Ronnie, my – uh ..."

Veronica looked at him and shrugged, not seeing her father's bewildered expression in the corner of the room. Eleven reached out and touched Veronica's hair, causing the blue-haired teenager to immediately turn. Eleven's eyes marveled at the faded tresses. "I ..." She paused. "I like your hair."

"Thank you," was the only phrase Veronica could breathe out. Eleven only sent her a smile before walking to Joyce.

The mother instinctively took Eleven in her arms and hugged her tightly. Joyce felt like her arms were going to give out, but she didn't care. "Hey, sweetheart," she whispered.

When the two leaned away, Eleven asked, "Can I see him?"

The two walked to Will's bedroom, where they had laid his unconscious body to rest. Veronica heard them whisper in the room, and she could only guess that Eleven was examining Will to see how bad he was. Minutes later, they strode out of the room. Eleven's eyes scanned the people facing her and waiting for an answer. She then approached the dining table, reading the words Will communicated to them through Morse code: CLOSE GATE.

"You opened this gate before, right?" Joyce asked.

Eleven paused before nodding, "Yes."

"Do you ... do you think if we got you back there, you could close it?"

She cautiously glanced towards Joyce, not bothering to answer. Truly, she didn't know if she could or not. The best she could do was try. She sat down at the table besides Joyce, who hugged her shoulders softly. The rest of the group gathered around them to discuss.

"The gate isn't like how it was before. It's grown –" Hopper paused "– a lot."

Veronica, while hanging her arm across Steve's left shoulder, held up a hand. "So then, how bad was it before?"

"Bad," Lucas answered quickly, and that was enough for Veronica.

"That's considering if we can get in there." Hopper continued with a frown. "The place is crawling with those dogs."

Dustin looked over his shoulder. "Demodogs," he corrected.

Hopper's face crinkled in confusion. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I thought you said they were called – uh ..." Edward was snapping his fingers, trying to remember the name. "Demo – Dema – Demodorgons?"

"One, it's Demogorgon." Dustin replied, holding up his fingers. "And two, I said, Demodogs. Like Demogorgon and dogs. You put them together. It sounds pretty bad ass –"

Hopper rubbed at his forehead. "How is this important right now?"

"It's not. I'm sorry," Dustin muttered as he spun back around. Veronica shook the kid's shoulder and sent him a sad smile, which Dustin appreciated.

Eleven looked up, meeting Hopper's eyes. "I can do it."

Hopper shook his head. "You're not hearing me."

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

"Even if El can, there's still another problem," Mike chimed in. "If the Brain dies, the body dies."

Max's brow furrowed. "I thought that was the whole point."

"It is, but if we're really right about this – I mean, if El closes the gate and really kills the Mind Flayer's army –"

Realization flashed across Lucas' eyes. "Will's apart of that army."

"So closing the gate will kill the kid," Veronica muttered. She threw her hands over her eyes and shook her head. "They don't make it easy, do they?"

Joyce sat in her chair for a long while, completely silent. The group looked to her for advice, but all they got was static. Then, Joyce hesitantly looked up to each and every one of them. She stood up and walked to Will, where he laid quietly in his room. They surrounded Will's room, scrunching up their brows in confusion at Joyce's plan of action. She crossed her arms over her chest, whispering, "He likes it cold. That's what Will kept saying to me. He likes it cold."

She went up to his bedroom window and shut it. Joyce spun back to the group. "We keep giving it what it wants!"

"If ... this is a virus," Nancy said, "and Will's the host, then ..."

"We need to make the host uninhabitable," Jonathan finished.

Veronica's eyes met Joyce's. "So if he likes it cold –"

"We have to burn it out of him," Joyce nodded.

"We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time," Mike suggested.

Dustin added, "Somewhere far away."

"Wait."

Everyone turned to look at Edward when he spoke. Veronica's brow shot up in surprise at her father possibly giving them an answer. When she viewed to him, he nodded his head in her direction and smiled. Edward then glanced to Hopper and said, "I know a place."

•••

A/N: Happy New Years everyone!!! Thank you for everything and for getting this story to 100k!!!!!!!!

( made by JustSav )