"I still think this is a bad idea."

Eleven was sitting next to Jenna as they were on their way to Chicago, almost hitting the halfway mark. With them sitting in the back, it was easier to talk about things regarding Hawkins Lab without anyone eavesdropping. Though they already got odd looks from others who were probably wondering what two kids were doing leaving town by themselves. She was sure they thought the girls were runaways.

Turning her head, Jenna looked over to see Eleven staring at the picture of Kali from the newspaper article, and she assumed the girl was trying to focus on finding her again. After a moment of concentrating, she finally stopped when she saw Jenna watching her.

"Sorry," she said, quickly looking away. "I didn't mean to interrupt. Do you have a better idea of where she is in Chicago?"

"I think so," she replied.

"Good," Jenna stated, leaning back in her seat. "So, uh, we can talk about something else, if you want. You know, just to keep your mind off of her for a while."

She nodded her head. "Steve."

Jenna furrowed her brows, trying her best not to get frazzled over the sound of his name. "Steve?"

"He called your house," she explained. "Who is he?"

Feeling her heart beat faster and her face getting hot, Jenna tried to shake it off. "Oh, he's, uh, just a friend."

Eleven raised her eyebrows, not looking convinced by the response. "Friends don't lie."

Jenna let out a scoff. "I'm not lying," she retorted defensively. "We really are just friends." When Eleven kept looking at her with the same expression, she rolled her eyes and sighed. "Okay, so maybe there's a few complications."

"Complications?" she repeated.

"Yeah, stuff that could mess things up between us," she explained. "Like when we decided to hang out last night and..." Jenna trailed off, not sure if she should mention them being drunk for the majority of the night to her. "And we weren't thinking straight, which led to a stupid mistake." Pausing, she shook her head and shrugged. "Or maybe it wasn't. I don't know, honestly." Jenna shifted her eyes towards Eleven and chuckled. "Don't get involved with boys, okay? All they do is cause trouble."

Eleven gave her a small smile, but she could tell there was a hint of sadness in her eyes when Jenna said that.

They were quiet for the rest of the ride, and Jenna's mind drifted to thinking about Steve, thanks to Eleven bringing him up. She wondered if he ever made it to the house, even after she told him that she was about to leave. Did he tell Janet about what happened last night? Was he worrying about Jenna right now? Was he thinking about her like she was thinking about him? Or was Nancy still stuck in his mind? When was he not thinking about her?

Before Jenna could give Steve or Nancy another thought, the bus came to a stop, signaling that they had reached their destination. As Jenna and Eleven got off the bus and stepped onto the sidewalk, they were almost starstruck at the tall buildings, with bright lights shining down on us. Jenna remembered her mom taking her to Chicago once when she was little, though she couldn't remember a lot of it. Eleven, however, never been outside of Indiana, gazed at everything around her, a small smile forming at the corner of her lips as they walked past people laughing at one another (with the exception of two cops leaning against a police car as they tried not to look suspicious).

A man bumped into Eleven as he came off the crosswalk, turning around with a mean look on his face. "Watch it, kid," he snapped.

Eleven glared at him as he walked away. "Mouth breather," she muttered, which confused Jenna as to what that meant.

As they kept going, Jenna looked around every so often, getting a little paranoid. Anything could happen in a big city like this one, so they had to be extra careful, knowing the last thing they needed was to get into some kind of trouble while they were here. Of course, Eleven did the opposite of what Jenna wanted, leading them to where they'd find plenty of trouble.

"Are you sure this is the right place, El?" Jenna questioned.

"Yes," she answered.

So they went through an alley full of sketchy people with tents and fires on each side. Thankfully, most people turned the other way when they came by. But even then, they were both concerned that they'd have to use their powers to defend themselves, which would be a hard mess to clean up. It didn't take long for the girls to move swiftly out of the alley and towards the quiet again, reaching an abandoned building that didn't ease Jenna's nerves.

"This is it," she said once they stopped in front of the door.

Jenna took a deep breath. "Well, here goes nothing." With that, she opened the door and headed inside, with Eleven right behind her.

The first thing Jenna heard was other voices echoing all around, then the fire crackling nearby and laughter to follow. Jenna and Eleven slowly made their way towards the noise, Jenna's hands at the verge of sweating. She tried her best not to be nervous, but she couldn't shake the feeling off of her.

"You should do stand-up, Axe," the voice of a young woman said. "There's a spot a few blocks away."

"Hello?" Eleven called out.

Four figures turned their heads towards them, which already gave Jenna bad vibes.

"Well, well..." a man with bleach blond and dyed pink hair spoke up, a sly grin across his face. "What do we have here?"

A dark-skinned girl next to him scoffed. "What is she wearing?" she inquired, eyeing Eleven's outfit. "What are those, overalls?"

"There aren't any cows to milk here, kid," the girl from earlier added, her messy multi-colored hair somewhat tied together with one bow.

"Wow, you guys are so observant," Jenna retorted in a snarky tone.

"Well, how about you two scram and go on back to the farm now?" she snapped, folding her arms over her chest while smacking some gum in her mouth.

"If only we could, but we're looking for someone," Jenna explained.

"Is that so?" the man with spiked hair, Axe, she presumed, responded as he and his friends came over and surrounded us.

"We're looking for our sister," Eleven stated, her voice a little shaky.

"Aw, Shirley Temple and Demi Moore here lost their sister," he replied, smirking. "So sad."

"I saw her. Here." Eleven looked down and reached into her knapsack.

"Uh-uh," the bigger man with black skin interjected, stopping her from going any further. "Hand out of pocket. Slow."

Eleven obliged, pulling out the article about Kali and showing it to the others.

"Give me that shit." Axe snatched it from Eleven, his expression turned astonished, as if he knew something, passing the paper to the dark-skinned girl beside him.

"Is that Kali?" she asked.

Jenna raised her eyebrows. "So you know where she is."

"How did you find us? Who else knows you're here?" Axe questioned us sharply.

"No one," Eleven said truthfully, standing more firm this time.

"So what, then? Poof! You just show up like magic with that picture?"

"Hey, stay calm, Axe--"

"How can I when they can get us all killed?!" With daggers in his eyes, bringing out a knife. "If I have to ask again, you're gonna start losing things. Starting with those pretty locks of yours. Yeah?"

"Okay, wait a second..." Jenna intervened, stepping in front of Eleven as Axe was cornering them. "Look, we don't want any trouble..."

"Come on, Axe! Put down the knife!"

"How did you find us?" he repeated, sounding more irritated.

"She already told you--"

"That's not an answer!" he interrupted, shoving Jenna to the side to get to Eleven. Before he could do anything else with the knife, he froze and looked at his hand with wide eyes, then threw it onto the ground. "Jesus...Jesus Christ!" He began to move around, shaking off his coat and hair, as if there was something on him. "Shit! Shit!"

"You're a terrible dancer, Axel."

Looking up at the stairs, they saw a girl with black and purple hair with dark makeup and clothes standing there for a brief moment before walking down. Jenna and Eleven looked at each other, already knowing who it was.

"I told you, stay out of my head!" Axel scolded.

"So, we're threatening girls now, are we?" she retorted, hearing her British and Indian accent mixed together as she walked closer.

"They know about you," he said.

"The little one had this," the girl with multicolored hair added, handing over the article clipping to Kali.

She took a few seconds to examine it, then lifted her head and fixated her eyes on the girls. "Where did you get this?"

"Mama," Eleven said, taking the clipping back and stuffing it in her knapsack.

"Your mother gave this to you?"

"In her dream circle."

Axel scoffed. "Dream circle. I think she's a schizo or something."

"Says they're looking for their sister," the dark-skinned girl added.

"Yeah. Like I said, schizo." Axel went to pick up his knife when it suddenly flew out of his reach and into Eleven's hand. "Jesus! What the--"

"I saw you," Eleven told Kali, folding up the knife and handing it to her. "In the Rainbow Room."

Kali, still unsure, walked around Eleven to get a better look at her. "What is your name?"

"Jane," she said.

With another glance, she grabbed Eleven's wrist, rolling up her sleeve to reveal the tattoo there. Eleven did the same with her, showing the 008 on her wrist. When the two turned towards Jenna, she took a step forward and lined up her arm next to Kali's, showing her the faded mark of what was left of the tattoo. It was then that her face went from skeptical to certain that both Jenna and Eleven were just like her, that they were from Hawkins Lab and subjected to what they had done to them for so many years.

"Valerie?" she inquired.

Jenna hadn't heard anyone call her by that name, but she was surprised that Kali even remembered her. "Yeah, it's me," she replied, nodding her head.

"Sister," Eleven mumbled.

"Sister," Kali repeated, then pulled them both in for a hug, which caught Jenna off guard. Still, it felt nice, relieved that their reunion had a pleasant outcome.

*******

"So, you two have been in Hawkins this entire time?" Kali asked after spending a few minutes explaining to her what had been going on in Hawkins on the rooftop of the building.

"Yup, the whole time," Jenna confirmed.

"And you two only met just last year," she stated.

"Well, I had no idea about Hawkins Lab until I read my file," Jenna told her.

"You don't remember me at all, then, do you?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't. How much of me do you remember from the lab?"

Kali let out a sigh before responding. "I remember you and your parents. They used to come into the Rainbow Room with you a lot." She paused, her eyes going down to her hands. "I remember the fire. Next thing I know, you had escaped and your parents were..." She stopped again for a moment, almost choking up when she brought it up. "A lot of people died that day."

Swallowing hard to get rid of the lump in her throat, Jenna took a deep breath. "Yeah, well, it's a good thing I don't remember doing it. Or even anything about the lab."

Kali nodded her head, then focused her attention on Eleven. "So, you saw what happened to your mother when she came to get you?"

Eleven nodded. "Yes."

"And this memory she shared...that is your only memory of me?"

She nodded again. "Yes."

"And how long have you been with this policeman?"

"327 days."

Jenna still couldn't believe she had been gone that long and neither Hopper, Carter, or Dana said a word about it to anyone. What also surprised her was the fact that Eleven kept track of how long she had been in Hopper's care. She wondered why she was even counting the days in the first place.

"And this policeman, he thinks he can work out some sort of deal with these men to set you free?"

The realization then came to Jenna. Hopper was trying to protect her until it was safe for her to be placed back in society. Now she could understand a little bit more as to why he did what he did, along with having Carter and Dana not mention Eleven's whereabouts to the others.

"Yes. He says soon."

"He's naive, then. We'll always be monsters to them. Do you understand?" She paused long enough for Eleven to nod her head, then continued. "Let me guess...your policeman, he also stops you from using your gifts?" Eleven nodded again. "What you can do is incredible. It makes you very special, Jane." She moved her eyes towards me. "Same goes to you, Valerie."

Jenna shifted a bit in her spot, still not used to hearing that name. "Actually, it's Jenna. My name was changed after I escaped the lab."

Kali stared at her for a moment before replying. "You shouldn't have to hide who you are, who you were meant to be."

She had a hard time processing what Kali said, starting to feel confused. A few months ago, she knew that she was Jenna Howard, having to grow up with the name that she had only ever known her entire life until last year. Now, being in Chicago with Eleven and Kali, two girls that understood her more than anyone else, she didn't feel like she was still Jenna Howard. Maybe when she and Eleven left Indiana, they became Jane Ives and Valerie Murphy, two girls who were test subjects at Hawkins Lab due to their extraordinary gifts.

"So what's your gift?" Jenna asked.

"I can make people see, or not see, whatever I choose," she replied.

"Is that why you made the man with the crazy hair dance?" Eleven asked.

Kali smiled at this. "Axel is not so fond of spiders."

"So you made him see spiders?"

She nodded. "But it doesn't have to be scary." Opening her hand, she revealed a butterfly, changing colors from blue to green to purple to yellow as its wings shimmered and fluttered right before their eyes. "This butterfly, it isn't real. I've just convinced your mind it is." The insect flew above them, hovering over their heads. "Think of it as a kind of magic." Nothing happened when Eleven tried to grab it, but when Kali closed her fist around it, she opened it back up to find the butterfly had disappeared.

Eleven furrowed her brows. "Are you real?"

Kali nodded. "Yes, I'm real."

Eleven began to touch her face, which she and Kali began to giggle at each other, then Jenna chimed in. She was happy to see Eleven genuinely smiling, and it made her think that maybe coming here to find Kali wasn't such a terrible idea after all. Still, Jenna knew that the girl missed Hawkins just as much as she did and they'd have to go back tomorrow. Jenna just hoped she could convince Eleven that it was the right choice for the both of them.

After a while, Jenna and Eleven started to get tired. Kali took them to a room on the top floor, where she offered the bed for the night before she left to grab more blankets. When she came back and sat down in the chair across from the girls, it looked like she had been crying with how red and wet her eyes were.

"What's wrong?" Eleven asked.

"Nothing is wrong," Kali said. "I just feel...whole...now. Like...a piece of me was missing, and now it's not. Does that make sense?"

Eleven nodded. "Yes."

"I think your mother sent you both here for a reason," she stated. "I think she somehow knew that the three of us belonged together." She paused, sniffling a little. "I think this is your home."

"Home," Eleven repeated, her eyes welling up with tears as she grabbed a hold of Kali's hand.

"Yes, home."

Jenna's worries were now coming true as she saw Eleven's eyes light up with happiness. There was no way they could stay here. As much as she wanted to open her mouth in protest, Jenna figured it wasn't a good time to crush Eleven and Kali's hopes just yet. Though she knew it was going to be hard to split them up once they had to leave.

Once Kali left the girls alone for the night, Jenna and Eleven got settled in bed, wrapping themselves with the blankets to keep warm. Jenna looked over at Eleven and saw her staring up at the ceiling in deep thought.

"El, are you okay?" she asked.

"Yes," she answered. "I'm just thinking about home."

"You mean Hawkins?"

"No. Here."

Jenna's heart sank at her response as she let out a sigh. "Well, try to get some sleep."

Eleven nodded her head. "Goodnight, Jenna."

"Goodnight, El." Jenna turned my body away from her, switching the lamp off, being hopeful that she would change her mind about staying here in the morning. But deep down, she knew it was just wishful thinking.

~~~~~~~

A/N: Me? Writing this chapter in 24 hours? Do I get a gold star?

Anyway, Jenna and Eleven are in Chicago! What do we think so far?

Comment, vote, more to come soon since there's not many chapters left!

-A