'MY JOINTS HURT', Mariella thought as she grabbed Mike's hand in one and Lucas in the other looking back to Dustin to follow as she rushes towards Eleven and crushing her in a hug. The boys following after. Usually, they would have overlapping chatter and excited banter.

But, considering the circumstances, all that could escape their mouths were sighs and heavy breaths. Lucas spoke first, mustering up shocked words. "We missed you," He tells her.

"I missed you too," Eleven responds, arms wrapped around Mariella's neck, outstretched towards Dustin, Mike and Lucas on the sides, hugging them too. It was some sort of messy, long, somewhat awkward group hug, but they didn't really care.

Dustin smiles into it. "We talked you pretty much everyday," He tells her as they begin to let go from the hug.

Eleven looks to him, bringing her hand up to his mouth. "Teeth," She comments.

"What?" Dustin asks, voice cracking.

"You have teeth," Eleven clarifies, Lucas, Mike, and Mariella smiling at the exchange.

Dustin beams, looking towards Lucas and nodding. "Oh, you like these pearls?" He purrs, rolling his R's.

Eleven chuckles softly, looking to Mariella. "You cut your hair," She points out, hand gesturing to Mariella's once waist-length hair.

She shrugs in response. "Long hairs such a bore," Mariella smiles, nudging Eleven's arm.

That's when Mike jumps in, tilting his head. "Where were you?" He asks, noticing the way Eleven looked towards Hopper before looking back towards them. "Why didn't you let us know you were alive?" He presses.

"I wouldn't let her," Hopper answers, walking towards Eleven and embracing her. "Where the hell have you been?" He asks her.

Eleven scoffs into the hug, Hopper kissing the top of her head. "Where have you been?" She asks him.

The party exchanges glances. "You've been hiding her?" Lucas says, voice worn with disbelief.

Hopper looks back at them, nodding. "I protected her," He responds.

"You couldn't just... Let her... Let us know she was alive?" Mariella goes on as Mike puts a hand around her shoulder and hugs her close to him — a way to comfort her.

Hopper sighs, walking towards her and ruffling her hair. "I'm sorry, kid," He tells her, not knowing what else to say.

She nods, closing her eyes. "I accept your apology," She tells him, nodding. Eyes tired and bleak. The boys nodded slowly after her.

♧

They stood crowded around the table, almost as if everything was normal. They'd been in this situation before, crowded around the Byers' dining table, searching their minds for a plan. It was like clockwork. It happened no matter what.

"It's not like it was before. It's grown. A lot. And, I mean, that's considering we can get there," Hopper sighs, looking between everyone's worried expressions. "The place is crawling with those dogs," He goes on.

Dustin looks to him. "Demo-dogs," He corrects.

Hopper looks down at him, confused. "I'm sorry, what?" He asks, furrowing his eyebrows.

"I said, uh, Demo-dogs," Dustin repeats. "Like Demogorgon and dogs. Like, you put them together, it sounds pretty badass—" He continues, tilting his head side to side while he explains.

Exhaling, Hopper raises his voice. "How is this important right now?" He shakes his head.

Dustin looking away with a sigh. "It's not. I'm sorry," He apologizes, looking down at the table before Eleven speaks up.

"I can do it," She says shortly, all heads turning to her.

Hopper blinks a few times. "You're not hearing me," He tells her.

Eleven nods, staring him in the eye. "I'm hearing you. I can do it," She tells him, confidence in her voice.

"Even if El can, there's still another problem," Mike butts in as he pulls his hand off Mariella's shoulder, everyone's eyes turning to him. "If the brian dies, the body dies," He goes on, shaking.

Max squints, shaking her head curiously. "I thought that was the whole point," She comments.

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

"Wills apart of the army," Lucas mumbles, realization beginning to set in.

Mariella sucks in a breath. "It'll kill Will," She speaks up, running a hand through her hair anxiously.

All eyes turn to Joyce, whose mouth was slightly agape, eyes wide at the words spoken. She gets up, wandering from the group, all of them following after her into her bedroom where Will laid in his hospital gown. Windows open causing the curtains the dance from the breeze.

"He likes it cold," Joyce whispers as she stares around the room, eyes darting from each direction.

"What?" Hopper asks.

Joyce's shoulder quiver before she turns to face her son on the bed. "That's what Will kept saying to me. He likes it cold," She nods, rushing towards the window and shutting it. "We keep giving it what it wants," She looks to them.

"If this is a virus, and Will's the host, then..." Nancy begins, staring down at Will's limp body.

Jonathan looks up. "Then we need to make the host uninhabitable," He breathes out.

Nancy nods. "So, if he likes it cold," She goes on.

Looking down at her son, Joyce bites her lip. "We need to burn it out of him," She says, clenching her jaw.

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

"Yeah, somewhere far away," Dustin agrees, and the room goes silent as they all begin to think, 'where would they do this?'.

And suddenly, it came to Hopper. Eyes widening and a knowing look coming over his face as he begins to babble on about the cabin which he had his Eleven for all those days.