𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍 [𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚝𝚘𝚗]

IX

┓

please

┗

𝚗𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 10𝚝𝚑 1983
𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚢𝚎𝚛'𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎
𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚘𝚘𝚗

"i have to go home" nancy says, "no, you can't" hopper says to her. "my mom and my dad!! they're over there chief" she says before going to walk towards them but hopper grabs her arm, stopping her. "they're gonna be okay" he says to her and she begins yelling at him to let her go.

"hey, hey, hey, listen to me" he says and she relaxes while turning to face him. "the last thing in the world we need, is them knowing you're mixed up in all of this" he tells her, calmly.  "mike is over there-" he cuts her off, "they haven't found him" he points to a helicopter, "not yet atleast"

"look, we need to find him before they do, do  you have any idea where he might have gone?" hopper asks nancy and valentine, valentine shakes her head, "no, i don't" nancy replies. "we need you both to think" hopper says. "i don't.. i don't know i mean.. we haven't talked.. lately atleast" nancy stammers.

"is there any place that your.. your parents don't know about that he might go?" he asks. "not that i know of" valentine says. "i might" jonathan says, "i.. i mean i don't know where they are but i think i know how we can ask" he says and with that, the chief drives off.

"mike, are you there? mike?" nancy says into will's walkie talkie. "mike it's me, nancy... mile, are you there?? answer.. please" she near enough begs, he doesn't reply. "mike we need you to answer" she says. 

"this is an emergancy mike, do you copy?"

no answer.

"mike! do you copy?" she repeats. valentine then takes the walkie talkie.
"we need to know that you're there, josh, mike, anyone" she says into it a few seconds before its snatched out of her grasp. valentine is ready to say something to them before looking and seeing the chief with the walkie in his hands.

"listen, kid, this is the chief. "if you're there, pick up" he says, "we know you're in trouble   and we know about the girl" he says.

"we can protect you, we can help you, but you gotta pick up.. are you there? do you copy? over" he says.

after a few second and still no answer he tosses the walkie into valentine's lap. "anyone got any other ideas?" he asks and as soon as those words leave his mouth, the walkie begins to make some noise.

"yeah i copy.. its mike, im here" he pauses, "we're here" he says.

he tells the group of his whereabouts and the chief drives off to go get them.

valentine sits down on the countertop in the kitchen of the byer's household, her head against the fridge, mentally noting to thank the lord for the most peaceful twenty minutes she's had in the past few days.

her peace is interrupted not to long after. "mike?! oh my god! mike!!!" nancy says, valentine's head shoots up from nearly dozing off and she runs to the porch and hugs her brother immediately. "i was so fucking worried about you josh, so fucking worried, im glad you're okay" she says, "yeah.. me too" he says.

"i was worried about you too but uh v.. i can barely breath, you're squeezing my diaphragm" he says and she pulls away, holding his shoulders and the two laugh slightly, it's insane how they're both wrapped up in the sam situation but didn't know until a few minutes ago.

"is that my dress?" nancy asks and valentine looks over to see the the girl from the quarry.

"okay, so, in this example, we're the acrobat. will and barbara, and that monster, they're this flea and this is the upside down, where will is hiding" dustin explains.

"mr clarke said the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space" dustin continues his explanation, "a gate" mike says, "that we tracked to hawkins lab.. with our compasses" josh says.

"kay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the directions of a compass needle" dustin informs everyone besides the three boys with him during the explanation mr clarke originally gave.

"is this gate underground?" hopper asks, "yes" the girl, who valentine learnt was called eleven, replies. "near a large water tank?" hopper asks, "yes" eleven says, "how does he know all of that?" valentine asks, "he's seen it" mike states out of realisation.

"is there any way that.. that you could reach will?" joyce begins asking eleven, "that you could talk to him in this.." eleven can sense that she is searching for the words, "the upside down" she finished her sentence, "down, yeah" joyce agrees and smiles softly at eleven.

"and my friend barbara?" nancy asks, "can you find her too? please?" valentine asks.

we all surround the table, radio static's all around, as eleven uses her mind to try and find them.

"i'm sorry.." eleven says as she turns the radios off with her mind, "what?? whats wrong? what happened?" joyce asks, valentine dreading the answer, digs her nails into her palms.

"i cant find them" she says and joyce's face falls and she puts her head into her hands. eleven goes to the bathroom. disappointment and fear fall over the table. they weren't disappointed in eleven, she had done so much for the people in the room, they just wanted will and barb back. the human body process emotions in a weird way.

"whenever she uses her powers, she gets... weak" mile explains. "the more energy she uses, the more tired she gets"

"like she flipped a van earlier" josh says, "it was awesome" lucas says and the pair start gushing over the experience but soon gather the hint when valentine and hopper look at them sternly.

"but she's drained" mike says, "like a.. bad battery" dustin states. "how do we make her better?" valentine asks, "we dont, we wait for her to build up the energy and try again" mike says, "well, how long?" nancy asks, "we don't know" he says to his older sister and sadness falls upon them all once more.

"the bath" eleven says, "what?" joyce asks"i can find them" eleven says, valentine looks up and notices joyce become hopeful. "in the bath" she says.