𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍 [𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚝𝚘𝚗]

X

┓

gone, gone, gone

┗

𝚗𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 10𝚝𝚑 1983
𝚑𝚊𝚠𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚜 𝚖𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚕𝚎 𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚕
𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝

valentine was with the wheeler siblings as mike was explaining eleven living in their basement. "what did she even eat?" valentine asked, "what?" mike asks, "eleven" she replies. "candy, leftovers, eggos.. she really likes eggos" he says.

"i knew you were acting weird. i just... i thought it was because of will" she says. "i knew you were acting weird, too, i thought it was 'cause of steve" and nancy almost scoffs at her brothers thoughts.

"hey, no more secrets, okay? from now on we tell each other everything" nancy says, "okay, do you like jonathan now?" mike asks, "what?? no!" nancy blushes, valentine knew her like the back of her hand. she likes jonathan but.. what about steve?

"no, it's... it's not... it's not like that" she shakes her head, "do you like eleven?" she asks her younger brother, "what? no. ew, gross" he says, trying to be believeable.

aw, young love.

the three go to help dustin, josh and lucas with the pool. they sort the temperature and help hopper and jonathan put salt in it and test it with eggs.

valentine sets up the radio channel and then eleven steps into the pool. she sits by joyce on the other side of eleven, "im right here if you need me el, im right here" valentine hears joyce saying to eleven and she makes note to help joyce and eleven if anything happens.

eleven breaths heavily as she floats in the water.

"barb?" she whispers, "barbara?" she whispers again. the two friends of barb tense.

she gasps and starts breathing heavily again. "what's going on?" joyce asks, "i don't know" valentine replies, absolutely terrified. "is barb okay? is she okay" nancy and valentine ask.

"gone, gone, gone, gone" eleven repeatedly whispers, louder than before.

"gone! gone! gone!! gone!" she says again.

joyce grabs her hand. "it's okay. it's okay. it's okay. we're right here." she says, "we're right here" valentine helps joyce. "we're right here, honey" joyce says and smiles and valentine.
"it's okay, i got you, i'm right here" valentine says, "don't be afraid, i'm with you" joyce says. "it's okay, you're safe." valentine says, "you're okay honey" joyce says.

"castle byers?" eleven whispers, "castle byers" she repeats, "will" valentine says, remembering joyce telling her about his secret hidden den. "will?" eleven whispers and gasps.

"you tell him.. tell him i'm coming" joyce says, "mom is coming" eleven repeats, "your mom.. she's coming for you" she whispers.

a weak "hurry" comes from the radio, valentine grabs joyce's hand and joyce squeezes. "okay. listen, you tell him to..." she pauses "to stay where he is, we're.. we're coming, we're coming, okay? we're coming, honey" joyce says, "just... just hold on a little longer" she adds.

she repeats it to will before panicking and repeating will. she gasps and takes the goggles off.

"it's okay" valentine says to eleven, "we got you okay?" she adds, "i got you honey, you did so good" joyce hugs the girl who just found her son.

hopper sighs, "so this fort, where is it?" he asks joyce, "uh, it's in the woods behind our house" she replies, "yeah, he used to go there to hide" she says.