HEART FLAYER | b. hargrove

CHAPTER 032.

July 4th, 1985

They all returned to the Hopper cabin. Arwen sat on the couch with her chin sat atop of her clasped hands, elbows on her knees as she listened to Max and Mike bicker back and forth on if El was using her powers too much. Arwen did hate the thought of her sister draining herself too much, but what real choice did they have right now?

Nancy, Will, and Jonathan were digging into the phonebook, dialing every number they could get to try and find the source when Mike and Max decided to bring their argument to them for their opinion.

"Who do you think should decide El's limits?" Max asked them. "Mike or Eleven?"

"The way you framed that is such bullshit!" Mike fumed.

"It's not bullshit, Mike!" Max retorted, the volume of her voice rising. "This is your whole problem. And it's also precisely the reason why she dumped your ass!"

"El dumped you?" Nancy asked, her eyes wide in surprise.

"Yeah, because she is conspiring against me!" Mike gestured to Max. "She's corrupting her!"

"No, enlightening her." Max clarified. "The fact is, she's not yours. She's her own person, fully capable of making her own decisions."

"She's risking her life for no reason!"

Arwen then groaned loudly, ignoring the pain it caused in her throat as she stood up and approached the group. She addressed Mike directly as they all turned to her. 

"Eleven spent twelve years in a lab full of people telling her when and how to use her powers, Mike. She does not need you telling her what to do now. And risking her life for no reason? Really? So the lives affected by the flaying mean nothing to you? These are people, Michael Wheeler, real fucking people who matter." 

"And the flayed are out there doing God knows what." Nancy added in agreement.

"Killing, flaying..." Lucas added.

"Transforming into monsters." Will punctuated.

"And El's not stupid," Nancy continued sternly toward her brother. "She knows her abilities better than any of us. Well, except maybe Arwen, but still."

"She's saved the world. Twice." Arwen said firmly, an eyebrow raised challengingly. "At twelve and thirteen years old, even when her older sister with almost the same abilities couldn't. Give her some fucking credit." 

Arwen then rolled her eyes and walked off before she could rip into the boy some more. She understood his concern, she really did, but he needed to grasp the situation a little better. She heard him bring up El and Max spying on the boys as some last ditch effort to defend his actions.

"Can we please just come up with another plan because I love her and I don't wanna lose her again!" Mike shouted after a little bit of more arguing. 

Eleven then appeared with a slightly bloodied nose and asked what was going on, but they quickly brushed the whole thing off. 

"I found him." El then said.

Arwen felt a mixture of a flutter in her stomach and her heart sinking down into it.

Eleven then sat on the floor in front of the tv set on static. They all watched and waited with anticipation before her breath picked up and she tore off her blindfold. Apparently, Billy had just been sitting on his bed in his room. Doing nothing. 

"It's a trap." Arwen reasoned as she paced back and forth while chewing on her fingernails. She wanted nothing more than to go to him now that she knew where he was. But she knew better.

"If we go to Billy, then the rest of the flayed know where we are." Nancy explained.

"We won't be surprised," Lucas said. "We'll know that they're coming and we will kick their flayed butts."

"Sure fucking will." Arwen agreed while taking out her lighter and beginning to flick it open and closed repeatedly. "Gently. Because one of them is still my boyfriend. Kind of."

"Boyfriend?!" Nancy and Jonathan questioned in unison, their eyes widened at her.

"It's a long story," she waved off. "I'll explain another time."

"Killing the flayed won't stop the Mind Flayer," Nancy said. "We have to find the source."

"Billy knows it," Eleven said as she walked back into the room after getting some water. "Billy's been there. To the source. It's a trap. I know. We can't go to Billy, but I think there's another way. A way for me to see where he's been." 

So, the static was turned back on the tv and Arwen sat back down on the couch. Mike tried to talk Eleven out of using her powers to find Billy again, but she managed to talk him down and convince him to trust her. Arwen bid her to be careful before she put the blindfold back on.

She sat and waited impatiently, eyes locked on her sister and her knee bouncing up and down. Max took her hand comfortingly and she squeezed it in gratitude for the girl, shooting the red-head a tiny forced smile briefly.

Eleven began to breathe heavily again.

"El, you okay?" Arwen asked her, brows furrowed in concern.

"I'm okay." She replied simply with a shaky voice. 

"What's going on?" Mike asked.

"I'm... on a beach."

"Okay, I may be dense, but last time I checked there were no beaches in Hawkins." Lucas said.

"What else do you see?" Max questioned, leaning forward.

"A woman. She's... pretty. I... think she's looking at me." Eleven said almost dreamily.

A moment of silence passed as they waited.

"There's... a boy. It's Billy."

"It's California." Max sighed. "It's a memory."

"It's his mom..." Arwen said in almost a whisper. Her eyes watered just slightly. She recalled the time she and Billy were hanging out a few weeks ago and she'd asked about his mom. Billy hadn't wanted to talk about it at all and just had mentioned that she'd left when he was young. So she hadn't pushed him further on it.

"I think I see it... the source." Eleven declared.

"Where, El? where are you?" Max asked her.

"Brimborn. Steelworks."

Jonathan immediately got up and retrieved the phonebook to flip through the pages to find it. Once the address was obtained, Mike turned to Eleven.

"El, El, we found it. Get out of there!" 

"C'mon, El. Get out." Arwen added reassuringly.

But she still stayed in the Void. Arwen got to her feet and watched her sister tensely. They all waited with bated breath for her to come out of it, occasionally calling her name. Finally, with a loud scream, she ripped the blindfold off and clung to Mike like a lifeline. 

"El, you're okay... it's okay..." Mike comforted her, holding her in his arms.

Arwen rushed to her sister's side, brushing away hair from her face and blood from her nose. She panicked as she didn't know what to do or what happened to cause her sister to panic and sob like this.

Her stomach filled with nausea and she knew something had gone very, very wrong.