Wait For Me ~Stranger Things Fanfiction~

Chapter forty-four:

3rd Person POV:

The gang, minus Erica, Mr. Clarke, Vickie, and Max, gathered in the Upside Down after barging their way through the Mack Z. After dropping El, Kali, Murray, and Hopper off at Hawkins Lab, they arrived at the hellish version of the Squawk.

"Hey, Robin, yeah, c-can you please tell me that was you guys and not those mutant..Cujos?" Vickie asked anxiously through the walkie-talkie.

"It's us, and it's too early to be stressed, Vic," Robin soothed her worries. "Save it for later. We're about to start Phase One now."

Phase One: get the particles out of Wendy.

"Yeah, no, copy that, yeah. No. Bottling..Bottling emotions.."  Vickie said.

They entered the radio station building, immediately getting to work on powering the building thanks to some gas tanks they got and plugging in multiple heaters. Wendy sat in the booth anxiously, watching everyone position the heaters around a chair she was going to be sat and restrained on.

"Hey, we're just about done," Jonathan approached her. "You ready?"

"Do you remember what it was like when this was happening to Will? When you got the particles out of him?" Wendy asked him quietly. "Be honest with me."

"Every day," Jonathan confessed. "It was terrifying. He was in pain, but I knew that thing was speaking through him. I wanted to set him free and was about to, if it weren't for my mom and Nancy stopping me."

"That being said," Wendy faced him. "No matter what word comes out of my mouth, no matter what happens to me, make sure no one takes me out until those things are out of me. Promise me that if it gets too hard, that you'll hold back Steve."

Jonathan hesitated. He knew the pain of an older brother wanting to do anything to protect their younger sibling. He knew Steve would stop at nothing to make sure Wendy was okay. He knew seeing Will fighting for his life all those years ago was completely frightening and heartbreaking, he knew how difficult it would be for Steve to sit back and do nothing now.

"I promise," Jonathan nodded.

"Thank you," Wendy said with small relief.

They both exited the booth, Wendy sighing deeply as she approached the chair.

"Well, here goes nothing," She muttered, plopping down on the chair. "Let's get this done and over with."

Joyce and Mike tied Wendy's wrists, ankles, and torso to the posts on the chair as Dustin and Lucas powered on the heaters at the highest setting. Wendy sat boredly as the temperature rose gradually in the room, blowing flyaway hair from her face but got stuck on the sweat on her temples. The gang sat nearby, trying not to let the hot temperature affect them as well. Steve sat the farthest, his leg bouncing anxiously. Nothing was happening.

"So, just asking, how long did this take for Will last time?" Robin asked, tugging at the collar of her jacket to make her own breeze.

"With Will, it almost happened immediately," Joyce recalled.

"It practically just infected me, it wasn't used to such heat and it hated it," Will said. "But with Wendy..it's been inside her for years. It got used to her body temperature, got used to summer heat. This might take a while."

"Good thing we got here early," Lucas sighed, wiping sweat from his brow.

Wendy rolled her neck, humming a little when she heard the satisfying pop sound it made.