Emma || Steve Harrington/Billy Hargrove

022. Gone Again

A/N: I know I said I didn't update on Mondays, but I had y'all go so long without one that I thought I might as well. I hope y'all enjoy this!

*Emma's POV*

I got out of Nancy's car once we'd reached the Wheeler household and said my goodbyes before starting to walk home. It was starting to get dark out earlier at this point, which I usually didn't mind. I always found it comforting, but right now with all the weird stuff going on, I felt uneasy. I tried to walk quickly and quietly, and I was close to reaching my house, but the next thing I knew I was on the ground. I groaned and I stood up, dusting myself off. As I looked around me, my blood went cold. My surroundings looked like what El and Will had described to me. Like the upsidedown

My limbs were frozen, I didn't know what to do or how to even begin to try to escape. I knew that I had to run and hide as soon as possible and that once I was somewhere semi safe I'd be able to start working out an escape plan. I started running in the direction of my house and eventually I found it. Everything was dark and covered in vines. I didn't know if I was actually safe, I didn't feel like I was. My feet led me to the entrance, and I made my way up to my bedroom. Everything looked like it'd been there abandoned for years. I went into my closet and tried to think of ways to get out, but there was nothing I could come up with. I tried to remember how Will and El had said they'd been able to communicate with everyone in the regular dimension, but I don't think they'd told me.

Tears started streaming down my face as I realized I was stuck and no one would know where I was or probably ever find me. I was scared and that only intensified when the ground began to rumble. It came at a consistent pace, almost like footsteps. Through a few holes in my closet door, I was able to see a big shadowy figure passing my window. I felt like it knew I was there and it wanted to let me know that it knew. I cried harder in silence.

*Steve's POV*

I couldn't get Emma out of my head. I needed to reach out and thank her for helping us, but also apologize for what I'd said days prior. I knew it'd be best to try to go to her house since she probably wouldn't want to answer any of my calls. I drove to her place and there were her mom's car was parked outside. I knocked on the door and she answered.

"Hi Mrs. Johnson," I said, "Can I see Emma? It's kind of important."

"Hi Steve," she smiled, "Emma isn't home yet, do you want to wait for her?" I furrowed my brows for a moment before responding.

"Uh, no, actually it's okay," I smiled. I said goodbye and walked back to my car. Where could she be? I thought of all the places she could be and decided she was most-likely at Billy's house, so that's where I went. I recognized the house where I'd dropped Max and the other kids off multiple times. I knew any encounter with Billy was bound to be unpleasant, but I needed to talk to Emma and that was more important to me than avoiding a confrontation.

I let out a sigh as I knocked on the white door and waited for an answer. Billy answered, just my luck. He rolled his eyes when he saw me standing there and he leaned against the door frame. He stared at me, almost as if he were asking what I was doing there, but I didn't want to be the first to speak.

"What do you want, Harrington?" he questioned, rolling his eyes.

"I need to talk to Emma and Mrs. Johnson said she wasn't home, and I can't find her anywhere else so I figured she was here," I answered, "Is she?"

"Emma's not home?" he asked, I felt my stomach drop, "She told me she wasn't feeling well and she went home from school early; she has to be there."

"Shit," I said under my breath as I started walking back to my car.

"Where do you think you're going Harington?" Billy screamed as he came out after me.

"Listen, Hargrove, as much as I enjoy our little back and forths, Emma is apparently missing and I need to go find her," I called out as I hopped into my car. I started the engine and was taken aback when the passenger side door opened. "What are you doing?" I groaned as Billy got in.

"If Emma is missing I'm going to help find her," he said, "Plus, I know her better than anyone else. You need me." I scoffed, but he was right. He could be helpful.

"Fine," I sighed. I pulled away from his house and made my way to Dustin's. He would call up all the kids and Jonathan and Nancy and I'd dial Hopper and El. His mom wasn't home, making it a lot easier since we could all meet up right there.

"Steve?" he asked as he opened the door, "What up bud?"

"I need you to call up Mike, Will, Lucas and Max, get them all here," I said as I walked in.

"What's going on?" he asked, "Billy?!" he exclaimed as billy walked in after me, "What is going on here?"

"I'll explain when everyone is here, now hurry up. It's a code red," I told him. His eyes went wide and he started sending out signals on his supercom. I rushed to the phone and called Hopper, he picked up fairly quickly.

"Hopper," he answered.

"Hopper, I need you to come to Dustin's house and bring El. It's about Emma and it's important," I said before hanging up. About half an hour passed before everyone showed up. They all had the same reaction when they saw Billy there.

"Alright, you mind telling us why we're here?" Dustin asked, "And why the walking mullet is with you?"

"Emma is missing. I've looked everywhere for her and I can't find her," I explained, "I think it has something to do with," I trailed off remembering Billy wasn't in on everything, "with the thing, but I'm not sure yet, so Billy is here to help us. As much as it sucks, he knows Emma better than anyone of us and he can help us."

"Are you sure she didn't just run away again?" Nancy asked. We all turned and looked at her. I don't know about everyone else, but I had a pissed off expression on my face. How could she ask that. "What? Didn't she literally just get back from running away?"

"She wouldn't have left alone," Billy spat, "or without telling someone. She's not like that. Something is wrong." For once, I agreed with him.

"We need a search team to look for her here," Hopper said, "The rest of us will go home and check in periodically with her parents to see if she's come back."

"Billy, Nancy, Jonathan, Steve, you guys go look for her, us kids will go home since it's too dangerous for us to be out this late," Mike said.

"No, I should stay," I argued. The rest of the gang all gave me weird looks and I groaned. "Fine, I'll go look." We all went out to the woods where Nancy had said she'd saw Emma walk towards. We spread out a little, and got to looking. It wasn't long before someone found something.

"Guys!" Jonathan called out, "Is this hers?" he held up her backpack and her scarf.

"Oh my god," Billy said, "It's hers. What does this mean? Was she kidnapped? What happened?" I'd never seen Billy so flustered or worried about anyone that wasn't himself since I'd met him.

"No," I said, "She's a smart girl, nothing bad is going to happen to her. We'll find her before it does." I walked over to Jonathan and took the stuff from him. I noticed something on the ground and I crouched down to examine it. It was goop. Like the stuff the demogorgon and the demodogs had been covered in. I showed Nancy and Jonathan and they both seemed to understand. We knew where she was now, and we needed to get her back.