We're not in Hawkins anymore...

Chapter Three- Part Three- The Survivor

  Light slowly seeped through Nick's vision, blinding her the second she woke up. She hit her head on the something hard, realizing that she was in a bathroom, and Joyce, Robin, and Nancy were all staring at her with worried eyes. "What happened?" She shocked herself, jumping out of her skin. "What's wrong with my voice?" 

  "Hey, hey, hey. It's okay, you just changed a little bit." Joyce said in a comforting and calming voice. "It's- it's hard to explain. It might be best for you to see for yourself." Joyce offered her hand, which Nick took gratefully and climbed out of the bathtub, and walked over to the mirror. She gasped, seeing a new reflection. She was wearing a black tank top and worn jeans with a backwards cap, much like what she was wearing the day that they got to Hawkins. Her hair color and eyes were the same, but more bolder looking; her eyes were a darker blue with still several specks of green while her hair color had streaks of dark red (burgundy sort of) and a golden yellow. 

  "Do you guys have my glasses?" Nick asked as she tied her back into a low ponytail. Nancy nodded and handed her a blue colored case. "Will said you'd probably want them when you wake up," Nick gulped and pressed against her nose, their black rims encircling her eyes. 

  "You ready?" Joyce wondered as she put a hand on her shoulder. "Yea- Yeah." Nick nodded as she followed the others out to the living room where she heard Will's concerned voice and Mike's voice arguing about who knows what. 

  "I told you she's fine!" Max shouted as she sat by El, her arms crossed. 

  "Then why did you say 'Oh my god!'?" Will asked concerned as he paced up and down the floor of the living room, causing Mike to flinch. "Yeah, Max! Why did you say that? Is she okay?" Mike questioned, which only earned him a dirty look from Steve and Will. 

  "Hey guys." A voice Mike didn't recognize said from behind them. The group turned around and looked up to see Nick, or at least a different, more mature looking Nick, standing at the end of the living room. Will's jaw dropped, and Mike couldn't blame him, Nick looked, different. Like a good kind of different. Like she was better looking, and to be honest, he was jealous. 

  Will ran towards her, and lifted her up into a spin before wrapping her up in his arms, enveloping her in a tight hug. "Are you feeling okay? What happened? Are you hurt?" Will whispered while Nick pulled her arms around his middle. She nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine." 

  "How did you change? Like why do you look different?" Dustin pointed out while Will and Nick sat down on the couch. "Well. That's a funny story," Nick said before she cleared her throat. "I'm like El. I have 'powers'. Except mine are, well, fire." 

  "That's cool though. I mean, I've heard heard of someone being able to light themselves on fire before." Mike commented, which made Nick smiled slightly. "Anyways, I was sent to the Upside Down several years by a scientist because I wouldn't cooperate and when El opened the gate by accident, more like force," She paused. "I was sent there." 

  "How long were you down there?" Jonathan asked. 

  "About three years." Her voice was almost monotone, her eyes welling up with soft tears. Nick took a deep breath before continuing. "While I was down there, I met Will. And I kept him safe with my powers while he was down there." 

  "But how has he never mentioned you?" Lucas said. "We would've came back for you, I know Hopper would've-" 

  "Hopper? Doctor Hopper?" Nick asked. "No, he's my dad. He's the chief of police." El stated. Nick shook her head. "He's a doctor. Doctor Jim Hopper worked with my dad, Sirius Jamothy Brendon, and Martin Brenner. He's the scientist who sent me to the Upside Down." All were shock. 

  "Do you know where he is?" Joyce asked, a tear falling down her cheek. "When Will was found by the Demogorgon, he made Will pass out, to where he couldn't remember me." Nick explained. "I was able to get him to remember me, but that was only because I realized you left Hawkins when I escaped the Upside Down in the portal where the Russian Spies had opened it. Hopper was taken by my sister, Samantha, and sent to the Death Base in Russia, and I ran away to Maine and moved in with my grandmother. Hopper is with my sister, and that's all I know." Nick ended.

  "He hurt you?" El said in broken English. "Sent you there?" Nick nodded. "I'm- I'm sorry," El said as a tear rolled down her cheek, causing Mike to place an arm around her shoulder, letting her lean on him. "Don't be, it's not you're fault, Eleven." 

  "But how is the Mind Flayer alive? I mean, El closed the gate, we killed what was left from Will, now what?" Max said angrily. 

  "It's because you haven't killed his heart. It lives in the Upside Down, and it keeps him alive. That is the gate that needs to be closed." Nick told the group. "That was the original opening. You destroy it, and he dies. If not, then he will take over this world." 

  "But it doesn't explain how you changed though." Robin pointed out, clearing her voice. "I think that's because while I was down there, I took in some of the toxins. The plants down there don't grow, I mean, they grow very slowly when the Mind Flayer's not around." 

  "So you mean you were still physically the age you were when you went in?" Steve asked. Nike nodded. "How old were you when you went down there?" 

  "I was eleven, and I was able to get out of there last year and I'm fifteen now, so that means-" Mike cut her off. "That means you grew a total of four years." She nodded again. 

  "But if he's back, and if there are portals in other places," Will stated. 

  "Then they're not in Hawkins anymore. They're everywhere now. And if we don't kill it now, its over, and all we've done, all we've been through, was for nothing." Mike concluded.