A GROUP OF FIVE

by kgrie18

mikes party has one other person, mike, will, dustin, Lucas and also Jace, a boy who makes literal connections with people, his abilities get stronger over time, can he help will with them?. Jace is depressed his arms are littered with scars, its a race of time before he kills himself or dies trying to save will, its up to his friends to hold him upright. note- whole book 1 chapter

Jace pov

I pulled my long sleeves down over my wrists and fingers double checking that my scars one of my most well kept secrets were hidden from the others as I waited anxiously to hear the monster will would be battling, mike slammed down the demogorgan figurine and we all groaned, "roast it, throw fireballs will" I yelled excitedly.

he threw the dice down yelling "fireball!" and suddenly the dice flew off the table, and dustin and Lucas , will and I dived after them, will had rolled a seven, his fireball had missed and he had died. we all groaned, it was time for dustin and Lucas to go as it was a school night.

I hugged both of them and searched in my mind for our links, I had an ability since I was very young, I could create links with people I touched, I could then find them no matter where they were and I could send them emotions like happiness or calmness, even if they were on the other side of Hawkins. I strengthened the links I had with Lucas dustin and will before they left and walked them out the front to our bikes.

suddenly I got a strange feeling of unease and I hugged will before he left "stay safe will, I don't have a very good feeling about tonight, be careful on your way home" I whispered to him as I let him go and he biked off.

mike sighed as they left and the light out the front flickered creepily, "do your parents know you're staying the night?" mike asked me. I sighed and turned to him "I don't think they even know they have a child" I whispered sadly as he led me inside. we had dinner and went back downstairs to the basement to clean up a bit after dungeons and dragons and make our beds.

we went to sleep easily that night with the basement doors shut so mikes parents couldn't hear us talking to each other for another hour after bedtime. it was around 12 am only a few hours after he left, when wills link in my mind began sending panicked signals to me and I sat up straight. I started sending him calming signals as I tried to figure out what was wrong, all I could make out was that something was after him.

as quick as it came his panic was suddenly overwhelmed with a huge tearing sensation that had me curl into a ball screaming as loud as I could at the pain, it felt like my mind was being ripped in half and I didn't know what to do. mike was shaking me trying to find out what was wrong, and slowly I built a wall around wills link to dull the pain and stopped screaming, I just rocked back and forth tiredly as mike hugged me mumbling wills name over and over.

mike said it was a nightmare the next day and I didn't tell him otherwise, we were eating breakfast ready for school when mikes mum said "will?, didn't he come home last night?" to whoever was on the phone, I just looked worriedly at mike.

after breakfast we jumped onto our bikes and rode to school our schoolbags on our backs, hopefully will was there.

we arrived at school with the others, dustin and Lucas, "will isn't here mike!" I whispered to him worriedly.

suddenly troy the school bullies and his friend came over "Wonder who would make more money, midnight, frog face, toothless or emo nosebleeder." I frowned bringing my hand up to my nose feeling wetness and seeing red blood. The bullies laughed and pointed at me. Dustin sent them away with the elbow thing he does and Lucas started complaining over its creepiness I just thanked dustin and tried to smile at the others my eyes tired.

Biology was first with mr Clarke he was also the av club president. All of us loved radios and he had one coming for us, we had been waiting for it forever so as soon as the bell rang we were at his desk asking if it had arrived yet, he just grinned and told us it had.

As we got the new radio I grinned with the others but the nagging absence of will caused me to pull my sleeves further down and rub my scarred wrists in anxiety. I smiled half heartedly at the others as they spoke in a awful Australian accent.

As the police called us in I almost stopped breathing. I sat in the middle of dustin and Lucas on the couch as the police asked us questions. My mind was screaming out to will and suddenly I felt the faintest sense of him. Looking around I couldn't see him or hear him.

Will and I had been best friends since preschool, more so than the others, I was always at his house or he was always with me. He knew everything about me, or almost everything I thought rubbing my scarred wrist.

We would play hide and seek as kids and with our link I found him in the first ten minutes every time, always, Jonathan his older brother was like a brother to me he always listened, we always dance to the same song should I stay or should I go, all three of us.

I wiped at my nose as it bled and ignored it. Dustin and Luke began arguing over mirkwood and lord of the rings or the hobbit. I sighed as they began hitting each other over the top of me and gently grabbed their hands that they were hitting each other with and squeezed them reassuringly absentmindedly calming them down whilst biting my lip.

I didn't notice the look the others gave each other or the strange epiphany face mike pulled.

I knew after school the others and I were going to go searching for will, despite what hopper said

I went home that night almost pulling out my hair in frustration, mum had come home and when I told her about will she just smiled and said thats nice darling, I almost cried. Why cant she just listen to me. Dad I tried to talk to him but he just pushed me out the way to get to the fridge I stumbled and all of a sudden I felt guilty.

Walking to my room I grabbed my razor shakily placing it on the bench I began pacing the length of my room. I let will go I didn't try to stop him. Its my fault, tears began dripping down my face as I paced and I reached out to our almost severed connection still crying as I felt the ripped edges causing me to clutch my head in pain as my headache only worsened.

Reaching over for my razor I sliced it across my scarred wrist, I froze, the connection to will now seemed less painful, I again dug the razor edge into my skin and slowly watched as the blood beaded out heavily, again will felt less painful and soon I was bleeding heavily from my arm but I was then also almost numb to the pain of wills disappearance.

I was starting to feel light headed and dizzy so I bandaged my soaked arm and wiped the blood off my Hard wood floor. Pulling my sleeve back down I paced a little more before grabbing my waterproof jacket and a high powered torch. I walked straight through the living room past my parents who were watching tv and sighed as neither even asked where I was 8, I left thought the front door and rode my bike to Mirkwood I had to look for will.

miraculously the others, mike, Lukas and dustin had done the same. We met up and walked in with our torches.

I began shivering as it rained but didn't bother complaining like everyone else instead I kept shouting wills name with increasing desperation.

Out of nowhere a girl showed up with a shaven head the pounding in my head got louder and I got dizzy. But I could tell she was cold so I shrugged off my warm raincoat and tossed it to her as the others led her to mikes.

I was still shivering from the coldbut I still had my long sleeves so I was fine, I continued calling out wills name as we left. The others were busy questioning the girl but I wanted, no needed to find will, the small connection just barely there was ripping more and more as time went on and soon I wouldn't sense him at all. I stumbled onto my bike still screaming WILL! At the top of my lungs.

We took the girl to mikes house and I paced agitatedly as they stared at her, I looked at her drenched figure with only a large yellow shirt and my jacket on her and grabbed some of mikes clothes from a washing basket tossing them to him. Still pacing.

he gave them to the girl to get dressed into.

I rubbed my arm ignoring the stinging it was causing as she shrugged off my jacket and tried to strip right there. I turned around not looking biting my lip as the others began to argue and mike bless him helped the girl out.

I turned around again as she went into the bathroom, the others were still arguing so i placed a hand on Each of their shoulders renewing our links in that second, they both stopped talking looking at me expectantly, I sighed running a hand over my forehead trying to alleviate the pain.

Lucas wanted us to not bring a strange "mental" patient into mikes house and instead keep looking for will, dustin thought we was strange because she tried to strip in front of everyone, mike just said that he couldn't leave her out there.

I sighed "we couldn't leave the girl out there, she might have died and we would be at fault, you cant tell anyone because you guys weren't allowed to come out and we would be on lockdown, and, were all worried about will." I said quietly

They all nodded and mike told us the plan. the next morning he would make her go around and knock on the front door, then mrs wheeler would know what to do and mike wouldn't be found out to have snuck out to search for will. after that they left mikes with Lucases parting quip of "I wouldn't want her at my house", it was just mike and me here.

we asked the girl a few questions and We found out the girls name was eleven I smiled a small smile at her, mike announced his name and I told her mine "hi eleven I'm Jace williams but everyone just calls me ace" she said nothing just stared. I sighed and suddenly the girl reached out and I accidentally touched her moving away.

Instantly the pounding in my head became unbearable and I clutched my head in pain as I fell to the floor catching glimpses in my head of will in a dark place with stuff floating in the air.

As quickly as it came the pain stopped when we jumped away from each other not touching anymore, I sat up slowly and saw mike holding my arms still above my head as I was for sure thrashing around I winced pulling my scarred wrists back and pulling my sleeves further down. I looked over and saw eleven rubbing at her head with blood coming out of her nose as well.

I was tired and if I thought about it, hungry not that I had much of an appetite after will up with mikes help I leant on him for a second before looking at elevens shocked face.

I apologised, "sorry eleven, I'm not sure what that was but it hurt me so I'm sure it hurt you, lets just not touch each other from now on yeah?"

She nodded hesitantly and I gathered my strength to stand on my own and leave. Ignoring the completely baffled and confused look on mikes face, I know mike I don't know what the heck just happened either i thought as I gave him a hug renewing his link.

I walked upstairs to his older sister Nancys room, like usual I walked in and gave her a hug renewing her link as well ever since I first me Nancy iv'e always renewed the link by giving her a goodbye hug every time I was at mikes, after the first few times she just got over it and hugged me. I thought to myself.

I biked home from mikes house which was the furtherest away from the others contemplating what I'd seen of will, he was curled up in castle byres but I had already checked there, and the floating stuff and the eerie darkness was so strange.

As I reached my house I stashed my bike and anxiously pulled on the front door, it was locked and the lights were out I knocked for a few minutes standing in the pouring rain. My parents had gone to bed and apparently forgotten about me.

I sighed and turned around glad I got my coat back from eleven and headed off with my torch back to castle byres, if I cant go to sleep I might as well keep looking for will. For another four hours I searched and I couldn't find him, instead at 2am I went to his and Jonathans house tears in my eyes.

I knocked on the door at around 2 in the morning and wills older brother Jonathan answered, he took one look at me and ushered me inside eyes wide, "Jonathan... would you guys mind if I just stayed for the night" I mumbled rubbing my bleeding arm.

He froze and looked me over taking in my pale face and the dark circles under my eyes, he gently took me into the kitchen and sat me down, he left into his room for a moment and came back with some clothes for me to wear, they were too big but I didn't complain, at least they were long sleeved.

He rubbed my back as I drank a warm hot chocolate no doubt trying to get me to stop shivering.I lifted my knees to my Chest and he sighed crouching in front of me, "ace?, come on buddy, why aren't you at home?, kiddo come on I cant lose you too, come on kiddo." he pleaded

I just stared at the floor tears dripping down my face, he finally just pulled me towards him and hugged me I could feel his tears on my shoulder as he cried with me.

After a while I stopped shivering " come on ace, talk to me, why are you here and not at home, come on kiddo whats wrong?." he asked again

I looked at him tugging gently on my hair to calm down, "wills gone jonothan, I cant find him... I cant sense him anymore, I always find them, but , I cant find will, jonothan, its like theres a huge tear in my mind where he used to be and it hurts." I sobbed to him

He hugged me again and I could tell he was tired so I started shuffling towards the door, "sorry for waking you up Jonathan you should go to sleep I'll just leave." I whispered apologetically

He shook his head and pulled me to the table, "you didn't wake me up kiddo, what were you doing out there at this time of night ace?" he gently asked me

"I was trying to find will, but I couldn't, I have to find him I always find him but I cant now" I whimpered

He nodded "I know kiddo, I know. Why were you looking for him at this time of night, why aren't you at home? Ace?" he called gently

I frowned rubbing my arms again ignoring the sting and not noticing the blood drip down to my fingers under my shirt.

"My parents forgot about me... They locked the house up so I just kept looking for him, its ridiculous, he cant have gone far but I cant find him." I whispered to him

Jonathan froze, "they locked you out buddy, ace they forgot you?," he chocked I nodded biting my lip and he suddenly swallowed and grabbed my arm.

" Oh ace, come on kiddo, you cant keep doing this to yourself, I froze, as he lifted my arm sleeve to see the damaged and chocked as he saw the extent, kiddo, you could have died, please stop, ace?" he cried pulling me to him

I bit my lip again anxiously "sorry Jonathan" I mumbled and he sighed getting the first aid kit and patching my arm back up before sticking me on the couch to sleep.I shivered a little before the blanket Jonathan threw at me warmed me up and I fell into a restless sleep.

The next morning I woke up early and helped Jonathan make breakfast, he was so careful with mrs byres, almost like everything had to be perfect. His posters were all over the table. I sat down and he placed my plate in front of me he sat next to me and mrs byres sat down he carefully placed hers in front of her avoiding the posters when she asked him to.

She saw me and gave me a hug "oh, sweetie, its going to be okay we'll find will".

I just nodded poking at my food not very hungry as Jonathan calmed his mum down, someone knocked on the door and I grabbed my clothes from last night which were mostly dry and went to the bathroom to change.

I came out as I hear the chief of police hopper say something about mrs byres getting a call. I walked around the corner in my clothes running a hand through my hair anxiously, hopper stared at me for a moment before picking the phone up.

I could sense something from it and curious I looked at the scorch marks on it, curious, the storm could have gotten it but that wouldn't make me able to sense will from it"the storm got you pretty bad huh". Hopper said. clearly mrs byres wasn't impressed " the storm!, hopper don't you find this I don't know a little weird?" She hissed at him, I reached out for the phone and when I grabbed it my breathing sped up and blood started coming out of my nose, my eyes rolled up and I saw will running and hiding in that strange place that was Hawkins but not Hawkins, I came back to reality as Jonathan pulled me back calling my name until I focused back on him bringing a hand to my head which was back to being a splitting was that!, it was like I suddenly wasn't here anymore, if Jonathan didn't pull me away who knows what could have happened, will was running in that strange place again, where is he? I thought confused

I wiped the blood from my nose and stepped back behind Jonathan ignoring the completely baffled and weirded out face hopper was pulling as he stared at me and the mother henning of Jonathan. They continued cautiously the earlier conversation with hopper glancing at me every now and then whilst I zoned out trying to calm my still fast breathing.

Finally I calmed down as the conversation turned to wills dad lonnie. will isn't with lonnie you idiot hopper, he's running from something, in that strange place. I thought to myself. Eventually I said goodbye to mrs byres and Jonathan who grabbed my wrist as I went to leave putting himself at my eye level "ace, buddy, be safe and if you need anything remember your always welcome here, and if you get locked out of your house again I want you to come straight here not spending hours afterwards in the rain ok?" he told me seriously

I nodded and jumped onto my bike heading off to school where the school bullies saw me and chased me around school "all alone are you nose bleeder, you weren't there yesterday so you didn't get your daily gift so were gonna have to work extra hard today to make up for it." troy snarked and In that second they jumped me kicking me to the ground and kicking me in the ribs and back over and over again my torso was covered in bruises which twinged painfully as I moved. I was saved mercifully by the bell and slowly picked myself up as they ran off.

I ignored the pain through school and rode with Lucas and dustin to mikes afterward.

Surprisingly eleven was still there, apparently" she knows about will, she knew he was missing. I could tell." Mike told us excitedly marking the beginning of yet another argument. I just tiredly rubbed my head in pain from todays beating. Lucas stood up and headed for the door annoyed and ready to tell mikes mum about eleven.

Suddenly the door he was holding slammed shut and he opened it again but it once again slammed shut, I turned to look at eleven, she had blood dripping down her nose. "NO" she said. I ignored the looking back and forth mike was doing between me and eleven as he saw her nose can use superpowers...eleven has superpowers, thats fricken awesome, I wonder why she was in the woods then... I thought tiredly

We had dinner soon after and the awkward silence had me hardly eating anything I was biting my lip as Nancy managed to weasel her way out of house arrest by saying her and her best friend Barbara were going to a school support meet up on the oval at 8could tell through our link she wasn't going there, most likely was some kind of party. I hid a smile as mike weirded his parents out by loudly exclaiming along with dustin that they didn't want to go. were his best friends idiot, I think of all people we should be the ones going.

I blinked suddenly as eleven ghosted down the stairs into the basement behind mikes parents scaring mike and dustin half to death.

We went downstairs to the basement afterwards to meet her and she walked over to our dungeons and dragons game picking up wills character she then showed us where he was, by flipping the board upside down and slamming his character in the middle.

"Hes hiding" she said and when asked she slammed the demogorgan character on the board with will I felt a chill run down my spine as she did that I and stood up to continue pacing, will my best friend was stuck in that strange place with a creepy demogorgan monster.

I left then saying goodbye to everyone and giving them their hugs to renew our links I grabbed my coat and torch and went of to Mirkwood to look for will again, he's there I just cant see him and I dont know how to find him. I was searching again calling his name out for hours .

I ran into Jonathan with his camera on his way back to his car and he just stuck an arm around my shoulders and walked me to it, he looked like he had been taking pictures and through my link it was probably of the party Nancy was at just around the corner. placing me in the front seat and my bike into the backseat he drove me home.

I walked up to the door and tried opening it, it was locked again and the lights were out so I tried knocking, and knocking come on mom dad... I know you don't like me, but don't forget I exist, please answer, I cant keep sleeping at other peoples houses, your'e my parents I'm supposed to live here, please answer. I thought to myself. I had to have been knocking loudly for ten minutes with no answer before Jonathan pulled me away and drove me to his house. He gave me a hug and I went to the couch trying to ignore wills overpowering presence.

I ignored the gnawing tear in his place of my mind even though just thinking about it made me want to cry, instead I just tried to go to sleep.

The next morning I woke up to arguing from Jonathon and his mum she was sitting in wills room with a bunch of lights around which oddly felt like will, and saying crazy stuff. I carefully walked in and grabbed both of their hands to stop them from arguing, it worked

Almost without realising it I had pressed our hands to one of the lights and suddenly it lit up so brightly I had to let go to shield my eyes, Jonathan and mrs byres stared at me.

In another second mrs byres had brought me the phone and I grabbed it with blood dripping from my nose I unconsciously held it up to Jonathans and mrs byres heads.

Breathing could be heard from it and the sound of wills voice calling "mum". Could be heard and suddenly I keeled over sideways off the bed feeling light headed and dizzy I laid there trying to clear my head from the splitting headache I now had as Jonathan gently lifted me up to put me on the couch what was that!, it was will on the phone, but why is my nose bleeding and why do I have such a bad headache.

He worried over me all morning bringing me water and food until I had finally been able to sit up and move around without too much pain.

As soon as I could I biked to school a little late but not too bad. After school mike Lucas dustin and I planned to meet up with eleven at 3;15 so she can show us where will is, hopefully we can find him.

Troy came up to us at recess as we tried to find the perfect rock size for Lucas's slingshot which we were going to use to hurt the demogorgan this is a ridiculous plan... if there really is some kind of monster there then there is no way that little slingshot is going to hurt it. I stepped in front of our group and as usual troy pushed me over and his little sidekick slammed me in the side with his boot, I let them hurt me so they left the others alone, they kicked me again before leaving with the usual parting insults.

I stood ignoring the pain of my bruises and we continued to find the rock.

after school we biked up to eleven who was staring at a cat almost like she was going to cry. I could tell something was bothering her and so could mike as he asked her if she was ok a shrug and a nod was all the answer we got.

Eleven joined mike on his bike and we rode through the forest before walking, mike and eleven were talking about troy the "mouth breather" Lucas, dustin and I just followed behind quietly, determined to find will.

Finally after ages of walking we ended up at mikes house where I could again feel his presence. in the window I could see mrs byres with hundreds of Christmas lights strung up, they were blinking gently strange, why would the lights blink like that? Suddenly police cars and an ambulance raced past and our group chased after them on our bikes going as fast as we could that has to be will, holy shit, what if he's hurt. I thought racing after them.

When we finally got to the quarry and the lake where the ambulances and police cars stopped we watched as body was being dragged out of the lake wearing the same clothes will was wearing when he disappeared, my mind froze, will, nonononon, he cant be dead I can still feel his link, he's not dead HES NOT!

"Ace!, Ace where are you going mate! Please don't do this it'll be okay they called" running after me but I ran to my bike and went home crying. When I reached home, luckily, it was still unlocked and I ran to my room grabbing my razor, it was time I finished this.

My emotions were running so high blood began dripping from my nose and the lights all blew out including the window as I dragged the blade across my skin trying desperately to get the image of a body out of my mind. It wasn't working.

My arms were absolutely soaked in blood when I finally stopped slashing at my wrists and my sobs had petered off into a numb feeling that had me wishing nothing more than to die.

I was feeling cooped up in my room as I paced so I ran out and rode my bike down the road suddenly Jonathans car got in the way and I stopped. He got out of the car with tears running down his face and gathered me in his arms as we cried.

He had found out about wills body and came to get me, I was sobbing but I was also light headed and swaying. He realised something was wrong and grabbed onto my shoulders looking me Jonathan , you asked me to stop... I thought gently

It didn't take him long to spot my dark red dripping sleeves for him to figure out what was wrong, in a few seconds I was falling and Jonathan caught me carrying me to his car the last I heard before drifting into darkness was Jonathan pleading "Ace!, nonononono ace come on buddy keep fighting I cant lose you too come on its ok we'll be ok just keep fighting ace please!"

I woke up in the hospital about an hour later and left without telling the nurses as Jonathan wasn't here, I began the walk to wills house, Jonathan and Joyce must be so sad right now I thought as I headed towards them. I walked in the house to find mrs byres crying and Jonathan trying to get her to stop denying that will was dead.

Hopper was sitting in front of her trying to explain that grief was what made her see will in the lights.I pulled my sleeves down covering the hospital bandage and went over and hugged mrs byres, "its ok mrs byres, I saw the lights flickering in your house too before I biked after the ambulances" I whispered to her as she hugged me

She pulled herself together a little "oh, ace, ace show hopper, show him what you showed Jonathon and I its will I swear it was will on the phone." she asked desperately her eyes crazed.

I frowned and grabbed the phone from her, immediately I tilted to the side and let Jonathan straighten me. The longer I held it the worse my headache got, focusing I focused on the tiny string of will still attached suddenly realising that there was still a connection and that there couldn't be a connection if he was least I hope that there cant be a connection if he's dead.

The phone started beeping before Wills breathing was heard "will!, oh will its me honey its mom can you hear me?" There was a shout of "mom" before breathing was heard again and another strange and creepy sound was heard. I kept concentrating even as my brain felt like it was being stabbed repetitively, even as the blood from my nose dripped on the floor in a puddle, will was suddenly visible and I was suddenly no longer in his house, instead i was in a dark space walking on what looked like water, with only will visible his face scared.

Running towards will I grabbed him and he froze, "WILL! WILL I"M HERE ITS OK!'' I shouted loudly to him.

He turned his head towards me mumbling ace over and over. He suddenly took off running and I saw the demogorgon, it was disgusting and grey and everything I wouldn't want too be anywhere near, it was chasing will and as if on instinct I concentrated at it, it was attacking my friend it was attacking will it was attacking my brother.

And as if something snapped the demogorgan was twisted in two different directions and thrown a hundred yards away into the Mirkwood forest still alive but no longer chasing will, will came back and faded away into smoke. Without knowing it I had blown every single window in the byres house and every peice of furniture was at least a foot off the floor.

When my eyes opened I only had time to mumble, he's alive before I slid into unconsciousness

I didn't get to see the wtf face on hopper or the crazed relief on Joyce byres or the freaked out worried look on Jonathans face as he picked me up placing me on the now grounded couch and carefully cleaned up the blood from my chin and the floor.

I woke not long after to find mrs byres holding a shot gun and staring at the wall she said the creature came out of, and to find Jonathan trying to block everything out with our song, should I stay or should I go. I winced as moving to much had caused the bruises all over my torso to twinge in pain and I crawled into the bed with Jonathan as he gave me a pair of headphones to plug into the hub.

I zoned out the world listening to our song wishing will was here and ok, and I knew he was singing the song with us, I could feel it with the remnants of our link. Suddenly I realised everyone still thought that he was dead.

Dropping the head phones I went straight to mikes house, when I got there mike was angrily looking over hand drawn pictures that will had made for him. I slapped him up the back of his head as he started yelling and having a go at eleven.

Mike, mike looked at me and too late I realised my sleeves were still bright red and my white hospital bandage was still visible.

He stood up all the pictures falling from his lap as I paled, I turned to run but he grabbed me into a hug, shaking slightly he twisted my arm out so he could look at it shit., he knows he saw, what do I do I thought as he started unraveling the bandages, eleven walked over to see and I froze as I and them saw the damage for the first time.

My entire arm was a litter of cuts of all sizes and widths there was hardly any skin untouched and my second arm was much the same. There were around 9 to 12 on each arm that had been stitched up, those would have killed me if Jonathan hadn't saved me I thought in disbelief.

Tears fell from mikes face as he pulled me closer ,"ace, I didn't know, why would you do this, we need you ace you could have died tonight."he told me horrified I awkwardly hugged him apologising.

I looked at eleven, "thankyou eleven, I think I understand now." Her yes widened and mike pushed me away in disgust as he processed my words. I winced hurt at his 180 attitude.

"Thank you!, she made us think will was alive, we had to watch his body being dragged from a lake!, what is wrong with you ace."

I sighed and told him "will, is alive mike, he is" eleven smiled at me and held out one end of the radio.

I smiled gently at her and took it focusing on will as I changed the frequency, soon the right one was found and using our connection wills voice came into focus as blood ran down my chin "should I stay or should I go now" was being sung by will. he really was singing the song with us

Mike was shocked as he gaped at us, apologising to eleven for treating her like troy treated him, I smiled at eleven and gave her the radio back wiping the blood from my nose.

"Wait" said mike "are you like eleven then with superpowers too?"he asked me dangerously. I froze I didn't really know "um, I guess probably not as good at it, I'm only really good in finding my friends and knowing when they need me, and keeping in contact with them, you remember the night will went missing and I woke up screaming.

I could feel, physically feel will being ripped from my reach of being able to find him, it hurt, it still hurts, but I can only just sense him, there is still the tiniest connections so I know he is alive but how are we going to find him and where he is?" I asked.

"You mean to tell me that you have superpowers and you didn't tell us, you tried to kill yourself and you didn't even say goodbye!. THATS NOT WHAT FRIENDS DO ACE! I don't want to be friends with someone who doesn't even tell their so called friends whats going on with them!. he hissed at me pissed

I froze his bond in my mind ripped a little bit and I hit the floor clutching my head in pain as blood came out of my nose, mike just ran upstairs not even willing to look at me.i'm sorry mike!, I didn't know, I didn't think I would almost die, I didn't know..." I thought after him desperately. eleven was crying as she watched me from the other side of the room and I was glad she didn't touch me, it would hurt way too much.I curled in on myself as the bond between me and mike grew weaker, it didn't break but it was like touching lava, he clearly didn't want me around nor did he even want to see me anymore.

I woke the next day still curled up on the floor of mikes basement, eleven had put a blanket over me at some time last night. I could hear mike upstairs annoying Lucas on his radio until eventually he told Lucas to get over here and bring dustin.

I didn't move from my curled position just reaching out to mikes painful link trying to fix it, and in return just getting more blood coming out of my nose and a larger headache.

Not long after I could feel a sting coming from Jonathans link he was angry and sad I could tell, but I wasn't up to moving, using my link I realise he was shouting at mrs byres, she was probably saying crazy stuff, Jonathan just wanted to bury the fake will, I just curled closer to myself and wrapped my mind comfortingly around Jonathans place in my head, he calmed a little still shouting I could tell but hopefully he felt a little better.

The boys got here and came downstairs I was hidden by the table and my blanket so they didn't see me as they crowded around eleven who tried to tap back into wills signal on the radio."What?, we keep losing the signal but you heard it right?" Said mike excitedly

"yeah, I heard a baby, you obviously tapped into a baby monitor'" snarked Lucas I curled further into myself glad to be closer to the remaining links in my mind and tried to block out the pain emitting from mike and wills links.

"Uh, did that sound like a baby to you? - That was Will! " mike claimed loudly "Lucas, you don't understand. He spoke last night. Words! He was singing that weird song he loves Even El heard him!" explained mike.

"Oh, well, if the weirdo heard him, then I guess" Lucas said before being cut off by dustin "Are you sure you're on the right channel? "

"I don't think it's about that. I think, somehow, she's channeling him." Answered mike

"- Like like Professor X?." Asked dustin

"- Yeah." Replied mike

"Are you actually believing this crap?" Asked Lucas

" I don't know, I mean Do you remember when Will fell off his bike and broke his finger? He sounded a lot like that." Said dustin

Lucas began adamantly denying it telling them about the body in the water again which made me wince in pain as the image wouldn't go from my mind again, I dug my nails into my wrist.

They started saying that maybe he's dead and that it was his ghost and I curled further in on myself biting my lip.

I lifted myself up as they began arguing standing I began swaying dangerously before I reached over taking one end of the radio whilst eleven held the other, we managed to make wills voice be heard slightly over the radio he was mumbling my name and Jonathans name but everyone heard him.

I went back to my blanket and curled into it ignoring the "What!," "when did ace get here, whats wrong with him, did you see all the blood on his face!" coming from Lucas and dustin

Mike cut them off, "get out of my house ace, I don't want you here, you're no friend of mine!." I winced I'm sorry mike... I didn't know...

I stood shakily as his words caused the bond to worsen my face paled and I started walking to the front door as dustin and Lucas grabbed me "hey, whats going on here whats wrong with you ace, buddy?" Asked dustin, I just paled further and leant on him as I kept walking to the door.

" What the hell is wrong with you mike!, look at him, look at what will missing has done to ace, and your just gonna send him away, what kind of friend are YOU. "

Mike just scowled "he's no friend of mine, I don't want anything to do with him-" he was cut off as Lucas slapped him across the face.

" I don't want anything to do with you if thats how you treat ace, he's done more than any of us to find will, he's the only one who went to the byres to check on them, out of all of us. we just followed you and we ended up like you spending more time with the weirdo than actually searching for will."

"Ace is obviously not okay he-" Lucas was cut off by eleven.

"Its mikes fault" she said, and the rage in Lucases eyes doubled, "what did you do to him mike?" He asked dangerously.

I leaned on the wall for support and slid down pulling my knees to my chest as my breathing became erratic mike was angry at me his anger burning our link red hot hurting my mind.

I started whimpering in pain and brought my arms to my head my blood red sleeves not yet noticed by the others.

"What!? its not my fault he's like that, its his fault for not telling us he was like eleven, and its his fault for not telling us anything!, he doesn't trust us, friends trust each other and he doesn't so he's not a friend of mine" He shouted, I just got dizzy. And could barely hear dustin calling my name as I was shaking.

Eleven spoke up much to mike and Lucases ire "mike, you split your bond with ace, he can feel the bonds physically, he said he could feel will being ripped from his mind, you were there. You split your bond with him too he could feel it he's not going to be ok if you keep breaking it"

They both stared at eleven this was the most they had heard her speak before and Lucases face went pale, he went over to me and began calling my name and I blearily stared at him not comprehending.

His voice got more and more frantic as my breathing turned into hyperventilating, eventually mike started calling my name, but I just kept staring and not seeing, he was getting frantic also started touching my arm and such but it made no difference.

Eventually he just grabbed me forward and pulled me to his Chest hugging me. I froze as the pain of my link became less lava like and more thorny, carefully I reached over to it in my mind and tried to fix it.

It was slowly patching together and when the last bit of mental strain from mike stopped I slowly started to calm down my breathing still shaky but manageable.

I apologised to mike "sorry mike, I'll go now"

He just watched dumbly as I went to leave, dustin however had other plans and grabbed me by the arm dragging me back into the basement by my bandaged arms, I was hissing in pain and he grabbed it slightly tighter I winced and pulled my arm back pushing my sleeves further down.

"We need a stronger radio" said mike after a pause, we can use the one in the av club. only problem is we have to get eleven in there without drawing too much attention to ourselves, looking at eleven we decided to disguise her to look a little more normal. She walked out with a wig and a pink dress, surprisingly she looked pretty normal and mike seemed smitten.

I smiled gently and went into the bathroom to try and make myself look more presentable, washing the blood off my face and trying to tame my hair. Eventually I looked a little better, still far too pale and I still had dark rings under my eyes.

Before we left I asked mike "mike, I know you don't like me at the moment but could I borrow a long sleeve shirt?" I asked holding up my bloodied sleeves, he just nodded and tossed me one from the wash hamper.

I just peeled the shirt off over my head not looking at anyone as they all gasped and growled about troy, I glanced down to see the huge purple and blue bruises over my torso and quickly slipped mikes shirt over my head at least the others were too busy looking at my torso to notice my arms I thought relieved, it was a little big but it served its purposes.

We then hopped onto our bikes and started riding to school eleven riding double with mike.

When we got their the av club was locked and wills funeral/ memorable was going on in the assembly. Mr Clarke gave us the keys and I quietly followed the others to the assembly ignoring the worried looks everyone was sending me.

When we got there everyone looked at us and we quickly grabbed a seat I glared at troy as he and his buddy started bad mouthing will and laughing about his funeral for gos sakes, what a bastard. I was angry and as mike pushed troy over I stood infront of mike so that troy wouldn't be able to hit him.

His punch connected with my face and I glared at him. suddenly as he lined up another punch he froze, and we all watched as he peed himself in the middle of assembly, everyone laughed at him. I flashed a grateful smile to eleven. turning around and grabbing mike before he attacked troy again, I led the others away whilst mike shouted at me for letting troy bad mouth will.

I gently pushed him into the av club and we sat down to watch eleven try and make wills voice more clear, I was tired and there was no way I would manage it if I did it myself. I could feel mrs byres link become frantic as we listened to will, she could hear him I realised, and suddenly his link felt a lot closer than usual.

We could hear a crashing sound and it sounded to me like will was trying to slam through some kind of barrier, whatever that was and he wasn't able to. It was apparently like home but dark and empty, to me and I'm sure the others it sounded like another demention entirely.

"and Its cold, so cold" will shouted and my knees buckled I sat, closed my eyes and focused on will, every ounce of my focus was on will, his link, I focused on keeping him warm through the link and the biting cold of his link lessened, then I focused on hearing him.

"Mum, mum please," he called in my mind and I hear Joyce byres tell him to "hide." He left to hide and I whispered encouraging words to him through the link.

"Will, its ace, were going to get you out, you just gotta stay alive ok buddy?" He was answering me in whispers that I could barely hear. "Ace is it you?, are you keeping me warm?" I sighed in relief as I heard him, not even realising that my body was being lifted or that a fire had gone off in the room.

"The creature, the demogorgan is it gone?" I asked him quietly, he said it was and that it kept coming after him.

I comfortingly pushed more warmth through the link and asked him where he thought he was "where am I?, well its like Hawkins with the buildings and the roads and everything but its empty of people, its cold, its dark and theres no food or water anywhere, and worst of all the creature is in here with me." he cried to me.

I froze alone in a place that was Hawkins but not Hawkins, that would be terrifying. The creature what can I do about the creature, "will!, keep fighting, were all going to get you out we're figuring it out I promise will, I'll find you I always do, just keep fighting."I called to him as he turned into smoke. i came back into awareness when we went outside.

I stood shakily on my own and made my way over to my bike whilst the group stared at me, eleven was strong enough to hold onto mike while they doubled up, we went straight to mikes house.

It took most of the day for my head to clear up from the headache and when me and eleven were ok the group started discussing what will had said

"Like home? Like home but dark? And empty" said lucas "Empty and cold." Answered dustin

"Wait, did he say cold?" asked lucas " I don't stupid radio kept going in and out." Mike answered "Like home. Like his house? Or maybe like Hawkins." I mumbled

They stared confused eleven spoke up - upside down - she said, it was it all suddenly made sense, it all clicked in place for both me and mike we had finally put the pieces together.

"When El showed us where Will was, she flipped the board over, remember? Upside . Empty...Guys, come on, think about it. When El took us to find Will, she took us to his house, right? Yeah. And he wasn't there. But what if he was there? What if we just couldn't see him? What if he was on the other side? What if this is Hawkins and this is where Will is? The Upside Down." He explained excitedly whilst I just tiredly put my head back glad someone had finally figured it out.

It made sense to them finally and me and eleven just looked at each other glad they had finally got the picture.

Dustin pulled out the dungeons and dragons book and showed them the vale of shadows which basically explained what the upside down was and where will was.

I went home and grabbed my good clothes to wear to wills funeral tommorrow and went Jonathans and wills house. My parents were home but they were arguing again so it was safer to just leave, before I left my arm gained a few more scars for what I did to make mike tear our link.

I just wrapped it up again before I knocked on wills front door.

Jonathan opened it and placed an arm around my shoulders guiding me in, I saw the hole in the wall and frowned. "Did the demogorgan come back Jonathan?" He stared at me for a long moment "how do you know about that thing?"

I shrugged, "its after will, I saw it when I was trying to talk to him" he guided me in and I saw a strange man in the lounge room with mrs byres, this person I assumed was lonnie.

He stood up very intimidating "Whats this kid doing here Jonathon?, I don't think now is the time for guests." I shivered "sorry Jonathan I'll just leave now... sorry" I whispered turning to leave.

He frowned and grabbed my shoulder guiding me to his room he glared at lonnie. "Dad!, that kid is wills best friend, heck he's practically MY best friend, he's hurting over will, he was up every day looking for will and was locked out of his own house more than once because of it, I think he has more of a right to be here than you so leave him alone."

Lonnie just stared at me "whatever, make sure you and that kid don't try and go along with your moms delusions thats the last thing she needs."

I grabbed Jonathans hand when he went to shout at lonnie shaking my head so he knew it wasn't worth it. I placed my clothes for the funeral over Jonathans chair and grabbed a blanket to curl up on the floor in as he explained that he and Nancy had figured out that the creature mrs byres was talking about was real, so if that was real then, will must still be alive.

The next morning we got ready for Wills funeral, Jonathan was crying and we both looked like a wreck as we tried to get our ties right. if we don't rescue will, this will be the last thing people will think of him. I thought to myself

Mrs byres was in wills room and lonnie was talking to her, we drove to the funeral and the family took the seats closest to the coffin and I stood behind Jonathan as around sixty to sixty five people showed up, we all had yellow roses.

Dustin, Lucas and mike were at the funeral across from me, my tears were falling at the knowledge that if we failed will would be forgotten as just another kid who drowned, when I knew he was much much more than that, heck he was in an alternate dimension automatically more awesome than just another drowned kid.

I threw my rose in with conviction, this rose for me was a symbol of what I would not let happen, I would not be saying goodbye to him this way, he was not dead yet and we will save him before he dies.

The funeral ended and i joined the others talking to mr Clarke, he gave me another worried look when I didn't answer his "I haven't seen your parents around ace?" inquiry and I just sat with the others whilst he explained about dimension traveling "humans are like acrobats on the top of the tightrope is our dimension and on the other side is an alternate dimension, humans can only go back and forth on the tight rope but say a flea could go underneath the tight rope the flea in this analogy is Barbara will and the demogorgan, and thus enter the other dimension. humans can only get to another dimension theoretically by amassing so much energy that they puncture a hole into it, that much energy is currently impossible to amass." mr Clarke explained. I knew the gate was already there otherwise will wouldn't have disappeared so the only problem was finding out exactly where it was, not just with the vague sense of direction but where it was exactly.

Mike the others and I went to his house to explain it to eleven so maybe she could tell us where the tear was. She wouldn't. I could tell she knew where it was but I also knew she wouldn't tell us.

Luckily dustin the genius realised that the compass he owned wasn't going the right way, all of our compasses were going the wrong way so we all realised that if we followed the field we would go to the tear and be able to go where will is.

I could tell mrs byres was mad and that Jonathan was sad, the others in the small group were just grimly determined.

We began the long trek following the compasses and soon we ended up following train tracks eleven I could tell was doing something and she kept wiping her nose on her sleeve, lucas was noticing how weird she was and how tired she was getting, but I decided to leave it be.

she wanted us to turn back and I knew it was a wild goose chase she was sending us on, we went to an abandoned car yard before dustin realised we were going home, Lucas was peeved instantly turning on eleven calling her a traiter of course she was and she knew it so she didn't do anything as he attacked her with insults, mike tried to protect her and arguments started.

Lucas was treating mike awfully and mike was retaliating dustin tried to stop them but he was just shoved out of the way, I knew if I didn't step in soon they were both going to attack each other.

They tumbled together and my worry for both of them had me grabbing them both and standing in the middle as they tried to attack me, their arms attacking me as I was all they could reach by bruises being hit.

Dustin was calling out for them to stop and so was eleven and suddenly she screamed sending me flying and my head hit a stray metal car part and everything went black.

I woke up to them shaking me Lucas was just glaring at eleven, I blearily sat up to dustin and mikes releived faces.

They kept asking me how many fingers they were holding up and touching my head to check for injuries, I just watched Lucas as he exploded at mike "this, this is why I don't like her, you prefer her over us and we know it but you cant even see the truth when its right infant of you. And then he stomped off dustin told mike to just let him go.

It was then that mike and I realised eleven was missing, "EL" "ELEVEN!" We were calling out to her but I knew she wouldn't show herself after all, she had upset her precious mike.

We spent a while looking for her but we couldn't find her, a link with me meant I had to have had physical contact to make the link stronger which is why I prefer hugs and touch peoples shoulders when I talk to them, its to redefine our link. Eleven and I couldn't touch so we had no link, it would be impossible for me to find her that way.

Nancys link gave me a shock for a second and I realised something scared her, I concentrated on sending calming waves to her link to try and calm her down I was doing the same thing with Jonathans link, whatever it was scared both of them at the same time.

Suddenly I felt Nancys link play up, "mike!" I called as I swayed as her link began ripping he was at my side in an instant "ace!, ACE! Whats wrong, come on buddy what is it?"

i shuddered "Nancy" I mumbled and his eyes widened, different to wills, disappearance Nancy slowly ripped our link tearing it horribly, it was so painful my tears wouldn't stop and my screams carried for miles bringing dustin and Lucas running, Lucas could hear me a mile down the road, he was here they were all crowded around me as I screamed and curled into a ball.

"Whats going on with ace mike" asked dustin "whats wrong with him mike what happened" Lucas asked worried.

Mikes eyes were wide "the last time this happened will disappeared into the upside down, he said he could feel wills link tear and rip in his mind, before he started screaming the only thing he said was Nancy"

Nancy must be going into the upside down I heard dustin mumble, I started breathing heavily the pain leaving me unable to uncurl from the ball I was in. I firmly grabbed her link with my mind and tried to pull her back she sent back confusion before continuing to tear the link, I kept screaming.

Nancy was in the upside down.

I could feel Jonathan panic through his link but I was in too much pain to help calm him down I just curled further in on myself even though it was dark now and we were in the middle of a car yard without our bikes.

Nancys link stopped tearing all of a sudden and my screams stopped the tear was still there though and the only way to fix it would be to go see her. My breathing was still hyperventilating and it was only now I realised I was practically in Dustins lap as he held me still, Lucas was holding my arms still and mike had my legs, clearly I was thrashing around again.

Dustin let out a sigh of relief as I stood up shakily, "mike... she got out... she's not in the upside down any more." I whispered, he let out a huge sigh of relief, dustin tried to lighten the situation, "thats good, wouldn't want will getting any ideas"

I glanced over and caught Lucas leaving with his hands in his pockets not even bothering to say goodbye, clearly still pissed at us. I sighed and walked with the others to mikes house and sent calming waves to Nancy and Jonathan who were still panicked. I sent apologetic waves to Lucas but he just blocked me out ignoring them.

I spent the night on the couch in mikes basement eleven hadn't come back, and the next morning I went upstairs to Jonathan and Nancy to try and fix the link.

I walked into her room without knocking and saw Nancy reading books and Jonathan still asleep, she looked up ready to have a go at me for not knocking but she must have seen the dark circles under. My eyes and my pale face.

I jumped into the middle of her and Jonathan my hand grabbing hers, Jonathan woke up and wrapped and arm around my shoulders as I tried to calm my mind down. "You went into the upside down, I could feel it, you ripped our link apart it hurt so much" I whispered

Nancy just looked confused but Jonathan just pulled her closer to me wrapping her arms around me despite how weirded out she was.

"Jonathan what?" She asked him confused.

"This is one of my friends and wills friends and for sure mikes friends Jace, but we all call him ace, you've met him before" he said

"Yeah he always gives me a hug when he says goodbye to everyone he's a good kid but whys he in here hugging me?" She answered

Jonathan sighed and I pulled her closer focussing on our torn link trying to heal and fix it.

"Ace isn't like everyone else, he makes a literal connection with the people he comes in contact with, people he likes usually, he physically felt will disappear from here, he felt will being ripped away, it hurts him, he renews a link when he touches people and last night you crawled through to the upside down, its like torture to him and it doesn't fix itself, he's in here because he needs to renew the link he has with you and me." Jonathan explained to her

She had a shocked face," thats how you knew will was still alive" she breathed, "is there anything else you can do ace?" She asked me.

I just nodded and sent calming waves to her mind and I could see she instantly stopped worrying about the demogorgan and smiled, "thats amazing, it must have been you that was making my body try to leave the upside down when I was going in." I just nodded and stood up her link was a lot better than it was before.

I sat on the end as they discussed the creature before butting in " demogorgan, the creature is a demogorgan mike named it." I said " mike knows about it?" Nancy asked and I just nodded.

They devised a plan to lure it out of the upside down and I turned to leave and Nancy locked the door behind me.

I went downstairs to mike freaking out over eleven missing pacing up and down as dustin told him to calm down. I sighed, "you were all out of line the only ones who were reasonable was dustin and I mike, but you drew first blood," I said dustin continued for me, "yeah so you have to shake his hand its the rule of law, obey or be banished." He said seriously

Mike tried to protest but dustin shut him down.i grabbed my jacket and my bike from the front and we biked to Lucases house and mike rang the doorbell.

He was still made so I sent calming waves to him so he wouldn't blow up into an argument like he does. Instead he just said "what do you want"

Mike didn't answer so dustin and I whacked him on the arm. He reluctantly held out his arm for Lucas stating that he drew first blood. He let us in the house and he was pacing back and forth before he decided whether to shake mikes hand or not. Finally he agreed to shake mikes hand with one condition, which I thought was awful, "we forget the weirdo and go straight to the gate." I glared at him, was he trying to start a fight

Predictably mike denied it, and it was up to me and dusting to stop them "no its not fine!" I said "guys seriously!" Dustin said in disbelief. He reminded them of out failed campaign where we all ended up dying because we split up.

Lucas however refused to see eleven as part of the party, I sighed Lucas refused calling her a traiter and a liar. Lucas refused, and dustin mike and I went to find eleven, we had split up and hopefully it wouldn't end up the same way it did on the bloodstone paths.

We rode away on our bikes, mike blamed Lucas "he should have shaken my hand" dustin just told him that he's jealous, I sighed quietly, "he's your best friend isn't he?" Asked dustin, " mike shook his head, "no, Jace is, but we are close friends" dustin sighed " yeah I know your closer with them than you are with me, I only met you in 4th grade and they had the time advantage I get it its ok" I smiled at him this is why he's the reasonable one.

"But no he's not my best friend, well he is but you are too and so is will your all my best friends ok I have more than one best friend." Mike told dustin making my smile larger.

We biked past the shops and stopped as we saw police outside it and the doors shattered, we all knew it was eleven, only eleven would bust into a shop like that. We turned down the road and continued that way.

Suddenly out of nowhere I felt a surge of anger coming from Jonathan and before I could send calming waves to him I felt on my face something like a bruise, I knew Jonathan had started a fight and clearly just been punched, probably back, I sighed and sent him forgiving waves, hopefully he will just let if go and stop fighting whoever it is he's fighting.

We walked our bikes through the woods screaming elevens name hoping she would come out, but I knew she wouldn't she was upset and she had done something wrong so of course she was hiding.

Out of nowhere troy and his two cronies showed up troy had a knife and he we ran the other way hoping they wouldn't catch up. "You're dead nose bleeder!" They shouted and we kept running.

Hopefully Lucas is ok I thought as we ran following a dirt path to the quarry, troy was still chasing us, dustin got a cramp and slowed down mike pushed me ahead as he went to help out dustin, troys cronies ran out in front of us cutting us off, we started picking up rocks and sticks anything to protect ourselves with.

We were right next to the drop off to the huge lake will was found by, dustin and mike threw their weapons or attacked and instantly they were subdued with a knife at Dustins neck I froze "LET HIM GO!" I shouted trying desperately to think of a way out of this, "STAY BACK OR I CUT HIM" troy yelled at me and I stepped back.

"You did something he hissed you made me do it'' I knew what this was about "what wet yourself?" I asked

"TELL ME, how did you do it TELL ME!" Dustin spilled the beans "our friend has superpowers and she squeezed your tiny bladder with her mind" troy just sneered, well now your gonna wet yourself, jump!" He shouted tilting his head towards the at least 100 foot drop to the lake.

I calmed my breathing, "NO ACE DONT DO IT STOP!" Mike was shouting as I made my way to the edge, I looked over and my heart dropped, turning around I connected to their links sending calming waves to them and they just fought harder.

"STOP IT ACE, SERIOUSLY DONT DO IT!" Shouted dustin, I just gulped as troy held the blade closer to his mouth.

Mike and dustin kept shouting at me to not do it, and troy egged me on, troy started counting down so I turned gave them a last look and stepped backwards off the cliff.

I plummeted and at the last second I could hear screams in my mind coming from will, the wind rushing through my hair I watched as the demogorgan attacked will, my brother, it made me so mad I screamed so loudly that my nose started bleeding and the demogorgan was tossed hundreds of feet away and will managed to escape hiding in his castle byres.

Unknown to me the rage I felt caused me to hover in the air a few feet above the water before coming back to awareness and crashing into the water.

I sunk like a stone and swam to shore when I got my bearings, the others didn't see me, I started climbing up the stairs the quarry had and it took me at least 40 minutes to finally reach the area I was at earlier.

Mike and dustin were crying staring over the ledge and troy and his cronies were gone, so I walked dripping wet over to them and sat next to them bringing a arm around their shoulders sending calming waves into their links.

They tackled me to the ground in a hug, "ACE! How did you survive, how what, you should be dead ACE!" Mike gushed

I smiled and gave him another hug," I accidentally floated myself a few feet from the water and then just landed in it and swam to shore so its fine, better news is we found eleven."I said.

She just swayed and fell over as we all looked at her, we rushed over and she seemed to be crying, "el, whats wrong?" Mike asked, she told us the one thing I wasn't expecting "I opened the gate... I'm the monster!" She whispered and I shrugged," its ok el, you scared off troy and his cronies didn't you" I asked and she nodded I smiled gently "then its fine, you saved them for me, troy thought I was dead, probably would have pushed them both over too to cover his tracks if you didn't scare em off so your not a monster el you saved them."

She didn't look convinced until mike told her the same thing, mike and dustin reached down and hugged her when suddenly dustin pulled me into the hug and I screamed in pain, my powers were almost uncontrollable when eleven and I touched it hurt a lot, my nose and elevens nose were both bleeding as we breathed heavily from the floor around 5 feet from each other.

"Is it just me eleven or does touching you make your powers so much stronger?" I asked and she just nodded warily.

We led eleven back to mikes house and walked past a Hawkins electrical van and went inside our bikes just out the back door.

I grabbed a towel from the room and tried to dry myself off the best I could after my dip in the lake.

I sat on the couch in the basement with dustin as mike and eleven flirted in the bathroom when suddenly dustin burst into the bathroom saying that Lucas was in trouble "remember he said he was looking for the gate?, what if he found it" dustin said holding up the radio, we could hear Lucas on the radio but we couldn't make out what he was saying "they know about eleven" was the first thing I made out.

"Get out of there, they know about eleven!" He shouted and I looked at the others confused "the bad men are coming! He shouted and I stood up along with mike already heading for the front door to look out, we saw the van and the man inside was looking around we made connections and figured he was one of the bad men.

I watched with dustin as about five more vans showed up and we slammed the curtains shut as one of the men saw us. We ran to mike talking with his mother and dragged him with us, "we need to leave right now" dustin said.

We flew down the steps and out the back door grabbing our bikes and racing around the corner as the electrical men started walking to the house they stopped staring at us and we started biking as fast as we could.

Dustin was talking to Lucas getting directions as I rode next to mike as close as I dared, the vans were trying to cut us off. So we went down a drive way and through a park trying to lose them.

In the next moment we were on the road with Lucas right behind us, I sighed in relief but didn't leave mike and elevens side. When suddenly the vans turned the corner behind us and we started biking again this time with Lucas.

There was one van in front of us that was coming up fast, we were going to be squished if we didn't do anything now glancing at eleven I saw blood dripping down her nose as she tried to lift the car, remembering how we gave each other a power boost I grit my teeth and reached over grabbing her shoulder, in the last second the car flipped up and over our heads crashing to the ground behind us. Miraculously the other vans stopped and we sped off home free. I weakly kept going my head now in so much pain I felt like I was going to faint

We ended up in the same old car yard that eleven went missing in last time before we were willing to stop, I just slipped off the bike and onto the ground laying there for a minute and wiping the blood from my nose.

Mike helped me to my feet and sat me next to eleven at least a foot in between us for safety.

Lucas and dustin were grinning "Holy shit! Did you see what they did to that van!" Dustin gasped out

"No dustin we missed it" replied mike sarcastically I smiled a weak smile. He was lost for words mumbling "I mean that was, tha was, tha was" before Lucas cut him off "Awesome,it was awesome" he said and both me and eleven turned to look at him surprised.

Lucas gave me a bear hug and knelt down and apologised to eleven for everything he said about her, eleven just gave him a calculating look before cautiously saying "friends, friends don't lie I'm sorry too" I smiled along with Lucas, mike held out his hand also apologising and Lucas finally shook his hand.

Both me and dustin breathed a sigh of relief, we sat in a circle as Lucas explained what he saw drawing a map out on the ground with a stick and explained to us the laboratory place or "department of energy" as the sign apparently said and its parameters.

Mike and Lucas explained how it was government and military and how the place was like a fortress, it was sounding worse and worse for us as I kept listening.

I laughed silently as mike told us we couldn't go home because we were fugitives now, it was funny even if it was true. Suddenly I heard a sound and we all started looking for the source.

It didn't take long for us all to spot the helicopter and freak out we quickly stashed our bikes under the broken bus and ran inside hopefully before the helicopter pilot saw us I glanced at the others as we lay on the floor of the bus all of us holding our breath as the helicopter passed over head.

we were getting bored waiting in the bus for the helicopter to go away it had been ages since we first got in it, luckily the calling on mikes radio brought all of our attention to it, "mike, are you there?"

We all gathered around and it was soon decided it was Nancy on the other end of the radio, we were even more confused when the chief of police started talking on the phone trying to get us to pick up, after a quick vote mike answered "yeah were here" he said.

I pacing up and down the length of the bus as we spoke and arranged for the chief to come pick us up.

It was ages before mike finally snapped at dustin for his nervous mumbling and my pacing, "will you just stop pacing, and dustin just stop mumbling!" I sat down sending apologetic waves to him.

Dustin turned to him, "It's been way too long, you know what maybe your right, maybe this is all a trap and the bad men are coming to get us right now!"

Lucas lifted his hands up is exasperation " its not a trap, why would the chief set us up?… Nancy maybe but the chief?" Mike glared at Lucas for a second.

"Dustin just sighed, "I don't feel good about this…I DONT FEEL GOOD ABOUT THIS!" He shouted at Lucas.

Lucas glared " when do you feel good about ANYTHING!" He shouted before I sent him calm waves, and just placed a hand to his head tiredly.

Suddenly we heard two cars pull up and we ran to the front of the bus to take a look., "shit" I swore under my breath as two cars drove up, we all ran to the other end of the bus and got down hoping neither of them saw us.

We held our breath as one of the men walked around near out bus none of us daring to look out the window at them.

We all watched horrified as a hand started opening the bus before suddenly the person was hit, some more hitting sounds and thumps were heard before hopper the chief of police walked in holding his gun.

he looked at us and me before saying "alright lets go", we stood there staring at him for a moment and he got impatient I could tell , "LETS GO!" He shouted and we all quickly got our things, I sped up to walk next to him and grabbed his hand as we walked to his car, he looked at me funny but I just focused on making a link, this man seems to be in the middle of everything but I can tell he is nice too.

eventually we drove to will and Jonathans house by the time we got there it was dark. When we got out of the car Nancy ran to mike and gave him a hug I smiled, but was soon engulfed in a hug of my own from Jonathan.

I smiled even brighter and hugged him back reestablishing our link. After our welcome we went inside, we had to explain what we had figured out, "okay so in this example were the acrobat and will and Barbra and the demogorgan are the flea, and this is the upside down where will is hiding" he said pointing to the line on the page,

"Mr Clarke said the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space" I said helpfully, dustin just said "yeah its like a gate"

"That we tracked to Hawkins lab" continued Lucas "with our compasses" finished dustin.

The others just looked confused so I nudged dustin "okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field and that can change the directions of a compass needle" he explained for them.

Hopper looked grave " this gate underground" he asked

Eleven answered and we all looked at her "yes" she whispered. Hopper continued staring at her "near a large water tank?" Eleven nodded "yes".

We all looked at him "how did you know all that" asked dustin, mike and I looked down "he's seen it" we whispered in realisation.

Mrs byres stared at eleven, and desperately asked "is there anyway that you could reach will and talk to him in this.." She was cut off by eleven "upside down". Eleven just nodded.

Nancy stared at her "and my friend Barbra she said staring at her, can you find her too?"

We sat eleven at the table with the radio in front of her she shut her eyes and when she opened them she looked like she was about to cry, freaking mrs byres out, "I'm sorry… I cant find them" she whispered.

Everyone looked defeated so I sat up off the floor and stood, mike stared at me "ace, you have to try and at least find will, please." He asked I nodded "I will try to find them both, bring me the phone" I said sitting at the table.

I shut my eyes focusing on wills link and grabbed the phone, I was still sending will warmth through his link since the last time I saw him and with my eyes shut and only my link to find him I searched all of the upside down Hawkins for him, with no luck.

I had blood dripping down my nose and my head was screaming at me to stop, I went past the forest where Jonathan and I met up and found a pool like structure out the side of a house I went into the pool searching for will and what I found had my face go grey.

Barbra was laying down covered in slime a slug coming out of her mouth, I looked her over and she wasn't breathing, I started crying when suddenly I heard the demogorgan, it was coming, drained mentally I let go of wills strand and found myself back in the normal Hawkins.

I bent over and vomited into a bin that Jonathan had grabbed for me just in time, "Barbara" I murmered and nancy looked at me expectedly "she's dead, slugs were coming out of her mouth and she was grey" I said tears still streaming down my face and the image not leaving my mind.

Nancy started crying, "Barbara , no, she wouldn't leave me like that, she's my best friend" she said crying, I just turned my head into Jonathans chest as he hugged me trying to hide from the images in my own mind.

Joyce byres spoke up hesitantly "will… what about will?" I looked at her, I couldn't find him Joyce , but thats ok because if I couldn't find him with my link then the demogorgan cant either"

I burrowed my head back into Jonathans side. Eleven went to the bathroom and mike explained how using our powers drained us. " like when she flipped that van over, ace touched her to give her a power boost and after that he could barely bike or walk straight and she was tired, they're both drained" he told them.

Eleven came out with a brilliant idea a sensory deprivation tank, if we used one of those all she would have to focus on would be will so dustin called mr Clarke.

I could tell through our weak link that he was annoyed but still fond of us even though it was 10pm and we had probably woken him up dustin brought him around and soon we had a list of things we would need for a sensory deprivation tank

We had the pool, we just needed a shit ton of salt, hopper knew where to go and we all got in the cars and went to our school, the salt was used to stop the school roads and parking areas from icing over.

Jonathan went with hopper to get the salt, dustin Lucas and I broke into the gym with the pool and set it up.

Mike and Nancy went to the groundsman shed to get a hose and eleven and mrs byres went to make two black goggle masks.

Once mike and Nancy har hooked up the hoses we started filling the pool keeping the temperature just right with Lucas calling out colder or warmer when needed. We had the pool filled within the hour and hopper and Jonathan came in with the salt, they began pouring the bags of salt into the pool.

We measured the fleetingness of the pool with eggs and eventually we had enough salt that the egg didn't sink and instead, floated.

Eleven and I were still drained so we both had to go into the tank I was in the water to power eleven up so she could find will with her being more knowledgeable with the upside down.

Mike placed the radio on the side of the pool at the ready, eleven and I took off our socks jackets and watches and put on the blacked out goggle masks and I stepped into the pool first.

I laid down in the pool floating, it was so dark with the goggles on and I almost forgot what I was doing.

Using my link with will and Jonathan the two strongest links I had I began sending pure waves of energy into the water, my nose bleeding.

I knew instantly when eleven stepped into the pool as my breathing became harsh and my head almost split in two, my powers were amplified so much I could feel the energy in my mind doubling and going through my links, I could hear the gasps of everyone else in the room who had a link with me as I tried to get rid of the excess power by making them feel hot, cold, happy sad.

Eventually I reeled it in with a scream and blood began dripping from my ears at the pressure, eleven reached over and in that moment I was holding hands with her.

My screams became louder and the blood from my nose and ears started coming out faster and blood began dripping from my eyes as I directed all my energy towards her.

I began to feel a weak link form between us the longer we held hands and soon her link was as strong as dustin and mine or Lucases and mine.

I kept screaming my knees drawing to my chest in the water, the lights in the gym went out and I didn't notice too much pain was drawing my in on myself all I knew in those moments was pain and my screams.

As the link between me and eleven grew I began channelling my energy through it and she began breathing faster, as she used the energy searching for will, my breathing got faster and faster as I began to hyperventilate, Jonathan I could feel through my amplified link was worried and wanted to take me out of the pool, hopper was adamant we finish and find will.

I concentrated my body was tired, and getting tireder my limbs were going numb the longer I push my energy through my link to eleven.

I grit my teeth in pain as an attempt to stop my screams and kept trying to breathe, eleven began to mumble gone and I knew she had found Barbara, her voice got louder almost in hysterics as she saw her body the same one I had seen.

I kept my teeth gritted as I sent calming waves to her through our link along with energy, all the while trying to keep will warm in the upside down.

As I started screaming again at the excess of ability I had to use mrs byres tried to calm eleven down whispering that she was her its ok.

Jonathan grabbed my shoulders as I began shuddering at the effort, he was crying as I screamed, I could hardly feel his hands on my shoulders as everything had gone numb after using my powers so much.

I began sinking into the watery dark place eleven was at and I walked along side her as we saw castle byres.

Heading inside she crouched at his side as I forced more warmth through our connection with a scream.

She told him that his mom was coming and he told them to hurry, I sat next to his head and reached over but eleven grabbed my arm shaking her head no.

I shrugged her off and hugged will, he barely opened his eyes but I knew he could feel me and see me like I was there.

I frowned, "water, hand me some water" I bit out and soon a bottle was in my hand, in the dark watery place I looked down and saw a bottle of water appear.

Carefully I handed it to will, he slowly took the lid off and started to drink it. I stopped him after a few seconds because he would throw it up if he drank too fast.

We didn't have any food on hand and what I was doing was strange enough as eleven just stared at me in disbelief as I gave will another hug, "will! We'll get you out just stay strong and hold on" I told him firmly and suddenly everything began turning to wisps of smoke and he disappeared, I began screaming again as my fingers and toes began going ice cold. And I opened my eyes still floating and took the blacked out goggles off, eleven had let go of my hand and I lay floating in a daze, not enough energy to move.

Mrs byres hugged eleven as I tried to uncurl from my ball, just now noticing that the water bottle they gave me was gone, which meant I had somehow placed it in the upside down with will.

Jonathan leaned over the edge and grabbed me floating me to the side, "shit! Ace, you're ice cold." He swore as he lifted me out of the pool and placed me on the stands next to dustin and wrapped me in a towel. He left to talk to hopper or something and I slipped into a daze, barely noticing that dustin was rubbing my back trying to warm me up or that the others were talking.

I suddenly realised that I had stopped sending warmth to will and guilt consumed me immediately I resumed hoping he wasn't frozen to death.

Hopper and Joyce byres had gone to enter the upside down and Jonathan and Nancy were going to bring the demogorgan to this Hawkins to try and kill it.

Suddenly in my mind will began screaming and I instantly focused on him shaking with the effort and managed to catch a glimpse of the demogorgan like the other times I threw it as far as I could and slipped out of my mind, swaying to the side I almost fell over right there if it wasn't for dustin "whoa, ace, come on its ok you're alright" he said as he straightened me I nodded and tried to gain my strength back.

Hopper suddenly shocked me and I continued getting shocks from his link as I sat there and eventually I realised someone was tazering him and I decided to send him numbness, the only thing I could do for him was to try and numb his pain.

I got up and walked outside leaving everyone in the gym with eleven and caught up with Jonathan and Nancy as they began to get in the car.

I opened the backseat and slid in almost recovered from our little escapade to the acrobats wire.

Nancy and Jonathan stared at me before shrugging and driving off, we stopped at the police station and Nancy and Jonathan went in to steal there stuff back.

We then drove to Jonathan and wills house, I got out with them and we went inside with our box of bear traps, bullets and gasoline.

The next hour we placed all the lights back onto the bulbs and once we had finally done that we began setting the traps and loading our weapons I grabbed the wooden block of kitchen knives, Jonathan hammered nails through a wooden bat and Nancy had the gun.

We were as ready as we were going to be when the demogorgan came for us. I heard hopper apologise to me through the link and I heard mrs byres follow suit. It was just enough warning for me to slam walls down around their links to block out the pain as they walked into the upside down, tearing our link.

It still hurt and I still gasped at the pain but I could focus on the task at hand, if they were in the upside down now we had to get the demogorgan out of it.

It didn't take long for their links to be as torn as wills, the walls stopping me from feeling most of the pain.

I gave Jonathan and Nancy a pained nod and handed them the kitchen knives "remember, straight into wills room, it comes to the warning trap wait for the yoyo to move and light the fire" Nancy and Jonathan said, I nodded

"Okay, you guys ready?" He asked us Nancy and I nodded this was going to hurt but it had to be done.

On three we all sliced our hands open at the same time, our blood was what we were going to use as the bait.

We covered the ground we wanted the demogorgan to appear at in our blood and Jonathan wrapped my hand and Nancy began wrapping his.

The wind was spooking us our making strange noises, Jonathan reasured Nancy that she "shouldn't worry because the lights would speak when it comes." Nancy was a little weirded out but continued wrapping his hand, they were having a moment so I kept quiet looking out to try and spot the demogorgan.

Suddenly the door was being pounded on, scaring the shit out of all of us,steve was at the door wanting to talk to Jonathan, I was worried, he could ruin our plan. Despite that Nancy answered the door and tried to et him to leave. I doubt Steve seeing Nancy at Jonathans house would end well so I backed up a little.

I frowned as Steve began stuttering out an apology, I could tell even without a link he was feeling guilty anxious and angry at himself, it wouldn't end well if he couldn't fix things with Nancy.

Steve spotted Nancys hand and I watched as she pulled it in as he began worrying over it, I sighed as Steve began thinking that maybe Jonathan did it to her and barged his way into the house.

He freaked out as he spotted Jonathan and me and the baseball bat with metal nails through it "what is what the fu-" Jonathan cut him off trying to get him out of the house.

Nancy pulled a gun on Steve trying to force him out, and I knew he wouldn't leave till he had his answer so walking over to him as the others watched I grabbed his hand making a link between us as he watched baffled.

Nancy began counting down from 5 to when she would shoot Steve he kept shouting no

The lights began flashing, and jonathan and I freaked out "na-nancy" Jonathan tried to warn her. But she kept counting down paying no attention to Jonathan, I let go of Steves hand and shouted at her "NANCY!- THE LIGHTS!" She lowered the gun and spun around

"Its here," Jonathan said grabbing the baseball bat" Steve was confused "wai-wait whats here!?" We just grabbed our weapons ignoring him keeping our backs to each other we tried to find it "WHERE IS IT!" Nancy shouted spinning around "I don't- I don't know, I don't see it" shouted Jonathan back.

Steve gave up and screamed "WHERE IS WHHAATT!" the rest of us kept spinning looking for the demogoragan, panicking when we couldn't find it.

When suddenly its arm crashed through the roof, Nancy began shooting at it and we all began running to wills room avoiding the traps as it followed us.

Steve was shouting "OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD" over and over in terror as we instructed him to jump over the traps.

As we entered the room see began freaking out "Jesus JESUS, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" As we shut the door behind us.

All of us just looked at him "shut up" we shouted at him, and turned to watch the door waiting for the demogorgan whilst Jonathan held the flame ready to roast it.

We watched the yoyo waiting for it to move as the lights kept flickering on and off and suddenly they stopped flickering and we couldn't hear it any more, we looked at each other cautiously for a moment. "Do you hear anything?" Asked Nancy.

" No" Jonathan and I said lowering our weapons. We followed Jonathan as he opened the door looking for the demogorgan, it was gone, no longer in the hallway where we left it.

Steve just watched on freaked out, I took the moment of quiet to slam another set of walls around hopper and mrs byres link to try and numb them out. We slowly walked down the hall way to the living room with our weapons ready Steve trailing cautiously behind.

As we decided the room was clear Steve began mumbling to himself trying to calm down "this is crazy, this is actually crazy , this is crazy. This is crazy. This is really crazy. THIS IS CRAZY THIS IS REALLY CRAZY!." Before reaching for the phone calling 919, Nancy grabbed the phone off him and angrily thew it to the floor "what-what are you doing… are you insane" he yelled desperately

Nancy just glared at him "Its going to come BACK… so you need to leave!… right. now.!" He looked lost for a few seconds before running out the front door to his car.

Suddenly the lights began flickering again and we began circling each other again trying to spot it "where is it?" Mumbled Nancy "Come on you son of a bitch !" Called Jonathan, "come on you creep" I called scared as the lights kept flashing.

We couldn't see it and we were getting more and more panicked as the seconds rolled by, when suddenly the lights went out entirely, I sucked in a breath and it appeared behind Jonathan, "Jonathan!" Nancy and I called trying to warn him, it pushed him over and his bat rolled away, Nancy kept calling out Jonathans name as I watched horrified as monster slime went over Jonathans mouth and face, its face opened up like a flower into hundreds of rows of teeth and I stabbed one of my knives at it as Nancy began shooting it.

It stood up angrily getting off of Jonathan and Nancy and I backed up still shooting and stabbing at it., soon Nancy was out of bullets and I was out of knives we backed to a wall waiting for it to attack when Steve suddenly flew in front of us and swung the bat at it, smacking it hard and making it back away.

Steve kept hitting it with the bat trying to keep it away and managed to push it into the bear trap setting the yoyo notice off. We backed up "Jonathan now" Nancy and I called and he lit the lighter and threw it onto the gasoline trail managing to light it on fire.

I covered my face at the brightness the demogorgan burned at, it was like looking at magnesium flame it was so bright, its screeching was so loud I covered my ears and it disappeared, Jonathan grabbed the fire extinguisher and put out the rest of the fire.

I began coffing with everyone else as the smoke burned my lungs and the lights slowly came back on allowing us to see again.

We inched forward with Steve still holding the bat "where'd it go?" Asked Nancy, "it has to be dead… it has to be" Jonathan said panting as we stared at its left over sizzling foot which looked like brown melted boiling cheese.

Amazed we watched as the lights above us began turning on like a path and I realised that mrs byres and hopper must be walking through there, but just in case we all gathered together in a group with Steve waving the baseball bat threateningly.

the lights kept going and we looked at each other before following them as a group. "Mom" Jonathan breathed as we watched the lights go out the front door, we walked onto the porch as we watched the street light flicker. "Wheres it going?" Asked Nancy jonathan and I looked at each other "I don't think thats the monster" said Jonathan and I nodded along with him.

I sighed glad it was over, suddenly els link grew weak and I tiredly leaned against Steve as we stood on the porch and sent waves of energy towards her trying to make her stronger, whatever she was doing it sounded like she could use the energy.

She was still weak so I kept sending more and more energy to her, my body tilted to the side collapsing against the floor as Steve grabbed me "hey kid… KID you ok kid whats wrong kid come on wake up!"

I blearily looked around sending power at eleven almost like in the deprivation tank but we weren't touching so it was so much harder to do, blood was once again dripping from my nose but I didn't care, I was focusing solely on her link, if she was in trouble then the others in the group were also in trouble.

Suddenly she felt to me incredibly sad and mike also, I winced sending more energy to her. She started using it and I laid weakly sending her more and more and more energy as she pulled it from me and threw something back with her mind.

In a few seconds she sent something else gently flying which I knew was mike as his link began to feel panicked, I started crying as I sent him numbness hoping to make him feel a little better, more energy was going to eleven and she began gathering it up for something. My eyes were getting harder to hold open as almost all of my energy was gone Steve was freaking out shaking me, my head was in someones lap I think it was Jonathans but I barely noticed just sending all I had to eleven to protect my friends with.

She sent all this energy at something all at once in a concentrated blast and I began screaming as I was sending her energy I didn't know I had left.

all at once she stopped using my energy and she ripped the link almost tore it from my head, I weakly curled into a ball hugging whoever it was I was laying on and cried too weak to scream, just clutching at my head in pain. "Eleven" I mumbled over and over again, I knew she was in the upside down and I knew even if she got out I would never be able to see her again to fix our link. For the next hour I built a wall around her link, and another and another and sent numbness down to the wall trying to block her out.

Eventually I was able to sit up weakly my arms and whole body was shaking and Jonathan was hugging me rocking me back and forth with tears coming down his face.

"Ace… come on buddy, its ok, just breathe, breathe for me buddy" he whispered and that was when I realised I was hyperventilating, taking a few gasping breaths I could breathe easier.

Looking around I saw Steve leaning against a porch pole watching me his face messed up probably from when Jonathan got into a fight, Nancy was sitting on the stairs looking out to the road.

Wills link was so weak now I couldn't tell if he was alive, I just curled into Jonathans side, he pulled me next to him and I reached out for Steve and Nancy, in a second Jonathan had them sitting next to me touching me, letting me strengthen our links.

Wills link all of a sudden repaired itself a little letting me know he wasn't dead, I breathed a huge sigh of relief and sent him more warmth and a feeling of satisfaction, trying to help him as much as I could from here. I wiped my nose of the blood from earlier and Steve bumped my shoulder, "what the hell happened kid?" He asked

I shuddered a little "something happened and eleven needed energy, I was sending her all I had, after the deprivation tank I was so drained, all I could do was try and keep will warm.

Then she suddenly got really weak like 20 mins after the demogorgan left, so I knew she needed energy but had none, because we were touching for such a long time in the tank I had a decent link made with her, but I don't think I had enough energy… she's gone, she went into the upside down." I mumbled blearily answering him, not realising he had no idea what I was talking about.

After a few hours I stood up as fast as I could…"Jonathan, wills link isn't tearing anymore" I whispered as I made my way to his car, he and the others followed as fast as they could behind and I focused on finally finding will.

I directed Jonathan through the many streets and soon we were following behind hoppers car as we went to the hospital will was immediately placed on a stretcher looking like death.

Jonathan and I ran along side it as they ran him into a room full of equipment, soon the nurses had us in the waiting room where I weakly paced along the length of the room, Jonathan disappeared for a bit after a while and walked in carrying food.

I stopped my pacing as I reached out and took an apple from him, biting it as I continued pacing.

It was another four hours before they let us in to see will and by that time it was 2am.

I was wrecked with no energy and all the emotional link problems that had occurred all day as soon as I saw will, surprisingly with very little moniters hooked up I crawled into bed with his unconscious form curling around him and falling asleep.

I woke as will began moving around two days later, the nurses hadn't been able to wake me and apparently I began screaming when they tried to move me, instead they had just placed an iv in my arm along with wills to make sure we were hydrated as we slept.

Jonathan and mrs byres hugged will and I as we looked up at them "where am I ?" Asked will, mrs byres just smiled at him "your home kiddo, your home"

i curled closer to will and he looked over at me "ace… you could talk to me in the upside down… how…. Why, and you kept me warm- how did you do that?" He asked weakly.

I smiled at him, "I'll tell you all about my superpowers later, will." I said as Jonathan left, in a few seconds mike, Lucas and dustin were running into the room bear hugging us, excitedly telling will about what happened while he was gone.

Suddenly as will got too excited he began coughing into his sleeve, the others quietened down after that and I pulled will closer to me, the others began telling will about eleven and I and I leant over and whacked dustin as he described us as having "blood just pouring out of our faces", and watched as they told him all about flipping the van with our minds I just closed my eyes still tired and fell back to sleep with all my closest links in the same room as me it was far easier than it had been for days.