I do not own Stranger Things or any of the characters.
Hiding
Cars rumbled as they drove past, none of the drivers or passengers seeing the form hunched in the bushes. bright blue eyes watched the cars pass as he waited. A dirty, pale hand brushed rain water away from his eyes, smearing dirt on his face. Finally, an equally dirty hand landed on his shoulder. He glanced at the child beside him and nodded, receiving one in return. Then, she ran, crossing the street and heading for the diner ahead of them. He watched her in silence for a long few seconds before turning and beginning to run. He grit his teeth. He knew this had to happen, but he didn't want to leave her.
He ran for a long while before slowing to a stop as he spotted a building ahead of him. It was ancient, dirty, filled with cobwebs and spiderwebs, and didn't look safe, but it would do, for now. At least until he was clean and had stolen something to wear. He sighed, looking around as his stomach rumbled. He sighed, walking to the bathroom and turning on the shower. Brown water began to run out of it. He grimaced, waiting. Finally, after nearly an hour, the water was clear, so he got in, scrubbing himself as best he could without soap, then got out, focusing. The water covering him all floated off, moving away from him before splashing to the ground. He grimaced, holding a hand to his head before reaching up and wiping the blood from his nose. He looked at the gown he'd been wearing before, then shook his head and walked over to what looked like a dresser. He pulled the top drawer open, but it was empty. The second drawer was equally empty. The third, however, had a pair of jeans, more than a few sizes too big. He pulled them on and grabbed a piece of dirty rope lying on the floor, tying it around his waist like a belt before rolling the pantlegs up until his feet were able to reach the floor out of them. Then, he walked over to sit against the wall and sighed heavily, pulling his knees to his chest, folding his arms against his knees and resting his forehead against them, falling asleep after a while.
He took a deep breath before leaving the cabin. He walked quickly, ignoring the pain in his feet from walking on broken sticks and stiff, pointy grass. The walk took hours, but finally, he'd reached the diner. However, he stopped just inside the trees. She wasn't there. He frowned, looking around. Then, he sighed, raising his hand for a moment before turning left and beginning to walk, wiping the blood from his nose.
He stared at the door, narrowed his eyes slightly. She was using it. Second floor, corner room. He looked around before crossing the road. He took a stop forward, only to stop, staring at the house. Then, he turned, walking the short distance to the woods and sitting against a tree where he could see the house but couldn't easily be seen from outside the trees.
"What are we doing here?" the black boy asked, his voice barely reaching the form standing in the woods a safe distance behind them.
"She says he's hiding," the boy she'd ridden on the bike with said.
"Um, no, this is where he lives!" the black boy said.
"I swear, if we just walked all the way out here for nothing..." the heavier boy with some of his teeth missing and curly hair began.
"That's exactly what we did!" the black boy yelled. "I told you she didn't know what the hell she was talking about!"
"Why did you bring us here?" the boy she'd ridden with asked.
She tried to explain, but her limited vocabulary stopped her from being able to say what she needed to.
"Mike, don't waste your time with her," the black boy said.
"What do you want to do then!?" Mike snapped.
"Call the cops like we should have done yesterday!" the black boy snapped back.
"Hey guys?" the curly-haired boy said.
"We are not calling the cops!" Mike snapped.
"What other choice do we have!?" the black boy demanded.
"Guys!" the curly-haired boy yelled.
They all looked toward the road ahead of them as an ambulance and a cop car raced past, lights and sirens active. The children all ran to their bikes, taking off after them. He turned, sprinting through the trees, raising a hand as he ran and gritting his teeth, then wiped his bloody nose as he ran hard. Finally, he slowed to a stop at the top of a twenty foot cliff overlooking the water filling the quarry. Below him, there was a fire engine, and the kids all standing behind it. Mike was yelling at her, and judging by what he was saying, the body being removed from the water was a friend she had been trying to help him find. When she couldn't say anything because she didn't have the words, he simply took off. His two friends called after him, but he ignored them. After a few minutes, the other two left as well, the curly-haired boy letting her ride with him.
She ran hard, crying, only for him to step out in front of her, catching her and wrapping his arms around her. She fought for a moment before realizing who he was and wrapping her arms around him.
"It's alright, Eleven," he said. "It's alright."
"I attacked him!" Eleven cried.
"It's alright," he said. "He's alright."
"Thirteen," she said, pulling back and shaking her head. "Not okay. I'm the monster!"
"No," he said. "No you're not. Come on. I know a place we can sleep without being outside."
Eleven nodded and followed him to the cabin he'd found. He grabbed the blanket he'd ignored the one night he'd slept there and shook most of the dust off of it before handing it to her.
"Tomorrow we'll go and get some food," he said. "It'll be okay."
She nodded, and he turned, heading for the door. "Thirteen!"
He paused, looking back at her.
"Stay," she said.
"I'm just going to use the bathroom," he said. "I don't trust the toilet to flush properly."
She nodded, and he left the cabin, relieving himself quickly before heading back inside, sitting beside her and pulling her against his side.
"Rest, Ellie," he said. "Everything's going to be okay."
She nodded and closed her eyes, struggling to fall asleep. However, eventually, she succeeded, and he waited for a little longer before drifting off to sleep as well.
"Mouth breather," Eleven said, turning away from the store's manager, who had asked if her mother and father were there.
Thirteen smirked, grabbing several packages of meat, glancing around. He'd found a dirty shirt abandoned out behind the store, so while he looked clean, no one was giving him more than a passing glance. Of course, it helped that they all saw an average-looking boy with dark eyes and short brown hair. Finally, they had what they wanted, he having refrigerated meat that could last them for a day, and Eleven having several boxes of Eggo waffles. They headed for the door, both knowing full well they couldn't pay for it.
"Excuse me," the manager said, following Eleven. "Young lady! You know you have to pay for those!"
Eleven's eyes narrowed and a woman's cart jumped forward, getting in the manager's way, just as he spotted Thirteen.
"Hey!" he shouted. "You two! Stop! You have to pay for those!"
The store's doors hissed open for them and they walked out calmly.
"Stop right there!" the manager shouted. "Thieves! Thieves!"
Thirteen twitched his head to his left and the doors slammed shut just in time for the manager to slam into them, the glass shattering from either the impacts of the doors slamming or from him slamming into the doors just shy of a run.
"Quarry?" Eleven asked, looking over at him.
He nodded. "Sure. It's kind of cool there."
She nodded, smiling, and they headed into the woods before he raised his hand for a moment, then wiped the blood from his nose, turning to his left slightly, Eleven following him. They walked for an hour, give or take, before stopping as they heard Mike's voice shouting for Eleven in the distance, calling her El, rather than Eleven. They glanced at each other and nodded, heading that way and dropping their food off by a stump where they'd remember it if necessary. Then, they began to run.
"Let him go!" Mike shouted suddenly, as they reached the quarry. "Let him go!"
"Dustin," Eleven said, pointing at the curly-haired boy, who was being held by a larger boy, who had a knife to his throat.
Just then, Mike began to move toward the cliff beside where they'd been caught. Thirteen narrowed his eyes.
"Be ready to catch him," Thirteen said. "I'll head around to them."
Eleven nodded and Thirteen turned, running around the quarry, passing through the trees for most of the run.
Just as he was able to see the four of them, the bully with the knife shouted, "Dentist's office opens in five..."
"Mike!" Dustin shouted.
"four..." the bully continued counting, "three...two...one!"
Mike jumped. Dustin and both bullies sprinted to the edge of the cliff and stared in shock for a moment before Mike floated back up over it. He flipped as he passed over the three of them before dropping onto his but behind them. The bullies turned to him, as did Dustin, just before Thirteen raised his hand. The bully's knife shot through the air, rotating until its handle hit his hand and he closed his fingers around it. The four children all stared at him in shock, just as Eleven stepped up beside him. She jerked her chin toward the bullies and the larger of the two, who hadn't had the knife was shoved onto his back. Then, she jerked her head to the side and the other bully's arm snapped loudly, the bully screaming in pain.
"She broke my arm!" the bully shrieked. "My arm!"
"Run away, tough guys," Thirteen said. "Run away like the cowards you really are."
Both bullies turned tail instantly, screaming and running as hard as they could.
"Yeah, that's right, you better run!" Dustin shouted. "She's our friend and she's crazy! You come back here and she'll kill you! You hear me!? She'll kill you, you sons of bitches! She'll kill you, you hear me!?"
Eleven caught Thirteen by the forearm in warning, and Thirteen tossed the knife aside, turning and catching her as her legs gave out. Mike and Dustin were at her side instantly.
"El, you okay!?" Mike asked. "El!"
"Mike...I'm sorry," Eleven cried.
"Sorry?" Mike asked. "What are you sorry for?"
"The Gate," Eleven said. "I opened it. I'm the monster."
"No," Mike said. "No, El, you're not the monster. You saved me. Do you understand? You saved me."
Eleven sat up out of Thirteen's arms, hugging Mike, and after a moment, Dustin joined in the group hug. Thirteen smiled slightly and stood, pulling the bully's knife back to himself before wiping his bloody nose finally. He folded the knife up and slipped it into his pocket.
"Who are you?" Mike asked, Thirteen turning to him.
"The number assigned to me was Thirteen," Thirteen said. "Whatever name I had before then, I don't remember. Eleven and I were raised by the US Government to be weapons."
"Oh, you can talk," Mike said.
Thirteen nodded. "Unlike Eleven, my abilities include reading minds, more or less, so I was able to use it to learn to read, write, and a bunch of other things from the minds of the people holding us."
"Awesome!" Dustin said. "Superheroes!"
"Hardly," Thirteen said, sitting against the cliff face opposite where Mike had tried to jump. "Our abilities were the result of government experimentation on our mothers, and using them is hard. It burns through energy rapidly and leaves us drained."
"Hold on," Mike said. "If you were with El, why do you have hair as long as mine? Did they not shave yours?"
"Oh, no, they did," Thirteen said. "But what you're seeing isn't really me. I'm not really brunette, my eyes aren't brown, and I don't look like this. This isn't my face."
"Shapeshifter!" Dustin said excitedly.
"Not exactly," Thirteen said. He looked around. "Let's head back to your house, Mike. I can explain everything there."
The others all nodded before Mike stopped.
"How do you know El's been staying at my house?" Mike asked. "Did you read my mind?"
"No," Thirteen said. "I've been keeping an eye on my sister."
He glanced between him and Eleven, then nodded, accepting the explanation. They all left the quarry together, grabbing Mike and Dustin's bikes on the way past before heading back to Mike's house.
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