Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Stranger Things.

Chapter 3: Voices

Since his attack from the mind flayer, Max had visited Billy everyday in the hospital. She spent endless hours speaking to him, telling him everything that had been happening in her life In detail.

She had heard that even though a patient is non-responsive when in a coma, they can sometimes still hear you, she had hoped that if she continued her efforts, her once harsh stepbrother may wake.

No one really understood why she was putting in all the effort to help him, when in their eyes, he certainly hadn't been a particularly devoted brother. What they didn't see was all the things that Billy had done for her, that he attempted to do unnoticed.

-But Max noticed.

Always being the bad one, so that Neil wouldn't notice all my bull shit. Distracting him so that he would forget that I was even there. Protecting me from having my teeth smashed in.

Today she sat slumped in the chair next to his bed, she had been reading him the latest Thunder Catcomic book, hoping to nerd him to death/wake him up.

No such luck.

Her everyday hospital visits had driven an undeniable wedge between her and Lucas, because she wanted to spend all her days in a stuffy old hospital room, he was always angry and annoyed at her.

To him it would make no difference in the end; Billy wasn't waking up.

And while it drove a wedge between them, it had the opposite effect on her and El. El understood, why she had to be there and why it was so important to her. They had started speaking on the phone every night since she had moved away and began telling each other everything that had been happening since they had parted ways.

Max's stories normally consisted of her daily ninja tactics of cutting school and how she wasn't sure how much longer her mother would be able to protect her from Neil's wrath… It was only a matter of time before he got his hands around her neck; But she had explained to El, her efforts did not go in vain they were necessary to be able to visit Billy.

El would always ask how Billy was doing, always receiving in detail all the small twitches and flutters that his face and body would make, with Max's tone consistently overly enthusiastic.

It broke her heart, knowing he'd never wake up on his own.

El's series of events started off being very brief, not only due to her sheer lack of human interaction but also because of her lack of trust in anyone. She didn't exactly know how to express herself properly, but over the last couple of months speaking to Max, she opened up. Originally, she started with just one of two worded answers, however over time she managed to be transparent, telling Max about how she was grateful that Mrs. Byers had taken her in-

But she missed Hop so much.

And the bullies.

She told her all about the bullies.

She knew herself she was undeniably different from everyone else in school and with no powers to protect herself, she was a constant punching bag for other kids with secret self-esteem issues; from being pushed over into the mud, to being called a freak every time she turned a corner, to even so far as being locked in the janitors closet for God knows how long.

There was no judgement between them, just listening, understanding and support.

Exactly what they both needed.

"I think reading you this comic eighty million times in a row is putting you in an even deeper sleep." Max tossed the overead magazine to the floor.

She hunched further back in the chair and let out a sigh, "hey, do you remember that time when I broke my mom's vase… and I panicked. You screamed at me for being a retard, but then you went into the garage and broke a bunch of your dad's stuff. No one even cared that I broke the vase, because they were so mad at you."

"I didn't really get it at first, but I get it now."

"Thanks for doing that, for protecting me." She leant in to squeeze his hand, before getting up to head towards to door.

"Max?" A strained voice spoke, in barely a whisper.

Max turned around anxiously running towards the bed in the middle of the room, to see Billy's eyes squinting, just barely open even a crack.

"BILLY! That's right open your eyes! It's me, it's Max!" She released months of restrained tears.

Billy's eyes felt like sledgehammers, they felt so heavy, all he could see was the blank whiteness of the room. A faint red figure sat above him, muffled voices echoed off the rooms walls, and the faint beeping of an apparent heart monitor machine, lurked from the room's corner.

When he finally came to, he was dazed and distressed to see that the girl was nowhere to be seen.

She was just here, where is she.

"Where is she Max?!" he yanked the IV from his hand, blood gushed out from the wound, drawing his anger away from his situation and onto the pain.

"Where's who?" hurt apparent in her voice, that he'd barely acknowledge her presence.

"The girl from the mall, from that night-- El!" He anxiously held his fresh wound firmly, "the girl with the powers, she led me out, I need to talk to her-"

"… I thought she would have been here." He calmly trailed off.

"Why do you need to speak to her?"

"And what do you mean she led you out?" The red head enquired firmly.

"She came to me in my mind okay!" He spat, clearly not wanting to answer any questions at the fear of showing any kind of weakness.

"It's okay to depend on someone Billy." She gently patted his hand.

"I don't fucking need her, I want to set her straight and tell her I don't fucking need her getting into my head, piss farting around with my thoughts." He shoved her hand off of his.

"Well she's moved away, she left with the Byers after stargate. So, I guess your shit out of luck!"

Stargate. That place. Don't think about it. Don't even let it enter your mind.

"Now let's call the nurse to let her know that you're awake, no thanks to anyone but yourself."

--

Eleven laid across the living room floor depleted, the beige shag rug beneath her tickled the side of her face gently rousing her to wake.

"What the hell happened El?" Jonathon screeched, abruptly pulling her up off the floor and into his arms.

"Hurry Jon! Put her in bed before mom comes home, we can just tell her she's sick for now!" Will suggested.

"I don't know— she's really weak, I think we might need to take her to the emergency."

"--I'm fine. Just tired, need to sleep."

"Are you sure?"

"Ya. Sure—. Call Max, ask her if it worked."

"It better have, after all of this."

With all the commotion going on around them, they hadn't noticed Joyce walking in behind them, she stood at the entrance of El's room, her arms crossed and rage set upon her face, "why is there blood coming out of your nose El?" She tapped her foot in frantic rage.

El couldn't reply to her, the disappointment on her face was more than she could stand, she just sunk back further into the bed, tears flowed freely down her cheeks.

"And why are you in bed?"

"I had to— I..."

"I'm really disappointed in all of you." She exited the door in a huff.

"Oh God. She's so pissed." Will buried his head into his hands.

"If that' her mad, I can live with that."

"Oh, don't worry, we will pay for it later. Mom never let's us get away with anything." Jonathon assured her.

"… So, how'd you do it, how'd you get him out?" Will attempted to change the subject back to their pressing matter.

"I found him, and I told him to follow me. He was mad, but he didn't want to stay. Just needed to follow Max's voice, I could hear her-- he just needed to listen."

"Oh. That's not what I expected, I thought because you're so weak now, there would have been more to it."

"No. just weak powers." She looked down at her hands, as if being able to see the lack of power.

"They'll come back." He placed a reassuring hand atop of hers.

"Alright let's call and find out if this was all worth it." Jonathon interrupted from the side.

"Call the hospital, Max is always there."

--

"Max?"

"Will?"

"Yeah— we're just calling to find out... is Billy… Is he awake?"

"Yes! He is, how'd you know?"

"…El… she… helped him…"

"I know, trust me... he let me know." She scoffed at her own briefness.

"tell her thank you." Max murmured as she placed her hand over the microphone to hide the cursing coming from her deranged step brother.

"You sound busy… I'll get El to call you later, okay?" Will quickly hung up the phone up before El heard the disorder going on in the background.

"What did he say?" She looked towards Will hopefully.

"He said he's… uh... really grateful." He flashed his best fake smile.

"Really?"

"Yeah, said he can't wait to see you, when we visit."

El pushed herself up and out of the bed, she then struggled to her closet and pulled out her leather suitcase. She then began placing some clothing and a few of her limited belongings in the bag. Not looking or acknowledging the two boys still in the room staring blankly at her.

"Going somewhere?" Jonathon asked mockingly.

"Going back home. Back to Hawkins, going to see Billy. Get my powers back. And then find dad."

"El you can't just go back there and run away."

"Can't find dad here, now can I?" She flashed a sarcastic glare.

"No, El you're not going." Jonathon placed his hand on her arm to stop her, before he knew it, she used the last of what strength she had left, to send a small spark of power through to him, pushing him off balance.

"Woah okay, fine. Can I at least help you get organised properly then?"