I do not own Stranger Things or any of the characters.
Starting Again
A light shone in his eyes. He groaned, raising a hand to block it, only for someone to pull his arm back down.
"It's alright," a male voice said, distorted in his ears. "Just relax. You're safe."
He forced his eyes open, looking around. He recognized the room instantly. It was his. He was back in the Hawkins lab. There were several doctors around him, but he could tell who was in charge instantly, even without reading his mind, which he did anyway.
"Sam Owens," he identified the heavy-set doctor with graying hair as he wiped the blood from his nose.
"Stop that," the doctor said. "If you use your powers right now, you could die. Listen very carefully. You've been unconscious for a month. You almost died after the last time you used your powers, so you need to not use them, at all, until you've recovered. Dr. Brenner was killed by the creature, and Eleven sacrificed herself to kill it, but disappeared. Do you know where she is?"
Thirteen shook his head.
"Okay," the doctor said. "I promise you, I'm not going to do to you what Dr. Brenner did. I'm going to take care of you." He glanced at an IV bag that had a hose leading to Thirteen's arm. "You're on an IV of nutrients right now. Tomorrow, you'll be able to start eating again, and you'll be able to start your physical therapy."
Thirteen glared at him, and he sighed, nodding. Then, he and the other doctors filed out of the room, closing the door.
Thirteen glared at Owens as he watched from the observation room as Thirteen struggled to walk. He was barely getting his legs moving right, but he wasn't concerned. Despite acting like they weren't, his powers were back to full strength. It was just a matter of timing. And despite his current theatrics, his legs were working just fine, though the muscles were much weaker than normal, so walking any distance would hurt. It would be worth it, though.
As soon as his therapy for the day was done, he was shut back inside his room. He closed his eyes, focusing, and within seconds he'd found her. She was alive, safe, and with Hopper. Good. Because that's exactly who he was going to need to get to.
Just before he could close his eyes, he sensed Eleven's mind and focused, appearing in the same void as before with her.
"Are you okay?" Eleven asked.
"I will be," Thirteen said. "I'm leaving the same way we did before. Tonight."
"We'll meet you there," Eleven promised.
Thirteen nodded and he returned to awareness, looking at the watch Owens had let him have. Almost time. He waited a few hours, resting, then pushed himself to his feet and walked to the door. After a moment of focusing, it swung open. A pair of guards stepped into view instantly, only for their necks to snap. He tugged them into the room with his powers, swapping his hospital gown for one of their uniforms, then focused, altering the field around him so that everyone would see him as a guard, then wiped the blood from his nose and left his room, closing the door behind himself. He made it out the front door without a problem, then used his powers to destroy the cameras looking at the culvert before climbing into it, beginning to shimmy through. He lost his boots after the first thirty feet, ripped the belt and pistol holster off after another ten, though he moved them up to his hands and kept them, then continued crawling until his knees felt like ground hamburger, his muscles felt like soup, and he was forced to use his powers to drag himself along the tunnel. Finally, he slipped out the far side and rolled down the hill a little ways. He sighed, then altered his field back to having everyone see his brunette, brown-eyed, child form just in time for Hopper to find him.
"Good to see you, kid," Hopper said, lifting him. "Eleven's waiting at the cabin. She can't leave without being caught."
Thirteen nodded and Hopper ran back down the hill with Thirteen until he reached his truck, setting Thirteen in the passenger seat before climbing behind the wheel and taking off. A little while later, he stopped at the end of a road and carried Thirteen out of it and to the same cabin Thirteen had found when he'd escaped the first time. Once inside, Eleven met him with a hug, crying in relief and joy.
"Did they do anything to you?" Hopper asked.
"They nursed me back to health," Thirteen said. "I still need rehab and physical therapy, but I know how to do all of that myself now."
Hopper nodded. "We won't let them find you."
"Yes, you will," Thirteen said. "Owens is the guy in charge now, and I'm going to tell him to leave me alone. After that, I'll go into hiding. I won't mention Eleven."
Hopper nodded and carried Thirteen to a spare bed, telling him it was now officially his.
Thirteen narrowed his eyes as Owens walked toward them with two armed guards. After a moment, they stopped in front of him and Hopper and Thirteen raised a hand and twisted it, both guards' necks snapping loudly. Owens flinched, eyes going wide before Thirteen held a hand out toward him, Owens floating into the air, arms and legs held spread-.
"I assume you've read my file, which means you know what I can do," Thirteen snarled. "So, I'm going to make this very simple. You're going to forget I exist, and you're going to burn my file. You're not going to look for me ever again. If you ever bother me again, or if I have even a slight suspicion that you're planning to try and get me back, I'll kill every single person in Hawkins Lab. Every one, except you. You I will personally throw through the Gate, then use a barrier to hold you in there until a creature kills you, or the toxic atmosphere does. Do you understand?"
"Yes!" Owens said, nodding vigorously.
"Good," Thirteen said, dropping him and wiping the blood from his nose. "Now go away. You can clean up these bodies tomorrow."
Owens scrambled to his feet and fled as fast as he could back toward Hawkins Lab. Thirteen nodded once and smirked as Owens tripped over a tiny barrier. He didn't even look for what he'd tripped on, just shoved himself to his feet again and continued to flee.
"You think he got the message?" Thirteen asked.
"I don't know," Hopper said. "We'll find out, I guess."
Thirteen nodded, and they headed back to Hopper's truck, heading for home.
"Now, listen," Hopper said. "Since you can disguise yourself, i'm willing to let you out to see the others once in a while. But you have to promise me you won't tell them about El."
"What about Mike?" Thirteen asked.
"No," Hopper said.
Thirteen was silent for a few moments. "I'll agree to your terms if, and only if, you let me go see them whenever I want to. It won't be every day unless something comes up, especially since that Gate's still open, but I'm not going to be under house arrest. I'll make sure Ellie doesn't feel like she is either, but I won't sit in the same house all day every day. And Ellie shouldn't either, but Owens still thinks she's dead, so there isn't much choice with that. And Owens won't give up on both of us. Ellie's powers are more useful to them than mine, so he can't know she's alive yet."
Hopper sighed and nodded. "Fine. But no more than three times a week."
Thirteen stared at him for a moment before nodding. They remained silent until they got home, where Thirteen explained to Eleven that she was going to need to stay inside for a while, until Owens had given up on finding her, but that he could go out three times a week, since he could change his appearance, and could, therefore, get her anything she wanted, as well as pass messages to Mike for her, as long as Hopper didn't find out. Eleven nodded, smiling, and they headed to her room so he could keep teaching her to play chess, which they also used as practice to get better with their powers and make it easier to use them.
Thirteen smirked as Mike, Dustin, and Lucas stared at him, taking in his faded clothes, red hair, and green eyes.
"Can we help you?" Lucas finally said.
"Maybe," Thirteen said. "I'm looking for these three losers. They play a lot of Dungeons and Dragons, they're kind of annoying, and one of them got his ass kicked by my sister when he pissed her off."
All three narrowed their eyes before Mike's widened in surprise.
"Thirteen?" Mike asked.
"Good to see you, Mike," Thirteen grinned.
All three cheered, hugging him and asking a million questions from where he'd been, if he was alright after dying, and if he'd found any sign of Eleven.
"I'm fine," he said. "I was nursed back to health by those assholes in Hawkins Lab, so they're good for something, at least, but no, I'm sorry. I don't have any information on Eleven. As far as the assholes at the lab know, Eleven died along with the Demogorgon."
Mike deflated.
"Even you can't track her?" Dustin asked.
"No, sorry," Thirteen said. "Anyway, what are we up to today?"
"We're heading to the arcade," Dustin said. "Once Will gets here, at least."
Just then, a car pulled to a stop beside them, Joyce saying goodbye to who Thirteen assumed was Will. Mike introduced them to each other, as they had never met, before they all headed to the arcade together. They all played several games, Thirteen getting the hang of a few but not being particularly good at any, before Lucas set a high score on one of the games, in which he had to fight a dragon, and Dustin set a high score in both Centipede and Dig Dug. On the way out, however, Thirteen started a game called Donkey Kong, in which he had to climb q series of walkways while either avoiding barrels, or grabbing a magic hammer and destroying them, all in an effort to reach the top where a brown gorilla gorilla, it looked like, was holding a princess hostage. On that game, he set a high score.
"Nice!" Dustin said. "I bet I could beat it."
Thirteen stepped out of the way and Dustin took his turn, falling ten thousand points short of beating Thirteen. After the others had all taken a turn trying and failing to beat Thirteen's score, they all left the arcade, heading toward Mike's house. As they walked, however, Thirteen tapped Mike's arm and dropped back a bit, Mike taking the hint and joining him.
"She's alive, but the military's still hunting her, she she's in hiding," Thirteen said. "I can't tell you where, and you can't see her, but she's alive. She visits you sometimes, but she can't talk to you, because the military might overhear. You can talk to her, but she can't respond. She misses you terribly, though."
"Is she okay?" Mike asked.
"She's mad about being under house arrest, essentially, but otherwise she's fine," Thirteen said. "But you have to keep it a secret, even from the others. You're not even supposed to know."
Mike nodded. "Thank you."
Thirteen nodded, then branched off. "I gotta get back. See you guys around!"
Everyone said goodbye, and Thirteen jogged into the woods before focusing and forming a skateboard-shaped barrier to stand on, which hovered a few inches over the ground, then pushed off before controlling it with his mind, speeding through the trees back to the cabin he was living in with Hopper and Eleven. He let the barrier fade and wiped the blood from his nose, taking a second to catch his breath before continuing into the cabin.
"Where'd you go?" Hopper asked.
"The arcade," Thirteen said. "I was careful not to be recognized. I made myself look older and ginger."
Hopper nodded. "You need to be careful."
"I was and will continue to be," Thirteen said.
Hopper nodded. "Go wash up. Supper's ready."
Thirteen nodded and headed to the bathroom to wash his hands before joining and Eleven at the table for a TV dinner.
Thirteen smirked as Dustin and Lucas freaked out about Dustin's Dig Dug high score being beaten by over a hundred thousand points. Apparently, someone calling themselves Mad Max was amazing at those games. He walked over to King Kong and stopped, staring. Mad Max had beaten his high score on it by fifty thousand.
"Challenge accepted," he smirked, putting a coin in the machine.
"Did Mad Max best you, too?" Dustin asked, disappointed.
"Briefly," Thirteen said. "But I'll get my spot back."
Dustin snorted. "If they're as good at this as Dig Dug, I doubt it."
"Ye of little faith," Thirteen smirked.
Dustin sighed, settling in to watch, and when Thirteen finally died, he'd beaten Mad Max by exactly one point.
"Wow, crazy lead," Dustin said sarcastically.
"I'm sorry, what place are you sitting in at the game you're best at?" Thirteen smirked. "Oh, that's right. Second. One point ahead is still ahead."
Dustin rolled his eyes and they went to find the others. They all took turns trying to beat Mad Max's score for Dig Dug and Centipede, but all failed miserably. Eventually, they left the arcade and all headed home. The next day, he left the cabin a little earlier, Eleven giving him a note for Mike, which he'd transcribed for her, since her handwriting was still rough. He headed to the school, disguising himself on the way, before finding the others outside, watching a red-headed girl skate around the parking lot.
"What're we up to?" Thirteen asked, slipping Mike the note before anyone could turn toward him, Mike slipping it into his pocket.
"That's Mad Max," Lucas said quietly.
"Really?" Thirteen asked. "You guys talk to her, yet, or just watched her like a bunch of stalkers?"
"Talk to her?" Lucas asked.
"We can do that?" Dustin asked.
"No, it's illegal," Thirteen said sarcastically. "How dare you consider talking to a girl?"
"Shit, I've lost the target," Dustin said.
"Oh, there," Will said, looking to the group's left.
They watched her drop a piece of paper into a trashcan before walking into the school. Instantly, Lucas and Dustin took off running, the other three following. Except, instead of the stairs they headed for the trashcan.
"Really?" Thirteen asked as Dustin dug through the trash to find whatever she threw in. "Are you serious, right now?"
"Got it!" Dustin said, straightening back up and unfolding the paper. "There we go."
"Stop spying on my, creeps," everyone but Thirteen read.
Thirteen snorted in amusement. "I like her already."
"William Byers?" a black man, who Thirteen was pretty sure was the principal, asked. "Your mother's here."
Will paled slightly but nodded, following the principal away.
"Where's he going?" Thirteen frowned.
"He has to go in today," Mike said.
"In?" Thirteen asked.
"To the lab," Lucas said. "Since he was stuck in the Upside Down for so long, he has to do regular check-ups with them. And he's been having episodes. Flashbacks to the Upside Down."
"Flashbacks?" Thirteen asked.
"Like, he'll be somewhere, then all of a sudden, he'll see the Upside Down version of it," Mike said. "And he can never tell if he's actually there or just seeing it."
Thirteen frowned, nodding. "I should leave before you guys have to get back to class. I'll see you guys tomorrow, after school."
The others nodded and Thirteen walking away, escaping the school without anyone noticing him.
Thirteen grinned as he stepped up behind Mike and the others, focusing. All four flinched and rubbed one of their ears and Thirteen grinned, wiping his nose. He's bought a leather jacket and boots similar to Arnold Schwarzenegger's in The Terminator, but had forgone the glasses in favor of using his power to give himself Arnold Schwarzenegger's hair with his left eye missing, exposing a robotic one that glowed red.
"Your clothes," Thirteen said, the four of them hearing Arnold Schwarzenegger's voice and accent, "give them to me. Now."
All four spun, then grinned.
"Sweet!" Lucas said. "You look awesome!"
"You can do voices now?" Dustin asked.
"It's not easy," Thirteen said before switching back to his own voice, all four of the others again wincing and holding a hand to their ear. "It also has that effect." He wiped his bloody nose, before raising his fake pistol with a section of metal pipe above it like the laser sight the Terminator had had on his pistol in the movie. "So, did you give up stalking, or did you work up the nerve to ask her to come and got rejected for being stalkers?"
"We weren't stalking!" Dustin said.
"You literally were," Thirteen said. "But, whatever. Come on. I gotta get back soon, so let's hurry."
The others all nodded, they headed down the street, Lucas and Dustin beginning to argue about nougat being candy or not. However, as soon as they reached the road, someone jumped out ahead of them with a Michael Myers mask and brandishing a fake kitchen knife, shouting. Thirteen grinned, instantly recognizing her by sensing her energy, but the other four all shouted in fear, Lucas actually screaming like a girl, which Thirteen burst out laughing at.
"Holy shit!" Max laughed, taking her mask off. "You should have seen the look on your faces! And you?" She looked at Lucas. "Who screams like that? You sound like a little girl." She glanced at Thirteen and hummed in interest. "Sweet Terminator costume. How'd you do the eye?"
"It's real," Thirteen said. "I'm from the year three thousand. I came to torment anyone who screams like a girl." He aimed back at Lucas and squeezed the trigger, a BB hitting him in the chest, making him yelp in pain bust otherwise he was fine, especially since Thirteen had used his powers to slow the BB down.
"I can sympathize with that mission," Max nodded approvingly. "Come on. I head we should hit up Loch Nora. That's where the rich people live, right?"
As she walked away, Thirteen grinned, walking alongside her. He glanced at her, smirking.
"So, do I have to surpass Mad Max's score on Donkey Kong again?" Thirteen asked.
"You're I-E?" she smirked. "What kind of stupid name is that?"
He shrugged. "It wouldn't let me use numbers, so I improvised."
"Numbers?" she frowned, then nodded. "Thirteen, right. Not any better."
"It's my lucky number," Thirteen said.
"Sure it is," Max smirked. "And anyway, yes, you do. That one point lead was pathetic but effective. I accept your challenge."
Thirteen grinned. "Excellent."
"Challenge?" Dustin asked. "That was a challenge?"
"A low number of points above someone's high score tells them you're daring them to beat you again, thus challenging them to a competition," Thirteen said. "A high difference, like what Max has over you at Dig Dug, tells them to go cry in a corner because they're not the best."
"Oh, so you're the one whose score I obliterated," Max said. "Good to know that score's safe."
"Hey!" Dustin groaned.
Thirteen laughed, as they turned up a driveway. Once they had their candy and started back down the driveway, Thirteen dropped back by Mike.
"She wants to talk to you tonight," Thirteen said. "She wanted to come trick-or-treating, but we were refused. Be ready around ten."
Mike nodded. "Why is this girl here?"
"Because she's pretty, Dustin and Lucas have crushes, and she's kinda fun to talk to," Thirteen said.
"Sounds like you have a crush, too " Mike said.
Thirteen shrugged. "I don't know what you're so grumpy about. You finally get to talk to her, though you'll have to be quick. Cheer up, try to have a good time, and then later, tell her about how awesome your Ghostbuster costume looks."
He sped up as Mike flipped him off, for lack of a valid reason not to take his advice. He caught up with Max just as her foot caught on a broken piece of sidewalk. She gasped harshly as she began to fall, only for Thirteen to catch her with his powers, then wrap his arm around her a split second later, only for her to stand up too fast, slamming her head into his jaw. He grunted falling onto his back as Max held a hand to the back of her head.
"Ow," Max groaned. "You have a bony chin." She looked back at him. "You okay?"
"I see stars," he groaned.
"Shit, did I really hit you that hard?" Max asked.
"No," Thirteen said, grinning and pointing at the sky. "Stars. I appreciate the concern, though."
"Oh my God, you're an idiot," Max said, offering her hand, Thirteen accepting her help up.
"Um, excuse me, my mom says I'm not an idiot," Thirteen said. "She says I'm special."
Max snorted. "I bet she does. Come on. We still have more houses to loot."
"Very true," Thirteen agreed.
Dustin made a gagging sound, and Thirteen reached behind his back, flipping him off. After a few more minutes, and several massive loads of candy from each house, Dustin and Lucas both began to walk beside him again.
"Another full-size," Dustin grinned. "Rich people are such suckers." He glanced at Max. "Wait, you're not rich, are you?"
Max snorted. "No, I live up Old Cherry Road."
"Oh," Dustin said.
"No, it's fine," Max said. "I mean, the street's good for skating."
"Oh, totally tubular," Dustin said, Max snorting again. "What? Did I say that right? Or is it, like," he adopted a poor impression of a surfer accent, "Tubulah."
"It's...It-It's like," he adopted a slightly better impression of the accent, "totally tubular."
"Totally tubular!" Dustin grinned.
"What a gnarly wave, dude!" Lucas said.
"Totally brodacious, bro!" Dustin said.
"Stop, my ears are hurting!" Max laughed, though neither stopped.
"And you thought I was special," Thirteen grinned.
Max grinned just as Dustin's foot hooked around his, only for Thirteen to use his powers to throw his body into a forward roll.
"Olé!" Thirteen said as he regained his feet.
"And just like that, you're back on their level," Max smirked.
"Now, see, that's hurtful," Thirteen said.
Max laughed, and they all continued toward the next house. However, as they turned around, Will was missing.
"Will?" Thirteen called out.
"Will!?" Mike called.
The four of them jogged back down the driveway, finding the video camera Will had been carrying lying on the ground. Thirteen knelt, picking it up and frowned.
"Episodes," Thirteen muttered, focusing.
His head snapped to the side, and he began to run, the others all following. When they found him, he was sitting curled up under a set of stairs, shaking and almost crying from fear.
"Give me ten seconds," Thirteen said.
He dropped into a crouch beside will, closing his eyes and focusing. And suddenly, the others were gone. The world around them was dark with small white objects, like ash or pollen, floating around, dark roots or vines covering the ground, and an odd chirruping noise filling the air. A suffocating sense of dread filled Thirteen, and he leaned to the side to look out toward the street, only to see nothing. Then, he opened his eyes in the real world and shook Will, who snapped out of it instantly.
"Mike!?" Will gasped.
"I'm here," Mike said, kneeling beside Thirteen. "I'm going to get you home, okay?"
"I'm coming," Thirteen said. "You two, too."
Lucas and Dustin both looked like they wanted to atgue, but it died in their throats when they saw Thirteen's expression.
"Do you need help?" Max asked.
"No," Thirteen said, helping Will up and passing him to Will, who quickly led him toward the street. "I'm sorry, Max, but we need to go."
"Yeah, but we'll see you tomorrow," Dustin said as the three of them hurried after Mike and Will, leaving her standing in the alleyway alone.
Hopper walked through the door of Will's house already in a bad mood. "I just want you to know, this is going to be my excuse for being late."
"It'll be fine," Thirteen said. "Will had an episode tonight."
"Oh, jeez, is that all?" Hopper asked.
"I went in with him," Thirteen continued. "It wasn't a flashback."
"Well...well then what was it?" Joyce asked. "Is he okay?"
"As soon as I was there, I felt this...suffocating fear," Thirteen said. "And there was something there. I...I felt...another consciousness. Another mind. But I couldn't see it."
"This," Joyce said, holding out a picture Will had drawn of a red storm, with a four-armed shadow of some kind with a head that reached up in a point. "He's been seeing this in his episodes. Dr. Owens said it's nothing."
"It's definitely not nothing," Thirteen said, staring at it. "Will, whatever you do, do not let this thing catch you."
Will nodded, still shaking like a leaf, and Thirteen pulled Hopper away from the others.
"Has anything else really weird happened recently?" Thirteen asked.
"Pumpkins," Hopper muttered.
"What?" Thirteen asked.
"I just came from a pumpkin farm where the pumpkins are all rotted worse than I've ever seen anything, and some of the trees have this nasty goo on them and are also dead," Hopper said.
"I'll bet anything it's because of the Gate," Thirteen said. "And this thing, this shadow, is connected somehow."
Hopper frowned, nodding. "I'm stopping by the lab tomorrow to make them check the fields."
"Good," Thirteen said. "Whatever they're doing to control the Gate is obviously not controlling it."
Hopper nodded, glancing at the others. "You gonna be alright for the night, Will?"
Will hesitated before nodding.
"Okay," Hopper nodded. "Call me if anything happens."
Joyce nodded and Thirteen and Hopper left. After a long, tense, quiet drive, they got home and Hopper knocked on the door using his special knock of two, then one, then three. Eleven didn't unlock the door, so Thirteen did it instead. As they went inside, they found the TV had been taken into Eleven's room, and she'd locked the door.
"Ellie, come out here, we need to talk," Thirteen said.
Eleven ignored him.
Thirteen narrowed his eyes and walked over, unlocking the door and opening it. Eleven spun, furious, only to stop as she saw the cold sweat coating Thirteen's forehead.
"It's starting again," Thirteen said.
Eleven all but sprinted out of the room and Thirteen explained what he'd seen of Will's episode, as well as what Will had explained to them all. Eleven remained silent, but looked worried.
"Is he okay?" Eleven asked.
"For now," Thirteen said. "We don't know what to do, though."
"Kill it," Eleven said.
"It's a shadow," Thirteen said. "I doubt it's even able to be killed."
Eleven frowned.
"Hopefully, the scientists will be able to figure something out," Hopper said. "For the time being, there's not much else we can do."
Thirteen nodded, then held his bag of candy out to Eleven. "All yours."
Eleven smiled and nodded, and Thirteen walked into her room, bringing the TV out so they could watch scary movies together.
"Can I see him?" Eleven asked. "Please?"
"No, El, we've talked about this," Hopper said. "It's not safe.
"Later," Thirteen mouthed to her.
She sighed, nodding, and they all sat quietly, watching the movie together before bed. Once Hopper was asleep, Eleven took the TV into her room again, turning it to a channel of static and blindfolding herself. Her abilities had come a long way since looking for Will. She was able to enter the Void without a sensory deprivation tub now. She just needed a TV or radio on static. Thirteen waited until she'd found Mike, who seemed to have been waiting for her, then warned her to keep it under three minutes before heading to bed.
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