The gunfire rang in their ears.
Maeve's breath hitched as the bullet drove through her chest. Everything seemed to slow down as she watched the guard's limp body fall to the floor. She had killed him. Maeve fell backwards, her back hitting the ground hard. Henry watched on in horror as blood started to soak her gown. It started with a little red droplet before it soaked her entire chest. He reached up to his neck, knowing the tracker was working again. He knelt down beside her, his eyes wide and wet with unshed tears.
"H-H… Henry" she tried to speak, but it hurt. She coughed and spat out blood. She knew she was dying. She reached up a hand, caressing his cheek as she coughed again, wiping away a single tear.
"I'm sorry, Maeve. I am so sorry." Henry sobbed as his hand covered hers and squeezed it tightly. Letting go was harder than he had thought.
"Henry, I am scared." Maeve began to cry, desperately clutching onto him. "I love you so much."
"I'm so so sorry." Henry apologised again. His eyes looked sad, but the rest of his demeanour changed as he slowly let go of her hand, placing it on her chest.
"It's not your fault." Maeve tried to reassure him, perplexed by the change in his attitude. His eyes mourned, while the rest of his face was cold and blank. No more tears were rolling now.
"You were going to hold me back." Henry said, his voice seemed darker and emotionless. "I can't go back there." He stood up then, looking around. No one else had gotten to them. "
"W-what?" Maeve spluttered, her eyes beginning to fill with new terror.
"I'm sorry." Henry looked at her one final time. She was sure he hesitated before he decided to run.
A tear escaped Maeve when she realised it hadn't been the guard who pulled the trigger. She hadn't been the only one willing to sacrifice for freedom. Henry had made a sacrifice, too. It was Henry, who killed her. She sobbed, her heart and head hurting.
Maeve gasped audibly as she attempted sitting up, but the restraints had kept her down. Looking around the room with wide eyes, she saw Steve looking at her the corner of the room.
"Bad dream?" he asked, leaning back in the arm chair he had stolen from Dr Maxwell's office.
"Sort of" Maeve replied with a grim look on her face as she leant her head back on the pillow.
"Want to talk about it?" Steve asked, after a moment of hesitation. Although she barely knew him, he wanted to at least be polite.
"It's more like a memory… I've been remembering it a lot the whole time I was asleep" Maeve answered, referring to the time she spent in Dr Maxwell's care.
"You've been seeing the same memory the whole time you've been here?" Steve asked incredulously. He wondered whether this meant that she knew how long she had been trapped within herself.
"Over and over" Maeve replied, sighing sadly. It had been torture. Hearing the nearly fatal shot, Henry's apologies, the realisation that Henry had betrayed her. The realisation that Henry had killed her. Clenching her fists, Maeve felt anger, her blood was boiling with it. How dare he?
The door opening interrupted her thoughts and she opened her eyes, finding Dr Julie Maxwell entering. A man followed behind her, someone that Maeve didn't recognise.
"Have you stopped acting like a feral child?" Julie asked, narrowing her eyes accusingly.
"I still want to punch your lights out… does that answer your question?" Maeve replied, her expression smug as she saw the forming bruises on her captor's face.
Hopper, who had followed Julie in, snorted in amusement before trying to regain his composure. Julie rolled her eyes.
"Very funny" she shook her head as she stepped to stand immediately next to the bed, "We need to talk."
Maeve's expression changed from smug to a more serious one. She briefly glanced at Steve who had a guilty look in his eyes.
"About what?" Maeve asked, her eyes darting back to the doctor.
Julie opened her mouth to speak as a buzzer rang. She looked towards Hopper questioningly.
"Must be the kids" he shrugged his shoulders, unbothered by her glare. Julie abruptly left the room to let them in. Eleven, Nancy, Will and Jonathan entered behind her as she came back into the room. The others had gone to school to evade suspicion. It was strange, despite the gaping hole stretching across Hawkins, the school had reopened and people went about their daily business as usual.
"You being here actually helps, believe it or not" Julie looked directly at Eleven before she turned her attention back to Maeve.
"Why?" Maeve asked, getting impatient. Her wrists felt sore from the restraints and she just wanted to be freed.
"We'll get to that" Julie rolled her eyes again. She reached behind the bed and adjusted it, so that Maeve was sitting up within the bed. Although it wasn't much, Maeve felt the relieve wash over her body. Laying in the same position had become uncomfortable.
"How much do you remember about the incident in the woods?" Julie asked her as she took a seat on the corner of the bed.
"Everything" Maeve responded, her eyebrows knitting together in a frown.
"You need to be a bit more specific than that" Julie argued, a fake smile tugging at the edges of her lips.
"He killed me" Maeve said, the words bitter on her tongue. It was true though. He had killed her. The person she loved with all her heart killed her. Anger bubbled up inside her again as she dropped her gaze to the floor, breathing in deeply to calm down. The group watched on, the tense atmosphere almost choking them.
"You're angry" Julie noted.
"Yes, but there's no point" Maeve spoke, seemingly calmer than she had been, "He got what he deserved."
"What do you mean?" Julie wore a curious expression.
"I heard him scream when they caught him… I can only imagine what they did to him" Maeve's response was cold.
"He's alive" Eleven spoke abruptly, still shaken by the group's defeat.
"What?" Maeve's eyes flickered towards the younger girl, almost wild.
"Eleven" Julie warned the girl, her eyes glaring at the young girl.
"Let her talk" Hopper stepped forward protectively, voice full of authority. Eleven nodded at him before taking slow steps towards the bed. She carefully grabbed Maeve's hand and squeezed it.
"Henry is alive" Eleven said slowly, her brown eyes filled with sympathy. "I have been trying to stop him, we all have." She gestured towards the group, purposely missing out the rude doctor.
"What do you mean?" Maeve spoke softly, inspecting the girl. Her hair had been shaven, indicating she had been one of Brenner's experiments.
"He's… evil." Eleven tried finding the right words. So much had happened in the years Maeve had been out. "He's been killing innocents and I've been trying to stop him, but I wasn't strong enough" she sighed as she thought of Max.
"He managed to escape?" Maeve was a little confused. As far as she was aware, Brenner had him.
"In a way, I guess" Eleven nodded her head, feeling even more guilty. She had been the one who removed his Soteria. She enabled him to use his powers and kill all the others in the lab. Maeve could tell that she had missed more time than she had first anticipated.
"How old are you?" she asked carefully.
"Fifteen." Eleven replied, not meeting Maeve's gaze.
"I have been out for sixteen years?" Maeve's eyes shot to the doctor accusingly. Eleven hadn't been in the laboratory when she was there, so she could only assume she was born after she left.
"Eighteen, actually" Julie replied, her voice proud of her accomplishment.
"You bitch" Maeve spat out, her jaws clenching.
"I have kept you alive and well, even exercised your muscles as well as I could so you wouldn't use too much muscle mass, kept you fed and hydrated and this is how you thank me?" Julie tilted her head to the side.
Steve took a step towards Nancy and Jonathan, they all shared a look of distrust – it was clear Julie only pretended to be hurt by Maeve's outburst.
"Do not pretend for a second that you did this for me," Maeve almost shouted at the doctor, "You just wanted another success story."
"You're right, I didn't do it for you, "Julie nodded her head as she stood from where she sat, "I did it for the entire world. You see, we were always paranoid that Henry would somehow manage to escape again… we needed a backup plan in case all else failed" she briefly looked at Eleven, making the young girl feel even more guilty, "Henry is a monster, he's currently threatening all life on Earth as we know it."
Silence filled the room as Maeve processed all this information, there were some blanks but she overall understood she had been their last resort to stop Henry.
"How is he threatening the world exactly?" she finally managed to muster up the question.
"Seven years ago, he tricked me into thinking he was my friend… I am the reason he was able to kill all the others" Eleven's eyes sparkled with unshed tears as she spoke, "I thought I had killed him, but I sent him somewhere else where he gained more power."
"Yeah, we call it the Upside-Down" Will chimed in, shivers creeping down his spine as he thought of his time there.
"Creepy place" Steve agreed, pressing his lips firmly together.
Maeve blinked, taking in everyone's words. She looked down at Eleven's hand holding hers and squeezed it. "That's a lot of weight on your shoulders."
She sympathised with the young girl. She still hadn't grasped all of the information, but from what she could tell, Eleven had been through a lot.
"You said he killed everyone? Even Two?" Maeve raised a single, delicate brow.
"You knew Two?" Eleven didn't have fond memories of that boy, but he hadn't deserved the gruesome death given to him.
"Isn't this sweet" Julie mused, almost evilly, "almost like you two knew you were related."
"Hold up, hold up!" Hopper spoke up, resting his hands on his hips, "Related?" Eleven and Maeve looked between each other and the doctor.
"Before Maeve's mother became pregnant with her, she was part of a clinical trial for egg donations… when we observed the talents you possessed we froze these and put them to use, Terry Ives," she looked pointedly at Eleven, "was one of the recipients." Eleven looked at Maeve in shock, yet admiration. She had siblings in Will and Jonathan, but Maeve was like her.
"Hold on, using someone else's eggs isn't even a thing" Nancy challenged her, frowning deeply.
"Not legally and not that you know of" Julie shut her down, her eyes practically throwing knives at the young girl, "It's a shame that you killed her really. Could have used more of her eggs."
"I didn't kill my mum" Maeve defended herself, eyes filled with anger.
"Oh you did."
"Shut up!"
"When the birth took too long for impatient Maeve, she ripped throu-"
"SHUT UP!" Maeve screamed as lights flickered all around them and her restraints became undone. Jonathan jumped to shield Nancy from the shattering glass door as Hopper grabbed Eleven, snatching her away from Maeve's bedside. Maeve inhaled sharply as she felt the familiar energy rush through her veins, a small smirk tugging at her lips. Noticing Julie make her way to exit the room, she extended her hand and held the doctor in place.
"You" Maeve spoke menacingly, twisting her hand to turn the doctor around.
"P-please" Julie stammered, for the first time looking intimidated and bothered, "I have a child."
"Maeve," Steve started, holding his hands up in defence, "don't do this."
"I'm not a killer," Maeve shook her head, her hand still extended. She could feel the blood on her upper lip. She stepped towards the doctor, her hazel eyes still staring her down. "You ruined my entire life. You are going to let us go and never show your face again." With a swift movement of her hand, the doctor lifted of the ground.
"Yes, please, please just let me go, I'll do anything" Julie pleaded, eyes filled with tears that started to shed. Maeve dropped her hand and the doctor fell to the floor.
"I let you go and you let me go… sounds like a fair deal." Maeve said, her eyes no longer filled with anger, but hope.
"Come." Eleven walked up to her and held out her hand carefully and hesitantly, "We can be family." Hopper watched on, his lips pressed into a thin line.
Jonathan nodded his head, though he didn't say a word. He was sure his mother would let her stay if the cabin proved too small for the three of them.
Maeve looked towards Nancy, who smiled reassuringly. She seemed nice enough. Lastly her eyes caught Steve who stepped behind her and placed a single hand on her shoulder. For the first time in her life, she felt as though people genuinely cared about her.
"Yes." Maeve's lips twitched into a small smile as she took Eleven's hand and followed the group out of the building.