A/N: Content Warnings: Fear, Language, Disturbing Content, Death.

Valentin had already known when they had arrived that Eleven was gone. He had felt her essence dissipate as she used the last bits of her life force.

A tragic end for a tragic girl.

Jonathan screeched to a halt behind a horde of military vehicles. They could hear through the windows that all was silent, which could only mean one thing.

"Jonathan, go call the police!" Nancy screamed as she threw herself from the passenger seat of the car.

Jonathan scrambled toward the nearest payphone as Steve and Valentin climbed out the back of his vehicle and ran into the building after her. Their eyes caught sight of the devastation littering the halls when they entered Hawkins Middle School - bullet spray on the walls, blood painting the hallway, dead bodies scattered everywhere.

"Eleven!"

Steve heard the cries first, turning to the other two with panic and confusion on his face. Nancy recognized the voice and went sprinting down the hall looking for her brother.

"Mike, hold on!" She yelled as she rounded the corner and disappeared from sight.

Valentin nodded to Steve and again followed after her. He took a moment to listen to what Steve was thinking. Steve was begging whatever 'powers that be' that Mike and his friends were okay. He didn't know if he would recover from all the dead adults on the floor, or from the monster attack, but he knew for certain that he wouldn't recover from seeing dead children. t

He withdrew from Steve's mind. He knew this night would weigh heavy on everyone in the coming days. As Steve's friend, he would make sure to assist with the recovery however he could.

They quickly lost sight of Nancy, able to follow only due to her continued screaming of her brother's name. As they passed an intersection with a crumbled looking wall of the Hawkins Tiger, he glanced down the perpendicular corridor and stopped cold. Steve almost left him behind, skidding dramatically to a halt when he noticed that he wasn't moving anymore.

"Hey, come on!" Steve gesture to him.

Valentin stayed still, staring down the hallway across from the mascot. Steve carefully approached, noticing that his body had tensed. When Steve stopped next to him, his friend turned his head to see what had made him freeze. An older white-haired man was sitting up on the floor against a locker, breathing heavily.

"Holy shit," Steve exhaled. "He's alive."

But he could not hear him anymore. Valentin slowly stepped forward, maneuvering over pools of blood as he approached the man who had taken everything from him. The man who had destroyed his childhood. Who had made him a monster.

"Well, well. We meet again," he announced emotionlessly, coming to a stop in front of the man. The other pair of eyes came up to meet his own empty ones and the man's expression twisted.

"You…" Dr. Brenner spit out, face covered in blood.

"The chief isn't here right now but-"

"Please, just listen to me!" Jonathan stood at the payphone by the school, shaking like a leaf. It had taken multiple calls to get someone to answer at the station and when they did, the lady wasn't letting him talk. "There's an emergency!"

"Well, I can certainly take a message and give it to the Chief when-"

"No, listen! I'm not looking for Hopper!"

"Then what you can do is just call back-"

He started to visibly seethe with rage. He could only hope Hopper would forgive what he was about to do.

"Shut up, you old bitch!" The woman fell silent on the other line. "I'm at Hawkins Middle School! Something has happened, people are dead! There are children in danger. Please send help, NOW!" The woman didn't say anything, just made a sputtering noise in shock. He waited for a minute and felt himself start to cry, cheeks growing wet.

"Please… please..." The events of the night had finally caught up to Jonathan, and he begged through the tears. "Just… send help. Please." He couldn't stop thinking about Will. About Mike and his friends.

A heavy sigh came over the line, and Flo started to tell him, "Emergency services are one the way. Just-"

Jonathan didn't wait for anything else, letting the phone fall to his side. He backed up against the brick wall and slid to the floor, sobbing silently.

Steve had been very confused when Valentin had stopped behind him. He had now moved past confused and into concerned as he followed his friend over to the injured older man on the floor. He watched as the man looked at Valentin with what seemed like recognition before turning to stare at him.

Stare like he had suddenly grown a third head.

"Look at me," Valentin told the man. His voice sounded so cold that it made him want to shiver. But he didn't, he only shifted his focus over to the blond, alarmed by how lifeless he now looked behind the eyes. Which was saying something considering how lifeless Valentin usually looked.

"I can't tell you how surprised I am to see you," the man chuckled, complying with the demand. The familiarity with which he said it caught Steve off guard. The last thing he had expected when they rushed into the school was to find someone Valentin seemed to know bleeding on the floor. "I was certain you were killed during your escape."

"Dr. Martin Brenner..." Valentin identified the man, ignoring his admission. Steve actually shivered this time at the tone of his friend's voice when he asked the man, "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

He wondered if the fate the man had met was the monster or something else. Either way, another question burned in his mind. "Hey, who is Dr. Martin Brenner?" Steve asked, nudging his friend gently as he looked between the two. "You know this guy, Val?"

His friend didn't answer his questions.

Dr. Brenner chuckled again, before breaking into a fit of wheezing. He could guess that the man was probably choking on his own blood, if the severe injuries he had were anything to go buy. The man fixed his eyes on him once more, making him squirm.

"So, you finally trusted someone," Brenner said, smiling with bloody teeth. Steve could tell the smile was fake. "Clearly not enough, he doesn't know who you are, does he? Not who you really are..."

"What do you-" Steve started to say.

He didn't get to finish his sentence because suddenly he found that he was unable to talk. His hands moved to his mouth, fumbling at his lips. It was like the muscles suddenly didn't work. What the hell was happening? He turned to look at Valentin, seeing his friend staring back at him.

Valentin's cold, empty eyes kept hold of his own for a moment, before the blond turned around and kneeled in front of Dr. Brenner.

"All this time, you've been alive," Brenner murmured, almost as if to himself. Steve stopped messing with his mouth, suddenly very focused on what the man was saying. "You managed to build a life here, right under my nose."

"A good father would have known," Valentin taunted.

Steve's eyes widened and he looked between the two. Father? This was Val's father?

"What a fool I was," Brenner admitted dryly. "I should have realized that the soldier who reported your death had been manipulated. Connie warned me. Just like with Eight. But you were so badly injured… it didn't seem worth the trouble to investigate further."

"That has always been your problem," Valentin replied, voice betraying zero emotion. "You never could see beyond what you wanted to see."

"Indeed. You are much more clever than I gave you credit for," Brenner said, seemingly regretful. The man closed his eyes for a brief moment and laughed softly before setting a hard gaze on the blond. "But you were too obstinate. Too difficult to manage."

"Thus you tossed me to the wayside, as you did to the countless others," Valentin recalled. Steve was lost... because what were they talking about? What others? It didn't make any sense. "Starting over again and again, only to yield the same results. At least until her."

"Come now. Why don't you get to the point," Dr. Brenner cooly commanded. "What is it you really want to say?"

In his short time being friends with Valentin, Steve hadn't quite figured him out. Never knew what he was thinking or what he wanted, which was rare because he considered himself a very talented people reader. But this man... This man seemed to understand Valentin very well.

Valentin tilted his head, the way Steve had seen him do countless times now. The way he would do when he was thinking. He had to admit, his friend was scaring the hell out of him.

"Does it hurt?" Valentin's voice lowered as he spoke, eyes piercing. "To know that, despite your machinations, everything you have ever worked for, everything you have dedicated your life to, has ended in abject failure? That even she was a failure?"

If Steve was following correctly, which was admittedly very hard at the moment, Valentin knew - and was possibly the child of - Dr. Brenner and was familiar with - or possibly part of - his work. And he was definitely not a fan.

"Eleven isn't a failure." Dr. Brenner spit out a bit of blood and began coughing. "My only failure is you. And that I didn't get rid of you when I had the chance."

Steve didn't know how to take that. Eleven had been the name Mike was shouting. And was Dr. Brenner also suggesting that he regretted not killing Valentin? What in the hell was going on?

"That outcome would not have changed anything," Valentin replied. "My survival had little impact on Eleven, who it appears has met her unfortunate end mere meters out of your reach. What bitter irony that I am all you have left. I truly am lucky."

A look of horror and grief flashed over Brenner's face, but it was quickly stuffed down and replaced by one of disdain. "Lucky number Seven," the man scowled like he was telling the punchline to a bad joke, one Steve didn't get. "You're lying. You're trying to trick me by warping the truth. It's what you do best."

"Is it?" Valentin asked, seemingly disinterested. "And what would you know of the truth?"

"I never lied to any of you," Brenner snapped. "My methods may have been difficult, but they guaranteed results. The children understood that, and they loved me regardless. Just as I loved them." Valentin tilted his head again and his expression shifted, as if he was examining a bug. Steve watched the blond dip his hand down and slowly trail it through the blood on the tile.

And he hated it.

Valentin had always been strange, but the way he was acting now - spiteful, cold, malicious - it made him want to scream. And if his mouth hadn't been magically frozen, he would have. Screamed for his friend to stop, to snap out of it. But all he could do was watch.

"Your words say one thing… but your fear says another," Valentin replied bringing his bloody fingertips up to touch the man's temple.

"You'll have no luck trying to get inside of my head." Dr. Brenner attempted to move his head away. "I'm not afraid of you."

"No?"

Steve flinched when the atmosphere suddenly changed. It was as if the air had been sucked out of the room and the temperature had dropped ten degrees. Whatever was happening, one thing was clear. His friend had accepted the challenge.

"Not even..." Valentin's voice dropped to a whisper, one filled with mock concern. "The disgust in her eyes? Your daughter's hands... forcing you back?" The blond's expression shifted to match the false sympathy in his voice and his eyes moved slowly around the man's face. Steve's body went rigid when Brenner suddenly began to choke, as if his oxygen supply was being cut off somehow.

No… like he was forgetting how to breathe. Was Valentin doing that?

"You fear that her power is forever out of reach. And that deep, dark hole in your heart will remain empty. A hollow reminder of the life you once had. Of the life you once squandered. Can you feel me inside that head of yours, Father?" Valentin slowly leaned closer to the man's face as he tormented him. "Wandering from door to door? I can see everything. You held greatness in the palm of your hand and you lost it. You flew too close to the sun. And in an attempt to recapture that greatness you created child test subjects and manipulated them into loving you. Denied them the love they wanted to keep them in line, until the one child who could bring you close to the sun again did the very same to you."

It was horrifying. Steve was completely horrified by what he was witnessing. What he was hearing. Like Valentin was peeking into the darkest regions of the man's mind and using his worst thoughts against him.

"You are afraid. Afraid that I know exactly who you are. Afraid that no longer do you bear wings to carry you to the heavens. So let there be no way back to the sun. From that dream, I sunder you. Now you are powerless. And you don't know what hurts more, the loss of your dream..." Valentin pressed slowly into the wound on Brenner's torso, digging his fingers deep beneath the skin as he stared into the doctor's eyes. The man struggled to scream, still unable to breath. "Or the pain coursing through your chest."

Valentin abruptly removed his hand and stood back up, stepping away from the man writhing on the ground. Like magic, Brenner had control of his lungs once more. Steve watched him with wide eyes as the man struggled and gasped for air.

"You're a monster," Brenner choked out. He had to agree, in that moment Valentin was acting like a monster. Whoever he was, whoever this cruel person was, it wasn't who he had agreed to be friends with. Regaining composure, Brenner jerked his head at Steve. "And no amount of pretending with this boy or these people will ever change that."

"I am what you made me. The product of a cruel world filled with cruel people," Valentin admitted, voice distant. He turned to look at Steve, and Steve thought he could see an expression of regret on his friend's face. But regret of what, he didn't know. Valentin turned away from him and brought his gaze back to Brenner. "And you are the cruelest of them all."

"So this is it then?" The man began to laugh bitterly.

"Indeed. I remove you from the picture and your cruelty will leave with you. With nothing left to stop me, I will be able to change. To grow. And I will not have to pretend any longer." Valentin looked down the hallway, staring vacantly into space. Steve started to reach his hand out for his friend, but dropped it, conflicted.

"I've only ever wanted to help. You may not realize that now, but you will," Brenner replied. Steve thought his voice sounded desperate, as if he feared Valentin was about to kill him. Or maybe the man finally realized the truth of what his friend had told him. That he was all he had left. "You need me."

"No," Valentin said with finality. "This is my story, and you are no longer a part of it."

Brenner leaned his head back against the locker and stared at the ceiling. "And so the mask becomes your face."

"Goodbye, father." Not even sparing the man one last look, Valentin slowly walked back the way they had come, leaving Steve to stare down at Dr. Brenner.

He took in the way his shoulders now slumped in defeat and the way the power and authority that the man held when they had disappeared. Steve tried to speak again but found that he was still unable to open his mouth. With nothing he could say, he started to walk after his friend, but the man had one final thing to add.

"Word to the wise, young man," Brenner whispered, eyes still trained on the ceiling. "Seven doesn't feel emotions the way you or I do. He will lie and trick you, and he will not feel bad about it. You are not his friend, you are just a tool for him to use and discard." He wasn't sure what Brenner had meant by seven, but it didn't matter. Steve left the broken man to wallow in his own misery.

He followed Valentin partly out of fear and partly out of loyalty. He had so many questions. He didn't know how to process what he had just witnessed. What Valentin really was. What Brenner had just warned him about.

Once Steve had caught up to his friend, he glanced over and noticed a small stream of blood trailing from his right nostril. Before he could try and point it out, the blond took a sharp turn into a nearby classroom. It must have been where the kids had been, but clearly Nancy had already found them and gone back outside. He looked around and took in the damage done to the science lab. The door was lying on the floor, tables were pushed up against the sides of the room, and a black scorch mark was on the center of the wall that held the whiteboard.

Before they could move deeper into the room, Valentin spun and faced him. "I am sorry," he said, eyes still empty, but less cold now. "I know this has changed everything. And I know it is not fair, but…"

Steve backed up, stomach churning. Was Valentin was going to hurt him like he had hurt Brenner? His friend raised his hands and stepped toward him. He winced as Valentin's hands landed on the sides of his still tender jaw. The other boy held his face gently and stared into his eyes and he found that he was suddenly unable to move.

Like his body wouldn't respond to his brain anymore.

He could only listen as Valentin spoke. "I wish to hear. I wish to feel. And I wish to know. I have spent the past four years watching the people of Hawkins from the darkness. I've felt them experience joy, anger, sorrow, heartache, jealousy... so much more than the fear I have known." His voice regained some of the emotion Steve had heard him develop earlier that day. "And I believe that they can help me grant that wish."

His eyes were almost hypnotic. Steve noticed a growing pressure in the back of his head. He moved his gaze down and saw that Valentin's nosebleed had suddenly increased in intensity.

"But for that to happen, nobody can know what occurred here. So I am truly sorry, my friend, for what I am about to do."

Steve thought he could hear sirens in the background as his vision blurred and his senses became fuzzy. Soon he was unable to hear anything, or smell anything. The last thing he felt was the warmth on his face and then…

Everything burned white.

The parking lot outside of Hawkins Middle School swarmed with police officers, firefighters, and paramedics as a Volkswagen drove into the midst of the scene. Tarp covered bodies laid out on the ground and a police car drove past a school bus, its lights flashing in the windows.

Mike sat despondent in the back of an ambulance, tears still streaming down his face. Nancy had found him, Lucas, and Dustin, still desperately calling Eleven's name. But it didn't matter anymore. His friend was gone. She had sacrificed herself for them.

And it wasn't fair.

Nancy had tried to get him to open up about what had happened, but all he could do was cry. So instead she brought him and his friends outside and sat them down, running off to make a call on the pay phone. The police and fire department had shown up shortly after, already called by Jonathan, dragging them all apart to separate vehicles.

Mike looked over to his left to see Nancy talking to Officer Powell, Jonathan standing next to her. He could barely hear what they were saying.

"No, there's still two more inside," Jonathan insisted. "Steve Harrington and Valentin Pierrot."

He frowned. He knew who Steve was, but he didn't know the other name. Moreover, how were either of them involved in this mess?

"I don't know where, okay?" Nancy said loudly. "I lost track of them before I found my brother and his friends." Mike stopped listening and looked back down. She hadn't found them. Not all of them.

Because Eleven was dead.

"Michael?" He whipped his head up as he recognized his mom's voice echoing throughout the parking lot. "Michael! Michael?" He saw her appear around the corner of another ambulance before turning, her eyes landing him. She rushed over to him as fast as she could.

"Michael! Oh my God! Oh my God!" His mom cried as she snatched him up and embraced him tightly, kissing his forehead. "You're okay. You're okay."

But he wasn't okay. He didn't know if he would ever be okay again. She held him close as he cried and trembled in her arms, mourning his lost friend.

Steve's body jolted as he snapped back to reality. He must have zoned out for a minute. He glanced around slowly before his eyes landed on his friend. Valentin was sitting on the back of his knees on the floor in front of some scorch marks on the wall, staring blankly into space. He looked down at his hand, clenching the damp paper towel he was holding. Deciding he had been staring long enough, he moved forward.

"Hey, man. I found something to clean you up with," he said gently as he carefully approached his friend.

Valentin turned to look at him. "Steve," his soft voice filled the air.

"Yeah, that's me," Steve chuckled. He knelt next to Valentin and began to wipe at his face, carefully cleaning up the injury. Luckily his nose looked fine, definitely not broken. Valentin just sat there, emotionless and unmoving, and he wondered if maybe the trauma of the day was finally catching up to him.

"I'm sorry," the blond said after some time. He must have meant he was sorry about needing help.

Steve just flashed him a big smile. "Don't worry. That's what friends are for."

The door to the classroom opened and he turned to see Officer Callahan walk in, gun drawn and bandage on his nose. As soon as Callahan spotted them, he lowered the gun and frowned. "Oh, it's you," the man deadpanned. "We've been looking everywhere for you two."

"You have?" Steve asked, hastily wiping Valentin's face and standing to face the man. "How'd you even know where we were?"

"Your little girlfriend sent us. She was really worried too," Callahan shrugged before pulling out a pad and a pen. "Now, real quick, before we get you out of here, I need a statement."

Steve's jaw dropped. They were literally in the middle of a crime scene. "Can't we wait and do this at the station? Or like, I don't know, after going to the hospital?"

Callahan shook his head and clicked the pen. The officer stared at him expectantly, pen tip held firmly against the paper. Steve glanced quickly back at his friend on the floor, seeing his nose had stopped bleeding.

"Fine," Steve sighed. "But if it's cool, I'm just going to give the statement for the both of us. It's been a rough night."

"Sure," Callahan nodded.

"Can we walk and talk? I don't really want to be here any longer than I have to be," Steve asked , testing his luck. The man nodded again and he sighed once more in relief. Turning back to help his friend to his feet, he guided Valentin out of the room and began to recount the night's events. "Well, when we got to the school and saw all the vehicles, Nancy jumped out of the car and ran inside. Val and I chased after her and-"

"Why were the children here after hours?" Callahan interrupted as he scribbled.

"How should I know? We were just passengers in the car," Steve scoffed. "As I was saying, we chased after Nancy when suddenly Val caught his foot on one of the bodies in the hallway and fell."

"He fell?"

"Yeah, face-planted and everything. He hurt his nose pretty bad too." Honestly, he had thought it might have been broken when he heard the crunch. But Valentin didn't even whimper, he just pulled himself off the floor and wiped his nose, assuring him everything was okay.

"And your injuries?" Callahan asked, pointing the pen at his bruised face. "How did that happen?"

Steve stopped and turned to raise an eyebrow at the man. Which was very painful, considering how sore his face was. "Are you serious right now? You were there. You saw it happen."

"Oh, right," Callahan laughed awkwardly. "Continue."

"How are you even a - never mind." Steve redirected his thoughts back to his statement. "Nancy didn't notice Val fall, so we lost her when she ran ahead. Eventually I was able to find the science lab and decided Val could rest there for a moment while I went to get something to properly clean the blood with."

"What blood?" Callahan interjected, seemingly alarmed.

Steve sighed dramatically. "The blood from his nose? By the time we reached the science lab it was bleeding pretty heavily." He smiled softly at his still emotionless friend before finishing, "And that's how you found us."

"And did the blood get on you?" Callahan asked, examining him closely with what seemed to be disgust. Steve frowned, thrown by the line of questioning. It was a simple nosebleed, not really a big deal. When Callahan shot a dirty look at Valentin, the pieces clicked together in his head. "Were you- "

"Seriously?" He came to an abrupt stop, turning a hateful glare on the man. He may not be the brightest, but he had heard about the news reports. There was no way Valentin was dangerous like that, he recognized a virgin when he saw one. And while he may have thrown the word queer at Byers during their disagreement, he wasn't really a homophobe. "Finish that sentence."

"Oh, umm...," Callahan stuttered and went silence. Scoffing, Steve reached forward and opened the doors to the parking lot. The bright lights of the emergency vehicles caused his head to spin but he pushed through it and stepped out of the building. Callahan nodded to himself and lowered the pad. "All right, Mr. Harrington, everything seems to be in order. I appreciate the cooperation."

"We're done here?" Steve asked, narrowing his eyes. The officer was a bit of an idiot, even outside of the slip-up seconds prior, and he was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Yessir, the two of you are free to go," Callahan confirmed, looking at Valentin wearily again before pointing at the car they had arrived in earlier that night. "Jonathan Byers is going to drive you to the hospital. If we need anything else, we'll keep in touch."

"Thanks," Steve snapped, turning to guide his friend over to where Jonathan and Nancy were waiting, paying no more mind to the spectacled cop. The pair looked up at him and an expression of relief passed over their faces. That expression was swiftly replaced by concern. Jonathan started to open his mouth, but a tired and slightly grumpy Steve cut him off. "Ask me later."

He carefulled helped Valentin into the car before sliding into the backseat next to him. The others got into the car too and Jonathan turned the ignition, glancing back at him in the rearview mirror.

"Hey, Steve. About tonight," Jonathan said, pulling out of the crowded parking lot. "Thanks. For everything."

"I truly mean it when I say this," Steve yawned, looking the other teen's reflection dead on. "Please don't mention it. Like… ever." Three sets of chuckles filled the air. He rested his head against the seat and released the tension in his aching muscles as they started their drive to Hawkins Memorial Hospital.

"You are all right now, are you not?"

That was the first thing that he heard, a familiar voice that had called to him once before.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

That was the second thing he heard. He wondered what it was. It was so different from the noises he had become accustomed to here. As his other senses returned, he could feel that he was lying on something soft and comfortable. Like a bed, but... he was obviously dreaming. And there was something in his nose.

"Is it not time you woke up, Will?"

Will slowly opened his eyes, searching for the voice. All he could make out at first was blinding white. He blinked a few times and waited for his vision to slowly be corrected. As his eyes adjusted, the surroundings went from white to blurry, and then finally clear. He found himself looking up at two wide-eyed and worried faces.

Two very familiar faces.

Definitely a dream.

"Hey," his mom smiled at him, tears forming in her eyes. "Hi, sweetheart." He smiled back at the vision of his mom as she leaned forward to stroke his hair.

"Hey," Jonathan whispered, sitting next to her. His brother grabbed his hand and squeezed.

This was a good dream. He was okay with this. Will blinked slowly at his imaginary family. "Where...where am I?"

His mom sighed in relief as she glanced at Jonathan, who smiled and answered for her, "You're home. You're home now. You're safe."

Will's senses began to play catch up, and he suddenly became more aware of the room. It was a hospital room. Did that mean he really was home? "Jonathan!" He muttered excitedly. Was his brother really here? His big brother smiled at him and tears dripped onto his hospital covers.

"Yeah, it's me buddy," Jonathan nodded and let out a breath of relief. "We missed you. We really missed you." He looked down at the hand that Jonathan was holding in both of his own and noticed there was a bandage around his big brother's hand.

Jonathan was hurt.

"Are you okay?" Will asked, eyes wide.

"What, this? It's just a cut. It's nothing." Jonathan's smile grew and he chuckled, "You're worried about my hand."

His brother and his mom laughed at him as she continued to stroke his head affectionately. He looked up at her, not quite getting the joke, but she merely gazed back down at him.

"Where's the angel?" Will asked, glancing behind them for a third person. "The one who talked to me in my sleep."

"Oh, honey." Joyce frowned, turning to look at her oldest son. He shrugged and she looked back at Will. 'It's just us. Are you sure you weren't dreaming?"

"Maybe…" Will admitted softly. "He sounded pretty." His mom flashed Jonathan another worried look, but his older brother just touched her hand and shook his head.

"Oh, hey, uh," Jonathan reached down and pulled up a box filled to the brim with several items. "We, uh...We brought you some stuff...so you don't get bored in here." Will watched as his big brother quickly rifled through the box and pulled out a cassette tape, holding it up for him to see. It was an obvious attempt to change the subject, but that was okay.

"So, uh, I made you a new mixtape." He took it as Jonathan continued, "There's some stuff on there I think you really might like." He always liked Jonathan's music. He liked everything his big brother showed him.

Will smiled at Jonathan then turned back up to look into his mother's eyes. He hadn't quite made up his mind if they were a part of his dream too, but he decided that if it was only a dream, well… He was in no hurry to wake up.

In the hospital waiting room, Steve sat silently with everyone as they waited to hear of the news on Little Byers. He had originally planned on leaving after he and Valentin got checked out, but since he had ridden in the back of Byers' car to find the kids in the first place, they had been stuck without his vehicle and as such had been forced to wait until the kid was awake.

Not that he minded, it felt right to finish things.

He ignored the snores of Nancy's dad to the left of him as he looked over the man's head at Hopper. The chief was chewing on his fingernails, also ignoring the sleeping Ted Wheeler. Steve turned back to the front and stared at nothing in particular as he thought about the night's events.

It was very likely that he was going to need a lot of therapy. Luckily he had a new friend to help him through it. A new friend who seemed to be taking everything rather well, actually. A new friend who was cuddling on his shoulder in a totally normal and not embarrassing way. To his right, Valentin rested his head against him as he slept. He thought about waking the blond, but decided to let him sleep. Between the eye bags and the fighting off a deadly monster, God knew he needed it.

Plus, and Steve would never admit this out loud, it was kind of nice to have someone sleeping against him. Made him feel tough and manly. He shook his head and scanned the rest of the room.

Across from him and Valentin sat Nancy's mom, fiddling her thumbs anxiously. He wondered what the cover story they were going with for the adults was? Next to Mrs. Wheeler was a cross-armed Nancy, who he was sure was asking herself if there was something, anything, differently that she could have done to save Barb.

He looked next to her where Dustin leaned onto Lucas as he drooled in his sleep. Lucas' head leaned back against the wall's window behind him, both kids snoring quietly after their exhausting week. He smiled a bit at that. The innocence of youth or whatever. Beside Lucas was Mike, probably unable to sleep or think about anything other than his own deceased friend. Steve had heard that Eleven hadn't made it. That was what the marks in the science lab were from.

Her death.

A girl with psychic powers. It was crazy to think about. He wished he could have met her. Maybe she and Valentin could have bonded over his weird ability to seemingly know what people were about to say.

Suddenly, the door to the waiting room opened and both he and Mike looked up to see Byers - no, Jonathan- leaning in. They had come far enough for him to call the other teen by his name.

Jonathan's eyes found Mike and he whispered with a nod, "Yeah."

"Guys. Guys, he's up!" Steve chuckled as Mike jumped up from his seat and prodded his friends awake. "Will's up! Guys, Will's up! Guys, come on!"

"So, little Byers pulled through," Steve said quietly, talking mostly to himself.

Next to him in his sleep, Valentin mumbled back, "I always expected him to." He raised his eyebrows at that but let his friend continue to sleep. He would have to try and find something funny to do with the newfound information that the blond could apparently talk in his sleep at a later date.

Mike ran for the door as Lucas and Dustin woke. Lucas pushed Dustin off him and made an annoyed gesture at him as the latter wiped the drool from his face. Then they too followed Mike out into the hall at a run. Steve chuckled again and titled his head back, finally closing his eyes to join his friend and Mr. Wheeler in the land of sheep.

Will and Will's mom were laughing about something when Mike opened the door to his room, Lucas, and Dustin flooding in behind him. Will's face lit up at the sight of them.

"Byers!" Mike shouted as he dashed to Will's side and laid his head on his chest. He had been dreaming about this since Will had gone missing.

He was actually okay.

The Party was back together again! He hugged Will tightly, Lucas right beside him, also leaning down to hug Will.

"Be careful, be careful with him," Ms. Byers warned them.

"Move!" Dustin yanked Lucas and Mike off of Will and then leaned down to hug Will himself.

"Guys, guys. Go easy on him," Jonathan chuckled from behind them. Will, however, grinned brightly at Mike as he returned Dustin's hug, patting their curly-haired friend on the back. He felt a rush of happiness shoot through him.

"You won't believe what happened when you were gone, man," Lucas told Will ecstatically.

"It was mental," Dustin added.

"You had a funeral," Lucas clarified. Mike knew Will didn't know what they meant, but Will listened closely anyway. Will was always a great listener.

"Jennifer Hayes was crying," Dustin chimed in quickly.

"And Troy peed himself," Lucas recalled the event at the school with glee.

"What!" Will gasped at that piece of information. So much had gone on while he had been trapped in that cold place. Mike couldn't wait to tell him more about it once he got released.

"In front of the whole school!" Dustin grinned.

"Yes!" Lucas grinned too.

Mike smiled with the others as Will began to laugh, but his friend's laughter quickly turned into a coughing fit and they all watched anxiously as they waited for it to stop, their smiles slipping. "You okay?" He asked when Will's coughs subsided, patting his friend's arm to comfort him.

Will nodded then looked up at him, speaking faintly, "It got me. The Demogorgon."

It did, but they had saved him - Eleven had saved him.

"We know. It's okay. It's dead," Mike replied, seeing his friend nod and meeting his eyes as he continued, "We made a new friend. She stopped it. She saved us. But she's gone now." Will's eyes widened when his face fell.

"Her name's Eleven," Dustin said.

"Like the number?" Will asked. Mike knew that he would think her name was cool.

"Well, we call her El for short," Lucas replied.

"She's basically a wizard," Dustin went on.

Lucas whispered, "She has superpowers."

"More like a Yoda," Mike corrected, unable to help himself.

"She flipped a van with her mind," Dustin said excitedly as Will gasped in awe. "And these agents…" Mike and Lucas began to speak over Dustin as the boys started to recount their week with Eleven.

"...were trying to shoot us…"

"Yeah, it flipped over us…"

"Then, she squeezed the brains out…"

"And blood was pouring out of their faces…"

"It was pouring out of their eyes."

"Agents just started grabbing us…"

"...shot out of the wall…"

And just for a moment, Mike forgot about the pain of his loss, happy to be with his best friend once again.

A/N: The child at the beginning of the story turned out to be Valentin, not Eleven! Who would have thought it.

How did you feel about his confrontation with Brenner? Clearly there is some bad blood there, that you may learn more about in a later work. We also saw him wipe Steve's memory. Do you think he can be trusted?

Next chapter will be the epilogue!

Until Next our stars align!