I do not own Stranger Things or any of the characters.
Something Wicked
Thirteen walked into Eleven's room with all of their hot chocolate and raised an eyebrow. Hopper was stumbling away from the room, drunk, and Max was setting up aboard of names arranged into a circle with an empty coke bottle in the center. He grinned knowingly almost instantly as he passed out the hot chocolate.
"This should be entertaining," Thirteen grinned. "Are we doing what I think we are?"
"Yeah," Max grinned as Eleven spun the bottle.
The first name the bottle found was Mr. Wheeler, but all three agreed it'd be boring as he'd likely be asleep in his chair, so Eleven spun again. Billy this time.
"Okay, look, I should just warn you," Max said, standing. "If he's with a girl, or doing something gross, just get out of there right away before you're scarred for life."
"Max," Eleven began.
"No, I'm just saying," Max said, handing her the blindfold and turning Eleven's radio to static. "He's really gross."
"Max!" Eleven laughed.
"Okay, shutting up now," Max said.
"Ellie, if it's something humiliating or funny, call me," Thirteen said. "I need blackmail material."
Eleven grinned and nodded, tying the blindfold on and focusing. Her mouth curled into a frown after a moment as blood began to leak from her nose. "I found him."
"What's he doing?" Max asked.
"I don't know," Eleven said. "He's...on the floor. Talking to someone. Don't be afraid. It'll be over soon."
"What?" Max asked.
"Thirteen," Eleven said.
Thirteen closed his eyes, focusing and a second later, he was standing beside her in the Void. Billy was facing away from them, kneeling down, and the moment he was there, a chilly air of foreboding settled onto Thirteen. Normally, the Void felt just that, like a void. Empty. Something was off. There was a female voice whimpering from somewhere, but they couldn't see where. Both walked forward silently, the voice whimpering more desperately, fear clear in her voice.
"Just stay very still," Billy said softly, then stood. Suddenly, he spun around, staring at them as a wave of dread rolled over Thirteen.
Warning sirens began to shriek in Thirteen's head.
The female voice began to scream in terror or pain, calling out to Billy. Then, Eleven ripped the cloth off her face, gasping for breath and trembling, Thirteen returning to himself as well, also trembling as a figure appeared from his memory.
"What is it?" Max asked. "What happened?"
"He...sensed me," Eleven said.
"There was someone else," Thirteen said.
Eleven nodded. "The screams."
Thirteen shook his head, opened his mouth to specify who he meant, then closed it again. He had to be imagining things.
"What is it?" Max asked.
Thirteen hesitated, then shook his head. "Nothing. It was just...weird."
Max frowned but nodded. "Maybe we should call it a night."
Eleven and Thirteen both nodded, and everyone headed to bed. Except, Thirteen couldn't sleep, and he could feel from her thoughts that Eleven didn't fall asleep until early morning either.
"I believe you saw some super weird stuff, totally," Max was saying to Eleven as the three of them walked down the road. "But you said Mike has sensed you in there before, right? So, maybe it was just like that. Maybe Billy just...sensed you, somehow."
"But the screams," Eleven said.
"Yeah, I know, but here's the thing," Max said, then paused to figure out how to explain. "When Billy is alone, with a girl, they make, like, really crazy noises."
"They scream?" Eleven asked.
"Yeah, but, like, happy screams," Max said.
"Happy screams?" Eleven asked. "What is happy screams?"
"It's like..." Max trailed off.
"Max, I know what happy screams is, and this wasn't it," Thirteen said. "It was definitely fear." He paused, considering, then sighed. "And there's something else. When Billy sensed us...I felt something."
"What?" Eleven asked.
"It felt...his mind felt...similar to the Mind Flayer's," Thirteen said. "I didn't want to say anything, because I don't want to worry anyone if I was imagining things, but I can't get the feeling out of my head. It was similar, but it was somehow...worse. It felt more dangerous, but it was weaker than the Mind Flayer was when I accidentally touched its mind when it was possessing Will. It felt..." he shook his head. "I can't really explain. It felt both more dangerous than before, but at the same time more vulnerable."
"That doesn't make sense," Max said. "Plus, this is Billy we're talking about. Sure, he's an asshole, but he's not the Mind Flayer. Besides, he wasn't possessed by it. He had nothing to do with what happened before, except that one time he kicked Steve Harrington's ass."
They stopped as they reached Max's house, finding Billy's car was gone.
"His car's not here," Max said. "You really want to do this?"
Eleven and Thirteen nodded.
"We need to be sure," Thirteen said. "Hopefully I was imagining things, but if I was right, we need to know."
Eleven nodded in agreement, and they all headed inside and to Billy's room. They began to look around, Max finding a stash of porn magazines in the top drawer of Billy's bedside table. They headed to the bathroom and stopped, staring at empty ice bags floating in the full bathtub.
"Max," Eleven said.
"Ice," Max said, lifting a bag. "It's just ice. It's probably for his muscles or something. He works out like a maniac."
"He likes it cold," Thirteen muttered, both staring at him before Max shook her head.
"It's not him!" Max snapped.
"Blood," Eleven said.
They all looked, seeing bloody fingerprints near the handle of the cubby doors beneath the sink. Thirteen extended an arm, pulling them open, and they stared at the inside. It was just a trashcan, but after a moment, Eleven pulled out a lifeguard fanny pack out of the trashcan, followed by a bloody, yellow whistle on a yellow rope, also bloody.
"Billy doesn't wear a fanny pack on duty," Thirteen said.
"It...must be one of the others," Max said. "And the blood is...maybe...someone slipped, or...had a bloody nose."
Thirteen stared at the whistle for a moment before nodding. "Yeah. You might be right. We should return the fanny pack, though."
"Alright," Max nodded. "And...if we figure out whose it is...we can look into it and see if something's going on."
Eleven and Thirteen nodded, and they all headed out to the main room. While they were there, Thirteen called the cabin, Kali answering on the third ring.
"What's up?" Kali asked. "Need a ride?"
"Yes, but not home, yet," Thirteen said. "We need to head to the pool."
"Pool's closed," Kali said, then paused. "Is something happening?"
"Maybe," Thirteen said. "That's what we're trying to figure out."
"I'll be there in ten minutes," Kali said. "Max's house, right?"
"Yeah," Thirteen said.
Kali hung up, and they all sat down to wait.
Eleven pulled the duct-taped goggles down, Max setting the picture of the lifeguard they were looking for, Heather, in front of Eleven. Off to the side, Thirteen, currently having everyone except the four of them see him as a girl so he could be in the girls' bathroom with them, was quietly filling Kali in on what had happened when they spied on Billy and searched his house.
"Thirteen," Eleven called, just as Thirteen finished.
Thirteen closed his eyes, joining Eleven in the Void as she was approaching a bathtub. As they reached it, they stopped, seeing it was completely filled with ice. The same air of foreboding filled the Void as before, and Thirteen found himself breathing quickly as he stared at the ice.
"I'm going to try and read her mind," Thirteen said.
Eleven nodded, and Thirteen reached out, dipping his hand into the ice. As soon as he did, his mind connected to Heather's. Except, the moment it happened, there was a flash image inside of his mind. Red lightning, white spores, darkness, and the Mind Flayer. its voice, or telepathic equivalent of it, roared deafeningly in his mind, and he staggered back from the tub, clutching at his head as Heather burst up from the water.
"Help me!" she rasped at Eleven before being yanked back into the tub, which then turned to water and fell away as Eleven lunged to grab her a second too late.
Thirteen returned to reality first, finding himself lying on the ground, clutching at his head with Kali covering his mouth. A second later, Eleven all but threw the goggles off, gasping for breath, Max looking between the two of them worriedly.
"What happened!?" Max asked.
"It's him," Thirteen croaked. "It's the Mind Flayer. He's possessing people. He got Billy, somehow, and now he's got Heather."
"That's impossible!" Max said. "The Gate would have to be open!"
Thirteen glanced at Eleven. "Did you ever see that piece from Will go back through the Gate?"
Eleven went pale, shaking her head. "No."
"Oh no," Max breathed. "It's...It's still here!? All this time?"
"We need to warn the others," Thirteen said.
They all nodded and left the bathroom quickly, running out into the rain to Kali's car.
"Where to first?" Kali asked.
"Mike's," Thirteen said. "From there, we can call most of the others."
Kali nodded and pulled away from the pool.
Thirteen swore, kicking Mike's couch in his basement. None of the others were there, or answering their phones. None of them. Will had gotten angry at Mike and Lucas for not wanting to play D&D and had taken off into the storm, so Mike and Lucas had followed. Evidently, they hadn't gone to Will's house, because he wasn't answering, and neither were Joyce or Bob. Nancy and Johnathan weren't at either house, and should be off work, and Hopper wasn't picking up.
"This is great," Max said irritatedly. "Perfect time for everyone to just disappear!"
"Keep calling, Kali," Thirteen said. "One of the members of that family should answer eventually."
"I found Mike," Eleven said. "Castle Byers. Lucas and Will are there."
"Figures," Thirteen sighed. "Should I go get them?"
"Not yet," Max said. "Eleven, find Hopper."
Eleven nodded, focusing again. "They're driving. Wait. They stopped." She paused for nearly a minute. "They're home. Hopper's hurt."
"Home where?" Kali asked.
"Our home," Eleven said. "The cabin."
Kali dialed instantly, and after two attempts, someone answered. "Bob! It's Kali! Is Hopper okay?"
"He took a beating from some...government thug, we're pretty sure," Bob responded, Thirteen listening in through Kali's mind. "What's wrong? You sound worried."
"The Mind Flayer's back!" Kali said urgently.
Bob swore over the phone, and after a minute, Joyce's voice replaced his.
"How sure are you?" Joyce asked.
"We're sure," Kali said. "Thirteen sensed him."
"Have you warned the kids yet?" Joyce asked.
"We're trying to get in touch with them now," Kali said. "Once we get ahold of them, we'll meet you there."
"Okay," Joyce said. "Please hurry."
"We will," Kali said, then hung up.
"Mike and the others are back in the house," Eleven said.
Kali dialed, but just as soon as Mike answered, and realized who was on the other end, he began to shout the same warning Kali had intended to give. Thirteen took the phone.
"Stay there, Mike," Thirteen said. "We'll come pick you three up, then head to our house."
"What about Dustin?" Max asked.
"Eleven?" Thirteen asked, but Eleven shook her head.
"I can't tell where he is," Eleven said, pulling the blindfold off, breathing heavily and wiping the blood from her face. "He's with Steve and some girl."
"We'll worry about him once we're home," Thirteen said. "Come on."
They all ran upstairs and piled into Kali's car, Kali pulling out of the driveway quickly and speeding away.
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