[A/N: Took me a while, apologies. I'm busy with personal writing projects as well. Anywho, thanks for the brilliant comments and happy Doctor Who day!]

Chapter 6: The Box

The woman speeded through the streets of Hawkins, leaving many people looking at her with somewhat curious expressions as she raced past them. Her legs were burning and her two hearts, now slightly recovered from their rearrangement, were pumping with renewed fervor. She felt healthy, almost recharged. Her mind was still a bit of a mess and she struggled to find any coherency in her memories, so she just decided to focus on the important matters at hand. There was a boy to find and now mentioning it, a box as well. Oh, of course she remembered that; no matter the strength or the size of the regeneration, she would never forget the very object that was most important to her. She wondered where it could have ended up. It sure seemed a bit shaken up after her recent transformation and it was not at all unlikely that the poor thing had just teleported itself to the other side of the universe, so she guessed there was nothing left to do but hope… but the old lady wouldn't just leave her, right?

Shaking the thought out of her head, she made a sharp turn and ran up the sidewalk. First things first. The TARDIS could come later; there was someone who needed her help right now, and as far as she was concerned, this was the only thing that mattered – the very thing that was the only thread in her still-rearranging existence. The only way that could possibly remind her of who she was.

And then, of course, there was that girl, but –

"Hey, watch out!"

The woman failed to stop herself in time and she wildly flailed her arms as she ran into the yelping figure on the walkway. There was a bit of a crashing sound, shocked gasps from bystanders, and some cursing. The woman looked up, shaking her head. She was rather surprised to find that the colorful language came from another woman – a brunette, who looked a bit disheveled with her pale face and smudgy clothes. Well, it was probably a bit unfair to judge – after all, she was the one with the clothes that looked like they could've been from the worst secondhand shop in the universe.

"A thousand apologies," the woman said, jumping up with remarkably much energy as she extended a hand. She helped the brunette up, who muttered something about 'being sorry' and 'not being with my mind where I should be'.

"No, no, it's my fault, honestly." the woman said. "Was havin' way too much fun with my new legs. Look, I got two of them!"

She proceeded to do a kind of small tap dance, feet clicking on the concrete tiles. The brunette now simply looked as if she'd just encountered a woman who happened to have fallen off a psychiatric transport.

"Never gets old," the woman smiled when she finished. "I love legs. Wibbly wobbly legs. Oh, hang on – I'm sorry." She bent down to pick up the other woman's bag.

"You don't have to apologize, really." the brunette said, suddenly looking a bit lost. "I'm just… just a little confused."

"Don't like confused. Confused's no good," The woman offered her her bag. "What's your name?"

"Joyce."

"Joyce. I like that name. You should keep it. Mind tellin' me what you're confused about, Joyce?"

"Well…" Joyce suddenly looked around her as if she was suspicious of something. "I don't know if this is a joke or something, but…"

"'Course not. Why would I be jokin'?"

"Uh. Well – I thought everyone already knew."

"Knew what?"

She sighed. "Look, I'm – I'm Joyce Byers."

The woman simply stared at her, with an expression Joyce couldn't recognize. Just as she thought she would gasp and it would finally grasp her who exactly she was talking with, she shook her head. "Doesn't ring a bell. Have I ran into you before? Could've been my previous face, or the one before that, because they were incredible at runnin' into people." She frowned. "No, forget that, they all were."

"You mean… you don't know?"

"No. Yes. I 'spose. You aren't bein' particularly helpful, Joyce."

"Sorry. I mean… I guess you aren't from around here." She swallowed. "Have you… have you heard about the missing boy?"

"I have."

"Pleasure to meet you then. I'm his mother."

The woman raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Oooooh, are you? That explains a lot. Well not too much, considerin' he's lost and you aren't."

"Yes, you're right." Joyce's face cracked open in a weak smile that the woman actually found kind of unsettling. "He's not dead. They think he is. They want to bury him. But I know for a fact that whatever they found out there is not my son. He's still lost, and I'd be damned if I won't find him."

"Uh, ya, that's a good spirit. It all starts with good spirits. Bless you." The woman carefully patted her shoulder. "Speakin' about bein' lost Joyce, you wouldn't happen to know an assembly place for tiny humans, do you?"

"A what?"

The woman threw her hands up in a helpless gesture. "Come on, you know, Joyce! Same species, just a lot shorter than you… and a lot less wiser, for that matter. I'm just lookin' for the right name…"

"Kids?"

"Kids! That's right! Love kids, kids are brilliant!" She smiled and started jumping up and down with excitement. "I'm supposed to meet a bunch, but I have no clue where they've ran off to. Can't remember properly, but I recall somethin' about a particular word… something like 'stool'."

"School?"

"Oh my days, Joyce, you're a genius." Before she could do anything about it, the woman leaned forward and gave Joyce a quick hug. She found herself unable to respond… although she had to admit it was kind of amusing.

"Now then. Schools. Any schools around here?"

"Well, yeah, you have Hawkins Middle and Hawkins High – but I suppose you're looking for Middle…"

"Probably. Could you point me in the right direction?"

"Uhm…" Joyce turned and looked around. Most of the bystanders had already moved on, but there were still some funny faces across the street – and this time they weren't even because of her, she supposed. The woman waited behind her, impatiently rocking back and forth.

"That way," she said, pointing to the far end of the street on their left. "Just take this street, turn right on the corner of Main Street and Finberry, and it should be at the end on your left."

"Thank you, Joyce. Joyce. Still like that name." The woman giggled. "I'll be off then."

"Are you sure you'll be alright?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, I 'spose. Shouldn't be wasting time. Bye then!"

Joyce wanted to answer, but found that the woman had already ran away before she could even have opened her mouth. Still not quite sure what to think of it all, she started to slowly turn to go back to home, but she nearly screamed as she felt an urgent tapping on her shoulder.

"Sorry. Forget to tell you somethin'. You should keep lookin', Joyce. Even when it seems highly unlikely, you'll never know what you find if you keep lookin'."

She seemed surprised. "Uh, thanks. What are –"

But the woman was off again, racing across the crossover and the sidewalk, coat fluttering behind her as she surprised every random passer-by she happened to speed past. Joyce put her hands to her mouth, and shouted: "Hey, you didn't even tell me your name!"

The woman made a slight turn, now jogging backwards. "Don't need one! Goodbye, Joyce, I'm going to school!"

"Holy shit, did you see what she did?" Dustin yelled, struggling to keep his voice under control as they ran through the hallway.

"I was standing next to you, idiot, I'm not blind!" Lucas sneered. "Shut up and keep running! They might be after us!"

Neither of them dared to have a peek over their shoulder as they speeded through the abandoned corridors. Mike made sure to be just behind Eleven, in case she would either trip or freak out about what had just happened, or both. No, that wasn't right. He would probably freak out. What just happened had both scared and amazed him – and although it was surely satisfying to see Troy piss himself, the fact that El could do such a thing was pretty damn unsettling on its own.

But she had done it to protect him. How could he be anything than grateful for that?

"In here – quick!" Lucas urged, leading them into another hallway. They came to a halt behind a wall, each one panting slightly as they finally allowed themselves to catch their breath. Dustin peeked around the corner to scout for any possible pursuers. "I don't think anyone has seen us."

"Of course not," Lucas panted. "They'll probably be still laughing their asses off about that airhead wetting his pants."

"That was mental though," Dustin commented, turning to the group again. "I mean, did you see the look on his face?"

"Yeah. You know, that was actually legitimately cool."

"It was." Mike turned to Eleven, who had just been standing there staring intently at him. "Thanks for standing up for me, El."

El simply nodded, a blush spreading across her cheeks.

"Okay, let's get this show on the road," Lucas interrupted. "The AV room is right over there."

"Don't you think Mr. Clarke will come after us, find out what all the fuzz was about?"

"Nah. Look, even if he saw it happen, there's no way he could link it to us – or Eleven. Let's just get her to the Heathkit before anyone starts asking stupid questions."

"Sure. Let's go."

They turned around and hurried to the AV room, now granting themselves the comfort of casting a glance back every now and then. The corridor was still empty, but they swore they could hear some excited voices coming from the distance.

"Shit – hurry up!" Dustin yelled. They started to run again, not caring about any eventual teachers they could run into. The door of the AV room was now just a couple of feet away. Just a little… Mike already rummaged in his pocket to dig up the key. They ran and ran, faster and faster…

…until suddenly, a figure appeared and they all screamed their lungs out. The figure let out a surprised yelp as well, although hers was much shorter – she was simply left staring at the kids with a flabbergasted look on her face.

It was the woman.

"Jesus Christ, you shared the shit out of us!" Lucas gasped.

"I thought I was getting a damn heart attack for a –"

"Oi, language!" the woman said, feigning anger as she finally managed to silence the boys. It was almost funny how quick she reasserted control. "Honestly, boys, you should do somethin' about the vocabulary. It's nerve-rackin'."

Lucas gaped at her. "How did you get here? We brought you to the police station like, just a couple of hours ago."

"Dude, have you forgotten about the alien-thing?"

"Dustin, I swear to God –"

"I was at the police station, yes." the woman quickly interrupted. "Key word was. Met a kind fellow, had a nice nap, shook up my whole artery system for a bit. Did me quite some good."

"Did you have a whole physical transformation, like – like the Thing?" Dustin asked.

"What thing?"

"You know, the Thing from The Thing. That shapeshifting alien that can absorb you and imitate your form?"

"Oh dear, no." The woman almost frowned in disgust. "Regeneration doesn't work that way, boy. And quite frankly, there's no race called "things"."

"You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. No one wants to be called a "thing". Imagine bein' called a "thing". Haah!" The woman giggled like a kind of amused child. Her smile didn't last long, however, as she noticed the boys found themselves unable to respond, or just not able to look her in the eye at all. Even Dustin went silent after their small fit.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "Your faces are actin' weird. It's so sad,"

Dustin stared at his feet. "Uh…"

"Look," Mike sighed, "we're sorry for leaving you behind at the police station. We weren't sure if you would wake up again,"

"Honestly, we thought you'd be slowing us down if we brought you along," Lucas added.

The boys all looked down in shame, not quite sure (and more afraid of) how the woman was going to respond. Eleven remained mainly on the background, just taking it all in with curious eyes. It was true. They had practically left her behind, and she had every right to be pissed off about it. They wouldn't expect anything less than a well-deserved scolding.

…So the wheezing sound came as a bit of a surprise, although they didn't realize what it was until they looked up. The woman was smiling and doing that childish giggle again. "Oh, silly, boys, you don't have to apologize. Do you really think I wouldn't have done the same if I had a strange lady collapsin' in my basement? Well, no, I would've done somethin' totally different, but that's not the point."

"You mean you aren't upset with us?"

"Oh, dear days, no, of course not." The woman kneeled slightly down, smiling to reassure them. "You did the only thing you believed to be right. I can't ask anything more of you. Now, how about we go and find your friend?"

"Sure, ma'am."

"Brilliant! Now, stuck at the door, I see, but that shouldn't be much of a problem. I have just the right thingy for that, and it's –"

She rummaged around in her pocket, frowned, rummaged again, took the stuffing out to search through it, only to find nothing and cry out in frustration: "Argh, empty pockets! I hate empty pockets! Just when I need that infernal sonic…"

"Uh, maybe let me…?" Mike held up the keys. The woman stared at them like they were some kind of magical wand. "Oh. Ya. Right. Keys. That could work."

She stepped aside to give Mike some room to unlock the door. While they waited, Dustin went and stood next to her, looking as impressed as ever. "You know, I proposed we should keep and hide you in the basement."

"It's not a big deal, Dustin. Leave it."

"Okay. Just wanted you to know."

"I figured."

"Yeah." He fidgeted for a bit, then tugged at her coat. "Hey, want to know what the weirdo did?"

"Weirdo what?"

"Sorry, Eleven. Look, there were these two birdbrains that said shitty things about Will, so Mike went to confront them – and damn, I thought they were going to punch him in the face! But El stopped them and made one of them piss himself. Right there, it was leaking all over the floor!"

"Did she now?" The woman looked at Eleven, who seemed to cower a little.

"I know, it's crazy, right? It was damn epic!"

"I can imagine." The woman nodded reassuringly. "It's good to be brave and stand up to bullies. You did the right thing, Eleven."

And for sure, what else could the little girl do but softly smile at that warm compliment?

After Mike had unlocked the door, they hurried in and immediately closed it behind them. While the kids gathered around the table in the middle of the room, the woman walked around, eying every single bit of technology with childlike amazement. "Now this is already startin' to feel more familiar. 80's technology. Phones for giants and as practical as an upside-down stairway, but the aesthetic's phenomenal. I should consider a desktop theme…"

"Fire it up!" Dustin cheered.

"Be patient, man. You don't want this thing blown up, do you?"

"Guys, quiet. And make some room for El." Mike turned to the girl, gently gesturing her to get closer. El seemed encouraged by the renewed presence of the woman, although she was still very uncertain and careful in her movements.

"Right then," the woman said, joining them at the table. "I suppose it works the same as with your supercomm, so it shouldn't be too hard. Eleven, are you ready?"

El, now seated on the chair in front of the massive device, looked up at her with a slight hint of fear in her eyes. She extended a hand, the woman looking down at it, then back at her. "Oh, you want me to…?"

El nodded. The woman blinked, then swallowed as she took the girl's palm in her own. "Alright then. I got you. Nothing to be scared of,"

She found that it wasn't just comforting to the girl; somehow, it was quite reassuring to her as well. It was almost as if the simple touch of skin was the embodiment of something greater, a deeper connection that felt familiar to her in a way she wasn't particularly sure of. For sure, it could just be another impulse; after all, deja vus weren't exactly uncommon if you had already lived through thirteen lives, but she wondered whether there wasn't more to this than a vague sense of recognition. It'd be a gamble, of course. A special girl trying to get a grasp of who she was, trying to find some certainty in a new world full of scary and interesting things, far away from a home she couldn't possibly regard as such?

Isn't it ironic, mad woman? All you need is someone telling you you're looking into a mirror… and yet you haven't the slightest clue who you actually are.

"Off you go then."

She gave her fingers a little squeeze before the girl turned to the device and closed her eyes to concentrate. The boys stared intently over her shoulder, none of them feeling the need – or courage – to say something useful. They all listened to the silence, the slight interference radiating from the Heathkit, ready for it to be interrupted by something far more unsettling. Now they all had their doubts. For sure. But friends didn't leave each other behind, and even in the darkest of moments, this was a promise that none of them was willing to break.

At first, there was darkness. It was not until the vision in front of her eyes was starting to morph that the woman realized she wasn't looking at the room anymore. Initially she thought the regeneration-dizziness was kicking in again, but the images were unusually clear. And they weren't even her own. Then how could it be she was able to see them? Come on, mad woman, you're missing something. Somehow you must've tapped into…

Oh, that was right! El was channeling some of her psychic powers through her own telepathic senses. Though she probably wasn't aware of it, because the presence of the woman was nowhere noticeable in her sudden, frantic behavior. Dear heavens. She could see – no, actually feel her fear. Fear for the man with the white hair. Papa, as the girl called him.

"Good, begin. Amulet. Frigid. Evolve."

Somewhere in the distance, the woman could her the boys' excited voices. Lucas was rambling about something she couldn't understand. Dustin was asking what the hell was happening to the alien – something about her eyes rolling back and her body tensing up.

"Airplane. Eleven, repeat the words. Apricot."

"Would you like a jelly baby? Should reverse the polarity of the neutron flow. Laugh hard, run fast – come along, Pond! Bigger on the inside – always bigger."

"Peninsula. Game. Enchantment."

"Did you hear that?" Dustin asked. "I thought I heard a, a voice."

"Yeah. I think it's working," Mike replied.

Don't, the woman thought, trying to warn her. Stay away, Eleven. It'll be too much for you.

"Mouse. Balloon."

"All of time and space, anything that ever happened or ever will… where do you want to start? After all, I'm just an idiot! With a box! And a screwdriver!"

"Did you hear that?"

"She's doing it! She's finding him!"

"This is crazy!" Dustin yelled.

"Calm down," Lucas said, sounding annoyed. "She just closed her eyes."

There was just a slight buzzing – then a loud, electronic pop as the device went to a whole new frequency. A few seconds later, the room was filled with an eerily familiar voice. "Mom?"

"Holy – what is that?"

"It's Will, idiot! Listen!"

They heard another voice – female, this time – who screamed: "Will? Will, is that you, baby?"

"Mom? Mom? Mom!"

"No way," Lucas gasped breathlessly.

"Will?" Mike asked. "Will, can you hear us?"

"Mom!"

"Will! Oh, baby, I'm here, I'm here! Oh, thank God!"

"He can't hear us. Why can't he hear us?"

"How am I supposed to know, dipshit!"

"One-way frequency," the woman almost whispered, still with the absent look in her eyes. "Can't communicate. Only listen."

"Oh God, Will, Will!"

"Mom? Mom, it's coming!"

"Tell me where you are! How do I get to you?"

There was a brief stuttering in the frequency as Will apparently tried to catch his breath and looked around. "It's like home, but it's so dark… It's so dark and empty! And it's cold! Mom? Mom, I'm scared!"

"Listen to me, okay?" His mother sounded like she was just on the verge of collapsing. Which wasn't that weird, given that their own mental state wasn't exactly doing too well, either. The frequency was getting a bit lower, but it wasn't like any normal interference – this was the sound of something big.

"I swear I'm gonna get to you, okay? But right now, I need you to hide. Can you hide?"

"Mom, please!"

"I know, baby, I know. I will find you, I promise. But I need you to be safe now! Can you hide?"

There was another short silence before Will replied: "There's a box…but –"

"Okay, good! Get in it and hide, sweetie. Hide!"

"But mom, I can't get it open! It's locked! Please…"

"Just try it! You need to try it, okay? Try… try hiding behind it! Right, baby? Go!"

There wasn't anything else they could hear. Just moments after they hard heard his mother frantically begging for him to hide, there was another loud pop, although this one certainly sounded less better than the previous one. And if that wasn't enough, they got the rest of their proof later, as the Heathkit suddenly made a weird, buzzing sound and exploded in a rain of little sparkles and smoke. Eleven slumped back in her chair, letting go of the woman as her cheeks turned a dark color and her nose started to bleed. Not finding anything to lean on, the woman toppled over and ended up on the floor, letting out a deep sigh as life returned to her eyes.

There wasn't much time to sort things out – apparently the smoke had tripped the sprinkler system. A loud, whooping siren started to swell in the corridors as sprayers of water turned on above their heads.

"El, are you okay?" Mike shouted. "Can you move?"

"Here, help her up." Lucas said. "We need to get out of here."

"What about the alien?" Dustin asked.

"I'm… I'm fine," the woman responded, slowly getting up. "You lot go ahead. I'll be right after… after ya."

Not finding anything suitable to transport Eleven with, they just decided to put her on the small metal trolley in the corner. Dustin opened the door and poked his head out to check the corridor. After he signaled that the coast was clear, a rather strange procession left the AV room. It consisted of a few boys pushing a nose-bleeding girl with a blonde wig on a cart with race-like speed, and a rather strange woman waddling behind them, occasionally grabbing her head as she grunted and puffed.

The fact that no one saw them leaving was just pure luck.