Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from Stranger Things or its plots or characters.

CHAPTER 7: THE LOST SISTER

"And it just kept repeating?" Aunt Becky asked her slowly, her brow creased in confusion.

After Eleven had calmed down enough to process what she had just witnessed in her mind visit with Mama, Aunt Becky invited her back to the kitchen table to talk and made her another sandwich.

"Repeat?" Eleven wasn't familiar with that word.

"Like a circle, just showing you the same image over and over?" Aunt Becky clarified.

"She kept showing the girl in the room," Eleven told her, using the same words Aunt Becky used.

"The rainbow room?" she asked and Eleven nodded. "What did the girl look like?"

Eleven imagined what the girl looked like from Mama's memory. The image of a dark-skinned girl appeared, playing with some kind of unfamiliar looking toy, her shiny black hair in two neat braids.

"Different," was the only word Eleven could think of to describe her.

"Different than you?"

"I think this is why Mama wanted to talk," Eleven determined, her eyes on Aunt Becky to gauge what she thought of this.

"To show you the girl?" Aunt Becky seemed unsure but Eleven was sure enough for the both of them. She nodded to her aunt and glanced over to her look at Mama briefly, as if she was the answer to all of Eleven's questions about her life. But for now, Aunt Becky would have to do, so Eleven turned her attention back to her and said,

"I think she wants me to find her."

Aunt Becky didn't ask too many questions after that, but she did stand up from the table with a thoughtful look. Eleven followed her, leaving her uneaten sandwich on the table, and Aunt Becky led her to a room with a desk and filing cabinet. They had a lot of those in the lab, but these were different, not as stark.

Aunt Becky began removing files, throwing relevant ones on the floor as she spoke, "When Terry was looking for you she kept these files on other missing kids, kids she thought were like you."

That made Eleven's heart hurt, to know that she had a Mama who loved her and tried so hard to find her and get her back. But also the revelation that there were possibly more girls like her who Papa had used and manipulated made the hurt turn to anger. But Eleven pushed it aside to focus on the task at hand, dropping to the floor to look at the files.

"Maybe that girl is in here…somewhere…here," Aunt Becky continued, pulling out a manila colored file folder and kneeling next to Eleven on the floor. She passed Eleven the folder and she took it. Eleven began to flip through the newspaper clippings, not bothering to read the headlines.

"Does anyone look familiar?" Aunt Becky asked and eventually Eleven came to someone that did indeed look familiar. The dark-skinned girl with the braided hair stared up at her with the headline, 'Vanished! Indian Girl Missing in London.'" Eleven hesitantly pulled the newspaper clipping out to see it more clearly.

"Is that her?" Aunt Becky asked and Eleven looked up at her, nodding somberly.

Aunt Becky sat with her again as she turned the TV to the white noise and covered her eyes with the blindfold. She strained her mind to find the girl, but all she found was darkness. After several fruitless minutes, Eleven slid the blindfold down in annoyance. She hadn't been able to not find someone before, maybe the picture was too old? But Mama's picture had been old too.

"Did you find her?" Aunt Becky asked and Eleven turned to look at her, nose dripping with blood,

"No."

She looked back down at the picture trying to force herself to remember anything, anything at all about the girl to aid her in her search, but she came up empty. Aunt Becky tried to make her feel better but it didn't really work. Aunt Becky made dinner- meatloaf- and as good as it was, all it did was make Eleven sadder because it reminded her of Mike and the time he snuck his mom's meatloaf down to her fort. Eleven shove that memory down with all of the other happy Mike memories.

Aunt Becky set up a temporary bed for her in the room that had been made for her as a baby all those years ago. Eleven thought the sadness would last but she was strangely okay with it because now she had something else to focus her attention on: finding this girl.

Using her powers again, without the TV or a blindfold, she focused on the picture, first picturing the rainbow room, seeing her there, but then she was in her mind visit, a dark figure in the distance next to a fire. Eleven could hear her heart pounding in her ears as she approached the person slowly, the only sounds were her shoes slapping against the water on the ground and the crackling of the person's fire.

"Hello?" she called out, breaking the stillness, but as usual with her powers, the person didn't hear her. So, Eleven continued to walk slowly towards them and eventually she was close enough to see that it was a woman, wearing all black, with purple hair, her face just began to turn when, in her excitement, she pulled herself out of the mind visit.

Hopping out of bed, Eleven strode quickly out of the room looking for her aunt to tell her the news, "Becky! Becky! I found her!" Then, she broke into a run until she thought she heard her voice, Eleven immediately stopped to listen and hear who she was talking to.

"Yeah, I just didn't know who else to call. He-He-He gave me this number and he came here looking for her. I thought maybe he could help me. Yeah, Jim Hopper. He came here with someone named Joyce Byers. Well, that's a little hard to explain. There's another girl and she's missing, and I think she's in trouble. I just- I didn't know who to call," Aunt Becky spoke into the phone, pacing back and forth, smoking a cigarette.

Eleven had heard enough. She had no idea who she was talking to, but she had learned on the first day she escaped from the lab that the bad men listened to all of the phones and would come looking for her. She really didn't think Aunt Becky was trying to put her in danger, Eleven felt she was genuinely trying to help, but she didn't want Aunt Becky to be in danger either. Everyone around her got hurt. The nice man at the restaurant had done the same thing and gotten shot in the head by the bad lady. They threatened Mike. They would come for Aunt Becky too. It was best to leave and handle this on her own, so she wouldn't put anyone else in harm's way.

Even if the bad men didn't hear, Hopper would and then he would come to bring her back. She wasn't ready to go back, not yet.

So, she ran back to the kitchen, stole some money from Aunt Becky's wallet, grabbed her bag from the baby room, and sprinted out into the darkness as fast as she could, never looking back.

Eleven walked and walked and walked. She was used to it by now, but in the darkness of the woods she felt so alone. It reminded her of the night she left Mike's house the last time and had to hide under that log to evade the bad men. She also was here in the pouring rain on the first night she had escaped from the lab. That was also the night she met Mike, in these very woods when he found her and took her out of the storm.

As much as she wanted to completely forget him and let him move on with his life, Eleven couldn't do it. It hurt to think of him but it hurt worse to try and let him go. If she was going to be in agony either way, Eleven chose to keep his memory alive for now. She knew that if he were here, Mike would be supporting her and helping find this other girl, her sister. Mike always believed in her.

Eventually, all her walking led her to her first destination: the bus station. She had watched enough TV to get the gist of how to ride a bus and she knew the girl she was looking for was in Chicago because she got that feeling when she saw the bus stops. She figured out how to get on the right bus with the help of a nice attendant.

Rain streaked across the bus windows but Eleven was hardly aware of it as her thoughts were solely on finding her sister. Now that she was comfortable on the bus was headed in the right general direction, Eleven closed her eyes and held the picture, using her powers to hone in on where her sister was in the immense city she was traveling towards.

The image of her sister appeared near the fire again, this time Eleven backed out a little further and saw a dark alleyway, with various adults milling around. Her mind cut to an abandon warehouse where several people crowded around that fire. She knew where she needed to go now.

Eleven must have fallen asleep a little because she was startled awake when the bus came to a halt, the brakes squeaking loudly. She sat up quickly as the rest of the people still in the bus began making their way down the aisle and getting off. She gathered her bag, flung the strap over her head, and followed them out and onto the darkened streets.

There were so many people, so many different kinds of people. There were nice looking ladies all dressed up and serious looking policemen, and older boys with dark-skin like Lucas'. She kept her head down while passing the policemen but couldn't help the small smile that formed on her face as she stared up at the impossibly tall buildings. This is what the world was really like. This was freedom.

As she stood there, she was bumped into roughly by an man, who looked back at her as if it were her fault.

"Watch it, kid," he sneered back at her, before heading on his way. She glared after him, calling him a "mouthbreather," even if he could no longer hear.

Even just using the word brought back memories of Mike and how he had used it to describe the bullies who had hurt him. She had made them pay. No one was allowed to hurt Mike. The familiar sting that came with thoughts of Mike pierced her heart, but Eleven needed to focus on finding her sister.

Again, she walked and walked, following where her powers were leading her. It seemed that the closer she felt like she was getting to her sister, the less and less people were around, until she was almost completely alone on the deserted streets.

That is, until she came to the alley she had imagined in her mind visit. Here there were lots of people, all dirty looking, all with cold eyes staring at her as she walked amongst them. Eleven wasn't afraid. She could protect herself with her powers, but she remained on guard because she got the sense that these were dangerous people.

One bald man stared right at her as she passed him and told her repeatedly with a cold laugh, "You're dead! You're all dead!"

She watched him even as she continued on, and then looked forward. The crowd of people had drastically thinned out, so he broke into a run, anxious to get to her destination. She was alone again after that and slowed to a walk now that she didn't feel she was in imminent risk. Trudging up the paved hill, Eleven spotted the door she had seen earlier with her powers. This was it. She was close now.

Opening the heavy metal door, Eleven stepped into the huge building, closing the door behind her. She walked slowly forward, glancing around the cold space, hearing voices ahead. The walls were covered in writing, some of it she understood but most she didn't so she continued her cautious approach until she saw the people from her mind visit.

There was the group of people talking around a fire. They hadn't noticed her yet, their conversation coming to a natural pause, so she called out to them, "Hello?"

Instantly, all of their eyes were on her, but she continued to slowly approach the strangers, emphasis on strange. They were surprised to see her, that much was clear, but the looks they gave her were far from fearful. More like a herd of lions eyeing their prey.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" a man with crazy red hair, spiked straight up said in an oily voice, rounding the barrel of fire and coming towards her.

"What is she wearing? What are those? Overalls?" a dark-skinned woman asked, following behind the crazy haired man, eliciting a laugh from him. Eleven wasn't bothered. She could handle bullies and bad people, but she wasn't here to hurt anyone.

"There aren't any cows to milk here, kid. Go on back to the farm now," a woman with multi-colored hair told her as she stood to look the new arrival.

"I'm looking for my sister," Eleven replied simply, feeling the crazy haired man circle behind her, and as he came up beside her, he smiled sarcastically over at the others.

"Aw, Shirley Temple lost her sister. So sad," he said, looking back at her in a way she didn't like. She needed to keep her eye on him.

"I saw her, here," Eleven insisted, ignoring their snide remarks and reaching down to grab the picture out of her jacket. The large black man didn't like that he shifted forward threateningly.

"Uh uh. Hand out of pocket, slow," he growled at her and she did as he said, not wanting to have to hurt anyone. She just wanted to find her sister, so she held the picture out for them to see.

"Give me that shit," crazy haired man hissed, snatching the newspaper clipping from her fingers. The others looked over his shoulder, then the black woman took it from him, and held it closer to her face in the dim light.

"Is-Is that Kali?" she asked in disbelief.

Eleven could sense the change in the room. While they may not have considered her a threat before, they certainly did now. If they had been dogs all of their hackles would have been raised judging by the way crazy-haired man was glaring at her.

"Kali?" Eleven asked, trying the name out. That must be her sister's name. It hadn't said in the article.

"How'd you find us?" the crazy haired man demanded, taking a menacing step forward. "Who else knows you're here?"

"No one," she told him, staring up at him, her eyes hard. She really didn't want to hurt anyone today.

"So, what then? Poof! You just show up like magic with that picture," he asked, all humor gone from his face.

"Stay calm, she's just a kid," the black woman spoke up, apparently sensing as Eleven had that the situation was on the verge of becoming violent.

"A kid that could get us all killed," he snarled back at her before addressing Eleven again, aggressively flipping out a knife, "If I have to ask you again, Shirley, you're gonna start losing things, starting with those pretty little locks of yours, yeah?"

Eleven instinctively recoiled from the weapon. His knife reminded her of when that mouth breather tried to hurt Mike. He had held Dustin at knifepoint and made Mike jump off the cliff. That had been a lot scarier than this because Mike had been the one in danger. He could have died. She had snapped that bully's arm, and while she wasn't keen on revealing her powers she wouldn't hesitate to do the same to this man if she absolutely had to.

"C'mon, Ax! Put down the knife!" the woman urged him anxiously, but he didn't listen, lifting the blade to point it at Eleven's face, demanding,

"How did you find us?"

"I saw her," she replied evenly. She wasn't afraid of him, just afraid of what she would do to him if he didn't get that knife out of her face.

"Ax!" the woman yelled again, but he just ignored her.

"That's not an answer!" he growled, this time grabbing her roughly by the arm. The last person who had done that had been Lucas before he realized she wasn't a traitor. She had thrown him across the field but that had been because he was hurting Mike. Eleven still held off on using her powers.

All of sudden, the man's eyes went wide with terror as he glanced at his wrist.

"Jesus!" he breathed, throwing the knife down and he started moving weird. It looked like he was trying to brush something off of himself that no one else could see. "Get off! Shit!"

"You're a terrible dancer, Axel," a voice from above spoke, all eyes followed the sound. Eleven saw a girl with brown skin and black hair, heavy makeup wearing all black. This was her sister. She knew it. This is how she had looked in her mind visit, so it had to be.

She was resting nonchalantly on the metal hand rail on the stairs but started to come down after she spoke. Eleven watched her approach with bated breath, her heart pounding in her chest with anticipation of this moment.

"I told you stay out of my head!" the crazy haired man- she called him Axel- yelled, slapping himself in the forehead to illustrate his point.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs and walked lazily over to the group, she asked, "So, we're threatening little girls now, are we?"

Her words were familiar bur her accent strange. Eleven remembered from the article's title that it said it was an Indian girl lost in London, so that must be why she spoke differently.

"She knows about you!" Axel told her defensively and they all tightened the circle as the girl neared them.

"She had this," multi-colored hair offered her the newspaper clipping which she took and gazed down at briefly. It was subtle, but her demeanor had changed as well. Her eyes shifted up to look at Eleven, who stepped forward confidently.

"Where did you get this?" the girl they called Kali asked, holding the paper out. Eleven took it, put it back in her bag, and merely responded,

"Mama."

"Your mother gave this to you?" Kali asked doubtfully, but Eleven held her stare unflinchingly.

"In her dream circle," she replied, using the only words she could think of to describe her mind visit with Mama.

"Dream circle. I think she's a schizo or something," Axel scoffed, walking behind her.

"Says she's looking for her sister," the black woman added.

"Like I said, schizo," Axel repeated.

Eleven could tell they weren't going to believe her unless she used her powers. Not to mention, she was still having difficulty with words to describe all of this, so she was just going to have to show them then.

As Axel reached down to pick up his knife Eleven seized her opportunity. Using her powers effortlessly, Eleven shot the handle of the knife into her hand.

"Geez!" someone said in the background, but Eleven paid them no mind, looking lazily down at the blade in her hand. Maybe now they would take her seriously.

"I saw you," Eleven told Kali, folding the knife closed and holding it out to her, "in the rainbow room."

Kali circled around her slightly, her dark eyes watching her closely as she asked, "What is your name?"

Eleven thought about that for a moment. She'd had lots of names and she didn't really know who she was anymore. She had been given the number Eleven at the lab by Papa and the bad men… Mike had suggested the name El, she liked that the most, even Hopper had called her El. But she had recently discovered her real, given name had been Jane, so hoping Kali would understand and wondering if this is who she wanted to be, Eleven told her, "Jane."

Maybe by being Jane, she could start over and be the girl her Mama had wanted all along. Jane meant freedom and a new identity. But she tried to ignore the slight pull in the back of her mind, telling her that she would always be El because Mike had suggested it to make her feel better. But she couldn't be El anymore. That life was gone now. So, now she was Jane.

Kali reached down and grabbed her left wrist pulling it up and pushing her sleeve up just enough to see the tattoo there, "011." Kali lifted her other wrist and Jane took it seeing the number there as well, "008."

In unison, they both looked up at one another, neither able to fully process what had just happened, what they had just discovered.

"Sister," Jane whispered, and Kali, eyes wide, repeated,

"Sister."

They wrapped their arms around each other in tight hug, Jane's face crumpling. Jane had never knew she had been missing this until she met Mama, but now that she had found her sister she didn't feel so alone.

Once, the utter shock and disbelief wore off slightly, Kali led her to the roof where they could have some privacy to talk. There was definitely a lot to talk about, but Kali was mostly interested in how Jane had found her and didn't talk too much about herself, even though that's what Jane was mostly curious about.

Regardless, Jane told her about how she had escaped the lab and gave her a very condensed version of what had happened last year, skipping over much of what happened. She didn't mention Mike by name. It would have been too hard. She wasn't ready to be that vulnerable with this girl, even if she was her sister, they had just met. And as for her feelings for Mike, still after all this time, she couldn't talk about them without wanting to drop everything, forget her promise to herself to stay away from him, and just run back to him.

"And this memory your mother shared…that is your only memory of me?" Kali asked gently, the sounds of the city around them slightly distracting to Jane, who was used to the relative silence of the lab and Hopper's cabin.

"Yes," Jane replied simply.

"And how long have you been with this policeman?"

"327 days," she said bitterly.

"And this policeman thinks he can work out some kind of deal with these men to set you free?" Kali summarized, her hands clasped in front of her. Jane could tell she had her doubts about Hopper's story and, at this point, so did Jane, or else she wouldn't be here right now.

"Yes. He says soon," Jane told her, and for some reason it felt like she was defending him a little. But why? After all of the lies he'd told? After keeping her from Mike and the outside?

"He's naïve then. We will always be monsters to them. Do you understand?" Kali told her fiercely and Jane nodded sadly in agreement.

The word monster had triggered another bittersweet memory of Mike. For a moment all she could see was his face above her after she had used her powers to save him from falling off the cliff as he told her that she was not the monster. His face was so pretty- handsome- and her heart hurt again. Almost everything reminded her of him and she knew this ache would never leave for as long as she lived. She would never forget the boy who ever made her feel like she was a pretty, good girl and not a monster.

"Now, let me guess, your policemen, he also stops you from using your gifts," Kali predicted and she nodded, thinking how the only other person to call them gifts was Papa. Mike called them her powers which she kind of liked. Powers meant powerful. Gifts made it sound like the bad men had given her something, like a present. And these gifts, powers, whatever didn't always feel like a good thing. "What you can do is incredible? It makes you very special, Jane."

That made Jane wonder, "Wait… do you have a gift?"

"Different. I can make people see, or not see whatever I choose," Kali told her, and Jane was intrigued and confused.

"Is that why you made the man with the crazy hair dance?"

Kali smiled at that, telling her, "Axel is not so fond of spiders, so…."

"You made him see spiders," Jane inferred, impressed.

"But it doesn't have to be scary," she said and held out her hand and opened it, revealing a beautiful butterfly with wings that glowed in the dark and changed colors. Jane watched entranced as the butterfly began to take flight almost not hearing Kali tell her, "This butterfly isn't real. I've just convinced your mind of it. Think of it as a kind of magic."

Jane reached up and took a swipe at the butterfly, still not convinced that it wasn't real. But as it flew downwards, Kali caught it in her fist and she then opened it to reveal her empty palm.

"Are you real?"

"Yes, I'm real," Kali replied with a smile, and Jane jokingly poked her in the face a couple of times before Kali playfully slapped her hand away.

As much fun as she was having with her newfound sister, Jane had come a long way tonight and she was extremely tired. Kali seemed to sense this and led her back inside. She offered her a bed up high with glass windows all around. While Jane got comfortable, taking off her coat, Kali brought her a bright orange blanket. After handing it to her, instead of leaving, Kali sat down in a chair next to the bed, her eyes glassy.

"What's wrong?" Jane asked concerned.

"Nothing is wrong. I just feel whole, like a piece of me was missing and now it's not, if that makes sense," Kali explained to her, sniffling as tears seemingly pooled in the corner of her eyes.

"Yes." She understood, but as relieved as she was to have finally found her sister, Jane still only felt a little more than halfway happy. Pieces of her were missing too. She missed the Dustin piece, and the Lucas piece, and the Will piece, and the Mrs. Byers piece, and the Mama piece, and the Aunt Becky piece, and even the Hopper piece. But the piece she missed most was the Mike piece. She may be able to be okay without those other pieces, but she'd never be whole without him.

"I think your mother sent you here for a reason. I think she somehow knew that we belonged together. I think this is your home," Kali continued tearfully.

Jane had been hearing that word a lot. Lab was home. Mike's fort was home. The cabin with Hopper was home. Mama's house with Becky was home. And now this?

"Home," she repeated, hoping that maybe this could be it this time. Mike's fort would always be her favorite home, but she couldn't go back there, or to any of those places. So, this would have to do. Kali smiled warmly at her and they clasped hands as her sister confirmed,

"Yes, home."

Day 329. Well, Jane didn't really need to count the days anymore, did she? She was no longer at the cabin waiting for soon, waiting to see Mike, just waiting. She was Jane now; free and home with her sister.

But despite that, as Jane slept her dreams took her on a mind visit to the cabin. It was empty. The radio crackled to life with a familiar voice,

"It's me. I know that I've been gone too long and-uh- I just want you to know it's not because of you and it's not because of our fight. Just something came up and I'll explain everything soon. I just-uh- I want you to know that I'm not mad at you. I'm just sorry."

Jane was surprised that he was talking through the radio. He said that was a risk and risks are stupid. So, why did he take the risk just to say sorry?

Her question would remain unanswered because she was shaken awake. Jane's eyes flew open and Kali's face came into view above her, assuring her, "It's okay. It's only me."

Jane sat up slightly as Kali asked, "Bad dream?"

That was not a question she wanted to answer. She had meant to visit Hopper, even his voice, and she was mad at herself for even feeling guilty about leaving him. She changed the subject quickly.

"What time is it?"

"It's late. You slept well. It's time you met my friends, properly this time," Kali answered, give her shoulder a comforting squeeze and then standing up from the bed. Jane pulled on her coat and allowed Kali to lead her down the stairs. As they rounded the corner, the crazy haired man appeared, telling Kali in annoyance,

"We need more money, Kal. I can't keep eating this garbage."

"This is Axel," Kali introduced but Jane had already gleaned that last night.

"Spider-hater," she said, eliciting a laugh from someone in the group.

"Yes, spider-hater," Kali agreed, humor in her voice as well.

"This is Dottie, our newest, like you she just left home," Kali continued and the girl with multi-colored hair gave her a small, insincere smile and wave.

"You mean the loony bin," Axel corrected, but Kali ignored him and continued,

"Mick, our eyes, our protector."

The dark-skinned woman looked up briefy at the mention of her name from whatever she was writing, but quickly got back to it as they passed.

"This is Funshine, our warrior, don't let his size frighten you. He's a teddy bear," Kali announced the large black man as he sidled up to her and offered her his hand, which she accepted.

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Jane," he greeted, much friendlier than he spoke to her last night. He was a really big man, but she wasn't afraid. She had killed big men. Pushing that morbid thought from her mind, Jane turned their joined hands to look at his wrist.

"If you're looking for a number, you won't find one," Kali informed her, sensing the question she had been about to ask.

"They're not like us," Jane said as Kali sat down at the table.

"No, not in that way, but like us they're outcasts," Kali replied, but Jane didn't understand.

"Outcasts?"

"Freaks," Axel defined and that struck Jane. After all, before Lucas had gotten to know her, he had called her a freak and a weirdo. So, she must be like these people. Is this what it meant to be a freak? An outcast?

"Speak for yourself," Dottie added, bringing a cigarette to her lips.

"Society has left them behind, hurt them, discarded them," Kali elaborated.

"We were dead, all of us," Funshine told her, a somber look on his face as he gazed up at her. "Kali saved us, here," he pointed to his head and then to his chest, "and here."

"Don't get all mushy on us, Fun," Kali said, lightly reprimanding.

"No, no mushy. True," he held firm.

"Now, we help her," Mick added.

"In this life, kid: you roll over or you fight back," Axel told her.

"We're all fighters here," Mick said proudly.

"Fight who?" Jane asked, gazing around at each of the people seated at the table. In response, Kali grabbed dropped a pile of plastic cards with faces on them, like the ones the bad men wore at the lab.

"Everyone you see here, was in some way responsible for what happened to us," Kali explained, the rest of the crew standing behind her. They were watching her carefully and Jane got the sense that they were waiting for something from her.

"You hurt the bad men?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, we just give them a pat on the back," Dottie said sarcastically, but Jane knew what she really meant.

"You kill them?" Jane didn't know if she liked where this was going. Yes, they were bad men who deserved to be punished but they weren't actively trying to hurt them. It seemed wrong to go seek them out to kill them when there was no immediate danger.

"They're criminals. We simply make them pay for their crimes," Kali explained simply.

"Damn, Shirley. What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost," Axel teased her. This made Jane angry. These people didn't even know her; didn't know the things she had done, the things she was capable of.

"We can't all be fighters, I guess," Dottie said, and Jane took that as a challenge to prove herself.

"I'm a fighter. I've killed," Eleven told them quickly. She remembered in vivid detail the sound of the man's neck snapping when he tried to lock her in the dark room in the lab after she refused to hurt the cat. Or the feeling of crushing all of the bad people's brains when they pointed a gun at Mike and her and her friends.

But as much as she wanted to prove herself to these people, and as much as she wanted to sound cold and indifferent, she wasn't proud of that. Hurting people didn't feel good. It was something she had to do to survive and protect Mike.

"These men you killed… did they deserve it?" Kali asked, her stare intense.

"They hurt me," Jane answered, remembering the men dragging her to the dark room.

"And they still want to hurt you, to hurt us. We're just making the first move," Kali asserted, but Jane still wasn't sure. Kali seemed to pick up on this because she nodded her head towards the door and said, "Come."

Jane followed Kali out of the warehouse and into the bright afternoon sunlight. As they walked amongst the abandon cars and scrap metal, Kali spoke, "I was just like you once, I kept my anger inside. I tried to hide from it but then that pain festered."

"Festered?" Jane asked, unfamiliar with that word. Kali stopped and looked at her, so Jane did the same, her sister's dark eyes lost in memories.

"It spread... until finally I confronted my pain and I began to heal," Kali explained, walking forward again and leading her into a wide abandoned area. They had to hop down onto train tracks, but then Kali stopped again and gestured with her head further on, "Do you see that train?"

"Yes."

"I want you to draw it toward us." Kali had been looking straight ahead at the train, but now glanced sideways at her with a challenging look. Jane had never moved anything that big before and she highly doubted she'd be able to do it without Mike or herself being in danger. Despite that, she decided to give it a try; her gifts had been getting stronger after all.

Planting her feet and raising her hand towards the hunk of metal, Jane focused solely on bringing the train closer. She imagined her hand was a powerful magnet and the train would slide towards them. Its immense weight began to lift off of its wheels for a moment and even rock forward slightly, but the effort was too much. Her vision was getting fuzzy and her head seared with pain.

Jane exhaled heavily, leaning her hands on her knees in exhaustion, disappointed in her weakness.

"I can't," she said softly in defeat, but Kali wasn't ready for her to give up.

"Last night, you told me you lifted a van once," Kali reminded her and Jane thoughts immediately pictured the bad men's van coming straight at her, Mike, Dustin, and Lucas. She could still recall in great detail the feeling of being so close to Mike and the fear and anger she felt when she realized they were going to hurt her friends just to get to her. She hadn't even really tried or given it much thought. Her adrenaline had been racing and she needed to protect Mike, so she had lifted the van as if it weighed nothing with what felt like very minimal effort, until she felt so drained afterwards.

"Yes."

"The bad men were trying to take you away again and that made you angry," Kali went on and again. Jane hadn't revealed that was only part of the reason she had been angry. She had been able to lift that van because it was going to hit Mike. Again, she could see the Papa and the bad men getting out of their vans and walking towards her and Mike while she clutched his jacket.

"Good. So, find that anger. Focus on that, not the train, not its weight," Kali told her, and Jane was angry again just remembering how the bad men had put Mike in danger. She decided to try again. Lifting her hand once more, Jane let her anger course through her as she listened to Kali.

"I want you to find something from your life, something that angers you now," Kali egged her on and for some reason the first image that popped into Jane's mind was the red headed girl making Mike smile. "Now, channel it."

The train barely moved again; it wasn't going to be enough.

"Dig deeper. Your whole life you've been lied to," Kali urged, and Jane's thoughts shifted to Hopper telling her that Mama was gone. That made her very angry.

Jane's heart began to race and her blood began to feel like fire burning through her veins. The train began to slide towards them, its wheels dragging on the ground kicking up sparks.

"Imprisoned," Kali spat angrily, mirroring the way Jane now felt.

Jane remembered the feeling of being thrown into the dark room at the lab and Hopper keeping her locked in the cabin for 327 days and how he had yelled at her for wanting to see Mike.

"The bad men took away your home, you mother."

Images of her Mama's dream circle floating back to her, and the train moved closer, moving at great speed towards them now.

"They took everything from you. They stole your life, Jane!" Kali yelled next to her.

Papa making her find the monster, putting her in the bath, manipulating her, using her. All of it seemed to cave in on her at once. Papa and the bad men were the reason she could never have a normal life with Mike, why she would always be an outcast.

A scream escaped her throat as she released every ounce of anger that was left in her, her powers spent. The train came to a stop.

Jane fell to her knees in exhaustion, just catching herself with her hands before she hit the concrete. From up above the tracks, Axel, Dottie, Mick, and Funshine cheered for her. She wasn't ready to call them friends but they made her feel part of something which felt nice.

She shifted so she came to sit on the ground, taking deep gulps of air as the adrenaline seeped out of her blood stream. Kali came to kneel next to her and with a smile, asked, "So, how do you feel?"

That was a complicated question. She was tired and still angry, but she felt powerful, like she could do anything and no one could hurt her, so she replied,

"Good."

Kali helped her up off the ground and they made their way back to the warehouse with the others. After a quick meal to replenish her energy, Kali let her in on their plans.

They went into a room lit with bright, fluorescent bulbs; it had a wall with various pictures and other clippings on it. Kali explained, "These are the bad men, as you call them, the ones we believe are still alive. Do you know any?"

Jane scanned the pictures, some had writing on them, some didn't. No one looked recognizable until…

"Him," she pulled down a black and white newspaper clipping with the headline, 'Retired!' She recognized the man not from her own memories, but from Mama's dream circle. He was the one that zapped her brain when Papa said to. "He hurt Mama,"

"His name is Ray Carroll and he did more than hurt your mother," Kali replied, not elaborating on what she meant but Jane suspected he had hurt her too. "The bad men like Ray know about us, it's made them hard to track, but maybe not anymore."

She could feel Kali's eyes on hers and Jane knew what she had to do. She explained to them what she would need to use her gifts and it was set up for her: a small radio with the white noise, a blindfold, and the picture of the man crumpled in her fist.

Sitting on a short table, Jane could feel all of their eyes on her but she still was able to go into her mind visit. He was easier to find than she thought, sitting in his chair watching TV as if he was normal and not the bad man he is. Jane ripped the clipping apart in her hands in anger and then pulled the blindfold down, nodding to them.

She was able to describe the building she had seen the man in and the writing outside of it. Dottie flipped open a big book and found the name, "Gramercy Apartments. Washington and Bethel, that's gotta be it. Right?"

"Lilburn… where's that?" Kali asked, taking the book from Dottie and sitting back in her chair.

"About an hour east," Funshine replied thoughtfully.

"We don't even have a new ride," Mick argued, frustration clear in her demeanor.

"So, we swap the plates, we have plates, right?" Kali suggested, undeterred.

"Yeah," Axel said slowly.

"It's risky," Mick shot back.

"Where is the fun if there's no risk?" Kali said and Jane thought this is the opposite of what Hopper had said. He said risks make you stupid. "We want to give my sister a memorable first day, right?"

"I'm in, for Miss Jane," Funshine agreed, tilting his head to look at Jane.

"Yeah, sure. Why not?" Axel said, before all eyes turned to the protector, "Mick?"

Mick looked up at the ceiling for a moment, considering, and then finally threw her hands up and exclaimed, "Screw it!"

There was a flurry of activity after that and Jane stood with everyone else, unsure of what she should do. Kali came up behind her and grabbed her by the shoulders, an excited smile on her face. As the others got ready, Kali insisted that Dottie help her get ready by changing her look. Apparently, overalls weren't very intimidating.

So, Dottie sat her down in a chair upstairs and Kali brought some clothes. Jane looked at them apprehensively but went along with it. She wanted to fit in with these outcasts.

Dottie sat her backwards and began combing her mass of curls back and away from her face. Jane was a little concerned, considering Dottie's hair looked like a mess in her opinion. Maybe someone else should be doing this? But Jane said nothing.

Jane got dressed and then Dottie finished her makeup, some dark eye shadow and red for her lips. She was briefly transported back to when Mike had done something similar, so she would fit in with his classmates at school. He had put on very different makeup and given her Nancy's nice dress. The black jacket and jeans were very different, but that was okay because that was El and maybe this is who Jane was. Yet, she couldn't help but wonder what Mike would think of how she looked. Would he think she was still pretty? Good?

"Bitchin'," Dottie said as the group stared at her transformation.

"Bitchin'," Jane echoed, testing out the new word.

They all headed down to the old van and piled in, driving off to find the bad man. As Mick drove them all, she turned up the music really loud. Axel swung his head wildly and Dottie used the table as a makeshift drum. It was fun to watch these people, so wild and free, exactly how she was beginning to feel. No one could control her now.

They all had masks that they wore whenever they did a "job" as they called it, and now Kali held several up to her face to help her decide on one. All the while, Jane laughed and rocked her head to the strange music too. It was nothing like the music Hopper listened to, maybe that's why she liked it. Either way, eventually Jane settled on a baby face mask, getting approval from Kali and Dottie.

Suddenly, Mick pulled the van to a stop at an unfamiliar place. This wasn't where the bad man lived. So, as everyone jumped out Jane put her hand on Kali's shoulder, asking nervously, "What are we doing?"

"Stocking up," she replied simply, so Jane hopped out to and followed the group in. Kali stepped up to the man at the counter and crossed her arms over her chest. "Hey, your bathroom is leaking."

He looked confused but leaned forward to glance over to the bathroom, his eyes going wide, "Ah, shit!"

Jane didn't see anything, but she assumed Kali was using her powers to make him see what she wanted him to see as he stepped delicately around something that wasn't there.

"Yes. Shit," Kali replied, a smug smile on her face. As the man went into the bathroom, Axel stepped up and addressed them all jokingly,

"Okay, contestants, you have a minute and a half to begin your supermarket sweep!"

Jane had stolen from a store before when Mike had yelled at her for throwing Lucas. He hadn't meant it but she had known she shouldn't have done it so she ran away to protect them all from herself. She had gotten so hungry staying the woods that she walked right into the supermarket and stolen several boxes of Eggo's, walking right out by slamming the glass sliding doors in the owner's face. It hadn't felt right then but she had been so hungry.

All of the others were picking up what they wanted, so what would be the harm in taking a few things? At first she picked up an apple, but then her eyes landed on the freezers. Eggo's. Immediately, she put the apple back and grabbed several boxes until she heard an angry voice towards the front of the store.

"Hey! Put that back or I'll blow your head off!" the man threatened, pointing a gun at Axel, "You hear me, freak!"

Jane's heart began to race. She really didn't like guns.

Kali stepped up quickly with her hands up, telling him, "Put the gun down."

"Stay back! Stay back!" he ordered, and Jane could hear how nervous he was. He pointed the gun back and forth between Kali and Axel.

"Darrel, your money is insured. We're only stealing from the war criminal billionaires who own this place. You won't even lose a dime," Kali assured him calmly, but he wasn't hearing any of it.

"I said, stay back!" he growled, stepping closer to her aggressively.

"We are on the same side. I promise," Kali kept her voice even. She made a promise. Jane doubted they were on the same side if they were stealing from him.

Jane watched her. Kali wasn't using her gifts. Maybe her words were just as powerful, able to convince people to see or not see whatever she chose as well.

"Stay back," he repeated, and Jane wasn't comfortable with how close that gun was to her newfound sister. With a roar, she used her power to fling him into the wall, knocking him unconscious.

"Damn, Shirley," Axel said appreciatively as they crowded to look down at him. But they didn't have long to stand there because the sound of sirens could be heard outside.

"Let's go. Go, go, go," Funshine hissed, ushering them out of the store.

"Mick! We gotta go, Mick!" Axel yelled, and they all piled in, Mick driving them away quickly.

The police must have not seen them because no one followed them. They drove for a while more, the sun having fully set by the time they pulled into the apartment complex.

Mick slowed the van to a stop and then turned to them in the back, "We should case the place, stick to the routine. We have time."

"We also have her," Kali responded impatiently, taking a more softer tone when she turned to Jane, "Can you look?"

Jane closed her eyes and focused her mind on the bad man, and then there he was, "He's watching television."

"Is he alone?" Mick asked.

"I saw him and no one else," Jane replied, shaking her head slightly. Her mind visits typically only showed the person she was looking for, if there were other people there she'd have to know what they look like to find them too.

"Good enough for me," Kali said.

"Me too," Dottie concurred.

"Let's do this," Funshine said, putting on his mask.

"Keep it running," Kali ordered to Mick

"Meet you round back," Mick told her.

They all slipped on their masks, and all but Mick got out of the van, approaching the bad man's apartment. Jane then slipped the chain off its track, as she was rather adept at now, and shut his TV off with her powers. As he fiddled with the knobs, they snuck up behind him stealthily.

"Hello, Ray," Kali greeted, the others behind her. The big man looked up startled, his eyes going wide with fear.

"Jesus Christ!" he exclaimed, trying to run for the door, bur Funshine was there to block his path.

"Sit down, please," Funshine ordered him, his voice low and dangerous, "I said sit."

Funshine grabbed the man roughly by the shoulders and forced him back into his chair.

"Just please… just take what you want," the man begged, fearfully.

"Oh, we will," Axel assured him.

"Where's your wallet?" Dottie demanded.

"Bedroom. My bedroom. My jeans," he revealed without any further coaxing.

Axel and Dottie rushed off to go find the wallet, Funshine blocked the doorway, so Kali and Jane stepped in front of the bad man. Jane tried to look more confident than she felt as Kali took off her mask and looked at her so Jane took hers off as well hesitantly.

"Do you remember us?" Kali asked the man and he shook his adamantly. At his response, Kali must have used her powers to make him see them as he would have remembered them, little girls, as the lights flickered, "What about us? Do you remember us, Ray?"

The lights flickered again and Kali hit the man hard in the face as Jane watched. He fell to the floor and looked up at them with a pleading look, "Please, please."

Now, seeing his face from Mama's dream circle that anger was taking hold again.

"You hurt Mama," she growled, before throwing him against the wall with her powers. He hit his head hard and began to bleed. Jane didn't feel any better. If anything she felt worse which only made her angrier.

"Wait. Please, I just did what he told me to do. He said she was sick," Ray explained in a shaky voice, sitting up slightly with effort.

"You had a choice, Ray, and you chose to follow a man you knew was evil," Kali replied calmly after they had both stepped closer to him. Jane could feel her hate of this man growing the longer she looked at him. Papa had told her to do a lot of things, bad things, and she had eventually stood up to him when he told her to hurt the cat. The difference was that Ray hurt people, children even. Ray should have been able to stop it, but he didn't. Jane raised her hand to use her powers but she stopped as he begged,

"Wait! Wait! I can help you find him."

Jane glared down at this man. Her rage making it hard to think clearly.

"Find who?" Kali demanded.

"Brenner! I can take you to him," Ray shouted back quickly in fear they would hurt him if he didn't.

Jane stopped breathing for a minute. But she reminded herself that she had seen Papa get attacked by the Demogorgon.

"Papa is gone," Jane managed to say despite her pounding heart.

"No, he is alive," he insisted.

"Do not lie to us, Ray," Kali threatened.

"I'm not lying," Ray's face crumpled as he began to cry in fear, but he managed to whimper, "He trusts me. I'll take you to him."

Jane stood there staring at this man. He was terrified. Of her. This was ultimate power, so why did she not feel good?

"If he is alive, Jane will find him, just as she found you," Kali told him, dispassionately, turning to her and urging, "Do it, Jane. Do it."

"Wait!" he begged, but the images of her Mama's dream circle had invaded her mind again and the fire in her chest raged bigger than ever. Her hand shot out and she began crushing his wind pipe with her mind. He fell to the ground, trying to gasp for the air she wouldn't allow him to have, but she didn't stop. She heard Kali's voice, pushing her on,

"Not too quick. He wasn't so generous with your mother."

The force of her powers was causing him to slide along the tiled floor on his back, but she followed, unrelenting. Even as his face became red and then purple, she squeezed harder, white hot rage blinding her to his agony.

Until her eyes slid from him to a broken frame by his head. A picture of him and two young girls stared up at her. He had children. She immediately released him and he gasped for air.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Kali demanded to know, but Jane couldn't speak. What had she almost done?

"We got a problem," Axel and Dottie appeared from down the hall and Kali turned to look over at them.

"Kids in the apartment," Dottie added.

"Please," the man continued to beg, but now she realized it was more for his daughters than for himself. Jane was a lot of things, but she wasn't going to murder a man who wasn't trying to hurt her, knowingly making orphans out of two girls. Not like her.

"Did he show your mother mercy? No. He took her from you without hesitation," Kali reminded her unnecessarily.

"We gotta go, K. They called the cops," Axel yelled from the hall, bouncing anxiously on the balls of his feet.

"We finish this first," Kali she growled at him before turning to bellow at her, "Jane! NOW!"

"Please, don't. Please," the man continued to plead for his life from his spot on the floor.

In a flash, Kali seemingly lost her patience because she whipped a gun out of her pocket and pointed it down at the bad man. Jane couldn't allow this to happen. On instinct, Jane jerked her head to the side and the gun flung out of Kali's hand and out the window.

Jane knew she had crossed a line as Kali's eye slid over to her dangerously.

There was no time to discuss it though.

"Kali, we gotta go," Axel insisted as sirens sounded outside. They all sprinted out of the apartment and down the stairs, rushing to where Mick pulled the van up. The tires squealed as she sped away, narrowly avoiding the police again.

Jane sat back, trying to catch her breath and process everything that had just happened. She had almost killed someone, and not in self-defense and not to protect her friends, or Mike. Mike. What would Mike think of her?

"If you wanted to show mercy that's your choice, but don't you ever take away mine. Ever. Do you understand? Do you understand?!" Kali shouted at her, getting right in her face in the narrow confines of the van. Jane just turned her head away. She didn't even care that her sister was mad at her. Could she even call this girl her sister? She was a cold-blooded killer, and Jane was sure now that's not who she wanted to be.

When they returned to their warehouse, Jane immediately went up to her space, she couldn't really call it a room, and it definitely wasn't home. She sat in the chair, clutching the shirt Hopper had given her and thinking about what she was going to do now. She never wanted to do what she had just done again. She felt used, but Kali was right, she had a choice. And she had chosen wrong.

Kali and the others had convinced her to use her powers to actively seek out and take from someone who did nothing wrong at the gas station and then try to kill someone who wasn't actively trying to harm them. It wasn't right and it didn't 'heal' her the way Kali made her think it would. It made her feel like a monster all over again.

A knock startled her out of her reverie and she looked over to see Kali at the entrance.

"May I sit?" she asked, and Jane just shrugged her shoulders. She didn't really want her to, but what choice did she have. She was a guest in their home.

Kali walked over to her, sitting down on the bed, and clasping her hands in front of her before she spoke, "I was once just like you, you know that? But that's why I'm hard on you because I see in you my past mistakes."

Not killing that man wasn't a mistake.

"They were kids," she said with defiance.

"Does that excuse that man's sins? Were we not also children?" Kali asked, not expecting an answer, so Jane looked away. Just because he was a monster didn't mean they needed to become one too. "I remember the day I came to the rainbow room and you were gone. So, when my gifts were strong enough I used them to escape and I ran away, I ran as far as I could. And it was there, far away that I found a place to hide, a family, a home. Just like you and your policeman, but they couldn't help me. So, eventually I lost them too."

As she spoke, Jane couldn't help but think of how she had lost Mike. Her heart hurt again, but she tried very hard not to cry, even as Kali continued telling her story.

"So, I decided to play the part, to stop hiding, to start using my gifts to fight those that hurt us. You're now faced with the same choice, Jane. Go back into hiding and hope they don't find you or fight and face him again," Kali told her.

"Face who?" Jane asked, not really wanting to hear the answer.

"The man who calls himself our father," Kali said pointedly.

"Papa is dead," Jane said fiercely, but then a voice behind her made her blood run cold.

"That man tonight disagreed."

Jane wheeled around, her mouth agape in surprise to see the tall figure of Papa in the doorway, his hands clasped behind his back, his dark eyes sending a shiver up her spine. But it wasn't him.

"You're not real," she said with effort, but still feeling the need to stand and face him more fully.

"All this time and you haven't looked for me. Why? Because you thought I was dead? Or because you were afraid of what you might find," he continued in his gravely voice. Even if her mind knew he was not real, her heart didn't, based on the way it was pounding against her rib cage. Facing the man who had hurt and manipulated her for so many years made the blood in her veins turn to ice.

"Go away," she told him firmly, shaking her head even as tears pooled in her eyes. He began to approach her slowly, towering over her and making her feel small. She inhaled sharply and stepped back and away from him as he spoke softly,

"You have to confront your pain. You have a wound, Eleven, a terrible wound and it's festering. Do you remember what that means? Festering? It means a rot and it will grow. Spread."

She fell back into her chair when she could retreat no further. The word, 'festering' made it even more obvious that he wasn't real but the terror she was feeling was very real. Like the way Axel was afraid of the spiders. All rational thought was leaving her and she felt paralyzed.

"Get out of my head," she said quietly, tears streaming down her face, as he kneeled down to her eye level.

"And eventually it will kill you," he told her, and she couldn't take it anymore.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, crushing her eyelids closed so she wouldn't have to see his face anymore. She broke down into sobs, the memories of him and the lab and the possibility of him being alive suffocating her.

Kali stood and rounded to kneel in front of her. Jane was angry with her. Kali shouldn't have done that. It was wrong to manipulate her that way with her powers.

"This isn't a prison, Jane. You're always free to return to your policeman or stay and avenge your mother. Let us heal our wounds together," Kali spoke passionately, before standing up and leaving her alone with her tears.

Eventually her tears subsided and her breathing returned to normal, leaving only dry trails on her cheeks making the skin of her cheeks feel tight. Jane went over to the bed to sit. For a moment she thought she could stay, go to sleep, and wake up okay with this new life she had chosen for herself. But could she really choose a life of anger and hurting people? She wanted a life with happy, even halfway happy, and not having to kill anyone anymore.

Holding the plaid shirt Hopper had given her when she lived with him in the cabin, Jane knew what she had to do. She had to see them.

Instead of channeling her anger as Kali told her to, Jane channeled every happy memory she could find and she was surprised to find she had several powerful ones. She clutched the shirt to her chest and focused on those memories.

'Maybe we can call you El, short for Eleven,' Mike's pretty face appeared; dark hair offsetting his pale skin and complimenting his equally warm, dark eyes. He had just taken her out of the storm and she felt safe, safer than she had ever felt in her entire life.

The memory shifted to another.

'You better run, she's our friend and she's crazy!' Dustin yelling at the mouth breathers after she had just pulled Mike back from the cliff and certain death. Dustin had called her friend.

And another.

'No, El, you're not the monster. You saved me, understand? You saved me.' Mike insisted, staring down at her from her place on the dirty ground when she collapsed. He smiled at her and it made her feel so happy.

And another.

'Co-compromise?' she asked Hopper and he explained, 'It's something in between, it's like half-way happy.' Hopper ruffling her hair while they ate breakfast together.

'Once we fix it up it'll be nice, real nice. It's your new home,' Hopper dancing to music in the cabin, the home he made up just for her.

Then, she was transported into her mind visit effortlessly.

Hopper was there, but he wasn't wearing his normal policeman uniform. No, he was in hospital scrubs, and he was in front of some kind of electronic thing that looked like it was at the lab. Why was Hopper at the lab? Why did he look so upset?

'This is where I was, It's a damn graveyard,' he said to someone she couldn't see.

'I need to get through! I need to get through!' Mike's voice behind her made her snap around. Terror gripped her, making her heart freeze and her breathing to cease as she watched him run towards or away from something or someone, in obvious distress.

'I need to warn them it's a trap!' Mike continued yelling and she watched as he seemed to run into something hard as he came to an abrupt stop, 'I need to get through! It's a trap! I need to tell them it's a trap! IT'S A TRAP! IT'S A TRAP!' Mike shouted, struggling against something holding him.

Blood pounded in her hears as she watched him, her eyes wide with terror. What was wrong? What was a trap? Who was holding him? What was a trap? Was someone hurting him? Was he in danger?

Unthinkingly, Jane ran towards him, throwing her arms around him, but they cut through thin air as Mike's image dissolved into smoke. She felt like her chest was being ripped open as she screamed,

"MIKE! MIKE! MIKE!' WHERE ARE YOU?! MIKE!

Loud banging caused her to cease her screams and look towards the sound, fearfully.

Then she was pulled out of her mind visit and the banging continued. Jane jumped up from the bed to look down out of the glass window. Policemen with guns streamed into the warehouse.

"Don't move!" they yelled, pointing their guns all around.

"Let's go," Kali whispered, seemingly appearing out of nowhere and grabbing her shoulder. They sprinted up to the upper level to get the others, Jane's mind still reeling from what she had seen in her mind visit.

"What the hell's going on?" Axel demanded.

"They found us," Kali told them, "No, no, no."

And she gestured at them all to remain still. She used her powers to hide them until the policemen walked away. Once in the clear they ran out and towards the van. They saw them. The policemen began firing their guns and Jane's heart began to race. She wasn't ready to die. Mike needed her.

They all dove for cover behind the van as bullets collided with the metal, pinging off the surface. Axel pulled out his gun and fired back.

"Do something, Kal, do something," he hissed. And she did.

Closing her eyes, Kali's nose began to drip blood as she did something to make the men stop approaching or shooting.

They all piled in but Jane stopped.

"Jane, get in," Kali urged her, her dark eyes wide with fear and adrenaline.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but I have to go back. My friends, my friends are in danger," she told her. She had to save Mike like he had saved her.

"This isn't time for a talk! We gotta go right now!" Axel yelled from behind Kali.

"Your mother sent you here for a reason, remember? We belong together. There's nothing back there for you. They cannot save you, Jane," Kali tried to convince her and maybe she was right but it didn't matter. Mike needed her and she couldn't waste another second.

"No, but I can save them," Jane told her, shaking her head but determined. She was making a choice, and she chose Mike. She would always choose Mike.

Without another word, she turned and ran away down a dark alley, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"JANE! JANE! JANE!" Kali called out to her, but the van began pulling away.

Jane ran until she couldn't run anymore. Then she walked and walked until she got back to that same bus station she had arrived at, and purchased a ticket back to Hawkins, Indiana.

Now, she sat just as she had on the way there, he forehead pressed against the cool glass, watching the rain streak on the window. The adrenaline had left her, but that didn't stop her mind from racing, the sound of Mike's screams echoing in her ears.

"You all right, Sweetie?" a woman's voice pulled her from her thoughts and Jane turned to look over at the source. "You were looking a little forlorn there. You mind if I join you?"

Jane didn't reply but glanced down at the empty seat as the woman shifted over next to her. She didn't need a distraction but it wasn't entirely unwelcome.

"You are awfully young to be travelling alone, aren't you?" the nice woman commented with a smile that Jane didn't return. "You are quite the chatterbox. So, where you headed? To your parents, I hope."

Normally, the mention of parents would be a painful reminder of how she had none, but she didn't need them. She had a Hopper, and a Dustin, and a Lucas, and a Mrs. Byers, and a Will, and a Nancy, and a Jonathan, but most importantly she had a Mike. El had a Mike.

Jane, or rather El, responded, "I'm going to my friends. I'm going home."

A/N: Whoa, from the shortest chapter to the longest chapter! So, Eleven typically refers herself by 'Eleven' but this chapter she was mostly Jane. Don't worry the whole Jane thing was just for this chapter. I did this to illustrate her trying to figure out her identity. Now, she has chosen to be El. I hope it's not too confusing. Anyways, we're almost there! The big reunion! I am so unbelievably excited to get to it. The last couple of chapters have been soooo slow but it'll all be worth it for the last two chapters! Maybe three if I'm feeling an epilogue... As always, you guys are amazing and let me know what you think!