I know I didn't write the Losers explaining the encounters with IT but they'll probably mention them randomly in the next few chapters. There's a bit of a twist or two in the coming chapters, so be on the look out for those ;)

Also, I didn't expect the ending to go where it did but it just happened so...here you go. Poor Richie! Sorry for the cliffhanger.

P.S. #sorrynotsorry

Everyone jumped at the sudden noise, and stared at the phone. After a couple beats, Bev answered it.

"Hello?"

"Bev! Bev, is Mike there? Please tell me he is. I've called his house, the station, mom and dad's house and I can't get a hold of him." Nancy told her, voice urgent.

"Uh, yeah, he is. Mike? It's Nancy..."

"Fuck." He cursed and grabbed the phone.

"Nancy?"

"Mike? Oh my God, Mike I saw Barb. I fucking saw Barb and she started blaming me for her death and yelling at me. She was holding a red balloon and tried to take Nora and I don't think I remember how to breath right? What the fuck, am I going crazy?"

"Son of a bitch. Look, do NOT let her out of your sight, understand? Is Jonathan there?"

"No, he went to the store, Mike, what's going on?"

"I'll explain when I get there. Keep Nora with you. I'll be there in a few minutes." He slammed the phone down and kicked the trashcan. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." He let out a loud groan and snatched the car keys off the table.

"What happened, kid?" Hopper asked.

"Whatever the fuck it is taking kids has tried to take Nora."

"What?" Richie's voice cracked.

"It turned into Barb and started blaming her for her death or something, I don't know, I've gotta go get them." He said, sprinting out the door.

"What about staying together?" Dustin yelled after him, but Mike was already in the car and driving away.

"Goddamn it!" Richie kicked a chair. "Why the fuck does this mother fucking clown want with us? Why couldn't it just fucking die?" He plopped down in a chair and gripped his hair.

It was at least twenty minutes before Mike got back, with Nancy and Nora on his heels.

"So I left a note for Jonathan so if he sees it anytime soon he'll come over." Mike told them as he shut and locked the door behind him. "I explained to Nancy as best I could on the way here but she's still freaked out and doesn't really understand what's going on so she wasn't exactly paying me any attention. She just kept checking and rechecking Nora to make sure she was okay and-"

"Mike," El put her hands on his shoulders. He shut his mouth and looked at her. "Breathe." He'd barely taken a breath since he walked in. He took a deep breath and gave her a nod.

"Sorry."

"Nance, let me take her. Calm down for a minute okay?" Richie told her, gently prying her hands from Nora's shirt. He hugged the little girl to his chest and she laid her head down, gripping his shirt in her tiny fists.

"I want someone to explain to why the fuck Not-Barb tried to take my baby." Nancy said, crossing her arms.

"To put it simply, Pennywise is a demon from some other dimension, that feeds off children and fear. We call it IT instead of Pennywise." Mike H. said.

"Don't give IT the satisfaction." Richie muttered.

"IT wakes up every twenty seven years, feeds for a year, and then goes back to sleep." Ben said. "IT was supposed to only be in Derry, but apparently not."

"It's o-o-only been s-seven years."

"Lucky Seven my ass. I'd say, seven is the unluckiest number I've ever heard. But that's just my opinion." Richie shrugged, swaying a bit with Lonora in his arms.

"Beep-" Stan started but Richie stopped him.

"Don't." His tone was demanding, and as was his glare. "Don't say it." Stan glared at him, but then his eyes softened.

"Sorry, Rich."

"Do you think IT could have been coming through the gate?" Bev asked. "Or a gate?"

"Could there have been another gate there?" Dustin asked. She started to shrug, then froze.

"Wait." She muttered, staring off into space. She sat there, unblinking, until Lucas gave her a nudge. "What did the gate look like?" She asked, looking at El.

"Uh, it started off small, and grew over the year. When I closed it, it was huge, moving, growling. It was like a mind of it's own. You couldn't just...look into the Upside Down, there was some gooey substance between the Right Side Up and Upside Down, so you couldn't see through it clearly. The goo itself looked like there was fire behind it, or some kind of bright light."

"What I saw in the sewers the day we fought IT," Bev said, looking at the rest of the Losers, "IT said something...something like, you'll laugh, you'll cry, you cheer, you die and then... then started dancing? The background though it-it looked kind of like she described but there was fire. It looked like a tunnel going straight to hell."

"That's what the gate looked like." Hopper said. "But without the fire part."

"When did you close the gate, El?" Ben asked.

"November of '84." Mike answered for her.

"We f-fought IT in the s-summer of '85." Bill said. "B-but h-h-how would the g-g-ga-ga-"

"Gate." Bev said helpfully, taking his hand.

"How w-would the g-gate be open t-there a-and clo-closed here?" No one knew the answer to that, so no one said anything. Mike broke the silence.

"Uh, maybe..." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "No, no, never mind."

"What? We'll take all the help we can get here, Wheeler." Max said, crossing her arms. He glared at the use of his last name.

"It's unlikely but... what if when El closed the gate, it made other gates across the world close? Like maybe it just took some time but they closed? Maybe that's what happened in Derry." Everyone looked at each other and shrugged.

"It's a possibility, I guess." Dustin told him.

"It could have closed before IT went back inside." Richie said out of nowhere. "Maybe IT's trapped in the Right Side Up. Maybe that's why the fucker is here. Maybe IT wants you to open the gate back up."

"But why would IT want to go back?" Eddie asked.

"Why do you want to go back to Derry?" He retorted. Eddie blinked at him, his eyebrows furrowing. "That's a genuine, legitimate question, Eds. Why do you want to go back to Derry?"

"Because of my mom, I guess?" Richie nodded, and looked at the others.

"You all have something to go back to Derry for. The only reason I'm even considering going back is for you guys and my band. If it weren't for that, I'd stay here, in Hawkins. There's something IT is wanting to go back to in the Upside Down. There has to be a reason IT's here, and not just because of us."

"Eh, down." Lonora squirmed, wanting to get down. He put her down and she walked over to Hopper, who scooped her up immediately.

Are you sure about that, Richie?

"What the fuck?" Richie's eyes widened.

"What?" Will asked.

"You guys didn't hear that?" He asked.

"Hear what?" Dustin raised his eyebrows.

How can you be so sure about me, when you're not even sure about yourself?

"Get out of my head." He growled, squeezing his eyes shut.

There's nothing I want from my home. I want the reason my home is gone.

"No."

Eleven is very strong, very strong indeed. She will be mine to feed on. I will feed on her fear. Eleven will make Pennywise very powerful.

"She's stronger than you." Richie hissed, "She's stronger than you. Get the fuck out of my head you goddamn crackhead!" He yelled out of no where, causing everyone to jump. He opened his eyes and spun in a circle, eyes landing on the red balloon floating outside through the window, and then to the hand holding it. Pennywise stood there, a menacing grin on his face. He wrenched open the back door and stormed onto the porch. "Go fuck up someone else's life! You can't have her!"

"Richie!" Mike yelled, racing after him, El following him out the door. The rest of the Losers followed close behind, the other's watching out the window or door.

I'll kill all of you! I'll feed on your fear, you'll float too, Richie. You'll all float.

"You can't have them." His voice was eerily too calm, too serious. "You have to kill me before you touch them."

"You'd die for them, Richie." Pennywise giggled. "But you wanted to die for your own selfish reasons." He tilted his head to the side, eyes glowing. Richie was frozen in place, unable to even blink. "Death is a shadow that always follows the body."

The one balloon popped, Pennywise disappeared, and everything went black.