"Has any information come in yet?" Joyce asked nervously, holding the phone with trembling hands. Over the last couple of weeks she had been calling police stations of surrounding communities, filing a missing persons' report for both Steve and Robin. No one had gotten back to her, so she decided to check back in.

"May you describe the persons' in question?" The man behind the line asked, and she sighed, having talked about this with the same man not three minutes before.

"Steve Harrington. Young adult male, brown hair, about five feet ten inches tall. Average, if not a bit above average, build. 19 years old. The other is a young adult girl, Robin Buckley, 18 years old, with red, brownish hair that sometimes looks blond in the right light. She's about five foot eight, average build."

"Are you their mother?"

Joyce sighed. "No, like I just told you. I'm calling on their parent's behalf."

"Then I sadly can't give you this information. I need to talk to someone directly involved in their lives or the investigation."

"But I am involved!"

Hopper took the phone from a flustered Joyce, a frown on his face.

"This is Chief Jim Hopper from Hawkins Indiana. Do you or do you not have information?"

"Sir, I…we have nothing. These two haven't been seen." The man admitted, no doubt recognizing the name as the head of the search, and Hopper nodded.

"Thank you."

With that he hung up the phone, running his hand on his face.

"Nothing?" Joyce asked hopelessly, and he nodded.

"Nothing. Is there anyone else we can call?"

She shook her head no. "That was the last one."

"No luck?"

Both adults looked up to see El shakily walk into the room, holding the wall for support. She was pale, and anyone could easily see that she was going to collapse at any moment. Her leg was bound up in thick bandages, and Hopper knew that the wound under it was the reason for all of her suffering.

"Kid." Hopper said, rushing to her side. "Why are you out of bed?"

"You sounded angry."

"I…" He glanced at Joyce, and she shrugged, no doubt knowing that everyone would find out soon enough. "Steve and Robin are still nowhere to be found. No one's seen them."

"I want to try and find them." She said, determined. "I may be sick, but I can still try."

Hopper wished that she would give this up. He knew that if she tried her condition would get words, he knew from experience that you shouldn't overexert yourself if you were sick.

"Elー"

"I want to try."

"But you could get worse. You could die and where would that leave us? Where would that leave me?" Hopper asked, sadness seeping into his tone. "I've already lost a daughter. I've lost two good kids to Russians, and now you're going to risk your life again, risking me losing you? I will not let that happen."

Joyce put a comforting hand on his shoulder, giving El a sad smile. The poor girl seemed saddened at the words, but still stood in front of them bravely.

"I don't think you should try yet, honey. When you're feeling better we can."

"But when's better? When I can walk?"

"When I say so, El." Hopper said firmly. Seeing her pained glance, he sighed. "Okay. It'll be here sooner than soon, I promise."

El took that answer reluctantly, and slowly made her way back to Will's room, stumbling over her feet. Joyce quickly rushed to help her, leaving Hopper alone in the kitchen. He looked down at the worn table, wishing things could be different.

He knew that he was being a jerk. They had the one person that could find Steve and Robin, the one person that may save them, yet he refused her to find them. She was sick, really sick…whatever got into her leg back at the mall was doing serious damage. He didn't know if it would hurt her powers, if it just made her sick, or if it would kill her, but he didn't want to risk anything. He couldn't lose her.

He could hear Joyce walk back to him and grab some coffee, so he looked up with a sigh.

"How long has it been, Joyce? Since Steve and Robin went missing?"

She frowned. "About a month."

"Just a couple more weeks." Hopper said, and she looked at him with confusion. "If we don't get any hint about what happened to them, any clue, any proof of life…then it's going to be a cold case. We'll have to give up."

Her eyes filled with sadness and pain. "You know the kids won't give up, right?"

"Yeah. But at that point it'll be best to move on. Have a funeral. Give the families some peace and closure."

"You mean Robin's family."

Hopper clenched his fists at the reminder of the Harringtons. "I guess so."

"I don't think I'll ever find peace about it." Joyce said, sitting beside him and nursing her cup of coffee. "They both deserve better. Steve was always there for the kids, and Robin…I didn't really know her, but she seemed like an amazing kid."

"She was in the marching band. She can speak up to four languages. Her parents are super proud of her. She was about to go into Grade 12, being a year younger than Steve. "

"You tried to learn about her."

Hopper nodded. "I wanted to. Not that it would help, but…." He sighed again, putting his hat on his head. "I hate missing person's cases. There's always so much at stake."

She rested her hand on his. "I know. But we're all going to try to get them home. I don't care if this becomes a cold case, none of us will stop looking for them."

"How long, though, Joyce? We can't let the kids, especially Dustin, think that there's hope when there is none. How can we tell them to keep expecting Steve and Robin's safe return when they may never come home? We may be lucky to even find bodies."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there, okay? It's best not to worry about that just yet."

Hopper knew that he couldn't argue with that.

After a lot of debate with Hopper and Joyce, Mike had managed to convince them to let everyone come to the Byer's house to regroup. It had been a while since everyone had seen El, and they needed to work on a plan to get Steve back. El was thankful for him, she was getting tired of being alone all day, and she wanted their support.

Nancy and Jonathan couldn't come today, and El didn't exactly know why. But she knew that there was nothing that she could do to change it. Erica couldn't come, and Lucas seemed a bit thankful for it. Something about "sibling rivalry", a topic Mike hadn't explained to her yet.

Hopper and Joyce had to run to the store for some groceries, Mike thought that they might be making dinner for everyone, and El had no doubt about it. It had become a habit whenever the group came over.

"I still haven't intercepted any Russian communication for the Cerebro." Dustin said as he sat on the couch, a frown on his face. Will nodded sadly.

"Jonathan and Nancy haven't found anything, either."

"I heard Hop yesterday." El said slowly. "He said it would become a cold case?"

Lucas nodded. "Yeah. A cold case is when a situation like this, missing persons, sometimes, becomes hopeless. They can't find Steve or Robin, so they just accept that they're dead and move on."

"Stopping the search?" She asked, and Max sighed.

"Yup. Basically giving up."

"But we won't." Dustin said, determined. "We're going to find them, no matter what."

"What if they're right?" Mike asked. "What if they're gone and all of our efforts are for nothing?"

"We won't know that until we either find bodies or find them alive! We're not giving up on them!" Dustin replied, and Mike sighed, falling back into his seat.

"I'm going to look for them." El stated, and everyone looked at her in shock.

"What? But Hopper saidー" Mike argued, yet El didn't listen.

"I know what he said. He thinks that I'll get hurt. I won't get hurt. I will be careful."

"El…I don't know if that's a good idea." Max said. "I really want to find them, and I know you can, but at what cost? You're sick."

"I am, Max. I'm sick but I'm willing to take the risk. Let me. Help me find them."

Dustin watched her, clearly confused with what he should tell her. She could tell that none of them did, really, even Mike. But she knew what she had to do.

"I'm going to go into the Void. I'm going to do it whether you guys help me or not."

There was a moment of silence until Max spoke up. "Then I'm helping."

"I will, too." Dustin said with a nod, and soon everyone had agreed, Lucas already turning the television to static. Mike proceeded to grab a cloth to cover her eyes, and Will helped her sit down comfortably on the ground, his eyes reflecting what El thought was concern.

"If you think something's wrong, please get out of there." He said. "No matter what."

She nodded. "I will."

"Hopper's going to kill me." Mike mumbled as he wrapped the cloth around her head, and she knew that his worry was real. She was worried, too, but she would do what she had to. Steve and Robin needed her.

With the static filling her mind, she adjusted the blindfold over her eyes, making her see nothing but darkness. She could tell that everyone went silent around her and she was thankful, knowing that they had her back.

El took a deep breath, focusing on emptying her mind of the distractions around her and finding Steve and Robin. She knew that she could only focus on one, so she hoped that she would be able to find Steve, who she knew the best. That would make him slightly easier to find, but if she couldn't find him she would look for Robin.

She emptied her mind once again and threw herself into the Void, opening her eyes to darkness, her feet standing on cold water. She couldn't see anything, at least not yet, but she allowed her feet to carry her though the darkness, her eyes sharp. She could feel a slight tingling in her leg, right by the wound, but it didn't make sense. She was in her mind, in the Void, her physical body shouldn't be able to be felt here. Maybe something was wrong. Yet, she would keep on going.

The silence, though familiar to her, seemed loud as she searched, not one sight in her field of vision.

As time went on, she began to lose hope. Maybe they were dead. Maybe she couldn't find them. Maybe Hopper was right and this would only hurt her.

It was at that moment that she heard a voice.

"El? Is that you?"

Steve.

"Steve?"

He laughed and she laughed too, so thankful to hear his voice. She couldn't see him but she could hear him. He was alive.

"El! Oh, man, I was so worried! Are you okay?"

"I've been sick." She explained. "But I'm fine now. Where are you? Is Robin with you?"

"Robin's with me, yeah. We've been doing okay. As for where we are…I have no clue."

"Are you safe?" She blinked, her vision suddenly going white. Panic flooded her chest as she realized that something was going wrong. But she couldn't pull out now.

"I…I don't know."

Pain flooded her mind, and she gasped, falling to her knees.

"El? El, are you okay?"

She couldn't respond, it was as if everything was on fire, and she could feel herself losing her grip on the Void.

No. Not now. Please not now.

"El! Talk to me!"

El screamed as she was flung back to her physical body, falling into Mike's chest, gasping for breath. Steve's voice was gone, and it hurt her more than she would like to admit. At least he was alive. He was alive.

"El! What happened?" Mike explained, clutching onto her desperately, and she tried to hold back a sob, the pain becoming too much.

Will rushed to press a tissue against her nose, which was bleeding more than usual, and Max went to her side, holding her hand through the pain.

"It's okay, take your time. You're safe." She said, and El struggled to nod.

"This was a bad idea, this was such a bad idea." Dustin exclaimed, pacing the room. "Hopper is going to kill us, this was such a bad idea."

"Stop pacing! It's so annoying!" Mike yelled, and Lucas shushed him with harsh whispers.

"Dude! Let El rest before you start yelling!"

They all fell into silence as El struggled to get her breath back, agony surging through her veins. She didn't know how long she rested in Mike's hold, or how long the pain lasted, but it eventually subsided, easing its touch to something manageable.

As if Max could tell that she was doing better, she quickly got a bottle of water and gave it to El, who took it thankfully, drinking it slowly.

"How are you feeling?" Mike asked, and she shrugged.

"Fine. Now I'm fine."

"You're bleeding." Will said, and El looked down to her leg, where the bandage began to change from white to red. She frowned, tears in her eyes as she realized what just happened. She had gotten worse. Hopper was right. She grabbed another tissue and wiped away the blood from her nose once again.

Was it worth it? She thought it was, now it wouldn't become what they called a "cold case". That was a good thing, right?

She told herself it wasn't all for nothing. It wasn't.

"I heard him." El said, and Dustin's eyes went wide.

"What? You heard Steve?"

She nodded. "Yes. He's alive, Robin is there, too."

"Where are they?"

"They don't know. They're not safe, though. That's what Steve said."

Lucas looked confused. "You didn't see them?"

"No. I could only hear his voice. I don't know why."

"But he could hear you?" Dustin asked, lighting up with hope. "He was there?"

"Yes, Dustin. He was there. He's okay."

"I can't believe it." Lucas said with a smile. "They're alive. After everything they're alive."

"But Steve seemed to think that they were in trouble, so we have to find them." Max said, and El nodded.

"I'll tell Hopper." Mike said. "I'll tell him and hopefully the police will keep the case open. Hopefully they'll still keep looking."

Dustin adjusted his hat on his head, determined. "But we won't stop, especially now that we know they're alive. We're not leaving them in danger alone. Never again."

El smiled as ideas for finding them began floating around the room, confidence and assurance of life making their determination stronger. She believed that they would find them. How could they not? This group, this family, had gone through so much together. Now that they knew that Steve and Robin were alive, they would work harder, knowing that there was a chance they would come home. Things didn't look so dark now. There was a light shining into this bad situation.

She looked down to her leg, where the bleeding had seemed to have stopped. It still throbbed, and she wished that she hadn't gotten this injury. She didn't know if she made it worse, but it sure felt like it. She just hoped that this sacrifice, no matter how big it was, was actually worth it.