Chapter Eight
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Happy Reunions

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            "You're positive that it was Dart?" Lucas questioned Dustin as the gang trudged through the woods of Hawkins. Olivia was walking quietly behind Max, not being able to get the terrified image of Dart out of her mind. She could have nearly died, and the the thought made her shudder. It just dawned on her how exhausted she was. The gang, especially Steve and Dustin, kept checking her to make sure she was okay. Olivia assured them that she was, because she hated when others worried about her. But even she knew that she didn't sound so convincing. She hated the fact the Dart and his "friends" were somewhere out there, scattered throughout their little town.

"Yes," Dustin answered Lucas' question. "He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt," Olivia could tell that Lucas was starting to get on Dustin's nerves. This caused the girl to roll her eyes, there was certainly no time to be annoyed right now.

"He was tiny two days ago," Max noted, perplexed by how fast Dart was growing. Olivia could only imagine what the girl was feeling. Even though Olivia had experienced something similar last year, Max didn't and yet even Olivia was still traumatized by Dart and his ghastly appearance. Well, and the fact that they could eat them.

"Well, he's molted three times already." Dustin explained.

"Steve furrowed his eyebrows. "Malted?"

"Molted." Dustin corrected. "Shed his skin to make room for growth like hornworms."

"Well, when's he gonna molt again?" Max asked, her big green eyes swirled with curiosity.

"It's gotta be soon," Dustin noted. "When he does he'll be fully grown or close to it. And so will his friends."

"Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats." Steve instantly regretted what he said, knowing that it was a touchy subject for Olivia. He looked over at her, and she tried to hide her sadness at the fact that Mews was really gone. Steve walked a few steps back and wrapped an arm around her. "Sorry for bringing up Mews," He mumbled.

Olivia sighed and flipped back her brown curly locks. "It's okay. I'm okay, really." She assured Steve.

However, Lucas didn't seem to accept this new information well. The Harrington boy's words caused Lucas to stop in his tracks and eyed Dustin suspiciously. "Wait, a cat? Dart ate a cat?"

Dustin took a few steps back, a little scared. "No, what? No." He denied, shaking his head.

Of course, Steve stood there confused, not understanding that Dustin was lying. "What are you talking about? He ate Mews." Olivia shook her head at how clueless the boy could be could be sometimes.

Max turned her head to look at the two older teens. "Mews. Who's Mews?"

"It's Olivia and Dustin's cat." Steve clarified, pointing to the siblings.

"Steve!" Dustin yelled.

"Liv, is this true?" Lucas asked the girl, shifting his eyes towards her. Lucas knew how much Olivia loved Mews, and couldn't believe Dustin had done this to not only the party, but to Olivia as well. Olivia just shrugged and folded her arms, not wanting to get Dustin in trouble. She shook her head, though Lucas could tell that she was lying.

"I knew it! You kept him!" Lucas said with a raised voices and shoved Dustin lightly. Olivia leaned her head on Steve's shoulder, wanting nothing more than for all of this to be over. Steve hugged her tighter. Spending this potentially dangerous and risky adventure has been slowly gravitating the two teens together without realizing it.

Dustin tried to make Lucas understand why he kept him, but failed. "No! No! No I, No I... he missed me. He wanted to come home."

"Bullshit!" Lucas shouted.

"I didn't know he was a Demogorgan, okay?" Dustin said innocently.

"Oh, so now you admit it!" Lucas scoffed.

"Guys, who cares? We have to go!" Max pointed out, standing next to Olivia. She noticed the situation was making the older Henderson girl upset and uncomfortable, and just wanted to keep going.

"I care!" Lucas exclaimed. "You put the jeopardy in danger." The boy then swiveled around to face the Henderson girl again. "And Liv, I know how much you loved Mews. Yeah, Dustin may be your brother, but how are you not mad at him? How are you so calm about this? He broke the rule of law!"

Olivia's eyes squinted from the flashlight beaming in her face. "Okay, yeah I was upset with him at first to." She told Lucas. "But I've forgiven him. First and foremost, he's my brother and my best friend. Yeah, he may have made a mistake, but we all do. It's a part of what makes us human, and we have to learn to forgive them. Dustin was just trying to take care of a creature because that's the kind of person he is. He's sweet and caring. How could he have known what it was? It's not his fault." She tried to get her point across and make peace between with the two friends. Sometimes she felt more like a mother to the party as she constantly took care of them and often taught them important life lessons. Unfortunately, her little speech didn't make things any better. Lucas ignored what she said as and turned back to face Dustin. Lucas broiled with anger, and him and Dustin continued their foolish bickering. Olivia was about to say something to Steve, but he was slowly walking forward towards something.

"Steve?" Olivia questioned and started to follow him. "What is it?"

However, she was still distracted by Lucas' booming voice. "—your stupid pet almost ate Liv for dinner! Your own sister! He could've eaten all of us for dinner!"

Olivia swiveled back around to face the kids. "Lucas!" She warned him, having had enough of their quarreling.

"Hey guys! Guys!" Steve yelled. All of them stopped to look at Steve and started following him to see what was going on. Noticing Max was slightly behind, Olivia went back to grab her. They ended up walking south, and hiked to where they could see the whole town of Hawkins that was carpeted by fog.

"I don't see him." Dustin shrugged, referring to Dart.

Lucas pulled his binoculars out to get a closer look. "It's the lab," He informed. "They were going back home."

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Once the group had trekked their way closer to the laboratory, Olivia started to hear faint voices that weren't their own.

"Do you guys hear that?" Olivia asked cautiously.

The group continued to walk until they saw something Olivia didn't expect to see: Jonathan and Nancy.

"Olivia? Steve?" The pair said simultaneously.

Steve raised his eyebrows. "Nancy?"

Though Olivia was confused why they were here, a smile danced on her lips. It was the first smile from her in the last few days. "Jonathan?" Not caring at the moment that the others were watching, she ran up to Jonathan in a flash, almost knocking him over with her affection.

"Woah, Liv," Jonathan laughed, wrapping his arms around her tiny figure and hugged her back. She was so happy to know that her two closest friends were okay.

"Oh um s-sorry," She stuttered, pulling away shyly. She hated how shy she would get with Jonathan sometimes, despite having been his best friend for years. "And Nance!" She squealed, embracing the raven haired girl. "I have been so worried about you! The both of you!"

"I'm so sorry," Nancy apologized. "I know I've been a terrible friend to you- I should have told you where I was."

"It's okay," Olivia's brown eyes were beaming with warmth and happiness. "I'm just glad to know that you're safe."

"What are you doing here?" Nancy asked her brunette friend.

Jonathan looked at his best friend. "Yeah, and what are you doing here with Steve?" He scoffed, almost sounding jealous.

"What are you doing here?" Olivia repeated the question.

"We're looking for Mike and Will," The Wheeler girl answered.

"They're not in there are they?" Dustin asked, referring to the lab.

Nancy hesitated. "We're not sure."

The group turned their heads when they heard a low growl coming from the lab.

Once the power from the lab was back, Jonathan rushed into the booth to try to get the gate to open. When he had no luck, Dustin ran over to him. "Let me try," He pleaded. "Let me try, Jonathan!" Dustin spouted and shoved him out of the way, pushing the red button persistently. He always held a little grudge towards Jonathan for breaking his sister's heart, even if Jonathan didn't know it. Olivia didn't know about the grudge Dustin had, though his annoyance with the older Byers sibling was conveyed in his tone.

When Dustin had no luck with the button either, he started to get frustrated. "Son of a bitch! You know what-" He started to complain and hit the button again. As if on cue, the gate finally opened. "Hey I got it! I got it!" Dustin chuckled, proud of himself. Olivia smiled to herself— she always thought her little brother's laugh was adorable.

"Nice job, Dusty," She complemented, patting him on the back.

Nancy and Jonathan hopped in the vehicle to go rescue the others. As the rest waited anxiously, a vehicle pulled up from the entrance of the lab. Olivia smiled once more when she saw it was Hopper.

"Let's go!" He gestured. Everyone shuffled into the car, with Olivia in the front seat. She embraced Hopper into a hug, relieved to see that he was alive and well.