✺

THERE WAS A CHAOTIC STORM with everyone in a hurry to save El. Robin, Ronnie, and Carly stuck together with hooded eyes, feeling out of place. Around them, everyone was focused on the teenage girl with even Max kneeling down, ready to do whatever it took to save her friend.

"You know, it's actually not that bad," Robin started to blubber. "There was a...The goalie on my soccer team, Beth Wildfire, this other girl slid into her leg and the bone came out of her knee, six inches or something, it was insane."

"Robin?" Steve interrupted.

"Oh my God," said Carly, horrified by what she was seeing and by Robin's words. "I'm gonna be sick."

"Yeah?"

"You're not helping," Steve told her.

"I'm sorry," Robin apologised.

Wanting to comfort her silent friend, who was in shock, Carly put an arm around Ronnie, though she needed the support too. One of the other older teenagers came back with a knife in his hand as Carly's stomach tightened, hating the thought of what was to come.

"This is gonna hurt like hell, okay?"

"Okay," El grunted out.

"Need you to stay still."

"Wait—" Carly protested. "I can help."

Everyone turned, eyes falling on the blonde as she felt tiny amongst the group. Being so open with her secrets was so new and bizarre for Carly, but there was no point hiding now.

"How?" Max questioned.

"I'm not sure if it'll work," said Carly. "But, if I can get inside El's mind, then maybe I can control her emotions not to feel anything."

"No way," Mike replied.

"Just do it," El insisted.

"We don't have time," the teenage guy insisted. "If it'll help, then just do it."

Nodding her head, Carly pulled away from Ronnie and she kneeled down close to El. The teenage girl was crying, but her gaze was focused on Carly, not quite trusting her, but curious too.

"Just trust me," Carly whispered. "Okay?"

El simply nodded her head.

Closing her eyes, Carly took El's hand, allowing herself to embrace her power willingly for the first time. As Carly's eyes rolled upwards, she found herself slipping into the cracks of El's mind.

Opening her eyes, Carly was standing in the mall but was seeing it through El's mind. Carly's body remained kneeling on the floor with her eyes open, irises hidden underneath her eyelids, and blood dripping from her nose.

Max was kneeling at Carly's side, eyes wide with fright as she checked on her sister.

"Is this supposed to happen?" Max cried out.

"That's what happened when Carly did it before!" Dustin exclaimed.

"But El's still here," Mike protested. "We're wasting time."

Carly stared at El, whose gaze was trapped on Carly's body. Taking a deep breath, Carly lowered herself close to the teenage girl. Trusting in the instinct of her power, she took El's hand, pulling the teenage girl into her own mind.

El stumbled, a little surprised. "Woah."

"Can you feel anything?" Carly questioned.

El shook her head, staring down at her own body that had become still. The teenage boy had started cutting into her leg, but El was still clearly breathing. Around her, everyone panicked, but Carly had spared El from the pain.

"How?" El asked.

"I don't know," Carly told her. "I've always felt the emotions of others when I'm holding something that belongs to them, but... I first slipped into a mind when I was a child. They thought I had a seizure. Since then, I've avoided touching anything that wasn't mine and tried not using it."

"I don't understand," El decided.

"Neither do I," Carly said. "I've never met anyone like me before."

El's fingers fell to Carly's wrist, turning it to reveal nothing but skin. Unsatisfied, El showed Carly the tattooed number of eleven on her own wrist. "But you're not like me."

The words sunk deep inside Carly, but there was still someone else with a power, so Carly didn't feel as alienated anymore. Her whole life she had felt out of place and like a monster, but now she had someone who understood — a whole group, in fact.

"It's not working," El noticed.

Looking down again, Carly witnessed the teenage boy digging his fingers into El's leg which caused her nose to curl in disgust. However, whatever creature he was trying to dig out was not budging.

"Send me back," El insisted.

"But you'll be in pain," Carly argued.

"I can save myself," said El.

Carly looked torn, not wanting to see El in pain. But, Carly sighed, knowing she had to trust in El's decision. So, with that, she let go of El's hand for the teenage girl to return to her own body before Carly found the familiar flare of her own power that sent her back to the living world.

By the time Carly returned, Max was there to keep her grounded as she clutched onto her sister's open hand. However, El was screaming, using her own power to remove whatever was stuck in her leg. As Carly caught her bearings, the window behind them smashed with Carly instantly shielding her younger sister.

With one final shriek, the tentacle-like creature was torn from El's leg. It was thrown far from the group, landing on the mall flooring as it tried to wiggle away from them in its escape. Then, a boot stomped down on the creature with Carly looking up to see three adults joining them.

Shaky hands rose to wipe the blood from Carly's nose as she forced herself to stand.

"Are you okay?" Max asked.

"Yeah, seriously," Ronnie added. "What the hell did you do?"

"I'm okay," Carly reassured them. "This is normal."

"Normal?" Ronnie repeated. "This is far from normal!"

Carly knew that, but they didn't have time to panic. The group had gathered to discuss what was going on (apparently the three adults were in the known too). As names were shared and revelations came out, Carly found the depths of her nightmares becoming a reality again.

"The Mind Flayer," said Mike. "It built this monster in Hawkins to stop El, to kill her and pave a way into our world."

"And it almost did," Nancy announced. 

"That was just one tiny piece of it," Max said.

"How big is this thing?" Hopper asked.

"It's big," Jonathan summarised. "Thirty feet, at least."

"Yeah, it sorta destroyed your cabin," Lucas told him. "Sorry."

"Hang on," Carly said, turning to Steve. "Could you open Scoops for a second?"

"Why?" Steve questioned.

"I need my sketchbook," said Carly. "This monster — maybe even the Mind Flayer — I think I've been drawing it."

"Sorry," Hopper cut in. "Who are you again?"

"I'll go get it," Steve offered as he disappeared from the group.

"Max's sister," Carly reminded him, seeing how protective he was of El as his arms were wrapped around her. "I, uh... think I'm involved in all this."

"How?" Robin questioned.

It felt strange to voice all the secrets Carly had been keeping throughout her life, especially when Max was here too. Though, it seemed that Carly's secrets were now there's too.

"Well, I've been having nightmares for years now," Carly explained. "About another world, but I only see glimpses of it. It'll be easier to explain when I can show you. But... there's Billy too. He somehow knows when I enter his mind and he thinks I'm just like him, that when it's time, he'll come for me."

"That's not Billy," said Max.

"So the Mind Flayer wants to kill El and kidnap Carly?" Nancy summarised.

"I've got it!" Steve announced, returning to the group as he handed the thick sketchbook to Carly.

Now that she had it, she felt strange to reveal it to everyone. No one had seen her artwork before, so Carly felt a little exposed right now, where she felt the dread awaken deep inside her, terrified that something would go terribly wrong. Taking a deep breath, Carly opened the sketchbook to the recent pages.

"Is this the Mind Flayer?" Carly asked.

Holding up her book, the spider-like monster of shadows was spanned across two pages. Even now, Carly felt the chill of it creep deep within her bones, leaving her skin prickling with goosebumps.

"That's it," Will said, sounding petrified.

"When did you draw this?" Joyce questioned.

"The Mind Flayer started around Halloween," said Carly. "But I've been drawing this other world—"

"The Upside Down," Dustin informed her.

"Right, the Upside Down," Carly agreed, finding it all overwhelming. "I've been drawing it since I was maybe ten, but in the last few years, it's been frequent," then Carly turned the pages back to the earlier sketches. "It started being nightly when a boy went missing."

All eyes fell on Will, who was staring at the sketch with wide, frightened eyes. In the drawing, the young boy was hiding in a treehouse within the woods, scared and alone with the shadows creeping close by.

"It was you," Carly realised.

"Yeah," Will said.

"Oh my God," Carly whispered. "Everything is real."

"And this monster?" Hopper pressed, knowing time was limited and they needed to focus. "What does it look like?"

Carly forced herself to look away from Will, saving everything until afterwards. Of course, after all these years, Carly had so many questions, but now was not the time for answers.

"Like this," said Carly, flickering her artbook to the recent sketches of a possessed Billy and then the thicker tentacle creature that was more flesh than smoke.

Upon seeing the drawing, everyone moved closer to see.

"That's it," Nancy confirmed.

"Okay, so just to be clear," said Steve. "This big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, it's some kind of gigantic...weapon?"

"Yes," Nancy answered.

"But instead of like screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon... with melted people."

"Yes, exactly."

"Yeah, okay," Steve decided. "I— yeah, I'm just making sure."

"Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?" Joyce questioned.

"El beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, it's still alive," Max told them.

"I saw it here at the mall in my nightmares," Carly told them.

"Wonderful," Hopper murmured.

"But if we close the gate again—" Will started.

"—We cut the brain off from the body," Max added.

"And kill it," Lucas finished. "Theoretically."

"Yoo-hoo!" Murray called out with papers rustling. "Yoo-hoo!"

Joining them, Murray placed the maps of the mall on a table for them all to see. It seemed whatever was happening, the newest additions were now involved.

"Okay, this is what Alexei called the hub," said Murray. "Now, the hub takes us to the vault room."

"Okay, where's the gate?" Hopper asked.

"Right here," Murray pointed at the map. "I don't know the scale of this, but I think it's fairly close to the vault room, maybe fifty feet or so."

"More like five hundred," Erica corrected. "What, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?"

"I'm sorry," Murray said. "Who are you?"

"Erica Sinclair," the child told him. "Who are you?"

"Murray... Bauman."

"Listen, Mr Bunman," said Erica, raising her hand as Murray looked done. "I'm not trying to tell you how to do things, but I've been down in that shithole for twenty-four hours. And with all due respect, you do what this man tells you, you're all gonna die."

"I'm sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?" Murray questioned.

"Um, I'm ten, you bald bastard!"

"Erica!" Lucas scolded his sister.

"Just the facts!" Erica insisted.

"She's right," Dustin said. "You're all gonna die, but you don't have to."

"Excuse me?" Murray questioned.

"Sorry, may I?" Dustin continued.

"Please."

Dustin sat down, ready to show them. "Okay, see this room here? This is a storage facility. There's a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system. That will lead you to the base of the weapon. It's a bit of a maze down there, but between me and Erica, we can show you the way."

"You can show us the way?" Hopper repeated.

"Don't worry, you can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit," Dustin reassured him. "And we'll just be your navigators."

It was better than Carly helping as the last twenty-four hours were a foggy blur.

"No," Hopper insisted. "Nope."

✺

While the last-minute plans were in motion, as well as everyone getting prepared, Carly sat on the counter with the sketchbook open. For some reason, she thought that perhaps she was missing something, but maybe it was because Carly had the pieces of the puzzle and just needed to put them into place.

Right now, though, Carly felt swamped with everything that was happening. While there were all the absurd supernatural elements, there was also the emotional paranoid side, where Carly was terrified that she'd end up alone again now that her secret was out in the open.

But most of all: Carly was terrified for those she cared about. 

"Hey," said Steve as Carly looked up, seeing him joining her. "You doing okay?"

"Surprisingly, yes," Carly replied. "But I'm worried about Ronnie."

Mentioning her friend's name, Carly's eyes found the dark-haired girl again. Already, she and Robin hovered close together, a little frightened, but feeling a little out of place too.

"You've just told us your secret and helped spare El from any pain, but you're still worried about someone else rather than yourself?" Steve questioned.

"Ronnie being here is my fault," said Carly. "And Max... she's my little sister, Steve, so of course, I'm worried about her."

"I'm worried about you," Steve confessed.

Carly held her sketchbook close to her chest. "Just worried?"

"I'm not running, Carly," said Steve, knowing where her mind was at. "Your powers don't scare me."

"Really?" Carly whispered.

"Really," Steve reassured her, hand raising with his knuckles brushing along her cheek, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "The only part that scares me is that you're involved in all this now."

"I thought it was all in my head," Carly confessed, eyes falling to the book in her hands. "And now it's all true, Steve. I don't know what it means."

"I don't know either," said Steve. "But you're not alone with this anymore, we can help you figure it all out."

"And you're really not horrified by me?" Carly questioned again.

"Not in the slightest," Steve promised.

There was a hint of a smile at that with Carly starting to trust again. Steve caught the smile as he ended up becoming a little bashful as his head lowered, the strands of his hair covering his face.

Though, between them, they had no time as Hopper gathered everyone together to go over the plan. Steve would be driving Dustin and Erica somewhere to help navigate the three adults with the Russian base; the rest were going someplace safe to wait it all out.

"Hey, Ronnie," said Carly, catching her friend's hand. "I, uh, wanted to talk to you..."

Ronnie's dark eyes became softer under Carly's gaze. "Yeah?"

"I'm sorry for dragging you into this," Carly told her.

"It's cool, Carly, I get it," Ronnie insisted. "If those Russians caught me, then they would have tortured me. And now that you're in danger, I'm glad I'm involved."

"But I'm not," said Carly. "If anything happens..."

"Don't worry about me," Ronnie told her. "If anything, you should be more worried about yourself, Carly. I want to help you."

"Does this mean we're friends?" Carly questioned.

Ronnie offered a small smile at that. "Yes, we're friends."

"Even though I have powers?"

"As long as you stay out of my head," said Ronnie. "And away from my emotions, then we're all good, Carly."

Hearing that, Carly felt her heart drop, knowing the two had met through a brief encounter of Carly's power flaring. Though, right now, Carly was too afraid to confess to that.

Instead, Carly found herself charging into Ronnie, wrapping her arms tightly around her friend. A little unsure, Ronnie froze before she accepted Carly's hug, sinking into the warmth of it as she let her friend in.

"Carly, you ready?" Steve asked.

Pulling away from Ronnie, Carly turned to face Steve. "I'm staying with Max, Steve," she told him. "I won't be a coward and leave her again."

Steve pressed his lips together, not liking the thought of that, but there was no surprise on his face. Feeling guilty, Carly stepped closer to him, refusing to say goodbye.

"If we survive," said Carly. "Are you still up for that date?"

There was a smile on Steve's face at that. But, seeing it, Carly knew it was the answer she needed. She felt it tug deep within her heart with the emotions exploding like a firework before she was rushing forwards. Cupping his jaw, Carly pulled Steve Harrington towards herself as she kissed him.

His hands fell to the small of her back, pulling Carly closer to him with his fingers tightening on the dirty uniform that she still wore. Even though Steve's lip was swollen, the kiss was still desperate, a final promise of the two being together, but never a goodbye.

This was just the beginning — not the end.

Like she had always imagined, Carly's fingers ended up tangled in his hair, never wanting the kiss to end. But, of course, their time was limited.

After, Steve held her stare, so enchanted by the kiss just as Carly was.

"I'll see you soon," Steve said.

"Soon," Carly agreed.

Yet, watching them go, Carly had an eerie feeling that the end lingered.

✺

Had to split this chapter into two as it's ended up being a little bit longer than I intended! Steve and Carly melt my heart but I'm excited for Carly and Max to talk in the next chapter!