‧₊ ·˚ ༘❁ ┊ep 7 && 8. the lost sister && the mind flayer ▬▬▬▬▬▬
꒰ ✎ ꒱ؘ STARGIRL, a stranger things fanfiction

El sits in a chair holding a comic Franny had given to her a year ago. She thought about Franny, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin. How she misses them deeply. She felt tears almost coming out of her eyes and she gave a sad smile to the comic book.

Eleven felt like she needed to go back to her family that needed her back in Hawkins. She felt like Franny needed her. Kail told El she doesn't need Franny or the policeman. El didn't believe her, she need them and they needed her.

𓆩♡𓆪

The six walk the train's tracks. Gabby and Max are behind Lucas and Franny and Steve and Dustin are in the front. "You're sure that wasn't Dart?" Lucas asked, Dustin, nodded. "Yes. He has the same yellow pattern in his butt." Franny gives a disgusted look to Dustin. "He was tiny two days ago," Max explained.

"Yeah, Max, but he molted three times already as Dustin says," Franny added. "Malted?" Steve butted in. "Molted." Dustin corrects Steve.

"Shed his skin to make room for growth, it's like hornworms." Dustin glanced at Steve then glance back to the train tracks. "When's he gonna molt again? Soon or..." Gabby guessed.

"Yeah, soon. Probably, I'm not sure." Dustin added. "You're not sure?" Franny insisted Dustin to give the right answer. "Yeah, I'm sure Frans. When he does, he'll be fully grown, or close to it." Dustin paused, "And so will his friends."

"Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats," Steve added. "Wait, a cat?" Lucas implied, stopping Dustin in his tracks. Dustin gave him a look. "Wait, Dart ate a cat?" Franny chimed in.

"What? No. No, he didn't." Dustin told the two. "What are you talking about? He ate Mews." Steve mentioned Mews. Franny's mouth hangs open when she heard Dart ate Mews. "Mews? Who's Mews?" Max asked.

"Dustin's cat," Steve replied. "Steve!" Dustin responded in disbelief about how Steve could betray him. "I knew it! You kept Dart!" Lucas quipped. "No!" Lucas and Franny sighed and crossed their arms. "No. No. I... No, I..." Dustin sighed, "He missed me. He wanted to come home."

"You knew Dart was a threat to Hawkins, he's probably out killing people right now. He ate a cat, what else could Dart do once he's fully a Demogorgon?" Franny explained. "I didn't know he was a Demogorgon, okay? I'm sorry."

"Guys, who cares? We have to go." Max called. "We care! You put the party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of the law!" Lucas explained.

"So did you guys!" Dustin yelled back. "What?" The two said in sync. "You told a stranger the truth!" Dustin shinned the light in Max's face. She scoffs. "A stranger?"

"You wanted to tell her two!" Lucas noted. "Yeah, but I didn't, Lucas, okay?"

Gabby and Steve look at each other as they watched them bicker, "Kids, am I right?" Steve told Gabby. "Yeah. Totally like I'm not thirteen." Gabby laughed as Steve chuckled.

Steve and Gabby heard screeching from the distance. The rest kept bickering as Steve and Gabby looked out into the distance.

"Guys?" Steve interjected. "Guys!" They all turned to look at Steve. He slings the spiked bat over his shoulder and heads towards the sound. The rest follow him. "Max. Come on." Gabby gestures for her to follow them. "Why are they going towards the sound?"

"It's a pretty common thing we do in the party. Trust us." Gabby laughed.

Later, they march to a hilltop overlooking the dark fog as they shine their flashlights. "I don't see him." Dustin began. Lucas takes his binoculars and searches the ground with them.

"It's the Lab." He brings them down. "Franny was right. Dart went there. They were going back home." Lucas looked at Franny who gave him an approving nod.

"So what happens now?" Max asked, "Who knows." Franny explained. Max gulped as she looked at the Hawkins Lab. "Come on," Steve gestures to the group to follow him as they make their way to the Lab.

Lights shine in the woods as they get closer and closer to the Lab. The group can hear people calling out to them. Franny hears the sister calling out. "It's us dumbass," Franny noted looking at her sister who was with Jonathan and Nancy. "Hey, assholes." Kirby gestures her head to Steve and Franny who only smiled.

"What are you doing here?" Nancy called out walk to the group. "What are you doing here?" Steve replied.

"We're looking for Mike and Will," Nancy explained. "They're not in there aren't they?" Dustin gestured his head to the Lab.

"We're not sure." Nancy with hesitation responded to the group. "Why?" Jonathan asked. They could all hear the monsters screeching. "Okay, what the fuck is that?" Kirby asked. They all hear it coming from the Lab. A look on Jonathan's face is unsettling.

They explain to Nancy, Jonathan, and Kirby, when Franny notices the lights in the Hawkins Lab turn on. "Guys." Franny turns her body to them, "They powers back." She turned back to them when they all rush to the booth.

Jonathan repeatedly pressed the open button but nothing opens. Dustin tries to open the gate when suddenly it opens. "Hey! I got it!" Dustin chuckled. "I got it."

"What's next?" Kirby asked, folding her hands and placing them in her head. Her shirt lifts up a little. Franny finds Steve looking at Kirby. "Hey, Harrington. Keep your eyes somewhere else." She told Steve who looked away and pretended to cough. "Right. Yeah."

"Come on." Jonathan walks to his car as Nancy rushes in with him. "Stay here, we'll be back," Jonathan called out as he rushed into the Lab's parking lot with Nancy.

"Guys." Max spots two vehicles driving toward them. They move out of the way. Jonathan's car speeds past. Hoppers car spots in front of them.

Kirby and Franny spot their mom with Hopper. "Mom?" They say in sync. "Just get in," Hopper announced. They all rush into the back of the van with Steve and Kirby following behind them.

"Mama we're talking about this when all this is over." Kirby blurted out, as she looked back at Kirby who gave her a look with raised eyebrows. Paola turns back and gave Hopper a look. He smiled back at her.

𓆩♡𓆪

They all sat in the Byers' house. Franny bounced her leg up and down in fear of what was gonna happen next. Lucas placed a hand on her thigh and gave her a look that it was going to be okay. She smiled and nodded.

She watched as Hopper walks away. They waited for a response or help. "They're not coming aren't they?" Franny asked, "Yeah, maybe not Francis." Steve crosses his arms while Kirby stood next to him with her elbows on the counter.

Mike walks to the game pieces. He picks up a cube. "Did you guys know Bob was the original founder of the Hawkins AV?" Mike explained. Franny nodded.

"Yeah, my mom told me he and my dad were best friends and they ran the club together," Franny added. She smiled at the thought of her dad. "Really?" Lucas asked, Mike, turned around to face him.

"They petitioned the school to start it and everything. Then he had a fund-raiser for equipment." Franny smiled to herself, if only her dad knew that she was in the AV Club with her best friend like he was.

"Mr. Clarke learned everything from them." Mike walks towards the group. "Pretty awesome right?" Gabby nodded. "Pretty awesome."

"Dad would've been proud." Kirby chimed in. Franny looked at her. "With us saving the world in stuff, he used to tell stories to us how if the world would come to an end, almost, we would save it." Kirby smiled, "Here we are."

"Saving the world," Franny muttered to herself, then gave glossy eyes to Kirby. Mike sets the puzzle on the table. "We can't let him die in vain."

"Well, what do you want to do, Mike?" Mike stood silent. "The Cheif's right on this." Mike looked at the floor. "We can't stop those Demo-dogs on our own.

"Demo-dogs?" Max furrowed her eyebrows. They all looked at her. "Demogorgon dogs," Dustin explained, he clasped his hands together. "Demo-dogs."

"It's like a compound," Dustin explained. "It's like a play on words—" Max cuffed him off. "Okay."

"I mean, when it was just Dart, maybe..." Dustin trailed off. "But there's an army now," Lucas mentioned about the five Demo-dogs.

"Precisely." Mike's eyes realized. "His army." They all looked at Mike. "What do you mean?" Steve asked as Kirby furrowed her eyebrows.

"His army," Mike added. They all looked at Mike blankly. "Maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army, too," Mike explained. Mike walks into Will's room and grabs the Mind Flayers picture that Will drew.

Mike shows his friends the drawing of the shadow monster. "The shadow monster." Dustin expressed. "It got Will that day on the field," Lucas added.

"The doctor said it was like a virus, it infected him," Mike explained looking at the group. "And so this virus, it's connecting him to the tunnels?" Max asked Mike. "The tunnels, monsters, the Upside Down, everything," Mike explained, he now and finally approved Max into his party.

"Whoa. Slow down. Slow down." Steve announced. Steve took the paper from Franny. "Okay, so, the shadow monster's inside everything," Mike explained.

"And if the vines feel something like pain, so does Will." Franny nodded. "So does Dart," Lucas added. Mike nodded. "Yeah. Like what my dad taught us." Gabby declared. "Yeah, the hive mind."

"Hive mind?" Kirby and Steve asked. "A collective consciousness. It's a super-organism." Dustin explained to the two.

They continued explaining about Will and the Shadow Monster. Franny listened in to the conversation when she went into Will's room and grabbed the D&D manual handbook and opened the page to the Mind Flayer.

She placed the book down on the table. "Guys." Franny turned to them. "Who's up for a game of D&D?" Franny asked, as she pointed to the book. Mike realized what she meant and pushed through the group and headed to the page. "The Mind Flayer," Dustin muttered and rushed to the table.

"Get everyone," Dustin told them as Kirby nodded and rushed to Joyce's room. They all came out and stood at the table.

"The Mind Flayer," Dustin spoke. "What is that," Hopper asked, Franny, looked up at him. "It's a monster from an unknown dimension," Dustin explained, Paola looked at Hopper, Franny was suspicious about the two but she shrugged it off. "It's so ancient it doesn't even have a true home," Dustin explained.

He paused. "Okay, it enslaves races of other dimensions, by taking over their brains using its highly developed psionic powers." Hopper sighed and moved his hand down his face. "Oh, my God, none of this is real. This is a kids' game." Hopper explained.

Franny sighed. "Mom, remember when I told you we all thought the Demogorgon wasn't real." Paola nodded. "Yeah, well, we were all wrong. It was real and it took Will. So Hopper I don't know what you believe and what you don't believe. But this thing is hurting my best friend and you don't believe us!" Franny raged and stared at Hopper fuming. Hopper sighed and didn't respond. Paola looked at her daughter.

"Listen to my daughter Jim. She knows what she's doing." Hopper nodded and sighed.

"Okay, so this mind flamer thing—" Nancy started, "Flayer. Mind Flayer." Dustin corrects her. She sighs. She turns to Dustin. "What does it want?" She asked. "To conquer us," Dustin noted.

"It believes it's the master race." Steve stammers. "Like the, uh, Germans?" Nancy furrowed her eyebrows. "Uh, the Nazis?" Dustin asked. Steve looked at him for a second before gazing at the table and then back at him. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Nazis."

"Uh..." Dustin expressed. "If the Nazis we're from another dimension, totally." Hopper places his hands on his face. "Uh, it views other races, like us, as inferior to itself," Dustin added on. Franny placed her hand on her mouth then closed her eyes and gulped. "You okay?" Lucas asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. She nodded. "Fine." She gave a smile and then listened back to the others.

"Okay, so if this thing is like a brain that's controlling everything," Nancy began, looking at the book where the Mind Flayer picture could be seen. Nancy picked up the book and walked around. "then if we kill it..." She trailed off.

"We kill everything it controls." Mike finished the sentence. "We win." Nancy nodded her head as Dustin explained. "Theoretically," Lucas added. Hopper took the book from Nancy. "Great. So how do we kill this thing? Shoot it with Fireballs or something."

"Something like that. Or someone." Franny explained, looking a Hopper who shook his head. "El? You're talking about El? No way, she's gone." Mike explained. Hopper slammed the book down on the table, "The hell I'm doing here." Hopper denoted.

"I thought we were waiting for your military backup." Dustin asked, "We are!" Hopper replied. "If they come how are they gonna stop this?" Mike asked. "You can't just shoot it with guns." Franny chimed in.

"You don't know that! We don't know anything!" Hopper bleated out. "We know it's already killed everybody in that lab." Mike shared. "And we know the monsters are gonna molt again." Lucas chimed in.

"We know that it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach the town." Franny quipped.

"They're right." Everyone turns to Joyce. "We have to kill it," Joyce recalled. Her voice breaks, "I want to kill it."

"Me too. Me, too, Joyce, okay?" Hopper acknowledged. "But how do we do that?" Joyce looked to the side. "We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here," Hopper explained, she sighs gently.

"No. But he does." Mike walks towards Will. "If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will." Mike points to Will while looking back at Hopper. "He's connected to it. He'll know it's weakness."

"I thought we couldn't trust him anymore." Max drawled. "That he's a spy for the mind flayer now."

"Yeah, but he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is," Mike explained keeping his gaze on Will.

𓆩♡𓆪

Lucas pours trash out of the trash can before flicking on his flashlight, as Dustin and Franny scavenge through it. "Hey," Dustin called and got their attention. "I'm sorry about Dart and all." He explained. "I guess I just thought he was my friend."

Lucas and Franny stared at Dustin with an apologetic look. "I was wrong." Lucas goes back to getting trash. "Look, I broke the rule of law, so if you want Max to take over my spot in the party, I understand."

Dustin grabs the paper and walks off. Lucas and Franny sighed, "He doesn't need to leave. Max is finally in as Mike told me." Franny responded, "She's in, don't worry." Franny placed a hand on Lucas' shoulder as she got up and walked away with more paper.

"Franny!" Lucas called out. Franny stopped in her tracks. "Yeah?" She asked, "Do..." Lucas walked to her. "Do you maybe want to go to the Snowball with me? I mean when it comes up do you want to go?" He asked, Franny, felt butterflies in her stomach.

"Sure." Franny grinned as she gave a kiss on Lucas' lips and walked away. Lucas was starstruck and smiled to himself. Lucas caught up with Franny and headed into the shed.

Inside the covered the board, with cardboard, tinfoil and paper, and other materials. Franny's and Lucas placed tinfoil on the walls their shoulders brushed Lucas acted like he wasn't blushing and smiled to himself. Franny blushed and she stopped placing tinfoil on the wall for a second.

Jonathan walks in with Will and places him on a chair that Max had placed down previously. Joyce walks in behind him and ties Will up with a rope.

She ties his wrists and ankles. She opens a medication bottle and gets fluid with a syringe as Mike and Lucas place lights on the poles. Franny plugs the light's extension cords as the lights shine across from Will.

The kids wait inside as Joyce, Hopper, and Paola wait for Will to answer questions. Dustin runs a hand through his hair walking past Nancy who has her hands crossed.

Steve who was in the living room practices swinging the bat. Gabby and Max sit at the dining table. Lucas and Franny sit in the hall with their legs to their chest. They face each other.

"So, about that Snowball, are you sure you wanna take me?" Franny asked. "Yeah." Lucas fidgets with his fingers. "I'm one hundred percent sure I wanna take you." Lucas smiled and giggled.

"Once this is all over do you think we'll have a normal life again?" Franny asked. Lucas nodded. "I hope so. If not, then he'll it is for us." Lucas considered that they won't have a normal life if this keeps happening to them.

Inside Franny and Lucas look at the lights flickering. Franny places her hand next to Lucas'. "Hey. It's okay." Lucas comforted her.

She nodded and got up and walked to the table where Gabby and Max sat, Lucas quickly followed behind her.

The door opens as, Hopper, Paola, Jonathan, Mike, and Joyce walk in. Hopper grabs a paper and pen as Steve looks at him. "What happened?" Dustin asked. Hopper sat at the table. He sighs. "I think he's talking, just not with words." He draws a series of dots and a dash. "What is that?" Steve asked.

"Morse code." The party says in sync. "H-E-R-E." Hopper spelled out. "Here." They said in sync.

Hopper places his pen down. "Wills still in there. He's talking to us."

They made a plan as Jonathan rushed to his room. Franny and Lucas grabbed Hoppers Morse code box from his car. He had an extra one laying around. The parents plus Mike and Jonathan walked to the shed.

"Dash, dot, dash, dot." Dustin wrote on a paper the spelled it out. Lucas and Franny took the alphabet. "Okay, got it!" Lucas expressed. "It's a C," Franny added. Nancy writes it down.

Dustin writes it down. "L," Franny repeats, over and over again. "O." She watched as Nancy wrote it down. "S" She recited. "E." Lucas expressed. "G," Lucas added. "A." Nancy wrote it down. "T." Franny's and Lucas, blurted in sync. "E." They said the last word and stopped.

Close Gate.

The phone rings. Dustin picks up the receiver and picks it up then hangs up. The phone rings once more. Nancy rips the phone off the wall and throws it to the floor.

She sighs. "Do you think he heard that?" Max asked. "It's just a phone. It would be anywhere. Right?" Steve emitted.

They heard a sound. The group hears the sound and looks out the window. "That's not good," Dustin mutters.

The kids look out the window. "Hey. Hey, get away from the windows!" Hopper yelled out as they all clear away and Hopper holds out the hunting rifle and gives it to Jonathan.

"Do you know how to use this?" Hopper asked Jonathan. "What?" He asked with uncertainty. "Can you use this?" Hopper asked one more time. "I can." Nancy chimed in. Hopper tosses Nancy the gun. Nancy slides the bolt.

She points the gun at the window. Standing next to her Steve and Kirby use their weapons. Steve with his bat and Kirby with an extra gun her mom gave her.

Lucas aims his slingshot behind Hopper. They turn to the dining room window when they hear a loud thud. "What are they doing?" Nancy asks breathing heavily.

The bushes rustle outside the window. Franny hangs on to Lucas. They hear snarling and they move back to the living room windows with their weapons ready.

Monster screeching, some of them in fear, some of them in bravery. For a minute the screeching stops. The window breaks open as the monster screeches.

They all scream and gather around Hopper. The monster's limp body comes to a stop on the floor. Hopper's rifle trained on the creature Hopper inches slowly towards it.

"Holy shit," Dustin mutters. "Is it dead?" Max questioned. Hopper plods the creature with his food and the creature's head slides back. Hopper relaxes the grip on his gun.

The door cracks as everyone swivels around. The bolt unlocks, and Franny's eyes go wide with her mouth hung open.

The door chain slides off its track. The door opens to a girl walking into the house.

It was El.

El had a bitchin' ass look that made Franny give a smile. Her hair was slick back with her eyes painted in a dark eyeshadow. Blood drops from her nose.

As the group gazes at her with shocked expressions, Mike and Franny move to the front. Tears well in their eyes they lock onto her eyes. The corners of their mouths curl up as Eleven whispered, and her mouth turned into a smile also.

"Franny."