A/N: Whoo! One more left!

Warnings: guns, attempted kidnapping, blood, gore, death/dying

Word Count: 2925

Ever since Nancy and Jonathan had walked outside, informing the children that they would return shortly, Mike had been on edge. Doc could feel his leg bouncing rapidly from where it was brushed against hers, and his arm nudged her every time he lifted it to check his wristwatch. The teens were gone for far too long and Mike knew they hadn't stepped out for quality some time together. Shortly after El and Doc had found Barb and Will, Joyce and Hopper left to find the gate. This left the teens in charge of the children, but Mike had a feeling they were now on their own.

Catching everyone's attention, Mike quickly stood to his feet and rushed outside. With the barrier between them gone, Doc and El scooted closer to each other until the latter had her head resting on the former's shoulder. Though now she was mostly dry, Doc still shivered a bit as she rested her cheek against El's head, the two of them basking in the warmth the two were giving off to each other. The sweet moment, however, was ruined when Mike burst back into the room.

"They're gone." He huffed.

"What?" Lucas frowned.

"Nancy and Jonathan. His car's gone."

Dustin shrugged. "They're probably just sucking face somewhere."

"Gross." Lucas rolled his eyes as Mike scoffed.

"No. No way!"

"Did they go with the Chief?"

"I don't know."

Doc lifted her head when she felt El shift to sit up. "No." She whispered, eyes trained on Mike. His head turned to her as his brows furrowed.

"What? Did you see them? Do you know where they went?"

"Yes."

"Where? Where did they go?"

"Demogorgon."

From there, the boys all stood and began arguing about what to do next. Knowing that this would take awhile, and not having the energy to join in or stop it, Doc sat with El. At some moments, the girls would give each other looks of surprise or annoyance when one of the boys would say something particularly stupid or funny. Eventually, Mike decided to try and cease their arguing. "Guys, guys! This is crazy. We can't just wait around."

"Mike, in case you forgot," Lucas started. "We're still fugitives. The bad men are still looking for us."

"Yeah, and we don't even know where your sister is." Dustin added.

"El can find them." Mike gestured to said girl. Doc shook her head and finally spoke up with a raspy voice.

"Mike," She sighed. "El's drained, we can't keep pushing her after all she's been through today."

Her brother hesitated. "Can you find them?"

Swallowing thickly, Doc shook her head. "No, I can't do that."

"Then what can you do-"

"Nothing helpful to anything right now. Can we focus?"

Wanting to clear the awkward tension between the Wheelers, Dustin cut in. "Hey, I, uh... I still think we should stick to the Chief's plan."

"Exactly," Lucas agreed. "We stay here, keep El and probably even Doc out of sight and keep them safe. That's the most important thing, remember? Besides, Nancy's okay. She's with Jonathan."

"Yeah, and she's kind of a badass now, so..." Dustin nodded before striding away. Mike huffed in confusion.

"Well, where are you going? You just said stick to the plan!"

"I am. I'm just gonna go get some chocolate pudding. I'm telling you, Lunch Lady Phyllis hoards that shit."

"Are you serious?!"

"El needs to be recharged and Doc's been passing out all day!" As he continued out, Lucas decided to follow him. Letting out a breath, Mike slowly turned to the two girls, who were now both standing in front of the bleachers.

Mike gave El a look of sympathy before his eyes landed on his sister. Doc immediately averted her gaze away from him, the girl finding the floor very interesting. Truthfully, Mike didn't know what to say to her. On one hand, he understood why she had kept her powers and her past a secret. Who knows what would've happened if anyone found out? On the other hand, he thought that the two of them told each other everything. If anything earth-shattering were to come into light, he thought it would be in private, only to him. He didn't necessarily feel betrayed, just left out.

"How long did you know about it? Your powers?"

"I've always known." She shamefully answered. Before Mike could ask more questions or even respond, Doc rushed out of the gymnasium. Her heart beat against her chest as she aimlessly wandered the halls of the middle school. She knew this would happen eventually. She knew Mike would find out about her, she knew he would react this way (well, she actually thought he'd be furious at her), she knew he would lose all love he felt for her and she'd lose the gift of being his sister. She knew it, so why did it hurt so much?

Coming to a stop in front of her locker, Doc took deep breaths to calm herself down. Her cluttered mind eased up as her hand twisted the combination to open up her locker. When she was granted access, she reached down to collect a pair of yellow Converses, a more practical choice of footwear in case she had to go running again.

Meanwhile, after realizing his sister needed space, Mike led El into the cafeteria, sitting her down at one of the tables. From where they were, they could hear Dustin and Lucas rifling through the kitchen area in search of the pudding. After Dustin had all but screeched to Mike about his victory, the Wheeler boy irritably called back to him before settling his gaze back on El. The girl looked up at him shyly with those big, brown eyes of hers. "Are you feeling any better?" He softly asked, the girl shrugging.

"What's 'putting'?" She curiously asked. Mike smiled a bit and chuckled at El's mispronunciation of the dessert in question.

"Pudding, it's... it's this chocolate goo you eat with a spoon," At her frown, he shook his head. "Don't worry, when all this is over, you won't have to keep eating junk food and leftovers like a dog anymore. My mom, she's a pretty awesome cook. She can make you whatever you like."

"Eggos?" El's eyes lit up.

"Well, yeah, Eggos, but real food, too," With a bit of hesitancy, Mike took a deep breath and continued. "See, I was thinking, once all this is over and Will's back and you're not a secret anymore, my parents can get you an actual bed for the basement. Or you can share Doc's room, or you can even take my room if you want, since I'm down in the basement all the time anyways. My point is, they'll take care of you. They'll be like your new parents, and Nancy and Doc, they'll be like your new sisters."

"Doc is my sister."

Blinking, Mike slowly nodded. "Yeah... that's right."

"I will be... adopted? Like Doc?"

"I guess, if that's okay with you."

"Will you be like my brother?"

At that, Mike scrunched his face up in disgust. "What? No, no."

"Why 'no'?"

"Because," He sighed. "'Cause it's different."

"Why? Doc is your sister."

Not having a reason to deny the notion, Mike sighed out of frustration and defeat. "I mean, I don't know, I guess it's not. It's stupid..."

Sensing that he was upset about something, El tried to meet his eyes that were downcasted. "Mike?"

"Yeah?" He looked back up at her.

"Friends don't lie." She stated, her way of letting Mike know that it was okay for him to be honest with her about what upset him. Sighing once again, he attempted to explain.

"Well... I was thinking... I don't know, maybe we can go to the Snow Ball together."

"'Snow Ball'?"

"It's this cheesy school dance, where you go in the gym and dance to music and stuff. I went once with Doc, just so she'd know what it was like... but it was kinda weird. It's not really something you can go to with your sister."

"No?"

"I mean... you can, but it was weird. It was kinda okay, though... Doc had fun. I just don't think I'd go with her again. You go to school dances with someone that, you know... someone that you like."

"A friend?"

"Not a friend. Uh... uh... Uh, someone like a..." A sudden intense feeling washed over Mike, causing him to lean forward and press a quick kiss to El's lips. When the two pulled away, Mike's eyes searched her face as she slowly sat back. El didn't verbally respond, but she did send a small smile his way, the boy shyly returning it. Hearing the squeaking of the cafeteria doors, the two quickly turned to who had just walked in.

Doc, who was now wearing her Converses and holding her skates in one hand, walked towards an empty table with her face scrunched up in disgust. "Gross." She mumbled, taking a seat at the chair. Mike was just about to give her an earful when he heard a car approaching. The three glanced at the windows that displayed a bright light no doubt coming from the headlights.

"Nancy," Mike breathed with a smile to Doc before turning back to El. "Hold on, I'll be right back." He hopped out of his chair and hurried towards the door, giving his sister a pat on the shoulder as he went. Almost immediately afterwards, Dustin and Lucas burst in, arms full of pudding containers, dumping them on the table Doc sat at. El joined them and curiously picked up one of the containers.

"This will charge your battery right up, I'm telling you." Dustin grinned. Just as he began to open one, Mike ran into the room breathing heavily.

"Guys! Guys!"

"What is it?"

"They found us."

Without any further explanation, the five bolted out of the cafeteria. Doc didn't know how long she could keep running. Her limbs were already weak, her head thumped with an ache, and she felt sick to her stomach. Despite this, she would take that anyday over being captured by Brenner and his people. So, keeping her straining eyesight on Mike's backpack, she followed her friends down the halls of their school.

"How did they find us?" Lucas whispered as they hurried down the stairs.

"I don't know, but they knew we were in the gym." Mike answered.

"Lando." Dustin firmly stated as they came near an entrance. However, several of Brenner's people burst in, guns trained on the kids.

"Got 'em!"

"Go, go, go, go, go!" Mike screamed as they turned around and bolted back up the stairs. They could hear agents yelling behind them as Doc led them back where they came from, but more agents appeared before them. "Back! Go back!"

The group circled back and went the only other way they could, but the woman who had spoken to the Wheeler couple earlier led a group of agents towards the kids, aiming a gun at them. Doc gasped in pain and held her head as El focused her power on the agents before them. The boys watched in shock as the woman and the men froze, lowered their guns, and began to bleed from their eyes. The flashlights from all of the agents flickered and they all trembled before several snaps were heard and all the agents from either side of the children fell to the ground, dead.

Immediately after, El fell to the ground. The boys gasped and bent down to check on her, Mike shaking her. "El, are you okay? El! Something's wrong."

"She's just drained." Dustin reassured him.

"No, no, no, she won't wake up! El! El-" Mike cut himself off when he heard Doc weakly sigh out and slide down the wall beside El's head, her own head limply falling forward. "Doc? Hey, Doc!" Both he and Lucas began shaking her.

"I'm here..." She faintly spoke.

"What's the matter?"

"El's power drains me... and she's been using it all day..."

"A-Are you gonna be okay?" When she didn't answer, Mike began to tear up and gently felt her neck for a pulse, exhaling in relief when he felt one. Returning his gaze back to El, his relief quickly dissipated. "She's barely breathing."

"We gotta go." Lucas began to try and lift Doc's body before a voice called out.

"Leave them!" Brenner came into the hallway with even more agents. The boys jumped to their feet as he stepped closer. "Step away from the girls."

"No! You want 'em, you'll have to kill us first!"

"That's right!"

"Eat shit!"

As brave as the boys sounded, their words meant nothing when a new batch of agents snuck up behind them and wrapped their arms around them, holding them back. The boys screamed out in protest as they thrashed about. Mike's eyes widened and he began to panic when Brenner knelt down in front of Doc, gently tilting her head up. Her heavy eyelids creaked open when she felt a hand on her face.

"W-What..."

"Don't worry, Private," Brenner whispered. "We've found you now. You can finally come home. Where you belong."

"No... No..." Doc started to freak out as she tried to scoot away from him, but he held her firmly.

"It's okay, Private. It's alright, we're here now. You don't have to be afraid-"

"Get off of me! Mike!"

The kind facade Brenner displayed on his face slowly morphed into that of disapproval. Turning his head towards an agent, he motioned for him to come forward. When Brenner removed his hands from Doc's face, it didn't take long for the man to grab her and pull up with ease.

"No! Let go of me! No, I don't wanna go back!" She sobbed, trying to convince her exhausted body to fight back, but she could only weakly hit the agent's arms as he carried her away. Doc looked up and instantly locked eyes with Mike, who watched the scene in total fear, never ceasing his struggle as Brenner now desperately tried to convince El to come "home" with him. Doc stretched her arm out towards her brother as she screamed. "MIKE!"

"Son of a bitch, let her go!" Mike called out, kicking and punching the man who held him back. The sound of Doc's screams and wails was something he would never be able to forget as the man who carried her disappeared behind a corner. "No! (Y/N)! Let her go, you hear me?! Let her go! Get back here with my sister, you asshole!"

The next second, for a beat, everything seemed to go still and silent. As if the world had to prepare itself for what would happen next. Simultaneously, every agent in the hallway, including the one holding Doc, excluding Dr Brenner, had their heads exploded. Blood splattered the walls, the floors, all of the kids. The boys fell to the ground, staring around in horror as Brenner hurried to his feet. From around the corner, they could hear the wet slap of footsteps near them.

Coming around the corner was Doc, covered head-to-toe in blood, her (e/c) eyes wide as saucers as she absently walked down the hall, not a single thought going on behind those eyes. Blood from the ceiling dripped down onto her, a few drops landing on her forehead and sliding down between her eyes, down her nose, and sliding off the tip of it. She truly looked like something out of a horror movie.

"P-Private..." Brenner sputtered as she walked towards them, tears building up in her eyes.

"I-I d-di- I-I didn't mean to..." She fearfully whispered, swaying in her steps. Her wide eyes were once again bloodshot red, the tips of her fingers were black, and the black veins from earlier were bulging from her skin. The poor girl now looked absolutely terrified, but this time it wasn't of the agents. It was of herself.

Everyone searched the area when the electricity began spiking, the lights flickered, and thuds from the end of the hall sounded. Where a blue paw was painted on the wall, they could all see the Demogorgon attempting to pound its way through. "Blood." Mike breathed, realizing that the area they stood in, and the kids themselves, were drawing the Demogorgon to them by the blood they were covered in.

When the monster finally did make its way in (in all its rubber-flesh-open-faced glory), and Brenner was distracted by it, the boys dropped to the floor to help up El. Lucas helped El into Dustin's arms, and Mike wrapped Doc's arm around his shoulders before they all booked it down the hall. Mike could feel Doc's feet dragging and her body slumping the more tired she got. He was sure he was about to drop her. "Doc, come on," He panted. "Stay awake, please. I'm so sorry, just please, stay with me here."

"Mike!" Lucas reached the girl's other side, wrapping her other arm around his shoulders, lifting some of the weight off the Wheeler boy. "Come on, faster!"

Mike nodded to his friend in thanks, quickening the pace. His eyes would flicker from Dustin running in front of him and to his blood-coated sister over and over. At this point, her body was limp, the boys dragging her through the halls now. Every time he called out to her, she didn't respond in any way. He tried to remain hopeful, but he was almost certain she was dead by now.