“Ten?” The figure’s voice, Nine, was lower than you had remembered, it was now the same range as Mike’s, “Is that you?”
You found yourself nodding slowly, watching the boy who had been your friend since the beginning critically as he stood up from against the wall you had thrown him against. He was taller, about the same height as you. He had let his hair grow out as it now hung around his neck in gold tangled. It was his eyes that hadn’t changed, they were still the dark green that held wonder and adventure.
Suddenly you were pulled into a bone-crushing hug. You were startled at first, the only people who had ever really hugged you were Eleven, the boys, and Hopper. After a few seconds you un-tensed and wrapped your arms around the boy.
Minutes later you pulled away, although Nine kept his hands on both your shoulders, as if you were going to slip away without his hold.
“I was so worried!” He told you, eyes flashing with anxiousness, “I tried to look for you, really! The night with the alarms and all the running-“
The night of your escape. The night when the gate was open and Will was taken.
You cut his words off as they grew faster together, shaking your head as you placed a hand on his shoulder like he was doing to you.
“I know, I know.” You nodded at him, just glad that the both of you were safe, “Sister and I got out together.”
At the mention of your sister Nine’s eyes widened, glancing around the ally for any sign of the curly-haired girl, “Eleven? Where is she?”
You shook your head, looking down as you kicked at a pebble with the tip of your shoe, “Not here.”
Nine’s brows furrowed as he kept his gaze on you, “Where is Eleven?”
You didn’t answer him, instead keeping your eyes trading down on your shoes. It had only been a few hours and just thinking of your sister made you miss her, the only time you had been apart this long was when Papa put one of you in the Bad Room.
“Hey.” Nine’s gentle hand on your shoulder caused you to look up to see a light smile on his face, “Come on.” He held out his hand to you causing you to hesitate for a few seconds before taking it.
Nine’s smile reached up to his eyes as he lead you through some more ally ways, his happiness was infectious.
In that moment you weren’t thinking about the Bad Men, or how upset Hopper was, or Mike and the red girl, you had found Nine.
Eleven watched with curious eyes as Dustin and Lucas tried to figure out a way to get Nancy’s radio safely down the basement steps. She was sat in the fort you and her had shared, slightly surprised that Mike had kept it, but didn’t say anything.
Lucas had come up with a plan to try and get to Ten through the mind link in Will with the radio’s help. So the boys had all set out on a search to find as many radios as they could.
“You really think this is gonna work?” Eleven looked away from where the pretty girl, Max was directing the boys’ on where to put the radio towards Mike who had seated himself in front of her, his knees resting on the floor.
The telekinetic girl gave a curt nod towards the boy, not sparing him a second glance. She was a little upset that you hadn’t been here, and she was now taking that out on the Wheeler boy.
Mike paused for a second, feeling the awkward tension creeping in, “Are you sure you can’t do it?” He blurted out. He knew that Eleven’s powers were strong while Will didn’t even know what he was doing, all Mike wanted was you back home. Fast.
Eleven breathed through her nose, turning her body to face the freckled boy.
She tapped her head twice, “Ten blocked.” She whispered before pointing over at Will where he sat on the couch, busying his hands with one of Mike’s action figures, “He isn’t.” She the turned back to the younger Wheeler, narrowing her eyes at him, “Understand?”
Mike quickly nodded. He knew that look, Eleven’s patience was wearing thin. Just like him, Eleven wanted Ten home safe, and as soon as possible.
“Guys!” Max called from the center of the basement where she and Dustin and Lucas had set up all the materials, “I think we’re ready.” Mike stood up nodding, walking over to the others, Eleven quickly following.
There, in the middle of the basement was a circle of radios. Each of the boys had laid out their Super-comms, antennas pointing up towards the middle of the circle. Both Nancy’s walkman and bedside radio sat in the circle too, their volume pressed up to the max. The main attraction was the old radio that Ted Wheeler had tried to fix once, but had eventually given up and moved to the basement for storage. Apparently Max had more skills than sarcasm and skateboarding as she had been able to fix up the radio in less than five minutes better than Ted Wheeler could have done in a year.
Will looked at all of the appliances carefully, getting ready to step into the circle before Lucas grabbed his arm.
The Sinclair boy gave him a nod of encouragement, “You’re gonna kill it, Byers.” Dustin smiled in agreement eagerly.
Mike then tapped the boy on the shoulder, causing the smaller Byers to turn to face him. The Wheeler gave him a reassuring smile, though he felt as though his heart was going to burst out of him from pumping so fast with anticipation.
“It’s gonna feel a little weird. Talking to Ten, I mean. You’re heads gonna hurt for a second and then you’re gonna hear her voice.” Mike tried to explain, he knew the feeling of Ten’s powers from past experiences.
Eleven nodded quickly, looking at the Byers boy with her large brown eyes, “It can’t hurt you.” She recited the words that Papa had always told you and her in a vain effort to make you two feel better. She was giving the whole compassion thing a shot.
Will nodded, turning back towards the circle of radios. He took a shaky breath before stepping into the circle. Once he was seated the group then all picked up their respective radios turning them on. It took a few moments to get them all to a channel of just static, but eventually the familiar sound filled the air.
At first, all Will could feel were the eyes on him as he sat there. The static filling in his ears, his brain itched for something to do as it quickly grew bored. He resisted the urge to open his eyes and turn off the radios, instead trying his best to focus in on you.
He thought back to only a few days ago when you had appeared in The Void with him, or how Mike had told him every little detail about you, his mind even flashed back to when you had appeared to him in the Upside Down.
It was almost like a faint whisper, though it quickly grew louder. The static seemed to simply become background noise and he heard the honks and racing of cars.
His eyes shot open only to be met with darkness instead of the familiar sight of the Wheeler basement. He was back in The Void.
He shook off the feeling of wanting to scream out. Memories of this place and the terrifying growl still haunted him at nights but he brushed the thought of them away, he had to find you.
Will carefully stepped forward, glancing down at the ripple of the water-like floor. He squinted his eyes, he couldn’t make out you or anything else in the darkness.
“Ten?” His voice came out quieter then he expected. He didn’t know why, but he felt like this place wasn’t as safe as Eleven said it was. It felt like there were eyes starting him down from all angles.
He cupped his hands around his mouth, trying to amplify his words, “Ten! Where are you?”
At the sound of something splashing in the distance, Will froze. He waited for a few seconds, holding his breath in case the creature with the growl was out there. When he felt that the coast was clear, Will slowly made his way over towards where the splash came from.
He picked up speed as the object drew closer, breaking into a run as he made his way over to the object that was laying face down in the water.
As he reached it, Will realized that it was a sheet of paper, simply floating on the surface of the dark water. He quickly reached down, lifting the paper up to see it better.
He was surprised to find that instead of being soaked, it was completely dry. He was even more surprised to see that it was a photograph.
The picture showed two children, no older than six. A boy and a girl both dressed in similar blue overalls. They stood side by side, wide eyes facing forward. In the boys’ hands was a stuffed bunny, which he was gripping tightly onto.
Will knew he had never seen this photo before, but somehow it almost felt familiar, like he had seen it a long time ago and it was still floating in the back of his head.
Will then quickly turned the paper back over to look at the photo, his eyes falling to the girl. She had short pigtails that hung barley to her shoulders, her hands tucked stiffly by her sides.
As he looked closer, examining the girl’s face a realization came to his mind. This had to be you! A younger version of Ten, and the boy must have been one of the other experiments!
He then carefully turned the photo over, surprised to find neat handwriting on the back of it.
“Nine and Ten.” He read to himself, eyes scanning over the words. Ten. That couldn’t be a coincidence, could it?
Will then turned away from the paper at the sound of laughter. He quickly spun around, dropping the photo softly to the ground at what he saw.
There you were, running up some kind of stairs next to a blonde boy with green eyes. You both were laughing, heads thrown back with smiles etched on your faces.
“Ten?” Will breathed out, the idea that you were just his imagination passing through his mind.
That idea quickly vanished as he watched you freeze in your tracks, looking around. The boy next to you noticed your stopping and turned back to face you, just as your eyes seemed to land directly on Will.
“Okay?” The boy asked, calling down you from a few steps up. You only nodded at him, Will subconsciously holding his breath as your eyes were still on him.
You then blinked, shaking your head lightly before following the blonde boy up the flight of stairs.
Will’s eyes followed as you continued up the flight of metal stairs. He took a step forward, the image of you and the boy dissolving into thin air, causing the boy to jump.
He then turned back to where he had dropped the photo, only to see that it had vanished as well.
Will hadn’t even noticed the absence of the static until the familiar noise filled his ears once again, the darkness seemed to be buzzing around him.
He blinked, the light from the basement straining his eyes.
The group all glanced at each other, a mixture of wondering if it worked and hoping Will was okay.
Eleven was the first one to approach the boy, dropping to her knees in front of Will, “What did you see?” She asked slowly, careful not to scare the boy who was shaking slightly.
Will blinked a few times, mind flashing back to what he saw, “It was The Void.” He glanced around the room at the others who were all looking at him intently, “There was the picture of Ten as a little girl with this guy. And then I saw Ten with another guy and I think she saw me and-“
“Do you know where he is?” Dustin asked, the shorter boy shook his head causing everyone’s shoulders to slump.
Mike tuned out. Ten was with another guy? Did he kidnap her? Was he hurting her? The thought of someone hurting Ten made Mike’s blood boil, it was his job to keep you safe and he couldn’t even do that.
“So it didn’t work.” Max spoke what everyone was thinking, her arms crossed over her chest as she sat on the bottom step, “Now what?”
The group all turned to look at Eleven, she was the one with the powers after all. Eleven blinked slowly forming an idea in her mind.
She pointed at Will, “No connection.”
Mike nodded, his own arms crossed as he explained what Eleven meant, “Will can’t get to Ten here, the radios aren’t enough.”
“He needs something stronger to connect him to her.” Lucas spoke up from his spot against the railing.
Dustin ran a hand over his hat, a habit he picked up when he was thinking, “What about the Heath Kit? That worked when Eleven and Ten tried to talk to Will in the Upside Down.” Dustin suggested.
Max shook her head, “School’s closed.” Lucas nodded at the girl’s reminder causing Dustin to mumble a word his mother would not approve of under his breath.
The group was silent as they all formed and plotted plans in their minds. Ideas and scenarios on how to find you racing through their heads.
“Wait.” Everyone turned to Lucas who was now looking at Eleven, “You said that Will has no connection, right?”
The girl nodded allowing Lucas to continue, “Well isn’t that kind of like him being drained?”
Dustin’s piped up as he caught on, “He doesn’t have any power so-“
Lucas nodded at his best friend, “So he need to be charged.” His gaze returned to Eleven who stood in the middle of the circle, “And how do you get charged?”
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