THE LABORATORY'S CURSE | STRANGER THINGS

CHAPTER 6: THE DIVE

Sage leaned against the car window, her legs laying on Dustin's lap as she ate some pringles, staring into space out the window. 

"Look, all Eddie needs to know is that we are one step closer to finding Vecna." Nancy states. 

"Oh and that is most definitely true... am I the only one who remembers that he is in the upside down? Which we can't get to?" Sage blurts. 

"Another positive thing! Sage has her powers back." Dustin interrupts. 

 "Woah, woah! I used them once. Let's not over sugarcoat this shit." Sage mutters. 

As they pulled up towards the lakehouse, the group notices the police cars and group of people surrounding the house. The group sneak around behind a police car just to hear that Eddie has been named as suspect number one. 

"Oh, man. This is really not good..." Steve mumbles. 

"Dustin, can you hear me? Hopper, Wheeler?" Eddie's voice comes through on the walkie. 

"Eddie, holy shit. Where are you?" Dustin questions. 

"Skull rock." 

--

The group set off towards Skull Rock, now lead by Steve despite Dustin's protests. 

"Boom! There she is Henderson, in your stupid cocky face." 

Sage drones out their arguing and curls herself up on a rock as Eddie told them all about Patrick, Billy still was there, he was right beside her actually... but for some reason she didn't fear him right now. He was one more step towards Vecna, and she promised herself the moment Vecna was killed- she would never get herself involved in anymore situations. She would live happily, as happy as she could be without her father, but just about happy enough to keep living. 

"We just need to get into the upside down and kill him." Nancy was saying. 

"Godd we need El here." Sage groans, massaging her headache. 

"Aren't you the girl with superpowers?" Eddie questions. 

"Yes, but my sister was like a syphon we were stronger together, it made all this shit a whole lot easier when she was here." Sage explains. 

Dustin begins to explain how his compass wasn't working correctly, Sage felt a sense of Deja Vu and stood up to stand next to him, she held the compass in her hand and looked up at him. 

"There is a gate somewhere." Lucas states. 

"But we are nowhere near the lab..." Nancy says slowly, causing Sage to shiver. 

"Last time I checked I haven't opened any gates, and I seriously doubt my sister has all the way in California." 

As they followed the compass, Sage let her mind slip to a time back in the Lab, a year before she escaped... when there was multiple children wandering around, being taught by their papa. Seven never liked to speak up, she often kept to herself. The girl also refused to work in front of others, she only showed her powers in front of Papa, no-matter how often he punished her for this. It never changed, until she was forced to. Papa carried her to this drawn out circle and she was placed in front of the most powerful of the group, Seven knew that this was another punishment. Papa wanted her to feel pain and humiliation of being overthrown by the older boy, as she stood in the circle and concentrated, she felt her mind switch to something it had never done before, she felt stronger... Seven began to realise she was syphoning all the other children in the rooms power, and it made her feel so powerful that she knocked Two flying with the slightest tilt of her head. Sage still remembers the silence that left the room afterwards, and how Papa started to treat her differently, special. 

The man had her complete many more tests to prove his theory, for example he had her perform her abilities with and without other children in the room with her... and Sage felt most at power when he began to make her hold their hands while she did it. She specifically felt the strongest when she worked alongside Eleven, which was how their bond began to strengthen. 

--

Dustin's compass lead them exactly to Lover's lake. Steve rips the tarp off a speedboat and one by one, the older members of the group begin to climb in. Steve stops Dustin from getting on and quickly pulls Sage on board. 

"Dude! You said no more room!" Dustin yells. 

"Gates are kinda my exporties." Sage reminds him. 

"Plus if anything goes down over there, she can save us!" Eddie says happily. 

"What if we need her on shore!" Dustin argues. 

"Not a toy!" Sage interjects as they sail away from the younger of the crew. 

"Woah woah stop!" Nancy orders, staring down at the compass which was now uncontrollably spinning. 

Steve starts to take his socks off and Sage grabs his arm. 

"What the hell are you doing?" She asks.

"Somebody's gotta go and check this thing out, unless one of you guys can top being a certified lifeguard for three years." Steve adds. 

"I have superpowers! Does that not top it?" Sage states. 

"I'm not letting you get hurt, this is up to me. You stay up here and keep out of trouble, I won't be the one bringing you back over there injured- you've been through enough." 

Before Sage could stop him, he dived into the lake. Sage watches anxiously as she loses sight of him in the dark water. 

"Come on Steve..." She whispers. 

The group jump as Steve pops back up, Sage glances back at shore and notices the flashing lights of the police. 

"Shit guys!" She points towards them. 

Before they could move, Steve was pulled back down towards the water. Nancy straight up refused to let Sage follow them so as the older group dived down to save Steve. Sage sailed back onto shore as quickly as she could, colliding right into Dustin, Max and Lucas... and unfortunately the cops.

Sage couldn't process the fact they were caught by cops, all that was plowing through her mind was that Steve was most likely dead... the man she called her brother gone and she couldn't do anything about it. 

Sage felt the numbness she had slowly start to lose... creeping back into her mind. 

Thoughts??
Once again it's kinda short but I have big plans for next chapter, stay tuned!!

Ellie x