Risky Business ｡ Stranger Things

21 : The Magnificant Seven

There was a silence as two teenagers embraced each other so tightly. The silence wasn't awkward, not in the slightest, but rather beautiful and made Prue's heart kick in the sweetest way. While she didn't really know Mike Wheeler and definitely didn't know the girl, it was obvious these two were returning to each other. Prue lowered her Swiss Army Knife and Grey shuffled around from behind her, that same curiosity that burdened Prue sparking in his eyes. But the moment was cut short when Hopper strode forward, informing Mike and the rest of the gang that he had been hiding the girl. Hopper drew the girl in for a hug while anger rose in Mike. And Prue briefly wondered if the girl had been Hopper's daughter or at least something akin to a daughter. Hopper suggested they talk alone and they fled into another room, but Mike's yelling was still audible through the thin walls of the Byers's house.

"So—uh... who's the girl?" Prue asked Nancy still beside her. The pretty teenager lowered her shotgun, half-turning to Prue. Eleven was hugging Lucas Sinclair and Dustin Henderson now like they were old friends.

"That's Eleven," she replied, her eyes misting ever so slightly over the smile that had lit up Mike's face.

"That's Eleven!" Grey murmured in disbelief before shaking his head. "Definitely not a monkey." Grey's eyes swang back to the girl with blood still marking the soft skin under her nose.

"And definitely not dead," Prue muttered back, recalling how her father's words had made it out like the girl with slicked back hair and a heavy black coat that was far too big for her thin frame, was dead. Max was walking forward to introduce herself kindly, but Eleven was rather hostile and wouldn't even shake the redhead's hand and just brushed past her without a simple word uttered. There were more hugs and sniffles but Prue didn't partake and settled beside Steve, watching Grey speak to Max brightly. And shortly, all the happiness from Eleven's return was fading away as the threat of night came looming over them again. They still needed to close the gate, so the household of mixed strangers and friends began to work and plan towards that, even with all the odds stacked against them. Hopper was taking Eleven to the lab to close the gate and Joyce, Jonathan and Nancy were taking Will to Hopper's cabin in the woods, to burn the monster out of Will.

Prue stopped at Hopper's side while he was preparing to leave. "I wanna come with you and Eleven to the lab."

"No. That's out of the question, Prue," his voice was blunt, his eyes serious as they pinned down Prue.

"What? I have every right to go with you. My Dad's still in there!" she exclaimed, crossing her arms over her bloodied Henley shirt.

"I don't need to be worrying about you when I have Eleven to worry about, okay?"

"I'm not your responsibility!" Prue's anger was flaming.

"Your father left you in my care, kid. You and every other kid in here." She could tell Hopper was tired and burdened by all of this dark strangeness, but he was a fighter, a soldier and a protector.

"You expect me to stay here and babysit?" She was yelling now, unable to control her anger in that moment. The others were listening now but Prue didn't care.

Hopper paused then, taking a breath as he noticed the rage and raw grief rooted in Prue's eyes. He opted for a gentler tone. "Look, you're safer here, and I'll find your father, no matter what." The unsaid words were stabbing at Prue's heart as she nodded, her teeth clenched together. Her father might be dead already, and even if proven so, Jim Hopper was going to find her father. No matter what. It was the best comfort Prue was going to get that night.

The seven teenagers gathered on the Byers's porch and watched as two cars pulled away till the darkness had swallowed them whole. The coldness of November was creeping towards them all and goosebumps crawled along Prue's arms. No one said anything as the rumbles of the cars turned into the sounds of the night.