One

Chapter Nine - part two

   They all sat around the table. A plan for El to go into Hawkins Lab and shut the gate that she had opened a little over a year ago was forming, and it was forming slowly.
   "It's not like it was before," Hopper says, leaning against the counter, "it's grown, a lot. And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs."
   Dustin turns around to look at him, "Demodogs."
   Hopper looks down at him, "I'm sorry, what?"
   "I said, uh," Dustin answers, "Demodogs. Like Demogorgon and dogs. You put them together, it sounds pretty badass-"
   "How is this important right now," Hopper asks, clearly annoyed.
   Dustin looks away from him, "it's not. I'm sorry."
   "I love you, Dustin," Phina says, "but shut up."
   El looks at Hopper, "I can do it."
   Hopper shakes his head, "you're not hearing me."
   "I'm hearing you," she fires back, "I can do it."
   Mike butts in from Hopper's side, "even if El can, there's still another problem. If the brain dies, the body dies."
   Max narrows her eyes, "I thought that was the whole point?"
   Phina's eyes go wide as Mike continues, "it is, but if we're really right about this... I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayer's army-"
   "Will," Phina says as she hangs her head.
   Mike nods, "closing the gate will kill him."
   The realization hits everyone hard. Joyce sits, shell-shocked in her seat for a moment before she stands up quickly and leaves the room. They all follow her to the room they had lain Will in.
   "He likes it cold," Joyce whispers.
   "What," Hopper asks.
   "It's what Will kept saying to me," she answers, going towards the open window, "he likes it cold."
   She shuts the window and turns back to the group, "we keep giving it what it wants."
   "If this is a virus," Nancy says, "and Will's the host, then..."
   "Then we need to make the host uninhabitable," Jonathan finishes her thought.
   "So if he likes it cold," Nancy says.
   "We need to burn it out of him," Joyce finishes, her voice weak yet strong at the thought of hurting her kid.
   "We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time," Mike says.
   Dustin nods, "yeah, somewhere far away."
   Joyce looks over at Phina, "can you-"
   Phina shakes her head sharply, "I have yet to find a way to use my fire on someone without hurting them. I will not risk it with Will. I could never live with myself if I hurt him."

   Hopper knew of a place they could take Will, El knew too. It's the house he and she had lived in this whole time, far enough away to keep her a secret. Joyce and Jonathan were going to go to the cabin and "burn" the virus out of Will. To do that, they need a lot of heat, and the Byers had a lot of heaters.
   Nancy and Steve were digging through the pile of things that had come out of the shed for the heaters that they needed.
   "You should go with him," Steve suddenly says.
   She looks at him with raised brows, "what?"
   "With Jonathan," Steve explains, picking up a bundle of Christmas lights, his mind flashing back to last year.
   "No, I'm," she scoffs, "I'm not just gonna leave Mike."
   "No one's leaving anyone," Steve says as he walks over to stand next to her and pick up a heater, "Phina and I are pretty good at watching the little shits."
   He hands her the heater and she gingerly takes it as she looks up at him, "Steve?"
   "It's okay, Nance," he smiles, "it's okay."
   She can see that he's not lying, "I'm glad you have her, Steve."
   He gives her a questioning look so she continues, "Phina. She may never admit it but I can see it in the way she looks at you. She's far better for you than I was."
   He looks down, a small smile on his face, "and I know you're good for her too, Steve. I've known where you're heart belongs for a while now."
   "And I know where your's belongs," Steve says, "go with him."

   Phina stood back as Mike and El said their goodbyes, "just be careful, alright? I can't lose you again."
   El shakes her head and whispers, "you won't lose me."
   A tear slowly tracks down Mike's cheek, "do you promise?"
   "Promise," El says slowly.
   They slowly lean into each other. Phina smiles at the two of them, their love for each other was beautiful.
   "El," Hopper calls out, "come on, let's go. It's time."
   Phina walks up to the girl and Mike steps back, "be careful, please."
   El looks up at the redhead, "I will."
   Her arms fly around the girl's waist, finding comfort in the warmth that radiates off of her. The two, sisters by shared pasts and trauma, would always care for each other and parting again, after so little time reunited, hurt, a lot.
   Phina pulls away, holding El at arm's length, "go and save the world, El."
   El nods, turning away from Phina and running towards Hopper's truck. She opens the door and glances back at Mike and Phina one last time before getting in, slamming the door shut behind her.
   Phina turns her eyes to the other car, the one with her sister, Jonathan, Joyce, and Will. They had already said their goodbyes but her heart still hurt to see them go. Jonathan backs up to turn around. He drives forward out of the driveway and Hopper follows behind him. Phina and Mike stand there watching them go, Mike clutching onto Phina's hand like a lifeline. The rest of the group stands on the porch behind them.
   It was Phina and Steve's job now to protect the kids, wait here for either them to go back, or for the people Hopper had called to get here. If neither were to happen? It was their job to get the kids and run because who knows what would happen in El failed, who knows.
   As the taillights of Hopper's truck disappear, Phina grips Mike's hand tighter, a comfort for him and herself. She would fight to the ends of the Earth to protect her family, all of them here and the ones that left to save them all. If things were to go wrong? If something happened, she would test just how far her powers went, even if, in the end, the drawing of her flame being suffocated by darkness, came to light.

-1103 words-
I liked that little scene with Nancy and Steve, I think it's good for both of them to realize that their hearts didn't belong to each other anymore. Tell me what you thought of it!
-Morgan