Bathtub

The party was seated in the bus hiding from any helicopters passing by.

Eleven had sat next to Dylan curious, asking him questions

"Your face. When we saw papa. Why?" Eleven asked

"What do you mean?" Dylan asked confused

"What has papa done to you?" Eleven asked concerned

Dylan thought for a moment, he recalled all the nightmares he had his whole life and now he finally realized they were memories, each scar on his body linking to them.

Dylan pointed at the big scar on his face"He did that." Dylan then pulled his sweater slightly down showing chest scars and turned so Eleven could see his back scars. He quickly covered himself up. "He did that Eleven."

The girl slightly teared up, Dylan saw this and hugged the girl, "look it was in the past don't worry about me, he can't touch me now, but he can still take you away." Dylan pulled away and looked at the girl "but I won't let him, I promise." The girl smiled at him again resting her head on his shoulder.

*Mike are you there? Mike?*

Nancy's voice was heard through the radio, Mike quickly opens his backpack and took his super comm out

"Is that your sister?" Lucas asked

"Okay this is really weird." Dustin expressed

Lucas grabbed the super comm to answer but was jerked back by Mike

"Don't answer!" Mike told him

"She said it was an emergency!" Lucas said

"What if it's a trick?" Mike argued

"It's your sister!" Lucas argued back

"What if she was kidnapped by the bad people!" Mike yelled

"It's like Lando Calrissian, don't answer!" Dustin agreed

Dylan was about to agree with Mike and Dustin before he heard Hoppers voice on the radio.

*listen kid, this is the chief. If you're there, pick up. We know about the girl......and Dylan*

"Whats Nancy and hopper doing together?" Dustin asked

"And how the hell do they know about us?" Dylan asked looking at Eleven.

Mike pondered if he should answer or not before his gaze met Dylan's who had a look of concern but eagerness.

"Mike, answer." Dylan said

Mike paused his eyes not moving from Dylan's, he then clicked the super comm."Yeah, I copy, it's Mike, I'm here." Mike looked at his friends "we're here."

_______________________________

Dylan, Lucas, Mike, and Eleven were sitting around waiting for Hopper to show up, but Dustin was walking back and forth vertically on the bus muttering to himself.

Dylan could tell Lucas and Mike were getting annoyed but he was too tired to say or do anything, after flipping that van it drained him because telekinesis wasn't his main ability.

"Will you stop pacing!" Mike spoke up looking at Dustin

"It's been way too long!" Dustin anxiously said "do you know what? Maybe you're right. Maybe this is all a trap. And the bad men are coming to get us right now!"

"It's not a trap!" Lucas said "why would the chief set us up?" Lucas glanced at Dylan to back him up.

"Yea Dustin Hopper wouldn't do something like that, Nancy maybe but the chief?......No offense Mike." Dylan added fiddling with his knuckles.

Mike had an offended look his arms waving up in defense.

"Lando Calrissian!" Dustin argued

"Would you shut up about Lando!" Lucas raised his voice causing Eleven to jump.

"I don't feel good about this......I don't feel good about this!" Dustin yelled getting close to Lucas's face

"When do you feel good about anything!" Lucas shouted

"Hey! Stop yelling.....you're giving me a headache." Dylan remarked rubbing his temples.

The sound of Vehicles driving up to the junkyard alerted everyone, they all went to the front of the bus to look through the windows, seeing cars from the lab.

"Shit!" Dustin yelled

"Go, Go, Go!" Mike told them as they all hid between and behind the seats again.

"Lando!" Dustin said

"Think they saw us?" Lucas asked

"Both of you shut up!" Mike shushed them

Dylan had peeked up at the window and saw three men walking around the junkyard, all of them had a gun. Dylan stood up slightly ducking just to get towards the front of the bus and in front of his friend.

He was stopped by someone grabbing his hand, he looked behind him and saw Mike's worried expression.

"What are you doing?! Stay down! You're gonna get yourself killed!" Mike yelled in a hushed voice

"If they find us in this bus, I need to stop them....you trust me right?" Dylan said looking at Mike.

Mike hesitantly let go of Dylan's hand"Always."

Dylan smirked as he walked forward, seeing the man's hand opening the bus door. He was ready to do whatever it took to keep his friend safe.

Until he saw the man get hit in the head as he bounced against the Bus door. Dylan could hear the other men grunting and the sound of fist hitting skin.

Without warning a man walked on the bus, Dylan had no time to react so he just pushed the man, causing him to bang on the front of the bus. Dylan looked at the man's confused and shocked face and saw it was hopper.

"Oh shit! I'm sorry chief!" Dylan said

Hopper rubbed his back"No...it's u-um fine, let's go." He said "LETS GO!" he yelled again as everyone compiled

________________________________BYERS RESIDENCE

They pulled up to the Byers house, hopper parked his car and the front door opened, as Joyce, Jonathan, and Nancy came running out.

"Mike! Oh my god! Mike!" Nancy hugged her brother tight "I was so worried about you!" She admitted

"Yea me too." Mike awkwardly said causing Dylan to snicker

"Is that my dress?" Nancy asked pointing at Eleven.

Dylan just quickly led Eleven in the house, nodding and smiling at Nancy as he walked by.______________________________

"Okay, so, in this example, we're the acrobat." Mike explained to the adults and older teens with a paper and marker "Will and Barbara, and that monster, they're this flea. and this is the upside down, where Will is hiding. Mr. Clark said that the only way to get there is through a rip of time in space."

"A gate." Dustin said

"That we tracked to Hawkins lab." Lucas added

Dylan was silent sitting in between Eleven and Mike, he was still so drained, and his head was pounding. He got up and grabbed his Advil bottle from his backpack in the kitchen. He took two pills and returned back to the group.

"What about you kid?" Hopper asked Dylan. "Can you do it?"

Dylan looked to see everyone was staring...he hated the spotlight."Do what?" He asked

"Find people?" Hopper asked again

"No, me and Eleven don't share the same abilities and skills, I can't do the things she does like..... finding people..I'm sorry." Dylan bluntly said.

Hopper nodded,"That's alright. We just need her to find him."

"And barb!" Nancy spoke up

"Yea....barb." Hopper agreed as he sat up walking to the kitchen everyone following.________________________________

Eleven was at the table in the middle of the kitchen, a picture of Barb, Will, and the sound of static was in front of her. Everyone was surrounding her as she was searching for them.Dylan was right next to her watching her closely just in case something happens.

The sound of static increased as Dylan saw Elevens eyes moving more frantically, the lights then started flickering before it all came to a stop and Eleven opened her eyes.

"I'm sorry." El whispered

"What? What's wrong? What happened?" Joyce stuttered

Dylan felt horrible for the women he finally noticed how tired and hurt she looked.He lost his friend but she lost her son

"I cant find them." Els voice broke as she started tearing up.

Jonathan and Joyce quickly turning away in distress, Dylan gently lifted Eleven up from her chair and took her to the bathroom to calm down.

"Here wash your face, it'll help you feel better." Dylan gently said to the girl as he turned the cold water on. She started rinsing her face off when Dylan spoke up, "When I need to stop crying I just think of something funny, like one time my brother Steve, he got hairspray in his eye but his bathroom sink was broken so he came running and screaming..... in.... my.....bathroom!" Dylan started laughing clutching his stomach.

Eleven started laughing at Dylan's state, it was contagious, the two just laughed until her tears were happy. She calmed down along with Dylan and glanced in the mirror

She then looked at the bathtub quickly before turning to Dylan.

"I can find them." She said

"Yea of course but you should rest for a bit-" He chuckled

"I can find them in the bath." She interrupted

Dylan pondered for a moment before realizing what she meant.

________________________________

"Whenever they use their powers, it makes them weak." Mike explained

"The more they use their powers, the more tired they become." Dustin added

"Like when Dylan flipped that Van earlier." Lucas said

"It was awesome." Dustin bluntly said

"But you can see Dylan's drained from it, it's the same for Eleven." Mike said

"W-well...how do we make her better...them better?" Joyce stammered

"We don't. We just have to wait and try again." Mike shrugged

"For how long-" Nancy started before Dylan came bursting out the bathroom Eleven behind him

"The bath!" He slightly yelled, they all turned to Look at him."Tell them Eleven." He stepped back

"I can find them....in the bath." Eleven repeated

"A sensory deprivation tank, that's how she learned to do this in the lab. The tank helps focus on her surroundings so when she sets her mind on a certain place-" Dylan explained

"It helps her reach it!" Dustin finished, as he quickly went and grabbed the phone book and flipped through it and dialed a number.

"Well do you know how to make one of these tanks?" Hopper asked

"No, but I know someone who will." Dustin said as the person in the other end of the phone answered.

"Mr. Clarke? It's Dustin................ Yeah,yeah. I just. I have a science question........................do you know anything about sensory deprivation tanks? Specifically how to build one.............fun" Dustin talked on the phone as everyone listened

Dylan rolled his eyes *yea i'd willingly build a sensory deprivation tank for fun*

"You always say we should never stop being curious. To always open any curiosity door we find......why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?" Dustin finished

_______________________________

Dylan could slightly hear chatters on the phone as Dustin wrote down all the necessary supplies on a notepad

"Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?" Dustin asked Joyce

"I think so. Yeah." Joyce replied

"Good. Then we just need salt lots of it." Dustin said pointing his pencil at her

"How much is lots?" Hopper asked

"1500 pounds." He replied

"Well where are we gonna get that much salt?" Nancy asked

"Doesn't our school have salt for De icing?" Dylan brought up, to which Hopper looked at him and they all jumped up to go.

_____________________________

Dylan ran over to the storage unit in the side of the school where packs of de icing salt was stacked on each other each weighing around 30 pounds each.

Dylan was about to pick up a stack of 4 before hopper stopped him

"Hey, kid you're gonna get yourself hurt I'll get the sal-" hopper stopped as Dylan easily picked up 120 pounds of salt with scrawny arms and threw them on the cart.

"Okay whatever you say chief." Dylan cheekily said walking towards the entrance

Hopper sighed as he stopped the boy "Wait! Alright help me."

Dylan ran back with a grin on his face as he picked up two, three bags at a time throwing them on the cart

"When did you learn you could do stuff like this kid? And what exactly can you do?" Hopper curiously asked

"I was 10 when I learned I could do things, I figured out it was linked to my emotions...like they would only show up when I was mad or sad and overtime I learned to control it. I can do things El does just not as good, I'm strong, and I can control heat. That's about it." Dylan finished stacking the salt on the cart and brushed his hands together.

Hopper nodded not saying another word. Just processing all the information he's learned in the past hour, as he collected bags of salt.

______________________________

Dylan walked in the gym and saw the inflatable pool out in the middle with a hose in it.

"Okay turn it on!" Lucas yelled, as the water started to fill the pool up.

"Hotter!" Lucas yelled again, which more water started to pour but it didn't get any warmer.

"Shit I think the hot water doesn't work." Dustin said looking at the thermometer Lucas had in his hand.

Dylan walked over and kneeled by the pool he felt the water and looked at the thermometer, there was enough water in the pool it was just ice cold."Stop the water!" Dylan yelled.

"It's not hot enough." Lucas told him

"I know." Dylan responded as he put his hand in the water and moved it around, the water started to heat up fast as Dylan's nose started to bleed. The boy took his hand out as soon as he reached 93.5 degrees Fahrenheit.

"Oh forgot you could do that." Lucas said with a cheeky smile. Dylan smiled back at him wiping his nose going over to the kitchen to clean up.

When Dylan came back Hopper and Jonathan were emptying out the bags of salt into the pool.

Dustin then grabbed an egg, Lucas and Mike right by his side, and plopped it into the pool where it sank immediately.

Hopper and Jonathan put a couple of more bags in and they tried again, this time it floated, It was ready.

_____________________________

El was floating in the middle of the pool with her makeshift blindfold and radio static on the background. The group was surrounding her as the lights started to flicker.

Dylan was on the left side of the pool in between Mike and Joyce. He was watching Eleven as he was also paying attention to his surroundings.

"Barbara?" Eleven muttered, Nancy leaned in forward awaiting her friend's fate.

El started breathing very heavily and the light flickered profusely until the electricity shut down completely leaving them in a dark gym the only light coming from the moon.

"What's going on?" Nancy asked

"I don't know." Her brother answered truthfully

"Is barb okay? Is she okay?" Nancy pleaded to Eleven

Dylan looked away from her, he didn't have high hopes of Barb being alive.

"Gone....gone. Gone. Gone!" Eleven repeated as Nancy staggered in Jonathan's arms in despair

Dylan had put a reassuring hand on Elevens arm just to let her know he was here with her as Joyce did the same but with comforting words.

"Castle Byers." She muttered as Dylan slightly smiled, she had found him

"Will?" Eleven asked, Joyce gasp in hope

Dylan didn't even notice with the situation that he had a death grip on someone's hand, Mikes hand.

Dylan quickly took his hand away "Sorry." He whispered to Mike who had turned to him rubbing his fingers.

"I-it's alright." Mike smiled.

Dylan awkwardly looked away his cheeks red and his stomach churning.

He then heard someone on the radio a familiar voice *hurry.* Will said to Eleven which transferred to the super comm

"Okay. Listen, you tell him to.. t-to stay where he is, we're coming we're coming!" Joyce stuttered.

The atmosphere was a bit lighter as everyone knew Will was still alive, Dylan was still holding Els hand as she started to shake

He could hear her whimpering and freaking out on the radio until she started jerking and sat up quickly into Dylan's arms.

"Hey! It's okay it's okay, you're safe, you're here..." Dylan comforted her as Joyce was rubbing her arm and face comfortingly.

________________________________

The party was sitting on the bleachers, as the adults made a plan to go find Will, Eleven was resting her head on Mikes shoulder as Lucas was putting a towel over her.

Dylan was sitting next to Dustin his eyes heavy, he was so drained and he didn't even remember the last time he drank water and ate. He  just rubbed his eyes and focused on breathing, he needed to stay strong for everyone.________________________________

*thud* *Thud!*

The sound of kicking echoed through the cold room as 013 sprawled on the ground coughing.

"God, I'm sick of treating you...such a hassle." The guard stopped kicking the young boy and threw a bowl full of tasteless mush in front of him.

"Eat." The guard said pointing at the food

013 lifted himself up his right side in pain, as he dragged himself towards the food, and hungrily used his hands to eat it, scrapping some off the floor.

"Tch, like a dog, disgusting." The guard left the sound of his keys lingering in the room.

013 could feel himself getting sick, it was hard to keep food down but the boy knew it was gonna be awhile before he received anything else.

________________________________

Dylan came back to his senses when Mike came trodding over to the group, he didn't even realize Mike was left

       "They're gone." Mike said

    "What?" Lucas stated

    Nancy and Jonathan, his cars gone." Mike repeated

  "They're probably just sucking faces somewhere." Dustin bluntly replied

    "Gross"

     "Ew"

"No, no way!" Mike said a disgusted look on his face.

"Did they go with the chief?" Dylan asked

"I don't know." Mike responded

"No." Eleven spoke up

"El, did you see them? Do you know where they went?" Dylan's asked eleven.

She turned to look at him "yes."

"Where did they go?" Mike frantically asked

"Demogorgen." She answered

The room quieted down as it grew tense again "Shit." Dylan said looking at Mike concerned for his sister and Wills brother.

______________________________HAWKINS LAB

"Where's the girl? And I know you have 013...or Dylan. I don't want the boy, only 011." Dr Brenner asked Hopper who was sitting in a chair smoking a cigarette.

"You gotta give me your word." Hopper bluntly says not looking at the man "no one's ever gonna find out about this, and those other kids you leave them alone especially Dylan, I don't know what you've done to that boy but I don't want to know....just stay away from him, I don't want him to see your face ever again." Hopper demanded

"You don't understand-" Dr Brenner explained

"Give me your word." Hopper cut him off "and then I'll tell ya, I'll tell you where your little science experiment is." Hopper finished

________________________________HAWKINS MIDDLE SCHOOL

  "Guys, guys! This is crazy." Mike yelled as he was trying to talk to Lucas and Dustin as Eleven was leaning against Dylan.

"We can't just wait around." Mike said

"Mike in case you forgot we're still fugitives." Lucas argued "the bad men are still looking for us."

"Yea and we don't even know where your sister is." Dustin agreed

"El can find them." Mike stupidly said

"Mike, look at her.....look at them.. they're exhausted." Dustin explained "I still think we should stick to the chiefs plan."

"Exactly we stay here keep El out of sight and keep her safe." Lucas said "that's the most important thing right now, right?"

"Right. We need to stay here." Dylan said as Mike looked at him "plus I'm sure she's okay, not only is she like a badass now she also has Jonathan."

Dustin the started walking towards the cafeteria, as Dylan stood up helping Eleven up as well.

"Well, where are you going? You just said stick to the plan." Mike yelled

"I am. I'm just gonna go get some chocolate pudding, I'm telling you lunch lady Phyllis hoards that shit!" Dustin responded, as Dylan quickly followed him along with the rest of the group.

_________________________________

Dustin and Lucas open the fridge in the school kitchen as Dylan leaned against the table behind them. Eleven was with Mike outside the kitchen, Dylan had a clear view of them and would take quick glances seeing them talking.

"Found it! I knew she was hoarding it!" Dustin said "always lying saying she's out! Bald faced liar." Dustin started taking as much as he could while Dylan chuckled at his two friends.

"Mike! I found the chocolate pudding!" Dustin screamed.

"Okay!" Mike yelled back annoyed

Dylan just quickly grabbed a container while Lucas and Dustin were stacking them on trays. He opened the can quickly and dug his fingers in there scooping out as much pudding as possible, like an animal.

"Woah! Slow down Dylan." Lucas said concerned

Dylan quickly looked up at him and realized what he was doing, before he put the container down.

"Wait, I thought you hated pudding?" Dustin asked

"Um, yea I-" Dylan caught a glance of Mike kissing Eleven. He didn't know what to feel, everything came crashing down on him and he could feel himself getting sick. "Dylan- Dylan! Are you okay?" Lucas asked noticing how Dylan's body froze up.

"I-I-m" Dylan ran to the kitchen sink throwing up the pudding he had just eaten. He could feel Dustin and Lucas padding his back in support

"Omg are you okay""What the hell?" "Dylan are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Dylan coughed as he turned the water on and washed his vomit away and wiped his face off with a towel.

"I guess, I just forgot how much I hated pudding." Dylan chucked his eye bags so heavy and his breathing labored.

"Here drink some milk." Lucas grabbed a carton of milk out of the fridge and threw it to Dylan. The boy caught the milk and thanked his friend as they all walked out of the kitchen with two trays of pudding.

Mike was no where to be seen but they plopped the trays on the table and Dylan handed Eleven one along with a plastic spoon, the girl was about to open it and eat it before Mike came rushing in.

"Guys! Guys!" Mike yelled

"What is it?" Dylan's asked worriedly

"They found us!" Mike panted

________________________________

The group was rushing through the halls of the school, whenever they were face to face with the bad men they would turn around and run the opposite direction. Until they were face to face with a blond woman and more men.

Dylan tried to turn around but he was faced with more men. They had guns in their hands and he needed to stop them.Dylan channeled the strength he had left and used his powers on the men, he wanted them to burn, he wanted them to hurt for what they did. He felt in head pound and his hands burn.

He could see their bodies composing and leaking with blood as he burned them from the inside out, until they were nothing but mush.

Dylan felt his world black out as he fell to the ground.

He awoke to the sound of yelling and the lights flickering. He quickly jerked awake and pushed the man that was holding him, the other men dropped his friends.

Dylan caught site of the demogorgen in front of him. His vision was still blurry but he could faintly see his sister on the ground.

"We need to go!" As he picked up Eleven

"Are you okay!" Mike yelled finally noticing Dylan's state, his body shaking and his nose bleeding

"I'm fine, we need to go!" Dylan repeated as he ran towards any classroom that was open the boys following after him.

_______________________________

They all ran into a science classroom, "Come on, help me." Dylan placed Eleven on a long desk as Lucas and Dustin lifted her head and feet.

Mike held Elevens hand. "We'll be home soon, and my mom... she'll get you your own bed. You can eat as many eggos as you want." Mike teared up as he talked to Eleven

Dylan felt saddened by what Mike was saying but he wanted Eleven to have a happy life and he wanted Mike to be happy as well.

The sound of a monster screeching scared everyone the boys yelled as they jumped back. The sound of gunfire and screaming before everything was silent.

"Is...is.. I-it dead?" Dustin asked as the door slammed open and a burned demogorgen came running in, it spotted the boys and stood in front of them.

"GET BEHIND ME! Dylan screamed at them, the boys listened and ducked behind him.

Dylan walking slightly towards the demogorgen, as we heard the monster growling he came screeching towards him he lifted his hand up and stopped the demo in its tracks he used all his might. He could hear his friend yelling his name

he felt his hand weakening and his body started to shake, the demogorgen was fighting back and before he knew it clawed at him.

The feeling of pain in his ribs and slamming against the wall wasn't all unfamiliar to Dylan. The feeling of darkness was, he couldn't feel anything.

It was peaceful.