Moments ago, Jim Hopper had been alright. Yeah, there were Russians beneath the Starcourt Mall trying to recreate a Gate to the Upside Down, and yeah, one of them had been chasing him, Murray, Joyce, and Alexei all through town trying to incapacitate them permanently, but that was something he could handle. A minor threat in the grand scheme of things.

But what Hawkins' Chief of Police didn't know was that the Mind Flayer was back, and it had set its sights on you. That it had terrorized your friends, possessed Billy Hargrove as its head lackey, and melted-down Hawkins residents into a giant flesh monster all to end you and terrorize the world. This was personal, hell— his kid was the target of a monstrous entity all because you'd put a stop to its misdeeds six months prior. This creature wanted you— a child, really, minus the telekinetic powers and sheltered childhood in a lab— dead.

And you still want to fight it. "Better than any of us," Hop insists. With everyone splitting off to either run towards the danger or away from it, you keep insisting that your powers will come back and that you can save the day again. "But right now, I need you safe."

He slips Sara's old braided hair tie from his wrist to yours, right over the 011 tattooed into your skin. "This thing is after you. It's not after me. Do you understand?"

You do, he knows, but that mutual desire to protect others must be bugging you since you won't look at him. He's raised a fighter, and he's both proud and terrified. "Hey..." A calloused palm brushes hair from your face in the most tender way Hopper can muster— a feat in and of itself— but he stays composed. "I need you to understand."

It's not a request; it's a gentle demand, yes, but a demand regardless. A demand for you to leave this place so that he can do his job here and you two can return to normalcy in a Podunk town like Hawkins (even if things always get stranger as the years pass).

He can't lose his kid— he refuses to. Not again.