You take a couple more steps back, still not believing what you were seeing. Mike immediately wraps the small girl in a tight hug. Once Steve was certain that you weren't going to fall or anything, he let go of your waist.
"Eleven..."
"Mike." She responds, tears running down her cheeks as she gasps for breath. "I never gave up on you, I called you every night for-"
"353 days... I heard." She says, pulling away from the hug. Your tears start to get more frequent, blurring your vision. You can't believe she was alive. "Why didn't you tell me you were there?" Mike asks.
"Because I didn't let her." Hopper responds, going up to the girl as well before taking her into a side hug. You gasp in slight betrayal at the fact that Hopper kept Elevens existence from all of you without your knowing.
"The hell is this? Where have you been?" He asks, seeing her now punk style look that she rocked. "Where have you been?" She asks accusingly. "You've been hiding her... You've been hiding her this whole time!" Mike exclaims, going up to confront Hopper.
"Hey! Let's talk. Alone." Hopper says, leading Mike into an unoccupied room that was away from prying eyes. Eleven immediately goes up to Dustin and Lucas, wrapping the two in a tight hug. You were still watching from a distance, not sure if she had noticed you yet. You still couldn't decide if you were either dreaming, or hallucinating, not particularly liking either of those outcomes.
"We missed you." Lucas says, voice breaking slightly at the embrace of his old friend. "We talked about you pretty much every day." Dustin continues. She suddenly looks over to him, putting her fingers in his mouth. "Teeth." She states, and Dustin laughs, taking her hand away from his mouth.
"What?"
"You have teeth."
"Oh, you like these pearls?" He asks, doing his stupid growl/purr as soon as he says those words. Max then makes her way through the two. "Eleven? Hey. Um, I'm Max." She states, putting her hand out for El to shake. She ignores it, pushing past her and onto you as the two of you make eye contact.
You put you hands over your mouth and squeeze your eyes shut. "No. You're not real. You can't be real." You say, until you feel someone wrap you into a tight hug. You let out a sob, knees buckling which take you both down to the ground. You cry harder into her shoulder, putting your arms around her small body and clung her to you tightly. You finally come to the realization that this indeed was El.
El was alive. She was safe.
"I-I missed you. I missed you, so much. I thought I lost you. I wrote you so many letters-"
"I know. I saw every one of them, sister." She says, the nickname throwing you back into a fit of sobs. You said in your latest letter that you saw her as a sister. "Dammit, El. God dammit El." You say, clinging to her black leather jacket tighter, as if she would disappear if you let go.
You release her from the hug, taking her face into your hands. "Your hair- your hair. It's grown." You say, laughing in joy slightly at how healthy she looked. She nods her head, more tears sliding down her face.
"I can take you for ice cream." She nods even more, leaning into your touch. "I'm so glad you're safe, sweetie." You state, and she looks up to you. "Me too." With that, she helps you onto your feet before moving to Joyce.
"Hey, hey sweetheart." She says, taking the girl into her arms as well. "Can I see him?" She asks suddenly, letting go of the mother. She sighs, leading El to the Wills room where you had transferred him. You stay close by to El, walking next to her as you make your way into the small room.
"He's not doing well." She states, as the three of you make your way to the side of the bed. Eleven leans down to get a closer look. "I know. I saw." She states. "What else did you see?" Joyce asks, to which Eleven looks to her. She then walks out of the room, and leads you to the paper that Nancy wrote when translating the morse code.
"You've opened this gate before, right?" Joyce asks, pointing down to the 'CLOSE GATE.' Eleven looks off into the distance, evidently relaying the old memory of it. "Yes." She replies eventually. You hear the footsteps of the others approaching the three of you, curious as to what you were talking about.
"Do you think if we got you back there, that you could close it?" Eleven only looks back to the scared woman, determination in her eyes.
You all regroup in the dining room, all looking down at the paper and brainstorming. "It's not like it was before. It's grown. At lot, and I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs." Hopper states in a doubtful voice.
"Demo-dogs..." Dustin corrects hurriedly. "I'm sorry, what?" Hopper replies, looking down to your brother. "I said, uh, Demo-dogs... Like Demogorgon, and dogs... You put them together and it sounds pretty badass-"
"How is this important right now??" You question your brother in annoyance. "It's not, I'm sorry." He says, looking back down at the table which makes you feel a tad bit guilty.
"I can do it." Eleven speaks up, looking over to Hopper with a spark in her eyes. "You're not hearing me." Hopper replies. "I'm hearing you, I can do it." She says again, this time more forcefully, shaking her head as to prove a point.
"Even if El can, there's still another problem. If the brain dies, the body dies."
"I thought that was the whole point." Max says, looking to Mike like he was crazy. "It is, but if we're really right about this... I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayer army..."
"Wills a part of that army..." Lucas says in realization. "Closing the gate will kill him." You continue, looking a bit downtrodden at the fact. Suddenly, you hear footsteps leave the room. You look up to see they belonged to Joyce. You all go to follow her, and she leads you back into the room where Will was currently being kept.
She suddenly looks over to the open window, the evening breeze moving the drapes. "He likes it cold..." She says finally. "What?" Hopper asks back, a bit confused at her statement. "It's what Will kept saying to me... He likes it cold." She replies, moving to close the window.
"We keep giving it what it wants!"
"If this is a virus... And Will is the host then..."
"Then we need to make the host uninhabitable." You finish Nancy's statement, looking over to her. "So if he likes it cold..." Jonathan continues. "We need to burn it out of him." Joyce finishes.
"We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time." Mike says from beside El. "Yeah, somewhere far away." Dustin agrees from beside him.
"I think I know a place." Hopper says finally, moving to pick up Wills body from the bed before Jonathan, Joyce, and him move from out of the room and to the outside.
"We need to find something for them to use to... Burn it out of him." You say to Steve and Nancy, who were both standing on either side of you. They both nod in understanding before going outside to look for any heaters that may have been tossed into the pile Hopper made when clearing out the shed.
You all poke and prod at different things until Steve finally found what you were looking for. You all stand in a tense silence until Steve speaks up.
"You should go with him." He states, dropping the heater into a pile before looking over to Nancy. "What?" She says, looking up to him. "With Jonathan." He elaborates. She scoffs at his suggestion.
"No. I'm... Im not just gonna leave Mike."
"No one's leaving anyone..." He states, moving closer to her. "I may be a shitty boyfriend but... Turns out I'm a pretty damn good babysitter. Me and Henderson actually make a good team." He says, smiling sadly over to you.
"Steve..." Nancy responds, looking to him with sadness in his eyes before her eyes wander over to you for advice. You give her a look that says 'tell him!' But before she can say anything, Steve continues.
"It's okay, Nance. It's okay..." He says in an understanding voice. He already knew she was in love with Jonathan without her having to tell him. You felt so bad for the guy.
He looks for her one last time before heading back inside the house. "I..." She says before picking the heater up and going to Jonathan. You sigh, going to the front to say goodbye to Eleven.
You spot her and Mike having a moment, and leave them alone until Hopper calls her over to the car. You hurriedly run over to her before she can enter it, enveloping her into a hug.
"Stay safe. Don't die again, okay?" You say, and she buries her face into your chest. "Promise." She says, before you let her go and she climbs into the front seat. You return back to the kids who were standing by the front door. You salute to the car, watching as they drive away to the lab.
Once they were gone from your line of sight, you sigh. "Come on, let's get inside." You say, leading the others into the small home. As soon as you get inside, you groan.
"What the hell are we gonna do with this thing..." You ask to nobody in particular, nudging the now dead Demo-dog with your foot. You look over your shoulder to see Dustin with that scientific look on his face. "Oh no... Stop thinking whatever thoughts you're thinking..." You say, to which he only smirks wider.
He walks over to the couch, grabbing a rather large quilt from off it before draping it over the dead creature, wrapping it up before going to Steve. "Help me, would you?" He asks, to which Steve groans, picking it up before following your brother into the kitchen. You didn't even want to know what they were doing with it.
You sigh, turning to the rest of the group. "While they're doing... Whatever it is they're doing, help me with the glass, would you?" You say, motioning to the many pieces scattered across the carpet floor from the window breaking. You get nods from the three and go to get a broom, gloves, and a dust pan from the hallway closet.
When you get back, you, Lucas, and Max all get to work, picking up each piece individually. Mike was busy pacing back and forth anxiously.
"Mike, would you just stop already??" Lucas demands. "You weren't in there, okay Lucas?! That lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs-"
"Demo-Dogs!" Dustin corrects from across the house, to which you roll your eyes. "The chief will protect her." You reassure the worried boy, going over to him to pat him on the shoulder. Max scoffs. "Like she needs protecting..." She retorts under her breath. You then see Steve and Dustin round the corner, finally back from whatever the hell they were doing.
"Listen, dude, a coach calls play in a game, bottom line you execute it. All right??" Steve asks Mike. "Okay, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game, and secondly, we're not even in the game. We're on the bench." You nod in agreement. Steve stammers out a response.
"So.. My point is- uh...... Right, right. We're on the bench, so, uh. There's nothing we can do." He says, slinging the towel that was in his hand over his shoulder.
"That's... not entirely true..." You start, biting your lip as you look at him, deep in thought. "The demo-dogs are part of a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus earlier, they were called away." Dustin continues for you, understanding what you were getting at. "So, if we get their attention..."
"Maybe we can draw them away from the lab." Max finishes Lucas's sentence, looking up to him in understanding. "Clear path to the gate..." Mike says in understanding. "Yeah, and then we all die!" Steve points out.
"Well... That's one point of view." You reply, and he looks at you ludicrously. "Wait, wait, wait. You're with them on this?? And, it's not a point of view it's a fact." He says.
"I got it!" Mike suddenly says before you can answer, running over to one of the walls, all of you trailing behind him. He finally comes to a stop, pointing to the wall at one of Wills many drawings.
"This is where the chief dug his hole. This is our way into the tunnel so..." Mike starts before running off to the living room. "Here, right here. This is like a hub." He continues, now standing on a star-like shape that all the tunnels led to.
"So, you got all the tunnels feeding in here." He says, pointing to all the tunnels to prove a point before bending down and pointing to the open space. "Maybe, if we set this on fire..."
"Oh, yeah? That's a no." Steve says, rebuking Mikes plan immediately. "The mind flayer would call away his army..." You say, eyes lighting up as you figure out Mikes plan.
"They'd all come to stop us!" Lucas exclaims. "Aye!" Steve calls, trying to stop your brainstorming which had absolutely no effect. "We circle back to the exit!" Dustin says. "Guys!" Steve tries again, but to no avail.
"By the time they realize we're gone-"
"El would be at the gate." Max finishes for Mike. "Hey. Hey! Hey! This is not happening!" Steve says, clapping his hands to try to get your attention. He puts his hands on his hips, waving his pointer finger around. "This is not happening." You scoff, trying to keep your laughter down as he acts like a mom. "But-"
"No, no, no, no, no! No buts. I promised I'd keep you shitheads safe, and that's exactly what I plan on doing. We're staying here. On the bench. And we're waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everybody understand?!" You all groan and roll your eyes.
"This isn't a stupid sports game!" Mike exclaims. "I said does everybody understand that?!" He asks, taking the towel from off his shoulder and waving it at everyone. "I need a yes." He says when no one answers him. "Yes, mother." You say sarcastically before hearing a car engine revving from the front.
Max immediately rushes to the window, you following not far behind her. Lucas hunkers down next to Max, you observing the car driving up to the driveway with curiosity. It wasn't Hopper or Joyce, so who could it be?? Your question is soon answered.
"It's my brother." Max says immediately upon spotting the car. "He can't know I'm here. He'll kill me. He'll kill us." You look to the car approaching with a newfound hate.
"I won't let him." You say, going to the front door to confront him before Steve's arm stops you. "Stay here."
"Make me." You say with challenging eyes, determined to not let him boss you around like that. He looks at you with a raised eyebrow at your response, the look in his eye making your heart skip a beat.
"Stay. Here." He says again with a demanding voice. "No." He rolls his eyes, knowing he wouldn't be able to change your mind before making his way outside the door. You linger back a bit behind the open door as you observe the two interact.
"Am I dreaming or is that you, Harrington?" Billy asks, seeing Steve standing in front of the door, covering your body with his towering height. "Yeah, it's me dont cream your pants." He responds, and you have to cover your mouth to muffle your laughter at his retort.
Billy slams the car door as Steve walks closer to him, the two meeting halfway. "What are you doing here, amigo?"
"I could ask you the same thing. Amigo."
"Looking for my stepsister. A little birdie told me she was here." Billy responds, not paying you any attention as you linger back in case things go south. "Huh, that's weird. I don't know her."
"Small? Red head? Bit of a bitch?"
"Doesn't ring a bell, sorry buddy." Billy nods at Steve's response, taking the cigar that was previously in his mouth into hand. "You know, I don't know, this..." He sighs and clicks his tongue before continuing. "This whole situation, Harrington, I don't know. It's giving me the heebie jeebies."
"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Billy takes an inhale of the smoke his cigarette provided before blowing it out slowly. "My 13 year old sister goes missing all day. And then I find her with you... In a strangers house? And then you lie to me about it. Not to mention you being with my date as well..." Billy says, eyes finally meeting yours. Your brain has to take a second to register that he was talking about you. Steve looks over to you with a questioning gaze.
"I never said yes to that, asshole. You just assumed." You retort, to which he smiles. "Man, were you dropped too much as a child, or what? I don't know what you don't understand about what I just said. She's not here." He smiles, licking his teeth as he takes his cigarette out of his mouth, pointing over to the window.
"Then who is that." He says. You both look over to the window to see all four kids looking through it. "Oh, shit. Listen-" Billy doesn't give him a chance to finish, pushing him to the ground. You rush over to him hurriedly.
"I told you to plant your feet." He says, kicking Steve in the stomach. You punch Billy in the stomach, but it doesn't phase him. He only pushes you out of the way before entering the house. You stumble just a bit, but don't fall. You immediately go over to Steve, helping him up to his feet.
"Are you okay???"
"As much as you can be when getting kicked in the stomach." He replies, spitting onto the ground as he walks back into the house. You follow him, and see Billy cornering Lucas into the wall. Before you can go rock his shit though, Lucas beats you to it, kicking the douchebag in the dick.
"You are SO dead Sinclair! You're dead." He states, but before he can make truth to his words Steve pushes him away.
"No. You are." And with that, he punches Billy in the face. "HELL YEAH!!!" You yell from the door. Billy only laughs at his action. "Looks like you got some fire in you after all, huh?! I've been waiting to meet this King Steve everyone's been telling me so much about!"
"Get out." Is Steve's only response, pushing him back slightly. They both stand in silence for a second before Billy throws a punch at him, Steve ducking under his arm to avoid it before tossing another punch at him.
"YES!!! KICK HIS ASS STEVE!" You and Dustin yell. Billy starts laughing again before being shut up by another punch from Steve. "GET THAT SHIT HEAD!!!"
"GET HIM STEVE!!!" Mike yells, all of you saying multiple encouraging words. You suddenly see Billy grab a glass plate from the counter. "WATCH OUT-" he throws the plate at his head before you can finish, the glass shattering immediately upon impact on Steve's head. He stumbles back, holding his head in pain.
Billy throws a punch at him, this time it lands. "No one. Tells me what to do." And with that, he slams his head into Steve's, the impact knocking the man into the ground.
Billy gets on top of him, punching him about five times before you get over there, pulling the heavy man off of him. Your nails were digging into the side of his arms. "GET THE HELL OFF HIM, BASTARD!!!" You scream, flinging him off of Steve and into the wall before throwing an impactful punch at his face as he slides down. Those many hours of working out had paid off. In your anger, you don't notice him picking up his leg to kick you in the stomach and punch you in the face with a heavy fist. You aren't phased at it, the adrenaline drowning out the pain.
You grab his arm that was about to throw another punch at your head, using his now unbalanced feet to your advantage. You throw him over your shoulder before pinning him down to the ground, putting his hands behind his back. You shove his face into the ground, gripping his hair harshly.
You wouldn't be able to hold him much longer. His struggling was becoming more and more harder to control, and your strength was leaving you. He manages to get his hands free, immediately flinging you back into the wall once he did. The breath is knocked out of you, as you watch in horror as he gets up from the ground, walking over to you menacingly. There was blood dripping down the side of his head and lip, all due to you.
He stops suddenly, stumbling as something was stabbed into the side of his neck. A syringe. Billy turns around groggily, looking at who stabbed him before his eyes lay on Max. He turns his head at the syringe, pulling it out of his neck before turning back to his step sister.
"The hell is this?" He asks, stumbling a bit as he looks at Max. "You little shit, what did you do?" His voice slurs the words together.
He then falls to the floor with a hearty 'SLAM.' His eyes still looking at Max hazily. "Shit." Mike says. You get up hastily to back everyone away from the dangerous man. He laughs in a deranged voice, obviously entertained by this whole scenario somehow.
Max then grabs Steve's bat from the side of the table before putting it up over her shoulder in a defensive position. "From here on out, you leave me and my friends alone. Do you understand?"
"Screw you." She slams the bat down between his legs at his words, almost chopping his dick clean off. He looks up at the bat nervously. She then takes it from the ground, putting it back over her shoulder.
"SAY YOU UNDERSTAND! SAY IT!!!"
"I understand." He murmurs under his breath. "What?"
"I. Under. Stand." And with that, he closes his eyes. Finally knocked unconscious. She slams the bat onto the ground, letting it clatter before she steps to his unconscious body. She grabs the keys from his pocket.
"Let's get out of here." She says, before taking off out the front door and into the car.
——————
You got all the materials you needed into the trunk of the car, except for the leftover gasoline from last year, due to the lack of space. You allowed Mike to take it into his hands and carry it. Everyone was piled into the car, Steve's unconscious body draped over your own.
Max was currently driving, due to the fact that only you had experience with medical business and could easily dress his wounds accordingly. You were also there to calm him down when he processed the situation he was in when he woke up. You knew that Max was probably the most experienced out of the kids, and you were honestly in the mood for an adrenaline rush so you said yes to her taking the wheel.
You didn't have time to dress your own wounds, so you were still bleeding profusely from your face, but you couldn't feel it due to the adrenaline still coursing through your veins. You were also very tolerant to pain due to your many years in martial arts and karate.
You can feel Steve stir from underneath you, finally waking up it seemed. You move the ice pack from his face a bit so that he could look around at his surroundings. God he's so beat up. You think to yourself, seeing his very swollen face. It was worse than it was when he fought Jonathan a year ago. You were slightly worried, but you brush it off.
"Nancy?" He says groggily to Mike. Mike looks to Steve ludicrously, and you laugh. He looks up to you. "Y/n?" You nod, and he moves his vision onto your brother.
"It's okay, you put up a good fight! He kicked your ass but you put up a good fight! You're okay." Dustin says encouragingly. Steve puts his hand up to touch his face, but before he can do so you take it into yours.
"No, no. Don't touch it. It's going to be okay, just stay calm." You reassure him, letting go of his hand so you can stroke his hair, hoping that it would calm him down. You can hear him let out a sigh, leaning into your touch slightly before he tenses up when he hears Lucas's voice from the front seat.
"Okay, you're gonna keep straight for half a mile, then make a left on Mount Sina."
"What's... Whats goin on??" He asks, his eyes trailing to Max who looks back at his voice. "Oooh my God!!!" He exclaims once he realizes that Max was driving.
"Shhh, it's all going to be okay, just relax." You say.
"Yeah, don't worry she's driven before."
"In a parking lot!" Mike exclaims. "Mike shut up! That counts!" You retort. "Listen, Steve, they were going to leave you behind."
"OH MY GOD!!"
"I promised you'd be chill, okay?" He ignores you completely, going to grab the front seat before you stop him. "WOAAAHHHH WHATS GOING ON??!!" He screams when Max hits the accelerator. "OH MY GODDD!! NO NO WOAH STOP THE CAR. SLOW DOWN."
"I told you he'd freak out!" Mike scolds you. "STOP THE CAR." He yells. "EVERYBODY SHUT UP IM TRYING TO FOCUS!" Max screams to you all.
"Oh wait! That's Mount Sinai! Make a left!"
"What?"
"MAKE A LEFT!!" She immediately turns the wheel, hitting a mailbox in the process. Everybody screams when she turns fast left, not slowing down to make the turn, almost flipping the car in the process.
Steve screams the loudest out of everyone, wrapping his arms around you for dear life as he fails his legs around in panic.
You finally reach the hole, and Max stops the car with a jolt. "AAAAHHH HELLO!" Steve screams as the car comes to an abrupt start, almost flying forward if it hadn't had been for your arms that were around his waist stopping him.
"Incredible."
"I told you. Zoomer." Max says, a smile on her face before she gets out of the car, everyone following her lead. After some struggling with Steve's limp weight, you get out as well. You open the trunk, getting out all the supplies you gathered for everyone. You see out of the corner of your eye Steve flop out of the car and onto the door, still a bit groggy from getting his ass kicked.
"Guys? Oh... Oh, no... Guys." He says as he sees you all suiting up, ready to get into the hole. He tries to stop Mike as he walks by.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Mike ignores him, going down to the hole. "Hellooooo are you deaf??? We are NOT going down there right now, I made myself CLEAR!" He exclaims, but no avail. No one was listening to him. "Hey, there is no CHANCE we are going to that hole, all right?!" You all keep moving, you make the lead down the hole, axe in hand as Dustin lingers back by the trunk to make sure you didn't forget anything.
You tie the rope you were all going to use tightly onto the car, making sure it wouldn't go anywhere and hold your weight before sliding down into the hole, helping the others down as well once you got there.
You hear Dustin and Steve come down, assuming that Dustin managed to calm him down. "Holy shit..." Steve mutters under his breath, seeing the dark tunnel you were all in. There was floating pieces of matter everywhere around you, that's what made the air toxic to breathe.
You go over to Mike to help read the map you had made. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's this way!" Mike yells to the rest of the group. "You're pretty sure or you're certain?!" Dustin calls back. "I'm 100% sure! Just follow me and you'll know!" He says, starting towards the path before Steve stops him.
"Woah, woah, woah, hey, hey, hey, I don't think so." He scolds, getting in front of Mike and snatching the paper from him. "Any of you little shits die down here, me and Y/n are getting the blame. Got it, dipshit?"
"Y/n and I..." You correct. To which he looks over to you. "Sorry." You say, looking down at your feet. "Whatever, Y/n and I are getting the blame. So, from here on out, I'm leading the way." He says, moving to the front of the line before taking off. "Come on! Hey, a little hustle!"
You sigh at his encouragement, lingering in the back until you were certain everyone else was ahead of you, taking the rear. You all race through the tunnel thanks to Steve's guidance, you were certain you were getting there in no time before you get to a place with multiple tunnels. Everyone stops to look at the vast amount of them.
"God..."
"What is this place?"
"Guys, come on, keep moving." Steve says, interrupting everyone's amazement. Dustin lingers back, leaving you to get in front of him before-
"SHIT! HELP, HELP!!!" You hear many high pitched screams that belonged to your brother, and you race back to where he was in a panic. "DUSTIN?!??" You scream back, seeing him laying on the floor, screaming and spazzing out.
You immediately take him into your arms, holding him as he screams. "ITS IN MY MOUTH!!!"
"WHATS IN YOUR MOUTH?!!??!" You cry back, you couldn't lose another family member, you couldn't. "WHAT HAPPENED??!" Steve yells, pushing everyone out of the way to get to you. "I don't know!!!" You yell back. He goes into a coughing fit, pushing you off of him and collapsing onto the ground before-
"I'm okay." You slap him on the cheek, not a hard slap but a slap nonetheless. "DAMMIT DUSTIN, YOU SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME YOU DICKWAD!" You say, pushing him to the side before walking off in a rage.
"Hang on- hang on wait- wait wait wait-" he calls to all of you as you leave him behind. You stay next to Steve for the remainder of the trip, so done with all the kids. It didn't take long for you to finally get to the place Mike was talking about.
"All right Wheeler, I think we found you hub." He says, flashing his flashlight all over the ground to uncover multiple animal bones. "Jesus... This place makes me chilled to the bone." You joke. Everyone looks to you with judge mental gazes, and you look down in shame at your weak pun. "Sorry."
"Let's drench it." Mike says after a few moments of silence. You all immediately get to work, flooding the whole place of gasoline until you were satisfied that you got every which where. You finally all regroup at the way you came.
"You ready?" Steve asks everyone.
"Yeah." Everyone says. "Light her up." You encourage, to which he sighs. "I am in such deep shit." He says.
With that, he flicks the lighter open, and throws it into the open space. The whole place immediately sets ablaze upon impact, vines start screaming in agony, flailing in attempt to get the hot fire off of them.
"Go! Let's go! Let's go!" You yell to everyone, ushering them all out. You all run back the way you came, hurrying in a panic, you taking the rear again to make sure no one got left behind.
"This way this way!" Steve yells, all of you trailing behind him in blind panic. In all the commotion you don't see Mike fall, a vine wrapping around his leg. "HELP!!! HELP!!!" He screams, and you double back. You try to swing your axe down on it, but to no avail, it did nothing.
"BACK EVERYBODY BACK!!" Steve yells, you obey and get out of the way, watching as Steve swings his bat down onto the creature, successfully severing it after three tries. You pull him to his feet as everyone checks up on him.
"Guys, we gotta go!" Dustin yells before you all freeze at the familiar sound of a Demo-dog screaming. You all turn around in fear, and you can't believe what you see.
"Dart." Dustin says, pushing his way through the group. "Dustin, get back!" You all yell to him indistinctly. He puts a hand to the back of you to hush you all up. "Stop, stop." He says, but you don't.
"Trust me. Please." He says, turning back to you all. Dart slowly edges on closer, and Dustin takes his goggles and mask off for him to recognize his face.
"Hey... Hey, it's me, it's me. It's just your friend, it's Dustin." He says, smiling down at the creature. "You remember me? Will you let us pass?" He asks, to which the monster snarls, and you all edge forward in case anything bad happened. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Im sorry about the storm cellar. That was a kinda douchey thing to do."
"Yeah, well so was eating my cat." You mutter under your breath. "You hungry? Yeah?" Dustin asks, pulling something from his backpack. "He's insane." Lucas says quietly. "Shh, shut up." Both you and Steve say at the same time.
"I've got our favorite. See? Nougat!" He says, holding it up for the monster to see before unwrapping the three musketeers candy from its package. "Eat up, buddy. Come on, come on." He says, waving for the rest of you to pass through. You all wait for him once you were through the tunnel, watching as he put his goggles and mask back on. Dart looks back sadly before going back to his Nougat.
"Goodbye buddy." Dustin says, before you all start walking towards the exit. You only get a few steps ahead before you can hear more Demo-dogs screeching in the distance.
"What was that?" Max asks hesitantly. You hear the sound again, this time closer. "They're coming!!! Run run!!!" Mike says. You all follow his demand, getting faster and faster, screaming amongst yourselves. You finally see the rope in the distance, and run ahead of everyone. Mike was the first to reach you.
"Come on, come on!!! Up up up!" You yell, giving him a boost before helping Lucas. Steve comes next to you to help the process go by quicker. Max was next before finally Dustin. You can hear the creatures screams in the distance, getting closer by the second.
"GO GO GO!!" You yell, practically throwing your brother up the rope as you see the Demo-dogs approaching you. They were too close, there was no time.
"Y/N!!! STEVE!!! HURRY!" You hear the kids scream to you both. You look over to Steve before stepping in front of him, getting your axe at the ready. He pushes you back, pulling you into a hug to protect your body from getting hurt. Your heart skips a beat when you smell the sweet scent of his Woodey cologne mixed with sweat coming from his jacket, you feel him put his head on top of yours, his fingers entangling themselves into your soft hair and his arms wrap around your shoulders for dear life. You had to admit, for this being the last moment of your life, you quite enjoyed it.
You start to cry into his chest, seeing you life flash before your eyes, waiting for the sweet release of death to come but...
It didnt.
You pick your head up from the safe feeling of comfort his chest provided, before looking around to see...
The Demo-dogs ignoring you completely. They were all running beside you, trying to get by. You and Steve look to each other in amazement to the fact that you weren't dead, before happily hugging each other again. You cry harder into his chest, squeezing you arms tightly around his body in absolute joy.
You finally separate from each other, and he gives you a boost to get up the rope, using your upper body strength to pull yourself out of the Upside Down and onto real grass.
You turn around before reaching a hand out to help Steve up as well. As soon as you both get up, the lights of Billy's car start to get considerably brighter, blinding you all. Until... It all of a sudden stopped, and you just knew.
The gate had finally been closed.
——————
A month had passed since Eleven had closed the gate to the Upside Down, and life was starting to get great again. You and El had Ice Cream nights every weekend now that usually passed over into Saturday, and it was great. The two of you really felt like sisters now.
Hawkins Lab had been shut down ever since a 'mysterious' tape found itself in the hands of the police, where Dr Owens had admitted to killing Barbara as well as covering up the full story of her dying due to 'chemical exposure.' That came from the lab.
You had a funeral for your once best friend not even a week later. It was hard for you, but Steve made it slightly less hard.
Him and Nancy finally broke up, and she was now officially with Jonathan. Even though Steve knew this would happen, he was still heartbroken when the possibility became a reality, and you were there for him every step of the way, helping him get better with the breakup.
You and him became best friends over the course of the short month, you frequently saw him at your house due to him now babysitting your brother on a regular basis, not that Dustin needed one when he had you, but you didn't complain since his presence soothed your soul.
Dustin bought you and your mom a new cat, and you named her Mochi. She would never be able to replace Mews, but you still loved the new member of the family unconditionally.
Tonight was the day of the Hawkins Middle Snow Ball dance that they hosted every year. You and Nancy would be working the drink station, while Jonathan agreed to do photography for any kids who wanted their pictures taken.
Due to this fact, you all had to get there quite early. You hear the doorbell ring just as you finished your hair. You were wearing a nicely laced black and red dress, the top being low cut with a frilly lace covering your cleavage, the bottom being red with ruffles running down the dress with a cute silver ribbon cinching your waist, a cute red bow wrapped around your neck to pull the outfit off. You put your hair up nicely into your favorite hairstyle that you always used on special occasions, and did your makeup more dramatic than you usually did, wanting to go out of your comfort zone.
Racing out of your room and into the living room, you kiss your mom goodbye before running out of the front door, not wanting to be late. You meet Nancy at the front door, and gasp at how beautiful she looked in her plaid red and black dress.
"You ready for this?" She asks you, to which you smirk. "Always."
——————
You notice a familiar red car pull up to the side of the school through the window to the side of your punch stand, seeing familiar brown eyes staring you down from in the car. "Nancy, man the fort I'll be right back!" Is all you say before bolting out the door and to the car.
"Dustin! You look quite dashing, my lord." You complement in a British accent through the car window as he gets out. "As do you, my fair lady." He plays along before going into the building. You turn around to meet Steve's gaze as you walk around the car and to his window, which was rolled down.
"Thanks for taking him, I owe you one." You say, folding your arms over the car window sill. "No, you don't, I always love watching him, you know that." He says, looking at you with admiration is his eyes. You smile to him, staring into those deep, chocolate colored eyes.
"You look beautiful tonight, Y/n." He says suddenly, making you blush at the out of the blue compliment. "You don't look too bad yourself, you doofus." You flirt back, smirking before you lean into the car door, giving him a curt kiss on the cheek.
"Night, Harrington." You say, walking off from his car door and into the building without another glance back, saluting to him. You wish you had looked back though, just to see his probably speechless and dark red face. You laugh at the thought before pushing open the glass doors and going back to the station.
"What's in this glass?" A kid comes up to the two of you. Nancy smirks to him. "Pure fuel." She responds, laughing quietly at the face he made when she gave him a cup. A romantic song suddenly comes on, and you look over to the kids to check how they were doing.
You smile giddily when you see Max and Lucas dancing together. "I've been waiting for them to do that all month long." You whisper to Nancy, to which she laughs. Will finds someone as well, but he doesn't look as enthusiastic about it. The only two left were Mike and Dustin, though not for long.
Dustin walks off to find a date, but everyone he asks seems to walk away from him in disgust. You fight the urge to go kick their asses for being so mean to your little brother. Nancy sees this too, and takes the situation into her own hands.
"Man the station for me." Is all she says, repeating the same words you had said to her before walking to Dustin. You smile to her gratefully as she takes his hand and goes to the dance floor.
Except now there was another problem at hand. Now you were bored and had no one to talk to. You saunter around at the station, pacing back and forth until you see someone you didn't expect to see at the glass door, looking around with a concerned expression on her face. You smile widely upon spotting her, and immediately go up to her.
"Hey, sweetie!!" You say, wrapping her in a hug. "I assume you're here to see Mike?" You ask, and she smiles up to you, nodding her head. "Yes."
"Well then, my lady, allow me to escort you to him." You say, bending your arm out for her to take, which she does. You both walk over to where Mike was sitting by himself, it was quite depressing. His eyes immediately light up upon seeing El.
"Hey, don't screw this up, dipshit. I know where you live." You threaten him before walking back over to the station.
You sigh, closing your eyes to the peaceful sound of 'Every Breath You Take' playing over the loud speakers of the Gym, opening them slowly to watch all of your friends happily slow dancing together.
—————-
season two is over!!! ahhhh i can't believe it, wtf guys.
also this was the longest chapter i have ever written, EVER. that's saying something
season three chapter one will be posted normal time, so don't worry about having to wait :)
next season is gonna be a doozy, so strap in for one hell of a ride. it'll be BABAM ✨action✨
BABAM ✨romance✨
BABAM ✨and angst✨
you won't wanna miss it
guys idk what i'm doing anymore, i'm going to bed before i die of sleep deprivation
don't forget to vote if you liked it!!
question of the day : what's one question you wish people would ask you?
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