*(A/n: the long waited episode is finally here! Sorry it took so long, its just been hard to go through and edit on days that I've been working! Warning: lots of cursing, bit of anxious moments that may trigger a bit of anxiety, mentions of blood)*
*(Y/n)'s POV*
We were all surprised at Eleven's sudden entrance, and I was the closest to the door. I started to take the first step forward to reach out to her, but Mike ran past me. "Eleven?" Mike asked, and the two reunited first.
"Mike?" Eleven gasped, and they held on to each other longingly.
My heart started to break.
I ignored the shocked looks on everyone's faces, and heard someone make an awkward whistle sound. Eleven had tears in her eyes as Mike held her in her arms, and I saw the blood dripping down her nostril.
"Is that...?" Max whispered to me, Dustin and Lucas. I nodded.
"I never gave up on you." I heard Mike say, and it felt like he had wounded me. Was this what he was hiding from me this entire time? "I called you every night. Every night for-"
"353 days." Eleven smiled, which surprised Mike. "I heard."
"Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?"
"Because I wouldn't let her." Hopper spoke up and walked over to them. "The hell is this? Where have you been?"
"Where have you been?" She spit. At first, we thought Hopper was going to raise his voice, but then Hopper greeted her with a hug instead.
"You've been hiding her." I said out of realization, my voice hoarse.
"You've been hiding her this whole time?!" Mike asked. He angrily swiped at the chief.
"Hey!" Hopper exclaimed, grabbing Mike's arm. He took a glance at me and back at Mike. "Let's talk. Alone." Hopper took him into Will's room.
~~~
"Protecting her?" Mike raised his voice. "Protecting her?!"
"Listen." Hopper closed the door. The only person he was worried about now was (Y/n) and the way Mike had left her speechless. "Listen to me. The more people know about her, the more danger she's in. And the more danger you and your family are in-"
"Oh, what?" Mike shouted. "So, I should be thanking you?"
"I'm not asking you to thank me!" Hopper grumbled. "I'm asking you to try to understand. The way you just broke (Y/n)'s heart like that out there in front of everyone? That was well-played out there, son."
Mike's eyes widened when he heard the words utter from Hopper's mouth. "Oh, shit-." Mike muttered, placing a hand over his forehead.
"Yeah, oh shit is right." Hopper nodded which made Mike even more mad. "You need to try to understand-"
The anger inside him continued to build up anyway, from missing Eleven, and feeling guilt for hurting (Y/n). "I don't!" He roared. "I don't understand!"
"That's fine. That's fine!" Hopper said and then pointed at the door. "Just do not blame her! All right? She's upset enough as it is."
"I don't blame her!" Mike shouted, and Hopper backed away. "I blame you! I blame you!"
"That's okay, kid." Hopper scrunched his face. "That's okay."
"No!" Mike snapped, his voice cracking in between sobs. "Nothing about this is okay! Nothing about this is okay!" He punched Hopper in the stomach, which didn't really hurt Hopper, but it just pushed him back slightly.
"Oh, jeez-"
Mike continued to punch him in the gut. "You're a stupid, disgusting, lying piece of shit!"
"Okay, all right! Stop it!" Hopper said.
"LIAR! LIAR! LIAR!"
"Stop it. It's okay." Hopper was pushed back against the door, and tried to keep Mike from punching him some more. Mike cried, and his voice cracked from the anger and emotion that was built up. "You're okay, kid. You're okay."
Hopper frowned, as he held Mike in his arms to calm him down.
"I'm sorry, kid..."
~~~
*(Y/n)'s POV*
I didn't let this heartbreak fester. When I turned around to face my brother, he frowned. "Shit. (Y/n)..." Dustin started to say, but I walked over to him and said nothing but wrap my arms around him.
Lucas came over to give me a hug as well. "I'm sorry, (Y/n)." Lucas whispered to me. Max didn't say a word either.
"I'm sorry, too." Eleven spoke up and we turned around to face her. Neither of us were mad at her, and I think that's what made me hurt the most. I didn't want to be mad at my sister, but I was more upset that she didn't tell me that she had contact with Mike, and that she had feelings for him all this time.
When we stared at each other, I could see the guilt flash across her face. She reached out to me and held my hand in hers. I was just quiet, and I took back my hand.
"He should stay with you." Eleven said and I looked up at her. "All of this is my fault. I shouldn't have interfered with you two's relationship. At first, it was wanting to know if you guys were safe, and then it felt like I was missing something. I had missed Mike, but now I feel like such a jerk. I'm sorry, (Y/n), I didn't mean to hurt you."
I just pulled her in for a hug. She was surprised.
"I thought you would hate me for the things I've done," She whispered.
"I thought I was going too, but I realized how much I've missed having you around." I said. "Mike and I can sort things out later, but it sucked being powerless without you."
Dustin and Lucas came around us both with smiles. "We missed you." Lucas said.
"I missed you, too." Eleven said contently.
"We talked about you pretty much every day." Dustin chuckled.
When we parted, I watched as Eleven poked at Dustin's mouth, and he was taken aback. We exchanged odd looks and then she said, "Teeth."
"What?" Dustin and I asked.
"He has teeth."
The three of us grinned at each other. "Oh, you like these pearls?" Dustin asked, and he purred at her which made her frown. Lucas and I exchanged looks and rolled our eyes.
"Eleven?" Max asked, walking forward. She held out her hand to Eleven. "Hey, uhm, I'm Max. I've heard a lot about you."
Eleven looked nervous, and then she walked away towards Mrs. Byers who welcomed her in for a hug. "Hey, hey sweetheart."
"Can I see him?" She asked.
~~~
Mrs. Byers took Eleven into his room where he laid asleep. "He's not doing well." She said, sitting on the bed next to him. Eleven placed her hand on his shoulder.
"I know." She said. "I saw."
"What else did you see?"
Mrs. Byers walked with Eleven to the dining room. "You said that (Y/n)'s opened this gate before, right?" She asked.
"Yes." Eleven said, and the others walked over quietly.
"Do you think if we got you two back there, that she could close it?" Mrs. Byers asked, and I held my breath for just a moment.
Eleven looked at me and I stared right back at her.
What was she thinking?
~~~
"It's not like it was before." Hopper sighed. "It's grown. A lot." The rest of us had gathered in the kitchen together. "And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs."
"Demo-dogs." Dustin corrected him.
I elbowed him and he winced. "I'm sorry, what?" Hopper asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
"I said, uh, Demo-dogs. Like Demogorgon and dogs. You put them together, it sounds pretty badass-"
"How is this important right now?" Hopper asked him.
"It's not, I'm sorry." Dustin apologized and turned back around.
"I can do it." I said, and everyone looked up at me.
"You're not hearing me, (Y/n)." Hopper said.
"I'm hearing you." I crossed my arms. "I can do it."
"Even if (Y/n) can, there's still another problem." Mike said. "If the brain dies, the body dies."
"I thought that was the whole point." Max muttered.
'It is, but if we're really right about this...I mean, if (Y/n) closes the gate and El kills the mind flayer's army while she does to distract them..."
"Will's a part of that army." Lucas said.
"Closing the gate will kill him." I breathed.
We walked over to Will's room together and saw him lying there still fast asleep. Mrs. Byers noticed the windows open and the breeze coming in through. "He likes it cold." She remembered.
"What?" Hopper asked.
"It's what Will kept saying to me. He likes it cold." She walked over to shut the window. "We keep giving it what it wants."
"If this is a virus, and Will's the host, then..." Nancy said.
"Then we need to make the host uninhabitable." Jonathan finished, looking at his brother.
"So if he likes it cold..."
"We need to burn it out of him." Mrs. Byers said tightly through her teeth.
"We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time." Mike said, next to me.
"Yeah, somewhere far away." Dustin said.
Hopper wrapped Will up in a blanket and took him over his shoulders to follow Jonathan and Mrs. Byers outside. "Take Denfield, then you'll see a large oak tree. You're gonna swing a right. That road is gonna dead-end, and it's about a five-minute walk from there."
"Okay, Denfield to oak tree. Swing a right." Jonathan repeated after him. "That's it. But it's channel ten, right?"
"It's channel ten. Listen..." Hopper walked around to him after he put Will in the car. "You let me know when that thing is out of him."
~~~
"You should go with him." Steve said and Nancy looked up confused as they rummaged around the trash pile.
"What?" She asked.
"With Jonathan."
"No, I'm..." She scoffed, "I'm not just gonna leave Mike."
"No one's leaving anyone." Steve said, walking around the pile with the flashlight in his hand. "I may be a pretty shitty boyfriend, but...turns out I'm actually a pretty damn good babysitter." He held up a box and had it standing on his leg. He handed it over to her and she looked at him.
"Steve..."
"It's okay, Nance." Steve said, nodding. "It's okay."
"I..."
Steve walked away, leaving her to decide on her own.
~~~
*(Y/n)'s POV*
Everyone was saying their goodbyes, for now.
Dustin walked over to me. "What if you don't make it back?" He asked with a frown.
"Dustin..." I said, smiling. "Come on, have a little faith in me. I'll make it back to you, I promise."
"You better or I won't forgive you." Dustin pulled me in for a hug that felt like it lasted forever.
I knew what he meant though. He didn't want to go home and tell our mother that I didn't make it. That something bad had happened to me. It would crush her and it would most certainly crush Dustin's heart.
He was my family and I was his.
"I love you, sis." He said.
"I love you too, be careful." I said and he nodded in my shoulders. I watched him go back on the porch with the others.
"(Y/n)?" Mike said, before I got in the car with Eleven and the others.
I turned around slightly, "Yeah, Mike?" I placed my left hand around my right wrist nervously. Was he going to tell me off? Was he going to tell me the truth?
"I just wanted to say, I should've been there for you...All this time, I've been a really, crappy boyfriend, and the way I've been recently is inexcusable and there's probably nothing I can do to fix this, but all I wanted to say was...just be careful, okay?" The way he spoke to me, felt like the spark was back again. Like he used to be with me a year ago, before we lost Eleven and Will. "I can't lose you again..."
"You won't lose me." I whispered, and he took my hand in his. Mike pulled me over. "But, Mike, maybe we should-"
"Do you promise?" Mike asked, and my eyes lit up. "Do you promise, (Y/n)?"
"I promise." I said. We both stared at each other, not knowing if one of us will come back alive, or what. But then we started to lean in-.
"(Y/n)?" Eleven called out to me with Hopper.
"(Y/n)," Hopper said, "Come on, let's go. It's time."
I looked back at Mike and he snuck a quick kiss. I blushed, and so did he, and I knew the others couldn't wait any longer. He nodded at me, and I followed Eleven to the Chief's car and climbed in.
Mrs. Byers behind us had started hers as well.
Everyone rolled away and I looked out the window to see Mike standing at the porch with our friends. Eleven had reached for my hand at the front seat and I looked at her with a frown.
"Sister." She whispered.
"Sister." I nodded.