***
They followed the military tracks and soon enough the sight of a helicopter appeared.
"Over there." Y/n said even though Jonathan was driving that way anyway.
"Jesus." Jonathan muttered before stepping on the escalator.
They got closer and closer and y/n kept her eyes peeled for El but as soon as Mike yelled. "There she is!"
Y/n looked and saw El on the ground ahead of them with other people laying next to her.
"Where?!" Jonathan yelled frantically since he hadn't spotted El yet.
"On the ground!" Y/n yelled.
"What are those dudes doing on the ground?" Argyle questioned as if it mattered. "Is that blood, man?"
"Shit." Jonathan said before stepping on it harder.
Y/n kept her eyes on El and saw her now standing and was throwing the Helicopter around with her powers.
They were back.
She screamed and sent the Helicopter to the ground with all her strength, creating a huge explosion.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Jonathan yelled as he steered away from the explosion.
They reached El and y/n didn't waste anymore time and hurried out of the van.
El's hearing was still muffled from the explosion that she did not hear them. She looked the same except her head was shaven like it had been when they first came across her in the woods that night that seemed like so long ago now.
"El." Y/n said as she lightly shook the girls shoulder.
El turned to her and could not believe her eyes.
"Y/n?" She said and throw her arms around her sister and hugged her tight.
Y/n felt tears well her eyes but El's were already dripping down her face.
"Are you okay?" Y/n asked over her shoulder.
"Yeah. I'm okay." El said softly as Mike and Will reached them and y/n let them into the hug.
4/7 party members were together again.
"Hey, guys," Jonathan ruined the moment. "We gotta go. We gotta get out of here."
Y/n just noticed El had some sort of collar around her neck. It unclipped by itself.
El slowly took it off and looked behind y/n, making y/n turn around and see Dr Brenner laying behind her, dying.
El dropped the collar and walked over to him. Y/n could not hear what they were saying but a few minutes later El stood up and walked away from him with a blank expression on her face and left him to die.
They all piled in the van, Mike closing the door then got the heck out of there.
"Hawkins. We need to get to Hawkins." El said frantically.
"Don't worry we will." Y/n said reassuringly.
"We need to get somewhere safe first, cause we're gonna get followed." Mike said.
"No, Mike, we need to get to Hawkins tonight." El argued and y/n could hear the panic in her voice.
"We'll never make it. That's over 2,000 miles." Jonathan said from the drivers seat.
"We need to find a way." El said, sternly. "If we don't, they are going to die."
"Who's gonna die?" Y/n asked in a scared tone.
El turned to her with a worried look on her face and didn't say anything.
"El, who's gonna die?" Will repeated y/n's question in a panicky tone.
***
Everyone in Hawkins was in danger. Especially everyone they knew and loved. Especially Max. They had to get there as soon as possible. Max was gonna die if they didn't.
They were parked at a gas station, not actually getting gas though.
Jonathan was calling many airlines to see if they could get on the next flight to Hawkins. No luck so far.
Y/n and El were in the bathroom and y/n was helping El clean the blood and dirt off her face.
"Now that's better." Y/n said as she throw the last of the paper towel she used in the bin.
El turned to look in the mirror, examining her own face for a moment before frowning at her appearance.
"What's wrong?" Y/n asked.
El didn't say anything except feel the top of her head, feeling her now short hair. She liked having her hair long and now it's gone.
"Don't worry about it." Y/n said, catching on. "You look great either way."
"Still pretty?" El questioned.
"Of course." Y/n smiled. The whole situation gave both the girls Deja vu.
(A:N see chapter 07)
The girls soon went back outside and joined the boys where Jonathan was still speaking on the phone.
"No, no. Like I said, I've tried everyone." He was saying "Yeah, TWA, Pan Am, Eastern. No it doesn't have to be one-way. I'll take one seat, if you have it. I mean, please, there has to be something that you can do. One of your family members is really, really sick, and I don't know if she's gonna make it through the night."
Jonathan went on and El started walking away from the group. Y/n groaned and leant up against the wall as she was frustrated Jonathan wasn't making any progress.
"Damn it!" He yelled and slammed the phone back on the teller.
"What did they say?" Will asked but he already knew the answer.
"Earliest is tomorrow." Jonathan replied.
"No. That's way too late." Mike said, frustrated.
"Shit." Y/n muttered.
"I know." Jonathan said as Argyle walked over from wherever he had been.
"Ask 'em if we can ride in the baggage compartment." He said.
"The baggage compartment?" Jonathan questioned to confirm.
Argyle nodded.
"We'd suffocate." Mike said.
"Dogs ride in there all the time, man." Argyle chuckled. "They don't suffocate."
"Jesus Christ." Jonathan sighed.
"Holy shit." Mike said while y/n put her face in her hands.
"I have a way." El said, walking back over to them. "A way to protect Max. From here."
Y/n shared a look with her two brothers and her boyfriend before looking back at El.
"Explain?" She said.
***
"This is Max." El said as she drew a stick figure on the condensation in the window of the van.
"When One attacks, he'll be in her mind." El continued and drew One/Henry/Vecna next to the drawing of Max.
"But I can do that too. I went into Mama's mind, into Billy's. I can go into Max's. She can carry me to Vecna. I can piggyback." She added then turned to them. "I can protect her. From one. Fight him from here."
"Mind fight. Righteous." Argyle said, smiling.
"Wait, so you actually think this can work?" Mike asked, hopefully.
"A bathtub would help." El said.
"Yeah. Gotta be clean to enter the mind." Argyle said and y/n stopped herself from laughing.
"No, no. It's a sensory deprivation tank. It helps her calm down and focus on her powers." Y/n said as she remembered how El did that to find Will.
"Wait, we just passed a motel." Will pointed out.
"Yeah, but they won't have enough salt." Mike said.
"Well, how much salt are we talking here, my dudes?" Argyle asked.
"Well, depends on the size of the tub, but a lot." Jonathan said.
"Does 600 pounds suffice?" Argyle questioned.
"You know a place that has 600 pounds of salt?" Mike asked with a confused look on his face.
Argyle moved to stand in front of El. "Let's see..." me muttered then began to take her body measurements with his own hands.
"Yep." He said. "Mmhmm." El looked frightened.
"Yep. It'll work." Argyle said cheerfully after a few seconds.
"What will work?" El asked, sounding annoyed.
"I know a magical place that has all you need, my brave, little superpowered friend." Argyle said. "That mind fight is on."
"Come on, let's go. Pronto!" Argyle said as he got in the drivers side of the van.
Y/n looked at the others confused before they all got in the van quickly anyway.
***
It didn't take long for them to reach their destination to wherever Argyle was taking them.
And when they did they piled out of the van and y/n saw they were standing in front of a Surfer Boy Pizza. The same place Argyle worked but at a different one in Nevada.
"You gotta be shitting me." Mike said.
"Trust me on this one, my dudes." Argyle said before walking towards the restaurant. Mike followed reluctantly.
They walked in and discovered the place empty except for one guy working there.
"Surfs up, my dude." Argyle said and the other Surfer boy turned around.
"Whoa." He said. "Nice shirt, my dude."
"Oh my god." Y/n mumbled when realising this guy was basically a clone of Argyle.
"Thanks, my dude." Argyle said.
"Uh, listen, I would love to feed a fellow Surfer Boy, but the kitchen closed like five minutes ago so no more pies tonight, man"The Surfer Boy said in a oddly soothing tone.
"That's alright, my dude." Argyle chuckled. "We're not here for your tasty pies. You see this weird girl behind me?" He gestured to El who smiled shyly. "She needs a tub with a bunch of salt so we can enhance her psychic power so she can save the world from this super bad dude. But to make this salty tub, we require your kitchen."
"Ah." The surfer boy nodded. "Well, it's just, uh I'm supposed to meet Chaz at Taco Bell in like ten. So..." he trailed off.
"My dude," Jonathan started and y/n couldn't help but let out a small laugh.
"We're not asking you to help for free. You ever partake in..." Jonathan continued and reached into Argyles shirt pocket and pulled out a joint. "Purple Palm Tree Delight? It'll make all your troubles float away. Like the seed pods of a dandelion in the wind."
That's all it took for the guy to leave and for them to flip the sign to closed on the door and take over the kitchen.
They walked into the kitchen and followed Argyle to the freezer.
He opened it and pulled out a frozen pizza dough.
Y/n furrowed her brows in confusion.
"First ever mind fight held in a pizza dough freezer." Argyle said. "Pretty rad, right?"
They got to work, removing everything from the freezer and unplugging it and dragging it to the centre of the room.
Y/n plugged the hose onto the tap as Mike held the hose to fill up the freezer. Argyle was making a pizza and Jonathan started loading salt into the freezer.
Will and Jonathan were still in the kitchen preparing the freezer for El while Argyle was in there too adding the final touches to his pizza while y/n sat opposite Mike out in the restaurant area while she prepared El's glasses to cover her eyes. Like she always has done.
El was standing up pacing and y/n could tell she was worried about Max.
"Okay, almost done." Y/n mumbled as she continued folding the Surfer Boy pizza cardboard glasses onto real sunglasses.
"Let me see." Mike said as y/n finished up the glasses and took them from her hand, putting them on his face.
"It's totally dark, which means it works. But I have one more important question, do I look cool?" He asked his girlfriend in a joking tone.
Y/n couldn't help but laugh as she looked at him.
"I feel like I look really cool. Are you gigging?" Mike continued as y/n was still laughing.
"You're giggling because I look awesome. I can't see it, but I know you're smiling because I look so good. Right?" He said as y/n's laughter started to calm down and she realised how much she had missed this the last couple days.
She noticed Mike's hand was sitting on the table so she moved hers on top of his. Mike quick adjusted his hand so his was holding hers. Y/n smiled at this.
"Mike," she said and he removed the glasses from his face. "I think we need to talk."
"Yeah," Mike said, suddenly becoming nervous. "I think so too cause the last few days, I...I've had to think about our talk in your bedroom, you know, before the whole world went to shit and everything—and, I dunno. I just want to—I guess— I wanted to say... I really do lo-"
"Surfs up, Romeo." Argyle interrupted and chucked the pizza he mad been making in front of them.
Y/n shrugged and picked up a slice.
"Dude, this is pineapple." Mike said in Disgust as he turned to Argyle, who was now behind him.
"Try before you deny." Argyle said.
Y/n picked up her piece before taking a bite. "Hmm it's actually good." She said.
"It's good?" Mike exclaimed. "What do you mean?"
"It's really good." Y/n nodded.
"What? That's insane. Blasphemous. Putting fruit on pizza?" Mike continued.
"Try it." Y/n said before holding the slice in her hand closer to her boyfriends face.
"No, no." Mike said and backed his face away.
"Try before you deny." Y/n reminded whilst Argyle held Mike's head in place.
"Try before you deny!" He also said.
"I'm not a dog!" Mike said. "Or a baby."
"Michael Wheeler, you must try before you deny."
Y/n said, laughing.
"No! Stop it!" Mike yelled as y/n managed to get it in his mouth.
"Wait..." he said in realisation. "It's good."
"What did I tell you?" Y/n giggled and held onto his hand again, while Mike stared at her lovingly.
Not to far away in the kitchen, Will was watching them. He turned back to the salt freezer with a sigh.
Jonathan took immediate notice. "Do you remember that time you told me you had a Lego stuck up your nose?" He started after a few seconds.
"What?" Will questioned, confused.
"Yeah, it was like a construction guy. You'd call him Larry." Jonathan continued. "Come on! You don't remember?" He added after seeing the confused look on his brothers face.
"He had the high viz jacket and the removable hat?"
"Yeah, vaguely." Will shrugged.
"Well, I remember it like it was yesterday." Jonathan said. "Man, I was freaked. Cause Larry was way, way, way up there. I don't even know how you got him that far up. I had to do surgery. I had to get tweezers to pull him out."
"Bull." Will chuckled and rolled his eyes.
"No, no, I swear on my life." Jonathan said. "Y/n probably remembers." He chuckled.
They got back to stirring and after a few seconds Jonathan let out a sigh. "I don't know, just... I feel like you used to come to me more for help. Or to just talk, you know? It feels like you don't do that anymore. Not like before. A lot of that is probably my fault. This last year...I know I've been distant."
"Or stoned." Will added.
"Or stoned. Yeah." Jonathan said. "But that has nothing to do with you. And that's me dealing with my own shit. Hiding from my own problems. The truth is, I miss talking to you. And I think right now, we need to talk more then ever. Because things are getting complicated. A lot more complicated than Legos up the nose, you know?"
Will chuckled.
"I just... I don't want you to forget that I'm here. And I'll always be here. No matter what. Because you're my brother. And I love you. And there is nothing in this world, okay? Absolutely nothing, that will ever change that. You got that?
Will felt himself tearing up. "Yeah. And I'm always here for you too."
"I know." Jonathan said then put down the mixer. "I know you are. Come here." He said then walked over and hugged his brother, tightly as Will started sobbing.
"It's gonna be okay." Jonathan said as they pulled away from the hug.
He looked back down at the tub "I think it's ready."
Authors Note
Can't believe I'm nearly done with this fanfic until S5 comes out. Also I wanna write another Stranger things character x reader one day soon. Any ideas?????
Also I published a playlist for this book if you wanna check that out, also leave your suggestions for songs I could add to it.
Also I'm tired so I'm not gonna edit this until tomorrow after school cause it's currently nearly 11pm so please comment on any spelling errors or things that don't make sense so I can fix them in the mean time :)