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dumdumsun · 5 months

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Wax and Wane

A/N: Sorry again for the late update! We're nearing the end! I wanna wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and a happy holidays!

Warnings: blood and death, mentions of vomit and blood, brief mention of overdose

Word Count: 3498

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Chapter Fourteen: The Reunion

In a swirl, the contents from Steve’s stomach were flushed down the toilet. He sighed out and rested his arm on the seat, too tired to care about how unhygienic it was. In the neighboring stall, Robin laid on her back with her legs straight up in the air and her heels resting on the door. “The room stopped spinning for me. Is it still spinning for you?”

Steve looked up at the ceiling to find it still. “Holy shit. No. You think we puked it all up?”

“Maybe. Ask me something.” She switched to a Russian accent. “Interrogate me.”

“Okay. Interrogate you. Sure. Um…” He chuckled and sat up straight. “When was the last time you, uh, peed your pants?”

“Today.”

“What?”

“When the Russian doctor took out the bone saw.”

The two burst out into laughter. “Oh, my god.” Steve exclaimed.

“It was just a little bit, though.” She giggled.

“Yeah, it’s definitely still in her system.” He heartfeltly groaned as he pinched his nose. Robin heard this and laughed a bit harder as she sat up and leaned against the wall.

“Oh…” She sighed out the last of her laughs. “Alright, my turn.”

“Okay. Hit me.”

She ran her hand through her locks as she thought of a question. “Have you ever… ever been in love?”

There were a couple beats of silence before he answered. “Yep. Nancy Wheeler. First semester, senior year.” He made his hand in the shape of a gun and imitated a gunshot sound playfully.

“Oh, my god…” Robin groaned. “She’s such a priss.”

He hummed. “Turns out, not really.”

“Are you still in love with Nancy?” She scoffed.

“No.”

“Why not?”

Steve stared off as a thoughtful look came about his features. “I think it’s because I found someone who’s a little bit better for me.” He chuckled. “It’s crazy. Ever since Dustin got home, he’s been saying, ‘You know, you gotta find your Suzie. You gotta find your Suzie’.”

Robin furrowed her brows. “Wait, who’s Suzie?”

“It’s some girl from camp, I guess his girlfriend. To be honest with you, I’m not a hundred percent sure she’s even real.” He ran a hand through his hair with a small laugh before he exhaled out his humor. “But that’s not- that’s not really the point. That doesn’t matter. The point is, this girl, you know, the one that I like… it’s somebody that I… didn’t even talk to in school. And I don’t even know why.”

Heart stuttering, Robin thought of their conversation they had while in captivity as she let him talk.

“Maybe ‘cause Tommy H would’ve made fun of me or… I wouldn’t be… prom king.” He shamefully shook his head. “It’s stupid. I mean, Dustin’s right, it’s all just a bunch of bullshit anyways. Because when I think about it, I should’ve been hanging out with this girl the whole time.”

Her stomach churned and she felt like she was going to throw up all over again, and not because of the drugs.

“First of all, she’s hilarious. She’s so funny. I feel like, this summer, I have laughed harder than I have laughed… in a really long time.”

She grinned, knowing that she was the one Steve had spent the most time with this summer.

“And she’s smart. Way smarter than me. You know, she can crack, like, top secret Russian codes and…”

But that grin fell as her heart broke. Not for herself, but for her friend. His confidence in his confession hurt her more than anyone would have thought.

“You know? She’s honestly unlike anyone I’ve ever even met before.”

Robin buried her head into her knees, having no idea how to respond. He thought so highly of her, and she had not a clue as to how to break the news to him. She ran both hands through her hair and tiredly scrubbed at her face.

“Robin?” Steve tapped on the stall wall, unable to see the tears in her eyes when she lifted her head. “Robin, did you just OD in there?”

“No.” She quietly answered with a sigh, slowly leaning back against the tiled wall once again. “I… am still alive.”

This was unlike her, he knew it. The deep sigh that sounded from her stall worried him a bit. So, he scooted over to the wall, grabbed the bottom of it and slid through the gap to her stall.

“The floor’s disgusting.” She watched him lean against the wall across from her.

“Yeah, well,” He hummed. “I already got a bunch of blood and puke on my shirt, so… What do you think?”

She raised her brows. “About?”

“This girl.”

“She sounds awesome.”

“She is awesome. And what about the guy?”

“I think he’s on drugs, and he’s not thinking straight.”

“Really? ‘Cause I think he’s thinking a lot more clearly than usual.”

Any amusement on Robin’s face was gone. “He’s not.” She inhaled a shuddering breath and rapidly blinked to keep the tears at bay. “Look… he doesn’t even know this girl. And if he did know her, like- like really know her, I don’t think he’d even want to be her friend.”

Steve shook his head and leaned forward to be closer to her. “No, that’s not true. No way is that true.”

“Listen to me, Steve.” She looked deeply into his eyes. “It shocked me to my core, but I like you. I really like you. But I’m not like your other friends. And I’m not like Nancy Wheeler.”

He chuckled. “Robin, that’s exactly why I like you.”

She scoffed, having no choice but to tell him the truth. “Do you remember what I said about Click’s class? About me being jealous and, like, obsessed?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, confused at the way she tightly shut her eyes.

“It isn’t because I had a crush on you. It’s because…” A heartbroken, twitching smile made its way onto her face. “...she wouldn’t stop staring at you.”

Steve furrowed his brows in confusion. “Mrs Click?” He tried, even more confused at her tired chuckle and the way her eyes averted and sparkled with a sort of admiration.

“Tammy Thompson.” She whispered. “I wanted her to look at me. But… she couldn’t pull her eyes away from you and your… stupid hair.”

Okay, now he was seriously confused.

“And I didn’t understand, because you would get bagel crumbs all over the floor. And you asked dumb questions. And you were a douchebag. And- And you didn’t even like her and… I would go home… and just scream into my pillow…”

Steve shook his head, trying his best to understand this situation. “But Tammy Thompson’s a girl.”

If possible, her expression became even more heartbroken. “Steve…”

“Yeah?”

She gave him a look, one that just made everything click.

Tammy Thompson’s a girl.

“Oh…”

“Oh.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah… Holy shit.”

The two fell into an uncomfortable silence. Robin couldn’t even look at Steve, certain she had just lost a really cool, really sweet, really funny, really caring, really good friend. She didn’t find those very often, and the fact that she would lose one for just being herself, well…

That was the story of her life.

Steve, on the other hand, didn’t know what to think. The revelation didn’t put any sour feelings in him towards Robin, it just shone a light on their entire relationship. Robin is a very vocal person, ready to speak her mind. If she liked him, she would have said it a long time ago. She wouldn’t have kept it a secret unless it was something that would have damaged their relationship, like revealing a part of herself anyone else would have hated her for.

But not Steve. He wasn’t like that. In fact, her bravery probably made him appreciate his friend even more.

“Steve…” She looked at him in desperation, begging him to say something, anything. “Did you OD over there?”

He smiled. “No, I just, uh… just thinking.”

“Okay…” She whispered, nervously tugging at her earlobe. She was certain he was about to end their friendship right then and there.

“I mean, yeah.” He shrugged, grabbing her attention. “Tammy Thompson, you know, she’s cute and all, but… I mean, she’s a total dud.”

Robin frowned. “She is not.”

“Yes, she is. She wants to be, like, a singer. She wants to move to, like, Nashville and shit.”

“She has dreams.”

“She can’t even hold a tune. She’s practically tone-deaf. Have you heard her?”

Robin dropped her jaw, not wanting to agree with him, but she smiled at the thought of her crush being a terrible singer.

“All the time.” Steve continued, starting to sing off key. “You see me now tonight-”

“Shut up.” She laughed.

“You see me more than-”

“She does not sound like that.”

“She sounds exactly like- That’s a great impersonation of her.”

“She does not. You sound like a Muppet.”

“She sounds like a Muppet. She sounds like a Muppet giving birth.”

Robin laughed as he started to sing again, this time trying to imitate Kermit the Frog.

“And if you could hold me tight…”

She grinned and joined in.

“We’ll be holding on forever!”

“Exactly!”

“I know!”

Their giggle fest was momentarily interrupted when the bathroom door burst open again, Dustin angrily walking in with Erica in tow.

“Okay. What the hell?!”

As soon as they looked at each other again, their laughter started up again, making them appear as if they were still drugged.

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Bradley’s Big Buy welcomed in Billy Hargrove, his boots crunching on the glass left there by its previous occupants. He stopped at the entrance, his senses reaching out for a presence. For Eleven. For his protector.

His senses pulled him to the medicine aisle.

They grew stronger as soon as he was in the aisle, finding a small puddle of blood among a litter of used medical supplies. It bubbled and swirled as he walked over and knelt down in front of it. He dipped his middle and index finger into the blood and brought it close to his face.

Immediately, his head snapped up, pupils dilated and black veins in the whites of his eyes. He knew where she was. And based on the presence he felt in the bathroom, they were together.

At the Hawkins Fun Fair, Karen entered the Gravitron, pulling her daughter and husband along with her. “How does this work?” Ted asked.

“You just lean against the wall and then all of a sudden, you’re gonna feel the wind push you back and it’s gonna-”

“Hold on. Do we have seat belts?”

“No, no, there’s no- Joyce!” Karen lit up at the sight of Joyce Byers rushing up to her with Chief Jim Hopper following behind. “Oh, my gosh! How funny to see you here!”

Joyce gave her a strained smile. “Where are the kids?”

“I… I haven’t seen them. I don’t think they’re here yet.”

From the middle of the ride, the operator craned her neck to them. “You three, up against the wall!”

But Hopper ignored her and turned back to Karen. “No, where are they?”

She chuckled and looked down in thought. “Oh, my gosh, I can hardly keep track these days. Uh, they were at, uh… Dustin’s then Lucas’s, then Max’s.” She shrugged uselessly with a smile. “You know how it is. Summer!”

Ted chuckled with a nod from where he was leaning against the wall beside Holly. “Probably getting into some kinda trouble.”

Suddenly, the ride alarm blared, the door to the only entrance and exit dropping closed. “Last warning, you two! Up against the wall!”

“Hold the ride!” Hopper retaliated.

“On your life, Magnum!”

As soon as the lever was pulled, Joyce and Hopper were thrown against the wall. The floor dropped from below their feet and the ride began to spin. Ted groaned uncomfortably as Karen grinned in exhilaration.

“Woo! Here we go!”

“Holy smokes! Holy smokes!”

They were so entranced by the ride that they didn’t notice Joyce and Hopper clasp hands, interlocking their fingers together.

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The ending of Back to the Future brought life back into the mall, a whole crowd of people exiting the theater in enthusiastic chatter. This was a perfect opportunity for the quartet to slip through and blend in. Dustin creaked the door open, watching the crowd grow bigger as more people filed out.

“And… blend.”

With that, the four exited the bathroom and casually walked into the middle of the crowd, keeping their eyes forward. “Well, shit, that worked.” Erica smirked and turned to Dustin.

“Course, it worked.” He smiled. “We just have to get on the bus with the rest of these plebes, and home sweet home, here we come.”

Steve tilted his head downward and moved his eyes to his friend. “Uh, Dustin?”

“What?”

“Yeah, we might not wanna go to your house.”

“Why?”

“Well, I might’ve told them your full name.”

Dustin widened his eyes, trying his best not to shout in a rage. “What is wrong with you?!”

“Dude, I was drugged.”

“So?”

“So, you resist. You tough it out. You tough it out like a man.”

“Oh, yeah, it’s easy for you to say.”

“Guys?”

At Robin’s interruption, they focused their gaze forward and froze in their spots. Near the entrance of the mall, one of the guards that had spotted them at the back of the mall was now there, acting as mall security. He had just been talking to a regular citizen and bid them farewell before he slowly turned his head, catching sight of his targets.

“Abort.” Dustin spun around. “Abort.”

Without a second to waste, the group turned with him and rushed through the crowd. Robin led them all to the escalators, but with the mall closing for the night, they had been turned off. They stopped for a quick second to weigh their options, but when they saw the four Russians heading their way, Robin sat in the space between the two escalators, saving time by sliding down. Next down was Steve, then Dustin, then Erica.

At the Fun Fair, Karen and her family had exited the Gravitron behind Hopper and Joyce when a man could be seen screaming at them from the carnival games. She watched in confusion as Hopper grabbed Joyce by the hand and darted to the left. The two stopped for a second, looked at each other, and then dashed between two game stalls.

“They make an odd couple, don’t they?” Karen asked with narrowed eyes, clutching Holly’s hand beside her. She felt Ted come up behind her and place a hand on her shoulder.

“Well, it’s like they say, there’s someone for everyone.”

Karen glanced over at her husband before turning forward again, rolling her eyes with a deep sigh. Yes, there was someone for everyone. And of all people, her someone just so happened to be Ted Wheeler.

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The quartet’s terrified hearts beat as one from where they hid. In all of the places to hide, they hid in the openness of the food court, finding coverage behind a counter of one of the restaurants. They could hear the Russians speaking to each other in their language as their footsteps scattered across the area.

Dustin had nearly fallen on his face on the way to his hiding place, resulting in a quiet squeak of his sneakers against the tile floor. He quickly tucked himself between Robin and Steve with Erica on the other side of the former. The four pulled their knees close to their chests and tried to regulate and quiet their breathing. The guards were drawing closer, their footsteps louder every time they stepped.

They had no plan, no chance for an escape, and no one to know where they were. They were ready to accept their fate, to let these men take them away or maybe flat out shoot them to death.

They all flinched at the sound of a car alarm echoing throughout the food court. There were Russian words of confusion, then a huge crash, and then silence. The four behind the counter slowly rose to their feet to get a look at what just happened.

The Russian guards laid on the ground, most likely dead, glass shards across the tiles, and the car that sat proudly in the middle of the mall now overturned against another food counter on the other side of the food court.

What just happened?

Slowly turning their heads upwards, they could see two very familiar people on the balcony. El and Doc stood side-by-side, their hands clasped together. The rest of the Party, plus Nancy and Jonathan, rushed up to their sides with looks of shock.

But Dustin could only grin at his saviors.

The two groups met each other in the middle of the food court with Doc and Mike helping Eleven walk. Dustin ran up to them with an excited laugh. “You flung that thing like a Hot Wheel!” He exclaimed and hugged the two girls tight, receiving the affection right back.

“Oh, my god, I am so happy to see you right now!” Doc pulled away enough to press a hard kiss to his cheek.

Erica rushed up to her brother. “Lucas?!”

“What are you doing here?!” He gawked.

“Ask them.” She jutted her thumb to her group. “It’s their fault.”

“True, yeah.” Steve nodded. “Totally true. It’s absolutely our fault.”

Robin looked back and forth between the car and the new group. “I don’t understand what happened to that car.”

“El and (Y/N) have superpowers.” Dustin pointed to them.

“I’m sorry?”

“Superpowers.” Steve waved. “They threw it with their minds. C’mon, catch up.”

“That’s El?” Erica pointed to said girl.

“Who’s El?” Robin questioned.

“I’m sorry,” Nancy spoke up. “Who are you?”

“I’m Robin. I work with Steve.”

Dustin excitedly pointed to Robin. “She cracked the top secret code.”

“Yeah,” Steve nodded. “Which is how we found out about the Russians in the first place.”

“Russians?” Jonathan frowned. “Wait, what Russians?”

“The Russians!” He gestured to the car.

“Those were Russians?” Max raised her brows.

“Some of them.” Erica answered.

“What are you talking about?” Lucas asked.

“Didn’t you hear our code red?” Dustin looked to him.

“Yeah,” Mike spoke up. “I couldn’t understand half of what you were saying.”

“Goddamn low battery!”

Steve sighed exasperatedly. “How many times do I have to tell you with the low battery?”

“Well, everything worked out, didn’t it?”

“Worked out?” Erica turned to him. “We almost died.”

“Yeah, but we didn’t, did we?”

Doc let out a sharp exhale and waved her hands about. “Okay, wait. So, the Russians are the ones opening the gate? How?”

“Okay, so, they have this massive machine…”

His words drifted off in her ears, her senses picking up on a nearby presence. She shuddered and turned her body in search of it. When she did, she saw El standing a little ways away from the group, slowly limping forward.

“El?”

Doc’s call was muffled, the droning noise in El’s ears too powerful for her to make out any of the voices around her. She looked a mess, dark circles decorating the underside of her eyes and she was leaking blood from both her nostrils. As the droning grew louder, she quietly groaned and reached her hands up to her ears to block it out, but it only isolated it.

Doc rushed up to her just as she fell to the floor. “El!” She cried out, everyone following as Doc slowly turned her to lay on her back. “El?”

“What’s wrong with her?” Erica asked as she and Mike knelt down on her other side.

“El, hey, what’s wrong? What’s wrong?”

“My leg,” El groaned. “My leg.”

Suspicions rising, Doc hovered her hand over where El’s leg was, her entire hand painted in black veins. “I knew it.” She whispered and slowly lifted her pant leg to reveal her blood-soaked bandages. Jonathan and Nancy made quick work of peeling off the bandages. When it was exposed, everyone groaned in disgust at its worsened state. It didn’t make sense, they had disinfected the wound. But now, it had darkened and looked to be horribly infected, black veins growing from the wound.

“I know what this is.” Doc voiced.

“What? What is it?” Mike questioned.

Before she could answer, something began moving in her shin, under her skin. Everyone gasped in horror as El grunted in pain. Doc slowly hovered her hand over the wound again, the creature within quickly moving away, causing El to wail out. Mike quickly turned to her.

“El! El!”

When the creature jerked away again from Doc’s hand, El wailed again. “Shit.” Doc whispered.

“El! El, are you okay?!” Mike panicked, but she wasn’t answering. Everyone looked around at each other, completely clueless as to what to do. “El! El! El!”

The creature moved again, causing El to throw her head back and let out a scream of agony.

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#stranger things #stranger things fic #stranger things x reader #st #st fic #st x reader #mike wheeler #dustin henderson #lucas sinclair #will byers #eleven #jane hopper #max mayfield #lost and found #break and mend #wax and wane

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dumdumsun · 5 months

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Wax and Wane

A/N: And finally, Chapter Sixteen! Thank you to everyone who has taken time out of their lives to read this installment. I've gone through hell and back throughout the writing, editing and uploading process of this one. And I'm just talking about my personal life.

I've had a very rough few months and I'm still not in a good place at all, but I'm hoping winter break coming up will give me the time I need to heal and get back to my normal self. Because I do not like the way I've been feeling lately.

I'm sorry for all the late uploads, the shows I was doing had me forgetting all about you guys, but I'm v grateful for everyone who still supports me and this series. The next installment will take quite some time to write, seeing as I'm not even done outlining it. But I sure as hell am not going to ignore it, so don't ever doubt that.

I'm so sorry for the way I ended this installment (I'm not sorry at all, actually), the vision for this has been here since I had the idea to make this series. But anyways, thank you once again for your love and support, see the end of this chapter for anything about the next book, and enjoy the final chapter ❤️

Warnings: major character deaths, minor character death, violence, blood, death/dying, mentions of blood, death, blood and guns

Word Count: 8976

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Chapter Sixteen: Heart to Heart

El wasn’t sure at all where Mike and Max were taking her, and she was certain they didn’t know, either. As far away from Billy would be ideal, but they couldn’t stay in the mall. It was too dangerous and it wasn’t where their friends were. They hadn’t seen where they went, but it was clear they were now gone.

“In here. In here.” Mike directed them into an open room where an elevator shaft was. “Okay. Come on, come on, come on…” He muttered as he repeatedly hit the button.

“Where’s (Y/N)?” Max suddenly asked, and just like that, another wave of panic went through the three. Doc was nowhere in sight. To put Mike’s terrified look at ease, Max decided to take a look back into the hallway in search of her friend.

Instead, she found her brother.

His skin was completely decorated in pulsing black veins, his matted hair stuck to his face with sweat, his tank top was torn in places and covered in sweat stains. Max widened her eyes as he limped down the hall towards her, towards El. There was no question about it, he had to have been responsible for Doc’s disappearance.

“Billy…”

At the sound of his name, Mike and El whipped around. Max teared up as he continued forward.

“Billy, you don’t have to do this.”

She knew that if she didn’t get through to him, he would hurt her, then Mike, then Eleven. She just hoped her words would reach him.

“Billy. Your name’s Billy, Billy Hargrove.”

He was far too close for comfort.

“You live on 4819 Cherry Lane.”

Her voice rose in panic as she watched him ready his arm.

“Billy, please, I’m Max, I’m your-”

Max was smacked across the face hard enough to send her to the ground, unconscious. Billy turned into the room, spotting Mike standing protectively in front of El. The boy threw himself at Billy, but was thrown into the metal pipes against the wall, knocking him out when his head slammed into them.

El let out a yell as she stretched her arm out to him, but Billy had used the same move he had on Doc. He shoved her arm down, grabbed her face, and rammed her head into the wall, then threw her across the room into another wall. Huffing out his breaths, Billy picked her up from the ground and slung her over his shoulder, striding back into the hallways.

Doc was dead.

There was no doubt that the blood loss and the head trauma had drained her completely and killed her. She couldn’t feel anything, she couldn’t hear anything, she couldn’t see anything. There was just darkness. It was sad, she thought, that there was nothing after all the trauma she had gone through. No paradise, not even more turmoil. Just her and her thoughts.

Then there was sound. It was faint, a bit muffled, but it was sound. Then there was feeling. The dull throb in her side, in her forehead, in her temple. Then there was sight. Her tired eyes creaked open to get a blurry image of the ruined Starcourt Mall food court. It was exactly as she had left it, shattered glass, the setup of tables in disarray, the skylight broken in.

The Mind Flayer. It loomed menacingly before the night sky, peering down at Doc with a tilted head, as if it were challenging her. She went to move, but found herself bound on the small staircase by rope. Where the rope came from was a mystery to her, but that was the least of her worries. Above her was the Mind Flayer, planning to wreak havoc, none of her friends in sight, and unable to move any of her limbs.

A very twisted idea of the afterlife.

Doc slumped against the wall behind her just as she heard footsteps nearby. Her body ached too bad for her to twist around, so she waited for the unknown figure to show themselves.

Her eyes widened when Billy passed by her, carrying Eleven over his shoulder. When he reached the top of the staircase, he hoisted her off his shoulder and into his arms before gently laying her on the floor. From where Doc was, she could see her sister coming to, slowly blinking her eyes open as Billy neared her ear.

“Don’t be afraid.” He whispered. “It’ll be over soon. Just try and stay… very still.”

Both Eleven and Doc followed Billy’s gaze as he looked up into the night. The Mind Flayer’s silhouette lowered until the light of the mall cast away the shadows and revealed its fleshy form. It snarled as it stepped towards El, readying a tentacle from its mouth. Doc watched with teary eyes as El whimpered and tried to scoot away. She tried to muster up as much energy as she could to fight against the rope, but her head spun with every move she made. She couldn’t let it end like this.

A colorful explosion went off in the side of the monster’s head, causing it to wail and stumble about. From the second floor balcony, Lucas stood with his homemade stick of dynamite, the explosives sporting a spark that ran down the fuse.

“Flay this, you ugly piece of shit!”

He launched the firework right into the mouth of the monster, exploding in yellow and orange sparks that painted the mall in bright lights. Nancy and Jonathan chucked their explosives at it as well from a different area on the balcony, the Mind Flayer crashing into a nearby pillar.

“Hey, asshole!” Steve screamed from another side of the balcony with Robin at his side. “Over here!”

Just as the Mind Flayer turned to him, another firework was launched into its agape mouth, this time exploding in reds and pinks. Will ran to Lucas’s side and joined in, hurling his explosive off the balcony. Each time the monster was hit, Billy cried out in pain and jolted his body.

“El!” Doc called out, catching her sister’s attention. “Help me get out of this!”

El took one look at Billy before scooting backwards towards Doc, unable to stand due to her leg. She fully turned around and hurriedly crawled over to her.

“Watch out!” Doc suddenly screamed just as Billy caught up to El and grabbed her by her injured leg, dragging her across the floor and back to her original place. “Eleven!!!”

“Doc!!!”

Billy flipped Eleven so she was facing him and grabbed her by her collar, slamming her back down onto the ground. Showers of sparks rained down in brilliant bursts of yellows and oranges and reds and pinks, the Mind Flayer stumbling and crashing about the area into walls and pillars. Doc watched with a sort of amazement she couldn’t quite describe, hinted with terror. Everyone was at risk right now except for her, and she could barely move.

“We’re almost out!” Will screamed when he turned to the nearly empty basket containing the explosives.

“I know!” Lucas shouted back before throwing another. Noticing this, Steve quickly brought his walkie up to his mouth.

“Dustin! We’re out of time!”

“Hurry!” He could hear Dustin scream, but he wasn’t talking to him. He was talking to Joyce and Hopper, who were tasked with turning off the machine that was blasting a hole between dimensions. “Close it now! Close it!!!”

Back in the employee halls, next to the elevator, Max was coming to. Her face hurt like hell, the girl sporting a bruise along her cheekbone where she’d been hit by-

Billy.

Gasping, she lifted her aching head and looked around the flickering room, finding Mike not too far from her on the ground. He had yet to awake, meaning he was just as clueless as her. “Mike…”

She painfully got to her knees and crawled over to him. “Mike. Mike.” When he didn’t answer, she began to shake him as hard as she could. “Mike. Mike. Mike, get up. Mike, can you hear me? Mike! Mike!”

With a startled sound, he was flinching awake.

“Hey, come on.” She grabbed him by the arms and helped him to his feet, silently wincing at the blood dripping from the bridge of his nose and across his cheek. “You okay?”

Mike dazedly let his gaze wander in search of two figures he had yet to see. “Where’s El and Doc?”

The two bolted down the hallways, trying to blink past the flickering lights. They strained to listen for footsteps that weren’t theirs, but their hearts were beating too loud in their ears to hear anything else.

“Wait, wait.”

Mike dropped to the floor when he almost tripped on a piece of fabric. Max stopped at his side and watched as he carefully picked up a black headscarf with red raven feather print on it.

“Isn’t that (Y/N)’s?” Max shuddered.

Mike’s stare turned cold.

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Doc moved against her bindings, her body crying out in protest with every inch she moved. She needed to get out there and help. Billy was still atop of El, the man clearly wanting to end her, but every time the monster nearby was hit, so was he. With every burst of color, his body jolted and tensed, the man growling in pain. Even from where she was sitting, she could see that El had realized the same thing.

Billy was still in there.

In the Void, Doc tried to twist her arm from Billy’s hand, El barely able to make him budge. His teary eyes didn’t stray from Doc, only locking harder on her.

“El,” She weakly called out, El snapping her head over to her with wide eyes. “He showed us so much hate and fear!”

The woman lovingly laughed before happily whooping and cheering, clapping her hands for someone who wasn’t El. They turned to see a little boy with a surfboard in his hands running towards the woman, scaring off the rest of the seagulls nearby.

“But the first thing he showed us was something beautiful!”

“Get away from me!” She ripped her arm from his grip, picking up a plate and throwing it at him. “I said, get away!”

“You- You whore!”

Billy shot out of his seat and ran up to his father, throwing himself at him. “Stop it! Don’t hurt her! Don’t hurt her!”

Doc inhaled shakily. “There were so many horrible things, but that was what he wanted to show us first!”

His grin grew at the kiss she planted on his forehead. “That was at least seven feet!”

“That’s the source, El! The real source!”

El’s wide gaze returned to Billy when the literal whirlwind of memories resurfaced in her mind. She latched onto the most beautiful thing she could remember and shakily gasped. “Seven… feet.”

Billy halted, brows furrowed.

“You told her… the wave was seven feet.”

Green sparked above him as tears swam in his blue stare. It’s like he could still hear her cheers for him, her loving laugh as she whooped. Suddenly, it was becoming difficult to breathe.

“You ran to her, on the beach.” El tearfully continued.

He could feel his bare feet splashing in the warm water, his board falling from his arms as he ran to her with a proud, excited grin.

“There were seagulls.”

Yes, he could hear their caws growing distant the farther they flew away. He had carelessly scared them off in his haste to her. He tilted his head at Eleven, bathed in red as his eyes widened at her.

“She wore a hat… with a blue ribbon.”

He gasped. It was becoming clearer now.

“A long dress… with a blue and red flower.”

It beautifully blew in the wind as she gazed at him.

“Yell- Yellow sandals, covered in sand.”

Pinks poured behind him as he looked off in thought. He painted the picture, her picture, in his mind so vividly. It was like she was never gone.

“She was pretty.”

He let his eyes softly close so he could repaint the way her lips stretched back and curled into a lovely, toothy smile that reached her tender eyes, her joyous laughter that followed. And he smiled at the memory.

“She was really pretty…”

When Billy opened his eyes, Eleven was illuminated by blue, then green, then yellow, then a darker blue. She was crying. Crying for him. Smiling for what used to be him, what used to make him the person he used to be. And he smiled back, nodding in agreement, in remembrance.

“And you…” She sharply inhaled. “...you were happy.”

Green washed over him as he thought of that little boy, standing at the edge of the water, a surfboard bigger than himself under his arm, a smile too wide for his face directed at his mother. He had never smiled that bright or that genuine since then. He never wanted to, never needed to.

He felt fingertips brush against his cheekbone, but he didn’t flinch. He allowed Eleven to cup his face in her hand, closed his eyes and even leant into it. It had been so long since he felt a comforting touch. Not one that left scratches and bruises and blood. But one that made him feel warm and cared for. Safe.

The green melted to blue over his face as he slowly blinked his eyes open.

From the balcony, Nancy held her last set of explosives up to Jonathan. “Hit me.” She nodded, her boyfriend lighting the fuse. Once she could feel the heat of it near her hand, she hurled it off the balcony with a grunt. Lucas’s followed right after and they burst two seconds from each other in pinks and purples.

“We’re out!” Will screamed, holding up the empty basket.

“Dammit!”

Doc felt the roar of the Mind Flayer in her chest as she flexed out her fingers, her power rushing to the tips of them. She wiggled them through the small gaps in the rope and touched them to the fabric. She painfully grunted as she focused on tearing away her bindings. The pain in her head and side throbbed with every pulse of her power, but she continued on.

Billy looked up at the Mind Flayer, who was no longer being assaulted by colorful bursts of gunpowder. The man stood to his feet and Eleven feared that she had reached for Billy only to be shoved to her death. Neither she nor Doc had seen Max and Mike rush in through Scoops Ahoy, stopping abruptly at the threshold of the parlor in shock.

El scooted away, closer to her sister, as a terrifying tentacle crawled from the mouth of the monster, its teeth gnashing at her. When it shot itself at her, she used her arms to block her face, ready for the pain.

But it never came.

When she uncovered her vision, she was able to see Billy holding off the tentacle with his bare hands. “No!” He screamed, straining against the strength of the monster. It screeched and pushed back against Billy, readying one, then two, then four more tentacles.

“No!!!” Doc screamed, but she was too late.

Billy screamed in agony when one of them sunk its teeth into his side. But his hold loosened when another went into his other side.

“No, no, no!” Doc cried, blinking past her bleary vision as she charged her power higher, the fabric of the rope unraveling from itself. She couldn’t let anyone else die. “Come on! Come on!!!”

Billy limply dropped his arms when several more tentacles pierced into his stomach, his spine, between his shoulder blades.

“Close it now!!!” Dustin shouted from Steve’s walkie. “Close it!!!”

Billy fell to his knees, arms out wide, as if daring the Mind Flayer to hit him again. He even released a war scream past the black blood spilling from his lips.

Doc let out a short yell when the rope fell in bits of itself to the ground, the girl falling forward and holding herself up on wobbling hands and knees. But once again, she was too late. The Mind Flayer had sent one more tentacle right through the center of Billy’s chest, silencing his screaming.

“Billy!!!”

At the sound of Max’s shrill scream, Doc weakly raised her head to watch the Mind Flayer rip all its tentacles from Billy’s body, the man falling to the ground, silent.

No. This wasn’t how it was supposed to end. Not after Brenda. No one else was supposed to die except for her. Except for Doc. She couldn’t let this go on any further. There was no telling when Joyce and Hopper would close the gate, so she had to take matters into her own hands.

The world tilted and spun the whole journey to her feet. She sobbed a bit as she forced her back to straighten. It amazed her how much blood was stored and pumped within the human body, because she believed she had run out multiple times from the moment she was bitten. But she pushed on, muscling her way to where Billy once stood.

“Doc.”

She stopped short when she felt a hand on her ankle. Doc looked down to see Eleven gripping her. “D-Don’t.”

“Let go, Eleven.”

“Please.”

Doc tried a smile, heaving her breaths. “It’s okay… Let go. I’ll be okay,” She mustered the strength to free her ankle. “I got you and I love you.”

Eleven didn’t have to say it back because Doc knew. She wasn’t planning on a goodbye, she just wasn’t sure how what she was about to do would affect her mind. Turning her head forward, Doc fought to keep her eyes open and stretched both her arms toward the Mind Flayer. It stepped closer to her, inspecting her up close, awaiting her next move.

“I should’ve done this a long time ago.”

Doc grunted as she curled her fingers, the monster shrieking and recoiling away from her. She felt the black veins spreading from her fingertips to her shoulders. Both her arms shook uncontrollably as she reached her power right into the mind of the monster. A deep gasp lurched from her as the veins spread up her neck and face, surrounding her bloodshot eyes that rolled to the back of her head.

Every single victim of the Mind Flayer called out to her. Their screams and pleads and murmurs crescendoed and decrescendoed in echoing harmonies that made her head swim more. They each showed her the day they were flayed. It started with Heather, then Tom and Janet and Brenda, then Bruce, then so many civilians that she had seen walking around town.

Classmates from school.

Neighbors on her cul-de-sac.

They showed her nothing but fear and horror and gore, their faces smothered by the Mind Flayer’s tentacles, the sludge forced into their bodies. The suffering they’d all gone through shook her to her core so bad, she was screaming out sobs. It was the hardest she had ever cried.

Taking a step forward, she moved past the memories and the screams to tear into the monster. It screeched and stumbled about to escape from her, but she had it in her grasp. Doc screamed so loud, she didn’t feel her feet leaving the ground, didn’t feel her body levitating higher and higher. All she could process was the overwhelming desire to kill this entity. Put an end to everyone’s suffering.

If it wanted a queen, then it would receive her.

Everyone watched in awe as Doc rose above the Mind Flayer, bringing it down to its metaphorical-but-possible knees as she tore into its stolen flesh. She had never felt so powerful. She wasn’t healing what had been hurt, but she was taking away the pain.

It was what her powers were for. It was what she was for. She was pushing herself beyond limits she never had before. If it wasn’t the splitting headache telling her that, then it was the blood dribbling from her nose for the first time. And even though her skin felt like it was on fire, her head was pounding, her wounds were widening, her vision was blackening and the black veins were practically encasing her whole body, she was so proud of herself.

Doc didn’t even notice the Mind Flayer aiming a tentacle for her.

She didn’t hear the warning screams from her friends.

She didn’t even feel the tentacle pierce her in the stomach.

It wasn’t until it had driven through her back that she felt a white-hot pain everywhere. She slowly lowered her quivering arms as she slumped forward, a blood river spilling from between her lips. She choked on it a little, but made sure to cough as best she could to release it from her lungs.

“(Y/N)!!!” Will screamed, sobs racking through his body as he leaned into the balcony.

Eleven desperately stretched her arms out with a sobbed scream, hoping that whatever bit of her power she had left could save her sister, but nothing reached out to her.

Nancy had stumbled into Jonathan, unable to process what was happening. She covered her mouth as hot tears spilled down her face. She was completely incapable of doing anything for her little sister.

Mike blinked over and over in hopes that this was all a sick dream. He wanted to wake up, he needed to wake up. He wanted to scream her name, to run to her, to cry for her. But he was frozen. He watched as she tried to raise her arm, but it would tremble and fall again and again.

This time, Doc felt when the tentacle was yanked from her body. The force of it sent her head flying back. For a moment, she swore she was suspended in the air, but she realized it was just her world slowing down. Her bloodshot (e/c) eyes rolled back into place as she hiccuped for a breath.

Then, she felt something close, and she knew it was the gate. The Mind Flayer screeched and snarled as it threw its body all around, smashing into the balcony and into the other pillars it hadn’t crushed already. Without its tentacle or her powers holding her in place anymore, Doc’s body dropped.

It was so slow for her. She squinted her eyes past the smoke in the air as she let gravity take her. It scared her for a moment, but she couldn’t quite remember what all this was for.

Everyone who was forced to watch flinched when the Mind Flayer crashed to the ground, motionless, but it was Doc they worried for. They watched as she fell through the air, blood staining her mouth, skin and clothes. The lights above began to flicker and a sinking feeling set in Mike’s stomach when he saw the very familiar particles surrounding her as she fell.

The lights flickered one last time. For one blink of a moment, the whole mall was shrouded in darkness.

In the next nanosecond, the Mind Flayer was still laid unconscious. But Doc was nowhere in sight, the particles left in her wake. And then silence.

Mike absently took a step forward. It just couldn’t be. She was just right there. He couldn’t have lost his sister within less than a second. There wasn’t even a goodbye, a glance in his direction, last words between them besides a short argument. Taking a deep breath, he charged down the stairs, searching the area for Doc. He made sure to steer clear of the monster and the fires surrounding it caused by the fireworks.

“(Y/N)!” He tearfully called out, lifting and pushing aside debris. “(Y/N), answer me!”

“Mike!” Nancy was suddenly on the first floor and pulling him back from the fire. “Mike!”

“She’s here somewhere, Nancy! We need to find her!” He cried.

“Mike,” She placed her hands on her shoulders, hardly able to speak past her own tears. “Y-You saw her… d-disappear, Mike.”

“T-That means she’s somewhere! She’s not gone!”

Nancy shook her head defeatedly. She wanted so badly to hope for her sister, but she had hoped for Barb, too. She didn’t know if she could go through that pain again, the endless search, the heartbreaking deadends, the horrifying truth. But she also couldn’t go through one more second of Mike’s crumpled expression, so she nodded and helped him look under fiery debris for their sister.

Max slowly approached her brother. His shallow breaths were growing shorter the longer he bled out on the ground. Tears flooded her eyes as she watched him cough through the blood in his mouth and throat. “Billy…” She dropped to her knees and shook his shoulder. “Billy, Billy, get up, please. Billy, get up, please, please.”

“I’m sorry…” He choked out.

“Billy…” Her jaw dropped when he exhaled his last pained breath, his body going limp and his eyes glossing over. Still, she tried shaking him. “Billy. Billy. Billy, wake up. Billy, get up. Please, Billy… Billy!”

Max felt two hands on her shoulder and immediately crashed into the comforting arms. “I’m sorry…” El cried, letting Max sob into her. She kept repeating the same phrase over and over. “It’s okay…”

But it wasn’t. El’s eyes were stuck on the Wheeler siblings, who worked their way around the Mind Flayer to push debris out of their way, Mike practically flinging everything whenever they came up empty. She remembered when she herself had been encased in those particles, transferred to the Upside Down. But she didn’t have a gaping hole in the middle of her body and pools of blood leaking from various wounds.

It didn’t feel right to accept that Doc was gone for good. She was the most indestructible person she had ever met in her life. But what else were they to do? Hope she didn’t bleed out wherever she ended up?

No, she couldn’t be a fool like that. She couldn’t hope Doc had just survived what Billy hadn’t. He lay right there in front of her, hole in his chest, unbreathing and unmoving. So, with that sickening conclusion, she tightened her hold on Max and joined in her crying.

El just hoped that wherever her sister ended up, she was resting in peace now.

-------------------------------------------------

Dustin and Erica sat atop the hill, overlooking the almost peaceful night cast upon Hawkins. Starcourt Mall hissing black smoke was the only thing to disrupt that peace. Their work was done. The gate was closed. The monster was presumably dead. The only thing left to worry about was cleanup.

As if on cue, a whirring and beating of helicopter blades above caught the attention of the two children. Craning their necks up, they tried to count just how many helicopters were here to clean up a mess they could have prevented themselves. The military proved useless the last two times they were called upon, Dustin wasn’t at all surprised by their lack of punctuality.

Each helicopter touched down in front of the mall, soldiers jumping out bearing arms. The only individual amongst them without a weapon or a uniform was Dr Sam Owens, squinting through the wind the blades caused as he was escorted into the mall.

After the soldiers had inspected the entire Russian facility, nearly blowing off Joyce and Murray’s heads in the process, Sam was led to the now closed gate. It was just as he feared. The enemy was catching on and catching up. They had undone everything they had worked and bled and died for, just for them to do it all again. And if any of the Russians had escaped…

God help them all.

To cover up the horrific events of the night, the Mind Flayer’s body had been cleared from the mall, the small fires were made bigger, and then the fire department was called. A mistaken corpse one year, a deadly gas leak the next year, and then a mall fire the year after would have any conspiracy theorist springing from their chair in excitement, but it was the best solution to such a drastic situation. None of it had been revealed to the public yet, but with firefighters came news broadcasters and newspaper articles.

Joyce and Murray were currently being escorted out by the soldiers, the former desperately looking around for her children. Past the soldiers, she could make out the backs of several fire trucks. In one was Mike, wrapped in a blanket and crying into his knees. Nancy sat beside him, gently rubbing his shoulder with her face buried into the other. Off to the side, Robin and Max sat on a stretcher together, icing their wounds.

In another one sat Jonathan and Will. Joyce froze in her tracks, staring at them in shock as relief washed over her like a refreshing shower. When Will saw her, he was out of the truck in a flash, blanket forgotten. She let him run into her arms, the two clutching onto each other as they sobbed. “Thank god!” Joyce cried, running her hand through her baby’s hair. Her sweet baby…

Her eyes traveled up to find El wandering about, looking all around for her father. Joyce’s heart broke in two at the news she would have to break to the poor girl. She wasn’t sure how she could even voice it to her. But when El locked eyes with her, a questioning gaze within them, Joyce could do nothing but cry harder.

The devastation on Joyce’s face sent the realization crashing into El like a freight train. Her whole world was crashing all around her. Her sister and her father, in the same day… Her family, gone, just like that. Without parting words. Without a goodbye.

Just how it had always been for her.

-------------------------------------------------

Three months later marked the end of summer vacation. Those in school would continue their studies while the graduates figured out where their place was in the workplace. Or for those who wanted both, then there was no time like the present. Steve and Robin stood at the register of Family Video, watching as an employee reviewed their applications with a look of disinterest.

“Uh, just to be clear, we weren’t fired, you know.” Robin leaned on the counter. “The mall burned down and, like, killed a bunch of people.”

Keith, a former arcade employee, lowered the applications, that same expression on his red-dotted face. “Thanks for sharing. Didn’t know.” He droned before throwing down the papers and snapping at Robin. “Three favorite movies. Go.”

“Uh… The Apartment, Hidden Fortress, Children of Paradise.”

He then snapped at Steve. “You, go.”

Steve widened his eyes. “Fa- uh- Favorite movies?”

“Did I stutter?”

“Uh… Animal House, for sure.” That answer received a scoff from Robin as Keith snapped for him to hurry. “Um…”

“Eyes on me, Harrington.”

“Yeah. Uh… Star Wars.”

“A New Hope?”

“Uh- A new what-now?”

“Which Star Wars?” Keith irritably asked.

“The one with the teddy bears. Duh.” He chuckled before imitating the squeals of an Ewok. His confidence faltered seeing Robin slump her head and Keith cringe. “No? Uh… Oh! The one that just came out. The movie that just came out. The one with the DeLorean and Alex P Keaton, and he’s trying to bang his mom.”

Keith dropped his jaw as Steve chuckled.

“The time… Yeah, those are my top three. Classics.”

His narrowed gaze moved to Robin and pointed at her. “You start Monday.”

Then it moved to Steve.

“You start never.”

At his disappointed and albeit embarrassed look, Robin sighed and scooted closer to her friend. “Will you just, um… Will you give us a minute?”

“Why?”

“Steve.”

The Harrington man looked up at Keith, who gave him a mocking look. Eyes cold, Steve swiped back his application and walked away from the register. Robin scoffed and took her friend’s place at the counter so that she was face-to-face with Keith. “Alright,” She whispered. “You have to understand, Keith, I know his taste is a bit pedestrian, but the dingus has other qualities.”

“He’s a douchebag of the highest order, Robin.”

“He was a bit of a prick to us in high school, I’ll grant you that, but he remains… a total chick magnet.”

Keith shrugged. “Yeah, okay, and this is relevant to me, how?”

Robin widened her eyes and shook her head, leaning even closer. “Uh, Earth to Keith. The ladies will come in just to see him. They’ll come in in droves. Droves, Keith. We sold so much ice cream, they had to get a second shipment from Michigan. Goddamn Michigan, Keith. And these ladies…”

She inhaled deeply. “These ladies are hot… They’re so very hot. And there are too many of them for little Steve. He needs assistance. He needs your assistance, Keith.”

Keith shoved a cheese puff into his mouth in thought. “What’s in it for you? You got a thing for him or something?”

Just then, Steve had run into a cardboard cut-out of Phoebe Cates’s most famous moment in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He cursed as he fumbled to catch it, but hummed in satisfaction when he got a look at what he was holding, his application safe between his lips. Robin smiled at him and turned back to Keith.

“We’re just, um… We’re just friends.” She nodded.

“Oh!” Steve caught their attention again, pointing at the cut-out. “Fast Times. Fast Times. Ever heard of it? Top three for me, Keith.” He teased, eliciting a laugh from his friend.

At the Byers home, the interior was looking much more barren than it had half a month ago. Jonathan and Nancy carried a mattress together into a U-Haul truck. At the beginning of the yard sat a ‘FOR SALE’ stand, a sign reading ‘SOLD’ just above it. According to Joyce, this had been arranged for a long time now. It had just been a matter of telling her children and then packing up the house. And pack it up, they did.

Within the home, several boxes labeled ‘LIVING ROOM’, ‘MOM’S ROOM’, ‘KITCHEN’, ‘GLASSWARE’, ‘WILL’S ROOM’ and others of the sort were stacked within the otherwise empty house. Dustin sat in what used to be the dining room, organizing a box. Though, his work was currently at a standstill, for the couple sitting in what used to be the living room were currently mocking him with-

“Turn around

Look at what you see

In her face

The mirror of your dreams”

Max and Lucas sat with a box between them, happily singing with giant smiles in Dustin’s direction, the boy only staring at them, unimpressed despite their good vocals.

“Rhymes that keep their secrets

Will unfold behind the clouds-”

“Wait, did we get that verse right?” Max teasingly asked. “It’s ‘unfold behind the clouds’?”

Dustin gave a tight-lipped smile and a short nod. “Yeah, but you’re butchering it, so, could you please stop?”

“So, then join in, Dusty-bun.” Lucas blew him a kiss.

“Yeah, come on, Dusty-bun,” Max mocked. “Why don’t you join us?”

Dustin rolled his eyes. He knew he would never live this down. “You guys are so funny, you should be on Carson.” He monotonously spoke.

“Can’t we just hear your rendition?” Max asked.

“No.”

“Please? Just one verse?”

“No. No way. It’s reserved for Suzie’s ears and Suzie’s ears alone.”

Lucas and Max turned to look at each other, their expressions turning mischievous before-

“Turn around

Look at what you see”

Dustin, having no way to stop them, flipped them the bird with raised brows.

“In their face

The mirror of your dreams”

“Shut up, you guys.”

“Rhymes that keep their secrets”

“Stop! You guys, please, shut up.”

“Will unfold behind the clouds”

In what used to be the kitchen, Mike watched Will emerge from the hallway with a stack of books in his hands. As he placed them in the box between them, Mike’s brows furrowed at the Dungeons and Dragons manual stacked on top. “Whoa, dude,” He called out when Will began walking away. “That’s the donation box.”

“I know,” He nodded. “I’ll just use yours when I come back. I mean… if we still wanna play.”

Because everything may change once he leaves.

“Yeah, but what if you want to join another party?”

Will shook his head, relieved at Mike’s worry. “Not possible.”

Mike returned his smile a fraction of the way, a small chuckle escaping him, but it was gone as soon as it came. He had been like that ever since his sister’s funeral. It was like the occasion had confirmed something for him. Not her death, no. He would still hold on to the delusion that she was still out there somewhere, but it more so confirmed that she became a part of Hawkins’s cover stories. She had always been a piece of it since the day she was carried out of the school, in Mike’s arms, covered in blood, but this was different.

She didn’t walk out this time. No one expected her to come back.

Mike tried his best everyday to respond, to react, to blink and breathe, but it was all absent-minded. It was worse than when El disappeared. At least then, he was able to talk with people, despite his attitude. Nowadays, he and his mother were the same. Shells of what they used to be, running on routines and predictable conversations. Unable to focus on anything but her.

Will noticed the change in his friend’s mood and gave him a small nod before walking off. He wished his last few interactions with Doc weren’t somewhat estranged. It was the exact opposite of what he wanted with her. If not a relationship, then the unconditional friendship they’d had before. He didn’t want to accept that she was gone, but he and everyone else saw the gaping hole in her stomach. The blood crimsoning her face and clothes. He would be a fool to think otherwise. It was just a strange pill to swallow, the space she would leave in their Party. The space she had tried so hard to take up. And no one else would be able to take it but her.

A bittersweet breath sighing from his nose, Jonathan wandered into an empty room, devoid of a bed and posters. He leaned against the door frame and watched the room, hoping it would magically return to normal, hoping everything would.

“Is that… everything?” Nancy whispered from behind him, leaning against the other side of the frame. Jonathan shrugged.

“I guess so.” He sighed again before venturing into the bare space. “Seventeen years of my life… packed up in one day.”

It may not have seemed like it, but his bedroom was an important part of himself. It was his world he could go and tell his secrets to. It was where he locked out all his worries and fears. He escaped with his brother the wrath of their parents’ withering relationship behind the wooden door, he shared his innermost thoughts with the walls, he memorized the pattern of the carpeted floor. It was where he did his dreaming and scheming, he lied awake and prayed. The ceiling and windows watched his crying and sighing, the way he laughed at his yesterdays. Even when it was dark and he was alone, he wasn’t afraid when in his room.

He felt Nancy’s nose to his shoulder before her arms snaked around him from behind. His hands clasped around hers against his sternum. And, for a little while, they swayed side-to-side in their own little world.

“What if I just… don’t let you go?” Nancy gently broke the silence. The edge of Jonathan’s lips curled in amusement.

“I think…” He spun around to face her while never letting go of her hands and pulled her close. “...the new owners might kick us out.”

She swayed their arms back and forth in thought as she moved closer to him. “You could stay in our basement.”

He tilted his chin. “Your dad’d love that.”

“We could hide you in a tent… like El.”

Nancy’s throat suddenly closed up. El hiding in a fort in her basement the same night Will had gone missing was the reason her world and Jonathan’s collided in the first place. Their siblings being close friends was never enough for them to have any conversation outside of passing waves. So, he had watched her from afar while she had always looked past him.

And Jonathan wasn’t the only person she wanted to hold onto. The Wheeler home had been so quiet for the past three months. She couldn’t hear her sister humming with the radio as she undoubtedly sketched designs or altered an old dress of hers. The breakfast and dinner table set for six people every time because oh, Karen had forgotten again… she only needs to set it for five now. Mike never smiled, Karen always cried, Ted grew even more detached and Holly still couldn’t quite understand why her Docky was never home.

Doc had been so afraid to lose Nancy, that Nancy hadn’t even feared the thought of the other possibility. She remembered her life before her sister, but she couldn’t recall what it felt like. Doc had brought so much light and laughter and fun into their family. She taught them how to love each other in a way they hadn’t before. She taught them that family didn’t have to look like you or talk like you or bleed the same DNA as you. It was loyalty and acceptance, smiles and unconditional love. They chose her and she chose them, and she loved them with every fiber of her being. Nancy loved her with every fiber of her being.

But Doc was gone now. She lost her sister. And now she was losing her boyfriend.

“Hey.” Jonathan whispered as their foreheads gently touched. “It’s gonna be okay.” He lifted their joined hands, facing their palms upward. He gently ran his thumb over her scar, wrinkling the matching one on his own palm. They had received them two years ago, when working together to fight off the Demogorgon in this very home.

“As a wise man once said… we’ve got shared trauma.” He quoted Murray, the man they held thanks to for pointing out their clear attraction for each other. Nancy inhaled with a soft smile.

“So, what’s a little more, right?”

He chuckled and pressed his lips to her knuckles. “What’s a little more?” He tearfully smiled before bringing his girlfriend into a kiss and then a hug.

In another room, Eleven was packing the last of her things. She checked the closet she had just cleared out for any straggling belongings before her eyes settled upon a koala bear sitting high on the shelf. She reached up for it, but it was pushed too far back against the corner. With a sigh, she returned her heels to the floor. Hesitantly, she reached an arm forwards, trying to focus her powers on the stuffed animal. Only, there were no powers to focus on. She could still hear the high frequency vibrations she always did, but they were weak, barely holding on. Just like her. Panting, she let go.

“They’ll come back.” Mike grabbed her attention as he entered the room. “I know they will.”

She watched him easily reach into the closet and take down the koala. “Thanks.” She gratefully took it.

“You packed your walkie, right?”

“Yes.”

“Because you know that I’m gonna steal Cerebro from Dustin and call you so much, you’re gonna have to turn it off, right?”

They both chuckled for the first time in a long time. “Did you talk to your mom? About Thanksgiving?”

“Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got the okay. I’ll be there.”

It had only taken about ten tries before Karen had tiredly relented. She didn’t want to risk another one of her children being out of her sight.

“And then I was thinking maybe you could come up here for Christmas.” He continued. “And Will, too. You can come before or after Christmas, or whatever Mrs Byers wants, but I was thinking Christmas Day could be super fun, because we’d all have cool new presents to play with and, uh…”

Mike realized his rambling words and drifted. El lovingly smiled at his clear excitement. He hadn’t been like that lately.

“Sorry,” He chuckled in embarrassment. “That made me sound like a seven-year-old.”

She shrugged. “I like presents, too.”

“Yeah, cool. Yeah.” They both nodded. “I like- I like presents, too.”

“Cool.”

Their bashful grins were gone as soon as she moved past him. There was something left unsaid between them, something that needed to be brought to light before it was too late. The closer she drew to the door, the slimmer the possibility shrunk. But every time a sentence formed on their tongues, they swallowed it down in fear they would say the wrong thing.

“Mike?”

Eleven broke first.

“Yeah?” He turned around, trying to hide his agony. She sighed and twiddled her thumbs.

“Remember that day… at the cabin, you were talking to Max?”

“Um… I don’t think I follow.” He narrowed his eyes in thought, fighting off a new waved of tears because Doc was there, she was there and she was hurting that day and he barely paid attention to it-

“You talked about your- your feelings, your heart.”

“Oh…” He blinked. The confession. “Oh, yeah, that. Man, that was so long ago. Um… I don’t know, that was really heat of the moment stuff, and we were arguing and… I don’t really remember… What did I say, exactly?”

She gave him a knowing look. “Mike…” Very slowly, she walked closer to him. His eyes widened, a part of him waiting for another breakup. This time, she reached a hand up and cupped his cheek. “I love you, too.”

Mike stood there in shock as she dove in, pressing her lips against his in a kiss. Everything was happening so fast and he was trying to process it, and he didn’t want the kiss to end, but she eventually separated from him, a smile blossoming across her face. She slowly turned around and walked out the bedroom door, triumph taking over her smile. She didn’t see the way Mike’s face broke out of its shock with a dazed grin.

By the time El was able to breathe again, she was in what used to be Joyce’s room. “Donation box?” She held up the Koala. Joyce quickly looked up from where she was sitting on the floor beside a box labeled ‘HOPPER’. She opened her mouth to speak and quickly put down a piece of paper she was reading.

“Uh, yeah, sure.”

El furrowed her brows at the paper Joyce was clearly trying to hide. “What is that?”

“Uh…” She unfolded it and tearfully looked up at the girl. “It- It’s the speech Hop wrote for you and Mike.”

“Speech?”

“Yeah. Y-You know, the heart-to-heart.”

El only stared in confusion.

“He never talked to you, did he?” At the girl’s head shake, Joyce scoffed. Hopper always did like things his way. God forbid, she ever tried showing him the way.

“Can I read?”

Eleven figured she would have to be alone for this. So, she found herself laying on the carpeted floor of her old-new room. She took a deep breath to prepare herself before unfolding the notebook paper. The speech started off in blue ink with encouraging notes written to the side. The last thing in blue ink was a note in parenthesis reading, ‘LISTEN - remember to BREATHE’. The blue pen was obviously Joyce’s handwriting.

Under it was Hopper’s handwriting written in black ink, his words taking up the rest of the page and the back of it.

“There’s something I’ve been wanting to talk to you both about. I know this is a difficult conversation, but I care about you both very much. And I know that you care about each other very much. And that’s why it’s important that we set these boundaries moving forward, so we can build an environment where we all feel comfortable, trusted, and open to sharing our feelings.”

(LISTEN - remember to BREATHE)

“Feelings. Jesus. The truth is, for so long, I’d forgotten what those even were. I’d been stuck in one place, in a cave, you might say. A deep, dark cave. And then, I left some Eggos out in the woods, and you came into my life and… for the first time in a long time, I started to feel things again. I started to feel happy. But lately, I guess I’ve been feeling… distant from you. Like you’re… you’re pulling away from me or something.

“I miss playing board games every night, making triple-decker Eggo extravaganzas at sunrise, watching westerns together before we doze off. But I know you’re getting older. Growing. Changing. And I guess… if I’m being really honest, that’s what scares me. I don’t want things to change. So, I think maybe that’s why I came in here, to try to maybe… stop that change. To turn back the clock. To make things go back to how they were. But I know that’s naive. It’s just… not how life works. It’s moving. Always moving, whether you like it or not. And, yeah, sometimes it’s painful. Sometimes it’s sad. And sometimes… it’s surprising. Happy.

“So, you know what? Keep on growing up, kid. Don’t let me stop you. Make mistakes, learn from them, and when life hurts you, because it will, remember the hurt. The hurt is good. It means you’re out of that cave.

“But please, if you don’t mind, for the sake of your poor old dad, keep the door open three inches.”

Eleven couldn’t help the laugh that burst from her, a sniffle and then a sob following. She dropped her head as she let the tears consume her. This was what Hopper had been trying to tell her and Mike. And they had laughed in his face. He was struggling to open up and they had laughed. What she would give to turn back the time and listen to him. To let him think his words over. To let him understand.

She lifted her head when she heard knocking on the open door, seeing Joyce standing there with a saddened look. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” She squeaked out past her sobs, wiping her face clean. “Time to go?”

“Yeah…”

“I’ll be out in a minute.”

“Okay…”

Alone again, El inhaled and exhaled deeply until her breathing was controlled. She clasped the folded note in her hands and nodded once. Glancing down at her wrist, she gently smiled at the people she wore. The blue hair tie Hopper’s late daughter used to wear, and the beaded bracelet with Doc’s name on it. She softly smiled at them, at her father and her sister. As long as she had their memories, they were never really gone.

Joyce was the last person in the house. The truck had been loaded and now everyone stood in the front yard, unknowing of what to do. She stopped in the door and took one look at her home. It hadn’t been this empty since before she first moved in. So much of her life occurred in this home. She was a married woman, a mother of two, then a divorced woman, a bereaved mother of one, then a mother of two again. So many smiles and laughs and breakdowns and heartaches happened within these four walls. So many Thanksgivings and Christmases and birthday parties under this roof. Change was necessary, yes, and she had high hopes for her new life…

But it didn’t hurt any less to walk away from this life she had always known. Inhaling the bitter and then exhaling the sweet, she walked outside, closing the door behind her.

Once Joyce was outside, everything started to sink in. It was truly goodbye. It was time. Will was the first to move, crashing into Lucas for a hug. The group then erupted into tearful goodbyes and crushing embraces. Joyce had given hers as well, but there was a point where she had to walk off and only watch from the side, unable to stay strong. When there was nothing left to say and no one left to hug, Joyce and El hopped into the truck while Jonathan and Will got into the car.

The driveway didn’t feel right to even stand in anymore. Without the Byers there, they stood in an empty space that wasn’t meant for them. But the remaining group didn’t bother moving as they watched the two vehicles grow smaller and smaller the farther they drove.

It was silent when Nancy departed in her mother’s car. And only short sentences were exchanged when the kids straddled their bikes and pedaled off. Mike took one look back at the house, and he saw a much smaller version of himself shyly knocking on the front door, hoping to spend some time with his brand new friend, William Byers.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he turned back around and followed his friends down the driveway and away from the life they had always known, and towards a new one they had to adjust to.

Max sat upon Billy’s bed, staring thoughtfully out of his window.

Erica smiled down at the Dungeons and Dragons manual given to her by Lucas and Dustin.

Sheriece sat on the steps of her porch, her hand weakly clasped with Dustin’s as she tiredly rested her head on his shoulder.

Mike hugged his sobbing mother tight in his late sister’s room, trying not to burst into tears when he caught sight of the roller skates next to the closet.

And despite the hurt and the tearshed, the world kept turning.

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THE FOURTH INSTALLMENT, "Point and Kill", IS COMING TO YOU SOON! Thank you for reading ❤️❤️

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