Hi Everyone! SO I'm pretty new to the Stranger Things fandom and have thus brought about THIS abomination! :) So basically, not going off the season two teasers, it's about El's return, but it includes some of my own characters and a new situation. A lot of this is based off of personal experience, and Clarity Christian University is fictional, as far as I know, and based off of my own college experiences. There's a lot of nerdy band stuff happening as well, as you'll see, but that's because as a Music Ed person that's all I know.

Clarity Christian, although having Christian in the name and having some reference to Catholicism and Christian teachings, is not meant to preach any form of religion or assert that any religion is the morally right one. It just happens to be what I came up with. Thanks for understanding.

I don't know a lot about the 80s, but I do check to make sure if I use something (like iHOP for example) that it was a thing before or during the 80s. Let me know if I slip up and accidentally added weird time travel things. Thanks!

Also small announcement: I have no idea how often I'll be able to keep up with this fic. Its the last month of the semester so I might literally go insane from stressing out and studying. Also, I'm in a drum corps so I definitely won't be able to keep up with this over the summer. Sorry in advance!

Love all y'all

-Mudezami

Eleven

It was hard to keep time, as she had no real sense of it in practice, but El knew one thing: She had been in the Upside Down for a long time. It was a cold, dark, and unforgiving abyss. She had stayed near Hawkins, wandering the empty school, the empty streets, and always returning to her fort in Mike's basement. She could tell he was there, because sometimes she could hear his voice through faint static in the not-quite-functional electronics of the Upside Down.

Every night for what seemed like ages, she could hear faint sobs before they were soothed by gentle whispers from Nancy. Occasionally she could hear the clamoring static of the boys playing board games and Dnd. She knew there were ways to contact them, but she didn't know if she'd ever be able to truly return. Staying in Hawkins was agony, as every empty turn was just a reminder of what she lost. Hearing and seeing the boys brought her happiness, but knowing she could never fully join them brought her only more agony. She wanted to leave, but she didn't know what she would do, or where she would go.

Sometimes, she could see Will. His voice was always much louder than the others, and sometimes his voice would fade slowly until it popped up an awful volume, until it was as though it was amplified in her ear. It was less of him talking, and more breathing, screaming, or crying. At first it had startled El, but then she found out why: Will could see into the Upside Down.

It happened one night after El had returned with a new stash of Leggos from the forest. Just as she began to walk downstairs, she passed the bathroom only to find Will standing, gripping the counter and staring into the mirror, repeating to himself, "I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm safe, I'm safe…." El dropped her bag of eggos and nearly tripped. If Will saw her, he didn't notice, and just as soon as he was there, he vanished.

El didn't know why Will could see into the Upside Down, but it was clear he couldn't control it, and it affected him in the worst way. She tried to avoid him when he was doing so.

Once all the voices died away at night, Mike's presence stayed down in the basement. El hoped he wouldn't cry again, because it tortured her. There was nothing she could do. She couldn't leave, and if she could, she didn't know how. She was all alone. She wanted to reach out to him, but she didn't want to at the same time. She didn't want to give him false hope. Guilt ate away at her, because she knew she was being a bad friend. Was being silent the same as being a liar?

"Eleven?"

The voice had come from the old, tarnished walkie talkie laying on the floor.

"Are you there, El? Can you hear me? Over."

El slowly picked up the walky and held it up level with her face.

"I know you're out there. I don't think your dead. I can't."

She froze. She didn't know enough words to articulate how she felt. Mike had paused there, not saying over, nor continuing to speak. She began to speak into the walky.

"Friends don't lie," she began, "I'm alive."

Mike

He was alone in his basement, and the rest of his friends had gone upstairs to get ready for bed. He told them he was going to put away the DnD game and catch up with them. They were sleeping over, and tomorrow everyone was going to pile into Mom and Dad's cars and go up north for Spring Vacation. Nancy was going on an overnight tour at Clarity Christian University, and Dad decided this was a perfect opportunity to take the boys out for a group vacation. He had droned on and on about fishing at the lake. Of course, everyone, except maybe Mom, was totally on board with the idea. Nancy couldn't care less. The whole family, and the boys, were going on the basic tour with her, but while she stayed at the dorms on campus, everyone else was going to stay at a nearby hotel.

After he was done cleaning up, Mike sat down at the table and couldn't help but stare at the blanket fort, where El had lived for that eventful week three years ago. He never totally took it down, and would sometimes creep down to the basement and lay there when he couldn't fall asleep.

That's right, it had been three years. The boys, Lucas, Dustin, Will, and Mike, where finishing their eighth grade year. They were going to be freshmen in High School next year. They had been through so much, and continued to explore junior high, closer than ever. They of course moved on a little, they made new friends. Max, the boyish ginger who moved to Hawkins in seventh grade, had become a new staple in their friend group. Mike had to admit she was no El, but she brought with her her own brand of adventure. Sometimes she played DnD but she had less freedom and free time as the rest of the boys.

Mike picked up the walky talky in vain, while no one was around to hear.

"Eleven?" He said. There was no response.

"Are you there, El? Can you hear me?"

Silence.

Mike felt himself break down, if only a little. It had been years, but occasionally he still thought about her. She had shown up so suddenly and disappeared so quickly. He couldn't forget her, and he didn't know what happened to her. He kept a small flame of hope inside of him that she could still be alive, maybe in the Upside Down. This is the only way he could fathom how to communicate with her.

"I know you're out there. I don't think you're dead. I can't…" Think you're dead. You can't be dead. He choked up a little, and felt incredibly stupid. He doesn't want her to be dead, but he also doubted that he was talking to anybody.

In that moment, Mike thought he heard something from the walky talky. He can't be certain, but it might have been a small spark of static. For that moment, he thought he could hear a very faint "alive."

"El?" He asked, right before he heard footsteps clamber down the stairs. He shoved the walky behind him so that it was wedged between the chair and his back, out of sight. He felt he was so close to being caught, and felt stupider than ever. It had to have been his imagination. It was just a small glitch in the walky talky, just a small bit of static. Sometimes when you're desperate, you imagine things.

Dustin appeared in the doorway.

"Hey Mike what's the name of the hotel we're staying at? I'm tryna win a bet – what are you doing?"

"Nothing," Mike said, hoping Dustin would drop the subject. "The hotel's called the Courtyard at Tippecanoe."

Dustin cursed at himself. "I owe Lucas five dollars." He glanced around the room, and said quieter, eyes wide, "I don't have five dollars."

"Dustin! Mike!" Nancy yelled down the stairs. Dustin turned abruptly up towards her.

"Mom says you guys need to go to bed by 11. We have to leave early if we want to get to CCU by 8."

"Aw, why does it matter?" Dustin yelled up at her.

"Because we need to actually get there, you know, in time for the tour."

"We can sleep in the car," Mike interjected.

"Don't shoot the messenger, I'm just saying what Mom told me," Nancy sighed, finally stalking off.

Dustin sighed and ran back upstairs. As soon as he was out of sight, Mike pulled the walky from behind his back and placed it on the table and slowly got up to join the others up stairs.
-

Eleven

El stared at the walky in her hands. She didn't know what happened, or if Mike could hear her, but she had heard the whole thing. The Wheelers were going somewhere. El didn't know where, but she knew she couldn't bear to be entirely alone. If she wanted to retain some level of sanity, she had to follow them.