Title: The Gate Au
Fandom: Stranger Things
Characters: Mike Wheeler, Eleven, Steve Harrington, Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair, Max Hargrove, Will Byers and the Mind flayer (mentioned)
Summary: Steve and the kids get out safely and El closes the gate, leading to the Snow Ball. But what if the Mind flayer had a different idea. Au of Season 2 Episode 9
Genre: Drama/Angst
Pairings: Mileven (Mike/Eleven).
Tags: My brain sucks. Mike whump. Mind flayer. Angst. Pain and suffering Ahoy! To steal a phrase 'All aboard the pain train!'
Chapter I: The Story Teller with a Heart of Gold
After setting the fire Steve and the kids fled not wanting to become demo-dog bait. As Mike ran he couldn't help but feel a little bit proud. Because he- Okay yes, the others helped- was able to draw the attention away from Eleven and Hopper. This time he was the one saving her.
Coming up to a corner Steve glanced at the map and shouted "This way!"
Before continuing either oblivious or ignoring Dustin's steady stream of curses. They followed Steve in a line with Mike coming in last. Just as he was rounding the corner Mike lost his footing and fell to the ground, thick vines wrapping around his ankles.
"Hel-" He tried to yell but was cut off as a large vine wrapped around his neck. Panicking he pulled hysterically at the vine, desperate to get it off.
Each time he thrashed it wound tighter and tighter until he was gasping for breath, and Mike watched helpless as his friends got farther and farther away. Suddenly he could hear a low growl coming from the tunnel to the side of the one that his friends had just disappeared into. Eyes wide in terror Mike watched as a demo-dog stalking towards him slowly.
'This is it. This is the end. I'm not getting out of here am I?' He thought his eyes closing tight, not wanting the demo-dog's horrifying face to be the last thing that he sees.
The growling got closer and closer until he could feel the putrid breath of the demo-dog. Could feel the saliva dripping onto his face as its own was opened wide in anticipation of the final blow.
-ST-
The consciousness of what the kids referred to as the 'Mind-Flayer' was very old. Very old. He did not know how old however, time had passed in a haze. Waiting to get out of the nether-world. The other dimension. The upside-down.
Months turned into years, years turned into decades, decades into centuries, centuries into millennia. On and on never-ending-until that one day. The day that there was a whole ripped open between the two dimensions. The whole was small, definitely smaller than the Great One, which was rather... irksome. But no matter. He could always send out His children.
With each life claimed, each time His offspring entered and exited the gateway it grew bigger and the Great One's hold on the other realm grew stronger.
But then...then...His daughter was killed. Killed by a child. This was... an unfortunate set back. But no matter, no matter. The Great One would win. It was only a matter of time. The Great One could wait-He was patient after all. And as He waited His children grew.
Grew bigger and bigger. Soon the Great One's children were numbered in the hundreds if not thousands.
The vines wound through the cracks of the ever-widening-gate. Changing the world beyond spreading and spreading through interweaving tunnels underground.
The Great One kept tabs on the child that had killed His daughter. He watched as the child left through a weak spot in between the two realms. He watched as the child found a home with that pesky little human with the gun who wore a star on his chest. When the child had left the place where the Great One and His offspring had taken up residence He was delighted. Whilst the child was away playing dress up He plotted. And He gained a new follower.
Will Byers...yes... that was the small human's name. The small human that had been used as a hatchery of sorts. Yes, He had deemed it prudent to use the boy as a means of getting His children into the other world.
And a good decision that had turned out to be. For as the boy's condition worsened His grip grew stronger and stronger until He was able to place a portion of Himself inside the boy.
A spy, was what the boy was called. And spy he did. Sending those irksome soldiers to their deaths. Something that had been coming for a long time. No one hurt His offspring and got away with it.
But then...Then the humans found out about the boy and made him sleep. Then the wretched child came back. And killed a number of His children too. This child was becoming even more of a problem and must be eliminated.
It was unfortunate that the boy had begun to lose his usefulness. Especially now that they had decided to burn His hold out of the boy. He could have proven useful in the endgame. But no matter, no matter, the Great One had gotten what He wanted. A way to destroy the child.
The fools thought that they could shut the gate. They sent the child to close the gate, a massive feat, to be sure.
As the child started on her path to close the gate with the gun-carrying-star-wearing human the Great One felt a thrill of anticipation. One way or another He would destroy that child and then the path would be clear.
Then the smaller humans and one not-so-small human had to go and make Him angry. They dared use fire against His vines and consequently His offspring. They would pay for this grievous mistake.
Sending a group of His children to dispose of the humans He directed His attention to the child and her companion who were attempting to close the gate. He bent down, coming face to face with this wretched child. Feeling a faint sense of amusement as He registered her fear.
Humans truly were pathetic.
Though some prove to be more interesting than others. Will had been interesting, to have had survived that long inside the netherworld. The gun-carrying-star-wearing human was also interesting in a 'pest' sort of way. Like some might find a bug fascinating.
The child, although interesting in the fact that she had powers, was far too much of a pest for the Great One to take much more of an interest other than how to kill the little whelp.
And so, the Great One watched with contempt at this small little thing that thought she could foil Its plans.
The child paused for a brief moment before a serious look covered her face. She held up a hand and the Great One could feel the power rising out of her and into the air. Slowly the gate started to inch close.
This would not do. Sending a thought-command to the vines in the tunnels that the small humans and the not-so-small human had fled down He waited until the storyteller with-a-heart-of-gold was behind the others. Perfect.
The child wanted to close the gate? How can she when what she loves most is His grasp?
-ST-
The blow didn't come.
Mike's eyes flew open as he realized that the demo-dog hadn't killed him yet. He looked at the hulking thing that was, literally, inches from his face with a mixture of terror and confusion. Why did it stop? Why wasn't he dead yet? Not that he wanted to be dead per se but he just couldn't understand why.
The demo-dog took a big sort of sniff (did it even have a nose?) and wiggled in what seemed to be excitement.
Before Mike could do much beyond stare in terror the demo-dog bent forward and gently bit into the vines that surrounded Mike's neck. The vines withered and tightened but the demo-dog kept biting into them until finally his neck was free and he could breathe.
Taking large gulps of air Mike massaged his neck looking at the demo-dog in astonishment. Glancing the yellow stripe on its back Mike realized who it was.
"Dart?" He whispered in shock. His throat felt like sandpaper.
Dart's but wiggled happily at the sound of his name. Mike stared at the demo-dog still reeling from the shock of what just had happened. But before he could do anything more there was a loud growl, a blur of grey, a pained yelp from Dart and then he was pinned under the weight of a demo-dog.
A demo-dog whose claws were currently digging into his chest. Bringing a pained cry from his throat. 'So, this is what Bob felt like.' He thought as his chest burned with pain.
Dart raced forward to tackle the demo-dog sending both of them flying. While this was good because the demo-dog was off of his chest, it was also freaking painful to have his chest ripped open as the demo-dog flew away.
"Mike!"
Mike looked frantically towards the tunnel at the sound of his friends' shouts.
"H-here." Mike called his voice more of a croak. Mike tried to clear his throat but descended into a coughing fit. Once he could breathe somewhat normally he tried again. "Here!"
This, whilst getting the attention of his friends, had the unfortunate effect of gaining the attention of the rouge demo-dog who had just knocked Dart into the wall.
Growling lowly, it advanced forward and wrapped its jaws (vine-mouth?) around Mike's arm and dragged him down the tunnel. Mike screamed again, for the pain was excruciating. It felt as if the bite had snapped his arm in half. Judging by that snapping sound it probably did.
"Mike! Mike!"
The voices of his friends were getting closer but the demo-dog was too fast, racing down one of the many tunnels dragging Mike along with it.
"Dustin! Lucas!" Mike yelled sobbing as he felt the demo-dog's teeth dig deeper with every bump and turn they made. "Help me!"
-ST-
Steve, Dustin, Lucas and Max ran down the tunnel back to where they had first come in. Just as they were rounding the corner Dustin yelled for everyone to stop.
"Where's Mike?" Dustin's voice trembled slightly and everyone paled looking around for the missing teenager.
"Mike?" Lucas called looking down the tunnel where they had just come from. "Mike this isn't funny!"
"Shh!" Max said sharply. "Listen!"
They all fell silent and felt a thrill go down their spine. The sound of a demo-dog's cry echoed throughout the tunnels. Followed shortly by a pained cry. This one all too human.
Dustin and Lucas exchanged horrified glances.
"MIKE!"
With that they took off towards their friend. Never mind the fact that they didn't have any weapons or ways to protect themselves. Their friend was in trouble and they would do anything in their power to save him.
Steve and Max both swore and took off after them. Steve's long legs making it easy for him to get to the front, holding his bat tightly.
"Here!"
There was a sickening crunching sound and Mike screamed again causing them to run faster, Dustin and Lucas sobbing at the sound of their friend in pain.
"Mike! Mike!" They called their hearts pounding in time with their feet.
"Dustin!" Mike screamed and Dustin choked on a sob at the fear and pain in his friend's voice. "Lucas!"
Lucas, likewise, was also sobbing at the sound of his best friend in such pain.
"Help me!"
Rounding a corner, they paused in horror at the sight before them. There was a demo-dog that stood over a large pool of blood it's leaf-like snout covered in it. Mike's blood. Sensing their arrival, it splayed open and hissed in warning, before it sniffed the air as if smelling something.
Spying the yellow stripe going down it's back Dustin felt his heart drop. "Dart?" He breathed coming out in front of Steve. "H-hey buddy...It's me Dustin. Remember me? Will you let us pass?"
Dart hissed again causing Dustin to gulp slightly before steeling himself when he heard another scream from Mike. "Okay...okay I'm sorry. I'm sorry about the storm seller. That was a douchey thing to do." Dustin said trying to keep his voice calm.
Dart gave a happy sounding growl before beginning to sniff Mike's blood again. After a second Dart seemed to nod before turning down a tunnel and started to run.
"What...just happened?" Max whispered her voice tight.
Before anyone could say anything, Dart was back and cocked his head making a curious chuffing noise. Dart looked back down the tunnel just as there was another far-off cry from Mike then turned back to the group and whined softly.
"Holy Sh-" Dustin breathed in shock. "I think Dart wants us to follow him."
"Yeah, so he can eat us!" Steve said his voice verging on the edge of hysteria.
Dustin ignored him and looked at Dart. "Dart? Buddy? Can you take us to Mike?"
Dart made that chuffing noise again before taking off down the tunnel. Dustin raced after him with a yell of "Come on guys! Let's go save Mike!"
After a shared disbelieving glance, the rest of the group took off after him.
-ST-
The Great One stretched a long wispy arm forward through the gate. Once through He spoke, projecting His words directly into the human's minds.
"Cease now child if you ever wish to see your love again."
Both the child and the gun-carrying-star-wearing human froze. It seemed that they did not realize the Great One could communicate. Fools.
"What the-?" The gun-carrying-star-wearing human breathed his eyes wide in shock.
The child didn't pay him any mind and glared right at the Great One, a fire in her eyes. "What do you mean?" She demanded, her back ramrod straight.
"The storyteller with a heart-of-gold. The loyal one. Mike." The Great One said His voice dripping smugness.
"You lie!" The child yelled her eyes widening at her love's name.
"INSOLENCE!" The Great One roared causing both humans to flinch back in pain and surprise. "I do not lie child. See for yourself." With that the Great One connected the puny humans to His children.
Vision
Mike Wheeler was spread-eagled on the ground by vines wrapped around his wrists and ankles. Deep claw marks adorned his chest and one of his arms looked horribly mangled, the bone clearly broken. Ugly thick bruising wrapped around his neck like a tie. His brown eyes were wide with terror and pain as he stared at the demo-dogs that surrounded him.
A demo-dog stepped forward leaf-like mouth open wide with a hiss. With a lightning fast strike, it bit into Mike's shoulder of the injured arm. Mike screamed writhing in pain. The demo-dog stepped back and another one took its place. Again, and again the demo-dogs would bite random parts of the poor boy's body then step back to let the next one have a turn.
"El..." Mike sobbed, eyes pinched with pain and sorrow. "I'm sorry El."
After one particularly painful bite Mike screamed "ELEVEN!"
Then everything went black.
JG: Wellp. Yeah... I did this... blame my brain. Sorry.