Stranger Unscenes

CHAPTER ONE

Eleven barely remembered getting from the lab back to the cabin. She slipped in and out of consciousness as they drove, her body weaker than ever before. No, was that right? She'd been weaker, once. Mike, Lucas, and Dustin had desperately called her name from somewhere far away, but she had been unable to surface - only to be finally brought back by Papa cradling her.

She twitched in agony.

"It's okay, it's okay." Hopper's husky voice came to her from somewhere above her head, soothing away the fraught memory. She couldn't muster the energy even to open her eyes, so she sank back down into semi-consciousness.

When the truck stopped and the rumble of its engine beneath her fell silent, Hopper scooped her up and carried her inside. Like a baby. Like Papa had done. Except this was different. Instead of sad and scared, she felt relieved and safe. Instead of craving love, she felt deeply loved. When the door closed behind them, she heard other voices. Others in the cabin? She struggled to remember why they were there.

"Hop, is she alright?" The voice of the mother, Will's mother.

"She's okay, just weak. Help me get her in bed."

"Is it this one? Where are the sheets? I'll change them."

"Actually this one's mine. Hers is in the other room."

The voice of Nancy next perturbed Eleven's bleary consciousness as Hopper and Joyce moved with her across the cabin. "Mike will want to know she's okay. Can I go get him?"

Eleven twitched at the name. She wanted to see him. He needed to know she kept her promise. She opened her eyes and tried to look around. Everything moved too fast. It exhausted her just trying to track anyone's movements.

"I want her to rest," said Hopper.

"Mike," Eleven managed to whimper.

"Okay, okay. Don't worry." Hopper hurried to reassure her. "Fine, Nancy, go get him. But just him, okay? The others can wait."

"I'll come with you." A male voice. Will's brother. "They should still be at the house."

"Mom, is that her?" Someone else asked. Someone with a voice as weak as Eleven felt. It was soft, too, and almost feminine. But then, maybe it was rather more adolescent. A little higher than Mike's, but similar. "Eleven?"

"Yes, that's her." A flurry of movement, and then Eleven felt herself sink into the soft old mattress of her bed. It smelled clean and familiar. The cabin was far too warm, the heat making her skin feel as if it were glowing, but somehow that heightened her sense of safety and comfort.

Except when she closed her eyes, and a yawning red gash flashed before the blackness of her lids. She shuddered and opened them again.

Will's mother sat down next to her, gently cleaning her face with a warm, wet cloth. "You brave girl," she crooned. "You brave, remarkable girl. Well done. We're so proud of you. So grateful. You sweet, beautiful, brave girl."

Eleven felt the affection as if from far away, but she did feel it. Relaxed, she slipped into unconsciousness again.

The next time she became aware of anything, she saw Mike sitting beside her. It felt like it had been a long time, judging by the heaviness of her eyes. She blinked at him, trying to decide if he were real or a vision in the Void.

"Mike," she whispered, reaching out to touch. If this were all in her head, he'd vanish into smoke.

Instead, he took her hand. Real flesh and bone pressed against hers. "I'm here."

She sighed a breath of relief. "You're real."

He grinned. "Yeah I am. Elle, you did it! Do you understand? You saved us."

A brief flash of memory took her to Kali again, standing before her sister and echoing the same words back to her. I can save them.

She trembled as she turned her hand in his, gripping it. "You did something. To the distract the…the dogs?"

He smiled and tugged on the bandana wrapped around her arm. "This is way different from wearing my sister's old dress. You look pretty cool."

"Mike."

He grew serious again. "Um, yeah, we did. We distracted them. We couldn't let you walk into that death trap."

"Thank you."

"Even though Hopper won't tell us what happened in there, I know that it must have been incredible. You must have been incredible. We couldn't have done it without you, Elle. We'd all be dead for sure."

Not if she hadn't opened the gate in the first place, she thought.

"Sorry it took so long for me to get here," Mike said after a minute. "We didn't have enough gas to get back to Will's house. We used it all up in the tunnels. So we drove as far as we could and then we were walking back when Nance found us. They'd been driving around forever looking."

She didn't have any concept of how long it had been, or the confusion of them trying to meet back up again, so she didn't muster up the energy for a reply. Weariness nearly swamped her back into blackness again. She couldn't go to sleep yet though. Mike was here, and she had missed him too much to sleep now. There was something still left unfinished about all this — wasn't there?

It came back to her on the splintered memories of last year. She gripped his hand a little tighter. "Mike. The Snow Ball?"

A little puff of air escaped him - the only sound of his surprise.

Hopper, somewhere near the doorway, stirred. "Snow Ball? What's she talking about?"

"The school dance," Mike mumbled, watching Eleven with too many emotions battling across his face. "You remembered?"

A weary but genuine smile shyly crept across her face. "Yes."

He laughed a little, and it sounded sort of choked. "Yeah, of course we'll go."

"Hang on, kid, we haven't talked about this. Don't be making promises," Hopper said quickly.

Mike slid him an irritated glance. "I already made this one a year ago, and she and I don't break promises."

Eleven felt tears sliding down her cheeks. Exhaustion had brought her feelings too close to the surface. She looked at Hopper, leaning against the doorway with his arms over his chest and dark circles growing under his eyes. He was tired too, and she'd learned that he wasn't the most amenable to her requests when he was worn out. But this was important.

"Please?"

Hopper sighed, passing a hand over his eyes. "Okay, okay. Don't worry about it right now. We can talk when you're strong. You need sleep. Do you even remember what you did tonight? The Snow Ball can wait. It's not for at least a month. Just rest."

She saw others now, beyond Hopper in the other room. Saw Mike's sister hovering by the door with Will, his mother and brother. They looked like they were waiting for something. For Mike? She shivered, and his grip on her tightened.

"Mike, don't go."

Hopper intervened before Mike could say anything this time. "Hey, don't be selfish, kid. Poor Mike here hasn't slept in his own bed for a couple nights. Tomorrow's a school day."

Mike looked at him as if Hopper had grown a second head. "School? You think I can go to school after this?"

Hopper frowned. "Look, whether you try to fool your mom into giving you a sick day or not is your business. You're going home tonight. Besides, these guys are your ride home and we all need rest. Will especially. He needs it just as much as Elle does."

Eleven felt herself spiraling back into sleep again, as if the mere suggestion had convinced her body it was a good idea. She fought a little harder. "Mike."

He returned his attention to her, expression softening. "I'll stay if you want me too."

"You won't," Hopper insisted.

"Go," she managed to breathe. "But come back."

"I promise," he said fervently.

She didn't remember what happened after that, allowing herself to relax back down into sweet oblivion.

Author's Note:

Welcome to my random lil Stranger Things story, a collection of scenes between scenes, and some fluffy nonsense after. I have some ideas for a plot for this thing, but mostly it'll just be exploring the bits we wouldn't get to see on the show because they don't drive the story. This may or may not include some messy hallmark's of El's adolescence, and some Jopper & Mileven fun.

Some of you have been following this story for a while, and have noticed my very long hiatus. I took a break to write some SW stuff, and then my life went full crazy and I had to step away from FF for a time. But I'm back, and I read the SUSPICIOUS MINDS Stranger Things novel, and I'm writing some new updates for this story, so you'll see me cleaning up these early chapters from time to time as I get back into this. Thanks for being totally tubular! Let's get to it!