The Forge
"Welcome to the greatest night of your life," assistant faculty Ms. Dawson's voice reverberated through the air and set the stadium on fire as hundreds of teenage couples shouted in reply, "SNOWBALL."
A few youngsters didn't take part in the ovation but decided to stay back near the tables. Mike was sitting on a small chair and feeling like a worthless clown. Beside him, Dustin was trying to identify girls who might be interested in dancing with him, but apparently, his Farrah Fawcett magic was having no effect on these young witches. Lucas and Max were standing nearby, unable to move to the dancefloor without approval from their companions. Suddenly, a young girl walked up to Will and asked him for a dance. He beamed and looked back at Mike who gave him an encouraging smile and mumbled, "You guys go ahead. We'll catch up."
"Listen, Mike," Max slowly walked up to her new friend and bowed down to speak, "I'm sure she'll come. You just need to wait."
In response, Mike raised his head, and Max felt a tinge of apprehension. He had never been very approving of her relationship with Lucas. But he smiled sadly and asked, "How do you know?"
"Cause I'm a girl and I saw her eyes when she came back to you," Max gently patted Mike's shoulder to remove a stray fabric and affirmed, "And she'll keep coming back to you, over and over again until you two are together forever."
Then she smiled and walked to Lucas, and then the two of them moved towards the floor where young couples had already started swaying to the beats of the rhythm vibrating through the air. Will followed along with his date, and after a few seconds, faded into the energetic crowd.
Dustin and Mike kept staring at each other and waiting for the other one to start the conversation. A few minutes passed in awkward silence, then something caught Dustin's attention.
Mike turned his head and noticed a beautiful girl standing right beside them. Now if it were any other girl, the duo would have been completely surprised, but this was Clara, the girl who had won the Middle School beauty pageant three times in a row. Mike and Dustin were entirely out of their depths. They just looked on with a slack jaw as the young girl blushed and spoke to Mike, "Looking dashing tonight, Wheeler. Care for a dance?"
Mike felt a thermonuclear charge going off inside his head. All around him, he could see students from his class staring at him as if he had just won the lottery. A chance to dance with Clara was indeed the most fortunate experience any boy could have ever hoped to have tonight, and they couldn't believe that it was that loser Mike Wheeler, who was asked by Clara for that occasion.
It was an opportunity of a lifetime, but Mike Wheeler was also rumored to be a bit eccentric, and he didn't disappoint. He smiled nervously and replied, "I… I'm sorry. I'm sort of waiting for someone."
Jeffrey cooed from behind, "Did you guys listen to that? Mike 'Alien' Wheeler has a date prettier than Clara. What're you gonna do man? Dance with your sister?"
Some of the guys began laughing loudly. A girl shouted, "Aww, Mike thought she was serious."
More kids joined the fun as they all started laughing and booing. Mike felt his ears turning red, but Clara quietly spoke, "I wasn't joking, Mike. There's something about you tonight, something different from all the boys around you. I don't know what, but I would've really enjoyed our dance," she sighed and turned around to walk away.
Dustin pitched in, "I am free for a…"
"Not my type," Clara coolly replied and went to her friends.
One by one, the bodies around Mike discovered their doubles and slowly assimilated into the crowd that was rocking the floor at the far side of the stadium. Mike soon found that he was alone. He ran his eyes across the group and found Dustin dancing with 'NANCY?' Mike blinked a few times to make sure that he was not hallucinating, but the scene did not change. Dustin was indeed dancing with Nancy, and from the looks of it, they were having a lot of fun.
"Could this night get any worse?" Mike muttered absentmindedly and immediately regretted his words as a familiar song blared through the radio. 'The Police' wasn't Mike's favorite band, in fact, they wouldn't figure in his top ten either, but he could recall every line of this song as if he was the one who had composed it.
Last year, amidst the chaos of broken promises and shattered dreams, Mike Wheeler had come to the Snowball all by himself and had danced to this tune with his imaginary partner who never turned up. It was a tragic experience, but it was one of the keystone memories that helped Mike retrieve Eleven from the clutches of her Fate. Given the opportunity, he would have done it a thousand times over. But now was not the time for illusions of grandeur.
The truth was that Mike Wheeler was a teenage boy who had come to the Snowball to dance with his soulmate Eleven, who had not turned up again.
Mike sighed and got up to leave.
A few miles away from the School, a police van was racing through the night as if it was trying to outrun time itself. Hopper turned the steering wheel as the vehicle ran through a corner and joined the highway that led to the school. Then he peered through the dust-stained windshield and saw a blip of light in the distance. 'The school,' Hopper breathed a sigh of relief and pressed the gas as the car lurched forward.
Back in the passenger seat, Joyce was conspiring with Eleven. Hopper glanced at the ladies through the rearview mirror and smirked, he was sure that Joyce was giving his daughter sly tips about how to blow her date's mind tonight and as Hopper recalled, Joyce was very proficient at winning hearts.
Sometime later, the car rolled into the driveway leading to the gate of the stadium. Hopper parked the vehicle a short distance away from the entrance and switched the engine off. Then he turned around in his seat and spoke, "We're h…"
He couldn't finish his sentence because the passengers were already climbing out of the vehicle. Hopper sighed and jumped out as well and walked around the bonnet to meet the excited ladies.
"Now listen, whatever you do, you shouldn't use your powers tonight, got it?" Joyce smiled and winked at Eleven who nodded eagerly.
Hopper rolled his eyes and coughed, "Ahem. No powers tonight. And none of what she has told you to do."
"Jim, I'm shocked. How could you?" Joyce feigned surprise and pressed her hand against her mouth to suppress a sly smile.
Hopper could not take it anymore and burst into laughter as the ladies joined him. A few seconds later, Hopper composed himself and dropped to one knee in front of his daughter and talked, "Listen. This is important."
Eleven sensed his demeanor and became serious. Hopper continued, "Do not use your powers. God forbid if something happens, we'll be right here."
"Yes," Eleven replied while eying the door beyond which her soulmate waited. Then suddenly her expression changed, and she shouted, "NO. Mike's leaving. Wait for me."
She hugged Hopper and Joyce and then dashed towards the entrance as fast as she could, leaving the bewildered couple together in front of the police truck. Eleven reached the doorway and paused for a second to brace herself. Then she glanced back and found Joyce and Hopper grinning widely and waving their hands at her. With a confident smile, Eleven stepped through the door and disappeared into the lights and music.
Mike Wheeler was about to leave the arena. The party had started an hour ago, and from the looks of things, Eleven would not be turning up tonight due to whatever reason Hopper had managed to cook up. Mike wanted to be furious at that crazy bastard, but deep down inside, he knew that Hopper was probably scared shitless about bringing Eleven out into the open so soon. Mike couldn't blame him, but he wasn't content with the reasoning either. Under the circumstances, the best course of action would be to leave the stadium and go back to his home, maybe he could visit Eleven on his way tonight.
Mike was halfway out of his chair when a sweet voice pierced through the loud music and touched deep inside his heart, 'Wait for me.'
Mike could have distinguished that voice from a cacophony of a million sounds. He sank back into his seat, dumbfounded when suddenly, he sensed the atmosphere around him transforming in the blink of an eye.
It felt as if he had been burning under a hot sun for the entire day when suddenly he was submerged in ice cold water. The stadium disappeared from Mike's field of vision as he directed his eyes on the entrance and witnessed a goddess wandering into the arena.
Eleven was here, and Mike was sure that it wasn't a dream because no matter how hard he tried, he could have never imagined that she would look so, 'Impossible.' That was the word that came to Mike's mind as he watched the remnants of a Supernova, blazing fiercely amidst the stars in the heavens above. He got up from his seat and took a hesitant step forward, he was afraid that she might disappear before she could find him in this crowd. But she didn't, she could also sense where her twin star rested in the sky.
Eleven's eyes met Mike's, and the world faded as the light from a Supernova, and its twin star met at the center of the galaxy, bathing the cosmos with a brilliant glow that only a few persons in that crowd were fortunate enough to witness.
Lucas was dancing with Max when she discerned something behind him and froze in place. A few meters away from them, Dustin executed a near flawless turn and halted midway and almost lost Nancy as she slipped but somehow recovered. She followed his gaze and turned towards the entrance and nearly lost her balance again when she saw the couple standing under the bright golden light.
Mike was standing right in front of Eleven, and they were staring into each other's eyes as if the world did not exist around them. Mike smiled and asked something to Eleven, and she blushed furiously and replied. From this distance, Nancy couldn't hear anything, but she could feel the colossal emotion driving those words. 'Finally,' Nancy felt a drop of tear rolling down her cheeks. She raised her hand to wipe the tear when she noticed that the rest of Mike's friends were already rubbing their eyes.
Mike and Eleven were completely oblivious about the effect their reunion was having on their friends. They were somewhat preoccupied with trying to come to terms with how amazing the other one was looking tonight. Mike had seen many versions of Eleven before, the one with the buzzcut hair and fierce eyes, the one with the fuzzy hair and caring demeanor and the one with the pulled back hair and devil may care attitude, but this time she looked absolutely radiant.
Eleven was also trying to understand what was so different about Mike tonight. He had the same caring look on his eyes, the very gaze that had drawn her like a magnet towards the boy when she had first met him in the woods a lifetime ago. But he also had a faint smile on his lips, it appeared as if he was not just delighted due to her appearance but for something entirely different. Then Mike glanced at his left and his grin widened. Eleven followed his eyes and found at least twenty other boys and girls staring at them as if they were witnessing magic.
"You look beautiful," Mike whispered to Eleven.
In an instant, she realized why he was smiling, and that made her blush even more furiously if that was even possible. Mike wasn't overjoyed merely due to her presence tonight, he was actually feeling ecstatic because he was proud about how beautiful his date was looking compared to the rest of the girls dancing around them. Eleven couldn't even look him in the eyes anymore.
"Do you want to dance?"
'Of course she does, she came because she wanted to dance,' Mike thought but still nervously waited for the answer.
"But I don't know how."
'Hopper is a good father, but he never taught me how to dance,' Eleven swallowed as she remembered the first time she had seen her father dancing to the tune of the turntable.
"You want to figure it out?"
'Thank the lord that she didn't see me dancing by myself last year. Wait...' Mike felt puzzled for a second, then he remembered about the night of the fireflies and suddenly felt the urge to kill himself. He had shown Eleven the dance, or rather a fragment of it inside her dreams, and he was sure that she was laughing inside.
They walked hand in hand towards the crowd and reached the center. Eleven wasn't sure about what to do next. Joyce had given her instructions about dancing, but in the presence of her charming prince, she had utterly forgotten the steps. But Mike took charge with ease. He grasped her hands and with a somewhat unpracticed motion, lifted them up and placed them on his shoulder.
'When did he become so tall?' Eleven looked up and smiled at Mike who gently wrapped his arm around the small of her back.
'Was she always this fluffy? Her hair is so Poofy, and she smells so nice. Strawberries?' Mike could almost feel her breathing as they synchronized their movement to the song that reverberated inside the room. It was still the same song by 'The Police.' But to the dancing couple, it felt like an eternity had passed since they met each other in front of the doorway, and they weren't tired at all.
They continued dancing as the tunes changed one by one, from 'Every breath you take' by 'The Police,' it gently moved into 'One more night' by 'Phil Collins.' Mike and Eleven had never danced before, so they were supposed to be at a disadvantage compared to their fellow dancers, but they had one advantage that no two humans in the world had ever possessed; they could listen to each other's heartbeats. Every step was beyond perfect, every turn was totally flawless, every step was entirely in sync, every breath was always following the footsteps of the other; Mike and Eleven were harmony personified.
Before long they had their own space in the crowd as the other couples noticed the way these two were slowly molding with the songs reverberating through the stadium and gave them their due recognition.
Then the moment finally arrived, they felt it breaking through every barrier raised by their past as they were swept away by a sudden surge of emotions rushing through their veins. Of course, this was not going to be the first time they would be kissing or the second, but it felt totally different. It was like the opposite poles of two magnets that pulled them close together, and their lips met precisely at the center of their bodies. Time stood still as Mike and Eleven heard two heartbeats that slowly synchronized into one and accomplished a reunion that had commenced almost a year ago. Once they parted, they smiled at each other and then Eleven rested her forehead against Mike's.
Suddenly there were loud claps all around them. They turned their heads and found Mike's batchmates standing around them and cheering the young couple who had set fire to the floor tonight. Their friends were in front of the crowd.
Max whistled and shouted, "You two are perfect."
Nancy was beaming at them as if they were the most precious thing she had ever set her eyes upon.
Beside them, Dustin was shouting, "Three cheers for our Paladin…"
"...and our Mage. Hip Hip" Will shouted and winked at Eleven.
"HURRAAAAY," the party acknowledged as loud claps acknowledged the transcendent couple.
Mike and Eleven were almost looking like tomatoes now. They blushed and hugged each other tightly and returned to their dance.
Outside the stadium, an estranged duo was reminiscing their golden days. Hopper threw the burnt cigarette towards the pavement and looked at Joyce. Her eyes glittered from the dim light that spread from the halogens lining the sidewalk. Hopper smiled faintly as he realized how fortunate he was to have found her after such a long time. Joyce Byers was the most courageous woman he had ever met in his life, and it was perhaps time to tell her the truth. Eleven had a biological mother as well as an adopted father, but she needed someone else to guide her through life.
"Joyce?" Hopper whispered.
Joyce glanced at him and smiled, "Yeah Jim?"
"Will you look after Eleven when I am gone?" Hopper looked away and stared at the pavement.
But it was of no use. Hopper felt her eyes burning a hole through his head, he could feel the fury that was contained in those near omnipotent eyes, and he was afraid of meeting that gaze, but he needed to tell Joyce what he always aspired to but never received the chance since junior college. Hopper wanted to gift Joyce the most valuable treasure that he had ever possessed; once it was his heart, but now it was his daughter, Jane Eleven Ives. Would she give him a chance this time?
Joyce pressed her head against Hopper's broad chest and shuddered as she spoke, "We'll look after Eleven together, Jim. Please do not leave her, she has lost so much already."
An emotion fluttered in the wind, 'So have I, Jim. I have lost so much, yet I have you by my side. Please, do not leave me.'
'To hell with this cloak and dagger,' Hopper opened his mouth to confess his feelings to Joyce when loud music blared through the air. They turned back to see the gate opening and a stream of Kids walking out. Hopper sighed and let go of Joyce, 'another time then.'
Joyce acknowledged and nodded, 'Don't take too long.'
Then they went around the car and swept their eyes through the crowd to identify their kids. 'There,' Hopper felt relieved once he saw the young couples walking towards them with confident steps. The party was walking out together. They all had their companions in their arms; Lucas held Max, Will was talking to a beautiful girl who Joyce could not recognize but felt proud nevertheless, it was a magical recovery for the plague-stricken boy indeed. Dustin was trying to explain something to Nancy, and she was listening with utmost attention. Jonathan was at their side, taking photographs along the way. He did not want to waste a single moment because every one of them was extraordinary. But then the final couple came into view and took Hopper's breath away.
Eleven was coming towards them with a smile that could have defeated the sun. She was clutching Mike's arm as if he would disappear the moment she let go. The boy was smiling at Eleven, and then he stopped and carefully adjusted the shoulder of her oversized dress and told her something. In response, Eleven grinned and quickly kissed him on the cheeks.
Hopper sighed and muttered, "They grow up so fast."
Joyce pressed his hand and whispered, "They look so beautiful. Just like us during our prom."
"Wanna try again?" Hopper casually threw the words in the air. He wasn't really expecting an answer.
"How about Saturday?" Joyce responded while keeping her eyes on the kids.
"It's a date," Hopper felt like shouting but somehow restrained himself.
"When will I see you again?" Mike asked Eleven but knew that it was a stupid question. He was planning to construct a treehouse near their cabin and spend the rest of his life there. But he was slightly worried about Hopper! Well, maybe a bit more than slightly.
'Some wild animals are known to be fiercely territorial,' Mr. Clarke's lecture popped into Mike's mind, and he felt a knot inside his stomach.
"Have you read Rapunzel?" Eleven winked and ran towards her father, leaving Mike at a complete loss for words. Then he remembered the story and flashed a wide grin as he thought, 'So that's how it's gonna be huh?'
Eleven climbed into the car and Hopper keyed the ignition as the massive engines of the Police SUV came to life. Then he pressed the gas slowly and moved the car out of the driveway. It was a quiet night today, once the vehicle rolled onto the highway leading to their cabin, Hopper gently asked, "How was the night?"
Eleven was lost in thoughts that reflected their nature in the smile that was brandished on her face. She took a few seconds to reply, "It was perfect, Dad. Just perfect. Mike is so pretty, he likes me."
"Of course he does," Hopper laughed and added, "That boy basically lives for you."
"Do you like him?" Eleven asked and then waited for an answer from her father.
Hopper did not outright answer the question. He kept driving his car through the sleepy streets of Hawkins while thinking about the not so straightforward answer. There was no doubt that Mike Wheeler loved his daughter, unlike any human had loved another one in the history of mankind. But they were still kids and probably oblivious to the shadows lurking in the very depths of the human heart. Eleven was still not entirely free from her dark past, and the more Mike got involved, the more danger he would expose himself to over time. If something happened to that boy, then it would completely destroy Eleven no matter if she was directly or indirectly responsible for the tragedy. Would it be a wise decision to let Mike get himself involved so much in his daughter's life? Hopper kept thinking but could not find any solution.
"You've always been afraid, Jim," the young woman peered at Hopper through the reflection on the windshield and shouted. Tears kept streaking down her cheeks as she struggled to let go of the man she had loved so much.
Hopper felt a crushing feeling inside his heart when he recalled the night he had said goodbye to Joyce all those years ago. 'Was I really afraid? Afraid of what?' He thought and then recalled what Dr. Owens had said to him tonight, 'A day will come when you have to make a choice, Jim.'
He lost control of the steering wheel, and the car swung left and headed for the barrier as he somehow managed to bring it back under control.
'Choices. I have always been afraid of choices. Confessing to Joyce, trusting Mike with my daughter, confronting Sarah's last days with my wife by my side, all these were nothing but choices. And I've always been afraid of taking them,' Hopper breathed to bring his heartbeat under control.
After thinking for a few seconds, he made up his mind and answered the question, "I absolutely love Mike Wheeler, a gem of a boy. How about we invite him to dinner this Saturday?"
Hopper waited for the answer that didn't come even after a few minutes. It was evident that Eleven was overwhelmed about her father's support for her relationship with Mike, but she was taking way too long.
"What's the matter? Cat got your ton.." Hopper glanced at his daughter but couldn't finish the sentence when he observed her face which was illuminated by the faint light coming from the dashboard.
Eleven was looking straight at the road, but in reality, it appeared as if she was looking beyond the confines of physical space. Her eyes were on the verge of popping out of their sockets and streams of tear kept rushing out of her eyes. Her palms were clutched so tightly against each other that they had almost turned white. A strange combination of pain and hatred had already spread through her face, and now it appeared that tremendous rage had slowly started taking their place.
Hopper could not understand what was going on, there were very few things in the world that Eleven cherished so much that the loss of them would bring her to…
"Mike! SHIT," Hopper shouted and swerved the steering wheel without taking his feet off the gas. The car spun around on the dart covered road and came to a stop momentarily and then the still running pistons inside the V6 engine pushed it towards the way they came from.
"Where is he? What's going on?" Hopper shouted while driving the car. The speedometer was already touching the maximum limit, but he didn't give a damn. Eleven painfully raised her right arm and pointed towards a road that forked away from the highway and ran towards Mike's house. Hopper kept driving as fast as he could, but nothing made any sense to him.
'You just have to find it. No, Eleven NEEDS to find it before someone destroy...' Dr. Owen's unfinished speech echoed in Hopper's mind as he connected the dots. Then he gasped and completed the sentence, "... before someone destroys it."
Hopper gritted his teeth and muttered, "Whoever you are, if you so much even touch that boy, I'll blow a hole through your chest."
With sudden wariness he realized that the car was actually running faster than physical laws dictated, he knew the reason, but he did not possess the courage to look at his daughter anymore.
A/N:
The fireflies reference is from ArcII: Fireflies, two stories prequel to this one. Next chapter hits in 48hrs.
This is the fluffiest chapter that I have ever written. Excuse me while I go find a cat to pet and bring home. Kindly provide feedback if you've enjoyed this story.