A/N:This is a pretty long chapter. I got carried away in all the POVs. Anywayys, this is a pivotal scene in the series so I hope the length allowed me to give it justice.

OUTSIDE THE WHEELER RESIDENCE; November 13, 1983

Mitch was about to scream in frustration. Contrary to CJ's assurances that Mike and Eleven were going to be kept together by the sheer force of destiny, Mitch's would-be parents seemed resistant to the gravitational forces that were supposed to keep them together. For the second time in less than a week, Mike had yelled at Eleven again. Her would-be father was making a habit of verbally abusing her would-be mother; and that did not sit well with Mitch.

As the thin thread that her existence hanged on began to unravel, Mitch watched as her would-be mother robbed a grocery store of many boxes of Eggo waffles and walked out like a boss causing chaos and disruption along the way.

OK. Now I have something I can use the next time Mom tells me off for breaking the rules. Mitch thought., only to realize she was stuck 50 years in the past; and her new found kompromat was not necessary when she would be the same age as her mother for the rest of her life.

Mitch decided to follow as Eleven walked into the woods to wallow in her sadness as she engaged in one of humanity's time-tested antidotes to heartbreak, stress-eating. Mitch became impressed as her mother downed one box of waffles after another. This was a rather advanced level of stress eating; and Mitch was experiencing a lot of sympathy pain as her would-be mother wolfed down her 12th waffle.

This was not a good sign. Unlike normal people, who downed alcohol, Eleven's emotional state was measured by the number of Eggos she was stress-eating. People in the future called this the Hopper scale which was named after Mitch's Grandpa Jim, who dealt with Eleven's mood by trying to appease her with food: a four-Eggo problem was for minor tantrums like missing an episode of a show she really liked; a six-Eggo problem meant she was really stressed; a seven-Eggo problem was when something triggered memories of the lab. a nine-Eggo problem was when she was stressing out about pleasing her Grandma Karen; an eleven-Eggo problem occurred once a year on the anniversary of Mike's death. Mitch had never before seen a twelve-Eggo problem so she assumed this was really bad.

MEANWHILE

Mike was really stressing out the events of the previous afternoon. He shouldn't have yelled at Eleven. He was really inclined to be patient with El; but harming Lucas was out of line. No matter how much Lucas irritated Mike, Lucas was Mike's friend; hurting Lucas was, by extension, hurting Mike as well.

Maybe I need to explain this idea better to El. Mike thought, as he ruminated over several apology scenarios. Apologies needed to wait, however, as Dustin quickly pointed out the fast approaching Troy Harrington with his thug, James. Though not usually one to shy away from danger, the look on Troy's face was nothing short of malicious , even murderous. Mike decided that discretion was the better part of valor and turned tail with Dustin; and ran with Troy and James in hot pursuit. |Unfortunately, there was not much space for them to run as Troy and James caught them dangerously close to the cliffs overlooking the Hawkins quarry. Soon, Mike was in a no-win situation as Troy took out a knife; and threatened to hurt Dustin with it unless Mike jumped off the cliff. Mike was familiar with the Hobson's choice. A moral dilemma where there was no good option. Troy had presented him with one: jump off a cliff, risking serious bodily harm if not death; or live with the knowledge that he simply let Troy harm one of his friends.

Mike's friends were an extension of Mike. The idea of saving himself over them was unthinkable. Dustin was a friend; and a friend was someone you'd do anything for. That was that. There is no quibble in that definition that let him cop out because he feared death or serious bodily harm.

There could be no other way. Mike ignored Dustin's pleas, closed his eyes, then took one fateful step forward, tumbling down and bracing himself for an impact that never came.
_

IN THE FOREST.

Eleven had a psychokinetic superpower; but that was not nearly as important as the Mike senses that were tingling like a bad case of herpes right now. Mike was in trouble. Mike was a friend, someone you'd do anything for. If he needed help, then she has to be there to provide it. Eleven stood up and began to run toward the source her Mike senses pointed her to. Just like that, a presence, one that had been following her all day, began to move too. El did not pay any attention to that. Mike was in danger; getting him out of danger was the top priority. She ran like her life depended on it; arriving at the quarry to the sight of Mike's two enemies egging him on to jump. She screamed internally as Mike, the first and only friend she had in this world, proceeded to do just that. She panicked out of fear he was about to die; and because she found the act of self-sacrificial heroism oddly attractive. Baffling; but attractive. Luckily, she had just eaten 12 eggos which gave her enough energy to muster a last-ditch emergency response. She called on every ounce of power she had to prevent Mike's squishy body from making contact with the water then carry him back to a safe distance from the cliff's edge.

She then used the last of her remaining strength to take the knife from Troy's hand and break his arm, allowing Dustin to break free. She then collapsed from the exhaustion; even twelve Eggos need some time to make their way through your system. Luckily, the display of raw power had cowed Troy and his goon sufficiently for them to cut and run. Another crisis satisfactorily dealt with

Mike. her sweet Mike, wasted no time running to her side. Exhausted and panicked, she made her admission. "I'm sorry. I opened the Gate; I'm the Monster."

To her relief, the kind Mike she had been crushing on returned, and enveloped her in a tight embrace.

"You're not the monster, El. You saved me!" he said through a curtain of tears streaming down his cheeks.

It was here that El decided that she could dedicate her existence to protecting this idiot with no instinct for self-preservation alive; that was precisely what she intended to do.

Dustin's insides were crushed as he saw Mike's figure quickly disappear beneath the cliff edge. The first emotion he felt was anger. Oddly enough, it wasn't at Troy; Dustin was mad at Mike. Mike, whom he had warned against splitting the Party up; Mike who had been too stubborn to make amends with Lucas; Mike whom he had repeatedly begged not to jump but did anyway. Everyone in the Party had long known Mike's Hero Complex would likely get him killed,. Mike would never hesitate to be a hero for any of his friends. No sacrifice would be too great to ensure the safety of one. This was problematic as Mike Wheeler had a pretty expansive definition of the word friend. There were a lot of people Mike would "do anything for."

That was just half the story, though. In Dustin's opinion, Mike's hero complex had always come from some deep-seethed selfishness. Mike liked to tell everyone that he couldn't lose them; but Mike was also inconsiderate of how others would feel if they lost him. He decided to shelter girl from the storm; then kept defending her even after she prevented them from finding Will. Now, he jumped off a cliff to protect Dustin's teeth even after Dustin told him he could do without. Dustin was also mad at Lucas. Lucas was the one who was supposed to stop Mike when he got into one of these hero complex moods. Mike and Lucas had failed each other by letting petty pride get in the way of their friendship. As Dustin was thinking all these thoughts, he realized he was getting an awful lot of thinking done in the 15-seconds it was supposed to take for Mike Wheeler to become a corpse floating in the Hawkins Quarry. Troy appeared to have noticed this too, as no telltale splash was heard; nor was there a body in the water telling them Mike Wheeler was indeed dead.

Moments later, a decidedly not deceased Mike floated above the cliff edge, much to Dustin's delight, and levitated to a position a few meters away from the edge. Troy's knife flying off his hand gave Dustin the opening he needed to shove his way out of his tormentor's grasp. Dustin, still surprised, noticed their unexpected savior, Eleven.

Boy, was this boy lucky he was somehow attractive to super-powered girls, Dustin thought, as he joined the awkward group hug.

Moments later, his thought fully processed the significance of the situation. Great, just great! Mike survived; now, I'm going to need to do something equally stupid just to get even.

Mitch, who was following Eleven, stared in horror as her would-be father, who still hadn't even gotten around to conceiving any children with her would-be mother, threw himself beneath the cliff's edge. For the briefest of moments, all the crucial strings of fate leading to her hung in the balance. She watched with bated breath as the crucial string strained against a cliff's edge. The stories from 2033 all told her to expect this moment; but here in 1983, it all felt very real to her: her would-be father was a suicidally heroic idiot who had no instinct for self-preservation. It all made sense to her now.

To everyone's surprise but Mitch's he floated back above the cliff edge unharmed and alive. The mercurial Mike Wheeler might not be there yet; but Eleven, a very specific type of girl was already smitten with him. Chalk up another one for the inexplicably lucky Mike Wheeler; and the very persistent hand of Destiny.

MOMENTS LATER

A very satisfied-looking Mitch finally saw it: her would-be parents unable to take their eyes off each other, the kind of love Mike's untimely death in 2020 would rob her of seeing as a child. The group of four, Mike and Eleven in particular, walked back to Maple Street oblivious to the rest of the world, even the white vans curiously watching their movements. Mitch was still hesitant to reveal herself, for fear of spoiling history; but they would need her active participation soon enough. Shit was about to get real.

A/N: So what do you think?

If you're like me and find head-hopping annoying, I'm sorry for including so many POVs. In this scene, I felt it was necessary to look at all of these characters and how they felt to fully appreciate the significance of this scene.