Chapter Five: Promise

Elizabeth groaned, squeezing her eyes tight. She heard something in the distance, but her body refused to move to react. It sounded like… no, it was definitely somebody screaming. She strained her ears, trying to hear what they were saying.

"Where are you? Jonathon! Jonathon!"

Her eyes finally opened, and her fingers twitched. Jonathon? Will's brother Jonathon?

Elizabeth's arms screamed in protest as she willed them forward, holding her hands next to her chest and pushing with all of her remaining strength. Her arms were shaking so much they were practically vibrating as she lifted herself from the floor, gritting her teeth so tightly she thought they might shatter.

But she had to move. That thing had taken Will, and there was somebody else here. Unless she was dead and this was some fucked up version of hell where she thought she was being rescued when really it was just the monster luring her out to eat her or something equally disturbing. But she had to try.

It took so long, but Elizabeth got to her feet. Before leaving the house, she grabbed the axe with dried monster blood coating the blade. Trailing one hand along the wall, she walked outside.

"Jonathon, please! Jonathon, where are you?"

Elizabeth moved slower than she liked, but she was still moving. Her feet dragged her closer and closer to the sound, deeper into the forest. She opened her mouth to yell back, but her throat produced no sound. She licked her lips, her tongue almost as dry as them. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she tried again.

"Hello?" she managed to get out, her voice cracking slightly. "Who's out there?"

"Hello?" the voice called back. It almost sounded familiar, and Elizabeth prayed it was somebody friendly. "Is somebody here?"

"I'm here!" Elizabeth called back. She would have cried if she wasn't so dehydrated.

She heard footsteps crunching the leaves, growing closer. She continued her slow walk through the trees, almost tripping a few times but trying as hard as her body would allow to meet the person halfway. Just get me there, she begged her feet. Please just get me there.

A girl broke through the trees, and Elizabeth was positive then that she was either dead or dreaming. It was Nancy fucking

Wheeler. Elizabeth burst into laughter at the sight of her, and Nancy took a wary step back. Elizabeth just continued to laugh, holding her empty stomach and doubling over.

"Elizabeth?" Nancy asked carefully, holding a hand out and walking closer. "Is that you?"

"Nancy!"

Now that was a sound Elizabeth recognized. She would know that watery sound anywhere — somebody was calling out from the other side.

"Jonathon!" Nancy yelled back, distracted temporarily from the girl in front of her. "Jonathon, can you hear me?"

"I'm right here, Nancy! Just follow my voice!"

Nancy looked back towards Elizabeth, running towards her now and taking hold of her arm. "We have to get out of here," she said, trying to drag the girl with her towards where she thought she heard Jonathon.

Elizabeth went only a few steps with the girl before stopping and pulling her arm away. Nancy looked back, confusion plain on her features. "Will," Elizabeth muttered, turning in a circle as she searched the trees. "Will is still here. I can't leave him."

"You've seen Will?"

"We were together," Elizabeth explained, still searching the surrounding area. "We — I was trying to protect him, but the monster — I can't leave without him, I have to find him, Nancy, I have to!"

"What about Barb?" Nancy asked hopefully. "Have you seen Barbara anywhere?"

"No," Elizabeth shook her head. "No, just Will. We were together, at his house."

Nancy tried not to let the disappointment show on her face. "Do you know where Will is?"

"No, the monster, I was trying to stop it but — but I couldn't, it was too — it, it took him and, and I don't, I can't —"

Nancy grabbed Elizabeth's arms to make her stop spinning and rambling. "Elizabeth! We will find Will, I promise. But right now, we have to get out of here. We can't help him if we're dead!"

Elizabeth stopped and met Nancy's frantic gaze. It was true that she had no idea where Will was, and she was in no condition to help him right now. But it still felt wrong to leave him behind when she had promised him she would bring him home.

"I promised," Elizabeth whispered. "I promised him I would protect him. That I would bring him home. You don't know what we've been through. I can't just leave."

"That monster is out here somewhere," Nancy tried to reason with her. "You can't fight it by yourself. You need our help. We're making a plan to kill it, and then we can find Will. But right now we need to leave."

Elizabeth considered her options carefully, biting her chapped lip and glancing back the way she had come. She could leave. Nancy found a way in, and she hadn't been turned around yet. She could take her out of here, and she could help them with their plan, and come back for Will later. She could get out of this place, the only thing she had wanted for God knows how long.

But Will would be alone. She didn't even know if he was still alive, but if he was and she just left him here? She might be too late to save him.

"Nancy! Nancy, follow my voice!"

Elizabeth looked back to Nancy, her mind made up. She brushed the girl's hands off her arms and took a step back. She would have cried if her body had any water left to spare.

"I can't leave without Will."

Nancy opened her mouth to argue, but was interrupted by Jonathon calling for her once again. She sighed, closing her eyes for a moment in acceptance before stepping away from Elizabeth. "Whatever we do, we'll do it tomorrow night," she told her. "I don't know how yet, but we're going to make that thing come to us, and we're going to kill it. That'll be your chance to get Will. All you have to do is find him before that happens."

Nancy took off a scarf she was wearing and wrapped it around a nearby tree branch. "The gate is close to here," she explained. "Find Will, and if you can, bring him back here. You'll be able to get out." Elizabeth nodded. "Okay," Nancy sighed. "Good luck."

"You too," Elizabeth said. She watched as Nancy turned her back on her, following the sound of Jonathon's voice back to the hole in the tree she had originally crawled through.

Elizabeth watched Nancy leave, and silently prayed that it wouldn't be the last time she saw another living person.

—

Jonathon pulled Nancy out of the tree, a skin like film closing behind her as he did. "What was that?" he asked breathlessly. "What happened?"

"It was like a whole different place," Nancy tried to explain, looking back at the tree as Jonathon helped her to her feet. "I saw Elizabeth in there."

"You what?" Jonathon nearly yelled. "Why didn't she come back with you?"

Nancy turned to Jonathon, a sad look in her eyes. "She said she couldn't leave without Will. I tried to make her come with me, but you should've seen her Jonathon. There was no convincing her."

"He wasn't with her?" Jonathon looked back to the tree, and it took only a second for him to start moving towards it. Nancy's hands shot out and latched onto his shoulders, pulling him back.

"Jonathon, stop! You can't help them from in there. You'll die!"

"My brother is in there, Nancy! What would you do if it was Mike in there?"

"I would do everything I could to save him," she said with such determination it actually made Jonathon stop and look at her. "But that doesn't mean going in blind. Elizabeth is looking for him. We need to help her, from out here. I have a few ideas, and I need your help."

Jonathon looked back to the tree, torn. He wanted so badly to run straight into that place, find Will and bring him home. But Nancy was right. He had no idea where Will was, or how to find him. He had to trust that Nancy knew what she was doing, and that Elizabeth could keep Will safe until they were able to stop that monster from hurting either of them.

His shoulders slumped as he once again stepped away from the tree, turning his eyes to Nancy. "So what do we do?"

—

"Stupid, stupid, I'm so stupid," Elizabeth muttered to herself as she trudged her way through the forest. She had no idea where Will was, all she knew was that she'd had a chance for freedom and had turned her back on it.

She twirled the axe in a circle, stopping a moment to think. It didn't matter what happened before. All that mattered now was finding Will so they could leave this place, together.

"Think," she whispered to herself, closing her eyes. Where would the monster take him? If he had wanted to kill him, he wouldn't have taken him. So he must be somewhere. But where would they go?

Not a house. Too small, plus he could have just kept him at the Byers house. Not a store, they would be so cluttered with stuff, no space to move around freely. City Hall maybe? But it was on the other side of town, she wasn't sure if she could make it. She had to check somewhere closer, somewhere big and open that she could walk to without collapsing. Think, Elizabeth.

The library.

Her eyes shot back open, and immediately she was moving again. It had to be the library. The library was pretty close to where the Byers lived, which meant it wasn't too far from her, and it wouldn't be too long before she could reach it.

She just hoped Will would still be there waiting for her.

—

Everyone sat on the gym floor, surrounding the kiddie pool as Eleven pulled the goggles down to cover her eyes and lean back in the water. She felt her dress brush against her legs briefly as she began to float, before everything went still around her.

Nancy and Jonathon looked to each other, hoping that this really worked.

They had told Joyce and Hopper about what they had seen at the police station, after Jonathon was arrested for fighting with Steve. He had wanted so badly to shout something at him about where Elizabeth was and what she was going through while he spray painted insults about Nancy on the movie theater marquis, but he had held his tongue. Steve didn't deserve to know.

He was relieved to know that his mom wasn't crazy, though knowing that she had been right the whole time filled him with a guilt he didn't think would ever go away. Knowing that his brother had been in that place for nearly a week while they had been having a premature funeral for him? He swore that he would never let Will out of his sight again after they got him back.

Elizabeth had been there too. She had been there the whole time, protecting his brother any way she could. He owed her everything. He knew that, and so did his mom. When they got her back with Will, Jonathon was going to give her the second biggest hug in the world, right after giving the biggest to Will.

The lights in the gym flickered as Eleven settled in the water, her vision shooting out of her body and into the Upside Down.

"Barbara?"

Nancy leaned forward, listening intently to the girl in the water. "Is Barb okay? Is she okay?"

"Gone! Gone! Gone!"

Joyce reached forward and grabbed El's arms. "It's okay, it's okay. It's okay, we're right here, honey. It's okay, I got you. Don't be afraid. We're right here with you."

Eleven's screams trailed off until she was silent, and the group waited with baited breath to hear what she described next.

A moment later, she whispered again. "Castle Byers."

—

Eleven began to approach the fort, but stopped just short when she heard murmuring in the distance. She turned her gaze past the fort, walking past it.

"Come on, Lizzie, you got this. It's not much further, keep going."

Eleven approached the girl from behind, reaching out a careful hand and brushing the back of the denim jacket.

Elizabeth whirled around, raising her axe to defend herself. Eleven jumped back out of fear; though rationally she knew nobody could really hurt her here, it was still scary to have someone brandish a weapon against you.

El watched the girl's brows furrow as she slowly lowered the weapon. "Who are you?"

"El," she said, touching her chest the way Mike had taught her to. "Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth nodded slowly, still confused by the little girl in the pink dress who had suddenly appeared in front of her. "Yeah, that's me. How did you get here?"

"Elizabeth," she repeated.

—

"Who are you?" came through the radio, and Nancy sighed with relief.

"That's Elizabeth's voice," she told the group. "She's not dead."

"Elizabeth?" Eleven whispered.

"Yeah, that's me," came through the radio. "How did you get here?"

"Elizabeth," Eleven muttered for the second time, this time confirming who she was talking to.

Jonathon leaned forward. "Ask her if she found Will," he told Eleven. "Ask her if she knows where he is."

—

"How did you get here, El? It isn't safe."

"Not safe," El repeated with a nod of her head. She heard Jonathon's words in her head, and repeated them. "Where is Will?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "I — I don't know. I think he's at the library, but I don't know. But I'm gonna find him, and I'm gonna bring him home. Like I promised."

—

"Like I promised."

Joyce let out a small sob, holding on to El with one hand and covering her face with the other. She hadn't seen Elizabeth in years, but she was so thankful for the girl looking out for her son now. She had no idea what had compelled her to protect Will, but she knew that she would never be able to thank her enough.

"Tell her we're gonna get her out," Hopper said to Eleven. "Tell her we're gonna get them both out of there. Tell her we're on our way, right now."

Joyce looked at Hopper as he stood up, giving her a pointed look before walking towards the doors of the gym.

—

"They're coming," Eleven said. "They're coming… to get you out. Both of you."

Elizabeth laughed, and she wasn't exactly sure why. Maybe out of shock? She definitely had to be in shock. "Okay. I guess I'll just have to believe you, strange small girl. Just, I guess just tell them that I'm going to the library, if they can find me there."

"The library," El repeated with a nod of her head. "I'll tell them."

Elizabeth blinked, and the girl was gone. She stood there for another moment, staring at the spot where El had been not even half a second earlier.

"Whatever," she muttered, turning on her heel and continuing on her path. They were either coming or they weren't, but either way it didn't change what Elizabeth had to do.

—

Finally, she made it.

Elizabeth stood outside of the library, staring at the large double doors in front of her, the adrenaline waning. It was the only thing keeping her going at this point, and without it she feared she would finally collapse and never get up again.

If El was to be believed, help was on the way. She was so close, she just had to make it inside. If she could just make it inside, she would find Will, and they would go home.

She walked up the short three steps to the doors that were layered in those gross vines, and took a final breath before pushing them open.

It was dark inside, but it was dark everywhere here. She looked closely at the floor as she stepped, not wanting to make a sound in case the monster was here. Only a few short steps in, she saw the first small blood puddle. She stopped for only a minute to stare at it, deciding if she wanted it to be Will's or not.

Though it didn't really matter. Whether it was or wasn't, she had chosen her path.

Elizabeth kept moving. She stepped through a small doorway covered in sludge, one arm in front of her face and the other still holding firmly to the axe. She faintly registered a skeleton trapped to the wall on her left, held by vines and ooze, but walked straight past it. Nothing could really upset her any more. Not after all that she had been through.

"Will?" she called quietly, not wanting to be too loud but still hoping he would hear her. "Will, I'm here kid. Say something."

Nobody responded, and she continued down the hallway. She examined every wall, every nook and crevice she could find for any sign of the boy she was so desperately searching for.

"Will, if you can hear me, please say something."

When she finally found Will, she stumbled back and fell flat on her ass. He was glued to the wall, trapped like the skeleton had been in all the gunk. That wasn't the most disturbing part though.

One of the vines was stuck down his throat, his eyes closed and sunken in, his hair stuck to his forehead with sweat despite the freezing temperatures.

Elizabeth couldn't help it. Her hands landed on the floor in front of her and she spent several minutes dry heaving. Her body wouldn't stop even though it had nothing to retch up.

"Oh, God," she mumbled as she pushed herself back to her feet. She didn't want to look at him again, but just finding Will wasn't enough. She had to get him out.

She set the axe on the floor before reaching her hands forward, slowly wrapping them around the tendril. It was cold and slimy and so gross and Jesus Christ she just wanted to drop it. Instead, she closed her eyes and started to pull, praying it didn't kill him in the process.

Elizabeth pulled and pulled, but it was stuck down inside of him and she had no strength left to try. In a huff, she fell back to the floor, defeated.

"Please," she cried to nobody in particular. "Please help us."

—

Elizabeth wasn't sure how long she sat there. She just sat. She was pretty sure she didn't even have the strength to move enough to lay down.

So she sat. And waited. And sat some more. Her eyes were glued to the floor, her axe forgotten to the side. Her hands hung limply at her sides. Her head nearly touched her chest with how low it hung.

Then she heard it. Footsteps. The monster, coming back to claim his victims.

This was it. Her final stand. She had decided once that if she was going to die here, she was going to die fighting.

The adrenaline returned to her body, and slowly she lifted her head. She looked at Will, still trapped with the tendril down his throat, and fire blazed deep in her belly. It almost felt easy to stand then, as if her body knew it would be the last time. She retrieved the forgotten axe, and turned to face the hallway she had come down before. Positioning herself protectively in front of Will as she had done so many times before, she raised the axe and planted her feet firmly to the ground.

And she waited.

The footsteps grew closer. They were softer, more careful than she had ever heard before. Why was it trying to be quiet?

Then she saw the light. The first light she had seen in God knows how long. Maybe the first light to ever pierce this world. Maybe she was already dead, and the light was from the afterlife.

A yellow arm peeked around the corner, and she furrowed her brows. The monster wasn't yellow.

It wasn't the monster at all. It was a person, in a chunky yellow hazmat suit. They held a gun in front of them, the light shining from the top. When the light turned to reach her, she squinted against it. It was painful to see something so bright after so long.

Another yellow person came out behind the first, and she slowly began to lower her axe.

"Elizabeth?"

The axe clattered loudly against the floor, and she finally cried. After all this time, Elizabeth finally broke down. One of the yellow people ran forward to catch her as she fell, clinging to them like her life depended on it. The person placed a gentle hand on her back, shushing her and promising that everything was going to be okay now.

"Will!"

The second yellow person, a woman, rushed forward to Will. "Will, baby, it's me! Hopper help me, help me get him down!"

The person holding Elizabeth, Hopper, pulled carefully away from her. She wanted to scream in protest, beg to never be let go again, but he hushed her once more and promised he was going to take her home. "I have to help Will," he said.

Elizabeth let go of him, turning from her place on the floor to watch Hopper grab the tendril attached to Will. He carefully pulled it, all the way out, before throwing it harshly to the ground and shooting it until it stopped squirming.

"Grab him, Joyce."

Joyce helped Hopper lower Will down from the wall and lay him on the floor. Elizabeth leaned closer, trying to get a closer look at the boy. "Is he okay?"

Joyce removed the helmet of her suit first, closely followed by Hopper. "He's not breathing," she said calmly at first, though her shouting quickly became more frantic. "He's not breathing, Hopper! He's not breathing, he's not —"

"Joyce, listen to me, listen to me, okay? Listen." Hopper pulled his gloves off before placing his hands over Will's chest and pumping them up and down. "Tilt his head back, and lift his chin. Now when I tell you, you're gonna pinch his nostrils and then breathe into his mouth, okay? One second, and then pause, and then again. Ready? Now."

Elizabeth watched helplessly as Joyce and Hopper performed CPR for a lifetime. Both of them were encouraging him to come back, to breathe, to stay with them. She just shook her head and buried her face in her hands, mumbling to herself as she began to rock back and forth. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I tried, I'm sorry…"

Joyce was crying, begging him to come back. "Please, baby, I love you so much. I love you more than anything in the world, please, please!"

"Come on, kid!"

"Please wake up, baby, please! Please, please I need you. I need you to come back, please!"

"Come on! Come on!"

Finally Hopper brought his fist down on Will's chest one final time, and the boy shot up with a sharp inhale. Joyce immediatelyhad her arms around her son while Hopper moved to grab his discarded mask and move it to the boy's face.

Elizabeth looked up from her hands and pushed herself forward, her head landing in Will's lap. "I'm so sorry, Will, I'm so sorry."

Hopper placed one hand on her back and the other on Joyce with a sigh of relief. They were okay.

They were okay.

A/N

Hey! I just want to take a second to thank everyone who has read this far. Every view, follow, favorite, and review is greatly appreciated. My plan is for this story to go all the way through season 4, and will eventually include a slow burn romance. I have a few ideas, but nothing is set in stone yet. Thank you again for reading, and I hope you continue to enjoy!