Stand By You

AN:

Welcome to my first Stranger Things fanfiction!

Be warned, this fanfiction will contain some dark themes, particularly later on in the story. Then again, so does the show so I guess you know what you're getting yourselves in for.

Also, please excuse the writing if it is poor quality, I am a beginner writer so constructive criticism is welcomed.

This story starts in the classroom scene at the end of Season 1, where Eleven kills the demogorgon. It follows Mike and Eleven's story closely, including all the gaps between seasons of the show.

Disclaimer – Neither Stranger Things nor the characters belong to me, which is probably a good thing.

Chapter 1 – I would never tell you

"Eleven stop!" exclaimed Mike as the girl slowly approached the Demogorgon being held at the front of the classroom. He had to stop her! She had used her powers so much tonight already, what if she killed herself? Just as he was about to reach her, she thrust an arm out and sent him flying towards the back of the classroom.

Mike's head span as he endured a pretty painful landing. He knew El didn't mean to hurt him, she was just trying to keep him safe by sacrificing herself. And Mike felt so powerless to stop her.

His head stopped spinning just in time to see Eleven glance back at him from where she stood in front of the Demogorgon. Mike knew he was too weak and far too slow to stop her, and he knew that they both knew she didn't have enough power left to kill the Demogorgon without really endangering her life. And he hated that he couldn't stop her. She didn't understand! He'd rather die saving her than lose her! A tear trickled down his cheek.

"Goodbye Mike," said Eleven, giving him one last look, before saying "No more," and unleashing her full power on the monster in front of her.

Mike placed his hands over his ears and put his head down in a futile attempt to block the awful screams coming from Eleven as she destroyed the Demogorgon, but it was no use. All he heard was the girl who he'd only known for about a week, but had become such an important part of his life in that time, screaming in excruciating pain. And it tore him apart inside.

Then all of a sudden, the screams stopped.

Mike was afraid to look up, scared what he would see, but slowly he uncovered his ears and raised his head back up again. And nothing. All that was left of Eleven and the Demogorgon was some dust that was slowly dissipating into the air. Mike jumped to his feet and rushed to the front of the classroom.

"El! El! El! El! Where are you?" he screamed in despair, vaguely aware of Lucas' and Dustin's shouts behind him as he searched desperately for any sign that she was alive. "Eleven! El?" He dropped to his knees.

Eleven, the girl who he had found in the woods, given a home to, talked to, made friends with, started to care deeply about, and even shared his first kiss with earlier that night, was gone. And now instead of all the hope, the happiness, the butterflies in his stomach, and the fierce protectiveness he always felt when he was with her, all that was left was a deep emptiness inside.

Eleven was gone.

-o0o-

The next hour was a blur for Mike. Once the realisation that Eleven was gone had sunk in, he couldn't think about anything else besides the girl he would already give anything to get back. Lucas and Dustin had tried to talk to him, and at some point the emergency services had arrived and tried to ask him questions too, but he'd remained silent throughout all of it.

She couldn't be dead; she just couldn't be. She was alive, he could feel it. She had to be.

If only he was stronger, if he was better, if he was of more use to Eleven against the Demogorgon. Then maybe she'd still be here, with him, definitely alive. This was all his fault for being so weak. Why would Eleven sacrifice herself for Lucas, Dustin and him, he didn't understand it. Although he kind of did – he would have done the same for her after all.

Mike was finally snapped out of his reverie as he saw his mother rushing towards him and he accepted her desperate hug without a fuss, quietly weeping into her shoulder. It felt good to be held by someone after the night he'd had, he only wished it were Eleven in his arms instead. They stayed like that for well over a minute before his mum pulled back. "Let's go home Mike."

The car journey home was quiet. His mum kept glancing backwards worriedly but had thankfully not started to ask questions, whereas his dad looked disinterested as usual, if only a little annoyed to be out so late. Mike himself was just trying to stop more tears from falling as he thought about poor, amazing Eleven.

When they arrived home, Mike wasn't happy in the slightest to see a load of cars outside the front of his house. His fears were proven correct when they entered the house and immediately the men who seemed to be searching the place began telling his parents some bullshit version of what had happened and about how Eleven was dangerous and the Russians were looking for her. Mike was about to butt in and tell them this was not true – El was not a Russian girl, she was his friend and she sacrificed herself to save him – when he got taken aside by a man and a woman into the next room.

"Michael," the woman began, "We need to know everything that has happened in the last couple weeks and how this girl you've been keeping in your basement is involved."

"No, why should I tell you anything?" Mike retorted angrily, "You only want to hurt her!"

"No we don't, we just want to bring her somewhere safe, where she can't endanger herself and others around her."

"She didn't endanger us! She saved us! She saved me! She's a better person than you'll ever be! You only want to know about her so you can find her and hurt her again!"

"I understand it's difficult for you Michael, but we need to know what the girl has told you and where she is now," said the man.

"She's told me enough about you, that you're bad people! I don't even want to know how badly you people have treated her in the past, I mean what kind of girl our age can't even speak properly? She didn't even know what a friend was, how can you make her live like that? We found her, she helped us find Will, and then despite the fact she didn't have to, she sacrificed herself to save all of us, because she's a far better person than anyone else I've ever met! And now she might be dead," Michael finished shouting with tears threatening to spill down his face.

"Michael, we need to know what she's told you and where she is now. If you value the safety of your family, you need to tell us now."

"I've told you everything! I don't know where she is, and even if I did, I would never tell you. I would never tell you."

"I know it's difficult to accept, but the stories she told you are not true," the woman spoke again, but some movement outside the window caught Mike's eye and he stopped listening.

Eleven. It looked like Eleven outside his window. He stared in shock trying to figure out if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

"Michael? Michael?" he heard the man question him, and he tried to tear his eyes away from the window, but it was too late. They'd seen where he was looking. The man moved closer to the window to look outside. "Was she there?" he asked, "Was she there?!"

Mike sat frozen in panic, ignoring the question. The man said something into his radio, and suddenly the men all began pouring out of the house into the night, searching for any sign of Eleven. Mike jumped to his feet, determined to find her first or at least distract the men long enough to give El time to hide from them, but before he could go anywhere, a hand closed around his wrist holding him in place. It was one of the men who had stayed behind.

"Let me go! Let me go! Let me go! LET ME GO!" Mike screamed at him whilst peppering his body with punches, to no effect. He collapsed back onto the bed tears now streaming down his face at how useless he was, how worthless. Yet again, he was too damn weak to help Eleven. He wasn't convinced he had actually seen El out of the window, it felt like his mind was playing tricks on him in his grief, but if she really was out there and she got captured, it would be all his fault again for being so weak and pathetic.

"Michael, we only want to help her and keep everyone safe," said the woman, who had stayed behind too. "Just promise me you will contact us if you ever see or hear from her again."

Mike wanted to scream and shout 'No!' and that he wouldn't contact them, he'd help hide her, and even fight against them at her side if it came to it, but he just nodded dumbly, knowing there was no way in hell he'd ever betray Eleven, but this woman didn't need to know that.

"Good boy," she cooed placatingly, causing him to grit his teeth in anger at this stupid woman. "Come on, let's go," she ordered the other man, "Let's leave him with his family." She turned to Mike, "If you do try to leave tonight, we'll know."

That probably means they'll be watching the house, thought Mike as they exited. He really wanted to leave anyway, but knew he'd be caught before he got far at all. He'd proven he wasn't fast or strong enough to escape them once already today.

Before he could contemplate it too much more though, his mum entered the room.

"How are you doing Mike?" she asked tentatively.

"Not well," he answered truthfully.

"Care to tell me about this Russian girl you've been harbouring in our basement for the last week or so?" she questioned, looking at her son pointedly.

"She's not Russian. Her name is Elev– her name is El. Me, Dustin and Lucas were trying to find Will in the woods and we found her just standing there looking freezing, so we brought her back here and let her stay the night and I was going to tell you about it in the morning but El told me not to. She said bad people were looking for her and she didn't want them to find her, so we kept it a secret. She…she was helping us find Will – he's not dead, his mum and Chief Hopper went to find him tonight but I don't know if they did or not. El saved us from the de– from the bad people today and I haven't seen her since and I don't know where she is and I'm worried she's dead."

He was sobbing once again now, and tried to hug his mum, but she pushed him back and looked down at him seriously. "Michael, are you sure everything she told you was truthful? From what I've heard, the Russians were trying to find her and she was very dangerous to keep around. I know she might have seemed nice, but people can hide who they are in order to get something they want."

"She wasn't lying! She wasn't! If she was lying, why would she save us tonight? She saved us, Mum. Me, Dustin and Lucas are only alive because of her!"

"I'm sure it wasn't that serious, Michael." Mike glared at his mother, furious that she wasn't listening to or believing him. "I can see we're not getting anywhere tonight; we'll talk about this again some other time when you're less emotional. Goodnight, Michael."

With that, she left, closing the door behind her and leaving Mike alone with his thoughts. Screw her if she chose not to believe him! No matter who was on his side or not, he was sticking by Eleven. In the short space of time he had known her, she had completely changed his outlook on life. All of a sudden, all the fantastical things he had dreamed of were real – monsters, other dimensions – she even had magical telekinetic powers! But that wasn't what was so captivating, so amazing about her, nor was it how pretty she was, even with such short hair for a girl. It was how kind she seemed to be to him, and how protective she was of his friends, but him most of all. She had helped to find Will – hell, she'd done most of the work herself – despite the fact she had no obligation to do so, she didn't even know Will! Then, she'd shown her kindness by not judging him for how he was bullied at school. Most people looked down on him for that, but she just told him she understood, then gave him that warm and pretty smile which caused his heart to beat that little bit faster and made him want to smile uncontrollably too. Then there was how she had pushed Lucas off of him during their fight and knocked him out. He was angry at her at the time for that, but now he understood she was just protecting him. Then, she saved his life for the first time, when he jumped off of that cliff. That was another situation where if Mike could have been stronger or better at fighting, he could have prevented the need for Eleven saving him at all, but even though he was useless and stupid, she saved him anyway. And then finally, there was the moment she sacrificed herself to save them all. But even though she was saving them all, when she had turned around just before destroying the Demogorgon, she had said 'goodbye, Mike' just to him. She was doing it for him. And he still didn't understand why. And now he just had to believe she was alive; believe she'd survived the fight against the Demogorgon and that she was out there somewhere safe. And he would be waiting for her when she came back.

He would always stand by Eleven.