Woohoo! Chapter 3 is here!
I loved all the feedback for Chapter 2. Thanks for giving this story a chance!
Sorry this took so long, holidays, sickness, and writer's block caused my writing time to be scarce recently.
Also, just FYI if something happens after a kind of crucial scene and I didn't write about it here (AKA like I didn't write about Eleven's lovely psychic tantrum last chapter), you can just assume that it happens exactly like in S2. The only difference being that Eleven snuck out to talk to Will after her and Hopper's fight. You can also assume that Joyce has been calling Hopper like she did in the show, trying to get in touch with him.
Hopefully that makes things a little bit easier to follow!
Enjoy the chapter!
Mike was in a dead sleep when he was awoken by a voice crackling over his radio. It was sitting on his bedside table, which was where it always sat at night, just in case. In case someone (Eleven) ever tried to contact him, or needed him while he slept.
"Mike?" A voice asked. "Mike, do you copy? Over." The voice was urgent.
Mike turned his lamp on and sat up quickly, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the unfamiliar light. After a few seconds, he realized the voice coming over the radio was Will's. It was weird, because Will's walkie usually was out of range from his house. He must be nearby, which meant something must have happened. Mike didn't dwell on the detail for too long.
Mike grabbed his radio. "Will? What's going on? Over." His voice was croaky from sleep. He tried to whisper, because he knew if he was too loud Nancy would wake up and that was not something he wanted to deal with tonight.
"Something happened. I need to talk to you, it's a code red. But don't tell the others. Meet me at Castle Byers in 20. Over." Will said.
Mike didn't even question him. He had had another feeling as soon as his radio had woken him. "I'll be there. Just hang on. Over and out."
Eleven and Will sat in Castle Byers, waiting anxiously for Mike's arrival. Nervousness tended to make Will all jittery and fidgety, and he was bouncing his knee like there was no tomorrow. Eleven, on the other hand, seemed to react the opposite way. Stress had made her sit so still that she could have been mistaken for a statue. She was staring at the wall, and if Will had opened a dictionary and looked up the word 'anxiety', he was pretty sure he would find a picture of Eleven looking back at him. He reached out and touched her knee, wanting to comfort her.
"El. It's gonna be fine."
"You really think he won't be mad?" Eleven asked tentatively, as if she was afraid of the answer.
Will smiled at her reassuringly. "Of course not, El. If anything, he'll be mad at Hopper, not you." She looked slightly mollified by his words, but not completely.
Will was waiting outside of Castle Byers for him, standing alone and staring at the sky, as if it should be sending him an important message sometime soon. The forest surrounding them was dark and filled with creepy shadows and noises, but the small clearing around Castle Byers was just large enough to let a little bit of moonlight in.
Mike approached cautiously. "Will?"
Will shook his head, as if waking himself from a trance. "Mike. Thanks for coming." He looked at Mike solemnly, like someone had just died.
Mike was really starting to get worried. "What's wrong? Did you have another episode?"
Will took a deep breath, as if bracing himself. "No, but I need to talk to you about what happened in the field today." He paused. "I wasn't completely honest with you when I told you that I didn't know how I got away today. The truth is, the shadow monster was going to get me. But then someone saved me."
Mike was hopelessly bewildered. "Someone saved you? Who? And how?"
"Used my powers." A different voice spoke. A girl's voice, that sounded very familiar. The sheet blocking the doorway to Castle Byers moved aside to reveal someone Mike had begun to think he would never see again. It was her. It was Eleven. After three hundred and fifty three days, she had finally returned to him.
But not quite the same. She was taller. She was wearing overalls and an oversized flannel, like someone much larger than her was giving her hand-me-downs. But what was most different was that she had hair. It was dark brown and curly beyond belief, like his was if he didn't brush it out at night. It was different than he had imagined, but it made sense to him once he saw it. Of course she would have curly hair.
Mike walked forward in a trance, not being able to believe what he was seeing right in front of him.
"Eleven?" She was staring at him with sadness in her eyes. A tear slid down one cheek. "Mike."
Simultaneously, they moved towards one another and then they were hugging. He had started tearing up at some point, but he couldn't say for sure when. They held each other for a long while, just basking in the warmth that was the others' presence. While they hugged, he made a promise to himself to never become separated from her again. Mike eventually pulled back to look at her face.
"I called you every night, you know." He told her. "For-" "Three hundred and fifty three days." She finished his sentence for him. "I know. I heard."
Mike looked at her in confusion. "Why didn't you answer me? To let me know you were okay? That you were here?" She looked down, unwilling to meet his gaze.
"Not safe for you. Been hiding."
Hiding. She had been here this whole time, in Hawkins, right under his nose. He internally cursed himself for not looking for her harder. He should have been searching for her every single day, until he had found her.
"Where?" The most important question, the one he absolutely had to know the answer to. Had she been living in the woods this whole time? What had she been eating?
She hesitantly looked at him for a few moments, saying nothing. Then-
"In the woods. Hopper found me and has a cabin there. Been with him for three hundred and twenty seven days."
Mike almost couldn't believe it. Hopper had had her? This entire time?
He went through about a dozen emotions in two seconds. Anger, at Hopper for keeping her a secret for so long. Relief, because at least she had a place to stay, with someone that would take care of her. Sadness, because she had been so close this entire time and he hadn't listened to his feelings and realized it.
Before he could say anything, Eleven spoke again, sounding more distressed than before. "Didn't want to stay away, but Hopper told me it wasn't safe, and I stayed away even though I missed you so so so much and you're probably angry and I'm really sorry, just really really sorry-" El had gotten into a stride now, and it didn't seem like she would be stopping anytime soon.
"El." Mike said, cutting her off.
"Yes?"
"I'm not mad at you." And it was true. He wasn't mad at El. He was mad at Hopper, sure. But El? Never. She was here. She had come back to him, and he was just relieved that she was safe.
"Really?" She was looking at him with wide brown eyes, her mouth turned up in a hopeful expression.
"Yes, really." He laughed a little, "I'm just glad that you're okay. That's what matters. And you're here now." His eyesight began to blur again, and he tried to blink away the new tears forming. "I'm just really happy you're here, El."
She gripped him tightly, like she was never going to let go. "Me too." She leaned in closer, her eyes intent on his lips. Mike involuntarily leaned in too. They were like magnets, pulling closer and closer together.
"Uh, guys?" Will's voice broke through Mike's Eleven-induced haze. He had completely forgotten that Will was even there. Oops. Will was watching the scene in front of him with a mixture of happiness and disgust on his face.
"Not trying to break up your reunion, or anything, but we need to talk. You guys will have more time to catch up, later." Will said, scrunching his nose a little. "Where you can do that not in front of me." The last part was mumbled, and Mike could only just make it out.
His face felt hot. Eleven looked at him with a small smile, but she let go of the death grip she had on Mike. Almost immediately after, she grabbed his hand, like she couldn't bear to be parted from him for more than a few seconds. Mike felt the same way. Her hand was his way of making sure that all of this was real, and he wasn't absolutely off his rocker crazy.
He smiled apologetically at Will, face still burning. "Sorry, Will."
Will shook his head, trying to refocus. "Right. Let's go talk." He nodded towards Castle Byers, and hastily walked inside. Mike and Eleven followed his lead, still holding hands.
Once everyone was situated, Will looked at Mike nervously, like he didn't know where to begin. After a minute or two, Mike decided to try and help Will along.
"So?" He gently prodded. "What's going on? And how the hell does El fit into this?"
Will took a deep breath. "I don't even know where to start."
"Start with today." Eleven said. Will nodded.
"Okay, so today, when I found Dart, he roared at me, and startled me into the Upside Down. The shadow monster was there." Here Will paused for a few seconds, gathering his courage before continuing. "It chased me out of the school and into the field. I still thought it might be a nightmare, so I was about to stop and tell it to go away, to try and stop these episodes from happening. But when I stopped, I heard someone calling my name. I turned around, and Eleven was running towards me. She grabbed my hand and dragged me to the edge of the woods. I could feel the shadow monster. It was right there."
"How did you get out?" Mike was enraptured.
"I pulled his mind out." Eleven answered for Will. "Could feel his mind, and I followed his at first. That's how I was in the Upside Down. Knew that I could make his mind follow me, so I forced him to and we both came back." Mike tried to process the meaning of their story.
"So the shadow monster," Mike said slowly, "it wants... Will?"
Will shuddered. "Yes. But that's not all. It feels..hungry. And it wants to kill. And it's been stalking me. It's watching us now."
A chill ran down Mike's spine. "Now?" He echoed.
"Yes." Eleven was frowning. "I can feel him."
"Can you stop Will from having more episodes?" Mike asked her worriedly.
Now El looked determined. "Yes. No more episodes. Will will be safe." Mike breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god."
Will looked at Mike worriedly. "But something is going on again, in Hawkins. Something with the Upside Down. I'm worried. We need to figure out what's going on."
Mike nodded, all business now. He was in his Paladin mode. "I agree. We need to acquire more knowledge. I don't think we should go to school tomorrow. We should all meet up, like when we are supposed to go to first period. We can spend the day looking around Hawkins, to see if we can find anything. Any clues."
Eleven stopped him before he could go any further. "Can't." She stated sadly. "I can't be seen by other people."
"And I doubt my mom will let me out of the house tomorrow. I wasn't going to go to school anyways. There's no way I could sneak out." Will added.
"What if we just checked the woods? Nancy and Jonathon found things out there last year. We can start near Mirkwood and head out further into the woods from there. El won't be seen, and Will, you could just tell your mom that you want to go draw in Castle Byers."
El considered this. "Maybe. I need to be careful. Hopper already angry with me."
"For what?" Mike couldn't stop himself from asking. "For today. Someone saw me. Wasn't supposed to leave the cabin." El answered him.
"Oh. Wait, why were you at Hawkins Middle, anyways?"
"Wanted to see you." She admitted shamelessly. "Hopper keeps saying 'soon'. But soon is not close enough. Broke the rules."
Mike felt a little thrill at how rebellious she was, all for him. "Oh." He hoped he wasn't blushing again.
Will cut in pointedly, trying to get the conversation back on track, "So... back to the sneaking out thing. I really think it's not gonna happen for me. My mom is way too worried to even think about letting me out of her sight right now."
Mike thought about this for a few seconds. "Well, what if you're our contact? El and I can radio you updates as we search."
"I'll figure something out." Will frowned. There had to be some sort of way he could get out of his house. He glanced over at Mike's watch to check the time. It was after 2 A.M. "Right. We should probably get back to our houses before our parents find out we've left. We have an early start tomorrow."
Mike nodded in agreement. "Alright. We can meet here and head over to Mirkwood from there. El, is that good with you?" She nodded.
Together, they took the short walk to Will's house, the shadows making Mike a little bit nervous. Hearing that the shadow monster was watching had done nothing to ease his anxieties. The only thing keeping Mike a little calm was the warm glow of El's flashlight, and the fact that her hand not holding the flashlight was firmly grasping his. They were just reaching Will's house when something important occurred to him. "Hey guys..should we tell Dustin and Lucas about this? I mean, don't they have a right to know?" Mike asked.
Will stopped where he was, causing Mike and El to come to an abrupt halt as well. He contemplated Mike's question. "Well, I think we should, but not yet. Let's figure out what is going on first, and then we'll bring in Dustin and Lucas. We need information first." He said this slowly, thinking through what he was suggesting carefully. Mike agreed with his logic.
"That's a good point. Okay, no Dustin and Lucas until we have something more to go on."
"Okay. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow. If I can end up sneaking out, I will."
"Bye, Will." Mike said. Together, he and Eleven watched as Will very quietly crept onto his front porch and slid open the window to his room. As soon as the window shut, Mike turned to El, not knowing what to say. Instead, he tugged a bit on her hand that was still intertwined with his, so she would step closer to him. She did. She looked up at him, her mouth forming that cute little smile that was all Eleven. "I'll see you tomorrow. Promise?"
"Promise." Eleven replied. Before he could do anything else, she leaned forward and pressed her lips against his, for a few wonderful seconds. When she pulled back, they smiled widely at one another.
"Bye, El." His cheeks felt like they would burst soon, he was smiling so widely. She touched his cheek, softly, in response. Then she turned around and walked back into the woods, in the direction they had just come from. Mike watched her go, hardly daring to believe that this night had been real. Everything about and surrounding El was surreal to him.
Before he crawled into bed that night, he couldn't shake the uncomfortable feeling that he was forgetting something important. But, he reasoned, he would remember it eventually, and it was late. He pulled the covers over his head and almost immediately felt the warm embrace of sleep wash over him, not unlike the warm embrace of El's presence he had experienced earlier.
Tell me what you think! Also, for all the action lovers, don't worry! The action will pick up from here on out! I know it's been kinda slow for these past chapters, but I needed to set up some stuff...
Hope everyone enjoyed! I'll try to get the next one out faster than this one.
And as for hints about what's coming next...we may see another someone with a number for a name make an appearance..stay tuned!