Work Text:
For now you can stay
Right here we will play
Until somehow you can find
A slightly different frame of mind
It had been a week since El got back from the Upside Down, broken, but still herself. She hadn’t said much once when they rescued her, she had barely started talking to Mike around three days ago, but she still doesn’t talk to anyone else. She looked scared, traumatized, she had been in that hellhole for almost a year. She never left Mike’s side, beside him she felt whole, she felt normal, when she couldn’t, it all returned to her, the horror, the unrelenting nightmare every time she closed her eyes.
Right here in my arms
Away from all harm
You'll be safe from all the flares
Although I know you don't care
After a month, she had started talking again, she was recuperating. The nightmares didn’t stop though, every night, it was a scenario of how she was going to die, every time she woke up to Mike in the bed above her, concerned.
Two months later, the nightmares started to go away, she started to feel again, to have fun again, to have friends again. She wanted to go places and do things, because everything was still a mystery to her.
You can lift your head up to the sky
Take a deeper breath and give it time
You can walk the path among the lines
With your shattered frame of mind
Withstand, you can always stay
We can wait right here and play
Until somehow you can find
A slightly better frame of mind
A year after she returned she was finally free, free of the nightmares, free of her fear, fear of going back, fear of attachment. She had finally been able to connect with everyone around her, to be family with the people she cared about, and the people who cared about her. She could connect with Mike more than she could others, but she didn’t know why, be he cared about her a lot, and she cared about him. He gave her space, he didn’t want to force a relationship, he let her have her time to become whole again.
And when daylight comes through
When the day is anew
Then it will be time
For a new frame of mind
When all eyes are on you
You will know what to do
Since you would have found
Your new frame of mind
She had been back for two years, the shortest two years of their lives, after the longest one on earth. El was whole, she was a person again, she had taken back what the Upside Down took from her, her soul. Her connection with Mike had grown and she didn’t really see him as a friend anymore, she didn’t what to call him, but it was more than friend. He didn’t know what to call her, but he was glad she was with him, that he could her smiling face again. That he could love her in person again.
When you lift your head up to the sky
Take a deeper breath and give it time
You can walk the path among the lines
But always know that you'll be safe
I'll be here throughout your days
Come, find me and we will play