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Before the Battle of Starcourt and the events that led up to it, the summer of ‘85 had been the best of Max Mayfield’s life. She had spent every day with her boyfriend and their group of friends; rainy days in the Wheeler basement, sunny walks through the fields that surrounded Hawkins, evening horror movie showings at the Starcourt cinema. She didn’t even mind it when Mike and El ditched them to go make out, because that usually meant it wouldn’t be long before her and Lucas were doing the same.
But by far the best part of that summer was growing closer to El. They had been perfectly civil to each other when they all hung out as a group, even sharing amused looks when the boys were being particularly dramatic about something. It wasn’t until El had shown up at Max’s house one morning, Max’s skateboard clutched in her hands and a scowl on her face, that they truly became friends. Their friendship was as intense as it was natural, and their time together acting out an impromptu fashion show at the mall, dancing around El’s bedroom, and reading comic books together quickly became very precious to Max. She had always struggled to fit in with the other girls, finding it easier to befriend boys, but finally she had found a friend - a best friend - in El.
With hindsight she could admit she had been a little awed by El’s abilities and had got caught up in the craziness of it all that her best friend was a superhero. She could now admit Mike had been right: they’d all relied too heavily on El's powers, and had presumed she would throw up her hands and save the day like always.
El had done just that, and had to face the double loss of both her father and her powers, whilst Max had done her best to not even acknowledge her step-brother's brutal demise. Max never had to pretend around El, and they held each other’s hands tight the rest of that godforsaken summer until El and Will had moved, leaving behind a gaping hole within the party.
History was doomed to repeat itself again. Watching El approach Vecna on her own made Max feel like she was failing her best friend, not doing enough, not doing anything to help her. El had reassured them all she had to do this alone, that it was personal, and Max could tell from the shadows on Mike and Will’s faces that now wasn’t the time to ask what she meant by that.
When they had all reunited mere hours ago, the sight of El with her head shaved and dark purple bruises across her neck made Max stumble, her brain not comprehending what she was seeing. Max knew that El had had a buzz cut for the majority of her life, had had one when she first met the boys but seeing it for herself was something completely different.
She threw her arms around El, careful to avoid the contusions on her neck, both of them shaking and crying silently. Max watched over El’s shoulder as Mike quietly and numbly said the single word Brenner, saw the visceral effect it had on both Lucas and Dustin; the way Lucas physically reeled backwards.
The party all watch El face Vecna now, both their hands outstretched towards each other like mirror images. All five of them are openly crying, Dustin holding Mike’s arm in a death grip to stop him from running after El, from distracting her from what she needs to do. Max was the only one who had seen Vecna before, and no matter how detailed her descriptions were, nothing could’ve prepared them all for the sight of him. The demodogs and the mindflayer had been terrifying, but there was a certain disconnect to them due to their otherworldliness. Venca evoked pure, primal fear in those that saw him. Max could feel Will trembling next to her and gripped his hand in hers.
El’s screams were guttural, and she seemed stronger, more powerful, than ever before. She was really holding her own in the fight, and just as Max was starting to feel hopeful for their chances, El slowly began rising from the floor.
Vecna had her in his trance.
Lucas lunged after Max, but she was moving before he had a chance to stop her. She heard the cries from the boys behind her as they caught on to what was happening. Will had to tackle Mike to the floor to stop him from running straight to Vecna.
She had to get through to El, to get her out of Vecna’s mindscape just as Lucas, Dustin and Steve had done for her. Max ran closer to the clearing where their standoff was taking place, just as she had run for her life when she had been the one in there. They had no music now, no way of playing it, no way of knowing if they could get through to her, but it was worth a shot. It was worth anything, it was worth everything.
“El!” Max screamed, her voice cracking. “El, if you can hear me, please follow my voice! I know it’s terrifying in there, but I swear we can get you out. Please, El. You’re my best friend, El. I’ve missed you so much. Please, just follow my voice.”
She felt Lucas’s hand on her shoulder as the boys caught up with her. Max had explained to him exactly what had happened when she had been caught in Vecna’s trance, and he knew exactly what she was trying to do.
“El!” Lucas yelled. “If you can hear us, follow our voices. El, the party isn’t the same without you. We need you home, with all of us, where you belong. Follow our voices, El.”
“The party is nothing without their mage, El!” Dustin cried out. “Please follow our voices. You can do it, you can do anything! You’ve saved us so many times, let us save you. Please, El.”
“El!” Will scrambled to the front, shouting louder than Max had ever heard him. “El, if you can hear us, follow our voices. You can do it, El, I know you can. When I was in the Upside Down, I followed your voice, so all you have to do is follow mine. ” Will gasps, his sobs choking him. “I always wanted a sister. I wanted to be a big brother, like Jonathan is to me. My mom and Jonathan and I, we love you so much. You were meant to be in our family. Please, please, come back. We can’t lose you.”
Lucas throws his arms around Will, and lets him cry into his shoulder. Max watches as Mike steps closer and closer to where Vecna has El levitating high in the air, much closer than the rest of them had got. Dustin reaches out to grab him back, but the look on Mike’s face makes Max reach over and knock his hand back down. Mike’s clearly shaking, his eyes red, but the look on his face is resolute and unwavering. Ready.
Just as Mike opens his mouth to speak, he is interrupted by the deafeningly sharp crack of El’s left leg snapping, bending completely out of shape.
Mike screams her name, his voice raw. His words come spilling out of him. “El! Eleven! Please, if you can hear me, please follow my voice. Please. I need you to come back. I need you here with me, El, please. I can’t do this without you. I meant it when I said I can’t lose you again. I can’t go through that again. Please, El, please come home. I’m so sorry for everything you had to go through. You deserve so much better, El. You deserve better than me. I should’ve told you sooner, I don’t know why I didn’t. I’m so sorry. This isn’t how you deserve to be told, but I need to tell you El. I need to. I love you. I love you so fucking much, El, that it scares me. I’ve loved you from the second I saw you. I loved you then, and I love you now. I love you as El, as Eleven, as Jane. I love you. I’m so sorry it took me so long, but I mean every word. You are so loved, El, by everyone. Hopper loved you more than anything. I love you so much. Please, El, please follow my voice.”
By the time Mike has finished speaking, his body has given way and he’s fallen to his knees, weeping. Max feels her own tears cascading down her face. She watches El’s floating form, petrified that something else is going to happen to her, that her face will be next to be disfigured, when El’s eyes fly open, clear and gleaming. She falls to the floor and lands on her good knee, one hand braced behind her and the other facing Vecna. There is blood spilling from her nose, ears, and eyes and she honestly looks scarier than he does.
“No more.” El’s voice rings clear, and she shrieks as her power races through her and out towards Vecna. He jolts backwards, the blow knocking him, and flecks of dust seem to appear around him.
“Just like the Demogorgon.” Lucas says quietly. Mike makes a distressed sound.
El lifts her other hand out, fingers outstretched, her cries getting louder. More and more of Vecna turns into particles of dust as El wastes him away.
“You can’t hurt me.” El says, confidently. “Not anymore.”
“Maybe so, sister.” Vecna speaks, and his ancient voice sends a shiver down all of their spines. Max doesn’t understand why he called her sister, but it feels wrong for him to use the same word Will had. “But I can hurt them.”
Vecna’s clawed hand flies out towards their group. Lucas jumps in front of Max, to save her, protect her, but she is no longer his target. His new victim rises high into the air, much higher than El had been. His right arm snaps, and then his left.
“Mike!” El screams. She swings her entire body towards Vecna as her powers surge out of her towards him. Mike’s left leg crunches, and bends backwards.
With one final cry, El banishes Vecna completely, leaving behind only small fragments where he stood.
Mike’s body hurtles towards the ground and lands with a thud. Max, Lucas, Dustin and Will run over. El, weakened from her fight, tries her hardest to get to him first, falling to the floor, crawling towards him. Will helps her up, lets her lean on him to walk.
Max is shaking, her vision blurry from tears, her mind blank aside from the words no, no, no, no, no repeating on a loop. She doesn’t want to be the one to have to do it, but she knows Lucas, Dustin and Will aren't in any fit state to check if their best friend is alive, and she would never forgive herself if she lets it be El. She recalls how gruesome Vecna’s victims - Chrissy and Nancy’s friend Fred ( oh god Nancy!) - looked in his mindscape and if Mike looks like that, there is no way the others can ever see him like that.
Max kneels next to Mike, and gently turns him over onto his back. She breathes the biggest sigh of relief when she sees his face is how it should be, but the sigh turns into wracking sobs when she can find no pulse. She checks again, and she knows for certain he is dead. She turns to look at the boys, at El, but there are no words. There is nothing she can say.
El’s sobs are inhuman. The way the blood from her eyes has smeared with her tears makes her look like something from a horror movie. She lifts his head into her lap and strokes his hair, rocking him back and forth. Dustin is frozen, staring at Mike’s body with a blank look on his face, refusing to believe any of it. Lucas throws up, his entire body trembling. Will holds his knees to his chest and cries into them, him repeating the same no, no, no, no, no mantra Max was thinking. Max simply sits there and stares.
Mike Wheeler. Dead. How could that possibly be? Mike was their leader, the brains of the group the majority of the time, always coming up with ingenious and frankly insane plans that somehow always managed to work. Max and Mike had got off to a rocky start, and she had pretended like she didn’t care, but in reality all she wanted to do was impress Mike Wheeler, to be his friend. He was the best friend any of them could have. When he loved you, he really loved you with every part of him. His love for Eleven was the thing Max liked most about him. He never said it, but he showed it, in everything he did. Max knew the story of Mike willingly jumping off a cliff to save Dustin from the hands of sadistic bullies. If it wasn’t for El, he would’ve died that day. Thinking about that, and how reminiscent it is of his actual death, stings.
Max hadn’t expected to, but she had been on the receiving end of Mike’s particular brand of kindness last Christmas. They had finished exchanging presents, or so she had thought, when Mike had passed her a wad of papers.
“What’s this, Wheeler?” She had asked, and he had rolled his eyes at her.
“Well, Max, maybe if you open them…”
Inside, there was a drawing of an elf looking creature on a skateboard with the title Zoomer. Mike had conjured up an entire new D&D character just for her, with a full backstory and lore for her skills set and abilities.
She had looked over at him, and said, “But I didn’t get you anything.”
He had simply shrugged. “I didn’t want anything. I just wanted the party to be complete.”
Thinking of this leads her to remember something else. Something she had often teased him about. When they had all started hanging out at the Wheeler basement after the snowball, Mike had planned multiple campaigns for them all to play. They spent hours on it, even longer than usual as they patiently explained everything for Max and El, and Max had to admit it had been a lot of fun. When the campaign was finished, the boys all solemnly turned to Mike and said, “ Thank you and Goodbye, Paladin.”
Max had snorted, which in turn made El giggle. Mike had blushed and began to get all defensive. “What?! That’s just how we end a campaign.”
Max now reaches out and touches Mike’s hand. It is cold.
“Thank you and Goodbye, Paladin.” She says softly. The others all flinch at her words, but she doesn’t regret them.
Dustin slowly comes out of his daze and repeats the phrase, as does Will and Lucas. They are all silent as El leans down and kisses Mike on the forehead.
“Thank you and Goodbye, Mike. I love you, too.”