Archive of Our Own

The doorbell rang. That’s what started it all.

When the first gunshot rang out, Jonathan went ahead to see what was going on. As more gunfire sounded, he ran back into Will’s bedroom.

“We have to leave, right now!” He hollered, hurrying Mike and Will toward the window.

Before they even got the chance to try to make their escape, a government agent was smashing open the window. Yelling and panicking, Mike sprinted for the door. Will and Jonathan stumbled to the ground in surprise at first, but quickly regained their footing, running for the door as well. Slews of curses and cries of hysteria and fear filled the air.

The three teens came to halt as the remaining agent sent to protect them stood in the entryway of the house, firing at their assailants. He yelled at them to move, insisting he would cover them. Jonathan leaped across to take cover behind the nearby wall. Mike covered his head and followed. Will trailed behind, hyperventilating.

The agent joined them not too long after and motioned for them to follow him. The four quickly headed for the back door.

To their horror, the back door flung open, and several government agents rushed in, gunfire raining down on the unexpecting group.

Will fell to the ground.

“Will!” Jonathan screamed.

“Will?!” Mike repeated.

The two boys rushed to Will’s side. He lay on the ground, a pool of blood forming by his head.

“Will? Will, say something! WILL?!?!” Jonathan sobbed, shaking his brother.

Nothing.

“No. No no no. Will?!?!” Mike cried, watching in horror as Jonathan began to fall apart.

“KEEP MOVING!!” The agent on their side yelled at them and then turned to take a few more shots at the aggressors heading their way.

“No. No, he can’t be dead. He can’t— Jonathan, he’s not— he can’t—” Mike could barely speak through his tears.

“I’m not leaving him!!” Jonathan sobbed, coddling Will’s lifeless body.

“You have to move!!” Their bodyguard pleaded.

“I can’t leave h—”

More gunfire blared through the once peaceful Byers household and Jonathan collapsed.

“Jonathan?!?” Mike cried.

“MOVE!!!” The agent yelled at him.

Mike didn’t want to move. He could barely process what was happening. His best friend just died. Two of his friends just died . He was bordering on hysteria.

“We have to leave RIGHT NOW!!” The agent demanded.

Agent Harmon ran over to Mike and grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him off the ground and dragging him with him. Mike tried his best to regain what little composure remained in him. They sprinted toward another possible exit.

More gunfire blared through the house.

Agent Harmon went down.

All of the first-floor exits were blocked. The only way left was up. Mike stumbled over to the staircase the best he could and struggled to make his way up the steps. As he got to the top, Mike collapsed to the ground.

“No. No, no,” Mike pulled himself up. Blood stained his clothes. When Harmon had gone down, Mike had been shot too. The adrenaline had just distracted him from it until now. 

But he couldn’t die now. Not when he still had so much to say, so much he wanted to say.

In the corner of his eye, Mike could see Eleven’s bedroom door at the edge of the upstairs hallway. With every ounce of strength he had left, he dragged himself into that room. Once inside, slowly but surely, he shakily stood up, his pale hand reaching out and locking the door.

He had to leave her note. Surely she had paper in here somewhere.

Mike shakily staggered over to El’s desk, frantically searching for something to write on and write with. His hand clasped around a pen, but before he could find a piece of paper, his legs gave out and he crumpled to the ground.

“No,” He held back a sob, frustration and pain eating away at him. He couldn’t die with her thinking he hated her.

Lying there on El’s bedroom floor, he spotted a notebook sticking out from underneath her bed. Struggling, he managed to grab the notebook and pull it over to him. He forced himself to sit up. His blood-stained shaky hands flipped through, looking for an open page. With the tenacity left in him, Mike ripped a page out. He sat on the floor, back against El’s bed, one leg stretched out and the other bent into a knee where he balanced the notebook and piece of paper, scribbling his dying thoughts, hoping El would read it one day.

She needed to know he didn’t hate her. She needed to know that he was never scared of her. She needed to know how much he loved her.

And Mike knew he would never get to say those things to her, so the best he could do was write them down in messy handwriting with a shaky dying hand.

~~~

El rushed into another room and locked the door. Owens had assured her that her friends in Hawkins were safe, yet he said they hadn’t risked contact. How could he be sure they were alright?

She walked over to the sink and turned the faucet on, ready to splash some water on her face to calm herself down. El paused in front of the mirror.

She had her powers back. 

If she had her powers back, that meant she could check on her friends for herself.

With a new change in mindset, El turned the faucet so that the rushing water was stronger and made more white noise. She made her way over to her bed and sat there, legs crisscrossed, eyes closed, concentrating.

She was supposed to be checking on her friends in Hawkins, but another thought crossed her mind. Maybe she could check up on her friends in Lenora as well.

There she was again, in that void of darkness. Nothing but endless black nothingness surrounded her as she took a few steps across the shallow watery floor. She concentrated on the Byers brothers and suddenly, in the distance, two figures appeared.

But the two figures were lying on the ground, eerily still.

“Will?”

Hesitantly, El moved toward the two of them.

“Jonathan?”

Finally, El could see them more clearly, and it destroyed her. The two brothers, her brothers, lay in a pool of blood. Jonathan lay next to his younger brother, an arm around him. Will had blood dripping from his head and Jonathan's chest was soaked. It was a horrible, heart-wrenching sight. El wanted to throw up and scream. She fell to her knees, sobbing.

“Owens said he sent people to watch them. They were supposed to be safe,” She cried, muttering to herself. She reached out and grabbed Will’s hand, her brother’s hand. “You were supposed to stay safe.”

She sat there for a few minutes in silence, her body heaving with sobs. She had just lost her family, her family she tried so hard to protect. For the first time in her life, she found a real family, and now they were gone. First Hopper, now Jonathan and Will. She cried so hard it hurt, her eyelashes drenched in tears and her face completely red, snot daring to fall. El was a mess. It couldn’t get worse than this.

And then a terrible feeling washed over her.

It could get worse than this.

El gently placed Will’s hand back on the ground before slowly standing up. She sniffed and wiped her face on her arm. 

“Mike…?” El whispered as if she was scared to find him.

Will and Jonathan faded away into mist, disappearing into the dark void. A new figure could be spotted in the distance. He was sitting down, wearing a bright teal windbreaker.

“Mike,” El said under her breath. Slowly and reluctantly, she made her way toward the figure.

She could now see the scene before her more clearly. Mike was sitting on the ground, his back against her bed, his head slumped to the side of his body.

“Mike?” El bit down on her lip, hand reaching out to touch him, but he faded away into mist, just as the others had.

“Mike?!?!” El screamed. She didn’t even get the chance to see if he was alive or not. She began pacing, mindlessly running through the void, tears falling from her already puffy eyes. “MIKE?!?!” 

~~~

Now Eleven had originally planned on checking in on her friends in Hawkins, but now that she knew her friends in Lenora were already in danger, she just had to hope her friends back in Indiana could handle themselves while Owens took her back to California. Thankfully, Brenner didn’t put up too much of a fight and let her go after Owens had convinced him that she would be far from Henry. She assured him the attack on Lenora had nothing to do with 001.

El was glad Owens at least listened to her and took her seriously. She had run out of her room, tears daring to fall, and hurried to find the two doctors. The two men hadn’t left the room she had left them in earlier, both in mid-conversation as she entered. They turned and looked her way as she approached them. Owens had asked her what was wrong and she burst into tears. Through her sniffles and cries, she tried to explain that something bad had happened to her friends in California and that she needed to see them. Brenner didn’t like the idea at first but Owens managed to persuade him. Brenner relented, saying she could go, but he would stay behind and told her she still had to return to train before she faced Henry. They had left for California moments later.

The three-hour drive was painstakingly long. All El could think about was Mike. She knew Will and Jonathan were gone. Every time she remembered the image of the two of them lying so still in the darkness of the void, she felt like she was going to throw up or burst into tears. But even so, she knew they were gone. It was eating away at her, that Mike disappeared before she got the chance to see if he was still alive or not.

Mike always seemed to recognize her presence. When he used to call her on his walkie every day, he used to suspect she was there listening. Whenever she entered a room, he would be standing up, eyes already locked with hers. And when they carted her off in that police van, he ran into the street, instantly knowing that was her inside. 

When she saw him in the void, he didn’t even lift his head. That terrified her.

Finally, in the early morning, they arrived at the Byers' household. As soon as the car was parked, El’s feet hit the ground running. She came to a halt when she found the front door of her home wide open and the windows shattered, glass decorating the ground. A sob escaped her lips and she tried to hold back the tears begging to fall.

Hesitantly, El took a step inside. The ground was littered with bodies, mostly government agents, but then she saw them. Not too far from the back door, Jonathan and Will lay eerily still on top of a red-stained carpet. She closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing.

El turned to her left and approached the staircase. Slowly, she began to take the steps to the top. Mike had been sitting on the ground next to her bed in the vision. She figured it’d be wisest to look for him there first.

She stopped before taking the final step, noticing some dried blood splatters on the floor. 

El slowly made her way to her bedroom. The door had been busted open as if someone had broken in. Before entering, she could already see papers all over the ground and things tossed and turned over. The government must have come into the house to search for her, looking for things about her.

This was about her. 

Why did her friends have to get mixed up in her mess?

Taking a shaky breath, El stepped into her room. There, on her bedroom floor, was Michael Wheeler, sitting in the same position she had seen him in hours before in the void.

“Mike—” El’s voice broke and she rushed to his side.

She hadn’t noticed it earlier, but now she saw the dark red stain on his windbreaker. Mike’s skin was paler than usual and his head rested in an unnatural way. His dark curls stuck to his face, keeping their eyes from meeting.

El gently took his hand in hers. It was cold as ice.

A sob wracked through El’s body. She hadn’t even checked for a pulse yet, hadn’t even seen his face in full, but her fears had been more than confirmed to her. Mike Wheeler was dead.

With trembling hands, she carefully returned Mike’s hand to the ground, the way it had laid limply moments before. Her throat burned and she felt like she was dying. El reached up and gently took Mike’s face in her hands, brushing back his dark curls. His eyes were closed and his lips were tinted ever so slightly blue.

“No,” the word escaped her lips as a watery sob. El broke down, bawling harder than she ever had before. Her hands gripped onto the windbreaker, her fingers clenching the teal material. Mike had called her a superhero, but she couldn’t save him. She couldn’t save him and it tore her apart.

El rested her forehead on his chest. Not feeling his heartbeat made her feel even more indescribable pain. A wail escaped from her lips and she wept harder and harder. When would it end? Her father, her brothers, and now the love of her life. Her hands lost their grip on the fabric of his shirt and slipped, one brushing against his front shirt pocket.

Was something in his front shirt pocket?

Meticulously, she reached her fingers into the pocket and pulled out a folded-up piece of notebook paper. Wiping her eyes on her arm, El began unfolding it. She felt her heart skip a beat as she realized what it was.

Mike had left her a letter.

It read:

Dear El,

If you’re reading this, that means I’m dead. I really hope these thoughts are coherent enough to understand and that my handwriting isn’t too hard to read. My hands are shaking a lot right now so it might be a bit messy. I’ll do my best though.

Eleven, I love you. I love you so much. I’m sorry I don’t say it enough. The other day in your room, when we had our fight, you had every right to be mad. I’m sorry I never told you I loved you. The truth is, I love you more than words could ever convey, but I was scared that if I told you, it would just hurt more when you realized you didn’t need me. I was scared that one day you’d realize that you could do much better than me. You’re a superhero and I’m just a nerd from a small town in Indiana. Now I see that my insecurities got in the way of me loving you the way you deserved.

I love you on your good days and on your bad days. I loved you when you had powers and I loved you when you lost them. I’ll still love you if this whole experiment to get your powers back doesn’t work out. It doesn’t matter to me. I hope you’ve never thought that it did. I love you for you. 

I hate to break the promise I made to you when I gave you that ruby ring. If I could, I would spend the rest of my life with you. I wish so badly that we could grow old together, have a life together. I wish I could see your face one more time. I love you more than life itself, El. 

Please do not blame yourself. This isn’t your fault. It was my choice to get involved. I knew the risks and I didn’t care. It was all worth it. I would choose this road every single time if it meant knowing you. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. 

Love,

Mike

El stifled a cry. Mike loved her. Michael Wheeler loved Eleven Jane Hopper. He spent his last moments thinking about her, writing a letter to her.

She wished he had known that she loved him more than life itself too. She wished he hadn’t died thinking he didn’t deserve her, died thinking she could have done better than him, thinking he was replaceable.

Mike was irreplaceable.

Eleven fell apart. 

A few minutes later, Doctor Owens hesitantly approached the room. He watched in sadness as he entered. El was on the ground, curled up next to Mike, her body shaking and wracked with sobs. She was broken.

~~~

Steve, Nancy, and Robin all sat on the ground outside of the Creel House, still in the Upside Down. It had only been mere moments since the giant portal ripped through the house, barely missing them. Steve got up and started pacing.

“No. No no no no!” Steve shouted, waving his arms around in frustration.

Nancy and Robin looked at each other, speechless.

“Does this mean…” Robins began, softly, sadness creeping into her voice, “that Max is…”

Nancy looked away and down at the ground, her eyes untrained and lost, the flicker of ambition and fiery passion she always had missing from them.

“My vision…” Nancy paused and turned to look at Steve who had just stopped pacing. Their eyes met. 

“Max and Lucas were in that— that house that just got—” Steve gestured to the giant rip in the ground and nearby building. “We need to—” Steve paused.

“Steve?” Robin asked, concerned.

“Nance…in your vision, you said there were four portals…right?”

“Four portals, four deaths,” Nancy said quietly, her eyes on the ground.

“Eddie’s trailer,” Steve muttered. “Dustin and Eddie— what if that portal ripped right through them?!?!” He shouted.

Robin stood up and brushed herself off before offering a hand to Nancy, helping her up as well. The two girls walked over to Steve, Robin more determined, Nancy still out of it.

“Steve,” Robin put a hand on his shoulder, “Nancy and I will go through the portal at the Creel House to check on Lucas, Max, and Erica. You go find Dustin and Eddie.”

Steve looked off into the distance, in the direction of the forest, before giving a nod.

“Alright.”

~~~

Nancy and Robin stood in the attic. They had barely managed to get up the now severely damaged stairs. They decided to enter through the portal up there because that’s where Max and Lucas were supposed to be.

“Are you ready?” Robin turned to Nancy. She still seemed a bit dazed.

“Not really,” She whispered.

“Do you want me to go first?” Robin asked.

“No, it’s ok. I just want to get it over with.”

Nancy approached the giant red and goopy indent in the earth. She knelt on the ground and reached her arm through, then the other arm. Soon she was pulling herself up into the overworld.

Nancy was horrified by the sight.

There, on the attic floor, sat Lucas and Max. It was too dark for Nancy to be sure, but it looked like Max’s limbs lay in unnatural angles. Lucas cradled her in his arms, his whole body shaking, sobbing uncontrollably. Nancy just froze, tears brimming her eyes.

Robin pulled herself through the portal and approached the scene. When she saw the awful sight before them, she put a hand to her mouth, eyes watering.

Vecna had won.

Before either girl could say anything, Erica rushed into the room.

“The ambulance— it’s not—” She put her hands on her knees, out of breath from running but also struggling to talk through the constant stream of tears down her face. “The ambulances are all busy. No one can reach us,” she replied, voice watery.

Nancy couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. Her friend was dying, possibly already dead, and by the looks of it, Lucas was injured as well. She couldn’t just sit and wait for help that wasn’t coming. She couldn’t watch helplessly. Nancy needed to do something.

That flicker of ambition and determination returned to her eyes.

“I’ll be right back,” Nancy rushed out the door, down the stairs of the Creel House, and into what remained of the front yard.

Nancy’s eyes searched the surroundings until she spotted just what she’d been looking for.

A car.

As Nancy made her way to the vehicle, she realized it looked very familiar.

Was this…Jason’s car?

No time for questions now, and Nancy was sure Lucas and Erica wouldn’t want to answer any at the moment. Max needed serious medical attention, that’s what mattered. If an ambulance wouldn’t come to take her to the nearest hospital, Nancy would do it herself.

Nancy reached back into her hair and pulled out a bobby pin. After several failed attempts at breaking in, she gave up and smashed the driver’s side window. She unlocked it from the inside and opened the car door. Before sitting down, she brushed the shattered glass off the seat the best she could. Then she reached up to the car visor.

Car keys fell out and into her hand.

“Bingo.”

Nancy turned the keys in the ignition and started up the car.

After she knew the car would work, she hurried back inside and told the others to help her carry Max down to their newfound way of transportation.

Nancy walked over to help Lucas pick Max up. A part of her wished she hadn’t.

One look at her and Nancy Wheeler knew that Max Mayfield was dead.

Her hesitation and shock must have been evident because Lucas spoke.

“It’s ok. I’ve got her.”

Lucas picked her up, gently cradling her in his arms, and the group made their way down the stairs and into the car. Nancy hopped in the driver’s seat and Robin in shotgun. Erica slid into the seat behind Nancy and Lucas in the one behind Robin. Max’s legs lay in the empty middle seat, Lucas still cradling her to his chest.

Even if Nancy thought Max was beyond all hope, she could tell Lucas was still clinging onto the slivers of light, wanting to believe there was a chance the horrible damage could be undone. So even though she didn’t believe there was a chance, Nancy took off for the nearest hospital.

~~~

Steve sprinted through the forest as fast as his legs could carry him. The first time walking through that place, earlier that day, they had barely known their way around all the trees. Now, it was almost instinct. Steve’s friends were in danger and he needed to get to them.

Steve finally made it to the edge of the forest. The trailer park was in sight.

And so was a figure in the distance, lying motionless on the ground.

“No,” Steve’s voice was quiet and exasperated. He rushed over in that direction.

As Steve approached, his run slowed down into a jog and then into a walk. With hesitation, he stepped toward the body on the ground.

“Oh, man…” Steve whimpered.

Eddie Munson lay in a pool of his blood. Steve recognized those bites instantly. The Demo-bats had gotten him.

Slowly, Steve’s knees buckled to the ground. He had told them not to be heroes. He told them to stay safe.

Steve had only known Eddie personally for a few days, but his death still hurt. He had heard stories about him from Dustin over the past eight months and at first, whether he liked to admit it or not, he was a bit jealous. But after getting to spend some time with him, Steve found he really liked Eddie Munson. He found a friend in him.

And now that friend was gone.

But if Eddie was dead…where was Dustin?

Steve pulled himself off the ground, his eyes scanning what remained of the trailer park.

“Dustin?!?!” Steve hollered.

He began making his way over to the Munson trailer. It looked awful. It was in such terrible shape that you could hardly even call it a trailer anymore. Surely Dustin hadn’t been in there when the portals opened up…

“Dustin?!?!” Steve called out again.

Then he finally saw him. Dustin sat on the ground next to the portal right outside of the trailer, head in his hands.

Steve sprinted toward him.

“Dustin!!!”

Dustin turned, cheeks red and eyes puffy, as if he’d been crying. Steve rushed to his side, kneeling beside him.

“Hey, hey! Are you hurt? Are you alright?” Steve asked, a hint of panic in his voice.

Dustin didn’t reply. He just threw his arms around his friend and cried into his shoulder.

Steve slowly adjusted himself so that he was no longer kneeling but sitting. He pulled Dustin in and wrapped his arms around him in a hug.

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay. I’m here now. I’m gonna get you out of here, get us both home,” he assured Dustin.

Dustin pulled away, sitting up straight and wiping tears from his eyes.

“They got Eddie,” he sniffled. “I tried to save him, tried to stop him…” Dustin’s voice trailed off, wet with tears and sounding like it could break at any moment.

“I saw…” Steve said solemnly. He placed a hand on Dustin’s shoulder and looked him in the eyes. “It’s not your fault, you know that, right? You did your best. The four of us could hardly take down three bats earlier. You and Eddie were up against a whole flock.”

“Colony.”

“What?”

“A group of bats is a colony, Steve, not a flock.”

“You’re seriously gonna correct me right now?!?!”

Dustin let out a watery laugh. Steve couldn’t help but smile.

“Now that’s the sassy kid I know.”

Dustin smiled back and wiped his nose on his sleeve.

“You ready to get out of here?” Steve asked, standing up and offering Dustin a hand.

Dustin gladly took it and stood up as well.

“Yeah, but I might need some help. I hurt my leg earlier.”

“I got you, don’t worry. We’ll be back in Hawkins in no time.”

~~~

The car ride back to Hawkins was a long one, but Eleven had finally made it. She didn’t know what to expect but she hadn’t imagined there being giant clouds of smoke, helicopters flying through the sky, and at least half the town packed up and on their way out.

She hoped her friends were okay. What remained of them, at least.

El fiddled with the little gold ring on her finger as Owens drove her into town. The two sat in silence, Owens' eyes fixed on the road and El looking out the window at the frantic civilians and remnants of her once beloved home.

“Where was it you wanted me to take you again?” Sam asked.

“2530 Maple Street.”

The drive there felt like an eternity even though El knew it hadn’t been too long. Maybe it was just the nauseating feeling in her stomach that made her feel that way. She wasn’t positive her friends would be there, wasn’t even sure they were alive in all honesty…

But if her friends were anywhere, they’d be at the Wheeler household. That was the party’s designated hangout spot. One way or another, they always found themselves together again, sitting in Mike’s basement, coming up with a plan or theorizing about the Upside Down, playing DnD or eating Dustin’s snacks. El missed that.

Things could never be the same again, could they?

Finally, the car pulled up into the Wheeler’s driveway. Robin, Steve, Lucas, and Dustin were getting out of the car as if they had just gotten back from somewhere. They turned as Owens parked right behind them.

El could barely remember what was going through her head. It was all subconscious, opening the car door, running out onto the paved driveway and up into Dustin and Lucas’s arms. The three held each other for a good 20 seconds, Steve and Robin awkwardly standing nearby. El pulled away and ran over to the two of them as well, throwing her arms around them. 

After a much-needed reunion and after all the hugs were wrapped up, Dustin suggested they all go to the basement to “catch up.” El had a feeling this “catching up” would be very painful.

The group entered the house to find Nancy on the phone in the kitchen. As soon as she saw El, she hung up the phone and rushed over to her, pulling her into a hug.

“We’ve been trying to reach you and the Byers all week. We were worried sick,” Nancy explained, her hug on El tightening ever so slightly. Nancy pulled away. “It’s good to have you back,” she smiled softly.

“It’s good to be back,” El returned the smile the best she could.

She was dreading the moment she would have to tell Nancy what happened to her brother and her boyfriend.

The six of them made their way to the basement, all finding a seat. Lucas, Dustin, and El sat on the couch, Steve pulled up a chair and Robin chose to sit on a pillow on the ground. Nancy preferred to stand, leaning against a wooden beam.

“What happened here…?” El broke the silence.

“The news is calling it an earthquake but we can assure you, it was definitely not an earthquake. I mean, what kind of earthquake leaves red glowing portals and giant clouds of smoke, right?” Robin rambled.

El remembered how Brenner had warned her about Vecna making “holes in a dam.” He had said that too much pressure would make it burst…

“Did Vecna make these portals?” She asked.

“Yeah…” Steve said, his voice trailing off.

“Four chimes, four kills,” Robin repeated quietly.

The room went quiet. Too quiet.

Something really bad had happened, hadn’t it? Was all that was going through El’s mind.

After what felt like hours, but was probably just a minute or so, Lucas spoke up.

“El…”

Eleven turned from her spot in the middle of the couch to look at Lucas, who sat on her left. He was talking to her but he couldn’t look her in the eyes. El now could see that one of his eyes was very swollen as if he had been hit in the face. Both of his eyes were trained on the ground, tears daring to fall.

“Max is dead.”

El wanted to throw up. This week couldn’t get any worse. Not only had she lost her brothers and her boyfriend, but she had also lost her best friend. She couldn’t save them. She couldn’t save the people she loved, and that broke her.

At first, it was tears, but before she knew it, El broke into full-out sobs, her whole body shaking, hiccuping, and barely able to catch her breath. Dustin pulled El into a hug and she cried into his shoulder. Lucas covered his mouth, clearly crying but trying to hide it. Honestly, everyone in that room was probably crying. They had lost.

After El regained as much composure as she could, she pulled away from Dustin and sat upright, wiping her tears on her sleeve.

She didn’t want to, but she had to tell them. Her bottom lip quivered and she bit down on it.

“I have…more bad news…” Her voice wavered. She looked up, barely able to meet her friends’ eyes.

All eyes were on her.

“Jonathan, Will…” her voice broke, “and Mike…are…” El couldn’t finish the sentence but everyone in the room understood what she meant. El broke down once more. Dustin and Lucas pulled her into a group hug, all of them crying as well.

“No…no…” Nancy sobbed, nearly falling over. Steve quickly rushed to her side, pulling her into an embrace. Nancy cried into his chest and he held her. Robin quickly joined the two, making it a group hug. 

The six friends all cried and mourned.

~~~

2 weeks had passed. Her friends and she continued to grieve, but Joyce and Hopper’s return did bring a little bit of joy back into her life. It was a horrible experience having to tell Joyce about what happened, though.

El wanted closure. 

You’d think seeing Jonathan, Will, and Mike’s lifeless bodies would be enough closure, or attending Max’s funeral would be as well, but there was still something eating away at Eleven. She wanted to see the place where it had all started. The Creel House.

She wasn’t sure what she expected to find there, but a part of her felt like it would help her healing process. No one else wanted anything to do with the house. El couldn’t say that she blamed them, but she didn’t want to go there alone.

She was pleasantly surprised when Nancy Wheeler offered to take her one Saturday afternoon.

The two girls carefully navigated the now torn-apart steps and made it into the attic. The government had attempted to seal the portals but hadn’t been completely successful. El had heard that a few monsters had been on the loose in town and that the concrete patchwork the government had done kept getting cracked open again and again. It was probably a pretty dangerous idea, deciding to come here, but El had her powers back again. She had already failed to protect so many people. If any creature tried to take another one of her friends away, she would break its neck.

“So…this is where Max…” El looked up at Nancy from where she knelt on the ground of the creaky old attic.

“Yeah…this is where it happened…” Nancy replied, sadness in her eyes.

“And you’re sure Vecna isn’t dead?”

“Well, he fell out the window and then disappeared. He must have run off. We think he’s hiding, healing, growing stronger.”

El sat down on the ground and Nancy joined her. The two sat in silence, Nancy looking at the ground and El playing with the little gold ring on her finger.

“Did Mike give that to you?” The question caught her off guard. 

“What?”

“The ring,” Nancy pointed to the band with the red ruby, “Was that a gift from Mike?”

“Yeah,” El replied, her eyes trained on the little stone, mesmerized by how it listened in the cracks of sunlight seeping through the boarded-up windows. The beautiful ring was a painful reminder of a life that was never meant to be hers.

“I remember when Jonathan got me a really nice gift. It was a silver locket, our junior year,” Nancy smiled to herself for the first time in a while. “I don’t know why but…I feel like, when a boy gives you jewelry, you know that he’s serious about you. Jewelry can be pretty pricey and high schoolers don’t make much. Jonathan spent months saving up for the dainty necklace,” Nancy fiddled with the locket around her neck that El hadn’t even realized she’d been wearing.

“When Mike gave me this…he called it a ‘promise ring,’” El said quietly, her thumb rubbing against the gold band. Without thinking too much about it, she spoke her mind. “I feel guilty.”

“It’s not your fault, what happened El…” Nancy responded sadly.

“I know but…” El sighed, struggling to keep her composure, “The last time I spoke to Mike, we had a big fight. He wrote me a letter, saying that he was sorry and not to blame myself but…I feel horrible. Mike died thinking he didn’t deserve me. Mike died alone. Mike died .” El stifled a sob. “That never should’ve happened. None of it should’ve happened. Mike, Will, Jonathan, Max…even Eddie. I’m supposed to protect the party.”

Nancy pulled El into a hug.

“Eleven, this isn’t yours to bear alone. We all tried and failed to save our friends. Just because you have powers doesn’t mean it’s your duty to protect us…” Nancy's voice trailed off for a moment. “After fighting Vecna without your help, I now realize how right Mike was in that cabin last summer. He told us we were abusing your powers and we all chalked it up to him being controlling. I guess we all sort of expected you to protect us, but after having to fight without you, I see how unfair that was. I’m sorry we put all that pressure on you.”

El didn’t say anything. She cried into Nancy’s chest and Nancy held her for quite a while. Even though she didn’t respond, El did appreciate her thoughtful words.

On their way out of the house, El paused in front of the giant grandfather clock that was somehow miraculously still in one piece after the portals had ripped through the house. El had never seen it before but she instantly knew it must be the one her friends had told her Max saw in her visions. 

She recalled that memory of Henry trying to explain the origins of his powers to her long ago. El had to admit, she was still a bit confused about what he had meant, but he had said something about ‘making his own rules.’

El could still hear Max and her laughing, playing spin the bottle on her bed last summer. Max had told her that the two of them would make their own rules as well.

Nancy paused in the doorway, realizing El was no longer beside her. She turned and saw the girl standing in front of the grandfather clock.

“El?”

No response.

Nancy made her way over to her friend to find her with her eyes closed and something moving underneath her eyelids, almost reminiscent of a pendulum.

“El?” Nancy placed her hands on her shoulders, gently shaking her. “Eleven?!”

We make our own rules.

~~~

Finally, in the early morning, they arrived at the Byers' household. As soon as the car was parked, El’s feet hit the ground running. She came to a halt when she found the front door of her home wide open and the windows shattered, glass decorating the ground. A sob escaped her lips and she tried to hold back the tears begging to fall.

Hesitantly, El took a step inside. The ground was littered with bodies, mostly government agents, but then she saw them. 

Not too far from the back door, Jonathan and Will sat in two chairs in the kitchen, blankets draped around their shoulders, Owens’ people tending to their wounds.

“Will? Jonathan?” El cried, tears of joy daring to fall.

“El!” Will bounced up from his seat and ran toward her, meeting her halfway. The two embraced.

“You’re okay,” El let out a watery yet relieved laugh. The two pulled away from each other.

“Yeah, it was a close call. The bullet skimmed my ear!” Will pointed to the wrap around his ear.

“That was a bit too close for comfort,” Jonathan interrupted, now standing beside Will.

“Jonathan!” El smiled but it faded when she noticed his arm in a sling. “You’re hurt.”

“A bullet to the arm but I’ll be ok,” Jonathan assured her.

Before they could continue, Owens entered the room.

“I hate to interrupt this heartwarming moment but I’ve just received news about your friends in Indiana.”

That had all three of their attention.

“The kids’ plan worked after all. Who knew what six kids from Hawkins, Indiana, were capable of?”

~~~

After a bit more catching up and long-needed hugs, El knew there was one more person she had to see for herself.

El turned to her left and approached the staircase. Slowly, she began to take the steps to the top. 

She stopped before taking the final step, noticing some dried blood splatters on the floor. 

Taking a shaky breath, El stepped into her room. There, sitting on her bed, was Michael Wheeler. He had a blanket draped over his shoulders and Owens’ people were tending to him as well.

“Mike—” El’s voice broke and she rushed toward him.

“El!” Mike turned, bright-eyed. He looked at her the way he always did, like she was the most beautiful person in the world. He stood up and welcomed her into his open arms.

“Mike,” El sobbed into his chest.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. I’m here.”

Mike looked over at the agents and they all simultaneously left the room. The couple sat on El’s bed together, still in an embrace.

 “I thought I lost you,” El said, voice watery. She pulled away and sniffed, wiping her tears on her sleeve.

“I’m ok, see?” Mike lifted his shirt slightly to reveal some bandaging on his side. “The bullet skimmed me but hit nothing vital. It’s just a surface wound. I’ll be alright,” he assured her.

El took Mike’s hand gently in hers.

“Mike.”

“Yeah?”

She took a deep breath to regain composure before continuing.

“About our fight…”

“You were right.”

El tilted her head.

“I know I don’t say it enough but…I do love you, El. I love you more than words could ever convey.”

“I know,” El squeezed his hand. “And I love you too. I hope you realize you’re irreplaceable.”

Mike’s entire disposition changed the moment she said it, but El acted like she didn’t notice. She took both of his hands in hers and looked him in the eyes.

“I will always need you. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” El smiled, tears brimming her eyes.

Before El could read over his expression, Mike pulled her into another hug. 

The two stayed like that for a while.