Chapter Text
"Goodbye Mike."
"You won't lose me."
"Promise."
It must have been about two o' clock in the morning.
The night, pervaded by the new, cold air of November, was clear: it seemed that the fog that had surrounded the town in the previous days, had suddendly faded away, leaving space to look at the stars.
Mike was just watching them, resting strenghtless and weary on the steps of the Byers' house.
It had been a strange night, no doubt.
It had been a strange year.
A stronger gust of wind made him shiver, so he curled up in his sweatshirt, crossing his arms.
"I can't lose you again."
He could not stop shaking, and the anxiety, which hadn't stopped tormenting him for even a second during the last year and that had irremediably exploded a few hours earlier, was clenching his stomach with his steely grip.
No, he couldn't lose her again. He couldn't accept to see the person who had been able to completely turn his life upside down within a week and who hadn't left his thoughts for a single moment in that whole year, to disappear into nothingness again.
It was as if she were a part of him now, he could not help it.
When he had seen her only a few hours ago, as she'd passed through the Byers' front door, so different, but at the same time so similar to that last time he saw her at school with the Demogorgon, he thought he was dreaming.
More than once, in the previous months, he had actually dreamed of her, imagined seeing her walking towards him, looking at him with those deep, brown eyes that had immediately broke into his heart.
But that night, he had stretched his arms, felt her hands on his shoulders, and he'd begun to breathe again, well aware of Eleven's presence, close to his chest, and that time it was just too real to trick himself with a daydream.
"I never gave up on you. I called you every night. Every night for ... "
"353 days. I heard."
Then, the anger came, and it was accompanied by such a deep despair that, after being accumulated for too long, had exploded, coming out a tear at a time.
Why did Hopper keep her away from him? Why had he lied?
Why couldn't he be part of her life that last year?
Why?
Those questions'd kept popping up in his head for the whole evening: they were there when he'd seen the car go into the woods, heading for the labs, they were there when he'd dropped down in the tunnels with the others and they were still there when, exhausted and dirty, he'd thrown himself in the backseat and started crying again because of all the tension, while Steve was taking them back to the Byers house, to wait for some news.
Now, that stream of questions had interrupted, leaving room for just one, single thought: "Let her be okay. Let everything be fine."
They had come back for an hour, by now, and there was no sign of El and Hopper, and with every passing minute, Mike seemed to lose a beat.
They'd tried to get in touch with some of the others,using walkie-talkies, but all they'd got had been a message that was not very understandable because of disturbed signal from a tearful Jonathan, from which they'd learned that at least Will was himself again, although he had a high fever and was considerably upset.
At least, that threat had been contained, they just had to wait now.
Mike had tried to give himself a semblance of calm, trying to think positive and focusing on his friends' words, but even their voices, like everything around him, came muffled.
He barely felt Lucas's hand on his shoulder and so his words -"Now calm down, Mike, you know her, she's awesome."-before heading to the door.
He really needed to be alone and to be the first to see her as soon as they came back.
"Let her be okay. Let everything be fine. "
He kept looking at the stars, trying to recreate her face through the lights and being lulled by his own breath, in that kind of suspended time.
But the sound of an approaching car's engine made him immediately jump up, almost losing his balance.
"Eleven!" He shouted, but his voice just broke.
He began to run, with his legs trembling and his heart beating so fast it was deafening.
"El!"
Mike saw Hopper, with his smashed face and his rifle leaning against the front sit.
The fact that he hadn't immediately seen El made him panic and he almost felt like fainting.
He rushed to the counter and shouted again:
"Where is El? Where is she?"
"Hey, calm down, boy, she's in the back seat ..."
Mike didn't even give him time to finish the sentence, that he'd already opened the door and he'd touched Eleven's cheek, while she was lying there, completely helpless.
"El! El, it's Mike, can you hear me? "
She had her eyes closed and her whole face was stained with blood, which had run down her neck, where it'd encrusted on dark trails that made him shiver.
She wasn't reacting at all.
"El! Oh my God, what ... Are you ... Is she ... "
"She's fine, kid, she's just exhausted and strenghtless. Now, I'll take her inside, c'mon, you go on."
Mike could only nod, while new tears started to fall down his cheeks, both for the relief he felt after knowing she was fine and for having seen her in those conditions.
He opened the door, while watching the Chief holding El, wrapped in a blanket, into his arms and, suddendly, a bunch of voices filled the Byers' living room.
Dustin was the first one to shout: "Hey, are they back?", immediately followed by Steve who exclaimed "Hopper!".
Lucas and Max, who were half-asleep on the couch, woke up at once, asking about what was happening.
When they saw El and Hopper on the threshold, they immediately made room for them, so that the man could lay the girl on the pillows and let her rest.
Mike sat up next to her within a second, taking her hand in his own and starting to gently wipe the blood away from her face with the back of his sleeve.
There was a minute of silence,in which everyone watched Eleven, who stood there with his eyes closed and brathing slow and Dustin and Lucas, watching Mike at her side, exchanged a conscious look, immediately understanding many things about the last year they had probably neglected before.
But that apparent calm lasted very little: in fact, nobody gave Hopper the time to sit down and light up the cigarette he'd already taken out of his pocket and they immediately started twith the questions.
"So? Are you not gonna tell us anything? What about The Mind Flayer? "
"Did she make it? How it was?"
"And what about the Gate?"
"Hey, hey, hey, Jesus, kids, facing you is worse than facing that thing, actually!" Hopper shouted, putting his hands over his eyes.
"Is it done?" Mike asked simply, without looking away from Eleven.
"Yes, yes, it's done. The Gate is closed."
Lucas and Dustin hugged each other, holding Max, too, and Steve smiled, lying onto one of the armchairs.
"It was really tough, I seriously believed that those labs would be the last place I'd ever seen in my life. But we made it. She made it. "
Mike smiled and said, "I had no doubt."
"Yes Chief, but I hope you're not thinking of getting away with it like that. We definetely want all the details. "Dustin exclaimed.
"Details?"
"Sure. You have just attended an epic clash between a monster from another dimension and our friend who is some kind of a 'real life Jedi', you have the duty to share this experience. "
Hopper sighed so hard that Dustin and Lucas drew back and Steve, who was equally interested to understand something more about the whole thing, started to giggle.
"As I said, it was very, very tough. That gate was huge and it really took every grain of her energy to close that, so I don't really know how long it will take for her to wake up, she was completely shattered after that.
And it's not that difficult to imagine it, at some point to lock that freakin' moster up, she was so focused she started to levitate, for God's sake! "
"UO UO DID SHE WHAT?" Lucas and Dustin shouted at the same time.
Max put his hands on his mouth and Mike felt his eyes filling again with tears, as he gently petted her locks.
He looked at her, lightly stroking her forehead.
God, he was so proud of her, he couldn't even describe how much!
"So, because of this, I don't want you to try in any way to wake her up before she'd the chance to rest properly, do I make myself clear?" Hopper looked at them sternly, and his gaze lingered longer on Mike, but the kid was too absorbed by looking at her.
"Okay, now, Joyce, Will and the others should come here in a short time. Let's wait for them and then we'll see how to settle things for tonight. "
In fact, they heard the sound of another car parking in the garden just a few minutes later.
Seeing Will was a relief for everyone, despite him being so pale and incredibly hot for the fever, but at least he was one hundred percent himself, and he managed to sleep as peacefully as he hadn't done for a long time.
Joyce was absolutely destroyed, with Bob's terrible death still so clear in his mind, but at the same time so indescribably gratefulto have his boy back that she was, despite all the pain, smiling.
Nancy, who'd gotten into the house holding hands with Jonathan, ran towards Mike and hugged him tightly.
"I'm so happy you're okay." she said.
"Yes ... yes, I'm happy you're okay too."
It was now about half past three and everyone in that house was in need for a few hours of rest, before trying to return, in some way, to "normal life".
"Well, um ... Max, right? So, I think that the best thing to do with your step brother is to keep him sedated at least until tomorrow morning, so I'll take him home and he will not ask questions about what's going on here nor will he see Eleven, okay? "
"Yes sure, Chief."
"Good."
Everyone was settling down for that night: Hopper took Will to Joyce's bed, making ssure to keep him warm, Lucas, Dustin, Max and Steve started to place blankets and pillows around the sofa, almost simulating sleeping bags, while Nancy and Jonathan collapsed onto his bed, over the blankets and holding each other close.
Mike was the only one who hadn't move from his position, kneeling on the floor near the couch and still holding Eleven's cold hands.
He jolted when he heard Hopper's voice just above him.
"Okay, perfect, so, Joyce, can you help me to settle Eleven in Will's bed? I think it's better to take her there, she needs a lot of rest. "
"Of course, poor sweetheart."
Joyce pulled Will's blankets aside and she took a few extra pillows to make the bed more comfortable.
Hopper came closer to the girl, lifting her up, unlacing the two teens' hands.
"Come on kiddo, she needs to rest and you need it too."
Mike looked at him, suddenly feeling cold from the lack of that contact, and didn't say a word, simply following him into Will's room and watching him while he gently laid El down on the mattress.
"Come on Mike, what's the matter now? There is nothing to do for her sake except to let her sleep so she can get her strenght. If you want to be helpful, just go to sleep. "
"I'm not leaving her tonight."
"Oh, Jesus, what do I have to hear?"
"You hear me, I'm not leaving her. I'm sorry, but now you can't stop me from staying with her anymore. "
"Oh my, boy, but are you actually listening to yourself? I'm just telling you to let her sleep tonight! "
"I'll let her sleep, but I want to be next to her."
His voice was firm and low, to not disturb her.
Hopper closed his eyes, rubbing his nose between his fingers and then said, with a sarcastic laugh:
"Oh, well, are we already at this point? At the pretension of sharing a bed? "
"I can stay over the blankets, or even on the floor if that's what's bothering you, but I really ... I just ... I want to be there for her when she wakes up ... I ... I need to be with her, please."
"Oh gosh, the kid here is serious," Hopper thought.
He inhaled deeply and sighed, before answering:
"Alright then. If it's so important for you. But you stay on top of theblanket and you do not have to bother her or try to make her talk before it's the right time, do I make myself clear? "
"Absolutely, Chief! You can trust me! Thank you!"
When Hopper saw that big smile on the boy's freckled face, he finally convinced himself.
After all, he owed it to him. And he deserved it.