American Heroes: A Stranger Things 3 Fic

Goodbye

After everything that happened at the mall and the death of Hopper, El went to stay at the Byers's home. Searching through the wreckage of the cabin, they brought what they could back to their house in the hopes that El would feel more at home there. For the first few nights, she slept in Joyce's room, but after both she and Will admitted they had trouble sleeping alone, she found herself sharing his room. What bothered them were the nightmares mainly, but it was also those thoughts that came right before they fell asleep, when everything was dark and quiet. The perfect breeding ground for memories of that terrible night at the mall to invade their minds.

One night, Will awoke with a start, gasping and grasping his blanket to his chest. Images played through his mind of the Mind Flayer piercing through Billy's chest, killing him. Max's screams as he fell to the ground. All of it, forever seared in his brain.

"Will?" El said from the floor where she slept on a pile of blankets. "Are you okay?"

Wiping sweat off his forehead, he nodded. "Yeah... yes, fine. Just a nightmare." He looked down at her. "Are you okay?"

She shrugged. "Can't sleep."

Not wanting to return to his nightmares, Will shuffled over and patted his bed. "You can sleep up here if you want."

Smiling, El got up and climbed in beside him. Both of them lied back and stared up at the ceiling. "Thank you," she murmured.

"For what?"

"Being nice to me."

Will turned on his side to face her. "You're a part of our family now, El." He grinned. "Whether you like it or not."

They both laughed quietly before falling into a calm silence, and eventually, falling back asleep. They'd slept like that every night since. It was a comfort, having someone sleeping by your side when you woke up in a cold sweat, and it didn't take long for the two of them to become inseparable.

Two weeks after what happened at Starcourt Mall, Mike, Lucas, Dustin, El, and Max are gathered around a table in Mike's basement, listening intently as Will narrates the campaign he'd been working on all summer. "Do you guys hear that?" Will asks, leaning forward. Everyone else leans closer. "It sounds like... thunder. But, no, wait. That's not thunder. It's... a horde of juju zombies!" He slams the figurines down on the table. "Sir Mike, your action."

Mike sits up, glancing at the others. "What should I do?"

"Attack!" Lucas, Dustin, Max, and El cry with enthusiasm.

"Okay, I attack with my flail." Mike shakes the dice in his hand and rolls them onto the table.

"Whoosh!" Will says. "You miss."

Everyone lets out groans of disappointment.

"Your flail clanks the stone," Will goes on, "the zombie horde lumbers towards you, and..." Mike watches intently as Will's dice clatter on the table. "...the juju bites your arm. Flesh tears! Aah! Seven points of damage."

Letting out a groan, Mike holds his arm and collapses backwards into his chair. Holding back a smile, Will turns to face Lucas. "Sir Lucas, the zombie horde roars! Do you fight back or do you run?" Lucas puts a finger up, eyebrows drawn together.

Max nudges Lucas. "Fight back."

"Yeah," El adds, "fight back."

Lucas opens his mouth, but before he can answer, there's a knock at the basement door. Mike rolls his eyes and shouts, "Mom, we're in the middle of a campaign!"

Jonathan comes halfway down the stairs, waving to the six of them. "Hey, sorry, guys. Will, El, time to go."

Everyone groans. "No, they can't leave!" Max says.