His Favorite Flavor//Steve x Fem!Reader//Stranger Things

Never The End

{WORD COUNT: 1,627}

TW: COMATOSE, BROKEN BONES, MENTIONS OF D3ATH

TWO DAYS LATER

    Everyone was leaving Hawkins, packing everything they had up and fleeing the devil city. Little did they know, it was no demon, devil, or Satan cursing this small town. It was Vecna. 22 fatalities, and more people filling Roana County Hospital. I wouldn't be surprised if there were more unfortunate d3aths. There was military everywhere and buildings were demolished from the earthquake. I didn't know how the government was going to hide this catastrophe the same way they did the last three incidents. We were packing up things to give to charity for the people who suffered the tragedy more than we did. "Hey, Nance! I found some more of your old stuff in the attic." Mrs. Wheeler called walking out the door carrying a cardboard box full of old stuff. Nance looked through the box and gasped at what she saw. "Someone order a pizza?" Mrs. Wheeler asked. "Pizza?" Dustin puzzled and we turned around to a yellow van coming down the street. "Is that Jonathan?" I asked. The van parked in front of the driveway of the Wheeler's house and Jonathan got out of the car. Mike and Argyle stepped out after him and then El and Will. I beamed and ran up to him. "Jonathan!" I yelled hugging him tightly. "Hey, Y/n." he smiled hugging me back. "How is everything?" he asked. "Well, not so great. Upside Down madness again." I whispered the last sentence so nobody who didn't already know would stay that way. I moved away to say hi to everyone else, knowing d*mn well Nancy would want to see Jonathan. Dustin smiled as I pulled out of a hug with Mike. I hugged Will tightly, now only a couple of inches taller than him. Mike hugged his mom, Jonathan hugged Nancy, Dustin hugged Will and Eleven and the rest of us sat there waiting for them. "You are never going on vacation again, you hear me? In fact, you can forget about college. You are staying right here." Mrs. Wheeler ordered.

    We walked into the hospital room, me, Mike, Eleven, Will, Nancy, and Jonathan. Lucas stood up and hugged us all. "Oh my god. We've been calling you guys like crazy." he told Mike and Will as he hugged them. "I know. We came as soon as we heard." Mike told him. Lucas looked up at El who was standing behind the boys with her hood up. He released from the hug with Will and Mike and hugged El tightly. "I'm sorry." she apologized her breath shaky. She looked over at Max who was in two casts on her legs, two casts on her arms, and a sling on her right arm with a brace around her neck. Max had been in a coma for two days. Since the night of the 'earthquake' tragedy. El took off her hood and walked over to Max with Will and Mike walking behind her, all of them shaky. El rested her head on Mike's shoulder as they looked at her. "Do they know...when she will wake?" Eleven asked. "No. They say she might not. Her heart stopped. For over a minute. She died. I...I mean clinically, but...then she came back. The doctors don't know how. They say it's a miracle." Lucas answered. Will and Mike looked at each other for a second then both looked over at El who was still staring at Max's half-d3ad body. El walked over to Max and sat down on the bed. She grabbed Max's hand, "I'm here, Max." she whispered. She shut her eyes and I didn't know what she was doing, but it seemed like something to do with her powers, which she had lost.

    We made it back to Hopper's cabin, which I was not expecting. We walked to the front porch and the place was still absolutely destroyed from the night. You, of course, know which night I'm talking about. "Oh, Jesus." Jonathan sighed as we walked inside. "Holy sh1t. This place is a total disaster." Mike marveled as we walked around. "Yeah." Jonathan huffed. The two boys walked to a hole in the roof, "Well, that's a bit of a problem." Jonathan said pointing toward the large, Mind Flayer's leg-sized hole in the ceiling. Jonathan and Will had told me about the cabin disaster the next day. "I mean, I get we gotta hide supergirl and all, but this isn't the Fortress of Solitude, man. It's more like a fortress of grodiness." Argyle cringed. "Oh, come on, guys, seriously. I've seen Mike's room look worse than this." Nancy joked. "Ah, brutal, dude." Argyle laughed. "Ah, see! Water still works." Nancy cheered after turning on the sink and the pipes had been rumbling. She opened the cabinet and pulled out a thing of cleaning supplies. "And, voila. Cleaning supplies." she chirped and threw Mike a broom. "I should get going. I should go see how Steve's doing." I told them. "Yeah, we'll see you later." Nancy smiled and I walked out the door. I stood outside the door for a second and dug around in my pocket. I small purple bracelet fell onto the ground and I picked it up. 'How'd you get in there?' I thought. I then remembered I hadn't worn this pair of shorts since the night we were having El find Will.

~

    We waited for El to say something again and I sat next to Hopper on the bleachers of the gym. "Hey, kid. I know you're worried about your brother, but I promise everything will be fine." Hopper reassured me as he handed me a small purple bracelet. "It was one of my daughter's bracelets. I kept it after she passed away and her mom left. I needed something to remember her by. If you ever lose me or are getting anxious, or sad just slip it on and I promise everything will be fine." he told me and I put the bracelet on.

~

    I slipped the bracelet on and walked off the porch. I walked to Hawkins High and found Steve folding laundry. I ran sneakily up behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist. "Jesus, you scared me." he shrieked. "You welcome." I laughed. "I'm almost done here and then we can head out. See if your mom's in town yet." he told me. I nodded and started helping him fold laundry. A few minutes later we headed back to Hop's cabin to help out. "Anyone need help?" we asked as we got out of the car. "Yeah, that'd be great. I think the kids could use some more hands inside." Nancy told us. I smiled and nodded and headed inside. A car pulled up before I could get through the door. It was a black sleek car. The driver's side door opened and Hopper stepped out. "Hopper?" I mumbled. He may not have been my dad, but he was a dad for me in every aspect he could be. I ran up to him and hugged him. "Hey, kiddo." he smiled as he hugged me back. "How? How are you alive? Where were you? Your-your hair." I questioned as I stepped back. "It's a lot to explain right now, kid, but I will. I promise. Where's El?" he asked. "In the house. Will and Mike should be in there, too." I told him. He nodded and walked into the house. I noticed mom waiting on the other side of the car hugging Jonathan. "Hey, kiddo." she smiled and I ran to hug her. "You didn't go to Alaska." I laughed. "No, I didn't." she chuckled and hugged the two of us tighter. Will and Mike ran outside and the three of us walked over to them and Nancy. Will joined in our hug and we kind of just sat there crying our eyes out. Well, me, Will, and mom at least. We all stepped out of the way and mom beamed at the sight of El who was leaning up against Hopper waving. El chuckled and ran over to mom engulfing her in a giant bear hug. "I'm happy you went to your...conference." Eleven smiled looking at Hopper and back to mom stepping away from their hug. "That was quite the experience." Mom beamed. They hugged again, still smiling from pure joy to see each other again. Hopper walked down the steps and tipped his hat over toward the car where a lady with a jet black pixie haircut was standing. The sky started to grow dark as we talked and we all turned to look up at the sky. White snow fell toward the ground. Hawkins didn't get snow, meaning this is not what that was. Steve grabbed my waist and pulled me in closer to him. We started walking through the woods, knowing the exact clearing to go to. Hopper walked in the very front and we made it to the large open clearing. In front of us, there was a large grey storm cloud with red lightning piercing the sky. What was supposed to be the greenest grass in Hawkins with the most colorful of flowers was now grey, shriveled, and dead. Four giant gaping cracks in the ground emitted red glowing light. El stood up from the greyest grass I had ever seen and Steve grabbed my hand. I knew this wasn't the end. The minute Vecna wasn't in the walkway where he was supposed to be. I knew. Would there ever be an end to this madness? Or would our lives be full of never-ending terror passed down to our children so they could solve these problems when we were too old to? Whatever happens, this will not be the end of the Upside Down.