𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐄 | stranger things ✓

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: REUNITED

reunited; to come together after a period of separation

Mike couldn't believe his eyes. "Eleven?" The young mage the boys would talk about was finally here. Mel felt almost connected in a way. Eleven felt it too but was too overwhelmed seeing the boy who saved her life a year ago.

"Mike." They both hugged each other tight. El let out a few tears of joy. Everyone was so happy she was back but couldn't believe it. The mood changed when Mike reacted badly when he found out Hopper was hiding her. "You've been hiding her this whole time?" He asked, more angry than confused.

"Protecting." Jim corrected. Everyone couldn't believe that he had Eleven this whole time. "The more people that know about her, the more danger she's in." He tried reasoning with him. "Same goes for Mel."

"So, what? You're going to take away her too?" Mike yelled even angrier, speaking what was on Dustin's mind.

"I'm just asking you to try to understand-" Jim lowered his tone.

"I don't! I don't understand!" Mike cried.

"That's fine!" Jim yelled back the sighed. "Just don't blame her." They looked at Eleven.

"I don't blame her! I blame you!" He yelled, pushing Hopper. "I blame you." Hopper did the comforting thing and pulled the boy for a hug he really needed.

After Mike was finished screaming at Jim, Eleven walked over to Dustin and Lucas and had a group hug. "We missed you." Lucas said over her shoulder.

"I missed you too." She said before pulling away.

"We talked about you pretty much every day." Dustin mentioned. At the corner of his eye, he saw Melanie still standing by the door and decided to introduce her to Eleven. "El." He said pulling her over to Mel. "This is Melanie but we call her Mel. She can read minds." El gave her a small smile and Mel smiled back. "She's like you." They both knew what he meant. Melanie pulled up her sleeve, showing El her tattoo on her wrist. El did the same. "Eleven and Sixteen." They both remembered each other from before they realized they had abilities.

"Reunited." Lucas awkwardly cheered, trying to get on Mel's good side.

"Eleven?" Max said. Eleven turned to face the not so unfamiliar girl. "Hey. Um. I'm Max." She nervously offered a handshake. "I've heard so much about you." Eleven declined the handshake and went straight over to Joyce to give her a hug. The kids awkwardly looked at Max, wondering why Eleven brushed her off.

"Close gate." Eleven read the written piece of paper, understanding the meaning. The gate in the lab that those idiot scientists made Eleven open. Everyone crowded round the kitchen table with Eleven who was sitting down.

"You opened this gate before, right?" Joyce asked her while sitting down next to her. "Do you think you could close it?"

"No way." Hopper got protective of the girl he'd been looking after for a year. "Besides, the place is crawling with those dogs." He folded his arms.

"Demo-dogs." Dustin corrected.

Hopper looked at Dustin stupidly before looking at the group. "We can't do this. It's too dangerous."

"I can do this." El told her disagreeing father figure.

"But if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayer's army..." Mike thought out loud for a moment. "Will is a part of that army." He finished with his shaky breathing.

"The spy." Mel whispered to herself.

"It might kill him." Lucas said it as it was. Everyone sat in silence for a moment.

"He likes it cold." Joyce said quietly and they looked looked at her if she was mad. "That's what Will kept saying to me." She remembered and realized, "We keep giving it what it wants."

"If this is a virus...and Will's the host then..." Nancy put all the points together.

"We need to make the host uninhabitable." Jonathan stated.

"We need to burn it out of him." Joyce said fearlessly.

"But we have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time." Mike pointed out.

"Somewhere far away." Said Dustin.

They decided to split up. Joyce, Jonathan and Nancy took Will to Hopper's place. He was currently sedated and wrapped up in his bedsheets. They took him in Joyce's car alone with four electric heaters and matches to get a fire going when they got there. While they were packing up to go, Mike said goodbye to Eleven who was going with Hopper to the lab to close the gate. Steve was asked to stay behind at the house with the rest. "Just be careful, alright?" Mike told her. "I can't lose you again."

"You won't lose me." She promised. She slowly leaned in to kiss him but was interrupted by Jim.

"El. Come on." He called for her, finishing his cigarette. She sighed deeply and Mike gave her a nod before she walked away, not wanting to say goodbye again. He wiped the tear from his cheek as the rest watched the two cars drive away. Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Max and Mel were left with their babysitter, (the one and only) Steve Harrington.

"Well..." This was probably the moment Max realized how crazy this situation was. "What do we do now?" Max asked Steve.

"Uh.." Steve tried to think of something a babysitter would do. "Let's uh...Let's clean this place up a little for Mrs Byers." He said leading the way back into the house.