Take My Breath Away (Mileven AU) [On Hold]

Chapter 1

Mike Wheeler had always been enthralled with fairy tales. They had always been his favourite bedtime stories. He loved how the protagonist always seemed to have a guardian angel, someone to constantly look after them and grant their wishes. His eyes would grow wide with excitement as his mother read out the stories and his dreams would be filled with the land of the fairies.

They fascinated him. But even his five year old mind didn't believe that fairies were real.

Not until he had an encounter with one. Or at least that's what he thought it was.

Mike's best friend Will Byers lived at the edge of the woods. And though his father believed that Will's family didn't belong to the same strata in society as his, he couldn't think of a better friend than Will. Will always laughed at his jokes, played the games he suggested, and even though for some reason he seemed to have a lack of clean hoodies in winter and enough lunch on most days, he happily shared his crayons with Mike and Mike always shared his lunch with him.

One sunny afternoon in early spring, five year old Mike and Will had decided to set on an adventure to investigate the woods. They were pretending to be knights that day so they had their wooden swords with them!

They knew they weren't supposed to go into the woods. Mike's mom had said they were dangerous. But there was no one to tell them that they shouldn't go in, Will's mom was stuck with an extra shift at the store she worked and his eight year old brother Jonathan liked to keep mostly to himself.

So they went in and played their game almost till it was sunset. They stayed close to the edge for fear they would get lost. Then Will said he needed a break and went to get some fruit juice for them from his house and told Mike to stay put.

As he waited for Will, he looked around and suddenly he felt mesmerized by the openness of the woods. The green, the fresh scent of the earth and were those.......fireflies?

A quiet giggle escaped his lips. And before he knew it he was entering the forest, following the fireflies deeper inside. He ran and he ran trying to catch one and then another but they always seemed to fly away from his grasp!

After a while his feet grew tired and he became out of breath and suddenly he didn't know where he was. He looked around and all he could see were huge trees. The sun had set long ago and the moonlight didn't reach in through the thick canopy of the trees.

So Mike Wheeler did the only logical thing that his five year old mind told him to. He cried for his mom. His sobs started softly till they turned into full-fledged wailing. He wept till he saw the faint glow of a ball of light forming in front of him.

At first he thought it was another firefly. Then he realised it was too large to be a firefly. The ball of light glowed faintly with a soft radiance. It threw off sparks at intervals as though urging him to follow it. So he reached forward to touch it. And it moved away from his reach.

He tried to touch it again and again and soon he wasn't crying anymore. His giggles echoed through the forest. His little feet carried him towards the glimmering ball tripping over roots of trees and slipping through the mud. He ran and ran till he found himself looking at the looming structure that was the Byers' house.

And then the ball of light faded away. He exited the woods and looked around for it but couldn't find it anywhere. He could hear voices and movements inside the Byers' house and he figured he ought to go inside and let them know he was back. But his childish mind wanted to know what that light was. What if it was a fairy!? What if it was his guardian angel?

He heard a mellifluous giggle blowing in the wind, like the tinkling of a hundred little bells. It made him smile. So he said a soft "Thank you". He heard the chiming sound again, as if it floated away from him.

And that was first time Mike Wheeler believed that maybe fairies were real.

That was also the first time Eleven broke the rules, came into the mortal world and saw a human.