No Surrender | Eddie Munson

Chapter Twenty-Two: Face It

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: FACE IT

LITTLE ASTRONAUT — SPELL SONGS

My heart, it grows flatter
So I'm coming to find you
Coming to find you by following your song
Right now, I need you
For my sadness has come again

——————

Mike rushes forwards, hugging Eleven. The rest of us can only stare. "Is that..." Max begins, but the answer is already clear.

They are crying when they finally break apart. "I never gave up on you," Mike sobs. "I called you every night. Every night for—"

"353 days. I heard."

"Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?"

Hopper lowers his gun. "Because I wouldn't let her." He strides forwards, masking his surprise at the sight of her bitter glare. "The hell is this? Where've you been?"

"Where have you been?"

Without another word, he pulls her in for a hug. I join soon after, smothering her forehead and gelled hair with relieved kisses.

"You've been hiding her?" Mike lashes out, shoving Hopper in the back. "You've been hiding her this whole time!"

"Hey!" He manages to still the boy's attacks, grabbing onto his collar. "Let's talk. Alone."

Sighing, I hug Eleven again. "I'm sorry. God, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have left like that."

"It's okay. Sisters?"

That word comes as a shock. I stare at her for a moment, stunned, until a grin spreads across my face and I hurriedly nod. "Sisters."

Dustin and Lucas are next, rushing in to welcome her back. I join Steve at the side. His gaping expression prompts a soft chuckle from me, "Yeah, I knew the whole time."

"You sneaky little shit."

"Yeah, well, I am Batman. Apparently."

I turn my focus back to the others just in time to see Eleven poke Dustin in the mouth. Her brow furrows and she says, "Teeth."

"What?"

"You have teeth."

He exchanges glances with Lucas, laughing proudly. "Oh. You like these pearls?" And then he makes an odd sound, some kind of purr that loses a bit of the atmosphere as we look to him in utter bewilderment.

"Eleven?" The girl's smile quickly fades when she catches sight of the redhead approaching her. "Hey. Um, I'm Max. I've heard a lot about you."

Her hand is offered out, waiting to be shaken, but Eleven walks right past to greet Joyce instead. I frown and look to Max. "I'm am so sorry. I don't know what that was. I'll talk to her."

"No, it's fine. Don't bother."

El and Joyce disappear into Will's room for a few minutes. When they return, I join them by the table with an arm around her again. His message has been decoded now. The letters stare up at us from the page, glaring red — CLOSE GATE.

"You opened this gate before, right?" Joyce anxiously asks.

"Yes."

"Do you think if we got you back there that you could close it?"

So here we are, around the table yet again, listening to Hopper's experience of seeing the gate — deep in Hawkins lab, at the centre of those tunnels. "It's not like it was before. It's grown — a lot. And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs."