Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
the gate
﹌﹌﹌
"Eleven."
"Mike."
The two young lovers collapsed in eachothers arms, gasps of relief escaping their lips and tears falling down their cheeks.
"Is that.." Max stood between Lucas and Dustin, wondering if this was the famous El these boys had spoken of. Nodding from each of them was her confirmation.
Mike was the first to pull away from the embrace, holding her within arms length. "I never gave up on you. I called you every night. Every night for-"
"353 days. I heard." Eleven finished for him, noticing his smile fade as confusion grew.
"Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?" Mike sniffed, staring at the girl with furrowed brows.
"Because I wouldn't let her." Hopper spoke up, shocking the latter. "The hell is this? Where you been?" He asked the girl, approaching her.
"Where have you been?" She fired back, but he pulled her into a tight hug to which she returned, wrapping her arms around him.
"You've been hiding her." Mike turned to him. Everyone stared at the scene that was just about ready to unfold, not quite knowing what to say. But Scarlett knew one thing for sure, Hopper was hiding the girl. But it had to be for a good reason, or else he would've let them know. She was in danger with the government, and they only way to evade them was for someone to take her in and hide her from the world. "You've been hiding her this whole time!" Mike said angrily, lunging at Hopper's arm.
"Hey!" The Chief grabbed ahold of Mike's shoulder. "Let's talk. Alone." And with that, they were gone.
Immediately after they left, El and Scarlett's eyes met, and they launched into each others arms. "I missed you like crazy." Scarlett grinned, giving her a squeeze.
"I missed you too. Like crazy." Eleven repeated, seemingly learning a new phrase within the sentence and reciprocating the squeeze.
She pulled away from the hug, holding her in arms length just as Mike had a few minutes ago. She took in Eleven's makeup and hair. "I love the new look. It suits you. You look super cool." Scarlett complimented, patting her cheek. "We'll catch up later, and trust me, we have a lot to catch up on!"
She waved and pulled away, moving to the side just as Lucas and Dustin lunged towards her, wrapping their arms around her. "We missed you." Lucas said, although they had a rocky start, he was truly glad she was back.
