Mileven Oneshots

Tears

It was dark in Hawkins that night. The sky grumbled and the rain struck the floor so hard it could have made sparks on the slick tarmac.
The weather made El uneasy, she tossed and turned restlessly under the blankets, feeling suffocated by the soft and heavy fabric that surrounded her. Lost in the shadowy world of half sleep, she felt her heart start to stutter with fright at every flash of lightning in the now furious sky. But dreams held her tight and dragged her deeper into their depths until the outside world fell away and she was falling... falling... falling.

"Fight back! Show me you're strong! Do it child!" The voice was harsh and shaking with barely contained rage. She curled up on her own aching ribs as her father loomed above her, a terrible and snarling giant. "ELEVEN YOU WILL STAND AND YOU WILL SHOW ME WHAT YOU CAN DO!"
El shook her head minutely and let her cheek cool against the white tile, watching a scarlet ribbon of blood slip across it. She gave in, broken.
The footsteps faded. The door slammed. Darkness settled it.

The tank was bubbling with water. Already, the cold of the step and the weight of the helmet was beginning to burn at her muscles and her skin. Dimly, she could see her Papa watching her as the water began to lap past her ankles. She dare not flinch. She would not.
The water reached her shoulders, pressing down like a stone on her chest. Her heart hammered as the water began to rush into the helmet and choke her, flooding her nose and blinding her. The oxygen was suddenly cut off and the shock of it broke her concentration, she was drowning in a bath of ice and was alone. So very alone.
The cold hit her throat as she screamed, lungs full of water and bubbles pouring in a constant stream. She pounded at the glass with weak and heavy fists. Then she she was rising with the sound of snarling ringing in her ears.

Oxygen curled around her, trying to ease her into breathing again. She was vaguely aware of feeling herself vomit and tasted the bile and coppery flavour of fear in her mouth. Her father's face swam in front of her wild eyes. "Papa..."
A harsh resounding slap and she was falling again...

Mike heard the screaming the moment it began, if not earlier. He'd been watching the patterns of the rain when they fell in pools of light from the streetlamps outside. Then he heard whimpering through the wall, then wordless cries. Stumbling out of his own tangle of blankets, he grabbed a torch and ran out of the room, storm forgotten.
El was twisting on her bed, weeping with her face twisted in agonised terror. Fear of never seeing her again had pained her to the day she came back, but this... this killed him. He shook her and called out to her but she squirmed out of his reach and suddenly began to scream, the noise reaching a harsh crescendo.

The lift doors finally opened, she'd been in their for long enough that her lips had cracked and bled, her eyes sunk into her head and dried tears painted the angles of her face. She scrambled to the light as fast as her exhausted and pained body allowed before throwing herself forward.

She looked up to see her Papa staring at her. Gun in hand.
He thumbed the safety off and knelt down to put the gun to her head. There was silence as El shut her eyes and her father's breathing was the only sound.
"Now, if you actually used the powers I gave you imagine how many lives you could save." The voice was wrong somehow. Soft as silk but cold as ice. Curious, El turned to the gun rested on her forehead and blanched at the sight. Mike knelt in front of her, the light behind him framing his features and giving him the look of an avenging angel. "But no," he continued, his words cutting El to the core, "you choose to be stubborn and let people die. So why should I let you live?"
Every word seemed stuck in El's throat, instead she sobbed and then screeched when she felt the bullet shatter her skull and kill her. The light was the last thing she saw and the words "El!! El!! EL!!!"

El sat bolt upright, Mike by her side and tears running down her face. She threw her arms around him and his slender arms seemed like trees blocking out the rest of the universe. "I thought I lost you. Oh El." Over and over again, the same seven words. Mike stroked her hair and kissed her forehead for what seemed like eternity, waiting until the screams subsided and the waterfall of tears reduced to a single raindrop of the vast pavement of his shoulder.

Mike gently moved them so they both sat on the bed, El in his lap, a tangle of limbs and blankets. Slowly he began to rock her, humming softly and waiting for her to say something.
"You shot me Mike. Right in the head." El felt Mike's arms tighten around her and felt his breath on her skin as he replied. "The day I hurt you, is the day I lose everything I am and everything I love. You are everything I am El, I live for you and I would never hurt you. I've lost you once and I promise never to lose you again. I promise."

The words touched the numbness that had swallowed El and all of a sudden she found herself able to breathe easily. She curled up into Mike so that her head rested in the crook of his neck and the curls brushed her cheek and eyelashes. Slowly she let her hand rest against the pulse in his neck and pulled him down so they lay on the bed with Mike protecting her from the storm and the nightmares.

Looking at his face, she knew he could never hurt her. He protected her. He loved her.
And she loved him.

***