Mike had learned.
He understood when Elle left Hawkins for Chicago, that was where she was happiest. With Kali, not him, or Hopper or the party. As much as it had killed him, he knew better than to pull her back.
That was until he was taken.
The lab refused to lose their favourite lab rat and somehow thought the party could've been used for bait. Kidnapped from the outside of school, millions of identical white vans swarming the group of teenagers. Dustin, Will, Lucas, and Max were all being held in a cell together. Dustin held onto his best friend, in hysterics because 'this couldn't be happening again, don't take me back there, please'. Max held onto her boyfriend as she refused to let her tears spill, remembering the demons they had faced in that place back in 84'.
Mike, on the other hand, was locked in a chair, his entire body restrained. The quietness was deafening. He locked his eyes on the white ceiling while his brain swam.
What now?
What has happened this time?
Or, maybe, it was time to lose this waging battle from when he was thirteen to now, at eighteen.
Then that silence was broken, like a stone shot through water, or a bullet through a skull.
"Get off me!"
That voice he could've recognized anywhere. It had been a year, but she still sounded the same, minus her voice sounding hoarse from the screaming. He knew he couldn't escape the bonds that were rubbing his wrists raw, but he needed her.
he needed to be near her.
he wanted to save her.
BANG.
His eyes widened, heart pounding wildly.
No screams.
No nothing.
Silence.
Mike yelped in pain, searing through his lungs. His love had died, no more than twenty feet away from him as he did absolutely nothing.
His eyes shut, tears falling down his freckled cheeks. As they snapped open, he felt something changing. His blood surged like acid in his veins, icy cold and making the hair on his arms stand up on end.
Red.
Like her blood, painting the walls of her prison.
Red like the blood he will spill.
"God save me." He whispered, eyes turning that same ruby color before the metal bonds snapped like a twig and released him.
He stormed the room, before finding her in the hall.
Gun in hand.
Standing over her captor.
He couldn't help but choke out a sob, hands running through his curls.
Elle turned to face him, eyes widening. The gun fell from her shaking hands onto the floor with a clatter, before she ran to him. Arms surrounded him, holding him as he sobbed tears of joy into her shoulder.
She was okay.
They were okay.
She promised.
