Nyctophilia 🌪 Reddie

xvi

Mike missed his dumbass brother. He hadn't seen or heard from him since the explosions, since the day that changed the world. He had been taken home, the Byers moved back to Hawkins, and they were told to never speak of the Hive or anything they witnessed again.

The others were taken somewhere else. Mike worried for his brother, since he had mentioned moving into a house near them so they could all be in the same town.

It was midday and all of the Hawkins kids were at Mike's house. All of them except El, who was still with the Bowers. At least, they assumed she was. There had been no contact between any of the groups, and it was starting to worry and annoy the Hawkins kids, who felt outside of the loop.

"Can we do something?" Lucas asked as the others all sat and stared at the TV, ignoring him completely.

"What's there to do Lucas?" Mike asked, rolling his eyes and throwing a candy bar wrapper at his friend.

"I don't know! Walk around, Jesus, even playing D&D would be more fun than sitting around!" Lucas called out, sitting next to Max and ignoring Will's glare for Lucas's comment about D&D.

"He is right, Mike. We've only got a week of summer left until we go to college and work," Dustin said.

They had all graduated the previous year, and were waiting until they had to head off to college. They were all staying local so they'd still see each other, but not all of them were going to the same schools so it was a big change.

"What do you guys want to do, then?" Mike asked, rolling off the couch and landing on the ground.

"Let's go on a walk," Will said with a shrug. "Around the tracks and by the lake?"

Everyone agreed since there was nothing else to do and they were all restless from sitting inside all day. Everyone ran upstairs except Max, who was putting on her shoes and ran to the bathroom to braid her hair.

"Ready, Max?" Lucas called down the stairs.

"Almost!" Max called back.

She grabbed her jacket since it was nearing fall and the air was getting cooler. As she was about to run up the stairs, a breaking news report came on the news, catching Max's attention.

"Oh, shit," Max whispered, recognizing the faces on the screen. She yelled up to the boys upstairs, knowing they'd want to see. "Guys, come down here!"

"What? We just got out of the basement! Come on Max!" Mike called, obviously annoyed.

"You guys need to see this! Hurry up!" Max yelled, backing up the news channel so they could see the full thing.

Pounding of feet on stairs echoed through the house as the boys ended up in the basement again, all looking annoyed. That was, until Max glared at them and pointed at the screen.

"What the hell?" Lucas asked as the report played.

"Shit," Mike said, knowing his brother was in deep shit.

"Wait, listen!" Max said, turning up the volume.

"In other news, several other members of the group involved in the attacks escaped a base and are on the run as well."

The voice paused and pictures of the other Hive members showed up on the screen, before speaking about their names and last sightings.

"Why would they run?" Dustin asked. "I thought they were somewhere safe?"

"Mike," Will said, trying to get Mike's attention.

"Maybe something happened. We need to find them," Mike said, grabbing his backpack from the floor and throwing it over his shoulder.

"No offense, Mike, but they grew up in a very different environment than us. Do you remember what happened the last time we got involved with them?" Lucas asked, looking between Mike and the screen.

"Mike," Will said quietly, grabbing his friend's arm, only to be ignored.

"Yeah, we almost died. I know. He's my brother though, Lucas, and they're our friends. We need to help them."

"Mike!" Will snapped loudly, getting everyone's attention.

"What?" Mike asked, staring at his friend intently. He had always been protective over Will, especially since the monster.

"They don't need our help."

"Will-" Mike started, only to be cut off again.

"El needs our help."

"Wait, what?"

Will shook his head and pulled out his backpack, grabbing a piece of paper from inside. There was a drawing of a person inside a cell, grabbing her hair and appearing to be in pain.

"I've had a reoccurring dream, but I don't think it's a dream. El and I are like siblings, and ever since she left I've had dreams about her with the people she went with, until around five days ago. I saw this, so I drew it. I think she's in danger," Will said quickly, pulling his backpack onto his back. "Richie's going to be fine, but El won't be unless we go help her."

"Do you even know where she is?" Max asked, looking extremely concerned for the only other girl in the party.

Will shrugged. "I think so?"

"What do you mean 'you think so'? That's not super helpful," Lucas said with crossed arms.

"In the dreams I hear people yelling in both French and Russian. Maybe they're in France or Russia?"

"Those are two very different places, Will," Mike said.

Will shrugged. "I know, but I think El needs our help. Shouldn't we go?"

"If we're going to take off to some foreign country, we're going to need someone to translate Russian and French for us," Dustin said with a smile.

•••

"So let me get this straight: your brother and his boyfriend and their friends escaped from government custody and you had a weird dream about El being in danger, and now you want us to go to France and Russia to make sure they're all okay?"

Steve Harrington sat next to his closest friend, Robin, and they both stared at the teenagers in disbelief.

"Yes, Steve. We need your help," Dustin said, looking irritated.

"Listen, kid," Robin said, popping her gum in her mouth loudly. "We've dealt with Russians before and I'm really not all for doing it again."

"El's in danger!" Mike exclaimed, slamming his hand into the table. "And my brother could be, too. We need to help them."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't your brother a trained secret agent or something?"

"Yeah, but-"

"So why does he need us?"

"He doesn't know El is in danger, and we helped them last time. We can pay for your ticket and everything!" Mike exclaimed.

Steve looked at Robin, then back to the group. "I'm not taking all of you."

"Fine, just Will and I can go. That way we know immediately if there's anything he sees going on with El, and we know Richie trusts me."

"Mike, that's messed," Lucas said. "Shouldn't we all go?"

"I've only got so much money and Will and I both have passports. You have one too, right Harrington?"

Steve nodded and hopped over the counter. "I'll pick you two up tonight at ten," he said, rolling his eyes. "Just know that I'm only going because I want some Italian gelato."

"We're going to France," Robin deadpanned, smacking Steve in the head.