What's Left of Us

The Dream

Eleven

El awoke with no one next to her. She began frantically looking for everyone, sitting up with a jolt, "Mike?" she called out, "Mike?" a second time, no answer. Suddenly the room got very cold, and a familiar face stood in front of her.

Brenner. She was no longer in Mike's basement, but she was in a lab, not too unlike the one she had been raised in. In front of her was a face she knew all too well, Papa. She didn't know why, but this didn't feel like an ordinary dream.

"You think it would be this easy? To kill me?" he spoke coldly, his callous tone echoing in her mind. She couldn't tell who he was speaking to, until he stepped out of the way and saw her. Kali, being restrained against a lab table. El watched as she spit in his face.

"You worthless inbred" he spat. He backed away and walked towards some papers, basically walking through El's body as she sat quietly and watched in horror. "You, along with 007 and 001 will be keeping each other company. It's time I got my experiments back, the ones that are still alive at least" he continued, "I know you've been in contact with 011, so you can either tell me where she is or my friends will". At that moment, two armed guards walked in with large metal poles that were generating electricity on the end.

"Go to hell" Kali shot back at them, and for a second El noticed her nose begin to bleed, however nothing happened.

"Good try" Brenner smirked, "you think I would just let you all run amok with your powers? You've escaped once, and I don't intend on letting it happen again" he added. It was at that time that the device around her arm gave her a slight shock and sapped her. "Any time you try and use your powers, the bracelet will make sure to give you a shock, and the more times you resist the more amps go into the shock" Brenner said.

El felt a sense of horror and dread. She had been previously standing in the corner watching all this unfold. The sight of Brenner already giving her panic, she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up as he turned around and looked at the corner she was in.

"It would seem we have a visitor" Brenner chuckled, "guards, get an energy reading of the room!" he shouted.

El froze in horror, she started breaking down and crying, trying to be strong and use her powers but she still hadn't been able to feel them since the battle at Star Court. Right as the guards pulled out a device that appeared to be starting to scan the room, she felt her head rush and came too, gasping for air.

As the slow crackle of the TV's static drummed in the background, she could feel a small stream of blood drip down from her nose and she began panicking uncontrollably. Right at that moment, Mike came out of his sleep and shot his head up.

"El- what time is it? Are you ok-" he stopped. Realizing that she had started crying he pulled her into him.

She didn't know what to say, she hadn't felt an array of emotions like this before in such a short span of time. She felt useless without her powers, and her insecurities were seeping out. She felt like a lost puppy with no direction, no one to protect, and no town to save. Being forced to face the reality that she was just a normal person without her powers that was far behind her peers academically had crossed her mind only since the battle, and this dream, which she realized was no dream, was the first hint that some of her powers still existed.

By that time, the rest of the group had somewhat woken up due to the commotion, and everyone looked concerned. She kept her face pushed up against Mike's chest for a moment, and then pulled back.

"Papa is looking for me" she stammered, "well..he's looking for all of us, but he knew I was there. In his lab, in my dream"

The room grew quiet, nobody more concerned than Mike who was staring in disbelief. "Wait so your powers are back? and you saw Brenner?" he asked with obvious concern on his face.

"I don't know" El said. "I only saw him with Kali, my sister who I haven't told you all about". Realizing all the explaining she would have to do made her feel weary. "Just listen to me guys, we need to go save my sister. She can't just stay locked in that lab."

"But we don't even know where they are El, and no offense but after what we just went through don't we deserve to relax for awhile?" Lucas chimed in, immediately wondering if that was the right thing to say. Although no one wanted to pile on El, he had a point. This wasn't their battle to fight, and they had just suffered real loss with Hopper, and with Billy. Most of the group was tired of constantly being in danger, they wanted to enjoy their lives with peace for now. Will, Max, and Dustin all sat there not speaking and definitely not making eye contact with El.

Mike was the first one to speak up after Lucas, "El, I love you but Lucas has a point. If Brenner were in Hawkins that would be one thing, but..he's not...and, I just..I- don't know if we should put ourselves in danger like that". He felt bad but part of him was selfishly thinking about El putting herself in danger, and the thought of losing her again. He would make sure that didn't happen at all costs, but he knew that she wouldn't be happy about everyone siding against her.

At that time, the least likely person to be against El spoke up, even more so than Mike. "El, do we really need to risk our party again? I mean..what would Hopper say? I lost Billy already, I don't want to lose anyone else" Max said through slight tears.

Mike looked back at El, who seemed to be processing everything and hopefully understanding the party having no appetite for another long fight right now. "Let's just get some rest and try and go back to sleep" he chimed in, hoping that he could just soothe El for the night.

But El knew that she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. There was too much fear of having another visit to wherever that lab was. "I guess" she nodded in agreement, not feeling like putting up a fight so that everyone could go back to sleep. As Mike got up to turn the light off, she turned over facing away from where he would be laying.

Why didn't he side with her? Was she wrong to want to save her sister? Would she be brave enough to go alone?

Mike walked back to the bed and laid beside her. "El, I'm here for you, we can talk about it more in the morning okay? I just don't think we should do anything rash tonight" he whispered. She understood where he was coming from, but would've appreciated some support when she brought it up. It wasn't so much saving Kali as it was confronting him.

Papa. The man who had controlled her life, psychologically ruined her, and had punished her so many times in such cruel ways. She wanted revenge on him, and while she loved her friends if she had a chance to meet others like her and kill Papa...well she couldn't pass that up.

As Mike laid next to her he tried to pull her into him again, but she wasn't in the mood. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep, and she didn't want to pretend that she was fine with the conversation that had just gone down. "El, c'mon, its our first night together, let's just figure it out in the morning."

"Okay." she said, and she begrudgingly scooted into Mike's embrace, not wanting to start a fight. While Mike rested his arms around her, she thought of only the cold air in the Lab, and the look of fear on Kali's face. There was no way she would sleep tonight, and she knew it.