Rewritten - an alternate ending

Part 9 - No more secrets

"Hey... Mike. Look, I know we don't always get on and we don't spend a lot of time together but... you know that you can always talk to me right?" Mike looked up at her, surprised that she was being nice to him for once "I am your sister, as unfortunate as that is, and I'm here for you. We agreed that we'd tell eachother everything, remember?" Mike nodded 'Yeah... I know... two years ago, when Will was missing...' "exactly.. and what happened to that? We haven't talked in a long time, Mike" 'now isn't a good time to interrogate me Nancy' He looked away, pushing her hand off. "I know, I know. I was just saying. If you ever wanna talk... I'm here" Mike nodded and kept walking with his head down. Max turned to Lucas 'Do you think she's gonna be ok?' "I hope so.." they looked at eachother concerned. El stood face to face with the mind flayer, not scared anymore. She ignored her leg, it was the least of her worries now. "Why are you doing this?" She didn't expect am answer, but she knew the creature could understand her "please, leave this place alone. Leave my friends alone. And Billy, too" the mind flayer stepped back and she followed it out of Scoops Ahoy. The beast towered over her like a skyscraper, dominating the mall. Despite the mind flayer's size, they stood as equals. El tried to reach a conclusion. A compromise. Half-way happy.

The others got out of the mall, not knowing what to do. Max sat on a bench 'Does your leg still hurt?' Lucas sat next to her "not really" Will walked over to Nancy and Jonathan 'So what are we going to do now?' "I guess we go to Murray's?" Jonathan suggested. Nancy looked at him disgusted 'No. We're not leaving El here.' "Come on Nancy, she'll be fine" 'Are you kidding me? That thing nearly killed her! There's no way I'm leaving this place, not whilst El is in there.' Mike smiled at her, glad that Nancy cared about El. "So we're just gonna sit here and wait?" Steve walked over to them 'Of course we are. If you wanna leave, go ahead. But I'm staying' He stood beside Nancy and Mike. Robin stood with them "I don't even know her, but I know she needs our support. Even if we're not right next to her, the least we can do is stay out here" the walkie started crackling again 'Dustybun, do you copy?' "I copy Suziepoo, sounds much better now, thanks" Everyone stared at the walkie "Ok, so, listen. Do you know Plank's constant?" (Dustin and Suzie talk) They look confused as Dustin and Suzie sing the Never Ending Story theme tune. 'Plank's constant is 6.62607004'

Suddenly the doors at the entrance of the mall burst open. Mike turned around quickly 'El?' Billy stumbled out of the mall, head down and eyes squinting as if there was a blinding light being shone in his face. "Billy!" Max ran to him, noticing that the dark lined on his body were gone. 'Max' He was crushed by a hug. Billy looked down at his sister and hugged her back 'I'm sorry Max.. for what I said.. and for what I did. I'm sorry I've been an Asshole to you. I'm supposed to be there for you... you are my sister after all' Max smiled "I'm glad you're back" Mike looked down, disappointed 'She-She's still in there, isn't she?' Billy walked over to Mike 'The girl? Yeah. She... helped me..' Mike looked up at Billy with wide, innocent eyes 'Helped.. you?' 'Yeah. She.. told him to let me go' 'And the thing listened to her?' Billy nodded and sat down 'She's a- a good kid, that girl. What did she say her name was? El? Yeah, El. So... what's the deal with her? She's got powers.. how?' "Now's not a good ti-" Mike interrupted Max 'She's from the- the Hawkins lab' 'How did you guys meet her?' 'A couple years ago, she ran away... and we found her in the woods' 'I see... so what's your plan now?' "Well, we're gonna wait here until she gets out" Steve said. 'Harrington' Billy nodded in respect 'Liking the outfit captain' He chuckled 'So what happened to you? Got your ass beat again?' "Russians." 'Of course'

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I swear the parts are getting longer and longer 😅 It's not intentional. Anyways, I just wanted to thank you all so so so much for reading this story! Getting over 80 reads within the first week was something i never imagined happening. Especially not with my first story so thank you so much to anyone and everyone reading this!
-Your ecstatic writer
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