electric // mike wheeler

FINAL BREATHS

There was a moment where everything was white and everybody's ears were ringing as if there was some loud explosion. Mike could barely see, a certain brightness in the room that was completely overwhelming.

All he could focus on was Tee and how there were flames surrounding parts of the mall. The Mind Flayer was dead in the middle of the room, Billy was taking his final breaths close to where Tee was.

It was when Tee pressed a hand to her chest, coughing erratically, that Mike came to his senses, scrambling to his feet. "Molly, Molly, Molly," he babbled. He was stumbling, tears making it nearly impossible to see correctly.

Tee fell to her knees, clutching at her chest as if she was trying to claw out her heart. Her eyes were clenched shut tightly and she was breathing so heavily that her shoulders were shaking under the force. There was a low groaning noise forcing its way out of Tee's mouth and Mike couldn't fucking get to her fast enough.

"Tee, stay with me," Mike called again, and finally he reached her, kneeling by her side and smoothing her hair out of her face. "I love you, you know that?" Mike asked forcefully through his own sobbing breaths. Tee's face was so pale and she was sweating, her breathing slowing with each inhalation. Mike didn't want to see it, didn't want to think about what that meant. "We are going to get out of here and we are going to live happily ever after. One day, we can get our own house together with flowers and a dog or two and we don't ever have to think about the lab or the upside down ever again because we will be happy with each other. Would you like that? I'd love that more than anything."

He was babbling, he knew that, but he couldn't seem to stop the words from flowing out of his mouth. The commotion had stopped around him, or maybe that's because he could only focus on Tee at the moment, but nothing else really mattered.

Tee smiled softly. Her eyes were still closed and she wasn't breathing as hard anymore, the shaking of her shoulders having ceased almost completely. She was deathly pale and there was still sweat pooling on her forehead, but she reached out and grabbed onto where Mike was brushing his hands through her curly brown hair. "I love you so much," Tee whispered, and she was so quiet that Mike was sure he may have not even heard her at all.

"Please stay awake, you're gonna be okay, I promise, just keep talking to me," he says to her quickly as El sat next to him, unable to speak from shock. Tee didn't want to think about it, but she'd expected this since the house where she met Alexei for the first time. She'd become so weak after using her powers, just like she was now. It was all catching up to her too quickly, her power getting the better of her.

"Don't... Don't make p-promises we both know you can't keep," Tee whispered to him as she stared at him with a sad smile, being cradled in his arms. It was like a repeat of 1983, just this time she knew... she knew she wasn't gonna he coming back.

"No..." Mike cried to her. The group were close by, allowing Mike to have his moment with her, both of them needing it, apart from El who sat next to Mike, wanting to be close to her sister

Tee looked from Mike, to El, the girl clearly in tears over her sister. It almost hurt more than the pain in her chest to see her sister so sad. She didn't want El to see her like this, she didn't want it to be the girls last memory of her sister. El looked so destroyed, not knowing what to do to help.

"Ellie belly," Tee mumbled, as she looked into the girls eyes, "I love you."

"I love you more," El whispered, moving her hand to play with Tee's hair softly, she just wanted her sister to be okay.

"Impossible," Tee whispered back, "go to Max... she needs you."

"I can't leave you-" El began, but Tee shook her head softly. She knew El wouldn't be able to handle seeing her sister take her last breath, she couldn't do that to her, so she insisted.

"For me. Go to Max," tee said softly, and El hesitated before nodding and getting up, moving to the crying girl across the mall.

"You... you have to look after her," Tee said to Mike and Nancy, who had moved behind her brother, breathing becoming slower and slower, "and Hopper. He's... he's a man baby."

She chuckles at her words before coughing, her power completely drained, her body giving up, "promise me." She says to Mike.

"I promise, Molly." he says to her, cupping her cheek.

Tee stares at him for a moment, tears in her own eyes. She'd saved them all, everyone she could have. Is this how Alexei felt? She was scared to die, but relieved she'd saved the ones she'd loved.

"What are you thinking about, angel?" Mike asks her softly, watching her stare into his eyes. He could see the light dimming in them slowly, the thought of this being the last time he could hold her hitting him like a ton of bricks, but he tried to hide it for her.

"You," she smiled at him softly, "I love you."

"I love you," he whispered, leaning forward and putting their foreheads together. Tee breathed out softly, the act becoming painful as she nudged her nose against his.

She kissed his lips softly, a goodbye, it was salty from tears and slightly metallic from blood, but Mike couldn't care less. He just wanted to kiss her one last time. It was short and weak, but it was the best he could get. His eyes opened, while hers remained closed. He stared at her for a second, tears falling from his eyes as Tee leaned back in his arms, looking up at the sky although her eyes were still closed. She took Mike's hand in her own.

Mike squeezed it, knowing this was the end, and watched as Tee went still. Her breathing ceasing and her hand dropping to the floor. Mike started to shake.

"Tee?" He whimpered, grabbing onto where Tee's hand dropped. It was like all of her normal body heat was sucked away, dispersing into the floor beneath them. "Tee, please."

There were hands on his shoulders, Nancy's, grabbing him, trying to pull him away, but he tore himself from them, clinging onto Tee like she was his reason to live. "You can't leave me," Mike cried. He buried his nose into Tee's neck, feeling the hairs tickling his nostrils when he breathed in. He inhaled. Exhaled. Inhaled once more.

Then he let out the most bloodcurdling scream that he could possibly muster. His chest felt like it was on fire and he could barely breathe anymore, tears running down his face and dripping onto Tee's cool skin. He kept screaming, sobbing, until his throat was raw and he couldn't make anymore noises.

El, from where she sat with a crying max, began to cry into her best friends shoulder, her sister gone. She didn't know what to do, how what to think. She was numbed with sorrow and pain.

Tee Hopper was gone, and this time it was for good