operation mirkwood

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

Alina, Dustin, Lucas and Mike were a couple of minutes late when they arrived on their bikes at the power lines after school. Eleven was already waiting for them, standing by the fence, her eyes screwed shut. She seemed on the verge of a nervous breakdown being there alone, and Alina felt bad for making the girl wait, even if it was only a couple of minutes. Eleven looked so small, standing there, heavy breaths wracking her body, only breathing well again when Mike called her name.

"You okay?" he asked her when she whirled around, instantly calming when she saw who it was, a soft grin coming to her face. Alina couldn't suppress a smile at seeing her friend, the friend she was somehow connected to, and also by Mike's devotion to her. Lucas had, in a way, been correct when he'd teased Mike today at recess, and by the way Lucas and Dustin were smirking, she thought that they were thinking the same thing.

She glanced at Lucas again. He was staring at Eleven, obviously a little frustrated they had to bring her for Operation Mirkwood. Had Mike been right, too? On what he said about him somehow liking her? Or was it just in retaliation, and Lucas didn't hold any feelings for Alina at all? They'd only really been talking for a day, and even though they'd known each other practically their entire lives, a day wasn't long enough to form feelings like that. Or was it?

She didn't know which option was worse; the one where Lucas had a crush on her, or the one where he didn't.

Mike patted the back of his bike. "Hop on," he instructed Eleven. "We only have a few hours."

Alina watched as Eleven clumsily got onto the back of Mike's back, holding onto his shoulders tightly as he began to pedal. Was that what a crush was like? Holding on tight, without letting go?

It didn't matter. Operation Mirkwood was way more important that her non-existent love life. Will was still missing—hiding, Eleven said, although none of them knew what from. He could be dead, and Troy and James had been laughing about it. But Eleven had claimed she knew where he was, that she could help them find him. And somehow, Alina had been brought along for the ride.

She realized that if she hadn't found Eleven in the lab a month ago, none of this would've ever happened. It was a peculiar thing to thin.

Soon enough, Alina lost herself in the steady rhythm of pedaling, the wind flowing through her hair. Her binoculars swung from where they were fastened around her neck, occasionally bouncing off her chest, and she'd roped the switchblade to one of her belt loops with a rubber band. It was closed, so it wouldn't hurt anybody, but she still felt the rush of power by having it so close to her.

Will, she thought to herself. This is for Will.

It wasn't for the bargain anymore. Eleven was here, bouncing on the back of Mike's bike. Alina had found out her secrets—almost all of them. The mystery would completely solved when she got her hand on the file. There was every reason for Alina to drop out now, like Mike kept urging her to, but she wasn't going to listen to him. Eleven wanted her to stay. Even Dustin and Lucas seemed reluctant to let her go. So she didn't. She wouldn't.

Instinctively, she glanced at Lucas again. They were biking side-by-side, Lucas's face distant with worry about his missing friend and what they would find during this operation.

"Hey." Alina hadn't even realized she'd spoken until Lucas had turned to her. "Will's... he's tough. You guys said he was good at hiding. If what El says is right, then he's alright. We'll find him soon, and things will go back to normal. Don't worry."

Lucas licked his lips. "It's... I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate this. What you're doing, how you're helping us find Will. I know we made an agreement, but I honestly didn't think you'd actually stick with it. And you weren't really his friend, either, and you're going out of your way to help. It's just..." he paused for a second, trying to find the right words. "It's just nice of you."

"El's doing the same thing," said Alina matter-of-factly. "And I distinctively remember you not wanting her to come along. But," she added, for Lucas was looking inclined to argue with her, "even if I hadn't met El, or made our agreement, I'd still want to help. Will's a nice kid. He was about one of the only kids at our school that acknowledged my existence and didn't laugh at me for it. Besides you, I guess."

"I'm sorry," said Lucas suddenly. "For not having your back. For all of those times we saw Troy and James picking on you and we did nothing."

"I did the same thing." Alina was ashamed now of all the times she hadn't said a word. "I should've been better. Even when we weren't friends."

Lucas gave her a smile, and it lit her up like a match. "We both should've done better," he said. "But I think saving your life has given me at least one point in your books."

Alina laughed. "Yes, it has. I just—" her smile dissolved back into a frown. "Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do people like Troy and James get to get away with what they've done? Or people like my mom or my dad? It's just... it's so unfair."

"My dad always says that life favours the unfortunate," said Lucas. "We just need to wait and give it a chance."

"I'll try." Alina's bike hit a rock, jumping a little before landing smoothly on the road again. "You know, before we really, you know... started talking, I thought you and Mike and Dustin were kind of annoying, but now I know that you're not half-bad."

"I'm not half-bad," Lucas repeated faintly, a little downcast and Alina nudged him.

"I'm teasing. You're pretty cool, Lucas Sinclair."

"You're cool too," said Lucas. He chuckled. "You're pretty cool, Alina Fairgrieves."

And so it was that with a considerably higher amount of optimism that she had before, Alina followed Dustin, Lucas, Mike and Eleven into the woods, looking to find a missing boy. They dismounted their bikes and walked them along the leaves, crunching them underneath their tires.

Being back in the woods made Alina marvel at how little time had passed since she fell out of the tree. So much had happened in the last two days that her tumble felt like years ago, a time when she had nobody to talk to and did everything by herself. Now, she was with four others, not best friends, exactly, but not strangers, either.

Eleven and Mike were talking softly to each other in front of them, and soon, Dustin and Lucas struck up a conversation about comics, one Alina was, of course, happy to join.

"Storm is definitely the best character in X-Men. It's no contest."

"I appreciate your opinion, Lucas, although it is wholeheartedly wrong—"

"Hey." Alina interrupted Dustin's passionate disagreement. "Do you guys..." the words seemed stuck in her throat, like she had to cough to get them out, but she forced them anyway. "Do I count as your friends now? I mean, obviously I have some work to do with him—" she jerked her chin at Mike, who was smiling at something Eleven said, "and I still don't know about El, but what about you guys? You're both really cool, and... I don't know, I guess it'd be nice to have some friends that aren't my cat."

Dustin glanced at Lucas, who nodded, and turned back to Alina. "Yeah!" Dustin said, nodding so vigorously his hat popped off, plopping onto the leafy ground. He picked it up, jamming it back on his curly hair before continuing. "You're the coolest girl we've ever met, and we know a girl who moves stuff with her mind! You like all the same things we like, like Dungeons and Dragons, and the X-Men, and—"

"I think she gets it, Dustin," said Lucas with a laugh. "But yeah, Dustin and I both consider you to be our friends. And Mike can't keep you out of the party forever. It's a democracy, not a dictatorship, which means that we all have a say. It also means that he also can't let the weirdo in without a majority vote."

Alina looked at Eleven, who had a soft smile on her face. "Do you think he likes her?" she asked. "El, I mean."

Dustin chuckled. "Of course he does. Do you see those puppy-dog eyes he's always doing whenever he looks at her?"

Dustin made his eyes bug out, adopting an expression of loving devotion. "Like this, see?" he demonstrated again, until both Alina and Lucas were laughing. Mike, who apparently had super hearing, whipped around at the sound, but by then Dustin had made his face return to normal.

Still laughing, Alina leaned in, speaking softer so Mike couldn't hear her. "El's cool and all, but anytime anyone even thinks of saying anything even remotely bad about her, Mike's all like 'what did you just say? Oh, El, don't listen to them! I think you're great! You're not a weirdo, El, don't listen to Lucas!"

That set off both Lucas and Dustin again, and the trio continued to imitate Mike's voice quietly, so the one they were making fun of didn't hear them. Alina was laughing harder than she had in a while, gazing at the two boys beside her, the first ones she could ever call friends. She'd have to work on Mike and perhaps Eleven, but before then... this was a huge accomplishment for her.

In the middle of doing yet another impression, this one of Troy and James, Lucas imitating Troy's orc-like swagger, Dustin's eyes widened. "Hey, Alina!" he exclaimed. "You know how we have a nickname for Eleven? Well, since she's El, we should call you Al! Then we can have an El and an Al in the group. Wouldn't that be cool?"

"Al." Alina tested the name. It was short, but it somehow suited her. "I like it," she said. "At least you didn't say Ally. My dad calls me that all the time, and, you know, that's something I don't want to be associated with right now."

"Al's cool," said Lucas. "Nice going, Dustin."

Dustin was looking quietly pleased with himself. "I'm glad you like it."

"Of course I do," said Alina. "Nobody's ever given me a nickname before."

She didn't mention her dad again.

They walked for hours, the sun slowly making its descent, turning the sky from pink lemonade to indigo, stars dotting it like spilled salt on a tablecloth. They flipped on the lights on their bikes, talked quietly about school. To Alina, everything seemed more real in the darkness, with the crickets chirping and the occasional hooting of an owl. Her hands kept tracing over the knife at her belt, reminding herself that it was still there, that she still had a way to defend herself. She had power she'd never had before.

Eleven was leading them more confidently now, weaving through Hawkins' streets as if she'd lived there her entire life. Alina's legs ached, but she kept following her, confident that the girl was going to lead them to where they needed to be.

They stopped at a squat, white house. Laundry waved from a clothesline, and the walls had flecks of chipped paint peeling off of them. As Alina followed Eleven, weeds brushed against her shins, her bike rustling as it forced itself through the tall grass.

Eleven finally stopped. "Here," she said confidently. Alina was a little confused. Was Will in this house?

"Yeah, this is where Will lives," said Mike, confused, and Alina eyed the house with newfound knowledge.

Eleven's eyes widened. "Hiding."

"No, no, this is where he lives," said Mike. "He's missing from here. Understand?"

Alina let her bike fall to the ground, panting from overexerting herself. Lucas and Dustin, who had strayed a little behind, did the same, the former sighing in exasperation at the sight of the house—Will's house. "What are we doing here?"

Mike shrugged. "She said he's hiding here."

"If he was hiding here, I think the police would've found him by now," muttered Alina.

Lucas, who hadn't heard her comment, simply looked incredulous, eyes bulging. "Um... no!"

Dustin just looked exhausted, clutching at a stitch in his side and panting. "I swear, if we walked all the way out here for nothing—"

"That's exactly what we did!" Lucas snapped. "I told you she didn't know what the hell she was talking about!"

"Maybe she was just confused," suggested Alina. "Whatever she was using to track Will must've just led her to his house, because he lives here, right? Maybe it can't track where he is now."

Mike just exhaled, turning to Eleven, who was looking afraid, shrinking back on herself as if she could inch away from the group. "Why did you bring us here?"

"I—"

"Mike," growled Lucas. "Don't waste your time with her."

"What do you want to do then?"

"Call the cops like we should have done yesterday!"

"Guys!" Alina raised her voice, but Lucas and Mike didn't seem to hear her. "Guys, chill! We'll find a solution!"

Mike just snarled at Lucas. "We are not calling the cops!"

"Hey, guys?"

Dustin, like Alina, tried to be heard, but he might as well not have said anything for all the attention Lucas and Mike were paying to it. The two boys began to argue, before Dustin finally yelled "GUYS!"

Lucas and Mike went quiet, and slowly, the sound of wailing sirens became clearer and clearer. Alina noticed two police cars whiz by them on the street, as well as an ambulance. And considering the fact that Hawkins was a boring town, ambulances rarely called, much less accompanied by two police cars, the slow, terrible realization hit all of them at once.

"Will."

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: things are getting more intense! honestly alina and lucas make me so soft i love their relationship so much omg

i hope you enjoyed this chapter! the support on this story has been amazing, i honestly really appreciate each and every comment i get, they really mean the world to me. thank you all for reading :)

'till next time!