chapter eighteen
the power of friendship

        Alex, Dustin, and Mike return home that night alone.  El does not stand close to Mike.  Lucas does not walk in the space between Alex and Dustin.  Alex wakes up alone, too.  Steve and her parents are downstairs, she sneaks out through the back window because she does not have the strength to face her family today.  The bike ride to Mike's house is silent, and Alex wishes that she has Dustin by her side.  He always seems to know how to make things better.  But Dustin's already in the Wheeler's basement when she steps in through the back door. 

She's splayed out across the surface of the coffee table while Mike paces the length of the room and Dustin perches on the stairs, as per usual.  Alex stares dejectedly at the desk under which El had once resided.  There was a small, fickle hope that when Alex entered the basement, El would be sitting there under the blankets in the fort perhaps playing with the frequency of Mike's Supercomm once more.  But that hope was snuffed out when she was greeted by silence when she opens the door.   All that's left is the ghost of where El once sat criss-cross and the remnants of the destroyed fort. 

The basement feels empty now that they're missing two members of their group.  The absence of Lucas and El are only reminders of yesterday; the blood-curdling, almost inhuman scream, the knife of betrayal cutting straight across their jugular, Lucas's body hitting the ground with a thud, the hand around her heart that squeezed until she felt that she couldn't breathe, the though that El had killed Lucas.  She wishes she could block it all out.

They need Lucas. They can't do this without him. 

Mike lets out a sigh.  "I just...I can't believe she didn't come back."

"You did kind of flip out on her," Alex pipes up.  "She's probably too scared."

She's scared for El, too.  There are millions of things that can go wrong with El's disappearance.  A civilian reports her.  The bad men could have caught up to her.  Maybe she's already being dragged away back to wherever she had come from, fighting tooth and nail.  But they wouldn't know.  And what if her discovery leads the bad men straight to them.  What if they're next? 

But she's also scared of El.  Four days ago, she was nothing but a timid girl who was afraid of thunder.  Now...Alex isn't quite sure what she is.  She remembers the blood smeared on her face mixed with tears.  She remembers the fresh blood that stains the sleeve of her jacket.  The blood that ultimately betrays not just them, but her as well.  She sees Lucas's body flying through the air every time she closes her eyes.  The girl seems more like a nightmare now than a comfort. 

"She's gotta be close," Dustin assures Mike.

"She said it wasn't safe,"  Mike reasons, talking more to himself than his companions as if trying to mend his shattered heart.  "She just messed up the compasses because she wanted to protect us.  She didn't betray us."

"Mike, calm down."

"I shouldn't have yelled at her," Mike continues.  "I never should've done that."

"Mike, this isn't your fault."

"Yeah, it's Lucas's."

"It wasn't his fault either."

"Dustin's right," Alex voices.

Mike pauses in his pacing to stare at Alex and Dustin.  "It wasn't his fault?"

"No!" Dustin exclaims.

"So you're saying he wasn't way out of line?" Mike questions.

"He was just being realistic," Alex defends, still splayed out across the coffee table.  She pushes herself up into a seated position, leaning back on the palms of her hands to stare Mike right in the eyes.  "He had every right to be upset.  El said she would help us find Will, instead, she mislead us.  She fucked with our compasses and she lied.  He just wants to find his friend and you seem to care more about this random girl that we found in the woods than Will.  Yes, he could have taken his anger out differently, but the bottom line is, all three of you were out of line yesterday."

"Oh, give me a break!" Mike snaps, rolling his eyes.

"No, Mike, you give us a break!" Dustin retorts, standing up and stepping toward Mike.  "All three of you were being a bunch of little assholes!  Me and Alex were the only reasonable ones.  But the bottom line is...you pushed first.  And you know the rule.  You draw first blood—"

Mike shakes his head, stepping away from Dustin, crossing his arms tightly across his chest.  "No!  No way!  I'm not shaking his hand."

"You're shaking his hand!" Dustin tells him, patronizingly.

"No, I'm not."

"Stop acting like a toddler, Michael," Alex reprimands.  "We need Lucas just as much as we needed El.  Don't pretend you know that."

"This isn't a discussion," Dustin tells him, "this is the rule of law.  Obey, or be banished from the Party.  Do you wanna be banished?"

Mike relents and shakes his head.  "No."

"Good," Dustin says with a sigh of relief.  He swives on his heel and grabs his jacket from where it hangs over the back of the chair that Lucas would have occupied had he been in their company.  He shrugs it onto his shoulders before tossing Alex's jacket to her, hitting her square in the face before she has time to react.  On any other day, she would have laughed.  Today is not one of those days.

Alex thinks that they would be in shambles if it weren't for Dustin.  He seems to be the glue that holds the party together on most days.  He's the voice of reason and the negotiator.  He knows his friends like the back of his hands.  He knows what makes them tick and he knows how to keep them grounded.  The world would be a better place if there were more people like Dustin.

"Where are we going?" Mike calls as Alex stands up and pulls her jacket around her.

"Where do you think?" Dustin replies, picking up their backpacks and striding across the room to meet Mike.  "We're going to get Lucas.  And then we're gonna find Eleven."

And with that, he tosses Mike his backpack.

. . .

Alex bounces on the soles of her feet in anticipation as the doorbell rings through the Sinclair house.  They stand in silence for a few moments, and Alex half-expects the door to remain shut, sealing them away from Lucas.  The door does open, though, and Lucas stands in the doorway.  Her heart sinks at the state that he seems to be in.  He looks drained, physically and mentally.  No doubt the fight yesterday took a tedious toll on him.  He remains expressionless as he stares at Alex and Dustin who only stare back silently.  Then his eyes land on Mike and his face contorts into something that resembles annoyance and anger.

"What do you want?" He asks bluntly.

The silence returns and Alex finds herself staring at Mike, waiting for him to speak up.  Dustin, who stands between her and Mike rolls his eyes and hits him in the chest with the back of his hand.  Mike looks up from the ground and lets out a sigh, grumbling, "I drew first blood, so..."

He offers his hand to Lucas who stares down at it, contemplating.  There are wheels churning in his head, and instead of grasping Mike's hand, he only pulls the door open wider.  Silently, he leads them into his living room.  The rest of his house seems to be empty.  No parents or siblings in sight.  Alex watches with crossed arms as Lucas paces the length of the room, it's clear that he doesn't want to see them, and Alex thinks that he's justified.  He's still angry.  The wounds of yesterday are still fresh.  Seeing them right now can only be a pinch of salt in the wound that El's betrayal left.

Finally, he stops pacing and nods.  "Okay, I'll shake."

Mike lets out a sigh of relief and offers his hand once more.  But Lucas isn't done.

"On one condition," Lucas continues with his arms crossed over his chest. "We forget the weirdo and go straight to the gate."

"Then the deal's off," Mike spits.

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"No, no, not fine!  Guys, seriously?" Dustin exclaims.  He grabs Mike by the shoulder and turns the boy to face him.  "Do you even remember what happened on the Bloodstone Pass?" Mike looks to Lucas, who wears a blank expression on his face.  Mike only shrugs and Alex shakes her head.  Quite frankly, she has no idea what he's talking about.  This is a memory from before she had entered their lives.  Dustin lets out an exasperated sigh.  "We couldn't agree on what path to take, so we split up the party and those trolls took us out one by one.  And it all went to shit.  And we were all disabled!" He glares at Mike and Lucas as he adds, his voice rising with each word,  "So we stick together, no matter what!"

Alex nods.  "He's right.  We can't do this without you, Lucas."

"Yeah, I agree," Lucas says, leaning against the back of the chair in front of him before he points around at the three gathered in front of him.  "But this is the party, right here in this room.  Including Al."

"Fine," Mike relents.  "But El is one of us now, too."

"Um, no, she's not," Lucas argues.  "Not even close!  Never will be.  She's a liar, a traitor—"

"She was just trying to keep us safe!" Mike exclaims.  "She didn't mean to hurt you.  It was an accident!"

Lucas leans forward with a look of disbelief written across his face.  "An accident?"

"All right, accident or not..." Dustin says with wide eyes and a toothless grin, "admit it, it was a little awesome."

Alex kicks Dustin in the shin.  "Not the time."

"Awesome?" Lucas repeats, on the verge of hysterics.

"Yeah, she threw you in the air with her mind!" Dustin exclaims.

"I could have been killed!" Lucas shouts.

"Which is exactly why we need her," Mike reasons, "she's a weapon!  Do you seriously wanna fight the Demogorgon with your wrist rocket?  That's like R2-D2 going to fight Darth Vader.  We're no use to Will if we're dead."

Lucas is not swayed.  "Look, if you guys wanna waste your time looking for a traitor, go ahead, 'cause I'm not spending my time on her anymore.  No way!"  He takes a breath, calming himself.  His fists unclench as he declares.  "I'm going to the gate.  I'm gonna find Will."

He stares at them for a few moments as if hoping that one of them will step forward to join him.  But they each stubbornly remain on opposite sides of the room.  Opposite sides of the rift that has formed between them.  It's them versus him, but that's not the way that things have to be.  Nobody is the bad guy in this situation.  There is no perpetrator and there is no victim.  He lets out a scoff and strides forward and pushes past Mike and Dustin, planting his palms on his chest and pushing them apart.  They each step back with a stumble.  The three turn around and watch as Lucas disappears down a hallway. 

It's clear that he does not want them there anymore.

They accept defeat and bite the bullet, filing out through the door in a single-file line.  Alex lingers on the threshold for a few moments, contemplating whether or not she should join Lucas.  But she knows that as much as they need him with them, they are out of their depths without Eleven.  She knows more about the Upside Down than the rest of them.  With Eleven, they stand a chance against the Demogorgon.

"This is weird without Lucas," Dustin comments as the three glide through the streets of Hawkins.

"He should've shaken my hand," Mike says bitterly, clenching his jaw.

"He's just jealous," Dustin replies.

Mike furrows his brows.  "What are you talking about?"

Dustin looks back at him with an expression of disbelief.  He lets out a sigh and rolls his eyes.  "Sometimes, your total obliviousness just blows my mind."  He glances over at Mike again, who still wears a blank expression.  Dustin lets out another heavy sigh and continues, "He's your best friend, right?"

"Yeah..." Mike answers, "I mean, I don't know."

"It's fine," Dustin assures him, "I get it.  I didn't get here until the fourth grade.  He had the advantage of living next door.  But none of that matters.  What matters is that he is your best friend.  And then this girl shows up and starts living in your basement, and all you ever want to do is pay attention to her." 

"That's not true."

This time it's Alex's turn to speak up.  "Don't lie to yourself, Wheeler.  It's true and you know it."

"Lucas knows it too," Dustin agrees.  "But no one ever says anything until you both start punching and yelling at each other like goblins with intelligence scores of zero.  Now everything's weird."

"He's not my best friend," Mike says after a moment.

Dustin lets out a chuckle.  "Yeah, right."

Mike lets out a sigh, but there's a smile on his face.  "I mean, he is, but so are you.  And so is Will."

"Can't have more than one best friend."

"Says who?"

"Says logic."

"Well, I call bull on your logic, because you're my best friend, too."

"Aw, cute," Alex croons.  The fact that she is not considered either of their best friends does not sting as much as she thought it would.  "Now we can defeat the Demogorgon with the power of friendship!"

Mike rolls his eyes.  "Shut up, Alex."

Alex lets out a small laugh, but the sight before them causes them to stop dead in their tracks.  Three police cars are parked in the lot of the local grocery store.  Red lights flash on top of the cars and a small crowd gathers around the two cops who stand monitoring the doors.  The doors appear to be perpetually opened, broken by some force that holds them apart.  The area is littered with shards of glass.  Alex exchanges a glance with her companions.

"You don't think..." Dustin starts.

"Uh...definitely," Mike responds.

"Positive," Alex affirms.

Without another word, they're casting off again down the street, past the crime scene, and towards the woods.  They remain blissfully unaware of the presence that watches them as they disappear into the distance.

author's note: guys i can't wait for next chapter because it's such a pivotal moment in alex and mike's relationship