Original title was going to be "The cliche nightmare Mileven one we all know and love" but I decided that was a liiiiiittle too wordy😂😉 Age in this: 19 enjoy my little Mileven shippers.

It had been years since The Gate was closed, since Hawkins was in danger, since her family and friends were in danger. But the nightmares? They never seemed to go away.  Etched into her memory like the number 011 on her arm. Swirling in her mind and taking over her thoughts.

The Upside Down looked the same it did in every dream; in the past reality. Was it really a dream? Or did it come back? El couldn't tell the difference between her nightmares and the real world in that dream state. She could feel the ground beneath her. She could feel the air whip around her skin- sending a chill to her bones.

Eleven looked around in fear at the sky that turned colors from harsh reds to deep purples.  She could tell she was not the age she was when she went to sleep. She was younger.  Was the new life all a dream instead?  The wind blew harder, tugging wildly at her (or originally Nancy's) pink dress.

Vines grew across the ground and all over the houses on the street. Their thorns pricked her bare feet and she cried out in pain. She rubbed her eyes- begging herself to wake up. She wasn't waking up. Why wasn't she waking up?

"Found you."

El stopped- a chill running down her spine and her mouth becoming dry. She turned around to find the man who had ruined her life standing there. His hair white as his lab coat. His name tag shining from a street light's glare.  Brenner.

"You may run but you can't hide subject Eleven."

"Jane." El said through gritted teeth.

"Hmm?"

"Jane. The name you stole from me. The life you stole from me!" She shouted above the wind that grew harsher.

"I did what was good for you. For this town."

"No you didn't!" She yelled once more, "You did nothing good! I was alone and I was scared until Mike found me and gave me a life better than you ever could. He gave me a name better than Jane. He gave me a life better than anyone else could. He saved me from myself- from you." El spat the last word as if it physically hurt; which it did.

"Ah, that Wheeler boy? The one you thought loved you?" Brenner scoffed, "You left him for 353 days Eleven. He never forgave you for it. He 'loved' you out of pity. You were nothing but a tool for him and his friends."

"No I wasn't." El said quietly, "I wasn't!"

"I talked with him you know. It's true."

Brenner pulled out a voice recorder- the same one he used with Eleven in the lab.

"Did you feel any affection towards subject Eleven?"

"What? No! She's just a total freak! She was what we all needed in order to find Will. That's why I took her in. I didn't 'care' about her. She left for those 353 days and everything was peaceful. We didn't need her anymore.  Everything was always her fault."

The recording turned off and El finally noticed the tears streaming down her cheeks. She harshly wiped them away.

"You can come back to the lab now Eleven.  We can finish what we started." He said as he walked towards her.

"No!" El shouted, now taking steps backwards.

The thorns jabbed in her feet once more. She could feel the hot and sticky blood running off. 

Prick. Prick. Prick.

El shut her eyes tight, willing it all to go away.

When she opened them she no longer felt thorns but the cold tile floor of the lab. One light illuminated the walls of the closet they would put her in. She felt her breathing quicken until she was hyperventilating. El sat on the cold floor and put her head in her hands, sobbing hysterically.

"Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop!"

"Stop. . . Stop!. . .no. . . No please!"

Mike Wheeler shot up in bed, his hair sticking at all ends as his eyes quickly scanned the room until they landed on his girlfriend beside him.  His heart clenched tightly in his chest as he realized what was going on.

"El. El wake up. Wake up." He said as gently but loudly as he could.

He gently took hold of her wrists to keep her from hitting either herself or him within her tossing and turning or subconsciously flinging one of them across the room with her mind.

"El wake up please!" He said, heart hurting worse with every cry that came from her.

"Eleven!"

She suddenly jolted awake violently as she quickly shot up, gasping for the air that had left her lungs.

A book that previously rested on the nightstand hit the closet door on the other side of the room from her immediate fear.

"El it's okay." Mike said softly placing a hand on her shoulder.

She looked over at him and he didn't think his heart could hurt worse. Tears were streaming down her face and her breathing came out in small shaking breaths. They weren't the little kids anymore. They now shared an apartment together as they attended college; trying to carry on with their lives normally. But nothing could shake the nightmares that still haunted them to this day.

El was trying to get her breathing to even out but all that came out was another sob and a fresh round of tears. Mike pulled her as close as possible to him; her sitting in his lap as he held his arms around her, rubbing circles on her arm with his thumb.

"I'm. . . s-sorry." She whispered in between cries as her hands clutched onto his shirt in an iron grip, "I'm so. . . sorry."

Mike just whispered calming shushes in her ear and stroked her short hair as she cried. He wished she didn't have to go through this.  They all had nightmares but he knew her's were the worst of all.

"There's nothing to be sorry about El." He said quietly when her crying had turned to only shaking breaths.

"I put you through t-this. . .almost e-every night." She whispered.

"And I'll do whatever it takes to help you every night. I care about you more than anything in this entire world."

"I care about you too." She said, tightening her grip on him.

They stayed silent for a few minutes, holding each other. Mike never liked the silence after she had an episode like this. It scared him that she could go back into her old habits of hiding herself and only talking in quiet and short sentences.

"What was it about this time?" Mike whispered softly; breaking the silence in hopes to keep her from going back to that state, "If you want to tell me."

El took a breath that tickled his skin and looked up at him from from where she had rest her head in the crook of his neck.

"Upside Down. Brenner. You."

Mike looked confused, "Me?"

"You didn't love me. Nobody did." She looked down and squeezed her eyes shut tightly to keep herself from spilling tears, "You said I was a- a freak." She whispered the last bit so quietly she wasn't even sure he heard her.

But he always did.

Mike tilted her chin to look back at him, "You are not a freak. I've never once and never will think that about you. What you are is special. With or without your powers- you are the most wonderful and spectacularly special girl I ever met. And I had the joy of falling in love with you over and over again; everyday. In a million years I would still think the world of you. In a thousand lifetimes, I'd love you and choose you every single time. I do and always will love you El. I promise."

"Promise." She smiled weakly as he wiped a tear from her cheek before placing kisses all around her face.

"Something you can't break." He whispered softly before pressing his lips against her's.

El still got butterflies when he did that. Her head would still feel dizzy and she would wonder if she were floating (which could very well happen considering she sometimes lost control of her abilities when Mike kissed her). His arms wrapped around her waist as she got up on her knees and wrapped her arms around his neck; one hand tangling in his hair.

They pulled away and pressed their foreheads pressed together as they gazed into each other's eyes- dizzy and breathless.

"How about we go back to bed?" Mike said gently, "I'll be here the whole time."

El nodded slowly and the two laid back down, El's head resting over Mike's heart as he put his arms around her; kissing the top of her head gently and leaving his lips there for a moment.

After a minute El broke the silence, "Do you think they will ever go away?" She whispered quietly.

Mike took a breath, "I don't know. It won't be easy, but I'll do whatever I can to get you through it El. Everyday. I will to do whatever I can to help you because all I'll ever need is you everyday. Every single day for the rest of our lives."

El nearly shivered at the genuine truth she could hear in his voice.

"I'll always want you. And I'll always love you Mike Wheeler."

"And you as well El Wheeler- I mean Hopper."

She could hear the smirk in his voice and just slightly shook her head against him, laughing lightly.

"Promise?"

"Promise."