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C H A P T E R   F O U R T E E N  :

" THE LIBRARIAN'S SECRETS "

･ ｡ﾟ ⋆✩⋆  ･ ｡ﾟ

| D E C E M B E R  24th , 1986 |

H a w k i n s , I n d i a n a

"LET'S GET STARTED THEN."

The group nodded as they began to gather their things to leave.
  They planned on taking the map with them to return back to the cars in the parking lot and leave, Mike staying behind as he rolled the map into a cylinder.

He couldn't believe they finally found out where Y/N and Hopper were. They were alive, and alone.
  Mike missed Y/N terribly, but this newfound hope now awakened a fiery burst of confidence and eagerness to find his lost love.

He patted the map underneath his arm as he trailed behind the group to leave, turning to face Laura the librarian for a moment. "Thank you so much."

He smiled, but the librarian cast an unsure smile back, as if she wasn't sure of what he was thanking her for.
It gave Mike an odd feeling, but he brushed it off as he opened the library doors to leave.

Laura was left alone in silence as she watched the teenager hop into the car with his group, taking the map along with him. She frowned at the cars drove away and out of the parking lot, fearful that she had done something wrong.

She reluctantly reached for her telephone, punching in a few numbers that were outside of Hawkins jurisdiction, and pressed the phone to her ear to hear the waiting rings.

She pushed her glasses up, cautiously looking outside as if the children would reappear.

"Who is calling?"

There answered the man who many warned her about avoiding.
Yet, this was also the man who threatened that if she received any intel from the group of children or even interacted with them, then she was obligated to call him.

"Yes, this is Marissa Laura Dean, I go by Laura. I was told to call this number if I interacted with the targeted group of children."

Her voice was a bit shaky, knowing that she was nervous and that the man she was trying to reach had ears everywhere in Hawkins, and one wrong move by her would be instantly reported.

"One moment."

The voice on the other end ordered, giving Laura a second to ponder her actions.

She's known these children since they were little, and she knew that they knew Hopper, whom she briefly dated in high school, who also (to her knowledge) died tragically with his daughter a few months ago.

"Miss. Dean?"

Lauren instantly jerked alert to her last name being called, and nodded. "Yes, this is she."

"Hello, this is Martin Brenner. You wanted to speak with me? Something about the group of targeted children?"

Laura gulped, her hand clenching the phone around the black handle with sudden nervousness. Was she doing the right thing?

Everything that happened in Hawkins over the past few years have really messed people up, and this past incident at the mall really did the trick on Laura.

She was so confused by all she's heard and seen, with all the rumors spreading around about extraterrestrials and hauntings.

"Miss. Dean?"

Brenner's voice on the other end startled Laura back into reality. "Y-Yes? Sorry, it seemed to have slipped my mind." She tried to do the right thing, and not sell the children out.

"Miss. Dean. You understand that if you fail to report sightings of said targeted children, you will be considered a target of our own, correct?"

Laura's face paled to become white as a sheet, and suddenly she heard the hum of an engine pull up to the entrance of the library just below the steps.

It was the signature white van that she's seen so much of around Hawkins these past couple years.

"Y-Yes sir. I just really seemed to have forgotten what I called for." She laughed nervously, and her eyes shot to the van that now had its window down.

It was a scary looking man, who held what looked to be a weapon in his hand with an earpiece in his ear.

"Now, Miss. Dean. I believe we both know that's not the truth. You know something, and I'd really like to know what you've found out."

With a final streak of sweat on her forehead from nervousness, she gulped as she watched the man in the van examine his gun.
She couldn't do this. She couldn't do this.

"The children found out a location!" She blurted, her fear overwhelming her rationality.

"Please continue. Tell me all that the children have found out."

And so, it was with a fearful mind, that the librarian told Dr. Brenner everything that Mike and the party found out in that library.

She sold out the party for her own life.

⋆

The party left the library with a practical skip in their step, all ecstatic of their find that could possibly lead them right to Hopper and Y/N.

Mike was the happiest out of them all, his stomach fluttering at the thought of seeing Y/N again that didn't seem so far fetched anymore.

He had proof of her survival, and he couldn't wait to find her again.

They didn't want to return to Mike's house out of fear that his mother would grow suspicious, so they instead opted for another location.

Against Mike's wishes, they began their trek towards Hopper's cabin that Mike always checked on and cleaned.
  He didn't want anything to be disturbed in case of Y/N's return, and now that he knew they were alive, he wanted to keep it spic and span.

But of course, he was overruled.

They pulled up to the cabin, shutting off their vehicles before all filing out and stepping onto the crunchy leaves.

Mike got out of the car, the map underneath his arm as he took a breath of the forest air, the smell of pine and wood filled his senses reminding him of Y/N.

He stood in front of the cabin, his eyes searching it with worried eyes. He really missed Y/N, and he hadn't been at the cabin ever since he cried himself to sleep the last time he was there.

"Hey.." He felt a hand place itself comfortingly on his shoulder, startling him before he relaxed. "It's gonna be okay.."

Mike smiled weakly at Joyce before she patted his shoulder, helping him up the steps to the cabin.
Joyce was upset seeing the cabin too, for it reminded her too much of Hopper.
This was the first time she was entering the cabin after Hopper's disappearance and gathering of his things.

But now with more evidence that Y/N and Hopper are both alive, she had her game face on. She would stop at nothing to find them.

She will stop at nothing to find her Hopper, just as Mike would stop at nothing to find the love of his life, Y/N.

Mike fished his spare cabin key out of his pocket—he always carried it around just to have a sacred piece of Y/N always with him.

He couldn't wait to be walking into this cabin again, but with Y/N at his side.

Images of her flashed through his mind yet again, and she was the only one that kept him sane through all this mess.

He unlocked the cabin, taking a single step inside as the party all waited behind him.

It was dusty.

He walked inside, placing the map inside on the couch before beginning his work yet again to make the cabin look presentable, earning a sympathetic look from Joyce.

He instantly felt Y/N's presence, and he wasn't sure if he was truly feeling her or not. But he wouldn't put that past him. He believed Y/N established some sort of connection with him.

Mike exhaled, leading the group to sit in the living room and placed the map on the coffee table in front of him.

Now that they were all ready to find Y/N and Hopper, they just needed a plan of attack.

"So, how the hell are we gonna get to Russia?" Mike asked, piercing the silence.

Eleven had mentioned something before they left, so Mike looked in her direction expectantly, so that prompted the group to allow their eyes to drift to her.

With the sudden pressure, Eleven's face immediately began burning up, her eyes widened as she glanced at Mike.

She couldn't do this. She was so confused.

In a hurried rush, she sat up and ran through the cabin away to her old room, shutting the door behind her. Her room looked exactly the same as she had left it.
She leaned against the shut door, sliding down to the floor.

She had no more powers, she lost Mike's affection, and she didn't have any idea why either of those things happened.

She then heard a small knock on the door, and a voice call out to her. "El? Are you alright?"

Eleven's eyes shot open at the sound of Mike's voice, scrambling to her feet to compose herself. "No. Please just go away."

She was met with silence again, assuming Mike had left before she heard his voice again. "Can we just talk?"

El groaned silently, ducking her head in contemplation. Mike confused her greatly over the past couple years, and this time was no different.

She then hesitantly reached her hand to open the door, revealing Mike standing there with an arm leaning on the door frame.

"What do you want to talk about?" El asked, impatiently.

Mike shoved his hands in his pockets awkwardly, knowing the exact reason why she was upset with him.

Mike broke her heart, and he never even told her why. He never cleared anything up with her, and that was on him.

"I wanted to talk about how we left off. I feel really bad for not telling you before, but I—.."

"Mike, I know." El breathed, looking up at Mike with sorry eyes.

Mike looked confused, furrowing his eyebrows and pursing his lips. "You know?"

El nodded hesitantly. "Yes. I know you don't 'L word' me."

Mike's breath seemed to stop as he felt horribly. El was right, and she put it simply.

El was right, Mike didn't love her the way she wanted him to.
Mike loved El as a close friend, but he couldn't love her anymore than that.

He realized he was in love with Y/N, and that was a love he's never felt so passionately before. It was a love he never felt for El.

"I'm sorry, I should have told you before. I just.." Mike began, licking his lips as he thought of how to explain.
"When Y/N disappeared, I came to a realization that all my life, I've been in love with her without even knowing it. Now, I do, and I've never been so ready to tell her that I love her. It just me losing her to finally realize that."

El smiled weakly, understanding Mike's explanation with a sad nod. "It's okay, Mike. I can tell how much you love her just by seeing the sparkly look in your eyes when you talk about her."

Mike was surprised about how wise El's grown since he last saw her a couple months back.

He was glad that Eleven understood that he didn't feel the same way about her anymore, and he was glad that he understood that Mike loved Y/N like no other.

But ultimately, he missed El's friendship.

"So uh.." Mike fiddled with his hands, looking up for forgiveness. "Are we friends again?"

El smiled with a subtle nod. "Yes."

So it was with a final hug that the two friends finally patched and cleared things up, and Mike had to admit that he missed El as a friend.

And as he pulled away from the hug, he gave El a smile. "Alright, let's go back and have you pitch your idea."

They returned to the living room, Mike sitting on the floor along with most of the rest of the party, while the occasional few stood up.

With all their minds put together, surely they would find out a plan.

"Go ahead, El. Tell us your idea." Mike encouraged El, nodding as she smiled weakly.

The entire party leaned in a little more to hear her thought, awaiting the plan that would somehow get them across the world to Russia and somehow save Y/N and Hopper.

"I think we need to open the gate again." El muttered confidently, her eyes lifting to look everyone in their gazes.

A wave of fear flew through everyone's eyes, including Mike's. There's no way, there had to be another way besides that.

If they went to Russia through the upside down, that meant that if/when they rescue Y/N and Hopper, they would then need to trek back home through the upside down again.

And there was no way Mike was risking losing Y/N again. He needed a safer alternative.

"What? Why would we do that?" Steve asked genuinely, his hands on his hips as he paced impatiently.

El swallowed, her eyes turning to stare him in his own gaze. "Mike said Russia was across the world, so it's very far. We need to get there faster and easier."

Mike's eyes widened as he realized what she meant, but it was far too risky.
It was far too dangerous for them to even consider. "Wait, you're not saying.."

"I'm saying," El finished for him, "I'm saying that we need to go through the upside down."

⋆

Authors Note :

SO..the librarian really sold out the kids, & this was what Brenner was talking about in the last chapter when y/n read his thoughts.

i felt like el deserved closure with mike, so i gave them that. :)

in the next few chapters, things are gonna start happening so be prepared..

it's gonna go DOWN pretty soon..

.

what do you think about all this ??

any theories ? any predictions?

thanks for reading.. stay tuned !!

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