"WELCOME."

The sound of her own voice is what brings Carla Wheeler back.

Her eyes flutter open, face contorting at the harsh pounding in her head. Surrounding her is a void of darkness, just as she'd been transported too in some of her nightmares. Below her, the floor is a never ending pool of water that doesn't soak her clothes or her skin at the touch. 

As her surroundings come into focus, Carla's heart starts to race as she meets the gaze of her own flayed reflection. 

Her replica is sitting, staring blankly at Carla. She's wearing the same outfit; has the same bruises on her neck and blood on her skin. Except, the sight of the girl brings an unwanted chill to Carla's spine. 

Eleven had brought her back from being flayed—why was her replica still around. 

Voicing her thoughts, Carla wearily asks, "What are you doing here?" 

"I'm you." The replica simply replies, merely shrugging. "Where else would I be?"

The Wheeler girl frowned at the replica's words. They were certainly not the same. The person across from her was the Mind Flayer's creation; a sinister version of herself that he controlled. 

"You're not me." Carla shakes her head, "You're apart of him."

"And he's a part of you." The replica states, and no matter how much Carla wants to deny it, she's knows it's true. 

"You still shouldn't be here." Carla snaps. She doesn't know why she's here, or why her replica is with her, but she knows what happened. She had been flayed; Eleven had brought her back; the Mind Flayer had died. Without the Mind Flayer, her replica shouldn't be there. "Eleven brought me back—you should be gone. The Mind Flayer died—"

"You did too." 

"I—What?"

Dead? Carla falters at the words. 

She wasn't dead.

 She couldn't be dead—she remembers feeling weak, feeling numb, her legs collapsing in on her but she hadn't died. 

"We're dead."  The replica replies rather bluntly. She didn't seem too intrigued or concerned about the statement. 

Carla recoiled at the repeat of the statement,"Dead? But... I can't be."

She wasn't dead. How the hell could she be dead? She wouldn't have given up like that—not when she had so many people that needed and depended on her. She wouldn't die when she'd fought so hard to stay alive. 

Her replica points off in the near distance, "Take a look for yourself."

Carla whips around. The moment she sees what her replica means she freezes.

Familiar faces are suddenly crowding in the void, but they bring no sense of comfort. Instead, their expressions bring a sickening feeling to the pit of her stomach.

Lying on the floor of the void is her figure. She's in the same sweat and blood stained outfit as she currently was, hair a frizzy and matted mess. Her face looks pale and her lips are chapped. She looks weak—exhausted. Her chest is rising or falling; she's eerily still. 

She really was dead. 

However, it isn't seeing her limp body that makes Carla feel sick. It's the reaction of those around her.

Max is crumbled into Lucas' chest, emotions already on an all time high from watching her brother take his final breaths. Two siblings, gone in mere seconds.

Lucas, usually more composed in dire situations, looks utterly distraught, holding on to his girlfriend tightly as he looked blankly at Carla's body. Tears begin to corner in his eyes—were they about to loose Carla?

Will and Jonathan are closer to the scene than the previous couple, but they stand a little back to allow Steve, Nancy and Mike space to grieve. The younger Byers boy has a trembling lip—Carla had done so much to try and get him back and he could do nothing to try and help her. 

Jonathan has a fist clenched over his mouth, angry at himself. Why had he never thought of what would happen to Carla in the end? They all knew of her connection; that it had grown stronger than ever before this year. Why hadn't they tried to get it out of her like they had to Will? Why hadn't they ever thought of the fact that this could kill her, too? 

Carla's hand trails to her face, heart clenching at the sight of her friends, of the kids. She wants nothing more than to escape whatever limbo she was stuck in and hug them all, reassure them that she was okay—that she always would be.

But she couldn't. So her eyes trail over to the remaining figures.

Standing close to her figure are her siblings. Nancy has her arms wrapped around Mike in the tightest embrace that Carla has ever seen between the two. 

Light sobs from the Wheeler boy echo every few seconds, and while Nancy isn't wailing, her strong facade has crumbled. Her eyes are red and she's biting her lip to quit from crying for the sake of her little brother—her twin was gone. That bastard got her. 

Kneeling on the floor is Robin. Carla's gaze softens when she notices the Buckley's hand running up and down Steve's arm, showing him the smallest sense of comfort in such a raw moment—Robin knew that nothing she did would ease the pain in Steve's heart, but that wouldn't stop her from showing the solace he needed in the moment. 

Steve is on the floor, Carla's body pulled into his lap. He isn't crying either, but it's clear that he was worked up. His hair is falling in his face and his trembling fingers push hers out of her face, putting her pale and exhausted features on display. Light pleads fall from his lips, "Please, baby.....please wake up." 

His eyes dart between her still chest and Eleven, gaze practically pleading that El did something. 

Carla finally notices Eleven once she sees Steve's gaze darting between her and the young girl. El is knelt next to her body, hand outstretched to touch the Wheeler's un-moving chest. The Wheeler's brows furrow at the girl's hands, at the way her brows furrowed in concentration; her chest rising up and down evenly as she set her mind to one task.

Was she trying to find Carla? 

"You see now?" the replica interrupts, her voice a haunting echo in the void. "You're gone, Carla. We're dead." 

Carla is silent for a minute, staring at her limp body—all she can hear is the broken pleads for her to come back coming from Steve, and the sobbing of her younger brother. All she can see is the tear stained cheeks and absolutely distraught faces of her family and friends.

How could she do this? How could she just let herself go when she had so many people that depended on her—that needed her. Why would she let go when all she'd done for the past week was fight for her life? 

"I don't get it." the Wheeler finally whispers, turning away from real life. Everything was confusing her—why was she with her double? Eleven had brought her back from him. Her replica shouldn't even exist anymore. The Mind Flayer had died. 

"It's simple." The replica states, explaining, "Without the brain, there's no body."

Carla had heard the statement before. It's a conversation the group had before they killed the Mind Flayer the previous year—Will had been possessed, and they had to get him out before they killed the creature or the Byers boy would also be killed. 

"So—so you're saying that by killing the Mind Flayer, I basically killed myself?" Carla frowns. She recalls the phrase from the year prior—it's why they couldn't go after the Mind Flayer until they got it out of Will.

Clearly, the group nor Carla hadn't even thought about the effects killing the Mind Flayer would have on her. Within the week, the Wheeler's connection had only grown stronger to him—she'd been flayed mere minutes ago. She doesn't want to believe her replica, but it makes sense that killing him was practically a suicide mission for her. 

The replica nods, "Precisely."

However, one thing still stays in the front of Carla's mind. When the Mind Flayer died, Carla had been in control of herself—Eleven had gotten her back using memories. Why was she dead if the connection had been cut off?

"But, Eleven....she—she got me back." Carla states, looking at her replica for answers. "I wasn't flayed, my connection wasn't there. El reversed it."

"The Mind Flayer's influence runs deep." the replica explains, as if the answer was simple. "You may have been freed from his physical grasp—being flayed—but your mind will always have that connection." 

"So, what? I'm just stuck here?" Carla frowns. She won't accept the truth so easily—there had to be a way out of this; a way back to her friends, her siblings, her boyfriend. 

The replica nods and Carla huffs, "I won't just sit here. I have a life—I have people who care about me, who need me. I've spent this whole fucking week trying to live, and I won't let him be the reason I can't do that." 

"It's what we've always been made to do." The replica states, corners of her lips upturning into a sick smile. "Ever since we got these scars, we've belonged to him. It's just been a matter of when and how you'd be used to his advantage."

"Well, it's over now. He's dead." Carla's voice grows firm with emotion. She doesn't want to be here. She wants to wake up; she wants to fight whatever power the Mind Flayer still had over her and come back to her friends. "I don't—won't—be here forever. We have people who depend on us. Mom, Dad, Holly, Dustin, Lucas, Will, Jonathan, Max, Mike, Nancy, El, Steve—I can't just give up on them."

"Carla?" 

Carla whips around at the sound of her name, breath hitching when she sees a familiar brunette behind her. 

"Eleven?" the Wheeler barely manages to get the name past her lips. 

The sight of the Hopper means much more to Carla than simply seeing a familiar face. If El could find her....there was still hope to come back. 

 Carla gets on her feet and immediately rushes through the void, meeting the Hopper in the middle. She's quick to pull the young girl into a tight embrace, to which El reciprocates—it felt good to hug her sister after thinking she'd died.

"How are you here? I'm....I'm dead. You shouldn't be able to find me." Once the two pull away, Carla begins to dive into her mind full of questions. She was new to the whole dream-walking thing, but this didn't make sense. 

"You might be dead there, but you're alive here." Eleven begins, "I think I can get you back to us."

Carla's eyes dart back to her body in Steve's lap, to Eleven's hand against her heart, and she does nothing more than firmly nod at the Hopper.

El walks past Carla and towards the real life scene. Carla follows, ready to do whatever Eleven thinks will work. Following the girl, the Wheeler notices that her replica is nowhere to be found—maybe she was only within the Carla's head. 

The two girls make it over to where Carla's body was and Eleven knelt down, the Wheeler copying the action. She stared at her figure with a frown, but her eyes held a glimmer of hope that she'd be able to come down.

"I think that maybe if you think of more memories....we can break you past the Mind Flayer's hold." El states. She wasn't exactly sure if this would work, but memories got her back once. Maybe they could break her from him again. "I think we can fight it using memories."

Carla nods, "Okay."

Eleven grabs Carla's hand and gently sits in upon her still chest. It sits on top of where El's hand in real world lays. The Wheeler girl lightly closes her eyes and tries to steady her mind, readying herself to think of more memories.

"Think of your happiest memories." Eleven softly states, watching her sister-figure.

Carla took in a breath and tried to center her mind around memories that mattered most to her.

She thinks of the way back to when she first met Jonathan in kindergarten. He had been quiet in the back of class, and Carla had decided to see if he was lonely. The two ended up friends by the end of that day. 

She thinks of when she first met Will. The hug he'd given her, despite being only three. The drawing of scribbles he'd given. The Christmas' spent bonding with the two Byers brothers; spent making them her own brothers at heart.

She thinks of chaperoning the kids on different trips this summer. Of driving them to the mall and back, listening to their endless banter and mindless chatter—of watching them be simple teenagers. Of all the D&D campaigns she sat through, of all the Halloweens she spent watching over them. 

She thinks of Christmas of '83 when Will, Dustin, Mike, and Lucas gave her the Party bracelet. 

She thinks of  her sister; of shopping for Snow Ball dresses with Nancy and her mother, of planning matching outfits in elementary school; of simply having someone to console in all her life.

She thinks of shopping with Max and Eleven earlier that week, watching the two girls form a bond that would never be broken. She thinks of every day spent at Hopper's cabin, teaching El all she needed to know, or watching Max run up to her car, excited to spend the day with Carla and away from boys. 

But, ultimately, her mind is brought to to her boyfriend—as it always was, because if anyone knew how to make Carla Wheeler happy, it was Steve Harrington.

Memories of dates and hangouts pop in and out of her head, and her heart feels warm thinking about her boyfriend. She sees them kissing at Skull Rock, going on dates, every stolen kiss, waking up to the sound of Steve's soft breathing, his warm embrace. She's reminded of every free ice cream cone, of every 'I love you' shared between them, whether it be a breathless whisper or an adoring statement. 

The memory of Steve dragging her into the pouring rain to dance comes front and center and Carla focuses on the sound of the rain pattering in the background. The way the couple moved together in rhythm. Their hands clasped together, the steady beating of her heart. 

Holding on to the love she felt in that moment, Carla can feel the leftover darkness within her head being pushed back. Seeing the Mind Flayer, her nightmares, the darkness that hid in her eyes—all of it was being pushed down as she clung to her happy memories like they were her lifeline; they truly were.

And then, suddenly, something snapped and Carla's eyes rolled back into her head, a feeling of renewal washing over her.

Carla Wheeler was clinically dead for five minutes before her body came up from the floor with a shuddering gasp.

The sudden gasp for air that bursts from her lips manages to scare everyone within the mall, all eyes widening when they realize that Carla was the source behind it—that her body was no longer lying limply in Steve's lap, more so hunched over in front of him. That she was alive. 

Carla's mind was working at a thousand miles an hour. Barely allowing time for a breath, her body shoots up from Steve's lap, hunching over as she tries her best to even comprehend what had happened—to comprehend that she was alive despite having just seen her dead body in the same spot. 

Eleven too returns from Carla's head with a small gasp, chest rising and falling rapidly as a small trail of blood begins to pool under her nose. She quickly pulls her hand off of the Wheeler's chest when the girl jolts up, eyes wide in utter shock. Had she just revived Carla? 

Steve manages to choke out her name, "Carla." 

Steve can't even explain the amount of relief that washes through his body when Carla's gasp echoed through the mall. He moved with her, immediately allowing his trembling hands to slightly hover over her unsteady figure for when she was ready—tears are prickling in the corners of his eyes at the sight of his girlfriend's chest rising and falling. God, he was so relieved. 

Despite having been through monster attack after monster attack for the past two years, Steve had never been more scared than in the past three minutes. Seeing Carla pale, limp, cold.....it overpowered any monster by a long shot. The thought of losing Carla Wheeler was a scarier prospect than anything to Steve.

Everyone within the mall is utterly quiet as Carla tries to compose herself. Robin's eyes are wide in shock at what had just happened, slightly backing away from Steve; Max was still holding on to her boyfriend in support as she looks at the Wheeler with tear stained eyes, Lucas letting out the breath he'd been holding and meeting his girlfriends gaze; Will wipes a tear from his cheek and Jonathan looks like he's resisting the urge to tackle-hug his best friend; Mike is looking at Eleven in utter thankfulness and Nancy is watching her sister with eyes full of relief.

They'd gotten her back. 

A sudden wave of nausea runs through Carla's aching body and the girl doesn't even have the strength to fight back the bile rising in her throat before she's hurling whatever was left in her stomach. Tears prickle in the corner of her eyes as she lurches forward, body slightly shaking with everything that was happening. 

As the Wheeler finishes retching, she feels a wave of weakness wash over her. She's filled with a whirlwind of emotion as the reality of what just happened begins to sink in. She can't believe she's back, that she's alive. The relief is overwhelming, but so is the fear and confusion.

The overload happening in Carla's head leads to the girl simply breaking down. Her dry heaves turn into uneven sobs and almost naturally, her body falls back towards the boy behind her, who'd been ready to hold her close the moment she came back.

A few tears are falling down the Harrington boy's cheeks as he pulls her girlfriend back into her chest—he doesn't care that she'd just thrown up, or the fact that she'd gone against everything he'd wanted her to do and allowed herself to become flayed. He just wraps his arms around the girl and lets her cry; she deserved it. 

Carla just melts right into her boyfriends arm, weak and in need of some sort of comfort. She'd just been brought back from the dead—she just wanted some sort of relief. 

"I've got you." Steve whispers, voice thick with emotion as Carla's sobs weighed down on his heart, "I'm not letting go." His eyes meet with Elevens, thanking her with nothing more than a brief moment of eye contact. "You're safe."

And for the moment, that's all Carla Wheeler needed to know.

She was safe. 

mara's misc!

it's been a long time coming, but here it is!!!

once again, i'm SO sorry that it took me more than 2 months to write this!!! writers block has been kicking my ass for the past few months, and it's been hard to find motivation for carla (especially when this chapter was entirely MY writing, which ya'll know i hate). 

BUT these past two weeks, i've managed to write over 5000+ words, which means i actually have two chapters up my sleeve (i split it up ofc), and i think it ended up okay????

depending on what happens in s5 and we find out more about eleven's powers or how to break vecna's hold over max, etc, i could end up going back to rewrite this, just to stay cannon accurate. however, for now, this is what is gonna be published bc i sure as hell am NOT re-writing everything.

so, yeah, i'm so sorry it's taken me months at a time (especially on two cliffhangers) to push out updates but i think i'm back in a carla mood? 

on a happier note, i literally see olivia rodrigo in a MONTH?????? i'm march 23rd in detroit, and it's just hitting me now that i'm going to see her. like somehow, i've knocked out my top 3 artists (taylor, stephen sanchez, olivia) in a year (i saw stephen twice too) and that's crazy. 

my outfit is supposed to come today so i'll def make a book to show ya'll IF it fits and looks good. 

i hope she plays some of sour & songs like can't catch me now/unreleased guts tracks just bc of how short the album is!! i'm so excited to see the setlist tomorrow 

since i haven't updated since.....tortured poets department???? what do you guys think it'll be like??? i feel like it will be a weird mix of folklore and reputation, but i'm ready for anything! joe alwyn, praying for you on april 19th.

anyways, that's all! expect another update soon!

hope you enjoyed <3 see you back for chapter 23!!