(      darkest before dawn      /      act two      )
❛ EVERYTHING IS OVER ❜
episode nine | stranger things

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      AURORA FELT QUEEZY AS the car slowed to a stop, maybe it was the power that was drumming through her veins or maybe it was because she didn't want to leave Mike. Her head pounded and her legs shook as she stepped out of the SUV.

      Hopper grabbed her shoulders, turning Aurora to face him as Eleven waited in the car. "Kid, are you sure about this?" Aurora couldn't stomach a verbal answer, only nodding at him. "Because, you don't have to. Eleven can manage on her own, you almost died almost two hours ago."

      "I can do this," her voice was almost inaudible, "I have to do this. For Bob."

      "Aurora," Hopper sighed, "your aunts will personally kill me if you die, so you need to stay at my side. You need to trust me."

      "Well," Aurora looked at man in his eyes, "I can't trust you. I trust Eleven, not you. I don't think I can for a while."

      Hopper scoffed, "Really? That's how this is going to go? I did this to protect you. To protect her, to protect Mike! You can get mad at me all you want, but you need to understand that I stuck my neck out so that Eleven could survive."

      "How many times did I cry to you?" Aurora whispered.

      "What?" The chief scoffed, adjusting his gun.

      "How many times," Aurora's voice grew as she spoke, "did I cry to you about, El? How many times did I tell you how I felt like it was all my fault? How many times did you have to tell my aunts, my teachers, my friends to make sure I didn't do anything because you thought I was too dangerous to be alone. All of that happened while you hide the root of my thoughts, of my pain, of my hatred, right under my nose.

      "So no, Chief Hopper. I am not mad at Eleven, I never will be. I will forever be mad at you," Aurora sighed, swallowing harshly to push her tears away, "and if I die, I hope you know that I will never forgive you. Even dead, I hope that my ghost haunts you."

      At that point, Aurora knew she had taken it too far. But, every time she thought about the past year, about Elevens death, she blamed herself. For the past year, Aurora had thought time and time again how she could've fixed something, and Eleven would have been there.

      Aurora thought back to her aunts calling her out of school and taking her on a spontaneous day trip. When she got back, all sharp objects in her room and bathroom had either been taken or dulled to a non-harmful point. Her friends hovered a little too much, and her teachers checked in with her too frequently.

      Hopper scoffed, trying to will his own tears away as he watched the two girls he imagined as daughters walk arm in arm up to the lab doors.

      The demo-dogs had left the door, and Auroras grip on Elevens had tightened as she noticed a large puddle of blood as they slowly opened the door. Though, some part of her prayed that Bob had made it. Hopper was stepping slowly as he led them in, his gun armed and ready.

      Holding a hand up, Aurora and Eleven paused mid step. The flashlight on his gun was shining down the hallway directly in front of them. The claws of a demo-dog tapping down the hall filled their ears, Aurora took a shaky breath in as her knuckles turned white from her grip on Elevens hand. She let go, before calling up her power from her gut as the clicking and growling began getting faster and louder.

      She inhaled deeply, before shoving her breath out harshly. She heard squeaking as the demo-digs body dropped to the ground at Hoppers feet.

      "You can't use the gun unless you want to call all of them here," Aurora whispered in an obvious tone.

      "Right..." Hopper dragged quietly before lifting his gun and stepping deeper into the lab. Aurora and Eleven only a few paces behind him.

      Aurora dug her nails into her palms as they passed another dead body, hoping it wasn't a doctor she knew. The alarm lights still flashed yellow every few seconds, but it was silent beside the shoes on the ground.

      They were moving efficiently, making it to the downstairs stairwell in a matter of minutes. Auroras head pounded slightly as they stopped on the landing, Hoppers light shining on a fresh blood trail. The man brought his voice low, turning to face the two girls, "stay here."

      He walked down the short steps and faced the lower landing, before whispering an: "oh shit," before taking the rest of the steps down two at a time.

      Aurora and Eleven glanced at each other before Aurora led the two down the stairs to where Hopper had dropped down by a body. The clear producer of the fresh blood along the stairs. Aurora stepped closer and gasped, recognizing Doctor Owen's as his breath came out in pants.

      Aurora dropped to the other side of the doctor as Hopper tried to comfort him. She tried to ignore the injuries on his leg and torso, and focus on the man. Doctor Owen's eyes widened as Eleven stepped down, Hopper glancing back quickly to ensure the girl was okay before grinning.

      "Oh yeah," Hopper nodded behind him as he pulled off his belt to cut off the flow of blood, "been meaning to tell you 'bout her. Doc Owen's, Eleven. Eleven, Doc Owen's. She's been staying with me for about a year, and she's about to save our asses. Maybe when this is all said and done, maybe you could help her out too, you know? Help her, you know, lead like a normal life? One where she's not poked or prodded at. Not treated like some kind of lab rat, you know? I don't know, just a thought."

      Hopper righted the belt around his leg, whispering an apology as Doctor Owen's hissed and grunted at the pain. Hopper patted the man's chest, before standing, "don't go anywhere." Owen's closed his fist around the walkie-talkie Hopper placed in his hand.

      Eleven and Hopper began descending the stairs again, Aurora lingered for a second. "You know, you really helped Will. And everyone, so thank you. You're a hero, and maybe, you could help me too. Once we get out of here."

      Owen's grinned softly at the girl, "Of course, Aurora." His voice was light as a spoke, and Aurora almost didn't hear him. "You know..." Aurora paused, and glanced at the man once more, "I knew your parents. And my god you looked exactly like Stefan and Leah, you've got both of them in you."

      "I hope not," Aurora shook her head.

      "Your parents were clouded," Doctor Owen's shook his head, "when they found out about you, they were disappointed, but man after that first week, Leah couldn't stop talking about you. They didn't even know your gender, but she couldn't stop raving about her kid. And Stefan, he was never more than a few steps away from her. You may think your parents were the villain, but they were terrified for you."

      "My parent's selfish decision led me to be this," Aurora gestured to herself harshly, "and it killed them."

      Doctor Owen's sighed, "I won't disagree. But you have your father's will, and your mother's stubbornness. They will always be apart of you, but never let them define you."

      She didn't respond, pivoting on her heel as she clamored down the steps to catch up with the other two. They weren't far ahead, but Aurora still made sure they were in her sights as a chill raked her body. Hopper had waited for the girl to catch up at the bottom of the stairs, before they continued down the hall.

      The lights flickered, barely giving them any visual assistance, and Hoppers flash light did almost no good as it slowly flickered. A monster growled ahead of them, the demo-dog was making clicking sounds as Hopper order, "stay here."

      "Are you crazy?" Aurora whisper shouted, but the man never answered, just walking forward.

      Aurora tried to follow, but Eleven grabbed her arm, "wait."

      "El," Aurora whispered in a panic, "what if he dies."

      "Hopper is smart." Eleven nodded, and looked ahead. They watched at the man flipped off his light, before rounding the corner and stepping forward.

      Auroras hands ticked as power rushed through her viens, and she inhaled shakily before watching as Eleven began walking forward. Aurora muttered a curse before stepping after her. She followed close behind as they turned right into a room.

      Bodies piled on top of each other, illuminated in a flashing, pale yellow glow. Hopper stood at the front of a broken window, that faced out into the void of tunnels and demo-dogs. But there seemed to be no creatures around them, and Aurora couldn't even hear the soft chirping they made.

      Hoppers radio crackled and Aurora jumped, "Chief, are you there? Chief, do you copy?" Jonathan's voice filled the silent void.

      "Yeah I copy," even with no sign of the demo-dogs, the chief still kept his voice low.

      Jonathan panted, "close it."

      Hopper slowly brought his walkie down her his face, as he glanced at Eleven. The two of them having a silent conversation as Aurora glanced out to the gate again.

      Everything seemed to move quickly after that. Hopper loaded the three of them onto the elevator, before lowering them down to be level with the center of the gate. It was almost growling itself, as the inside flashed a red color. Eleven was in the middle of the two, and as the elevator slowed to a stop, the girl reached out for Hopper and Auroras hands.

      The elevator shook as Hopper slammed his hand on the button before the man turned to the two girls.

      "Eleven," Hopper pointed at the gate, "that is your only job. You focus on closing that thing." Eleven nodded, and Hopper glanced at Aurora, "when those things come back, can you put them to sleep?" It sounded silly as Hopper asked the question, the man himself almost kicked himself. Aurora nodded, and Hopper readied his gun.

      The two of them stepped back slightly to give Eleven space, as she took a deep breath, before raising a hand towards the gate. Aurora couldn't see anything change, but the elevator shook slightly, and the gate almost came alive. Then, a giant shadow behind the gate flashed between the flashing red and orange.

      Hopper aimed his gun as the shadow monster growled behind the gates vines. Aurora took a deep breath as her power rumbled through her veins, "oh god."

      Eleven closed her eyes as blood leaked from her nose. Aurora watched as the ends of the gates slowly shifted, closing in slowly. The blonde almost grinned as she watched Eleven proudly. Eleven raised another hand and the gate began to close faster.

      Then the clicking started.

      Aurora and Hopper spun around, watching as demo-dogs jumped on the elevator. Hopper shot them without hesitation, Aurora whimpered as Hopper pulled the trigger again, only he had no bullets left.

      "Shit," Hopper called, pulling his hand gun from the holster, "kid, I could really use your help right about now."

      Aurora nodded, eyes almost comically wide, before she closed them. Calling upon the power in her veins as she remember the lessons she had to endure with her aunts. Each of them had a strength, and while they had no power themselves, they had grown up surrounded by powerful humans.

      She called upon her father's will. She knew that Owen's was right, she was like her father and mother. She dog-eared her pages because she was told her dad did that, she writes tasks on her arm because that's what her mother would do. She constantly takes photos to document everything because her parents left her a scrapbook from their entire life from when they had met. She was made up of two people that loved each other with everything in themselves, and it ended up killing them. But Aurora wasn't her parents, she was just a mosaic of them. And that is where her power stemmed from. 

      Her emotions surrounding her parents swirled around in her mind as she called her powers to her, before almost surrounding Eleven and Hopper in a mind bubble. Then she forced her power out. Without a specific outlet, her power escaped from every corner. Hopper and Eleven were untouched as demo-dogs fell from the walls to the ground, all of them asleep. Hopper shot at the ones that hadn't fully succumbed before shouting to Eleven, "Kid, you might need to hurry."

      Aurora turned around slightly, watching as a shadow reached out from the gate, reaching for Eleven. The girl screamed, and then it went silent.

      Elevens legs had caved in, and she found herself in Hoppers embrace as the man held her tightly. He whispered things to the sobbing girl as Aurora lowered herself to the ground, head pounding as sleep crept into her skull. This time she accepted it with open arms.

⋆ ★ ⋆

      THE NEXT TIME SHE woke up, she was back in the hospital. It was unnecessary and quite frankly annoying for her. The first time, Aurora was alone, but now her friends were surrounding her — all of them playing Uno across her bed.

      "I do hope Mike isn't cheating again," she whispered, and the party jumped up, all of them clambering to pulling the girl into a hug first. Will looked better, Lucas and Max were holding hands, Dustin was Dustin — though he seemed like he had grown a bit taller in the past two days and Mike had tears in his eyes.

      The four kids nodded after each of them gave a hug, before Dustin mumbled an excuse to get them all to leave, leaving Mike and Aurora alone.

      "You said you wouldn't die," Mike whispered.

      "Well...I didn't die."

      "And yet, here you are," Mike gestured around her, "in a hospital bed, again."

      "Mike Wheeler," Aurora grinned teasingly, "are you worried for me?"

      Mike scoffed, "of course I am. Rory, I'm in love with you and I don't think I could handle losing you. And watching Hopper lead you out of the lab with scratches on you, while you were unconscious, I felt helpless." Mike paused for a moment, "why are you lookin' at me like that?"

      "You love me?"

      Mike turned red, "'course I love you, Rory." Then the boy made a bold move, and bent down to kiss the girl. She didn't have her strawberry lipgloss on or her strawberry perfume but Mike didn't mind, all he cared about was his girlfriend right in front of him. Safe.
Aurora got out of the hospital a day later. Even with a month of recovery and rest, she had had to beg her aunts to let her attend the Snow Ball, and they did under the circumstance that Mary and Fauna would be allowed to chaperone.

      ( Mike still hadn't asked her to the dance, he was under the assumption that because they were dating, they would go together. Aurora had asked Eleven to be her date. Maybe she did it out of a panic, but Aurora didn't want to show up without a date and expect to just hang around Mike the entire time, even if they were boyfriend and girlfriend. )

      Aurora looked like she had on Halloween, her costume had been hemmed short, now brushing on her thighs as she and Eleven walked in arm and arm. Auroras hair had been left down, and instead of a flower crown, she had glitter sprinkled on her hair, and she was finally wearing heals.

      Eleven looked even prettier — something that Aurora reminded her about even few seconds — with her quarter sleeve blue dress and her red bow Aurora had personally picked and tied for the girl. Her hair was cut a bit shorter, and Eleven had pulled back from the hair gel, but overall El looked beautiful. And when they walked into the gymnasium, Aurora almost thought that Mike thought she did too.

      The boy had stood up when Aurora and Eleven entered, he had watched El for a moment, before his eyes fell to his girlfriend. A grin broke across his face as he watched the two girls.

      Eleven noticed Mike watching her sister and she paused for a moment, "go get your boy." Eleven grinned, before lightly shoving her towards Mike.

      Aurora let a blush cover her cheeks as she and Mike met in the middle, "you look beautiful."

      "I think you say that an awful lot, Wheeler." Aurora grinned, as she placed her hands on his shoulder and they slowly began dancing to the slow song playing around them.

      "Well," Mike grinned as a blush coated his cheeks, "I feel like you need to hear it. No matter how many times I tell you how beautiful you look, it doesn't truly compare to how beautiful you actually are. I don't think any word could describe you, any phrase would do you an injustice, because you are breathtaking and I am so glad that I get to call you my girlfriend."

      "Mike," Aurora huffed a breath, "I'm supposed to be the sappy one in the relationship," Aurora grinned a pressed a kiss to the boys lips, "if I could be anymore romantic, I think you look extremely handsome in your suit. I know you look uncomfortable, but I quite like the suit look on you."

      Aurora lended into the boy, pressing her head to his chest, as he wrapped an arm around her waist. They slowly shifted their weight to the song, but it was more like a moving hug. Aurora didn't want to leave his embrace.

      "Last year," Mike spoke up and Aurora glanced up at him, "I really wanted to kiss you when I gave you that necklace."

      She brought a hand to her neck, her fingers brushing on the metal pendent, "Well, if it counts, so did I." Mike smiled and with her reassurance, he place shia hands to her cheeks and pulled the girl into a kiss. 

      Aurora didn't care about anything in that moment. No Hopper, no Upside Down, no powers, no dying. Just Mike Wheeler and his lips on hers.

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( LET ME SPEAK : )

when i went back to write this episode,
i was really in my feels, so i added a lot
more about rorys parents and i like it,
because yeah, her parents were bitches
but like it or not, you have traits from
them, and rory had finally chosen to
accept them!!!! it's so cute i'm crying
BUT SEASON TWO IS OVER!!!!!!!!!!!
which also means i have to write season
three... so that should be up by like end
of may:((

credit goes to fivehxrgreeves