Work Text:
The Storyteller’s eyes widened and gleamed at the sight that he could not as much let himself ever dream of. He hadn’t missed the faintest of freckles that now danced on the once spotless face his heart had hungered for - each speckle sitting proudly like a hushed wrinkle of time. But none of it mattered now. He knew that face anywhere.
He knew his Mage.
T̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶u̶n̶ ̶g̶l̶o̶w̶e̶d̶
T̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶u̶n̶ ̶s̶h̶i̶n̶e̶d̶
T̶h̶e̶ ̶S̶t̶o̶r̶y̶t̶e̶l̶l̶e̶r̶̶
T̶h̶e̶ ̶M̶a̶g̶e̶
The Mage
Mike dropped his pen in surrender, burying his face into his hands as it rattled on his half-beaten desk with an unceremonious rattle. He had rewritten this scene a thousand times with a thousand words, but this was always where he fell flat.
This was always the one happy ending he just couldn’t write. No matter how hard he tried.
He could feel the sting rising in his throat again. He swallowed the forming lump as a jarring ring filled the barren, musty room he holed himself up in.
Mike dragged his feet over to the end table by his bedside, half-regretting his decision to give out this hotel’s number. He should’ve expected this.
His voice had levelled as the receiver met his ear. “Hello?”
“Good afternoon, Mr. Wheeler. You have a call from a ‘Will Byers’. Should I transfer the line?”
The groan Mike expected to suppress never came. “Yeah, that’d be great. Thank you.”
He settled himself on the edge of his mattress as he waited for the line to connect, unsure if the surge in his stomach was a rise in his nerves or an ache for relief. Maybe it was a bit of both.
“Hey.” His best friend finally breathed through the line.
“Hey.” Mike muttered back, unable to mask some of the melancholy laced in his tone. “Did Lucas give you this number?”
“He did, he did. So…Niagara Falls, huh?”
Mike grimaced. “How did you know?”
A half-hearted snicker echoed over the line. “It was just a hunch,” Will said. “My mom said that there isn’t too much out in the 7-1-6 area code anyways.”
Mike’s shoulders slumped down. “Heh. I’m nearby it, yeah. You’re in Hawkins?”
“Yeah, I just flew in last night. Lucas and Max already dragged me to the movies.”
Mike could almost picture it. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, we were gonna see some sort of comedy but Dustin insisted that we all watched that movie he’s obsessed with.”
Mike pondered for a second, and his brows furrowed. “The Fifth Element?”
Will perked up. “That’s the one!”
“That came out like, this past summer. He made me watch it with him when I visited in September.”
“He made me and Lucas watch it again because Max never saw it!”
A smile nearly tugged at the corner of Mike’s mouth as his best friend’s chuckle echoed through the call.
“So…” Will began, “Have you been writing your sequel to Hellfire’s Hollow? You have your ‘I was just writing’ voice on.”
“Hah,” Mike smirked. “Yeah, umm, I am. In bursts here and there…I was just journaling before you called though.”
“How long are you gonna be out there?”
Mike’s lips pursed as he heard the unspoken question underneath. “I’m not entirely sure,” he answered honestly. “I just need to explore up here for a bit. But I’ll be back on time.”
“It’s only a little over a week away. You should probably get a ticket sooner rather than later.”
Mike’s eyes darted to his view of the tree lines from the hotel window. They were harsh and uneven, with only a few scattered dried leaves hanging on to signal October’s end. “I know. I’ll figure something out. Don’t worry, I won't miss it.”
He couldn’t imagine missing it, after all, as much as he wanted to find her. The gathering felt a little different every year, and it was never necessarily anything too eventful. But it was the one time where everyone always cleared their schedules to come together. To be together. To honor everything that happened ever since that one fateful day everything changed, and perhaps even to pretend everything could go back to the way things were. Nancy, Jonathan, Steve, and Robin had apparently come up with the idea nearly a decade ago when they were planning their own meetups, and it had been a tradition ever since:
A time to bring the whole party back together in Hawkins, Indiana. In his parents’ spacious home. Much to his father’s delight.
And like clockwork, the same annual, haunting thought struck his mind:
It was another year where he did not find her.
“Are you going to be able to stay a little longer this year?”
Mike blinked. “I stayed for a whole weekend last year.”
“A day and a half,” Will corrected calmly. “And then you were off to Scotland.”
“Will,” Mike groaned, exasperated, “It was a business trip.”
“Do you really have to keep going on all these trips, though? It’s like you’re always going somewhere. Somewhere far away.”
Mike pulled off his glasses before they could fog any further. The stinging was coming back.
A beat of silence. He opened his mouth to say something, but immediately clammed up. His hesitation lingered for a moment before his best friend gently poked at his chipped armor.
“...How long are you going to keep looking for her?”
Mike’s body stiffened at the words, even as they were wrapped with upmost compassion. “I’m not-”, he spat out defensively before pausing again, “I’m just…travelling for inspiration,” he weakly put. “Nature helps.”
“Mike.”
It was only one word. His name. But the steadiness in Will’s voice had said it all: he wasn’t buying any excuses.
“I-I have to go. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
“Mike, wait. Wait!”
Mike shut his eyes and his fingers nearly turned to claws as he mustered up the willpower to bring the receiver back to his ear.
“Mike!”
He exhaled loudly. “I’m still here.”
Relief seemed to wash over Will. “I-I’m sorry, I’m just… I know this is hard to talk about, especially during this time of the year.” A sense of urgency spilled into Will once more. “But I don’t want you to carry this alone - none of us do. We all miss her, we really do. And I believe you when you say that she might be alive-”
“She is alive.” Mike interjected.
Will seemed to move past the interjection, as if expecting it. “-but you can’t-...”
Mike threw his head up toward the ceiling, frustrated to hear Will on the verge of tears. He knew this was coming, too - his loved ones would express something akin to this every once in awhile.
“...no I…” Will’s voice trailed in the distance. “i-it’s Mike…”
And it did stir the guilt in him. The last thing he wanted to do was to make any of them worry. He seriously tried what they always suggested for a little while: he focused on his path, just as they fought to do, too. He made room for new opportunities and tried not to miss any of the good moments that came to him.
“...ive m…the phone…”
The stories that he once conjured in a game were now captured in spines of books with his name etched on the cover. And sometimes, when his days were at their hardest, he’d find a way to eventually get out of bed because of the very advice that was about to be repeated to him.
“Dad-”
Mike came to as the phone seemed to pick up on movement and shifts registering from the other side. He heard no one other than Montalk’s Chief of Police greet him a moment later.
“Hopper.” Mike stated bluntly.
“You don’t have a ticket home yet? What are ya’ trying to stay stuck up there to freeze your butt off?”
“Hopper, I’m fine.”
“Your mom’s worried about you, you know. You barely got here when you were frockling in Switzerland.”
“Well I’m in the country now.” Mike retorted.
“Yeah, you’re just crossing off any place on the globe that has waterfalls, right, kid?”
A pang in Mike’s chest seethed as he tried his best to monitor himself. He heard a sigh from Hopper and assumed he was doing the same.
“Alright…just, come on.” Hopper muttered. “Don’t make this any harder than it needs to be.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mike lied through his teeth, unconvincingly.
“I know what you’re really doing all this for. It’s time to let her go, kid,” Hopper breathed shakily through the phone. “She would want you to find your happy ending, too.”
Mike’s fist curled in his lap as he shook his head. He was glad Hopper couldn’t see.
He wanted to be angry. He wanted to loosen his grip on his careful tongue. He wanted to ask Hopper how he could give up on his own daughter so easily, how they all could do so. But…just as Hopper’s voice broke, so did his fleeting anger. He nearly folded over himself, recalling how Hopper had once told him to choose his path.
Mike clenched his jaw before grunting in agreement wordlessly. He knew Hopper meant well - he knew everyone meant well - but he just couldn’t help himself. No matter how stubborn or idiotic he looked, he just couldn’t help himself. He would keep searching.
Because he still believed.
T̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶u̶n̶ ̶c̶a̶s̶c̶a̶d̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶l̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶M̶a̶g̶e̶’̶s̶ ̶e̶a̶r̶t̶h̶y̶ ̶l̶o̶c̶k̶s̶.̶ ̶
T̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶u̶n̶ ̶c̶a̶s̶c̶a̶d̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶l̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶M̶a̶g̶e̶’̶s̶ ̶c̶h̶e̶s̶t̶n̶u̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶i̶r̶.̶
T̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶u̶n̶'̶s̶ ̶r̶a̶y̶s̶ ̶c̶a̶s̶c̶a̶d̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶l̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶M̶a̶g̶e̶’̶s̶ ̶c̶h̶e̶s̶t̶n̶u̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶i̶r̶.̶
The cascading sunrise engulfed the pair as they held each other’s gaze. Undeniable grins washed over their faces as they threw caution to the wind, rushing to an inseparable embrace.
“I
Mike tapped at the lined paper before him impatiently. What could the Storyteller even possibly say in a situation like this?
Perhaps this ending wasn’t right either. It never was.
A reunion in a tavern, where their favorite melody from their first dance plays. A sudden knock at the door. A happenstance meeting. None of them fit.
None of them were real.
He had even searched every corner he could think of on this side of Niagara Falls…like some dumb tourist. And once again, he came up empty.
Once again, he was leaving without full certainty that every stone was unturned.
Once again, none of the locals could identify her based on an outdated picture from a now abandoned shopping mall.
Once again, he wondered if he had just missed her - whether because he came too late, or left too early.
He swiped away the lone tear that escaped him, smearing the ink. It earned a scoff from him as he attempted to salvage the page.
“Excuse me, sir?"
Mike glanced up from his work, where a timid waitress with mousy hair was clasping her hands together somewhat nervously before him. She seemed to be a little younger than him.
“Yeah?”
“I’m so sorry to say, but we’re actually out of waffles this morning.
“Oh.” Mike said, dumbfounded. He dressed his face with warmth a second later. “That’s really no big deal.”
His response seemed to put the waitress at ease. “Yeah,” she huffed with a slight giggle, “Thank you for understanding. They weren’t exactly made in house anyways, but the rest of our breakfast items are and I can get you any of those!”
Mike cocked a playful eyebrow as he took a sip from his coffee. “You guys make everything except the waffles?”
The waitress’s smile returned, and her posture evened out. “Long story short? Our waffle maker broke, and we’re waiting on the new one. So we’ve just been substituting our waffles with Eggos.”
As the waitress handed Mike back a menu he had selected from several minutes ago, he couldn’t help reminiscence. He had admittedly started eating waffles again for a reason, after all.
“I didn’t realize Eggos were that popular out here,” Mike lightly joked.
The waitress briefly scanned the room, then leaned toward him. “Well, between you and me? It’s mostly been this one woman who’s been coming here lately. She’s asked for them every day and would sometimes get a whole stack with a bunch of toppings.”
Something flickered in Mike’s heart.
Something he didn’t want to fully let himself feel.
“A Triple Decker Eggo Extravaganza?!”
“A what?”
Mike’s breath unsteadied somewhat as a surge of electricity surfed through his limbs, as if awakening each corner of himself that had sulked moments ago. His stomach began to flutter and tighten - as if it were ready to do flips. And a long since buried excitement began to pour into his mind, his heart, his gut.
He had faith…but, this was different.
This was hope. A shred of hope he had been dying for.
His voice stumbled, coming out nearly an octave higher. “T-This woman. D-Did she, did she look anything like this?”
Mike haphazardly dug in the pockets of his hoodie, desperately searching for his wallet that suddenly wanted to play a game of Hide and Seek.
“Hold on, I-”
The waitress waited patiently as he worked to empty them. His hands frantically swam around before he yanked it over his head and off his body to examine from another angle. It then occurred to him that he also had jean pockets, and he almost tore his wallet in two once he realized it had been hanging out there.
“Here, like this!” He exclaimed, pulling the picture of her and Max’s fashion photoshoot from Starcourt. “The brunette.” He explained eagerly, speaking too quickly to care. “This was taken years ago, but did she look like this?”
The waitress squinted her eyes and grabbed the photograph for a closer look, studying it what felt like an agonizing amount of time to Mike. “I think so, yeah! Do you know h-?”
“When was she last here?” Mike burst out, unable to contain himself.
The waitress seemed to be taken aback by his enthusiasm, shooting him a puzzled look as she complied. “Well, an hour or so ago, actual-?”
Mike shot up from his seat.
“Did she say where she was going?!”
.
.
.
.
.
.
He had circled the surrounding streets until his calves burned and his breath rasped thin.
He retraced the same sidewalks as if repetition alone could will her into being.
He was too close now. Closer than he had ever been, and probably ever will be.
He stopped strangers mid-stride, pleading and begging through his hoarseness for information with a measly photograph he clung to more now than ever. He asked them if they had seen her, if she had gone this way or that, if they remembered her face at all. But it was all to no avail.
He ducked into souvenir shops and corner stores, scanned cafes and overlooked rails, and even paced around where the mist clung low and cold as he got closer to the water. And when words finally failed him - when the answers all blurred into the same apologetic shake of a head - he resorted to wandering into the surrounding nature preserves, calling out her name into the open air, over and over again, as if it might carry across the roar of the falls, as if she might hear it and turn. His voice cracked, then thinned, then broke entirely, but still he searched, stubborn and tireless, long past the point of reason, long past the moment where anyone else would have stopped.
His mind was restless and on the verge of breaking as the sun drew closer to the ground. Had he lost her? Had he made a wrong turn somewhere? Did she leave this town for good?
Eventually, his steps began to falter.
It wasn’t all at once, but he was pushing his limits, and it made him curse at himself. It started with a drag of his heel. Then the fire in his legs dulled into something heavier, and sank into his bones until each motion felt like lifting a lead-filled weight he was losing strength to carry. His lungs burned every time he drew breath, and the air tasted damp and metallic as the roar of the falls grew louder, closer, and impossible to ignore.
He slowed, then stopped entirely.
The path beneath his feet narrowed as the trees pressed in tighter, with branches arching over his head. And for a moment, he considered turning back.
He could call someone at home. Anyone. He could tell them he needed more time. That he was certain he was close to finding her.
But the thought curdled in his chest before he could commit to it. He imagined what the impact would be - even if it worked to his whim. He imagined how it would raise their spirits before sharpening into something that could be so fragile and dangerous. Or worst of all - what might happen if the wrong ears tuned into the call - the ears that took her away from him.
He couldn’t say anything yet. Not over the phone. And not without certainty.
The idea left him hollow and heavy all at once.
He pushed forward along the trail, letting it guide him as his thoughts tangled and unraveled in equal measure. The enclosed path eventually loosened its grip as the trees began to thin and brush began to give way to open ground. And then, Mike’s breath was knocked out of him in an entirely different way.
He stepped into an open stretch of land where the sky seemed impossibly wide, mesmerized by the scenery before him.
The sun lingered low on the horizon, pouring warm gold and burning orange across the open sky, its light full and radiant as it unfurled in every direction. Soft yields of pink traced along the delicate, stratus clouds that married into the sky as he counted three strong, rhythmic streams from a distance. Each waterfall glistened luminously, catching the reverence of the vivid sunset in its own way. One shimmered brilliant and white, blazing where the sun met it head-on. Another glowed softer, steeped in honey and rose as mist curled and lifted, turning water into light and light into something almost alive. The third fell deeper and steadier, streaked with flashes of gold that flickered and vanished, endless and patient all at once. Together, they felt timeless, powerful, unyielding, and impossibly beautiful. The unruly grass beneath his feet gleamed faintly, bathed in color, and the world around him seemed to slow for a moment.
And it - more than anything - undid him.
An indescribable grief awoke from its suppressed slumber, swelling inside of him faster than he realized. Her face filled his mind in flashes and all at once. He thought of her smile, of her laugh, of the way she could summon fire to her determined eyes to fight for what it right no matter how high the stakes were. His vision blurred as tears gathered, slipping free before he could stop them.
And he let them fall. Silently.
She would have loved this, he thought, the realization aching and gentle all at once. She should be here.
Mike dragged in a shaky breath and wiped at his face, embarrassed by his own softness even as it overtook him. He didn’t have a plan anymore. He wasn’t sure where to go next, let alone have a clue on how to find any semblance of a trace of her. But he would keep believing.
He turned on his heel, taking one last look at the three waterfalls.
He would keep believing, and-
His body went still all at once.
The sound of the gushing currents dulled into a distant, hollow rush. His pulse throbbed in his throat and drowned out the world around him, and his vision swam as if his body were bracing for impact. He felt suddenly unsteady, like the ground beneath him had shifted without warning.
He didn’t think.
He didn’t hesitate.
He broke into a run.
His fatigue couldn’t have felt further from him. He tore downhill messily, rushing faster and faster to make up for every missed second. He ran faster than the nights he sprinted through the woods. Faster than the nights he ran from damned demodogs and unruly creatures he’d fight a hundred times over just for this moment.
He ran like the ground might give way beneath him.
He ran like if he stopped, she would disappear.
He ran like this was the only thing that had ever mattered.
Because this time, he wasn’t running from the darkness.
He was running toward the light.
Towards what was unmistakably, without a doubt, the back of the girl he loved.
Her voice hit him like a shockwave.
“EL!”
“MIKE!”
That was all it took.
She surged to her feet just as he reached her, and he threw himself forward with a broken sound in his throat as his arms wrapped around her. The impact knocked away her breath as they collided, and he buried his face into her shoulder as an uncontrollable wail left him. His knees gave out as he felt her - he felt her - coil herself around him. He let himself weep as he dropped to the ground clinging to her waist, gripping her like the world might tear her away again if he loosened his hold even a smidge.
His grip tightened as she followed, collapsing into him without restraint.
“Mike-” El’s voice cracked as her own tears decorated her wettened face. “Mike, is this - are you-?” She pulled back just enough to see his face, and her cold hands trembled as they cupped his cheeks. Her thumbs brushed at the tears rolling down his face, and it only made more fall. “Is this real? Are you real?”
He couldn’t speak. He only nodded frantically, pressing his forehead to hers with a chuckle that she quickly mirrored. He pressed his lips on hers and pulled her in closer, and kissed her again just as hungrily when he realized he needed to breathe first. Another sob wracked through him as he inhaled sharply, drinking in an earthly scent he missed so dearly. It grounded him instantly, violently, like proof his body understood even if his mind still struggled to catch up.
She was here, and she was alive.
When he finally pulled his face away from the crook of her neck, he poured his heart out to her helplessly.
“I never gave up on you. I knew you weren’t really gone. I knew you had to make everyone think you died. But I believed, I-”. his hands found her face, “I believed you were going to find a way out. I believed you were alive. I believed I could find you again, I-I’ve been looking for you for so long, for-”
“Two thousand nine hundred twenty-two days.” El finished, a bittersweet smile bathing over her expression.
“Two thousand nine hundred twenty-two days.” Mike repeated breathlessly, pulling her against him once more.
“I bffmfm fmm.”
He slackened his hold. “W-What?”
El giggled as she pulled her face away from the smother of his chest. “I believed too.” She said softly. “I believed…I believed we would find e-each other l-like this, w-with w-with the water…I-I read your stories…I w-went everywhere I could think of w-with w-water, I…”
He couldn’t take it. He squeezed her tightly and selfishly.
“I was so scared Mike. I was so scared and alone.”
“I’m so sorry. I’m so, so, so, so, so sorry it took me so long.” Mike blubbered against her.
El’s voice danced at a higher pitch. “I-It’s not your fault!” Her fingers twisted in the fabric of his jacket as her voice wavered. “I’m sorry I tricked everyone. I-I didn’t want t-to lie, I just didn’t want anyone to ever get hurt again. Not you. Not any more new kids. A-And I-”
“Hey hey hey,” Mike murmured urgently, pulling her in protectively. “Hey, no. Don’t - don’t do that. You don’t have to apologize. Not for that. Not for protecting people. Not for surviving.”
She fell against him at once as she succumbed to her sorrow, and he couldn’t help but lull her.
“You’re safe now. It’s going to be okay. We’re never going to get separated again. And we’ll go back home to everyone. To Joyce. To Hopper. To Will. To all our friends. To everyone. I promise you. Promise,” he repeated, barely containing himself as he finally uttered words that were only in his wildest fantasies.
She cried harder, nodding her head against him. “H-How are we going to? How can we live, w-with the military, with-”
“We’ll figure it out.” Mike interjected. “We did it before. We can do it again. A-And Hawkins isn’t the same anymore, it’s not being surveillanced. You can lean on us El, we’re not going to go anywhere. I can’t not be with you.”
Her face met his. “Me neither.”
“I love you so much,” Mike breathed. “I love you more than anyone and anything.”
“I love you more than anyone and anything,” El countered.
Mike let out a shaky laugh of disbelief after she had leaned up and pecked him. “God,” he murmured, smiling through damp lashes. “I can’t believe this is real.”
She flashed a grin at him before it began to fade. “Is everyone…still in Hawkins?”
“Not exactly. We kind of scattered,” he admitted. “College. Jobs. Life.” He shrugged lightly. “But we all come back. Every year. There’s a reunion coming up - actually, really soon.” His smile widened, something bright and boyish breaking through. “I had a plane ticket, but I doubt anyone will care if I show up with a rental car instead if you’re in the passenger’s seat.”
El let out a small, breathless laugh. “When do we leave?”
Mike grinned. “We can leave whenever you’re ready” he said, then paused theatrically. “Provided we do one thing first.”
She tilted her head, curious. “What?”
He reached into his bag, fingers fumbling for a moment before pulling out a mixtape he had labelled “For El, Love Mike”, which was somewhat smudged from years of handling. “Can you tell me if this is good for the drive?”
She examined the cased CD for a second, then smiled brightly. “It’s perfect.”
He held out a hand to her, and they rose together as she clasped it tightly.
“Let’s go then.”
He shared one last look at the waterfalls with her, and began to lead the way home.
And couldn’t wait to see her reaction once she heard the first song - Every Breath You Take.
And for the first time in years, as the sunlight hushed through the sky, he could finally feel it.
The happy ending of the Storyteller and the Mage started here.