bel·lig·er·ence

noun

aggressive or warlike behavior.

Despite Dustin's quick removal of the receiver from the base, and despite Nancy yanking the phone from the wall -the Byers bill for new phones just went up again- it wasn't enough to prevent the danger from happening. Their cover was blown, for the phone could be anyone's, but it wouldn't take long for Will to piece together that he was in a small room, similar to the shed in his own backyard. The monsters were coming, everyone knew it, but no one was prepared.

Seconds later, Joyce, Mike, Hopper and Jonathan were back in the house. Hopper bee-lined it straight to Emilia and stood in front of her in a protective manner. His arms spread backwards to herd everyone behind him, as if he could somehow protect everyone from the imminent threat lurking just outside the door.

Already they could be heard, crawling towards them, only meager walls and doors separating them from everyone inside. Hopper handed a gun to Jonathan, but Nancy took it with a fierce determination to protect everyone, particularly her little brother. Emilia felt the bravery radiating off Nancy and admitted in her mind that she envied Nancy right then. Unafflicted with twisted ankles and fear, Nancy was a survivor.

"Everybody stay behind me," Hopper demanded.

Emilia didn't want to see Hopper get torn apart first, because there was no way out of this. This wasn't survival anymore, this was going down with one final fight. Each and every one of them was about to be torn apart by monsters that never should have existed in Hawkins, in the realm of Earth. Emilia took one slow glance around her, absorbing all the fear in the faces of those surrounding her, she felt so much pain for all of them.

Because no one was coming to save them this time.

Jonathan dug his nails into his hands, then walked over to Emilia; if he was going to die, he wasn't going to die without her knowing that he loved her. Closer to her than he had been in some time, the proximity between them tense but powerful, he leaned in close. And she let him. His mouth by her ear, the smell of her hair reminding him of all the mistakes he had recently made, he wanted to embrace her but knew that they didn't have the time. With a hand on her shoulder, the other gently touching her wrist, he whispered with a pained voice, "I love you, Emilia."

"Don't say it like this is the end," she whispered back.

He said it again, this time stronger, bolder, with so much more intent. "I love you, Emilia."

"I love you, Jonathan," she looked up at him, but she knew they weren't going to kiss. Even though she asked him to say it like it wasn't the end, they both accepted that it was in fact the end. There was nothing beyond this, and so with their issues settled because they no longer mattered, and their feelings expressed and revealed to the world, they would go out in their own way.

It was with belligerence that the monsters came, and yet they had not come yet. A yelp from the other side of the door, followed by a loud thud changed the tides. Although their were confused faces all around Emilia, she knew what -or rather- whom was on the other side of the door. She stood taller, the pain in her ankle throbbing and yet she was able to completely ignore it as she walked towards the door. Hopper threw out his arm and stopped her, preventing her from getting closer to what he assumed was danger. But she glanced at him, and in her eyes she told him that they were not to fear who was on the other side, who had impossibly come to their aid.

The door opened on its own, and in stepped El.

If Emilia hadn't been so overwhelmed with joy that she was still alive, she would have been taken aback by her new, flashy appearance. Everyone in the room was stunned and frozen where they stood, as if El's presence paused time for a moment. However, they were all simply in shock, either by the fact El was alive, or by the fact that they were all still alive thanks to her.

It was Mike who made the first move, the one who adored El and whom El adored right back.

"Eleven," Mike said as he raced towards her.

"Mike," El replied, hugging him as hard as she could. Despite her tough looking new look, she was still the same El.

After their embrace, Mike told her, "I never gave up on you, I called you every night."

Emilia reached her hand down and searched blindly for Jonathan's hand. Watching this heartfelt moment between two friends, this young love before them, it made her realize that everything else was just noise. They had to fight through the hard times in order to get to the times when the sun seemed like it would never stop shining. If Mike and El could still care for one another after so much time apart, time thinking she was dead, then Jonathan and Emilia could get through whatever junk they had to sort. Her hand found his, and she squeezed.

He squeezed back.

"Why didn't you tell me you were there?" Mike asked El with a desperation to his voice.

"Because I wouldn't let her," Hopper informed them, walking towards El. "What is this? Where the hell have you been?"

Emilia broke from Jonathan's hand. "Hopper, don't."

"Stay out of this, Emilia," Hopper's voice was cold, then he embraced El, smoothing out the tension in the room. Until Mike pieced it together than Hopper had been 'hiding' her.

"You've bene hiding her this whole time!" Mike shoved Hopper, causing the latter to turn with an overbearing demeanour.

"Let's talk, alone." Hopper growled out the words, but he was simply trying to maintain a level head, trying to remain calm in a situation where he was going to have to talk down a kid from overreacting, to stop monsters, to save Will, to save Hawkins. Hopper had more on his plate than anyone in that room, even Joyce.

But he proved in that moment of remorse towards Mike's pain that he was good to the core, that he cared, that these kids were the reason he bothered getting up and fighting monsters. Him and Mike disappeared into a back room somewhere down the hall, and then Emilia was free to embrace El.

El came to her, hugged her tightly. "Sister."

"I was so worried about you," Emilia told her, hugging her small frame in her bulky jacket.

When they broke, El offered a half smile, then wiped the blood from her nose. "Do not worry."

"Well, we've got other things to worry about now. All the people I love are in this house, and right now that's more than I could have asked for." Emilia smiled. "You went and found your mother, didn't you?"

"Yes," El admitted.

"You'll have to tell me all about it when we get through this."

"Wait a minute!" Dustin shouted, then accusingly pointed at Emilia. "You knew too?!"

"I live with Hopper, what did you expect?" Emilia grinned.

"I knew too," Steve admitted, then realized he should have kept his mouth shut.

Jonathan eyed him, "What? How?"

"Slip of the tongue, it doesn't matter. Because Steve kept it quiet, and I can't thank him enough for that," Emilia replied, closing down the tension and the confrontation before it could take over. The monsters were gone, but not gone for good.

Yet.

Wattpad just changed so that I now have to download the GIF's I want to use and then upload them from my computer? Why can't I just use the URL wtf. 

Question of the Day: Do you think Mike overreacted about El through the whole series? Like, he knew her for a week and he mourned for her for almost a year. Seems a little obsessive in my honest opinion.