theirproject:
SHE FEELS HIS PRESENCE BEFORE SHE SEES HIM. her eyes fly open and look around, but all she sees at first is the grave stone. the solid object marking the death of the person who mattered the most to her. tears are falling from her eyes again, and a hand rests on his name. rest in peace mike wheeler - if she could go back in time and change all of it she would. she would have stopped him from running in front of her. she would have not let him come with her and hopper. she would have …. she would have done so many things differently.
SHE HEARS HIS VOICE ALMOST IMMEDIATELY. it’s like a shiver down her spine, and jane turns her head to look. she wants to say it’s all in her mind. to say it’s just because she misses him so much. but it isn’t in her head. she sees him, clear as day, right in front of her. he’s wearing the same clothes he was in when he died. but they weren’t tattered. they weren’t bloody. they, like himself, were whole and new. it was him. it was actually him.
SHE’S SPEECHLESS FOR A GOOD AMOUNT OF TIME. slowly and shakily, jane stands on her feet. her black dress is wrinkled and torn from sleeping outside. she had leaves and grass strewn about her hair, now it’s original curls of brown. she didn’t feel like styling it now that he was gone. jane doesn’t even notice the blood falling from her nose. she’s not even realizing she’s using her powers. her eyes are so full of disbelief and happiness, she doesn’t care about anything else.
SECONDS LATER SHE’S HUGGING HIM. ❛ mike ! ❜ he even smelled like him. her arms are squeezing him as tightly as she can, her tears now happy mixed with sad. she had no idea where he came from, but she didn’t care. her fingers are digging into his back, trying to hold him as tightly as she could. it was him - really him. he was right here, in front of her. she could feel him and smell him - maybe mike wheeler wasn’t dead after all.
everything felt so WEIRD. the sensation upon his skin and throughout his body but none of it mattered. mike knew he should try and figure out what was happening and why death had not taken hold of him but none of it mattered. the only thing that mattered was the girl who stood in front of him. he remembered the last time that he saw her, being held back by hopper as she screamed and cried and tried to get to him as the life left his body. that felt like ages ago even though he knew it was mere a few days. still, being reunited with her was the most magical thing on the planet.
he rushes forward just as she does, arms enveloping the young girl in the tightest hug he could muster. “ you’re okay, you’re okay, ” it’s a whisper that he repeats over and over and over. when he had been killed by the demidog, the only thing that mattered was that he had SAVED JANE. there was no other reason he had done such a thing. no other person he would die for. but she was special. she was his best friend, his platonic soulmate, someone he could not live without.
it takes him a long moment to pull back and look at her, a sweet smile on his lips. gentle fingers pull the leaves and twigs from her hair. “ you haven’t been taking care of yourself, ” mike knew her well enough that he could tell when jane had just given up on such a thing as taking care of herself, and he could only think that it was his fault. he had DIED. that was enough to shut her down.
and just like that, it was as if what had happened didn’t happen. they were right back to mike taking care of jane and her being, hopefully, happy. once all of the twigs are out of her hair, he even takes it upon himself to fix the loose hairs going everywhere. “ are you okay? i...i know you’re gonna tell me what i did was stupid but i had to. i had to protect you. ”
