Nail To The Coffin - S3 - Chapter 7
Warnings: fighting, canon-violence, blood
Pairing: Steve Harrington x f!Byers!Reader
Word Count: 7038
𝐀𝐍: 𝘞𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘴! 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘛𝘖𝘎𝘌𝘛𝘏𝘌𝘙! 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘳𝘦𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦, 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘧𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘩𝘦
𝐀𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐟 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐎𝐎𝐂 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵! 🖤 🥀
Masterlist || Chapter 6 || Chapter 8
Things had gotten very rotten very fast.
Eleven had managed to make the connection with Billy and she had managed to reach the core of his memory that held the information they needed, finding out the source – Brimborn Steel Works factory.
But she got stuck and the Mind Flayer was able to take control, sending her a horrid message that shook her up.
“He said he was building something,” muttered Eleven tiredly and you sent her a pitying look. “That it was all for me.”
The girl had overworked herself to the bone today. She’s been at it for the whole day almost without a break and you were beginning to understand where Mike was coming from. True, she was her own person and the decision-making was up to her. But her powers were still an unknown, unstable variable that you were pretty sure even she didn’t know the full extent of or the weaknesses of. So Mike had the full right to worry about her getting some kind of mind damage. You worried too.
“Building something…is he talking about the flayed?” asked Max, looking at you, and you shook your head. Everyone had gathered in the room you were residing in so you could properly hear what was going on and participate if you had any kind of information.
“He…just wanted to use us as his foot soldiers. To do his bidding,” you whispered.
“So he’s building an army?”
“Yeah, but he’s not building this army to spread.”
“He’s building it to stop Eleven,” concluded Will and everyone looked at the girl.
“Last year, El closed the gate on him. That really pissed him off,” you added. “And the Mind Flayer now knows that she’s the only thing that can stop him. But if she’s out of the way-“
“Game over.”
“He also said he was gonna kill all of you,” she revealed and everyone’s blood ran cold as they shared uneasy looks, “Starting with you,” she gave you a sad look, making Jonathan and Will stand on edge, and you let out a dry chuckle.
“I suppose I managed to piss him off as much as you did with how I slipped through his fingers a couple of times. What a sore loser.”
“Yeah, well, that’s nice,” quipped Max. “Just peachy. We’re all targets.”
Everyone fell into silence after that, minds racing with the multiple possibilities, or lack thereof, to handle this situation when suddenly you felt a shudder rack your body.
“What is it?” asked Jonathan concerned.
“I…I-I don’t know. I just feel very out of it,” you stammered as you hugged yourself and rubbed your arms to fight off the chill you had gotten. “I’m not sure if it’s the withdrawal symptoms kicking in or…” you choked on your words, gulping nervously when you heard the faint sound of distant screeching.
And you weren’t the only one.
“Did you guys hear that?” asked Nancy as she marched to the windows and everyone shifted their attention from you to her.
“It’s just the fireworks.”
“Billy,” you whispered. “When he told you this…was it here, in this place?” you asked El with a shaky voice and the girl nodded. “Fuck,” your face blanched. “Guys…we need to get out of here.”
“What do you mean?”
“This is the same situation as before when Will was possessed. The Mind Flayer spied through him and found out that we were hiding back home. Remember? Now he spied through El. He knows we’re here!” you explained out of breath and as if on cue, Will’s hand shot to the back of his neck and he sent everyone a look they knew painfully well.
Everyone, except you, rushed outside after that and panic overtook them when they saw the huge monstrosity at the end of the pathway.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck! What do we do!?” yelled Eddie as his hands grabbed his hair. “Get in the cars!? Drive away!? Sounds like a plan!?”
“No way! Where are we supposed to go? That thing’s gonna chase us and eventually, it will catch up! It always does!” exclaimed Mike.
“At least it saved us the trouble of going to the factory and possibly falling into a trap in our attempt to attack it. We’ll fight it on our turf,” blurted out Nancy before she rushed to the shed, the others hot on her tail.
They hurriedly took whatever their hands could grab and sprinted back inside the cabin, quickly barricading the windows and other weak spots the monster could barge in from. Nancy took a shotgun, Jonathan grabbed an ax, and Eddie loaded his uncle’s gun.
“C’mon,” grunted Jonathan as he picked you up and carried you over to the small broom closet that Hopper used to store all kinds of things – now emptied thanks to your brother. It was the best hiding place because it was small and had no openings. “In you go,” he whispered as he lowered you down and you felt your feet touch the wooden floor.
“I don’t want to hide like a coward,” you looked at him with pleading eyes.
“You’re not a coward. You’re just in no condition to fight,” he reminded you softly, hand stroking your cheek. “If you were, I don’t doubt you would’ve kicked his ass. My sister is a badass like that,” he sent you a reassuring smile and you let out a breathy chuckle.
“Get away from the windows!” shouted Nancy at the kids and the two of you threw her a look before Jonathan focused back on you.
“Keep quiet and don’t move,” were his last words before he closed the door, shrouding you in darkness which didn’t help soothe your racing heart.
It also didn’t help that your senses were heightened and you could hear every little sound. Even the creaking of the lamp startled you. Being jumpy was an understatement.
The others weren’t feeling much different either.
Every sound of snarling made the hairs on their neck bristle.
Then there was the feeling of rumbling as the whole cabin shook under the creature’s foray. It made the plates clank against each other and some cups fall on the ground and shatter. A moment of silence passed, making everyone wonder where it had disappeared off to when one of its tentacle-vines broke through the wooden wall and went straight for the group that had gathered at the center of the house, causing them to scatter.
Jonathan let out a yell as he charged at it and delivered a strike with his ax, drawing blood and making it shriek. He did not stop trying to strike it again and again until the vine shot towards him and hit him, sending him flying against the wall.
It went after him again but this time it was Nancy who intervened by shooting at it until she ran out of ammo.
Then it was Eleven who used her powers to stop the tentacle from harming Nancy or anyone else. She managed to sever its head and it slumped on the ground, shrieking in pain, before it retreated out of the house.
But nothing was over yet and the tentacles just kept on coming and coming and Eleven struggled to keep them all at bay as she continuously cut them.
You had opened the door ever so slightly and watched everything unfold with a rapidly beating heart. Eventually, you reached a boiling point where the thought of standing and hiding while the others fought was physically painful.
You rushed out of the closet, rapid footsteps thumping against the wooden floor, as you made your way to Hopper’s room.
“Y/N, what are you doing?” yelled Jonathan over the chaos but you ignored him and threw open the curtain, storming into the bedroom. You let out shaky breaths as you opened one of the drawers where you knew Hopper was keeping a spare gun and quickly made sure that it was loaded and ready to shoot before limping back to the living area.
Just then, the monster itself broke through the roof and shot one of its vines, grabbing Eleven and pulling her up. She didn’t fall victim to the creature only because Max, Mike, Jonathan, and Will’s quick reactions saved her when they grabbed her by the arms on time.
You went by the kitchen counter and planted yourself on the spot, steadying your body so you weren’t shaking, and prepared to aim. Eddie, who had been watching the whole thing play out, glued to the wall and terrified, finally snapped out of his stupor and his trembling hands fumbled with the gun as he cursed under his breath.
“Shoot it!” yelled Jonathan while Nancy struggled to load the shotgun and point it at the monster. “Shoot it!”
The three of you shared a quick look before pulling the triggers and unleashing a series of bullets, going straight for the open mouth of the monster. It did little to harm it but at least it made it recoil. In the meantime, Lucas rushed to grab the fallen ax and with a battle cry he began landing blow after blow to the vine holding Eleven by the leg.
By then, your gun had run out of bullets and you stormed over to the group, hoping to help them out, when Lucas delivered the final blow and cut off the tentacle, causing everyone to fall to the ground. Your eyes darted between each person, inspecting if they were okay when you noticed the head of the tentacle still attached to El’s calf. You knelt on the ground and grabbed the head and with Mike’s help, you managed to pry it out of her, which made her scream in pain.
Before you had the chance to think of your next move against the alien, Eleven stood up and used her powers. With a scream full of rage she managed to split open the head of the monster and all you could do was watch in astonishment.
“Go, go, go!” yelled Nancy.
“Come on, come on, go! Hurry up!” mirrored her Jonathan as he ran to you and picked you in his arms while Max and Mike helped Eleven and the others opened the barricaded door.
Everyone sprinted outside and towards the vehicles – some getting into Eddie’s van while the others into Nancy’s car.
“Drive! Drive!” yelled Mike while Nancy started the car and shortly after, the vehicles were speeding away from the place, the roaring of the monster getting fainter and fainter.
“Ok, let’s stop here,” Jonathan pointed at the supermarket on their left and Nancy nodded, turning the wheel.
You, who were curled on Jonathan’s lap with your legs resting on Nancy’s lap, let out a groan at the yet another turn and jerk of the vehicle that shook up your body and made your bruises ache and your head get dizzier.
Everyone bolted out of the cars the moment they got parked and headed inside the building, carefully putting you and Eleven down on the tiled floor before gathering around you.
“Okay. Lemme see,” said Nancy as she knelt by the girl and slid the pant up, revealing a wound that was gushing blood, making everyone scrunch up their faces in sympathy and worry.
“What-What are you doing?” blurted out Max when Nancy was about to tend to the wound.
“I’m cleaning the wound.”
“No, first, we need to stop the bleeding, then clean, then disinfect, then bandage,” listed off Max and the older girl looked at her with surprise. “I skateboard, trust me.”
“It’s true. You can’t just pour disinfectant on an open, dirty wound. Take it from a person who suffered…quite a lot of such wounds,” you quipped as you shifted in your spot and straightened up some more so you could try and be of help to Max.
The girl silently handed you a cloth and you immediately put it over the wound, putting pressure on it.
“We’ll need warm water but I’m not sure how we’re gonna get that from here. Maybe we can settle for room temperature,” you told Max and she nodded.
“I agree. Also, we’ll need soap, washcloth, and a bowl,” she added and Nancy, Eddie, and Jonathan quickly marched away to search for the items while Lucas unzipped his bag and poured its contents on the floor.
“Does any of this help?” he asked and you could see Max restraining herself from snapping at him.
“No. As I said, soap, washcloth, and a bowl!”
Will cleared his throat and ushered the boy away from you, disappearing behind the aisles. Mike was the only one who stayed and held El’s hand to bring her some comfort.
“It’s gonna be ok, sweetie. Just hang in there a bit more,” you said a bit out of breath as your free hand went to caress El’s cheek and she gulped, nodding.
“You don’t seem very well either,” pointed out Max as she threw you a concerned look. “Did the withdrawal symptoms begin?”
“I-I…uh…I don’t know. ‘M not sure,” you shook your head as you removed your hand from El’s face and placed it on top of your other one, applying more pressure to the wound.
Sometime later, Max excused herself, saying that the boys were taking too long and she wanted to take matters into her own hands, which left you with the two young teens. You could see that Mike wanted to talk to Eleven so you beckoned him to get closer and switch with you.
“A-are you sure you can walk around properly? You can barely stand,” he asked in concern but you waved him off, using his shoulder and the shelf as support to help you get up.
You let out a grunt and squeezed your eyes as you took a deep, shaky breath before you began hobbling away, hand not leaving the support of the shelves.
As you went on your quest looking for a bowl, you came across the huge refrigerated display case where multiple drinks and other products that needed low temperature were held.
That was the first time since the incident at the hospital that you came in contact with a mirror or a glass surface that gave you the opportunity to take a glimpse of your reflection. You gulped as your hand slowly climbed up and rested on your throat which was now heavily coated in bruises. They had been angry red last night but now their colors have changed to a mixture of deep purple and blue.
You let out a choked sob as you bit your lip, eyes traveling from your throat to your face, taking notice of each and every bruise you had attained in the past couple of days.
“They’ll fade,” Eddie’s voice startled you and you turned to face him, watching as he walked towards you. He had been hurrying down the aisle after finding one of the items when he saw you. The look on your face alone was enough to send a pang to his heart.
“They’re ugly,” you rasped out as he came to a stop right in front of you and gently grasped your hand, prying it off your neck.
“They’ll fade,” he repeated again, more firmly. “Besides, you look totally cool! I mean you look like some kinda badass warrior princess who just finished battling an orc!” he exclaimed with a grin and you blinked away the tears, allowing a breathy snort to escape you.
“Bitchin’,” your lips twitched as he snapped his fingers and jumped.
“Hell yeah, bitchin’!”
Then you fell into silence and Eddie cleared his throat before lifting the object, pointing proudly at it.
“So, uh, I found the bowl!”
“That’s great. It’s actually what I came to look for-“
“Hey! Less talking, more resting. C’mon, you shouldn’t be up and about. Let’s get back to the others,” he said as he wrapped an arm around you and ushered you forward. “And you gotta mind your voice too, ya know? Let it heal or you’ll sound like a, like Darth Vader or somethin’,” he exclaimed and you furrowed you chuckled, shaking your head.
Shortly after, you were back at the original location and when everyone else returned, Mike and El revealed that Dustin had called and his voice had seemed quite urgent before the connection cut off. El wanted to try and find him immediately but you and Max had pretty much forced her back down, telling her to rest and focus on herself for now as the two of you worked on cleaning, disinfecting, and bandaging the wound.
“Alright. I think we’re officially done,” you drawled tiredly as you secured the bandage and wiped the blood on your hospital gown and the others let out breaths of relief.
“Ok, can I look for Dustin now?” asked El and you and Mike shared a look before nodding. You were worried that El was using her powers way too much and you had no idea how she hadn’t completely overwhelmed herself at this point but at the same time, you needed her to find Dustin because it was of vital importance.
“Here, take this. You haven’t eaten in hours,” Jonathan peeled a banana and handed it to you which you took with a small ‘Thanks’.
Your throat and vocal cords hurt so much and they were still healing, not to mention the other problems your body had gone through, so right now the only food you could consume was soup or soft fruits.
You munched on the fruit as you zoned out, eyes locked on the floor. For some reason, you just couldn’t focus properly and your attention span kept getting off track. The humming of the freezer contributed, even more, to putting you in a state of spacing out. You could vaguely hear the kids talking as if from underwater. They were debating about coke flavors which you found hilarious.
“Hey!” Eleven’s voice snapped you out of your stare-down with the tiles and you lifted your head to look at her.
“Sorry,” echoed Mike and Lucas awkwardly.
“Did you find him?” you asked and she nodded.
“He’s in Starcourt Mall. At the movies,” she grunted when Mike helped her up while Jonathan and Will pulled you to your feet and everyone began to slowly head for the cars outside.
“The movies? Dustin’s so freaked out about the gate, he decides to go watch a movie?” questioned Lucas with scrunched-up forehead. “Yeah, makes total sense.”
“You’re positive he said “gate” and not “great”?”
“Yeah, like, ‘This movie I’m watching is great’.”
“It sounded like gate,” said Eleven.
“Which would explain why the Mind Flayer is still alive,” Mike backed her up.
“Yeah, and maybe he’s at the mall because the gate is somewhere in there,” you added.
“Yeah, we just have to shut it again.”
“And the monster dies.”
You frowned at that because if they closed the gate and killed the monster that would mean that all the flayed would die with it. Your heart was tearing at the seams at the thought of Billy, Heather, and all the others who had fallen victim to the Mind Flayer. And your brain, even though it was foggy and hard to focus, was running over ideas as to how to save the people before killing the monster. Unfortunately, you couldn’t think of anything. Because the Flayed were surely merged with the creature and there was no coming out of that. The only person who wasn’t merged with it was Billy. So at least you hoped and prayed that you’d be able to save him.
“But if not, we always have Lucas’ fireworks,” sassed Max as she helped her boyfriend pull the cart filled to the brim with numerous boxes of fireworks.
“Keep mocking my plan, Max. Keep mocking it.”
After the whole fiasco at the supermarket, everyone got in the cars and drove to the mall. The building was still lit but the light didn’t chase away the dark thoughts that had nestled inside all of you.
You entered the place and wondered whether to check the movies first or spread out and look for Dustin separately because he might have switched locations by now.
“Hey, psst!” whisper-shouted Eddie and everyone turned around, seeing him stand by the railing, back turned on you as he waved with his hand, beckoning you to get closer.
When you did, you were surprised to see a couple of men on the floor underneath who appeared to be soldiers and seemed to be looking for someone. You supposed it was Dustin because he might have discovered the location of the gate and it most probably hadn’t sat well with them.
Eleven glared at the soldiers as she outstretched her arm and willed her powers to make the alarm of the car wail. The sound startled the men and they sharply whirled to look at it.
“What the hell?” were the last words of one of them before Eleven threw the car in their direction and instantly crushed their bodies.
And that’s when you saw Dustin peek from behind a counter and look at the fallen, bloodied men, only he also had Steve, Robin, and Erica by his side which surprised all of you. Then the group of four turned their heads and their eyes landed on El and everyone else. Dustin and Steve shared a look as bright grins spread on their faces and they rushed out of the fast food parlor while you and the others hurried to the escalators and seconds later, your group was facing the other group.
“You flung that thing like a Hot Wheel!” exclaimed Dustin as he and Steve ran towards you but their smiles vanished quickly when they saw her limping and you heavily leaning against your brothers as they held you steadily by the arms as if you were going to keel over at any moment.
Steve felt like someone dropped a sack of bricks on him and continuously delivered punches to his gut. His heart sank to his stomach as chills racked his spine at the sight of your bruised face and throat.
“What happened?” he blurted out. “What happened?” he repeated panicked as his eyes frantically shifted between Jonathan and you.
You squirmed in your brothers’ arms and they hesitantly released you. Your knees almost buckled but you willed yourself to take a couple of steps and meet Steve who almost rammed into you in his hurry to come by your side.
He grasped each side of your face and inspected every bruise, eyes mad with worry, much similar to your own when you saw that he wore his own set of bruises and had a horrible black eye.
“What happened to you?” he asked again and your eyes watered.
“What happened to you?” you copied him and your hand flew to his cheek, fingers gently tracing his gorgeous face that was now black and blue.
“Russians,” was his response which left you and the others with more questions than answers.
“Mind Flayer,” you whispered and his eyes widened.
“Fuck,” he breathed out shakily as he pulled you into a tight hug, one hand rubbing your back while the other nestled in your locks as he held and caressed your head, planting kisses on the side of it as you clung to him.
Eddie looked away from the scene, heart clenching painfully at the sight, and awkwardly cleared his throat. “So, uhm, what did you mean by Russians?” he asked and you shifted in Steve’s arms in order to get a better look at Dustin and the others without letting go of your boyfriend who also had no intention of pulling away and kept his arms around you protectively.
“Oh, man, I don’t even know where to start!” exclaimed Dustin.
“What do you guys meant by Mind Flayer?” questioned Erica as she looked at her brother, more shocked to see that Lucas was a part of this than anything else.
“Hold on, I-I don’t understand what happened to that car,” joined Robin.
“El has superpowers.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Superpowers. She threw it with her mind. Come on, catch up,” quipped Steve, his voice reverberating through his chest and soothing you.
“That’s El?”
“I’m sorry, who are you?”
“I’m Robin. I work with Steve.”
“She cracked the top secret code!”
“Yeah, which is how we found out about the Russians in the first place.”
There was a short-lived chaos as everyone tried to explain everything and kept interrupting one another but you tuned it all out when you saw that Eleven had strayed away from the group.
You decided to call out for her which ceased the others’ communication.“El!?”
Just when you did, she slumped on the ground and her whole body got overtaken by tremors. You gasped and let go of Steve as you rushed to her and dropped down by her side, Mike doing the same, before the others reached you and gathered around you.
“What’s wrong?” asked Mike panicked and you looked down at her calf, deciding to check the bandage.
“My leg,” she whined. “My leg.”
“Her leg,” echoed Jonathan as he and Nancy rushed to help you unwrap some of the bandages in order to check the wound and when you pulled them away, everyone gasped as their faces scrunched up at the sight. The wound had gotten worse and there seemed to be something inside of it that was visibly moving under the skin.
“What is that!?” voiced out Erica in disbelief.
“There’s something in there!”
“Jesus Christ!”
“We have to take it out,” you sniffed, breathing and heartbeat increasing due to stress and worry as you looked at your brother. “Jonathan.”
His gaze locked with yours and you held it for a couple of seconds before he bolted up and towards one of the fast food parlors.
“Baby, listen to me,” you told her as you shifted a bit so you could grab her shoulders and pull her up a bit, her body slumping against your side. “We’ll remove that thing. It will be over soon. All you need to do is clench your teeth and bear with it for a while,” you said as you wrapped your right arm around her shoulders and brushed away sweaty strands of hair with your free hand. Mike sat by her other side and also wrapped an arm around her and began whispering sweet nothings.
It felt like you waited for hours but it was only a minute when Jonathan finally ran back to you, holding a couple of items that he passed to Nancy.
“Okay. All right, El?” Jonathan grabbed her attention. “This is gonna hurt like hell, ok?”
“Okay,” she whimpered.
“I need you to stay real still,” he instructed while putting on gloves before handing you a wooden spoon. “Here, you’re gonna want to bite down on this, ok?”
You took the spoon and put it in her mouth, her teeth clamping down on it.
There was a moment of stillness as Jonathan lowered the knife to her calf and everyone shared a look before Mike finally stated, “Do it.”
And your brother slid the utensil over the wound, slicing it down to create a larger opening which caused blood and a bit of puss to spurt out and Eleven to scream out in pain. Mike’s and your hold on her tightened, your eyes watering at the sight of the girl you considered little sister being in such horrible pain as if she hadn’t gone through enough already. She did not deserve more suffering.
“Oh, shit,” blurted out Dustin while Eddie hissed and scrunched up his nose, leg bouncing and shaking nervously. Nancy covered her mouth with her hand while Jonathan’s face twitched but he willed himself to continue and plunged his fingers into the gash he created.
The girl screeched in pain and everyone exclaimed in a mixture of disgust, sympathy, and worry as they watched him try to fish out the thing that was wriggling inside her calf.
“Jonathan!”
“Goddamn it!”
“No! Stop it!” wailed El, spoon dropping out of her mouth and the boy ceased his movements and pulled away. “Stop! Stop! I can do it,” she whimpered and you and Mike helped her sit up.
Then you watched as she struggled to use her powers and the thing inside her flesh began moving more rapidly and slowly near the open gash on her calf. And with a final guttural screech that shattered the window of the store behind you, she was finally able to pull out the creature and throw it far away.
Everyone looked as it began slithering away and their eyes widened when they saw no other than Hopper, Joyce, and Murray round the corner. They halted and looked at your group with just as much shock and confusion before Hopper noticed the creature and squished it with his boot.
“Care to tell us just what in the world is going on here?” asked the man as the trio approached the group, and all of you rose to your feet slowly, Mike helping an out-of-breath Eleven and Steve helping you. “What happened to you two?” his voice softened and filled with worry when he finally got the chance to observe El’s and your condition up close and he put a hand on each of your shoulders.
“Honey!? What happened?” exclaimed Joyce as she ran to you and her hands just hovered everywhere, hesitating whether she should pull you in for a hug or not, afraid it would hurt you.
“C’mon…let’s get you seated,” muttered Hopper as he took Mike’s place and helped El hobble to the benches.
He helped her lay down before sitting and taking her into his arms so she had a cushion to lean on. Meanwhile, Steve helped you sit down by Eleven’s feet, spreading his legs so you could sit between them and lean your back against his chest, his arms encircling your body.
“Ok, first thing first, we need to know what in the world happened to these two,” stated Hopper as Joyce knelt in front of you. “Who do I need to kill?”
“Can someone, please, explain why my daughter’s face and throat are black and blue and why is she in a hospital gown!” your mother’s voice raised with each word as she gesticulated anxiously and tried to compose herself before carefully placing a shaky hand on your knee, her lip trembling as she let out a shaky ‘Oh’ while observing your wounded flesh.
“I’d like to know too. Was it all the Mind Flayer?” asked Steve and Hopper and Joyce snapped to look at him.
“The Mind Flayer!?” they exclaimed simultaneously.
“Do you remember when someone called me on the phone?” you reminded your mom and she nodded. “It was Billy.”
“Billy? That’s the friend who needed help?” asked Steve and you hummed.
“He sounded urgent. I had some spare time so I agreed to meet him and see what’s going on. And then,” you choked on your words. “He was…so beaten up. He…he broke down. A-and then it’s like…something took over and,” your voice shook and you gulped the lump that had stuck in your throat.
“That’s when he kidnapped you, didn’t he?” whispered Max, and you nodded. “And he took you to the Mind Flayer.”
“It got me, mom. I’m so sorry,” you let out a sob and she grasped your hands, face melting into one of pure horror, Steve mirroring her.
“W-what do you mean it got you? Did she get flayed?” asked your boyfriend.
“Apparently, Billy was the first who got flayed. He’s the original host. And then…it was Y/N,” revealed Max, fidgeting a bit in her place, eyes shifting from the floor to Steve.
“And then the two of them took more people to get flayed and those people took other people until it became a sick cycle of flaying. The Mind Flayer was trying to build an army,” explained Lucas. “And…well, he’s succeeded. He built this monster in Hawkins. To stop El, to kill her, and pave a way into our world.”
“Made by the flayed? What do you mean by that?” asked Hopper with furrowed eyebrows and the group shared a look.
“The Mind Flayer forced all hosts to drink chemicals,” blurted out Nancy and Hopper and Joyce’s hearts plummeted. “We suppose he was trying to create a specific substance within every person. We were attacked at the hospital the other night and…we saw two flayed burst. They turned into this…gooey blob that just merged with the monster and made it huge. The same monster attacked us again and it was even bigger so we think all flayed merged with it. It’s…very powerful,” finished the girl dejectedly and Joyce gulped.
“D-did it force Y/N to drink chemicals?”
“Not really, no. He made her…he made her take drugs and she…OD-ed,” disclosed Jonathan and Dustin’s, and Hopper’s eyes widened.
“What!?” cried out Joyce and Steve’s blood ran cold. “Oh, God,” her eyes watered as her hand flew to her mouth in shock while you quietly tried to reassure her that it was all over now.
“The Mind Flayer was keeping all the flayed up and running even with all the chemicals in their bodies. But once we burned it out of Y/N, the effects hit her instantly. If it weren’t for Eddie’s quick thinking…she’d be dead,” said Mike and Hopper, Joyce, and Steve turned to look at the boy who had one arm wrapped around his chest while the other was propped on top of it, hand rubbing the side of his neck and tugging at some strands of hair.
“Thank you, so much,” choked out Joyce, her face morphing into a pained grimace, and the boy let out an awkward smile, not used to being the center of attention or being thanked.
“Y/N is one of my best friends. I’d never let her be harmed or die.”
“A-and the bruises?” let out Steve, arms around you tightening as he looked down at you, tilting his head to get a better look at your throat, face scrunching up in distress.
“Billy,” you muttered and Steve’s gut clenched.
“He came to the hospital the same night the monster attacked. Tried to take Y/N back. Eddie and Jonathan fought him off,” informed them Will with a crestfallen expression that the whole group matched.
“I’m going to kill him,” bit out Steve, and Hopper let out a hum of affirmation, and you could feel the anger and tension bubbling inside of them even though they seemed calm and still on the outside.
“Hey…promise you won’t do anything stupid,” you mumbled as you straightened up a bit and searched for your boyfriend’s eyes. “Billy has no fault. He’s being controlled…like a puppet…You’ve no idea what it feels like…to be trapped in your own mind as you watch and experience everything…” you then turned to look at Hopper whose angry expression contorted into one of pity and worry. “-but you’re unable to stop because someone else has taken the wheel and you’re trapped on the backseat as you fly off a cliff,” you breathed out and Steve’s eyes swarmed with pity, concern, and guilt. “We have to help Billy…and we have to stop the monster,” you turned to the others and they shared a look.
“Yeah but…how exactly do we do that? I mean, you saw that monster, Y/N/N. It’s huge!” exclaimed Mike in defeat.
“By the way, Hopper, we had to flee from the hospital and we kinda used your cabin and uh,” drawled Jonathan as he looked at the others and Lucas sighed awkwardly.
“It sorta destroyed your cabin,” he confessed and the man in question let out an exhausted breath. “Sorry.”
“So, this happened when that thing attacked?” he asked as he motioned to El’s calf with his head and the boys nodded. “Son of a bitch went after the two people he shouldn’t have,” muttered the man under his breath as he looked at El and then at you, silent, hot rage filling him even more on the inside while he tried to keep up the calm composure.
“Okay, so, one last time, just to be clear, this-this big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, is some kind of a gigantic…weapon?” asked Steve unsurely and Nancy nodded.
“Yes.”
“But instead of, like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon…with melted people,” he clarified and the girl nodded again, hair bouncing.
“Yes, exactly!”
“Yeah, okay, I, uh, yeah, just making sure,” he blinked and you ran your knuckles over his forearm, fighting back a smile, as his head kept turning back and forth between Nancy, the kids, and you.
“And that thing is still out there alive?” asked Joyce.
“El beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, it’s still alive.”
“But if we close the gate again-“
“We cut the brain off from the body.”
“And kill it…theoretically.”
“Ok, but where is the gate? And what’s the deal with those-those Russians?” waved his hand Jonathan, and the group’s gazes shifted between Steve, Robin, Dustin, and Erica.
“Well, you see, that’s a pretty interesting story,” quipped Dustin, and what followed was a chaotic explanation from him, Steve, and Robin about what happened the past days and what they discovered right underneath the mall.
“And then they dragged us to separate rooms and I-I thought that’s it, we’d die in this underground base, killed by the goddamn commies, but then they dragged me into another room and Steve was there all beaten up and bloody and unconscious and I thought he was already dead but thank god he woke up and things were okay for a while before the-the soldiers came back and drugged us so we could spill everything, but they were just goddamn idiots who couldn’t take what they didn’t want to hear as an answer and they were gonna cut Steve’s finger off and I thought that was it, they’d start torturing us, cutting us, just to get info we don’t fucking have, but then the alarms went off and those two stormed in and kinda zapped the doctor so we were all able to escape!” rambled on Robin and everyone looked at her, blinking in bewilderment, and her lips twitched as she let out an awkward smile. “Sorry.”
The whole time Robin was talking, your hand rested on Steve’s, fingers stroking his bruised skin and eyes filling with worry and pity at his condition and hearing all he’s been through.
“If I get my hands on the man who did this to you, I’ll debone him,” your voice varied between a whisper and a low grumble as you pulled a bit so you could look at your boyfriend, and Steve closed his lids, letting out a breathy chuckle as his hand went to stroke your cheek, locking eyes with yours again.
“Not before I debone the Mind Flayer,” he said and you pursed your lips, chuckling silently.
“He has no bones, babe. He’s a shadow,” you reminded him and his eyes darted everywhere as he blinked rapidly before nodding in agreement.
“Yeah, you have a point.”
“Yoo-hoo!” called out Murray and everyone turned to look at the approaching man who was waving a couple of papers in his hands. “Okay, this is what Alexei called “the hub”. Now, the hub takes us to the vault room,” explained the man once he reached you and slapped the paper containing blueprints onto a table.
“Okay, where’s the gate?” asked Hopper with hands on his hips as he and the others gathered around the man to observe and brainstorm.
“Right here. I don’t know the scale on this, but I think it’s fairly close to the vault room, maybe fifty meters or so.”
The rest of the conversation you tuned out as this bizarre buzzing feeling invaded your brain once again and cold waves washed over you, making you wrap your arms around your body. It was a feeling that came and went and each time it returned, it was stronger and more irritable.
“What’s wrong, are you feeling sick?” asked Steve with concern and you shook your head.
“No, not really…I-I don’t know. I just…feel a bit chilly a-and…dizzy,” you whispered and Steve looked around, hoping to see someone with a jacket he could take and wrap around you but there was nobody. And for good reason – it was summer and the weather was very warm, so he had no idea why you would feel chilly. He didn’t like that and the fact that the skin on your neck and forehead was getting clammy was unnerving him. The only thing he could do was bring you closer and rub your arms. You shifted in his embrace so you were sitting sideways, legs dangling over his as your side lay on his chest, head buried in his shoulder as you nuzzled against his neck.
“I feel like this is a repeat of last year,” he muttered in your hair and you hummed. “I’m never there to protect you…I’m sorry,” he whispered through the lump that was stuck in his throat and you lifted your head a bit so you could look at him, managing a stern look.
“I don’t want to hear you blame yourself again. No one could’ve known. Not even my family suspected anything like that’d happen. Please,” your eyes glistened and he nodded.
“Yeah, yeah, I got it, just…don’t talk, ok? Keep your strength,” he planted a kiss on top of your head as you laid it back down on his shoulder and let out a sigh. He believed himself to be pathetic for having you reassure him that everything was okay when he had to be the one reassuring you.
Steve felt like he was more of a burden to you than the support you needed. He felt like he wasn’t smart or capable like the others. Hell, he couldn’t even realize that the Mind Flayer could be back and could have taken and used you. He was so stupid.
He felt like the most useless person in the world.
What a failure of a boyfriend he was.
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Tags: @anxiousbeech
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