Royal Pain || Stranger Things

fifteen || not fine

In the grand scheme of things, everything was fine.

But in the natural scale of evaluating the world, everything was not fine.

Will, freed of the Mind Flayer's control, was not fine.

Eleven, having closed the gate and made up with the most important man in her life, was not fine.

Steve, on the mend for being beaten to a pulp and titled the best damn babysitter in Hawkins, was not fine.

And Tatum, sweet Tatum, was not fine.

The roar of the road filtered up from below the police marked station wagon as it raced away from Hawkins Lab, no longer pursued by demons. Eleven had cranked up the radio despite Hopper's protest, recognizing a song that Tatum had played during their cabin clean up.

The Clash flowed through the speakers of the car, almost warming up the sharp temperature of mid-November as heavy bass blasted out.

El peered over her shoulder into the back, Tatum laid out on her back along the seat with dried blood from her eyes, ears and nose settled roughly into her skin.

"Were you sure?"

El's eyes flickered from the teen to Hopper, brows furrowing. "Sure about what?"

"That she was like you. That she could help you close the gate."

"No." El propped her chin on the edge of the seat, nearly turned all the way around to watch Tatum, hoping for some sign of consciousness to appear. "But I had a feeling. There was something about her, ever since we met. Something that reminded me of Nine."

Hopper glanced between El and the road, headed for the cabin where they had agreed to meet up for the time being. "What happened to her? To Nina."

"Papa took her away after we opened the gate."

"Took her away?"

"Gone."

Hopper's brows lifted, letting out a soft sigh. "She got a sister and lost her all in one day. This poor kid."

"She's strong," El nearly whispered, eyes tracing the rise and fall of Tatum's chest. "I couldn't have done it without her."

"Make sure to tell her that when she wakes up, because she isn't going to like the world when she does."

Where the road stopped and the trek to the cabin began was already stacked with vehicles, it clear that they were the last to arrive to the safe house. El helped Hopper pull Tatum from the backseat, the chief carrying the limp teen along a poorly lit path as El struggled to hold the flashlight steady.

Unable to summon the power to open the door alone, Eleven pulled the screen free and pushed open the front door, holding it open for Hopper as a crowd surfaced.

"Where's T-"

The entire cabin fell silent as Hopper carried an unconscious Tatum inside, the blood on her face a tell-tale sign of distress.

"What the hell happened to her?" Steve asked as he lowered a bag of frozen peas from his face, bruised but no longer bleeding. The middle schoolers lounging around him shared the same sentiment, hesitantly rising from their reclined positions.

Nancy's brows furrowed as she stopped short of Tatum, fingers hovering over the dried patches of blood before looking to El who donned similar features despite trying to wipe them away with haste. "I don't..."