𝕾𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕾𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖗 - [𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻]

𝐱𝐥. 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘 - here comes the heartbreak

━━━━━━━

 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 came.

 Scarlet had waited and waited for that searing burn upon her stomach; she assumed the Mind Flayer would rather gleefully repeat his previous actions and strike her right at the very centre. But that hit never struck, there was no poison in her veins as pain came to life, no blood seeping from her gut, no swirling sensation within her mind as she slowly lost consciousness.

 But the chimes grew louder than ever before, and Scarlet could feel the blood trickling from her ears.

 One eye cracked open and there was a slight haze before her, perhaps from the dust of her destruction, the smog left by exploding fireworks, or maybe from the pain within her mind. But even a fogbound horizon couldn't have obscured the person standing in front of her.

 Billy Hargrove.

 The Mind Flayer had been prepared for its attack; a slimy tentacle had burst from its mouth, trailing through the air all in the hopes of latching to Scarlet like a blood-thirsty leech... Only, Eleven had somehow broken through the binds around Billy's mind, and for the first time in a very long time... Billy did something good.

 Only Eleven could know why he'd given up his chase, why Billy had left her alone on the ground while he faced the monster pulling his strings. One might have thought there was a sliver of care for Max that had prompted him, perhaps even his stepmother who, while never standing up to his father, had been nothing but kind...

 No. For while Eleven wished Billy's actions were for Max... Billy did it for his mother. Wherever she was, she had known the best of him. She had known a sweet little boy who liked blue raspberry syrup on his ice cream when he finally pulled away from the salty sea water, surfboard in hand.

 He did it for her, as an apology for leaving behind the boy she had raised and loved.

 Scarlet couldn't bring herself to move as she watched Billy scream out in sheer pain. The limb that had unravelled from the Mind Flayer had struck his side whilst he held another off with his bare hands. Pointed teeth made from bone tore through layers of flesh, drawing both red and black blood from his veins.

 Another struck him, and another and another... his side, his leg, his arms and hands. There was blood everywhere, a puddle already spilling upon the ground. His cries rattled them all, but the Mind Flayer only pushed onwards.

 The last limb unfurled, and with a sickening squelch, it struck him on the chest. It got his heart and that was when Billy Hargrove finally fell silent, a single gasp hardly able to weasel through blood-soaked lips.