Love Is A Battlefield (A Stranger Things/Steve Harrington Fanfiction)

Chapter Sixty-Three: Planck's Constant

He swung at me but I ducked, wrapping my arms around his waist and throwing all of my weight against him. Instead of tackling him to the ground like I'd hoped however, he wrapped his arms around my waist, turning around and hurling me down the hallway. I collided with the wall and fell to the ground hard, feeling the breath leave my lungs as he stomped into the elevator room. I heard another slam, and I heard El scream, only to see Billy come out a second later with El draped over his shoulder.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" I screamed as he walked towards me. "PUT HER-" He kicked me full on in the face, driving my head back against the wall and knocking me unconscious instantly. 

~~~

I woke up to hands shaking my shoulders, and opened my eyes to see Mike and Max standing over me with bruises on their faces.

"Where's El?!" Mike exclaimed.

"B...Billy." I stuttered, forcing myself onto my hands and knees.

"Come on, we gotta go!" They both pulled me to my feet and took off running. I stumbled after them for a few steps before straightening and following them to the Scoops Ahoy Service door. We ran through it to see the Mind Flayer standing in the middle of the food court, surrounded by fire and smoke. El laid on the floor and in front of her stood Billy, staring up at the menacing creature.

El pushed her way back, and I started running towards her as one of its fleshy arms shot out of its mouth to attack her. She crossed her arms in front of her face and I dropped to the ground, sliding on my knees across the floor and throwing my body over hers just as Billy reached up and caught the hand.

"NO!" I glanced up in shock at Billy standing there, fighting off the Mind Flayer. I wrapped my arms under El's, dragging her quickly across the floor as more arms came from the creature, stabbing through Billy's body, causing blood to seep through his wife beater. he fell to his knees, letting out a scream as the last arm plunged through his chest.

"BILLY!" Max screamed. He fell to the ground and the arms retracted back into the creature they stemmed from. Not long after that the monster began to Stumble until it eventually crashed to the ground, one last gargling sound leaving its mouth before it finally died for good. They'd closed the gate, the monster was dead...we'd done it again.

Mike ran forward, dropping to the ground and wrapping his arms around El, and I stood up, watching as Max walked over to stand beside her brother, who wasn't quite dead. She dropped down beside him as he gargled, black blood seeping down his chin.

"Billy, Billy get up, please. Billy, get up, please, please." I walked over, crouching down beside him and putting a hand on her shoulder.

"You did great," I said, rubbing Max's back, "Its ok, Billy...its over. You can rest now."

"I'm sorry." He said. I nodded.

"I know...I know." He let out one last breath before the life left his eyes, and Max broke down, hiding her face in my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her, my eyes not leaving the High School Bully that had just saved all of our lives. She rolled out of my arms, laying in El's lap, and El began to stroke her hair.

"Its alright, its ok. Its ok." She said, tears streaming down her own face. 

~~~

It wasn't long after that that the military came busting through the doors, along with the fire department, Ambulance, Police, anyone who could come was there.

I sat in the back of an ambulance while El sat with Mike in an adjoining one. I heard footsteps and looked up in time to see Steve walking over to me, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. I stood up, tears dotting in my eyes.

"I'm sorry," I said, my voice wavering, "I'm sorry, I know we said we do it together, but I could leave her behind. I could leave her-"

He cut my off by wrapping me up in his arms and his blanket, his chin resting on top of my head.

"I know...its ok, Barbie. I know." I wrapped my arms around him, thankful that as far as I knew, two of the three most important people in my life were ok.

There was only one more that was left unaccounted for.

I heard a familiar voice crying tears of joy, and looked up to see Joyce, now dressed in a Russian soldier's uniform, wrapped in a tight embrace with her youngest son. I moved away from Steve, my eyes locking with El's as we both began to comb the parking lot, searching for our father.

Please be ok...please God please let him be ok.

Joyce looked up from Will, meeting our eyes, and we could tell from the heartbroken tears that pooled from hers that our father would not be coming back. I shook my head.

"No...no, its not...she's wrong." I started walking towards the mall again, but Steve ran over, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Whoa, Riley, where are you going?"

"I'm going in there to find my father!" I said, pushing past him. He stepped into my path again, but I kept fighting him until eventually, he wrapped an arm around my waist, holding me back. "Steve, let me go! STEVE! LET ME GO!"

"Riley, you have to calm down-"

"I HAVE TO GO FIND HIM!" I screamed as the sobs began wracking my body. I slumped against Steve, who fell backwards, sitting on the ground and pulling me against his chest. "DAD! DAD, WHERE ARE YOU?! DAD...please...dad."

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry." Steve whispered in my ear, slowly combing my hair out of my face.

"No...No, he's not dead. He can't be dead, he promised! Steve he promised..." El ran over, sitting beside me and wrapping her arms around my shoulders. I hugged her back, both of us sobbing as we crouched together, and Steve moved to wrap his arms around both of us.

"I'm so, so sorry." He whispered.