CHAPTER 15: I'll Always Come Back For You
They aren't gonna change this,
We gotta do it ourselves
They think that it's over
But it's just begun.
— Only The Young, Taylor Swift
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
November 12th, 1983: Byers Home
BACK AT THE BYERS' HOUSE, DAPHNE THREW HERSELF into preparation for battle in a defiant attempt to keep her mind from circling back to Fern. She had been the one to distract Callahan while Jonathan stole the box of weapons from Hopper's office, asking him a dozen pointless questions until he was just about ready to throw her into a cell. She'd been practically thrown out of the station in the end. In the Byers' living room, the weapons that Nancy and Jonathan had picked up had been strewn across the carpet as they discussed between themselves how exactly to go about killing a creature from another dimension.
"Well, I think we can rule out guns," said Nancy, from where she was sitting cross-legged on the floor. "Except maybe as a distraction technique."
"And knives," added Daphne. "I don't fancy getting close enough to that thing to use a knife on it."
"That doesn't leave us with many other options," Jonathan pointed out. "Unless we want to talk it to death. Davenport, you might have a shot at that."
Daphne shot him a withering glare, before thinking for a moment. "What about fire? Dustin told me that's what kills it in that nerdy little game they play."
"Daphne, that's just a dumb game they play," said Nancy, rolling her eyes. "It's not real."
"I think it's worth a shot," said Daphne pointedly. "Fire can cause a lot of damage while also allowing us to keep our distance. We could set a trap for it."
Jonathan leaned forwards, his attention piqued. "What sort of trap?"
Twenty minutes later, the bear traps had been assembled, a couple of dozen nails had been hammered into one of Jonathan's old baseball bats, and all of Joyce's fairy light bulbs had been screwed back into place. Daphne walked along the length of the intricate trap, scanning it for any flaws that could send their mission haywire. At the end of the line, she gave Nancy and Jonathan a thumbs up.
She made her way back over to the living room, carefully avoiding the traps. On the sofa, Nancy and Jonathan were going over the plan again, a knife in each of their hands. As soon as Daphne approached, Jonathan got to his feet, handing the cheerleader one of her own.
"Can I ask again why we all have to cut our hands?" she asked, wrinkling her nose. "It seems unnecessary and quite unsanitary. And not to brag, but I have really nice hands."
Jonathan rolled his eyes. "Alright fine, you don't have to do it. Nance, are you ready?"
Daphne shrugged and made her way back over to the couch, perching on the arm of it. She watched as Nancy and Jonathan counted to three, before slicing open their palms. She couldn't help but cringe — that was going to leave a nasty scar.
If they had been expecting anything to happen straight away, they were sorely disappointed. Nancy and Jonathan stood in the centre of the room for a minute before realising that nothing was coming and joining Daphne on the couch. Nancy took some bandages out of her bag and handed them to Daphne to wrap her hand with.
Daphne carefully wrapped the girl's hand, keeping it tight enough that the blood wouldn't seep through. Once she was done, she handed the bandages to Nancy so she could wrap Jonathan's hand, before getting up to let the two talk alone. Daphne wasn't stupid; she knew there was some unresolved tension between them. And maybe now wasn't the best time to do something about it, but it was better than dwelling on it.
Daphne made her way over to the far end of the room, examining the intricately laid trap one more time. She swore at the sound of a loud banging noise, just about stopping herself from falling face-first into the bear trap. From the couch, Nancy and Jonathan both gasped and glanced at the door.
"Somehow I don't think the monster would be polite enough to knock," said Daphne drily. "Who the hell is visiting you at this time, Byers?"
"Jonathan?" a voice called from the other side of the door. "Are you there, man? It's... it's Steve! Listen, I just want to talk!"
Daphne, Nancy and Jonathan all looked at each other in bewilderment. Daphne shrugged. If they left him long enough, maybe he'd go away. But the banging continued, and Daphne knew they couldn't risk Steve being here when the monster showed up.
"I'll get rid of him," she hissed and made her way over to the front door. She pulled the lock open and stuck her head out, ignoring the expression on her boyfriend's face. "Hey Steve, thanks for stopping by, but this isn't a great time for me—"
"Wait, Daph, what—"
"You need to go," she said urgently. "We can talk about this later, okay?"
"No, no, no," Steve stammered helplessly. "Listen, I messed up, okay? I messed... I messed up. Okay? Really. Please. I just want to make things right. Okay? Please. Please... Hey, what's that on your sleeve? Is that blood?"
Daphne glanced down at her sleeve, cursing under her breath at the speckles of Nancy's blood staining her pale pink cardigan. "It's nothing Steve, it's not even mine."
"Yeah, what's going on?" demanded Steve, his eyes still fixated on the blood on her cardigan. "Wait a sec. Did Jonathan do this to you?"
"No," huffed Daphne, as Steve tried to push the door open against her. "Steve, seriously, you need to go—"
"Daph, let me in!" cried Steve, givin one last final push to the door that Daphne couldn't hold off. He burst into the Byers' house, his eyes widening in horror as he took in the lights, the bear traps, and Jonathan's nail-covered bat. Daphne pinched the bridge of her nose. "What is... What the—"
"You need to get out of here," said Jonathan, grabbing Steve by the arm.
"Whoa. What is all—"
"Listen to me," insisted Jonathan, his voice raising an octave. "I'm not asking you, I'm telling you, get out of here!"
"What is that smell?" asked Steve, his nose crinkling. "Is that... is that gasoline?"
All of a sudden, Nancy whipped out her gun, pointing it directly at Steve's face. "Steve, get out."
"Wait. What?!" stuttered Steve, backing away from the loaded gun. "What is going on?"
"Jesus Nancy, put that away! What are you, the Terminator?" cried Daphne, rushing over to try to grab the gun out of her hands. Nancy ducked out of her reach, starting to count down. "Look, I told Steve some of the shit that's been going on, okay? He'll leave now — won't you Steve?"
"Okay, is this a joke?" demanded Steve. "Stop, put the gun down! Is this all about the animal Daph thought she saw in the woods?"
"Yes," said Daphne, making her way over to him. She put her hands on his shoulders, forcing him to look her in the eyes. "We need to end this, Steve. And we can't do that while you're here. So please, if you care about me at all...just leave."
The flickering of the fairy lights caused Daphne to divert her attention away from Steve for a second. Nancy was still pointing the gun at Steve, but Jonathan seemed to have caught on to the same thing that Daphne had.
"Nancy..." Jonathan started, but Nancy ignored him, still holding Steve at gunpoint. "Nancy..."
"Nancy!" snapped Daphne, turning around to face the girl. "Look at the lights. It's here."
"Wait, what's here?" asked Steve. "The animal from the woods? How did it get here?"
"Where is it?"
"Where is what?" demanded Steve, turning to look from Daphne to Jonathan frantically. Noticing the bat Jonathan was gripping as if his life depended on it, Steve recoiled slightly. "Whoa! Easy with that!"
Nancy, Jonathan and Daphne moved to the centre of the room, standing back to back as they surveyed their surroundings, looking for the monster. Daphne gripped a machete tightly in both hands. The lights were still flickering frantically, causing the room to light up like an amusement park.
"Where is it?" repeated Nancy, as the trio circled helplessly.
"I don't know," replied Jonathan. "I don't see it."
"Where is what?" cried Steve, frustration and panic mutating in his voice. "Hello? Daph? Will someone please explain to me what the hell is going—"
A loud crash sounded from above them, and all their eyes turned to the ceiling. Little pieces of ceiling foam and wooden splinters cracked and fell to the floor as the demogorgon's ugly head protruded from above, letting out an earth-shattering roar. Nancy lifted her gun, firing at it twice before Jonathan grabbed her waist and started to drag her to the other room.
"Go!" he screamed, grabbing Daphne by the wrist as he passed. "Go! Run! Go!" Steve was still standing in shock as the monster dropped from the ceiling onto the ground, but Jonathan tugged his arm urgently. "Get out of here!"
Daphne's heart was beating wildly as she hurtled down the hallway. Her mind was racing, but she forced herself to focus as she jumped over the bear trap and dodged the gasoline they had carefully laid out. Steve was cursing and shouting as he followed them, but Daphne didn't have time to explain. They ducked into Will's bedroom, slamming the door behind them, and Daphne leant against the wall, panting heavily.
"Oh, my God! Jesus! Jesus! What the hell was that?" demanded Steve. "What the hell was that?"
"Shut up!" Nancy and Jonathan exclaimed at the same time.
Steve turned to Daphne, but she merely shook her head, putting her finger on her lips. The four of them turned to face the door, brandishing their weapons, waiting for an ambush that didn't seem to be coming. The demogorgon's vicious screeches echoed around the house, but the monster didn't follow them to Will's room.
"What's it doing?" panted Nancy, the hand that held her gun trembling violently.
"I don't know," replied Jonathan.
Daphne kept her gaze steady as she watched the yellow yo-yo they were using as an alarm. It didn't move. A jolt of electricity surged around the room, sending the hairs on the back of Daphne's neck tingling, and then the hallway went silent. The lights stopped flickering. They all looked at each other.
"Do you hear anything?" asked Nancy softly.
The others shook their heads. Jonathan flicked off the lighter he was holding, and slowly opened the door. Daphne's grip around her machete tightened. She could feel Steve's hands gracing the sides of her waist as she followed Nancy and Jonathan into the hallway. It was empty. Dark and empty, with no monster to be seen.
They glanced at each other again, willing each other to make a decision. Nobody knew what to do. Eventually, Jonathan started moving down the hallway, his bat raised. The girls followed close behind, with Steve bringing up the rear. When they reached the living room, they scanned their surroundings, finding nothing but the rubble the demogorgon had left in its wake.
"This is crazy," muttered Steve, mostly to himself. "This is crazy. This is crazy. This is crazy! This is crazy! This is crazy!" Daphne watched as he got more and more worked up, before grabbing the phone off the handset and dialling the beginning of a number. However, he didn't get very far before Nancy ripped it out of his hands. "What are you doing? Are you insane?
"What do you think we're going to say, Steve?" yelled Daphne, losing her temper with the boy. "Hello 911, a flesh-eating monster has broken into my house and is trying to eat me?"
"She's right," agreed Nancy. "And it's going to come back! So you need to leave. Right now."
Steve turned to Daphne frantically. "Daph, please. Come on, let's leave. I know they dragged you into this, but you don't have to die for them. Come on. Come with me."
"No, Steve," asserted Daphne firmly. "I'm not going anywhere. But you need to."
Steve stared at her for a moment, shaking his head as though he was trying to figure her out. "Fine! Fine. You're all crazy, and I'm leaving."
Daphne looked away as her boyfriend raced out of the house as fast as he physically could, swallowing hard. Part of her had hoped that maybe Steve would stay, that he would help them fight off the monster. That he cared about her enough to protect her. But she shook those thoughts out of her head immediately. She didn't need anyone to protect her. She wasn't a helpless damsel in distress, and she wasn't going to waste a second crying over Steve bloody Harrington. Not when she had a monster to kill.
Daphne's breath caught in her throat as the lights started to flicker again; electricity pulsating rapidly. Her heavy breathing mingled with that of Nancy and Jonathan, coursing around them as they all got back into their defensive position.
"Where is it?" questioned Nancy breathlessly, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Come on. Come on, you son of a bitch," Jonathan growled lowly, adjusting his grip on the bat. "You see it?"
"No. Where—"
"Come on. Where are you? Come on!"
A low growling sound caused Daphne's head to whip around so fast she could feel the bones in her neck crack. It was here. It was here, and it was playing with them. Just like it had played with Fern. And Fern... she had been all alone — and probably terrified. Daphne's blood turned red hot with anger, just as the house went completely dark.
"Jonathan!" shrieked Nancy, and then Daphne was thrown to the side as the demogorgon leapt onto Jonathan.
Daphne cried out in horror as Jonathan's bat flew out of his hands, barely able to make out what was happening in the blackness. Nancy was screaming frantically, and Daphne was at a loss as to what to do. The plan had been to lure the demogorgon down the hallway and into the trap, but they couldn't just leave Jonathan.
"Go to hell, you son of a bitch!" yelled Nancy, and then she was firing round after round at the creature.
Daphne dived out of the way, missing one of the bullets by a hair's length. Somebody probably should've told Nancy it wasn't a great idea to fire aimlessly into the pitch black. Her tactic worked — in a sense — causing the monster to leave Jonathan alone and turn its attention to the girl with the gun. Nancy continued to fire at the monster as it advanced on her until her gun clicked empty.
Daphne watched on helplessly as the creature backed Nancy into a wall, trying to figure out what to do. All out of ideas, she ran at the creature from behind and jumped on it, stabbing it in the neck with her machete. The creature roared in fury, twisting around to try and get to her, but Daphne clung on.
"Daphne!" shrieked Nancy, as the creature flung her around like a rag doll.
"Try — to aim — in its mouth!" grunted Daphne, heaving her machete out of the monster's skin.
She assumed — somewhat baselessly — that the monster's weak spot would be inside its mouth, where it didn't have the thick layers of hardened skin to protect itself. It was their only chance, after all. She tried to position herself so she could drive the machete into its mouth, but the temporary movement caused her to lose her balance, and the monster managed to throw her across the room.
"Nancy! Jonathan!" she shrieked.
The monster started to come towards her, while Daphne scrambled away, fumbling around for her machete. The monster was just about to reach her when a sickening crunching noise resounded around the room. Daphne looked up in shock as Steve thrust Jonathan's bat into the demogorgon's body. The creature roared, following Steve as he coaxed it across the living room, towards the bear trap. With an impressive flip of the bat, Steve gave one last swing which sent the monster flying into their trap.
"He's in the trap!" yelled Steve. "He's stuck!"
"Jonathan, now!" cried Nancy, as Daphne got to her feet and hurried over to join Steve.
Steve glanced over at her, concern painted on his face, giving her a once over. After making sure she was okay, he turned back to where the monster was still stuck, raising the bat and sidling slightly in front of her. Jonathan clicked the lighter on and threw it into the gasoline. Flames quickly enveloped the demogorgon, and the screams of anger soon morphed into ones of pain.
Daphne grabbed the back of Steve's shirt, pulling him backwards, as they shielded their faces from the bright glow of the fire. The monster squirmed violently, but it was still moving, and the flames threatened to encase the whole house. Jonathan grabbed a fire extinguisher and started to spray the blaze before it could reach them; sending clouds of smoke billowing into their faces.
Daphne pulled Steve back further from the smoke, coughing heavily into her elbow. The others were both coughing and spluttering as well, attempting to shield their faces from the heavy grey smoke. Once the fumes had resided slightly, Daphne uncovered her face and glanced down the hallway to where the monster had been.
"Where did it go?" asked Nancy, as they stared at nothing but charred carpet in its wake.
"No," said Jonathan firmly, his breath still coming out in pants. "It has to be dead. It has to be."
The group moved closer to the bear trap where the demogorgon had once been. Daphne recoiled in horror as she spotted the charred bits of flesh still sizzling like meat on a barbecue. Slowly, the fairy lights started to flicker back on — one by one. Steve pushed Daphne behind him again as he held up the bat, moving forwards as he followed the lights along the room.
Jonathan stepped forwards, his mouth slightly ajar. "Mom? Is that you?"
Daphne started to walk, her eyes wide as they followed Jonathan outside the house. Outside, a porch lamp was crackling lowly. Daphne couldn't believe the monster was still alive, after all that. She had wanted to be the one to kill it. She had wanted to avenge Fern.
"Where's it going?" said Nancy, watching the porch lamp flicker.
"I don't think that's the monster," replied Jonathan.
Daphne let out a breath she hadn't even realised she was holding. She made her way over to the bench outside the Byers' house and sunk down on it, her head in her hands. Everything that had happened in the past few days was finally catching up to her. But there was a finality in the air. A feeling that things were over. She couldn't help but feel relieved that she didn't have to fight anymore. A few seconds later, she felt Steve join her, his bat resting in between his legs.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly, and when Daphne looked up, she saw he was looking at her with an expression on his face that she'd never seen before.
"I've been better," confessed Daphne with a chuckle. "Thank you. For coming back. I think I would've died without you."
"I'm sorry," sighed Steve. "For everything. For the stuff I said about Jonathan and his brother, for leaving you when the cops came, and for not listening to you when you tried to tell me about all of this. I should've trusted you."
"You should have," said Daphne, managing a small smile. "But you came back. That's what matters."
"I'll always come back for you, Daph."
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
author's note !
so, that's the end of s1! i really hope you guys enjoyed it. s2 is going to be quite heavily focused on daphne coping with the aftermath of everything that has happened to her this season.
please let me know if there's anything more you would like to see in s2 — any more characters you want to see her interact with, anything you want her to do etc.
pls pls pls remember to vote and comment! don't be a silent reader. <3
love, el xx