𝒂/𝒏 𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒊 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕. 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊'𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒔 𝒊 𝒄𝒂𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕'𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆
𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠𝕠
𝑨𝒔𝒉𝒍𝒆𝒚'𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒗
"Maybe you are strong enough" it mused, coming up behind her
"Am strong. Am enough" She turned to face it, only to find it wasn't there.
"Where?" She did a full 360, but couldn't see it
"Everywhere. But also nowhere"
She ran out of the woods, towards the road. Once she was outside, she raised her hands to the sky. Red lightning flashed somewhere in the distance, but blue lightning crackled around her, arching and swirling.
"I am not scared. You are" She yelled into the empty road
"Oh really? How so?" She felt the mist to her left thicken, and she sent a blue bolt of electricity in that direction. She waited for a sign, but nothing happened
"Of me" She closed her eyes, concentrating on the sounds around her
"Me? Scared of you? Not possible. You're just a little girl" She could hear the doubt in its voice. It was barely noticeable.
"You are scared. Know i can hurt you."
It was silent
"If you are not scared, fight me. Yourself. I kill demogorgons. Easy. You think i can't kill you. So no need to be scared" she had no idea where this confidence came from...actually, no. That was a lie. She knew exactly where it came from. This thing was threatening the people she loved, and she wasn't going to let it hurt her anymore. Her and Eleven had been in
so much pain because of this thing and it's dimension. Now, it was her turn to hurt it.
"What an idea. The problem is, how can i fight you, when i'm so busy fighting your sister?"
Ashley faltered. Everything felt like it had come to a stop.
"What? You didn't think she would just sit around, waiting for you to save yourself? Oh, and the whole family is involved, and all of your friends. It's only a matter of time really."
Anger coursed through her veins. She had no idea what the mind flayer had done, but if it had hurt anybody that she cared for, then she would make it pay. She felt her face get hotter as her eyes grew brighter.
"What-what are you doing? No! Stop that!" the mindflayer's voice sounded far away, but she could still feel its presence nearby. She felt a tugging in her gut as the wind whipped around her, getting faster by the second. She felt her feet being pulled off of the ground. She felt the panic rising inside the mind flayer.
Then she opened her eyes, and she felt nothing. She was weightless. The wind kept her up, and she kept rising until she hovered at the same height as the trees behind her. Closing her eyes, she searched for its thoughts. It was in the woods
Come to me
She sent out that message, and she could feel its presence getting closer until it stopped a few feet away from her.
"Why do you do this? Why do you hurt?" She asked it, and it replied immediately, but something felt wrong
"I've been stuck here for years. All alone. Then you and your sister come along, and i hoped for some friends. Then i realised that you were some of Brenner's experiments, and i knew it would be hopeless. You guys had no idea what friends or family were. I sent one of my demogorgons to check you girls out, but you hurt it. Not only that, but you screamed. You got scared, and they declared me a monster. The enemy. And now they hunt me.
Your sister, Eleven, Brenner sent her to find out more about us. This wasn't long after you had run away. When she snuck up on that demogorgon, it shrieked at her. What you don't seem to understand it's that they're just as scared of you. You have these incredible powers. She can move things with her mind; you can control beings with yours. With your powers, nothing can hurt you two. But she screamed too, and she opened the gate. That's how you and Will ended up here. I wouldn't let them hurt you, because i hoped that we could be civil. But, just like anything else i hope for, something went wrong. Now, you've killed several of my demogorgons, and made an enemy of us. I know that i said that i wouldn't hurt you, but, to keep the balance, i have to kill you."
Ashley was just making sense of what it had just said when it slammed into her, sending her hurtling to the ground. She landed on her feet, using the momentum to roll forward. Papa hadn't just helped her uncover her inner power, but had helped her with fighting skills. She rolled into a cartwheel, and used that to run back towards the mind flayer.
"What can i say? You asked me to fight you" it came to the ground, landing in front of her.
"Yes. And i fight back" she hissed, thrusting her hands out. She pulled it towards her, slamming it to the ground at her feet. The red lightning flashed closer this time.
"What is that?" she asked the mind flayer
"Y-you aren't the only one with powers, young one" it got to its feet, well, what its feet would be, and raised its arms. A bolt of lightning came straight for Ashley, and she let it hit her. It ran through her body, and she could feel the power coursing through her.
"Oops" she smiled, and the red quickly changed to blue. It fizzled out, but she wasn't done yet. She pushed her hands out in front of her, and the lightning reappeared. She pointed at the mind flayer, who was still getting over its shock, and the bolt hit it. As it made contact, a blinding flash forced Ashley to close her eyes. When she reopened them, it was gone, but she knew with uneasy certainty that it would be back.
She probably would've spent the rest of the day debating whether or not to go after it, but just then, she sensed something in the woods, not far from Castle Byers.
"Will? Will!" she ran through the woods so quickly that she bumped into something pink, sending it to the floor.
"Who-" she caught her breath.
"Sister" she breathed after a few moments of silence. Eleven ran into her arms, and they fell to the floor, clinging to each other as if for dear life. When they finally pulled apart, Ashley spoke first
"Here? How?" she looked her up and down, scared to let her go in case she disappeared.
"Pool. Sensory di-deep-depi-" she sighed and Ashley let out a strained laugh
"Deprivation?"
She nodded.
"So not really here"
"Nope" the girls stood up, brushing themselves off.
"Got Ten's message. Nancy" El explained
"Good. Mike! Mike is okay?" Ashley had been down here for so long with just Will that she had completely forgotten about her friends.
"Yes" she hesitated "Mike asks about Ten too"
Ashley stared at her sister, before coming to an understanding. She likes Mike. More than a friend. And she was worried that Ashley liked him too.
"No. Don't love Mike. Just a friend" she reassured her, taking her hands in hers. They were warm. Ashley hadn't felt warmth in a long time. She met her eyes, and Ashley saw her relax a little.
"Okay. Monster. Where?" Eleven looked around warily, as if expecting an attack.
"Gone. For now." she spoke too soon. As soon as she finished her sentence, she heard a low growl coming from the direction of Castle Byers.
"Will!" she ran through the woods, dragging her sister through the woods.
"Will? Where?" Eleven called from behind her
"Castle Byers. This way." they were getting close now
"Need-to-talk" El spoke between breaths.
They reached Castle Byers, and Ashley pushed El inside.
"Talk. Gonna kill it."
They stared at each other, and a sort of understanding passed between them.
She stood outside, waiting for something to come at her. After getting nothing for a few moments, she was about to relax when Eleven started yelling Will's name. She opened the curtain to Castle Byers, only to find that her sister wasn't there
"Eleven? Eleven! Come back!" she shouted, but, instead of her sister's voice, she was met with the growl of a demogorgon. She went back outside to find the demogorgon prowling around, sniffing at the edges of their fort.
"Leave!" she pointed at it, at it scurried off.
"Too easy" she mumbled to herself, ducking back inside of Castle Byers.
"Will?" she shook his frail form, but he was unresponsive.
"Will, please. Need to wake up. Mama is coming for you. Sister told you. Think i know a way back" she shook him some more, and his eyes fluttered open.
"Ashley" he whispered as she sat him up, leaning him against her front.
"You-you came back. Why?" he tried to sit up by himself, but he instantly fell back into her.
"Of course i come back. You needed me" she smiled down at him, rocking them both back and forth a little.
"I'm really sorry for everything i said, i didn't mean it, i was jus-"
"Angry and scared. It's okay. Me too. You hurt, i know. But can you be brave, just a bit longer? Mama is coming to look for you. But monster knows we are here, have to go hide."
"O-okay. I'll try" his voice was close to breaking, but they crawled out of Castle Byers. Ashley pulled Will to his feet, taking most of his weight. It wasn't hard though, he was so light. They started making their way towards the road, but she could feel a demogorgon barrelling towards them.
"We have to run" she tried quickening their pace, but Will pulled back
"I can't, Ash. It got me. I have no idea what it's done, but i can barely walk. Just leave me here, maybe i can distract it long enough for you to find a way out"
He stopped completely, sitting on a log and Ashley stared at him like he was crazy.
"Nope, no way. I am not leaving you here alone. You are not going to die, you hear me, Zombie Boy? Not dying." She pulled him to his feet, pressing their foreheads together
"You can do this, you're gonna make it out alive" She knew that Will didn't want her using her mind manipulation powers on him, but she felt like he needed it right now. They pulled away, and Will looked a little better than before. He was less pale, and his eyes shone a little brighter. She grabbed his hand, and together they ran out of the woods.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝:1800 ʕ •́؈•̀ ₎
𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎: 𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 6𝚝𝚑
𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒃𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕, 𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈. 𝒊 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒖𝒚𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 ( ˘ ³˘)♥︎
'𝒔𝒆𝒆' 𝒚𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓
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