WHEN BILLY STEPPED OUT OF THE CAR, A LIT CIGARETTE HUNG OUT OF HIS MOUTH. Surely with any other girl, that would make them swoon, but it only made Sar want to inch closer to Steve. "Am I dreaming, or is that you, Harrington. And the lovely Sara Hopper. You two together, what a surprise." He leant against the open door of his car as he inspected them. "What are you doing here, amigo?" Billy asked as Sar and Steve walked closer.

     "I could ask you the same thing... amigo," Steve replied. Smooth, Steve. Sar resisted the temptation to roll her eyes, simply following beside Steve. She'd slid on her leather jacket to hide the blood on her yellow sweater.

     Billy's eyes rolled up and down her body a few times and he chuckled. When his eyes hovered on her face, littered with pale bruises from her use of power, he drew his tongue out across his teeth. "What happened to your face, sweetheart?"

     "I got punched really hard," Sar deadpanned. She crossed her arms lithely over her chest, leaning up her shoulder against Steve's. The height difference between them surely was recognisable now.

      Billy's eyes darted to Steve for a moment, and a mischievous delight took over his features. "Want me to take you back to bed, sweetheart?" Billy asked. Steve's jaw tightened at that statement, his eyes full of hatred and trained on Billy.

     Sar raised an eyebrow. "I'm good."

     "Really?" Billy furrowed his eyebrows in mock confusion. He shut the door of his car as he walked towards them. "All the other girls in this town are just dying to get to me. So why not you?"

     Sar rolled her eyes visibly. "I'm sure when I'm itching to crawl back to you, I'll give you a call."

     Billy gave another chuckle and pushed his tongue over his lips, while Steve tensed. Sar wrapped her fingers around his arm before he could mess anything up. "Anyway, I'm looking for my stepsister. Little birdie told me she was here."

     Steve raised his eyebrows. "Huh. That's weird. I dunno her."

     Billy pointed at Sar, coming too close for her comfort. "Oh, but she does. I saw you on the first day we arrived, stopped her from getting hit by the car."

     Sara joined in on Steve's expression. "Oh, she's your sister?" Sar rolled her head back slightly. "I haven't seen her since then." She could pride herself in being a better actor than Steve, who was just terrible. "I'm sorry. I don't know why she would be here. This is just the Byers house."

     "You know... I don't know," Billy began, taking the cigarette out of his mouth, "this whole situation, Harrington, I don't know. It's giving me the heebie-jeebies."

     "Oh yeah, why's that?"

     Billy shrugged and took another drag of his cigarette. "My thirteen year old sister goes missing all day. And then I find her with you, in a strangers house, and you lie to me about it."

     Steve chuckled. "Man, were you dropped too much as a child, or what?"

     "She's not here," Sara finished.

      Billy pointed behind them with his cigarette. "Then who is that?"

     Sar turned just in time to see the four kids peeking at the window. They ducked back, startled and wide-eyed, behind the couch. Steve turned back, "Oh shit, listen..."

     Billy shoved Steve hard, sending him slamming into the ground. "I told you to plant your feet," he hissed, and aimed a harsh kick at Steve's ribs.

     "Hey!" Sar yelled, moving in to interfere, anger blazing in her eyes. She shot out an arm to stop him.

     Billy grabbed her wrist, twisting it out of her way with his finger pressing hard into the number tattoo on her skin. "Stay out of my way, Sara," he warned, pushing her aside. She stumbled for a moment, and Billy was already pushing in through the door.

     Steve was still on the ground, groaning slightly from the kick to his abdomen. "Steve," Sar began, checking he hadn't wounded his head. When she saw he was moving fine, Sar stepped back. "Hang on." She burst through the half-open door, eyes widening when she saw Billy had Lucas up against the bookshelf. "Hey! You leave them alone!"

     Sar stumbled again, an affliction of her lack of energy, as Billy was kicked away from Lucas.

     She managed to grab Billy's arm and pulled him towards her, away from the kids. Though her vision was bleary, Sar stared him down sharply. Her fingers were curled into a fist, though she swayed slightly on her feet. "I told you," Sar snarled, "I'm not afraid to kick your ass."

     Billy chuckled at her again. "I like a little fire in 'em, you know? Maybe if you weren't so caught up with Harrington, I'd find you in my bed—"

     Billy stumbled back with a blow to the jaw, slamming back against the kitchen counter. Blood welled up between his fingertips, clutching his face. The punch hadn't come from Sar, though if Steve had given it a few seconds longer, it would have.

     "Steve!" Katie exclaimed.

      As Billy stumbled up, he laughed. "Looks like you've got some fire in you after all, huh? I've been waiting to see this King Steve everybody's been telling me so much about." He spoke each word with a drop of venom.

     Sar stumbled again and was caught by Katie, who held her arm fiercely. Her headaches were hitting her again. Dizziness too.Too much adrenaline, probably...

     Steve moved towards Billy. "Get. Out."

     For a moment, there was silence. Then Billy swung at Steve with violent intensity. Steve ducked beneath the blow—it seemed like he'd learned something from his fight with Jonathan—and hit him back in the nose. Billy stumbled again with a crazed laugh as the kids yelled.

     "Yes! Kick his ass Steve!" Dustin yelled as Steve hit Billy again. Billy fell against the sink, laughing for a moment. His fingers closed around one of the plates left lying on the counter.

     "Steve!" Sar let out a warning cry before the plate smashed against Steve's head. "Shit, Billy, stop!" Steve stumbled over to them and Billy threw a punch to his gut. Sar tried to move towards him, but her headache made her feet catch on each other.

     The next punch hit Steve upside the jaw—and suddenly Sar felt like she couldn't move.

     "Billy!" Max was screaming as Steve was thrown into the ground. Billy pinned him down and hit him again... and again. "Billy stop!" Max cried.

     He was punching Steve in the face over and over. Steve's head was lolling like a doll, eyes fluttering to stay open against the punches. It was a sickening, horrific sight.

     Everyone in the room could hear the crunch of Billy's fist against Steve's face. Sara just watched. She was frozen, face stricken and hands clenched by her sides. Her breaths were shallow. She could feel her eyebrows quivering between neutral and furrowed and lips trembling, as if she was some clockwork robot stuck on repeat.

     They'd pulled him in and thrown him to the floor. "I'll come back for you," he'd said, and so he had, but he'd never quite made it out. The kids pressed themselves to the bars with screams and cries of protest against the Hawkins' Lab authorities.

     "No!" Sar had screamed, just a child. "No!"

     Steve couldn't cry out anymore, his hands beside his head. Sar just watched and watched, as if reliving the most horrific experience of her life.

     He'd cried out when the first fist connected with his cheek, blood flying across his pale face. It had sprayed in his hair, usually neatly done and curly but now messed and red. The blood had stained his teeth as he yelled.

     Steve's blood splattered on his sweater. Sar still couldn't move. Her nails dug into her palms as she stared at the scene and she could feel blood bead beneath the assault. Her breaths were jagged, like slivers of glass caught in her throat.

     The scene in front of her seemed to both move in a blur and so slowly she could see everything. The kids were still screaming.

     They'd been pressed up against the bars of their rooms, fingers grasping through the gaps to try to reach him. "One!" Sar cried. "One! Let go of him!" she screamed to the guards. His blood reached her fingers. She screamed wordlessly.

     Dustin was pulling on Sar's arm, still yelling, but it was as if she couldn't hear him. The tears that filled her eyes were also for another time—long, long ago.

     She heard the sickening crunch of bone as his nose broke under a violent fist.

     "Katie, stop him!" Mike yelled.

      The young girl looked panicked, wide-eyed. "I might get Steve!"

     "Stop it!" Eight had been screaming, slumped against the bars. But everything seemed to be going in slow motion. "Stop it!"

      The carpet was stained, like spilled red wine.

     There was blood running in rivets along the while linoleum from his bruised face. It was like a dream. A nightmare. Her skin cut open on the rusted bars but she still tried to reach for him.

     And then all she could see was Steve—Steve, the boy she met out unreasonably late in the forest that first night in Hawkins, and who had never quite left her side since. Steve.

     He was going to die. Like One. Just like One. And it was as if she was a little girl again, pressed against the bars of a dormitory and helpless to save someone who meant the world to her.

     Except, she wasn't.

     "Stop it!" Sar screamed, louder than any of the others. "Billy, stop it! Get off of him! Get off of him!" No powers came to aid her words. It seemed to have drained from her blood. Instead, Billy's fist hit Steve's face again with a yell. "You're going to kill him!" Sar cried. There were tears coming down her face. "You're going to kill him!"

     And then she was there—though she couldn't quite recall crossing the room. Steve was motionless, head lolling with each punch.

     Blood on his face like child's paint.

     Sara grabbed Billy's arm before the fist come down again, wrapping her grip around his closed hand and pulling him back. Her fingers were slippery with Steve's blood, and for a moment she saw One's blood on her hands.

     Billy turned to her, once handsome face turned manic with the blood. He was in a rage, near-delusional from the adrenaline.

     He hit her straight in the face. She was much too sluggish to retaliate, still drained. She stumbled onto her knees and he punched her again. She slammed backwards into a glass cabinet full of records. Glass shattered around her, spilling across the rug. She was fallen on her back, the world swimming like an ocean around her. There was a distant ringing playing in her ears.

      Billy was still hanging over Steve, the boy's blood on his knuckles. He had that crazed look in his eyes. Don't hurt him. "Don't hurt Steve," Sar managed, words trembling.

     Billy flexed his hands and then started to move back towards her. "Don't hurt Steve?" he asked, a slight chuckle on his lips. "Don't hurt Steve?"

     "Stop," she said. Her voice had a shake in it, trembling on each syllable. She cowered, still on her knees, though uttering a warning. "Stop."

     The soldier had blood on his black uniform. His gun was long discarded on the tiles and yet he punched and punched and punched—an innocent boy, he just kept hitting an innocent, unarmed boy.

     But Billy kept moving towards her, if somewhat disorientated. There was blood on his teeth, and Sar knew there was something very, very wrong with him.

     Her fingers ached and stretched, and her head throbbed with intense, stabbing pain. But she was desperate. She was so desperate.

     It was, by far, the thing she hated doing most in the world.

     Sar fell back onto her hands, skin cutting in the glass. Her eyes flickered and Billy arched back to grab his temples, fingers slipping with blood. A heartbeat—she could feel it loud and awake in her chest, tha-thump—and she was in his mind.

     But when she reached into his thoughts, all she found was pain.

     There was a flicker of the past which she pushed forward, bringing it to the front of his brain so he could relive it. Sar saw it all.

     The pain of a mother; a golden necklace; a phone call which was his last goodbye. Blood, and blood, and blood. A face much too similar's to Billy's own and a bloody fist.

     It seemed to hone in on that, as if Sar's mind knew she was chaotic and wanted the worst damage possible.

     She saw, in her own mind, a room with dark flooring—a home that Billy didn't really feel was a home—and his fingers grasping for ground. Blood dripped beside them, staining the wood red and leaving the sight of Billy's haunting reflection in each droplet.

     When he looked up, there was that man again—that man that was so prevalent in each one of his memories that Sar knew even before he said the word.

     "Dad—" he tried, but the fist had come down again—Sar could almost swear she could feel the pain rush through her; if not physical then certainly the ache in her heart, and in a heartbeat she understood. She understood everything.

     And when she flinched the memory was lost, and Billy was stumbling, as if wounded, when he really wasn't.

     And Sar knew, she had done something unforgivable. What better was she than those who had used memories to torture her?

     He looked up at her, tumbling off Steve. Blood had splattered around his mouth. "You crazy bitch," he spluttered. "What did you do?"

     Never in her life had she felt so bad for someone. She lowered her hand, feeling it cut into the glass. Her lips were parted slightly, eyebrows lowered. She breathed out: "Billy—"

     "What the Hell did you do?" he yelled. He was in front of her now, the blood staining his knuckles so alike to the ones in his fears. His fingers trembled, but he still looked so angry. Somewhere in his eyes, he reminded Sar of Kali.

     Katie let out a yell, hands thrusting outwards. Billy flew across the room. His back his the dresser and his head the wall, and he crumpled into a shameful heap by the door. Everyone seemed to freeze for a moment, the boys' mouths dropping open and Max's even wider.

     Sar forced herself to scramble up, watching an unconscious Billy. Katie's powers were always extensive, even over-powerful, and not as delicate to control as Eleven's. Sar rubbed her face in pain again, fingers cut with glass.

     Max was standing over Sara then, hand on her shoulder as she looked fearfully into her eyes. Sar was bleeding. It pooled from a cut on her eyebrow and a burst lip, each as painful as they were looking. Max held out a piece of cloth for Sar to wipe down her cut hands on.

     Sar didn't even have to look inside Max's head to realised she didn't know. The expression was conveyed in her eyes. How could she not know that Billy's own dad was beating him? Oh, God. She felt sick all over again. What kind of Father—?

     All thoughts about Billy Hargrove was forgotten when she caught glimpse of Steve again, laid on his back on the carpet. Her mind seemed to blank and then short-circuit itself.

     One lay on the tiles, blood spread like broken wings around his head. He hadn't been moving—slow blood pulsing from his face and neck, lips silent.

     She yelled Steve's name. Sara scrambled over to the boy lying on the ground, hands limp by his head. His face was covered in an unruly amount of blood, eyes closed and shallow breaths emitting from his lips. She took his face in her hands, looking down at him. "Steve," she murmured, voice slurred in her daze. Her fingers slipped in the blood on his face as they rubbed across his cheeks comfortingly. "Steve." Her tone was becoming more distressed now. Her thumb dragged over his busted lip, and his head lolled limp in her hands. She was struggling to breathe. Not now, she thought, controlling her breaths. Not now. Can't now. Have to help Steve. There was no possible way she could help him if she had a panic attack. "Oh God," she shuddered, shoulders shaking. She couldn't stop thinking of One, and how the blood in his hair had looked much to similar to Steve's. His face had been punched in so badly it was caved purple and blue.

     And when they'd pulled off One's mask, his eye-sockets were swollen and purple. His eyes were open, yet none in the room died from his un-seeing gaze. His eyes were green, she'd thought for a dull moment. Green.

     Sara wound her fingers into Steve's t-shirt and dropped her head onto his chest for just a moment, hunched over him. She fought the tears that threatened to rise. He's going to be okay, she thought as she hiccupped with quiet sobs. He's not One. You're not in the lab. Slowly Sara raised her head. Her hair was red stained at the edges and a drop of blood ran into her eye from where Billy had hit her. She pushed her fingers hastily through Steve's hair, pushing it back as she looked around. What could she do? She felt the blood at the back of his head from the broken plate.

     "Shit," she whispered. She tilted his face back towards her carefully. Maybe they should take him to the hospital.

     Dustin knelt by her, worrying loudly. Mike and Lucas stood back, unsure of what to do. Katie reached down to touch Steve's face tenderly, shoulder pressing up against Sar's. Sar was muttering beneath her breath. She looked up at Dustin. "Shit, shit, shit," he was saying.

     "Dustin," she said, and then very suddenly felt sick. The nausea seemed to be setting back in. The girl stopped herself from swaying by putting a hand down next to Steve. "Get some ice from the freezer. Bandages—anything." The boy nodded, scrambling up to run to the Byers kitchen. Mike ran to help him. Katie stayed down.

     Max stood standing at the edge of the carpet, beside the unconscious form of her step-brother. "We're going to the tunnels," Max said. She had Billy's keys in her hands.

     Of course you are, Sar thought, the lights above stinging her eyes. She blinked and tried her best to stay conscious. "Not alone," she slurred. "Can any of you drive?"

•°•☆•°•


     HER HEAD STILL THROBBED, MAKING SAR WINCE AS THE BRIGHT STREETLIGHTS FLICKERED PAST THOUGH THE WINDOW. She was holding the wet cloth to Steve's bloody face, balancing on her knees on the seat. The car was bumping unstably over the hard roads, and she had to hold onto Steve's shoulders every now and then to prevent her from falling. It really was a stupid idea to let Max drive—but Sar didn't want to pass out at the wheel.

     Lucas was yelling out the directions to the tunnels' entrance. Sar couldn't let them go alone. Katie had strapped herself in with Mike, pressed against the window of the car. 

     Steve began to stir as her fingers gently held his face. He groaned and looked up at Sar through half-closed eyes.

     "Nancy?"

     Sar felt a stab of pain flare in her chest. She removed her hands from his face and sat back as he blinked, eyes adjusting. He seemed to do a double take as he saw her, the smallest bit of hurt flickering across her face.

     "Wh... where am I?" His voice was incredibly slurred as he tried to sit up. Sar pushed his shoulders back down softly, adjusting her position on her knees. Katie was sitting up beside her, watching Steve with a certain curiosity.

     "Hey," Sar whispered, touching his cheek again carefully. "We're okay, everything's alright." She winced at the dark bruises. There was still so much dried blood caked on his face. He watched her blearily against the flashing streetlights.

     He seemed to take in his surrounding, squinting in a daze. "Wha—? Who's driving?" His words dragged out as he ignored Sar and tried to push himself up again. "Oh my God..." he tried, blinking. "No, no..." he tried to rub his bloodied face and Sar grabbed his hands before he could do so.

     "Steve, calm down," Sar tried to assure him. "It wasn't safe for me to drive. She's been doing fine."

     "Yeah," Katie quipped, from where she was shoved next to Mike. There were way too many people in the car to be safe. "She said she drove for fourteen minutes around the op-shop car park!"

     "Oh my god," he slurred, shoving Sar's hands away from her face and ignoring Sar completely. The car bumped beneath them. Sar placed her hands down on the seat and huffed in annoyance, giving him a small glare. Something along this conversation had ticked her off (she could pinpoint exactly where that had been).

     "Steve, just calm down," she said.

     Mike glared over. "I told you he would freak out!"

     Sar cupped her head again at the noise, pain jolting through her temple. Dustin shook his head. "It's okay, Max has driven before," he assured Steve.

     "Yeah, in a parking lot!"

     "That counts!" Lucas argued.

     Steve was shaking his head, eyes wide. He was trying to push past a kneeling Sar as he clawed to sit up. "Oh my God. Oh my God!" he yelled. "No! Whoa! Stop the car! Slow down!" Max ignored him, fingers gripping the wheel tightly.

     "Everybody shut up! I'm trying to focus!" Max yelled over everyone's voices as she slammed on the accelerator, making the forests blur through the windows.

     "Max, ease on the brakes!" Sar raised her voice over Steve's yells as she slammed against Dustin again. "I don't have a seatbelt on!"

      "Oh wait, that's Mount Sinai!" Dustin exclaimed, pointing to a road they were just passing. "Make a left!"

     "What?"

     "Make a left! Take a left!" yelled Lucas, throwing out his arms.

     Max spun the wheel abruptly. The car crashed over a mailbox and flew through a gutter as everyone in the car screamed.

     Sar cried out as she was thrown into Steve. She found her head slamming into his knees, hand flying out to grab Dustin's. The car nearly slid off the road again and Sar's head hit the ceiling as they bounced back onto cement. Katie was still screaming.

     The car was going much too fast for a residential zone, tires squealing across the road. Sara couldn't quite get up, slammed against the front seat. She should have taken the damn seat with the seatbelt. Dustin yelled as he held her hands to make sure she wouldn't die in a car crash, and Steve was just yelling anyway. 

     The car pulled to an abrupt stop and Sar flew straight forward into the seat Steve was sitting on. "Shit!" she swore. She grabbed hold of her head as she pulled herself onto her hands and knees, ignoring Steve who she was balancing on. "Ah."

     "I told you," Max said, glancing at Mike and raising an eyebrow, "Zoomer." She hopped out of the driver's seat.

     Sar gave the girl a look as Max walked around to the trunk. "Fuck. I Should not have let you drive." Her palms were still digging into Steve's knees. She shot him another annoyed look as she climbed off him, sliding out of the car beside Mike. Her hand was still clasped over her aching forehead. Shit, she was going to have a bruise there tomorrow.

     Sara stumbled to the trunk of the car. Katie was already tying a blue cloth around her mouth and nose, and fitting a pair of snorkelling goggles over her eyes. "I'm going to have more injuries from that damn car ride than fighting the demo-dogs," Sar hissed. She snatched her set of supplies from the back of the car, tying the bandana around her face.

      The kids were already marching towards the hole with supplies and rope. "Oi," she pointed at Mike, who was holding the can of gasoline. "None of that. Give that to me." He grumbled as he handed it to her. "Don't have that attitude at me, young man. I'm not having any of you setting yourselves on fire by accident." Her mood had changed drastically in the matter of minutes. Of course Steve had thought she was Nancy, acting so loving towards him. Stupid. She clasped a hand over her nose. "Shit, I should have never agreed to this."

     Steve practically fell out of the car then, grabbing hold of the door for support. She rolled her eyes at him. As he stumbled past, Sar pulled her gun out of her jacket and toyed her fingers over it. Hopefully she wouldn't have to use it.

     It was a fucking stupid plan though. She sighed, shoving it back in her pocket. She picked up the bright red can of gasoline and followed the kids to where the hole to the tunnels was. "This it?" she asked. Mike nodded, peering down it. Sar handed Dustin the gasoline and sighed. The girl dropped down into it, feet slamming against the hard dirt inside. "Holy shit." She gazed around at the particles floating in the air, and at the slimy vines on the walls. Mike jumped down beside her and the other boys passed her their things. When Steve jumped down, shoulder bumping against her's, she took the map from Mike and looked at it.

     She glanced at Steve briefly—watching the distorted reflection of her dishevelled self in his goggles. "Okay," she breathed. Sar raised her finger so it pointed down the pulsating dark tunnel, that looked suspiciously like a gaping throat. "This way."

•°•☆•°•

Damn this shit hurt me.

*Aw Sar is annoyed at Steveeeee. Freaking love them. She thought they had been having a moment back at the house and then got pissed when he thought she was Nancy. WOw.

word count: 4,318

26/07/2018