the end of it all

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

Alina hung over the railing, her body trembling with exhaustion. She'd run out of energy and fireworks, allowing Lucas and Will to light up the last few, and was instead attempting to check on El, although it was a little bit difficult given the haze of explosions that kept lighting up the mall. Her nose was bleeding rather badly, but she was shaking too much to even raise her arm to wipe it away. She instead narrowed her eyes, searching the food court and letting her magnet lead her on, and that was when she finally spotted the girl. She was lying on her back, awake, while Billy quivered on top of her, his body obviously wracked with pain from the many hits he was acquiring. He was still attempting to hurt El, as he kept shaking her desperately, perhaps trying to knock her out.

Alina looked back to Will and Lucas, who were still heaving fireworks, and then made her decision. She wasn't helping them here, but maybe she could help El. So she sprung away from her brother and boyfriend and instead made her way to the escalator in an attempt to reach her friend. And that was when she saw she really hadn't expected. She saw El's lips move, because, for whatever reason, she was talking to Billy Hargrove.

What would El even say to Billy, who had hated her friends before he even got possessed, to draw him back to the surface, like they'd done for Will last year? He was surely too far gone, wasn't he, given that he'd probably gone on a chemical-gorging spree with the other flayed and turned into a twisted, monster version of himself. That wasn't to say he wasn't already a monster, but... God. The thought of anyone being flayed made her feel sick.

Then, Alina realized the only thing El could say to him. The beach. She could reference the beach, where Billy had been a better person and definitely happier than Alina had ever seen him. And sure enough, as Alina ran down the escalator stairs, she caught a fragment of what her friend was saying.

"You ran to her, on the beach," El said. Alina could make out tears spilling from her eyes, but she didn't know if it was because Billy had been warped into a walking nightmare or because she was scared, so she was blurting out whatever she could think of in order to appeal to the small bit of humanity Billy maybe had inside of him. "There were seagulls. She wore a hat... with a blue ribbon... a long dress... with a blue and red flower. Yell-Yellow sandals... covered in sand." El took a shuddering breath. Alina noticed Billy had stopped attempting to slam her into oblivion, which was... weird. "She was pretty. She was really pretty."

Alina had made it to the bottom of the escalator now. Her heart was pounding, and she expected that, any second now, Billy would kill El. But El was brave, and she continued, finishing off her weaving of the past. "And you...you were happy."

She brought up a hand and touched Billy's face. Alina wanted to scream, to warn her that this was a trick, but her voice wouldn't come. El was going to die. And she couldn't get there fast enough.

The fireworks began to stop. They must've finally run out. And the Mind Flayer was screeching and howling, but it was still alive, and it was moving towards El.

Billy got to his feet, facing the Mind Flayer. Shit, shit, shit. This was it. This was the end. One way or another, everything would end. The Mind Flayer would prevail, or it would die. Billy would die, or El would. Alina exhaled, her body trembling, thinking back to the beach. It had been so calming there, and it had almost seduced her into staying, into watching the young Billy surf the waves forever. But... but it wasn't real. Not anymore. Whoever Billy had been... that Billy was gone now. Maybe scratched away by abuse, but he'd chosen to continue the cycle, to hurt Max most of all. Alina hadn't, which was what made her so different from him. And she found that, although his past had been dark, she still couldn't forgive him. She still couldn't forget what he'd done to her, to Max, to Lucas, to Steve.

And that was okay.

But as that realization struck her, the Mind Flayer opened its great big mouth and flung one of its tongues towards El, who was attempting to shuffle backwards. El shielded her face, knowing her telekinesis had run dry, and Alina screamed, sprinting towards her friend, even though she knew she couldn't get there on time.

Billy did, though. In what may have been his first decent act in years, he flung out his hands, catching the tongue with them, keeping it away from El. He yelled out in pain as the clawed thing on the end writhed, and Alina knelt beside El, who, beside the bleeding head, seemed unharmed. Billy, on the other hand, seemed to have broken away, at least temporarily, from his flaying, and was straining to keep the tongue away from her.

And that was when the other appendage, which had slowly been crawling out of the Mind Flayer's body, jabbed right into his stomach, cutting through skin. The first one was followed by a second one in his side, then a third, and a fourth, and then Billy had dropped the one he'd held onto and hung limply, his eyes flopping shut. Alina stood up, unsure of what to do, because this was what was always going to happen, wasn't it? But then she had to duck down as one of them snaked its way towards her, screeching frantically, and slammed her back against the cold ground, sending instant pain shooting up her spine. The thing wriggled, and then made its way back towards Billy, piercing into him.

There was, obviously, nothing she could do but watch from her uncomfortable place on the ground. Her eyes were dry as she watched Billy sink down, all of those appendages sticking out of him, a constant scream of pain tearing loose from his lips. The monster roared at him, and Billy roared back, and then a final tongue pierced right into his chest and he went limp.

"Billy!" Max screamed. If Alina wasn't so tired, she would've turned her head towards her friend, but it was that she could barely keep her eyes open. Still, relief flooded through her. Max was alive, which meant that Mike probably was, too. Billy hadn't killed them.

The appendages released their hold from Billy, and the man slumped to the ground. Alina could see black fluid leaking from his mouth, and a lot of blood staining his tank top. Alina, who had seen her own father die, knew that once a puddle of blood grew to be a certain level, there was no going back. Billy was either dead or dying.

And that was when the Mind Flayer began to shriek, writhing about, snarling and slamming its legs onto the mall floor. Alina knew it had been done. She knew the gate had been closed, and the Mind Flayer was about to die. She managed to sit up a little and watch it flail about, roaring and slamming onto the balcony near where Robin and Steve stood, but they were in no real danger, because, just then, the terrible thing collapsed to the ground, teeth and tongues and legs and all. Dead.

Dead. The Mind Flayer, the great and powerful beast that had hurt so many people, was dead. It had thought itself a god and the humans fleas, but it really hadn't been as strong as it believed itself to be. But... Alina found herself crying, tears streaming down her cheeks and intermingling with the blood, because the Mind Flayer's death meant the death of each and every person in its army. It meant the death of Heather, and Janet, and Mrs. Driscoll, and the others Alina didn't even know the names of. Her heart was aching as she remembered Heather, the girl who had always been just out of reach. The girl she—no matter what anyone told her—felt personal guilt for. The girl she'd failed to save.

A fire bloomed around the dead Mind Flayer, and the smoke immediately made Alina cough. She shifted herself away from the flames, aching all over, and that was when she heard someone run up behind her. "El!" it was Mike's voice, which meant that she was right, and he was also alive.

Lucas and Will had come down, too, and the two of them hooked their fingers under her arms and helped drag her away from the ruins and the growing flames. Alina's chest heaved, and she turned away from them, throwing up bile from the smoke she'd inhaled. Lucas rubbed her back and then grabbed her hand.

"Al, you okay?" he asked softly.

"Yes," she gasped, wiping her mouth. "I'm just... I'm just tired."

She could sleep right here, right now. But she forced herself to stay awake, especially as Max made her way over to her stepbrother. Alina could hear his chokes and wheezes and knew he was still alive, but soon his breathing would fade, and he'd be dead.

"Billy?" Max called softly. Alina wanted to tell her to get away from him, because no matter how much you hated a person, watching them die would stick with you forever, but she coughed again, and simply sunk into Lucas's arms as Max knelt beside Billy. "Billy," she said again. "Billy, Billy, get up, please. Billy, get up, please, please."

Alina didn't think she was mourning for the person Billy was. She was mourning for the brother Billy could've been. It hurt, because Alina knew Max might've been blaming herself yet again. For not being a better sister. But it hadn't been her fault. It never had.

"I'm sorry," Billy choked out. Alina didn't know what for. For getting possessed? For being a shitty, racist person? For dying? For not killing El?

"Billy..." Max gasped. "Billy. Billy. Billy, wake up, Billy get up. Please, Billy...Billy!"

Alina raised her head, but she knew what she'd find. Billy's eyes were open and as glassy as her dad's had been, and he wasn't moving anymore. He was dead.

Mike helped El limp over, and Max dissolved into her arms, sobs tearing loose from her throat. El soothed her, stroking her hair, and Alina simply held onto Lucas and tried not to remember her dad. It made her feel worse when she looked at the Mind Flayer, and so she just closed her eyes. Why did life have to be so unfair? Why did winning have to involve the deaths of so many innocent people? Maybe Tom, Bruce, and Billy weren't the best people, but... Jesus. Death was scary. Alina had no idea what happened when you moved on.

But that was what happened during wars. Death on both sides. And it was what had happened here.

It's over, she thought. It's over. It's over, and I'm alive, and we're all alive, and we're all okay. We survived this, yet again, because we're strong, and we've always been strong. I'm alive, because I'm Alina Fairgrieves-Byers, and I won't die without a fight.

Then, Will raised his head, looking around. His breathing got heavy, and he stood up, running so he was beside Mike. "Where's Gabe?" he asked frantically.

Mike pointed to the room they'd come from. "He's somewhere in there," he explained. "He was really hurt, we couldn't bring him with us. We need to get him help."

Luckily, that was when the soldiers burst in. Dressed in camouflage and clutching guns and flashlights, they shone their beams at the teens on the ground and came to a crashing halt at the sight of the fire and the Mind Flayer in front of them. Before Alina could try and rationalize what was going on, that this was the army Hopper had sent for, they were tugging the teenagers away, pulling them outside, all the while Will was screaming for Gabe. Alina just wheezed for breath, her heart clenching, and let herself let go of the Mind Flayer, because, God, it couldn't hurt them anymore.

It didn't feel much like victory.

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: no i'm not crying wtf are you talking about

okay but fr... i think there's a very important message in this chapter, about alina and billy and how you're under no obligation to forgive those who have hurt you, no matter what they've gone through. i know in this case billy didn't get a redemption arc (because you can't spend your entire life hurting people, do one good thing and then die, and call that a redeemed character), but if he did, alina probably STILL wouldn't forgive him. and that's okay!! she doesn't have to!! and neither should you!! and if the person who tried to make amends gets angry at you for not accepting your apology, then it's obvious that all they wanted was for people to forget the things they did so they could move on. they didn't REALLY want to accept any personal responsibility.

anyway, on a brighter note, next chapter is the one we've all been waiting for... the dolores burton pov!! it was honestly so fun to write, even though it does mean the end of all canon scenes (bar the epilogue). so be ready for that :)

'till next time!