EPISODE EIGHT
the battle of starcourt.

ONCE THEY were inside, nova walked over to max, nancy, will and jonathan whilst mike paced around the place calling for dustin on the walkie, and lucas practiced on his wrist rocket.

nancy pulled out a gun and loaded it as nova slowly looked over, a small frown on her face as she looked at nancy. "you're gonna kill him, aren't you?" she spoke, her voice just above a whisper.

nancy smiled sympathetically at her, "this is just a precaution. okay?" she said as nova nodded slowly.

"and not just against billy. if he knows we're here, so does the mind flayer." will spoke.

nancy's eyes landed on the car eleven had sent flying into a store and she chuckled, "no chance that thing'll drive, right?"

jonathan's eyes filled with realisation, "we don't need it to drive...we just need the ignition cable."

the group came together and attempted to push the car over onto the floor, however after a few minutes, it was no use. they all sighed as eleven stood up. "let me try."

"el." mike began, sighing.

eleven walked forward. "i can do it."

they all moved away and stood behind her as she raised her hand into the air towards the car, trying for a few minutes before pulling her hand away with a frown, she looked at her hand, and then at the others worriedly.

mike suggested using stools to push the car over, they tried it, and after a few minutes, they managed to flip the car over. smiling in satisfaction, he looked at them. "told you. physics."

they all jumped down, lucas held his hand out to help nova, to which the girl just laughed at him, pushing his hand away and jumping down herself as he widened his eyes and followed her.

she stood next to mike and they both looked over at eleven who was rummaging through a trash can. "what's she doing?" she asked.

the three of them, plus max who had decided to come along, walked over to eleven who was concentrating on an empty coke can for some reason.

"el. you okay?" mike asked as eleven looked at him worriedly, before back to the coke can.

all of a sudden, nova heard something from above them, she looked up slowly with wide eyes, and tugged on max's sleeve, "oh, my...god." she mumbled.

mike looked up and his eyes widened. "nancy!" he yelled.

the mind flayer was on top of the mall, looking down at them as max grabbed onto her hand, mike helped eleven and the four ran across the mall to hide in a store as the others hid behind the car.

they heard the walkie go off, dustin yelling at them loudly, before nova saw the walkie being flung at the wall, and she jumped, covering her mouth with her trembling hands.

they heard the mind flayer moving around, loud roads escaping it's lips as nova kept her eyes on the string around her wrist, their eyes were filled with tears as they hoped it wouldn't find them.

mike stood up, crouching slightly before getting back down and looking at them. "it's turned away. if we go up the stairs now, we'll make it." mike whispered.

"no way, not with el's leg." max shook her head.

"we have to try." he whispered.

"there's another way. through the gap." nova spoke up, holding onto max's hand as they nodded.

"...now." mike whispered, they got up and ran towards the store, nova squeezing max's hand so tight the girl thought it was going to fall off as they got through, however eleven knocked over something causing the mind flayer to look over, making it's way towards them as they hid behind a shelf.

they all jumped when a mannequin with elevens outfit on fell next to them, and nova turned her head slightly, only to see the mind flayer's claw right next to her head as it was looking for them. she closed her eyes, her hand going to her mouth in fear.

suddenly, a bang could be heard, a balloon had popped in another store, and nova knew that lucas must've saved them with his wrist rocket. max held onto her hand as they ran through the gap and out of the back door, down the steps and to the door.

just as they got outside, they opened the gate and noticed billy getting out of his car which had been set on fire. their eyes widened as they gasped, and immediately began to run back inside as nova pressed the button to shut the front gate.

they got inside and found an elevator as the lights flickered, mike, max and eleven tried to open the elevator as nova heard a door slam. she slowly walked over and a tear rolled down her cheek as she saw billy walking towards her.

"billy...please don't do this. you don't have to do this. your name is billy, billy hargrove. you live on 4819 cherry lane. please, billy—it's me, it's nova. it's your sist—" a cry escaped her lips as billy slammed her head against the wall, knocking her out.

NOVA COUGHED slightly as she woke up, taking in her surroundings she widened her eyes and crawled over to mike and max, shaking them awake. "hey, mike, max? wake up." she shook them.

they got up, and mike looked around as nova asked, "you okay?" max nodded slowly, but mike just looked at them. "where's el? did you see her go?"

"i was knocked out, micheal! of course i didn't!" she exclaimed as they ran out of the room and down the hall. they ran up the stairs and through the hallway until they got inside the mall.

they stopped as they noticed the mind flayer in the centre, fireworks going off and billy hovering over eleven as nova froze in her spot, her eyes filling with tears as the three stared with wide eyes.

unknown to them, eleven was trying to get billy to remember. she knew that nova missed her brother and wanted him back, so she tried to get him back for her. eleven whispered about the california memory with nova, and billy seemed to have frozen at that, "novy." his eyes filled with realisation as a tear rolled down his cheek. she spoke about the memories she had seen of the two of them whilst trying to find the source, and all the memories of his childhood came flooding back into his mind as a sob escaped his lips and he realised he had let nova down.

the fireworks stopped, and the mindflayer growled as billy looked at it, standing up. nova's eyes widened as she saw him walk towards it, her heart was racing and she felt as if she couldn't breath. she wanted to scream at him to not do what he was about to do, to pull him away and save him, but it was too late.

as the mindflayer attempted to get eleven, billy stopped it with his hands, a scream escaping his lips as nova froze, her eyes widening and tears falling down her cheeks.

the arms of the mind flayer stabbed billy multiple times in his body, lifting him up as nova cried and billy screamed in pain, until the last one went straight through his heart.

"billy!" nova screamed in agony, running towards him, however mike had pulled her back as a sob escaped max's lips and nova fell into her arms with wide eyes, "no." she sobbed.

the mind flayer fell and so did billy, a chocked sob escaped novas lips as she got out of max's arms and walked towards him. mike and eleven were hugging, and max was behind her, tears in her eyes.

"billy?" she whispered, eyes wide. "oh, billy. get up." she whispered as she crouched down next to him, her hands holding his, but a quiet gasp escaped her lips as she noticed the familiar string wrapped around his wrist. he had never taken it off. "billy, get up. billy, get up, please, please..."

"i'm sorry, novy." he choked out, before his eyes closed as his tight grip on her hand loosened and loosened, until she couldn't feel it at all.

"billy, c'mon. don't be silly. wake up." she shook him, a sigh escaped his lips as his body felt limp, but she continued, "please wake up...billy." she gasped, her eyes filling with realisation as sobs escaped her lips. he was gone. she shook her head, her head falling onto his chest as she cried.

nova had always hated her brother, the way he treated her and other people, especially lucas. but he was still her brother. he was her best friend at one point. billy hargrove before everything that happened was nova hargrove's favourite person in the entire world. he would do anything and everything for his baby sister. she was his best friend and he was hers. was. he did used to love her so much. as soon as billy set eyes on nova, and held her in the hospital room, he made a promise to try and be the best older brother he could be, but he had broken that promise the day neil hargrove had beaten him up for the first time. because in his eyes, billy, and even nova, had, and always would be a disappointment to him. and in the very moment billy stood up, knowing he had to sacrifice himself, all the bad shit he had done to her came flooding into his mind, and all he wanted was to hold his baby sister in his arms and apologise over and over for all the pain he had caused her. he wanted to try again. but it was too late.

as nova cried into max's shoulder, deep down, a part of her wished she had never accepted the risk that day lucas told them all about what really happened, and she knew max did too. and deep down, nova hargrove felt as if a part of her had died with billy hargrove.

eleven pulled both nova and max in for a hug, as nova looked up and saw mike, he was frowning, and reached over to squeeze her hand.

she felt eleven and max let her go, and saw lucas running over, pulling her into his arms as she cried, his arms wrapped across her as she cried into his shoulder. "he's gone." she mumbled between sobs.

"i'm so sorry." lucas hated billy, and he always would, but seeing nova in this much pain was something he never wished to see again.

the ambulances and government soilders arrived moments later, getting everybody out, and nova noticed eleven looking for hopper, but her eyes widened when she saw joyce by herself.

three months later.

THE PARTY had found out the byers would be leaving hawkins, and were all helping them pack. nova found out that she was much happier with the group, since they took her mind away from the awful events of starcourt mall. she hadn't been as talkative, wouldn't make as many jokes and she didn't even bother to argue with mike anymore. nothing was the same.

when neil found out about billy's death, he went crazy. even crazier then usual if that was even possible. he would pick fights with nova more often, her turning up at mike's basement with more bruises each day she had attempted to cover. he even started arguing more with susan.

lucas, in attempts to cheer nova up, had told her about dustin singing never ending story with his girlfriend, and the two had been teasing him about it since. dustin hated it, but he didn't mind as much as he would, since it meant he would get to see nova smile again, something that had became very rare now.

"turn around, look at what you see!" the two began to sing loudly as they packed away the things in the living room, dustin sighed. "in her face, the mirror of your dreams! rhymes that keeps their secrets will unfold behind the clouds!" they continued, actually sounding pretty good.

"did we get that verse right? it's 'unfold behind the clouds'?" nova checked, dustin nodded, "yeah. but you're butchering it, so could you please stop?"

"so then join in, dusty-bun." lucas blew a kiss as nova grinned, "yeah, c'mon, dusty-bun. why don't you join us?"

"you guys are so funny, you should be on carson." dustin said sarcastically. "can't we just hear your rendition?" nova asked, "no!" she sighed, "just one verse?"

"no! no way. it's reserved for suzie's ears and suzie's ears alone!" dustin exclaimed.

nova and lucas shared a look before smirking, "turn around. look at what you see!" they began again as dustin groaned, flipped them off as they continued to sing whilst dustin yelled at them.

once they were all packed, everyone went outside, joyce locking the door and soon enough, everybody was crying. the house had so many memories.

nova hugged jonathan, and then moved to eleven who had a pained smile on her lips, "i'll miss you, el." she smiled, "me, too. thank you and max for showing me what it was like to have girl friends." she said, nova felt like crying at her worlds.

"be happy." eleven told her as nova chuckled, and then max joined the group hug. "the trio hugging one last time." nova said dramatically.

"stop, you'll see us at thanksgiving." eleven chuckled as nova smiled lightly, and then she saw will, hugging him, "i'll miss you."

"i'll miss you, too." he said as she looked around, before saying, "you know, you can always write to me. about...well. whatever." she subtly nodded over at mike as will sighed, shaking his head. "he doesn't like me like that...a-and neither do i!" he whispered.

"sure. but, you know you can write to me. actually, just call me...that would be even better. i don't know if i'll stay at my house much longer with the way my dads acting, but ill make sure to mail you our new house phone number if we do go somewhere." she smiled and he retuned it.

"thank you. really. for...everything." she knew what he was really thanking her for. "no problem. stay safe, don't get mind flayed, don't get possessed, and do not die." she pushed his shoulder, tears filling her eyes as she smiled at him.

"same to you. please don't loose your smile, nov... don't die, and invite me to the 'lova' wedding." he nodded at lucas who was walking over, she scoffed, rolling her eyes. "whatever." she chuckled.

unfortunately, nova hadn't realised it yet, but she would break all of their promises soon enough. she most definitely would not be happy in the upcoming months, there would most definitely not be a lova wedding, and she most definitely would not be safe.

lol i cried xx

season four next 🥲🥲nova is gonna be in a lot of pain and ur all gonna hate me #lol