I'M UNSTOPPABLE TODAY.

▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

STARCROSSED (book one).
°• CHAPTER SIXTEEN •°

" I'M GAY. YOU CAN SAY IT.
ITS NOT A BAD WORD. "

▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

ELIJAH WOLFHART WAS CARRYING QUITE A LOT OF GUILT. For starters: he shouldn't be keeping this from Nevaeh. If she could hop between worlds, then this involved her. She did have every right to know. Maybe it was selfish to protect her, but she was better off being stuck in the unknown. Whatever Doctor Owens needed Nevaeh for, she'd be safer in Hawkins Lab. Not to mention none of this was fair to Nancy, was it? He was in love with her... Whatever they were, and were hunting down that creature Dustin thought was a brilliant idea to bring home. Elijah hated himself for it. Nancy was an incredible friend of his and Nevaeh was his baby sister. He loved them.

This all... Sort of made Elijah a horrible friend and an equally worse brother. He knew that. He even felt bad about it. But Elijah had never been selfish a day of his life, so. Sucks. He was going to enjoy being a selfish asshole while it lasted even when it felt like he was trudging along the train tracks with sneakers made of concrete blocks.

"... Alright, so let me get this straight," Steve wonders out loud. "You kept something you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl who... Who you just met?" He flicks another chunk of raw meat onto the soil.

Elijah scoffs. He still can't believe this shit. This is why he hates kids in the first place. Stupid, reckless, clueless - and here he was anyway, almost elbow deep in soiled meat, his ax rolled into the straps of his bag, cleaning up one of their messes.

"Alright, that's grossly oversimplifying things," Dustin argues.

"Oversimplifying things," Elijah parrots, annoyed. "Even if that thing wasn't a baby Demogorgon, it was obviously dangerous." He shot a glance at Steve over his shoulder after tossing some meat at his feet. "Are all kids this fucking stupid?"

Steve shrugs. "You're the one with a kid sister," he points out, the point flying over his halo head of hair. Nevaeh was hardly younger than them anyway. "And I mean, why would a girl like some nasty slug?"

"An interdimensional slug? Because it's awesome!" Dustin exclaims as if it was obvious.

"Well, even if she thought it was cool - which she didn't - I... I just, I don't know. I just feel like you're trying too hard, man," Steve suggests unhelpfully with a swing of his bucket that he lowers to his knee.

"Somehow I prefer silence," Elijah mumbles bitterly but it's quickly deemed useless. Steve cares about this kid for whatever reason and he's gonna give some shit advice, Elijah predicts.

Dustin ignores him in favor to retort, "Well, not everyone can have his perfect hair, alright?"

But he ducks his head insecurely. Elijah frowns at the sight.

"It's not about the hair, man. The key with girls is just... Just acting like you don't care," Steve advises.

"Even if you do?"

"Yeah, exactly. It drives them nuts."

A hand covered with the bright yellow cleaning glove is thrown in the air in a fit of aggravation. "No, no, no," Elijah dismisses firmly. "No. Steve, that's shit advice." He jabs a finger in the guy's direction who makes an offended noise before picking up his pace to match Dustin's. "Listen, shortstack - "

"Don't call me that!"

" - Try and count how many ex's Steve the hair Harrington had, okay?" Elijah continues. He knew he preferred silence earlier but thought making a point mattered much more. "Obviously you don't know all of them, but the list is long. Right?" He waggles his eyebrow towards Steve until he flushes.

It was fun to tease that asshole with the threat of their past. Elijah was truly savoring being selfish.

"The list is long 'cause they didn't work out. Case in point - don't take his advice." Elijah averted his attention back to the kid. "Acting like you don't care with girls is the worst thing you can do. She'll lose interest and move on. Girls want someone to be their friend, someone they can trust."

"Eli," Steve pipes up when he should've shut it. He slowly reminds him as if he wasn't aware, "You don't even like girls."

"Ah!" Elijah waggles a finger in his direction about to prove Steve Harrington wrong. "But I have a baby sister. Also, I'm not a dick, so." He grins, wicked and wolfish. "Eat that, Harrington."

Dustin casts a glance between them uncertainly. The comment about Elijah not liking girls barely even skimmed him which he was grateful for. The last thing Elijah wanted to do was lecture an annoying brat about being queer.

"Okay, so... So I don't care or I care. Then what?" Dustin asks.

Steve pauses to pitch a few more chunks behind them that Elijah and Dustin missed since they were busy talking. "You just wait until, uh... Until you feel it," he explains with a light punch to Dustin's shoulder.

"Feel what?" Dustin questions with a frown.

It. Elijah wonders if what he had with Steve was it. He knows whatever it was had once upon a time been something special, at least to him. It was just Steve who was brave enough to make the first leap. It made sense why Elijah had a deep love for constellations. That's what he felt, what he was made of. If those are what swirled inside of his stomach every time he shared a kiss with Steve before exploding completely, then he didn't want to feel it ever again.

There aren't many times in their past that Elijah can remember Steve allowed the gears in his head to turn. This was probably one of them. And yet, he still continues to speak the first few thoughts that hit him. "It's like before it's gonna storm, you know? You can't see it, but you can feel it. Like this, uh... Electricity, you know?"

"Oh," Dustin says with a nod. "Like in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere - "

Okay, Elijah doesn't like kids under any circumstances - Will Byers aside - but if Dustin wants to talk about Science shit, he can count him in. "Hell yeah," he sighs, glad he's not alone here. "Talking about Science with Steve is like talking to a fish about land."

"Hey!" Steve exclaims. "No, no, no, no, no! No nerdy shit." He narrows his eyes towards Elijah first. "You don't be mean. And you - " They avert to Dustin while Elijah mimics him with the use of his hand like a puppet. " - It's like... Like a sexual electricity."

Elijah drops his hand into his bucket and squeezes his hand into a fist around another handful of bait. He rolls his eyes to the back of his head and fought the urge to surge it towards Steve. He was really going to talk about sexual energy with a prepubescent teen?

But Dustin was hanging onto every word. "Oh."

"It's like what Elijah said. First, you're friends... And then you trust them... Right?" Steve speaks mindlessly. Elijah's head lifts curiously. He tries not to actually process what spilled from Steve's clumsy lips, but it's hard when someone like Harrington was talking like he didn't have a filter between his mouth and brain. "And... You feel something. Something more than what you had for them as a friend. It's more than platonic. It's that special electricity." He pauses for what Elijah assumes was a dramatic effect. "... You feel that - " Steve lightly thumps Dustin's chest and then points downwards. "... And then you make your move."

"So that's when you kiss her?" Dustin asks with his eyes glimmering as if he finally caught onto Steve's advice.

"No - whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down, Romeo," Steve scolds. Dustin's smile falls and he mutters a quick apology. "Sure, okay, some... People... Yeah, they want you to be aggressive. You know, strong, hot, and heavy. Like a... I don't know, like a lion. But others, you gotta be slow. You gotta be stealthy like a... Like a ninja."

"What type is Nancy?" Dustin questions with interest.

Elijah rolls his eyes for what felt like the tenth time that hour. He doesn't want to hear this shit and a teenager's relationship really wasn't any kid's business. "Kid, that's personal," he claims with another toss of the raw meat.

"It's okay," Steve supplies with a loose shrug. "Nancy's different. She's different than the other girls."

"Yeah, she seems pretty special, I guess."

A faraway glimpse appears in Steve's eyes. If Elijah wasn't mistaken, he would've thought that Steve was hardly listening and seemed to be lost in something else that was in the back of his mind. But he doesn't question it or pesters him to speak whatever was floating in that empty space. Steve utters a simple agreement that Nancy was indeed special because she was. Elijah had her all wrong in the beginning. He's glad his assumptions about her were easily proven false.

"But this girl's special, too, y'know?" Dustin continues. "It's just, like, something about her..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, hey," Steve quickly stops him. The trio comes to a pit stop. He flicks away the specks of meat that were stuck to his glove as he squints at Dustin suspiciously. "You're not falling in love with this girl are you?"

His brown curls under his cap bounce as Dustin shakes his head. "N... No," he tries to insist. Elijah snorts. The poor kid was blushing. Elijah's suddenly glad he wasn't thirteen.

"Okay, good." Steve starts leading them again. "Don't."

"I won't."

"She's only gonna break your heart, and you're way too young for that shit," Steve asserts.

Elijah has to bite the tip of his tongue to snap at the boy who broke his heart. He wasn't thirteen at the time it happened, but he was young too. Way too fucking young to carry that type of hurt. And there was absolutely nothing beautiful about it. Elijah cried for days from the way the strings of his heart tugged towards Steve until his eyes were bloodshot and burning. He smoked so much that his fingers trembled if he didn't have a cigarette planted between them. The wound left in Elijah's heart was unbearable. He wouldn't wish it on his worst enemy.

The point is, Elijah knows exactly what that felt like. To have your heart broken. And to see Dustin's head fall as if he was considering the feeling, wondering if it was soon coming, his heart almost aches for the kid. No one this young should feel that type of pain.

Steve breaks the silence. "Fabergé."

The single word brought Dustin to pick his head up. "What?"

The older boy huffs before pointing to the mop on his head. "It's Fabergé Organics. Use the shampoo and conditioner, and when your hair's damp... Not wet, okay? When it's damp..."

Dustin nods like he was soaking every piece of advice. "Damp."

Jesus Christ, Elijah thinks. Even Steve Harrington doesn't have to make this so theatrical. He fakes a shocked stare since this was obviously the most dramatic moment of Steve the hair Harrington's life. "You're gonna tell him... The secret?" Elijah gasps.

"At least he'll take it seriously," Steve argues. Elijah shot him a sarcastic glare. He was confident in his hair, thank you very much, looking past when he had to chop the long locks off to avoid the taunting. Steve takes a deep breath before admitting, "You do four puffs of the Farrah Fawcett spray."

A breathless chuckle passes Dustin's lips as if he was going to roll over, clutching his ribs, laughing his ass off at any second. "Farrah Fawcett spray?" He repeats in disbelief.

Steve clasps his shoulder until Dustin comes to a stop again. "Yeah, Farrah Fawcett. You tell anyone I just told you that and your ass is grass, you're dead, Henderson," he threatens with a firm finger soiled with the bait jabbed in Dustin's face. "Do you understand?"

An amused glint is still hidden in Dustin's eyes, but he smiles with a nod. "Yup." They return to their little hike with another few tosses behind them. Dustin tilts his head in wonder after a short beat of silence. "Farah Fawcett, really?" He curiously questions.

"I mean, she's hot."

Elijah sighs wistfully and thinks of the characters from A Nightmare on Elm Street. "Johnny Depp's hotter."

"Johnny Depp," Steve mimics. He defends confidently, "My hair's better."

A sudden idea hit Elijah. He has to fight a grin as he lowers his bucket and slips his left thumb under the sleeve of his opposite glove to slickly slide it off. "Oh, really?" He mocks as he slowly snuck behind Steve before he struck with a shout of, "This hair?!"

Steve releases a pitched shriek Elijah's never heard from him as he pounces. The hand he had slid the glove off ruffled through the strands of his hair with such force that it messes up the style he was once rocking. Elijah can picture the murderous look Steve will have and doesn't dare take a glimpse over his shoulder as he sprints ahead with the echoing laugh of a madman. It doesn't mask the sound of Steve dropping his bucket, footsteps thundering after him, or Dustin's spluttering protests.

Anyone in Hawkins knows there was no escaping Steve Harrington if you dared laid a finger on his hair. Elijah's well aware there isn't a spot in the woods that could hide him from who was chasing him, however, he doesn't slow his sprinting. Every step drove him further across the wooden tracks and Elijah's knees shake when Steve finally catches up with him and grabs him from behind.

"Ha! Got you!"

It was Elijah's turn to screech but the sound quickly turns into an echo of laughter as Steve's two arms snake around him. They give a squeeze that crushes at Elijah's ribs when Steve actually presses him close to his chest and tries to lift the other who was quite obviously difficult to just throw around. "Steve! I'm not as fucking small as Nancy Wheeler, you're gonna throw your back out!" Elijah yells. He flails, kicks his legs, and struggles through their fits of laughter until he's finally released.

He and Steve are still releasing fits of laughter as they retrieve their spilled buckets, listening to Dustin's lecture about the seriousness of hunting, that it was almost normal. Almost. It's been a year and a half since Elijah had actually laughed and had fun with Steve without wanting to scream, rip out of his hair, or better yet - tear Steve's head off. Happiness shared with him had become a foreign feeling. It wasn't wrong, but it didn't feel right either. It was somewhere in between.

Elijah truly wanted to believe things were different. Things were better or at the very least, they could be. He could forget everything his father taught him and swallow what he felt, couldn't he? The sexual electricity, it, what Steve mentioned to Dustin - it hurts like a bitch to gulp, but he does so anyway.

Friends. Steve wanted that with Elijah last year. He had been desperate to prove it. And even though they weren't there yet, the road of forgiveness was a lot like where they were heading. But the term still tasted sour in Elijah's mouth.

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

The train tracks eventually lead them to an abandoned junkyard. Dozens of rusted cars that were long left behind by their past owners seemed to have been sprouted from the soil where they remained. Scraps of metal were scattered among the field along with a poor, broken bus that seemed to almost be tilted with its missing wheel. Elijah's momentarily grateful for the emptiness as well as the nice weather.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, this will do." Steve pushed his sunglasses up his nose as the sun beat on them so he could get a better gaze. "This will do just fine. Good call, dude."

Dustin practically beams at the compliment.

The last of their bait becomes dropped into a pile at their feet. The slop gathers today and brings a reek that makes Elijah's nose wrinkle. The smell was certainly going to draw it in. Maybe they wouldn't have to slice their palms again. While the thought was tempting, the last thing that he needed was yet another scar on one of his hands.

Suddenly, a teasing voice calls to them, "I said medium-well!"

Elijah's head snaps towards where the sound came from. Lucas Sinclair was standing a good distance away, dressed warmly in a snug coat with a camouflaged bandana in his cropped hair, and balancing a bike by his side that he drags down a slope. A girl that Elijah swears he may have seen before with flaming red hair follows his steps. Her arms, covered in a green jacket, are crossed over her chest which suits the scowl plastered on her freckled face.

"Who's that?" Steve asks.

It seems like such a simple question with an even easier answer, but Dustin struggles to come up with one. Elijah's mind, however, clicks when he realizes where he recognized the girl from. He remembered the day before Halloween when Hargrove sauntered into their high school like he already owned the place with a small, red-haired girl who bolted on a skateboard. Elijah isn't an idiot. He can take one guess as to why she was in the car with an asshole like that. She had to be his little sister.

So why was she here?

Elijah doesn't ask so even when it dances on the tip of his tongue because it's a valid question. The last thing he needed was to tango with anyone in the Hargrove family. But she doesn't seem to be a bother. In fact, she's eager to help. They plan to make a sort of shield with all of the scrap metal so it forms armor around the bus. The other two kids were busy chatting as they squatted behind one of the vehicles out of earshot. Steve mumbles something under his breath and leaves to retrieve them since hunting was obviously very serious business.

"Hey," Elijah pipes up when he sees the girl struggling to lift a thick sheet of metal. "Careful, Red. That can be heavy."

Her scowl softened and switched back to hard in the span of three seconds from the use of Elijah's nickname. "My name's Max," she snaps before stepping back once Elijah had a good grip on the scrap.

With (yet another) roll of his eyes, Elijah plants the metal against one of the shattered windows of the rundown bus. "Good for you," he counters sarcastically.

Nothing about his attitude was personal. He even doubts Max even likes her brother any more than he does judging by how fast she was to skate off from him. Elijah is just surrounded by one too many kids, teetering on the edge of a threat he was terrified of. He was lashing out at anyone around him. Didn't they know what they were hunting? This was all incredibly dangerous. How many more was he going to have to protect?

The final touches involved Steve pouring the gasoline from the pile of meat they left towards the bus until the strong liquid left a trail. They pile into the bus afterward just as the sun starts to set behind the line where it meets the ground. Lucas was camping on the roof of the vehicle with a set of binoculars to scan their surrounding area closer. The rest of them have planted themselves in torn-up seats besides Dustin who paced anxiously back and forth. It was all about the waiting game now and even Elijah, who kicked his crossed feet over the back of another seat while his thumb flicked with the cap of his lighter, was close to losing it. The click was keeping him grounded. His head was pounding. He was exhausted and already predicting a sleepless night. Even if they catch this thing, Elijah would be facing a thing from his nightmares... So, he's actually anticipating a few.

Max brought her arms crossed over her chest again as she slumped against a seat of her own. Her blue eyes were darting from Elijah to Steve. "So, you really fought one of these things before?" She questions curiously. Elijah wonders how much she knew. But he didn't answer other than with another flick of his lighter. Click. He could really use a smoke right now but no, there have to be kids around. Steve, however, is less bothered by their presence. He nods and Max squints suspiciously. "And you're, like, totally 100% sure it wasn't a bear?" She double-checks.

A bear. Elijah could scoff again but he causes another click instead. If he mistook that monster for a bear who then continued haunting him, he'd be afraid of Disney movies at that point.

"Shit, don't be an idiot," Dustin curses. He spun towards Max who flashes him an offended glare. "Okay? It wasn't a bear. Why are you even here if you don't believe us? Just go home."

"Geesh. Someone's cranky," Max snaps. She cocks her head and pushes herself to her feet. "Past your bedtime?" She knocks into his shoulder before climbing the ladder that led to the roof since being in Lucas's presence was possibly better than someone calling her an idiot which -

Oh. Elijah realizes what he missed. This was the girl Dustin mentioned, who he had a puppy crush on. Elijah almost gags at that but he clicks his lighter shut with his thumb and keeps it that way. Since when were they surviving a romance novel?

"That's good. Just show her you don't care," Steve praises once Max was out of earshot. Elijah wishes he could throw something heavy at him without any repercussions so he'd stop giving such shit advice to a kid.

"I don't," Dustin mutters. Steve grins like he had the Henderson boy all figured out and flashes him a wink. Dustin frowns. "Why are you winking, Steve? Stop," he hisses like he was afraid Max would hear.

Elijah grows tired of this. He drops the lighter in his pocket because even the clicks he was causing were annoying. He knows Doctor Owens said adjusting to his medication was going to be a bitch (those weren't his exact words, obviously, but whatever), but he hopes soon the capsules will calm his temper. For now, though, it spikes. "Shut up," Elijah mumbles with one hand clutching his ax and the other pressing two fingers against his temple. "Shut up, shut up, shut up."

"Debbie Downer," Steve sang.

Brown eyes darken as they dash in Steve's direction. "You want to piss me off when I'm holding an ax?" Elijah challenges.

"Oh my God," Dustin groans tiredly. He plops into one of the seats, the torn cushion creaking slightly under his weight. "What is with the two of you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elijah snaps.

Dustin waves his hands in a manner that's considerably more dramatic than Steve. "I mean, you two were best friends. Everyone knew you guys. Elijah and Steve. Steve and Elijah. Then what? One day out of the blue it's over. I've had to break up, like, three arguments! This is stupid!" He exclaims. He points to Elijah. "Is it - is it because he's - "

"Gay," Elijah finishes coldly when Dustin starts to stammer. Anger was filling his chest and he could feel the smoke poisoning his lungs, burning his throat when he tried to breathe. "I'm gay. You can say it. It's not a bad word."

"That doesn't answer my question," Dustin points out.

Elijah sinks further into his chair. Dustin's words were going to slowly burrow under his skin. He already knows what is hidden behind the letters. These were things he didn't want to hear, what he wasn't ready to hear. It doesn't help that Steve is wordless. His skin had filled with a blush that flows past every mole until it blooms past his cheeks, but still, he doesn't speak. He doesn't answer Dustin's question.

It hurts Elijah's already shattered heart.

Everything had changed in such a short amount of time. He sits straighter, voice trembling as he demands, "Yeah, okay. Your go, Steve. What happened between us?" He spat angrily.

The silence that follows could've made Elijah deaf. Steve still couldn't admit it. He was still ashamed.

And he knows he's still being an asshole. But Elijah can't help it. He's scared, annoyed, tired, and close to losing it. Dustin's little interrogation wasn't helping. Neither was the thing they were hunting. He's realized nightmares were real. And they're quickly winning.

Then something happens. A roar rips across the sky, could've shaken the moon, quivers the fog, and reaches them. Rage slowly floods out of Elijah's system. He can't even remember why he was so furious in the first place even when it was the one emotion so familiar to him. But another feeling replaces it. Fear. Elijah knows that one all too well too.

They gather by the broken windows covered with grates. Dusk somehow made the field terrifying. The fog was still drifting like waves of the sea as they swallow the rusted vehicles. The world outside of the bus is so quiet it may as well be dead. Elijah almost fears he'd have to pinch himself to check if he was dreaming.

"You see him?" Dustin whispers.

Steve shakes his head. "No."

"Lucas, what's going on?!" Dustin calls to the kid on the roof.

"Hold on!"

For how long? Elijah wonders but doesn't ask. His gaze is too busy scouring every inch of the abandoned site even if it's too dark to see. He knows his ears didn't fail him. The growl was chilling, he's heard it before, it's much too familiar. It's out there. Again.

Then Elijah hears it again. It was so quiet he almost missed it, but Lucas shouts over it when it grows. "I've got eyes! Ten o'clock! Ten o'clock!"

Elijah hears fumbling against the shaking metal and grits his teeth. "If that asswipe doesn't stay on the roof - "

He stops when Steve jabs his finger through the grate's hole. "There."

Then Elijah sees it, the source of the noise. He swallows the lump in his throat before it can turn into a cry. The chittering noise already flipped a switch in his brain that sent him into a place darker than he believed the Upside Down was. But the sight of a shadowy, hunched-over figure places Elijah's heart there too.

It hides amongst the smokey fog, four knobby legs digging into the soil as it slowly circled the area. Elijah had frozen in place even when he desperately wanted to yank himself out of the dark spot. This is the same creature that had him pinned to a wall, moments away from a painful death. The very same thing that chased him and Nancy with the promise of demise. And it's exactly what did kill people, almost a few that Elijah cares about. It's the common source of his nightmares, the exact reason why he almost made a mess of Nevaeh's brains and can't sleep with the lights off.

And it's here. It's back.

Steve wonders aloud what the Demogorgon is doing, why it isn't taking the bait they left for it, but Elijah barely hears it. He trembles as he finally pulls himself from the opening. Neither Dustin nor Steve noticed. The ax in Elijah's grip feels as if it suddenly carries the weight of a thousand mountains and he nearly drops it.

"I can't do this," Elijah whispers. He thought he could but... He can't. The words fall from his lips so quietly that nobody hears him. They don't have to. It's obvious his state kept him from making a single move. Even standing was a struggle, how could he battle it again?

"Maybe he's not hungry?" Dustin suggests cluelessly.

Steve sighs. "Maybe he's sick of cow." He steps away, glancing from Dustin to Elijah, once again wordless. Then he shrugs and heads for the door.

The action brought Elijah to find his voice. "Steve?" He croaks as Dustin demands to know what the hell he's doing since he's clearly out of his mind.

Steve stops. "You can't. I know," he says quietly. Elijah swallows again. He didn't think they heard him. Something understanding and kind, so tender Elijah would've missed it if it weren't for the moonlight creeping through the cracks, fills Steve's features as he continues, "It's okay, Eli. Just be ready."

All Elijah can do is stand there like a dumbass when Steve cautiously slid the door open and pokes his white-sneakered clad foot out like the world would explode the second he touches the ground. He keeps his bat cocked as he carefully takes a few steps, Dustin closing the door after him. Elijah immediately flew to the window again. He doesn't search for the baby Demogorgon waiting to strike. His eyes are glued to Steve's posture as he searches for it himself like the moron he was. He was going to bear the battle just so Elijah didn't have to.

His selfish heart aches again.

A soft, piercing whistle calls for the Demogorgon as Steve gave the bat a quick spin. "Come on, buddy," Elijah hears his taunt. Another whistle follows and the waves of fog dissolve as Steve waves his weapon again.

The ladder shakes as Max races down it. Elijah's squeezed in between two kids as they crouch to watch Steve together. "What's he doing?" The girl panics as her shoulder bumps Elijah's elbow.

"Expanding the menu," Dustin retorts.

The shadow in the fog moves closer. Steve follows it towards the raw meat. They meet on either side. His sneakers plant into the dirt as he stood his ground. "Come on... Dinner time," he urges in another taunt. "Human tastes better than cat, I promise."

"He's insane," Max hisses.

Dustin is too busy watching in admiration as if Steve was everything he wanted to be. Elijah takes a swift glance. It's sort of adorable, the way his lips spread into an awestruck smile and the stars have been plucked from the sky to fill his brown eyes. "He's awesome," Dustin whispers affectionately.

The animalistic sneer grows louder and closer as the Demogorgon finally reveals itself. It's much larger than Elijah believes any of them expected after they saw the gooey skin it shed. He can't make it out perfectly, besides the familiar petal-like mouth and lumpy dark skin wrapped around its bones, but the sight is enough for his knees to wobble even though he wants to believe he's braver than what he was. Elijah knows he wasn't. He can't even decipher what's skin or what's armor.

Elijah takes a moment to squeeze his eyes shut until sparks appear in the darkened vision. Doing so reminded him of stars that stand out among the moon or the Saturn nightlight in his bedroom with its orange glow. It brought him comfort and enough ease to think straight. A mantra of his favorites began. Orion's Belt. Cassiopeia. Ursa Major. Ursa Minor. Cepheus. Perseus.

He opens his eyes again. The stars disappear and replace with one single thought, I'm not afraid.

Elijah squares his shoulder and grounds himself back on Earth again. I'm not afraid, he repeats. The weight of the ax returns and it brings him further comfort. I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid.

That is, until Lucas shouts himself hoarse, "Steve, watch out!"

"A little busy here!" Steve calls back. He doesn't break the eye contact he's maintained in order to possess dominance.

"Three o'clock! Three o'clock!"

Elijah's head snaps towards that direction just as another Demogorgon leaps onto the roof of a car with another hungry snarl. It eyes Steve like he's a meal. His heavy heart turns to stone as it sinks into the deep pit of his stomach. One he thought they could handle. But two? What if there were more?

"Shit," Elijah curses. "Shit, shit, shit - " He pats Dustin's shoulder with a force. "Go get him, get him out of there!"

He hears Dustin cuss too before he bolts for the bus's entrance. He ripes open the metal door, screaming like a banshee, "Steve! Steve! Abort! Abort!" He waves his arms wildly and unintentionally catches Steve off-guard.

Steve nearly misses the Demogorgon that races towards him. He breaks into a run to move out of harm's way and rolls across a car's hood as the Demogorgons charge.

Oh God, oh fuck, Elijah can't think straight. He's going to rip out his hair and scream. Instead of doing so, he sent Dustin out of his way with one hand while the other tightens its clasp on his weapon. The kids screech his name but it's useless when someone like Elijah makes up his insane mind. He wishes he could listen to it, but his feet are already moving. It happens in the span of possibly five seconds, but to his slow-moving muscles, it felt like years. Maybe more. And the funny thing was, time seemed to just freeze around them.

Elijah bursts out of the bus as Steve's torso twists when he swung the bat and effectively smacks one of the Demogorgons. It cries out as pointed nails dug into its skin. Elijah barely hears it over the kids he left behind screaming for them both. Steve slips across the soil as he tries to run and just as they thought, another comes to circle around a car's shattered bumper light. Elijah knows he's fully lost it when he spun out of the way with a surprised shout, his sneakers flying across the mud mixed with gasoline, and finally catching the attention of Steve.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" He spluttered.

"Who fucking knows?!" Elijah cries back, because shit, he has no idea.

This was stupid. But the adrenaline? Elijah welcomed it as the feeling thundered through him.

The blade of the dull ax is sharp enough to cut across the haunting Demogorgon's skin when Elijah gave a furious swing toward it with the use of both his hands. Blood splatters his shoes. He tries to hold his ground this time despite the slide as they scramble for the bus again. The kids are still howling as they race for their lives with the thumping feet of the Demogorgons just behind them.

Elijah feels the palm of Steve's hand situate on his back before it shoves him through the bus's door first. He nearly trips as he fumbles to kick up the few stairs, losing his ax as it slid across the dirty flooring in the process, and landing flat on his back. Steve fell in between Elijah's legs, his back close to his chest, and kicks the door shut a split second before the screeching, hungry Demogorgon can burst through.

The claws scrape to reach them from the other side. Steve kept his feet pressed against the door with a grip on Elijah's knees for stability. The three teens behind them are still panicking, cursing, and screaming, including Max's anxious shout, "Are they rabid or something?!" But the boys are much more interested in keeping everyone alive instead of answering.

Elijah feels like he can't breathe. Something deep and unsettling lodged itself into his throat, he feared it was his heart. One hand plants onto the wall so he's steady enough instead of gliding everywhere and the other smacks against the base to find his weapon. Max kicks it towards him so he can grasp the wooden handle in his hand. Those things may make it through despite the metal shield that Steve had ripped from the window to place between them and the shaking door. It only rumbles the convulsive vehicle further as they smash into it.

"They can't get in! They can't!" Lucas shrieks.

"Tell them that!" Elijah hoarsely shouts back.

Their screams mix together as one when the bus jerks to the side as if something slammed into its wall. They scream louder in terror when a claw dug through and pieces of the door shatter as a long arm burst through. It scrapes against anything it can reach as Elijah waves for the kids to book it. "Get back! Get back!" He shouts so they're out of the aim of any harm.

He gets out of the way just in time when Steve raises the bat above his head and brought it down. The Demogorgon howls as the wood crush its bones. Elijah knows beating its arm to a pulp will do little to nothing. He shouts for Steve to get out of the way as he pushes himself to his knees. Steve throws himself against the wobbling wall as Elijah throws a war cry into the air, lifting his ax, and giving a forceful swing downwards.

The blade cuts through the arm with a swift hit. Elijah exhales as the Demogorgon bellows a deep squeal of pain and rips what was left of its limb away, leaving blood in its trail. It covers the drying spots on Elijah's clothes.

Steve was watching with wide eyes. "Shit, Eli," he utters.

The relaxation lasts a good two seconds before the bus starts to tip again and sends the group thrown around messily. Elijah barely catches himself but his shoulder rams into one of the steel shields.

"Is there anyone there?!" Dustin panics into his radio. "Mike?! Will?! God?! Anyone!" The bus bounces again and his voice rises into a scream, "We're at the old junkyard and we're going to die!"

More claws poke through the walls and scrape to try and rip it apart. It won't be long before they do. But what catches everyone's attention is the way heavy thumps clatter slowly, hauntingly across the roof. Max is dead silent as she tilts her head back to peer up the ladder. Elijah follows her gaze to see where it led.

They never closed the fucking hole.

The Demogorgon peering at her clasps the ladder with one hand and leans closer. The petals of its face twist and churn at the sight as a low growl fills its lumpy throat. Max lets loose a petrified scream before it could snarl hungrily at her. Steve dashes to her rescue and moves her out of harm's way. "Out of the way, out of the way!"

Max, Dustin, and Lucas huddle together away from the opening. Elijah's arms spread into wings as he shoves them over the kids and pushes them behind him. He feels small hands and fingers grasp at the sleeves of his jacket, nearly digging into his skin.

Steve waves his bat threateningly at the Demogorgon above them. "You want some?! Come and get this!"

The petals of the Demogorgon's face spread as it releases a powerful roar. Spit flew from the empty mouth as the sharp teeth attached glimmered underneath the moonlight. Elijah squeezes his eyes shut when he sees like doing so would block out the rest of the world. He attempts to think of the stars, but they're so far out of reach, only replaced with horrible memories of these things.

Yet another screech sounds from far away.

Elijah's eyes flew open again. The Demogorgon seconds away from attacking sat on its back legs and curiously peered towards the sound before it throws its head back and cries out again as if it was communicating. The group watches in silent shock as it lept away and bounces off the bus until it reaches the ground with the others. Elijah doesn't lower his guard in the protection of the kids behind him in fear it wasn't true, that they couldn't possibly be out of the woods.

But it has to be. That Demogorgon would've torn them apart if it wasn't called away. It was so quiet outside, they could only hear the soft hum of bugs flying or chirping. Elijah slowly lowers his arms but his guard remains. He reaches for his fallen ax as Steve crept toward the door, carefully pushing it open. The attack nearly ripped it off its hinges. The creak was louder than ever.

There's nothing there. Elijah peers over Steve's shoulder and sees through the shadows of the fog that the Demogorgons were running off. Steve hops off the ledge and Elijah slowly plants one foot on the soil as if he'd have to bolt back inside the vehicle. But nothing happens. They're truly alone.

"What... Happened...?" Lucas breathes out.

"I don't know," Max whispers.

"Steve scared 'em off?" Dustin suggests hopefully.

Elijah knows hope at this point was for idiots. The storm had already raged over them, hell, it could've killed them. This was the calm that comes after. The thunder could've destroyed everything in its path. So what they felt now could be peaceful solace as they stand in the ruins, but it wouldn't last. It'll come back. It'll always come back.

"No," Steve answers as if the thought also crossed his mind. He shakes his head, props the bat over his shoulder, and turns to face them gravely. "No way. They're going somewhere."

Elijah could've fallen over at that once the storm passed. He clutches the ax a tad tighter. He wishes he could embrace the selfish asshole he wanted to be and run for the hills to save himself. But that's not Elijah Wolfhart. If there's one thing he was, it was unstoppable.

━━━━━━━━

author's note:

if i could sing, y'all would be hearing me belt unstoppable by sia but since we dont like her, the cover of that song done by the band red is more elijah's theme.

ok wow we all can see i have been uploading this fanfic way too much, like, someone stop me and yell at me to focus on my other stories i havent touched in forever. but i wont.

so ....... season 4, huh guys? (dont spoil anything in my comments!! just because you're caught up doesnt mean everyone else is!!) but i seriously cannot WAIT for volume 2 omg!! i already have so many ideas to squeeze in for elijah. no one is ready for the pain.

i know that s4 brought a lot of new readers so hi guys! my name is dakota you can call me koda, elijah is my favorite character to write, and i break hearts with my writing a lot. welcome to the club 💕

oh also so a nightmare on elm street came out LITERALLY a few days after the date of when this episode was based on but lets pretend thats not true bc i have a crush on johnny depp and eli would too. its like the way i have a crush on steve harrington and eli does too. that scene where he messes with him is so cute and ,,, he doesnt forgive him but ,,, he just misses all his best friends y'know? 🥺 my baby. the lil moments like steve lowkey talking about him omg my HEART.

also elijah "i dont like kids" wolfhart using his body as a shield for max, lucas, and dustin OK BUDDY

okay that's it!! i promise to try and update a different story before i come back to this one!! but things are about to get MESSY!! ❤️

- koda

.•° ✿ °•.
WORD COUNT:
6.7k.
°•. ✿ .•°