my girl, forever and always || steve harrington

the mind flayer

part two

tw: slight derealization/ depersonalization !!

the trek through the woods was less than ideal for someone with only one fully functional arm, but it was somehow therapeutic. breathing in the autumn night air was so refreshing and the way the cold slightly nipped at her nose and the tips of her ears was comforting in an odd way. and although she knew his confession wasn't real, she still reached for steve's hand and held it tight when he interlaced their fingers. she knew in her head that what he had said before was just because of the moment and all the endorphins rushing through his body at the time, but she wanted to believe. so she let herself just enjoy it for now, while it lasted.

there were voices coming from beyond the trees letting them know they were almost out. but the voices were too familiar to lydia and she rushed ahead from the rest of the group, feeling the warmth of steve's hand leave hers. she emerged and saw her best friend's in front of her and sighed in relief.

"nance, jonathan!" she broke into a run and stumbled down the hill, engulfing them both in a warm hug, ignoring the dull throbbing from her arm.

"l-lydia? what are you doing here? what happened to your arm? what's going o-" the rest of the group appeared causing the questions to cease.

"steve?" the two said in disbelief.

"nancy?" he questioned, making part of lydia burn in jealousy.

"jonathan?" dustin asked.

"what are you doing here?" he asked and the older henderson had to suppress the urge to cling onto him like a child claiming what was hers, because steve did not belong to her. even if they broke up, his heart belonged to nancy. she was just a placeholder.

their conversation was interrupted when a prolonged screech was heard from the lab, drawing everyone's attention to the lights that flickered within the building. it caused shivers to crawl up and down lydia's spine and she feared the number of demogorgans that were inside the building at that moment, and the size of them. dustin had mentioned that they would molt another time before becoming full size and the chances of surviving another fight with one of them would be near impossible, let alone a pack of them. 

~

nancy and jonathan had gone beyond the gate while the rest of them stayed back by the security booth waiting impatiently. after the power had returned, they feared something bad might've happened. at least, that was what lydia feared which resulted in her chewing on her nails and cuticles; a habit that she had been trying to stop to no avail.

the older teen leaned on the booth while flipping his flashlight, but he continued to look over at his best friend with worry. even in their current circumstances, he was worried about her. he started to walk over to her but the rev of an engine caught his attention. lydia stood in the middle of the road as she tried to find the source of the sound, but the headlights appeared suddenly causing her to pause like a deer caught in headlights.

"lydia!" steve pulled her into his chest as jonathan's car sped past. a tan chevy pulled up and stopped abruptly and a disheveled police chief gestured at them.

"let's go."

~

back at the byer's house, everyone reconvened. hopper was on the phone trying not to scream at the woman who clearly did not understand the urgency of their situation, jonathan and nancy were by will who was unconscious on the couch, and the kids sat at the table while lydia cleaned her arm by the sink. she winced in pain as she used soap and water to clean it up, max's green track jacket drenched in blood and tossed to the side along with her windbreaker, leaving her in her grey tank top. the gash started underneath her shoulder and traveled down her triceps and barely missed her elbow and continued all the way to the middle of her forearm. it would definitely need stitches in certain areas later on, but that was a problem for later. right now, her main goal was to avoid infection and the possibility of amputating her arm altogether.