MY TEARS RICOCHET 𛲕 STRANGER THINGS

15. I'll Always Come Back For You

CHAPTER 15: I'll Always Come Back For You

They aren't gonna change this,
We gotta do it ourselves
They think that it's over
But it's just begun.
— Only The Young, Taylor Swift

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

November 12th, 1983: Byers Home

BACK AT THE BYERS' HOUSE, DAPHNE THREW HERSELF into preparation for battle in a defiant attempt to keep her mind from circling back to Fern. She had been the one to distract Callahan while Jonathan stole the box of weapons from Hopper's office, asking him a dozen pointless questions until he was just about ready to throw her into a cell. She'd been practically thrown out of the station in the end. In the Byers' living room, the weapons that Nancy and Jonathan had picked up had been strewn across the carpet as they discussed between themselves how exactly to go about killing a creature from another dimension.

"Well, I think we can rule out guns," said Nancy, from where she was sitting cross-legged on the floor. "Except maybe as a distraction technique."

"And knives," added Daphne. "I don't fancy getting close enough to that thing to use a knife on it."

"That doesn't leave us with many other options," Jonathan pointed out. "Unless we want to talk it to death. Davenport, you might have a shot at that."

Daphne shot him a withering glare, before thinking for a moment. "What about fire? Dustin told me that's what kills it in that nerdy little game they play."

"Daphne, that's just a dumb game they play," said Nancy, rolling her eyes. "It's not real."

"I think it's worth a shot," said Daphne pointedly. "Fire can cause a lot of damage while also allowing us to keep our distance. We could set a trap for it."

Jonathan leaned forwards, his attention piqued. "What sort of trap?"

Twenty minutes later, the bear traps had been assembled, a couple of dozen nails had been hammered into one of Jonathan's old baseball bats, and all of Joyce's fairy light bulbs had been screwed back into place. Daphne walked along the length of the intricate trap, scanning it for any flaws that could send their mission haywire. At the end of the line, she gave Nancy and Jonathan a thumbs up.

She made her way back over to the living room, carefully avoiding the traps. On the sofa, Nancy and Jonathan were going over the plan again, a knife in each of their hands. As soon as Daphne approached, Jonathan got to his feet, handing the cheerleader one of her own.

"Can I ask again why we all have to cut our hands?" she asked, wrinkling her nose. "It seems unnecessary and quite unsanitary. And not to brag, but I have really nice hands."

Jonathan rolled his eyes. "Alright fine, you don't have to do it. Nance, are you ready?"

Daphne shrugged and made her way back over to the couch, perching on the arm of it. She watched as Nancy and Jonathan counted to three, before slicing open their palms. She couldn't help but cringe — that was going to leave a nasty scar.

If they had been expecting anything to happen straight away, they were sorely disappointed. Nancy and Jonathan stood in the centre of the room for a minute before realising that nothing was coming and joining Daphne on the couch. Nancy took some bandages out of her bag and handed them to Daphne to wrap her hand with.