Love Is A Battlefield (A Stranger Things/Steve Harrington Fanfiction)

Chapter Ninety-Eight: Always You

"Riley!" Eleven ran over to my side, dropping to her knees in front of me. I shook my head, waving her towards Max.

"Get Max, don't worry about me." She nodded, getting up and running over to her as I thrust all of my body weight into the chair, finally managing to pull it out of the floor and shove it away from me.

She shoved her way through the silver tinsel, grabbing Max's shoulders as she stood to her feet.

"Max. Are you ok?"

"Huh?"

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah." I stood up, brushing the shards of wood off of me as I rushed over to join them.

Max reached up, pinching El's cheek and touching her newly shaven hair.

"Are you real?" She asked. "Di...did I make you?"

Eleven let go of her, holding her hand between both of hers.

"I'm real." She assured her.

"How?"

"I piggybacked from a pizza dough freezer." I chuckled, shaking my head.

"Ugh! How are you so freaking smart?!" I exclaimed, grabbing her head and pressing my lips to the top of it. She laughed.

"What?" Max questioned. I shook my head again.

"I'm sure there will be plenty of time to explain later, for now, we have to-"

A clattering sound from behind me cut me off, prompting Eleven and I to turn around and walk back through the streamers just as Vecna peeled himself from the bleachers. I held back a hand, silently urging Max to stay behind us.

"Stay back." Eleven said, doing the same thing. He began slowly walking towards the center of the gym, and Eleven joined him, stopping a few feet away with the disco ball spinning directly between them. I wrapped my arms around Max, hugging her to my side. "If you touch them again...I will kill you again."

"Again?" I whispered to myself, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Is that what you did?" Vecna questioned. "Did you kill me? I am so glad you are here, Eleven. This...is going to be...beautiful."

He raised his arms slowly to his sides, drawing the spikes of wood from the broken floor and bleachers into the air, pointing them directly at Eleven.

"And its all thanks to you."

He flexed his hand, sending them all plummeting towards Eleven, and despite the stupidity of it all, the second I saw him coming after my little sister, it was as if everything was moving in slow motion. I let go of Max, running forward until I was standing directly in front of Eleven. I threw my hands up, letting out a scream as I poured every ounce of strength, I had left into keeping those wood shards away from my sister.

Much to my surprise, they slowed to a stop in mid hair, allowing me to rip my hands in either direction and send them piercing into the remaining bleachers on either side of us. Eleven looked at me with wide, shocked eyes as Vecna responded by catapulting me backwards onto the DJ table, breaking through it with my body as he used his other hand to throw Eleven the opposite direction. She slid across one of the tables, taking out everything that was on top of it as she rolled onto the floor.

From there, he lifted both of us into the air again, pulling us so that we were side by side before tossing us together through the wood fencing that had made up the photobooth area.

"You have to stop," Eleven groaned, leaning up on her hands as she looked at me, "I can handle him. I've done it before. Your powers are brand new."

"Its a bit late for that," I told her, "We're in this together now, whether we like it or not. You can take the lead, but I'm your back up, you got it?"