Love Is..?

Chapter 27

Orchid finally arrived at the house and whistled, "Nice place." Nova chuckled, "Yeah, Billy picked the house. His dream home, he called it." Nova saw movement in the house through a window, she also saw Billy's car in the driveway and got out of hers. Orchid frowned and looked over at Nova, "Please, be careful." Nova smiled at Orchid and shut the car door before walking up to the house. The door swung open before she could get out her keys and she came face to face with Billy. They stared at each other until Nova sighed, "I'm in no condition to get in the way of your plans. I just want to rest in my own house. Do what you want. Just please, don't hurt Billy."

He stood there before he moved out of the way to let her inside. Nova waved goodbye to Orchid who pulled out and drove back to the Byers house. Billy or whoever shut the door and watched Nova limp away to the bedroom with a pained look on his face. He followed her soon after and shut the bedroom door. Nova looked at Billy, "Did you need something?" Billy snickered and his eyes went black, "Why do you care about what happens to this body?" Nova glared, "Because I love him. That's why. He's my world, my love, my Billy." She sits down on the bed, "I remember a story he would tell me of his mother..." The Black eyes shifted to blue for a moment before going back to black. Nova noticed and kept speaking, "The wave was seven feet. She was blond with a white dress that had flowers on it. She was carrying her sandals so she could feel the sand on her feet. She sounded so pretty. I always wished that I could've met her..." 

She felt the bed dip and looked at Billy's deep blue eyes full of tears. "Billy?" Billy nodded and held Nova's face in his hands, "She was beautiful, but nowhere as beautiful as you, doll." Nova smiled with tears in her eyes and hugged Billy tightly, "Hold on to that memory. Hold on to the good things. We may not be able to purge him, but we can hold him back just long enough to take him out." Billy nodded, "We have to save the others, your friends and family are in danger. Its chased them out of the house they were hiding in and he's chasing them across town."

Nova nodded, wincing as she did, before pulling back, "We have to help them." Billy grimaced with pain before he nodded, "Right. How?" Nova looked at Billy, "Do you know any weaknesses?" Billy thought but looked at her pained, "Not really, just heat and light. Both hurt him. And... something about the gate being closed completely again. Its... something is holding the gate open. At the mall." Nova frowned then thought of something, "We got to get to the mall, now." Nova got up quickly and groaned, "Ok, that wasn't smart." She felt the back of her head and nearly screamed, "My hair! They shaved off some of my hair! Son of a..." She growled and picked up some scissors and looked at Billy, "I'll be quick." She went into the bathroom leaving Billy confused as he heard snipping and a buzzing noise before Nova emerged a few minutes later. His eyes widened as he looked at his girlfriend's new look.

"Okay, now we can go." Billy got off the bed and followed her to his car, "I'll drive, you're in no condition to." Nova sighed and nodded, getting into the passenger side as Billy got into the driver's side and sped off towards Starcourt Mall.

At Starcourt Mall~

Nova and Billy arrived just in time to get inside before the mall closed. Nova spotted a beat up looking Steve with Robin, Dustin and... was that Erica, Lucas' little sister? She also spotted some angry looking guys following after them and she yelled out, "Ostanovka!" The men turned as did Steve and the others, just in time for the guys, the Russians it now seemed, to get hit with a flying car. Scratch that, a telekinetic flying car controlled by Eleven. Nova sighed in relief as everyone seemed ok. She took Billy's hand and walked him over to the others.

As Nova neared the group with Billy, she noticed Orchid cooing and taking care of Steve while everyone chatted. Suddenly, Eleven started screaming catching everyone's attention. She fell to the ground and held her leg. Nova ran up to her and checked her over while Billy watched close by. Everyone was shocked to see Nova and her new haircut before they were distracted by Eleven screaming again. Billy came close this time and saw something move in her leg, "There's a slug in her leg. We got to get it out before it turns her or kills her." Jonathan looked at Billy in shock, "How... why... what?" Billy pulled out his pocketknife, took off his belt and looked at Eleven, "This is going to hurt. Bite down on this." He gave her his belt to bite down on.

He cut open Eleven's leg where the slug was and Eleven let loose a muffled scream before she used her powers to get the slug out. The slug flopped on the ground for a second before trying to get away. It was ultimately squished by Hopper, who had Joyce and a bald guy with him. Joyce noticed Nova's new look and gasped, "Nova, your hair..." Nova frowned, "It's a long story and not really important right now. The Mindflayer is coming for us." Billy shook his head, "No. Its coming for her. For Eleven." Hopper frowned, "How do you know this?" Billy stood up and looked at Hopper, "Cause it's in my head. That's how." Nancy looked at Billy, "Is there a way to take it out?" Billy nodded, "Yeah, the gate's been re-opened. It needs to be closed again."

Dustin spoke up, "We saw it! The Russians are controlling the gate!" Everyone looked at Dustin and the boy looked confused, "What?" Nova spoke up, "Context please." Dustin sighed and explained everything that happened to them. Nova grimaced, "Damn... that's awful." Hopper looked at her and noticed a bandage on her head, "What happened to you?" Nova winced as Billy looked pained and spoke, "The Mindflayer used me to hurt her. Badly." Nova took his hand in hers and kissed it. Billy gave her a pained smile before he winced and clutched his head, "Gah! He's... he's trying to..." Nova placed her hands on Billy's face, "Fight him, just a little bit longer baby. Please." Billy took some deep breaths and nods, "I'm ok. I'm ok."

Hopper frowned and looked at Dustin, "So what do we do?" Nova led Billy away from them so they could plan and keep the Mindflayer out of it as much as possible. The plan was simple: Hopper, Joyce and Murray would close the gate; Steve, Robin, Dustin and Erica would drive to where Dustin's super radio transmitter was located and contact Suzie for her help with the codes; Jonathan, Nancy, and Orchid would act as decoys to keep the Mindflayer at bay as Mike, Max, Will and Lucas stayed behind to protect Eleven. Nova and Billy were kept away since Billy was a liability. Nova watched as everyone went in separate directions and sighed, "Looks like they came up with a plan." Billy nods, "Let's hope it works."