Fallout || Stranger Things [2]

thirty-eight || ups and downs

Steve's fork clinked against his plate, brows set high as he stared into Tate's near emotionless face, the syrup staining the corner of his mouth forgotten as his own mental images ran rampant of claws and red lightning.

Hazy memories of the dump yard in Hawkins shot across his vision, distantly able to feel the grasp of spiked bat in his hands and the whoosh of air as it swung against rabid demon dogs.

Tate shook her head and idly raised a coffee mug to her lips. She'd blurred out the Bloomington diner's buzz of morning customers, her mind still stuck in Hawkins. "Mike's livid. He'll never talk to me again."

"That's not true," Steve sighed. "He just needs some time to cool off. That shit sounds terrifying. He was just scared. He told you himself, he went through it all again." His eyes flickered over her as she stared into the empty mug. "But so did you. Weren't you...scared?"

Tate picked up the piping hot carafe and filled herself back up. "I've been scared for months" She shook her head lightly. "It all feels the same these days."

Steve pursed his lips, nodding gently as she aimlessly dumped creamer into her mug. "I guess that's fair. I mean, I can't...I can't even begin to imagine, T. And now..."

"And now the dogs," she murmured, stirring slow circles in her coffee.

"You said they bowed?"

She nodded, eyes still averted. "I was so sure they were going to attack, but they made a path out of the barn and circled me before the lightning struck."

"And that's what made your eyes go gray?"

"Mhm." The sounds barely made it out of her mouth, near caught in her throat as a shock reverberated through her body, heat pouring into her bones. "When I released them in Russia, I thought they didn't go after me or Hop because they like a chase, but..." She shook her head. "They wouldn't have, just like they didn't in the Upside Down. And when the base blew, they were calling for me because I...because I was killing my...kids."

Steve's brows raised. "You heard what you just said, right?"

Her eyes squeezed shut. She placed a hand over her forehead. "Yeah, I heard it. I just..." Her hand slipped back down. "...aren't they?"

"The dogs answered to Azathoth, right?" he asked with a light tilt of his chin. "And if they answer to you...then..."

Finally, gray ringed eyes raised to meet his. "Then it's mine."

It's mine.

Steve blew out a long breath and ran hand through his mass of hair. The confidence in her voice didn't match the distress on her face. "I mean, does Billy know about this? Any of the dogs?"

"I haven't told anyone. Mike and you, really." Tate leaned forward on her elbows and rested her forehead in her hands. "I didn't want to tell Owens about the dogs talking because I'd already brought him enough of a shit storm already. I still don't...I mean, I have to tell him. I wasn't...god, I wasn't looking for another mystery."

"Since when have you had to?" His soft smile dissipated quickly. "You need to tell Billy."

Tate sighed, running her hands down her face before tucking her elbows back down. "I know, I know. I need to tell Hop. I might...I might need to go to New York sooner than I thought." She groaned. "Nina's going to kill me if I don't come to her show."

Steve's brow rose.

She groaned again. "Sorry. I know, I need to work on my wording." She pushed a lock of hair out of her face before picking her mug up and taking a sip. "I just...I need help. I should've dropped Mike off at home before I went to the mall. He shouldn't have had to go through it again, I just...I didn't know what was going to happen. I thought I would get a few snippets, I had no idea it was going to go into a full blown regression with a fucking trance to follow."