Chapter 1: The Battle of Starcourt

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"Seven.... feet..." El gasped. Billy's curiosity peeked. "You told her.... the wave.... the wave was seven feet." It registered in his mind what the girl was talking about. It was the last time he was ever genuinely happy, it was the day with his mom. "You ran to her on the beach, there were seagulls. She wore a hat with... with a blue ribbon." El sobbed as she looked her attacker in the eyes. "A long dress, with a blue and red flower..... and yellow sandals covered in sand." El desperately tried to awaken something good in Billy, a task that seemed impossible to most. "She was really pretty... and you... you were happy." El placed a gentle hand on Billy's cheek and a single tear ran down his beat up face. He had finally broke free from the mindflayers control, Billy had spent his whole life building strength to protect his mother and he knew in this moment he had to do what he did best, protect. He had to protect Max, his little sister, he had to protect El, he had to protect Hawkins, he had to protect.

"Billy!" Max screamed. He looked over to her for a second before his eyes focused on the monster in front of him. The mindflayer was coming full force to kill El, but that wouldn't happen.
"No!" Billy screamed as he stood in front of the little girl.
Everyone stood in fear as the witnessed the scene in front of them. The mindflayers claws pierced his chest five times. Joyce had closed the portal and the monster had vanished leaving the teenage boy to die of his wounds in peace.
"Billy." Max sobbed. "Come on you have to get up, you have to get up. Billy. Billy! Billy come on!" Max's pleas becoming louder.

"I'm.... sorry." He choked out his last breath.
"Its okay." She sobbed. "Its okay Billy.... Billy!" Max began shaking his body violently praying he would make it.
"Max, come on we have to go." Mike urged. She couldn't leave her brother like that, he was an asshole but he had finally began treating her like his sister and now he was gone. Eleven and Mike saw the pain in the redheads eyes and offered comfort until Hawkins Lab SWAT stormed the building carrying them out. Max watched as Dr. Owens covered Billy's corpse with a white sheet before two men in contamination suits carried the body out.

Max spent months broken up over Billys death, something about it didnt sit well. She could've sworn she could hear him whispering to her in the middle of the night. She had watched him get torn to shreds in front of her but she had this feeling that he wasn't all dead. With El missing her powers, and the Byers moving away from Hawkins Max felt like she needed to just accept that Billy was gone and try her best to move on. Only the party knew the truth, but to everyone else in Hawkins Billy was an abuse victim who fled from his home in the middle of the night and since he was 18 nobody bothered to search for him.

It had only been two months after his death but she still hoped some how, some way, he would come home.

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