Dark Phoenix: Into The Stranger Verse (Stranger Things)

CHAPTER 23-PART I

Chapter 23: Almost there

JEAN'S determination to help Billy was unwavering.

The four of them; Jean, Max, Mike and Eleven, were all frozen in the dark carpark, but as Billy began staggering towards them away from his car, his gait of limping in nature but still menacing, they started to move again.

After taking a few steps back, Jean halted and brought her hands up to unwrap Eleven's arm from her shoulder. "Take El." She indicated to a surprised Mike before walking away from them, walking towards the angry beast of a boy.

Eleven's eyes went wide. "What are you doing?" Max asked with panic, watching her friend moving away from them.

"Jean, come on!" The Wheeler boy bellowed, his body he was in overdrive, overrun by the adrenaline and he was prepared to run with his girlfriend any moment now.

The teenage telepath shook her head, she wasn't moving forwards anymore but she stood her ground on steady feet. "Go." She told them, not looking back.

"Jean," El breathed out, her brown eyes darting between Jean and Billy who was slowly approaching them. She knew what she was trying to do. The redhead almost flinched when she heard her friend.

"Please." There was a frightful pleading in El's voice, one that shook the redhead to the core. She knew that this was Eleven's way of protecting Jean. She always held an urge to protect her and now she wanted to do it from a boy who was lost in a raging ocean of darkness.

Jean looked back, her green eyes flashing with determination. She smiled confidently at Eleven, nodding her chin at her. "It's okay. Go ahead."

I want to help him like you helped me, Jean thought to herself, referring to Eleven. Not long ago, Jean herself had been stripped of all her memories, just like Billy. She was a shadow of her former self. Confused and helpless. It was El who provided her with a family and friends. And Jean wanted to do the same for Billy.

The three preteens hesitantly began walking away, but as their movements alarmed Billy, they rushed back inside the mall.

Jean looked at him, gathering all of her strength to face him head on as he slowly made his way towards her. "Billy, Billy, it's me Jean."

Billy maintained a stoic expression. He wasn't recognizing her face or her name. Although it was familiar, the rage coiled within his blackening blood and he saw her nothing but an obstacle.

She looked up at him, desperate but still not trying to get away, and gasps out, "Billy."

She quickly raised her right hand and placed it against her corresponding temple. She breathed in sharply upon the painful entry into his mind. Jean could feel her mind throbbing as she accessed his chaotic one, but she ignored the feeling and headed straight into the motor area -the area responsible for movements- of his brain.

And she attempted to paralyze his movements.

Jean's heartbeat spiked with each one of Billy's footsteps and grunts. He jolted and Jean didn't think she could hold Billy, it didn't seem to be working. But the teenage boy was slowing down, eyes soaking in Jean's form in the dark parking lot.

"I know you, Billy, this isn't you." She telepathically communicated with him, her voice echoed in his foggy mind as she still tried to freeze his body.

Her eyes were searching his face, looking at him, looking through him. She knew that the grudge he held wasn't from him. She saw him stopping; she was looking for the parts of Billy that were poking through. She knew he was in there somewhere.