𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞~𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬

𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄, 𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

𝑨𝑪𝑻𝑼𝑨𝑳𝑳𝒀 𝑰𝑴𝑷𝑶𝑹𝑻𝑨𝑵𝑻 𝒂/𝒏 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒔, 𝒊 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒔 𝒊 𝒈𝒐, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒖𝒑𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊 𝒅𝒐 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒐. 𝒊 𝒅𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒊 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒆𝒕, 𝒔𝒐 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚. 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒍, 𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓.
🅞︎🅞︎🅞︎🅞︎🅞︎🅞︎🅞︎🅞︎🅞︎🅞︎🅞︎🅞︎🅞︎🅞︎🅞︎🅞︎🅞︎🅞︎🅞︎
𝑨𝒔𝒉𝒍𝒆𝒚'𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒗
She didn't mean to hurt him.
She really didn't.
But now, he was lying on the ground unconscious, and Ashley was to blame.
She crawled over to him and held his limp body in her arms, his head to her chest, his soft breaths warm against her neck, and sobbed. She cried until her throat was dry, and her eyes had run out of tears.
The last thing she remembered was listening to Will's breathing until everything went dark. Luckily for her, she had no dreams to bother her. When she woke up, Will was still in her lap, his face buried in the crook of her neck, her arms wrapped around him protectively. She was about to wake him up when he began to stir. His eyes fluttered open, and he jumped out of her arms as soon as he saw her face.
"You're a monster! G-get away from me!" he screamed as he took off into the woods, and Ashley ran after him.
"Will, please stop. Need to explain"
"What is there to explain? You lied to me. I don't wanna hear it"
She poured on the speed until she was directly behind him and she grabbed his arms, forcing him to a stop. She pinned him to a tree and turned him to face her, keeping her grip tight on his wrists
"Get off me! Let me go!" he yelled, but she was stronger.
"No"
"I hate you, i hope you know that" his words were laced with bitterness, but Ashley could tell he was scared out of his mind. His eyes were red and his whole body trembled
"Still love you Will, always. But you need to listen. Do you love me?" she spoke calmly, and he hesitated
"Yeah. I guess i do" he sighed, leaning back against the tree
"Do you trust me?"
"What?" he looked at her like she'd grown a third eye
"Need to know, Will"
"Yeah. With my life. With my heart. Everything." he wouldn't meet her eyes, but Ashley could tell he wasn't lying. She relaxed her grip on his wrists, and instead took his hands in hers. He didn't pull away
"Then ask me"
"Ask you what?" he furrowed his eyebrows
"Anything. Tell you the truth. Promise."
"Okay...that first time, when you tried to read the demogorgon's thoughts, what did you see?"
She stared at him, slightly taken aback. She expected him to ask why she had helped the demogorgons, but she promised she would tell him the truth
"Saw you"
He blinked, waiting for her to elaborate. She sighed and continued
"Showed my worst fear. You-you were dying, and i couldn't help. You told me you loved me, and then you died."
"So what does that mean?"
She took a shaky breath
"My worst fear. Losing the thing i love the most"
Will seemed to think about that for a second
"Me?" was the only word he could get out. Ashley brushed the hair out of his beautiful hazel eyes and cupped his cheek in her hand. She leaned in, standing on her tiptoes and kissed him. It was short and gentle, but a sweet gesture nonetheless. They pulled apart, but didn't look away
"Yeah, you" she spoke, her voice quiet, but loud enough for Will to hear. She could tell he was at a loss for words, because his thoughts were a complete mess.
"Helped the demogorgon because it said it could help us. And it said if i didn't help it, it would hurt you. It didn't help me. It lied. I killed them. That's why one attacked you"
"Oh. So you helped them...for my sake?"
"Yes" her voice was brittle, like she was going to break down at any moment.
Will pulled her into a hug, burying his face in her hair. When he pulled away, he took her face in his hands
"I am so sorry. For everything. For not listening, for shouting, for getting so angry and for calling you a monster. I didn't mean it, and i definitely don't hate you. Getting picked to show you around the school was probably one of the best things that's ever happened to me, and i am so grateful for you. You mean the world to me, you know?"
Ashley put her hands over his
"Yeah, i know. Glad i came"
"Good. So about getting food..."
Ashley smirked and grabbed his hand, heading towards Hawkins.
𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍'𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒗
After they had gotten the Eggos and water from Bradley's big buy, they went to Melvald's, where they could get bandages and other supplies like that. Seriously, Will couldn't wait to get back home and have real food. He didn't think he would be able to look at another Eggo the same way. Ashley came back with a box of tissues to clean him up. Luckily, he wasn't cut or anything, just covered in dirt. She used a bottle of water to dampen the tissues, before wiping his face clean. The water was freezing cold, but Will was used to the sub-zero temperatures at this point.