The One || Steve Harrington

The Battle of Starcourt: Vol. One

Eleven's screams and sobs only grew tenfold, her body racking with violent shakes and wails.

"What is that?" Erica hissed, her eyes watching the substance move back and forth beneath the skin.

"Whatever it is, it doesn't belong," Georgia's panicked eyes met Steve's for just a moment before finding Nancy's and Jonathan's.

"Keep her talking. Keep her awake, okay?" Jonathan ordered, his eyes moving between the kids. He bounced to his feet, running in a sprint to the food counters.

"You're okay," Georgia whispered, a closed-lipped smile covering her face. "You just gotta stay awake, okay? Can you do that?"

Eleven's face scrunched in pain as she nodded.

"Mike, let's get her on this side, yeah?" Georgia shifted Eleven's weight half to Mike.

"Don't leave," Eleven sobbed, her hand clenching Georgia's. "Please don't leave."

The raw pain and desperation in her voice was more than heartbreaking. It shattered her.

"I won't," she promised, leaning slightly into Steve's comforting presence. "Never, El. Remember the promise?"

Eleven's nod was almost not noticeable, but it was there.

"You know, it's not actually that bad," Robin said, her voice shaky with nerves. "There was, uh, a girl, the goalie on my soccer team, Beth Wildfire, this other girl slid into her leg, and, like, the whole bone came out of her knee, six inches or something, it was insane-"

"Robin," Steve called scoldingly.

"Yeah?"

"You're not helping," Steve said in the kindest tone he could manage.

"I'm sorry," Robin apologized, her anxious eyes on Eleven.

Jonathan's footsteps were hurried as he ran back, crouching beside Eleven's leg. His eyes softened as he looked at her. "Okay...All right, El? This is gonna hurt like hell, okay?" Jonathan warned.

"Okay," Eleven sobbed.

"I need you to stay really still," Jonathan instructed. "Squeeze Georgie and Mike's hands...Here, you're gonna want to bite down on this, okay?" Mike grabbed the wooden spoon, passed it to Eleven, and put it gently between her teeth.

Eleven's whimpers were muffled, her eyes wide and glued to the large knife in Jonathan's glove-clad hands.

Not a single bit of this plan seemed like it would work. What if the knife did more harm than good?

"Do it," Mike assured, watching Jonathan's shaky hands like the rest of them.

Jonathan took a deep breath, pressing the long, heated blade to Eleven's scream.

Georgia's face scrunched at the weight of Eleven's squeeze. She held her as tightly as she could, her eyes tearing up at Eleven's blood-curdling scream.

He made a long cut from the start of the wound, diagonally across it, to the end, blood slowly emerging as the knife clattered to the ground.

Eleven's cries only grew when his fingers pried into the cut. The sight of his hand moving beneath her skin, doing unknowable damage, had Georgia cringing in disgust but also worry. Could she even walk after this?

Jonathan worked as quickly as he could manage in an attempt to keep from hurting Eleven longer than necessary.

Her screams, Georgia would never forget them. Wretched and ear-shattering. They only grew louder. Her body was trembling violently in their arms.