[ 𝚂𝚞𝚗 & 𝚁𝚊𝚒𝚗 ] ~ 𝙹𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝙱𝚢𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚡 𝙾𝙲

XIV - They're Magically Delicious

Static hissed through the room as Twelve sat before the tv, blindfolded with blood trickling from her nose. She seemed to gasp, though it was subtle, more of a staggered breath. The other four kids sat on the sofa, silently watching her, while the older teens were off to the side. Twelve panted, ripping the blindfold off and taking a moment to ground herself from whatever she'd just seen Billy do.

"What's he doing now?" Max questioned.

"He's. . .in his room." She shrugged.

"What?" Rylie scoffed, shaking her head.

"In his room." Twelve repeated, as if unsure that Rylie actually heard her the first time.

"That's not right. You're wrong." Rylie shook her head once again. There was no way. Not a single time had Rylie ever proposed they stay in during the day and Billy said yes. Unless the proposal excluded clothes and included a locked door.

"Uh. . .let's get you. . .water?" Justin's tone peaked into more of a question as she held her hands out to Twelve and helped her get up. The two walked toward the kitchen, leaving the other seven on their own.

Justin wandered into the kitchen, muttering to herself and looking through cupboards. "Glasses, glasses, glasses, glasses. Glasses?" Finally she opened a cabinet full of cups and pulled a blue tinted glass one out. She filled it with water from the tap, looking over her shoulder at Twelve as she did so. "Hey, uh. . .you okay?" 

Twelve nodded softly. "Yeah. . .tired. It takes energy." 

"Ah. Like running really far or something?" Justin assumed, turning the water off and handing the full cup to Twelve. 

"Or something." She agreed. "Thank you." 

"No problem, kid." Justin smiled, awkwardly patting Twelve on the head as she went to drink the water. 

After Eleven had drunk some of it, she walked over to the counter and put the cup down right beside a box of Lucky Charms cereal. She looked at it kind of funny before singling in on one of the marshmallows on the box. She stared at it for a moment, and Justin tilted her head. Maybe Twelve just really liked Lucky Charms? In all fairness, they were magically delicious. That's pretty damn delicious. 

"You're an ass, you don't see us sacrificing you to the flesh demon." Rylie snarled, her voice raising. Justin's attention was piqued by the yelling and she made her way back to the group only to find Nancy fucking Wheeler and Rylie fucking Watson standing nearly chest to chest. Huh. She grinned, stepping up to the two girls.  

"Ladies. . ." Justin chuckled dryly, pulling the two apart. "Please shut the fuck up." Rylie rolled her eyes with a scoff, though didn't fight against it. 

"Though I don't see why we don't sacrifice Nancy to the skin goop creature. She doesn't bring much to the table." Justin smiled, only half joking. Rylie laughed. Justin made Rylie Watson laugh. 

Crazy. 

Nancy scoffed, clearly offended. That's a point for Justin. Annoying Nancy? Wonderful. 

"We have to find out where it's spreading from. We have to find the source." Nancy continued. 

"Billy knows it." Twelve said, coming back from the kitchen. "Billy's been there. To the source."

"Yeah, but-" Mike started.

"It's a trap. I know." Twelve nodded, interrupting her. "We can't go to Billy, but I think there's another way. A way for me to see where he's been."

Within a few minutes the tv was back on running static, Twelve had her blindfold back on, and she was sitting cross-legged in front of the television. The entire room went completely silent other than the scratchy static, everyone stared at Twelve. Justin still didn't quite understand what Twelve. . .did, but she was done with trying to question it. Twelve started whimpering, breathing heavily and shaking.

"Something's wrong." Mike started sitting up.

"Mike." Rylie warned, shooting him a look. "She's okay. She's got this." Rylie put her hand on his shoulder.

Mike hesitated but sat back against his chair. He didn't stop trying to get through to her though. "El, you okay? Are you okay?"

Twelve sighed. "I'm okay."

"What's going on?" Mike questioned, sitting up and leaning against his knees.

"I'm on a beach." Twelve answered.

"Okay, I may be dense, but the last I checked, there weren't any beaches in Hawkins." Lucas said.

"California." Rylie muttered.

"What else do you see?" Max asked.

Twelve softly shook her head, thinking before answering. "A woman. She's. . .pretty. I. . .I think she's looking at me."

"What the. . .fu-" Justin started before getting lightly slapped in the knee by Jonathan. He was obviously telling her to shut the fuck up. 

"There's. . .a boy."

Rylie whispered something. Twelve stayed silent for another minute. "It's Billy." She said.

"It's a memory." Max spoke up.

"I think I see it. The source." Twelve muttered. 

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Word Count - 802

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Published - April 22, 2024

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{Author's Note}

Hello, hello! 

I'm sorry it's been such a long time since I've been able to update this series. I've been really busy in my personal life and haven't had the energy or time to work on any writing. I have, however, had time to finish the character aesthetic palettes for the next Part (Season 4) so I posted those as well!!

Thank you for being patient with me, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

<3 - Ghosty