𝐈𝐒𝐍'𝐓 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐘 | stranger things
Marleen thought that maybe after fighting an interdimensional monster everything would've come back to normal. And it did, at least for a year.
Then another monster decided to take a liking...
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chapter twenty one, steve's first win.
THE GROUP HADbeen walking for a while. At some point past the first ten minutes, Marleen's leg began to bother her, but she endured, following Steve's pace for as long as she could. Close to twenty minutes later, Marleen was already on the back of the group with gritted teeth.
"Are you okay?"
Marleen startled, looking up and finding a worried Dustin.
Dustin, however, did not buy that. The kid slowed down so he could walk beside Marleen.
"Is it your leg?" He asked, gaze on the floor.
That broke Marleen's heart. Her leg had healed nicely since the demodogs' attack last November, but it seemed that Dustin still felt guilty about it.
The blonde didn't know it had become a big problem, she was okay plus it gave her a cool battle scar (and a slight panic towards dogs, but whatever), until one night in a sleepover at Steve's house, when the rest of the kids were busy with something else, Dustin came to Marleen, who was wearing shorts for the first time that year, and asked her how her leg was. Marleen had responded truthfully, but the despondent expression on Dustin's face hadn't left. It didn't take much convincing from Marleen for Dustin to tell the truth.
"I'm sorry," He had said.
Marleen, confused, had asked. "What for?"
"You got hurt because of me."
After that, Marleen tried and tried to explain to Dustin that it hadn't been his fault; Marleen had chosen to go with them, she had chosen to put herself between the dogs and them, and there was no one to fault except for her. They had left it there, and Marleen thought it had been resolved. Now, she wasn't so sure.
"Dustin..." She murmured, then sighed. "I'm okay, it hurts sometimes, but it's fine, Dr. Owens said it was perfectly fine."
He had also told her, in one of her check-ups months after it happened, that her pain was psychosomatic and that she should check with a therapist. Which she never did..., those people were expensive. And she was fine!
Marleen bumped Dustin playfully, and when he looked at her, she grinned. "It gave me a cool ass scar, though. Robin thought it was cool."
Dustin laughed softly. "Yeah? What'd you tell her?"
"That I kicked an aggressive dog to save Steve's ass." She answered. "She gave Steve so much shit after."
"You're crazy." He grinned.
Marleen winked in response, shrugging one shoulder. It is what it is.
━
After a couple of turns and even more straight hallways, the group had finally found it. Voices. Just in front of them was another intersection, in which they could hear multiple voices and machine sounds. Carefully, they made their way through it, backs pressed to the wall and quiet as mice.
