One

Chapter Eight - part three

Phina didn't know exactly what happened, all she remembered was the smoke, the pain, and then the darkness. Her head throbbed, like she had gotten punched in the temple ten times in a row.
She sat up, holding her head in her hands. She let out a low groan, the pain getting worse from the movement. Phina tried to shift her body, so she could look at her surroundings, which sent a burning sensation throughout her right leg and up her side. She let out a shriek, looking down at her blood covered body.
Four deep claw marks adorned her leg, starting from her upper thigh and ending at her calf.
She looked around her, trying to place where she was. She was laying in the parking lot of the middle school, but, not really. No, she was in the upside down. The scene looked familiar, like, like, well, she didn't know. All she knew was that she had seen it before, and she was willing to bet her reoccurring nightmares had something to do with it.
The Demogorgan must have grabbed her, before bringing her to this place. Why she wasn't dead yet, she didn't know. Clearly, she was bleeding enough to attact it, but if it wasn't interested in her, that meant, their was more blood, more food for it to eat.
"The kids," Phina realizes, involuntarily jumping, which caused her to groan in pain.
She needed to get to her kids, she needs to save them. Phina tries to bend her leg, but endes up screaming out instead, there was no way she would be able to do anything like this, she has to stop the bleeding.
Phina grabbes the shredded material of her jeans, tearing away the pieces until her right leg was completely bare. She places her hands on her leg, where the bleeding was the worst, concentrating on the fire within her.
Normally, flame or heat would not affect her, so she had to make this hot, very hot. Her eyes began to glow golden, her palms heating up. Within seconds, her skin began to burn, the wound cauterizing. She bit her lip, hard, to keep from screaming, blood now pooling in her mouth.
   The smell of her own burning flesh made her want to puke, she bit down on her lip harder to prevent it. The blood begins to slow down in that area, almost completely cauterized. Phina pauses for a breath and then she is sending even more heat into the wound.
It stops bleeding completely, and Phina spits out the blood in her mouth, breathing deeply. She gritted her teeth and stood up, screaming out as many curses as she could. In answer, she heard the shriek of the Demogorgan. It was inside the school, screeching as it slammed itself into a wall, over and over again. Phina limped towards the noise, trying her best to block out the pain, but she could feel every agonizing step of it.
Phina turned the corner, into the hall of which the Demogorgan's shrieks came from. A portal, like the one her and Nancy had crawled through in the forest, opened on the wall, and the Demogorgan forces its way through it.
Phina sees her chance, and she boltes, the adrenaline keeping the pain of her leg at bay for the moment. She hears gun shots being fired from the other side as she neares the portal. As she dives through it, they go quiet, the only sound she can hear is the Demogorgan's shriek.
Phina falls to the ground, watching as the Demogorgan jumps on top of a man. Phina gets to her knees, watching the monster, waiting for it to see her. Then, she freezes, not because of the Demogorgan that was feasting away upon its dinner, but because of the man who was the feast, Dr Brenner.
Memories that have been locked away for 11 years slammed into her, and she felt no need to save that man, none whatsoever. No, not with the things he put her through, not with what he put Eleven through.
Her eyes fill with tears, a low, aching sob passing her lips, Brenner lookes up at her, the pain in his face as the monster ripped into his stomach turning into agonizing confusion.
"One," he whispers, "One, help me."
Phina let out another quiet sob, "papa," then she was running.
Tears streamed down her cheeks, but she didn't turn back, she just ran. Every memory her brain had suppressed flashed through her mind like a movie. Going backwards through the painful memories, until it landed on her earliest one, Dr Brenner, the man she had once known as, papa.
   He had raised her for the first five years of her life, and she lived in pure agony. She was tested on, experimented on, cut open and analyzed. She was a specimen of which they had never seen before, the birth of their crazed obsession with gifted individuals. Then she got away, killed her way out as at only five years of age, yet not a child, not even close.
When the gunfire starts up again, Phina followes the noise, pushing her past back into the corner it had been hiding in for all of these years. She runs faster, turning down a hallway, seeing the kids running towards her almost instantly, Dustin carrying El in his arms.
"Phina," Mike shoutes, confused, but relieved to see his sister, with her here, that meant they had a protector, and he knew Phina, she would make sure they were safe.
She cries out to him, "Mike!"
She runs towards them, towards their shared goal of a classroom to hide in. The kids ran into the room, Mike waiting for his sister to get in before slamming the door behind her. They didn't stop to reunite, just followed Dustin to the back of the room, where he and Lucas lifted El onto a table.
Phina almost sobbed when she saw how weak the girl looked, she looked near death. El clung to Mike, like he was her life line, which might of very well been true.
"Just hold on a little longer ok," Mike pleaded with El, "he's gone. The bad man's gone. We'll be home soon. My mom, she'll get you your own bed. You can eat as many eggos as you want.
"And, we can go to the Snow Ball," Mike smiles.
"Promise," El shakily asks, her voice breaking.
Mike looks at her, "promise."
They smile at each other, and Phina smiles at them. Phina feels weak in that moment, the adrenaline coming down from its high. She places her hand on Dustin's shoulder to keep from falling over. He looks up at her, seeing her incredibly pale face, then down at her leg, his own face paling.
"Holy shit Phina," Dustin yelled, "what happened to your leg!"
"I'm fine," she says, but almost falls right after she says it.
Lucas and Dustin support her, letting her lean on them.
She lets out a breath, "just a little dizz..."
Shrieks and gunfire sound from just outside the door, the lights flickering worse than before. Dustin yells out a little and Phina pulls him and Lucas into her sides, ready to protect them. They all watch the door, Phina pushing the boys behind her. The gunfire stops, and everyone glances at each other.
"I-is it dead," Dustin stutters.
After a few moments of silence, Dustin gets his answer. The Demogorgan slams through the door, breaking it from its hinges. The boys freak out, Phina pushing them backwards.
"Get the wrist rocket! Get the wrist rocket," Dustin screams.
Phina shares a look with El, one that speaks a thousand words. As the boys freak out, firing rocks at the monster, Phina and El silently say a million words to each other, each a different variation of I Love You Sister.
Phina helps El from the table and takes her hand. Lucas fires a large rock at the monster, hitting it in the chest as El uses her power to make it fly back into the front of the room. The boys stare at it, shocked, as Phina and El push their way in front of them. They walk forward, towards the monster.
"Eleven, Phina, stop," Mike shouts, running after them, only to be thrown backwards by El.
Phina, with her new found memories, uses her power to grow a cage of green vines around Mike. Her power, was more than just the fire she knew she had, it was all the elements.
The girls continue towards the Demogorgan, it's painful whimpering the only noise. As the wall cracks behind it, dark purple vines from the upside down crawl outwards, wrapping around the monster, adding to the crushing weight of El's power.
As the girls came to a stop in front of the monster, they turned back to the boys. Phina's heart broke as she saw her crying brother, and the distraught boys standing on either side of him.
"Goodbye Mike," El says, then looks to Phina, "you don't have to."
Phina looks at the girl, confused, before realizing what she was saying. Phina started to rapidly shake her head.
"No. You are not doing this alone," Phina says assertively, "do you understand me!"
Before El can even answer, Phina is turning back to the monster, raising her hand towards it. El follows her lead.
"No more," El tells it.
   Phina hesitates one more moment, looking back at her boys, "I love you boys. I always will, don't worry, all will be well."
Phina turns forward, and she releases a stream of fire from the palm of her right hand, her left reaching out to grab El's. The monster lets out the loudest roar she'd ever heard, she ignores the pain that eruptes in her head.
Phina vaguely hears El begin to scream, and her own scream begin in answer. Her senses slowly begin to fade, her hearing, smelling, tasting, and then her sight. She is left with just feeling, the heat of her fire at her palm, the tight hold El had on her hand, and the shaking of the Earth beneath them as the sister's release themselves upon it.
And then she's completely in the dark, no longer feeling El's hand. Phina falls, El screams louder, and the world takes a shuttering breath.

-1736 words-
Probably on of my favorite parts to this story. And finally, Phina gets her memories back, and along comes new powers. I know the whole "controlling the elements" thing is a little over done and is used basically everywhere, but hey, I'm cliche and I don't give a damn, it's cool. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, this is about the last of the intense action so I hope you aren't disappointed.
-Morgan