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the end of it all
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. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧
Alina hung over the railing, her body trembling with exhaustion. She'd run out of energy and fireworks, allowing Lucas and Will to light up the last few, and was instead attempting to check on El, although it was a little bit difficult given the haze of explosions that kept lighting up the mall. Her nose was bleeding rather badly, but she was shaking too much to even raise her arm to wipe it away. She instead narrowed her eyes, searching the food court and letting her magnet lead her on, and that was when she finally spotted the girl. She was lying on her back, awake, while Billy quivered on top of her, his body obviously wracked with pain from the many hits he was acquiring. He was still attempting to hurt El, as he kept shaking her desperately, perhaps trying to knock her out.
Alina looked back to Will and Lucas, who were still heaving fireworks, and then made her decision. She wasn't helping them here, but maybe she could help El. So she sprung away from her brother and boyfriend and instead made her way to the escalator in an attempt to reach her friend. And that was when she saw she really hadn't expected. She saw El's lips move, because, for whatever reason, she was talking to Billy Hargrove.
What would El even say to Billy, who had hated her friends before he even got possessed, to draw him back to the surface, like they'd done for Will last year? He was surely too far gone, wasn't he, given that he'd probably gone on a chemical-gorging spree with the other flayed and turned into a twisted, monster version of himself. That wasn't to say he wasn't already a monster, but... God. The thought of anyone being flayed made her feel sick.
Then, Alina realized the only thing El could say to him. The beach. She could reference the beach, where Billy had been a better person and definitely happier than Alina had ever seen him. And sure enough, as Alina ran down the escalator stairs, she caught a fragment of what her friend was saying.
"You ran to her, on the beach," El said. Alina could make out tears spilling from her eyes, but she didn't know if it was because Billy had been warped into a walking nightmare or because she was scared, so she was blurting out whatever she could think of in order to appeal to the small bit of humanity Billy maybe had inside of him. "There were seagulls. She wore a hat... with a blue ribbon... a long dress... with a blue and red flower. Yell-Yellow sandals... covered in sand." El took a shuddering breath. Alina noticed Billy had stopped attempting to slam her into oblivion, which was... weird. "She was pretty. She was really pretty."
