Chapter Twenty-Three
Sister
The first thing Piper noticed when her eyes opened was the weathered ceiling of the cabin. The second thing was the sound of voices, voices that were all too familiar. And lastly she realized that she as in the safety of her bedroom. Her fingers moved slowly against the soft cotton of her sheets before slowly trying to move her body more. Slowly Piper sat up in her bed, groaning softly as she felt a pressure build slightly in her head, a head ache quickly forming, before swinging her legs over the edge of the queen sized bed. Piper sat there for a moment and tried to focus on the voices, not really being able to make out what was being said. Next she turned her head to the side and saw that it was night time, meaning she hadn't really slept for that long – sun was going down last time she could remember.
After a moment or two, she stood from her bed and slowly walked towards her adjoined bathroom – her limbs feeling like they were filled with lead. The moment the bright florescent lights of the bathroom met her eyes, she shrunk back slightly, before they were able to adjust fully. Piper looked around confused for a moment before her eyes locked onto her own reflection in the mirror. Her neck was littered with bruises. Long vertical lines across her neck colored with red, blue and purple. She could see the blotches from the broken blood vessels under her skin as well. Her hand moved up to cup over her mouth as she stumbled back in shock. Piper collected her self after a moment, before looking back, and seeing the bruise on the side of her head. From the barbell no doubt, she thought to herself. Piper stumbled around the bathroom a little more, grabbing a few things, before turning on the shower. A loud sigh of relief passed through Piper's lips as she felt the warm water hit against her back, almost instantly relaxing the muscles. She stood there for a moment, enjoying the feeling of the warm water against her cold skin, before she quickly washed up. Piper didn't step out till the water ran cold, which wasn't extremely long for the cabin, but enough for her to collect her thoughts and face whoever was out in the living room.
Piper stepped out, dried off, and slipped into the clean clothes that she had grabbed before getting into the shower. A pair of jean shorts, socks, sneakers and a old Hawaiian floral button up that she'd stolen from her Uncle a while back. It was little over-sized on her frame but the comfort of wearing something that belonged to her Uncle was needed. Piper frowned once seeing the bruises again on her neck, before turning and stepping into her bedroom. Piper froze for a moment when she saw who was sitting on her bed.
"Nancy?" Piper whispered softly as the girl smiled towards her. Taking a small glance at Nancy gave Piper a quick understanding that she too had been through something too.
"Hey...I-I thought you'd maybe wanna talk to someone...or something before you faced everyone." She spoke up as Piper slowly walked across the room and towards her small desk, where her hair brush and things laid across the top.
"I-I don't know what to say." Piper seemed to be shying away from Nancy, her body seeming to be curled defensively as she grabbed her brush and pulled her curly hair into a half-up, half down style.
Nancy nodded her head. "Well how about...how are you?"
Piper couldn't help the scuff that left her lips. She sat there for a moment, before turning her gaze towards Nancy. "I feel lost."
"Lost?"
Piper bit her lip and nodded "I-I don't know what to do. I mean do any of us? I watched as my boyfriend lost a fight with a monster we thought that we had finally gotten rid of." Piper's eyes watered with tears. God I'm so sick of crying. "He was the reason I escaped, Nance."
"Billy?" Piper nodded her head as she reached up to wipe her eyes. "H-How? I thought he was flayed."
"He was. I-I mean he is." Piper sniffled and collected herself. "I had a photo of Billy and I from his house. I showed it to him and it was like the Mind Flayer lost his grip on Billy for just a moment. Long enough for me to talk to him, long enough for Billy to let me go and get away."
"Did he tell you what the Mind Flayer wanted?"
Piper nodded her head. "He wants El. But Billy didn't tell me that. The Mind Flayer did. He wanted to use me as bait to get her to come to him...but that didn't work obviously."
Nancy looked confused for a moment as she tried to piece things together in her mind. "El? Why?"
There was a knock on the bedroom door before either girl could speak, both turning their head towards the door, Piper calling out to whomever was behind the door. It opened quickly and El nearly ran into the room and straight towards Piper. Piper stood quickly before the young girls body collided into hers, a vice like grip of a hug wrapping around Piper's middle. Piper gripped to El tightly and buried her head into the top of her head.
"I'm so happy you're ok..." El spoke, her voice muffled slightly from her face being buried into Piper's chest. "I was so scared."
"I'm sorry, kid." Piper pulled back slightly and caressed El's face and smiled down towards her "But I'm ok. I promise."
"I-I know." El pulled back "I checked."
Piper nodded her head and pushed back El's hair, knowing exactly what the girl meant. Piper looked towards Nancy.
"Are you ok?" She asked her friend.
Nancy nodded her head "Seems we both had to fight some demons today." She stood up from Piper's bed. "Why don't we get you caught up on everything? I'm sure there are some things you could tell us and maybe we'll be able to figure something out?"
The three girls walked out of the bedroom, down the small hallway, before turning into the living room. Piper was once again welcomed with hugs from the boys, all talking at once asking as many questions as they could. But Piper's focus was on one girl, Max.
"Hold on, guys. Give me a second." Piper spoke as she walked past them and towards Max who was sitting on the couch. She sat on the coffee table across from her, gently grabbed her hands and gave her a small smile. "How are ya holding up?"
Max shrugged "As best as I can. D-Did you see Billy?" Piper nodded her head "D-Did he say anything."
"That he was sorry." Piper answered quickly "And that he's gonna fight. I think I know what to do in order to make sure we both get him back."
"How?" Max asked
"We just gotta remind him who he is."
Piper stood beside Jonathan as they all caught each other up what had happened over the last twenty-four or so hours. What happened at the hospital from Mrs. Driscoll being admitted to Nancy and Jonathan subsequently killing Tom and one of the editors from the paper. Though seeing as the two were flayed, Piper wouldn't say that Jonathan and Nancy really killed them at all. Piper told them what happened at the warehouse and how Billy helped her escape. Something that they were all able to agree on was that the Mind Flayer was building a arm, seeing as in the past alone he wasn't able to defeat El. He was going to need back up in order to make sure he was successful this time.
"Do you think Billy is going to know where you ran to?" Jonathan asked.
Piper shrugged her shoulders "I don't think so. Maybe he'll think Billy will just let me go again. Billy ruined his plan in order to use me to get to El."
"Now he's gonna have to come up with something new." Nancy spoke softly from her place on the couch.
All of the jumped slightly as the sound of fireworks started to sound from above, shaking the cabin slightly. Piper groaned slightly as she relaxed back into the wall and reaching up to gently rub her temples to try and relieve some of the pressure caused by her headache.
"If only they knew what the hell was going on," She muttered
"It's better off if they don't." Jonathan spoke.
"So we know that he's building an army, and not to spread like we originally thought." Mike spoke "He's pissed off because El closed the gate."
"And he's gonna do whatever it takes to make sure that he gets that as well." Lucas continued
"Including killing us if it comes to it." Piper looked towards El, who shrank back slightly.
Fireworks shook the cabin again, but followed but the sound of a monstrous shrieking noise. Everyone's backs straightened, knowing exactly who and what was making that noise. On instinct Piper moved towards El and pulled her to her side. Realistically El would be able to defend not only herself, but everyone in that cabin. But Piper didn't care. All she cared about what that thing not getting it's hand on El. As the fire works continued so did the noise.
"Piper are you sure that Billy doesn't know that you're here?" Jonathan asked
Piper opened her mouth a few times to answer, but nothing came out, because deep down she knew that she wasn't herself sure. Could he? Would he allow that to happen? Would he be able to even stop it from finding out? Piper's eyes looked towards Jonathan with doubt and worry. Will let out a whimpered noise and reached towards the back of his neck, gripping it tightly.
"Guys." He whimpered, the noise increasing with each second. "He knows that we're here."
Piper, Jonathan and everyone else jumped up quickly and rushed out the front door of the cabin. One by one they rushed towards the front yard and looked towards where the fireworks were flaring across the sky. But from the distance, through the movement of the trees, Piper was able to see it. And she was sure everyone else was able to see it. The dark looming, monstrous, figure heading towards them. The eerie shrieking coming from it sending a chill down her spine.
"Fuck," Piper whispered before backing away slightly "Guys! Look for something!" Piper turned quickly and headed towards the house knowing exactly where he Uncle kept his guns. "Nancy! Shed, there is a shot gun, shovels, and more in there."
Piper shouted over her shoulder as she opened up the hall closet and pushed the handle of a ax into Jonathan's hand before she grabbed another gun from a case on the shelf above. She fumbled slightly with loading the bullets inside, before she stood up and turned to see everyone boarding the windows up with bookshelves, chairs, and tables. This was last winter all over again. Piper could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins quickly.
"Get away from the windows." Nancy scolded as she grabbed Max and pulled the her away. Everyone slowly forming a circle to make sure every point of the cabin was covered.
Piper was shoulder to shoulder with Jonathan and Nancy, gun pointed towards the front door, and aimed towards anything that came through the door. There was a silence that dark over-looming feeling weighing over the entire cabin. The sound of fireworks no longer booming in the background, the air was still and even the sound of a light on the wall rocking slightly could be heard. The dark looming fear washed over Piper again as she felt, and heard, a thud come from outside.
"He's close." Will whispered. There there were footsteps, heavy ones, enough to make glass shake off the shelves and crash to the floor. Then there was silence again.
"W-Where'd he go?" El asked as everyone looked around for any sign of the Mind Flayer.
Before anyone could make a move, the shrieking sound came through the cabin, and Piper was knocked to her feet. Something had smacked against her back and sent her across the room, Jonathan landing next to her. She rolled over onto her back to see a long, slimy, red tentacle ripping through the side of the cabin, and right into the living room. When Piper looked towards the far corner she was able to see Mike, Lucas and Max huddled together with El protecting them all.
"El!" Piper screamed, her scream barely being heard over the noise coming from the Mind Flayer.
Jonathan moved quickly to stand from the ground, rearing the ax back before slamming it the blade towards the middle. A scream came from the monster as Jonathan was able to land another blow, before the tentacle wiped to the side, slamming into Jonathan sending him crashing into a bookshelf. As he landed onto his back, the Mind Flayer moved towards him. Piper looked around for her gun, grabbing it, before pointing it towards the Mind Flayer. Nancy seemed to have the same idea as she shot straight towards it as well. Another loud shriek came from it as the bullets pierced it's skin, trying to make moves towards the girls, but falling unsuccessful. Piper cursed as her gun jammed, letting out a curse. But when she looked up, once again, she was face to face with the monster. Her eyes widened and she moved to duck, waiting for darkness. But it never came.
When Piper slowly opened her eyes, she saw that the Mind Flayer was frozen. Screeching and wailing in pain, before it was pulled back away from her. El stood in the center of the living room, her hand out, mind controlling the tentacle away from Piper and crushing it into nothing. But soon two more crashed into the cabin, causing once again, for people to move back and duck away from the falling ceiling. El moved quickly though to fend off the tentacles reaching for her. El let out a loud scream as the two were pulverized. Piper thought it was all done. That the Mind Flayer would shrink away. But it didn't, not this time, it was angry.
Piper watched in horror, as straight behind El, a large tentacle ripped through the ceiling and gripped El by her ankle. The small girl was knocked off her feet and straight into the floor, before being pulled backwards. Mike was the closest, and quickest, to reach for her. Everyone seemed to move at once as they grabbed El's arms, pulling as hard as they could to get her out of that monsters grasp. Piper looked up towards the ceiling and could see the angry face looking back down towards them. Layers of teeth opening as it shrieked. Fighting with the group as he reached for El. She looked down towards the floor, towards the discarded shot gun Nancy had dropped and rushed towards it. She silently prayed to whatever god was listening, as she checked to see if there were shells inside. Piper sighed in relief when, in fact, there were.
Piper pointed towards the mouth of the Mind Flayer. "Let go of my fucking sister, you piece of shit!" Piper shouted before pulling the trigger.
She shot again, and again, and again. Her eyes focused as she heard it shriek in pain. As Piper shot, Lucas was hitting it with the ax over and over again. Piper kept her eyes locked on the thing that was pulling away someone that she loved. She felt an anger bubbling in her chest that she'd never felt before. Finally the hold on El was broken, and she fell back towards Mike, Will, Max and Jonathan. Piper didn't lower the gun as the face peered more through the roof. El turned on her feet, facing off with him, before raising both hands up and letting out a scream that Piper had never heard before. She watched in amazement as the face that glared down towards them split in half.
"Holy shit!" Nancy screamed as blood and gore rained down into the cabin. Piper looked towards the kids and moved quickly.
"Go!" She screamed "Let's go!"
Jonathan and Nancy worked with Piper as she moved to push the kids out of the cabin as quickly as she could, holding tightly to the gun in her hand and rushing out of the cabin. Piper followed behind as the ran towards Jonathan's car and piled inside, Nancy sliding into the drivers seat. Piper pulled El into her lap and caressed her face gently, moving to wipe the blood from her nose as Nancy sped out from in front of the cabin.
Piper held tightly to El as Nancy sped through the streets of Hawkins, El crying into Piper's neck as she gripped tightly to Piper's shirt. Everyone else in the car was stunned in silence of what just happened to them, no one's mind being able to catch up to what they were feeling. Scared – more like petrified.
"Nancy! Pull over!" Jonathan spoke pointing towards a convenient store on the side of the road.
Piper looked out the windows for the first time and noticed they had to be on the outskirts of town. Nancy wiped the car towards the front of the store and stopped the car quickly, causing a few to groan as they slammed against each other in the back of the car. One by one they moved to pile out of Jonathan's station wagon and towards the front of the store. Piper holding tightly to El, holding her in her arms, as Lucas grabbed a rock from the ground.
"What are you going to do with that?" Max asked quickly
"How else are we getting in?" He asked, before throwing the rock straight towards the glass front door of the store.
Piper whispered softly to El, trying to calm her down, as they stepped into the store. The only source of light the bright neon signs coming from the tall fridges in the back. Jonathan and Nancy moved quickly towards the aisle searching through them quickly to find anything to help bandage up El. Piper moved quickly towards the back of the store and gently set her down, having El's back rest against a counter.
"How are you feeling?"
"L-Like shit." El whimpered.
Piper sighed softly and reached up towards the counter and quickly ripped down a container holding napkins. She gently reached down and pushed up the pant leg and groaned, along with a few others, as the severity of the cuts on her leg came into view. Nancy dropped down beside Piper, supplies spilling out from her arms, and quickly began to unravel bandages.
"What are you doing?" Max asked quickly
"Wrapping up the wound." Nancy spoke looking down towards the girl.
Max shook her head quickly. "No. No. You have to stop the bleeding, clean it up, disinfect as much as possible, and then wrap up the wound." She paused "Do you want El to get an infection?"
Everyone looked down towards Max with a look of shock on her face, even Piper. Max looked around and noticed that all eyes were on her.
"I-I skateboard." Max's eyes connected with Piper's for a moment. "Trust me." Piper looked down towards her for a moment, before it connected in her mind. Billy. But Piper wasn't gonna question it, instead worked to stop the bleeding with Max's help. "Keep the pressure on it as much as you can. No pressure is too much." Piper nodded her head, holding her hands tightly to El's legs. "Lucas, Will get me some soap and some water."
Quickly they broke off and searched through the store, and over time Jonathan, Nancy and Mike joined them to find anything that was gonna help El. Piper sighed softly and shifted so she was looking towards Max more.
"You didn't mean skateboarding did you?" Piper asked as she looked towards Max.
Max froze for a moment before sighing softly. Piper looked towards El and saw that her eyes were closed, thankful that for a moment, she wasn't feeling pain.
"I know about Neil, Max." Piper whispered softly, causing Max's eyes to shoot up quickly towards Piper. "Billy showed up to our house...I patched him up."
Max sighed and relaxed. "I didn't think anyone else knew."
Piper shrugged, making sure to keep the pressure on El's leg. "He didn't like talking about it. Wouldn't let me have my Uncle help him...but I knew."
"I only patched him up a couple of times." Max spoke softly, looking over her shoulders to make sure no one else could hear her. "After what happened at the Byer's house, I think he remembered...ya know...the bat and enough to not be such an asshole to me. He had his moment's but it wasn't like it used to. One day...I came home after hanging out with everyone. I didn't realize he was still up...till I walked into the bathroom. He was trying to clean up his face...and I knew what to do. The part about skateboarding wasn't a full lie."
Piper smiled towards her. "You're a good sister, Max. Don't forget that."
Max smiled towards her and nodded her head before looking around again. "The bleeding has slowed down on her leg, I'm gonna go and see where the idiots went."
Piper nodded her head as Max stood from the ground, walking towards the front of the store where most had walked off to. A small groan sounded from El's lips before her eyes blinked open a few times, looking towards Piper.
"W-Where is everyone?"
"Getting supplies so that we can patch you up." Piper smiled towards her, reaching one hand up to caress El's cheek softly. "You were amazing, El. I'm very proud of you."
"Thank you." El smiled weakly towards her, before looking down towards her leg. "Am I gonna be ok?"
Piper nodded her head "You're gonna be perfect. But, hey, we're gonna having matching scars now."
El chuckled softly and nodded her head. "Cool."
Piper looked towards El and smiled again, causing El to do the same. Piper was scared but she was making sure that no matter what she wasn't going to let her sister see that. Piper knew that she needed to save Billy. But above all she was going to keep El safe.
AN: So I am going to start breaking up the last episodes since, A: so much happens, and B: I don't want this to end. I've become attached to Piper, and since season 4 is delayed to come out, I don't wanna stop writing for this story. I am still figuring out Billy and Piper's end. I am leaning towards one ending I have thought of, but we shall see. Please leave a review, I really do seeing you guys thoughts and feelings towards the story.