"Magic is very fucking complicated!"

In the end, for all the shit Blair gave about not wanting to die, she'd later found that she would of actually payed for someone to kill her because, ironically enough, it turned out that her pain tolerance when it wasn't her own doing was at an all time fucking low. Because ever since their dramatic getaway drive had began to get them the hell away from the bastard lab that had condemned them all, the young witch had been screaming until her throat was raw and bloody, her maimed leg nothing short of fucking agony as her limp body was thrown left and right with every fucking turn.

Was it meant to hurt this much? She felt like it definitely wasn't meant to hurt this much, like her skin was being put through a paper shredder, one bloodied layer at a time before it was drenched in lemon juice and salt by a sadistic god, like something was twisting the ruined flesh, over and over again until her heart would simply gave out and she would bd nothing more than a half mangled corpse torn apart by wicked intentions of devastation...Oh god, was it possible to get fucking rabies from the demodog?

Everything had become blurry to the point she could barely even distinguish where they were, had simultaneously become too slow and too fast, the passing lights and the gentle eyes and hands holding her prisoner against something solid and warm fading away from her consciousness like sand slipping through her reaching fingers stained with divinity, her head pulling her under into the abyss of her own terror where her fears clawed at her, dragging her down into the dark depth of her own mind as she choked on her own crimson mortality with her teeth bared and bloody.

Perhaps death wouldn't be too bad she thought as its whispered caress pulled at her, perhaps she should just close her eyes finally and let it take her, perhaps she could let the heavy weight of responsibility tumble down from her cursed shoulders that ached with its burden, perhaps she could finally be free from the haunting ghosts of her past, from her rage, her anger, her hatred, all of it that made her unlovable, that made her a monster...perhaps she could do as devils do and fall.

"Hey! Come on, eyes open, Jones! Keep your eyes open, man. We need you, we need you."

We need you, we need you, we need you. Who needs me? Those sentiments echoed in the loneliness of her longing, who could possibly need her? Death cruel mockery asked her, cooed at her, laughed at her. But all at once, the answers had rushed to her, the flickering of flames, of magic calling her home, her massacre of strife and misery that forced power to her hands, to show the world what happens when a witch doesn't burn. Hopper, Eleven, the kids, Steve...they need me, they need me, they need me...so you can't have me, and then, with a shout, Blair's eyes snapped open once more.

"Stop crying, was just havin' a nap." She slurred quietly before groaning as her whole body flickered with raw misery, just in time it seemed as the van suddenly came to an abrupt stop as it arrived at its destination, and then there was light flooding around her once more as Hopper yanked the door open, swiftly ushering the kids out as he looked at the mangled mess that was the witch as she gave him a half-hearted thumbs up...and then everything just got worse when she heard Steve tell the chief that he had her and for him to help the others...which he did...traitor.

"Okay, this is fine, this is totally- I'm going to pick you up now. Just- just don't move, you're going to be okay man."

"If you drop me I will turn you into a fucking frog, Harrington." She hissed, trying desperately to pretend she couldn't hear the way her voice trembled as she let out a heaving breath that was bordering on a sob. But it seemed that Steve was absolutely used to her threats by now as he simply muttered his agreement, before he carefully grabbed her hands and placed then around his neck, squeezing them gently, comfortingly, as he then lowered his arm to skim across the flesh of her back, goosebumps erupting in his wake as he smiled at her uneasily.

"You ready? One, two, three-"

Her scream was nothing short of haunting as it was ripped from her bleeding lips, splitting through the air like lightning on a storming night, a forest fire of agonies as he lifted her into the comforting warmth of his arms, holding her tightly as she gurgled wetly into the place where his neck met his shoulder, lips brushing the hot skin that seared her, sobbing and blubbering and fucking hurting as her fingers clawed at his shirt, clutching it in her bloodied palms as he hushed her frantically. "I know, I know, I know. Just hold on a little longer."

Just hold on a little longer, just survive a little longer, they were always the words that pushed her forward, that forced her to move, to eat, to breathe because sometimes she wondered what was the point, she was surviving in a world that wasn't for her, that had never been for her. She was too loud, too angry, too sharp, too hateful, she reacted with bruised knuckles burning with sin and wickedness instead of placeting words, she was comforted by the fury of the flame and for that she was fucking condemned, she was crazy, she was nothing.

All her life, all of her terrible life, she was simply too much, she was a daughter without a mother, she was a witch without a coven, she was a human without love, she was merely a hallucination of holiness and darkness that society looked at and scoffed at, taking a look at the anger that was hers, that was always hers, the way her fists pounded against the side of her head, the way she forced her mortality to the surface, the way she bleed and breathed and screamed in the dying light that had society shunning her like they did to anyone who was different...the world was still burning witches even though there wasn't any left.

"I don't want to hold on, Steve. I want to live." Blair whimpered, the words falling from her mouth without them truly meaning to, but she felt him tighten his grip, felt him hesitate, could feel the tension in his jaw as if he was about to say something...but then Lucas practically kicked the door to the Byers home open and ordered their improvised babysitter to hurry the hell up, unable to keep his dark eyes away from the witch, their witch who suddenly looked so small as she was carried in, dripping red all over the floorboards as all of the kids simultaneously began to panic.

"There's got to be a healing spell or something right? It's Blair- she's got to know a healing spell- mages always have healing spells!"

"Stop shouting, Dustin! You're freaking me out and you're going to start freaking her out!"

"She's a mage? I thought you said she was a witch-"

"They're the same thing, Max. Why did you even bring her here! She's just going to get in the way-"

"Okay, okay! Everyone shut up! Harrington! Go find something to stop the bleeding! I'm making a call." Hopper broke through the arguing kids by simply being louder and fucking angrier, finally pulling himself away from Blair who'd been placed upon the couch where she'd instantly curled up into a ball and started sobbing like a pathetic little cunt and rushing towards the phone, not even giving anyone a second glance as some awful fear seized him, clawed at him, overwhelmed him because everything was going to shit and his- and his fucking kid had just been maimed trying to save him.

There was a frantic hysteria in the air, thick and all consuming as it festered together in some kind of bitter chaos, there was loss and grief, the rotting stretch of dread, a symphony of misery and foreboding, everyone feeling something different in the aftermath of hell...but Blair could feel it all as she laid there in a puddle of her own ruination with everything inside of herself begging for peace, her eyes clenched shut and her whole body trembling in agony.

And then she suddenly jumped as she felt something brush against her ankle, a gasp catching in her raw throat as she tried to yank herself backwards only to cry out as that mere wince caused a new wave of torment to wreak havoc upon her mortal corpse, groaning and cursing so much she'd definitely make a sailor blush...and when her sharp glare turned to whomever touched her it was to find Steve holding his hands up peacefully with a cloth hanging between his bloodied fingers and a worried frown upon his brow. "Hey, easy, easy...I'm just going to wrap this around your leg."

She let out a breath she didn't even realise she'd been holding, resting the back of her head against the worn sofa, trying not to grimace, trying to look far stronger than she felt but obviously failing miserably considering she looked like she'd been dragged through hell twice over...but that didn't stop her venemous tongue from lashing out, soaked with wickedness and spite. "Didn't know you were a nurse, Harrington. Want me to conjure you up the outfit to match?"

"Yeah, yeah, hilarious. Good to know even looking half dead you've still a bitch." Steve snapped, rolling his eyes as he twisted the cloth around in his large hands, staring at her leg as if he was looking at some kind of puzzle that he couldn't figure out...but there was a barely there smile twitching at his lips no matter how hard he tried to hide it, a mere curl in the corners, a strange warmth in his gaze that was bordering on relief as he shuffled closer and pressed his palm against her thigh gently as the squabbling from all of the others became nothing more than background noise to them as they focused on one another quietly.

"Watch it, I could still fucking kick your ass with twice this much pain."

Okay, she was pretty sure that was, in fact, a lie considering she'd been contemplating suicide like an hour ago because her pain tolerance was absolutely shit when it wasn't by her own hand, but he definitely didn't need to know that. But the Harrington boy just looked at her with something soft, something almost fond before he glanced away and began to slowly wind the table cloth above the ruined mess of her maimed calf and gently starting the process of stanching the bleeding. "Trust me, I believe you. Now would you stop moving, if I poke my fingers in this bloody hole I'm going to start throwing up."

"That's what she said."

"Real mature, Jones."

An abrupt and painfully loud slam suddenly forced a tension filled silence to haunt the home as everyone swiftly choked down on their own conversations and arguments, hesitantly turning towards the noise, as if afraid of what they'd find there, only to see Hopper shaking with unbridled rage, his teeth bared into a snarl as he rubbed at his beard, at his head, at his whole face in agitated frustration with the phone practically hanging on by a mere thread upon the receiver after having received the chief's rather aggressive form abuse that it definitely hadn't deserved.

"They didn't believe you, did they?" Dustin murmured quietly, a nervous energy swarming him as their situation began to get more and more dire with ever second that passed by. First of all, the shit with the upside down was starting anew, only this time it was with demodogs instead of the demogordan, then, they were all being hunted by said demodogs because the lab didn't know when to fucking quit, and now there was most definitely no help from some kind of military coming, and the telekinetic girl that had helped them last year was gone while their witch was half dead.

"We'll see, but for now, we have her."

And then at his words, the kids all slowly glanced over to Blair all at once with varying expressions of unease, bloodied, bruised and mutilated Blair who was spread out upon the couch and looking like she was barely even hanging onto life as she gave them a delirious thumbs up, which didn't exactly fill anyone with any kind of confidence as Lucas and Max tried to return the gesture...but it was Dustin who broke the silence once more as he nodded to himself, mouth pursed and trembling. "We're all going to die."

But the witch only snorted as she began to move around the comfort of the couch, upper lip curled into a frightening snarl as she focused hard on the bestial fury that clawed at her insides, that boiled her veins and made them hot, the empire of corpses in her heart that was groaning and growling in the melancholy night that flirted with death. Swift to slap Steve's hands away as he tried to force her to stop moving, before standing up on bended knee and burning with hatred like a witch to a pyre. "Never bet against Blair bitch, Dustin. You should know that by now."

Her shoulders shook terribly with fates cruel burden, all the way to crimson stained fingers torn by her own ruination, weighed heavily by the feeling of hopeful eyes searing against her skin, seeping into her flesh as she forced a desperate prayer to crawl at her throat. "Bulla." The spell shook, lingered upon her tongue as if it didn't want to leave, but then a faint blue began to wind it's way around the home, growing wider until they could all see it curling protectively around the outskirts before stopping as they gasped and awed...and then, with a weak groan, Blair dropped back down as everything finally went blissfully black.
_________________________________________________

Of course, she only found herself wallowing in the ethereal peace of unconscious for perhaps an hour at the most before she was awoken to absolute chaos, beady eyes half open as she watched everyone, quite literally, everyone rushing back and forth out of the house as she lay there like a limp fish. At least they seemed to figure it out on their own that the protection charm she'd placed around the Byers was simply to stop those with evil intentions from stepping over the threshold...if they'd woken her up from her nap to make her put it down she was pretty sure she'd kill them herself.

However, Blair was finding it difficult to do anything other than watch, her breath a wheezing gasp and a steady drip of blood soaking the side of her face every few moments, the strain of her magic bordering on devastating as continued to take and take and take from her mortal supply. All she could hear was talks of Morse-code and something called the mind-flayer and about how they needed to be careful so he couldn't figure out where they were...which really just made her all the more confused before she eventually had no choice but to get up.

"What the fuck is going on here?"

There was a small mercy that it was Dustin that heard her through the frantic scrambling of the kids talking to the walkie-talkie as he turned and give her a quick and quite frankly, relieved, once over at seeing her somehow managing to stand on her own two feet as he waved her over. "Ah, Blair, you're finally awake! So Will's definitely possessed, turns out the mind-flayer was making him its spy but Will is still there and he's speaking to us through Morse-code to help to us. Also, definitely wouldn't go near the shed because that's where we've put him so the Mind-flayer can't send its army to get to us."

"Yeah, that sound about right...I'm going back to sleep." She grumbled, not even attempting to decipher whatever the fuck all of that was as she turned around to head back to her deathbed...or more accurately, her death couch, but she didn't get far before Dustin was flinging himself at her, grabbing her arm and shouting about how they needed her because she was their mage and that he didn't want her to go back to said couch because everyone had to keep checking her pulse to make sure she wasn't dead.

Which, in some strange kind of way, made her feel so very sentimental, that everyone had checked up on her at some point, because it explained the pillow underneath her head that hadn't been there when she'd collapsed, and it explained the jacket that looked strangely like Hopper's wrapped around her bloodied corpse...and even the familar bandana that was wrapped tight around her scarred wrist, Lucas's 'lucky' charm that he'd apparently bestowed upon to her in the hope's she made it through the night.

"Dustin! Shut up! I think we're getting the final sequence!"

The final sequence? Seriously, what the fuck is even happening anymore? The young witch thought to herself uneasily, her features twisting into a grimace that ached every muscle in her face as she allowed the curly-haired boy to drag her over towards where the rest of their group were crowded around the table, looking down at the dots and dashes in front of them as if it made so much sense while she honestly felt like she was losing her mind...especially when Dustin practically threw her into Steve's arms who was thankfully quick to steady her with ease. "Shouldn't you be resting, Jones?"

"Shouldn't you be eating shit, Harrington?" She snapped, yanking herself away from his hold and ignoring the heat that rose to her traitorous cheeks at the feeling of his warm palm against the jutted bone of her hip, that simple touch burning her worse than any fire could ever hope to...before Lucas finally finished decoding whatever the message was, and everyone was swift to lean over his shoulder to see just what Will had told them, needing it to be something good, needing it to just be something.

Close gate.

Ring! Ring! Ring! The phone suddenly burst to life, the noise blaring out through the silence and brining the whole world to a standstill as they froze, all sharing horrified looks with one another before Dustin threw himself into the wall to slam it down, eyes bulging out of his head and his breath a panicked gasp as everything became alight with tension...and then it began to ring once more, so loud that it was almost fucking deafening but this time, Blair didn't dare to give it another chance as she snarled and watched as it burst into amber flame and black goop.

"Do you think he heard that?" Max whispered nervously, blue gaze flickering this way and that as she tried to stop the trembling of her hands by wringing them together tightly. Please, please, please don't let him hear it, almost everyone had the same thoughts as Blair took a step back, looking out of the window as her shoulder brushed Harrington's, the comfort of such an action almost making her choke on her on tongue in frustration as they both moved closer to one another slowly.

"It's just a phone. It could be anywhere, right?" Steve muttered carefully, fingers unconsciously curling around the witches jumper as they all held their breaths and waited, hoping, praying to whatever higher force there was for salvation...and instead they were given damnation disguised as the demodogs as a loud, vengeful and hungry roar curled into the air like an omen...and then suddenly everyone was moving in frantic hysteria, rushing to get into the home under the comfort of her magic that seemed to pull more from her battlefield of a corpse to hold them.

Once more, Blair could feel the rise of trepidation, that dreadful energy that filled her with cursed purpose as they all desperately grabbed any kind of weapon they could get their hands on, as they all swarmed, as they all became a slave to fear...fate was already mourning their deaths as if it hadn't been the one that played with the strings of their mortality, the echoes of the monsters cries burning their imprints into the trees that remembered, coming closer and closer until she could feel their ever footstep scorching through the earth, mother natures screams furious and pained at its ruin.

But then she finally moved, bending down to pick up the nail-studded bat that had been leant against the wall and swiftly passing it over to Steve who nodded down at her with his gaze dark and foreboding, the two becoming some kind of mocking united front as they both simultaneously began to push the kids behind them protectively, falling into some weird groove of being the babysitter and the babysitters assistant. There was a bat in his hand, a gun in Hopper's and Nancy's...and she was the others weapon, their protection...she was their martyr.

Black spots were dancing across her vision as she forced herself to the front of their defence, trying not to pass out as she held her shaking arm out, feeling the creatures vile rot as they batted their bodies against the charm, each hit making the very bones that lay beneath her skin splinter and ache as if the blows were being bestowed upon her very flesh as she flinched...and then quickly disguised such weakness when Hopper turned to stare at her looking half feral and half terrified. "How long can you keep the shield up?"

And yet, as soon as those words were coming out of his trembling lips, Blair felt as though the world had come to an abrupt standstill as a heavy weight crumbled upon her shoulders, as everything suddenly became so very clear. Because she realized that the moment the charm gave way, the moment her magic withered like a dying flower and let's it's petals become red with the mortality of innocence...she was going to lose them, she was going to lose everyone...and then she simply knew what she had to do. "Long enough for you and everyone else to get the fuck out of here if you're quick."

"Wait, what do you mean you and everyone else?...don't you mean all of us?"

She forced herself to keep her eyes on the window at Lucas's sharp question, feeling the ache in her throat, the way her bruised lips trembled as she thinned them desperately and shook her head, refusing to look back, refusing to look at anything other that the dying shield because she was terrified of what she'd do...we need you, we need you, we need you. "I can only keep the shield up for a couple minutes, I'm not- I'm not strong enough to hold it. But I can keep it up just until you all get in the cars and fucking drive as fast as you can away from here. They'll be more focused on getting to me anyway, and that gives you the chance to-"

"Just leave you here? Is that what you're saying? That's not happening, kid-"

The chief was practically snarling like a rabid animal, his teeth bared and white-knuckled grip of the shotgun so tight it looked like it was about to snap...but Blair had made up her mind, she'd already decided that none of them were going to die tonight, not when she was still breathing. "I'm not asking Hopper, I'm fucking telling you. Either you move or I'll fucking make you...everyone in my life has left me, I have no one, nothing...just you fucking assholes, so you need to go because I won't sit here and fucking watch you all die."

However, it was then Hopper finally looked at her...really looked at her and hated what he found, the dark eyes that begged for peace, the exhaustion wracking her frame in tremors, the weight of the world on her shoulders as she forced herself to protect them all, again and again and again...and then he swallowed tightly in some kind of apology before he nodded over to Joyce in reserved determination. "Get the kids out of here, all of them. Blair and I will hold them off for as long as we can, just fucking run and don't turn back, whatever you do, just keep going until you can't anymore."

"What? No-no you can't- they need you-" The words were choked as Blair tried to make sense of it, tried to give an excuse of why she needed him to leave, why she needed him and the others as far away from this bullshit as possible because she couldn't bare the thought of their fucking loss and it was tearing her apart trying to appear stronger than she was when she was absolutely terrified.

But Hopper finally grabbed her shoulder, large hand covering the entirety of her chest as he bared down on it and stopped whatever she was about to say in its tracks with those heavy set brows furrowed and desperately earnest as they looked at her. "Hey, hey! Listen to me, listen to me- your dad is a coward, you hear me? He is a fucking coward and he ran off and left because he didn't know what to do, and you should hate him for that- you should fucking despise him because he deserves it...but I'm not leaving you now, kid. I'm not running away again- it's me and you, you understand? It's me and you."

It's me and you, I'm not running away again, I promised your grams I'd look after you, I believe you, I need you to help me here, you might be a witch but you're still m-just a kid, don't make me ground you you little shit, it's just me and you and El, it's me and you. Every look, every promise, every moment rushed to her like a melancholy ghost rising from its slumber to haunt her as she stared at him and he held her gaze...I'm not running away again, I'm not running away again. "You fucking bastard! You fucking asshole! Are you joking?! What the actual fuck, Hopper?!"

And god Blair wanted to say more, she wanted to fucking scream and throw things and beat the everlasting shit out of him, out of her- out of her fucking father apparently who'd decided to spring it on her because they were obviously going to die so he didn't have to deal with the shitty consequences of his actions before eventually ordering all of the others to stop arguing and gawking and get the fuck out while they still could, she wanted to do all of that and more...but then she felt something, a drop in her stomach, a familar burn that embraced her, that comforted her, that made her magic sing with bliss, with adoration.

So she started to laugh, deep hacking noises that made her sound half mad, like she was bordering on insanity as everyone became quiet once more, looking at her with wide-eyes like they were terrified she'd finally lost it, but she just continued to laugh and laugh and laugh. Because she could feel the creatures as they died, could hear the sounds of bones breaking, could smell the rot, the weakening screeching of the monsters, of what could of been their damnation getting quieter and quieter until it all abruptly stopped.

Then there was silence from the others, a silence that was only broken by the witches occasional giggle as she wiped the steady stream of red from her nose, smudging it in her mouth, across her teeth as she grinned all bite and chaos...but then everyone watched as the hatch of the door slowly unlocked, the noise of the dangling metal hitting the wood practically deafening as everyone except herself clothed their weapons tighter as the door then swung open...and then those weapons dropped as Eleven walked in dressed in black and looking like death, a matching stream of blood reflecting Blair's most definitely as she laughed again and again.

"Oh kid, haven't you missed one hell of a party."