"Let's go before I change my mind."

Now, if anyone asked Blair why she was going along with the kids plan that could only end in ruination in their attempts to help save the world from rot, if of course, they managed to survive, then she was definitely going to fucking blame it on brain damage. After all, it's not like it would be that far fetched considering just tonight she'd been maimed by a demodog, almost being wiped out by her own magic, had some extremely shocking secrets aired out like dirty goddamn laundry in front of everyone...and then she'd punched Hargrove so hard that she was pretty sure she'd broke something in her hand like an amateur.

Because even she could admit that they were all tempting fate by going into the literal belly of the beast to burn it all from the inside out with only the half dead witch as their sworn protector. And she could also admit that she was absolutely terrified considering her babysitting assistant was down for the count, quite literally, laying where she left him on the floor with nothing more than a pillow to cushion him from the cold ground that probably wouldn't help the headache he was no doubt going to wake up with. Jesus, the mullet-haired asshole really did a fucking number on him, poor bastard looked like he went a couple rounds with a sledgehammer.

And then she finally realized that she was missing a kid from the merry band of misfits she'd taken under her wing, most specifically, her favourite kid as she paused for half a second, his name forming breathlessly upon her bloodied lip as she looked swiftly around the room with a strange panic in her chest...that was swiftly tampered down when she noticed him by the window, staring out into the darkness, barely moving, hardly even breathing as the kids voices faded into nothing ae she sighed quietly...because it looked like they were going to have that talk sooner than she'd planned.

"Hey Lucas, how are we doing over here? Any bruises I need to sort out?" Blair asked carefully, limping over to the boy who was still peering out to the garden as if she hadn't said anything if the first place, far away from the others who were joining forces in placing colourful plasters on the cuts and bruises on Steve's face that she hadn't been able to fix because she'd been too focused on making sure he didn't have any kind of head trauma considering in every fight he'd lost, it seemed that his opponent just went straight for his pretty face which was a real tragedy indeed...and a real danger too because the human brain was a weirdly fragile thing and she didn't want him dying on her any time soon.

"Are you asking any of the others that?" He grumbled quietly, his arms crossed defensively over his chest as if he was attempting to shield himself away from the world accusing eyes that had condemned him. And it painted such a familar picture that it honestly ached like being brushed by the flames of hell as she sighed, digging her tongue in the corner of her cheek as she tried to scramble in the ruin of her mind to say something even slightly comforting like she desperately wanted to be because she hated the sight of his devastation...but instead, all that came out was the brutal truth, and sometimes, people needed that far more than they needed sweet lies.

"Well, none of the others had some racist fucking asshole in their face, did they?" And just like that, Lucas was looking up at her instead of the darkness outside, all wide-eyed and shocked that she would actually say what they were all thinking all the while she was thinking about how she wanted to fucking raise the Hargrove boy up and beat the ever living shit out of him with nothing but her bare hands, not just because of how he fucking mangled Steve, but because he fucking went for her kid...all because of the colour of his skin. "What? You and I both know why he went for you, there's no reason to pussy foot around it, is there?"

"You mean because I'm black."

"No, hey, no, not because you're black but because he is a fucking racist." Blair was swift to snap, teeth bared into a snarl, shaking her head in frantic desperation as hatred pooled in her gut once more, festering like rot, burning like she was struck on the pyre with her skin peeling away, layer by layer to show the unsightly shadow beneath that was enraged by the cruelty he'd faced. "This had nothing to do with who you are and everything to do with what he is, you hear me? You did everything right and I'm so proud of you, and I just came here to tell you that if you need to scream or to cry, I'm right here to do it with you, okay? You're not alone."

And then Lucas nodded silently, lips pursed off to the side as he seemed to debate something, the sounds of the others arguing amongst each other becoming nothing more than background noise as the two consumed by the violence of the world, ignoring the instinct to flee, to be the prey to cruelty's predator, to be the victim of bone-deep hate that had no place upon the earth and only in snarling monsters. "I kicked him, back there, when he pinned me to the wall- I kicked him in the dick to get him off me and it felt good...but I- I don't want to be angry, Blair, I don't want to be made to be angry, not by people like that."

She smiled sadly, mournfully, as she leaned down and wrapped her arm around his shoulders, pretending she couldn't feel the tremors of his body, his overwhelming agony as he leaned against her. "I understand, kiddo. Well...I don't understand exactly how you're feeling, I don't think I ever could, but I do- I know what it's like to have a label you never wanted. But being angry isn't such a bad thing to be y'know? Even though I know its it's different for you, for people like you. But I know that I chose to be angry, I chose to be remembered as angry by everyone else because it was better than what all the other kids were calling me...when they-"

Her breath caught in the ruin of her throat, the words clawing desperately at her tongue in an attempt to stay there, buried deep in the swell of her stomach as the memories rushed back to haunt her like a mocking ghost of resentment even after she had tried to pull it out from the rotting root all those years ago, ribbonlike and dripping over her divinity stained hands blistered with sinful intentions, prying out the pieces of god in her hollow corpse that made her loving and angry and cursed in her longing that bleed out of her at the seams for the whole world to see and point at. Always laughing at the girl who was the shape they'd made her in their vile bitterness because filth teaches filth and they'd forgot that in their amusement.

But she couldn't sit and stare at the unstitched wound forever because that was how they scarred. Not when she needed to be strong, not when Lucas needed the comfort she prayed her confession would give him...not when she was forcing her vulnerability out in the dying light because she needed him to understand that it was the worlds problem, not his, not hers, never theirs as she took a breath and let it go. "-When the other kids caught me kissing a girl in an alleyway and I broke some boys jaw when he called me a fag."

Keep going, keep going, keep going, there's no stopping now and he needs to hear it, he needs to hear that he's not alone, never alone. "I didn't want- I didn't want to be known as that, and Blair bitch was already a nickname so I thought why not make it stick? So I started avoiding the girl, started picking fights with everyone, even ones I couldn't win, started being so fucking rude that no one ever wanted to talk to me or taunt me about the rumours because they were all fucking terrified of me." All terrified of the blood on her knuckles, the blood in her teeth and the venom that she spat, furious at a world that just wouldn't give her anything until she was forced to take with greedy hands and fucking devastating rage.

"All because...because you kissed a girl?"

"Because I liked a girl. Because I like girls just as much as I do boys, kiddo."

And with that, Blair finally bent down to look at him, palms curling over his shoulders, holding him close, holding him steady as she looked him in the eyes. "I know it's not the same, Lucas. But I need you to understand that there is nothing fucking wrong with us. Nothing wrong with the colour of your skin, and nothing wrong with who I chose to kiss. They are the ones with the problems, not us, it's never been us, do you understand me? We are fucking incredible, you are so brave and badass and I love that about you and so do all of your friends...so if you do want to get angry, want to break some plates and shit, I would never look at you differently...and neither would they."

Please understand, please understand that you are not alone, that you're never alone as long as the blood in my lungs doesn't drown me in an abyss of misery and darkness. And before she could even attempt to say anything else, there were arms flung tight around her waist as Lucas burrowed himself into her embrace, almost sending her off her feet and she ground her teeth and bared it because he needed it. "I'm here for you, kiddo, all you ever have to do is call me if you've got a problem with racist pigs and I'll turn them into actual pigs and cook us up some bacon, yeah? Fuck those assholes, you're saving the world and what are they doing? Huh?"

"Sitting on their fat white asses?" Lucas muttered into her side and she could feel his grin against her flesh as she laughed, throwing her head back as she cackled loudly and unapologetically because god she just needed a laugh, not stopping even as he finally pulled away from the hug to giggle with her, both of them deciding not to say anything about their misty gazes or the wet tear tracks obvious on both of their features at the rather emotional turn of events their shitty night had taken...but there was a weight lifted from both of their shoulders, a burden shared, a burden vanquished by the power of adoration and all that bullshit.

"Absolutely. And hey, when all this is over and I finally get you little fuckers home, you should talk to your parents about what happened...not the upside down shit, obviously, but the bullshit with Hargrove. They'll know better than anyone how to help, and I don't want to dealing with all this alone, okay?" Blair smiled, knocking her knuckles against his chin as he swatted at her hands that were threatening to mess up his hair, ignoring the sounds of the kids trying to get her attention to help them lug the mess that was Harrington into the car instead of slacking off...which she felt was rude considering she could barely walk but what did she know?

"But I'm not alone, I've got you, right?"

"You know what I mean you little shit but yeah kid, you'll always have me...Always." Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.
_________________________________________________

Now, when Blair gave Max permission to drive them all to said tunnels in her asshole of a step-brothers car, she could admit that she didn't actually think things through in the slightest at the time, in fact, naively, she wondered what was the worst thing that would happen anyway? Because it's not like she would of been any better with her leg half maimed and her affinity for passing out with every new spell that cursed her because that left much to be desired as a driver...and, of course, the fact that she never actually passed her test or even had a licence, were all a pretty good indicator that it was best that the witch wasn't placed anywhere near a wheel for everyone's safety.

However, that being established...she hadn't realised that she was obviously fucking insane to think it would work because she was pretty sure they were all fucked when Max started fucking running over everything that had the misfortune of being even remotely close to the road...including several mailboxes.

"Who the fuck taught you how to drive, firecracker? A blind man? I thought you said you could do it, you little shit!" Blair screamed from the back seat, voice shrill and high and quite literally on the verge of hysterics which was a far cry from her usual raspy venom as she was thrown left and right with the body of the still unconscious Harrington on her lap. And, of course, poor Dustin practically being absorbed into her bloodied corpse as he squished right up against her with fucking Mike in the boot of the car, who occasionally let out a muffled curse to let them all know that he hadn't suffocated back there.

"I'm driving aren't I? Just shut up- shut up all of you- you're distracting me!" Max shouted back, before taking such a very hard left that the witch's head bashed off the roof of the car as she swore up a storm, not even able to rub the offending area because her hands were to busy holding Harrington's stupid fucking body close to her chest so he wasn't flung around like a limp fish. Seriously, how the fuck was this her life? When letting a literal child drive a car because she'd been torn up by a literal fucking monster dog thingy was somehow the least of her worries, all the while she was cradling someone who had once been her sworn enemy.

"Gnnuh...Jones? What's goin' on?"

And just like that, things went from bad to so much worse as she looked down at her lap in wide-eyes horror as the suddenly conscious Steve groaned into her thighs, burying his head in her stomach deliriously as she awkwardly curled her arm around his back to keep him balanced from where he lay atop her legs...oh this was not good. She'd hoped that he would stay asleep for just a little longer, just until they'd got to their fucking location because the last thing she needed was the floppy-haired bastard freaking out because she had a feeling that he was absolutely not as calm about the whole, kid driving the car with way too many people inside, thing like she was.

"Hey, easy there, Harrington. You took quite a beating but you're okay alright? I've got you, and I'm going to fix you up properly later. I just- I need you to be a good boy and go back go sleep, yeah? This is all just a real bad dream, okay? Okay." Blair said swiftly, all the while glaring up at all the kids in the hope's they'd somehow gain telepathy and hear her threats about them shutting the fuck up, subconsciously lifting her bloodied hand the best she could to smooth out the furrow to his brow as he groaned once more, stuttered breath dancing over the bruised flesh of her midriff as he attempted to snuggle in closer with his whole body trembling in absolute agony.

But it seemed that that gaslight of a plan only worked for all of two minutes in which everyone in the car kept a tension filled silence where they barely even moved or breathed, hoping against hope that he'd go back to sleep...before Steve realised he could hear the rumbling of an engine roaring in his still ringing ears, and when he lifted his head with his vision blurred, it was to see that they were definitely in a car and they were definitely moving and considering he was pretty sure he was sitting down on the only other reliable teens lap...in other words, things were not adding up in the slightest. "Wait- what- what's going on? Who- who the hell is driving the car? Jones? Jones what the fuck is going on!?"

And then, of course, because Blair could never catch a fucking break not even once in her cursed life that felt like it was in ruined shambles by her feet, Max chose that very moment to pop her head from around the drivers seat before the witch could even attempt to think of a somewhat acceptable excuse, her bright eyes frantic as the others began to scream at her to watch the fucking road before they crashed again, not that she cared because she was too busy glaring at the half dead Harrington who looked like he was about to have a fucking aneurysm. "Can you all shut up! I'm trying to focus!"

"Oh no...no, no, no, no, no! Absolutely not! - stop- stop the car! Stop the fucking car!"

It took all of ten blissful seconds of silence before Steve started freaking the fuck out, screaming and fitting around in her lap as she desperately tried to hold the bucking boy steady against her because the last thing she needed was him hitting his head and getting a concussion, trying to avoid his flailing arms that seemed to be everywhere, grabbing at her hands, her shoulders, one even managing to curl under her leg and hitch it over his shoulder so he could hug it to his chest like it was a pillow, all the white shouting and begging them all to stop the car. "Easy Harrington! Easy! We're okay, she's drove before, just calm- Hey, don't make me knock you back out, asshole! Watch where those hands are fucking going-"

"Please god stop the car! This is crazy- this is crazy!"

Now, Blair knew that the last thing he needed, the last thing anyone needed really as they all started to panic as the red-head picked up the speed and, quite frankly, the danger, was for her to start laughing hysterically. Really, she did, however...it was all too fucking funny and she just couldn't stop even as tears trailed down her face. Because she had Steve in her lap screaming at the top of his lungs like a little girl, saying the exact words he had a year ago when confronted with the monster from another world, in a car with middle-schoolers who had somehow become her closest confidants while on the way to set the earth on fire.

"Everyone hold on!" Max screamed, before she hit the acceleration and sped up, made a hard left, and then finally came to an abrupt stop by slamming on the breaks and bringing them all to a lurching standstill that had them all thrown forward where their heads almost flirted with the goddamn windows by fucking face-planting them. But somehow, by mere miracle alone...the kid had actually got them to the field where Blair could feel that cold rot of something unnatural curling beneath her skin, a dark hollowness that made her magic bloom at the upside down cruel illness that festered...shunning her very existence as she untangled herself from Steve's embrace and climbed out of the car.

"Let's get to work you assholes, I want to get home before anyone even notices we're gone."

And then barely even a few minutes later she was strapping up for their expedition into the tunnels by tying a red bandana around her neck, honestly wondering if she did have some brain damage that was making her so calm about this, all the while watching Steve failing to get some reign over the situation and feeling some kind of vengeful satisfaction at his frustration at them not listening to a word he was saying as they walked past him, simply focusing on making sure they all had what they needed, which was padding and goggles and their own scarfs and bandanas of course.

"Hey! Hey! We are not going down there right now, I made myself clear! Hey, you little shits! Would you listen to me- we are on the bench, you hear me? On the bench! Jones! A little help here?"

"Oh no, I think you got it, Harrington. You seem to be just doing swell by yourself." Blair grinned, flashing her bloodied teeth at her fellow teen who looked like he was on the verge of having an aneurysm as he cursed at her before practically throwing himself against the roof of the car in an attempt to follow Dustin, trying, once more, to make at least one of the kids listen to him, which he'd yet to realise was a losing battle because the little bastards were stubborn as shit on the bottom of your shoe.

"Seriously? You're just- you're okay with this? Huh? What happened to your 'touch my kids and I'll turn you into a frog' bullsiht? You know how dangerous it is in there and you're planning a fucking day trip." He snapped, words half slurred from where they were tumbling out of his bloodied mouth swollen by the violent blows of rage that she was desperate to heal with her divinity stained fingers...but she could only do so much with the chaos inside of her that called for devastation, and she could admit in the privacy of her own shame that it was strangely a hard decision to make...to help save the world, or to insure Steve's survival.

But in the end, Blair knew that there was absolutely nothing in this world that she wouldn't do for Eleven, to kill for her, to die for her, it was all the same, and if her fire was needed to burn the void then so fucking be it...and so with that in mind, she swallowed her fear and glared. "Watch it Harrington, you burst a blood vessel in that big head of yours and I won't fix you up. And there's something you gotta' understand with these kids...they were going to do this crap anyway, with or without us and honestly I prefer the with. I promised I'd protect these little assholes and that includes my fucking sister. So you're either with me, or you're sitting on that bench alone, choice is yours, big boy."

Please god, don't abandon me now, I need you more than you think, I need you more than I could ever hope to admit in the blood of my silence, in the cruelty of my hatred, stay, stay, stay.

The thought came unprompted and forbidden, unable to be swallowed down by the false bravo she carried like a burden. And in her attempt to ignore that sudden misery that plagued her, she absentmindnessly grabbed something from out of the boot of the car, hoping it would give her some kind of excuse to scurry away from the awkwardness of vulnerability...only to have it snatched away just as swiftly as it had come to be in her possession as Steve grabbed a hold of his weapon with a scoff. "Hey, give me that. You've got your witch shit, and I've got the bat, remember?...Now what are we waiting for, huh? Let's go before I change my mind."

And so, everyone soon stood around the giant hole that lead to the upside down, all of them staring into the dark abyss where only god knows what would await them with their flashlights held tight in trembling hands...before one by one, they all slowly turned to look at Blair as she cursed and squared her shoulders, and then dropped down into the upside down before the others, landing in a crouch with her teeth bared beneath her improvised mask and her eyes wide and searching...only to almost combust into fucking ruin as everything bad and vile and wrong, wrong, wrong, rushed at her all at once as she heaved.

"I- I think you'll all be okay if you come down- but it- motherfuck- it doesn't fucking want me here."

Her magic was squirming inside of her prison of flesh, screaming and howling in the flickering blood of her palm as she pushed it to the surface to hold the orb of light in front of her chest to guide her...but the torment, the misery, it was all too much, far too much, making her feel like she was flirting with death and dancing ever closer to its tempting touch of decay. She didn't even hear the others making their way down, didn't hear Steve's anxious call of her name, didn't feel their worry or fear...no, all she could feel was hatred, and for once, it wasn't her own.

Get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, her mind was screaming, biting at the ruin of her sanity as she grimaced and grasped desperately at her head, agony leaching it's way through her veins, through her still breathing corpse as she gasped, clawing at her temples to rid herself of the dark voice and the sound of clocks ticking that seemed so overpowering and wrong as it echoed in her ringing ears and made them bleed. The pain almost brought her to her knees, almost made her scream and beg and fucking cry because she'd never felt anything like it...but then there was fingers threading between her own carefully, and her gaze shot down to find Max smiling up at her hesitantly with her eyes crinkled and warm.

"We've got your back, Blair. You can it let go."

"Yeah, you can be the fire and we'll be the light." Lucas added as he came up beside them and knocked his shoulder against hers, making sure his flashlight was directly in front of all three of them, and then, with a relieved sigh that was bordering on a grief-stricken sob, the witch let the burst of magic, of light, extinguish from where it hovered in front of her, almost staggering at the sudden burden that was lifted as she suched in a gasping breath that burned. What she did to deserve the kids, she'd honestly never know, and how in her little fucked up world, they ended up being her best friends...a title that not even Jonathan could no longer touch.

"Okay, okay just- stay behind me? Please? Just a little bit." She whispered tightly, and at their nods, forced herself to move once more on unsteady legs that trembled beneath her as she limped ahead of them all with the kids trailing behind her and Steve bringing up the rear, complaining all the while because someone had a nervous stomach and kept farting directly into his direction which he was pretty sure he was swallowing...and that was somehow so much fucking worse than the stench if death that was accumulating all around them as Mike read off a map and they all tried not to be sick.

However, just as they were about to turn a corner and before Blair could even order them all to get back behind her from where they'd fucking drifted where it was far safer than the hell in front of her, she felt another twist of rage, boiling viciousness that scratched at her flesh to distract her, to pull her away from its damnation...just as they all turned a corner, and found a large open space that stunk of rot and decay, far stronger than she'd felt before, blistering and fucking consuming and absolutely disgusting as it drifted through the barely there holes of her mask and almost made her rench as she stared it down with her eyes full of righteous wicca fury and rage.

"Oh yeah, this is definitely the place...let's drench this montherfucker."

And just like that they all got to work with an efficiency that was criminal, working away in pairs to soak the ground they'd walled on where the earth seemed to move alongside them, shifting and breathing in the most horrifying of fashion as they condemned it to the pyre for its sins, to protect their own, to save the whole of Hawkins once more which most of the time, the witch wasn't even sure it deserved. There was sweat soaking the skin of her neck, matting the hair it found there as she limped around from corner to corner, hoping that it was enough gasoline to spark her flame and make an explosion that would be heard for miles...but in no time at all, they were done, and the time for hope was long gone as they hovered near the opening and waited.

"Okay, you little shits start moving, go to where we came in while I set this cunt alight and then we're going home, you hear me? Go on, shoo, I'll catch up in a minute." She muttered, waving a flippant hand in Steve's direction when it looked like he was about to protest as he was dragged away by the kids to let her do her witch thing...and the moment they were out of view, she let herself slump against the wall for half a second with a whimper, that bone-deep agony only getting worse the longer she lingered in the immortal plain that didn't want her there, that didn't want the black touch of her magic to corrupt what had already been damned by something far more tainted than her wicked sins.

She felt her breath catch, pressing her trembling lips together in the desperate attempt to keep the sobs at bay, before she finally stood once more and shaking legs and forced her scarred palm out in front of her where not even the glistening of her rings could be seen through the dark abyss of the shadows around her, taunting her with thoughts of what could be hiding in plain sight, simply waiting for the opportunity to strike and maim what was already half dead. "Ignis absumet."

The fire erupted with a whoosh of air that was deafening, the heat burning at her flesh as it torched the place, advancing it's way towards her as it ate everything that drifted into its ravenous path that could never be sated unless it burned through her wiccan soul where the lost saints would sing their mourning in her ears when her skin would bubble and melt to bone. All the while she watched it move ever closer with her gaze as empty as the void, able to taste the death in her mouth that she swallowed like a bitter pill, able to hear the screaming of creation as it had no choice to bow to her devastation, able to watch as magic battles against strange science and won in bloodied victory.

Get out, get out, get out, get out, the words came faster now, faster and so much louder...but they were no longer angry, oh no, now? Now they were scared, bordering on hysterics as Blair smiled, feeling the blood drip from her nose, soaking through the banana and sinking onto her bloodied tongue. And then with one last look at the flames, she finally turned her back and hit the ground running, well, running the best she could with her mangled fucking leg which definitely wasn't making things easy in the slightest, and at one point she genuinely throught she was hallucinating when she limped past what looked to be one of those little monsters snacking on some candy.

However, just as she was starting to panic that she had actually managed to fucking get herself lost or some shit, she turned a corner and gasped in relief at the sight of them all waiting for her, waving her over while shouting at her to pick up the pace, which she did all the while cursing at the little bastards for being so fucking rude...she took back what she said when she first popped into the tunnels, the kids were just fucking assholes full stop, absolutely nothing lovable about them, she was in some kind of toxic friendship, like Stockholm syndrome or something. "Anyone want to explain why I walked past a fucking demodog eating some nougat on the way here?"

"It was Dart, he let us pass after I said sorry for locking him in the cellar-"

"You know what, that just leaves me with more fucking questions that I don't think I want to answer to but alright, up you go, firecracker." Blair hissed, looking frantically over her shoulder where she could see the shadows of the creatures beginning to dance over the contours of the vines around them ominously, making their way right to them with no signs of stopping as she swore beneath her breath before she and Steve practically threw the poor girl up the hole head first. And then the moment that Max was gone, she was grabbing onto Lucas who was more than willing to use the fucking teens as a climbing frame to escape from the carnage that awaited them.

She could feel desperation clawing at her veins, her breath a panicked gasp, stuck in her throat where the blood continued to be coughed out from her trembling lips as she and Steve then pushed Mike up too, adrenaline at an all time fucking high as the ground rumbled beneath her feet, the army coming closer and closer as time ran out. The visions of her death suddenly there, flickering past her eyes until it was all she could see, the gaping wounds of her throat, the entrails scattered across the floor, the blood and the guts and the fucking rot of her body, reminding her of fates cruel plans as she cursed in the dying light.

They were coming closer now, Blair could hear them, could feel them as she and Harrington pushed Dustin out of the hole and to the safety of their world above, the kids away from damnation, from death as her wounded leg finally gave out beneath her and the red, red, red, in her mouth pooled without the barrier of her mask, exhaustion and pain a heavy weight that was forcing her further into the ground as she heard them all scream in absolute terror at the sight of her already half gone as she groaned...just before Steve dropped to his knees beside her and lifted her into his arms as she clawed at his shoulders for balance in some kind of mocking deja-vu. "Harrington-"

"Don't even try it, I'm not leaving you here, I'm off the bench, remember?" He held her close, arm sight around her waist with his bat held low and swinging in the other as she choked out a laugh, bracing her hand out in front of her, the wounds on her palm growing scorching as the demodogs came running from around the corner and she felt his heart pound behind her, pressed right up against her back, beating in time with her until it was all she could hear over the rush of chaos as it blossomed inside of her, bubbling from her lips as she started to laugh as the monsters closed in and everyone screamed in fear while she was poised and focused oh so dangerously...because she still had one spell still hidden up her sleeve.

"Bruciare supe terram, faciendo ignis ga praemium."

And then with a boom that shook the earth as above so below, the tunnel exploded with amber damnation and fury, burning through the upside down as the creatures erupted into flames, their dying screeches mere echoes as they were blasted backwards from the force of the spell that left nothing but ash in its wake as she howled, consumed by magic and letting its poisonous intentions grow right through her like shadow. Letting her power swallow the despair, the rage, the otherworldly hell that was dying upon her bloodied tongue as it all burned around her, a symphony of fire and death that was vengeful in its ruin.

Because in thousands of agonies, the witch still existed, even in destruction, even in flame...and she was going to make it everyone else's problem but her own.

Sometimes Blair believed she could invent God if she so wished it, could create something that was absolute divinity and not stained sin with scarred hands brimming with ruin, something that was all loving to battle against all of the hate that had made a home inside of her. And as she felt everything, as she felt the tunnels, the upside down as it all withered and fucking died around her when confronted with the hurricane of her magic, as she watched the fires of hell lick at the ceiling, felt it curl around her knees as if embracing her, as it burned through her flesh and increased that dark smell of rot tenfold, she was sure she could kill a god too as she grinned, all bite and chaos and wanting.

But before she could test just how far her wicca will could take her, the arm that she'd forgotten was around her waist tightened, pressing her back closer against Steve's chest as his warm breath caressed her neck, holding her gently she was something holy in his saintly hands that were so careful and comforting against her battleworn flesh as she sagged against him, that deadly smile shifting into something far softer against her sharp features that seemed deadlier than any blade in the brightness of the heat that had scorched the earth and made it her bitch. "You know, Harrington, sometimes being a witch is really fucking awesome."

"If you think I'm going to disagree with that, you're definitely wrong, that was- Jesus Christ- okay, hey you little shits, you need to throw down another rope...uh, Blair burnt- yeah she destroyed the other one. Yep- yeah, thank you- there we go." Steve grumbled with a roll of his eyes as their heads disappeared from above them, trembling fingers dancing down the length of her arm until his palm was intertwining with hers only to curse at the feeling of her blood against his skin, quickly grabbing her wrist and tearing some of his shirt off to wrap it around her hand, mumbling under his breath the whole time about how she definitely owed him another shirt or something because she kept getting blood all over his other ones.

"No one asked you to catch me, cocksucker...and you know we've got fucking bandages in the car right?"

"No, no, obviously I didn't know that, god you're such an asshole, Jones. But the last thing I need if you getting some kind of rabies from this shit-"

"And your dirty ass top helps that how? Because if I'm getting rabies from anything it'll probably be from when that demodog tried to eat me, dumbass-"

And although their words were harsh and cruel and just as fucking rude as they usually where when it came to each other, they couldn't even attempt to try to hide the way they grinned at one another as Blair leaned against Steve's chest and looked up at him breathlessly, all wide smiles and relief filled gazes that were half delirious as they shared their exhausted panting in the small bubble they'd formed, somehow managing to inch closer until there was no hope of space between them...but it was a moment that was swiftly ruined as their new rope suddenly dropped down in front of them and Dustin popped his head over the hole once more to give them both an absolutely disgusted scowl that burned like an accusation.

"Are you two seriously flirting down there? Really? Right now? It can't wait until we're not about to die? Son of a bitch you have the worst timing ever." He snapped, shaking head as the witch started cursing him, threatening to shove his stupid little hat where the sun doesn't shine if he kept fucking going with his bullshit...only to choke on said words as Steve abrupty grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up with an ease, letting her climb up the rest of the way as she snarled like a rabid animal. And the moment she was home free, there was arms around her neck as Dustin tackled her to the floor in a hug, soon followed by Lucas, and then Max, and finally Mike as she chuckled quietly.

"I'm okay, we're okay." Blair whispered, holding them against her tightly as they pressed themselves close, and she looked over their heads just in time to see Harrington clawing his way out of the hole, his gaze instantly drifting to intertwine with hers as they shared a private smile in the company of the dark where only the stars bore witness as the lights flickered around them triumphantly. "It's over. It's all finally over."