revivalproject | Heaven's on Fire

WHO: Billy Hargrove and those that join him
WHERE: Mostly Temba's city-center area, maybe the Upside-Down
WHAT: Hey there's an event thingy
WHEN: During the event timeline
WARNINGS:STRANGER THINGS SPOILERS, profanity, event warnings, violence, panic/PTSD attacks, will update as they make themselves known

October 10th

Run To You - Bryan Adams
He’s in the civic center when the storm hits. Billy had seen it coming, but didn’t think anything of it. It’s a storm. It wouldn’t be anything to worry about. Earthquakes (well, volcanoes), those were something to worry about. Storms were not. So he had done his workout as usual as it hit and when he left…

…Well, Billy would wish later he hadn’t. Because upon leaving the civic center with the intention of hitting the diner and then heading home, he heard something. No, not something.

Someone.

He whirls around in place, his hair whipping about wildly as he struggles to see if it’s her. And Billy sees her in the distance. Tired muscles be damned, he breaks into a run, heading right towards the woman. She doesn’t seem to get closer no matter how far he runs.

“MOM!!” he all but screams out, determined to get to her, damn it. It’s hard to see with all of the lights out and the storm blocking out the sun. “Mom!” he shouts again. She disappears into the clouds, reappearing in different positions in the distance, never in the same spot. Billy looks confused, turning to try and track her.
 What was going on?!

The ghost of his mother disappeared and he turned, looking for her. “I DONT’ UNDERSTAND!!” he yells, feeling the echo of those words from when he was at the Steelworks building.

October 11th - 12th 

It’s The End of the World As We Know It - R.E.M.
It’s not the gate opening that starts it. It’s not the sight of the stupid looking bats or that weird flower dog.

It’s the gigantic thing that he knows from the mall. Seeing that mind flayer on the other side of the gate while trying to get from the cabin to the hotel to make sure there are others okay (hint: that didn’t happen). He freezes, the blood draining from his face to leave his skin white. Billy’s clammy and cold all in the span of a few seconds, but more importantly?

He’s terrified.

Billy knows that that monster can do. He’s felt it. It’s going to kill him when he’s sent home by the aliens here.

It’s here to kill him.

He ducks behind the fountain before darting to be against one of the side walls of the diner. Billy’s curling up, screaming and holding his head and looking like he’s agony. The guy is physically fine, but his mind is not. Guess seeing the very creature you helped create in your world while being possessed by the enemy would do that to you.

October 13th - End

If You Want Blood (You Got It) - AC/DC
No. He can’t be a pussy about this shit. It’ll kill him back home, but Billy has the tools to stop the beasts here. Gladio had found him in the chaos and dropped off an axe. Something about ‘use it if you need it, kid’ before running off to do more warrior things.

The axe had felt heavy in his lap from where he was sitting. But then Billy stood up, testing out it’s weight as he had been trained. It felt good. Felt right. He gave it a few swings before the confidence started growing in him. Billy could do this. He stopped the flayer’s tongue with his bare hands, didn’t he? He could stop the whole thing with his axe. He could stop any of them!

Heading out from where he had bunkered himself, Billy found one of those bat-things headed towards him. It took a few swings through the air (five, if you’re counting), to get it, but hitting it with the dull side knocked it down to the ground to slice through it with the blade.

“Take that you creepy fucker!” he shouted at it, giving it another smack. Black blood stained his boots and jeans as he hit something in it, before he moved on to the next one.

“COME GET SOME, FUCKERS!!” he shouted, wielding the weapon with far more confidence than he had when it had been dropped off.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"He was wrong." As soon as he says it, Billy knows it doesn't make sense. "He had Steve's face, but he was too small. He was wrong. Looked wrong. But it was him, and I thought my brain was making shit up or something." He had barely taken the kick and God, Billy thought he had maybe wrecked the kid. Because that's what Wrong Steve Rogers looked like - a scrawny kid.

He scowls. "The fuck is 'exposure therapy'? I'm not going to therapy. I'm staying out here to fight these fucking monsters. As long as I don't go in that damn gate, I'm safe. If you wanna stay out here, fine. But just be careful if you go in that fucking gate."

"Oh, he was smol," he says, nodding as if that makes any sense at all. Because that makes a lot of sense. "Yeah, that is not expected but it's not unreasonable I suppose."

He says it like it just makes a ton of sense to him.

"Exposure therapy. It's where you get used to something you're afraid of or were hurt by through being around it. Then it hurts less."

Careful in the gate? Man, he doesn't know Tommy at all.

"Billy, I'm going to help you out here. By dealing with whatever would dare to hurt you. That's what friends do. Not just heroes. Friends."

"That's what I said. He was too small." Lingo from an era way past him, Billy definitely doesn't get what Tommy's saying. There's a slight huff.

Hurt by. That's an understatement. But Tommy didn't see how he looked when he got here, from open wounds to pink scarring. He leans against the axe, taking a breather where he can before more come out to try to get the pair of them. That scowl is still on his face, though it softens at Tommy saying he was sticking around. It's weird, hearing someone trying to be his friend, even though they talked about this already.

"Yeah? Because friends got each others back or some shit, right? I guess I could do that. Just figured you'd want to go through to take out that one that looks like the one from home."

The one he helped build, create, and unleash. The one he had been powerless to stop while being possessed. "And if you're my friend, I don't want you fucking hurt."

Because he doesn't have a lot of those here in the city. Or back home. Or...anywhere, really.

"Because friends fucking care," Tommy corrects. "Because I care."

He could move closer, he could touch. But he's icky. Super icky.

"I won't get hurt. And if I do, someone will patch me up. But if there is something out there that threatens you even more than the rest of us, I'm going to break it man. So let me do that."

They're both icky. Billy doesn't want to think about what the clumps are when he washes them out of his hair later. Hopefully later today and not in a week. He doesn't know if he can handle this for an entire week or something, now that he thinks about it.

"Doesn't mean I'm not going to get upset about it." Billy actually doesn't want people hurt on his account. But he's used to trying to fight his own battles, or weathering out the storm of them. It's just so weird having someone willing to be side-by-side with him for it. "Then go break the thing. Just make sure you fucking come back. Even if you comeback so I can drag you to wherever the medical team is bunkering down."

"Yeah," Tommy agrees with a nod. That would make sense. Billy deserved to be upset about it. "But remember. This is me. I won't get hurt that way."

He offers a smile. Someone wants him to come back. Billy has no clue what he's doing with those words. Tommy has definitely finalized the friend status and might be edging toward 'good friend' and Billy needs to catch up.

"I'll be fine," he promises. "Just find someone to watch your back. I've got to go through a portal and destroy the big thing. It will be fun."

Yep, Billy has no idea. He does wonder if the roles were reversed, if Tommy would want him coming back, too. He thinks the answer is yes, because friends.

Tommy's moving quicker into Billy's friendship books than his mind can keep up with. By the time he realizes it, it'd be too late to get him out of that spot without being an absolute asshole in an out of character way.

"You better fucking be. I'll go find someone to keep an eye on me while you go do superhero things." Billy flicks some goop off of his arm.

"Alright," he says with a nod. "Head inside if you need. Grab a shower."

Tommy? He's got to figure out how to save the day.

Heaven's on Fire - KISS

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