Archive of Our Own

November 6th, 1987

Mike is nervously pacing around the bath where El had been floating for the past half hour. He’s losing his mind, the anxiety and the lack of sleep making him feel crazy. His nightmares just kept getting worse, all the final battle stress was finally getting to him.

And moreover, they don’t have any contact with the Right Side Up. Firstly because the Squawk Antenna hasn’t worked since they played Frankenstein with a Demogorgon, and secondly because they were privileged in their communication between the Abyss team and the Upside Down team, contact maintained by El every single second. An inter-dimensional contact is enough, a second one would have just exhausted her. The wait feels so long. El, Max, and Kali had found the kids (even though they don’t know their physical location) quickly and stopped the world from collapsing, but Dustin's team is now in the Abyss and El has to hunt and find a way to kill Henry in his own mind and it’s STRESSING HIM OUT.

“What is taking so long? This isn’t what we planned!”

Hopper sits on the floor nearby and glances at him, an upset, but understanding look set across his face.

“Calm down, Wheeler. Doing circles around the bath and screaming isn’t going to speed it up. Just keep quiet and make sure those bitches don’t come back.”

Mike sighs, quieting down for a moment. He knows Hopper is talking about the Demos, and unfortunately he’s right, he should be watching out for them. They are his top priority even if he is distracted. He looks at the two corpses laid on the floor, unintentionally strengthening his grip on the metal pipe in his right hand. Their current task is keeping El and Kali safe in the Hawkins Lab in the Upside Down while they both chase Vecna/Henry/001/Absolute Bastard through his very own memories.

It would have been idiotic to think that Vecna wouldn’t send his monsters for them. They killed some demobats after being swarmed before even ENTERING the lab. It was silent for the first couple minutes before two Demos appeared and without El and her powers, the four of them had to kill two fucking monsters at the same time. The first was shot to death by Hop and Will, the second demo nearly ate Murray until he finally threw the Molotov he was holding in its face. Mike helped save his ass by bashing the Demo with a metal pipe he found on the floor nearby, and the bastard eventually died, its body going still, its face caved in and severely burned. 

Snapping back to the present, Mike glances up at Hopper and then back down to his guns.

“You could have given me one of those,” Mike says while pointing at the various weapons.

The former chief doesn’t respond and instead gives him a “do-you-even-know-how-it-works?” look, which he obviously knows that Mike doesn't. 

Mike sighs again when he hears steps behind him, before he could tell who it was, a hand was already resting on his shoulder.

“You seem to be pretty good at fighting with that thing.” Will says, looking down at the pipe.

Mike looks at his best friend, who is definitely mocking him, hiding a smile and absolutely wanting to laugh. Mike groans as he removes Will’s hand from his shoulder, looking at him with false envy at the heavy rifle he has slung over his shoulder. He hates that his best friend looks this badass with a weapon.

“That’s not funny Will, it almost killed Murray and scratched my face!” 

A voice rises up from the back of the room.

“Thanks for helping me, Wheeler. I appreciate you thinking my life is valuable.”

Hop immediately gives an angry look to Murray who continues to speak sarcastically.

“If I’m being honest, I think you’re more worried about injuring your beautiful, angel face.”

And the two men were now looking at him, a smile on their faces. He hears Will stifling his laughter next to him.

Oh my god, I can't do this. Will is only the one bearable on this team.

Just as Mike is about to pipe up and say something, Murray cuts him off and looks back at Hop who doesn’t seem to appreciate Murray’s jokes.

“Yeah, I would be upset if his “pretty” face was destroyed by a demo, considering we are here to keep the children safe.” 

Mike raises an eyebrow in disbelief at Hopper's words just as Murray turns around and is now gazing intently at Will.

“Byers would be pretty upset too, y'know.” 

He doesn’t catch the hidden meaning behind those words, but it’s just Murray so Mike assumes they aren’t really too important. He hums and turns back to Will who is now dead silent, and surprisingly red. 

His best friend shyly avoids any eye contact with him and begins to walk out of the room.

“It's a little too hot in here, I’m gonna um-.. go get some air.” Will quietly mutters before disappearing outside.

Mike begins to follow him, worried about leaving his friend alone. Before exiting the room he turns and looks at Murray angrily.

“You’re a grown man acting like this. During the end of the world, by the way.”

They stay silent, looking a bit guilty as Mike walks out, annoyed and slightly angry on Will’s behalf. He finds Will at the end of the corridor, far from the bath room they were previously in. He is sitting on the floor, his knees near his chest and his arms around them, he raises his head up when he hears Mike’s heavy footsteps nearing him.

“Hey.”

Mike can feel the fear Will tries to hide in his voice, so he slowly sits next to him and searches for a way to comfort him.

“Hey.”

Neither of them say anything. There’s just the sounds of their quiet breathing in the dark and eerie corridors of Hawkins lab. There are still vines hung up on the walls and laying on the floor but they seem dried and dead. Vecna had given up the Upside Down to go and hide in the Abyss, somehow breaking his connection to this world, leaving it frozen for eternity in 1983, that’s the only theory Mike has to explain why the evil vines aren’t trying to strangle them to death.

He truly doesn’t know what to say to Will, he can sense that he’s anxious without needing to look at him, they know each other well enough to know what the other is feeling, no words needed. Mike doesn’t know how he ever could have pushed him away a year and a half ago. 

He sighs wearily. He’s starting to feel guilty again.

“Will,” Mike whispers.

He waits until he hears him hum in acknowledgment before he continues,

“Are you okay?” He settles on, these sadly being the only words Mike can think of at the moment.

“I- Yeah… I mean in case you forgot it’s kind of the end of the world, so it could be much, much worse” Will replies with a humorless chuckle.

“I guess that’s true.” He replies.

Shit, why am I so bad at this?

Will seems to be worried too.

“Mike? You don’t seem to be doing okay.” 

It was a blunt statement. Not a question.

He just rests his head against the old wall and says, 

“I’m just scared, you know, for El and Kali in Henry’s mind, the others in the Abyss, even Hop and Murray.” he stops for a second before deciding to continue.

“I’m scared for you too, Will, I mean you said Vecna showed you terrible things and- and-”

“And it didn’t happen” Will responded softly. “You guys supported me and Vecna was proven wrong.”

Will’s voice sounded.. off?

Almost as if he was hiding something. Not like he’s telling a lie, Mike can tell when he lies, but maybe just telling a half truth.

Stop overthinking, Mike.

His best friend opens his mouth, with a sort of hesitation.

“So, if I’m understanding you correctly, you’re scared for the whole party… but not yourself.”

Because my life would be a small price to pay for you guys to have peace, he thinks, but he decides not to say that aloud.

Mike keeps his mouth shut. He doesn’t want to respond. Will doesn’t push it.

“Wanna call the others?” his best friend says, to break the silence, showing his walkie.

Mike turns his head and looks Will right in the eyes. His beautiful His hazel eyes are filled with a mix of worry, tiredness and… hope.

“Yeah…” he responds softly “Yeah, I would like that.”

Will now had a huge smile on his face, seeming happy to comfort Mike, the type of smile that sends shivers down Mike’s whole body..

Shut.The.Fuck.Up, he thinks to himself.

And his best friend (finally!) turns on the walkie.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What’s up over there guys? It’s Byers, do you copy? Over.” 

Will waits for an answer, but there’s only an annoying static sound. He passes his left hand through his hair and looks at Mike, who quickly looks away. Will raises an eyebrow, seemingly amused.

Was Mike staring? Absolutely not.

Will decides to push the button again.

“Guys, do you copy? Over.” He says, his voice a little more anxious than before.

“Let them breathe a little. It’s okay,” and Mike is glancing at him again.

Will tries to ignore that his cheeks are pink and wants to respond harshly, as a joke obviously, but he does notice that Mike’s shoulders are tensed, way more tense than they were three minutes ago, he’s just as stressed as him, if not more.

So, he pushes the button again, speaking louder.

“Guys, do you copy?” He says again, a little louder this time. 

He forgets the “Over” but even Mike, as strict as he is with the rules, thankfully doesn’t care about that right now, he has his two hands joined together, just hoping that their friends are okay. 

He takes a shaking breath and tries again for the fourth time.

“DO YOU COP-”

“YEAH! Yeah! Sorry, Henderson here, this place is loud as hell we didn’t hear the walkie. Sorry again, Will. Over,” Dustin finally responds, sounding a little guilty.

Will smiles as he hears a deep sigh of relief coming from the boy next to him, Mike is now slightly more relaxed and not as tense as before.

“It’s okay, we just wanted to know how you guys were doing. Over.” 

“Damn, it’s actually terrifying. Everything is DARK, the soil is dark, the- the trees or whatever these things are, dark too, oh and did I mention the sky? IT’S RED. It’s freezing down here and we’ve already killed like eight bats. There’s thunder every 7 seconds while Nancy, Steve and everyone else are arguing about what direction we need to go toward. And they’re so loud… dude I can’t even hear myself think-”

As Dustin says that, Mike and Will could clearly hear what the others were saying in the background.

”I think we should stay there, we need to stay close to the gate since we don’t know what’s happening. I don’t want to be eaten by a giant Demogorgon because you guys can’t stay still for half an hour.“ Lucas says, truly just as annoyed as Dustin.

“No, we should keep walking toward the east, down the forest line or something!” Nancy is claiming.

“Whatever, you guys will regret not listening to me.” Lucas mutters under his breath.

“Why east? We should go south, up on the hill to get a better view!” Steve says.

“Can you use your brain for just ten seconds or is that even too much for you? We need to be sneaky, you really wanna go up this hill practically calling out to all the monsters to come and kick your ass?” Nancy hisses.

Mike and Will look at each other and burst out laughing.

“Yeah, sneaky” Will giggles while hearing his brother’s tired sigh through the walkie and Robin’s “CAN YOU GUYS SHUT THE FUCK UP FOR JUST ONE SECOND” which, miraculously, worked.

“We’re all gonna die.” Mike jokes, smiling brightly and chuckling at Will.

And, for a second, Will forgets that they are both in the Upside Down, the place where nearly all of his trauma occurred, he forgets they eventually will have to save the world or die trying. He forgets everything but his best friend, Mike, the boy he has been in love with for what felt like forever.

He wants to stay in this moment forever but Dustin’s voice breaks the bubble they were both sitting in.

“How are El and Kali doing? It’s been a while”

Mike responds “They can’t find him.” 

“Dude, is he hidden in the fridge or something? How is this taking so long?”

“Dustin, please. The world is ending so if you wanna make jokes, at least make sure they are good before you open your mouth,” Lucas says sarcastically.

“Woooow, you’re so rude, Sinclair!”

“Even I know you can do better than an actual fridge,” Lucas laughs.

Dustin laughs too.

“Okay, Wheeler, Byers, I think the council has made their choice, but we'll talk later.” he pauses for a second “Ah shit, some bats are coming, not that big a deal but I have to help! Keep safe you guys. Over.”  

“You too!” Mike and Will say at the same time, looking at each other again, worried.

“Over and out.” Will says softly as he turns off his walkie.

Will sighs, “I hope they’re gonna be okay…”

“They will be.” Mike says to him, smiling.

“Yeah… yeah you’re right, I know you’re righ-“ Will tries to finish talking but the end of the sentence quickly becomes a cry of pain as he feels his chest start to burn and ache, as if someone was twisting a knife in his sternum.

The pain goes away quickly, but Mike is right in front of him, panicked.

“WILL! Are you okay? What happened?” he asks, pressing his hands on both of Will’s shoulders.

Will catches his breath and just nods.

“Yeah… yeah I think I’m alright. It’s just the connection, the group in the Abyss are fighting the bats so I might feel some of the attacks.” he explains.

Mike calms down a bit, but his eyebrows are now arched in confusion while he sits back down next to him again.

“It’s weird.” he finally says after a few moments of thinking.

“What?” 

“Your connection with the Hive Mind, I mean… like twenty minutes ago we shot, burnt and hit two demogorgons and you didn’t seem to be hurt by it.”

“Yeah… it’s super random. It almost feels like- … like…” Will hesitates.

“Say it.” Mike cheers him gently.

“It’s ridiculous…”

“Say it anyway, it could be important, we don’t know.” Mike smiles at him and he adds a few words because Will keeps hesitating. “The last time you found something ridiculous was on the field, when I said you were a sorcerer.” he whispers.

Will laughs, “I only used my powers like twice, but yeah, you were right.”

“Okay, maybe it was just twice, but you saved four lives, and maybe even Holly’s too. You saved my life Will. I’ll never be able to pay you back for that.” he states kindly.

“You don’t have to.” Will pauses, and then… “I don’t know Mike, sometimes I feel like the connection isn’t- isn’t complete? Like there’s some pieces missing.”

Mike looks at him, silently begging him to continue his thought..

“When we hid the Turnbow’s at the farm, after the demo attack, I had a vision. And I painted the thing you saw on the wall, where the kids are, in some kind of cave or tunnels? I don't know. But what I do know is that Vecna was really upset about me seeing this. I don’t know why or how I saw this, I wasn't supposed to, he was angry.” Will explains as clearly as he can.

Mike stays silent for a few seconds, thinking.

“He can’t control you, not anymore. It’s the same with your powers! Your mom told you that this bastard underestimated you.”

“I don’t think so Mike…” Will whispers

“Of course he did. Maybe, maybe they messed up?” he proposes.

“Messed up what? The connection? You think Vecna AND the Mind Flayer messed up the connection?”

“I mean… it’s just a theory… a possibility.” he hesitates

“I appreciate your ideas, Mike, but I think you’re wrong on this one.” Will admits, a shy smile on his face.

And the silence is back, he doesn’t know what to say, what to tell Mikel. And as he is about to ask Mike to go back with him to Hop and Murray, he notices him zoning out.

“Mike? You’re good?”

Silence

“Mike??”

Mike eventually shakes his head and Will breathes out a sigh of relief.

“Did you hear that?” his best friend asks.

“Hear what exactly?” Will replies, not hearing anything out of the ordinary other than Hopper and Murray chatting quietly down the hallway.

“No- It’s nothing, I might be going crazy.”

As Will is just about to ask again, this time he would insist, but he hears a sound, close to them. Very close to them.

And not an inconsequential, unimportant sound.

But a demodog’s scream. 

No. Not just one. Two.

Both boys are on their feet a millisecond later. Will takes his rifle and loads it with both his hands while Mike grips the metal pipe in his right hand and the walkie in his left one, about to call for help. But he’s too slow for their opponents.

A demodog dog arrives and immediately lunges and latches on to Mike’s left arm. He drops the walkie and quickly snatches his arm away, pulling it back next to him to avoid serious injuries.

As the demo is still in the air, trying to attack Mike, Will aims and shoots it in the face and Mike finishes it on the ground with one solid hit with his pipe. 

Mike’s arm is bleeding but so far seems to be okay. The second demodog is coming right toward them, they both try the same plan, a bullet and several metal pipe hits in the face. 

And that was it, they beat them, or at least, that’s what Will thought would happen. 

“Will, reload, now.” 

He doesn’t ask, just reloads, or tries to.

He starts trying to reload faster, wondering why nothing’s working.

It’s jammed, the rifle is jammed. 

He hears barreling footsteps sound behind him. 

He turns back and sees a giant demodog. One who will be in him in less than five seconds.

He cocks the level once. 

Eject

Twice

Eject, eject, eject, eject

Thrice 

EJECT, EJECT, EJECT

But it doesn’t. 

Will is going to die right there, unable to see his friends save the world because he’s confident that they will. He trusts them, and he will trust them until his very last breath. The demodog is three meters away, already jumping when an unknown force crushes him against his left shoulder, and he hits the wall, out of the demodog’s trajectory.

Mike.

Mike pushed him. Now, he swings his pipe on the demodog still mid-air. The monster falls on the floor but he is not knocked out yet. 

Will continues to pull the lever.

EJECT THE FUCKING BULLET

Mike hits the demodog again and again, pulling his attacks one by one.

A true paladin.

But Will can tell that Mike is injured and won’t be able to keep a fast pace, at least not for long. So Will desperately needs to do something with his weak body and stop being useless, maybe getting up and shielding Mike, or using his brand new powers or something, ANYTHING useful. He needs to do something or his best friend is going to die right in front of his eyes. 

He pulls the lever one last time.

e-j-e-c-t

And this time it does.

Click.

Adrenaline rushes in his body, he screams while aiming, no time to lose.

“FLOOR.”

And he’ll never know if Mike just fell on his knees because of his pain or if he had so much trust in Will he would listen to a single word order, even while bleeding out. 

With Mike out of the way, Will shoots and doesn’t miss.

The demodog dies. 

The silence is back for a few seconds before Mike drops his metal pipe, the weapon covered with dry and fresh demo blood hits the tile floor with a loud metallic clang, echoing between the empty, dark lab corridors. Will doesn’t have the time to ask if Mike is okay, because he’s already running toward him, taking him in a strong hug. 

He’s just as surprised as yesterday, at the Mac-Z, but this time, he rests his forehead on Mike’s right shoulder, crying.

 Will notices his best friend is crying too when he speaks out.

“I was so scared, Will… I was so, so, so scared,” he says.

“Scared of what?” Will asks dumbly.

“Losing you again.” 

Again?

Will keeps his mouth shut when Mike starts speaking again.

“I can’t lose you again, Will, I can’t do this because I.. I. Because I-” Mike struggles.

What does he mean ‘again’?

Will lifts his head and looks at Mike, straight into his dark brown eyes.

“You won’t lose me.” He swears.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Will responds as he wants to melt in Mike’s arms again but instead he takes a step back, breaking the hug, and looks at his best friend's injury. It’s not deep but it’s bleeding a lot, he wants to ask if Mike is okay but he gets distracted by the sound of loud, hurried footsteps thundering through the corridor.

“Why the hell did I hear gun shots and- oh, shit.”

Hopper’s here. The man looks down at the three demodogs dead around them.

“Good job.” He says he seems proud of the two boys who were able to survive by themselves. Hop stares at Mike’s left arm.

“That was a close call, Wheeler, a little deeper and the veins would have-” he begins.

“Hop, please.” Will really doesn’t want to hear about the fact that Mike could have died just three minutes ago and fortunately, Hopper stays silent for the rest of their way back to the bath room. 

After a few minutes pass, Mike looks back down the long hallway.

“Wait, I forgot my pipe.” 

“You won’t need it anymore,” Hop says as he takes a gun off his belt and places it against Mike’s chest. “I should have given you this sooner, I'm sorry.” 

His best friend struggles to hide his excitement while taking the gun.

“It’s okay, Hop, I appreciate it, really.”

Hopper smiles at Mike.

“You’re welcome kid, I’m glad you two are still alive.” He says as they finally walk back into the room.

Murray is still sitting on the floor, probably just counting the vines and the lights flickering, he really doesn’t seem to care that they’re back.

Hopper takes some bandages and alcohol from his backpack, he gently (well as gently as Hopper can be) washes the wound while Mike grits his teeth and winces at the pain, and closes his fist. Hop dries and wraps some bandages around the wound.

“You’re a smart kid. Be a good lil boy and ask Will to teach you how to use your new weapon because I’m sure as hell not teaching you.” 

Mike smiles as he faces him. Will takes Mike's right hand, which is holding the gun, and begins to explain everything he needs to know.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Mike tries so hard to focus on the rifle in his hand and Will’s explanation instead of losing his mind every time Will is touching his hands, his shoulders or both to fix his posture.

“Look, you should put the recoil pad there, if not, the recoil’s strength could break your shoulder. You understand?” Will explains while adjusting the rifle on Mike’s shoulder.

He slightly turns and accidentally catches Will’s gaze.

“Y- Yup. Got it.” 

Will smiles and puts his hand on the rifle to lower it.

“Okay, then, you start from the beginning. Go ahead and aim!” 

Mike quickly put the rifle up, the recoil pad on his shoulder at the right place, pretending to reload, pulling and pushing the bolt handle, his finger on the trigger.

Will is looking at him while he keeps his posture. He walks around him, checking every part of his body, if his feet were well positioned, if he had his knees a bit bent, all that stuff, making Mike blush a little under Will’s  intense scrutiny.

He finally walks around and touches Mike's left arm, holding the rifle. Will’s fingers accidentally touch his wounds through his bandages. Mike lets a pain groan out of his mouth. Will backs up immediately.

“Oh my god, I’m sorry, I was about to tell you to not tense your arm that much, it could hurt when you shoot and if you have to aim for a long time, your arm would hurt too. I’m sorry.”

Mike lowers the gun and laughs gently looking at his left arm, he can see a bit of blood seeping through the bandage, but it isn’t that bad.

“No, no, no. Don’t be sorry, it's okay, I was just surprised.”

“Okay.” Will responds, boring his hazel eyes right into Mike’s.

Mike hangs the rifle over his shoulder and sits down, not knowing exactly what to say.

Hey, Will? I know this is the end of the world and we’ll probably die but I just wanna say that I really like you.

Yeah, no, shut up Mike. Absolutely not.

Will sits next to him, slightly bumping his shoulder into Mike’s.

“Looks like it's gonna be up to us again, huh?” 

Mike definitely wants to cry, those were the exact words he said to him a year and a half ago in California before apologizing for his shitty behavior.

He will never stop feeling guilty about the way he had treated Will, the way he treated everyone. He responds with a lump in his throat.

“It’s always it isn’t it?”

They both look at each other, without saying anything. They don’t have to.

But something breaks that moment.

Not something just psychological, but a sound.

A clock sounds. A chime.

The same sound he heard before being attacked by the demodogs.

Mike looks around him, anxious, the sound doesn’t want to end, echoing around in his mind.

Am I going crazy? What the fuck is going on?

And then he sees it. The clock, inside one of the walls. Mike’s lungs tighten but, as he blinks, the clock and sound disappear, leaving their mark on the boy’s mood.

Will suddenly grabs his hand.

“Mike, are you okay? What’s going on?” He is worried, really, really worried, his eyebrows are tilted down and his voice is shaking.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he lied “It’s just, you know, anxiety about everything“.

Will doesn’t answer, glancing at him, just as he is about to open his mouth, they hear knocking from the bath. 

“El!” they both exclaimed, looking at the huge metal cylinder in the middle of the room. 

Hopper is already at the top, opening the door, taking out El of the water. 

Kali, who was isolated in a corner with a bandana on her eyes, is now walking toward the others. But she doesn’t look victorious like they thought she would, she looked more pissed, and more than anything, scared.

“We’re fucked.” Kali said while looking directly at El.

“What the fuck? Can you explain why?” Murray replies.

“Because we couldn’t find him.” El interrupts, in her soaking wetsuit. “Max's mind went back to her body, she can’t help us in Henry’s memory anymore because…” she looks at Will, really worried.

“Because of what?” Will says, his voice shaking.

“A Demo attacked the WSQK. It tried to kill Max. Mom intervened, killing the monster and saving her life, but she was pretty injured, so they had to leave the squawk to hide somewhere else.” 

“Oh god.” Will whispers

Mike looks at him, seeing his distress, and puts an arm around his shoulders.

“Will, Vickie is with her, she’s a nurse, she’ll know what to do. Your mom will be alright.”

El smiles shyly.

“Yes, I think so, Max said she didn’t look at the edge of death or anything before vanishing. So it will probably be alright.” 

Will lets out a sigh of relief, even if he’s still a little tense. Mike had removed his arm from his shoulders and walked away, getting rid of the little bit of warmth that helped comfort him.

“So, we didn’t find Henry, nor the children. We’re back at the begi-” he says as static interrupts him.

“CODE RED, CODE RED,” they hear someone’s voice scream through the walkie. Mike runs towards it and picks it up, talking into the speaker.

“Dustin, What happened? What’s going on?! Over.”

“Mike, there are hordes of demobats, we’ve been running from them for the past five minutes. We’ve finally kept them at a good distance but we need reinforcements as soon as possible! If you guys can be there in thirty minutes that would be awesome. Over.” Dustin says as they hear chaos in the background. Gunshots, screams and heavy breaths.

Mike looks at the whole team, but pauses on Hopper, who gives him a thumbs up.

“Okay man, we’re coming. El and Kali didn’t find Vecna, but we’ll find a way. Stay alive. Over.”

“I will. Over.”

Hopper throws some dry clothes to El while Mike stuffs the ammo and first aid materials they found in the lab earlier, into his backpack. Everyone’s getting ready to leave except for Murray, who stays there to explode the exotic matter with the bomb Mike had built.

“Wheeler, I’m not scared at all of the idea of having to save the world again, but can you explain one more time how this plan is going to work?”

Mike explains again, and five minutes later they are ready to make their way out the lab when they hear static coming from the walkie again, Mike picks up his walkie while everyone surrounds him to listen in on the conversation.

“Demos joined the party…” Dustin whispers, his voice shaking, sounding like he’s been crying.

“Dustin? What’s going on?” Will asks from right next to Mike.

“I-I- I don’t even know how to tell you…” his voice cracks pitifully in the middle of his sentence and Mike is terrified. He feels a lump in his throat and suddenly he forgets how to breathe..

“Dustin, just say it, whatever it is, we don’t have time.” El joins, arching her eyebrows and twisting her fingers anxiously.

“I- … Lucas didn’t make it.” he breaks, the sobs now flowing steadily.

It was like a bomb went off.

Everyone lets out a shocked sound around Mike, but it doesn’t hit him yet, he doesn’t really understand, he doesn’t want to understand.

“What- what do you mean?”  He feels a hand on his shoulder, probably Will’s.

“Mike, he’s no longer with us…” Steve says, his voice also trembling “He’s dead.”

“He saved my life,” Robin whispers from farther away, also sounding like she’s on the brink of tears.

They eventually talk about more stuff, how long it’s been, how it happened. But Mike isn’t listening anymore. His hands loosen his grip and he drops the walkie to the floor, his hands coming to clutch at the back of his neck, taking long steps backwards. Everyone was looking at him, probably looking insane with his bloody arm and red, teary eyes, but Mike only looks into the void, he needs his thoughts to stop racing. Now.

“Lucas didn’t make it”

it’s your fault, it’s your fault, it’s your fault, it’s your fault, it’s your fault, it’s your fault, it’s your fault, itsyourfault, itsyourfault, itsyourfault.

He can’t breathe anymore.

It’s always your fault, always has been. Always. Always. Always. Always.

“Mike,” he doesn’t know who called his name or whose hands are touching him. He could barely hear it. His vision is blurred, he can’t see anything and he doesn’t know that he really wants to. 

He just wants this nightmare to end, he wants this all to end.

“Leave me alone.” he warns, brushing the hands off of him and quickly nearing the exit of the room. 

“Mike, wait!”

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” he snaps, turning his back and running inside the lab, losing himself in all the different corridors. But he didn’t care, tears fell freely down his cheeks while he was still struggling to breathe, he felt like he was dying, his throat tightening and having to gulp just to intake a tiny bit of air. 

He opens several doors, closes them after he enters them and he does this again and again. When he finally doesn’t have even a drop of energy left he stops. He presses his back into the nearest wall and slips down until he touches the floor. His hands go through his curly hair, Mike hits his own head against the wall and wails, putting his hands on his mouth to not be too noisy. A scream of despair because this is real, this is real.

Their ranger is dead.

Lucas is dead.

He screams so loud it hurts and his throat feels raw, and then he bursts into heaving sobs, hiding his head in his knees.

It’s real. 

This is fucking real.

Why am I such a bad leader? Why am I a bad friend? Why am I such an idiot? Why am I different? Why am I a bad person? Why do I hate myself so much? Why am I here?

Why does everything go wrong because of me?

And the world goes upside down.

——————————————————

When he opens his eyes again, he is still in the Upside Down, but this time he’s outside. He slowly lifts his head up to look around him and…

“This is my year, Henderson, this is finally my year…”

“EDDIE!”

Dustin holds Eddie’s corpse tightly in his shaking arms. The leader of their Hellfire club now has blood flowing from his mouth and dripping down his chin, his eyes unfocused and looking at nothing, deprived of their spark, forever. And his flesh is- 

Mike wants to throw up but suddenly, something’s pushing on his back. He turns to see a standing, well alive, Eddie. Mike sees him wind his arm back and before he can process what’s happening, Eddie punches him hard. Blood starts flowing steadily from his nose leaving Mike cradling his face while wailing in pain.

“I died because of you. If you weren’t in California hanging out with your girlfriend you didn’t even love, you would be the one dying and stuck down here. Not me.” Eddie spits as he stares at Mike with disgust and anger- no, not just anger. Hatred.

Mike tries to speak, tries to apologize but he can’t open his mouth. He CAN’T.

This is all a dream, it’s impossible, this isn’t real.

But it all just looked so real.

Eddie pushes him down, and Mike’s head hits the soil below hard enough to make him see stars, before he can even catch his breath, Eddie’s kneeling above him, already grabbing his shirt by the collar, lifting him a little and throws a left hook straight into his jaw.

Mike spits out a mix of blood and saliva onto himself as Eddie keeps throwing punches at him again and again and again. 

“Eddie, please….stop.” Mike says weakly.

He gets another bash to the jaw, as he’s letting another pained groan slip out of his mouth.

“Please…” he begs while his vision is getting red.

He finally stands and kicks Mike directly in the stomach.

“Your presence will cause everyone to die, Wheeler. You are the curse.” he says frowning, his eyebrows and his mouth twisted with disgust.

Mike stays laying down on the cold ground, no will to pull himself back up, eyes squeezed closed, his body aching and complaining about the pain.

When he opens his eyes, the sky is now a dark crimson. 

The Abyss, the place where Lucas di-

No

No please

No. Don’t do this

He finally gains his bearings, and stands up.

And sees all his friends being attacked by the Demos.

He sees Steve attacking a demo with a shovel and Dustin launching spears towards more, the two of them fighting side by side.

He sees Jonathan using a flamethrower, Lucas throwing molotovs and shooting the demos with arrows while Nancy and Robin use their shotguns. They aren’t teens or young adults anymore, they are soldiers, fighting to save the children, to save the entire world, they are heroes. 

One of the monsters is just about to slash Robin’s neck with its claws while she’s shooting at another monster, Nancy tries to move toward her but she knows she’ll be too late, when suddenly Lucas pushes her to the side, and takes the hit.

It was so slow, Mike could see the Demo’s claws tear up into Lucas’s veins and skin as Dustin and everyone else screamed, he could see the huge amount of blood spitting out of the wound, he heard every single drop of blood hitting the ground. And-

All Mike sees now is black but he can still hear Lucas' agonizing screams.

It’s echoing in his ears and reverberating through his mind.

He’s now kneeling beside Lucas.

He hears everyone trying to push back the demos, but as they try to fend them off, the monsters stop their attacking and run away. The demos are now gone, and all the team sits by Lucas’ side as he is fighting to say possibly the last words he will ever say. He faces great difficulty speaking caused by his pierced throat and he looks terrified, but his eyes still have his brave-determinate spark. 

He’s not ready to go, and they know he will fight to stay as long as he can. When he finally speaks, his voice is calm, soft as a whisper.

“Please… tell my familly… my- my friends… and Max that…” he gasps out and goes to hold Nancy’s hand, “that… I…I…love them… so- so- so…..much.” He looks at the team with very apparent love, while their faces are marred with terror and guilt.

Lucas’s neck and body slowly relax as he lets out his final breath, the last evidence of his life.

He’s gone, his eyes stuck looking at the red sky forever. 

Dustin’s screaming into the void, debating what he should do while sobbing in Jonathan's arms, Steve is starting to tear up, resting his hands on his hips. Robin looks past everyone at nothing in particular, eyes just left wide in shock. And Nancy is crying now too, holding Lucas’ hand like he’s still alive, like his skin isn’t going cold, like there’s still a chance, but there isn’t.

That’s how it all happened. And Mike wasn’t there. 

That’s all, no long emotional monologue, no endless goodbyes, just some words quickly spit out during the emergency.

It was unfair, so, so, unfair.

“I hate you Mike, and I always will.” Lucas’ voice says in his head. 

Mike clenches his eyes tight, his head hurts so bad it feels like it’s splitting in half and he knows he has to get out of here as soon as possible.

It’s okay, I get it, I hate myself too.

Mike feels numb, every feeling has left his body, every thought is silenced, and for a couple seconds, he finally feels at peace. 

Then he blinks and Lucas’s corpse is replaced by another, another corpse he saw when he was so much younger. A soaked, tiny child's body.

The body they found in the quarry.

Will’s body.

Something, somewhere in him, breaks, collapses, blows up. 

A wound that he thought was already healed. It wasn’t.

It’s raining, Mike’s hair is quickly drenched, same with his clothes that are soaked with blood, the rain drops slipping down his cheeks end up falling into the mud he’s standing in. 

Mike is frozen in front of the scene before him, and a wave of memories hits him. Hiding behind the firetruck seeing Will’s body laying completely still for the first time, his soul being torn apart and shredded as he yelled at his best friends, biking home crying all the tears his body possibly could, hugging his mom, trying to stay standing while his knees begged to break. He remembers Nancy hugging him too.

He remembers everyone’s kindness, all while Mike was being an asshole. 

His best friend had died because of him. 

It was always because of him.

He’s back at the quarry, hands shaking, breath heavy and heart aching. 

He slowly reaches out and caresses twelve year old Will’s cheek. 

It’s so wet, so cold. Like life had never inhabited this body.

It’s a fake body, Mike, you know this. Just breathe.

He still couldn’t. 

“He’s next, Michael”

He hears a voice whisper.

Not just any voice but Vecna’s.

Mike looks at the little body one last time. He can’t lose Will again, he can’t. 

Then, he falls.

——————————————-

And he’s back in Hawkins Lab, in the middle of a panic attack, blood flowing down his nose. 

He’s still resting against the wall. He hasn’t moved an inch.

His breaths are wheezing, and his vision is blurred, not just because of the tears, even though he is still crying so hard he feels like he’s crying out his own soul, but because of the lack of oxygen in his blood. 

He can tell that he’s about to faint.

Vecna, Will, Lucas

Lucas.

Lucas.

The door next to him opens all of a sudden.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Will leaves the others, still frozen and wounds still fresh from hearing the devastating announcement. They should have prepared themselves to lose one of the Party’s members. 

But they didn’t, of course they didn’t, how could they have prepared for Lucas dying?

And the realization hits hard.

Lucas is dead.

Lucas, his best friend, one of the guys who risked his life to find him back in 1983. 

The guy who lost his life ten minutes ago to end all of this story.

Lucas, their ranger, always making funny jokes, always there for his friends.

Lucas who lost the love of his life in 1986, and still remains one of the best friends you could ever have.

Lucas, who reunited with Max yesterday, who felt true happiness for the first time in years.

All of that suffering, all that pain. For nothing.

The Happiness he could’ve had, was stolen from him.

It’s so unfair.

Will wipes his tears as he leaves the room, following Mike. He knows his best friend is suffering as much as he is, he knows he just left because he doesn’t want anyone to see him in pain. But Will knows that even though he left, he doesn’t want to be alone. 

Mike never liked being alone, he hated it, especially during hard moments.

And oh God, this moment is hard.

Will tries to follow but he loses Mike in the corridor’s labyrinth.

“Mike? Where are you?” he asks, his voice shaking and cracking at the end of each word.

His chest feels heavy, and he wants to go home, he wants to be somewhere, anywhere but here, where he, and his friends, could be safe. 

But there aren’t any safe places left for them to hide, not anymore.

He keeps searching, opening random doors, losing his way in the dark Hawkins Lab. And after a few long minutes. He hears someone crying behind a heavy metal door. 

He takes a deep breath as he places his hand on the cold, grey door handle, and opens the door quickly.

He steps inside to see Mike sitting on the floor, arms wrapped around his knees, and crying.

And Mike is crying so much.

Will doesn’t remember the last time he saw Mike cry like that.

It was probably in primary school, when he had fallen on the concrete, or when he was pushed by Troy and their bullies, scraping his knees.

So, seeing him like this unsettled him a bit. 

And for a few seconds, he stands in front of Mike, not knowing what to do.

Because these last few years, Mike was always the one comforting him, it was never the other way around.

Even if they grew apart a bit before Vecna’s return, he was always there.

But when Mike looks up at him, with his dark brown eyes that are now red and wet. Will can see everything behind his eyes, if he looks hard enough he thinks might just be able to see inside his soul.

He can see all the pain, all the terror, all the… guilt? 

So much guilt, way too much guilt.

Will kneels down and sits on the floor, tearing up again, and brings Mike into a tight, warm hug, his arms resting on Mike’s back, his best friend is surprised at first, but he quickly melts into the hug and puts his arms around Will's hips, resting his head onto his right shoulder as he bursts into tears.

“I’m here Mike, I’m here.” Will whispers, quietly sobbing.

Mike doesn’t seem to be able to calm down, it just keeps getting worse. His hot tears just keep flowing and dripping onto Will’s shoulder, slowly wetting his sweater.

“It’s all my fault.” 

Mike’s voice is barely recognizable, higher-pitched than before, his tears distorting his voice. 

But it’s still Mike’s voice, the same softness as always peaking out between the words.

Will feels guilty too but just as he’s about to answer, Mike whispers something else.

“It should have been me instead.” 

His voice breaks at the end of the sentence, at the same time as Will’s heart. He breaks the hug and puts his hands on both Mike’s shoulders, looking at his face that quickly turns toward the ground. He looks defeated.

But Mike is the heart, Mike is the paladin, Mike is the one who is leading the party. He can’t give up. If he does, the battle is already lost.

“Mike, it’s not your fault. Look at me.” 

He doesn’t move.

“It feels like it is.” Mike says weakly, a tear falling down his face.

Will raises Mike’s head, lifting his chin with one of his hands. He lets his hand grip on Mike’s skin, forcing him to look Will directly in the eyes.

“It’s not. It’s okay to feel guilty, but we couldn’t have done anything, right? You have to know that.” That statement is for both Mike and himself.

“No..but-” 

“No but, nothing, Mike. We only have one thing to do, keep fighting this bastard for…”

“For his death to not be pointless…” Mike finishes.

Will smiles weakly, removing his hand from Mike’s chin.

His best friend keeps looking at him.

“I think I ruined your sweater, sorry,” he says, grimacing down at the wet spot.

Will lets out a shy laugh as he looks at his wet sweater.

Blood.

Will freezes and glances back up at Mike, he has blood around his nose that Will didn’t notice before.

“What happen-” 

“I hit a door when I was running, it’s not a big deal” Mike interrupts to say quickly, too quickly.

Will squints his eyes at Mike, obviously suspicious. But neither of them have the strength to fight. So he stands up, offering a hand to Mike, who takes it, looking at him thankfully. Their eyes are still glassy and wet but Will puts his right arm around Mike’s shoulders as they make their way back to the rest of the team.

“We’re going to end this once and for all, Mike. It’ll be okay.”

“Yeah.” Mike whispers as he glances at him.

Will looks back at Mike and opens his mouth, about to say something to break the silence.

Static.

“Will? Did you find him?” Hopper asks through the walkie.

The boy grabbed his walkie to respond, “Yeah, I found him. We're heading your way now.”

“Good.. good. Hmm… we’re now waiting in front of the back exit, you guys should come as fast as you can so we can get out of here.” Hop says with his characteristically drawling voice, but anyone that knew him could hear the fear and sadness hidden in his tone.

It was hard on everyone.

“We’re coming. Over and out.” 

—---------------------------------------------------

A couple minutes later he and Mike were in front of the exit with Hop, El and Kali. Murray had gone upstairs, waiting for the signal to trigger the bomb.

El hugged Mike softly, smiling shyly at him. Will could still see the tear tracks left on her cheeks. She let go quickly and went to hug Will. They don’t say anything, the silence already shows their pain and grief as loud as it can.

Hopper smiles at them, trying to hide his sadness with a strong posture.

Kali looks down at the ground.

“I know I don't really know you guys. But I’m really sorry for what happened.” 

And when she raises her head, Will sees her glassy eyes as if she’s also about to cry. 

Kali lost her friends too.

All of them suffered because of…whatever this mess is.

Mike slowly reaches Kali and puts a comprehensive hand on her shoulder.

Will snaps out of his sadness and suddenly notices how tense everyone is. His best friend seems to have noticed too because he’s looking at Hopper, who has his eyebrows titled down.

“What’s going on?” he asks, his voice a bit too loud for the quiet hallway.

El turns to him, a finger over her mouth.

Hop takes a deep breath.

“The military is outside, we didn’t want to upset both of you even more when you came back.” 

Will exhales deeply.

“Do they know we’re here?” he whispers

“In the lab? Of course. But here next to the exit? No they don’t.” Kali answers.

“So, what’s the plan?” Mike asks 

El sighs.

“Using Kali’s powers to make us invisible as we go for the truck, and hoping they won’t just walk into us accidentally.” 

“I’m sorry, but this plan isn’t going to work. What if the military has those things that you call kryptonite?“ Will says

Hop lets out a nervous chuckle.

“Oh, yes they do. And yes, the plan sucks, but it’s the only plan we have that can get us to the others on time.” 

Mike takes his rifle into his hands.

“What are we waiting for then? This plan might kill all of us.” he shrugs “But, I’m in…for Lucas.”

Hop slams his hand onto Mike’s shoulder.

“Well said kiddo.”

He looks at Kali, and then back at the others.

“Ready?”

“Always.” Kali answers, a half smile painted on her face.

Will looks at El, and they nod at each other in mutual understanding.

“Well, take your weapons out, get ready to shoot at any moment, stay dead quiet and we’ll all make it. Understand?” Hop whispers seriously.

Mike gives a thumb up, and all the others agree silently.

“Good. Kali, whenever you’re ready.”

The girl closes her eyes, concentrating. The group stays as close as possible to Kali, Hopper leading the troops, Will in the back, El on the right side and Mike on the left.

Kali nods and all they start walking towards the door. Hopper opens it quietly and they’re off, a dozen soldiers are patrolling around the lab but fortunately not around the truck.

And Will sees it, the machine they call kryptonite, or whatever Eleven calls it, on a car, not that far from their vehicle. But it's oriented in the opposite direction, so they’re safe for now.

They walk slowly, almost holding their breaths to be as quiet as possible. In around two minutes they made more than half of the way to the truck.

Hopper makes an arm movement to tell them to quicken their pace and after some fast walking they are only a few meters away from the truck, the soldiers are not far behind, but behind nonetheless. Will thinks they are going to make it.

Well, he thought that before Mike had grabbed his shoulder and pointed a finger to the kryptonite. The soldier is slowly rotating it around and it’s about to be facing their direction in a matter of seconds. 

Will thinks fast.

They don’t have the time to run and hide behind the truck before the machine reaches Kali, and their invisibility would disappear, as they are still within firing range and a few of the  soldiers are already looking towards the truck, looking at them, without knowing.

They’re dead. They’ll all be dead in less than a minute at this point, and before Will could think of a solution, Mike had already found one. 

The gunshot is loud, really loud, breaking the calm but tense silence around them. The body of the soldier holding the kryptonite machine bangs against the truck and falls to the ground with a pathetic noise as his corpse hits the mud. He’s dead, a bullet right to the head. 

Adrenaline kicks in. 

They all start running, immediately taking advantage of the soldiers’ confusion. The soldiers don’t understand what happened, one of their comrades is dead on the ground from a bullet that seemingly came out of nowhere.

They all start diving behind the truck, trying to stay safe from the bullets that the military begins to shoot, finally coming to the realization that something is off about the “abandoned” vehicle. The bullets hit the truck again and again, a rain of metal causing loud clanging sounds. 

Hop begins to shoot back at the soldiers from one side of the truck and Will starts loading up his rifle to do the same. El uses her powers to kill two soldiers before one of them sneaks back up to the top of the military vehicle and starts using the kryptonite again, and this time, they’re fast enough to aim at the girls. El and Kali are wincing from the pain and they both fall to the ground. Kali seems to be more acclimated to it, her stifled yells aren’t as loud or painful as El’s, who is hitting her head against the truck, eyes clenched and screaming in agony.

Mike is frozen.

And Will doesn’t get why at the beginning.

Then he understands.

They’ve killed inter-dimensional monsters, watched their friends getting killed, buried their bodies, buried unknown ones too.

But they have never killed a man before. Excluding Hopper, Kali and El.

Mike killed someone, probably with a family, a wife, kids just like them. Will meets his eyes, and he immediately knows his theory was right. He puts a gentle hand on his shoulder and doesn’t say anything, just quietly takes the gun out its holster to help Hop shoot the rest of the soldiers.

Will kills the first man quickly. 

But it’s not his first time killing someone, not really. He thinks back to when he was younger, in 1984 when he was possessed, when he had sent several men to their deaths. It wasn’t as direct as a bullet to the throat, but still murder nonetheless.

But he still feels the blood leaving his face, he feels his arms start shaking a bit. Another soldier falls down beside the one Will has killed, but he is pretty sure he hadn’t pulled the trigger.

He turns back to see Mike crouching down right next to Hop, his rifle smoking a bit as he reloads it. He stands up, not cautiously at all, shoots then crouches back down. Will hears when another body hits the ground. El and Kali are still stifling screams of agony in between Will and Mike. Hopper takes a second break to nudge Mike with his elbow.

“You should take them in the truck! And stop standing up like that, you’re gonna get yourself killed!” he yells to be heard over the sound of the shooting.

Mike nods and passes the two girls to be at the backside of the truck with Will.

“We need to clear this area! Get El and Kali inside!“ Mike says to him. 

Will agrees and both of them take turns, while Will is reloading, his best friend shoots, and the vise versa. They work well together just like they always did, the area seems clear a couple minutes later, Mike lets his rifle on the ground, swing the back doors of the truck open and grabs the girl closest to him, which happened to be Kali.

Will covers for Mike while he sets Kali in the back of the truck, he quickly jumps out and just as he’s about to grab El, he hears a scream. He turns back to see Hopper crouching, his back resting against the truck. He has his right hand compressing his neck and Mike can see the blood flowing steadily between his fingers and slipping down his arm.

Shit. Holy Shit. Hopper was shot in the neck. 

Even in full pain, El understands what’s happening and she screams again, screams so loud. Mike grabs her anyway as she tries to fight and carries her into the truck, even though she’s in so much pain she’s protesting and tries to jump out as soon as Mike releases her from his grasp.

“Stay in the fucking truck!” Mike says.

He’s rude, Will thinks. But he knows he needs to be in order to keep El safe. Mike quickly gets out of the truck again and kneels next to Hopper.

“I’m still alive, kid.” Hop says, speaking in a much weaker tone than in his normally gruff voice.

Mike takes a revolver off of Hopper’s belt and uses his other arm to help him stand up. Will is still covering for everyone, hiding by the truck door and surveying everything that’s going on, and watching out for Hopper as he begins to climb into the truck. 

Hiding behind the truck door wasn’t a good idea at all. He should have known from the start that he would be seen considering the amount of soldiers out for them. Because of him trying to look out for the others, he doesn’t see it coming. He doesn’t see anything, he just barely notices it. He senses more than feels a bullet hit him in the right leg. He doesn’t feel anything at all at the beginning, it starts out being numb, then he feels an intense burning pain and screams so loud he’s worried that his throat is going to bleed.

But at least everyone's in the truck, everyone is safe for the moment, thanks to Mike.

His best friend throws his rifle inside the truck and looks at him, obvious worry written all over his face..

“Get in and close the door!” 

Will swallows thickly, his leg hurts a lot but he knows he’ll make it, it’s not like he was shot in the neck… 

“Mike, what are you going to-”

He snaps.

“Will, just get in the fucking truck!! I’ll be fine. I just- I can’t lose another friend today!”

Will opens his mouth to reply as Mike is pushing him inside and slamming the door. He hears gunshots, so many gunshots repeatedly hitting the sides of the truck. The passenger door opens and before Mike can even enter the truck that they stole from the Mac-Z, he shoots towards the soldiers five more times.

Will is sitting next to Hopper, who struggles to breathe as Will searches for medical supplies in Hopper’s backpack, when Mike finally enters the truck and closes the passenger door. He locks the doors and jumps over the console into the driver’s seat.

“THE KEYS! I NEED THE KEYS!” he yells as the bulletproof windows start to chip away and crack from the onslaught of bullets.

Will finds the keys buried in Hopper’s backpack and throws them at Mike, who starts the engine not even a second later and immediately slams his foot on the gas pedal. Dust flies up from the spinning tires while the truck shakes a bit before finally kicking into full speed, speeding out of the Hawkins lab parking lot. 

Will quickly starts to concentrate on Hopper's wound.

“Fuck, fuck, FUCK!” Mike groans as the driver’s window shatters, glass raining down on him as he turns the steering wheel as hard as he can, causing the truck to hit a large bump that Will assumes is a fallen soldier.

“You alright?” 

“Keep your eyes on Hop, I'm okay.” he says shakily, and Will can tell he obviously is not okay, but he has more important things to focus on at the moment. Like Hopper bleeding out.

They turn right again and finally turn onto the road to the Squawk antenna, the shots finally cease and El and Kali are slowly gaining their energy back now that they’re away from the machine. El jumps up next to Hopper, a hand covering her mouth as Will tries to stop the bleeding.

El cries, she cries a lot just looking at Hopper.

“It’s alright Jane. It’s alright. You’re gonna do well without me” Hop says gently, sadly smiling at her..

“There’s no without you, dad. You're going to be okay..” Will says, looking Hopper in the eyes.

There is no longer pain in Jim’s eyes, only love, and pride.

“Let me go Will, there’s nothing you kids can do. There’s too much blood, and there’s nowhere we can go for help,” Jim says, calmly.

“I can take out the bullet.” El suggests, her voice breaking.

“That would only make things worse, El, and you know it” He says as he takes El’s hand and rubs soothing circles into her palm.

Will is still compressing the wound, refusing to lose someone else today, not when he could help control the situation.

“William, you are the son I never had, and I'm proud of who you’ve become..”

Son, Lonnie had never called him that before, well maybe a handful of times, when he was searching for an excuse to be able to stay in Will’s life. He never had Jim’s softness, love and kindness reserved for his children. He had never had any remotely good traits that Jim had. Lonnie wasn’t his dad, Hopper was.

“You’re the dad I never had, and I wouldn't be the person I am now without you.” Will cries, because he knows what’s coming next. He knows why Jim is saying all of this.

“Kali, I’m sorry we never got the chance to get to know each other, but you and Jane will get along and have a good life once this is all over. I’m sure you’ll make her happy.”

Kali is crying, her glance switching in between Jim and El.

“We are sisters after all,” she says, tears flowing down her cheeks.

Jim lets out a weak laugh.

“Michael” he says, looking at the driver seat, Mike can’t look back at them, concentrating on the road, but everyone knows he is listening. 

“You really piss me off, stealing my daughter from me just to break up with her a couple years later, that wasn’t cool.” Will could hear Mike start to choke up and he looked up to see him gripping the wheel even tighter, if that was even possible. “But you’re a good kid, you saved all of our lives a few minutes ago. We would be dead right now if you hadn’t taken the shot. You’re a good person Mike, but a terrible driver, please don’t crash into a tree.” 

Mike laughs sadly, still looking straight ahead.

“I promise I won't," and Will is pretty sure out of the corner of his eye he sees Mike wiping away some tears..

Jim looks up at El, Jane.

She’s shaking her head, eyes tightly closed.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, you can’t go. Please, you can’t go.” she begs.

“I know this is hard Jane.” Jim says through his tears, “I don’t want to leave you either, but you have to know that whatever happens, you will never be alone. Because all these people around you will be there to love and support you whenever you need. You’re a wonderful girl Jane, you’ve become so strong, so brave after all the terrible things you went through, and it’s the same for the rest of you. You’re my daughter Jane, and I love you so much, I loved being your dad, I loved teaching you new things, I loved buying new movies to watch them with you back home, I loved screaming for you to leave the door open three inches, I loved everything that connected me to you, kid.” 

Jim begins to struggle with his words the more he talks, struggling to breathe. Will is frozen, he can’t even cry anymore, the moment is too… too much. It’s tearing his soul apart.

“And…” he places a finger on Jane’s heart. “And I want you to know that I'll always be here by your side, in every sun beam, in every wind blow, in every strike of lightning, in the dust that’ll gather on your bookshelves, in every hay bale. I’ll be everywhere, in your tears, of sadness or happiness, in the birdsongs, and in every rain drop. Everywhere. I’ll never leave you Jane, because I’ll be right here.” he whispers as he pushes his finger into Jane’s chest.

Jane gathers him into one last warm hug, and Will joins too, and after a few seconds of hesitation, Kali joins too.

“Pretend like I'm hugging you guys.” Mike says with a high-pitched voice that Will hates being able to recognize.

Their driver wipes some tears and keeps looking at the road, shoulders shaking as he tries to be as silent as possible.

“Tell Joyce I love her so much and I wanted to propose to her but never had the guts,” Jim laughs weakly. “The ring is somewhere in my pockets. Tell Jonathan I love him too, he’s such a great guy and a good person and I’m glad he let me join your family. You all healed me, you made my life better. We’ll see each other on the other side.”

Jim’s tight grip fades slowly away and they break the hug, just to see that he was already gone, a smile left on his lips. El collapses into Will’s arms, crying like she had never before. He holds her for a few moments before his knees almost buckle under El’s weight, the pain in his leg starts up again and he lets out a strangle scream.

El quickly takes the little bullet out, washes the wound and puts bandages around it. She looks at Will with a soft smile, which is nothing more than a crook of her lip.

“Here it is, you’re all fixed.” She says as she deposits the bullet into his hand.

The last five minutes of the drive are dead silent, often broken by someone letting out soft sobs.

They arrive at the radio station. Will opens the door and takes all the backpacks and the weapons, trying to somewhat organize their supplies. Mike gets out of the driver’s seat, he gives two bags to the girls, and they talk quickly about something Will can’t hear and both of the girls start heading towards the tower. He hears Mike steps nearing him. Will keeps looking at the two last bags, he feels like he can’t look up.

“You okay?” 

“Not really.” 

“Yeah..” Mike crouches next to him and sighs. “Me neither.” a pause. ”We shouldn’t leave him like that, there are usually… body bags in military vehicles. Would you be able to help me? You don’t have to, I can do this alo-”

“Yeah.” he utters as he turns to see Mike’s face for the first time since before he had entered the truck. He has a huge cut on his left cheek, blood leaking through and drying on his cheek. He has the same type of cuts all up his left arm, some broken glass had already made its way through the bandage Mike had from his previous injury.

“What- ?” 

“The window,” Mike interrupts, smiling a bit.

“Oh…” 

They stand up and do what they have to do, putting Jim’s body in a black bag while his body is still warm. Will puts the little black box he found in his dad's left pocket. There’s nothing much to say, nothing that Will wants to think about.

Then, Mike and him grab their bags and start climbing the antenna, Mike going before him.

“And you, you’re alright?” Will looks up at him and stops as he asks. “Your- your leg.”

“Hurt a bit, but now it’s fine.” 

“Cool.” He pauses and keeps climbing. “You- You know I…” Mike hesitates.

“You what?”  Will asks.

“I- No, it’s nothing, forget it.” Mike gives up, closing his eyes and sighing wearily. His hands shake while he takes the bars above him, and his left arm looks really bad, blood seeping through the bandage.

Will decides to ignore what Mike was going to say, instead focusing on his injuries.

“You should really change those bandages when we arrive at the halfway point, Mike. It looks pretty bad.” Will suggests, still climbing the ladder.

“Yeah..yeah, you’re right.” he agrees, not looking back. 

They stay silent for the rest of the climb.

Both of the boys are now half way up on the WSQK antenna, breathing heaving and arms aching. Will opens his bag and hands Mike a clean bandage.

Mike takes it, his lips drawing a shy smile as a thank you. He already struggles with removing his  soiled bandage, he clenches his jaw and his eyes become glassy from the pain, but he stays silent.

“Need some help?” Will asks. Mike lifts his head and their glances meet. He looks lost, helpless, terrified. His shoulders are tense like he was holding the weight of the world, which Will guesses isn’t too different from their current situation. Mike doesn’t even respond, Will just walks over to him, and changes his bandage, his movements concentrated and precise, yet gentle and soft. Mike's hands are still shaking, he’s zoned out, looking off the side of the tower and into the void. 

He’s so close to Will, and at the same time, so far away.

“I’m done.” Will mutters out.

Mike seems to suddenly snap back to reality.

“What?” 

“The… bandage?” Will hesitates, confused.

Mike shakes his head slightly, a fake smile plastered on his face.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.”

Will gives Mike a questioning glance, who finally spits it out the rest of his sentences.

“Damn… Why is this so hard? I- I-  just killed someone for the first time and that shit that was terrifying, but it just keeps getting worse, because I lost, we lost, our best friend not even a half hour ago, and we’ve already lost someone else. I’m… I'm just scared that it’s going to happen again.” he sobs, looking at Will with his glassy eyes. He knows his best friend is suffering a lot, just like they all are. But Mike is different when it comes to stuff like this. He tries to hide everything and bottles up his emotions, until they blow up, hurting Mike and sometimes other people.

Will places his arm around Mike's shoulders, looking at him directly in the eyes.

“You aren’t going to die, Mike.”

“That wasn’t about me.” he responds quickly, averting his gaze.

“Oh.” Will breathes out, feeling shivers down his spine.

Mike had always been a protective friend, that’s one of the things Will likes about him, that he…loves about him. 

But him being this over-protective just doesn’t feel right, something is off and Will can tell.

Mike looks away, and scratches at his neck awkwardly, Will doesn’t move away, still looking at him.

“We should… um.. you know…” his best friend says, looking up at the antenna and the Abyss’s entrance.

“Yeah.” Will whispers.

Mike doesn’t look back again and starts climbing.

Why is he acting so weird around me? I know he’s worried, that’s a big thing, but I don’t know exactly what’s going on. It’s weird.

Will follows silently, thousands of questions bouncing in his head

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mike gets on to the top of the tower, meeting up with the girls again. El is putting a walkie in her bag. She turns back, looking at Mike with red and glassy eyes.

“We got to Dustin.” She sobs and her hands are shaking, trying to zip up the bag “They’re somewhere in the east, not too far away, and we told everyone about- about-” she bursts into tears, and Mike hugs her softly. Will arrives beside him and comforts El too, also starting to tear up.

No one is actually okay, they’re all just pretending, but with no time to talk about it, they  still have too much to do. He unwillingly breaks the hug with El and takes a few feet away from the rest of the group, looking at the interdimensional gate above him. It looks like a huge red wound in the Upside Down’s flesh.

They still have to find the kids, to find Holly. 

Holly, his eight year old little sister. Another person he failed to protect. 

He wasn’t around when Holly was taken, when his parents were almost killed by a demogorgon.

He had promised himself that he would be there for all of the others and he had failed. He wasn’t there for Lucas, the little boy who was always at his house to play D&D with the party, the guy who tried so hard to be cool, to be flawlessly integrated in the Highschool. The friend who never let them down.

He wasn’t there for Hopper either, even if he didn’t really know him. He saved Will’s life, he was the father Will and El never had. The guy fought a demogorgon with a sword! He escaped Russian spies and saved so many people. Mike will never stop feeling guilty about all of the bad things he’s ever done.

Get to the kids, and then kill Vecna. Easy. Two simple steps, right? 

God, he wished.

Vecna is someone who can snap your bones within a second, he can torture you with your worst memories to make sure that you suffer one last time before he kills you.

And Mike knows he’s next. The sounds, then the clock, the visions.

He hadn’t told anyone, and he won’t tell anyone. Everyone’s grieving, everyone’s trying to hold on to the tiny bit of hope they have left. Mike can handle it himself, and if he can’t, he can still slow Vecna or do something, anything.

When anyone asks if he’s okay, he lies and says yes, even if he's not okay at all, or he’ll say a semi-truth.

He lies. He hasn’t stopped lying, not for years. He’s been lying to everyone, especially to Eleven. He’s even been lying to Will.

He broke rule number one. ”Friends don’t lie.” His own rule.

Mike isn’t a paladin anymore, he’s an oath-breaker.

He takes a deep breath and buries his anxiety. He can’t cry again. Not until they’re out of all this bullshit. He has to be strong, he has to be strong one last time, for Lucas, for Hopper, for Eddie, and for all the people suffering from the Upside Down. Mike buries all his feelings, he needs to think logically, not emotionally, so he holds back tears as they pitifully beg to come out.

He hears the others coming toward him, toward the Abyss’s gate. Mike quickly gathers the fragments of himself that were scattered around, hidden in his mind for who knows how long, he cuts himself trying to pick up all the shards, still trying to keep his composure, to look like he’s okay. 

Like he’s been okay with all that’s happened after November 6th, 1983. Like he’s okay with himself being such an asshole, like he’s okay with being useless, okay with being a spectator of everyone’s deaths, okay with being in love with his bestfri-

Shut the fuck up and don’t think like that. Don’t be weird.

“Ready to head up?” Kali asks, breaking him out of his spiraling. She's determined, her eyes glowing with a strong spark.

El has the same look on her face, a bit angrier, but determined nonetheless.

Mike nods and he’s the first one to climb up and go through the gate. His hand grabs the dark ground as he hoists himself up into the new dimension.

The first thing he notices is its resemblance to the upside down. 

Dustin wasn't lying, everything on the ground was black, even the trees, all deprived of leaves. It’s similar to the Upside Down, just scarier, more evil. The sky is red, dark but lightened when disrupted by red lightning.

And the temperature. It’s the type of cold that penetrates your skin and freezes your bones.

Even with a warm jacket and layers he was freezing.

He lets his backpack drop onto the soil, looking around, taking his rifle in his hands. It’s safe, for now at least. Mike looks back at the gate.

“All clear!” he screams.

Kali’s hand comes quickly and Mike helps her get to the solid ground. He does the same with El, and then Will.

Will squeezes his hand a little too hard when Mike brings him up. He drops Will’s hand quickly, as if he’s been burned, not even daring to look at him and immediately averting his eyes to the vines on the ground.

Ignore it, just ignore it, don’t look up, don’t look at him.

Mike takes his compass, slings on his backpack and turns toward the east. He looks back at the others.

“Ready?”

They all agree in silence, but Will stares at him with a questioning look, arching his eyebrows and tilting his head. 

It’s such a pain in the ass that Will is able to read Mike's feelings like a book.

Mike avoids his gaze and starts walking toward the east.

They won’t use Kali’s powers for this, they need to prevent her from exhausting herself too quickly. Who knows what other terrible things may occur? 

Mike has no clue what might happen next, but he knows that the possibility of something worse happening, is very likely. 

Will is walking close to him, and Mike sees his best friend glancing at him, but he keeps his eyes focused straight ahead and doesn’t look back.

Stay focused.

They’ve been walking in awkward silence for the past ten minutes, listening to the others quietly chatter in between relaying information.

“East, 15 minutes from the tower.”

Simple. Really simple.

Easy peasy.

But Mike feels nervous. To see the others, to see that… that what happened was actually real. Vecna’s been messing with him too.

“It is time, Michael,” being whispered nearly every five minutes is making him very anxious. He flinched at every single sound, every single shadow that looked just slightly different from the others.

So when the first demodog shows up, Mike notices it instantly. He quickly raises his rifle and shoots it twice, hitting it before it could even step another foot in their direction. The demodog drops dead on the ground less than five seconds later.

“Woah, crazy reflexes!” Kali cheers.

Mike just shrugs, swiftly reloading the gun with the bullets he has in his pockets.

“You’re a fast learner.” El gently teases him.

“He’s related to Nancy Wheeler, guys. The genetics are strong.” Will teases too.

Mike sighs as he finally dares to look up at him, who was already looking at him, a small smile on his face.

“I mean, I had a great teacher,” he says gently.

Will smiles brightly, but Mike notices that all of the sudden his best friend's body is shaking. It might just be the freezing weather in this shitty dimension, but Mike can’t help but think of something else it reminds him of.

Will.

Cold.

Will. Cold. 1984.

Will in a hospital bed. Mike carrying Will across the corridors, running for both of their lives.

The Mind Flayer.

Will’s nightmares he refuses to talk about.

Will hatred for the cold.

Mike takes off his jacket quickly, and walks toward his best friend to put it around Will’s shoulders. He looks at Mike as if he was going crazy. As if he wouldn’t do anything for Will if he had just asked.

He might be crazy actually, because now, even without the jacket, he isn’t cold. He should have felt like all the warmth had left his body. But instead of feeling cold, the Abyss’s frigid temperature just makes his arms feel numb. 

He turns away from Will.

Mike, for the love of God. FOCUS.

“Mike..?”  Will whispers, still shivering a bit.

He stops and turns his head.

“Thank you,” he says with a hint of relief when he pulls on Mike’s jacket, nuzzling into it.

Mike just shrugs.

“It’s no problem,” he says, trying to keep a neutral tone.

Why am I being a jerk again?

Why do I feel like I need to be a jerk again?

Why is it so hard to hide how I feel?

Why am I being so weird?

Mike turns around again and just keeps walking. They progress with no further incident and five minutes later, they start to hear mumbling voices.

They’re here. 

The others.

Mike sees Dustin first. He has wounds everywhere, but he seems okay physically. His eyes however, are red and empty, and his arms are wrapped pointlessly around his body.

El and Will outrun him, even though he wasn’t really moving. They both melt into Dustin's arms, crying. El keeps hugging Dustin while Will goes to hug his brother, Jonathan, quickly joined by Robin. Even Kali reaches for El.

But Mike doesn’t move. He is right in front of his friends after two of them had died and yet he had never felt so far away.

The clock.

Again.

He wants to leave, he wants to run. 

He itches to just run away and never look back.

“Michael, your time has almost come.”

He feels shivers running down his spine as he can FEEL Vecna’s breath ghost his ears.

“It’s almost their time too.”

go away. go away. Go away. Go away. GO AWAY.

Mike can still feel Henry’s presence.

GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

He can finally move his body again, but he struggles and only takes a few pitiful steps forward and out of the corner of his eye, he catches two people glancing at him. Steve’s sad stare, which is carrying a lot of pity and understanding, he’s watching from the rock he is sitting on, moving awkwardly like he doesn’t know if he is allowed to hug the others.

The second one is Nancy’s. She seems so tired, so sad, but most of all she seems so worried for him. Him, of all people. Mike is surprised she hasn’t stood up to hug him already. Or at least try.

And then he understands why.

Her right leg.

It’s in bad shape. It's a mess. Like really a mess. Her flesh is completely torn open, large chunks seem to be missing, and oh my god he can see the bone. Not to mention all the blood.

The blood he hasn’t stopped seeing all day.

And he feels the shield the paladin tried to use to protect his feelings start to shatter, but stays in place. Just for a moment.

Mike sprints toward his sister. He couldn’t stand there like a statue any longer.

His hands come up to grip Nancy’s shoulders.

“Oh my god! Nancy, are you okay! What happened?”

He can hear Will trying to hold back a gasp behind him while Nancy’s is about to respond with a weak small smile on her face, she’s opening her mouth about to respond but Mike is angry. He’s so angry, his sister’s leg is barely there and bleeding out and why isn't the wound even covered or… or cleaned? There is some unknown fluid in the wound and Mike really wants to throw up.

“Why didn’t you get your leg treated? Do you want to die in this place, Nancy!? You- “ he interrupts himself, feeling guilty as he notices that everyone else has gone silent.

What the fuck is wrong with him? 

“We had nothing else in our backpacks, Mike, other than a bunch of morphine. Look at everyone.” his sister says to him.

And he does.

He really looks this time. 

They’re all fucked up.

El and Kali are the only ones not physically wounded, but the search for Henry, the shooting, the kryptonite and everything else exhausted both of them. 

Will is still limping from the bullet hole in his leg he got less than an hour before. But he tries to hide it the best he can.

Jonathan has a bandage wrapped around his sides, blood seeping through. He’s the one who looks the most okay of all of them.

Robin has her left arm resting against her chest, a makeshift sling hanging around her neck with someone’s sweater, it looks like it might be Steve’s. The angle of her elbow seems a bit off but Mike doesn’t really want to think about it..

Steve’s arms are covered by little scrapes and bites, but he also has blood on one of his temples, as if he had hit his head very hard, which is likely the case.

Dustin has a cut on his thigh, which doesn’t look particularly deep or painful, but his eyes are empty, seeing things but not quite processing them.

The last time Mike saw him like that it was when he had just come back from California with Will and the others. Dustin and the rest of his team had just escaped the Upside Down, having to leave Eddie’s body back in that terrible place.

Mike dares to look at himself, his wound on the left arm doesn’t look good but it’s definitely not as bad as Robin’s broken arm, or Nancy’s leg. He can deal with it. The boy feels blood on his left cheek too from the broken window.

They really are fucked up.

Nancy can’t fight anymore, even if she obviously wants to. Robin can maybe, with the revolver Mike has in his backpack but she shouldn’t handle a gun with only one arm. Dustin doesn’t seem able to stand comfortable on his leg either, slightly wobbling when he tries to take a step.

Okay, let’s handle things correctly.

He kneels and takes his backpack off to grab some medical supplies and tries his best with Nancy’s leg.

“Okay… okay… um what’s the plan now?” he asks, still wrapping the bandage around Nancy’s mangled limb.

The silence says it all. Mike finishes bandaging his sister, looking briefly at her before he stands up to look at everyone.

“No plan? You guys don’t have another plan?” he asks too aggressively, looking back and forth to everyone and moving his arms in such a dramatic way.

Dustin gives up his numb facade and finally conveys an emotion, anger. He looks so angry at Mike.

“Sorry, it’s not like we have something more important to do than come up with a new plan. Like, you know, bury his BODY? His body that you seem to not give a single fuck about!”

Rude.

But true.

His sentence feels like a stab in Mike’s chest. But he hates to agree with Dustin. He really seems to not care at all.

But of course he does. 

How couldn’t he? 

How couldn’t he care about Lucas?

How could he forget their smiling ranger? Running into the woods with his bandana, hiding behind the trees to scare his friends. How could he forget the boy who shared his table with his family and the rest of a Party, laughing while eating his slice of pizza?

How could he forget the endless D&D campaigns, the screams of victory, the groans of defeat in Mike’s basement?

Movie nights? The times they all snuck in Starcourt’s Theatre? The times they sang “Never Ending Story” to annoy Dustin?

The same Dustin before him. Looking at Mike as if he doesn't know him anymore, like Mike was a stranger deserving all the anger, the hatred, and the pain Dustin needs to let out.

Mike should have calmed himself down.

But he’s been fucking broken for years.

He is so hurt.

He can’t do anything but snap back.

“Right!? You don’t want to make a new plan cause it’s not that important? Fine! We’ll go back to the Rightside Up and cry in our bedrooms for the rest of our lives! And if we survive this we’ll all kill ourselves in fifteen years or less anyway, the fact we gave up on this shit weighing on us until we inevitably die! Because WE let THEM die for NOTHING! That’s what you want, Dustin? Leaving all the kids in this place, giving Henry exactly what he wants?” 

Mike breathes heavily while Dustin looks at him, shocked, eyes wide-open. 

He clenches his fists and ends up continuing.

“You really want all of their deaths to be pointless?!” he screams. 

Dustin knows what’s coming next.

“Don’t you dare…” he spits venomously.

“Do you want Eddie’s death to be pointless!?” He spits back.

Dustin punches Mike right in the nose.

And for a split second, it’s not Dustin. But Eddie from his vision. 

For a split second, the anger is the same. The hatred is the same. 

And Mike is terrified. It was true. All the things Vecna showed him were true, and not caused by Vecna, just because of him. Just because of Mike, like always.

It’s always my fault

“God, I hate you, Mike! Why do you have to be such an asshole!” Dustin yells, hitting Mike’s jaw for a second time.

Mike’s body moves without thinking, punching Dustin's stomach and pushing him away causing his friend to double over in pain.

“Mike!” he hears his sister’s offended tone. 

He turns away.

“Shut the fuck up, Nancy!” he screams at her as Dustin hits him again. 

He’s about to punch again when someone grabs him by his injured arm and pushes him away from his friend. Steve is doing the same to Dustin who is struggling in his arms to get to Mike.

“I will fucking kill you, Wheeler! If Vecna doesn’t kill you first, I’ll do it!” Dustin says. Mike can’t see his face but he can tell he’s crying by the sound of his shaky voice.

Mike tries to escape the person who’s handling him, then he looks up and right into Jonathan's eyes. He is arching his eyebrows, more worried than angry. He grabs Mike’s shirt and pulls him back.

“What the hell happened, Mike?” he asks gently.

“I-I..!” He tries to scream but he gives up. “I don’t know…” he lets out weakly.

Jonathan sadly smiles at him.

“We’re gonna find a new plan, okay? We won’t leave Holly and the other kids here. We won’t give up on them. We need to stay strong for them, right?” 

Mike nods and swallows the lump in his throat, trying to hold back his tears. And it works.

“Do you…Do you want to see where he is?” Jonathan questions kindly.

He opens his mouth and the first time, no words come out. The second time, he succeeds in murmuring a feeble “sure.”

Jonathan puts a hand onto Mike’s shoulder guiding him, and they go past the others to go wherever it is they need to go.

He can feel everyone’s gazes on him, except for Dustin and Steve since they’re having their own conversation. 

He feels one stare, stronger than the others. More important.

Mike turns his head a bit, locking his stare onto Will’s glazed over eyes, his eyes are shiny and red and he looks more worried than he did earlier. 

Will definitely knows something is off about him.

I have to tell him.

He turns away, avoiding everyone else’s eye contact, especially Nancy’s. Mike is too ashamed to even look at his sister. He doesn’t deserve her kindness.

After a short few minutes of walking, they are in front of a bunch of freshly turned soil. Jonathan takes a few steps back to give him space.

It feels like all the blood had suddenly left his body.

Hearing about it is something, seeing it in the Evil Monster’s vision is another thing, but actually looking at the place they buried him, the place they buried Lucas, it’s so much harder.

Harder than anything he’s ever done.

“He told us that he loved us, all his friends. Unfortunately, you were included in his “close friends” speech.” Dustin teases, guilt underlying in his voice as he steps up next to Mike.

So Henry showed me Lucas’s real death?

“Did he…?” he whispers.

“Yes…it was painful.” Dustin answers, putting his left arm around Mike’s shoulder.

“Shit…” he pauses. ”Man, I'm so sorry, I shouldn’t have brought up Eddie, that wasn’t fair. I’m sorry.“ 

Dustin just shakes his head.

“No, Mike, I was in the wrong too. I shouldn’t have implied you didn’t care, I know you do. That was stupid, I'm sorry..”

“It’s fine, Dustin, really,” he said truthfully. Then again he would say that even if it wasn’t. The pain of what Dustin said is still lingering in his body, but he truly deserved it. Mike continues;  “Apologizing isn’t going to bring back the lives that were taken from us, or the lives we took. We need to think of a new plan and fight… fight until the end. For them.”

“For them…” Dustin pauses for a couple of seconds before continuing, ”and what about, Hop? Did he…?”

“Painful too, but he had the time to say everything he wanted to say. So, I guess it could’ve been worse? He also wanted to propose to Mrs. Byers...”  Mike answers.

“No shit… I think we all owe Mrs. Byers a big hug,” Dustin whispers.

“Yeah I th-” 

“-You guys do know my mom has a name, right?“ Will interrupts, putting his arms around both Mike’s and Dustin’s necks. “I really thought you guys were going to fight to the death.” 

“Sorry we scared you, Will, but everyone knows I would have won.” Dustin smiles.

“Hey!” Mike protests. As they all joke and laugh, Mike thinks that Lucas would be laughing too, wherever he is.

It’s now or never Mike thinks.

“Guys, I, um, I have something I need to tell you…” both of his friend’s playful demeanors disappear, instantly turning serious, both of their gazes snapping to look at him. Will’s grip on his neck softens a bit, making butterflies flutter in Mike's stomach, but he chooses to blame that feeling on his nervousness.

Go back to bed, butterflies, now is not the time. 

“I- I… god, this is hard. What I wanted to say is that Ve-”

“DEMOS ARE COMING!! EVERYONE NEEDS TO COME BACK LIKE, RIGHT NOW!” Robin screams.

Mike can’t be frustrated about what he didn’t get to say. Not in a life or death situation like this. He glances at his friends for a second before they all stand up and run quickly to join the others. He looks back one last time to where Lucas is buried. 

Goodbye Lucas. See you on the other side…

Everyone’s already there waiting, and Mike picks up his rifle he left on the ground with his backpack a few minutes ago, he takes the revolver too. He loads the guns and meets the others, looking out at a group of five demogorgons running toward them. 

They are still out of range. Steve takes Nancy’s gun, much to Nancy’s chagrin and aims at the demogorgons along with Jonathan, Dustin and Will. Mike takes an extra second and throws the revolver to Robin who grabs it with her only working arm.

“You only have six shots, Buckley. Give it back to me when you are finished and I'll reload it for you.” Mike states as he begins to aim for the Demos.

“Thanks, Wheeler.” she says, smiling a bit. “Let’s kill these motherfuckers.”

Oh, if only it was that simple.

When they start shooting at them, the monsters don’t falter. They don’t even slow.

Yes, the Demogorgons are always harder to beat than the demodogs and demobats, they’re definitely stronger than all of the other creatures. But this is not normal.

But Mike had already seen these types of Demogorgons before.

“They’re Mac-Z’d…” he mutters, whispering as he lowers his gun a bit.

Mac-Z’d is a pretty ridiculous word but everyone seems to understand what he’s trying to say. During the Mac-Z assault, the demos were far more resistant than they were before. They had all assumed that Vecna used his powers to make his monsters stronger temporarily.

They’re fucked. They no longer have molotovs or any fiery weapons to fight with.

They only have El and her powers, already lifting her hand trying as hard as she can to hurt the Demos running at them. Will has powers too, but ever since the WSQK incident when he was tortured by Vecna for what felt like years, forcing him to come out to everyone and oh it was so hard to see his best friend terrified like that, Will doesn’t really want to use his powers except in emergency situations, which Mike thought was pretty reasonable.

One of the demos fell, neck breaking slowing down the four others. El is breathing hard, sweating a lot, clearly exhausted. Even with Will’s help, both of them won’t be able to kill the four last monsters, and Mike and the others are pretty useless. 

But Dustin is Dustin, so he finds a solution.

“EL! Don’t attack the Demos one by one! Target their connection or link or whatever to Vecna! It’ll make them normal again and it’ll make them easier to kill!” he screams.

“I’ll help too!” Will says, several meters away from Mike. Too far for Mike to help him or cheer him on.

El nods, and enters a state of concentration that Mike had never seen before. Will takes a deep breath, lifts his arm, closes his eyes and does the same. 

The Demos are really, really close now. On them in less than ten seconds.

Mike aims again, closing one eye.

Nine.

He taps the trigger nervously.

Eight.

He’s sweating a lot, even starting to shake.

Seven.

Mike concentrates so hard he can’t hear anything else.

Six.

But he hears the “WE BROKE THE CONNECTION!” from Will, and that was enough.

Five.

A bullet storm rains on the demo heading their way. It dies in the same second.

Four.

Mike reloads his and Robin’s weapons while Will and El kill another, the demo falling to the ground.

Three.

Dustin's gun's jammed, instead of trying to fix it, he just decides to throw it on the ground and take a spear instead.

Two.

One of the creatures is targeting Jonathan and Steve.

One.

The other monster targets Dustin and Mike, and is already on them by the time they notice it.

They both dodge the demo’s claws but Dustin startles and loses his grip causing the spear to fly up in the air, and clang to the ground. The spear was now useless, stuck in the ground, split right down the middle. During the attack, Mike does the same as Dustin with his rifle when he sees that the monster is about to go for Dustin again. His friend is way too close, he won’t be able to dodge the hit, so Mike jumps up and pushes him out of the way.

The claws meet his right shoulder, digging through the flesh, creating three blood trails that drip down his arm. Mike screams as the slash on his shoulder releases a sharp pain, echoing in all of his limbs. He falls on the ground, the demo still way too fucking close. Mike crawls backwards as fast as possible, praying for someone’s help but they’re too focused on the other beast. Dustin still has no weapon and wouldn’t be able to get to Mike in time, he just knows it.

“MIKE, NO!!” Dustin yells as the Demogorgon stalks towards Mike to finish the job.

The others are looking too now.

But Mike doesn’t bother to look at them for what could be the last time, still scrambling backwards frantically, when his fingers graze against something cold.

Iron. The spear.

Mike clenches his fingers around it and rolls on his side dodging a second demo attack. He stands up and doesn’t hesitate to drive the spear, or what’s left of it, into the monster’s chest.

Mike takes out the spear quickly, tearing open the monster’s flesh, and takes a few long strides back while the Demo’s dark blood escapes from his large wound. It struggles to walk toward Mike, screaming in pain and attacking the air, stretching to reach its target. After one last roar, the monster collapses on the ground, dead.

Mike staggers, letting out an anxious quiet laugh, still not quite believing he’s okay.

There’s no way I survived that? 

Then he recognizes the silence and catches that the others might have killed the other Demo as he was about to die.

Dustin is the first one to arrive, looking at his shoulder.

“Damn, dude that looks pretty bad… but how the actual fuck did you just kill a Demo with a broken spear? I can’t be too mad because that was so badass but god, man, you could have killed yourself! Do you even know that- ?” Dustin rattles off about to cry, interrupted by someone taking Mike into a bone-crushing hug.

Will.

Of course it’s Will.

“Shit, Mike. For a moment I- I- thought you were going to-… I thought this was the end.” Will cries as he embraces Mike.

“It’s alright… I'm still here.” Mike answers, not knowing what else to say.

Will lets go and staggers a bit when he stands up, Mike having to stabilize him so he doesn’t fall.

“My powers… they’re just draining me a bit. I’m okay.” Will explains before Mike could worry any more.

He doesn’t have an explanation for why the powers are draining Will but he has no time to think about it once Robin arrives, an idea swirling around in her mind. She’s smiling giddily, looking like she knew something that the others did not.

“Nice job, Wheeler.” she says. “Oh, and! I might have an explanation…” she begins excitedly as the others make their way over to listen, Nancy being assisted by Kali. “We were never as close to the Hive Mind before, as we are right now. All the monsters and everything, it’s connected to something huge! So, Will, you need more energy to channel the Hive Mind’s powers. Just enough to be strong and use your powers to defeat the monsters, but not enough to let it corrupt or control you! Which means… we’re closer to the Hive Mind that we were before, so… the east was the right direction! Will, not only are you an antenna, but you’re  basically a compass!” she finishes.

Mike is still holding Will upright. He’s speechless. Robin’s speech actually made sense. And if what she said is true, they’re really close to physically finding the kids and Vecna, to end this once and for all.

“Of course it was east, I already called it.” Nancy teases, her eyes half closed. She’s never looked as tired as she does right now. Mike is so worried for her and he knows he needs to apologize for his earlier outburst, but now isn't the time. They need to find Holly and the kids first.

“What are we waiting for then? Let’s go!” Mike says.

He lets Will go and looks over at Kali as he walks toward her and his sister.

“I can help her, thank you.” he says.

Kali smiles at him when he puts his arm around Nancy’s waist. She uses Mike's shoulders, putting an arm around them, to help her walk.

Mike can’t say anything. He doesn’t even know where to begin. Even if he did know where to start,  he has no idea how to talk to her about Vecna, how to explain why he was being a moron, even if he already was a moron years before Vecna started sending him visions.

He should say that he’s sorry for talking to her like that, that he hopes her leg will be okay after they save the world, that he is happy to be with her right now, even if they are walking to their deaths.

They’re climbing a hill, they’ve been climbing this huge hill for a while. And now they’re beginning to see something weird in the sky. At the top of the hill, they all see a huge tree below. There’s a little entrance. Mike thinks this is where they will find the kids, it has to be. 

Dustin gasps.

“Guys… we are east, right?” 

“Yes, slightly south too.” El says, using her compass.

“It’s Henry Creel’s house.” Dustin says.

“What?” El asks, needing clarification.

“In the Rightside up, Creel’s house is east, slightly south from the antenna. And where are we?“

“We didn’t walk for that long.” Robin responds, skeptical.

“We went through a wormhole? The fabric of space-time might be different here. That’s why it seems to be a short distance, we are travelling farther than it looks. It’s really the only explanation for why we have such a huge tree in the middle of a black desert full of monsters. It also seems to be in the same direction as Creel House.” Dustin answers.

They all look at each other. nodding and tilting their heads with an “it-makes-sense” look.

“You’re a genius.” Steve says, impressed. “Vecna is there and the kids are too, they have to be!” 

“Let’s go, if we keep walking we’ll be down in a few minutes.” Jonathan states, looking around anxiously.

Mike really wants to tell Nancy now, he doesn’t know what’ll happen if he sees Vecna and he’s terrified.

And then, he senses it.

The cold is getting worse, the sounds are getting louder, and the atmosphere shifts.

Mike turns around as everyone keeps walking.

And he immediately wants to forget what he’s seeing.

A huge shadow, like two or three times bigger than the Starcourt Mall’s monster. Maybe more because he’s never been good with measurements. Yeah, no yeah, it’s definitely bigger. Way bigger.

The shadow has tentacles, somewhat resembling a spider, and it’s heading right for them.

Mike is horror-stricken by this- this thing. 

The thing Will drew in 1984 when he was possessed, the thing that ruined his best friend's life, all of their lives.

This thing Will probably sees every night in his nightmares.

“The Mind Flayer,” he whispers. Even though he’s quiet, everyone hears, and as they turn back to face Mike, they all notice it. It would be impossible for them not to.

“Run. He can’t fit in the tree.” Will says immediately.

And for the first couple of seconds, Will is the only one who can move, this was familiar to him, he was in this situation three years ago, he had told Mike everything that had happened. He knows what they have to do. He knows what the Mind Flayer can do, and Mike knows too.

Will is looking at everyone, eyes wide-open.

“I SAID RUN! YOU NEED TO RUN!!“ he screams.

Hearing this, Mike finally kicks into gear. He holds Nancy tighter and starts running to the best of his ability. Will comes to Nancy’s other side to help him. The others are already far away, which is good news, at least some of them will make it.

Run, run, run, get out, get out, GET OUT.

He and Will have always been in sync and this was no different. They carry Nancy down the hill swiftly. A hundred meters remaining, Mike swallows the lump in his throat, they’re going to do it, the others are already safe inside, cheering on the three of them.

He makes the mistake of turning around, and sees that the Mind Flayer is almost on them, red lightning striking around it. He could feel the cold in his soul, he’s freezing without his jacket. Any other time, the terror he’s feeling would’ve had him frozen in place. But with Will’s beside him and Nancy, and the other’s cheers, Mike keeps going as fast as possible, dragging Nancy. Both of them are practically carrying her at this point, her feet rarely touching the ground. 

So close. Fifty meters or less, almost at the bottom of the hill, but the Shadow Monster is way closer to them then they are to the exit door.

So close.

But Nancy’s injured leg, suspended in the air almost the whole time between now and the beginning of their escape, suddenly hits the ground, making the trio lose their balance. Will and Mike stay on their feet but Nancy falls to the ground, screaming. She is only several meters behind them, but so is the Mind Flayer. Mike can feel its frigid breath even if the monster, even if the monster doesn’t have a mouth, Mike can feel the cold surrounding the shadow monster. Mike is about to sprint towards Nancy to pick her up again. She is looking at Will, a smile on her face.

A sad smile.

A resigned smile.

A “Leave me here and go save your own asses” smile.

A goodbye smile.

He takes the first step toward his sister but Will stops him and pushes him in the opposite direction, to the exit, to the others. 

“Will. Let me go.” he whispers.

His best friend doesn’t answer, still dragging him away from his sister. He doesn’t want to let go. Mike struggles in Will’s arms but he is too weak, his injured arm and shoulder preventing him from having a full range of motion. Will is too strong. 

He can only try again, and again. All he can do is watch.

Mike pushes against Will with all his strength, just as he meets Nancy’s glance.

“I love you” she mouths.

And he can see all her love she has for him in her eyes.

She is a good sister, the best older sister in the world.

And Mike told her to shut up while she was bleeding out.

And never got to apologize.

Mike is so angry. This isn’t fair.

“LET ME GO! LET ME GO, PLEASE!” He begs Will, everyone and anyone listening to him, his right arm reaching out for Nancy, like he’d be able to reach her.

If he listened, he might have heard Will sobbing, but Mike’s attention is on Nancy. Nancy who is about to be killed by the Mind Flayer.

“NANCE! PLEASE! WILL, LET ME GO PLEASE!” he screams again, the lump in his throat not allowing him to breathe properly.

The Mind Flayer is above Nancy now. Its shadow tentacles go down slowly nearing Nancy’s body.

She is still smiling at him when Mike finally pushes Will out of the way, but before he can run to Nancy, a second pair of hands grab Mike by the waist and start dragging him towards the tree.

“NANCY!! I’M SORRY! I’M SO, SO SORRY!“ Mike screams again and again and again, his vocal cords aching while the first tentacle wraps around Nancy’s body, surrounding her neck.

“NO! NO, NO, NO!” he breaks, his voice not even recognizable, just a scream of pure suffering, of pure despair, as the other tentacles grab at Nancy’s limbs.

It isn’t quick or painless. He can hear Nancy’s agonizing screams echoing in his mind as the tentacles slowly tore her apart limb by limb, breaking all her bones. 

Her eyes were full of pain but her look stayed soft when she was looking at Mike.

“I’m sorry…I love you so much…” he whispers while the two people holding him push him inside the tree.

He was safe. But his sister… his sister…his sister was…

A deafening crack, and a final scream, louder, almost deafening, and somehow even more excruciating than the others.

And then. Nothing else.

Just the loud sound the corpse makes when it hits the ground.

He can’t breath, he can’t breath, he can’t breath, he can’t br-

A scream comes out of his throat, a ”no“ distorted and garbled by the lack of air in Mike’s lungs.

Mike doesn’t cry. He doesn’t have the strength for it.

I could have done something.

He can’t breath.

He can’t see.

He can’t hear.

The only thing he can feel are the hands supporting him.

And maybe some fragments of conversation.

“…ike…Mik…at…me” he hears someone say nearby.

“shit…Nancy…” and “kids… Abyss…tunnels… same as Hawkins.” both by people in the background.

Mike is standing in the middle of the place, someone’s shaking him.

“..-REATH…!” Once.

“-IKE… BREAT-..!” Twice.

And the third time was better. He could actually hear what the person was saying this time.

“MIKE! BREATHE!” a panicked voice screams.

He inhales, and oh god, air has never felt so good.

“Good.. yes you’re alright, Mike, do it again. You’re okay.” the person - Will ? - says to him. 

Mike still can’t see anything other than blobs of color around him, but he can tell that Will is crying. And he’s not the only one. He hears sobs echoing around the room.

He exhales and inhales one more time, his vision clearer now, and Will’s eyes are locked into his. His best friend lets out a sound of relief as he hugs him, wrapping his arms around his back. Mike doesn’t move.

“Why didn’t you let me go…?” he whispers.

“Because I didn't want to lose you, Mike. I'm sorry.” Will responds, breaking the hug.

Mike is livid.

“Why didn’t you let me save my sister?” he says, a hint of resentment in his tone.

“You would have died!” Will says, trying to defend himself, not understanding Mike’s behavior.

He doesn’t understand himself either when he snaps, pushing Will away with both hands.

“Why couldn’t you just let me die?!” 

The words came out true. Too true. Will’s glance is a mix of sadness, fear, pain and- and love.

Why love?

Because who really loves Mike? There was Nancy, his kind and loving older sister, but Mike killed her. He let her die. 

And yes, there’s Will too. He knows Will loves him, because it’s Will, his best friend since childhood, but Will shouldn't love him.

Mike is making mistake after mistake, killing everyone around him. Causing immeasurable pain. 

How could all of them possibly want him to live? How? 

He doesn’t say anything else, just rests his back on a wall - wooden maybe? - and he sits down, rolling into a ball. Mike tries so hard to hold back his tears but he can’t do it anymore. He hides his face in his knees, and the tears flowing.

He struggles to breathe again, shaking more and more as the seconds pass.

He pushed Will. He snapped at Will, just for trying to keep him alive.

What the fuck is wrong with him? 

He let Nancy-… he let Nancy die. He didn’t even apologize to her for being the worst brother in the world.

He didn’t do anything when Hopper died either.

And- and same for Lucas.

Same for Eddie. And for Chrissy, even if he didn’t really know her.

Same for Billy.

Same for Bob.

Same for Will.

Will said he was the heart leading the Party.

Mike’s only leading the Party to the death.

He had been leading them to their death for years.

And they paid a high price.

Who is next on the list now?

Mike hopes and prays that it’s him. He can’t lose another friend. He can’t carry more guilt, the weight is already so fucking heavy.

He can’t do anything but sob, shake, and try to catch his breath.

He doesn’t hear anything. The noises are suppressed, muffled, like Mike was underwater, the noise is getting quieter, before it all turns silent.

Mike feels something is off but he doesn’t lift his head.

Then, the silence breaks because of rain drops hitting the soil and the distant thunder.

Rain?

Mike can feel the water drops hit his body.

And finally he lifts his head.

He’s not in the Abyss anymore. He’s- He’s home? Outside of his garage. During a storm. 

What?

He hears quick footsteps and voices he knows way too well.

It’s the summer of 1985.

“Will! Come on man!”

tick

tock

tick

tock

All his blood leaves his face as he understands.

Vecna.

“Your time has come, Michael,” the deep voice says inside of his mind.

So why is he in this memory? Why THIS one specifically?

Mike assumes Vecna won’t stop there.

There’s no way he would stop there.

So he tries to brace himself, prepare himself for what's coming, even though he knows it’ll be useless.

After all, wasn’t this what Mike asked for?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Will stays frozen for a moment after Mike pushes him away. 

Mike is rolled up into a ball, face hidden in his arms and his knees, most definitely crying. After a few minutes Will finally feels like he can move again and starts walking toward Mike, someone grabs his wrist.

He turns around to see Robin giving him a painful smile.

“Hey, leave him alone for a second, Will. I know you want to be around him and that you want to help, but… he needs to think about… about…this, by himself you know? He needs a couple of minutes to process.” she says softly, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Will looks at the floor, feeling defeated.

“Yeah you might be right, Robin…” he pauses. “Do you- do you think we can still do this..?” He whispers.

“Yeah, I think we can, we have t-” she begins and immediately gets cut off.

“Guys! You’ll never believe what we found in this tunnel!” Dustin interrupts. 

Yeah, the tunnels, he forgot about those. The tree is really big, all of the Party can be in it without getting stuck  - and by all of the Party, Will really does mean everyone, even the members they… they lost on the way - and there’s a hole, a tunnel entrance near the back of the tree, which Dustin seems to have explored with Steve.

Everyone is looking at Dustin. Except Mike who is still on the ground, and Steve who followed Dustin in the tunnels.

And then he hears them.

Voices.

Kid’s voices.

“There’s no fucking way…” Will mutters

He was wrong, there were eleven traumatized kids in the tree. The last kid is Holly, unconscious, in Steve’s arms. Will is speechless, about to wake up Mike, but he stops himself.

I don’t think seeing his sister unconscious will help him…

“We need to bring them back to the Rightside Up, to at least stop the worlds from merging together, because we didn’t see anything like Vecna in the tunnel where the kids were. They’re obviously the same tunnel network as Hawkins ones. I know them by heart. Say thank you, Steve” Dustin states, interrupting Will’s thoughts.

“Thanks.” Steve grumbles. “But we still need to find Vecna! To kill him! Because he and the- the scary shadow monster will find a way to come back if we let them live.”

“What if we split up?” Robin proposes. “Some of us stay here and try to find Vecna, the others bring the kids home safely and make the bridge blow up an hour after, if the first team is still there, or not.”

“I’ll make the kids invisible.” Kali says.

Dustin points a finger at Robin.

“Exactly! Our MAIN goal is to bring back the kids home and stop Vecna’s plan, and then the other team will kill Vecna and whatever this shadow monster is and that’s it! I’ll go with the kids, to protect them because I assume the demos won’t stay at the surface and to guide everyone.” Now, Dustin is looking at El.

Her glance flits between Dustin, and Mike, who is still motionless, like she doesn’t know which side to choose. And El’s glaze locks onto Will’s. She closes her eyes and opens them in a look of concern.

“You will protect him, right?” she asks softly.

Will takes her in a hug, whispering to her.

“I’d give my life for him, El.”

She laughs and sobs at the same time.

“I don’t want you to die either, idiot.” she responds, tightening her grip around Will’s shoulders.

Behind them, all the kids are glued to Dustin.

“Dustin? What does the Shadow Monster look like?” Derek asks while pulling Dustin’s shirt to get his attention.

All the kids repeat the same question and Dustin is slightly confused.

El laughs a bit, breaking the hug with Will and walks over to all the kids.

“You don’t want to see it. He’s a very scary monster.” she explains to all the children, who are now focused on their new interlocutor.

“Scarier than Henry?” a brunette girl asks quietly while hiding behind one of her friends.

El sighs, “Yes, even scarier than Henry… But…” she reassures all the kids “…I’ll be here to protect you all while we bring you home.” and now she looks at Will, a bit lost.

He nods at his sister.

You made a good choice.

“I’ll complete the team, I’ll go with you.” His brother says. Jonathan stayed silent for the majority of the conversation, he looked tired, absolutely destroyed. 

And just then, Will reremembers what happened. Nancy, his brother's lover, had died.

Jonathan had just lost the love of his life.

And never looked so determined, even with this tiredness in his eyes. His eyebrows are arched, his shoulders are tensed and he lifts his head, ready to fight. Steve comes up next to him, still holding Holly in his arms.

”Are you sure, man?” There's no doubt in Steve’s voice, he knows Jonathan can bring the children home. He just wants to know if it’s a thought through decision.

Jonathan nods to him.

“The only thing I can still do for her is to accomplish her goal, make sure her sister gets home safe. I’ll carry Holly.” Steve smiles as he carefully passes the little girl into Will’s brother's arms. He pauses, looking at Steve. “I trust you to handle him. I couldn’t.” Jonathan says, looking at Mike.

“Yeah, I will. Don't worry, Byers.” Steve pats Jonathan on his shoulder. “We’ll make it through this.”

Jonathan smiles a bit, and Will comes up to him, getting a little black box from his pocket.

“Hey Jon… Hopper wanted to…to give this to mom.” Will hands the box to his brother, surprised. “Maybe you know… I… I… won’t be able to give this to her because-”

“No. You’ll be able to give it to her yourself, Buddy." He smiles gently. “Right ?”

“Yeah…” he whispers, slipping the box back into his pocket. Agreeing even though he isn’t really convinced by his brother’s words.

“I would have hugged you but I'm kind of busy here.” Jonathan teases, slightly bouncing Holly.

Will laughs a bit. Jonathan really is the best brother in the entire world.

The kids start getting excited, too excited.

So they speed things up, like they weren’t already rushing.

“Okay, so! Two teams of four, and in ours, the three of us already confronted Vecna. Even if my left arm is fucked up, my experience may be useful.” Robin says.

“Yup!” Dustin says. “Ready to go?” 

“Ready.” El and Kali say at the same time, looking at each other, surrounded by a herd of children.

“Ready.” Jonathan answers, eyes darker than usual.

“We’ll kick Vecna’s ass for y’all.” Steve says.

“Yeah for sure.” Robin adds.

“I’m ready to kill this bastard.” Will spits. 

Mike stays uncharacteristically silent.

Will has a really bad feeling. Something is off.

As the children and the rest of the team are about to go, Will calls out.

“Wait!” he yells, causing everyone to look back at him.

“We need a backup plan, in case we don’t find Vecna and if we don’t report anything through our walkies. You guys need to make the bridge collapse, even if it means blocking us here in the Abyss.”

Why the fuck did he say this? He just proposed to sacrifice Robin’s, Steve’s and - oh god - Mike’s life.

“I agree.” Robin says immediately. “And I think I already suggested this but okay.” she whispers at herself.

“One hour of no contact, with Vecna still alive obviously, and you tell Murray to blow up the Upside Down.” Steve says decidedly right after.

Dustin and the others look at each other.

“It’ll slow him down if you don’t find him. It’s a good backup plan.” Dustin agrees, reluctantly.

“Yeah, but it’s a BACKUP plan. We won’t need it.” Jonathan says.

“I agree too.” El declares, even though she obviously doesn’t like the idea.

Kali just nods.

“Don’t get yourselves killed.” she says.

And they share, what could be, their last goodbyes.

Two minutes later there are no longer twenty people in the tree, but just four, with Mike still motionless on the ground.

It’s been a while now since Mike has moved. Will and Robin are really worried and they decide to try to wake him up while Steve reloads all the weapons.

“Wheeler you are in there?” Robin asks, a hint of humor in her voice, putting a hand on Mike's unwounded shoulder.

He doesn’t react.

Will decides to keep his distance after the argument that happened a while ago knowing that Mike probably doesn’t want to see him.

“Mike?” he questions, concerned about his friend.

Still silent. Robin and Will look at each other. Steve is looking too, seeming just as worried.

And then Mike moves, but not in the way they expected too. It was a sudden movement, his head lifting up causing him to groan in pain, hitting hard the tree’s trunk, his arms falling down by his sides. Robin flinches, not anticipating the jerky maneuvers.

It takes a while for Will to process.

To understand that Mike’s nose is bleeding, that he is convulsing, and that his eyes are all white and rolled back.

Will gasps, quickly kneeling next to him.

“MIKE?!” 

“WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING TO HIM?” Steve yells

“VECNA GOT HIM! OH SHIT, SHIT, SHIT. WE DON’T HAVE MUSIC! WE NEED MUSIC!” Robin yells back in total panic.

Will is only focused on Mike.

“Mike, listen to me, I'm here, you’re safe. Come back to us, he’s lying to you, he shows you horrible things and he distorts reality, don’t listen to him, it’s not real. Just come back to us.”  he says.

But Mike doesn’t respond.

“COME ON! COME BACK, PLEASE! I NEED YOU!” Will breaks, tearing up.

He is going to lose Mike, all because of his lack of attention.

All the signs were there. Nightmares, zoning out, hearing sounds no one else  hears, nose bleeds. 

And Will still didn’t catch it.

He’s going to die because of me

Because of me, because of me because of-

Steve interrupts Will train of thought, speaking quickly,

“Will, you’re closer than you ever were to the Hive Mind or whatever. So if I’m understanding this right, you might be able to use your powers to get in his mind and bring him back! Like El did with Max?” Steve proposes. 

“It has to work.” Robin answers.

It has to

Will doesn’t say anything, he just takes Mike’s left hand and starts to focus.

He doesn’t feel anything in the beginning, and then he feels like being vacuumed out of his body.

Will feels rain drops on his clothing before he opens his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once he wakes, Mike stands up. He starts walking towards young Mike and young Will arguing. Each step slower and more hesitant than the previous one,

His shoes are splashing in puddles, his hair soaked by the rain, he blinks every second, looking around, searching for any sign of danger, any sign of Vecna. He’s definitely here, but not visible.

Mike arrives in front of his garage entrance, too late to listen to the whole argument but there just in time to hear the last few words.

The worst ones.

“… with some stupid girl!” Will screams, making large movements with his arms to show his annoyance, his anger. His eyes are glassy too, holding in tears.

Young Mike responds immediately.

“El’s not stupid!” he snaps, and then, he says it. The sentence he’ll regret for the rest of his life.

“It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!”

Wow. It’s weird hearing these words from an outside perspective.

He already knew, even as a kid, that these words were mean. He was being cruel to Will. That’s why he apologized a few instants later, but Mike doesn’t listen to the rest.

Hearing the words he said now. It’s something different. He knows now that Will likes boys, that he is “different” as he said. And young Mike just threw those words right into his face like it was nothing.

Mike wants to throw up at Will’s reaction. A shocked glance on his face, his eyes more glassy than before, not moving his arms anymore. Just trying to catch his breath like Mike’s words had shot him in the chest, which isn’t really that far from reality.

He stays outside, freezing from the cold rain. The distant thunder’s noise makes the scene more dramatic as Will takes his bike and leaves both Mike’s looking at him pedal away.

“Will! C'mon!” Younger Mike says, grumbling in exasperation at himself. 

Mike waits a few minutes, looking at the road Will took and he finally heads down his basement to join Lucas.

Mike remembers he had told him everything about their fight, and Lucas insisted on following him on his bike, back to Will’s house.

Lucas.

He holds in his tears and tries to breathe slowly.

Mike has the feeling he ruined everything. He ruined the Party, he ruined his friendship and relationship with El, even if their relationship was bound to fail. He ruined his relationship with Will. And the plan HE came up with fucked up so bad that one of his best friends had died. Hopper, the adoptive father of El, and his best friend died.

His sister had died because of him.

He closes his eyes, his knees buckling as he falls into the rain puddles, hands over his mouth to stifle his cries.

They were always here for him. Lucas was a good friend, one of the best friends he could have ever had, the type of friend Mike didn’t deserve. What did Mike do for him in return? 

Nothing.

Hopper had saved Will’s life, it’s because of him that Mike can still see Will’s face. He brought him back from the Upside Down, risking his own life to save his best friend, whom Mike wasn’t able to protect at all. And what did Mike do? He mocked him, despised him.

And Nancy. His sister. His beloved older sister who saved the Party more than once. Nancy fucking Wheeler who shot Vecna in the face. But also Nancy who hugged Mike as long as he wanted her to when they found Will’s body. Nancy, who always reached for him, told him he could talk to her about anything. He pushed her away, just like he always did. And now she’s not here anymore.

Mike will never be able to apologize for his behavior, and will never again be able to feel her warmth during their long hugs.

He only hopes that Vecna will just do it and get this over with quickly.

But he doubts it when he reopens his eyes and sees that he’s in the woods.

After a second glance, he realizes this was a place he knew well, not just some random forest like he initially thought. He was in the woods around Castle Byers, Mike knows every tree, every rock, every leaf on the ground. It’s not his home, but he knows his way around.

Mike’s blood runs cold when he hears someone sobbing in the Castle.

It’s Will. Mike can tell by the sound of his cries.

He stands up and looks inside as fast as he can.

Will holds the picture with the party dressed in GhostBusters costumes. The day Trick or Treat that didn’t happen like it was supposed to. His hands are shaking, tears flowing down Will’s cheeks, looking at the picture. 

And then, Will snaps.

“Bullshit.” he spits, tearing the picture in half. After he tears the one, it’s like he can’t stop. He does the same with his own drawings.

Mike is speechless. It’s still raining and Will wears the same clothes as he was at their previous fight.

I caused this.

It was so painful to watch, Will grabbing a baseball bat and hitting the Castle again and again, breaking his own sanctuary.

Mike came back several times to Castle Byers when Will moved to California, to… he doesn’t know why. 

And he had always wondered what happened when he saw the wood planks broken. Especially that night in 1985 when found Will under the pouring rain next to Castle Byers, which was destroyed. He would have never guessed it was Will who did that right after… after this fight.

He should have guessed because Will’s reaction was completely warranted.

Mike is such a fucking idiot.

I guess I always was.

Mike’s knees feel weak when he sees little Will screaming, throwing the baseball bat on the ground and standing all alone under the downpour, wiping his tears away angrily before he gives a look to Mike, as mean as he could muster, and runs away.

“Will! Wait!” Mike screams even though he knows Will won’t turn back.

He starts to follow his best friend deeper into the woods, but he slips on the wet leaves and falls to the ground. He stays laid on the soil for a few seconds, breathless. It’s no longer raining but the ground is still wet. Mike pushes himself up on the mud with his hands to stand. 

Just to discover Will’s body in front of him, dragged up by policemen. He quickly backs up, tripping on something again and falling on his back.

He looks away.

He can’t look at Will’s pale little body, deprived of all life, waterlogged and motionless for eternity. He can’t do this.

”You know Michael, I should have taken you that night. I thought Will was the weakest one but I was wrong. You were.”

Mike’s glance catches on his younger self, hiding behind a firetruck, eyes wide and mouth half opened.

“It’s Will…” Lucas whispers, shocked.

“It can’t be Will.” little Mike answers immediately, but his shoulders rise slowly with the rhythm of his breaths. Slowly, as the realisation starts to kick in. He quickly snaps at everyone and runs away.

Mike runs away, just like he always did. 

Mike ran away from his best friend's “death.”

Like he ran away from all the feelings he had buried all these years.

And he is going to pay the high-price.

“Finally, you understand, Micheal. Don’t worry, this is only the beginning.”

Vecna’s low pitched voice echoes painfully in his mind.

The second after Mike is in the Upside Down. Little Will is there, the shadow monster too and- 

Oh.

Mike is still laying on the ground but he feels like he’s falling again when he hears Will painful and fearful gasps, when he actually sees what this thing did to Will. He wants to look away again but his neck is stuck, his eyes forced to look directly at the scene before him.

The Monster’s shadow is going right into Will’s throat, strangling him from the inside.

He can’t help but stay transfixed, still speechless at the sight.

This atrocity did the same thing to-

And Will is replaced by Nancy.

It’s too soon, the wound is still bleeding. It hurts too much.

The memory is so raw.

Mike can’t process anything but his sister’s final screams and cries for help. Help he couldn’t provide.

And he gets what Vecna is trying to do. With all of his, or Vecna victims', memories. It’s not linear, it’s not chronological.

He can’t prepare, he can’t brace himself for the next one. He’s stabbed harder every time a new memory overwhelms him.

Henry wants to tear him apart, to destroy anything that’s still intact inside him.

Mike stands up anyway, gathering all of his remaining courage.

Until Vecna shows up, and he’s terrifying, his blue eyes looking angrily into Mike’s.

He takes a few steps back.

“I’m not going to kill you now, Wheeler. Not before your guilt consumes you.” he says, as he stalks closer and closer.

And the scene changes again, he finds a really young Mike, not even ten years old, covering his ears and resting his back against his bed. He’s crying and at first Mike doesn’t remember. And then he hears the voices, the screams, coming from downstairs.

“How can you just be okay with that, Karen!?” Ted Wheeler screams so loudly that Mike could hear him, it was as if he was right behind his bedroom door.

“Okay with what? Huh?” she responds even more angry. “Okay with my dear and only son hanging out with his best friend? Yes I am, of COURSE I’m okay with that!”

“But, his best friend is… he’s…” Ted whispers now, like what he’s about to say is illegal, forbidden. “He’s Will. You know what Lonnie said about him.” 

Karen laughs hysterically, there's no doubt she’s drunk. 

“Do you agree with a ”father“ who insults and hits his own child because he MIGHT be different?” she spits, putting an emphasis on the word father. “You are an idiot, Ted.”

“He’ll make our son sick!” Ted screams again, now more aggressively.

“Sick from what! Happiness? Because that is the only thing I see in Mike’s eyes when he’s with Will! So go for it, think whatever you want, but if you speak like that about our son and his best friend again I'll kick you out!” Karen threatens, but she softens when she hears a baby, Holly, crying upstairs. “I hope that was clear enough for you. Never talk about this shit again, especially with Mike.” She doesn’t seem to wait for an answer because Mike hears footsteps in the stairs.

He had forgotten this night. 

Or more like he buried the memory.

And he wished it could have stayed six feet under.

The steps stop in front of Mike’s door, hesitant, but his mom doesn’t open the door and continues walking toward Holly’s room.

Young Mike is still crying on his knees, slowly uncovering his ears. A door opens somewhere in the corridor, he hears soft footsteps in the corridor and this time Mike’s door opens. 

He quickly wipes his tears, but his eyes are red and he’s sniffing loudly when a young Nancy sneaks into the room. 

She looks at Mike with a soft smile and reaches out her hand to him. Young Mike hesitates a quick second and takes her hand to stand up. He melts immediately in her arms.

Mike is spectating this, he doesn’t have any energy remaining to think properly.

“She was a good sister.” Vecna says behind him, his guttural voice shattering the intimacy of the memory into a million pieces. “But you have always been a bad brother, and a bad son,” he states. “Your parents argued because of YOU, Michael. And I know you feel guilty about it, you can’t hide anything from me.”

And a flash of painful memories enter his mind.

All the times he was mean to Nancy, annoying her about Steve, stealing her money she needed, telling her to shut up. Nancy dying, again. His mother smiling at him, telling him he could talk to her about anything, and him not ever taking her up on the offer, and then Karen Wheeler laying on the kitchen floor, resting in her own blood, half killed by a demogorgon. His father looking angrily at him, “You know what happens Mike”, and him flying through a wall because of the same monster. 

And Holly, covered by their own mother’s blood, screaming while being dragged by the demo into the Upside Down. His little sister yelled for somebody, anybody, and Mike wasn’t there.

His family, that he wasn’t there to protect.

“You are selfish, Michael, using others only for your own benefits. And you know exactly who I'm talking about.” Vecna says again, keeping his distance and Mike doesn’t dare to look at him, he looks at his feet instead.

Because yes he knows, he really knows. How could he forget?

He is facing a crying El, holding the letters he sent her.

“But you don’t love me anymore?”

“Who… who said that I didn’t?” And Mike would have shaken his younger self if he wasn’t numb because there is no way he had lied to El this whole time and actually said this.

“You never say it!” she snaps.

“I say it.” Mike says, arching his eyebrows, confused.

“You can’t even write it, Mike!." She holds the letters tighter, crumpling them and throws each of them in the air, across the room, even onto Mike himself. “From, Mike! From, Mike! From, Mike! From, Mike! From, from, fro-”

The memory slips.

“What did you do?” Mike asks, truly mortified by Angela’s bloody and bashed face.

He slips again.

“She didn’t look fine.” he says, eating nonchalantly, avoiding El storming out and Will’s angry look.

Oh god, he hates it so much when Will looks at him that way.

It’s another memory again. This mental gymnastics, or whatever this is, is really exhausting, so Mike stops noting every memory shift.

“I love you!” he says, kneeling in front of the improvised bathtub.

But it sounds weird. With Will looking at him, El on the edge of death. It’s not love in his voice, only fear and despair. It doesn’t sound like a confession, it sounds more like a hopeless attempt to change the course of events, and El knew it.

It wasn’t like the “I love you” speech actually helped her.

He is in Will’s house now, before the Byers Family moved away. When El kissed him and he stayed motionless, didn’t reciprocate.

That’s the moment Mike realized he never was in love with El. 

He loves her, of course, but more like a best friend, a sister. He didn’t love her like he was supposed to do, he didn’t love her like he loves Wi-.

He cuts off that train of thought.

He knew it for such a long time and did nothing, being the coward he is, letting El waste her precious time with him.

That’s why she broke up with him a few weeks after they came back to Hawkins, after they “killed” Vecna. It was a quick talk, a couple of hours before their first crawl. They were on the WSQK rooftop, Robin and Steve freshly employed there a couple days ago. 

And it was not easy.

“We just- we can’t go on like this, Mike! Not any longer.” she snaps, doing large arms movements, walking anxiously in circles.

Mike was sitting on the rooftop, not daring to look her in the eyes, keeping his gaze on his feet.

“Look at you! I- God, you don’t even care, Mike!” she yells, arching her eyebrows and holding back her tears.

He looks up at her, guilty.

“I care El, I always did!” he responds, with full honesty.

“But you didn’t love me, right? You never loved me like you should have.” she says, calmer but frustrated and hurt.

Mike swallows the lump in his throat.

“No…I didn’t…” he admits so quietly that at first, he thinks El won’t hear him.

But she does.

She chokes back a sob, nods at Mike and turns away.

“I knew it.”

Mike stands up, trying to reach for her hand, but she brushes him off.

“I need time, Mike. We are still friends and I really care for you. But you used me… even if you didn’t even know it. It’s over.” she states.

He doesn’t respond with anything, because she is right, of course she is. Mike doesn’t move while El is leaving the rooftop. But she says something else before disappearing down the staircase.

“I wish you could’ve loved me like you love him.”

And she closes the door at the same time as the memory fades away. For a moment, Mike thinks it’s finally over. 

So naive of him.

I was the worst friend to El, she didn’t deserve that. I didn’t deserve her. I don’t deserve anyone.

And Henry must've read his thoughts.

“And you really didn’t do better with your other friends… with Will.” Vecna teases, closer to Mike this time. “If I'm being honest with you, what you did to him was even worse.” He could feel his hot breath on the back of his neck, making his skin crawl.

The memories come faster this time.

Young Mike and Lucas fighting at the old junkyard. Pushing and snapping  at each other like they were strangers.

Like they didn’t share a table their whole childhood.

And Mike was the one in the wrong, as he always is. 

Now he pushes Max away because she can’t be a part of the Party. Being mean to her during that Halloween Night while all the boys wore their matching costumes.

He ruined that night, with Will’s panic attack in addition.

And later in the gymnasium searching for Dart, Mike crossing his arms, side eyeing Max skateboarding around him.

Then it’s an angry Dustin, only from a few hours before now.

“Like, you know, bury his BODY? His body that you seem to not give a single fuck about!”

And they fight. Because of him.

This memory quickly fades away.

Rink O Mania, in California.

Will looks at him like he is a stranger, no, worse, like he doesn’t understand him anymore.

“You made it super clear you’re not interested in anything I have to say!”

And oh yes, Mike was, is, so interested in anything Will has to say. Absolutely anything. He could talk about movies, video games, D&D, his paintings, even the fucking weather, and Mike would always be interested in Will and all the things he loves talk about.

But he behaved so badly that he somehow gave that impression. Barely hugging your best friend at the airport, especially after not seeing him for almost a year, isn't good behavior.

And he knows why he didn’t hug Will, but no one else did.

Because Mike thought Will had made friends in California, he thought he didn't have a place in Will’s life anymore, at least not his previous place as Will’s best friend. And being more than a best friend was even more unlikely. He had never felt so alone when Will left Hawkins.

But Will was more alone than him, and he wasn’t even there for Will. He didn’t act like a good friend, he didn’t act like a friend at all.

A short memory kicks in. Mike is looking back at the Byers’s house after they moved away. 

Will's voice is echoing.

“You called maybe a couple times. It’s been a year, Mike!”

Yeah, he really fucked that up.

The memory quickly switches with another one.

In Argyle’s pizza van. After Will had given him that beautiful painting.

He’s crying, avoiding Mike’s eye contact, looking at the window trying to hide his tears.

Mike didn’t know.

He didn’t know Will cried, he was too focused with the painting to notice.

He wants to bury himself alive. It’s such a shame.

Mike is crying, knees feeling weak. He might not survive through the next memories.

The next one doesn’t even stay for five seconds, but it’s still painful.

Mike pushing Will.

Mike being physically aggressive with Will for the first time of his life. It was right after Nancy’s death, but it’s not an excuse.

He was physically aggressive with Will.

William Byers, the most selfless person in the whole world, the most wonderful person he knows. Maybe even the most wonderful person to ever exist.

What the fuck is wrong with me? What is WRONG with me?

“The thing that is wrong is that you try to assume roles you can’t bear, Michael. You can’t even be a proper boyfriend, a proper friend.” Vecna says. “And you wanted to assume a leader’s role? A protector’s role?”

He holds a long pause.

“And you failed those too.”

All of the next memories are mixed.

Yet somehow, all the guilt is multiplied by a thousand.

Dustin with a bloody face, calling out that he had fallen off his bike. But Mike knows it was because of Andy and the rest of the bullies. But what did he do? Nothing. And where was he? Not there. 

Eddie’s body being held carefully by a broken and sobbing Dustin. In the middle of the Upside Down. His eyes, stuck looking up at the Upside Down’s sky, will never look away, fixed into a tragic contemplation. Blood everywhere on his body, on his face. A face that was also covered in sweat, dirt, and tears.

He looks so calm, and that alone is heartbreaking.

Hopper’s death that Mike wasn’t even allowed to watch, only catching the words and the sound of his last few breaths that slowly faded away. He remembers the leather of the steering wheel under his nails because of how much he tightened his grip. He remembers the burning sensation the tears made when it touched the wounds inflicted on his cheeks.

Aggressive white hospital lights, incomprehensible whispers of doctors running along the white corridor, nurses screaming to other nurses to help.

The deafening sound of the stretcher wheels squeaking on the Hawkins Lab’s white linoleum floor racing down the hallway.

And then screams of sheer pain and agony. A small body moving in every direction, strapped on the stretcher, trying with all his might to find a way out, to fight against the invisible wounds that seem to tear him apart.

Will. 

Will is crying his eyes out, screaming without interruption while Joyce, Hopper, and Mike are following him terrified.

Young Mike's eyes are wide, his hands shaking and present Mike can remember the thoughts he had in this moment, like it was yesterday. He thought he was going to lose Will, and he had never been so scared like he was at that exact moment.

Losing Will it’s the worst thing that could happen to Mike.

And seeing him in pain like that. It’s unbearable.

He has an oxygen mask on his face to help him breathe in between the screams. And during a breath, Will manages to utter one word. 

”Mike…”

His name was a call for help, but Mike couldn’t do anything but watch and pray, because he wasn’t able to protect Will. He never was.

Mike finally collapses, his knees hitting the ground painfully.

The next scene is once again new to him, he wasn't there, but the rest of the party had told him.

And the story had left a lasting mark on him.

Talking about marks. It was the moment Will was de-possessed by the Mind Flayer.

Young Will was unrecognizable, hurting his own mother before Nancy hit his right side with the red fire poker. Will screamed and he let his mom go.

It’s so fast.

The gray dusty particles fly out Will’s mouth and spread in the air. 

And once again, where was Mike? Not there for him.

He was never there. Never. Never. Never.

The same for Max who is dying in Lucas’ arms, blood coming from her rolled back eyes. She’s struggling to breathe.

Lucas had told Mike about this moment. But seeing it. Living it. It’s horrible.

Seeing Max fucking Mayfield in a hospital bed for more than a year was already really hard. 

Mike couldn’t imagine how Lucas felt.

Now he does.

“Lucas..” Max whispers.

“Yes. Yes, I'm here, I'm here.” Lucas answers, sobbing and holding her and making her as comfortable as he possibly can.

“I can't feel or s- see anything…” Max says with panic in her voice.

“I know, I know, it’s okay.” Lucas comforts her. “We’re getting you some help okay? Just- just hold on.” he reassures but is just as terrified as Max.

“Lucas I'm scared, I'm so scared.” Max repeats, shaking her head quickly.

“I know, I know, I know, please…” Lucas says, placing his head a bit closer to Max’s.

“I don’t wanna die, I'm not ready!” she is sobbing even more, with raw desperation in her voice.

“You aren’t gonna die, please come on.” begs his friend, crying.

“I don’t wanna go, I don’t w-” the rest of Max’s words aren’t clear enough for Mike to understand them, but he understands the seriousness of the situation, the pure terror in Max’s words in the only movements she’s allowed. He’s still on his knees, mouth half open from the shock.

“You’re not gonna die, just- just hang on!” Lucas repeats again, but this time he doesn’t get a response. “Max! Max, no, no, no, Max stay with me! Max stay with me!” he begs again  when the light in Max’s eyes starts to disappear. “No. No, Max, stay with me! Come back! Look at me, look!” 

But Max is looking at the ceiling, her glance completely blank and deprived of all emotion.

“Max, stay with me. Hang on, just hang on!” Lucas panics. “ERICA, HELP! Max? Max, Max stay with me, Max, stay with me, no, no, no, no, no, no,please stay with me. You’re okay.”

But Mike knows she’s already gone, she’s already somewhere else.

“HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!” Lucas screams, his voice echoing in the Creel House’s attic. He’s in tears, tilting his head back as he lets out a guttural yell.

It breaks Mike’s heart in a way he doesn’t think could be healed. It’s all too much.

And now Vecna is showing him Max waking up, her and Lucas hugging and finally having their moment together. Finally have the life they deserved.

But what life?

Claws.

Blood.

A body on the black ground. Struggling to say his last words.

Blood mixing with the disgusting black dirt, the sweat and salty tears.

Unfair. 

It’s the only way Mike can describe what happened to Lucas, he touched happiness with his fingertips, and it slipped away from him so fast. No. Lucas pushed it away to save someone, to save Robin. He didn’t think twice when he sacrificed his life.

Mike doesn’t know if he would have been able to do it, if he would have been sacrificing his happiness for his friends. He’s put his own life in danger, several times, but his own life is worthless. His happiness… was Will.

If he had to choose between saving the world and all his friends and saving Will… the world could burn.

He wishes he had the courage to be a hero, to stand up, face Vecna, try to fight him, or just have courage to look at Lucas’s dead body and not turn his head away like he’s doing right now.

“Look. Look at them.” Vecna orders, forcing Mike to turn his head.

He fights to close his eyes, to turn away again. But he can’t.

Mike is forced to see a lifeless body, Lucas’s body.

Until the body starts changing faces. 

Bob, then Billy, then Barbara.

And Eddie.

Nancy.

Max.

And lastly, Will.

“Stop…” Mike whispers.

He can finally close his eyes, so he squeezes them shut. Then, Mike bows down shamefully and starts begging.

“Please stop it. Stop. I can’t do this anymore. I know I was a bad brother, a bad son, a bad “boyfriend”, a bad friend and I was the worst protector and leader in the whole fucking world. I already knew this, why do you have to keep telling me?” he cries, he’s acting so pathetic but Mike doesn’t have the strength to fight anymore, and he now knows that he’s never had the courage to. “Please finish your job… quickly or not I don’t care but finish it, I can’t, I can’t, I CAN’T.” he begs again.

Vecna laughs at him.

“You’re such a coward, Micheal. So pathetic. But I'll give you something, you’re not a completely bad leader. Because I don't have the kids anymore, it’s a fact, you and your friends screwed up my plan.” Vecna states, a bit too calmly. “But it will just slow me down again. You won’t be able to kill me if you can’t find me, and your friends won’t. And I will come back, to haunt the rest of your living friends for the rest of their lives.” he whispers the last words into Mike’s ears.

“I will kill them slowly, especial-” he doesn’t get to finish his sentence. Vecna just vanished.

And when Mike’s vision is clearer he knows why.

In front of him, several feet away, stands the most amazing person in this world.

“Will!” Mike screams as he scrambles to stand up, struggling a bit to run into Will’s arms.

It’s a bit odd, but he feels safe while looking at Will’s brown eyes. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“MIKE! DO NOT LISTEN TO HIM. HE IS NOT ME! THAT’S NOT ME!” Will screams, his throat has never been so dry and scratchy.

He’s been screaming at Mike since the first memory, but nothing’s worked.

Will was doing something wrong, he knew it, but he couldn’t figure out what. 

But the more the memories appeared in front of his eyes, the more it became obvious that Mike was trapped in a sort of mind cage that no one can go through, not even Will.

He saw a lot of things he didn’t expect to see.

Mike’s parents arguing wasn’t a surprise.

But seeing him breaking up with El was.

“I wish you could’ve loved me like you love him.”

What the hell was that supposed to mean? 

Love who? 

Will doesn’t understand, he doesn’t want to and he doesn’t have the time to think about it.

Not when he saw young Mike’s reaction as they took Will’s fake body out of the quarry. Not when his Mike had the same reaction, the same terrified look, so many years later.

Not when Mike was kneeling in front of Vecna, so tired and broken that he gave up.

Mike gave up.

It had made Will sick.

Because he didn’t know.

He didn’t know Mike wasn't healed of all the things he never talked about.

Will didn’t know. He left his best friend alone, and he would never forgive himself for it.

He screamed to Mike that he had to fight, to stand up, but nothing worked. Even Henry seemed to be clueless about Will’s presence.

He is only a spectator.

And he still is when another version of him hugs Mike.

Mike thinks Will is saving him, but the only thing Will has done is hit an invisible wall trying to join him.

He is forced to watch Vecna break Mike again.

And it makes him sick. So sick.

Mike is melting into Fake’s Will arms, crying so much his voice is barely recognizable.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry for everything, Will…” his voice is shaking as he buries his face into Fake Will’s neck.

“It’s not your fault Mike… it’s not your fault we lost our friends.” Fake Will’s voice feels so uncanny compared to the real one, but Will assumes Mike isn’t in a good enough mental state to notice.

He thinks Will is a hand helping Mike reach the surface.

But the reality is that he never stopped sinking.

Will wonders when Mike will begin to drown.

“It’s not only that Will…” he whispers while gently breaking the hug.

The place changes without Mike acknowledging it, to the Hawkins Lab in the Upside Down.

“What is it, Mike?” Fake Will asks gently, too gently.

“I want to apologize for something else…for- for being an asshole..” Mike admits. “ To everyone, to… to Nancy, all my family, all my friends, El too. And-… and especially you.”

Fake Will only shakes his head, smiling.

“It’s okay, Mike!” 

“No? No it’s not! Why are you acting like it doesn’t matter, I ruined everything because of my fee-” Mike sharply cuts himself off in the middle of his sentence.

Will is watching the scene, eyes wide while Fake Will squints his eyes in misapprehension.

“Because of what?” He asks cruelly. But Mike still seems to not notice Fake Will’s abnormal demeanors.

Mike sighs, “Because you’re the most important person in my life and I never stopped making mistake after mistake because I… I didn't feel right.” he whispers the last few words, now looking at the ground shamefully.

Oh.

“I didn’t feel right”

And Will tries so hard to leave the unrequited feeling's door closed. It’s not the time to think about it, he must focus on Vecna and on a strategy to protect Mike. Not on a stupid hopeful theory brought up by Robin days ago with the “signals, snowballs and an avalanche.” And it’s just a stupid sentence, Mike didn’t feel wrong because he was different like Will, it’s obviously something else.

Yes. Will is definitely reading this wrong, so he just screams into the void again, even if he knows it’s useless, “HE’S NOT REAL, MIKE!”

“You didn’t feel right? Why is that?” Fake Will asks, arching his eyebrows in a questioning look.

Mike doesn’t respond instantally. He runs his hands through his dark curls, laughing nervously.

And finally he looks back at Fake Will, biting his lower lip.

“Okay, um I-..” he hesitates again and sighs one last time before kicking that door down.

“Let’s say that the snowball became an avalanche.”

“Because I never stopped being in love with you.” Mike confesses looking right into Fake Will’s eyes. And he looks so guilty, so scared. So vulnerable.

Will opens his mouth out of shock.

It wasn’t expected.

And it’s not only a bomb, it’s a supernova circling his mind, making his heart melt.

Mike has been in love with Will for such a long time, and it feels so good that he wasn’t delusional, all those signals, all those looks, all those discussions meant something.

Will’s feelings meant something.

His little Mike who asked Will to be his friend by the swingsets, who planned huge DnD campaigns only to distract Will from his abusive father. Mike who hugged Will like he was the most precious person in the world when Lonnie went too far. Who defended Will against the bullies at school as much as he could. 

Mike who is still traumatized by Will’s fake death even if it was years ago. Mike who stayed with him all the time when the Mind Flayer got him. Mike, who carried him out of the hospital with his little weak arms, struggling the whole way, but he still did it. Mike who was the only one to know about Will’s nightmares, the only one to turn back to Will’s former house when he moved, even if Mike didn’t call a lot or write letters. 

The only one to make him feel safe.

The only one.

Mike always has been the only one.

All of those mistakes and misunderstandings, all that love led to this moment.

And this moment feels like gold for Will.

Or it would have been like gold in a different context.

Because Fake Will is frozen, Mike waits desperately for an answer.

He never gets one.

Fake Will takes a few steps back. His face is covered with disgust, marked with a twisted mouth and scrunched up nose.

Mike’s hands shake badly, there’s no doubt he regrets his confession, but he tries to reach for him again.

Just to be pushed away with disgust and shame.

Will is sobbing.

His worst nightmare, the one Vecna showed him before he came out in front of the team (thanks to Mike who couldn’t catch the difference between everyone and EVERYONE), his worst nightmare was Mike’s worst one too.

But in his perspective it isn’t just a vision, it isn’t just a nightmare. He thinks it’s real.

He thinks Will doesn’t love him back.

Worst of all, Mike thinks Will is disgusted by his feelings.

Mike seems as terrified as he was during that night at the quarry.

Will needs to do something, but he doesn’t know what to do. What he can do.

And before he can think of anything, Mike starts begging Fake Will again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Will! Please!” Mike begs as his best friend walks away from him.

Will’s face is twisted with a look of repulsion that shatters Mike’s heart. After a few more steps back, Will finally turns his back and keeps walking to the dark corridor.

“Please… come back to me” the boy is now crying, he wants to run, to apologize for everything he said two minutes ago, but his muscles don’t want to move, Mike is frozen and forced to watch Will disappear. 

This is the end. He ruined everything. Again. 

He ruined everything with everyone, El, Eddie, Lucas, so many others, and now… 

He fell to his knees while he struggled to breathe, his throat tightening from his tears. Mike wants to scream, but nothing comes out from his mouth. 

Why is he like this? Why did he fall in love with his best friend? Why?

“It’s you. You are the curse, Michael.”

“Always the curse.”

Vecna.

And as Will disappears at the end of the corridor, Mike gasps.

“He wasn’t real…was he?..” he asks, the rejection still tearing him apart, sweat and tears covering his face. Mike throws his head back with a tired smile.

It’s the end, there’s nothing else to dig, to bring up. He is going to die, he just hopes it will happen fast.

Vecna appears in front of him, a vicious smile on his wicked face.

“So, the sorcerer didn’t save you this time, Michael?” he teases maliciously.

Mike lets out a tired laugh.

“Oh God, fuck you! Can’t you just end this now?” 

“I have one last thing to show you, Michael, and I'll free you.” Vecna answers, regaining all his seriousness.

One last thing?

And the environment changes again, Mike feels the dirt and the little rocks digging into his knees.

The quarry cliff.

How could Mike forget it?

No.

“Get the fuck out of my head.” Mike orders clenching his teeth while a young Troy holds a knife near Dustin’s mouth, betting Mike to jump off the cliff in order to save Dustin’s baby teeth.

Little Mike doesn’t hesitate for a second. He looks once at Dustin who is screaming at Mike not to do it. He takes step after step to the edge of the cliff.

“Get out.” Mike thinks his heart is going to explode. Why is this one so much harder than the other memories?

He knows why.

Little Mike is staring at the water below him.

He knows this is not going to save him from the fall.

He knows his next step will be his last.

He knows he will die at the same exact place they found Will ”dead“.

Mike makes the next step. And falls.

“GET OUT!” Mike screams, closing his eyes and placing his hands on his ears to cover the whistling sounds. After a few moments he lets his hands fall down and opens his eyes.

His hands are shaking when Henry, his human form, talks to him again.

“It would have been a courageous act of brotherhood, you know, if you didn’t…” he pauses, smiling the same annoying way “if you didn’t want to do it already. Only really doing it for selfish reasons.” 

Mike doesn’t answer, he looks just at the ground.

“If you didn’t want to kill your-” Henry insists.

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks, I fucking know, okay?” Mike snaps. “Yes,I wanted to end it all because I fought with one of my best friends who put his life in danger, all alone, to find my another best friend, who we literally found dead two days before, who went missing because I'm just the stupidest person in the world. Oh! And because we somehow ended up with a girl with crazy powers abused by bad people and I, ME, ME, THE LEADER, endangered her life like a thousand times, to find Will because I wasn’t even capable of finding him myself. And guess what? I never stopped putting the other’s lives in danger either because I'm useless. You’re right. Me? A leader? I know, it’s all bullshit.” he rattles off, out of breath. “You can end me now. I have nothing more to hide.” Mike cries.

Henry looks at him.

Mike surely looks pathetic, kneeling on the soil like that with the marks of dry tears on his cheeks, and not dry ones still on the corners of his eyes.

He looks at him in the most neutral way he could muster.

And then Henry’s eyes lock on his, his gaze full of cruelty.

“You want to end it, Michael?” he teases.

Mike can’t do anything but nod, because he wants this to end, all this misery, this pain, everything. He knows it’s a cowardly act.

But he doesn’t have the energy to be brave. In fact, he never did.

“Alright.” Henry says, smiling.

Mike is ready, he braces himself for the pain, he braces himself to not think at all about the people he loves during his last moments, because he doesn’t want to be reminded that he fucked up with all of them during his life.

He already knows that, and he blamed himself for months, for years, and he didn’t change his behavior. He’s spent his whole life thinking about it, he doesn’t need to think of it during death.

But all Mike wants is peace.

He wants the voices that tell him that he is a horrible person to shut the fuck up even if they hurt, he know they’re right.

He wants the voices that tell him that he never should have survived back in 1983 to shut up.

The voices that tell him that loving his best friend is wrong.

That he is disgusting.

He is weird.

Sick.

Mike wants silence in his mind.

And now Henry looks briefly at the cliff next to them and his glance returns quickly on Mike.

“Do it then,” he says.

Mike’s whole body freezes of surprise, shock, and fear.

Do it.

Jump off that stupid cliff again like you did when you were twelve, but this time, no one is going to catch your ass.

Do it.

Mike stands up under Henry’s satisfied glance that he doesn’t care about anymore.

Do it.

His body moves all by itself, bringing him back to that stupid cliff, only a few steps away from a fatal fall.

Do it.

He takes that first step calmly. As if it was normal. As if these steps wouldn’t have consequences.

Do it.

The second one is more shaky. Mike’s hands are shaking too now, maybe his whole body is. He can’t tell though, he can’t feel it.

Do.

The third one is more hesitant. Mike swallows hard, he feels tears coming again and has a lot of difficulty breathing. He looks at the quarry below him, the water’s surface seems so calm and peaceful that Mike feels guilty to perturb it. 

That goddamn quarry. 

He closes his eyes to prevent the memories from coming into his mind again.

Do it. 

Still eyes closed. Mike takes a deep breath to take the fourth and final step which will lead him to his death. He lifts his foot, ready to take it.

”Don’t”

Everything in his body freezes, his foot still mid-air. It takes him several seconds to put the foot on the ground again.

“Don’t”

Every part of him wants to take several steps back, as if he had a rope wrapped around his hips and that someone was pulling very hard, trying to hold him back.

And that’s surely what 's happening when Mike finally hears it.

“DON’T!!” The scream is an explosive mix between emergency and absolute terror.

A scream that obviously belongs to Will.

Not a fake one this time.

The real Will.

His William.

Mike is still too shocked to move.

“YOU’RE THE HEART! REMEMBER?” Will screams again but this time it’s also filled with something purer, hope.

And Mike looks back to see two things.

The less surprising one, Henry is pissed. He’s so angry he might be ready to push Mike off that damn cliff himself.

The other one was the following part of the memory Mike witnessed some minutes ago.

Dustin and El hugging Mike on the ground.

He remembers the warmth of that hug.

But most of all, he remembers the feeling of safety it gave him. In their arms, Mike had felt brave.

Mike’s muscles start to move again, his mind starts to unlock from Vecna’s bad influence, even if the things he showed him are still a fresh wound, he now has the capacity to think properly.

And Mike is going to be brave for the first time in a while.

All of what Max said about running away from Vecna with good and happy memories replays in his mind. 

He really needs to give Max a huge hug after all this shit, because she might save his life.

And for the first time in a while, Mike knows exactly what he is going to do.

Because.

He has a plan.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Will is shaking as he tries to process what happened in front of his eyes a few minutes before.

Mike was tricked by a Fake Will and he confessed his love for Will.

That was really unexpected.

But Will couldn’t say he expected the following part with that cliff memory.

Twelve years old Mike jumped off a fucking cliff and no one had the balls to tell him? 

Mike tried to… oh god, Mike had tried to take his own life at twelve years old and nobody told Will.

Will is a bit angry about it but he’s mainly consumed with worry. And guilt. Because he didn’t know Mike lived this bad, and Will thinks that nobody did either until now.

Mike was alone with it all this time.

And as Will sees Mike about to jump off the cliff again, to see him struggle like that, Will understands that these thoughts never really left him, this memory never really left him, and maybe will never leave him.

Seeing Mike in that position wakes something in Will’s body, unlocks something in his mind.

He is frozen by terror and despair when Mike takes the last step, but somehow finds the strength and the pure will to scream. There’s no way he is going to lose Mike, it’s not his time, not now.

Will can’t lose him.

“DON’T!“ he screams as loud as his throat permits. And it has the exact result he wanted, Mike freezes and steps back. 

After all this time Mike can finally hear him.

Will’s relief is hard to control, but Mike is still on the edge of the cliff so he needs to keep talking.

“YOU’RE THE HEART! REMEMBER?” he screams again, and Will really means these words.

Even if Mike has made mistakes, he is the one giving motivation to the party, he’s the one making plans, and before all of that, he was the one organizing every campaign, he was the one keeping the party together under any circumstance. 

He is the Dungeon Master, he is the leader and the best of all, he is Mike the Brave.

Mike turns away and sees Dustin and El hugging his younger self on the ground. Will would have sobbed from watching such a cute scene if his best friend's (or more?) life wasn’t in critical danger.

His eyes are filled with determination while Henry’s had never carried so much hatred and madness.

Henry starts walking toward Mike, ready to push him down the cliff himself, but Mike just smirks in response.

His friend definitely has a plan.

Mike takes a deep breath and in less than a second, the place changes to reveal the field next to the Squawk.

He doesn’t lose a second before he starts to run away from Vecna, nearly falling while running down the field.

In the middle of the field, Mike and El are hugging, and with the new context, Will understands why this memory is so important for Mike, him and Will’s sister break up was not easy, so having the confirmation that they were still fine should have been a huge relief for Mike. A sign that, no, he didn’t fuck everything up as much as he thought he did.

Mike still runs for his life while Vecna chases him. 

Will tries as much as hard as he can to connect him to the Hive Mind to use Vecna’s powers to help his best friend, but he doesn’t succeed, again.

The place changes again and Mike quickly opens a huge theatre’s door. It’s Starcourt Mall. 

And when Mike keeps running away, Will can hear Dustin, Lucas, Max, Mike and himself giggling while watching the movie. They are fighting for popcorn and Lucas has Dustin’s hand right in his face as Max holds Dustin’s t-shirt, rendering him imobile so she can take the popcorn. Mike and Will were just dying laughing together, painfully trying to catch their breath. 

Will remembers this movie day, it was wonderful.

Mike slams his body through the exit door, Henry is getting closer second after second so the memory switches again to Mike’s basement, everyone playing a DnD campaign, another door, and it’s now at Hawkins’s high school in the Hellfire club room when an older Mike was celebrating with all his friends, clapping their hands while Eddie is watching them, smiling behind his Dungeon’s Master’s panel. And another one. Will’s bedroom in California when Will was packing up his clothes and Mike was sitting on his bed. 

“I didn’t say it.” Will says shyly.

“You didn’t have to.” Mike answers with a huge smile across his face.

And another one. But the same place, with both Mike and Will sitting on his bed.

“It was you guys who saved me. It was you guys.” Will states, looking at Mike.

Mike blushes a bit before answering. Something that Will didn’t notice at the time.

“Looks like it’s gonna be up to us again.” he says teasingly,

“It always is, isn't it?” Will responds with a shining smile.

The memory switches again.

Will’s eyebrows frown, he doesn’t understand what Mike is doing, why is he cramming all these memories? 

And he realizes right after he asks this to himself.

Mike doesn’t know what his happiest memory is, his key to the exit. So he tries to find the memory while slowing down Vecna with the changes of environment.

It’s clever, but incredibly risky.

Young Mike and Will are both sitting. Mike takes Will’s hand, looking at him right into his eyes with his little cute smile;

“If we’re both going crazy, then we’ll go crazy together, right?” he says to comfort young scared Will.

“Yeah, crazy together.” Will nods at his best friend, happy to have him by his side.

“If we’re both going crazy, then we’ll go crazy together, right?”

“If we’re both going crazy, then we’ll go crazy together, right?”

“If we’re both going crazy, then we’ll go crazy toge-

The sentence is echoing in Will’s mind even now that it did in 1987, the way it did three years ago. It’s crazy.

Will has a lot of information to process, with all these memories, so he just witnesses everything, like he isn't actually there.

The next memory is more recent. The field again. When Mike was talking about Will being able to pull the strings of the Hive Mind.

“Except I'm not Vecna.” He answers, slightly confused.

“You sorta are.” Mike teases.

Will lets out a giggle.

“You’re trying to say that I'm evil and hell-bent on destroying the world?” he asks, trying to sound mock offended.

“Totally.” Mike teases again, his glance locked on Will’s. “No! I’m just saying that, you know, you’re like a wizard like him.”

Will smiles again, “In DnD, Mike, not real life.”

“True.” Mike responds, still looking at him and seeming serious. “In real life you’re more like a sorcerer, because your powers don’t come from a book of spells, they’re innate.” Will chuckles again as Mike keeps talking. “Listen, as far as crazy theories go, I've had crazier. And with Eleven in the Upside Down, we really need some magic up here.”

Will does his little flirty push on Mike’s chest, in the moment he had thought he messed up, but he didn’t catch the fact that Mike’s eyes were shining during it. It wasn’t awkward, they were both oblivious of each other’s feelings. 

And as Past Mike walks away from a shy Will, the present one still runs down that field, he is several meters away from Vecna and he allows himself to stop and put up a middle finger at him before switching memory again.

What the hell is wrong with him… ? He thinks playfully.

Will's smile disappears when he discovers the next memory. It’s one of the memories Will had before unlocking his powers for the first time.

Their first campaign. Little Mike is carrying a box bigger than him and he throws it on his basement table. He takes out a lot of figurines and places them in front of little Will.

“Who do you want to play as, Will?” Mike asks gently.

Little Will’s eyes look at each figurine, not able to make a choice.

“Who’s your character Mike?” Will asks back.

Mike takes one of the figurines. 

“I’m Mike the Brave! The Paladin!” he says proudly, holding up his figurine.

“And which one is the Paladin’s best friend?” 

Mike doesn’t respond immediately, looking at each of the characters. And then, he points his finger to a man wearing a purple robe with yellow stars on it.

“The Cleric! He is really smart and he can cast powerful spells like throwing fireballs or having incredible healing powers.”

“Waouh. I like it. Can my name be Will the Wise?” Will asks again, eyes shining, looking at the cleric’s figurine.

“Yes of course! Nice to meet you, Will the Wise!” Mike giggles, and Will giggles too.

And the place changes again.

Oh.

For a moment, Will doesn’t recognize the place.

It’s the museum they visited on a school trip years and years ago with Dustin and Lucas. 

It was such an amazing trip to the museum, looking at the dinosaur statues, the Egyptian Pyramids, but most of all, the knights with their armor and swords. The four kids stayed more than an hour in this room only. Glancing at every huge painting representing brave and honorable knights, looking at their reflection in the knight’s chest-plate, touching his sword that was unfortunately not sharpened. Unlike the one exposed in the middle of the room inside of a vitrine. 

The sword is beautiful, the steel so well taken care of that they could see their reflection through the blade. It had an elegant shape, a thin blade, the guard was curved toward the pommel and the usually shining gray color of the steel was mixed with black parts all over the weapon. In the middle of the blade and on the sides in a regal curved way to make the sword sharper, in the guard and on the handle too.

Young Dustin is looking at the weapon with stars in his eyes.

“It’s so majestic.” he lets out without looking away from the beautiful sword.

“Yup.” Lucas agrees, glancing at the blade with just as much envy and admiration as Dustin. “Do you think Mike knows how to use this?” Lucas teases.

“I-” Young Mike begins, his gaze is on the sword, before he gets interrupted.

“Of course he does.” Little Will states confidently, he’s not looking at the weapon anymore like all of his friends were, he looks at Mike who raises his head a second after to look at Will, cheeks far pinker than the usual.

“We should explore the other rooms guys, huh?” Mike asks, trying to hide the way he blushed at Will’s words.

And the little kids leave the room giggling and teasing each other.

Once again, the memory’s intimacy breaks when present Mike comes into the room, looking everywhere around him. Vecna is nowhere to be seen for now, and Mike navigates through the Knight’s room anxiously, looking more than once at the sword’s vitrine.

He looks around him once again before walking fast to the displayed weapon.

Mike touches the glass twice with one of his fingers and Will doesn’t understand what he is doing before Mike clenches his right fist and punches the vitrine so hard that the glass explodes after first hit, throwing sharp glass shards everywhere around the demolished display case. 

Mike shoves his hand into the huge hole he put in the glass and handles the majestic sword.

He takes the weapon out, testing its weight, adjusting his hand around the handle and swings the blade in the air with fluid movements.

With the weapon in his hands, Mike runs to the other side of the room, hiding behind an exposition of Knights' stories written in a bunch of letters. He rests his back against it and tries to breathe as quietly as possible.

Mike’s right hand is bleeding from the sharp glass shatters that hurt his fist, but it doesn’t seem to bother him, not when he and Will hear footsteps again.

“You aren’t going anywhere, Michael.” Vecna says, voice full of vitriol when he finally enters the room.

The monster looks around the room, letting out a quiet groan of exasperation. He starts to walk in the direction Mike is hiding. His footsteps are loud enough for Mike to notice that he is coming.

“You can’t hide from me anymore. I will always find you,” he says looking at the exposition Mike is hiding behind with a suspicious look.

Will’s heart might explode from the anxiety when Vecna starts coming closer again, but he notices that Mike doesn’t seem terrified at all. No trace of fear on his face, in fact, he is smiling.

As Vecna is closer to Mike, his face looks cruel when he feels that the boy is hiding behind that expo. Vecna is only a few seconds away from finding Mike, and Will doesn’t know if he’s ever been as stressed as this.

Mike adjusts his position, ready to run away or something as he clenches his fingers so hard around the sword handle that they turn white.

And before Vecna can notice him, Mike jumps out from his hiding place.

Vecna extends his arm immediately, and for a brief second Will thought it was the end.

His mouth stays open and his eyes stay wide when Mike bravely swings the blade through Vecna’s flesh. 

The arm falls onto the floor with a loud sound quickly covered by Henry’s scream of suffering. The kids were right about the sword being sharp.

Mike smirks at the Monster while he wipes the blade on his pants to wash off the blood.

Will thinks he knows what his best friend is really trying to do. He’s wasting time to figure out what memory will bring him up to reality.

And as he sees Mike’s face enlightening before Vecna can attack again, Will knows that Mike did it. He figured it out.

And the place changes for the last time.

The memory feels like a dream, so old, so sunny.

So meaningful.

And Will cries when he sees himself on the swing sets, looking at a young boy with curly black hair who takes a seat on the swings next to him.

“Do you wanna be friends?” the boy asks with so much innocence and so much hope in his heart.

Young Will just smiles and nods.

It’s the same memory Mike used to bring a part of Will back when he was possessed by the Mind Flayer, “It was the best thing I’ve ever done” is still scrawled in gold ink inside his own treasured memories. 

The same memory Will used to unlock his powers and his capacity to access the Hive  Mind’s power, to pull the strings too.

The same thing that's going to open a gate for Mike to come back to him. 

The memory disappears. Like a page you turn. Like a light you turn off. 

Here it is. Vecna’s scary place. 

All red and dark, wet vines everywhere.

But a white gate is open. The only exit.

Will feels way too much relief, even if Vecna is still alive, he knows Mike is going to make it. 

Mike will make it.

Speaking of Mike, he is still absorbed by the previous memory.

“My life started the day I found you.” he whispers it out but Will is able to hear him.

These are the words he told El when she was in a freezer trying to break Max free of Vecna’s Curse. But these words weren’t really true. And this time, Will knows Mike is talking about him.

Mike takes a few steps back while Vecna is growing a new arm, he will be ready to fight again in a matter of seconds. He still has the sword in his hands.

After Will became a Sorcerer, Mike became a true Paladin.

Mike starts to take quick steps toward the gate, he sees himself floating in the air in the Abyss’s Tree while Robin and Steve are looking, terrified, and Will is on his knees, dissociating from reality.

Just some more steps and it will be the end of this torture for Mike.

But he freezes just in front of the gate.

He takes a step back again and clenches his fingers around the sword’s handle. And he looks back at Vecna, who is looking at Mike not just wanting to catch him.

Mike turns back with a defiant look that Will very rarely gets to see.

No.

Will feels shivers all over his body when he understands what’s about to happen

Mike lifts the sword and now it’s in front of his face, the blade aligned with his nose.

He guards himself.

There’s no doubt left in Will’s mind.

Will lets out a shaky breath as he tries to use the Hive Mind again, with more effort, he might be able to unlock it. He has to.

Because Mike is going to fight Vecna.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mike stands in front of the gate.

It’s so tempting to jump through it, he would cry in Will’s arms, in everyone’s arms and this torture would be finished.

But there’s one problem left.

And it’s a huge one.

Vecna is still fucking alive and he told Mike that his friends weren’t going to be able find him.

He might have been bluffing but it makes sense, he just could have buried himself in his vines so that no one would find him. 

How could they kill a monster that they can’t even find?

Here’s the answer: they couldn’t.

Mike can’t take the risk of going through this gate. He can’t take the risk of not being able to find Vecna on the other side. And then what? Coming back to the Rightside Up, everything starting again in 5 years or more? He can’t take the risk to make his friends' and his sisters' deaths pointless.

Not when Mike has a huge opportunity right now since he’s in Vecna’s mind.

He has a weapon, and Vecna is right in front of him. Will is definitely going to help him too, pulling the strings of the Hive Mind.

So he turns away, looking at Vecna with a challenging look when he lifts the blade to his nose.

Vecna takes a few steps ahead, ready to fight.

“You want to fight me, Michael? Alright. But you should know that you’re gonna lose and I will send all of my monsters to kill the last people remaining in MY dimension. And I'll finish with Will, the weakest of you all, breaking him again as I kill his friends in front of him and make him watch.” he says with his voice twisted in malice.

Mike swallows and frowns at the mention of Will being the weakest one.

“You know Michael, I should have taken you that night. I thought Will was the weakest one but I was wrong. You were.”

Why is Vecna so inconsistent? It’s weird.

Vecna extends his arm again, and this time Mike just dives to his left, dodging the attack.

His adversary is really dangerous, he can cover a long distance with his extending arms and he has telekinesis powers too.

Mike has to stay at a reasonable distance and from there, he can strike back and make Vecna weak again. cutting one of his limbs again and right after that rushing for his neck or the chest.

But for the last part he has to find the perfect opportunity and make sure not to miss it.

Mike starts moving his feet on the ground, ready to jump at any given time. 

But Vecna uses his powers to bring Mike closer, he levitates for less than a second and lands too close to his enemy who attacks with his arm again.

Mike doesn’t have the time to dive, he just lifts his blade out of reflex and blocks the attack.

He takes many steps back this time. Vecna could end his life at any moment with his powers. He is just messing around with Mike, playing with him until he doesn’t provide him with enough entertainment. Just until he gets bored.

“I don’t know Mike, sometimes I feel like the connection isn’t- isn’t complete ? Like there’s some pieces missing.”

“I don’t know why I saw this, but I wasn't supposed to, he was angry.”

Everything is starting to align in Mike’s mind, like a puzzle clicking into place. Why Will’s connection is incomplete, why Vecna was so angry about Will seeing something he wasn’t supposed to that connected to the Hive Mind, why Vecna was being incoherent about who was the weakest in the group.

“Maybe they messed up?”

The twelve kids, everything made sense.

Mike gasps in surprise.

“You knew that I was the weakest.”

Vecna doesn’t say anything so Mike continues.

“You didn’t take Will because you thought he was the weakest of the group. You knew that I was the weakest.” and the more Mike talks, the more he knows that he’s right. “In order to merge both of the worlds together, to establish a connection between the Abyss and Hawkins, the Mind Flayer, or you, or both of you needed a strong connection with a kid. That’s why you took Will. It’s because he has always been the strongest one.”

Vecna gives up his monster form for a second and Mike can briefly see the look on Henry’s face. Genuine Horror.

Mike hit the target, he knows. So he persists.

“And it was crazy how Will was so strong even at twelve years old, because you didn’t fail once, but twice! Even with the help of the Mind Flayer to possess him, you couldn’t complete the connection because Will never gave up his part of humanity like you did.”

Mike takes a deep breath.

“He is so fucking strong that you not only had to build a new plan that required twelve kids to establish a similar connection that you could have had with ONLY Will. TWELVE kids. And if Will helped you with the spy thing or any of the other things you did to him, it was just luck. Luck that he wasn’t able to control his powers. But now he is able to and you are terrified. Because he has always been stronger than you. Stronger than all of us!” Mike screams the last words.

Vecna had never looked so angry, so Mike knows that everything he said was right. He cracked the case, but now Vecna will surely break his neck with his powers. 

But he proved Will was never the weakest one, it was all the opposite, so it’s worth it.

Vecna screams while lifting his hand to use his powers.

But nothing happened.

Nothing.

And Mike feels it. In the air, in the light, in his soul.

The Sorcerer.

Will is obstructing Vecna’s powers.

Mike has a chance. A once in a lifetime opportunity. He still stays at a far distance to not be taken by surprise by one of the extending arm attacks.

Vecna attacks quickly with his arms, still mad that he can’t use his powers.

Mike dodges most of the attacks, diving left or right, back when he is really close to being hit, but he never dives forward, he is not in confidence to do that type of move.

When Mike dodges, he blocks and he uses the time to try to cut Vecna’s limbs.

So far, he’s only got the left hand.

The hand doesn’t grow back this time, so there are no claws on one of Vecna’s arms, which is really good news for Mike. It’s one less thing he has to worry about.

Sword in his hands, Mike’s confidence grows with each passing second. He dives on the ground, swings the blade as fast as he can, blocks the attacks he can’t dodge and looks for an opportunity to make the fatal hit.

He thinks he finds one when he dives to his right, really close to Vecna’s body. Mike comes closer, ready to plunge his sword directly into the monster’s chest.

Instead, he blocks another attack that would have killed him in an instant if he hadn’t.

Vecna attacks with his right arm, and while Mike pushes the blade against the claws and takes steps back, Vecna attacks with his injured arm to take him by surprise.

Mike dodges the attack and he slashes his sword into the already injured arm.

The rest of the arm falls on the ground causing Vecna to growl in pain again.

And this time Vecna doesn’t heal, so the monster has a huge weak point on his left side, even an eight year old kid could figure that out. 

Mike keeps attacking mercilessly with no breaks, he breathes heavily, his palms are sweaty, and the wounds on his left arm are stinging. But he keeps fighting, because Mike knows it’s going to be the end, it’s finally going to end.

Mike moves closer and closer, swinging the sword into Vecna’s left shoulder, missing Vecna’s neck by only a few centimeters.

He is going to do it. It’s only a matter of time.

And Vecna knows it too.

He is going to lose.

“You can kill me Michael, you can kill the Shadow Monster, or whatever fancy name you guys are calling him, too. But Will is connected to us. He won’t live if we don’t.” Vecna says breathing heavily.

Mike freezes, his blood running cold.

Vecna is lying, Will is linked to the Hive Mind, not connected to it. He can use it without being independent of it. 

It takes him a few seconds to figure out the lie.

A second too long.

Mike doesn’t see the attack coming for his left side.

He just feels the claws tearing off his flesh, and piercing multiple organs that he doesn’t want to think about. Fortunately, he has the reflex to cut Vecna’s forearm, with his left hand holding the sword, before it can perforate him.

It doesn’t stop the wound from bleeding out, though.

Mike puts his right hand on it.

It hurts.

It hurts a lot.

It’s like he has a hole in his body, which is likely the case, every crevice filled with boiling water. The constant feeling of burning is unbearable.

Mike takes multiple steps back before his knees give way and he falls backwards, his back painfully hitting the ground as he tries to crawl backwards, pushing with his feet.

He dares to glance at the amount of blood flowing from the wound and he almost faints looking at it.

He struggles to breathe. He really struggles, nothing like a panic or an anxiety attack, because his body slowly starts to give up. His sight blurs with a red veil more and more as the seconds pass. Mike wants to close his eyes so badly, but the pure terror helps him stay conscious for the moment. 

He doesn’t want to die. 

Not now.

Not when he was so fucking close to winning. 

He can’t die. He has to stand up and fight. He finds the strength to turn himself over and to put a knee on the ground. Mike feels dizzy, the world isn’t stable anymore.

He coughs up crimson.

It’s not a good sign.

Mike is going to die right there and right now, but he has to fight, he won’t give up like he wanted to do minutes ago, he will fight until the end.

Until he takes his very last breath.

He gets up on one foot, before standing up again, staggering with every step he takes.

He lifts his sword and it feels as if it weighs a hundred times the amount it did before.

And he falls again after two steps, he needs to stand up again. He needs to try.

Every breath causes Mike so much pain.

He isn’t going to make it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eddie is standing next to a huge table where a giant Vecna figurine is placed on it.

He places his hand onto the wood and exhales the air slowly out his lungs trying to keep his calm while everyone in the room is arguing, screaming. 

The absolute definition of chaos.

Hopper is in an intense conversation with Bob, Chrissy, and Alexei, who adds in the very few English words he learnt in the discussion about Vecna. 

Nancy, Lucas, and Barbara are arguing about… guess what? Also Vecna! 

The only other quiet person is Billy. Not because he hates the amount of chaos, just because he doesn’t give a single fuck about it.

“Okay I understand, Vecna’s victims equals Vecna’s memories but why are we there? Why my brother’s basement?” Nancy asks doing huge arms movements, so huge she accidentally slaps Lucas who complains accusatorially. 

“Hey!” 

“My bad.” Nancy apologizes.

“How should we know that?” Bob answers, he is sitting on the sofa at the other end of the room.

“Because you all were there for three years. THREE YEARS. Shouldn’t you know something? Anything?” Hopper says to him.

“Hmm, I was only there for a year and a half.” Chrissy smiles at him.

“Actually, it was four for me.” Barbara teases.

“две!” Alexei adds to the conversation showing two fingers proudly.

Billy exhales loudly and leans back in his chair before participating in the discussion for the first time. “Yeah, whatever he said.” he says with a nonchalant hand gesture. 

“How did you guys survive? I’ve only been here for two hours or less and I already want to be killed again.” Lucas says.

“One hour or less for me, and same kiddo.” Hopper laughs.

“Amateurs, it’s not yet thirty minutes and I want to break my skull on that stupid fucking table.” Nancy says, walking around the piece of furniture.

Eddie finally speaks up.

“Well, we did survive because you guys weren’t here to make this place loud as hell!”

“Sorry that we died, I guess.” Lucas teases.

Nancy sighs but she doesn’t say anything. The room is finally calm. 

Eddie wonders if the others feel the electricity too. Something is about to happen. And he knows exactly what. He clears his throat.

“Everyone please take a seat around the table. If there are no chairs left, then sit on the floor because that’s what you deserve.” He announces.

They are all looking at each other skeptically, acting like Eddie is becoming crazy. Well, they may be right, but they still obey, Billy doesn’t even have to move because his ass has been in the same chair since the beginning of the “day,” and he seems content about it.

“Alright!” Eddie begins. “For the ones late.” he says, looking at Nancy. “All Vecna’s victims' souls were somehow transferred into his memories and we all somehow ended up together here. Mike’s basement. Not going into the boring details. We have more important things to talk about like-” 

“But why-” stubborn Nancy interrupts again.

“Shhhhh!” and Eddie gives a "Thank you” look to Lucas.

“Soooo….” He does the emphasis to make sure no one will intervene again, and Nancy makes a quick hand movement to tell him to talk, even if she does look irritated. “We have more important things to talk about, like the fact that we are going to be free really soon.”

“HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?!” Nancy doesn’t waste a second to ask.

“Oh my god, finally!” Barbara laughs looking at a very invested Nancy.

“What?” From Lucas.

“Are you going crazy, Eddie?” is uttered by Hopper.

“YES!” Yells Chrissy.

“Let’s go, we are finally going to die! Wait, did that sound weird?” Comes from Bob.

A small, “huh?” from Alexei.

“Finally, things are getting interesting down here.” Billy says, looking at Eddie and putting his elbows on the table. “When?” he adds.

“Really soon. So I think you should enjoy our last moments together guys because this bastard, right here…” Eddie places one finger onto the Vecna figurine and continues not stopped by Hopper’s quick call of “Language!” ”… is going to get his ass beaten up by the most courageous knight in our kingdom, the most honorable soldier in this land…” everyone frowns before Eddie smashes another figurine on the table, a knight lifting his sword ready to fight. “The Paladin!” He screams.

“Mike is going to kill Vecna?” Lucas asks, trying (and failing) to hide his excitement.

“My brother? What the-…. Okay, it actually makes sense,” Nancy says to herself.

“Mike? Is that the guy that I slammed into the wall?” Billy asks indifferently.

And everyone starts talking again.

“SHUT UP!” Eddie yells, calming everyone down again. “The Paladin is actually fighting with Vecna right now, helped by our Sorcerer. This shit is going to end once and for all guys, this is finally over.”

“Okay, Mike and Will fighting together it’s a really good sign.” Lucas admits. “But it doesn’t mean we won already. We need to throw the dice to know if it’s going to end the way we all want it to.” Lucas says, a bit teasing, talking about DnD.”

“God, here we go again with Dungeons and Dragons.” Hopper sighs.

Eddie ignores him and places his arm around Lucas' shoulders, scooting his chair closer to him.

“Dude. The dice was thrown years ago, even before the beginning of everything, the night Will left Mike’s house, the night of November 6th 1983.” he states, smiling at Lucas.

“And on what did it land?” Lucas asks hopeful, eyes shining.

Eddies leave some suspense as he makes eye contact with everyone sitting around the table, Billy and Alexei just look confused even if Alexei’s eyes are filled with way more interest than Billy’s. When he looks at Nancy, she is already crying.

She knows about DnD, Mike harassed her all their childhood for her to play with him and his friends. And Nancy knows about Eddie too. She already knows what he is going to say, her glance filled with hope and most of all, love and pride toward her brother. Hopper, Barbara and Bob just wait for the next sentence and Chrissy does the same but she is definitely more excited than them.

Eddie opens his mouth, spilling the words that are now filling the room with an unbreakable confidence and an undying hope.

“It landed on a twenty.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mike still tries to get up, but every single attempt finishes in the same pathetic way. Him falling on the ground again, his sword touching the ground with a metallic clang that reminds him of his failure.

He needs to stand up. He has to kill Vecna.

Every time he moves he’s reminded of his injuries, each time he tries and fails, he can feel himself get weaker and weaker. He's losing too much blood. 

It’ll be the end in a matter of minutes.

Fortunately, Vecna has the kindness to not interfere, letting Mike fight to stand on the ground in peace. 

Or he’s just enjoying being able to watch Mike suffer.

The second option is surely the right one.

Mike groans as he starts to move his limbs again.

Every part of his body is screaming at him to give in, but he's never listened to anyone before, it's not like he is going to listen to his own body.

One last attempt. One last try.

And this time something shifts in him. Something shifts in the air.

Mike pulls himself into a lunge and gets onto his feet. He is breathing heavily, trying to hold in the screams of pain and the tears that have been begging to come out since he first got injured. He takes one step, it’s so shaky that Mike wonders if his foot will break into a million pieces when he puts it back on the ground. And he takes another step, still hesitant. A third one and he has more confidence.

Something is pushing him.

Mike wants to cry when he realizes it’s not something but someone, a lot of someones actually. He feels their presence. Lucas, Nancy, Hopper, Eddie and the others who fell fighting against Vecna. Mike feels their will, their pride, their love, their courage, their fighting spirit. He feels them pushing Mike forward.

He feels Will too, his energy sparking in the air.

Mike won’t fight alone. 

And he realizes that he never did. He has never truly fought alone.

He feels like several hands are pushing him to take other steps, faster and more confident. 

Mike forgets the pain tearing him apart for a second, and begins to run toward Vecna, screaming as loud as he can.

The monster who took the person he loves the most at twelve, who tortured him, who possessed him and did so many horrible things to him.

The monster who took so many of their friends, who took his sister too.

The monster who haunted him in his sleep, who tortured him.

The monster who stole all of their childhood’s.

Mike clenches his fingers around the handle tighter when Vecna extends his right arm in a desperate last attack.

Mike has great momentum and he dives forward, right under Vecna’s arm. Mike gets up quickly after the dive, and swings his sword in one fluid movement slicing through flesh, Vecna’s arm falling onto the ground.

Vecna is defenseless, and he knows it. Mike can see the hint of terror in his eyes as he finally plunges the blade straight into Vecna’s chest and quickly rips it back out. 

Dark red blood is flowing steadily down the wound, and the monster falls to his knees, screaming through his agony.

He did it.

Mike did it.

Vecna gasps, a huge amount of black smoke is coming out of his mouth. The Mind Flayer’s smoke. The smoke is moving in the air above Vecna’s head, forming a sort of a snake. 

When Vecna doesn’t have any smoke left to spit, he shifts back into Henry’s form, with no arms and a huge wound in his chest. But Henry isn’t the most important thing at the moment. The snake-like shape is giant, and makes shrill sounds as if it was shrieking in excruciating pain.

And it moves so fast when it attacks and comes straight towards Mike.

But Mike isn’t afraid anymore, he lifts the sword at the last moment and the snake impales itself on the blade, going too fast and not able to slow down in time, the shining steel cuts through the Mind Flayer’s body, effectively cutting it in half.

The smoke twists in a last hopeless attempt to form some other attack but it vanishes with one last scream.

Everything happens so fast that Mike hasn’t really had the time to process. He looks at the place where the black smoke was ten seconds ago, only coming back to the present when Henry tries to talk.

“I- I-” he tries, struggling.

Mike relaxes his arms, causing the sword to point downwards and rest the tip of the blade on the ground.

“It was using me. It was using me to accomplish its goal of conquering another world. But thanks to you, now I'll be free. I’ll finally be free.” Henry says, sounding calmer than Mike had ever heard him before.

“It won’t come back, I didn’t lie about the fact that I’m still linked, if I die it dies. You only cut through the part that wanted to leave, but it’s still in there. Still inside of me.” Henry admits. 

“Do it.” He says to Mike.

It painfully echoes the words he said not that long ago, with such a different meaning, when Mike was standing on the edge of the cliff.

Henry's eyes are full filled with regret, but also with peace.

“You want me to kill you?” Mike asks, unsure of what he should do.

Henry nods, and he doesn’t move. Waiting.

Mike swallows. Fighting a monster and killing it, is something. But killing a defenseless possessed human, it’s something else entirely.

But he has to do it, it’s not like Henry will survive with two arms cut off and a gaping wound on his chest. Mike looks right into Henry’s eyes, and when he lifts his sword, he only sees pure relief.

He takes a deep breath and swings the blade right into Henry’s neck.

It was quick. 

His head falls on the ground immediately.

Mike tries to not look at it too much but a giant smoke column comes out of Henry's body. It’s ascending and spreading into the “sky”. The smoke is still screaming but this time, it doesn't try to attack, it’s looking for someone, something, anything to cling onto. 

But it doesn’t find anything.

The wails become really high pitch and the smoke moves quicker in a last desperate movement before everything just vanishes, looking like it just dissolved right into thin air.

And with Vecna, Henry, dead and the Mind Flayer dead too, the reality around Mike starts to collapse. 

The sky starts changing colors, huge chunks of the ground starting to fall.

And that’s the moment when the adrenaline stops rushing in his blood, and also the moment when Mike collapses on the ground from the horrendous convulsion in his left side.

He opens his hand and leaves the sword to fall to the ground.

Mike doesn’t know if he has to go to the gate, which is now far away after the battle against Vecna, or if the ground collapses underneath him, he will still end up at home.

He doesn’t really care at the moment. He places his right hand on his side, screaming in pain and starting to cry again, but after a few seconds, he bursts out into laughter.

The realization is golden.

It’s the end.

They won.

After 4 years they finally won.

They fucking won. Mike killed Vecna.

He fucking killed Vecna.

And the ground collapses beneath him. He doesn’t fall for long before hearing a scream, and what a scream it was.

“MIKE!”

It’s Will screaming in terror at a Mike floating mid-air.

He sees the scene at the other side of the gate beneath him, the gate he finally steps inside the second after he sees the whole affair.

——————————————————————

Mike falls again for another second before someone catches him.

“It's okay, man, I got you.” Steve says as he slowly lays Mike down on the ground.

He doesn’t see very well, his vision blurred but he can still make out the voices.

“Steve, I got the bandages!” Will says as Mike hears his quick footsteps coming toward him and he gives something to Steve before kneeling down beside him. “Oh god. Mike, are you okay?” he asks with  distress in his voice.

“I’m ali-” Mike begins before interjecting his own sentence with a small whimper when Steve touches the wound on his left side, disinfecting it before adding the new dressings. “Why is it still there?” he breathes out quietly.

“It’s from Vecna’s powers, don’t move. He really didn’t miss, huh?” Robin says, trying to tease a bit but the stress in her voice is still palpable.

Steve finishes putting the bandage on the wound and even though his sight is blurry, he can still see that it’s already soaked with dark red blood.

“Speaking of Vecna, what are we going to do now?” Steve questions, turning his attention to everyone.

“Nothing, he’s dead, I can’t sense him anymore. Same with the shadow monster. It’s the end.” Will answers as he takes Mike’s right hand in his, sending what feels like electricity all over Mike’s body. 

“Wait- What?” “What, how?” Robin and Steve both speak at the same time. 

Mike tries to answer them but the only sound that comes out his mouth is a shattered cry. 

It’s embarrassing.

“Someone might have killed the asshole in his own mind.” Will states and Mike can feel his gaze boring into him.

“Why are we still there then? Let’s go back to the gate! I’ll tell the others and you guys will carry Mike. All good with you, our little hero?” Robin teases gently not wanting to celebrate the victory too soon as their teammate is bleeding out before them.

“All good,” he says, struggling.

Will’s hand grabs him by his back with Steve’s help. To get Mike onto his feet, both the boys had to support him, one on each side. They are both holding him up by the ribs and Mike has both his arms hung over their shoulders.

Robin talks through the walkie but Mike doesn’t catch a word she says and they all quickly start to move.

Mike feels dizzy, the world spinning around him as Will tightens his grip as gently as he can on Mike.

“You okay?” he asks as he bends his head down to Mike’s level, seeming absolutely terrified.

“No.” he whispers. “Keep going anyway.”

And they do. They walk for a long time, Mike’s hair is sticking to his forehead from the sweat. He can’t tell if he has a fever.

They’re nearing the Radio Tower, moving so fast they’re almost jogging. Robin told them to hurry along as soon as she saw Mike start coughing up blood.

It’s not a good sign. Not at all.

“We’re almost there Mike, just hold on.” Will assures.

It’s a bit optimistic of him when they still had the Upside Down and the Rightside Up to cross in order to make it to the hospital.

Mike doesn’t let himself hope.

He knew what would happen if he didn’t jump through that gate the second he saw it.

Mike’s sight starts to get darker. He blinks several times, trying to clear his vision, and every time he reopens his eyes it requires more energy. Mike’s thoughts begin to mix.

“You were there, weren’t you? Helping me.” Mike whispers to Will, who is still gripping Mike as hard as he can.

“I- yeah. Yes, I was.” Will says, breathing heavily from the effort of supporting Mike, mixed with his fear.

“Thank you,” he says. He pauses, the words are coming out his mouth way too slow, almost slurred. “So much.” he finishes his sentence, and all his muscles start to relax as his sight becomes dark.

“Hey, Mike? Mike, stay with us! No, no, no, Mike!” Will starts to panic. 

“Shit! Robin, he’s going unconscious!” Steve yells alarmed. 

And they probably speak again, but Mike is already somewhere else, not listening to anything.

He loses consciousness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A while after

The humming of the engine is the only noise that breaks the silence in the truck, the vehicle has been dead silent since Robin had talked to Murray about two minutes ago, he triggered the bomb and took a vehicle the military had left. He will go through the gate before them, the military car he stole is, without a doubt, way faster than “Santa’s truck” Dustin, Jonathan, and the others took or than the military truck riddled with bullets that Steve is driving. 

At least Jonathan’s team took Hopper’s body with them.

Well, it’s not the only noise, Robin kept the walkie on and the static sound filled the vehicle.

What are they waiting for? 

They wait for contact from the Rightside Up. Since El is on the other side she would probably be close enough to make the walkies work between the Upside Down and the Rightside Up, as she already did between the Upside Down and the Abyss. Maybe she’s just too tired, or maybe something bad happened on the other side.

They all made it to the tower with the kids even though it wasn’t easy for them, Kali got injured by a demogorgon but she said she was okay over the radio. The whole road in the Upside Down was completely quiet, all the monsters gone, they died at the same time Vecna and the Mind Flayer did. Thanks to Mike.

Mike who has been unconscious for the past twenty minutes in the back of the truck as he’s held by Will.

His head is resting against Will’s left shoulder and his injured shoulder brushing against Will when the truck moves too roughly, he’s never looked so vulnerable. He’s breathing slowly and his hair is sticking to his forehead from the copious amount of sweat. 

Will frequently adjusts his position when he checks Mike’s wound, which is still bleeding. Even though they put a second bandage, the last one they had, around Mike’s sides, it’s still bleeding profusely.

Will is pressing the wound with one of his hands to try and slow the bleeding. 

He adjusts his position when the wound on his leg stings worse than before, even if it’s a lot more bearable, thanks to El.

Steve is driving recklessly but neither Will nor Robin bother to tell him to stop, not when it’s necessary for Mike to live..

Will hears something being hit from the passenger seat.

“Shit, shit, shit, why is this goddamn walkie not working?” Robin swears, hitting the walkie on the dashboard.

“It’s not the walkie, Rob.” Steve sighs, trying to keep his calm even though he’s visibly anxious. “Anyway, it’s fine. We’ll be leaving this asshole’s place fo-re-ver in about three minutes.” he assures while looking several times into the rearview mirror.

“Well… how is it going back there?” Robin asks, sounding as scared as they all felt.

“He’s still unconscious, but alive.” Will answers, not able to hide the terror in his voice.

Still alive, for now.

His heart is beating so fast he thinks it might explode if he thinks about it too much. The possibility of Mike not surviving terrifies him. It can’t happen. 

Will can’t lose Mike now. Not when all this shit is finally ending. When all of this will stay behind them.

Mike can’t go.

He has to survive, there’s no other way.

Then, Will feels movement on his shoulder, and before he can realize it, a groan of exhaustion exits Mike’s throat.

Will quickly changes his position to be in front of Mike, a hand at the back of his neck to hold him up and the other hand still on his left side to put pressure on the wound.

“Hey, Mike? Mike? Are you here?” Will asks with so much hope in his voice.

In answer, Mike’s face twists with pain and he slowly opens his dark brown eyes.

“Thank god. Stay with me okay? We’re gonna exit the Upside Down in just a few minutes, we’ll get you to the hospital and everything will be fine. Alright?” Will says, trying to be confident even if he is still scared about Mike’s physical state.

“Glad you’re back with us, Wheeler!” Steve exclaims, not trying to hide his relief.

“We missed you, Mike, we’re going to save your ass, trust me.“ Robin teases with relief, even if it’s way more reserved than Steve.

A small smile appears on Mike’s face.

“I trust you guys.” he whispers, but he is only looking at Will, eyes shining.

Will swallows as he loses himself in Mike’s gaze. 

Mike’s loving gaze.

But there’s no time to think about that now.

Mike’s right hand joins Will’s one on his wound and he pushes Will’s hand harder on the wound. Mike gasps in pain, tears springing in his eyes and Will is tempted to loosen his grip, but Mike doesn’t let go.

“Keep going. It’s necessary.” he affirms.

Will must still look worried because he speaks again .

“You aren’t gonna break me.” he teases.

Will giggles a bit, looking at Mike’s bright smile.

How can he be so calm?

“Almost out of here!” Steve states.

No one talks.

Mike is still looking at him as if Will is his anchor to reality.

Maybe he is.

Will shifts his eyes down to glance at Mike’s horrible wound. This is the first time he really notices the feeling of Mike’s warm blood on his fingers, the smell of Mike’s blood, and it nearly makes him throw up, but he is still far too terrified to think of himself when Mike is still injured. 

“Will.” Mike calls in a reassuring tone.

Will locks his glance on Mike’s once again. And this time he doesn’t let go. The truck is trembling, Steve announces they are going to cross the gate. But he doesn’t really care, right now there’s only Will and Mike. There’s only them.

It had always only been them.

Mike’s look shifts into something deeper, something more serious.

“Will.” He calls again. “I-” he begins before a loud scream interrupts him.

“BRAKE!!” Robin screams at Steve who follows her instructions and hits the brake pedal as hard as he can, causing Will to nearly be thrown towards the front of the truck.

Mike hits his head on the car body and lets out a groan of discomfort. Will leaves his side and grabs his rifle by instinct before looking out the windows.

They’re on the other side.

But there are dozens of soldiers around Santa’s truck and all the kids and Jonathan’s team are forced outside with their hands up. Same for Murray standing next to his military car. 

The soldiers turn around in surprise toward their truck and start aiming at them too.

This is a nightmare.

“What’s going on?“ Mike asks with way more energy, Will assumes it’s due to the adrenaline.

“Military.” Robin answers as she searches for something next to her seat. She takes a revolver and places it on her lap before searching for something else and discreetly handing  a rifle to Steve.

“Shit.” Mike swears quietly.

Doctor Kay is there too, watching from in the middle of the soldiers.

“You are all under arrest, get out of your vehicle now with your hands up.” she screams with a satisfied smile on her face.

“We have someone badly injured! We have to take him to hospital, we can surrender right after.” Steve protests, tightening his grip around the rifle.

“I don’t care about your injured man, you are guilty of disturbance of public order, murder, kidnapping and so many more charges. Count yourself lucky that I don’t execute you right here on the spot. Get out. Now.” she says in a tone that tells them that she isn’t open to any reclamation.

They all stay quiet and tighten their grip on their weapons, even Mike who can’t see what is happening is tense

None of them make a single move. If they surrender, they will let Mike die. If they don’t, maybe one of them will survive enough time to bring him to the hospital but there’s no guarantee.

“Alright.” Doctor Kay says and gives the soldiers the order to fire. 

They are all ready to strike back, Steve ready to move his seat back to prevent being hit by bullets since the window is still broken from the previous fight.

But nothing comes. And better than that, the soldiers lower their weapons and look at Dr. Kay, who is in total disbelief.

Will looks at Steve and Robin who don’t know what’s happening.

“Who told you that you could lower your weapons?” Dr. Kay asks angrily.

All the soldiers touch their left ear and throw something on the ground. Their earpieces.

Everyone, including Dr. Kay is intrigued.

What the fuck is happening?

Then, someone walks toward them in the Mac-Z, a silhouette that Will recognizes almost immediately.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me…” he whispers.

One of the only men that was kind toward Will in 1984, and toward El in 1986. 

Someone they all thought was dead and buried six feet deep underground.

But he’s somehow still standing, joining the soldiers with a smile on his face.

“I did. I told them.” Doctor Owens says to Doctor Kay.

Something that nobody would ever expect. Doctor Kay is shocked and they can tell that she’s furious.

“What the hell are you doing here!?” she screams, looking anxiously at the soldiers who walk toward her.

“My job.” Owens says as he stretches a little bit. “Since you weren’t able to do yours while respecting ethical standards, I was sent to clean up this mess.” He affirms.

“I did everything right! These children killed dozens of soldiers, they deserved the treatment they got!” she retorts. 

Owens shakes his head and does a little hand movement, signaling at the closest soldiers to apprehend Dr. Kay. 

“Well, you did hunt some of these children while they were keys for the understatement of this case, it constitutes professional misconduct. This is enough grounds to arrest you for, not even mentioning the attempted murder you did on these people or the kidnappings to bait the monster. You are under arrest and you have the right to remain silent.” Owens states as the soldiers handcuff Kay. She says a lot, but she’s complaining and babbling so much that Will can't understand what she says.

The other members of their team have their mouths wide open, except for El, who is happy to see Owens there.

Steve honks the horn and he shoves his head out of the non-existent window. 

“Hey, sorry to interrupt but can we carry our horribly injured guy to the hospital like, NOW?” he says.

Owens nods with a serious look and the soldiers start clearing the way for them.

“I’m Dr. Owens. I will join you at the hospital and I need you to explain everything that happened.” 

“Yeah sure. Oh and by the way don’t send anyone into the gate, it’s going to, you know.” Steve makes an exploding sound with his mouth before starting the engine as quickly as he can.

“Good to know! Good luck on the way to the hospital!” Owens says encouragingly

Just before Steve begins to drive, Jonathan screams out to the car.

“We’re going to take Mom, Max and everyone else! We’ll meet you there!”

No one responds, Robin only showing a thumbs up out the window before the truck starts to accelerate.

Will finally lowers his weapon and kneels down beside Mike again. He’s pale and weak, but still conscious.

“The hospital is ten minutes away, but I can get us there in six.” Steve says while he focuses on driving.

Will sighs of relief, only six minutes. 

It’ll all be fine.

But when Will’s glance locks onto Mike’s he feels everything but relief. It strikes fear right back into his body. He’s terrified.

He didn’t notice it before now but Mike is struggling to breathe, a lot more than he was before.

Mike lets out another pained groan. Every sound he makes just sounds more and more uncontrollable. Every sound is raw and aching. It’s terrible.

Will is crying. He can feel the tears falling down his cheeks and he wants to say something, but he’s not able to speak. Not now. Not when they are only a few minutes away from the hospital.

But Mike has already held on for such an extensive period of time and he’s exhausted.

It terrifies Will, with the way Mike is deteriorating Will isn’t sure how long he has left.

His best friend is pressing his hand into the huge wound on his left side and Will really doesn’t know what to do anymore. He can see the pain and terror in Mike’s eyes. The only thing that somewhat reassures Will is that those dark brown eyes haven’t lost their spark yet.

Mike’s gaze is stuck in place, eyes still on his friend. He opens his mouth slowly.

“Will- William…” 

The sound of his full name sends electricity down his back. Will presses his hand on Mike’s to again try and stop the bleeding.

Mike takes a deep breath.

“I…I don’t think I’m-… going to make it.” Mike confesses wearily, tears growing in his eyes as he smiles a bit.

“Michael…” Will whispers, he can’t accept it. No. Mike is wrong, he’s going to make it. He’ll survive. He has to survive. 

Will can’t do anything to help and that breaks him. All he can do is hope that Mike’s wrong.

Mike puts his left hand, lightly injured and scratched  just like the rest of his arm, onto Will’s cheek trying to wipe away his tears.

“C’mon don’t-… don’t cry.” he whispers so sweetly it might just cause Will to explode in this truck.

Mike is struggling with his words, he can tell.

“It’s gonna be okay Mike, I promise, I swear you’ll be okay.” He says, even if he knows his promise doesn’t really make sense.

“Y- Yeah ?” Mike asks, even if he knows that Will can’t promise anything.

“Yeah.” Will confirms.

Will melts into Mike’s hand on his cheek. He thinks that it would feel nice and comforting if he wasn’t being so pathetic, he isn’t the one dying right now. Yet he is still the one crying his eyes out.

“I know, it seems ridiculous.” Will admits.

“I- I didn’t say… it.” Mike teases gently.

“You- You didn’t have to” Will responds, sobbing. Why is he doing this?

Mike smiles but after a few seconds it fades away, and his face returns to the same distressed state that it was in before Robin interrupted him. He looks worried, concerned, and terribly anxious.

“I have… something to tell you. I- I-”  Mike tries and Will can see his frustration in his eyes as he tries to get the words out.

But Will already knows everything. He doesn’t want Mike to waste his breath so he just rests his free hand on Mike’s face.

“I know.” He says. Mike just looks at him, confused. “Vecna’s thing. I-…I saw and heard everything.” he specifies.

Mike looks surprised but it’s quickly replaced by worry again… and fear.

Will can understand how Mike is feeling right now, he would have died if the roles were reversed. And as Will sits in his thoughts, Mike’s glance is slowly filling up with even more worry, waiting desperately for an answer.

Will finds the strength to laugh and gently caresses Mike’s cheek. Before Will can even say a word, Mike’s gaze shifts to hope.

“I love you too, idiot.” Will confesses teasingly while also being completely earnest.

Will thinks back to what he thought would happen.

No, the world didn’t end, and no, Mike didn’t hit you in the face. 

Mike is in fact shining brighter than ever, it’s easy to forget that he’s bleeding out. His smile is bright and his eyes are filled with stars. He’s so happy and relieved. 

Mike lets out a weak laugh that makes Will feel crazy. 

He takes Mike in a hug. Will hears him groan a bit from the movement but he doesn’t complain and he puts his arms around Will’s shoulders.

They are pressing their foreheads together and Mike looks like he’s drowning in Will’s eyes. 

“I’ve always been in love with you.” Mike confesses, still struggling with his words as he starts crying too. Will thinks he might have heard Steve or Robin, possibly both, sobbing, but he doesn’t care. Not right now.

They are both sobbing in each other’s arms, and Will feels so safe in Mike’s arms.

And he feels rather proud when he realizes that Mike might feel the same with him.

“What are we going to do now?” Will asks, whispering.

“I think… I might know.” Mike whispers back, no longer looking at Will’s eyes, his stare shifting a bit lower.

Oh.

Will leans forward and Mike meets him halfway. Their lips connect. Their worlds collide. 

It’s not as soft as Will would have thought it would be for their first kiss.

It’s desperate.

It’s so desperate, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

Will’s hands are now playing with Mike’s curls as their lips move together, Mike gripping onto Will’s shirt and he somehow pulls him even closer, even deeper into the kiss.

It’s messy, it tastes salty. It’s filled with tears, sweat and maybe even blood, but that’s what they need. It’s what they both wanted and needed this whole time.

It’s the first time they get to have an intimate moment together, and Will breaks the kiss when he realizes it could also be their last.

Mike smiles and looks up at him like he is the most precious person in the world, he looks so happy with his red shining lips pulled into a smile, laughing weakly again. When Will finally catches his breath, he notices he can hear Mike’s. He’s wheezing badly. Way more than before, his eyes had become glassy and dazed.

Mike’s smile is slowly fading away and the warmth that enveloped them both in an unbreakable armor is soon replaced by cold. A Hawkins’ autumn cold.

They might be near the hospital now, but Mike just keeps getting weaker, his skin keeps getting colder. He’s finally out of adrenaline and catching up to reality. 

They’re so close to the end. Will wishes he could do something more than just hold Mike and stay with him, instead he notices Mike’s grip on his own wound getting looser and more lax.

“Mike, Mike stay with me” Will begs.

“C- cold.” Mike stutters weakly through his shivering.

“Mike please stay with m-” Will begins to beg again, but he is interrupted by Mike who is strongly grabbing Will’s right sleeve and pulling. Will gasps with surprise.

Mike looks horrified, eyes so wide and dilated that Will can’t discern his iris from his pupils. He is wheezing terribly, gripping at Will’s sleeve and anything else he can reach like it’s a life line, an anchor, a lifebuoy.

But Will can’t save anything, he can’t do anything. He can just watch as Mike fights to stay conscious and breathing.

“I don’t wanna go.” he sounds terrified. “I don’t wanna go, Will, please..” Mike pulls Will’s sleeve harder. “Please, I don't wanna go..” he tears up. “I don’t wanna go.” Mike whispers before all his muscles relax and before his eyes close.

Will is pretty sure Mike had whispered “I’m sorry.” before passing out.

“Mike?” Will asks desperately. “Mike?”  he asks again, shaking him a bit. “Mike, wake up.” Will begs. “C’mon wake up.” Mike is still breathing, but it’s so shallow and they know he won’t hold on much longer.

Robin is crying in the passenger seat seeming to have lost hope. Steve is crying too but he stays determined.

“We’re at the hospital, he’s going to make it.” He looks at Will in the rearview mirror. “ I know it.“

Will wants to believe him, he really wants to.

He takes Mike’s bloody right hand into his and he starts to beg.

Do not take him, please don’t take him from me.

———————————————————————————————

Two hours later. November 7th, 1987

Will is bouncing his right leg anxiously on the hospital white floor. He has his hands covering his face to try and avoid the aggressive white lights, to make it less real.

There aren’t many people in the corridor.

Robin is in radiology getting an x-ray of her likely broken arm. Steve and El are also going through radiology because the doctors suspected cerebral commotion for both of them, apparently El hit her head while protecting the kids from a demo.

Murray’s also down there with the others, one of the soldiers broke his jaw before Steve and the others had arrived, everything had happened so fast that Will didn’t catch it.

Doctors are giving Dustin and Kali stitches. Kali has a huge wound on her back but she looked okay when she arrived with the others at the hospital.

Speaking of the others, Vickie was exhausted and clearly terrified but thankfully she wasn’t hurt at all and is now with Robin, or Will thinks she is, he doesn’t really care. He just knows she isn’t with him right now.

Mom, Max, and Erica all arrived at the same time.

Erica was pushing Max’s chair while wiping at her own tears. Speaking of Max, Will had never seen her like this before. Her only working eye, the other definitely damaged by Vecna, looking straight into the void. She had dried tears on her cheeks, it was like she was so tired she couldn’t even cry anymore.

Mom was crying too, being held tightly by Jonathan. She had a huge cut on her right shoulder that she had gotten from protecting Max from a demo’s attack while she was in her trance, they made the monster runaway before hiding in Hopper’s cabin for the rest of the night waiting for Jonathan to come back with the rest of the team in their truck. 

Her wound is in the same spot as Mike's.

Don’t think about Mike.

She took him into her arms with Jonathan, causing him to start crying even more. Her voice was shaky and broken.

“He’s going to be okay, Will. It’s over boys. It’s finally over.” She said, crying so hard she’s shaking in both sons’ arms.

Will had slowly picked up the black box, it felt like it weighed a thousand pounds in his hand, and had given it to his Mom. Who had sobbed even harder before the nurses took her back to treat her shoulder.

His mom is still not back in the corridor and Will suspects the nurses and the doctors to give them something to sedate them because of the shock. It wasn’t anything that bad though. When the nurse, who gave him the stitches on his leg and brought the needle to his arm saying it was only pain killers, Will normally would have said yes, but instead he said it wasn’t necessary and thankfully the nurse didn’t insist.

Jonathan isn’t treated yet, he says he can wait. He hears his brother talking with Dr Owens but they’re too far for Will to catch their words. They are probably talking about the Upside Down shit. To Will’s knowledge, the dimension did really explode and the gates don’t exist anymore. Hawkins is no longer split in four.

Mike’s plan did work after all.

Don’t think about Mike.

The only people seated next to Will are Erica and Max. Max is sleeping, moving occasionally at random times, and he hopes she isn’t having a nightmare. Erica is still awake but she doesn’t say anything, well maybe she is sleeping.

It’s nearing two in the morning and Will is exhausted, but he can’t sleep when he’s so stressed and his heart is beating so fast it feels like it's going to burst. Two hours passed with no news at all.

It’s terrifying.

Will remembers running, limping a bit, in this same goddamn hallway when the nurses were transporting Mike to the surgery room. He had an oxygen mask on his face, his eyes closed with drops of blood falling on the ground and the urgent tone the nurses were using definitely wasn’t making him feel any better. Steve had to stop him from going into the surgery room with Mike.

Mike. Mike. Mike.

He can’t lose him. No, no, no. Not him. Not the boy he has loved since the beginning. Not Mike.

Will’s hands are itching, so he stands up quickly and rushes to the bathroom like he’s done five times already, and he turns the water tap. The cold water is such a great relief to his sweaty hands. 

Will looks at himself in the mirror, he doesn’t have dried blood flaking off his nose anymore and his face is a lot less dirty than it was when he had first arrived. He looks exhausted.

So instead he looks at his hands and starts to rub them together. They are already clean, but Will can’t stop feeling the sensation of Mike’s hot blood between his fingers and under his nails. So he scrubs them, stronger, faster, till the skin becomes red and raw.

Will stops and exits the bathroom. When he returns to the corridor, Will can tell that Erica’s asleep. But he sees that Max is awake, looking at him and smiling weakly. Will goes to take the seat next to her wheelchair but before he sits he realizes that Erica is shivering in her sleep. He takes off his jacket and he puts it on top of her. Will realizes at the last second it’s not actually his jacket. It’s Mike's.

Will clenches his jaw tight while he takes the seat next to Max.

She takes a deep breath before speaking.

“He’s gonna be okay, Will.” She reassures him gently. 

Will lets out a quiet laugh before he starts crying again.

“I don’t know, Max… I’m so, so, so scared to lose him. And I know it sounds selfish, maybe it is, because we’ve all lost, we all lost loved ones and- and- I’m so sorry Max I wished I could have done something and-” Will starts before his sentence gets cut off.

“Hey. I don’t blame any of you”“ her voice is shaking. “Now it’s over. They would have been happy to see that we did it. No. They’re happy right now. I just know it.” She cries.

Will doesn’t respond and he closes his eyes when Max places her head on his shoulder.

But she doesn’t really understand, no one would really, nobody except for Mike.

He didn’t even do anything for Lucas and for everyone else they lost, he couldn’t even look at them die when Vecna was torturing Mike.

Mike had seen everything. Will didn’t because he looked away during these moments.

He looked away as Mike was forced to watch.

He was a coward, he’s useless and now he’ll have to wait until they say that they couldn’t save him, that it was too late, that-

Max presses her hand into his.

“Will.” she whispers.

Will follows Max’s line of sight and looks towards the hallway. There’s a doctor walking towards them in the corridor. Will gets up immediately and is standing in the middle of the corridor waiting for the doctor to arrive, waiting for the news he’s needed for hours.

The moment is suspended in time, each of the doctor’s steps resonates in Will’s ears. He becomes hyper aware of everything. 

His whole body is so tense he starts to shake.

And then, Will sees it in the eyes of the man wearing the white coat before he can even open his mouth. A calm look, concerned, but filled with relief. He has a hint of a smile on his face.

All Will’s muscles start to relax at once and he exhales shakily as the doctor starts to talk.

“He’s still in surgery but we succeeded in stabilizing him. His life isn’t in danger anymore.” he starts and Max exhales in relief. “Your friend is built out of steel, his body handled it very well.”

“Such a goddamn Wheeler.” Max whispers teasingly, trying to stop herself from sobbing, putting her hands over her mouth.

The doctor chuckles a bit and Will loses his balance, falling to his knees. 

Mike will make it.

He hears rushing steps behind him.

Mike will survive.

Jonathan takes him in a tight hug. 

“Mom told you so.” he says, looking just as relieved as they all felt.

Will avoids him for a moment and he looks at the doctor.

“Thank you. So, so much.” He succeeds in articulating.

The doctor nods before he starts walking again back toward the place he came from.

Will cries so much he loses the notion of time.

He falls asleep in his brother's arms.

———————————————————————————————

He wakes up four hours later, just before the clock hits six. The hallway is way more crowded than it was when Will had fallen asleep. Dustin is talking to Jonathan. Apparently Steve left with Robin, Murray, and Erica when they learnt that Mike would make it. He brought them back to their respective houses and he said he would collapse on his bed before visiting later in the day. Vickie stayed with them, she took her shift less than an hour ago.

His Mom is still sleeping with Kali in her arms, and Max and El are huddled together while sleeping too. 

“Hey, Will. You doing okay?” Dustin asks quietly, trying to not wake up anyone.

“Mmmh.” Will groans while he stretches his stiff limbs. “How’s Holly?” he asks, in the same tone, since he had heard news on everyone but her.

Dustin’s glance darkens a little.

“She woke up an hour ago, we… had to tell her about Nancy. Jon stayed with her until she fell asleep again. We spoke to Karen too. I don’t think I need to tell you how she reacted.” Dustin states.

Will sighs out an agreement.

“At least I could tell them that Mike was okay. Vickie came by ten minutes ago and said he should wake up soon.” Jonathan announces, a kind smile on his face.

Will feels a second wave of relief hitting him.

Mike is going to wake up. And soon.

But who from his family would be sitting next to him? Ted is still in a coma and Karen and Holly are still sleeping and they definitely won’t be able to leave their bed for a moment. 

And Nancy… well. It won’t be a happy waking up moment. 

Will still asks about Mike’s mother and sister.

“Karen and Holly… are they still- ?” He begins.

“Sleeping. Yes.” Dr. Owens interrupts when he enters the hallway with two cups of hot coffee.

He walks toward them and hands one of the cups to Jonathan who thanks him with a small nod and a smile. Owens hands the second one to him, Will hesitates for a second but he finally takes the hot cup in his hands whispering his appreciation before he takes a sip, the hot and bitter liquid coming down his throat starts to awaken him.

Owens puts his hand on Will’s shoulder.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” He asks kindly.

Will probably would have said no to anyone else, but it’s Owens. The only scientist who actually tried to protect him and to understand what happened. He was the only one gentle with El too when she needed her powers back in 1986. 

“Yeah, sure.” Will agrees, standing up to join Owens several meters away from the others.

“Will, it’s good to see that you became such a strong man. I’m proud of you.” Owens begins.

Will blushes a bit before Owens pursues.

“I already talked to your mother and your brother. And this other great guy too, Steve Harrington. You have powers apparently?” Owens teases, smiling at Will.

“Yeah… I had powers. But not anymore.” Will specifies, a bit confused by the question.

“Alright, I know that my next question may be a bit insensitive so if you don’t feel comfortable answering it’s perfectly understandable, okay?” He says and Will nods. “Perfect, I’m just trying to understand everything that happened, I know almost everything except how your powers worked for you and what happened to Mike, I don’t want to ask him directly after he wakes up so... do you feel okay with explaining this to me?” He asks with an encouraging look.

Will swallows. “Yeah. Vecna was a part of a huge network between all these monsters that we called the Hive Mind,” Owens nods as he already knew that. “Since… he possessed me, I was connected to it too but not entirely, sometimes I could feel the pain but not systematically. And not long ago I discovered I had visions Vecna didn’t want me to have, and right after I could control the Hive Mind’s power myself, I could pull the strings too.” Will explains with a lump in his throat when he quotes Mike’s words.

Will takes a deep breath and starts to talk again, “I think Steve already told you that Mike was possessed by Vecna, but you want to know what happened in there because you know that I was with Mike, don’t you?”

“If you feel comfortable with it, yes. I need to know as much information as possible to take care of the case properly.”

Will sighs.

“I don’t feel comfortable, but if it’s necessary…” Will swallows before pursuing. “Vecna attacked Mike with a lot of bad memories, mistakes he made in friendships, relationships too. He… had shown him all the deaths, several times over for some of them. He baited Mike into thinking he was going to be saved and he showed him a lot of fragile and sensitive memories too. Mike succeeded in appealing to a lot of great memories of him and he fought Vecna with it. He had a sword and I was blocking the Hive Mind’s power, it wasn't easy but at least Vecna couldn’t use his telekinesis anymore.” Will breathes. “Mike won even if the monster had already injured him badly and the Mind Flayer, you know that dark sm-” Will begins to explain but Owens nods, encouraging him to pursue. “The Mind Flayer got out of Henry’s dead body and it vanished in the air like it just disintegrated. I didn’t see anything more because when it died the Hive Mind didn’t exist anymore so… the rest of my story joins Steve’s.” He finishes, his summary was pretty vague and incomplete but he thinks he said the more important things.

Owens nods and he seems to think for a second before responding.

“Do you still feel something?” he asks, a bit of worry in his voice.

Do you think it will come back?

“No.” Will is so glad to answer this because it’s just the raw truth. “Even when I was in California I could still feel some weird things but it was never as strong as I felt here in Hawkins. Now? It’s dead calm, after four years it’s finally over.”

Owens exhales of relief.

“Well, I think I’ll make you guys sign those goddamn confidentiality papers once again and give you a nice amount of money for the damages caused by our experiences, and for you to keep quiet of course.” Owens smiles.

Will smiles back before looking back at El who is beginning to wake up with worry. He looks at Kali too, still well asleep in his mom’s arms.

Owens catches his gaze and reassures him.

“I burnt all the papers mentioning them in Project Nina, all the kids and scientists are officially dead. She’s Jane now.”

Will laughs a bit, trying to hold back his tears. “She always has been Jane, she’s always been way more than just Eleven.” 

Owens laughs too and he begins to leave the hallway after giving Will’s hand a quick shake.

“I’ll send you the papers! Tell Mike that I’m glad he made it and that we'll put a therapist at your disposal for a few months if you feel like you need one. See you around, William.” Owens waves his hand.

“Bye, Owens.” Will whispers back.

The doctor disappears at the end of the corridor and he hears a few groans of complaint behind his back. 

“Will you wake us…” Jane protests weakly, but she is still hugging Max with her eyes closed.

Max is looking at Will with fake hatred.

“I hate you.” She mouths to not wake up Joyce and Kali.

“How are you?” Will dares to ask.

“Awful.”

“Terrible.”

Both girls speak at the same time so Will doesn’t actually know who said what, but his chest aches a bit when he thinks about the horrible night they all had to go through.

He walks toward the girls and takes them in his arms.

“I’m sorry girls…”

“Don’t.“ Jane says, sobbing in her brother’s arms.

Max doesn’t say anything this time, just cries as she melts into the hug.

They hold each other tightly and Dustin and Jonathan join the group hug a few seconds later.

Will’s brother is crying too, he had just lost Nancy, the woman he loved. And if Will could, he would have put more strength into the hug.

It feels safe.

A part of Will wished this would last for eternity.

But before long they hear footsteps thundering in the hallway.

When Will lifts his head he recognizes Vickie immediately.

Before he could begin to worry or think anything bad, Vickie talks and starts to babble even though she is out of breath.

“Guys…” She inhales. “Mike is waking up.” she finishes, sparkles in her eyes.

Will stands up immediately.

“Can we-” He begins.

“Yes, go!” Vickie cuts him off.

They all look at each other.

“Oh God.” Dustin swears before they all start running down the hallway.

“HEY?!” Max complains behind them. “Someone has to push me!”

Will rolls his eyes teasingly and runs to Max to push her toward Mike’s room.

Jonathan stayed with Mom and Kali so there are only Dustin, Max, Jane, and him entering the room. 

“Thanks for the ride, sweetheart.” Max teases before Will pushes her into the room.

“Should have left you there.” Will whispers to her back as she gasps of fake indignation.

They close the door behind them and look at the body laying on the hospital bed. Mike moves around slowly, making a noise of complaint in his throat.

“Who should have left who?” Mike asks, confused.

“WHEELER!” Dustin screams before running next to Mike’s bed. “We thought we were going to lose you too, man. I was so scared.” he began to cry.

“You okay?” Jane asks way more softly.

“I dunno. They gave me strong painkillers, like strong as hell. I’m kinda high right now.”  Mike laughs weakly. “How is Holly?” He asks worryingly.

“Sad. Still sleeping.” Dustin answers.

Mike nods, “And my mom?”

“Sad. Still sleeping.” Max says, repeating what Dustin said earlier.

Will pushes her chair closer to the bed.

“Your curls are all messed up Wheeler.” Max teases.

“As messed up as my personality?” Mike quips back.

“You beat me to it.” Max laughs weakly, tears appearing in her eyes.

The silence that follows is heavy. Mike lifts his body up on the bed to face them all properly. He looks sadly at Max.

“I’m sorry.” he says with a shaky voice. I’m sorry for Lucas, for everything.

“I’m sorry too, Mike.” Max cries, as Jane takes one of her hands. For Nancy, for everything.

They’re all crying, they’ve all lost so much in such a short amount of time. 

Mike looks directly into Will’s eyes.

“It’s finally over isn’t it?” he asks on the verge of tears.

Will steps closer and he takes him in a tight hug, enjoying Mike’s warmth like he never had before.

“It’s over.” Will affirms in his left ear.

Will can still hear the others sobbing but everything goes silent again when Mike whispers back in his ear.

“I love you.” 

———————————————————————————————

Eight months later, July 7th 1988

Will wakes up suddenly. He yawns while stretching himself and squinting at the clock.

5:43 AM.

Why the hell did he wake up so early?

He turns over in the sheets and reaches across to the other side of the bed, just for his hand to fall to an empty space. 

Will frowns as he looks back at where Mike was sleeping with him. The sheets are still warm, he must have left not too long ago.

Will sits up on the bed, trying to emerge completely from his sleep. He rubs his eyes, he’s so tired he could fall back asleep in a matter of seconds. Mike would join him again soon, he must be in the bathroom.

And then Will realizes it’s the 7th day of the month.

“Oh shit.” he whispers to himself, standing up and walking across Hopper’s cabin.

This place had become their safe place. Mike’s one especially.

It had been weird and hard for everyone to get back to living a normal life with high school and… normal stuff. 

His Mom had bought a new house with the money the government gave them, it’s not that far from Mike’s. But it’s useless since Mike is barely at his own house anymore. Holly is always hanging out with Max, Erica, and her own school friends. Max and Mike’s sister had created an unbreakable friendship, and Erica quickly joined the both of them.

Karen hangs out with Will’s mom a lot too, with all the party’s moms actually. And Ted is still Ted but somehow even Ted-er? Even more absent. He's been looking through the family photo album repeatedly ever since he woke up from his coma, a week after they defeated Vecna.

The Wheeler’s house was basically abandoned, haunted by many memories that no one wants to face. It’s too painful for them to stay there since Nancy passed away.

Will’s new house feels a bit empty too, even if it’s not at the level of the Wheeler’s, with Jim’s death mostly, but when Jonathan left for Chicago too. He was hired as a photographer for a newspaper. Will can admit that his brother’s pictures are the best in the world and that he has to take the opportunity to get his photos out there, but Will still misses him a lot.

Jane, Kali and the other girls are stuck together most of the time too, even if the girls say that Will is welcomed in their discussions he feels like he shouldn’t be there.

Dustin hangs out a lot with Steve, dealing with their grief. Robin is still with Vickie, one of the happiest couples in Hawkins.

But for Mike, his grieving was horrid. It’s not like the communication between the Wheeler’s is as elaborate as the Byers’. They’re all mourning in their own corner. Except Holly, who always tries to spend a lot of time with Mike when she’s feeling sad. Mike handles his sister very well, always sweet and kind.

Will wishes that Mike could handle himself that well.

He can’t really talk to anyone about it. Except maybe Will.

Will was there when Vecna tortured Mike. But he didn’t see everything, he didn’t live it like Mike did. 

He had seen his sister die in front of him once in reality, twice, thrice and many more times when Vecna replayed the scene of her dying again and again, like a broken record. This monster had shown Mike trying to kill himself at twelve years old and had forced him to admit it.

That’s something Mike still has to heal from.

He has to heal from so much. 

Will wishes he could heal Mike in a snap, but the only things he could do was to stay with him, love him, and let him know that he isn’t alone.

That’s why they come by the cabin so often. And because of Mike’s terrible nightmares, especially during each night from the 6th of the month to the 7th. That night when it all began, and when it all ended.

Will had the same type of nightmares, around the same time, but it stopped in April. His sleep is calmer, finally a source of rest and not of anxiety.

Mike’s nightmares during that precise night never stopped, and Will had the feeling it would become more and more violent with time.

He had stopped screaming in his sleep and waking Will up months ago.Now he just leaves the room, sometimes the cabin, to calm himself somewhere else so as to not bother Will in his sleep.

But it’s not necessary, Will always ends up being woken up by Mike’s absence in the bed. 

Like now.

He walks on the floor quietly trying to figure out where Mike went.

Will adjusts his shirt before he hears someone humming a tune outside. The door is slightly cracked so Will decides to just stand by the doorstep.

Mike is sitting on the porch stairs with his guitar in his hands.

Playing guitar became Mike’s favorite hobby along with writing. At the beginning Will had to listen to him hit several wrong notes in a row but he had really improved since then.

Mike isn’t playing yet. He looks at the woods, starting to be lightened by the golden sunrise. 

He hums a recognizable tune before he starts singing.

“I couldn’t take one more step.”

“I can’t remember if I cried”

“When I read about his widowed bride.”

“But something touched me deep inside.”

”The day.“

 He pauses. 

“The music died.”

And he pauses again, taking a deep breath trying to calm his shaking hands when he starts to strum the guitar stings again.

“So, Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie.”

“Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry.”

“And them good ol’ boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye.”

“Singin’, ‘This’ll be the day that I die’”

Mike’s voice breaks on the last word and he lets go of his guitar, exhaling slowly. Will starts to walk toward him.

“This'll be the day that I die.” Mike whispers as Will sits next to him and puts his right arm around Mike’s shoulders.

Mike jumps a bit surprised but relaxes right after he sees Will.

“Oh. I’m really sorry, I woke you.” he apologizes.

“You always do on these nights.” Will notes. “Are you okay? It’s the first time you’ve played something after a nightmare.” 

Mike laughs weakly, “Yeah, not really. The nightmares were basically about the eight months we spent together were all a lie and that I was still in Vecna’s mind. I had to play something, do something, to be sure that it was real, you know?” He says, on the verge of tears. “It was so scary…” Will leans closer and he looks right into Mike’s eyes as he looks back at him. “It’s getting worse isn’t it?” He asks, his voice is shaking terribly.

Will softly caresses the scar on Mike’s left cheek, ”It’s okay Mike. I’m here. It’s going to be okay.“ Will reassures.

Mike takes Will in a hug and starts to melt into him. 

“I’m so sorry…” he apologizes again.

Will gently pushes Mike back to kiss his forehead.

“Don’t be sorry, silly.” Will laughs, taking Mike in his arms again. “You wanna go see them?”

Will’s mentioning the cemetery, Mike usually insists on going there after every nightmare. It’s always a rough moment in time, remembering the first time they were all there together. Max and Jane were barely conscious, almost collapsing in each other's arms. Will, who had hugged everyone so hard, but still hugged Mike a little harder and that had made everyone smile a bit, their relationship wasn't a secret to anyone. 

Mike was the only one who didn’t cry during the funeral. His mom did, so much, his dad too. They were destroyed. It was excruciating to stand in front of their older daughter's empty grave. Mike held back every tear, he had to stay strong for Holly, he had to be the one she could rely on. And the first time she did, she was gripping Mike’s shirt the whole ceremony and when looking at the engraved letters “Nancy Wheeler” became too much for her, she just started gripping his shirt stronger. 

And Mike took his ten years old sister in his arms, at sixteen years old, and had clenched his jaw to not cry, trying to whisper kind things to his sister.

Everyone cried but him. Even Murray cried. Even his Mom’s Russian friends cried on the phone when she told them.

Mike had stayed strong the first time. The others, when he was alone with Will, were a completely different affair. He learnt to mess around looking at Lucas’ grave, telling jokes, talking about his life and everything. It was simple with almost every grave, but when they came around Nancy’s, Will had to hold Mike every time. He always broke down when he was around it. 

Will insisted that visiting the cemetery right after his nightmares wasn’t a good idea, but he still went with Mike month after month. And he’ll go today too.

“No.” Mike says, to Will’s surprise. “I want to stay with you.”

Will blinks and stands up, offering a hand to Mike.

“Okay.” He says. “Let's go back to bed then. I’m tired.”

Mike smiles, he looks at the golden sunlight beginning to filter in from between the trees.

“It’s a nice morning.” he states when Will pulls him inside.

They both get back in the bed. Mike leaning next to Will’s body, his nose buried in Will’s neck.

They both fall asleep in a matter of seconds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sixteen months later, November 22nd 1989

“Mike, I told you we shouldn’t have slept for two whole hours!” Will says, irritated.

Mike is paying for the movie tickets and the popcorn. He puts a finger on his lips to shut him up. 

Will gasps in fake indignation when Mike gets the popcorn and hands Will the tickets.

“Nuh uh, we’ll be right on time. I’ll bet on it.” Mike teases as they walk into the theater.

“On what?” Will teases. 

“The ten hours driving back home.” he drops.

“Bet.” 

Mike laughs and he hums.

“'Till the tears run down from my eyes, Lord”

“Somebody ooh, somebody, please”

“Can anybody find me”

“Somebody to love?”

Will groans in despair, “No, no, no. Please stop, you sang this like a hundred times in the fucking car. Never again. I love this song so much and you’ve made me hate it!” he complains.

Mike and Will went back to Hawkins less than a week before Thanksgiving. So they had to go all the way from New York to Hawkins, Indiana. More than ten hours of driving and they did everything in one day.

And what a day. The radio died after three hours so when it wasn’t his turn to drive Mike played with his guitar. Homemade radio.

And Will can complain if he wants but Mike had told him a thousand times that his car’s radio was dying. Which Will responded, “Buy your own car, brokeass.”

Mike hadn’t bought another car, why would he when he could use Will’s. 

He was still right about the radio though.

Mike opens the theater’s door, and he giggles when he sees that they are still just showing the advertisements.

“No…” Will whispers when he sees it and he looks at Mike with such a sad face he almost feels sorry for him.

Mike pushes him gently on the shoulder.

“I’ll drive if you want,” he proposes.

“The bet?” Will says with a smile.

“Eh, who cares?” Mike answers laughing while he drags Will to the back of the room where everyone else is waiting.

Max looks at him with angry eyes.

“You always find a way to be late!” she complains.

Will sighs while he takes his seat next to Robin, “He is impossible, Max.”

Mike sits down next to him, “Hey!” he protests.

“Oh man, can you guys just shut up? It’ll begin in just a few seconds.” Dustin says angrily. 

“I agree,” Jane says.

“What movie are we seeing?” Vickie whispers to Robin.

“Back to the future, the second part.” she answers.

“Do you guys think it’ll be the dad who will try and crack his son this time?” Steve asks teasingly.

“God, Steve!” Robin complains with an indignant tone.

“I think we have reached our quota of queer people in this room, sorry.” Jonathan jokes.

“Haha, very funny.” Mike says as he smacks Will's lips, giggling.

“Groooooooss.” Kali says with her hands around her mouth forming a cup to be sure that Mike will listen to her.

“I’m going to join Dustin’s argument. Guys, just shut up, it’s starting!” Erica says, effectively shutting them up, no one talks again even though they are laughing a bit under their breath.

Mike starts to focus on the movie. His hand in Will’s. 

They’re all so happy now. Max, Jane, and Kali are studying psychology in Washington, they are all roommates and it’s going very well for them. Dustin is Dustin, the genius is studying quantum physics at MIT. Vickie is still a nurse at the Hawkins Hospital, and Robin is continuing animating the WSQK, Mike should ask her to help them make the car radio work again.

Steve is a basketball coach at halftime, and tries to find time to help Robin at the Radio. Jonathan is a photographer, still living in Chicago, and Erica is in high school.

Will is studying art in New York, living with his messy boyfriend Mike Wheeler who is studying English in New York too, who also writes and plays guitar in his free time.

Mike is surprisingly happy. It’s been months and he doesn't have nightmares anymore.

He loves his life, he loves Will. He loves living with him.

Mike is happy but that doesn’t mean he is never sad. He still is sometimes.

He is a bit sad right now, looking at the empty seats next to them. 

The wounds on their bodies did heal, even if they all marked their skin forever.

Still, here are some wounds that’ll never heal completely. The ache will go away with time but that doesn’t mean the wound will ever stop bleeding

As the movie begins, the whole story ends. Their story.

But another is starting at the same time, with Will’s fingers intertwined with Mike’s. With every single one of them.

And this is their story too. One that has yet to be written.