Chapter Text
Nancy Wheeler was soaked from head to toe, and her left hand was bleeding.
After diving through a portal into the Upside Down in hopes of saving Steve Harrington — her ex-boyfriend, who for some reason seemed to love putting himself in dangerous situations like this — Nancy, Steve, Robin, and the newly arrived Eddie walked cautiously toward what they believed was the Wheeler house.
“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” Robin asked while she and Eddie helped Steve walk after the attack from the Upside Down’s strange bats.
“Well, we’re in the right neighborhood,” Steve said with difficulty. “Apparently.”
“It’s here,” Nancy said, pointing to the mailbox covered in vines, though the first three letters of her last name were still visible.
“Well, let’s hurry up. Harrington’s getting heavy,” Eddie said, and Steve only answered with a grunt of pain as they walked toward the entrance of the large Wheeler house. “I still can’t believe you keep weapons in your room.”
“I think you’ve seen more unbelievable things today,” Nancy said as she opened the door. But when she stepped inside, she kicked a few cans, lost her balance, and was caught by Robin.
“What the hell is this?” Eddie whispered.
“It looks like a—” Before Nancy could finish, footsteps were heard upstairs, followed by the unmistakable creak of the stairs. “Trap.”
“What do we do?” Robin nearly shouted, making Nancy look at her desperately, begging her to be quiet.
“I think I’m gonna throw up,” Steve said, followed by another groan of pain. Before Nancy could answer, a figure emerged from the shadows.
A man — actually, more like a boy. He was holding a shotgun, with a revolver strapped to his waist. The clothes he wore were far too big for him. Nancy stared at his face: his hair was long, and a giant scar crossed over his left eye, which seemed to be missing entirely.
“Who are you?” the boy asked. His voice was weak, as if he hadn’t spoken in a very long time. Nancy swallowed hard. She looked into his eyes again — his only good eye was green. He stepped closer, still aiming the shotgun. He looked like Jonathan. This couldn’t be real... or could it?
“Will,” Nancy said bluntly. The boy’s eyes widened. “Will, is that you?”
“Who are you?” he asked again, the shotgun still pointed at her. Nancy raised her hands in surrender. Steve groaned in pain once more.
“What happened to him?” Will asked. Nancy felt her eyes fill with tears, unable to believe her little brother’s best friend was still alive.
“He’s hurt. It was the bats,” Robin answered. “Please, let us help him.”
Will lowered the shotgun and nodded.
“Put him over there,” Will said, pointing to the couch before leaving the room toward the kitchen.
“Can someone tell me who the hell Will is?” Eddie asked.
“Will Byers, idiot. The kid who died at the quarry,” Steve answered weakly.
“He looks pretty alive to me,” Robin shot back.
Will returned with a first aid kit and handed it to Nancy.
“Let me do it.”
Nancy passed the kit to Robin and turned her attention back to Will. To her surprise, he was already staring back at her. His eyes were narrowed, as if he were forcing himself to see properly. Then, unexpectedly, he reached out and touched her hair.
“Are you a princess?” Will whispered.
Nancy’s eyes filled with tears. Memories flooded back — when Mike had convinced her to join a game between him and Will where they had to rescue a princess from a tower.
Even though seven-year-old Mike insisted that Will be the princess while he and Nancy were knights, Will wanted Nancy to be the princess because she was pretty.
From that day on, Will started calling her princess. Well, until he turned ten. Even so, Will had always treated her with so much affection. He wasn’t annoying like Lucas, Dustin, or even Mike himself. He was simply... Will.
“Well, I was. You used to call me that,” Nancy said, her voice shaky.
“I don’t remember.”
“What do you remember?”
“Not much.”
“Do you remember your mom? Joyce?”
Will shook his head no. Nancy swallowed hard.
“Do you remember whose house this is?”
“Mike.”
“That’s right. My brother Mike. I’m Nancy.”
Will looked at her, then simply left the room. Nancy followed him. Will searched through several papers as if looking for something. When he found it, he showed Nancy a drawing and pointed at it.
“Mike.”
Nancy carefully took the drawing. Mike’s twelve-year-old face had been perfectly sketched in charcoal, surrounded by hearts. She smiled at Will, who frowned slightly, almost jealous of the drawing.
“I’m sure Mike’s going to love seeing you again.”
Nancy was certain her brother would have a nervous breakdown the moment he laid eyes on Will.
Mike hadn’t been the same since Will disappeared. Nancy had watched all of Mike’s friends move on with their lives while he remained in that basement, staring at the drawings Will had left him over and over again. She used to catch him crying almost every day as a child.
She had always known there was something special between Will and Mike — something different from Mike’s relationship with Lucas or Dustin.
When Mike turned fourteen and they went through the tragic battle at Starcourt Mall — the one that led Joyce Byers to move to California and sell her old house — in all those two years of suffering, Nancy had never seen her brother so devastated.
“Nancy!” Robin called. Nancy handed the drawing back to Will and returned to the living room. “How are we getting out of here?”
Will looked at Robin incredulously.
“There’s no way out.”
“But there’s a way in,” Eddie said.
“Wasn’t it the Demogorgon that got you?” Will asked.
“Oh God, don’t tell me you use those ridiculous names too,” Steve muttered.
“We came through a portal in the lake,” Nancy explained. “A Demogorgon got you?”
Will nodded.
“It was a seven,” he said, as if that explained everything.
“What the hell does that mean?” Robin asked, but Will only shrugged.
Nancy looked at Will again. He seemed to have some kind of twitch in his good eye, and his hand never left the shotgun. He was visibly disturbed, his memory deteriorated, and the only thing he remembered was Mike.
“Did you hear that?” Steve said, standing up.
“Careful, Harrington, for God’s sake,” Eddie said.
“It’s Dustin’s voice.” Steve started walking through the room. “DUSTIN! HEY! CAN YOU HEAR ME?”
“Did he actually get rabies?” Robin asked.
“Steve, what are you doing?” Nancy asked.
“He’s here! Henderson, the little shit’s here — in the walls, I think!”
“Will, is that possible?” Nancy asked, and Will nodded.
“I used to hear her voice. Then it stopped,” Will murmured.
“Your mother’s? You heard her?” Nancy asked.
“I don’t remember whose voice it was.”
Will looked like he was about to say something, but Dustin’s voice echoed through the entire living room. Will looked at Nancy, his eyes widening as if a flash of memory had struck him.
“Try the lights.”
Nancy nodded and flipped the switch.
“Shit, it’s not working.”
“Guys, do you see this?” Steve asked, shining his flashlight on the large Wheeler chandelier, which now glowed strangely, almost like glitter.
Nancy touched it, and the lights began to flicker. The others gathered around her while Will watched silently from the corner.
“It tickles,” Steve said in amazement.
“It actually feels kinda nice,” Robin added casually.
Will let out a small laugh, immediately noticed by Nancy, who smiled back at him.
“Does anyone know Morse code?” Nancy asked.
“Does SOS count?” Eddie asked.
Nancy nodded and let Eddie handle the lamp while she stood beside Will.
“You tried this before your memories faded, remember?" Nancy asked. “At your house?”
Will shook his head.
“Did you ever hear us? My family’s pretty loud.”
“I only stayed here at the beginning, but sometimes I come back,” Will explained. “The voices changed.”
“I’ve got an idea!” Dustin shouted from the walls. “Let’s use Holly’s toy with the lights!”
“Okay, and where exactly do we find that?” Robin asked.
“Go to Nancy’s room!” Dustin yelled.
“Follow me,” Nancy said, heading upstairs into her bedroom.
She sat down in front of her bed, looked around wide-eyed, then quickly stood again.
“What are you doing?” Steve asked.
“This wallpaper shouldn’t look like this.”
Nancy walked to her desk. A sophomore-year math book was still there. That was completely wrong.
She grabbed her diary from on top of the book and flipped through it frantically. The last written date was November 6th, 1983.
“That’s impossible.”
“Nancy, what is it?” Robin asked worriedly, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“This diary is frozen in time. It still says it’s November 6th, 1983. It should be completely filled.”
“Things don’t change here. It’s exactly the same,” Will said with a shrug.
“So we’re stuck in time?” Robin concluded.
“Then we won’t find weapons here,” Nancy agreed while Eddie grumbled.
“Look, I think Henderson figured it out!” Steve called everyone’s attention back.
Nancy returned to the glowing particles above her bed. She waved her hand through them.
“Unplug it now!” Dustin shouted. “Go on, try again!”
Nancy touched the glow and wrote: Hi.
“It worked!” Dustin shouted.
“Tell them our situation,” Eddie said.
Nancy nodded and wrote: trapped.
“They’re trapped in the Upside Down,” Lucas’s voice could now be heard.
“Holy shit,” complained a voice that was obviously Mike’s.
Nancy looked at Will, who was already staring at her with an unreadable expression. She took a deep breath and wrote: Will is here.
“Will? What do you mean?” Mike asked. “Are you saying he’s alive?”
Nancy wrote: yes.
“Holy shit!” Dustin exclaimed. “Wait, wait! Can’t you guys leave through Watergate?”
“Watergate? What the hell is that?” Steve asked.
“A portal in the water,” Will finally said, stepping closer. His hand still gripped the shotgun, and the twitch in his eye seemed worse. He looked at Nancy sadly. “I think.”
Nancy took a deep breath and wrote: guards.
“I get it! Watergate has guards!” Dustin said, and everyone agreed. Nancy noticed his voice trembling now.
“Okay, we came up with a plan,” Dustin said after taking a breath. “Look, Watergate can’t be the only one. There must be a portal wherever each person died.”
“Did anyone understand what he just said?” Nancy asked before writing a question mark.
“If each person died in a location, then there’s a portal there too. It’s not hard to understand,” Mike explained.
Nancy wrote: OK.
“Alright! Then let’s go to Eddie’s trailer!” Lucas shouted.
“Wait! Nancy!” Mike’s voice echoed again. “Is Will there?”
Nancy wrote yes. She and Eddie stepped aside so Will could sit down and write something himself.
“Will, it’s me. Mike. I know my voice must sound different.”
Will wrote: Hi.
“Hi, cleric. I’m going to rescue you, okay? I looked for you for a long time. I never gave up.”
“Will, man! It’s me, Dustin! We’re getting you out of there!”
“We’re coming, Will!” Lucas added. “Actually, we’re leaving right now!”
Will was smiling now, which made all four teenagers smile too.
“Alright, how are we getting to Eddie’s trailer park?” Steve asked. “And how far is it?”
“About eleven kilometers,” Eddie said with a shrug.
“Nancy, I know your house is frozen in time, but didn’t you have a bike?”
“I did. Mike’s should still be downstairs too,” Nancy answered.
“There are lots of bikes in the neighborhood,” Will said. “Follow me.”
“Wait, Will, do you have a weapon I can borrow?” Nancy asked.
Will hesitated but handed her the revolver from his waist.
“Thanks.”
“And what about us? We stay unarmed?” Robin asked nervously.
Will looked at her and left the room. Everyone exchanged silent glances.
“Where did he go?” Steve asked.
Before Nancy could say she’d go after him, Will returned carrying an axe.
“This is all I have,” he muttered.
Steve walked over and took the axe from him.
“Yeah, buddy. This’ll do.”
(...)
When they arrived at Forest Hills trailer park, everyone dropped their bikes and ran toward Eddie’s trailer — except Will, who carefully parked Mike’s bike.
Nancy waited for the gesture, and the two followed Steve, Robin, and Eddie into the trailer.
The moment they stepped inside, everyone immediately looked up at the huge portal in the trailer ceiling.
“This is exactly where Chrissy died,” Eddie said, and Robin placed a hand on his shoulder.
“I think there’s something there,” Robin whispered to Nancy.
The portal suddenly started moving, as if pressure was being forced against it. At the same time, loud screeching roars echoed outside — the unmistakable sound of Demogorgons.
Will grabbed his neck and pulled the shotgun from his back.
“Shit,” he muttered while loading the weapon. “There are monsters here.”
Nancy aimed the revolver toward the window while Steve stood beside her and Will, gripping the axe.
“Holy shit, what do we do?” Eddie shouted.
“Stay behind us,” Nancy ordered.
Then a cracking sound came from the direction of the portal, as though something were splitting open. Eddie cautiously approached it.
“Guys!” Eddie yelled.
Then Dustin’s laughter echoed from the other side.
“We did it!” Dustin shouted through the portal.
Nancy didn’t even have time to react before five Demodogs burst into the trailer, terrifying everyone.
One Demodog lunged at Robin and was shot by Will, while Steve decapitated another with the axe and Nancy kept firing at the rest.
“We need to get out of here!” Nancy shouted toward the portal.
“Wait!” Lucas shouted back before disappearing from view, leaving only Mike behind.
Will stood over the portal beside Nancy and blew apart the head of another Demodog charging at Eddie.
“Will?” Mike called from the real world.
Will looked up. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but then Lucas and Max dropped a mattress onto the floor.
“I think we killed them all!” Steve shouted while wiping Demodog blood off his arm.
“For now,” Nancy answered, looking upward.
Dustin threw down an improvised rope made from bedsheets. It landed at Nancy and Will’s feet.
“Pull on it and see if it holds!” Dustin said.
Robin stepped forward and tugged the rope.
“Seems strong!” she shouted. “Alright, who’s gonna be the test subject?”
“Will, you first,” Nancy said, gently nudging him toward the rope.
“Are you sure?” Will asked while placing the shotgun back over his shoulder.
“Yes. I am.”
“Time to go home, buddy,” Steve said.
He and Will shared a smile. Will grabbed the rope firmly and started climbing. The moment he passed through the portal, he collapsed onto the other side.
Nancy smiled.
Finally, Will Byers was home again.