Chapter Text
You were 8 years old the first time you thought death would come to catch you.
You had felt so small and the man looked so angry, the scars he left behind might never really heal, and the terror you felt was nothing short of real.
But you get to live.
And you live long enough to really die for the first time when you are 12, then a second one at 13. There are parts of you that never quite fit right again.
But you get to live again and that should be enough.
When death seems to greet you again at 16 there's a part of you that wonders if this one will finally mark the jackpot, that part shares space with the one unceasingly wishes it would.
And for a moment as the red sky baths everything around you under its unnatural crimson glow and slimy vines tangle up your heavy limbs, you are sure he will.
Sharp pain hammers your head as it gets more and more difficult to breathe.
Everything is black.
It is quiet.
But you come back. And you wish it is enough.
For this restless existence refusing to shut down, to have a use.
-
Will ran. He ran as fast as his legs allow him to go, which isn't as fast or easy as it should while black spots waver through his vision, a warm liquid running on the back of his neck is uncomfortable, the movement is only making the stings of pain even worse and the sticky sole of his shoes are trying to slow his pace, but there's no time to stop.
He doesn't even know how he got out of the rift after finding Vecna's hiding spot but what he knows is that since he is part of the hivemind his time of advantage is running thin and he needs to warn his friends before it runs out.
If only a stupid walkie talkie was enough to reach, they would already know they're heading in the opposite direction! But the closest radio that he can make work that way is in the equipment at the AV club’s room.
So he keeps running through the pain, being so grateful to know the woods and streets of this city by heart, as he tries to guess the right turns and streets, clutching the round piece of metal on his hand. And it’s only once he gets to Hawkins High that he allows himself to stop, crunch down on his knees and empty his stomach against the side of the building.
His shoes were a lost case either way, the pot of snake plat …. It had been for a greater good, it is not like it would survive much under this time and snow- “What?”
Did it start snowing while he was away? Maybe it was already snowing when they left or this is some effect of what's happening on the Upside Down? Or… Was he away for longer than he thought?! Yet, he might be confused, right? As he also remembers this wall to be painted white not the clearly brown plain bricks that rest against his hands.
A contusion is looking more and more likely as he fights the nausea and ignores it to go inside.
But once he opens the door he was looking for he gets a new surprise. This isn't their equipment. The console he finds waiting is old, and the mic is way too big to belong to anytime before the 60’s, had someone changed their things?! Why would someone do that?! And how can they be so unlucky?!
“I can work with this” How much different can this be from the one they made for the Squack with just spare pieces? They're both…. analogical. He puts the headphones on, already looking for a way to change the channel “It must have the same parts, just like… different parts.”
The button that has “ON” in big letters, seems to be a good point to start, the right one as well. As if anxious for human contact the thing comes to life exploding on static at its loudest capacity.
“Hey, you can't touch that!”
Will jumps back, the backlash sending a spike of pain to his arm and the headphones on his head to the floor.
“Sorry, sorry!” He doesn't even know what he was apologising for, or why the boy is so mad about the matter.
The boy steps closer looking frantically at the machine, and it hits Will then that maybe it was going to be part of an exhibition. “Why are you here? Who even are you?”
“Will-” He says, and then he remembers he actually has no time for this “Do you happen to know where they put the regular equipment?”
“Regular equipment?” The boy who had bent down to pick the headphones looked confused and still mad. That's until he notices Will’s shoes “Oh my god!” Or better said, the blood splattering them “Are you okay?!”
“It's nothing!” It's not mine “Sorry for touching this. I just really need to check on the new anten-”
The boy then is standing up quickly, and lifting one finger of his free hand, passing it in front of Will’s face.
“It is something! And dad said it is my duty to make sure all students are doing sharp!”
“Let's head to the infirmary.” He adds as he forcefully passes his left arm under Will’s armpits, he turns to scan his face once more before walking out the room “Are you new in town?”
“I am new in town?” Will repeats more than answer “- I- I am sorry for touching your equipment, but really will need to go back and check for a radio transmitter”
“Could it be… Oh! Do you want to join our club?! Oh my god, it would finally make us an us!” The boy seems excited, and Will just don't understand a word of what he is saying, the one thing he say for certain is-
“I'm throwing up!” as he rushes out to the nearest trash can.
“There you are!” He hears a muffled voice call in their direction, a girl, it must be aimed at the stranger who was at his side, as the hand on his shoulder gets away in sync. “Here we have the president of our AV Club. He's not only the president but also the founder and only member of it. Robeeert-!” Will hears someone beating a locker as if it were drums hyping up.
“-Newby! You can call me Bob, though even if you haven't heard about my amazing job in pro of our student body I'm sure you've heard about me through the Squack’s juv program before, right?!” There's a pause of absolute silence “Or maybe you have not!”
Bob Newby? Will takes his face out of the trashcan, feeling animosity filling his chest, and he wants to ask him what his problem is. But he is not even looking in his direction, and he doesn't seem to be joking. More shockingly, Will thinks he does look familiar, though that's not really what tips him about how wrong things seem to be.
“Bob, meet our new student transferred from Rachel, Nevada.”
The face of that boy, the new one, that face is one Will knows as if he was looking at the mirror, he sees it regularly under the head of a newspaper that's pinned on the Squack’s basement, an identical copy of it stares at him every moment he spends on the Wheelers' one, but that was not the photo he was remembering now, he recognized the boy standing in front of them from head to shoes because his first day of school has been-
“Picture day!” A group of loud teenagers, the baseball team members, go pass them, helping Will to restart his brain.
Picture day on Hawkins High. October 1st, 1959.
“Henry Creel, met the principal's son.”
To Will the world seemed to stop for just for moment as he watched Henry, the Henry Creel, hurriedly offer his hand to “Bob”. And feels a rush of newfound panic as they shake hands.
“... Bob” The girl’s voice raised with annoyance. “Weren't you supposed to print the scripts for Joyce's play? Yesterday!”
Will tried to focus on her, on the lockers behind them, on anything that would allow him to ignore the pair of haunting blue eyes that he can feel looking at him.
“What makes you think I have not?”
But the owner of those blue eyes decided to make himself notice. “You are bleeding”
Bob and the girl turn to face the speakers with confusion when they spike with static, and Will, deep down he just wants to run again, outside of this place, outside of this town, or back… ahead? in time, instead he looks for the package of kleenex on his jeans and then attempts to tip his head back.
“That’s not gonna help! You need to lower your head-” Henry steps closer and Will finally remembers the right commands to use his legs and immediately steps back. That and the look in his eyes, whatever it is, seems to be enough for the blonde boy to go back on his tracks, the smile he had on his face falters a little, he is more serious now, then he put his hand on his nose and tipped his head down “Like this.”
Life can sometimes be so funny.
A pair of hands landed abruptly on Will's shoulders “- and I would have printed them but I had to guide my friend here! Sooo! Sue, met our new student transfered-from-somewhere- and just so you ALSO know, the new official member of my Club!”
“New student?” Sue, eyes him from head to shoes- and the shoes do the trick again “Oh! Is he okay?!”
“Yes” He responds, and immediately after Bob contradicts.
“He is not, we were going to the infirmary” Approaching once more to aid.
“He is.” Will insisted this time, the whole situation was proving to be a lot to process.
“Fine!”
“I have no time left for another tour before the staff meeting with Joyce!” Sue doesn't seem to be pleased with that, but Will totally is “Okay, listen…”
“Will!” Says Bob… always so helpful.
And Will supplies when Sue then looks back at him. “By-llard.”
“Sue Anderson!” The name sounds familiar, but he can't really place it, though the smile she gaves compared with the conflict she was showing just minutes ago tells that she would be fine working on client service “Mr. Ballard, you will take the rest of the tour with us, and then Henry here is going to resume the rest for you, right Henry?”
“I really don't k-”
“I knew you would, thank you! I'll make sure the secretary makes a permission sheet for you. So! Let's get going!”
And she had been so eager to continue walking, that it somehow convinced Will to follow her.
Though as soon as she leaves them alone with a quick “The principal office is right there! Is label, you can get lost, fill your classes schedule! Bye!”
He knows is time. He's fleeing. Now.
“Hey, I've been wanting to ask you something” He could not care least for whatever Henry's question is. He's turning around. He will not hear anything from that boy, he's not even going to look at him again, he is just-
“Hey, freak!” An unknown voice yelled behind him as he is about to step away.
The voice is close, and Will wants to believe it is not meant for him, how could it be? How can anyone “here” even know him?
He takes a step, and then it insists mockingly “I imagined you would be taller!”
“...What do you mean?” He asks just to be sure.
“News spread fast~” The voice is now closer, it sounds young, high pitched, malicious “And do you know what they are saying about the new kid?”
“You are a celebrity” The voice is right behind him. Sharp pain hammering his head, Will knew this pain, “What, did your brain stop? Do you need to call your mommy?”
He didn't even realize when his eyes went shut, but he needs to will them to open and face whatever was behind him.
He should have known better, he never left Vecna's lair, did he? And whatever this was it was just a weird hallucination, maybe the last remnant of his mind trying to hold onto something and that something being his captor's mind.
“I heard the new kid… He killed his own dog. Pop its eyes out!” This isn't real, the monster was lying, and Will refused to- “Just like you did with that one old man, and with the kid on the-”
“Cut the bullshit and just get away from us!!” Will was not playing this game, he opened his eyes, turned around and decided to face his fear, push it away.
But there was no Vecna… Instead he saw a tin boy wearing a red jacket stumble backwards and fall onto his ass to the floor, and everything looked… normal.
“That's not true! ...I didn't- I- I?” Normal as it was minutes ago, Henry was still there, he is looking at his hands, unmoving, zoned out, but his mind… Will could feel more than tell, he was entirely terrified.
The view was enough to make him miss the moment the guy got up with a very fake smile on his face. “They're sending us a bunch of weirdos this year.”
And only faintly hear someone else respond. “Vote to disagree. They started a long time ago.” As he pushed the tissues on his hand to Henry's chest, who just looked at them with confused glassy eyes.
“Did he hurt you? He usually doesn't do that. Much more bark than really bite…” A girl was trying to get his attention. “Are you well?”
Will turns to acknowledge her but then he felt a hand grabbing his, driving him to realise he has not moved it from Henry's chest. “Two years ago, did you happen to-”
Henry's radio went on at some point, malfunctioning at random again, filling up the air for their silence, but, for the tinies of moments, that static sounds like something else, like a voice Will recognises.
The idea is clear, and a split second choice.
“Get away!!” Henry yells at him as soon as his hand tries to reach for the thing, his voice low and familiar. Familiar enough that it remembers Will why he was trying to leave.
The radio they have here might not be enough or any help at all, but right now it is looking like Will’s only hope.
He takes a deep breath and starts to walk past this. “Where are you going?”
“Away”
“Wait! Did you visit the-” The radio is still malfunctioning, but now it is playing a song, one Will can't really recognise but Henry seems to and he is quick to try to quiet it “Stupid- Just wait!”
“Are you a part of the secret squadron?” Will thinks the girl was hinting at something's else “Justice through strength-” she leave the sentence hanging
“- strength and courage.”
He walks away, and it's only then that he notices the fresh splashes of red on his hands and sleeves. He wipes it on his jeans.
“-Uh, we still need to fill our schedule, maybe we can do it together?” The radio volume somehow increased even when Will knew well he had not touched it, but he wasn't staying or trying to find out what it was about.
“Bye” Will realized also that his one-worded answers are starting to sound an awful lot like El's.