Chapter Text
When Will woke up in a sunny playground, he was very confused. Seconds ago he was fighting Vecna in his head and now he was… here ? In a playground with kids running around happily and freely? That didn’t make any sense, all the kids had been kidnapped by Vecna.
He walked his way through the kids crowding the area, trying to understand what was happening. The sun shone way too brightly, all the colors seemed too light, too bright, too saturated, too happy even.
He understood what was going on when he saw a little boy swinging alone nearby. That little boy was him, and in a few seconds now, Michael Wheeler would come to him and ask him to be his friend. He remembered that memory way too clearly, not because it was what had helped him control the demogorgons and then Vecna through the hive mind, but because this memory imprinted in his brain for so long was the source of his deeply rooted affection for his best friend.
Will smiled when he saw little Mike approaching his younger self. Everything used to be so simple back then… He got closer to listen to what they were saying, even though he could repeat this conversation by heart. He froze when he realised that what Mike was saying was totally different from what he had said when they were kids.
“I pitied you”, he said with his little innocent voice, looking at the younger Will. When he turned his head to face the older one, his eyes were strikingly white and blood was leaking from them. Will was speechless and his heart ran faster at the sight.
“I never really liked you, you were more of a charity project to me ”, he continued, coming closer to Will. The older boy tried putting distance between them, the words still hitting him like a punch in the gut even if he knew that they were Vecna’s doing. Of course he wouldn’t have let his little intrusion go unpunished. Tears started to drop on his face.
As a kid he had always wondered if Mike truly cared about him or if he had just felt the need to do his good deed of the day, helping and befriending the poor kid who lived next to the old trailer park. And as time passed and Mike stayed through the most difficult parts, he had learned how to love and to feel lovable and deserving of friends like Mike.
But Vecna was taking a thrill out of making him live his worst fears as he realised in horror when Mike’s voice got deeper, and the boy grew taller to resemble his 13 years old self. He was still moving closer to Will who felt like a little child being abandoned and forgotten by his best friends again. So helpless and fragile, like he had always been.
“You’re disgusting”, Mike spat out. Will’s face grew pale. He knew exactly where this was going. “You really thought I would want to spend time with a childish fag like you ? I always knew you were one of them”. Will tried to put distance between them, but before he even put a foot behind him, the setting changed completely : the bright sun was replaced by the darkness of a rainy day and the big and large space of the playground turned Mike’s colorless and tidy garage. Will was back at being a spectator of his own memory. Though this one wasn’t a pleasant one, it was still imprinted in his mind, but for different reasons. This conversation had haunted him long after, he even thought about it once in a while. But he knew Mike hadn’t meant it like that.
“Did he really?”, a voice he knew all too well replied in his mind while the scene in front of him kept going. Will had heard it countless times in his nightmares, it haunted his every thought, coated everything he felt.
And suddenly Will didn’t hear Mike’s voice on the outside, he heard it inside his own brain, extremely loud, stopping him from even thinking as Mike’s cruel words echoed endlessly in his brain.
“I hate you”, he heard Mike’s voice say, now even deeper than before as it was his actual voice. “You took advantage of my friendship to prey on me”. Will sobbed and fell to his knees, the words hitting him deeper than they should’ve.
The insults, validating every one of his fears, continued to echo in his mind breaking him piece by piece, no matter how hard he screamed for Mike to stop. His face was tired from crying.
“I know this is not real !”, he said, voice rough from all the screaming “Mike would never say any of that !”
“Now come one William”, Vecna said, almost teasing. “I may be a monster but I’m not a liar. It’s not all about the things he said, it’s also about the things he didn’t say. The way he ignored you all that summer, or the way he didn’t care at all about your feelings in that car.”
Will turned his head and the setting changed once again to a hot spring break surrounded by the desertic landscape of Utah in Argyle’s car. His fourteen years old self was giving the famous painting to Mike, who had looked impressed by his newest creation as usual. He then started rambling about how Mike was “the heart ” and that he needed him.
“Using her as a cover, a real coward’s move”, Vecna said. Will clenched his teeth. This particular lie (not really a lie, more of a cover story to be exact) was on the very top of his “things to feel guilty for” list, among other things. He loved his sister really much and he didn’t feel very proud for using her already fragile relationship with Mike. He sometimes wondered if that simple lie had brought them to separate even though it surely was inevitable considering the state of their relationship.
Will watched as his younger version turned his head to sob silently, facing the window and the never ending desertic fields before him. But now that he was watching from another point of view he could see Mike’s reaction. Or maybe more his lack of reaction.
He seemed so focused on his painting that he didn’t even notice his best friend crying right next to him. Will felt an awful sensation in his chest, one he had felt so many times that break and the summer before - this feeling of abandon, of being invisible to others, this mix between wanting to be found and being scared to be discovered, wanting Mike to comfort him, but not feeling deserving of it- as Vecna’s words and insults started to get through to him. He was so pathetic.
The setting changed one last time as he was brought back to where it had all started for him : Castle Byers, but the one in the upside down. Everything was like it had been when he was hiding from the monsters, scared and devastated. Except there was one major change : he was not alone anymore : El, his sister, the one he had once resented but then grew to love as his best friend and sister, was coming towards him, and Vecna was nowhere to be heard or found. Will didn’t think he had ever felt that relieved in his life. His superhero of a sister was here to get him out of this nightmare, saving him once again.
Will ran to her like she did and they hugged. Will sobbed out of relief.
“Oh Jane, I'm so glad you’re here !”, he thanked his sister, her warmth comforting him. He had always preferred to call her by her birth name, he felt like it represented her personality better, the person she was, free of all the experiments done on her.
But the more he held her the more Will felt something was wrong : he had thought she was warm at first but he realized his sister was surprisingly cold. She was not saying anything and felt stiff in Will’s arms, like she was not returning his embrace, like she wasn’t El.
As always, his loved ones and his desperate need to be saved had clouded his judgment as he realised he was stuck in his sister’s arms, which slowly transformed into Vecna’s horrific ones. He tried to pull away and when he finally managed to do so, he saw everyone, the whole party coming toward him, led by his sister.
And they all said the things he had always dreaded, told out loud the things he wanted to hide. El blamed him for loving Mike, his mother cried at the fact that he loved boys, his brother laughed at him and his friends were disgusted by him.
And Will cried, he was so tired of it all, of those voices tormenting him. It just wished it would all be over. And Vecna’s voice was the cherry on top of his suffering.
“I know what you are, William Byers”, he declared.
Will scoffed, too tired to even cry anymore or to be scared of the torments the monster might inflict on him.
“Yeah, i think you made that pretty clear already", Will replied bitterly.
“No, not only that”, Vecna said.
Will was confused. He wasn't hiding anything except for his sexuality. What did Vecna find to torment him now?
“You’re also a tool for me, and Dr Kay’s little army”, Vecna continued, tone sweet and teasing.
Will was definitely lost before Dr Owens followed by Dr Kay appeared. He had liked this doctor so seeing him collaborating with Kay hurt him. Owens was apparently explaining something to Kay and showing her some pictures which looked like scans of a brain. In all the time Will had spent stuck in his mind, he had never heard or witnessed such horrors. The two scientists were talking about him, and Owens was explaining that he was still infected by the Upside Down, by Vecna, and that he still had a strong bond with it. But that he already knew : the biggest shock came from Kay’s observation that his brain could possess some specificity which could be recreated in another brain, to create another child with ties to the Upside Down. To create another child like him.
The fact that he had to die in order for this experiment to be possible was the least of his problems. Now that Kay surely knew that his ties with the other world had given him powers, she would try even harder to get him to create her army.
He could never have a normal life, he would always be searched by the government for their sick projects. They would ruin lives in order to get to him. But they would also ruin his loved ones' lives. They could never be free with him near.
Will screamed in despair as the realisation dawned on him. He could never live. Not if it meant putting his family in danger. He thought killing Vecna would be the end of his suffering but it would just be the beginning.
Maybe he shouldn’t believe Vecna. Maybe it was just another torture. But deep down, Will had always known. That he was different, and always would be. That he would always have a deep, unbreakable bond with Vecna and the Upside Down. He could never be free of it, Will was sure of it. So, as surprising and crazy as it sounded, Will believed Vecna this one time.
When Vecna spoke again, he seemed pleased that Will had believed him.
“But don’t worry, at least you won’t be alone in this”, Vecna said.
And now he was looking at his sister, who was in the upside down and talking to a girl he had never seen. The unknown girl was telling her the same thing he had just learned. She showed El horrible images of sick pregnant women and the conclusion of her speech made Will hate her even though he had never met her. She basically told her sister to kill herself, and Will could accept to do it himself because he had lived. He had had the time to experience the joys of life.
His beloved sister didn’t. The few weeks she had spent as a real teenager had been wasted by the bullying that Will had been too weak to protect her from. She had saved his life multiple times and he wasn’t even able to stand up to dumb girl.
Will felt sick to see his sister considering this. Was she ever going to tell him? Without Vecna, would he have known before he caught her in the act? He preferred to die alone than to bring her with him.
“See William”, Vecna finally said. “You break everything you touch and you bring everyone you know to their ruins. You and your sister both deserve what is coming for you.”
And then the voice was gone. For a moment, Will was left alone near his old hideout. He was at peace for a minute, until all the voices of the party came screaming louder and louder in his head, accompanied by visions of various versions of his sister’s suicide, and Will was convinced Vecna had created the perfect personal hell for him when he saw the setting change and when he felt vines blocking him on the wall of his school. Everything was too loud and he could not see anything now besides his sister dying.
So he wished very hard that she was still alive and well. He hoped she would be able to take him out of this hell.
And finally she did. Will cried in relief. He knew that it was her. She had saved her again, now it would be his turn to try to save her, to convince her to stay, or to die with her. But he would not let her do it alone.
_________________________________________________________________________
When he woke up he felt his mother hugging him tightly as he cried in her arms. He was so glad to be back but he had no idea of how long he had been out. He looked around while still in the comfort of his mother’s embrace to realise that he wasn’t at the Squawk anymore, he was in Hopper’s cabin. He heard some noise coming from the living room, Hopper was opening El’s coffin while stopping her and Mike from entering so soon. Will hadn’t expected him to be there and he wasn’t entirely sure about if he was happy about it or not. He had lost most of his confidence and hope considering his relationship with his best friend because of Vecna.
But he wasn’t the first of Will’s concern. Will absolutely needed to talk to his sister. So he gave his mom a look which she seemed to understand since she called Hopper to tell him to let El enter.
His mother left and his sister rushed and hugged him, holding him tightly. When they separated, El gave him a worried look. She surely had noticed his own concerned and haunted gaze.
“Do you want to talk about what happened ?”, she asked very softly.
Will tried to avoid her gaze, the images of her dead body freshly engraved in his mind coming up whenever he looked at her. This reaction seemed to worry his sister even more.
“Okay Will, now you’re scaring me”, she continued, voice still soft. “You know those visions weren’t real right? Vecna wanted to scare you, to torture you.”
He was scared to ask her, scared to admit that a part of him believed that Vecna was saying the truth, scared to even think that his sister had planned to kill- sacrifice herself without telling anybody.
“Come on Will”, El almost pleaded. “Whatever it is, whatever you saw, you can tell me. We’ll face it together. As a family”. She ended that sentence with an encouraging smile, one only the kind and gentle Jane Hopper could give. Will took a deep breath.
“Vecna showed me pregnant women”, he declared, watching his sister’s reaction, and she definitely knew what he was talking about. Her eyes had widened in confusion and she looked much paler now. Will’s sister was a lot of things, but she had never been able to really hide her emotions, so everyone, especially Will who knew and understood her the best, was able to read in her like an open book.
“He then showed me you and your sister. You were talking”, Will continued. El looked so guilty. “You were talking about ending the cycle for good by sacrificing yourselves ”, he realised his voice had started to break. He couldn’t imagine a world without his twin sister in it. And to think he had once, selfishly, wished her gone…
El opened her mouth, surely to try to explain her decision but Will didn’t let her. This conversation was far from over.
“At first, I didn’t believe him. Surely you wouldn’t abandon us without saying goodbye”, Will regretted saying that as soon as he saw the look in her eyes. It was really hypocritical of him considering what he was about to say. He took El’s hands into his. He knew that the next part wouldn’t be easy.
“But then he showed me Doctor Kay’s plan, how she wanted to bleed all of the superpowered blood out of you to create a little superhero army. He showed me a vision of you, bleeding to death for her sick experiments ”, he was crying, the sight of her sister in such a bad shape made him sick. El looked worried.
“And I saw myself, bleeding to death with you, my brain taken away from me”, El gasped as she held his hands tighter.
“No”, she said. “This is not possible, you only use your powers through Vecna. Kay shouldn’t be able to exploit your blood, you don’t even share it with Henry !” She was angry now. El had always been a really perceptive person, she knew Will wouldn’t have shared this with her if he wasn’t entirely sure.
“Jane !” Will tried to reason with her, to make her understand. “The exposure to Vecna’s vine infects my mind. Parts of my brain, of me, belong to him now, to the upside down. Doctor Owens knew about this. They found his maps of my brain full of info about how deep my connection to Vecna runs ”
He sighed. “I know you think you are doing the right thing by sacrificing yourself”, he said gently. “But you are gifted. You already escaped the government, I'm sure you can do it again, and you only brought good things here. I'm the one that messed everything up.”
He saw the frustration, anger, but also the immense compassion in his sister’s eyes.
“It’s not your fault, Will. It never was”, she reassured him. “And you sacrificing yourself is not a good idea too”
She must have noticed the look of guilt on Will’s face. “Don’t you think I didn't get the meaning of your story? I may have no social skill but I can get that”
Will smiled sadly at this attempt at humor. “I lived”, he explained. “I love you, Jane, and I want you to experience the true life. I want you to have the chance to find yourself.”
Jane smiled too at this “I love you too, Will. That is why I would never accept happiness at the cost of your life.”
“Same for me. That’s why I think we should find a way to get out of this situation without any of us dying”, he replied
It was El’s time to sigh now. She didn’t look so determined to sacrifice herself now that Will’s life was in the balance.
“Maybe we should ask Kali”, she conceded. “She is in this too. And maybe we will be able to find a plan.”
_________________________________________________________________________
They went to find Kali, against his mother’s protesting about the fact that he needed rest. Will did, he was exhausted, but he had more important things to do. She was waiting outside the cabin and looked confused when El brought her out of ears reach, but she kept her eyes locked on Will the entire time which sent chills down his spine. He found her a bit intimidating.
They walked a bit in the forest, but still in the perimeter of Hopper’s new traps.
“Kali”, El started. “This is my brother Will”
The woman was still looking at Will and he understood why when she started talking.
“I know you”, Kali said, very serious. “You have to die too don't you?”
El and Will looked at each other with stress and confusion. El had told some things about Kali to Will but she hadn’t mentioned that she was capable of reading people’s thoughts ! But his sister looked as confused as she was.
“I saw you”, she explained. “When I saw Jane strapped to that thing to get her blood, I saw a boy of her age with his skull opened. It was you”
His sister seemed to be holding back a wave of nausea. Will was also trying to stop himself from imagining the scene that surely wouldn’t fail to make him vomit.
“Kali…”, El started when she was well again. “I don’t think we need to die in order to stop the cycle. It would be giving Henry what he had always wanted : for us to give up. And I know you think we can’t escape the government because of what happened to your friends, but I was able to escape them for more than a year while they were actively chasing me. Will made me realise that. By living, we will fight more than we ever could by dying.”
Kali’s face was cold, emotionless. “I wish it was possible, Jane.”, she declared. “But with our past, our powers, we will never be able to live a truly normal life even without considering the government. What Dr.Brenner did to us… It’s irreversible. And it killed my friends.”
And that was when Kali finally showed emotions. Her lips trembled and her eyes were watery. Will stepped in.
“Your powers aren’t a curse, see them as a gift, a reward for all the things you went through. You aren’t monsters”, Will said, looking at his sister with a smile, remembering her past struggles with her powers. “You both deserve more than anyone else happiness. And life is still possible with trauma. I know what I went through during my week in the Upside Down has nothing to do with your horrible childhood, but there are still happy moments after. Like you had with your friends, Kali ”.
She smiled at him, seemingly reminiscing her great times with her friends. Will put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
“I didn’t know them but I’m sure they would have wanted you to live the happiest, funniest and fullest life possible”, he concluded with a smile.
“The most bitchin’ life”, El added with a smile too.
That seemed to break Kali’s resolve to kill herself. She seemed to have found hope and will to live again, so she agreed on finding a new, less deathly plan.
They all agreed on a new plan, half heartedly for the two siblings.
The plan involved dying in front of their friends so the three could leave Hawkins and their loved ones.
Forever.
_________________________________________________________________________
Will had decided to tell his family about who he really was. He couldn’t leave them with secrets. He owed them to them, but mostly to Mike to tell them the truth, one last time.
So he had sat everyone down before they all left for the big battle and he had told them. He had waited until the last moment because he was deathly anxious about their reactions. But it had gone better than anything Will could have never dared to hope for. They had all accepted him and hugged him, and he had never realised how much this validation meant to him. El had silently supported him throughout the whole thing.
And now he was upside down, separated from Kali and El and making most of the time he had left with his friends while being super anxious about their lives, and about the plan to kill Vecna and to escape.
He was going to take a break from the immense tower they had to climb up in order to get to the fissure between the upside down and dimension X where Vecna and the kids were.
The journey was way easier than expected because of the lack of demo creatures : they had found their corpses all around and they had concluded that Vecna had killed them in order to realise whatever his sick plan was.
Will saw someone standing on the platform as he reached it. It was Mike
They had not talked since he had metaphorically admitted in front of the entire extended party that he had a crush on Mike since forever, even if crush was hardly the right word to describe the intensity of his feelings for his best friend.
Will went to stand next to him and Mike offered him his water, which Will took gladly. Mike was looking at him so intensely that it made his heart flutter. He gave Mike the bottle back. The boy seemed nervous.
“ Hey, um…”, he started. “What you said earlier at the Squawk… I’m sorry. I mean, not sorry about what you said. That came out wrong. Or not came out wrong. Jesus Christ.”
Mike put his head between his hands, looking embarrassed and a bit flustered. Will found it endearing and funny how his best friend was undoubtedly the best when it came to telling stories and imaginary tales, but when he needed to show vulnerability, to be serious and completely honest, Mike was a total mess.
“It’s okay”, Will chuckled. It was the end of the world, and they were here, talking about some stupid mistakes Mike might have made in the past.
Mike’s embarrassed gaze turned completely serious. “No, it’s… it’s not”, he said.” I should have been there for you, and I wasn’t. And I guess I was just so self-absorbed that I couldn’t see it. I just… I feel like an idiot, and I…” , he sighed “I’m sorry. You mean so much to me Will. I don’t think you realise how much I do”.
Mike wasn’t hiding his gaze, he wasn’t running away. He was accepting something, being brave for once. And that sent Will’s heart racing.
“I like you Will”, he declared. “A lot. As more than a friend, and I don’t think I’ve ever loved anyone that way. Not even El. I don’t want us to be friends Will, I want us to be more than that.”
This declaration filled Will’s heart with so much love he felt like he couldn’t breathe anymore, but it was still the best sensation he had ever felt. He was feeling so victorious. Vecna had been wrong. Mike loved him. And he wanted to tell it to the entire world.
Will looked at the boy who was not only the one he loved, but also the one he cared for the most. Before becoming an evidence of what he had once thought was his darkest deed, he had been the boy who had first taught him how to ride a bike, the boy who had held him through his worst nightmares, the one who had never raised his voice at him and the one that had kept all of his drawings in a little folder and who smiled and looked at him like he had hung the moon whenever he gave him a new one.
And in the best case scenario, Will would never see him again. He would not be able to stare at Mike’s painfully beautiful face like he had done guiltily for most of his life, and he would never have the chance to look at his lips wondering what it would be like to kiss him, to be with him like he had always wanted.
Surprisingly enough that statement made Will bolder than he had ever been. Something about the setting, both of them alone on the platform of a tower at the end of time, felt final. Whatever was going to happen right now would be decisive for their relationship, either driving them apart or pulling them closer one last time.
Will was so tired of expecting, of waiting for something good in his shitty life to happen, so he acted for once. He closed the distance between him and Mike and put his lips against his. His heart made cartwheels in his chest when he felt Mike lean and give into the kiss instantly, like he had been waiting for this too. Will slid his hands through Mike’s hair and kissed him harder to feel him as much as possible before he couldn’t anymore, and for a moment, he forgot that this first kiss that he had longed for for so long would be the last one.
They pulled apart, breathless, but stayed close, their foreheads touching. Mike took Will’s hand and that’s when he noticed that the taller boy was shivering. He felt a stray tear dropping on his hand, and when Mike looked up to catch his gaze the sight broke something in him.
“Will, I’m scared”, Mike said with a tiny and breaking voice. Will gulped down the lump in his throat and tried to reassure him. “It’s going to be okay Mike, don't worry” he tried to calm him, cupping his face gently.
“Promise me you will stay safe and not put yourself in danger for any of us, especially not me” Mike asked firmly. Will could almost hear his heart shatter in his chest as he did the thing he dreaded the most : he lied. “I promise”, he whispered, not daring to look at Mike anymore.
Mike then took him in a tight embrace, clinging to Will like he was his lifeline. “I don’t want to ever lose you” Mike declared, his voice tight with emotion.
Will was glad Mike wasn’t looking at him at the moment as a tremendous wave of guilt crashed on his face. Mike would not only lose one, but two of the most important persons for him in one night and he felt so guilty just imagining what Mike would have to go through when he and his sister would be gone. He thought of the other members of the party but most importantly he thought of his family. He had heard the tales of how his mother had reacted at his disappearance, so he knew his next one would be the hardest on her and Jonathan, but he trusted them to go through it together, as a family.
Even if Will felt guilty, he knew he was maybe lacking one emotion : remorse. Because even if their loved ones would not think the same, he and El knew they were doing the right thing.
_________________________________________________________________________
They were in the van, coming back to Hawkins after they had finally defeated Vecna. The monster who had been torturing Will since he was 12 was finally gone. All of his friends were okay, none of them badly wounded, except for Kali as El had told him. She had been shot, and she was still able to produce the spell concealing them, but she couldn’t come. Will felt extremely grateful for her sacrifice and sad that she wouldn't be able to live the life he had promised her.
Will tried not to stare too much at his friends and family. In a few minutes, he would have to leave them all behind.
The bus came to an unexpected stop and he looked at El. This was their cue. The soldiers opened the doors brutally. Will was really hoping that Kali’s disappearance trick was working, but as they got out of the truck unnoticed he had his proof that it was.
They were rushing to the tunnels, going as fast as they could until El fell to her knees, blocking her ears and seemingly in excruciating pain. Will rushed to support her so that they could keep on walking. He was furious at Kay for creating something that could hurt his sister this much.
They finally arrived at the entrance of the tunnel. Will helped El get down, who looked exhausted but in less pain now since they were farther from the source of the ultrasound. They kept on walking a bit longer, Will still supporting El since he was worried about her. She had talked about the effects of her “kriptonite ”, but seeing it for real was another thing. Will heard a voice from afar screaming their names : Kali had already started her illusions. Now that they knew nobody was going to follow them ,they stopped and Will put El gently on the ground. She still looked exhausted from the earlier pain.
“Are you sure you’re well enough to do it?”Will asked his sister. “If you don’t feel like it..”
“Will”, El interrupted him, voice calm but strained from exhaustion. “I’m okay. And you need to say goodbye to him” She gestured for him to sit next to her then he took the hand she was giving him. Will took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
Will had never been in the void before and even if he expected it to be dark, he didn’t expect it to be so wet. He turned his head, relieved to see his sister beside him, still holding his hand. They watched as Mike fell on the thin layer of dark water on the ground. The boy lifted his head to see them and Will could finally see his face. It looked red and puffy from crying. Will felt a tightness in his chest at this sight.
Mike ran and stopped in front of them. He hugged El before turning to Will and hugging him tightly and for a long time. Will looked at his sister, afraid to see a sign of jealousy or sadness that Mike had moved on, but he only saw pride even if it was coated with sadness as she watched them fondly. Mike and Will finally separated and Will felt cold without Mike’s arms to hold him.
“You guys need to come back !”, he urged them. “The bomb is going to blow off any minute now, you need to leave, or you're going to get destroyed with the rest of the upside down!”
“We need to go with it, Mike", El explained calmly. Will really admired her for her calm, she was really entitled to her decision.
Mike looked frantically between the two of them, tears already spilling again on his face. Will would be ready to stay just to stop him from crying, to comfort him, but he knew that wasn’t reasonable. Mike seemed to sense that weakness because he landed his gaze on him, seemingly determined to convince him to stay.
“Will, whatever Vecna showed you, we can find a way!”, he pleaded. “We’ll take care of the military, we could hide you both in the woods like what we did with you, El. Or if none of that works we can run away together ! You guys don’t have to die ! I can’t lose both of you again!”
Mike was sobbing now and it broke Will’s heart.
“We don’t have a choice”, Will tried to explain as calmly as his sister, but his voice was breaking uncontrollably.
He tried to look for El for help but she was gone, surely to leave them some privacy.
Will took a deep breath, wanting to sound as determined and confident in his choice as possible. “I need you to talk to the others”, he said steadily enough. He witnessed Mike’s eyes grow wider as the boy realised that there was no getting through to Will, no turning back.
“I need you to help them understand my choice”. He thought of his family, Dustin and Lucas, his friends since forever. They would all surely wonder why he and his sister had agreed on such drastic measures.
Mike took him in his arms and Will felt his tears wet the side of his neck and Will let himself break one last time in the arms of the boy he had always loved.
“Please don’t leave me Will, please don’t do this !”, Mike pleaded one last time through his violent sobs.
Will pulled away reluctantly to look at Mike’s beautiful brown eyes which he had seen so many times in his dreams. He wanted to have enough courage to look him in the eyes for the last time.
“I will always be with you”, Will promised. The bomb was going to blow off any minute now and they needed to be long gone for their deaths to be convincing, but there was one thing he needed to tell Mike, one thing he couldn’t leave before saying. Something that was on his mind since he knew the meaning of the word and something he had wished to tell Mike so many times before.
“I love you, Mike”, he finally said after all this time. He knew Mike had troubles saying it, so he definitely didn’t expect him to say it back. He was surprised when he replied almost instantly.
“I love you too, Will”, he replied with a shaky smile. “Always have and always will”
Mike leant in to try to kiss Will but he was pushed back by El who had brought both of them back to the real world, to the tragedy of their lives, separated forever not because of society, but because of a monster that had stolen their chance at a happy and normal life.
El gave Will an apologetic smile as he helped her stand up to flee as fast as possible from Hawkins. They both cried at the gut-wrenching sounds of their loved ones screaming their names, voices raw with despair and sorrow. Until the sounds were replaced by the loud sound of the wind blowing hard behind them.
And that’s when they knew it was done.
The upside down collapsed, and as it took Will' trauma with it, he said goodbye to life as he had always known it, with his friends, his family, his home. As what had had followed Will long after he had escaped it vanished, he closed the most significant chapter of his life, and as he and El walked away towards a new one, both free of the shackles tying them to the other dimension, he knew that despite the horrors he had lived through, the deaths he had witnessed, the trauma he had experienced, he knew this chapter would always remain his favorite.
He took one last look behind, allowed himself one moment to remember the people who had raised him and forged him into the person he had become before leaving them all behind. Forever.
But in that moment Will Byers knew he would never forget his friends from Hawkins.