Chapter Text
The crawl went horribly.
At first, everything was going as smoothly as it could for Dustin not showing up and Mike falling off his bike. They had Jonathan go with Steve, and they still had Lucas to go to the watch tower. Minor inconveniences.
Then, there was the demogorgon that attacked the military crew that Hopper was with. Which somehow caused Will to have a seizure, and see through the eyes of the demo? Nancy doesn’t understand, but she does know that the seizure caused the power to cut out. So they had lost Hopper.
That wasn’t even the worst part, though. Will said that the demogorgon was heading towards her house. The Wheeler’s house. Where her entire family currently was.
Nancy acted fast, taking El with her, and ordering Lucas to meet them there at the house.
She tried to keep herself calm. Mike was there. He knows how demogorgons work. He can keep them safe. Her hands shook against the steering wheel of her car nonetheless.
When they arrived at the house, the demo was already gone. She prayed to whoever was listening that everyone is okay.
Nancy ran into the kitchen. What she saw was her worst nightmare.
Her mom was lying on the floor. There were deep slashes across her chest and neck, the light shining off her tacky, dark blood. There’s a puncture wound in her side as well, skin and fabric sticking together via clumps of bloody tissue, and her usually purple night-gown is now soaked a deep red. Her breathing is short, shallow, and inconsistent, and her eyes are foggy. The room smells strongly of iron, or old, rusting pennies.
Holly’s there too, sitting on her knees in front of their mom. There’s blood splattered across her face and clothes. Her hands are holding the phone up to her ear, the cord stretched across the room. There’s faint talking, probably a first responder, coming from the phone, telling Holly what to do.
Nancy runs to them, taking off her jacket and pressing it against her mom’s wounds. Holly looks up, only just realizing that El and Nancy are there.
“Mike! The monster took Mike!” she cries and points to the still closing gate in the front door. El quickly goes through it.
Nancy tells Holly to help her stop the bleeding, and a few minutes later-though it felt like hours- the EMTs and government men showed up. They were pulled away from the scene, but the two still stood in the doorway to the kitchen, not daring to go too far.
“There was a monster!” Holly plaintively yells. “It took Mike! The monster- it- the monster took my brother!!”
Some army guy, name tag read Sullivan, crouched down to her level.
“Monsters aren’t real, kid,” he says, “Probably was just some guy in a mask.”
“No!” she cries. “It was big- and- and had lots of teeth! It was a real monster! You have to believe me! Please!”
“I believe that someone took your brother, but it wasn’t a monster.” The man walks way.
Holly turns to Nancy, trembling. “You believe me right?” she whispers. “It took him.”
Nancy takes a shuddering breath. “I know, Holly.”
The vision was true.
———
Everything is just too much right now.
The bright, fluorescent overhead lights are blinding, and make it way too easy to see every single injury on her parents as doctors and nurses wheel them into the OR on white, squeaky stretchers.
Nancy is talking to their mom, and doctors are yelling out injuries over her. Lucas is following way too close behind Holly, clipping her heels.
Holly’s still crying, silent tears running down her cheeks. Her face itches from dried blood splattered on her face, and she would try to rub it off with her hands, if they weren’t also stained red.
The smell of copper, fungus, and decay has been penetrating Holly’s nostrils ever since that monster broke through her ceiling. Mike’s screams are still echoing through her head, as he’s dragged away.
She looks down, only to see that her clothes are bloodstained, so she immediately looks back up.
They’re stopped at the door to the OR, a lady is telling them to wait outside. Nancy is arguing, but she loses, grabbing Holly and turning back around to the waiting room.
Nancy goes to the bathroom to wash her hands, and Lucas runs up to the front desk, trying to get information, leaving Holly alone in the waiting room.
The sudden silence only makes everything worse. Now she can actually hear her own thoughts.
Mike. Is he going to live? Or is he already dead? Her dad. Holly had heard him go through the wall. And she didn’t even go check if he was okay. The doctor said brain bleed. Does that mean death? Her mom. Holly’s certain she’s gone. She watched that monster attack her. Stab her. Slash at her. And Holly did nothing. She just stood there and watched. She watched as the monster flung Mike across the room, killed her mom, and took Mike. She just stood there and screamed.
“Holly.”
She turned towards the sound, thinking it was maybe a doctor or something.
“Mr. Whatsit?” she asked, feeling something red-hot settle in her stomach. “Where were you, like, fifteen minutes ago? You said you’d protect Mike, and the monster took him!”
“Holly, I did save Mike,” he said. Holly’s blood boiled at the tone of his voice. How could he be so calm after all this?
“Then where is he?” She stands from her seat and walks towards him.
“Safe, with me. At my house.”
“Can we see him?”
“No, Holly, for him to be safe, no one can know where he is.”
“But you know where he is! So why can’t I?” Holly argues, clenching her fists.
“The more people that know where he is, the more dangerous. Tell your family that Mike is safe for me, Holly.”
“You mean tell Nancy? Because my parents are dying and my brother is missing. So the only person I can tell is Nancy! And if you were going to hide Mike, you should’ve done it ages ago to avoid this happening! My family is falling apart and it’s your fault!”
“Holly, I understand your angry-“
“Just leave! I don’t care!” she cries, and Mr. Whatsit does just that, turning and leaving through the front doors of the hospital.
“Holly, who was that?” Lucas asks from behind her.
“Mr. Whatsit, but I know you think he’s fake. He says he has Mike at his house. He’s keeping him safe.” Holly sits back down.
“But Mike was taken into the Upside Down?” he questioned.
“Upside Down?”
“The place where Mike was taken,” Lucas explains.
“You know about the monsters?”
Lucas nods, and tells Holly this crazy story that she wouldn’t have believed an hour ago, but definitely believes now. Nancy comes back during the middle of the story.
“So,” Lucas says, finished with his story, “if Mike’s in the Upside Down, how is he with Mr. Whatsit.”
“Maybe Mr. Whatsit lives in the Upside Down.” Maybe Lucas had been trying to prove to her that Mr. Whatsit’s not real, but Holly knows he is. “You said that Vecna wizard lives there!”
Both Lucas and Nancy’s eyes go wide, and they look at each other, as if they’re just had some shocking realization.
“No one can see Mr Whatsit. Like the hallucinations from Vecna,” Lucas speaks quietly, almost at a whisper.
“Holly,” Nancy turns to her. “did Mr Whatsit say he had any other names?”
“Uh- Henry? Why?”
Lucas and Nancy exchange another look.
“Mr. Whatsit is Vecna.” Nancy says slowly.
“What?! So then Mike is with the monsters?”
“November 6th,” Lucas states. “He must be planning something for November 6th. It’s November 3rd.”
Three days before the five year anniversary of Will Byers disappearance. Maybe Vecna is planning something for them. The theory is convincing enough.
But what’s up with November 6th? Why that date specifically? Doesn’t matter, they’re going to save to Mike.
———
When Mike awakes, he’s in a very comfortable bed. It reminds him of Will’s bed from before he moved to California. Ever so slightly worn, but cozy nonetheless.
It’s not comfortable enough to make him forget the events he just experienced, though. The demogorgon attack at his house, piercing and slashing at his mom before dragging him into the Upside Down, leaving Holly alone and defenseless.
Where am I?
Sitting up, Mike notices the room around him. It’s unfamiliar. The room has pink walls and frilly, blue curtains, and the bedding is a matching pink. There’s a white bookshelf and desk against the wall, along with various paintings.
Definitely a girl’s room, he thinks.
He’s still in his clothes from last night: black pants, blue shirt with a yellow collar, and a grey jacket. His hat and vest must’ve been lost when he was kidnapped. His shoes are placed neatly by the door to the bedroom.
Leaving the bedroom, Mike realizes the house is kind of outdated. It seems like it’s fresh out of the 50s. He creeps down the stairs, and into the dining room. There’s a strange man wearing a brown suit and matching hat. He turns to Mike.
“Michael, I’m glad you’re awake.” He smiles, and Mike feels a chill run up his spine.
“Uh, who are you? And where am I?”
“I am Holly’s friend, and you are at my house. I rescued you.”
Mike’s face scrunches. “Mr. Whatsit?” He’s been real this whole time?!
He nods, and motions for Mike to sit next to him at the big table.
“How did you rescue me from the Upside Down? Are Holly and my parents okay?” Mike asks while pulling out a chair.
“Don’t worry about the details. As for your family, they’ll be okay.”
“What about everyone else? Will, Dustin, Lucas, El, will my friends be okay?” Mike asks. Even if he still doesn’t understand how and why he’s here, he needs to know if everyone will live.
“I promise I will save everyone. I just have to save someone else first.”
Mr. Whatsit feeds Mike a nice, big dinner, and sends back upstairs to rest some more.
———
“Mike! Mike!”
Being in the Upside Down, yelling for Mike feels reminiscent of when El was sucked into the Upside Down after killing a demogorgon. Only this time, she’s yelling for him because he’s lost, not her.
She can’t find Mike when she searches in her mind, so she takes the next best thing, following the demogorgon.
“Mike!” she hollers again. Following the demogorgon’s tracks is easy, but Mike may have gotten away.
There’s distant footsteps to her left.
Military. El hides behind a tree as the steps approach. Once they’re close enough, she attacks, jumping out from her hiding spot and throwing him against a tree with her mind.
“Hop.” She runs to him. “Hop, I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
He looks up at her with his eyebrows knitted. “How are you here?”
El looks around for more demo tracks, grabbing Hop’s flashlight. She finds the next track, some blood on a tree stump.
“You gotta get outta here there’s-“
“A demogorgon,” El interrupts, “I know. It’s bleeding. She must’ve hurt it.”
“Who?”
“Karen. With her wine.”
Hop looks taken aback. “What?”
“When I search for Mike I cannot find him, but he must be close.” She walks back over to Hopper’s stuff and throws him his gun.
“Mike? What are you…” El walks right past him. “El wait!”
———
Stupid van just had to break down on top of everything else that’s gone wrong tonight.
Dustin’s no-show. Getting paired with Jonathan, who seriously does not like Steve. Mike falling off of his bike. The demogorgon attack at the Wheeler house. Mike being taken. Will having a seizure. The power going out. And, last for now, the van breaking down.
Steve got this girl to help him jump start the van, Jessica, he remembers because he stood up her sister a lot in high school.
He climbs back into the van with Jonathan.
“Our good samaritan’s turning sour. I think she might’ve placed me. Stood up her sister. Multiple occasions.”
“Great,” Jonathan responds dryly.
“Did you get a hold of Nance?”
“Dad’s in an induced coma. Mom’s in surgery. They don’t think she’s gonna make it. They’re not gonna know anything for a couple hours.”
“You think we should go see her at the hospital?” Steve suggests.
“No, no. We stick to the plan. Search G1. Find Eleven, find Hopper, find Mike. That’s what Nancy would want us to do.”
Steve nods. Jessica starts honking, clearly annoyed. Steve tries to turn on the car. It takes three tries, but it finally works. Steve goes to get put of the van to close the hood and send Jessica off, but he sees someone.
Dustin. Freaking. Henderson. All beat up and leaning heavily on his bike. He waves unenthusiastically.
“You’ve gotta be shitting me.”
———
“Woah, it’s like everything went kablooey all at once.”
Will had shut the power down with his seizure, and now Joyce and Robin were looking at the fuses. Robin leaves to go get the new fuses.
Lucas had radioed a half an hour ago, saying that the demogorgon had attacked the Wheelers and took Mike. The idea of Mike being alone and scared in the Upside Down sends shivers down Will’s spine.
“Will, I know it’s hard to talk about, but these visions, were they like before? Like when you had your now memories?” Joyce asks, coming to sit down next to Will on the couch.
Will nods. “Only more intense. It’s like I was there. I was right there. It’s… it’s like I was the demogorgon.”
“Do you have any idea why it would go after the Wheelers? Take Mike?”
“It’s hard to remember everything. It’s almost like a dream,” Will explains. “I must’ve somehow tapped back into the hive mind.”
“But we severed the connection.”
“I don’t think it was ever… truly severed.”
“Maybe you’re like a receiver!” Robin states cheerfully from the stairs, scaring the hell out of Will. “Like a radio receiver, just a… magical human version.” Robin slides down the railing.
“Imagine you have a antenna coming up from the top of your head. And Vecna, he uses the Mind Flayer particles like radio waves. When the antenna is close enough to the waves, the signal comes through clear as day. But if you’re too far away… static!”
“So maybe that’s how we do it,” Will says, “That’s how we find Mike!” Will stands, realizing something. “Earlier, I had a vision. In the woods near the school. I saw me, Dustin, and Lucas from a different perspective than my own. I didn’t understand it at the time, but I think I was seeing through Mike’s eyes. Maybe Vecna was in his head, stalking his victim. If I go back there maybe I can tap back into the hive mind and connect to Mike!”
“Will.” Joyce obviously hates this plan, but Will was expecting that. It’s dangerous.
“I’ve spied on Vecna before.”
“And he took control of you. You almost died, Will!”
“And Mike will too if we don’t do something!” Will yells. “He’s in there, all alone. I know what that’s like. I won’t just leave him there.”
Will knows his plan is dangerous, but it’s better than just sitting here! Mike is in danger, and Will wants to hep him as soon as possible.
Will can’t lose Mike.
———
Mike doesn’t really trust Mr Whatsit. Maybe he’s just paranoid. He had been kind to Holly, and he claims to have kept her safe.
But, why had he waited to help him until his family was attacked by a demo? Why had he only shown his face to Holly until now?
The guy seems nice enough, and completely saved his ass, so Mike can’t be so picky.
Mr. Whatsit enters the living room. “Michael,” he says, “I made breakfast.”
Mike’s face scrunches. He honestly forgot breakfast was a thing. He usually didn’t eat breakfast, skipping it because he slept in, or just not being hungry. Mr. Whatsit holds out his hand to help Mike up from the couch, and just before Mike takes it, he notices something.
There’s a small tattoo on his wrist. It’s nothing special, 001. Mike almost missed it.
Wait. That’s the tattoo. The one from Hawkins Lab. El has one too. 011. And the guy with the 001 tattoo is Henry Creel. Mr. Whatsit is Henry Creel.
Henry Creel is Vecna.
Mike hasn’t been saved at all.
Wait, how’d Vecna un-wrinkle himself?
He tries his best to keep a straight face as he goes with Henry into the kitchen. He tries to act normal, but he barely touches his pancakes. He wasn’t really hungry to begin with anyways.
“We will have another person with us by tonight,” he says.
Mike nods. “Do you have to, like, go rescue them?”
“Yes, so I must be going now.”
A getaway.
Mike stands with him. “I’ll walk you out.” He tries a smile, but knowing him, it probably just looked sarcastic and snarky.
Henry puts on his jacket and the two of them walk to the road. Mike tries to act happy, putting on the act he had in California: ‘I’m so happy to be here and not nervous in any way.’
From the outside, the house is very obviously the Creel house. Mike has just not recognized the house from the inside. He has no idea when the house was renovated, though. He remembers it run down.
“Michael, you must never leave the house. It will only put you in danger.”
“Yeah, okay.”
I’m totally leaving the house and getting far, far away from here. Eat dirt, bitch.
Henry walks off, and Mike sprints back inside. He’s gonna grab some supplies and get the hell out of here.
Back to his family. Back to friends. Back to his best friend.
———
“And you got there how exactly?”
Ever since El and Hop met up he’s been asking questions nonstop.
“Get where?”
“The Wheeler’s house,” he clarifies. “Did you take Henderson shelter?”
“No, Nancy drove me.”
Hopper stops walking, an angry look on his face. “Nancy drove you?”
El turns around. “Yes.”
“We don’t drive. Ever. Do we?”
“No.” But this was an emergency. It was different.
“No, we take the tunnels. And we don’t surface until it’s clear, until it’s safe.”
“I wore my hoodie,” she states, trying to get him to shut up.
“That’s great. I don’t know why we’ve been crawling around in the mud this whole time. We should’ve just drove you around in your hoodie.”
El looks to Hop. “The tunnels are too slow. Mike was in danger.”
“Now so are you. Because if those military guys haven’t already caught you on camera, they will. And they’ll be coming for you with everything they’ve got.”
“Then we have to end this before they find us.”
“Ending this?”
“The demogorgon can lead us to Vecna,” El says for probably the fifth time. “When I search for Mike, I cannot find him, just like Vecna. So maybe wherever she is, he is, where my powers cannot reach.”
“What does Vecna want with Mike Wheeler? How does any of this make sense?”
“I don’t know!” El keeps walking, searching for tracks. Hop follows behind, still yelling at her.
“Yeah, exactly! Because you haven’t put any thought into what you’re doing! You’ve acting on impulse, on emotion, everything I taught you not to do!”
Found it. On a fallen tree theres loads of blood.
“More blood than before. It’s slowing down,” she turns around. “We can still catch it.”
El follows the track, and Hop sulks behind her.
———
“We don’t know where Hop or El are. Or if they found Mike. We’re pretty much n the dark up here.”
Nancy and Holly had already left the hospital that morning, but Lucas really needed to see Max, so he’s going back to the Squawk later.
The three of them made a plan first. Holly says her head hurts a little when Henry’s in there (she had always thought it was a coincidence until last night), so whenever her head hurts, she will start talking about her book (as a signal, so people will shut up) so Vecna won’t know their plans.
They also told Holly to ask Henry as many questions as possible, so they can know his plan.
Lucas is still scared shitless.
“I wish… I wish I had better news.” His voice shakes. “Hopefully my next update will be something like El and Hop saved Mike, and killed Vecna, and everyone’s back home and celebrating. But if I’ve learned anything over the years… it’s never gonna be that easy.”
He goes quiet for a moment, the sound of Max’s heartbeat filling the room. He listens to it. It’s constant, and barely ever changes. It used to fluctuate all the time, but it sits steady now.
“El’s amazing. But she can’t do this alone. She’s gonna need all the help she can get. She’s going to need the full party. The final battle… I feel like it started tonight.”
Lucas grabs her hand. It’s cold, the temperature matching her pale complexion.
“Max, we can’t win this without you,” he whispers. “If my theory’s right, we’re running out of time. So if you’re planning on resurrecting anytime soon, now is the time. Even a sign would be enough to show me that you’re still in there.” He wipes a tear away. “Please, Max. Wake up.”
Lucas almost misses it at first, but her heart rate picks up. Just a little jump, but it’s still something. Lucas cries a little harder too.
———
“So basically, of all the crawls, this was, like, the one to miss.”
Steve’s filling Dustin in on all he missed, and Jonathan’s sitting in the back of the van, still searching for a signal.
Dustin’s shoved tissues up his nose. It feels broken. He feels like how Steve must’ve felt when Billy beat the shit out of him.
“Speechless. That’s new,” Steve remarks.
“I’m still processing, Steve. It’s a lot.”
Honestly, Dustin probably would’ve gotten it all by now if his head didn’t hurt so much, but he’s not going to say that.
“Mike? Why Mike?”
“Well, maybe Eleven could tell us, but it’s a bit difficult to contact her now that we’ve lost our connection to the Upside Down.”
“Okay. For the future, when the lights go really bright and then really dim, it means the generator is surging so you have to turn everything off.”
“Or, maybe,” Steve says, “you could be where you’re supposed to be.”
“I was en route to the Squawk,” Dustin yells.
“When you fell off your bike. That’s right. What do you fall into again, a knuckle sandwich?”
“Hey!” It’s Jonathan, saving Dustin from this awful conversation.
“Can you keep it down up there?” he asks. “I’m listening for a signal in case you forgot.”
“Who was it?” Steve asks, volumes lowered. “It was Andy and his goons, wasn’t it? You just poked the bear one too many times.”
“Your concern for me is overwhelming, Steve.” He takes out a bloody tissue from his nose and replaces it.
“I have shown nothing but concern for you since forever, and I have been repeatedly ignored. And now, look what’s happened. We are totally and royally screwed.”
“Correction, we are screwed because you don’t know how to do the most basic thing like prevent a power surge.”
“See this right here is your problem,” Steve states. “You cannot admit you’re wrong.”
“It’s the easiest thing in the world-“
“You can’t admit it-“
“My mother could prevent a power surge-“
“Jesus Christ!”
“Shockingly, I thing your mother could-“
“JUST DO IT FOR ONCE!” Steve yells. “Just admit, Henderson. You’re wrong! You screwed up!”
Dustin turns to the window. He hates it here. He hates Steve. He hates himself.
“Hey!” Jonathan yells again. “Can you guys shut the hell up?”
———
What a plan, just sitting here listening to Joyce repeatedly try to get a hold of anyone.
Robin chews a pencil. Wow, this is incredibly boring. There’s so much she could be doing right now. Out helping search for Mike, locating Hopper, find Steve and Jonathan and helping them get back. Or, she could even be looking for Dustin! But, no, Joyce thinks talking to no one through the radio is the right way to go.
She seriously isn’t getting any answer. She’s been at it ling enough that Holly and Nancy have gotten back from the hospital, and gotten cleaned up. Now, the two sisters are sitting next to Will on the table, all three of them have 10,000 yard stares.
There has to be something she could so. Something. Anything! She looks at the three on the table. Will had said something about a vision earlier… in the woods outside the school. He really looks like he needs something to do.
Going back to the woods might be a pretty good idea, but Joyce would never let Robin take Will out of her sight…
“Great Scott!” Robin jumps up, zipping towards Joyce and the radio. “How long has that light been red?”
That dumb light is always red. Robin has no idea what it does.
“Oh- uh… I don’t know,” Joyce replies.
“Shit! The flux capacitor is down again!”
Robin looks to Will and Nancy, who are both staring at her like ‘What are you talking about?’ She gives them a subtle wink.
“Is that bad?” Joyce panics.
“I mean it could be. It’s fixable. But it’s at least a two man job!” Robin paces over to the table and yanks Will up from his spot. She starts to drag him away.
“Wait!” Nancy calls. “You might need some… little hands. For the flux capacitor.” Nancy pushes Holly towards the other two. “You go fix it. I’ll stay with Joyce.”
The three run up the stairs and to Robin’s car.
———
“Why were you quoting Back to the Future?” Holly asks.
It’s quite a fair question, Will’s wondering too.
“I was thinking that we could totally do more than just sit there. We should try to look for Mike too, y’know? I was originally going to leave you with Nance, Holly. Sorry…”
Holly shrugs, she probably doesn’t care.
“How would we find Mike in Upside Down if we’re in the Right-side Up?” Will questions, a bit of irritation seeping into his voice.
“Your antenna,” Robin clarifies.”I thought maybe taking you back to where you had your ‘now memory’ or whatever your mom called would make you have another one… or something.”
“Well, if our theory about the hive mind is correct,” Will starts. “Then I should only be able to have the visions if I’m near the hive mind. Mike had Vecna in his here, so I saw through his eyes.”
Holly’s face brightens ever-so-slightly. “That’s why Nancy pushed me to come! Maybe. If she knew what you were thinking, Robin,” she pauses for a second, unsure of herself.
“Anyways, I have Vecna in my head! Maybe Will can use me to contact Mike?”
That’s… Actually a really good idea coming from someone who knew nothing about the Upside Down until today.
Having arrived at their destination, they all throw their bikes down, walk to the table in the woods. Where Will had had his first vision.
Holly plops down onto the table. “Dig through my mind, Will!”
He sits next to her, looking at his feet. “I don’t really know how to activate it,” he states.
“Well…” Holly thinks for a moment. “If this were a book, you would probably put your hands here.” She grabs Will’s hands and places them on either side of her head. “And you would close your eyes,” Holly waits for him to do so. “And you would think really hard about what you want. So, like, think about seeing Mike.”
Think about Mike. That’s easy! Will does that all the time.
He thinks about Mike’s hair, how always looks so good with the little effort out into it. He thinks about the god forsaken orange mohawk he had wanted, yikes. They had had a good laugh about that.
He thinks about Mike’s the day on the swing set. Will had never said anything to Mike, but Mike stayed. Mike stayed through Will’s issues with his dad, his disappearance in 1985, his possession by the Mind Flayer. Mike’s always been there.
Even when they had their mini fallout. Mike still cared.
‘I didn’t say it.’
‘You didn’t have to.’
Will feels a ringing pain through his head, and realizes he can no longer feel Holly’s head between his hands. He opens his eyes.
And there’s Mike.
Mike, a handful of odd supplies next to him as he hunches over to put his shoes on.
Will can almost see the little boy Mike once was. Leaving a sleepover with Will, his stuff in a pile next to him as he slumps over his shoes, struggling to tie the laces.
“Mike!”
———
It took another twenty minutes, but Joyce finally got a hold of Jonathan, Steve, and, apparently, Dustin. She har made sure they were all right and searching for Hopper before she remembered what Robin had told her.
“Jonathan, is your receiver in any way connected to the flux capacitor?”
There’s silence on the other side of the line. “Uh- sorry, Mom. Can you… uh- can you repeat that?”
“The flux capacitor! Robin said it was down, but she, Will, and Holly are working on it.” She reiterated.
Silence. Again.
Some more silence…
“Hello?”
———
Mike’s ready to go now. He’s got a bunch of supplies. A lighter, a weapon- fire poker, it’s pretty sharp-, a spyglass, and a pair of gloves. He’s back in the pink room putting on his shoes.
“Mike!”
Mike tenses and turns, fully ready to hit someone. But he doesn’t.
Because it’s Will. Mike could never hit Will.
“Will? How did you get here? Is he back?” He asks, putting his fire poker down. He feels his shoulders untense- he didn’t even know he was doing that- and the knot in his stomach loosen. Will’s here. He’s safe.
“I… can tap into the hive mind if I’m close enough. Like a radio antenna. And, no, Vecna’s not here.”
“You have powers? Wow, Will! You’re like a sorcerer! An honest to god sorcerer!” Mike cheers. “Do you know where we are?”
Will looks around, taking in the sight of the nice room. He looks as confused as Mike was when he first got here.
“Do- do you think you’re in an hallucination? Like how Vecna gives his victims hallucinations?”
That would make since. Mike was dragged into the Upside Down, and Henry should look like a raison, and the Creel house should be run down. Mike nods, he must be in some kind of dream world.
“You’re girlfriend’s looking for you in the Upside Down. Me and Holly are looking for you in the Rightside Up.” Will informs.
“My what? And what is Holly doing?”
“El. Your girlfriend? And Holly has Henry in her mind, so I can- uh- use her to talk to you. Like… how El used the walkie talkie to find me in the Upside Down.”
Mike nods. He had forgot that Will didn’t know about the breakup. Should he tell him? Is now a good time? Actually, screw good timing. Mike might freaking die here and everyone would think him and El were still dating.
“Me and El broke up. Like, at the beginning of the shutdown. That day Dustin hit me,” Mike blurts out. Will’s eyes widen, and the two of them go silent for a moment.
“Right, okay,” he says. “I think you should get away from here. Stay alive for me, okay?” Will gives Mike a playful shove, fist making contact straight with his heart.
Stay alive for me. God, why did that phrasing make Mike’s heart flutter?
“Yep! That’s what I’m doing. But what if Vecna tries to kill me in the physical world?”
Will puts his hand on Mike’s shoulder. “We’ll find you before can even think to.” He flinches. “I’ve gotta go. I think don’t Holly can go much longer.”
“Wait! Are my-“ Mike starts, but Will’s already vanished.
“Are my parents okay?” He whispers.
Mike turns back around, picks up all his supplies, and heads to front door.
“Rescue me, Will.”
———
Holly’s ears were ringing. She brought her hand up to one of her ears, and theres was blood leaking out of it. Her head hurts, right at the back of her head. But, she’s pretty sure that’s from Will. Not Henry.
Looking to Will, she notices he has blood dripping down his nose. He looks at her with shocked eyes.
“Holly, are you okay?”
“Yeah. Are you?”
Will nods. “Just surprised. Mike’s- yeah he’s okay. He’s with Vecna. In some kind of trance.”
“Trance?” Robin steps forward, helping them up from the ground.
“Well, when I spoke with Mike, we were in some kind of dream world. So Mike must be in a trance in the real world,” Will explains.
“Is he gonna be okay?” Holly asks, tilting her head towards the side so blood won’t pool in her ear canal.
“Yes, he is getting away from-“
The rest of what Will said Holly doesn’t catch. There’s a sharp pain through her head- right behind her left eye. It’s a pain that’s usually dull, amplified by the fact that Will had just used her to talk with Mike.
“Uh- you ever read a Wrinkle in Time?” she asks, strained. Robin and Will’s faces go pale. Robin’s eyes trailing from the blood on Will’s face to the blood in Holly’s.
“We- we can talk about that later,” she says. “Right now, we should patch you up from hitting that tree.”
It’s a lie, but Mr. Whatsit doesn’t know that.
“Yeah, we ran too fast!” Will adds, trying to cover his panic.
Holly spots Mr. Whatsit behind one of the trees, spying.
“You guys go ahead,” she says. “I’ll be a second.”
Robin and Will exchange a look and head off. Holly looks to Mr. Whatsit.
Act like a fool.
“Mr. Whatsit!” she cheers. “Did you see me… uh… run into that tree?”
He shakes his head. “I heard, though. Did you tell Nancy-“
“Yes,” she interrupts him. “I told everyone that Mike is okay. They want to know who’s next, though. So we can help the family!”
“Derek is next, Holly. He will be with Mike shortly.”
Holly nods, and the pain in her head increases. She really hopes he isn’t digging around in his memories. It’s a different hurt than the one Mr. Whatsit gives her, closer to the pain from a few minutes ago, when Will was using her to get to Mike.
Hopefully it’s just Will.
“I have to go,” she says. “I don’t want my ear to clog up with blood.” Holly fakes a laugh, and Henry nods for her to leave. The pain dissipates as she runs, fading into pure relief.
Holly sprints to Will and Robin.
“Woah, Holly,” Will says as Robin starts dabbing the blood on Holly’s face with a tissue. “What’s wrong.”
“Derek,” she pants. “Derek Turnbow is next.”