Chapter Text
He knew he wasn't supposed to be out here.
Ever since he got back to Hawkins, Will Byers wasn't allowed to go anywhere without someone else, let alone the woods. Every step could be a wrong one, bringing him right back to that cold, unforgiving prison. His mom would constantly remind him that his safety was everything, that the Party couldn’t defeat Vecna without him and his sense, but Will thought she was thinking selfishly. How could they be safe if they didn’t even have any tabs on the guy? He knew if they were to have any chance of defeating anything, they needed all the information they could find. Even if it meant he was the one to find it. So he continued on, step by step, scanning the trees for anything of interest. Despite all this scanning, however, Will had seen nothing but leaves and dirt and sticks.
The sun was beginning to set on another wasted day. The golden hue that the sun brought every evening around 6pm was grazing the trees. Will had almost given up his search, when footsteps came crashing through the dead silence. Will quickly spun around the shotgun brandished on his shoulder to the front of him. He knelt down to a crouch, and looked through the scope that had been haphazardly frankensteined onto the top of the gun. Looking forwards, then to the left, then behind him, he saw nothing. No movement, he thought. He reached to the back of his neck, no goosebumps. He isn't here. He summed it up to be a squirrel or something similar, and stood back up. It was only when he turned to his right that he saw the sweating, kneeling-out-of-breath, embarrassed Mike Wheeler.
“Jesus Christ, Mike, I could have shot you.” Will said this with exasperation, quickly followed by regret, then confusion. Him and Mike hadn’t talked since their hometown split apart, and now he runs after him?
“I know, I’m sorry! I’m sorry. Listen, I heard your window open back at the cabin, and with it being cold as hell outside? I don't know, I was just worried.” Mike practically screamed out from several feet away.
Will scoffed and furrowed his brow. He figured he must have alerted his mom and Hop, and they would be fuming once he resurfaced from the woods. He could practically see the image of his mom in the passenger's side of Hopper's car, yelling at him from the window. Will first walked towards Mike, then passed him without saying a word in response. He tried his best not to seem angry at him, but he for sure wanted to avoid the trouble that Mike Wheeler usually brought to a situation. After all, they clearly weren't best friends anymore (made clear by Mike back in California). Will felt no need to comfort or console him like he used to.
“Wait! Will!” Mike shouted, running after him fervently. “Let me come with you,” he proposed, catching up to Will, “You shouldn't be out here alone, not while he's still, you know, running loose.”
“I appreciate the concern, Mike, really. I do. But I need you to leave me alone.” he replied, trudging along, “I can't sense it, sense him, when I’m being distracted and you honestly don’t-”
Will was cut off by an interesting glint of light, off in the distance of his peripherals. Fully turning his body, he confirmed - there was something on the forest floor. He shuffled towards it, Mike quick to follow. There, hidden underneath layers of leaves and moss and nestled into the crook of a tree trunk, was an old flashlight. Mike stood behind him, tilting his head in perplexity.
“Uh… Will? Are you seeing something I’m not? It’s just a flashlight.”
“Hang on, I just want to see.”
Mike hushed, and Will continued his curious look-around. Something in him was drawn to this otherwise very normal flashlight, but he couldn't quite place the feeling. It wasn’t Vecna, no, this was something unfamiliar. He knelt down, and Mike followed suit. Maybe the light was hiding something? But looking closer, Will could see that the light, in fact, was not unordinary. It was a rusty silver, clearly weathered by the outdoors. He picked it up and felt the weight it pulled his hand down with. The letters and grip on the side were both worn down, leaving the base of the flashlight almost completely smooth and bare.
“I mean, I could always use another flashlight.” Will joked. He thought about the many nights he spent after coming back from the Upside Down, head under the covers after his nightlight died. He couldn't stand to be in the dark, not after all those nights curled up in a colder version of Castle Byers.
“Does it even work?” Mike questioned, reaching out to find an answer to his question.
Will didn’t mind handing it over. He let it roll off his fingers, but as it made the transfer from his hand to Mike’s, he felt a jolt and a drop hit his stomach. He thought this might be one of Vecna's tricks, but as he looked over at Mike, he realized they were both flying - no, - falling through the air.