Chapter Text
Mike braced himself for death. After everything—after all of this endless fighting—it would all be over in a second. This was it. He’d done what he could, he’d fought as hard as he knew how, but it hadn’t been enough. He had failed Holly, and he had failed these kids, all of whom had now been dragged straight into hell. He felt it settle in him now, in his last moment, his last breath. This was the end of the line. But he was the one getting off easy. A tear ran down his cheek as he awaited his fate.
The last thing Mike thought about as the demogorgon’s sharp claws lunged for his neck, as he felt its icy breath on his face, was Will. Would they come for him next?
But the seconds ticked, his heart kept beating, and death did not come for him. It was like divine intervention. Time slowed to a stop as the demogorgon froze in midair, its screeches echoing in the air like the howling wind of an Indiana snowstorm. Mike stared up in terror at the beast as a powerful force snapped all of its bones from within, and it fell to the ground in front of him with a sickening thud.
His vision was still blurred from nearly cracking his skull open on the pavement after the blast, but his eyes roamed the fiery streets, looking for that familiar head of chestnut hair he'd searched every room for since he was five. When they landed on him, his heart skipped a beat. Or twenty. There was Will—alive!—on his knees, his eyes rolled back, arms held out like he was Atlas holding up the heavens, his skin gleaming gold in the heat of the flames surrounding him.
Holy shit.
Their eyes finally locked, and Mike’s chest tightened, his breath heavy with the weight of being alive for no reason other than that this boy in front of him loved him enough to overpower his literal demons so he could stop time itself and snatch him away from certain death. Mike was in complete and utter awe.
“Will…” he whispered, breathless, a smile sneaking onto his face as his eyes welled up in relief, before Will collapsed suddenly to the ground.
Mike’s adrenaline spiked, fear pulling him out of his paralyzed state. “Will!” he yelled as he ran across the street, nearly tripping over a dozen soldiers’ bodies along the way, desperate to reach him. Time slowed down to a crawl again as he saw Will’s body, limp on the ground.