Chapter Text
They were losing.
There was nothing else they could do.
And they had tried everything they could.
He glanced to his side; the two girls were losing strength, and in truth, so was he.
He took a breath, feeling the blood rush from his nostrils and a migraine slowly forming in his head. But in reality, this was nothing compared to feeling him again.
The Mind-flayer.
You could say they had defeated "Vecna," but it was obvious that he wasn't the final boss. Obviously, nothing was easy for them. It was a difficult battle against Vecna, but with Kali's help, with her illusions, and the amazing and strong powers of El plus his own, it was somewhat easier to tip the scales in their favour.
And when the moment came and they defeated him, he felt so relieved... so free.
"D-did we do it, did we win?" he asked, turning his gaze to the side, watching Kali still kneeling on the floor while El came trotting towards them, smiling and relaxed, satisfied with what they had achieved together.
"I think so, I can't feel it anymore," El replied when she reached his side and reached out one hand to help his sister Kali up, while placing the other on Will's shoulder.
He sighed as he took a handkerchief out of his pocket to help clean his sister up.
He couldn't feel it either, and he tried, using what little brainpower he had left to see if that connection was still there in his mind, but he felt nothing, so he could assume that Vecna had already been killed, meaning they had won and now everything would return to normal.
"After this, we should all go for ice cream together. I feel like I need something sweet," said Will, one of his hands resting on El's cheek so he could wipe her nose more effectively, all with great care.
"Oh, we should definitely have ice cream. You'll love it, Kali," said El, throwing the blood-stained tissue from Will's hands onto the floor as he turned to look at his sister, but she was staring fearfully behind them.
Oh, this was definitely not over yet.
"Look out!" was all Kali managed to shout before a huge explosion occurred behind them and a hole in the ground that was expanding at great speed came after them. All he could manage to do was gasp in shock before they all fell into the hole.
He tried to keep his eyes open and see where they were going, but with the speed at which they were falling, he definitely couldn't, so he just closed his eyes and waited for the impact.
It didn't come after a few seconds; it was more like minutes. The three of them had appeared on what looked like a hill or something similar, and he got up as quickly as possible alongside the two girls. He looked around, but he couldn't see beyond the thick yellow fog that surrounded them. Inside, he felt that they had to be more careful than they had ever been in their lives. Something was there, and it was much more powerful than Vecna.
"Where are we?" El asked in a harsh tone as she tried to see beyond the mist to get a clue as to what was in the area or world.
"I have no idea," Kali replied.
He took a few steps forward, wanting to test whether the fog could part to reveal a path or some sign before him. Perhaps it was too much hope on his part, but he had nothing to lose by trying. But nothing happened.
Or so he wanted to believe.
He had barely opened his mouth to say that he had no idea where they were and that the best thing they could do was try to find or create a way out, when a giant chill ran through him from head to toe and the back of his neck reacted much more violently than normal, immediately, almost as if the area had been burned he brought both hands up to it while trying to look around and understand what it was that had frightened him so much.
"Will, what's wrong?!" El quickly moved closer to him, placing her hand on his shoulder again to get him to look at her, but he was so scared and confused that he couldn't do it until she grabbed him by both shoulders. "Will, tell me what's wrong, please, you're worrying me."
The look he must have given her was enough to change the girl's hard, serious expression. Will would never know what face he made to make her react that way, but he doesn't really care because just then the earth began to shake and the "sensations" in the back of his neck became too strong, almost as if the back of his neck was shaking in unison with the earth, and the magnitude was so great that he fell to his knees on the floor because of how intense they were.
"Will!" While his sister stayed on the floor with him, Kali stood protectively in front of them, almost challenging whatever was out there to come forward, for it would have to face her, and looking around at the danger that was imminent at this point.
Something was there, stalking them as if they were prey, but instead of attacking like any natural hunter would, this was different, because what this entity was doing was playing with them.
But the worst feeling was that... he felt that this thing already knew him.
He remained clutching the back of his neck with his forehead pressed against the floor while clenching his jaw. He could feel his stomach churning and his legs numb from the force with which he was pressing himself against the floor, almost as if he wanted to merge with it, while he could feel El moving him, begging him to react, and Kali calling his name, but he couldn't respond. Something was stopping him from doing so. His lips were stuck together, and with his jaw so stiff, it was no surprise that he couldn't speak.
About 15 minutes passed, which felt like two hours to him, when he was finally able to pull himself together, although he was still somewhat shaken and sweating cold. During all those minutes, the earth continued to shake until it stopped for no apparent reason... until it appeared.
His body screamed at him to run, but he remained rigid in place, his hands clenching the dry earth beneath him, his temperature dropping to a thermal sensation he hadn't felt in years.
And then he knew. Will knew before it even revealed itself.
"The Mind-flayer..."
As soon as he whispered it, the creature revealed itself, its head peeking out, and by the time it was showing itself in body and soul, the fog dissipated, almost as if allowing it to show itself as it was, revealing everything that made it up, everything that made up the Mind Flayer, its "tentacles," its body and head looming imposingly over them. One could even see what looked like an attempt at a smile forming as it watched them.
Fear paralysed his body. He hadn't seen it face to face like this in years, not since his possession and Billy's sacrifice at Starcourt Mall; but his mind never forgot it, and his body even less so. To this day, he remembers that feeling of not being able to control his body as he wanted, of having to give coded signals for help so that they could understand him. But above all, he still remembers the lives that were lost because of him, how his hands were covered in blood from what he had done.
But El was very different from him, of course. As soon as she saw him standing imposingly over them, she stood up straight and did the same, maintaining eye contact, if you can call it that, while clenching her fists. She was not intimidated by that monster.
And maybe he should follow her example, get up too and stand next to her, challenging him with his gaze, making him think twice, or even three times, if he really plans to hurt them; but his body wouldn't let him move. He was glued to the floor, condemned to watch as his sister and Kali took up battle positions. He couldn't face him, not after the last time he tried and only made things worse.
He always thought he was cursed for always reacting that way to his fears.
The arachnoid monster let out a roar that made the ground where they were standing reverberate. The tremor ran through his body and snapped him out of his stupor, but his legs still wouldn't respond, and that made him feel stupid. Kali and El, on the other hand, only moved back an inch, but they kept their gaze steady, and that only fuelled his feeling of stupidity.
He could see their backs while also being able to see him. It was a comical comparison to watch from the outside, but Will could see how the two of them could be worthy rivals for the Mind-flayer because of their great strength.
Faced with this thought, he tried to silence the growing insecurity inside him. At that moment, he didn't need to feel stupid or useless or any of those synonyms; he needed to fight the monster, he had to do it. He had promised his sister that she didn't have to bear the entire burden of saving the world, that she could share it with him now that he had powers. She didn't have to feel like she was the only superhero in the group. Now there were three of them, and they could do it together, almost like the Justice League. Although Jane didn't understand the example, and Kali understood even less, they were able to grasp the message behind it.
So that's why he needed to stand up. He had to do it, for God's sake. It was just a matter of getting up on his two legs. He could do it, he knew how to do it, but right now his legs were useless, and so were his arms, in fact his whole body.
He felt so useless...
"Will, I know you're scared. I can see that you have a history with this creature, and to be honest, so do I..." Kali spoke without taking her eyes off the Mind Flayer.
"I've never seen it in flesh, I've only had visions of it, but I've never seen it as such, but I know you have, and I also know you're capable because you came out alive to tell the tale, which is why we need you here with us, we need you to understand your value, so stand up, superhero, because this isn't over yet."
No one had ever said words that touched him so deeply, in a good way, well, maybe Kali was the second person, with Robin taking first place with his talk in the tunnel...
And with that, he remembered, he shouldn't cower and back down now, he could do it, just as the two girls in front of him could do it too, he is capable. He must fight, for his family, for his friends, for Mike, for each and every one of them. He will face the stupid monster that has ruined his life and the lives of his loved ones. He will make it pay for every tear he and his family have shed, every drop of blood that has been spilled, every sacrifice that had to be made to get to this point, every feeling... it will be repaid.
With a feeling of courage found thanks to Kali's words, he stood up, somewhat shaky but still sure of himself. He didn't have to let a monster like that intimidate him again. He wasn't a little boy anymore.
"Thank you, Kali..." he said when he was next to the girls. He turned to look at her, who was already looking at him with a smile that showed a mixture of pride and genuine happiness at having him there, and he smiled back at her.
"We can do this, I can feel it," El said, as the three of them watched the Mind-flayer.
Yes, they could definitely do it.
And that brings us back to square one.
The battle was proving to be extremely difficult. Every time they felt they had the upper hand and that one final blow would finish it off, this creature would strike back twice as hard. In other words, if they advanced three steps, one blow from the Mind Flayer would send them back five.
Right now, he reaches out his hand and tries to do something, and for a moment he feels like he's succeeding, but the scene around him changes and he knows that he's just taken five steps backwards. Once again, he finds himself in that hospital, on the day Bob died. Once again, he has to watch him die and once again he has to listen to his mother's screams as she watches the man she loved die.
He lets out a sigh; he knows how to get out of this.
Or maybe not.
In the blink of an eye, Bob had stood up and was now standing in front of him, greatly impressing him with his speed. He wanted to step aside, to get around the man standing in front of him, whom he knew was not the Bob he had known, but he couldn't, because the man grabbed him by the neck and threw him hard against a wall.
Will grabbed the man's hands, trying to loosen his grip to free himself, but he couldn't.
"You killed me! You made me die; it's your fault I'm dead!" With each scream, the grip grew stronger. It may have been an illusion, but it felt very real. "You killed me, because you brought them to the hospital, you did all this" the man spat in his face. For a split second, reality slipped from his grasp, his mind buckling under the weight of the moment as his eyes flooded with tears. Everything felt so real and for a moment, a very short one, he truly believed that the man in front of him was Bob, the man that he knew and respected the most and he almost believed him.
"Y-you're not... you're not real..." he whispered softly, gasping for air, his nails digging into the man's arms, hoping that by some miracle of whatever God were watching him that Bob would understand and would let him go so he could breathe.
Faced with these words, the fake Bob just stared at him and suddenly let go of him, he fell to his knees on the hospital floor, clutching his neck and trying to get all the oxygen he had lost back to where it belonged, his lungs.
He closed his eyes when he felt that everything was changing again.
But then, he opened them and looked up and could see exactly how the scene changed, it was like it was speeding through time, nitpicking between every of his memories and finally it picked one and this time it was in his old house.
A new scene.
He wiped his eyes, because they were so wet he couldn't see very well.
Once they were clean, he could understand exactly where he was, and it was in the living room of the house, but he didn't understand why he was in that memory, which was the important thing at that moment because very important parts of his life happened in that room.
He frowned, tried to take a step, but his legs wouldn't move. He was stuck in that spot, nerves running through his body, trying to remember, to see the meaning behind, until he found it. He understood the clue when he noticed the calendar in the kitchen.
He let out a gasp of surprise just as the door to the house opened abruptly and he could hear struggling and small sobs. He closed his eyes; he didn't want to see that man, not after so many years.
"You little shit, you can't do anything without crying!" Lonnie shouted, and he heard a small weight fall heavily to the floor. He didn't have to wonder what it was because he already knew. Of course he knew, he could be anything, but stupid wasn't one of those things.
It was him, but as a child.
The room shifted around him, rearranging itself until the scene unfolding before his eyes became more clearer so that he could see the scene unfolding in front of him. He still remembered the source of that man's anger. That day, he had spent far too long drawing during the kindergarten recess, and for some reason it had unsettled his teacher. She had said she would speak to his parents though now, as the memory sharpened, he realized it could have been because Mike was absent that day, so he was alone all day in kindergarten.
But anyway, to add to his streak of bad luck, he had completely forgotten that neither his mother nor Jonathan could pick him up that day. He doesn't remember the exact reasons very well, but they simply couldn't, so they all had agreed that his father would go. The minute his father was told that his son had been drawing during all the breaks, his face changed. Maybe the teacher didn't notice, but he did. He had had to survive by learning to read his father's micro-expressions so as not to be punished too harshly.
That twitch in his eyebrow told him that the punishment was going to be severe.
Fearfully, he followed his father to the car that day. He wanted to scream and cry, to ask for help, but no one knew what the Byers family had to go through at home when his father deliberately decided to stay longer than usual.
"You were drawing... All the fucking recesses, Jesus Christ, who did you take after to be so fucking gay?" His father shouted straight to his face, or rather, to his childhood version, but the reaction was the same in both of them. They both folded inward in their place, but the only difference was that his younger version closed his eyes tightly, bracing for what is going to come next, feeling dread all over his little body, and his current version remained glued to the scene, unable to look away, forced to watch.
He had the desire, the aching desperate feeling to save himself from the martyrdom that was this punishment.
He held his breath and shut his eyes, as if trying to shield himself from a scene he already knew would be ugly, like one you can’t bear to watch in a movie. He waited for the fist that he was certain would come towards the tender face of the poor little boy... Great was his surprise when he, his current version, received it.
He placed his hand on his injured cheek, and with fear, confusion, and every negative emotion imaginable, he looked up at his father, who was looming over him, hatred flooding his gaze. Without giving his subconscious any warning, the man grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, lifting him high above the floor, terrifying him because he could not feel the floor.
And with a quick glance, as far as he could tell from his position, the floor had indeed disappeared.
"You're a fucking faggot, a damn queer who's going to ruin us!" With every word he uttered, the man shook him harder, frightening him even more when he realised there was no floor beneath him, causing him to grip his father's arms even tighter. "You, William Byers, everything that's happening is your fault, you're the cause of all this, everything bad that happened to this family was because of you because you're a fucking, damn, disgusting faggot!"
The air was knocked out of his lungs almost as if he had been punched, and perhaps he had been, maybe not physically, but it certainly felt like it. His eyes filled with tears, he wanted to cry, he wanted to scream, to tell him it was a lie, that he didn't know shit about him, he wanted to stand up to him once and for all, but he couldn't, his throat closed up, he could only manage to sob quietly while his father continued to shake him violently and kept on screaming poison at his face.
Because deep down he knew he was right, how many nights he lay awake thinking that all this was happening because of him, because of his damn stupidness, how every time something happened he had to endure the guilty looks from his mother and brother, their overprotectiveness, seeing the fear in the eyes of each of his friends and family because they are scared that he is going to break again.
Guilt gnawed at his heart, making a home there, even more so considering how his mother and brother went out of their way for him, each stretching themselves even further, his mother with a pile of jobs paying ridiculously low wages and his brother far from being able to fulfil his long awaited dream, having to work to save a little money for him and his family, basically trying get it back at how it was before after it was used for his fake funeral.
Because yes, he already knew. Jonathan might still think he doesn't know, but living in a small town that only gossips and criticises people for who they are, at some point he was bound to hear about the argument his mother and brother had when they found his supposed body at the quarry.
And by making a few guesses here and there, he was able to reach his goal quickly.
So, between the shakes his father was giving him and the familiar feeling settling in his heart, he manage to see a door opening in the distance, revealing a red ball full of energy, glowing in the dark of the room, and he was surprised but had a slight feeling, a hunch you could call it, that this could bring them victory.
"W-what is that?" he asked quietly by chance, and wanted to break free, but a strong jolt from the man who was holding him caused him to let go and fall into the dark abyss.
And he fell and fell, until he was able to wake up from the trance. He had woken up in the same place where they were. Kali and Jane were still trapped in the trance, but at least that would give him a few seconds to understand what he had seen.
He didn’t know exactly what it was yet, but the probability that it was something of strategic importance to the Mind Flayer felt very high. His working theory, that this entire experience was a constructed mental labyrinth was no longer hypothetical. The pattern was too consistent. Every scene unfolding around him corresponded to a key event of his life, emotional moments that had imprinted in himself that left lasting marks on him, and maybe the girls too, he doesn’t know how it works for them, but he guesses is the same way that it was for him. It was plausible that the Mind Flayer exploited that emotional residue, using it as raw material to assemble a maze perhaps even generating it in real time...
And that possibility significantly escalated the threat.
He sighed. There was nothing else to do. He would have to take this as an experiment and carry out the processes. In any case, almost all his hypotheses were coming true.
If luck continued to be on his side as it had been so far, then perhaps he could find the way out and they could end this all for good.
Out of the corner of his left eye, he could see the creature's tentacles dangerously approaching his feet. He managed to kick one away, but another approached him from behind. This time, the creature caught him and lifted him into the air, along with Jane and Kali.
"Shit, shit, shit." Panic surged as he managed to free his two arms from the monster's grip and tried to pull away with all his strength from it, but every time he tried to do something, the grip became much stronger. He simply couldn't break free from it. «I'm going to have to put all my cards on the table then…» the thought flashed through his mind, sharp and frantic «I just, God I just really hope I'm right»
He took a deep breath, preparing himself mentally, extended his right arm and pointed it at the creature, felt his eyes roll back, and with that he fell into a trance.