Chapter Text
The demogorgon stopped inches away from Mike’s face.
He couldn’t move. It felt like his feet were trapped in cement, but even that wouldn’t stop his tremors which ran through his body. His hands and arms were arranged in front of him to protect his face and stomach, despite him knowing this wouldn’t work. He screwed his eyes tightly shut, and sucked in a shaky breath as he prepared to die.I mean sure, he didn’t really want to die, but some part of him decided right then and there that he was okay with that, and that he was ready. Even if that part of him was the very, very dark corner of his mind, where the voices dragged themselves out of at night. He was okay with dying. So he prepared.
But then he didn’t die.
The demogorgon was frozen mid-lunge, shrieking and shaking. Its petals were wide open, and rows upon rows of brown, vulgar teeth sat almost emulsifying in blood and a weird slime that reeked of stale vinegar and rot. Mike opened his eyes after a few seconds, curiosity winning over that strange acceptance that lingered in his body like perfume lingers to a grandmother. His eyes widened and his brows furrowed as he wondered, why the hell is Vecna saving me? But it wasn’t Vecna at all. It was..
Will?
Yes, it was definitely Will. Only his eyes weren’t right and neither were his veins. His eyes were no longer that warm hazel, but instead two empty pools of white. His eyelids were fluttering and his eyebrows were creasing slightly along with the corners of his eyes, as if he was smiling. But he wasn’t. His mouth was contorted into something that was a mix between a grimace and a look of pain, along with some strange type of determination. His veins were pulsing black, like ichor, and his chest was rising fast and hard.
Everyone had dropped into fighting stances, waiting for something to happen. Everything was a freeze frame of complete and utter chaos slowing down.
Bent metal, still emitting heat and shining bright orange-red from El’s powers. Hopper’s flashlight casting a cone of yellow light as it rolled on the ground. Everyone was just waiting for something bad to happen. But the only thing happening was Will’s hand.
He lifted it, slow and steady, curling his fingers like claws, pointing them at the demogorgon. They continued curling, and his hands and arms continued rising. It felt like everything had stopped so that Will could continue.
“Holy sh!t,” Dustin whispered from beside Mike, who had now lowered his arms, but was still shaking, and who still felt like he couldn’t move. The same Mike who swore he felt something cold and slimy and thick curl around his neck, only when he glanced down, there was nothing. Just. Him. Despite the relief he felt that nothing was actually strangling him, he was holding his breath, and his face was turning red.
The air was hot and almost static. Will drew his arms in towards his chest, clenching his fingers into fists as the demogorgon, who was now floating nine feet in the air, let out another shriek. Its bones cracked, and some of its teeth dropped onto the ground as it fell with a heavy thud.
Everything was growing fuzzy for some reason as the air stilled again. Will’s eyes rolled back to normal, same with his veins. El was focusing on closing the gate, grunting as she raised her hands to the ceiling. The black upside down vines slithered and withdrew until the gate was no more, and left a large crack in the ceiling. Still, Mike’s surroundings were still becoming fuzzier and more muffled. He thought he saw Dustin say something to him, but he couldn’t tell. His limbs felt like lead, same with his eyelashes. Everything went double, and then descended into black.
…
Dustin turned to face Mike, who was shaking, “Holy sh!t.” He didn’t know why, but he felt the need to whisper, not wanting to interrupt whatever was going on with Will. Mike’s face was unusually dark, and was rapidly turning red.
Eventually, after the whole demogorgon-floating-and-demogorgon-bone-snapping thing ended, he looked back over at Mike. “Hey, you okay?” he checked. Something was up, and it was something bad. Mike was positively almost purple, and his eyes looked a little dull and distant. Mike turned to face Dustin at his words, but didn’t reply, just creased his eyebrows and tilted his head, as if he was struggling to hear him.
Which would have been possible, around five minutes ago. But now?
The warehouse was silent, spare the heavy breathing and quiet, overprotective muttering of Joyce, checking over Will and making sure he was okay. No, Mike should have been able to hear him just fine.
But then his shoulders dropped, and he finally let out a breath, and his eyes rolled back before shutting, and he dropped. Like a snowflake.
“Woah, woah, whoah. Mike?” Lucas called, rushing over with Max from where they had been standing. But Mike didn’t even twitch. He was out cold.
Everyone soon gathered around his slack body, and Max was trying to wake him up. “Hey, Mike? You in there?” she frowned, gently slapping his face. And he finally gave a reaction, after what was only around five minutes, but felt like hours.
His eyes began sliding side to side beneath his lids, like a pendulum.
“Okay, this is officially a full-blown crisis, I mean, Will can do some spooky power sh!t now, we just saw a demogorgon get snapped, and now Mike has like, passed out or something I mean like what do we do? Do we call someone? Do we carry him back? What the hell is even going on, I mean seriously!-” Robin ranted, picking up her pace as her eyes darted frantically from Mike to the others.
“Robin! Calm down, I’m sure he’s fine. But, we should probably get out of here. Who’s carrying him?” Steve interrupted while Will placed his jacket under Mike’s head to act as a pillow.
“He is like me.”
“What?”
“He is like me when I search. He is trapped somewhere, but I cannot get him out right now. My battery is empty,” El stated simply, while opening a peanut butter Bopper.
“Okay..” Hopper started slowly. “The question now is how we get him out of here. Because, lets be honest, Will and El are exhausted, Dustin, you’ve injured your arm again, and you guys,” he gestured to all the older teens, “Are way too busy carrying the supplies, so we’re basically screwed.”
Max cleared her throat as she threw a glare at Hopper. “I can carry him,” she shrugged, pursing her lips as she stood up, already with Mike in her arms.
“Hold on, when on Earth did you get so strong???” Lucas exclaimed, with a look of hopeless confusion. Of course, this was Max we’re talking about, so all that got him was a light shove and a raised eyebrow.
…
When Mike opened his eyes, he was met with a sea of black. The last thing he could clearly remember was being saved, before he collapsed. He felt disoriented, so badly in fact he couldn’t even tell if he was standing, sitting, lying, floating (??). He weakly lifted his head and tried to look at his surroundings. But it was pointless. All there was, in fact, was black. Just never ending, eternal black. It gave Mike a headache just looking at it. A figure stood in front of him, covered in vines with no nose. Vecna, his mind supplied.
“Hello, Michael. Your head is very crowded, I hope you don't mind, but I moved us somewhere more private.”
All Mike could do was groan softly as his vision came back to him. First the monster was just a dark red blob, but then, as his mind cleared, it became Vecna.
“Why.. am I- here,” he managed through the heavy haze in his thoughts.
“Ah, so full of questions Michael. All will be answered soon enough. Tell Eleven and William that I am coming for them.”
And then he woke up.
His sight came back to him all too quickly, the lamps of Hopper’s cabin blazing. There was a dull pressure behind his eyes. Tell them. a voice said in his brain, one that wasn’t his own. He sat up quickly, gasping and breathing heavily as he recalled that slimy vine wrapping around his neck.
“Hey, it’s okay Wheeler, you’re safe,” Max smiled at him as he got his bearings. His eyes darted over to where Will and El were stood, watching him.
“Vecna, he- he’s coming. For you guys. I.. I don’t know how, but he- he told me to tell you,” he breathed. The faces of everyone in the cabin were ones of dread. Horror. Doom.