Chapter Text
“We need to talk,” a voice from behind Will startled him.
It was Jane.
“Oh.” Will blinked, curious about what she’d want from him. The group was filing out after Will’s confession in the Squawk to get ready to head out. To defeat Vecna. “Yeah, what’s up?”
“I need to tell you something, too.”
She pulled him back inside, making sure the door was shut behind them. “I thought…since you were brave enough to tell everyone your secret, I should tell you mine.”
Will’s breath caught. What was she about to confess to him? There’s no way it was anything remotely close to what he’d had to say. “You can tell me anything, Jane.”
“Promise that you won’t stop me,” she said. “Promise you won’t tell anyone.”
His eyes widened. “Yeah, yeah,” he reassured her. “I promise.”
She took a deep breath, looking down at her feet. “When we…when we defeat Vecna,” she began. “When we save the kids…I’m not coming back.”
“Well, you don’t have to stay in Hawkins,” Will replied like it was obvious. “You can—we all can—move away from this place. Like a new start.”
Jane shook her head, and Will’s heart sank. “No, Will. In the Upside Down. I’m going to stay behind.”
It was as if she were a magician that could make Will cry on command. He felt himself sway on his feet as he tried to grasp what she was saying. “No, Jane—no, you can’t do that—”
“I have to, Will,” she cut him off. “I have to. The military—they won’t rest until they have me and my blood. To make more of me…more of Henry.”
“We can hide you,” Will rushed out, trying to not stumble over his words. “We can keep you safe.”
“But that’s not living.” She grabbed his hand and looked him in the eyes. “I can’t live like this. I can’t do it anymore.” She started to tear up, too, and that was the final straw.
“But…Jane…” he sobbed. “What about Hopper? What about the Party? What about Mike?” he cried out, clutching her hand in his like it was a lifeline. Like it would convince her otherwise. “What about…what about me?”
She wiped her eyes, trying to keep her composure. “You understand why I can’t. You know you do.”
“I do,” he whispered through the tears. “I do, and that’s why I’m so sad.” He took a deep breath. “Are…are you sure this is what you want?”
“I’ve had so many choices made for me,” she spoke. “I’ve had my life controlled by others for too long, Will. I’ve never been so sure.”
Will couldn’t do anything but cry and bring Jane in for a bone-crushing hug. This was the last time they would be able to do this. This was the last time they’d talk to each other. This was the last time they’d be able to be siblings.
Real siblings. Not ones forged by a lab.
“I’m sorry you have to do this,” he whispered in her ear as he felt her start to cry with him. “I’m sorry your childhood was taken from you.”
She was never able to experience being a normal kid, with normal interests. And for the couple of months she was, she was bullied by people who could never understand a fraction of her pain.
“I’m going to miss you so much,” she whispered back.
He sobbed. “Me too. I love you so much, Jane. You’re my favorite sister in the whole world.”
“I love you so much, Will. I’m so proud of you.”
“I’m so proud of you, Jane. Please don’t forget that. And even though I want you to stay…even though I want you to stay, I know that you’re making your choice.” Will hugged her tighter. “I will never forget you.”
After a moment of silence between them, she pulled away. They stared at each other for a moment before both of them started to laugh. “We look bad,” she said.
“Yeah, yeah…” he agreed.
He brought her into the bathroom, to help her wipe off her tears and make them both look like they didn’t just have a conversation about death. “Can I ask you a question?” he asked her.
“Yeah?”
“What’s your favorite song?”
She looked at him for a moment, trying to decipher why he’d asked such a question. She looked at herself in the mirror to see if she appeared to be presentable.
“Purple Rain.” Jane looked at him, a small smile on her face. “By Prince.”
⤝ – ⤞
The drive to Montauk is two and a half hours.
At least, that’s what Carlton had said, but the drive felt a lot shorter for some reason. Maybe the people who said that time flies when you’re having fun were onto something.
However, in this case, fun was a subjective term.
“Well, then after that, the military tried to take us all hostage,” Will explained. “But, Jane had decided that it was better for her to stay in the Upside Down. She wanted to break the cycle. No more child experiments.” He sighed, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. As much as he tried to not let the grief consume him, he missed Jane more and more each day. She made her choice, but it was a devastating one.
He wondered where she’d be right now if she’d stayed. If she’d hid from Dr. Kay and got out. But, he understood her—he really did.
It had been twenty-five months since they blew up the Upside Down for good. Since they’d stopped Henry from destroying the world.
“We watched her disappear,” Will said. “And then, the gate closed, and it was over. All over. Just like that.”
He stared intently at the road in front of him, trying to stay in his lane as his eyes blurred with tears. It was hard to keep it in.
“Oh.”
He knew Carlton was staring at him, but he couldn’t bear to look back. If he knew that if Carlton saw how close he was to tears, he would actually start crying.
They were almost there. They just needed to get to Montauk. To his mom and Hopper.
“She’d be happy for you, Will. She’d be proud that you moved forward. I know I don’t know her, but anyone would be proud of you.”
Will pulled onto the off-ramp of the highway, slowing down.
“I hope so,” he whispered, a tear finally escaping from his eyes. He quickly wiped it away. “I miss her every day.”
It felt like he blinked and they were pulling into the driveway.
He’d never actually been to the house before—they’d moved shortly after he’d gone off to college. From the phone calls and letters he’d received, it was a lot nicer than their house in Hawkins.
However, it was clear that was an understatement. The driveway was paved, they had a two-car garage, and there was a beautiful front porch with colorful flowers leading up to the door. Maybe Will was just used to being on the less-fortunate side of money, but this house was gorgeous.
He parked his car so that if there were any in the garage, they could easily get out. He turned off the ignition, sighing.
“Home sweet home, apparently.”
Carlton laughed. “I still think it’s so weird that you haven’t been inside your family’s house yet.”
“It’s not my fault they wanted to move after I left,” he insisted. He opened the car door, stepping out and stretching his legs with a sigh of relief. Going from a small town kid to a big city adult didn’t suit long drives. He missed biking and walking everywhere already.
He popped the trunk, handing Carlton his bags before grabbing his own. “What a gentleman,” his friend said and Will rolled his eyes.
“Don’t get used to it.”
Before they could begin walking to the front door, it opened to reveal his mom. Will was almost taken aback—she looked so…well. Montauk had done her justice, lord knows she deserved it after all these years.
“Mom,” he breathed out and rushed to give her a hug. Joyce squeezed him tight, taking the air out of his lungs. “Oh—can’t…”
Joyce released him. “Sorry. I’ve just missed you so much. It’s been so long. How’s college treating you?”
“Good, good…” he turned to see Carlton awkwardly standing in the driveway. “Mom, there’s someone I want you to meet.”
Joyce followed Will’s gaze to see the other boy standing there. “Oh! Is this your friend?”
Will nodded. “Yeah, this is Carlton. He’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.”
“It’s so nice to meet you, finally.” Joyce walked up to him to introduce herself. “I’m Joyce.”
“Will’s mom—he’s told me a lot about you.”
“Only good things, I hope.”
“Of course.” Joyce began walking to the door, motioning them to follow.
The inside was even better than the outside. Hopper and his mom had clearly made it their own. Even though Will had never stepped a foot inside of it before, he could tell that this was his home.
There were pictures of them everywhere. Will and Jonathan’s high school graduation photos, family photos, photos of Jane…
From where Will was standing, he could see a bigger, newer TV in the living room. Clearly, Hopper’s fancy new salary could afford such luxuries.
Speaking of… “Where’s Hopper?”
“Oh,” Joyce waved him off. “He works later now; something about trying to impress his new coworkers.”
“What happened to, “Mornings are for coffee and contemplation?”” She laughed, shaking her head.
“I don’t know, but he should be home soon.” Will took his jacket off, hanging it on the coat rack by the door. Even though it was supposedly a “warmer than normal” winter for New York, it was still freezing outside, and Will never grew out of despising the cold. “So, Carlton, where are you from? How’d you meet Will?” she asked.
Carlton’s eyes widened, not really expecting to be addressed so soon. “Oh! Uh, I’m from Nebraska, but I don’t go home too much anymore,” he replied. “I met Will in our English class. Our professor was literal torture and I think we complained about him so much to each other that we ended up becoming friends.”
Will groaned, but mostly out of relief. “I’m so glad we never have to take his class again.”
Carlton laughed. “So, yeah… But we have a lot in common, we’re both creative majors so we bond over that as well.”
“Well, that’s nice.” Joyce smiled, grabbing plates out of the cabinet to set the table. Will quickly made his way over to help, setting his bags down on the floor. “The silverware is in that drawer,” she told him. “What’s your major?”
“Photography.”
“Oh!” she perked up at the reminder. “Have you met Jonathan? He was really into that when he was younger—although, now he’s more into filming and video stuff…”
“Yeah, yeah, he’s met Jonathan,” Will told her. “Only once, though. I wish he could’ve come home instead of going to meet with Nancy, Robin, and Steve, but I wouldn’t miss that either if I were him.”
“Speaking of meeting up, there’s something I need to tell you—” Before she could tell him any more, the front door opened once more to reveal Hopper, in all of his tired police chief glory. Will placed the silverware on the counter before meeting Hopper for a hug.
“Hey, kid,” the man said, ruffling his hair. “It’s been quiet without you here.”
“Here,” Will could hear Carlton say behind him, followed by the clinking of metal against each other. “I can help.”
“Thank you, sweetheart,” Joyce thanked his friend.
“I’ve missed you, too,” Will replied, grinning. “You’re just in time for dinner.”
“It smells great, honey,” Hopper told Joyce, who grinned and came over to give him a chaste kiss. “So, is this the Carlton kid you’ve been talking about?”
“Yeah.” Will turned to his friend, who was helping his mom set the table. “You’ll like him, I promise.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” The two of them went to help Joyce with the food and drinks, Hopper guiding him to help him find everything since Will didn’t have a clue where anything was. Soon enough, the four of them were settled at the table and Joyce was plating lasagna for each of them.
“It’s a shame you couldn’t come home for Thanksgiving,” Hopper said to Will, who sighed.
“Yeah,” he agreed, shaking his head. “I wasn’t expecting college to kick my ass like that, but exams were just too close and I needed to study.”
Will was always a good student, but college was different. Not only was it just a different level from high school entirely, but it was like all of his trauma from the Upside Down and the final battle finally hit him full force when the semester began.
There were days he could do nothing but lay in bed and wonder what life would’ve been without the Upside Down. What he would be if he hadn’t gone missing.
What if he’d decided to stay the night at Mike’s? What if he’d stayed a little longer to help Mike clean up the campaign? What if he’d been faster? What if Jonathan or Joyce had been home, or if he’d been stronger, smarter…
Some days, he was just angry at the world for choosing him.
He’d talked to Holly Wheeler once after she was saved from The Abyss. How Vecna had tried to persuade her to come quietly, and how Max had saved her from falling for it. As much as he could relate to her, he couldn’t understand why he’d been dealt the short end of the stick.
At least her experience was nicer than his—she’d been unconscious and in Henry’s mind while he’d been praying for a miracle alone in Castle Byers when the Demogorgon finally got him. Then, he was given the luxury of coughing up what would eventually become the Demodogs, which would eventually kill Bob.
Then, the Mind Flayer, then Vecna, then…
Other days, he would just cry.
Cry for everything he’d lost because of it. He’d lost his childhood, his sense of safety, his innocence. He’d lost his autonomy.
He’d lost Mike.
However, on rare occasions, he would be happy.
He’d be happy for what he’d gained from it. He got to know Jane, he got to befriend Max, he got the confidence to be himself in the end.
Except, those days were far and few between.
“But, hey,” he continued. “I survived.”
“Oh, Will!” Joyce exclaimed suddenly, grabbing his attention. “I didn’t get to tell you what I wanted to say earlier.”
Will remembered that Hopper had decided to make his entrance then, and nodded. “Yeah, what was it?”
“I figured that since Jonathan and the older kids make it a point to meet up every so often, that you should get together with your friends.”
Will sighed. “I mean, yeah, that’d be nice, but they don’t live down the street anymore,” he told her. “It’d be nice, but we…we haven’t really talked much. At least…I haven’t.”
“I know.” She nodded at his points. “But, that’s why I told them to come up for the break.”
Will’s heart stopped.
“What?”
The Party was coming here?
“Well, yes,” Joyce continued as if Will wasn’t having a crisis. “Their breaks all started earlier than yours and they’ve been home for a week or so. I told them that they could come to Montauk for a week and catch up.” She took a sip of her water. “Isn’t that amazing?”
“Oh—yeah!” Will agreed, his voice a pitch higher than normal. He was not ready to see them again.
Well—not “not ready”, but…
Will was nervous to see them because he knew that, when he heard about how everyone was doing, it would finally sink in for him that they were different now. They weren’t attached at the hip anymore, meeting in Mike’s basement every other night.
They weren’t kids anymore.
“That’s great! Amazing!”
Maybe he could convince himself that this would be perfectly normal…perfectly fine. However, when he met Carlton’s gaze, he knew that his friend had seen his reaction for what it was.
He wasn’t getting away from this.
“When…when are they coming?” he asked anxiously.
“All of them said by tomorrow,” she answered him and his heart stopped. He didn’t even have an entire day to prepare for this. He slowly took a sip of his water.
“Wow, that’s soon,” he joked, trying to ease his own panic.
When dinner was finished and the dishes had been washed, Joyce showed Will his bedroom.
“So, I know it’s very…uh, bland…”
Well, that was an understatement.
It looked like his dorm room before he’d moved in. A bed, a desk, and a closet. There were a couple of boxes in the corner which Will assumed were full of his stuff from their old house. “But,” his mom continued. “I figured you’d want to decorate it yourself when you came.”
Will nodded in acceptance. “Yeah, you’re right.” He put his bags down by the bed. “I’ll do that tomorrow. Is Carlton okay in the basement?”
Will had also learned that his parents had a basement. They said it was a little empty down there, but there was a couch. Carlton had graciously offered to give Will some privacy and stay down there, which he thanked him for profusely.
“Yeah, Hopper’s finding some blankets and extra pillows for him to use,” Joyce answered. “The bathroom is right next door. I know you’re probably tired from the drive, so I’ll let you rest.”
“Thanks. Good night, mom,” he told her.
“See you in the morning, honey.”
She was right, he was incredibly exhausted. After he’d showered and gotten ready for bed, his eyes were closing on him before his head hit the pillow.