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They don’t argue with Will.
That’s the scariest part.
He stands a little apart from them, hands shaking, lips pressed into a thin line—like he was unsure but sure, eyes unfocused like he’s listening to something only he can hear. The plan comes out of him haltingly at first, then faster—desperate, like if he doesn’t say it all now he won’t get the chance.
“I can get in” Will says. “Into Vecna. Into the Mind Flayer. If I stay behind—if I focus—I can hold the door open…I can help.”
Mike opens his mouth. Joyce does too. Jonathan steps forward—they all look like they’re about to protest—to tell will “absolutely not!” But will speaks up first.
“And you have to kill it.” Will finishes, His voice breaks. “All of it!”
Silence
Then Jonathan nods, his jaw is set. Nancy’s hand slips into his, steadying. Joyce wipes her face with the heel of her palm and grabs her axe tighter.
and so they go. They all leave Will on the ridge.
——
The Mind Flayer doesn’t descend so much as it unfolds—the mind flayer towers—showing the shadow and bone and rot, tearing itself free from the ground with a scream that rattles Mike’s teeth. The sky seemed to darkens instantly for the group, clouds twisting into a sick spiral above them, lightning crawling through it like veins.
“Holy shit” Steve murmured in shock.
They scatter just as something massive slams into the ground where they’d been standing. Dirt and rock explode outward. Mike stumbles, he catches himself on his hands, his heart hammering so hard it hurts.
“Stay together!” Joyce yells, swinging her axe as a tendril lashes toward her. It recoils with a shriek, black ichor spraying across the dirt.
Lucas, robin, Mike, Jonathan and Joyce run up on a mountain to get a better aim of the mind flayer. Nancy fires just below them. Lucas fires. Robin throws a Molotov that bursts against the creature’s side, flames licking uselessly up its shadowed form.
“It’s not enough!” Dustin yells. “It’s barely slowing down!”
The Mind Flayer roars again, a sound that feels like pressure inside everyone’s skull. The air goes thick and heavy, like breathing through water.
And somewhere beside them—Will screams.
Will is on the ridge, exactly where he said he’d be. He’s Kneeling, his hands pressed to his head. His shoulders jerk violently, like he’s being electrocuted. Though everyone is too far away to hear the boys’ screams, the roar of the mind flayer and the sound of the fight drown out wills pain.
Dustin and Steve decide to go under the mind flayer. A massive limb slams down, catching Steve and Dustin both and sending them skidding across the ground. Steve doesn’t get up right away.
“STEVE!” Robin screams.
Mike fires blindly, hands shaking. The flare cartridges disappear into creature, swallowed whole. The creature roars out in pain. Another roar, another scream from Will—louder this time.
The fight stretches on, minutes bleeding into something shapeless and endless.
Joyce fights like she has nothing left to lose—swinging, yelling, bleeding, refusing to back down. Nancy’s jaw is clenched so tight she thinks her teeth might crack. Lucas is shouting coordinates, trying to keep them alive. And Will—Will collapses.
Another blow lands. The Mind Flayer shrieks as Nancy’s shot tears through something solid this time. Black fluid sprays across the ground.
Will screams in perfect sync.
then the air changes. The pressure lifts, just slightly, like a storm pausing to inhale.
And then
Lightning cracks the sky in half. Two figures appear on the far ridge, silhouetted against the storm. Mike’s heart stutters.
“El?” he whispers.
Even from this distance, he knows her immediately. The way she stands—feet planted, her shoulders squared. Beside her is Kali.
“El!” Mike shouts.
Hope surges through the group, almost desperate. The Mind Flayer reacts instantly. Then the creature It turns.
The ground trembles as its attention shifts, its massive head angling toward them like a predator sensing something dangerous. Mike watches, breathless, as El raises her hand.
El and Kali start running towards the creature, soon they jump with power. It felt like everything was in slow-motion. Both girls pull their hands out ripping the mind layers chest apart to an opening. They both get inside. toward the Mind Flayer’s core—Toward Vecna. They disappear into the Mind Flayer’s body, swallowed whole by the disgusting, horrific creature. The creature screams.
Will does too. More in agony this time
Wills knees buck as he sinks to the ground, palms pressed to his temples. Every connection of the groups weapons that hit the mind flayer sends an unwavering amount of Pain through will.
Not all at once—no, it comes in waves. Every blow landed against the Mind Flayer tears through Will’s chest like it’s his own body being split open. Every scream Vecna lets out inside the hive mind echoes in Will’s skull until his ears ring. He gasps, choking out as he lets out disturbing screams.
Will convulses, fingers clawing into the dirt as something massive roars. Will tastes blood, he feels bones crack—his bones, even though none of them are broken. Not physically.
“Stop” he sobs into the ground. “Please—please—”
none of the group hears him…They forgot. But Jonathan is the first to see it. He turns just in time to catch sight of Will on the ridge, the poor boys body arched in a way no living person should bend, the screams tearing out of him raw and ruined.
“Oh my god…” Jonathan breathes. And then it clicks.
Everything they do to the Mind Flayer—
Everything they do to Vecna—
Will feels it.
“STOP!” Jonathan screams, his voice shredding. “STOP—WILL—WILL FEELS IT—”
Robin freezes, Nancy’s face drains of color. Lucas stumbles back. But Dustin and Steve are underneath fighting for their lives, and Eleven and Kali are somewhere else entirely, inside the creature. Mike whips to the side and sees Will.
“No” Mike whispers.
Then he’s running.
He drops his weapon, everything—boots slipping on rock as he sprints toward the ridge, he feels his heart in his throat, his lungs burning. He’s yelling Will’s name but it barely sounds like language anymore. He can’t feel his legs. His legs are going a hundred miles per hour but his mind is going a hundred miles more. He doesn’t know how long he’s running for but it feels forever. Like will is only farther and farther.
“WILL! NO—NO NO NO—”
He hits the ground beside him hard, skidding to his knees in the process. Will is shaking violently on the ground. Mike can see the tears streaming down his face, how the boys’ eyes squeezed shut like he’s trying to disappear inside himself.
“It hurts” Will cries. “Mike..it hurts—everything hurts”
“I’m here” Mike says immediately, his hands violently shaking as he cups Will’s face. Mike leans down to press their foreheads together. “I’m here! You’re not alone—I-i got you.”
“I can feel it” Will sobs. “Every time they touch it…i-i can feel it.”
Mike feels his heart drop and his face pale and cold. Mikes eyes water up. The sound and looks of will state send a wave of nausea over him.
“I don’t want to die, Mike. I’m scared. I don’t wanna die.”
“You’re not going to” Mike lies, his voice breaking completely. “You’re not. Just look at me—Look at me.”
Will forces his eyes fully open, and when he sees Mike crying—really crying—something in him cracks.
“Mike” Will sobs. “When—when I said i like someone who—wasn’t…like me...”
Will lets out a broken sob. “It was you..It’s always been you.”
Mike nods, tears falling freely, they flow more and more. “I know.”
“I was just—so scared. You were happy with El and I didn’t want to ruin anything—I didn’t want to lose you.”
Mike presses his hand over Will’s, holding it against his own chest like it always belonged there. “You could never lose me.”
Mike doesn’t say it right away. He just can’t.
The words sit in his chest like something too sharp to swallow, or something too big to breathe around. Will is shaking in his arms, breaths coming out in jagged sobs, and Mike is holding him like if he lets go—even for a second—Will will disappear entirely.
then the memories start to come uninvited. Not like memories but truths.
The basement comes first.
Not the mention of monsters, or the fear of something eerie—just the yellow glow of the lightbulbs, the hum of the furnace, Will’s laugh when Mike rolled a natural twenty and knocked over his own mini in excitement. The way Will always sat close, Mike always let him. it never once felt strange.
The walkie-talkies.
Mike remembers sleeping with it pressed against his ear, whispering Will’s name into the static like a prayer. How his chest used to ache when Will didn’t answer or how it had felt wrong—physically wrong—to accept that Will was gone. He remembers thinking, This is what love feels like, and then pushing the thought away because he was twelve and terrified and didn’t have the words for it yet.
Holding hands in Will’s room.
it wasn’t dramatic or unannounced. They were little. 8 and 9. Just fingers brushing, then tangling. To them it was as natural as breathing. Mike remembers the warmth of Will’s palm, and the way he squeezed once when he got overwhelmed. Mike had squeezed back without thinking. He always squeezed back.
Will’s smile.
The soft and sweet one. The one Will only ever wore when he got lost in the moment. Mike remembers how it used to undo him completely, how he’d feel lighter just seeing it, like the world had shifted back into the right place.
The swing set.
The creak of chains and sticky summer air. Then the question that Mike never seemed to be able to get out of his head.
“Do you wanna be my friend?”
Then the answer.
“Yes.”
Mike remembers thinking he’d protect that moment forever. That he’d protect Will forever.
Mike’s breath stutters.
He thinks of El.
Of loving her, truly—of wanting to keep her safe, how she changed his life forever, just the way she taught him what bravery looked like. He loves her and he knows that.
But this
This is different
This is childhood deep, this was always deep.
This—the ache he felt whenever Will pulled away for any reason or the anger that made his ears go red when someone hurt him or even the panic that grew in his chest whenever Will went quiet for too long.
This is why it hurt so much to not understand Will. Why it hurt worse to think he’d already lost him. Mike presses his forehead to Will’s, tears spilling over freely now.
“I was so stupid” he whispers, his voice breaking.
Will sobs softly, his hands reach up to cling to Mike’s jacket like it’s the only thing anchoring him to the world.
“it was you” Mike continues, the realization was crushing yet freeing all at once. “It was always you…every time I was scared—every time I felt like I didn’t know who I was—i-i looked for you.”
His hands continued to tremble as he cups Will’s soft face, his thumbs brushing tear-soaked skin.
“I’ve always loved you” Mike says, the words finally finding the light, finally revealed to the one boy he kept it from. “I just—I didn’t know how to see it. But I do now…will…I love you.”
Will lets out a broken sound—half sob, half laugh—like something inside him has finally been lit up. And for the first time since this nightmare began, he wasn’t afraid.
but mike is and he knows the reason behind it. It wasn’t the monsters or the other worlds or even the large creature that roared behind them. No…now he can see. He’s afraid of losing will.
“Say it again” will begs.
“I love you.” Mike sobs out.
They kiss.
It’s messy and desperate and soaked in tears, mouths trembling. They can feel their teeth knocking as they cling to each other. It’s like they’re afraid the world will rip them apart if they let go. Will sobs into the kiss, his fingers fisting in Mike’s jacket like it’s the only thing keeping him from feeling any pain.
Mike feels it everywhere—Will’s tears and the hitch in his breath. Mike can feel the way his body shakes with pain and fear. But surprisingly there was something unbearably tender in this movements.
“I’ve got you” Mike whispers against his mouth. “I’ve got you..I’m not letting go.”
Will kisses him like he believes him. this moment is something he’s been waiting for his entire life.
Wills hand lifts—slow and weak, his trembling palm and fingers brush Mike’s cheek, it was feather-light, like he needs to be sure Mike is real, like he’s really there kissing him. His thumb drags clumsily across Mike’s skin, smearing tears between them.
Mike leans into the touch immediately, his eyes were burning at every blink. But worse of all his heart felt like it was breaking open.
“Stay” Will whispers into the kiss. “Please—just stay with me.”
“I’m here” Mike says fiercely, pulling him closer despite the way Will winces in pain. “I’m right here.”
They kiss again, slower and deeper. like they’re trying to pour everything they feel into each other—every memory, every unspoken word, every stolen glance and unfinished sentence into one kiss. Will smiles faintly through the kiss and his tears. Mike kisses him like he’s afraid he’ll disappear if he doesn’t.
The world around them is filled with roars and crashes. It reminds them of the danger they’re in. Then there’s a sound of something massive dying—but right now it’s just this…Just them. Just two boys holding onto each other at the end of everything. Just two boys loving each other.
Somewhere far away, Vecna screams. Inside the Mind Flayer, Eleven and Kali drive him back. The world then suddenly goes silent.
Will’s hand goes slack. His hand falls down mikes face, a thump is heard. Mikes lips stop when he feels wills lips stop. His heart drops, his eyes open to wills closed ones. Mike pulls back.
“Will?” His voice is small now. He can feel his chest go cold and his eyes wide. “Will—hey—no—no look at me—”
Will doesn’t move or open his eyes. Mike shakes him once. Then again. Then again. And again and again and again. Then he’s screaming, his hands clutching Will to his chest like he can force his heart to start again through sheer willpower alone.
“No—no—please—please—will! WILL!”
Jonathan reaches them seconds later.
“Please will—don’t leave me please—Will! Please don’t—no—please will—just open your eyes for me—PLEASE!”
then the rest of the group arrives and stop dead in their tracks.
“Please! Just open them—please will! I need you! I need you—please! Don’t leave me—please!”
Joyce’s scream echoes.
good news is they won. But it cost them everything.