Chapter Text
Mike closed the door to his basement, still struggling to push down the sobs that threatened to consume him moments ago. Jesus. How was he gonna get through his Mom’s cold lasagna without–
“Mike.”
Mike startled, looking up.
It was Will – but he looked different. He had changed his clothes; gone was his grey and white t-shirt and the pendants around his neck. This Will was dressed a lot more like he used to, wearing a colourful vest over his bold jacket and brown corduroy pants. He also looked a little panicked, so Mike quickly shook his head and spoke up.
“Will? What is it? Why’d you change your clothes?”
“Mike, we need to go, right now. Come with me,” Will said, pulling Mike’s sleeve and not answering Mike’s question. “I don’t know if he noticed, or how much time we have…”
“Wh– Will, are you okay? Is something wrong?”
Will pulled Mike into his own bedroom, shut and locked the door, then started looking through drawers and shelves somewhat frantically. “We’re trapped in an illusion, Mike. Vecna got us. He might’ve got all of us, I don’t know, but all this, it’s fake. How long has it been since the MAC-Z?”
Mike’s eyes widened. “What? The MAC-Z?” He repeated. “It’s been a year and a half.”
Will’s face crumpled a little in response. “It’s only been six days.”
“...Six days?”
Will kept looking around. His eyes settled curiously on the large D&D-inspired painting tacked to Mike’s wall, before quickly moving on. “I know, it’s hard to believe, and it’s scary, but it’s true.”
“I believe you, Will, I really do, I’m just… struggling to understand how. Everything feels so real. I-I mean, sure, it’s all gone by a little fast, but it all feels so real.”
“I felt him, Mike. I still feel him. Goosebumps on my neck. He isn't dead.”
“...And when you have a feeling, it means something. Shit.” Mike gripped his hair, pulling it by the roots. “Shit. I thought it was over. I thought we were free.”
Will paused.
Mike’s closet.
The mirror inside.
“Mike,” Will said, snapping Mike out of one of his little trances that seemed more and more frequent these days. Hours? “Look at your mirror.”
It was all… greyed-out and weird. He could barely see his own reflection in it. How had he not noticed before?
“We found it,” Will said, letting out a sigh of relief. Wasting no time, he strode confidently over, brought a hand up and punched the mirror, shattering it. But the pieces didn’t fall to the floor; they fell through the door of the closet and into somewhere very familiar.
Along with the mirror in his closet, Mike’s entire reality had just shattered.
“Come on!” Will began to climb through the mirror, the dim blue and yellow lights fading over his features.
Mike stood still.
“Wh– Mike, we need to go.”
“...What about the others?”
Will’s face softened, and he sighed. “I’m worried about them too. But I can feel myself slipping away already, and I can feel Henry getting closer, and I don't know if he knows that we know, so if we’re going to save literally anyone, we need to save ourselves first. Okay?”
Mike took a deep breath in, succumbing to reality. “Okay.”
He reached out, grabbed Will’s hand with his own shaking one, and they quickly climbed through Mike’s closet together.