Chapter Text
Dimeson X isn't what you'd expect at all. Rather than feeling cold, it's a hot and humid and makes your skin crawl. Pretty contradicting given the Mind Flayer. At this point, it is irrelevant; Joyce touches Will's arm and asks, "What happened? What do you see?" He's positioned on the ground, infiltrating the mind that is Henry's. "Its Henry. He's made it into the cave."
His head is throbbing in pain, but he presses on, "He's found them. He's found Holly and the kids." Joyce and Mike share a glance before Mike asks, "Okay, what about El? Do you see El? Or Kali? Or Max?" The pain in his head grows more intense, but it's nothing he hasn't dealt with before. So with that, he continues, "They're alone. They all alone."
The group grows more worried with every passing second, sharing nervous glances with one another. It's quiet, too quiet. Robin decides to speak up, "Could you stop him?" She asks hesitantly, "With your powers?" It's at this point where tears start welling up in his eyes, he wipes them away and with one final push he says, "I can try. Just keep going." "Go, go!" Joyce exclaims as the rest of the group starts running towards the Mind Flayer.
Mike looks visibly worried. He doesn't know if he should stay with Will or not. He decides against it and glances at Will one last time before running after the others. Shutting his eyes, Will puts all his focus into trying to stop Henry. He finds him climbing down the ladder, making his way towards the kids. Will tries to make to do something, hurt him, to do anything, but before he's able to land a hit, he feels a sharp stabbing pain hit him right in his head, he screams out in agony as his body collapses, Joyce barely catching him in the process.
"Do you take me for a fool, William?" Henry says. Will opens his eyes and finds himself back in the Upside Down. How can this be? He should be in DX, with his mom. Instead, he looks up to see Vecna slowly making his way towards him. He tries to move, to run, but his limbs are numb and all he can do is watch. "You really thought you could hurt me with my own powers? You idiot." Vecna gives Will a dirty, disgusting look. He wants to shout, but the words die on his tongue.
"I meant what I said, you were my weakest vessel. Being able to break you apart piece by piece is what made me realize that these kids are what I need to make my plans come to life." Being just a few inches away from Will, he stretches his hand out and caresses Will's face the same way he did back at the MAC-Z.
"You showed me all the possibilities I had, I should thank you," He whispers, "But even now with all these kids, there's still something in my way." Will is crying, shaking his head violently as he repeats "No!" over and over again. "It's your time Will, you were meant for this, meant to be my vessel, and now you're meant to die." He lets go of Will's face and reaches his hand over, just like how he did with all his other victims. "Chrissy, Fred, Patrick, Max, and now you."
Trying to break free is no use, Will is surrounded by vines and with each move he makes, they grow tighter around his body. This isn't what he thinks it is. Instead of feeling fingers dig into his head, he's being shown a vision. He sees himself sitting on a couch back at the squawk with everyone surrounding him. He isn't able to make out the words, but after he sees everyone look at him in disgust, he knows what this is about.
"Even if you do make it out of this place, will you ever tell them? Will you ever tell them how disgusting you are, what a freak you are?" Vecna says, grinning. Will shakes his head, "That's not true! They... they wouldn't do that." "Are you convincing me or yourself?" Will groans as he feels his airways tightening, its getting hard to breathe. "You are nothing but a weak little queer boy William, what cant you understand?"
He's right. He is just a queer kid, and that alone is one of the worst things you could ever be. Will is losing hope in escaping from here, so instead of fighting it, he closes his eyes and prepares himself for the worst. That is, until he hears a faint voice from in the distance. A voice he knows all to well. Mikes.