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Mike and Will sit together on a swing set. It’s the same one they met at so long ago. Their legs no longer swing or sway; they are planted and resting upon the ground.
The seats on the swings are too small and a bit painful but neither boy seems to care.
Neither boy is talking. Instead, they sit in silence. The air is thick with energy, a hopeful buzzing excitement for what’s to come. It’s finally the day, after all. The gates are going to be closed, Henry is going to die, and Hawkins will never be connected to the Upside Down. If all goes right, it should be the best day of their lives.
After all the suffering and pain, they might finally feel freedom. Real freedom, with no worry for another big disaster that tilts their lives towards another world.
The boys are technically supposed to be at their lookout spot by now, but it was a mutual agreement that they needed a little break from everything. So, they silently decided to come to the place they first met. One of the best memories in each of their lives.
El, if the plan is going well in the Upside Down, is currently fighting Henry near the largest gate in town- the library. Her job is to kill him and get out of the Upside Down as quickly as possible to use her powers to close the gates. She and Hopper promised to give a fifteen minute warning to when the gates would close, and the swing set is only five minutes from their lookout spot.
”I can’t believe this is finally happening.” Will is startled by Mike’s voice, so confident yet soft at the same time. “After everything… this nightmare is gonna end.”
Will nods. “It’s pretty cool, isn’t it?”
”Pretty cool? Pretty cool?! Will, this is the best thing to happen to us in years!” Mike looks incredulously at Will. “It’s fucking amazing!”
Will blushes and looks to the distance. “I guess I’m just… waiting for something to go wrong or something, you know? I don’t want to get my hopes up again.”
”Hey, Will, it’s okay. I’m sure everything will be fine,” he pauses thoughtfully. “And, even if something goes wrong, we can always try again. As long as we have each other.”
”Yeah, of course.”
The walk-in talkie on Mike’s side releases a burst of sound, crackling to life and startling both boys. <This is Gate Team, reporting victory! We DON’T have much time, can all alphabetical teams please make their ways too their positions?> Joyce’s voice is slightly muffled, like she is accidentally covering the speaker with her hand.
<Roger that.> This time, it’s Steve’s voice, clear and confident.
Mike looks up at Will with raised eyebrows. “We better get going, then. C’mon, Will.”
They each take a deep breath and stand in unison. Mike looks almost wistful as his gaze lingers on the swing set. It’s a symbol their shared childhood, and Will understands exactly what he's thinking. Leaving this place, sitting here one more time before the final battle- it feels final. A gesture to mark the end of their adventure. Because that’s exactly what it is. No matter how dangerous and horrible it gets, neither boy can deny the excitement and wonder that is just as present as fear in their lives. They deserve the good feelings, anyway. They are interdimenional monster fighters.
The two find themselves in sinc again, like they do every time they walk together. Dustin and Lucas often remark that it feels like they are telepathically communicating, doing everything together perfectly even without speaking. Sending each other glances that are easily translated into conversations between the two.
Soon enough, they find what they are looking for. A rift in the ground, glowing red with black slimy tendrils creeping out of it. A gate. Normally, a gate in public would be extremely dangerous and urgent, but the people in Hawkins somehow believed the government lies they were being fed. Even the most dare-devil people didn’t go against the military orders to stay away from the rifts. Nobody except the extended party, of course.
”Look at that. Just as creepy as ever.” Mike looks at the gate with a mix of disgust and fear. Will suspects his own face is a mirror of these emotions. “I’m so glad we’ll be getting rid of these things forever,”
”You can say that again.”
”I’m so glad we’ll be getting rid of these things forever.”
”Wow, Michael. You think you’re so funny, don’t you?”
”You know I am, William.” If Will didn’t know better, he’d think Mike was flirting. Sadly, he knew that was impossible. Sure, Mike had broken up with El months ago, but the fact that they had ever been dating in the first place is enough proof. Mike isn’t like him.
Before Will can think of a snarky reply to shut up his best friend, a cold feeling runs down the back of his neck. It’s a familiar sensation- and it’s not good. Henry might be dead or dying, but the hive mind is still alive. It can’t open portals without him, but it could easily inflict damage and pain for as long as the gates are open. Which shouldn’t be long.
“Mike.” His best friend swings around to face him, fear washing over his features. They can always tell, by each other’s tone of voice, when something is wrong.
“Is it the hive mind?”
”Yeah. It’s awake.”
”Shit. Okay, we need to do something.” The taller boy fumbles with the walk-in-talkie again. “I’ll try to get help.”
”No!” Will’s eyes widen. “Sorry, it’s just- I DON’T think they can help. The hive is different from last time. Henry isn’t trying to torture us, he’s trying to figure something out. He wants to use my memories as leverage. I guess. To scare me or something.
”That’s okay. Do you know what’s wrong with the hive mind. anyway?”
”No idea. It’s probably just Henry dying, to be honest. Probably messes up the hive mind hierarchy, you know?” Will cracks a smile.
Of course, the universe decides, this is the best possible place and time to change the lives of Mike Wheeler and Will Byers- again.
Mike Wheeler watches- in shock, fear, and horror -as a vine from the Upside Down flies forward much faster than he thought was possible, and grabs his best friend by the ankle. It happens in less than a second, but time feels slowed down. Will is looking at him- then he’s not. The vine is reeling him in, to the most obvious destination. Through the gate and into the Upside Down.
His reaction might just be even quicker than the vine.
He doesn’t know whether it’s instinct, fear, or just love for his best friend and favorite person in the world, but Mike is diving to the ground and grabbing Will’s hand before either boy can even blink. The vine slows, but only a little. It now drags both the boys towards the gate.
He realizes that it might not be the best idea about three seconds later.
Five seconds later, the vine freezes. It doesn’t even let go Will, it just stood dragging and loosens its grip on his ankle. Will scrambles away from it, accidentally scooting backwards into Mike, who gladly grabs his arm to yank the shorter boy away from the possible threat.
The silence lasts two beats.
”Mike.”
”Yeah?”
”What just happened?”
”I think the vines dragged us into the Upside Down.”
”Why did it let go of me?” The smaller boys voice is shaking.
”Maybe Vecna… wanted you here?” Mike doesn’t have an explanation that makes sense, so he blurts out his first thought. He expects Will to tell him how horrible it is, but instead Will tilts his head, actually considering the idea.
”Wait. Oh shit, we need to get out. Um, where’s the gate?” Will changes the topic quickly, for reasons Mike can’t understand. He knows it must be hard, though, to always be the victim like this.
Both boys stand up from their place on the ground, steadying each other. The gate in question is about 400 feet away. An easy distance to cross.
Maybe they could cross it, too.
If the gate wasn’t rapidly closing itself and stitching back together.
Without thinking, Mike grabs Will’s hand and drags him towards the gate. Maybe if they go fast enough, they could make it. He knows it’s not looking to good, but what else can he do?
By the time they reach it, the gate is closed completely, the only remnant of it is a tangle of vines and an odd fissure through the ground.
”Oh no, nonono-“ Will’s face looks terrified, panicked. He’s reliving his trauma, Mike realizes. Being trapped in the Upside Down again, just like all those years ago, when he was just twelve years old. There is one major difference though, from now and then.
”Hey, Will, it’s okay. We can- we can find a way out, maybe with the lights, um-“
”No, Mike, you don’t understand, this is really bad. It’s insane. After all this, after everything, right when we thought it was over, we were gonna have normal lives, and now- it’s happened again.” Will is rambling. “This is insane.”
“No, Will, please don’t say that. Not insane, I can’t deal with insane.”
”Can’t deal with insane? Mike, we’re trapped in another dimension.”
”But, but insane- insane isn’t good. It’s- it’s crazy, not insane.”
”Crazy?”
”Yeah. Yeah, we can deal with crazy, right? We’ve done it before.”
”…Crazy together.”
Mike relaxes a bit, feeling relieved. This is horrible and terrifying, but they’ve dealt with crazy before. Crazy is manageable. “Yeah, crazy together.”
Both boys go quiet. Crazy together is a good reassurance, but it doesn’t make the situation and less dire. Neither of them knows what the next move will be. Do they try to contact the party? Find a gate? Hide?
The answer to the question comes with a loud screech in the distance. It sounds like monsters, and they must be rapidly approaching because the noise is getting louder every second. Mike looks to Will, unsure what to do. Will is holding his neck, like he does whenever the hive mind is active around him.
”There are five demos, heading our way. We need to hide. Come on.” Will’s voice is surprisingly steady, and he leads the way with confidence. He’s been here before. He knows what to do.
Mike feels pretty useless.
Will leads them to an old building, where the ceiling is half caved in. Mike follows close behind, fear surging as he and Will rush to a room in the back, where there are less vines and more walls. They immediately go to the corner, sitting against the walls ninety degrees to each other.
Mike reaches out his hand to grab Will’s. He squeezes it. Will looks at him with worrying eyes, and squeezes back. I’m here.
They sit for about five minutes, Mike guesses, but it could have been seconds or hours for all he knows. That some point, the two look at each other and decide at the same time, that they need to stand up and get moving. They might not know what to do, but it sure as hell won’t be done in a random empty building.
A plan is forming in both of their minds, and they both open their mouths at the same time, ready to share. With both of their ideas, it really shouldn’t be too hard to come up with a way to escape or contact friends.
The universe, however, does not like to spare any luck for the paladin and cleric. Apparently having a plan is just too optimistic for them, because the worlds throw another obstacle at them, one a little less escapable.
Will feels it in his neck before anything else. The hive mind is acting up again, but it’s not just demogorgons. It’s the entire thing. The ground starts shaking and the vines start slithering, and in the distance demogorgons and demobats screech. The world is rumbling, and it’s even worse than the earthquake that happened when the gates first opened.
He and Mike tumble to the ground, unable to stay standing on the vibrating earth. They fall in different directions, and it’s a relief when he hits the ground safe. In fact, the ground below almost feels soft, like-
He’s sitting on vines. One of them wraps around his leg, another around his arm. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Mike on the ground across the room. He looks dazed, but okay. That’s good. As long as Mike’s okay, Will should be fine.
As fine as he can be while struggling against the vines that are wrapping around his limbs.
There are more screeches from monsters in the distance. They know where he is, he realizes. It’s all a bit overwhelming, the earthquake paired with the vines and monsters. Everything is happening all at once.
The more he struggles, the easier it will be for the monsters to find him and Mike. If he stays still, there’s a higher chance of the vines strangling him, whether it’s an accident or not. He could go still and hope they stop slithering, or he could try to get out and get Mike to safety.
“Will!” Mike looks panicked, and is definitely hurt. Pieces of the ceiling are falling around them, and the earthquake is threatening to bring the entire building down. The rumbles in the earth grow louder, and the shaking intensifies. Part of the wall falls behind him. It lands on the vines, and they immediately stop slithering around Will. The slither over to repair the damage the bricks did.
Of course, everything good comes with a sacrifice. A demogorgon leaps through a window, hitting the wall as it jumps into the room. He can hear other monsters inside and around the building.
Mike and Will lock eyes, and it’s the last thing each of them see as the ceiling caves in between them, trapping them apart with countless monsters in the area.
Will wakes up underneath a propped up piece of rubble, only his bloody arm sticking out from underneath it. There are shards of glass in it, and the blood makes him look worse, but he’s okay for the most part. All he needs to do is scoot out from the rubble and find Mike… but all he finds is blood. There can be only one explanation for this.
Mike wakes up hours before Will, and there is blood from him, Will, and the various monsters everywhere. Will is out of sight, his arm and unconscious body not to be seen by Mike. When he sees the blood and not Will, he panics. A quick search of the rubble brings no clues. There is only one conclusion he can come to.