Chapter Text
Should I stay or should I go now?
It’s good song, but Will never wants to hear it again. Will will probably never even want to come to Castle Byers ever again after this.
After this. Will there be an after? His mom knows he’s here- wherever this is- but does she know how to get here?
It’s too much to think about right now. Will needs to focus on staying alive.
So come on and let me know, should I stay or should I go?
There’s a growl from outside.
It’s back. Will stays quiet as it marches around. It’s looking for him. It knows he’s here.
Will grabs his gun just as the demogorgon finds him. He shoots it and runs. He doesn’t know where he’s going. Just away. He climbs a tree, and it follows.
Will falls. There had to have been more to the chase. Because Will remembers a feeling of weightlessness, and his backpack digging into his underarms, but theres a memory gap between that monster climbing the tree and Will hitting the ground.
“At long last. We can begin.”
Will feels something wet and sticky attach itself to his face, and- and…
It’s awful.
“You and I are going to do such beautiful things together, William. Such beautiful things.”
——
Today’s date is November 3rd, 1987! It’s Tuesday, and Holly very excited about that because her class earned extra recess today.
She’s setting the table for breakfast with the nice plates when she sees Mr Whatsit. He’s been keeping a closer eye on her recently. He’s always been protective, but he’s even more so this past month.
Mr Whatsit says that monsters might be coming for her and her family. He says they want Mike the most, but he won’t tell her why. He also says that if she tells Mike that, she’ll put him in danger. She trusts him, so she doesn’t tell Mike. Mr Whatsit is very wise, and is very good at protecting his friends! Like right now! He’s watching her through the window.
She waves, he waves back.
“Holly!” her mom yells, “I’ve been calling you!”
Holly looks down. She got distracted again. “I’m sorry.”
Her mom waves her hand in a circle. “Can you round up the troops?”
Now that Holly can do. She skips to the bottom of the stairs, takes a deep breath, and-
“BREAKFAST!!!”
She hears a very aggressive “COMING” from whom she assumes is Mike.
The basement is next. Holly busts open the door without knocking, and yells again, but a little less loudly.
Breakfast is Holly’s favorite meal. Especially since all the breakfast food at her house is sweet! And bacon! Holly loves bacon. Almost as much as her dad! He didn’t get any this morning though, someone took the last piece.
Holly is also aloud to read at the table during breakfast. She’s not aloud to at dinner, though, so she buries herself into her book. A Wrinkle in Time. It’s her favorite book. And Mr Whatsit likes it too! He says that he can get Nancy to read it one day, but Holly disagrees.
Holly rides her bike to school with Mike and Will. She’s usually a couple yards behind them since they’re so much older and don’t slow down for her, but it’s still fun. She manages to catch up today.
“Morning Squawk, Mike! We’re gonna miss it!”
Holly likes listening to Rockin’ Robin. She makes everything seem so cool! And she’s pretty funny.
——
“That’s right! Rockin’ Robin has a date! And now, who is this lucky someone? Well, don’t be so nosy, kids. They know who they are. That is, if you’re listening, which I hope you are. Because this next one, it’s for you, babe.”
Robin presses play on the song- Pretty in Pink. And it’s true, Vickie is pretty in pink, but she’s also pretty in anything, and nothing at all. Robin really hopes Vickie’s listening.
Apparently, God has other plans. Everything starts going haywire. Why must this world be so cruel?
“What the hell? What the hell?!” Robin rips off her headphones and springs out of the booth. Steve follows.
“I told you to stop thumbing your nose at the military!” he scolds as Robin starts pressing buttons on the- whatever this big white box is.
“I was reiterating their goddamn rules! Encouraging compliance.” She moves on to presses button on the next white box thing. Was this really the military?
“Right.” Steve watches what she’s doing, but doesn’t make any move to actually help, “No sarcasm there.”
“Yeah? Said the dingus with the rubber chicken.”
“These are very serious people, Robin.”
Robin isn’t listening anymore, so if he said anything else, she didn’t know. Why won’t this damn thing work? What if Vickie thinks Robin’s playing a trick on her? What if she’s angry?
“Shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit!” Stupid freaking radio thingy.
Steve grabs the radio. “Henderson? Henderson, do you copy?”
The two wait a moment. Dustin always has his radio on him, so if he doesn’t answer, the batteries are dead or he’s being petty. It’s usually the latter.
“Yeah, I copy.” Dustin’s staticy voice comes through the radio. You can hear wind blowing past him. He must be on his bike.
“God, you sound swell. Let me take a wild guess. You’re not calling to wish me a good morning” he states dryly. Robin knows he heard the malfunction. They use the radio station to communicate, so everyone in their little party (rebellion?) listens in.
“Well, no. It’s not exactly a good morning. We got kinda a situation here at the Squawk.” Steve lays it on just as thickly as Dustin had. “The signals gone all wonky. I think Robin might’ve finally pissed them off.”
“Doubtful. She was encouraging compliance.”
Robin turns around, “Told you!” then she promptly goes back to pressing buttons. Robin then stops listening because she can hear that Dustin and Steve are fighting, and she’s heard enough of that for a lifetime. She wishes they could go back to how they were before Eddie died.
“You heard that, right?” Steve complains, chucking the walkie over his shoulder. Robin had not heard that, so she shrugs.
———
Dustin can’t deal with Steve right now. He has the brain of a 5 year old.
Dustin doesn’t want to deal with anyone, really. The world moved on too quickly. Eddie deserves better than this.
Eddie, the name that’s been ringing in his head for the past 18 months. A name that belongs to a boy that died too soon. A boy who Dustin never felt the need to compare himself to. A boy who will never get recognized for the goodness he put into the world.
Dustin had told Wayne about the upside down and Eddie’s death. The party had decided he needed to know what happened. Dustin had even offered for him to join the crawls, but Wayne had declined.
They had to fight to get Eddie a grave. Since there was no body, there was no way of knowing that he was actually dead, and Dustin can’t tell the government that Eddie, who was a suspect for murder at the time, had died in his arms in a whole other dimension. They did eventually decide that Eddie must’ve died in the earthquake, and got him a grave. Well, a gravestone, he wasn’t actually in the grave, but Dustin still felt like he was there.
There wasn’t much left of Eddie anymore. Just his clothes- which Wayne had given most of to Dustin by now- and a few of Eddie’s most prized possessions. Wayne had parted with Eddie’s guitar a few months ago, handing it to Dustin, saying the boy would appreciate it more than he could.
Dustin had tried to learn to play, but one of the strings broke when he was tuning it, and Dustin freaked out. It wasn’t that big of a deal, Robin (and Steve) came over and helped him fix it, but the idea of him breaking Eddie’s things sent Dustin spiraling. He’s kept it sitting nice and pretty on it’s stand. No one is aloud to touch it.
Needless to say, Eddie’s death has taken a toll on Dustin. Sometimes, Dustin tries to convince himself he’s still here, just hiding, and one day they’ll find him. But that’s not true. Dustin watched Eddie breathe his last breath. The world keeps turning. People keep smiling.
Oh, and bullies keep bullying.
“What’d I tell about that shirt, freak?”
Oh. Nice! Andy’s here! Dustin ignores him.
“Andy just asked you a question, freak.”
Dustin keeps ignoring them. This really isn’t worth his time.
“You deaf or what?”
Andy leant against the locker. “For his sake, I hope he is. Because I thought I was pretty damn clear when I said I didn’t wanna see you in that shirt.”
They aren’t going away then. Two can play that game.
“You also told me to stop screwing your mom, and that didn’t stop me, did it?”
Andy inhales, Dustin smiles. Andy grabs him and slams him against the lockers.
“Something funny, Henderson?” He’s up in Dustin’s personal space, looking right into his eyes, but Dustin just stares straight through him.
“Let go” he says flatly.
“Hellfire is over, you hear me?”
Dustin makes himself a little taller, and looks into Andy’s eyes. “Let go” he says a little stronger.
“Or what?” Andy taunts, “What are you gonna do?” he readjusts his hands on Dustin’s shirt and starts tearing it.
“Andy. Stop. Stop!” Dustin struggles. “Andy!!” Hellfire was Eddie’s and it’s gone. And now his shirt’s getting destroyed too? Dustin winds up to beat the shit out of Andy.
“Hey!” It’s Lucas. Coming to save Dustin. Not that Dustin needs saving. Andy shoves him against the lockers again, effectively knocking the wind of him.
“Well, well,” he says, “if it isn’t the traitor.”
Lucas gets up close to him, maintaining eye contact. “Remember that time my sister kicked you in the balls so hard, you limped for a week?” he asks flatly, “If you touch Dustin again, I’ll kick ‘em so hard they’ll pop like water balloons.”
“I say kick away.” Oh great! Mike and Will have finally arrived! “Stop this meathead from reproducing and further infecting the world with his unique brand of idiocy.”
Dustin wonders Mike had planned that one out. How awful.
Andy looks around, before turning back to Dustin. “Hope you brought a change of clothes, Henderson. No wants to see that shit.” He pushes him one final time before retreating with his friend. Dustin flips them the bird when they aren’t looking.
“You have gotta stop provoking them, man!” Mike says as they walk down the hallway.
“Oh! So this is my fault? For what? Wearing a T-shirt?” It’s literally a shirt for a club. Dustin thinks those basketball jackets are ugly, but he doesn’t go around tearing those, does he?
“You know it’s more than a T-shirt” Lucas chimes in. Dustin knows that too. It’s not just a T-shirt, it’s a legacy.
“I can’t just be like you guys and turn the other cheek while they spread their bullshit about Hellfire, about Eddie.”
“Eddie never gave a rat’s ass about what those mouth breathers were saying about him and you know it. What he would care about is finding and killing Vecna.” Mike says that like Dustin doesn’t care about Vecna. Vecna is why Eddie is gone. Dustin wants to kill that son of a bitch more than Mike does.
“Do you seriously think I don’t care about that, Mike? Really?” Dustin turns to face the rest of the group.
“I think you’re fighting two battles and you need to be fighting one.”
Dustin puts his back to the wall. They don’t care about Eddie, his brain tells him.
“Mike‘s right, Dustin. What if you get seriously hurt?” Will’s trying to reason know, but Will never even met Eddie. He doesn’t know.
“You’re drawing attention!” Lucas says. Oh, so they’re ganging up on me?
“Remember what Hop said. We need to our heads down.”
“Follow the rules.” Will chimes in, “Blend in.”
“Stay focused on our next crawl.” Mike adds his two cents.
Heads down, blend in, follow the rules? When had they ever done that? Seriously, Dustin has broken into school after hours more times than he can count! Sometimes even with adults and the Chief of Police. That’s definitely not any of those things he’d been told. And Eddie definitely wouldn’t stand for any of those words.
“Do you even hear yourselves right now? Blend in? Follow rules? That’s not we’ve ever done.” Dustin voices.
“Jesus Christ.” Mike mumbles.
“We stay true to ourselves,” Dustin’s half yelling now, “We’re supposed to stay true to our friends. We stand up for what’s right, no matter the cost.”
“You’re not listening to us,” Lucas argues.
“No. You’re not.”
And with that, Dustin walks away. He’s going to keep Eddie’s legacy. No matter what it takes.
Starting with Andy.
There’s a snake in the science lab. His name is Jake. He probably won’t mind getting relocated for a little while.
Hellfire Lives
———
El likes to imagine that she’s being chased while she trains. It makes the stakes seem higher, and therefore makes her faster. Right now she’s imagining a full military team. Guns, helicopters, men, the works.
It’s definitely working. She’s faster this time. She can feel it.
Hop stops the timer. “12 minutes and 33 seconds.”
“It’s a new record!” Joyce adds.
12:33 isn’t fast enough to go on the crawl. She needs to be faster. She gets up to go get some Gatorade.
“So,” Joyce trails behind her with Hop, “how are we feeling?”
“Okay.”
“Okay? C’mon that was 12:33!”
“It’s four seconds too slow. I lost one second on the climb, two seconds on the log. I can make my bus jump sooner.” El grabs a bottle of Gatorade. It’s so yellow it looks toxic. “That’ll save me two more seconds. That gets me under 12:30.”
She takes a sip, at least it doesn’t taste like battery acid.
“El,” Joyce sighs, “you have to take it easy on yourself.”
El slams her glass down on the hood of the car. “You think Henry’s going easy?”
“You know what I think?” Hop interrupts, “I think we still have some of that waffle mix. And I think we should celebrate this record time with a stack of those. And then maybe we could watch a Miami Vice marathon.”
El loves her dad, but there is no time for waffles or Miami Vice.
“I can beat the time. Reset it.”
“You’re tired. You’re gonna injure yourself” he states.
“Reset it!”
———
It’s been half an hour, and they still haven’t fixed the radio. They can’t even find the users manual!
“Should we try Dustin again?” Jonathan asks.
“He turned off his walkie!” Robin walks across the room to check the shelves for the third time.
“What’s up with him lately?” Nancy asks from the floor.
“Don’t even get me started.” Henderson hasn’t been himself since Eddie died, and sure, that had to have been traumatic for him, but now he’s pushing away Steve too.
Steve’s worried, but he’s doing a good job at covering it up as anger.
“Hey!” Nancy exclaims, standing up, “I got it!” She smiles and holds up the manual.
They huddle around the table and start flipping through the book. And as it turns out, they need to climb the radio tower! Hooray!
“So I guess somebody’s gotta climb to the tippity top of this bad boy and-“ Robin makes an awful squeak sound- “without a harness or anything. Kinda dangerous.”
Steve really doesn’t want anyone to get hurt. And it’s not like he hasn’t done all kinds of other dangerous things before.
“AKA a good old job for Steve Harrington.”
And so, Steve turns off the voltage , and climbs the tower. When he gets to the top, he reconnects some wires and hits the box. Then, he promptly climbs back down because being that high up is terrifying, and knowing Steve’s luck- especially with all his head injuries- he’d probably fall if he stayed up there any longer.
Nancy, Jonathan, and Robin had all moved from the bottom of the tower to a large truck. Murray’s here, Steve guesses. He runs to them. He’s showing off his weapons hall.
“Gatorade for El’s battery!” he presents.
“Gatorade? Gimme some” Steve says, and Murray tosses him the bottle.
“That’s not gonna go too well with peanut butter!” Murray tosses a box of Boppers at Steve.
“Boppers!! God, I missed these things!” Steve will forever be grateful that Murray just did that.
Murray then hands Jonathan a tape, and he gives Nancy the details for the next burn. There’s plenty of time for a crawl tonight.
The four of them say their goodbyes to Murray, and rush back inside. With the radio working again, they can relay the information.
“Hey there, friends! This is Rockin’ Robin,” Robin starts. She’s very good at this, and she could do it for the rest of her life if she wanted. Steve’s gotten pretty good at playing the background noises, but that might just be because he’s working with his best friend.
She starts giving the information:
North
G1
10
2 hours
They go downstairs to plan.
———
El just finished the course again. She had to have beat the time. She saved time in all the right places. She looks to Hop.
“Crawl tonight,” he says.
El beat the time. She can go on the crawl! Joyce, Hop, and her go back home through the tunnels.
“The last run, what was my time?” El asks, catching up with Hop.
“I’m not sure, I was distracted by Diana Ross.”
“I saved four seconds” El insists.
“Highly doubt that” he dismisses.
“No, no. It was very fast” Joyce chimes in. At least someone believes her.
“One second on the climb, one on the log, two on the bus.”
“Great. you did that today, you can do it again tomorrow.”
El races in front of him. “The crawl is tonight, Hop.” She lowers her voice a little, “If I’m under 12:30, I can come with you. That is what you promised.”
“Yeah, I promised that. I promised it.” he starts, “But I didn’t see it. So blame Diana.”
He climbs the ladder. Ell huffs, but follows.
Once they’re out of the tunnel, she starts again.
“You didn’t think I could make the time, did you?”
“I think you can, but no not today. I don’t think you made that time” Hop responds. Why is he so dismissive?
“Are you saying that I lie?”
“No, I’m saying that you’re mistaken.”
“I’m not mistaken!” El raises her voice. They enter the cabin.
“Okay, so you’re on your sixth run,” he sets his hat on the counter, “you’re totally drained, and you just happen to break your second record of the day, right before a crawl.” He grabs a Dr Pepper and crack it open, taking a sip.
“You saw the time,” El pushes. “I saw you look down. You have to let me go with you.”
Hopper turns around, looking her right in the eye. “You wanna find Henry so bad, don’t you? So bad. Do it,” he points across the room, “Do it from the tub. Do it remotely. You’re not coming with me. Not today.” He goes to his room.
Joyce comes up to El, but El ignores her. Walking right back out of the cabin.
———
They had just been sitting at lunch when the radio went off. They listened intently to Robin before going outside to discuss plans.
The plan usually doesn’t change, but they always go over it just to be sure.
Will had been listening to Mike’s pep-talk when his ears started ringing. Mike puts his hand out.
“Everyone in?” Mike makes direct eye contact with Will. It’s a look that Will can’t quite explain, but it gives him butterflies nonetheless.
He really shouldn’t have feelings for his best friend that’s dating his sister. That’s seriously awful.
Lucas puts his hand in next, followed by Will, then Dustin. They all say for Eddie, then they kill Vecna on 3. It’s a little strange, but Will doesn’t know anything but strange.
Lucas jumps off the table into Dustin and Mike, and the ringing in Will’s ears intensifies. His vision starts to blur.
When it clears, he sees Dustin and Lucas talking excitedly, and himself, facing away from the group.
How on earth am I viewing this moment in third person, he thinks.
Will tries to look at the bright side of whatever is happening. At least Dustin seems to be enjoying himself. That hasn’t happened in a while.
Almost as soon as it started, it stops, Will’s point of view returns back to his own, and he feels incredibly nauseous. He runs into a tree.
“Will!” all three of his friends yell at once.
“Will, are you okay?” Mike asks, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“Yeah, yeah, it’s okay. I’m fine.” Will pants.
“Was it him? Was it Vecna?”
“I don’t know. I just had this- this crazy feeling, and I was watching us in third person, and…” Will takes a deep breath and leans against the tree. Mike moves his hand and Will misses the contact immediately. “I don’t know. I guess maybe it’s nothing, right? Maybe I jug get nervous sometimes before- before crawls.”
“Yeah, I-“ Lucas speaks, “I get nervous too. But that doesn’t happen for me.”
“Maybe he’s close.” Mike says, and he looks like he’s going to say more, but the bell rings. He reminds every one of the meet time, and the 4 of them run inside.
Mike runs the slowest, which is strange because usually it’s Dustin in the back, moping. Will turns around.
“Are you okay, Mike?” he asks.
“Yeah,” he says, “just a headache. I think I might be nervous too.”
———
Recess technically ended five minutes ago, but recess also technically ends in ten minutes. Extra recess! So cool. Mary is pushing Holly on the marry-go-round.
It’s great! It’s the perfect speed, and Holly contently watches as the sky spins.
Suddenly, she starts going much faster.
“Derek! Stop! Stop, Derek, Stop!” Mary screams. Once he’s got Holly spinning fast enough to make her sick, he runs off.
“Jerk face!” Holly screams.
“Bite me!” he screams right back.
“You okay?” Mary helps her up, and the teacher rings the bell, meaning recess is over. How had that extra 15 minutes gone by so quickly?
Holly turns and spots Mr Whatsit at the fence. Surely there’s some time to speak with him.
“Hi,” she greets once she gets to the fence. He smiles at her.
“Hello, Holly.”
“Did you see what Derek did? He is such a jerk face!” she complains.
“Well, Holly, maybe I’ll talk to him.”
“Wait, you’re friends with Derek too? Why?”
Mr Whatsit nods his head. “The monsters are after his family too. I have to keep him safe aswell.”
“So you’re saying that the monsters want Mike and Derek?” Why would the monsters want them? It’s not like they’re extraordinary.
“Yes, Holly. But if you tell them, you’ll put them in danger. I’m just protecting you.”
She nods. “I understand.”
“Holly?” says a voice from behind her. She turns.
“Holly, who are you talking to?” Miss Harris asks. Her eyebrows are knitted and she’s wearing a frown.
“Mr Whatsit,” Holly turns to point at him, but he isn’t there anymore. “Oh. He’s quite a fast walker. He must’ve left already.” She smiles.
“Holly, how about we talk to your mom after school, yeah?”
Holly doesn’t understand why Miss Harris needs to speak with her mom, but she nods her head anyways.
———
Joyce knows Hopper had saw the time. She saw him look down too. She follows him to the bedroom.
“Why are you being so hard on her?” she asks.
“I’m not being hard on her,” he dismisses.
Joyce scoffs, sitting down on the bed. “She’s just trying to help.”
“Yeah, well, it’d be great if Will could help, but you keep that kid wrapped up in bubble wrap.”
“Come on, that’s different.” Will isn’t like El. And, to Joyce, he’s still that scared little bot lost in a place where no one knew how to find him.
“I mean, El… look at her. She’s ready,” Joyce tries again.
“Thirty-seven crawls,” Hopper states, “The only thing I found down in that damn place are soldiers, lots of ‘em. And they’re all looking for El. So there’s no reason to put her life on the line and bring her down there. Especially not for some recon mission.” He puts another gun in his belt.
“Well, if it’s just some recon mission, what’s with all the guns?”
“It’s in case I run into trouble.”
“Yeah, or in case toy run into him.” Joyce knows Hopper is fully ready to sacrifice himself for others, but he doesn’t need to. Not for this.
“No, I run into that psychic freak, I’m tucking tail and running.”
Joyce shakes her head.
“I’m nuts,” Hopper starts again, “I’m nuts, but I’m not that nuts.” He sits next to her.
“I’m gonna need El, I know that. Which is exactly why there’s no point in risking her life over some stupid recon crap.”
Joyce fiddles with his sleeve. He’s wearing a nice purple button down shirt. It looks good on him.
“I want her primed, but I want her safe. Safe until the very last minute, okay?”
Joyce nods. “Yeah, okay. Bur her time on that last run, did she make it?”
“With a second to spare.”
———
Mike enjoys spending time with Holly. Even if she’s a brat sometimes, he loves her. What he doesn’t love, though, is that it takes forever to pick her up from school.
Usually, she exits the building after school’s been over for, like, fifteen minutes. Almost everyone has already left!
Today, Mike decides to just enter the school and find her. He doesn’t have time for this, there’s a crawl tonight, and his head is hurting more than usual so he needs to take some ibuprofen soon.
Mike’s been having headaches basically ever since Hawkins shut down. They aren’t bad headaches. Usually they’re just a dull ache paired with faint ringing in his ears; something he can easily get over. But, this past few days, they’ve been strong enough to annoy him. There are bigger problems, though. There are always bigger problems than Mike Wheeler’s.
“Holly!” Mike calls out in the dark hallway of the school. Wow, this place needs better lighting.
“Holly!” he turns the corner to see his little sister sitting on a bench outside her classroom. Her bright clothes look wrong against the dull walls and the sadness painting her face. Mike goes to her.
“Holly, what are you doing? C’mon I really haw to get going.”
“Sorry,” she doesn’t even look up at him. “They told me to wait.” Holly looks to the classroom across the hallway. Mike follows her gaze.
His mom- Karen Wheeler in all her frizzy-haired glory- is talking to Holly’s teacher. They both look worried. Mike sighs and sits with Holly.
“Is this about your… mystery friend again?” Mike knows about Mr. Whatsit. Holly’s got a strong imagination, the same way Mike does. Mike gets his stories out through DND. Holly has imaginary friends. Though, for some unexplainable reason, Mike’s head hurts just a little bit more whenever Holly claims he’s near.
“He’s only trying to help.” Holly slouches a little more.
“Help?” he asks. “How?”
“By protecting me. By protecting you. He says that there are monsters in Hawkins, and-“ she looks at Mike, fear present in her eyes- “they like to take people like us.”
“Monsters aren’t real, Holly.” Mike is lying. Monsters are very real. In fact, the old chief of police is going into a dimension full of them tonight! Holly doesn’t need to know that, though. Ignorance is bliss.
“I don’t believe you.”
Well, that’s fair because Mike was lying.
“I know you’re scared because of everything that’s happened. I mean, with the crazy stories people tell, I get scared sometimes too,” Mike admits. He’s been a at least little scared ever since Will vanished in ‘83. The whole party has.
“Everyone in Hawkins is scared shitless,” he continues, “Anyone who says they aren’t are full of it. Like that mouth breather that’s in your class… what’s his name again?”
“Derek.”
“Yeah, Derek. He probably wets his bed every night!”
Holly breathes out a laugh. Gold star for being a good older brother, Mike thinks.
“Do you know who I turn to when I get scared?” she shakes her head and Mike takes off his backpack. He knows he has it. Mike the Brave goes everywhere Mike goes.
“Mike the Brave,” he holds the figurine up. “He goes on these adventures called dungeon crawls. He explores these underground worlds, where he fights monsters and evil wizards and stuff.” Mike had just explained what Hopper was going to do in real life today while also talking about DND. They’re such nerds for basing their secret underground mission off of DND.
“Mike the Brave is never scared, so whenever I’m feeling frightened or nervous, I just imagine that he’s at my side, and maybe next time you get scared you don’t need Mr Whatsit. You just need… Holly the Heroic.” Mike starts digging through his bag again. If he brings up the character that he has made for her, he’s gotta give her the figurine.
“Holly the Heroic?” she asks.
“I was gonna wait a few more years, but…” he hands her the figure- she had a blue dress and a yellow cape.
“She’s a cleric-“ Mike had chosen cleric because Will’s Holly’s favorite person in the party, so it was a safe bet that she’d want to have the same as him- “Which means she can cast spells of protection to ward against evil spirits, and even cooler, she cast a dimension door, which can teleport you to anywhere you visualize. Can lame-o Mr Whatsit do any of this?”
“No,” she smiles, turning the figurine in her fingers.
“She’ll keep you safe. I promise.”
Mike has to leave Holly there so he won’t be late for the crawl. He could have waited, but he really needed to take something for his head. It’s getting worse.
But it’s probably nothing, right?
———
Lucas really hopes Max is coming back to him soon. He comes to the hospital everyday after school. Sometimes he talks to her, about his day, the crawls, how everyone’s been lately. He begs for her to wake up. Sometimes he plays the tape. A part of Lucas thinks she’ll come back if it’s playing. Sometimes he just sits and looks at her. Her pale skin and fiery red hair. He wonders if her eyes are still the milky white he last saw them as. He wonders if she’ll ever see or walk again.
This time, Will is with him. He was too nervous to go home alone, so Lucas said he could come to see Max. To give her an update.
Will is pretty wound up about what happened during lunch today. He’s still shaking a little as he recounts the incident to Max. He leaves to go get a drink. Lucas plays the tape.
Max, I really hope you’re listening. I love you.
———
The hospital isn’t Will’s favorite place. It’s not anyone’s. But after his experience with the Mind Flayer, Will hates it just a little more than normal.
At least they have Coke here, though. And nice nurses.
He looks towards the elevator, wondering if he should take the stairs, when he sees Robin.
Huh, thats strange. Why is she here?
“Robin!” he calls out, but she doesn’t hear. “Rockin’ Robin!” He goes to follow her.
She seems to really know where she’s going. She moves throughout the hallways as if she works here. Will knows she doesn’t, though.
Eventually, she enters a room, leaving the door slightly open behind her. He follows.
“… I can see you in this hat, and, like, only this hat.” Will hears Robin’s voice through the door.
Oh. Wow. Robin must be dating someone. A nurse? Are there any boy nurses? How come Robin didn’t tell anyone she has a boyfriend?
Will peeks through the crack in the door, and-
Holy. Freaking. Shit.
Robin doesn’t have a boyfriend at all.
She’s making out with another girl.
Will’s stomach drops, and so does his can of Coca Cola. It’s explodes, and Will runs.
Yeah, wow. Okay I totally didn’t just see that.
Now he can’t stop thinking about Mike. His beautiful curls and soft eyes. Just Mike.
He’s perfect. Except for the fact that he’s a boy. And he’s dating El. Though they have been acting less couple-like lately.
Best not to get his hopes up.
———
Eddie’s grave is tiny, and towards the back of the graveyard. It’s really a wonder so many people know that it’s there.
It’s vandalized. Again. Burn in Hell written in dripping red paint. Probably from Andy and his friends.
What they don’t know is that Eddie died a hero.
Dustin crouches next to him. “Don’t worry, Eddie. They’ll get bored eventually.” He takes his cleaning supplies to start scrubbing, but he realizes the paint’s still wet. He touches it, and it’s significantly thinner than paint, and a lot tackier.
Dustin had seen this stuff before. Lots. From falling on the playground to Eddie bleeding out.
It’s blood.
He looks down, moving some of the leaves out of the way. He sees a snake. A dead snake.
Jake. Dustin scrambles away.
“You should keep a better eye on your pets, Henderson,” It’s Andy, his friends appear too and surround him. “It’s dangerous out shouldn’t be left alone like that.”
Dustin laughs. He’s got a plan.
“Something funny, Henderson?” Andy threatens.
“Oh, no, I… I was just thinking. In Eddie’s last campaign, I defeated Vecna’s lead acolyte by casting Prismatic Spray. One D8 turned up a 7. Violet.”
Andy nods like he understands, but he clearly doesn’t.
“Well, violet Prismatic Spray is the deadliest. You know why?” Andy shrugs. “It causes blindness.”
Before Andy can you even comprehend that, Dustin pushes him to the ground. He picks up the cleaning stuff for Eddie’s grave and flings it at everyone’s eyes.
He misses on someone though, because he’s being dragged backwards by the ankle by a person who can still see. He kicks the guy in the balls and rolls over, only to be kicked harshly in the stomach.
One jock lifts him up and puts him in a chokehold. Two others beat him like a punching bag. Dustin swings himself around, and the guy holding throws him. They pick him up once more and Andy approaches.
“Hellfire dies with you. And it dies tonight.”
Oh, shit.
Dustin can’t remember many details after that, but he knows those jocks pummeled the hell out of him.
Shit.
———
“Dustin, this is Lucas. Do you copy? Over.”
“Dustin, do you copy? Over.”
“Dustin, you’re an hour late, man. You’re making us nervous. We need you here at the Squawk. Dustin, if you can hear us, please respond. Over.”
Lucas has been trying to reach Dustin for the past forty-five minutes. He isn’t answering, and Mike’s starting to worry. It’s pretty normal for Dustin to be a little late to crawls, but a full hour? That’s not normal.
Will, Robin, Steve, and Lucas are bickering about Dustin’s no-show. Mike turns around, and sees that Joyce, Hopper, and El are finally here. Mike should probably talk to El.
They aren’t together anymore. The breakup was mutual, but messy. Involving Dustin going off on Mike about how he treats her. Mike apologized, both to Dustin and El, and they broke up. They decided not to tell anyone, though. Don’t want everyone worrying about Mike and El when there are bigger problems at hand.
The two are still friends. Good friends. And Mike loves her. He just didn’t love her in that way, which was probably why he couldn’t ever bring himself to say it during their relationship.
Well, he had said it. Once. But neither of them really think that counts. El seemed like she was going to die, and Mike was just spewing words he’d heard Will say in the van.
Mike has some questions about that conversation in the van. Why did Will claim the painting was from El? Why did he say all those things if none of them were true? Maybe he’ll talk to Will after all this Vecna stuff. Again, bigger problems.
He runs to El, but she’s looking ahead at the group. Almost looking right through him.
———
“Do you think Dustin is okay?”
“I hope so.”
The view from the roof is pretty. The sunset is painting the sky in oranges and pinks. El hopes Dustin will come walking up the hill, the sunset behind him, and he’ll have a surprise. That he’ll be okay.
Maybe someone should go look for him. El remembers the time he fell asleep in the graveyard. She was upset she couldn’t go look for him.
She misses Dustin. The old Dustin. The Dustin from before he let the world’s cruelty get the best of him. He used to smile. Smile with his whole face. But now he doesn’t smile at all. He’s avoidant. Pushing everyone away. El just wants to talk to him, comfort him. She just wants to be there.
“He was acting weird today,” Mike continues. “Angry, scared, reckless. Not himself.”
El feels like Dustin’s been like that a lot the past year and a half.
“Hopper’s the same,” she says. “Not himself.”
Mike sighs. “Maybe it’s just getting to us, you know? Being stuck in here, not knowing where Vecna is.”
“Do you think we will find him?”
“I do, earlier Will had a feeling.”
If Will has a feeling, they must be close. El really wishes she were going on that crawl tonight. She glances back at the hill, looking for Dustin.
Maybe everyone acting strange is a sign. Will’s feeling, Hopper and Dustin’s recklessness. Maybe it’s linked. Even Mike’s acting a little strange. He’s talking quieter than normal, and he’s looking down, like he’s trying to avoid the light.
“Mike,” El starts. “Are you okay?”
“What? Oh, yeah. Just- just a headache.”
Mike doesn’t really like talking about his problems. A response like that seems about right.
“You should drink water. And sleep more.”
He laughs, looking down at the group below them. She follows his gaze, he’s specifically looking at Will.
El loves Mike. But he’s so oblivious to his own feelings. Jeez. El has known about those two since they arrived here in Hawkins. How they haven’t figured it out yet, she may never know.
How did El figure it out? Easy, she just applied what she used to see in Jonathan and Nancy to Will and Mike. Bam.
“Maybe tonight’s our last crawl,” Mike says, looking back up at her. “We find Vecna, and we end this. Once and for all.”
El likes the sound of that. She can stop hiding. Actually be a kid. Go back to eating Eggos and watching Miami Vice with her dad.
Maybe this is the last crawl. Maybe El can finally be Jane.
———
Will really doesn’t like crawls. They make him so nervous, but they’re actually just incredibly underwhelming. What does he do? Literally nothing.
Dustin’s just not coming. Apparently. So they need someone in the van with Steve. Will knows how to work it, but his mom says he can’t go.
It’s like she keeps him wrapped in bubble wrap! If Vecna wanted to take Will again, he probably would’ve done it already.
So Jonathan is going with Steve, and everyone knows that they hate each other. Something to do with Steve being Nancy’s ex. Will’s nervous the might lose Hopper.
Will really has a feeling that something will go wrong tonight.
———
Mike took some medicine for his headache, but apparently it didn’t do anything. Riding this bike is really only making it worse.
Him and Lucas are biking to their designated observation tower. They’re lookouts during crawls. They make sure Hopper has all the info he needs to get in safely.
Lucas is biking way too fast for Mike right now. Jesus, does he always go that fast? Mike hits a giant rock, and goes flying.
Ow, What on earth?
Lucas stops and turns around. “Dude, you good?”
“Yeah, I just… wasn’t paying attention.” Mike feels the front tire of his bike. “Flat tire. My house is nearby. I’ll go air it up and meet you at the spot.”
Lucas nods, biking off.
———
Holly really hates it when her parents fight. They seem to be doing it all the time. Do everyone’s parents fight like hers? Or do her parents not love each other? Maybe they’re just sick and tired of Holly being a bad kid.
Holly isn’t the worst kid. She just always has her head in the clouds. Someone’s always getting onto her.
“She was just standing there talking to nobody!” her mom yells.
“Well, she’s hardly the first child to have an imaginary friend, Karen.”
“I wouldn’t be so worried if she was five years old, but she’s not five anymore, is she.”
Holly peeks around the corner of the staircase. Her mom’s getting in her dad’s face. She’s got a glass of wine in her hand, and he’s barely even looking at her.
They start arguing about something else, and Holly leaves, running to her room and slamming the door. She puts Holly the Heroic close to her heart, trying not to be so scared. She cries anyways.
The door busts open. “Holly, do you know where the air pump is?”
It’s Mike, which is weird because Holly thought he had something to do today. She looks at him, splotchy face and teary eyes, and shakes her head.
“Oh, Holly, what’s wrong?” he asks. He sits down next to her on the bed.
“Mom and dad are fighting. Fighting about me,” Holly answers through tears. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”
“My bike got a flat tire, so Lucas went on without me. From what I heard through my walkie while I was in the garage, everything is still going smoothly.”
“What were you doing?”
“Uh- helping Mrs. Byers’ boyfriend with- with something. He got it.”
Her night-light blinks for a second, and Holly thinks it might just be getting too old or something, but it keeping flickering. Holly reaches to unplug it from the wall, but the light keeps flickering. She looks to Mike for an explanation. He looks like he’s going to be sick.
“Mike?” she asks.
All of the lights flicker, and Mike’s expression worsens.
“Holly-“ Mike starts, but it’s cut off by the ceiling cracking. Debris is flying everyone. Holly stares in shock.
“Mike!” she yells in horror.
“Holly, come on!” Mike yells back. He tries to get her to run, but she just stands there.
Suddenly, the ceiling caves in. There’s a red glow coming from it, and there’s lots of gross web-like stuff.
That must be hell, Holly thinks.
Long fingers the color of flesh start to rip through the webbing. Are these the monsters Me Whatsit was talking about? Are they here to kill Mike?
It’s head pops through the ceiling. It looks like a flower that hasn’t bloomed yet mixed with flesh and horror. It opens its mouth, and Holly screams at the sight of it’s sharp, plentiful teeth.
“Holly!” Mike grabs her arm and pulls her towards the door. The monster grabs Mike and bashes him against the wall.
Mr. Whatsit is not doing a very good job at protecting Mike, Holly thinks as the monster tries to drag Mike through the ceiling. He grabs onto the bed frame and it drops him. He grabs Holly, and they both start running to their mom.
“Mom! Mom!” Holly screams. Mike locks the doors behind them.
“Mom, the monster! It’s here!”
The conversation turns into a rush of everyone talking over each other. Nobody listening to anyone until Holly yells and points to the back of Mike’s head. When, Karen checks it, it’s definitely slick with blood.
“I’ve been trying to tell you that there’s a demogorgon!” he yells.
Demogorgon? From his dumb game?
There’s a loud bang, the monster found them. The lights flicker again. The three of them back into the corner.
“Mike,” Holly whispers, her voice shaking “It’s coming for you.”
Karen whispers something to Mike that Holly can’t hear before he picks her up and pulls her into the bathtub with him, under the water. Her mom hides too, but Holly can’t see where.
She can hear the monster’s loud shrieks from under all the bubbles and water. She thinks she might drown. Mike hugs her tightly. The monster leaves, though Holly doesn’t understand why. She immediately pulls herself out of the water, breathing heavily. Her mom climbs out of the cabinets.
“Holly! Karen!” she hears her dad yell from a distance. There’s a loud crashing sound. Holly can only hope it was a piece of furniture and not her dad.
They run. Down the stairs and to the front door. The monster reappears there, blocking the exit. Mike turns them into the kitchen, but Karen slips.
“Mom!” Mike and Holly yell in unison. Mike runs to help her up, the monster now right in front of them. Karen pushes them back.
“Mom, no!” Mike yells, moving forward once more, but he’s pulled back by Holly.
“It wants you, not her.”
Holly can only watch as her mom breaks her bottle of wine and starts stabbing the monster with it. The monster stabs and strikes her, knocking her to the floor. It jumps over her body, and grabs Mike. He screams as it drags him through the portal at the front door.
Holly’s never going to sleep again.
———