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Robin lets out a screech, pointing at the road as a car approaches them, ramming into their truck. “Watch out!”
Mike looks up at the scene, watching as everyone shifts and adjusts themselves. “Is everyone okay?”
“Everyone put their hands up!” A soldier pries the door open, pointing a gun at the Party and the children. “I said put your hands up! Everyone move!”
A soldier grabs onto Mike, to which Mike lashes out at the government official. More break into the truck, grabbing one person after another, cuffing them, pointing guns at their heads and having them exit the vehicle.
“Wait, where’s Will? Has anyone seen Will?” Mike shouts out, trying to pry himself away from the soldiers holding onto him.
Dr. Kay approaches the sergeant, asking for Eleven. The soldier points at her, where she is being held back by another.
“Where’s the boy?” she asks.
“He must’ve escaped.”
They begin shouting out, asking other military officials if they had seen the boy. “Where is he?”
“Where’s the boy?”
Soldiers were holding onto the Party, attempting to cuff the children, while frantically looking around. They held each person against them tightly, pinning each person’s arms against the other, holding them back, holding them for escape. Mike glances at his surroundings, noticing everyone to be accounted for. Eleven behind him, his family next to him. Everyone who was there, was there.
“Mike…” Dustin’s voice croaks out. Mike notices the change in his tone. He looks ahead at the gate, noticing a figure standing in the middle. His eyes widen at the familiar figure, the familiar hair. The familiar face. Fear swells into his face, while attempting to release himself from the soldiers holding him back.
“Get off of me! Get off me!” he shouts, trying to run away from them, and run towards him. He manages to release himself from their grasp, tumbling forwards, and begins running towards the gate.
He stumbles, falling into water. His surroundings are dark, with nothing around him, only the figure that is slowly walking towards him.
Will.
“Will, you–you need to get out of there! You have to get out!” Mike calls, as he pulls himself off the ground, running frantically towards Will, who is still in front of him, with little worry on his face. He’s calm.
“Mike,” Will starts, “It won’t end. It won’t end if I’m still here,” he says, clinging onto Mike’s arms that are now holding onto him. He hears the panic in Mike’s voice. The worry.
“No,” Mike states, trying to reassure himself that this isn’t happening. That Will will come back with them, return to Hawkins–live the life that was made for him. “We’ll figure something out. We always do. We’ll fight back, fight against them.” Mike’s voice shakes, and his head falters to the ground, looking at nothing.
“I need you to talk to the others, Mike.”
He picks his head up, looking directly at Will, trying to see if there’s anything that will convince him to come back with him. But there isn’t. Will looks directly back at Mike, as Mike whispers a small “No.”
“I–I need you to thank them for me. For being there for me. For being such good friends. Please, Mike,” his voice hiccups at the please, trying to fight back the tears that have quickly pooled into his eyes. He doesn’t want this to be a solemn goodbye. He would rather it not be a goodbye at all. But, it is one, and Will hates that he has to do this. He hates that he has to say goodbye to his friend. His best friend. The boy he had been in love with all his life. But he needs Mike to understand it all. Him–his choice. All of it.
“No!” Mike croaks out between sobs. “Will, please don’t do this!” His tears have already fallen down his face. His cheeks lined with streaks of tears, his eyes puffy and his pleads raspy and broken.
“Mike, I need you to help them understand my choice.” Will tries. Slowly, a tear falls from his eyes, dropping onto Mike’s hand that is still latched onto Will’s arms.
“But I don’t! I don’t understand.”
Will doesn’t even notice that the tears just keep pooling out of him, coating his face as he tries to reassure his friend. “I know. But I promise you will. I promise you will understand one day.” he says, releasing his grip from Mike, wiping away the tears that don’t stop falling out of his eyes. “You understand me, Mike. Better than anyone. You always have–since the day we met, you’ve always seen me.”
Will is sitting alone on the swingset outside of school. Other kids are running around, playing with each other. He sits there, not pushing himself up higher, not playing with the other kids. He just sits on the swing, still as ever. A boy walks up to him. His hair is a wavy mess, and is wearing a collared blue shirt, and a light blue jacket. He approaches Will, scared but happy at the same time.
“Do you want to be friends?” he asks.
Will nods his head, and the boy joins him on the swingset. The two talk and laugh throughout recess, with Will kicking his feet as he swings, happy as ever. The two stay on the swingset for all of recess, laughing and talking.
“Will,” Mike sniffled, doing the same as Will before, wiping the tears away from his eyes. He looks at his friend– the boy he had known for the longest, had shared almost everything with–for what would possibly be the last time.
“You saw me.”
“Please don’t do this. Please don’t do this, Will.” Mike whispers. Tears that he had tried to wipe away before, form again in his eyes, falling faster and faster, as Mike’s anxiety becomes more.
“Please don’t leave.”
Will presses his forehead against Mike’s, holding his arms once again, as Mike’s latch onto his.
Mike exhales once more. His breath shakes, trying to wrap his head around the matter. Around everything.
“I love you.” Will says, pressing a small kiss towards Mike’s forehead. The realization shoots through Mike like a bullet. He moves his forehead away from Will’s, resting his arms down.
“Please, Will. Please. I love you.” He brings his hands towards Will’s face, resting them on his cheeks before pulling him in for a kiss. All of those years of pent up emotions and feelings are let out with the one movement. Will’s lips latch onto Mike’s, sinking into what would be their first and last kiss together. They stay like that just for a few moments, before Will pulls away, keeping his hands on Mike’s face, trying to get a look at him for the last time.
“I love you more than anything.”
Mike’s eyes shift, realizing the situation he is in. He’s no longer in the void. Will is no longer only inches away from him. This is real. This is reality. His eyes widen at the sight–Will still standing in the middle of the gate, waiting for the bomb to detonate.
“Will! Will!” he cries out, tears forming in his eyes, waiting to fall at any second. He struggles with getting a soldier off of him, trying to wriggle his way out of their grasp.
Nancy spots Mike, and then spots Will. She attempts to rush towards Mike, trying to keep him calm and hold onto him as he witnesses the tragedy in front of him, but a soldier swarms her, attacking her and grabbing her hands together and pushing her off to the side.
Jonathan shouts at them, furious at the scene before him. “Don’t touch her!” he yells, before spotting the gate. Spotting Will. His face sinks, fear automatically flushing itself into him.
Mike tries freeing himself from the soldier’s grip, attempting to run forward, but the soldier’s grip on him is too tight, and his struggling only gets him so far. “Get off me! Get off me! Will!” he screams.
The rest of the Party see what Mike is screaming at, and they all spot Will, who is front and center, still in the Upside Down, standing at the edge of the gate. Everyone’s eyes widen and their faces sink. Lucas’ hands are raised, trying to stop Will from doing what he is doing. He screams at him.
“Will, no!”
Dustin tries to move closer to the gate, but is held back by a soldier, just like Mike. “Will!” His scream is horrific, with pain and fear wailing through him, as he tries to break away from the soldier’s grip onto him.
“Will! Will, please no!” Mike cries out once more, still being held back, still being forced to witness the scene in front of him.
Max’s body is turned toward the gate, looking at what she could make out from the scene. She hears the cries from everyone, from Lucas and Dustin. From Mike the most. Her eyes widen at the realization of what is happening in front of her, and sorrow and grief sink into her as she lets out a breathy exhale.
Joyce looks at the scene, at Will. Dread slips into her as she watches her son make his final decision, with Hopper and Jonathan at her side.
Jonathan reaches out towards Will, shouting at him.
“No!”
Eleven watches it unravel in front of her, and the cries only get louder and louder. She hadn’t meant for him to go through with it.
“Will!” Mike screams. “Will! Will!” His scream echoes throughout the air. The bloodcurdling sound is heard throughout the town center. Everyone watches, waiting for the moment to happen, as Mike screams out over and over for Will, hoping that he would rethink his choice, that he would come back. Back to Hawkins. Back to him.
Will watches the scene unfold in front of him. He sees his family crying out to him, trying to reach towards him, to stop the terrible decision he has made. He hears his friends screams, the looks on everyone’s faces. Mike’s scream rings through him the most, sending a chill throughout him. The tears he had held back for too long finally spew out of him as he looks at Hawkins one last time. His friends one last time. His family one last time.
“Goodbye, Mike.” Will closes his eyes, with the palms of his hands facing forward.
“Will!”
A large sound echoes throughout Hawkins, shaking the ground beneath their feet. Behind Will, the Upside Down begins to unravel. Smoke and debris cloud behind him, and soon around. The bomb had detonated.
The sound of buildings being torn apart and debris hitting debris fill the air. The cloud of smoke soon swarms the gate, engulfing Will, as he exhales his final breath.