Chapter Text
Mike had experienced some weird shit in his life.
His best friend being presumed dead? Check. A strange girl with superpowers turned girlfriend, turned ex-girlfriend showing up in the woods in the middle of the night? Check. Fighting other-dimensional monsters with teeth for a face? Check.
But if someone had told him that at eighteen, he’d be staring at an older-looking, armor-clad version of himself who spoke like he’d just escaped the 19th century? Well…
That version of himself was currently tied up in his basement, which they had only managed to accomplish thanks to El literally levitating him until they could disarm him.
And he was pissed.
This weird, otherworldly version – dubbed “DnD Mike” by Dustin, was still thrashing around, glaring at everyone in the room.
Everyone being Mike, Dustin, and El.
Dustin had called a Code Red to the rest of the group the second they managed to restrain DnD Mike, so presumably the others were on their way to his house. Mike could only count his blessings that his parents were out of town with Holly, visiting their grandparents on the other side of the state.
They wouldn’t need to hide DnD Mike now that his family knew about demogorgons and the Upside Down and all that, but not having them here still made things easier.
Now, how did all of this happen in the first place?
Excellent question.
He and El had been hanging out in the basement when Dustin came over to help plan a new campaign. They’d been discussing different possible plots while El lounged on the couch, reading a magazine, for about an hour before Dustin called her over for her opinion on something related to one of the spell attacks.
El wasn’t too enthusiastic, but she had nothing better to do, so she humored them. Dustin was trying to implement one of her signature moves into the campaign and needed more information.
He was busy explaining some of the lore when El absentmindedly rolled one of the dice.
A natural twenty.
El flinched as if something had burned her, and the room was suddenly consumed in a bright white light that momentarily blinded all of them.
When Mike finally regained his vision, he saw the remnants of a crack in the wall slowly closing. Cold sweat covered his body as he immediately recognized it as an Upside Down opening. He didn’t have much time to react before he noticed a figure in silver lying on the floor in front of it.
“What the hell?” Dustin asked from behind him.
Mike could barely hear him. He was too transfixed by the figure, or rather, by his own face. Slightly older and covered in scars, it stared back at him from the floor.
Mike had just managed to take a step back when the person lunged at him at full speed, swinging a sword.
Holy shit, that was definitely a real sword.
Before Mike could literally be decapitated, El used her powers, stopping the stranger wearing Mike’s face mid-swing.
“Release me at once!” DnD Mike growled.
And yep… holy shit, that was his voice.
“Shit! Mike, get his sword!” Dustin screamed.
After about ten minutes of back-and-forth struggle, they managed to wrench the sword from his hands. DnD Mike put up a ridiculous amount of fight, considering El was keeping him suspended midair.
Mike all but ran to the shed to grab the old bike chains they kept there. Would that keep the other him in place? Questionable, but there weren’t any better options.
He rushed back down the basement stairs, where DnD Mike was still yelling.
His gaze snapped towards Mike with sharp intensity.
“Would this help?” Mike asked, holding up the chain.
“Better than nothing. El can’t keep him in the air forever,” Dustin replied, grabbing one end of the chain before circling DnD Mike, whom El lowered closer to the ground.
“Stay away! Do not dare–”
Mike cut him off by tying one of El’s bandanas around his mouth.
Dustin secured the chain with a lock around one of the basement pillars, and El finally released her grip.
She wiped the blood that had started dripping from her nose.
So, here they were.
“What the fuck just happened?” Dustin asked.
Mike could only look back and forth between DnD Mike and El, as if she held any of the answers.
“I… do not know,” El mumbled, her eyes clouded with concern.
Dustin picked up the walkie. “Lucas, do you copy? Code Red! I repeat, Code Red! Over.”
“Copy! What happened? Over.” Lucas’s voice crackled through the speaker, laced with static.
“Wherever you are or whatever you’re doing, drop it! Get over to Mike’s house immediately! Over.”
“I’m at Max’s. We’ll be there as fast as possible. Over.”
“Get Will on the way! This is a full-Party emergency! Over.” Dustin concluded, snapping the antenna back down with a sense of urgency.
The room fell into an uneasy silence.
“So… I’m not hallucinating, right? That all just happened?” Dustin asked, glancing between the other two.
“The fact that we got flashbanged and now there’s a guy with my face tied up in my basement? Yeah, no, I see him too,” Mike muttered, his eyebrows knitting together into a deep frown.
El carefully approached the wall where the opening had formed just minutes ago, her hand hovering for a moment before gently touching the surface, as if expecting it to react again.
“Whatever that was… it is gone now,” she said quietly, her voice edged with uncertainty.
“Not fully!” Dustin shot back, turning and gesturing emphatically toward the restrained figure. “Whatever brought…” He paused, looking the intruder up and down, “…DnD Mike here might be gone, but he definitely isn’t!”
“DnD Mike? Really?” Mike shot him a displeased look, clearly unimpressed.
“Dude! He’s, like, a knight and shit. You got a better idea what to call him?” Dustin replied, throwing his hands up.
Mike rolled his eyes but didn’t answer.
“We could ask,” El said simply, already stepping forward to remove the bandana tied around DnD Mike’s mouth.
“Unhand me this instant! What place is this, some changeling’s den?” DnD Mike’s voice came out sharp and commanding the second he was free to speak. “By what motive have you presumed to bring me here?”
His tone only grew more hostile with each word.
“The village made report of but a single changeling. Is this, then, the matter at hand? We slew your brother, and now you have seen fit to seize me and hold me thus?”
“Wow… he even talks all knight-like,” Dustin whispered under his breath, equal parts impressed and unnerved.
“We only tied you up because you attacked first,” El explained calmly, unfazed by his tone. “Who are you?”
“You would feign ignorance of my name, whilst this impostor already bears my very countenance?” he snapped, glaring directly at Mike.
“Me?! You showed up in my house! If anything, you’re the one wearing my face!” Mike shot back, stepping forward despite himself.
“Do you take me for a fool, foul creature?”
“Well, alright– fuck you too, then,” Mike muttered, crossing his arms tightly over his chest.
“So, what? Is your name Mike too?” Dustin asked, cautiously stepping closer to get a better look at him, curiosity getting the better of him.
DnD Mike’s face flushed red with anger almost instantly.
“You presume to address me with such unseemly familiarity, and while wearing the likeness of a former companion? I ought to have your head for such insolence!”
Dustin immediately threw his hands up in surrender. “Whoa, okay, chill, man. We can solve this easily if you just tell us your name.”
DnD Mike hesitated, clearly weighing his options. After a few tense seconds, he let out a slow, frustrated breath.
“Very well. I am Sir Michael of Hawkenwald, paladin and blade of the Byerswynne House, sworn to protect and defend until my dying breath.”
…
Right.
“Son of a bitch…” Dustin whispered, blinking rapidly. “Did everyone catch that last part?”
“Byerswynne…” El repeated softly, giving a small, thoughtful nod.
“Wait, what? As in… Byers?” Mike wheezed. “What the fuck is this? That makes it sound like there are fantasy medieval versions of us just running around somewhere!”
“This does sound like…” El trailed off, searching for the right word.
“Our DnD characters,” Dustin supplied immediately, his eyes lighting up despite the situation.
Just as Mike opened his mouth, ready to argue for literally any better explanation, the basement door suddenly burst open with a loud bang.
“This better actually be a Code Red, or I swear to God–” Max’s voice cut off abruptly as she took in the scene before her.
“What the hell?” Lucas all but shouted, staring wide-eyed at the armored figure. “Who the fuck is that?”
“Sir Michael,” El answered simply, as if that explained anything at all.
“There are more of you…” Sir Michael whispered, his voice now laced with unmistakable horror as his gaze darted between the newcomers.
“Oh my God, we’ve been over this! We’re not changelings, and no one here stole anyone’s face!” Mike snapped, his patience wearing dangerously thin.
Sir Michael only glared back at him, utterly unconvinced.
“I hear your claim, yet I remain unconvinced, for no evidence has been set before me,” he said coldly. “You have seized me against my will, assuming not only my own countenance but likewise those of my companions, and still you expect me to place any faith in your words?”
“Sorry to break this to you or whatever,” Mike replied, his tone flat and increasingly irritated, “but the most likely explanation is that you’re not in your universe anymore.”
Honestly, Mike was just annoyed at this point, which, if you asked him, was completely fair. Talking to a guy who looked and sounded exactly like him was already creepy enough without the attitude.
“My universe…” Sir Michael repeated quietly.
“Okay, everyone backtrack like fifty steps… what the hell happened here?” Lucas interrupted, holding up both hands as if trying to physically pause the situation in front of him. His eyes darted between Mike, Dustin, El, and the armored stranger on the floor, clearly struggling to process everything at once.
“Where’s Will?” Dustin finally asked, after giving Max and Lucas a rushed rundown of everything that had happened in the last thirty minutes.
“We called him when we left the house, but he was helping Joyce with something,” Max explained, shrugging. “He said he’d be here soon.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, does ‘Code Red’ mean nothing to you people?” Dustin groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “It’s fine– we’ll brief him later. Right now, we need to get back to the matter at hand.” He gestured dramatically towards Sir Michael, who was still bound to the pillar and watching them all with hostility.
“Considering his name is, like, two sentences long, we’re just going to call him Michael for convenience’s sake.”
“Do not dare–” Sir Michael immediately snapped, his voice sharp with offense.
“Alright, fine! How about Sir Michael?” Dustin amended quickly, throwing his hands up in surrender. “Because we are not saying your full title every single time.”
Sir Michael still looked deeply displeased, his jaw tightening, but he didn’t protest further.
Dustin let out a breath and continued, trying to regain control of the conversation.
“Anyway, I think Mike is right. Obviously, El’s powers must’ve activated on their own, and she somehow opened a portal to… somewhere. And that somewhere came with Sir Michael over there.”
“So he just… appeared?” Lucas asked, gesturing vaguely at the armored figure.
“Pretty much, yeah,” Dustin confirmed with a small shrug.
“Fantastic. Because that’s exactly what the world needs – two Mikes,” Max added dryly, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
“Really funny, Mayfield.” Mike flipped her off without hesitation, which only earned him an unimpressed raised eyebrow in return.
El, meanwhile, was staring down at her own hand, her expression clouded with concern. “My powers have been stable for a long time,” she said quietly. “The Upside Down is also gone. I do not understand what could have caused this.”
“Hey, it’s okay,” Mike stepped in gently, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “We’ll figure this out. I’m sure whatever happened was out of your control.”
A scoff came from the floor.
Mike’s head snapped toward Sir Michael. “What now?” he asked, irritation already creeping back into his voice.
“You presume to lay hands upon a lady with such unbecoming familiarity?” Sir Michael said sharply, his lip curling in clear disapproval. “Your conduct is nothing short of unsightly.”
Mike felt his eye twitch. “Oh, fuck off.”
“Actually, maybe I like this guy,” Max snorted, clearly amused. “Never thought I’d see Mike get shit from himself.”
“The world in which we presently find ourselves ought to signify nothing in this regard,” Sir Michael continued, undeterred. “Lady Jane must be accorded the utmost respect, irrespective of circumstance.”
El blinked, momentarily caught off guard. “You know my name?”
“Indeed,” Sir Michael replied. “Yet even were I inclined to credit your assertions that you are no changelings, I must remind you that you bear the very faces of my companions. It is no mere likeness, you are their perfect counterparts. There can be no possibility of error.”
El hesitated for a brief moment before asking, “If you do not mind me asking… who am I in your world?”
“You are Lady Jane,” he answered without hesitation, his tone shifting into something far less hostile. “Among the most formidable mages I have ever had the honor to encounter. You joined our party but briefly some years past, in pursuit of a certain artifact. We all met, as I recall, by chance, united in that singular aim.”
He paused, his gaze distant for a moment before continuing, “All save for William, of course. He and I have been acquainted since we were but children.”
“Will…” Lucas whispered under his breath, glancing toward the others.
Sir Michael’s gaze snapped sharply in his direction.
“Right– right, sorry,” Lucas said quickly, raising his hands in a placating gesture as he began to sweat slightly under the intensity of that stare. “You’ve got a thing about familiarity, I get it, but I swear it’s normal in our world! Everyone calls him Will! Just like everyone calls this world’s version of you Mike! None of us are trying to be disrespectful.”
“Everyone…” Sir Michael echoed, his voice quieter now as he looked down, something troubled flickering across his expression.
“It’s true!” Lucas continued, nodding emphatically. “Plus, we’ve all known each other since we were little kids, just like you and Willi–”
“You will address him by his full name, or I ought to cut out your tongue!” Sir Michael barked, his voice suddenly sharp enough to make Lucas flinch.
“Jesus– okay!”
“William the Wise of the Byerswynne House, Archsorcerer of the Astral Magister and–”
“Alright, geez, William the Wise it is,” Lucas sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.
Sir Michael still didn’t look entirely satisfied, but after a moment, it became clear even he realized he was fighting a losing battle.
“We’re still calling our version Will, though,” Max cut in decisively. “Otherwise this is going to get confusing really fast.” She tilted her head slightly, studying Sir Michael with interest. “But hey, good to know every version of Mike has a massive protective stick up his ass when it comes to Will.”
“I do not–” Mike started to protest, only to trail off when everyone turned to look at him with identical, unconvinced expressions. “…Whatever,” he muttered, looking away.
“What about me?”
Everyone’s heads snapped toward the basement stairs.
Will stood there, slightly out of breath, his backpack hanging loosely from one shoulder. His expression was curious at first, but that curiosity quickly shifted into confusion – and then into pure disbelief, as his eyes landed on the bound figure in armor.
“What–”
“William…” Sir Michael said breathlessly.
“See what happens when you ignore a Code Red?” Dustin quipped, folding his arms.
“I– what the fuck?” Will stared at the scene in front of him like someone had just grown a second head… well, technically...
“Long story short, El’s powers did something, opened a portal, and now he’s here,” Max said, turning toward Will. She casually raised her hand and nudged his jaw upward, closing his mouth in an almost cartoonish manner.
“Mike…?”
Will stepped closer, his movements slow and cautious, his eyes locked onto the figure still tied to one of the wooden pillars.
“Yes– and yet, no, my sorcerer,” Sir Michael replied, his voice softening in a way it hadn’t before. “I am, in truth, Michael; though not precisely the same gentleman to whom you are accustomed.”
The hair on Mike’s arms stood on end. What the hell does he mean, my sorcerer?
“Oh, I see how it is,” Dustin scoffed, pointing accusingly between them. “He can call you Mike and it’s all good, but when we do it, you threaten to chop our heads off? Yeah, okay. Totally fair.” He shot the others a dramatic Can you believe this? look.
“It is… different,” Sir Michael said after a brief pause, his tone quieter now but no less firm. “The bond between William and myself runs far deeper than that which I share with my other companions. He may not be my William; nevertheless, I am inclined to believe that the oath we swore together extends even beyond the bounds of our own world.”
Will could only continue staring at him, his expression caught somewhere between confusion and disbelief.
“Well, isn’t that romantic,” Max said slyly, her tone carrying just enough implication to make Mike bristle.
“Okay, guys!” Mike suddenly cut in, his voice louder than necessary. “I feel like we’re losing track of what’s important here. How do we get him back to wherever he came from?”
“Well, it’s not like there’s a guidebook to El’s powers,” Lucas said with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. “And everyone who had anything to do with, you know, creating her powers is gone, so…”
“So what? We’ve hit a dead end before we even started?” Max asked, crossing her arms.
Almost instinctively, everyone turned to El, as if expecting her to have some kind of answer. After all, these were her powers, they had to mean something.
“I can try… to look,” El said slowly. “But I do not know what I am supposed to be looking for.”
“Salt bath?” Will suggested.
“It would help, I think,” El nodded. She stepped forward and crouched down to Sir Michael’s level, her movements calm. “Earlier, you said the me in your world is a mage.”
“That is correct.”
“It is… similar for us,” she continued. “I have powers. I can look into people’s heads– into their memories. But I do not think the answers to this situation are in my own memories.” She met his gaze steadily. “I think they are in yours.”
Sir Michael went still. For a moment, the room seemed to hold its breath. The silence stretched, long enough to feel heavy, though it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds.
“You wish to look inside my memories,” he said at last.
“Yes.”
His face tightened with hesitation, suspicion clear in his expression.
“I understand that you do not trust us,” El continued gently, “but we have no other options. We will not force you.”
She reached out her hand, and just like that, the chains binding Sir Michael snapped loose with a sharp metallic clatter against the floor.
The entire group tensed immediately. Mike instinctively stepped forward, positioning himself slightly in front of Will without even thinking about it.
Sir Michael rose slowly to his feet, his movements cautious. His gaze remained locked on El. She may have released him, but he clearly understood she didn’t need physical restraints to stop him if she chose to.
His eyes flicked around the room before settling on Will. There was an intensity there, something sharp and searching that Mike didn’t like one bit.
“We don’t know if you being here is messing with our world’s structure or something,” Dustin said, stepping in quickly, trying to smooth over the tension with a strained smile. “The last time something from another world showed up, our world almost ended. So… yeah. We want to get you back home just as much as you probably want to go.”
He hesitated, then added, “And, you know… sorry for tying you up and all that. But, in our defense, you did lunge at Mike with a sword.”
Sir Michael inclined his head slightly.
“I must admit, it was I who first drew blood,” he said. “I offer my sincerest apologies for my misconduct, for I now understand that I had raised my sword against…” His eyes shifted towards Mike, still carrying a trace of suspicion. “…friends.”
“Right! Exactly– friends!” Dustin said quickly, nodding with perhaps a little too much enthusiasm.
The rest of the group followed suit, nodding along.
Well, everyone except Mike.
Mike still watched his doppelgänger carefully, his posture tense, like he expected him to snap at any moment. And honestly, could anyone really blame him? The guy had a short fuse, got offended at the most random things, and had already tried to decapitate him once. If the others weren’t going to stay cautious, then Mike figured he’d just have to pick up the slack.
Will cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention back to him.
“Well… I say some of us head to the store to buy salt, while the rest of us get the bath ready?”
“You are leaving?” Sir Michael asked suddenly, his voice sharper now. His eyes hadn’t left Will for even a second.
“Well, we’re going to need a lot of salt,” Will explained, gesturing vaguely. “And Mike’s the only one with a car, so… I figured the two of us could handle that. Unless someone else wants to go with him?” He glanced around the room.
The rest of the group either shrugged or shook their heads, clearly indifferent about who got stuck hauling an absurd amount of salt across a mall parking lot.
Sir Michael took a large step forward.
Mike immediately flinched, his body tensing as he instinctively prepared for the worst.
“If you intend to depart, William, I must entreat that I be permitted to accompany you. To do otherwise would stand in direct violation of the oath I have sworn.”
“Your oath?” Will blinked, clearly caught off guard.
“In those days when William and I were yet but children, I pledged my sword to remain ever at his side,” Sir Michael began, his voice heavy with conviction. “He– and the royal house to which he belongs, represent the very future of magic. Though I possess no gift for the arcane myself, he was most gracious in allowing me to remain in his service, to attend him as his knight.”
He paused, his expression tightening, something almost pained flickering across his face.
“It saddens me deeply to confess it, yet even now I stand in breach of that sacred promise. I have left him; I have failed. And still, if I cannot uphold my honor within my own world, then I must insist upon fulfilling my duty within this one.”
…
What the fuck?
Mike stared at– well, at the other him with his jaw slightly slack. When he glanced around, he saw the rest of the party wearing similar expressions of stunned disbelief… except for Max and Lucas, who seemed to be exchanging amused looks, like they were barely holding back laughter.
“Um…” Will hesitated, clearly searching for the right words. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea?”
“My sorcerer, I beg of you–”
“It’s not– I mean, we get that you took an oath and all–”
“Do we?” Mike muttered under his breath, only to get lightly elbowed by Will. It didn’t hurt, but it definitely made the point.
“But you don’t know our world,” Will continued, trying to stay diplomatic. “You don’t know what a car is, and you’ve never been to a mall… and you look…” He gestured vaguely up and down at Sir Michael’s armor.
“Like he just escaped one of your dumb comic books?” Max cut in, unable to resist.
Will sighed. “Not dumb– but yeah, basically. You’d stick out like a sore thumb. And we can’t risk drawing attention.”
“Imagine if you ran into someone who actually knows Mike,” Lucas added. “That’d be a complete disaster.”
Sir Michael looked like he wanted to argue further, his jaw tightening for a moment, but instead, he let out a quiet breath, his shoulders sagging just slightly.
He stepped forward, closing the distance between himself and Will, before slowly lowering himself to one knee. The movement was practiced.
He took Will’s hand gently in his own.
Before anyone could react or even process what was happening, he lifted Will’s hand and pressed a chaste kiss to his knuckles.
“As you wish.”
And just like that, he rose again, as though nothing unusual had happened, turning his attention towards El.
“Lady Jane may act as she pleases, should it serve to secure my return to my homeland.”
“Oh my God…” Max muttered from somewhere in the back, the grin practically audible in her voice.
But Mike didn’t turn around. He couldn’t. He was frozen in place, his brain still trying and failing to catch up with what he had just witnessed.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Will standing just as still. His ears were turning redder by the second, his entire face slowly flushing as the reality of what had just happened seemed to fully sink in. You could practically see the gears in his head turning.
Then Sir Michael turned sharply, fixing Mike with an intense, unwavering stare.
“Though I may be denied the privilege of accompanying William, and thus of keeping my oath myself, I must require that you uphold it in my stead,” he said firmly. “I spoke in earnest when I declared that our vow transcends all worlds. I expect of you no less constancy and devotion.”
His voice was stern, his eyes hard, boring straight into Mike like he was issuing a command rather than a request.
“Right… yeah. Whatever that all means,” Mike replied weakly, crossing his arms defensively.
“Do you take this for a matter of jest–?” Sir Michael stepped forward, clearly not amused.
“Whoa, easy–” Lucas interjected quickly, stepping closer just in case.
Will moved even faster, stepping directly between the two of them.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he said, raising his hands slightly in a calming gesture. “He didn’t mean anything by it. I’ll make sure he, uh… keeps up your– his oath.”
That seemed to satisfy Sir Michael. His expression softened almost immediately as he looked back at Will, giving a firm, approving nod.
“Right… okay,” Will said, turning slightly. “Mike, let’s go get the car?”
“Yeah… yeah, let’s go,” Mike muttered.
They managed to make it outside without any further dramatic gestures from the doppelgänger downstairs. The tension didn’t fully leave Mike’s shoulders until the basement door was shut behind them.
Will let out a long, slow sigh the moment he dropped into the passenger seat.
“What the hell is his problem?” Mike asked, staring straight ahead at the dashboard as he shoved the key into the ignition.
The engine sputtered for a moment before finally turning over, humming to life with a slight, familiar struggle. The Wheelers might have had money, but his dad still refused to buy him a decent car until he proved he wouldn’t crash the rusty test piece of metal they’d picked up for six hundred bucks from some random guy.
“How should I know? He’s you,” Will said, shooting him a pointed look.
“I do not act like that,” Mike protested immediately, clearly offended.
Will let out a small laugh. “Well… maybe not exactly like that. But you’ve got a similar intensity. And the short fuse.”
“I do not have a short–!” Mike cut himself off abruptly, realizing he was halfway to yelling and, in doing so, proving Will’s point. He slumped slightly in his seat. “Whatever. I still say we’re nothing alike.”
He paused, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
“And it’s so creepy, Will. I mean, yeah, identical twins exist and all that, but they’re used to each other! Can you imagine how messed up it is to have a guy who looks exactly like you just show up in your basement one day?”
He let out a breath, shaking his head. “And then he immediately tries to decapitate you?”
Will snorted softly despite himself. “Yeah… not ideal.”
“But we’ll figure it out,” he added more seriously after a moment. “It starts with getting the salt. The sooner El can get into his head, the sooner we can hopefully send him back.”
“God, I hope you’re right…” Mike muttered, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter as he pulled out.