Chapter Text
Ever since Will Byers was taken to the upside on November sixth, nineteen eighty-three, there has been something undeniably wrong with him.
He had a small group of tight-knit friends, a loving family —with the exception of his father, of course—and a passion for art, but nothing could help him cope with the fact that, to the people of Hawkins, Indiana, he had been brought back from the dead. “Zombie boy”, a name that had been stuck onto Will like a parasite, was dealing with issues far worse than the bullies at school.
Between being possessed and seemingly intertwined with the very being of his kidnapper, Will Byers was far more than troubled. His quiet demeanor worsened as the years passed and he often felt as if he were watching his friends from the sidelines, a background character in his own story.
As Will walked into the, now shared Wheeler-Byers. kitchen to grab a midnight snack, he instantly noticed the sudden shift in the air. The room grew noticeably frigid as he looked around anxiously while preparing a small platter of peanut butter and apples. He walked over to the thermostat reading a solid—and not particularly chilly—70 degrees fahrenheit and looked outside the window to see the dead grass that he had grown accustomed to seeing. Deciding that he was just simply paranoid, he opened the closet door lying underneath the stairs to grab a jacket, the only issue being that there were not jackets to be found on the other side.
Behind the off-white, wooden door lay the vaguely familiar Surfer Boy pizza kitchen in which he, El, Mile, Argyle, and Jonathan had managed to piggyback into Max’s trance in an attempt to save her. Now, the kitchen was dark, empty, and beckoning for Will to step inside. With a final look back into the Wheeler house, he cautiously walked inside, the door shutting behind him.
It was a strange feeling being back at a place that he was at so briefly, yet so much had occurred in such a small window. As Will approached the empty pizza freezer, the lights began to flicker rapidly and, seemingly, burn out, leaving him left in the dark. He hurriedly walked over to the light switch near the kitchen sink and frantically flipped it on and off with no response from the lights overhead.
Suddenly, the sound of muffled voices began to fill the room. Will looked up from the light switch and took in the dark, empty room in search of the source of the sound. “Who’s there?” he said sternly, yet the slight tremble of his voice was noticeable “Vecna you son of a bitch come out”.
Immediately after the insult left his lips, the voices stopped and the lights flashed back on. The room remained the same, with the exception of Eleven floating in the now water-filled pizza freezer with a visibly desperate Mike resting his hand on her shoulder affectionately. Will's heart practically stopped at the sight, freezing him in place as he began to watch the all too familiar scene play out before him.
“El, I don’t know if you can hear this, but if you can, i just want you to know that I’m right here and-” Mike confesses with a desperation that was once reserved for Will, “I love you.”
The words were a cut to the heart, but it was nothing that Will hadn’t heard or seen before, in fact, he was almost offended that Vecna thought he was that weak, making him scoff. Wil decided to walk near the freezer, noting how tense he had become since he got here. He crouched down beside Mike hesitantly as he watched once more.
“I don’t know how to be without you, El” Mike cries with worry “I feel like my life started that day we found you in the woods.”
Will almost flinched at the confession, the sincerity of Mike admitting his life started the day that Will had believed his end would never not hurt.
“Taking you home was the best thing I’ve ever done, El” a teary eyed Mike practically whispers to Eleven.
Will looks away in disbelief at this statement. “This- he never said that” he whispers to himself, the hurt evident on his face. The memory of Mike's admission of making Will his best friend seems so forced now. Was it because I was possessed? Will thinks to himself Why would he lie to him like this? Being my best friend was the best thing you ever did, was it not?
Taking a shaky breath, Will stands up and looks inside the freezer. Floating on the surface of the water lies a torn up painting, now soaked with water. Upon closer examination, his heart drops its my painting. He takes a few steps back, only to run into someone’s chest. Will quickly turns around to find Mike Wheeler glaring down at him, a fiery rage Will has never seen before blazing in his eyes.
“You are so selfish it’s disgusting” Mike snaps “you're ruining everything!”
Pushed back by an a seemingly supernatural force—or simply shock—, Will falls back, his spine landing not on the pizza kitchen floor, but the hard wood of a house. He stands up, his heart threatening to burst from his chest, and looked around the old house. The Creel House he realized as he peered at the grandfather clock ticking to his right. “Vecna, what the hell do you want?” Will yells angrily throughout the house “Come out and get me you coward!”
As if on cue, a veiny hand suddenly clasps onto Will's shoulder and a deep voice booms throughout the room. “William, welcome to my home. I hope you don’t mind that it’s quite aged.”
Will's heart stops briefly as he spins around to face the creature, “Get your fucking hand off of me” he hisses angrily, yet the fear is clear in his voice “What the hell do you want?”
Vecna's cold laugh bounces off the walls of the dilapidated house, “I want the same things that you do, William” he says coolly “I want things to be beautiful.” He takes his hand off of Will’s shoulder and raises it, the vines at Will's feet wrapping around the boy tightly, leaving him vulnerable. “We are more alike than you realize, you know” Vecna coos as he steps closer to Will “he will never love you back, William. You will never be truly happy in this world, but you and I can change that.”
Vecna's words and the vines' tight hold cause Will’s eyes to blur with water. “You liar!” he screams as a clawed hand approaches his face, “Let me go!”
“Try not to move too much, William”
Vecna's claws proceed to submerge themselves into Will’s eye, resulting in a pained yell from Will. He thrashes against the vines, but to no avail as they grow tighter and tighter. Tears fall from his eyes as his vision begins to grow hazy, “We are going to make the world beautiful, William” Vecna promises as Will's eyes finally flutter shut “We will make the world our own.”