Chapter Text
Hawkins Indiana 1987,
With the world split into four
The middle of the town was turned into a makeshift military base, right where one of the cracks from the "Earthquake" broke through.
The library, the very place where Nancy and Robin had been just a few days prior looking for information about Victor Creel,
Its crazy to think that just a few days before and they'd probably be dead.
The party sits in the basement of the Squawk, Mike and Nancy in front of the others, the Hopper-Byers are on the left side of the room, while the rest are on the other.
They are all planing, they have been through this before, many crawls,
But for some reason, this one felt different.
It was November, six days, six days before the day that changed their lives forever, the day they lost a friend, brother, son, November 6the 1983, four years ago now, William Jacob Byers disappeared without a trace.
Numerous search party's come back empty handed, the only thing left behind was his bike, in the ditch, a few feet from his house, left in a hurry, the door left cracked open.
The worst part is that they knew, they knew it had to do with the upside down, because El found him, for a little, in castle Byers, the last thing she heard was a Demogorgon, the sound of it breaking down the fortress.
She broke down that day, everyone did, El found Barb too, but she was already long gone, that day is the day they decided, Will was dead. He's gone and there's nothing they can do about it.
Mike cried that day, more than he cried when will went missing, more than anytime he went out to look for him only coming home when he searched everywhere three times (to be exact).
He didn't stop crying till the sun came up and the exhaustion won.
He didn't go to school the next day, He didn't go to school until his mom begged him.
He wishes he hadn't,
Wills locker was covered in pictures of him and flowers laying in front of it, from teachers, the only thing left by any other student was the writing spread across the back,
"Fairy Boy"
Mike started at it, he didn't move, he didn't cry, he kept walking.
He walked until his feet hurt, he walked all the way to Troy, he knew it was him, he knew, and he swung.
Mike wasn't a very strong kid, and the "Fight" ended with Mike on the floor and Troy running from teachers, but Mike didn't care, Will didn't deserve that when he couldn't be there to defend himself.
"Mike."
Nancy's voice cuts through Mike's mind,
"What?" Mike says looking over at his sister, The map on the wall had more markings than it did when he was conscious before, Nancy had her hands crossed over her body looking directly at him.
"Are you listening?, this is important, we don't have time for repeating."
As she went on she turned to face the others, she wasn't just talking to him in that, she was talking to everyone, Mike knew why, everyone knew why,
Barb, her best friend, everything she does is to make sure that Henry rots in hell for her, Mike understands, he feels the same about Will,
They don't know for sure that he's actually the reason Will is gone, but Mike would bet anything that he was.
Mike wanted to rip out his heart, the way he ripped out his when he took Will from him.
"We need to end this for good." Nancy says leaning on the table that the projector sat on,
"And we will." Lucas says from the side,
The next crawl should be in about three days, No one was particularly happy about that, they searched the entirety of the upside down. Deep down Mike knew they wouldn't find anything but he couldn't say that.
"So.." Dustin starts, "how is this crawl any different than the others?, why are we risking our lives to look in places we've looked a hundred times?"
I guess Mike didn't have to say anything after all,
"Dustin he has to be out there. where else would he be?" Lucas interjects "I just think this is dumb."
Lucas and Dustin start throwing words back and forth, Mike tunes them out, Mike knew he had to in there, he had to be, where else could he be, I mean there was a huge wall of fleshy stuff that they found a few miles out of the town, It couldn't be seen from the Town because of the thick sulfur covering the view.
They thought maybe something was behind it, but no matter how hard they tried they couldn't get through it, El had been training, and she couldn't even break though.
They stopped trying after a while, It was just a waste of time.
"Okay! okay." Joyce finally says,
"Why don't we sleep on it and come back in the morning with fresh minds?" Joyce uses a soft tone as if they were all toddlers on a verge of a meltdown, and to be fair to her, maybe they were, Mike felt it at least, all of this, everything, from Will to Max everything was such a heavy load for a bunch of teens and barely adults to take, and not to mention, a grieving family.
Who knows that their twelve year old child was probably mauled to death by an interdenominational demon.
Everyone slowly drifted towards their respective Vehicles,
"Ms. Byers?" Mike says walking towards her Instead of following Nancy and Johnathan.
"Mike please just call me Joyce, and what's up Hun?" Mike had walked until he was beside El, they had broken up a little while ago now, No bad blood, they just weren't right for each other, Mike still loved El, but not the way Lucas loved Max, or even how Joyce loved Hopper.
"Can I come over?" Mike says a little tremor in his voice.
"Of course Mike." Joyce says grabbing his forearms and squeezing slightly.
Mike hopped into the back across from El, the talked lightly about miscellaneous stuff, Mike has been spending time at the Byers house.
He sleeps on Wills bed more than he sleeps at home if he's being honest, his room is exactly as it used to be except a few lamps at the end of the bed, Joyce cant bring herself to get rid of them,
Sometimes El comes in and lays with him, she never knew him but she still feels the loss, Shes tried to find him, but its no use.
She says it feels like there's a wall in her mind, that blocks her from reaching him, its the same as henry, Mike cant help but feel like maybe there's a reason, Steve likes to say its because Will is dead, and that means henry is dead too.
Mike doesn't believe that, he knows he should, that its a logical explanation, but he cant, when Barb was dead El found her, she saw her body, so why cant she find Will?
The car pulls into the driveway of the Byers house, the porch light is dim, but its enough.
They walk inside in pairs, Hopper with Joyce in his arm, and Mike with El about a foot beside him.
Mike feels bad intruding on their family time, but he feels better in Wills room,
they eat, shower, watch a movie, and one by one, they make their way to their rooms,
since no one can bring themselves to clear Wills room, Johnathan and El share a room, it works because Johnathan doesn't ever stay there anyway, he stays at the wheelers house,
Mike makes his way down the hall, wills room is the farthest on the right at the end of the hall.
Mike feels a heat rise in his cheeks, the back of his eyes start stinging, but no tears fall, he wonders if there's even any left.
He pushes open the door, it groans loudly in the dark, he flicks the lamp by the bed on.
the room is covered in Wills drawings, the bed nicely made from last time Mike was here, he doesn't usually like making the bed but he always made sure to make Wills, he knows Will would prefer that.
He climbs onto the bed tucking himself under the covers, he lays his head on the pillow lightly, slowly letting it fall down.
He tucks his hands under his head for a while, looking towards the window on the other side of the room, he watches as a few trees cast shadows over the window,
He watches the way they swirl,
he cant tell if he's falling asleep but he swears for a second, the light beside the bed flashes.
Mike jumps up turning to face the light, he watches for a while, just watching, heart beating in his ears.
He doesn't want to sleep, he lays on his other side facing the light.
He doesn't know how long he's been watching it, but in the small chance that it was something he couldn't look away, what would he even do if it was?
Mike thinks about this, until his eyes get too heavy to hold and drifts off to sleep, the light still on.
➽──────˖ ݁𖥔.☁︎.𖥔 ݁ ˖───────❥
Mike opens his eyes to the light seeping through the window, the room has a warm glow from the slow rise of the sun.
Mike blinks in the brightness, he can hear faint sounds of pans and light footsteps, Joyce is usually up before the others making breakfast for everyone.
Mike doesn't move at first just laying in bed for about ten minutes, before finally giving in to hunger.
Mike makes his way down to the kitchen, Joyce is making toast and eggs,
Joyce turns around to look at him,
"Hey honey, I'm making breakfast if you'd like some." Joyce's turns back to her pan, as she does Mike hears a door open behind him, a few seconds later El joins him as they both sit at the table.
Joyce places food in front of both of them, the phone rings slightly after, Mike hears the faint conversation, he hears Joyce talking about getting him to school, and apologizing for the lack of notice.
she wonders back over to the kitchen, "Mike I just got off the phone with Karen, she wants you to go to school."
Mike looks at his plate, he doesn't want to go, but the "I miss Will" excuse has grown thin, It not a lie, but in his mom's eyes he should be over it by now.
They pull up to the school just as Lucas and Dustin do, Mike waves to Joyce as she drives off and joins the other boys as they walk into the school.
The day is boring and uneventful, which is usually how the days go, but once the lunch bell goes the course of the day changes, its a blur of code and paper but before he can comprehend what's happening Mike is walking across the forest behind the school to the table by their hidden passage.
Mike stumbles over words and little DnD figures before they're off again, traveling though the tunnels towards the squawk.
Everyone arrived at the squawk, "what's happening?" Lucas says as soon as they enter the room.
"Why are they doing it this early?" El says walking in from the other side,
Everyone is in shambles, they didn't prepare for this, through the rush Mike finds himself being ushered to his bike, without thinking he hop's on heading towards the lookout point.
the day has been a total blur, he's not sure what to do, Hopper had already went in so now his job is to sit here and look busy.
"Mike! Code red!" he hears Dustin's voice on the walkie, he sounds frantic, Mike quickly grabs the walkie from the floor,
"What? what happened?" "its you're mom, and dad and everyone, get to the hospital quick."
Mike's heart stops.
➽──────˖ ݁𖥔.☁︎.𖥔 ݁ ˖───────❥
Jane rushes through the gate in the door, hurriedly walking down the driveway, the sound of distant Demogorgon and the faint sound of a child,
She follows the sound into the dark foggy forest, she has one goal,
Get to Holly Wheeler before Henry does.
She pushes through the trees, branches snapping under her feet, she didn't know where she was going, the only thing she had for reference was the rightside up Hawkins, it looks almost the same, except for the vines spreading across every surface, she covers her face with a bandana.
The air isn't gonna kill her but it can cause long term effects, its safer this way.
She comes out to an opening, a long path goes down into full darkness, the sounds of the trees and vines groan in the space,
she keeps moving the air is thick in her vision, a loud crack from the side slices though the regular sound of the upside down.
Jane runs to the opposite side, ducking behind a tree, she peers over the side looking to the area of the sound.
A man walks out holding his side,
a man she recognizes.
"Hopper!" Jane says coming out from the treeline to where Hopper is now standing,
"Kid?" Hopper is dressed in his outfit from earlier, Jane pulls him into a hug, he winces at the contact before she pulls back a little, mindful of his injuries.
"Sorry." Jane looks down at his hip, just a little above is a patch of blood covering his jacket.
"What are you doing here?" Hopper says slightly breathlessly, "The Wheeler house got attacked, Henry took Holly. I'm looking for her."
Hopper sighs, "Okay." he says, she can tell he's upset but he doesn't say it.
"We have to keep going." Jane turns to face back towards the darkness, for a second it lights up with the crack of red lightning, it doesn't help though, the end is still dark.
"Hold on kid,-" Hopper puts an arm on her shoulder "I will look for her, you take this and find a way back." Jane looks at him slightly irritated.
"No, Hopper-" she puts her arm on his "-What if Henry has her, there's nothing you can do, I can. you need me."
"Kid if I see Henry I can handle it, what I cant handle is you getting hurt, we need to find a spot with signal and contact the others."
"But Hop." "Jane, if we find the others we can regroup and figure out what to do from there, you don't even know where your going." Jane hated that he was right.
"Fine." "Okay, lets get back to the gate then see what we can do from there. okay?" "..Okay."
Jane reluctantly followed him in the opposite direction, back towards the town.
After a while of walking they arrive back in town, Hopper rounds just outside and they get on top of a nearby hill, the view over most of the town, but specifically the makeshift upside down military base.
"it feels different." "what?" Jane turns to Hopper, they were tucked behind a log, she had been trying to reach one of the guards,
"I went into their mind, but, there was a door, whatever's behind it is strong, it's blocking me out" Jane wipes the blood trailing from her nose.
"Its Henry, it has to be." Hopper looks over at her, "I have to go in there, and kill him." She abruptly stands up, Hopper pulls her back down.
"hold on kid, not only is that a death trap, they are looking for you, you can't just waltz in, and second its filled with military men, and third! what if its not henry?" Jane looks over at him,
"what is it then?" Jane leans her head back, she wants to take off the bandana and breathe clean air. "I dont-" "Its Henry." Hopper watches her baffled, "Okay so it is Henry, obviously they want him alive, how do you kill him."
Jane looks ahead, "I just do, I don't know" "You don't know." "No."
"but I have to Hop. for Holly, for Barb,-" she pauses slightly "- For Will." she looks back at hoppers face, the air is thicker than it already was, she can see the conflict on hoppers face.
"Okay, we get in there, we find out what is in there, anything goes wrong, you get out."
Jane shoots him a look, "We get out."
She pulls herself up slightly to look over the log, "I can get on the roof and let you in the door." she swiftly hops over the log over towards the gate.
Jane has noticed something about the lightning, when it flashes it is always followed by a smaller one, if she times it right she can hit the roof and the thunder will block it.
Jane runs to the gate, the lightning cracks through the sky as she hoists herself up and over the gate, her feet landing on the side as the second one breaks through.
She looks over back where Hopper was, he looks mortified, which would be funny if the situation hadn't been so dire.
she jumps over to a guard on the tower, with a slight jerk of her neck his snaps sending him over the side, Jane lands beside him, retrieving the keycard attached to his hip.
she quickly walks over to gate where hopper is now standing behind.
They door swings open and Hopper walks through,
"I knew you could do it" Hopper says, Jane rolls her eyes. They turn towards the base ducking behind a wall giving them some cover.
There is two guards in front of the main door, "What now." Jane whispers, Hopper looks around.
"there." Jane turns to see him pointing at a door on the side with a guard sitting outside, "You can take one guard right?"
Inside the base is bright, the air is notably clean, Jane takes off her "mask" taking a long breath of the air, finally she can breathe.
"Keep your eyes open." Hopper says from beside her, the small cloth he had over his mouth gone too,
She looks around, they are in a split hall, to the right is a few rooms then a grey metal door, the hall ahead of them leads to more rooms all with white doors, she cant make out what any of them say from here.
"So where to now?" Hop says, Jane walks forward towards the other rooms, a few rooms are labelled with numbers, 1-10, at the end of the hall there's a door and another hall to the right.
the door at the end of the hall is labelled "Laboratory"
At the end of the hall to the right is a door, it looks the same as the one on the other side.
"We need to go in there." Jane says gesturing to the door, "Are you sure?" Hopper says taking a quick glance at it, then back at her,
"Yes." Jane makes her way down, "Wait." Hopper says once they make it to the end,
"Ill go first make sure its clear." He gives her no time to disagree, swiping the card and slowly pushing the door open, The gun that was on his back now rests in his empty hand.
He slowly follows the movement of the door entering the room, he tilts his head slightly, Jane follows behind him, they are in a bigger room now, its darker, less light covering the space.
the room was filled with various glass boxes holding various creatures, ones defiantly from the upside down, but not ones that they've seen before.
"what is this." Jane says walking towards one of the boxes in the middle of the room, a large one, large enough to fit a person, hence the door on the side, the creature inside was large, it only took up about half the space, it was a cluster of thick vines.
"I don't know, don't get too close to the glass." Hopper says pulling her lightly on the arm closer to him.
"There." Jane points to a door, a metal one, its thick and heavy.
"are you sure?" Hopper cautiously walks towards it, "I'm sure, the door is behind that one."
Hopper tries to open the door with the key card but it doesn't open, "Watch out" Jane stands in front of the door, once hopper is back beside her she lifts her arm,
The pushes out all her energy against the door, it rattles, not moving,
the power cuts, lights shutting down, before red lights fill the room, alarms blaring,
Then she hears it, a low hum, but the pain comes a second after,
Jane drops to her knees, the pain blooms through her head spreading into her veins, hitting every nerve in her body.
She tries to breathe but the only thing that come out is a blood curdling scream.
Hoppers hand comes down on her shoulder, "Jane!" Hoppers voice is muffled by they sharp ringing in her ears, blood drips from both sides of her nose.
Hopper quickly picks her up, they enter another room, its small, it looks like an office with a desk at the end and a computer, Hopper places her behind it she sits with her back against the drawers.
the ringing is slightly muted in here, but the pain in her body isn't, it's bearable though.
"Stay here I'm going back out there." Hopper abruptly stands up pulling himself out the door.
Jane brings her hands over her ears to block the noise, it helps a small bit.
➽──────˖ ݁𖥔.☁︎.𖥔 ݁ ˖───────❥
Mike practicably throws his bike, it hits the ground hard, it will be fine.
Mike pushes through the front door, the white walls and lighting hitting his eyes, and the smell of cleaning chemicals attacking his senses,
He ignores the people around him quickly practically throwing himself at the elevator.
the first thing he see's is Dustin talking to the receptionist,
"Listen i know is policy believe me this isn't my first rodeo but-" "Wheres Nancy?" Mike says cutting through whatever Dustin was saying to her.
"Mike! Nancy is in the waiting room, you should go see her" Mike doesn't even hear the end of his sentence, he darted towards the waiting area around the corner,
Nancy came into view and he stopped,
Blood streaked across her chest, blood pooled along her legs, tears flowing down her face,
"Nancy.." Mikes tone was soft, his sister turned towards him, "What happened." Nancy stood, slowly, a small tremor in her legs quickly subsided. "Mike."
Mike sat beside Nancy with Lucas in front of the, they hadn't said a word since Nancy told them the situation, His mom was alright though she suffered a bad gash on her neck, it wasn't deep enough to do any real damage, and His father was in surgery, his state was critical,
But Holly? they didn't know where she was, Eleven ran after her in an attempt to save her, but now shes MIA, along with hopper. Mike didn't say anything.
Both of his parents almost died, one still might, and his little sister might be already.
"how could everything go so wrong in one night?" Lucas finally says cutting the silence, Mike and Nancy looked up at the same time.
One night, one night changed everything, not even this night, one night four years ago, November 6the 1983, the night Will disappeared, the night Eleven appeared.
sometimes mike wonders why it had to be them, any kid could have gone missing, any kid could have went out that night and found El, he quickly shut it down, no kid deserves what they have, is a cruel punishment for just being there, wrong place wrong time.
"We did everything the same as always, but for some reason tonight hopper gets attacked, and Holly gets taken. Why? especially now, whats so special about November?" Lucas continues.
"Why does he even want Holly?" Nancy says shaking her head, Holly was no different than any other child, if anything she was smarter than the average child, she read books, could never put them down, she had lots of friends.
"I assume the same reason he wanted the others, Max and Fred." "But then why didn't he kill her? Why did he send one of his Demogorgons after her? why did he take her?" Nancy counters Lucas.
Its true. If he wanted to kill her, he would have, he wanted her alive, but why?
"Well, maybe its the same reason he took Will." Mike winced at the mention of Will,
"If he was able to kill people, why did he keep Will alive, Barb died. but Will didn't?" "We don't know that he didn't." "But from what we do know. Barb was killed. El proved it. Will was alive at the same time. Why?"
Nancy didn't answer, that was something they spent years trying to figure out. they never could, it just doesn't make sense, none of this does.
"Is it really a coincidence that Will went missing what will be in 3 days exactly four years ago? and now Holly is missing, a 12 year old child, the same age as Will. that's not a coincidence. and after everything, with him killing people and max in a coma, hes getting ready for something, something big."
Mikes head hurt, is not even like Will and Holly were the same, Will was quiet, he kept to himself, he barely spoke, but Holly? she talked to everyone, she was a leader, i mean, they were both kind kids, but Will took everything to heart, and Holly strikes back, she was resilient, hard to crack.
what did Henry want with them especially children, that thought made Mike sick.
➽──────˖ ݁𖥔.☁︎.𖥔 ݁ ˖───────❥
The sound of gunshots had stopped, and Dr. Kay was on the floor, blood pooling from her head, where hopper hit it on the wall, and from her arm when a pair of blue scissors stuck out.
The alarms were still going but the ringing had stopped, Jane was still weak though, Hopper took the key card from Kay.
"You ready kid?" Hopper said looking over at her.
Jane was not ready, she was tired, fight drained, but she didn't care not right now, not when shes so close to ending this.
"Ready." The key slot buzzed as the latch opened with a loud click. Hopper pushed the door open, the hall was short, but this was defiantly the way.
Hopper had told her already that one of the guards had came out from that room, there may be more waiting and they needed to be careful.
They both stepped inside, the large door shutting behind them, the lock clicking shut once again, Hoppers gun pointed towards the door, Jane was pulling her strength back to get ready in case Henry was already.
They stop in front of the door,
"If it is him and things get messy, you run, and get as far as you can, don't look back."
Jane wanted to say no, but with the dire situation saying out loud will just cause problems, she silently decided she wouldn't listen to that, but nodded anyway.
Hopper swiped the key grabbing the handle,
He swung the door open.
they froze in place.
It was not Henry in front of them.
It was her sister, Kali.
"Sister?" Jane said with all the voice she could muster.
Kail opens her eyes they widen as she sets her eyes on Jane, A relived smile creeping onto her face.
Jane reaches out grabbing her hand, shes attached to a machine, the "kryptonite" things as Hopper calls them pointing to her head.
Jane goes to free her then stops, just to her right is a person,
A person on the floor, a person her age.
Jane looks at Hopper, "Help her down" She says to him before walking around to the boy on the floor.
Hes unconscious, a small pool of blood had formed under his head, its not fresh, but not too old, the boy had various scars covering his arms and legs, he was in the same outfit as kali, he was pale, very pale, and his hair was the down to his shoulders and slightly curly.
She grabbed his shoulder turning him a little to see his face, she stopped.
There was blood trailing down his nose, smeared on his face, but she recognized that face, it was a little off but she could still tell, the face that haunts her at night, the face of the boy she couldn't save.
"Will." She said softly.
she heard Hopper walk up behind her, she turned to face him finding kail slightly behind, she didn't even hear her.
"What happened?" Jane said to her,
"Before we get into story time we need to get the hell out of here ok kid?" Hopper doesn't question anything, walking passed Jane and lifting Will over his shoulder.
Jane stands.
"I can help" Kali says from the side.
They make it out with kalis help and on the way somehow stealing a military Humvee, Jane and Hopper sit in the front while Kail sits in the back with Wills head on her lap.
Jane turns in her seat to look at her.
"What happened?"
kali sighs, "I don't even know, I heard someone come in and it was him, he looked shocked to see me, he looked around at everything before trying to help me down, it all happened so fast-" Kali shook her head "A guard came in and threw him on the ground, he tried to get up but he knocked him down again, just as they were gonna take him back, the alarms started going off, he stayed there for a bit before deciding to leave."
Jane listened nodding along, she was still confused i mean, she thought he was dead, and so did everyone else, how was he alive, its been four years.
She turned back around conflicted.
"How do you know its him." Hopper asks from beside her.
"Because i can tell." Jane says looking at the road, she doesn't know where they are going, maybe hopper doesn't either.
"Where are we going?" a short pause.
"Were going to the squawk, maybe we can reach the others from the radio tower."
"I thought that doesn't work because they are under us?" "I don't know kid we have to try something"
"I can just open a gate and-" "No, No your already tired" "But i can do it." "No you cant, not right now we'll just wait-"
"Hey." Kali says,
Jane turns to see Will sitting up, no longer on Kalis lap, he's now on the farthest side, pressed up against the backdoor,
Jane sees hopper glance in the rear-view mirror.
"Don't worry they wont hurt you" Kali says softly, Will was sitting back holding his legs up to his chest.
His eyes are darting around wildly, he looks scared but his face doesn't really show it,
"I'm Jane." she says, she holds her hand out as max taught her to do.
Will looks at her hand, her arm,
"Eleven." He says, his voice is almost silent barely a whisper,
she abruptly pulled her hand back,
"Friend" Will says, she can see his arms lighten the hold,
"Yes, I am a friend, you are safe, were helping you."
She tries to calm him, but the words just make his hold tighter again.
there were scars all over his body, most of them looked old, some were newer but still healed, the most noticeable one was just below his shirt sleeve, three claw marks running upwards the rest hidden by the shirt.
lost in thought she doesn't even notice when the door swings open and the truck slams to a stop.
Will jumps out the back landing hard on his knee, Jane swings her own door open,
"Wait! Will!" Jane runs after him, he's running towards the trees,
despite the rest she was still tired, ignoring the burning in her legs and somewhere in her eyes and nose.
"Wait! Jane!"
they enter the forest just behind the treeline.
He stops, Jane almost crashes into him, she stops herself a few steps behind him.
"Eleven." He says, his voice is shaky, "Your friends with henry."
Janes breath holds, Henry? what does Will know about Henry? and why is he saying shes friends with him.
"No Henry is not a friend" She says sternly.
Will looks almost hurt, "What? but Dr, Kay said that-" "Dr Kay is a liar, what did she tell you?"
Will ignores her and walks passed,
"wait," Jane grabs his arm,
He turns quickly grabbing her hand and throwing it off,
He looks more scared than when she first found him.
"Will, I'm not friends with Henry you don't have to worry" "but we need Henry"
"what?" she doesn't understand what's happening,
"Dr Kay needs Henry to help us," Wills voice is quiet again, he put his arms around himself and was holding so tight his knuckles were white.
"No, No we can't help Kay, she is evil, she is trying to end the world." "why?" "I don't know."
Jane reaches out her hand, wanting to comfort him, but doesn't want to scare him away.
"Will, do you remember your mom?" Will looks up at her, his eyes wide,
the silence stretches, his face runs though different emotions,
"Not really." Jane shudders
"Will-" she takes a step forward and Will takes a step back "-I know your mom-" Will blinks, his face is scrunched like he's trying to think,
"Shes so nice, she misses you. I know you don't know me, and everything I'm telling you is a lot but you can trust me."
Will looks behind him into the forest, while he's looking the other way Jane spots something,
On his neck right where his neck meets his shoulder, E1430, it's a tattoo, it hits Jane in a way that's unexplainable, the grief of knowing that if she just tried harder she could've prevented this, but she didn't.
Will turns back to her, "My mom." he says, his eyes are glassy,
Hopper comes up behind her, "Come on kid we gotta go." Jane turns to him as he speaks,
"Come Will, I promise we are safe, we want to bring you home." Shes holding her hand out to him now.
Will takes one glance back.
"Okay."
➽──────˖ ݁𖥔.☁︎.𖥔 ݁ ˖───────❥
"this is stupid." Mike says, Lucas, Joyce and Robin are pointing walkies at the ground walking around the sqwak, hoping to catch Hopper on the walkie, Dustin is inside with Steve trying to use the radio in there,
"do you have any better ideas Mike?" Lucas barks back at him,
"I don't know maybe, go to the upside down and find him?" "okay Mike, you go to the gate and waltz right through with the extra security up right now."
Mike rolls his eyes dramatically, "It's not a metal detector, that's not gonna work."
"Maybe instead of bitching up there maybe help us?"
"Okay boys calm down." Joyce finally calls from the field, the sun was starting to rise and Hopper and Eleven are completely MIA, Nancy is still at the hospital with their mom, she was awake now and they both visited for a while and Joyce invited him back with the others, he accepted.
But maybe he wouldn't have if he knew what that meant.
Joyce was very worried, ever since what happened to Will Joyce has been very cautious about peoples whereabouts, but now, she has no idea where her Boyfriend, and daughter are.
Mike felt bad for her, shes been through so much in her family, from Lonnie to Losing her son, the Byers family hasn't had much luck in any department.
Erica was off somewhere with Mr Clarke doing something, Mike was worried about El, not so much Hopper, he knew Hopper would be fine, but EL? sure she was strong but there were so many people after her, and who knows if Hopper even found her yet.
"why don't we just go through a gate and contact them from there, find out where they are?" Mike says,
"And what gate are we gonna go through? they are all covered with military, and large sheets of metal." Lucas shoots back.
"I think that's a good idea" Robin says from somewhere to the side, "It's better than walking around aimlessly here, and if we go a little out of town they might not be so guarded, and if we get back to the Squawk from there, the radio should be strong enough to reach them wherever they are" Joyce glances around at them.
"Okay if were really doing this, Mike, you stay here-" Mike looks over at her, "What? no-" "-im not letting you go in there." "Why can Lucas go but not me?" "Cause I'm not stupid" "That's not what I meant."
"Mike, your family has been through a lot in the past few days, I don't want anything to happen to you." Joyce says firmly but with no bad intention.
"Joyce, I can handle myself. Please"
Joyce Sighs long and hard, "Okay Mike, but you stay close to Lucas."
"Don't worry Princess I got you." Lucas winks at him, Mike groans in response.
They arrive at one of the plate just out of town, each person holds a shovel,
"Okay on three we all lift." Robin says shoving her shovel under the side of the panel.
"One, Two, Three!" They all push down with their shovels, the panel lifts upwards, its really heavy, heavier than they thought it would be.
with the work of Mike and Lucas on the end, the manage to push the plate over and reveal the glowing break in the ground,
"Maybe I should've stayed." Mike says heaving.
They drop through the Gate, the air is colder down there, the particles that swim through the air make it feel dense in his lungs, the ground is slick with some kind of, substance.. the moment they enter Mike pulls his walkie out,
"Hello, Hopper, El? Can anyone hear this?" the walkie crackles, no sign of life on the other end.
"Maybe their out of range, we can try again when we get closer to town,"
"He-o-, Mike?" The walkie spits out, he recognizes that voice no doubt,
"El! El where are you?" the others gather around,
"wer- Radio tower- fo- Will!" Mike's heart drops, he looks up at Joyce, Joyce is already looking at him.
"Were coming."
Mike is practically running, Mike defiantly heard her say Will, he doesn't know what he's expecting, if they found his body Mike isn't even sure if he can look at it, knowing he was really dead, but what if they found him, alive?
then again, she could have been saying something completely unrelated and he just heard what he wanted.
Mike slowed down as the sqwak came into view, his steps were small, shaky, whatever was waiting inside he could handle.
He spots El first, she came out of the building, she pulled him into a tight hug, she moved down the line to everyone saying quick hello's.
"El, what did you say on the walkie?" she looked over at him, her expression softened,
"Come inside, see for yourself." El takes his hand lightly pulling him towards the doors,
Once they enter the world stops, Hopper is on the couch, covered in slime and vines but what can you do.
and on the other, a woman sits, shes wearing Els top shirt she had on before, a grey crop, and white shorts,
closest to the back wall is a boy in Els sweats from under her shorts, and hoppers Jacket, its too big for him and basically covers his whole body, the boy turns to the entrance.
Mike looks back, tears hit the back of his eyes, that face, though roughed out on the edges, skin paler than it should be, its not a rotting body, its not a miscommunication, that's defiantly,
"Will?"