Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Billy Hargrove was dead. At least, as far as he was concerned, he was.

Wait a fucking second.

How the fuck was he able to consider himself dead? He opened his eyes and saw the cheap coffin that Neil had bought before burying his son. Of course he'd cheap out on my funeral. He thought to himself, before pulling his fist back and punching through the wood and dirt, causing more to fall down into his face. Still got that Mind Flayer strength, that'll be helpful if I need to cause some pain. He widened the hole and pulled himself out, alongside the mangled corpse of some random ginger he'd never met and the body of some fat guy who seemed to have suffered a similar fate to him. The three looked at each other, confused. "Who the hell are you two?" Billy asked. The fat guy smiled and walked over, offering his hand out for a handshake. "Name's Bob Newby, and you?"

"Billy. Billy Hargrove." He said, looking down in confusion. He had vague memories of someone named Bob Newby, but couldn't figure out what was going on within them. Next he turned to the girl, who nervously began to talk.

"My name's Barb. What's hap-" She looked down and saw her half eaten body, screaming. "Oh shit! It got me! That monster got me!"

"What monster?" Bob asked, panicked.

"Some flower headed monster, it fucking got me!"
"Demogorgon… like Mike and Joyce said." Bob muttered.

"Mike Wheeler?" Billy turned, shocked.

"Yeah, do you know him?"
"I know his mom. Very well." He laughed, before getting serious. "We've gotta figure out what the hell is happening. What's the last thing you guys remember?"

Barb started, "I was at a party with Nancy and Steve when I cut my hand. Me and Nancy got into a fight and I went outside alone, and that Demogorgon thing teleported me to Steve's house, but full of vines. I tried to run but… it ate me, I think."

"Yeah, probably. That's what happened to me." Bob began, "The eating thing, I mean. Me, Mike, Joyce and Hopper were in Hawkins lab because Will was having flashbacks to the Upside Down, the alternate dimension you went to," he pointed at Barb, "and had been possessed by some creature that ruled over it. These Demogorgon-dog-like creatures took over the lab and somehow turned all the power off, so I went to reset it and let the others out. I was about to get out too when one of the dogs attacked and ate me."

"I was possessed by this thing that the kids called the Mind Flayer. It took over like 30 people using me as a vessel. They all melted into this giant monster and started trying to kill the kid with mind powers with my help. It was about to kill her but she managed to free me from its grasp. I stopped it from getting her and it suddenly just… died. Last thing I remember is getting stabbed like five times by some massive tendrils before it collapsed. I said sorry to my ste…" he paused, "my sister, Max, and then woke up here. When did it happen to you guys?"

"November 1983." Barb said.

"November '84." Bob told him afterwards.

"I was Independence Day '85. I guess it's safe to assume that it's 1986 now." Billy laughed.

"I've been dead for three years!?" Barb yelled.

"Hey, hey, quiet. As far as anybody knows, we're still dead." Billy shushed her. "We need to figure out what to do."

"I say we go to Joyce's place, she'll know what to do." Bob told them.

"Lead the way, Bob. Only lived here since '84 so I still don't know it well. Moved here just before you, y'know."

"Not even a year in and you get possessed and killed? I bet you wanna move away as soon as we figure out what's happening."

"Eh, maybe."

Bob laughed as he walked away, the two teens following behind.

September 30 th  1989

"JFK, blown away, what else do I have to say?" Will and Mike sang on their way home from the theatre, "We didn't start the fire! It was always burnin' since the world's been turnin'! We didn't start the fire! No we didn't light it but we tried to fight it!" They pulled into the Wheeler driveway, having decided to take a year off of school rather than going straight to college with the rest of the Party. Somehow, nobody had discovered anything about their relationship, other than the Scoops Troop, of course, who told them about what they'd seen and done a couple of days after the two got together. Steve and Robin were the only people left in Hawkins that they really knew, outside of family. Eleven had gone off to live with Kali as she continued to hone her powers, while Max, Lucas and Dustin had all gone off to different colleges as far away as California. When Steve came over the radio as they walked in, it wasn't a surprise. What was a surprise was the fear in his voice.

"Wheeler? Byers? You there?"

"Yeah, we're here, what's up?" Mike responded, concerned.

"Get over here. Now. Murray is calling Hopper and Joyce, you need to come." He said before going silent.

"What the hell is that?" Will asked.

"Probably not good."

"Definitely not. We have to go."

"Probably." Mike said, turning back around and hopping into the Toddfather. Will followed him and got into the passenger seat, taking out the cassette so they could talk without disruption. "Do you think it could be, y'know… it?"

"No, surely not. We closed the portal in Kamchatka."

"Yeah, but we closed the one in Starcourt and the Lab too."

"We sent a pretty stern message to the Russians, they wouldn't try and reopen it. Not again."

Mike was silent for the rest of the drive, lost in panicked thought. The two arrived at the old Byers home alongside Hopper and Joyce, Hopper having immediately left work after the call. "Hey!" Joyce greeted, still trying to be positive, "How was the movie?"

"Not bad, but not great." Will said, giving her a hug as Hopper went to the door and knocked. Murray opened the door.
"Hi Jim. Come in." He said, motioning for the four to follow him in. Hopper walked in and stopped as he turned to the living room. Next was Mike, then Will and then Joyce. There sat Steve with Billy, Bob and Barb, looking exactly the same as they did at the funerals, not having decomposed one bit.

"Bob?" Joyce asked, shocked.

"That's my name!" Bob said, smiling, causing Joyce to pass out near immediately.

Max was surprised to get a call at that time, but she was more surprised at the voice on the end of the line.
"Max?"

She knew the voice from years ago, but she didn't know how she was hearing it.

"Max, are you there? It's Billy."

"Yeah, I'm here. How the hell are you alive?"

The phone rang. She woke up. It was another dream. Truth be told, she'd been having similar recurring dreams since Billy died, so it wasn't much of a shock. What was a shock was the fact that someone was calling her at all.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Max, it's Mike."

"Mike! Hey! How've you been? Lucas and I have really missed you."

"We've all missed you too…" Mike sounded off.

"Is something wrong?"

"I wouldn't say wrong exactly, but definitely off."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'm stood in a room with Barb, Bob and Billy."

"What?"

"Yeah. We think it's to do with the Upside Down."

"We'll be there tomorrow."

"That's what I was hoping to hear. See you guys soon, and tell Lucas I said hi."

"Got it." She put the phone down. Oh fuck. Billy's alive. "Lucas!" She called, waking up her boyfriend, who had slept through the ordeal.

"Yeah?" He asked groggily.

"We're going back to Hawkins right now."

"What? Why?"

"It's back."

It took him a moment to process it, "Oh fuck, again?"

"Sounds like it."

"Okay, I'll start to pack."

"Great. Also, Mike says hi."

"I think I've got it. When you two got eaten," he motioned to Bob and Barb, "part of the Mind Flayer got into you, be it from the Demogorgon or the Demodogs. It basically flayed you as you died, maybe unintentionally. When Starcourt happened, it wasn't aware of the fact that you were flayed or couldn't figure out where you were, so you weren't utilised. I think it must have overheard something when Joyce and Hopper went to close the gate in '87." Said Mike.

"I think I mentioned the 'burial' we had for Hop right next to Bob's grave. That's probably how it figured out." Joyce told them.

"Something must've triggered it to make its way over to our dimension, and I think it could have something to do with all those kids that have gone missing in Maine, but that's not really important. I think the Mind Flayer is returning and is using the three of you as his messengers, I suppose. When it's back, you'll be the first to know, and then… I'm sure you can guess."

"We die…" Bob muttered, turning to Joyce. "If I do anything, I'm sorry. This Mind Flayer is going to try and kill all of us, and if he tries to make me do anything, I'll try my best to stop it, but I… I don't know if it's possible."

"It is possible, to get out of the flaying. We could survive this, if we beat it. So long as we get every wound patched up, we should be good. Sure, Barb will have to live without an arm, but we can survive in theory." Billy mentioned. "We need to get somebody to patch up every possibly fatal wound before that thing comes back. I know how to break out of it; it just takes a lot of difficulty."

"I couldn't do it, so I'm not sure if it always works." Will said, nervously scratching his arm.

"To be fair, you weren't exactly mentally stable at the time, were you?"

"That is a good point."

"You guys are mentally stable?" Barb asked, "We were dead yesterday!"

"We have to be stable if we want to save the universe." Bob said quickly, "Superheroes."

"Bob Newby, superhero." Joyce whispered, tears streaming down her face as she sat between Hopper and Bob.

"Dr Owens will be able to do something. I'll call him." Hopper said, standing up slowly. There was silence before Will remembered something.
"We could burn it out of them before it arrives. Like what happened with me."

"What do you mean?" Bob asked.

"The Mind Flayer acts like a hive mind, and when one of its hosts becomes uninhabitable, it leaves it. It's very weak to heat, so when I was flayed mom, Jonathan and Nancy burned it out of me."

"That could work." Joyce said, eyes full of newfound hope. "If it's not got a vessel, then it can't come back, can it?"

"Exactly! Then we finally put this all to bed and move on with our lives."

The group sat once more in silence, the solemn tone now lightened with the hope they all now felt.

Chapter Text

She knocked on the door to Murray Bauman’s house, having met up with Dustin, Suzie, Nancy and Jonathan on the way. Turns out, Dustin had explained everything to Suzie when they moved in together for college (much to the dismay of Suzie’s parents), making her well aware about everything to do with the Upside Down and the Mind Flayer, though something in Max made her think Suzie was just as doubtful as she herself had been back in 1984. When the door opened, she expected to see Mike, Will or anybody other than her brother. Needless to say, she was surprised. Billy had been patched up completely; every injury from the Mind Flayer was blocked off. “Holy shit, I thought Mike was lying.”

“So did I, for a while.”

And they hugged. For the first time, ever, they hugged. Billy held her tight as he began to actually cry against her shoulder.

“I’m so sorry Max. For everything. I shouldn’t have done anything like that to you, I…” he trailed off as Max pulled away.

“It’s okay. Neil was an asshole, we established that. He’s gone now.”

“Did… did he die?”

“No but he tried to kill mom, so he was whisked away to prison about a year ago.”

“Wow… it took them four years to take him away?”

“Yeah. He was just unlucky that I happened to be staying with her that night. They divorced about a year after you died but he wanted vengeance or some shit.”

Billy actually laughed a genuine, real laugh and wiped a tear from his eye. “I really missed you when I was, y’know, dead.”

“Can you remember what it was like?”

“Not really. I like to think I was in some sort of afterlife but I have no clue.”

Max laughed back, “I’d better say hi to the others then, we’ll talk more inside.” He let her past and saw Lucas. He stuck out a hand.

“Hey, Lucas. I wanted to say that…” He trailed off.

“Take your time man. I know it’s hard coming back from the dead and all.”

“I know, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. My dad was an asshole and didn’t exactly raise me well, but being trapped in my own mind for a while really gave me time to think.” And with that, Lucas accepted the handshake, pulling Billy in for a brotherly hug, which he seemed uncomfortable with at first before accepting it and hugging back. Lucas walked into the old Byers home, followed by Dustin with Suzie and then Jonathan with Nancy. Nancy turned and saw Will with Joyce, Mike and Bob, looking at the picture that Will drew to remember Bob. She looked to the right and saw Hopper with Murray, Steve, Robin and… BARB? Barb stood up mid conversation and ran up to Nancy, pulling her into a hug with her one remaining arm. The two were practically broken as they held each other tight, crying into each others shirts. “Mike forgot to tell me you were here.” She whispered into her best friend’s ear.

“He forgot to tell me you were coming.” She whispered back, smiling. 

They tied the Flayed to the floor as tightly as they could. They set up dozens of heaters running on all sorts of power. Everything was shut as they turned the power sources on, lighting the fire behind their heads in the process. Nancy, Will and Max were holding each of them down in case they made an escape attempt, just as Will had done years earlier. Everybody watched as the three started writhing around manically. “Fuck, is this what I was doing?” Will asked, pinning Bob’s hands to the floor.

“You don’t remember?” Nancy asked from his right.
”I WAS POSSESED.” He shouted as Bob went for a nutshot, barely missing. Mike laughed, despite the situation, and was met with a glare from Will, who had to avoid a second one. “Why is Bob the only one fighting back?” He asked.

“Oh can you not see what’s happening to me?” Max asked, face already bruised from Billy’s attacks on her. “Also, Barb only has one arm; she can’t exactly do as much.”

“You make a good point.” Will said, turning back to Bob as the veins in his neck turned black. “I think we’re getting close, get ready guys!”

“Please don’t say it like that.” Steve pleaded, causing Dustin and Will to laugh.

“Oh so it’s okay when he makes jokes, but not when I laugh?” Mike asked jokingly.

“He would’ve crushed them Mike.” Will responded as the black smoke flew out of Bob’s mouth. It smashed through a window and rose into the sky, never to be seen again. Next to be saved was Barb, followed by Billy. The three were untied as they came around. Suddenly, Billy sat up, looking at the crowd in front of him. “It worked…” He said, looking down to his body. “It worked!” He repeated, jumping to feet. “Freedom baby!” He shouted, running out of the front door and shouting about his victory.

“That seems like a bit of an overreaction.” Murray said, turning from his open door to the other two on the floor.

“He did have to go through being possessed.” Max chuckled, not looking away from the door.

“Yeah, if I was that sort of person, I would’ve done the same thing when I got saved.” Will added.

“How are you two holding up?” Jonathan asked, turning back to Bob and Barb.

“Not bad. Stomach’s a little sore but I’ll survive.” Bob laughed, pushing himself up.

“I’ve been better, but in terms of the last six years, this is the best I’ve felt. Not looked but definitely felt.” Barb told them as she reached for Nancy to grab her. Meanwhile, Suzie had pulled Dustin to the opposite end of the house.

“I’m sorry, Dusty-Bun. I can’t do this.”

“Do what?”

“Deal with this… supernatural stuff, it’s...” She trailed off, “it’s too much. I’ve got to le-“

“Don’t worry, I get the message. What do you want me to do?”

“I can get a plane from Indianapolis to back home, it’s not like I have any college classes to do.”

“I thought you were doing physics classes?”

“What? No! I was just living with you in the apartment.”

“Oh… well we should probably get going if you want me to drive you.”

“I can get a bus. I’ll see you around Dustin.”

And she left, making her way past Billy, who was being pulled by Max and Hopper to try and get him inside. It wasn’t working. Dustin watched in awe from the widow as she walked away, mouth open. “Fuck.” He muttered, turning back to everyone else, who was watching as Suzie left. “That’s gonna be a nightmare to sort out.” He smiled a somewhat genuine smile and walked back to the group, rubbing his hands together. “Well, at least we’ve saved the world for the… I wanna say fifth time in a row?”

“Yeah, looks like it.” Mike said, looking proud.

“What exactly did you guys do?” Will asked, looking at two of his oldest friends.

“We gave moral support.” Dustin told him after pausing for a second.

“Sure, whatever.”

“Aren’t you gonna do anything about Suzie?” Robin asked, finally taking her eyes off the young girl, who had disappeared in the distance.

“Nah, we’d sorta drifted apart anyways. That was the last straw, I guess.”

“Well, with that sorted, I suppose I should fix us some food up!” Joyce said right as Hopper, Billy and Max came through the door, tears streaming down Billy’s face.

“That might not be the best idea; you’ll be out of food by the end. Maybe we could go to a restaurant or something.” Jonathan suggested.

“Anything fancy is gonna cost hundreds for all of us.” Said Will.

”Could do McDonalds.” Mike muttered.

“I could really go for a McDonalds right now.” Dustin added, excited.

“Okay then, it’s settled. Let’s go.”

Martin Brenner was dead. At least, as far as he was concerned, he was.

Wait a fucking second.

How the fuck was he able to consider himself dead? He opened his eyes and saw the cheap coffin that the workers had built before burying their boss. Of course they’d cheap out on my funeral. He thought to himself, before pulling his fist back and punching through the wood and dirt, causing more to fall down into his face. What on Earth is this newfound strength? He widened the hole and pulled himself out, alongside the skeletons of hundreds of random dog creatures. He looked at the dogs. “What the hell are these?”

Chapter Text

Mike sat in his room with Will. The radio was playing as the two made out on the bed, when Mike pulled away. “And nobody wants to know you now, and nobody wants to show you how.” He sang along with the music. Will laughed and joined him. “So if you’re lost and on your own, you can never surrender!” They laughed together as Corey Hart continued to sing, as if they hadn’t exorcised three dead people of an evil monster who wanted to take over the universe just days ago. Will fell onto his back, splaying himself across the bed as Mike followed suit. “God that gave me déjà vu.” Mike said, turning to face his boyfriend. “Haven’t heard that song since before Hopper threatened to kill my grandma.” He added, making Will laugh. They sighed together.

“I miss the days when we could just have fun without having to worry about a giant evil monster.” Will said, looking away from Mike and to the roof.
”Me too. But it should be done now, there’s nobody who had an intact enough body after our encounters with it to be useful. It’s over.”

Dr Brenner finished construction of the drill. Using plans that he had stolen from the abandoned Russian base below the odd looking mall, and the instructions of him, he had built a drill large enough to penetrate into the other world once more. He activated it and watched as a giant blue beam exited the front, breaking through the wall in front of him, where the old gate used to be. Increase the power. He instructed, so Brenner turned the power up. He saw the monster in its full glory, hundreds of those dogs and dozens of those fully grown monsters, one of which had killed him six years prior, in the gateway. He smiled. 

“I hope so, I don’t know if I can-“ He was cut off as the lights went out.

“Looks like some sort of powercut.” Mike said, standing up to look out the window. “Yeah, see? Every house has gone out.”

“Guess so.” Will said before he felt something he hadn’t felt for a good four years. Mike turned back and saw in the dark as Will lifted his left hand to the back of his neck. Visions flashed across Will’s mind for just a second.

A gate.

Some silver haired, scary man.

Dozens of Demogorgons.

Hundreds of Demodogs.

Bite marks in the man.

Giant drill.

The gate widening.

A clown.

Children in a cave.

Starcourt Mall that night.

Hawkins lab.

The Upside Down.

He opened his eyes and saw Mike. He felt the taller boy’s arms wrapped around him. His eyes flickered around the room and Mike realised what had happened. “Please don’t tell me…” he trailed off. Will simply nodded. “Fuck. How much?”

“A lot. Demogorgons, Demodogs and the Mind Flayer. It’s not long before they’re through.”

“Where’s the portal? Maybe we can stop this.”

“No…” Will shook his head, “It’s too late to stop now, they’re out. We’re gonna have to fight through this.”

“They’re gonna overrun the town.”

“We won’t let them.” Will said, standing up. “It won’t be long before they start attacking across the town, so we’ve gotta act fast. Nancy!” He shouted. Before long, the girl burst into the room.

“What is it?” She asked, clearly panicked. They didn’t have to say anything before Nancy realised the problem from the looks on their faces. “Oh fuck.”

“Language!” Came Ted’s voice from downstairs.

“Where?”

“It’s across the town. Any second now they’re gonna swarm us. No hiding it this time.” Will said.

“Mike, radio the others. I’ll call Jonathan.”

“On it!”

“What did you see?” She asked, getting closer to Will.

“At least thirty Demogorgons and hundreds- no, thousands of Demodogs. More are gonna come too, I can feel it.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“I wish I was.”

“God damn it. I’ll get weapons, you call El.”

“She’s already on the way down, she was meant to be here for the exorcism but now she’s just coming to visit.”

“Excellent ‘welcome home!’ gift then. How’d it open?”

“Some old guy in the lab.”

“Brenner.” She whispered.

“He was eaten by the Demogorgon… he got Flayed too!” Mike shouted from across the room before returning to the radio, calling the Party.

“Meet me downstairs.” Nancy said, retreating to her room. Will walked out of Mike’s room and caught a nail-less baseball bat as Nancy threw it to him. He rushed himself to the living room where Karen was sat with Ted and Holly.
”Will?” Karen asked, “What are you doing?”

“Get back!” Nancy shouted from the top of the stairs, “Stay away from doors and windows, trust me. I’ve dealt with these before.” She was holding the rifle as she descended.

“Dealt with what?” Ted asked, ushering his wife back. Suddenly, a Demodog burst through the living room window, but was knocked back by Will, who delivered a strong hit to the face.

“That.” Mike said, reaching the bottom of the stairs just behind his sister. Will turned around to face the family.

“There are thousands more on their way, along with some bigger ones, they’re about ten foot and stand on their hind legs, you can’t miss ‘em. They can’t see but have excellent hearing, so stay hidden and stay quiet. We’re gonna go take these assholes down.” Will pointed to the staircase, “I’d suggest staying up high, they’re scary but they’re not smart. So long as you stay quiet they won’t be able to make their way upstairs.” He walked to the front door and opened it. “Good luck.” Mike and Nancy followed Will out, waving goodbye to their parents and sister as they did so.

“What the fuck?” Was all Ted could muster. 

Murray was at home with Steve, Dustin, Robin and Barb when the lights went out. They didn’t think much of it as Murray went to try and turn them back on again, but it vaguely reminded Robin and Steve of what happened at Starcourt just a couple of days before the whole Mind Flayer fiasco. They decided to ignore it though and went back to telling Barb everything that happened while she was dead. “So we were in the car when Steve started complaining about how Mike was gonna crash the Toddfather on the way to Alaska. He was genuinely sad about not having to protect the boys anymore-“

“This is Mike, does anybody copy? Code Red, I repeat this is a Code Red! Demodogs and Demogorgons are about to flood the town! Come in, anybody!” Mike’s voice came through Dustin’s Supercom.

“What do you mean?” He heard Lucas say.

“I mean the town is under siege! Get everybody to a safe place, we need to go and close that portal!”

“Where is it?” Dustin asked.

“The lab, I think. It’s Brenner, he got eaten by the Demogorgon too.”

“How long do we have?” Steve asked, grabbing the Supercom.

“Not long.” There was a crash from Mike’s end, followed by screams. “I’ve got to go. Meet me, Nancy and Will at the lab. Over and out.”

“That doesn’t sound good.” Murray said as he stood up, followed by nobody else. “Well come on, children, let’s go!”

The others quickly got up, even Barb, and followed Murray out to the cars. Dustin and Steve looked at each other and smirked. Steve opened the trunk of his car while Dustin opened his. They pulled out two bats, nails through the ends of them, and shut their trunks again, readying themselves as Murray took cover between his and Dustin’s cars alongside Robin and Barb. A Demodog ran out at Steve, who batted it away with a heavy swing, while two more jumped to Dustin. He knocked the first away but was not fast enough to stop the second, and so caught it by the throat instead. Robin and Barb watched in terror as Murray reached into the front of his car and pulled out a revolver. Dustin turned to the man and nodded, moving his head out of the way as the Demodog screeched at Murray, who fired one shot directly into its mouth. The head nearly exploded as Dustin dropped it. “Looks like we finally found a weak point.” He said, turning to Steve and smiling again.

“Maybe a bit too late, otherwise we could’ve stopped it from eating Brenner and this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Fair point. Looks like we have time. Everybody, get in the caaaa…” he trailed off as he looked in the direction of the lab. Tendrils of smoke were barrelling out as lights within flashed. The five watched, stunned, as the Smoke Monster rose from the lab and into the Hawkins sky, a flash of red lightning striking behind him. “Oh shit. So that’s what Will saw. I always thought he was exaggerating the Mind Flayer from Starcourt.”

“Clearly not!” Steve shouted, running to get to his car when it flipped over, a Demogorgon having thrown it. “Run!” The newly reformed Harringteam didn’t wait to get up and follow Steve into the woods, running vaguely in the direction of the lab. 

Lucas, Max and Billy were on their way home to Max’s mom’s place when they got the message.

“This is Mike, does anybody copy? Code Red, I repeat this is a Code Red! Demodogs and Demogorgons are about to flood the town! Come in, anybody!” Mike’s voice came through Dustin’s Supercom.

“What do you mean?” Lucas asked.

“I mean the town is under siege! Get everybody to a safe place, we need to go and close that portal!”

“Where is it?” Came Dustin’s voice.

“The lab, I think. It’s Brenner, he got eaten by the Demogorgon too.”

“How long do we have?” Asked Steve over the sound of him grabbing Dustin’s Supercom.

“Not long.” There was a crash from Mike’s end, followed by screams. “I’ve got to go. Meet me, Nancy and Will at the lab. Over and out.”

“Uh oh.” Lucas said.

“It’s just like the first time we fought them together.” Max said, laughing quietly.

“Slightly different, they’re overrunning the town this time.”

“That is a problem.”

“What are we gonna do?” Billy asked from the back seat.

“Save the world, what else would be do?” Lucas snorted, pulling to a stop in the middle of the street, right next to his old science teacher. “Scott!” He shouted.

“Lucas? Hi! It’s been so long since we la- Is that Billy Hargrove?”

“In the flesh.” Billy said, smiling.

“Didn’t you die?”

“Yeah, and it’s related to why you should get in, I’ll explain on the way. Upside Down shenanigans.” Lucas told him, motioning to the back of his car.

“Okay then.” He said, climbing in next to Billy. They shook hands and Lucas took off, hoping to get to the lab before-

A Demodog launched itself onto the front of the car, smashing the windscreen. “SHIT!” Lucas shouted, swerving. He crashed into the front of Melvald’s, launching the Demodog into the closed convenience store. “Fuck. The car’s done for. We’re gonna have to go on foot.”

“Of course.” Max said, unbuckling her seatbelt.

“What the hell was that?” Scott asked from the back seat.

“Demodog. There are thousands ravaging the town along with multiple Demogorgons.” Lucas said, pulling himself out of the front.
”Multiple? Just one of those things almost killed Will two years ago!”

“I’m aware. We need to get out of here and go to Hawkins lab. There, we can shut the gate and save the world. Again. Again. Again. Again.”

“This is getting ridiculous.” Scott muttered climbing out of the car. The four stepped out and looked into the sky. The lights around the town were out, the only thing illuminating them being the red flashes of lightning. Smokey tendrils raced through the sky and Billy’s eyes widened.

“The Mind Flayer.” He whispered, “This is what I saw in the Upside Down, it’s the Mind Flayer.”

“It’s what Will saw in his episodes too.” Lucas added.

“We’ve gotta get something to fight with.” Max told them. Scott’s eyes lit up.

“I think I know a place.”

”Jonathan? Jonathan are you there? It’s Nancy, we have a bad situation.” Nancy’s voice came from the radio that Jonathan had. They both bought Supercoms after Starcourt, just in case anything else happened. Turns out, something else did happen. The power had completely gone out, leaving Hopper and Joyce on edge.

“I hear you Nancy.”

“Brenner has opened the Upside Down. There’re a few dozen Demogorgons and a lot of Demodogs on their way.” She said. Joyce, Hopper and Bob heard through the radio and froze in shock. “We’re going to go shut the portal, but we’re going to need help. Meet us at the lab.” There was the sound of somebody reaching the bottom of a staircase and the voice of Karen Wheeler asking Will what he was doing before the radio cut out.

“We have to go.” Jonathan said, turning to the still frozen Joyce and Bob. Hopper was way ahead of him, grabbing every assault weapon Owens had let him keep after Kamchatka. He threw one to each of them, Bob looking at his confused.

“It’s the same concept as the one in the lab but bigger. You’ll figure it out. These ones will continuously fire as long as you hold the trigger.”

“Got it.”

“Good.” He said, carrying the rest of the guns to his Blazer and ushering the other three to follow him. They sat inside and Hopper pulled out, not even bothering to lock his house up. He sped down the road towards Hawkins lab when he saw a Demogorgon in the road. He shot it dead as it opened its mouth to screech and stopped as they ran over the body. They could see the lab, lights flickering violently as a Smoke Monster hovered above it, extending its tendrils above the town. Flashes of red lightning lit up the monster and Joyce gasped.

“That’s what Will saw. In the episodes. That’s what he saw! Oh shit, we’re dead!”

“Not necessarily. El’s on her way, she was meant to be arriving today anyway.”

“She better be.”

Nancy, Mike and Will walked down the eerily quiet street. They had left a trail of Demodog carcasses but were yet to come across any actual Demogorgons. Suddenly, there was a flash of red light. They looked up and saw the Smoke Monster in the sky. “What the hell?” Nancy whispered.

“That’s… That’s…” Will was lost for words.

“The Mind Flayer?” Mike asked. Will turned to him, all of his earlier confidence gone as he nodded meekly.

“Holy shit…” Muttered Nancy, “We need to get to the lab.”

“Looks like it’s directly over the lab.” Mike said.

“All the more reason to go. As soon as El gets here she might be able to kill it.”

“Hopefully. Else the Universe ends.”

“That wouldn’t be fun.”

“Then let’s get going and kill this mother fucker.” Will said, confidence returning. Nancy and Mike looked at each other. “Well?” He said, smiling, before resuming the walk they hadn’t even realised they had stopped.

Nancy smiled at Mike, “You heard the man.”

Chapter Text

Mike aimed the rifle at the top of Scott’s place. It was empty, clearly he’d also been notified of the disturbances. He could see people inside other houses around him, watching in awe and fear as he tried to find the Demodog on the roof. It came into view. “There you are.” He muttered, causing the dog to jump at him. It opened its mouth and tasted a bullet as Mike shifted out of the way, pulling the trigger to his gun in the process. The dog splattered and Mike realised that the dogs had a weak spot. “Hey, Will, Nancy.” He called, “Looks like they can be taken down easily after all.” He pointed to the mangled head of the Demodog.

“Huh. I guess they can.” Nancy said, turning back to continue the walk to the lab. That’s when they saw the first Demogorgon of the evening.

“Oh fuck.” Will groaned as he saw the monster patrolling the streets, not avidly searching for the source of the gunshot, it clearly knew they would hurt. There was a quiet whimper from nearby and the creature turned, following the increasingly loud and common sound.

“Please let me go! I didn’t do anything bad, I’m not a bad guy, I don’t deserve this!” The voice pleaded to no avail.

“Is that… Troy?” Mike asked, somewhat shocked.

“Sounds like it.” Will said.

“Please, I’m not some fag or some fairy like that Byers kid, go get him, please, not me!” Troy’s pained voice sounded through the street.

“I’m tempted to let it get him.” Will whispered. Nancy looked at him disapprovingly, “What? He literally just told it to come get me.” She didn’t relent. “Fine, I’ll help him.” Nancy smiled at that. “Hey asshole!” He shouted, “Why don’t you listen to what he says and come get the fairy?” The monster turned to the sound and started running towards the three. From Nancy’s expression, Will judged that this was not what she meant. “Mike, you ready?”

“Locked and loaded!” Mike said, aiming the gun. The monster opened its mouth and collapsed back as a bullet hit its throat.

“Please never say ‘locked and loaded’ again.” Will requested as he swung to the head of the monster that had tormented him for a week. “Nancy, I think we need another shot!” He half-shouted as the monster recovered shortly before collapsing to the ground, courtesy of a final gunshot to the mouth from Nancy.

“You know full well that was not what I meant.”

“We had to get it away somehow.” Will argued.

“Yeah, by making noise elsewhere by, like, throwing a rock, not bringing it to us.” Will laughed and dropped his arms, baseball bat hanging down by his feet. The three continued their journey down the street for a short while before they found the Demogorgon’s intended victim. Will lifted his hand to say hi.

“What’s up asshole?”

“W-Will?” Troy asked, tears streaming down his face.

“Yeah, turns out that the fairy isn’t as weak as you thought, is he?”

“Y-you just k-killed that?”

“Yeah.” He dropped the bat and signalled for Mike to give him his rifle, which he did without hesitation. Will pointed the gun at Troy’s face. “And if you don’t get inside and shut the fuck up, you’ll be next. Either another one of those will get you, or I fucking will. Understand?”

“Got it.” Said Troy, jumping to his feet and fumbling to get inside his house.

“Good.” Will said to himself as he turned to Mike and handed the gun back.

“Jesus Will, you’re starting to sound like Hopper!” He half-joked.

“Oh God, I’m not, am I? I didn’t mean to be that mean, I’m just freaking the fuck out man. The thing that possessed me is in the sky as we speak and Troy-“

“Hey, Will, it’s okay. I understand.” Was all Mike had to say to send Will into tears.

“I’m sorry Mike.” He cried quietly, jumping onto Mike and hugging him tightly. Mike pressed a kiss to the top of his head and held him back. Nancy looked somewhat surprised but smiled when Mike caught her eye. Clearly she hadn’t figured it out until that point.

“Come on Will, not long before we kill this fucking thing.” Mike said, pulling back to look him in the eye.

“Okay…” He whispered. “Okay. Let’s go.” Will bent down and picked up the baseball bat, slinging it over his right shoulder. He and Mike walked side by side, hands interlocked, with Nancy just behind. They’d always known she’d be supportive, but still had the fear, deciding to keep their relationship a secret unless it was absolutely necessary to be open, like if one of them needed some comforting from the other. Will smiled a genuine smile, as if he’d forgotten about the giant smoke monster in the sky for just a moment. He felt safe and ready to go save the world, even with his slightly worse off eyesight from the crying. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” Lucas shouted, running around the store, followed by four Demodogs. “Hurry up!”

“We’re TRYING, Lucas!” Max shouted back. She and Billy were prying open bear traps on the other side of Hunting & Camping, trying to catch the Demodogs.

“Get onto a shelf or something!” Billy added. Lucas obeyed and climbed on top of the gun ammunition stand, holding his legs up. Suddenly, he heard a shout from the back as Scott ran out from behind the counter, shotgun in hand. He booted the smallest of the Demodogs before cocking the gun and firing, demolishing the dog before it even hit the ground. He kept moving, keeping the dogs away from Lucas, who jumped down from the shelf and went to help open the last of the bear traps. After a moment, he picked it up and motioned for Scott to move before throwing the trap. It landed square in the middle of the dog’s head, cutting its body in half instantly. The front half continued to attack, but was stopped when another shotgun shell was fired at it.

“Get the other two!” Scott said as one almost got the back of his foot. The other bear traps all missed the dogs, and they certainly didn’t have time to reopen them. Max reached for a mallet and narrowly avoided Mr Clarke on another round trip. He was bleeding slightly from his leg. Oh, that’s why they’re following him. She swung the hammer around in her hand, building up momentum as the teacher ran around again. She bent down and caught one of the two remaining Demodogs under the chin, sending it surprisingly high into the air. Scott turned to shoot it and was successful, taking it out on the first try, but was caught up to by the last Demodog. Quickly, Billy jumped in the way, just about saving Scott’s life but getting scratched on the face in the process. The dog turned his attention to who was meant to be its partner in crime.

“Oh fuck! It’s on me!” Billy shouted, trying to push the dog away.

“I’ve got it!” Mr Clarke shouted, readying the shotgun.

“No! You’ll kill him again!” Max argued, grabbing the gun and pushing it away.

“Well how else are we supposed to get it?” Lucas asked.

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Billy said to himself before pulling back and punching straight through the open mouth of the Demodog, killing it instantly. He threw it off and stood up, looking at the other three.

“Well, that’s one way to do it, I suppose.” Mr Clarke muttered before walking back behind the counter. He fished out three more shotguns and threw them to the younger people. “Take these, looks like they’re pretty strong against those dogs.” Max caught hers and turned to Billy as she walked to the ammo stand.

“So do you still have the Mind Flayer’s strength or…?”

“Yeah, I just thought it was funny how much you were struggling.” He replied, smirking. He felt a light punch on the arm as his sister turned to look at him, smiling slightly while she tried to look angry.

“You’re such an asshole.”

“Some things just never change.” He laughed, taking as much ammo into his arms as he could and carrying it out to Scott. “This enough?” He asked.

“Should do. Think you can break into a car?” He motioned to the abandoned cars nearby.

“Probably.” He said, moving to the nearest one. He unloaded some of the ammunition onto Lucas and Scott before he punched the glass in. Within seconds, the car was unlocked from the inside. As Max joined them, the four put most of the ammo into the trunk, alongside Max’s shotgun. The other three were on guard with their guns while Max made her way to the lab in the stolen car. 

Steve led the four through the woods, vaguely following the route he’d taken with Max, Lucas and Dustin five years prior. They were getting close; the Mind Flayer was literally towering above them, just visible through the trees. They could hear the rustling of passing monsters, but so long as they stayed qui-

“Oh fuck!” Dustin shouted as he fell to the floor, having tripped on a root. The four in front turned to face him, shock and fear on their faces. “Oh no…” He whispered, smiling slightly as he got up. “We should run.” He looked to his sides and saw as Demogorgons and Demodogs started to run towards the sound. “Definitely run.”

“Good idea.” Barb said, turning back and running, just behind Steve and Robin, Murray and Dustin close behind her.

“You fucking idiot!” Steve whisper-shouted to Dustin, “You could’ve killed us!”

“Yeah, no shit! But we’re not gonna die!”

“Guys, shut up, they can still hear us.” Robin complained. They looked back and realised they were being followed and, more importantly, caught up.

“I guess we can’t run forever.” Murray said, stopping in his tracks. “We have to face this like heroes.”

“What are you doing Murray?” Steve asked, slowing down.

“Saving the world. Join me or don’t, I don’t really care.” He deadpanned. Steve stopped and jogged back to him. Dustin joined them, followed by Barb and Robin. Steve and Dustin held up their bats while Murray readied his revolver. The first Demodog jumped to bite and was taken out with the revolver. “Six left.” Murray said to himself. The second was knocked back by Steve while the third attempted to eat Dustin’s bat, it didn’t go well. A fourth came for Barb, but she was saved by Dustin, who splattered the body of the third all over it before crushing it beneath his weight. Robin caught the last of the dogs in a blind panic. She screamed as it went for her face, but started swinging it. She threw it behind her and it was shot down by three or four bullets.

Hopper and Joyce ran inside to take care of Brenner, leaving Jonathan and Bob to greet everyone as they arrived to the party. “This is a shit party.” Jonathan said, rather matter-of-factly. Bob laughed.

“Yeah, it really is. I mean, nobody wants a party with…” he motioned to the mind flayer just above them, “that thing. God, he’s such a loser.”

“I know right? Why doesn’t he just take a hint? ‘Nobody likes you, go home!’” Jonathan laughed, mimicking the ‘cool kids’ who’d often kick him out from parties when he was younger.

“Jeez, I’ve been on the receiving end of that too many times. So much that even life tried to force me out!”

“I can’t imagine what that must be like.” The two chuckled before returning to silence. It was a moment before Jonathan said anything again. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For being… difficult. I know you loved, and still love, my mom and I was just… an ass.”

“No, I get it. Your dad wasn’t exactly a great guy and you liked it when it was just you, Will and Joyce. I don’t blame you, I really blame myself.”

“What do you mean? It’s not your fault my dad was an asshole.”

“I know, but I just tried to force myself into a place where I wasn’t completely wanted, maybe a bit too fast. My point is, there’s no reason to be sorry for it, I understand.”

“Thanks… dad? I don’t know, you were more like a dad than Lonnie or Hopper have been, but you didn’t really actually become my dad, I guess? So, just Bob?”

“Whatever you want, kid.”

“Okay… dad. Dad’s nice. Hopper won’t mind.” Jonathan said, smiling. The bonding was interrupted when they heard a shout from the woods.

“Oh fuck!” Came the far off voice.

“That doesn’t sound good.” Bob said, suddenly jumping up. “We’ve gotta help them.”

“Probably.” Jonathan replied as he went to the trunk of the Blazer. They pulled out a few guns and set off across the road at a brisk pace, preparing for the worst. On their way they heard a single gunshot followed by some splatters of what was probably flesh. The trees cleared for a moment and they saw as a Demodog attacked Robin. She swung it around and launched it into the air. In a moment of panic, Jonathan pointed at it with one of the guns he was carrying and fired, shooting four or five shots into the dog and killing it. “Need a hand?” He asked, smirking through his nervousness.

Jim and Joyce ran through the long abandoned lab, heading straight for the sounds of the machine below them. They knew the sounds all too well from their two previous encounters with it. “How the hell did Brenner get access to the drill?” Hopper asked, annoyed.

“He might have found the plans in the base of Starcourt, they never properly cleaned it out.” Joyce responded.

“You’re kidding.”

“Afraid not.”

“Fucking idiots.”

“Yup.” She muttered as they reached the portal room. There stood Dr Brenner, laughing hysterically as he turned up the power on the drill, which was even bigger than that in Kamchatka. The entirety of the far wall was red with the thin membrane which separated the two dimensions, which allowed the Mind Flayer an easy exit as smoke continued to flow out of the portal and up through the building. Instinctively, Hopper ran and jumped onto Brenner, pulling him back and stopping the machine from expanding the portal any further. In response, Brenner grabbed him by the shoulder and slammed him into the ground.

“Fuck… he’s strong…” Hopper wheezed out while Joyce stood in shock. Brenner was still taken aback by the sudden attack, so she took the opportunity and opened the door separating the drill and them. She grabbed Brenner and quickly dragged him out of the door, pushing him into deep hole. Quickly, she ran back into the safe zone, closed the door and helped Hopper up. “Thanks.” He groaned as he got to his feet.

“Don’t mention it. Let’s close this portal.”

“Good idea.” He grabbed his key which was already in the hole, and Joyce grabbed hers. “One… two…” they looked to each other, “three.” And they turned the keys. The machine blew up in front of them, nearly shattering the glass. They dropped to the floor in fear of getting caught in the blast. They couldn’t see anything, but they heard it. Laughter.

“Did you really think that would work for a third time?” Came Brenner’s voice. 

The voice echoed all over town. “The portal is too big for you to close by breaking some stupid machine.” Lucas heard as he shot at a Demodog, missing. The dog jumped through the window of the car and onto him, making Max scream. Dogs and Demogorgons began to surround them, heading towards the sound. Lucas opened the door as Max slowed down, trying to find a way around.

“I’ve got this. Go save the world.” He told her before turning and sharing one final kiss with his girlfriend of five years. Instinctively, Mr Clarke followed him out of the car.

“I can’t let a member of the AV club go at it alone.” He said, smiling. Lucas smiled back and started to shout.

“Hey assholes, over here!” He ran away from the car, followed by Scott. He turned and gave Billy a small, jokey salute before Max pulled away, tears streaming down her face. They looked at each other and Lucas nodded. It was okay. He shed a tear and turned to his old science teacher. “Ready to help save the Universe?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” 

The voice echoed all over town. “Those very few who are willing to face me will fail. I am ‘God,’ as so many of you believe.” Nancy heard as she helped rush the kids to a safe place. She had left Mike and Will on their own around the Henderson house, knowing they’d probably be near the lab by now. If what they thought about El was correct, she was about to arrive there too. But this was it for her. That’s okay. Somebody was bound to die. As long as they’re safe… she kept telling herself it was okay. She knew she had to die, and so accepted her fate. She made sure the kids were locked in, and able to be rescued before she made her way outside. If I’m going out, I’m going out in style. She thought, smiling slightly.

“Hey, Mind Flayer!” She shouted, “Yeah you, you big, smokey dick! You’ll never be anyone’s God, because you aren’t succeeding!” Dozens of Demodogs made themselves visible around her, but she was unphased, “Ooh, trying to scare me with some flower-face dogs? Give me a break.” She smirked. Going out in style. 

 The voice echoed all over town. “Try as you might Nancy-Drew, you can’t stop me.” He heard while sat on the couch with his mom and dad, watching the end of the world on live TV from a thousand miles away. For the first time ever, he was glad his brother wasn’t here. He didn’t want his brother to have to suffer through this. He missed his brother. 

The voice echoed all over town. “I am here now. You hold no power.” Jonathan heard, still cringing at the Nancy-Drew line. It remembered. Steve was trying to calm down Barb, who’d collapsed into what seemed like a panic attack. She was hyperventilating and sweating buckets. From what Jonathan remembered of Will, it was either a panic attack or she’d just run a marathon in about half a second. Probably the first. Bob and Murray turned to each other in awe as the Demogorgons in front of them stopped for a moment while Robin and Dustin held onto each other for grim death, each as scared as the other. That’s when Jonathan realised that Nancy must have said or done something to get its attention. She was fighting back. He knew that he had to too.

“If you’re gonna go after someone, at least pick on the boyfriend, not the innocent girlfriend!” He shouted into the air, hoping the Mind Flayer would hear. The Demogorgons turned back to him. “Yeah, do your worst asshole! We’re ready for you!” He shouted, before turning to Steve, voice lower. “Take her someplace safe, you aren’t gonna wanna be here when this is over.” Steve froze for a moment before taking Barb in his arms. She’d calmed down a little but was still freaking out.

“Good luck, Jonathan.” He said, offering his hand out to shake. Jonathan shook it, smiling slightly.

“Thanks, I’m gonna need it. Stay quiet.” He whispered. Steve motioned for Dustin and Robin to follow him, but they knew what they had to do.

“Go save the girl Steve.” Dustin said, teary-eyed, “Go save the world.” And, with a tear falling from his eye, Steve was gone. The five remaining knew what had to be done. They knew the cost, they knew what would happen. They were okay with it. “I really wish I could’ve said ‘bye’ to everyone.” Dustin said, turning back to the Demogorgons, who were now walking towards them slowly. He readied his gun, “But, you take the bad with the good, I suppose.”

“This is not the kind of bad I expected to take today.” Robin muttered before smiling. She wiped tears from her eyes and readied herself. “Come get us assholes!” She shouted as she turned back to the others, each ready to fight the oncoming horde.

The voice echoed all over town. “A valiant effort, but it will be for naught. Say goodbye to your loved ones, if you can.” Will heard as he took shelter alongside Mike. They were in the recently rebuilt Castle Byers, which was bigger and better than ever. Nancy had run off to rescue some freshmen somewhere near Dustin’s house, and the two were left alone. That’s when he saw it. A single tendril. One second he was with Mike as the world ended, the next he was 12 years old, freezing and singing to himself. He let a tear fall from his face as he heard the screech of a Demogorgon, followed by the warm touch of his boyfriend.

“It’s okay, Will. I’m still here.” Mike whispered tenderly. “I’m always here.”

“Is this it?” He asked, tears filling his eyes, “Is it really coming full circle, back to here?” He turned to Mike, who he realised was also on the verge of tears.

“I hope not. But even if it is, I’ll still be here.” He whispered in response, before pressing his lips to Wills. Will pushed into the kiss and allowed more tears to stream down his face. “Remember that Halloween? When you saw the Mind Flayer?” Will nodded, “That night, I made you a promise. I’d classify this as pretty crazy, so I guess it’s happening again.”

“Crazy together…”

“Crazy together.” Mike affirmed, making Will laugh quietly.

“I can’t believe I’m about to die with you, the ultimate dork.”

“The ultimate dork with the perfect boyfriend. I love you, Will.”

“I love you too, Mike.” Will whispered back. The two smiled as more tears fell, finally ready, after six years of panic, to face the music.

The voice echoed all over town. “And now, for my final act, I will make swift work of this town, and then this world.” He heard from his bedroom. He was too busy playing Mario 2 to pay much attention to the sci-fi movie his parents were watching downstairs. There was the sound of strong winds flowing quickly through the air, the whistle almost too high pitched to hear. Suddenly it stopped. There was silence. Then, an all too familiar laugh came from the speakers downstairs. He dropped the controller and ran down. It wasn’t a movie, it was a news broadcast. The town of Hawkins, Indiana was being overrun by nightmarish monsters. He watched as a giant spider leg bent around the corner of the street. The laugh started again.

“Oh fuck.” Was all Richie Tozier could manage to say.

Chapter Text

“It’s okay, calm down, you’re safe.” She heard the far off voice of the man who basically sent her to her death six years ago. She was freaking out, one second she had been with some new friends, the next she thought she was back in that pool. It didn’t help that she’d noticed those all too familiar tendrils starting to sneak their way into the town. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m still here, you’re gonna be fine.” Steve was calm, or at least he sounded calm. Steve Harrington actually sounded calm and nice around her, some idiot who was best friends with his (ex-)girlfriend. The last thing she remembered of Steve for six long years was him taking her only friend away, giving her the cold shoulder. Being an ass. But now, he was here. He was the only person here. She wished Nancy could’ve been here too, but she was busy fighting that guy with the voice that reached over the whole town. She opened her eyes, dry sobs coming out as she adjusted to the light of the home of Steve’s parents. Shockingly, the power for his house was still working. “Hey Barb.” He smiled, “It’s good to have you back.”

“How did we get here?” She asked after a particularly violent hiccup from all that crying.

“My parents don’t live too far from the Byers’, so I figured I’d bring you here, the one place in town that still has power. Different generator to the rest of the town.” He said in response to her confused face, “It’s a blessing sometimes.”

“What happened?”

“You had a panic attack. Nothing I haven’t dealt with before though, so you’re safe in my hands.” He laughed to himself. “We’re staying here while Eleven goes to shut the gate, she gave me a call on the radio a minute ago and she’s picking up Mike and Will now.”

As the spider leg stepped around the corner, he heard that laugh for the second time. He could imagine Richie’s face right now. He wished Richie was with him. But Eddie Kaspbrak was too busy trying to not die as he heard the laugh that nearly got him killed echo from his TV. Almost as an answer to his prayer, monsters started running towards the numerous news vans on the outskirts of the town. Each news station quickly disconnected from their correspondents on the scene and Eddie let out a sigh of relief. He’d make sure to talk to everyone in the clubhouse once this was sorted, they knew it wasn’t over.

Mike pushed open the entrance to Castle Byers slowly, attempting to draw attention away from himself. Will followed him closely, and the two made sure not to step on any of the Upside Down vines, which could alert the Mind Flayer to their location. They started to make their way to the road in silence, hoping that they’d run into somebody in a fucking car. It was stupid not to bring the Toddfather. Mike thought to himself.

Yeah, no shit. We could’ve saved the world by now!

No, we need El. Didn’t you hear what Brenner said?

I wasn’t paying attention, too busy looking at Will.

Of course. He thought as they reached the all too familiar road that Will had gotten lost on six years ago. There was silence before they heard the sound of a car. Will’s head turned to the left as he realised who it was. In her 1988 Ford Escort, Eleven was making her way to the two boys. They smiled, despite the circumstances, and watched as she pulled up next to them. “You two look like shit.” She said as Mike opened the back door, allowing Will to get in first before he followed behind.

“Have you seen the rest of the town? I’d say we look like Will compared to everything else.” Mike huffed out as he got in and shut the door, finally able to make some noise. Will blushed at Mike’s comment and El smiled. Okay, maybe they’d told her as well as the Scoops Troop. How couldn’t they? She was accepting of literally everything (unless it made you an asshole), so obviously she’d accept them.

“Either way, it’s good to see you guys. Fill me in on what’s happened.” She said as she pulled away.
”Billy, Bob and Barb came back to life, we unflayed them with heat, Brenner also came back to life and reopened the portal to the Upside Down and now the Mind Flayer is taking over the world, starting with Hawkins.” Mike began to explain.

“Me, Mike and Nancy were making our way to the lab when she split off to help some kids, sounds like the Mind Flayer’s after her now. Lucas is with Max and Billy, they’re on the way to the lab too. Dustin’s with Barb, Murray, Robin and Steve while Jonathan’s with mom, dad and Hopper, but we don’t know where they are.” Will finished.

“I know that Steve’s with Barb at his parents’ house, apparently she had a panic attack right after Bob and Jonathan came to save his group from some monsters. They were near the lab when the attack happened so they can’t be too far.” Eleven told them.

“That means Hopper and Joyce are…” Mike trailed off.

“Shit.” Will and El said as one before she put the pedal to the metal in an attempt to get there faster. Within a minute they were out of the car and on their way into the lab when they heard a sound from the woods. Gunshots and shrieks from both people and Demogorgons.

“That’s probably not good.” Mike said flatly.

“Definitely not. You two find whoever that is; I’ll go shut the gate.” El told them before turning around and walking away.

“You sure?” Will asked.

“Yes, I’m sure, unless you wanna let them die?” She joked.

“Good idea.” Will muttered as he began to make his way to the woods. El made her way into the lab but Mike stopped.

“Will…?” Mike called his name, making him turn around.

“Yeah? Wh-“ He cut himself off when he noticed what Mike was looking at. Hopper’s Blazer with an open trunk, multiple guns from Russia left in there. The two looked at each other and smiled.

Max and Billy sat in silence. She was speeding down the road, mowing down Demodogs. There was an ungodly amount where they were, which Max recognised as near Dustin’s home. Despite knowing that he wasn’t home, she felt the urge to stop and try and get into the house, and for a second she did. She stopped the car. “Max? What are you doing?” Billy asked from the backseat, shotgun cocked. She looked to the front door and sighed. He wasn’t there; he was probably at the lab by now. He didn’t know about Lucas. He was probably just joking around with Steve and Robin, maybe Mike and Will too. None of them knew that Lucas was gone. Her train of thought was interrupted by banging on the passenger window. She snapped her head and saw Nancy fucking Wheeler, clearly panicked, on the other side. She opened the door and Nancy practically dived into the car, shutting it behind her.

“Nancy? I thought you were with Mike and Will?” Max asked, pushing the thoughts of Lucas to the back of her mind.

“Yeah, had to save some kids, they kept going for the lab.” She huffed, “Where’s Lucas?”

“I…” Mistake. Big mistake. The floodgates opened. The tears that were in her eyes fell out. “He…” She couldn’t say anything. Nancy understood what was happening.

“Shit, Max, I’m sorry, I…”

“It’s okay, you didn’t know. He just… he got out to rescue us from some dogs and Demogorgons that were surrounding us and I just… drove off.” She was sobbing by this point while Billy awkwardly sat in the back.

“Lucas is a fighter, Max. If what Mike’s told me about what happened in 1983 is true, he’ll be fine. He’s the only one who actually fought back against the Demogorgon and he figured out about the lab with the repair trucks. He’s gonna make it, Max.” Nancy’s speech seemed to calm Max down a bit, as she turned back to the road. “I hope so. You wanna go find Mike?” She smiled through the tears. Nancy was about to answer when the radio started to crackle from the back seat.

“Uhh, guys?” It was Steve, “I need some help at my parents place.” He was starting to panic.

“What’s the problem Harrington?” Billy asked into the radio.

“House is being overrun by Demodogs.” He managed to say over the clashes and clangs coming from his end.

“STEVE! GET THE HELL OVER HERE!” Came Barb’s voice from a distance.

“Gotta go, get here quick!” Steve said before the line cut out.

“Who’s gonna go help him?” Mike asked over the radio, clearly out of breath.

“Bit busy!” Dustin huffed from a separate location.

“So are we.” Mike told them.

“Sounds like a job for us then.” Billy said, “We’ll meet you at the lab.” He put the radio down and looked up to the girls in the front. “Do either of you know where Steve’s parents live?”

“I have no clue.” Max admitted, but Nancy smirked slightly.

“Like the back of my hand.”

“THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!”

“YOU THINK?”

“I KNOW!” He fired again at the last Demodog in the vicinity, taking it out. The roof of Bradley’s Big Buy was once again safe thanks to the efforts of our unlikely heroes, a college freshman and his middle school science teacher. Lucas stood up to check the surrounding area. “All clear.” He huffed, collapsing to the floor next to Mr Clarke.

“The end of the world isn’t as cool as science said it would be.” The teacher snorted quietly, “I mean, we got told the sun would engulf the Earth in a ball of flames but instead there’s some stupid spider shadow hovering overtop and now it’s going to vine us to death.” Lucas laughed.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. We might be able to have that cool ending if El gets here fast enough.”

“Maybe. Probably not.” He stood up, “We could try to help close that gate, all we have to do is get to the lab. Can’t be too hard, right?”

“Wh-What?”

“C’mon, let’s go save the world. We’ll reunite with Max and Billy and the Hawkins AV Club will save the Universe!” He started making his way towards the ladder down the back of Bradley’s. After a moment of hesitation, Lucas followed him down the ladder. The two stopped out the front of the shop at the sound of a car speeding down the road, driven by an all too familiar face.

“What the fuck?” Lucas muttered as he and Erica locked eyes, his fourteen year old sister panicking a bit as she swerved to a stop next to him. After a moments hesitation, she stepped out.

“What the hell is going on around here? And since when has that fourty year old nerd been involved with the Upside Down stuff?” She asked, motioning to Mr Clarke, who didn’t seem at all offended by her comment.

“Since we went to Russia two years ago. An-“

“You didn’t invite me to Russia?!” She shouted, causing Lucas to panic.
”Shut up!” He whisper-shouted, “They have really, really good hearing and they’re gonna come for us if they hear us. Also, you were twelve, Erica, you wouldn’t be able to come on the ‘Hawkins High AV Club trip.’”

“He has a point.” Scott finally added. “You probably shouldn’t be driving though, we’re gonna go close another portal.”

“Jesus, how many of these things are there?”

“Only one at a time, from what I can tell.”

“Where’s this one?”

“Hawkins lab.” Lucas responded, moving towards the driver’s seat of the car. “Who’s car is this?”

“No clue, found it at the scrapyard a couple months ago. Looks pretty old.” She responded. Lucas looked it over for a moment before his eyes lit up.

“Holy shit. This is one of the lab agents cars. Hopper beat the crap out of them when Will went missing, they must’ve just left them there.” He smiled as he put his hand out for the keys. Reluctantly, she gave them to him. “Get in.”

Watching Dustin Henderson cry is an awful experience. Having known the boy since 4^th grade, Mike and Will knew that. What’s a worse experience? Watching Dustin Henderson cry while accepting his fate of death as the monster that kidnapped you or your boyfriend rushes to kill him. What’s an even worse experience? Watching Dustin Henderson cry while accepting his fate of death as the monster that kidnapped you or your boyfriend rushes to kill him while one of his best friends, another of his best friends’ roommate, your brother or your sister’s boyfriend and your only real father figure or your boyfriend’s only real father figure get swarmed by more of those monsters, unable to help. So when Mike and Will were presented with that final experience, they were terrified. They’d only taken on one Demogorgon at a time, not five. They’d barely been able to take down those single ones; they couldn’t do a thing this time. Guns wouldn’t hurt them or distract them from their food. Only one option. Mike dropped his gun and bent down. He shouted to distract the Demogorgons and charged towards the one hovering over Dustin. He made a mental note to remember that he watched Dustin let out a sob of relief as well as an “oh thank fuck” as the Demogorgon went down, because he wouldn’t let Dustin live that down for as long as he lived. He straddled the monster as Dustin scrambled to his feet, readying his gun to shoot the beast in its open mouth. Mike moved to the side and Dustin shot. Meanwhile, inspired by his act of courage, Will and Robin were working on taking down the Demogorgon that was atop her, alongside Bob, Murray and Jonathan, who were shooting at the other three (with no success). Mike and Dustin shared a look as the former reached for a sharp branch next to him. Dustin shouted and took the attention of the three to himself and, as they started running towards him, Mike stood up and launched the branch through their faces, ending them fairly quickly. The battle was capped off as Will shot a few rounds into the face of the final monster. Finally, after a moment of silence as the seven huffed, tired, someone spoke. “You stole our thunder!” Dustin laughed, still somewhat quiet despite the lack of any nearby monsters. “We were gonna sacrifice ourselves and be American heroes!”

“You were gonna sacrifice yourself?” Jonathan asked, feigning panic as Will pulled him into a vice-like grip, “I was just gonna wait for El to shut the gate, accepting the fact that I might die.”

“Speaking of which, is the girl here yet?” Murray asked.

“Yeah, we just got a ride from her; she’s shutting the portal now.” Will responded, arms still wrapped around his brother.

“Where’s Nancy? Wasn’t she at your place?” Robin asked as she led the group onwards.

“Oh… she…” Mike gulped, the rush he’d gotten from killing three Demogorgons at once was gone, “She got out to help rescue some kids over by Dustin’s place. Haven’t seen her since.” He choked up.

“Oh God, Mike… I’m sorry, I di-“ Robin began.

“Don’t worry about it Robin, she’ll be fine. Right, Jonathan?”

“Y-Yeah! Nancy’s a fighter, she’ll make it. If we can make it, she will.”

“We almost didn’t make it.” Dustin slipped in without thinking. Mike choked on air once more, making Will shoot Dustin the most vicious death stare a man has ever given someone. Dustin’s face paled, “Shit, man, I didn’t mean it like that. Nancy’s gonna make it, it was just a little joke.”

“Not funny, didn’t laugh.” Bob tried to make a better joke, but nobody laughed.

“I… I don’t get it.” Jonathan finally spoke up.

“Sorry, I keep getting flash… forwards? I guess? To like thirty years from now. That’s a thing, just trust me. I think it’s from when I was dead.” Bob smiled as he continued to walk down to the lab, which was now in sight. Suddenly, both Mike and Dustin’s radios crackled to life.

“Hello? It’s Billy again, just wondering if either of you guys are still busy, uhhh, me, Max and Nancy are having trouble getting to Steve and Barb, could use some help. Let me know asap, please, I think we’re in trouble.”

“Well at least we know Nancy’s alive.” Dustin muttered to himself as he pulled up the radio. “Help is on the way, Billy.” He said into the radio before turning back to the others. “Who’s gonna help him?”

“As much as I’d love to, we should be helping out El right now.” Mike motioned to himself and Will.

“Alright then, I guess I’ll come with you. You guys think you can handle it alone?” Dustin looked to the remainder of the group.

“Yeah, I think we can. Steve always needs help.” Robin winked to Dustin and the boy smiled. The group was in the car park by now, ready to split once more, when they heard a car pull up alongside them. Out stepped Lucas, Erica and Mr Clarke, the older two holding shotguns.

“What’s up guys?” Lucas smiled as he got out, “Long time, no see!” He went in for a group hug with the other members of the Party when Erica spoke up.

“Oh my God, I already told you nerds not to cry like four years ago!” She complained, making Lucas turn back to her.

“I hate you so much. You’re on guard for what I assume is the storming of the lab?”

“Not quite, El is already in there with Joyce and Hopper, so we’re just going in to help.” Dustin beamed, covering his fear very well. “Meanwhile all of the ‘real adults’ are gonna go save Steve’s ass. You coming with us?”

“Of course man! Mr Clarke, you okay to go with them?” He turned to the teacher.

“Sure, Lucas. Good luck in there boys, be careful.”

“Will do, Mr Clarke.” Mike smiled slightly.

“Yeah, good luck to you too.” Will added. Jonathan pulled Will in for a hug which seemed to last forever, just as Will had done not too long ago himself. His voice was strained as he spoke.

“We’re gonna make it, right Will? You guys have got this, right?”

“I know, Jonathan. I know. Now go save Harrington.” Will pulled away and saw the tears in Jonathan’s eyes. “We’ll be okay. You won’t lose me again.”

The groups split, half taking Erica’s stolen car and the rest taking the now empty police chief Blazer. Lucas turned to his sister. “Remember, look out. Warn us on this if anything’s coming, understand?” He took Dustin’s radio and handed it to her, “Don’t touch the dials, just keep it on.”

“I know how a radio works, nerd.” She responded before adding a quieter, more heartfelt, “Good luck.” She received a nod and a smile from the four in response as they went in.

Pulling up outside of the Harrington residence is a scary thing, it’s a big, imposing house that looks pleasant but threatening at the same time, not to mention the dozens of Demodogs surrounding it. As Robin stepped out of the driver’s seat next to her old science teacher, she watched the Demodogs crawling up to the window of Steve’s old room. She shot at them, but only succeeded in speeding them up. They broke through the glass. She was frozen. Suddenly, out flew the silhouette of a body, which the monsters chased after. She could see the hair; despite the lack of light on his body, the shape was clear as day. Steve Harrington just flew out of his bedroom window, only to be ravaged by Demodogs

“So, the original Party, back together again, ready to save the Universe again.” Dustin laughed in the hallway.

“Yeah, looks like it.” Will said, fingers interlocked with Mike’s.

“Well, more like ready to watch El save the Universe again.” Lucas joked.

“Nah, we’ve never seen El save the Universe.” Mike responded, “She didn’t do it in the school, we didn’t see her do it when Will was possessed and she didn’t really have her powers the other two times. So this is gonna be a first.”

“Huh, I guess soooooo…” Lucas trailed off as the door opened.

“Or, maybe a fifth.” Dustin choked as they saw Eleven, unconscious on the ground, Hopper and Joyce standing beside her, trying to wake her up. She was breathing, but the damage was done. She couldn’t save them now. Nobody could.

Right?

“What can we do, Arthur? The world is ending in a small town in Indiana. In the USA. We don’t have time to do anything.” Harry said, standing up from his chair.

“We have to do something, Galahad. You and Merlin are going over there now, your mission is to figure out what’s happening and help stop it. Do you understand?” Arthur responded, trying to remain calm. Harry groaned dramatically.

“Fine, Arthur, but if the world ends, don’t blame me.” He responded, moving to the Scottish man standing at the end of the table. “Come on Merlin, let’s get going.”

“Aye, we’ll do our best, Arthur.” Merlin said, ignoring Harry’s unenthusiastic invitation.

“I’d bloody hope so.” Arthur laughed.

“You seem a little down in the dumps, Harry.” The younger man asked, following Harry to fitting room 1 and the hidden staircase in the wall.

“Yeah, it’s just, the world is ending. Not exactly excited.”

“Ah, don’t worry ‘Arry! We’re gonna be fine, we’re gonna save the world.”

“Sure we are. Keep telling yourself that, Merlin. I figure we should get the painful death we’re going to experience sooner rather than later.”

“We’ll be fine Harry, now let’s get going!” Merlin was too enthusiastic for Harry’s liking, but it made him smile anyway. They started making their way to the plane and Harry spoke up.

“Fine, Merlin. Let’s go.”

Chapter Text

As the bag of meat flew into the pile of Demodogs, Steve heard a scream. Despite the urgent nature of the situation, he felt proud that he’d managed to convince somebody that the sack was him. “Was the hair really necessary?” Barb hissed.

“Yeah, it was.”

“Are you sure? Because now Robin and Mr Clarke are being swarmed by those dog things.” She snapped. His smile fell. He turned back to his bedroom door, grabbed the bat and opened it up.

“Fucking finally Harrington, we’ve been trying to get in for twenty minutes!” Billy exclaimed.

“No time for pleasantries, we have to save Robin.”

“Shit, is she outside?” Nancy asked, “When did she get here?”

“I asked for help on the radio while you were getting the front door open.” Billy admitted, looking down slightly in embarrassment.

“For fucks sake. We gotta help her.”

“Yeah, no shit. Let’s go.” Steve was flat, serious. He couldn’t stop her from almost killing herself, but this was his fault, he had to save her. “Clarke is out there too.”

“Clarke who?”

“The teacher, Scott Clarke.”

“Riiight.”

“Mr Clarke is with her? I thought he was with Luca-“ Max cut herself off.

“Told you he was a fighter, didn’t I?” Nancy smiled.

“I’m gonna kill him for scaring me like that.”

“Come on! Let’s go!” Steve shouted once more. He kicked the front door open and readied his bat. “You want some real Steve meat? Come get it!” He shouted, catching the attention of all who stood outside, which included the previously unmentioned Jonathan, Murray and Bob. Robin gasped in amazement, good, I’m not too late, and he ran to the back of the house, all of the surrounding dogs following him.

“GET BACK IN THE CARS!” Nancy shouted as she ran outside. She saw him. Jonathan. He was okay. A silence followed as she realised that he’d made it. They ran to each other, tears in both their eyes, and embraced. Jonathan let out a quiet sob.

“I thought I’d lost you.” He whispered.

“Did you really think I’d leave you alone that easily?” She joked in response. They laughed quietly while Max packed everyone into the cars.

“You two lovebirds coming?” She asked, head of firey hair still burning in the dim light. The two broke apart and got into Jonathan’s car alongside Bob. He smiled at her and she smiled back. Max and Billy got into their car with Barb and were about to pull away when Steve rounded the back corner. Things had not gone to whatever plan he had. The back of the house was going up in flames. He grabbed the trailer that the boat from two years prior still sat on and signalled for the siblings to reverse, which they reluctantly did, and attached it to the back of the car before getting into the back. “Why the hell do you need that?” Max was confused and a little annoyed.

“Just trust me, I have an idea.”

“Come on El, wake up!” Will.

“El we need you, come on!” Lucas.

“You’re our only hope!” Dustin, Star Wars reference. He can’t help himself, can he?

“El? It’s Mike. The portal’s getting too big to close, please.” Mike, obviously.

“El? Honey? Please, we need you.” Mom.

“Jane. It’s me, dad. I love you, I wish you weren’t the one that had to do this, but you are. So please, please, wake up.” Dad.

The voices are getting too loud to tell apart, all she knows is that she has to—

“Wake up! El, please!” Mike shouted as she shot up, only to fall back down again. Still light headed.

“I can’t use them.” She croaked. “It’s impossible. Too… big…” She felt it, she was about to go back under. Suddenly, the glass separating the group from the gate shattered. Adrenaline surged through her for just a moment. “But… I have an idea.” She watched as Dustin and Lucas were pinned to the wall by the thick veins of the Shadow Monster, alongside mom and dad, Mike and Will having narrowly avoided the attack. Had to act fast. One person may not be able to close the portal, but two? Maybe…

“El, you gotta hurry!” Dustin shouted from behind his trap, voice strained. She grabbed the arms of the boys in front of her.

“Concentrate on pushing the gate in.” She told them as she closed her eyes. Kali had taught her this trick, to transfer her powers onto multiple other people, each having it at the same strength. Before, she’d kept some of her power to take it back, but she knew now that she was gonna lose it all. Good riddance. She felt a surge of energy run through her body and into those of her ex and his new boyfriend. She smiled as she felt her nose drip blood. “You’re gonna wanna keep an eye on the noses.” She whispered, finishing off. Back to sleep now. Night time.

What the hell? Mike thought to himself.

What did that do? He heard Will ask.

“Not a clue.” He responded flatly, turning to see Will’s confused face.

“What?”

“You asked what it did.” He was confused too now.

“No I didn’t…?”

Hold on a fucking second. Mike thought once more. Will?

Yeah? Wha- oh shit.

Oh shit.

TELEPATHIC LINK! THE MIND FLAYER CAN’T HEAR US! Mike shouted to Will.

Keep an eye on the volume of your thoughts.

Sorry. So, what’s the plan?

Looks like we’ve inherited some of El’s powers, if not all of them. At least, that makes sense from what she said.

I guess that means we’re gonna have to close the gate.

“Can you guys stop staring at each other and just close it already?” Lucas shouted from the wall.

“We’re working on it.” Will responded.

I’ll take right side, you take left? Mike suggested.

Got it. Will nodded and the two turned to the far corners of the lab, the whole wall now an open portal for the Mind Flayer to escape through, which it was still doing fairly quickly.

Actually, we might have to push the Mind Flayer back through first. Mike told Will.

Good idea, we don’t wanna trap it here. The two turned around and slashed the vines holding their friends and parents.

“What the hell are you guys doing?” Dustin asked.

“Going to push the Mind Flayer back through.” Mike half whispered while Will received a tight hug from his parents. “Let’s get going.” The six (plus El in Hopper’s arms) made their way back to the front of the lab, where Erica stood, bored.

“Why the hell isn’t the world saved?” She asked sarcastically.

“That’s where we’re going.” Mike responded. They made their way to Hopper’s Blazer, followed by the young girl.

“No way, kid, you’re not coming with us. We’re gonna fight an interdimensional beast that’s taking over the Universe and you’re, what, fourteen? Stay hidden, stay safe. Do you understand?” Hopper stopped her in her tracks with the harsh but true words. She was silent. “Do you understand?” He pressed.

“Y-yes sir!” She said before turning back to her watchpost. Satisfied, Hopper got into the driver’s seat while the kids piled into the back. Mike’s radio crackled to life.

“Hello everyone! Noticed that the Mind Flayer is still around, thought you’d want to know that he’s at the quarry, so if you want to get rid of him, that’s where to start.” It was Steve, good to know he was okay. Mike spoke back into it near immediately.

“We’re on our way, Steve.”

Within minutes, everybody had arrived at the quarry. The Mind Flayer’s gaseous form stood in front of them, and Will was seconds away from a panic attack, though he fought through the fear. “So you’re the asshole that’s been haunting me for six years? I thought you’d be taller.” He sneered at the monster in front, until it responded. Brenner’s voice echoed once more.

“You’re funny, William. Such a shame that your only hope is gone. I wish I could have killed her myself.” It responded, making Will smile. He turned to Mike.

Thinks she’s dead and doesn’t know about us! He thought.

Fuckin idiot. Mike responded.

“But don’t worry. I’ll be sure to torture you plenty, since you’ve come all this way with your boyfriend to insult me.” It’s voice sounded almost excited. “Yes, that’s right Hawkins, William Byers has a boyfriend. His name? Michael Wheeler.” Everything came tumbling down. This wasn’t going to be good. Suddenly, the voice was quieter, meant only for the ears of the quarry. “I’m still in your head, William. Don’t insult me like that again. I know she’s not dead, and I know about your telepathic link. I know you’re here to push me back into my realm. That’s why I’ve bought all of these.” There was a laugh, though by now it was clearly not Brenner talking. It was someone else. No time to dwell on that, though, as hundreds of Demogorgons and thousands of Demodogs made their way from the trees. “I’m going to enjoy watching you die.” The voice was quieter this time, somewhat distant, and to their right. Every head turned as a clown stepped out from behind Steve’s boat. “I like the boat Steve, nice paintjob.”

“Who the hell are you?” Will asked, confidence from before totally wiped out.

“Me? Well, in my home town they call me Pennywise! Pennywise the Dancing Clown! Though here, of course, you know me better as the Mind Flayer.” He laughed once more as he shifted into the form of an illithid.

“WHAT THE FUCK?” Mike shouted before thrusting his hand forward. The squid man flew back and blood dropped from his nose. “This is crazy.” He said. Will saw an opportunity, despite his fear, and reached out for his hand. The pair intertwined their fingers.

“Crazy together.” Will smirked at Mike before turning back to the group, shocked expressions on their faces, though Will couldn’t be sure if it was due to the clown that just became a squid from a board game, the hundreds of Demogorgons around them or the revelation that Mike and Will were dating which caused the shock, but he was glad to see Steve snap everyone out of it.

“You guys get squid man and spider beast back to the gate; we’ll keep these things away.” He shouted to the pair, who felt miles away from everyone else, though they were mere feet apart. As the squid man got back up, Steve ran to the boat and hopped on, signalling for everyone to follow in their cars. The sound of the cars driving off attracted the monsters, leaving the couple to deal with the clown.

“Aww, Mikey, what’s wrong?” It asked, reverting back to the clown form as it saw the fear in Mike’s eyes. “Getting a little…” it reeled back and shot its head forwards in an almost cartoonish fashion, enlarging in its face, “scared?” Mike stumbled backwards but managed to push back against it once more. The clown fell back once more at the push of Mike, who was now turning to Will.

“Get that thing back to the gate; I’ll keep this asshole away.” He said as the clown made a sad face.

“Leaving so soon Willie? Are you sure you don’t wanna talk to your old man?” Suddenly, he morphed once more into a fifty foot tall Lonnie Byers. He bent down to look at his son and kicked him, sending Will flying back into a tree and winding him. “That’s what you fuckin’ get, fag!” He shouted for the town to hear, this is gonna be a nightmare to explain to mom and dad. Mike thought to himself as he ran to make sure Will was okay.

I know, right? Will smiled at him, still pained but alive.

Good to know you’re alive.

Times like this make me really wish I wasn’t, rather just be alone in whatever afterlife there is with you.

Bad luck Will. Look out! Mike shouted in his brain, causing Will to look up.

That’s a giant glass bottle was all he could think before he dived to the left into Mike’s arms. The laugh of his father was distorted, mixed with that god damn clown laugh. He was gonna grow to hate that laugh, he was sure of it.

Steve made his way to the bottom of the quarry with most of the crew now on his boat, cars having been overrun by Demogorgons and dogs on the way. The only one left was Hopper’s Blazer, having taken over the duty of carrying the boat once they had arrived at the top of the quarry. He and Hopper sat in the front, speeding down the dirt road. They would only have a limited time once they reached the bottom to set Steve’s plan into motion, so they had to act fast. As they hit the end of the road, Hopper pulled a hard right, nearly pulling the tow rope off of the back as the boat slid off of its trailer and into the water. Just as it went in, Lucas and Dustin jumped off, meeting Hopper as he ran out of the still running Blazer and onto the boat. He wished Steve good luck as The Hair hopped across. Dustin got in next to him with Lucas getting in the back. “Okay Harrington, you need to explain what the hell this plan of yours is.” Lucas huffed as Steve drove away, eager to get back to the top as soon as possible. Steve sighed,

“I found out that not only do Demo-things hate fire, but they also have an aversion to water. When I kicked one towards my pool it was more scared of the water than it was hungry for Steve meat, so I figured they don’t like it. They aren’t gonna go after a boat if it’s on water, right?”

“Okay, so why aren’t we on the boat?” Dustin asked.

“Simple.” Steve said, pointing backwards to the top of the quarry, where a fifty foot tall version of the man Will described as his father stood, “They aren’t making a move on the Shadow Monster, which means somebody needs to take out the clown, and I have the perfect idea.” He smirked as Dustin realised his plan. He made a move to oppose Steve but couldn’t, because it was a good plan, just a fucking stupid one.

Lonnie laughed once more as Mike and Will tried to push him anywhere other than where they were stood. Nothing was working. From their right, an engine revved, and the three turned to see Hopper’s Blazer. Lonnie shrunk and turned back into a clown. “Steve?” It asked, “It’s me…” It began to transform into the form of Mike’s sister, “Nancy… Please don’t do this! I… I love you!” It was stupid, but clearly worked, as Steve hesitated behind the wheel, before putting on a steely face.

“Yeah? Well that’s just…” He put the pedal to the metal, speeding into Fake Nancy, who attempted to deter him with the widening of the mouth to no avail, and straight off the quarry edge. “Bullshit!” He shouted before stopping suddenly in the air. Fake Nancy turned back once more into the clown and began to disintegrate. It let out one last laugh as it disappeared into thin air. With a moment of relaxation came panic.

HOLY SHIT STEVE JUST DROVE OFF A CLIFF. The pair thought in unison, running towards where he drove off. Mike noticed a small rope pulled tightly over the cliff while Will looked over the side.

Steve’s… floating? Will thought.

Not quite. Mike responded, looking up to the right. There stood Lucas and Dustin, holding the end of a tow rope into the ground. Lucas flashed him a smile and a quick thumbs up before returning to holding Steve’s life in his hands.

“Steve! I’ll pull you up!” Will shouted down as Steve climbed out of the car door. The Hair shook his head.

“Save your energy for the Mind Flayer, you might wanna get on that actually.” He shouted back up, pulling himself onto the back of the Blazer. After a moment of hesitation, Will stood up and turned to Mike.

“Ready to finish this?”

“God, yeah.”

“Good.” Will said, turning to the Shadow Monster towering above them. The two put their hands out to try and aim the telekinetic attack and pushed the monster back. It was… surprisingly fast. Within twenty minutes they’d made it most of the way back to the lab, with the living smoke machine above the building, ready to get forced back in. The problem was that the couple were getting light-headed.

We aren’t gonna make this. Mike thought.

We can’t give up, Mike.

If we don’t we’re gonna fuckin’ die anyway.

Yeah, but nobody else dies if we finish the job. You don’t wanna let Nancy die, do you?

Sometimes.

Mike.

Sorry. Let’s finish this.

Right response. Will joked, trapping the Shadow Monster in an increasingly small bubble, forcing it into the lab. By the time they reached Erica, it was completely inside.

“You two nerds need to wipe your noses.” The teenager commented. Mike looked down and saw the blood covering his shirt.

“Maybe more than just our noses, but thanks for the tip, Erica.”

“Not a problem, loser.”

“We are saving the world, Erica.”

“Do you need help?”

“No, we need a lookout.”

“Oh my fucking god.” The girl muttered as Mike shut the door behind him and resumed to pushing the Shadow Monster back.

“This is almost too easy.” Mike said.

“It’s better than letting the world end.”

“I guess so.” Mike responded as they made their way down the stairs. By the time they were at the gate Mike was sure that no blood remained in his body, but he continued to push himself. The monster was in, now all they had to do was close the ga-

“Did you forget about me?”

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” Will muttered, turning around. Brenner.

“Looks like I’ve figured out where you are now. My… subjects know too.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Mike asked.

“You’ll see. For now though…” Brenner stood up and ran towards the duo. “I’ll stop you myself.” He grunted, sprinting towards them by now.

“Uh oh.” Mike and Will said together.

Steve dusted his legs off on his way to his feet. “Told you it would work.” He said to Dustin and Lucas.

“What now?” Dustin asked.

“We pull it back up, duh.” Steve smiled, walking over to the boys. He made sure they were holding the rope tightly before pulling the hook out of the ground. With great difficulty, they managed to pull the Chief’s car back up the cliff, arm and leg muscles burning.

“Do you think Mike and Will need help?” Lucas asked.

“Nah, I’m sure they’ll be fi-“ Steve was interrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps slamming against dirt. “Nevermind.” He muttered, fear filling his voice as he guided the two boys behind the Blazer. The monsters ran past, every one of them ignoring the three behind the car. They were headed for the lab. “Yep. Definitely nevermind. We need to get to the lab asap.”

“What are we gonna do about the others?” Dustin asked.

“Aw shit. I don’t know.” Steve sighed as the monsters disappeared in the distance. The sounds of their screeches were drowned out by the movement of cars behind them. The abandoned cars were in a good enough condition to drive to the lab, albeit slowly. They could still make it. As Robin drove past, Hopper opened the window to shout at Steve.
”If you ever drive my car off a cliff again I swear to fu-“

“It won’t happen again, Chief.” Steve assured him. That seemed to satisfy him somewhat as he got his head back into the car and allowed Robin to drive off. Dustin got himself into the passenger seat while Lucas got in to drive.

“Hurry up, Steve, we don’t have all day!” He shouted. Steve obliged and got into the back of the car. Lucas drove off, keeping up with the other cars on the way to the lab, ready to face down the monsters one more time.

El woke up in the back of Max’s car, following a pack of hundreds of Demodogs and Demogorgons. They were almost at the lab, but she couldn’t remember leaving that place. Think, El, think! What was the last thing you did? Then she remembered. She gave her powers to Mike and Will. Forgot about that. She looked to her sides and saw Nancy and Jonathan, neither of whom had realised she was awake yet. In front of her sat Max, driving, and Billy, smoking. Old habits die hard, I guess. She thought to herself. Nancy looked to her side and saw El awaken.

“Hey, El. You need someone to explain what the fuck is going on?” She snorted quietly.

“I can guess. Mike and Will are about to get eaten by a bunch of Demogorgons while they try and shut the portal?”

“Maybe the first part, but not the second, that’s what you’re for.” Nancy replied.

“No, that’s not what I’m for. I’m not shutting the portal. They are.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well why did you think they’re after the two of them? Why would they go off alone? Why would the monster get pushed if I was unconscious? I gave them my powers because one person was too weak to do it alone.”

“What?”

“Sorry Nancy, but it was impossible to do it myself. They’ll make it, if we help them. They’re probably going directly for them in an attempt to stop them from closing the portal. Papa could very well also be alive, I didn’t see him while I was in there.”

“Fuuck… okay. Full speed ahead, Max!” Nancy shouted. Max stood on the accelerator, causing the car to move at an extra two miles per hour.

Mike was thrown to the floor by a killer punch from the doctor. His head smashed into the hard ground and he felt blood flow out of the back. Nevermind, not all of it is gone. Yet. He heard Will shout, but it was incomprehensible. He watched as the doors in front of him swung open to reveal Demogorgons. He saw Will on Brenner’s back. His vision was fading. Is this really it? Am I going to die because of some old man? Not without finishing the job. He put his palm flat on the floor and got himself up on his feet. The Demogorgons were being stopped by people, still fuzzy for a moment before they came into focus. Erica sat on top of the head of one, holding the mouth open while Dustin shot into it. He opened his mouth to tell Erica that she was meant to be the lookout, but realised that it might be a bit too late for that. Robin caught a Demodog between her hands and drop kicked it, allowing Steve to riddle it with bullets as it fell through the air. He smiled at the display of teamwork before noticing a charging Demogorgon, heading directly for them. He went to warn Steve but stopped when Lucas, Mr Clarke and Billy tackled it, Max staying back for a moment. Billy hit the beast in the stomach, punching a hole straight through it, while the other three fought off incoming Demodogs. Scott picked one up and swung it into the butt of Lucas’s shotgun, causing it to bounce off right into a bear trap Max had prepared on the way in. The dog was defeated and quickly followed by two more, both being sent into the hole courtesy of Mr Clarke. Billy stood up from the Demogorgon and huffed as Barb and Nancy barged through the crowd, pushing yet another monster in front. The one-armed wonder grabbed the thing by its leg and threw it to the hole. As it span through the air like a star, Nancy shot it, to ensure it wouldn’t be able to latch onto something and come back. It was these gunshots that made Mike realise that he couldn’t hear a thing. Not a sound. Not even his own thoughts, which means he definitely couldn’t hear Will’s. So he decided to give Will a message. Hi Will, sorry if you’re trying to contact me, I can’t hear anything; I don’t even really know what I’m saying. If you’re trying to talk, please come up to me physically, I’m at the Edge of the Hole at Hawkins lab, or leave a message. He really hoped he had sent to Will, as opposed to no hear, find me off edge, message or something similar. No time to dwell on it though, as Joyce pointed another gun just past his face and killed a Demogorgon behind him. She mouthed something, which made Mike realise that the world was also in slow motion, which meant Will had probably heard no hear, find me off edge, message as a sound akin to that of a fastforwarding cassette tape. Nevermimd, Will had eyes, Will would see where he was. He remembered Joyce and simply pointed to his ear and shook his head. She seemingly grunted and moved to him, grabbing his arms and spinning him around. He saw El and Hopper taking out Demodogs right in front of him, with Will behind them, starting his side of the gate, Bob holding Brenner off. There was a sudden pain in the back of his head, causing him to wince harshly. He assumed Joyce was looking at the crack in his skull, touching it lightly to assess the damage. Then, he heard something. It was faint, but it was there. Gunshots. Then, another sound. This was his own mind, but not his words.

You need to get better at sending messages when you can’t hear. Will.

What did I say?

“No hear, find me off edge, message” at mach speed.

Sorry about that, I couldn’t hear my own thoughts.

I guessed.

“You need to close that gate, Mike.” Joyce told him.

“I don’t think I can.” He croaked back, “I shouldn’t be alive with this little blood.”

“Don’t worry about the back,” She responded, slapping a hand gently over his cut, “I can take that. Now get to closing it.”

This is it. He thought to himself, fully aware that Will would be able to hear him.

Yeah. Shut your side, please.

Got it. He walked forward, Joyce still behind him, and put his arm out, aiming his telekinesis to close the portal. One. Last. Time.

The Demogorgons and dogs were no longer the biggest worry. Jonathan knew this, because none of them were actually trying to stop Mike and Will. Brenner, on the other hand, was. So, when Brenner managed to shake Bob off of him, he panicked. He had to jump into action, so he did. He tackled Brenner in the side, knocking him off balance and keeping him away from the boys and his mother. He was thrown down by the doctor, leaving him next to Bob. Brenner regained balance but got hit backwards by Erica and Lucas, who slammed him back against a wall, before both got thrown away by a sprinting old man. The next one to try and stop the wrath of Brenner was Dustin, who shot him in the face. That seemed to stop him. For about twenty seconds. Enough time for Mike and Will to make significant progress, sure, but not enough. The bullet wound stunned Brenner, but the now empty gun wouldn’t stop him a second time. Dustin realised this, and proceeded to ram his shoulder into the old man, pushing him back further, before being slammed to the floor by a hard fist to the back. Steve, seeing this cruel attack against his best friend, jumped onto Brenner’s back, putting the man into a chokehold. Robin ran up in front and punched him in the stomach, avoiding his punches of retaliation. She was soon joined by Billy, who knocked Brenner to the floor with a left hook. Stunned for a moment, Brenner was vulnerable enough to get curb stomped by Hopper, before being dragged to his feet by Nancy and Max, who carried him to the edge of the hole. Max threw him forwards and he fell down. Gone. Satisfied, she turned to Mike and gave him a thumbs up before Nancy’s legs were pulled out from underneath her. Her face slammed into the hard rock, knocking her out instantly, as she was dragged down by the now, thanks to Dustin’s gun, one-eyed man. Mike was distracted for a moment before Barb kicked Brenner in the face, sending the man reeling sideways into the wall next, holding onto the side tightly. Barb pulled Nancy back up and carried her to safety as Brenner struggled back up. He pulled himself to his feet but took another foot to the face, this time courtesy of Scott, who flipped him over with the kick to the nose before he was whisked away in a sea of monsters. Murray was the next to take a turn, holding his arms as he headbutted the vessel as hard as possible, but he was soon thrown off, narrowly avoiding being thrown into the hole himself. Brenner got up and was now unopposed as he charged to Will, finally knocking the boy down. Mike panicked and turned, feeling Joyce’s hand retract from the back of his head as he moved to help Will once more. Joyce grabbed him by the shoulders and motioned her head towards El, who was making a break for the two on the floor, determined to finish this once and for all, no matter what. Reluctantly, Mike continued his side of the gate, bringing it ever closer to the endgame. El jumped on the back of the man who raised her and pulled him off of Will, allowing him to get up and finish his job. The boys were just finishing the gate off as El and Brenner fought, El having to avoid Brenner’s attacks out of a genuine fear of her own death. She hit Brenner in the face with a powerful punch before a sudden retaliation punch hit her in the stomach, the strongest Brenner had thrown yet. His fist exited through her back and she gasped at the sudden impact. She could hear Mike shout something but was too distracted by Brenner pulling her in. He whispered to her. “I didn’t think you’d ever dream of hurting your papa.” He huffed into her ear. She could practically hear the smirk on his lips.

“Yeah? Well fuck you, Papa.” She wheezed back before putting her hands on his shoulders and pushing him back. He fell deep into the hole just as Mike and Will shut the portal. The monsters around them collapsed as one, dead in an instant. They won. She smiled. The pain in her stomach was numbed at that thought. It was going to be okay. Her dad ran over to her, tears in his eyes. He pulled her into a hug, and she hugged him back, whispering reassurances into his ear. “It’s okay dad, we won. It’s okay.” She beamed against his shoulder, eliciting a harsh sob from him. She felt her legs give way as her vision went hazy, darkening. She turned to the Party, standing to her left, and mouthed an “I love you” to the five of them. Tears left Mike’s eyes as he clenched Will with his right hand, his left covering the gash over the back of his head. Blood drenched the shirts of both of them, they shouldn’t be standing in front of her right now, they should be unconscious by her side, but they were still standing. She felt proud of them. She smiled at them once more as Joyce became visible. She couldn’t muster words anymore, so she had to mouth a weak “thank you for everything” to her. Taking one last look at her mother, her father and her friends, she closed her eyes for the last time, giddy smile still stuck on her face.

They’d won. But at what cost? El was gone, Hopper was broken and the world knew everything. The world knew about the Upside Down, the world knew about Mike and Will. Everyone knew everything. It was time to face the music. Still wracked with sobs, Mike and Will walked outside to the blinding daylight. It was impossible to tell the time as the Mind Flayer took over, but they didn’t think it had been at least the ten hours it had to have been in order to get to that brightness. Yet, here they were. Reporters were already rushing into the lab parking lot, cameras following behind. The cameras were, of course, quickly put away when Hopper walked out, carrying Eleven’s body, still sobbing loudly over her. The world was a blur around Mike as people asked him for a statement, asked him what happened, asked him what the monsters were, what the clown was, what the spider thing was. Questions he didn’t truly have the answers to. His parents arrived at the scene in the Toddfather. Not even that could bring a smile to Mike’s face. The best and most valuable gift he’d probably ever get wasn’t even able to make him happy. He shooed reporters away subconsciously, telling them he’d explain one day, but not now. Not for a while. He and Nancy clambered into the back of the car right as Lucas and Dustin’s parents turned up to get the rest of the party (plus Erica and Billy). Will stayed with Hopper, Joyce and Jonathan, as he should, while Mike sat, silently staring into the distance on the way home. He followed his parents into the house, where they indicated him and Nancy to sit. Mike couldn’t bear to explain to his parents the story, so he didn’t, only pitching in for something Nancy didn’t know about or to affirm her story. Other than that, he was dead silent. He brushed off his father’s question of what that clown said about him and Will with a simple “no,” which seemingly satisfied him. He knew it was a lie but he didn’t have the energy to argue with him about the gay conversion therapy he was sure his dad would try and force him to do, so he didn’t. He walked up to his room and sat down. A small, spare radio crackled to life in the corner after god knows how long of lying silently on the bed. It was Will’s voice.

“Mike? You okay?”

“I have no clue, Will.” He responded after a moment of hesitation. “I mean, we won, but I feel so… sad. Yet almost empty at the same time. You get me?”

“Yeah. I understand. I feel the same way.”

“How’re your parents holding up?”

“Not great. Dad is beside himself and mom isn’t much better. How’s Nance?”

“No idea, haven’t really talked to her. What did you call for?”

“Some English guy just knocked on my door, said his name is Harry Hart or something. Apparently he works with a secret agent organisation called the Kingsman, he wants to talk to both of us.”

“What?” Mike asked, suddenly filled with intrigue.

“That’s what I asked.” Will laughed quietly. “He said he wants to meet us as soon as we’re ready to talk.”

“How do you guys know this is legit?”

“His high tech glasses looked pretty legit to me. They had hologram tech.”

“Holy shit, really?”

“Yeah, it was crazy. When do you wanna meet them?”

“I think I’m gonna need a month to think over it.” Mike responded after a moment. Will huffed in understanding. The silence was short but obvious. “We need to get out of here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I understand why your mom wanted to move out back in ’85. The memories are just too much now. I think we should move out.”

“But what about our friends?”

“The ones who all live in different parts of the country studying different things at different colleges? Come on Will, I think this is for the best.”

“Are you sure? I’m gonna miss you if we move away.”

“What do you mean? I’m not gonna move to a different place than you. I’m talking about living together.”

“W-what? Are you sure? That’s going to out us to the entirety of the town we move to.”

“Will, I’m not sure if you remember, but that clown just outed us to the whole world. That’s not gonna make a huge difference.”

“You’re sure you want to move?”

“Yeah, why not. We don’t have to move to a big city, just somewhere different. Somewhere without the pain of here. Somewhere nice.”

“Where are you thinking?”

“How does Maine sound?”

Chapter Text

Mike and Will were about to leave when Bob stopped them. Despite their protests that they were going to be late for their meeting, he sat them down to talk. It was November 1^st, exactly a month since the incident at the lab, three weeks since El’s funeral, and today was the day that they were meant to meet Harry and Mycroft to discuss what happened. Clearly, Bob felt that what he had to say was more important. “Boys, I know that this last month has been difficult for all of us, but I have more… hard news. Do you remember what I said about seeing into the future?” The boys nodded, “Well, it’s not done. In 2016 it comes back, so you two are going to have to defeat it once more.”

“What?” Mike was shocked, not ready for this revelation.

“I’m sorry to put this on you now, but you need to know. I felt it better to tell you 27 years in advance rather than let you find out.”

“How much do you know?” Will asked.

“Not much, it’s pretty hazy. The clown comes back, there are some people I don’t recognise and lots of monsters. Demogorgons, Demodogs, the Mind Flayer and some other things I don’t know.”

“Wow… thanks Bob, we’ll make sure to get planning for something as soon as possible.” Mike stood up and shook Bob’s hand, “But we’ve gotta get going. We’ll see you soon, yeah?”

“See ya boys. Good luck in the future.” Bob smiled as the two left, making their way to the Toddfather so they could go to the secluded spot that they asked Harry to meet at.

As they trudged to Castle Byers, Will couldn’t help but notice the dead vines that hadn’t been cleared up yet. There, as promised, stood Harry and Mycroft, Galahad and Merlin according to their ‘code names,’ apparently the English still loved the Knights of the Round Table. “Nice to see you again Will.” Came the Scottish voice of Mycroft, smiling as he offered a hand for Will to shake, which he did.

“You never mentioned a Scottish man, Will.” Mike said.

“Ah, you must be Mike. Nice to finally meet you, name’s Mycroft, but you can call me Merlin.” Mike cracked up at the name Mycroft and had to wipe a tear from his eye before responding.

“I am never, calling you Merlin, Mycroft.” He offered out a hand to shake, which Mycroft (somewhat reluctantly) took.

“And I’m Harry. Harry Hart, to be exact, though Galahad also works.” He too shook Mike’s hand, though with significantly less reluctance. “Obviously you know what we’re here for, so let’s just get on with it. Do you boys drink?”

“We can’t. Legally.” Will nervously responded.

“Ah. Well, I suppose a whisky will have to fly under the radar. Come with me.” Harry turned around and walked away. Mycroft and the boys followed to a small, private jet parked in a clear patch of the woods.

“Jeez Harry, how’d you get it in here?” Mike was stunned.

“Merlin lowered it without moving it forwards, obviously.” Harry smiled jokingly. Mike nodded and followed the Brits into the plane, where a small bar sat front and centre. “Two whiskies coming up.” Harry said before they’d even closed the door, pulling out small glasses and pouring some liquid into them. He handed them to the boys and invited them to sit down. “Now, go from the start. What happened?”

A good couple of hours later they knew everything. From the DnD game to the death of Eleven, they knew it all. These two people from the other side of the Atlantic probably knew more than Mr Clarke did, considering the enormous gap in length of the stories they told. They knew every detail that Mike and Will knew. “Wow.” Merlin muttered to himself after a moment of silence. “That’s one hell of a childhood.”

“Yes, indeed it is.” Harry replied, though he didn’t turn to face him, instead keeping his eyes focused on the boys in front of him. “Well, you two are clearly competent at fighting, and I feel that your skills could be put to use. As you know, Merlin and I work for a secret organisation in London called the Kingsman. Now, there are no available spaces, but I’d like to put you up for consideration if any ever become free. What do you say?” Mike and Will were silent, stunned at this sudden proposition. They turned to each other.

What do you think? Mike asked.

As much as I’d love to be a part of a secret organisation, I don’t think it’d fit with what I want to do in life, you know what I mean? Will responded.

Yeah, I understand. We should definitely keep in contact with them though.

Oh, for sure.

“We really appreciate the offer guys but… being spies isn’t really what we wanna do with our lives. We’d love to keep in contact and I know that I’m happy to help if you ever need anything done from the outside.” Mike told them.

“I’m also happy to help you guys.” Will added.

“That’s good to know.” Harry smiled reassuringly, clearly registering the mild concern on their faces. “Don’t bother with phone numbers, if we want you, we’ll find you.” He stood up. “Well, you should probably get going.”

“It was great to meet you guys, talk to you soon!” Will said. He and Mike left the plane and walked away, only turning back when they began to take off. “You don’t see that every day.” Will laughed.

“Not often, no.” Mike chuckled in return. There was a brief moment of silence before Mike spoke again. “Have you told them?”

“Told who?”

“Your parents? About Derry?”

“Oh. Yeah. Have you?”

“No. I told them we’re not a thing and that the clown was lying.”

“Are you serious?” Will wasn’t surprised that Mike didn’t tell his family the truth, he knew exactly how Ted and Karen felt about people like them, and it wasn’t a good feeling.

“Yeah. Nancy knows but I made her promise not to tell them that we’re leaving, I only intend to tell them the day of, so they can’t do anything too drastic before we go.”

“Wow. So a couple more weeks and you’re gonna tell them, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess so. A couple more weeks and I’ll probably never speak to them again. They won’t want anything to do with us anyway.” Mike looked up at Will, eyes surprisingly, though not entirely, clear of tears. Still, this was enough to make Will pull him into a hug.

“If they don’t accept us then they don’t deserve us Mike. You know that, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but it still makes me really sad, y’know?” Mike half cried into his smaller half’s shoulder.

“Trust me, I know. I’ve been put down for this since before I knew what I was.”

“And we’re leaving everyone behind with this too… we can’t come back unless it’s necessary.”

“Yeah. We will have to come back, but that’s not for a good twenty-seven years. But we will come back to save the world next time, for real.”

“You sure?”

“I don’t know why Bob would lie, do you?”

“I guess not.” Mike pulled away and wiped his eyes. “We need to get home soon though. My place?” Mike smiled slightly.

“You got it.” Will beamed back and walked all the way out of the woods hand in hand with Mike, and then directly beside him so as to not attract the attention of passers by whom, thankfully, hadn’t believed what the clown had said. It wasn’t how Will had intended to come out to Hopper, Bob, Mr Clarke, Erica, Jonathan and his mom, yet he’d told them the truth anyway. He knew they wouldn’t drop him as soon as they found out, so he figured that there was no point in hiding the truth anymore. From what his friends from back in Pennsylvania said over the phone, all of the camera crews got taken out before the Mind Flayer was out very far, so their secret was safe outside of town. He’d encountered Troy about a week afterwards and was thanked for his heroism but promptly insulted for coming clean about his lack of heterosexuality. Not fun in the home town but it would be fine when they moved, right? He hoped so.

November 4^th 1989. The old Wheeler residence. 11:23 pm.

“What? You’re leaving tonight?” his mom asked.

“Yes. I had to put off telling you out of genuine fear.” Mike responded. His parents sat opposite him and Will.

“Why would you be scared?” his father looked sceptical. Mike gulped at the sudden realisation that this was it. He sighed.

“Truth is…” He turned to Will, who nodded in support. He clenched his and tightly beneath the table. “The clown wasn’t lying. We are a-“

“That’s enough, Michael.” His father shut him down. “I understand. And you understand that I don’t support you.” Mike nodded shyly. “But I know that what’s happened to you has hurt you, so you will get better and come crawling back. It’s just a phase, you aren’t really in love. And that’s okay! Try it out for a while and when it doesn’t work I will be the first to let you back in.”

It was clear that Ted was trying to be supportive. Emphasis on trying. His attempt was completely unsuccessful due to Mike having suspicions about his sexuality since before Will went missing. Will felt Mike tense up at his dad’s comment and decided that it was time to leave. “Well, thank you for the offer Mr Wheeler, we’ll be sure to ask for help if it doesn’t work out, but for now we’re going to give it a try. Thank you two for everything!” He stood up and pulled Mike with him, who seemed to have relaxed. Ted’s face shifted at seeing their fingers intertwined but said nothing. Mike gave quick hugs to each of his parents and they left. After packing everything they could, while leaving enough room for anything extra, into the Toddfather a few hours ago and coming clean to Mike’s parents, there was just one more thing to do. Mike sat in the driver’s seat and pulled away. “That went better than expected.” Will joked in a half-assed attempt to lighten the mood.

“They’re wrong. It wasn’t the Upside Down that made me gay, I had suspicions since beforehand. It was just you going missing that confirmed it in my mind… five years later.” He snorted. There was silence for a moment before he spoke again. “We’re not gonna come back until we have to, are we?”

“No. No we’re not. It’s gonna be really awkward if we go through a terrible breakup.”

“Probably.” He laughed quietly again. The silence resumed until they arrived at the old Byers residence. Standing outside were Steve and Murray. They pulled up and got out.

“Hey guys!” Will said, smiling at the two.

“Hey. How’d it go with the folks?” Steve asked.

“They blamed it on the Upside Down, unsurprisingly, so we don’t intend to come back anytime soon.” Mike said, somewhat downtrodden.

“Don’t get yourself down, kid. You ready to burn down what’s left of the past?” Murray asked, holding up an empty canister of gas. “Everything’s already soaked, but I thought you guys might want to do the honours.” He grabbed a lighter and handed it to the two. Mike lit it and let go, leaving it to Will.

“All yours.” He smiled. Will looked up at his old house, then down to the trail of gas on the floor. To Murray, to Steve, to Mike. He dropped it. Within a minute the house was in flames. They watched as it burned to the floor before Will turned to Steve.

“You got your stuff?”

“I do indeed.” He held up two suitcases. Behind him were the remnants of his car, which was destroyed at the end of September.

“Well get them in then.” Mike said, motioning towards the Toddfather. Steve got his suitcases and himself into the back as Mike and Will followed, waving Murray a quick goodbye as he drove away, back to his old base in Illinois. Mike pulled off slowly and started talking to Steve. “Does everyone know you’re coming with us?”

“Yup. I’ve told everyone the new address, in case they need to find me for some reason.”

“Perfect.”

November 7^th 1989. The new Byers-Wheeler residence. 11:23 pm.

"Darlin' you've got to let me know," Will sang along, sat on his new bed and reading 'Misery.' Mike was next to him, lying down on the bed, hands behind his head as the boombox blared out. “Should I stay or should I go?” He continued singing just as loud. Mike smiled faintly at the enthusiasm of his boyfriend. They’d been living together for two whole days now and it was going surprisingly well. As Will sang along sub-consciously, Mike turned to him.

“I think we’re gonna be okay.”

“Huh?” Will put the book down and faced Mike.

“I think we’re gonna be okay.” Mike repeated.

“Yeah… me too. Me too.” Will smiled. They stared in silence for a moment before the phone rang. Mike sighed and went to pick it up.

“Hello.” He said in a chipper tone. “Has the mattress still not arrived?” He paused. “Okay, see you in ten.” He put the phone down and turned back to Will. “Steve’s gonna have to crash here again.”

“Has the mattress still not arrived?”

“Nope.”

“Well that really ruined the moment.” Will smiled.

“Yeah, but we’ve got thousands more in future that won’t be ruined, right?”

“Of course we do. I mean what could ever go wrong in Derry, Maine?”

Chapter Text

November 7^th 1989 11:34 pm.

Steve arrived at the front door with an apologetic smile on his face. “Sorry, nothing’s arrived yet. Including the mattress. I don’t know what’s taking them so long.”

“It’s fine, Steve, it’s nice to have something familiar other than Mike.” Will laughed and stepped aside to allow Steve into the house. “Help yourself if you need anything, Mike and I are gonna head up to bed.”

“Okay, see you guys tomorrow.” Steve threw Will a thumbs up and walked into the kitchen while Will made his way to the bedroom.

Mike woke up the next morning alone. That wasn’t a shock; Will had been waking up early in the morning since Demo-Day, their name for September’s events. After a moment’s hesitation he hauled himself out of the bed and into the living room, where Will was sat with Steve. He gave a grunt and a wave while blinking the light from his eyes. He made his way into the kitchen to get breakfast and discovered that they’d already gone through all of the cereal. “Shit. We need cereal.” He groaned quietly, moving to get some coffee made instead. Eventually he got back into the living room and placed his coffee on the floor before falling onto the couch with a huff, putting his arm around Will’s shoulders and holding him loosely. “We’ve gotta get cereal later.”

“Are we out already?” Will asked, which elicited a nod from Mike. “Shit.”

“Is this seriously what you’re worried about? After everything?” Steve asked, laughing quietly.

“Yeah. It’s nice to not have to worry about the Upside Down for once. We don’t have to for twenty-seven years man.” Mike replied, leaning down to grab the coffee.

“Time to settle down for a while; move to a town that’s not haunted.” Will added. “That’s why you came, right?”

“No I only came because I needed to get out of that stifling town, get myself out there a little more, y’know?”

“So you moved to a small town in Maine?”

“I needed to be with people I know. After Billy arrived he really knocked my confidence with new people, I mean Robin is the only person that I’ve been successful at becoming friends with since then, you know what I mean?”

“You became friends with us.”

“Yeah but you were kids, did that really count?”

“Yes.”

“Eh, whatever. I should probably get going, let you two get your cereal or whatever.” Steve said, getting to his feet seemingly too quickly, as he blinked hard a few times from light-headedness. “Thanks again for letting me stay over guys, I owe you.”

“Any time, Steve.” Mike said, smiling as Steve walked out the front door.

November 8^th 1989 4:32 pm.

Mike and Will walked slowly into town, hoping to find some sort of grocery store nearby. Despite deciding they were going to get some cereal at around seven, they’d only managed to get out now due to unforeseen circumstances around Steve’s delivery truck arriving and requiring a full unpacking. But they were finally there, making their way to the town centre in an attempt to find food.. Instead, they found something completely unexpected. A group of six boys were walking across the Kissing Bridge opposite them, arguing. “It’s bullshit, there’s no way that It’s back already! It hasn’t even been three months, let alone twenty-seven years.” One kid in a Hawaiian shirt and glasses half-shouted.

“B-beep beep, R-R-Richie.” Another, much sadder looking, boy stuttered, nodding his head towards Mike and Will. If the mention of twenty-seven years wasn’t suspicious enough, then the head nod basically proved that they knew something about the events of Demo-Day and didn’t want anyone to know about it.

They seem suspicious. Mike thought, knowing full well what would come back.

Stop checking out the kids, Mike. Will laughed within his own head. That seemed weird, but Mike ignored that.

Seriously Will, they’re talking about twenty-seven years. Like Bob said.

I’m sure it’s nothing, stop worrying about it. We don’t have to worry for a long ti-

“Does it matter? They aren’t gonna believe some stupid stuff about a killer clown causing the Hawkins shit anyway.” Richie muttered, just loud enough for Mike and Will to hear. The two stopped right alongside the group as Will’s eye’s widened.

I told you so. Mike thought smugly.

“Oh shit.” A short kid in a polo shirt and fanny pack whispered.

“What happened in Hawkins?” Will asked, feigning ignorance.

“Y-y-y-you don’t know?” Asked the broken record.

“No. What happened?” Mike played along with Will.

“There was this giant shadow spider and, like, thousands of monsters. Killed quite a few people, a couple kids too. You really didn’t hear?” Asked the fat one.

“Oh shit. Our parents live there!” Will was acting scared and surprised now. He wasn’t bad at this whole faking that you didn’t save the Universe act. His comment seemed to silence the whole group, before a tall, curly haired one spoke up.

“It’s not my place to tell you this, but…” He trailed off, looking to the black one for help.

“They might not have made it.” His accomplice finished the sentence. He seemed more used to the idea of dead parents than the others.

Probably lost his a long time ago. Will thought.

“Oh God…” Mike muttered.

“What’s this about a killer clown?” Will kept asking questions, which visibly confused the boys. Once again they fell silent. This time, nobody spoke up. “Hello? Will to young boys? What did you say about a killer clown?” Will pressed on.

“It’s nothing.” Richie finally spoke up once more, though he didn’t seem as energetic as he had when talking about how bullshit the clown thing was.

Watch this. Will thought to Mike. And act natural. If you can, play along with it too. This is gonna be funny.

“Are you sure you don’t mean…” Will smiled a big toothy smile and lowered his voice slightly, mimicking the voice of the clown near perfectly. Mike understood what he meant now. “Pennywise? The dancing clown!” He capped it off with an identical laugh to that of the clown and a lunge forward. The kids jumped back, the one with the fanny pack pulled out an inhaler while the rest screamed. Mike and Will burst out into laughter as the kids calmed down. After a few moments, Will stood up straight and pointed to himself. “Will Byers, former captive and current captor of a giant spider creature.” He could see their horrified expressions still present. “Sorry, couldn’t resist.” He flashed a smile, and Mike followed, pointing at himself.

“Mike Wheeler, also a captor of said spider creature and boyfriend of my fellow captor.” Will froze up for a moment before easing back into his previous position.
”And you are?” Will asked. The first to relax was the fat kid, who introduced himself as

“Ben. Ben Hanscom. The smart one.” He smiled politely at Mike and Will before the rest introduced themselves.

“B-Bill Denbrough,” was next, “stuttering strongman.”

“You don’t look very strong.” Mike said.

“He’s probably the strongest of everyone here, except maybe me.” The black kid smiled, “Mike Hanlon, the sheep killer.”

“That’s gonna get confusing.” Will commented, “I’m just gonna call you Hanlon.”

“Stan. The Jew.” The taller, curly haired one said flatly.

“Simple. I like it.” Mike smiled at him.

“I’m Richie, the funny one.” Richie told them, though they already knew his name. He pointed over his shoulder to fanny pack, who was taking another puff from his inhaler. “And that is Eddie. He’s the hypochondriac, will probably die if you touch him.” He laughed to himself while Eddie managed a little wave. “Though together we’re the Killers of Clowns!” Richie made an Avengers-like pose, though nobody else followed. “You guys suck.”

“What do you mean ‘Killers of Clowns?’” Will asked. The group looked at each other in surprise at this.

“Maybe it’s best to not talk about this outside; the adults in this town are very… oblivious to everything.” Ben suggested.

“That’s cool. You can come back to ours if you want, we’ll explain everything and you can tell us what’s going on with you guys.” Mike told them, fully expecting Will’s response.

Yeah, invite the kids over to your house with no adult supervision. That’s not weird at all.

Shut it.

“Uhhh… okay? I guess… Eddie has to be home by 8 though, his mom’s worse than him.” Richie agreed. The rest had no objections, so Mike and Will turned back to make their way home, followed by the group of boys.

Wait. Cereal. Mike thought.

We can get cereal tomorrow. Will responded simply. Mike sighed at this, but made no bones about it.

The eight sat at the kitchen table. It was cramped but everybody just about fit. Mike and Will were nearing the end of their story by this point; it had been a good hour of intricate explanations. “Then, Brenner punched El through her stomach. She pushed him into the hole but…” Mike trailed off.

“She didn’t make it…” Will finished. “We shut the gate and went home. That night, we agreed to move here. Steve had burned his parents house down, so they were not pleased with him, even less so than before. Murray decided that normal life wasn’t really for him either, so he decided to leave. Steve’s also got a place here, just down the street, and we finally burned down my old home before we left, to bring closure to everything, at least for another twenty-seven years. You see, Bob told us about a week ago that the Mind Flayer will some back. He saw into the future while he was dead and saw some ‘memes’ as he called them, as well as our fate. Pennywise returns, as well as another army of Demogorgons and Demodogs, plus other monsters we’ve never seen before. In twenty-seven years. He said there were a load of people he didn’t recognise, and I’m starting to think that some of them may be you guys.”

“What?” Stan asked, shocked at the sudden revelation that they would, in fact, have to fulfil their blood pact. He looked down at the scar on his hand for a moment, before looking back up.

“Sorry to drop that on you so quickly, but it makes sense. I mean, he described people in their twenties to sixties helping out, so you would fit. He mentioned one black person, a ginger girl, like Beverly. Someone with massive glasses, someone with what looked like an inhaler. Distinguishing features like those, you know?”

“Yeah, but he also mentioned some bald guy also with massive glasses. And a sixty year old dude dressed in a… Holy shit.” Mike’s eyes widened.

“What?” Will asked.

“Bald guy in massive glasses and another guy, both in suits.” Mike simply said.

“Holy shit!” Will realised Mike’s train of thought.

“Harry and Mycroft.” Mike finished.

“Who?” Ben asked.

“Two members of a British spy organisation called the Kingsman. Came to talk to us on the same day that Bob told us about the twenty-seven years.” Will told them.

“So you think we’re gonna have to come to Hawkins too?” Asked Hanlon.

“Looks like it.”

“Fuck.” Eddie whispered, leaning towards Richie slightly.

“That’s annoying.” Richie added.

“No shit, Richie. What the hell are we gonna do?”

“I say we honour our p-p-pact.” Bill spoke up, “We made the oath, we stick to the oath. We come back and we kill the clown for real, and then we save the world-“

“Universe.” Mike chimed in.

“Universe with these guys. If It’s coming back and is a part of the Upside Down, the least we could do is help finish off the place that it came from, right?”

“Not as good as the Neibolt speech, you stuttered at the start.” Richie joked.

“F-Fuck you, Richie.”

“You’re right though, Bill. We need to fulfil our oaths, no matter what. If we ever get in contact with Bev we’re gonna have to tell her everything, though.” Hanlon said.

“That’s assuming she hasn’t forgotten us.” Ben said.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…” Ben sighed, “The adults here act weird, maybe you forget shit when you leave town. Nobody here’s ever actually moved out of Derry, have they?” Silence. “Exactly. We don’t know. She could’ve forgotten.”

“If she’s forgotten anything, I hope it’s the six of us in our underwear.” Richie joked. Eddie huffed, but there was no reaction from anyone else. “Well then, fellow Losers. We must go! Let’s leave these good gentlemen in peace.” Richie stood, and the rest of the group soon followed.

“Wait, before you go…” Will started. He grabbed a piece of paper and tore it into six pieces. He wrote the home phone number on each piece and gave one to everybody. “If we’re gonna save the Universe we’re gonna need to be more than just people who met once on a bridge. Call us, we can get you some good shit if you need it.” Will winked and Mike nudged him.

Stop trying to win the kids over with alcohol. Mike told Will through their link. Will thought it over for a second.

You win this round, Wheeler. He responded.

Hell yeah. Mike was pleased with himself.

“Uhh yeah. We’ll call, I guess.” Hanlon flashed a warm smile before heading out the front door, followed by the rest of the Losers. The door shut and the two remaining sighed simultaneously.

“Of course the clown had to be from the very town we move to in order to escape everything.” Will huffed.

“Of course he did.”

Chapter Text

December 5^th 1991 5:17 pm.

“So, you want to help us with our clown problem?” Richie asked.

“It’s gonna come back, Bob’s seen it. And whether we like it or not it’s tied to the Upside Down.” Will replied. He and Mike were sat on the couch across the room from Richie, Eddie and Hanlon, the last remaining Losers. It’d been two years since the two had moved to Derry, and for a long time they had been pondering the question. The question of their responsibility now. “So we need to quell any chance it has of bringing the Mind Flayer back before it’s too late.”

“It’s our responsibility.” Added Mike. “But with both of you,” he motioned at Richie and Eddie, “about to lose your memories of us and the clown, Mikey is gonna need some help keeping everything on track here in Derry.”

“How will you keep us safe out there?” Eddie asked.

“We’ve got friends, they’re gonna keep an eye on you until it’s time to come back. We’ll try and make sure you remember as much as we can, but there’s nothing that guarantees anything.”

“Does that mean this is it?”

“It does. Your ride is outside.”

“But we’re gonna see you again, okay?” Will assured the pair.

“When you get in the car there’s gonna be a Scottish man, his name is Mycroft, don’t let him forget it.” Mike laughed.

“You’ll have fake I.Ds and cards that will be managed by us and Mycroft.” Will added. “But that’s all the interaction I can guarantee from the two of us.”

“Come on, let’s get going.” Mike said, standing up.

Sure enough, Mycroft was in the driver’s seat of a blacked out car. Steve stood by the door and gave a short goodbye to Richie and Eddie before Hanlon gave the two a long, teary hug. After pulling away, Richie swung open the back door of the car.

“Eds, your chariot awaits.” He said, a grin on his face.

“Don’t call me that.” Eddie replied, another smile on his own. He got into the car and was followed by Richie, who gave one last wave to his friend. Hanlon smiled and the door closed. With a smile and a wave, he departed.

“So are we back in the game?” Steve asked.

“I don’t think we ever left.” Mike smiled.

“I mean, we’ve still got a twenty-five year vacation. Wanna make the most of it?” He looked to his right. There sat the Toddfather.

“Someone needs to be here for Hanlon.” Will said.

“Then you guys go. I’ll still be here when you get back. Then it’ll be my turn.” Steve flashed an excited grin. Will smiled and turned to the front door.

“I’ll start packing.”

As he rushed inside to get a set of clothes for Mike and himself, Mike went and started up the car, inserting the playlist the two used to listen to. By the time He’d gotten back in the car, KISS had begun to play and Will laughed as he recognised the song. The chorus began and he sung.

"I was made for lovin' you baby, you were made for lovin' me."