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Mike felt like he couldn’t move as the demogorgon darted straight for him, his arms shot up and covered his face in instinct. The only sounds being that of the demogorgon's claws scraping the concrete as it launched itself at him.
He knew that everyone that had ever lived through their near-death experiences had described it as though time itself had stopped but he hadn’t realized just how long the passing of time actually felt.
It was as though he was aware of every part of himself, the loud thud of his heartbeat that timed itself with the throbbing of his head and the nasty injury that was left on his shoulder after sliding into one of the bathroom walls.
The feeling of every labored breath and constant ringing from the metal clicks of entire magazines being unloaded into the interdimensional beasts ripping holes in the fabric of his hometown left and right.
It shouldn’t have taken this long for the demogorgon to get him, was he in some sort of shock or had he already died? Normally one would have to get ragdolled and torn to shreds before they’d die their agonizing death to the garbage disposal of a mouth the beasts had on them so it couldn’t be the latter.
Cautiously he brought his arms back down to his sides and all he could think was that there was no way he hadn’t died considering the sight before him. Barely a few feet in the air from him was the demogorgon, trying to helplessly resist whatever was holding it in the air by some invisible force.
He didn’t have to wonder for long who was behind whatever was happening in front of him. Standing where Vecna had dragged him moments before stood Will with one of his hands outstretched in the demogorgon’s direction—Mike’s direction.
Suddenly the screeching of the demogorgon was all that could be heard, everything else had fallen silent as its desperate cries were replaced by the blood-curdling cracking of bones. Mike watched as its limbs contorted in ways that seemed impossible, unnatural.
Will’s other hand shot out and his head snapped up with enough force for an uncomfortable sounding pop to come from his neck, and then it stopped. Everything went silent once more as the monster fell to the ground.
Mike couldn’t help but stare at Will, his best friend of years (Even though they’d had some rough patches) Who just annihilated a demogorgon before his very eyes. Who’d saved him from certain death and was now locking eyes with him as he wiped blood from his nose.
Shit, focus! He mentally scolded himself, rushing as fast as he could over to Will’s side the moment it looked like he was gonna lose his balance, hearing Mrs. Byers not far behind him as he reached out to support some of Will’s weight, who gladly leaned into him.
“Holy shit Will, how did you- You’re a sorcerer!” He said in awe, crouching down to allow Will a shoulder to lean on. Will’s head immediately lolled onto it as it was offered to him before he dropped into dead weight, Mike positioning himself to cushion Will as he dragged the both of them down onto the concrete.
“Hey, Hey Will! Stay with me okay, it’s gonna be alright, you’re gonna be alright!” Mike tried to reassure him, though he didn’t think he could hear him anymore. Did Vecna do something to him? Had Vecna gotten to Will and all Mike could do was watch? No, no, Will was going to be okay. That was Will looking back at him just now Mike was sure of it, and Will was a sorcerer now; He’s gonna be fine, he has to be.
He set him down and began checking him over hurriedly, not paying any mind as Mrs. Byers kneeled down beside him. They were calling for him, begging him to come back and there was no response from him.
Mike had brushed one of Will’s hands as he got up to carry him with Mrs. Byers, his hand was freezing as though he’d been dipped in some sort of icy lake. The rest was a blur to Mike, too focused on Will to register anything else.
It was mostly just bits and pieces, they stole one of the military vehicles and made a break for it back to the WSQK to regroup. Robin and Murray had radio’d about demogorgons attacking them and the children being gone, Robin recounting the gruesome seemingly random death that had befallen the demogorgon attacking her. The description matched up with what Will had done to the one that had attacked Mike.
Lucas chimed in a few minutes later, saying the same thing as Robin. He sounded pretty rough from what Mike could tell, Will hadn’t gotten the demogorgon before it had gotten Lucas but at least he was alive.
Mike knew Joyce hadn’t seen what—That Will had been the one to do those things to the demogorgons and he decided he’d wait to share that it was Will who’d done all that until they regrouped and had time to discuss it face-to-face.
He still wasn’t sure what was going on himself and the last thing he needed to do was freak everyone else out even more before they got the chance to breathe.
Will was splayed across the seats, head resting cradled in Mike’s lap as Mike ran his thumb over Will’s wrist. Any other time Mike might’ve been embarrassed or flustered to be in this position with his best friend but they didn’t even have the time for it to cross his mind as he observed Will’s face, checking for the slightest sign of consciousness.
Sure Will wouldn’t be of much help to any of the questions Mike had or the pile that was growing still as they made their way into the WSQK but having Will there with him would’ve made it a lot easier.
Will was sweating badly, tossing and groaning uncomfortably by the time they’d arrived at the WSQK and laid him down on an old couch that had been shoved into a corner when they first started doing the crawl planning there.
Mrs. Byers was sitting on the edge of the couch, mumbling incoherently to Will as she grasped his hands tightly, Mike had situated himself on the floor beside them. Murray rambled on and on about what could’ve gone wrong or happened, Robin nodding along mindlessly. Lucas was sitting awkwardly on the floor as Erica unapologetically cleaned the wounds from his stand-off with the demogorgon, earning several hisses of pain and complaints of the bandages being too tight.
“So, what happened?” Lucas turned his attention towards Mike and the rest of the room followed, minus Mrs. Byers who was still in her worried trance, hovering aimlessly as deep down she knew too that the only thing to do now was wait for him to wake up.
“Hey, earth to little Wheeler?” Robin waved a hand in Mike's face, startling him into a delayed reaction that ended up with him on the floor. “Uh- Right sorry, just trying to get everything straight in my head. It’s all so confusing y’know?” He mumbled, his eyes darting anywhere but the group.
“Well we kinda got caught, as you guys know already,” Mike glanced around the room nervously, glad to see he wasn’t the only one feeling the disappointment and guilt of losing the children. “And then demos started swarming the place, coming from every which way, and that rotten bastard came out of the gate, saying all these things to Will.” He paused for a second to collect himself, he felt so helpless hearing Vecna say all those things to Will and not be able to do anything about it.
Will didn’t deserve any of that or any of this and that infuriated him.
“Keep talking, what happened after that?” Murray eyed him curiously and he noticed Robin seemed to glance thoughtfully in his direction for a moment.
“Sorry, sorry after that everything sort of becomes this fast blur. One moment there was a demogorgon launching itself at me and the next thing I knew it’s floating, then its bones started breaking and it started twisting in all sorts of unnatural ways.”
“That’s how Vecna kills his victims.” Lucas chimed in, shifting uncomfortably on the floor as he stared into space. Mike felt bad, all of this was just rubbing salt in old wounds for him.
“I saw it too, it was definitely like how Vecna killed his victims. But why, why kill his own demogorgons and why leave you guys alive?” Robin said, speaking frantically.
“It wasn’t Vecna.” Mike spoke, and watching all of their expressions he almost wished he hadn’t. It wasn’t gonna be easy to explain that their friend somehow had powers exactly like their enemy.
“What do you mean ‘It wasn’t Vecna’ Mike, are you telling me we have another evil dimensional wizard to deal with now?” Erica gave him an exasperated look with that familiar hint of sass she gives him when he ‘talks nonsense’ as she and Lucas like to call it.
“Look I get it, what I’m about to say is crazy but we’ve been through crazier right?” Mike gestured with his hands as he looked around for anything to make it easier to explain.
Some of Joyce’s attention had left Will and was now also on Mike, screwing any sort of damage control he could’ve had. Sorry Will, but at least he looked more comfortable then he did earlier, no more tossing or groaning.
“Just say it already Mike.” Joyce said, exhaustion seeping into every word.
“Promise you guys won’t freak out or-or try to do anything crazy, alright?” They all did various stares and small nods but it was enough. “The one who killed those demogorgons wasn’t Vecna, it was Will.”
The room went completely silent save for the slight buzzing of electronics as they took in what Mike said, it only lasted a few seconds before Lucas shouted “Will did that?!” His face displaying an emotion Mike couldn’t quite place but he almost seemed… Afraid?
“Do we have a running theory for how Vecna’s uh, his powers work? I mean I know he’s got antennas and he’s connected to the hive mind and all but how does that tie into physiological serial-killer powers?” Robin rambled as she fidgeted with the ice pack in her hands.
“He’s not Vecna.” Mike rolled his eyes at what Robin seemed to be implying, the mind flayer had gotten Will before so it’s not entirely out of the question but insinuating that Will was anything like that psycho killer rubbed him the wrong way.
“What if he wakes up and it is Vecna, what do we do then?” Murray inquired, trying to steer them into a more useful conversation.
“We do what we did when the mind flayer got him before, right Mrs. Byers?” Mike said, turning back to Mrs. Byers who was still white with shock.
Mrs. Byers stared with her mouth gaping slightly for what seemed like an eternity before she finally spoke. “I just don’t understand why he’s still so connected to it, we made a mistake letting him connect back to the hive mind. I shouldn’t hav-”
“Sorry to interject but I don’t think it would have made any difference if he’d stayed here in the safety of the WSQK or not. You said Vecna came out of the gate and went straight for him, but he’s alive and breathing right there and he hasn’t been snapped like a pretzel yet so the creepy interdimensional wizard obviously wants something with him.” Robin interrupted, muttering nervously as she made eye contact with Mrs. Byers.
“You were the part of the reason he reconnected to the hive-mind, all this talk about antennas and the lying about whatever a flux capacitor is to sneak off while Hawkins is in the state it is and Vecna still being out here, out for him!” Mrs. Byers yelled, standing from the couch in Robin’s direction.
Mike hated this whole situation and he wishes there was something they could’ve done to prevent it but Robin wasn’t wrong. Vecna wanted something from Will and he was going to get it whether Will was out there fighting for their lives or in here safely tucked away against his will.
He knows what Will would rather choose, and how helpless he’s felt every crawl sat down here while they work to find the bastard that started this all. They’d talked about it once or twice when Will was having his off-days, though he’d been having less of those thanks to Robin.
He was okay with Robin, though her recent friendship with Will was odd or at least he thought so, but Will had someone who trusted him to act on his own and Mike had seen the difference it made in him. Despite the not-so-nice-world-ending situation they’d ended up in, Will finally seemed happy and he hoped that happiness wasn’t short lived even if it meant replacing him.
Mike was brought back to his senses by the growing noise of yelling. Robin looked as though she’d been backed into a corner, Murray had joined in at some point and Mrs. Byers wasn’t letting up.
Lucas looked like there was something he wanted to say but he kept glancing back at Will and shutting his jaw before he’d fully open it, Erica wasn't much different, though she seemed more intrigued than scared.
“That’s enough! Robin’s right. It wouldn’t have mattered where Will was if Vecna’s still after him, he’ll get what he wants no matter what means he has to use to get it. We know that and we can’t change what happened, all we can do now is wait it out and plan accordingly. Robin and Murray can try to get the signals working again so we can find the others in the upside down, the rest of you go find something useful to do until Will wakes up and we can figure this out." Mike finally snapped.
Robin looked grateful for the save and made a quick excuse to hurry up the stairs to find the others as fast as they could, Lucas and Erica followed behind, Erica batting Lucas as he tried to lean on her for help. Murray lingered curiously for a moment before heading after the others leaving Mike and Mrs. Byers alone with Will in the basement.
“I’m sorry Mike, I sort of lost my temper there. It’s just been a long, frustrating day. Thanks for setting us straight back there, you’re a great kid y’know that? Always have been.” She said as she sat kneeled down on the ground beside him while he checked Will’s pulse again.
“I mean really I have no idea what we’d do without you or where we’d be without you, where he’d be without you.” She added as she gently grabbed her son’s hands and took it in her own.
“It’s alright, all this stress is getting to everyone. Even I’m a little antsy, Will’s out of it and everyone else is in the upside down and we have no way of knowing if they’re okay, or how to bring them back,” Mike said, elbow on his knee as he traced Will’s still breathing face with his eyes.
“Some days it feels like I need him more than he needs me. I won’t let Vecna hurt him, not again.” Mike whispered so quietly he was sure only he could hear it but something in Mrs. Byers seemed to relax. “You got thrown pretty hard by that explosion, you should probably rest up. We’ll need you.” Mike said turning to her, she was slumped over and despite the shadows you could see how sickly pale she was.
“I can’t leave his side, what if something happens and I’m not here?” Her voice wavered with guilt as she rubbed her thumb over Will’s hand in a gentle circular motion.
“I can watch him, I’ll get you if anything happens I promise.” He said, putting a hand on her shoulder. It felt odd trying to comfort the woman who’d comforted him for years and had practically been his second mother but heaven knows she needed it, they all did.
“Are you sure? You’re looking pretty rough yourself.” She said with a faint laugh as though she’d finally begun to take in the aftermath of the situation, a mother’s love really is a strong drug huh.
“I’m positive, he needs you and if you want to support him you have to take care of yourself.” He said, trying to push the fog that came with being thrown around earlier to the back of his head. Mrs. Byers needed the rest more than he did.
They sat there for a moment as Mrs. Byers checked Will over one last time before pulling Mike into a hug and walking off to who knows where but not without giving Mike a hundred or so instructions before she left.
Now he and Will were the only two people left down in the basement and all he had to drown his train of seemingly never-ending thoughts out were the slow, deep breaths of the concerningly unconscious boy beside him and the buzzing of machinery that clicked in rhythm with the pounding of his head.