Chapter Text
Will’s blinked awake. He was cold. Colder than he should’ve been. His last memory was Vecna pushing him out of his mind.
Max. He hoped she had gotten away. She had to.
His eyes adjusted to the darkness wherever he was, and he made out a few shapes. A pillar, a broken light, and something else further away.
His nose itched, so he reached to scratch it, his arm didn’t follow the instructions. The reason being that they were stuck. Trapped in place by some other force. He looked to his arm, his eyes less blurry now.
Vines.
Vines held him up against a wall. His other arm stuck in place too.
His breathing quickened as he was hit with a truck of past memories. He knew where he was now, back in that shithole. Back in his twelve year old self's nightmare. In the library. In the upside down.
His brain raced with possibilities, how the hell did he get here? How the hell was he going to get out?
El, who had saved him before was lost, there was no way for her to find him again. Mike and his mom, how were they meant to come into the upside down to get him? They had bigger things to do, Holly and Derek and the other kids, they were the priority. Will had these powers now, he could help himself now. He wasn’t a weak minded little kid anymore.
He pulled his arms as hard as he could, trying to force himself out of this prison.
Until he heard something.
Something the back of his mind recognised.
His eyes widened, not blurred at all now, recognising the something he saw in the back as a person. Maybe not a person, but person shaped.
He squirmed around trying to get out before the thing could move any closer, but it was too late, he was stuck. Again. Frozen.
“Hello, William,” a gravely voice spoke to him.
The back of his neck gave him a warning sign, but he already knew. He knew where he was. He knew who that was.
“Do you remember being here?”
Will muttered under his breath, “No, no no.” He tried to move again.
“Does it bring back,” Vecna paused, and took a step forward, “memories?”
It did. Too many. But Will wasn’t the same anymore, he was older and he was stronger.
His voice came out croaky, half from the vines becoming tighter around his neck, and half from fear. “Max and Holly, they got away,” he assumed from the fact that Vecna was here angry, not gloating, “Did the leg,” he held in a cough, “slow you down?”
“You think you’re so clever? But William, did you really think I didn’t know? I gave you these powers. They are mine, and how quickly I gave them to you, is just how quickly I can take them away.”
Vecna paused, and his shrivelled face moved in a way that Will could only assume is the closest he could ever get to a smile.
“William, you were my vessel, the first, the spy, the builder.”
He knew the first three, but, “Builder?”
Vecna’s head tilted and moved even closer, Will held in his breath to stop it escaping in fear, “How do you think the tunnels came to be?”
The breath he kept in left him without a choice.
“It was you, William. You built them all, each and every night in your sleep.”
Will’s eyes filled with tears. Those tunnels caused so much pain, another thing to add to the list of things that would hurt him too much to think about, right next to Bob, his mom, his siblings, his friends and Mike.
“You were my first. My first vessel. And you showed me just how much was possible with a mind like yours invaded by one like mine.”
Vecna’s hand moved to his face, Will winced and moved as far away as he could. As his fingers brushed against his face, Will shivered, whole body.
“There is so much of this world in you. But make no mistake boy, I gave you this gift, you belong in this world as much as the one you call home. And this world, it is mine. And we are stronger. Much stronger.”
Will’s breath was shaky. He already knew he was connected still to the hive mind, but Vecna himself making it clear the upside down was his home too, that cemented it. It wasn’t true, Will knew it wasn’t in the back of his mind. El was different too, she still belonged in the world, she was meant to grow and live in that world. Robin was like him in ways, and she had found someone to love her, and happiness without that too.
Vecna moved his hand off Will’s face, and his mouth opened to speak again, “William.”
Will hated his first name, his dad had always called him William, shouted it at him, told him Will was for babies.
“You’re going to help me.”
The sinister way in which he said it, didn’t help the tears threatening to fall.
“And be my spy.”
The first tear broke out of the dam.
“One.”
Another fell.
“Last.”
A few more.
“Time.”
Will inhaled shakily, trying to stop any more from falling. He really didn’t like where this was going. He felt guilty, but he sort of wished El would turn up and push Vecna away from him, save him once again.
He had tried to do it for himself while Vecna was taking, but all of the power he had been siphoning had disappeared. He guessed that he was trapped in Henry’s mind, and in there he was useless. Powerless. Weak.
“My vessels are working to build a new world. A better world. And for that, I need all twelve of them.”
“Too bad Max has one of your,” he almost spat out, his throat dry, “vessels.”
Vecna’s mouth twisted, “It is too bad. The fox will have to be hunted. And you are the key to killing her.”
Will’s face twisted in an opposite way, shock. “I would never help you.”
“William, I am not giving you a choice.” His hand extended, and Will shook in fear even more than he had been previously.
“No. No.” Will’s voice was even more ragged, and the vines curled tighter on his skin.
“The more you resist,” Vecna rasped, “the more this will hurt.”
Will shook his head, and closed his eyes, trying to close off his mind. Positive memories. He could feel Vecna reaching in, it stung, hard.
Max, in December after he was possessed that one time, had taken him to the arcade, just them two. She had taught him a trick on Dig Dug to get him at second place, right under her. When the whole party went back, Max and Will had broken into laughter as the other three, especially Dustin, were confused and annoyed.
Vecna digging deeper. Pain.
After her brother died, before Will moved away. He went to her house the day her step-dad left. Her mom opened the door red eyed, and Max stood in the back, frowning. He had asked, politely, if Max was allowed to hang out with him that day, and sleep over. Her mom nodded, and Max looked gratefully at him, she still hadn’t smiled yet.
He took her to his house, he taught her how to draw people, she tried to teach him how to skateboard. He definitely wasn’t as good at skateboarding as she was at art.
He got her to smile, when he fell many, many times.
He got her to laugh when he drew Mike with clown makeup.
She made him promise to write when he left.
Vecna, present in these happy memories too, waiting for him to slip up, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t do that to Max.
Her first phone call in California. She wrote to El all the time, but phone calls were their thing. Sometimes Max and him would send drawings and notes to each other, but they called a lot more.
She would complain about the party, and Will would laugh, and feel closer to them. He would complain about California, and she’d laugh and be glad she wasn’t there anymore.
Pain. Pain. Pain.
His head was thudding, his eyes were heavy with something he didn’t think was tears.
His head filled with memories that he was hiding, Max in the hospital. The movie drawing. The room. The number.
Then Vecna was gone, out of his brain.
His consciousness was waving, and just as he was about to pass out.
“Let me show you what is going to happen next.”
And Will was gone, his mind not in his body, not in Vecna’s anymore. He was floating somewhere in between, and that’s when he fell.
He fell into a world, a world that Vecna said would show him what’s next.
He was in the hospital, Max’s body next to him, and Lucas next to her. He was holding her hand, and her heartbeat was staying steady. She looked exactly the same as the times he had visited her before.
He looked around for something wrong, something missing, but he couldn’t find anything. Nothing.
Until a snarl came from the other side of the door. His neck didn’t shiver this time, it wasn’t real. Vecna was showing him what was going to happen.
He wanted to look away, as the demogorgon knocked through the door. He wanted to look away as Lucas stood in front of her protecting her with his body. He couldn’t look away as Lucas was pushed to the side easily, falling unconscious. Something else kept his eyes open as the demogorgon tore into Max. Even the tears that poured from his eyes didn’t blur them at all, every little detail was clear.
His legs pulled him to the hallway, away from Max’s body and Lucas’ unconscious one.
In that hallway stood Robin, and a short haired ginger woman who was holding her hand. Vickie, it must’ve been. A demogorgon stood face to face with them. They both had tears streaming down their faces, Robin pulled Vickie into a hug, and they stayed in that position until their last tear fell on the floor with their bodies.
Will had broken down now, forgetting to remind himself that none of it was real. Max wasn’t dead. Lucas wasn’t injured. Robin and Vickie were alive.
He fell again into a new place. He was back on the field where they’d been eighteen months earlier staring at the world falling apart.
But this time instead of the sky thundering over Hawkins, it was everywhere. The darkness was everywhere. Hawkins wasn’t Hawkins anymore, it was a mix of the upside down, Hawkins and some other darker world. A world with more demo-creatures, and more death.
The whole party was staring at the new world. Mike and El stood together. Dustin was next to Will, his mom and Hopper further back, Steve and Jonathan were just in front of them. Lucas stood at the front, his arm in a cast, and a scar across his right eye.
They had lost.
He was somewhere else now, Mike’s basement. They were playing DnD, but it had changed, there wasn’t a childish fun way of playing it anymore. They were playing it to try and feel the same, to try and keep living now that the world had been forever changed.
It moved again, Will was with his mom and his brother, he was older now, in his twenties, the world had broken, they moved on though, everybody did. They all tried to keep living.
He had sat them down, back from college. Will looked at himself, almost numb. The older him had an ear piercing and a white jacket, he almost laughed hysterically at the shift in tone.
“Mom, Jon, I need to tell you something.” Will stared at the three of them, waiting for himself to say something. “I want you to meet my boyfriend.”
Will wasn’t expecting that, never in his dreams did he think he’d have a boyfriend, let alone tell his family. His mouth was open at the scene that was playing in front of him.
They both pulled him into a hug, then his mom spoke. “Baby, we’d love to meet him, I just want to know a couple of things.”
Older Will was smiling, almost crying, “Of course.”
“The world's a bad place for people who are like you. Are you being safe? He’s a good guy?”
Both Will’s faces dropped slightly. She hadn’t said anything wrong, she was just being honest.
Jonathan must’ve noticed a change of pace, “She’s right Will, we’d love to meet him, but how about we go to you, it’s more welcoming for, you know. With everything going on in the world, we just want to make sure that you’re sure that this is something you want to do?”
Will didn’t want to watch anymore, it wasn’t real, he reminded himself this time, but the back of his head chimed in with doubt.
The world switched again, to a party. This Will had got rid of the earring and jacket, he looked more like he did now, just with shorter hair.
Mike, Dustin and Lucas were there this time, El wasn’t, he didn’t want to think about why. He shook his head and told himself it didn’t matter because it wasn’t real, even if it wasn’t real, that was his sister.
This Will was not standing next to them though, he was walking towards a bathroom behind a dark haired boy. The three boys were looking at him, but older Will hadn’t noticed. Will himself was shouting at the boy internally to stop being so obvious with something he himself had been hiding forever, now he’d just decided to not care. Though a little part of him was jealous of this Vecna’d version of himself, being free and having the strength to just live.
His eyes moved by themselves, he assumed it was Vecna, making him watch everything in excruciating detail. They fixed on his friends. The three of them with varying expressions. Lucas a worried frown, Dustin a confused processing look, but Mike had the worst of all three, he didn’t look angry, he looked disappointed almost, and that hurt Will in his heart.
He fell again, Hopper giving him a talk, telling him he needs to be safer.
He fell again, it was Christmas, he was on the phone to his mom, cancelling.
He fell again, Jonathan visiting and the two of them quiet, Will playing with his hands as Jonathan made small talk about the weather and shit him and Will had never talked about.
And again, Will alone.
Will alone.
Will alone.
Alone. Alone. Alone.
And then Will in his forties, alone for the last time, pills in his left hand, and a letter in his right.
The thickness filled his eyes again, and his vision blurred red. His eyes finally closed, for only a second before they flew open again.
“Will, Will! It’s me, I'm here.”
He was pulled into someone’s arms, someone he felt safe with. His breathing started to slow as he realised who it was, “El.”
His head reeled, as he hugged her back, “El, Max, he knows where she is, I didn’t mean to, I didn’t mean to.”
His eyes washed the blood out with more tears, as he processed the fact that one of his best friends might be dead because of him. Max was strong normally, but now she was stuck in a lifeless body that she couldn’t protect herself from anything.
El moved backwards so she could look Will in his eyes, her arms still holding him. Her eyes were filled with worry, “What do you mean?”
“Vecna, he knows where she is, in the hospital, he’s coming.”
El squeezed his hand, “We will stop him, together.”
Will nodded, as El wiped some of his tears away, “We need to get out of here, now.”
Will tried to push himself up, but fell back on his wobbly hands. El held him tighter, “Not our bodies, our minds. Close your eyes, and I’ll pull us out.”
Will hummed, “Thanks for finding me.”
El moved her head closer, “I will always find you, you’re my family, now we need to go save the rest of our family.”
They both closed their eyes and Will felt El pulling him along and out of the prison Vecna had trapped him in.
He took a deep breath, and fell one last time.
He flew up and pressed his head, blinking his eyes, he tried to focus on what was happening.
“Baby, oh!” His mom threw her arms around him, and pressed her head into his shoulder. He sighed softly and felt her warmth.
“Mom,” he stifled a sob and held onto her.
The door opened quickly, as El flew in and hugged him too, Mike followed behind her and joined in, squeezing Will’s hand that laid on El’s back. The four of them came apart, then three of them stared at Will. El spoke first, “Vecna, he’s coming for Max, we need to go.”
Her and Mike stood up, and Will tried to follow. But his mom shushed him, and pushed him down lightly. Hopper spoke up from behind Mike and El, “Stay here kid, talk to your mom, sleep, we’ll need you later not now.”
Will tried to protest but Mike smiled at him, “We’ll be back later, with everyone, I promise.”
Somehow, Mike had managed to say exactly what Will needed to hear. He squeezed Will’s shoulder then the three of them left him and his mom.
His mom pulled him into his arms again. “Are you okay honey? The others said you were in some sort of trance? A Vecna trance.” Will looked down at his feet, they were sitting next to each other on the bed now his mom still holding onto him.
His mom paused and softened her voice, “Will, talk to me.”
Tears filled his eyes and he looked to her, “He showed me what would happen next. He showed me so much mom, so much.” He broke down and fell back into her arms.
She stroked his hair and kissed the top of his head, “It wasn't real baby, he was just trying to scare you. Only you can make your future.”
“But I don’t know mom, I don’t know the future, he knows it more than me, he knows,” he cried, “he knows.”
“He doesn’t, baby, I promise he doesn’t.”
Will tried to shut off his thoughts and only listen to her. Her optimism and her hope.
She rocked him to sleep, and he lay there in dreamless sleep until the sun shone through the window and stirred him awake.
She spoke softly, and left him to get dressed so they could go back to WSQK, and they did exactly that.
Will had listened to his mom rambling throughout the car journey, about Hopper’s stubbornness, Jonathan’s inability to tidy up after himself, and not being able to see El enough. Once she’d gone through the usual topics, they fell into a silence. Not a comfortable one or an uncomfortable one, just a silence that was inevitable with the situation they were living through.
“Baby, I think that we should talk about last night.”
Will rolled down the window and let the air in, trying to let the wind drown out the conversation that was about to come.
“What about it?”
“Max is safe. You did that, you saved her.”
Will shook his head, still watching the trees speed past, “I saved her from me, it was my fault Vecna even knew where she was. I was his spy, again. I let him use me, again.”
“Will, you couldn’t have done anything else. Vecna did this, not you.”
“I was weak,” he ignored her words, “He picked me out of everyone in Hawkins because my mind was the most easily manipulated. Me. I was his vessel, if I had been just a little stronger then maybe he wouldn’t have taken Holly and Derek and the others. He only took them because his plan for me worked so well that he could expand it.”
The trees continued to speed past, and the wind continued to pour in through the window. It hadn’t managed to drown out anything.
“Will,” his mom’s voice was shaky, and that hurt, “You are not weak. You might be the strongest person I know. You’ve had so much done to you, being taken at twelve, surviving in that shithole,” Will let out a breathy snort, “Coming back and having even more shit to deal with, the mindflayer, the mindflayer again, leaving Hawkins, coming back,” she let in a deep breath, “Will you are so, so strong, and maybe you think I’m just saying this because I’m your mother and I have to, but that’s not it. If you’d ask anyone who knows anything about you, they’d agree with me. Because you Will Byers are so strong. Vecna may have won once, but he is not going to again, because you won’t let him, we won’t let him. If he thinks you’re weak?” She paused, and smiled as Will turned to face her, tears streaming down his face. “You show him that you’re not.”
The wind was now just a soundtrack to their conversation, if anything it was accentuating the point his mom was trying to make. He didn’t need to look away and hide from deep talks, he could embrace them, and use them as a strength.
“Thank you mom.” He smiled at her, the tears almost dry now. She had the exact same look on her face.
“Don’t thank me baby, I’m only telling the truth.”
Once the drive was finished, Will climbed out of the car and pulled his mom into a deep hug. They stayed there until cars approached, they let go of each other and watched their friends climb out.
Will watched Vickie and El carry a wheelchair out, then Lucas carry a ginger haired girl in a hospital gown out.
Max.
Max laughed, and made a remark that Will couldn’t hear but Lucas laughed at. His heart stopped and a grin made its way onto his face. He raced towards the group, and threw himself at her, “Max!”
She let out a laugh, a sound that he had missed hearing, over the phone he had heard it, but in person he hadn’t heard it for two and a bit years.
He moved away, to look at her closer, to feel her face, her hair now that it had life again, “I leave you alone for a second and you get powers and a better hairstyle.”
Tears started to form in both of their eyes, “It was a bit longer than a second, my hairstyle hasn’t really changed too much, and I don’t really have powers.”
Max tilted her head, “Does someone who doesn’t really have powers save my life by invading an evil wizard's mind and breaking his leg?”
“Well no but-“
“No buts, you’re a superhero!”
Mike rolled his eyes, him and Dustin had now joined the reunion that was happening now. His mom and Hopper were elsewhere. “He’s a sorcerer.”
Max glared at him, “Pipe down Wheeler, we’ve already reunited, I’ve not seen this face for almost three years,” Max turned to look at Will again, “Speaking of, Will, what happened, when did you grow from a fourteen year old that looks ten to a man?”
“I’m not sure about that,” he laughed it off.
“California,” El interrupted, “Joyce had to throw out all his clothes and buy new ones because they didn’t fit anymore.”
Lucas laughed, “You did come back a lot taller, still shorter than me but closer.”
Will was red now, and pleased when Hopper came and interrupted them, “Let’s get it moving kids, Dustin you wanted to tell us something?”
The giant group all made their way into the radio station and sat together listening to Dustin’s confusing explanation on the upside down, the wormhole and the abyss.
Will zoned out and watched the clock in the far corner ticking, it chimed three times, then he zoned back in on what Dustin was explaining, forgetting all about that clock, and those chimes.
He nodded along and explained to the group more about Vecna’s plans to crack both worlds and Max chimed in with that he would be able to move worlds together.
After the plan was formed, Will wanted to do one more thing before they left. He pulled his mom away from Hopper, and Jonathan away from getting bullied by Erica, which gave him a burst of happiness from the stress he was feeling.
He took them into one of the smaller rooms, and sat opposite them. He picked with his fingers and inhaled deeply.
“When Vecna had me in his trance, he showed me having a conversation with you two,” he took another breath, “It wasn’t bad, you sounded like something you’d say, and that’s what scared me most really. It was reasonable of you to ask me that but it just made me feel more different, it made me feel like another thing you had to look out for, another thing wrong with me.” He looked up for the first time, his mom looked slightly confused but mainly worried, Jonathan looked different, he had a look of understanding on his face, and pride there too. Looking at him filled Will with the strength to keep going.
“I don’t like girls. I’ve never liked girls, not like I’m supposed to, and I had this crush on this guy and I tried to ignore it but I couldn’t, and then I finally started to be okay with all of it, all of me. But then I saw this version of myself in Vecna’s mind who had accepted that, but people put him down and further down and then he stopped being different and tried to fit in. Then he kept to himself and faded from you guys and my friends until I was alone, so alone.”
The tears fell softly, but the silence was palpable enough to hear them land.
Jonathan was about to speak, but Will carried on and stopped him, “And I know that Vecna hasn’t really seen the future, but it felt so real, all of it felt so real. And the world was broken and everything was wrong, and I was wrong, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
He broke down then, falling into Jonathan’s arms. Jonathan stroked his hair, and whispered into his ears, “Do not be sorry, never be sorry. You are my brother no matter who you do or don’t love. Nothing could ever change that. Ever. Okay?”
Will nodded, “Okay, okay,” he said through tears.
His mom pushed down her tears and joined them in the hug, “You are not wrong either, baby. You are my boy. When you showed me your first ever drawing, when you left me for your first ever day of kindergarten, and you were so nervous, but you were so brave, and when you asked Mike around to our house for the first time and the two of you had played until the sun went down, and the first time you came home after the upside down, and all three of us had a sleepover in my room, and we did that for a whole week, and right now, you are and always will be my boy.”
The three of them hugged tighter in a silence that felt like an acceptance, a shared knowledge.
Until Will felt his eyes getting heavier, his lungs breathing in colder air, and his mind floated away.
Tick. Tock.
~*~
Mike’s leg bobbed as he stared at the locked door that Mrs Byers had shut almost ten minutes before. He checked his watch, and the time showed ten minutes before they needed to leave.
He watched the hand tick around, again and again.
Eight minutes til they needed to leave. He decided it was about time to get them to leave. He walked up to Lucas and Dustin, who were pretending, he assumed, to fight each other.
“Guys, should we tell them we’re going now?” He nodded his head to the door Will was behind.
Dustin nodded and Lucas looked unsure, “We can’t give them a little longer?”
Mike looked at the door and then back at them, “I don’t know man, I think Hopper might bust the door down if we don’t tell them now.”
The three agreed, and walked towards the door, before they entered Mike heard Will talking. He put his hand to stop Dustin knocking, “Wait a second.”
Dustin stopped, and leaned in closer to the door with Mike, Lucas chimed in then, whispering, “Guys, I really don’t think we should-“
Dustin shushed him, and Mike held back a laugh.
Through the door Mike made out the words, “I don’t like girls,” and his heart dropped.
His brain tried to comprehend that sentence, the rest of what Will was saying went in one ear and out the other, he was too focused on what had already been said.
Dustin and Lucas were having their own reactions, but Mike wasn’t paying attention, what was running through his head was a conversation from almost three years ago. “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls.”
It was always there, the possibility of Will being like that, like him. No, not like him. Sort of like him. He wasn’t sure himself, he could barely admit it, he could never even imagine saying it out loud.
Will was so brave, Mike was in awe, just so taken aback. He couldn’t imagine if it was hard for him with his shitty-ish dad, how it was for Will with his super, super shitty dad. Mike tried to zone back in on the conversation, “-faded from you guys and my friends until I was alone, so alone.”
Mike froze again, he looked to Dustin who wore a heartbroken look on his face, tears in his eyes. Lucas had a similar look, but it was more angry, like he was pissed at whoever made Will’s voice become that choked. Mike himself was somewhere in between the two, wanting to find whoever made him think that any of them, any of the party would let him fade away and half fear that that is just how life goes, that Will would fade from him even more than he already had.
Will and him had been drifting since before that argument in the rain. It was Mike’s fault, he knew that. He was at least that self-aware, he didn’t mean to, not really. He just didn’t know how to express his friendship, without pushing past the bounds of just friends. So instead of letting things move naturally, letting his feelings progress, Mike decided that if he got as far away from Will as possible that his own feelings would leave with him.
He stared at the wooden door, and listened to the hiccup sobs on the other side. His heart hurt, it ached, and it felt the urge to kick down the door and embrace him as long as possible.
Lucas cleared his throat quietly, “If either of you have a problem, we’ll have to take it outside, and remember all that basketball made me a lot stronger than either of you.”
Dustin shook his head quickly, “Of course I don’t have a problem.”
They both turned their heads to Mike, and he felt his face turn redder, “No. No problems here.”
Lucas nodded, “Good,” he narrowed his eyes slightly at Mike, who’s dropped to his feet. “We should probably give them a few minutes.”
Dustin nodded, he turned around to leave, but Lucas grabbed his arm, “Don’t tell anyone what you heard here. Okay?”
“I know, I know. I’m not an idiot.”
Mike watched as Dustin wandered over to where Steve and Jonathan were standing. Mike tapped his foot softly, feeling Lucas’ eyes on him.
“You can talk to me about it, if you want.”
Mike met his eyes then, and shrugged, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Lucas’ face became slightly more sad, “Sure. But you and Will were always the closest in the party-“
Mike tried to interrupt to say something about how they were all equally close, but Lucas carried on.
“You were. I used to be jealous of it, me and Dustin were close too, just not like you guys. The reason I’m not jealous anymore is because I realised that there was something more to you guys.”
Mike’s eyes widened, as Lucas explained his own emotions better than he could.
“And that’s okay, you know that right? That it’s okay. It’s not wrong, it’s not weird, it’s life.”
Mike didn’t say anything, he looked as Lucas smiled slightly, the tears that had left their eyes threatened to return.
Lucas moved his hand to Mike’s shoulder and squeezed it. Mike smiled now, and felt something he hadn’t before. He felt seen. He felt closer to being open and accepted than he’d even been. He moved into Lucas quickly, almost tackling him into a bear hug. Lucas laughed and hugged him back, the two of them stood mirroring the three people in the room opposite.
Something similar was happening in Mike that happened to Will.
His eyes and body felt heavy, his mind felt light. Like it was floating away, like it was hibernating away from his body.
Tick. Tock.
~*~
Lucas shook Mike slightly, “Mike? Mike man, you’re heavy, can you move?”
Mike didn’t make a sound.
“Mike? You’re freaking me out.”
Nothing still.
He moved as much as he could towards the door, and knocked heavily with his elbow, “Will! Someone! A little help out here please?”
Jonathan opened the door, eyes red, and mouth open. “Can you grab his other arm?”
Jonathan stared for a second then nodded, springing into action, “Put him on the other sofa.”
After putting Mike down, Lucas stood up, and looked around for the first time, Joyce was kneeling next to the other sofa, where on it lay an unconscious Will.
He opened his mouth to say something, but the words ran out. Jonathan however knew what to say, “We’re going to need a new plan.”