Chapter Text
“This could be heaven or this could be hell” -Hotel California, Eagles
[November 6th, 1983]
Will ran even though he no longer felt as though he had air in his lungs.
Will didn’t know what he was running from, but he knew it was bad. When he had first reached his home, the flower-faced monster had still found a way inside the house; it had unlocked his door with its mind or something, Will didn’t know for sure. He had run to the shed and loaded the gun that lay in the room. He had pointed it at the front door, but the monster found its way behind him and took him away.
The monster had Will in its grasp with its long fingers. Will let a cry break free as he shut his eyes. The monster had then dropped him, and Will hit the floor with a thud. He allowed himself to look up and around his surroundings. The place he was in looked like Hawkins, but it was different. It was quieter, colder, darker, and most of all, emptier. Will couldn’t see a single person in sight. The air smelled like sulfur and felt stuffy, as if it were laborious to breathe. Will’s cough turned into a wheeze when he had sucked in a spore that looked like a cotton ball from the red sky. The sky flashed with red lightning, and thunder rolled only seconds afterwards in a low roll that shook the ground Will stood on.
Will let a dry sob escape his mouth. He knew he was going to die; he had known it since he was six when Pepper, his first dog, had died. His mom had told him that that was what happened when you got old. She told Will that he would have to worry about it when he turned closer to seventy, not twelve. Will curled in on himself, making a ball out of his body. Will shivered; everything in him felt cold, like he was trapped inside a freezer with just enough warmth to keep alive.
The monster still stood above him, staring at Will with his nonexistent eyes. The monster had a face without any eyes (God, Will really needed to come up with a name for the monster; calling it ‘the monster’ felt too repetitive and generic). It was tall at about nine feet, which looked towering compared to the four feet nine inches that Will was. It had very pale skin with lanky limbs. Its face looked like a flower, with hundreds of little teeth. In the center was a hole that looked like it reached into an endless abyss. The flower looked similar to the flowers that the gardening club at school planted, dahlias (Will decided that that would be what he would call the beast; something too pretty for the monster, but it would have to work).
The Dahlia started to call, and a screeching sound came out of its mouth. Will quickly covered his ears, but the sound was too loud. His vision started spinning and blurring all at once, as if he were on a roundabout in the middle of the night. The space around him grew darker, and his head hit the hard ground.
Will could feel himself being lifted by something, but didn’t dare open his eyes. The fingers that secured him this time were not the same as the fingers of the Dahlia.
[November 7th, 1983]
“Now you're awake,” a smooth voice said. Will shot up, but the man before him held him down,
“N-no, please don’t hurt me!” Will begged, “I need to get home, to see my mom an-and Jonathan. Pl-please don't hurt me!”
“Whoa there, I’m not trying to hurt you. I’m trying to help you.” The man was wearing a tan suit with a matching pair of pants. He had a white undershirt and a red tie. Red glasses framed his slim face, and a tan hat sat atop his blonde hair. He looked to be around the age of thirty. “My name is Henry. I’ve been down here for a long time, and you are the first person I’ve seen,” Henry explained.
Will was shocked, “How long?”
Henry sighed, “A while, I couldn’t tell you the exact amount of time. There isn’t really a day or night cycle here, so I kind of just guess. I would say about four years, but I could be lying.”
“That’s so cool, I barely survived the first day here. You're really cool,” a starstruck Will responded. Henry laughed at this.
“I’ll protect you here; I’ll make sure those flower-freaks can’t get you when you're with me,” Henry assured Will.
Will felt relief wash over him, “Really? Thank you! That Dahlia was really freaky.”
“Dahlia?”
“Oh! That’s what I’ve been calling the flower monsters. Their faces remind me of the dahlia flower. But you’ve been here longer, so you probably have a better name for them.”
“Not really, I try not to think about them enough to give them a name. Speaking of names,” Henry turned to Will, “What’s your name?”
“Mr. Henry, I’m sorry I forgot to mention that earlier. I’m Will Byers.”
“Well, it's nice to meet you, Will. I wish we could have met under better circumstances. And Will, just call me Henry.”
Will smirked, “Okay, Mr. Henry. I-” he paused for a second, thinking about what he was going to say, “I need to get out of here and find my mom and Jonathan."
Henry looked at Will with sadness in his eyes, “There is no way out of here. I’ve looked for years, and this is the first time I’ve heard of any gate opening in that time. There is an extremely low chance that another gate will open. Let alone one that will let you get out. I’m sorry.”
Will looked up at Henry and laughed, “Mr. Henry, you have to be lying, right? Because if you were, this would be a pretty bad joke.” But when Henry shook his head, Will ran.
He ran as tears streamed from his eyes, and he only stopped once he arrived at the only safe space he knew: Castle Byers.
[November 8th, 1983]
Castle Byers had always been a safe space for Will, but here, in this dark world, he was scared no matter what. He sang Should I Stay or Should I Go under his breath just to keep himself sane. At least, he sang it until he heard the Dahlia get closer. Will shot up from his safe space and looked around. He could hear the Dahlia’s footsteps getting louder, and the walls of Castle Byers caved in as the Dahlia destroyed the safe space.
Will ran to the big tree that he, Mike, Dustin, and Lucas would race to the top of. This time, he raced up alone for an escape from the Dahlia. But the beast could climb as well, and much to Will’s dismay, it was gaining on Will. Will only had one shot at survival. He looked at the other tree and jumped. His backpack caught on the branch of the other tree, and once Will wiggled free from it, he fell.
-
Will woke up from getting dragged by a Dahlia. He hung on the wall, strapped to it with pulsing vines. A monster with wrinkled skin walked towards him, and Will could do nothing about it.
“At long last, we can begin,” the wrinkled man said.
The man’s head looked up, and one of the vines raced towards Will. Will squirmed before the vine hit his mouth and acted like a straw, pushing something into Will. It tasted like both sewer water; its texture felt both smooth and chunky.
Will’s head jerked up, and his eyes started rolling into the back of his head. He let out a whimper and hoped for help.
The red monster stroked Will’s face, and while Will wanted to squirm, but he was stuck. The monster opened its mouth to speak once again: “You and I, we are going to do such beautiful things together, William.” After a pause, the monster spoke again. “Such beautiful things.” The beast’s hand stopped touching Will’s cheek.
Will wanted to scream, wanted to yell: ‘No! I don’t want this! I don’t know what’s happening! Please, somebody, help me!’ Nothing ended up escaping his mouth. Will’s eyes started to flutter shut, and he knew that his was going to be his last few seconds alive.
But then, as if a hero were descending into the chaos to save the day, the beast vanished from Will’s view. Out of the wreckage walked Henry. Henry’s pace quickened when his eyes locked onto Will’s, and he ran to rip the vine from Will’s face. Will collapsed in on himself, tears streaming down his face. He made no attempt to get back up. “Oh, you poor boy,” Henry said to calm Will down, “It's okay, I’ll make sure he cannot hurt you again. I’ve got you, I’ve got you.”
Will sobbed into Henry’s chest. Everything around him felt more, and Will didn’t like it. It felt like a million different things were touching him; he felt pain hurting him everywhere across his body, and worse of all, Will was seeing things that weren't there. No, that wasn’t it. Will was seeing things through different eyes; the images had a red tint to them. He also heard different noises, sounds that couldn’t have occurred near him because the only sound in Will’s vicinity was Henry trying to calm him down. He heard the screeches of the Dahlia’s around him.
There was too much going on, and Will didn’t like it. When he screamed, the sound barely even registered in his ears.
“Henry, please!” Will begged, “Make it stop! M-make it stop.”
“Will! Will listen to me!” Henry said, and all the voices went away for a moment. Will’s eyes locked onto Henry’s. “I-I don't know what is happening to you, but the monster, he’s not here, I made him go away.”
“Ho-how?” Will asked.
“Well, you see, I know this might sound crazy,” Henry paused, “But I have superpowers.”
“N-no way!” Will responded, not believing him. Was Henry a mutant like the X-Men? Don’t be stupid, Will could imagine Lucas saying, superheroes aren't real, let alone superpowers. Will had a feeling that this would cause an argument between the boys that would end with them going to Dustin’s house to read comics.
“Okay, okay. I know it may sound crazy, but let me show you something.” Henry grabbed a rock from the ground. “I want you to think of something that makes you really happy. Can you do that for me?”
Will thought as he tried to silence the outside noises. He thought of Jonathan, his brother, who would give up everything for his little brother. He thought of the Party playing Dungeons and Dragons together. Of Lucas, whose sass always found a way to make Will laugh. Of Dustin, whose smiles and shitty jokes were always contagious. And of course, of Mike. Mike had been a constant for Will since the swingset in kindergarten, where they first became friends. He was like a rock for Will, always finding a way to make Will smile, laugh, and blush. Will missed them all so much.
The rock was changing into something else. It began to take on a more humanoid form and had armor. The rock turned silver, with a little face that looked an awful lot like Mike. The rock had changed into Mike’s DND mini.
Will looked up at Henry, smiling, “Did you do this? That’s so cool! How do your powers work? Are there limitations? Is there-”
“Whoa there, kid,” Henry cut Will off, “One question at a time. Besides, I don't think that I did this on my own.” Henry went forward and wiped some blood from under Will’s nose. “You see, when I use my powers, I get a nosebleed. Maybe you got one as well.” Henry sighed for a moment, then said in a low voice, almost a whisper: “Maybe the Shadow Monster got you as well.”
Will blinked, “Wait, so you're saying that I have powers. Me?”
“Well, maybe. Look, if you do, then that may seem pretty cool, but trust me, it's not the gift you think it is,” said Henry. “That guy who got you, he used to be just like us. He was probably a kid like you; he had friends, and then one day he got powers. He probably thought it was pretty cool, too. Probably even tried to impress the girl he liked with them.” Will’s eyes widened. “But then that voice got to him, it probably told him to-to kill, and he probably couldn’t resist. And eventually,” Henry paused, “you know what, that's a story for another time. Just remember, kid, these gifts are not always as nice as they seem.”
[November 5th, 1987]
Will woke up from another restless sleep. Time didn’t really exist in Dimension X (the name that Henry called the alternate dimension when Will had asked), but he tried to sleep regularly and eat even more regularly. Will and Henry often tended a garden in the Dark World (the bridge that brought Dimension X and the Overworld together) that grew kale, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and a few root vegetables. Around once a month (though it wasn’t consistent because the time cycle was all messed up), they would leave and raid houses and gas stations for canned food and the like. They always made sure not to grab too much because they needed some for their next run.
The Dark World wasn’t stable; that was the first thing Henry had told Will when they moved their home base into Dimension X. The Overworld and Dimension X were connected like two bricks being held together with a string, but in their case, it was two separate worlds held together with an unstable pocket dimension.
Will got out of his makeshift bed in the dome of spikes that they called their home in Dimension X and went to the secluded corner that acted as a bathroom. He looked in the puddle on the floor and was met with his messy brown hair that reminded him a lot of someone in his life; he couldn’t quite remember who, but he knew that they were close. Will got haircuts every so often, but he found that he actually preferred it longer. He took a shower with the cold water from a bucket. Will then brushed his teeth with stale toothpaste and the cold water from before. He went to see Henry.
“Good mornin’,” Will slurred, still a little drowsy.
Henry was sitting down in his tan suit and a hat. He was wearing his glasses, and his gaze turned to Will’s. “Good morning to you as well.”
Henry has a slight smile on his face that Will finds is rare to see these days. Dimension X had been quite hectic lately, and both Henry and Will had been called away for the Lolth, the giant shadow monster (when Henry had asked about the name choice, Will was forced to explain the basis of DND and had Henry look at him with a confused face. Henry did end up letting Will keep the name, though) and the military had created an entire base down (or up, it depended on how you looked at it) there.
While the powers that they had been given were useful, God were the drawbacks unfortunate. He slowly lost memories of his past life, including his own last name. He had started to write down what he remembered in a journal after the realization, but it didn’t end up helping much. Will hated how his skin looked during the time that Lolth used him. He hated how he sounded. And most of all, Will hated being trapped inside his head, being forced to watch what the monster made his body do.
“How’s Holly?” Will asked. They had recently found a way to merge the two worlds, but to do so, they would need the help of kids. And so Henry and Will had spent days investigating the minds of kids who would be able to help the most. As much as it was unethical, kidnapping children would help save Will and Henry. They were planning to use their connection to the Dimension X hive mind to influence the Dahlias and grab the kids.
“Her physical body is fine,” Henry responded, turning to Holly on the wall. She was strapped to the wall with vines, but she did not look to be in pain. “She is good in my mind as well. She is asleep. Would you like to go in and greet her?”
Will nodded, “I would, pull me out if you need anything.”
“Of course.”
Will closed his mind as he was transported into the mindscape he and Henry created.
-
He awoke on the field just outside the Creel house. Will walked into the magnificent house and made his way to the kitchen. There, he began to prepare breakfast for Holly: bacon, eggs (scrambled), pancakes, and grapes.
Will was about three-quarters of the way through making the meal when Holly walked down the stairs. When she saw him, she stared at him, like he was a face she was trying to place.
“Who are you?” she asked. It was a fair question since only Henry had visited Holly. They had split up the kids between them so that if someone somehow caught on to the plan, they would not have to start over from scratch. The kids knew Henry as Mr. Whatsit, like Mrs. Whatsit from A Wrinkle In Time, whereas Will was known to the kids as Mr. Honey, like Ms. Honey from Matilda.
“Oh, I am sorry, I am a friend of Henry’s. Well, you would know him as Mr. Whatsit. I’m Mr. Honey, but you can call me Will,” Will explained.
Holly pouted, “I don't believe you. Mr. Whatsit told me not to talk to strangers, and you're a stranger. How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
“Well, Mr. Whatsit was a smart man when he told you that. But Mr. Whatsit also told me that your favorite fruit is grapes, which is why I made sure to grab you some.” Will gestured to the plate of grapes set aside for Holly. “He told me that monsters are after you, so he needed me to help get you and your friends. And can I tell you a secret?”
Holly nodded, still not fully convinced that Will was a good guy, “Sure.”
“The monsters got me once, but Mr. Whatsit saved me, just like he saved you. I’ve lived with him for I don’t even know how long. He’s like a mentor to me, and now I want to pass that down to you.” Will took the bacon out of the oven right as the alarm cut him off. “So, would you like some breakfast?”
“That sounds good, thanks,” Holly responded.
And so Will and Holly sat down at the large dining table and began eating. There was casual small talk, mainly Holly filling in the silence with talks about her friends and family. “So, Mr. Honey,” Holly started, “If Mr. Whatsit rescued you, then where is your family?”
Talk about personal questions, Will thought. Then he verbalised, “Well, you see, I can’t remember too much about them. I know that I had a Mom and a Dad, and I think that I had a brother, but I can’t remember their names. So when Mr. Whatsit asked me who he needed to save for me, I couldn’t tell him.” Well, that sucked.
“Oh,” Holly looked distraught, like she was drawn between sadness and confusion, “I’m sorry. I hope you can, like, remember them soon.”
Will sighed, “Me too. But how about we move on to a happier topic?”
“Like what?”
“Well, today Henry and I are going to work together to rescue more of your friends, so you’ll have the house to yourself and explore,” Will explained, and Holly’s face lit up.
“Really?” she exclaimed.
Will laughed, “Yes, really, but Mr. Whatsit has one key rule for you: ‘Don’t go into the woods, that's where the monsters live.’ If you do, well, I don’t know if we will be able to save you, but we will try our best.” Will turned to Holly, “Any questions?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Good, well, if that’s the case, then here,” Will picked up a purple music player and a cassette, “It’s a gift from Henry.”
Holly looked at the tape and lit up, “Tiffany? How did he know?” Will shrugged. “Please tell him I said thank you.”
“Of course. I’ll see you soon! And remember, don't go into the woods.” Will said.
“The monsters live there.” Holly finished.
“That's right. Bye!”
“Bye!”
Once Will was out of Holly’s sight, he slipped into the real world.
-
“How is she?” Henry asked.
“She’s doing good,” Will responded, “She liked the Tiffany cassette, wanted me to thank you for her.”
“That's good,” and then Henry’s face shifted from his usual calm to worry, “They are looking for the kids. Eleven and the others.” Will tensed at the name, from the stories that Henry had told Will about his time in the lab, Eleven was an unforgiving girl. Henry’s voice brought Will out of his own thoughts, “They have Eight with them now. She’s not as powerful, but she may be more brutal. I’m worried; this is our chance to get out, and the kids will not be permanently injured. But if they go through with their plan, soon the link between our worlds will shatter. The kids may not end up being safe, and we will be stuck here forever.”
“So what do we do?”
“I am still going to focus on the kids. Would you mind making sure that the Exotic Matter stays safe?”
“Not at all.”
-
Will didn’t like the Dark World. It began to feel more and more unstable recently, and with the military’s presence increasing, it, well, it made Will nervous. That, and Will didn’t love falling from two thousand feet right into a ball of unstable matter. He had gotten better at landing and could now do it with minimum damage to himself.
Will was glad that he landed when he did. A girl was pointing a fucking gun at the Exotic Matter. Talk about not doing your research, Will thought.
Neither the girl with the gun nor the man standing with her looked to have noticed the boy who had just fallen out of the sky. Will was grateful for that. He used his distance to do a quick background check on the people around him.
The girl’s name was Nancy Wheeler (he knew that last name; he just couldn’t place it). She was twenty years old and was born and raised in Hawkins, Indiana.
The male’s name was Jonathan Byers (Will really knew this person; he felt like he loved him blindly, and Will didn’t do that much lately). He was also twenty, and, just like Nancy, was born and raised in Hawkins.
“Don’t shoot,” Will told them. Both Jonathan and Nancy startled and turned to see the source of the noise.
Nancy pointed the gun to face Will, “Who the hell are you? Are you working with Vecna?” she interrogated.
“First off, who the hell is Vecna? Second of all, I can’t really remember my name.” The first part wasn’t a lie; Will didn’t have a clue who could be Vecna. The second part, however, was a full lie. Will did not want to give his name to a girl he barely knew, and the amnesia was an easy thing to lie about because it was partially true.
Nancy and Jonathan looked equally. Confused, probably thinking things like: ‘How does someone not know their own name?’ and ‘He can’t be telling the truth, he has to know his own name.’
Finally, Nancy broke the silence, “To answer your question, Vecna is an evil guy who put one of our friends into a coma and kidnapped my baby sister. I guess you might know him as One or Henry Creel, but our group calls him Vecna.” She paused for a moment as if thinking out her next words, “How do you not know your name?”
Okay, that made more sense, but since when did Henry put someone into a coma? Did these people seriously think that Henry ‘perfect skin’ Creel was the same person as the wrinkly old guy without a nose? That was the Shadow Monster’s doing, not Henry’s. “Well, when the Shadow Monster attacked me, I slowly began to forget things, and at some point, I forgot my name. Once that happened, I began to keep a journal to make sure I wouldn’t forget anything else,” Will explained.
“Hold on, Shadow Monster?” Jonathan asked.
“Yeah, you know, like the guy who put your friend into a coma. Henry didn’t do that; the Shadow Monster did, using Henry’s body as a vessel. You seriously didn’t know that?” When Nancy and Jonathan shook their heads, Will laughed. “Who told you guys that Henry was?”
“Kid, you're going insane. How long have you been down here? Vecna clearly messed with your mind or something. He did that stuff, not whatever ‘Shadow Monster’ you think exists.” Nancy tried to reason.
Will just laughed harder, “Oh my God! This is hilarious. You think that you're more of an expert on the Dark World and Dimension X than I am?” Will scoffed, “What day is it?”
Jonathan looked taken aback but responded to Will’s request, “November 5th, 1987.”
“Holy shit!” Will exclaimed, “I’ve been here for almost four years.” Nancy and Jonathan were taken aback. “You think you know more about this place than me? Most of my life that I can remember is from this place. You guys are hilarious, almost more so than the military folks.” Will always enjoyed messing with the military; they would always try to catch him, to shoot him, and he would always stop the conflict with his powers and make some snarky remark before leaving.
Jonathan looked the most surprised by Will’s time in the Dark World. They slowly shifted into silence before Jonathan broke it with quiet tears and one single word:
“Will?”