Chapter Text
Henry shut his eyes as the boy in front of him raised the stone.
It had been years ago, he knew, but the cave stripped time from him the moment he’d dared to enter. Ever since crossing its threshold, he felt no older than that trembling child on the dirt floor. Everything else – Max, Holly, the children – fell away as his memories were slowly chipped at, leaving only the sharpest edges behind.
The boy had quieted his sobbing now, the bloodied stone laying discarded at his side. A few more tears managed to slip past as he slowly unclasped the silver case with shaking hands. It opened with a sharp pop, the stone nestled inside catching the light.
Something deep inside of Henry told him to move, to stop the inevitable. He lurched to his feet, one hand reaching out–
He fell through the boy, his image not even rippling at the disturbance.
There was no resistance. No ripple. Just the awful, hollow certainty of being unseen as dark ash crept up the child’s wrist, sinking into skin, burrowing deep. Henry could only watch as it changed him into the man he now was.
A sob clawed its way up his throat.
“Henry.”
The voice didn’t belong here.
Will was still kneeling on the dusty, foreign surface of the cave, his eyes unfocused, breath shallow. He shouldn’t see this – him – but their connection didn’t seem to care about rules or permission, not since it had begun to turn on him.
—
He felt it all at once.
The terror. The helplessness. The sickening inevitability.
It hit him so hard he nearly doubled over, one hand flying to his chest as if he could somehow claw the feeling out. Distantly, he could hear his mother shouting, begging him to come back.
This wasn’t Vecna. He’d felt it the moment Henry had fallen to his knees fighting back tears. This was a child cornered by something vast and hungry and patient.
“Henry,” Will whispered, voice shaking. “You don’t have to–”
“Leave me alone.”
The words tore out of Henry, sharp and desperate. He squeezed his eyes shut, nails digging into his palms.
“Get out. You shouldn’t be here.”
Will held on, scraping his way through his mind.
“You’re just like me. I am proof you don’t have to give in anymore.”
If he dared acknowledge it, acknowledge the words and how they dared spark some hope within him, then it would make everything far too real.
“I’m nothing like you.”
He gritted his teeth. Doubt twinged at the back of his mind.
“I’m–”
Something noticed. The pressure descended instantly.
Henry cried out as the Mindflayer wrapped tighter around his mind, burning through any thoughts he may have. The cave seemed to pulse, walls breathing in time with the thing’s anger. It refuted the sudden loss of control with a sharp bite.
Will gasped as the pain slammed into him secondhand, white-hot and nauseating. The connection screamed, forcing him backward, tearing him back to reality–
–but not before he felt it.
A flicker of hope on the edge of his mind, a small acknowledgement.
Will.
Will collapsed back into himself with a sharp inhale, heart hammering. His mother’s arms wrapped around him, cradling him close. He knew the man still kneeling in that cave didn’t have that luxury.
“We need to get him out.”
“What?”
Joyce stared back, uncomprehending. Far ahead of them, the party advanced, readying themselves as they approached the towering spire.
“ELEVEN.”
His world went black.
—
Will?
“El!” Will gasped, vision snapping into the familiar black void. Water rippled at his ankles, cold and shallow, reflecting nothing but shadow. “El, there’s something wrong with Henry–”
I know, she said, too quickly.
“No– I mean- the Mind Flayer has him too!”
A beat.
…I mean, yeah.
“What?” Panic spiked, sharp and dizzying. “No, El, not like before. Not just– using him. It’s on him. In him. He’s fighting it and it’s–” Will swallowed hard. “It hurts. I felt it hurt.”
The water stirred.
Eleven turned toward him, her dark eyes widening as the weight of it settled. “You saw him.”
“Yes.” Will’s hands curled into fists at his sides. “In his mind. He’s scared, El. Not angry – scared. And when he hesitated, when he didn’t do what it wanted– ” His voice broke. “It punished him.”
A tense silence stretched between them.
“That means he’s still in there,” Eleven said quietly. The kind orderly, so far in her past, resurface. She could still remember his eyes, the small smile when she got him to play with her.
It still hurt to think about.
The ground trembled.
Will shook his head. “It also means we’re running out of time.”
The air thickened.
Eleven stiffened, one hand rising instinctively to her nose. Blood welled almost immediately, warm against her skin.
“He knows,” she whispered. “Vecna knows we’re here.”
A third voice joined the darkness as Vecna emerged, one leg still dragging behind him. His breath stuttered, visible in the cold recess of El’s mind.
“You talk about me as if I’m not listening,” he said, voice layered and wrong, “that was always your mistake.”
Will staggered back, heart slamming against his ribs.
“El–”
Vecna’s hand snapped up.
The world seemed to slow as Will was thrown aside, skidding across the surface until he hit nothing at all.
Eleven screamed as the pressure crushed down on her, invisible hands closing around her throat, lifting her off the ground.
“You won’t get to him,” Vecna said calmly. “Not in time.”
She pushed back, teeth clenched, veins standing out along her neck as she forced the pressure outward. The space around them fractured, lightning splitting the red sky. For a second, his face fell, a twinge of pain flashing across it.
“I’m not afraid of you,” she choked.
Vecna smiled.
“You should be.”
The force doubled.
Eleven cried out, blood streaming freely now as her knees buckled midair. She was losing, she could feel it, her power screaming as it strained past its limits.
Will dragged himself upright, clutching his head as Henry’s fear surged again, raw and blinding.
“El!” he shouted. “You can’t fight him head-on! That’s what it wants!”
Vecna turned sharply. And for just a second, the smile faltered.
“No,” he hissed. “Stop.”
The word wasn’t meant for them. His eyes flicked back to Eleven, still hanging suspended in the air. He could see his fear reflected within her, their gazes meeting.
“Henry…,” she whispered hoarsely, one finger twitching as if she meant to reach out.
He’d give anything to be able to do the same.
The Mind Flayer reacted instantly. Its shadows coiled tighter around Vecna’s form, twisting in deep. It was a moment of weakness, one that showed just how frayed its control had gotten. Eleven watched as the constricting force sputtered, then returned just a shade weaker.
She made her choice. Reaching out with her mind, she pushed into Vecna, crashing into his memories with new strength.
—
Stone slammed into existence around her, the cold, damp, air robbing the breath from her lungs. She coughed once, blinking her eyes open.
The cave.
Henry was kneeling at its center, shaking violently as shadows leeched into him, tearing at his thoughts, his memories, his body.
“Henry,” Eleven whispered.
He looked up, eyes wild with panic. “You shouldn’t be here,” he ground out, “I can’t – Eleven, I can’t hold it–”
“I know,” she said, slinking closer as the cave screamed in protest, “I’m not asking you to.”
Her words seemed to anger the Mindflayer further, shadows surging upwards as they pulsed along the cave wall. Henry cried out as they tightened, dropping to one hand.
“It won’t let me go. It never does.”
“Then don’t let it go. Hold it. Just for a second. For me.”
He laughed weakly. “That’ll kill me.”
“Yes,” she said, regret twisting through her words, “but it’ll kill it too.”
The cave shook violently.
Henry met her gaze – and for the first time, there was no rage there. No superiority, nothing. Just fear, and a steely type of determination.
“…Okay,” he breathed.
—
Will coughed as he crashed back into reality a second time. In her panic, Joyce had managed to carry him to the party, Mike’s concerned face blinking back at him. Pushing himself up, he could see the red glow of flares and sharp bursts of gunfire.
“...What happened?”
Mike’s face split into a relieved grin.
“You’re okay! Good news, we found the Mindflayer,...”
He trailed off, peering back over his shoulder.
“And the bad news?”
“...We have no idea what to do.”
The piercing screech tearing over the land only seemed to make it even more real as they watched the party scamper back towards their hideout. Dustin made it first, panting heavily as he leaned against the canyon’s wall.
“Vecna.”
“Vecna?”
“Vecna. We need to get to him. Without it, we’re toast.”
Dustin’s words seemed believable, the others slowly piling in echoing his thoughts. Staggering to his feet, Will took a deep breath.
“Henry might not be working against us anymore. We stand a better chance against Vecna if he’s helping.”
“Henry? Isn’t he just Vecna with a different name?”
“No,” he shook his head, “I thought so, at first, but he’s like me. The Mindflayer got him as a child and uses him as a sort of vessel.”
Disbelieving stares met his gaze.
“I know it’s a lot, but what I want to say is– we have help now. So let’s go do it.”
“Fine by me,” Steve muttered, spear still firmly clasped in his hand. Stepping back out into the bright sun, he stared at where the Mindflayer rested, much closer than before.
—
Eleven had met them halfway as they pushed into the beast, keeping it occupied before leaping in herself. She was dishevelled, eyes wide and darting. She and Will had shared a glance, a brief moment of acknowledgement of what was to come. Together, they snuck into the main cavern, only stopping once they saw Vecna’s form held up by those familiar fleshy vines.
“Ew,” Dustin muttered, kicking at a stray piece daring to stick out.
Rotting eyes snapped open. Peering down from above, Vecna let out a dark chuckle before setting himself down.
“So you truly do wish to die.”
The party readied themselves, weapons raised and expressions taught. A singular vine lashed out, barely grazing Steve before he slashed at it, relishing the way it drew back the second Nancy and Lukas followed up with flares and Molotovs.
Venca sputtered, his steps faltering. Eleven had dispatched the few demo-dogs still in the area, back momentarily turned. A twisted snarl overcame his face as he pushed through, one hand slowly raising in an attack–
–Vecna froze mid-stride as Henry tore control back from the inside, teeth bared like some rabid animal.
“NOW!” he roared.
Eleven snapped around, surging forward with everything she had left. Reality seemed to splinter as Vecna’s body was lifted, limbs splayed, a guttural sound tearing from his throat.
Henry held him still.
Held himself still.
“Do it,” his voice cracked, layered through the scream. “Don’t stop–”
The force drove forward.
Rock crumbled as Vecna was impaled, the Mind Flayer shrieked in fury and agony, its vessel collapsing in on itself. Eleven grit her teeth as she pushed more, further, until the spire shot fully through his stomach.
The storm, the shrieks, everything fell silent save for the labored breathing of the creature in front of them. Will could feel the moment Henry let go, the final slide of his eyes to see them all, safe and somewhat bewildered.
A final brush of thought, gentle and exhausted, ghosted across his mind.
Thank you.