Chapter Text
He finally understands what people mean when they say their lives “flashed before their eyes”. Like a reel of film, supercuts of memories that he never realized mattered that much to him, engulf his vision.
(As if the demogorgon that is winding up its claw to slash his face off isn’t there.)
The night Holly was born (“Do you wanna hold her? Careful, she’s fragile.”).
The soft, quiet smile that bloomed on Nancy’s face as she watched the party bask in the glory of their first victorious campaign.
The one time his father read him a bedtime a story, the afternoon he spent at the Byers on Will’s birthday, the rainbow spaceship Will drew with new crayons, the swingset, Halloween, “let’s go crazy together”, the first drawing Will ever gifted to him, The night he found El in the woods—
He’s gonna die tonight.
Why else is he suddenly remembering everything? (He hasn’t thought about that night with his dad in years.)
The demogorgon’s getting closer and all he can do now is shield his face and pray.
(The night holly was born, Nancy’s smile, the one time dad read you a bedtime story and he kissed your forehead, Will’s birthday, Rainbow, “lets go crazy together”, El, Will, rainbow, “It was the best thing I ever done”, rainbow, rain,“my life started the day I found you in the—”)
His only complaint about the saying is that it doesn't feel as enlightening or freeing as people make it out to be. He feels like he’s in a doomed loop. Except their all good memories which only makes the dread polling his stomach worse.
Just kill me already.
Don’t make me taste heaven knowing that I’m gonna go to hell.
(“lets go crazy together”, rainbow, the night Holly was born, “Do you wanna hold her? Careful, she’s fragile”, Nancy’s smile, the swingset, rain, El, Will,“I feel like my life started the day I found you in the woods”, “it was the best thing I’ve ever—)
It’s the absence of the fatal blow he was bracing for that breaks the loop.
He dares himself to open his eyes, curious to what the hold up is, and in return he’s gobsmacked. The Demogorgon stopped mid air! But how?! And why?! Right on cue, as if it’s trying to help Mike understand what’s going on, the creature’s right arm snaps.
The way the bone contorts is eerily familiar…..
The left arm follows, then the right leg, then the left.
This pattern is unmistakable, and the one person he could pin-point this whole chaos to was the man that sent the monsters after them in the first place.
There's no way in hell Vecna would willingly harm his own henchmen. But the pattern is unmistakable… There's only one person that can contort bones like that.
There's only one man who can kill like that.
But there's only one person that he’s connected to….one person that can feel what he feels, thinks his thoughts, sees the thing he sees….
Will!
It doesn't take long to spot him.
Out of the corner of his eye he sees him: His arm is stretched out, his teeth are gritted, and his eyes are white, and he looks angry. Like he feels personally offended that the Demogorgon tried to attack him.
Adrenaline courses through his veins, finally something good.
He impatiently waits for the final crack, but it never comes.
Instead, Will outstretches his left arm and flexes his hand. His breathing, which has been increasingly getting more and more erratic, now borderlines hyperventilation.
His nose…is bleeding, beads of sweat are raining down his face, the demogorgon begins to levitate, and then it finally happens….
Crack!
The Demo’s corpse falls to the floor at the exact same time Will falls to his knees, wiping the blood dripping from his nose. Struck dumb with awe, Mike watches Will fall.
Pure ecstasy courses through his veins as he watches the godly sight before him: his heads held high, there are fires surrounding him, his eyes are back to their original color, and Will stands (figuratively) in glory.
He looks stunning.
He was saved by Will. Will just killed a Demogorgon by breaking all of its bones in one go. Will killed a demogorgon automatically, like it was something he could always do.
His Will, the boy that has practically been bubble warped since quarantine, killed a demogorgon by stealing Vecna’s powers. And he did it seamlessly.
Like the ability was innate.
A Sorcerer! A true, real–Sorcerer!
He feels so giddy, he could honestly laugh. He was right! All along, he was right.
He knew it was Will that was controlling the Demogorgon back at the barn (Sorry Miss Byers, but he didn't believe for a second that she was able to intimidate a Demogorgon with an axe), he called it!
Will is a sorcerer! It was Will, it's always been Will. Will has powers!
(“it was the best thing I’ve ever done.”)
It's crazy that this has never crossed his mind before considering that he already mentally noted that Will and Vecna are kind of the same.
If he had the time to really give his theory some thought, he probably would’ve realized this sooner. And if he had, maybe things would’ve been different…
Out of the corner of his eye he sees Miss Byers scurrying towards Will’s fallen form. Letting her have her head start, he looks around and takes in the aftermath of their battle as he jogs over to meet them.
Dead soldiers, more fires, damaged tanks, and the only remainder of the children that they were supposed to rescue: tracks of blood.
If only he made the connection sooner.
Things would've been so much smoother, the plan would've been more efficient, and they wouldn't have had to follow Robin's stupid ass plan. He knew it was gonna fail! He fucking knew it!
Her plan was too gaudy, there were too many variables! For fucks sake, her planned was called ‘Dick’! It was deeply, deeply flawed.
They were gonna dig a hole into a bathroom stall and smuggle (naive) kids to a random remote location without getting caught?! Who were they kidding?!
Her plan was ridiculous, stupid, dangerous, and a waste of time.
And he knew all of that when she suggested it, but he didn’t say anything. He let them all take the chance on her plan anyway, as if the lives of literal children weren’t on the line.
As if Holly’s fate wasn’t on the line.
(“Do you wanna hold her? Careful, she’s fragile.”).
(You're supposed to be the heart, you knew her idea was bad, you should've spoken up! It's your fault it happened! It's all your fault— )
Joyce’s gentle praise breaks his spiral,“Will, you did so well. That was amazing, you were like a—”
“—A Sorcerer! A real sorcerer, his powers are innate! Remember the other day? I was right, Will!”
He crouches down to his level, placing a hand on Will’s left shoulder, and sees Will’s exhausted, but self satisfied smile. “Yeah, you were right”, he says breathily.
“Um, are you hurt in any way? Does your head hurt, do you still feel the burning from earlier–”
“Mike, I'm fine. I’m just,... really tired”, He says as he closes his eyes and drops his head. “Ok, hold on–”, Mike reaches out to pull his head back up and briefly cradles Will’s face before placing his other hand on his shoulder, and gently shakes him: “Please stay awake. I’m gonna take you home ok? Just stay awake a little longer, yeah?”
It’s like he’s still on that damn loop.
(Halloween,“ let’s go crazy together”, Will's laugh, Rainbow.)
There's no home to take him home to, it’s been gone for years now.
Both Mike and Will know that. But Mike still promises to do it anyway with the same stupid tender voice he reserves for Will because it’s so easy to slip back into old habits.
He’s promised to take him home before and he did it. What’s the harm in doing it again? There’s no home to take him to, but he promises to anyway and Will opens his eyes anyway, with a glint of …..something shining through them.
With the softest part of his voice, Will asks: “you’re gonna take me home?”
Mike enthusiastically nods, “Yeah. I’m gonna take you home”, he says, matching Will’s tone.
A dopey smile lazily shapes Will’s lips, “ok. Thank you Mike.”
He then proceeds to pass out.
Like he’d been waiting for the greenlight to do so this whole time. He passes out falling forward, his body laying on top of Mike, forcing Mike into a sitting position as his body sags over him like a weighted blanket.
(If it wasn’t for the fact that he was already in a crouched position, he would've been able to catch Will easily).
Joyce finally makes her presence known as she crouches down and pulls Will’s left arm over her shoulder.
Mike follows suit, and with them both balancing Will’s weight, they rise to their feet. Joyce readjusts her grip on Will’s arm before checking in on Mike, “you’re ok?”
He nods and from there, they begin their semi hurried walk back to the tunnel. The first few steps are clunky, but they soon settle into a rhythm.
Joyce looks ahead as she walks, while Mike looks down at Will’s bobbing head. He thought for sure that he’d wake up once they started walking.
(So much for taking him home).
They walk and walk, until they find the (uncovered) opening to the tunnel. They don't have to lean over the edge too much to find Lucas.
Who’s defeatedly leaned against the wall of the tunnel with dried tears on his face, and blood staining his shirt.
Having heard the crunch of the grass, Lucas looks up at them with fresh tears welling in his eyes: “I’m sorry but I lost them.”
With tears welling in his own eyes, Mike calls back “it’s ok, we did too.”
We all failed.
+
They’re all back at the Squak: Robin, Murray, Lucas, Erica, Miss Byers,Will (who woke up an hour ago), and himself. Everyone’s huddled together in a perfect square formation.
He and Erica are sat next to each other on two recliner chairs while Will, Lucas, and Robin sit across. Miss Byers and Murray are parallel to each other: Murray sits in his own chair while Miss Byers leans against a table, insisting that she’s too anxious to sit down.
Just a few minutes ago, everyone was praising and gushing over the news of Will’s (innate) powers. But now, all of the excitement has washed away, leaving them with the cold, bitter reality that they failed.
It’s great that Will has powers now, but it doesn't change that they failed.
Robin’s icing her forehead with downturned eyes, Lucas is sitting with his head in his hands, Murray, who always has something to say is silent as he rapidly bounces his leg, and even Will (who's laid back staring at the ceiling) is beginning to absorb the melancholy in the room.
It’s Joyce who breaks the silence first: “so..just to be clear and to make sure we’re all still on the same page,….we all lost—sorry—all of the kids got taken. Correct?”
A chorus of “mmmhs” and “yups” followed.
Out of the corner of Mike's eye, he sees Robin’s eyes shine with tears again.
Part of him feels bad, but another half of him can’t help but think: good, you better be sorry.
Joyce continues: “Meaning that Vecna….has all the kids that he needs for his plan. Right?”
“mmmhs” and “yups” followed again.
Murray’s leg bouncing begins to look more hurried. At this rate, he’ll fly out of his chair. Her tone takes a somber turn, she almost sounds afraid to utter her next question.
Like she's already connected the dots.
“And we only really have today and tomorrow to—“
Stomping his foot into the ground, Murray lets out an irritated sigh, “With all due respect Joyce, please get to the point! we don’t need you patronizing us right now. Yes, the children have been kidnapped, and we feel fucking terrible about it, your son saved us from death, and I bet he looked really fucking cool doing it! What are you really trying to say?! Share with the class!”
His tone makes her wince.
This isn’t the first of Murray's passionate outbursts and it definitely isn’t the last, but Joyce finds that she’s still never prepared for them.
“Um—, yeah, sure the point. W-What— what I’m trying to say is that we need to get the kids back. We don’t have time to just let them be. Any minute or second we give to Vecna, is more time that pushes him further ahead of us. Time is our biggest disadvantage right now.”
Mike can't help but agree with her, this isn't exactly a loss they can just sit around and mope about. They now have to recuse 12 kids instead of the one.
Their next course of action has to be some kind of counter attack. A rebound, really. Something that can slow down whatever it is that Vecna plans on doing.
Lucas speaks up next: “So you're suggesting a chase basically. You want us to run after Vecana and take the kids back.”
“Well chase isn't the word id use but—”
“---Think of it more as a counter attack. Chasing after him is really something only El can do. And we have to assume that where he took those kids is where Holly is”, Mike cuts in.
Lucas nods, “good point. A chase would be impossible and it would send us back to square one. It’d be like doing everything we’ve been doing to try to find Holly times twelve.”
“Exactly.”
Comfort of his own mind, they honestly haven’t gotten anywhere with their search.
These last few hours have left him wondering: what was it all for?
She’s been missing for two days now, and all they know is that Vecna has her. They lost 11 kids, Dustin and the others are still MIA, El and Hopper are also MIA, and Robin’s currently staring at him like a deer in headlights and it’s pissing him off.
What could she possibly be confused about right now?
He rolls his eyes and looks over to Erica and finds that she’s also annoyed with Robin's confusion.
She sighs and matter- of-factly says: “What he's really trying to say, but doesn’t want to say cause it’ll make him sound bad, is that taking the kids back is a pipe dream; so we need to change focus and distract Vecana from doing whatever the fuck he plans on doing with the kids.”
That’s one way to say it.
“Y-yeah, exactly. We need to distract him.”
Taking the ice pack off her forehead Robin chimes in, “yeah ok, I got it now, but how exactly are we going to do that? Distracting him sounds like another thing that only El can do. Like– are we supposed to go marching back to the base or something?”
Unable to contain his smirk, he lets it bloom onto his face, "that's where you’re wrong. In fact, distracting Vecna isn’t something El can do at all.”
Immediately picking up where he’s going, Lucas' face brightens with epiphany.
A smirk of his own appears on his face, “he’d notice her right away. In fact, after the stunt he pulled at the base, I bet he’s expecting her to come after him…”
“Exactly! Which is why we don’t send El, we send—“
“---me”, Will says, his voice thick from underuse.
The shine in his eyes from earlier has since left, leaving them dulled.
“Exactly! We send Will! He can tap into the hivemind without alerting Vecana and from there, he can spy.” Mike finishes confidently.
“That doesn't answer her question though”, Erica (unhelpfully) remarked.
“Yeah, it really doesn’t—I mean sure, Will can spy again, but that doesn’t change the fact that once he’s tapped back in, there's no real objective. I mean—-distracting Vecna can mean anything, is he supposed to telepathically berate him and tell him that he’s a piece of shit, is he supposed to find Derek or Holly and try to communicate with them? Or is he supposed to--”
“He can hurt him.”
In an instant, the room is so silent that they can hear the light buzzing of the overhead lights.
The way Will tenses beside him doesn’t go unnoticed.
There's no way she meant it that way right?
All eyes turn to Joyce. Her eyes look….far away. Like she’s lost in a memory, or a fantasy.
It's almost like they weren’t meant to hear what she just said. Speaking for everyone, Murray breaks the awkward silence: “Pardon?”
Her shoulders jumped. You’d think the darkened look in her eyes would’ve disappeared, but the look only hardened as she stood up to explain herself.
“Will, can hurt him. The same way he took control of all those demogorgons, he can take control of Vecna and injure him.”
Lucas lightly tilts his head, tasting the idea: “That actually doesn’t sound too bad.”
Robin concedes: “An injury would definitely slow him down for a while. Mike, what do you think? Since you're the supposed expert on Will’s powers?”
Not expecting to be suddenly put on the spot like that Mike’s face reddens. He also can’t decide if he should be offended or not by her wording. “Supposed”. Where is this energy coming from?
“I-I never said that I was expert on his powers—besides, it doesn’t matter what I think, what matters is Will’s opinion. He’s the one that’s actually going to be in danger.” To emphasize his point, he points at Will directly. As a result, everyone looks to the boy awaiting his response.
Still staring at the ceiling, Will (figuratively) drops a bomb: “I could try to kill him instead.”
In an instant the room descends into a cacophony of disapproval.
Will immediately sits up, his eyes hardened with a new found resolve.
He’s fully convinced that it’s a good idea.
“Ok, that’s pushing it a little”, Lucas anxiously argues.
Robin, fully panicking, agrees: “Yeah, I'm with him—I mean, Will I love you, but—you’ve only had your powers for what? 3 hours? That-that’s crazy!”
Mike finds himself nodding in agreement. It really hasn’t been that long.
He looks around to assess everyone else’s reactions.
Joyce obviously disagrees with Will’s idea, Erica seems neutral, and Murray’s just nodding along to everyone’s cries of disapproval.
And as much as much as he hates to go with the crowd knowing that Will hates feeling like he’s being babied, he has to. His idea is fucking insane.
Injuring Vecna? A bit of a stretch in his opinion but it’s still manageable.
The repercussions in case they fail again are low. Nothing too drastic will happen to Will if something goes wrong. Not to mention, that this injury could be anything. He could break his arm, a leg, or even an eye.
But killing him?
Absolutely not. That could go wrong in a million different ways.
And wouldn’t killing him fuck them over?
They still don’t know where Holly is—If Vecna is dead, how are they gonna know where to look? What if killing him kills Holly and the other kids? It’s too risky.
“I agree. Will, it’s dangerous”
“But it isn’t for El?” he counters with his eyes burning with frustration.
Mike sputters, “what does El have to do with this”
“El has everything to do with this”, Will practically leaps off the couch, standing above everyone, he begins to defend his case: “these last few days, what have we been doing?”
Feeding off his argumentative energy, Mike also stands up :“Looking for Holly! W-were gonna find her if that's what you’re worried about.”
Talking with his hands, Will points to everyone in the room. “No, we haven’t been looking for Holly. What we’ve been doing is making a fucking mess. A mess that we're all expecting El to clean up!”
“Ok, Robin’s idea was bad, sure, we can call that a mess. But all the shit from before, saving Derek, the crawl–that, that had meaning. No one is expecting El to clean up anything!”
Not appreciating the diss at all, Robins jumps in: “ok, first of all, my plan was not a mess! Vecna showing up wasn’t my fault! And I think you’re forgetting that I was the only person that came up with a plan while you stood there clueless! Another reminder by the way, it was your idea to send Derek into the base!”.
Lucas springs up from the couch, centering himself in between Robin and Mike by stretching out his arms to keep the two separated.
“Ok guys I think we should calm down—“
Smacking Lucas' arm out the way Mike fires back: “Who else would’ve gone, huh! Erica?! —It had to be him. You devised a plan where it had to be him! And unlike you, I was protecting Derek, ok?! I didn’t put him on the back of a truck with 2 others kids—-“
“We should really take a break—“
Tears of anger rain down Robin’s face, “I was helping Murray with directions. Y’know making myself useful?” She laughs cruelly, “I bet you wouldn’t know, because unlike you I don’t have to hide behind other people's accomplishments to feel impor—-“
“Everyone shut the fuck up!!”
All eyes turn to Erica.
She stands the tallest above everyone as she’s chosen to stand on her chair to demand order.
While looking directly at Mike and Robin she says, “Any personal problems need to stay at the door. We don’t have time for that shit. We lost 11 kids, we still haven’t heard from Dustin and the others, we don't know where El and Hopper are either, and we still can’t—”
“---Find Holly”, Will coldly finishes.
“Exactly. And if I’m being honest, I think we should put a pause on this whole ‘Tapping-into- the- hive- mind’ shit. Everyone is too pissed and emotional right now to think properly , and I think we need to cut our losses and accept that the kids are gone. There's nothing we can do about it, and just like Will said, we’d just be making a mess of things. So shut. The. fuck. Up.”
She then dramatically plops down into her chair and begins casually picking at her nails as if nothing happened.
Robin, Mike, Lucas and Will exchange tense glances towards one another. Erica may have yelled at them and stopped their fighting, but that doesn’t change there’s still a lot of shit that needs clarifying.
How are they supposed to cut their losses when Will wants to die trying to kill Vecna and thinks that everything they’ve been doing these two days has been one giant mess?
A mess that he thinks they’re expecting El to clean up.
Still fuming with anger, Robin reclaims her seat on the couch with her arms crossed. It seems she agrees that they should drop the idea. Lucas, Mike and Will still stand, watching each other.
Lucas turns to Erica: “Emotions are high right now, but I don’t think we should drop the idea. We should let Will finish explaining himself and just..agree on a middle ground.”
AKA a solution that doesn't involve Will sacrificing himself.
Erica relents :“He can explain himself, sure, but my opinion isn’t gonna change. We have more important things to be focusing on right now. Like finding Dustin and the others.”
Murray (finally) speaks up: “The child has made a very good point. They’ve been missing since the Turnbow chaos.”
“Yup. and instead of looking for them, we dug a hole in a dirty ass bathroom because a character named ‘Dick' said it was a good idea.”
Fed up with the bickering, Joyce declares ,“New rule: if you don't have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all.”
Everyone begrudgingly agrees, and Mike and Lucas re-seat themselves leaving Will standing alone.
Clearing his throat, Will begins.
“El is fighting all by herself. She’s isolating herself to focus on training non-stop to shoulder a responsibility that none of us can really help her with. Killing Vecna isn’t going to be an easy fight for her. She’s not invincible. You guys weren’t there when she fought him 2 years ago, but we did, and she technically lost. She went into cardiac arrest! Since then, he’s kidnapped more kids, killed more people, killed our friends, and has destroyed our town, our families, our minds! He’s a monster! That’s what she’s up against! And what have we been doing? All we’ve been doing is adding onto her load. She should be focusing on killing Henry, and nothing else. But now, it’s looking like she’s gonna have to kill Henry, save Holly and 11 other kids, and find Dustin and the others because we don’t have our shit together. Because we don’t have the power to save our own asses.”
Lucas and Robin nod in agreement.
With his eyes burning with unshed tears and conviction he continues, “But now, we do. I agree with mom and Mike, I can tap into the hivemind and kill Vecna. It'll be one less thing El will have to worry about. She can save her strength. Remember Starcourt? She lost her powers because she burnt herself out trying to fix all of our problems. It doesn’t have to be like that this time, I can help her. By killing Vecna I can help her—This whole thing started with me. None of this would’ve happened if I didn’t get taken that night. Because of me, she’s suffering and fighting alone. You guys need to understand that I have to do this. I don’t have a choice—me and Henry are linked, I was meant to find out that I have powers. Now is the time to use them. I need to at least try, please let me try.” His lips tremble as he chokes out one final “please.”
He really thinks this is all his fault.
Tears prick Mike's eyes before he blinks them away. He’s wrong. He’s so wrong! He needs to tell him that he’s wrong! None of this is his fault! But he can’t find the words.
(Rainbow, “lets go crazy together”, “It was a seven”, rain, “yeah, I guess I really did”, Will’s birthday, “I’m gonna take you home”, Will’s laugh, can you really imagine a world without him in it?)
(“You’re the heart, Mike”)
What should he say?
If it was El pleading to him like this, he’d tell her a story.
He’d tell her about a distant land that has three waterfalls and is free of monsters and bad men.
A place where she can be free, to remind her (and himself) that there’s light at the end of the tunnel. That all of this is happening for a reason. If it was Holly, he’d tell a tale about a brave cleric that opens doors to dimensions to alter fates. To remind her that she can always rely on herself and that she’s never truly helpless.
If it was Lucas, he’d recite an epic battle and reimagine the great hero as him. To remind him that he’s needed, important. That he’s still strong. That even great heroes need their rest and support.
(Rainbow,“ lets go crazy together”, “It was a seven”, rain, “yeah, I guess I really did”, Will’s birthday, “I’m gonna take you home”, please don’t leave I’ll miss y–)
But with Will….he’s stuck. He can’t focus.
A million strands of memories and snapshots jam his mind but none are coherent enough for a story. He’s the heart god dammit! Why can't he think of something?
He’s a sorcerer, his powers are innate, he doesn't need to risk his life! But all he can muster is a meek, “Ok, you can try. For El, you can try.”
Perhaps that's a story in itself.
Will thanks him and sits back down between Robin and Lucas. Lucas affectionately rubs Will’s shoulder while giving him a concerned look that says “you know you can talk to me right?’ while Robin scoots closer and lays her head on Will’s shoulder.
The way his shoulders relax doesn’t go unnoticed to Mike.
Since when were they that close?
Tearing his eyes away from the sight, Mike looks over to Erica, curious to see if Will’s changed her mind.
To his genuine surprise, she’s crying. Or she was. Her eyes are red-rimmed, her nose and cheekbones are splotched red. There's no way she’s crying over Will, they’ve never been that close. But it’s clear that his speech struck a chord with her in some way.
She’s crying.
(Why does his brain feel short-circuited?)
It’s so silly, but crying feels like something Erica would never do. Like he already programmed in his head that Erica doesn’t cry. She’s smart, she’s always tens step ahead, she’s blunt, she courageous, and she’s never afraid to speak her mind. Tears are beneath her.
But watching her try to pull herself together, reminds him that as amazing as she is, she’s also human. And humans cry.
(This isn’t really about Erica is it?)
Without thinking, he throws his arm over Erica’s shoulder and pulls her towards his body.
She doesn’t fight it and allows herself to be tucked under his arm, where she finally lets her tears fall freely, he hates how validated he feels seeing her cry in his chest. Lucas springs out of his spot and rushes over.
He kneels down in front of her to meet her lowered head and affectionately rubs her arm.
“Hey, what’s wrong? Are you worried about Will? It’s ok—we’ll make sure nothing happens to him, right Mike?”
“Y-yeah, we’ll keep him safe.” He squeezes her shoulder for good measure. It’s something his mom does a lot and occasionally it helps, so why not try it?
”No—it’s not that.” She whimpers as she snuggles further into Mike’s side.(his own selfish feelings aside, It’s nice to know he’s actually comforting her).
“It’s Dustin—and Nancy, Robin, Steven and Johnathan. They’ve been gone for too long and we haven’t heard anything. The upside down isn’t safe. What if—-what if something happened?”
So that’s it.
She’s worried.
He can’t fault her either, he’s starting to feel worried too. Yes, Nancy is extremely adaptable and can easily hold her own, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Upside Down is packed with soldiers and they’re technically not supposed to be there.
If they caught…they’re fucked.
There’s also the Demogorgons and Vecna to worry about as well. Erica’s right, her tears are justified, they haven’t heard anything from them since they went through the portal, likely meaning that they’re out of range, or Dustin’s battery died.
Which isn’t a good sign either….
In support of Erica, Murray speaks up: “No offense Joyce, but as touching as Will’s speech was, I’m still with the crying—-sorry, sobbing, child: getting a hold of Dustin and your other son should be the next priority.”
Robin lifts her head off of Will's shoulder, “woah, hold on, I understand that it’s a tricky situation, and I don’t want to sound like an insensitive prick, but finding Dustin is a time sink. I mean, assuming that we haven’t heard from him because he lost signal, that means in order to find him, we'd have to know his exact location. Like I’m talking exact coordinates, latitude and longitude.”
“And we don’t have the equipment to do that.” Will adds on.
“Exactly, we don’t!”
Mike watches Erica deflate with disappointment as her eyes flood with fresh tears.
It’s not fair.
Watching Erica, Mike’s immediately reminded of Holly.
If it was Holly instead of Erica, wouldn’t he defend her? Of course he would.
He’s the heart, of course he’s gonna defend Erica.
“Well we technically don’t have the equipment for you to tap back into Hive-mind either, so really both ideas are a time sink. It’s just a matter of what’s more important really.”
Lucas nods and murmurs a “good point” before focusing his attention back on consoling Erica.
Taken aback, Will says: “I thought you were on my side?”
“I am, I’m just saying, that both ideas are time consuming. And—I just don’t think that it’s fair to shoot down Erica’s genuine concerns because we don’t have an exact location for Dustin when we also don’t have an instant method for you to go back into the hive mind.” Mike seamlessly rebuttals.
“So what? Screw the kids? I mean—This Hivemind stuff is literally your idea.”
“I’m not denying that it’s my idea, I’m just saying that—-Will, seriously, she's literally crying right now! Are you saying that Erica’s feelings don’t matter?”
“I never said that her feelings don’t matter—”
“---Then let’s pause the hivemind plan and focus on Dustin—-”
Joining their chaotic duet of speaking over one another Robin (unhelpfully) joins in.
“---Uh, what part about we don’t have the equipment that you do not get?”
From there they descended into a mess of voices dissonantly layering on top of each other. It’s not nearly to the level of hostility as their argument from earlier, but that is a minor detail that Miss Byers doesn't care for. She’s sick of the fighting period.
She forces her voice into that strong authoritative voice that she only reserved for Lonnie and demands attention.
“We'll do both plans: Come up with a way to get Will into the Hivemind, and come up with a way to track down Dustin and the others. Both ideas are consuming, so do them at the same time.”
Best of both worlds really.
Her solution is so terribly reasonable that all the tension in the air instantly evaporated.
Lucas feels comfortable enough with Erica's consoled state and heads back to his seat, the hardened look on Mike's face falls, and Will finally looks relaxed. Problems solved.
Now it’s a matter of figuring out how they’re gonna go about their two plans.
Everyone stares at the ceiling clearly burnt out from all the arguing.
Lucas springs up once more, declares a mandatory snack break (that everyone agrees with but doesn’t get up for), and he’s out of sight, heading to the make-shift kitchen area.
Erica gets up too, finally breaking free from Mike’s embrace, and heads to a window. Likely to brainstorm. Murray leaves his seat as well, now preferring to pace back and forth to stretch his legs.
Which leaves Mike, Will, and Robin as the only people still sitting as Robin and Mike avoid eye contact with one another.
Will goes back to staring at the ceiling, (not entirely) oblivious to the tension between his two friends. But staring at the ceiling gives him deniability, so he continues on until Lucas abruptly stumbles back to the group with a crazed, sort- of enlightening, look in his eye as he pinches a steaming bag of popcorn.
At the same time, Erica, in a much calmer demeanor, rejoins the group. The two stand front and center as everyone turns their attention to them. At the exact same time the two declare, “ I figured it out”, before giving each other stank looks.
Normally, Mike has no patience for their bickering, but for the one time he’s grateful for it. If has the patience to bicker, then that means she’s feeling better. So he lets them go back and forth until it’s decided that Lucas can go first as he seems quite eager to relay his idea.
With the kind of energy that would rival a child with undiagnosed ADHD, Lucas shakes the popcorn bag and asks, “How long did it take for me to make this?”
Not expecting that, Will blinks rapidly and stammers out a: “uh-uh, I don’t know, I’d say a minute probably?”
In return Lucas unhelpfully says, “exactly!”
Come again?
Having spent his patience on his petty bickering with Erica, Mike tries to bulldoze the conversation.
“C'mon, just get to the point.”
Still shaking the bag Lucas insists :“I am, just humor me, please?”
He relents, “Ok fine, let's say it took you a minute to pop the bag of popcorn. Then what?”
“What is popcorn made of?”
Confused as all hell, Robin still answers:“...butter and kernels?”
"We're getting there, how does a kernel become popcorn?”
“Through heat.” Will says still sounding unsure, but it seems he's starting to see that Lucas may be onto something.
“Ok, now put a pin in that. Mike, you said earlier that we need an instant method for Will to tap into the hive mind. Correct?”
He did in fact say that, but that’s all it was; something he said. Judging from the look on Will’s face now and his annoyance during their bickering from earlier, it seems he also knows that it was just something he said.
But with how excited Lucas looks, he doesn’t have the heart to tell him that so he nods and agrees. “Yeah I did say that. But what does that have to do with popcorn?”
“I’ll explain right now, in order for Will to instantly connect with the Hivemind, we’re gonna need a “kernel”----something that we can heat up to give us the Hivemind. So my mind immediately went to the Demogorgons. All Will did was break their bones, the corpses should be there—-”
“---So you want us to ‘Frankenstein’ a Demogorgon back to life?” Robin asks, not sounding put off by the idea at all.
“Yup! That's the plan.”
Erica rolls her eyes and points at Robin, “that’s just as bad as plan ‘Dick’. My plan is simpler and actually makes sense.”
Amused, Robin encourages her to relay her plan, and she proceeds to lay down the most right and wrong solution ever: “I can ask Mr.Clarke for help. That man knows everything. If anybody can find Dustin’s seemingly impossible location, it’s him.”
Joyce enthusiastically nods, “it’s true! He had a solenoid in his garage and explained to me for hours why my magnets were falling off my fridge.”
She was at his house…….
Mike’s eyes immediately found Will’s and they both smiled, trying to hide their bubbling laughter.
(ok, we're good now.)
Just as easily as everyone accepts Lucas’ idea , Erica gets the stamp of approval.
Now, it’s just a matter of executing the plans.
Shocking a Demogorgon back to life, recruiting Mr.Clarke.
That’s a story in itself.