Notes- TW for violence
Lucas brought out the lighter fluid. Mike made a mental note to write a thank you letter to the lighter fluid company, they'd been helping out quite a lot recently. Mike never expected to be using so much lighter fluid in his life.
"We should gather wood and stuff to burn," said Dustin. He looked around. "Luckily, we're in the woods , so it shouldn't be too hard."
Mike nodded and had a sudden realization, listening to the irritating sounds of the Mind Flayer. "Someone's gotta stay with Will. Can I? I am wounded." He turned around, reminding his friends that he'd been stabbed recently. In reality, his back did hurt a lot, especially after he'd been pinned to the ground, so it would be nice if he could just sit in one spot.
Lucas nodded, slightly smirking. "Yeah, that's fine. We'll try to be quick." He waved and headed off with Dustin to collect wood. Luckily, it wasn't raining in the Upside Down, so starting a fire wouldn't be all that hard.
Mike sat down by Will, trying to find a comfortable position. Eventually, he ended up putting his legs straight out and his hands on the ground behind his back. He sighed and looked at his possessed friend. the Mind Flayer was still struggling against the ropes unsuccessfully.
"Mike," Will said. "Mike please."
Mike turned away. "I'm not listening to you," he said plainly. "You're not Will." He wouldn't let this thing trick him again.
"Mike," he said again. "Mike, it hurts . You have to let me out, I'm dying. Please. Please." Will was starting to tear up now. Mike continued to try and drown him out, looking away the best he could. He had this strange urge to stare.
"Stop," said Mike, louder. "You're not tricking me, give it up. I'm not going to let you out no matter what you do."
Will rolled around in the ropes, starting to cry. "Mike, please! You're just gonna ignore me? I thought you liked me. I thought you loved me, Mike I-"
"Shut up."
"You're selfish. You're so selfish all the time. You just sit there and wait for everything to go your way."
Mike dug his fingers into his sides, aggravated. "I don't know what you're trying to do, but stop. I'm not selfish, you're just messing with me." He didn't want to talk to the Mind Flayer anymore, why couldn't Lucas and Dustin hurry up?
Will laughed like a maniac. "Mike, you know you're selfish, don't say I'm making it up. We both know it's the truth." Mike wasn't selfish, he couldn't be. "You wouldn't have even been suspicious of Brad if it hadn't been for the fact that you were selfish enough to look for something to bring him down. He'd probably be alive right now, maybe I wouldn't have possessed Will. I guess we'll never know because you were just too selfish to leave it alone."
Mike scoffed. "And I helped Will get out of a bad relationship. That's not selfish."
"You had selfish intentions." The Mind Flayer paused, looking up at the sky. Even laying there, helplessly tied with rope, it was still somehow intimidating. It gave Mike the shivers. He wanted to stop talking to this thing, it was probably just trying to mess with him one last time. "And this 'bad relationship' as you called it," it continued. "Maybe it only turned bad when you showed up. Will wasn't even concerned about it before you."
"Stop talking."
"You wouldn't have helped Will if you didn't get something out of it." The Mind Flayer rolled onto its side, looking at Mike with a gleam in its eyes. "You just wanted Will. You're selfish."
"Shut up." Nothing the creature said was true. Mike's breathing was starting to get quicker, his face hot.
The Mind Flayer could tell it was getting to him. "That's the thing, Mike. You don't do anything unless it gives you personal gain. You don't care about anyone unless it benefits you."
"I do lots of things that don't benefit me," Mike argued. None of this was true. The Mind Flayer was making up stupid lies. Mike wanted to kill it. He wanted to kick it until it died.
"How about college? Your parents want so badly for you to go to law school, they paid your tuition and everything. And you're ungrateful. You're not even trying in your classes and you don't talk to anyone. And why? Because it's not exactly what you want to do."
"Speak one more time..." Mike warned. He was getting very heated over the subject. If the Mind Flayer was trying to anger him, it was working.
The creature was ignoring his requests of silence. "So let's be serious. Sure, maybe Will loves you, but do you really think he should?"
Mike snapped, jumping at the creature. He shouted incoherently at it as he shook its shoulders. He raised his fist to punch it across its stupid, ugly face and stopped. He froze, slowly crumpling his arm back to his side, his face stuck in disbelief. It was Will.
The Mind Flayer laughed. This was, apparently, the funniest thing it had ever witnessed. It rolled around on the ground in amusement, wheezing. "See?" Another burst of laughter. "You were about to hurt your favorite person because you were mad at me. It doesn't matter who it is! You're selfish!" It repeated the word, continuing to roll around. It seemed that the Mind Flayer had officially lost it, if that was possible for the monster to achieve.
Mike backed up, unpleased with how he'd reacted. He hands shook. He'd almost hit Will. He'd almost hit Will because he was selfish. He breathed heavily through his mouth as he stared at the writhing creature before him. Not creature, Will. It was still Will. It's laughs echoed around Mike. He wanted to curl up in a ball. He wanted to run away. How did Will deal with this thing all the time? It was a living, looming, horrible nightmare and it knew exactly how to break someone.
"You guys having fun?" Dustin's voice said from behind, breaking Mike's sudden fear. Mike wanted to hug his friend, he'd never been so happy to see him.
"We'll set up the wood if your back hurts," said Lucas, also emerging from the woods. Another comforting face.
Mike wanted nothing more than to get up and help his friends set up the Mind Flayer's demise. He got to his feet, despite Dustin's look of confusion, and grabbed some of the wood they brought. He started to lay it out. "So, what's our plan? One big bonfire?"
Lucas nodded, also putting wood in the pile. "Yeah, we were talking about it while gathering, we'd probably get the most heat on him if we just held him close to the fire. Not burn him, of course, but just close enough where it stings a little."
Mike imagined it might be hard to hold the restless Mind Flayer up to a fire, but it would have to work. Lucas was right, that was how they'd get the most heat.
After all the wood was in place, the bonfire looked huge. Dustin got out the lighter fluid, pouring it throughout and getting every little cranny with a splash.
"I'll light it," said Mike. He really wanted to light it. He grabbed a pack of matches from their supplies and struck one. The flame appeared, somewhat close to Mike's fingers. He felt it sting as he walked to the pile of wood. The Mind Flayer was screaming to stop, but Mike ignored it.
He threw the match onto the fire and watched it set ablaze in a matter of seconds. It was strange in the Upside Down, the bright orange against the faded cool colors everywhere else. Fire looked out of place here, warmth was out of place.
"We can work together to hold him still," said Dustin. The three boys looked at each other, silently coordinating something. They walked to the Mind Flayer, still shrieking and rolling on the ground.
Mike grabbed it first, wrenching it up and letting Dustin and Lucas support him. They brought the monster closer to the flames, its shrieks of anger turning to shrieks of pain in a matter of seconds. Mike didn't like the noise at all, he wanted to cover his ears and leave, but he didn't. He pushed the Mind Flayer further forward.
In truth, he wasn't doing this for himself. He was doing it for Will. Because this horrible creature had ruined his friend's life. It took away his childhood, traumatized him, took Jonathan from him and then tricked him into thinking there was hope his brother was back, it made him feel worthless, it lied to him and used him. Every time Will had a vision, Mike could see in his eyes that this creature did more than terrify him. Mike didn't want Will to have to suffer through another second of it, he wanted to rid the world of the Upside Down and finally give Will the peace he deserved. Mike was doing this for Will because he wasn't selfish, no matter what the Mind Flayer thought of him.
The monster continued to scream in pain, commanding Mike and his friends to stop. Mike tried to block out the noise, he hated that it sounded like Will that was in pain.
"It's gonna be okay, it's almost over," he whispered to the monster. Well, to Will. He hoped Will could hear him somewhere in there. The Mind Flayer didn't care, it just kept screaming.
"I know it hurts a lot," Mike continued. "But after this, it's gonna be over forever and we'll never have to do this again." He smiled slightly, forgetting about his situation for a moment. "We can... go to college together, like we talked about. I mean, I think the University of Southern California sounds awesome. Then we can finally have that college experience together, like Lucas and Dustin."
"Is it almost done?" Mike heard Dustin yell. "He's gotta be almost out of there, do we need more heat?"
"Any more heat and we'll be frying Will," Lucas answered. "We've just gotta keep going like it is, it's working. I know it."
Mike drowned everyone out again, continuing to speak to Will. "And I know the whole college boyfriend thing didn't really work out for you before, but I was kinda hoping you'd give me a chance. I can guarantee you I won't try to kill my competition..."
"Here it goes!" yelled Dustin. Black smoke was starting to spill out of Will's mouth, then his eyes. Mike tried not to look again, none of these scenes were pleasant.
"See," he said quietly. "We're almost done now, and I know we're in the Upside Down right now, but we're gonna get you out right away and close this place up forever, you got it?"
The Mind Flayer let out a final shriek of agony as it left Will completely, flying off into the hazy sky. Will fell backward, all three boys steadied him before he could reach the ground.
Dustin cheered. "We did it!" he said, jumping up and down like a kid at a birthday party– a very darkly themed birthday party. "Guys, we actually did it." Him and Lucas high-fived started to gather up the blankets on the ground. Their plan was good: get out of here. They knew Mike would take care of Will until they got back to their own dimension, so they handled supplies.
Will was barely conscious, obviously not having as great a time as his friends. Mike couldn't tell if he was still freezing or unreasonably hot, but both would be bad. He figured the heat of the fire had warmed him up a little too much, but hopefully, the rain on the other side would make him feel better. Mike had taken all of the rope off from around him, if he was stressed by his situation, they probably wouldn't help much.
Will opened his eyes, taking a step by himself when he found the strength to do so. He turned to Mike, staring at him for a moment.
Mike waved at him, awkwardly. "Hi," he said. "I... uh... Do you need-"
He was cut off when Will stepped forward and hugged him tightly, closing his eyes and placing his head on Mike's shoulder.
Mike was frozen for a moment, caught off-guard by the action, but eventually moved his arms, hugging Will back. He sighed, Will was okay, and that was all that mattered to him right now. "We should go," he whispered, stepping back and putting his hands on Will's shoulders. "You ready to be done with this place?"
Will made an attempt to smile. "I've never been more excited."
Mike went through the gate first, leaving Will alone in the Upside Down only for a moment, but he was glad for it. Will stood among the mess of tangled, evil trees and breathed in the rancid air one last time. He was going to love never smelling it again.
He took a final look around the woods and released a shaky breath. It was time to leave, but a goodbye seemed appropriate. He felt weird talking to the landscape, but he knew all too well that it was alive and probably listening.
"I'd say I'm going to miss you, but I really don't think I will." Will laughed slightly at his own joke, it turned into somewhat of a sob, tears forming in his eyes. This had been the longest night of his life.
"Fuck you," he concluded, a reasonable send-off for the dimension in his opinion. He still felt silly talking to no one, but it was slightly amusing. Will sniffed and turned to the gate, ready to not give this place another thought.
Going into his world again felt like the start of something new, something he was sure would be a good thing this time. He'd be able to hang out with all his friends without constant conflict and enjoy the rest of his life. Hopefully, he and Mike would go to college together. Mike had been talking about that while they were trying to defeat the Mind Flayer and Will couldn't wait to tell him that he'd be honored to take him up on the offer.
The first thing Will heard when he stepped into his dimension was someone's sigh of ultimate relief. He looked up and saw Max patting Mike on the back.
"See?" she was saying. "I told you he was okay, he just needed a moment to take everything in before he went through." She left Mike and went over to Jane, giving her an assertive thumbs-up. "Ready for termination." She saluted and walked away like some sort of army general.
Jane shook her head, smirking at her friend. She shook her arms out and shot a hand towards the gate, starting to close it.
Everyone stared in anticipation. It was like New Years' Eve with slightly more stakes. Will clenched fists, his mood getting better with each movement the gate made towards not existing.
It was raining like crazy, which actually felt good after being held over a fire for several minutes. Will had been cold because of the rain before, but now he was thankful for it. What he wasn't thankful for was the lightning. We looked above the trees, watching it flash every now and then. Being in the middle of the woods was usually not safe during a lightning storm.
Will didn't notice that Mike had walked over to him, he was too focused on the gate-closing event. He jumped in surprise when Mike took his hand, calming down when he realized it was him.
"You stayed behind in the Upside Down for a couple of seconds," Mike noted, obviously looking for more context to the action.
Will shrugged. "Yeah, I just wanted to look back at it one last time, I guess. Remind myself how much I'm not gonna miss it."
"That's fair." Mike looked back to the gate, Will could see the gleam of a flash of lightning in his eyes.
"Eight years," he said.
Mike raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"It's been eight years since the Upside Down showed up for the first time. This thing took up eight years of our life, doesn't that make you mad?" It sure made Will mad. He barely got to experience the normal life of a teenager or his late childhood. It made him angry that all of it had been taken from him, eight years was a long time.
"Yeah, kind of," said Mike. "But, we had some pretty good memories even with all the crazy supernatural stuff, right? Like... our road trip through California. We met Suzie and you gave me that painting and Jane blew up a helicopter. It was all pretty intense, but we have our moments. You've just gotta look at it like that, I guess."
"I guess," Will repeated, although he didn't really mean it. He was guessing Mike had a lot better memories than he did, especially of California, but it was sweet that he was trying to cheer Will up.
Mike nudged Will's arm, he gave no response. "And if you still feel like you got eight years stolen from you because of all this, we'll just have to make up for it now and have double the fun that we're supposed to in our twenties."
Will laughed slightly. "Oh, totally. Sounds like a plan."
Mike didn't pick up on his sarcasm, beaming from ear to ear like a little kid. That made Will laugh too, Mike was a dork.
"I don't think you're selfish, by the way," Will decided to throw in. It made Mike stop smiling slightly, looking at him. He was about to respond when there was an outburst of cheers from the others. The gate had been officially closed and the Upside Down was gone.
Will closed his eyes and smiled, just listening to the sounds of his celebrating friends. For the first time in a very long time, he felt like there was absolutely nothing to worry about.