Work Text:
Will could feel the gun against his back. It was strange how cold it felt despite all the layers of clothes he had on. He could feel it digging into his spine through his vest, pushing him so tightly against the 4WD’s frame that he could see his breath fogging up the glass. The car door against his cheek was just as cold as the muzzle, icy metal urging him forward and tighter against the car’s frame. It was dizzying.
“-ust keep him there, this one’s just as tricky as the girl-”
He hated how a piece of metal was enough to spike fear inside of him. Hated how he could hear the soldiers spit his name at him, words like “hazard” and “asset” being used synonymously with his name. Maybe this was always going to be it. They would save the world and destroy the Upside-Down forever, but Will was always going to be a liability. He’d been sitting inside a petri dish the majority of his adolescence, changed forever once he’d entered a world between worlds, and it would only make sense that he would spend the rest of his days in one. He wasn’t an asset to keep and use, he was an inconvenience. Proof that some scientists had screwed up and he was the reminder of that failure, except Will was expendable. Their lack of knowledge about what made him this way made him unpredictable, which was even more of a reason to keep him under containment. He wished he knew what exactly it was that turned him into this because maybe he would be able to rip it out of himself before soldiers and scientists did it for him.
That was the price Will would now pay, he supposed. Saving the world, for everything he had. It was a worthy trade.
From the edge of his vision, Will could hear the rest of the chaos erupting around him. He watched as soldiers reached into the truck to rip Robin out of her passenger seat, watched as they lined his friends up against the trailer and held guns towards their backs as they held shaky hands up in surrender.
A soldier grabbed Dustin by the scruff of his jacket, pushing him so hard against the trailer that Will could hear the metallic thump of his head as it hit hard metal. Will felt himself wriggling, body moving instinctively to go to his friend and fucking stop this, except that cold muzzle was pushing back against him again. Will felt it dig in so hard, he was sure one shot would easily pass through him and into the 4WD.
Dustin’s voice echoed across the street to Will, mixed in with shouted orders from the soldiers.
“Let me go-”
“-I said don’t move-”
“Sergant!”
Will watched a woman storm into his line of sight, stopping just outside his periphery. Dr. Kay. She was a force they’d spoken about one too many times, the sole woman who had done nothing but hunt his sister down for the last year with ruthless subjugation. He could see her rigid back, watched her spin in place as she frantically scanned the dark streets around them. He could barely make her expression out, his eyes reaching around so far to his right they were becoming unfocused.
“Where's the girl?”
Will could hear the severe urgency in her voice and knew immediately that the ‘girl’ was El. Who else could it be? They hadn’t cared about the stability of the Upside-Down, hadn’t cared about closing the gate to a life-threatening dimension, hadn’t cared about the very real threat that had been under their boot the entire time. They wanted El and her blood and they were likely to kill everyone just to get it. Just the thought made his blood run bitingly cold.
“-et off me! Get off me!”
Mike was screaming. God, he was screaming. His voice carried across the street like he was being ripped apart, and the volume of it… Will felt his heart beat increasingly fast, felt his veins fill with spiking adrenaline that had his breath coming out in short breaths. Will twisted his head in time to watch Mike fall to the ground, saw him being hoisted roughly up by two soldiers. He was flailing, limbs reaching out wildly against stiff arms, voice going hoarse from screaming El’s name. Why was he screaming her name? Will twisted his head the other way, not caring that it forced the gun against his back to dig deeper against his skin, and felt as his heart sank into his feet.
El was in the Upside-Down. She was standing just inside the gate, framed alone against the dark as Mike screamed and pulled and lunged to get even an inch closer to her.
Will felt time stop for a single agonising second. The bomb was going to go off any second, they had planned it down to the very minute and El needed to move, she needed to run. He could hear himself whisper her name under his own breath, falling like a lone prayer that maybe she could hear, except Will could now hear Jonathan yelling to her and could see Nancy running towards Mike. Soldiers began to move, rushing to stop anyone from breaking free as everyone turned to see El stand expressionless before them.
Will felt the muzzle lift ever so slightly among the chaos, that pressure releasing him enough to push a needed breath into his lungs. It wouldn’t have mattered though if it had been against his skin or midway pushing a bullet into his flesh because Will could feel himself pushing off the car, knew he was moving towards El on shaky legs with everything he had. They had stopped Mike so he had to fucking run, he had to make it to her and pull her out of there before-
Will felt a firm hand grab him around the back of the neck, solid and overpowering, as he was hurled backwards. The position on his neck enough to make him writhe out of the touch, twisting and shrinking into himself so he could get out of the grasp of whoever was trying to stop him from saving his fucking sister-
For a brief moment, Will was free. He could feel himself stumble against the dry concrete at the sudden release, scrambling up from where he had fallen, arms steadying as he scattered forward to scream her name. Eleven’s eyes had been solely on Mike who still screamed out into the street, her face set into hard resolution. But Will’s voice still cried out, bursting from his lungs so she could just move. She turned her head, just enough like she was glancing outside a window. Her eyes rested on his own, void of his panic and fear and instead Will watched her gaze melt ever so slightly.
Will felt that hand take hold of his vest, his short sprint immediately halted and he felt himself choke a little at the pressure. A sinking feeling started deep in his gut, that rollercoaster of fear he had become so accustomed to except this was something so raw that he could feel himself scream too incoherently, El’s name becoming lost between burgeoning sobs. He could feel the soldier's hand, the way they hooked their palm into his clothes and forcefully tugged Will so hard he was yanked backwards, legs giving out as he began to fall backwards.
Will felt his eyes squeeze shut, felt himself brace for the impact into the soldier's chest, but instead he felt himself falling backwards into nothing, falling and falling.
Will’s backside hit wet solid ground. He felt himself land awkwardly on his palms, sharp pain shooting through his wrists as he scrambled to stop his unexpected fall. He could hear himself cry out, voice echoing out into some cavernous void. Will blinked through the pain. Everything was suddenly so dark yet so bright all at once. He steadied himself as quickly as he could, knowing he was wasting precious time by frantically looking around until his eyes finally settled on the figure moving towards him.
Eleven was running.
She was sprinting through the water, running faster than he’d ever seen her move before. She was already dropping down before he could blink, knees falling to the ground, her whole body sliding to move by Will’s side. Will searched her eyes, his own bleary and dumbfounded for just a moment as she grabbed his face between her hands. Will could feel himself reach out and hold her, gripping tighter than he should. He could feel himself frantically trying to find any sort of purchase on her arms, her shoulders, fucking anything.
Will knew where they were. He’d been here so many times before, back in California when they’d whispered secrets at the dinner table and snuck into each other's rooms while Jonathan smoked. El had shown him how, had taken his hands and blindfolded him. She’d played radio static and rubbed soothing circles into his hands, had taken him to this place and let him see a side of her she’d never been able to show him before.
It was terrifying at first. It had been so cold, so hauntingly familiar to that week that changed him. But it was the week that gave him her. He could still feel her hand against his as he lay dying in Castle Byers when she told him his mom was coming. Their mom.
Eleven was shaking him. Will blinked, eyes vacantly staring into hers. Her lips were moving but he was only just hearing her now, like she was shaking him into this memory.
“-ill! Will! You have to listen to me-”
What was she doing? She should be running, not talking to him here? If anything, this was a waste of her time, which was already so precious. Will knew his mouth was moving on its own, knew he was likely pleading or begging or saying anything if it meant she would listen in this moment.
“El, please, what do you think you’re doing-”
“They’re never going to stop, Will.” Her voice was resolute. El let the words come without her usual warmth, instead they tumbled out like stones, hard and heavy. Her mind was made up, like it often was, without any input from him or anyone else. Will knew a choice had been made, and it made him feel sick.
“Please, just get out of there! Do whatever, just don’t-”
“They will always be looking for me,” El interrupted. Her hands were still on his face, intent on keeping his eyes locked on hers despite how much he was wriggling. “They will hurt you all, and they’ll never leave us alone.”
His head was shaking rapidly, his denials coming out in choked sobs instead of sentences. When had he started to cry? His words were wet and so pathetic…
“We’ll figure something out, please, El… Please, just don’t - don’t-”
He couldn’t say it. They both knew what words he was trying to form. He was stumbling over them, nothing but noise now tumbling out of his mouth as he tried to make sense of what she was doing. Tried to find a reason that this made sense, or that it was right.
“Listen-”
“Please El, please, ple-”
“Will!” El’s voice was too loud for how soft her eyes felt. Her words echoed into the inky black, and Will couldn’t help but blink wet eyes at her. Everything felt too real and too intense. The ground was so wet, it’s black cold seeping through his clothes and into his skin, yet the feeling wasn’t enough to make him look away from her. He was scared to blink, like if he did she would disappear into the dark.
“I need you to trust me. Please…” she begged, and Will let out another wet sob. “Please, please, just trust me.”
He let out a shaky breath.
“I…”
Her face was so easy to read. Her eyes were just so… telling, so soft to him. She held her entire world inside those eyes that it was hard for Will not to be swept up inside them. It took him a moment to realise she was crying now, too. He watched as wet streaks inched down her face and pooled in the corners of her mouth. She was really asking this of him. She’d risked everything and taken him here, to their place, to tell him this. And he was just wasting time.
Will felt his lips moving again, voice breaking as his breath hitched.
“I trust you... I trust you.”
He could see the relief that washed over her face, if it could even be called that. Her face fell in such a way that it pulled against Will’s heart. What he would give to take all that pain away from her, all that burden she carried all the time. He would endure everything ten times over if it meant she could breathe easier. El was crying, and the fear was thick in her voice. It made him suck in a sharp breath.
“You can’t tell anyone.”
Will felt himself pause. His breath caught in his throat. “...What?”
She shook him lightly, her eyes chasing his as he blinked at her statement. He felt his head go a little dizzy, the mixture of tears and the cold making everything a little fuzzy around the edges. That brightness seemed to make everything unfocussed, just a little, just enough that he felt he was looking at the world through a frosted sheet of glass. El knew she was losing him ever so slightly. It was hard for him to focus here, it always had been. He wasn’t used to this place, no matter how hard El had tried. He’d only ever been able to last a few minutes, and that was with her guidance and sensory deprivation. He wasn’t even sure how she was keeping him here now. Probably pure will.
“You can’t tell. Not Hop, not Mom, not Mike. Especially not Mike. No one.”
“Tell them what?”
“That we spoke, here. I need them to believe. I need everyone else to believe I’m gone.”
His head was shaking, confusion ripe in his voice. “El, I don’t understand-”
El smiled at him, her head tilting ever so slightly. He could see her lips were shaking, and he felt himself reaching forward to hold her own face, fingers inching towards her trembling mouth to smooth the worry away. Will pushed himself up so he was kneeling in front of her, a hand against both neck and jaw as he looked into his sister's face. She let out a laugh, a small soft thing that made him sink into himself. She laughed at their closeness, a happiness she’d always been unable to hide.
“I’m going to come back for you, okay?”
“What… What do you mean?”
“We’re linked,” she smiled, and let out a wet, shaky breath. It was like it was taking all her control to get these words out in one piece. Like this was hurting her just as much as it was hurting him. “We always have been, Will. I will always find you.”
Everything clicked together in glaring clarity.
Her eyes searched for him again. Her smile was so gentle yet it still trembled ever so slightly. Her hands against his skin were so soft yet they gripped him ferociously. He knew what she was asking of him, and it was cruel. She wasn’t cruel, she couldn’t be… She couldn’t ask this of him. Why was she asking this of him?
“No…”
Immediately, she knew he understood. Her voice was different now, insistence gone and replaced with soft reverence.
“I’ll always be with you, Will. I promise. We will meet again, I just- I just need you to be patient. I need you to believe in me.”
Will could hear himself crying, could feel the way his tears caught against her palms. He knew he was sobbing hysterically, that he was wasting their time again by weeping into her hands. El held his face so softly, so earnestly. She was rubbing tiny circles into his skin, and Will felt like he was fourteen again, sitting at a diner in Arizona with a new sister and a new life hundreds of miles away. It was enough to break his heart.
“Will…”
“El… please,” his voice was so feeble. He knew he had to try, had to say anything to convince her not to.. “Please… Please don’t leave me-”
“No one has ever understood me, Will.” El sobbed, and she was pulling him closer, pulling him tightly into her neck and gripping the back of his head with such force he felt himself go dizzy. It meant she was going to send him back. She always held him close like this when she did, as if the pressure was something to stabilise him.
“El-”
“No one, except you.”
“Please…”
He was begging. It was all he could do, pressed against the skin of her neck and sobbing in heavy, heaving breaths.
“Goodbye, Will.”
El’s grip was replaced with that rough hand and it was suddenly pulling him backwards into the dark. Will felt himself be torn out of El’s arms, dunked back into icy reality. It was like someone had resuscitated him, had ripped him out from a dream, as Will found himself back in front of the Hawkins Library. He inhaled sharply, breath painful as his body continued to lurch forward out of the soldier's grasp in a movement he had mentally abandoned yet his body continued to follow. That hand was still on his vest, holding him backwards and pulling Will away from the library. Away from El.
He couldn’t focus on anything except for her, still standing centred in the main gate as she watched Mike scream her name. Will could hear the chaos around him except it was paired with this horrible ringing sound, that bleary fog from the void still chasing his vision. It was hard to focus on anything, between the shouting and pleading, between Mike’s screams and shouted orders. He could hear Dustin crying out and screaming her name, could hear Lucas begging her to stop.
That hand was pulling Will backwards, but he had to still try.
He had to try.
Everything turned a sharp shade of white and blue, and then Eleven was gone.