The moment Will took back control of his body from El, he knew something was different.
Almost all traces of the rot and decay that had infested the facility were gone, save for the withered remains of the black tentacles that had lined the walls, and a few Demagorgon bodies at the bottom of the stair-well that looked like they had literally exploded.
'What happened here?'
His otherworldy twin remained silent for a time, before responding in a small voice:
'I thought you were dead' said Eleven
A strange (well, 'stranger') thing seemed to have taken place during Will's absence. El, who had been hyper-aggressive and bloodthirsty since their first meeting, seemed to have calmed down considerably, while Will, who no longer felt or behaved like a weak and terrified Mama's boy, also no longer felt the presence of the animal-like rage that had been steadily taking over his mind.
El's theory was that, sometime during Will's absence, some sort of psychic/psychological rebalancing had taken place between them.
What exactly that entailed was beyond Will, but as best as he could figure, both of their minds had 'shared' (in a forced, borderline parasitic/symbiotic sort of way) each of the boy's personalities with the other until the two eventually balanced each other out.
The implications of which Will found disturbing, for more reasons than one.
'You killed them all...at once?'
They had made it to the bottom of the stairs now, and as luck would have it, the big metal door was slightly ajar.
'Yes' said El, a sudden fire in his voice. 'And i would do it again'
Will grinned, having grown accustomed to his Brother's killer-nature.
'I'm glad you're back, Will'
He shrugged. 'I couldn't let you have 'all' the fun. Besides: who's gonna keep you out of trouble if i'm gone?'
His twin laughed: a rare occurence that wouldn't be quite so rare now, Will hoped.
'But yeah' he said, breathing in the now (relatively) fresh air. 'It's good to be back'
The basement was pitch black, so much so that Will couldn't even see his hand in front of his face.
'What are we supposed to do now? I don't even have a damn flashlight!'
'I can solve that problem' said El, smugly, and he began to concentrate.
Suddenly, Will could see, as if through a pale blue night vision lens.
'We need to hurry now. I don't have much energy left'
'How 'do' you get your spell-energy back?'
El groaned.
'It's not 'spell energy', dope: it's electrovores psychic power. The other ten had to eat a ton of food and sleep for a long time after they drained themselves, but all i need is an electrical source'
'Go down the hall and turn right, by the way'
'Okay, Mr. sensitive' he said, making his way down the corridor, past shattered office doors and open air ducts.
'Umm, El?'
'Yes?'
'Mind telling me who the 'other ten' were?'
'They were the failures. Papa killed a few of them himself, before i came along. He called them his 'greatest disappointments'
'Doesn't matter, though: They died, I lived, and my name is Eleven for a reason, dumbshit'
Not for the first time did Will consider his counterpart's unstable personality. It was obvious that it would take a lot more than psychic personality therapy to bring El to full sanity.
'I don't 'need' help: i need you to hurry the hell up and get to the generator'
Will sighed. Having his every thought read by a psycho-killer was getting old, fast.
'I heard that, asshole!'