I've been a little stuck on this story, but finally just decided that if I'm struggling to write a scene, I'm just going to cut it short and go to the parts I can write. There are several scenes from future chapters that are in my head so I'm just going to write those and not let myself get stuck on the transition parts.
Chapter 4 In Control
"Have a seat," said Hopper to Mike when he led him to a bench. Hopper disappeared for a few minutes then returned with a cloth full of ice. Mike took it without protest. The last time he and Hopper had an actual conversation, it wasn't exactly friendly.
"Try not to be too angry with Will," said Hopper. "He's not really himself right now."
"I'm not angry with Will," Mike muttered through the ice pack.
"Good," said Hopper. "What about me? Are you angry with me?"
"I've thought you were dead for over a year," said Mike. "Why would I be angry with you?"
"Because I wasn't exactly an adult about things the night I told you to spend less time with El. Me making you lie to her...well it wasn't fair to her. Trust is important and I broke that trust."
Mike hesitated. "It wasn't completely your fault. I was being an asshole that night." Mike thought about the conversation with Will that led to him being punched in the face by the most gentle natured person he knew. That week Mike had managed to alienate Dustin, El and Will within a few days. In the months before that, Will had come to believe he could no longer go to Mike for help. Why hadn't he let El spend more time with the group?
Things could have been so different. Mike had always heard that friends sometimes grew apart when they got got older, but that wasn't supposed to happen to the party. Mike had been scared of the party growing apart in 1984 and resenting Max joining them, but then he himself had let- pretty much made it happen.
"I'd been being an asshole for months before that night," Mike continued. Hopper smiled.
"You're a lot like me, you know," said Hopper. "I'm sure that's the last thing you want to hear right now and it's the last thing I want to admit, but it's true."
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Will woke up several hours later. His mother, brother and El were all in the room with him. "Hey, Sweetheart," said Joyce as she caressed his forehead.
"W-what happened?" asked Will. He felt slightly disoriented. His forearm felt a little sore. There was a horrible familiarity to that soreness. Will sat up and pushed up his sleeve to see a slight bruising under a band-aid. "Why, Mom?"
"I didn't want to baby, I had to. Your concussion could have gotten worse and that would have been dangerous."
"It would be a lot more dangerous to lose control of my mind and let him take over again."
"That's not going to happen, Will. I won't let that happen, I promise!"
"I know you'll do everything in your power to keep that promise, Mom," said Will. "But he's too powerful and I can't risk losing control, I just can't."
"Okay," said Joyce. "But remember, you aren't alone. You're far from alone If you stress yourself out too much, you won't be able to stay in control. Understand?"
Will nodded. His mother was right, but it was hard to relax.
"Besides, the gate Brenner was trying to open is closed," said Jonathan.
"That only puts a band-aid on it," said Will. "We have to figure out how to kill the Mind Flayer once and for all."
"You're right, Baby," said Joyce. "You aren't in that alone either."
"Mike was right last year when-" Will remembered hitting Mike. "Is Mike okay?"
"Mike's fine," said El. Will met her gaze before burying his face in his hands. El felt something in the pit of her stomach as she glanced at Joyce and Jonathan. She thought of Josie-the real Jane Ives and of Hopper's words as he had left with Mike...
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"Alice," said El as she entered the bald woman's room. Will was taking a shower while Joyce and Jonathan talked to Dr. Owens. El had considered asking Hopper, but didn't think he'd be able to answer her question yet. The fact that he wanted to to tell her whatever it when she was with the Byers family members made her all the more suspicious. "You know things."
Alice looked up at El and smiled a little. "Some things."
"I thought I was Jane...but I'm not Jane. Do you know who I am?"
"Hopper was waiting for the right time to tell you.." Alice began.
"It's the right time for you to tell me."
Alice sighed. She took El's hand. Her eyes became briefly unfocused. "It seems like you already know...or you've already guessed."
"Is that why I could see him without trying when he was in the Upside Down...and when the Mind Flayer was after him? Is that why they can sense each other? Why we can sense each other?" asked El. Jonathan had once told her that he could somehow sense Joyce when she and Hopper had gone to the Upside Down to save Will and Joyce had told him that she'd heard him.
"I think so," said Alice. "Your mother was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She doesn't know what happened to her. Hopper found out from Brenner and wanted to tell her at the right time."
"Will and Jonathan, are they like me?" asked El.
"Will is," said Alice. "He doesn't have the same abilities as you, but he has them."
"What can he do?" asked El.
"He needs to discover that on his own," said Alice. "But you can help him. You know how dangerous it can be. You know how obsessed he is with killing the Mind Flayer, even if it costs him his own life. It doesn't have to come to that. I've seen him happy in a possible future. I've seen you both happy. Neither of you has to die."
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Will was brushing his teeth as El approached his room. She was grateful that the other party members were giving him space at that moment. Alice's words that neither of them had to die echoed in her head. She had thought she was sacrificing life when she destroyed the demogorgan three years earlier. Will had thought he was sacrificing his own life two years earlier when he'd told the others to close the gate. She knew Will was ready to die in order to kill the Mind Flayer. She was ready herself. It didn't have to come to that.
El cleared her throat and Will turned to look at her. "Are you feeling any better?"
"I think so," said Will. He rinsed the toothbrush and wiped his face with a towel. El suddenly crossed the room and pulled him into a hug. "Are you okay, El?"
"I'm okay," said El. "I need you to be okay too."
"I'm working on it," said Will.
"I can help. Please, let me help you, Will. I don't want you to die."
"What? El, I'm not going to die!"
"You'll get yourself killed if you try to take on the Mind Flayer alone. You don't care if it kills you. I know you don't. I don't care if it kills me either, but we don't have to die!"
Will pulled away a little and looked at El. "What is going on with you? You're acting weirder than me."
"I know who I am, Will. I know who my family is. It's you. You and Jonathan are my brothers. Your Mom, she's my Mom too."
"Of course we're your family, El. We-" Will trailed off. "Wait, do you mean? Is that what Hopper wanted to tell all of us?"
"Yes," said El. "He doesn't know that I know yet. Alice told me."
Will looked in the mirror and El followed his gaze. They had the same eye and hair color. Will marveled at how much El resembled old pictures of his-their mother when she was their age. Why hadn't they noticed before. Will started to feel dizzy and swayed on his feet. How was it possible that he didn't know he had a sister? That his mother didn't know.
"You need to sit," said El as she led him to a sofa. Will normally resisted when people tried to make him rest, but he was feeling something he hadn't felt since before he was freed from the Mind Flayer: utter trust in another person. He realized that he wasn't afraid that El would judge him or treat him like a baby or forget he was still struggling once the crisis was over. It felt good to feel that kind of trust again. Actually, it felt amazing.
"What so we do now?" asked Will as El sat next to him and wrapper her arms around him as though it was the most natural thing in the world. She was feeling the need to make up for lost time.
"We get our powers back," said El.
"Our powers? I don't have any powers."
"You do, we just need to figure out what they are."
"How?"
"I know someone who can help," said El as she thought Kali. "I just have to get strong enough to find her again. I can feel my powers coming back."
"You can?" asked Will.
"Yes. I saw that Papa had you. It was just like when I could see the demogorgan took you to the Upside Down."
"You saw that? Like when it happened?"
"Yes, I had now memories. I should have told you. I should have told you a lot of things."
"Like what?"
"I don't know... just things. You would have understood when I needed to talk."
Will was silent for a moment. "Yes and you would have understood how I was feeling. We should have been friends sooner."
"I should have talked to you sooner. You were really sick that night I closed the gate, so I decided to just let you rest. Then I just... I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault," Will murmured. "I wasn't allowed to go anywhere by myself for over a year after I got back from the Upside Down. When Mom finally let me ride my bike around town again, the guys just weren't interested in the same things anymore. I just felt like I was tagging along instead of really being a part of the group. It sucked, but what do I really have to complain about? You were barely allowed to leave the cabin most of the time. And before that, you were stuck in a lab your whole life."
El squeezed Will's hand. She had heard him say 'what do I have to complain about?' several times since they'd moved from Hawkins. She realized he'd been holding a lot in. That was probably why he often skipped visiting Hawkins and had so often ended up angry or upset with his friends-particularly Mike- so often.
"Will, it's okay to be upset. It's okay to complain sometimes."
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"Here, kid, have some water," said an orderly as he handed Mike a plastic cup.
"Thanks," said Mike.
"Do you need any aspirin?"
"No, I'm fine," said Mike before drinking the water.
"Didn't know Will had that in him," said Dustin. Lucas elbowed him. "What?"
"He didn't mean it," said Lucas. "I mean, he said he was sorry right away, didn't he?"
"And he was kidnapped by a mad scientist," said Max. "He's been under a lot of stress."
"Well, he didn't punch any of you in the face," said Mike.
"I think he wanted to when we kept talking about his present," said Dustin.
"Yeah, he's really determined to not accept it," said Lucas.
"I just want to make things right with him again," said Mike.
"Maybe don't try so hard," said Max.
"Easy for you to say," said Mike. "He's not pissed at you or El."
"I'm not as close to him as you guys are," said Max. "He doesn't want to get hurt again."
"We aren't trying to hurt him," said Mike.
"I know you aren't, but it keeps happening. A lot of the time, it's been because you were trying to hard. Coming up with that lie about a couples game wasn't a great idea. You guys wanted to surprise Will, but didn't think about what he wanted."
"What do you suggest we do?" asked Mike.
"Just let him cool off and feel what he feels," said Max. "He did say that he thought that you were the one person who understood him, Mike. Try being that person again."
"How can I be that person?" asked Mike. "He prefers hanging out with Lucas now. Dustin too."
"So?" said Lucas. "We're his friends too. You only knew him a few weeks before I did; And I can balance having a girlfriend with having friends."
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Mike.
"C'mon, Mike. You appointed yourself Will's personal protector after he got back from the Upside Down. You wouldn't let us help him most of the time," said Lucas.
"You two were treating him like a helpless baby all the time," said Mike.
"You were treating him like an annoyance once El came back," Lucas shot back.
"That's not true," said Mike defensively.
"Guys! Can we not do this now?" said Dustin. "We should be talking to Will."
"He wanted some time alone," said Mike.
"He's had some time," said Dustin. "Besides, Jonathan said he felt bad about punching you when he woke up. Maybe he's ready to talk and work things out."
"I should probably talk to him alone," said Mike.
"That hasn't been working out so well," said Dustin. "And like Lucas said: we're his friends too. We want to help Will too."
Mike threw his empty cup the orderly had given him in a random garbage can. He couldn't help but feel that his friends were ganging on him. They walked in silence down the halls to Will's room. When they were almost there, they heard El's voice.
"Just promise you'll remember, you aren't alone in this anymore, Will. You have me now. We're in this together."
"I promise," said Will. "We're in this together. You have me too."
Max, Lucas, and Dustin all stopped, not wanting to interrupt. Mike froze.
"We have each other from now on, we love each other," said El. "I love you, Will."
"I love you too, El."
Mike's face was bright red and Dustin, Lucas, and Max glanced nervously at him. Mike suddenly started angrily into the room. Lucas and Dustin grabbed his arms.
"Get off," Mike hissed as he freed himself from their grasp. He ran to the door and saw them with their arms around each other. El was caressing the back of Will's head. They both looked up to see Mike's angry face and jumped to their feet.
"Mike-" El began, but fell silent and words failed her.
"Mike, we-it isn't..." Will stammered.
"IT'S YOUR FAULT!" Mike shouted at Will, who looked frightened. "YOU TOOK HER AWAY FROM ME!"
"Mike, calm down!" said Lucas and he stood in front of Mike. Dustin quickly joined him.
"Yeah, Will didn't take anyone away from you," said Dustin as Max ran to El's side and put her hand on her shoulder.
"HE COULD HAVE TOLD HIS MOM HE DIDN'T WANT TO MOVE, BUT HE DIDN'T. HE DIDN'T!"
Mike pushed past Dustin and Lucas before they could stop him. He grabbed Will by the shoulders and shoved him into a metal cabinet. Will grunted with pain as his back hit the door handle.
"Jesus, Mike, stop! He's recovering from a concussion," said Dustin and Lucas ran over and tried to pry Mike's hands off of Will.
"DID YOU THINK THAT YOU COULD STEAL HER FROM ME IF YOU GOT HER AWAY FROM HAWKINS!"
El screamed and Mike felt as though an electric shock hit both of his hands. He let go of Will and stumbled back into Lucas and Dustin.
El quickly stepped in front of Will and held her arms out protectively. Her nose was bleeding slightly. "He's not trying to steal me from you, Mike."
"You were saying 'I love you' to each other," said Mike angrily.
"Because he's my brother-my twin brother!" Everyone gaped at them. Will gently pushed past El and walked over to the sink where he started splashing cold water on his face. He started to tremble and put his hands on the sink to steady himself. Mike came to his senses. He felt horrified at his actions as saw Will taking calming breaths. What had he done? Why had he done it?
"Shit, Will, I'm so sorry," said Mike and he started toward Will.
"Don't come any closer and don't touch me," said Will as he turned and glared at Mike. Mike froze as the anger and hurt in Will's voice.
"Will, I'd never hurt you. You have to know that, please!"
"I don't have to know anything," Will spat. "It sure hurt like hell when my back hit that door handle," said Will as he gestured at the cabinet."
"I'm sorry, Will. I'm just...really sorry."
Will closed his eyes and shook his head. "You know what? Don't worry about it. We'll just call it even for me punching you in the face this morning."
Sarah suddenly ran into the room, she stopped to catch her breath. Hopper came in a few seconds later. "Someone's trying to get you to fight each other." said Sarah.
"What do you mean?" asked Max.
"I bumped into an orderly and saw a vision of him giving Mike a glass of water to drink. There was something in it."
Everyone was silent for several seconds. Will glanced around at them and headed for the door. El grabbed his arm. "Where are you going?"
"To see Josie- I mean Jane. She could probably use a friend right now."
"Is that all? Do you promise?" asked El.
"Yes, it's all. I promise," said Will.
"Will, I need you with me when we tell Mom and Jonathan."
"I'll be there, I promise," said Will. He gave her a quick, but reassuring hug.
"I believe you," said El as she released him. He left the room as the others stared in silence. Mike broke from his stupor and followed Will as he felt that familiar terror that Will would vanish into thin air gripping him. The memory of Will having a seizure when the soldier burned the vines popped into Mike's mind.
"Will, stop, please. Let's talk. I really would never hurt you. Now we know why I was acting so insane. That stuff that guy gave me... whatever it was, it made me go crazy."
Will stopped in his tracks and turned around to face Mike. "It didn't make you go crazy. It just made you say what you've been thinking all along. You blame me for El leaving Hawkins and you. That's why you're always so pissed at me."
"I ... it's not..like that," Mike stammered. Will took a few steps toward Mike.
"Oh it is like that. But you know what? You actually took her from me, Mike. She was my sister all this time and you kept her from me. You never let me get to know her. Even though I didn't know she was my sister, she should have been my friend. She saved my life. We could have helped each other. We could have worked together. But you couldn't have that, could you?"
"Will, I'm sorry. I was wrong about so many things and made so many mistakes-"
"Yeah and when you were making those mistakes, you didn't care that I was hurting, so right now I don't care that you're sorry. Now leave me alone."
"Will," said Hopper as he came out into the hallway. "You shouldn't be going off on your own. There's been at least one spy here. They're after you."
"I'll be careful," said Will.
"I know you'll be careful," said Hopper. "But it may not be enough."
"He's right," said Mike. "You can put yourself in danger."
El felt some anger rising in her as she remembered the months between closing the gate and losing her powers. She ran out into the hallway and stood in front of Will, facing Mike and Hopper. "Leave him alone!"
"El, we're trying to keep him safe," said Mike.
"Yes, the 'don't be stupid rule' is more important now than ever."
"We make our own rules," said El as she glanced at Max. "You both tried to control me and keep me to yourselves for months. I know you did it because you love me, but you were also scared. I won't let you do it to Will. He can take care of himself. We can take care of ourselves."
"Thanks, El," said Will. "I'll be there when you're ready to talk to Mom and Jonathan." He turned and started jogging down the hall. Mike saw as Will winced a bit and grabbed his back. El saw it too and remembered the day she had made Max fall off her skateboard because she thought Mike may have liked her. She felt bad about that because Max had become a good friend to her. She also wished that she had paid attention to Will that day. Perhaps she could have prevented him from getting possessed by the Mind Flayer.
"El, you're right. I shouldn't have tried to control your life so much all those months," said Hopper. "I was acting out of fear and that caused me to do a lot of things I shouldn't have done."
Hopper thought about finding out that Joyce was planning to move. It had caused him to go into panic mode. He has started trying to push her into a relationship instead of letting her grieve for Bob. He had also panicked as he saw El spending more and more time with Mike, fearing that he was losing her as well.
"I've done things I shouldn't have done when I was scared too," said El. "I made Max fall off her skateboard when she was talking to Mike at school the day the Mind Flayer got Will."
"So it was you. You were there," said Mike. El nodded. She looked directly at Max.
"I'm sorry," she said with tears in her eyes.
"So that's why you didn't want to shake my hand that night," said Max. El nodded.
"I was being stupid."
"Don't worry about it. Ancient history," said Max.
"You're not mad?" asked El. Max shook her head. She walked over and hugged El. El looked over Max's shoulders at Mike.
He silently wished that Will could forgive him as easily as Max had forgiven El, but knew that Will had been hurt by him so much more than El had hurt Max. He thought of the night that El had closed the gate.
Mrs. Byers, Jonathan, and Nancy had brought him back from the cabin. He had bruises and rope burns on his arms and wrists. There was another, much more severe burn on the side of his abdomen. Nancy had told Mike that she had done that to give the Mind Flayer to stop strangling Joyce.
"Mike," Will said weakly as his eyes opened slightly to see Mike sitting at his side.
"Hey, easy Will. Get some rest. I'll be right here, I promise," said Mike as he squeezed Will's hand.
"Okay," said Will. He drifted off to sleep.
Mike hadn't kept his promise. He had left Will's side the second El had come back from closing the gate at the lab. She had wanted to see Will and talk to him, but Mike had insisted that Will needed to rest. He hadn't managed to visit Will again before he was well enough to return to school. Will's words from a few minutes earlier echoed in Mike's head:
You actually took her from me, Mike. She was my sister all this time and you kept her from me. You never let me get to know her. Even though I didn't know she was my sister, she should have been my friend. We could have helped each other. We could have worked together. But you couldn't have that, could you?
Mike realized that Will was right. He had known that Will and El could help each other with everything they'd gone through and he'd felt threatened by that. He had felt threatened by El growing closer to anyone else.
Mike couldn't help but wonder how things would have been different if he had let El get to know Will in those months. Maybe Hopper wouldn't have gotten so annoyed at him spending so much time with El and given him the ultimatum that led to him lying to her, causing her to dump his ass. Will wouldn't have reached his tipping point when Mike and Lucas laughed at his campaign. Perhaps the Byers family wouldn't have left Hawkins at all. El and Will could have worked together to stop the Mind Flayer sooner and Hopper wouldn't have disappeared.
Mike realized he had never fully made up with Will after their D&D argument. He was feeling the presence of the Mind Flayer by the time Lucas and Mike found him at a destroyed Castle Byers. At that point, they were all focused on figuring out how to stop the Mind Flayer. Will had shrugged off their apologies and barely let them talk him into changing into dry clothes.
Mike had barely managed to talk Will into staying at his house that night. As of 2 am, neither Jonathan nor Joyce had come home and Mike had no interest in leaving Will alone.
When El and Max had arrived the next morning, Mike started to explain what had happened to Will the night before. Speaking for Will to the other party members was an old habit as Will had always been extremely shy even with his friends. He had changed when Castle Byers was destroyed. We're not kids anymore. Will had said, throwing Mike's own words back at him. I can speak for myself.
As Mike went over the events of the past couple of years and pondered ways to fix his mistakes and bring his friendship with Will back to their crazy together days, Hopper took El aside while Sarah took a seat. "Listen, kid, there were a lot of things I could have handled a lot better. There were times when I should have been the adult and I wasn't or when I drank too much. I'm sorry about all that."
"You were scared," said El. "I've been scared a lot too. But I can make up my own mind about things and so can Will."
"I know you can," said Hopper. "But you have to be careful. There's some very bad people after you and your brother as well as some very bad creatures from another dimension."
"I understand," said El. "We both understand, but now we have each other."
"Are you ready to tell your mom and Jonathan?"
"When Will's done talking to Jane."
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As Will entered her room Josie-no Jane was drawing on a pad of paper. She looked up and saw Will. Relief spread across her face.
"Feeling better?"
"Yeah, I am," said Will. "How are you doing after... everything?"
"I don't know. I've been thinking I'm someone else over over a year. Those memories they put in my head felt so real. My friendship with you, though, that was real. I know they put me there to be a spy or something, but I really do consider you my friend, Will."
"I know," said Will. "I feel the same way."
"Good," said Jane. "Because I feel like I'm going insane and don't know what's real anymore. I'm having memories of what he did to me in the lab. The way he talked was so creepy and manipulative. I made me do things... made me hurt people and animals. I didn't want to, I never wanted to. I want him dead, Will."
"Brenner?" asked Will. Jane nodded. "When that thing, the-I don't know-"
"Demogorgan?"
"Yes. When it knocked you out and opened up the gate, there was something very weird about the way Brenner wanted the gate to be open. He get getting some sick pleasure. It brought back memories I didn't even know I had."
"El and I are trying to figure out how to stop him and the Mind Flayer."
"The Mind Flayer?"
"Yeah, it's this sort of entity that controls the Upside Down. It controlled me a couple of years ago, but my Mom got it out. Part of it stayed in Hawkins and turned a bunch of people into Zombies."
"The Upside Down?" asked Jane.
"There's a lot that you don't know about me and El," said Will.
"I figured when you and Hopper said that El thought she was me," said Jane. "Maybe I can help you. If you're trying to stop Brenner and everything he's doing I want to help you. Tell me."
"It's a long story," said Will.
"What else are we going to do while we're in this place?" asked Jane.
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Yep, I went there again. I thought it was interesting that Eleven was never referred to as Jane in season 3. There were still some character twin journey's with Will and Eleven, though not as obvious as in the first two season. They were both very dependent on Mike in the first two seasons and in season 3, became a little independent of him. They both have scenes where they tell him off because he's acting like an idiot and not really seeing their point of view instead of being the empathetic person he was in the first two seasons. El starts tp prefer Max's company and Will starts to prefer Lucas' company. Then, at the end of the season, Will leaves behind his D&D stuff and El leaves behind her Teddy bear (they both put those things into the donation box. Hopefully they have some meaningful interaction in season 4. I think Mike is going to be severely depressed.
