Will had been walking on and on for awhile now.
Trees panned across his vision, and the small withering feeling inside his chest made him feel that he was wrong to trust his instincts.
Will tries to focus one last time, thinking if it really was all for nothing that he had head out in the first place, because he's seen no sight or sound of this thing, but as he clutches his eyes tightly closed and opens his ears, he hears a rustle.
He squeezes the sizeable branch he'd picked up along the way firmer into his hand, pricking his palm a tad where the wood is drier and thinner, and Will gulps.
Then, he feels it.
It was clinging on to a trunk, a beady eye peering between the branches on to a figure a few feet ahead, a figure with dark hair and with an expression that was blurry. It trained its ears on every movement, and its long black nose pointed up into the air, tracing the scent – a yellow wiggling trail – from where Will has been loitering.
Will snaps his eyes open. He turns and hurries further away, mostly because he's afraid. It was right there and ready to pounce, so reasonably fleeing away from where it had the chance was smart. But also, maybe he could coax it out of the tree, so it was easier to attack?
Alarmingly, he realised that the creature felt hulking and large, not small enough to fit under a car, not anymore.
It makes his breath stutter out of him, and he grips his branch tighter and closer to his chest.
Then, a low and ringing sound starts to erupt from nearby, and it was getting closer, and closer.
The horrible sound becomes like a drone, and that is when Will panics and throws his head up, because it sounds as if it's…
Flying.
Horrifyingly, he sees limbs twitching in the air, curling up into its beetle-like appearance. Its front limbs have two larger claws, and they grip together in rapid succession as if of their own volition. Its eyes are sunken in, to the sides of its face, with a dusting of fine hair along the top of its mostly bald head. The most glaringly obvious part of its appearance was its long and arrow-straight nose, which has Will neurotically conclude that all woodpeckers would be rightly jealous of it.
But the thought trails off as the droning sound it makes blares, and he drops his weapon to reach for his ears, groaning in pain.
He stumbles back one step, and he sees distantly as its wings flutter and the creature starts to swoop toward him, grabby claws reaching terrifyingly toward him, its black eyes, reminiscent of a fly's, wide and gleaming.
He snatches up his forgotten branch with his good arm in a quick motion, feeling his ears bleeding but knowing he could deal with the pain as long as he stayed alive.
He makes a powerful whack toward the creature's belly, and it spins upward, making an egregious sound as it stops its prolonged and winding drone.
It darts back toward him as it rights itself, and it starts to buzz as if ready to make another short burst of the sound that screws itself up in Will's head and makes him want to pass out.
But Will strikes at it again, even when his arms and legs feel jelly-like, and it makes a mark on one of its front limbs, and then in the continued swing, smacks right into its nose, and Will hears an agonising screech.
So, its nose was sensitive.
Will starts to follow the creature to where it's sinking down from the air, and as its limbs touch the ground, he makes a direct attack and hits at its face. It wiggles the back of its body away, but Will keeps hitting, knowing if he stopped it could take to the advantage of the air again.
And at that unsettling thought, Will looks toward one of its wings, flapping and sending wind right into his face. He cracks down on it, and it tears in two.
The creature wails, and Will steps back because his ears have had enough, and he thinks he'll go deaf as he feels a wetness drip down along the sides of his neck.
He suddenly sees through the eyes of the creature, feeling its pain, and tears come to his eyes. He feels a surge of pity, and he stands up a final time as the creature grabs at the ground and tries to right itself.
But he needs to know what it's here for, what it's been sent to do.
He feels absurd as he asks the fateful question, "why did he put you up to this?" The creature's head peers up at him, and it makes a hissing sound that rumbles off into a warning.
"Tell me!" It quirks its head to the side, and as Will makes connecting eye contact with it, he becomes consumed.
He finds himself in the Upside Down, red sky and lightning striking above, he scuttles along with his brethren, that climb over the tops of each other and makes grabbing hands to get closer to the source.
The source.
A black cloud amasses in the distance, particles whirling in gigantic spins. It takes form with a large black head and spindling spider-like legs branching off its body. The Shadow Monster.
He hears thumping sounds, and his eyes catch flanking monsters, of different sizes and colours, slimy and scaly creatures. The larger ones fall to their knees and look up, and there's a loud chesty harrumph of the army, and they do it again and again.
And then, "army! Cease." The noises stop altogether, and the silence is deafening.
"You're gathered here today, to rejoice. Our plans have yet begun, and Hawkins will fall. It will be lit up from the inside, our world collapsing unto theirs. We will take our place, usurp our rightful position as their superior!"
And then Will is shaken out of its memories, and the creature…
It bashes its head purposefully, and it cracks, squirting matter into the dirt.
Will almost can't believe his own eyes.
The creature, it killed itself.
Almost like it knew that whatever Will was seeing, it was jeopardizing everything.
An intelligent decision that had nothing to do with orders, but loyalty.
An army. Who had been led by Vecna, like a general, with the Mind Flayer ever watchful as their leader.
And Will knew that he couldn't hide this, information as damning as it was.
Yet still, the reason it was sent to their plane instead of staying in the Upside Down remains a mystery.
"Steve," Robin starts, snatching the blunt from Steve and inhaling deeply, blowing it into Steve's face as he wrinkles his nose up and gives her a faux agitated glare.
"Yes, Robin?" He sighs, and then wriggles his hand toward her for it back.
Robin keeps it and takes another drag.
"Nothing." She lets out a burst of giggles, falling into Steve's shoulder to which he pushes her off, and tears start to line at her eyes.
"That's enough for you," he snatches it back.
"Too right, too right." She leans back and looks across the pool, steam floating up in tendrils above it. She kicks her feet still tucked in the water.
"Do you think Vickie likes me?"
Steve takes a long look at her at this, eyebrow raised, "I mean, would be ridiculous if she didn't. You guys look at each other as if the sun rises out of each other's asses."
"What the fuck, dweeb. I was trying to have a, a heart to heart. You ruined it." She accuses with a finger, and then flops back onto her elbows.
"Had enough of those to last a lifetime." Steve puffs out a breath, and then rises to his feet.
He flings out a hand for Robin to grab after he stomps on the blunt he'd thrown down, "come on, Buck-teeth. Feeling antsy leaving what's-his-face on his own inside my house."
Robin giggles once again, "Argyle. He's funny."
"Yeah, yeah. Not more than me." Steve quips, smirking.
"Debatable."
He frowns at her.
"Oh, cheer up. You're more the, uh, what's the word." She waves a hand, and then ah-hahs, "dingbat kind of funny. Funny because you're not funny. Argyle's funny-funny."
"What the hell are you saying, man. I'm funny."
"Dingbat funny."
"Shut the hell up, or I'll lock you out."
Robin gasps in offence, "no you wouldn't!"
"Say I'm funny-funny then!"
"Alright, alright. You're," She mimes gagging, "ugh, you're funny-funny. There, I said it. Do you have any snacks?"
Steve rolls his eyes.
"Steve-o, my dude!" Argyle yells, "this plant you have," he's sat cross-legged in front of Steve's mother's Aloe Vera, Argyle then shushes himself a tad, "it's speaking to me, man."
Steve just says, whilst looking at the stick in-between Argyle's fingers, "you're cut off, too."
"You can't just, cut the man off his own supply. Plus! He's been through an ordeal."
Robin enunciates, the word feeling too big for her mouth right now, skipping over to where Argyle sits, also looking through the plant as if trying to hear whatever Argyle hears.
"Yeah, dude," Argyle begins, bloodshot eyes looking toward Steve's, "that's enough vined-up men to last me a lifetime."
"There was only one 'vined-up' man, and he's dead now. We're all good."
"Yeah, well. This plant, it be saying there's more, man."
And Steve looks at the plant, as it starts to haze around the edges, and he shakes his head to sober up, "c'mon guys, party's in there."
Steve points toward the living room, where they hear music and dizzying laughter.
Steve had taken it upon himself to plan out a little get-together of sorts. Him, Argyle, Robin, Eddie… He'd invited Nancy and Jonathan, but Jonathan sort of just shook his head and said he wanted to be there for Will when he got back home, and Nancy didn't want to leave Jonathan, though he'd graciously said he didn't mind if Nancy went without him.
Yet, they arrived not too long ago, said Will had gone to bed and they had nothing better to do for the rest of the night.
But they were the epitome of lovebirds at this point, glued to each other's sides.
Steve wasn't jealous. He wasn't.
Maybe he thought the spark between Nancy and him had maybe, just a little, emerged again, before Argyle's yellow Surfer-Boy Pizza van had pulled up near Eddie's trailer. But Steve wasn't entertaining it anymore, knew it was the danger and the heat of the moment that had caught him up in a whirlwind of emotion.
It didn't work between them for a reason. Nancy never loved him, not like Steve does her. Or how Steve did love her. Yeah.
He shakes the fleeting thought from his mind, fixes an alarmingly wide grin on his face as the three of them enter through the door.
Robin tried to squeeze in with him, and Steve's shoved against the entrance as she succeeds.
Honestly, zero respect.
Robin just blows a raspberry at him and sags onto the couch, eyes closed, and arms crossed. Feet bare.
Steve gets an idea.
"Robin," he sings, and then tickles the pads of her feet.
Robin flails in surprised but painful laughter, "no, no, stop." She kicks him solidly in the face.
He grabs at it, "Robin!"
"It was your own fault, mister!" She panics.
"Wow, you guys are a circus, truly." Eddie says, smacking his lips, munching on a bowl of crisps laid on his chest. Steve would find that disgusting usually, but something about Eddie's teasing glance makes him feel embarrassed instead.
"Nah, she's the circus," he flings a thumb at her, "I was normal till I met her."
"You were boring till you met me; you mean."
Steve clutches his heart in shock, "excuse me, I'll have you know that if you never met me, you'd never have been a Russian decoder. That's literally cool."
"Nah, before me you were just friends with a bunch of kids." Robin makes a judgemental face, "do you and Dustin still have that handshake-?,"
"Oh my god, shut up, Buckley." Steve gives up.
She laughs at him.
"Hey, I think it's cute. Babysitter Steve is the best Steve." Robin says matter-of-factly, and Steve sighs once again, trying to will down the blush.
He feels warmth flood his face anyway.
"Yeah, Dustin totally hero-worships you. I'd know. All I think I've heard from him was Steve this, Steve that..."
"Watch out, Munson, you're starting to sound jealous." Steve razzes, eager to change topic from him and his embarrassment to someone else's.
Eddie sits up and places the bowl on the table, which Robin immediately takes notice of. She falls off the couch as she rolls and then sits in front of it, munching heartily, happy as a clam.
"You know what's actually funny. I really was jealous. I mean, he looks up to you so much, y'know? And all I thought was, that guy, seriously? I mean. You were kind of a douche in High School, no offence."
"None taken," Steve takes a long searching look toward Eddie, "yeah, I got sorted out early, pretty much when Dustin adopted me into his plans, I guess. Experiences like that just," Steve shrugs, and then takes a seat next to Jonathan, who is watching him as if puzzled, "I guess my priorities in life just changed. Who had the time to be an asshat anymore, when you figure out there's a dimension with demogorg's set and trained on killing people, 'n' stuff?"
"Gotcha," Eddie salutes at him, "well my sincere thanks to ol' Dusty-bun. You're an alright guy, Steve."
"Thanks?"
"We should commemorate!" Eddie reaches for a half-empty bottle of tequila and spies the used shot glasses on the corner end table, one tipped over and sticky.
Eddie makes a grimacing face as he un-sticks it, and then once he'd filled all of them, he hands them out.
"To you, missy," he says to Nancy, and she takes the sloshing shot glass gingerly.
Then, Eddie turns an impish grin at Steve, who smiles confusedly back, "a toast! To Steve becoming a decent member of society, and of course at being able to see his Steve Harrington-famous hair up-close and personal."
Eddie reaches up and curls a finger up in Steve's wayward fringe, and then slaps his face, pinching lightly.
Steve just raises his eyebrows, almost delighted at how weird this guy could be.
"I know Dustin's incredibly grateful to know your little lady-killer hair secret, Harrington."
And then Steve's mood is utterly ruined.
"He told you! That little twerp," he says, not in the slightest angry, but incredibly humiliated.
"Oh yes. Oh yes, he did. I pried it out of him, little Steve Hair-ington. It had me overjoyed for days. Days!"
Steve just groans and throws his head back against the couch.
"Now drink up, ladies!" And Eddie tilts his own head back as he does so.
Steve opens his eyes and watches, fixated and dazed, until he'd nudged by Jonathan who looks at him strangely.
"Oh, right."
They each have their shot.
Nancy pulls a face, "ugh, that's disgusting."
Robin sits on her knees and makes big eyes, "another one, sir."
Eddie pours another one, a few drips spilling on the table. "Right away, ma'am."
"Never do that again, Robin." Steve says, "you sound like that kid, from Oliver the Twist."
"You mean Oliver Twist, Steve." Eddie says slowly, eyes wide.
"What?"
"You're so dumb, Steve." Robin says whilst snickering.
And then the group hears the phone go off, and Steve gets up to go answer it.
He's out in the hallway when he grabs it, and he hears Joyce's voice on the other side.
"Jonathan? Is Jonathan there? Hello!" Her voice is panicked, and he can tell she's pacing around.
"It's Steve. I can get him for you?"
"Oh, Steve! Please tell Jonathan to come back, quick! Will's not in his bed, I-I don't know what to do. Hopper's on his way, but-,"
"Woah, woah. Will's missing?"
He hears her sob on the other end, and backtracks, "I mean, we don't know. Maybe he's gone somewhere with the kids, or something?"
"No! No, he'd tell me. Please, just tell Jonathan to get here, now, please!" And she hangs up.
"JONATHAN!"
The group comes bursting through from the living room, faces completely bewildered.
Steve takes a deep breath, "Will's gone."