Chapter 9 – Fight. Heal. Reveal. Repeat.

Will couldn't help but laugh. And at the same time, the sight of what had been set up on the table, touched him deeply.

„You can't be serious, guys…", he said in a faltering voice as his vision started to blur.

There it was.

A simple board, its back painted in black. Some figurines, representing heroes and monsters. A couple of dices in different colours, some of them with twenty sides. A few pencils. Some sheet of paper.
And, most of all, a huge amount of imagination.

A game.

Their game.

And so much more than that.

A tool, which had helped them understand the principles of the Upside Down and its inhabitants.

A door they always could escape through if reality – once again – became unbearable.

A common ground, which had held the party together. At least until that fateful day last summer. The day Lucas and Mike had ruined everything. The day Will had been overwhelmed by the feeling of being left behind. That day Mike had told him that it wasn't his fault he didn't like girls. The day Castle Byers fell...

But that was then.

Now, he felt his best friend putting an arm around his shoulder.

„I know it's a bit weird to play D&D while the world is falling apart, but I couldn't help it." Mike smiled at Will. And he knew instantly that this was so much more than just a smile.

It was an apology.

„You know, since our last game didn't, …,um", he looked at Will a little embarrassed, „go off as it was supposed to be, I thought, maybe we can just try to connect to the good old days."

Lucas, as usual, brought it to the point. "Last time, we fucked it up with our stupid girl stuff, Will. We were quite some douchebags."

Dustin held up his index finger. "Just for the record, guys, I wasn't involved in any of that. And if I was, I would have been on Will's side."

Will wiped the tears out of his eyes, laughing again.
Surely, it was odd. It was the wrong place. The wrong time. Wrong in every sense.

And it was one of the most special surprises he had ever gotten in his life.

For a long time, he hadn't been that happy. It was almost like a tingling in his limbs.

And Will couldn't resist anymore.

He turned out from under Mike's arm and pulled his best friend into a deep hug. He had to show him how much it meant to him. How much he meant to him. He wanted to show him otherwise, of course. But in this world a hug was the only gesture he could use.

For a short moment, they just stood there.

But then…

"WILL, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO?!"

Mike's scream made Will jump. "Wha-, I, what have I done?", he asked confused while quickly backing away from him.

Mike held up his bandaged hand. "The pain's gone!"

Will's eyes widened. "I didn't do anything, I swear!"

But Mike shook his head. "The moment you hugged me I felt some kind of heat rushing through my body, and my hand felt almost like..."

Then Mike began to wrap off the white fabric. A few moments later he stared at his hand in utter disbelief. "Oh my…"

Will didn't wait for him to complete the sentence. He grabbed his best friend's hand and turned it around. And then his eyes widened even more. Because there, on Mike's palm, he couldn't even see the slightest hint of an injury. The cut had disappeared.

"Whoaaaaaaaaa", Dustin roared. "You did it, Will! You did it!"

The loudness of his voice caused the others (who had respectfully withdrawn into the other rooms and niches of the cabin so they wouldn't ruin the surprise for Will) to gather around them in an instant.

"What's going on?", Hopper asked.

"Will just healed my hand!", Mike yelled beaming, showing his now perfectly unharmed palm.

Joyce made one of her typical mum-sounds, which was a combination of a shriek of pure joy and a sob.

Then a volcano erupted, a volcano of "Well done"-s and other compliments. Finally, Will held up his hands in a defensive gesture.

"Guys, GUYS!", he yelled, successfully bringing them to silence. "I really appreciate it, but…" He lowered his eyes. "UnfortunateIy, I don't know how I did it."

Steve looked at him with a tortured face. "You can't be serious…"

"I'm afraid, I am."

"But you can't always be the by-mistake-healer, Byers. That's not how it works."

"Steve!", Robin snapped.

"Just sayin'."

Robin frowned. "So, let's think. Something must have happened between your last effort to heal Mike and the current one."

"Yeah", Dustin agreed. "Something must have lowered your barricade, like Owens said."

"Where is he, by the way?", Will asked as he realized the doctor was missing.

"Well, since he was done with his research here, he gathered some of his men and went back to the lab", Hopper explained. "Seems like they want to reactivate it because of the situation. He promised to visit again tomorrow."

When Hopper had finished, Dustin turned to Will again. "Will? Do you have any idea what could've solved your blockage?"

Will shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I just talked to Mike and then I had a walk with Max. That's it."

"Doesn't sound like a gamechanger", Steve mumbled.

Then Will met Max's eyes, who looked at him questioningly. Her gaze went over to Jonathan and back to Will. And he knew what she wanted to indicate. But… No, that couldn't be it, he thought. It was absurd.

"Well, let's think again", Robin interrupted his thoughts. "Vecna picked only teenagers who were dealing with their very own personal demons as his victims. People that were haunted by something. We know that. Their struggling weakened their mind, so it was easier for him to get in. So, maybe…"

Will shuddered. He knew what Robin was going to propose. And it scared him like hell.

"… maybe Will's demons are the key…"

Steve looked at her blankly. "The key to what?"

Robin gave him a pitiful glaze. "To lower the blockade, of course. Maybe if Will overcomes his demons, he would be able to use his powers permanently. Maybe he doesn't need to activate something in him to be able to heal, but to deactivate something… "

When Max saw Will's almost panicking expression, she intervened. "Good point, Robin, but don't you think it's a little rude to ask Will about something that personal in front of everyone?"

Robin nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Didn't want to do that. But maybe it's already sufficient if Will thinks about it."

Steve shook his head. "No offense, buddy, but it's about saving the world and everything." He looked Will right in the eye. "So, do you have any idea about what's haunting you?"

Will hid his hands in his lap, so Steve couldn't recognize they were shaking now. He tried everything not to let his emotions show.

"Um, I-, I don't know…", he stuttered. For a split second, he looked over to Jonathan. His big brother was just frowning. Then he looked back to Steve. "Well, you know, all those events with being kidnapped and possessed, it's still haunting me."

"Hmmmm…" It was the first time since the uncomfortable conversation had begun Will heard Mike's voice. His friend held his chin in a thinking pose. "That doesn't make sense."

Will just stared at him.

"Well, it would mean that Vecna did all those things a few years ago so you'll be haunted by them later. That sounds… weird. He would be cause and effect at the same time."

Steve nodded. "Yeah, that's most unlikely. So, Will, spit it out. What's bothering you? You can tell us!"

Will wanted to run away. But he felt like a deer standing on the street by night, blinded by the car lights, unable to move.
And once more, it was his older brother to come to his rescue just in time.

"Hey, Harrington!", Jonathan addressed his longtime rival in a threatening tone, "why don't you stop pushing? I think it's completely up to Will to decide whether he wants to talk about it or not. If, and I want to emphasize that word, if there might be something at all."

Steve demonstratively took a step backwards and held up his hands. "Okay, okay, Byers! No need to get angry. I was just asking." Then he turned to Will again. "Sorry for being too curios, buddy. Didn't want to be rude."

Will shook his head and managed to put on a smile. "You weren't."

Then Max chimed in. "Guys, why don't we just calm down for a moment. I know we can't wait forever, but I think we all could use a few hours of distraction. Owens will be back tomorrow morning and we can tell him then about what just happened. So, why don't we let the boys play their stupid game?", she smirked at Lucas.

Steve just wanted to disagree, when El interrupted him. "We don't have to be afraid tonight", she said. "He won't attack." She looked at Will. And then he remembered that brief moment during his talk with Max. The image of Vecna being injured. He nodded. "Yeah. He still needs to recover, I feel it."

"Why didn't you say that at first?" Steve shrugged his shoulders. "In that case, go ahead and play. If there's still some time for the enjoyable moments in life, let's not waste it." He waved Robin over. "So, my lovely companion for this beautiful evening, why don't we take a trip to some forbidden place – which hasn't been destroyed -, have some booze and pity ourselves for our unhappy love lives?" He glanced over to Nancy. When their eyes met, the girl quickly lowered her head.

Robin rolled her eyes but couldn't resist to smile. "Sounds charming."

"But don't go too far, it's dangerous out there", Hopper warned.

"Hey, Hop! Did you forget?", Steve jeered, "I'm the babysitter, not the one to be babysat." Then he pointed at the baseball-bat studded with nails, leaning in a corner of the cabin. "And of course, I would never leave without Suzie."

Dustin's eyes widened. "You didn't name it like that!?"

Steve smirked. "Why not? It's a beautiful name."

"Prick…"

It took a few minutes until the party was under themselves again (if that's the right description, considering the cramped conditions inside the cabin). Robin and Steve had left as well as Jonathan and Nancy who went for a walk in the woods. Hopper and Joyce had returned to their couch in Jim's part of the cabin (separated by a curtain) to watch some TV together and Max and El had withdrawn to her room to have a girl's night.

So finally, they played.

Due to the lack of preparation time for a typical ten-hour-campaign, Mike had – reluctantly – picked out one of the much shorter ready-made adventures. Usually, falling back on those small books would have been beneath their dignity, yes, almost a sacrilege for every experienced D&D player. But in times like these…

Mike was just about to read out the first sentence of "The wrath of the Lich" to them, but then suddenly stopped.

"Oh my god, I almost forgot…"

Then Dustin and Lucas seemed to understand, too. "Yeah, man, would've been pretty embarrassing!", Dustin nodded.

And with that, Mike pulled some shirts from underneath the table. Shirts in white and black, with some pretty cool symbols on them. He cleared his throat almost theatrically before ceremoniously handing over one of the clothes to Will. "Welcome to Hellfire Club", he said beaming.

Will took the shirt and put it on.

"Suits you", Dustin said smiling. "You know, Eddie would've loved to recruit you for Hellfire." Will could see his eyes getting a little wet. "He really would have. He was a hell of a freak, you know, but a kind of freak you would've liked."

"I bet", Will said smiling. "Thank you, guys", he said, blinking away his own tears.

"And now enough of that sentimental crap", Dustin said, "there's a Lich waiting to be killed."

After an hour of playing, Will realized that something had changed.

There was no doubt that everybody tried their best to make the game memorable. Dustin and Lucas were bickering all the time about the appropriate methods. And Mike was working his ass off to create the right atmosphere by giving the Lich a frightening voice or making sound effects to accentuate the scenery. Everyone, including Will, took the game seriously.

But despite all of that, it felt… different.

Surely, it wasn't the right setting. They weren't used to people interrupting their game by taking something out of the fridge or getting a glass from the cupboard.

Surely, it wasn't the right time. With the impending doom in the back of their heads, nobody could have expected the game to be completely carefree.

But besides the external influences, Will noticed that there was something else.

He didn't miss all those short glances Lucas and Mike threw at the door, behind which their girlfriends were sitting.

He was perfectly aware of the many times Dustin mentioned Eddie Munson, honoring him for this, praising him for that. Will didn't blame him for that. But he noticed.

And most of all, he noticed what was going on inside of him. Or to be more precise, what was not going on.

He tried his best to let himself fall. He absolutely wanted to be captured by the wild and fascinating world that Mike opened up in front of their inner eye. He would have given everything to feel the magic like he felt back then.

But he didn't.

Maybe, he thought, a part of him truly had died one year ago. Maybe, in that night, he had destroyed not only Castle Byers but also a part of himself. Maybe he indeed wasn't a kid anymore, like Mike had told him in front of his house.

Maybe, it was time to let go and take the next step…

"Will, we're doomed!"

It was Dustin's voice to rip him out of his thoughts.

"Look at that monster!", he pointed at the figure of the Lich on the board. "With every blow we deal to him, it just gets stronger. What shall we do? Will the Wise, save us!", Dustin almost shrieked.

"The Lich is coming closer", Mike said in a booming voice. "In the face of defeat, choose: Fight or retreat?"

And then, Will had an idea.

"We retreat, regroup and reconsider."

The jaws of Dustin and Lucas dropped. "Will, what are you doing?"

But he was determined. "Trust me."

Twenty minutes later, the three heroes sat in their hiding place somewhere in the trees and discussed what most likely was one of the most unusual strategies they had ever heard.

Meanwhile, in Hopper's cabin, Dustin, Lucas and Will discussed the same.

"With all due respect, but, Will the Wise, you clearly have lost your mind", Dustin said, shaking his head again.

"It's not going to work", Lucas agreed.

Mike just listened with a permanent frown, his chin resting on his palm.

But Will insisted. "Why not? If the Lich is getting stronger by being wounded and hurt, then the opposite must weaken it. It's simple logic."

Dustin let his fist fall to the table. "You're talking about casting a healing spell on a freakin' villain. You do realize how stupid that sounds, do you?"

"And you do realize that it was you who asked me to save you, right?"

Will didn't have a clue, why he was so sure about his plan. He didn't even know where it came from.

"What's all that yelling?" Max and El walked into the kitchen to grab another bottle of lemonade out of the fridge.

Lucas turned to his girlfriend. "Will the Wise just came up with that completely lunatic plan to save the group. A plan that nobody understands, except for him."

Max smirked. "Maybe that's why he's the wise one and you're not." The two girls giggled and left the room.

Lucas' expression darkened. "Okay." He took a deep breath. "I will agree to your plan, but only because I'm getting the chance to show Max that she's wrong. Something that rarely happens."

Finally, Mike cut in. "So, Will, let me summarize your plan. You're about to heal the Lich so he loses a great amount of the powers he gained by the injuries you inflicted. Then, instead of fighting him, you just want to throw him into the abyss behind his throne."

Will nodded. "That's the plan. If we can't fight him, we have to trick him."

Mike just stared at him. "And you know that you need to roll at least a 15 in agility to succeed…"

"Yup", Will replied. "But he will, not me." He pointed at Lucas.

"Yeah, I'm the agile one."

Dustin raised an eyebrow. "Since when?"

"Since my birth, asshole", Lucas spat. "And you would know if you had been to the tournament finals."

Dustin made a face. "Well, you can recreate that moment right now. Just one lucky throw, nothing more, like back then."

Ten minutes later, after Will had successfully cast the spell on the Lich and Lucas had rolled a 17, Mike stumbled a few steps backwards, put his own hands around his throat and gurgled dramatically. "You…healed…me…", he croaked. Then he acted like he stepped into the void and let himself fall to the ground. "Nooooooooooooooooo."

"Whooooohoooo", Dustin roared, giving high fives to Lucas and Will. "We did it!"

"We?", Mike asked, grinning widely while getting up from the ground. "I think you owe your cleric an apology."

Dustin turned to Will and lowered his head. "Will the Wise, please forgive me for doubting your abilities. Through my ordinary bard eyes, I wasn't able to see the brilliance of your plan."

Will chuckled. "I forgive you, my loyal companion."

Lucas got off his chair and bowed down solemnly. "All hail, Will the Wise."

But Mike for his part wasn't completely satisfied with the gestures of the two. "Noble, noble", he said. "But I think, if you really want to show your remorse, you should let him have all the treasure and, of course, the promised date with the princess."

Dustin's eyes widened.

"Wha-, wait a minute!"

"Oh, come on, man", Lucas groaned. "That's not fair."

"Of course, it is", Mike insisted, "since you would be dead without him."

"But…"

"Can't I…"

"But the princess is so cute", Dustin whined. "My bard wanted to sing a beautiful song for her."

"Sing and beautiful is not a combination of words that should come out of your mouth", Lucas jeered.

"Hey, you idiot…"

The continued mocking each other.

Until…

"You can have the date, Dustin. I… would've preferred… the prince anyway."

Even though Will had spoken quietly, it was as if his words were echoing through the cabin.

For a split second, the arguing continued, then there was a sudden silence as three heads jerked around to him.
And Will's heart sank into his pants. The short moment of bravery was gone. Now, reality was back. And with it the certainty about what he'd just done. Out of an impulse. Driven by a feeling, nothing more. Inspired by his own words he had used to tell Mike in the bus how El would have dumped him.

…rather just get it over with quick, like ripping off a band-aid…

First, Dustin just stared at him questioningly, then his jaw dropped.

Lucas looked equally stunned. "Will, did you, did… you just-", he stuttered, but couldn't finish his sentence because of the loud scream that came out of Dustin's mouth.

"I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!" He jumped from his seat and pointed at Lucas euphorically. "I KNEW IT AND I TOLD YOU! HAHAAAAA!" He raised his arms as if he had won a trophy. "And now it's official: I am a born judge of character!"

Lucas cleared his throat. "So, Will, let me get this straight. You just told us during a game of D&D that you are…", he hesitated for a moment, seeming unsure whether to use the word or not, "…gay?"

Will nodded, smiling shyly. And he couldn't prevent himself from blushing. Then he looked over and saw Mike's face – and all the blood in his face disappeared as quickly as it came. His best friend just sat there, his gaze going into emptiness, his facial expression unreadable.

For Will the reason was obvious: He was deeply, utterly shocked.

And that was the worst he could have imagined.

"William Byers!", Lucas shouted while grinning from ear to ear. "You are without a doubt the craziest guy I've ever met." He rose to his feet, went around the table, and gave Will a powerful but friendly slap on the back. "What's wrong with you, you freak?", he said laughing. "To tell us something that important almost casually!?"

"Is it that important?", Will asked cautiously and glanced over to Mike who seemed to have frozen in his position. No smile. No blink. Nothing.

Before Lucas could answer, the other four residents of the cabin stepped into the room.

"Everything alright?", Hopper asked, frowning. "You've been pretty loud. Is there a quarrel?"

Dustin shook his head. "No, Hop, everything's fine. Will just told us he's gay, you know."

For a moment, one could hear a pin drop. Then the smile on Dustin's face disappeared and was replaced by an expression of pure horror.

Eyes wide open, he looked over to Will. "Oh shit… I thought they knew…"

Will shrunk in his seat.

Hopper formed an "Oh" with his lips.

Max held her right thumb up and nodded at Will approvingly.

And then Joyce almost leaped forward towards her youngest son - smiling, with tears in her eyes – and pulled him off his chair into a tight embrace. "That's completely okay, honey! I love you so much."

Again, Will cried. Out of relief and happiness to have finally done what he never thought he would have been able to.
But also because of a sharp pain he felt in his chest. A pain that wasn't his own.
One's pain.

And he finally understood that his connection to the Upside Down, to Vecna, was working in both directions. That he maybe could turn the tables.

Just as his mother released him from her breathtaking hug, Mike rushed past him.

"Mike!" Will tried to grip his wrist but his best friend pulled his arm away. "Please, wait!"

"I need to think." Mike's voice was trembling as he left the cabin.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?", Hopper yelled after him.

Will looked at the closed door, horrified.

Mike. Of all people.

Not him…

Then El stepped into his view. Brows wrinkled, she looked at him questioningly.

"What's gay?"