Chapter 2 Not Needed

"El, I'm marked," Mike whispered as he pulled El aside.

"By Henry? How do you know?"

"I was thinking about calling Eric's parents.. telling them where he is; while you were looking into Will's mind."

"The parents that hurt him?" asked El. "Why?"

"I thought that Will would want to be with me if Eric was out of the way," said Mike ruefully.

"What do you mean, 'if Eric was out of the way?'"

Mike took a deep breath. He wasn't sure how many people, if any, were aware that Will was in a romantic relationship with Eric. El clearly wasn't. Understanding dawned on her face with Mike's hesitation to speak.

"All's fair in love and war," said El.

"Where'd you hear that?" asked Mike.

"TV," said El. "But you knew Will first."

"It doesn't work like that, El," said Mike. "Eric's the one who took the risk and told Will how he felt... I... well I just pushed him away because I was ashamed."

"You only did that because of me," said El with tears in her eyes. "I have to make it right."

"No, El," said Mike as he put his hand on hers. "It's because of choices I made. Will doesn't think any of this was your fault either. I should have told you that from the beginning."

Mike felt the 'curse' begin to leave him. He knew he wasn't out of the woods yet. He had to get Vecna completely out of his head- for Will and El's sake.

Two years earlier.

Will was finally starting to feel like his friendship with Mike was returning to what it once had been... a conversation with Lucas and Dustin brought back the fear that things would change again when all was said and done. The conversation had happened shortly after Mike had asked Will-perhaps more curtly than intended- for some time alone with El. Will himself had constantly been on edge since returning to Hawkins and feeling Vecna's presence. He desperately wanted to keep Vecna out of his mind. Will wanted to talk to Mike about it more, but decided to let Mike focus on El

"You would have loved Eddie," said Dustin.

"Most of the people in this town called him 'the freak", so we would have had that in common," said Will

"You are just the sort of little lost sheep Eddie always wanted to help," said Dustin.

"Little lost sheep?"

"It's what he called us when he got us to join the Hellfire club," said Dustin.

"What exactly is the Hellfire Club?" asked Will. "I mean, it clearly isn't a Satanic Cult."

"Didn't Mike tell you?" asked Lucas. "He and Dustin missed the championship game where I made the winning shot. Hell, Erica missed the game as well for that campaign. You'd think Mike wouldn't be able to shut up about it when he got to California."

"Campaign?" asked Will. "As in D&D? Mike missed your championship game for a D&D campaign?"

"In our defense." said Dustin. "Lucas had been on the bench all season and the basketball team are douche bags- psychotic douchebags at that."

Will felt and urge to leave and began trying to think of an excuse in his mind.

"Are you alright, Will?" asked Lucas.

"Huh? Yeah, fine. Just a little tired. Anyway, the campaign and the game sound amazing. I wish I could have been there to see you score that winning shot, Lucas." Will found himself genuinely wishing he had been there for Lucas' game. Lucas gave Will a sad smile.

"The campaign was amazing," said Dustin. "I forgot to give Mike your birthday present to take to Califonia. I need to get it to you."

Will tensed up.

"How was your birthday?" asked Lucas.

"It was fine," said Will.

"Just fine?" asked Dustin.

"A lot's happened," said Will. "I haven't really given it much thought."

"Wish we could have been there," said Lucas. "But at least Mike got to visit."

"Sure," said Will flatly. Though he and Mike had been getting close again, the memory of how Mike had acted toward him when he'd first arrived in Califoria cam flooding back. Mike had acted very weird when Will went to hug him. That had reminded Will of the look on Mike's face during their fight when he'd said "It's not my fault you don't like girls." The thought that Mike would hate him if he knew terrified Will as much as Vecna.

"Will, are you alright? Did something happeen in California?" asked Dustin. "I mean, a lot of things obviously happened, but did something-"

"I'm just tired," said Will. "It's been a long month for all of us." Will looked at his watch. "I think I'm going to go home and get some sleep." Will quickly left before his friends could protest.

Will left Lucas's house and went over to the new house he was living in with his mother, brother, Hopper, and El. Many residents had left Hawkins, mostly people who had family they could stay with in other parts of the county. Hundreds of houses had been destroyed. The people who lived in those houses and happened to be home were killed. They Byers-Hopper family had nanaged to get a house on Maple Street for a very low price. Will had always wished that he lived closer to his friends, but he never wanted it to take a massive tear in time and space for it to happen,

The house was filled with unpacked boxes, things salvaged from their house in California after the government officials hunting El had torn through it. With so many people hunting El, Hawkins was the safest place for the Byers-Hopper family to be.

Will went up to his room, locked it and went to his bed. He pulled the covers over his head an started sobbing. It was such a stupid thing to be so upset over. Will hoped to just have it out of his system by morning,

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"Where's Will?" asked Mike as he and El entered Lucas's basement.

"He said he was tired and went home," said Dustin.

"Went home?" asked Mike. "It's still early. The sun hasn't even set.

"He started acting really weird when we asked hime about his birthday. Did something happen?" asked Dustin.

"B-birthday?" asked El.

"Yeah, it was right at the beginning of spring break," said Lucas. "The day Mike flew to California."

"Oh, shit!" said Mike as he pressed both palms to his forehead.

"You didn't!" said Lucas. "Tell me you didn't forget!"

"Hey, I'm not the only one. His mother and brother didn't say anything and Will hasn't exactly been enthusiastic about it since... Well since He got sruck in the Upside Down..." Mike felt a sinking sensation in his stomach as he rembered how he'd been angry at Will for sulking all day at Rink-O-Mania.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Wake up, Sleepyhead," said Joyce. Will groaned, The covers were still pulled over his head, He had no idea how long he;d been alsleep, but it had to be morning. He pushed back his covers to look at his mother, and noticed she wasn't alone. Hopper, El and Jonathan were there. Jonathan looked uncomfortable. Mike, Lucase and Duster were standing there as well holding balloons and a cake. Will felt like he was going to be sick,

"Surprise, Happy Birthday!" said everyone in uison.

Will quickly ducked and pulled the covers back over his head. He took a few calming breaths before saying "It's not my birthday!"

Will felt his mother's hand on his shoulder. "We know, Honey... It's just with everything that happened,"

Will threw off his covers, got out of bed and walked over to the window with his back to everyone. He desperately wished he could disappear.

"It's fine, Mom. You'd just found out Hopper was alive."

"I know," said Joyce. "But that's not excuse."

"I think it's a great excuse," said Will dryly. "Better than most and I really don't care about my stupid birthday anymore anyway. We've got bigger things to worry about."

"You say that a lot," said Lucas. Will had said the same thing when Lucas had tried to talk to him about the campaign the previous summer.

"It's true," said Will, still staring intently out the window at the Spring morning. Some of the plants seemed to be coming to life, while others were dying. "Like the massive tear in space and tme that's spreading through Hawkins."

"It's a massive tear that was created because Vecna targeted four people who hadn't been talking about shit that was bothering them," said Lucas. "He's targeted you more than once and I don't want what happened to M-... Will you need to talk to us, please!"

WIll closed his eyes and thought about Max. He had a terrible feeling that she was somehow trapped in Vecna's mind. "Fine,we'll talk later. I just want to be alone right now. Can eveyone please leave and take those stupid balloons and that stupid cake with you? Please!"

"C'mon, everyone, you heard him," said Jonathan. Will glanced at his brother and gave him a grateful smile.

"We can talk about it over the campaign later," said Dustin.

"Campaign?" asked Will.

"Yeah, it was one that Eddie planned before.."

"No thanks, I don't play D&D anymore," said Will.

"What?" said Mike. "You were begging us to play all last year. Besides, we need Will the WIse. "

"Yeah, I remember that, Mike!" said Will angrily. "I remember you saying that you weren't in the mood. You said we're not kids anymore and as soon as I moved, you joined the Hellfire Club and became so obsessed with D&D again that you missed Lucas' game. So clearly you don't need Will the Wise for your campaign."

Will felt tears starting to roll down his cheeks, he hastily wiped them away. Mike walked over and put his hand on Will's arm. Will quickly pulled out of Mike's grip.

"Don't," said Will in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Will, please," said Mike. "We're trying to make things right, let us make them right."

"There's nothing to make right," said Will. "Please leave me alone. I just want to be alone right now. Forgotten Birthdays, The Hellfire Club, it's all just part of the fact that I don't belong in my own life!"

"Will, don't say that, it's not true!" said Mike desperately.

"Don't tell me what is or isn't true, Mike," said Will angrily. "Now, please, for the millionth time, just leave me alone."

Mike glanced around at the rest of the people in the room. He remembered Will saying he could feel Vecna once he got back to Hawkins.

"Will, we can't leave you alone, not like this, not-Will?" Mike noticed that Will seemed to be staring at something, His eyes were wide with fear. Will grabbed his head and dropped to his knees.

"WILL!" everyone shouted as they rushed to him.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Will shouted. The lights in the room began to violently and a couple bulbs exploded. Will's buried his face in his hands. El pushed past the others and knelt beside Will and gently pulled his hands away from his face.

"Will, you're bleeding," said El as she noticed his nose and ear.

"Do you have a headache?" asked Lucas in a panicked voice.

"What? Why?" asked Will.

"Shit!" said Dustin. "Do you have a headache or not?"

"No," said Will.

"Henry?" asked El. Will nodded "You're angry and sad right now. He wants your powers."

"My powers? I don't have any powers," said Will, though his instincts told him El was right.

"I'm calling Owens," said Hopper. Will started to protest, but thought better of it. Hopper left the room.

"Can I have a few minutes to change into some clothes?" asked Will. "I got him out of my head."

"Alright, sweetie," said Joyce. "Come down stairs when you're done."

Will could feel the concerned looks of his friends and family as they left the room and closed the door. He felt a little guilty about what he was about to do, but he desperately needed some time alone and this was the only way yo get it. Will got dressed, wrote a quick note to his mother and climbed out the window.

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"It shouldn't be taking him this long to get dressed," said Dustin as he looked at his watch.

"I'll check on him," said Jonathan. He went up to Will's room and found the note he'd left.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I can't find him," said El tearfully.

"It's alright, Sweetheart," said Joyce. "Don't push yourself, we're just going to have to find him to the old fashion way."

"Everyone, be careful," said Hopper. "Most of the crazies have left town, but there are still a few left."

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Will sat in the woods drawing in his sketch book. His headphones for his walkman onle covered one ear. He'd moved several times in the past few hours- whenever he'd heard people calling his name. He needed to decompress. He had somehow expelled Vecna from his mind when he'd tried to enter- and he'd hurt him in the process. Will wasn't sure how, but he knew that Vecna was somewhere recovering.

"You alright, kid?" Will was startled frome his thoughts at the unfamilar voice. He looked up and saw an older man about his parents' age and a teenager with light brown hair about his own age. Will jumped to his feet.

"I'm fine, was just drawing." Will met the gaze of the other teenager.

"I'm Colonel Becker. I'm working with Owens," said the older man. "This is my nephew, Eric Lauder."

"You brought your nephew with you, here? One this assignment?" asked Will.

"I'd rather be in a town with a massive interdimensional tear in time and space than with my asshole parents," said Eric dryly.

"Oh," said Will."Well, I've seen some shitty parents, but yours must be really bad if you came here to get away from them." Will cringed at his awkward sentence, but Eric gave him a small smile.

"Your family and friends are looking for you pretty frantically," said Colonel Beckett.

"I know," said Will. "I'm not trying to scare them, there's just a lot going on in my head and I needed to be away from them for a while."

"Tell you what? Why don't you join us for dinner. That way you're still getting a little time away from your family and friends, but you're somewhere safe."

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"You're sure we can trust this Colonel Beckett?" Hopper asked Dr. Owens.

"I'm sure. It's why I asked him to come here and help manage this whole situation."

"I'm going to have a good long talk with that kid when he gets back," said Hopper. "What was he thinking, putting you through this, Joyce?"

"I'll talk to Will," said Joyce.

"There's something I need to show you, Joyce," said Dr. Owens. He pulled out a folder from his briefcase and handed it to her.

"What is this?" asked Joyce. She saw her own name, Jonathan's name and several other names including Virginia Creel, Alice Creel, and Terry Ives. There was another list that included Will and Max, as well as Chrissy Cunningham, Patrick McKinney, and Fred Benson.

"The PS123581321 sequence? What's that? and what's the difference between it and the PQ12358 sequence Jonathan and I seem to have?"

"It's an ability to use parts of the brain, human's don't normally use," said Dr. Owens. The pattern didn't occur to me untl you called me about what happened with Will this morning. I had to double check the data. But now I know why Henry targeted the kids he did to open the four gates, He was accessing their powers- the powers they didn't know they had. That same gene sequence was in all the test subjects at Hawkins lab.

"Henry killed his mother and sister, but left his father alive. He left Brenner alive and killed the staff at the lab very differently than he killed the test subjects. The PQ12358-which shows the potential to access those obscure parts of the human brain- sequence seems to be in parents and siblings of the people with the PS123581321 sequence- the manifestation of the abilities."

"Is that why that thing kidnapped my son all those years ago?" asked Joyce.

"That's the working theory right now," said Dr. Owens.

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"Thanks for helping me with this stuff," said Eric.

"Thanks for letting me help," said Will. "I just need a little more time before I go back to my family. I'm pretty sure I'm in for a huge lecture from my mom and step dad."

"Are things like... bad with them?"

"No. I've just really been on edge since we got back to Hawkins and I just kinda freaked out this morning and didn't want to talk about it yet. What about you? Why'd you come to Hawkins? Are your parents really that bad?"

"Let's just say they think there's something wrong with me and want to fix. I don't want to be fixed their way."

"You don't like to torture animals or somthing, do you?" asked Will.

"No, nothing like that... it's just...sorry, I don't want to talk about it at the moment. But being in a town that is a gateway to an evile dimension is preferable to living with my parents. I begged my uncle to take me with him on this assignment." Will thought he saw something very familiar in Eric's expression.

"That's cool. I can definately understand not wanting to talk about something."

"Yeah, I noticed," said Eric with a small smile. Will felt a pleasant sensation in his stomach. He noticed a keyboard and acoustic guitar in the corner of Eric's room.

"Do you play?" Will asked as he pointed at the instruments.

"I used to with my friends back home."

"Do you miss them? Your friends?"

"I do... a lot. I wish I could call them and tell them I'm okay, but then my parents might find out where I am."

Will didn't know what to say to that. "Well, music is pretty useful here. It's can at least hlp protect our minds against... him. Just... have a walkman with you where ever you go."

"Do you play at all?" asked Eric. "Or have you ever?"

"No-I-well-no."

"Want to learn?" asked Eric.

"Sure," said Will. "I need to start moving forward in my life."

"So do I," said Eric. He picked up the acoustic guitar and handed it to Will, who felt a tingle go up his arm as Eric's finger tips brushed his knuckles.