Ashes Falling Upwards (stranger things, Will x OC/reader)

Episode

They hit up a few more houses, Max growing more comfortable with each one. Lucas and Dustin walked on either side of her, chatting and laughing, so Ash dropped back to Mike and Will.

"Was this your idea?" Mike asked her angrily. "To bring a bunch of your friends in to run our party?"

Will stopped filming, frowning. "It was Lucas and Dustin's idea. It's just for Halloween," he defended Ash.

Mike frowned more. "You should've checked with me."

"Well, they were excited. I guess I thought you'd be okay with it."

"She's running the best night of the year." Mike turned to Ash. "Both of them are." Then he quickened his pace away from them.

"Wow, someone's pissed," Ash muttered.

Will didn't respond.

He probably regrets inviting me, she thought guiltily. The best thing isn't to try to console him, it's to give him some space. Then she sped up to reach the next house as well.

She'd never wanted to make cracks this big in their group. Sure, she'd expected some growing pains, but these ones were hurting Will too.

If only he was doing fine, then what to do from here would be easy. I could accept that I'm making things worse and let him live his life happily. But things aren't better. I know he needs me, so I have to be here. But me being here is causing all this trouble. Gahhh why does life have to be this hard?

"Trick or treat, freak!"

"Boo!"

The voices caught Ash's attention from the back of the group, and just as the woman was about to give her candy she pulled her bag away and started towards the front gate. The trail to the door went around two curves so it took a few seconds for her to reach the front.

No one was there.

"What's wrong?" Mike's voice startled her but she didn't turn, instead whispering, "where's Will?"

They stared into the darkness together, but there were only the bodies of the other trick or treaters running from house to glowing house.

"Shit! Where'd he go?" Mike ran out into the street, turning from side to side in panic.
"Will!" He called. "Will! Where are you?"

He's probably hiding somewhere. This is the moment where I find him. Ash closed her eyes, hearing the sounds around her muffle and the lights on the other side of her eyelids slowly disappear.

All I need to feel is that feeling, the one I feel whenever I'm around him. It was surprisingly easy, for the moment she thought that there was a pull in her gut, a sick, broken feeling coming from... right, down, slightly behind her.
Her eyes ripped open, the sounds and lights blinding her for a second but she ignored the pain in her head, running in the direction of the feeling. Although it wasn't as strong anymore, now that she was aware of it she remembered could always feel it.

"Mike!" She yelled over her shoulder. "He's over here!"

The boy didn't hesitate to run after her, and soon they'd reached the dark blue house where the feeling was coming from.

"How do you—"

"Wait!"

Where is it coming from? Find it, find him goddamnit! This is where you have to help, to prove that you're useful. Use that trauma to save someone.

"Down here!" She started down the set of stairs leading to the backyard of the house. For a second she didn't see anyone down there, but then a brown head flashed into her vision and she skidded to a stop in front of Will. His eyes were closed and he was curled into himself under the stairs, shivering and whimpering gently.

"Will!" Mike stopped next to her, bending down to try and shake his friend out of whatever trance he was in.

The feeling was so strong inside of Ash she felt like it was about to rip her apart. It was here. Those tendrils, that dream, all of it was real. Because it was here, coming from Will. Every atom in her body was screaming at her to run, and it took every bit of her courage to even keep her feet planted in the concrete under her.
But Will wasn't waking up, no matter how hard Mike tried.

"Fine," she growled, pushing Mike out of the way as she bent down, reaching for Will's trembling hand.

I want to run! I want to run to another state, to another country, to another world. I would rather be literally anywhere than right here right now. But I don't have a choice. I'm not losing him.

Then their skin connected.

Will blinked, staring up at her. The air around her dropped forty degrees, and her lungs protested as she breathed in the gray dust that she'd tried to erase from her memory. She was back here.

She stood, pulling Will to his feet, then let go. The temperature went up forty degrees. The air cleared.

"Will!" Mike reached out to embrace his friend, but it almost seemed like it was happening in slow motion.

"What's going on?"

Dustin, Lucas, Max. They were all here, Two looking worried and the last confused.

I want to run.

It knew now. It knew she could cheat the system. It hated her for it. It wanted to kill her. It really, really wanted to kill her. And it could. Something that powerful, she didn't even stand a chance against it.

She took a stumbling step away from the group, clutching a hand to her mouth.

I'm strong. I'm not going to be afraid. My mother needs me to be okay. Will need me to be okay. I need to me to be okay. I'm okay. I'm fine. I am fine.

Then she turned the other way and threw up.