This Is Christmas

El's Vision

Mike banged onto his front door until his mom opened it. "Mike, where have you been?! Why is there blood on your faces?!" Karen yelled.
"Not right now, mom!" Mike ran upstairs heading to his bathroom. El, Dustin, and Will followed. Mike pulled out a spray can of deodorant.
"Ooo, I see what you're doing!" Dustin said as they followed Mike to his dad and mom's room for a lighter. Mike grabbed it and held them close.
"What's that for?" El asked.
"You'll see." Mike said. The kids then ran back outside all behind Mike.

A Demogorgon spotted them and then ran at them. Mike lit the lighter and started to spray. The Demogorgon went into flames. It felt onto the floor squirming.
"Wow." El said in awe. Will then shot it once.
"Nope, lemme do it!" Dustin said taking the gun. He held it poorly and started to shoot it a bunch of times. He missed once or twice from a less than five feet away.
"Give it back, you can barely hold it!" Mike took it giving it to Will. Dustin rolled his eyes.

Jonathan, Joyce, and Hopper could be seen running over to them. "Will!" Jonathan yelled happily. They hugged each other. "I was worried about you.." Jonathan said.
"I'm okay." Will pulled away from the hug.
"Yeah, you are. You're a damn badass with that gun!" Jonathan nudged him. Will laughed a little.
"What the HELL is going on?!" Karen yelled from the front door.

"Don't worry, mom. This'll be over soon.. Just... Just go inside!" Mike yelled. Karen put her hand over her chest walking inside. Nancy then came downstairs.
"What's going.. On...?- Jonathan?"
"Heyyyy..." He waved awkwardly.
"Don't tell me the Demogorgons are those "wild animals."' Nancy said.
"I'd be lying if I said they weren't." Jonathan scratched the back of his head.

Once inside Nancy took her gun and held it close. Ted was asleep upstairs and Karen was processing what she'd just seen. Everyone went to a different part of the house. Mike, Joyce, Dustin, Karen, and Will were in the kitchen trying to help Karen understand the situation; Hopper and El were in the living room; Jonathan and Nancy were upstairs. Will wasn't saying a word as everyone in the kitchen tried explaining what Karen had seen all at once. None of it was audible.

Will sighed and got up walking toward the living room when he heard his name. He paused at the wall trying to act natural. "So, Vecna's in-"
"Vecna's in Will's head.. The only way to actually kill him is by killing Vecna in Will's head.. We killed him last time but somehow he managed to keep some part of him in Will... And it'll kill not only Vecna but Will, too. I can't do that to Joyce or Mike.. or me." El cried into Hopper's shoulder. Will felt his heart drop and his eyes quickly started to water. He shook his head and tried stopping the tears.
"We'll find another way." Hopper tried to comfort but it was in vein.

Will walked into the room. "No, we won't." Will said sternly.
"Will-"
"If this is our only chance at killing Vecna then we take it." Will said.
"No, Will!" El yelled.
"This is my choice, El." Will stated. Hopper closed his eyes sighing.
"No-"
"If this is what he wants to do it'd be one person for the world. If we don't have another way we need to take this one if he's okay with it and he is." Hopper explained.
"You.. can't tell anyone about this. My mom would never let this happen." Will said. El cried into her hands.
"I know, kid." Hopper said his eyes soft, bushy eyebrows furrowed. Will walked over and hugged El.
"It's okay. It's going to be over soon, El." Will whispered.

"What's going on in here?" Will could hear Mike's voice. Will turned to Mike who stood confused.
"El's just nervous to fight Vecna again. She doesn't want any of us dying." Will said.
"El, this is our last time going up against this guy. It's going to be over, everything's going to be okay." Mike said walking forward. Hopper didn't stop him, he was too distraught to. He knew how Joyce would react. This time knowing her son was truly dead... He could barely even think about it. Then Jonathan who'd be stuck in his room. El cried hard and Mike embraced her.
"We're all going to make it, okay?" Mike whispered. It hurt Will to listen. Every time Mike said that it only made it worse for the three.

"We do this today." El mumbled.
"Wh-" "Get more of those fire things. Jonathan and Nancy will need it. Vecna is going to know what we're doing and he's gonna send his Demogorgons to us." El said.
"What will we be doing?" Mike asked.
"We're going to kill Vecna." El said looking at Will. Just then everyone heard yelling from outside. It sounded like "Steve?" Dustin mumbled. Nancy and Jonathan heard from upstairs, they ran towards the window and saw a Demogorgon chasing after Steve. He was headed right for her house.

"Steve!" Nancy yelled. She ran down stairs and opened the door. Steve ran inside and then Nancy shot five bullets at the thing. Mike ran over and sprayed the thing with the deodorant using the lighter. It went into flames. Nancy shot it again and it flew off the porch.

"Good one, Mike.." Nancy said out of breath. Mike nodded and then slammed the door shut. Steve fell onto the floor and Jonathan tried to help him up.
"He's bleeding like bad!" He panicked.
"Eh, it could be worse." Steve winced in pain right after he said this.
"Miss Wheeler, don't even look, just don't even look, okay? Everything is just dandy and fine and no one is bleeding all over your floor right now." Dustin pushed her out of the kitchen and down the hall.
"Just go upstairs to your.. to Mr Wheeler!" Dustin yelled. Karen wide eyed made her way upstairs slowly in shock.

"STEVE, STEEEEEVE!" After making sure Karen was gone Dustin ran back over to Steve.
"I'm okay, buddy." Steve reassured.
"No the hell you're not! You're gonna bleed out!" Mike yelled. Will ran into the room with towels. He laid them over Steve's wounds. Nancy then applied pressure.
"Thank you, Will." Nancy said.
"Guys.. Guys, guys, guys, guys!" Steve repeated trying to get their attention.
"What?!" Dustin yelled.
"There's fucking demogorgons roaming around the upside down of the upside down! What the FUCK is happening?!" Steve screamed.
"It's my fault." El mumbled. Will shook his head.
"I tried to find him. He got angry and now he's speeding up whatever he's been trying to do for the past eight months. With regenerating and everything he's been delayed but now he doesn't even care if he fully healed which is perfect for us." El explained.
"We're going to kill him tonight." El announced.

Mike walked over to the phone and dialed a number. Will followed.
"Who're you calling?" He asked.
"Lucas. I'm giving him one last chance to help us and I also just want to make sure he's okay." The phone was picked up by Lucas on the other end.
"Hello?" Lucas spoke in a whisper.
"Lucas, you're okay!" Mike said relieved.

"Well, not really thanks to the whole "wild animal" crisis. What kind of excuse was that?"
"Listen, Lucas. We need you. I know yo-"
"No, I can't, Mike." Mike's eyebrows furrowed. He looked at a loss. He looked to Will who heard the refusal.
"Mike, hello?" Lucas called.
"Talk to him." Mike whispered.
"What, he's already made up his-"
"Just try." Mike interrupted. Will sighed and took the phone.
"Hellooooo, Mike?" Lucas repeated.

"Lucas, it's me."
"Will?" Lucas's voice softened.
"Lucas come on, we need you."
"Will, I.."
"Listen to me, this is the finale, it's like we're going up against the final boss in DnD and this time it actually ends!" Will exclaimed. Lucas was silent.
"I know if Max were here she'd want to fight. She'd want this whole thing to be over and done with and I know that you want that to! I know that you're afraid, so am I but we've survived through so much. We can do it again, just one last time. Together." Will always somehow got through to Lucas, calmed him. Lucas took a deep breath in.
"I'll do it, Will. I'll do it. I'm coming right now." With that Lucas hung up. Mike looked at Will in shock. Will turned to Mike who was smiling at him.
"Thank you."