Crazy Together

The King Of Hell

"it's Him"

"it's Him"

"it's Him"

Will turns the sentence in his head, trying to figure out what it means. He and Mike are almost back under the light, but he doesn't even know what he is going to say to El.

-Hey, Mike, can we stop for a bit?

Mike turns around forcefully, his hair bouncing back as he looks at Will. He looks worried.

-Are you okay? - he says with that soft voice he always has when something is wrong and wants to calm the other person down. If Will was stronger, he would swallow down the tears that inevitably surface at the question, because, no, he isn't fucking okay. As he is though, he only gets to turn around if he wants to hide his emotions.

-I have a headache. I just need to sit down for a couple seconds.

Mike doesn't question him, even though they're so close to their friends that Will could've just rested in the car if he held on for a little while.

Will doesnt wait for Mike to follow him, he only walks back to the nearest big rock he sees and sits down on it. All he needs is a little more time to understand what those words mean. It's on the tip of his tongue, and he feels dumb for not knowing it already.

He thinks back to the information they already have. El said that there's this Henry guy that she sent to the upside down years ago and is apparently still there to this day. This confuses Will, because he spent a whole week there and barely survived, he can't even think about being there for years. The only reason he can think of for him not to be killed is if Henry was possessed.

But that wouldn't make sense, right? Because if he's reaching out to people in the real world, then that means he is powerful. Really powerful. And if there was something as powerful as him in the hive mind, Will would've felt him.

Huh.

Although, now that he thinks about it...

There was a hierarchy for it. Spores, vines, bats, dogs, demogorgons, some other things he doesn't know the name of, mind flayer. But there was something else to it. Some kind of... Pressure. It kept the mind flayer together, and without it, it wouldn't be able to move. Or flay. It was a voice without a sound. Commanding, telling the flayer and the flayed what to do, organizing, moving, killing. It was... It was Him.

-Oh shit, so that's what it means..

Will didn't notice when he had gotten up, all he knew it that he was walking now, with purpose, towards Eleven, and Mike was following him.

-Will?

- Its Henry. I thought it was the mind flayer, but... it was Henry all along.

- What?

-Mike. - Will stopped and turned, and very slowly explained, both of his hands on Mike's shoulders as if he was going to shake him. - Henry controls the whole upside down. He is the hive mind. It's Him.

Will took a deep breath as Mike's eyes widened.

- I don't know how, but he reached me, out here. He talked to me. He's that powerful. And El, she just got her powers back...

Mike's eyes are stone. His eyebrows show just how concerned he is. He raises a hand as if he could stop time to figure this out.

- Are you saying she shouldn't do this?

- Shouldn't do what?

Mike's and Will's head shoot directly towards the sound. El is standing right in front of them, with a frown on her face.