END OF BEGINNING- a byler fanfiction/ stranger things s5

Heroes

Summary: Will is alive (for now)

a/n: Can't believe this is almost finished. Didn't think I'd get here tbh. Still, I might go back over it when I've more time to fill in the gaps and maybe I'll give it some alternate endings and extra scenes.

Word Count: 939

I woke up in a hospital bed, staring at blaring fluorescents and a linoleum ceiling.

My throat was dry, my eyes were bleary, and my bones felt like wet paper straws.

It took me a minute to come to my senses, and when I did, it all came flooding back like a tidal disaster. I almost blacked out again.

Then I looked around, to see if I was alone. Slumped in the uncomfortable hospital chairs beside me was Lucas and Dustin. Then my mom and Steve (the most unlikely duo I think I've ever seen) appeared, holding coffee cups.

"What-?" My own voice scared me. I sounded so weird, like an old smoker. I tried again. "What's going on?"

My mom almost dropped her coffee.

"Mike, oh thank god. I'll call a nurse."

"No!" My mom was startled by the outburst, which hurt a lot actually. I managed to rasp out; "Water?" 

Steve obliged, handing me the most delicious tasting water I've ever had in my life. He shook Dustin and Lucas awake.

"What?" Steve gestured in my direction. "Oh, holy shit! Holy shit! You're alive!"

They both bounded up to hug me.

"Guys, I can't breathe."

"Oh sorry."

"Yeah, sorry man."

"What's going on?" I asked again, my voice now sounding sufficiently less Darth Vader-like.

"Oh shit. You don't know." Dustin looked at Lucas, panicked.

"Know what?"

Lucas answered me eventually. "You've been out for a week."

"A week?"

"Yeah, man. It was intense. It was like a stress blackout or something, from physical exertion."

"Physical exertion?" It's not like I ran a marathon. But that wasn't important when I remembered. "Where's Will?"

Dustin and Lucas looked at each other again.

"Is he...?" I couldn't bring myself to say either the word dead or alive because the possibility of the former was unimaginable. 

"No, he's-"

"Mike! You're awake!" It was my older sister, looking tired and stressed as everyone else. She still enthusiastically went up to hug me, which was super weird since we didn't really do hugs, but I let her have her moment. "I'm so glad you're okay. You are okay?"

"Right as rain. Where's Will?"

"You guys didn't tell him?" Nancy shot an accusatory glance at Steve, Dustin and Lucas.

"I just woke up." And I was getting impatient. "Where is he?"

"Mike, you need rest before-" Nancy began.

"We'll take you to him," Lucas interrupted. He was looking at me in a way that made me see that he understood. He understood because of Max, not knowing what had happened to her, if she was alive. He understood that Will was my Max. "Wanna get changed first?"

Someone gave me some jeans and a hoodie to wear. We walked down the hospital halls, which were crowded with people. I never liked hospitals.

"He's in the special care unit," Lucas explained. "He still hasn't woken up yet, but he's alive, Mike. He's alive."

My heart slows down a couple of paces, but I can't help hearing a for now at the end of the sentence. Will has survived the impossible before though. This time isn't any different.

When we reached the room that must be Will's, because Lucas stopped at the door. "This is it."

He pulled the handle, and I couldn't stop myself from rushing in. I took in the sight; Will was lying on a hospital bed hooked up to some machine that beeped incessantly. In the chairs beside him, looking over him, was El and Joyce.

When El saw me, she got up and gave me a hug. I was glad to know she was okay.

"Is he going to be okay?" El looked at me a moment.

"Yes. I need to talk to you, now. About Will." She looked around at everyone else. "Alone."

Everyone exited the room almost immediately.

It was just El and I, and an unconscious Will. I took a seat at his bedside, hardly able to tear my eyes away.

"Mike. Do you remember what happened with Max? When she- she died and came back?"

"Yeah? Is that, is that what happened with Will?"

El pursed her lips. "When I brought Max back, I thought of all our memories together. Of how much I loved her, and how much I didn't want her die. When Will was- when we got out of the Upside Down, I could see all of the memories you had and all of your feelings. I'm not sure how, but that's how I was able to bring him back. Through you and your love for him." El smiled at me.

I looked back at Will. "H-how?"

"I don't know. Were you trying to show me? Trying to get me to keep him alive?"

I thought about it. "Yeah, kind of, but I couldn't- find the words." Will always helped with that.

"It worked. I thought you should know, but I didn't know if you wanted everyone else to know too. You're his hero, Mike."

I smiled back at El finally, which felt so strange all things considered. "Do you know when he's going to wake up?"

"Hopefully soon."

"Have you tried looking for him? In your mind?"

"I'm still tired, still drained from the fight and from bringing him back. I'll try when I'm recharged."

"Good. Thank you."

"Thank you, Mike. You saved him too."

"I don't know about that." El took my hand and gave it a squeeze.

"He'll be okay."

"Yeah. Yeah, totally." I hoped it would be.