Chapter Text
Mic always liked to wait outside for Dustin to get home from his D&D sessions at the Wheelers. She knew he would get home safe - he always did - but she still liked to wait for him. She felt rather protective over her younger brother, even now that she wasn't having to shield him from her parents' nightly arguments. Mic heard Dustin before she saw him.
"Get back here!" Dustin yelled. "I'm gonna kill you!"
Will biked over the hill, racing down towards where Mic stood next to the mailbox. "I'll take your X-Men 134!"
Mic laughed as Will raced towards her, Dustin cresting the hill. She waved. "Hi, Will!"
"Hi, Michaela!"
"Get home safe!"
"I will!"
Will biked away, and Dustin came to a stop next to Mic. "Son of a bitch."
Mic turned to her brother. "Come on. You're just in time for Smurfs."
--
Mic had been up for a few hours, getting some skating in before school. Inside, the kitchen smelled of eggs and bacon, Claudia's specialty. Mic walked inside just in time to see Dustin drowning his bacon in maple syrup. She grinned.
"It's already dead, Dusty. You don't have to kill it further."
"It tastes better this way," Dustin protested.
"I'll take your word for it."
The phone rang.
"Could you get that, Kay?" Claudia asked.
"Sure, Mum." Mic walked up to phone and picked it up. "Henderson residence."
"Hi Michaela," Joyce Byers' voice crackled through.
"Oh, hi Mrs Byers. What can I help with?"
"Did you see Will last night?"
"Uh, yeah. He biked past around the normal time. Why?"
"Um, you know what? I think he just left early for...for school. Thanks. Bye."
"Oh, okay. Bye, Mrs Byers." Mic put the phone down.
"What was that about?" Dustin asked, mouth full of bacon.
Mic wiped some maple syrup from Dustin's mouth as she sat next to him. "It was just Mrs Byers asking about Will. Seems like he left for school early and forgot to leave a note."
--
There had been an unusual tenseness at the dinner table that night. Dustin had told Mic and Claudia about Will's disappearance shortly after returning from school, and Claudia had shut down Dustin's attempts to go looking for him. After a small fight between them, Claudia had sent Dustin to his room. Mic knocked on his door before walking inside, shutting the door behind her. Dustin was sulking on his bed, fidgeting with his Supercomm. Mic sat next to him on the bed.
"You boys want to go looking for Will, don't you?" Mic asked gently.
"Yeah," Dustin said. "Mike thinks he could be in danger."
"I think you should go."
Dustin looked surprised. "You do?"
Mic nodded. "Of course. I care about Will too. And it isn't like him to just disappear like this. If there's a search party for him, I don't see why you can't have your own little search party too."
"But won't mum know I snuck out?"
"Not if I can help it. But promise me that you'll be safe, and that you'll be home before midnight."
Dustin hugged Mic. "I promise."
"Now, come on. You can sneak out through my patio."
--
It was late on Wednesday night when Will's body was found in the quarry. Mic had an upset Dustin come into her room through the patio, making her look up from her homework. He stood there, holding back tears and looking like he was in shock. Mic immediately got up and walked across the room to Dustin, wrapping him in a hug. He held onto her tightly, crying. Mic didn't ask any questions, but she knew what this reaction meant, and she held back tears herself. Will was dead.
--
Will's funeral was on Friday. Most of Hawkins turned up to show support to the Byers. Mic stood behind Dustin, one hand on his shoulder and the other hand holding a yellow rose. Joyce and Jonathan sat on chairs in front of the open ground, staring down at Will's casket as Pastor Charles spoke.
"'Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand'. It's times like these that our faith is challenged. How, if He is truly benevolent, could God take from us someone so young, so innocent? It would be easy to turn away from God...but we must remember that nothing, not even tragedy, can separate us from His love. We are here today to find comfort in the truth of scripture, and to surround Will and his family with support."
--
When Dustin didn't come home on Friday night, Mic panicked. Dustin had explained about how they'd found some girl with superpowers and how Will was alive in this D&D world, but Mic had said she didn't care what they did as long as he was always home by midnight, and he'd done that every night this week. So when he didn't come home on Friday night, she immediately thought the worst.
Mic got in the car and tore out of the Henderson driveway, driving to the Byers house as fast as she could. She got out, running up to the front door and banging on it. "Jonathan!" Mic yelled. "Jonathan!"
Jonathan opened the door, worry crossing his face when he saw Michaela. "Mic? What's going on?"
Mic panted as she tried to catch her breath. "Dustin...Dustin didn't come home last night. I...I don't know where he is."
"Whoa, whoa." Jonathan moved aside and gestured for Mic to walk in. As he closed the door, Mic caught sight of Joyce, Nancy, and Hopper standing in the lounge room. Jonathan gently took Mic's shoulders. "He's at the junkyard with Mike and Lucas. Hopper's going to go get them."
Joyce stepped forward, taking Mic's hands. "We have a lot to explain. Come sit down."
--
Mic, Jonathan, Nancy, and Joyce sat on the couch, anxiously waiting for Hopper to return with the group. The trio had explained about the Demogorgon and Will and Barb, and Mic had explained what Dustin had told her about this girl and her powers and the D&D world. Lights from a set of headlights streamed through the curtains as a car turned into the driveway, making the quad stand up. Mic was the first to run to the door, opening it as the kids got out of Hopper's car.
"Dustin!" Mic ran towards him, wrapping him in a tight hug. "Oh, you scared the shit out of me."
Dustin wiggled out of the hug after a few minutes. "Sorry, Mickey."
"Don't ever do that again, okay?"
--
Inside, the boys were trying to explain what was happening with this D&D world. They sat on the floor, joined by the girl, who was apparently named Eleven. Mic, Jonathan, Nancy, and Joyce were on the couch again, while Hopper sat on the arm of an armchair. Mike held up a piece of paper with a diagram on it.
"Okay, so, in this example, we're the acrobat. Will and Barbara, and that monster, they're this flea. And this is the Upside Down, where will is hiding. Mr Clarke said the only way to get there is through a rip in time and space."
"A Gate," Dustin said.
"That we tracked to Hawkins Lab," Lucas added.
"With our compasses." Silence. "Okay, so the Gate has this really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the directions on a compass needle."
"Is this Gate underground?" Hopper asked.
"Yes." Eleven responded. Everyone looked at her.
"Near a large water tank?"
"Yes."
Dustin looked confused. "How do you know all that?"
"He's seen it," Mike said.
Eleven and Hopper stared at each other for a few moments before Eleven turned to look at Joyce. "Is there any way that you could...that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this-"
"The Upside Down," Eleven said.
"Down. Yeah."
Eleven nodded.
"And my friend Barbara?" Nancy asked. "Can you find her, too?"
Eleven nodded.
--
In the kitchen, Eleven sat at the kitchen table, a ripped up photo of Barb on the table in front of her. Will's Supercomm sat next to it, emitting static. Eleven's eyes were closed. The others sat at or stood around the table, looking at her. The lights flickered, then she opened her eyes. Her chin quivered.
"I'm sorry."
"What?" Joyce asked. "What's wrong? What happened?"
"I can't find them."
Joyce took Eleven under her arm and helped her up, walking her to the bathroom. After a few moments, she returned alone. "Let's just give her a moment."
"Whenever she uses her powers, she gets weak," Mike explained.
"The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets," Dustin added.
Lucas nodded. "Like, she flipped the van earlier."
"It was awesome."
"But she's drained," Mike said.
"Like a bad battery."
"Well...how do we make her better?" Joyce asked.
Mike shrugged slightly. "We don't. We just have to wait and try again."
"Well, how long?" Nancy questioned.
"I don't know."
"The bath." Everyone turned to see Eleven standing in the hallway at the edge of the kitchen. "I can find them. In the bath."
--
Dustin stood at the phone, waiting for it to dial. He was trying to call Mr Clarke, his science teacher, to try and get some info on making a sensory deprivation tank. Dustin made a quick thumbs up gesture to let the others know Mr Clarke had picked up.
"Mr Clarke? It's Dustin." ... "Yeah, yeah. I just, I...I have a science question." ... "Do you know anything about sensory deprivation tanks? Specifically how to build one?" ... "Fun." Dustin cringed at himself. "You alwasy say we should never stop being curious. To always open any curiosity door we find. Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?"
After Mr Clarke spoke again, Dustin grinned. He moved towards the table, mouthing 'notebook' to Jonathan as he sat down. Jonathan quickly rifled around in a few drawers to find a notebook and pen, which he put down in front of Dustin. Everyone crowded around him as he took notes from Mr Clarke.
"Uh-huh. Uh-huh. How much? Uh-huh. Yep, all right. Yeah, we'll be careful. Definitely. All right, Mr Clarke. Yeah, I'll see you on Monday. I'll see you on Monday, Mr Clarke. Bye." Dustin hung the phone up and put it down before looking at Joyce. "Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?"
Joyce nodded. "I think so. Yeah."
"Good. Then we just need salt. Lots of it."
"How much is 'lots'?" Hopper asked.
"1500 pounds."
"Well, where are we gonna get that much salt?" Nancy asked.