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One of Jonathan's first memories, albeit fuzzy around the edges, was of Will coming home from the hospital for the first time.
He was sitting wide-eyed on the couch, watching as Mom was gently led into the house by Lonnie. It was one of the rare times he'd seen Lonnie calm, maybe even loving, towards her. In Mom's arms, swaddled in a fuzzy yellow blanket, was a sleeping newborn baby.
The part Jonathan remembers clearly was his Mom placing that tiny yellow bundle in his lap. He remembers Mom shushing when the baby stirred, and the baby giving a quiet yawn before settling.
"Jon, meet William," Mom had whispered. "Your baby brother."
"Baby brother," he had repeated, matching his voice to Mom's soft tone.
Jonathan had studied every inch of Will's little face. Will was so small. Now, Jonathan had seen babies before, but he had never cared about them. He was as neutral about babies as a four-year-old could be. But Jonathan had been mesmerized holding his little brother.
Will stirred again, but instead of settling like before, he blinked sleepily up at Jonathan. His eyes were huge and shining. Jonathan hugged his little brother closer to his own body. He didn't want to let go.
In that moment, at just four years old, Jonathan felt like he was holding the sun in his too-small hands.
*******
That version of his little brother — tiny and wrapped in a yellow blanket — is what Jonathan sees flash before his eyes when Will suddenly collapses to the hard, sandy ground in the Abyss. Falling in time with the skeletal form of the Mindflayer.
Jonathan and Robin share a brief look before they sprint across the landscape. Jonathan feels his heart in his throat. He tries to think positive. Their Mom is at his brother's side, meaning he isn't alone at this moment. He recalls seeing Will during the battle with his arm outstretched like Jane when she uses her powers. He thinks about how his brother has endured worse and survived.
Jane used to collapse whenever she overexerted her powers. Maybe this was like that, and Will collapsed just from exhaustion? Jonathan hopes so, because that's an easy fix. Easier than the alternative.
Unfortunately, the sight that greets Jonathan and Robin upon their arrival is not a promising one. It negates all of the positive thoughts Jonathan forced into his head just a few moments ago. Will is writhing on the ground, hands clutching his chest and eyes unfocused. Their Mom looks up at Jonathan with a frantic look, her face ashen. Her knuckles are white where they grip at Will's shoulders. Jonathan drops to his knees and pulls Will into his lap. He tries not to panic at the sound of choked gasps spilling from Will's lips.
"Will!" Jonathan holds Will's pale face as it twists in pain. "Will, c'mon, breathe. What's going on?"
Will coughs weakly. His eyes are still hazy, but they focus a little when Jonathan comes into his view. Will looks like he's about to speak, but stops when another wave of pain flashes over his features. Jonathan has seen Will go through literal hell multiple times, but this is the most terrified he's ever looked.
Jonathan pulls Will's upper body further into his lap, effectively cradling him. Jonathan shushes the weak cries that come out at the movement. Will clutches Jonathan's arm, his hands fisted tightly into the jacket sleeve.
Will suddenly spasms and coughs. Hard.
Dark, thick blood spills from Will's lips, some of it flying up to hit Jonathan in the neck.
Jonathan whips his gaze up to his Mom and Robin. Their expressions a mix of panicked and downright horrified. His gaze then flickers to the burnt and broken mass below them.
Oh God.
Will gathers the strength to speak out loud what Jonathan had already realized.
"C-connected," Will chokes out. His voice is warbled by the blood in his throat. Jonathan pushes down the urge to vomit at the sound.
Will goes limp in Jonathan's lap. It's as if the act of speaking that one work took all of his energy. Jonathan takes a deep breath to steady himself. Will gags, and more blood dribbles out of his mouth and down his chin. Jonathan tries to wipe it away with his sleeve, but it doesn't make much of a difference. His sleeve is instantly saturated. Mom places a shaky hand on Jonathan's other arm, right on top of the pocket knife he had strapped to himself before they left the Squawk. She removes the knife from the strap and uses it to cut the hem of her shirt, tearing a long strip with her hands.
Mom gently squeezes Jonathan's shoulder three times, her go-to signal of affection and comfort, and uses the strip of fabric to wipe more of the blood off Will's face. It thankfully works better than Jonathan's sleeve.
"Hey, baby, shhh," she soothes. "You're going to be okay. Let's just get this blood off your face."
Mom's face is soft, and she continues to whisper sweet reassurances as she wipes away the blood. She shushes Will every time he whimpers at the contact. She lifts her head ever so slightly and rubs her face into her shoulder. Jonathan doesn't miss the sight of tears brimming in her eyes.
Will continues to grow paler with each second. His face is practically white at this point. His breaths are slow and shallow, and if he didn't know any better, Jonathan would say that Will wasn't breathing at all.
And God, Will looks so scared. His grip on Jonathan's sleeve falters. Jonathan catches Will's hand and squeezes three times.
Jonathan's thoughts are racing again as he tries to think of any possible solution, but his mind is coming up blank. Thankfully, Robin, after visibly shaking herself out of a panic-induced stupor, voices an idea.
"The connection works like a radio frequency, remember?" She gestures wildly around. "Maybe if we get him out of wherever it is we are, he'll be okay."
Jonathan gives her a stiff nod. It's a decent idea and one that he really has no objection to. He's been wanting to leave this hell-scape since the group arrived.
Will groans from his position in Jonathan's lap, catching everyone's attention.
A bit of color has returned to Will's face, and his breathing is semi-back to normal. If Jonathan ignores the blood, he would even say that Will doesn't look half bad. He's about to ask if Will can stand, but his brother has always been able to read his mind. Will nods, already moving out of Jonathan's grip. Mom breathes out a wet sigh of relief and lightly squeezes Will's forearm. Robin takes this as her cue to go, muttering something about informing the rest of the group of the situation. She gives Will a two-fingered salute, which he weakly returns, and starts jogging toward the burnt mass below, where everyone else is presumably gathered.
Jonathan helps Will stand up. Will stumbles, obviously still feeling the effects of the group's attack on the Mindflayer, and Jonathan steadies him before he can hit the dirt. Jonathan wraps one of his arms around Will's waist and then drapes one of Will's arms around his shoulders.
Jonathan gives Will a soft smile, and he receives a weary, and slightly bloody, one in return.
"Alright buddy, let's get the hell out of here."
*******
The first photo Jonathan ever took was of Will.
It was his ninth birthday, and Mom had gifted him a camera. She had spent months saving up for it, but Jonathan hadn't been privy to that fact. It was bought second-hand and had dents on the body. It was the coolest gift Jonathan had ever received in his nine years of life. He had spent hours reading the manual and fiddling with the camera's controls, wanting to make sure he knew the camera inside and out before taking the first photo.
Jonathan had a hard time deciding on his first shot. He knew he didn't want it to be just anything. He wanted to actually capture a moment.
Mom had left to grab dinner, so he couldn't take her picture. Lonnie was God knows where, but even if he had been home, there was no way Jonathan would waste film on him.
Jonathan had run all over the house in search of the perfect shot. He had started to grow frustrated when he finally made his way into the kitchen.
Will had been drawing at the kitchen table. Crayons were scattered out of the box, and notebook paper littered the tabletop. The late afternoon sun was casting its rays into the room, bathing his little brother in a deep golden light. His hair was getting long, framing his chubby cheeks and falling into his eyes.
Perfect.
Jonathan grinned and raised the camera. He adjusted the lens, pulling his brother into focus.
"Will, look at me!" Jonathan said. Will had startled at the noise, but relaxed upon seeing his big brother.
"Now, smile!"
Will grinned, showing off his front teeth that reminded Jonathan a bit of a rabbit. The camera flashed, immortalizing the moment forever.
It wasn't the best photo. Will was off-center and barely in focus, but it became one of Jonathan's favorites. As soon as the film was developed, Jonathan stuck it to a pinboard in his room. No matter how many photos he put up, that one would always be in the center.
*******
That version of Will — with bunny teeth and chubby cheeks — appears in Jonathan's mind as he readjusts his grip on his brother while they walk out of the Abyss.
Jonathan takes stock of the scene in front of him. Will's face was clean of blood again, and he was walking mostly upright. Steve and Robin walk at the head of the group, the two of them keeping the children together and distracted. Nancy and Holly are to his left, hand-in-hand and talking to his Mom. Lucas and Dustin are off to the right, giving Jane quite an animated play-by-play of the battle from their points of view.
And Mike?
Mike is right next to Will. He's speaking rapidly, so fast that Jonathan wonders how Mike doesn't pass out from oxygen deprivation. It reminds Jonathan of a much younger Mike, before everything went to shit and he was just his little brother's care-free best friend.
"You are incredible, you know that right? You are magic incarnate! El told me what you did; that you took control of Vecna and tore off his arm to save her. But she didn't even need to tell me because I saw you on the cliff and you looked so, so" Mike pauses to breathe. "So amazing! Wait, no. Amazing doesn't even cut it. You looked otherworldly! I can't believe my best friend is a sorcerer. A sorcerer! When we get home, we gotta do a new campaign. Will the Wise needs to be revived!"
Mike beams at Will before he runs ahead to catch up with Lucas, Dustin, and Jane. Jonathan steals a glance at his brother, whose cheeks and ears are now bright red.
"Dude, you're blushing," Jonathan teases. Will, somehow, blushes deeper.
"Shut up."
"Oh, my apologies, sorcerer," Jonathan smirks and leans down to whisper in Will's ear. "Or should I call you Will the Wise?"
"Please shut up."
Jonathan chuckles and ruffles Will's hair, much to his annoyance. There is a nervous energy buzzing underneath the group's lighthearted attitude that Jonathan couldn't help but privately acknowledge. He thinks back to the actual battle, and honestly? It was surprisingly easy considering the scale of the threat. Yeah, there was the scare with Will's connection to the hivemind, but even that is quickly being resolved. With every step they take further away from Henry and the Mindflayer's corpses, Will is getting better. Slowly, Jonathan releases his hold on Will entirely and relaxes when Will doesn't stumble. The two settle into a slow pace at the back of the group.
After a while, the group finally reaches the gate they entered from. Steve maneuvers the twelve children into a line in front of it, taking a head count as he goes. Steve waves Robin, Dustin, and Lucas over to him, and Jonathan hears him say how they are going to create a chain to get the kids out safely, starting with Steve guiding the kids through the gate down to Robin, who will help them onto the top of the radio tower. Dustin and Lucas will be stationed on the tower's platforms to spot the children while they climb down.
Steve takes a second head count, this time of the entire group. Then he claps his hands to get everyone's attention and relays the plan again. Jonathan had to admit, over the years he's come to admire Steve's presence. He certainly did something right when it came to the kids. They all fell in line behind him like ducklings. Steve has really matured and —
"Okay, party people, we are officially on the homestretch," Steve nods and points to Will. "Hey, Baby Byers, have you had any of your goosies since the creep went down?"
Never mind.
He hates the phrasing, but Jonathan can't deny that it's a good question. Will scratches the back of his neck, and it makes Jonathan wonder if that's just a nervous tick or if his brother is genuinely checking for, as Steve so eloquently put it, goosies.
Will clears his throat. He makes quick, fleeting eye contact with Jonathan.
"No, he's not going to be a problem," Will hesitates before continuing. "I felt him die."
Those four little words are a punch to the gut. No one speaks. Jane moves first, pulling Will into a fierce hug and tucking her head into his collarbone. She pulls away after a moment and puts her palm over Will's heart. Jonathan realizes she's trying to feel for a heartbeat.
"I am so sorry. I should have been more careful," Jane whispers. Will shakes his head.
"You don't have to apologize. You weren't killing me." Will pulls away from Jane and gives her a small, reassuring smile. He scans the group before making eye contact with Jonathan.
"I promise I'm okay," he said. "I don't feel him anymore, so he's definitely gone."
But Jonathan isn't too convinced, and neither is Will, given the tone of his voice. Will places his hand to the back of his neck again.
Dustin, apparently, is also not convinced.
"Okay, but how sure are you?" he asks. Mike clearly isn't a fan of that question, because he twists his body to stand in a defensive pose in front of Will.
"If Will said he's sure, then he's sure." Mike snaps.
"It's a valid question!" Dustin snaps back. He composes himself when he addresses Will again. "I'm just saying, your connection was also to the Mindflayer; not just Vecna. So…"
Dustin trails off and avoids looking at Will now. Jonathan thinks this may be the first time he's ever seen Dustin be hesitant. It's honestly jarring.
"Do you think you could test your connection? Make sure the Mindflayer is also dead?" Dustin asks.
All eyes fall onto Will. He fidgets with his hands, using his middle finger to pull at the cuticle of his thumbnail, a habit he's had since he was a little kid. He takes a steadying breath and squares his shoulders. His stance is resolute.
"I'll give it a try," Will said. "Just start getting the kids out of here."
Will takes a seat on the ground, gives Jonathan a reassuring nod, and takes a deep breath. He closes his eyes in deep concentration, trying to connect to the hivemind.
They make quick work of getting everyone out of the Abyss after that, including Mom and Jane, much to their initial reluctance. But Jonathan said he would not leave Will's side while he checked his connection, which convinced them to leave.
Eventually, only himself, Will, Steve, and Mike remain in the Abyss. Steve whistles at Mike, who is now pacing in front of Will.
"Wheeler, let's get a move on!" Steve calls out. Mike shakes his head in refusal.
"I'm not going until Will's done checking."
Steve and Jonathan share an exasperated look. It has been a while. Maybe it's time to call it.
Will is still sitting in meditation. Jonathan reaches out to shake him, to say that the connection is truly gone and that it is time to go, but then Will takes a sharp inhale. His head jerks up, neck muscles straining painfully, and he's muttering inaudibly under his breath.
Shit.
Jonathan drops down next to Will in an instant, shaking his shoulders hard and lightly tapping his cheeks in an effort to get a response. There is none. Mike isn't far behind him, also dropping to his knees in front of Will and shouting his name repeatedly. Steve curses loudly, and Jonathan hears him shout to Robin through the gate. If Jonathan concentrates hard enough, he can even hear Robin distantly shouting from her spot on the radio tower.
Suddenly, Will groans and sags forward, the only thing keeping him upright being Jonathan's grip on his shoulders. Will's eyes flutter open, half-lidded and unfocused. When he speaks, his voice is a low monotone.
"I can see them on the tower. They are being watched," he whispers. Will's eyes slip closed again.
Jonathan can see Will's eyes move erratically behind his eyelids. His neck muscles tighten and his jaw clenches. Will's muttering again, and this time Jonathan can actually make out what he's saying. Three, four, five….
Jonathan casts a concerned glance at Mike and finds that he's getting one in return. He sucks in a breath and shakes Will's shoulders again. No response.
Then Will's head lolls forward, his chin resting against his chest. His breathing is ragged.
"Seven Demos," Will gasps out. "Waiting in the woods."
Jonathan slides his hands from Will's shoulders to the space between his neck and chin, gently lifting his head away from his chest. His brother's pulse feels rapid under his fingertips. Will blinks heavily, and it reminds Jonathan of how he would fight sleep as a little kid. His gaze is tired, but hard. Determined.
Like he has a plan.
*******
The first night Will was home after his return from the Upside Down had been … uneasy.
Will had to be reassured countless times by both Jonathan and their Mom that the house was safe. He had jumped at every sound the house made and had checked that the front door was locked at least ten times. Will only went to bed after their Mom promised to leave his bedroom door open a few inches and that the hallway light would stay on. Will had said he wanted to be able to see in case something did come.
Jonathan hated that Will no longer felt safe in his own home. He hated that he felt helpless about it even more.
Jonathan had a nightmare that night — Flickering Christmas lights. His mother screaming. An open maw of a Demogorgon. Nancy rapidly firing a gun —
Will's cold, dead body in the morgue.
Jonathan had jerked awake, breathless and with sweat clinging to his t-shirt and shorts. The nightmare was still fresh in his mind, so when his bedroom door creaked open, Jonathan had grabbed the nail bat from under his bed and leapt to his feet.
The relief Jonathan had felt when he saw that it was Will creeping into the room was immense.
Will, for his part, had looked at Jonathan with trepidation from his spot in the doorway.
Jonathan gave a sharp exhale and collapsed back on his bed. The nail bat hung loose in his grip. Will tiptoed over to stand in front of Jonathan, gazing at the bat with wide, curious eyes.
"Did you fight the monster with that?" he whispered.
Jonathan nodded and slid the bat back into its hiding spot. He glanced at his alarm clock. Midnight.
"Bud, why are you awake? Did you have a nightmare?"
"I could hear you talking in your sleep and you sounded scared," Will fidgeted. "I needed to make sure you were okay."
Damn, that had hurt. Will, who had just survived a week in a hell-dimension and was now terrified of his own home, was putting aside that fear to check on Jonathan. Because of course he was; Will was always putting others' feelings before his own.
"You don't need to worry about that," Jonathan had said. "Besides, it's my job to look after you."
"But who looks after you?" Will had asked.
Jonathan had stared hard at Will. He was thinner than he was before he went missing, had dark purple bags under his eyes, and his skin was ghostly pale. His posture indicated utter exhaustion, but his eyes were scarily alert. They kept darting between Jonathan and the door like he was expecting something to come crashing into the room. Jonathan had realized exactly how Will was positioned.
Will had placed himself in such a way that if something did actually come into the room, he would get hit by it before Jonathan. It was protective. And Jonathan understood instantly what Will had needed.
Hell, what Jonathan, himself, had needed.
"How about we look after each other then?" Jonathan asked. Will nodded sharply.
Jonathan had then moved back into his bed and waved at Will to do the same. Once they were situated, it wasn't long until both brothers were fast asleep.
It was the first time in a week that either of them slept through the night.
*******
That version of Will — bruised under eyes and a protective stance — overlays itself on the present Will that is currently trying to stand up on trembling legs, with the look of a cold resolve in his face.
"Will, hey, talk to me. Tell me what you're thinking," Jonathan tries prompting, but Will doesn't say anything.
Instead, he brushes off both Jonathan's and Mike's attempts to steady him as he walks to the gate. He completely bypasses Steve, too, disappearing into the Upside Down without a word.
A wave of dread goes through Jonathan's body. The look in Will's eyes really worries him.
Jonathan steps through the gate, his stomach flipping violently as he goes. Robin helps him through with a firm hand on his bicep. Steve and Mike follow close behind him.
"Finally! Steve said Will tapped back in and then he just stopped talking-"
Robin's rambling fades into the background as Jonathan moves toward the ladder. Will had gotten a pretty good head start. He's already on the platform below, and Jonathan sees him say something to Mom and Jane. He's too high up to hear it, but Mom's expression is hard and she's shaking her head. The conversation becomes clearer as Jonathan climbs down, and it's like watching a ping-pong match.
"-Not! It's out of the question, Will," Mom said, concern and anger bleeding together.
"I was fine when I did it at the MAC-Z. Why is this any different?" Will crosses his arms stubbornly. Mom flings her hand in the air in response.
"This isn't the MAC-Z! We just saw the consequences of you using these powers. Will, honey, you looked like you were dying."
"That was because of my connection to Henry. These are Demos-"
"There are seven of them, baby. At least let Jane help you."
"I'm not putting Jane in danger. She's absolutely fried."
Mom notices Jonathan now, and she looks at him frazzled.
"Jonathan, tell—"
"Jonathan wasn't there!" Will all but yells. He gives Mom, Jane, and Jonathan an apologetic look before his expression hardens into something unreadable. He lowers his voice, but it doesn't lose its edge. "We're running out of time. I'm doing it."
Without another word, and ignoring Mom's continued efforts to stop him, Will starts climbing down the radio tower. Mom's shoulders sag, and her face scrunches in distress and defeat.
"He reached into the hivemind at the MAC-Z, and controlled three Demos that were in entirely different places. H-he killed them with his mind, Jonathan." Mom's next words come out choked. "But you saw what happened back there. I thought he was dying!"
Jonathan pulls her into a tight hug. He wants to tell her that everything will be okay, but the words die in his throat. How can he say that when he's not even sure that's true? So instead, he tells Mom the truth.
"Will is a lot of things, but he is not reckless," Jonathan said. "We need to trust him."
Climbing down the rest of the tower is not an easy feat mentally. Every step down the ladder brings with it a heavy sense of dread. Jonathan keeps his eyes glued to the treeline. He doesn't see any Demogorgons, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. The air is still, like it's daring the group to disturb the stolen silence.
Hopper and Murray have the vehicles idling up ahead. The back of the truck is wide open, waiting for them to make their escape. Will stands at the front, hands splayed out toward the ground like he's steadying the air. Jonathan can actually see the goosebumps rising on his brother's neck as he jams his consciousness into the hive. As he passes, he sees that Will's eyes have glazed over.
"Everyone walk slowly. I have them pinned," Will said, his voice like gravel. "I will be right behind you."
They shuffle in uneasy silence toward the truck. The children are hand-in-hand, creating a chain so that no one is left behind. No one says a single word. The atmosphere parts grudgingly for their exodus. Even the particles that Jonathan had seen floating around the Upside Down have frozen in their place. Holy shit, is Will doing that, too? This is insane.
Jonathan and Steve reach the truck first, and they help the group get inside. They have to force the teenagers inside, though, each of them grumbling about how they want to wait for Will and that he's not moving fast enough for their sanity. They aren't wrong either. Will is still far behind. Actually, it doesn't even look like he's moved from his original spot. Steve follows Jonathan's gaze, putting a firm hand on his bicep to get his attention. It's a silent confirmation that Jonathan is good to leave and get Will. He starts forward, getting halfway to Will in only a few long strides. Will's brow is drawn tight together and even from how far away he is, Jonathan can see the thin sheen of sweat on his forehead. But he's still holding the Demos back.
For a moment, Jonathan thinks they may actually pull this off.
So, of course, something goes wrong.
Jonathan can't even say what causes the shift, just that something in the tense atmosphere cracks and one of the Demos breaks free of Will's hold. It bounds out of the woods at a ferocious speed. Will whips his left hand up and the air around him buzzes. The Demo slows against the force, but it doesn't stop moving forward. The rest of them emerge from the woods, too, pushing persistently against the wall of pressure. Will winces, and a thick drop of blood comes out of his nose from the mental strain.
Will grits his teeth and brings his right arm up now. Jonathan watches in awe, rooted to his spot, as Will's eyes roll to the back of his head.
He screams out and flexes his fingers. Two of the Demos seem to respond to it, bowing their heads down and, surprisingly, retreating into the woods. Jonathan counts to ten. They don't return.
But the pressure breaks, and Will collapses to the ground. That shakes Jonathan from his stupor.
Jonathan hears someone scream Jane's name from behind him. A quick glance to his left shows that Jane is about to run right past him back into the danger. Back to where Will is collapsed on the ground. Jonathan's heart drops. He can't lose either of them.
Jonathan doesn't even think about it. He just moves.
He shoves Jane hard enough to send her sprawling backwards, yelling at her to get back to the truck. The flash of shock and hurt that passes over Jane's face leaves a bad taste in Jonathan's mouth, but now isn't the time to feel guilty. He can apologize later.
The scene before Jonathan when he turns back around is straight up mythical.
Will stands a few feet ahead of him with both arms outstretched, eyes stark white and teeth bared in a grimace. The air is vibrating so hard that Jonathan can practically see the molecules moving.
Will has the five Demogorgons suspended in the air around him, and they are letting out these awful, high-pitched whines. It's a horrible, haunting symphony. Will jerks his head to the side, and four of the Demogorgons match the movement, the sound of their necks breaking audible. The outline of their broken necks bulges under their taut skin, and the bodies land with a heavy thud. Bile rises in Jonathan's throat as he takes a shaky step toward Will.
Will's chest heaves and he sways on his feet. The movement must fracture his concentration because the final Demo falls from the air uninjured. It shakes its head, dazed, and starts circling Will, who looks like he's on the verge of blacking out.
"Hey!" Jonathan's voice comes out as a croak. He clears his throat and yells. "Hey! Get away from him!"
The Demo turns its head toward Jonathan and stalks slowly forward. He can hear everyone shouting at him to run. Mom's voice is the loudest, and the shrill, panicked-filled grief in her voice breaks Jonathan's heart. But he does not dare move. He needs that thing to get further away from Will.
So, he does something that is admittedly quite stupid. With speed he didn't know he possessed, Jonathan reaches for the knife strapped to his arm and slices its sharp edge deep into his left arm. The sting is immediate, and he feels his blood slide down against his skin. Can smell the coppery scent of it. Thankfully, and unfortunately, the Demo smells it, too.
It pounces. Jonathan closes his eyes and braces for impact. He expects to feel teeth tear into his skin and the white-hot pain that would come with it. But it doesn't come. Instead, the air vibrates around him. It's so intense that Jonathan can feel it in his teeth. He opens his eyes very slowly, not wanting to hope, and sees he's face to face with the Demo, its mouth flared open mid-attack. It writhes and whimpers, spit dribbling out of the petal-like mouth.
Then it rips in half.
Its body falls in a heap at Jonathan's feet, ink-like blood oozing from the mess. Its limbs twitch minutely as its nerves slowly die in the aftershock. The air is still vibrating, but the intensity is slowly dying down. It is a gruesome sight. He forces his gaze away from the body, but the scene ahead of him isn't any kinder.
Will is half-collapsed on the ground with one arm extended and reaching for Jonathan. A strangled yell rips from Will's throat, and it's half raw scream and half sob. His eyes aren't rolled back anymore, but now thin streams of blood are trailing down his face. Blood drips from both nostrils, too. But what's more worrying are the black, tendril-like veins snaking up his arms and neck.
"Holy shit! Will!" Jonathan forces himself to move, sprinting the short distance to his brother. He takes Will's face into his hands, his head heavy and lax against his palms.
"J'nthan, yr'okay," Will slurs. He's barely conscious, and he doesn't fight when Jonathan moves to cradle-carry him.
Jonathan jogs back to the truck with Will dangling from his arms, allowing the adrenaline to propel him forward.
*******
Jonathan is absolutely certain he helped Will get ready for his first date.
It was their first month in Lenora. The school year had yet to start, so Jonathan, Will, and Jane had decided to explore, which led them to a little music store in downtown.
Jonathan had been showing Jane a Joy Division album when he noticed that Will was talking to a boy across the store. The kid had looked like a stereotypical Californian — tan, shaggy blonde hair, and blue eyes — the complete opposite of Will, but he looked friendly enough.
Then the kid had slipped a piece of paper into Will's hand, and Will had given him a shy smile in return. That had looked a bit more than friendly to Jonathan.
That same night, Jonathan found Will raiding his closet. Half of his clothes were thrown onto the bed. Will was shirtless, just wearing a pair of cuffed jeans. And his hair —
It looked like Will had tried to style it Harrington-style, but somehow his hair had spiked in a million directions. A halo made of hairspray and misguided decisions. It was comical. Jonathan had let out a barking laugh that made Will jump out of his skin.
"You look like you've been electrocuted," Jonathan had laughed. "What are you doing in my closet?"
Will mumbled a sheepish apology, pointedly not looking Jonathan in the eye. But it didn't matter, because Jonathan could always read Will. He entered his room properly and gave Will an understanding look.
"Hey," he had said softly. "Is this about that guy in the music store?"
Panic had flashed on Will's face then. It had reminded Jonathan of how Will would look at Lonnie. It made him sick.
But the panic had been brief and replaced with a look of badly hidden infatuation. And even though Will wouldn't outright confirm Jonathan's hypothesis for a long time, he still clearly trusted him enough to give a half-truth.
"He asked if I wanted to hangout with him tonight," Will hesitated. "Him and his friends. I, uh, I wanted to look cool."
Jonathan had surveyed the pile of clothes and tossed Will one of his old t-shirts, which Will made quick work of putting on. Jonathan made Will take a seat on the bed. He bent down to be eye level with his brother.
"Will, you are already the coolest person I know. He obviously thought you were cool too when he asked you to hang out." Jonathan gestured to Will's hair. "But this? Definitely not helping your efforts."
Jonathan ruffled Will's hair, effectively smoothing it back to its original shape. Will had swatted at his hands, trying and failing to suppress a laugh. He then had asked, timidly, if Jonathan could drive him out to the arcade.
Of course, Jonathan had said yes.
Through his car's rear-view mirror, Jonathan remembers seeing the tender look on Will's face when he met up with his date. He had been so proud of his brother in that moment.
Later, when he picked Will up, Jonathan had pretended not to see the two boys intentionally brushing hands to interlock their pinkies.
*******
That version of Will — quiet infatuation and first date nerves — floats into Jonathan's head now. He quietly hopes he'll get to see Will find someone to love. He hopes his brother gets the chance.
The truck hits a pothole, and it shakes Jonathan out of his thoughts. Will groans at the rough movement, weakly curling deeper into his hold. He slurs what sounds like it hurts into Jonathan's chest.
"Shh. I know, buddy, I know. We're getting out of here." Jonathan murmurs.
If Will hears what he said, he doesn't make it known. He's shaking in Jonathan's grip, and every jostle of the truck makes him cry out in pain. Will isn't recovering as quickly as he did in the Abyss, and that fact alone puts Jonathan on edge.
At least the black veins disappeared.
The back of the truck is tense. Jane is next to him, wrapping gauze haphazardly around his still bleeding arm. Lucas, Dustin, and Mike have busied themselves with keeping the kids calm, but they keep glancing over at Will's huddled form. They would avert their gazes every time they met Jonathan's eyes, though. Nancy is talking in a hushed voice into a walkie-talkie, and Jonathan hears Mom's voice come through the static. In the chaos, Mom had been shoved into the other vehicle with Hopper and Murray. Jonathan really wishes she were next to him right now.
Jane crosses over to take a seat next to Jonathan and rests her head on his shoulder. Her hair came undone while fighting the Demos, now half the length it was in Lenora, and it tickles a little bit where it hits his neck. She reaches over and hugs Jonathan's uninjured arm.
"I lost my sister today," she whispers. "I cannot lose my brother, too."
"We won't lose him," Jonathan whispers back. He shifts his head and lightly kisses the top of Jane's head. "I'm sorry for pushing you back there."
"I forgive you," Jane said, hugging Jonathan's arm tighter. She opens her mouth to say something more, but she's interrupted by Will grabbing her arm. He has a glimmer of fierce protectiveness firing in his eyes.
"We need to hide you," Will rasps. "The military have regrouped and are waiting for us at the library."
Jonathan wants to ask how the hell Will even knows that, but he gets his answer immediately. Will's eyes flutter shut and begin to move back and forth under closed eyelids, his brows drawn together in deep concentration. For a split second, Jonathan wants to yell in frustration at his brother. He's tapping back into his connection to the hivemind, without letting anyone know, and that frustrates Jonathan to no end. He now understands what their Mom was talking about on the radio tower. These powers come at a cost. Unlike when Will tapped into the hivemind in the Abyss, he's so quiet. There were no signs of it even happening; he did it so effortlessly. No one else in the truck has noticed, either.
The truck hits another pothole, and it shakes Will out of his trance. He quietly gasps and blinks up at Jonathan. He sits up slowly, wincing slightly from overexerting his connection. The rest of the truck notices now, and Will waves Dustin over and tells him to help Jane hide in a small cargo hold seat that is attached to the back wall of the truck. Jonathan can physically see the tension leave the air now that everyone sees that Will is, although exhausted, relatively fine.
A small part of Jonathan wants to yell at Will still, tell him that he should be more careful with the connection, and let people know his plans before executing them. But a bigger, more understanding part of him knows why Will did it in secret. Everyone in the truck would have tried to stop Will from using his powers after what they had witnessed at the radio tower. Will didn't want that. He isn't a little kid anymore, and he just wants to make sure his family is going to be okay.
That being said, he's still Jonathan's little brother. He pulls Will up further and helps him lean against the wall of the truck. Once he sees that Will is truly fine and won't slump over, Jonathan lightly smacks him in the chest. Will fixes him with a less than impressed stare.
"You could have at least told me that you were tapping back in," Jonathan mutters, reaching over to tug Will into his side. A comforting gesture that may or may not have been more for his own benefit. Will mumbles a tired apology and rests his head against the wall.
If Jonathan's memory is right, they should be turning into the library gate any minute now. He locks his eyes on the cargo seat where Jane is now secured, and he prays that this desperate action works and that the military would, somehow, be sloppy enough not to search the truck.
Then he remembers the jerry-rigged bomb inside the Upside Down's lab. Shit. How much longer until that thing ignites?
The truck hits… something and jerks to a stop, jolting everyone harshly. Jonathan is flung to the floor, his injured arm absorbing most of the impact. The cut reopens, and he can feel blood pouring out of his arm, saturating his jacket sleeve. It hurts like Hell. Will is at his side instantly, helping him to sit up properly.
The truck door is ripped open, and two soldiers come in commanding everyone out of the truck. In the wave that is everyone rushing out, Jonathan scrambles to the cargo seat, pulling Will with him, and sits down with a thud. One of the soldiers stands in front of him and Will now, disdain coloring his features. He points his gun at them, hovering the barrel between the brothers' faces.
"Get out of the truck," the soldier growls.
*******
Will and Jane got high for the first time with Jonathan's help.
It had been six months since they returned to Hawkins. Jonathan and Will made it a habit to visit Jane at least once a week while she was being hidden at Hopper's cabin. It was surprisingly easy to maintain a regular schedule, too. By then, the military had started to pay less attention to their ragtag group, preferring to focus more on exploring the Upside Down.
Now, Jonathan tried to be a good influence on his brother and sister, and he really was. Most of the time. But it was also his duty as the older brother to facilitate some mischief. And in Jonathan's opinion, the three of them really deserved some stress relief. It was a Friday night, he still had some weed left over from Lenora, and Mom and Hopper were not going to be at the cabin for at least the next 12 hours. It was the perfect time to do it.
Jonathan had made Will and Jane swear not to breathe a word of that night to Mom, Hopper, or Nancy.
He had given them a quick lecture before they got started, going over how to properly take a hit without burning their lungs and how being high might feel. He even showed them how to roll a joint. Will and Jane had matching perplexed expressions during his speech. Jonathan had noted that in those six months, Jane's once shaved head had grown out into an extremely shaggy mop that barely passed her chin. In the dim light of the cabin, she and Will really did look like twins.
Jonathan had not smoked that night, intent on being the babysitter. It turned out that Will and Jane both got extremely giggly after a little weed. The two of them had been leaning into each other on the couch, laughing at anything and everything. Each time they managed to stop, one would whisper something to the other, and the laughter would start up again.
It had been really nice to see his siblings laughing like that.
Then Will, with the widest, goofiest smile on his face, had waved Jonathan over to the couch.
"Jonathan c'mere. I have - I have the best idea," Will had said breathlessly. "We should cut Jane's hair. It's growing uneven, an-and then the three of us could match!"
"We can match," Jane had said, her words lilted. Then she once again dissolved into giggles, hiding her face in Will's shoulder. Will's red eyes lit up, and he pointed toward the kitchen.
"Grab a bowl!"
It had taken Jonathan fifteen minutes to convince them that the haircut could wait until the morning.
Jane fell asleep pretty soon after that, and Jonathan ended up carrying her to her bedroom. Will had stayed awake a bit longer, at some point taking root in the kitchen and eating Honey Nut Cheerios straight from the box. He had since mellowed out, and it was honestly the most relaxed Jonathan had seen his brother in years. When it was obvious Will was fighting sleep, Jonathan had taken the cereal box away, earning himself a glassy, bloodshot glare.
Laughing lightly to himself, Jonathan had steered Will back to the couch. Will had tried to protest, but any words he tried to say came out as unintelligible mumbles. He was out the second his head hit the pillow.
Jonathan made quick work of cleaning the little mess they had made and later fell asleep in the recliner.
Mom and Hopper came back to the cabin early the next morning. Thankfully, the cabin did not smell like weed.
*******
Those versions of Will and Jane — giggling and falling into each other — can be heard in the back of Jonathan's mind as he stares down the soldier's gun. Jonathan hopes to hear them laugh like that again. His brother and sister deserve a happy, care-free existence.
The soldier jerks the gun closer to Jonathan's face. He does his best not to flinch. From the corner of his eye, he can see a military uniform-clad woman with short, white hair enter the truck. She squats down in front of him once she's gotten closer, expression sour and eyes tight with rage. She doesn't waste time with pleasantries.
"Where's the girl?" she seethes.
Jonathan pushes his back into the wall of the truck, and he shifts as subtly as he can on top of the cargo seat. God, he hopes Jane can breathe in there. He glares at the woman in front of him, and he prays that he looks at least a little intimidating.
"She's somewhere in that hellhole. She refused to come with us. If you want her so bad, go find her yourself," Jonathan grits out.
It is a desperate, bald-faced lie. Maybe too convenient. Jonathan can feel his heartbeat in his throat. His mind is a desperate mantra of believe me, believe me, believe me. He tries to keep his face as neutral as possible, willing a false expression of earnestness. It must work, too, because something shifts in the woman's expression, and she motions for the soldier to lower the gun.
Jonathan should feel relieved, but the air in the truck is stifling. Next to him, Will balls his hands into tight fists at his side, his breathing anxious.
"You were told to get out of the truck," she hisses, then to the soldier, "Throw them out. We move in five."
The soldier grabs Will first. It's a rough clamp on his brother's bicep that has him groan out in pain. Jonathan shouts at the soldier to let his brother go, but his pleas fall on deaf ears. The soldier doesn't just throw Will from the truck; he slams him to the ground. Jonathan shouts out, red-hot anger and protectiveness surging through his body. He jumps out of the truck on his own accord, shoving the soldier away from Will, and that earns him his own body slam to the ground.
Will was right, though; there aren't many military personnel left. There's only enough to fill two trucks. The white haired woman climbs into one of them, and they take off into the library gate. Jonathan watches from the ground as the trucks turn the turns the corner and disappear. Then the world is bathed in light.
The bomb detonates in the Upside Down's version of the lab, hitting the exotic matter dead-on. Hot, white light floods Jonathan's vision for a fraction of a second. The reverberations come next, deafening and hurling wave after wave of pressure. Jonathan curls himself over Will as best as he can, his brother's back pressed firmly into his chest. Will lets out a rattly gasp. Jonathan holds on tighter.
Then the atmosphere pops. Jonathan lifts his head and blinks tightly. The gate is gone, leaving behind the scarred ruins of the library.
Jonathan deeply exhales, and he feels Will's body relax in his hold. The group behind him stands in awe, and then he hears someone give out a laugh in shock. Then another and another, until everyone is whooping in celebration. Jonathan casts a look over his shoulder, eyes landing on Nancy. God, he is so happy that Nancy is okay. Her eyes soften, and she gives Jonathan a fond smile. He returns it in kind. Jane slowly emerges from the truck with a tentative smile that rapidly grows thanks to one Dustin Henderson, who, upon seeing her, wraps her in a bear hug and spins her around with a booming laugh.
Jonathan turns back and pushes his face into the back of Will's head, planting a light kiss to his hair.
"I can't believe that worked," Jonathan murmurs in disbelief. Then, a laugh bubbles up into his chest. "Holy shit! That actually worked! It's over. It's really over, Will! Can you believe it?"
He feels elated, like a boulder has been lifted from his chest and he can breathe again for the first time in half a decade. Will hasn't said anything — hasn't even moved. Jonathan nudges him again.
"Will? You okay?" Jonathan shifts slightly, trying to get a look at Will's face. The movement makes Will sag heavily against his body.
The world narrows and time goes in slow motion as Jonathan finally gets a glimpse at Will's face. His skin is dull and has a gray tinge to it. His mouth is open just a crack, just enough for those bunny teeth to poke out. His eyes have lost their spark, pupils so dilated the hazel color is nearly swallowed whole, and they stare unseeing up to the sky. There is no blood, no gore. Just the heavy weight of his brother's body in his arms. Jonathan's body goes cold. He thinks someone is calling his name, but the sound is muffled by a loud ringing in his ears. His eyes are locked on the still form of his brother.
This can't be happening. He can't go through this again. He can't go through this for real. His brother just died in his arms. Will is dead. Jonathan can't do this again. Will is dead. Jonathan could feel water on his face. Why is his face wet? Will is dead. Dead. Deaddeaddeaddead —
Someone's arms come around Jonathan's shoulders, but it hardly registers. Jonathan's mind feels like it's somewhere else. Like he's the one who is actually dead, and his ghost is watching these moments unravel. The world is tethered to the scene of his baby brother's body.
Time speeds up when whoever has their arms around him starts to move him away from Will.
"No, NO! Will!," Jonathan's voice is a raw, desperate scream. "Let me go! Let me go! LET ME GO!"
The arms move from his shoulders to circle his waist. He's being fully dragged away now, his feet leaving deep scuffs in the dirt. Jonathan tries to fight, tries to get back to his brother, but the grip around him is strong. They're talking to him now, it's a male voice with a warm timbre, but his brain can't comprehend the words being said. Jonathan can see someone—Hopper, maybe?— eclipse over Will's body. A fist slams onto Will's still chest. Rage spikes hot into Jonathan's heart at the sight.
"Don't fucking touch him! Get away —"
Then Will spasms and a ragged breath wheezes itself into his lungs.
All the fight leaves Jonathan's body, and the tunnel that is his vision widens just a bit. It's enough to realize that it's Steve holding him back, his arms no longer a vice around Jonathan's middle. Nancy swims into view, unshed tears making her blue eyes look like spun glass, and she presses her warm hands to Jonathan's cheeks. Her thumbs brush away the tears that had fallen on his face.
The adrenaline that was coursing through Jonathan's veins finally gives way. It's not a kind letdown, but rather a violent crash that has him pitching forward into Nancy's arms. The world flickers out like a film reel on fire.
*******
It's been a full day since the gate closed and Will…died.
Hopper was able to revive him with some questionable CPR. The theory, courtesy of a grief-stricken Lucas, is that when the Upside Down was destroyed, so was the part of Will that held a connection to the hivemind. That tether dying shocked Will's system and stopped his heart. Lucas thinks that because Will always resisted the Mindflayer and Henry, his consciousness was able to break free from the connection at the last second.
And now, Jonathan has the worst case of deja vu.
He's sitting in one of the plastic chairs in the hospital's family waiting room with a cup of coffee is in his grasp. It's lukewarm and hardly drunk. His injured arm and been cleaned and re-bandaged, this time properly. His jacket is gone, the sleeves too saturated with blood to continue wearing comfortably, leaving him in a cotton t-shirt and jeans. Mom sits next to him, staring vacantly ahead into nothingness, hands clasped together and resting against her mouth. Her foot keeps an unsteady rhythm on the waiting room carpet. Hopper stands behind her with his hands clamped loosely on her shoulders, and he's rubbing his thumbs in soothing circles. Jane is pacing in the center of the waiting room, hood drawn over her head. Stress is coming off her body in waves, and it's making the already blinking fluorescent lights flicker more intensely.
The scene is an eerie echo of a moment from five years ago, and the imperfect symmetry is making Jonathan's head spin.
Everyone else had been relegated to the general waiting room downstairs. Jonathan finds that slightly insulting. Everyone downstairs is Will's family just as much as the people in this room are. Blood and law be damned.
A nurse enters the waiting room with a clipboard in her hand. She scans the room and clears her throat to get everyone's attention.
"Family of William Byers?" she calls out. "The doctor will see you now."
Jonathan feels like he's walking through water as the nurse leads them down the hospital hallway. The smell of antiseptic gets stronger the longer they walk. Jane reaches over to grab Jonathan's hand. He squeezes it three times.
They meet the doctor outside what Jonathan assumes to be Will's room. It's at the very end of the hallway, practically isolated from the rest of the recovery floor. The doctor has a warm smile on his face as he updates them on Will's condition. Jonathan only focuses back in when he says Will is going to be okay and lets them inside the room.
Will is already awake, and that calms the pit of anxiety Jonathan has in his stomach. Mom claims the seats next to his bed, and she tearfully starts brushing Will's hair out of his face. Jonathan and Jane each take one of Will's hands. His hands are cold, but Jonathan can feel a thrumming pulse under his fingertips. Hopper hangs back a bit, positioning himself at the foot of the bed and he rests one of his hands on top of Will's blanketed ankle.
Will looks so small in the hospital bed. He's hooked up to an IV and has a nasal cannula giving him supplemental oxygen. His under eyes have thick, purple bruises and his whole face is sickly pale, but he's not the deathly gray color he was in the MAC-Z. He gives his family a tired smile. It's more than enough to make Jonathan's sight blur with relieved tears.
Will blinks heavily, head lolling to the side, and his gaze focuses on Jonathan.
"Are you okay?" he rasps, gesturing his head to Jonathan's wrapped arm. Jonathan is absolutely baffled. Of course, Will would be concerned about Jonathan's arm.
"This? Don't worry about it, bud. It's just a cut," Jonathan laughs wetly. "You're worried about my arm?"
The thought that Will, who has now experienced death at least twice, is worried about Jonathan's arm is ridiculous, and it coaxes the whole family to laugh through their dissolving grief. Jonathan's heart is so full of love that it feels like it's going to explode.
Eventually, they'll call the rest of the group into the room. Soon, Will will be, lovingly, smothered in a dog pile by the party.
For now, though, Jonathan just basks in the comfort of knowing his baby brother is okay, and they can begin to truly heal.