#Eno over here like '/and/ he can move through the void? oh this /is/ going to be fun'

[soulsxng]

"As much as I'm enjoying his game of hide and seek, he's an awfully persistent thing, isn't he?"

What, he was planning to follow Daileas around too, now? Enoch rolled his eyes, though the undeniably eager little grin on his face told that he wasn't as frustrated to be appearing at the guard's side again as it seemed.

[chloelucia13]

Chapter 10: Dig Dug

Pairing: none for the moment (currently Jonathan Byers x Platonic!Henderson!reader)

Prompt:  You always thought Hawkins was the most boring town of all, stuck in a vacuum void of excitement and entertainment. Well, it seems that way until the world decided to flip upside down, literally.

Chapter Summary: You decided to stick with Joyce and Will to help them with... whatever the hell was happening, but the situation only seemed to spiral more and more out of control with each passing moment.

Warnings: fluff, a tiny bit of angst, horror elements, language, this chapter is pretty chill (for once)

Word Count: 2356

A/N: Work has been kicking my butt, so sorry if these seem a little rushed (I hope they don’t)!! Also, Jonathan won’t really be involved in a few chapters due to the storyline, but he’ll be back! Anyways, i hope you guys enjoy! Tag list is open!

Catch up

Tags: @just-my-fandom​ @nightbu-g​

You and Joyce sat in the living room as Mike and Will talked in Will’s room, all of you knowing that Mike could get through to Will the best. 

“Are you positive that you haven’t experienced anything like this?” Joyce asked once more after a beat of silence.

You shook your head, running a hand through your hair. “No, not even close. I mean, I’ve thought I’ve seen things, but not to this extent. I-I know those things were in my mind, but...” You let out a sigh. “I can’t really tell if this is in his head or not. If what he’s seeing is just his hallucinations or-”

“Or if that gate is opened,” Joyce finished.

“Exactly.” Your teeth tugged at your lower lip, staring at the carpet.

“Y/N,” Mike voiced from behind you, and you turned your head to look at him. “Will wants to talk to you.”

Letting out a deep breath, you pushed yourself to your feet and made your way back to Will’s room. “Will?” you hummed as you pushed his door open, peeking your head inside. “Can I come in?”

He nodded, staring straight ahead at the wall. You entered, closing the door behind you before sitting down next to him on his bed. He stayed silent, lips pursed tightly.

“What’s up? How are you feeling?”

He shook his head slightly. “I don’t know. I...”

You just nodded, resting your hand on his shoulder.

“I’m scared, Y/N.”

“I know,” you whispered. “But whatever is going on, whatever this thing is-” you gestured to the drawing of the odd creature looming over the town on his bedside table- “we’re gonna beat it. We have before, and we’ll do it again.”

“I don’t know if we can. He... I think he’s inside me. Watching. Listening.”

A small wrinkle rested between your brows as he spoke. “Well, if he’s in you, there has to be a way to get him out of you, right?” He nodded. “Well then that’s all we have to do, okay? No biggie.”

Though you were speaking to him, you felt as if you were trying to reassure yourself rather than him.

“Will you stay with me?” Will spoke up.

You nodded, offering him a kind smile. “Of course. I was planning on spending the night anyways.”

***

After a night of little to no sleep, you groggily woke up at around 6:30 a.m., wrapped in Jonathan’s sheets in Jonathan’s bed. After your memories caught back up to you, you let out a sigh and turned to stare out of his window, watching the sun rise through the slits of his blinds. 

A few moments later, you rolled out of bed, walked out of his bedroom and into the living room. Will stood over Joyce who was sat on the door, and Mike stood behind them, you behind them all. 

“I think he is going to die,” Will spoke gravely, and your heart sank to the pit of your stomach.

Joyce processed his words for a moment before pushing herself off the floor and taking Will’s hand, leading him back to his room. “What’s going on?” you asked Mike as the two of you followed behind them.

“Will had a dream. He saw Hopper,” Mike rushed out as you stepped into Will’s room.

Joyce had already sat Will down at his desk and hurried out of the room to find a sheet of paper, returning a few moments later with a square of wrapping paper. She set it down in front of Will. “Okay, I need you to show me where he was,” she explained, resting one hand on his shoulder.

Will nodded and immediately got to work, scribbling his crayons against the paper with vigor. As every second passed, your heart rate increased. You knew something bad was happening, and it was driving you crazy that you were standing there idly rather than going out and looking for him. 

After a few minutes, Will pulled away from the paper, leaning back in his seat. Joyce leaned down next to him, looking between him and the drawing. “Hey, is this where you saw him? Is this where you saw Hopper?” she asked, growing panicked.

“I think so, yeah,” Will voiced softly, seeming completely drained.

“Okay.” She took the paper from the desk and looked back at you and Mike before beginning to search around the room for the pattern of the location he had drawn.

Eventually, you had left his room, went down the hall, and passed through the living room with no sign of the location.

“Here!” Mike shouted from the kitchen, pointing at a grouping of papers on the wall. 

You and Joyce quickly rushed over, and Joyce held the drawing up to the spot to show that it matched. “Okay, so... Hopper is here?” Joyce asked.

“Yeah. Now we just need to find out where here is, right?” Mike responded, looking between you and Joyce and the location.

“Did he say anything? I mean, before he left?” you asked Joyce, scanning the wall for any hint as to where that location could be.

“Uh, some... Something about vines?” she sighed out, her face scrunching up with frustration and confusion.

Just as you were about to ask what that meant, you all heard the sound of a car pulling up in front of the house.

“Hopper,” she voiced before you all rushed to the living room, looking out the windows to see.

Instead of Hopper’s patrol car, Bob’s red Toyota was parked in the dirt patch. Bob got out of the car a moment later, stepping out and grabbing a few things from his back seat. 

Joyce glanced around the room before stepping out the front door and closing it behind her.

“Well, there goes hiding this from Bob,” you sighed, sitting down on the couch.

“Oh come on, I think he’s oblivious enough not to notice,” Mike reassured.

You furrowed your brows at him. “The papers or the monsters?”

Mike rolled his eyes. “The monsters, obviously.”

Just then, Joyce basically burst through the door, Bob in tow. Wordlessly, she led Bob into the living room before leaving the room to go get Will. Bob just stared at the patterns on the wall, and continued to long after Joyce brought Will into the room.

You all stood behind him, waiting in anxious anticipation as he just stared silently.

“Huh,” he finally voiced. “Hmm.” He turned his head to look at Will. “You drew all these yourself?”

“Mmm-hmm,” Joyce impatiently hummed.

“Why exactly?” Bob began.

“I told you the rules,” Joyce explained, cutting him off. “No questions, okay?” Bob nodded, and Joyce stepped into the kitchen. “We... We just need you to help us figure out what-” She stopped and turned to see everyone still standing in the same place. “Bob? Bob?” With a movement of her hand, she instructed him to follow her. “Over here.”

Bob handed the stack of books and puzzles to you before following Joyce into the kitchen. You shared a look with Mike and Will before you all went into the kitchen, as well.

Joyce picked up a red crayon and began drawing a large red “x” on the location that you all were focusing on. “Where... Where this is,” Joyce finished her thought, pointing to the new red mark on the location.

“That’s the objective. Find the x,” Mike explained.

“Yeah? What’s at the x? Pirate treasure?” Bob joked, chuckling.

“Bob, no questions,” Joyce reiterated.

“Okay,” Bob sighed, examining the area around it. He stood there in thought, clicking his tongue for a moment, before stepping over to Joyce. “Let me talk to you for a second. Hang on guys.” 

The two of them stepped out of the room and you let out a sigh, sitting down in a chair. “Well this is going great,” you huffed, resting your head on your hand.

“He’ll come around, just give him time,” Mike tried to reassure you.

As if on cue, Bob and Joyce stepped out from the hallway, Bob with a boost of enthusiasm as he examined the patterns. “And if you just follow it naturally...” he explained, walking along the living room floor. “It moves to the Eno river.” He stopped in front of a grouping before turning to Joyce. “And there it is. That’s the Eno. Do you see it?” 

He didn’t even give her a moment to answer before continuing to move. “Okay, so the lines aren’t roads. But they act like roads. And they act like roads because when you follow them, you’ll see they don’t go over water.” Both of them stepped into the kitchen. “And that’s the giveaway. That’s the giveaway! Ha!” He walked around the kitchen, all of you turning to follow his movements. “Don’t you get it? It’s not a puzzle, it’s a map. It’s a map of Hawkins.”

You, Joyce, and Mike all shared a look with Will, the puzzle pieces connecting in all your minds.

“Right, Will?”

*** You, Will, and Mike were all crammed into the back of Joyce’s car as Joyce drove, Bob in the passenger seat giving her directions. “There’s nothing. There’s nothing here,” Mike grumbled, frustrated.

“Are... Are we close?” Joyce urged, glancing between Bob and the road.

“We’re in the vicinity,” Bob explained.

“What’s that mean, the vicinity?” Will asked.

“It means we’re close. I don’t know, it’s not precise.” 

“But we did all that work!” Joyce sighed.

As Bob began to explain why it was off, Will jolted up in his seat. “Turn right!” he announced.

“What?” Joyce asked, turning around to look at him.

“I saw him.”

“Where?”

“Not here. In my now-memories.”

Bob turned to glance at him this time. “In your what?” he asked incredulously.

“Turn right!” Will demanded, and Joyce obliged, taking a harsh right turn straight into a field and running into a bale of hay. You all began screaming, completely panicked and overwrought with stress.

Joyce’s car screeched to a halt just inches behind Hopper’s cruiser. You all flew forward from the change of speed, and you let out the breath you didn’t know you were holding. “Are you okay?” Joyce asked, turning to the three of you in the back seat.

You all nodded, trying to regulate your breathing. “What’s Jim doing here? Joyce?” Bob urged.

Joyce ignored him, getting unbuckled. “I need you three to stay here,” she instructed.

“No mom, mom, mom. It’s not safe,” Will begged, trying to convince her to stay as she got out of the car.

“That’s why I need you to stay here! Stay here!” She closed her door and Bob got out with her, leaving the three of you all alone in the car. You all watched out the window as they walked past Hopper’s car and crawled into a hole, then disappearing from sight.

You let out a sigh, leaning back against the seat. “Well, this is the third time this week I’ve been ditched. That’s like a new record,” you deadpanned, crossing your arms over your chest and staring down at your lap.

“What were the other two times?” Mike asked.

You shook your head, closing your eyes. “Sorry, just forget I said that.”

“No, seriously. When did you get ditched?”

You chewed on your lower lip for a moment. “Jonathan left me at that Halloween party so he could take Nancy home,” you whispered. “And then both of them just disappeared yesterday and never even told me about anything. I’ve been having to hang out with Steve fucking Harrington.”

They both were silent for a moment. “Why would he do that?” 

You shrugged. “People do stupid things for love. Don’t act like themselves. I don’t blame them.”

“Wait, you’re saying that Jonathan loves Nancy?”

You furrowed your brows, giving Mike a confused look. “You can’t tell?”

“I can tell that he likes you-”

“I know that you all like pushing the narrative that Jonathan and I are going to date, but it isn’t gonna happen. He likes Nancy, end of story.”

“He likes you too,” Will spoke up. “And I think he’s stupid for doing that.”

You chuckled, shaking your head slightly. “Thanks, Will.”

After a few moments of silence, you all began getting antsy. The back seat felt all too small, and you needed a breath of fresh air to calm your thoughts. With a huff, you pushed open the car door and got out, Will and Mike following behind you.

You all walked past Hopper’s car and over to the crevice in the ground. “Do you see anything?” Mike asked. “I mean, in your now-memories?”

Will shook his head, glancing around nervously.

Suddenly, the sound of tires screeching behind you made you all jump, and you turned to see a fleet of large white vans pulling into the large field. “Shit, shit, shit,” you grumbled, pulling both of the boys back and away from the hole. 

You all watched to see dozens of men suited in silver hazmat suits and armed with weapons get out of the trucks and file into the hole in the earth. You gripped onto both of the boys’ shoulders as the men rushed past you three.

“It’s gonna be okay,” you whispered, both to yourself and to the boys. “They’re getting them out. It’s gonna be okay.” You all stared at the hole in silent anticipation as multiple officials and other workers from Hawkins Lab began searching the area, completely disregarding you three.

In a split second, Will slipped from your grip and onto the cold earth, curling into a ball and crying out in pain. You and Mike dropped to your knees, immediately trying to help Will as he writhed around on the ground. “Will, are you okay? What’s going on?” you asked him, searching his face as your heart raced.

Will flopped onto his back and let out an ear-splitting scream. You pushed yourself back and glanced around to see if anyone could help.

Will’s screams grew louder and louder as his body convulsed, and you felt helpless as you sat next to him and watched him suffer.