Chapter Text
Holly arrived to the Creel house, she removed her mantel and stared at her in the mirror, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths, "seem normal" she repeated in her mind, then she heard a sound coming from outside, she walked out and stopped when she saw the situation, but she quickly masked it with a smile
"MARY!" she screamed running to her best friend, "HOLLY!" Mary replied, hugging her thightly.
Henry smirked and then took them inside, making them sitting down in a circle
From the outside, Will was looking at the situation, before returning in the woods, making sure that Henry didn't noticed him.
"Your memory of what happened, of how you came to be here might be foggy…" Henry said, looking at the confused kids, "you might feel…confused."
"The monsters… they tried to take you." Henry explained, Holly felt like she was being stared at, she looked around and saw Derek looking at her, she was confused. "But I saved you just in time." Holly wanted to scoff at the audacity of Henry, but she just bit her tongue, trying to seem less suspicious
"This place, my home, is now your home too. Your sanctuary. As long as you do not venture into the woods where the monsters live, you will be safe here. Now, I know many of you are wondering when the rest of your friends and family will join us here. The difficult truth is there is more at stake than just the lives of your loved ones. I don’t wish to frighten you. But I believe you are brave enough to know the truth. An evil darkness is spreading across not just Hawkins, but the whole world, and soon it will be too late to stop it. You can think of this darkness like the Black Thing in your book. Just as the Black Thing threatened Meg’s family, so does the darkness threaten yours, but I believe I have found a way to defeat this darkness." Henry said, holding up the wrinkle in time book
"How?" A little girl asked, voice soft; "I have traveled far and long beyond our dimension. In my travels, I discovered another world. A world far from Earth. This world is much like ours, only… good. Free of monsters and darkness. It is the light. Which brings me to the true reason why you have been chosen. You… are not like other children. Like Meg, you are special. You have dormant powers in here. And I believe if we work together, we can awaken those powers, channel our energy and draw this new world to ours. And as the light… reaches the darkness, the light will expel the darkness, your loved ones will be saved, and you… you will be heroes."
Holly finally found the courage and she raised her hand, "Yes, Holly?" Henry asked, a manipulated soft smile on his face, "are you going to leave again? To bring more, uh, special kids here?" she asked, hoping for a yes
"Poor Holly. She was the first one chosen, and she was left here all alone. But don’t worry, I won’t be leaving you. Any of you. Ever again." Holly heart stopped, "shit" her mind thought, "shit, shit, shit"
"But for now, eat and play. And most importantly, rest. Because tomorrow? Tomorrow, it begins." Henry said, a smirk on his face.
Holly just stared at her classmates looking around and trusting Henry, after a while, she entered the woods, looking around, making sure no one saw her, "what are you doing here!?" Will said, walking to her, "did anyone saw you?"
Holly shook her head, "no, no one saw me" she said, "but we need to leave, like now"
"Holly if Henry sees you're gone, he's gonna find us and take you back with his powers!" Will said, before Holly could replied, a sound was heard next to them
"You said no one saw you!" Will screamed at her, "no one did, I know it!" they walked closely to the sound, then a boy around her age arrived
"who the hell are you?" Will asked, "Derek, who the hell are you!?" the boy screamed
"what are you doing here, dipshit!?" Holly screamed, "I'm not dipshit Derek anymore, I'm delightful Derek" the boy replied, "how much did you hear?" Will asked, voice trembling, "Not much. Just how you wanna escape but can’t because you need Henry to leave first, otherwise he’ll find you with his evil Vecna magic."
"how do you know that name?" Will asked, "I didn't say his name"
"Mike" Derek replied, "Mike..?" Will replied, "as if my brother Mike?" Holly asked, clearly confused, "he's like my best friend" Derek replied, "you're best friend with Mike?" Will asked again, "I never thought I would see the day Mike would get along with a 7 year old"
"and Also Max, Lucas and Erica, and mrs Byers and Miss Robin"
"mrs Byers as my mom!?" Will pratically screamed, Derek nodded, "what the hell"
"We tried to save the others, but that didn’t work. So I’m here. I thought I couldn’t trust anyone. Then I saw your face during Mr. Whatsit’s speech, and I was like, 'She knows he’s full of shit.' So I followed you into the woods, and obviously I was right on the money. So can I come with you?"
"NO!" Will said, sounding meaner that he intended, "no one is going anywhere, especially not when Henry is watching!"
"what if, we make sure he's not" Holly said, "what? How?" Holly looked at Derek, "you can't come with us, but you can help us escape. But drop the delightful Derek act, because if we're going to leave, we need Dipshit Derek" Derek smirked and Will let out a sigh
"fine" he said, "but if you want to use him to distract Henry, he'll need somewhere safe to go" he took out the map to the cave, "here" he handed it to Derek, "don't make me regret it" Will said, voice low
Now him and Holly were walking around Camazotz, "are you sure he's gonna be ok?" Holly asked, "if he gets to the cave, then yes" he said, "now to get out, we'll just need to find something... out of place" he said, "like that?" Holly asked, pointing to a flying door in the middle of a garden
"well that was easy" he said, they walked in front of it, Will opened the door and they walked inside, they were inside the Wheeler house, more specifically the Wheeler basement, a scream filled the room, they walked down and saw Holly and her friend watching a horror movie
"it doesn't make any sense" Holly said, "this was Halloween" she said, "I haven't met Henry yet"
"just because you didn't know him yet, doesn't mean he didn't know you" Will said, "trust me, I would know" then a lighting and there Henry appeared, staring at the two girls, Holly let out a gasp, Will stepped foward and closed the blind, rolling his eyes
"Holly" he said, "it's just a memory, it can't hurt you" well, it can't hurt you physically, mentally, it will, 100%
A weird light came from the books in the basement, Holly stepped foward and took out a book, "the library" she whispered, Will walked with her and started helping her throwing the books on the ground.
"Hi" a younger Henry said, "what's your name?" he smirked, Will turned to Holly, placing a hand on her shoulder, "that's the first time I spoke with Henry" Holly said.
After wandering around a few of Holly's memories, they were in the elementary school playground, "tell me again" Will said, "I already did"
"Again" Will said, Holly sighed, "I was in the playground, then Henry called me there" she said, watching her younger self walking to Henry, "then I got in trouble, but that's not the point..." Holly seemed to had stopped, "Holly?" Will asked, shaking her
"It's supposed to be yellow" Holly said walking to the merry go round, "what?" Will asked, following her, "look the circle, it's blue, but it's supposed to be yellow" she took out her 'weapon' and then hitted the circle, showing another memory, "this is my room" Holly whispered, Will entered the circle, the entire room spinning as he entered
Will turned around and handed Holly his hand, "Will" she said, "when I go back, you'll come with me right?" Will gave her a reassuring smile, "of course" Holly took his hand and they ended up in Holly's room, but it was destroyed, Will noticed how Holly breathing fastened
Another scream filled the room, Will grabbed Holly's hand and they walked to the kitchen, where they saw Karen on the ground, bleeding, as demogorgan took Holly away, while she screamed for her mom, Holly let tears fall down her face, while Will looked at Karen bloody body, "oh my god" he whispered, "I just stood there" Holly said
"Holly" Will said, "I stood there and let her get hurt" Holly replied, "Holly, it can't hurt you now, you'll get home and you're gonna see her alive again" Will reassured her, wiping off a tear on her face, "ok?" Holly nodded, they walked to the living room, opening the front door and seeing the red realm
"what's this?" Holly asked, "the place where we go home" Will replied, but before they could walk inside, the door shutted closed, Will ran to the window and they were also shut, "SHIT!" Will screamed
"oh Holly" a familiar voice came from outside, then Holly turned around and saw Henry, no, Vecna, walking towards her, "William" Vecna said, grabbing Will by the neck and starting to choke him, "and now, the prey is finally caught" Will felt his breath slowly leaving him, getting choked
"No!" Holly screamed, Vecna turned to her and she fell against the wall, Will felt tears burning in his eyes, "it is finally over William" Vecna said, smirking as Will slowly chocked, but then Will's eyes turned pitch white and Vecna was throwned across the room, Holly rushed to him
Will raised his hand and then as he let go, a CRACK sound came, Will's eyes returned Hazel and he saw Vecna on the ground, leg broken, he felt something falling from his nose and when he looked at his hand, after wiping his nose, he saw blood, he stared at it, confused
But before questioning everything, he got up, destroyed the window, grabbed Holly's hand and they ran away.
They arrived back into the cave, "inside!" Will screamed, just as they arrived, Will noticed Henry running towards them, "wow" Will said, "you're really limping, I guess the leg slowed you down, uh?" Will said walking back into the cave
"Holly" Henry said, "get away from him"
"NO!" Holly screamed, "I saw what you are, you're a monster, a disgusting, lying, MONSTER!" Holly screamed, Henry seemed angrier, "Holly you can come with me volountarily or I will have no choice, but to kill your little friend"
"Then do it!" Will said, stepping in front of Holly, placing his arm in front of her, shielding her, "come on, Henry!" he screamed, "get in here and kill me!" Henry didn't move and the silence that followed made Will let out a laugh, a laugh of disbelief
"oh right, you're scared of a cave, how could I forget" He said, rolling his eyes, "you're too scared of a cave to actually get in here and kill me!" he screamed, letting out another laugh, "YOU FUCKING COWARD!" Will screamed
"there are other ways to kill you William, you're playing with fire" Henry said, "you're going to get burned"
"I already was burned, so fire won't hurt me that much" Will replied, remembering the 1984 mess, he turned to Holly, "get inside"
"don't say I didn't warn you William" Henry said, before turning around and limping away.
Will entered the cave and completely collapses, "how did you do that?" Holly asked, "I don't know" Will replied, staring at the blood on his hand, "you pushed him away, with your mind..?" Will shrugged, "I..." he said, "I don't know how I did it, but he was choking me and my body reacted to it, I think"
Holly looked at him, "I understand why my brother likes you" Holly whispered, "but now, we're stuck here" she said, falling into a rock, "at least you're safe" Will said, "you're not with Henry"
"but I'm IN Henry"
"Holly, don't ever say that again" Will said, biting his tongue, "we need to leave" Holly said, "you heard him Will, he said there are other ways he can kill you"
"right, and how could he do that?" Will replied, "the bridge that was connecting him to the real world, it was me and now I'm in his mind, so... how could he do that?"
"I don't know, but I don't trust him" Holly said, she looked around, "Henry, he caught Derek" she said, "that's how he managed to get to us, he managed to arrive to Derek, so our bait wasn't there anymore and when the bait is gone, the hunter can arrive to the prey"