still heavy on memory/time travel byler so anyone out there fw the idea of will sacrificing his life in the end believing he was never loved and mike having to go back in time to every single moment that made will feel that way and fixing all his mistakes and make sure will knows how much he loved him praying it might save his life like clara oswald jumping into the doctor’s time stream and embedding herself into diff points in his life and appearing as slightly a different version of herself each time (x)
now give me mike doing the same thing even though he knows it’ll effectively kill him by fracturing his mind into a million pieces but it doesn’t matter because will is dead and he promised he’d spend the rest of his life making everything up to will as he died in his arms so that’s exactly what he does. now give me will on different occasions through the years seeing what he thinks are hallucinations of the same boy that seems so familiar to him, but he can’t be real. because the boy isn’t talking to him, he’s screaming at mike. telling him follow will into the rain. yelling at him to turn around in the van. but will just thinks it’s his subconscious, manifesting into what he really wants to say to mike.
but it works. and the last fraction of mike’s mind dies content knowing he finally convinced his past self to stop being so goddamn scared. and we’re back in present day, will lying on the ground, ready to die, and the last person he sees hovering over him is mike. his mike. and will finally recognises the mysterious figure who saved his life countless times in the past in ways only mike would know how. and mike is pleading with him. begging him to keep fighting because he loves will. and that gives will the courage to fight on.
will survives, albeit by a thread, and mike is too relieved and exhausted to question how; it shouldn’t be possible. but it doesn’t matter, because will is alive. and if he had to, mike knew he would've given his life if it meant the boy he loved could live.
