It felt...cold, and dark. There was nothing in that place. No light, no anything. Just a black, empty void. Elle didn't like going into "the mindscape", as it was where she first found and MET the Demogorgon, but if it meant finding Mike's friend and Nancy's friend as well, she had to. She wanted to. She looked in her hand and found that the sun stone was there. It comforted her, with its bright light. Using it to light her way, she walked around, looking for Barb. The ground left ripples as she walked, like water. She then saw something...disgusting and infested. As she walked over, she was horrified when she saw who she believed was Barb. Back in reality, she was hyperventilating out of fear, calling out for Mike and Enigma. When she heard the familiar voices of Joyce and Mike, she relaxed. Back in the mindscape, she saw a fog cloud, and a shadow faded in the midst of it. The mutilated, infested Barb was now gone, and she stepped back away from the fog cloud as the shadow approached, fearing that she attracted the Demogorgon. As the shadow stepped out, she found a familiar man with a black trench coat standing there.
"...dad?" She said. The figure was tall and towering, but when she shined the sun-stone at it, she could make out her dad standing there, looking around the place. He was...astonished. He'd been to many places in his life, but not once had he been to a place where there was literally nothing. When he saw and heard Elle however, he smiled, glad to see that she was ok.
"Hey, kiddo. I said I'd there when you called for me, and here I am. " She looked at him confused as to how he got here. In reality, the detective lie suspended in midair, completely unconscious, with Hopper and Jonathan sitting by him. "I'll explain later. So you found Barb, eh?" She nodded, looking down. "Hey," the detective said as he knelt down, lifting her chin up gently, "there was nothin more you coulda done. You did what you could, and at the end of the day, that's all that matters." She wiped her eyes and smiled. Standing back up, the detective said, "Come on, let's find Will and get out of this place. It's starting to creep me out a little." She nodded, chuckling and took he detectives' hand and used the stone to light the way. I can't stay here long. As soon as we find Joyce's kid, I have to leave. If not, I'll probably die. The detective thought to himself as he walked with Elle. Not long after, they found a small fort made of sticks and branches with a cloth sign on it that read, "Castle Byers". The detective tried to activate his eyes, but when he did, he screamed in pain and fell to his knees with his hands around his eyes.
"Dad!" Elle ran over to him. When he opened his eyes, they weren't there, even though he could still see. Elle jumped back, scared when she looked into the detective's black voids for eyes.
"Honey, it's ok. It's ok, dad just isn't used to this place yet. He wasn't made for this. It's ok, honey, it's ok. It's still dad." he said gently, reaching towards her. He then reverted his eyes, which stung at first, but as they returned, it became bearable. "See?" He asked as he opened his normal, brown eyes. "Nothing to worry about." Elle sighed in relief and hugged his arm. He instead reaches for his gun, which wasn't there either. Only a small cloud of smoke came out. Great, already starting to fade from this place. He reached for the curtain while Elle hid behind his back and looked over his shoulder as he did. As he slowly opened the curtain, he could see the weak, sick, and cold figure of Will Byers. Elle gasped and rushed to his side.
"Will..." He looked up at her when she talked, then the detective began,
"Help's on the way kid. Just hang in there, alright?" Will weakly nodded as the tent dissipated into smoke.
"Will? WILL?!" Elle yelled as the tent faded away. At that moment the detective began to slowly turn into smoke himself. "Dad?!"
"It's ok, honey. I've got to go. I'll be there when you wake up, ok?" the detective said reassuringly, as his form began to fade into smoke and he put his hand on her cheek. "We'll tell them what we saw."
"O...ok." she said, holding his hand and tearing up. Just before the detective completely disappeared, he kissed her on the forehead and faded away like the fog he used to come there. Elle shot up and tore the goggles off her head, with some blood running from her nose and tears forming in her eyes, hyperventilating a little. Mike and Nancy hugged her close and comforted her as she worriedly looked over at the suspended detective, who fell to the ground with a thud. Hopper and Jonathan rushed over to help him to his feet, but when he woke up he hyperventilating himself for a moment or two. As they helped him up, he switched to his blue eyes to see how much energy he'd used. Lovely, reduced to candle lights. Thankfully, my recharge doesn't take too long. My energy levels should be back to normal in at least an hour or so. As Hopper and Jonathan helped him into a chair, Elle slowly stepped out of the bath with Nancy helping her and Mike wrapping her in a towel. She then hugged the slightly tired detective as he reverted his eyes back to normal. "Thank you for being there with me, dad." the detective looked down at her and smiled. He hugged her back, rubbing her head.
"You're welcome, honey." Nancy then tugged the detective's sleeve. He looked up at her and said, "What's up, Nans?" while setting Elle on his lap and pulling the edges of his coat around her, as he could feel her shiver a little.
"Did you find Barb?" Enigma's eyes widened and his smile vanished into a grim look. He looked down at Elle, who gave him the same look.
"Uh...um...she uh...I'm so sorry, Nancy." he said as he put his hand on her shoulder. The detective tried to think of the best way to tell her, but how do you tell someone that their friend was mutilated and infested with fungus and worms? Elle started to cry a little when she thought of Barb. The detective hugged her and kissed her saying, "Hey, it's ok. There was nothing more that you coulda done. You found her, that's all that matters." He looked up at Nancy who was starting to tear up.
"Oh," she sniffled, wiping her eyes, "don't worry. Like your dad said, you did the best you could." Jonathan walked over to her and as he sat next to her, she put her face into his shoulder. "It's my fault she's dead. I just HAD to tell her to leave that night." He hugged her back as she silently wept over the loss of her friend into his shoulder. Jonathan rubbed her back, saying, "Shhh...it wasn't your fault. Neither of us except Elle, knew about that monster. It couldn't have been your fault." and leaning his head against hers.
"He tells the truth, Nancy. Elle was the only one who did, but she didn't know it would attack outside of that dimension." the detective said, calmly and gently.
"What about Will? Is he?" Joyce piped up, tears forming in her eyes. The detective looked over at her and immediately Elle said,
"Will is...alive." Elle said, wiping her eyes on the detective's jacket.
"Oh thank God. Where is he?" she sighed, wiping her eyes herself.
"Upside Down in Castle Byers." Elle replied. The detective thought for a second but just then Hopper got up to leave. Enigma yelled,
"Jim, where are you going?" with urgency in his voice.
"To get Will back. I think I know where the main gate is." Enigma gently got up and set Elle in his chair and ran over to the chief of Hawkins police.
"No, not you. Let me. I have a better chance of surviving in that place than anyone else here." Hopper turned at looked at the lanky man who stood eye to eye with him. He looked at Elle, who was watching them talk.
"That little girl," he said, nodding towards Elle, "she really loves you. I had a little girl once...and she left me sooner than I thought she would. Sooner than I wanted her to. You just met this girl, and she already thinks of you as her dad. Don't leave her like my daughter left me." He then walked away with the detective standing there watching him leave. Joyce and Jonathan got up and left too, but was stopped by the detective.
"No, Joyce, I can't let either of you go to that place. It had death written all over it." the detective said solemnly.
"And what? Sit around and wait for my little boy to die? I'm going in there whether you and Hopper like it or not." she said, looking at the detective angrily. Just as Jonathan was about to follow, she stopped him saying, "Honey, stay here with the others please. I'll be right back."
"No, I want to help you find Will." Jonathan said, objecting to the idea of staying behind.
"No, I've already lost one of my boys. I won't lose another." she as she turned to hear Hopper yelling for her. "I'll be right back, Jonathan. I promise." she added, kissing his cheek before heading out the door with Hopper. Nancy got up and left the gym too, not going far from it. Jonathan followed her to see where she was going. Enigma sighed, and walked back over with the kids, putting his jacket around Elle, who was shivering still with a towel around her. He then took his gun out and made sure it was loaded in case someone unwelcome came. What do they think they're doing? he thought to himself as he sat there with the kids, knowing that they would need the most protection.