A two-parter.
Next part should be up by Monday.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls, I just own the story.
ephemeral ;;
(adj.) lasting for a very short time.
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See, the thing is, Mabel is almost always covered in something - something always being glitter or stickers and the occasional times Waddles and maybe Dipper glued to her side (but that was an accident and it only happened once! or... twice) - so it's no surprise that when she sees the dark spot on the lower part of her sweater, she doesn't pay much attention to it.
Her brain regards the stain as paint, and then when for some reason she's not settled with the thought (and that's the first sign that something is wrong) , she thinks that maybe her period came early (which definitely sucks, actually. Candy and Greta were planning on visiting the pool tomorrow) and with a scowl she decides that no, a stain was not going to sour her day.
It's not until she stands up from the ground - dirt and leaves and sticks sticking to the back of her legs - and looks around (why is she outside?) and realizes that she can't put any recollection of earlier events no matter how much she tries to pick around her brain, that something is definitely wrong.
(She tells herself that she comes to this realization because she can't recall how she got there and totally not by the poodle of something that is definitely not paint. She should know, she doesn't own red paint that dark.)
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"Mabel!"
It's funny how her head instantly turns to look at the place of origin where her name is being called from. It's also funny that she notices that there is no hesitation in her voice before she's shouting out Dippers name. The sound of his voice just clicks, and she's running.
Running through the woods, calling out to Dipper.
She feels like she's forgetting something, like there's something wrong but her main thought is to get to where Dipper is at. So she does that, she runs towards the sound of his voice.
"Dipper!" She calls out, stops running and looks around. It almost feels like she's walked further in into the woods, it's certainly not familiar (or maybe it is but her fear-driven brain isn't connecting the images) and there's no way she followed Dipper's voice further in.
"Mabel!"
She turns around and calls out again, waits for a response but doesn't get another one, - maybe, and just maybe, Dipper might have gone temporarily deaf after she accidentally woke him up with the speakers next to his ears playing one of BABBA'S new song (in her defense, she thought he might appreciate the gesture) - instead her only company is that of her footsteps, loud in her wake.
She hears Dipper's voice closer, then further, wavering. Mabel stops to look around and squints at the trees, the spaces between them. She looks out for his vest and his hat (and she looks out for the journal and it's glitter-cover, courtesy of her of course, Dipper didn't complain much) and tries to ignore the anxiety that begins to settle in her stomach.
(Because she's Mabel Pines and she doesn't do anxiety. Sure she does nervousness and maybe embarrassment but anxiety is more of her brother's thing, sadly.)
Then, tentatively, calls out again, much softer this time - still loud enough for him to be able to hear if he's close by - and waits.
She waits.
Then she waits some more (because maybe Dipper'll have a more easier time finding her is she stays put) and she tells herself it's because Dipper's sure to come. He sounded close when she last called upon him, that was... that was-
(How long ago was that?)
"Mabel where are you?!" The voice startles her and stands up, quickly in a fluid motion. She begins to run, calls out.
She spots him the next time he calls out her name and then she runs.
Her vision begins to blur (she blames it as tears because why not?) . But she runs, and screams his name and doesn't notice how he doesn't react to it.
She goes to tackle him, to hug him and ask why he seems so nervous-
She runs right through him.
(She lands on the ground and winces, expecting pain that never comes.)
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Two weeks ago Mabel drew the line with Dipper's obsession, certainly not the first time she's tried - they've all tried - but maybe the first time Dipper actually listened to her and decided that he should indulge Mabel in a what she called 'a normal week', which by Dipper's understanding was not 'normal' at all.
Maybe more so than their daily adventures into the unknown, but still, the point remained. They were both weird and it didn't matter how much normality they tried to bring into their life because having a normal, quiet and peaceful day often lead to a messy and - sometimes - dangerous end of the day.
It wasn't more of surprise and fear that settled over her thoughts that day, instead, frustration that had managed to bubble steadily throughout the day - mainly caused by crushes that did not go any way that was favorable to her - (and then she realized that the thing is that Dipper's sour mood was ruining everything, so she sent him off to buy some ice cream and just walk around) and finally snapped when she found Dipper running away from something huge and certainly not friendly.
(She was already heading towards the shack, and decided to follow the usual path through the woods, the safe one.)
If going by the massive, tall, dark creature that was following after him, then yeah, the creature wasn't looking forward to a nice afternoon sipping tea and eating cookies.
Mabel didn't get a good look at it, other than the fact that it's body was somehow darker than black, it was unsettling because it felt wrong. His face - or what could be called a face- was nothing more than inkling blackness and where it's eyes were supposed to be at instead was a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, its eyes - all wrong and glowing white and huge - moved, across it's skin.
(She did not notice it's lack of arms and legs, or the fact that it was letting out an inhuman sound resembling static, behind it's path everything withered and turned to ash.)
There was no hesitation before she managed to catch up with Dipper's pace and when she was just besides him, glared and shouted at him.
"Dipper! What did you do?!"
Funnily enough he almost managed to look offended.
"Wha- I- I didn't do anythin-AH!" He yelped when he felt - they both felt it, actually - the air behind them shift as if something was trying to swat, grab them. The creature let out an inhuman screech that was enough to make Mabel push herself and Dipper out the of the way and into some bushes nearby.
And kept falling.
She only remembered falling and rocks and trees hitting into her body as she kept rolling down hill, her eyes had been closed and she let out a small whimper once she managed to stop rolling - her back collided against a tree, knocking the remaining air out of her - and then called out for Dipper.
The only reason as to why she had managed to calm down enough to not begin to panic - which in her current state would do nothing but add into her already hurting-body - was because Dipper let out a grunt that sounded close enough.
She let out a sigh and tried to stand up. She managed to get up and put her back towards the tree, using it to recline on it before opening her eyes.
"Dipper? Are you okay."
She looked down at her legs, bruised and covered in mud, a few cuts but nothing that seemed too important. Her skirt had been torn somewhat and she knew that her sweater had taken most of the damage. Her arms and probably her face were in the same state as that of her legs.
"I'm - I'm fine. Just..." There was a pause here and Mabel redirected her attention to the left, where she saw Dipper stand up. Other than a few cuts and torn clothes, he seemed fine. Out of breath and dirty, but fine. "I need a minut-"
He let out a soft gasp and instantly stuttered.
Mabel frowned, "What?"
"You're... Mabel you're bleeding."
Oh?
She looked down and indeed found that her hands had been covered in a decent amount of blood, she wasn't startled by it. Just slightly curious as to why she hadn't noticed before. There was a dull throbbing on her head and then a second later she felt some of it run down her temple, warm.
There were various long and wide cuts across her palms, blood running down her hands.
Maybe that's why she hadn't outright freaked out when she fell and met the ground, face first. Why when she sits up - actually sits on her knees - and notices her blood stained hands and her eyes instantly snap to the dark spot on her sweater does she start to put the dots together.
She ignores the startled gasp Dipper lets out, followed after a 'who's there?' and with trembling - warm blood and red - hands lift up her sweater and notices the trickling of blood still flowing, drops to the ground and then disappears.
It just vanishes.
She screams.
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"Mabel?"
The voice (It's Dippers, he's here he's right here stop freaking out everything's okay everything-) calls out again, clear fear and worry seeping through it. He's startled, looking around. Mabel's too busy freaking out to call back.
(She ran through Dipper. She doesn't think he'll be able to help her.)
It's also sort of hard to breathe when her brain is trying to comprehend the wound on her body, the big three wounds that pierced her stomach and let out blood, a gory mess concealed behind her - already ruined - sweater. So breathing. Not in her current state of thought.
Her hands, they're also caked with blood. Fresh blood - Mabel moves her fingers and notices that it's slippery and wet and throughout disgusting - that oddly enough does not smell. Mabel's had her own share of big wounds that when left alone would stink up right away. She has to smell, because she woke up alone in the forest with nothing but a stained sweater and she was pretty sure her hands where clean and tidy when she had gazed upon them.
Now they were dirty... bloodied.
(How? It doesn't make sense, she just- they weren't-)
She lets out a frustrated groan - that in fact comes out as more than just a scared whimper - before lying on the ground, the leaves move and settle back down with the movement. She doesn't hear Dipper's intake of air, because she's too concentrated on calming her own breathing down, her heart's beating too fast.
(Too fast with fear and not excitement. This is overwhelming and it has to stop it has to st-)
Okay. No.
Mabel blinks.
She starts to count from one to a hundred, head tilts to the side and peers up at Dipper's form. He's looking around, clutching the Journal to his chest with wide eyes. He looks startled, scared.
When she reaches twenty, Mabel thinks about all of this. She's currently lying on the ground with a wound that should be lethal - is lethal - and bleeding out. Also, she ran right through her twin brother.
The thought almost seems normal in comparison to what's happened the last few summers actually.
Another blink. Dipper's staring at her.
No.
Not at her.
Just where she's at.
(She chooses to ignore the shiver that runs down her spine because that's disturbing.)
"Dipper?" eighty, eighty-one, eighty-two...
He just looks around, removes his cap and runs his hand through his face then his hair and somehow, he looks much older like this. Mabel notices now that his face is adorned with scratches, thin trails of blood that have dried near his cheek and temple. The bags under his eyes are more prominent. His skin is so pale... like... like-
(Like he's seen a ghost.)
Mabel tries again - calling his name that is - but Dipper doesn't respond. She's past one-hundred and slowly reaching one hundred and thirty now. Dipper's not looking at her anymore, he mutters something that sounds like he's scolding himself for being too jumpy and then begins to walk away.
It takes Mabel a couple of seconds to realize that he's leaving. It's almost like her heart crawled into her throat, because the next second she's up on her feet and screaming at Dipper, the words though, come out strangled and cut out.
Desperate.
"Dipper! No no- don't leav- Dipper!"
He doesn't stop walking away.
Mabel doesn't stop screaming his name and trying to touch him, grab his shoulder and demand him to look at her because she's right behind him and touching him and he's not reacting and oh god. (She doesn't even care that she's grabbing him with bloodied hands anymore, she hesitated at first but he's not even reacting to his own name!)
"Dipper please!" She lets out a sob and Dipper doesn't stop.
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She's been following Dipper for what seems like hours. The sun's beginning to lay low on the sky and the amount of trees the forest is made of does nothing to let the sun's light filter through their gaps. In other words, it's going to get cold and dark and Gravity Falls's forests aren't the most safest place to lurk in while dark... or in plain daylight.
(Then again, it is Gravity Falls and the whole town in itself is a walking dead-trap.)
Dipper's been keeping up a semi-regular pace between jogging and walking. He's slowed down a couple of times to catch his breath. It was probably around the sixth time he called out Mabel's name and the tiredness could be easily seen by the way his legs wobbled a bit everytime he walked, and how he had managed to trip a couple of times - by the fourth time, Mabel stopped trying to catch him, just like how she had stopped trying to get his attention - and then she realized that she wasn't getting tired.
Physically at least. Mabel can run and walk and jump for endless hours before feeling tired, but that's only when she makes her Mabel Juice. But right now she can't even feel the strain of legs that should be present right now, she doesn't feel the wound's pain - which is supposed to hurt because it's deep and still bleeding - and she certainly does not feel the throbbing pain that her skull should be reveling in because she's lost too much.
Mentally... well that was another story.
(She felt empty and furious and useless. Dipper couldn't see her, she was wounded and having no idea as to where exactly she was - if it was close to the shack or not - and what had happened and why hadn't she fainted already from the excessive amount of - disappearing - blood.)
Dipper's voice was not helping in the slightest either. It was just the slightest tone of being worried and scared and still so much Dipper that it makes her flinch every time he calls her name and her mouths opens to reply, but she shuts it. She ignores the ache in her heart (and then she places her hand on his shoulder as a way of saying I'm here bro-bro.) because she's so helpless.
Speaking off...
Mabel's eyes trail towards her brother's form. He's sat down near a tree to rest, but the way his shoulders were stiff and his eyes flickered from side to side meant he was more anxious about the rapid-approaching night than anything else.
She knew that if Dipper didn't find... whatever it was that he was looking for, he wouldn't hesitate to venture further in into the dark, just in hopes of finding whatever. And the idea makes her frown, because he's already thinking about it.
He's scared, yet he's hard-headed.
Oh, what she'd wished to just be able to whack him in the head this instant and demand him to turn back (then a thought flutters by, and she's calculating how long he's been wearing his binder. When she does get the hours they've been too much and it leaves a sour taste at the back of her throat because Dipper's an idiot.)
"Oh Dipper, I swear that I'll kill you with my own hands if you fall asleep with it on." She shakes her head and when Dipper gasps, her heart leaps.
Did he hear her-
No. He's looking at something far off to the left.
Mabel doesn't get any time to see what it is because it's so far away. Before Dipper's standing up and shouting and Mabel's instincts are to follow after him quickly. She yelps when Dipper suddenly stops and it's too late for her to be able to stop.
She goes right through him and lands - again - on the ground. Except that this time she's not surprised.
Her mind halts.
She's staring at brown eyes.
No... there's something wrong with them.
They look glassy, wrong and so... so unalive.
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She's staring at herself.
"WOAH, careful kid! Lest you wanna K I L L yourself."