Mabel has never been on good terms with change.
It's something she has never quite been able to conquer, a flaw that continues to this very day. Mabel and change are constantly at odds, forever clashing against each other, and it's a battle that Mabel will always lose, bedazzled baseball bat or not.
Some changes she embraces, or thinks she does—like having a boyfriend, high school, or growing up. Of course, these never go quite as planned, but these changes are expected ones, ones she wants. Or at least, ones she can delude herself into thinking she wants. Change is tricky like that.
Most times though, it's far more serious than that.
Halloween is one example. Trick or treating is routine, it is standard—and their last has already come and gone. Dipper becoming a demon is another; the Transcendence also counts. There is so much change in her life and Mabel hates it, hates it with a burning passion that used to be reserved for Bill Cipher alone.
She tries not to let this animosity of hers be well-known. Knowing Dipper, he'd probably take it the wrong way, what with his current situation, and besides that, it's not exactly something Mabel is proud of. She cannot help that small twinge of resentment towards it all, towards Bill Cipher and her brother and Grunkle Ford and her parents. It's not their fault all this change came about, except maybe Cipher, who got everything he deserved and yet still won, in the end.
(She hopes whatever is left of that awful demon is suffering. She hopes he suffers for the rest of eternity, ten times the pain he's inflicted on her brother. The pain Cipher is still, somehow, inflicting on her brother.)
So Mabel keeps mum about her constant battle, and finds ways to get the upper hand on it. She starts hoarding candy for deals with Dipper, calls her parents every weekend and forces herself to keep her voice steady when she gives them the unasked updates on Dipper. She runs through the Mystery Shack and together she and Grunkle Stan burn every bit of furniture with that damn triangle insignia on it.
And when Dipper starts to get summoned by cults looking for power and willing to murder for it, Mabel stifles a sigh, forces a smile despite her growing irritation, and drags them both to the library.
It is not Dipper's fault; she knows this. Her irritation is directed towards the people who dare summon and sacrifice to her brother in the first place. But she knows that in his growing panic Dipper won't see it that way, so she makes sure to act extra cheerful as she scans the shelves and waits patiently for the librarian to leave her computer unattended.
Change has gained the upper hand, and Mabel thinks it's time to fix that. She also thinks Change is very lucky it doesn't have a physical form, otherwise Change would be getting a grappling hook to the face. Mabel has been working on her aim.
Dipper trails after her uncertainly, eyeing her warily when she clamors up to look at the top shelf books in the library, biting his lip when he dashes from bookshelf to bookshelf. He outright pauses when she dashes to the abandoned computer, both eyebrows arched, but says nothing as she taps on the old keys and searches for the webpage. The old screen crackles when she jabs her finger at it, the screen turning a dark blue dotted with white stars, the list of names and constellations scrolling down the page.
She scrolls past the records of celestial bodies with quick and deft fingers, scanning the histories of each and moving on just as fast. When she finally finds what she's looking for, she sits back with a grin and waves a hand at Dipper to get his attention, then jabs her finger at the screen, preening under his confusion.
"Alcor!" she proclaims cheerfully with a cackle, and Dipper stares. He looks a bit flabbergasted, actually, and not for the first time Mabel wishes he'd show up in photos. His expression is marvelous.
"Mabel?" he asks uncertainly, and if his voice is still shaky from his earlier traumatic summoning, well, neither of them are going to point it out.
"Alcor," Mabel repeats, grinning at him. "It's your new name! Well, demon name. Codename. To make sure you have the upper hand, y'know?"
He peers over her shoulder at the computer, his expression doubtful but eyes alight with curiosity and glee.
"Why not Mizar? It'd make more sense with the whole," he waves vaguely at his forehead, "theme, wouldn't it?"
"Oh," Mabel says, and her smile turns a bit sheepish. "Well, I thought I could be Mizar! Since Mabel and Mizar both start with M!"
"But," Dipper says, and he stops, voice dropping from surprise to something low and suspicious. "You don't need a name."
Mabel beams at him. His face falls as realization strikes, eyes widening as he draws back his shoulders, hovering high above her and practically vibrating with emotion. "No!"
Mabel rolls her eyes, shutting down the page and balancing back in the chair, spinning around with lazy swipes of her hand. "Why not? You didn't think I'd let you do this alone, did you?"
"But—" he stumbles over his words, his eyes wild and his worry clear in the stiff set of his shoulders. He reaches out, grabbing the back of the chair and stopping her spinning with a jolt, ignoring the pout on her face. "Mabel, this isn't—this isn't a game! You could get hurt or— or worse!"
Mabel shrugs, casually dismissive of this fact. "So could you."
"I don't have a choice!"
"Oh," Mabel says, voice falling flat. She pushes herself up from the chair, straightening to her full height to properly glare up at Dipper. "So, I'm just supposed to let you go off and go it alone then? Because you're a big bad scary demon now, I can't keep up? I can't help?"
Dipper flinches, but doesn't back down. "That's not what I said! I just—I don't want you getting hurt!"
"Well, I don't want you to get hurt!" Mabel shouts back, fists clenched and waving emphatically at empty air. Dipper leans away from her, eyes wide. "So I'm not going to let you get hurt! I'm going to be there, I'm going to be awesome, and I'll have your back no matter what, and you don't get a say in it!" She points her finger at his nose and glares. "So there!"
Dipper's mouth drops open, his hands falling limp by his side and his eyes wide with shock. He tries to speak and the words get jumbled, so he stops trying and slowly nods his head instead, as if afraid to set her off.
The terse moment is shattered by the pounding of footsteps and the appearance of a haggard librarian, who glares at Mabel and jerks one crooked finger to the door.
"Out!" she shrieks, the shrill pitch of her voice making Mabel and Dipper wince in unison. "I will not have you making such an awful racket in my library, young lady! And using my computer to boot—Scat!"
"It smells like dead caterpillars in here anyway," Mabel informs her promptly, and scrambles away before the librarian can digest the words, Dipper right on her heels.
They run out to blue skies and blinding sunshine, the quiet murmur of the town breaking up the morning hush. Mabel skips down the library steps two at a time, cheerful motions in contrast with her oddly silent demeanor as she descends.
"So," Dipper mumbles awkwardly when she's almost near the end of the steps. He's hovering in the air like a limp puppet, shoulders rounded with shame and hands open and empty by his sides. "Alcor, huh?"
She tries to stop mid-jump and lands awkwardly, skipping forward to keep her balance. After a moment of contemplation she smiles up at him, wordlessly forgiving him, and says, "Yep! Alcor and Mizar, the Twin Stars."
He rubs at the birthmark on his forehead, then pushes his hand up and back through his hair, gold eyes darting away. "It fits, I guess," he mumbles, and then smiles softly at nothing. "Alcor and Mizar."
She laughs, jumping down the last step and running out onto the sidewalk. "Right? I think so, too. It's decided then!"
His head ducks in a nod. "Yep."
Mabel stops, standing still, looking at him head-on, her head tilted as if the new angle will better help her figure him out. Then a smile burst to life on her face, tugging at her cheeks and crinkling her eyes.
"Hey," she adds, her expression turning sly. "Wanna go to one of those supernatural conventions?"
Dipper frowns at her. "You hate supernatural conventions. You said—"
"They're growing on me."
He grins at that, laughter in his golden eyes, his wings flaring up in his glee and sending him twirling upside down in the air, a reflexive loop-de-loop of joy that makes Dipper yelp once he realizes he's doing it. Mabel points and laughs so hard she's nearly bent double with the force of it, ignoring the stares and whispers of unknowing bystanders with ease.
Mabel is not good with change, but she's learned to live with it. And if change is determined to mess with their lives, then it's going to have to get used to Mabel messing back. It can drag her brother into demonic rituals and near death, but damned if Mabel won't fight tooth and nail to be with him every step of the way.
A/N: Wrote this a while back, but I never ended up posting it to FFnet so... better late than never, right?
Any thoughts?