Dipper woke from his fitful sleep, his eyes sore and his back aching from the night spent tucked in a makeshift campsite the twins had set up in the woods just on the outskirts of town. He thought of the cliché that always seemed to happen in movies where a hero who was faced with an unbelievable situation would wake the next morning thinking it was all a dream, but Dipper was denied even that fleeting relief. This wasn't a dream, couldn't be – no matter how much he wished it was. He knew that his situation was wrong… terribly wrong, and the stress of not knowing where he and his sister were despite the familiarity of their surroundings, or how they would ever find their way back to their home had kept him up half the night. When he had found himself finally starting to drift off to sleep the night before he had heard Mabel sniffling to herself in the darkness. The sound of her stifled sobs wrenched his heart and he'd reached across the space between them and pulled her to him in a tight embrace. They had lain together for the rest of the night – taking comfort in the only familiar things in this strange new world, but they had stayed silent, and though Dipper felt his heart race uncomfortably at the feel of her so close and the scent of her hair in his nose he hadn't tried to pull away… he knew that she needed him to be strong right now and that mattered more to him than any amount of discomfort.
Mabel was still dozing quietly and Dipper saw that she even had the smallest of smiles on her face when he'd managed to gently slide his arms out from around her without disturbing her too much. He paused for a moment to admire the gentle curve of her lips before shaking himself guiltily and then reached into his pocket to pull out the flyer she had found last night when they had tried to find a place to set up camp. It was another advertisement for the 'Mystery Manor', similar to the garish billboard that had set Dippers mind reeling the night before, but with a different picture and a little more information, including the address. Same location that the Mystery Shack is in our world. He stared fixedly at the eerily unfamiliar faces that smiled at him from the glossy and slightly faded page – the features were the same… eyes, nose, ears, mouth… his double even had his much hated birthmark, but while Dipper covered it with his hair and a cap this Other Dipper wore his hair slicked back and left his forehead bare for the world to see, almost as if he were proud of it. Who knows… maybe he is? Identical though they were in base appearance, there was just something about the expressions of this worlds Pines twins that had set the teens skin to crawling. Their wide showbiz smiles didn't seem to reach their eyes, which looked especially flat and cold in the dim morning light filtering in through the flap in the tent. The expression seemed particularly alien on the strangely dressed Mabel who beamed at him from the page with a mouth full of startlingly white teeth framed by blood red lips, her eyes narrow and almost predatory beneath arched brows and smoky eyeshadow.
I didn't think it was even possible for Mabel to look so… creepy. Dipper thought with a frown as he compared the sight of the girl smirking coyly from the poster clutched in his hand to his own sister who was turning in her sleep and mumbling softly to herself, her hand reaching out to rub the warm spot that Dipper had left when he had risen up a few moments ago.
His thoughts were interrupted when his stomach growled loudly and he looked over to the pair of backpacks stuffed tight into the corner of the tent that held the sum of his and Mabel's worldly possessions in this unfamiliar place. I hadn't expected that we'd be out camping for long before we started… maybe a night or two at most… Not a lot of food packed, especially if we have to split it between the two of us. No money… and thats considering that they might not even use the same money in this world anyway. Unless we're willing to go dumpster diving or shoplifting at the grocery store we have a pretty hard time limit on how long we can stay here before things get desperate. We should try to avoid staying long in town as much as possible too… it might not be a good idea to alert the Other Dipper and Mabel that we're here.
Dipper couldn't articulate why he felt so strongly about trying to stay out of the way of this universes version of himself. Perhaps it was the way the patrons of the diner had acted around him last night – the nervousness on Lazy Susan's normally placid face, the whispers and strangled silence that had fallen around the other tables when he and Mabel had taken their seats. Glancing down once more at the poster had solidified the desire to avoid them in his mind. It was their eyes. He'd seen eyes like that before, years ago, and had hoped never to see eyes like that again. He was about to ball up the distressing image and toss it aside when something caught his eye that he hadn't noticed the night before in the dark when they had first snatched the paper off the wall. It was a shape in the decorative border of the flyer, all too familiar to Dipper, a stylized hand with six fingers done in gold. To anyone else it might have just looked like yet another occult symbol designed to get potential audience members minds racing with thoughts of the supernatural but Dipper felt a jolt of recognition when he thought back to the old Journal that he'd had years ago. A journal filled with secrets… magic… forbidden knowledge.
A journal that might have something in it about how we could get home. Its a slim chance… but right now its the only one I can think of, short of combing the entire forest trying to find that exact patch of ground that lead us here in the first place, Dipper thought with a growing sense of hope. Hope which quickly turned to apprehension when he realized that if these other Pines had the journal they might not be so inclined to give it up easily.
This might get complicated, Dipper thought to himself as he stared down at the image of the Other Dipper who seemed to be smirking at him challengingly from the flyer in his hands.
–
Elsewhere
Dipper woke gradually from a vivid dream, the details of which unfortunately slipped away before he could grasp them fully. The impressions that remained longest in his mind were of colors, vivid reds and golds that seemed to dance and flare brightly across his inner eyelids. Fire? He couldn't be sure, but it seemed more like a memory than a dream, an impression of himself out… camping?
Odd.
He hadn't spent a night out in the wilderness (at least a night out doing anything as innocent as a simple camping trip) since his great uncle Stanford had taken him and Mabel out when they had first come to stay in Gravity Falls as children. Dipper smiled faintly to himself at the recollection – the old man had been a fool, but a kind and generous one and their time spent with him had been some of the happiest he'd had in his young life. It had pained Dipper that he had eventually become a liability when he had unwittingly discovered the siblings secret relationship and the truth of their magic. Dipper had hoped that it wouldn't have had to come to that, but in the end he was disposed of the same as any other potential obstacle. Dipper had made sure that it was painless though – Stanford had deserved at least that much consideration… he had been family after all.
Look at me, wandering around down memory lane like an old man myself, Dipper thought with a sad smile. He turned to the sight of Mabel as she lay snoring loudly beside him in his bed and felt the sadness drift away. He would have separated us…. torn us apart. She was worth the sacrifice, he thought to himself. We had decided long before that night that all we needed was one another… and to hell with everyone else.
He rose up from the bed and stretched, wincing slightly at the feel of the fresh scratches that she had scored across his back the night before. He turned to Mabel once again and reached out to gingerly run his fingers up her bare arm and across her shoulder to the curve of her neck and was rewarded with the sight of the faint smile that touched the gentle bow of her lips. She could be quite the terror when she was awake, and he knew that he'd have to be on his guard once again as soon as she rose, but in the quiet hours of the morning he could still see those glimpses of her former childlike innocence in her sleeping form and he always took a delight in the sight. It was these reminders of her old nature that she kept buried under layers of artifice and exaggerated cruelty that touched him the deepest… kept him feeling stable in the strange blur that their life had become once they had surrendered themselves fully to the magic that was both their power, tool and addiction.
Enough idling though, he thought with an internal sigh, there's still the business of these anomalies to unravel today. Who knows how long this situation will persist and if there are any gains to be made while they last then the sooner I get started the better.
He made his way down the winding spiral staircase and to the spacious kitchen to search for a suitable breakfast, privately lamenting their lack of servants once again. It's not that they hadn't tried to employ a few people to keep the house they had inherited from Stanford in order, but they usually either quit before too long after being exposed to the strange atmosphere of the manor or they disobeyed the twins strict rules and ended up learning more about their employers than they should have… and then they would 'mysteriously vanish' around the same time that Mabel's rose garden would coincidentally get a little wider and greener. After a few too many uncomfortable interviews with the police had forced them to abandon the thought of hiring someone to watch over the house the Pines twins had briefly made an experiment of enslaving the gnomes that used to infest the forest but Mabel's habit of flinging the small creatures around with telekinesis when she was bored had forced them to be uncharacteristically brave and stand up to their masters in an act of rebellion. It hadn't ended well for them.
Dipper finally settled on cereal rather than trying to make anything more elaborate and as he sat looking out of the large dining room windows at the sun rising over the forests surrounding the manor he considered the possibilities for how best to approach this new mystery. Several fairly reliable location spells came to mind, but he wasn't quite sure how to modify their focus from a person or object to a possible tear in reality itself… a few of the more powerful ones also required some rather rare ingredients that he was sure they didn't have on hand at the moment anyway. I probably would have had a solution by now if Mabel hadn't interrupted my reading last night, he thought as he finished off the last of his breakfast, not that I really mind considering the nature of my distraction.
He would have to go check through the Journals once again to see if they might have held some secret related to this particular situation that he might not have noticed before. Some clue that would prove vital to unraveling the nature of the strange meteor shower and explain the origin of the phenomena. It would probably be easier if I had the complete set, but unfortunately that is not yet the case. He frowned to himself at that old annoyance. Mabel and Dipper had practically turned the town upside down in their search for the final journal over the past three years, but sadly all they had were the "3" book which Dipper had found in a secret spot their first summer here and the "1" journal that had been secreted away in a private study concealed behind a bookcase belonging to dear great uncle Stanford when they had made a thorough search of the house after his funeral. The "2" journal had not yet made an appearance, though he had a few private suspicions about people or places that might know of its whereabouts. He hadn't yet told Mabel of them though since she had a nasty habit of rushing off impulsively at the sign of a clue while he preferred to take a quieter approach – their reputation in town had suffered somewhat as a result of their intense search, but thankfully most people still either loved or feared them enough to not actively oppose them. Not for long anyway.
The Gleeful boy will have to be dealt with soon though, Dipper thought as he made his way to his study and toward the safe where he kept the journals tucked away when he wasn't using them. It was fun at first, having him as an opponent – he was too incompetent to really prove much of a threat to us and watching him get dejected and hopeless after his constant losses was good for a laugh, but he's started to make a pest of himself. I know he was working with that reporter that Mabel took care of last night and if he still has any of the mans research or incriminating data available he could make life difficult for us. That airhead blonde girlfriend of his may also have to go since she probably wouldn't just stand by at let us dispose of her fat little friend without some sort of retaliation. Dipper winced internally at the thought of what Mabel might do if he gave her free reign to finally rid herself of Pacifica, who she harbored a particularly strong hatred of for some inscrutable girl reason. Perhaps I should be the one to handle that job? She's a pest, but even she probably doesn't deserve whatever Mabel would have in mind for her… I'd at least make it clean. A stroke perhaps? No… that might raise a few eyebrows in a girl that young. Maybe drowning in the lake? It's had its fair share of unsolved tragedies over the past few years, whats one more in the grand scheme of things…
He spends an hour or so flipping through the dogeared pages of the leather bound journals, grabbing a pen up from his desk and clicking it reflexively out of habit as he scans the spidery script for some sort of useful clue. A plan forms up in his mind, slowly at first but coming together quickly as he manages to assemble something coherent out of the mess of strange ciphers and odd drawings splattered across the pages. Something like a modified dowsing rod… fine tuned to detect ripples in space-time… sort of like the reverse of a summoning spell? Hmmm… how to put it all together though? Dipper chewed the pen thoughtfully in his teeth before making a few notes in one of the many scribble-filled legal pads scattered across the old mahogany desk – mathematical symbols blurring together with alchemical formula as he tried to make sense of the inspiration that was currently sparking through his brain. A slight miscalculation could prove disastrous, and unfortunately the Gleeful brat had destroyed their great uncles unusual copy machine a few years ago so he had run out of safe ways to test the effects of new spells without an endless stream of willing clone partners at his disposal. True, Dipper had burned down Gideons house as payback but it hadn't felt like a fair trade. Anyone could build a house, but that machine was a work of art, and he still hadn't figured out how to repair it. I really was far too lenient with him when I was younger. Mabel was right, I need to get tougher about this stuff. All at once the mess of idle formula that he has been scribbling out begin to make sense in his head and he bends to his work with intense concentration, all other thoughts banished from his mind. Magic was just like any other science when you got right down to it, though Mabel had insisted to his annoyance that it was more like an art, and Dipper had found his orderly mind took to it as naturally as a duck to water. By the time he felt the bolo-tie shaped talisman around his neck begin to pulse with an eerie warmth that told him that Mabel had awoken and donned her own headband amulet he had already worked out the necessary calculations to construct the device that he was sure would guide them to the source of the rumors of anomalies that had been floating around town. Simple and elegant, Dipper thought with approval as he looked over the formula once more, give it a few hours to get Mabel fully woken up and we should be ready to find the source of these disturbances before nightfall.
–
"Look at me… I mean him… Is he actually wearing a cape? Who does that? Seriously, who wakes up in the morning, looks at their closet and decides 'Yes, this is a fine day to look like a giant tool.'" Dipper whispered to Mabel from their hiding place in the bushes behind the manor, peering in at his Other self through the wide windows.
"Well, it looks like you would if you were evil… no matter what universe you're in I guess you're just a big ole nerd." Mabel teased as she stifled a laugh at her brothers joke.
"Thanks for that," Dipper said flatly, "anyway I didn't say that they were evil per se… just that they don't look totally trustworthy. Probably better to keep out of their way to be on the safe side."
"Dipper, look at them – they are pretty much doing everything but hanging up a neon sign over the house with 'Free Puppy Sandwiches for the 100th Customer' and bathing in unicorn blood." Mabel replied.
"Well it looks to me like they are just packing sack lunches." Dipper joked.
"Sinister sack lunches." Mabel said darkly.
"Look, just because we're in another dimension or whatever that doesn't mean that these guys are automatically evil. Its not like we're in an episode of Star Trek." Dipper replied.
"I was thinking more like Coraline, but its the same basic idea. Jumping right to Star Trek, though, does not help your defense in the 'I am not a big nerd' case." Mabel joked.
"Ugh… are those cowboy boots on his feet? What is he thinking? Get it together other me!" Dipper groaned, pointedly ignoring his sisters needling.
"Hey, at least your evil clone doesn't dress like a slutty magician." Mabel groused as she looked over to her own doppleganger once again with a disgruntled expression.
"Its not that bad." Dipper said, trying hard not to eye the curves of the strange other Mabel's legs in her distractingly short skirt and lacy tights.
"Are you kidding? That getup is super revealing, its embarrassing!" Mabel said.
"Uh… yeah, its just… so awful." Dipper mumbled as he glanced away quickly from the other Mabel.
"Awful? Are you saying I can't pull off that outfit?" Mabel said, changing her tone entirely as as she turned to Dipper and prodded him in the ribs with an admonishing finger.
This is a trap isn't it? Dipper thought to himself, there isn't an answer here that won't get me in some kind of trouble. Its almost like we're dating already, only without the fun parts. Gah! No… bad Dipper. There is no already in the equation – we will NEVER be dating. Get it through your thick head.
"Ummm…" Dipper hummed out, stalling for time before he saw a goofy grin split Mabel's face as she gave him a playful shove.
"I'm just messing with you – c'mon, what kind of sister asks their brother how hot they would look in an outfit?" she said with a laugh.
"Hah… yeah. That would be pretty twisted wouldn't it?" Dipper said quietly. Get a hold of yourself man. Now is not the time for this stuff. I'll deal with my messed up personal problems when I'm back in the real Gravity Falls.
It was almost reassuring in a way that they had fallen into their old pattern of sibling bickering. Apparently even being stranded in a bizarre parallel earth wasn't enough to keep Mabel down for long and her infectious mood had gotten Dipper to feel somewhat more cheered up as well. Or maybe she's just better at hiding it, Dipper thought.
"How much longer do you think we'll have to wait here anyway?" Mabel asked as she settled back in beside him and turned her focus toward the manor once again, drawing the last of the odd gummy candies that she had bought last night out from her pocket and popping it into her mouth.
"As long as it takes," Dipper said unsure of how to really answer the question.
After Mabel had awoken earlier that day Dipper had told her of his theory that these Other Pines (as he'd taken to calling them after Mabel had first made the Coraline comparison last night) possibly had this universes versions of the Journal from back home. They'd talked it over for a while and after they had both decided against just walking up to their house and asking to see it (Dipper had been highly opposed to the idea), they felt that the next best thing would be to just stake out the manor till its occupants were gone and then break in and search the place till they found it. It really wasn't much of a plan as these things went, but as Mabel had a put it: a plan this simple was pretty much impossible to screw up. Dipper had been forced to agree after he'd recalled his own habit of making overly complex strategies that tended to fall apart about 15 steps in, and so they had set out from their camp and through the woods toward the manor with breaking and entering on their minds. Dipper reached up to his neck and felt the familiar weight of the old black iron key that the insane former President Trembley had gifted him with years ago and hoped silently that it would still work on the locks of this other world. He wasn't really sure how they were going to get in if it didn't - Mabel once claimed that Stan had shown her how to pick police handcuffs one afternoon when he was bored, but Dipper wasn't really sure how useful that skill could be on a regular door lock and he wanted to avoid anything as overt as throwing a brick through the window if he could help it. Nothing that would leave any obvious clues, in case this alternate Dipper also had an interest in mysteries and decided to try and track them down.
As luck would have it the twins didn't have to wait much longer before they saw the Other twins exiting the house and heading toward a black sedan parked out by the front of the manor and driving off, but not before making two trips to bring some large bags with them.
What are those two up to? Dipper had wondered to himself as he watched the Other Dipper staggering under the weight of a heavily weighted sack balanced precariously on his shoulders. Maybe they are taking a trip? That would be a pretty handy coincidence at least – and we need some good luck right about now.
They waited a few minutes until the car was long out of sight down the road before slowly sneaking up to the door. To Dippers great relief the Presidents Key slipped easily into the lock and turned without any effort and they were inside in no time, though Mabel had still insisted that she probably could have picked it if they needed to. They found themselves in a spacious room that branched out into various hallways, a large winding staircase off against one wall and beautifully polished hardwood floors under their feet. Various ornately framed paintings and posters lined the walls, offset by strange sculptures and other curios. There were some things here that seemed like they wouldn't have looked out of place in the Mystery Shack, but overall the impression seemed to be one of wealth rather than Grunkle Stans trademark cheapness.
"Geez… look at the size of this place," Mabel said with a whistle, "it makes the Shack back home look like… well, a shack."
"Yeah, I guess these guys are doing okay for themselves." Dipper replied, his eyes taking in the sight of the room slowly, with slightly growing unease. Is that a preserved gnome in a jar on that shelf?
"Alright, now that we're in whats the plan?" Mabel asked. "Do we split up? We could cover more ground that way, this place looks like its going to take a while to search."
"Yeah, but I still think we should stick together in case anything unexpected happens and we need to make a break for it. I'd rather not lose track of you." Dipper said.
"Awww… you really do care." Mabel teased as she gave him a playful poke. "Not that there was ever a doubt about that though." she added in a warmer tone as she reached out to give him a quick one-armed hug.
"Yes, yes – I'm a great brother," Dipper said quickly as he returned the hug. "Now, where do you think we should check first?"
"The kitchen." Mabel said quickly, shortly before her stomach let out a loud rumble as if on cue.
"Really? We break into a strange house and the first thing you think we should do is steal their food instead of what we actually came here to get?"
"Yes! You can't live on candy and stale trail mix forever."
"If we find the journal we won't have to." Dipper argued back.
"Yeah, hopefully not – but c'mon, I think I'd be a lot better at searching with some decent food in me. One quick sandwich and then we can get right to work – what do you say?" Mabel asked pleadingly, turning the full intensity of her puppy-dog stare on him.
Dipper held out as long as he could, about 20 seconds, but relented as he always did in the face of his sisters goofily cute pout and the pair set out trying to find the hall that would lead them to the dining room they had spotted earlier through the windows from the bushes outside. It only took a few false turns before they reached the kitchen and Mabel practically sprinted toward the refrigerator as if it were her lost love coming home from the war. Dipper could only hang back for so long until his own hunger had him there right beside her, with the pair grabbing anything that looked even vaguely good and tossing it onto the counter.
"I still can't get over the weird brands here," Mabel said as she piled various meats and cheeses high onto a slab of wheat bread until the resulting sandwich was so thick that she could barely get her hands around it. She had also heaped practically an entire box of chocolate chip cookies on her plate and was grabbing handfuls of them between painfully large bites of her hastily assembled monstrosity.
"Really?" Dipper asked with his mouth half full of his own slightly more conservative lunch, "We're stuck in another dimension, currently in the house of some incredibly rich and tasteless version of ourselves and stealing their food, and the thing that weirds you out is the fact that those cookies you're scarfing down say Nabisco instead of Nyums on the package?"
"Well that other stuff is weird too, yeah," Mabel conceded, "but its not like we haven't run into weird stuff before. We've traveled in time, we ran into dinosaurs when we weren't traveling in time and I once got high off my mind on illegal German candy in a haunted convenience store – its not like weird is… you know, weird for us… but its the little things that freak me out. The small changes just stick out a lot more to me compared to the big stuff, know what I mean?"
"I guess so, yeah." Dipper said. "I'm still just trying to wrap my head around the big things though… I mean, parallel universes? That's some pretty heavy stuff. How many of them are there? Are they infinite? Is it one of those deals where every choice creates a whole new reality? This is crazy interesting!"
"Well you can be interested in it at the Shack back home after we find the book," Mabel said after she finished swallowing the last bite of her sandwich, "because I want out of this place. We need to get back to where we belong, its crazy feeling like an outsider somewhere that looks like your own town."
The thought brought Dipper out of his excitement about the implications of the weird science-fiction-y mess they found themselves in and back to the matter at hand. He finished off his own sandwich and the pair headed back toward the entrance, deciding along the way to start on the second floor and search it first before working their way down to the more easily escapable first floor. They eventually found the rooms for their alternate selves and against Dippers first instinct they chose to split up and each search their doubles room – Mabel had made a pretty good argument that if they were alike in any way that they probably knew where their Other self would have hid something important.
Searching the room was… unsettling. For every strange thing that he found that confused him (such as the trunk of lovingly cared for stage magician props, or the drawer full of ornate belt buckles) he spotted things that wouldn't have looked out of place in his own room. Familiar books, a DVD of a favorite sci-fi movie, even a dogeared old copy of a Sibling Brothers mystery novel with a number of post it notes stuck between the pages. Dipper cracked open the book and was surprised to see that the handwriting scrawled across the colorful sticker notes was almost exactly a match for his own… though he noticed that the penmanship was just slightly tighter and more elegant than he usually used when just writing to himself. This just feels so… weird. Its like looking at someone naked… but also like I'm being exposed at the same time… does that even make sense? Dipper was in the middle of ransacking the closet of his alternate-universe self, frowning to himself at the selection of odd western-wear shirts and the occasional stage magician style cape that lined the racks, when he heard a soft sound that made his heart catch in his throat. I think that was the sound of someone opening the door.
His pulse raced hard in his veins as he snuck quietly back out to the hallway and found Mabel in the other room standing in front of a full length mirror and holding up what looked to be a very expensive dress against herself with a calculating look. Dipper tapped her on the shoulder and then hastily clamped his hand tight over her mouth to muffle the guilty "I wasn't going to steal it!" that had burst out. He gave her a significant look and jerked his head downward, and the two strained their ears together.
Footsteps. Muffled talking, too quiet to make out any words. Someone was here.
Dipper stalked over to the bedroom window and looked out, only to find to his surprise that the black sedan that the Other Pines had left the house in earlier was nowhere to be seen.
"Mabel," he hissed, "I don't think thats them down there."
"Well then who else can it be?" she hissed back in return, a note of panic in her voice.
"I don't know – it could be anyone. Maybe this universes Soos or Wendy or something?" Dipper replied.
"Maybe." she replied. "What if its someone breaking in though?"
"What, you mean that we ended up breaking in the same day that someone else decided to burgle the place?" Dipper asked skeptically.
"How dare they!" Mabel whispered fiercely. "We ought to call the cops on them!"
"What? Mabel, we're also breaking in here."
"Yeah, but its kind of like our house too so its not as bad." she muttered.
"No, legally speaking its just as bad." Dipper hissed.
"Are there even laws about what to do with parallel universe criminals? Like, are we technically citizens since we weren't born here?" Mabel wondered aloud.
"Are we doing this now? Is this really the time for this conversation?" Dipper asked wearily.
They both froze. The noises from downstairs had stopped.
"Crap, I think they heard us!" Mabel hissed so close in Dippers ear that he felt a not-unpleasant chill run up his spine from the unfamiliar sensation.
"Yeah, sounds like they did." Dipper said when his ears caught the sound of careful footsteps
"What do we do?" she asked as she grabbed her brother by the shoulders and shook him frantically, rattling his already stunned head even further.
"Ok… um… we could just pretend to be them…. I mean, us. The other us. We look the same, maybe they'll buy it?" Dipper said.
"How would that help?" Mabel asked.
"Well, if its someone who knows us… them… then we can try and talk our way out of the house and make a getaway… and if its thieves then they might get scared off and run when they see the houses owners are here." Dipper reasoned.
"Good enough for me." Mabel agreed, and the two stood up and slowly made their way to the hallway as the sounds of voices drifted up the stairwell from down below.
They made their way slowly down the winding staircase, the voices growing louder but still indistinct. There was something oddly familiar about the tone though, but try as he might Dipper couldn't place the speakers. Who is that?
As they reached the foot of the stairs they heard the sound of footsteps coming up from one of the hallways and Dipper gritted his teeth and braced himself for whatever weird conversation was going to come. Okay, just gotta be clever – its like Mabel said, this isn't nearly the weirdest thing the two of us have ever done… I wish I didn't suck at acting though.
A pair rounded the corner of one of the hallways and stopped dead at the sight of Mabel and Dipper standing awkwardly at the foot of the stairs. A boy and a girl, around their own ages. The girl was dressed in a strange hodgepodge of 90's fashion styles and Dipper was surprised to see that the guy was in clothes almost exactly like his own- right down to the colors of their jackets and caps. Both were blonde, though the heavyset young mans hair was a much lighter shade that was almost white, and Dipper was startled to see that the blue eyes that were glaring at him were very familiar… almost like….
"Gideon!" Dipper gasped in sudden recognition.
"Pines!" Gideon growled out as his eyes narrowed in anger.
"Pacifica?" Mabel said in confusion at the sight of her old rival.
"Mabel!" Pacifica squeaked out and ducked slightly behind Gideon with her wide eyes fixed on Mabel in fear.
For a brief moment there was complete silence as the four stared at one another in growing confusion.
"What are you doing here?" they all asked simultaneously, which lead to another beat of silence.
"We live here… Idiot?" Dipper replied, unsure about the 'idiot' part. What if Gideon and I are friends in this universe? No… some things are just impossible no matter what universe I'm in.
"Well… your car was gone…" Pacifica said hesitantly.
"So that gives you knuckleheads permission to break into our house?" Mabel said, rallied by the sight of Pacifica being so unnerved. It was definitely not something she saw often enough in her own world, and she felt a small shameful jolt of happiness at seeing Pacifica cower behind Gideon again at the sound of her voice.
"What gave you permission to go after us?" Gideon said firmly, taking a step toward them.
"Hey, lets not do anything rash here… Look, how about you just leave now and we won't call the police on you." Dipper said calmly, his hands raised in a soothing gesture. It seemed to have the opposite effect though, because as soon as his arms came up Gideon stepped in front of Pacifica with his own arms raised protectively.
"Oh no… we're through running boy!" Gideon snarled, "This is a showdown… we know what you two monsters did to Tobey and we aren't going to let you get away with it!"
"Who?" Dipper asked, genuinely confused.
This was apparently the exact wrong thing to say because at that moment Gideon snapped and charged at Dipper with a furious shout. Dipper quickly took hold of Mabel's hand tight in his own and pulled her up after him back up the stairs.
"So much for that plan genius!" Mabel shouted as they pounded up the steps, the sound of Gideons short puffing breaths growing fainter as he fell behind.
"Sorry, it was the best I could come up with on short notice," Dipper said tersely once they had reached the top floor landing and were hunting around for a place to go next. Gideon could still be heard somewhat behind them, though his footsteps were coming slower. This is why I like more elaborate plans! I probably would have had a contingency for "Get cornered by the parallel universe version of my childhood arch-enemy in a strange house" if I'd just had enough time to work it out. Thank god he apparently still has such a huge sweet tooth in this world too or else he might have caught up to us already.
Having no better plan Dipper dragged Mabel after him to the Other Dippers room and locked the door tightly, searching for something to help barricade the place shut. While he was distractedly wedging an ornate desk chair awkwardly against the doorknob Mabel grabbed tightly to his arm and pointed silently out the window. Dipper turned and with a sinking feeling in his gut he saw a familiar looking black sedan heading up the road and toward the manors driveway.
Oh this is definitely not going how I imagined it earlier.
–
"I still don't see why we had to come all the way back home to get your phone, its not like you even get good reception out in the woods." Dipper grumbled as he pulled the car into the parking lot of the manor.
"Well its got games on it at least – I don't want to be stuck bored with nothing to do for hours in the middle of nowhere while you fiddle around with your spells and charms. I know how much you hate it when I have to find ways to entertain myself." Mabel replied.
"Thats because its getting harder and harder to cover up the results of your entertainment, sister. Blubbs and Durland may not be the brightest police in the history of criminology, but I think even they are starting to get a bit suspicious." Dipper replied.
"All the more reason for us to come back then, it saves us less work later on." Mabel said smugly, and Dipper cursed internally at the way she'd manipulated him into agreeing with her.
The pair continued to amicably bicker back and forth as they wandered up the walkway to the front door when Mabel suddenly clamped her hand tightly onto her brothers shoulder and pointed at the door which he now saw was slightly ajar. The pair turned to one another with hard eyes and nodded once before they stalked nearly silently toward the doorway, their brown eyes taking on a strange teal shine as they drew on the power of the amulets.
"They're upstairs," Dipper whispered after a long moment of concentration. "I think there are three of them… or four? I can't tell for some reason… Their minds feel… slippery?"
"What does that even mean?" Mabel hissed at him in confusion, and he could feel the air around her crackle with power.
"Well if you'd paid more attention to the psychic side of things and not just the pyrotechnics you might have an idea of what I was referring to." Dipper snapped.
"How about this: we each take one of them, you can try and guess the number yours is thinking of and I'll set mine on fire – we'll see which of the two comes back to bother us later." Mabel snapped back, the teal shine over her eyes flaring briefly with her annoyance.
"Enough – we're wasting time out here. Lets go see what our uninvited house guests are up to." Dipper said firmly, and Mabel's mouth settled into a thin line as she nodded once in agreement.
They made their way into the house and could hear the sound of thumping footsteps and confused shouting going on upstairs. There was a crash like glass shattering and a scream and the confused Pines twins turned to one another.
"These have to be the most disorganized thieves in the history of burglary." Dipper said quietly with a shake of his head, and Mabel gave him a brief tight smile.
"Lets go take care of them before they mess the place up anymore- I don't want to spend my free time picking glass out of the carpet." Mabel said.
"If the damage is that bad I could see about controlling their minds and you could make them clean it up. You could even make them eat it if you wanted." Dipper replied.
"Oh brother dear, you always know just what to say." Mabel said with a toothy smile.
"I'll head up first – if any come down the stairs you take care of them, alright?" Dipper asked and when Mabel nodded in agreement he began his slow ascent of the staircase.
–
The fight had dragged across the second floor with Dipper and Mabel ducking into unfamiliar rooms while the Other Gideon and Pacifica followed in hot pursuit, and while they had managed to end up causing quite a bit of damage to the house itself the pair had been fortunate enough to not get injured so far.
The chase had now lead them back to the stairway where it had all started and an ill timed lunge from Gideon had thrown Dipper off balance and sent the two of them tumbling down the winding staircase together with Mabel and Pacifica following close behind them, shouting their concerns. Halfway through their ungraceful trip down the staircase Dipper heard a surprised shout that sounded eerily familiar and then felt another body join in the tangle of limbs that he was currently trapped in. They arrived at the foot of the stairs in a crash and when Dipper blearily rose to his feet on unsteady legs he felt his heart catch in his throat when he recognized his Other self lying groaning on the floor with that ridiculous cloak tangled around his body. He turned and saw the Other Mabel standing just a few feet away and looking at him with an expression of complete surprise on her face, which only increased when she turned her head and saw Mabel running down the stairs to rush to Dippers side to see if he was alright.
There was a moment of complete confusion with Gideon and Pacifica looking back and forth between the two sets of Pines while the Other Dipper and Mabel got to their feet and stared in bewilderment at their doubles. Dipper, injured as he was by the fall, had a clear enough head to take advantage of the situation and took Mabel's hand tight into his own and pulled them through the open front door in a dash toward the woods. They hadn't gone very far before Dipper caught the sound of footsteps following behind in pursuit and he tried to get up some extra speed to lose them, already panting from the exhaustion of the earlier chase.
–
"What the hell was that? Were they escaped copy-machine clones? I thought that we'd already gotten rid of all of those." Mabel asked in surprise as she helped her brother to his feet while he cursed quietly to himself as he sought to untangle himself from that cape that he'd taken to wearing lately.
"I'm not sure," he groaned as he rubbed his bruised head, "but whatever they are, they're getting away… as well as our other uninvited guests."
"Well we can't have that can we," Mabel said with a frown and Dipper felt the air around her grow thick and hot, rippling with the energy coming off her. "Are you well enough to assist me here, or are you going to sit there like a lump and make me handle all of them myself?"
Dipper shook himself once and turned a smirk toward her, "It takes more than a little fall to keep a Pines down." Though not much more… I think I'm half bruises at this point.
Mabel gave him a smile, "Thats my manly man right there," she said as she gave him an infuriatingly condescending pat on the cheek, "Lets go take care of business then. Dibs on Pacifica!"
They raced into the woods and Dipper felt his amulets own powers flowing deeper through his mind with each step. Vision felt heightened – almost like he was aware of new colors that he had never known existed before. Details that he would have paid no attention to before began to leap out at him, as if the very world was screaming its secrets at the top of its lungs. The rush of it, the power… as always he felt that it threatened to overwhelm him, but he mastered it… muted the chaotic blare of sound and color and the sheer weight of all of this information, taking it apart piece by piece in his mind. There, to the left… snapped twigs, scatters of leaves – a single long blonde hair snagged in a low hanging branch, invisible to the naked eye but practically highlighted in neon to his expanded consciousness. A trail.
He pointed down the path silently, his mind too occupied with the agonizing effort of handling all of this new sensory input to be able to form words and Mabel tore down it in a run, her steps coming faster and her feet rising higher off the ground in a series of gravity defying leaps. She was floating before long, outlined in a nimbus of strange turquoise light with her arms held out gracefully at her sides as if she were the lead actress in a performance of Peter Pan. Dipper watched her go with a small pang of envy… he'd never mastered the level of physical control that she had over her own amulet… that sort of magic had come naturally to her. He could barely manage to make himself float after years of practice, yet she had been gliding along through the air after only a few months of receiving her headband. It was something to do with her nature he was sure… her energy, her boundless confidence.
I have other talents to make up for it though, he told himself as he returned his focus to the task at hand. He shut his eyes tightly and concentrated hard, and braced himself for what was to come. Though his eyes remained shut he could feel the sense of sight start to course into his brain. He could see all around him, not with the limited focus of his eyes but from every angle around his body all at once and with perfect clarity. He could even see himself, which was incredibly dizzying, but he was able to navigate well enough due to the hours he'd spent practicing this particular charm. He saw himself grin as he took off through the woods following the subtle clues of his prey. Try hiding from me now.
–
With each step Dipper felt the rising dizziness threaten to overwhelm him, increasing until he felt it strangling the thoughts in his skull like a thick painful cloud. That fall must have messed me up worse than I thought. Don't know how much longer I can keep up… already feel like I want to hurl.
He shot a quick glance at Mabel running alongside him and noticed that her steps had slowed to match his own faltering gait. He was holding her back. Keeping her from getting away. Can't let her get caught cause of me. Gotta protect her.
Only half-aware of his own actions Dipper tried to shake his hand free from Mabel's grip, but she only tightened her fingers on his in response and he saw her give a small shake of her head. She knows. She's not going to leave me behind… but she has to. Can't let her get caught…
He heard footsteps coming from behind now, faint but growing louder. Closing in. With an effort that nearly threatened to knock him off his already unsteady feet Dipper dug his heels into the rough carpet of leaves and jerked his arm free from his sisters grip, causing her to stumble forward. She turned to him but he spoke before she could open her own mouth.
"Go! You run – I'll hide in the bushes or something… we'll meet up at the campground tonight, okay!" he gasped out. Ugh… I think I might have a concussion… how do you know if you have a concussion?
"No way Dippingsauce, you're coming with me-" she started as she reached out her hand to take his again, but when she took a step toward him he gave her a hard shove and sent her stumbling back again.
"Can't run. Gonna barf if I have to run another step… Seriously, I'm going to be okay… just need to hide till I recover. You gotta run though…" he said.
"Why can't we both hide?" she asked, and he heard the catch in her voice. Saw the wetness in her eyes.
"You know why." he said flatly, "Get going."
The footsteps seemed clearer now. Louder. Closer. He saw Mabel turn her head back toward the path they came from, toward the sound. She took another step toward him but he took one back and shook his head.
"Love you Mabel." he said. Feels good to say that. Feels a bit melodramatic too, but a guys allowed to make his big heroic sacrifice a little cheesy if he wants.
"Love you too Dipper." she said softly.
"Then don't make me watch you get caught. Run!" he said.
"No way." she said, resolve hardening her voice. "We're in this together."
"You know, I'm usually not one for drama's but I have to say this is a pretty good scene," Dipper said, but not her Dipper, Mabel realized with a start.
She saw him coming up the path now in an easy jog, a confident smile on his face. The Other Dipper.
"Not great really, the dialogues a bit repetitive, but there's some real emotion here – and honestly that makes up for the quality of the writing." he continued as he came to a stop a few feet from the twins and gave them a quick once over. "What, not even a chuckle?" he asked, a look disappointment on his face.
"Do you practice your villainous douchebag routine in front of the mirror every day or does it just come naturally to you?" Dipper asked as he straightened himself up and took a careful step to place himself between Mabel and the intruder.
"Alright, I confess it was a bit over the top – but my sister and I are in showbiz… we tend to go overboard sometimes. For example, you look like you are pretty much dead on your feet so I wouldn't really need to do this-" he said before he suddenly reached up to his neck and grabbed onto his amulet and pointed a finger at Dipper, who suddenly gritted his teeth and let out a pained hiss before slumping to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut, "-to take you out of commission. Its so much more elegant than just hitting you in the head with a rock though, don't you agree?" he asked Mabel as he turned to her with a happy grin.
Mabel had grabbed up a fallen branch and charged at her brothers attacker, screaming incoherently but before she could take another step toward him he made a quick gesture with one arm and wrenched the branch out of her hand in a flash of blue sparks. A second casual wave of his arm jerked her legs out from under her and she landed flat on her back with the wind knocked out of her. He was coming closer to her now, and she felt her limbs grow heavy as he loomed over her with that strange blue glow outlining him faintly even in the mid-afternoon sun.
He raised his finger and pointed it toward her with that same smug grin on his face that he'd worn during the entire encounter but when he brought his other hand up to his neck to touch the amulet once again he felt a beat of hesitation come over him. Her face. It was Mabel's face. In fear. In pain. No different than her face. There weren't infinite universes, but the number of them was so vast that even to contemplate it would drive most people crazy – but no matter how huge the number of realities there was no world where a Dipper Pines, no matter how monstrous, would ever hurt a Mabel. His arm lowered a fraction and Mabel felt the power that had been weighing down her limbs flicker out.
Mabel's, on the other hand, almost universally tended to play rougher than their brothers – and this one was no exception. With a quick twist of her hips Mabel rammed her feet into the Other Dippers stomach and crotch, causing him to double up in pain and she quickly rose up and ripped the amulet off his neck, recognizing it at last as identical to the one worn by Gideon back in her world. With a quick punch to the head she sent the Other Dipper sprawling and then ran to her brothers side.
Okay, hes still breathing, she thought with relief. Please be okay Dipper… I don't know what I'd do without you. I need you around you big melodramatic idiot…
There were more footsteps coming now and Mabel tried desperately to grab Dipper up and drag him along but it was no use. He was larger and heavier than her and whatever magic that had been used to knock him out had left him as pure dead weight. She braced herself and stood over his comatose form.
Alright bro… my turn to protect you.
Gideon and Pacifica burst out from the bushes nearby, panting and wild eyed with small streamers of smoke trailing off them.
"Alright, I think we lost her." Gideon gasped out, "She got too distracted setting all them fires so we should be in the clear."
"Mabel!" Pacifica shrieked at the sight of Mabel standing not a few feet from her. Mabel noticed that it looked like her eyebrows had been singed off.
"I think its not the same Mabel." Gideon panted as he took in the scene around them and noticed the unconscious pair of Dippers. "Actually, I think maybe this one might be on our side."
"I just want to be on the side of getting out of here!" Mabel said. "Can you guys help me get my brother up? We need to move fast before that Other one wakes up."
"How do we know this isn't a trick?" Pacifica asked suddenly, rounding on Mabel with a scowl on her face.
"We don't got enough time to argue and escape," Gideon said quickly. "The real Mabel's gonna be here any second and she is not gonna be happy when she sees what you did to her brother."
"Hey, I am the real Mabel. Its this one here thats the evil other universe twin or whatever." Mabel snapped.
"What, like on Star Trek?" Gideon asked in confusion.
"Can we talk about this later? I really want to get going before that crazy evil witch comes over and burns us all to death with her magic!" Pacifica snapped, her earlier objection forgotten as she patted out a small flare that had sprung up on the sleeve of her denim jacket.
Suddenly gripped by inspiration Mabel looked down at the amulet in her hand. She'd used one like it before, back in Gravity Falls when she was a kid on her first summer here. Maybe she'd be able to use it now. Gripping the strange gem tightly in her hand she pointed her arm toward her brother and concentrated and was rewarded with seeing a blue glow envelop him and saw him rise slowly off the ground.
"Holy moley, you got one of their magic jewel things! We've been trying to get one of those things off of them for years!" Gideon said, practically jumping up and down in excitement.
"Less talking more running," Mabel said tersely as she motioned Gideon to grab a hold of her hovering brothers left arm while she took a hold of the right, and between the two of them they were able to drag him through the air behind them like a cumbersome parade float.
Worried for her brother, still terrified of this strange world and feeling a strange rush from the eerie feeling of the magic coursing through her veins, Mabel Pines ran.
