Chapter 4: Replaced!
Important A/N: Due to story overlapping, Nightmare in GF part III for my Always By Your Side fic will be postponed until further notice. I am seeing where this fic and that mini story are closely intertwining and I don't want to confuse my readers. So the next chapters of ABYS will be of different content. Thank you CrazyEnchancerDirectionerGir l8 and Tall T for helping point that out to me. *smiles* For reviewers *Guest and StinkFly3*, I will post your ideas in ABYS after the new chapter has been posted next week. If nothing else, on with the chapter!
'Catherine is determined to carry out Gideon's plan, starting with taking Mabel's place! Just how will this play out?'
Previously
Having washed her hands thoroughly, Mabel now turns off the water and turns to the mirror, which doing so sends a wave of fear through her frame. In the mirror next to her reflection is an exact image of her, only with a devious grin and hysterics in the eyes.
"Oh….no!" Mabel manages to speak, the fear causing her words to get caught in her throat. Quickly turning around, Mabel now spots what was mocking her reflection.
"Hello dear sister." Catherine greets deviously. "We meet again."
"How….how did you…?" Mabel stammers. "How are….are you..?"
"How did I return you wonder?" Catherine fills out Mabel's sentence as she takes a step towards her. "There is an interesting story behind that and I'll be happy to share it with you, but first, there is someone who wants to chat with you. He's real anxious to see you again."
Before the sweater girl is able to respond to the copy, Catherine quickly removes a rose from her sweater pocket and presents it to Mabel. A green mist immediately spews from the flower and right into the girl's face. Mabel now falls unconscious with Catherine catching her before she hits the ground.
"One down, two to go!" Catherine contemplates, now looking down at the unconscious Mabel. "I know someone who will be very happy to see you and with you out of the way, there will be nothing standing in my way of destroying your family!"
Currently
Having gotten Mabel out of her way, Catherine is currently looking at her reflection in the bathroom mirror.
"Now that that pest has been exterminated, it's now time I finished what I started." Catherine calmly says as she fixes her hair. "With me finally in her place, no one will be able to tell which Mabel is which, especially Dipper! He may be smart, but I'm smarter and most of all, have the upper hand!"
Giving herself one more glance over in the mirror, Catherine grins.
"Those ignorant fools would never suspect that the sweet, lovable, and naïve Mabel Pines is plotting to destroy her own family!" Catherine continues, her grin widening. "However, they will soon learn that even the sweetest of people have a dark side to them and the best part is, they don't even see it coming!"
Swiftly changing her devilish grin to Mabel's signature smile and sweet face, Catherine now exits the bathroom and makes her way to the first floor of the shack. With her on the first floor, the clone begins making her way towards the den as she happily skips along the way. Now reaching it, Catherine skips in and notices that Dipper is seated on the floor in front of the chair and has already started eating the bowl out of popcorn that was made for the movie marathon.
"Sorry it took me so long to come back." Catherine sweetly says, now getting Dipper's attention. "Whatever was stuck to those shirts was really hard to get off my hands. But now that I'm here, the movie marathon can begin!"
"I was starting to think you fell asleep on me for how long it was taking you to come back down." Dipper replies, consuming another hand full of popcorn. "With you having done that twice already, I was starting to think you did that this time."
"Don't be silly dipping sauce!" Catherine laughs, now taking a seat next to Dipper. "After a long day of work, I'm looking forward to this more than ever!"
With the girl sitting next to him, Dipper now notices that his 'sister' is missing something.
"Hey Mabes, where's your blanket?" Dipper asks, noticing that the girl doesn't have the blanket she mentioned including. "After washing your hands, you were supposed to grab it before coming back down."
"My blanket?" Catherine asks in confusion.
"Yea, you said you were going get your blanket after you washed your hands." Dipper says. "You normally have it with you whenever we have a movie marathon. You called it your soul mate and refuse to part with it every time we do this."
"Oh right, my blanket." Catherine smiles with a nod. "I decided not to get it this time. I don't want to have to drag it back upstairs when we head to bed. I'll be fine without it this time."
"Are you sure?" Dipper inquires.
"Positive." Catherine replies with a nod. "Trust me, I'll be just fine."
"Alright, if you say so Mabes." Dipper says, slightly confused at his sister's sudden change of mind. "So which movie do you want to watch first?"
"Anything with romance!" Catherine replies with cheer as Dipper grabs the remote. "I want to have sweet dreams of romance and fairytales."
"In case you forgot, we didn't rent any movies with romance this time." Dipper replies. "You told me this movie night we can skip the romance and watch the action movies I rented. This is the first movie night that we finally agreed on this and that you didn't try to sneak any romance films into the mix."
"That's right, I forgot we agreed on that." Catherine nods as she lightly laughs. "Working those long hours in the shop is really starting to make me forgetful. Well broseph, whichever movie you want to watch first, I'll be right here watching it with you."
"That's all I needed to hear." Dipper smiles.
Happy with his sister's agreeable attitude, Dipper now turns on the television with the much anticipated movie marathon starting. With Dipper's full attention focused on the television, he doesn't notice Catherine's expression change from happy to devious.
"Enjoy what time you have now dear brother because your days are numbered and I'm holding the hour glass!" Catherine mentally says as she cuts her vision to Dipper with a devilish smirk appearing.
Elsewhere in Gravity Falls
Seeing nothing but darkness for miles, groaning can be heard as eyes now flutter open. With the vision now coming into clear focus and from what can be seen by those eyes are the surroundings of what looks to be a hotel room, a really expensive hotel room. With her eyes fully open and focused, Mabel now sits up and begins looking around at her surroundings, confused as to how she ended up there when the last place she remembers being is at the mystery shack.
"Where am I?" Mabel asks in confusion, continuing to look around the area. "It looks like I'm in a really fancy hotel room, which means I'm not in the mystery shack because no room in that place is this nice."
From what she can see, every inch of the room is very elegantly decorated. Other than the flight of stairs that is leading to an upper floor of the area, every wall in the room is covered with white marble tiles. The floor is laminated with the areas around the two recliner chairs and the flat screen television's glass stand covered by midnight blue carpet. Seated right next to the television's glass stand is a mini-refrigerator and next to the fridge is a small table with a box of Kleenex sitting on the surface.
"This is pretty nice." Mabel compliments. "Wherever I am, I have to thank the host for taking the time to make sure I was comfortable."
Still looking around the room, Mabel now spots two pictures above the flat screen television of Gideon and his parents. All three members are smiling and from the looks of the background in the pictures, the family attended a party event that was, no doubt, a promotional event for the Tent of Telepathy. Seeing those pictures causes the girl's eyes to widen.
"…No…" Mabel chokes, her words getting caught in her throat. "No! If those are Gideon's pictures, then that means I'm-"
Feeling her panic rising to unimaginable heights, Mabel can feel herself beginning to hyperventilate.
"I've got to get out of here!" Mabel panics. "There is no way I'm sticking around here for another second!"
Jumping off the couch, Mabel takes one step forward and falls to the ground face first, having felt something pull her backwards by her left leg. Now peeling herself off of the ground, Mabel pushes her hair out of her face and rolls onto her side.
"What the heck tripped me?" Mabel asks, now looking at her feet to see what caused her fall. The older pines spots a two inch thick steel shackle latched round her left ankle that is attached to a double reinforced steel chain. The other end of the chain is locked around the left foot of the love seat that she was laying on.
"Why that big ball of mucus!" Mabel snaps. "He went so far as to chain me down so I can't escape! Once I get free, I'm going to rip him in half for this!"
Determined to break free by any means, Mabel frantically begins looking around for something that will be strong enough to break the chain.
"There has got to be something here I can use to break this chain." Mabel says as she continues her search. "Something that is stronger and heavier than the chain itself so I can snap it like a twig."
"Nothing will be able to break that chain, not even extreme heat." A familiar yet eerie country voice says to the girl. "That chain is three inches thick and was created from the strongest metal known to man. I'm pleased to see it's strong enough to keep even the smallest of pets from escaping!"
Recognizing the voice to be none other than the second most hated person in Gravity Falls, Mabel feels her stomach twists in knots. Whipping around to behind her, Mabel notices Gideon coming down the stairs and is carrying a silver tray in his hands. He is wearing his pajamas, which might mean he may not have too long woken up himself.
"I see you finally woke up from your long slumber." Gideon sweetly says, now approaching Mabel and taking a seat on the love seat. "I came to check up on you several times during the night, but you were sleeping so peacefully that I left you be. You looked like just the sweetest thing while you were slumbering."
Getting to her feet, Mabel takes a seat back on the love seat with Gideon now placing the silver tray between them on the cushion. From what Mabel can see, Gideon cooked her breakfast with the meal that he chose for her being crisp bacon, scrambled eggs, golden brown waffles, and orange juice. To top it off and to make her breakfast special, a fully blossomed red rose in a little glass vase sitting in the upper right hand corner of the tray.
"I know after sleeping all night, you must be hungry." Gideon says. "So I brought you your favorite breakfast and it was no trouble at all to cook it for you."
"Sleep all night?" Mabel asks in confusion. "Just what time is it?"
"After eight thirty in the morning." Gideon answers. "I just love the mornings, don't you?"
"But it can't be morning already!" Mabel replies in disbelief as she turns her vision away from Gideon. "The last thing I remember is making plans with my brother to watch a movie marathon like we do every Friday night, but before that I had to wash my hands after leaving the shop because something sticky was on them. After washing my hands, I remember seeing Catherine looking back at me in the mirror."
Having done a double take of the previous night's events, the memories of her encounter with Catherine now comes flooding back to her, which cause the girl's heart to sink.
"I did see Catherine before I was knocked out by the same rose you gave to me on the night I caught you climbing through Stan's office window!" Mabel realizes. "Which could only mean that-"
Now whipping her attention back to the boy, Mabel slants her eyes in anger.
"You're responsible for Catherine returning!" Mabel begins, her anger flaring up. "When you broke into the shack that night, you knocked me out just so you can make a copy of me! Do you have any idea for what you just released onto the town?"
"You know, you can sleep forever and upon waking, still look just so beautiful." Gideon dreamily compliments her. "If only I can hold you in my arms while you sleep, I would make sure no harm would ever come to you."
"Taking me hostage and chaining me down can't be what you had in mind to keep me safe!" Mabel says, now folding her arms across her chest. "Gideon you have to listen to me! Catherine is very dangerous! You have to let me go so I can track her down before she causes any real destruction! Not to mention what she maybe planning to do to my brother and uncle! She has been trying to replace me ever since I made her so she can destroy them!"
"Considering you just woke up, you really should eat something to start your day right." Gideon says as he begins cutting the waffles into small squares. "I wouldn't want my lil ol'guest to starve as that would make me a bad host. I know that neither of us wants that now do we?"
"Will you listen to me?!" Mabel nearly screams. "You have to let me go so I can track down Catherine! You have no idea what she is capable of!"
"And I made your eggs just the way you like them." Gideon continues, still avoiding the subject of Catherine. "Scrambled with just a taste of salt and pepper."
Having cut her waffles into small squares, Gideon now scoops the eggs onto the fork using the knife and presents them to her.
"I know you'll love them." Gideon urges with a smile. "Go on and have a taste. They are to die for."
Now turning to the fork in front of her, Mabel looks the eggs over with an expression of disgust and cuts her vision back to Gideon. Noticing her reaction to his offering, Gideon places the fork back to the tray.
"Alright, let's start off with the orange juice then." Gideon suggests, now grabbing the glass of juice from the tray and holding it out to her. "Sometimes it's best to drink before eating just to get your stomach ready. I know that works for me."
Eyeing the cup of juice that Gideon is offering to her, Mabel now gains an idea. If he won't listen to her one way, she knows a definite way that will get his attention for sure. Taking the juice from him, Mabel takes a big gulp and holds the fluid in her cheeks. Swishing it around a bit, she now spits the juice right into Gideon's face!
"I like my orange juice without pulp in it!" Mabel spits as she places the glass back on the tray. "Looks like you got my order wrong!"
With Mabel making him wear the orange juice, Gideon's temper quickly flares up. Angrily growling, Gideon fiercely smacks the tray off the couch, scattering the food and the orange juice all over the floor. Never seeing the boy this angry before, Mabel lightly whimpers and sinks into the couch cushion.
"You unappreciative little brat!" Gideon snaps, his angry gaze now burning into Mabel's frightened brown eyes. "You never appreciate anything that I do for you! I go out of my way to make you breakfast and you just ignore my efforts to make you happy! You are appreciative of nothing I do for you!"
Quickly overcoming what little fear that has surfaced, Mabel now gets to her feet and stands over her abductor. With the fire of anger burning in her brown eyes, Mabel's angry gaze is now burning into Gideon's black eyes.
"Cloning and then kidnapping me is nothing for me to appreciate!" Mabel retorts, her anger equally matching his. "I don't know anyone who would appreciate something like that!"
"That's right, I cloned you!" Gideon replies as he now gets to his feet. "At first, I cloned you just so I can have a Mabel of my very own, but once I found out what she was capable of, I had every intention to use that to my full advantage! Catherine and I have the same agenda, which is annihilating your family! All it took was a few crocodile tears to convince her that you really did break my heart and that your brother really did turn you against me. Just hearing her declare just how much she hated them really made my day!"
Now learning that Gideon manipulated Catherine into believing a total lie, Mabel's temper quickly surfaces with the thoughts of choking the boy until he passes out from the lack of oxygen coming to mind. Unfortunately, she needs the little demon in order to escape so hurting him will do more harm than good.
"With her now taking your place as the lovable Mabel Pines, it'll only be a matter of time before the Mystery Shack is nothing but a pile of rubble!" Gideon continues. "Not to mention what she has in store for Dipper and Stanford for making you break my heart! The best part of this is, none of them will see it coming because they would never suspect that the sweet and lovable Mabel Pines would ever turn on her own family!"
"You won't get away with this Gideon!" Mabel replies. "Dipper will figure out that who is walking around the shack isn't me! He already suspects that you brought Catherine back and once he discovers how right he is, he's going to bury you!"
"Your brother maybe smart, but he won't catch on fast enough to discover that you were switched with Catherine and if by chance he does, it'll be too late!" Gideon laughs. "With Catherine being the exact replica of you, that makes it perfect for her to swiftly annihilate him while he's none the wiser about it. Bottom line missy: my revenge is long overdue and with Catherine carrying out my plans, the victory will just fall into my lap while I sit back knowing that I don't have to get my hands dirty to get it!"
"And how can you be so sure about that?" Mabel asks as she places her hands on her hips.
"Because I gave her my amulet with a mini microphone and camera embedded in it." Gideon retorts. "That way I am able to see and hear everything she does at the shack. I'm looking more than ever to seeing what she does to your family, especially that busy body Dipper! I call that the finale special!"
"Your amulet?" Mabel says, surprised at what he just told her. "Are you insane?! You don't know what you just did by giving her that! With her already being fueled by power and rage, you just gave her more power than she needs, enough to level this entire town and the planet! You have to call her off now!"
"Now why would I do that?" Gideon chuckles. "She is just making sure we both get what we want. I'll have you, my lovely red rose, back with me and she gets her revenge on Dipper and Stanford because they are standing in the way of our blossoming love. So it's a win-win situation!"
Gideon now grabs Mabel's hands with her quickly snatching them from him. As if on instinct, Mabel harshly smacks Gideon across the face, causing the boy to stumble back a bit.
"I always knew you were twisted, but never this insane!" Mable hisses. "You disgust me and don't you ever touch me again!"
Placing his hand where Mabel slapped him, Gideon now turns back to her.
"You can reject me all you want Mabel Pines, but soon you're going to need me, especially after Catherine slaughters your brother and uncle like helpless little lambs!" Gideon says, his words trailing off into a taunting whisper as he takes a step towards her. "Once you find yourself alone with no one to turn to, you'll come running back to me, begging for me to comfort you, but most of all, wishing that you'd never pushed me to have your family annihilated!"
From the look on his face to the words that he just spoke, something about the boy now strikes fear back in Mabel with her taking a seat back on the couch.
"I will be back down to check you on later on." Gideon finishes, his eyelid now lowering to emphasize his point. "Enjoy the rest of your morning!"
Turning on his slippered heels, the boy now makes his way towards the stairs and soon up them. Hearing Gideon slam the staircase door behind him, Mabel leans back on the couch and releases a sigh.
"I have to find a way out of here!" Mabel sighs. "With Catherine in my place at the shack, there's no telling what she maybe planning for Dipper and Stan, or worse, what may have already done to them."
Mystery Shack (Attic/9am)
Both Dipper and Catherine are fast asleep. The movie marathon the previous night lasted a little longer than both expected and with Catherine not use to being up past midnight like Mabel, that took a toll on her the most. The clone figured that she can think more clearly about revenge after getting plenty of rest. Hey even clones need sleep!
Dipper's eyes now flutter open with him sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Turning his vision to the clock on the night stand/desk, Dipper notices that the time reads 9:03am. Seeing how late he slept makes his eyes widen with surprise.
"It's after nine in the morning and we were supposed to be in the shop two hours ago!" Dipper says, now jumping out of bed. "I never sleep this late, well not until Mabel and I started rising at the crack of dawn to work a job we don't get paid for. I better get up before gruncle Stan storms in here to make sure that I do!"
Turning his attention to his sister's bed, the younger pines notices that she is still fast asleep.
"It's odd that Mabel is still asleep when she normally wakes up when the sun rises." Dipper observes, now making his way over to her bed to wake her up. "I better wake her up before Stan does. Hey Mabes, time to get up. We're late for work!"
Feeling someone shaking her awake, Catherine now hears Dipper calling out to her. Tiredly groaning, Catherine rolls onto her back with her eyes fluttering open to meet the identical brown eyes of Dipper.
"Mabel, we slept in and are two hours late for work!" Dipper panics. "Gruncle Stan is not going to be happy about this!"
"Good morning to you too Dipper." Catherine sweetly greets as she sits up against the headboard. "What time is it?"
"It's after nine in the morning." Dipper answers her. "We better ready to go work before gruncle Stan storms in here and—"
"Hey knuckle heads, time to get up!" Stan shouts to the two as he now steps into their bedroom. "You two were supposed to be in the shop at seven and yet, I come in here to find you two lounging around! Move it slow pokes! I have money to make and your lollygagging won't help things anything!"
Disgruntled with the old man's tone of voice towards the two, Catherine can feel her temper quickly flaring up. Now reminding herself that she can't act on her plans just yet, the copy begins simmering her rising anger.
"We're just getting up gruncle Stan." Dipper replies as Catherine gives the man a disgusted glance. "We'll be down and ready to work in twenty minutes."
"You better be!" Stan replies. "I have a tour scheduled for ten sharp and Soos and Wendy don't come in until this afternoon! And be sure to sweep the floor before opening the shop for business. I don't know what you two were doing down there last night, but that floor is filthy!"
Having said his peace, Stan now turns on his heels and leaves the room. With him gone, Catherine narrows her eyes at the doorway as if the man was still standing there.
"Who does he think he is pushing us around?" Catherine mentally says, now lowering her eyelids. "No one tells Catherine what to do and get gets away with it! Congratulations old man, you just made it to number one on my list!"
"That's just something else to do on this already projected long day." Dipper sighs. "I'm going to go jump in the shower really quickly and then head to work. You wouldn't mind opening the shop without me would you Mabel?"
"No, I don't mind." Catherine kindly replies, now turning to Dipper. "You go get yourself together and I'll take care of everything."
"Thanks Mabes, you're the best." Dipper replies, now engulfing Catherine in a hug. Releasing her, Dipper now makes his way out of the room.
"I better be more careful as I almost blew my cover." Catherine says to herself as she gets to her feet. "But at least I know who I will get rid of first!"
Making her way to the closet, Catherine opens the door and immediately notices Mabel's colorful sweater assortment.
"Yuck! How can she live with herself wearing these horrible looking sweaters?" Catherine scoffs as she begins looking through the sea of sweaters. "With each one that I see it gets worse, but if I'm going to pull off being her, then I have to dress like her no matter how horrible her taste in clothing is!"
Picking out Mabel's umbrella sweater, matching headband, purple skirt, and black shoes, Catherine quickly changes into the outfit. Walking back to the bed to place the Mabel's purple nightgown on it, Dipper's '3' book now catches her eye. Turning her full attention to the book, Catherine walks to the nightstand and picks the book up.
"Hello, what's this?" Catherine smirks, now opening the book and skimming through the pages. Glancing over a select few pages, the clone's curiosity is now peaked.
"Well, it seems that my brother is holding onto one heck of a secret here." Catherine says, continuing to skim the pages of the book. "It's too bad that I now know his secret and it just gives me one more thing that I can use against him!"
Continuing to look through the book, Catherine doesn't hear Dipper enter the room.
"Hey Mabel." Dipper speaks, now scaring the book out of the girl's hands. "I'm going grab some breakfast before heading to the shop. Do you want me to bring you anything?"
Quickly turning around to him, Catherine plasters on a smiles.
"No, I'm fine." Catherine replies. "Thanks for asking though."
Returning the smile, Dipper leaves the room. Turning back around to the book, Catherine gives it a glance.
"I'll be back to look at that later." Catherine says. "If that book contains what I believe it does, then I've just found the another part of my revenge."
Turning on her heels, the clone makes her way out of the room and begins her journey to the shop. Now reaching it, Catherine enters and grabs the broom sitting by the door. Before sweeping the floor like Stan wants, Catherine instead flips the sign on the shop's door to 'Hello, We're Open'.
"There's no reason why I can't sweep the floor and open the ship for business." Catherine says as she begins sweeping the floor.
Sweeping up the entire floor of the shop, Catherine now disposes the dustpan contents in the trash. Placing the broom and dustpan back by the door, she now takes a seat behind the counter on Wendy's stool. Grabbing the magazine that is sitting on the counter's top, Catherine begins reading it.
While the clone peacefully reads the magazine, the ringing of the shop's door bell now catches her attention. Placing the magazine down, Catherine spots the back of a blonde haired girl as she frantically looks around the shop.
"Hi, may I help you?" Catherine kindly greets to the girl, now getting her attention. With the girl facing her, Catherine recognizes her to be Pacifica Northwest, the same girl she encountered at the town's ice cream parlor while out with Mabel.
"You better be able to!" Pacifica snaps, now stomping to the counter. "I am so unbelievably ticked off about how your twin sister blatantly embarrassed me at the ice cream parlor! She must not know who runs this town and it isn't her!"
"Didn't that happen like weeks ago?" Catherine asks in confusion.
"I don't care how long ago it was or wasn't!" Pacifica yells. "You and that freak of a sister better not ever step foot outside of this place again or else you two will live to regret it!"
"Excuse me?" Catherine replies, now cocking an eyebrow at the blonde. "What did you just say to me?"
"You heard me!" Pacifica continues ranting. "I said you two better not step foot outside of this dump or else you will live to regret it! I see that tackiness isn't the only thing that runs in this family as stupidity takes the leads!"
Continuing to listen to the girl's insults, Catherine balls her hands into tight fists as her temper rapidly surfaces. With Pacifica continuing to rant, she now turns her back to Catherine and just in time as the clone's eyes now glow a bright green.
"I wish none of you ever came here!" Pacifica rages on. "Just knowing that I have to look at you freaks every day ruins any chance that I may have at a good day!"
Not being able to listen to the blonde's insults any longer and with her anger now at its peak, Catherine angrily jumps from behind the counter and pounces onto Pacifica. Roughly pinning the blonde's shoulders to the floor, both girls are now face to face with Catherine's angry emerald glare sending a shockwave of fear through Pacifica.
"You spoiled little brat!" Catherine dangerously hisses, now wrapping her right hand tightly around the blonde's neck. "How dare you speak to me that way? If I wanted to, I could end you right now and no one will hear you scream!"
Having grabbed the left over turnkey bacon that was sitting on the table, Dipper is sprinting to the shop so not to give Stan another reason to bark at him. Now running in, the boy immediately halts at the sight in front of him with his eyes widening in shock.
"Mabel, what are you doing?!" Dipper shouts.
I knew one day Pacifica's bad attitude would get her in trouble and who knew that that day was today? I guess now she'll think twice before she insults the Pines family again! With Dipper still in shock at what he is seeing, will he step in and save Pacifica or let her suffer at the hands of Catherine? Keep reading to find out the answers in chapter 5! Next chapter: Dipper becomes suspicious of Mabel's odd behavior and enlists help in gathering the facts!
Last a/n: On my profile page, there are two links to Deviant Art in which two authors from this site created art for my Child of Destiny and Always By Your Side fics! Thank you guys and as always,
Review Please!