To say Dipper was happy and content was probably an understatement. He was ecstatic. Both him and Wendy had a good time at the Arcade earlier that evening and no one had actually interrupted their fun time in any way at all. It was just nonstop gaming and getting his ass handed to him. Not that he minded – no, Dipper gladly lost from the redhead if that meant making her happy.
But it wasn't the fun games that made him feel like he could take on anything that would be thrown his way. It was her cute laughs, her sheepish smiles and her triumphant grins that caused this certain stir in the pit of his stomach. Dipper was sure this had a positive effect on him.
When he got home after his little trip, his parents were pleasantly surprised to see him the way he was. The boy frowned, immediately asking why it would be weird for him to be happy. It was when his mother muttered something about Mabel he lost his big, goofy smile and slumped his shoulders a little bit.
Mabel... He had left her to her own devices within the confines of her mortal enemy. She hated the library more than anything and he never showed up to help her, even though he had promised to stick through it together. Guilt immediately replaced his happy demeanour as he left the living room, telling his parents he would talk to her. Apparently she got home an hour ago and she was in a depressing mood.
His knock on the door was hesitant, light even, but it was there nonetheless. It was audible. No response came and Dipper wondered if Mabel had gone to her friends for a sleepover, but he wasn't about to run off. Maybe she had fallen asleep. He just had to make sure she was alright, as she usually got extremely quiet when something was wrong.
Dipper slowly pushed open the door and took a step inside, letting his eyes scan the room. He found his twin on her bed, her entire body limp and her arms spread wide as she eyed the ceiling as if it had some secret pattern scribbled into it. She didn't lift her head or greet him like she normally did, instead just focussing on the mystery that was her ceiling.
The boy swallowed. Whenever his sister was in a sad mood, she tended to think a lot. Whether she was absorbed in her own little world or just really trying to piece a difficult puzzle together, he could never guess. Mabel only had two modes. Overdrive and, well, no drive.
"Hey... Mabel," he greeted the girl as he walked in further, closing the door behind him with a swift movement of his arm. He stopped at the side of her bed and eyed her worriedly. At first he thought she wouldn't respond, but then he noticed the tears in the corner of her eyes.
"Dipper," she breathed. He had to strain to hear her speak, but he was blinded by guilt once more. "Mabel," he interjected, not allowing her to speak further. "I'm sorry I didn't come to help you study. I was being an asshole and I don't know how to make up for it, but please, please don't cry."
Mabel's gaze found his slowly as she sat up with a lingering speed. Her eyebrows furrowed in a confused glance, but it took her a moment to form a response. "... What do you mean?" she finally asked, blinking away the excessive water in her eyes. When Dipper didn't respond, the brunette let her eyes search through her room for clues, finally landing on her cell phone on her nightstand. Then it clicked.
"Well," she started off, drawing a deep breath of air. She let it go. "I guess we both did something stupid, then." Her eyes fell back to the ground, not daring to look her brother in the eye. If she had, she would've seen the mirrored confusion in them. "I..." she began again, but fell silent immediately after. How was she supposed to tell him what happened? Should she even tell him what happened?
He was her brother. Her twin brother. They went through everything together, even after all these years. She'd be darned if he didn't know about her little adventure.
"Dipper, do you have a moment?" Finally daring to look up, she caught his reassuring eyes. He shrugged, waiting patiently for her to continue, but not before telling her she can take her time. The brunette patted the spot next to her, wordlessly inviting Dipper to take a seat there. "Promise not to get mad?" she asked in an almost silent plead.
Dipper frowned slightly. Was this about her studying? If so, the worst case scenario was that Mabel didn't study at all, and, quite frankly, he didn't particularly care that much. His sister knew that, even though he could be uptight, he wasn't that hard on her. "Mabel, what's up?" he countered, worry now evident in his entire posture. "You never act like this. What happened?"
Mabel backed away from his touch, looking at anywhere but at Dipper as she fiddled with her hands. She remained silent in her seat for at least a minute. "I may or may not have broken a promise and told a secret to someone," she finally admitted after several hesitant tries.
Dipper eyed her curiously. What secret could it be? Maybe the one – the boy gasped. "No. You didn't tell your friends about the Lamby Lamby Dance, did you?!" His eyes went wide and he could feel the chill run down his spine as he thought about the consequences of Mabel's supposed actions. If she had told Candy and Grenda about it, there was no way he would live that down. Maybe the news would even spread and eventually end up at Wendy...
It all made sense. The guilty stares, the silence, Mabel's mood. She had crossed a line by breaking one of their set rules; keeping family secrets a secret. The Lamby Lamby Dance was on top of that list, because Dipper was so ashamed of it now that he was older. He sat back for a moment, trying to comprehend what this meant. If his sister had indeed leaked this particular secret, he wasn't sure how to trust her again.
He was sure he had figured it out by now, waiting in anticipation and shock for the reveal. But Mabel shook her head sadly and Dipper was once again left to be confused. "Then what?" he questioned, his gaze never leaving the brunette for a second. He felt she was hesitating again. After spending all those years together, he got to know Mabel inside and out. Even if her own little world was for no one but herself, he could manage to guess every other thing about her. That was the kind of connection they shared – because Mabel knew Dipper just as well.
So she knew she could tell him what was bothering her. Sure, maybe he did get mad or offended. Maybe he couldn't quite understand her reasoning behind what she had done. But that didn't mean he wouldn't be supportive and that didn't mean he couldn't be her brother.
"I went to the library when we parted ways, but when I rounded the corner I saw this... Demonlike creature attack someone. Before I knew it, I was in between them to protect her," Mabel explained softly. She paused, shifting her gaze from the wall opposite of her room to the floor. Her hands had darted to her bed sheets, clenching and unclenching into fists with the fabric in between her slender fingers. "Dipper, I don't know how I did it," she sighed, looking up to meet her brothers curious gaze. "But I used magic today."
At that reveal, Dipper had to take a minute to let the information sink in. Mabel had used magic. They were a part of a cursed family. Said curse meant a bit of your life got stolen every time you used magic. Meaning...
Dippers mouth fell open. Mabel had used a very, very dangerous method to safe this person. On the other hand, his sister looked completely fine. Hell, she even didn't have any scratches from the fight that happened, so that must mean something, right? Mabel was okay. So everything was going to be okay.
"Are you... Are you feeling anything?" he asked, frowning. "Do you feel different? Does it hurt anywhere?" He reached over to her, but Mabel backed away again. It hurt the boy to see her like that, because Mabel usually never backed away from him. Now she had done it twice in one evening.
"I'm just fine," she hissed. Her sudden anger made him reel back to his previous spot with a straightened back. His hands dropped to his lap. Mabel must've noticed his shock, because her angry frown quickly faded away. "Sorry," she apologized. "I'm just – how come you're not angry? Aren't you disappointed in me?"
When he heard those words, his heart sank to the bottom of his stomach. "Why would I be disappointed?" he cooed, daring to shift ever so closely after all. He smiled reassuringly at her. "You did it to save someone, right? That's not something to take lightly. That's fucking heroic, Mabel!" Dipper made his exclamation even more powerful by throwing his hands up, careful not to hit his sister in the face. Despite the swear, she smiled back at him.
"Now, was that all?" he carefully asked. "If you really did use magic, we might as well try to lift the curse as fast as possible now. I can't have you die on me yet."
Mabel's face told him she wasn't done yet so he remained quiet for the seconds following his question. The brunette rubbed her left arm in unease as she tried to find the right words. "Remember when I said I told a secret?" she responded with a troubled look on her face. Dipper nodded. Then his eyes went wide.
"You told them," he finished explaining for her. "You told the one you saved?"
Mabel winced once, wishing she could be buried six feet underground along with her mistakes. "Yeah," she continued. "I didn't really have a choice... She turned out to be a magician too..."
Dipper couldn't believe his ears. Their family secret, spilled! To an outsider! Their parents were going to kill them at this rate, he was sure. They made a promise, after all, and you don't break a Pines promise.
"She?!" he exclaimed, his mind spiralling into full panic mode. He jumped away from the bed, grabbing locks of his own brown hair in a frantic gesture, and started to pace around restlessly. "Who is she?" His voice cracked. Mabel would have laughed if it weren't for the current situation they were in. "Who did you tell, Mabel?"
Her brother's change in mood caused her to fall into a panic attack as well, though she tried her hardest not to lose it. This was exactly why she dreaded telling anyone, even her own brother. Dipper was patient, but he had his limits and she had just reached it with little effort. If he wasn't going to abandon her now, well, he was nuts.
"... Pacifica."
Dipper immediately stopped pacing around the room. He turned on his heels and caught Mabel's glance. For a moment the room got extremely quiet and neither of them was ready to change that fact. Not until Dipper started to yell again.
"Pacifica Northwest?!"
Mabel winced again.
"You told Pacifica, your archenemy – your nemesis, our family secret? Are you crazy?!"
The boy threw his hands up again, this time signalling defeat. He had to admit that, in Mabel's defence, she indeed was crazy. But until today he had always seen it as harmless, because yes she got herself in trouble – but they always got her out of it too. This time... This time they couldn't.
"Okay, I have to admit I kinda am, but Dipper, she knows things! Please hear me out here," the brunette pleaded. His expression could be best described as baffled. Mabel saw this as an opportunity to continue – as he yet had to cut her off. "Apparently, the Northwest family is head of the Magic Council," Mabel stated. She gestured with her hands as she explained, trying to maintain eye contact with her brother all the while. "Which is kind of a big thing because all the rules and stuff start there. Everything starts there. Dipper, we can use all of that! Maybe that way we can figure out things about our curse!"
At this point the girl was excited about their research. No more fumbling in the dark or pointless scavenger hunts. This time they had all the help they could get, Mabel was sure of it.
Dipper was less ecstatic about this whole idea at first. Rubbing his index finger and thumb along his chin, as if he was deep in thought, he carefully outweighed the pros and cons. Unlike him, however, his sister didn't keep quiet while he was thinking and listed off all the pros she could think of.
"They have a gigantic library! It's filled with all these books about magic, and creatures, and spells – oh they also have an enormous archive filled with all kinds of papers about every known magician! We could always ask Pacifica for –"
The girl couldn't finish what she was about to say. Dipper had turned to her, shoving his index finger to her lips when she spoke of the blonde. Glaring at Mabel he spoke up. "We do not, and I will repeat, not ask a Northwest for help." Turning on his heels again, he walked over to the other side of the room with his hand underneath his chin. "But I have to admit... This Magic Council does sound like it could help us out. How do we get there?"
Dipper faced his sister again. Mabel thought deep about the answer, but when seconds turned into minutes, she quickly gave up and sighed, slouching her shoulders slightly. "I dunno," she admitted. "One moment I was standing close to the library, and the next I was there. Pacifica used some sort of teleportation magic, I guess. She never told me how to get to the Council..."
The brunette glared daggers at her brother when she heard several curses come out of his mouth. She then crossed her arms as she tried to think of a solution. Which was pretty simple, actually. But she knew he would never allow her to ask Pacifica for help. It had something to do with a family grudge or whatever. Mabel started to question why the Pines had this logic to begin with.
"You know, we could shove aside our pride and just ask her," Mabel spoke up. They locked eyes, Dipper's being squeezed almost completely shut as he tried to regard her with a stern look. Unfortunately for him his sister didn't falter in the slightest and glanced back at him with fierce determination. He was bound to lose.
Sighing in defeat, and with a look of disdain in his eyes, he hung his head. "Fine," he said. "But just this once!" the boy piped up, pointing his index finger to the ceiling. His body posture told Mabel there wasn't any room for discussion, but she already claimed this as a small victory for herself. Pumping her fist in the air she yelled out excitedly. The both of them then turned quiet again.
"So..." Mabel was the one who broke the silence. "Does this mean we won't tell mom and dad about my... Situation?" The room suddenly felt tense, and the brunette was back to the careful attitude she had displayed earlier that evening. Dipper almost felt like he could break her with one wrong move, and so he decided to go against the imaginary rules his family had created. If they were going to do this, they were going to do this together. They always had, and they always will.
He nodded once and smiled. "Don't worry, they won't know a single thing. At least not from me."
Mabel smiled back at him with appreciation. "Thanks bro," she said. Not a moment after she stretched, letting out a tired yawn. "I'm glad we had this talk, but we have to get up early and today made me really tired."
Dipper chuckled and agreed. "Yeah, same here. I'm gonna go hit the sack too. Good night, Mabel."
He turned towards the door and proceeded to walk out, but when Mabel wished him good night as well, he paused and looked over his shoulder to the retreating form of his sister. Giving her one last smile, he then closed the door and went to his own room.
Meanwhile Mabel picked out her clothes for the next morning. Or, at least, she was trying to. Her mind was completely elsewhere as she continued the late evening ritual of getting to bed.
How was she going to approach Pacifica?
A/N: And another upload when I shouldn't be working on this. When will I ever learn? Probably never. But I'm so glad you guys are liking this fic that I can't help myself... Anyhow, have some sibling bonding of some sort. I don't have any siblings, let alone a twin, so this is basically me wandering in the dark. I hope the Pines are not too OOC in all of the chapters, but I'm fairly certain this is how they feel about each other.
Thanks for the reviews, faves and follows up until now! I'm really happy people want to read more of this. I hope my writing is not too amateurish.
Next up, we will find out more about the curse! Or do we?