Chapter 6: Double Trouble!
"Catherine has shape shifted into Mabel with the intentions of causing trouble for the Pines twins. What exactly is her plan this time while posing as Mabel?'
Previously
Catherine's Cabin
With Catherine and Bill's vision intently watching the crystal ball, Catherine smirks, seeing the trouble that her forging is causing Dipper. While the worst is yet to come, she can already see that her initial intentions are being following through.
"Dipper, Dipper, Dipper." Catherine speaks, now resting her chin in the palm of her right hand. "You can search all day and night, yet, you will never know who is truly behind it all. If you think that letter is all I've got, you've got another thing coming dear Pine Tree."
Waving her right hand over the ball, a cloud of blue smog clouds the image in the ball as Catherine turns in her chair and gets to her feet.
"You really have Pine tree on the ropes there." Bill comments as he turns from the crystal ball and to Catherine. "I haven't seen him that tense before. Very clever dark one, very clever."
Evilly giggling, Catherine turns to Bill and places her hands on her hips.
"If you think that's something, then you'll love what I have in mind next." Catherine replies.
With an evil smile, Catherine closes her eyes as her image begins to change, from her hair color to her high heeled feet. With the change complete and opening her eyes, Catherine now crosses her arms across her chest as her vision catches with Bill's, noticing the shock on the triangular demon's face.
"So how do I look?" Catherine questions in a voice that is not her own.
"You—you-Shooting star?!" Bill stammers as he continues looking Catherine up and down. "You look exactly like her! From the hair, to the sweater, and even her shoes!"
"I was hoping you'd say that." Catherine replies with a smile, her shiny braces becoming visible. "If Dipper thinks that my forging his name to a fake love letter was bad, it'll be even worse when the other half of the "Mystery Twins" turns against him. It's time for a little sibling rivalry and while I'm at it, Journal '3' is an interesting read so I think I'll just take it for myself. After all, the last person Dipper would ever suspect is his sweet and innocent sister Mabel."
Currently
Having shape shifted into Mabel Pines, Catherine is observing herself in her full body mirror while straightening her long curly chestnut colored hair by running her fingers through it.
"The perfect image." Catherine speaks while evilly smiling to her reflection, her shining silver braces shimmering in the mirror. "Just what I need to pull this plan off. They will never know what hit them."
"Ok let me see if I got this right Shooting S-I mean Catherine." Bill speaks to the clone. "You've shape shifted into shooting star to start a sibling rivalry between the twins while taking the third journal right out from under pine tree's nose?"
"It's a bit more than that my dear dream demon." Catherine speaks as she turns from the mirror and to the triangular demon. "While it is my plan to pose as that back stabber, this form will get me easy access into the shack and if I am seen by Dipper or even that con man of an uncle of theirs, they will clearly see me as Mabel with no question. After which, I will sneak my way up to the bedroom, nab the book, and if Dipper asks why I have his darling journal, I will simply charm my way out of that conversation much like Mabel does with everything else. However, once that book goes missing, he will have Mabel to blame as to why he can't find it. It's perfect!"
Impressed by the girl's clever plan, Bill nods.
"That sounds very impressive Shooting star!" Bill compliments Catherine, immediately earning a death glare from her with him having given her the nick name that she despises the most. "Oh come on, you can't expect me to not call you Shooting Star when I'm clearly looking at her!"
"Well that maybe so, but get a good look because this is the last time you'll ever see what she looks like, while alive anyway." Catherine replies, lowering her eye lids in a mischievous manner. "And that brings me to my next part of the plan."
Waltzing away from the mirror, Catherine now approaches the desk and takes a seat, her gaze catching with demon's.
"I need you to do something for me while I take care of the first part of the plan." Catherine begins. "I need you to keep that brother of hers busy. I know there is a nightmare or two that he is hiding and I want you to find out what they are."
Mystery Shack
Having put the forged love letter down at Mabel's pleading, Dipper and Mabel are fast asleep, the room extremely dark except for the ribbons of silver light beaming through the windows from the full moon above. Holding tightly onto her stuffed animal tiger, Mabel now turns her back to her brother, but doesn't open her eyes once. The small snores escaping her mouth continue as she falls back into her deep sleep.
On Dipper's side of the room, he is still fast asleep with his cover hanging off the bed and his right arm folded across his chest. Mabel always said that he could sleep through a hurricane with how heavy he sleeps. With both twins out cold, the surroundings in the room bend with Bill Cipher popping up in the room. Looking around at his surroundings, Bill immediately notices both kids are fast asleep. Glancing over at Mabel's sleeping form, a light red blush comes over the demon's cheeks. Quickly shaking out of his slight trance of staring at the girl, Bill turns towards Dipper while lowering his eyelid in a glaring manner.
"Now's my chance to finally see what you're hiding boy!" Bill sneers at Dipper as he floats over to him. "Your mind is as open as an open book so let's see what page I land on."
Closing his eye, Bill's entire body transforms into a dark shadow. He then lowers himself down onto Dipper's head, disappearing into the boy's hair. A cyan blue light now shines behind the boy's eyelids that quickly dissipates.
Dipper's Dreamscape
The sounds of distant yet loud giggling can be heard with Dipper slightly cracking open his tired eyes while turning on his right side. A sigh of exasperation escapes his lips as he settles back in to get comfortable in his new position.
"Keep it down Mabel." Dipper tiredly speaks with a yawn. "You can play with Waddles outside while I sleep."
Having turned over, the distant giggling is becoming much louder with Dipper now opening his eyes fully while sitting up.
"Mabel could you please take that-" Dipper begins fussing, but stops when he turns over to reprimand Mabel only to see that the girl and her pet pig aren't in the room with him. The giggling is getting louder and louder by the second, which is further confusing Dipper. Throwing the covers back and getting to his feet, Dipper climbs out of bed and begins looking around at his surroundings. Hearing that the loud giggling is coming from downstairs, Dipper sprints down the stairs and runs into the den to see Wendy, Robbie, and Pacifica sitting in the area laughing amongst each other. Confused as to why Robbie would be sitting in the shack with his girlfriend and his best friend that sort of despises the teen as well, Dipper quickly looks down at himself but turns his attention back to the three just as fast.
"Pacifica, what are you doing here this late?" Dipper questions, now getting the attention of the trio, each evilly glaring at him for interrupting their conversation. "And Robbie, and Wendy? Why are any of you guys here this late and where is Mabel?"
Flipping her blonde hair over her right shoulder, Pacifica gets to her feet while picking up a piece of paper off of the coffee table. Marching up to Dipper, Pacifica slams it into the boy's chest, her evil gaze unmoving.
"I should be the one asking the questions here!" Pacifica snaps. "You wrote that to Wendy! Don't you dare try and deny it!"
"Pacifica, I thought we cleared up that I didn't write this to her." Dipper calmly replies to the angry blonde. "I would never do anything to hurt you."
"Yea right!" Pacifica fusses back. "The moment I open up and trust you, you turn and hurt me! I should have known better than to date someone of a lower class than me! My dad was right about you!"
Confused by why Pacifica is yelling at him and putting him down, Dipper can feel his heart strings being tugged at by the hurt that his girlfriend is throwing at him. A clear expression of sadness crosses Dipper's face as he stares into the angry eyes of Pacifica.
"Pacifica, why are you saying those things to me?" Dipper asks. "You said it didn't matter what your parents thought of me. You said it was my heart that you loved more than anything."
"Well I lied!" Pacifica sternly replies. "And to show you how much it doesn't matter."
Bringing her right hand into view, Pacifica now slams it into Dipper's chest, her hand clearly digging into the flesh. Pulling her hand back, Pacifica pulls out Dipper's heart, it still beating in her enclosed fist and brings it into both her and his view. Seeing his heart in her hand, Dipper places his left hand over the space where his heart sat.
"Now this is what I call, literally ripping out your heart." Pacifica deviously grins while observing the boy's heart in her hands.
"Good one Pacifica." Robbie instigates from behind her.
"Pacifica, I—" Dipper begins, but is cut off when Pacifica slams his heart to the ground.
"Wendy, do you want to do the honors?" Pacifica calls back to the red head.
"Absolutely!" Wendy agrees as she approaches the two.
"Wendy, you don't want to do that." Dipper speaks to the red head. "We're friends, please don't do what I know you're thinking about doing!"
Smiling deviously to the younger pines, Wendy now stomps on his heart with a shot of pain shooting through Dipper's chest. Falling to his knees, tears now rush to the surface of Dipper's eyes.
"How….how could you?" Dipper whispers, his gaze focused on his heart that is messily laid out under Wendy's boot.
Just then, the door to the forest entrance of the shack flies open with Mabel and Gideon stepping through arm in arm.
"Guess what everyone? me and Gideon are getting married!" Mabel happily announces as Dipper whips around to them to see Mabel showing off her engagement ring. Wendy and Pacifica run around Dipper to crowd Mabel as they observe her shiny diamond engagement ring.
"Oh this is nice and at 4 karats!" Pacifica compliments as she eyes the ring. "Come on, tell us all about the wedding."
Wendy and Pacifica pull Mabel away from Gideon with Gideon looking down to see Dipper on his knees, a smug look crossing her face.
"So boy how does it feel to know that I won over your sister once and for all?" Gideon hisses to Dipper. "I finally won and there is nothing you can do to stop me this time! I told you I'd get her back and now we're getting married. I still have a spot open for best man and it's yours if you want it. I know Mabel would want you to have it."
Fighting back the tears that are threatening to spill down his cheeks, Dipper can feel his sadness escalate to rage. He would give anything to shut that hole in Gideon's face once and for all!
"Mabel and I talked about it and we are thinking of having two children." Gideon continues. "So I guess it's safe to call you uncle Dipper?"
Gritting his teeth, a growl escapes his throat. With the door wide open behind the albino boy, Dipper's vision shifts to catch sight of a girl with long chestnut brown hair that is curled together at the ends, wearing a purple sweater, purple head band, pink skirt, white socks, and black flats carrying the third journal behind her back, the six fingered hand with the '3' facing out in plain view. The girl now turns around to face Dipper, him recognizing it to be his sister Mabel. This impersonator is grinning devilishly at him as she waves his book in front of his vision.
"Mabel?" Dipper asks in confusion, now hoping to his feet. "What is she doing with my journal?"
Turning around, Dipper spots the real Mabel surrounded by Pacifica and Wendy as they go on about her engagement ring. So if she's there, who is this walking away with his journal?
Dashing out the front door, Dipper begins chasing the girl in hopes of catching up with her. Seeing that the 'Mabel' has entered the forest, Dipper picks up speed as he continues pursuing her, not paying attention to the cold mud that is soaking his socks as he runs after the copy. Now passing the large oak tree, Dipper stops dead in his tracks as he begins looking around the area for her.
"Where is she?!" Dipper asks, continuing to scan the area for the Mabel clone. "I saw her come in here so she couldn't have gotten far! I need to get my journal back before she does who knows what with it!"
Still scanning the area for 'Mabel', a large dark shadow now appears behind Dipper with evil eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth appearing on the shadow's face. Hearing the sound of hissing behind him, Dipper quickly whips around and spots the shadow, it now swopping down on the boy, not giving him any time to react to its presence.
Reality (The Mystery Shack: 4am)
Having made her way through the forest, Catherine now arrives at the window to Stan's office. Looking in, Catherine notices that it's dark with not a soul present.
"Perfect." Catherine says, a grin spreading across her face. "Looks like this will be easier than I thought it would be."
Seeing that the latch to the window is pulled up, indicating that the window is open, Catherine grabs a hold of the latch and rips the window frame off of the hinges and slings it to the ground.
"That felt pretty good." Catherine chuckles to herself, now climbing into the window. "He has money so he'll have no problem replacing it."
Stepping onto the window sill under the window, Catherine quietly steps down onto the floor and begins making her way through the office. Slinking around Stan's desk, the copy stops upon seeing the picture of the twins that Stan keeps on his desk. Picking up the picture frame and eyeing the picture of Mabel as she hugs Dipper with a huge brace filled smile on her face, Catherine fiercely growls. Placing her other hand on the other side of the frame, Catherine smashes the frame together as if it were a loose piece of paper.
"I can't wait until I destroy you for good, traitor!"Catherine hisses as she harshly tosses the destroyed frame in the garbage on the right side of the desk. Shaking her head, Catherine now approaches the door and pokes her head out of it, looking both ways down the hall. Seeing no one present, the clone proceeds into the shack.
(Attic)
Waking up from her sound sleep at the sound of her brother mumbling while tossing and turning in his sleep, Mabel sits up and rubs her eyes. Turning to Dipper, Mabel lightly groans at being awakened from her sound slumber. While this isn't as bad as him clicking his pen as he reads one of his "summer books", this is just as annoying!
"If he's going to have one of his Wendy dreams, I wish he would do it quietly." Mabel lightly whines. "I have to sleep too ya know!"
Lying back down, Mabel's stomach lightly growls. Sitting up once more at the feeling, Mabel sighs.
"Well, while I'm up, I might as well grab a snack." Mabel whispers to herself, making sure not to wake her sleeping brother. Climbing out of bed, Mabel tip toes her way to the door, opens it, and slips out while quietly closing the door behind her. Approaching the staircase, Mabel begins making her way down them also tip toeing incase Stan is awake and sitting in the den after her and Dipper made their way to their room sometime ago. Now reaching the bottom of the steps, Mabel peers into the den and notices that Stan is fast asleep in his yellow arm chair while the television is on, the show being Grandpa the kid. Smiling, Mabel proceeds to the kitchen to grab her snack so to settle her growling stomach.
Den
Having made her way from Stan's office, Catherine now enters the den, instantly stopping at the sight of Stan fast asleep in the chair. Shaking her head in disbelief while mumbling something to herself, Catherine begins slinking her way past him, making sure not to create a ruckus that will wake the older man and give herself away. Successfully making it past Stan, Catherine exits the den and upon passing the kitchen, she spots Mabel with her back turned drinking milk. Backing up, a devious grin crosses the clone's face.
"Now's my chance to have a little fun with her." Catherine mumbles to herself.
Having had a few cookies with a full glass of milk, Mabel turns around and spots a spitting image of herself standing in the doorway of the kitchen with a huge brace filled smile on her face and wearing her favorite purple shooting star outfit! Headband and all! Confused at seeing her image, Mabel rubs her eyes and blinks twice to make sure she isn't dreaming at seeing a copy of herself.
"Am I dreaming right now?" Mabel asks herself. To answer her own question, Mabel raises her right arm with Catherine raising her right arm as well while maintaining her wide smile. Hooking the right side of her mouth with her right index finger, the copy mocks her action of hooking her mouth as well.
Bending down to touch her toes, Catherine mocks her actions as she touches her toes as well. Bending back up, Mabel shakes her head with Catherine doing the same.
"I'm still asleep because I'm seeing myself smiling at me." Mabel mumbles to herself as she turns from the copy and begins making her way towards the stair case leading up to the attic bedroom.
With Mabel's back turned, Catherine's friendly smile now turns evil as she quickly scans the kitchen for a weapon. Spotting a rolling pin in the drain board, Catherine quietly grabs it and begins approaching Mabel from behind. Just as Mabel begins climbing the steps, Catherine swings the pin and roughly hits Mabel in the back of her head, the girl collapsing on the stairs as a small bit of blood appears where Catherine hit her. Dropping the pin and staring down at the unconscious girl, Catherine continues smiling evilly.
"That's just part one of what I have planned for you, dear sister!" Catherine hisses. "I can't wait to show you what else I have in store for you! You're just going to love it!"
Turning from Mabel, Catherine begins making her way up the stairs towards the attic bedroom. Now reaching the top of the stairs, Catherine can see the bedroom ahead and darts over to it. Opening the door quietly, Catherine looks in and spots Dipper tossing and turning in bed, but most importantly, spots his journal sitting on the table right next to him. Tip toeing into the room and over to desk, Catherine eyes the book hungrily, her evil smile remaining still as she shape shifts back into her original form. Eyeing the golden hand with the number '3', Catherine can't tear her vision away from it as it appears to be enticing the girl. Scooping up the book, Catherine waves her right hand over the desk where the original '3' sat, an enchanted jinxed copy of Dipper's journal appearing with the evil eye in the middle now shifting into the six fingered golden hand with the number '3' in the middle.
"Just so he can play hero a little while longer until my plan is complete!" Catherine whispers as she now turns to Dipper. "Sweet dreams little brother!"
Breaking into a maniacal laugh, the newly invented clone now phases out of the area with echoes of her evil laugh multiplying throughout the quiet room.
Dipper's eyes now fly open with him sitting up with a start, a cold sweat running down his face with a puddle already sitting on the pillow behind him. His breathing heavy, Dipper looks around the room to see that his nightmare was just that….a nightmare. Looking across from him, Dipper notices that Mabel's bed is empty. Turning to the desk, Dipper's eyes land on the journal, unbenoticed to him that Catherine has left behind her version while taking the original '3' right from under him!
"Whew! It was only a nightmare and Catherine really didn't steal my journal." Dipper calmly states now lying back down in bed. "That nightmare was something otherworldly, but I'm glad it was just that, a nightmare!"
Laying back down, Dipper closes his eyes while trying to drift back into a sound sleep despite the nightmare he just had. In the center of the journal, the golden hand shifts back to the eye which turns to Dipper and slants into a disgusted expression. Turning away from the boy, the eye shifts back into the six fingered hand with the '3' returning to the center of it.
Catherine's Cabin
The black haired girl now phases in front of her desk to see Bill sitting at the crystal ball playing solitaire with a small desk of cards.
"Took you long enough." Bill comments, not taking his eyes off of his card game. "I got back here two hours ago."
"Well, I had a bit of traffic in my way." Catherine replies, now setting '3' book down on the desk. "But I finally have it! I have the '3' journal while leaving behind a jinxed copy so my little brother can play hero for a little while longer while being none the wiser that I have his actual journal! All I need now is '1' and this town will be ours! All ours! Especially once I do away with those pesky mystery twins! Starting with my sister!"
"Oh yea, I've been meaning to ask you Catherine." Bill begins as he turns to Catherine. "How exactly did you end up '2'?"
"It was simple really." Catherine begins as she takes a seat at the desk and nonchalantly places her chin in the palm of her right hand.
Flashback
Gideon now arrives at the Gravity Falls maximum security prison with the guards removing all items from Gideon's powder blue suit pockets.
"I'm telling you, I didn't kidnap Mabel Pines!" Gideon continues trying to convince the guards. "I was protecting her!"
"By chaining her in your basement?" One guard asks, his tone deadpanned. "That's not protecting her, that is kidnapping. You're going up for a long time for that!"
"If you call her, she'll agree with me!" Gideon continues ranting.
With his pockets empty, Gideon is then escorted to the changing area so to receive his prisoner number and orange jumpsuit. The guard at the desk begins collecting the boy's items in a bag with the journal being left on the desk. Picking the book up, the guard now shape shifts into Catherine with her grinning and making her way towards the exit of the prison.
End of Flashback
"And with just one journal left to find, we'll rule this town with the power these journals possess." Catherine speaks, her eyes glazing over with power. "And that's where you come in my dear dream demon. I need you to locate the owner of journal 1 and once you do, leave the rest to me."
*By popular reader demand, Dancing Shadows, the second installment to Behind The Mask, will be posted after BTM is complete!
*Chapter content change: Due to what the rest of the story will consist of now that Catherine has Dipper's actual journal, he will be using the jinxed copy she has left behind in the coming chapters so when I say 'his' journal, it is the copy Catherine left for him and not his original journal.
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