Chapter 7
The Big Bad Wolf walked into the dungeon, where Peter now sat with Soos and Prince Charming.
"Have you three been getting acquainted?" asked the wolf.
Prince Charming spit at the wolf's face, and the wolf lunged at him. Suddenly, Merlin appeared and grabbed the wolf's tail before he could reach Prince Charming.
"Now, now, don't let them get to you," said Merlin. "We still need them alive."
"Sorry, boss," said the wolf.
"You're lucky I was watching from my crystal ball," Merlin said to the prince. "Otherwise, I'd be cleaning up whatever was left of you."
"Why didn't you come down here yourself?" asked Peter.
"I don't particularly enjoy talking to regular humans," said Merlin. "And while I have a talking wolf, I might as well put him to good use."
"These humans should be grateful just to be alive," snarled the wolf.
Prince Charming prepared to spit on the wolf again, but Merlin waved his hand, and Prince Charming was unable to open his mouth.
"What's wrong?" asked Merlin. "Wizard got your tongue?"
The wolf laughed.
"I know you haven't been eating, so I doubt you'll miss that mouth of yours much, anyway," said Merlin.
Merlin turned to Soos and Peter.
"What about you two? Will you join this fool in starvation?" asked Merlin.
"Well," said Soos, "I could use a little more of that squirrel meat."
Merlin laughed and made a plate of squirrel meat appear in Soos' lap.
"Enough for three," said Merlin, right before he and his wolf disappeared.
"I thought you were going to join this hunger strike with us," said Peter.
"I'm sorry," said Soos. "My stomach does the thinking instead of my brain sometimes. I promise I won't eat an ounce of this squirrel meat."
An hour later, Soos had finished the entire plate.
"You aren't very good at hunger strikes," said Peter.
"It doesn't matter, anyway," grumbled Prince Charming.
Peter and Soos looked at Prince Charming with surprise.
"You can talk again!" exclaimed Peter.
"Yeah," said Prince Charming. "I've been able to since Merlin left. Just had a lot on my mind."
"Why did you say it doesn't matter?" asked Peter.
"Because once we're on the verge of starvation, Merlin will just pop right down here and fill our bellies with magic. He'll let us suffer until then, but while he needs us, we aren't going anywhere," said Prince Charming.
"Then why did you suggest the hunger strike in the first place?"
"Because I wanted to feel like I was doing something. I promised Snow White that I'd find her, and I won't be able to find her until I get out of this dungeon."
"Where do you think Snow White is?"
"I don't know. This is a very large land. She could be anywhere."
Several flights above them, Mabel watched her brother turn the spinning wheel absentmindedly, broken pieces of straw all around him.
"You okay?" asked Mabel.
"Soos is going to die tomorrow," said Dipper. "And there's nothing I can do to stop it."
Mabel didn't know what to say. She looked out the window. It had been dark for several hours.
"We should get some sleep." she said. "There's no point staying up all night dwelling on this."
Dipper nodded. He then laid on the pile of straw with Mabel, and they slowly fell asleep.
A sudden, bright light woke them up just minutes later. The light dimmed to reveal a triangular one-eyed creature wearing a top hat and a bow tie.
Dipper gasped. "Bill Cipher?"
"The one and only!" said Bill. "How have you two been?"
"Well..." started Mabel.
"I'm just kidding. I don't care," said Bill.
"How did you get here?" asked Dipper.
"I'm an interdimensional being," said Bill. "Coming here is no different than you going to your local coffee shop."
"So we're in another dimension?" asked Mabel.
"Yes you are!" said Bill. "And you've chosen quite an interesting dimension to go to."
"We didn't come here intentionally," said Dipper, annoyed.
"Yes, you got here through a book," said Bill. "I've been watching you ever since your first adventure in that forest. I heard Merlin's spiel about 'everyone having magic inside of them', and I'm sorry to tell you that it simply isn't true. Some people do have magic inside of them, but even in this dimension it's super rare, and Arthur only got his because of the Holy Grail."
Mabel got excited. "The Holy Grail can give people the ability to do magic?"
"Yeah, but only one person can drink out of it every hundred years," said Bill. "And it's been maybe a year in this realm since Arthur found the grail."
"How do you know all this?" questioned Dipper.
"I know a lot of things," said Bill. "Like the fact that there were two visitors before you, and one of those visitors found himself in the exact same situation you find yourself in right now."
Dipper raised an eyebrow. "What was that visitor's name?"
"His name was Walt Disney," said Bill.
"Walt Disney? The movie guy? You're crazy!" said Dipper.
"I am crazy, but I'm also telling the truth," said Bill. "When he was 12 years old, he read from the same book Mabel did to come here, though he was with an older cousin. He never told anyone about it, but I saw it with my own eye."
Dipper wasn't sure whether to believe Bill, but he also wasn't sure why Bill would lie.
"Why are you here? Really?" asked Dipper.
"Well, ol' Walt needed outside help to get that straw sewn into gold, and you're getting that same help," said Bill.
"Who's helping us?" asked Mabel.
"He doesn't want you to know who he is yet. All you need to know is he wants to stop Merlin just like we do," said Bill.
"What did Merlin ever do to you, anyway, to make you want to stop him?" asked Dipper.
"He's trying to get to your dimension and take it over," said Bill. "And I called dibs on your dimension."
"How is he planning to get there?" asked Mabel.
"Once you finish the last story, you'll find the book again, and it'll take you back to your dimension. However, since three people came here through the book, only three people can return, and I'm pretty sure Merlin wants those people to be him, his wife, and the Big Bad Wolf," explained Bill.
"Well, we're not going to let that happen," said Dipper.
"Yeah, Merlin's going down!" said Mabel.
"And after we're done with him, we're taking you down, Bill!" said Dipper.
"You're free to try," said Bill. "But this is probably what will happen if you do."
Bill snapped his fingers, and Dipper's face melted. Mabel's face did the same, and Bill laughed. Suddenly, Dipper and Mabel woke up, and the pile of straw they were sleeping on was now a pile of golden cloth.
"What the," started Dipper.
"Somebody must have done this in our sleep," said Mabel.
"Wait," said Dipper. "Did you have the same dream I did?"
"If your dream ended with both our faces getting melted, then yeah."
Dipper sighed. "At least Soos will be alive a little longer."
Merlin appeared, and he smiled when he saw the cloth.
"I knew you could do it," said Merlin.
Dipper clenched his fists. "We want Soos back."
"You're in no position to make demands," said Merlin.
"You know I have magic in me," said Dipper. "How do you know I won't do to you what Arthur did to you?"
"Because you don't have the nerve," said Merlin.
Upon hearing that, Dipper's fists loosened.
"Don't miss me too much when you're gone. You'll be seeing me again soon enough," said Merlin.
Dipper and Mabel were back in the forest seconds later. Dipper was wearing green clothes now. He had a bow in his hand and a quiver of arrows strapped to his back.
"You must be Robin Hood!" said Mabel.
"Well, at least I wasn't turned into a fox or something," said Dipper.
"Where do we go now?" wondered Mabel.
"There's only one place we can go," said Dipper. "Back to the castle."
"Are you sure?" asked Mabel.
"As sure as I'll ever be," said Dipper. "Come on. Let's get our friends back."
Author's Note: Another relatively short chapter. Sorry you had to wait so long for it. One thing that excited me about this chapter was bringing in Bill Cipher, and he's definitely someone you'll be seeing again. Since school has started, I can't promise I'll keep churning out a chapter a month, but I would like to get the next three chapters out by the end of the year. I resisted going into another backstory this chapter, which is one of the reasons it's shorter than I thought it would be, but expect to hear more about Walt's time in fairy tale world, because it's a story I would really love to do. Also, expect to find out about Dipper's mysterious helper in the next chapter or two. I originally planned to have Dipper "sleep-sew" while he talked to Bill in his dream, but I thought that was unrealistic even for a story about fairy tales, so I just used a character I planned to introduce later on, anyway. Stay tuned for that!