I'm out of witty things to say yet again. Still, enjoy!
Chapter Seven
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"You really thought you could compete with your twin? Oh, dear...someone's been living in their own little world, haven't they?" A terrified child ran down the alleyway of a decrepit and destroyed town, a scene befitting something out of a horror movie, more than anything. "Now, now, I'm only telling the truth...no need to go running scared."
"I'm not scared of you!" The voice was weak and stilted, more like the lie of a terrified child, than the bravery of a fierce teenager. "You've always lied! Ever since I first met you-" T hhg'v elbgm jsn jwtxx npoiklvlrw cwdx rxv.
"Now those were the days! Back when I could be passed off as nothing more than an imaginary friend...my, oh, my, how things have changed! Now I have to go through more...creative measures." The child screamed as a vine shot out of the brick wall they had been pressed against, thorns digging through tender skin and into growing muscles. "Now, where were we, dear- Oh! I remember! We were discussing just how pathetic you are-"
"I am not pathetic! Just because we're twins doesn't mean we have to be identical in every way- We're our own people! Twins doesn't mean clones!" Another vine whipped out, covering the child's mouth and drawing out whimpers of pain.
"Now, now, interrupting is oh so rude. As I was saying...you may not be clones, but you are vastly inferior. Truly, you skipping that grade? It was only because your twin was constantly at your side, explaining what you couldn't understand- Which, I believe, was everything." The child struggled against the vines that held firm, eyes widening in terror at the woman that appeared.
"You never could do anything on your own... You only rely on brute force, don't you? What, exactly, is that supposed to accomplish? Scaring off bullies? Oh, well done. You've managed...what? To get in trouble? To make your sibling look perfect. Face it, little one, you're nothing but the spare. Older? By two minutes, perhaps. Valued? Not even by a drop." The child's eyes widened in terror at the cold hand that rested on a scarred and bleeding cheek, bright pink nails trailing furrows into the skin.
"A shame, really...you're not even beautiful- Not one bit. Cute? Adorable? Lies to make you feel like you're worth something- Which, we both know, you're really not. Face it, if not for your twin, there would be no one willing to even stand next to you...the violent little girl who doesn't know when to given in." Mabel Pines gave the woman in front of her a fierce glare, fingers curled into fists even as the thorns continued to sink into her. "Much like another violent little boy I knew...
"Of course, he, at least, had the adoration of his twin... You? Your twin can't stand you. Just think...if you weren't around...he may have even been better off- Weren't you the one that caused his health complications when you were still nothing but thoughts? Such a violent twin, strangling your brother before even leaving the womb... Tsk, tsk."
Mabel Pines fell out of her bed, choked scream escaping as she wildly looked around the attic she and her brother had been given. Heart racing in terror, she stumbled to her feet, immediately searching out her brother. "Nn...Mabel?" Hearing the small voice, heavy with exhaustion, Mabel let out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding. "What...what's wrong?"
"Nothing, just a silly dream." Padding over to her brother's bed, Mabel soothed a hand over the half-asleep teen's bangs, the other not putting up any protest as he drifted back off. "Just...a dream." Elx fcy hhppdxtbtd ml akomgz ozvx mjlr rhw elbgm.
You can't protect him forever.
"Because I won't let it be true..." Mabel bit her lip, placing a quick kiss to Dipper's forehead before heading back to her own bed, a golden glow out of the corner of her eyes soothing her tumbling and twisting thoughts. That was right...nothing but a nightmare that was already fading. She had nothing to worry about, nothing at all.
She would always protect her brother.
::
"So, Dip Dop!" Dipper raised an eyebrow at the newest nickname his sister had given him, deciding to just ignore it. "It's been almost a week since that lake business and we still haven't seen a proper monster- Unless you count Bill- Which I don't!"
"Well, he does have his own journal entry. So I think he sort of counts," Dipper pointed out, swirling the dregs of milk around in his cereal bowl. "Then again...he does sing top forty songs under his breath when he thinks we aren't listening..."
"This coming from the one who sings BABBA," Mable snickered, smiling at her brother's harmless glare. "Anyways! This is a grave injustice that we must fix! So, what do you say to you and me going into town and doing some recon- Even better, we could go into the forest! Hunt us up some supernatural creatures, and maybe terrorize some gnomes!"
"I..." Dipper trailed off, scratching the back of his head. "I sort of already made plans with Bill, for today... He promised to help me decode this part in the journal- But we can do something later!" Vel pcyxl fg es dbnw Wmtp mym B hzyzav mevd, azy'kx yppvhop.
"So, let me get this straight, you would rather sit inside and read those dusty old books of yours, with a floating night light, instead of going and exploring with your super fun, and awesome, sister?"
"Sorry- It's just-"
"Whoa, Dip, relax. I'm just kidding!" Mabel laughed at the look on her brother's face, already standing up to put their empty bowls in the sink. "Like you said, we can always hang out later. Besides, someone needs to make sure Bill doesn't set fire to things. Again."
"Thanks, Mabel." After a quick hug, Dipper was gone, Mabel left standing in the kitchen with nothing to do. Xaxp lktbp...hlbvj Dxtg fz chn vsmgd K qsnzje ftvm zr?
"Yeah...no problem..." Feeling a flash of hatred at the demon who had stolen her brother's attention, Mabel quickly pushed it away. Bill Cipher was a good demon, and a friend! The week had been spent with him doing whatever the twins wanted, and taking care of them- There was no reason for Mabel to hate him.
So, okay, Dipper was starting to spend more time with Bill than he did with her. She could handle that! Even if they were twins, they should still hang out with others. Besides, Mabel could handle not being first in her brother's life, and she knew Bill would look after him if he had an attack. So it was fine.
Just fine...
::
"DIPPER!" Dipper Pines, having been innocently walking through the Mystery Shack, choked on the soda he had been drinking. It was hardly his fault, considering he had been startled by hearing his name screamed at the top of his lungs. "Good! Now that you're not busy, what do you think of my wax figure ideas?!"
"Wax- What?" Airway finally clearing, although his throat hurt like hell, he looked at the sketchbook that was held in front of him, pages flipping through of ideas ranging from angry clouds to waffles with arms. "Um...I feel... I feel I should have context for this."
"Oh, well, you see, Soos was sweeping, and there was this doorknob, and a door that was hidden, and Grunkle Stan, and wax figures, and then sunlight, and then wax puddle, and then I volunteered." Dipper slowly squinted his eyes, chancing a glance at the demon that was now floating beside him. He was relived to see the demon looked just as confused.
"I...do not know how to respond to that. All I got was that you're...making a wax figure? I think?" At the nod, he continued. "Okay, uh, so. These are your ideas?" Another nod, this time accompanied by the motion of the book being pressed closer. "Um...they're...very pretty."
"I can't decide on an idea," Mabel pouted, Dipper sighing at the heartbroken look. He had been so looking forward to just walking away from this mess, too. Mkknor mttgdr vcmvda, ys?
"Okay, um...have you thought about carving something from real life?" Seeing his sister ready to speak, Dipper quickly cut her off. "Cartoons and your dreams do not count. Same with sugar rush hallucinations."
"Hmph. Take the fun out of real life, why don't you," Mabel grumbled, stalking back over to, what Dipper could now see, was indeed a large amount of wax. A sudden gasp of exclamation had him jumping, hand flying to his chest to calm his racing heart. There was a reason he didn't play scary games very often, after all. "I GOT IT! THE PERFECT IDEA!"
"Shooting Star is very enthusiastic," Bill mumbled quietly, wary of being overheard by the now cackling teenager. "Enthusiastic in the way that makes me fear for my life and sanity- And that's coming from a demon."
"Yeaaah. She's good at the whole freaking people out thing," Dipper sighed, deciding to take a seat against the wall, backpack set down next to him as he rummaged for the journal. "Just go with it, you lose less sanity, that way- By the way, I've been meaning to ask...why does this journal have a three on it? Is it, like, just for show? Or because the number was important to the author? Or was it used as a numbering system?"
"Eeeeh," Bill winced, making a vague hand gesture. "That falls under the category of 'unable to say due to reasons'." Bill let out another wince at the pained groan the teen gave in return. "You're doing good on your own, though! Much better than I would have expected!"
"This would be so much easier with straight answers," Dipper sighed, opening the journal to the decryption section he had left off on, still angered by the fact portions of the book were written in a language he had yet to identify. "Isn't there anything you can tell me?"
"Have an escape plan for everything and don't be afraid to punch first." Dipper gave the demon a silent stare, slowly turning to look at his sister, who gave an encouraging thumbs up from where she was furiously sketching.
"The demon speaks words of truth!" Dipper's only response was to sigh as dramatically as he could manage. He figured he got his point across, since he was given dull stares by both of them. "Alright, Mister Scholar, what's your fight plan?"
"Hide behind you after setting things on fire," Dipper replied without missing a beat, flipping a page in the journal. "It's worked for me so far."
"Mm, this is true," Mabel grinned, Bill giving the girl a curious look. "Dipper's always been sort of sick, and as the older twin, it's my job to look out for him!"
"Yeah, older by two minutes," Dipper mumbled, sticking his tongue out at Mabel's rude gesture. "And I can protect myself, Mabel's just better at it."
"That I am! Now stay here, I need to go get a chainsaw."
::
"Hey, Bill, how come you've been acting all...tired." Bill blinked in surprise from where he was sitting on top of Dipper's head, watching the teen flick through the journal. "I mean, I didn't really notice until yesterday, but you're not flying around as much...and you seem...slower? Like me when I don't get enough sleep-"
"Which isn't saying much, considering you never sleep," Mabel butted in, passing by the two with her arms full of carving tools. "He's right though, you have been a bit...blargh. Something up? I mean, can demons even get tired?"
"Not in your sense of the word," Bill chuckled, amused as always by the twins and their boundless curiosity. "It's more...we get weak, when we don't feed on our...elements, I guess you would call them. Dream demons, like myself, feed off of the energy dreams give off- Think of the baku from Japanese mythology."
"Makes sense," Dipper hummed, reaching up to cup Bill in his hands, who was in his smaller form. "So you'll be better after you harvest dream energy, right?"
"Perfectly!" Bill replied in a chipper tone of voice, uneasy at how quickly the twins had believed his lie. It wasn't that he wanted to lie to them...he just didn't know how to explain that a demon under contract needed more than just their element. They needed life force, specifically human life force...and he wouldn't take that from his twins. Not if he could help it. "So, what part of the journal are you on now?"
"I was studying that page on undead, but I keep getting distracting by this one page. The name seems almost...familiar." Bill hummed at that, using the limited energy he had to float back to Dipper's head, who didn't seem to notice the action. "I know I've never heard it...but it feels like I have, you know?"
"Minds are tricky things, Pine Tree. So, what's the name?" It was probably just a creature he had heard about on tv, or maybe even read in another book. After all, what else could it be?
"Jill Cryptogram." Dipper kept talking, not seeming to notice the sudden silence in the room. "I feel like I should know that name, but I don't! It's really frustrating, too! I mean, there's only two pages on her, and it's all encrypted, and what isn't looks to have been blocked out by marker. There's not even a picture! If I could just find the way to read this, I might be able to figure it out..."
"Hey, Bill...are you alright?" Mabel asked uncertainly, having noticed the heavy silence, unlike her brother. "You seem...not good." B aqai rhw'ci xglzcbgi elx zcxi.
"Shooting Star, Pine Tree, I want you to promise me something." The twins shared a look, each unsure at the tone of voice the demon was using. The demon wasn't his usual cheerful self, instead he sounded like, well, like a demon. "Not a deal...just a promise."
"I...guess? I mean, as long as it's something we can do," Mabel looked to her brother, who nodded in agreement. "What's the promise?"
"If you ever hear that name again...I want you to run."
::
"Do you think Bill is alright?" Mabel and Dipper Pines were getting ready for bed, each brushing their teeth and combing their hair. "We haven't seen him since earlier...I'm starting to get worried." Dipper was chewing on his toothbrush at this point, more out of nervous habit than anything. Mabel, who had been combing her hair, carefully took the toothbrush away.
"Bro, he's a demon. Even if anything happened, I'm sure he'd be fine!" Dipper only chewed on his lower lip, Mabel rolling her eyes as she took her comb and started combing out his tangles. "How did- Is this a leaf? Were you in the woods today?"
"...maybe." That earned him a whack to his head with the comb, Dipper huffing in annoyance. "It was just for a bit. For a thing. I may or may not have been following Bill. I also may or may not have lost track and ended up back where I started."
"I'm sure there's a lesson in there that you need to stop snooping," Mabel grinned, happy when her brother's hair finally looked decent. "He'll be back later, it's night time already, so he probably got sidetracked by all the dreams swirling around."
"Yeah, I guess..." Heaving a sigh, Dipper gave his sister a smile. "Thanks...and you did a really good job on the wax figure, by the way. I'm not sure how...but the glitter made it look better."
"Glitter makes everything look better," Mabel enthused, wicked smile on her face. "Especially my patented Mabel Juice-"
"Nope! Do not wanna know what you put in there! Not after you've made me drink it!" Just as Dipper was about to cover his ears, both jolted at hearing a horrified scream. Sharing a look, they raced to the stairs, skidding to a stop in front of the living room where they saw Stan clutching his chest.
"Wax Stan! He's- He's- He's been murdered!" Dipper looked to the beheaded wax figure, yelping as he caught his falling sister, who had, from what he could tell, fainted. "This is a travesty! I'm calling the police!" Dipper only looked between the two, wondering if he had missed something.
Police and fainting over a beheaded wax statue?
"Why do I have a feeling this summer is just beginning..." Makyo rhw neg dgpt ni?
::
"I'm not going to let you win, sister mine."
"Let the games begin then, brother dear."
Professor Vigenere is Happy to report that Mr. Caesar will be helping.