Chapter 10: The Ultimate Nightmare!
Alternate Title: The Land of Darkness!
'Dipper has finally cornered Catherine, but the tables have just as quickly turned on him as multiple versions of his sister have him cornered! Even worse, Bill has arrived on the scene! Will Bill and Catherine have the upper hand?'
Previously
Getting to her feet, despite how painful it is, and raising her hands to the air, the pink paint that is covering the walls in the room now turn black as they begin to bleed like blood pouring from an open wound. Noticing the room's sudden change in atmosphere, Dipper begins looking around in the inky blackness that is now surrounding he and Catherine, noticing white scleras of slanted evil eyes awaking in the darkness. The light that is emanating from his shield illuminates the beings that now step out of the darkness and begin surrounding him, Dipper's heart almost stopping and dropping into his chest at who is he seeing.
"Ma-ab—Mabel?" Dipper quietly questions, noticing multiple versions of his sweet sister evilly glaring at him as they now fully surround him, their brace filled mouths twisted into devious smirks.
"Surprised to see the one person you thought was always in your corner turn on you?" Catherine cackles. "Not so loyal now is she? Welcome to your worst nightmare Dipper Pines!"
Continuing to look shoulder to shoulder at the copies of Mabel that have him surrounded, Dipper swallows the lump in his throat.
"Oh boy." Is all the boy can say.
Bill
"Ugh! That was too bright!" Bill complains as he enters the hallway containing Mabel's memories while rubbing his eye. "And shooting star really needs an upgrade in her dating preferences! Those dream boys are horrid and their voices are just annoying! Synthesized music? Ugh! Forget about it!"
Finishing rubbing his eye, Bill now notices where he floated into with his vision landing on the door to Mabel's fears. Placing his hands on his triangular sides, Bill's eye shifts into a look of deviation.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Bill speaks. "Shooting Star actually has fears, surprising. Well then, I think I'll just take a quick look around in this little room of hers as I'm sure there is something of use in there. One mind shattering nightmare coming up!
Currently
With many versions of his sister now surrounding him with looks that can kill upon contact, Dipper swallows the lump in his throat, unsure of what to do next. Catherine, on the other hand, is enjoying Dipper's submissiveness to his own nightmare! He went to track down Catherine to stop her from conjuring a nightmare in his sister's mind and now he has to face his own?
"I guess the term 'forever' doesn't have the same meaning it us to now does it dear brother?" Catherine continues cackling, an eerie, almost sickening smile spreading across the clone's face. "As in, your sister will always be behind you forever!"
Continuing to look around at his many angry sisters, any icy weight feels as if it has settled into the boy's stomach, unsure of how to handle being surrounded by the many Mabels, his worst nightmare.
"How could you Dipper?!" One Mabel speaks from right in front of the boy. "How could you let Catherine turn me over to Gideon?"
"Mabel, I had no idea that happened." Dipper stammers in response. "I couldn't tell the difference between you two! You two looked exactly alike!"
"So if something would have happened to me, you wouldn't have cared?! Is that it?!" Another Mabel standing next to the one in front of him now speaks.
"All you care about is Wendy and you can care less about me!" A Mabel from behind Dipper speaks, her angry glare piercing through the walls of his shield. "She's all you ever care about, am I right?!"
"No Mabel, that's not-" Dipper continues, but is cut off by a Mabel to his right.
"Liar!" That Mabel shouts to him, her soulless eyes catching with the boy's scared gaze. "As soon as we got to Gravity Falls, you were just going to DITCH me for her!"
"I'm just the silly little girl that you are tired of protecting is that right?!" A Mabel to his left adds in. "Answer me!"
The Mabel to his left balls up her fists and now roughly slams them onto the walls of the shield, the shield looking as if it will collapse under such pressures if it is done enough times. Seeing the shield wobble from just that one hit, Dipper can feel his blood run icy cold. Who knows what will happen to him if his sister, in that form, gets a hold of him?
"Don't LIE to me!" The Mabel in front of him shouts as she slams her fists onto the wall of the shield where she is, it wavering from the hit. "You will always be there for Wendy more than me!
"No, Mabel, never!" Dipper speaks up quickly. "You are my sister, Wendy is my friend. No one will ever come before you!"
"Then why at the pool, you cared more about your life with her then helping me with getting Mermando back to his family?!" Another Mabel standing next to the one on his left speaks, Dipper whipping to her.
"I had a job to do Mabel! You know that!" Dipper replies to that one. "I could have lost my job!"
"Everything is always more important than ME!" Another Mabel shouts from the southeast, her now banging on the walls of the shield, the shield weakening from the hit.
From that one Mabel slamming her hands on the shield a minute ago, the other Mabels surrounding the boy now join in on slamming against the shield, even with their shoulders, so to get at him, their angry gazes still glaring at him as if wanting to rip him apart limb by limb!
"Well, I can see that you have your hands full so I'm going to leave you two alone." Catherine nonchalantly speaks. "Sibling rivalry is best left to the siblings to handle!"
Bursting out into a full evil cackle, Catherine now phases out of the area, leaving behind a purple mist trail in her wake and hundreds of angry Mabels ready to tear Dipper apart at will!
"Catherine, get back here!" Dipper shouts out to the clone, despite the many Mabels screaming at him. "I'm not done with you!"
A Mabel from the northeast of the circle now slams her fist against the shield, it wavering wildly and now shattering. With the shield gone, Dipper is completely exposed and is left to fend for himself against the oncoming onslaught.
"I wish I was never your twin!" One Mabel from behind Dipper hisses, him now feeling a pair of hands harshly shove him forward to the ground.
"You're the worst brother ever!" A Mabel from in front of him growls, him now looking up at her. "And I'm going to make sure you never get the chance to hurt me again! Ever!"
A sickening eerie smile forms on that one Mabel's face with the others surrounding Dipper breaking their circle from around him and beginning to make their way towards her. One Mabel behind another now walks behind the Mabel in front of him and with each Mabel walking behind that one, that one Mabel is growing rapidly in size, her gaze never leaving Dipper's, the boy becoming terrified with each passing minute at seeing the growth spurt that one Mabel is getting from the others. The final Mabel of the circle now walks behind that one, her height reaching its maximum with Dipper having to crane his neck just to look up at her.
"How does it feel to answer to the alpha twin now?!" Mabel's demonic voice speaks to Dipper, her now scooping him off of the ground and bringing him into her view as her eyes change from ghost white to narrowed crimson red. "I'm taking charge of things from now on brother!"
Feeling her grip tighten around him, Dipper looks away, doing his best not into look into the evil eyes of his sister or the dreamscape version of her.
"You've done everything to make me feel lower than you and now you're going to feel just like I always did!" Mabel practically yells, her baritone voice echoing throughout the empty room as she tightens her grip on Dipper, causing the boy to scream out in agony from the squeeze.
"Can I just say one thing?" Dipper squeaks out, now catching with her gaze while racing through his mind for something to say to try and lighten her mood so he doesn't become a victim in her dreamscape. "Did you do something different with your hair?"
Bill
Focusing his eye on the door that leads to Mabel's fears, Bill's eye shifts into a devious expression with him snapping his fingers, which opens the door. Floating inside the room, the door closes behind him with the first thing the demon noticing are Mabel's worst fears being projected along the walls of the room as if they are a film in a drive in movie theater. Seeing the many memories playing from the girl expressing how terrified she is to her memories of dealing with her clone, Bill begins rubbing his hands together, a blue flames now engulfing them.
"Well well well." Bill begins, his eye darting between the many fears. "It appears that Shooting Star isn't as happy as she wants everyone to think! However it shouldn't surprise me that even she has things she's afraid of and I spy with my little eye something very valuable that would do that job I have in mind."
Focusing his eye on the nightmare Mabel had of Catherine chasing her in the darkness with a hatchet and then cornering her against the wall (Always By Your Side chapter 11), Bill raises his hands in front of him, the nightmare now lifting off of the wall to right in front of the demon as if he is projecting the memory from his own body.
"I just found your ultimate weakness Shooting Star!" Bill taunts. "Say good bye to your once innocent mind!"
Now extending his arms out in front of him and just as he is about to touch the nightmare to expand on it, Catherine phasing into the area and speaking to him stops the demon cold in his tracks.
"Bill Cipher!" Catherine speaks up, her tone less than enthusiastic with Bill now whipping to her. "You were sent on a mission and that was to find the owner of journal '1' and where do I find you? Here! What are you doing here and did you ever complete your mission?! If you think for one moment that you are going at this alone, you are sadly mistaken and will truly know what the wrath of Catherine is for trying to take over this lead!"
With her anger surging wildly through her, purplish flames now surround the clone's feet and hands! Bill fully turns to her and notices just how furious the clone is with him.
"Whoa Catherine relax, I had something else better in mind." Bill replies as he removes his hat, wipes the top with his right wrist, and places it back on his head. "I did locate the owner, but I figured that if I hit Stan where it truly hurts, he'll refuse to put up a fight when I locate the memory and take the journal right from under him! He's really protective of Shooting Star so if I shatter her mind, making her a puddle of emotions and insanity, he'll be so distraught over trying to help her that his mind will be wide open, thus making it easier to locate that memory."
Hearing what Bill just said, Catherine begins calming her nerves, surprised at hearing that Stanford Pines, the same man who she nearly killed while posing as Mabel, is the owner of '1'.
"Stan is the owner of journal '1' is he?" Catherine says to herself, now tapping her right index finger to her chin, being careful that her sharp nail doesn't leave a bruise. "That's surprising in an ironic way, but I do see your point. Bill, my friend, you are a genius."
"Hey, even there is a method to my insanity." Bill replies with a laugh.
Walking in front of Bill to the other side of the fearful memory Bill chose to expand on, Catherine smirks as she watches Mabel cower in front of her while she holds the hatchet above her head ready to bring it down on Mabel with a glint of madness in her eyes.
"This will be perfect to bring little miss perfect to her knees!" Catherine smirks. "That's a particularly good memory for me! Join me Bill, won't you?"
Outstretching her arms in front of her, Bill joins hands with Catherine, wild blue flames now engulfing their combined hands. Closing their eyes at the same time, the demon and clone begins focusing on the nightmare Bill has chosen, each getting a picture in their mind of what they want that one memory to mentally do to Mabel. Concentrating hard on it, a purple mist now surrounds the memory, it then turning into full blown purple flames that begin incinerating the memory. In Catherine's thoughts, she is imagining Mabel cowering in the corner covered in purplish blue bruises from her face, to her neck, and even her legs that the clone is responsible for while Catherine is standing over her, enjoying her suffering and fear.
"I told you I'd win sister!" Catherine gloats, a glint of madness appearing in her eyes.
In Bill's thoughts, he is imagining Mabel on her knees as hot tears are running from her puffy red eyes while she is begging him to make a deal with her as her younger by five minutes twin is lying behind her with a thin stream of crimson is running from a deep gash on his forehead right below his birthmark. The boy also has a blacked and swollen left eye, a split lip, and a bruise on his right cheek that is barely visible due to how Dipper is lying on his right side. Bill's eye is focusing on the young girl, it shifted into a satisfied expression as he watches the girl beg and plead with him to save her twin brother who is slipping away by the minute thanks to the blow to the head he received.
"Bill, I promise you anything!" Mabel continues pleading to the demon. "Just please save my brother!"
"Anything at all you say Shooting Star?" Bill replies, his voice almost mocking the girl.
"Yes!" Mabel shouts. "Anything!"
As the memory is going up in smoke, the room the demon and clone are in now shakes much like an earthquake's aftershock, which doesn't throw their concentration off in the least bit. With the memory now completely incinerated, Catherine and Bill open their eyes and separate their hands.
"And the trap is set." Catherine says with a smirk. "Now you go retrieve that memory while I head back to watch things unfold. This will be a pure delight!"
"Off to go retrieve journal '1'!" Bill speaks to Catherine. "With Stan doing all that he can to keep Shooting Star from slipping away due to her new found insanity, this will be fun!"
Lifting into the air high above Catherine, Bill now vanishes with the surroundings of the room wobbling like Plexiglas upon his exit, leaving behind him a blue flame trail. Taking a look around the room, Catherine notices the many fears Mabel has that are still being projected on the walls now change to the one memory that she and Bill focused on.
"It looks as if I did win sister!" Catherine Cackles. "Enjoy our ultimate nightmare to you!"
The clone phases out of the area and just in time as the wood from the room's ceiling begins raining down, indicating the deterioration of the area.
Dipper
Still in the grasp of his giant imaginary sister, Dipper is struggling to free himself from her grip, but with each attempt he makes, the giant tightens her grip with the threat to squeeze out what air he has left in his lungs!
"Mabel, if you just listen to me, I promise you that I can explain everything!" Dipper chokes out through her death grip. "Catherine put those thoughts into your head, I would never abandon you!"
"I'm done listening to you!" Mabel growls with a scowl on her face. "Now you're going-"
The giant's thought is abruptly cut off as a searing pain now shoots through her head, her hand opening and dropping Dipper at her feet. Dipper watches as the giant grips onto both sides of her head and shut her eyes tightly with her knees now buckling from being unable to stand any longer. Seeing her falling to her knees, Dipper quickly dashes out of her way so not to get crushed underneath her, despite the pain in his ribs from nearly being crushed to death.
Giant Mabel howls in pain, her ear piercing screams of agony echoing through the room, which causes Dipper to cover his ears due to how high pitched it is. With each howl of pain the giant releases, that Mabel is shrinking in size with each Mabel that she is composed of separating from her and vanishing from sight while also holding their head and screaming in pain. With the last Mabel now separating from that one, the former giant removes her hands from her head and opens her eyes, turning them to Dipper. Uncovering his ears with the howling having stopped, Dipper looks to the former giant and notices that her eyes have changed from crimson to pure oblivion black. Her eyes are empty and lifeless, which is honestly scaring Dipper with each passing second he is staring into her face. A look of pure horror now comes over her face as her skin is changing from the healthy hue he is use to seeing to a sickly pale with sizable bags appearing under her eyes.
"He…help….me!" The Mabel speaks to him as she reaches her right hand out to him with hope. "Dipper…..I can't….stop…them! Help….me!"
Continuing to reach out to him, Dipper notices that the girl is beginning to melt away like ice in the sun on a hot summer day, her legs melting away the fastest and her shoulders, left arm, and head beginning to add into the puddle that is becoming his sister. Seeing her falling apart right in front of him is tugging at his heart strings, him feeling like he has failed in saving her from her tormentors.
That Mabel's right arm and what's left of her head now falls out of its place and right into the puddle, joining the rest of her melted form with tiny bubbles springing up on the surface of the puddle.
"M….Ma..bel.." Dipper quietly speaks, watching the Mabel puddle vanishing from the floor. The room begins shaking wildly with parts of the ceiling now raining to the ground and on top of Dipper. Looking to the ceiling, Dipper notices a yellow triangle shape with one eye staring down at him and as quickly as he noticed it, it vanishes from sight.
"You failed her Pine Tree!" Bill's voice whispers to Dipper. "You failed her!"
Pushing back what sad emotions surfaced, they quickly become replaced with a feeling of determination, him determining to put an end to Catherine and Bill's dreamscape escapades once and for all, no matter what it takes! If defeating them in the dreamscape didn't work, then face to face confrontation in Gravity Falls is his next and final step! While luring Catherine out of hiding and into Mabel's mind was a success, now he has to lure her out in the open in reality, but how?
With his body beginning to vanish from sight, a blue aura now surrounds him with the boy completely vanishing from this sister's crumbling dreamscape!
Gravity Falls (Catherine's Cabin)
A purple mist appears in the middle of the room, it quickly disappearing to reveal Catherine. Dusting off her dress, the clone walks to her desk to her crystal ball, but before she can pick it up, the front door to her cabin flies open to reveal Gideon!
"You!" Gideon shouts to the clone, her whipping around to him.
Mystery Shack (Attic)
Dipper now appears back in the chair next to Mabel's bedside unconscious. His eyes now flutter open with him quickly sitting up. Looking ahead of him, Dipper notices the mess Mabel's bed has become with the covers hanging off of the bed, her pillow is on the floor along with her bed toy, and she huddled in the corner of the bed by the headboard with her hands on her head while stammering to herself. Her eyes are rapidly darting from side to side while shivering as if she is freezing cold.
"Mabel?" Dipper speaks, the girl now focusing her wide paranoid vision on him. "Mabel, speak to me!"
"Dipper, she's come back and she brought him!" Mabel finally speaks. "They are after me! They want to kill me and next they are coming after you! She's come back! Dipper, you can't let her hurt me! You can't!"
Tears now stream out of the girl's frightened eyes as she now curls into a ball on her bed, breaking out into a full blown sob.
"I don't want her to hurt me anymore Dipper!" Mabel speaks to him through her sobs. "She nearly killed me once!"
Seeing how shattered his sister has become and watching her cry in the ball she has formed, the feeling of guilt hits him once more at not being able to save her from Catherine and Bill. While traveling into the girl's mind so to stop Bill and Catherine from doing this to her, all they did was slip through his fingers, especially Catherine so what was the point if he couldn't prevent this? Getting to his feet, Dipper climbs on Mabel's bed and to her, gently pulling her to him despite her being resistant in him trying to comfort her. Wrapping his arms around her, Dipper feels Mabel grip onto his shirt she cries into his shoulder.
"I'm going to make them pay for this, that I promise you Mabel!" Dipper gently speaks to her. "I let them get away once, but I refuse to let them get away a second time! They are going to pay dearly for doing this to you!"
Dipper begins rocking back and forth on the bed with Mabel, to comfort her with his mind racing a mile a minute on how to put an end to Bill and Catherine's terror in reality. Searching his mind for the perfect plan, an idea now hits him, one that makes the boy shudder to his very core. He is going to find a way to stop them, even if it means teaming up with one person he despises the most to do it!
*New chapter of Gideon's Endgame to be posted next week and trust me when I say it's going to be big! And my story 'Always By Your Side' will be updated after I watch a few episodes of season 2!
Review please!