"Say it again!" The pyramid shouted, "Keep saying it!"
"Mabel," Dipper gasped, "Mabel, Mabel," he couldn't breathe, "Is this death?" he whispered.
The pyramid clapped its hands once, "No, it's life! You, Dipper Pines, have found a reason to survive!"
The painful convulsions had stopped, but Dipper found he was still floating in his empty dream world with the little pyramid.
"What happened?" he asked, looking at his hands, which had stopped blinking in and out, "Did it not work?"
"No, it worked," the pyramid said with a wave, "You're just still unconscious."
Dipper breathed out a huge sigh of relief, "So I'm fine then?"
"Yes… and the book is as well."
There was a pause.
"Umm…so, when do I wake up?" Dipper asked, glancing around the vacant space surrounding him.
It was Wendy who heard the phone ringing upstairs.
"Hello?" the threesome had been up the stairs and around the phone in a split second, but Wendy had reached the receiver first.
Soos and Mabel could hear Grunkle Stan on the other end, but couldn't make out what he was saying.
"It's Wendy," Wendy said.
There were more noises at the other end.
"No, I'm at the Shack, what were you going to say?"
More noises.
"Oh, that's wonderful!" Wendy exclaimed, brightening up, "Okay, okay, I'll tell them, bye." Wendy set down the phone and took a deep breath.
"Dipper's going to be okay!" she said so quickly it could have been mistaken for one word.
"Yes! I told you so!" Soos shouted, pumping his fist, then offering Mabel a high five, but Mabel was already wrapped around Wendy in a tight hug, tears streaming down her face.
"Uhh…" Wendy said, looking to Soos for help.
Soos made a motion that indicated Wendy should hug her back.
Wendy awkwardly wrapped her arms around Mabel, looking at Soos the whole time. Soos gave her thumbs up.
"Thank you," Mabel whispered, "Thank you, Thank you, thank you."
Dipper shot up with a gasp.
"Dipper!" there was a chorus of voices that shouted his name. Dipper glanced around to see he was surrounded by familiar faces in an unfamiliar place.
"Uhh…" Dipper glanced around. He had a feeling he should know where he was, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"Am I…in a hospital?"
"It's a long story kid," Stan said quickly, "How ya feeling?"
"I feel…fine," Dipper said slowly, "What's going on?"
"Dude, you almost died on us!" Soos said, waving his arms.
"What…died?"
Wendy elbowed Soos in the arm.
"UF! I mean, we were really worried," Soos corrected, rubbing his arm.
"How did I…" Dipper broke off and placed a hand to his forehead with a groan.
"Hey, are you okay?" Wendy asked with concern.
"Yeah…a headache," Dipper said slowly, "Can I talk with Mabel for a second?"
Mabel had been standing guiltily behind the others, watching from a distance. She started when Dipper said her name.
"Sure, sure," Stan said, getting up, "The doctors are probably going to want to look at you again though."
Soos, Stan, and Wendy one by one got up and stepped out of the room, not without a backwards glance at the twins.
"Dipper I…" Mabel blurted as soon as the door was closed.
"Mabel," Dipper interrupted, rubbing his head, "Did you…burn the book?"
Mabel bit her lip and hung her head, "Yes," she whispered.
"Oh…" There was a pause, "Did I…did I die?"
"Your heart stopped, yes, but the doctors brought you back," Mabel said, not looking up.
Dipper looked sadly at his sister, then slid away from her in the bed. "Mabel," he said softly. Mabel looked up, and a tear fell from her eye. Dipper patted the bed beside him and Mabel climbed up next to him.
"Dipper, I'm sorry!" Mabel blurted, tears flowing down her face, "I was stupid and I made a bad decision, and you almost died because of it! I'm so sorry!"
"Mabel, it's over," Dipper stopped her, "I'm okay. It's all behind us now."
Mabel sniffled and exhaled shakily.
"I think we're running out of time," Dipper said, looking away, "The pyramid…"
"Who?"
Dipper paused for a second, "The book…the book is talking to me…in my thoughts, even when I'm not asleep."
Mabel looked at him sideways.
"I didn't remember my dream just now…" Dipper explained, "But there's a voice in my head, the same voice as in my dreams, and it's talking to me."
"What does it say?"
"It told me about what happened…how you…the book got burned, and how I…died…and that it brought me back just now."
"But I burned the book! It's gone!" Mabel protested, "How is it still talking to you?"
Dipper reached under the sheets and pulled out the tattered volume.
"No!" Mabel cried, slamming her fists on the bed.
"The book and I are connected somehow…If I die, the book will be gone forever, and if the book dies…I guess I got lucky this time."
Dipper paused and scowled, "Shut up," he muttered.
"What?" Mabel asked, unsure of how she should respond.
"Huh? Oh," Dipper rubbed his forehead, "The book has a sense of sarcasm."
"Wait, it was talking to you just now?" Mabel asked holding up her hands.
"Yeah," Dipper said slowly.
"Oh…can you talk back?"
Dipper was silent for a moment, and then he held his head and groaned.
"I can, but whenever it says something, it hurts my head," Dipper explained. "Ow!" he let out a sharp cry, "Shut up!"
"Don't worry Dipper, once you embrace your position as the book, the pain will go away,"
Dipper held his head in his hands as the voice spoke.
"Stop fighting it. You will become me, it's unavoidable, you might as well make it less painful."
"I'm not going to become you!" Dipper screamed in his thoughts, "I don't care what you do to me, I will not become your slave!"
"You have no choice!" the pyramid shouted back, causing an extra painful throb in Dipper's head, "You already belong to me!"
The voice filled Dipper's ears as he lurched over in the bed, he couldn't hear Mabel shout his name, or the others as they burst into the room. His vision flashed between the blue-green sheets below him and a world of darkness, with long-necked creatures screaming and biting at him, all with the pyramid, tall as a skyscraper watching and shouting, "You belong to me!"
Mabel curled up, shivering horribly in the waiting room chair. Her great uncle had her hugged to his side, and Wendy and Soos sat together in silence. There were others in the room, an elderly couple, holding hands, and a handful of parents with little children playing on the floor around them. Mabel barely noticed the sounds of the kids playing with the wooden trains, or the snoring of a man in one chair, she could only hear the screams as the awful scene played over and over in her head.
"Shut up!" Dipper shouted, covering his ears.
"Dipper?" Mabel was concerned now, but Dipper didn't seem to hear her.
Dipper cried out and lurched over in the bed, gasping for breath.
"Dipper! Dipper, what's going on?" Mabel screamed. Stan, Soos, and Wendy burst into the room.
"Mabel? Dipper?" Stan shouted, growing more and more perplexed as he examined the situation.
Dipper screamed and Stan rushed over to the bedside.
"Mabel, what's wrong?"
"I don't know! He said there was a voice in his head, and that it was giving him a headache, and then this!" Mabel cried.
"Soos! Don't just stand there, get a doctor!" Stan shouted.
"Yes sir!" Soos didn't even make it out the door before a small group of people clad in scrubs burst into the room.
"What happened here?" one demanded.
"We don't know! He started acting up all of a sudden!" Stan shouted, pulling Mabel out from the bed.
"Never! Never!" Dipper screamed shaking violently, "Stop! Leave me alone!" He gasped and struggled against nothing.
"Clear out!" one of the doctors ordered, motioning to the visitors, "Get out, we'll handle this!"
Two doctors held either of Dipper's arms, but he still kicked and screamed in agony, shouting to something that wasn't there. Mabel gasped as her great uncle dragged her out of the room. Dipper's gaze stared off blindly, but there was no mistaking the fear in his eyes.
"Dipper!" Mabel let out one last scream before the door to the room was slammed shut.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed and/or favorited my story!
Not Guest Matt. Dude, read the author's notes. They're really short, and would have explained everything! There's no need to call names!