Ford looked exhausted as he talked with the nurse, "I don't know his previous injuries, we met him a few days ago. It's not like he came with a entire portfolio with his medical information. I don't think I even know his full name." He sighed, pushing up his glasses, "Can I call my brother so I can tell him we're here? Maybe he can tell you more."
Mabel opted to refocus her attention toward Dipper and Quell. The young brunet currently quizzing Quell about every thing that came to his mind, if in slightly more hushed tones.
"Just follow me and I'll answer your most integral questions, alright?" Quell resigned, turning heel, she walked away. As if she knew for certain they would follow. Mabel and Dipper shared a glance and, with a soft shrug, followed after.
"Alright kids-" Ford turned his head and frowned at the lack of the young twins, "Where'd they go? They're 16, it shouldn't still be this hard to keep track of them."
"How much can you tell me about this spirit of Destiny, why does is its arrival marked with darkness, does it have a name? How old is it?" Dipper persisted, somewhat jumpily as he walked backward outside the building with Quell and his sister, "Ooh! Can it-"
Quell groaned, "I just need to get Billy out of his own mind, which means I need to be in that room, preferably without the possibility of someone interrupting."
"What are you planning on doing?" Dipper said, folding his arms, slightly disappointed his questions were being ignored.
"I'm going to travel into his mind magically. Pull him out of it."
"Oh, oh, we did that once, with my Grunkle Stan," Dipper said with a smile, "You know that spell too?"
Quell sighed, "Yes, I do, but-"
"I should go with you," Mabel said.
"I would prefer I go alone," Quell started.
"I could go too," Dipper said, "You'll need all the help you can get if there's literally a spirit of Destiny working against us."
Quell frowned at them, "Billy's mind isn't always the most friendly of places."
"Even more reason," Mabel said.
"You sure do like to dive into trouble," Quell grumbled.
Dipper shrugged, "Our Grunkle Ford should be able to get us in there alone, he can keep an eye on us too and pull us out if we need to. He knows all about it."
Mabel watched Quell intently as the Dream Demon laced and unlaced her fingers in different positions, "Fine," she huffed, "But, I warned you."
Dipper smiled, "Now, I wanna know everything you know about this spirit."
Quell sighed heavily, "His name is Moros, a Greek god, the eldest child of Nyx the goddess of Night. He, is the god of Destiny and Doom."
Mabel blinked, "Destiny and Doom?" She folded her arms, "That's one thing you might not have wanted to omit the first time you mentioned it."
Quell shook her head, "Anyway, Moros is a being of darkness, like his mother, and is invisible and incredibly dark, you can't see him."
"But he does make everything around him dark, right?" Dipper said with intense interest.
"Yes. Now, my brother was stupid enough to try to challenge destiny, and, for a while there he was able to escape Moros-"
"How'd he do that?"
Quell closed her eyes, "That, I can not tell you."
"What was he trying to prevent?"
"I can't tell you that either!"
Dipper frowned, "Well sorry," he huffed.
"No, my apologies, I'm more used to being the one asking questions and I do not enjoy when I am asked a question I can not answer."
"And your brother's currently unconscious because of a Greek god of Destiny and Doom, I'd, be acting about the same," Dipper said with a glance at Mabel.
Mabel smiled, "Actually, you and Quell are kinda similar. Ha! Billy and Quell are kinda like a gender-flopped version of us! They're technically twins and everything too. Even though one of them is adopted..."
Quell frowned at her.
"Or the other way around," she muttered slowly.
Dipper giggled, "Yeah, a little bit. Billy sure does act on the more annoying crazy sibling side of things."
"Hey! I'm going to take personal offense to that!" Mabel said with a playful punch of her brother's arm.
Quell slowly turned to a reflective smile, briefly glancing at the ground.
"Well, if it's just me and the Mindscape, then shouldn't I be able to be my triangle self while I'm here?" he muttered to himself, as he walked around the Shack's interior.
"You know that a human in the Mindscape is still human in the Mindscape," Quell said with a smirk. Bill glared at her and sighed in defeat.
"So," he sighed wandering somewhat pointlessly, "Still squishy human in Mindscape, that's nice."
He frowned, "Well, if my subconscious wants me to find the lovely Nightmare Realm, then that's what I'll do, I just need to get out of my upper layer of thought and into the actual Mindscape itself." He tapped his arm, "Where's that door? It's always moving." He teleported to the doors within the Mystery Shack of his mind, all of which looked like it's normal appearance. The mind of the Dream Demon enjoyed tricking it's visitors into thinking everything was simple and normal. He shook his head, "Not inside huh?"
"Come on Grunkle Ford," Mabel groaned.
Ford kept a stern look on his face, "I'm not letting you kids enter someone's mind- especially if there's literally a spirit of Doom keeping him unconscious."
"We did it to Grunkle Stan without much of a problem," Dipper muttered under his breath, "We even fought Bill."
"Wait-what?"
Mabel laughed, "We didn't tell you about that one?"
Ford sighed, "And who went with you, I'm assuming it wasn't just you kids."
"Wendy and Soos came with us," Dipper said with crossed arms, "Quell says she's done it before too, so we all know what we're doing."
"And I say it's dangerous," he glared at Quell, "For all of you."
Quell let out a growl of a sigh, "Then come with us," Quell said, "You'll be able to help, you have a few more years of experience than most."
"Then who's going to stop people from coming in?" Mabel asked.
Quell smirked, "I have a friend who might be able to help."
Mabel raised a brow.
"Her name's Maggie, she's from town. All I have to do is call her."
Ford glared at her and sighed, "Well, if your friend is willing to do that, then fine. We'll wait until she comes."
"No, the longer Billy's unconscious the more time Moros has time to set his state as destiny," Quell said, "That much should be clear to you." she leaned her weight to the left, "You can all go ahead of me and I'll come after you once Maggie comes. I know the spell, I've done it by myself before, I know my brother's mind, you won't run into too much trouble immediately unless you've threatened him."
Ford weighed the options, leaning back slightly, "Fine. I better see you there within ten minutes though."
Quell smiled, "I'll be there faster than you'll know it."
Quell pretended to get on her phone until they were gone and she was alone within room, "Okay, thanks Maggie, this isn't the end of our deal though, if you wish to extend it-"
"I'm fine with what we have," the girl said as she took possession of her own body, "I just have to trick all these nurses and doctors to ignore what's going on in there until you come back?"
"Yes," Quell said, "You're a smart girl, it shouldn't be difficult. Play the upset sister card if you must."
"You got it. I'm a theater geek, it'll be a fun exercise in method acting," Maggie said with a smile.
Mabel looked around, she thought Bill Cipher's mind would look, less normal. Maybe she thought that the Dream Demon's large expanse of imagination would, be more fun up close and personal. Maybe she thought his mind was a bit like Wierdmaggedon. Yet, instead, they arrived within the forest of Gravity Falls, eerily quiet and chill. Trees were the same, the sky was a light morning blue. It was calming and unnerving at the same time.
"It's definitely not like Grunkle Stan's mind," Dipper muttered, "I guess Billy likes the outdoors?"
Ford frowned, looking around with his hands wrapped behind his back, "Time here passes by much faster usually, so we should probably not wait up for Quell."
"I'm already here," Quell announced herself. She put up an illusion to allow the humans to continue to see host's form over her normal one.
Ford nodded, put slightly at ease she did not appear as a demon.
Dipper tilted his head, "Well, where do we need to go then?"
"Well, at the current moment, we need to look for the darkest part of his mind. Moros is probably there."
"It's a forest, we've been put in the middle of a forest," Mabel complained, "Grunkle Stan had like, doors, how do we navigate?"
Quell looked around, "It's Gravity Falls. This is the place he feels at home at the moment, the last place had collapsed, so it makes sense that his backup is Gravity Falls."
"Wait- collapsed, you saying the happy place in your mind can be destroyed?" Mabel whined, "That's so sad!"
Quell sighed, "That's not- My brother's case is different." She caught Ford's curious look and she shook her head. "I'll explain it later."
Dipper sighed, "Kay, but where are we going?"
Quell interlaced her fingers in contemplation, "The Mystery Shack." She said pointing in the direction they needed.
Ford raised a brow, "What makes you think that?"
"It's his lodging," Quell began as she started walking, "he's most likely to be there himself, so, we can just have him lead us to Moros himself. He'll have a better idea of where that would be."
"He'll actually have a continuous form of himself in his subconscious?" Ford inquired, with a suspicious tone of intrigue in his voice, "I didn't think that happened."
Quell sighed, "Well now you know that sometimes it happens."
As they wandered the paths along the trees, it became slightly more and more evident this was not the true Gravity Falls. It was too quiet, the air too stagnant and chill. The sky never shifted, cloudless. Darker, most certainly darker then it should be. Yet, the main problem, was a looming feeling. As if there was something, someone, watching. Dipper wouldn't lie to himself that the feeling wasn't unfamiliar though. Which possibly made this worse.
Dipper walked slightly faster as he followed Quell. "So, um, what's the plan exactly?"
"Find Moros, expel him, and ensure Moros hasn't found a way to convince my brother to stay within his mind."
"So, Moros can't, like, physically force him to stay?"
"Oh, I guess he could, but, it's not how Moros works, he is subtle, he brings Doom in a series of decisions that force people into their destinies. He knows what my brother wants and he knows how to force him into the destiny he has decided for him," Quell stated darkly.
Bill looked around as he found himself alone; no longer followed by the images of those he knew the best in this town. He sighed and kicked at the dirt as he pondered how to get to the door he needed. He got on his tip-toes to thoroughly inspect the line of trees.
"This is harder than it used to be," he grumbled.
I have no idea if school is gonna make me better or worse with updates. OH WELL. Hope you all have fun with your own scholarly pursuits~ And thank you all for lovely reviews and feedback!
