Thanks to abbydobbie for the Fav! You're the first person who's done that in a while!
Chapter 11 - Meeting the Townsfolk
Sixer remained sitting on the porch while the Guildmaster crouched and worked over the fire pit, turning a number of chickens on a spit while a crisscrossing section of metal sizzled with steaks. She'd had him jumpstart the fire in the pit below, then help her prepare the meat the was to be cooked. She had left him to watch after that.
It meant that he was the one observing when every single passerby stared at him with surprised expressions that very quickly became nervous ones. In return, he started slowly identifying the faces who were looking at him.
Susan. Dan Corduroy. Tad McGucket. Wendy Corduroy. Teenagers. Children. All people he was familiar with seeing frozen in terror in Cipher's throne of eternal agony.
It was…strange, seeing them walking and talking and not running in terror or remaining frozen in place. Then again, he was in a place where Weirdmageddon wasn't currently taking place.
"Hey, Maria." A teenage boy with dark greasy hair and a hoodie sweatshirt with a stitched heart on the front strode over to the fire pit. "What's with the Dr. Pines over there? I definitely don't remember anything different happening with that monster spring or anything like that."
"Hm?" The Guildmaster looked up from the spit. "Oh, you mean Sixer?" She glanced back at him; he met her gaze, expecting her to tell him to do something before she turned back to look at the teenager. "Sixer's new. And not…not new memories new."
"Not new —" The teenager cut himself off. "How does that work? Is there another Gravity Falls around here or somethin'?"
"I wish, Robbie."
Robbie. Right; he was a member of the Zodiac. Now the stitched heart made sense. Sixer tilted his head slightly, blinking. Robbie was looking at him with an expression that showed what he suspected was unease. Another emotion he was familiar with seeing.
"You feeling okay over there, Sixer? Smoke not getting to you or you're not hungry yet?"
Sixer's gaze snapped back to the Guildmaster at her question; he considered, then shook his head. "I'm fine, Guildmaster."
"The heck?" Robbie muttered.
"Let's just say that what happened to him and his family is something that the townsfolk as a whole don't like to think about because it connects back to that summer," the Guildmaster replied. "Things didn't end well."
Robbie's eyebrows shot up. "You serious?" He looked at Sixer again, who moved his gaze away from the teenager. He still tracked the teenager's movement from the edge of his vision. "This has got to do with that Act?"
"What happened that resulted in the Act is involved," the Guildmaster confirmed. "But things didn't end the way they did from what you remember."
"…oh." Robbie blinked a couple times. "Geez, that's some nasty stuff. This why you haven't been coming into town often?"
"I've been…keeping an eye on him, yeah." The Guildmaster looked at Sixer, who raised his head as she did. Her brow was furrowed. "Honestly, I would have preferred giving him more time before he ended up introduced to the people here, but…well, when you have a bunch of Pines having a birthday at the end of summer there isn't much chance of that." She chuckled, but it didn't sound right to Sixer, somehow.
He tilted his head at her, then noticed movement as more people started to come over. Familiar faces who had circled around were coming back to the fire pit, some led by a skinny man with a sash across his chest that red "MAYOR" in bright red.
He blinked blankly while the Guildmaster turned her attention to him. He remembered — vaguely — that this man had been a part of Cipher's throne, at the base.
"You're Maria?" the man asked in a serious tone.
"I am." The Guildmaster turned the spit with one hand, looking up at the man. "And you're Mayor Tyler Cutebiker, the man who came up with the Never Mind All That Act after the events of a certain summer that you would rather not think about. I assume you heard from Sheriff Blubs about our meeting in the arcade?"
"You're the—" Tyler blinked in surprise. "Well now, it seems that I can kill two birds with one stone today! Findin' out about that new Pines family an' takin' care of figurin' out what ta do with you!"
The Guildmaster walked over to the middle of the spit, between two of the four chickens, and lifted up the warm rod without so much as a flinch. People were starting to gather, and Sixer watched them as the Guildmaster put the spit on a table nearby. "Ask away. But I'm gonna warn you — some of the answers may steer into Never Mind All That territory, unless you have a loophole for inter-dimensional travelers like myself."
The confident look on Tyler's face faltered. Sixer noticed that the others standing around were looking at them with defensive expressions as well. He prepared to rise at a moment's notice if the Guildmaster found she had need of him.
If nothing else, defense from a mob of people seemed a likely thing that she would do.
"How familiar are ya with that?" Tyler asked. His voice — which had been light before — became more serious. Sixer equated that to mean it was likely Tyler was going to try to attack the Guildmaster at a moment's notice.
"I come from a dimension where I was able to watch what happened," the Guildmaster replied. "I also helped Stanford get home, and I brought home Tyrone's and Maple's grunkles. I knew that the reason for the act was dangerous, even before I ran into him — briefly — when I arrived here."
The Guildmaster looked back at Sixer with a guarded expression, and Sixer knew what she meant. She was talking about her invasion of his mind, when she had taken control of him.
Tyler looked in his direction as well, and Sixer averted his gaze.
The Guildmaster moved over to the fire pit again and crouched, then started inspecting the steaks. "Go ahead. Sixer, if he directs any questions at you, it's okay to answer them."
Sixer nodded, which only caused Tyler's gaze to sharpen.
"And why would you need ta give a Stanford Pines permission ta answer questions?" Tyler asked.
"That delves into Act territory." The Guildmaster looked up at Tyler. "Are you sure you want me to answer that?"
"There's no way that—"
The Guildmaster let out a loud, annoyed sigh. "Look, Sixer and his family come from a dimension where they lost. Their enemy did something to them, and was apparently planning on using them to give him access to this dimension to start up another round. Stanley, Sphinx, Mizar, and I rescued them from his control, but not only is he still coming, but they've got some severe mental damage to them that is going to take time to heal."
Tyler stared, as did the other people who were near the fire pit.
"If you want me to explain in more detail, I'd be more than happy to," the Guildmaster added briskly. "But it's not a nice explanation you'll likely be getting, if you ask about Sixer."
Tyler stared as the Guildmaster pulled the steaks onto a plate with a two-pronged fork. She appeared irritated, but Sixer got the feeling that she wasn't irritated at Tyler.
He tilted his head slightly. He wasn't sure where that idea came from.
"Sixer? Is what she sayin' true?"
Sixer looked at Tyler at the question. The man pulled back when their gazes met — it was barely noticeable, but he did seem uncomfortable with it. "Yes."
Tyler paled. He quickly looked between Sixer and the Guildmaster as the rest of the crowd murmured worriedly.
"Excuse me — hey, ya mind — pardon me—"
Crescent shouldered his way past the crowd and stepped out next to Tyler, who didn't seem to notice him approach. Crescent looked between Tyler and the Guildmaster with a bored expression.
The Guildmaster put the plate of steaks on the table. "If you're hungry, Cress, you can take one of these. I'm not—"
"As much as I appreciate the offer, kid, Stanley sent me over here in case ya needed any additional help." Crescent looked at Tyler again. "He's gonna come outta that in five seconds screamin' fer answers."
"Been counting down already." The Guildmaster held up three fingers, then two, then one.
As soon as her hand became a loose fist, Tyler strode towards the Guildmaster and got right up in her face. "All right, young lady, I'm gonna let ya talk about whatever it is that deals with the act just this once. An' then I've got some paperwork for ya ta fill out so we don't come after ya fer not bein' in school, because that paper was mighty interestin' an' I wanna make sure we got it on record that no one's ta arrest you for truancy."
The Guildmaster — who had leaned back a little when Tyler had approached — blinked in surprise. "Really? Uh…okay then. Don't say I didn't warn you, though."
The Guildmaster looked over at Sixer. He met her gaze expectantly, and she motioned for him to approach. He rose from the porch and started towards her.
"Sixer and his family come from a dimension where they lost to Cipher," the Guildmaster said. "All four of them have been through some tough times, mostly because Cipher's been using them as puppets and walking weapons of mass destruction."
Gasps started rising from the crowd as Sixer stopped next to the Guildmaster. He felt and saw the gazes of the people settling on him, but he paid them no mind. He'd been stared at before.
Being treated like a piece of meat on display was not anything new.
"We've rescued them from his control — myself, Stanley, Sphinx, and Mizar — but there's still damage that needs to be undone. Cipher…he did something to their souls. It's left them dependent on the decisions from the people who were able to rescue them. I have to tell Sixer to do things to get him to do things that he might normally do on his own. It hurts to admit that."
Sixer blinked. He turned his gaze slowly to look at the Guildmaster as her voice wavered.
The Guildmaster breathed in and appeared to steady herself. "And we have another problem. Their Cipher is coming here at the end of next summer."
That statement caused the clearing to fall silent.
"How?" a teenage girl spoke up. Sixer saw her, dressed in purples and black, standing next to Robbie. He didn't recognize her. "They're not making a portal, so—"
"I got this." Crescent looked over at Sixer and the Guildmaster for a moment before turning his attention to the crowd. "He likes usin' the four of us as some kinda anchor or somethin'. I'm no expert on physics, but its like we break down the walls between dimensions just by bein' here. Used ta take him a week, but after a bit it started ta be two weeks, then a month, then two months. This is the first time it's taken a full year." He sent a glance at the Guildmaster. "It's the first time someone's pulled a stunt like this, too. People have tried yellin', implorin' — everythin' except breakin' an' enterin'."
Sixer looked at the Guildmaster and blinked when he saw her mouth was pressed into a straight line. Grim? That seemed to be the right word to describe her expression.
The crowd murmured amongst themselves.
"Poor dears," said a woman's voice. One of Sixer's ears flicked in her direction.
Tyler looked pale, as did most of the rest of the crowd — which, Sixer now noticed, appeared to be most of the town. "Stanford said he was gone for good; why—"
"The one that hounded him was gone for good," the Guildmaster replied. "This dimension wasn't supposed to get involved in anything else involving those events. It's just that one got greedy."
Crescent nodded.
"This is…this is terrible." Tyler was trembling. "I — I thought we'd put that all behind us an' now you bring another one to our doorstep?! Do you realize what you've done?!"
Tyler pointed at Sixer accusingly.
"You're bringin' the end of the world on us again!"
Sixer bowed his head as the Guildmaster started to scramble for a verbal defense.
"Hey! He isn't at fault for this! He couldn't—"
"I was incapable of fighting back."
The Guildmaster cut herself off and looked at Sixer in surprise; the others in the crowd stared at him too.
"Cipher made us puppets to his will. I could do nothing but obey his commands."
The hush that fell over the crowd was a familiar quiet that Sixer was familiar with. In other dimensions, when Cipher had gathered survivors together, the silence came right before someone ordered an attack, and everyone charged, only to be slaughtered.
But this time, things were different. The Guildmaster was not someone who was looking to claim conquest over this dimension. And that left Sixer unsure of what to expect.
A hand suddenly came to rest on his shoulder, and he glanced over at the contact, only to find the Guildmaster looking up at him with a saddened expression.
"You're with me now," the Guildmaster said, her voice taking on a serious tone. "And I'm gonna do what I can to make sure you recover from this."
Sixer blinked. The statement didn't mean much to him — recover? Recover from what? — but there was…something…in the Guildmaster's voice made him tilt his head.
He wasn't sure what to make of it.
The Guildmaster squeezed his shoulder a little, then looked at the townsfolk. "Fiddleford already knows about what's going on; I told him when he came over earlier. As far as I know, he's making machines already. We have a year. We have time to prepare that you didn't have last time. I intend to help where I can, and right now I'm planning on helping Sixer and his family recover. They need mental rest. What you do is up to you."
The crowd exchanged looks at the Guildmaster's words. All of them seemed nervous about what was coming.
"I would recommend you take the time to prepare," spoke up a voice at the edge of the crowd — Knives. Sixer barely saw the top of his head over the crowd. "Train so that you will be able to survive in whatever is coming until the danger is passed. If you do not have a weapon, get one."
Crescent nodded. "We know the demons he's got at his disposal; we can tell ya what ta expect an' how ta prep."
The crowd murmured, the townsfolk exchanging looks. Some were nodding. The Guildmaster was nodding as well.
"We'll get through this," the Guildmaster said. "You've all survived an attack like this before; you can survive it again. You know what's coming this time. You're in a better position now than you were then. So we use that to our advantage."
"And how do you know this will turn out better than it did last time?" Tyler demanded.
"I don't. But we have to try."
Sixer said nothing, watching as the crowd shifted, seeming to lose some of the nerves that had settled on them. He didn't see why they were going to fight back when his own dimension had ended so badly. The Guildmaster had already said that he had lost to Cipher; why were they preparing to keep him from succeeding?
He did not ask these questions aloud. It surprised him enough that he was doubting the Guildmaster's decisions. And yet…
He had seen Cipher do his work first-hand. By the time the year's wait was up, it was likely he was going to be in the triangle's clutches again.
"We don' have ta worry about gettin' weapons yet," spoke up a voice with a Southern accent. Sixer's ears twitched in his direction immediately. "We got some birthdays ta be celebratin' today, remember? Dipper and Mabel are turnin' one year older! I don' think they'd want us ta be scared or sad today, do ya?"
Fiddleford.
Sixer remembered seeing him as a tapestry, face of horror frozen for the rest of time.
The crowd quickly agreed with the old mechanic's voice and quickly dispersed, trying to back into their previous mood. It was different than it was before, however — Sixer could sense that much.
The Guildmaster patted his shoulder. "Help me get the steaks off the grill?"
Sixer blinked, then nodded.
