Hey guys, it's another chapter and we have finally have a big mystery to solve, are you excited? I apologize for my long absence and I'm not sure how often I will update, but I will try. I think you guys are going to like it. This is where I shamelessly plug for my other story; I just began a new one called "The Heist" and would really appreciate if you gave a look, the chapters are shorter than this story so it would only take a minute, thank you if you do. A huge thank you to Psycho Delic263 for constantly reviewing; you are the bomb dot com dude.
~Michi
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Chapter 12: And the Heroes were enlightened
Dippers head pounded violently as he tried to sit up, but discovered his body unmoving. Opening his eyes he found he was in an old room, with the wall paper peeling off and a thick layer of dust upon almost every surface. He was lying on a musty old bed, in front of him was an ancient TV and out of the corner of his eye he could see a replica of his current abode, save for Mabel lying in his place. The only window in the room was boarded up, only allowing small bits of light to shine through the crack, revealing a large amount of dust in the air.
"M-Mabel." Dipper croaked, his throat was quite dry he found
She didn't stir from his call, "Mabel!" Dipper said louder, getting his throat wet
Still no response from Mabel led Dipper to gather all his energy for one shout, "MABEL!"
"Dude, shut up I'm trying to sleep…" Mabel said rolling over to her side
"MABEL I CAN'T MOVE HELP ME!" Dipper yelled in a panic
"Kayle, Dipper is freaking out, can you stop him." Mabel said before snuggling into a pillow
'Kayle?! What was she doing here, what…oh… ?' Dipper thought, connecting all the evidence
The petite red head sauntered into the room in shorts and a baggy t-shirt and walked over to Dipper.
"Hi again Dipper." She said sheepishly
"Dude… it's nice to see you again, but I kind of cant move, so if you could do your best to help me understand what's happening, it would be really nice." Dipper said frustrated
"Oh right, your restraints, I forgot about those." Kayle said before placing a hand on Dippers chest
A glow emanated from her hand before Dippers body began to shine with a yellow light. Before the intensity of light could make Dippers eyes feel pain, it shattered, leaving his pupils to dilate to the much darker room. Sitting up the boy clutched his head, which still held a steady rhythm of pain.
"So Dipper, there is something I need to tell you and like, you can't freak out." Kayle said as she sat next to him on the bed
"You're an Angel." Dipper said looking unimpressed
"Wha-h-how did you know." Kayle asked
"Well Gideon told us that Angels don't react well to demonic energy and I guess I had some of Bill's left over that day when we first met. That and the fact you showed up at the same time as the Angel I saw near the lake, so I kind of put two and two together." Dipper explained
"Then you know the reason we are here?" Kayle asked
"I'm afraid I do not." Dipper answered
"Well then we have a lot of explaining to do." Kayle said as Quinn entered the room
"Quinn? Can I assume you're an Angel too?" Dipper asked
"Why yes I am, think of me as Kayle's handler." Quinn answered sitting on the bed opposite of Dipper and Kayle
To this Mabel jumped up and hugged Quinn from behind, "Quinn! You're back!" Mabel shouted
"Yeah I just had some things to take care of." He responded and slightly hugged her back
"WILL SOME ONE PLEASE EXPLAIN!" Dipper shouted, growing tired of waiting
"Well," Kayle started, "I'm sort of your guardian Angel…"
Dumbfounded, Dipper put his head into his hands, and said into his palms, "You are my what?"
"She is your guardian Angel, like your personal angelic body guard." Quinn answered
Taking his face from his hands Dipper added, "Okay, but why now, I'm mean, I was in trouble way before you guys showed up, so why nothing then?"
"Well you did concentrate a lot of demonic energy in and around you, so we were put on the case of protecting Dipper Pines and finding the source of said energy." Kayle answered
"By who, GOD?!" Mabel asked excitedly
"As Angels we are not allowed to tell you anything about where we are from or about our boss." Quinn answered
"So you're saying there is a God?" Mabel pried
"I can neither confirm nor deny that." Quinn answered flatly
"Is there a heaven?" Mabel continued
"Can't tell you." Quinn answered trying not to give her any information, but getting slightly annoyed "That's a secret."
"Regular secret or TOP secret." Mabel probed
"TOP SECRET!" Quinn growled
"The worst kind, drat." Mabel said sitting on edge of the bed with Quinn
After a pause of silence Dipper filled the gap in voices, "What is it classified as?" Dipper said cheekily
"GAHHHH IT IS CLASSIFIED AS INFORMATION I CAN'T TELL YOU, NOW STOP FISHING FOR INFORMATION!" Quinn yelled grabbing his head
"…What information do you think we are fishing for?" Mabel asked innocently
"Okay, that wasn't even a good attempt." Kayle finished
"Points for effort." Mabel retorted
"Look, we can't tell you anything about where we come from or anything. We can tell you why we are here only if you stop asking about where we are from. Deal?" Quinn offered
Mabel gave Dipper a nod and Dipper responded with a solid "Deal."
"Alright," Kayle began, "A couple months ago we saw a massive amount of demonic energy, so we came here to find the cause of it and as it turned out, it was a little boy with the staff Le Blanc. The staff belonged to a witch a long time ago and we had lost track of it until then. We took the staff back and left the town be, that is until a few days ago when we detected massive waves of demonic energy."
Dipper gulped loudly and sighed, he knew he was the epicenter of said energy.
Quinn finished her thoughts and said, "First it was like the entire town became conduits for the energy; all flowing to one location, then it vanished, only to have one massive amount of pop up and flow to another location, before we could pinpoint it there was a last burst of demonic energy and then it all vanished….except for one small battery that was constantly putting out energy."
All eyes looked toward Dipper, bearing down on him. Dipper sighed deeply and begun, "I guess it's time I told you then, all of you."
"What do you mean Dipping sauce?" Mabel asked almost hurt
"Mabel and I are very familiar with a Demon named Bill Cypher, he has a habit of making deals and one way or another he gets us to agree to them." Dipper began looking towards Quinn, "So one day I awoke to find the town of Gravity falls under siege from zombies and Bill offered to help me; he found me at my weakest point and offered me a deal, and…I took the deal."
Quinn put his head in his hands while Mabel's expression hardened, Kayle offered a comforting pat on the back.
"Only it didn't stop there, did it?" Kayle gathered
"That was just the beginning; he began to feed me more power in small chunks," Dipper continued, "And the thing was I liked it. I wasn't awkward or shy and I was smarter than before. Soon Bill had me running errands and picking up items for his master plan, and all he needed to do to convince me was spoon feed me energy."
Mabel's face continued to crease and contort, the way it did when she was upset. Quinn looked disappointed at Dipper's actions, while Kayle continuously offered a kind smile.
"He taught me about a place that could banish creatures forever, and so I banished a creature called Maokai to the prison of Thresh. I basically killed him…then I realized it had to stop. So with the help of another creature I banished Bill to another dimension and lived to tell the tale." Dipper finished
"Well that would explain the explosions of energy, but not where the energy is going." Quinn said
"Well," Mabel began, "Grunkle Stan does have a giant basement under his house that he tries to keep secret."
"MABEL! How do you know about the basement?" Dipper shouted in disbelief
"Well I mean it's pretty obvious, I don't want to insult your intelligence by explaining every small detail." Mabel said casually
"Oh yeah…totally knew about that…." Dipper said embarrassed
"Well we need a game plan." Quinn said
"Yeah, what do we need to accomplish and how are we going to do it?" Kayle agreed
"Well I need time to study the hard drives as well as have another chat with Gideon." Dipper put forth
"We were sent to find the source and destination of the demonic energy." Kayle added
"Well we seem to be looking for the same thing." Mabel interjected
"That is what it would seem like." Quinn said rubbing his chin
"Well then let's split up, Kayle and I can tackle the hard drives at the shack while you talk to Gideon, find out anything he knows, particularly about his demonic energy, and then meet us at the shack." Dipper planned
"How will we get back to the shack?" Mabel interjected
"I can take care of that." Quinn added boastfully
"Quinn!" Kayle growled
"What! It will be fine; it's not against the rules." Quinn shrugged
"It's not encouraged either; you are supposed to be my handler." Kayle argued
"Come on Mabel, we got some walking to do." Quinn said getting up
"Be careful, he is a powerful person." Dipper warned
"Who is also mentally insane." Mabel added gleefully
"Dude, I'm an Angel, don't worry about it." Quinn countered
"Good point good point." Dipper responded
To this the pair headed outside and left Kayle and Dipper inside alone.
After a brief silence Dipper spoke up, "Well I guess lets go to the mystery shack."
"I guess." Kayle said awkwardly
Dipper wasn't ecstatic to be alone with Kayle, as per their conversations tended to be a little awkward. But the hard drives needed to be looked through. The pair exited the room to see it was later in the afternoon, dusk to be exact. The place of holding was the old motel where he dropped Kayle and Quinn off last time. They walked to the car in silence, accompanied only by the sound of their footsteps. Kayle seemed nervous while Dipper didn't mind the quiet. With everything that had happened, it just seemed like the quiet brought peace.
Reaching the car Dipper got in and started the car, and then he realized he had lost something.
"THE AX!" Dipper shouted, frantically searching the immediate area
"The what?" Kayle asked in confusion as she sat down
"I had and ax when I was fighting the shape shifter, where did it go?!" Dipper panicked
"Oh that ax, relax, its right here." Kayle said reaching into a small pouch and retrieving the ax.
"Thanks-wait, how did you keep the ax in that tiny pouch?" Dipper said not believing his own eyes
"Oh it's called an infinite pouch, it's like a bottomless pit, but for my stuff, it's all very magical and weird." Kayle said casually
"I don't know I think it's cool, I'm into weird stuff." Dipper responded
"Like your weird car?" Kayle asked
Dipper pulled out into the street and drove towards the mystery shack while he answered, "Hey I thought you liked my car."
"I mean its vintage but that doesn't change the fact its old and musty." Kayle teased
"You really can't trust anyone in this town." Dipper muttered
The rest of the car ride was filled with conversation about various topics and problems, one of which being Wendy leaving.
"So what was she to you?" Kayle pried
"Hell, what wasn't she to me?" Dipper answered
Kayle cocked her head in confusion, not knowing this girl at all.
"She was my best friend, my protector, my world really…" Dipper answered looking glum
"Did you only think of her as a friend?" Kayle asked
"God no, I have been chasing her since I was twelve years old; she was the most wonderful girl you could imagine." Dipper ranted, "Beautiful and smart, witty in the best way; she always pushed me to be better than I was."
"She sounds wonderful." Kayle answered sheepishly
"She really was amazing." Dipper responded
"But what happened, why did she leave?" Kayle asked
"Officially, she had a job offer, but the hard drives say she has some sort of jinx on her." Dipper said
"A….Jinx?" Kayle questioned
"Well I don't really understand it, but think of it as having constant bad luck surrounding you and anything around you." Dipper struggled to explain
"Angels don't really understand bad luck; we are not really allowed to think that way." Kayle answered almost angry
"What do you mean, you can't have free thought?" Dipper asked intrigued
"Well yeah, that's a good way to put it. It's not so much a written rule, but an unspoken law." She explained
"That sounds terrible, no free thought." Dipper said to no one in particular
"Well it doesn't bother me that much; Angels are made, we are just robots with a lot of skin." The girl said looking to her feet
A silence devastated the car; her words rocked him, "Nah." He said coolly
"What do you mean nah?" Kayle asked
"You're just too smart to be made, sorry." Dipper said turning onto a dirt road
"We are programmed with the knowledge of most things, intelligence is not a factor." She stated
"You got a soul, just because you're made of magic and feathers doesn't make you any less of a living creature." Dipper said looking straight ahead
The rest of the ride was silent; the air was drenched tension, dripping from the pairs breaths. As the duo pulled into the shack around six and walked towards the creaky house. Opening the door to the familiar jingle of the door they saw the house was empty. Soos had left the hard drives sitting neatly on the counter, stacked about three high with four piles.
"Start bringing those up to the room, I'm going to go check on Stan." Dipper said
"Alright, I guess." She said sorely
Ignoring her tone, Dipper walked into the living room to see Stan passed out on the chair with the TV running. Sighing the boy turned the TV off and covered the old man in a blanket. He gazed over him for a second, thinking about how innocent he looked.
"What are you hiding Stan?" Dipper asked himself.
No response was given except for snoring; rolling his eyes, Dipper went and got the last stack of drives and carried them up the stairs. Upon entering the room he found Soos had left him two computers with a cable coming out of each. Kayle was already plugged into one and had a scornful look on her face while she searched thorough each file. Without words Dipper sat down and found a note from Soos attached to it.
Dear Dudes,
I got those computers you asked for ready; just hook up the hard drives to the cables and read all you want. Take good care of the computer stuff; I had to borrow it from my cousin. Good luck hambone!
-Soos
Smiling grabbed a drive and did as Soos instructed; finding that once the computer recognized the new device, a small hourglass turned end over end until hundreds of files appeared.
"This is going to take a while…" Dipper mumbled
Kayle didn't respond as she was deep in thought. This prompted Dipper to begin to search through the various folders and explore them each thoroughly. The mystery shack was all quiet save for the occasional groan or click.
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In a few hours the room had turned into a trashcan of soda cans and chips bags; the only organization was the pile of finished hard drives and non-finished hard drives. Various note books lay spread about the floor, spewing knowledge of the super natural out of their pages. Dipper fell onto his backwards only to feel metal stab into his spine. Hissing, he sat up and looked over at Kayle, who as Dipper just noticed, had removed her baggy shirt to reveal a tank top, which showed a tattoo of wings stretching down barley below her shoulder. Dipper sat for a moment studying the new found markings, intrigued by the detail. Kayle seemed to have noticed as she turned and seemed to be embarrassed.
Trying to ease her discomfort Dipper asked about them, "Are those just markings or do they do something?"
Smiling she answered, "They are kind of like, my storage for my wings."
"Wait you actually have wings?!" He asked in disbelief
"Uh I'm an Angel; of course I have wings, that's like the most basic Angel tool." She answered confused
"I don't know, it just seemed like a made up thing; you know to make you guys seem cool." He said rubbing the back of his neck
"Would you like to see them?" She asked
"YES! I mean, yeah I guess… can I…take notes on them?" Dipper asked shyly
"Notes?" She questioned
"Well my job is to document the strange things in Gravity Falls and it's not every day I get to see Angel wings up close." He explained pulling out journal three
"Well, I'm not supposed to, but I guess I could make an exception just this once." She said before adjusting herself so she was looking directly at Dipper.
The black marks began to glow in a rainbow of colors, changing every second or so until white feathers seemed to build themselves out of her skin. The construction was over quickly and soon she spread the wings to full length. He found the wing span to barley fit in the room.
Dipper began to furiously write in his journal, taking in all the information he could gather; he got up and began to circle her, ducking under her feathers as if not to disturb them.
"This is amazing; h-how do they get here? Do they transpose or teleport from someplace." Dipper asked as he scribbled
"They are definitely stored on me, inside the markings." She answered
"Oh I see, do they hold the same properties as that infinite pouch or is it something else entirely?" Dipper asked not expecting an answer
"I-I don't really know…" She began
"Why are they so large, is it to counter balance the weight when you're in full armor?" Dipper pried again
"I-I-I uh." Kayle said nervously
"What are they made out of, real feathers, magical ones?!" Dipper said as he reached his hand out to feel the surface.
A shriek from Kayle made Dipper reel back and snap out of his trance from his study. He looked around furiously, hoping to find the reason for such a response.
"I-I'm sorry, j-just you can't touch them, they are very sensitive." Kayle said feeling bad for his panic
"No, it's my bad, I kind of just get lost in research ya know, and I'm sorry Kayle…for that." Dipper began, "But may I ask what it feels like when their touched."
"Well, it's a fifty-fifty spilt between pleasure and pain, it very odd." Kayle answered
"Oh…I see." He responded with his face reddening.
"So any luck with the hard drives on your end, because I have gotten squat." She said frowning slightly
"So far it's been info I have in the journal, or just plain non useful stuff." Dipper said creasing his eyebrows
"Well I'm going to go get some more soda, want anything?" Kayle said stretching her hands to the ceiling
"No I'm okay, but thanks." Dipper responded
As she left the room Dipper began to look at his computer once more, lazily scrolling through anything of interest. Nothing popped out until he saw the words Time. Wanting to know more Dipper loaded the file.
Subject: Bledin Blandin
Study project name: Portal
Sex: Male
Age: Unknown
Though at first glance he is no more than an idiot with a time traveling watch, Bledin is so much more. At our first encounter he seemed to have multiple disorders that I can undoubtedly link to his constant tampering with the time line. The symptoms were social anxiety, loss of words, profuse sweating, and an almost animal like response to things. But after a few minutes of talking he seemed to become…stable…maybe less unstable is more correct. I have taken his technology and begun to develop a modified version of it, one that I believe will allow me to see into the future, oh wait until I tell Stan about this!
Though unsettled, Dipper knew that Stan would come up in these journals; his grunkle was always tied to everything. Dipper marked what he had learned in his journal. Scrolling through he found another file to look at titled "Jinx two". Without hesitation the file was opened.
Subject: Wendy Corduroy
Study Project Name: Jinx 2
Sex: Female
Age: Unknown
Though I normally don't enjoy writing updates to past projects, I can't help but write down what I learned. By studying her past events I was able to see slightly into her future, only a few weeks but so much happens. She comes back, back to Gravity Falls; Abnormality aside she chases this young man down, whether this is for the best or worst is anyone's guess, but it simply astounds me how she goes against the natural order of things. I would tell the boy to be wary but I'm afraid it won't do much good. Not much good at all.
Dipper stared at the screen, as if looking at it longer would reveal more answers. Rain had begun pelting the window, making a systematic thumping that put the boy in a trance. Kayle walked in stretching lazily in her white tank top.
"So, any new leads there?" she asked while looking to her own work
"Uh, yeah, here." Dipper answered handing her his journal with the notes about Blendin, but not moving his eyes from the screen.
Lights shined briefly through the window, calling the pairs attention.
"Who could that be?" Kayle asked cocking her head sideways
"Stay here I need to go…go…" Dipper fumbled as he got out of the room as quickly as possible
Slamming into the wall in the hallway, Dipper flew down the stairs just fast enough to hear a knock at the door as he hit the bottom.
He slowly approached the door and turned the door knob as if expecting Bill to be on the other side. But all he found was a girl with crossed arms shivering. Her red hair had turned stringy and clumped with the new found precipitation. Flannel clinging to her body, she offered a small smile.
"H-hey Dip, I was…well I was…" She began
Giving her no time to think of an excuse Dipper nearly tackled her, pushing her back into the rain. After a moment of being stunned she returned the gesture.
"H-hey, whoa man, are you alright." She asked burying her face in her shoulder, possibly to hide the newfound tears forming
Dipper offered no immediate response, but instead nuzzled her neck, making his hat fall off into the mud.
"Please…please don't leave again." Dipper begged quietly
"Nope, not this time, you're stuck with me." Wendy said
After a few more moments, those of silence and rain drops Wendy spoke up.
"Dude, as much as I love hugging you in the rain and all that romantic biz, I'm really freaken cold, can we go inside please?"
"Yea, I guess we can." Dipper giggled back
The pair walked inside, leaving Dippers hat out in the rain, forgetting it even existed.
Dipper grabbed some of Mabel's clothes and gave them to Wendy. While she was changing Dipper made some hot chocolate. Dipper entered the living room; Stan must have gotten up and gone to his room because the couch was empty. Wendy met him in the living room, sitting on the couch, at first kind of awkwardly but soon melded into a cuddling form.
Though she had fallen asleep a long time ago Dipper stayed awake, feeling bad for leaving the work to Kayle. She had insisted it was fine, but Dipper suspected some venom in her words. He looked down at Wendy, who had curled into a sort of ball; he saw how cute she looked. Maybe it was the way her socks were miss matching, or maybe it was the big sweater dropping over her shoulder… or maybe it was the fact she just looked cute when she was asleep.
'Yea, that's it.' Dipper thought while pulling a blanket over her, 'She just looks cute when she's asleep.'
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I know I haven't updated in a long time, but I haven't had any inspiration to write this. I'm sorry if you dislike the chapter; a lot of it was forced creative thinking. A high-five for whoever caught the nod to chapter 1, you are the best. Anyone who is still reading this, you are the bomb dot com, love you.
~Michi