Chapter 28 – The Dam Breaks

Sixer's curiosity was a step in the right direction, but Sixer wasn't being openly curious like Maria had been expecting. It was muted, just like everything else about him seemed to be, but it was still there.

As much as Maria wanted to draw it out more, she could guess that there was something else holding Sixer back.

"I don't get it. I've tried so much and he still hasn't shown even the slightest emotion." Maria scratched her head as she paced back and forth in Stanford's living room, only Vash and Knives being present. "Star and Pine are recovering at a faster rate than I was expecting, and granted 600 years of being stuck can't be undone in a few months, but –"

"You're seeing the progress of the others and you are concerned over Sixer's lack of it," Knives finished.

"Exactly." Maria stopped pacing and put her hands on her hips. "As much as I'm not expecting them to be able to recover before next August, it's already November and Pine and Star are significantly better off than when we rescued them at the end of the summer. It's ridiculous. Either they're pretending to speed up the process or something else has gotten involved and is allowing them to move past the trauma they've experienced at least somewhat. Because this isn't something that a person can get rid of in less than half a year, even."

"The kids do still seem a bit nervous," Vash spoke up. "I haven't seen them not be as relaxed as Dipper and Mabel, or as open about some things without Mizar or Sphinx prodding them. They still have a ways to go."

"A long ways," Maria agreed. "But Alcor asked me to get Sixer's emotions back by New Year's. At this rate…I don't know if I can."

"He is asking questions of you."

"That's curiosity, not emotion. He's being driven a bit more by his knowledge, but he's still hesitating to ask questions of me." Maria sighed and threw her hands in the air. "What do you two suggest I do?"

Vash and Knives looked at each other.

"…Well, what you have been doing has gotten a reaction out of him, right?" Vash asked. "He's asking questions again. That's a part of what you're aiming for, right?"

"Well, yes but – it's not everything." Maria's shoulders drooped; her hands felt like they were holding weights. "I just…I want him to know that it's okay to feel things again. That I'm not going to put him in a situation where he shouldn't be feeling anything. Because that's an absolutely stupid idea. So what do I do to—"

There came a knock on the wall, and Maria cut herself off to turn in the direction of the sound. She blinked in surprise when she saw Sixer standing in the doorway, looking slightly nervous.

"What's up, Sixer?" Maria frowned, concerned.

"We have…visitors," Sixer said carefully. "Crescent said they are two government agents who have been here before."

Maria's eyes widened sharply. "Trigger and Powers. Holy scrap I didn't think they'd be coming back at all!" She moved past Sixer and out the door, not looking back to see if Sixer was following after her.

Sure enough, there were a pair of men in suits standing in the middle of the clearing, looking around at the four Mystery Shacks with expressions of confusion. And at every open doorway, Stans and Fords were standing side-by-side, glaring at the agents.

Maria slipped out between Stanford and Stanley, who glanced at her before turning their attention back to the two agents. "Any idea what they're here for?"

"They picked up the rift that dropped them in back in August," Stanley grunted. "Least, that's what Trigger's said."

"Surprised it took them this long," Crescent added. "If they were on top of their game we'd have been neck deep in five minutes."

"Well, failing at what they did here last time probably meant that it took them longer in order to get here." Maria frowned at the two men standing in the middle of the clearing. It looked like they were trying to make sense of the number of Mystery Shacks that were in one place. "Well, at least their confusion confirms they haven't heard of or run into anything like what's going on here yet."

"That may be, but their reason for being here is worrysome," Stanford replied.

"We gotta draw them off," Stanley muttered.

"I can make a mean Trigger copy," Crescent spoke up. "Ya want me ta split them up?"

Maria didn't like what that meant, considering what Crescent had said of his powers before.

Stanford held up a hand before Stanley could respond. "That might not be for the best. We just need to convince them that what they're looking for either isn't in the area or isn't the danger they think it is." With that, he stepped off the porch and walked towards them.

Maria thought for a moment, then followed after him.

"Greetings," Stanford said as they approached. "I am Dr. Stanford Pines." He held out a hand to shake.

"I'm Maria," the Guildmaster added, holding out her hand.

Neither one of the agents accepted the offer to shake hands, which caused Maria to put her hands on her hips while Stanford put his behind his back.

"Just the man we were looking for," Powers said. "You do your research out in these woods, correct?"

"Correct. This anomaly you speak of – you said that you had seen it back in August?" Stanford asked calmly.

"We saw proof of it," Trigger butted in. "It matched something that came onto our sensors over—"

"That's top secret information," Powers said, cutting Trigger off. "But yes, we have seen something similar to this before, and we think that there is a chance someone is constructing a powerful weapon in your area. Somewhere out in these very woods, in fact."

Maria snorted loudly.

Stanford glanced at Maria before returning his gaze to the agents. "There are a large number of anomalies that take place out in the woods, but the worst thing that I've seen out here are wild animals and cults, but those groups aren't an issue currently. It's likely that your machines interpreted something that occurs here naturally as something that could be a danger."

Maria nodded in agreement. "Yeah; Gravity Falls is pretty quiet all around, except for Fiddleford McGucket's work. Maybe you picked up something of his?"

The agents looked at each other.

"Although, I doubt that my colleague is any danger," Stanford added. "He is a scientist, and he experiments, just as I do. I'm sure that if it's anything that alerted your sensors, it's something that will come to be a benefit and not a hindrance. He does sell his patents to the US Government exclusively, you know."

"We are aware," Powers replied flatly. "We have already spoken with him, and he denies putting together something that mimics that sort of power."

"Well, then it has to be a naturally occurring phenomenon that's somewhere out in the woods!" Maria motioned to the trees around them.

"Exactly." Stanford nodded. "And considering the sorts of creatures that live out in these woods, I would not be surprised if that is in fact the case."

"You'd better hope you're not lying," Trigger said, pointing at the two of them with a grim expression.

"Any opinions on what could have caused the energy fluctuations?" Powers asked. He glanced over at Gargrunkle and Sphinx, sitting on their porch and frowning at the two agents disapprovingly. "Those two monsters, for example?"

"No, it wasn't caused by them," Stanford replied in a deadpan.

"Perhaps we should—"

"No."

Powers looked at Maria as he started to pull handcuffs out of somewhere in his suitcoat. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Maria folded her arms across her chest. "The people in this clearing are family. You make off with those two and you're going to have a lot more trouble than whatever you think caused that thing you came out here to find."

The agents exchanged looks again.

"…we'll be back," Powers said finally. And then he got into the vehicle and pulled Trigger in with him.

Maria and Stanford stepped back from the vehicle as it turned and drove out of the clearing.

As soon as they were gone, Maria let out a sigh of relief. "Glad that worked."

"They are going to be back." Stanford frowned. "We are going to have to find a way to come up with a cover story…Stanley could assist with that."

Maria nodded in agreement and turned to look at the porch…only to frown in confusion.

Sixer was looking down at his arm with a confused expression. Crescent and Stanley were looking at him with expressions that it took Maria a second to identify.

It wasn't like she'd seen Stanley surprised and concerned before.

"What is it?" Maria made her way over to the porch, frowning.

Sixer looked up at the question, then said quickly, "It's nothing, Guildmaster."

Crescent shook his head. "That wasn't nothing."

"What do you mean?" Maria looked over at him and frowned.

"He reacted ta somethin' – likely somethin' you said, but I'm not sure what." Crescent looked at Sixer with a grim expression. "I wasn't expecting that."

"Expecting what?" Maria looked at Sixer. "Sixer?"

Sixer met Maria's gaze, and it was then that she saw what Stanford meant.

The kitsune's eyes were wet, and not in the usual sort of way – no, these eyes were wet with tears, threatening to spill over.

"I—" Sixer cut himself off. "I-I have it under control, Guildmaster."

Maria looked Sixer in the eyes – really looked – and saw something else.

"Come on." She grabbed his hand and tugged him off the porch, starting to head for the woods. "Nobody follow after us! At least don't get too close if you do!"

Mizar stepped off the porch of her home. "Maria—"

"This isn't something that can happen out here like this. I know what I'm doing; trust me."

Mizar blinked in surprise as Maria and Sixer moved past her, but she didn't move to stop them as they moved into the woods.

Maria wasn't sure how long they were walking for, but by the time they'd reached an open clearing without her berry trees or any gnomes snuffling around in the underbrush, the forest had grown quieter than Maria was expecting. It was almost like there was a tension in the air, now – a tension that was going to burst at any moment.

And Sixer had grown quiet as well.

Maria let go of his hand and turned to look at Sixer, frowning. "Sixer, why do you think it's a good idea to keep your emotions under wraps?"

Sixer blinked at the question. The tears had dried, left unshed, but while his expression had adopted its blank mask Maria could definitely see the cracks in it now.

"…because they hinder me, Guildmaster," Sixer responded after a moment. "They can hinder—"

"I don't care if they hinder anything, Sixer."

Sixer blinked, looking slightly taken aback at Maria's words. "I…I don't understand."

"Sixer." Maria sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I don't want to use you. I want to help you. You're not someone I see as less than me. You never were."

Sixer only looked more confused.

"You're safe here. You're not going to be ordered to do something you're not going to like or ever disliked. I don't intend to use you."

Sixer stared. It didn't look like he understood what was being said.

Maria sighed irritably and walked over to Sixer, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Sixer. What makes you think that I'd prefer to have your emotions held back?" She looked up at him with a furrowed brow.

"Emotions can hinder any commands that you might give me."

"And what gave you that idea?"

Sixer blinked. "Cipher made it clear that we were only there to serve—"

"I'm not Cipher." Maria gave Sixer an exasperated look. "I'm not going to make you do the things that he did, and I'm not going to make you do anything that goes against anything that you might not like." She shook her head. "Sixer, you're safe here. It's okay to let your emotions out again; I'm not going to do anything to you just because you have emotions or don't, but…I don't know if you're gonna be able to get completely better without them."

Maria dropped her arms and pulled back while Sixer stared at her, confused and uncertain.

Maria could feel that her eyes were starting to get wet. She needed to get through to him. Did she already lose her chance today?

"I will never use you," Maria insisted, her voice shaking. "You're my equal, not something less."

Sixer stared at her, still looking confused, but his eyes were wide. Not a look Maria had been expecting to see on his face.

And then his expression shifted as tears started to gather in Sixer's eyes.

Sixer stumbled back from Maria by a couple steps as Maria only became more concerned. He wiped at his eyes, shaking his head, trying to visibly pull his face back into the blank expression he'd always had.

He was clearly going through torment of his own, and it caused pinpricks of something wet to start to form in Maria's eyes.

Oh, Sixer…

Maria marched forward and grabbed Sixer's shoulders again.

If you've got a chance, Maria, it's now.

"Sixer, it's okay. It's okay to cry."

Maria's own tears started tracking down her face as Sixer looked at her with his confused, teary-eyed expression.

And then Sixer took in a shaky breath and collapsed to his knees.

Maria quickly followed suit, keeping her gaze on Sixer's face as shock took over his expression. He stared down at shaking hands, eyes wide and unfocused.

Maria sighed quietly and focused her power for the slightest of moments, sending a pulse of warmth from her core through her arms and out of her hands.

And then Sixer reacted.

The sound that came from his throat was a heart-wrenching wail that made Maria's core shudder. He covered his face with his hands, shoulders shaking first with tears, then with bitter laughter that almost made him sound crazed before going back to tears, then roars of anger.

And that's when the fire began leaping off his tails and into the grass, setting fire to the clearing they were in. Granted, it was November, the weather was cold, and rain was something that would make itself more frequent later, but for now the grass was dry and like kindling. It reacted to the presence of Sixer's fire, summoned because of his emotional imbalance, and the greenery was set ablaze quickly.

Maria started drawing the fire into herself, keeping the damage to the forest at a minimum. She was startled for a moment when Sixer raised his head and lunged forward suddenly, burying his head in her shoulder, but she took it in stride and adjusted her arms, moving her hands from his shoulders and wrapping her arms around him instead. She closed her eyes and focused on pulling in the fire as it turned more into a raging vortex, mimicking the fact that Sixer didn't currently have any control over his own emotions as everything hit him at once.

A part of her was glad to be more durable than average humans, considering the way that Sixer was clawing at her shoulders and upper back, trying to find a place to hold on – to find some way to ground himself instinctually despite the emotional turmoil. Her clothes didn't tear, and eventually Sixer settled for holding onto her shoulders, his arms hooked under hers.

Maria didn't count how many minutes they stayed like that, Sixer going through every single emotion that he'd kept held back for so many centuries and her acting as a pillar to lean against, even as tears tracked down her own face. She let them fall, hearing Sixer's pain and feeling it as a result of being right there with him.

Eventually, the fires started to die without Maria needing to suck them in, and Sixer's wails and roars turning into quieter whimpers as he trembled from head to tails.

"Everything's – everything's gonna be okay," Maria murmured, her voice shaking from her own tears. "It's…it's gonna be a while, but…but things are gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay."

She focused some of the energy boost she'd gained into a burst of warmth that surrounded them both, driving back the cooling temperatures of the end of the year and wrapping them both in a feeling that she hoped conveyed comfort to some degree.

Sixer settled, the trembling slowing as the last few sounds quieted down to nothing.

Maria waited about half a minute to see if Sixer would stir, and when he didn't, she turned her head slightly to look at him.

It looked like Sixer had gone unconscious, tear tracks crisscrossing his face. His nose was a bit runny as well, and his expression made him look like he still had a few tears to shed.

He'd worn himself out.

Maria sighed quietly and bowed her head before looking up at the sky.

Bright blue, and not a cloud in it.

"Would have fit in real well if you'd decided to rain right about now," Maria muttered at it, scowling.

The sky didn't change, and Maria sighed irritably before shaking her head.

She lowered her gaze from the sky, then saw a group of figures standing at the edge of the clearing.

"Did you watch all of that?" Maria demanded, throwing her voice across the clearing.

"We only came when we heard him start screaming," Dipper replied, stepping forward. "What happened?"

"He felt everything." Maria adjusted her hug slightly as the others approached. A little tighter, a little more protective.

The others exchanged looks at that, both surprise and worry on their faces.

"You mean…" Crescent trailed off, looking at Maria with a wide-eyed look.

Maria nodded. "He let the barrier down. But he wore himself out with the consequences of that and, uh…well, I don't think I can carry him back too well." She gained a sheepish sort of expression. "A little help?"

The question caused the others to exchange looks before they started moving forward at once.

"Can I do it?"

Stanford paused before he could start to pull Sixer off Maria, then turned and looked at Star. "You want to—"

"I'd like to," Star corrected, wincing a little. "I-I can…I can lift him up in a bubble."

Sphinx moved over next to Star. "If you would like to do this, I don't see why you can't."

Star blinked at him, then nodded and looked over at Maria. "Is it…is it okay?"

"Go for it," Maria replied.

Star moved a little closer, then reached forward and touched Sixer's back. As she started to pull away, a pink energy started to spread out and cover Sixer before suddenly expanding into a bubble. Maria had barely enough time to get out of the way before she could have been caught up in it as well.

Star made a careful motion with one hand, pulling the bubble up to hover near her head. Inside, Sixer curled in on himself, hovering in the center.

"That's pretty cool." Maria pushed herself up to her feet. "Thanks, Star."

Star blinked, a little wide-eyed at the response.

"How about we put him somewhere that won't possibly leave him with motion sickness?" Sphinx suggested. "His own bed, perhaps?"

Star nodded. "Yeah; I can do that."