I had an alternate title for this chapter, but it was a bit too long: "In which Maria attempts a Dues Ex Machina, but partially fails." Yes, she has allies from other dimensions. She is referencing events that happened around the time she made her second world jump, if you wanna go back that far in my series.
Enough with the warnings - time for the chapter!
Chapter 29 – Spiritual Allies
Maria stayed in Stan's and Ford's Shack that night, sleeping on the couch in the living room.
As much as she was relieved that Sixer had his emotions back…the waythey had come back had left Maria feeling more exhausted than relieved. Sixer had felt so much emotional pain in that span of time that she was starting to wonder if she had damaged him more by accident.
The thought kept her up half the night, but eventually she did get some rest, if only a little. But she'd been able to run on less.
The next morning, Maria rolled off the couch to the smell of bacon and eggs coming from the kitchen. She poked her head in and blinked when she saw that Star and Pine were down eating with Tyrone and Maple, but Crescent and Sixer were nowhere in sight.
"Uh…morning," Maria said cautiously, getting their attention. "Sixer isn't awake yet?"
"Doesn't seem like it," Alex replied from next to the stove. "We got a call earlier – the townsfolk are a bit worried about…well, something they heard from the woods. Uncle Stan said they were going to 'have a look around' to see if there was anything going on, but…."
His gaze moved in the general direction of the second floor, and Maria understood what he meant.
"I'd…rather not tell them what actually happened," Maria said carefully. "So I'm glad he came up with a cover-up."
"We're gonna be helping, since it's the weekend," Tyrone spoke up. Maple nodded in agreement. "Grunkle Stanford wants to make sure that the creatures in the woods don't get any ideas about what's happened."
"Sounds good. I'll…ah, go check on Sixer."
Maria ducked out of the kitchen and made her way upstairs to the guest room that had become Sixer's family's bedroom. She stopped at the doorway, the door already slightly ajar, and peered in.
Sixer was awake. He was sitting on his bed, a hand over his eyes.
Maria could see a glimmer of wet and sighed worriedly before she stepped into the room. "Sixer?"
Sixer looked up, blinking rapidly.
"Hey. You feeling okay?" Maria came over and sat down on the bed next to him. She put a hand on his back and focused a pulse of warmth through her arm.
Sixer sighed and covered his eyes with his hand again. "I-I don't know. I had control over this before…."
Was that what he thought that was?
"That wasn't exactly…healthy," Maria said carefully. "I've done it myself, so I know, but I didn't hold it back for as long. Nor did I hold back…everything. I just…you can't keep everything buried like that; at some point it's going to come out into the open whether you want it to or not. And with us, well – fire is tied to emotions. I didn't think it would be a good idea for you to be in the same clearing as the Mystery Shacks when…yeah."
Maria looked at Sixer with a worried expression for a moment, then looked across the room and saw Crescent looking at the two of them with a guarded expression.
"…oh," Sixer said quietly. There was a pause as Maria looked at him, and he continued, "I…hadn't considered the two were connected." He dropped his hand from his face and sighed, closing his eyes. "I feel like a fool."
Maria sent another pulse of warmth to him. "Sixer, when you did it, did you know everything about your abilities?"
Sixer blinked at the question. He looked surprised, then shook his head a little. "…no. I didn't. I had to be told I was capable of transforming."
"Transforming?" That was unexpected. What could—
Maria shook her head, pushing the thought to the back of her mind. "Wait, wait – no, I can follow that later. Sixer, there are a lot of things that you didn't know about your abilities because you didn't have a chance to experiment on your own like I did. Or get a teacher, even." That caused her to pause. "In fact, if you're feeling more up to it later, I'd be willing to show you a few things that I've picked up."
Sixer's ears flicked up and turned in Maria's direction before he looked at her in surprise. "You…you would?"
Crescent pushed himself up to his feet and walked out of the room with an unreadable expression.
"Well, yeah." Maria smiled at Sixer. "I had help learning how to control my abilities. I'd have no problem in teaching you when you're up to it."
"…Thank you…"
Maria rubbed a quick circle into Sixer's back, then pulled away. "There's a full breakfast waiting downstairs. French toast, scrambled eggs, bacon – it looks like Alex went all-out this morning. Would you rather one of us bring some up here or—"
"I-I'll be okay having it downstairs."
Maria's brow furrowed. That response had been quick. "Are you sure?"
Sixer nodded, quickly drying his eyes with a sweater sleeve. "Yes. I-I'll be fine."
Maria hesitated. Well…if Sixer felt he was up to it.
She nodded. "Okay."
Maria got off the bed and moved to the doorway before stopping. She waited for Sixer to follow her over.
He did bow his head slightly as he past her, but he held her gaze, rather than looking away.
First time he had done that in the three months he had been here. The sight of it raised Maria's spirits a little, but they still had a ways to go.
Sixer wasn't completely healed. He had just taken a giant step in the right direction, but it was going to take time before he would be closer to how his counterparts were. Or perhaps something else entirely.
The two of them made their way down to the kitchen, where Pine, Star, Tyrone, Maple, and Alex were finishing off their breakfasts. Stan was standing at the stove, visible eye focused on flipping pancakes while Ford watched his brother.
Crescent was there as well, sitting at the table and chewing on a mouthful of bacon. He looked over as they walked in.
Crescent swallowed as Sixer sat down and started grabbing food. "How ya feelin'?"
Sixer paused, one hand over the pile of French toast. "I'm…I'm not sure." He grabbed a slice and pulled it onto his plate.
Maria grabbed an empty plate and sat down at the table, then started grabbing breakfast bits for herself – two French toast, eggs, bacon... She looked between Crescent and Sixer as she did so, watching the conversation.
Crescent raised an eyebrow as Tyrone and Ford glanced over, now paying a little more attention to the conversation.
Sixer rubbed his thumb along his index finger, looking away from Crescent. "I…I have some things to think about."
Crescent grunted. He grabbed another piece of bacon and started chewing while Maria took a bite of her improvised breakfast sandwich. Maria knew some of the things that were going through Sixer's head, but…she didn't know everything.
Sixer sighed as he closed his eyes. His eyes started to water a little, but he made an attempt to ignore it as he started eating.
Crescent rose from his seat abruptly and moved around the table. Sixer didn't notice until Crescent had grabbed him in a hug.
"About time you let things out, nerd."
That was apparently enough.
Sixer immediately buried his face in Crescent's chest as he started sobbing quietly.
Oh, Sixer…
"Is he okay?" Maple asked while Star stared at her grunkles with a wide-eyed expression.
"I think he's getting used to having emotions again," Maria replied. "Going without them for that long…either they're a lot stronger than he's used to, or he's still trying to figure out how to respond to situations. We just have to give him time and shoulders to lean on when he needs them."
Maple nodded at that, but still looked worried. Star looked at her brother and nudged him.
"I see it," Pine replied quietly.
Sixer's crying slowed to a stop after a few minutes.
Crescent pulled away slightly from his brother. "Better?"
Sixer sniffled. "Uh-huh."
"All-righty." Crescent squeezed Sixer a little, then pulled away slowly.
Sixer wiped the tears away with a sweater sleeve, then took in a breath to compose himself. He still looked a little shaken, like he was going to start crying again at any moment.
Maple pushed a glass of orange juice at Sixer. "Here. You're gonna need to rehydrate."
Sixer nodded, then downed the glass in a few gulps.
Crescent ruffled Sixer's hair. "If ya ever need ta talk, we're around, ya know?"
"Nnh." Sixer nodded a little in response. As Crescent moved back to his seat at the table, his ears drooped.
Why were they drooping?
Maria sent him a concerned expression, but when Sixer noticed and looked over at her, she quickly averted her gaze and finished off her breakfast. Then she sat back and waited while Sixer finished his own breakfast at a slower pace.
There had to be something she could do to help his emotions settle. But what? She couldn't manipulate emotions other than her own – that was a part of Sixer she didn't want to try that with; it could cause damage that she didn't want done.
It was a part of his very soul, she couldn't—
Wait.
"I think I might be able to do something that'll make this a little bit easier."
Sixer looked over as Maria rose to her feet.
"What do you mean?" Crescent frowned while Star and Pine exchanged looks.
Maria was really annoyed with herself for not having thought of this sooner.
"I know some creatures that represent the different parts of souls."
Sixer's eyes widened. "H-how?"
Maria reached into her jacket and pulled out the familiar red and black, rectangular device that she had shown Stan and Ford before she'd brought them home.
"You've gotta be kidding me." Stan looked at Maria with an incredulous expression. "There're Pokémon things that do that too?"
"Pokémon?" Tyrone repeated. "Are those anything like…like Monstermons?"
"Something like that." Maria flicked her wrist, opening the PokeDex. "You remember Cress and Dusk, right?"
"Who?" Crescent frowned.
"A Cresselia and a Darkrai. They're basically demigods of dreams and nightmares, respectively. Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie – or Jewels, Lien, and Merlin, as I know them – are also demigods. They're the literal embodiments of three things that make up souls. I'm surprised I didn't think of this sooner, honestly – they might be able to help with the whole willpower problem, on top of helping Sixer's emotions settle."
Sixer's ears rose; Maria could see his tails twitching. The wide-eyed look on his face showed some recognition. "A-are they a part of your guild?"
Maria nodded. "They were the guardians for the Time Gears, too. They joined after time went back to normal, and they played a pretty big role in something else later. So do you guys think I should bring them in on this?"
Crescent slammed his hands on the table. "Why didn't you think of them back in August?!"
"Kinda distracted by the fact that I was in a new situation that I needed to work the initial kinks out of," Maria replied. "So do I bring them in now or do we wait for Stanley, Mizar, and Sphinx to get over here before I freak them out over little pixie-sized creatures that know something about soul manipulation?"
"Know something about what?"
Maria turned as Mizar, Stanley, and Sphinx stepped into the room. Talk about good timing.
"These three creatures Maria knows about." Stan nodded in her direction. "Embodiments of the soul or somethin'."
"What?" Mizar's eyes widened.
"Pokémon yes, demigods technically, embodiments of knowledge, emotion, and willpower, definitely," Maria replied. "I can summon them here, if you think it's—"
"Heck yes, let's do this," Stanley replied. "If we can figure out what's goin' on an' how ta fix it now,then we should do it."
"All right then." Maria turned her attention to her PokeDex and pushed down on one of the buttons. "Merlin, Lien, Jewels – I've got a bit of a soul problem over here and I'd really appreciate if you could get here as soon as—"
Maria was cut off with three bright flashes that went off above their heads – one a soft pink, one a soft yellow, and one a sky blue color.
Alex yelped in surprise at the sudden appearance of the creatures. Star and Maple gasped at once, and the others went wide-eyed.
"Whoa…." Tyrone sounded near-speechless.
The three Pokémon Maria had summoned were small in size, with mostly-white bodies and twin tails with red gems stuck into the ends. Red gems also adorned their foreheads, with each head being a different color and shape. The one with closed eyes and a yellow head had the shape of a helmet; the one with a pink head had two pigtail-like shapes on either side of its head, and the blue-headed being was more diamond-like in shape.
Sixer looked a little nervous at their appearance. Maria couldn't blame him; these were creatures with a great amount of power to their names.
The Pokémon with the yellow helmet – Uxie, or Merlin – turned to look at Maria. "What is the trouble, Maria?"
Maria was about to respond to the question when she saw the blue-themed Pokémon – Azelf, or Jewels – look around the room and focus his red-eyed gaze on Sixer, Crescent, Star, and Pine in turn. He looked grim.
"Someone has desecrated these people," he said, voice snarling.
"That's putting it lightly," Maria said. She looked at the others in the room. "Guys, these three are Merlin, Lien, and Jewels." She motioned to the three in turn. "They represent Knowledge, Emotion, and Willpower, respectively."
"Who did this?" Jewels asked.
Introductions on the other side could wait.
"A triangular-shaped demon named Bill Cipher," Maria replied, grim. "He tore their willpower out and turned Sixer and his family effectively into puppets. They've been stuck like this for…a long time."
Just saying that left a sour taste in her mouth.
"And are they still connected to him?" Merlin asked.
"No. We rescued them; Sixer's connected to me, Crescent's with Stanley, Star is with Sphinx, and Pine is with Mizar. It's been like this for the last three months."
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lien floating over to Sixer. She'd likely sensed his emotional turmoil.
"To be honest, I only thought of you guys this morning. Sixer's finally broken the barrier that was keeping his emotions back, and—"
"So much pain in this one." Lien cut Maria off, keeping her voice quiet and gently. "You're all over the place – oh dear. I can help that part of you calm, if you wish."
Sixer blinked, looking between Maria and Lien. "What would that…entail?"
He was thinking for himself and asking the important questions; good. Maria was curious about this as well.
"You don't know what to feel at this point, correct?"
Sixer hesitated, then nodded slowly.
"I can help slot those feelings back into place, but only if you feel you need it. Otherwise, you are going to be floundering while you try to find a way to settle on your own."
Sixer looked over at Maria again, expression uncertain. Maria could guess what was going through his head.
"Sixer, the decision is yours to make, not mine."
Sixer blinked.
"It's your soul she's here to help. It's your decision to make."
Sixer looked a little surprised at that, then frowned a little. Then he looked at Lien and nodded. "Okay."
Lien nodded. "This may feel a little funny."She put her paws against his chest and started to pulse with a pink aura.
"While she is focusing on that." Merlin floated in front of Maria. "I would like to know more about this situation. Would you mind if I looked at your memories for a moment?"
"You'll leave them as they were when you're done?" Maria replied.
"Of course. I see no reason in wiping any of that from you."
"Wiping?" Sphinx repeated.
"As a being of knowledge, I can make sure that people forget what they know. Now…."
Uxie's closed eyes started to open.
And Maria was immediately whisked into her memories, both recent and old, as Merlin mulled through the various moments where Maria had run into knowledge of Gravity Falls and the monsters that plagued it from beyond its own dimensional walls.
Maria let herself be tugged along by the wave of memories, taking in the first time she'd ever seen Gravity Falls all over again before being pulled out as the kitchen came back into focus around her.
"This is graver than I thought," Merlin said as he pulled back, brow furrowed. "This Cipher creature is mimicking Cyrus' thought of using people as mindless beings enslaved to his will, but he has changed the idea into something terrible."
How had he gleaned thatfrom Maria's memories?
…unless…
Maria saw Sixer frowning out of the corner of her eye, Lien floating near him. "Sixer, what is it?"
"That name…it's familiar." Sixer's frown deepened. "But it…feels like an old memory; I don't—"
Crescent snapped his fingers. "That ignoramagon mentioned somethin' about a Cyrus havin' a good idea on the right track, but it wasn't good enough or somethin'."
Maria's expression darkened, as did those of the three Pokémon.
"If Cipher had a neck, he'd be strangled the next time I see him," Maria said. "Of course he mimicked Cyrus for this."
"You know this man?" Sphinx asked.
"Know him? I clobbered him, and then he snuck around my back while I was away from his dimension and pulled the very thing I was trying to stop. I'm lucky that my friend was able to stop him before things got too bad. Tch. Of course Cipher would take inspiration from him of all people."
Maria was grateful to Khrista for stopping him when she couldn't, but Maria hadn't seen or heard from her since the World Collision. She hoped that Khrista was all right, wherever she was.
Maria pushed that thought out of her mind. She had other things to think about right now.
"Jewels, is there anything you can do?"
The Azelf didn't answer for a moment, then sighed and shook his head. "As much as I wish I could help, this is one situation where I am incapable of assisting you in returning their willpower to their natural state. This kind of manipulation is something that I have not seen before."
Not seen before? That wasn't good.
Jewels motioned with a paw, sending blue sparks falling across the room. Wherever they stopped in the air, they turned into glowing blue lines.
At least, that had been Maria's thought, before she saw the lines connect to Sixer's neck and wrists, revealing glowing fire-like symbols imposed over equally glowing scars from the manacles and collar he hadbeen wearing in the mindscape.
Maria paled abruptly.
"He repurposed their willpower," Jewels said as more strings appeared. Symbols appeared on Star, Pine, and Crescent – Star had paw prints, Pine with Alcor's symbol, and Crescent with dollar signs. Underneath those symbols were similar triangular scars.
Repurposed?
Then their willpower hadn't been completely torn from them – it had just nearly lost its connection and been twistedly remade.
But then…where did it connect to Maria?
"I don't…I don't know how I can undo something like this."
Maria looked down at the unhappiness in Jewels' voice, then saw where the strings ended.
Including the ones likely wrapped around Sixer's ankles, as there were two strings that came up from under the table.
Maria raised her hands, revealing that her right hand had all the strings disappear into the tips of her fingers. No doubt that the same could be said for the others, and the sight made the color drain from her face.
She didn't like the look of it. It made her feel like some twisted puppet master, standing above—
No. No. Don't think about that.
Maria saw Sixer's ears droop as she looked over at Jewels. "There's nothing you can do? Are you sure?"
"I can only affect the strength of a person's will. Strengthening their will as it is now will only make the connection between you stronger, and I doubt that is what you want." Jewels shook his head. "I'm afraid we will have to find another solution to this particular problem."
Maria sighed and dropped her hands. "If that's the case, then…what canwe do?"
"Keep doing what you have been doing," Merlin replied. He hovered next to Maria's shoulder and placed a paw there. "You are on the right track to recovery. Perhaps, in the future, you will be able to find a solution that will allow their willpower to once again become a part of their soul, and not merely a connection between two souls. I doubt that you will simply give up on that here."
"I don't intend to," Maria agreed. She looked over at Sixer. "I guess, for now we just…focus on making sure we're ready for next August."
"An excellent plan," Merlin replied.
Sixer nodded in agreement as a determined, burning look started coming over his eyes.
Lien gasped. "Oh! Looks like Maria's got her hands full with you!"
"What are you—" Maria yelped and scrambled around the table as the blue strings faded, eyes set on the chair Sixer was sitting on.
Sixer looked at her in confusion, only for his eyes to widen a moment later when he saw he'd unknowingly set the chair on fire.
"Okay." Maria pulled the flames into herself, keeping the fire from doing any permanent damage. "Let's head out into the woods and see if we can do anything about helping you get a little more control over that?"
Sixer ducked his head a little, looking somewhat sheepish. He nodded.
"Keep us posted," Merlin said. "Even if we cannot help now, we may be able to help in the future."
Maria nodded and gave the three Pokémon a thumbs-up. "You've got it."
With that, the three creatures vanished in the same way they had come.
