Chapter 32

The Pain Of Mistrust

Dipper only reacted as his body hit the floor, he was just so... shocked. He'd been caught off guard. Sure the man had raised his gun to him two times in the last half an hour, and yet it hadn't even crept into the realms of possibility that the Author would come up out of the basement and shoot him. And he felt the anger trying to grip hold of him, and he wanted to let it take over, so he could show the man why he shouldn't mess with him. I SHOULD TEAR HIM APART! Yet the pain that followed from the shot caused all that Anger to be stunned into silence.

He hadn't really wondered what getting shot would feel like, but he bet he was getting ten times more pain than a normal gun. After all, what the Author had fired wasn't a normal gun. It reminded him of one of those blasters he'd seen in a space film once, a jet of energy instead of a bullet. And boy did it hurt.

The kid felt like screaming, the pain so intense from the shot, yet his mind was so scrambled he couldn't even whisper one. It was so intense that screaming wasn't even a possibility, all he could focus on was the agony he was experiencing. It was even worse than when that demon had broken his arm.

Dipper could hear voices yelling, barely. Everything wasn't working properly, even his sight was blurred, yet he could see two men shouting at each other. It was obviously his twin uncles, it was still weird thinking about it like that. He'd barely had any time to terms with the fact that his Grunkle had had a secret twin this whole time.

He couldn't hear what they were saying, they could have still been arguing about before, about lying that his great nephew wasn't a demon, or it could have been about shooting him right here and now, Dipper didn't much care if it was either, or any.

Dipper's body was twitching slightly, trying to adjust itself to the situation, but he was finding it hard. His body wasn't healing like it should have, or at least not as quickly, whatever that gun was, it had slowed down the process of healing A LOT. He was trying to more his hand, to check how bad the injury was, and if it actually warranted this much pain.

After a minute, he managed to more it, slowly but surely, he touched the hand to the place he felt the most pain. And he felt the hole. The gun hand burned a hole right through his chest, through the skin, bone and heart, and right out the other side. It was actually kind of funny, it reminded him of the first time he'd encountered Bill Cipher, when he'd shot a hole right through his chest, though this hole was smaller, able to fit a finger in it, plus a little bit more.

His eyes squinted slightly, trying to adjust as his eyesight started to clear, hearing getting better as well. He could actually hear the conversation now.

"He's a danger, don't you see?!" Ford was yelling, his gun still in his hands, possibly to shoot Dipper once he got back up.

"No, no. Don't you see! Dipper isn't a threat or anything like that. In fact, he just saved the family! If he hadn't gotten those agents to go away, they would have dragged both you and me to prison!" Stan looked like he had just punched Ford, and from the look of Ford, it had been right in the face.

"Don't try and distract from what's really happening. That thing isn't my nephew, it isn't your nephew, it isn't even human! It's a monster, a demon, and a danger to this family, Stanley. We need to destroy it before it destroys us!"

"You really are thick aren't you, Ford? What proof do you have of that. All you've been doing is wandering around in some alternate dimension or whatever, and I've had time to understand the situation. Then, you come back, and without even understanding the situation, the shoot him! And you're supposed to be the smart of one us!"

Ford gritted his teeth at his brothers comment, anger boiling beneath. "You don't even know what I've witness in the last 30 years, YOU don't get to say anything like that! You're just the brother that doesn't know anything about the supernatural, the one that doesn't want to know! And I bet that hasn't changed at all in all these years. I bet that thing brainwashed you, or tricked you into a deal, just like-"

"Bill? That triangle is the monster who did this to him in the first place!"

The man froze for a second, looking at his brother. "You... know about Bill?"

"Of course I know! He visited me about 20 years back, offered me a deal to get you back. But I know a con when I see one. I wouldn't be a good one myself if I couldn't! You think I'm dumb, yet you're the one jumping to conclusions right now. So please, just listen for a second before shooting people with that thing."

Dipper heard all of the conversation now, the yelling and shouting started to calm down, yet he wasn't focusing on the conversation itself, he couldn't focus on anything. It was all just a distraction from the pain.

Ah yes, that pain again. The wound was healing, but it was agonisingly slow, not enough to calm him down at all. He wanted it to stop, all of this to just leave him alone, sadly the world didn't work that way.

It was around about this time that Dipper noticed the wetness on his hand, and he reached it slowly up to his eyes, alarm striking him for a second. Not the fact that there was blood on his hand, he'd been expecting blood, but the fact that it was an inky black. It was inhuman. Just of the look of it sent a small shiver down his spine. His blood hadn't been black the last time he'd checked. Great, I'm getting more and more demonic as I go along.

The pain wasn't as great now, the wound starting to heal a bit quickly, the hole was going straight through his body now. It was actually kind of creepy how the fabric of his suit was repairing itself as well as his flesh and bones. But heck, demon logic, it makes no sense.

Dipper was moving his body now, trying to get up, hands pressed weakly on the ground to try and give him from force to push up with, but his body felt too weak. Not only was his body weakening from being in physical form for so long, but it had also taken a hit. He hoped he would soon be able to leave this mess, have some time to his self. Then the realisation struck him. I can't believe I'm actually hoping to go to that horrible realm. It's dark times indeed. I'll have to try and find a way to get Bill to leave me alone for a bit.

But then Dipper heard a young female voice, one he recognised instantly. Mabel...?

She was running out of the shack, without the aid of her crutches. That struck Dipper as quite odd, then extremely odd. She was running like she'd been completely fine, though the cast was still on, and she was showing no discomfort in the way she was moving.

Mabel pushed past the two Stan's, who were basically just locked in a silent staring contest now, and knelt by Dipper, panic in her eyes. "Oh my... Dipper, you... You're bleeding. Are you alright, please say you're alright!"

Dipper grimaced, looking at her. "Mabel... Your leg." He couldn't care about himself, she was the main priority.

She just gave him a smile. "You... didn't just fix my cast."

Realisation struck him like a hammer. I... fixed her ankle... I actually mended that broken bone? The whole fact of that made that piece of guilt he had from hurting her lessen slightly, it didn't weigh as heavily on his soul as it once had. A spike of pain shot through and made him grimace, closing his eyes for a second, his bone had started to mend now.

Mabel instantly panicked, asking if he was alright again. She shook him slightly.

Dipper's breathing went back to normal, as normal as it could be for the amount of pain he was in, and he opened his eyes to look at her. "I just... need to heal." He knew she would understand, he'd told her all of what he'd learned from Bill in his lessons, so she knew about his advance healing.

Mabel nodded for a minute, tears in her eyes. She'd seen Ford shoot him from the security camera's, it must have been heartbreaking for her.

And yet it just got worse when Ford noticed her finally from the corner of his eye, and turned round, pointing his gun at Dipper again. "Kid, get away from that thing!"

Stan grabbed hold of his shoulder. "Didn't you even hear a word I just said?!"

But Ford wasn't going to listen to Stan, he might of shocked him a little with the fact he knew Bill, but that didn't change the fact. Mabel knew it was up to her.

She looked round at her uncle, and glared at him. "My brother is not a thing! So don't you dare call him that! He's a lovely, amazing person that cares so much for the mysteries you put in your journals! You lit up his world, and in essence, mine! And yet you're going to shoot him because you think he's dangerous? You're not even going to try and get to know him, even when he's your family!"

Ford's eyes narrowed. "You can't trust them... You can't trust any of them... Get away from it!"

Mabel's now eyes narrowed in concentration. "No, no! If you want to hurt my brother, you'll need to go through me! If you're going to shoot him, you'll need to shoot me too! I'd rather die than let you hurt him even more than what you've done already! What did he do to you do deserve this pain? Look at him! So what if he's a demon, he wasn't born like that. He made a mistake, we've all done stuff like that. But it doesn't mean he needs to die because of it!"

Dipper listened to every word she said, and could feel the passion she spoke with, it was almost like she was a different person. No longer the goofy sister he held dear, but a sister that was willing to die for him. He didn't know how to feel about that. He didn't even know if the gun could kill him. Bill Cipher said that in essence demons could be killed, but they would always come back to life after a few thousand years. For that long a wait, he wasn't ready to give up. He wasn't going to let himself be killed, just for him to come back to a world where Mabel didn't exist. He wanted to spend as much time with her as possible, before the inevitable happened.

Ford did the same. How could this child feel so much for a... monster? This thing is nothing but a demon trying to trick them, to trick me, into thinking it's an innocent little boy. It's even taken the form to look like one. I bet it's already wrapped it's influence around their minds. How can I save them from something like this? I'll need to do everything I can... But with all of them on it's side... Fine, I'll play along. But I'll find a way to destroy this demon. I'll make sure of it.

He dropped his gun, giving a slight sigh. "Maybe... I jumped to conclusions. Maybe... I was wrong about you." He looked at Dipper, who was being helped to his feet by Mabel now, the wound almost all the way healed. This creature truly is a master of trickery.

Ford and Dipper both locked eyes, almost thinking with the same mind for a second. He's a danger to my family. They both thought And I need to get rid of him.

Sorry for the lateish update, I had a busy day. I've also decided to try something out. What would you say to a code at the end of each chapter?

I'd love to see what you think about it. The code would always be like the end credits page of season 2 where its a combined cipher, and would alert something to the future. ;) So hears my first one and have a try. If you all like it, I'll hopefully do more.

4-16-19 22-19-23-5-4 15-10-5-15-20-19 15-5 16-15-5 19-4-19-6-10-23-12 18-19-23-6, 22-3-4 4-16-19 20-23-6-13-19-10-19-20 20-23-1-10 15-5 17-6-9-1-15-10-17 10-19-23-6

16-3-11-23-10-15-4-25 23-20-20-5 4-9 16-15-5 5-4-6-19-10-17-4-16 9-18 1-15-12-12, 22-3-4 21-23-10 16-19 5-4-9-8 4-16-19 8-12-23-10-5 9-18 22-15-12-12?