Here's the second chapter! This is where the story really starts! As I do with my other stories, time to respond to reviews!
PraiseOkita: Lol! Jokes aside, I am super hyped for Silksong.
To those of you interested, I do have a forum where anyone can give me suggestions for stories or ideas, or just talk in general! The link is in my bio.
It was a quiet night in the woods of Gravity Falls, Oregon. Well, as quiet as one in that area could get. Only the occasional scampering of gnomes or the roar of an unidentified beast could be heard.
Within the forest, there lied a small grove of pure white flowers. So white that they appeared to glow under the light of the moon. However, on this particular night, one of the flowers genuinely began to glow. The light from the flower became more and more intense, until it rose above the canopy of the woods. As the light died down, two figures lay unconscious in the middle of the grove. The light coming from the flower eventually went away completely, leaving no trace of what had happened.
Dipper Pines was staring out of the window in the attic of the Mystery Shack. It had been a rather restless night for him. It had been a couple of days since he and his sister had their battle with the gnomes, and the preteen was itching to discover more of the mysteries hidden within the woods.
"Man, how am I supposed to sleep knowing what's hiding just outside?"
He kept his voice down. He knew that he'd be in a world of hurt if he woke his twin sister. Despite usually being a bubbly, happy go lucky type of person, Mabel hated being woken up.
As he continued to stare at the sprawling expanse of pine trees, a bright flash suddenly erupted deep in the woods.
"AH! What was that?!"
As Dipper stumbled away from the window in surprise and shock, He got whacked in the face with a pillow, sending him down to the floor with a small oof.
"Dipper! What are you doing up screaming this late, you jerk?"
"Ah, Mabel! Sorry, I couldn't sleep and I was looking out the window and then there was this big flash and then-"
"Ugh! Forget it! Just go to sleep you dork!"
"What? But what about the light?"
"It's past midnight doofus! We'll go look for it tomorrow or something."
"Oh. Y-yeah, ok. Sorry about waking you up Mabel."
But Mabel was already asleep.
"Ok. Sleep. Yeah. I can totally go to sleep. Just put it out of my mind. Out. Of. My. Mind."
"Go to sleep Dipper!"
"AH! Sorry!"
Stan Pines was up early in the morning. He had to be to get the shack ready for tourists. Not that it was even open on Sundays, but it was routine. He went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast for his great niece and nephew. He may have thought that they were loud and obnoxious when they arrived, but he had to admit, the little gremlins had started to grow on him the past week.
"Morning kiddos. Wha'dya want for breakfast?"
"Pancakes with sprinkles! Rainbow sprinkles!"
"We don't got any sprinkles kid. I'm not spending my well earned money on that stuff. They don't taste like anything and contribute nothing to food."
Mabel gave a loud gasp. "Blasphemy! Sprinkles are the greatest thing to be invented since sweaters and cute puppies! They should be on every meal!"
"Let's agree to disagree. Dipper?"
"I'll just have eggs and toast."
"That it?"
"...Toast with butter."
"Daring today, huh?"
Dipper rolled his eyes at his Grunkle's picking. Sure he'd been having nothing but toast, eggs and cereal for breakfast the past week, but there was nothing wrong with routine.
"Well today's Sunday. Mean's work's off. So you two can go run around and do whatever it is you kids do these days."
"No work!? Awesome! I'm gonna spend the whole day knitting new sweaters!"
Dipper leaned in to Mabel's ear.
"What about that flash I saw coming from the woods last night? We need to go check that out."
"Ok fine. Adventure and THEN knitting!"
"Heh, as long as you two are outta my hair It's fine with me. Just don't get yourselves lost."
Dipper and Mabel finished eating their breakfast and departed for the woods. Dipper looked around, before pointing northeast.
"So, the light came from that way last night, so that's where we're going to go."
"Got it! Lead the way Broseph!"
"Man, I didn't think it'd be this far out!"
"Maybe we missed it?"
"I doubt it. Something that can make a flash that big would be pretty hard to miss."
As the twins brushed a couple of branches out of the way, they saw something odd. A small grove of pure white flowers sat within chest tall bushes, the plants forming a half circle and making the area look quite sacred.
"Whoah! Look at those pretty flowers!"
"Wait. I think there was something about these flowers in the journal."
"Really? They just look like normal flowers to me."
"Here we go. 'The Lily of Light. Deep within the Gravity Falls forest there lies a small grove of flowers, the color of which is the most pure white I have ever seen. While on it's own not a phenomenon, the flowers do not appear to grow anywhere else within the forest, and they do not match any other known type of flower. On top of that, they also fall apart quite easily. I once tried picking one to bring to my lab for analysis, and it fell to pieces almost immediately after I picked it. Further study required'"
"Huh. Do you think they're what caused the light?"
"Doubtful, but we can't rule out the possibility. Since we're already here, we might as well investigate."
As the twins were about to go investigate the flowers, there was a sudden rustling behind one of the shrubs.
"Huh? Who's there?"
Hornet groaned as she began to come to. Her memory was blurry. The infection had disappeared, and Hollow had been freed. But they had discovered that the void had gone mad and was tearing the capital apart and... Was it all a dream? That seemed like the most likely option.
Just as Hornet was about to come to that conclusion, she opened her eyes and that theory went right out the window. One, Hollow was laying beside her, still unconscious. Two, there was unknown foliage all around her, not found in either Greenpath not the Queen's Gardens. And three..."
"Light...? It's too bright to be a lantern..."
Hornet shot up. Something was terribly off. She had been all over the kingdom many times, and she had never encountered a place like this. She went over and shook Hollow to wake him. He stirred, before jolting up, fearing danger.
"Hollow, I don't know where we are."
The failed vessel looked up into the sky to see the burning orb of light. Fearing that it was the infection coming to reclaim his mind, he scurried up to the trunk of a tree and held his nail close.
"Calm down Hollow. I know that ball of light looks like the infection, but I can sense no malice from it, nor does it appear to be alive. It does make things quite hot and bright however."
As Hornet lifted Hollow back up after consoling him, a sharp gasp came from behind them. Reflexes as sharp as ever, Hornet and Hollow whirled around, drawing nail and needle alike. What they came face to face with however, were the strangest bugs the two had ever seen.
Dipper and Mabel were nervous. Before them stood two unknown creatures who were pointing deadly weapons at them. One of them was about the size of a normal teen, about a head shorter than Wendy. The other was an absolute giant. They had to be at least eight feet tall! They both wore nearly featureless white masks on their heads. The shorter one wore a maroon dress, while the other wore a tattered cloth.
"H-hey! We're not here to hurt you! We just came here after we saw a huge flash of light!"
The tall one tilted it's head in confusion, while the shorter one tensed and spoke in a language neither of them understood.
"Whoah! Hey, look! We're backing off, okay?"
Dipper and Mabel rose their hands and backed away slowly. The Tall one lowered his weapon, and soon after the shorter one did as well, although they still gave them a wary gaze.
"Are we cool?"
Mabel went to take a step forward, but retreated once the short one tensed.
"Well, this is getting us nowhere. Dipper, they can't understand us, and they think we're a threat. How are we going to convince them we're nice?"
"Wait, I remember now, there was something that might be useful in the journal! Yeah, the Tongue Twister's pond! When you drink the water from the pond, you'll be able to understand and speak any language!"
"Does that journal of yours have the solution to literally every problem?"
"What? No, this is just a coin..ci..dence... "
"What?"
"The pond... is ten yards away from the grove."
"Is there some sort of good luck monster around here or something?"
"No, they usually live in the mountains in Ireland according to-"
"Oh who cares! Let's just go drink that language juice!"
"Don't call it that."
Hornet was beyond confused. The two strange bugs were speaking in a tongue she couldn't understand, and they suddenly dashed away. Wary that they were planning something, she followed after them, Hollow by her side.
When she caught up to the two of them, they were kneeling over a small pond, drinking the water. Were they dehydrated or something? Why would they run away simply to get water? It made no sense.
They rose from the bed of the pond, apparently finished with their drink, and faced the siblings once more.
"Uh, hi?"
Hornet and Hollow recoiled in surprise. She could understand them! But how? They didn't seem to understand each other just a moment before!
"What?! How do you speak our tongue when you didn't understand it a moment before?"
"Wow! It actually worked! It was that water! When you drink it, you can speak and understand any language!"
"That is completely ludicrous."
"Yeah, maybe, but it's real!"
Hornet looked at the two strangely, before she walked up to the pond. Hollow guarded her while she bent down to take a sip in case the two tried anything.
She stood up once more and faced the two odd creatures yet again. "Speak in you're native language."
"Um, ok? You CAN understand us right?"
Hornet gasped. "Impossible! I understood it clear as day! How does something like this even exist?"
Hollow bent down and took a sip as well, curious.
"Ok! Now that we can actually understand each other, let's clear things up. Looks like we got off on the wrong foot. We don't want to hurt you. I'm Dipper, this is my twin sister Mabel."
Hornet gave a sigh. "I... apologize for being so hostile. Where I come from, you're either alert and paranoid, or you die. I am Hornet, They are Hollow."
Mabel gave Hornet a sad gaze. "That sounds like a terrible way to live! It's like being forced to live thinking like Dipper!"
"Hey! I'm not THAT paranoid!"
"You heard thunder the other night and thought the shack was being bombed."
"...Touché."
Hornet gave a small chuckle. It had been a while since they had met anyone so casual, but that was to be expected in the infected Hallownest.
"I have a question. Where are we? The area is unlike any I've ever seen, and the giant bright ball in the sky is quite unusual."
Dipper gave her a strange look. "The sun? The thing that gives the entire world light? The star that keeps us all alive? How can you not know what the sun is?"
"Again, we are not from around here."
"I don't think you understand. The sun is visible EVERYWHERE. There isn't a living being in existence that doesn't know what the sun is."
Hornet took a step back in shock. This 'sun' was something everyone was supposed to know about? Where had she and Hollow ended up?
A hand clasped onto her shoulder comfortingly. Hornet looked up to find Hollow looking down at her concerned.
"Hornet? Are you alright?"
Hornet fell to the ground, struggling to process what she heard. Or rather, WHO she heard.
"H-HOLLOW?! You can speak?!"
"Oh. I suppose I should have given you a warning. I've always been able to speak, it's just that no one besides my own kind can hear the tongue of the void. After drinking from that pond however, it seems that I can finally speak in a way that you can hear."
"Hollow... Oh that's wonderful! We don't have to play charades anymore!"
Hollow gave a mirthful laugh. "That is one way of looking at it, yes."
A cough interrupted the two siblings.
"Hi. Mabel here. Just to let you know, me and Dipstick have absolutely no idea what's going on! You mind filling us in?"
Hornet and Hollow exchanged a sheepish look with each other.
"Apologies. We go caught up in the moment. Perhaps we can both answer each other's questions."
Dipper took out a pen and notepad.
"My thoughts exactly."
Mabel groaned. "Oh no, he's in nerd mode! We'll be here for hours!"
Hollow looked to the bubbly girl. "It can't be that bad, right?"
"It really can."