Chapter 12
Sheriff Blubs arrived to Main Street with Deputy Durland in their police car to find people running away in terror as Merlin destroyed everything in sight. Blubs came out of the police car with a megaphone.
"Hey, wizard guy!" said Blubs into the megaphone. "Cut that out!"
"Have you brought your leader with you?" asked Merlin.
"I'm the leader in these parts, and I'm telling you to take your behind home!" said Blubs.
"And what will you do if I don't, fat man?"
Blubs reddened. "Durland, get the tasers!"
Merlin laughed.
"Whatever those 'tasters' are, they're no match for…"
Before Merlin could finish the sentence, he felt two sharp objects puncture his neck. Electricity then pulsated through his body, and he fell to the ground shaking as Blubs and Durland approached him.
"What...kind of...dark magic...is this?" croaked Merlin.
"You can thank our old friend Thomas Edison for that!" said Durland.
"When...I find...this sorcerer Edison...I shall…"
Merlin again struggled to finish his sentence before passing out.
Dipper had just finished telling Stan what had happened while he, Mabel, and Soos were gone when Wendy entered the Mystery Shack.
"Dipper!" cried Wendy.
Wendy ran to Dipper and squeezed him in her arms. When she let him go after a few seconds, his face was red, and his legs were shaking like he was carrying something double his weight.
"Do you know what happened to Soos and Mabel?" asked Wendy.
"W-w-w-well, y-y-y-y-you s-s-s-s-s-see," stuttered Dipper.
"We don't know," said Stan.
"Dang," said Wendy. "I hope they're alright."
The door to the Mystery Shack opened again, and this time, Soos' grandmother, known to Gravity Falls' residents only as Abuelita, walked in.
"Oh, no!" said Stan. "It's her again!"
Stan hid under his chair as Abuelita entered the living room.
"Hi, Abuelita!" said Dipper, who had regained his composure enough to be able to talk normally again.
"Hello," said Abuelita. "Do you have any news about my grandson?"
"I don't," responded Dipper. "I'm sorry."
"Dios mio," muttered Abuelita. "My tibuelo Bruno warned me of this. Once again, I am unhappy to see him proven right."
Dipper raised an eyebrow.
"What exactly did he tell you?" asked Dipper.
"Oh, it was so long ago," said Abuelita.
Abuelita closed her eyes, and she felt something she couldn't explain, even in her native tongue. If she had to describe it, she was somehow feeling the color green. Once she opened her eyes, she had a much better memory of what her great uncle had predicted.
"He told me I would lose somebody dear to me," said Abuelita. "And to get him back, I would have to consult el padre de los ratones, the father of mice."
"Father of mice?" repeated Wendy. "What could that mean?"
"Sadly, I do not know," said Abuelita. "If you hear about Soos, please stop by mi casa and tell me. He's been gone for days without any of Abuelita's home cooking. He must be so skinny now!"
Before Abuelita left, she turned around.
"Tell Mr. Pines I said hello, as well," said Abuelita.
Wendy kicked Stan under the chair.
"Ow!" said Stan. "I mean, there's nobody under here! This is just your mind playing tricks on you!"
Abuelita smiled before leaving the Mystery Shack. A few seconds later, Stan crawled out from under his chair.
"What was that for?" asked Stan.
"What was what for?" said Wendy, playing dumb.
"You know what I'm talking about! That kick in the keister you gave me!"
"Are you sure that wasn't just your mind playing tricks on you?"
"Very funny!"
Stan wiped the dust off of his pants before sitting in the chair.
"Why didn't you want to talk to Abuelita?" asked Dipper.
"She's been here every day since Soos disappeared, asking me the same questions. And I get it! It's her grandson, but that doesn't make it any less annoying!" explained Stan.
"Do you have any idea who that 'father of mice' might be, at least?"
"It's no one! It's a crazy old woman making stuff up! You should just ignore it!"
Dipper sighed.
"You might be right," said Dipper. "But I need something, anything to help me bring back Soos and Mabel."
Wendy put a hand on Dipper's shoulder.
"It's okay," she said. "We'll find them. Every mess we've gotten in, we've managed to dig ourselves out of, haven't we?"
"Yeah," said Dipper. "But every time, I've had Mabel with me."
"I know what will cheer us up! Pizza!" said Stan.
"All right!" said Wendy.
Dipper shook his head.
"I'm not hungry," he said. "If it's alright with you two, I'll call it a night."
Dipper went back up the stairs to the attic, and he disappeared into his room.
"Poor guy," said Wendy.
"I wish I could tell him how much I understand what he's going through," said Stan.
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing."
It was late at night when Merlin finally regained consciousness. He was now in a jail cell, and he saw Deputy Durland sleeping in a chair across from it.
"Big mistake," whispered Merlin as he pointed two open palms at the bars of the jail cell.
The bars didn't move, so Merlin said a spell out loud in Latin while keeping his open palms pointed at them.
"Why isn't this working?" grumbled Merlin.
Merlin closed his eyes and said a transportation spell as carefully as he could. When he opened his eyes again and saw that he was still in the jail cell, he punched one of the walls out of frustration.
"Why don't my powers work anymore?" wondered Merlin.
Merlin stared at Deputy Durland in his chair.
"Whatever he did to me must have crippled my magic," said Merlin. "I can't believe I was defeated by such a pathetic excuse for a human!"
Deputy Durland woke up.
"Sorry, ma! Didn't mean to wet the bed again!" blurted Durland.
Durland then realized where he was.
"You...didn't hear that, did you?" said Durland.
"Oh, I heard every word," said Merlin.
Durland sighed before standing up.
"I'm happy you're alive, by the way," said Durland. "It was pretty touch-and-go there for a while. Sheriff Blubs bet you wouldn't make it, but I bet you would. Now that you're moving again, I get to cash out!"
As Durland started to leave, Merlin grabbed the cell bars.
"So, you're just going to leave me here?" said Merlin.
"Yep!" said Durland.
Durland thought for a moment, and then he grabbed a pack of cheese and crackers from his shirt pocket and threw it into Merlin's jail cell.
"In case you get hungry," said Durland. "Last thing I want is for you to starve to death before I can prove to Daryl you're alive. BRB!"
Durland went into the hallway, leaving Merlin alone in his prison cell. Merlin picked up the cheese and crackers and studied them.
"I've never seen anything like this," said Merlin.
Merlin licked the pack of cheese and crackers without taking the plastic wrapper off.
"Strange what people in these lands are willing to eat," said Merlin.
Merlin slid the cheese and crackers into a pocket inside his robe, and he sat on a bed in the corner of his jail call, thinking about everything that had led up to this, all of the loved ones he had betrayed just to wind up in this smelly dungeon without his powers on a world he knew nothing about.
He thought about Arthur.
He thought about Evelyn.
He thought about the Big Bad Wolf.
And he questioned whether all the pain he had inflicted on those he had once considered his friends and family would be worth it in the end.
It had to be.
Otherwise, he had become a monster for nothing.
Dipper lie awake in his bed at 2 in the morning. Every time he closed his eyes, he heard Mabel's screams, those horrible screams. He hoped that she was alive and that wherever she was, she was being taken care of, but it ate away at him that he didn't know. As her twin brother, losing Mabel felt like losing a part of himself, and he had no idea how to function without her. He scanned the toys by Mabel's bed, hoping that having something to talk to, even a stuffed animal, would make it easier for him to relax. One of the toys immediately caught his attention: a plushie of Minnie Mouse.
El padre de los ratones.
"That's it!" said Dipper. "Walt Disney!"
Dipper remembered the conversation he had with Bill Cipher while playing Rumpelstiltskin. Bill had told him that Disney visited the world of fairy tales long ago, which means if Bill was telling the truth, and Disney was still alive, and he knew how to get back to that world, they could bring back Soos. If they could back to that world, they could possibly find where Mabel is and bring her back, too. He knew it was unlikely, but it was the closest thing to a solution he had, and to his sleep-deprived brain, it made perfect sense. He turned off the lights, returned to his bed, and was asleep in seconds.
Merlin woke up to the sound of a tin cup jangling through the bars of his jail cell.
"Sorry," said Deputy Durland, who was holding the cup. "I've always wanted to do that."
"What do you want?" growled Merlin.
"You have a visitor. She says she's a big fan of yours."
"Really? Interesting."
Durland left, and a woman who appeared to be in her mid-thirties walked in.
"I...I can't believe it's you!" said the woman.
"Who are you?" said Merlin.
"Sorry," said the woman. "I'm Abigail Waybright, but everyone calls me Abby."
"Well, Abby, what do you want?"
"I wanted to know if you were really here. The police said you were being detained here, but I couldn't believe that after seeing those videos of you."
"Videos?"
"Yeah! That crazy stuff you did downtown is all over YouTube now! You're a viral sensation!"
"Viral sensation? That sounds painful!"
"Well, it isn't! It's great for you! I'm actually a part of a group, the Children of Merlin, that started online last night. We already have hundreds of members, and we're adding new ones every minute."
Merlin scratched his chin, intrigued by what he was hearing.
"These Children of Merlin, would you say that they worship me?" he asked.
"Of course!" said Abby. "We think somebody like you is exactly what this world needs, somebody powerful enough and ambitious enough to take complete control, end all of the stupid fighting we see between countries, and just focus on making the world a better place."
Merlin smiled.
"Yes," he said. "That's exactly what I want, and I can accomplish it with the help of you and the rest of these Children of Merlin."
"But, if you don't mind, can I ask why you're still in this jail cell? With what I know about your powers, it shouldn't be difficult for you to break out," said Abby.
"You're right. I can leave this bloody place whenever I want to," lied Merlin. "But I won't, because when it's time to attack, I want it to come by surprise."
"Of course!" said Abby. "I never should have doubted you."
"That's right. While I'm in here, though, can you ask somebody in your group to monitor two children from this area?"
"That shouldn't be hard. What are their names?"
"Dipper and Mabel Pines."
Dipper ran downstairs as soon as he woke up. Stan was showing customers around the gift shop while Wendy was behind the cash register.
"Guys! Guys! I know how we're bringing back Soos!" said Dipper.
"Alright, everyone out!" said Stan. "This is family business!"
The customers left the gift shop visibly irritated, and Stan joined Dipper in front of the counter opposite Wendy.
"So, you remember what Abuelita said about the father of mice?" said Dipper. "I think when she said that, she was referring to Walt Disney."
"The movie guy?" said Stan. "Even if it was possible that it was him, he's been dead for close to 50 years!"
"Wait a minute," said Wendy. "I have a friend who works at Disneyland, and she told me once about a rumor that Walt Disney never really died but was cryogenically frozen and stored in a secret chamber right under the Pirates of the Caribbean ride."
"So, let's start there," said Dipper. "If we can find Disney, we can find Soos, and who knows? Maybe he can help us find Mabel, too."
"This is nonsense! I've already had to run off my paying customers just to talk about this! I'm not closing down the Mystery Shack for days so you can look for a ghost under a pirate ride!" said an exasperated Stan.
"Please," said Dipper. "If there's even a small chance, one out of one hundred, one out of one million chance that this is how I bring Mabel and Soos back, I have to try it."
"No!" said Stan. "And that's final!"
"Hey, old man, can we talk for a sec?" said Wendy.
Stan and Wendy went into the living room while Dipper sat on a barrel beside the counter. Wendy made sure Dipper was out of earshot before she started speaking.
"Listen, dude, we both know what Dipper is saying is crazy, but he just lost his sister," said Wendy. "Can't we just entertain him for a bit? Whether Walt Disney is there or not, he'll still get to have fun at Disneyland, maybe meet a cute girl his own age, and start to accept that he doesn't have all of the answers, and that's okay."
Stan sighed.
"All right," he said. "I haven't taken a break from the Mystery Shack for years, so maybe some time off will be good for me, too."
Stan and Wendy returned to the gift shop to find Dipper still on the barrel, looking down at the floor dejected.
"Chin up, brat," said Stan. "We're going to Disneyland."
Dipper looked up at his great uncle with surprise.
"What made you change your mind?" said Dipper.
"You moping around here is bad for business," said Stan. "Just promise me that after we go to Disneyland, no matter what happens, you'll at least try to be more cheerful.
Dipper nodded.
"Also," said Dipper. "Can we bring Abuelita?"
"Absolutely not!" said Stan.
"She was told that she would be the one to talk to Disney about bringing back Soos. I want to make sure we do this right," said Dipper.
Stan clenched his fists for a moment, but then he released him.
"Fine," he said. "But she's driving in the back with you!"
"Woo-hoo!" said Dipper. "I know you won't regret it, Grunkle Stan! I just know it!"
As Dipper ran to the Stanmobile, Stan shook his head.
"How much I wish I could believe you, kid," he whispered.
Wendy followed Dipper to the car as Stan locked all of the doors around the Mystery Shack. Stan then turned on the Stanmobile and joined Wendy in the front seat.
"Remember," said Wendy. "Stay cool. For Dipper."
"Yeah," said Stan. "For Dipper."
Stan took one last look at the Mystery Shack in the rearview mirror before driving off.
Author's Note: So yeah, a lot happened in this chapter. This is the first chapter to take place entirely on Earth, and it gives us the biggest look into Merlin's psyche that we've seen so far in this fanfic. I take away his powers early on because I do want to give him something resembling a story arc. Though he shows some remorse during his time in the jail cell, he's clearly not a good guy now, and he now has the Children of Merlin to do his evil bidding, so he'll still be a threat to Dipper and the others even if he can't do anything directly to them right now.
Also, I didn't plan for Abuelita to be a part of this chapter when I started writing it, but as I thought it out, I found a perfect way to use her. I also got to teach myself a bit of Spanish for her dialogue, which was really fun. Tio abuelo means great uncle in Spanish, so I imagined Abuelita calling her great uncle Tibuelo Bruno, or Grunkle Bruno. Also, if you recognize the name Bruno from a recent Disney movie and top 5 song, that isn't an accident, but that's all I'll say about it for now.
Speaking of Disney, I planned to name drop the very real rumor that Walt Disney was frozen and buried under the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland since I wrote Chapter 7 all the way back in 2016. Again, I don't want to reveal too much too early, but I wouldn't use ideas I came up with six years ago unless I had a lot of plans for them. I will say that I'll stick with the one-dimension-per-chapter rule after this, so Chapter 3 will take place entirely in Amphibia and Chapter 4 will take place entirely in the Fairy Tale World. After that, we'll return to Earth to check up on Dipper and Merlin. Hopefully, we won't have to wait too long to do that.