Full chapter title: The Mystery Kids (Are On the Case)
The closer that Norman got to Dipper's face, the more he could see. As he reached over and pulled a cord to turn on a small desk lamp he saw how Dipper's eyes blinked violently, his eyes unfocused. Norman didn't sense any paranormal happenings, nor did he see any obvious signs of possession. He took a few breaths to steel himself and began leaning Dipper up, holding onto his arms. He was much more equiped for the paranormal; the mundane was unfamiliar territory.
"Dipper," he muttered quietly, trying to rub circles on his friend's elbows. He'd read somewhere that a grounding touch could bring someone out of a night terror but this was his first time watching one firsthand. It scared the shit out of him; to see Dipper's eyes open, and yet not be there, but the situation seemed almost managable compared to a paranormal problem.
Suddenly, there was the sound of heavy footfalls bounding up the stairs, finally responding to Norman's yells.
Dipper began calming, blinking more slowly as his vision came into focus. Dipper's open mouth, which had been dripping with drool in his fugue, began to close. Dipper began swallowing normally, albeit manually, still dazed when Mabel began waking up, taking out her headphones without bothering to pause the song, and moving to their bedside as Soos watched from afar.
"Night terror," Norman told the two, focusing on Dipper and keeping his hands on the boy's elbows, rubbing small circles on them with his thumbs as Dipper began to regain himself.
"N... Norman. I saw-... Bill... I was reliving my possession. " Dipper supplied, leaning his forehead on Norman's shoulder as he tried to force himself to breathe steady. "It was awful... It was like I was feeling it all over again. The sensation of spiders under my skin... The burning behind my eyes... His voice in my head... I thought I was over it..."
Mabel sat beside Dipper then, wrapping an arm around him to hug him, "You don't just get over that, Dipper. It's not possible. I have my own share of nightmares, it's not always as easy as just getting over it..."
Soos spoke, "If you dudes want, I can sleep up here on the floor with you."
Dipper shook his head slowly, his throat dry, "Thank you, but I'll be okay. I just... need to go back to sleep."
Norman eyed Dipper with suspicion, but Mabel just nodded, giving her brother a brief and tight hug before returning to her bed, opting to not listen to music in her sleep this time. Mabel wanted to be able to wake up easily, just in case.
Soos left begrudgingly, not closing the door all the way. He opted to sleep in the room down the hall for the rest of the night to soothe his worries about Dipper.
Norman left the bedside lamp on, moving back to his position with his face against the wall, the coolness calming him some. His heart still beat rapidly in his chest, scared on behalf of Dipper as well as the whole situation itself. He steadied his breathing as his breath hit the wall and warmed his face.
He had nearly forgotten this part about the incident in Blithe Hollow. He had forgotten that beyond the excitement, danger never left you alone- even when you tried to sleep. This danger felt like eyes in the darkness, feeling them watching you, but unable to see them; much too scared to turn on the light and reveal your suspicions to be correct.
Norman's daze was halted when he felt a shaky hand tugging lightly at the end of his shirt. Norman turned over to see Dipper near tears. Norman never really learned how to soothe the crying of someone other than himself, so the shock showed easily though he tried to hide it. Even more so, Norman appreciated the trust Dipper showed by allowing himself to be vulnerable, but Norman kept these thoughts to himself.
"I'm sorry Norm, I don't wanna weird you out but... I just-" Dipper whispered apprehensively, hoping his sister wouldn't hear him welling up. "I k-keep seeing his face and my eyes, what I did... I just-"
Norman merely turned to face Dipper, scooting himself closer. Dipper, reaching out a hand and gripping the end of Norman's shirt, felt almost grounded in the reality in the feeling of the cotton material. The material wound up in Dipper's white-knuckled grip pulled the shirt at an odd angle. Norman was unable to notice the sharp crescent nail marks Dipper left on his own enclosed fist.
"I'm here," Norman whispered. "I'm here..." he yawned, "You're okay. You're good, Dip. He's gone."
Dipper felt his breath hitch occasionally as he forced air to and from his lungs, but he held the tears back, nodding. The whole thing with Bill had been traumatizing; he'd had nightmares about Bill off and on since Weirdmageddon, but not nearly as bad as the night terror he just experienced. He could only think it had to do with coming back to Gravity Falls.
"Don't think less of me," Dipper whispered.
"Shut up," Norman muttered wrapping an arm around Dipper and putting his head against the boy's shoulder, "Trauma is nothing to be ashamed of. Hold on if you need to. I know it'd be weird if you tried to with Mabel. It's okay. You're my friend. I want you to feel safe." Norman stifled a yawn as he spoke, voice thick with sleep.
"You sure?" Dipper asked, the memory of those years ago- looking in the mirror and seeing yellow eyes in his reflection- making his fingers shake.
"Yeah, Dip. It's not weird. Wake me up if you need anything, okay?" Norman whispered near Dipper's ear.
Dipper tried to get comfortable with Norman's arm holding him close, having to squeeze closer so Norman's arm would reach. Dipper really noticed Norman's height now, how Dipper was nearly a head taller if you didn't include Norman's hair. He curled up a little to get more comfortable, eyes slowly getting heavy.
"Norman?"
"Yeah, Dip?"
"Is your hair always this poke-y? Like, it's soft but ticklish," Dipper uttered, already half-asleep.
"Usually I wear beanies to bed, my hair goes back into shape automatically anyway." Norman yawned again, pulling the larger of the two covers over them.
Dipper laughed quietly, punch drunk from fatigue, "Like a good-luck-troll doll."
Norman laughed quietly too, "Mhm..."
As the seconds passed, they both eventually fell asleep. Dipper had more nightmares that night, but most involved losing Cash Cab over and over in a neverending cycle. Norman dreamed of twins, oddly familiar ones that he just couldn't quite place.
Mabel stayed up a little while longer that night, smiling to herself and thanking her lucky stars. She worried about her brother facing things alone, but it seemed like it may not be just the Pines twins versus the world anymore. Maybe a few others may be able to enter their circle. Maybe they could be their own group, a new group.
Mabel smiled, remembering her talk with Greg, The Mystery Kid is on the case! She remembered herself saying, then smiled. Good name for us, "The Mystery Kids", she thought to herself. After all, "The Detective Boys" is already taken.
Mabel dreamed she was in the woods, surrounded by a sea of trees so dense she could not see outside the clearing she stood within. Reaching out a hand, she could not move as the black spherical stone at her feet began to take shape into an animal, one after the next it metamorphisized into a variety of creatures until nothing was there anymore. After the dream ended, she fell into a deep sleep devoid of dreams or nightmares. In the back of her mind, she sensed an omen in the stone she'd seen. Perhaps, she thought, things aren't what they seem?
Coraline stood in front of Wybie's door, hand outstretched towards the knob as she stood debating whether or not to go in. Wybie had a tendency to stay up late usually until about 4 am, but after not hearing any sounds coming from his room she wondered if he'd gone to sleep early (for once). Her watch on her wrist read 3:33am, and it made her skin crawl.
Despite being exhausted, she couldn't bring herself to sleep through the forboding feeling that seemed to hover thickly in the air. Looking to her to the top drawer of her dresser, her junk drawer, she had found her thoughts stuck on the little wooden box she'd tucked away, wrapped in her old scarf. She had opened the box, removed its contents, and spread them on the table. Immediately, she felt fear claw at her at what the cards told her. Time and time again, revealing the same answers, she knew it couldn't be a coincidence. Not with the Beldam's cards, she had to tell Wybie.
And so there she was, hovering wordlessly outside his door in desperate hope he was awake. However, after a moment of collecting herself, she knocked at his door with cards in hand. Wybie took one look at the tarot cards in her hand and frowned.
"What'd the cards say?" Wybie asked, pulling up Coraline a chair to sit beside his bed.
"That's the weird thing." Coraline answered, plopping into her chair as her eyes squinted in wonder at the pitch black backs of the tarot. "I shuffled and then drew 5 seperate times and they all say the same thing: same cards, same orientation- no matter how I rephrase the question. Two of Cups with normal orientation, Ace of Wands inverted, and The Tower with normal orientation."
Wybie nodded seriously a few times, a serious expression on his face before looking back at Coraline and the look falling away. "Okay, I honestly didn't follow that. You forget I dropped out of your 'lessons' when you were teaching me all that tarot stuff. "
Coraline rolled her eyes, groaning, holding Ace of Wands in one hand, Two of Cups in the other.
"Pay attention- I'll only explain this once- I have to call the twins and warn them, so I don't have a lot of time. Two of Cups in the upright position in the first spot in the trio means the past is dominated by healthy relationships, friendships, teamwork- if you wanna call it that- so clearly that means all of us, right? The second spot is the present with the Ace of Wands inverted means selfishness, loss of motivation, unforseen setbacks, so there's either something wrong that they aren't telling us or more likely, they don't even know about. And that," she pointed at the Tower card still lying beside her with disdain, her mouth pulling at the corners in discomfort and worry. "That is really bad news, Wy. That card has a lot of meanings so I can't place the importance exactly since it hasn't happened yet but I can say that none of those meanings are good. We're all way in over our head, they've gotta know that by now, right?"
Coraline's voice drifted out, picking all the cards up in her hands and staring at them as though she planned to bore holes in them with her gaze. Wybie reached to his desk, grabbed his cell phone and made the call, a groggy Norman answering the phone.
"Norman, it's Wybie. Coraline's got a bad feeling and I think we all need to talk. All five of us." Wybie spoke slowly enough for Norman to understand and to grasp the gravity of the words before continuing. "Either all of us need to talk on speaker or we need to meet up immediately. I can't really explain this in a couple of words. It's... It's a lot."
...
Norman looked at Dipper who was half asleep on the bed, Dipper watching him with half-lidded exhausted eyes. Mabel was soundless in her sleep, unmoving with even, shallow breaths.
"Let's meet at The Bluebird Inn, it's a halfway point between the both of us. Take lit streets only. If your grandmother can drive you, ask her to. I really don't want us to be wandering in the dark like this but I doubt we have a choice anymore...Yeah, see you there...No, don't worry about packing anything it'll take you longer- just essentials... Bring the cards too, anything important we can use... Superstitious or not, seems like that's the only thing on our side right now. Sure, you too, stay on main roads. Bye."
Norman went to his bag and pulled a handful of items out, emptying out his plastic grocery bag of dirty clothes and stuffing the items inside before tying it off and wrapping the handle around his wrist. Making sure he pulled his phone from the charger, he pat Mabel on the shoulder until she woke with a start.
"Norman? What's wrong?" Her voice was thick and rough with sleep.
"Wybie called. We have to meet at the inn, something's wrong." Norman spoke quickly, taking Dipper's phone from his charger and tossing it onto the boy's chest.
"More than the monster on the loose?" Dipper muttered sardonically.
"Coraline's tarot cards, which used to belong to a witch, are talking to her and I'm not dumb enough to ignore a sign like that. It's bad. Come on." Norman spit back, pulling on his shoes, stuffing his socks in his pocket to put on later.
Mabel slunk out of bed, getting her phone out of the dresser, still tired from her few hours of rest and pulled on a pair of her hiking boots over her socks. Dipper was already ready, having sprung up at the moment's notice, pulled on his sneakers without tying them and walking out of the bedroom.
"Leaving a note." He threw over his shoulder as Norman and Mabel walked out of the house ahead of him.
Something's wrong, we'll be at Bluebird Inn, we'll try to stay in touch. Thanks, guys. - DM & N
As the three walked alone towards the Bluebird Inn, the moon shone brightly above without a star in sight.
A.N.
To whomsoever it may concern: The Detective Boys is a Detective Conan reference and if you got that reference please tell me in the comments so I can give you a well-deserved pat on the back for your good taste in manga/anime.