Guess who's back, back again, Phouka's back, tell your friends. Yup, I'm updating again. Not much to say here, other than let me know what you think!
The flames flickered eerily against the pitch black of the forest, filling the silence with soft crackling of dragonfire.
Dipper couldn't sleep that night. He had no idea why, but the birthmark atop his forehead was tingling with some sort of nostalgic energy, even though Dipper fully knew that he'd never been between these trees before. He had no idea how Bill could sleep soundly through a situation like this, his chest rising and falling steadily, his face illuminated by the flames. Of course he felt safe everywhere, he didn't yet grasp the fact that humans were mortal beings, and could be killed very easily.
Perhaps he felt safe in the presence of Primrose, who herself was a massive predator with so many natural weapons it felt like overkill. However Dipper wasn't convinced, the dragoness was also sleeping, curled round with her sharp tail laid neatly over her nose.
Dipper hugged his knees and stared into the fire, rocking himself gently back and forth. Was Mabel wondering where he was too? Did she even know that he was alive and not held prisoner in some dungeon in the mindscape by Bill? Could she sense those things through their twinness?
What was she doing now? Sleeping, probably, he told himself, what else would she be doing at night?
He had lost track of time, and telling time from the sky was hopeless thanks to dark clouds covering the moon and stars. Maybe it was already early morning or just before midnight, he didn't know.
The darkness pressed on, only drowned out by by the light from the fire. Dipper did not want to think about the creatures that lurked in the darkness like liquid shadows, only kept at bay by the light.
A soft breeze picked up, pulling at Dipper's pine tree hat and trying to pull it off his head. Up until now, he'd thought that Bill had called him 'Pine Tree' because of the symbol his hat bore, but since Bill had mentioned that Pine Trees are always animals, he wasn't so sure. He wasn't an animal, was he? He took it off his head and placed it in front of him.
If he was to understand anything on this journey, he was gonna have to throw everything he thought he knew about everything out the window and take a step back.
This was not Gravity Falls, and its strange laws didn't matter anymore. Dragons existed which he never saw back in the strange town, so was there other magnificent creatures beyond even this? He needed to know more than he already did. He wanted to know.
He caught himself before his mind would carry him to some impossible extremes. He needed to get home to Mabel, not wonder round god knew where.
Suddenly a strange noise made him snap his head towards his sleeping companion. Bill was stirring in his sleep. What was he dreaming about?
It was Bill's first time sleeping, so Dipper was curious what he was dreaming about. What would a chaotic brain demon dream about? Whatever it was, however, it clearly wasn't good. Mabel had shuffled like that when she was having a nightmare...
Dipper put his hat back on his head and tried to ignore him. Leaves began to fall as the wind picked up stronger. They were extremely dry thanks to the hot summer sun during the day. Some of them flew straight into the campfire, catching on fire instantly, withering and dying. However one of those leaves managed to get out of the flames and land on the dry ground, the fire spreading to the forest floor.
Dipper gasped and leapt up to stomp the flames out, but it was already too late. The shining amber flames were already consuming a very old oak tree, flames reaching up to the sky like devil's fingers.
"FIRE!" Dipper shrieked in panic, stumbling back away from the intense heat. "WAKE UP! THERE'S FIRE!"
Both Bill and Primrose snarked awake at his yowl, still sleepy at first and confused at why Dipper was acting like the forest was on fire. It took them a few moments to comprehend that the forest was indeed on fire.
"Holy jumping Jesus on a breadstick Pine Tree what did you do!?" Bill exclaimed, stumbling to get onto his feet.
"It's not my fault!" Dipper defended himself as he followed Primrose, who had already turned tail and fled, into the darkness, Bill and the fire hot on their tail.
Suddenly the darkness had all melted away, and the whole forest seemed to give off its own, threatening firelight. Smoke drifted off into the sky as the temperatures rose drastically.
Running through a flaming forest was certainly something Dipper had never done before, but the fear and urgency that came with it was worryingly familiar to him. He had broken out into a sweat thanks to the incredibly hot temperature. He could see the flames at both his sides, faster than any human could run. Lungs screamed for pure air, after just a few brief moments of inhaling the smoke-infested air, his eyes watering to get the smoke out of his eyes. Bill was coughing beside him, also having the trouble of normal functioning in the wildfire. If they weren't going to die by fire, they were definitely going to die by smoke inhalation.
Something snapped above them, and a flaming branch came crashing down, blocking their path. Dipper's hands flew up to his face to protect himself from the embers that came flying out towards them, skidding to a halt.
"We're... We're trapped..." He choked out to Bill, horrified beyond any words. He looked to him, and found that Bill was frantically looking for a way out, however found none.
"Let's flip a coin to see how this turns out," he deadpanned, apparently thinking that this was an appropriate time for a joke. "Heads- we die. Tails... We die. Well shit! Might as well say your goodbyes now kid."
Before anyone else could do anything however, a dark shape jumped over the fire in front, fire in her eyes.
Primrose ran up to them in the circle of enclosing flames, and lowered her head with an urgent sound. It didn't take an animal expert to figure out what she was telling them.
Dipper clambered hastily onto her back, Bill shortly following behind. They sat between her back spikes and before her wings, like a riding horse. Before the flames could reach any higher, Primrose leapt over the obstacle and into what was left of the lush green forest.
The wildfire was fast, could outrun any human. But could it outrun a dragon?
Primrose dashed forward in unsteady bounds, the humans on her back clinging onto her for dear life as the fire chased them ceaselessly. All three hearts pounded with adrenalin and fear, blood pounding in their heads. Dipper's sweaty hands clung onto the warm dragon scales, panting as if he himself was running. The flames were definitely closer now, almost touching them with great tongues of heat.
No. He couldn't die now! What about Mabel? He needed to get back to Mabel, not die!
Suddenly the trees ended at a cliff, below was a vast lake that stretched out and ended just before the horizon did.
However despite this, Primrose didn't even hesitate before throwing herself and the two humans off the cliff.
Her wings threw open and began to flap so Primrose looked like a giant reptilian humming bird, slowly making her way over the water down below, away from the fire. They were doing it! They were gonna make it to the other side before the fire!
However the young dragoness wasn't used to carrying two humans on her back, and the extra weight was too much for her to carry into air.
Before Dipper knew it, they were plummeting from the sky at a greater speed than they were travelling at through the forest.
The sudden coldness of the water was such a shock that Dipper thought he must've died for that second. His lungs burned as he tumbled deeper into the cold depths. His body gave a jolt, his limbs thrashing to push himself towards the surface. A glint of gold caught his eyes, and his heart leapt when he saw that Bill was struggling. Of course a previously non-physical demon wouldn't know how to swim.
You're not gonna die! Dipper numbly thought as he swam over to him. We've still got a long way to go!
Bubbles of air escaped from his nose and clenched teeth as Dipper wrapped his noodle arms around Bill's torso and dragged them both to the surface. Their heads broke the water surface, taking deep gasps of air as they emerged from the water, coughing and spluttering out any water and smoke that had gotten into their lungs. Primrose wasn't too far off, swimming in a doggy paddle towards the shore, calling in her strange dragon voice to swim with her to the shore, something both Bill and Dipper were beyond glad to do.
"How the fuck do I swim?" Bill panicked, desperately trying to keep his head above the water. He began to curse as he panicked more.
"Just kick your legs," Dipper instructed, demonstrating. Bill copied sloppily, extremely slow. Water got shallower and soon shallow enough for swimming to turn into dragging. Dipper mustered his remaining strength to drag himself to the shallowest waters and collapsed with Bill and Primrose at his sides. Exhaustion weighed on his eyelids, the comforting feeling of the fact that water could not catch fire closing his eyes and pulling him into the welcoming arms of sleep.
Hours went by as Waddles guarded a sleeping Mabel with his life. Stan had come to check on her around midnight, but Waddles greeted him with a ferocious pig snarl and a warning to leave and not disturb her.
Suddenly Mabel gasped awake, breaking into a cold sweat. Her deep breaths unsettled Waddles greatly, who pressed his nose to her thumping chest in an attempt to comfort her.
"Waddles?" Mabel stammered through her tears and gasping breaths. "You're here?"
Waddles nodded his head and snuggled up to her, finding that she was incredibly warm, much warmer for a normal human temperature, he knew that from the time Dipper had a very high temperature and had to stay off school.
Mabel gave a weak laugh, which turned to a strange smoke-infested cough. "I just had an awful nightmare..." she managed to say weakly, cradling Waddles closer to her. "There was fire... fire..."
That word was scary, such a threatening word. Fire. If Mabel had dreamed about fire, not good.
"I don't know why..." Mabel continued, more tears rolling down her face. "But I think Dipper's in a fire..." She gave a huge sob. "I can feel it..."
Waddles gave her face a tender lick, the tears salty on his tongue. He wanted to tell her that her brother was probably fine, and that they would find a way to get him back from wherever Bill had taken him, but all he managed was oinks and squeals of a basic pig. She managed to laugh again, beginning to stroke his head tenderly. "It was so real..." said she. "Like I was actually standing there... in fire. Waddles, do you think Dipper had escaped wherever Bill had taken him to?"
He was sure of it. Waddles had spent most of his life with the Pines twins, and had to admit that both of them were actually pretty freaking tough- he had no doubt Dipper would wriggle free from Bill's demon clutches.
Mabel lay herself down on Dipper's bed again, Waddles at her side, and slowly dozed off to sleep again. Poor thing...
