Chapter 7: Caught
The next couple of weeks for Stan were long and tiring, him going out all night to try to find the other two journals that Stanford had made.
Sometimes he was digging at the same spots, causing him to be frustrated. He tried to go deeper and deeper into the woods, and even digging deeper. But to no avail did he ever find a trace of the other journals. He knew his brother would've put other key parts about the portal in the other journals, that's why he had hid them. But Stan needed them now to get his brother back, and if he can't find them this was going to take a hell of a lot longer than he would like.
His days were the same, running his businesses, and after a few months changed the name from the "Murder Hut" to the "Mystery Shack", attracting more customers. Although he made his fake attractions, he saw many weird things while digging in the woods. He saw trees that literally uproot from their spots and go somewhere else. Stan felt like he was being followed and watched, which he learned from locals it was a legend of about the Hidebehind. He didn't dare try to use any of them for his attractions…
That was because of Fiddleford McGucket, whom stops by on occasion, each time being crazier than before. The first time Stan had met the man he had introduced himself as Stanford Pines, to which the lunatic man replied, "No you're not Ford…" which caused Stan to be weary of the man. Fiddleford would come during his tours, saying he saw crazy things in the woods, and sometimes would be escorted out by someone, then the next day he wouldn't remember a thing but go on about other crazy thing he saw.
Stan had a feeling there were certain people in the town that was dedicated to keep the supernatural under wraps. For some strange reason he felt if he let it slip that he knew about the odd things or even put it as part of his attractions he would end up like crazy McGucket.
One time when McGucket came to the Shack, ready to spew his nonsense, Stan had pulled him to the side and asked how he knew that Stan wasn't Stanford. The crazy man looked at him with a cocked head and an insane smile.
"Well… I worked w'him." The kook had told him.
"So you know about…" Stan looked side to side to make sure no one was around and listening. "The portal…?"
Fiddleford's face had paled to a deathly white, his eyes glazed over. The man proceeded to speak backwards, which had made Stan back up a few paces. Fiddleford had then made a triangle with his fingers and put it the space over his eye, making it look like the triangle had a single eye.
Stan, now stocking up his shelves at the end of the work day, began thinking. For some odd reason a lot of the architecture of the house was triangular, more so than other homes. The attic for instance had a window that was a triangle with a circular design in the upper center… like an eye…
Did Stanford deal with something that influenced him to make his house that way?
Stan then remembers the way his brother was acting when he first came to Gravity Falls. The man had looked like he hadn't slept for days, his facial hair unshaven, bags under his eyes, and his eyes darting around like he was about to be jumped. What had made Stanford act like that? Was it the same thing that had made Fiddleford go insane since he used to work with him?
Stan wished he could go talk to Fiddleford, talk to him about his and Stanford's doings in Gravity Falls. He knew he couldn't though, because half the time the man forgot who Stan was, often going on about unicorns in the woods, special crystals that in the light can grow and shrink objects, and the man would go on about triangles.
If Stan began to know more about the strange and supernatural occurrences of Gravity Falls, Oregon, he had a feeling that they would come after him too. And if he became crazy like McGucket, then Stanford would never come back…
Over the next few days Ford had rested from his ordeal with the metal, his head aching terribly.
Layla had been going out of the secret alcove and gotten food supplies while he rested. She helped him with the wound in his head, and often giving him some kind of medicine to dull his pounding head. Layla would even ask him questions, which he found odd until she told him sometimes amnesia was a side effect of the procedure.
Ford was feeling a lot better, his headache finally gone after the weeks end. The two grabbed their bags and left the alcove, walking down the streets of the dimension in shadows, avoiding any other creature. Their posters were everywhere at this point, Dr. Bartek's being mainly forgotten, Ford's becoming more prominent.
They were seemingly unnoticed until while walking by an alleyway Layla was grabbed and pulled into the pitch black. Her scream got muffled as a large tentacle covered her mouth and another wrapped around her torso. She tried to struggle but couldn't, her eyes wide with fear.
"Layla!" Ford cried out as he followed her into the darkness. His eyes adjusted, but he was mainly following the sound of Layla's muffled grunts and screams. Something hits him in the head, him wincing when he heard the metal in his head clang. "Layla!" he calls out again.
Something goes over his mouth and torso as well, causing him to flail his body around to try to escape. He had used this method countless times in Gravity Falls while hunting the supernatural and anomalies, but this time it had failed him. His body falls to the ground and was being dragged, the rough ground scraping into his exposed skin.
Suddenly he was tossed aside, feeling like he landed on something. Layla yelps in pain as he had landed on her, and he mumbles a quick apology to her. The floor beneath them was some kind of metal, and it was cold in there, making the metal in his head ache painfully.
"Damn it…!" Ford swore. "Where the hell are we?"
Layla said nothing, her breathing ragged and panicked. Ford's eyes adjusted to the gloom and for the first time he saw her actually crying and freaked out. Did she know what was happening?
"Layla…?" Ford whispered to her gently. "Do you know what is happening?"
Layla looks at him with a panic stricken face. "They somehow found me… the equipment we used, they had to have traced it to me…" she mutters, mostly to herself. "And they saw you with me, so they know it was used on you."
Ford's eyes narrow. "Then… what is going to happen to us?" he asks her. He grunts and falls to the side, whatever container they were in beginning to move. "Shit…!"
"Well… I'm a female human, they never saw one before I came to the pocket dimensions." She points out. "And they never truly caught my father, so they're gonna see you as an experiment too…"
Ford rolls his eyes. "Great… just great." He mutters, putting a hand to his face.
The box they were entrapped in bumped around, causing the two to shift around. Ford was actually calmer than Layla, who looked like she was going to hyperventilate. She did mention about how they saw her as a test subject… but for what? Layla sat there, tears streaking her face, making him think that there was more than she was letting on about what they wanted her for.
Without knowing how much time has passed, the movement finally stopped, causing Layla to gasp. Without even thinking Ford puts a hand on her leg, trying to comfort her. The door opens and appearing in a black silhouette from the bright light behind it was some extremely large creature. The monster grabs Ford by the back of his black trench coat with one hand, then it grabbed Layla with the other and she yelped like a small child.
The monster was huge, looking about eight feet in height, probably a good five hundred or so pounds. Its skin was a dark green, thick scars covering what resembled human biceps and other muscles. It had had a fairly large head, it extremely rectangular looking and pudgy, the cracked and yellowing teeth hooking down from the upper mouth to the outside, overlapping its bottom lip. The monster had beady black eyes, they were so small that Ford couldn't fathom on how it could see at all.
It opened its mouth, talking in some strange language. Layla flinched, making it known that she knew what the thing said. The monster carried them by their coats, almost like how a child would carry a stuffed animal, and took them inside what seemed like an abandoned warehouse. They were thrown onto the concrete floor, the two humans grunting in pain as their skin was scraped up.
Layla looked up, her eyes wide in horror and her face whiter than a sheet of paper. "Magum…" she barely whispered. Ford looks up to see a different creature wearing what appeared to be very nice clothing. It was tall and slender, its skin a translucent gray, revealing its veins, arteries, and other kinds of vessels going throughout its body. The eyes were a bright white, no pupil and no iris, which made Ford feel extremely uncomfortable.
"Hello, Layla Bartek." The creature said in perfect English. "How long has it been? Five, no ten years?"
"W-what do you want with us?!" the woman demands, her voice shaking. "I'm not part of your shit anymore!"
Magum snaps its humanoid fingers, a completely different monster bringing him two rolled up pieces of parchment. It unrolls them both, showing the wanted posters of both Layla and Ford. "Well… I could turn Stanford Pines in for the reward, anonymously of course, not showing Bill Cipher who we truly are-"
"You low-life, shit eating bastard-!" Layla shouted, her voice filled with venom, but she was cut off when the monster that had dragged them out of the box does a hard slap on her back, causing her to crumple to the ground like a doll. She gasped in pain, blood in the corner of her mouth.
"I wasn't finished, Layla." Magum says calmly, as if nothing happened. "I don't have to turn him in, or you for that matter… if you do a job for me."
"I rather be mentally tortured by Cipher himself you piece of shit!" Layla practically growls, her trying to get herself up from the ground.
Magnum kept a neutral expression, its stare unblinking. "I don't think you have a choice, Layla. You used my equipment without permission-"
Layla interrupts angriliy, "The equipment made possible by my father's research!" Another hard slap and she once again fell to the concrete, the side of her head slamming hard to the ground. Ford inched closer to her to hold her down so she wouldn't try to get up again.
"What is the job you want done…? Magum is it?" Ford asks, his voice level.
Magum gives a sinister smile. "Ah, someone with manners." It said pleasingly. "You see, you used equipment that didn't belong to you, so you have to pay for it."
"Okay…?" Ford dragged out the word. "What… you want us to steal some kind of money for you or…?"
Magum raised a humanoid hand. "No, none of that." It assured. "I want research stolen… I'm assuming you know of Dr. Bartek through his wench of a daughter here-"
Layla spits out bloody saliva. "Asshole…" she mutters, but thankfully only Ford heard or else she would be hit again.
"- So you know that he had research for plans about opening portals to the other pocket dimensions willingly, without waiting the time period for them to open on their own." Magum continued.
Ford nods. He and Layla wanted to get it… but if they want it, they could "go get it" and run off with it. He gives a mental smile, thinking that's probably what Stanley would do.
"Oh, I wouldn't be thinking that, Mr. Stanford Pines." Magum breaks Ford's thoughts. The monster gives a sneer, seeing the confusion on Ford's face. "Telepathic." He states as he took a step forward. "We'll hold on to Layla here… while you go get the research and bring it back to me here at this warehouse." Magum grabbed Layla by her upper arm and jerked her away from Ford, her grunting in effort to try to pry him away from her. "I'll give you a week, Stanford." It snaps and a piece of paper was brought to Ford, the writing in English stating instructions. "If you don't comply, well, Layla we had wanted for some time now, but I can make a tip to Cipher about you… so what's it going to be? Deal?" it held out its free hand for a handshake, its hand engulfed in a golden flame.
Layla was right… this group is just as bad as Cipher… Ford thought frantically.
"Oh I assure you," Magum whispered lowly for him to only hear. "I am worse than that pathetic dream demon." It gives a smile. "Do we have a deal, Stanford?"
Layla was looking at Ford with wide electric blue eyes, them pleading for him not to take the deal. But he felt like he had to, she had saved him and helped him in this dimension, Ford had to help her to repay her.
"Deal." Ford says, taking Magum's hand and shaking it.
"Excellent, your one week begins – Now."
A/N: Dun dun duuunnnnn. Sorry this took a little bit, but like I had said for some reason this story is a little harder to write. I had the beginning planned out perfectly, and the ending I know what will happen, just the... middle is a bit difficult.
Thanks for reading as always!
~Skye Hendersen~
