Dead End

"You look gorgeous like that," William agreed as he picked up Waddles and handed him to Madelyn. "But then you look good in so many things," he assured her as he took her free hand and kissed the back of it.

Mabel blushed and wondered if she'd gone just a tad too far in teasing Dipper lately, but had to admit he was pulling off suave a lot better than she expected and was it warm outside today?

"You look a bit tired," he said stroking her cheek.

"Uh huh," she agreed absently.

"Why don't you sit down," he said reasonably as he stared into her eyes, taking the shovel from her so she wouldn't drop it.

Mabel found herself yawning and sat down, a sleepy smile on her face as her eyes slowly closed.

Dipper stepped out of the bushes, the bag in his hand dropping to the ground as he saw what looked like Gideon holding a shovel and standing over an unconscious Mabel. He never even noticed the second Mabel holding Waddles as a red filter covered his vision.

The sudden surge of rage took the pair by surprise, the force of it actually making Madelyn stumble back as if struck.

William turned just in time to see Madelyn driven back in shock as Dipper approached in a rage, that he suddenly had no problem matching. "Get away from her!" the two yelled at each other as they attacked.

William's bolo tie lit up as he sent a wave of telekinetic force at Dipper, who stunned him by managing to push through it. Feeling Madelyn's distress and enraged at Dipper for assaulting her, his eyes glowed yellow and Dipper dropped limply to the ground.

"William!" Madelyn exclaimed in shock.

"I may have overreacted," he said regaining control over himself, "but he shouldn't have struck you."

"He didn't touch me, I was just shocked by the strength of his anger," Madelyn said quietly stroking Waddles to calm him.

William nodded, his anger gone. "We better go before-"

"Dipper!" Mabel screamed, grappling hook coming up to fire, the bright blue puppy on her sweater seeming to glare as well.

"Before your analogue awakens," William finished as Madelyn telekinetically shielded them.

The pair flew off as Mabel moved to stand guard over her downed brother, her other self still asleep against the tree behind her.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

"I don't like seeing you being so hard on yourself," Madelyn said quietly. It was only partly a joke, and they both knew it; William was harder on himself than anyone.

"I thought he'd hurt you," William said quietly as they returned home.

"And he probably thought you'd harmed the local me," she told him.

"That…explains a lot," he told her after a moment's thought. "He broke my hold on him and forced me to use the stare. I was distracted and angry, so I wasn't at my best, but it was still impressive."

"How did he do that? I've seen you hold back an angry bear before."

"I don't know, but I know those symbols he had painted on himself in your sketch looked familiar. I'll look it up in my Journal after we get some breakfast."

"I have breakfast for me and Waddles," Madelyn said. "I'm not sure about you." She grinned.

"Waddles? And where…" he trailed off confused.

"His name is Waddles, because he's so fat!" Madelyn cheered hugging the pig. "And the other you brought pancakes for me and Waddles," she said cheerfully holding up a bag with two plastic containers of pancakes labeled M. Pines and Waddles with a little piggy face drawn under it.

William tried to keep a straight face, but as always Madelyn's antics drove away any negative feelings and caused a warmth in his chest that was the reason he called her his heart. "So they were adopted by father here as well."

"Do you think…" she trailed off.

"It wouldn't be 'our' father," William said. "Don't worry, we'll get him back, even if we have to change time itself to do it!"

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

Mabel shook her other self awake once she was sure their evil twins were gone.

"What happened?" Mabel asked.

"I don't know," Mabel told her trying to wake Dipper. "You were down and then the evil Dipper did something to Dipper and he fell over. I tried to shoot them with our grappling hook, but they did that magic thing that Gideon did before we broke his magic pendant and then ran off."

"I thought it was you two dressed up for some reason," Mabel told her. "But the other Dipper was smooth. He kissed my hand and looked into my eyes…and I went to sleep."

"I don't know what's going on," Mabel admitted, shaking Dipper. "Wake up!"

"Let's get him inside," Mabel said pulling his arm over her shoulder while her otherself took his other side and they quickly carried him inside the Mystery Shack.

"I thought you were twins," Wendy said confused as she spotted the three.

"We are," the Mabels chorused.

"Dude, is he okay?" Soos asked worriedly.

"He was attacked by his evil twin," Mabel explained, "and now we can't wake him up."

"Evil twin?" Wendy asked, completely lost.

"They put me to sleep, stole Waddles and knocked out Dipper," Mabel explained.

"They hit him in the head?" Soos asked, checking for lumps.

"No, the other Dipper's eyes glowed gold, just like the Gremloblin that one time," Mabel explained. "Dipper dropped like his off switch had been flipped."

Soos winced. "That's bad, dude."

"Gremloblin, evil twins, extra Mabels… what is going on?" Wendy asked.

"You flake out and miss a lot," Mabel told her.

"Didn't Dipper put two people in comas by having them look into the Gremloblin's eyes?" Soos asked.

"They did that to themselves," Mabel said, defending Dipper. "He warned them!"

"So he's in a coma?" Wendy asked.

One of the Mabels clutched Dipper tightly. "Wake up!" she begged. "You've got to wake up!"

"We've got to go in after him," the other Mabel said. "Soos, do you remember the spell we used to enter Grunkel Stan's mind to fight the dream demon?"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, dude," Soos said sadly. "A coma isn't a nap."

"I can't lose him, I just can't," Mabel said crying on Dipper's shoulder.

"I don't really have a choice here," Mabel said. "Look at how I'm falling apart. I need Dipper, it's that simple."

"If you're sure, dude," Soos reluctantly agreed with a sigh. "Let's use your room so we aren't interrupted."

Wendy watched the three, erm, four leave and put a hand on her forehead. "Maybe I have a fever and I'm hallucinating?" she said hopefully.

It took Mabel several minutes to get herself to stop crying so they could try the spell. She wasn't sure why her other self was falling apart when she wasn't, though she knew she was close to the edge herself.

"Randomus Latinus Wordus!" Soos chanted and in a flash of light they were standing…

"It's our house," Mabel said rubbing her temples as she remembered the events of the last couple of weeks from two points of view.

"It's the suburbs," Soos said nervously. "Tract homes freak me out."

"It doesn't normally look so colorless and dim," Mabel offered. The only spot of color in the area was from the overgrown lawn and bushes which didn't match the rest of her memories of home.

Soos looked up at the sun overhead. It was a dim red and pulsed weakly. "This isn't good, dude."

"What do we do now?" Mabel asked anxiously.

Soos blinked. "I see you pulled yourself together."

"Yeah, not sure why that happened," she admitted.

"It looked like you did one of those self-improvement things where you banish things you don't like and kill them in effigy, but you didn't use it that way."

"I just wanted two of me so I skipped that part of the ritual from the book," Mabel admitted. "Summon fetch, done!"

"Looks like an almost even split," Soos admitted eying the line that ran down the center of her face. "I think I read about it once and you're supposed to be split like a light and a dark clone, not just have one side with a little more red in her hair and one with a hint of blue."

Both Mabel's hands grabbed her hair and pulled it in front of her. "Ohh," she chorused with herself. "Sacrificing yourself is stupid, I like me, I'm awesome!"

Soos chuckled. "That you are, hambone. Well I read some of the page over Dipper's shoulder and I think you have to go to his favorite place to find him and convince him to wake up."

"His room," Mabel said leading Soos into a house so bland it gave him chills.

"Scary, dude," he muttered.

"I know," Mabel said quietly. "Everything in its place, decorated to the latest style. Thank god our rooms are exempt from that."

The hall leading to their room had black and white pictures of the twins dressed in matching outfits that really didn't suit them and their smiles were brittle, but Soos could see a small touch of color in each where they held each other's hand or had an arm around each other. There were two doors across from each other and Mabel tried to step in both directions at once before opening the door to the left. Everything was neat and tidy, there was a trophy case filled with scholastic honors covered in dust and a bookcase that was filled with books labeled with things like 'Dipper's guide to ironing,' 'Clues that Mabel is getting bored and about to do something entertaining and possibly dangerous', 'Pube check journal and comparative study on normal male development'.

Mabel reached for a book entitled 'Daily Mabel Maintenance and Weekly Checks for Summer', but Soos stopped her. "Not cool, dude. Those are private thoughts."

The building shuddered.

Her finger brushed a book entitled 'The Move' and she remembered when they were six and their parents moved Dipper into the room across the hall, upsetting both of them. She blinked and looked around the room noting tacks in strange places. Pulling a pair out of the bottom of his trophy case she watched it roll up like a poster showing a bare wall.

"It's all fake," Soos said in realization. "This isn't his room, it's just where he sleeps."

"I kept our bunk beds when they moved him across the hall," Mabel said. "He actually doesn't sleep in his room all that often."

"It's just a place to put his stuff," Soos said with a smile.

The room shook and a book fell off the bookcase falling open and showing their father placing a hand on Dipper's shoulder. "Now William," he said, stabbing Dipper in the chest. "Mabel is growing up." He sawed through Dipper's ribs and there was a harsh cracking noise as he pried Dipper's chest open. "She needs a chance to spread her wings and fly and she can't do that with you hanging around her all the time." The older man tried to cut into Dipper's heart but he was having a hard time doing it while holding his chest open. "It's for her sake. You wouldn't want to hurt her by holding her too close, would you?"

Dipper pulled his ribs open and held them there. "No Dad, I'll give her space."

"Good boy," he said slicing off a chunk of Dipper's heart and grinding it into the ground under his heel. "Remember, for her sake."

The memory faded and Soos shook his head. "We gotta find him now."

"I-I thought he was just tired of hanging out with me all the time," Mabel said softly.

"Dude, we gotta get moving."

Stepping into the hall Mabel spotted a trail of blood leading her from their room and down the hall.

"The rec room," Mabel said, leading the way down to the basement.

"The basement?" Soos asked.

"We take turns making each other watch things they hate," she joked. "Rom coms and boring mysteries."

She opened the door and Soos whistled. "You guys have a full theater."

Mabel stared at the big screen and rows of chairs. "What is this? It doesn't look this way in real life."

"Some place he cares a lot more than the room we just saw," Soos said. "This shows what it means to him."

A projector started up and a title came on screen, 'The End'.

"This is bad," Soos said as the screen began to bleed at the edges.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

The bald man used a broom to sweep away a set of shoe prints when he felt a burst of hot moist air hit him. Turning he saw a T-Rex less than a foot from him. "Aggghh!" He quickly ran dragging the broom behind him so he wouldn't leave any tracks.

Typing by: The Last Primarch!