Chapter 10-Fallout
How do you deal with this? The first mission that this group has finally went on, the big one that they have been preparing to go on all this time, and in the end, it all failed. And there was no way of fixing it.
Dipper and Mabel lay in their rooms, sitting at the edges of their beds, heads hanging low. The young boy had his head in his hands, his hat laying next to him. His sister nervously shook in front of his side, trying to think of something.
"What if we get the teleporter and go to whatever planet these things live on?", Mabel stuttered.
"We can't", Dipper mumbled, "Dexter said that these guys are always on the move. No way of locating them."
"Maybe, we can go back and see if there was anything left at the house?", Mabel suggested.
"The entire house sunk down, Mabel. There's nothing left to get out of it"
"Well, what if-?"
Suddenly, the young boy got up and threw his journal at the wall, some of its pages flying out of it as it thudded onto the ground.
"NOTHING, MABEL! There's nothing that we can do! WE! FAILED! AND that is it!", the boy shouted in anger.
"NO! This can't be it, Dipper! There's always some other way! There always is! Why not now?!"
"Mabel, even if we did find another way, let's face it! We'll still fail! I'll still fail!", the boy cried out, "I couldn't do anything to stop that thing when I was right in front of him! I couldn't get the team to work together! I couldn't do ANYTHING! And you know what, that's how it's gonna go the next time! And the next! AND THE NEXT!"
"WHAT ABOUT GRUNKLE STAN AND FORD?!", Mabel shouted, "We can't just leave them! We can't just let the universe be destroyed by some crackpot alien!"
"What can we do?! We're facing against an empire! We've got no tech! No help! We've got nothing!"
"How could you think like that?!", Mabel shouted, "If we start looking at things like that, then we're just doomed to fail!"
"NO DIFFERENT THAN USUAL FOR US, MABEL!", Dipper screamed, "This team is done and we're all doomed!"A silence began to ensue, the two siblings facing each other with tears in their eyes and heavy breathing was the only noise heard.
The boy finally broke the silence, "The only thing we can do now is get back to Gravity Falls and get ready for whatever's coming."
He silently walked out of the room, leaving the young girl alone. She tried to wipe away her tears, but they wouldn't stop flowing. She stared down at her grappling hook, trying to think of a plan.
…
The princess and her friend were walking down the hallway, both in silence. Suddenly, the young girl bolted away right into her room, locking the door behind her as her friend ran over to help her.
"Star! Star, open the door! Please!", Marco knocked on the door, hearing his friend sobbing inside.
"STAR! Star!...Star, please", the boy begged, only to gain no response whatsoever. He placed his hand on the floor, tears beginning to flow down his face in distress.
*CLANG!*
He lifted his head up as he heard something behind him. He began to walk down the halls, wondering where the noise was coming from. He soon made a turn around a corner and saw someone rustling through one of the rooms.
He peeked his head through the door to see Finn hurriedly packing his weapons while Jake watched worriedly.
"Bro, there's no way of getting there! Unless Dexter's got a spaceship in his little laboratory, we can't get to the aliens!", Jake shouted to his friend.
"I don't care, Jake! We have to find a way over there before the universe get's dumped down by green guys!", the boy argued.
"Look, I get it! You want to go after these guys, but you can't do it alone and without any way of knowing where we're going!"
"We've done crazy junk without knowing where we were going before! What makes this any different?!", Finn shouted back, angrily sheathing his sword. The two turned when they realized that they were being watched.
"Uh, what is this?", Marco asked.
"Marco, thank glob! Could you help me knock this guy out before he gets hurt!", Jake asked.
"I'm going to find a way to get that device back and take down that bug-faced brat!", Finn explained.
"Finn, there's no way of knowing where these guys are and even if you did find them, what's your plan then?", Marco asked.
"I gotta try! We're all doomed otherwise!", Finn shouted. The two stared at one another before the young warrior sat down on his bed, clearly upset, "...I could have done something if I'd stayed with Dipper and Kim's team. Maybe if I actually stayed focus and stayed smart, if I actually made a plan, ...maybe this would've never happened…"
"Finn…", Marco gulped. For the duration of their time together, Marco's been hating on this one guy, someone who has been nothing but kind and innocent to him and yet, for some reason, one that didn't even make a lot of sense, he was against him. And now, after he saved his butt, Marco's thoughts, his entire view on this guy from Wonderland or whatever world he hopped from, it's all changed, flipped upside down and torn up.
The young boy sat down next to his teammate, placing his hand on the other's shoulder, "Look, man, I...I'm gonna need to..be honest with you on something..When I first met you, when we first got here...I honestly wanted to stop you."
Finn tilted his head, "Well, that's what you're doing now, right? Stopping me from going-"
"No, I mean", Marco sighed, "Since we first met, I wanted to stop you from...talking to Star."
"What?", Finn asked confused. Jake made a gasping noise, squishing his face.
"This just got real", Jake gasped.
"I didn't want to NOT like you! I mean...it's just…", Marco stammered, "For a while now...it's just been me and Star, the two of us against the world and, with everything that's been going on recently, I didn't want to lose my best friend...I...I'm sorry. I'm...sorry for everything I've ever…"
The boy sat there in silence, ashamed of himself and sorry for what he has done to his companion. Finn sat there, a frown on his face, trying to put this all together. In any other case, he would turn the guy into purple-whatever jelly, but this guy wasn't being cruel or acting like a total butt. He was actually 100%, completely...sad.
Finn finally spoke up, "Dude, I know what friendship is like and...I know that it can mean the world to us..And, if you got chummy with Jake, I'd probably knock you out or do something else stupid."
"He ain't lying, bro", Jake agreed, "Bruises everywhere."
Finn continued, "And maybe, we would've ended up somewhere just like this. But the thing is...this type of stuff, turning on each other because of dumb things like this, it's just going to flub us up even more. And I know that you don't want that and I don't want that. If you want me to stay away, I'm cool with that, but...please..make sure that Star's safe."
Marco looked up and saw the genuine look of forgiveness on the young boy's eyes and actually realized that this weirdo, this guy who he met literally a few day ago, actually was a warrior, a full-on soldier. And like a soldier, he's been through things, things that no man could handle. This kid has been through the most out of the recruits and yet, even though he acts like some fool...he's probably wiser than all the others combined. And if this guy could handle his own dangers...why couldn't Marco?
The young, brown-haired boy wiped a small tear from his eye and looked up at the other recruits, giving off the faintest of smiles, "I will. I promise...I will"
"Sweet!", the human boy grinned, patting Marco on the back. The two shared a grin before a blubbering sound was heard. The two turned around and their eyes widened when they saw the sobbing face of Jake.
"THA-THA-THAT WAS SO BEAUTIFUUUUL!", the dog screamed out.
"Uhh, yeah, thanks, Jake", Finn confusingly replied.
"THE BRO FEELS, MAN! THE BRO FEEEELS!", Jake randomly blubbered.
The young warrior turned to the other recruit and simply shrugged with confusion.
Quickly, Marco clapped his hands and jumped off of the bed gracefully, "So...when are we leaving?"
"What?", Finn tilted his head in confusion.
"We're still heading out to get Zim, right?"
The two boys from Ooo shouted, "WHAT?!"
Jake stuttered, trying to keep a smile, "Uh, heh heh, Marky? Buddy? Trying to stop Finn from dying? Stay here away from the killer aliens? Remember?"
"If we are going down, I'm going down fighting", Marco proclaimed confidently, turning to Finn, "And if you're going down….you're not going down alone."
The blonde boy smiled a toothy smile, grabbing the hat off of his bed and proudly putting it back on, prepared to go. The two turned to the yellow canine, who looked so stunned and so worried.
He groaned, rolling his eyes with a clear sign of reluctance, sighing, "Homies help homies."
Finn smiled, "Always."
…
*Knock Knock*
"Hello?", the young hybrid walked into the princess's room, "Star? Marco? Anybody here?"
Steven stopped as he felt something underneath his foot. He lifted it up to see Star's wand right under it. He bent down to pick up the wand when suddenly, it flew away from his hand. The pink weapon soared to the other side of the room to the young blonde girl sitting in the chair across. At the desk, the young girl was facing the window, tears clearly flowing down the heart-shaped marks on her face.
"Star?!", Steven gulped, running forward to her to see what was going on.
"Go away, Steven", the young girl muttered, "Please…"
A distressed look passed on the boy's face as he walked closer to the young girl, "...Kim told me about what happened on the other world...And..She also told me about what happened on your world-"
"Steven, I said not now", Star repeated, sounding even more stressed and tired than before.
The young boy was about to place his shoulder on his friend, but hesitated and withdrew. He began to walk away, a hopeless demeanor on his face and a slow pace in his walk.
Before he left the room, the boy stopped. He knew the girl needed space and he knew that he needed time to think, but he couldn't just leave someone to cry alone. Especially not a friend.
"I've never told anyone this, but I know what you're feeling", the young boy muttered, "I've failed..so many people in my life. I watched my friends...my family...so many people I care about hurt...because of me. And every time it happened, every mess-up, every loss, I knew that it was my fault…"
The boy began to tear up and even though Star couldn't see him, he could hear his sorrow, "...But even when it happened, even when everything went down, no one told me to stop. No one told me to give up and stop fighting. Everyone still believed in me. Believed that I could win. What I'm trying to say is...We all still believe in you. And we all know that you're better than you think you are...Don't let yourself forget that..Please.."
Silently, the boy walked away, closing the door behind him.
The girl sighed, releasing more sobs as she placed her hands on her face. Everything has gone wrong for the past month. Every. Single. Thing. And every failed adventure, every pointless training session, every day spent moping in her room, was all for nothing.
She had a friend losing hope in himself. Another friend was lost to her. And everything around her was going insane.
She lifted the wand up to her face, her eyes red with tears, and whispered, "It's never going to be the same, is it?"
If the wand could even respond, it didn't. The princess sniffled, wiping her eyes and placing the wand to lean on the wall in front of her.
She winced when a glare of light reflected off of the wand. Before she could turn it away, the girl saw something in the reflection on the star. She turned around and saw where the light was reflecting.
On the bed behind her was one of Marco's sweatshirts, laid out and clean. Star looked back to the wand, confused.
She silently began to walk forward to the jacket, picking it up and looking around at it. She sighed, "Wand messages. Always the worst."
Before she could put the thing down, something began to poke out of the jacket's pocket. Her eyes widened in confusion as she placed her hand into the pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper.
It was a photograph. One of her and all of her friends at an epic party they had a few months ago. Everyone was there, having a fun time as they nearly trashed the Diaz residence. Memories were made, laughs were laughed, fires nearly destroyed the neighborhood, it was a fun night.
In the photo, after finally bribing the group to get together, Marco was able to get a selfie with everyone. At the forefront was him holding Star around his arm, the two loving their youthful innocence and actually enjoying their adventures rather than being forced through them.
What changed? The innocence, the reluctance, time?
No, the girl finally realized, Nothing. A tear slid down her cheek as a faint smile finally appeared on her face, We're still that young boy from Echo Creek and the girl from another dimension.
…
Steven sat by himself in the hallway, his head leaning on the door of Star's room and wiped tears on his cheek. The starry glow in his eyes was somewhat dulled and thoughts of failure flew through his head.
Suddenly, the door opened up behind him and the boy fell back on his back. Looking up, he saw his friend, kneeling down to look him in the eye.
"So, you ready to go chase an alien?", Star smiled.
The boy's face lit up and grinned from ear to ear, the cosmic look on his eyes shining up again, "You know it!"
…
Mabel was lying in the cafeteria, her sweater wrapped around her head and sobs being heard throughout the room. From behind her, the two brothers walked into the room, frowns on their faces and splotches of grease and oil splattered over their shirts. The two sat down right behind her, forlorn and depressed.
"Mabel?", Phineas spoke up.
"Mabel's not here. She's in Sweater Town", the young girl moaned.
The boys turned to each other, confused obviously, but still sorrowful. Then, the green-haired child began to take the collar of his shirt and stuff his head inside, just like the teenage girl. Phineas, realizing what his brother was doing, took his orange-striped shirt and stuffed his head under too. Unlike the others, he left the top of his face up, allowing him to see.
The three sat there in the cafeteria, shuffling awkwardly in silence for a few minutes.
Finally, the young girl broke the silence, "Dipper's giving up. Star's giving up. Are you guys doing it too?"
"I'm trying everything", the redhead explained, "But so far, nothing's working. All portals are locked up, all signs of the guy aren't leading anywhere...we are up a multiversal creek."
It was true. For the past hour, the two brothers were working, trying to find ways to get to wherever the alien was hiding. The big problem: the brothers were working...alone. Phineas took up his work in his own room while Ferb went to the main lab of the department's scientists.
Every accomplishment the two had was together and in every moment of their lives, they had to stick together. Now...something was wrong. And a flat-headed scientist was the cause.
"...If Dipper can't finish this, then, maybe...maybe you can, Mabel", the boy suggested.
"I can't."
"But..you said-"
"I can't do it without him", Mabel gulped, "I don't have the brains, I don't have the strength, the power, I...I don't have anything that can help us find Zim. Anything that can stop the end of the world. I don't know what to do...I've..I have nothing."
Phineas looked down at the other recruit, a clearly concerned look covering his face.
"You have you."
Phineas looked up to see his brother, who was speaking beneath his collar.
The Brit continued to speak, in a comforting tone different than his usually blank voice, "You don't need brains or strength or power if you have you."
Mabel choked down a sob, "But...Dipper-"
"Your brother loves you and you do need each other", he eloquently spoke to the child, "But only you can decide what you want to do. No one else."
The poetic words resonated with Mabel. The first time that she's heard the boy speak in a full conversation and it was more helpful advice than everything else she's been hearing. Slowly, she poked her head out of her collar, the green-haired boy doing the same. The girl wiped her tears and jumped to her feet, lending her hand out to Ferb.
"Where's Dexter?", Mabel asked, "I think I have a few words to say to him."
Phineas watched the two of them talk and he himself came to his own realization. Something he should've figured out from the beginning. Something he should've realized since they started this mess.
"Yeah", the scientist said, getting up and walking towards the others, "I think I do too."
…
Storming down the halls, Dipper walked through the halls, his vision blurred by tears and anger in his mind.
As he walked down the halls, he noticed something in front of him. The doors to Dexter's private lab were still open and he could see the scientist reading something on his laptop. The agent and the samurai were also inside, having just entered by the looks of it.
Curious, the boy silently walked near, trying to get a glimpse of what was going on inside and what was on the man's screen. On it were messages upon messages reading the same thing over and over again. All of them asking where Dexter has been, how he's been, that he was missed.
Before the boy could say anything, the scientist bitterly snarled to his companions, "What now? Here to wallow in more pity. I do not think I have more to share with the class."
"We can't just give up like this, flathead", Kim stated, "There's always been a world-ending scenario or a giant war that we've stopped, I don't see how this is any different."
"Oh, this is much different. This is something that threatens all of the worlds, not just one. Infinite amounts of people in danger and all because of me", Dexter growled.
"We both know that is not true", Jack reasoned, "We all share fault in this mistake. If we had actually-"
"I have been running every possibility through my head, Jack, and in every alternate attempt we do, we still fail to succeed in the mission and you know why?", Dexter rhetorically asked, "Because no attempt with this team works. No matter what we do, what we try, our lack of compatibility, rushed timing,...we're going to fail no matter what?"
Kim scoffed in anger, "I'm sorry, are you trying to say that the weeks we spent trying to do whatever it takes to save our worlds, our homes, our families, it was all POINTLESS?! That it's just the end of the world and we've gotta lie down and just take it?!"
With no response from the scientist, the agent continued on, a look of disgust evident on her face, "This is it. This is exactly it! I remember when we first started, you believed that nothing could stop us! That the only obstacles were us and us alone! But ever since the big promotion, you've tossed whatever humanity or care you had and tried to make us as miserable as you! Well you know what, I'm done with this! I'm done working under you! I'm done letting myself get wrapped up in your pity! I'm going to get the others and we're going to find a way to save the universe! With or without you!"
Dexter didn't even turn around in his chair, had no witty retort or snide remark. Just sat there in silence as this young girl berated him.
Kim looked down at the scientist, astounded by how he had nothing to even say. Nothing to even shout. Her look of rage, of fury, of disgust, all melted down her face like wax on a lit candle. With a defeated sigh, her face sunk into one of defeat, as she slowly walked out of the laboratory.
Jack watched as she left the room, a solemn look on his face as he slowly turned his head to the scientist in front of him. He walked forward to him, not looking his ally in the eye and staring down at his own feet.
"You do not truly believe what you said, do you?", the samurai asked.
"I believe every word, Jack", Dexter grunted, "Every part of it."
"...I remember years ago, you would have said otherwise."
"Jack, those days are-"
"Do not dare say that those days are behind you", Jack sternly stated, "Do not think that you can simply ignore your past, Dexter, because we both know that you never have. What do you remember of our first meeting?"
"You nearly took my arm off at the speed of sound?"
"After that...regretful moment. When I told you of my mission."
"Ah. The whole 'no such thing as fate or destiny' spiel. What's your point?"
"You believe that every attempt with this team will fail. You believe that they are destined to fail because that's how it is meant to be. You speak of how there is no set rule to the world and yet you give up because you believe that is how things must go", Jack stated.
"Jack, you realize I was lying just to get you on my side, right?"
"...Yes", Jack admitted, "But what you said had important merit, even if you couldn't see it. Maybe that's how the best of messages, the best of teachings work. Even when you can't see it or understand them, they're there. And once you see them, once you realize it-"
"Get to the point."
"..I've sacrificed so many things in my life, all so that others can be safe. Even when the world wanted me dead, even when it seemed pointless...And even in the face of the apocalypse, Dexter, I can not give up. I will keep fighting this battle, I will keep trying to find out how to stop this threat...my only question is...will my friend help me?"
Dexter stared down at his desk, wiping his eyes with frustration and anger, "...For once in your life, Jack,...stop mistaking me for the hero."
The samurai's face quickly morphed into surprise and just as quickly, back to anger. Quietly, he turned around to exit the lab, shutting the door behind him.
The redhead looked up at the large screen in front of him, sighing as he turned it on and looked over the group chats opened up. On it were even more messages from someone on another Earth. Someone whose messages fell upon deaf ears and blind eyes. Dexter looked over every message and tried to find something that would make him feel something. But every word was just a simple reminder of his life on his homeworld. A life of boredom and stress and foolishness. Shutting it off again, the boy put his hands upon his face and sighed.
…
Outside of the lab, Dipper listened to every word and every detail. So many questions ran through his mind and so many emotions were felt in his heart. He saw two friends give up their loyalty and one man give up his self-worth. He saw so many things in the scientist. A hero, an idol, a villain, a jerkface, he saw so many things. And he didn't know how to feel.
Everyone was looking up to him now, everyone wanted to know what the next move was, what the next mission was, if there was even going to be a next mission. But what was there to even do. What was there for him to even do.
He slowly sunk down to the floor, his head up against the wall and a tear sliding down his cheek.
"Why can't it be easy?", he whispered, "Why can't it just be easy?"
*CRASH!*
Sirens began wailing, causing the boy to jump to his feet. The scientist ran outside of his room and scoped the area, just as confused.
He pulled out his communicator and began shouting, "THIS IS AGENT DEXTER! WHAT IS GOING ON?!"
"VICTIM HAS ESCAPED THE MED-LAB! I REPEAT, THE VICTIM IS ON THE RUN!", the man over the device shouted.
"What's happening?!", Dipper shouted, "What's going on?!"
"The boy from the other world", Dexter explained, "He's loose."
SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG! I AM SO SORRY!
With school, responsibilities, and so much junk, I've been too busy to work on my story! But, I'm back now and hopefully, you guys have stuck around! More chapters soon to come...I think.