Author's Note: Part two of 'Fire!' Enjoy the update! And if anyone has ideas or suggestions for Mabel and Dipper sibling stories, then do feel free to make suggestions!
Warnings: Minor character death.
...
"Mabel! MABEL!" Dipper yelled frantically, as he and Belle half ran, half crouched, through the flames. "Mabel, where are you?!" he tried desperately to ignore the pain in his legs- they were almost like suffering from pins and needles- only it was much worse.
"Mabel..." Belle added quietly. "Mabel...?"
"Dipper..." a familiar voice answered weakly. Ahead of them, Dipper could see Mabel- trapped by a collapsed roof support.
"Oh gosh, Mabel, are you okay?!" He gasped in horror.
"Eh, I've been worse, bro-bro." Mabel replied with a smile, though her voice is nearly inaudible.
"Don't worry, Mabel, I'll get you out," Dipper assured her. "We survived the weirdness of Gravity Falls- I'm not losing you to a school fire!"
But Dipper is secretly in doubt as to how to get the support off Mabel- with him being so weak in his arms, he had no hope of shifting the support by himself. "Mabel, can you move out from there at all?" He asked her. His twin shook her head in the nugatory, and Dipper growled in frustration, before attempting to push the beam off his sister- but failing miserably.
All the while, smoke filled his lungs, and his oesophagus burned with each breath he inhaled. If he didn't hurry, all three of them would die in here. He couldn't face that- not after what he and Mabel had survived in the summer!
"Mabel, hang on!" And he tried to pull her out.
"Dipper, don't!" Mabel screamed hoarsely, her soot stained face smeared with tears of pain.
"We have to get out of here, Mabel, we don't have time!"
"My...my legs..." Mabel coughed.
Then, bravely, Belle stepped forward and, with extreme difficulty, lifted the support beam- not very high, but high enough for Mabel to wriggle her legs away with Dipper's assistance- a task he obligingly fulfilled.
"C'mon, Mabel," Said Dipper nervously, helping his twin to her feet.
She began to cough again, and without another word, Dipper thrust his vest to her to protect her mouth, using his own shirt as a makeshift- albeit useless- breathing mask.
"Can you walk?"
"I don't know- they hurt..." Mabel answered weakly, her eyes dangerously close to shutting into unconsciousness. Desperate, Dipper caught his sister in his arms and began to make his way towards the exit, coughing all the while. Belle followed along as quickly as she could- just in time for more support beams to fall onto the spot the three had just been moments before.
Struggling on blazing carpets and through corridors hotter than the Devil's tongue, the three pre-teens battled on through the hellish battlefield, smoke gathering thicker and faster with each footstep.
The last thing Dipper remembered before blackness overtook him was a strange wheezing sound he couldn't identify.
...
A steady beeping noise greeted Dipper as he awoke...in an unfamiliar bed. He was hooked up to machines and wires.
Panicking, he tried to get up and find Mabel- only to find a familiar figure by his bedside. "...Dad?" he asked through the oxygen mask he was wearing.
"Oh, Dipper, you're alive!" Mr. Pines said in relief, embracing his son. "It's good to see you awake, son."
Dipper smiled weakly at the sentiment. "I'm...glad to see you too, Dad. Where's Mabel?" He asked.
"She's... she's in A&E son. Her legs are badly burned and were trapped under a support." Mr Pines explained, causing Dipper to panic again.
"Is...is she okay? Or will she be okay?"
"She will be, Dip- it will just take time," his father reassured him, ruffling his son's hair. But Dipper bit his lip nervously at the thought of his sister in Accident and Emergency.
"What...what about Belle?" He asked, in an attempt to distract his mind from Mabel, knowing he could do nothing more for her now.
"Who is Belle, son?"
"The girl who came in with me to rescue Mabel," Dipper explained. He had an awful feeling as he watched his father carefully.
He was caught off guard by a woman screaming down the hall.
...
Thankfully, it was not his mother. But all the same, Dipper had an awful feeling that he knew what had happened. He waited until his father left, then got out of bed on shaky legs, removed the oxygen mask, and tiptoed to the door to listen in to confirm his suspicions.
"...she's gone...gone...oh, Joshua, what will we do?" The woman who screamed asked an unknown man- probably husband.
"I...I don't know, Sarah." Joshua answered
"I am terribly sorry for your loss, Mrs and Mrs Philips." A male doctor said sympathetically, and Dipper's eyes widened on hearing those simple eleven words. His heart missed a beat. His blood turned to ice. His legs threatened to collapse beneath him.
"Oh no...Penelope..." he realized in horror. "I'm so, so sorry..."
"I will never forgive the Pines family for this, Josh, ever! It's that Pines' boy fault! If he hadn't gone back into the fire, we'd never have lost our little Penelope!" Sarah- Mrs. Philips shrieked.
Those cruel words hit Dipper like an icy punch to the gut, and, his legs unable to support him any longer, he sunk to the ground in shock and guilt.
Mrs. Philips was right- he was wholly responsible for Penelope's death. If he hadn't been so thoughtless- if he had just obeyed Mrs. Harper and remained ...Penelope would still be here. She wouldn't have died- no, she couldn't have died. Surely, surely there was a mistake? Doctors made mistakes, right? It was only human to make mistakes. He was certain Penelope was just unconscious and would revive at any moment.
"Now, ma'am, I understand you are upset, but it is not right or fair to blame a child for a death." The doctor spoke calmly.
"But he is not a child, Doctor! He should have known better!" Mrs Philips screamed hysterically, and Dipper tuned out the rest of those words, burying his head in his knees to tune out the mounting accusations against him.
He was responsible for the death of Penelope Philips.
He had caused it by being a reckless young boy who hadn't thought of anyone but his sister.
He had inadvertently caused loss of life.
...
It turned out that the fire had been started deliberately by Wendell Pence and Theodore Reed. Normally, Dipper would have expressed anger at how dangerous behaviour had nearly cost lives, but he felt like a hypocrite for saying so, and so remained silent.
Fortunately, they had been expelled and sent to juvie.
Penelope Philips had indeed died- it turned out she got out of the fire with Dipper and Mabel- but after the Pines passed out, she suffered a severe asthma attack and tragically died on the scene, with no hope of saving her.
A school memorial service was held for her, and all the school attended to pay their respects- with the exception of the expelled students. Dipper attended, but h was too guilt ridden by what had happened to Penelope to give a speech commending her efforts to aid him in rescuing Mabel. So she spoke instead, and when the speech was over, Mabel, unaware of her brother's psychological trauma of Penelope's death and the effect of Mrs. Philips' words on his conscience, was very commending of Dipper's heroic efforts after the service.
"You're my hero, Dipper," She said warmly- giving him a new sweater with 'you're my hero' knitted on.
Dipper managed a small smile, and she pulled him in for a hug. "Don't worry, Dipper- we'll get through this together." She told him. "I owe both you and Penelope my life- I just wish I could have said thank you to her for what she did."
"Me too," Agreed her twin- Mrs. Philips' words still played over in his mind, and he wondered how he could pull through from being inadvertently responsible for Penelope's death through his recklessness.