August 6th, 2012
Dipper tore out the front door and shone his flashlight on the ground. He hoped to see some signs of where they went, but failed.
"Dipper… I don't understand, what's going on!" Mabel said. Dipper grabbed her hand and ran to the shed. He knew how he can find them. "Dipper! Where're we going?"
Dipper kicked open the door, and shone the light directly in Jeff's eyes. The three gnomes screamed in protest at the sudden luminous assault.
"Jeff?" Mabel said surprised. "What's he doing here? And why is he in a cage?"
"You want out of there? You get all your gnome buddies to scour the woods and find Stan and Billeah." Dipper said.
"What? Why should we help you?" Jeff said, still covering his eyes.
"Because I can do this." he said, grabbing the remote that hung on a nail. Without a second thought, he pressed the button. All three gnomes screamed and thrashed about. Dipper held it down to the count of ten before he let up. There was a smell of ammonia coming from one of the gnomes.
"I can count to twenty next time. Find my cousin and I'll take the collars off and set you free.
Jeff looked at his companions, and stayed silent.
"Jeff, please, do it for me?" Mabel asked, taking the remote from Dipper's hand. He was going to take it back, when Mabel gave him her 'trust me' look. "I promise I won't let Dipper do that do you again, either way. Did our engagement mean nothing to you?"
"Get us out of here, take these things off us, and I'll try and find them, but no promises!" Jeff said defiantly. Mabel nodded and looked at Dipper. Dipper grabbed a crowbar and pried open the cages. Jeff and the gnomes scrambled out and stood in front of them as Dipper blocked their escape route.
"Seriously?" Jeff said. Dipper rolled his eyes and sighed. He reached down and unhooked the collar. Jeff rubbed his neck and sighed. "That's better."
"Ok, Jeff, can you help?" Mabel asked. Jeff thought to himself and rubbed his chin.
"Yes. We'll see." Jeff moved into the middle of the parking lot and held his cupped hands to his mouths. "Gnomes!" he shouted. Dipper was sickened by the mass of gnomes that came out of the woodwork. They crawled out from under rocks, from holes in trees; a hoard emerged from under the house. It was like a plague of rats.
"We need to find this humans uncle and cousin. You know what that jerk face looks like, and the girl is yellow… like him…" Jeff said and made a triangle shape. One gnome gasped and fainted. Mabel, confused, looked to Dipper who shrugged. "Alright, break!"
As fast as the gnome army appeared, they scrambled back to the places they emerged from, and silence fell upon the Mystery Shack.
"Now what? Dipper asked.
Now… we wait." Jeff said.
"I can't do this; I'm going to look for them." Dipper said and ran off into the woods.
"Wait!" he could hear Mabel running close behind him. Instinctively, he reached his hand back and felt her grab onto it. If she was coming with him, he better know exactly where she is.
OoOoO
Dipper searched the woods for ten minutes before Jeff whistled to him.
"They found them, if you'd have waited at the house, it would have been shorter to get there. Follow me." Jeff said and darted down an animal path Dipper failed to notice. There was a twinge of worry that Jeff was lying and he was about to be betrayed. Dipper was ready for it.
"We're almost there, Hurry!" Jeff said, and they came out to a clearing.
"Oh no!" Mabel said covering her mouth. Dipper was at a loss for words. Jeff's eyes opened wide in awe.
"What… have you done?" he whispered, looking up to Dipper and pointing to Billeah. "You have doomed us all!"
Jeff's words didn't register. Tied to a tree was Billeah, Stan stood over her screaming, and the girl was sobbing uncontrollably.
"Fix it! I know you can! Do it!" he screamed.
"I CAN'T!" She sobbed. "I can't see! Only Dipper can make it work!"
"You want a deal? How about you do what I said and you can keep the meat suit!" Stan screamed, jamming the knife he was holding into the wood next to her head. Jeff whistled and the gnomes ran into the woods.
"I won't be a part of this." Jeff said. "Dipper, you're an abomination!"
"All those years, all your machinations, all for what? You think you can fool me? Trapped for thirty years? Don't think I didn't know you were involved?"
Dipper's mind raced. If he didn't do something, he was going to kill Billeah, and in front of Mabel! Dipper spun around and grabbed his sister by the shoulders and shook her to look him in the eyes.
"Promise me, with the deepest twin promise that you trust me and stay here. Not stay and follow me, not stay and grapple hook in. Stay put, for the love of god. I'm going to fix this. Do you understand?"
Mabel was sobbing and nodded.
"I'm going to bring our cousin back." Dipper said, and gave her a hug.
Dipper tried to leave and he felt Mabel pulling on the back of his shirt. He pulled and snapped free of her grip and ran ahead to meet Stan.
"What are you doing?" Dipper screamed. Stan had been stabbing the tree right next to her head repeatedly.
"I thought you were sleeping" Stan said, rearing himself up to full height. "He's always watching, pulling strings."
"That is a young girl you're traumatizing!" Dipper screamed and nodded his head. Stan glanced over and saw Mabel peeking out from behind the tree.
"Look kid, I can't stand having that thing in my house," Stan whispered, "She's always there, laughing at me, taunting me. Tonight, she was in my room, staring at me while I slept."
"Are you sure it was her?" Dipper asked, moving himself between Billeah and Stan. "Not a dream after having a few beers?"
"Look, I know what she is and she's vulnerable now. We can cross off one of the most dangerous creatures in the journals forever!" Stan said through his teeth.
"What if that only lets Bill out? Did you think of that? By killing her, you'll have a child's dead body on your hands, and a vengeful dream demon coming after you." Dipper pointed out.
Billeah glared at the two of them.
"You want to add something?" Dipper asked the tied up girl. "Will you get your powers back if you discard your meat prison, as you so aptly put it?"
"I don't have to answer you…" She said. Stan took a step forward, raising the knife, Dipper pushed on his chest to hold him back. "NO! NO NO! I… don't know! Dipper!"
"See? If she knew, she could have moved her head into your knife while you were stabbing at her. She's worried about her mortality, just like us. Only I can restore her back to the Bill we know. So why don't we calm down, and let my cousin, your great niece go?"
"What are we going to tell Mabel?" Stan said.
"We're going to have to improvise." Dipper said, and swung his Maglite flashlight up as hard as he could, it connected with Stan's jaw. His uncle dropped like a sack of potatoes. Dipper gave Billeah a wink, and took the knife.
Mabel ran from the cover of her tree and slammed into Dipper, just as he cut the last rope.
"What happened? What's going on? Did you kill him? Oh my god he's dead!" Mabel screamed.
"He's knocked out… something about where he's been, He was having one of those war time flashbacks, and he didn't even know where he was."
Stan groaned, and rubbed his jaw as he sat up. Mabel grabbed Billeah and hid behind the tree.
"What the hell happened?" Stan said, glaring at Dipper. He was relieved that Stan caught on quick and played along.
"You tied up Billeah and were screaming nonsense at her. You scared all of us real good. I had to hit you with a flashlight to knock some sense into you." Dipper said.
"You got one hell of an arm, let me tell you. You hit almost as good as…" Stan said, and trailed off. "Where the hell are we?"
"Few miles from the shack. Get you things; we got a bit of a walk. I hope you don't mind if you lead?" Dipper said, offering the flashlight to him, but put the knife he had in his belt.
"Yeah… I can do that."
OoOoO
Dipper lay in bed. Mabel and Billeah clung to him for their lives and all the furniture in the room was stacked against the door. Everyone knew it was pointless, if Stan wanted in, he was getting in.
"Are you asleep?" Billeah whispered in his ear.
"Trying to." He whispered back. Mabel was softly snoring on him, while he absently ran his fingers through her hair.
"You never do that to me." Billeah said softly. Dipper looked over at her; the one green eye looked up at him with a smile. "I know it's your twin thing, I feel left out sometimes."
Dipper sighed and ran his fingers through Billeah's soft golden locks. They were naturally curly, but not a heavy curl. Almost like silk ribbons that trailed down.
"Why did you come after me?" she whispered as Dipper traced her ear with his finger. "Why do I matter? Is it because I'm your safety net? Your last ditch wish in case something terrible happens to her?" Billeah said with a nod, indicating his sleeping sister. "You wouldn't bring your parents; my aunt and uncle back… would you let her die, since normal people can't bring them back?"
"For a being of infinite knowledge and wisdom, you're pretty stupid." Dipper said with a laugh. "Mabel loves you, and I'd do anything for her. If you died, she would be devastated beyond consolation."
"What about you?" Billeah asked, looking up at him.
"I'm still deciding. I didn't experience your life. I still see you as the demonic Dorito, pulling strings. I see your eyes move, and you study everyone and everything around you, taking it all in and filling it away. But then you laugh, and you light up the room when you enter it. I see you genuinely care for Mabel, and if I thought you were playing a game or lying to me, I'd have done something about it." Billeah sat up with him saying that, before she could even ask, Dipper answered her question. "Yes I would use a wish to cut you from our lives if I felt you were hurting her. Now you know how to get your powers back."
Dipper stared at her, searching for anything, any sign of trouble. He had Grunkle Stan's knife under his pillow. If she tried to make a move against Mabel, it would be in her throat before she could react.
"That's…" Billeah said, and covered her mouth. Terror filled her eyes and she shook her head, looking down at the sleeping Mabel "Why… would you tell me that?" She choked out, trying not to wake her up. "Why?"
"Because, I wanted to know. I wanted to know if you were capable of even thinking about hurting her." Dipper said coolly. He reached his hand up under his pillow, to Billeah, it looked like he was just getting comfortable, but his fingers were wrapped tightly around the handle and his muscles were tensed, ready to spring. Mabel would hate him forever; He'd be taken away from her, from Stan, from everyone. But he'd do it to save her.
"Are you trying to decide?" Dipper asked. Billeah's hands were pressed against her mouth. The shaking had stopped, and her breathing returned to normal.
"I told you, these emotions are great." She said with a coy smile. She looked at her hands, they were still trembling. "What does it mean that you can provoke such intense ones?"
"You're changing the subject." Dipper whispered.
"I don't want to go back to eternity alone." Billeah whispered. Dipper moved his hand from under his pillow and offered her a place by him. Billeah laid back down and squeezed him, like she was afraid of losing him. He ignored the pain from the burns across his chest, she was worth it.
"Can we compromise on using some of my powers? Please?" She asked in his ear. Dipper sighed.
"I'll think about it, ok?" Dipper said.
Billeah gave him a kiss on the cheek, nuzzled into his chest and fell asleep.