Authors note: Back with another chapter, this time it's going to focus on Dipper and him meeting with an old friend (I wonder who it is? *sarcasm*), again it's another short one as well, my brain can only process so many ideas before frying, and I've got some cool stuff I'm going to put in much later on in this story to spice things up, and the next chapter I post will be VERY important and connects to this chapter and the one before it, and all I'll say about the stuff I'll put much later on is that while the Slegs are the main threat, they've brought some other threats with them that are almost as dangerous as them, and that's the only hint you're getting. Other than that, just enjoy the new chapter.
Chapter 5: Old friend, New Opportunity
O-O-O
After hours of the usual hard labor, Dipper was finally free to go on break, and it couldn't have come sooner. Dipper had a tougher time with the guards this time around, mostly because he didn't have as much strength this time around, but only eating one can of food each week can do that to people, but Dipper was no exception when it came to work, no excuses were tolerated by the Slegs. Though the guard still didn't want to get an officer for Dipper, the good thing about that is that he won't get arrested for "incompetence", the twist is that the guard just kept beating Dipper over and over until break came, so Dipper wasn't in the greatest shape when break came, being bruised and aching from the pain wasn't new to Dipper, but that didn't mean he got completely used to it, he was lucky he didn't have any broken bones or anything else too serious so he didn't have to go to the "hospital", Mabel would have flipped to see him there in a serious condition like that.
After passing through the last checkpoint, Dipper was close to the town square, managing to not get stopped by a CSF officer to delay him, but before he reached his destination, he heard a loud whisper call out to him.
"Dipper?" Said the hushed voice that somehow knew his name.
He turned to where the voice came from to see an alleyway, complete with trash on the ground and a green dumpster. On one hand, Dipper wanted to check it out to see who called to him, on the other hand, he may finally be going crazy in this hellhole and thought it was a voice in his head, calling him from the dumpster. But curiosity got the better of him and he walked to the alleyway, checking to make sure no cameras or CSF patrols were looking at him, and walked towards the alleyway when he heard the whisper again.
"Who are you?" He asked out curiously.
Suddenly, a pair of hands pulled him behind the side of the dumpster, quickly pulling him to cover which made Dipper close to panicking at the sudden force, he would have begun to struggle to break free from his unknown assailant's grasp until…
"Dipper stop! It's me." Said the voice softly, the same voice he heard before, this time more clearly and recognizable, making Dipper stop his struggle as he saw who it was, someone he never thought he would see again.
"Wendy?" Said a shocked Dipper as he stared at his old friend red head face to face.
"Sup dork?" Said Wendy as she warmly smiled at Dipper.
Dipper could only respond by pulling Wendy into a warm embrace that she gladly returned, he even started to tear up, overcome with happiness of seeing his old friend again, even when the pain from all the bruises kicked in, he ignored it, all that mattered to him right now was that he knew Wendy was back and still alive.
It really had been a long time since Dipper last saw Wendy, the last time he did was eight years ago when she and her family were transferred out of town to somewhere else, he remembered how heartbroken they both were when this happened, how he became depressed for a while after they got separated, always wondering what happened to her and if she was okay, or if she was even alive, it ate him up from the inside not knowing what happened to her, he never forgot about her despite how far away they were from each other, but now she was here, alive and here with him again.
After what seemed like hours, the two pulled away from their embrace as Dipper wiped the tears from his eyes that Wendy noticed.
"Happy to see me, aren't you?" Quipped Wendy, making Dipper chuckle at her wise crack.
"You have no idea." Replied Dipper smiling, glad to see the redhead again.
"I think I do." Wendy quipped again, referring to Dipper tearing up as he wiped the rest of the tears away, calming himself down. "How've you been?" She asked.
"Like everyone else." He replied more seriously. "Tired, hungry, and aching all over, but still breathing."
"Why am I not surprised?" Wendy frowned, knowing that this was not the first time she heard that.
Dipper was about to ask Wendy how she got here before she quickly interrupted him.
"How about your sister? Is she okay?"
Dipper nodded. "Yeah, yeah, she's fine. I was just about to meet her at the square."
"And Soos?" She quickly asked again.
"He's fine too."
"Okay good." Wendy mumbled lowly before asking another question, this time more gently knowing about the subject matter. "How about Stan? Is he getting any better?"
Dipper just shook his head, not wanting to reply about his Grunkle.
"Damn." She mumbled again before poking her head up above the dumpster, checking to see if anyone saw them, and as happy as Dipper was, he was also confused.
While he is overjoyed that Wendy is back, Dipper noticed some strange things about Wendy just by looking at her. Taking a good look at her, he saw that she wore most of her usual style like before, even had some new boots and a new green flannel shirt, but she wasn't wearing her trademark lumberjack hat on her, and she wore what looked like a tactical vest from one of the CSF officers, and even saw a hatchet and a pistol in a holster on her waist belt, which made Dipper wonder about a lot of questions to ask her.
Not only that, but Wendy also seemed to be on edge as if she did something wrong, her eyes were always darting to her every corner, she constantly interrupted Dipper when she knew he would ask questions, as if she was in a hurry, constantly checking behind the dumpster if anyone was watching, hell it was weird that they were even here in the first place, and it just brought up more questions like, Where did she come from? How did she get here? Why was she here in the first place? Is she in real trouble? Etc.
Wendy then noticed Dipper looking at her attire. "Are you checking me out, dude?" She said with a raised eyebrow, making Dipper blush out of embarrassment.
Dipper stammered "N-no, of course not. I'm just curious why you look dressed for a fight."
Wendy just sighed, changing her expression to a more serious tone. "It's a long story. I won't have enough time to tell you now."
"What do you mean by that?" Asked Dipper, now raising his eyebrow. "Because I have this feeling that it means something other than the town schedule."
"Like I said, it's a long story. I'll explain it all when we get out of here."
"Wait, what?" Asked Dipper, shocked at what he just heard. "Did you just say get out of here? Like, out of the town?"
"Why else do you think I'm here? Just to say hi and leave you?" Said Wendy, still keeping her serious but worrying tone. "I'm not doing that to you."
Dipper was just dumbfounded at what was going on, one moment he was happy to see Wendy again after eight years, and now he was talking to her about escaping the town, he didn't know how to feel since this happened so fast, so he didn't respond to Wendy.
Wendy picked up on this and put her hands on Dipper's shoulders to comfort him, knowing how sudden this all happened.
"Look. I know this is happening real fast right now, but I have no choice. I would love to explain everything to you, but I REALLY, don't have enough time, hell, I shouldn't even be here right now." Wendy then poked her head up, only to quickly put it down when she saw a CSF officer walk past. "Shit." She whispered to herself and waited until the officer left to continue.
"I get that we just met each other again after eight years, and I get that I'm saying something that seems out of the blue and insane, but you have to trust me on this, okay?" Wendy said, trying to help Dipper understand.
"Wendy, I… I don't know." Dipper said, still not sure what to think about this.
"How would you not know? I'm not just giving you, but Mabel, Stan, and Soos as well, a chance to finally get away from all this." Wendy referring to the Sleg occupation. "Do you really want to stay in this hellhole? After everything that's happened, everything the Slegs have done, you don't know if you want to be free?"
Dipper didn't know how to answer that question.
The obvious choice would be yes, and he did want to say yes.
He wanted to leave ever since this started, all the pain, misery, cruelty can end if he just agreed, and he can get Mabel, Stan, and Soos out of here, out of the Sleg's grasp after ten years of hell, all the beatings, torture, and the constant feeling of being watched, the fear of making one wrong move just to end up entangled in a fate that's possibly worse than death, it could all end by agreeing to leave, he may not know where they'll go, but it would be better than here, that's for sure.
But Dipper also wanted to say no.
He knows how horrible it is to live under a life of oppression and dictatorship, and he did want to leave it behind, but it was only a chance, a very slim chance. He and his loved ones could get killed by the Slegs, knowing how merciless they are to their foes, or even worse they could get caught, the CSF would have him and everyone else under their custody to do god knows what to them, and even if they did escape, they would be on the run, always moving and never resting in one place too long, being pursued by an all-powerful force that will never stop chasing them until their end.
"I… I just don't know." It was all Dipper could say.
Wendy just sighed in response. "Okay. How about this?" Suggested Wendy "You're a smart guy, think it over for a while and when it's time to go home, I'll meet you by your place to talk it over in detail with you and everyone else, okay?"
"Okay." Agreed Dipper as Wendy looked over the dumpster again. "Wait, how do you even know where I live?"
Wendy blinked her eyes rapidly a few times before answering. "Umm… long story."
The conversation was then interrupted by another announcement.
"THE TIME IS NOW TWO TEN P.M. ALL CITIZENS HAVE FIFTY MINUTES BEFORE WORK RESUMES ON THREE P.M. FAILURE TO ARRIVE ON TIME ON THREE P.M. WILL RESULT IN SEVERE PENALTIES. THANK YOU."
"You should get going Dipper, I've held you up long enough." Said Wendy as she looked behind the dumpster again for CSF. "Go meet up with your sister."
Dipper nodded as Wendy let him go and walk away, but not before telling him one last thing.
"Oh, by the way… It's good to see you again." Wendy said smiling, making Dipper smile and nod in agreement before leaving her to sneak out.
"Mabel isn't going to believe this."
O-O-O
Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls, but I do own the Slegs.