Episode 14: Chrysalis [part 2]
Arc: "Awakening"
Opening: Butterfly Core – Valshe.

. . .

"My name is Ariadne."

For a few minutes, everything around them stopped. Dipper kept staring into the girl's eyes, trying to seek for the truth. Think, Dipper: how many Ariadnes are there around the world? He thought. Something about all this made Dipper more interested: all that had started with his deal with the powerful dream-demon, Bill Cipher – and now he had grown wings, fought a dragon-looking mythological creature, had just found out that said demon has a son that probably escaped from some sci-fi prison or whatsoever. Just then, he snapped back to reality.

"U-uh…" And Dipper found out he was tongue-tied. Ariadne had given him wings – more than that, she had saved his life. "It's n-nice to meet you too." He stuttered, trying to think of something. That is Ariadne, but maybe it's a coincidence? No, it can't be. Her hair looks too well-done to be dyed. The question is: what is she? Dipper inhaled deeply before trying to calm down. He had to talk to her in private, somehow. But he had to; that would be one less mystery to solve.

"My parents are waiting outside." She said, pointing to the door. Damn, she'll go away, Dipper stiffened at the thought of having to search through the entire world to find her again. "Can you join me? It's getting dark outside, and I like having someone else to walk with." She smiled at him. Dipper blushed and just nodded. While both went outside, he shot a discreet glance at his great uncle from the corner of his eye. Stan wasn't even looking at them; he was just counting his money still. Dipper narrowed his eyes at him before opening the door from the shack and leading Ariadne out.

"Do you know where the parking lot is?" She asked. "I'm not really sure. My memory betrays me sometimes, you see." And she let out a small giggle. Dipper never thought someone would reach the level of Mabel's cute giggle until he heard Ariadne's. She sounded so perfect in any way. However, why did he feel uneasy near her? Was it because she was probably an unnatural creature that may have given him wings to save himself from a field of poisonous flowers? Of course it is.

"Yes, just follow me." Dipper suggested. Ariadne nodded and both walked side-by-side watching the sun hide behind the mountains and pine trees. However, Ariadne wasn't even suspicious that Dipper was taking them to where no one could hear them. As soon as they had reached a clearing a not too far away from the Mystery Shack, Dipper announced: "We're here." Ariadne looked at her surrounds and raised an eyebrow.

"I think that's not the parking lot." She pointed out. Dipper knew she would notice, but had to gain her trust first – then he'd try to discover if she was just acting. Maybe she could be the real Ariadne, maybe not. But that was what he was going to discover.

"You can drop the act, Ariadne." He decided to say. Maybe she was not the real one and wouldn't understand what he was saying, but if she was the real Ariadne, then she would show a signal, even if accidentally. The girl, however, didn't even move. She just kept staring at him with a blank face. "I know it's you, don't you remember?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. Seriously, just take me to the parking lot." Her voice was so full of seriousness that Dipper almost believed she was not Ariadne; almost. He knew there was something that seemed like acting. Maybe it was the way she talked, smiled or even blinked – however, how was he so sure? By the sun's position, Dipper could say it was around 6 to 7 pm, but he hadn't checked before going out. Maybe Stan noticed that. The blunette did nothing for a while, trying to think of something else to say, and stared at Ariadne – who seemed a little scared – with apologetic eyes.

"I know you're acting." Dipper didn't know why he was telling her that; he felt like she was the real one, but the despair in the girl's eyes seemed to show otherwise. No, I'm not wrong, and I'll prove it to her, Dipper thought to himself with determination sparkling in his eyes. "I can prove it."

"Oh, yeah?" Ariadne snapped. "Then do it! Prove whatever you want me to tell you! There is no point in this freaking thing!" And the sweet girl he had once seen was gone, and had been replaced with someone whose patience was running thin. Dipper closed his eyes. Must focus to make it happen, he told himself. The blunette thought of nothing than black, focusing as much as he could. Nothing would stop him from getting answers. Then, he felt a burn at his back – which clearly indicated he was succeeding in what he wanted to do.

In a blink, Dipper opened his eyes to face an astonished Ariadne facing him. Dipper looked behind to see two mismatched wings. He did it. He really did it – at least he managed to do this right. Ariadne blinked twice, analyzing every inch of the black and white wings that were attached to Dipper's back. She took a step forward and extended her hand to touch it, before she decided it wasn't a good idea and withdrew the hand, staring at Dipper for ten seconds or so before something happened.

She grinned.

"Well played, Dipper Pines." She said, moving forward and walking past him. "Well played."

. . .

"I knew it from the start!" Dipper pointed out with a bright smile plastered on his face. His eyes were shining in excitement. "You are Ariadne, who gave me these wings!" Dipper pointed to the wings behind him. The reasons he didn't retract them was because: 1) it would be a waste of time, and there was no one watching them anyway; 2) it would probably take too much effort to withdraw them; 3) he didn't know how to. "Why did you help me? What's with those wings and why did you give them to me? And-"

"Do you really wish to know the answers?" She interrupted him and stopped walking. They had been walking for a few minutes now, but the sky was starting to get dark already. Dipper stopped at Ariadne's side and stared into her bright, unnatural purple eyes. "Sometimes it's better to leave things as they are instead of trying to find the answers, Dipper." She advised. "You may end up harmed."

"It's better to know the truth and end up harmed then to ignore it and live without ever trying." He explained. Ariadne smiled at him.

"Good answer."

They kept walking until Dipper noticed they were very far away from the Mystery Shack. Where was Ariadne taking him, anyway? However, when he was about to ask that, she started talking again. "If you really want answers, then I'll give them to you." Dipper's heart skipped a beat. She really meant it? "First, you don't know why I helped you, but I do know: you have potential. You have the perfect combination between a strong mind, a stabilized aura and great power."

"I don't understand; what does that have to do with what I asked?" Dipper raised an eyebrow. Ariadne seemed to pretend she didn't hear that question.

"Second, I didn't give you those wings." Wait… what? "They are yours, but I helped you getting them because you needed them. If they were mine, I would have already gotten them back by now." That makes sense, but… Dipper stopped himself from thinking that she may be lying about all this. "The Sanctus Alaes, or – as we call – holy wings, can be obtained by both demons and angels in different ways. But they appear mainly when you experience something delightful."

"Almost dying was the most delightful thing I've ever experienced. If I could do it again, I definitely would." Dipper deadpanned, which made Ariadne giggle. Wait, angels? Are there dream-angels too or something? The blunette asked himself.

"Ignotum per ignotius, Dipper." She said, smiling. "It's harder to explain than to find out the truth, actually – and I mess up my explanation a lot when it comes to the Sanctus Alaes. It's not known yet how they really appear, but they mainly appear when you do or feel something pleasant. There were also times when a demon or angel's wings appear when they feel scared or in danger." Dipper nodded at the explanation.

"Are there dream-angels like there are dream-demons?" He decided to ask, or that question would make him mad. Ariadne took two minutes to answer, and Dipper didn't even say anything between those two minutes of silence, just hearing the sound of the night; with birds flying above them, the sounds of animals preparing to go to sleep or to hunt, the owls… Everything made him relax for a while before Ariadne finally answered his question:

"Yes." She said. "However, unlike the demons, we stay hidden and we don't interrupt people's dreams unless it's necessary. We are the opposite of demons, and we give people pleasant dreams. The dream-demons make our task really difficult, though. Their task is to give people nightmares, and sometimes there are conflicts between dream-demons and dream-angels because of a simple person's dream." Dipper swore he had seen a smile tug at the corner of her lips at the mention of the dream-demons. What was she hiding? And why did she say 'we'? Was she an angel too?

"I see…" That was all he said.

"However, in hell, there are more than dream-demons." Ariadne kept explaining, as if that was a thrilling opera, a great book, an outstanding movie or a new, bright TV series. "There are forest-demons and angels – unlike dream-demons, both take care of the forests equal, but with different roles: the demons take care of the animals and hunters, while the angels take care of the flora and the natural disasters." Dipper nodded, but seemed to not care about it.

"Ariadne…" He started. "…What do you know about Bill's son?"

Silence followed before Ariadne stopped on her tracks and spun on her heels, turning to face Dipper, her eyes shining in the darkness. For a long time, all Dipper focused were her eyes. There was a mix of emotions within them – anger, sadness, happiness, confusion… and regret. Dipper could recognize all of those emotions because he had already seen Mabel this way. He hated to see this – Dipper immediately felt bad for asking that, but, if he didn't, who would?

"You shouldn't be asking that – to anyone." She said, hiding her eyes under her white hair. "Forget about it, Dipper. Too much curiosity may lead us to our own end – and it's always in the most painful way." Dipper raised an eyebrow.

"How do you know that?" She looked at him, with a smile of sadness tugging at the corner of her lips. However, it disappeared as soon as it faded. The woods around them silenced as they eagerly waited for Ariadne's answer along with Dipper. Upon opening her mouth to answer, one tear slid down Ariadne's cheek.

"Because that is how I died."

A/N: ...That's really creepy, right?

I feel like doing something mysterious for later chapters :) Also, I must announce: VACATIONS YAAAAAAY! However, that doesn't mean there will be faster updates. I have an important history assignment and I really need to get a good grade on this one, so I'll be a bit busy on vacations. Yeah. AND, I KNEW STANFORD WAS STANLEY SINCE THE START HAHAHAHAHA! Kinda, my theory had some errors. So, there will be no questions today. INSTEAD, HERE IS A CHALLENGE FOR YA:

(1) How about a small challenge? It's like that: each character has its own theme song, which I'll put in the beginning of the chapter/episode. The trick is that I will not tell whose character the theme songs belongs to. INSTEAD, you will try to discover it. For example, I put a paragraph of a song's lyrics at the beginning, and it's YOUR task to know whose theme song this is. Get it? Tell me if you need more explaining and PM me :)

(2) Are you up to the challenge above? If so, say 'YEAH!'.

The one who gets more theme songs right will win a special prize :) Yep, there is a PRIZE. But I'll just tell you at the end of the story. Do you think you will win? SHOW ME YOUR BEST!

Awakened Niwana, off.