If the world would stop spinning for a minute, Dipper could stand back up. He wasn't sure which direction he was facing: up or down, to his side, or if he was standing. Everything was numb, and he had been stricken from the senses of direction.
Maybe an hour, maybe a moment, after all the explosions had started, his ears began to ring. Had they always been ringing? Dipper couldn't tell. It was so endless and painful that he squeezed his eyelids tightly shut and groaned. His brain itself was rebelling against the sense he was beginning to pick up.
To his terror, he opened his eyes and saw before him a fallen girl, crumpled to the ground.
"Mabel," he tried to scream. Dipper could barely move himself up and against the floor, scraping his hands and knees against the dirt.
Something was still blasting the air around them. Dipper turned from his unmoving sister and looked up. The walls were still exploding around him. Dirt and debris flew into the air like bullets. Everything vibrated with destructive energy. There was something flapping against his hand, some sort of paper.
Dipper finally remembered everything: the secret cave, the note in his hand, the first explosions. The trap had been set up long before they got there.
"Mabel," Dipper managed to say louder, able to feel most of his body at this point. Pushing himself up forward, Dipper flinched as a large rock fell next to his hand, narrowly avoiding crushing his entire arm. With his fullest strength available, he cried again, "Mabel!"
His voice fell on deaf ears. She wasn't moving. Panic flooded his mind and heart and he hurried over, damning the scrapes against his knees.
"Mabel!"
Still no reply. He found her and pulled her over. There was a trickle of blood falling from her forehead. All the feeling Dipper had managed in the moment evaporated into sheer fear. Was she...
"Help!" Dipper yelled.
No one replied. Dipper twisted around, still sitting next to his unmoving sister. Where was Mister Steindorf and Zander? The falling rocks and pebbles from the ceiling made it hard to see clearly around.
The entire hide out was a mess. As more sticks of hidden dynamite exploded and cast their own dust and flame into the air, Dipper saw the huge chunks of rock that had fallen. Entire columns of wall had collapsed, along with several pipes, now twisted and ruined. Water splashed around them, and past one of these Pipes, Dipper saw Steindorf rising.
"Help!" Dipper shouted again.
Omir turned to him, coughing. "Dipper!" the old man stood and stumbled, leaning against a rock. No visible injury was shown through his pants leg, but he winced. "Ah! My leg!"
"Mabel's been hurt!" he called.
Steindorf growled and raised his face. "Stay there! I'm coming over!" he told Dipper. Yet as he stood on his leg, he cried out and fell to the floor. He looked furious, and pounded the earth with his fist. Dipper heard him shout something, but over the noise, it was hard to make out.
The punch seemed ill-timed. Dipper's mouth fell open as the earth underneath Steindorf cracked and split. Within a span of several moments, the proud, billion-dollar man yelled for his life, slipped, slid down one of the sides of cracked earth, and began to hold onto the sides for life itself.
From fury evolved fear. Clutching the edges desperately, Omir Steindorf yelled, "I'm slipping! Help!"
Dipper couldn't believe it. How had everything gone so wrong? They were going to be buried here, crushed by the weight of earth itself.
Then a pair of clammy, shaking hands wrapped themselves around his shoulders and he was forced to his feet.
"Wha-wha- Zander?!" Dipper reeled about, and saw, instead, a large-straw hat.
"Run like a coyote when supper's on the line!" A short old man with a crooked back and crooked eyes shouted at Dipper, pulling him towards the exit.
"McGucket!" Dipper shouted. "Wait! Mabel-"
Behind Dipper, as he was pulled towards the exit, he saw Zander Maximillion run like the wind itself. He swept up Mabel in one motion. With her in his arms, Zander ran after Dipper and McGucket. His long beard trailing behind him, McGucket lead the charge out of the collapsing tunnel. Dipper still saw Omir Steindorf, trying to pull himself up. Dipper saw the terror in his eyes. His stomach and heart ached. He had trusted the twins. Dipper fell to the ground, coughing. McGucket padded his back.
McGucket encouraged him, spewing, "Get them dust mites out! Y'all gotta move them legs!"
Dipper, hacking out spit and globs of dirt, looked around. "What about Mister-"
"Just run!" Zander shouted at him, cradling Mabel in his arms.
Dipper finally had full control of himself. The realization he wasn't dying was enough for full mental control to assume reign. Dipper took Zander's orders to heart. Pushing past McGucket, he ran, leading the way out. Rocks and pebbles fell around them as more and more structure began to de-stabilize.
Endlessly turning to the right as they climbed the spiral exit, Dipper's eyes were stricken by direct sunlight. He couldn't stop- even when he stumbled. He had to make sure everyone got out first, and then he could deal with the pain around him. He whipped around, and there was the three; McGucket, Zander, and Dipper's sister, still motionless.
They were out finally. Fresh air washed Dipper's face. He roughly tore off his hat. Dipper's hair was drenched in the cooling breeze. He could breathe.
The rumbling below hadn't stopped. More and more explosions went off.
Dipper turned and just in time; his sister was dropped into his arms. Dipper looked to Zander, who looked hyper-focused. Dipper quickly asked, "What are you-"
Zander urgently told him, "Hold her! I'm going back inside for Omir!" Zander shouted, and started for the secret entrance.
As Zander rushed forward, the entire entrance caved in. The rockstar stumbled back, his hands falling to his side as a plume of dust billowed out. Dipper and McGucket both gasped as their mouths and eyes were covered in the horribly coarse dust. Zander stood at the once entrance to the cave, staring at it. There was no way back down.
Zander mumbled, "So..."
Dipper looked to McGucket, who glanced back at Dipper. Zander was talking to himself, and shaking his head. What was he thinking over there?
Dipper, hopeful, called out, "We can dig him out! We need to call-"
Only as they thought everything was over, then did the finale present itself. Entire sections of the land before Zander itself collapsed into the earth. With earthquake-like power, the entire area above the cave system, half the scrap yard, were dragged into the earth. Water began to flood the now collapsed crater, as the broken pipes sloshed out and began to flood the cave-in. Steam and smoke billowed out in vast gouts of hot ash.
Dipper didn't know what to say. The chances of anyone surviving that... were beyond slim. Dipper came to the horrible realization that Omir Steindorf was gone.
Zander turned around. His eyes bore an unfamiliar look of anger. Zander marched over to McGucket first. He told him, his voice brisk and concise, "You need to hide. I think people will try blaming you for this one."
McGucket, though shaken, took the order fairly well. "That's okay, Imma stealthy as a possum. Now ya see me, now ya–" and then McGucket got on all fours, and raced away.
"Good. Get going," Zander called after him with authority. Dipper stared at Zander as the rockstar again lifted his sister from his arms. "We need to run," Zander told him.
Dipper nodded and complied.
Away from town the two fled, up the dirt path and into the woods. The entire hike Dipper was torn by briars and struck by branches. His mind was so shaken and horribly twisted he couldn't think about his next step as his body moved. He had just stared into the face of death. He barely got away, and Mabel was hurt. Their ally, Omir Steindorf, had just been swallowed by the ground itself.
It was... it was all Graupner's fault.
Rage boiled in his stomach as he ran. It did not focus him more, or provide him with a sense of clout. What he lost in sense of pity, he gained in pain tolerance. Everything about him numbed, from the scratches on his arm and face to the scrapes on his knees screaming for rest; nothing felt quite the same as pure, unfiltered anger.
"Here," Zander finally turned to Dipper as they met a clearing atop a hill. Dipper was breathing heavily. Zander, his brow furrowed, relaxed as he looked to Dipper. "Take a breather. You sound like you need it."
Dipper, his jaw so tightly clenched that he only moved his lips when he spoke, growled, "I don't."
Zander recoiled slightly. "Dipper?"
Dipper fumed, balling his fists tight enough to feel the sting of his nails. "This... all of this... was The Warlock's fault!" Dipper yelled into the air.
"Dipper, calm down," Zander said.
"No!" he yelled back. "He tried it again! To kill us again! A trap to bury us alive!" Dipper paced back and forth, his hands rubbing his hair, now spared from his beanie. "I... I'll kill him," Dipper growled.
"No, you won't," Zander sighed.
Dipper whipped his eyes to Zander. He drilled his own eyes deep into the emerald green of Zander. "Oh, yes I will," Dipper hatefully decided, "I'm done trying to bring him back alive. He just escalated the fight. He nearly killed me! He killed Mister Steindorf!"
"Bro," a weak voice mumbled, "Calm down."
In a single gasp dipper had all his hateful energy leak out. Mabel was moving, stirring; alive. Dipper rushed forward, and gently wiped away the blood on her face with his hand.
"Hey," he whispered to her, "How are you feeling?"
"About the same when I woke up in hell that one time," she told Dipper with a grin. Zander blinked and looked to Dipper.
Dipper smiled and shook his head. "A story for another time," he said.
"Right," Zander nodded.
Mabel, like a dopey baby, looked around for the source of the voice. Mabel gasped and looked up. Above her, holding her in his arms, was Zander's face and being. Her face reddened and a sleepy smile was born. "Wait. Am I dead or alive?"
Happily, Zander told her, "Alive."
"Yesssssss," Mabel said to herself quietly, clenching her hands together. "Best way to wake up, ever."
"Can you walk?" Dipper asked her.
"Don't want to," she told him with a scowl.
Dipper sighed and nodded. "You can put her down. She's okay."
Zander chuckled and slowly lowered Mabel to her feet. She whined and then crossed her arms together. "Phooey. Wait," she blinked and looked up to the sky. "Blue? Weren't we under – Dipper!" she turned to her brother, and saw his injuries, and then felt her forehead and gasped in pain. "What the heck happened!?" she asked, after checking her own wound.
What alleviation Dipper had gained by his sister's revival once again became corrupted by anger. He was reminded with a meaningful glance from Zander of what they had just escaped. "A trap," he said, his voice croaky and tense.
"How!?" Mabel demanded, looking down the hill. All of town could be seen from their spot, and she gasped. The huge hole made was also visible, now being crowded by policemen and onlookers alike. "Holy crud-sickles. That's not... that's not where we were, is it?"
Zander nodded, but Dipper stepped closer. "That's where the secret base was. Graupner booby trapped it. Something triggered explosives," he told his sister.
"A sensor," Zander added. The two turned to him, and he shrugged. "I saw it when I ran out to get McGucket for help. The same model made by Steindorf and Co. This kid, Graupner, has some real moves on him."
"He really blew up everything?" Mabel asked.
Dipper opened his mouth, but a strange feeling in his hand put him to pause. There was something wet in his hand. Looking down to it, he found the now bloodstained note that he had found from the hidden cave. The one he started to read and then the cave blew up.
"Dipper?" Mabel asked.
Dipper heard her voice, but instead read. He had to see what the man wanted to say.
To the twins, who I know are the only others who know about this place, I want to say an official farewell if you're reading this underground. You have been a pain in my search for far too long, and this is it. When you read this, I'll have moved off to a new location. I'm getting tired of hiding in the shadows, so this will be my official warning to you. You leave me be, and this ends. I'll leave you be, and you'll leave me be. Stay away forever, or what will happen in a few moments will just be a test of what I can do. And before you can start thinking that my powers are weak – you haven't seen real magical power. Last chance, Pines.
Dipper held the bloodied note in his hands. It had been written like that had been a joke. A warning. A warning? That had been a warning? Trying to bury him and Mabel had been a warning to stay away?
"He's not human," Dipper's voice shook, and he crumpled the paper into a bloody mess.
"More threats, huh?" Mabel asked with a deep sigh.
"That, what happened there," Dipper pointed to the hole in town, "Was supposed to be a warning."
Mabel, perhaps delirious from the injury or the situation, joked, "Man, if we warned people like that, there wouldn't be a town left."
"Mabel!" Dipper roared, and Mabel flinched. Her brown eyes worriedly looked to her brother's, wondering at what point he would strike. He never did. Instead, he pulled at his hand and turned away. "Sorry," he grumbled.
Zander's voice cut into the quiet on the forested hill. "I guess that's what happens when you use magic, huh?" Zander asked. Dipper and Mabel turned to him, and he clarified, "You end up going crazy?"
Dipper shrugged. Knowing that not too long ago, he was practicing spell craft, he shrugged. "Not... always," Dipper meagerly argued.
"You two need to go home," Zander told them, and started walking towards the other side of the hill.
"What?!" The twins shouted in unison.
"Oh no," Zander whipped around, shaking his head, "Don't give me that! You two almost died! The old man is gone! This kid is a genuine murderer now!" Zander shouted. "And you just want to keep looking for him!?"
"Yes," Dipper nodded.
"Definitely," Mabel also nodded.
"Absolutely nuts!" Zander grumbled. "Are you even – I can't even – why, even – Aaugh!" Zander put his face into his hands. Rubbing his eyes while groaning, he came to a nod. He seemed to accept the fate the twins put themselves through. "Fine. Fine. I doubt I can persuade you into changing your mind. So, the least I can do is make sure you two are fine."
"Thanks," Dipper nodded. Zander shook his head and looked into town. "I mean it, Zander," Dipper pushed his appreciations further, really wanting Zander to understand his sincerity.
"Yeah," Mabel also spoke, "Without you, we may be-"
Zander twitched, almost like he was itching from their words. "Okay, okay, enough hero worship," Zander shrugged. "I get it. I'll help. Just... tell promise me that if we get a hint like that again, we just run for it, okay?"
"Got no problems with running for my life," Mabel said. She then looked around. "Hey, where's Mister Steindorf?"
Dipper blinked. "You... heard me, you heard Zander earlier," he told her, his throat tightening on the subject.
"Huh? I heard you shouting... wait," Mabel turned back towards the massive hole in town. Her eyes swelled as she stared, and then she put her hands to her face. Tiny gasps and shakes of her head told Dipper she finally understood what had happened. Her face, already dirty with dust and dirt, was cleaned in two paths of tears. "He died," Mabel affirmed.
Dipper turned to Zander. The man's usually expressive and energy-filled eyes were dulled. They were tired and empty, and the moment Dipper looked too long into them, he had to look away. Zander's condition seemed worse on the inside than the outside. The Rockstar looked to Mabel with such a pitying frown, like his own sadness was amplified by Mabel's suffering.
"On the note," Dipper said aloud, cutting into the silence around him, "Graupner says something about being tired of hiding in shadows."
"So?" Mabel turned, wiping her face, smudging her blood and dust across her cheeks.
"So that means he moved," Dipper re-explained, "He moved to a place where he doesn't consider it 'hiding in shadows'."
Zander almost chuckled. "What, he's just walking around in the public?" Zander asked. "I don't want to sound mean, but the townsfolk may be dumb, but they're not that dumb. They can tell when someone weird is wondering around with a black cloak. Especially since there were wanted posters of him."
"Yeah. Same with the cops," Mabel agreed, "They'd spot him and arrest his sorry butt."
"Then... where does someone go to when they don't want to hide underground?" Dipper asked.
Mabel jumped. "A tower!" she gasped, and pointed to the television radio tower, "Maybe he's hiding up there! Like a vulture!"
Dipper frowned as Zander turned away from the town. "No, it wouldn't make sense. That's too heavily seen by people, and it has a crew constantly watching over it. I think a few people may notice if the men working at the television town vanished. No, it'd be more likely to be at the water tower," Dipper turned and pointed to the other side of town.
"On that old thing? With Robbies muffin?" Mabel asked.
Zander frowned, and quietly repeated, "Robbie has a muffin? On a tower?"
Dipper focused on his sisters suggestion. "It's not heavily guarded, and less people care about it. Easier to sneak to, and more places to put stuff," Dipper suggested.
Mabel shook her head. "I don't think so. It's really windy up there," Mabel said, "He'd be blown off by his cape-cloak-thingy."
"Well, you got a better idea?" Dipper scowled at her.
"I suggested the radio," she stuck out her tongue.
Next to the twins, Zander said, "What about that?"
The twins turned behind them to Zander, looking up the hill. There, atop a cliff, the two spied a building. Something from long in the past, abandoned, and overlooking the entire town.
Dipper gaped and Mabel smiled. Of course, it made sense; the last person who used it was an egotistic monster. It would only make sense that another monster of equal or greater variety would take up residence. There, hundreds of feet up, built against the ledge of a tall cliff, was none other than the old Gleeful Warehouse on Gopher road.
To Mabel, Dipper complained, "If we step on one of those stupid toys that speaks up, I'll burn the entire building to the ground."
"So, shall we?" Zander offered.
Climbing up the hill without the same adrenalin was difficult. Of course, Mabel was fine, bounding up steep steps like a fully-functioning Billy goat, but Dipper found it harder and harder to keep pace. Zander constantly turned and checked on him, something that only made Dipper more frustrated. How was the freakin' rockstar, of all things, able to keep pace with boundless Mabel?
Dipper reserved something inside his mind: he could not be a burden. They were close to getting this guy, and the last thing they needed was him being incapable of staying with the pace. Yet his knees buckled and his hands strained each time he grabbed a tree branch and pull himself forward. He would sleep soundly tonight, even if he didn't want to.
Given half an hour of climbing, the trio finally made it. There it was, that dumb, nearly boarded up building that housed an appalling number of relics of a monster long since left town. The worn of sign of their advisory hung above them, a slogan long since drawn over by teenagers with spray paint.
"What's with the plush toy?" Zander pointed to the face above the door. "Was there a toy brand here once?"
Mabel snorted and laughed as Dipper rolled his eyes. "That's Gideon Gleeful."
"Gleeful, huh?" Zander eyed the front, "Huh. Mascot for some sort of, I dunno, marshmallow company?"
Mabel roared with laughter, and Dipper refrained a smile. "Let's go inside," was what he could manage.
The doors swept inside without restraint. Dipper eyed them, surprised at the lack of noise they made when shoved aside. The hinges should have rusted a while ago...
Yet he passed inside with his sister at his side and Zander behind them. The warehouse, to the twins dawning disappointment, was uninhabited. The Warlock wasn't lying on the floor, with his plans all scattered around like Dipper had hoped for. There wasn't much in the massive building that indicated his presence. It was still cluttered with the last evidences of the Gleefuls market empire.
"Dang," Dipper frowned and shook his head, "If he was here, we missed him."
"No way," Mabel stepped out further, scanning the piles of old crates and boxes strewn about, "I bet you there's something here that could help us out. Anything."
"I don't know," Dipper sighed as Zander strode past him, following Mabel, "It was a good guess... wait," Dipper quietly said, scanning the floor above him. Like many warehouses, there was a catwalk around the ceiling for tall orders of mass shipments. In one of the corners, a tiny red light bleeped at Dipper. His first instinct: run, scream, holler. But he saw what it was- a camera. Not only a camera, a functioning security camera.
"I'll be right back," Dipper called to the two as he turned towards a cramped spiraling staircase that led up.
The steps shook and trembled under his dusty steps. Each rattling cry would have told dozens of guards of Dipper's coming. He didn't care. He was going to find evidence, and if resistance came, all the better. Nothing was waiting for him up here. He wasn't even sure that there was anything to indicate the Warlock had ever been here. But a security office above them could have the answer.
The door above also creaked. Clearly this hadn't been open in a very long time; just barely left a crack open by some lazy security officer, or maybe Gideon himself.
That name fluxed through Dipper like a bad illness. Their enemy, unlikely ally, and nuisance. There was a tremendous amount of animosity between the twins and that thing. Calling him a boy would have been a joke. He was cruel and mean beyond the twin's belief. Well, at least until recently. Now a new outline took that spotlight: the warlock.
Dipper shook his mind. He had almost considered if Gideon could be in all of this. That seemed less than likely. Gideon, and his family, had long since left town. This had a much less publicly appealing signature on it. The little rat had always enjoyed the love from the masses, and this entire operation from their enemy was the antithesis of that. Everything the Warlock did seemed to lead to antagonizing the populace, or the Pines at least.
Having opened the door, Dipper grinned. There was a desk with a still functioning security system. Checking the nearby dust-covered keyboard, Dipper tinkered. It was a digital recording system. That was enough for Dipper.
He wanted to shout, to let Mabel and Zander know what he had found. But then again... it could lead to nothing. He shrugged: he would scan the tapes first, and then call them over. If he found anything at all.
And so, with a click of the button, Dipper began to rewind the recordings.
Down below, Mabel mused aloud. "You think it could be booby trapped here too?" Mabel asked Zander as she looked around. "I see you, mister camera," She added, pointing at the single security camera.
"I don't think so," Zander called from the doors, checking them. "Last time it was a motion activated system or something. I'm not seeing anything like that."
He sounded like he knew what he was talking about. That really surprised her, in some way. Sure, Zander was clearly a wonderful human being in many senses of the word, but Mabel was surprised at how many times he'd reveal another thing he was good at. "Zander," Mabel turned and grinned at the rock-star, "You really are a walking book of know-how, aren't you?"
"What'cha mean?" Zander asked with a small smile.
She barked out with a small laugh. "Really? You're a god of music, a man who excels at personal care and hygiene, clearly super-duper athletic," she added with a quick glance at his body, "You know how to garden like a pro, never really panic about things, and now you know about motiony-detecty-stuff?" she pointed out. Zander chuckled, rubbing his wrists as he looked away. Mabel, aside herself in admiration, asked, "Is there anything you can't do?"
Quickly, he replied, "I'm a lousy cook."
"Oh. Oh! You know," Mabel stepped closer, her hands behind her as she strode over carefully, "We can learn recipes together! I could teach you. I make a wonderful Mabel juice."
Zander looked to her with a blank face. Something about the way he looked at her seemed unfamiliar. In a brief moment, Zander looked to Mabel like he had never quite heard her speak. After she tilted her head at his own look, he wore that smile again and shook his head. He told her quietly with a certain resignation, "Hah, I don't think so, Mabel. I like providing to the many other cooks in the world. Spread the wealth, right? How fair is it if I don't let you talented cooks make beautiful things?"
"But it's so much fun!" Mabel declared, grabbing his jacket, and then adjusting the scarf she ruffled, "Sorry," she said after smoothing it out, "But seriously – it's a lot of fun! And easy! Also, you'd be supporting the farmers and stuff, so really –"
"Mabel, no thank you," Zander told her.
The tone was cold.
That was the first time Mabel had ever heard the man use that voice with... anyone. He had been angry before with Robbie and Dipper, and scared when a spectral bear charged him and his band. But cold? Mabel shrunk back and stared at him. He noticed her reaction, and put a hand to his face. He took a long, very careful breath. "I'm sorry, Mabel. This... this isn't what I expected today."
"Yeah," Mabel nodded as Zander stepped over and sat down on a crate. Her mind then scolded her. Every longing desire to become closer to Zander screamed at her to join him, say something cute and insightful. Then again, there were better times than now to flirt. A man had just... died. Someone who went to them for help was gone. Her mouth twitched and she pursed her lips. "I didn't expect this either."
Zander jolted up, like she had said something stunning. "Oh?" he asked loudly, his eyes wide with shock. "Wait... right," Zander shook his head.
Mabel crooked her head to one side. "What's up? You sound like you got something in your noggin."
"Yeah. Tired from the danger. Some, uh, bad memories, too," he told her.
"Want to talk about-"
"No," he said with a tone solid as iron. Mabel stepped back again, her heart bleeding at his sudden distancing. Zander growled at himself, ruffling his hair and squeezing his scarf. Through it all, he managed to quietly say, "Mabel, look, I'm just... seeing that? Back there," he nodded to the town outside the door, "That cave in brought some bad memories up. You, uh, don't think you can give me a moment, do you?"
Mabel nodded and spun around.
Her world and thoughts about the rock star had changed from night and day. She always knew there was more than just a smile and strange sense of wisdom, and of course, amazing looks. She hadn't pictured someone pained though. She looked back and saw Zander Maximillion sitting on his crate. He looked beyond exhausted.
Her mind flashed a dangerous reminder to the past, to Grunkle Stan. She gambled one more look over her shoulder at Zander. He was leaning on his knees, looking at the ground with long, sad eyes. People who put up faces like that hid dangerous secrets. At least, that was Mabel's experience. Would he hide something dangerous like... like a portal from them?
No. She shook her head. He's caring. He'd be more willing to help someone and himself if he could.
As she shook her head, something caught her eye to the right. In the shadow of two piles of crate, a small bag filled with papers was wedged between the crates.
"Zander," Mabel called, "look what I found."
Up in the security office, Dipper's eyes were beginning to un-focus. How long did it take to find something that had happened recently? According to the speed of rewinding, a long time. He had barely been able to get a few days into the past.
Dipper looked away, stretching his neck. He pondered the events that would come to pass now. A CEO had vanished in town, a CEO to a billion dollar business. People would come looking for him now; almost certainly. Dipper wondered how long before a man-hunt was established, and they would find the remains of the poor guy buried under all that rock. If they were anywhere else, Dipper was certain it would not take that long. After all, people responded well to disasters like that. Only, this was Gravity Falls. Progress came at turtle-like speeds. The rubble of the junk yards may never be fully cleared up.
Dipper glanced back down. He gasped.
Someone had just stepped out, backwards, through the front door.
"Shoot," Dipper leaned forward and pressed play.
What started as the usual black and white footage soon was interrupted by movement. A figure stepped into view, wearing cargo-pants, a t-shirt with a question mark on it, and a beanie hat covering his curly hair.
"Yuki!?" Dipper gasped.
The alien was looking around, and Dipper stared in awe. What was going on? Yuki came to the warehouse? Why?
He checked the timestamp of the recording. This was two weeks ago. What the heck was going on?
Yuki stepped in, and opened his mouth. Dipper only then realized there was no audio. He grumbled, and leaned in closer. Reading lips seemed impossible. Yuki spoke, even after a lot of exposure to modern English, very elaborately. That coupled poorly with the static and quality.
Yuki then paused, and looked down to a sheet of paper. Dipper wasn't sure what it was, but it resembled a newspaper.
From the shadows, he then stepped out. Yuki gasped and stepped away.
"Oh my – No! Yuki – run!" Dipper stumbled over his words, watching the screen.
The Warlock stepped out casually, staring at Yuki. The fear and confusion in Yuki was unmistakable.
Then Dipper frowned. He knew that Yuki was fine. He had seen the alien not a few hours ago, this day. When Dipper had last seen him, he had looked... nervous. More nervous than usual, for that matter. In fact, as Dipper sat back in his seat and watched the show before him, he pondered the past several days. Yuki had been very jumpy of late.
The warlock and Yuki spoke for minutes- Dipper eventually fast-forwarded the action. Only when they shook hands did he pause.
"No..." Dipper gasped.
They really were shaking hands. Yuki's expression was somber and direct, and Dipper couldn't see the Warlock from the angle. But...
They had agreed on something.
"What?" Dipper asked himself.
He began to go through more and more footage. Each day, nothing would happen, and each night, Yuki would appear. The Warlock would soon appear, and they would speak. Each time, Dipper saw his friend, his alien friend Uki-Dohth, become less and less nervous.
This made Dipper more and more sick to his stomach. Yuki had made a deal with their enemy. He had come to terms with something.
Dipper never heard the steps to up the stairs, but he did hear the door open. His head whipped around to Mabel and Zander. Mabel held up a bag; one from the Mystery Manor.
"Look," she said, and held out papers for job advertisements, "I think Yuki's been here," she told Dipper. Dipper's throat, so dry and hoarse, could not reply. Mabel caught wind quickly, Dipper not speaking was always a bad sign. She turned and gasped. There he was on the TV, with a cloaked figure.
"Is that-"
"This is the fifth night in a row I've seen him and the Warlock meet in this place. Every. Single. Night," Dipper told them, his head trembling, as the sound of a boiling kettle buzzed in his brain.
Zander gasped, "He's met with the Warlock?"
Dipper spied the papers in Mabel's hands. "Job advertisements... No... this... wait..."
Dipper stood up from his seat and looked out the window behind him, to the town. Just down the hill they stood atop; a payphone rested. One of the many in town, Dipper swallowed as he made a connection that was uncanny.
"We made three attempts to sting the Warlock today," Dipper grumbled, whipping back to the TV, "Each time we ran into traps or... or roadblocks!" he shouted. "Like he knew we were coming from way beforehand!"
"Dipper, calm down," Mabel tried turning Dipper to her, "This isn't making sense. Yuki isn't the kind of person to sell us out."
"Really!?" he shouted, "Mabel, we've known him for a grand total of two months!" he roared. When Zander cleared his throat, Dipper rolled his eyes, "You're fine!" Dipper snapped. Zander seemed relieved.
"But think about his character," Mabel told him.
"We've done that before, and Mabel? You know what?" Dipper asked, his fury building in his mind faster than his reasoning, "People are liars!"
Mabel snapped out, "Okay! Don't shout at me!"
Dipper grumbled and stared at the picture on the screen. It still fast-forwarded. It was almost caught up, and once again, Graupner and Yuki talked amicably.
"This is how he's been ahead of us!" Dipper shouted. "He's had a mole in on us the entire time!"
"But-" Mabel protested.
Zander called out, "Time out!" and got the two looking at him. "Before we make a risky assumption," Zander explained, his commanding voice returning, "Maybe you should ask Yuki himself?"
Dipper and Mabel both looked to the screen. They were still talking, only the night before this. Dipper shook his head and scowled as Mabel closed her eyes. It was painful to them both.
Why, Yuki?
"Yeah," Mabel spoke for her brother, "Let's go ask him."
Hiking back to the Mystery Manor was quiet. It would have been silent if not for the passing of the occasional car, the twittering bird, or the breezing flowing around trees. Tense, rigid, and seething, Dipper marched in the back, his head lowered and his hands in his pockets. Mabel was similar, but she walked next to Zander and continued to chew her hair.
She wouldn't believe it. Yuki wouldn't betray them.
He had lost so much since they joined him, but they had given him as much as they could. He was caring, and sweet, and dorky just like Dipper was. Mabel wouldn't deny that he had made contact with their enemy, but to think he would suddenly choose the jerk-lock over the twins... it didn't add up. They offered him a family? What else could the warlock have that Yuki wanted.
Finally, the Manor presented itself before them. Dipper pace quickened, passing by a confused Waddles on the porch.
"Dipper," Mabel called after him.
As he rushed in through the front door, Mabel and Zander hurried after him. Inside, Wendy had gasped.
"Dude! what the heck-" she turned to see Mabel, "Holy crap! Stan!"
"Where is Yuki?" Dipper quietly demanded of Wendy as she came around, pulling up her bag from behind the counter.
"What?" she asked, opening up the main pouch, and getting out her antibiotics, "Uh, somewhere inside the house. Off-day for him – Dipper!" she shouted as he turned from her and marched away. Wendy spotted Mabel, in equally a bad shape. Wendy stammered, "M-Mabel, what the heck is going on?"
"Uh, well, we've-" she started before Stan stumbled into the room. Dipper marched past him towards the living room.
Stan scoffed. "Hey!" He then saw Dipper's state. "Woah, kid, what happened to-" he looked into the gift shop. He saw Zander and Mabel. Stan rushed inside, and rounded on Mabel, his eyes wide. "Sweetheart! What the hell happened?!" he demanded in shock.
"Ambush," Mabel managed.
Stan was torn, twisting between his disappearing nephew and standing still niece. Wendy grumbled and approached Mabel, mopping her face with some soft sponges. "Heh," Stan cracked a nervous smile, "Where's your rich friend? Off making a report? Oh, I get it, you caught him! Yes!" Stan cackled and clapped his hands together. When Mabel looked away and closed her eyes and Zander sighed heavily, Stan stopped. "Wait... What? What-"
A roar from the living room had Grunkle Stan jump nearly a foot into the air. Out from the room marched a fury-driven Dipper, his face wrinkled in hate as he held out his journal and a notepad.
"My notes!" Dipper shouted. "My notes are gone!"
"Huh?" Mabel gasped.
"All my research on magic and magic theory!" Dipper shouted, "All the research in... in helping Wendy... they're gone!" Dipper glared around, and he turned to Stan. "Where's Yuki?" he asked with such venom it wasn't a surprise when Stanley actually leaned away.
Stanley Pines, worried that Dipper could pull out his heart with a mere word, answered, "He said he'd be out for a bit a while ago."
"Dude, Dipper," Wendy spoke to him, her voice raised, "Stand still, you've been cut up everywhere!"
"Not until-"
On cue, the door behind Zander opened and closer. Zander quickly side-stepped. Yuki was revealed, holding a bag that looked eerily similar to the one found in the warehouse. Every eye inside the room turned to the newest employee of the Mystery Manor. Mabel's mouth dropped the moment she saw Yuki's expression seeing the twins.
He looked terrified.
Dipper dropped his journal and notepad. With a loathing voice, he yelled, "You!"
Dipper rushed past Wendy and Mabel. Yuki cried out in panic as a hand grabbed his shirt collar and pulled it against a wall. Dipper pinned the alien against the wall with a loud bang, and Yuki cried out, breathing almost as fast as Dipper was. Bits and bobbles fell from a nearby shelf, carefully stacked there earlier.
"Dipper!"
Three pairs of hands went for Dipper as he dried punching Yuki in the gut as quick as he could.
"He betrayed us!" Dipper shouted as he struggled against the powerful grip of Mabel and Stan. With a rush of footsteps and a loud series of 'Whoa dude!', Soos also pushed Dipper away.
"Calm down, bro!" Mabel shouted at Dipper as Yuki took many short, ill-suited breathes while staring fearfully at Dipper. Hyperventilating subsiding, Yuki looked to the others.
Wincing at the jabs, Yuki asked, his voice high in pitch, "What- what did I do!?"
"I don't know, Yuki," Dipper shouted as sarcastically as he could manage, "Have you made any deals recently we should know about!?"
"What?!" Stan stepped forward, laughing, "C'mon now! This is Yuki we're talking about, not Gideon or some other rat. He'd sooner stab his own foot than make a deal with Cipher. Right?" Stan turned to Yuki. Stan's confidence wavered when Yuki said nothing, his dark face becoming a sick mossy green. "Yuki... c'mon, it's just Dipper being mad about something. You can talk... right? Tell him otherwise?" Stan suggested.
Mabel felt a sickness welling in her throat. That Yuki said nothing was ruining her hope. A hope she needed to not be shattered today. Carefully, but knowingly fragile, Mabel asked with a quiet voice, "Yuki, did you make a deal with the Warlock?"
Those who had not gone on the adventure- Soos, Wendy, and Stan, all darted their stares to Yuki. It was like the air from their lungs had been siphoned and vacuumed away. The large, purple eyes of Yuki shone with fear as he looked to them all. Moments passed, and yet he said nothing.
"Yuki, c'mon," Stan chuckled after swallowing, "You... you're not... I know you!" he chuckled, albeit nervously, "You'd never hurt them; my grandkids. They're your friends! You didn't make a deal… Did you?"
Fury melting into anguish, Dipper begged, "Go on, please tell me I'm wrong. Tell me what I found was just a misunderstanding."
"What did you find?" Wendy asked. "What happened? Why are you so cut up!?"
"We... we..." Dipper found it too hard to speak as his voice trembled.
Mabel took up the mantle, and cringed as she too found it hard to speak. "We... we went to the old hide-out the Warlock used. It was booby-trapped. Then... then we lost... we lost..." she gulped, "Mister Steindorf." At that, Yuki's lower lip trembled. He shook his head as Mabel stared at him. Mabel wasn't finished explaining, "We then went to the next best guess- where he could be: the old Gideon Wearhouse. There, Dipper saw Yuki talking to the Warlock on Security Cameras."
Yuki put up a hand to his face, covering his eyes.
Mabel, holding something at her side, said in a dead tone, "And I found these," Mabel then tossed a bag to the floor, where newspaper clippings for jobs fell out. They all were circled and annotated with various notes on local jobs. "Yuki... that was your bag. What's in that one you have there?" Mabel asked.
Rather than speak, Yuki slowly held out the bag to Dipper.
Trembling fingers were met by Dipper's, and the teen took away the bag. When he opened it, he gasped. There were familiar, scribbled pages neatly organized within. "My... my notes," Dipper said like he might faint. "You... you took them?" Dipper asked, getting dizzy. Yuki slowly nodded. That was like a hot knife being twisted into his side. Dipper roared, "Why?!", throwing the bag also to the floor.
Yuki, his eyes shimmering, simply told him, "I cannot say."
Stanly Pines loomed like a dark shadow. "Well, whatever reservations you have to talk, you better sweep them under a rug for now," Stan growled as he approached his employee, glaring at the younger looking alien, "And start talking. Now."
"I made a promise," Yuki shakily said.
Dipper couldn't believe what he heard. "You made a promise to the Warlock, the guy who's tried to kill us, and you, and won't even tell us what it's about!?" Dipper shouted. "You– you'd actually not tell us over keeping a promise to a man that's actually killed a man today!?"
Yuki shook his head and closed his eyes. His answer remained the same: silence.
Wendy took her chance to reason. "Yuki, dude, you need to tell us," Wendy tried, "Like, whatever beef you have with us-"
"Is going to get his ass thrown out if he doesn't start talking," Stan said.
The crowd turned to Stanley Pines. Standing before Yuki with a colder, more dissatisfied expression than any had seen before, Grunkle Stan leaned in to Yuki until their nose's were almost touching. "You tell us what you know, and this can be all solved, Yuki. People can get second chances, but only if they're trying to help."
The other five waited the response. Yuki's eyes wouldn't budge off of Stan's, still trembling. Yuki, despite being easily the physically strongest person in the room, shriveled and pushed himself against the wall, away from Stan. After a moment, the door next to the group opened, and Arline stepped in, beaming.
"Hey guys– Uhh..." she said, her smiling face frozen as she took in the sight. Her eyes saw each of the frozen people inside the Gift shop. She saw the state Dipper and Mabel were in, and how they all were staring at Yuki. She looked to Zander, who offered her no warmth. Arline took a step away from them all, acting like she had walked into a very private situation. She muttered, "I'll... uh... what did I-"
"Later!" Stan bellowed. Arline jumped from the floor, absolutely startled at Stan's yell. Stan turned back to Yuki. "Last chance. Yuki; talk." Stan's last chance felt an awful like a stern plea.
With a timid swallow and small breath for air, Yuki finally spoke. "I'm sorry. I... can't go back on a promise."
Stan bent back and chuckled darkly. "Oh, well, good. That makes things technically easier."
"What are you talking about?" Mabel asked.
Stan then reached out, grabbed Yuki with both of his meaty hands on his shoulders, shoved him to the door, and kicked him square in the butt. Yuki yelped, stumbled forward, and landed harshly against the dirt after stumbling over the porch. Waddles squealed and backed away, scared from the sudden movement.
"You!"
Yuki turned and stared up at the towering man, no longer restraint by a form of kindness. Fury- unrepentant and unrestrained fury blazed out and scorched Yuki like waves of heat.
"I let you stay in my home, in my brother's home," Stan told Yuki as he pointed down at him, "with the understanding that you'd be on our side when this sort of thing happened. Instead, you went ahead and made a deal with the bad guy!"
"I swear to you!" Yuki stood up, his eyes shimmering as he begged for a chance to speak, "What I've done has, in no way, intended to harm you! Any of you!" he looked past the unchanged face of Stan, and to Dipper. "Please! Dipper, think about this. How could I have made a deal that would affect you-
"You gave him information," Dipper told him darkly, his voice low and unsympathetic. "My notes, I bet. And isn't it weird that he knew we'd be there?"
"That was not me!" Yuki shouted. "Please?" he turned to Mabel. "Mabel! This is me we are all talking about!" he shouted, reaching out to her.
Mabel stared out past the door, wanting to rush out and comfort those lost eyes, that face begging for comfort, for reassurance. Even with every fiber of her screaming that he wouldn't do this... he wouldn't tell them otherwise. Yuki refused to cooperate. He wasn't giving Mabel much of a choice but to believe Dipper and Stan. With a tug against her heart which brought further tears to her eyes, she turned away and walked from the door.
"Mabel," Yuki's extended hand drifted and fell to his side as his wide eyes to the ground.
"You betrayed us," Dipper managed to state as his lips trembled. "You lied to us, to me."
"You can forget about ever coming back here," Stan told him. "In fact-" he marched inside, and within a few moments, tossed out both bags, and his full astronaut gear. "Take it all! I don't want anything that reminds me I let a backstabber like you in this house!"
Yuki looked to his thrown out materials. It was so little that he seemed to actually own. He, stunned at what was going on, slowly reached for it all. Stan then growled and marched down, grabbing the objects, and then hurling them further down the road. Yuki cried out, holding his hands over his head. When he looked up, Stan's heaving form glared down.
"That's... that's the least I can do. You deserve so much more. Endangering my kids like that. I've done worse things to worse people, so consider this even for–" Stan held back a word, and sealed his lips. Whatever he might have thanked Yuki for, it wasn't coming out to say. He glared down finally, and his lip quivered. "You don't get what being human means," Stan reminded him as he turned away, marching to the door, "Not by a long shot."
The door behind Stan slammed shut with a bang. Dipper still stood outside with all but his sister and grand uncle, watching Yuki stare at them with a horrible, blank expression. At once, tears fell down from Yuki's eyes. Dipper couldn't remember if he had seen Yuki cry. It felt so false, since all Yuki had to do was talk and explain what was going on. With those tears, Dipper couldn't pull away from Yuki. That person, tossed to the dirt, that alien, had saved town. He was the unlikely friend who knew so much and so little. He was the one, in the end, who had made a deal with the enemy. He was, to Dipper great sorrow, telling them nothing.
If Yuki had said anything, anything at all, Dipper wondered if Omir Steindorf would still be walking with them back; defeated, but still alive.
"Dipper," Yuki said, tears running down his face, "It's not what you think."
Dipper felt his vision cloud up. He hated crying. He had done so much of it as a kid, it made him feel so stupid and childish. As he rubbed his eye, Dipper mumbled, "Just leave."
A quick sob came from Yuki. Scraping against the dirt, Yuki slowly turned away. Bending at the knees, he slowly swept up all the things thrown at him. Grasping them all into his arms, Yuki looked back to the manor once more.
Then he walked away, a leaving only behind his tears.
Dipper turned and passed a somber Wendy and a teary-eyed Soos. They said nothing to him as they both watched their co-worker slump down the path, with nothing but papers and a long-inert space suit to keep him company. Dipper cursed himself mentally. Those papers may be useful still.
No, no. Those papers had been useless. It was more the fact that Yuki had taken them away from Dipper that drove him furious. Why hadn't he just asked to see them? Borrow them? The only answered that Dipper supposed: Yuki had shown them to Gruapner Kinley.
That tore his heart to pieces. With an awful jolt, he realized he had lost a friend.
That ate at his mind for the final, and probably unsolvable question: Why?
Dipper climbed the stairs as Stan rummaged around the halls, carrying his guns around, angrily mumbling. Behind Dipper, Zander's voice called out.
"I'll be heading home. Let me, uh, know if anything-"
"Yeah, sure," Dipper replied without ever looking back.
Footsteps leading away from the ascending Dipper told him that Zander had left. He couldn't blame the guy. This all had been... more than dramatic. Traumatic and scarring was closer to what the reality of the situation was. They had seen a man die, realized a betrayal, and it was all tied to their friend Uki-Dohth.
Dipper stepped into his room, pushing open the door in a zombie-like state. His sister lay on her bed, her hands over a pillow that covered her head. She lay on her stomach, which rocked with muffled sobs.
He wanted to remind her that the choice Yuki made was his. This was going to have come for him either way. They would have found out, and based on how long the deal had under-gone, Yuki may never have tried telling them.
Still, he couldn't bring himself to tell his sister that.
In fact, the more her stared at her, the more he felt the same. A welling of sorrow in his stomach began to rise into his throat, taking hold as a thick, horrid knot of pain.
It hit him again, but this time it wasn't just him. They had, the twins, lost a friend. Mabel had lost a friend.
Dipper then turned to his pocket. A friend... something registered about that word in his memory. Flashes of before Yuki- the mysteries that drove Dipper and Mabel to stay in Gravity Falls.
A mystery sat in his pocket: the cryptogram.
Dipper unfolded the paper on his desk as he ignored the buildup of tears in his eyes. He had to focus. He could discover what they meant.
His paper and pen out, Dipper began to decode. Word and word he tried would be substituted for the Vigenère. He tried 'Warlock'. No success- the message meant nothing. 'Portal', he later guessed. Still nothing, but some of the letters seemed to settle up. Dipper pushed himself up and sniffled.
Damn it, he thought to himself.
"Dipper," a voice behind him asked. He dared to look behind himself, to his sister. Her reddened cheeks and nose told him how much more she had cried than he had expected. Dipper turned back, not daring to be infected with that feeling any longer.
"I'm close to solving what this was about," Dipper told her after clearing his throat, "If we can solve it, maybe it can give us an insight to what is really going on."
"I... I thought we figured it was the portal," Mabel shrugged.
Dipper shook his head, and stared at the word portal. There was something close to it that almost fit... Almost fit...
Dipper then remembered what Graupner Kinley said the Warlock's favorite study was.
Power.
He inserted it into the decipher.
Like magic, the entire message unfolded before him, coherent and understandable.
"Got it," he sighed, letting a shaking breath pass before his lips. Mabel stepped over, wiping her nose as she did. She leaned over his shoulder, pressing closer to read the message.
July 28th is the final date. The supplies are gathered, and subject Alpha is ready. We will begin operation 'Search and Destroy' at noon that day. Have all operation members in their positions.
Dipper stared down at the newly written sentence, and then looked up to Mabel, his eyes as wide as hers.
"Dipper," she breathed in fear.
"The twenty-eighth is... tomorrow," Dipper said.
Well, when I say drama is coming, I bet you guys didn't expect that. Or maybe you did. I can't tell these days what people expect.
Hopefully I at least met some of those expectations and made them enjoyable (if enjoyable is a word you can use for something as bad and sad as this).
So, I have news for you all. Bad news.
I'm updating this on an ancient laptop from my basement because my main computer died. When I came back this weekend from my family reunion (which was nice to see people and blah blah blah), my computer had fried. Basically, I'm stuck with this computer from 2007. Not complaining, but I'm also whining. Whaa whaa whaa.
So, uh, I don't have my notes for another week is what I'm saying. I was able to post this because I finally got a computer to connect to my page and I had uploaded the chapter already, but I can't write until I FIX MY TOWER! GAAH!
So... I really hate to say it, but the uploading goes on a week-long Hiatus after this. Sorry, sorry, I don't want to do this, but my computer pooped out on me. :( Next update will be on the 23rd.
I still love you guys if you all still tolerate me. :3
So, to make it up to you... drama.
-EZB
The late evening shadow had crept over the newly established Maximillion home. This shadow was broken by the front door opening briskly, and Zander stepping in. He was one the phone, talking hurriedly.
"Yeah, they booted him out. Of course, they were upset," Zander said hastily, "And they have a right to be. Pacifica, look – talk to them first. Yuki could have a-" he paused, loud voices scolding him on the other side of the phone. "Do what you want to. I'm not sure where he went though. Just-"
Zander turned into the kitchen, and stopped in his tracks. He had a guest.
Arline Hirsch was leaning against his counter, her arms crossed and her expression anything but friendly. Though she was deathly still, her eyes shone with unseen flame. Zander spied her, the phone still at his side. She was wearing both of those fire-cuffs. Her hair was tied behind her in a strong pony-tail. She looked like she was ready for danger.
Zander, moved the phone slowly to his head again. "I'll need to talk later. Sorry, Pacifica," Zander said quietly, and as Pacifica made some demanding cry, he hung up. Arline bore her eyes into his, the strong blue daring the green to turn away, to look frail. Zander merely looked back. "Uh... Hey. Rough day, huh? What's up?" Zander asked.
Arline quickly asked, "What? Not going to offer a guest a snack? Bite to eat?"
Zander looked around, uncertain to her meaning. "Well, I tend to when I have the option to invite them inside," Zander joked with a chuckle. Her eyes narrowed. Zander gulped. "Heh. Okay. What's going on?" he asked.
"You know, I was wondering that myself," Arline told him, pushing off the counter and closer to him. Each step she took rocked the ground, and her fists clenched so hard the leather of her cuffs clenched and strained against her strength. Zander looked more than a little nervous. Arline mused aloud, "It seems odd that a rock-star would retire in this town. What's there to it you like?"
Giving her question a thought, he laughed. "Honestly? It reminds me of home, really."
"Or it's been because you're more busy than you say," she said. "It's odd, isn't it," she pointed over her shoulder to the kitchen fridge, "That you said you never cook, but keep an entire fridge stocked with, weirdly, only bottle water? I couldn't find a single tiny, microscopic crumb, a splash of other food? It's like you don't even eat," she said.
Zander scoffed. "Well, I mean, I just toss everything out. Why keep it when-"
BAM.
A fist collided with his forehead. Zander gasped and fell back, holding a hand to his temple as he gasped and groaned. Arline had flashed right up to him in a blink of an eye. Now towering over Zander, she bent down and grabbed his scarf, and lifted him up.
"Start. Talking." she said.
Gasping for breath, Zander shouted, "About what!? My top ten cleaning tips? How to efficiently bulk order? Or how you want to be sued bad enough to start hitting me!?"
"About how you arrived in this town. About how you suddenly decided to retire out of the blue, and instantly took an interest in the twins!" Arline shouted, "About how of all the people in the town you could have found, you chose the only two who have been making efforts against the Warlock! Oh, and while you're at it, explain how it is every time the Warlock shows his ugly head, you aren't there for some reason!"
Arline breathed heavily, and tossed Zander against a wall again. He winced, the abuse seeming to wear on him.
"A man died today! And as much as I can't disprove Yuki, I have nearly a million times more reasons to think he's innocent than you!" she shouted.
"Let go!" Zander shouted.
"You show up, and the Warlock isn't there! Pretty crazy, isn't it?" she unintentionally spat into his face, spit flying out as fiercely as her words, "And now the Alien gets the blame, and you walk free!"
In a lower, steadier voice, Zander warned her, "Let go."
"I had a thought," Arline told him, "Graupner Kinley needs friends in high places. He needs rich friends. I'll be honest," she sneered, "I thought it was going to be Omir, of all people. He's a billionaire, after all. Kinda awful people. Now he's dead. Which unless this is Gruapner trying to kill those who want to help him, it leaves you. You're the one helping the Warlock, aren't you!?" she cried.
"Let GO!"
Zander shoved hard, harder than Arline had been expecting. The rock star had some strength to him after all. She was tossed against the other side of the wall. Instinctually, she readied her fire- striking both cuffs against one another. Two balls of fire spun in her palms, and she readied for another attack.
Zander stood still, watching her. He shouted at her, "That's great theory! Theory is all a bunch of hot air, no pun intended," he quietly added, and continued, "Give me evidence. Give me one solid reason why you shouldn't trust me!" Zander shouted at her.
"You want one, huh?" Arline grinned. "Public records."
"Huh?" he asked.
"As soon as you started hanging out with the twins, I did a few background checks on you. It was all good and sunny at first, you know. A few odd errors here or there- like how your mother and father just sort of came out of nothingness. But then I started looking for your actual birth records. They don't exist."
"What-" Zander gasped.
She nodded, carefully taking a step closer to him. "Oh yeah. One thing my master taught me: study your foe. And there are just enough holes in your story that I know you're hiding something, and something big. Your birth records in the hospital's database aren't real- just like your parent's records," she added with a grin.
Zander stared at her. His eyes had once again lost their light of energy, but oddly enough, they seemed... excited. Or at least Arline was certain he was impressed.
He massaged his neck after a moment. Standing up to his tallest slowly, Zander groaned. "Okay, fine. You want some answers? Follow me," he nodded. Arline stepped between him and his intended direction- the stairs. "If you want truth, I can give you some."
That was enough for her. Arline lowered her hands slowly, and let him pass by. Up those stairs she followed him, and down the hallway upstairs. She could see the four doors, and the oddly place end of the hall. Zander made towards the end, and then turned to the left. Opening the door, he stepped inside and nodded for her to follow.
"One second," he told her.
Arline frowned as Zander bent under the bed. His shoulder knocked against the side of the neatly made sheets, which clunked awkwardly. Arline frowned at the bed, aware that mattresses didn't clunk. He stood back up a moment later, holding a small manila folder. "There," he told her, handing it over.
Still a little unnerved by the weird sounding bed, Arline stared at the folder. Then she did take it. Letting the balls of fire fade from her hand, she took the files and opened it up. Inside, a series of news articles from thirty years ago displayed themselves to her. Several very old photo I.D.'s from eastern Europe shone in the faint light of the bedroom window.
"Witness protection," Arline muttered as she saw the papers behind the newspapers.
"My family and I are out of touch because of this... witness protection program I've gotten myself into," Zander told her, sitting on the bed with his arms on his knees, "I've taken a new life. Instead of hiding in the shadows, I chose to live in the light, where they never look. You know... I really do like it here," Zander looked up to Arline as she scoured the papers. "I'm not joking when I say it reminds me of home."
"Funny," she said as she snapped the folder shut. "Because this seems pretty coincidental."
"What?!" Zander gasped. "What the heck are you-"
"My master, a brilliant guy," Arline told him, pointing at him using his folder, "told me that the only time we get information is when we can confirm it ourselves."
"You'd trust internet information over this?!" Zander shouted, pointing at the documents, "Official government stuff!?"
"We'll see if it's sanctioned or not," Arline smirked, pocketing the folder, "I can get my way through almost everything the CIA and FBI got. Gotta love my connections," she added with a grin. Zander growled and shook his head. Despite her doubts, there was something about the way he acted that lowered her guard. "Look," Arline offered him as she patted the pocket of files, "If your story checks out, fine. I'll never bother you again about this. Ever. You'll get a lifetime of apologies from me."
"Fine, great," Zander sighed.
"But until then, I don't want to see you around," Arline told him, stepping back towards the door.
"Wh-what?" Zander gasped. "But-"
"No. I can't trust you. The timing of all of this – when the Warlock started to re-surface, your arrival, the attacks on the convention – they all seem to add up with you," she said, waving the folder at him. "And You never did tell us where you were that day," she reminded him, "When the Warlock used an ally." Zander closed his mouth and glared. Arline grinned back. "See? Not so good at the lying stuff, are you?" she asked. She lost her smile and stepped into the hallway. "Stay away from the twins. Or else what I started back in the hall downstairs get's finished."
She let her words sink in, staring down at the man. Then with a lunge and dash, she ran down the hall and out of the house a floor below. Zander stood about, and then sat on his bed. The bed collapsed, revealing the mattress to be a large cardboard box. He sighed and looked over to the small night stand next to his bed. A pair of contact cases sat there, entirely unnoticed.
"I'm sure she could still learn a thing or two," Zander sighed and shook his head. He rubbed his eyes. With a sigh, he stood up from the somewhat collapsed bed. He then stepped outside to the hall. With a glance towards the entrance, he once again activated the secret door that slid open the paneling. He stepped inside hurriedly and rushed towards the curtain.
This time he did not remove the red fabric; he tore it down.
Huge additions to the pictures had been added. There were pictures from all over Gravity Falls. Pictures of clawed, wolf-like footprints. There was old maps of mining operations that crisscrossed all over the region. Oddly enough, along the worn maps, crayon dotted-lines carved out some sort of plan.
Yet Zander pushed his finger right against the strong that lead from Graupner Kinley to the woods of Gravity Falls. When he glanced to the Mystery Manor and the pictures of all those who resided there, he shook his head and frowned. Slowly, he reached up and removed a recently added picture of Uki-Dohth to the employee list.
Zander let the picture fall from his hands. It hit a table, where several worn to the nub crayons lay. Zander, looking exhausted, mumbled.
"Why, kid? Why did you do it like that? That's… just cruel."
(Vigenère)
Wpgpotkjcvd oto wt spgv rwlw-efwdds. Wzf vray rwz jsze kss hehlepgu yb typ gqeh iedwfo.