"Been quite a while, hasn't it?" Omir Steindorf asked, holding a hand to his forehead as he peered up to the figure in dark clothing. The cloaked person stared down, the unseen eyes behind the silver mask soullessly studying the scene.
The twins stood by Arline, who had slipped back, and collapsed onto her rear. They tried tending to her, but she was not in good shape; one arm broken, with shallow holes in her skill seeping blood into the cracked ground. One arm had been slit by a sphere of pure white energy, and she winced as Mabel cradled her. Mabel herself was dirty and messy as her brother, but comparably unhurt. Tears had begun to stream down her face until a few moments ago, when the man atop the pit had appeared.
Dipper's body trembled. He was as unhurt as Mabel, with exception from a few bruises and cuts from the fights before. It was his mind that caused him to tremble. Dipper remembered how multi-bear had spoken about the creature standing above them. Each time it, or he, had spoken, the council of magical creatures went silent. Dipper could only repeat one question over and over in his mind- who's side was he on?
Omir called up with a false pleasantry. "What brings you down into my humble workplace?" Omir called up, ignoring the sight of his trembling apprentice behind him. Graupner had not stopped staring up, like Dipper, at the man standing on the edge.
"Business," the dark voice stated.
Omir barked a single laugh. "You haven't changed much then," Omir sighed. He then chuckled, and scratched his neck, "Man, this is just giving the worst case of nostalgia. How long has it been since we saw one another? A hundred and seventeen years, give or take a month or two?" he asked.
The dark-clad figure reminded him, "No. That was the last time we were pleasant. Last time we met was fifty-seven."
"Ah!" Omir bonked his head, wearing a shy smile. "Of course, that little tussle. How did fifty-seven years pass so quickly," he chuckled.
Dipper, who was getting more and more overwhelmed at their casual conversation, burst out saying, "Wait! You two know each other!?"
"Hah!" Graupner chuckled, "Oh yes. We go way back, don't we?" The Guardsman said nothing. Omir shrugged, "Well, we used to be closer," Omir added quietly. Looking around to the stunned group around him, Omir cleared his throat, and looked up to Guardsman. "So. You got me with the old faked death trick. You must have waited until Graupner was close to finding out the stone."
The same cool voice came from the Guardsman. "We're here because of your kid. You need to leash your apprentice, Sorcerer."
The corner of Omir Steindorf, the supposed Sorcerer, twitched. His fingers twitched, almost stretching themselves in such an accusation. Then, he laughed at the man above him.
"I think you've picked up a hobby!" Omir cheerfully stated, "You've clearly spent a lot of time practicing it. I speak, of course, of the art of shoving your own foot in your mouth?" The Guardsman said nothing, and Omir elaborated, "Oh? Did you not know what your own precious pupil had tried doing? Or did you give her the command to lash and duel me?"
Mabel yelled, "That's not fair! Arline isn't burning down homes or cutting peoples arms for blood!"
At that, Omir turned to her, perturbed. "I – very valid point, Mabel," he gave her. "Still, she acted rashly! If I decided, here and now, to just attack you all – I won't!" he promised them, as the twins both lowered themselves, ready to go down fighting. Omir told them, "I won't, but now, what can Arline do? Was she not a protector and teacher?"
Arline rolled an eye, as the other had closed up from a bruised on her eyebrow. "Sure," she grumbled, "That's totally the same kind of issue here."
Omir opened his mouth to scold. Yet another spoke out.
"Arline."
Arline began to stir, trying to pull herself to a sitting position. "M-master..." Arline barely managed to mutter.
The twins, lowering their readiness, turned back to her. "Arline, it's okay," Mabel told her, brushing hair out from the older woman's face. "It's – wait a hot-ancient-wizard second," Mabel said, slowly turning and staring up with Dipper. "Did you say... master?"
Dipper, eying the man above them, "The Guardsman is her master?!"
"Oh, she didn't tell you?" Omir asked them. He gave his word a thought. "I suppose that's fair. I'm not sure how you go about telling just anyone that you know ancient powers as a fitness instructor. Lucky her."
The Guardsman then spoke. "You've changed your name again, Warlock." Omir turned back, eying the dark figure. The Guardsmand added, his voice slightly amused, "Omir Steindorf. Cute. He'd be so thrilled you stole his name. Then again, Sefu–"
Omir's face went stonelike. "Do not call me that. Not anymore." All his control in his emotion vanished as quite as a coming avalanche. Mabel could see the fury building in the Sorcerers being. He began to shake, his clutch on his staff growing tighter.
The Guardsman seemed amused? He crossed his arms, resting gloved hands across one another. "Why not?"
"That name died with her," Omir said to the being above, "Or had you forgotten? You've all but moved on from the most important person to our lives!"
"That, my friend," Guardsman replied quickly, "was almost half a millennium ago. Get. Over. It."
Omir stammered at the comment. "G-Get over it?" he laughed. "You, who more than anyone else should be helping me, wants me to get over it?"
"I think it's what she'd want."
The veins in Omir's neck and face twitched. His voice, struggling to remain calm, managed to say, "You may be older, and care less about us younger kin. But I have learned not to abandon those I care about, just because it hurts to think about what happened to them!"
The Guardsman remained still. As always, it was hard to understand the posture of the person before them. The masked head came to do a slow nod, accepting the words of the man below him. Then the voice said, cold as ice, "I may have left her body behind, but you have left behind her spirit."
There was no mistaking the fury this triggered. The white staff ripped itself free from the earthen wall. It flew into the Sorcerers hand, and Omir screamed as he thrust the staff at the Guardsman. A flash of light, and a beam of bright white energy erupted out of the end of powerful staff. Like a fire hydrant, it splashed out, searing and bathing the dark earth. The air and ground both shook as a beam of concentrated power, six feet tall and wide, slammed into the space that had been where the Guardsman was. The twins screamed as rock and dust fell into the pit- shavings from the impact of magic and earth settling and dancing around them. Mabel held herself over Arline, who fought to see past Mabel.
As Omir lowered the staff after the attack, he stared up, watching the top of the pit above him. He seemed further bemused when a 'tsk tsk tsk' came from above. As the dust settled, the Guardsman, still in the same posture he had been before, had simple moved over two steps. He was, otherwise, perfectly fine.
The guardsman noted, "You mad, bro?"
Omir scowled. "You know I don't like it when you tease me. I hate it more when people use that awful internet culture to speak. Now," Omir chuckled, "I'm not going to be so nice next time you talk down to me like that."
"Really?" the voice of the Guardsman uttered. "You've changed since then. Given up asking me for help?"
"I've learned that you can't always get someone on your side," Omir told him.
"Have you? Huh," the Guardsman shrugged, "Good thing. I don't have to feel bad when I say no to helping you anymore."
Omir snickered at first. Something about that comment struck him as funny. The other four in the pit then watched as Omir laughed, holding his stomach as he belly-laughed up at the imposing figure. A good thirty second window of time was entirely taken up by just laughter. Mabel at point gave in, and chuckled.
"What's so funny?" Mabel asked, "I mean, it's nice that we're laughing, instead of, you know, trying to fight, but why?"
"Him," Omir nudged his head above him, wiping away a tear, "Talking like that. Acting like he's no longer in pain."
As several times before, the man in the mask said nothing.
"Ahh, like I thought," Omir grinned, but he let his smile fade away. "If you're not going to help her, you need to leave, old friend."
"Who is this woman you guys are talking about?" Dipper asked, and turned to the martial artist. "Arline?"
"That is not who he means," the Guardsman turned his unseen gaze towards the twins.
"Do you remember her name?" Omir asked, focused intently on the man above him, "I half-expected you deliberately pushed her out of your mind." The Guardsman had returned his gaze upon the twins, staring at them. Omir spoke louder, trying to gain the attention again. "Being guilty doesn't excuse being rude. I'm talking to you, Guardsman. Do you remember her name?" Omir warned him.
The Guardsman quietly stated, "You two have a habit of finding dangerous, deep-buried secrets."
"Natural habit," Dipper shakily admitted. Those sideways black slits for eyes seemed as deep as the bottomless pit.
"You've come to help her, right?" Mabel asked, holding up Arline, who was straining to stand up.
The Guardsman tilted his head, looking now at his apprentice. The twins, no longer sure if they would get an answer, turned to Arline. Her eyes had honed their attention to the mask. Shimmering with tears of pain and fatigue, she opened her lips and finally spoke.
"I'm sorry," she said, her voice soft and apologetic, "I had to try,"
The Guardsman castigated quickly. "You acted on revenge," the deep, dark voice scolded her, "When you had a mission to fulfill." The twins, and Omir, turned and watched as tears fell from Arline's eyes. The masked mystery wasn't finished, "I sent you to watch and protect them. Now, tell me, what can you do in that state?" he asked, pointing to her with one gloved hand.
Dipper cleared his throat. "Maybe we can try with the lessons later?" he suggested. "She can barely sit up straight, let alone–"
She let out a straining cry, and pushed herself off of Mabel. Omir blinked, his eyes wide with shock. The twins as well stared as Arline stood up on her two feet, still broken and bloodied. She was standing back up, even if just to prove a point.
Omir couldn't help himself, quietly saying, "Incredible."
Arline then stumbled, and slipped against the wall. She used her broken arm's shoulder as cushioning. She screamed from the sharp jolt of pain, but turned and pushed off. Swaying, but stabilizing, she finally stood upright, heaving, sweating, and tear-stained. Between her breaths, she said, "I. Had. To try. I am fire."
The Guardsman looked down upon the woman he called apprentice. With a voice, softer and far kinder than he had used yet, he assuaged her with, "You burn. I know, Arline."
"Guardsman," Omir snapped, done with being impressed by a bleeding, broken woman, "I'm happy that you took her into your care. I am more upset that you hadn't told me this earlier. Yes, we are not on the same side. Surely you didn't think I meant that to have happened? Kill her family?"
The Guardsman scratched at the forehead of the mask. "Hm," It loudly thought, "I can't say anymore. Past you wouldn't have made such a mistake. I hadn't realized you failed to properly control those who you thought served you. But, these days, that's an unbroken loop. Look at him," The Guardsman said, pointing to Graupner.
"Leave my ward out of this," Omir scowled, "I have done the best I can with what was available to me. I am trying to make his life a better one!"
"Oh?" Guardsman asked, "Like buying a man out of a cell, rather than letting them experience consequence?"
Omir gritted his teeth, hateful at such accusations. Graupner shouted, red in the face, "Shut up! You don't know a thing about consequence!"
"Oh," the Guardsman held up hands, feigning fear, "Color me shocked; the apprentice to you, Sefu, got all mad. Wow."
Mabel snorted. "I like him," she told Dipper, "He's funny."
Omir Steindorf's veins twitched. There was a very thin line of patience that was coming to a threshold. He bit at his lip before sating, "There it is again, your disrespect. I have had years to wonder, Guardsman – did you ever lose sleep about it? After all, you did allege to protect her. You talk of my failures, but seem to avoid such a thing like a plague. Since you seem stuck to ignoring those who mattered, shall I ask you to, perhaps, back the hell off?" Omir scowled.
After waiting a beat for the Guardsman to reply with snark, Omir laughed. "Oh, there it is. That silence. Mock me for all you would like about emotional response. I'm sure you're quite familiar with acting on emotion instead of intellect," Omir sneered up at the dark figure. "You've proven to be so... resourceful for your friends and loved ones. Repeatedly. Seeing as how you seem to keep leaving those you end up close to in total ruin."
The sarcasm triggered a response from the dark man. At first, Dipper and Mabel were able to see a twitch in the fingers within the glove, fighting a temptation to clench and ball into a fist. Afterward, a small chuckle drifted down from the top.
The Guardsman replied quietly, "At least I did something."
Omir's face paled in color and his eyes shot wide. The ancient man's jaw began to clench.
"Oh, wait," the man stomped on the edge and leaned closer, "Did I just see an emotional response from you?" The Guardsman said, and scratched at the side of his mask, "Funny. I thought you were above that sort of thing. You know, maybe if you had been like that, during that night," the Guardsman shrugged, and then stretched his neck left and right, "Maybe–"
"Graupner," Omir suddenly blurted out. His mouth barely moved; his jaw so tightly locked into place that his lips were the only things that moved, "Leave."
"What?!" Graupner spat back, "How, exactly? there isn't any kind of–" Omir snarled and stabbed the wall with his staff. Gruapner, who had been only a foot away from the attack, howled, "Whoa! The heck, old man!?" Graupner shouted. Omir twisted the staff slightly, and sections of rock began to move themselves out of the smooth, circular walls, providing make-shift stairs up. "Oh," Graupner mumbled.
"You'll want to leave, all of you," Omir told the twins. "My friend and I need to have a little talk on manners."
"When you say talk," Mabel started, holding onto Arline and pulling her towards the out-jutting rocks, "You mean an actual, pleasant, nice-to-catch-up chat, with tea?"
Omir bared his teeth as he stared up, and the same white orbs he had used previously appeared, spiraling around his free hand. "Does that answer your question?" he said to Mabel without looking to her.
Dipper grumbled, "Does for me." he turned to his sister, "Let's go!"
"You three," the Guardsman said as the seven orbs around Omir's hand spun faster and faster, "Leave, and quickly. This isn't going to be pretty."
"I disagree," Omir rolled his eyes, "Our debates tend to be... flashy." The orbs, spinning so fast around his hand that they were a blur of a ring-like disc, were throw with a loud cry from Omir.
Before he took another step, Dipper stared at the beginning of what would surely be a earth-trembling battle. The disc of light flew up, growing wider the moment before it exploded. Light and rock spilled around them in small pebbles that rained around them, peppering all five with debris. Graupner had already gotten some fifteen feet up, and showed no signs of slowing. The three stared into the new cloud of dust. A figured parted it, and dived; leaping off the edge and into the fray that awaited him.
"Dipper! Go!" Mabel shouted at him.
Dipper jerked to her, and then helped himself under Arline's arm and shoulder. As he did, he stepped onto the first of many spiraling stairs, and began to climb.
It would have been easier if the by the second step he hadn't nearly been knocked over by another blast of wind and sound. He chanced a glance to his left and watched as he climbed, trying to stay balanced with Mabel and Arline.
Omir Steindorf now spun around desperately, swinging with precision and cunning at the Guardsman. The Guardsman, entirely unarmed, effortlessly dived around the already incredibly fast Sorcerer. The figure in black was like the shadows. Dipper felt it strange, watching him dodge and move. There was this feeling of fluid, but it all felt instantaneous. The Guardsman was matching Omir's effort, and making seem like nothing. His masked face always keeping a bead on his target, the dark-cladded man ducked, spun away, and strafed in and out of combat as easily as if he was shadow itself.
After one impressive spinning swipe from Omir's staff, the Guardsman leapt back and found himself against the wall. Omir grinned and as he ended the momentum from his last swing, he shoved his hand forward and projected another ball of light, this time the size of a beach-ball. He cast it at the masked figure.
Dipper stalled as he watched earth explode and splinter out in cracks that lead out twenty-five feet in each direction. Omir smiled, and lifted his hands away from the danger.
Mabel, grunting on the other side of Arline, called out, "Dipper, keep going. Arline needs to go!"
"But–" Dipper started, ready to point out the demise of their ally.
In the moment of doubt he had, Dipper and Omir both were stunned. Before the dust could even settle by the wall, the Masked man had appeared behind Omir in mid-dash. Steindorf could only turn in shock, and spun his face into a powerful punch. The Sorcerer gasped, spun, and then received another kick in the mid-section. Lifted off the ground and into the air, the once older-looking man found his balance mid-air and landed, lifting a clenched hand to his face. It was heavily bruised.
"You hit as hard as I recall," Omir grumbled, wiping away spit from his lips.
"I haven't been idle for a hundred years," The Guardsman stated as he faced him at ease, his arms at his sides.
"Neither have I!" Omir roared and gripped his staff with both hands. The entire surface glowed with a vibrant white ferocity. He slammed it into the ground, where the earth split and cracked.
As Dipper and Mable climbed, large chunks of earth within the pit began to crumble. Shaking and trembling with unseen magic, rocks and entire boulders began to levitate out of the walls around them.
The twins only had a split second to react as the rock steps beneath them began to sway and take new shape. Mabel and Dipper yelled- barely able to remain upright with Arline as their current step levitated and floated away from the wall. Suspended above the bottom of the pit by magic itself, they watched as more and more chunks of earth floated and crashed into one another.
Below them, the rocks that were nearby shaved themselves into shapes. Simple geometric shapes began to form, and then throw themselves at the Guardsman.
The ground shook. Entire boulders slammed into the ground, bludgeoning the area the Guardsman had been. He avoided each attack by mere fractions of a second; diving away and rolling from the devastating attacks. Each time a shadow of a coming boulder encompassed him, his speed and maneuverability became un-recordable. Again and again, he dodged.
It seemed the Guardsman had enough at a certain point. Mabel was able to glance down as she and Dipper continued to follow the floating steps upward, and she saw the Guardsman attack. From nothing but siphoning shadow he materialized a simple spear, only two feet long. As one of the boulders hurtled towards him, he hurled this dark weapon silently.
As shadow itself, the spear was fast as light and just as terrifying as darkness. It imbedded itself into the boulder and vanished. The Guardsman this time remained still, watching as the boulder fell to him, and then as it would have crushed him, split into two perfect halves- falling on either side. He was perfectly unharmed.
Through the split boulder, Omir stood, holding up his hands. Above him, a storm of glowing spheres floated into the air, cascading bright light all around. Shadows sharpened and shrunk to be slivers of darkness, and the form of the two combatants stood vibrantly out.
"For someone who preaches against the use of magic," Omir grinned, watching the Guardsman, "the Paths are just an extension of your own utility of magic," he spat.
"Magic is changing reality," The Guardsman stated, raising his face to stare up, presumably at the sources of light, "just like this. It creates monsters and corrupts minds."
"You still think that, even after all this time?" Omir growled, gripping his staff and swinging it to his side, "I've used my magic to make a company. I've filled it with resources. I've built communities! Brought lives to new conditions and welfare! Magic empowers me, and I share that bounty!"
"You really think that these balls of light are a part of you?" the Guardsman said, holding a hand up, indicating to the floating orbs, "As much as you use magic, it uses you."
Omir scoffed. "Fine. Boring old you won't change, I get that. Just go on and die then," he said, and swiped his hand downwards. The storm of orbs rained down on the Guardsman, who darted aside and began to run.
"Look at them go!" Dipper said, ducking occasionally to avoid an orb whipping by,
"Sightsee later!" Mabel called to him over the din from below as orb after orb slammed into the earth.
"Right," Dipper nodded and continued helping Arline upwards.
The twins continued to avoid the results of the fight below as much as they could. Even as the steps swerved and twisted like a coiling snake, they pressed on, carrying the injured Arline up as they could.
As an explosion below rocked the air and once again nearly stunned the twins, Arline spoke up again. "He needs my help," she groaned, and tried pushing off the twins.
"No!" Mabel pleaded, gripper her forcefully, "You could die!"
"Not to mention we really need to patch you up," Dipper said, noticing that some of Arline's blood had gotten onto his hands. The martial artists shoulder in particular was looking for the worst- a nearly clean hole through her back and out the front. Dipper lifted off his vest.
"Dipper, hold on," Mabel told him, and lifted Arline to the next step, one against the rocks. "Here," she waved him next to her. Dipper was able to wrap his vest around Arline, who's only reaction to the tightening vest was a tremble in her eyes.
"Thanks," she mumbled, looking pale and faint.
"Let's keep going!" Dipper said, and looked forward. There, his eyes pinpointed the only thing he could have hoped more than the exit or help what he could see: the Warlock.
Graupner Kinley had paused in his ascent. Holding an unseen object in his robes, he stared down, peering past the floating rocks and steps to watch the ongoing battle. His face was one of, to Dipper's anger, excitement. A small grin had grown across his face, and his eyes were wide.
"That son of a-" Dipper growled, and stepped ahead.
"Dipper, what?!" Mabel called to Dipper, who only turned back once.
"Can you help Arline?" Dipper asked quickly.
Mabel, in shock, turned to her master and shrugged. "I don't know! She's hurt, and I'm not as fast without your help," she explained. Dipper bared his teeth angrily, glancing behind him. "Dipper, don't go on alone! We need to get up together!"
"If we let Graupner go, this could all happen again," Dipper rationalized to Mabel, "The two down there can fight, but we can't let Warlock get away!"
Mabel cried, "What are you gonna do then?"
Dipper felt flooded with conviction. "I'm going to catch up to him and beat him within an inch of his life for everything he's done!" he shouted.
"Dipper–" Mabel started, but a shake from below as another large explosion tossed all three nearly onto their feet, or have them fall far below. Mabel's opinion wavered, and with a pained face shouted, "Okay, just don't get hurt!"
"I won't! I'm not letting him get away!" Dipper shouted and spun away from his sister and began to run up the stairs. The Warlock heard Dipper coming the moment he started running. Flight came before fight with him, and Graupner Kinley stumbled first and then began to rush up the stairs as fast as he could.
As Dipper pursued his target, the fight below continued.
Omir shouted, conjuring a spell. The orbs, now in dire chase with the Guardsman, formed thin connecting lines, and slowly began to form a net. The Guardsman ducked away from a trip-wire at his neck and continued to run. As he did, he passed by his initial thrown spear, the two pointed long and black pole that tapered off at the ends into perfectly sharp points. He whipped around and dodged a wall of newly formed light-wires and ran away from it.
"You can't keep running," Omir told him at a distance, watching his magic do the work for him, "In the end, you'll be overcome without your shadows."
True to his words, the Guardsman had less and less speed with his movement. Agility and distance became herculean feats as dozens of orbs spun around, now with strings connecting them, trying to catch the Guardsman at his work.
They formed a nearly perfect circle around him, and the Guardsman stopped, and in a desperate move, whipped his hand and threw a single black dart straight at Omir's face. The Sorcerer merely smiled and brushed the attack aside with his own white staff. The moment the resounding thud of the spear behind Omir echoed around them, the orbs dashed around and closed around the Guardsman. He could barely move an inch, or else risk having one of the wires be cut.
"Got you!" Omir roared and laughed. "I knew that would get you in the end!" he pointed at his foe as he laughed. "This is just precious!"
The Guardsman said nothing, instead looking to the orbs that were closest to his mask.
"So, what should I do with you now?" Omir thought aloud, stepping closer as he scratched his chin, "I could kill you with the wires: just slice you into slivers. Then again... no," Omir shook his head as the humor was gone from his face, "She wouldn't want that."
"She wouldn't have wanted a lot of things," the Guardsman muttered quietly.
"No. I suppose not. Us fighting. But she valued you, so killing you like this wouldn't do much more than just upset her when she comes back," Omir said to the Gaurdsman, having paced closer, and now before him.
"You can't bring the dead back," the Guardsman growled.
"What? No, no," Omir shook his head and grinned, "The correct thing to say is 'I currently cannot bring the dead back'. Significant difference."
"If you were half as intelligent as you pretended to be," the Guardsman cut with his words in a rush, "You'd know that the spells that animated the dead have terrible prices."
"I do. That's why I'm going to make a new one," Omir told him with a smile and a sigh, "A new spell so great that it'll require all the magic in the world at my fingertips." The Guardsman finally looked to him. "Ah. You finally got it," Omir nodded.
"How?" The Guardsman asked.
"Anonymous tip from three years ago. Polite, but strange fellow in a dream," Omir stated as he stepped back to explain, "Whispered the incantations I had been missing for so many years. Now, with his power, and you captured-"
"Me? Captured?" The Guardsman asked, and dared to shake his head, "Not exactly."
"You threw away the only weapon you could use to cut these bindings," Omir warned him. "The shadow darts you've always used are nothing more than-"
"What makes you think I threw away my spear?"
Omir gasped and spun. Behind him, the exact spot the spear should have been, was a shadow, shrinking, smaller rod of darkness. As it evaporated, Omir spun just in time to see the real spear wiggle itself into the Guardsman's hand like a strand of silk in the wind. Sharp as void, it sliced away at the tethers of light connecting the orbs, and in two lightning-fast slashes, the Guardsman cut each and every orb. Freed, the Guardsman thrust his spear with one hand at the Sorcerer.
Omir reacted as best he could- blocking the attack downwards with a parry from his own quarterstaff. The spear and quarterstaff met, and a blast of wind fit for a cyclone erupted out into the pit. The four above screamed as boulders and rocks jostled and slammed into one another. the Guardsman wasn't done- using the back end of the spear, he pulled up and pushed forward, attempting to use the unblocked back end to slam it into the Sorcerers face. Again though, he was blocked. Another blast of wind.
"I see you've finally made a weapon that can repel the effects of my attacks," the Guardsman told him, "Good job. It didn't break."
"You just used me!" Omir scowled, bearing into the face of his opponent, "You've learned how to warp your spear like liquid! You... how dare you! Pretending to be immobilized so I would tell you more what you needed to know!"
"Yeah," the Guardsman shrugged, "That's always worked. On you and pretty much every other person who thought they were in control ever."
"You mock me!" Omir roared.
"Eh, don't know about that one," the Guardsman shrugged.
"I'm sick of you looking down on me!" Omir screamed, "You! You, of all people! OF ALL THINGS!"
A third blast of sheer wind rumbled to Mabel and Arline, who were stumbling on after Dipper, who was far ahead. Mabel gripped onto her master as the wind passed. She could feel her tethers to gravity lessen from the absolute force of power behind each wave of energy. Daring to look down once, she saw the two now sparring, exchanging attacks and parry's with one another masterfully.
"Is he winning?" Arline asked.
"Eh," Mabel peered down, and struggle to keep in pace with the fight, "Define winning."
"He's still fighting. He's winning," Arline chuckled, and winced, "Ah, ouch. Shoulder still hurts. Ow."
"We're going to get you patched up as soon as we can!" Mabel told her as a fourth shockwave blasted past them. A rock, nearing the size of a golf ball, scratched across Mabel's chin drawing blood. "Ow!" she winced, and quickly went to wipe away the blood dripping on her face. "Man, no one is walking away clean."
"In a fight, no one really does," Arline told her.
"You can be wise, and wizened, and stuff after we're out of here," Mabel said after she rolled her eyes.
Ahead, Dipper was running as fast as he could. Leaping from stone to stone, he chased after Graupner with a dedication fueled by vendetta. Ahead was his quarry, his target, his mission. That man was the start and cause of all this. Had he not been here, had they had not let him go the first time, he would never have discovered the town's secrets.
Had they never let him go the second time, they may have been able to prevent the disaster at the talent show, and endangering the town. Maybe Pacifica's parents would have been kinder to her, although that was a shot in the dark.
If they had stopped him the third time, he would never have escaped from the police station and continued his work, and made whatever deals with Yuki had had made. Maybe Dipper would have one more friend waiting for him when this was all done.
No more chances.
Dipper's mind was made up. This man had a target the size of the entire state of Oregon on his back. Dipper was sure as hell going to nail him for everything he had done.
Ahead though, Graupner saw his pursuer. "You're risking a lot, kid," Graupner shouted, and then spun suddenly, and hurled a ball of fire at Dipper.
No time to think, Dipper turned and leapt aside, avoiding the black fire. The heat drove past Dipper as he jumped away from the spiraling upstairs. He would have fallen sixty feet down had there not been another boulder floating in mid-air. He landed on it, still in the open. The Warlock turned to him, but chuckled. Dipper was beginning to drift down and away.
"Give my regards to those below!" Graupner sneered and saluted Dipper as his boulder sunk farther and faster.
Dipper bounded as fast as he could. In the time to stand up fully and find a new boulder to jump to, he had already fallen several feet. The boulders wouldn't support him any more than a few moments. He leapt to another, and staggered. The rock, like the one behind him, began to sink. So, he ran again and leapt.
More and more rocks he bounded to, using them as perpetual stepping stones. There would be no forgiveness should he mess up- not falling into a stream or small pond. Sixty-five, seventy, seventy-five, eighty feet above the raging battle. Dipper wasn't willing to guess if falling would result in a serious injury, or a worse alternative. After all, he had a promise to keep to a friend in regards to his life. He wouldn't go where she couldn't follow.
After six more jumps, Dipper spotted Graupner again. Running along the snaking trail, Dipper watched him as he leapt yet again, in a counter-direction, using the boulders as leverage. Once several feet above Graupner, who still had yet to notice Dipper, the twin grasped a nearby smaller rock floating nearby his face, and hurled right at the Warlock.
While not a deadly projectile, the rock would have seriously injured a limb or bone- aided by the magical forces keeping it at neutral gravity, and the acceleration of Dipper's throw. However, Dipper was frustrated by his aim- the shift in the boulder the moment he landed had made his toss off-center.
Graupner stumbled back. The Warlock nearly collapsed backwards as the rock splintered and fell, no longer affected by the same forces as it smashed in front of him. He spotted Dipper quickly afterwards. "You!?" he roared, glaring at Dipper, shaken to the core.
"We're not done yet, you slime ball of grease!" Dipper shouted, leaping higher, seeking to avoid the falling boulder and gain higher ground.
The Warlock made no immediate reply. Instead, he raced forward, and from his outstretched hand he cast out another stream of black fire. The fire missed and left the twin unscathed, save but a frightening moment of panic as the air around him heated uncomfortably. Dipper remembered something about the black fire. Arline once had commented on its dangerous properties.
Scanning below him as he scrambled onto the next boulder, he could see the dying flames. Rock was singed, but the embers were what he could have expected from cooked stone. No screams of the damned, or wails of agony; just scorched earth. Still, he was summoning fire from his hands of an unusual color. He would avoid it, if at all possible.
Far below the four ascending figures, the two powerful duelists danced their game of magic and powers beyond explanation.
The Sorcerer, Omir Steindorf, grew sweaty and filthy. His impressive suit and tie were dirtied and torn, and patches of dirt and dust were now woven in with the fabric. His expression had undergone the most amount of transformation. Long gone was the friendly demeanor and firm grasp on reality; rage and fury danced like fire behind the eyes of the ancient spell-caster. He flung himself at his opponent, he swung with vengeance, and blocked attacks from the Guardsman. The more frequent their attacks, the more destroyed their surroundings became. Each blast raked into solid rock, propelling even more rocks and boulders into the air.
After a flourish and spin, Omir leapt away from his opponent and swiped his hand up. With a yell, he threw his hand back down. The entire first layer of floating rocks lost their gravitational immunity, and lunged themselves at the Guardsman. Rather than dodge, the man looked up, and a chuckle floated out from under his mask.
"Amateur," he mumbled.
As Arline had once, the Guardsman erupted in fire. Pure, deadly, orange and yellow flame danced around the man. The stones and bits of earth evaporated with the searing heat. The Guardsman pointed his spear up. The inferno that enclosed him balled up at the tip of the weapon, and there, he cast it forward.
The ball of flame lunged forward, emitting this roaring, hissing blaze. The fireball, now unleashed from the Guardsman, halted. The Guardsman gasped from under his mask. Omir held out his hand and slowly lifted it upwards. The ball of wicked-hot fire mimed the movement, now under control of the sorcerous man.
Omir Steindorf clenched at his hand. The fire ball began to grow.
"No," Omir shook his head, "What you just did? That was amateur."
"You really think that's going to do me in? Fire?" The Guardsman asked as he watched the ball grow to the size of a large yoga ball.
"Your spear can't lose, and my quarterstaff can't be defeated. The enchantments make it hard for either of us to really get an upper hand!" Omir shouted as the ball of fire took a size of a small truck, "But this," he roared, and the ball jumped the size of full bus, "THIS AUGHT TO DO IT!"
Giving the ball of fire a quick study, the Guardsman shook his head. "Whatever," he said, and threw the spear into the ball of fire.
Mabel looked down just in time to see the spear pierce the other side of the huge sun-like globe of fire. The flames seethed and roiled, like water just about to come to a boil. Arline too turned down. Dipper and Graupner, in the middle of their dance of rock and fire, paused and looked down.
The world froze before it shattered.
The ball of fire exploded with such ferocity that the entire dark pit was washed over with bright orange light. The fire began to flume up and outwards, heading towards Mabel and Arline first. No boulder nearby could give cover as a literal floor of flame soared towards them. Mabel had no idea where to flee, where to run, and the step beneath her began to shake.
Arline shouted to Mabel, "Here!" Still injured and bleeding, the martial artist kicked out at the rock next to them. Even wounded, she held enough energy in reserves to blast open a small hole in the earth. "In!" she roared as the fire was now only a few feet below them. Mabel and her jumped inside. The twin was pushed against the wall as Arline let her back to the side.
"I'll be fine! Just stay against me and the rock!" she shouted. Then the heat arrived. The fire blasted past them. Mabel watched the light pour over them, heating the air and rock like a furnace. The sound was so loud it felt like all she could think was the very rumble of flame itself.
"Dipper!" Mabel screamed, realizing too late, there were people still out in the pit.
Dipper and Graupner had forsaken their fight entirely. The gates of hell itself had come for them, swallowing everything in its path. Boulders and rocks that did not get swallowed by the flames crumbled and shattered by the instantaneous destructive might of the blast from below. To the escaping young men, all it meant was a certain death if they did not move fast enough.
Call it luck, call it endurance, call it whatever you want; the two made it to the top of the pit at the same time as the fire reached them. Diving into the closest hole, the two flew inside and rolled away as the bright orange light spilled past them and further above. The ground shook and trembled as they both stood up and faced the doorway, watching as rock was heated to melting point. The fire had passed them.
Finally, the flames died away, leaving wispy trails of smoke from the destroyed rock. The rumbling however had not finished- rock fell past the hole. Far below, large boulders were falling into the bottom of the pit, filling it as best as the large chunks could. From Graupner and Dipper's standing, all they could hear was the echoes of collapsing earth.
Then they realized they were standing next to one another.
Graupner gasped and quickly reached inside his jacket and swiped out at Dipper with a knife. The twin ducked and flipped, kicking Graupner away from him and landing on his back. As the Warlock stumbled back, Dipper rolled backwards and pushed himself back to his feet.
As Dipper stood, he realized he was in a small antechamber. To his far left was another hole in the walls, just as the one that would lead out the pit. Unlike the pit, the hole had no spiraling stairs that could lead up or down; just a straight descend into darkness. A length of chain sat by the hole, rusted and uncared for. Several other tin trash cans sat scattered by the hole as well. Other than that, the walls, floor, and ceiling were all the same: crude stone carved out by basic machine.
They faced each other, in this nearly empty room; deep under the earth. Hand over daggers on one side, balled up fists across from him. With his hands over knife handles, Dipper saw the damage Arline had caused to his eye. Swollen, puffy and dark, she had split skin across the cheek and on the brow; effectively cutting into his face.
Dipper leered at the Warlock. "How's it feel to have someone cut into you for a change?"
Examining his wound, Graupner played with the dried blood on his hand. He scoffed. "Not so bad. You really are just a whiny kid," he muttered back.
"Says the guy who dad has to keep bailing out?" Dipper retorted.
His lips twitching involuntarily, Graupner snarled, "You don't know anything, punk!"
"No, I'm starting to get it!" Dipper called to him, and began to walk. Graupner countered his movement. They started to circle one another. Dipper explained, "You're an open book, pretending to be all mysterious and cool!"
"Like you know," Graupner spat.
"I do," Dipper grinned, and flexed his forearm, "Omir acted like you were some sort of saint little kid, like he's proud of his boy! You! But he cursed you–"
"Shut up," Graupner warned him.
"– and I bet that was his version of a time-out for you," Dipper laughed, "Like, I can't imagine what you must have done to get him so mad at you that'd he'd make it so when you talk, you start hurting!"
With a pained roar, Gruapner shouted, "Shut up! I'll overcome this stupid curse on my own, if I need to! I don't need your help, and I don't need his help! I'm better than you, than him, than anyone!"
Dipper felt disgust at his words. Graupner really was just a pathetic creature, slinging magic and spitting at people that threatened him. Still, his word brought curiosity to Dipper. "Been reading up on curses, have you?" he asked.
Graupner glanced to Dipper. He studied the gaze the twin held. If he had searched for intent, or weakness, he was disappointed with his discoveries. After the silence that fell, he stepped back again, distancing himself from Dipper.
"Kid, I'm done fighting with you and your sister," he said quietly, holding a hand out, "I don't want anymore to do with either of you."
"Good for you," Dipper said.
"So just let me go, and-"
"No."
Graupner stared. Dipper's expression, while dark, was anything but relenting. Hate flowed from him; bitter and dangerous as the fires that had only just ceased. His posture unchanged and his attitude darkening, the twin had to say only one word to remind Graupner of his current situation. Dipper took a long breath, and stretched his neck.
Dipper told him, "You don't go anywhere until you tell me where the book with information about wraiths is."
If a man only a few shades away from shock white could go noticeably paler, he would. He looked to Dipper with a trembling worry. "W-why?" he asked, his question stumbling over itself.
"I need it for a friend," Dipper told him.
At that, Graupner seemed to relax. He actually smiled. "Ah," he mused, "Corduroy girl. The wraith that was made here before. Right."
The amusement in Wendy's ordeal didn't just offend Dipper, it enraged him. That man before him needed a fist to punch his face. Dipper marched forward, ready to pain the walls with Graupner.
Graupner flinched upon Dipper's approach. The Warlock held out a knife, trying to threaten away Dipper. Still, the twin closed distance. Retreating, Graupner yelped, "Or, I don't know, you can save your sister," Graupner sneered. Dipper approached, his brow tightly furrowed. Graupner added, despite himself seeming in danger, "To be fair though, based on how you help people, you'd probably just end up killing her if you went-"
Dipper made to lunge at him. Then the man stumbled back and reached into his cloak, dropping a dagger to the floor. What he pulled out put a pause in Dipper's advance. An ancient, warn book of rough leather binding appeared.
Graupner, shakily but with as much taunt as he could get out, said, "Did you mean this book?" Dipper frowned, and leaned forward, about to run for the object.
In the free hand, black flames burst into being. Dipper gasped and stopped.
"Come closer," Graupner told Dipper, his throat swallowing tightly, "And this is gone forever. Not even repairing magics could restore its pages if I use Blackflame. Unless you already know how to undo ancient curses."
Dipper held out his hands, sweating. "Wait, wait," he started, "Okay. I'm calming down."
Graupner cackled. "Ohhh, suddenly not so eager to hurt me, huh? Not so eager to look down at me from that high horse you like pulling around town?"
For Wendy's sake, Dipper swallowed the anger that resided in him. Terrible, and petty, and pathetic as he was, Graupner was now in control. Dipper took a step back, his hands in the air.
"Okay, look," Dipper said, trying to breath out the fury that came to him just by looking at the Warlock, "I need that book. You want to get away? Okay. I can't do anything at range. Not really. So, put the book down, and walk away. You do that, and we're done."
"Oh?" Graupner asked, his eyes lighting up. He craned his neck, probably still fighting back the agony of the vocal curse. "You think it's that easy? You'll just stop trying to hurt me? Kill me!?"
"Yeah," Dipper firmly nodded.
Graupner's amusement flickered. It became a dying candle against the breath that was Dipper's calm. This bothered the Warlock, who clutched at the book tightly. Perhaps he hadn't really thought that Dipper meant what he said. Graupner looked at the boy, his eyes, pale like the moonlight, really tried understanding Dipper's goal.
Graupner gave the book a wiggle. "You need this?"
"Yes."
"And… you will let me go if I drop it?" Graupner asked, letting out an audible groan.
"… Yes."
Graupner let the hand that displayed the tome fall. He still held it, limp at his side. Was it disgust that came across the Warlocks face, or confusion? Half the time the man looked like he smelt fecal matter around him. He took a step closer to Dipper, and another, and another.
Dipper awaited, as still as he could make himself.
Graupner was ten feet from him, and stopped. There was a flame inside the eyes of the pale man, and as he stared at Dipper, his lip curled.
"You want the knowledge?" Graupner quietly asked. The flame in his hand died away. Dipper sighed, his shoulders dropping.
Then, Graupner sneered. "Then you can get them through me," and the hand holding the book ignited with black fire.
Dipper couldn't breathe. His eyes widened as his blood ran cold. Stinging little pin-pricks ran across his skin and he felt the sudden, inexplicable urge to vomit. The book fell from Graupner's hand, and clattered to the ground, becoming black as ink ashes. It only took a moment, but the tome, along with all the secrets that he needed for Wendy, was destroyed.
"Whoops!" Graupner shrugged as the flames danced below him.
Dipper felt tears in his eyes. In those dying, midnight-colored flames, he could see the hope for Wendy fading away. He wasn't sure if he felt numb, but he felt his body tensing.
Graupner massaged his neck before speaking. "Ah well," The Warlock said before smiling to himself. Graupner, thoroughly amused with what he had done, chuckled, "Now, since I've read that book and done a little tinkering myself with it, I can let you know what you need. But, we make a deal, first. You're going to help me, and then I tell you how to save her. Got it?"
It was too much. With a blinding, white-hot rage, Dipper knew what to do. The trigger was pressed. He would fight. He screamed with spit flying from his mouth, "NO!"
Graupner's eyes widened and the amused face froze. Somehow, he had not anticipated such a reaction. Trying to physically back-petal, Graupner threw his knives out into the air, letting them take orbits around him. It wasn't going to help, clearly.
Dipper was upon the man. Graupner motioned with his hands, and the daggers around him whipped around, and came to flank the male twin. Dipper didn't care; he had already won the fight. With a roar, he threw the first punch and landed it square in the man's stomach.
Graupner coughed and stumbled back. As he did, the floating knives wavered, and fell from the air for a near moment. As Graupner stumbled back up, he reestablished his connection with the blades, and they started to hover again. Dipper wouldn't let him get far- he jumped at him and kicked out.
His foot landed clean across the man's face and spun him around completely. Red in the face and spluttering for breath, Graupner never had a chance to see Dipper ready to take the next shot. Sweeping his leg under the man as he spun, the Warlock was knocked off his feet. Dipper punched out with both hands. Mid-air the older teen was struck, and he fell back, rolling in the rock and dirt, coughing and gasping for air as he crawled back to his feet, holding a hand to his stomach.
Graupner chose to spit out. "You-"
The Warlock's wasted words haunted him. Dipper had not relented on his assault. In mid-air, the male twin already twisted his body and kicked out. Across the Warlock's face his foot struck. Bloody spit flew from the man's mouth as his jaw and face moved at two separate times. The force was too great for the Warlock to merely spun around. This time he was thrown off his feet and against a wall.
Dipper stood fully, staring down at the crumbled man. Shakily, the Warlock pushed himself off the wall and turned. His face was beaten and swollen, blood trickling from the split on his red eye and a faint trail coming from his mouth. Snarling despite his clearly severe beatings, he glared at Dipper.
"You climbed the entire way up, jumping on rocks like an animal," Graupner said, biting at every word. "You... you fought your way through the entire security staff! How? How are you still beating me?!"
Dipper breathed heavily, enjoying the sight from above. Seeing the man there, furious at his loss, begging for answers, was just the start of what Dipper wanted to see. He needed this man to beg for mercy. He needed the Warlock to know the fear he put into others be instilled into his own being for once. He desperately sought to pluck hope from Graupner, as he had done to Dipper.
Parroting the words once said by Graupner, Dipper said, "Because I'm better than you."
The Warlock's snarl erupted into a scream of bloody murder. Thrusting his hands forward, he cast out the same black fire he had used previously. No time to be cunning and flawlessly executed as his attacks, Dipper ducked and ran aside, rushing from the blistering hot but light-less flames.
The Warlock, now at a distance had his chance to fight again. Four daggers flew at Dipper, while two returned to the Warlock. As he had before, Dipper was able to dodge and avoid each deadly projectile, huffing as he pushed himself away from each attack. They were not as fast as Arline's strikes, but unlike her punches, they could kill him if he failed to dodge properly. As he landed after the fourth miss, he saw the Warlock lunging at him again.
Graupner had no form. Rushing forward with both his weapons at either side, he slashed at Dipper again, and again. While his speed was certainly impressive and not something to be mocked, his accuracy was terrible. Dipper could step aside and duck under each attack with enough time to keep an eye on the stance of his opponent. He could study Graupner and monitor his own stamina while dodging him.
Over time, Dipper found openings. One swing from a dagger, Dipper knocked aside the hand and used a back handed slap against the elbow. The Warlock stumbled, turned, and used up more energy to swing at Dipper.
Dipper leaned back and grinned. He had done it. With the help of his sister and Arline, he was able to think on the fight. He could actually think ergonomically; using the appropriate amount of energy to effectively decide how to best put down the Warlock. One punch and kick at a time, Dipper would wear him out steadily, over time, letting the man do most of his work for him.
The work was paying off. Dipper watched as each attack separated themselves by more time. The gaps in-between slashes and stabs grew longer and more potent. This was his turn to shine. With a grin, he grabbed the hand during a stab, twisted it, and thrust his knee upwards. While he didn't strike the elbow, the impact was true against his arm. The Warlock screamed and dropped the knife instantly, recoiling his arm to his chest while holding out his other hand, threatening Dipper with the knife.
"So, you've gotten better," the Warlock stuttered, sweat pouring down his face as he studied Dipper, "but this fight is far from-" Dipper snapped out with his foot and knocked out the gripped knife from his hand. He hadn't even been particularly fast about it; the Warlock had been far, far too slow. "Ah," Graupner gulped as he felt his kicked hand with a small tremble.
Dipper snorted, and with a spin and twist, leapt and kicked with his other foot. Graupner was thrown off his feet and fell backwards, stumbling over his own feet and onto his back.
"I've gotten much, much better since we really had a fight," Dipper breathed, walking closer. Graupner spun around off his back and tried crawling away. Feeling all the hatred boiling inside him, Dipper declared, "So, let's start counting down the times I make us even."
"You don't have to do that," Graupner pleaded as he crawled away. Dipper replied by kicking him square in the side of his ribs. The Warlock cried out and fell aside, holding his gut. "Okay!" he roared, holding up one of his hands to Dipper in desperation, "Okay! You win! I'll tell you what you need to know! Just... just let me up!"
"You want up?" Dipper asked as he panted faster. Graupner, staring up at Dipper as he struggled to breathe slowly nodded. Dipper gave him a tense nod. "Oh, here, let me help you." Dipper reached down, and started to lift the man up. "You'll tell me what I need to know for Wendy. First, let's make things even."
"Fine!" Graupner spat as he stumbled up, clawing at Dipper's arms angrily. "Throw your punches and kicks! You got one for the time I cut you!"
"Sure. That kick was one," Dipper nodded. He then slapped Graupner across the face with the back of his fist, knocking him to his knees. "That was threatening to kill Soos," Dipper stated, and then kicked him again, this time in the back, "And that was for sending a tulpa after me and my sister!"
Graupner groaned, and started to climb. Then Dipper lifted him up by the scruff of his collar, and punched him square in the face. Graupner yelled and gasped. Blood fell from his lip as his skin split from the impact of fist to face.
Dipper, breathing faster and harder, shouted at him, "And that was for Pacifica! For ruining her chance to get her overbearing parents off of her back!" Dipper waved his knuckles through the air like they had been burnt. Despite being glass jaw, Graupner still was made with some bones. Hitting it with that much force hurt.
Looking tired, really having surrendered, Graupner nodded back. "Oh, got it," The Warlock quietly said, daring to look up at Dipper, "Great. You done?"
"Maybe," Dipper asked, "I've got a burning question. The day the phoenix fell, there was supposed to be no storm. Was that your idea?" Dipper asked.
"No!" Graupner yelled, holding his hands up to his face, "That was boss, remember! He said that holding it here would invoke an internal unrest and possible destroy the town socially, and-"
"Good for you," Dipper sighed, but clenched his knuckles, "Now, how about Jackson Furlow, the hunter? Also his idea?" At Dipper's question, Graupner gulped this time. Dipper growled, "Thought so."
"Okay-" The Warlock started, but Dipper interrupted, lifting him again. Graupner saw the fist coming a mile away. "No-"
The impact was dead even into the man's eye. He screamed as his slowly healing scar across his eye split open further, blood trickling down his face again. Dipper snarled, bathing in the joy of making this horrible man, this vile, monstrous human being, suffer.
"That was for everything he did to me, my sister, and the people who live around here," Dipper declared as the Warlock hung limp in his reach. "And now, the last thing you have to do-"
"Finally," Graupner sighed, so beaten and tired looking that Dipper could have sworn he was about to pass out.
"I get even with you on everyone in Gravity Falls today you terrorized," Dipper said, pulling back his fist, "one... punch... per... person."
"Wait!" Graupner gasped, trying pitifully to pull himself away from Dipper's clutches, "But that's over two thousand people!"
"Then we'll be here a while, won't we!?" Dipper shouted, and threw his next punch. Stomach.
He thought of the man, who had so desperately once tried killing him and his sister. Forehead.
The times he and Mabel had to sit up, late at night, worrying if they would hear about Soos or anyone being found dead in town because of the Warlock. Chest.
He thought of what he had just done to Dipper, what he had taken from Wendy. He had worked for weeks, for almost a month, trying to figure out the secrets of the dangerous undead. Graupner had stolen that away from him, from Wendy! Ribs.
Blind fury. Shoulder. Rage. Stomach. All the hopelessness of fighting a more experienced and resourced opponent boiled down into the fit of anger that fueled his strikes. Gut. Each one slammed into Graupner Kinley, the dreaded, fearful, terrifying Warlock with prejudice. Neck.
The man was a mess of spluttering, desperate, frantic cries and whimpers. Dipper was the lord of the man's life now, punishing him for everything he had ever done to deserve this kind of retaliation. Dipper became lost in the anger, holding the man with one hand as he punched with the other. Nothing would stop him. His breath streamed in and out seamlessly as he brutally struck his hated enemy down. Each wave of pain through his fist reminded him of a past frustration; the pain Bill Cipher had created, the loss of his second grand-uncle, more and more he saw flashes of what else he would beat down as he did this man.
Graupner screamed for help, begging for Dipper to stop.
Dipper could only smile, and he decided to pull back once more and drive this next punch into the man's nose. Dipper hoped he would drive cartilage into the brain.
The punch was thrown, and the Warlock lunged at Dipper, a burst of Adrenaline at the end of his life forcing him to fight. Dipper, so caught off guard by the sudden change in direction that he was unable to find this footing. Suddenly he was on his back, as blood, sweat, and tears fell into his face. The Warlock was pulling at him, clawing at him with hands shaking from pain.
Dipper made to grab the man's neck, ready to choke, ready to squeeze. This was ending, now.
The Warlock lifted his hands to Dipper's arms.
Black fire erupted out.
Dipper was no longer himself. He wasn't watching what had just happened in his own mind. From another, far distant, impossible perspective, Dipper watched as black fire burst out around his arms and incinerated his skin. Hands, wrist, and arms up to the elbows engulfed in flame black to sight, but hellish to the touch.
Had he the option, Dipper would have wanted to remain in that space between being himself and watching from the infinity of outside perspective. Only then the pain settled in and he remembered what it was to be harmed.
What had just happened to him was much, much worse than that.
Dipper screamed out every bit of air his lungs had once held. He must have gone blind from the pain as he stumbled away and fell onto his sides, feeling his hands tremble and convulse uncontrollably. The sheer, undiluted wrath of the black fire left him entirely prone, yelling and screaming as his hands blistered and scarred before his eyes.
He lost them. He had lost his hands.
No, they were still there, but under no reasonable reason would be willingly move them for anything. He would let them stay in the safety of his chest. He dared not touch them against anything. They stung with a higher volume of pain than anything he could have considered possible.
What had just happened?
Hadn't he been winning a second ago? Hadn't he been getting revenge on the man who caused him so much suffering and pain, and to those he cared about?
What had happened... he had lost
In the distance of five feet, but what was an infinity to Dipper, the dark, blood-dripping figure rose.
The Warlock, his bloodied eyes filled with shock, stared down at his own hands, slowly grinning. Drool was streaking down his lips as he started to laugh. Blood and sweat mixed in the air as he began to roar with laughter, looking down on Dipper, who slowly realized that Graupner was still there, now towering over him.
The Warlock started to laugh. "Amazing!" Graupner screamed at the top of his lungs, and clapped his hands together in applause, "Just amazing! You had the fight! Flipped the tables on me! Then, you screwed up big time!" he roared with laughter.
Pushing away with what strength he had in his feet, Dipper struggled away. The loose rock and dirt on the floor barely distracted him as it dug into his back. Any other pain compared to his screaming hands was a far distant memory lost to his mind. All he could focus on was the realization that Graupner was in control right now. He lay down, the strength abandoning him next to the cinderous remains of the old tome.
The furious, beaten, blood-thirsty Warlock was in control.
"Now this is what I've wanted t-to see," Graupner said, wiping away tears from his face, "You below me – groveling. Finally, finally, I see it," he sighed, buckling at the knees, but still standing. "This is what it's like. I've... wanted this soo badly. I have it." He stepped forward, and Dipper let out a shuddering sob. "Oh, yes, that's right," Graupner sneered as he leaned closer to Dipper, "Now, I'm in control. Now I'm your god."
Dipper stared back up at the pale blue eyes of the blond man before him, wondering if they would be the last things he'd see.
"And now, god says," Graupner stood up, and stretched his fingers, "Goodbye."
Dipper closed his eyes and pulled away.
He had only hoped that the last color of eyes he'd see were of someone else. Maybe a forest green? Maybe his sisters? He'd even take his mother, or father. Anyone other than this sadistic thing impersonating a man.
He was still there. His hands were still burnt. Pain still wracked him.
Had he died?
Was death really that easy and painless? Dipper peeked open one eye, and gasped.
Graupner had turned to a distant, new voice at the end of the tunnel, rushing inside. Striding with deliberate steps and making his way quickly towards him was a figure wearing a beanie hat and cargo pants.
"Yuki?" Graupner asked as he stepped aside, letting Yuki rush to Dipper.
"No!"
The alien slid down next to Dipper, staring at his hands. The male twin could only look at the deep pink and violet eyes of the alien he had once trusted. Those strange eyes studied the wounds at a distance, but with more intensity than Dipper had ever seen. They fixated on the wounds until Yuki closed his eyes and looked away. Yuki's face twisted in a grimace unlike any Dipper had seen before. The alien looked mortified.
"Blackfire won't let them heal," the Warlock said from, what could have been according to Dipper, miles away.
"We had a deal," Yuki quietly said.
"Yeah? Tell that to my face. Look at it!" Graupner snarled, massaging his face. "He nearly killed me."
"You could have surrendered!" Yuki shouted, turning away, and standing to face Graupner. "You could have avoided attacking them as I asked!"
"Our deal wasn't about attacking them!" Graupner shouted in response. "It was about not harming them!"
"You call THAT not harming!?" Yuki screamed in his face, pointing to Dipper's hands.
Graupner glanced to Dipper, then to Yuki, and groaned. "You see what he did to me, right?" Graupner wove a hand at his face, "Look at my eye! I doubt it'll ever recover."
"Your scars won't last for the rest of time," Yuki scolded him.
"Whatever," Graupner rolled his eyes, and the winced, holding a hand to his face, "That hurts. The hell are you doing here, anyway? I thought you wanted out of this."
Yuki eagerly reminded him, "I told you I'd have nothing to do with your schemes. I'm here to help them away," he said, stepping towards Dipper. He made it half way to Dipper, who stared and listened silently from his spot against the wall. Graupner cleared his throat loudly, stalling Yuki.
"Out of the way, Yuki. I'm finishing our score."
Yuki froze. Refusing to turn around, he watched Dipper as his mind raced. Dipper could see the eyes of the alien darting side to side, as if reading through entire pages of ideas in record speeds. Then, perhaps during his internal thought, Yuki spotted something, lying on the ground nearby. He saw the book.
Yuki looked to Dipper, understanding. "You destroyed the knowledge he needed," Yuki said, facing Dipper but speaking to the Warlock.
"Who cares," the Warlock spat. "Yuki, move."
"No," Yuki said, standing fully up straight.
Graupner scoffed. "Just go away, you're not part of this."
"This doesn't need to go any further," Yuki said as he turned to the Warlock.
"Yes, it does!" Graupner shouted, stomping his foot. "The kid tried killing me! Really tried it! He's a threat!"
"How can he be any kind of threat!?" Yuki snorted.
Graupner was not impressed. His insistent posture and angered demeanor took a dark turn: his eyes locked onto Yuki, and he shook his head. "Stand aside, Yuki. You're not my enemy. I told you I'd rather work with you."
"I told you I don't need any more family than what I have," Yuki insisted. "I will not move. You are free to leave. This ends now."
"This doesn't end until I say it does!" Graupner shouted, spit flying from his mouth as veins in his neck bulged. A burst of fire erupted from his ceiling, flowing up to the ceiling.
Yuki flinched, but stayed his ground. "You promised that, for my aid, you would not hurt or kill Dipper!" Yuki shouted and pointed to him. "Your promised-"
"If he stayed out of my way!" Graupner shouted back. "He didn't, did he? Damn near killed me!"
"Honor your deal!" Yuki shouted at Graupner, and whipped back to check on Dipper, "Dipper, please stand if you can and leave."
Dipper opened his mouth, attempting to form words. Anything would have been nice. All the words and things he wanted to say to Yuki blurred together into a single guttural cry. His mind demanded the answers, but his voice could not. The pain coursing through his body was too intense for cohesion.
Why, Yuki? What are you doing?
Yuki grimaced as he watched Dipper's lips form words, but the throat unable to follow up. "I'm sorry, Dipper, "Yuki said quietly. He turned back to the Warlock, "Please, Graupner. This can end now. Dipper is no longer a threat to you. You've won."
"In a second I will have," Graupner growled.
"No! You have already won!" Yuki shouted. "Now, leave!"
The tone in the Warlock's voice changed. "Are... are you ordering me?" Graupner asked incredulously. HeHeHeh stared at Yuki. "You? Of all people? The stray alien?"
"Graupner, just go!" Yuki pointed out at the exit.
The Warlock's gaze sharpened as he stared at the purple and pink eyes. If there had been any form of human compassion, it vanished in that single glance. He stared at Yuki with a fearless, terrible gaze that was ice cold. He smiled, but no pleasure came from it.
"I don't take orders from you. I'm giving you... oh, lets say three chances. Move aside," Graupner said.
"I will not," Yuki said, staying his ground.
"Second chance. I said... move," Graupner warned, a ball of black fire erupting into his hand.
"No."
"Last chance," Graupner stated, and the other hand summoned more black fire.
Yuki stared at the two magical balls of fire. Nothing about his choice made sense to Dipper. Hadn't he betrayed him and his sister? He... he should run! Get help! Not stay behind like this and become a meat shield. Just run!
"I'm... no," Yuki shook his head. Graupner lifted his hands, exposing the black balls of fire to Yuki. Still, they remained there. Testing Yuki's courage seemed to work in Yuki's favor, as he trembled, but remained in place.
"Why?!" Graupner growled, keeping his hands in place, "You're scared! Why don't you run!?"
"Because I choose not to," Yuki swallowed loudly. "Because I always will choose to put myself between my friends and danger."
Graupner bared his teeth, and lowered one hand. The other hand, however, let loose it's ball of wrath.
Colliding with Yuki's shoulder, the black fire ate away at the cloth of his shirt. Black smoke and a horrible odor drifted out from the explosion that nearly toppled Yuki to the side. Still on his feet, he whimpered and held a hand to his injury. Yuki was groaning as he buckled. To Dipper's amazement, the man stood. How could anyone endure that kind of pain and not collapse?
"Now, get the hell out of my way!" Graupner screamed, holding up his other hand to Dipper.
Yuki jumped back in the way, and held his arms aside. Scorched skin now blistered to look like dried bark remained on his shoulder, but clenched his jaw tightly. "I will not."
Graupner's eye twitched. With a grunt, he tossed fired again.
The next ball of fire hit Yuki square in the stomach.
Yuki hunched over, but slowly stood back up, crying and heaving in pain. Despite the impacts and the two large injuries, he had yet to move. He still remained between Dipper and the Warlock.
"You idiot!" Graupner screamed, but then laughed. "This is what you want? Huh!? Fine! Then you can die first, and let Dipper watch me scatter your ashes down that pit!"
Both hands summoned more fire, and one by one, he threw blackfire at Yuki. Each impact slammed into the Alien, and Dipper watched as the unassuming friend stumble back and away from Dipper without control. Graupner had entirely forgotten about Dipper now.
All the anger and hate that the Warlock had focused onto Dipper now fell onto Yuki. The alien held his hands above his face, shielding him from more of the horrible fire. Dipper wanted to scream, cry, beg, shout and challenge Graupner; anything that would peel him away from Yuki. The man stood, a twitching, stumbling shield that was being torn away by cursed flames.
After one fireball stuck his leg, Yuki twisted and turned, just in time for a ball of fire to strike him in half of his face. The alien screamed and fell to the dirt, holding a hand to his face. As Yuki squirmed, holding his head with his hands, Graupner stepped back, grinning.
"You see now, don't you?" he said, looking to the ceiling, "Superiority through magic. You could have had this, Yuki! It makes sense, I suppose. In the end, I'm better than you," he said, and turned to Dipper, raising his hands, "Better than both of you."
As the blackfire shot out towards Dipper, Yuki dived again. His back took both balls of fire, and he collapsed before Dipper. Dipper Pines finally saw what was becoming of the alien exile.
His skin was blackening and cracking horrible. Dried and blistering like old asphalt, the burnt portions of Yuki's face and body dripped with blood, slowly seeping out of the wounds all around him. His one eye in the blast wound of his face had gone white, and half of his hair had been scorched off. Tears fell down Dipper's face as he saw the loss in Yuki's eyes. The man still lived, but the excruciating agony was something Dipper could only imagine.
Then another two fireballs struck Yuki's back. He screamed and closed his eyes, and Dipper finally shouted.
"STOP!"
"That's right! Kid," Graupner said as he merged his two hands together and pointed them at Yuki, "before you go, watch what's going to happen to you, via proxy example!"
The two hands merged no longer unleashed a ball of flame, but a constant stream. Yuki bellowed with agony, spit flying from his mouth as his legs and back were consumed in fire. Graupner laughed, holding more and more fire to the man.
Moments passed as Dipper tried crawling to Yuki. Through the terrible pain, Dipper had to try. He could pull him away maybe, get himself in the shot. He had to stop Yuki from dying!
Then Yuki opened his eyes and looked to Dipper.
Dipper had seen anger in those eyes once before.
Never fury. Not like that.
In a swift push, Yuki lifted himself off the ground. He was in the air like he could fly. Spinning around, Yuki punched Graupner in the side of the face. Unlike Dipper, the impact was so potent that Graupner flew across the room with a 'bang'. The flames halted instantly as he slammed into the wall and fell forward, and instantly reached up to his face. Blood freely poured from his eye. Yuki had not held back. Dipper saw, for the first time, what kind of damage Yuki could always have done.
The alien, landing on his knees, hissed loudly. Despite the damage he had taken, he stood back up. He started to approach Graupner Kinley. "You've tried killing," Yuki muttered through gritted teeth as he marched over.
Standing up, Graupner revealed his face. His one eyelid had entirely closed now- blood pouring from it. He still saw Yuki coming to him, and he raised his hands. Black fire shot out, and struck him in the chest. Yuki winced but pushed forward.
"You've enjoyed harming!" Yuki roared as he reached out and grasped Graupner by the neck and easily lifted him into the air.
Graupner's need to burn and incinerate as much as possible vanished the moment the titanic force of Yuki's grip closed around his wind-pipe. He lowered his hands and reached for his throat, gasping, and clawing for air.
"You've betrayed your word and any honor that would have come with it!" Yuki screamed as he marched over, dragging Graupner by the throat towards the other sheer cliff. Still holding onto Graupner with one hand, he reached down and lifted the rusted chain, and hastily tied it around the Warlock's neck.
Dipper's already pained mind struggled to realize what was about to happen.
Yuki pulled the Warlock, Graupner Kinley, closer. Graupner's eye looked into the purple, alien eye that, for the first time since coming to earth, held no gentility. Yuki's patience had run its course. Now face to face with the would-be killer, Yuki stepped to the ledge.
Yuki roared, "You've lost your right to your humanity!"
He then hurled the man off the cliff, with a rope chain tied around his neck.
Dipper heard the man scream for a good five seconds. The links of chain clattered and clinked against one another. Then the chain went taught.
The screaming in the pit stopped instantly.
The world had gone mad. Dipper's hands screamed for attention, but he could only watch the figure standing at the cliff's edge, staring out into the abyss.
Yuki had just...
Graupner Kinley was dead.
"Dipper!"
Dipper heard movement and his name from a clouded distance. Just as existence itself made no sense, Dipper's movement seemed impossible and thick, like he was living in a vicious fluid. Someone, breathing rapidly, slid next to him, and began to hold his shoulders.
"No, no, no, no!"
Mabel had come. She was here. Dipper turned to face her, ashes in his face along with trails of tears. He saw himself in her reflection as she studied him, his wounds, his state of being. Mabel was fine, at least physically. The more she saw of Dipper, the more he wondered if her mind would break like his body had. Her face was tightening up.
Stumbling next to her and dropping to her knees was Arline. She stared at his hands, her mouth agape. They both were saying things to one another. He couldn't tell. Everything was so echoey and vague. Was this a dream?
Had Bill played a trick on Dipper.
He checked, and turned his gaze to Yuki, who had turned, and started slumping away from the cliff of the pit.
Rushes of movement and color came into the room. More people were here. How many? Who they were?
Dipper could only spot one by her voice. Screaming. Sobbing. Wailing. As Yuki fell before him, a girl with long, blond hair rushed forward and caught him, cradling his unmoving figure. Pacifica's cries and screams filled the room.
They may have stopped the golem, but this time, somehow Dipper knew they had lost. In the time he watched the world begin to move on his own accord, lifted by someone with soft, large hands, Dipper saw the scorched, burnt tunnels of the world behind him. There were so many people asking about what had happened, what was wrong with his hands, and worst of all, people screaming Yuki's name.
Dipper, his eyes fading shut beside the pain, thought only back to that ledge. That single moment.
He could still hear it in his head.
The swaying of a link of chain holding the body of a dead man.
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