AN: So, I was happy about all the awesome support I got from this story (again) Thank you Crazypuzzle for the chapter suggestion! I'll be sure to use it in the future!

I also updated my first GF fanfic Dearest. You can check that out but…I'm not the proudest of it. I told Bill about my fanfiction on an ask gravity falls fic and he gave me a death threat, so there's that! And I had fun with friends I kind of forgot were my friends.

As you can see, I was freakishly busy, but I'm not anymore so…back to work!

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Twenty-Three: Dark Tension

"Doctor Waddles? We need more chocolate for the patient!" Mabel announced holding the said pig dressed in a doctors' outfit up to her brother who was currently in a wheel chair.

Matthew smiled. "Thanks, Mabes, and Waddles."

Waddles oinked.

"Ah! Matthew! He said your name! Do it again, Waddles!" Mabel said cheerfully.

The pig oinked once more and Mabel squealed. "Okay, back to work, chocolate!"

Mabel walked off out of the attic while Waddles trotted after her.

Matthew leaned back in his wheel chair, glancing at the crutches next to him and groaning. If there was one thing he hated more than the stupid people skittering around him as if he were the plague, it was being so weak and defenceless. What guy wanted a pig and their little sister taking care of them?

The attic door opened again and Mabel and Waddles came back, this time followed by Dipper who was holding a glass of water in his hands.

"You feeling alright?" Dipper asked handing his brother the glass.

"Fine as I can be," Matthew said sipping the drink and excepting the bar of chocolate from Mabel. "I got you all your books, and I also have your phone!" Mabel said walking over to Matthew's built in bookcase and plopping some books down next to him by the bed.

"Womp!"

"Thanks, you two doing anything?" Matthew asked.

"Ah, Soos did offer us to go to the arcade but, we kind of wanted to take care of you…" Dipper said.

"Go," Matthew said. "Don't let me ruin your day."

"You sure, you won't be all alone?" Mabel asked.

"I got Waddles," Matthew nodded to the pig who oinked at him happily.

"Why don't you come with us?" Dipper suggested. "The doctor said you needed a lot of fresh air."

Matthew thought for a moment before shrugging. "Why not? Don't want to be cooped up here all day."

"Here you go!" Mabel said cheerfully handing her brother his crutches.

Matthew sighed. Man, I can't wait 'till I regenerate again.

…A-X-O-L-O-T-L…

"Here it is, dudes," Soos said cheerfully. "My favorite place ever! I learned everything here, crossing the street, eating ghosts, and here, I learned to dance!" Soos gestured to a dancing game which McGucket was dancing on. "I was jigging for seven days straight!" he said with a laugh.

"Oh! Modern games are ever so fun!" Cookie said from beside him. "May I try, sir?"

"Of course, you can, Biscuit!"

"It's Cookie," Cookie said as she got on the game and began to dance with McGucket. "Ah! Why didn't I try this sooner?!"

"Um…" Mabel held up the unplugged game and back at the screen which had OUT OF ORDER on it.

"Let them have their fun," Soos suggested as Dipper visibly creeped away from the girl that possessed him.

"Hey, Dipper, check it out! Fight Fighters, remember that?" Matthew asked his brother.

"Oh yeah!" Dipper said with a grin and ran towards the game, Matthew hobbled after him on his crutches.

"Here," Dipper dragged a chair for him to sit on and Matthew thanked him. "Maybe I should've brought by wheelchair."

"You still need exercise," Dipper said inserting a coin.

"Yeah, good point," Matthew said selecting a character by the name of Killer O'Carnage while Dipper chose Rumble McSkirmish.

"FIGHT!" The game said.

"Prepare to get your butt whipped," Matthew said with cocky grin, wildly attacking the joystick and the buttons.

"Ha! We'll see," Dipper responded.

Matthew completed a combination of moves and Killer O'Carnage pummeled Rumble to the ground, causing the health bar to go way down.

"Looks like I'll beat you after all, Dipping Sauce," Matthew said with a smirk, though it dropped slightly when he saw Dipper wearing a smirk of his own.

"Oh, I wouldn't say so, Matt. Prepare to eat your words," Dipper delivered a triple punch and a half turn of the joystick. Rumble glowed blue.

"SUPER POWER NINJA TURBO NEO ULTERA HYPER MEGA MULTI APLPHA META EXTRA UBER PREFIX COMBO!"

Rumble delivered a series of overpowered punches to Killer O'Carnage and there was a nuclear blast shaped like a fist.

"Winners never lose!" Rumble said, doing a peace sign.

Dipper cheered in triumph while Matthew made a playful groan.

"Oh! Hey, guys!" A familiar voice said.

"Wendy!" Dipper and Matthew said in unison. Dipper's reaction to him and his brother's shared crush was a large grin, Matthew gave a casual smile. "How are you?" He asked.

"Oh, I'm cool. A bit traumatized about the whole mansion thing, but otherwise, cool, how's your leg?" Wendy asked leaning against the arcade game.

"Eh, broken," Matthew said carelessly, scowling at the cast.

"It'll heal, not to worry," Wendy said. "What game are you two playing?"

"Fight Fighters," Dipper responded. "Me and Matthew used to play it all the time back in California."

"Every Friday," Matthew added.

"You wanna play with me?" Dipper asked.

"Sure, how does it work?" Wendy asked as Matthew moved over, giving Wendy some room to reach the controls.

"You basically just smash a bunch of buttons," Matthew shrugged.

"It's actually a bit more strategic than that," Dipper said.

"Nah, smashing buttons is better."

"Therefore, you never win, Matt."

"Oh, shut up, I kicked your ass that one time."

"That was one time. I beat you fifty other times."

"And I beat you a million other times at Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons, not to mention chess."

"You just had to bring that up, didn't you?"

"Yup."

Wendy smiled at the brothers' playful argument.

"Anyway, Wendy, just smash a bunch of buttons and you'll win."

"Why are you taking advice from a crowned loser?" Dipper asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Let the lady pick what she wants to do, dude," Matthew said giving Dipper a playful punch, the boy laughed lightly.

"Alright," Wendy said choosing Dr. Karate.

"FIGHT!" The game said as Wendy and Dipper beat each other up, laughing all the while.

"Oh, cool! A cut scene," Dipper said.

"Dr. Karate! You killed my Father, AGAIN!" Rumble McSkirmish said.

"That doesn't even make sense," Matthew said. Dipper and Wendy snickered at that.

"ARGHHH!" Dr. Karate said.

"You take that back!"

The two went back to fighting, and like Matthew figured, Dipper won.

"What? You cheated!" Wendy accused with one of her good-natured smiles.

"You take that back!" Dipper said in a Rumble voice.

The two played another round.

"Oooh! Let's attack the ref!" Wendy suggested.

"Oh yeah, we can totally team up on him!" Dipper chuckled as they tried to attack the background character.

"I hate it when games don't allow you to kill AIs and NPCs," Matthew said.

"We have Grand Theft Auto for that," Wendy said as she continued to try and fail to murder the referee.

"Yeah, but Mom won't let us play it," Dipper said.

"When my powers come back I can try making it. Won't tell if you don't." Matthew smirked slyly.

"Breaking Mom's rules? Awesome!" Dipper said.

"Hey, Wendy!" Came the voice of Robbie Valentino.

"Huh? Oh, hey Robbie, Mathew and Dipper were just showing me this awesome game," Wendy said as the two brothers gave Robbie a hate filled look.

Robbie held up a poster. "This is just a poster of my band, I'm lead guitar…no biggie."

"Oh, so now you're wearing mascara?" Matthew asked with a quirked eyebrow. Dipper laughed while Robbie glared at them.

"It's eye-make up for men."

"Yeah…news flash, makeup is makeup."

"Quiet you—!"

"Guys, stop it! I hate it when guys fight!" Wendy said rubbing her temples.

Matthew cleared his throat. "Sorry," he said.

"Apology accepted," she said, giving him a tiny punch.

"Anyway, you two move it," Robbie shoved Dipper out of the way. "I'm going to play with my girlfriend."

"I'm not your girlfriend," Wendy said with a wrinkled nose.

"Not yet," Robbie said calmly.

Wendy scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Don't count on it, hey, Matt, you wanna play?"

"Um, yeah sure," Matthew said while Robbie gave the blonde a murderous glare.

"So, I'm going camping with my family later, so I won't be around."

"Where are, you going?" Matthew asked.

"Eh, Dad didn't tell me," Wendy said. "And…YES!"

"Geez!" Matthew groaned when he lost.

"Ha, you're so bad at this a girl beat you!" Dipper laughed.

"Shut it. Wendy's not normal. She's…supernatural," Matthew gave her a charming grin. Wendy looked surprised at first before her lips twitched into a tiny smile.

The two just stared at each other, bright blue eyes locked with forest green ones. Without even thinking, their hands entwined within each other on Matthew's lap. His breath hitched at the feeling of her warm flesh, and memories that he had wished would stay buried came to the surface.

Clara…

"Did—did we do this before?" Wendy whispered softly.

"Hmm?" Matthew murmured, as his hand raised to caress her cheek gently. "Yeah…I think—this does feel familiar, doesn't it?"

The déjà vu trance experience was ruined when Dipper cleared his throat loudly. Matthew had half a mind to scold Dipper for ruing one of the most magical moments of his life.

"Uh-huh?" Matthew asked, his voice more annoyed than he intended.

"Um—do you wanna play with me again?" Dipper asked.

"Uh, yeah, sure, okay," Matthew said carelessly. He risked a glance at Wendy and their eyes locked again.

"I'm out," Robbie crabbed. "This is turning into a girly romance manga."

Dipper replaced Wendy's place at the controls. Feeling a pang of betrayal and jealousy. What was with that? That whole locking eyes and cheek touching thing? In fact, did that have anything to do with that thing Matthew told Wendy "not to tell about"?

Did Matthew now harbour a crush on Wendy? If that was true, he was totally screwed. Two people having a crush on each other was a formula for girlfriends x boyfriend. In his case, serious kryptonite.

Dipper Pines needed to up his game.

…A-X-O-L-O-T-L…

"King me!" Mabel said cheerfully.

Soos, Dipper, Matthew, and Stan groaned in annoyance.

"This is unfair! She doesn't even know what we're playing!" Stan groaned.

"Gold fish?" Mabel guessed.

"Nope, poker," Matthew said.

"Mom wouldn't approve," Mabel said.

"And that's what makes it fun," Matthew said with a smirk.

"Ha! I like this kid!" Stan said slapping Matthew on the shoulder, causing him to grunt. "I was just like you when I was your age," Stan sighed wistfully. "Good times…"

Then there was the sound of obnoxious guitar music.

"Dudes, I think there's a radio in my head!" Soos exclaimed.

"Try blinking to change the channel!" Mabel suggested.

Soos blinked twice. "Nope, not working."

"Wendy, Wendy, WENDY!"

"Ugh, Robbie," Dipper said as he and Matthew shared a look of mutual hate and annoyance.

"Robbie? That guy who shoots Wendy goo-goo eyes all the time?" Stan asked.

"He called my Bug Guy one time," Soos said. "I know I am but…that kind of hurt, you know?"

"Should I sick Waddles on him?" Mabel asked.

"No, I'll handle it," Dipper said getting up and walking outside. Matthew frowned worriedly while the other three "oohed".

The music stopped and Matthew could hear the two talking, then he heard Dipper's voice taking on a panicked note.

Matthew snatched his crutches and hobbled out of the gift shop as fast as he could, just in time to see Dipper being lifted from his shirt.

"Hey!" Matthew barked.

Robbie turned to Matthew and sneered. "Well, well, if it isn't Pretty Boy."

"Put my brother down, now." Robbie flinched at the amount of venom in Matthew's voice, it sounded almost animalistic.

"Gladly," Robbie said, trying to keep his cool. He tossed Dipper against a trash can causing him to grunt and his hat to fall off.

Matthew's eyes flickered from Dipper to Robbie, his eyes burning with unbottled rage, clutching his crutches.

"What're you going to do? You're disabled—!" Robbie was cut off as Matthew balanced momentarily on his good leg and wacked him in the face with his left crutch.

Robbie grunted in pain and fell to the ground, a red spot on his cheek. Gulping as he looked up at the utterly homicidal look in Matthew Pines' eye. He cried in horror as Matthew's hands lit with flames.

Robbie spluttered incoherently before kicking at Matthew's injured leg.

Matthew screamed in agony as crumbled to the floor, his leg throbbing and his face pale and sweaty with pain, his eyes closed.

"Matthew!" Dipper exclaimed in horror. He knelt next to his brother. "Matt! Are you okay?!"

"Not so tough now, are you?" Robbie sneered.

Dipper felt his blood boil. It was one thing having hurt him, but taking it out on his brother?

Dipper spun around to punch Robbie, kick him, do something, though Matthew grabbed his arm.

"Let me have him," Matthew growled in a low voice. It was so homicidal and dark and animalistic and just—not Matthew that Dipper began to feel fear replace his rage. He turned to his brother and his breath hitched when he saw his eyes, no longer bright and blue, but gold and unearthly.

Just like Bill Cipher's eye.

"M-Matt—?"

The air around the two crackled with energy as Matthew stood, standing on his two legs perfectly, his eyes locked in Robbie's scared to death face as his blonde hair whipped around his face.

"H-hey man…I didn't…"

"Quiet," Matthew hissed.

Before Robbie could take a step further, Matthew punched him in the face, hard. Robbie fell to the ground and barely had time to regain his breath before Matthew picked him up by the sweater collar.

"Do you like how it feels to be carried like this?"

"Hey, look man! I-I'll never mess with you and your brother again, I swear! Okay?" Robbie exclaimed desperately.

Matthew laughed cruelly. "Oh, I have no doubt you'll never mess with us again, still, this is something I can't just sweep under the carpet."

"No!" Robbie cried out, writhing pathetically in Matthew's grasp as the enraged teen raised his fist. The flames were no longer blue but red mixed with black.

"MATTHEW!" Dipper screamed in panic. This was all wrong, sure Robbie was a jerk but if Matthew hit Robbie with that he could possibly die and never recover.

Matthew's gold eyes shifted to Dipper, giving him a sideways glance and showing he had his attention.

"Matt, put him down," Dipper pleaded.

Matthew's eyes returned to Robbie and raised his fist again.

"Matthew!" Dipper cried.

"Matthew!" came the voice of Mabel.

Matthew paused once more, while Robbie began to whimper like crazy. Matthew looked at Mabel, who was standing with Stan and Soos, no doubt coming to see what the screaming was about.

"Matthew, put him down, please," Mabel said.

This time, Matthew threw Robbie against the grass as hard as he could and glared, his eye color returning to normal.

"Leave," Matthew growled.

Robbie was only too happy to comply, scrambling to his feet and running away screaming.

As Matthew walked into the house on his sill casted leg and kicked away his crutches, followed by the twins and Soos, Stan swallowed thickly. He walked to the counter and dialed a number.

"Uh, hey, Ellie? It's starting to happen."

…A-X-O-L-O-T-L…

"What the heck was that?!" Dipper demanded as the trio walked upstairs.

"Oh, piss off," Matthew growled.

"You could've killed Robbie!" Dipper continued.

"So, what? He hurt you!"

"Matthew, you can't keep losing your temper like that!" Mabel said as she stopped him from entering the room. "Even if they did hurt me or Dipper, you're a demon with magic and if you lose control you can seriously hurt somebody!"

"I don't care. If somebody hurts either of you I am going to hurt them, I don't care who or what they are!" Matthew said.

"But you can't do that!" Dipper stressed.

Matthew laughed darkly. "Oh, so now I'm a monster? Huh, Dipper? I'm an evil devil? Right, Mabel?"

"That's not what we said!" Mabel said. "You just need to control you temper. What if you lose it and hurt me or Dipper one day?"

"How can you say that?!" Matthew screamed in rage, causing the twins to jump backwards. "I would never, ever, hurt you or Dipper! I will protect you both, no matter who I have to kill or hurt!"

"Matthew! Don't talk like that, you're starting to sound like—like…" Mabel clenched her fists as tears welled in her eyes.

Knowing who Mabel was referring caused Matthew's annoyance to reach his peak.

"Who am I like, Mabel?" Matthew asked, his voice dangerously quiet. "Who am I like? Hm?"

Mabel turned away as a tear leaked from her eye.

"Say it!" Matthew barked, causing Mabel to tremble with quiet sobs.

"Like Bill Cipher!" Dipper snapped.

Matthew sneered. "Well, Pine Tree, here's a news flash, I am him. Whether you like it or not, he'll always be apart of me, and there is nothing, nothing, you can freaking do about it! So, you know what? You just gotta live with it!"

Matthew shoved past the twins and stormed down the steps. As he reached the gift shop door, he heard Mabel cry his name. "Matthew! Matt, wait—!"

"Don't. Follow me," Matthew said venomously. And with that he slammed the door shut hard behind him walking into the woods. After while he sat down and angrily attempted to remove the now useless cast. Cursing Mabel and Dipper and hell, the damn Axolotl for putting him in this mess in the first place.

Matthew angrily slammed his head against the trunk of a tree, though the pain didn't register.

"Damnit all," he growled.

…A-X-O-L-O-T-L…

The boy paced the room in frustration, he turned to the clock which had yet to move before looking back to his adopted sister Ruby. "Don't look at me, I didn't choose him, you did."

"Everything's shrouded in shadow about him now!" The Boy growled in frustration. "I can see the useless part of his future, but not the relevant details and ARGH!"

Just then, the clock bonged. He and Ruby spun around as the large minute hand moved.

"Well," Ruby said with a smile behind her mask.

The Boy's lips curved into a smirk. "'Well' indeed."

…A-X-O-L-O-T-L…

AN: Well, things got dark.

I enjoyed writing this chapter, especially the siblings' fight at the end!

Fantasy Freak OUT!