There are no stupid questions, only stupid people who use regular rubber bands to tie their hair.
Bill doesn’t usually take out the rubber band unless it breaks, so it’s pretty rare to see him with his hair down. He only washes it (water, no soap) if he gets blood or something smelly in it. It’s a rat’s nest.
I knew in an instance who was approaching me.
But this time, I refused to cower in fear and regret. No matter what he would
ask me, I would not let it stop me from burning this hotel to the ground…
“I am
Judgement Boy!” The monster descended from the ceiling once more with his roar
of: “JUDGEMENT!”
Its wide
grin stretched further when it saw Mabel, and it asked her the question: “You
find yourself in a hotel in another dimension. You learn that it was not only
your neglect, but also this hotel, that played a role in the death of your
brother, whom you love very much. The question is… Who killed your brother?”
“I did,”
Mabel said without hesitation. “I could have saved him if I had been a better
sister; if I had taken the time to listen to him, and help him, like he always
helped me. Even if this hotel didn’t exist, my brother would have still taken
his life… But that doesn’t change the fact that this place must be destroyed,
and that it still played a role in my brother’s death.”
“You have
chosen not to avert your eyes from the truth, but to meet it head-on,”
Judgement Boy’s tone of voice seemed different as he said this. Almost like he
was… approving of Mabel’s answer. “Yet instead of cowering in regret, you
decide to take action, and do what you can to make up for your role in your
brother’s death.”
This time,
the golden dollar symbol fell instead of the heart, and with that Judgement Boy
left.
Mabel
smiled to herself and continued going in the direction she had been walking in.
It didn’t
take long before she saw it; The Eternal Flame. There was no doubt in Mabel’s
mind that was what it was. She picked up the glass jar and released the orange
flame inside. It immediately began to burn its surroundings, and seeing how fast
everything was catching on fire, Mabel hurried away, knowing she still had to
leave the hotel.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It’s done. Soon the hotel will be no more. The
souls still trapped will, hopefully, be free. But even if that isn’t the case,
at least new souls won’t be joining them. I won… No, we won, Dipper.
Mabel
walked out of the hotel and began to make her way towards the forest, when she
spotted Cipher; he was walking out of said forest, only to get a look of
absolute fear as he saw the smoke rising from the hotel.
“What have
you done!?!” he howled, but didn’t wait for an answer. He broke into a run and
sped past Mabel, into the infeno.
Mabel
watched as he ran in there, wondering if perhaps he would try to put out the
flames. She wasn’t sure if that was possible, but she still preferred to wait
and see; none of this would matter if the hotel didn’t get destroyed.
Soon after,
Will came running out of the hotel’s front door. He looked surprised at seeing
her.
“Why are
you still here!?” he asked, his voice and expression full of panic. “Go!”
“I have to
make sure this place truly disappears!” she argued. “For everyone who ever died
there.”
“But…” Will
didn’t finish his sentence, as from the front doors, Cipher ran out, carrying
someone wrapped in a blanket. Cipher was covered in burn marks, but the blanket
was free of burns, meaning it was probably a fire-safe blanket. “Go.” Will
commanded her, but now Mabel was curious; why wouldn’t Cipher have used the
blanket on himself? What was so special about this person, that he had run into
a burning building to rescue them?
“Are you
okay?” Cipher asked the person as he placed them on their legs; which were bare
and wrapped in a few vines. Cipher’s voice was tender and full of concern; his
eyes looked like they were close to tears.
“Yes, thank
you,” the person said in a voice which Mabel recognized all too well. They
pulled of the blanket, but their back was turned to her, revealing only brown
hair which looked a little longer and wavier than Mabel remembered, also with a
few vines intertwined with the locks.
“… Dipper?”
Mabel whispered as tears began streaming down her cheeks. She almost couldn’t
believe it. She stepped closer and reached out a hand, just as the person
turned around to see her.
There was
no longer any doubt; it was Dipper. At first Mabel thought he looked younger,
but then she realized it was the absence of stress wrinkles and eye bags that
gave that impression. His skin looked pristine; almost as if it was carved from
polished wood, but it still looked soft and warm. His brown eyes now had a
vague glint of green in them, and he was wearing what looked like a cocktail
dress made from pine needles.
“It’s
really you,” Mabel cried and tried to get closer to him, but Dipper ran over to
Cipher and hid behind him; a look of hatred and disgust spread on Dipper’s
face. “Dipper? I-“
“You almost
killed me!” Dipper shouted, clinging on to Cipher like a lifeline. “If Bill
hadn’t saved me, I would have burned alive in that fire you started!”
“I- I
didn’t know you were in there!” Mabel tried to explain. “I- I thought- Dipper,
please! I’m so sorry-“
“Why are
you calling me that?” Dipper asked with an angry frown. “My name is Pine Tree.”
“Oh…” Mabel
shook her head. “What did Cipher do to you?”
“Why are
you saying it like that?!” Dipper, or Pine Tree, finally stepped out from
behind Cipher. “Bill has done nothing but treat me like a treasure. Then you
come along, nearly kill me, destroy our home, and try to what? What exactly are
you trying to accomplish here?”
“I… I
don’t,” Mabel shook her head. Her brother had still been there. She had almost
killed him. Why had she done that? She had a realization and turned to Will
with a look of betrayal. “You said my brother was dead! You told me to burn
down the hotel, knowing I would have killed him!”
“Mabel!”
Will shouted. “That’s not your brother! Your brother was gone the moment he
decided to stay at the hotel! All that’s left of him is that soulless husk!”
“How dare
you!” Cipher hissed and stepped in front of Dipper in a defensive stance. “You
don’t get to speak to him like that!”
Mabel
looked at the now burnt remains of Cipher’s House. She almost couldn’t
comprehend this; Cipher seemed to really care about her brother, her brother
seemed to like living in the hotel, and Will… the guy she thought had been
helping her, had lied to her and almost made her kill Dipper.
“Mabel,
listen to me,” Will implored. “You wanted to stop the hotel, right? You need to
leave now, or none of this will have mattered at all.”
Mabel
looked at her brother and Cipher; Bill was holding him close, softly stroking
his hair. Her brother seemed genuinely sad and betrayed.
“Dipper,”
Mabel stepped closer to her brother. “Or… Pine Tree… Were you really happy at
the hotel?”
“Yes,” he
replied.
“Are you
sure you don’t want to come with me? Back to reality?”
“No!” Pine
Tree reminded Mabel more of her brother than ever, now that it looked like he
was getting close to a panic attack. “All I remember about that place is pain!
I never want to back there!”
“Alright
then,” Mabel sighed with a small smile. “I guess this is my chance to finally
be a good sister.”
“You can be
that if you leave!” Will said, his voice full of panic again. “Let your
brother’s soul find rest-“
“No,” Mabel
said decisively. “I promised when I first got here that I wouldn’t leave
without my brother. I’m going to keep that promise. I’m staying here.”
With those
words, the hotel began to repair itself; it looked like the destruction was
happening in reverse, as all the fire damage was undone.
Bill and
Pine Tree looked on with expressions full of joy and happiness. Will looked
like he was filled with despair at the sight.
“We’re back
in business!” Bill yelled with a large grin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And so another cycle is completed, and the
hotel returns to normal. Another guest joins the ranks of the souls who will
never escape Cipher’s House. For no one can escape Cipher’s House.
Pine Tree
liked the hotel’s new permanent guest; her name was Shooting Star, and even
though the fact that she was made out of rocks burning in pastel colors meant
that her flames could accidentally hurt him, she was kind and energetic, and
loved spending time with him. The two of them seemed to have a connection that
Pine Tree couldn’t place, but he didn’t really care to analyze it.
The two of
them were sitting in the hotel lobby and having a talk, when Pine Tree’s other
favorite person showed up.
“It’s time
to return to your rooms soon~” Bill said as he stood behind Pine Tree, placing
one hand on each of his shoulders. “Our new guest is expected to arrive any
moment now, and we can’t have him see anything too… disturbing on his first
night.”
“Oh, but
Bill,” Pine Tree gave him an exaggerated pout and bit his thumb. “I still need
to do one more thing before going to bed.”
“Did you
forget to change the sheets?” Bill asked with a slight smirk; of course he
already knew Pine Tree would never forget one of his duties, especially not one
that was crucially to keeping the charade going for just long enough.
“Of course
not,” Pine Tree laughed and playfully slapped Bill’s hand.
A knock was
heard on the hotel’s front door.
“Oh!
Whatever it is, it will have to wait until I’ve shown our guest her new room!”
Bill said and swung over to the door.
Pine Tree
and Shooting Star both left for the door behind the check-in counter; there was
a small peephole through the wall in there that they could use to scope out the
new guest.
Pine Tree
looked through the hole, watching as a young, frazzled looking woman was helped
inside by Bill. She looked pale and her eyes were bloodshot.
“Who is it?”
Shooting Star asked, leaning over Pine Tree’s shoulder.
“Hmm, if I
remember the files correctly, she’s that one who was kicked out by her family
and lived on the streets,” Pine Tree said. He observed Bill talking to her and
escorting her to the guest room. “Alright, coast is clear.”
They both
left the backroom; Shooting Star made her way to her room, while Pine Tree
grabbed a tray of food and water he had left on the coffee table in the lobby.
He walked with the tray down the hall to a newer addition to the hotel; a big
steel door seemingly bolted shut, but Pine Tree retrieved his key to the door
and opened it.
“And how
are we doing today?” he asked sweetly as he stepped inside, shutting the door
behind him.
Inside, the
room looked a dungeon, with dirt floor and cold stone walls, with the only
light coming from a window with bars on it. Under this window, chained to the
wall, sat Will. His body looked beaten and malnourished, and his mouth was
partially sewn shut, only allowing it to open the tiniest bit. Various parts of
his body were also covered in random stitches, and even one of his eyes was sewn
completely shut.
“I have
soup,” Pine Tree said as he placed the tray on the ground and picked up a spoon
to feed Will.
“He used
you,” murmured Will in a weakened voice after a couple of spoonfuls.
“Huh?” Pine
Tree tilted his head in confusion.
“When he ‘saved’
you from the fire,” Will clarified.
“What?”
Pine Tree gave him a hard to read look.
“He doesn’t
care about you; he just knew seeing you would-“
Then Pine
Tree laughed. He let out a strong, cruel laughter.
“I already
know that!” Pine Tree said. “Whose plan did you think it was?”
“What?” now
it was Will’s turn to look confused.
“Yeah, the
whole get her to burn the hotel, almost kill me?” Pine Tree elaborated. “That
was my idea.”
“But… how-?”
“Did I know
you would suggest The Eternal Flame to her?” Pine Tree giggled. “What did I say
to you? ‘What if she burns down the building while Bill’s gone?! I would be
gone in an instance!’ Oh, don’t give me that look, Will; I already knew you were
a traitor. I might not remember much from my first days at the hotel, but I
remember you trying to ‘help’ me leave. Bill refused to believe that a member
of his family would ever betray him, so I suggested this plan to prove it. And
now, I just happen to have your old job, as I’m the only one Bill would trust
that position to~”
“But… Bill
is manipulating you…”
Pine Tree
laughed again. “Really? You think he’s the one manipulating me? I have him
wrapped around my finger. A little pout there, a wave with my eyelashes there,
and he’ll do whatever I say. So yeah,” he rose to his feet. “I manipulate him…
but I also really love him. He saved me after all. It’s your fault you can’t
understand the love we share.”
And with
that, Pine Tree turned towards the door.
“Don’t
worry; I’ll leave the rest of your food there,” he pointed to the tray sitting
about five feet away from the chained up Will. “In case you get hungry or
thirsty later.”
Will
snapped and tried to pull himself free of the chains, but it didn’t work, and
Pine Tree left him there; alone again.
I think I’ve gone insane. There is no way this
place can be real… No, I have to stay strong. My brother is trapped somewhere
here, and if I don’t find him… I won’t even think about what might happen to
both of us…
Mabel ran.
At that point, it was all she could do. She had to find Cipher’s room so she
could finish her deal with Saki. Then, she’d find her brother, somehow, and
they’d escape this living hell.
When she
arrived at a staircase, she leaned against the railing for a moment, trying to
catch her breath, before proceeding to climb the stairs. She came face to face
with a door; it looked so much different from all the other doors, like it
didn’t belong in this hotel. It was made from dark, almost black wood, and it
lacked a number plaque, instead it just had some weird pattern carved into it.
Mabel
carefully opened the door, poking her head inside. Inside was a short hallway,
three doors on each side, with the hallway ending in a final seventh door. The
seventh door had a golden pattern similar to the one she had just gone through.
It only made sense that the souls would be hidden behind that door, so Mabel
ran to it, trying to open it, only to find it locked. She heard footsteps from behind
the door; they sounded panicking. She then heard the sound of someone running
up the stairs.
Panicking,
Mabel ran to one of the other doors, ripped it open, and hid inside, praying
that whoever was coming wouldn’t find her.
Luckily,
she heard the footsteps walk right past her and open what she was pretty sure
was the door she had tried to open.
“Is
everything alright!?” she could hear a muffled voice ask; it sounded worried,
scared even. She couldn’t hear the response, but it didn’t seem to soothe the
other person’s worries. “What?!” they exclaimed.
There was
the sound of another door opening, and someone else speaking; “It was me, Bill.
I wanted to give you an important message, and I thought you were in your
room.”
“Well? What
is it?” the first speaker asked, and now that Mabel knew it was Bill, she felt
even more scared than before; she seriously doubted Bill would forgive her for
breaking into what appeared to be his home.
“Our guest
decided to leave,” the other person said. “Guess she gave up on finding her
brother.”
“What!?”
Bill exclaimed. Mabel could faintly hear someone respond to his outburst, but
it seemed to be the person who had been in the room Mabel tried to break into;
the one Mabel couldn’t clearly hear. “Will, keep Pine Tree in your room; guard
him with your life. If anything happens to him while I’m gone…”
He didn’t
finish his sentence, but even Mabel could feel his threatening gaze. There were
more sounds of footsteps along with more doors opening and closing. Mabel
waited for a couple of seconds with bated breath before she dared to go back
into the hallway.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The hallway was abandoned once again. I don’t
know who the two people Cipher spoke to was, but… One of them was either
seriously misinformed or, the somehow more likely solution, they covered for
me…
Mabel
decided to try the door she had originally wanted to go through; it was no
longer locked and, as she poked her head inside, it was empty. The room was
golden and black in color, and basically looked like a normal bedroom; a very
fancy and expensive bedroom to be fair, but still. There was a king-sized bed,
a violin lying on said bed, a dresser, a desk and office chair, both of which
was covered in papers and documents, in front of the door was a big mirror, a
low table underneath it, with two ceramic pots growing flowers; the room was
also decorated with some potted plants. Cipher hadn’t seemed like the caring
type of guy, but maybe he acted differently to plants than his hotel guests.
She walked
over to the desk and began to look through the various papers; at first she was
curious what they were, but then she realized that they were all related to the
hotel. There were work schedules, lists of activities and arrangements,
maintenance notes; they looked like they could have belonged to a normal hotel.
Then, after digging through various notes, she found stacks of papers that were
different; they looked almost like… police files or public records.
The first
one she picked up had a picture of a young man with a strained smile. Then
there were pages on pages describing what appeared to be his life, specifically
how he had been verbally abused by his mother for playing with dolls, how that
had led to issues socializing with others, how that had turned him into a
hermit, and so on, escalating until the last page described how he, in a fit of
rage, had murdered his mother by stabbing her repeatedly with a knife, then
attempted to… sew her back together, and when it didn’t work, the file simply
said: “He could no longer face reality.”
Mabel
looked through some of those other files, and they were all the same; from
early childhood they would describe how certain events led to others,
eventually escalating to some kind of tragedy, and then ending with the words
saying that they “could no longer face reality”.
She
clutched her head in her hands. What did all of this mean? Who were these
people? How did Cipher have such detailed files on their lives? And why did
they all end the same way?
It was then
that Mabel spotted another file, hidden between the various papers strewn
about. She could only see part of the picture poking out, but there was no
doubt about it; that was a picture of her. She hesitated for a moment, but
forced herself to pick up the file and read it.
It had her
name, her age, her birth date. It detailed how she and her brother had been
friends since they were born. How they had always considered each other their
best friend. How Dipper had excelled in school, and Mabel had grown jealous. How
said jealousy had caused her to seek away from her brother, getting new
friends. How when Dipper had begun to struggle in school, Mabel had been
secretly happy. How Mabel had still tried to help her brother, but had
eventually given up and convinced herself that her brother was just lazy and
didn’t try hard enough. How she had abandoned her brother when he needed her
the most to pursue her own social life. How her brother had stopped answering
her scarce phone calls and messages after his exam. How after he came back, he
got his grades back, and learned he had failed. How Mabel had told him to just
try harder. How her brother had gone quiet once again. How a suicide note had
been found in his dorm room. The file ending such: “Realizing she had caused her
brother’s death, she could no longer face reality.”
Mabel let
go of the file. It had been right. Mabel couldn’t deny it any longer. She knew
now why she was in this hotel, and why she was being tormented like this; she
had killed her brother. She curled into a ball on the chair and started rocking
herself back and forth, crying softly.
“Are you
really gonna give up like that?” a voice asked from behind her. Mabel turned
around and almost screamed at who she thought was Bill, but she realized it
wasn’t Bill, just someone who looked a lot like him.
“Who are
you?” Mabel asked, drying away a tear.
“My name is
Will,” he responded. “You know now why you’re here?” he nodded towards the
various papers and files.
“Because I
killed my brother,” Mabel sobbed.
“No!” Will
shouted. “Come on! It literally says it in every single file!”
Mabel
blinked her tears away, mostly because sorrow was getting replaced with
confusion.
Will picked
up Mabel’s file, which was still on the last page, and used a finger to
underline the last sentence.
“I can’t…
face reality?”
“You
couldn’t face the fact that your brother was dead,” Will confirmed. “But it
seems like you’re able to now, which is… interesting.” He got a pondering look
on his face.
“I need to
know one thing,” she paused and tried to brace herself for the answer. “Did my
brother ever… end up here?”
“… Yes,”
Will responded. “I actually thought he’d be the first to escape, but… he came
back. And now, he’s dead.”
“So… he
came back because he couldn’t face reality either,” Mabel nodded to herself.
Now she knew what had happened to her brother; after everyone, including Mabel,
had pushed him away, he had decided he would rather return to the hotel and die
there, than face reality.
“Don’t
blame yourself,” Will said and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “This
hotel has taken so many souls; it’s to blame.”
“No,” Mabel
shook her head and stepped away from Will. Her voice was hoarse with emotions,
but her expression was steadfast and stern. “I am not going to lie to myself
any longer. If I had been a better sister, my brother wouldn’t have died. But
that doesn’t mean this place doesn’t share some of the blame. I am going to
leave this place, but not before I destroy it, so it can never hurt anyone
again.”
“Wow,” Will
looked at her in shock, but slowly a smile crept on to his face. “Yes,” he
nodded. “That could work… In one of the hotel’s hallways, there’s a jar
containing The Eternal Flame. If you let it lose, it can burn down the entire
hotel. But you have to promise to never return to hotel, otherwise it won’t
work.”
“Okay, but
first, I have one last piece of unfinished business; Saki saved my life, and in
exchange I promised to bring her one of Cipher’s souls… Also, how do I find
that Eternal Flame?”
“Follow
me,” Will led her out of the room and through another door, which led to an
enormous room filled with shelves upon shelves of jars with different colored
lights inside. Will surveyed them before grabbing one and rearranged the
others, so that it was less obvious one had been taken. “Here.”
Will handed
Mabel the jar. “Give this one to Saki. And don’t worry about finding her or The
Eternal Flame; this hotel has a habit of showing people exactly what they want
to see…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I know now why I’m here. I can choose to either
give up and receive my punishment for letting my brother die, or I can make
sure that no one will ever suffer because of this hotel, again.
Wandering
through the hallways, it didn’t take long before Mabel arrived at a hotel door
different from the others; like the door to Cipher’s home, it lacked a number
plaque and was also more fancy than the other doors, albeit not to the same
degree as Cipher’s.
Mabel
knocked on the door and it didn’t take long before it opened. Saki’s head poked
out and, as soon as she saw the jar with the soul, she snatched it out of
Mabel’s hands and popped opened the lid.
“Oh! I’ve
waited so long for this,” she said with an almost orgasmic delight. She plucked
the soul out of the jar using her thumb and forefinger, and proceeded to lick
and suck on it while making obscene sounds.
“Um… I’m
just gonna go now,” Mabel said and began to shuffle away.
“Mhm,
sure,” Saki nodded between her moans and headed back inside her room. Mabel
wondered how long that soul would even last…
As Mabel
began to traverse the hallways once more, hoping to find that Eternal Flame
that Will had mentioned, she heard that familiar song from behind her, slowly
getting louder; “Do you know who I am? They call me Judgement Boy~”
Dipper felt
shaken, and even sicker than before. His children were gone…
“W-what
happened while we were away?” Dipper asked, unable to stop the tears from
streaming down his face.
Bill had a
short talk with the Crauhlohs in the green uniform.
“Phofia was
the one to report the eggs missing,” Bill explained to Dipper and led him away
to one of the parlors. There they found Phofia, sitting on a couch and staring
blankly ahead.
“Phofia…”
Dipper approached her carefully and placed a hand on her knee. “What happened?”
“I…” she
swallowed audibly and fiddled with her hands. “It… happened after your call
announcing your return… I was only gone in so short time…” she opened her hand
and revealed a crumbled note. “I… I am so sad of it…”
Dipper took
the note and tried to smooth it out, but it was written in Cyonian, which
Dipper had yet to learn.
“The
culprit used a Yosungroyun…” Bill deduced as he took the note from Dipper. “A…
writing mechanism?”
“So like a
typewriter,” Dipper nodded. “What does it say?”
Bill got
quiet and crumbled up the letter before shoving it up his sleeve. “It’s not
important,” Bill said. “I will discuss the note further with the Aren Ristile.”
“Bill…
Please tell me,” Dipper begged, but Bill had already left. Dipper turned back
to Phofia, who still seemed almost traumatized. “Phofia, what did that letter
say?”
“It…” she
paused. “I should not tell you. Siheas Brhithel is right; it is not that
important-“
“It’s a note from the person who kidnapped my children!” Dipper shouted as
tears once more spilled from his eyes. “I deserve to know whatever was written
on that note!”
“I… yes,”
Phofia nodded and averted her eyes. “It said that… you did not deserve to be
called Ishilaheer, that your… esen, your… blood, would taint our race for
generations to come… It said some things about your ishinir that I dare not
repeat, and… then it said that if you were truly Ishilaheer, this predicament
would not exist, thus proving you unworthy.”
“What? What
does it mean that… if I were truly Ishilaheer? I can carry eggs, right?”
“I- I am
not in position to explain that,” Phofia ducked her head and rose from her
seat. “I must leave! Ask Siheas Brhithel if you truly must know.”
Dipper
watched Phofia leave the parlor in haste, before he left himself.
He found
Bill talking with one of the Aren Ristile.
“Phofia
told me what the note said,” Dipper announced to Bill.
“I did not
want you to hear that,” Bill sighed and paused his conversation with the Aren
Ristil. He turned to Dipper and embraced him. “We will find them. I promise.”
“And bring
the culprit to justice,” Dipper added.
“That…”
Bill swallowed. “This Aren Ristil was relaying to me Phofia testimony. Before
she checked on the eggs, someone was at the door.”
“Yes, I
remember,” Dipper nodded.
“It was
Tlummus, asking for me,” Bill continued.
“But… he
should have known we were still away. Why…? Y-you think…?”
“It is a
possibility,” Bill admitted and held on tighter to Dipper. “But Tlummus being
Xerex, it is impossible for him to be investigated without hard proof.”
“Then… it’s
over?” Dipper was starting to shake again. The thought that Tlummus was the one
who had taken their children… Dipper couldn’t stop imagining what horrible
things he might have done to them. “I-if Tlummus has them, they’re already…”
“No!” Bill
insisted. “Didn’t Phofia tell you? The note says that the eggs have been placed
somewhere, and that they are still intact; the kidnapper wishes for us to find
them before they… well, according to the note… we have a week, but I promise we
will find them!”
Dipper just
nodded, but he couldn’t bring himself to hope, and the sickening feeling in his
stomach only got worse.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first
three days passed without any news. Dipper was beginning to feel so sick, he
could barely leave the bed. Bill had to attend his duties as Siheas, but he
spent every available moment he had by Dipper’s side.
It didn’t
help that Dipper also slept horrible; he had nightmares where he was surrounded
by darkness, only a faint, white thread illuminated his surroundings, and all
he could hear were small, distant voices forced to cry as they were too young
for words.
By the
fifth day, Dipper had given up whatever remaining hope he had left. Bill tried
his best to assure him they would find the eggs, but Dipper’s condition had
escalated to a point where every time he closed his eyes, he saw the black
void, the white thread, and heard the voices crying out.
Somehow,
Bill had managed to coax Dipper to the kitchen with the promise of homemade
breakfast. Dipper didn’t feel like eating, but he felt guilty that Bill had to
be so strong for the both of them, while he was only falling apart.
While Bill
was preparing the food, a knock was heard on the front door. Bill sat breakfast
aside and rushed to the door, no doubt hoping it was good news about the eggs.
“AON EL PAM
SORMA!!” Dipper heard Bill shouted. He rose from his seat and ran out to the
front door, where he found Tlummus standing.
“Mri uru
kavo orhi iaiz sorma,” Tlummus practically spat. “Mri uru hiri cour otha kaa
imof iao imirira emkursum.”
“Laist?!”
Bill looked vaguely shocked, but mostly angry.
“Mez uru
laist shur heffaor asiens iao nath zem… zhuoz,” Tlummus gestured at Dipper. “Re
friee kavo resoden omiez ishinir.”
“MOUST
DERKLINE IAO!?!” Bill shrieked and looked like he was about to punch Tlummus.
“Bill!
Stop!” Dipper shouted and gave Tlummus a stern look. “Laist riheshir iao?”
Tlummus
looked surprised at Dipper’s words, or maybe he had simply thought that Dipper
really couldn’t speak Auldrinish so well yet, but he quickly schooled his face
back to an angry sneer.
“Otha
laheer ishinir,
Muru kavo
Ishilaheer.
Ishilesh
zess cheio,
Kavoet
Kethrar soilano.
Cusea
resode iaiz ishilesh,
Ish lizu
iaiz ishilesh,
Cour xesseh
laheeven suom erinmeer,
Uru iao
kavo Ishilaheer.”
Tlummus
chanted these words like an old rhyme he knew by heart. Dipper understood most
of the words, but he couldn’t make sense of what it meant.
“Zan iao
otha mri kavo uru Ishilaheer, dokaito mri kavo lizair pam ishilesh?” Dipper
asked in disbelief. “Mri zess zem anniyel ghuziro pam lirkam cour otha gostan
zhuoz neklado!” Dipper couldn’t keep it in anymore; he slapped Tlummus himself.
“COURSIS!!!”
Tlummus
looked stunned, but left with no further argument.
“What did
he mean, Bill?” Dipper asked, still crying his eyes out. “What did that rhyme
mean?!”
“It… he…”
Bill hesitated.
“I need to
know, Bill! I know you’re not telling me something!”
“… It is an
old proverb among my people. We believe the Ishilaheer have a psychic bond with
their eggs before they hatch and during the first few years; it is to help keep
them safe while they are at their most vulnerable. There have been many tests
suggesting that the strength of the bond is related to how much the Kethrar…
love their children.”
“And as a non-Crauhloh,
I don’t have that bond, right?” Dipper didn’t need to be told; he already knew.
“And if the bond’s strength is normally tide to how much the Kethrar loves and
cherishes their children… people would no doubt believe that no bond means-“
“Do not say
that!” Bill gently grabbed Dipper and embraced him. “I know you love our
children! A-and when we find them… you can show everyone!”
“Bill… we
are running out of time,” Dipper sobbed. “For all we know, our children are
already-“
“No!
They’re not!” Bill insisted. “We still have time!”
“Bill, I
keep hearing the sound of crying children whenever I close my eyes!” Dipper
cried.
“… What?”
Bill gave him a weird look; Dipper had known bringing it up would make Bill
think he was going insane, but he had to know.
“I can’t
handle it,” Dipper kept crying as he fell into Bill’s arms, holding onto him
like a lifeline.
“Have you
experienced anything else?” Bill asked, not sounding worried at all. It caused
Dipper to pause and give Bill his own weird look.
“I… I see a
glowing, white thread when I close my eyes…” Dipper responded carefully.
“Dipper!” Bill gave a joyous roar, picked
him up and spun him around. “That’s the bond! You have the bond!”
“H-how?!”
Dipper gasped as Bill finally sat him down. “I thought non-Crauhlohs couldn’t
have the bond.”
“It has
never been proven or disproven!” Bill laughed. “It was always only assumed! Oh,
this is wonderful!”
“This
means, we can use the bond to find our children?” Dipper asked.
“I shall
call the Aren Ristile,” Bill said. “I will have them bring a vehicle, then you
can use the bond to guide us.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Within
twenty minutes, the Aren Ristile had shown up in a flying vehicle. Dipper and
Bill had entered it, and Dipper closed his eyes and focused on the bond as hard
as he could. He didn’t know if it was intuition or what, but he could somehow
feel as they were getting closer, and he was able to give directions as the
bond twisted and turned to show where his children were hidden.
They ended
up in a forested area, with the bond pointing to a cave with a collapsed
entrance. The Aren Ristile began talking amongst each other, discussing what
the best way to have the rocks covering the entrance removed, but Dipper didn’t
even hesitate; he jumped out of the vehicle, ran over to the entrance, and used
his hands to dig the rocks away.
“Dipper!”
Bill called and followed. “What are you doing!? You might cause further cave
in-“
“It’s a
false collapse!” Dipper shouted in return. “All the rocks are too small, none
of them match the color of the cave itself, and in fact the rest of the cave is
too solid and intact to have suffered a collapse!”
Bill seemed
to realize that Dipper was right, as he too began to help dig out the rocks; it
didn’t take much effort; it was like someone had just dumped a pile of rocks at
the entrance to discourage anyone from entering the cave.
As soon as
the entrance was cleared, Dipper ran inside and found the three eggs in the
back, sitting in a makeshift nest, along with a stone that seemed to emit some
slight heat; not enough to keep the eggs alive in the cold, damp cave, but
enough to lengthen the time it would take for the eggs to perish.
An Aren
Ristil entered the cave, carrying a basket with multiples of the heating rocks
underneath a blanket. Dipper and Bill placed the eggs in the basket, but Dipper
refused to let anyone else carry the basket back to the vehicle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They
stopped by a hospital so a Doctor could check on the eggs. They were told that
the eggs were fine; they just needed enough heat. After that small stop, Bill,
Dipper, and the eggs were all returned home.
The staff
were excited and relieved at the eggs’ safe return, especially Phofia who
insisted on getting a good look at the eggs herself to make sure they were
alright.
Bill and
Dipper retired to their bedroom, where they moved the eggs nest to their bed
and just lied beside them for a bit.
“I’m so
happy we found them,” Dipper cried. “I thought… Oh god, I was so scared…”
“Everything’s
gonna be fine now,” Bill assured him.
“What about
Tlummus?” Dipper asked. “What if tries to steal our eggs again? What if he just
decides to-“
“We’ll need
to keep a constant eye on the eggs from now on,” Bill said with a fierce look
in his eyes. “I promise you, we will somehow bring Tlummus to justice. And our
children are going to be fine. I’ll have extra security guarding our home
constantly until our children are safe. And I will remain by your side through
it all… e-except for…”
“What is
it, Bill?” Dipper asked, his voice full of worry.
“I have
arranged a meeting with the Council,” Bill explained. “I dare not tell you what
it is for, but… I will do everything within my power to have the Council
listen. Once this meeting is over, I will have no further obligations until our
children are born.”
Translations:
“Yosungroyun” = A machine used to typing
documents, commonly used to give all official papers a standard look
that anyone can recognize
“Aren Ristile” = The Crauhloh equivalent of police. Literally means The Hands of the Law
“Esen” = Blood
“Ishinir” = Eggs
“AON EL PAM SORMA!!” = GET OUT OF MY HOME!!
“Mri uru kavo orhi iaiz sorma” = I am not in your home
“Mri uru hiri cour otha kaa imof iao imirira emkursum.” = I am here to see if you finally understand
“Laist?!”= What?!
“Mez uru laist shur heffaor asiens iao nath zem… zhuoz,”= This is what happens when you mate with… those
“Re friee kavo resoden omiez ishinir.” = He cannot protect your eggs
“MOUST DERKLINE IAO!?!” = HOW DARE YOU!?!
“Laist riheshir iao?” = What do you mean?
“Otha laheer ishinir, = To carry eggs
Muru kavo Ishilaheer. Does not create Ishilaheer
Ishilesh zess cheio, Children will die
Kavoet Kethrar soilano. Without Kethrar’s courage
Cusea resode iaiz ishilesh, So protect your children
Ish lizu iaiz ishilesh, And love your children
Cour xesseh laheeven suom erinmeer, For if the bond gets cut
Uru iao kavo Ishilaheer.” You are not Ishilaheer
“Zan
iao otha mri kavo uru Ishilaheer, dokaito mri kavo lizair pam
ishilesh?” = Are you saying that I am not Ishilaheer, because I don’t
love my children?
“Mri zess zem anniyel ghuziro pam lirkam cour otha gostan zhuoz neklado!” = I would happily give my life to get them back!
The
tutoring plan hadn’t worked out either, but now Bill was sure what he needed to
do; he needed to send a clear message to the other students thirsting after
Dipper’s ass.
He waited
until they started covering nature spirits, like dryads and nymphs and the
like. On his and Dipper’s lunch date, which had become a regular occurrence by
now, he asked his question. This time, they were eating at a café near campus,
which was often frequented by the students between classes.
“So, I
actually had a question concerning today’s lesson,” Bill began, having already
planned a way to naturally lead to his real question.
“Fire
away,” Dipper said with a smile before sipping the soda he had ordered.
“You
mentioned how dryads are spirits connected to trees, and I was wondering… If
there are spirits connected to trees, are there spirits connected to all kinds
of plant life, like even grass and flowers?”
“Hmm,”
Dipper paused and thought for a moment. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard about
spirits connected to grass, but yes, there are spirits connected to flowers,
including nymphs actually.”
“No spirits
in grass? Tell that to all the stoners around campus,” Bill joked and Dipper
laughed; god his laugh was beautiful… wait, what? “But, anyway,” Bill shook his
head; no way he was actually falling for the teacher, right? It was just a
physical attraction; Bill was only shooting for some sex and maybe a couple of
dates, not an actual relationship! “I’ll remember to write the connection
between nymphs and flowers down in my notebook later. Speaking of flowers, do
you have a favorite flower?”
The lead in
hadn’t been as natural as Bill had hoped for, but he was starting to feel
panicky at the thought of falling in actual love with his professor. He just
prayed that Dipper’s denseness would also apply to this situation.
“Yes,”
Dipper nodded. “It’s blue roses. It’s interesting, ‘cause they don’t occur in
nature, but-“ he closed his mouth, biting his lower lip as he lowered his gaze.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to start rambling.”
“I don’t
mind,” Bill responded with a smile; it was really cute when Dipper talked, or
rambled, about things he was passionate about; it was one of the reasons Bill
was actually able to pay attention in class.
Their conversation
was cut by the sound of Dipper’s phone ringing. “Sorry Bill,” Dipper shrugged. “It’s
my sister.” He rose from his seat and stepped away to a part of the café where there
was a lack of people, so that he could have his conversation in peace; whether
it was out of a want to keep the conversation private, or a desire not to
disturb other patrons, Bill didn’t know.
Bill seized
the opportunity to grab his phone and search up on blue roses. He got a bunch
of general info about them, found a flower shop a few towns over that sold
them, but what caught his eye, was the meaning behind them; because they were
so rare, blue roses symbolized not only mystery, but also to desire the
unobtainable. Was this a purposeful clue left by Dipper? Was Dipper actually in
love with Bill, but thought he couldn’t have him? If it was then Bill would
have to lay out a clue of his own, and then see if Dipper picked up on it.
When Dipper
returned, their drinks had been placed on the table, but their food still hadn’t
arrived.
“You know,
Dipper, my favorite flower is actually jonquils,” Bill said, studying Dipper’s
face closely in order to spot any sign of recognition or realization.
“Oh, they’re
yellow, right? That suits you,” Dipper smiled and took a sip of his coffee.
Okay, so
maybe there hadn’t been any special meaning to Dipper’s choice of flower, but
if Bill gave Dipper a bouquet of their two favorite flowers, Dipper should get
the hint.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bill had
tried; he had tried to pull every thread he had available, which was, to say
the least, a fuckton, but apparently jonquils only bloomed in spring! What was
the point of being the heir to a huge fortune and business empire, if he couldn’t
even bend the laws of nature to give his teacher a meaningful bouquet!?
He had
quickly, after about seven hours of brooding in his room, realized he needed to
make a compromise. So instead of jonquils, he got pink camellias. Pink was a
common color symbolizing love, and pink camellias specifically meant “longing
for you”, so that would still send the right message, right?
After
getting the bouquet, he showed up for class late, with the flowers already in a
vase filled with water, and placed them on Dipper’s desk in front of the entire
class.
“Sorry I’m
late, professor,” Bill smirked, feeling the looks of seething hatred and
jealousy, from his fellow classmates, in the back of his neck. “I was picking
up these for you.”
“Aw, thank
you, Bill, they’re very nice,” Dipper just said. “But we’re in the middle of
class, so if you could sit down in your seat, we would all appreciate it.”
And nothing
else had happened. How more obvious can you be than giving someone flowers!?
One of those two flowers even being their favorite one!? Bill was certain this
wouldn’t have happened if he could have gotten those jonquils.
Oh well, at
least the rest of the class now knew that Bill was serious.
Vernon did
his utmost to protect his precious plant from the sharp sun; he hated that he
had to transport it like this, and mentally kicked himself for working on this
side project at home, instead of at his lab.
He made his
way down the street, zigzagging to avoid various pedestrians, when he was hit
by a suddenly opened door, causing him to drop his plant.
The pot
shattered on the pavement, and the plant was exposed to the sun and the dirty
street! It was already starting to wilt and there was nothing Vernon could do.
“I’m so
sorry!” the cause for this transgression shouted. Vernon turned to the fiend;
it was a young man with brown hair, and big brown eyes. “Um, maybe I can find a
replacement? On the house?”
The man –
no boy, he did not deserve to be called a man – pointed to the building he had
just come out of. It appeared to be a rather small and shabby flower shop.
Vernon’s lip curled in disgust.
“This plant
is the product of months of biochemical experimentation and herbal breeding,”
he said, showing the boy the almost dead remains of his project. “A rose
bouquet is not enough to replace it.”
“Then maybe
I can save it?” the boy suggested. “I think I have the right thing, if you’ll
follow me!”
Vernon
shrugged; it wasn’t like the boy could make it worse.
He followed
the boy inside the shop, which was littered with various colorful, gaudy
flowers, each producing their sickly sweet scents. The boy took the plant into
a backroom, quickly shutting the door behind him. Vernon knew the boy was going
to fail, and judging from the secrecy, it seemed like the boy knew it too and
was only trying to stall for time.
About
fifteen minutes later, however, to Vernon’s surprise, the boy stepped out with
the plant; it had gotten a new pot and looked stronger and healthier than ever.
“H-how…?”
Vernon stuttered in disbelief, accepting his plant back.
“Oh, I, uh,
have really green thumbs,” the boy chuckled; his laughter sounded like the
sweetest bells to Vernon.
“I’ll say,”
Vernon smiled. “How can I ever repay you, Mr.…?”
“My name is
Mabus Pines, but my friends and family call me Dipper,” he stretched out his
hand for handshake. Vernon took it in his and kissed the back of it.
“What a
beautiful name; it suits you.” It really did; Vernon had obviously been completely
wrong about this young man! What he had thought to be a dimwitted amateur
turned out to be a lovely botanist prodigy.
“Thank
you,” Dipper blushed, not used to receive these types of compliments from
people other than Bill. “I’m glad I was able to help you-“
“Porcupine~
I’ve finished my deliveries~” Bill announced as strolled into the store. In a
few quick strides he had already gotten close enough to Dipper to give him the
usual kiss on the cheek. It was first then he noticed their guest. “Oh, hi!
Customer?”
“No,” the
guest frowned and let go of Dipper’s hand.
“This is my
boyfriend; Bill,” Dipper explained. “He is also the shop’s delivery boy.”
“It truly
pains me to be away from my dear, sweet Porcupine so long,” Bill teased as he
grabbed Dipper around the waist and lifted him up. “But we must all make
sacrifices.”
“Bill, no!”
Dipper laughed. “Not during business hours!”
The guest
let out a polite, but annoyed cough and Bill put Dipper down again.
“Thank you
for your assistance, Mabus,” the guest said, his previous frown melted away to
be replaced with a charming smile.
“No
problem,” Dipper smiled back in return. “Working on your plant was quite the experience;
I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I would
hope not; I’ve created it after all. If you are interested, I’ve worked on many
different projects these last years, and I’ve been waiting for the right person
to show them off to. You seem to have an interest in plants.”
“Well, you
know, when you work in a flower shop,” Dipper shrugged awkwardly; it would be
hard to explain why he was working with plants if he admitted he had no
interest in them.
“I wish to
invite you to my greenhouse, so that I can show you my latest project.”
“Uh, you,
um, still haven’t told me your name…”
“Ah, how
rude of me,” he shook his head slightly in embarrassment. “I go by Vernon
Jardine. I will sent you a message when I have time to show you my projects!”
and with that, he left the shop.
“Wow!” Bill
was grinning from ear to ear. “Wow!”
“What is it,
Bill?” Dipper asked deadpanned.
“That guy
totally has a crush on you,” Bill laughed.
“Is this
the part where you get jealous?” Dipper teased.
“Aw, no
way,” Bill shook his head. “I know I’m the only one you have eyes for~”
“I don’t
know,” Dipper pretended to ponder. “The guy didn’t look too bad~ I might take
him up on his offer.”
“Oh!” Bill
exclaimed dramatically and grabbed his chest like he had been shot in the
heart. “You wound me, my sweet! I gave you my heart, and you broke it to-“ Bill
interrupted himself by bursting into laughter, quickly followed by Dipper. It
took a while before the laughter subsided. “I’m sorry; I couldn’t hold it back
anymore!”
“It’s okay,
Bill,” Dipper managed to say through his gasps for breath. “But seriously, I
have no interest in that guy; he was kinda creepy.”
“No
kidding,” Bill agreed. “He kept staring at me like he was trying to burn me to
the ground. Let’s head upstairs and forget about that guy.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dipper had
been hoping that would have been the last he heard of Vernon, but he did end up
receiving a letter only three days later, inviting him to Vernon’s greenhouse.
Dipper kept the letter for a while, mulling over whether he should even respond
to it, but after thinking about for another three days, Vernon showed up in the
flower shop.
“Did you
receive my letter?!” was the first thing that came out of his mouth as he
arrived.
“I… Yes,”
Dipper responded, trying to hide how creeped out the guy made him feel; there
was just something very wrong with him. “I’m… sorry I haven’t responded; I’ve
just been busy, and haven’t really had the time to write back, let alone find a
day to visit.”
“Understandable,
I suppose,” Vernon shrugged. “But you must realize, a single leaf from one of
my plants carry more complex biological make-up than all these tacky things put
together.” He gestured to the various flowers in the store. Dipper couldn’t
help but feel slightly insulted; sure, he didn’t have a big interest in plants,
and he was sure Vernon’s plants were complex and ingenious, but the guy was
insulting Dipper’s work.
“I’m just
super busy,” Dipper explained away. “Maybe you should find someone else?
Someone who is more in your league, intelligence wise. I mean, I’m just a
florist after all.” He finished with a small laugh, and hoped that stroking the
guy’s ego would make him decide to leave on his own.
“Did your…
boyfriend tell you that?” he asked seriously.
“What? No!”
Dipper responded flabbergasted.
“No, I
understand; he probably belittles you for working in a flower shop of all
places.”
Dipper
couldn’t believe this guy; hadn’t he literally just done that exact thing?
“You
shouldn’t let your boyfriend treat you like that,” Vernon continued. “I would
treat you like royalty; that’s what you deserve.”
“Look, Bill
treats me really well; he doesn’t believe me, he respects me-“
“Not from
what I’ve seen; he kissed you and picked you up without asking for your
permission, like you were his property.”
Dipper
sighed; it seemed like Vernon had already decided what he thought of Bill.
“But let’s
not discuss this further; when will you be able to see my greenhouse?”
Dipper felt
like Vernon really wouldn’t take no for an answer. Maybe it would be better to
just go with him, and if he didn’t like it, Vernon would be probably be so
insulted that he would just leave Dipper alone.
“Alright,
how about tomorrow night?” Dipper suggested.
“Perfect!”
Vernon smiled. “I shall be here at eight pm sharp and escort you!”
He left
with no further objections, and Dipper wondered if not showing up would be
enough to make Vernon hate him, or if it would just make him more insistent.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dipper
explained what had happened, to Bill and Mabel, during dinner.
“I just
want this whole thing to finally be over,” he sighed, nudging his last
leftovers around the plate with his fork.
“It’s kinda
creepy, Dips,” Mabel responded with a scrunched up face.
“I mean, to
be fair, it’s slightly less creepy than what I did when I was courting you,”
Bill laughed.
“Well, at
least I knew the Illuminator and had a crush on him!” Dipper protested.
“Aw, you
had a crush on me?” Bill smiled.
“Besides,
Mabel knew the address and could come and save me if something went wrong… I
have no idea where this greenhouse is!”
“Ok, then
bring your phone and text us a picture of the greenhouse along with the
address,” Mabel suggested.
“Guess
that’s the best we can do,” Dipper shook his head slowly and shrugged. “If I
don’t respond within thirty minutes of sending the address, come and get me,
‘cause I don’t wanna stay there any longer if I have to. You know what? Call me
up, so I have an excuse to leave even!”
“That’s a
deal, Porcupine,” Bill laughed and snatched a bite of Dipper’s leftovers from
his plate.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When it was
a couple of minutes past eight pm, Dipper left the house, making sure he had
his phone in his pocket, and walked from the home entrance in the alley, to the
shop entrance in front of the street. Vernon was already standing there,
looking at his wristwatch and stomping his foot irritatingly.
“Oh, there
you are!” he exclaimed, his sour expression quickly replaced with a bright
smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “You kept me waiting, you know!”
“It’s only
three minutes past eight,” Dipper pointed out.
“Might as
well be thirty,” Vernon said and led Dipper to a car; it was black with opaque
windows, and it looked almost brand new, and very expensive. “When I say ‘eight
pm sharp’, I want you to be there eight pm sharp, and not a minute later.”
He opened
the car door, and Dipper reluctantly entered the passenger’s seat. When Vernon
started the car and the doors auto locked, Dipper wished he had taken out his
phone and snapped a picture of the car’s license plate and sent it to Mabel and
Bill.
The car
drove outside of town, into a wooded area. It drove down a bumpy dirt road that
barely was broad enough for the car.
“I’m
surprised your car is so shiny, handling this type of road,” Dipper quipped,
trying to fill the awkward silence.
“Oh, I
don’t usually use this car, but this is a special occasion,” Vernon responded
with a grin. “My work pays rather well.”
Dipper
replied only with a hum before turning to his phone. He wrote a quick message
to Mabel about the wooded area and the dirt road, since he was starting to
doubt the greenhouse had an actual address.
“We’re
here!” Vernon exclaimed with excitement. Dipper looked up and saw a huge, glass
dome, also constructed with opaque glass like the car windows. He snapped a
quick picture and sent it to Mabel. “What was that?!” Vernon said, jerking his
head towards Dipper.
“I was just
taking a picture,” Dipper shrugged. “It looks… so impressive.”
“You don’t
need a picture!” Vernon snarled. “Erase that, NOW.”
“O-ok,”
Dipper stammered and erased the picture. It didn’t matter; Mabel had already
received and saved it to her phone.
They exited
the car and Vernon led Dipper to the front door of the greenhouse; it was
locked with a card scanner. Vernon took out a card and swiped it across the
scanner. A light on the door flashed green and there was a small beep.
Vernon
opened the door and gestured for Dipper to walk in first. Dipper obliged and
stepped inside; the room didn’t look like he had imagined; he’d thought that
with this being the place Vernon worked with plants, it would more like a
laboratory, but it looked more like an old laboratory that had been abandoned
centuries ago and nature had come to claim. Everything was covered in plant
life; there was no floor, just dirt for the plants to grow freely from, and the
foliage was so dense that Dipper was starting to wonder if the glass perhaps
wasn’t opaque; the plants were covering the windows so densely that there was
barely a scrap of glass visible.
“Isn’t it
wonderful!?” Vernon exclaimed with pure, almost child-like joy. He walked over
to a small plant; it looked identical to a venus flytrap. He used a finger to
pet the tiny thing, and the flytrap seemed to lift its head to meet the finger.
“It’s…”
Dipper paused and took another look around. “… intimidating…”
“Aww, it’s
okay that your skills aren’t at my level yet,” Vernon said as he turned to
Dipper. “You just still have a long way to go, but I’ll help you.”
“Um, this
has been interesting, but I don’t think we care about plants in the same way,”
Dipper tried to explain, before Vernon grabbed him by the arm and harshly
pulled Dipper towards him. Dipper heard the sound of his phone flying out of
his pocket by the sudden pull and hit the ground.
“Don’t you
see?!” Vernon grinned like a maniac. “Haven’t you noticed!?”
“What is
it?” Dipper asked. Fear was beginning to enter his voice, but Vernon didn’t
seem to notice it.
“The
plants… they’re alive.”
“Well,
yeah, all plants are al-“
“No!”
Vernon shouted, interrupting Dipper. “I’m not talking about that, if you can
even call what ordinary plants are ‘alive’! I’m talking about actual thinking,
feeling life forms.”
“What?”
Dipper looked at him in confusion, which Vernon seemed to mistake for
curiosity.
“Through my
studies, I began to branch off into researching a way to grant plants real
life. I began by studying lower, simple life forms, like jellyfish. I worked
through how they, through evolution, achieved their current form of life, and
attempted to replicate the process through selectively breeding my plants. It…
didn’t work. But my attempts drew the attention of some rather generous
sponsors who, in exchange for doing a few side projects for them, gave me the
resources I needed to achieve success! After successfully creating plants with
the jellyfish-like life, I moved on to more complicated life forms. Currently I
am on insects, with the ones I marked my research on the most being bees and
ants!”
Dipper just
stared at Vernon during his monologue, and felt more and more unsafe the longer
he listened.
“Come
here!” Vernon pulled him again, this time leading him towards the only other door
in the greenhouse, aside from the front door.
“I- I think
it’d be best if I left!” Dipper said, trying to pull away from Vernon.
“No, no!”
Vernon wagged his finger at Dipper like he was a disobedient child. “I need to
show you my pride and joy first!”
Dipper
reluctantly followed Vernon through the door, which led them to a huge room,
which in turn was almost completely filled by a huge pitcher plant. It seemed
to move and shake around when Vernon approached it, as if greeting him.
“Hi darling!”
Vernon greeted the plant, stepping over and pressing a kiss to one of its
leaves.
“So, uh,
you mentioned how the plants have sentience similar to ants and bees,” Dipper
interjected, slowly stepping closer to Vernon and the plant. “Does that mean…
this plant’s the queen?”
“Hmm,”
Vernon hummed in thought. “I supposed yes, technically, but it is not the boss,
if that’s what you’re thinking. I am.” He turned his attention back to the
plant and started gushing to it like it was an excited puppy. “Did you miss
daddy? Don’t worry, everything’s going fine! We just need to do one tiny favor
more, and then everything will be fine. Daddy even brought you guys a new
mommy!”
“What?”
Dipper started stepping backwards toward the door, but vines had covered it,
preventing it from being opened.
“That’s why
you’re here!” Vernon explained as he turned to Dipper. “You and I, we share the
same appreciation for plants! Doesn’t it make your soar thinking about all
these angels as your children?”
Dipper
swallowed. His phone was on the other side of the door, so he couldn’t call for
help. However, if he toughed it out, Mabel and Bill would show up and save him.
At the moment, it would be best to play along.
“Yes,”
Dipper responded. He wasn’t a very convincing actor, but it seemed like Vernon
didn’t pick up on those sorts of things, as long as he was hearing what he
wanted. “But, um, what was those other things you talked about?”
“Oh, you
see, I get my funding from the IMP,” Vernon explained eagerly. “In exchange,
they have full access to my research, and I do a couple of favors for them once
in a while. This time, they’ve asked me to get a hold of The Illuminator and
bring him to them.”
“You… but
The Illuminator has pyrokinesis, right?”
“That would
have been an obstacle, if I hadn’t already created fire proof plants, thanks to
a sample of vines I found in the city!”
Dipper’s
eyes widened as he realized those must have been his vines, from the Somna
incident.
“In fact,
the plant you helped me save was carrying that very genome!”
“What are
you going to do?” Dipper asked hesitantly.
“Cause a
bit of chaos, pretend I’m a super villain with plant powers, catch The
Illuminator, probably kill that Pine Tree hero,” Vernon listed off.
“You’re
gonna kill someone?!”
“That Pine
Tree is an insult to all plant life! Thinking he can control plants! Well, he
can’t control mine! Not when they have a mind of their own!”
Dipper was
just silent; he didn’t dare to say anything.
“I had to
get you out of the city first, however, so that you wouldn’t get yourself hurt,”
Vernon said, moving towards the door as the vines parted letting him through. “You
stay here with Regina; she’ll keep you safe while I’m out,” he blew Dipper a
kiss before shutting the door and the vines covered it once again.
Dipper
immediately transformed and attempted to move the vines, but it didn’t work.
The pitcher plant, Regina, also started looming over Dipper after he
transformed. Somehow, a growling-like noise was emitting from it.
He
detransformed and the plant stopped. It seemed like it could distinguish
between Dipper and Pine Tree, and didn’t like the latter much. It also seemed
like Vernon was right; Dipper couldn’t control the sentient plants, which left
him with no other hope than Mabel and Bill.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vernon was
humming to himself as he did the last few preparations before leaving for his
mission; including a gaudy costume that the IMP had provided for him. At least
it would help convince the moronic public that he was some kind of super villain.
He was
pulled from his thoughts when he heard a bothersome ringing, and found his
Mabus’ phone lying on the ground. He picked it up, the caller id saying Dork
with three separate heart emojis. He pressed the button to accept the call,
already having an idea who it was.
“Hello,
this is Mabus’ phone, Vernon speaking,” he greeted the caller with a smug
smirk, even if the caller couldn’t see it.
“Hi, this
is Bill,” the caller responded. “Can you hand Dipper the phone? I’ve got
something urgent to tell him.”
“He doesn’t
care; he and I are busy appreciating the beauty of my work. He most likely won’t
be coming home tonight; he said he wanted to visit my place. I also think he
said something about breaking up with you. Although, that couldn’t possibly
come as a surprise to you.”
With that,
Vernon hung up the phone and made himself ready to invade the city.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Okay,
something weird is definitely going on,” Bill told Mabel. The call had been on
speaker, and Mabel had heard everything.
“No kidding;
this guy has definitely done something to Dipper,” Mabel nodded in agreement.
“I’m
heading out there on my bike, NOW,” Bill said, already putting on the leather
jacket he rode in. “If he manages to get Dipper to wherever he lives…” Bill
paused and began to look sick. “I can’t believe I just joked around about this;
I should have taken it more seriously.”
“Bill, just
hurry out there as fast as you can!” Mabel urged him. “I’ll patrol the city
while you’re gone, and see if I maybe spot anything.” She knew the chances of
spotting Vernon, when she didn’t even know what car he drove in, were slim, but
it was all she could do to ease her worries in some way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bill drove
as fast as he could, probably violating several traffic laws, but he didn’t
care. Dipper’s instructions on the road to the greenhouse were flimsy, but Bill
still managed to find his way there. When he realized the door was locked, he
immediately transformed and blasted his way through. A small alarm sounded, but
he ignored it.
“Dipper!”
Bill called out as he stepped inside the greenhouse. The place was covered in
plant life; it looked like no one had been there for years.
His foot
hit something, causing it to slide away. Bill picked it up and realized it was
Dipper’s phone. That meant that Dipper had been there, but where was he and
Vernon now? He tried to hold back all the fears that surfaced in his mind, and
decided to look around for clues. Or at least he would, if he hadn’t seen a
bunch of vines slithering across the floor like snakes.
“Dipper?”
Bill called out. “Are you doing this?” Bill stepped away from the vines towards
the walls, where he was grabbed by a cactus-like plant that sunk its needles
into his arms. Bill ripped away from it and tried blasting it with a fireball,
but the cactus merely shrugged it off.
Realizing
there wasn’t much he could do, Bill spotted a door which he ran towards as fast
as he could. It was stuck, so he rammed it open using his shoulder, ran inside
and shut it, before finally letting out a breath of relief.
“Illuminator?”
Bill perked up when he heard the familiar voice and turned around to see
Dipper, unharmed.
“Dipper!”
Bill shouted with joy as he ran towards him, only for a giant pitcher plant in
the middle of the room to bend down and swipe up Dipper into its pitcher. “Dipper!
Are you okay?!”
“Yes!”
Dipper responded, his voice faint and echoey from inside the plant. “Vernon’s
plants are sentient! I can’t control them! They’re also fireproof! He works for
the IMP, and he’s launching an attack on the city right now to capture you!”
“Shit!”
Bill swore just as the pitcher plant began to attack him; it uprooted some of
its own roots and used them to lash out him.
“What’s going
on!?” Dipper shouted.
“It’s
attacking me!” Bill yelled back. “I don’t know how to stop it!”
Dipper
racked his brain for any kind of idea that might work, when a thought struck
him. It was an insane idea, but based on how Vernon interacted with his plants,
and how he described them, it just might work.
“Regina!”
Dipper said, trying his best to adopt the tone of a scolding parent. “You leave
that man alone this instance!”
There was a
short pause where no sound was heard before Bill responded: “I don’t know what
you did, but it worked!”
Dipper
grinned and continued: “Thank you, Regina. Now could you be a sweetheart and
let mommy out? I need to have a talk with your father.”
The plant’s
pitcher opened and tipped forward, letting Dipper slide out.
“’Mommy’?”
Bill looked at him with a small smirk.
“Just
detransform and take me back to the city; it seems like playing along works on
both Vernon and his plants.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As they
hurried into the city, they found it covered in plant-life, just like Vernon’s
greenhouse. The few people who were out and about were cowering in alleyways,
while the majority of people had locked themselves inside their home.
It didn’t
take them long to find Vernon, battling from atop a giant, crooked tree against
Mabel. The tree’s branches were brushing off her every shot and shielded
Vernon, while the various other plant life attempted to grab Mabel out of the
air.
“Hey
Vernon!” Dipper shouted.
Vernon
turned his head in surprise. “Mabus! I told you to stay with Regina!”
“Well, you
better get down from there this instant!” Dipper continued shouting. “And get all
of the kids back home, now!”
“You don’t
get to make that decision!” Vernon snarled. The plants stopped trying to battle
Mabel and seemed to shake slightly now that “mom and dad” were fighting, which
gave Mabel the chance she needed to swoop in and grab Vernon, bringing him up
into the air where the plants couldn’t reach them.
“Alright
kids, daddy is going to be away for a while; he did bad getting you to destroy
the city, and it’s time for you guys to learn to live on your own. Go back home
and stay in the forest where there’s room, dirt and water for you guys to live
on.”
The plants
seemed to listen to Dipper and took his words to heart, as they all began to
carefully trek back through the city to the forest, this time being careful not
to destroy anything.
“NOOOOO!!!!”
Vernon roared as Mabel lowered him once the plants were gone. “My creations! My
children! How could you!?!”
“How could I!?”
Dipper said through gritted teeth. “How could you kidnap me and attempt to
destroy the city!? I’m not the one in the wrong here!”
“I gave you
everything!” Vernon yelled. “I treated you like royalty!”
“I am so
fucking done with this,” Dipper massaged his forehead. “Shooting Star, just…
deliver him to the police station and let them sort this out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Colonel
Wendy Corduroy had been surprised when one of the cities so-called Melior
heroes had shown up, just to dump off what looked like a super villain, but the
guy wasn’t even Melior!
The guy, identified
as Vernon Jardine, hadn’t even attempted to deny that he was the one who had
caused the plant-based chaos that night, and not Pine Tree as the police had
first suspected. Instead he kept rambling about how he had given his heart to
an “ungrateful ditz” who didn’t deserve all that he had given him.
He seemed
fairly delirious, so they decided to keep him over night and see if his story
changed. Wendy was staying overnight and was, as usual, the last officer to
leave before the morning staff took over. She yawned and realized that maybe
she should lock up earlier. There were usually not any emergencies after a big
disaster like the one tonight, so the chances of anything happening between the
one hour before the morning staff came was slim. So she was fairly surprised
when she heard the station’s phone ring.
“Hello, am
I speaking with Colonel Corduroy?” a pleasant female voice asked from the other
end.
“Yes,”
Wendy responded. “What is the reason for your call?”
“Oh, good!
My name is Theresa Abate, and I work for the Institute of Melior Psychology,”
the voice explained with a small laugh. “We were just informed that you have
incarcerated one of our workers. We would like to take him of your hands, as
per our little deal.”
“Look,”
Wendy sighed. “I let you guys do that with the others because our station isn’t
equipped to detain Meliors, and because the law requires Meliors to be overseen
by organizations like yours, since you can’t really just throw them in jail,
but… This guy isn’t a Melior; he’s a normal human, and he’s going to be facing
a judge, and get a sentence that fits his crimes, if he’s committed any.”
“Oh,” the
tone in the woman’s voice was suddenly very sad, and it had some kind of effect
on Wendy. “You mean, you aren’t even sure that he’s the perpetrator?”
“No,” Wendy
clutched her head; she was starting to feel weird. She began to wonder how the
IMP had even learned about Vernon Jardine’s arrest to quickly, but then the
thought slipped her mind as Theresa continued to talk.
“We just
want to have a quick talk with him at our headquarters, and figure out this
little mess. He’s probably not the guilty party, right?”
“We… did
originally believe the culprit was Pine Tree; a Melior with plant-based powers,”
Wendy said. She was feeling really weird, but she couldn’t focus on anything;
she just spoke whatever came to her mind.
“And I bet
poor Mr. Jardine is just… out of his mind about this, right?”
“Yes, he
seems… delirious,” Wendy nodded along. “One of Pine Tree’s associates has
certain mind altering powers… he must have used them to make Vernon Jardine
confess to crimes he hasn’t committed.”
“Oh, that’s
what I feared,” Theresa expressed with a heavy sigh. “Don’t worry, dear, we’ll
take care of everything. Now, why don’t you go home and relax with a nice cup
of coco, and get some well deserved rest?”
“Yes,”
Wendy nodded and ended the phone call. She left the station without even making
sure to lock the doors.
As Monday rolled around, Bill couldn’t wait to see Pine Tree-chan
again! The weekends without seeing him were just getting harder and
harder. He arrived early to school, unable to just wait around at home,
ready to see when Dipper would enter the school grounds.
Bill
was hiding behind one of the trees lining the school entrance when he
saw Pine Tree-chan come walking, his head hidden away in a book and his
sister walking beside him. They both seemed pretty freaked out, as did
most of the other students. Although, to be fair, some pretty grisly
events had occurred these past few weeks.
Bill let out a
small gasp when he saw another student, also reading a book, walk in the
opposite direction of Pine Tree-chan! But before he had a chance the
two collided, with Shooting Star-chan gasping in surprise.
“S-sorry,”
the guy who had just slammed into Bill’s Pine Tree stuttered. Bill
recognized that stutter; he knew that his cousin (on his father’s side),
Will, was attending this school, but he hadn’t seen him yet. The two
had spent a lot of their childhood together, mostly involving Bill
teasing his crybaby cousin, until his dad had encouraged his brother to
move away; he had probably wanted to protect his nephew from Bill.
“That’s
alright,” Pine Tree assured him, as the sweet angel he was. Then not
only did Pine Tree-chan have to get up by himself, but he actually
extended a hand to help Will up, when it should have been the other way
around! Not that Bill would have liked that any more…
“Y-you… u-um…” Will stuttered and blushed before running off with his head hanged low.
“Oooh!
What was that, Dipper-chan?” Shooting Star-chan teased, although her
tone made it clear she wasn’t entirely into it; probably because of many
deaths lately. “You got another admirer?”
“What do you
mean ‘another’?” Dipper asked confused. “And clearly not; that guy’s
just kinda weird. I think his name is Will. He runs the school’s Occult
Club; people talk all the time about how weird he is, one of the reasons
why I joined the Photography Club instead.”
“Dipper!” Mabel hissed in anger. “You shouldn’t judge other people like that! You don’t even know him.”
“No, but that guy is actually known for stalking other students,” Dipper argued.
It
didn’t seem like Bill had any reason to worry; Pine Tree-chan seemed
very put off by Will, meaning that legend or no legend, Pine Tree-chan
probably wouldn’t accept a confession from Will.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later
that day, Bill observed Pine Tree-chan at lunch, just like always, or
that had been the plan anyway, if he hadn’t seen Will in Bill’s usually
spot, stalking Pine Tree-chan!
Sneaking up on his cousin,
Bill tapped him on the shoulder, resulting in Will letting out a scared
squeak and jumping into the air.
“Oh! Y-you…” Will stuttered out when he saw Bill.
“Yes!
Me!” Bill said with a forced smile. “I had no idea you went to this
school too, Cous’!” Bill put an arm around his cousin shoulder, which to
an outside observer would look friendly, but Bill knew his cousin would
recognize as what it really was; a method of intimidation. “So, what
were you doing just now?! Spying on a kohai? How shameful!”
“I-
I wasn’t r-really spying!” Will said, obviously trying to hide his own
guilt! “I-it’s just… I ran into that b-boy this morning, a-and ever
since… I haven’t been able t-to stop thinking a-about him. I think
h-he’s put s-some kind of c-curse on me, o-or maybe h-he’s actually an
I-Incubus in disguise! I-I’ve already discovered a student I think i-is a
S-Sucubus, s-so it makes sense that a-an Incubus would be here t-too…”
Bill let go of his cousin, spotting an opportunity.
“Sorry,
it’s my phone,” Bill lied, fished out his phone and pretended to answer
a text message, when in reality he activated a voice recording app.
“Could you repeat what you just said?”
“I think h-he cursed me,” Will repeated. “O-or h-he’s an Incubus…”
Satisfied, Bill stopped recording and returned his phone to his pocket.
“And you’re just gonna keep stalking him until you find evidence, or…?” Bill teased.
“I
guess just observing him w-wouldn’t give me much e-evidence,” Will
admitted. “I w-will probably have to t-try and get close t-to him…”
“W-what!?!”
Bill shrieked, actually drawing Pine Tree’s attention. The two cousins
both stared at Pine Tree as he lifted a hand to wave at them.
“… Hi?” he greeted them in a confused tone.
Will
blushed and ran away. Bill decided to pretend he was worried about his
cousin, both to hopefully score some points with Pine Tree, and to avoid
explaining to Pine Tree what that had been about.
Bill was unable to find Will again, and decided to leave it at that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By
the time school was over and it was time for the students to clean the
school, Bill found himself on the rooftop, both to avoid cleaning, but
also because he knew Pine Tree-chan was leaving early because of a
dentist appointment.
He spotted Pine Tree-chan leaving the
school building through the main doors; he’d recognize the hat
anywhere. What surprised Bill was that someone stopped Pine Tree-chan in
the door opening; it was Will.
Bill couldn’t hear their
conversation, but he knew he had to something about this! Luckily, with
it being cleaning time, Bill had been given a bucket of water with
bleach to clean with. While he originally had no intention of cleaning,
he still had had the foresight to bring the bucket along. He dumped the
content of the bucket from the roof, and the bleached liquid hit Will.
Will
started howling and screaming, running away before Pine Tree-chan had a
chance to help him, and because of Pine Tree’s dentist appointment, he
didn’t have time to chase after Will!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By
the next day, Bill had decided that if his cousin wouldn’t back off, he
would have to do something about it. He hesitated to actually kill his
cousin, mostly because the enormous amount of death these last few weeks
had taken its toll on Pine Tree-chan, and Bill was nothing if not a
caring future husband.
He spotted his cousin stalking Pine
Tree-chan, like the creep he was. Seriously, what kind of freak follows
their crush around like that? Pine Tree-chan stopped up while Shooting
Star-chan continued walking to the school building.
Noticing that her brother had stopped, Mabel stopped herself and turned around.
“What is it, bro-bro?” she asked.
“Just go on ahead,” Dipper said, opening his backpack. “I just need to check something.”
Mabel shrugged and walked on ahead, while Dipper continued to rummage through his bag.
“Oh great, I forgot my bento,” Dipper mumbled.
“Y-you,
uh, forgot?” Dipper froze when he heard a voice from behind him. He
turned around only to see that creepy guy from yesterday.
“Oh,
hi,” Dipper greeted him, trying his best to be friendly. “Are you okay
after what happened yesterday? Sorry I didn’t go after you, but I had a
dentist appointment, so…”
“That’s alright,” Will assured him. “I’m fine. Y-you, uh, said you forgot something?”
“Yeah, my bento,” Dipper sighed. “I guess I’ll have to go back home and-“
“Y-you
don’t have to!” Will exclaimed before blushing at his own raised voice.
“I- I mean, I c-could buy you something from the cafeteria…”
“Are you sure you wouldn’t mind that?” Dipper asked in a surprised tone.
Bill was nearly pulling out his own hair! This wasn’t supposed to have happened!
“Y-yeah!” Will said with a happy smile.
“Well thanks,” Dipper smiled in return. “I’ll pay you back tomorrow then.”
Will waved goodbye as Pine Tree-chan left, and Bill swooped in to confront his cousin.
“Hey Cous’, what was that about?” Bill tried his best to sound casual, and he thought he pulled it off rather well.
“W-well, that boy forgot his bento, s-so I offered to pay for his lunch,” Will mumbled.
“Didn’t you say that you thought the guy was an Incubus or something?”
“Y-yes, but h-he might be a… nice one?” Will offered weakly. “A-anyway, I’ll have to gather evidence first…”
“You
know what you should do?” Bill smirked as he got an idea. “Make sure
his lunch is salty; if he’s able to eat it, that means he isn’t an
Incubus.”
“That’s a good idea, but… what if he is an Incubus?”
“Then you should probably stay away from him,” Bill shrugged. “Just to make sure he won’t try to steal your soul~”
“But he’s so…”
“Will, if he is an Incubus, that could be the curse talking! Promise me that you’ll stay away from him if he’s an Incubus!”
“A-alright…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bill
spent the remaining time until lunch keeping an eye on Will. When
lunchtime rolled around, and Will went to the cafeteria, he bought the
B-lunch; Bill bought five packets of salt.
Will brought
the lunch to the usual place where Dipper ate his lunch, but before Will
could get Dipper’s attention, Bill tapped him on the shoulder.
“Did you make sure the lunch is salty?” Bill asked with a friendly smile,
“Y-yeah,” Will nodded. “I think s-so…”
“You go up and talk to him; I’ll make a real romantic setting for you~” Bill said with a wink.
“R-really?” Will’s eyes lit up in pleasant surprise. “Thank you, Bill!”
Bill
grabbed the lunch, and while Will walked over to talk with Pine
Tree-chan, Bill opened each packet of salt and poured the content into
the lunch. Satisfied with the result, Bill walked over to the nearest
door to spy on the rest of the encounter.
Will led Pine
Tree-chan over to the bench where Bill had left the lunch. They sat down
and began to eat, but no sooner had Pine Tree taken a bite of his lunch
before spitting it out.
“Urgh!” Dipper’s face cringed in disgust. “What did you buy me?! It tastes horrible!”
“I- I d-didn’t-“ Will stuttered, unable to reply either out of panic, embarrassment, or fear.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t eat this,” Dipper complained and left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bill
was waiting for Will when the school day was over, mostly to make sure
his cousin wouldn’t try to talk to Pine Tree-chan again.
Will walked up to Bill with a sad yet contemplative expression.
“So?” Bill asked questioningly. “Is he an Incubus?”
“I… think so,” Will confirmed as the two began to walk. “But I… I don’t think he’s an evil Incubus.”
“Will,” Bill snarled. “We talked about this! You’re just under his mind control!”
“I
d-don’t think I am,” Will stuttered, but tried to sound convincing.
“H-he’s so nice to me; h-he didn’t even get mad that I got him a lunch
set h-he couldn’t eat… Besides he… I w-want t-to be with him… h-he’s the
o-only one I’ve ever m-met who’s…”
Will trailed off and began to fumble with his hands.
“Oh my dear cousin,” Bill sighed. “This path will only lead to your ruin.”
And with that threat disguised as a concerned sentiment, Bill left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The
next day, Bill kept watch by the school entrance. He was going to keep
an eye on Will and Pine Tree, and find a way to cause more strife
between them.
He saw as Will arrived and waited for Dipper, who soon showed up along with his sister.
“D-Dipper-kun,”
Will stuttered as he approached him. “I w-wanted to apologize for
yesterday. I-I’m sorry; I didn’t realize that your food was that salty.”
“Oh, it’s okay,” Dipper shrugged while his sister smiled.
“Oooh~ You two shared lunch yesterday?” Mabel giggled.
“I
forgot my bento, and Senpai was kind enough to buy me lunch,” Dipper
opened his backpack and pulled out his wallet. “Which reminds,” he
fished out the money he owed Will.
“N-no, that’s okay, it wasn’t any trouble,” Will assured him, waving off the money.
“Are you sure?” Dipper asked hesitantly. “Well, thanks. Is there any other way to repay you?”
“I’m sure there is~” Mabel sang. Will’s face turned red with embarrassment, but Dipper just rolled his eyes.
“U-um,
there is something…” Will mumbled as he fumbled with his hands. “I’ve
n-noticed that you always have that book with you…” Will pointed to the
book in question, which Dipper carried in his arms.
“Oh yeah, it belonged to my great uncle,” Dipper explained. “He was a journalist, but he also had a hobby in the supernatural.”
“Y-you have an i-interest in the o-occult?” Will asked, his eyes practically transforming into the shape of hearts.
“Oh
right, you’re leader of the occult club,” Mabel recalled and nudged
Dipper in the side. “Say, why don’t you let him borrow the book? Then
the two of you can discuss it?”
“What?!” Dipper exclaimed.
“I can’t do that! What if something happened to it? No offense, Senpai,
but I’m not comfortable letting anyone borrow this book.”
“I u-understand,” Will nodded, but his expression made him look like a kitten stuck in the rain.
“Fine,” Dipper groaned, giving in to the pitiful, but adorable looking boy. “But you have to be promise me to be super careful.”
“I p-promise!” Will swore as a bright smile spread onto his face. Dipper blushed and handed him the book.
“Bring it back when school’s over, okay?”
“Yes! Thank you!”
As
the two parted ways, Bill snarled quietly to himself, glaring daggers
at his cousin. But then, ever so slowly, a smirk started spreading on
his lips; he’d destroy the book, making Will look careless and
untrustworthy to Pine Tree-chan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This
didn’t require a big, complicated plan or anything. Will was so
scatterbrained that during lunch, he forgot the book on his desk. Bill
swooped right in, took it without being spotted, and made his way to the
fountain where Will was eating lunch with Dipper. The two were stuck in
a conversation that, to Bill’s disdain, seemed to be going well, but
Bill had to bite his time.
When the two were done eating and left, Bill dropped the book in the fountain, right by where Will had been sitting.
All
Bill had to do then, was wait for the day to be over, where he observed
a downtrodden Will approach Dipper, carrying the soaked and ruined
book.
“I-I… I-I’m so s-sorry,” Will stuttered and looked like he was ready to cry.
“You…!”
Dipper took the book and stared at it with wide, watery eyes. “How
could you!?” he shouted and ran away without letting Will explain.
Bill
smirked. His plan had unfolded perfectly, like always. The destroyed
book had simply been another sacrifice necessary to bring him and his
Pine Tree-chan together.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The
next day, Bill once again waited in hiding to see if Will had given up
his endeavor of seducing Pine Tree-chan. It seemed Will hadn’t learned
his lesson as he still approached Pine Tree that morning.
“I-I’m still r-really sorry about the book, Dipper-kun,” Will said, following Dipper like a scolded puppy.
“Look,
Senpai, I was able to save the book, but I can’t let you borrow any of
my things ever again if you’re going to be so careless with them.”
Dipper gave his senpai a stern look.
“I know,” Will nodded. “I j-just want to make i-it up to you… H-how a-about I make you something? A-as a gift?”
“Okay,” Dipper sighed and shrugged.
“Thank you so much!” Will beamed. “I’ll see you after school!”
Will rushed off to his locker where Bill intercepted him, his phone ready to record their conversation.
“So, you still think Dipper-chan is a… what was it?” Bill asked.
“An Incubus,” Will answered. “And… no. If he was, he would have moved on to another target; I just keep screwing up…”
“Are you saying you have feelings for him?” Bill continued his line of questioning.
“Yes,
I think so,” Will sighed wistfully. “He’s so… wonderful… I want to give
him gift, to make up for almost ruining his book. But I don’t know
what.”
Bill smirked and turned off his phone recording; he
had all he needed. “What about a special song? Record yourself singing a
song about your feelings; then Dipper-chan’s sure to accept your
apology.”
“Y-you mean… I s-should confess to him n-now?”
Will stuttered nervously as his face lit up red. “I w-was planning on
waiting until tomorrow evening; you know, to fulfill the legend?”
“You, ah… actually believe in the legend?” Bill’s smile grew tight, but he tried to hide his inner rage as best as he could.
“I’ve been studying, and it seems to hold water,” Will explained.
“Well,
then lay the groundwork for it today! No need to confess, but plant the
idea that you might have feelings for him in his mind; then he’ll be
even more likely to confess tomorrow!”
“Y-you’re right!”
Will nodded determinedly. “I s-should probably get going now, a-and
record that song… s-see you later, cousin!”
Will ran off, leaving behind Bill, whose smile transformed into a hate filled sneer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bill spent recess in the computer lab, reworking the two pieces of audio he had recorded.
Once
he was satisfied with the result, he swiped Will’s phone, which wasn’t
too difficult considering Will was still a scatterbrain, and really, if
after supposedly ruining Pine Tree-chan’s precious book because of his
absentmindedness, and not doing anything to better himself, didn’t proof
that Will would never deserve Pine Tree-chan- Anyhow, Bill located the
file Will had recorded for Pine Tree-chan, deleted it, and replaced with
his own manipulated audio file, after renaming it the same as the
original.
When the school day was over, Bill hid behind a tree and waited for Will to show the “song” to Pine Tree-chan.
They met up around ten minutes after Bill had found his hiding spot.
“S-so,
u-um,” Will was stuttering and shaking more than usually as he handed
Dipper the phone. “J-just press play; I h-hope it’ll speak f-for
itself…”
Dipper shrugged and press play on the phone.
“So, you still think Dipper-chan is a… what was it?” Bill’s voice was heard playing on the phone. Will frowned in confusion.
“An Incubus,” Will’s voice responded. “And… Yes, I think so. I think h-he cursed me.”
“T-that’s not-“ Will stuttered, only to have his phone handed back, along with a cold glare from Dipper.
“Is that why you’ve been harassing me?” Dipper asked. “You think I’m some kind of… evil monster?!”
“N-no, I s-swear, I-“ Will was further interrupted by Dipper holding up a hand.
“I
don’t want to hear any of your excuses. Just stay away from me from now
on, or I will get in contact with the student councilor about this, Senpai.”
And
just like that, Dipper left. Will held out a hand, almost as if he was
going to try and stop Dipper, but then decided not to; either because of
his own cowardice or out of fear that he would make everything worse.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bill
was grinning from ear to ear that Friday, knowing that he had
successfully sabotaged his rival. He lingered by his locker a little
longer than normal, mentally celebrating his victory, when he spotted
Will approaching Pine Tree-chan’s locker, carrying a letter.
Before Will had a chance to insert the letter into Pine Tree-chan’s locker, Bill rushed over and grabbed his arm.
“What are you doing?” Bill asked, trying his damndest to keep his anger hidden.
“I… I was g-going t-to c-confess m-my feelings t-to D-Dipper-kun,” Will managed to stutter out.
“Really?”
Bill scoffed, officially done with trying to spare his cousin’s
feelings. “And what makes you think he’ll accept them? To him, you’ve
been nothing but a weird, unreliable creep; which incidentally is how
the rest of the school sees you too.”
“W-what?” Will’s eyes widened in sad confusion. “Y-you… Why are y-you t-talking to m-me like that?”
“Because it’s true,” Bill smirked. “Why would he ever love you back after everything you’ve done to him?”
“Y-you…”
Will paused before his eyes lit up in realization. “You sabotaged me? …
I-I’ll tell him. I’ll t-tell him what y-you d-did.”
“And
why would he believe you? He barely knows who I am, while you’re the
creep who keeps harassing him. He’s never going to return your
feelings.” Bill’s face turned serious and he leaned closer to Will. “Let
me make this as clear as possible; Pine Tree-chan is mine. No one else
deserves him. Especially not you. And I was easy on you because we’re
family. I could have done so much worse than I did. So stay away from
Pine Tree-chan, and everything will be alright.”
Will
gazed upon Bill with a look of fear, but a few seconds after Bill
finished speech, his face transformed into a look of determination as he
slid the letter into Pine Tree-chan’s locker.
“I g-guess we’ll find o-out,” Will said before walking away.
Bill glared at him as he left, deciding it was time to hammer the final nail into the coffin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It
was somewhat difficult, but thanks to an old radio he stole from the
teacher’s lounge, he was able to lure Pine Tree-chan away long enough to
steal his book, and then use the same trick in order to lure Will away
from his bag long enough to plant the book inside said bag.
All
Bill had to do now was wait in the hallway, until he spotted a
worried-looking Pine Tree-chan, walking around with a searching gaze.
Bill walked up to a nearby student, made sure Pine Tree-chan was within hearing distance, and finalized his plan.
“Hey, my cousin told me something really weird today,” Bill told the student whose name he didn’t bother wanting to know.
“What was it?” the student asked curiously. It seemed Bill had been super lucky and gotten someone interested in gossip.
“You
know how he’s the leader of the occult club? Well, he said he found a
spell that can force a person to fall in love with you. You just need a
very personal object from the person you’re targeting.”
“God, that’s so creepy,” the student shook her head. “But it does fit his image.”
Bill could barely contain his laughter when he saw Pine Tree-chan run past him in direction of the occult club.
“What
was that?” Bill asked in false surprise as he followed Pine Tree-chan.
He arrived at the occult club just in time to see Pine Tree-chan
grabbing Will’s bag and emptying its content, much to Will’s protest.
And of course, out of Will’s bag fell Pine Tree-chan’s book.
“You
creep!” Dipper almost screeched to his embarrassment, but at the moment
he felt too mad and violated to care. “I never want you anywhere near
me again! If you try anything again, I will report you to the student
counselor for theft!”
Dipper turned around, not listening to the waterfall of stuttering excuses from Will.
Bill
stepped aside, allowing Pine Tree-chan to pass. The object of his
affection even seemed to give Bill a little grateful look.
Will stared at Bill in utter disbelief and hurt.
“Why…?” he gasped as tears started streaming down his face.
“I already told you,” Bill shrugged with a smile and left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dipper
had discovered the letter in his locker when he first arrived at school
that day. It had been addressed to him, but there hadn’t been anything
saying who it was from, only a small confession of love and a request to
meet the letter’s sender after school underneath the school’s sakura
tree.
He stood there and waited for almost an hour, but
nobody showed up. Dipper guessed it must have been a prank. He sighed
and couldn’t help but feel a little heartbroken, but he supposed it made
sense; why would someone fall in love with him?
Saki may be sadistic, and I think Cipher’s her
uncle, but she’s still the most friendly being I’ve encountered in this hotel,
and that should say a lot about this place.
Before
leaving Eye-See’s room, Mabel tore off a part of her sleeve and wrapped it
around one of the bigger shards from the mirror Saki broke. It didn’t make for
the best weapon, but it was better than nothing.
Leaving the
room, Mabel found herself in another hallway, of course. She comforted herself
with the fact that she wasn’t in that dungeon again, but still, she had no idea
where to go.
In that
moment, Mabel remembered something her brother had told her: “When stuck in a
maze, keep your right hand to the wall, and you’ll get out.” So Mabel turned
right, placed her right hand on the wall, and walked. The corridors of the
hotel might not be a maze in a conventional sense, but it was still a better
plan than anything else Mabel could think of. Plus, she felt kind of happy that
she was using a trick her brother had taught her.
Said joy
only lasted for a short time, when she suddenly heard someone yell: “JUDGEMENT!”
Like
before, the same kind of anthropomorphized scale dropped down from the ceiling,
carrying the same two symbols as before. The monster’s smile widened when it
saw her, and she froze in fear. The creature hadn’t even said or done anything
yet, but the mere memory of what had happened before was enough to make Mabel
want to curl up into a ball and cry.
“You’ve
recently finished your first year of college,” the monster said. “Your brother
had suffered a breakdown during his last high school exam. While you hadn’t
heard much from him the previous year, after his first college exam, he’s not
answering any of your calls or messages. It takes days before he finally calls
you up. A short while later, your brother calls you up again, saying he failed
his exam because he had another breakdown. What do you do?”
There was
no longer any doubt that the monster somehow knew things about Mabel’s life,
considering that what it just described was exactly what had happened before
her brother disappeared.
“I… I
encourage him to try again,” Mabel almost stutters. “I know he can do better,
and he shouldn’t let those mental problems get the better out of him.”
“I see,”
the monster simply said. “Let’s consult the Balance of Truth!” Once again the
scales on the creatures rocked back and forth, until the heart was dropped and
fell to the ground, breaking on impact.
“But I told
the truth!” Mabel protested, staring at the broken heart. The monster ignored
her and began to talk again:
“When your
brother comes to you for help and support, you tell him to just get better. Not
unlike a lifeguard seeing a drowning victim and yelling at them to stop
drowning. You don’t hear from your brother again, and when he’s officially
missing, all you find is a suicide note left behind by him. It was your choice.
You get to live with it.”
Mabel fell
to her knees, sobbing her eyes out, while the monster flew past her. It wasn’t
true… She wasn’t the reason her brother disappeared.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I never ever, EVER wanna see that thing again!
I’m just gonna find that room with the souls Saki told me about, bring her one,
then find my brother and get the hell out of here…
While
walking through the hallway, Mabel kept her eyes peeled, not just to look out
for more monsters, but also to try and find a door that looked out of place.
She was so focused on what was ahead of her, that she didn’t even realize what
was behind her.
“Are you
looking for something?” a feminine voice asked. Mabel turned around but
couldn’t see anyone. “Down here~” Mabel looked down and saw that it was her own
shadow that was speaking; the only thing that looked out of place was a pair of
eyes that looked nothing like hers, was embedded into her shadow.
“W-who are
you?” Mabel asked, taking a couple of steps back, but her shadow naturally
followed, and along with that, the two eyes too.
“My name is
Ombra,” the voice sounded from her shadow. “I thought you looked troubled, so I
decided to shadow you.” The voice giggled at its own pun.
“I’m…
looking for my brother,” Mabel responded, averting her eyes from the shadow’s.
“Aw, is he
lost?” Ombra asked.
“H-he just
disappeared,” Mabel said, tears starting to well up in her eyes. “I j-just want
to find him and go home…”
“Did he
leave because of you?” Ombra asked. Her tone had turned drastically more
serious.
“W-what?!”
Mabel gasped, once again inching away from the shadow. This time, the shadow
didn’t just follow her; it grew longer and bigger with every step Mabel took.
“N-no!”
“Are you
even sure he’s here?” Ombra continued asking, her tone now maniacal. Mabel’s
shadow rose from the floor, as if it had turned into a three-dimensional body.
“With a sister like you… he’d probably kill himself to get away from you!”
“Shut up!”
Mabel screamed and held tight to her make-shift weapon. “HE’S NOT DEAD!!”
Mabel lunched
with the mirror shard. Her make-shift dagger went right through the shadow.
Ombra grabbed her by the arm.
“Come on;
everyone here’s taken a life or two~” Ombra chuckled. Mabel dropped the shard
and wrestled her arm away from Ombra. Panicking, Mabel grabbed the nearest
thing she could find; the lamp behind her that was lighting this part of the
hallway. “N-no! Stop!” Ombra shouted, but Mabel ignored her and threw the lamp
at her.
The lamp
went right through the shadow and hit the floor. The light flickered a few
times before it went out, bathing that part of the hallway in total darkness.
The eyes fell to the floor; without light, there were no shadows to inhabit
either.
Mabel ran
into the nearest room, hoping Ombra couldn’t follow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Why…? Why are they saying it’s my fault? It’s
not! I didn’t- I have to find my brother soon… otherwise, I don’t know what
will happen to me…
Mabel
breathed heavily as she leaned her entire weight into the door. After a few
moments of silence, she finally fell to her knees and started crying.
Everything was starting to become too much for her, and she was starting to
wonder if she would ever be reunited with her brother.
Suddenly,
in the other end of the room, she heard something. Steeling herself, Mabel got
back on her feet and stepped forward to see what it was.
All she
found was a pedestal. Upon said pedestal stood a glass jar, and inside said
glass jar was a butterfly.
It was
small and pink, flapping its wings as it flew around the jar. Sometimes its
wings would stroke the glass, creating the sound Mabel heard before.
Taking pity
on the poor thing, Mabel released it from its prison.
“There you
go, little buddy,” she said while the butterfly flitted around, enjoying its
new freedom. “I wish someone could just free me from here…”
“Mabel”
“Huh?”
Mabel gasped. That had sounded like her brother, but there was nothing in this
room. “Is that you?” she asked the butterfly, already in tears. “Did you turn
into a butterfly?! Please, answer me!”
“It hurts”
“Don’t
worry!” Mabel sobbed, gently cupping her hands around the little butterfly.
“I’ll find a way to change you back! Everything’s gonna be alright.”
“Why weren’t you there, Mabel?”
“W-what do
you mean?” it was first now that Mabel noticed the sound wasn’t coming from
inside the room; it was more like the sound was coming from inside her own
mind.
“I needed you”
“I’m here
now,” Mabel tried to assure him, tears still streaming down her face. “I won’t
ever leave you again!”
“I didn’t have to suffer”
“You could have saved me”
“You didn’t do anything!”
“You were too busy being selfish!”
“That’s not
true!” Mabel sobbed. “I did everything I could! I didn’t know!”
Mabel let
go of the butterfly to dry her own tears away. It was then she saw that the
butterfly had grown much bigger.
“I- I
wasn’t being selfish!” Mabel screamed at the butterfly. It grew again; it was
now as big as her head. Mabel was starting to realize that this was not her
brother.
“It was your fault!”
“That suicide note might as well have been
written with your hand!”
“YoU KiLlEd mE”
“No, I
didn’t!” Mabel shouted. “My brother’s not dead! And it wasn’t my fault!”
The
butterfly kept growing, and along with it, the voices became louder and louder.
It wasn’t long before the butterfly filled half the room and the voices were so
loud that Mabel had to run.
She fled
the room, shutting the door behind her, and the voices finally stopped. It
seemed like Ombra wasn’t waiting for her in the hallway either.
As Mabel
made to leave, she noticed a plaque on the wall by the door. It read: “Caution:
Butterfly’s Room. Feeding the animals is not allowed”. Below the plaque,
someone had written in crayon: “So there’s no access for
deniers-deniers-pants-on-fires”
Last
attempt had failed… well, more like horribly backfired, but Bill wasn’t about
to give up! He had a sure fire way to spend some more private time with his
professor, and then… who knew what would happen then~
The class
had moved on to werewolves now, and Bill had purposefully failed every
question, every paper, about the subject, making it no surprise that Dipper
asked to see him after class.
“Is there
anything wrong, Bill?” Dipper asked him once class was over and the other
students had left. “I didn’t want to say it in front of the other students, but
lately your work has been very lacking, and I’m worried about you.”
“Oh,
Professor Pines~” Bill moaned, smirking on the inside but not letting it show
on the outside. “It’s just this whole thing with werewolves; I can’t wrap my
head around it! W-what if all my previous work was just a fluke? What if I’m
just useless when it comes to the supernatural?”
“Don’t say
that, Bill,” Dipper placed a gentle hand on Bill’s shoulder. “You’re very
bright, and honestly the best student in class. If you’re having a hard time
understanding werewolves, maybe you just need some personal tutoring?”
Bill smiled
at Dipper’s suggestion, mentally celebrating that his plan had worked.
“Really?”
Bill asked, placing a hand on Dipper’s chest. “I don’t want to bother you, but
I could really use your help with
this~”
“It’s no
bother at all,” Dipper assured him with a smile. “I’ll send you my address and
the time; then you can just show up if you’re free.”
“Oh, I’ll
definitely be there, Professor~” Bill
promised in as sultry a voice as he could manage, but it still didn’t seem to
work on Dipper.
Oh well, at
least now Bill had the chance to be alone, with Dipper, inside Dipper’s home…
perfect!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Bill
made his way to Dipper’s home, he had wondered if perhaps he should bring
something along to set the mood, but decided against it, since it wouldn’t be
necessary. He and Dipper would spend the next few hours together and all alone;
he would already have too many opportunities to hit on him than he could count!
After
making his way to the rather nice apartment complex where Dipper lived, Bill
rang the doorbell, and soon Dipper opened.
“Oh Bill!”
he greeted him. “I’m so happy you decided to come! Everyone else is already
here.”
Wait…
everyone else?
Bill was
led inside to the living room where, to his astonishment, four other students
from class were sitting around the sofa table. Aside from the many papers,
books, and pencils, there also were mugs and cups, a kettle, a bottle of soda,
and a plate of chocolates.
“I always
have soda and coffee, and you can have as much to drink as you need,” Dipper
explained. “Caffeine is important after all. Oh, and Chad brought chocolates
today to share with everyone!”
Bill glared
at the student in question; fucking Chad! He had no idea who this guy was,
aside from the fact he was another student trying to get with Dipper, so Bill
hated him. In fact, he hated every single one of the other students here. Maybe
one or two of them were actually here to be tutored, but the rest had gotten
the same idea Bill did.
“So, how
long have these tutoring sessions been going on?” Bill asked innocently, not
wanting to give his anger away to his rivals.
“Oh, I
think it happened a couple of weeks after the semester started,” Dipper
responded. “Hannah was struggling with the subject and suggested I should tutor
her. Since then, other students have joined us.”
Fuck! Bill
hadn’t even known any of that. He had to step up his game- no, he had to send a
direct message to the other students in class that Dipper was off limits.
Mathee's Blog 