Ao3 Version

Of all the things to happen, I hadn’t expected
the floor to collapse under me. Maybe it was some kind of trapdoor? But that
wouldn’t make sense given how far I’ve fallen… I should’ve landed in the
hallway on the floor below, but instead I feel like I’ve fallen for… almost a
full minute…

 

After
falling for much longer than she logically should have, Mabel finally hit the
ground. The cold, stone floor hurt, but miraculously she didn’t seem to have
suffered more injury than a couple of bruises.

Getting
back on her legs, Mabel looked around and examined her surroundings. It looked
like this was the hotel’s basement, or using a more appropriate word, dungeon.
It was structured like a hallway, about as wide as the ones in the hotel, but
without any doors in sight. The walls and floors were made with stones, the
entire atmosphere was cold and damp, and it was so dark that Mabel could barely
see two feet in front of her.

Mabel knew
all she could do was pick a direct and hope it would lead to an exit. After a
game of eeny, meeny, miney, moe to decide which way to go, she walked on with
cautious steps.

The hallway
had a big echo to it, enhancing the sound of every step she took, and every
shaky breath that left her body. Coupled with the overall silence, this put her
on edge, feeling like every sound she made was giving away her position to some
monster that lurked just out of eyesight.

And then
she heard it:

“Do you know who I am?”

Mabel could
barely hear it, but it did make her stop in her tracks, holding her breath to
listen closer.

“They call me Judgment Boy”

She still
couldn’t make out the words, but it sounded like singing, and it sounded like
it was getting closer.

“Do you know who I am?”

Now she
could hear the words, and the song was joined by the sound of rustling chains.

“They call me Judgment Boy”

She began
to run away from the sound, not wanting to see what kind of creature the hotel
was throwing at her now.

“Do you know who I am?”

“I am Judgment Boy”

Mabel froze
in her tracks; not only had the voice gotten louder, but now the words had
changed, and that couldn’t be good. So Mabel stood still, trying to see through
the darkness what it was that was chasing her.

“JUDGMENT!”
the voice shouted, and from the ceiling descended a creature Mabel could barely
comprehend. It looked vaguely human, with a head and face, but its mouth was
stretched into a horrifying grin lined with long, sharp teeth. It didn’t have
any legs, but seemed to be hanged from its cone-shaped hat on some kind of
pulley-system. And for arms, it instead had what looked like a pair of scales,
with a cage on each end. One cage held a golden dollar symbol inside, the other
a pink heart.

The
creature’s mouth stretched even wider as it looked at Mabel, and it spoke: “You
are thirteen years old. You have been struggling academically most of your
life, but your brother has always excelled in school. This year however, your
brother begins to struggle, and with time his grades get worse and worse. Now…
what will you do?”

“What?”
Mabel shook her head in disbelief. She probably shouldn’t be surprised, but
what the monster said sounded awfully similar to… “I help my brother of course!
I would be worried about him!”

“… I see,”
the monster’s grin widened again. “So you say
you’d be there for him. Well, I say
we should consult the Balance of Truth.”

The scales
that made up the monster’s arms began to sway, slowly at first, but then began
to built up momentum as they swung faster and faster.

“Judgment…
NOW!” the monster suddenly yelled and the floor of the cage containing the pink
heart fell, letting the tiny heart fall down and shatter on the stone beneath.
“While your brother is suffering, you’re too busy with friends and boys. The
few times you let yourself think about his situation, you take a secret glee in
his failure. It was your choice. You get to live with it.”

And with
that, the monster simply turned around and left, singing the same song he did
when he first appeared.

While the
monster hadn’t physically hurt Mabel, she would have preferred if it did; it
would have been better than this.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

That had been… disturbing. I only hope I don’t
run into that… thing again. I’ve been walking around for a while now, but… I
don’t seem to be getting anywhere. Is there even a way back to the hotel?

 

Mabel was
starting to think she wasn’t going anywhere. It was hard to believe, since she
had been walking in a straight line all this time, but still. There was one way
to find out for sure; Mabel removed her headband and placed it on the ground
behind her, then she kept walking forward. If she found her headband again, it
would mean she was running in a circle.

Her eyes
were starting to grow more accustomed to the dark, but that didn’t make much of
a difference.

Her feet
were starting to ache, but she had to keep walking, otherwise she would surely
die here. Mabel kept her pace for twenty minutes longer, before she stopped and
leaned against the wall. She could feel that her feet had blisters, and she was
almost about to check, when something in the distance drew her gaze.

It was a
soft, blue glow, approaching from the part of the hallway she had been walking
from.

Mabel knew
she should probably try to outrun whatever was approaching, but she could
barely run in this condition, and whatever that glow was, it could probably
chase her down, just like the previous monster.

As the
light got closer, she could make out some voices, and she instinctively tensed,
only relaxing when she realized it wasn’t a song. At least it wasn’t another of
those monsters.

The voices
were echoing, and hard to make out in general. It was only when she could see
where the glow was coming she realized what the voices were.

It had the
body of a skeletal, ghostly fish, swimming through the air and illuminating its
surroundings with its blue glow. The head, however, looked like one of those
old, rabbit-eared, box TVs, and the screen was showing a picture of her
brother. It was heavily distorted by static, as were the sound coming from the
TV, but it was definitely him.

“M-bel,”
her brother’s voice sounded from the TV. “I n-ed –“ the image changed and her
brother looked frustrated. That was the last glance she caught before the
creature passed her, and Mabel pursued behind it. “Wh- w-n- -ou -el- -e?”

“Dipper!
I’m right here!” Mabel cried out. She had no idea if her brother could hear
her, but it seemed like he was speaking to her directly. “A-are you trying to
guide me? You know how to get out of here? Where are you?”

“N-ver
lis-e-! Yo- -ever l-st-n!” it sounded like the static was getting worse.

“Dipper, I
don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me!”

“-o- l-te.
Y-u -er- t-o -at-,” with those words, the creature flew upwards and through the
ceiling, leaving Mabel behind.

“I’ll find
you, Dipper,” Mabel said, tears starting to stream down her face. “I promise.”

Mabel kept
walking, albeit at a slower pace now. She didn’t know for how long she walked;
too caught up in her own thoughts. Had it been a recorded message? Was Dipper
trying to contact her? She was soon broken away from her thoughts when her feet
hit something; her headband.

She picked
up her headband and held it close. It seemed like there was no way out of there
after all. She sat down and began to cry, both out of sadness and frustration.

“So, have
you learned your lesson?” Mabel’s attention was brought away from her tears,
and she looked up to see Cipher, standing right in front of her, smirking.

“I’m…”
Mabel paused to try and regain her composure. “I’m not entirely sure what I was
supposed to learn.”

Cipher let
out an audible sigh and rolled his eyes. “Let’s hope you will. Anyway, follow
me; I’ll return you to your room. You’re probably tired by now.”

Mabel
reluctantly rose from the floor and followed Cipher. It was better than staying
where she was.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I let Cipher lead me back to my room. I’m just
too tired at this point to protest. I’ll have to continue my search after at
least a couple hours of sleep…

 

After
escorting Mabel to her room, Cipher left, leaving her alone. Not even bothering
to use the covers, Mabel just lied down on the bed and fell asleep almost
immediately.

Her dreams
were plagued by vague nightmares and intangible thoughts, ones that were
difficult to grasp and recall, but nonetheless would fill anyone with dread.

As she was
brought out of her slumber, Mabel found it difficult to breathe, as if a heavy
weight was placed upon her chest. She also realized that she couldn’t move,
like there was a disconnect between her brain and body.

She wanted
to call for help, but found that she couldn’t say a word. Her eyes searched the
room for an explanation, and she caught sight of a humanoid figure, standing in
the corner of her room, staring at her.

The figure
stepped forward, revealing a young, attractive woman with red eyes. She was
smiling at Mabel.

“My, what
soft skin you have~” she licked her lips, Mabel wasn’t sure if it was hungrily
or sexually meant; maybe it was both. “Though, I wonder why Cipher’s alright
with me eating you…” the woman frowned in thought. “Perhaps you’ll be able to
shed some light on that,” she snapped her fingers, and suddenly Mabel was able
to speak again.

“W… what do
you want?” Mabel asked carefully, trying to take deep breaths despite the
invisible weight still on her chest.

“Huh, that’s
weird,” the woman tilted her head in honest confusion. “Usually the first thing
people say to me is ‘Please don’t hurt me’, or a variation of that.”

“What can I
do to make you spare me?” Mabel inquired.

“So, you
wanna make a deal?” the woman smirked and rubbed her hands together. “Very
interesting… Alright. Here’s the thing, I’m a soul-eating demon. I had a
tendency to gorge myself, so my mom sent me to live here, hoping my uncle,
hoping he would curb my addiction. He has, because he’s a greedy asshole that
hogs all the souls!” the woman shouted with fury, before forcing herself to
calm down. “And I can’t eat the souls of the guests, because then he’d know. Luckily,
my uncle has two chambers on the hotel’s highest floor where he keeps his soul
collection. Unfortunately, I can’t enter those rooms because a magic ward he’s
placed on them. If you promise to go to one of those chambers and bring me just
one soul to eat, I won’t bother you again. So, do we have a deal?”

The woman
snapped her fingers again, and Mabel finally felt the weight lift from her
chest, and with it she was able to move once again.

“Can you
show me where those chambers are?” Mabel asked, sitting up in bed.

“Nope, that’s
not how things work around here,” the woman shook her head. “You have to find
it yourself.”

“Well, I
don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Mabel sighed and nodded. “I’ll… find you a
soul to eat.”

“Great!”
the woman cheered and grabbed Mabel’s hand. A small spark of light emerged from
her grip, but it disappeared as fast as it came. “My name is Saki, by the way,”
she laughed and spun around out of pure joy before opening the door leading to
the hallway. “Oh, and our deal only apply to us; everyone else still want to
get you, so try not to die before you get me my soul, okay?”

And with
that, she left Mabel alone.