Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/6067519.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Underage, Major_Character_Death
  Category:
      F/F, M/M
  Fandom:
      Gravity_Falls, Kid_vs._Kat, Over_the_Garden_Wall, Invader_Zim, Star_vs.
      The_Forces_Of_Evil, Welcome_to_Hell_-_All_Media_Types, Among_the_Sleep_
      (Video_Game), Ao_no_Exorcist_|_Blue_Exorcist, Undertale_(Video_Game),
      Book_of_Life_(2014), Danny_Phantom, Servamp_(Anime_&_Manga), American
      Dragon:_Jake_Long, Randy_Cunningham:_9th_Grade_Ninja, 夢喰いメリー_|_Yumekui
      Merry_|_Dream_Eater_Merry
  Relationship:
      The_Beast/Wirt, Bill_Cipher/Dipper_Pines, Coop_Burtonburger/Mr._Kat,
      Marco_Diaz/Tom, Dib/Zim, past_Fujimoto_Shirou/Mephisto_Pheles, Jonathan
      Combs/Napoleon_Maxwell_Sowachowski_|_Sock
  Character:
      The_Beast_(Over_the_Garden_Wall), Bill_Cipher, Coop_Burtonburger, Denis
      Chan, Dib_Membrane, Dipper_Pines, Gaz_Membrane, gir, greg_(over_the
      garden_wall), Mr._Kat_(Kid_vs_Kat), Mabel_Pines, Marco_Diaz, Millie
      Burtonburger, Star_Butterfly, Tom_(Star_vs._The_Forces_Of_Evil), Wirt_
      (Over_the_Garden_Wall), Zim, Other_Characters_I_will_not_add, too_many
      TAGS!_-_Character
  Additional Tags:
      This_is_a_crossover_guys!, 5_SHOWS!!!, now_let's_see_if_I_can_actually
      keep_up_with_this, I_have_screwed_myself, After_weirdmagedon, because_we
      all_know_that_it's_not_over, seriously_I_feel_like_this_might_turn_out
      ok, a_prophecy_comes_to_light, it_is_pushing_the_envelope_in_everyones
      opinion, Anger_managment_is_still_trying_to_help_Tom, Bill_is_making_good
      on_his_promise_in_that_last_episode, Beast_is..._I'm_not_spoiling, Mr.
      Kat_and_Zim_hate_each_other, more_than_they_hate_their_enemies, NO_ONE
      LIKES_THIS!, Bill_is_sassy_as_always, albeit_less_so_because_he's_dealing
      with_some_major_problems, water_is_being_used_to_keep_the_peace, for_now,
      Gaz_hates_them_all, the_sisters_love_playing_matchmaker, tough_love_guys
      tough_love, Bill's_nicknames_slay_me, human_forms_are_a_thing_here, Tom
      is_just_confused, Family_Secrets, EVERYONE_GETS_INVOLVED!, destiny_says
      yes_everyone_involved_say_hell_no, Coop_is_sassy_Wirt_is_sassy_Bill_again
      is_sassy, EVERYONE_IS_SASSY!, I'd_feel_sorry_for_them_if_I_wasn't_having
      so_much_fun_shoving_them_together_in_a_closet, watch_Kid_vs._Kat_short
      whiskering_heights_and_you_will_understand, this_is_why_I_love_that_show,
      TOO_MANY_TAAAAAAAGS!
  Stats:
      Published: 2016-02-20 Updated: 2016-11-27 Chapters: 9/? Words: 52849
****** The Prognostication of the Broken Star ******
by littleberd
Summary
     The wand gave Marco funny feelings, it looked cool and everything...
     but it didn't seem right.
     "Star, why is there only half of a star?"
     Star brought a finger to her chin, "Don't know Marco, maybe it means
     it's half way to leveling up TO BECOME THE MOST POWERFUL WAND EVER!"
     She wiggled in the cramped carriage. I envy Mom and Dad. His said
     parents were riding on a horse just outside and to their left, they
     were giggling grossly again. Yuck
     Marco took the answer, although he noticed Star's eyes didn't quite
     sparkle like they normally did when she was excited, and her smile
     was that too big crescent it became when she was worried. She doesn't
     know... this is most definitely not ok. But instead of voicing it
     Marco turned to look out of the window his parents were not adjacent
     to. Star will tell me when she's ready.
     ***
     The half star starts sinking into the ground, a vortex opens. The
     half star that was there is now not. It falls, a tunnel of monochrome
     colors, and now... it is-
Notes
     I know this is a crossover fic, and I don't like writing them, but
     this idea had me thinking really hard. We hardcore fans have all
     watched the last episodes of these shows... be prepared. I have
     MULTIPLE SHIPS GUYS!
***** the beginning of the end *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
After the crazy situation with Toffee Marco and Star were escorted to a small
two seater carriage, it was very VERY cramped. Star and Marco barely had room
enough for their legs, two tiny windows adorned each side. A few bumps later
and the two were suddenly in an awkward silence.
Marco's eyes glanced at the princess's wand. The wand gave Marco funny
feelings, it looked cool and everything... but it didn't seem right.
"Star, why is there only half of a star?"
Star brought a finhger to her chin, "Don't know Marco, maybe it means it's half
way to leveling up TO BECOME THE MOST POWERFUL WAND EVER!" She wiggled in the
cramped carriage. I envy Mom and Dad. His said parents were riding on a horse
just outside and to their left, they were giggling grossly again.Yuck
Marco took the answer, although he noticed Star's eyes didn't quite sparkle
like they normally did when she got excited, and her smile was that too big
crescent it became when she was worried. She doesn't know... this is most
definitely not ok. But instead of voicing it Marco turned to look out the
window his parents were not adjacent to. Star will tell me when she's ready.
***
The half star starts sinking into the ground, a vortex opens. The half star
that is there is now not. It falls, a monochrome tunnel of colors, and now it
is-
***
Wirt turns in his sleep, legs tangled in sheets, like branches-
Wirt gasps awake and flails out of his bed, his butt making a dull thud when it
hits the floor. The insomnia afflicted teenager gets up and rubs his bum, "Just
one night where I don't turn into a tree, one night where THAT THING doesn't
molest me with fucking branches."
Wirt gets into bed, eyeing the sheets with distaste, and firmly strips them
from his bed, they lay on the floor in a puddle of grey in the half light.
"Wait a sec, my sheets are green not-..." Wirt's head whirls around, everything
is grey, or a faded shade of what he knew it was. A whistle from the window
draws his attention.
A girl in blue is sitting on his windowsill, she smiles sadly without teeth,
eyes that are blue and don't quite touch any light. A wavy strand of hair
graces the side of her freckled face.
Wirt scrunches his face up,"who are-" Her finger is on his lips, shushing them
with a firm cold line of flesh, before he can blink.
My window is 10 steps from my bed, she isn't human to move that quick. Wirt
takes the finger and pushes it gently away, the girl cradles the hand gently,
eyes becoming glassy. Then she steps back and the blue of her dress shifts
unusually.
She closes her eyes, inhales, and opens her eyes... now glowing white-
Wirt is up and sprinting for his door before his mind catches up with him.
The door is locked, Wirt slowly turns around, she is an inch from his face,
eyes glowing like his nightmare kings orbs.
The girl smiles sadly once more and steps back, never touching him, only
watching.
And then she speaks.
The false end has ended
The half star ascended
Destiny and fate collide
Enemies become allied
Burn the soot rose red
Or every legacy will be dead
Raise the harvest moon's one eye
Bring along the tree marked by the sky
Find the bug with eight limbs
And his moth, whose curiosity never dims
Search the north for the Egypt's heir
As well as his nemisis, with the Nile flower's glare
Look for the boy bearing a mask of death
In addition to the inner eyed demon, that exhales burning breath
She stops and walks to the window, Wirt follows slowly, and what greets him is
not pleasant.
The world is dark, pitch black. Screams of terror and sobs of despair ring out.
Wirt backs away slowly, knees hitting the bed and falling.
The girl turns and stares at him with her luminous eyes.
Last but not least
You must use fire to save the Beast
Wirts heart seems to stop, the girl with fiery red hair and pale blue dress
ghosts forward, fluttering whisper of sound, not satin-not silk, something
softer. SHE WANTS ME TO DO WHAT!? REVIVE THE BEAST!?
Now listen close and listen well
Listen to the prophecy I shall soon foretell
A star must be whole
Or it shall dull
And turn into a husk, a crystal skull
Weirdmagedon, Invasion, Catpocolypse, Ragnarök
The once adversaries are the key, the saviors-the lock
Beware, the clock's tick tock
The girl's dress parts, a blue feather lands on Wirt's knee, his eyes widen the
glow from her eyes spreads enveloping her in white. Her dress is gone only
light can be seen and the two giant dress length blue wings on either side of
the blazing being. Darkness invades from the window and wraps around her
quivering light, a laugh without humorous and the atmosphere of heavy dread.
Goodbye Wirt, you mistake of nature introvert
Try not to let them get hurt-
The darkness grabs her, dragging her, wings flapping frantically, a scream of
fear. Wirt leaps forward and tries to grasp at her dimming hand, but she is
pulled out of the window.
"BEATRICE!"
***
Wirt wakes up with a start, light pouring in from his open window, a slight
chill breeze. Breathing harshly Wirt gets up, tripping slightly over his
peridot sheets on the floor. The door opens and Greg prances in with Jason
Funderburker the frog swaying contentedly in the young energetic boy's arms.
Wirt grins shakily.
"Come on dear brother o' mine! MOM'S MAKING PANCAKES!" Greg yells, hand
grasping Wirt's and dragging him along. Greg stops for a second, "Wirt... lean
down for a second, you've got something in your hair."
Wirt complies, eyebrows scrunched. What's in my hair?
Greg holds a blue birds feather in front of them, Greg rumages through his
pockets and holds up an identical feather, "Beatrice's feather... did she visit
you in your dreams last night too?" Greg looks up at Wirt worriedly, Wirt races
to the bathroom and dry heaves.
Oh no...
***
Dib contacted the other members of the Swollen Eyeball Network, "Hey guys,
haven't got any worthy evidence still, but I'M CLOSE! I CAN FEEL IT!"
The collective shadowed figures ignore him for a bit, gossiping about the new
Bigfoot and chupacabra theory, then Agent Darkbootie coughs. All eyes go to his
screen.
"There have been reports on a place that has very strange happenings... the FBI
went there and then came back with no knowledge of any orders to go there in
the first place... we need a volunteer to go... I recommend Agent Mothman to
go."
Dib opened and closed his mouth, "Agent DARJBOOTIE! I CAN'T GO! ZIM IS PLOTTING
ANOTHER SCHEME AND IF I'M NOT HERE THEN THE EARTH WILL BE LOST!"
"Agent Mothman, you know that every member must at one point leave their base
of operations to investigate a case far away. You have yet to do yours. This is
a mandetory mission, if you refuse then you are officially out of the Network.
The location is Gravity Falls Oregon. I hope to see your results." The screen
blacked out and he was booted off of the server.
Dib's eye twitched, "Are you kidding me? ZIM COULD BE TAKING OVER THE WORLD AND
ENSLAVING EVERY MAN WOMAN AND CHILD AND YOU GUYS WANT ME TO TAKE A GOSSIP
MISSION TO HILLBILLY OREGON!? WHICH IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE U.S.A.!?" Dib
throws the laptop at his wall, "SCREW YOU!"
Dib jumped out the window and landed with practiced grace, speedwalking to his
nemisis's lair.
Meanwhile, two people had been listening in on the conversation. The first was
a defective Irken Elite that Dib was headed towards right now, who was slightly
intrigued by the location. The second was surprisingly Professor Membrane
himself, who did not look happy at all.
"Gravity Falls... I don't like the sound of that situation... that place always
was filled with weird things."
***
Mr. Kat read his computer again, the readings of energy were off the charts in
the little Northwestern corner of the U.S.A.. Mr. Kat grumbled some more and
gathered his tools.
"Looks like Burt's GPS needs to be updated~♥" the alien menace meowed
maliciously, "I hope that smelly excuse of a teenage boy can handle me for
three days~ this is gonna be FUN!"
***
A strangled scream ripped out of Stanley Pines's throat as he shivered
uncontrollably on the small hammock swaying on the Stan O' War. Stanford
dabbled his struggling brother with cold water to try and ease his pain.
"What is going on Stan?! I don't understand! HE WAS DOING SO GOOD YESTERDAY! He
didn't have a single nightmare and nobody has mentioned the incident so as not
to trigger THAT from escaping."
Stan opened his eyes, yellow slitted orbs looked up at the six-fingered genius,
but with none of the evil mirth associated with the creature who is struggling
with his brother's mind, they looked scared.
"Who-who are you? WHERE-WHERE AM I!? WHO AM I!?!? Why? WHY CAN'T I GET OUT OF
HERE!? OW! OOOOW! IT HURT!IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT'S TOO SMALL! HELP ME! GET ME
OUT OF HERE! I HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" Stan screamed with a nasally high
pitched octive, the body squirmed, clawing at any body part it's hands could
snag, scraping long streaks of flesh off of it's arms, chest, and at one point
face. Stanford began chanting a sealing spell once more.
The body stooped fighting and eventually fell asleep, cat eyes closing. Ford
was at a loss.
"What can I do to get rid of this thing once and for all? I don't KNOW WHAT TO
DO! But if I don't do something soon-"
A hitched sob caught his attention, It's owner was shaking again. This had been
going on for the better part of a week until yesterday when Stan had actually
been acting normal with no nightmares to wake screaming from. It was the calm
before the storm...
Ford returned to chanting, making plans of a return to Gravity Falls in his
mind, "The old prophecy never was quite accomplished. But this is the first
time he's spoken through him... what did he mean by 'Who am I?' Was his mind
innovertively effected by that gun as well? Hah... one can only hope."
Chapter End Notes
     PLEASE COMMENT!
***** Slowly but Surely *****
The first thing that Wirt did after unleashing the nothingness from his stomach
was quickly grab a piece of paper and write down Beatrice's last message. Greg
pet the feathers and gave weird suggestions of what the lines in the poem could
possibly mean, though he was being quieter than what was normal for the usual
energetic free-spirited boy. After searching the internet about each line, Wirt
could only come up with vague theories.
"I can't find anything about the first four stanza's. But the flowers I can
find. Okay, so soot rose... soot is black, black rose red? OH! Flower language
ok..." Wirt typed in 'Rose meanings' into the search bar.
"It says Black is the color of death and farewell. A black rose, like the blue
rose, remains elusive. What we know as black roses are actually really dark red
roses. Black roses convey the death of a feeling or idea. Sending black roses
to someone indicates the death of the relationship." Wirt scrolled down, " Red
roses on the other hand...A red rose is an unmistakable expression of love. Red
roses convey deep emotions - be it love, longing or desire. Red Roses can also
be used to convey respect, admiration or devotion. A deep red rose can be used
to convey heartfelt regret and sorrow. That sort of pertains to the whole save
the Beast shtick she threw at me."
Greg twirled the feather's, "Maybe it's saying you need to become friends with
the Beast. Red roses show love right? He seemed really lonely when we were
there... I-I never told you but..." Greg bit his lip hesitantly, Wirt turned
and watched his troubled little brother , "When he was telling me to find
things, it was pretty fun but it made me really tired, I didn't know he was
turning me into one of his trees... and with each one I found he got quieter
and darker, and he started wilting?... but when I was getting the last one...
he-he sounded like he was crying. Wirt... I don't think he wanted me to turn
into a tree."
Wirt blinked at Greg in astonishment, "He didn't want you to turn into a tree?
How do you know that? Did you actually see him crying? Maybe he was really
laughing?"
Greg shook his head determinedly, looking straight at Wirt with his equally
dark eyes, "He started talking to the lantern. W-Wirt... I don't think he was
turning people into trees because he wanted too... It's like how the Beast was
with the Woodsman. Only the Lantern was the Beast, and the Beast was the
Woodsman..."
Wirt scrunched his eyebrows together and then his eyes widened, "So if the
Beast is doing the Lantern's bidding... what does the Lantern have on the
Beast?"
Greg shrugged, returning to softly caressing Beatrice's feathers, "I don't
know... So what do you think all the rest of the stuff is?"
Wirt looked back to the poem, "or every legacy will be dead... Ancestors- you
remember how we got to the Unknown?"
Greg nodded, "Halloween night. Went to the cemetery, climbed over a-"
"A cemetery Greg. I went back and looked at some of the graves a few weeks
after we came back... There were a bunch of names of people that we met on
those graves. Beatrice's family owned a small plot by the wall. I think the
Unknown is... is the afterlife. We did almost die from hypothermia. So by
Legacy's..."
"Everyone who is alive..." Greg whispered, blinking tears back. They were both
so scared. Nobody should have to deal with something like this. And Greg's so
young... Wirt cuddled the now whimpering Greg to his thin chest. Wirt has
always been tall and scrawny but ever since they returned Wirt hadn't been in
the best health, granted he was Greg's best friend and practically attached to
his hip now, but he barely ate, wouldn't sleep until he passed out from
exhaustion only to wake up screaming again, their parents gave him sleeping
pills from the doctors but they never really worked, only made him really loopy
and boneless, he didn't really talk to much of the kids at school either.
Granted he went on one date with Sara and completely HATED it. But Wirt was
changed from the shared experience with his smaller more adaptable brother who
didn't understand exactly what happened, he was too young to possibly
understand that they could have been trapped forever and never seen their
parents again, eventually being chopped down to feed the Beast's Lantern.
Greg shuffled away and wiped his tears away with a shirt sleeve, " The next
part of the poem sounds like a list, and that's what is most important I think.
But the Beast did teach me something."
Wirt wiped his own wet face with his sleeve, "And what would that be squirt?"
"Don't take things literally, he told me to go find a golden comb, I gave him a
honey comb, silver thread- spider's web, he told me to put the sun in a teacup
so I set the teacup on a stump and the sun would eventually set into it. That's
the thing about riddles, you think to hard and they get too complicated."
"Well, I have no idea about raising the harvest moon's one eye-"
Greg points at a few lines, "The next line says bring along the tree marked by
the sky. Both of these lines rhyme and both have to do with the sky."
Wirt nods his head, "If the harvest moon has one eye then the sky has millions.
And if we skip two lines, it's talking about Egypt. Each line is talking about
a person or thing, until it get's to the Beast's lines. They're paired. What
has five points? a star. So let's see what connections Egypt and stars have."
And into the search bar it goes.
"The Orion's belt is connected to the pyramids, Nut is the Goddess of the
sky... A couple of constellations and that's about all I can come up with. But
With those next two lines "Search the North for Egypt's heir" and the next line
"Nile Flower's glare" The Nile's flower is the blue lilly and it's associated
with Nefertem or Nefertum depending if you're in upper or Lower Egypt. It's
mother is either Sekhmet or Bast, again depends on which Egypt you're in. But
Egypt's Heir can be taken to meaning pharaoh and pharaohs were associated with
the king of the gods, Ra...I don't know what it's talking about... History is
one of those subjects I just don't get." Wirt slouches in his chair.
Greg grins, "Bast and Sekmet are cat goddesses right? Cat's hate water, and
it's "nemesis" even. And Bast travels on a boat to protect Ra from Apep, a
serpent that would drag him into the water and kill him. And Ra is basically
the pharaohs personified. So we're looking for someone or something that's
symbolic to Ra and Apep? What's the next lines?"
Wirt give Greg a smirk, He's a lot better at this than I am, which is really
surprising., "The bug with eight limbs and it's moth whose curiosity never
dims. The one we skipped."
Greg giggles, "That's easy, it's talking about a spider! and if we're keeping
with the sky theme going on in the first one might be talking about a lunar
moth? Next one?"
Wirt reads it out, finally getting into the mood, " 'Look for the boy bearing
the mask of death, in addition to the inner-eyed demon, who exhales burning
breath' dragon maybe? What the heck is an inner eye..." Wirt types it in and a
bunch of chakra path figures with three eyes pops up.
"So a three eyed dragon! COOL!" Greg exclaims giddily.
Wirt let's out a false chuckle, and muttered, "Yeah but you know what they
say... 'Do not mess in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste
good with ketchup.' "
Greg glares at Wirt, "Why are you talking about French fries? I thought we were
talking about dragons."
Wirt slams his head onto the table, grumbling through the wood, "Nothing, I
just meant that we won't have to worry about the Beast with a dragon." wanting
to eat some hapless skinny teenage fry with a plump child chicken nugget on the
side.
Greg's smile fades, "He'll turn him into kindling. That's not funny Wirt."
Wirt sighs, feelings down once more, but get's back to work, typing in " death
mask", " So dia de la muertas is really the only thing I can come up with
besides gross plasters of dead faces... or skinned faces, yuck."
Greg scrunches up his face in a perfect simulation of Wirt's, "I'm gonna go
with the skeleton holiday instead."
Wirt types in half star prophecy, "Nothing here, but Hopi prophecy looks
promising, talks about a blue star and a fifth world emerging. Also connected
with Isis- rebirth of consciousness, sacred geometry yada yada. blue chakra is
connected to the inner-eye dragon thing that might potentially want to eat us-"
"WHAT!?"
Wirt grimaces at his brother's screech, "nothing, nothing. Anyway it's an end
of the world theory sort of thing. The rest doesn't really seem connected. Onto
Crystal skulls, now Indiana Jones basically covered this. Crystal skulls are
made out of quartz, and are connected to a bunch of alien theories-I think one
even suggested that they were a possible super advanced computer sent here to
help the human race..."
Greg's eyes got huge, "My computer teacher said that Japan made a computer chip
out of quartz..."
Wirt had mixed feelings on this, "So the star turns into a quartz skull...
maybe the star is actually an alien? Maybe the half star is a half breed?"
Greg shakes his head, "If that was the case it wouldn't talk about half
becoming whole. How could you turn a half alien into a full alien?"
Wirt shrugs, "Aliens have a lot of technology if they can travel here from
wherever they came from... or they tampered with their own DNA and made
themselves into immortals. Which, if they're that advanced, makes changing a
species look like a small step in control over DNA."
"Weirdmagedon? What's that?" Greg asks, moving onto the next line.
Wirt types it in and a single article pops up. It's titled "Weirdmagedon: Pines
Family defeats Bill Cipher!" and shows a near destroyed town with two sets of
twins. The older identical twins are hugging each other, other arms wrapped
around the younger twins, and smiling triumphantly. The younger twins are
grinning ear to ear and fist pumping the air, the girl totting a grappling hook
gun and the boy pushing up his blue cap with a single pinetree in the center.
The caption under it reads "Dipper, Mabel, Stanly, and Stanford Pines celebrate
victory with family hug".
Greg points at the boy's head, "What's that on his forehead?"
Wirt zooms in on the picture of the family and a speckling of freckles on the
young boy's head make the perfect constellation of the Big Dipper, "Holy
shit..."
Wirt shows Greg a picture of the Big Dipper and the boy's forehead.
Greg points at the picture in excitement, "The tree marked by the sky! IT'S HIM
WIRT! IT'S HIM!!!"
Wirt scrutinizes the picture, "Well if 'Dipper Pines' is that line, then what
the heck could the harvest moon's one eye be?"
Greg points to the article, "It's probably someone mentioned in the article,
the Harvest moon is a full moon in Autumn right? Mrs. Keller said something
about harvesting crops on the autumn equi-equi-something -or other..."
"Equinox, " Wirt reads the article out loud, " "The Pines Family battled what
Ford Pines, an expert on all things paranormal in our little town of Gravity
Falls, Oregon, calls a Dream Demon from another dimension that goes by the name
of Bill Cipher. The demon resembled a Golden triangle with brick like patterns
on it's lower-half" Is that a pyramid reference? ", had a snazzy black bowtie,
a classy black top hat- which is apparently also part of his body because Ford
had shot it through with a what'zahoozit gun and the wound revealed bones and
muscle before regenerating, sometimes seen with a yellow cane of energy, and
it's most prominent feature, a single eye"- ok found who our one-eyed harvest
moon is."
Greg shoved his brother impatiently, "Read the REST!"
Wirt finds his spot once more only for the screen to turn black, a single
phrase "Never mind all that!" appears and shuts down the page.
Wirt beats on the monitor, "WE WERE SO CLOSE! DAMNIT! Why do we even have to
follow this poem anyway!?"
Greg looks worriedly at his big brother's defeated form, "Because Beatrice
sacrificed herself to tell us this poem. She was anything but stupid Wirt...
you know that, I know that, and whatever took her knew that too..."
Greg crawls on top of Wirt's lap and squishes his cheeks, making him look at
the small boy, "And she never gave up on us... so we're not gonna give up on
her!"
Greg stands up and poses on the desk dramatically, "SO WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO!?
WE'RE GONNA GO TO GRAVITY FALLS! AND WE'RE GONNA RESCUE BEATRICE!"
Wirt's watery grin spreads across his face, "I don't think it's gonna be that
easy Greg..."
Greg points at Wirt, hand on hip and levels a glare at the taller boy, "SO WHAT
ARE WE GONNA DO!?"
Wirt sighs reluctantly, but grins at Greg, "We're gonna go to Gravity Falls-"
"WHAT WAS THAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF YOUR NONEXISTENT
ENTHUSIASM!" Greg yells in Wirt's face, cupping an ear to mock him.
Wirt looks his brother straight in the eye, "WE'RE GOING TO GRAVITY FALLS!"
"And save Beatrice." Greg smiles widely with a grin, Wirt never noticing the
sudden flash of unnatural light that came from his brother's eyes when he turns
back to the computer.
***
A man in black slacks, a trim golden vest, sunkissed skin, freckled nose, gold
painted fingers dance over piano keys as fast as any tango, music rising like
the twilight sun of a new day.
"We'll♪ meet again♪ don't know where ♪ don't know wheeeeen~♪ I know we'll meet
again♪ some sunn-"
A trip of a finger, a bad note, and then the pianist slams his closed fists
against the instrument, his form shaking, black tipped Blond hair quivering. A
liquid drop of sunset glides down his face, hits a key, and gold splatters its
white surface.
He hesitantly raises a hand and snaps, an azure flame appears and out pops an
old weathered blue baseball cap. He strokes his fingers lovingly across its
bill, then delicately traces the single blue pinetree. A stain of old blood
flakes under the gentle touch and the man's marigold cat eyes turn an
otherworldly saphire and the hat is consumed by the man's anger, cobalt flames
devour it whole.
He gasps, the cap is gone, the very atoms of the object erased from existence.
A single heart-wrenching scream rips free from his throat and the flames
consume all.
Tom turns in his sleep, muttering softly, face scrunching up slightly.
A peridot creature with dragonfly eyes and slim black antenna, metal sharp
limbs protruding from it's back and moving it with spider-like agility,
desperately lifting big debris and looking under it. And finding nothing it
continues, until he checks under a large piece of thick metal.
He sees a big-headed human with an unusual black head of hair, a long defiant
strand growing longer and more jagged than the rest. The insect creature wastes
no time in dragging the unconscious boy out, and quickly checking his body over
for injuries. A large gapping hole in the center of his stomach and chest area
is streaming blood in rivulets with every agonizing breath he breaths in.
The boy looks at the green creature, "V-victory f-for -"
A cough of red and the boy's bleeding heart lies still in his chest.
"No. NONONONO! NOOOO! WAKE-UP! WAKEUP YOU DESPICABLE WEASEL PIG SMELLY DIRT
WORM!" The creature screeches, antena twitching, shaking the corpse, blood
spattering the magenta tunic, "Y-y-ou CAN'T! YOU CAN'T BE DEAD! YOU CAN'T LEAVE
ZIM HERE ALONE ON TH-THIS MISERABLE SP-INNING *hic* BA-LL OF F-FFFILTH! DIB!
WAKE-UP! *hic* Y-y-YoU cAn't b-bE de-*hic* YOU CAN'T DIE! *sob* *hic* Zi-Zim d-
doesn't win i-if you d-die... E-EaRtH do-oesssn't win eIthER st-up-IId! Ssso
li-lift up th-that behemothic h-head of yours and glare at me... *hic* lo-look
at me with those eyes... th-those hazel eyes tha-t *hic* mak-make me feel s-
sseen. DoN'T igNO-nore m-mme!"
The body moves, Zim feels unrealistic hope "DI-"
Where once expressive hazel eyes lied now glowing white orbs watched Zim, Zim's
eyes widened, "no..."
The corpse grinned with bloody teeth, "Yes" Zim shuts his eyes and shudders.
The corpse lifts up its hand, carresses a pale green cheek, lifts up the other,
holds a plasma gun to Zim's head and pulls the trigger with chipped nails, a
choked gasp, the corpse stood over the wounded Zim, legs cracking brokenly with
each miniscule movement. The corpse points the gun once more, shooting the
small metal backpack on it's back. The corpse's pupiless smoldering eyes
release black tears.
"Victory for the Shadow-makers."
Tom whimpers closer to his pillow, clutching it close to his chest.
A boy wearing a red cone hat, blue cape and golden buttons barely visible in
the cloaking shadows except for his smoldering white gaze, cackles brokenly,
the sound escaping resembles the burning of flame and crackling of scorched
wood.
The boy holds a crimson lantern, grinning sickly sweet, he opens the little
hinge, "No need for a husk when you've got a host~… I mean his name does mean
'host' after all. Yours just means horn. Goodbye Curnunnos the white stag of
the Underwolrd~ Your service will not be missed!"
The boy swallows the flame whole, a creature made of a black writhing mass of
tree bark falls forward. It's shadow is dragged from it's beeing and into the
mouth of the boy it goes. The creature slowly morphs into a man, an albino man
with pristine white antlers. It looks up at the boy, his red eyes tearing up,
"I'm sorry Wirt..."
He slumps to the ground, its body slowly turning to bright crimson leaves,
maroon foilage flutters, a thousand fledgling cardinals float away, a scarlet
dandilion's seeds, "I lo-"
All that is left are the ivory antlers and a single red flower, a blood red
cyclamen. The boy waltzes over, and wrenches the flower up by the roots.
"pull a flower from the ground, pluck the petals without care, a lonesome tree
makes no sound, woe to the flowers fair." He shakily sings, grimace grin, black
tears of sap make trails on the boy's face, "let each petal that falls, turn to
ash; turn to dust, and the roots which cease to crawl, turn to mud; turn to
rust. Every flower has to wilt, every shadow has a light, do you ever feel the
guilt, of killing nature's life?"
Tom whimpers into his pillow, hands clenching sheets in desperation.
The pale lavender human wiped the sweat from his forehead and slick lilac hair,
laser dangerously close to his face, "Just a f-few more attachments and it
should be stable enough for us to make it to the escapepods-" The laser stops
working.
"NO NO NO NO NOOO! DAMN THESE IDIOT SHIPS AND THEIR ARCHAIC SELF-DESTRUCT
SYSTEMS!" A boy with poofy brown hair halts him from punching the machine.
"THERE'S NO TIME FOR THAT! We have to leave NOW! Or would you like to become
nuclear Hungarian barbecue?" The boy yells, grabbing the taller boy's clawed
hand.
They sprint away, stopping at the hallway lined with little ships labeled
escapepod. The area is heavily damaged, the purple human's pitch black eyes
look to the other's baby blue, " there's only one escapepod lef-"
The smaller boy shoves the other into it, locking the sliding door and brings
his walkie talkie up to his face, "Take care of Millie you purple less-hairless
galactical alien cat...heh, I always thought I was gonna go out in a blaze of
glory. Just didn't think it was gonna be like this."
"DON'T YOU DO IT YOU HALF-PINT IMBECILE! YOU'RE HER BROTHER DAMNIT! WE'RE BOTH
GOING TO MAKE IT OUT OF HERE! NOW OPEN THIS DAMN DOOR!" Yells into his own
matching walkie talkie, the trapped purple being clawed, kicked, and punched
ferociously against the doors but to no avail, purple cat ears pinned back in
seething anger and heart wrenching fear.
"I wish we had those doors installed in my bedroom a week ago, they can really
take a beating. But we're getting off track here. I've never done what you've
wanted me to since day one, just because I chose to save your life instead of
mine and I'm about to die doesn't mean squat. We both know those escapepods are
only designed to hold one person. So quit using up your air... I'm gonna miss
you Kat." The boy whispers into the device and slams his fist against the eject
button.
The escapepod shoots off like a reverse falling star, ascending higher and
higher, with a boom it breaks the sound barrier, but the roar of it's engines
is soon overwhelmed by the atomical explosion now far below it.
The extraterrestrial boy falls against the window, red blood smearing on it's
surface giving everything outside it an angry haze. Sobs wrack the lilac haired
boy as he clutches the walkie talkie to his chest, choked tears pour down his
face, an unusual pinkish orange color dribbles onto his purple and black
sweater, slim tail wrapped around his legs, and ears drooped and hiding
dolefully in ash purple locks.
"What am I gonna tell Millie, Coop? I can't live without you you dumb human
ball of fluffy hair and teenage hormones..." the boy laments, eyes closing in
heart broken shock.
Tom's hands begin to heat up, he tosses and turns sporadically, practically
wriggling on his bed.
Star is crouching in the dust, hands holding an object obscured by her hair,
"You did this... HE LOVED YOU BUT YOU COULDN'T LET THAT NIGHT GO COULD YOU!?"
Star whirls around, eyes glowing white, those glowing white eyes that make Tom,
demon of Wrath, a prince of hell, fearful now, her finger pointing with all the
accusation of a furious fallen angel.
She shoves the object in his face, a dia de la muertas mask of pristine
condition and quality is centimeters from his face, "You killed him Tom... You
served the shadow-makers well Taurus Olander Mareichiel." Star's angry crying
face breaks into a too big grin, black liquid oozing from her eyes.
"You did good work Tom... and don't worry, you'll be joining my adopted
brother, your true blood moon lover, soon. You just have to kill this body I'm
inhabiting..." The possessed Star spins, arms wide and dress spreading, she
cackles hysterically, "Come on Tom~ let your inner anger free! I want to see
that raging beast of a bull again! But none of that turning into marigolds and
poppies now!"
Tom lifts up a dagger against his will, his limbs being pulled by inky slim
near-invisible ebony strings, he plunges the dagger into her heart-
Tom gasps awake, eyes streaming tears, the room more flame covered than usual
and marshmallow lying dead in his cage like a roasted rodent. Tom gets up and
practically crawls to the interdimensional mirror, he clutches the smooth
surface and whimpers, "c-cccall Star-sh-ship NOW!"
***
Coop ducked under a claw swipe only to hit his head against the seat in front
of him, "COOP! STOP KICKING MY SEAT!" Millie screeches.
Coop retaliates with a solid punch to the alien feline's stomach. A hissing
groan had Millie turning around in the front seat. And of course Millie gets
the front seat, and why couldn't she sit back here with her alien menace? Oh
that's right, because she didn't want to sit with one of the stinky boys.
Denis, currently holding Kat back from tearing Coop's face off by yanking his
tail, yanked a little too hard and Kat landed on him. Denis shoved the furless
frankenstien monster from beyond the star's away like scalding water but Kat
swiped a long clean line of crimson on his arm. Denis clutched his arm and
sucked a sharp breath in.
Coop cringed a little in sympathy and Kat was hurling towards Coop's face once
more, Coop grabbed the handle of whatever he had conveniently fallen on and
swung at Kat. It was a baseball bat... Kat went flying and body slammed into
the windsheild. And why did the extraterrestrial feline cyborg have to sit in
the back with the "stinky boys"? Kat turned around and projectile puked...
directly in Burt's face. Because the hairless space hedgehog that had traveled
through a fricking WORM-HOLE, which is the universes best attempt at the puke-
worthiest roller coaster out there, get's car sick when he looks out a car
window.
Now, let it not be said that Burt Burtonburger was not truly a man of patience,
because he had been dealing with the bumping, yelling, screaming, hissing,
clawing, biting, kicking, punching, and all together nightmare of a road trip
for the past 7 hours. Since 5:30. Without his morning coffee. But even one so
patient and calm as he, has an end to his seemingly never-ending fuse.
Burt slammed his foot on the breaks and a few cars behind him blared at the
sudden halt on the highway. Burt swiftly parked on the side of the road and
turned around.
"Coop, Kat, and Denis. If you three do NOT stop wrestling and fighting back
there I will turn this car around, drop you off at Old Lady Munsons' house and
PAY HER to babysit you three until me and Millie have come back from Uncle
Burl's, and then every special privilege you can think of Coop, will be taken
away from you until I deem fit. I will contact your father and interrupt his
important business transaction in China Denis, and then You will have to
explain why I'm calling in the middle of an important meeting. And Mr. Kat
will-umm... Won't get any fishy frisky treats for a MONTH!" Burt explains
calmly, a glob of Kat puke runs off of his poofy hair and lands on his nose
with an audible squish. Burt gently grabs Mr. Kat and places him in the middle
of the back seat. All three of them look regrettable and firmly chastised in
Burt's mind, but really Kat's just queasy and angry at the whole thing, he'd
much prefer to be up front with his Millie if it wasn't for his accursed
stomach, another upgrade already beginning to take up his mind's inventive
space.
Burt turns back around and asks Millie to get as many napkins as she can out of
the dashboard glove-box but, the last napkin had been used to clean up Mr.
Kat's upteenth hairball a few hours ago. He doesn't have any hair! Where does
he get hair to- Millie ran her hand through her hair, tossing the loose strands
out the window, Kat's beady eyes looked mournfully at the window until he
turned an unhealthy shade of green. Coop chokes down a snicker. At least Kat is
good for something, though eating Millie's hair is a little on the gross side
but totally something in Kat's ballpark of weirdness.
"Okay, guess we'll have to make an unscheduled gas station stop- and you three
are not allowed to get out of the car, you boys and...Mr. Kat had a restroom
break not 30 minutes ago and I'm only going in to clean the aftermath of an
extra bowl of fishy frisky bits bribery and car-sickness. So STAY. IN. THE CAR!
CAPÉSHE!?" everyone behind him answers in their own special way.
The car pulls in and Burt and Millie get out of the car. Kat taps each boy on
their arm and points to a device in a bag. The boys carefully bring it out, Kat
rolls his eyes and grabs it and starts typing, but before the boys can grab it
back from him he holds up a claw and motions for them to read it.
"I, agent 27b, aka Mr. Kat, wish to have a cease fire until we make it to the
human, known as Uncle Burl, house. And before you think of shooting the treaty
down, I'd like to point out that Mr. Burtonburger isn't exactly fond of any of
us right now. We can list rules if we must, I'm already putting down that
combat amongst us will be a breach of the contract. I will begrudgingly halt
any work on projects so you won't have to worry about me burning your faces
with a laser and I won't have to worry about you messing them up in your usual
idiotic way- HEY! I'll have you know that me and Coop normally think out our
plans to defeat you in under 3 minutes, " Denis grumbles the last part in
defiance, crossing his arms poutily.
Coop looks at Kat, smirking outright, "And 99% of the time we beat you and your
little gadgets into the dirt. Is that-" Coop sniffs the air mockingly, "yep it
is! I smell some sore-loser coming off of the naked alien molerat."
Kat rolls his eyes and continues typing. Coop starts reading it out loud, "I
don't smell any sore-loser around, just two idiot hormonal teenagers that need
to come out of the closet- HAH! Me and Denis have girlfriends you chemo-therapy
patient mutation gone wrong."
Kat rolls his eyes again and presses a button on the side of the screen,
opening his mouth and- "testing testing, this is proper English yes?"
Coop and Denis's eyes go wide, Coop's the first to come out of his startled
state, "You mean you could have talked to us this whole time without having to
type into that stupid little screen!? What the hell hairless rat?!"
Kat stands up and raises an eye wrinkle, "I come up with amazing inventions
every week and listen in on your conversations through recordings everyday and
That is the best question you can come up with? Simpletons."
Coop glares at Kat, "I'm going to ignore the egotism, implied sarcasm, the
creepy stalking confession, and that last insult. Also, can you tone the
british accent down a little? You sound like Mr. Cheeks." Kat growls at the
name but hurrumfs.
"Well you could have at least told us your name was some fricking number and a
letter after it instead of Mr. Kat in the beginning. Do you not even realize
you're literally being called your disguise?" Denis chimes in, "And your
disguise sucks. Just putting it out there. But enough with all that, a truce
would actually be a pretty good idea." Denis arches an eyebrow at Kat, "So long
as no one breaks it at the spin of a dime." Kat prissily inspects a nail and
tries to appear as innocent as he's not.
"So another rule, you can't get us in trouble, no blaming us for stuff you do.
That and you can't use your inventions on us or anyone else on the trip." Coop
adds, Kat grudgingly growls but nods.
"I will not do such things, I will follow the rules. But I would like the name
calling to stop, it's either Mr. Kat or Kat..." Kat glares at Coop, "and, if
Millie puts me in an outfit... I don't expect you to save me but try to at
least not laugh at me." Mr. Kat sits down, "She works hard on them and it hurts
her feelings. I have had many a strangling hug and moment of mortal peril by
way of asphyxiation from her when she cries because you made fun of them."
Coop's forehead scrunches up. Millie cries because I make fun of her outfits
she makes? Why-It's because it was Mom's hobby... boy does that make me feel
like a total ass. "I didn't kno-"
"You didn't know because you're off playing with your boyfriend and never play
with Millie."
"Again, not boyfriends." Denis cuts in.
Kat makes an unbelieving sound but ignores Denis, continuing, "That one day
when you said "Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer, and keep your
little sister closer than that." And you followed Millie around every where was
the happiest I've seen Millie." claws dig into the leather seats slightly.
Denis looks at Coop's slumped form, he sighs, "We promise we won't ... even
after this truce thing is over."
Coop lifts up his head, poofy hair hovering above his eyes, "One more thing,
and this isn't really part of the truce, this is a promise." This gains Kat's
full attention. "Millie doesn't get hurt. If you ever succeed in taking over
Earth- you can't be mean to her. That's something I know you and I both don't
want to happen. And if Millie walks into our fights we stop immediately.
However, if something or someone is after her-" Coop looks straight into Kat's
eyes, "We BOTH work together to protect her. Promise?"
Kat stares back with a hard almost human glint in his eye and extends a paw,
Coop takes the lethal claw tipped paw gently, "Promise."
The car door opens and the two seperate clumsily, all three going
uncharacteristically quiet, the back seat thick with a somber atmosphere. Burt
looks in the rearview mirror cautiously but starts the car.
"Mr. Kat! GUESS WHAT I FOUND!" Millie sing-songs excitedly, she grabs him and
puts a magenta tutu and alien antenna looking pompom decorated headband on.
Denis and Coop's eyes begin to water, the urge to cackle is stronger than its
ever been before, who knew they'd be tested so soon. She then puts the poor
miserable alien disguised cat wearing an alien costume in the back seat, "We're
gonna play space adventures dress up when we get to Uncle Burl's!"
She's soon distracted by a pop-hit song she knows and tries singing in her
pitchy mousy voice. Everyone cringes, Coop slowly takes off Kat's costume while
Millie's distracted. Well even I'm not cruel enough to make him wear that get-
up. Last time Millie forced me into a tutu I got a nasty rash and those head
bands hurt. Denis looks on and Mr. Kat's mouth twitches into a small smile. All
the while, Burt smirks softly at the rearview mirror, having seen the entire
act, eyes flashing with a bright light for a second. And then he joins Millie
in a duet.
***
Dib carefully descended the basement stairs and casually walked up to his
father, whom is currently improving super toast to another level.
"Hey Dad-"
"Not NOW Son! I'm performing a task those nay-sayers said was impossible! AND
ALL IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE!" Professor Membrane shushed Dib, pressing a green
radioactive glove finger to his son's lips.
"Dad it's about skool. We're scheduled to go on a fieldtrip to a place all the
way in-"
"If you were going to say Gravity Falls, Oregon you can go and lie to your wall
with a straight face my poor insane manipulative son. I overheard your little
conversation with your pedophile-ish penpals. Now run along and stay away from
there." He interrupts yet again, not beating around the Bush for a moment
longer, "I have a meeting in Hong Kong that I must get to in an hour. A man who
could greatly help my research is currently there and I truly need to snap to
it as soon as possible. IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE"
Professor Membrane briskly speed walks up the stairs and out of the door, Dib
runs to the window in time to catch his father being taken by helicopter, Dib
slams his head against the window pane and groans.
Dib mopily trudges up the stairs and runs smack dab into Gaz, who, for once,
isn't playing on her game-slave. This sends alarm bells of dire deathly warning
off in his head, but before he can sprint away fast enough Gaz's hand snatches
Dib's collar like an anaconda in it's fatal grip.
"I have tickets to go to Gravity Falls by bus. You, leave me alone for the
entire duration of our visit and don't involve me in your creepy creeper stuff
that you always do. You owe me Mcmeaties Pizza for the rest of your days, and
all family nights will held at Mcmeaties." Gaz says crisply, with a monotone
coldness that puts Pluto's temperature to shame, "And Dad was talking to this
thing last night while you were being a creeper upstairs talking to your
stuuuupid pedo-pen-pals on your laptop." Does everybody know about my fricking
conversation with the Swollen Eyeball Network? Jesus! Gaz tosses a lump of
metal at Dib's head. He catches it on reflex, and looks at Gaz.
"He said something about it being Mom's, that you're not ready to have it, and
muttered something about never going there again. Don't lose it Dib, " She
hisses the last part, Dib looks at his hand in wonder and gingerly opens his
fist. A medium size lock with an intricate moth engraving on it with wings
spread wide and main body the slim keyhole gleams back at him. This was mom's
I-I remember this, she always wore it around her neck with Gaz's skull plug.
She's the one that got me started with the whole mothman conspiracy theories
and legends... He clutches it to his chest, curling around it as small tears of
bittersweet emotion drop from his eyes.
Gaz slowly turns away, "Oh, and just so you know, Zim, Skoodge, Keef, and Tak
are going to have to come along too."
This startles Dib out of his reverie, "Why are the alien menaces and the
creepier-than-me-kid coming!?"
Gaz smirks slightly, "Keef bought the tickets and invited us all to come. He
invited his boyfriend Skoodge and Skoodge can't leave Zim here alone, Zim
wanted to keep an eye on you and Tak because you're mortal enemies and
whatever, and I refused to give you the tickets unless I got to go."
Dib quirked an eyebrow, pretty legit besides the Skoodge and Keef thing, I
didn't know that was going on but somethings weird about this. "Why do you want
to go?"
"Because their games are notorious for their fatality rate and we all know who
will eventually end their futile reign over the gaming world." Gaz says
cryptically, walking silently to the door, she turns back to Dib, "Well come on
moron, our bus leaves in ten minutes."
Dib scrambles after his sister, heirloom cradled to his chest, foregoing any
plans for packing a suitcase and quickly snags the grocery money jar from the
counter.
***
"Dipper and Mabel need to come to Gravity Falls NOW!" Ford practically
screached through the phone.
"But they're about to finish their spring break! They have to go to school!"
Mr. Pines exclaims over the phone.
"So help me! THEIR GRUNKLE STAN NEEDS THEIR HELP! You don't know what went on
last summer when they were here but let me give you the lowdown. It'll sound
crazy obviously and will likely make me seem senile, but it's true. Mabel and
Dipper stopped a dream demon from making our world into his toy set. Now SEND
THEM NOW!"
Mabel walks into the room and shoved her dad over with ease, "What's the
problem Grunkle Ford?"
"Bill is slowly taking over Stan's mind. I've managed to seal it off for a
little bit but every time he takes over it becomes harder to seal him away
again. We need to perform the Circle or Stan really WILL be gone this time."
Mabel's eyes get teary, she looks directly at her father, "Grunkle Stan's in
trouble daddy... he's in the hospital and-*whimper* he might not make it!"
Her father's eyes alight and he immediately hugs his daughter and grabs the
phone from her hand, "We'll get them there."
Dipper walks in and Mr. Pines hangs up the phone, "Get who there?"
Mabel wiggles out of her father's grasp and dive bombs Dipper with a puzzling
hug, whispering, "Bill."
Dipper's eyes go wide as dinner plates.
***** the wheels are turning *****
Chapter Summary
     Progress is being made.
Chapter Notes
     When the Irkens are speaking their native tongue it'll appear in
     italics with parentheses.
     And Jesus fucking Christ... THIS TOOK FOR-FUCKING-EVER TO TYPE! U
     DON'T UNDERSTAND THE TROUBLES AND OBSTACLES I HAD TO OVERCOME TO TYPE
     THIS!!! I HAD TO MAKE 41 FLASHCARDS FOR A GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
     CLASS THAT REQUIRED WHAT CASE IT WAS, WHAT PART OF THE CONSTITUTION
     IT WAS DEALING WITH, THE ISSUE, AND-AND WHAT THE COURT HELD!!!!!
     I STRATED TYPING ON MARCH 3RD!!!! IT'S ALMOST TWO MONTHS GUYS!!! BUT
     THIS SHOULD BE WORTH THE WAIT! TTUTT~♥
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Star answers the call groggily, yawning and wiping her eyes tiredly. Then she
sees Tom, she opens her mouth to dismiss the call but Tom beats her to it.
"Now Star! Calm down, I know every time I've called before was because I wanted
to get back together but this time I'm not," Tom hugs himself, appearing as
shaken as he feels, "I need to talk to Glossarik, your parents, and... your
friend that you've been living with er-umm... Mathew?"
Star closes her mouth with an audible click of her teeth, eyes boring into
Tom's very soul trying to detect the usual unhidden motive. All she sees is a
scared shitless Tom, his room is an utter flame filled mess... and a roasted
marshmallow. Star knows Tom's not playing now. Tom may be a demon but that
bunny was practically his security blanket, no way would Tom kill it in a
temper tantrum. Something is very VERYwrong with this picture.
Star turns away from him and yells, "Marco!"
A bed head mused bundle of sleepy Marco sluggishly walks into her room,
"What'dya waaaaant?" Marco squints at Star, yawn distorting his face beyond
recognition.
Star huffs, grabbing a his long pajamma sleeve and dragging him towards the
mirror. Marco catches sight of Tom in the mirror and he wakes up as if someone
had just doused him in a bucket of Antarctic water.
"Why is Tom calling? Never mind, I know the answer to that. But why haven't you
hung up on him yet?" Marco asks wearily, eyes shifting between the two non-
humans.
"I'll explain as soon as Star gets ahold of Glossarik and her parents." Tom
reassures frantically, "I swear by the blood of my ancestors!"
Tom didn't call Star "Starship" this is serious. Marco mentally writes that
down as Star patches in both aforementioned parties.
The Mewni Monarchy is as drowsy as they are but Glossarik is a known energetic
night owl, he's acting like a chipmunk with coffee, cartwheeling and floating
in random poses while making faces ina hand mirror.
"Star, darling, why are you calling this late at night dear? Nothings gone
wrong with your wand has it?"
"Nope, my ex-boyfriend wanted to talk to all of us in the middle of the night
for some odd reason. And to be perfectly honest... he's sort of freaking me out
right now." Star explains, gesturing to the other half of her mirror.
The king squints at the mirror droopily muttering, "Well? Woht is it? I have a
meeting early in the morning, I don't have time for this nonsense."
Tom looks at them skittishly, hand unconsciously going to pet a not-roasted
imaginary marshmallow, only to hit his own hand. He cringes and holds his other
arm nervously, choking out, "I-I h-had a-a n-nightm-mare."
The mewni royalty look confused, Glossarik stops posing ridiculously and looks
towards the mirror in astonishment, and Marco... Marco bursts out laughing.
Tom's cheeks turn a hot pink and his eyes turn red, his hair is already flaming
up and an actual flaming tail swishes behind him. "WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING!? THIS
IS SERIOUS!"
Marco looks at Tom's face and he laughs harder, "You! *haahahaaah!* y-you
called them because *haahahaaaah!* you had a night-*haaah*mare!? Oh my Gawd!
*haahaaaaaaha!* you've gotta be joking! *haaaahaaaaaha!* the mighty demon
prince *hahaahaaaah snort!* called his ex and her parents *haaaahaaha!* because
he had a nightmare!"
Tom's anger slowly dissipates, a sneer replaces it with practiced ease, "A mere
mortal like you wouldn't understand why this is serious. A demon doesn't just
have nightmares markus-
"It's Marco" Star interjects, eyebrow arched in impatience, "So why is a
nightmare different for a demon?"
Tom flinches, hand squeezing his arm harshly, leaving finger shaped bruises in
it's wake, "Demons don't have nightmares... ever."
Marco stops laughing immediately, catching the tremor in Tom's voice, "What do
you mean by that? You just said you had one."
Tom bites at his lip, looking down at his bare feet. "I just said it. Demons
don't have nightmares." Tom looks up and gazes brokenly into Marco's eyes,
"It's impossible for a demon to have a nightmare. Because the demon in charge
of the dreamscape has been missing for years, and the dreamscape with him. No
demon can dream, let alone have a nightmare without access to the Dreamscape.
But that-the nightmare, it couldn't be anything but a nightmare... it-it can't
have been anything but a-a nightmare!" Tom folds into his shaking form, red
tears streaming down his face.
The queen cautiously taps on her mirror, "Tom, dear, if it-if it wasn't a
nightmare, what would it be?"
Tom shakes his head, further curling into himself in denail.
Glossarik gently rests his hand on the queen's shoulder, "It was a vision, of a
possible future... one that does not end well I am hypothesizing. Your royal
line has been known for it's visions, thankfully they are given when they can
be changed if dealt with properly. It would be best for you to let me show
everyone here your vision to analyze and find clues about what will happen and
how to prevent it."
Tom stops shaking, wearily lifting his head and revealing puffy red eyes, Marco
is astonished. Things just got real.
"ok...", Tom's voice sounds like a mix between a broken child and a frog's
croak.
Glossarik waves a hand at Tom and mutters a soft rhythmic chant, pink sparkles
appear around the three-eyed demon. Immediately a video starts playing on a
third of the mirror, an exact copy of Tom's vision.
Glossarik watches stone faced, the king and queen's eyebrows scrunch up in
disbelief, Star's eyes begin to tear up, Marco actually starts crying, and Tom
refuses to look at the screen.
Glossarik rewinds the video and zooms in on the faded cap, a glimpse of a tag
that reads "Mystery Shack product" can be made out in the paused image.
"There is your where. Now, here are your players. The first teenager shown is
actually someone you mentioned a few seconds ago." Glossarik points out, "That
is Bill Cipher, dream demon and ruler of the mind which includes the
dreamscape. He's been active recently in a little town called Gravity Falls in
Oregon. Where a friend of mine returned to a few months ago... the Mystery
Shack is actually his house. We have a common digit count and he is an
exceptional mind. Something that instantly drew Cipher out of his self-impossed
prison."
Marco tilts his head slightly, eyebrows quizzically together, "What do you mean
"self-impossed prison"?"
Glossarik meets Marco's eyes, "Bill Cipher locked himself away by breaking
timebaby's laws. He did so on purpose because it was the only way to gain
access to a place he couldn't escape without help from an outside source. To
put it bluntly, Cipher is the living embodiment of the Illuminati Symbol, he
sees all. So if he breaks a law and gets captured and thrown in time prison...
then that's exactly what he wants to happen. He was also a close friend of mine
but... he grew distant after a time and... something took over." Glossarik
looks at Tom, "And then he wasn't the friend I knew anymore. Something changed
him and he knew it. So he locked himself away so he wouldn't hurt anyone while
he was still in control. But it got out... and now I can only get faint hints
at where he is. His partner isn't shown in your vision but I've got a pretty
good guess that it's someone close to Stanford... and connected to the mystery
shack and that hat."
"The next pair is a well known Irken Invader that's famous for his insanity
across the universe for his failures and Dib membrane, a secret clone of the
famous Professor Membrane who created super toast, who I have heard from a
reliable source, has a bad attitude when it comes to the paranormal. Dib has a
reputation of being insane as well, but in reality he isn't insane... he's just
surrounded by idiots that buy Invader Zim's pathetic disguise and in a society
that believes in Proffesor Membrane's statement of the paranormal being
bullocks. Which we all know to be a dumb statement if ever anyone made one. He
is the only one avidly fighting against and foiling Zim and his plans.."
"The third couple is Curnunnos the white Stag of the Underworld and a boy by
the name of Wirt whom I have very little knowledge of. Curnunnos is the
benevolent keeper of the Unknown, he recycled the souls of the dead for
reincarnation through planting the souls in the soil and growing them to the
surface world. Or did... until much like what happened to Bill happened to him.
And since then, a creature that goes by the title of The Beast has replaced
him. Only this creature carries a lantern and fuels the red lantern with his
corrupted Edelwood oil. It forces souls into the recycling cycle and tricks a
single soul to fuel the lantern by chopping the souls turned wood down and
grinding out their oil. But Wirt, his brother Greg, and a deceased cursed to be
a blue-bird Girl by the name of Beatrice won in a battle of wits. Returning to
their homes with little to no harm. The woodsman, the name given to The Beast's
tricked henchman blew out the lantern and hasn't been heard from again.
Although, the dark forest is still spreading and very little of the Unknown
remains untainted, the Beast has not returned and neither has Curnunnos whom I
believe are one and the same.
The fourth duo is another Invader, only from a Cat Sapient race in the Cat
Nebula who is renown for his excellence and ingenuity at conquering. Yet,
Cooper Burtonburger, a member of the family he has integrated himself, and
partner to Agent 27b in your vision, has destroyed every plan and attempt at
Earth's takeover "Mr. Kat" , 27b's alias, has thrown at him. Nothing is truly
abnormal about the boy except for his ability to heal exceptionally faster than
a regular human. But it could also be because he is exceptionally healthy and
active.
"The final couple you see is yourself, and I would say Star... but her words
said allude to your partners death. The dia de la muertas mask she has is
apparently your partners. And she mentions the blood moon ceremony-"
"Marco and I danced under it at the Blood Moon Ball, " Star confesses, the
Mewni monarchs jaws drop but before they can scold and ground Star for the rest
of her life...
Glossarik smirks, "But did it disappear when you were dancing?"
"No... it disappeared when I shoved him away when he was dancing with Star
because she was MY date..." Tom admits, wiping his eyes with a silk red pajamma
sleeve.
"And what pray tell was Marco wearing as a disguise at the monster mash?"
Glossarik asks, smugly resting his head on his propped up hands, floating in
between the Mewni monarchs and practically shoving them out of the mirror's
picture.
"I-I was wearing this..." Marco goes to the hall and brings back the dia de la
muertas mask both worn on that night and seen in the vision.
Glossarik smiles, flipping onto his back and lounging in the air with a shit-
eating grin, "Well that answers who your dead match is Tommy boy. Marco over
there is your true blood moon lover. Something you demons have misinterpreted a
millennia ago is that the blood moon's light will shine on a being if their
soulmate is in the room with them, it can be misinterpreted if the being is
dancing with someone that isn't their soulmate and be mistaken as the
soulmates... but it won't disappear until midnight, or until their actual
soulmate touches them." He snickers,eyes gleaming with mirth, "Or in your case,
shoves them away from your dream girl/date."
Tom's eyes are practically bugging out of his skull, Marco just straight up
faints. Star worries over him and spells a bucket of arctic water on him. Marco
yelps awake. The Mewni Royal couple give a sigh of relief but still worriedly
glance at both Marco and Tom.
Glossarik's face turns serious after a moment, "But the most disturbing clue
isn't the repeating enemies uniting together motif... it's what claims to be
the true evil in this Vision. The Shadow-Makers are something that's a legend
even to me and the book. Very little is known about them because they are never
mentioned except for two instances. One, in the fear section of the book and my
memory. They have the description "The thing that the shadows are afraid of,
and make bumps-in-the-night silent." It is mentioned again in something that is
very relevant and something me and your parents were talking about after the
whispering spell incident. There is a prophecy that describes a youth of royal
Mewni descent who casts the whispering spell on the wand. Except, the spell
does not work, instead it breaks the star... and a half goes missing... that
half apparently powers the chaotic balance of the star. It is also said to be
what imprisoned the Shadow-Makers… and once it is broken... there is no putting
it back together... to put it bluntly, the Shadow-Makers are free. And only the
ten points can save the universe from it's vengeance. The five couples in your
vision, are the only hope the dimensions have left."
"Wait-wait-wait! ME AND DEMON OF WRATH OVER THERE ARE SOULMATES!?! NO! NO WAY!
MY SOULMATE IS JACKIE! JACKIE lYNN THOMAS!! NO WAY IS THAT POMPOUS PRINCE OF
HELL JERK MY SOULMATE!" Marco denies, shaking his head and crossing his hands,
but he looks back at an indignant Tom, "No offense... You're... Just not my
type?"
Tom sniffs, " I completely agree. There's no way in the nine gates of hell that
that RUDE SELF-RIGHTEOUS MERE MORTAL IS MY SOULMATE!... No offense.... You're
just not my type."
Glossarik slaps a hand over his mouth to smother his laughter, Star's eyes are
bulbous and she's biting her lip in self restraint, and Marco's spluttering
trying to find an adequate comeback.
"Enough of this teenager soulmate drama business! How do they defeat it? I'd
prefer to still have at least an hour of sleep tonight-(the clock on the wall
read 1 o'clock)... Today." The Mewni King mutters darkly, massaging his
forehead in frustration.
"Alright, field trip time! Tom I'll just bring the mirror along with me to show
you all." Glossarik teleports away with a poof, the Mewni monarchs cringing at
the scent of his gassy exit, the portion of the mirrors are filled with
Glossarik's cheesy grin,"Can everybody see me?"
Everyone nods their heads in agreement.
Glossarik angles his hand held mirror at the floor, a stained glass moziac
greets and delights their eyes. A giant circle of radiant rainbow designed
shards around a circle divided evenly in 10 sections each with their own symbol
but the background varies in translucency and so do the objects showcased in
them. In the very center though, a bright green glowing broken half star is
presented ominously.
"This is the half star circle. Some of the items we saw in Tom's vision are not
here, nonetheless, we can make educated guesses as to whom they belong to.
Marco's symbol is the dia de la muertas mask over there in the top left corner
as we have already discussed. The one directly across from it is a burning
rose... a courting gift that Tom was very fond of giving Star whilst they were
dating." Star and Tom start blushing profusely, Marco pointedly ignores them.
The two next to Marco are familiar. I believe the top hat is Ciphers and the
circle with a crack is the Irken symbol for Defectives... That's obviously Zim.
The two next to Tom's are harder. I believe that the Big Dipper constellation
is connected to Bill and the moth belongs to Dib because they are directly
across from each other. The red cone next to Bill's top hat is strikingly
familiar to Wirt's own hat and the white antlers across from it belongs to
Curnunnos. And the insignia belongs to Agent 27b's race and only bestowed upon
the most prestigious of his race. The belt of orion is the only connection I
can really get from the three dots and again belongs to Cooper Burtonburger
someway or another. And last but not least, the half star represents the
shadow-makers."
"Where are you Glossarik?" The Queen asks, "I've never seen this in the castle
before."
" That's because it's not part of the castle. This is a secret cave in the
monster realm. To them, the shadow-maker is their ancient and all-powerful
Deity. And once any of them see your wand they're going to make a mass exodus
to this cave and organize a universal man-hunt for the ten points." Glossarik
says cheerily, teleporting to the mewni rulers and essentially crop-dusting
them by the coughs and gags they are making.
"So I suggest you kids go to Gravity Falls where the big showdown is suppose to
happen. Tell Stanford that I'm cashing in my stolen chocolate pudding card. You
three should be able to stay there and meet the ten points. Funny how Gravity
Falls always collects weird things... Something that can be added to the book I
guess." Glossarik hangs up on them nonchalantly.
***
Dib runs with all the caffiene-patched sleep deprived energy his toned battle-
scarred legs can muster, barely making it to the bus before it's scheduled
departure. Heaving a sigh of relief Dib gives the bus driver his ticket , who
nods towards the open doors.
Dib grins gratefully and climbs the stairs into the bus. A whiz of air and Dib
is ducking to avoid a soda can that would have hit him smack dab in the middle
of his forehead had he not ducked. Dib slowly turns, knowing full well who
threw the piece of aluminum and spots the culprit, Zim is cackling like a loon
and lounging in the seat next to Gaz, who is tapping a steady beat on her
gameslave 3, the slightest twitch under her left eye is a big warning sign that
she's three seconds away from erasing his existence from this plane of reality.
Dib breaths in and out and resolves himself to ignore the annoying alien for
the entire trip, he calmly walks towards them and sits in the only seat that
isn't taken... the seat infront of Zim... and next to Tak... It's going to be a
miracle if we don't get kicked off of the bus within the next 5 minutes...
And so Zim's reign of being the most annoying Irken in Human history, in Dib's
respectful opinion, begins. Zim starts kicking his seat for the next hour or
two. Then he discovers a sticky substance under Dib's seat and manages to get a
piece of it on Dib's scythe lock. With some bribing Dib gets Tak to extract it
from his hair for a promised pie slice from their destination. Apparently
Greasy's Dinner is popular even among aliens, the pie there is rumored to be
Tallest worthy or so Tak says. Zim loudly denies it and proceeds to call the
Dinner a "Piece of Florg Filth infested with disgusting pig monkey germs".
A mutual eye roll between the two and a thousand nanomites later they toss the
gum in the trash with a disgusted shiver. Keef and Skoodge are giggling and
holding hands in front of them and Tak's eye twitchs and her lip curls whenever
Skoodge's high pitched giggle resonates with Keef's chipmunk cackle. Zim makes
gagging noises every 5 seconds and Gaz continues playing her game by zoning
everyone out. Dib manages to get his ipod out and listen through three one
republic songs before Zim goes back to kicking his seat like he is playing
soccer for Brazil's professional team and Dib's seat is the ball. Dib simply
presses a button to move his seat up and snorts at Zim's graceless failure of a
kick when he almost slips out of his chair, having assumed Dib's seat would
have provided the needed balance to stay in his own seat.
Tak smirks at Dib and Zim's anger is pretty much palpable at this point. Dib
turns back to his ipod and presses play with a flourish.
The next two albums of uninterrupted songs should have set blaring Zim sounding
danger alarms off in his head. Zim's guffaws of pitchy evillness reach Dib's
ear through the steady beat of "Love Runs Out". His eyes go wide and Dib
smooshes himself against the angry female Irken next to him. A spider machine
hybrid flies over the seat and lands on the driver's head with a dull "thunk".
Said driver starts freaking out as the creepy creation clambors casually up the
spaststic driver who is swerving all across the road in a fit trying to get the
"FUCKING GODDAMN SPIDER!" off of himself. It latches onto his neck and he
immediatly calms down.
Tak shoves Dib off of herself and growls at the both of them, "WHAT THE FLARK
WERE YOU TWO DOING!? YOU ALL COULD HAVE KILLED US!"
Dib's mouth hits the floor, "ARE YOU SERIOUS!? ZIM'S THE ONE WHO MADE THAT
STUPID BUG AND TRIED TO ATTACK ME WITH IT!" Dib quickly turns to Zim with a
smug grin on his face, "Which totally didn't work galactical cockroach. Better
luck next time with your bug buddy."
Tak boxes Dib behind the ears, "If you would just put up with his attempts of
zhar-da-khanj then he wouldn't have made the creature in the first place."
Zim hisses and is about to yell something but Tak immediately turns on Zim, "
(And You should know better than to try and initiate THAT with Dib!)"
"(ZIM HAS NEVER INITIATED THAT WITH HIM!!!! OR EVER WILL! IT'S BAD ENOUGH FOR
ZIM'S MIGHTY OCULAR IMPLANTS TO SEE THOSE TWO-)", Zim angrily points at the
doting couple infront of them with a furious chirp, skin turning translucent on
his cheekbones, "(EATING EACHOTHER'S FACEs ON ZIM'S COUCH IMMEDIATELY AFTER
SCHOOL! GIR HAS BEEN MOPPING IN THE CORNER EVER SINCE THEY BEGAN AND WASN'T
EVEN WILLING TO COME WITH ZIM BECAUSE THE COUCH WAS FREE! THERE IS NO WAY IN
BLIRDGH THAT ZIM, THE MIGHTIEST IRKEN ELITE IN HISTORY, WOULD EVER COMMENCE
ZHAR-DA-KHANJ WITH THE DISGUSTING WORM-BABY! HOW DOES THIS EVEN COUNT AS ZHAR-
DA-KHANJ!)"
Tak snorts, dropping the Irken, "Whatever you say Zim. Just stop pulling Dib's
hair scythe or I'll send a live video feed of all of your interactions with Dib
to I.M.O. I'm sure they'll agree with me on this one."
Dib taps Tak's shoulder, Tak meets Dib's eyes, "Umm, not trying to interrupt
your guys' bird song but what the heck were you talking about? And what is
Zhar-da-khanj and I.M.O.?"
Tak grins evilly, zipper teeth barely seen through the hollographic disguise
and purple eyes glittering with mischief, she yanks Zim forward by his tunic
collar, "I'm sure Zim can explain what Zhar-da-khanj is and what implications
his actions would be seen as if presented to I.M.O., speaking of I.M.O. it's
short for the Inter-"
"-Galactical Moron Organization! YOU WOULD BE A PRIME CANDIDATE FOR THE
PRESIDENT OF THE ORGANIZATION!" Zim interrupts, covering Tak's mouth with a
gloved hand. Skoodge and Keef peek over their seats with confused faces, Tak's
eyes narrow.
Skoodge pipes up,"But Zim! I.M.O. doesn't stand for that! It stands for Inter-
" A metal spider limb cuts Skoodge off, "LIIIIIES!" Keef ducks back down
meekly. Tak bites Zim's hand and he yelps, relinquishing his hold on both
aliens.
"Why don't you want to tell him Zim~?" Tak cackles, "You aren't initiating
Zhar-da-khanj with Dib afterall~ so why are you avoiding the truth? Unless you
Are~" Zim halts his cradling of his injured hand to glare up at Tak, which will
further anger any Irken."LIIIIIEZ!"
Dib is about to interject but a pressure in his bladder stops his response, he
quickly gets up from his seat and speedwalks down the aisle to the bus driver,
"Hey, umm, is there a rest station we're supposed to stop at soon?"
The busdriver gives a brain-dead loll of his head, mouth dripping drool, one
eyelid drooping, and both pupils blown wide and looking in two different
directions. Dib gives a groan of aggrivation, spinning around and marching
right up to the still bickering and chirping Irkens.
"Zim, you've made the driver braindead and I've got to take a leak. So
deactivate your bug so he can pull over." Dib demands, pointing back at the bus
driver. The oblivious passengers are still treating the six of them as if they
are invisible.
Zim gives his best intelligent reply, "Huh?"
Dib groans, hands dragging down his face, "I have to use the bathroom Zim." He
gestures to the other passengers, some holding themselves in an attempt to keep
their bladders from leaking, "And I'm sure a good few of them have to as well-
" Dib gags, hand flying to his burning nostrils, his eyes getting watery from
the putrid stench of the traveling hobo gang in the back, "Or had too anyway."
Zim releases a maniacal spurt of laughter, "YOU HAVE TO EXECRATE YOUR
INNERDS!!! PERHAPS IF YOU DO NOT GET TO THE BATHROOMS YOUR ORGANS WILL
COMBUST!! WE SUPERIOR IRKENS DON'T HAVE THE NEED TO RELEIVE OUR SQUEEDILYSPOOCH
OF IT'S DIGESTED CONTENTS LIKE YOU FILTHY MISERABLE MONKEY-PIGS!"
Dib has had enough and dives for at the infurriating Irken.
"GET OFF OF THE MIGHTY ZIM! YOU CANNOT HAVE THE CONTROLLER DIB-WORM!" Zim
screeches, Dib smirks, He always gives it away. New objective clear, target
acquired.
Dib wrestles Zim for the poorly hidden controller behind his back. The driver
swerves in traffic, off of a guard rail and into a corn field at 60 mph.
Everyone is getting tossed about like rag dolls, Skoodge latches onto Keef and
straps them down with his spider legs. Tak takes a note from their book and
does the same with a no longer dormant Gaz for fear of imminent doom. She
unsquints her eyes just a bit in acknowledgement and then returns to her game.
The squirming archenemies accidentally press buttons and move toggles, the
driver swerves right and left repeatedly as the two roll over each other whilst
strangling one another. The bus barrels back into traffic, traveling down the
middle and accumulating more damage than the already crappy paintjob can take.
Zim's P.A.K. legs shoot out and halt the free roll down the aisle with himself
looming over Dib, zipper grin leering at Dib. Dib's hate filled glare turns
into bewilderment. The sound of second-rate Irken machinery being chewed echoes
on the bus.
Zim's antenna quiver and ocular implants widen, the sound finally registering.
Zim's head whips around at a speed that would give a human whiplash. The Hobos,
having not eaten anything for a few weeks, had been attracted to the smell of
spearment... more specifically... to the gum under Zim's own seat that he had
used as a makeshift glue on his little bug.
Seizing the opportunity, Dib rears back a fist, "Bug-appetite!" Zim turns back
only to see a fist smashing into his own face. Zim is sailing through the air,
and lands infront of the front door. The busdriver, having finally gotten free
from the bug's control, squeals at the hobos practically licking his neck and
slams his foot down on the breaks. Zim loses his breath from the impact of his
body against the windshield, then falls limply back to the ground with a
whimper, the hobos landing on him as well. The doors open and the passengers
stampede through the doors, what remains of Zim makes a pathetic sounding chirp
from under the pile of filthy hobos.
Dib grins in triumph, "Splat goes the bug and Good has conquered evil once
more! VICTORY FOR EARTH!" He hops onto the highest hobo and jumps off,
speedwalking to the bathroom with a spring in his step.
Tak releases Gaz , and the interspecies couple continues to cuddle. The
busdriver looks at his watch and a smile breaks across his face for the first
time in 30 years, "I'll be darned! We're ahead of schedule! I don't know what
happened but I need to find out how to do it again! This is amazing! There's an
hour shorn off of the arrival time!" He takes the keys out of the ignition and
practically prances over the cockroach pile-up.
Tak cackles hysterically, but uses her spider limbs to move the filthy hobos
off of the crushed Irken and his pride.
Zim weakly pries himself off of the ground and takes a seat in a newly vacated
seat, wheezes slowly disappearing. Zim shoots daggers at Tak with his eyes
alone, if he could squint his eyes anymore in utter hate they would be an exact
replica of Gaz's dormant state. "(Speak one word human lover. I dare you.)"
Skoodge looks down the aisle, "Hey! Leave me outta this! I didn't do anythi-"
"I wasn't talking to you, (your mate is a pitiful creature with no hostile
intentions. No no, I wasn't talking about you,) I was talking about the
despicable hypocrite infront of me." Zim chuckles, grin spreading like the cat
that caught the canary, "Try as you might to throw the scent off by pointing at
my perfectly normal actions around The Dib-Pig and crying Zhar-da-khanj...(but
Zim couldn't help but notice you were holding the Dib's demonic sister closer
than was needed to keep her from being hindered from playing her entertainment
device.) Now who is the one that would get a high percentage in approval from
I.M.O. if Zim were to turn in a video of YOUR interactions with the human?
Hmm!?"
Tak Sucks in air through her teeth, Skoodge and Keef are holding each other in
mutual fear, Gaz is about to beat level 758 on her game slave.
"WIRT! THERE'S TWO ALIENS ON OUR BUS!" a small boy in green overalls and a tea
kettle exclaims, pulling a taller boy in a navy blue cape with a bright red
cone hat onto the bus excitedly.
The oddly dressed teenager's eyes widen, locking onto Zim."FINALLY SOMEONE
RECOGNIZES ZIM AS AN ALIEN!" Dib yells excitedly from behind them, causing the
coned teenager to jump.
*****
Wirt's eyes alight on the moth decorated lock hanging from the silver chain
arounf the teenager's neck, he takes a step forward as his grin grows wider.
The Moth.
Greg pushes Wirt down the stairs as a metal spider limb slashes through the
bottom of the bus. Zim uses his spider legs to clamber over the seats with ease
and looks down at the two, And The Bug With Eight Limbs! It wasn't A Spider! It
Was An Alien!, "ZIM IS NOT AN ALIEN! THE DIB LIIIIES! YOU ARE MISTAKEN LAWN
ORNAMENT HUMAN AND GREEN ELEPHANT HUMAN! ZIM IS A PERFECTLY NORMAL HUMAN BOY!
NOW HOLD STILL SO ZIM CAN KILL YOU!"
Dib holds up his hands, "One more move Zim and I'll wipe my bathroom germ
covered hands on you!" Dib threatens, waving his hands sporadically. Zim
backpedals, spider limbs tripping over seats in his haste to escape the germs.
"STAY BACK VILE DIB-GERMS! STAY BACK!!!" Zim hisses and cowers in the corner, a
spray can of "germs be-gone" clutched in his gloved claws and aimed in their
direction.
Tak smirks, Gaz's mouth twitches a milimeter towards the sky. Skoodge and Keef
blink as a couple, but turn back to giggle and talk once more, carrying on from
their conversation from before.
Once Dib believes Zim is pacified enough he turn to look at the two newest
passengers, he holds out a hand, "Nice to meet you, my name's Dib, and FINALLY
someone's seen through Zim's horrible disguise!"
Wirt cringes at the offered hand, remembering what Dib had just said, "Sorry,
but I'll pass-"
"No! I wasn't talking about him I was talking about the other two... the guy
giggling with that red head kid and the girl over there that's watching that
other girl play her game." Greg exclaims, pointing at the two in indignation.
Both of which look at Greg in startlement.
Dib's eyes get bigger, Skoodge shakes his head in denial and fear, Keef tilts
his head to try and understand what was just said, Gaz continues to ignore
their existence, Zim is doing his best impression of an owl, and Tak's spider
limbs are out before Gaz can press the up button.
Dib tackles them to the ground as Tak fires a plasma gun, the shot hits the
seat which instantly turns into a boiling puddle of plastic.
"Tak! STOP IT! YOU'LL ATTRACT EVEN MORE ATTENTION TO YOURSELF BY TRYING TO KILL
THEM!" Dib yells, trying to make the crazy female Irken see sense.
Tak reluctantly ceases her fire, spider limbs retracting back into her P.A.K.,
with a snear she addresses them, "I won't kill you if you keep your mouths shut
about our species yes?" Wirt nods eagerly, Greg however...
"But what if another alien comes by and asks? Then can I tell them?" Greg asks,
head looking up at Tak as innocent of the situation as any good cinnamon roll.
Tak's eyes narrow, "What makes you think that there would be any other race of
aliens here puny earth child?" Voice calm but lethally cold.
"Well there's a prophecy that says-" Wirt firmly slaps a hand over Greg's
mouth, other hand restraining Greg's wiggle room.
"Don't mind him... h-he's just a little kid, he doesn't know what he's talking
ab-bout... he rambles constantly and you really shouldn't listen to anything he
sa-" Tak's spider limb is pressing against his throat, he barely feels the edge
of the murderous luster of advanced tech.
"You're one to talk about rambling, human, but I wasn't asking you, " she pries
Wirt's hand from Greg's mouth, "I was talking to the smaller one.
Greg beams up at Tak, Wirt is practically shaking. "Now hold on just a minute
Tak! Leave them alo-" A tranquilizer dart hits Dib in the neck and he's down
for the count. Tak doesn't even look his way, Zim catches him before he hits
the ground though, carefully carrying him and setting him down in the seat in
front of Gaz with a embarrassed air.
"Well?" Tak presses another limb against Greg's neck, "TALK!"
"Me and Wirt are gonna solve a prophecy Beatrice gave us, she used to be a blue
bird and we met her in this really weird place called the unknown and the beast
almost got us but we got away and his lantern was blown out, but now we have to
save the beast so we can figure out how to save Beatrice because she was taken
away by shadows after she gave Wirt the prophecy and now we're going to Gravity
Falls because-" Tak covers his mouth with a gloved hand, a battle crosses her
face as her mouth fights the urge to grin, instead she looks at Wirt.
"You weren't kidding... must be hereditary." Tak releases them both, with a
push and a small bleeding niche on Wirt's neck, "You do not seem the type to go
back on a promise. But be forewarned, if you let slip the knowledge of our
existence to anyone, alien or human... I will kill you plain and simple."
Gaz grumbles, snatching Tak's spider limb from in front of her, the
tranquilizer gun misfires and ricochets off of the ceiling, hitting Zim on the
arm, "That's it, I've put up with enough chitter chatter from you idiots
today." Tak gulps, Gaz places her gameslave down and floats in front of Tak,
"Time for all the Morons to go to sleep." She levels Tak's tranquilizer gun at
Tak's chest, she slumps but Gaz catches her by the arm, she drags her back to
her seat. Then she turns back and points Tak's gun at Wirt, he lifts up his
hand to block his face but Gaz shoots him in the hand. Greg just grins up at
her.
"Take your brother to your seat and take a nap or something..." Gaz mutters,
breaking the gun in half with her bare hands, sitting in the seat next to Tak's
sleeping form.
Greg struggles for a couple of minutes but manages to get Wirt into his seat,
he heaves for breath for a second but looks over to grin at Gaz. She halts her
game to look at Greg once more. "What are you looking at stupid."
"You really love them." Greg yawns, before Gaz can reply Greg is softly
snoring.
A flash of light from the right and Gaz's eyes lock onto Skoodge and Keef with
deer in head lights expression... holding a cellphone.
Gaz's eyes open just a bit, the couple is clutching each other and shaking in
fear, she squints her eyes, "Make sure to send me some too."
She grins conspiratorially with the two lovey-dovey goobers.
*****
Although the Pines parents could only get two tickets to Gravity Falls with
such short notice for their jobs, and their reluctance to put them in the hands
of a man that sounded mentally strained at the time, they had no choice but to
send Mabel and Dipper alone once more to Gravity Falls. Though they promised to
drive up in a week to bring them back and made them carry their own cellphones
just in case anything went wrong. Which the twins wished their parents had
thought of that earlier last summer, but better late than never they supposed.
Once they were dropped off at the bus station they said their goodbyes once
more and so starts their search for their bus. After seeking out their bus by
means of bus schedule and several minutes of asking the manager, they found
their bus. And by the looks of it it had really been put through the ringer.
The headlights busted, the side mirrors are a squeaw and there are dents out
the ass with paint barely staying on.
Dipper and Mabel look at each other, unsure of the validity of their sources.
"Are you sure Dave was the manager? Was that the most up to date schedule?"
Dipper asks, cringing at the bus.
"He had a name-tag on... but we could... check again?" Mabel suggests,
shrugging and doubting Dave the Happy-Go-Lucky manager.
Before they can turn around in search of someone Waddles pushes between them
and trots onto the bus with not a care in the world.
"Waddles! GET OUT OF THAT DEMOLISHED TIN CAN RIGHT NOW MISTER!" Mabel yells,
dashing onto the bus and tossing her bags at Dipper, one suitcase hits him in
the gut and he lands squarely on his ass.
"MABEL WAIT!" DIpper manages to gasp out, stumbling up and dragging their
collective luggage towards the bus.
Mabel scrambles up the stairs, but trips over a prone hobo's form, a shriek
rips through the air startling everyone awake
Zim screams back at her, pointing at her, and clutching Dib for dear life.
Mabel screams back, mutually pointing at the irken. Dib screams at Zim, avidly
trying to get out of his nemisis's steel grasp. Wirt looks around dazzedly and
Waddles is staring into his soul 3 inches in front of his face, he screams,
Waddles squeals. Greg yawns adorably, Dipper gets on the bus, Greg's shirt
wriggles. Dipper is about to clamp his hand over Mabel's mouth to stop the
source of the chaos. A frog bursts out of Greg's shirt, singing a long loud c
sharp. Dipper screams, his foot is entangled by the hobo's leg, Dipper tries
desperately to pinwheel his way to balance. But as the old saying goes, Gravity
is a bitch. Dipper falls for the third time today.
Gaz sets down her game, gently pushing the sleeping Tak off of her, a dark
visible aura surrounds her, "Shut up right now or I'm going to get angry. If
you wake up Tak, I'm going to make you wish you were in the afterlife."
Everyone closes their mouth's with a click. Zim shoves Dib away, but his head
thwacks the window painfully, he retaliates with a stomp on the Irken's foot,
they silently glare at each other. Greg quickly hides Funderburker in his shirt
once more. Dipper helps Mabel up, who snags Waddles from Wirt's lap and they
sit in the seats behind the brothers. Keef and Skoodge are ignoring the lot and
browsing their pictures on Keef's phone.
Wirt glares at the pig, but his eyes alight on the unconcealed perfect
constellation birthmark on Dipper's forehead, then he sees Mabel's signature
shooting star sweater, the grappling gun strapped lovingly to her right hip.
"THE TREE MARKED BY THE SKY!" Wirt blurts out. Dipper and Mabel stare at Wirt,
Dipper's hands clutching his shirt in fright, not expecting the ourburst.
Mabel's eyebrows scrunch together, and then she's in his face.
"What's that supposed to mean gnome wannabe?"
Wirt tries to get a word, even a sound out but Mabel is glaring him down. Greg
shoves her towards him, hands on both cheeks and squishing them, "He's the tree
marked by the sky, he's part of the prophecy. Now quit scaring my brother and
calm Dipper down.
"H-how do you know my name?" Dipper asks, getting creeped out by Greg...he
reminds him slightly of Gideon, adorable beings tend to be the evilest of
creatures.
"Because we were looking for everyone in the prophecy. Is your partner with
you?" Greg asks, Funderburker peeking his head out of Greg's shirt, letting go
of Mabel's face.
Dipper eyes the creepy frog, "What do you mean by partner?"
"The Harvest moon's one e-" Wirt slaps a hand over Greg's mouth, "Sorry about
that. I blurt out stuff a lot... this is Greg by the way, and I'm Wirt. The
harmless frog is me and Greg's pet, his name is Funderburker, and since pets
aren't allowed he's hiding Funderburker in his shirt-"
Greg pulls Wirt's hand from his mouth, "and he's a really good singer. And
WIRT! Quit covering my mouth! That's the second time you've done that today!
You're being a big bully!" Greg crosses his arms, pouting at Wirt.
Dib stomps on Zim's foot again, he yelps. Dipper, drawn by the sound, looks to
the source and sees the irken.
"a-a-ALIEN! MABEL IT'S AN ALIEN!" Dipper exclaims, pointing at Zim in
excitement, pulling her sweater sleeve in hopes of gaining her attention. Zim's
eyes widened in alarm, Dib's grin is as blinding as the sun. Dippers tugging on
her sleeve draws her attention away from the suspicious brothers. Her eyes
don't grasp Dipper's claim until Dib manages to snag Zim's wig off, waving it
in the air in triumph.
"OH MY SWEET FUNDIP GOODNESS! IT IS AN ALIEN DIPPER! HURRY GET OUT YOUR CAMERA!
THIS IS A DEFINITE SCRAPBOOK-ORTUNITY!" Mabel screeches, jumping up and down.
Dipper struggles to pull out a camera from his vest, the zipper caught on the
inside of the pocket.
Zim splutters, practically crawling all over Dib trying to get the wig back,
"ZIM IS A PERFECTLY NORMAL HUMAN WORMBABY! THERE IS NO NEED FOR PICTURES OF
PROOF! ZIM HAS A SKIN CONDITION!"
Mabel stops and squints at the two mortal enemies, her mouth forms a perfect
'o' and immediately turns into a gigantic grin, " You guys are a couple? I
didn't even know! You guys are so CUTE together!"
Dib's grin turns into a face of pure disgust, beating a grossed out Zim to the
punchline, "NO WAY IN HELL! AM! I! THIS SPACE-ROACH'S BOYFRIEND!"
Zim snatches his wig back, slamming it on his head snuggly, "AGREED! I AM NOT
THE DIB-BEAST'S FRIEND THAT IS A BOY! I AM HIS MORTAL ENEMY!"
Gaz pauses her game once more, "Dib, you've got a major stalking obsession,
namely Zim. You've got more photos of him on your wall than it can hold, one of
the walls literally collapsed on itself a month ago. You only ever talk about
him, you only interact with him, you camp outside of his house almost everyday,
you've broken into his house too many times to count, and I don't even want to
mention your need to put him on a dissection table."
Dib makes incoherent noises, cheeks blushing vibrantly, Zim cackles... which
wakes up Tak.
"You really shouldn't be laughing Zim. (They happen to be talking about the
Earth's version of Zhar-Da-Khanj.)", Zim stiffens, face going translucent with
a frustrated face,"And you've done a lot more than Dib's pitiful excuse of
stalking." Tak mutters, she stretches out and actually snuggles up to Gaz, body
naturally seeking warmth. The human girl stiffens only slightly but Tak blinks
and realizes, slowly distancing herself from the heat source awkwardly. Gaz
quickly snatches her game and starts killing vampire pigs with more intensity
than usual.
"(I.M.O.~)" Zim warns, eyes narrowing but Tak smirks back at him.
"You remember that time Zim shrunk himself and you ate him in a side of
disgusting skool peas?" Dib wrinkles his nose at the memory.
"Yeah,HOW COULD I FORGET, he made me eat some couch stuffing when Gaz and him
played robot mortal combat in my SKULL" Dib announces, sarcasim dripping.
The twins and the brothers are unabashedly eavesdropping, Zim is practically
growling at Tak.
"Let's just say that those "flags" you told me about weren't just meant to
claim your insides as Irken property... those are M.T.'s... Monitors and
Trackers. They constantly send out information about your body, your
activities, your habits, and your location to Zim's base... he's got a file as
big as a migorph's filing cabinet. Which makes your puny attempts look like a
drop in the ocean." Tak explains, grin as cheshire-like as her face will allow.
Zim's face turns translucent in embarrassment, for once as quiet as a mouse.
Mabel bursts out laughing, making everyone, excepting Gaz and the giggling
couple off in their own little worlds, to jump.
Everybody gives her their best "what-is-wrong-with-this-child" look, Greg takes
out Beatrice's feathers and twirls them forlornly, sighing sadly.
Zim asks what is on everyone's mind... "WHY IS THE WEIRD CLONE GIRL LAUGHING
LIKE THAT?"
Mabel's laugh tapers off, Dipper watches Mabel worriedly, "That's nothing
compared to what Dipper went through."
Dipper breaths in harshly, "Which is none of their business Mabel... never mind
all that… Mabel doesn't have a filter."
Mabel pouts a bit, "Come on Dipdop, we're gonna have to face him again soon
enough. Might as well talk about it to some random strangers who we'll never
see again."
Wirt is about to correct that statement but Greg tickles him into silence...
well, into not talking anyway. He carefully puts the feathers back in his
pouch.
Waiting patiently for true silence Dipper explains, "I made a stupid deal with
the weirdest, most dangerous being in existence. He nearly took over our
dimension. He promised to help me and he never did... well he did help me
realize that family is the most important thing, more important than any
mystery out there."
Mabel shoves Dipper, "AND~? You've got to tell them everything or the exercise
won't work~!" She magic's a Dr._Pill:_mentality book. Mabel had been on the
therapist kick for a good week now, having claimed to want to get into the
minds of men so she could attract more potential Mr. Right candidates.
Dipper gives in with a sigh, "He basically ripped my soul from my body and used
it as a glorified sock puppet. He's the literal Illuminati symbol, and he sees
everything. He's the Lord of the mindscape and the dreamscape, master of the
mind. We defeated him the first time by pure luck, and the second time Grunkle
Stan sacrificed his own mind to defeat him. Thankfully his memories returned...
but now... Bill is popping up in his body. That's why we're going to Gravity
Falls, we're going to exorcise Stan of Bill, defeating him once and for all."
"NO! YOU CAN'T KILL YOUR PARTNER!"
Wirt claps his hand over Greg's mouth... Too late. Dipper pulls out his own
journal, throws out his hand and yells, "CAPTA ET LIGABIS EOS!" The metal on
their seats wraps around Greg and Wirt, a blue glow comes from Greg's pouch and
the metal melts away.
"What the was THAT!?!" Dib screams, eyes excited and grinning like a kid at
Christmas.
Greg opens his pouch, Beatrice's feathers are glowing softly, he dares to touch
them. They radiate cold. Greg closes his pouch with a click.
Wirt sighs reluctantly, "We're going to Gravity Falls... And the reason is...
Well it's a long story." Funderburker wriggles out, stomach making it's bell
noise, Greg pats his head comfortingly.
Everyone is looking at them expectantly, Dipper and Mabel with weariness, Dib
and Tak with interest, and Zim with boredom.
"Well it was on Halloween last year, what started all of it though was the fact
that I was really shy around the girl I liked. Sara. Greg ended up giving her
my mix tape and my entire night was spent following her around trying to get it
back. Everything went wrong when we were in the cemetary. The police came and
me and Greg jumped over the wall... There was a train on the otherside and I
shoved Greg out of the way just in time. We rolled down the hill... And landed
in a lake. We lost consciousness and we awoke in The Unknown."
"We are in our costumes from then. They're our ADVENTURING cloths!" Greg
interjects excitedly, foot on the top of the seat and posing like an explorer.
"Anyway, we met a talking bluebird named Beatrice and had a bunch of life
threatening encounters... But Beatrice was leading us to Adelaide, a witch that
wanted to stuff our heads with whool, use us as pin cushions, and make us her
braindead servants. Beatrice hadn't always been a bluebird, she was cursed by
one she killed by accident when she was a little girl, she needed the witch's
scissors to cut not only her wings... But her families because they were cursed
as well. She changed her mind and saved us though."
"But by then I had felt betrayed and we separated, I-I lost hope of ever
getting home... And that's when the Beast struck, he turns those who despare
into Eddelwood trees... Has his lantern barer chop them down... Grind out their
oils, and feed his lantern. He told the woodsman, the current lantern barer at
the time, that his daughter's soul was in the lantern. Greg traded himself for
me and the Beast set three impossible tasks for him to do. The second way the
Beast can get someone is by exhausting their body if they aren't an actual
denizen of the Unknown. I woke up, Beatrice's family helped me, and I saved
Greg. The Beast... He had an obsession with the lantern, and that's when I
knew. It was HIS Soul in the lantern. So I gave it to the woodsman and he did
with it what he wanted, I also gave Beatrice the scissors I had snatched from
Adelaide. We went home and woke up. The Unknown... Was the afterlife... Our
hearts had stopped for more than 5 minutes, or so said the doctors, when we
were in the water."
Wirt looks at Dipper, "However, Beatrice visited me and Greg in our dreams...
Or my nightmare anyway. She spoke poetry, telling me about reviving the Beast
and helping the Harvest moon's one eye, she-she something too-... It was like
the shadows dragged her away... She- she looked like a bright light and then
she was gone... We both woke up with beatrice's feathers. We looked up
Weirdmagedeon since it was in the poem and It's not in any dictionary I know.
We found an article and it talked about The Pines family and Bill Cipher, we
didn't get to read much, just enough to know the poem is talking about you and
your own personal demon. " The tree marked by the sky" is a direct quote from
the poem. And Well... Those two over there are another pair. "The bug with
eight limbs" and "his moth, whose curiosity never dims" Zim, and Dib."
"My Swollen Eyeball Network Code name is Mothman, and I've always loved
studying the paranormal..." Dib answers, also holding out the moth lock,
"Although, I just got this today, it was my Mom's and it was supposed to be
mine from what Gaz said. That and Zim's P.A.K. has four limbs... And he has
antenna and eyes like a bug."
"MY GLORIOUS SCHEVERS AND OCULAR IMPLANTS ARE NOT LIKE YOUR PATHETIC EARTH
PESTS SPECIES! BUT ZIM IS SLIGHTLY CURIOUS WHY GRAVITY FALLS IS DRAWING UNUSUAL
HUMANS TO IT." Zim yells, feeling profusely insulted for being compared to a
lower base lifeform./p>
"Grunkle Ford has been trying to figure that out for years." Dipper states,
"But back to that poem. What does it say exactly?"
Wirt reluctantly takes a copy of it from his pocket, unfolding it and handing
it to Dipper. Dipper reads a few lines then opens his mouth in a silent scream.
Mabel yanks it from his hands and reads it aloud.
"The false end has ended
The half star ascended
Destiny and fate collide
Enemies become allied
Burn the soot rose red
Or every legacy will be dead
Raise the harvest moon's one eye
Bring along the tree marked by the sky
Find the bug with eight limbs
And his moth, whose curiosity never dims
Search the north for the Egypt's heir
As well as his nemisis, with the Nile flower's glare
Look for the boy bearing a mask of death
In addition to the inner eyed demon, that exhales burning breath
Last but not least
You must use fire to save the Beast
Now listen close and listen well
Listen to the prophecy I shall soon foretell
A star must be whole
Or it shall dull
And turn into a husk, a crystal skull
Weirdmagedon, Invasion, Catpocolypse, Ragnarök
The once adversaries are the key, the saviors-the lock
Beware, the clock's tick tock
Goodbye Wirt, you mistake of nature introvert
Try not to let them get hurt-" Mabel crumbles it up and is a second from
tearing it into confetti but she relents, handing it back to Wirt shakily.
"I understand you guys have bad blood with your dream demon, trust me. I was
almost turned into a tree by the Beast." Wirt admits, he looks at everyone
around him,"But this was given to us by Beatrice... those feathers? We found
them on us when we woke up, and what they did to that whatever Dipper just
did... there's no way to explain it. It had to be Beatrice, and she's our
friend. This poem... it's got to be important. Important enough that she risked
getting kil-cap- TAKEN by that THING! Now me and Greg owe Beatrice our lives,
and like it or not, we're going to Gravity Falls and we're going to get
Beatrice back one way or another. So will you help us?"
Dib grins happily, "Oh I'm definitely in, I thought this assignment was going
to be a total bust but it's almost as intriguing as having a badly disguised
alien walk into your 6th grade homeroom class. But I'm only doing it if that
said badly disguised alien comes along... because I have to stop any alien
takeover plans he might spring." Dib gestures at Zim.
Zim sneers but sniffs, face upward and in a snobbishness pose, "THE MIGHTY ZIM
WILL PARTICIPATE, BECAUSE THE DIB-WORM IS INTRIGUED AND THE ENERGY SIGNATURE
ZIM FOUND MIGHT BE INVOLVED."
"Energy signature? ... Ziiiiim what's this about an energy signature?" Tak
asks, eyeridge raised and fingers tapping her arm.
"ENERGY SIGNATURE? WHAT ENERGY SIGNATURE!? LIIIIEZ! YOU LIIIIE!" ZIM denies,
Tak pushes his head against his seat with a shove, "Again I don't care, I'm
only going to watch you idiots because I don't want you disturbing Gaz and
bringing her wrath down upon us all." Gaz's right thumb twitches.
Skoodge and Keef shrug in unison. "We made expensive reservations... but I
guess we could help you guys if we've got some free time?" Keef compromises,
Skoodge nods his head in assent, Keef steals a kiss from his favorite Irken.
Everyone awkwardly looks away to give the insueing makeout session a sense of
privacy. Wirt looks at Dipper, acknowledging the Elephant in the room.
Dipper bites his lip, Mabel nudges him with her elbow, "We don't really know
what will happen with that circle Dipdop... he could be turned good by it for
all we know."
Dipper takes off his hat, looking at the gift Wendy gave him to remember her
by, he bites his lips one last time, " I guess there isn't anything we can do
about this anyway... So I guess I'll follow along... For now. But if ANYTHING
HAPPENS I'm blaming you!" Dipper points at Wirt, eyebrow arched in challenge.
Wirt gulps but nods his head determinedly.
"IS EVERYBODY ON?! CUZ THE BUS IS LEAVING THE STATION!"
Everyone who was talking is affected by the sudden jumpscare of the busdriver,
having returned from his break. "This is the point of no return! We've got 4
more hours of road and I won't be stopping until two hours from now!" He shifts
gears, the bus makes a dangerous noise from it's engine but it rockets forward.
Dipper puts his hat on, resolutely.
All I can hope is that we won't die from this... Waddles jumps onto Zim in
stratlement, Zim's eyes get hysterically huge, he releases a glass shattering
shriek, "GET THIS FILTHY PIG BEAST OFF OF ME! IT'S COVERED IN DIRT GERMZZZZ!"
Zim shoves it at Tak who tosses it to Greg but Mabel intercepts the Pig and
cuddles Waddles close, glaring at the two.
If we don't kill each other in this bus first anyway.
***
Coop, and Denis swear their ears are bleeding from the aweful chalkboard
scraping that Millie and Burt call singing. But by 7 p.m. everyone is sick of
the car ride, and no one's in the mood to sing anymore. Burt sees this and
frankly his tushy is so numb that it's continued on to the tips of his toes and
lower back. Burt calls it quits for today and pulls into a Sunrise Cosmos
Hotel.
Once everyone's inside the boys flop onto a bed covered in a night sky
comforter set and snore away into dream land, Millie cuddles Mr. Kat on her own
pink starred comforter and yawns squeakily. Burt sighs happily, watching his
kid's chests rise and fall in slumber, ruffling their hair as he walks by,
whispers goodnight, and flicks off the lamp.
***
Coop opens his eyes, sees the suns narrowing light and feels the nothingness
beneath him. He screams, and down... down... down... he goes, until a tiny
speck is all that remains of its yellow rays.
He falls on his back and releases a screech, body jarring and arching in agony.
Petals flutter softly, golden gleaming velvet pieces of sunlight kiss his hurts
and commence covering his entire body.
"Don't give up! ... the Scions are the Saviors of monsters and humans!"
A red floating heart appears, it seems to give off a ruby glow... "you are
filled with DETERMINATION"
***
Coop wakes up with a scream, everyone startles awake, excepting Kat who
continues to obnoxiously snore.
"... Coop are you ok sport?" Burt asks, getting up and sitting on the edge of
the hotel bed, Millie grumbles but returns her head to the fluffy pillow, Denis
mumbles a groggy "what?" before falling back down with a thump and a snore.
"Ye-yeeeah... Dad... just a weird nightmare, that's all." Coop stutters and
yawns.
Burt squeezes Coops knee, "I can understand If it had Old Lady Munson in it, I
think anyone would scream..." He gets back up after a tempered hair-ruffling.
Burt looks back at Coop, "You sure you're ok Coop?"
Coop plasters on a fake grin in reassurance, forcing a cheerful but truthful
sleepiness, "Yeah... Old Lady Munson and her knomes are enough nightmare fodder
for anyone."
Burt chuckles, "You got that right Coop, now go back to sleep and dream of
trekking up mountains and seeing the desert for the first time kiddo, Colorado
is really beautiful around this time of year."
Burt goes to sleep, but Coop feels something rubbing on his chest, with a grunt
of tired effort he shoves his hand down his shirt.
"What the-" Coop pulls out a silken soft piece of something, he gets up quietly
and tip-toes to the bathroom, closes the door, and turns on the light to see
the cause. It's a golden petal.
Coop's eyes blink tiredly, "Must've been what caused that nightmare... but we
didn't pass by any wildflowers... and I don't remember Millie having any golden
flower petal projects... said something about yellow being out of fashion... oh
well." Coop tosses it in the trash can.
Coop goes to bed and curls up next to Denis, but he feels something softly
rubbing against his chest again. Coop's more awake than ever, with shaking
fingers he gropes under his shirt and pulls out another golden petal.
"No f-ing way..."
Chapter End Notes
     I think we all know what videogame I'm alluding to... and If you
     don't? Foreshame good gents and ladies... foreshame!
     I am DETERMINED to finish this chapter was my fricking thoughts!
***** Impressions of a Friend *****
Chapter Notes
     Soooo~ as the over achieving try-hard that I am... I have turned this
     story into a fandom eating monster. This has 3 fandoms joining in
     with a couple of au's thrown around willy-nilly... and yes for my
     Odium fans I said Willy-Nilly... take it as any sign you wish.
     *cough*cough*
     However! This story is going to be rather long... I'm still working
     out different things that are going to happen... and well... let's
     just say~
     (*U*)
     I'm having a hellova good time making a presentable meddley for you~♥
     *spoilers!* there will be plenty of cliff-hangers in the future...
     some more immediate than others.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
"You have arrived at your destination."
"We're finally HERE kids! Welcome to-"
They pass by a 'Welcome to Gravity Falls Oregon' billboard on their right.
Burt's next words turn to sawdust on his tongue. He looks around, daring to
wipe his glasses while driving and returning them to their rightful place,
perching them on his nose. Burt taps the GPS screen and although his eyes do
not deceive him... he pinches himself.
Denis and Coop turn to glare at Kat in sync, there is no need for words, the
accusation hangs thick enough in the backseat you would need a chainsaw to cut
through it.
"I KNEW I never should have trusted that hunk of junk!" Burt yells, driving
into the beginning of something terrible.
Millie, having been napping, startles awake. Rubbing sleepy eyes and yawning
softly, beams and starts bouncing in her seat excitedly.
"DADDY! LOOK AT THE CASTLE ON THE HILL! IT'S HUUUUGE!" Millie points at the
NorthWest Mansion arrogantly looking down on the town as it's past owners once
did.
Burt glances at the intimidating building and spots a sign that shows the
NorthWest Mansion in greater detail on the side of the road. The advertisement
reads "NorthWest Inn! Get in! Or Stay Out!"
"Good-Eyes Millie! I guess we'll stay there for tonight. I hope we can get
signal up there so I can apologize to Uncle Burl for not arriving today because
of technical difficulties..." Burt says, adoringly patting Millie's head whilst
glaring sideways at the offending object.
Technical Difficulties my foot! Kat brought us here for a reason... We better
find out why and fast. Who knows what this purple gremlin is planning?! He
played the emotional card so well I almost believed him!
Coop is determined not to take his eyes off of him for a single second. And
here I thought we were going to be friends for more than a couple of days... so
much for second chances.
**********
Upon the bus's final stop Wirt, Dipper, and Dib fought to escape the bus first.
Squabbling and squawking, knees hitting heads, feet kicking stomachs, and
elbows knocking spines. They end up in a dog-pile on the concrete. Greg holds
onto Mabel and Waddles, Jason Funderberker safely tucked in his overalls, as
Mabel uses her grappling gun and they practically fly out of the ceiling
emergency exit and into the top branches of a towering pine tree the bus had
conveniently stopped under. Zim, and Tak, who is securely carrying a
dangerously disgruntled Gaz, scramble out of an open window. The human boy trio
disentangles themselves and then everyone is running for their lives, excepting
Mabel, Greg, and their animal companions who are swinging through the trees
making ill timed Tarzan and George and the Jungle references.
The bus explodes unsurprisingly, everyone running is sent tumbling against the
unforgivingly hard parking lot. Gaz, being the first to recover, slowly walks
to Zim's close and slightly roasted body. She grabs a schever and yanks hard,
Zim releases an unearthly yowl, clawing desperately at Gaz's hand holding the
highly sensitive appendage. Gaz hisses disdainfully but lets go to kick Zim
harshly in the squeedilyspooch, causing Zim to cough up pink blood and spittle.
Zim curls defensively around the badly bruised super-organ.
Gaz huffs agitatedly then turns to glare menacingly at her fallen brother.
Trekking over and repeatedly kicking him in the stomach area, then setting a
foot on his head, applying pressure enough to make Dib cry out in pain, "I
wonder if I push hard enough, would your head pop like a grape? Or would it
crack like an egg? If you and your boyfriend pull a stunt like that again
you'll find out the hard way. Got it weirdo?" Dib grasps Gaz's foot in a
pathetic attempt to relieve some of the pressure. Gaz, seeing this, presses
down more savagely, bending her knee and leaning down closely to Dib's ear, "I
said, Got it weirdo?"
"YES!" Dib near screams, tears streaming from his eyes, not even daring to
attempt to contradict her with the fact that it was actually all Zim's fault
and they were in no way in a relationship. Gaz pushes off of his head, walking
back to Tak and laying her in a more comfortable way with her head resting
softly on Gaz's thighs. She takes out her gameslave III and beats out her
remaining rage through the game.
A toasted lump falls on Dipper and Wirt, it groans slightly and seperates,
revealing a very crunchy Skoodge and Keef. Skoodge, being an Irken and having a
smaller recovery time, gently carries his unconscious boyfriend to a wooden
bench, laying him down and cuuing in worry. A groan from Zim and Skoodge's
schevers swivel around, his eyes narrow in rage and he's kicking Zim repeatedly
in the P.A.K. before he can blink, causing slight tremors of pain to crawl
through the fallen idiot in achey droves. Each kick enphasized with a choice
Irken insult rolling off of his tongue that makes Zim's schevers curl in
awareness of his dilemma.
"YOU! FUCKING IDIOT! WHY DID YOU MAKE A BOMB THAT WOULD EXPLODE IF THE BUS
SLOWED DOWN!?!! YOU-YOU DEFECTIVE!-..." Skoodge stops kicking, the last word
making Skoodge bite his lip in disgust. But he resolutely walks back to his
boyfriend, ignoring the knife of guilt weedlying in his P.A.K..
Dib crawls over to Zim slowly, poking the shivering Irken Invader on his
forehead. Zim reveals his face, angry eyes filled with clear tears lock onto
Dib's equally puffy eyes, clutching his schevers protectively in his cradling
grasp.
"What do you WANT Dib-thing." Challenging him even now.
Dib's eyes widen, in surprise. What AM I doing!? I should be happy that Zim got
a thorough beating after that bomb fiasco. Why am I?- NOPE! I'M NOT! I'M NOT!
I'M NOT! DIB MEMBRANE IS NOT FEELING SORRY FOR THIS JERK!…so Dib blurts out the
next best thing, "Your antenna are that sensitive?" Not daring to touch the
roughed-up appendages, curiosity piqued.
Zim growls in frustration, rolling his eyes in agitation. What did Zim think he
was crawling over here to Zim's disgraced body for? Comfort? HAH! Zim's P.A.K.
really must have a wire loose if that's what Zim was thinking. No, the only
thing that motivates this filthily clever creature is Zim's Dissection and
novelty specimens. Tak is right, Zim is truly pitiful.… "TRYING TO GET
INFORMATION ON US SUPERIOR IRKENS AGAIN DIIIIB? HAH! LIKE ZIM WOULD TELL YOU
HOW DANGEROUSLY SENSITIVE MY SCHEVERS ARE!"
Dib bites his lip as to hold back the relieved grin threatening to spread
acrossed his face. He's back to his haughty idiot self, that's a relief but-it
really shouldn't be...
Mabel and Greg with their best buddies descend slowly, Waddles wriggles from
Greg's grasp and scampers over to a crispy Dipper, Jason Funderberker hops out,
leaping to the equally burnt Wirt. Greg and Mabel close behind, they kneel
between their respective sibling, Greg's pouch glows and he takes out the two
feathers, looking at them skeptically, "Maybe if I-" the feathers, upon contact
with the scorched teens, steams, the burns disappearing in a swift fashion. The
K.O.-ed youths regain consciousness and moan in sync, limbs sore from the
magic's use.
Dipper clutches his head, hat crunching and crumbling to ash when his hand
brushes a corner, he sits up tiredly, "Well, there goes my favorite hat."
Wirt's clothes and hat reknitt themselves upon contact with the feathers, the
small group looks at the feathers in awe, "It's like it never even happened!"
Wirt whispers, poking and prodding at his clothes. The feathers dim and Greg
hides the treasure away in his pouch.
"That's pretty handy." Mabel amends.
Dipper's eyes scrunch up, a thought stuck in his mind, "And where did you say
you got those feathers from again?"
Greg's grin shrinks slightly, "Beatrice gave them to us. She gave me mine and
went over to Wirt's room and gave him his... and then she was taken."
"We woke up with them, mine tangled in my hair and Greg had his in his hand..."
Dipper bites his tongue, "And Beatrice is..."
"A friend!" Greg yells.
"When we were in the unknown she was a talking bluebird. But I gave her the
scissors she needed to turn back into a human, she was cursed by one that she
accidentally killed... but in our dreams, she was a girl again. Red curly hair
and her dress was blue and then she had giant blue wings... they blended in so
well with her dress that's what I thought it was a part of... her eyes were
glowing white too. It-it was weird."
A whimper from Keef grabbed Greg's attention. Feathers already glowing in his
pouch. Skoodge nearly hissed at Greg but the determined boy took out the
feathers and Keef's burns vanished, and brought back his energetic albeit a
little tired talking mouth.Skoodge sifted through Keef's red curls with his
schevers lovingly, the appendages peeking out of the holographic disguise,
relief warming his squeedlyspooch.
Next up was Dib's injuries new and older, the feathers causing small flames to
bleed into his stomach and settle, Dib falling asleep contentedly. Zim utterly
refused, pointing at Dib not wanting to end up that defenceless and gesturing
to his already healing body since his alien genetics were responding full swing
to his hurts.
Tak's body chose that moment to wake up and her cheeks turned bright red, eyes
hugging out at the view she was receiving let alone where her head was. Gaz,
noticing the halt of steady breathing paused her game and looked down at the
Irken innocently oggling her breasts. Gaz's lips twitched upwards, returning
back to her game. Tak slid her hands over her face in embarrassment, hiding the
ever present blush that her hologram disguise always seems to register, much to
Tak's eternal dismay.
Dipper and Mabel pointed at a mansion on top of a large hill overlooking the
town, "That's the only Inn around here. Old man McGucket runs it. It use to be
NorthWest Mansion but he turned it into a sort of Resort/Bed and Breakfast."
Mabel gestures the group, excepting her brother and the two unusually dressed
boys next to her, "You guys already made reservations according to Skoodge."
She turns to look at Wirt and Greg, "But you guys haven't I'm guessing? So
mention us and McGucket will probably give you a discount. If you guys need us
we'll be at the Mystery Shack... you can't miss it! Soos literally set up over
a hundred signs to direct any tourists there."
Mabel gives Greg a parting hug. Waddles and Funderberker touch snouts and then
snuggle against their newly made human friends in farewell. Dipper and Mabel
wave good bye and head onto a trail with a blaring white arrow sign directing
to the Mystery Shack.
Gaz glances at her sleeping brother, looks at Zim, and then huffs. Gaz puts
away her game and Tak takes the chance to escape.
"What about your sibling Gaz?" Tak asks, eyebrow raised and quiet enough that
Zim's Scheevers do not hear.
Gaz slowly opens her eyes, and looks back at the two, "I'd tell them to get a
room but this is the second time I've seen Dib actually get some REM movement
behind his eyelids so I'll let the green boy-toy take care of him. He heard,
therefore he'll follow us eventually. Unless his IQ is on the same level as
Gir."
Greg, Wirt, Funderberker, Keef, and Skoodge are already a good 20 yards down
the road. Gaz and Tak silently following along. Now that the group excepting
himself and Dib, Zim replays what he recorded a few seconds ago with his P.A.K.
, cleaning out background noise and zooming in on Gaz and Tak's discussion.
Zim's scheever twitches in annoyance, zipper teeth gritted, but his tender
scheever aches from the small movement enough to make clear unpolluted H2O slip
from his eye. Zim has to get a disguise or the humans will be onto Zim... the
bomb did not go as Zim had planned, Zim's uniform is unmarred but not Zim's
hair-hat... thankfully the contacts are suctioned!
A soft snore draws Zim's attention to Dib's prone form, face slack and
peaceful, smoldering hateful eyes moving softly behind his concealing eyelids
like a big cat pacing it's cage, just waiting for someone to make it's doors
open to pounce.
The Dib is still sleeping.
His P.A.K. alerts him of the slowly decreasing body temperature of his foe and
the surrounding area.
Zim will take him to the In-NO! ZIM HAS DONE ENOUGH FOR THIS PATHETIC LUMP OF
FLESH!
His P.A.K. beep's another warning, sending forth evidence of smoke inhilation
in his lungs; Although disappearing slowly, it isn't being cured fast enough to
be completely safe to leave him to the Earth's elements.
Di-Dib-worm is injured! The Dib's breathing is getting better but Dib-thing
could get a-a COLD-A GERM! ZIM WILL NOT FIGHT AGAINST A GERM INFESTED FOE! IT
WOULD TAKE TOO MUCH OF ZIM'S PRECIOUS TIME TO CURE THE DIB-STINK OF THOSE
DESPICABLE GERMS!
Resolutely Zim goes over to his body, his P.A.K. beep's oncemore, this time
showing progress in his healing while he's sleeping rather than awake being
faster, as well as reporting facts from the Internet of the serious effects of
insomnia and sleep deprivation.
F-fine! Zim will just have to carry the Dib-Smelly to the DISGUSTING Inn! You
owe Zim LARGE_TIME Dib-Weasel!
Zim slowly lifts up Dib, pulling off his trench coat and covering his own head
to hide his scheevers, a large shiver makes Dib's snore cut off from the
instant chatter of his teeth, Zim then eases Dib into his arms with the
gentlest touch he's ever awarded his enemy. Dib curls into the Irken invader
seeking the warmth that wasn't there, Irkens being cold-blooded and all. But
Zim's lip-less frown twitches up wistfully at the unconscious snuggling and
warmth the human gives off.
"You owe Zim large time., " Zim chirps in a soft whisper, a small content smile
tugs at Dib's sleeping mouth.
*****
McGucket sees an old station wagon steadily scaling up the mountain road.
Sudden flashes of light cross his eyes, then black and rainbow kaleidescopes
like looking at a bubble floating towards the sun.
Pairs of Yin and Yang. Groups upon groups of samesex couples. All surrounding a
circle of ten-
The occupants in the car get out, stretching their arms out, the two boys
watching the hairless purple cat with unadulterated suspicion," The CIPHER
CIRCLE!?- Wait... no it's different-"
Dipper Pines is part of the circle, holding hands with a gent in yellow and a
top-hat-
The adult male opens up the trunk, passing their luggage to the young
boys,"Bill- as a human!? And is that-"
A black winged being with a lightning bolt white shaped scythe of hair and deep
burning orange eyes, clutching a green insect-like humanoid creature who is
gritting it's pink zipper-like teeth. It's multi-faceted magenta eyes are
squinted with a laser's focus.
The cat dashes away into the bushes, the boys being distracted by their
struggle to carry the heavy items,"Is that Gazlene's child? And a-an alien?
What is that..."
The vision zooms in on the center of the circle, a floating spectator, a boy
with an unusual hat, back thinning like a night cap only zigzag and defying
gravity, but the ear covers droop red with a five pointed star on each. The
star is jaggedly broken in half, one half black as sin, an ominous feeling of
foreboding horror sinks into his mind. The other half glowing, pulsing a toxic
green. His hair fans out, framing his face, blood red, practically dripping the
stuff like he'd just taken a blood bath. From the eyebrows up it appears human.
But it's eyes... they show all that should never be. There are no whites, ebony
takes it's place and seems like an abyss until unearthly eerie green iriss
pulse in time with the broken half star. But the pupils are slim and glowing
white, a cracked door in a dark room, light peeking through from the other lit-
up side. Holding unnatural knowledge that none should know, normal creatures
having their doors locked shut, barricading it, their pupils black and blocking
it out. This creature's grin is sharp and gleaming with lethal glee, stretching
it's lips too far acrossed it's face.
The little girl looks around in search of the long-gone cat, but is quickly
lead away from the vehicle, the group treks to the sidewalk, "Thi-this
MONSTER... the beast with one eye is nothing compared to IT…
It's eyes dart, locking onto his.
McGucket's heart stops in his chest, no air enters or exits his lungs, blood
halts in his veins, only his eyelids move... eyes widening against every
instinct in his body fighting to preserve his life by locking up and freezing,
trying to hide his presence from this evil. The tremors of pure terror
vibrating his elderly bones. Those eyes seeming more like an opening maw than
it's actual mouth, the impression of it latching onto his very soul and
devouring it whole imprinting in his frenzied mind.
It smirks, eyelids drooping to a smoldering leer, irises flashing a
kaleidascope of colors before settling back to their unsettling green, sharp-
nailed hand slowly stretching toward him inch by fear increasing inch, "So
you're the one who dared to look into the abyss, the reason why my plan didn't
work this time... hmmm~ I'll just inform myself and jump timelines... your
interferences stop here~ now you're mine to manipulate you hindering old mad
man-
Coop bumps into McGucket, the vision snapping away with the creature snarling
in aggravation being the last bit he sees, it's nail making a single stinging
scratch acrossed the tip of his nose.
McGucket crumples with a shuddering breath, Coop's eyes widen, seeing the scene
as well upon contact, Coop catches him before his knees hit the ground, the
suitcases topple to the ground instead, catching Denis's feet and down goes the
other tower of leaning bags. Denis grumbles about his hurts from the porch
steps.
Coop's eyes well with frightened soul-shocked tears, "wh-whattt... w-wasss...
th-tha-atttt...?"
A dozen gold petals flutter out from under his shirt, McGucket stares shakily
at the youth, "Tha-that my boy... was a vi-vision... and only tho-those
directly invo-involved can ever glimpse it fro-from me... you're in grave
danger... go-go to the mystery shack as soon as possible... there are signs
everywhere that'll lead you to Ford's old house-tell them that something big is
going to happen, and that Bill Cipher is small taters compared to what you and
Dipper and that human one-eyed beast are going to face, tell them McGucket sent
you and that I had a vision. Describe what ever the heck that thing was and
make sure it doesn't get loose."
"Cooper Burtonburger! Pick up this mess!" Burt yells at Coop, startling them
both, Coop lowers his head and does as he's told, mind wind-milling around a
mile a minute. Burt sets his pile down and gently places his hand on McGucket's
shoulder, "I'm SOOOO sorry about my son walking into you! I apologize for his
inattentiveness to his surroundings. Kids Haha, he's always got his head in the
clouds going on and on about aliens and cats... and cat aliens hahaha... do you
know where we go to ask for a room?"
Denis and Coop gather their fallen luggage, McGucket mentally shakes himself,
"uh it's ok, it was really my fault... tripped over my own feet. Knocked into
him and your boy saved me from what could've been a nasty fall! For that you
get a deluxe double room for a week free of cost!" His toothy grin hiding his
wobbly knees. I've got to buy this kid enough time to keep that THING from
winning... this is as much as I can spare without looking suspicious...
Burt's eyes bug out, spluttering in astonishment, but soon a million watt grin
lights up his once sheepish face, he shakes McGucket's hand energetically,
"Thank You! Thank You very much! We only planned to stay one night but-"
"Nonsense! NorthWest Manor Inn is the best in our lovely state of Oregon!
There's too many wonderous natural sights to see in one day sir! You'll regret
it al your life if you don't take this opportunity to see all you can here!"
McGucket rejects swiftly. You'll regret it more than you know... if your boy
doesn't help stop that creature, then you'll regret it for the rest of our
mutually assured short lives.
Burt bites his bottom lip, "I understand Gravity Falls is beautiful but we made
plans to go to Colorado to visit my brother Burl. Our GPS lead us astray but I
haven't even called him to inform him of our dilemna, and we can't stay there
very long either... my business can't stay closed for more than two weeks. The
House of Swap is my family's source of income. Can't have people too tempted to
steal rather than fairly barter for my innventory, can't run a pawn shop
without stuff to pawn haha."
McGucket's eyes spark, a lightbulb switching on, he has to bite his tongue
enough to draw blood to keep a very mischievous grin from marring his
face,"Well~ Gravity Falls isn't all just a hiker's dream... I haven't even
mentioned our little town's true shining gem..." he loosens his cheek muscles
restraints, a secretive grin slowly taking over his face.
Burt arch's his eyebrow a little, "And... what would that be exactly...?"
McGucket chokes down a cackle. I've got him on the hook now to reel him in,
nice and smooth..., "Gravity Fall's pride and joy! The Mystery Shack! It's got
merchandise that some people haven't even heard of! And some of this town's
most mind-blowing exhibits!"
Burt's practically drooling, dollar signs appearing in his eyes. Hook Line and
Sinker.
Burt coughs, attempting to appear less like a dog smelling the scent of a
freshly grilled steak, "I-I suppose it wouldn't be too much to stay here for a
week... the kids have been on the road for two days straight now. I think I'll
take you up on your offer but we'll probably leave before the end of the week."
He's not getting away! "ok... I guess your kids won't be able to celebrate
Eggster. That's too bad..."
Burt's eyebrows scrunch down in curiousity, "Do you mean Easter? That's already
passed-"
"NOPE! I mean EGGSTER! One of our little towns most cherished festivals! Legend
says that a month or so after Easter a child found a golden egg! It had
"Eggster" engraved in it. On the same day a crack formed in the local damn, the
boy ended up saving our town from a flood by shoving it in the hole! A decade
later they managed to patch up the hole and the "Eggster" egg then sits in the
town hall! And from that day on Gravity Falls celebrated Eggster! I don't have
any words to describe the festival other than there's nothing like it!"
McGucket explains, looking off into the distance remembering past Eggster
festivals.
Burt sighs in defeat, "I guess we could manage to stay until the Eggster
Festival." McGucket slings an arm over Burt's shoulder and cackles in victory,
leading the middle-aged man towards the door.
"Glad to hear it! I'll show you folks to your rooms!" Coop looks to McGucket,
the old man can't resist the sudden urge to wink.
**********
After a few minutes of walking the group manages to get to NorthWest Inn. After
Wirt pays for a room from the red haired woman slouching behind the counter,
everyone unpacks in their respective rooms. Tak announces she's going with Gaz
to the arcade, Skoodge and Keef can be heard giggling in their room about...
certain things. So Wirt decides Greg is DEFINITELY not going to stay within
hearing distance while they're make-out activities will probably escalate to
... other more private activities.
So Wirt lifts his brother up and speedwalks down the hallway and out of the
mansion on the excuse of "exploring" the outside of the massive Manor.
"Wirt! Look!" Greg points at a purple blur that darts passed the teenager.
Wirt blinks in astonishment,"What the heck was that?"
"I don't know but I'M GOING TO FIND OUT! Maybe it knows something about
Beatrice!?" Greg runs after it, little legs puttering through the bushes before
Wirt can shoot that idea out of his impulsive brother's head.
With no other choice Wirt runs after his brother, pointed leaves and harsh
vines catching his cape, Wirt trembles but pushes through, trying his best to
ignore the haunting feeling of foilage and sap.
DAMNIT! Quite being scared! This isn't even the Unknown! Keep your brother out
of danger... or keep him from doing something stupid like right now.
"Greg! Wait for me! And for Pete's sake don't sprint into the woods!"
**********
Gaz and Tak enter the dingy arcade/pizzaria, Gaz sniffs the air and hums in
content, the aroma of greasy pizza making Tak queezy but filling Gaz with
energy.
"Where's the game that has killed every single player's sanity?" Gaz asks, eyes
squinting barely above the counter. The blond haired man behind the counter
flips the long locks from his face.
"That game isn't for kids like you little dudette."
Gaz tosses the completed gameslaves I and II, the highscores boasting the
highest record in the world, the employee blinks owlishly at the scores."Let me
decide whether or not I can play the game. You're talking to the reigning world
champion of the gameslave. Point. Me. To. The. Game...NOW!" The blond startles
to attention and points to the very back of the arcade.
Gaz swipes her beaten games into her hands, making them disappear into her
pockets. The two girls make there way towards the games. But the heady scent of
freshly baked Pizza makes Gaz stumble, steps getting smaller until she's not
moving at all, her nose rising to scent the area.
"I'll play it after Pizza... I miss Bloatys... want... a slice?" Gaz's voice
trails off, cheeks holding a light dusting of primrose pink. Tak's breath
stutters, unable to swallow or talk, she just nods. Gaz's lips part to reveal
small straight teeth in a miniscule smile, Gaz quickly turns and shoves people
out of the line, causing injuries to many until they get to the front, "A
Pepperoni pizza and a slice! PRONTO! Or your ankles will be the least of your
worries!"
The man running the cashregister, his name tag says "I am The Nate'nator",
snickers but complies, yelling out to the staff for 1 pepperoni Pizza and a
slice! He rings it up as $5.87 with tax, the girls grab their stuff, "And hey!
Next time tell Lee off a bit more! Don't hold back on him! Haha!"
The girls ignore his outburst, claiming a table to eat at in the far corner
away from the infested children's area.
**********
Mabel, Waddles, and a clothing-toasted Dipper race to the Mystery Shack, Ford's
distressing call egging them on to breakneck speed. They took a shortcut a few
minutes ago, weaving around trees, Dipper chanting speed enhancing spells,
Mabel utilizing her grappling hook, stomping on tree roots to send them darting
through the forest. They shout out quick hello's and how-have-you-been's and
did-you-cut-your-hair!?-It-Looks-good through the woods as they pass forest
friends, Mabel even punt's a derpy looking knome above the foilage, a ringing
cry of "Shmebulock!!!" echoing through the leaves.
They come to a skidding halt infront of the Mystery Shack, it doesn't look like
it once did... run-down and slowly decaying... now it actually looked good,
covered in glowing mystical symbols, roof steepled high with shingles a
polished brown, the S in Mystery Shack actually attached to the roof, this one
made out of two connected question marks.
"It's so... different. Soos is good..." Mabel mumbles in awe.
They clamber up the porch, the symbols swirl, changing colors and Morph into
two shapes, a pine tree and a shooting star.
"Really good, Soos made something this complex from the hand-witches spell
book!? The charms recognized our auras and formed symbols to show we are
allowed inside! That swirl with a heart and 4 symbol is meant to give a shock
straight to the heart if a person enters with the intent to harm! THIS IS
BEYOND FINGERPRINT SCANS MABEL! THIS IS A SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH!" Dipper
shouts spastically, pulling at his own hair and shaking Mabels shoulder harshly
in excitement.
Mabel makes a cop siren sound, Dipper glares a warning, Mabel's grin only grows
bigger.
"Mabel don't you dare-"
"SOMEBODY CALL THE NERD POLICE! WE HAVE A REAL BONI-FIED GEEKING FAN-BOY OVER
HERE!"
An actual siren goes off from the road... and Soos comes squealing into view.
The Mystery Shack isn't the only thing that's changed for the better. The cart
has glowing symbols on it as well, the blaring police siren on top morphing
into the same glowing charms as the outside of the house. The cart screeches to
a stop.
"Put your hands up where I can see them! Nerding out is only allowed in small
quantities around these parts dude! hehe!"
"SOOS!" The mystery twins pounce on the newest Mr. Mystery man, tackling him to
the ground in a giggling dog pile. After a few seconds, they disentangle and
help Soos up, each holding a different hand.
"Dudes I've missed you little dudes... but boss dudes down stairs seriously
need your help. I just came back from McGucket's place Wendy's driving here and
car pooling him, Giddeon, and Robbie-"
"Ahem! Fat man! Help me out of this peasant vehicle."
Mabel and Dipper's groans were so in sync they sounded like one voice, Soos
helped Pacifica out with a little fuss. She was wearing the llama sweater Mabel
had given her last summer though.
"I see you haven't changed much, and you've ridden in a golf cart before... or
has your money dwindled away so fast that you don't have one anymore?" Dipper
snarks nonchalantly, Mabel's eyes widen, his twin swiftly slaps him across the
face.
"That was extremely rude and not like you at all Dipper... I know that prophecy
scared you a little bit but-"
Dipper abruptly shoves past his sister, cutting her off, quickly entering
through the door and banging the password in the vending machine. You don't
know Anything about how bad Bill is Mabel... and what Wirt said... it doesn't
scare me, and that's what's really scaring me. If Bill isn't the bad guy
anymore, then there's someone worse than that damn dorito demon. And I know how
messed up that triangle is, he possessed me for crying out loud! Maybe Wirt and
Greg's astral projection was just some elaborate plan Bill devised? Since he's
coming back he probably messed with those kids to mess with us... but the fact
there were people on the bus involved... and those feathers, I could have sworn
I've read something about feathers like that...
The vending machine opens, Mabel reaches out a hand to gently settle on his
shoulder, he realizes and briskly steps away and down the stairs.
We need our time to think alone. Both of us.
Ford is sitting criss-crossed and floating in the air muttering a sealing chant
over a chained Stan. Stan is sweating profusely, breathing ragged and eyes
screwed shut doubled over in pain. Stan releases a shrill echoing scream that
resembles Bill far more than Dipper's ever did when he was possessed.
If we have any...
**********
Kat lurks in the foilage of one of many pine trees in the forest surrounding
Gravity Falls. The small human goes left, towards what smells like a cemetery.
He chuckles to himself, the boy reminds him of his Millie in his optimistism
and determination to follow, and his rather unusual taste in costume. Kat hops
down from the tree, having forgotten that another strange boy had been
following him. Kat's speed slows to a pleasant stroll.
Wirt catches up to the purple feline, snorting at yet another odd creature he's
spotted in this forest. Borderline worry crosses his mind but until the strange
animals start talking or a black turtle walks in front of his path he's going
to ignore that scary thought. Greg is no where to be seen but knowing Greg
he'll stop at nothing to follow the furless prey to question seriously in a
cute 7 year-old way. He'll be back on its scent before he knows it, luck tended
to float around his brother like an excited puppy. He returns to following the
purple hairless feline, a peaceful smirk eases it's way into his cheeks. His
first true smile since returning from the Unknown.
**********
Meanwhile Greg is lost beyond reason, having lost his quarry he rests his back
against a flat stone in the misty area to catch a breath. Sliding down until
his bottom pats against the ground. Jason Funderberker is wriggling to get out
so Greg opens up his overalls, the frog hops out in it's new found freedom,
until it's legs are well stretched. Then it tiredly hops into Greg's lap,
releasing a tinkling croak.
"I know Jason Funderberker, we've lost our suspect and our partner... and we're
probably not going to find him in this milky fog. But we gotta TRY!" Greg
bounces up, resolution burning fierce in his innocent heart, "come on Jason
Funderberker! Into your carraige you go!"
The frog doesn't comply, either because he doesn't wish to be stuffed in a
muggy overall pouch or because he spots something that he recognizes, leaping
towards an out crop of flat tall stones.
Greg scrunches his face with a funny thought as he chases after his and his
brother's pet frog, "Those rocks look like-"
Jason Funderberker stops by a glowing mound of mushrooms, each is a bright
cerulean blue with white, nudging his head against one. Spores that look like
glowing dandelion fuzz orbs float upwards and disappear. Greg notices the
shining fungi, but picks up his frog and leaves, Jason Funderberker releasing a
scared croak. Greg's eyes are glowing white as he walks into the fog.
The mist parts enough to reveal that the tall smooth rock is a tombstone, the
engraving reads "Here lies the dearly departed Manolo Sanchez. Dedicated
Father, Husband, and Son. A man among men who chose to follow his heart. May
His Soul Continue to Play Music in La Muerte's lands. His name, always to be
remembered, and never to be sent to Xibalba's hands."
*********
Wendy, Old Man McGucket, and li'l Giddeon angrily stomp down the stairs,
squabbling about the hygiene of her car. They become silent when Stan screams
in pain. Rushing down the stairs and stumbling when they see the aged man and
his twin meditating above him.
"Is that Stan?" Li'l Gideon whispers, seeing his old enemy writhing on the
ground makes his stomach churn.
Ford stops chanting and slowly lowers to the ground, dusting himself off he
joins the group.
"Everyone get to your respective places." Ford orders.
"Uhh... what are we going to do for Satan's spot dude?" Soos points out.
"I've already found a solution to our problem." Ford gestures to his chained
brother.
"Those chains there are charmed with the chant of equivalent exchange."
Everyone excepting Dipper and Soos raise an eyebrow in confusion.
"Basically those chains are his arms, once Bill's out we pull Stan back while
still technically touching him via the chains." Dipper explains, everyone still
looks confused but slightly less, McGucket is picking his nose behind Li'l
Giddeon.
"Okay dudes, imagine the circle is a conduit, those chains, are conductors and
when Ford kicks that evil dorito dude out of Stan's body Stan is still
connected to you dudes by the chains." Soos has a go at explaining. The groups
still look skeptical but accept it, Fiddleford flicks the booger, it lands in
Giddeon's powdered poof.
Ford claspes Dipper and Soos's shoulders, "Alright, Dipper, Soos, thank you for
dumbing it down for the crowd but we need to hurry. Or Stan's state is going
to-"
"WHERE AM I!? HELP ME PLEASE! GET ME OUT OF HERE! IT'S TOO SMALL! I'M
SUFFOCATING PLEASE! PLEASE! I CAN'T BREATH! I CAN'T SEE!", Bill screeches from
Stan's body, everyone gets in their places, but the next thing out of Stan's
mouth catches Dipper and Mabel's attention, chilling the mhstery twins to the
bone, "GET IT OUT OF ME! GET ME OUT OF HERE! IT'S EATING ME! PLEASE! SOMEONE!
ANYONE! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP!! IT'S SO DARK! I
CAN'T SEE I CAN'T SEE! YOU CAN'T LET THE SHADOWMAKER LOOSE! YOU HAVE TO GET IT
OUT OF ME!"
Dipper and Mabel lock eyes, both breaking the circle, "WAIT! GRUNKLE FORD! WE
CAN'T DO IT!"
Ford looks at them in bafflement, "What do you mean you can't do it?" He breaks
the circle as well, kneeling down between the two and placing a six-fingered
hand on their shoulders, "I know you guys are scared, if there were any other
way to save Stan where it would have nothing to do with you innocent kids I
would in a heart beat. But the world is a cruel place, you have to make hard
decisions-"
"That's not IT Grunkle Ford! There was these kids on the bus and... Tell him
Dipper! You can explain it better than I can-", Mabel looks at her brother,
voice dying on her lips, Dipper's face is downcast, doubts and tears welling in
his eyes, "…Dipper?"
"There were two kids on the bus that said a ghost girl told them a prophecy in
their dream. Sounds weird right? But Wirt, the older one gave us the piece of
paper he had written it on... 'the moon's one eye, the tree marked by the sky'
and it said weirdmageddon too. But they said they had gotten some information
online, I-I attacked him with a metal binding spell but the younger kid, Greg,
melted it... I freaked out when they knew who I was when I got on the bus,
there were these blue glowing feathers that he used, said they were given to
them by Beatrice, the ghost girl. They used them again when the bus exploded-"
"Your Bus Exploded dudes?" Soos asks, having creepily been standing behind
Ford. Ford jumps near five feet in the air in fright.
"Yeah, Zim made a bomb that would explode if the bus slowed down after he got
impatient in traffic-that's besides the point though. The feathers healed me!
You see my clothes right? Imagine me being toasted. Anyway, there was another
group, I mentioned Zim but there were two other aliens on the bus-"
Ford let's go of Mabel's shoulder, latching his left hand on Dipper's other
shoulder, "Dipper, if this is some kind of joke you need to stop. We're kindov
in the middle of something improtant her-"
Mabel grasps Ford's left arm, "This isn't a joke Grunkle Ford! In the prophecy
it had four other pairs! And one of them were on the bus with us! Zim the alien
that blew the bus up and Dib-"
"DIB?!? As in Dib Membrane? Professor Membrane's kid?" Fiddleford asks,
breaking from the circle as well, a troubled look in his crossed-eyes, the
question directed at the twins.
"'The bug with eight limbs and the moth who's curiosity never dims', I don't
remember him saying anything about his parents but he had a lock that had a
moth design on it." Dipper imputes.
"Gazlene's lock... so what are you saying exactly? What did that prophecy say?"
McGucket questions, forehead wrinkles apparent in his stress.
"It said that 'enemies become allied' but we don't know what... it said to look
for those pairs. But we don't know what it's against!" Dipper explains, trying
to remember the wording.
"What Bill's saying through Stan! He said 'ShadowMaker' that it was eating him!
Maybe that's what we're supposed to fight against! Maybe Bill was actually
originally good! And something turned him. Maybe if we destroy whatever made
him evil, it will set him free!" Mabel interjects, eyes flashing white for a
moment. Ford is the only one that catches it, but dismisses it as light
reflecting in her eyes.
"If that's true then what's to say that the circle wasn't created to exorcise
Bill but the 'shadowmaker' supposdely eating at him? The translation in the
cave I found the circle in said 'remove all seeing evil' it didn't actually say
Bill Cipher. So this will get rid of it if your theory is right Mabel. Come on
kids." Stan reassures, standing slowly and leading everyone back to the circle.
**********
Gaz and Tak get up from their seats, walking toward where 'Lee' had pointed to
the game of games. The girl's slurping their Pitt Colas, a small content smile
on both of their faces, holding hands as they pass by gamer nerds left and
right.
**********
Zim slowly lowers Dib onto the human's bed. Skoodge and his human mate Keef had
said that he and the dibstink were to share a room since Tak would never agree
to sharing a room with him and Zim would NEVER have shared a room with the Gaz-
beast. Zim shrugs his shoulders.
Zim won't be in need of this room anyway. Irkens don't need to sleep like
inferior creatures of this disgusting germ-infested planet have to-
Zim runs to the bathroom screeching like a banshee, having just remembered that
Dib apparently had bathroom germs from the bus stop earlier today.
Going into a germophobic frenzy in the bathroom to decontaminate himself. The
window by Dib's bed is wide open, sunset alighting Dib's skin in gold, the
curtains billowing elegantly in the breeze as fog disappears into the forest.
**********
Kat activates his x-ray eyes, zeroing in on the hatch a few yards away from him
on top of a hill. He sauntered over to it, devilish grin spreading he chuckles
happily. Opening the hatch and going iinside.
Wirt struggles out of a Bush, on the verge of hyperventilating as he shoves
branches off of himself. He looks around for 27b, his eyes catching the alien
feline's tail as it disappears on top of the hill. Wirt scrambles up the
incline and looks down into the abyss inside the hatch. Wirt bites his lip in
hesitation, but shakily breaths out and descends into the darkness below.
Kat notices a motion sensor in front of him, he leaps over it undetected. Greg
materializes from a dark passageway. Having just watched 27B jump, Greg follows
him, jumping over the motion sensor, giggling quietly, Jason Funderberker's
small snores nearly smothered in Greg's overalls.
Wirt turns a corner, seeing Greg's shoe step around a bend further down the
corridor. Wirt sprint's down the hallway, right into the motion censor. The
device turns an ominous red. A screen turns on somewhere deep below. A
countdown in alien symbols lights up the monitor.
**********
Millie's eyes are puffy from her 30 minute crying session. Having looked
everywhere around the Inn and finding no sign of her "helpless little Kitty",
even with her Father and the boys desperate search they couldn't find the
feline anywhere.
"He's lurking somewhere around here, I know he is." Coop grumbles, getting down
on his hands and knees and sifting through a shrub.
Denis nods his head in agreement from his own Bush, "If he's anywhere he'd be
higher up and watching us sipping a glass of lemonade with a bowl of
fishyfrisky treats."
"But we've already looked in the attic and the second story rooms that weren't
occupied. We can't go in those other rooms Coop! We could get kicked out!"
Denis glares in warning. But Coop has already gone inside, zoning out half-way
through.
Denis pinches the bridge of his nose in vexation, "Why do I even try?"
As Denis begrudgingly follows Coop inside, Mr. Kat sashays over to a weeping
Millie, rubbing his cheeks against her tear stained ones. Millie squeals in
delight, Burt hears her, turning to look at his daughter and the sight of Mr.
Kat's spine nearly being broken in Millie's python grip bear hug specialty
makes him sigh in relief.
"Boys! Millie found Mr. Kat!" Burt yells, but he doesn't see them, "Boys!? Oh
Jeeze! Now we've lost the boys!"
Two silhouettes appear by the forest, Burt frowns, walking towards them. He
shoves the bushes out of the way./p>
"Boys! I was yelling... for you," Burt's voice trails into silence, "You're
boys..."
Greg blinks up at Burt, Wirt is shivering uncontrollably. The older boy leaps
through the opening Burt made with blank eyes, collapsing to the ground. Panic
Attack going full swing. Burt is dumbstruck.
"but not my boys..." Burt mumbles, Greg darts towards his brother.
"WIRT! WIRT! IT'S OK!" Greg cries, holding Wirt's shivering shoulders down, he
looks at Burt, "MISTER CALL AN AMBULANCE! Mommy said this is called a panic
attack and to call an ambulance whenever he has one!"
Burt mentally shakes his head back into action, whipping out his cell phone and
dialing 911.
**********
Coop and Denis tip-toe down the second story hallway, Coop gestures to a door
that's cracked open, Denis tentatively follows, nervously looking around and
biting his nails.
They slip into the room, Dib is lying in the bed closest to the window, chest
rising and falling peacefully. The bathroom doorknob rattles, the two boys
frantically look for hiding spots, and dash to hide. Denis slides under Dib's
bed, Coop peeks out of the closet.
Zim walks out in his Irken uniform, scheevers at attention and bright magenta
eyes staring at Dib's resting body in curiosity.
Coop's eyes are pretty much hugging out of his head, a gasp escaping his lungs.
Zim's scheevers swivel around at the closet, his eyes narrow. Zim softly walks
towards the closet, P.A.K. legs out and ray gun quietly charging up.
Denis is able to see Zim from the shoulders up now, knowing that the alien
means business. Denis kicks the mattress to draw attention away from his
friend's hiding spot. Dib grunts agitatedly in his sleep from the bump to his
head.
Zim whirls around, weapons directed at the still sleeping Dib. Zim's eyes widen
in astonishment, swiftly putting away his weapons, his gloved claws clenching
around his arms, he releases a shocked breath.
"Zim... Zim almost accidentally murdered the Dib in his sleep... Zim... must be
hearing things... Zim's P.A.K. really must be defective, Zim can't tell friend
from foe anymore..." Zim mumbles as he sits down on his own bed heavily,
sagging dejectedly upon contact.
"Zim...Zim must leave the Dib alone while he is defenceless... he needs to be
able to stop Zim if this happens again..." Zim mumbles, getting up and going to
his suitcase. Grabbing a new black wig with a shaggy boyish cut, and plopping
in new contacts, he exits the room, shutting the door as silently as possible.
After a couple of minutes Coop and Denis come out of their hiding spots with
equal looks of unbelieving awe. Their gazes fall on Dib as one. An ambulance
siren blades, startling the boys so much they run out of the room like bats out
of hell. Running face first into Keef and Skoodge.
*********
The circle once again whole begins to glow.
"It's time to begin! We defeated evil once, and we'll do it again! Everyone
repeat this ancient chant after me..."
zimalt
Zahi, acohc niuqa ltenoc
aiuli illaucoma em, iuqac illaucoma em, aihcalt
cithti-ilthololetxi Catskill aitcim-in apeuc-et nauhi uay-et
omet-et
ailacialt-te
iuqecco acid nauhi, ltiuauc ltacielli illauhoy, ltolopxi ec iltztem
iuqnet-et nauhi, ciucnay-et, ilauc-et inopeuc
cithti-ltacielli aztiplalt ltacehe-et acheuh
iltoloy iltxi ltihcox ltaayota
iuqimet illapalta ltolapap iltcaztacac
cithti-iyey comma citlaxam, caltam-nauhet
cithti-ltocox nauhi, cithti-ilthcanix, cithti-ltoyauhlen citcalap
cithti-althuauc illaucoma
cithti-ltazam ihcoc-et nineuq
aucnalt-et citztinet, amix-et citztinet
aiuqztiztalt-et belt, iltoloy-et nacno, ltiacot-et helt itamalt caltam-nauhet
ltolopxi ec iltztem ce cithti-aci inopeuc nauhi auction niuqa-et, em achuam,
caltam-nauhet
Everyone says the first two lines with some faults but soon their tongues have
minds of their own. Saying each sentence perfectly and in sync, their chanting
grows louder and faster, repeating it again and again. A swirling rainbow wraps
around the circle, bending inward slightly to compensate for Stan's position.
Bill releases a ear-drum piercing shrill scream that chalk on a chalk-board has
nothing on, made worse by the cyclone of color, whipping the air around them
like the start of a tornado touching down.
All at once three orbs float from Stan, one golden as the sun, another crystal
blue as the carribean sea, and the last an sickly green that makes Fiddleford
stiffen with recognition. A portal opens above the circle, compressed air
straining against the spell, two boys and a girl fall into the circle. Then
Pacifica's well-manicured hand slips from McGucket's nail gnawed grasp,
breaking the circle.
The orbs shoot away like someone breaking them in a game of pool. The blue one
ricochettes out of the window, breaking glass owake's way. The golden one flies
upstairs and out the door, taking it clear off it's hinges. The green one
bounces up the newly installed chimney, leaving behind an explosion of soot in
it's wake.
Marco is the first to hit the ground, Tom lands heavily on him, and Star lands
on her feet... on Tom's shoulders.
Star jumps off of the body pile, shoving Tom off of Marco and helping her
roommate up. Tom stands up on his own, brushing dust off of his clothes with a
huff and glare at the mortal boy.
Marco holds his head in an attempt to make it stop spinning. His eyes land on
the old-man chained to the floor, bleeding in fresh wounds and marred by scars
that look rather new, he looks around at the circular crowd.
Star is doing something similar only she's looking at hands. She finally find
what she's looking for, she marches towards the man with an even hand digit
count, looking him straight in the eyes, "Glossarik sent us here because
something big is about to go down. He mentioned crashing in a chocolate pudding
favor... sooooo~"
Ford's mind is still processing what just happened, face contorted in
concentration, even while the mewni princess still waits for a sign of
confirmation.
Marco backs up into Star, turning around and shaking her shoulder nervously,
whispering harshly to try and gain her attention, "Star! A guy is chained to
the floor and everyone's staring at us blankly! This place screams dangerous
accult and is registering really REALLY high on my creeped-out meter! Let's
hurry up and leave before they decide that we're better human sacrifices than
an old dude!"
"So we fell into a spell circle... by the feel of it this is ancient circle
magic... pretty rare now-a-days... haven't seen one since mephisto-" Tom's eyes
alight on Wendy's cap.
Tom charges forward, "WHE-WHERE DID YOU GET THAT HAT!!?"
Dipper darts forward before his mind catches up with his body, now standing
between his long-time crush and a powerful demon prince, he gulps in terror but
answers in avoice that zurprisibgly doesn't waver, "It's mine... me and Wendy
swapped hats last summer, mine got incinnerated in a bus explosion not even an
hour ago."
With the afore mentioned explosion having blown Dipper's bangs back, his
birthmark was on full display.
Tom's eyes widen when they make contact with Dipper's forehead, he releases a
quivering breath," It's you..." he kneels to the ground and curls into a ball.
Unable to cope with all the stress that's happened in the past hour and a half.
Marco glances in Tom's direction, seeing the egotistical demon prince in the
fetal position sparks a flame of anger inside him. He blacks out for a moment,
and in the next he's holding Dipper up by his neck in a near bone-breaking
grip, Star and many of the people around him struggling to make him let go of
the boy, Tom staring at him in disbelief.
Marco drops Dipper immediately as if burnt upon contact, clutching his guilty
hand in fright. His evil hand's last words ringing true in his mind.
You'll never get rid of me! I'm part of you now! You can TREAT the symptoms but
you'll never CURE the virus!
Dipper clutches at his throat, eyes watering and trying to regain his breath.
Soos picks him up, glares at Marco, and carries the boy upstairs, Dipper
hissing when his fingers brush black bruises.
"You can stay... but only because Glossarik referred you," Ford says, but holds
onto Marco's uninfected hand, looking the youth dead in the eye, "But pull
another stunt like that and I'll toss you into the bottomless pit to die of
starvation. Capeche?"
Marco slowly nods his head, practically vibrating from nerves being on edge.
Ford turns away with a grunt, unchaining his brother and carrying his twin over
his shoulders and up the stairs after their great nephew. The others belonging
to the Circle stare at the three new comers but file upstairs in uncomfortable
silence. Star gently touches Marco'sshoulder but he shies away, fear in his
eyes... for her.
"I-I'm ok now Star... ju-just fine... you should get Tom." Marco states...
lying through his teeth, Star looks at her friend in worry.
I'm going to give him space... he'll tell me when he's ready... going through
her mind as it had for Marco a couple of days ago after the wand incident.
**********
Gaz sets down her drink on the game panel, types in her name and presses play,
sh looks back to glance at Tak with a shy sort of smile.
The yellow orb shoots to the NrothWest Inn, Bouncing towards the deluxe suits
but Coop slams the door shut just in time to make the orb refract out the
window. Sending it flying down the hill, it bounces into the arcade, rapidly
hitting the games, a pinball in it's board, it misses Gaz's head by
millineters, merging into the screen. Tak's eyes widen in alarm, Gaz looks back
at the screen in slight worry.
A golden light blinds everyone in the gaming epicenter, Gaz is nowhere to be
seen.
**********
Dib turns on his side in his sleep, a chill breeze causing goose bumps to rise
on his arms. He shivers into his covers. The blue orb hits him straight in the
forehead. His body is luminescent for a moment, then fades through his veins up
into his head. Dib's heart and lungs slow, his gooseflesh vanishes, a sweaty
sheen taking its place. Dib's eyes open, orange orbs turned a ghostly glowing
blue.
**********
A boy slips under his covers in a nervous fashion. His homicidal tendencies
were becoming more noticeable each day. He looks up at his plastic glowing star
covered ceiling in worried contemplation.
I use to be content with just killing rodents or frogs maybe once or twice
every month... but I killed a cat a couple of days ago and now I've been
killing stray animals left and right... I can't seem to stop... my fingers
practically itch right now because there's no blood under my nails... I can't
even be trusted with a knife, If things continue the way they're going then I'm
going to eventually become a murderer... of humans... Maybe...
The boy rolls over in his bed, hand finding the brochure his parents had
secretly been talking about when they thought he wasn't listening. He had
stolen it unnoticed and sneaked it up to his room.
Maybe I am a psychopath like JoJo said... maybe I should be put in the
nuthouse... at least then I wouldn't have to worry about what mom and dad will
think of me... they'll be proud I turned myself in rather than wait till I...
A small tear slides down his face, he puts the brochure back on his nightstand,
absentmindedly scratching underneath his fingernails, a resigned and haggered
face slowly fading into well-needed sleep.
I'll tell them I should go... knowing them they'll be worried about me and try
to deny it... I should kill a dog and drag the corpse into the house. That's
what I've always felt like doing... and JoJo called me a freak, so I guess in
order to persuade them I've got to be true to myself...
He closes his eyes, a soft snore immediatly sounding from the boy.
The green orb silently phases through the ceiling, it's glow diminishing, it
splats onto the floor with a gross slimy thwack, it rolls and slithers up onto
the bed, easing into the boy who doesn't stir.
A green glow brightening from under his eyelids.
Chapter End Notes
     Hey guys if you want to decipher the ancient chant the words are
     written backwards!
     Haha! They're not in English! >:D they're in a Native American
     language.
     I'm evil I know but I couldn't just make it easy~
     But I'll throw you a bone! Don't ever say I didn't give you anything!
     http://manana.cz/slovnik/nahuaco_en.php
     https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Uto-Aztecan_Swadesh_lists
     These are word pages that I used, the first one is more reliable!
     Any dashes used are meant to seperate words although they would
     normally be attached to those words! I just saved you a major
     headache with translating!
     By the way~♥ what made me so happy about this language is that Bill's
     famous backwards last words in the show? Yeah I know you've heard of
     it because anyone that is a fan of gravity falls knows there are
     backwards messages the creator tossed in there for clues. We're all
     try-hards at heart~
     Ahem, back to the point… so you know that word Axolotl...
     How it's spelled out? Well... I don't think there was an "A"... and
     guess what? Xolotl... is a word in Nahuatl... a Native American
     language that can be traced to Oregon if I did my research right...
     the fact that Bill Cipher's wheel was found in a cave with Native
     American art~♥ yeah... (cracks knuckles) I think my hiatus for
     research is just about over... starting with this... new... chapter!
     It's also the name of a certain figure in Aztec culture~
***** Blushing Cheeks and Frustrated Longing *****
Chapter Summary
     Things are picking up and two more fandom's are put into the melting
     pot!!!!! X'D hope you like~♥
Chapter Notes
     One word
     Iupdatedmotherfucker
     TTUTT~♥ u've no idea how long I was laughing because of that. So here
     it is! Continue reading my beloved readers!
     I hope this is long enough for you guys because I think this is
     probably my longest chapter yet... QuQ
Tak watches the screen change, Gaz appearing in a striped shirt. The human girl
kills every character in the game with no remorse, even killing the two funny
skeletons and the one creature that seemed to act like a human female parental
unit.
It's over in an alarming speed. But when Gaz walks through the barrier... The
screen changes to a save slot. Gaz's name is typed in and nothing happens.
Tak growls in worry, an unfamiliar feeling in her P.A.K.
"It's time to bring in the love-pigs, and her brother and his defective
boyfriend..."
**********
Marco snuggly makes a pallet in the living room for two different people,
piling on as many tattered raggedy blankets as he can to put them between him
and the filthy carpet.
The unanimous vote that Star take the chair and the two boys take the floor
made making the pallets easier. Tom is already on his, the demon prince is
staring with vacant eyes up at the ceiling, mind replaying his vision and the
horrors of what might happen if he doesn't succeed in turning their fates
around. There's always a catch to these visions though, sometimes interference
makes things worse rather than better. It all really depends on whether this is
an event already written down by Time Baby before his passing.
Mephisto really needs to stop shirking his duties off on a toddler for Satan's
sake. Granted that toddler is old enough to be my many great's grandfather, but
that still doesn't give him the right to ditch Gehenna. Satan wasn't very
pleased with what the flippant Time King was plotting either from the constant
nagging he apparently filled Uncle Lucifer's ear with.
"Why does he keep going back to True Cross Academy? I get that he was summoned
and contracted by a priest but apparently he's been dead for quite some time.
What is Uncle playing with? Nothings caught his attention for this long. That
Faust fellow was the longest, but he was a special case... Maybe he has another
one?"
Marco ignores Toms quiet murmurs and cuddles with his pillow under the covers.
Star's taking a long time in that bathroom... I know there was that weird bang
and some yelling but she can take care of herself... I hope my arm taking over
was a one time schtick... Because that is NOT going to help on this little
quest... And then there's that OTHER problem since I'm supposedly gay for hot
head next to me... Which I've never been, I mean he's pretty handsome, I can
admit that. Anyone Star's dated has their perks, but his attitude is not a good
point. Granted I know he's trying, but still. With Marshmallow gone I don't
think he's gonna be able to cope after he gets out of his funk.
"Night Tom." Marco whispers, turning over on his side to face away from his
destined.
Tom blinks, he barely registers what the mortal just said but responds to the
best of his ability.
"Night Marco..." Marco's heart stammers to the beat of a tango, blush dusting
his cheeks, he hides it under his covers and falls asleep.
**********
Coop and Denis honestly don't know how they got in this bedroom. The blond boy
and the red head look like disappointed parents if anything. The couch squeaks
when Denis shifts to get more comfortable.
"Let's try this again. Why were you in Zim and Dib's room. And why was Zim
running out of there looking like he was about to cry?" Keef asks, one hand
holding Skoodges and the other tapping impatiently on the loveseats arm.
Coop and Denis's lips are shut tighter than Alcatraz prison. Keef sighs, but
nods to Skoodge, "OK, since I couldn't get them to fess up you get to do what
you want."
Skoodge pecks Keef on the cheek, gets up and stares down at the boys. He chirps
and his holographic disguise turns off. Coop and Denis inhale sharply.
"You saw Zim without his disguise, and then you ran into us. And there's the
small fact we know Zim. You should've connected the dots earlier." Skoodge says
smugly.
Coop whips out a spray bottle of earth-grade H2O and squirts Skoodge in the
face. Skoodge writhes on the floor in agony, Keef darts to his boyfriend,
hugging him close. Coop sprays Keef but it obviously doesn't work on him.
"I'M A HUMAN YOU LITTLE JERK! WHY WOULD YOU SPRAY HIM WITH WATER!?!" Keef
yells, snatching the bottle and tossing it away from the boys.
Denis holds Keef down, Skoodge groans from his spot on the floor, P.A.K.
repairing skin,"Coop he's obviously being brain controlled by the alien-"
Skoodge releases his Spider limbs from his P.A.K. and holds the boys to the
wall by their shirts, "I'm not BRAIN CONTROLING HIM! KEEF IS MY BOYFRIEND AN-
and... I know he'd never actually come to love me if I did that. So-so stop
SAYING stuff like that!"
"YOU'RE LYING! YOU'RE THE SAME AS AGENT 27B! YOU'RE HERE TO ENSLAVE ALL OF MAN
KIND TO-to... Why do you aliens want to take over Earth?" Coop stutters.
Skoodge groans in aggravation, rubbing a hand on his temple,"We don't want to
take over Earth. In fact, me and Tak came here so we wouldn't have to take over
anymore planets, and the only Irken that is trying to is Zim... And Zim... Is
an idiot. A vicious Invader... But still an idiot. Keef here can even attest to
that."
Keef shrugs, "It's true, but really he only wants to conquer it because he
unconsciously wants to conquer Dib. Their UST level has been increasing since
they met in 6th grade, and Dib tried handcuffing Zim with some magazine mail
order ones... He's definitely got the hots for Zim." Skoodge let's the boys
down slowly.
"Even have a bet going between us and Gaz. Tak didn't want to get involved
because she's trying to get into Gaz's tights." Skoodge adds,"Really we're here
because we don't like the Irken Empire. It's in our best interest to keep the
Earth unconquered.
"If you guys are really a couple... Then show us proof." Denis says, suspicion
still lingering.
Keef hums in victory, practically skipping over to the closet. He opens it with
a happy spin and grabs a gift bag, prancing back to his seat. Skoodge's cheeks
are translucent.
"ah-uhm... Keef, why don't you pick a different one?" Skoodge requests. Keef is
already pulling out the gift from between the folds of green tissue paper.
Skoodge covers his transparent face as the humans turn red upon seeing the
item.
A green dildo with a funnel-like opening at the base and a smaller opening at
the top, the inside is a fushia color and there are egg molds, a packet of
strawberry gelatin, and instructions.
"So... I guess Dib isn't the only one who's kinky," Keef mumbles, putting the
alien inspired dildo back in the bag.
Denis coughs uncomfortably," OK... So tha-that's enough proof thank you, too
much proof actually. Does your race have the equivalent of brain bleach?
Because that was almost more scarring than Old Lady Munson in that bikini.
Please give it to us!"
Keef cackles, cheeks toning down but still pink and rounded with a smile, "No
can do. But anyway, we just want to know what happened to Zim. Will you tell
us?"
Coop sheepishly rubs the back of his neck, blush slowly fading," Well you see,
we were looking for my little sister's alien cat... He's purple, hairless, has
fangs and sharp claws, and black eyes... I don't even think he has irises. But
we looked everywhere except for the occupied rooms and nobody answered some of
the doors so we... Kindov slipped in."
"We had a truce but he was after something before we even got in the car.
Offered us a truce until we got to Uncle Burls... And then vanished to do
whatever the hell he came here to do. But technically he hasn't broken the
truce since we can't exactly take apart the GPS to find proof." Denis admits,
"I guess we'll just have to catch him trying to take over the world with
another one of his really weird inventions and gadgets... Which he vowed he
wouldn't work on."
Skoodge cracks a zipper-toothed smile, " Or you could, ya know, ask for me to
help. I did say it was in our best interests that Earth isn't conquered.
Another race would probably be even worse than the control brains in command."
"Let's check on Dib first though. Before we leave. But why did Zim storm out?"
Keef asks again.
"Alright, so we snuck in and Zim was in the bathroom. We heard the doorknob and
hid because we don't exactly want to get kicked out of the only inn in town. He
didn't have a disguise on and Coop made a noise from his hiding spot in the
closet. Zim drew a bunch of scary looking weapons from his backpack thing, that
you have too, and because I was under the bed that the one guy, Dib I think,
was sleeping on. I kicked the bed to get his attention, hoping he'd associate
it with him." Denis begins, drawing in a breath.
Coop continues, "Zim turned around and pointed his weapons at Denis but also at
Dib, he couldn't exactly see him under the bed. He started speaking some
depressing speel about being defective and said he couldn't trust himself
around Anyone and that Dib needed to be awake to protect himself from Zim in
situations like that and ran out of the room."
Keef groans and Skoodge snickers, " DAMNIT! And I was betting that being called
Defective didn't actually hurt him. I'm gonna have to pay up to Gaz, that
demoness is a cheater if there ever was one."
Skoodge hugs Keef from his back and sits on the loveseat with his boyfriend in
his lap. Skoodge cuddles him, "I told you that being called defective is pretty
much a death sentence in the Irken Empire. Zim is the only one in Irken history
to have been found not guilty in the trials. It's a sorespot, probably the only
sore spot he has besides his old height."
Keef and Skoodge share a passionate kiss and the boys make disgusted faces, "
OK, we'll be in the other room while you shove your tongue down Keef's throat."
Denis and Coop make a quick exit, flying into the other room.
"That was one of the most awkward moments in my life." Denis points out.
Coop tries to shake Dib awake, but he doesn't stir, not even to make a noise.
Coop blatantly pokes him on the forehead,"Hey dude, wake up."
He still doesn't move, his breathing is shallow, and His eyes aren't moving in
REM sleep.
"Comon' man, wake up! We need to get that proof before Mr. Kat tampers with
it!" Denis pushes a closed eyelid up and jumps back in fright,"Uuuuh Coop, is
this guy an alien too?"
Coop raises an eyebrow and lifts up an eyelid. Dib's eyes are vortexes of
phospherescent near white-blue, constantly in motion, swirling like the eye of
the storm in a hurricane.
Skoodge and Keef come in a moment later, the boys looking puzzled beyond
reason. When they show the couple they call an ambulance. Skoodge calls and
sends Zim messages, it goes straight to voicemail, then he calls Tak, and she's
having a mini breakdown over her own human who has apparently gotten sucked
into a video game and upon completing it still can't come out. The fact that
even she couldn't get Zim to answer leaves an ominous sense of foreboding.
Golden petals leave a trail from the room behind them, slipping from Coop's
shirt in rivults. Going unnoticed by the distressed boys.
**********
Tak grinds her teeth together, she had left the video game imprisoning Gaz but
under the watch of both Lee and 'Nate'nator on pain of death. She can't even
make herself smirk at their trembling forms when she told them she would blow
them up with a button, their necks wrapped with an explosive collar each.
She follows the arrows and comes to an unusual and colorful Shack, she knocks
harshly against the door.
A rather tall red head, that Tak vaguely remembers working the check-in desk at
the Inn, opens the door, her face scrunched up in confusion.
"Welcome to the Mystery Shack. We're closed for the day, try tomorrow kid."
Tak shoves open the door with ease, the hinges being damaged and repaired
rather half-hazardly, the round indention in the center new and fresh.
Tak locates the twins with her ocular implants rather quickly, ignoring the red
head yelling at her to get out, she jumps up the flight of stairs before Wendy
even turns the corner.
She slams open the door at the top so hard the doorknob goes through the wall,
Dipper is laying on his bed and Mabel is sitting in her own bed, pillow tucked
under her chin and hair being braided by a girl with blond hair and layers of
makeup.
"One of your town's wretched games has absorbed Gaz. Get her out or I'm going
to make sure nothing is left of this town except that game." Tak promises,
flicking her disguise off with a chirp.
The blond faints, Mabel worries over her but Dipper's the one that speaks up,
voice rather hoarse and she notes the dark hand-print bruise around his throat.
"Wh-AUt dOU You me-Ahn?"
Tak rolls her eyes, taking out a P.A.K. leg and forcefully applying a salve
along the marks. The ointment fades into his skin and soon Dipper coughs, a
tickling feeling in his throat.
"There, now you can actually sound like a hyuman rather than croaking like a
frog." Tak snorts, P.A.K. leg retreating back.
The red head from before screeches, swatting at Tak with a broom, "DIPPER MABEL
SNOOTY RICH! CLIMB OUT THE WINDOW! I'LL SAVE YOU GUYS FROM THIS UGLY ROACH!"
Tak grabs the broom, snaps it in half, and pins Wendy to the wall, " I did not
come here to be hit with a broom or to look at your cheap trinkets. Either
leave or I will disintegrate you."
"Tak stop! You're scaring her! Wendy it's alright, she's one of the aliens that
was on my bus that exploded." Dib tries to make Tak lower her P.A.K. legs, she
does so jerkily and with some minor grumbling.
"You guys make the weirdest friends." Wendy grouches, but warily goes back down
the stairs.
Pacifica rouses but she's looking at Tak with frightened eyes. Tak sits down on
Dipper's bed, the blond flinches, Tak catches the movement. A mean and
mischievous glint flashes in her eyes.
Tak leans forward and growls, Pacifica cowers behind Mabel. Mabel glares at her
in retaliation, "Will you stop being a jerk already? I get why you got angry
with Wendy but Pacifica hasn't done anything to you!"
Tak shrugs, "Force of habit with my race. Those that cower or appear weak
typically end up at the bottom of the food chain."
Pacifica's eyes bulge out, " YOUR KIND ARE CANNIBALS!!!?"
Tak is rollling on the ground, her laughter high pitched and rather screechy.
She eventually stops when her P.A.K. starts to make a funny whirring noise,
"No-no, merely society. There are slaves, which are rarely made up of our
species, serving drones at the bottom rung of Irk's social pyramid. The med
drones, teaching drones, mech. drones, and Irken hatching drones share a rung,
then there are invaders. The only Irken's on Earth are in that classification.
But I assure you me and Skoodge want nothing to do with conquering this
spinning mudball. In fact the only conquering we want to participate in is the
conquering of our chosen Zhar-da-khanj."
Dipper raises an eyebrow, and asks rather bluntly " What is that?"
Tak's face turns dark,"Skoodge's is Keef. Zim's having drama with his own, he
and Dib didn't exactly start off on the best foot, Zim being Zim exhausts
matters even more. But MINE is the girl your game ATE."
Pacifica's eyebrows furrow, "So they're like, your chosen mate or girlfriend?"
Tak looks Pacifica in the eyes, the blond doesn't look away this time, Tak has
the urge to grin, but the situation is still a dark storm cloud around Tak, "
Yes, something along those lines, and an Irken only has one mate for their
entire lives. Which isn't normally allowed on Irk, and had been buried in the
archives on the Control Brain's orders long ago. We found out a couple years
back and the Intergalactical Mating Organization. I.M.O. for short, was
created. Although it is part of Irk and widely accepted among even their
enemies, no Irkens are allowed to have smeets. It's the dictators' attempts at
keeping power and the tradition of brainwashing alive. Though if the secret
Intel me and Skoodge passed on to R.E.S.I.S.T.Y. then that won't be a problem
for much longer."
"But that is off topic. Get. Gaz. Out. Of. Your. Imbecilic. Retrograde. Video.
Simulator." Tak grinds out, hands clenched in balled fists, the material of her
gloves is in pain from the sounds it is making.
A blur of yellow and green crashes in through the triangle window, landing on
the floor rather roughly, Star stands up, blowing a few errant strands of hair
from her face, wand pointed at Tak. She blinks repeatedly, then lowers it
hastily,"Oops... Didn't mean to interrupt anything... Your an alien like the
one Tom saw... Huh, you look like you had a bad mewberty..."
Tak growls, not knowing whether that last bit was an insult or not. "No
offense?"
"Why is every entrance in this house getting broken like this?" Pacifica asks,
huffing in annoyance.
"Because we're cursed, or haven't you noticed yet? Weird things are attracted
to Gravity Falls like raccoons to Lazy Susan's Diner. Demons just love it here!
There's practically a blaring neon sign over the shack that says break and
enter without permission and you can take out anything else on your way out."
Dipper replies sarcastically, Mabel scoffs in disgust and grabs Pacifica's
hand.
"The only thing that you're attracting is grumpy lines on your forehead. Come
on Pacifica, his bad attitude is probably contagious." Mabel yells, a tear
falls down her cheek as they walk out the door.
"Wow, and I thought the Tallests were jerks, and that was your own sibling
unit." Tak comments. The air becoming darker with Dipper's gloomy mood.
Dipper gets off of the bed, grabs the ball cap Wendy had given back to him an
hour ago, and climbs out the window, stops and turns around,"Are you guys
Coming or Not."
Star nervously follows, Tak grabs the two and uses her P.A.K. legs to spider
her way off of the roof and down the side of the house.
Dipper looks at the landscape as they travel down the opposite way the white
arrows are pointing, thousands of eyes in the knots of trees watch the tear
silently slip down the slope of his cheek.
**********
Sock can do nothing but stare at his hands, and the knife that he had always
used when ending a life. He called it his "old friend" in sentimental moments
that were far and few between, even referred to it as "partner" half of the
time when using it's sharp metal point.
Now though, now he didn't know what to call it with his parents lying in their
own blood with their throats slit and multiple stabs where the human heart is.
Faces twisted in anguish and betrayal, their tears mixing with their own blood.
Now Napoleon Maxwell Sowachowski could only call it a murder weapon.
His parents blood drips from his hands and onto the floor.
"What do I do?"
Disposssse of their bodiesssss...
"Now I'm a schizo too... Hearing a voice in my head-" Sock chokes on his words,
his chest is turning green and the blood is smoking on his hands, curling
whisps of eery black and green smoke trail up his shirt.
MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!!! PLEASE I'M SORRY I KILLED THEM! I'M
SORRY! GOD PLEASE!
There isss no God excccept for what you will become. You are of ussss. The part
that essscaped, you've fesssstered and become weakened in your sssstate... Too
weak to hold sssssuch a large part of oursssself. If you want the pain to
sssstop...
His beloved "Old Friend" glows a gut wrenching green, his eyes match the color
with pain and vileness, and his own irises.
You know what you mussssst do... Dissssposssse of the bodiessss, and collect
the ressst of yourssself.
Sock gulps, body moving with a mind of it's own. Wrapping his parents bodies up
in plastic and snatching a shovel from the garage.
He first digs the graves in the neighborhood graveyard, and grabs three garden
walkway stones, his mother having wanted bigger ones, were about mid-way to his
thighs when stood up. Sock paints on the stones. Takes them to the grave yard,
and marks the three open graves.
the next part takes a bit of elbow grease, he lifts up the bodies of his
parents and puts them on his childhood red wagon. Wheeling them all the way up
the hill.
Once up, he drags his mothers body to the grave marked "Mom" and buries her
under a blanket of soil. He does the same to his father, the grave labeled
"Dad".
The last grave is what's troubling him, he knows what the voice wants him to do
but he is terrified.
Your pieccce will be turned into a husssk if you do not sssseperate from your
mortal body... You musssst die, but if you wait much longer then your ssssoul
will perisssssh asssss well and we will never be whole.
Sock grimaces, taking hold of his partner in crime.
"Well old friend, never thought I'd be seeing your business end. Any last
words, eulogy? It's not like anyone's watching me right now anyways." With
those eloquent words he stabs himself through the stomach, body falling back
into the open grave.
The makeshift tomb stone reads "Me".
**********
Wirt looks around slowly, everything is so painfully bright and disorientating.
Thankfully it begins to settle into less abstract shapes and eye-sore colors.
It is then that he realizes he's sucking on a bottle.
Wirt spits it out.
"Hey sweetie, did you finish your drink already?" A voice that sounds very
familiar startles him. The plastic container clatters to the ground.
"Oh careful! It might break." Wirt's eyes widen, his mother is making something
on the counter, her hair much longer than its normal cut, and she's wearing a
very shiny golden amber pendant. His mind is reeling.
He goes to stand up but he can't... It is then he notices he is in a high
chair, in a one-z, with chubby toddler hands.
"Now it'll only be a minute. Mommy just has to make sure that the cake is
perfect." She says, happiness not quite making it into her voice, she continues
slathering icing onto the cake. She starts to him, Wirt tries saying something
but nothing but a gurgle and a questioning burble escapes his lips.
The table nearby has a few toys,"Let's see... There and there, Perfect!"
"Aww look at you. You're sooo adorable in your tiny footed pajamas." His mother
cuus as she walks over with the entire cake. She sets it down on the table,
takes a taste and hums in approval.
"Happy birthday Sweetie." His mother says, two candles burning brightly on the
cake, she sits down and cuts out a slice, "Two years today.I think I know a
little someone who's ready for a piece of cake."
She takes a small piece with a spoon and 'choo-choo's it into his gapping
mouth.
What is going on here? Why am I like this? Did I go back in time or something!?
A few harsh knocks at the door surprise his mother, she sets the plate and
spoon down, getting up to go to the door.
"I'll be... Right back."
The world turns blurry and everything starts to shake when she leaves the room,
there's muffled yelling coming from the way she went.
"No!" She reappears and everything snaps back into sharp focus, she is carrying
a gift wrapped in orange with a giant shiny green bow.
"Hey you~ Look what I found!" She holds it up and shakes it, "I wonder what it
is! Why don't we go upstairs and find out?"
She sets down the present and hefts him up, "oh my, haha, how much cake did you
haaave?"
From the view over her shoulder the room that they exit grows dark, shadows
elongate and turn sinister. Down the hallway they go, past a closet with a
trenchcoat and boots that creaks open after they pass, shadows like fingers
stretch out towards him. His breathing increases speed.
WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!? WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?
They go up the stairs and into a bright and happy nursery.
His mother sets him on the ground,"Here we are. Now let's see what's inside!
Maaaybe it's a new toy?"
She slowly opens it, but the sound of a phone ringing downstairs disturbs her
from her task, she closes it a second before she would have revealed what layed
inside.
"Okay sweetie, be a dear and play for a bit. Mommy will be right back." She
says, lifting him up, placing the gift on the dresser and Wirt in a playpen.
She leaves the room and his surroundings continue to be bright and cheerful.
The gift on the dresser makes a noise, as if something is trying to get out.
Wirt looks at the ground and attempts to curl himself into a little ball.
Think Wirt, think. You could be freaking out about that present for no reason!
It-it could be a-a action figure or something with faulty batteries!
Then it stops. Wirt looks up and the gift hasn't moved an inch. Wirt sighs in
relief, but curiosity seems to overcome him in his tiny toddler body.
If I could just get out of here...
Wirt tries to climb out but the gate is too high.
Got to find something shorter...
He spots a toy box on the other side of a rainbow tunnel.
Perfect!
Wirt swiftly crawls through the tunnel, popping out on the other side. He
clumsily climbs up the box and then looks over the gate.
Wow... This is a lot higher than I thought it was. Maybe I should get a a few
stuffed animals up here or-
His eyes alight on a pillow just below.
Or a pillow, that works too.
He falls to the ground with a thump, breath heavy with exertion. He decides to
crawl over to the dresser rather than walk on his precarious legs.
I'll just use the drawers like stairs since I'm small enough.
He clambers up and drags the surprisingly light box off of the dresser,
knocking a well-loved pink elephant to the floor.
It tumbles to the ground, top coming off and revealing the contents to be
nothing but air.
What!?
Wirt looks around frantically, in search of anything that had moved. The toy
box outside of the playpen is open just a crack.
I KNOW whatever is in there is going to jump out at me. I've seen enough scary
movies to tell that. No thank YOU!
A small giggle escapes from the crack.
I'm really about to open Pandora's box like a cliché blond bimbo...
Wirt goes back over to the dresser and grabs the pink elephant.
I'm just using Dumbo here as insurance, it will grab him instead if me. And
technically I'm a toddler right now so this is perfectly acceptable!
Wirt wrenches open the box, a small cut wells up with a bit of blood, a brown
and worn teddy bear climbs out,"Hey! Ya found me!"
"I'm Teddy, nice to meet you! And what's your name?" The creepy literal beedy-
eyed bear asks, tilting it's head in an imitation of a dog, it's head goes
farther than it really should but Wirt is still internally screaming right now.
"Not much of a talker yet, eh?" He mutters, but then he looks at the pink
animal Wirt is clutching to his chest,"Let's play a game!"
NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE!!!!! This is NOT SAW!!!
"I know! I'll hide the pink elephant while you're not looking!" He yanks the
stuffed animal from his arms and starts to walk away.
"Turn around, and cover your eyes." Wirt is seriously shaking on the inside
now, another panic attack feels like it's creeping up on him again, except
there's no vegetation to be seen. He closes and covers his eyes.
A few moments later the Teddy says,"There! You can look now!" Wirt finds it
behind the toy chest.
"Hah! You found it!" The bear laughs, striding over to the no longer hidden
stuffed animal.
Teddy glances up and sees the music box on the nightstand, "WOW! Is that a
music box? Does it work?"
I don't know?
Wirt climbs up the drawers and turns it on, crisp Noyes fill the air, a
soothing lullaby plays, " Aaaah, what a nice melody." Wirt's ears tingle, a
deep tenor voice singing along with lyrics. How the gentle wind becons through
the trees, as autumn colors fall. Dancing in a swirl~.The music box stutters to
a stop.
Wirt looks down to find the unusual bear by a book on the floor,"And what is
this?"
As Wirt climbs down Teddy opens it up and begins to read, "Five thirsty animals
up on a dry, dry hill. 'We could use a drink!' They sang, and started to drill.
'Unless we reach water with our newly dug well...I think we'll have to bid each
other fare-the-well." The bear reads no more. The implications of those last
words unsettling in Wirt's stomach. A flash back of icy water seeping into his
bones with it's cold probing fingers.
Teddy sets the book down and walks over to a train set, "oooh! Does it run? How
do you start it?" Wirt shakes his head, trying to dispell the unusual images.
He turns on the train set, it toots."Round and round and round!" Wirt feels the
rumbling of an on coming train on the tracks, alarming horror making his heart
beat erratically. The train slows to a halt.
"Hey, pick me up and carry me on your back. I want to show you something!" The
bear says, arms outstretched. Wirt reluctantly picks him up, bloody finger
smearing on the bears shoulder. "We need someplace very dark." Wirt's heart
turns to ice.
I don't like this...,/p>
"How aboooout... Your closet!" He whispers in Wirt's ear. Wirt complies,
carrying the living teddy bear to the closet. He sets him down inside and
crawls in.
"It has to be darker. Shut the doors completely." Wirt is trying his damnedest
to refuse but his chubby hand does it anyway.
"Good... This'll do nicely." Wirt is on the brink of a panic attack, "I hope
there are no monsters in here."
"If you ever feel scared in a dark place like this, you can hug me tightly. You
might feel a little bit safer." Wirt does just that, the bear glows brightly, a
golden light in the darkness. The back of the closet is opened, a passage
filled with menacing black trench coats. Wirt toddles through the passage.
Images of a dark wooded forest flash, the unsettling feeling of being watched
makes him shudder.
"I don't think we're suppose to be here, we must be careful. I don't like
this..." Teddy whispers.
I agree Ted, I agree.
There's a light that flickers sporadically, Wirt is squeezing past black trench
coats now. Growls echo behind him. A giant dog snarls at his heels, he pulls
his brother into the mill and slam the door shut.Wirt hugs the bear a bit more
tightly.
"Did you hear that?" Teddy whimpers, Wirt comes to a door that looks strikingly
like the closet door, loud footsteps vibrate through the ground, "Something is
coming."
Way to state the obvious! Why did I follow you? What was I thinking!?
Wirt pushes the door open-
**********
Wirt wakes with a gasp, shudders wracking his body and a cold sweat dripping
along his neck. He's in a hospital room, cold and sterile white-wash walls
greet his eyes, bright and migraine inducing.
A small snore alerts him of the small body nestled in his bed. Greg is sleeping
away in the weirdest position ever, an ability only cats and small and children
are gifted with.
Wirt ruffles his little brother's hair affectionately. But there's another
presence in the room... A man in a trench coat, with an unusual pendent on
display, a safari hat crammed on his head and hiding his eyes behind his messy
grey hair. He has a five o'clock shadow dusting his chin.
"Hello Wirt."
"Hello Lewin Light. Why are you here." Wirt asks, face stony and eyes hardened.
The man huffs,"Come on, why you gotta be like that to your old man? Why don't
you call me Daddy like you use too when you were small and cute?"
He reaches over to mirror Wirt's earlier action,"Like this little gu-" Wirt
smacks his hand away before he can touch Greg's head.
"Because you have no rights of visitation, didn't fight for them either. In
fact, I'm pretty sure Mom's filed a restraining order on you in near every
state, Daddy." Wirt sneers, shifting Greg into his lap and away from his
biological father.
"She told you that did she? Heh, Samantha's always been a liar-"
"She's not a liar. I saw the report last year when she married Greg's dad. We-
we sorted things out and she came clean." Wirt mutters, hugging Greg closer
until the snuggly boy grumbles in his sleep, legs jutting out near touching his
back.
"A pathological liar then-"
"SHE. ISN'T. A. LIAR! YOU ARE!"
His father gets out a cigarette, wedging it into his mouth, blatantly glancing
at the no smoking sign.
"You've got a shorter attention span than Dori the fish. Why are you here
Lightning?" Wirt asks, vexation and tiredness leaking into his voice.
"First, because I got a call from an associate that you got on a bus to Gravity
Falls rather than the one to Pappy and Granny."
Wirt's eyes widen, "You hired someone to STALK ME!?"
Lewin continues on, ignoring the look of outright disbelief, fiddlying with his
trench coat pocket trying to get something out,"Second... Because I missed you
thirty-wirty... Well your personality has aged a bit since you were a toddler,
so it would be like eighty-ninety? No that doesn't rhyme so I guess your stuck
with a mature thirty personality. Most people would be jealous."
Wirt arches an eyebrow, " Nice try Lewin. If you were worried about me you
would have showed up when me and Greg drowned and died for five minutes in a
lake last year. A for effort though, almost believed you."
Lewin halts his search for a moment, takes out his cigarette and points it
around,"Who says I didn't show up? Oh let me guess, Samantha the liar-"
"Stop CALLING HER THAT! SHE WASN'T THE ONE THAT CHEATED! YOU ADULTEROUS ASSHAT!
GET OUT! BEFORE I CALL A NURSE AND INFORM HER OF YOUR BREACH ON THAT ORDER!"
Wirt yells, Greg turns in his sleep, still dreaming away.
"The THIRD reason, is that you've got a taint mark that hasn't been purified.
Whatever you met wherever you and tatter tot went left something that is
detrimental to your health. In fact, it's probably already eating at your
soul."
Wirt's fire is doused in water, he stills and almost forgets how to breath,"I-
I don't know wh-what you're t-talking about-t."
Lewin pulls a lighter from his pocket, flicks it and immediately there are a
dozen small fairy-like creatures fluttering about and glowing faintly blue,"So
you inherited Sam's lying too. Not one of her best qualities but it is a big
part of her character."
Wirt's eyes follow the ethereal and petitely fragile beings trail of light.
They resemble comets in their swift and breathtaking dance around the room.
"What are they?" Wirt asks, moth open in awe.
"They're a few of my lower class familiars, they're called Sylphs. And you
could only see them if you got a tainting mark, which you did when your were
younger but me and Shiro purified you, sealing that one up before it could
become a permanent scar on your soul. Which means you got another one... And a
rather deep one if you nearly died." Lewin chuckles, flipping the lighter off,
the Sylphs halt quizically,"Mortem."
The Sylphs vanish in small blinks of fireworks, a remarkable resemblance to
tinkerbells pixie dust in all honesty,"Which means I caught your lie~. So, are
you going to keep her stick up your ass or are you going to let me help you and
the little tyke sleeping there?"
**********
Zim scuttles down the metal and frayed wire hallway of the buried UFO. External
scansgoing haywire.
Now where is the standard Self-Destruct in-case-of-crash-landing motion
activated laser trigger?
Zim stops by a wall, his sensors are lighting up like the accursed Christmas
lights of the vile Santa Claws creature. Zim analyzes the area and spots what's
gone so horribly wrong.
Zim starts attacking the opposite wall in unfettered fury, claws slicing clean
through to the length of his knuckles. Garbled chirps in Irken screech off of
the echoing walls, resembling a dying bird in it's high shrill octives of
vehement frustration and anger.
After 30 minutes of demolishing the wall in pure unadultered anger, Zim turns
back to the activated sensor sneering, "Some flarking idiot set this off.
Probably a bumbling stupid worm-baby that crawled down here."
Zim quickly jogs down the hallway, readjusting his sensors for finding
something of more importance now than was initially.
Zim skids to a stop in front of a giant screen, the count down continuing to
lower in an alien language.
" That's Meekerob... What were those sniveling floating insects doing this far
from their irk-forsaken swarm? Oh trayuk... Zim does NOT like the looks of that
countdown."
Zim retrieves a communicator from his P.A.K. but there is only static on the
other end, "These stuuupid wretched bugs knew how to make a proper comm.
Disruptor correctly, the only thing those glow-worm grahjik could make
correctly since they can't make a proper self-destruct sequence for the life of
their pitiful mana infested swarm. At least it is to Zim's advantage, a week
should be a simple amount of time to drag the Dib beast and the others onto a
ship and get out of this Disgusting planet's orbit before it blows it up after
the second wave detonation."
Zim speed walks out of the UFO. A slithery shadow watches him from the cover of
a bush. Narrowed beady eyes watch the alien as he walks away. A pointy red hat
disappears into the woods, waddling away as quickly as his little legs can take
him.
***** NOT A CHAPTER! JUST A TRANSLATION OF THE CHANT! *****
Chapter Summary
     As promised!!!!
We ten, fear not, you who fester and eat inside the moon's one eye
We ten know your name
Where your heart is
What you hold
How sharp you cut
How sharp you bite
How you're in the sleeping stag
In the bad Forrest
In the rotten fruit, seed, and root
We ten, split you all in three
In the dream of the obsidian winged
In River Flower eyes' heart
And the last rancid part of you to the far wind in the sky
Good and new and full
Night Sky Tree and with the others
You will fight
You will fall
You will walk in a changed direction
We see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil
They will destroy the white eye.
***** The Calm Before The Storm *****
Chapter Summary
     "19-10-14-9-25 4-16-19 21-23-12-11 22-19-18-9-6-19 4-16-19 5-4-9-6-
     11"
Chapter Notes
     oh isn't this dandy! I've gone and added ANOTHER FRICKING
     FANDOM!!!!!! WHY DO i EVEN TRY MAN? I DO THIS TO MYSELF!!!!!!!!
     honestly though there's an actual reason for this and if anyone
     that's reading this has read the Blue Exorcist Manga you better make
     a connection or I will be greatly disappointed in you!!!!!
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Gaz squints in the inky darkness, "OK unless there's a bonus game hiding in a
craney somewhere this should be it. Why the fuck am I not going home? I thought
that was the point! Beat the Game and you go Home!"
A brief flash of chaos, pure chaos pops in and out of existence. The image
imprinted to the back of her eyelids. A destructive stomach wrenching monster,
swirling with black clouds so thick it looks corporeal. It's eyes are near
complete white with a small amount of smoldeeing red to drive home it's
unnaturalness. It's swallowing up a giant pyramid singing bright in the
darkness with the sparkle of bloodied gold at the very top.
A single entity, armored and blending with the top of the structure, releases a
dolful scream, she feels a sting on her soul. A viper's bite of guilt, the sins
crawling down her back.
Gaz keeps walking, the atmosphere getting heavier the farther she goes,"What
the hell is this!?"
A form appears in the distance, Gaz floats to it as fast as she can.
"Hello there! I'm Chara! You have awakened me with your power. Do you want help
in destroying this world?" The small rosy cheeked child giggles, their piercing
red eyes looking them up and down.
"No, I want to go home. I think it's only fair seeing as I beat this game into
an Ashy powder." Gaz supplies, hand tightening on the branch in her hand,
"unless you can offer me something more."
Chara's grin glitches, its dark, demented, and resembles a black candle
melting. Its eyes are similar as well, thick ebony tears make trails down its
face, wax dripping, "Oh I can offer you so much moooooore Gaz! But you have to
give me something first~!"
Gaz narrows her eyes even more,"What do you want?"
Its grin stretches impossibly wide, splitting it's head in half, "Your SOUL!!!"
**********
Zim is hit by the load of messages Tak and Skoodge left him, the shear amount
is messing with his P.A.K.'s processor.
"What in the grojis?"
Zim opens his inbox up and his antenna are immediately assaulted by Tak yelling
her head off about Gaz being consumed by some earth game, literally apparently.
Zim arches a scheever at that but makes a note to call her back after he
listens to Skoodge's most likely related topic in his voice mails.
"Zim, keep yourself calm as I inform you of both situations concerning Dib and
Gaz OK?"
Zim's antenna scrunch down, but he breaths in and out slowly, adrenaline
already leaving his system as he has reprogrammed his P.A.K. to do.
"Gaz has been literally sucked into that videogame she's been obsessing over,
she apparently beat the game and saved herself but it's still not letting her
out. And you can probably tell that Tak is dweirning out right now because of
it."
Zim grins creepily, "Zim knew she really liked the Gaz beast but to leave so
many messages over a pathetic hyuuuuman is all the evidence I.M.O. needs~."
"Dib is... Alive, but... Uh, he's kindov in a coma right now, and the human
doctors don't know why. But my scanners were going crazy when I tried to
determine what was wrong with him. He's emitting some kind of unidentified
energy pulse that kept jamming my P.A.K.'s attempts at diagnosis. All his
vitals appear normal, he just won't wake up and his eyes are glowing an unusual
blue, his head seems to be the source of it but any technology around him
malfunctions. Tak is on her way to the arcade with the twin boy and someone
else. Me, Keef and two children are with Dib right now."
Zim is already a mile from the hospital before Skoodge's message ends, having
sprinted 30 something miles from the hospital, using satellite GPS to shortcut
his way through the forest, kicking and punching random creatures that pop up
and attempt to hinder him. Unconsciously his adrenaline naturally spikes back
up, he ignores his P.A.K.'s warning of imminent shutdown if he continues to
burn through more adrenaline than his body can handle after his freakout in the
remains of the meekrob ship.
Zim skids to a stop at the edge of the parking lot, remembering his lack of
disguise. He glances around, in search of some means to hide himself. The only
things he could use are the trees and dirt around him. He growls in anger but
gets to work, rubbing dirt all over his head and scheevers, and piling leaves
on his head as quickly as he can.
"Zim will just say he has pink eye again." Zim mutters, and walks inside the
hospital in search of the human.
**********
Dipper eyes the video game up and down. He knew how to get a video game
character out, but he really didn't know how the heck to get a human out.
Dipper examines the screen. He notices the red heart at the top of the screen,
on closer examination he sees the outline of 6 hearts.
"Tak, were there any instances of other floating hearts in the game? Besides
the red one up in the corner?" Dipper asks, an idea piecing together.
"Yes, there were 6 other hearts a goat king monster boss had in jars. And 6
coffins with different colored hearts that matched colors with the hearts in
jars, there was an empty one with a red lid though that was meant for Gaz's
soul..." Tak says, claws clenching in aggravation.
Dipper presses the Start button on a hunch, the screen lights up in rainbow
colors, "This game... It's multiplayer..."
Dipper smiles, another secret discovered. His mood immediately dulls. He
presses a hand to the screen but nothing happens,"maybe it's like the cipher
circle. Every heart represents someone else. I'm not one of the people by the
looks of it. Maybe someone from your group is? I mean it did suck up Gaz and
not anyone that the game has apparently been played by."
"Need I remind you of the glowing golden sphere that went in? The one that you
and your mystery shack group apparentlty let escape from your possessed great
uncle?" Tak snarls, "This is different from the other pimply humans that played
this game. None of them beat it, and none of them had that orb or were devoured
by the game."
Dipper nods, "So this should be treated as an entirely different game than the
one before Gaz played. But I'm not budging on the multiplayer factor, there are
6 empty hearts on the loading screen. And the red one is different because it
represented Gaz. So the others represent other players yet to play if they're
empty."
Star is jumping around and looking at every game in the place, annoyingly
slurping a slurpy right next to Tak when it's on its last dregs and Star
struggles to get the last bit of liquid with loud and obnoxious sound effects,
Tak can no longer restrain herself.
Tak shoots the cup out of her hands, "For the glory of Irk stop acting like a
hyuuman GIR! Why is she here again?"
Dipper shrugs, "She just decided to tag along from what I remember, and I
thought she might be able to help since she's from another dimension."
Tak quirks a scheever, "She looks like a hyuuman to me."
Star turns around and lifts away her hair, her small purple wings flutter
madly, "I'm Star Butterfly, Princess of my dimension, Mewni." Star twirls back
around, and grabs someone else's slurpy, sucking it dry and eyeing Tak.
Once she's done she tosses the cup at the trash can with a flourish, but
misses, the cup bouncing off of the lid and hitting Tak on the forehead.
Star cringes as Tak turns around, "oops."
Star dodges Tak's attacking P.A.K. limbs, Dipper's shouts for them to stop
destroying things and attacking go unheard.
During the rainbow narwal blast, Star's wand brushes against the game Gaz is
currently in. The screen lights up green, a defective Irken emblem on the
screen in white.
Star and Tak stop fighting, Dipper moves closer, " What is that?"
Tak scrunches her face up in confusion, but upon recognition her eyes become
filled with the fire of anger and the water of sorrow, "That's...the stigma of
a defective Irken..."
"Looks like Zim's sigil on the prophecy circle." Star interjects, Tak and
Dipper whip around, surprise marring their faces.
"The what?!" Who said it, neither knew but it was going through both of their
minds.
"Explain," Tak demands, finally getting ahold of the squirrelly youth,
wrenching her up by the front of her shirt.
"Can you please put her down? What is it with you aliens and trying to attack
people?" Dipper asks aloud.
"Better to shoot and ask questions later, my species is well known around the
universe and not at all popular seeing as it typically enslaves whole planets
to the control brains wills." Tak answers, dropping the girl abruptly and
looking... Was that guilt and shame on that prideful face!?
Dipper steals that away to the back of his mind for later, leveling his eyes on
the surprisingly calm girl in front of him, "So what's this about a prophecy
circle and Zim being a part of it?"
Star groans and rolls her eyes, "It's why we came here in the first place!
Something called the shadowmaker is suppo-"
"During the exorcism we were performing on Grunkle Stan, well Bill, the demon
in him, was saying The shadowmakers were eating him." Dipper interrupts, "the
Shadowmakers... We need to get to Wirt, now!"
Dipper grabs Star's hand but the mewni princess pulls out of his grasp with
surprising strength, strength no human girl possessed, "You need to let me
finish. Marco, Tom, Cooper, Mr. Kat, Dib, Zim, Wirt, Curnunnos, Bill Cipher,
and YOU are the five points to the broken half star. But you said you EXORCIZED
HIM!? That's kind ov a problem but... My wand, Toffee made me cast the
whispering spell and... Something went wrong, horribly wrong. Because it's not
destroyed like it should be. It's broken in half. And apparently the star in it
imprisoned the shadowmakers... Now that it is broken they've escaped, the five
points are the only thing that can stop them. We need to bring Tom and Marco
and figure out where the others are."
Tak chuckles darkly, "Zim and Dib are part of my group and pretty close to
becoming zhar-da-khanj. I don't know where Zim is, I left over a hundred
messages for him but he hasn't responded, and Dib is in the hospital because he
won't wake up. If Zim is anywhere, it will be with Dib if he got me or
Skoodge's messages. Wirt is staying at the same Inn as us and had a very
interesting prophecy in a dream that seems to be eerily related to this
prophecy circle and five points you keep spouting about. First you two will go
to the Hospital, grab the greener of the two idiots and meet back here.
Skoodge, Keef and two boys are apparently there too. I think they might be a
part of this circle nonsense. Anyway, I will contact your trinket and scam
filled shack of duct tape horrors and get Marco and Tom over here. I will not
leave my post however, not when there is no need. I will stay with Gaz. Go."
They jog away, but Star comes back, surprising Tak with a hug, "We'll get her
out, you just have to believe everything will be alright, OK? Marco's, like,
the smartest guy I know, and we're apparently surrounded by other super smart
geeks too. You'll get through this."
Star lets go and runs after Dipper. Tak's claws clench air, "Rule number 4 of
Irken protocol, do not make promises you do not know you can keep. Your hope,
is much appreciated mewni girl. But hope is a dangerous thing. Especially when
you give it to one who has had very little in dealing with it."
**********
Mephisto really didn't want to do his hell prescribed job right at this minute.
Granted, he needed information on what Lucifer and Father were cooking, but he
truly hated being here. Filing in Hell is at the bottom most level, and getting
there was grueling at best. He groans in annoyance at his duty but reluctantly
accepts his cross to bare.
Mephisto feels a pull to the one of the only jobs he had to perform. He
regretfully had lost only three bets in his life. One was to the Paladin that
had died recently, Mephisto mourned his passing as only a demon who was a
powerful human's soulmate could.
The other was to a friend and fellow demon king who disappeared a long long
time ago. And that was one promise he didn't understand at all, the golden
bastard was always confusing and plotted more than he did which was an
accomplishment because Mephisto did nothing BUT plot with time bending to his
reasonable whims.
And the last one, the one he was the least happy about, was one he had lost to
Satan himself. He had to organize Hell's records since he had the time to play
hooky in Assiah, the sadistic asshole also added on the task of getting
destined suicidals to kick themselves off cliffs. Mephisto had been slouching
on the job for a while now because of his newest batch of little brothers'
awakening powers and the Illuminati group Lucifer had amassed with the help of
their Father.
Mephisto had too much fun teasing his baby siblings to take care of his
designated task as of late, as well as the troublesome schemes Lucifer was
helping along, but he typically solved this little problem with a loop-hole he
has exploited since the beginning of the first lost bet, which left him plenty
of Lee way to investigate any rumors as to the origins of man-made Gehenna
gates.
Mephisto looked over the files of the most recent suicides, wanting fresh
corpses, because he honestly couldn't handle when Astaroth got his odorous
claws on them and made them stink to high rancid heaven, a fresh body wasn't
effected by the king of Rot in Gehenna. A glowing green light catches the gleam
in his own green irises.
"Oh, what's this?" Mephisto picks up the dead body of a boy by the long
strenuous name of Napoleon Maxwell Sowachowskii like one would hold a puppy.
Honestly he felt sorry for the kid, that name would've haunted him all his life
if he hadn't jumped the gun, or knife in this case. Mephisto looks around the
body, "Where is his knife anyway? Did those idiots in processing lose this poor
brat's heart core? Where do you get good help these days, honestly."
Mephisto prods the body, the fatal wound is in his gut, a less than usual place
now-a-days with guns and pills being the main choice of deadly poison. The
injury is glowing an unusual green, as are the dead kid's eyes, the light
leaking through his eyelids.
"hmmm, I've never seen one like this, he has a ridiculously large soul, almost
like he has two or part of another one anyway... Eh, I'll have to bother Azazel
about this next time, but now that he's got me intrigued I guess he'll do."
Mephisto drops the corpse back in it's open grave. Teleporting down before the
body hits the rich dark soil.
"Einz... Zwei...Drei!" Mephisto chants, touching the tip of his closed parosel
to Sock's forehead, he floats in mid air, hair defying gravity, Mephisto eyes
the boy, "Perhaps a change in costume would be best... Something more, casual."
Mephisto waves a hand over his own face and his hair turns from it's normal
dark blue to just a shade more orange than the soon to be henchman floating by
his feet, his hair style morphs into one he had adopted years ago, and his
cloths writhe, a dark and dashing suit with a few buttons unused, business
casual as per the doctor's order. He takes out a mirror to gaze upon himself,
his eyes strike him as otherworldly, he bites his lips in thought, "What
color?"
Inspiration comes to him in a flash, Shiro's eyes were always warm and
welcoming., "Brown it is. This kid better think of me as a fatherly figure
after this. I went to a lot of effort to make myself look like one after all."
The boy stirs, as if he had heard him. He quickly puts away his parosel and
grins, but tones it down and makes sure to soften his eyes as he stands over
the boy's head. Sowachowskii's eyes flutter open, the green glowing of his
irises dulls the longer they're open, he blinks in surprise upon waking,
looking up at someone who could've been his brother if not for his eyes.
"Welcome to Hell! Would you like a hand?" Mephisto offers his own.
Sock hesitantly takes it. "Sure, uh..." He stutters on, looking away
bashfully,"Th-thank you sir."
Mephisto's eyes alight, This kid is cute, and he has manners to boot! Like a
child version of Shiro... His memories of Shiro pop up unbidden of when the
deceased priest was younger, and how he changed from timid, and polite young
master to charming, and suave headstrong rogue under his wing. A true soft
smile spread a crossed his face, he flips over the boy, thereby dragging him
up, and opens a doorway, "Welcome to my office."
Mind already set, I'm definitely keeping this brat. He's too cute and awkward
not to. I wonder why he committed suicide?
He halts time and analyzes the teenager, "His outfit is very unusual but he's
definitely got my fashion sense."
He riffles through the young man's file, but the boy's biography is blank after
the kid went to sleep the night before.
"That's ...odd, why is processing doing such a crappy job with details? No
heart, and no death story. This is an out rage! Someone's going to own up to
this, and now I'm going to have to do paperwork! Satan you really wanted to
make me suffer with this job, you smug bastard."
**********
Wirt watches Lewin like a hawk, distrust clear in his eyes.
"And what exactly are you going to do?" Wirt questions, his grip on Greg
smothering the boy in his arms.
"That tempt taint isn't going to just go away Wirt, it's going to get worse. So
I'm going to treat it just like every tempt taint is treated. First I'm going
to have to diagnose it, which demon king your attacker is kin to, then I'll be
able to successfully treat it." Lewin answers, eyes peering out from under his
scraggly matted hair.
Wirt glares, but relents, "Fine, but you're only looking at mine, me and Greg
were attacked by the same monster. You treat me and then you treat Greg."
Lewin smirks but nods, "fine fine, just show me where your original injury
was."
Wirt shucks off his shirt, gently shuffling his little brother farther down the
bed. Lewin looks at Wirt's chest in shock.
Three seconds later he's puking in a convenient trash can by the door.
Wirt wrinkles his nose in distaste, "are you on a hangover or something? Man
you really had me going for a second. I was seriously about to trust you."
Wirt chuckles without humor, "Man, what kind of drugs was I given when I was
taken here?"
Lewin wipes away some bile on his sleeve, and spits out some remaining saliva,
he brings the trash can with him and sets it down in front of the concerned
teenage boy.
"Nope not on a hangover, could really use a drink after what I just glimpsed
festering... Here," Lewin turns around in his chair, magicking a bag out from
behind him and tosses a circular turquoise stone with a hole in it to his son.
"Take a peek through that at your own chest, if you're anything like your
mother you'll faint, "Lewin jokes, but it doesn't really pass when he himself
can only muster a grimace smile.
Wirt gulps but bites his lip, steedying his breathing and willing his hands to
stop shaking in their nervousness. He peers through the hole at his chest.
Lewin rubs between Wirt's shoulders between heaves, emptying his empty stomach
into the same trash can in as much a similar manner as his father. Lewin hands
him a tissue as an afterthought which Wirt takes gratefully, swathing away what
little was left on his lips.
"So you do have something in common with me besides my dashing looks and messy
hair." Lewin says in a last ditch effort for an ice breaker.
The absurdity of the attempt forces a surprised snicker from Wirt, "I'm glad I
didn't get your stink, how long has it been since you've bathed? But... joking
aside, what the HELL was that...?"
They both share a mutual shudder, "That is by far the worst tempt taint I've
seen since I've been an exwire."
Wirt holds up the stone and looks at his demonic infection once more to get a
better look at what it is.
The dark vines of edelwood are still on him, their epicenter seems to be right
under his skin over his heart. The vegetation has left smears of thick oil all
over his chest in trails behind the limbs, there are strangely no red leaves,
only a mess of what resembles a chest having been through a meat grinder. Wirt
swallows the acidic vomit trying to escape his throat. The red of old blood
flakes away with each breath in his chest.
"It looks like a hybrid of Astaroth and Amaimmon, but it's strange, with how
far along this is it should have... how are you alive again?" Lewin asks,
blinking up at his son in wonder.
Wirt gestures to Greg, "he saved me. When the Beast's edelwood nearly had me,
Greg made a deal... His soul for mine."
Lewin strikes like a viper with how quick he moves, Wirt doesn't even register
what's just happened until Greg releases a pitiful whimper in his sleep. Lewin
has the boy's shirt up and he's shaking like a leaf. He grasps madly for the
trashcan which Wirt instantly forks over, the seasoned exorcist turns away as
he dry heaves for much longer than he had for Wirt, grimy face red from
exertion.
"We-I need to perform yesterday on this kid." Lewin manages to stutter out,
raising a hand above the ground far away from himself.
A spark of what resembles static electricity flashes from directly below his
outstretched hand, a light blinds Wirt with it's intensity, resembling a
professional camera flash, only it's not going away, but it is becoming focused
in one area. When it finally condenses as much as it will Wirt gasps at the
sight.
A chimera-like beast made of lightning is lovingly nudging against Lewin in
adoration, imitating an excited puppy. Stray pieces of broken light fracture
off and connect with random electronic devices throughout the room.
Wirt or Greg must have made a sound because the creature looks back, quirking
it's head like a curious puppy. Then begins to sniff and whine as Lewin holds
the creature back from pouncing on the boys in excitement.
"This is Furfur, he's going to assist me in cleansing you boys of whatever the
fuck that is." Lewin supplies, moving closer and letting the creature lick at
them, making Wirt's face dry and tingly rather than wet and sticky, "It seems
to be from Azazel's dominion since you can't see it without an adder stone, but
it's rotting your flesh which tends to be Astaroth's stick, and it's growing
out of you like a greenman's influence only stronger which signifies Amaimmon's
green thumb. What's really bothering me isn't the fact it's a hybrid, that's
pretty typical with regular ol' demons, what's got me worried is the power
behind it. This thing, in all honesty, should have killed you when you first
got it if my trained eye can be trusted. This would've kicked a demon king on
his ass, it's almost as powerful as the blue flame of Satan."
Wirt snorts and sighs in worry, "Satan, sure the red devil with a pitch fork is
real now too, I know this is too trippy to just be meds. but can you please
stop mentioning scary supernatural creatures please? Me and Greg have had
enough run-ins with those types. And when you mention them around us we tend to
meet them somewhere down the line."
Lewin cackles at that but it trails off pretty quickly, "Unfortunately the
devil is real. But please, tell me what did this to you, or describe it if you
can after I take care of this. But Greg is first, he's got it the worst between
the two of you."
Wirt sucks in a breath but relents, "Fine, but if you fall out of line I'm
stopping it. No ifs ands or buts about it."
Lewin's grip is sliping on Furfur's mane of hair, struggling to hold on, "Yeah
yeah, I won't hurt him too much, yak yak yak, move out of the way so I can heal
him! Or he won't HAVE any nerve endings left to feel pain!"
Wirt shoots his father a glare but scoots over. Lewin releases the demon and
Furfur darts forward. He snuffles and licks Wirt and Greg with gusto, lathering
them in frizzy air rather than saliva, it's nose zaps them like they've touched
a wall outlet.
It's hackles rise when it accidentally nudges under Greg's shirt. The next
thing Wirt hears is his little brother screaming bloody murder. Wirt lunges at
the demon but Lewin holds him back, trying to wrangle the wriggling youth.
" WIRT! HE'S GOING TO HURT A LOT BECAUSE OF THE EXTENT OF HIS INFECTION! IT'LL
BE OVER SOON!" Wirt manages to use his boney elbow to knock the hat off of his
Father's head and Lewin releases him instinctively. Two small horns peer out
from the top of his head.
Wirt flinches when he sees the growths but quickly goes to assist his brother.
He grabs ahold of Furfur, electricity surges through him, he refuses to scream
from the agony, but he manages to drag the demon chimera creature off of his
little brother.
A blue light peeks out from Greg's pouch, Wirt immediately grabs for it, opens
it up, shoves the lightning creature back, and touches Greg with the feather.
The room is filled with blue light, when it fades Furfur is growling in the far
corner, Greg is slumbering peacefully again, and Lewin is gobbsmacked for all
of a second before he looks back at Wirt. The room rattles with lightning's
laughter.
After about a minute or two his snickers trail off, slightly wheezing and out
of breath, "So that's what you used. No wonder you're not dead. Do you have any
idea what your little brother had stowed away in his little fanny pouch?"
Wirt blocks his brother from view, eyes squinted in undilluted suspicion, "I
think the real question is what are you."
Lewin smirks, eyes glinting in an unusual mix of approval, respect, and a
silent warning much like a creature of the predator class gives another when it
encrouches too close.
"I'm not actually sure."
Wirt blinks, having not expected such an answer.
"I'll give you as much as I've got though..." Lewin complies, "There is a bit
of demon blood in our line, not enough to make much of a difference—to make us
unable to fit into the square cut outs society molds for all us citizens in
Assiah—but enough to make us top class summoners of high ranking demons. It's
too far back to really keep track of our demon ancestor but I've got my money
on either the goddess of filth or Egyn demon king of Water. The goddess left
her mark on me a while back as a blessing with a kind of fortune cookie
explanation that really only makes sense if we were related somehow. But these
beauties didn't pop up until I battled Egyn when I was a few years older than
you actually, you were probably one or two at the time. Didn't end well either,
only reason why I'm alive is because of the blue night. Probably the only
person it helped. But Egyn was pretty adamant about how I was suppose to be
stronger. Again, the way he said it implied he knew about the demon blood
that's been slowly thinning each generation."
Wirt doesn't really believe him at this point but is intrigued like anyone
would be right now, "So you've got demon blood in you because some great many
great's ago we had a demon ancestor? Seriously? How did that even logically
happen? And with something that sounds that high of rank? A goddess or a Demon
King? What kind of human would be attracted to one of them?"
Light shrugs, "Who knows? There are some charismatic demons from Gehenna,
Succubus or Incubus, whichever way you roll no judging. And it might have been
more along the lines of not having a choice. Virgin sacrifices were a thing way
back when, doesn't really happen now except for the higher level demons that
manage to get into Assiah and the soulmate summons. Which is pretty ballsy in
and of itself. Not your typical familiar contract either. You're basically
stuck making a deal with them or forfeiting your life. Saying no to a demon
isn't really something you can do in those situations so the soul summons isn't
really done unless there are dire, life-threatening circumstances."
Wirt hesitantly sits down, clutching Beatrice's feathers to his chest, "I
really don't want to know what the blue night is and frankly jeeze... That
sounds like humans are getting the bad end of the stick no matter what."
Lewin shakes his head, "Not really, see Demons who have a human soul mate know
in advance they'll never find another love in their lifetime. So they're stuck
mourning their other half for the rest of their abysmally long lives. There are
some who've been on Earth since the time of falling. Being immortal is great
until you find something precious like that and are unable to ever have it
again."
"So to them it's better to have never loved at all than to have loved and
lost... That's kind of-no that's VERY depressing. No wonder the demons would be
pissed when they're summoned. Who would want to get into a relationship and
know they'll die long before they will themselves, if they even do!" Wirt
responds.
Lewin nods in agreement, "typically the agreement is of protection and allotted
times that they get to own in their human's lifetime. But there's always the
clash of cultures that goes along with it. Essentially demon and human pairings
are of the same sex. So half demon spawn aren't exactly rare but they aren't
very common. Some humans even manage to put in a "no sex without consent"
clause in their deal somewhere so there might not even be sex involved in the
coupling."
Wirt wrinkles his nose at that.
"But that's a little too in depth for a kid like you, anyway, "Lewin huffs,
paying his hat down on his head, "Where did you manage to find a feather of
Alkonost? TWO of them to be exact because Alkonosts were one of the only ghosts
to be exorcised into extinction along with the Gamayuns by mistake, the bird of
sorrow closely resembling the bird of joy, the bird ghost of sorrow being
direct messengers of Satan himself."
Wirt wrinkles his face in disbelief, "Beatrice isn't an Alkonost, OK yeah she
and her flock of family were cursed into becoming blue birds but they honestly
have no connection with SATAN and she was human."
Lewin hmms at that but gestures to go on with his story.
"Fine, I'll start at the beginning then."
**********
Marco grumbles awake as he's being roughly poked by Mabel Pines with a broom
handle, "Hey body builder arm guy! Get up! Tak is on the phone, she said
something about getting you and three eyed cutie's tushies to the arcade
because Star found a clue to your whole broken wand wheel or something like
that. So get up and I'm going to take you guys in the Mystery Cart."
Marco groans when he looks at the time, the cat clock on the wall reads a
little past midnight, Marco attempts to get up but a strong pair of arms are
around his waist and chest.
It takes a moment for his brain to catch up in it's caffeine deprived state,
but once it does... his face is red and he can feel his pulse beating on the
skin of his cheeks. Extremely warm breaths on his neck cause the hairs they
disturb to rise, his whole body breaking out in goose flesh. Marco's breath
stutters to a halt, his whole body freezing up. Marco ever so slowly turns his
head to peek at the demon prince currently spooning him.
Tom's face is handsome and most definitely boy-ish in his sleep, his expression
isn't angry or guarded for once. All that remains is a teenager with cheek
bones that could kill, long eyelashes, thin, habitually bitten lips, and some
demonic features that make him unique from his purple tinted skin, and pointed
ears, to his sharp canines, third eye, and elegant horns. All semblance of
innocence flees when Marco feels a... third limb pressing up against him.
Marco's created a new shade of red as his internal screaming reaches it's peak.
Marco turns back to look at Mabel, who's been watching this the entire time.
Marco mouths "help me" to the girl but his hopes for rescue crash and burn when
an evil grin spreads across her face as she waggles her eyebrows at them and
levels a camera at the two. Marco's eyes widen in horror, he harshly whispers
"noooooooooo" but she replies with "Yeeeeeeeezzzz" , damning him with a click
of a button and a bright flash that rouses the demon behind him.
"whauh?" Tom blinks awake from the light, he nuzzles into the body he's
currently captured and groans in protest. Marco's tense muscles scream with the
pressure he uses to restrain himself from breathing and fervently wishing the
demon prince that wouldn't think twice of burning a house down and might even
set off fireworks as an afterthought doesn't stir from the spot, not until he's
a couple hundred feet away from the anger-management needing pyrotechnic
teenager that is.
Those wishes joined his hope from a few seconds before, Tom narrows his eyes as
he squeezes his "body" pillow, randomly running his hands around his chest in
search of something that isn't there. Marco silently bares the brunt of the
molestation trying to appear asleep. Tom raises an eyebrow, hesitantly
searching lower.
Marco jumps out of the demon prince's arms in a panic before he can reach that
and seethes, shaking behind Mabel like a cat on bath day, using the girl as a
barrier to keep Tom away.
Tom stares at the two, just now noticing Mabel's presence. Tom makes note of
the woody he's sporting and awkwardly covers himself with his blanket, choosing
not to acknowledge the groping he just performed on Marco altogether.
"So, uh...why did you want to wake us up?"Marco asks, doing much the same,
refusing to look at Tom and instead focusing his embarrassed and angered gaze
on Mabel.
"The girl you guys fell with found something out earlier about the reason you
guys are here, she said to go to the arcade which I'm going to have to take you
guys to because you won't know where it is in this town. So get your butts up
or you'll have to find someone else to play tour guide and I don't think anyone
will considering what time it is and what choke hold did to my brother a couple
hours ago." Mabel says nonchalantly, twirling her camera around by it's strap.
Marco and Tom are awake now. Star never went to bed... she left without
me...going through both of their heads and a feeling of hurt surges through
their hearts.
**********
A boy sits in the back of the GAV along with his sister and friends. He glances
at her out of the corner of his crystal blue eyes, black hair hiding a good
portion of his face. His two friends are currently using each other as pillows
in the seats beside him, an assortment of small snores leaving their dreaming
faces. The red head keeps going on and on about the apparent detriment to his
adolescent health this trip is causing him and his friends.
Jazz is starting to make this sound like going to China is equivalent to
murdering us. We're only going to be at the science convention for, like, two
hours. The rest of it we're going to use to explore. A small price to pay for
this trip, really. She did consent that traveling would be a great learning
experience but as soon as Mom and Dad said the "G" word she goes on a rant.
Could Jazz seriously stop using me as leverage to get her way? I mean yeah, a
lot of her points are spot on with her research but in all honesty she needs to
stop playing the "poor Danny" card before I tear it to pieces myself.
"Yes Jazz, I know that Danny is missing a week of school but his grades have
gotten better. Plus that whole debacle with Inviso-Bill has been putting him
through so much stress! Honestly, he's been working himself to the bone in his
studies. He needs a break before he has a mental breakdown. Don't you agree
Jack?" Their mother replies, Jack, who has been fiddling with a small ghost
gadget the entire time, gives an affirmative grunt, using a screw driver to pry
open a delicate peice from it's place.
Jazz looks at her father with an unimpressed face, "Cows say quack though don't
they Dad?"
Maddie looks at Jazz in confusion but Jack replies with another agreeing grunt
and Maddie understands perfectly.
"You're going to be sleeping on the couch dear, right after I get done
stretching your ears because your messing with our very fragile competition
piece in a moving vehicle on the open ocean during a STORM!" A flash of
lightning from outside gives the woman special emphasis on the matter.
They are currently traveling across the Atlantic ocean in a newly forming
hurricane. It hasn't gotten too bad yet, the GAV's flying system is top notch,
it would take a first rate storm to knock this flying, beyond air-worthy, tin
can out of the sky.
Jack grunts again and Maddie can only groan in exasperation. Jazz grins having
won this battle.
But a sinking feeling hits him again, his instincts are turning his stomach,
have been since the week before they announced the big road trip. Which
explains why there's a conveniently placed trashcan in front of him and a wet
washcloth on his forehead.
What's really had Danny tossing and turning in his sleep has been the re-
occurring dreams of chaos. The earth overrun by creatures killing everything in
sight. Glowing white eyes making everything else bathed in shadows. It doesn't
help that there hasn't been a single ghost shiver. Something is happening and
he really doesn't like the fact that he hasn't been informed on it by some loud
mouth ghost. Even the local annoyance of the Box Ghost has been eerily absent
as of late, which is the reason why he's actually had time to do his
assignments for once.
If it wasn't for Tucker's begging to come along with the Phentons to the
convention along with Sam's pleading to go see a China Comicon in the flesh he
would have hunkered down in Amity Park and driven himself crazy with paranoia.
A rather loud rumble of thunder makes the GAV vibrate, Danny grumbles but rests
his head on an actual pillow.
"Maybe there's a ghost virus going around and the ghosts are as miserable as I
am. One can only HOPE."
Chapter End Notes
     "Enjoy The Calm Before The Storm"- Gravity Falls episode 4 Season 2
     Cryptogram ending credits
***** A new day will soon be dawning *****
Chapter Notes
     Happy turkey day!!!! I hope u all have fun gobble gobbling up this
     chapter!!!
Zim slips in without a synch, the nurses believing the lie of a life living in
the woods and surviving off of the land. They don't question anything, much
like the idiot populace of Dib's hometown. His P.A.K. is still annoyingly
warning him of his imminent battery saving mode turning on and temporarily
shutting him down.
The room they're holding Dib in is 203 on the 2nd floor. Zim spots the stairs
sign down the hall. But a familiar voice halts him in his tracks. Zim bursts
through the door of room 124 and sees Wirt with a passed out Greg talking to a
suspicious and exceptionally stinky germ-covered hyuuman.
"What are YOU doing here?"
**********
Wirt jumps three feet in the air from fright, Greg's head getting jostled and
waking him up, Lewin narrows his eyes. His father deftly pulls out a flask and
tosses it's contents on Zim.
Zim shrieks, the mud and leaf layers washing off slightly and into his newly
developing chemical burns.
Once he's exhausted his holy water supply Lewin goes for something else;
thankfully, Wirt grabs his arm before he can.
"Stop you idiot! THAT'S ZIM! I told you about him not even a second ago! And
you MELTING HIM INTO A PUDDLE IS NOT A GOOD THING!" Wirt yells, gently settling
the yawning boy on the hospital bed and rushing over to Zim. He attempts to
help the already healing Irken up but Zim growls a warning Wirt reluctantly
listens to.
"Zim is here be-because (wheeze, hack) Dib-Dib is In a coma. Room 203 (cough
wheeze) 2nd fl-oor us-use the b-bird ha-hair..." Zim manages to get out before
collapsing on the ground. This time Wirt does manage to help Zim up and onto
the bed. Right next to a sleepy-eyed Greg. The Irken's P.A.K. is beeping in
much the same way a heart monitor does, the lights a dim pink.
Wirt retrieves the two blue feathers from Greg's pouch, a light bulb turning
on, and turns to Lewin, "Don't touch him, especially his alien backpack... It's
probably got a " self-destruct-if-touched" program or something in it. Let him
rest and regenerate. Irkens have amazing regenerative abilities he'll probably
be good as new in 30 minutes or less." Wirt walks out of the room and continues
Zim's journey in his place.
Wirt carefully goes upstairs, and knocks on the door to room 203. Skoodge opens
it and grins in recognition.
"Wirt! What are you doing here?" Keef exclaims, grin genuine as always.
Wirt lifts the feathers into view, "heard about your dilemma from Zim whose
kindov passed out downstairs. Brought these to wake him up hopefully." Their
eyes gravitate to Dib on the bed. Pale, chest rising slowly, and eyelids a
bright shining blue.
Keef's grin widens in realization, he chuckles "Well come on in! You and your
magically healing feathers are always welcome!"
Wirt smirks, a snort of amusement leaving his lips at the boy, he strolls in,
"the doctor is in the house."
Two things happen in this next moment. One, all eyes turn to Wirt and his
feathers (excepting Dib), and two... Wirt is trampled by a little girl with
long black hair in a pony-tail adorned with a red bow and red glasses holding a
strange ugly hairless purple cat.
**********
Coop and Denis do a double take, "MILLIE!?!?"
"You guys are in soooooo much trouble!!! Daddy's gonna ground you till you're
twenty! We were trying to find you for a loooooong time. Daddy and me and Mr.
Kat rode in an ambulance with the twitchy boy on the floor and the cutie with a
teapot on his head!" Millie says, ignoring said groaning Wirt getting up and
dusting the dirt off of his coat.
A growl fills the air and Coop and Denis zone in on the resident evil alien
draped over Millie's arms.
"If anyone should be in trouble it should be KAT! We searched EVERYWHERE for
that flea-bag!" Denis yells, pointing at the feline menace.
Mr. Kat hisses at them, Skoodge looks at the other alien in worry and
astonishment. But pulls back and avoids getting caught looking at him.
Mr. Kat catches the small movement in his peripheral vision, he analyzes
Skoodge. Skoodge feels himself sweating from Mr. Kat's intent gaze.
Coop sees Mr. Kat's stare, a smirk graces his face, "What's the matter Kat? See
something alien to you?"
The evil alien glares at the boy with venom and Skoodge wheedles in behind
Keef, hoping to make as much of his form unseen by the cat sapient as
physically possible.
Kat smirks venomously, pulls a small circular gadget from within Millie's hair,
and flashes it in front of the girl's eyes. Millie blinks for a moment before
she passes out. Wirt and the feline extraterrestrial manage to catch her before
she hits the ground; however, as soon as Millie's head gently touches the floor
Kat was on Coop before the poor boy could take another breath.
Coop could barely keep up with the speed Kat utilized, Denis soon joined in,
managing to pry the purple scelerat off of his friend. But Denis wisely sends
the frenzied beast off into the air than on his person, because he's been cut
by this razor typhoon before and he'd rather not experience it again. Kat lands
on Keef. Keef is practically shivering in his shoes.
Skoodge's P.A.K. reacts before his eyes even register what he's just done. A
P.A.K. limb has pinned Mr. Kat to the wall right in his shoulder, orange liquid
seeps from the wound as the wriggling mass hisses and claws at the deadly limb.
Skoodge's other P.A.K. limb slams the door and locks it as his hand turns off
his hologram, and Mr. Kat's eyes are big enough to take up half of his head
with Skoodge's noseless face centimeters from his, "(Touch my Zhar-da-Khanj
again and I'll pour Earth's water down your throat and watch you pop like a
giant retwarang blister Katian.)"
Kat grudgingly nods his head, refusing to give a vocal answer. Skoodge releases
the feisty feline and smooths Keef's ruffled curls with his scheevers, and hugs
his mate close to try and refrain from acting on his instincts to kill the
threatening presence of the other alien in the room.
Coop's obnoxious laughter breaks the icy atmosphere and Kat's growling form
arches and seethes at the giggling boy. He clutches at his wound and melts it
shut with a distinctly painful hiss.
Wirt looks at the two and the feathers grow brighter.
Search the north for the Egypt's heir As well as his nemisis, with the Nile
flower's glare.
"You two are another pair in the prophecy..." Wirt whispers, pointing at the
close to circling duo.
Coop glances at Wirt in confusion, a mistake Kat uses to his advantage,
tackling him to the ground. Coop kicks his nemisis with enough force to send
Wirt and Kat onto Dib's still as death body. One of the feathers barely brushes
against Dib's eyes.
A sudden flash of blue and two screams of terror.
Everyone's eyes water from the assault on their retinas. When their visions
finally clear, Wirt and Kat are gone. A single blue feather flutters to Dib's
still slumbering chest; however, his eyes glow just a tad bit brighter than
they did moments ago.
"Not Again!" Skoodge yells in frustration.
**********
Dipper and Star are just a step or two from the second floor when they hear Kat
and Wirt's screams.
They instantly run towards the danger, a harsh blue light leaks from under a
door, but similar to a camera flash it's gone.
Dipper and Star rush inside, but there's nothing extremely weird about the
scene. Except everyone's eyes are watering.
"What just happened?" Dipper asks, Cooper blinks a few times and rubs his eyes.
"Nothing much, just fighting my evil alien nemisis, " Coop stops, looks around
and growls in aggravation, " KAT! Where did you go you snapshot taking
eyesore!?!"
Skoodge is the next to recover, slowly cataloging the room, his once over leads
to a wrinkle between where eyebrows would be on a human, "Where did Wirt go?"
"That's that gnome guy's name?" Dennis asks, everyone looks for Wirt, but
neither he nor Kat are visible.
Coop stops his inspection of the room, his eyes lock onto a bright blue feather
tucked into a disturbed fold in Dib's blanket.
Coop picks it up but drops it immediately, it lands on the side table next to
Dib's hospital bed. Blue flames lick up his hand, traveling to where his heart
lay. He gasps as something starts pushing, it hurts slightly but not enough
that would warrant a scream. Then, something pokes out from his shirt, it keeps
stretching and stretching until it pierces through, clattering to the ground.
Golden petals pour from within until they just stop. A gapping black hole over
his heart under his shirt. Everyone's eyes, excepting Dib of course, are on
Coop as he picks it up.
It's a knife, covered in blood and a fine white powder. Coop slowly lowers it
onto the counter surface next to the feather.
"OK, that's the third freakiest thing I've seen in under two days and I live in
a house with an evil alien invader masquerading as my sister's ugly pet cat so
that's saying something. What the heck is going on?"
Dipper pulls out the journal, aimlessly looking through it to find some kind of
clue. And then he finally finds it, the second to last page of the book. Two
blue birds circling each other, one sad and one happy: Alkonost and Gamayun.
The spirits of sorrow and joy, birds of a feather, and a small summary of the
use of a feather from either.
"Wirt's lady friend isn't what he thought she was..." Dipper whispers, setting
the open journal onto the side table, and pulling the shabby piece of furniture
into the middle of the room.
"Nobody touch the feather. We're going to address one situation at a time. Dib
is first. Skoodge, you've got the most information on what happened to Dib
right now. What can you tell me?" Dipper asks, everyone takes a step back from
the feather in caution.
"His vitals are normal, he's in a comatos state. All electronics, including my
P.A.K. malfunction when they're around him, and he's emitting an unknown pulse
of high frequency energy from his head." Skoodge supplies, but he bites his
thin bottom lip in thought, "I don't know if this last bit of information will
help but a few years ago Dib and Zim got trapped in another dimension. Dib
called it the nightmare realm. The entrance was in Dib's forehead. Perhaps that
is something like Coop's situation?"
Dipper hmm's in thought, "And his eyes? Any reason why they're glowing?"
Skoodge shrugs, "We found him like that after Coop and Dennis over there came
out of his and Zim's room. I monitored their heart rate and other vital signs
while they gave their explanation, they never lied. Coop and Denis were-"
"Wait wait wait wait wait hold up, you were doing a polygraph test on us while
you two were playing good cop bad cop in your interrogation/hotel room?" Dennis
cries in indignation.
"A what now?" Coop asks.
"A lie-detector test." Dipper amends, "That's a pretty interesting and useful
ability."
Keef shrugs, nuzzling into his boyfriend's chest, "All Irkens are able to do
that, or so Tak says. Their P.A.K.'s do all sorts of neat things, and that's
barely scratching the surface."
Skoodge blushes at the blatant compliment but smiles softly and rubs his
scheevers through Keef's curls in adoration.
Coop and Denis groan in disgust, Star just rolls her eyes, having been
uncharacteristically quiet and nondestructive thus far.
"The hole in your chest looks like something that Ponyhead got a while back,
What was it called? OH! BLACK HOLE-HEADS!" Star exclaims, pointing at Coop,
"You're Cooper Burtonburger right?"
Coop narrows his eyes at her, "How did you know my- you know what? I'm not
gonna ask. With how weird this day is your probably some girl from another
dimension."
Dipper's jaw drops, Star looks back at him with an 'I-told-you-so' etched with
her smug grin and gleaming eyes, she swooshes her hair from her back and
reveals her wings, and brandishes her broken wand, "Today really is that weird
of a day. But I'm not just some random girl from another dimension... I'm a
princess, and you're part of a prophetic circle where your paired off with the
creepy looking cat that disappeared."
Dennis shakes his head, " Maybe I should have stayed with Old Lady Munson..."
"You!? I'm the one 'paired off' with that piranha mouthed gremlin for who knows
what." Coop exclaims. huffing at his best friend and crossing his arms in an
offended manner.
"Where's Wirt?" A new voice asks, everyone turns to the door. And standing
there is a sleepy-eyed Greg with a stinking man carrying Zim.
"We don't know, one second he's here, then there's a bright flash, and he's
gone. Poof!" Keef answers straightaway. The man warily eyes them all, resting
on the resident alien in the room.
"This is one of yours", Lewin grumbles, setting Zim down rather roughly, near
throwing him almost. His eyes fall on the girl lying flat on her back, "What
happened to the little one?"
"Kat." Coop states, irritation radiating off of him volumes.
"Cat?" Greg asks, tilting his head adorably sideways resembling a sleepy puppy.
Dennis glances at Coop, the other boy turns away from him, Dennis sighs before
addressing the only human adult in the room, "Evil alien that runs around
pretending to be a normal house cat but is really plotting on ways to take over
the Earth-"
"LIIIEZZZZ!!! THE EARTH IS ZIM'SSSS!!!"
Everyone visibly jumps except the resident unconscious and Skoodge, he had seen
signs of wakefulness in his brethren a few seconds ago. Zim stands shakily, he
uses his P.A.K. limbs to assist himself, his burns are melting together, skin
knitting back together. When his ocular lenses are healed as well he sees Dib
in the hospital bed.
"Dib" Zim whispers, unconsciously moving towards the hospital bed. Lewin
notices the side table in the center of the room.
"Where did this come from? The feather is Wirt's... that book, that's
confidential knowledge... and that knife... It looks like human...blood and...
Some kind of gritty powder,it's clumpier than flour... That's no ordinary
knife." Lewin addresses cautiously, sizing up every person in the room now. He
ushers Greg behind him with a flurry of motion, Sylphs swarm around him in
great thick bands.
"WOW!!! You can summon Sylphs?!" Dipper fanboys, gushing in excitement, he
coughs, trying and failing to erase what he just did, "The book is mine,but it
was mostly made by my great uncle Ford. He studied the supernatural for a long
time, ended up trapped in another dimension for over 20 years. We both managed
to trick Bill Cipher, the dream demon that controls the mindscape and
dreamscape."
Lewin stares at Dipper for a few seconds, "There are no such things as Dream
Demons. They're a myth even among the Demon Kings of Hell, and trust me, I've
met four of them in my lifetime."
"This is Gravity Falls, the impossible is actually drawn here. It's why no one
outside of Gravity Falls knows about Weirdmageddon. Bill Cipher couldn't get
out of the natural law of weirdness here, the this town is a strangeness
magnet. And even though we managed to defeat him he's still being a royal pain
in our backsides. Grunkle Stan, Great Uncle Ford's brother, sacrificed himself
to erase him. He got Bill out of his newly made physical body, and Great Uncle
Ford shot him with a mind wipe gun. His memories came back afterwards... which
really should've been the first sign that it didn't work. Bill Cipher was
possessing Grunkle Stan but he apparently doesn't remember things and couldn't
leave him. He kept saying he was being eaten by the "Shadow Makers"-"
"Sounds like a case of Alzheimer and a touch of an upset stomach." Lewin cuts
in, "I don't think you're telling the truth. At least I hope you're not. Demons
are scary stuff, now... I'm going to have to get you all to leave this room and
go back to your parents. With no more talk of dream demons. I'm not even going
to ask about the spawn of Beelzebub you've got. Particularly the fact that
their soul contracts are not bound-"
"Under who's authority? I get it, you're probably Wirt's dad but how do you
know about demons? You know more about us than we know about you. Technically
you don't even know the patient in here so you're invading our privacy. So
under who's authority?" Dennis asks.
Lewin grumbles something along the lines of "know-it-all snot nosed brat" but
relents in his mutters, "OK FINE! I'll tell you, I'm an exorcist directly under
the paladin of the Vatican. There! So I know a LOT more about demons than your
great grand grunkle or whoever you're talking about. And what classified
information you have in your little book was probably black market or stolen."
Dipper glares at Lewin, feeling inclined to defend the fourth journal's honor,
" This journal is NOT filled with stolen or black market information. Every
single thing in this book is filled with information that was collected in this
town by me and my great uncle Ford! {EXIT!}"
With a decisive flick of Dipper's wrist, combined with the spell and a gold
glowing hand, Lewin is sent out the door, just floating a few inches off the
ground and pro-pulsed into the hall. He lands on his feet rather than face
planting on the marble floor, years of exorcist training did have it's perks.
Zim's stock silence evaporates into a shrill screech, "MINIMOOSE WHAT ARE YOU
DOING?!? ZIM TOLD YOU TO MAKE SURE GIR DOESN'T SUBMERGE THE BASE IN THAT ICKY
PINK PIGBRAIN MATTER!"
Everyone quickly looks towards Zim only to find a single claw peeking into the
window holding on for dear life, " LET ZIM GO MINIMOOSE! OBEY YOUR MIGHTY MAST-
AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
Everyone rushes to the window, before he's yanked cleanly into the air he grabs
hold of Dennis and brings him along with him. Coop tries to grb his best friend
only to see Zim being rocketed away from the hospital by a plump brown blur
with antlers back towards Gravity Falls... With Dennis screaming his head off
and holding onto the flying minion with a death grip.
**********
Tom and Marco hastily walk into the arcade, Mabel leads them straight to a girl
growling and muttering loudly in a rather grating and irritated British accent.
"OK cicada I brought them." Mabel turns around and walks to a game with car
seats, a steering wheel, and a stick shift, climbing in and curling up on it in
a swath of heavy sweater, "now I'm going to use this very comfortable crash and
bash racer console over here as a napping spot until you three decide to sleep
at a normal time." Mabel yawns and immediately falls asleep.
"I called you two here because your compatriot was here a half hour ago and
went to retrieve Zim. While we wait for them to collect that idiot thoroughly
explain this prophecy circle you were sent here about."
Tom and Marco shrug at each other, Tom asserts himself to begin, "I'm a one of
the prince's of Hell, the heir of Iblis the fire demon king. And my house has a
particularly oracle related history. But one thing that demons don't have is
dreams or nightmares, the demon responsible for that is Bill Cipher, apparently
the demon the people at the mystery shack exorcised-or cleansed from that hairy
old guy. But uh... Well I got a vision of different people and something
really, REALLY bad happens to them, most of them die and the other half are
controlled by something that gives ME the chills. Anyway-"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
Tak holds up a finger, " hold that thought, Minimoose found it's master."
The spoken of duo appears along with a passed out Dennis with puke staining his
shirt. Minimoose zooms in but halts right in front of the game. Zim gets tossed
into it and is ultimately absorbed, Zim screeching the entire time. Dennis hits
it with a thud, the screen goes purple with a bird's profile for a moment
before showing the beginning scene of the game.
Zim looks rightly pissed and Mabel is startled awake with the noise, but
swiftly falls back asleep with a small snore. Sunlight peaking in through the
entrance of the building and spotlighting the game.
**********
A boy runs down a small road through the shopping district. A pitiful meow from
an adjacent alleyway makes him stop, nearly falling over from his speed.
The boy treads into the darkness, picking up a small pure black fluffball, it's
bones poking out from malnutrition.
The boy takes it to his apartment, gives the mild mannered creature a bath, and
dries it with a fluffy towel. An idea gets him riffling through some old boxes.
Finally, in triumph, he comes back to the sleepy kitty and puts on the item.
The small chime of a bell rattling, the boy smiles, "I'm gonna call you Kuro."
He picks the drowsy kitten up in happiness, the window next to them shows a
different reflection. A boy picking up a dark mass, a shadow of a teenager
resembling the same age.
**********
"This is my office." Mephisto exclaims, stark white walls with sterile lighting
and a few sparse furnishings you'd expect from a typical human office, with one
exception, the ever increasing filing cabinet that goes on far beyond the desk.
"Have a seat." the boy sits in the seat offered, "Do you know why you're here
Mr. Sowachowskii?"
"Because I killed my parents... because I killed myself." Sowachowskii admits,
a seeping look of confusion and sorrow doesn't escape the demon's eye. He's
feeling remorse, he's definitely sorry for what he did. I don't even think he
really knows WHAT he did by the looks of it..
"Yeah, well, I'd kill my parents too if they named me sock." Mephisto amends,
watching from the corner of his eye while examining his nails.
Sock looks around in true frustration, "Where's all the brimstone and fire? Why
am I NOT BEING TORTURED AS WE SPEAK> SUFFERING FOR ALL ETERNITY!?" The boy's
eyes flared that green again. Hmmm... how to go about this... ah, sympathy
should work.
The demon king of time huffs a chuckle, "Don't sound so desperate kid. See, I'm
currently in the process of having Hell renovated. Everyone's off the hook for
now..." Mephisto clutches Sock's shirt and puts on his best "pity-me" face,
"The only one suffering, isME!"
Mephisto opens the blinds on a door he's summoned from thin air, "Would you
LOOK at this place!? It's a frickin MESS!"
Sock raises an eyebrow and looks out at the chaos below, there was a whole Hell
of a lot wrong with the place, "The Gluttons and the Lawyers are in the middle
of what looks like a turf war. The murderers have been hanging out with the
network executives, that simply CAN'T be good influence on them."
And the thing was Mephisto didn't even have to make this up, this was his
department after all, everything was out of hand since Time Baby was out of
commission. He'd had to hand it off to Clockwork to do but the Time Ghost
typically wasn't even in filing, he was in AZAZEL'S department working through
getting him a replacement, something about an interesting Halfa made through an
accident. Half breeds were just sprouting up left and right weren't they? But
this was the central filing area of Hell alright, as hectic as Wall Street with
psychotic sinners as employees. He really should've picked different sinners,
these ones were just wrathful all the time and some of them suffered more from
Sloth than anything.
"The murderer's or the network executives?" Sock asks, and that was a whole
strew of a new migraine.
"EITHEEEER-her-her!!!" Mephisto sobs.
"Sooo what's going to happen?" Sock asks, finally getting back to the whole
point.
Mephisto picks himself up and turns away from the problem, holding the boy to
him in a semblance of a shoulder hold, "What's going to happen, is I am gonna
make you an offer."
Sock's eyes brighten with realization, "Oh! You mean like a deal with a devi-"
"No! I mean like a JOB offer." Mephisto cuts off, Sock sulks for a moment, "Oh
come off it Sowachowskii, I already have your soul, you think I'm going to
challenge you to a fiddling contest or something?" A spark of hope dies, and
although Mephisto is demon that feeds off of such things... It's still
unsettling to see.
"Anyway, the truth is kiddo you remind me of myself." Mephisto attempts to put
it how Shiro would have.
Sock gives him another confused look "Yourself? But you're-"
Already knowing what's coming he intercedes, "Mephistopheles. Please, call me
Mephistopheles."
Sock gives a shy smile up at him, the kid's face both sickens and warms him,
the reminder and likeness of Shiro as a boy is heartbreaking for himself, and
what he's about to give him is making him regret a tiny bit of his plan.
"Well, as long as we're gonna be all buddy-buddy about it you can call me
Sock."
Mephisto brushes away the guilty thoughts, an easy grin taking it's place,
"Alright Sowachowskii, Sock it is."
Sock takes the seat once more while Mephisto opens the infinite filing cabinet
open, "Ok then, let me just pull up your file. You know you'd think being on a
separate plane of existence and all we'd have something a bit more
sophisticated than a file cabinet, BUT you'd be wrong."
Mephisto internally grumbles at the state of organization in the contraption.
But, no matter how hard he looked, Sock's actual file held nothing on what
happened after he had fallen asleep that night, and with no Heart, Mephisto had
no means of actually controlling the boy. The only thing it held was that he
had homicidal tendencies and that his victims were his parents, himself... and
his childhood friend that hated him. The girl's file's were out of his
jurisdiction because her soul had gone on to heaven to Providence's hands. I
could try and get the truth straight from the horse's mouth too. Couldn't
possibly hurt to try.
"SSSSSOOOOOoooo tell me Sock, How'd you get into the whole KILLING people
thing?" Mephisto inquires casually. Sock is thrown off for a moment,
startlement coloring his face.
"Umm, well it's-kind of personal." Sock manages to stutter out.
Mephisto narrows his eyes just a smidge, the boy knows something, "I won't tell
a soul~"
"We-well I mean it's a long story..." Sock tries.
Mephisto floats upside down to try and make a specific unfinished folder come
out, "Oooohohoh I've got an eternity."
Sock looks at Mephisto with a deadpan face, "Do you ever plan to stop
responding in clever puns?"
Mephisto sighs, pushing isn't working, I'll leave it alone for now. He gives
one final tug on the folder and it finally squeezes through and into his hands,
"When this place freezes over! AHAAAH!!! Finally got the little bastard out."
Mephisto floats into his comfy seat and snaps his fingers. The wind from the
filing cabinet closing nearly sucks Sock in, he barely stayed put, but only
because he had grabbed onto the desk, "Now Sock this Demonary position I'm
about to offer you is kindov a big deal. You'll be assigned to a human
counterpart... it's your job to haunt, torment, pester, and be a general
nuisance to this human until eventually he.. uh, ya know... punches his own
ticket."
With each word the glow in Sock's eyes brightens more and more, his teeth look
sharper, and his ears point. He looks ravenous and deadly, glee and malice
glitter in his orbs. He looks like a good fit alright.
"We may be under construction but we still have a quota to fill-"
Sock nearly jumps onto the desk in his enthusiasm as his maybe new boss off,
"You mean I get to kill people."
Mephisto cringes a bit, so much for innocence., "Nooooot exactly. You get to
help people kill Themselves."
Sock sits back down, avoiding looking at Mephisto in the eye, playing coy,
"AAAAaaaand what if I decline your offer?"
Mephisto looks at the boy over his crossed hands he has rested his chin on
smugly smirking at him, "You won't."
Sock chuckles to himself, "Ah well, you can't argue with that!"
Mephisto slides the barely filled folder to Sock, "Your first assignment is in
there, you work five days a week nine to five, AND you get weekends off.
Providence, Hah, she only gives Sunday's off..." Sock has frozen on the spot,
his eyes glowing luminescent as they look at the file in a trance. He bites his
lips, gaze intensely focused on the picture of his target.
Poor kid doesn't even realize who his target is, his soul does though... one
thing Hell is a bitch with is soulmate contracts. Best to steal them here
before they summon you and you have a less likelihood of ever seeing them
again, typically the imbalance in their karma is too great to let them both go
to heaven or hell, balance is a bastard to keep, and this is where it really
hurts.
Mephisto smiles sadly at both himself and the newly made demon in front of him.
Especially when they've already been promised to heaven.
**********
"I CAN'T DO ANYMORE THAN THIS! You bafoons don't understand the technology I'm
creating! I need the core refracting component or this will turn into a black
hole rather than a-" The demon King of Light lifts the older gentleman off of
the ground by his neck.
"You've been saying that for weeks. What do you need to make it?" Lucifer drops
him, lids lowered and looking down at the half a gasping on the ground, trying
to regain breath.
"I c*cough, cough*can't make it! The main mechanism was stolen from Phenton
Works! They're the only idiots than can make the damn thing!" He coughs,
standing on shaky legs, his hand wrapped protectively around his hurt throat, a
mechanical collar blinking underneath.
"You should have shared this vital information earlier. Your life is directly
linked to our success now after all... Vlad." Lucifer huffs, "Illuminati does
have you to thank for my successful repression of that accursed disease. An
honorary membership has already been given to you. Do not let your hubris bring
you out of favor Plasmius."
Vlad scowls at the Illuminati leader's back as he walks out the door.
"Phenton Works... Hmm... Why does that sound so familiar? Perhaps the
Observants will know." Lucifer mutters, tail softly swishing back and forth in
thought.
***** beginnings that have just began to form *****
Chapter Summary
     Major spoilers for shows!
     Detentionaire starts at the last episode and I'm technically making
     up my own ending since the show ended on a cliffhanger, so I suggest
     you watch THE ENTIRE SHOW to understand what the juice ;) is going
     on...
     Jake Long takes place after Hong Kong Longs, only Rose sacrifices
     herself. I'll address that little flashback of actual good romance
     later on. But I will say this again, no crossover ships.. Unless it's
     the very small children (Greg, Millie, Haley) that's about it and
     that's just random kid crushes. Again, I'd watch both seasons to
     understand everything.
     Don't even get me started on Randy Cunningham. But interestingly
     enough the lineage of the 1st ninja is a plot twist. Enjoy!
     Hope you guys have fun reading!
Chapter Notes
     So I'm going to well... Add three more... Fandom's I wasn't planning
     on? ^_^' please don't hurt me... This is kind of getting out of
     hand... But I promise it's good! Plus the two I've been planning on
     adding since the beginning. ;)
     But one of those fandoms I won't add in until Undertale is beat.
     Besides, no one has commented on those little clips the UnderTale
     players are getting...
     -_-' I'm not going to say what it's from until the very end... But I
     will tell you guys if you guess right...
"Oooookaaay what the heck was that?" Marco exclaims, defensive stance taken in
caution.
"Really? You can't even say Hell? What are you, 6 ?" Tom scoffs, an annoyed
three eyeball eye roll displays itself. He doesn't walk towards it however,
instead, turning to Tak, he ambles towards the one girl awake in all this. His
mind telling him she'll have most of the answers.
"What kind of Bigfoot monster thing wearing a wookie suit went into that game?
I mean, there weren't any dimensional scissors around so where the heck did it
go?" Marco asks. Dennis groans, slowly getting to his feet and clutching his
stomach.
"I believe that was Zim in another horrible disguise. The defective went right
into the game. But just as this boy hit the game another symbol popped up. Like
the Defective irken symbol popped up before when Star hit it with her stick."
Tak supplies, "This one was a bird head of some sort with a purple background."
"It was a budgie head..." Dennis answers, mouth immediately held shut by his
own hand as he bolts for the trashcan and pukes his guts out.
Marco goes to the other boy, grabbing several napkins from a table, and rubs
his back in an attempt to quell the kid's stomach. When Dennis is done Marco
hands over the napkins, Dennis nodds in thanks, wiping himself and disposing of
the used napkins.
"How is that significant?" Tom asks, staring at the videogame as he watches Zim
go through it. The landscape is dark and grimy. Zim is following a big white
fluffy monster in a black dress who offered him help, and keeps calling him "my
child", "This game is probably a specific pocket dimension. Tak, did the
scenery look different when Gaz was in it?"
"That mark will probably be significant to who will be sucked up next since
Zim's was the defective symbol. But now that you mention it," Tak analyzes the
Ruins in the game, "It's darker and has far more red tint to it than the last
which was colorful... And it wasn't so... Creepy, it was more amicable and
friendly than this."
Tom chuckles to himself, "Then that's all the answer I need. This game's been
turned into a type of pocket dimension that is used to cause psychological
damage to sinners. Only typically those who enter are demons that are distinct
in punishing the inhabitants with predetermined lessons that are based around
what their sins were. This is similar to a P.H.B. a Personal Hell Bubble... The
only thing is... The inhabitants aren't human... It's more like the ones who
enter are the beings being punished." A jarring death by oven fire displayed on
the screen emphasizes his answer.
"Dude, that's kindov gruesome... But if that's the case, why are specific
people being sucked up? I mean it apparently doesn't eat more than one person
at a time." Marco inquires, striking a thinking power pose.
"Dipper has a theory about that. When Gaz was sucked up and beat the game a red
heart popped up in the corner, he saw the outline of 6 empty hearts beside it.
So whatever this game is doing something is building up with every heart that
appears full. The game chooses specific people... And the background and
characters change a little. The symbol that appears after someone enters
indicates who is next. And each is a different color. That might allude to the
souls in the game-"
"What do you mean by souls." Tom cuts in, top eye scrunched along with his
eyebrows.
"It has to do with the story of the game. The monster race in the game is
trapped behind a barrier and requires human souls to break it. There are
supposedly already 6 when the player gets to the end boss. The player is
suppose to be the last soul required to break the barrier. The souls are the
different colored hearts that were in jars in the last scene of the game. Gaz's
was red, Zim's is green, and the small puke hyuuman over there will probably be
purple as indicated by the color of his symbol on the screen." Tak answers
sensing a foreboding from the demon prince in front of her.
"So let me get this straight. A dream demon who's exorcism was interrupted by
us sent out three glowing orbs. We only know where one of them went, the game.
Your girlfriend got absorbed by it upon impact and it's still absorbing
specific people. Each one has a specific color to them and the game changes
with each game or so far anyway. The game needs 6 more hearts and Zim and this
little kid are two more of them." Marco reflects aloud, counting on his fingers
all of the theoretical facts.
Denis bites his lip nervously staring at the game as Zim dies AGAIN from the
same over-protective mother monster when something in the dialogue catches his
attention," Okay, I'm new to this whole devouring game thing but I get normal
games. And that was definitely a hint." Dennis points at the game over screen
but it disappears before they turn to look at it.
"What did you catch kid?" Tom asks, intrigued at the possible 'hint' he is
talking about.
"Color association is something games use a lit. You know like that avatar the
last airbender show or power rangers? They have specific powers that match
their colors. So with each color there's a different attribute. What did your
girlfriend's game over screen read?" Denis asks.
A translucent blush takes over her face as she stutters, "Ga-Gaz isn't my
mate... Yet. Bu-ut uh, she only died once but I think her screen said Game
over, You are the hope of humans and monsters, stay DETERMINED-"
"That's it! Zim's didn't say that! Determination was Gaz's power!" Denis
replies in excitement.
"She does play that infuriating game all the time, and she beats up anyone who
interrupts her... She is quite scary when someone messes with that gameslave."
Tak admits.
"But the word DETERMINATION was in red right? It matched her soul's color.
Zim's didn't say Determination, his said HONESTY." Denis explains. Tak blinks
and cracks up so hard her antenna are quivering outside her disguise.
"Defective Fake-Invader Zim! HONEST?!? HAHAHAHAAAHhahahHahHHAAAAAAAH!!! {That's
the best joke I've heard in 190 years}! Oh hyuuman boy that is anything but the
truth. Zim is the most dis-honest creature in the universe. He has lied to
himself all his life, you think a defective could actually become an invader?
Hah! What a laugh. That thing couldn't become a drone!" Tak wheezes from the
ground.
"That seems like a front." Tom says, looking at his hands and remembering a
certain pink bunny, kinship already spreading through his mind at the clear
slander this alien's likely been through. Demons know misjustice better than
anyone, they walk through knee-deep swamps of the stuff in Hell after all,
"It's because of people like you laughing at him that he's never outwardly told
the truth, but he knows it. He's probably trying to turn his lies into truth,
he was trying to make your truths into the lies. We demons know that you can't
judge anything by appearances and onion layers have layers. So I suggest you
hold your segmented tongue before it gets sliced off for spreading filth."
Tom's eyes have gained an unearthly and wrathful red glow, Tak's P.A.K.
instantly takes over and instinctually skitters a good foot away.
"You're right." Tom startles at the answer, turning to the Latino boy behind
him that's rested a squeezing hand on his shoulder, "You're right Tom. And I'm
sorry I mis-judged you back before the Blood Moon Ball. You might have anger
problems but... Everyone gets frustrated, everyone lies, and everyone makes
mistakes. But we can calm ourselves, choose to be honest, and learn from the
mistakes we've already made. So let's not make this one again, we need to focus
our minds on something else right now."
With another squeeze from Marco's hand Tom's eyes slowly simmer down to their
normal ruby shade, and the demon actually smiles for the first time in a long
time, "Thanks for calming me down... But I still hate you."
Marco can't help but chuckle, " Yeah yeah glad to see you're not getting mushy
on me. Let's just forget that awkward moment this morning."
"What awkward moment?" Tom asks, confusion marrs Marco's face until he notices
Tom's third eye winking at him. Marco snorts and shakes his head, things
settled for now between the two of them.
Denis and Tak eye the two, then look at each other and cringe, their minds
coming to the same conclusion, the tooth-rotting moment bringing things to
light.
Those two are definitely crushing on each other.
Minimoose, who has been ignored up to this point, slinks/floats above and
behind the video game, lurking and observing the two with shining white eyes
that stare into their souls, going unnoticed by the whole gang.
************
Lightning's constant knocking and yelling is getting on everyone's increasingly
fraying nerves.
"Where the heck did that flying moose take Dennis!?!" Coop growls, looking to
the local green alien in their midsts.
Skoodge chuckles halfheartedly, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, "um...
Well I don't actually know where-" Coop's glare turns into one that even
superman would be afraid of, quickly Skoodge answers, "But I have a valid
guess! He's probably at the arcade. Tak said that Gaz got sucked into a game
there and she's going crazy. There apparently was a defective Irken symbol that
appeared on the screen and well... He's the only defective that's been outed
and not deemed defective by the control brains... So it's safe to assume he'd
be there."
Star looks at the alien before suggesting, " Why don't you call her and ask
Skoodge? I mean, you did suggest it. And you were able to contact her before."
Skoodge hakes his head sadly, "Already tried, all of my tec is acting up
because of whatever's going on with Dib, and the area it's affecting is growing
miles in minutes, I don't think an earth phone will work let alone me."
Another bang on the door makes everyone jump in the room, " Well, what do we do
now?" Greg asks.
Dipper is already looking through the journal for anything that could suggest
what us going on but there's really no answer to be found, "The only thing I
can come up with is that those feathers can teleport, It doesn't saywhere it
teleports, only that it has to do with the dreamscape... Maybe they went into
Dib's head! You mentioned before that Dib once had some kind of dimensional
portal in his head right?"
"Nightmare realm from what Zim would describe it as when he had a bad reboot.
Something about the halloweenies trying to eat his bloodcandies. But yes,
perhaps they are there." Skoodge answers.
"Wirt will get out, he always finds a way out... When he's not panicking..."
Greg mumbles, worry making his eyes glassy with unshed tears.
Star notices immediately, "Hey-hey-hey! No crying allowed little guy! So, your
brother is really smart huh? I bet he'll be out sooner rather than later. I'm
gonna see if I can call glossarik and spell them both out of there."
Millie slowly raises up, clutching her head in pain, " Coop, you're in a lot...
Of trouble... When I tell Daddy about this. Mr. Kat... Mr. Kat? MR. KAT!!!!!
WHERE ARE YOU MR. KAT!?!" Now Lightning's banging would be preferable.
************
Zim hates the mother monster, though it reminds him of what he wished the
robotic arm he had latched onto on his ready day had shared these feelings, it
hurt. The betrayal, both his own, and her's hurt. Yes he kind of didn't want to
leave, could even be happy if he could... but He was an Irken Invader who's
sole purpose was to conquer. Earth was HIS target, that is why he had to leave.
And she wouldn't have to wait very long, he could come back to visit the nice
goat monster. He could take over this place afterwards too, and make sure she
could make her delicious butterscotch pie for other Irkens because THAT was
Irken worthy.
The pile of shoes had made his skin crawl for some reason, and now he knew why,
the betrayal came down hard. But when Zim was finally honest with himself, that
she was BOTH vile and kind and just a smidge too crazy to sadly let live. He
had experienced being burnt alive by those flames once, he was honor bound not
to let another suffer that same fate.
She turned to dust in his arms, thanking him for finally releasing her and
hoping his travels went well, with the one wish of him trying to let the
tormented monsters in the Underground free from the barrier if he could.
Zim cautiously gave her his promise.
All the monster's outside were far more malicious than Toriel had been, but he
could see the reasons behind their behavior. Families were being torn apart by
hunger, and would prey on those who had no one to protect themselves. There was
one creature that had been kind throughout the entire trip, Flowey the Flower,
the very first maybe-monster he had encountered. It gave him good advice and
tried to keep him from danger as much as he could but there were the inevitable
moments where he could not escape. And then there was Sans.
This monster was unlike the others, Zim could feel it, that one omnipresent eye
staring at him wherever he went, watching for a slip up or weakness, but never
really utilizing it. The monster was intelligent, and at one point Zim
discovered that Sans had an inkling they were in a video game. The time anomaly
as he called it. Sans had asked Zim what the outside was like, there was a
flicker of yellow and blue in that one eye that made the bloody monster seem...
curious, less... malicious. As if he were genuinely asking a question wanting
to know an answer, so Zim did what he had learned it was best to be in this
scary and almost Nightmare Realm-ish place. He replied that he Honestly didn't
like it, that Irk was better than Earth in every way shape and form.
For the first time Zim heard Sans' laugh, not the murderous "One Head Dog
Coming Up" laugh but a "Geeze, I never knew" kind of chuckle. And his brother
caused homesickness of a sorts, he reminded him so much of Gir it wasn't funny,
they both had this insistent need to cook a specific food, had an obsession
with one particular t.v. show that annoyed Zim to no end, and were so loud and
obnoxious it made his antenna cringe from the vibrations.
When he finally defeated all the other monsters, including that despicable
Asgore, Zim opened the barrier... but was killed by a knife to the P.A.K.. A
creepy child with a creepy smile, and with creepy eyes the shade of blood
cackled in glee. It resembled the Gaz monster a bit, but far more evil than any
creature he'd ever encountered.
He awoke to a dark empty vacumm, it did not remind him of space specifically,
but it reminded him of the hell that was a black hole. What was strange to him
was the fact he could see himself, like he was exuding a natural light.
He started walking, anything was better than staying in that one spot. And then
there was actual light.
A picture coming into focus that somehow felt real and yet, not his own.
A giant red Pyramid of ancient Egypt, but it's stones were swiveling and
constantly changing a young human boy jumped through with a nervous smile on
his face, a human woman... That was much taller than a typical human, if his
calculations were correct, glared at him.
"You need to tell him the truth. He deserves that much oh lord of the air." she
says saucily, "If you don't I will make your life truelly miserable to the end
of your immortal days... And until you do... I'm going to refer to you as lord
chicken."
It cuts off like the end of a movie reel, and in it's place is the same creepy
child from before, "You have been honest, you only killed when you were
honestly fighting for your life. But if you had been a true pacifist..."
It glitches and now he's looking into this real monster's eyes centimeters from
his face, "I wouldn't be able to do THIS."
Zim feels his green soul being torn from his body.
He softly cried out for help...
B.u.T...N.O.b.O.d.Y...c.A.M.e.
************
A group of friends and one mother separate from their hug, the bulkiest of them
coughing in embarrassment and trying to brush off the event like it never
happened.
"Big Weird evil plot is over ja? Holger wants to go home and eat the
celebration flan he will make for everyone!" A magnificently maned exchange
student proclaims.
"We still have to find my Dad, and get that creepy 'bro' of mine..." The messy
red haired kid says, turning on his mother with accusing eyes, "And explain why
exactly I have a brother I didn't know existed."
"I'd hate to interrupt this charming family moment, but it's not over, it's
just begun. My attempt at breaking this accursed fate has failed." Finnwich
murmurs from his spot on the floor, "You've doomed us all my boy. Our only hope
now are the five points of the broken star. Because what will infect our world
from that pyramid isn't even the creature that has been awoken... It's just a
FRAGMENT of it's influence... And with each fragment released from it's seal...
The more impossible it will be for them to defeat IT."
"What do you mean by It?" A black haired girl with a smattering of freckles
asks, a foreboding feeling sending shivers up her spine.
"Shadowmaker..." The mother whispers in fear. Finnwich starts to chuckle, it's
foretelling darkness is soon emphasized by the mix of red blood and black motor
oil spewing from his lips, having been impaled through his last organic organ
when he was thrown in the scuffle. He dies by choking on his own fluids.
"Please tell me he isn't dead... He can NOT be dead right now. I'm seriously
freaking the flip out right now! He can't be dead!!" A ponytailed girl with a
finger up her nose that she put there in comfort stutters, eyes getting wider
with the realization. A black haired girl with a blue headband hugs her and
they both start crying on each other's shoulders.
The bulkiest teenager there walks over and presses a finger to the old cyborg's
pulse point, "He doesn't have a pulse."
"Leeieeeeheeh! What do we do? Holger no want to stay in same room with creepy
dead robot man." Holger screeches, hugging onto Lee's mother in a near bone
crushing hug.
"Well we saw Lee's evil ninja older twin last and he was the one who took your
dad away in the first place." The bulky one points out.
A pompous plastic pretty blonde girl steps forward, "I know where Lee Sr. is,
Mom double-crossed him back there and turned him into a hunk of crystal."
"I know it's been made pretty clear your mom is evil... But I never got to tell
you 'I told you so' so I'll say it now. I-told-you~sooooo." The buff blue
hatted boy singsongs.
The preppy girl from before makes a noise of disgust and rolls her eyes,
"Mature Biffy, I can't believe I just shared a group hug with you."
"If I'm immature what does that make the girl dating me?" Biffy shoots back, a
razor sharp grin of smugness quirking over his face.
"The girl that got fed up with you constantly calling her mom evil and Dumped
your butt you mean? That would make her me." The girl shoots back, nose up in
the air and walking the walk of a snooty bitch, "Follow me losers."
In the Pyramid below A. Nigma High, a hidden door opens. A human scientist that
had disappeared when the said pyramid had seemed to disintegrate him leads what
looks to be an army of green scaled men out of the door.
"It is time to reclaim this world for our fallen master, the resurrection of
the shadow-maker has already begun, we must travel to the shadow-maker prophecy
circle and await for our allies to present themselves. Then the HUNT shall
begin." An ancient green lizard-man announces, a round of cheers from the
soldiers echoes in the cavern.
************
"Imagine all the video games we get to play before THEY EVEN COME OUT BACK
HOME!" A chubby curly orange-headed boy stage whispers excitedly to his friend.
"And it helps to have a translator too Howy," His friend replies, purple-black
hair getting in his face, he blows the strands tickling his nose away.
"That nomicon sure tells you everything mister learned fluent Chinese in less
than a week." Howey jibes.
"No, more like I had a good teacher and we spent meditation YEARS in the
nomicon teaching me after he heard about this little field trip of ours. It was
a nightmare I'd rather not repeat. Thankfully it still doesn't know Spanish so
I'll never have to go through that again. But I'm still happy I don't have to
take that class anymore, learning words from a taco vendor is as good as I was
gonna get. So Chinese is way Bruce compared to espanishal." The boy explains,
turning the page of his comic book
"Chinese is a lot more useful than spanish. Especially since Grave Puncher XII
is being released in China!" Howey stage whispers as a teacher walks down the
aisle, eyeballing the duo, she wrinkles her nose but walks on, "Speaking of
that Chinese dictionary, doesn't it have a weird sense of humor?"
"What the juice do you mean? Sure the Nomicon is filled with lessons past
Ninja's experienced. But it doesn't have a 'behavior', it's just a jumble of
memories." The blue-eyed boy reassures. The Nomicon glows as if to object to
what was just said.
Howey points at the obvious glowing from his friend's backpack, he quickly
stuffs it under his seat, grinning innocently as the same snooty teacher
sashays back down the aisle, "That doesn't count it glows anytime someone says
Nomicon."
Howey snorts, "Oh Sure, it's a magical artifact that holds the memories of 800
years worth of ninjas and it hasn't developed a consciousness yet. It also
didn't exactly approve of ME when I was the ninja if you can remember. And if
it can have a weird taste in people then it can have a mind of its own Randy."
Randy opens his mouth to dismiss that but an announcement over the speakers
addresses the group, "Passengers please take your seats at this time and buckle
your seatbelts. The flight will be taking off in 1 minute."
Randy swallows it down but does as he's told along with everyone else on the
plane. Howey smugly clicking his in place, "You could just ask it you know.
It's not like it can lie to you, it'd only be able to do that if it were
actually able to think."
Randy looks at his glowing bag under his seat.
************
A grey and wrinkly Shar pei walks beside an Asian boy with green frosted black
hair skateboarding down the streets of NYC. They stop at a little electronic
repair store, a bell chimes as they step through it's door.
An old Chinese man who resembles the boy walks around the counter, "JAKE! Where
have you been?"
Jake almost answers, "Gramps!-"
"No time for answer, come with me, we must get to the port quickly." His
grandfather rushes, cutting his grandson short, "Fu Dog, call a troll taxi and
meet us there."
The wrinkly Shar pei jumps up and salutes the old store owner, walks over to
the phone and dials, "Hey Ezzy, long time no talk, I'm sorry I'm gonna have to
cut to the chase but uh I need a taxi to the docks pronto. Yeah, you know the
typically illegal trafficking place with all those warehouses right? Yeah
those. Alright thanks Ez." The dog hangs up the phone and quirks an eye wrinkle
at the two, "What are ya waiting around for? You've got a pair of wings while
I've got stubby legs. Get going before you lose the bad guys!"
"I was making sure you got a ride. I will need your expertise on the beings
that are being sold and shipped. From what the Brocamas informed me they are
not your typical rare creature, they're myth even to us dragons." The old man
explains, gesturing for Jake to come with him. They both climb the stairs, the
old man's agility revealing he is more than he appears, leaving the talking dog
downstairs.
"Dragon-Up!"
A flurry of flames bursts forth, at times a teal but mostly green or yellow in
color. Their skin quickly absorbs them and instead of two humans there are now
two dragons on the roof of a small tech. repair shop in NYC.
************
A girl with short pink hair wearing a white gardening hat, a closed pink eye
symbol emblazoned on its front with pink ribbons tied in bows on the side,
stops where she's walking. The normal boy behind her bumps into her, not having
expected the pointy-eared girl to stop walking without warning.
"Merry? Hey Merry? You OK?" The boy asks, gently shaking her by her shoulder.
She blinks a few times. A man behind them with a cloak and a cat mask steps
forward.
"The dream realm has... Been reopened." The man whispers.
Merry's green eyes well up with longing, "I can go home... I can go home from
there!" She yells excitedly, brushing the boy's hand from her shoulder.
The man who just spoke latches his gloved hand on her arm before she runs,
"This is not a good thing Merry. The dream realm should've stayed closed for
the rest of eternity."
Her face shows instant hurt, "What do you mean? What aren't you telling me
Chaser?"
The man looks reluctant even through his mask. The boy looks at the man,
putting a worried hand on his shoulder, "John...?"
"The Dream Realm was closed, by you and your kin. The gate keepers, the
nightmare eaters, Merry the lamb, and Lucifur the Lion. You both closed it.
There was a disease infecting everyone and you couldn't risk opening it again
for fear of Assiah suffering the same fate. Our King succumbed to insanity and
it fell to the gatekeepers to take control. But by the time you both gained
control near everything was infected. Including you."
"What do you mean infected, I'm perfectly fine!" Merry exclaims, performing
dozens of flips to prove her health.
"Your body is fine NOW because you healed. That healed over 6 months ago, your
memories on the other hand..."
"My memories? The infection... Messed with my memories? How-" Merry starts
hyperventilating at this point. The boy hugs her close, "Its ok Merry, if your
body healed then your memories will too right? It's OK, everything's okay
Merry."
"How long... How long was I asleep? How long was my body healing? How long will
my memories take to heal?!" Merry screams, fingers clutching at the boy's shirt
and leaving bloody fingerprints behind in the newly made torn holes.
"It took a little under one trillion years for your body to heal...but your
memories won't..." Chaser whispers, Merry is holding the man by his cloak in
the next millisecond.
"What do you mean they won't heal!?" Merry asks, words clipped and with enough
ice in it to give the man shivers down his spine.
"Lu-*cifuuu-*r" Merry drops him like a sack of moldy potatoes.
"Lucifur, that other gatekeeper... Where's he!?" Merry yells, back in his
masked face again.
"Merry calm DOWN! John isn't going to be able to TELL you anything if you
strangle him." The boy yells, gently taking her hands and holding them, their
tension lessens, Chaser clutches his neck and takes in deep breaths trying to
regain what breath he's lost.
"Lucifur wasn't infected, but you were barely alive, so he took the strain of a
your body, a trasference of some sort. Within a year of every new body he
possesses... It dies, he is in constant agony and awaited your awakening ever
since you fell asleep. He visited your sleeping chamber every year, and you
awoke a little time after his last visit. Every generation of nightmare has
been told not to harm you... However, there were those who ignored those
threats and attacked you. That is why I did not engage in battle once I found
out you were the lamb gatekeeper. I figured once it came time for his visit I
could take you there and introduce you... He has, been weeping for you at every
meeting that I've seen." John whispers, voice going sympathetic at his own
memories.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner? " Merry whispers.
"Because Lucifur made it close to a law that little be told to you by those who
were not there during the infection, by those that were born in Assiah. I fall
under that category. where you believe I was traveling to during our first
fight was a pocket dimension I created, one you can create with ease with
enough practice. But I shall not take you to Lucifur." Chaser explains, the
last sentence said with too much finality to not get a rile out of Merry.
"Why not? He's basically like her only living relative at this point right? Why
won't you take her to him?" The boy asks, interrupting whatever Merry might
have yelled.
"Because no one except a few mortals know about dream demons. They believe we
are part of Lucifur's sect." John says, hands fiddling with his gloves,
"Because Lucifur is now the Demon King of Light, second in power to only Satan
himself. If other demons were to find out that Light was not a true sect then
many internal government divisions and departments would fall. Hell would be
worse and Assiah would be doomed with no reign in hell. So you must wait for
him to come to visit YOU. Otherwise you'll be outed and everything your brother
has worked for will be for naught."
Merry swirls around, face stony as she looks towards the opening of the dream
realm so far away, "How long will I have to wait for his next visit?"
"A little over a week." Chaser murmurs, the boy hugs the girl close.
"You'll finally know who you are Merry, I'm happy that you have a brother, but
you know you'll always be welcome back with us when you feel like roughing it
with us mortals." The boy says, a sad grin going unseen by only the girl. I'm
gonna miss you Merry, you were like the little sister I never had.
"yeah... But what if I don't like him? What if he-he's evil like those other
dream demons?" Merry asks, voice going quivery, tears falling on the boy's
shoulder.
The boy pats her hat covered head, "Then you've got me and everyone else you've
made friends with to care about you. But from what I've heard so far, he's
probably even better than I could ever be. He visited you every year for about
one trillion YEARS Merry, that's ancient to us humans, to you demons that's
probably every day. Not to mention he's into the politics of hell? Probably to
help make the human world a better place for you and all the other dream demons
PLUS the fact he's been doing all this in a deteriorating body that doesn't
last that long... Which is the only really concerning thing for me, but you get
my point."
Merry grins up at the boy, eyes a little puffy, " Thanks Yumeiji..." She wipes
her own tears away and quickly turns to Chaser, "Would I have enough time to
visit that gate before Lucifur comes to see where I am?"
John shrugs, "Maybe, if you can find a way to get all the way to the top
northwestern corner of America."
Merry and Yumeiji share a look.
************
Wirt and Kat tumble through a LSD laced looking worm-hole thing, at first they
both clung to each other scared for their life, but then bouncing around and
constantly bumping into stinging walls took their grip. They were soon falling
into different holes, both eyes wide and afraid.
************
Wirt awakens on the tiled floor of a palace with structures of architecture
he's never seen before in his life. It both awes him and makes him wrap his
cloak tighter around himself.
"What the heck is this place?" He dares to whisper, cautiously outstretching a
hand to run against a wall, hand turning just a-
The pathway suddenly turns on it's side, Wirt flails wildly, the path rocks
back and forth. Until Wirt grabs onto a wall and steadies himself, hand still
out but still... And so is the ground.
"It couldn't possibly have been..." Wirt starts, but then slowly tilts his
hand, watching the ground he's standing on tilt in the same direction, gravity
surprisingly staying the same even as he's apparently upside down.
"This is definitely weird, breaking the laws of physics weird... What IS my
life these day." Wirt scoffs, a door is open and inviting down the new path.
Wirt walks forward and walks inside, a long journey ahead of him.
************
Kat gasps for air, spluttering for breath as he digs himself out of sand. When
he makes it to the surface the sun is near baking his skin. He hastily looks
around to gather his bearings. A red piece of cloth grabs his attention.
Kat grabs for it, pulling it and revealing more is below the golden grains of
fire to his feet pads. What appears is a cloak of fine red silk, and inside it
is a skeleton of one of his kind.
Kat nearly hisses and scampers away but refuses when reasoning kicks in.
It's either the cloak, or I end up like them.
Kat shivers as he takes the cloths off his long dead breatheren. Finding some
black footless pants. He puts those on first, relief in his feet instant. Kat
quickly puts the cloak, which turns out to be a robe of some sort, on.
Now where do I go?
As if to answer some grey lines appear on a distant sand dune with flashes of
red ribbon attached to the ends, highlighted by the twin peaks menacing and
tall in the background.
That answers that.
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