No Matter What

Chapter 3: The Inter-Dimensional Trucker

"What do you mean? You know what happened to me?" Dipper asked hopefully.

"Not much." The trucker's answer disheartened him.

"But something, right?" He pressed. The trucker looked slightly uncomfortable, and would not answer at first.

"Let me get you a drink. It will be easier." He eventually said, slowing the truck as they descended into a planet. Dipper felt his heart twist at the answer he was given, staring as the changing scenery in front of him.

~

They landed on the curve of a darkened street which had clearly seen better days. The buildings were mostly abandoned, litter grouping in alleys. The only think that looked alive in the entire area was a bar that they were striding towards. The trucker was leading the way, Dipper trailing behind. He kept his eyes on the ground, feeling his anxiety flare as the day drew to a close. His heart was pounding and he fought to stay in control of his unsteady breaths.

The bar, expectedly, was extremely rough, with most of its corners concealed in shadows. Looking up briefly, he saw hostile eyes staring at him accusingly, so resumed his stare at the ground.

Untuned music played around them as different species from different universes drank and yelled across worn tables. A bar was placed at the back of the building, ran by a bar maiden with green-scaled skin. Dipper did not see a human in sight.

There was an empty table pressed against the crumbling wall, still littered with empty glasses and plates. Dipper watched as the trucker gestured for him to sit in one of the seats occupying the table. He slipped into the seat beside the one the trucker had picked, politely declining the drink that was offered to him.

"Name's Hank, by the way." The trucker fully introduced himself. Dipper nodded. "Inter-dimensional taxi driver and trucker, at your service."

"Taxi driver?" Dipper asked. He let out an "oh". "How much do I owe you?"

"We'll get there in a second." Hank waved him off, taking a long sip from his drink. "Right now, I want to give ya all the information I know, 'cos it looks like you're gonna need it."

Dipper nodded mutely again, gripping the table tightly.

Now that they had settled, the bar's focus was no longer on them, and so resumed the loud arguments and heavy drinking. Dipper felt himself relax the smallest fraction, now hopeful that he wouldn't get killed within the first five minutes of entering the building.

"You said that you fell through red and white, right? Glitching?" Hank hummed. "To me, it sounds like you were in-between the universes. I like to call it Universal Limbo." He scratched his chin. "I don't know how the fuck you ended up in there though. Only ever heard of it happening to demons and shit. Even then...I thought it was all talk. Myths."

"Universal Limbo?" Dipper repeated. "But why me?"

"Don't know." Hank replied unhelpfully. He shrugged. "Didn't you say you fell through another portal?"

"Yeah." Dipper answered, staring down at the wooden table.

"Remember what colour it was?"

Dipper furrowed his eyebrows in thought, trying to recall the flashing colours before he was plunged into the "limbo".

"Gold. With purple." He answered slowly. "Does that mean anything?" He asked as Hank began to pull out a worn, paper book. He began to flick through the pages with a hum.

"Kid, every portal means something."  The trucker answered. "Here."

He pushed the book under Dipper's nose, who blinked at the worn pages. Hank's pink finger jabbed at one of the sentences to guide him.