Gravity Rises (S1)

VV: Part Six

As it turned out, fairies had fangs.

Mabel didn't want to hurt any of the small beings, but she found herself swatting them away like so many bugs as they rushed at her with tiny wooden swords and bit at any exposed skin they could find. Unfortunately, since Mabel was in her winter clothes, this meant they primarily attacked her face and neck. Insectile wings flashed across her eyes as Mabel held her hands up protectively, pursing her lips shut to prevent any errant fairies from getting in her mouth.

This was not how she imagined her first encounter with fairies to go.

Dipper, for his part, batted off a few of the attacks and loudly protested the rest. "Ow! Leave us alone! You're worse than mosquitos!" He didn't seem at all inclined to leave, even as the fairies attacked him with their teeth and their swords.

Those little wooden swords hurt, too. They slashed at Mabel's gloved hands; the gloves thankfully saved her from cuts or splinters, but they didn't do much to take away the stinging slap of the blade against her fingers. She wanted to run away — indeed, she already would have if she had been alone. But Dipper wasn't leaving, and there were too many fairies for Mabel to reach out to him. She should just talk to him: but she didn't want to open her mouth, suck in a breath, and choke on an unfortunate fairy. That would be hazardous for the both of them, she was sure.

"You know, you aren't making us leave," Dipper pointed out to the fairies. "You're just annoying us. Not very effective."

"We can use more force," a fairy threatened. "Magical force that will probably have lasting effects. We're holding back to give you a chance to leave before that happens."

As much as Mabel wanted to see magic, she certainly didn't want to have it directed at her. "Dipper, let's just get out of here," she said out of the side of her mouth.

"I don't want to!"

Another fairy, who had her fangs lodged in Dipper's neck, spit him out and flew around to his line of sight. "Look, kid," she said, "just go already. You taste bad."

This statement visibly flustered Dipper, who shot back, "Yeah, well — so do you!"

Mabel winced. This was going nowhere, unless she wanted to stick around for more of her brother's comebacks. "Dip, let's go," she insisted. The thought of the fairies using "magical force" against them made her sick to her stomach, and she had no idea when they would start to use it. Very soon, probably, if they didn't want to keep sinking their teeth into bad-tasting kids.

From what she could see through the chaos of buzzing wings, Dipper shot her a stubborn look. What was he waiting for? Did he think the fairies would turn nice, if only he waited long enough? Or did he want to get seriously hurt by the fairies' magic? Suddenly, Ford's comment about sending them home in a box felt very real. Mabel realized they were only going to get out of here if she did something — instead of standing here uselessly, flinching under the fairies' attacks. So, with a deep breath (through her nose, as there were multiple fairies near her mouth), Mabel willed herself to move. She pushed her way over to Dipper and grabbed his hand. "Come on," she said, tugging him along. Then she ran, gripping Dipper's hand so tightly that he couldn't help but to follow.

They bounded through the snow, away from the attacking fairies. Thankfully, none followed them. "Let's do this again sometime!" Dipper called over his shoulder. Mabel shuddered: She had no desire to intrude on the fairies' space again. She hoped Dipper was being ironic.

The twins hurried through the forest, away from the fairies. Mabel tried to steer them back to the strange metal tree from earlier: She still wanted to figure out what was inside that secret compartment. She worried about getting lost; but with the help of her compass and her memory, they soon found the tree. Mabel let go of her brother and leaned up against the tree, catching her breath. "Okay," she said, "that was. . . unexpected."