Symbols ~A Gravity Falls Fanfic~

Instincts

Dipper POV

Eliza hissed at Stephen and backed herself into a corner. She growled like a feral cat and scratched at the air in front of her.

"Come on, Eliza, this doesn't need to be difficult," Stephen said softly.

Eliza hissed again and winced.

"I didn't want to do this," Stephen whispered to himself. He made a small wave motion with his hands and they glowed in an instant, producing a high pitched squeak. "Hold still, honey."

Eliza dropped her head to the tiled floor and pawed at her ears. Her growls were riddled with pained whimpers.

"You're supposed to be helping her!" Mabel cried out.

"We have to subdue her, first. Her behavior could harm her even further. Trust me, this is nothing compared to the- -" Before Stephen could finish, Eliza pounced from her crouching position and clung to Stephen's chest - - and not in a hug.

Stephen's breath hitched and he didn't move. I could slowly see his blood rushing to his face, and the room was still, the drone of the freezers filled the air. His eyes flicked towards me, his pupils the size of pinholes.

I took a step forward, my hands ready to cast a spell. I wasn't sure what spell I was going to fire at my kind-of-girlfriend, but it really didn't matter. Eliza twisted her head towards me and flung herself from Stephen's chest. She landed on the tiling with a small stumble, her wings twitching. Her eyes met mine and the world disappeared under my feet. All I could hear was my own heartbeat. All I could see were Eliza's eyes.

I said her name hesitantly. 

She stalked towards me, her back arched and her tail whipped wildly. 

"Eliza, come on, it's me. It's Dipper!"

She crept closer and closer. I was dumbstruck with fear. If I could have done something, anything to help, believe me I would have.

"Eliza, please!" I urged. I hit a wall behind me and squeezed my eyes shut. "I know you're still in there!"

A bell sounded just as a bead of sweat trailed down my face. I braced myself for the worst.

"Grunkle Stan, what are you doing?!"

"Whoa, whoa! Stan!"

What's going on?

I opened my eyes to see Stan holding the store's door open from a distance with a mop. An indescribable rage overcame me but I couldn't move. "Go on, now," Stan said lowly.

Stephen was hunched over on the floor with Eliza's parents tentatively standing over him. They looked up from my grandfather, horrified. "That's our daughter!" Mrs. O'Kelly shouted.

Stan shook his head. "Not anymore. There's no time for this. We have to get our priorities straight. Eliza is a dangerous animal and clearly she can't be helped right now. We shouldn't risk our safety with this."

I began to speak, but Stan wasn't finished.

"We're the only ones in the backwash town that can stop Bill, and you want to focus on this? Bill could destroy the entire world in an instance and you're worried about one lost girl."

Eliza's nose twitched and she turned her attention to the open door.

"We can find her later, whether she's dead or alive. Are you really willing to risk the entire world's existence over one person? I get it, she's your daughter, but if Bill isn't our top priority now, then there won't be a world where she's your top priority later."

Mr. O'Kelly retaliated as Eliza took a step towards the door: "W-we'll leave this dimension and go somewhere else!"

"Uh-huh, you'll take your rabid daughter to an unsuspecting dimension and everything will be fine. That'll end nicely!" Stan declared, maintaining eye-contact with the Eliza's parents.

"Stan, come on! Have a heart!" Wendy pleaded, sounding particularly spiteful.

"'Have a heart'? Are you kidding me? You can't see the practicality in this?"

Soos, who had been stuck in shock for some time, finally spoke up. "Stan, what if she was one of the twins? What if she was Stephen?" he asked, fearful.

"T-that's - -" Just as he spoke, Eliza bolted out the door and dashed into the forest, catching us all off guard. Stan eased the door shut and threw the mop on floor. "What's done is done."

"Seriously, Stan, we could have just locked her in the bathroom!" Wendy yelled.

Stan crosses his arms. "You wouldn't say that if that demon ends up crushing this place later. If she's really gone into following her primal instincts, then she'll be fine in the forest."

I turned to him, my hands flaming in a sudden revelation of anger. "THE FOREST IS IN FLAMES, STAN!" I shouted.

"She's not stupid," he replied like I hadn't raised my voice in the least. Then he had the nerve to change the subject. "Now, let's push this aside and figure out how we're going to take down this menace."

"I'm looking at him..." I growled.

That struck a nerve, but it only brought a raised brow to Stan's face. The air was thick and hot, suffocating, almost. Silence fell over everyone but Eliza's parents who were quietly weeping together.

Grandpa was there to save Stan from whatever I could have brought onto him. "I know things are a little heated right now, but I'm bleeding profusely." However, I wasn't going to give Stan the pleasure of escaping my burning stare.

"You, uh, gonna help your grandfather, there, candlestick?"

I gritted my teeth and tightened my fists. I willed the fire away and stomped off to my grandfather. However, he didn't let me heal him because of how angry I was. Mabel healed him instead. She was upset in more ways than one, but she wasn't nearly as infuriated as I was.