No Puppet Strings Can Hold Me Down

Chapter 12

****A beautiful time skip. Picture Mabel and Ford passing time in any way possible. And also Bill and Dipper doing anything you want them to. These thoughts will be level 2 canon, meaning they are canon unless contradicted by this story.****

*Ford*
Mabel and I had been here for a while now. We were so far in this cave that all natural light was unseen. Mabel was on her phone. For some bizarre reason this old piece of rock had WiFi. I'd trusted her with the job of looking out for news on what was currently going on in the Mystery Shack. Still nothing. We were about to head back.

"Have you got everything Ford?" she shouted. I gave her a brief nod in reply. "Hey Ford! I bedazzled all of our weapons! Look! LOOOOOOK! ITS A FREAKING BEDAZZLED GRAPPLING HOOK! And look...," She went on and on so I had to develop the skill to ignore her. Is what Dipper had to put up with? No, it's what he will put up with- Bill may be merciless but there's still hope.
"Mabel, shush" I whispered, taking out my torch. Thankfully she obliged to this command. Me had to portray utmost stealth when evacuating this territory. Mabel may be reckless and rash, but she does understand what's safe and unsafe. I watched as she picked up a bug and ate it. Maybe not.

*Mabel*
I kept on walking along the uneven surface of this cave. I had just eaten a bug and Ford was questioning my sanity. I just couldn't bring myself to tell him it was just too shiny to resist! On the other hand, we were on our way to see Dipper again. Ford has been telling me not to get our hopes up but no pessimistic thoughts can invade my joyfully optimistic ones. I could see some light starting to form from the entrance so I decided I should run the rest of it. As soon as I had just set of, I found myself flying, face first, into the surface below me.
"Oh... Ow", I calmly exclaimed. I since I was younger I had always said 'Ow' in the least meaningful and nonchalant way. Again, that look from Ford. He must think I'm immature! And maybe I am but who actually gives a damn in the first place? We kept on edging closer and closer to the entrance, the sudden rays of sunshine momentarily blinding me, and causing me to sneeze. Snot flew everywhere. Oops. "Mabel," Ford said monotonously, "It appears you need a tissue." Well done for noticing, I inwardly thought.

The first hour or so was silent, aside from the odd reprimanding from Ford. The silence was killing me. He was always funny when there was no danger, but add a fire, a war, a demon, and he's just no fun anymore. I was tempted to say 'are we there yet' just to annoy him, but I simply settled with "What's the actual plan Ford?"
"I suppose you want the truth Mabel. And the truth is, there is no plan. If somebody dies, they die. And by the end of this, somebody will. Whether that definitely going to Bill, or Dipper, or me, or even you, Mabel, I don't actually know."
I had no idea how to respond to this- the silence continued.
Instead of dreading seeing that broken down shack, It actually calmed me down. Even with those high stakes, I kind of missed that S that was tearing at the seams. At the moment, we were just nearby at the top of a hill. Now was the time for a plan. Even just an outline of one. Because the silence of the building was radiating its deafening calls. The calls telling us to leave.

****Hey, I'm not sure if you knew, but it's currently LGBT+ pride month! And sorry for not updating last week, I really don't want become one of those people who disappears for months on end. As always, comment your thoughts. That me leaving now! Byeeee!****