Violet POV
“Shit.” I mumbled underneath my breath, slumping down against the flipped over table that we were using for coverage.
“Why are we doing this again?” Huey groaned out in frustration on my left, gasping for air.
Another arrow flew past us, nearly hitting Huey square in the head.
“Because we both need Louie to survive.” I said with finality in my tone.
Huey just sighed in response before standing up from our cover and firing back at the eggheads with a stolen FOWL gun.
I pulled out Dipper’s book and started mumbling an incantation under my breath.
“Vi, you better know what you’re doing!” Huey shouted down at me, covering for me.
I just started chanting faster and suddenly all the arrows coming at us turned the other direction, pelting the eggheads. I didn’t dare look back as I finished the spell, shoved Dipper’s book in my bag, and rushed me and Huey out of that room and into an empty hallway.
“Jeez Vi, I still don’t get how you know how to do that.” Huey sighed.
“I don’t. I just panicked.” I responded blankly.
“Well, you should do it more often.” Huey suggested gently.
I looked over at him, he seemed to walk more confidently nowadays, I wish I knew why. “I guess I should.” I offered him a small smile, which he returned.
“Let’s get out of here.” Huey grinned, offering me his hand. I took it and squeezed gently.
“Where do you think they’re keeping him?” I asked once we’d passed a sign that was labeled “Labs”.
“Well, he’s a prisoner of sorts, so maybe in some kind of tricked out cage?” Huey guessed. “Oh, also, do we have anything from Dewey?”
I pulled out my phone and checked my texts.
“Shit.” I said. Huey looked over at me in panic. “I’ll handle this, you keep looking for Louie.”
“Vi, what is it?” He asked.
“I- nothing, I’ll take care of it.” I replied, letting go of his hand.
“But Louie could be right here-”
“I know.” I said sharply, tears already forming in my eyes at the realization of what this meant. “But sometimes we’ve gotta make sacrifices for the ones we love.” I choked down my tears as I slowly backed away from Huey.
“Vi…”
“Say hi to him for me, okay?” I gave him a watery smile.
“Violet please-” Huey pleaded, reaching for me, I pulled away and raced out of the hallway, running straight towards Cipher’s main lab.
Once I got there, I silently looked through everything, searching for any evidence of Dewey’s presence.
That’s when I heard his voice.
“Ah, so good to see you again, Saber.” Bill teased.
“Always the pleasure, Cipher.” I said tightly, turning around to face the dream demon. I dropped the random stuff that had been in my hands.
“Looking for the others I assume.” Bill said with certainty.
“No, not quite.” I replied, a small smile forming on my face as I gripped the knife in my pocket. “Just buying the others some time.”
I hurled the knife directly into his eye, causing him to scream out in pain.
“AGAIN?!” He shrieked, clutching his eye.
I wasted no time as I raced out of the lab and threw open a random closet door. I climbed up the shelves and noticed a vent opening, I ripped it open and clambered up inside it.
“You can run but you can’t hide!” Bill yelled insanely, shaking the whole entire building/volcano.
I fumbled with shaky hands as I pulled out my phone and called Dewey, he picked up on the second ring.
“What’s up, future sister-in-law?” Dewey chirped as if he hadn’t just gotten his spine ripped out of him.
“Where the duck are you?!” I hissed.
“Uh, kinda stuck on the ground since my ducking spine just got ripped out.” Dewey said all sassily.
“Well, you need to find the others and get out of here, now.” I said sternly.
“I can’t exactly walk right now, Vi.” He chuckled. “Besides, don’t we still need to get Louie?”
“Look, I’m just saying it’s better you leave now, then stay and get blown up.”
“What about you?” He asked.
I stayed silent.
“Violet, we are not leaving you-”
“Dewey, please, just make sure Huey and Louie get out safely too. I have to do this.” I begged him.
“Violet, what exactly is your plan here?” Dewey asked.
“I just need a few more seconds with him or else he’ll blow up this whole ducking place, killing us all.”
I heard Dewey sigh on the other end before speaking again. “Fine. But that’s not going to stop us from getting you out afterwards.”
“Just don’t! You clearly need medical attention and might not have a lot of time left!” I shouted out, exasperated. Why did he not get it?
“Violet…” He said and it was silent for a while, so I had almost thought he hung up. “Just be safe, okay? For Louie, right?”
“For Louie.” I agreed, a fresh wave of tears forming in my eyes.
“Bye Vi.” Dewey said.
“Good luck.” I replied and hung up.
I sighed out a breath of relief before I fully realized what I had to do.
Slowly, I crawled back out of the vent and crept towards the closet door.
I took a sharp breath before opening up the door. I stood in the middle of the hallway, there was a humongous fountain there, I stood on top of it.
“Alright Bill! Come on out! You win! You can have your stupid key now!” I shouted out and held up the replica of the key in my hands.
“Did someone say key?” Bill sang and flew over to me. “I knew you’d give in eventually you sweet, sweet, Saberwing.” He cooed and lifted my chin, forcing me to look up at him.
“Just… promise me… they’ll be safe, right?” I sniffed, putting on a show for him.
“Of course, although, that may be a different story for you.” He snickered. “Now, just hold still-” He was cut off by a loud crash.
I looked around and saw Boyd racing at Bill, Gosalyn on his back. Gosalyn leaped off him and Bill and Boyd collided.
“What are you guys doing here?!” I called out to Boyd, overjoyed to see them both. Gosalyn just waved at me, before racing off to find Dewey most likely.
“Well, Louie called me days ago, and I only just now got the message, so I panicked.” Boyd explained while fighting off Bill. “So naturally, I raced to McDuck Manor, but things were… weird there.” Boyd paused, yelping as Bill fired something at him. “So then, I remembered that I had a tracker on Huey after the whole Tokyolk thing-”
“Duck!” I yelled out to him. He did, and he narrowly avoided what would’ve been a critical hit. Boyd struck Bill directly in the eye. Bill flashed red.
“Anyways, I found Huey outside the base, but he said you guys were all still in here, so yeah, here we are.” Boyd finished his sentence, just as he did, Bill snuck up on him and got him in a chokehold from behind.
Boyd simply turned his jetpack feet on and Bill immediately let go in panic.
“We should go…” I mumbled under my breath.
“One sec, Vi.” Boyd called down to me.
It was in fact, one second.
One second was all it took for Bill to blast Boyd so powerfully that he crashed into one of the glass walls, shattering glass everywhere. Boyd laid in a small crumpled ball and it didn’t seem like he’d be getting up anytime soon.
“Boyd!” I screamed and raced towards him.
“You!” Bill chuckled. “You lied to me!” He laughed insanely. “You said it was the real key!”
“Wh-” I realized that I wasn’t holding the fake key anymore. “I-it was!” I cried, desperately trying to reach Boyd.
Suddenly, everything seemed impossible, everything was moving so much slower. I could feel myself slowly being dragged towards Bill.
“It won’t matter in a few seconds, you’ll be dead along with your friend in no time.” Bill cackled.
My eyelids started closing.
“No.” I felt myself saying.
“Nobody can save you now.” Bill’s voice suddenly sounded so far away.
I forced my eyes open. I had to stay alive. For Louie.
Bill suddenly groaned out in frustration.
“We’ll continue this in a second, stay here.” He hissed and then left.
“Shit.” I mumbled, forcing myself up.
That was when I noticed the blood. It was everywhere. All over my body. My head was spinning and I suddenly felt nauseous.
No. I had to focus.
Find Boyd.
I looked around and spotted a ball of gray feathers. Wait feathers? Boyd’s a robot?
I must be hallucinating.
I walked over to Boyd and grabbed his arm, which was soft for some reason.
“Boyd.” I felt myself say. Slowly he got up.
“Violet.” His voice replied, very muffled. Everything seemed like it was underwater. “We gotta get you home.”
“But the others…” That was the last thing I remembered before I blacked out.
Gosalyn POV
I had to hurry. I knew Dewey’s time was running out, and by the looks of it, this volcano could explode at any minute now.
I ran through the whole place, room after room, door after door, until finally I found Dewey. He was not in good shape.
“Oh my god Dewey!” I panicked once I saw him.
“Is it really that bad?” He chuckled.
“We have to get out of here-” I replied, grabbing his hand.
“Gos, it’s pointless, my spine is broken. Just leave me.” Dewey said hollowly, as if to prove his point, his back slowly started bleeding all over again.
“No!” I argued furiously, tears forming in my eyes.
“Gos, it’s not worth it. I’m not worth it. Please go before the volcano blows up.” Dewey said gently, letting go of my hand.
“We can fix this.” I cried. “C’mon Dewey.”
He just gave me a watery smile. “Tell Louie I say hi.”
“Stop it! You can tell him that yourself!” I yelled.
Slowly, Dewey’s eyes started to close.
“Dewey! Stay with me please!” I sobbed, sinking to the ground, clutching his hand as if it was my lifeline.
“Goodbye Gos…” He grinned. “See you soon.”
“No!” I screamed.
I felt him give my hand one last squeeze.
Just when I thought it was all over, Huey came rushing in. His eyes widened when he saw Dewey, but he pulled out Dipper’s book from his bag and flipped through a few pages before he sat down next to me and grabbed Dewey’s other hand.
“What are you-” I started to say.
“Shh!” Huey replied sharply.
I closed my eyes and reached for Huey’s other hand. I gripped the two brother’s hands as if they were the only thing keeping me grounded.
Quietly, Huey started muttering something under his breath. I noticed his breath started getting more and more labored. I realized what he was doing almost immediately.
“Wait, that's not safe-” I started to say, opening my eyes. Huey shot me a death glare, so I shut up.
I could feel Dewey’s grip getting stronger, while Huey’s got weaker.
Huey finished the spell, we both held our breaths.
“Please…” I whispered.
Dewey’s eyes opened ever so slightly.
“I thought I was a goner.” He said hollowly. Tears sprung into my eyes again, I didn’t want to risk hurting him so I just gave his hand a massive squeeze.
“Thank God.” I chuckled. “Thank you Huey.” I said, turning to face him and gave him a massive hug. Huey started crying at that moment too, and slowly hugged me back.
“Did you just grow my fucking spine back?!” Dewey exclaimed suddenly.
Huey and I both let go of each other, turning to look at Dewey again.
“Um, well- I don’t really know? I mean, I just used the same spell Dipper had been using on others to heal them. It took up a lot of my power and energy. I didn’t really realize your entire spine was gone until I was doing the spell.” Huey fumbled out.
Slowly, Dewey stood up.
“Holy shit I have a spine again!” He cheered. He raced up to Huey and gave him a massive hug.
“Hey me next!” I laughed, joining in on the hug, making it a group hug between us three.
We broke apart and Huey rubbed his arm nervously.
“Just- just be careful, I doubt that the new spine is very stable.” Huey warned his younger brother.
“Right, like Bill ripping my first one out was my fault.” Dewey replied with an eye roll.
“I’m just saying!” Huey laughed.
“I appreciate you bro, and I appreciate this moment, but we really should go back and help the others out, don’t you think?” Dewey said.
“Oh yeah, Vi and Boyd are with Bill alone, and did we ever find Louie?” I asked.
“Bill showed me where they were because he thought I would be dead by now.” Dewey told us. “They’re in some room with that door that Bill showed us and there is a human in there.”
“Weird.” Huey said but shrugged it off.
“Let’s go save Violet first.” I suggested and raced towards where I had come from, remembering exactly where we’d come from.
Once we reached the battle, we realized how awful things had gone for the two.
“Holy-” I started to say.
“Violet!” Huey cried out and ran to her. She was out cold on the floor. Boyd was close to her, but it had looked like he had been thrown into a wall before passing out.
Dewey and I cautiously approached Boyd and noticed something… different.
“Did Boyd become a real… bird?” I asked.
“I-I think he did.” Dewey replied.
“What?!” Huey yelped and bolted over to us, noticing Boyd’s current state. “Oh my god.”
“I’ll get Vi, you guys grab him.” I instructed the two, both nodded and began to help Boyd up.
I walked over to Violet and assessed her wounds. She had cuts everywhere, but overall nothing severe.
Hesitantly, I reached over to her and gently shook her.
“Vi.” I whispered. She stirred. “Vi!”
“Huh?” She yawned. “God, that was a weird dream.”
“Do you remember what happened at all?” I asked her, once she'd actually woken up fully.
She scrunched up her face in confusion, seeming to be trying to remember. “Well… no?”
My eyes widened a bit, but I didn’t want to scare her so I just tried to play it cool.
“Okay, do you know who I am?” I asked gently.
“I-” She paused. “Well, I know your name is Gosalyn, but I can’t really remember anything else other than that.”
“That’s okay,” I said gently, trying to think of what else I could ask her. “Do you know anyone who’s named Louie?”
“Who’s Louie?” Was the response I got.
What the duck did Bill do?
(Heh. Yeah. About that...)