Dipper's POV
"Look, the Mabel Juice survived!" Mabel shouted from the fridge. Stan had sent us out to scavenge food from the house wreckage. He didn't explicitly say not to get Mabel Juice, but I'm definitely sure he didn't want us to get it.
"Put it back," I said, shifting through the remnants of the cupboards. I had found a box of Chipackers and a dead rat. Things could have been better.
"Pfft, you're just jealous because there's no Dipper Juice!" she replied playfully. She tossed the jar to the ground and it shattered instantly. "You know what, Dip? When everything turns back to normal, we'll make some Dipper Juice! And we can make Eliza Juice, too! It'll be a juice-apolusa!"
I stepped over some boards and the stove to another cupboard. "At least you're still being optimistic." I opened the cupboard and found the motherlode! "MABEL!"
She sprung up out from under a curtain. "What?"
"Canned meat! Cans and cans of Brown Meat!" I exclaimed, holding two cans in the air.
____
The lid cracked off the can - - what a satisfying noise! I stuck my hand in the meat without a second thought and shoved it in my mouth. It tasted awesome at first, but then I noticed it tasted off - - metallic almost. I turned the can around and read the ingredients label: brown meat. "Maybe canned meat isn't the best meal," I said, letting Mabel take the can from me. She tasted it and shrugged.
"Tastes fine to me. It's like...beef and...mutton?" Mabel poured some meat in her mouth and thought for a moment. "Oh, yeah, that's got mutton in it."
Stan came through the door and swiped the can from Mabel's hand. He dumped the rest of its contents in his mouth. "Crack me open another can, will ya?" he asked as he went to fiddle with the machines in the hallway. "Oh, and, uh, Mabel, get a few cans t'Soos."
Mabel disappeared into the portal room with three cans and a sympathetic look aimed towards Stan. There went that optimism she had.
"Here, Grunkle Stan." I handed him an open can of meat. He took it with a weak grin and backed away from a control panel. Stan rummaged through his pocket and dropped a few dimes and nickels into my palm. I don't know why he did that exactly and I didn't ask. I, however, did decide that some conversation was needed. "So...when we get the portal going, what do we do?"
"I...have no idea."
"Really?"
"I...I don't know. The original plan was to just start up the portal and hope that Stanley...that Stephen..." Stan trailed off, lost in a memory, probably. "My brother... I just hoped that I could keep the portal open long enough so he could find it. He has his fancy watch," he explained, tapping the glass of the heart monitor, "and it doubles as a location tracker. If I had the real Journals, it would be much easier to lock down on the coordinates and keep the portal open longer. 'Cause, ya know, the Journals are enchanted or cursed or something. The copies don't hold a magical property well considering that...I think the copier is magic. I dunno." Stan shrugged and ate the rest of the Brown Meat in his can. "Man, this stuff is apocalicious!"
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After nearly seven hours, Stan and Soos finally booted up the portal. It flickered harshly, sending showers of sparks to the floor with each flicker. Blue energy shivered through the cylinders that faced the portal.
"Stan, it won't hold long enough to pinpoint them. We have to shut it down," Soos said.
Stan shook his head and sighed. "No, not before we find him. This is our last chance."
"The smallest disturbance could cause it to collapse on itself, and it'll take forever to rebuild. Who knows what Bill could do by then!"
"AHAHAHA! DID SOMEONE SAY MY NAME?" I should have seen that coming. Regardless, Bill's booming voice from nowhere was far more routinely than it used to be.
A man's silhouette appeared in the dirt. It reached out a hand, the shadowed arm extending into the air. Its other hand did the same, and the figure lifted itself up until into a tall, prideful stand.
I backed myself and Mabel into a dark corner. Stan took a fighting stance, aggression and irritation quickly overtaking him. Soos stood straight and his face hardened sternly.
"Get outta here before I snap your puny neck!" Stan shouted with a powerful hand sweep.
Bill swept some dirt off his shoulder. "Oh, please. You can't kill what's already dead, Moon."
"Do you think I can get him with my grappling hook?" Mabel asked in a whisper as she pulled out the gun. "Or my bedazzler?" she added, pulling it from her sweater sleeve.
"How about neither?" Bill said, a rush of dust encasing his silhouette. Everything that had flown up stuck fast to him. "Gee, Dipper, what's the matter? Mabel?" His head slowly turned 180 degrees to look at us.
"AAAH!" Mabel sprung up, bedazzler and grappling hook in hand. She fired a storm of jewels at Bill.
"Watch it, Shooting Star. I just had this - -" Mabel shot the hook through his back before he could finish. Dust puffed out of him, and his entire body collapsed into a small pile.
The grappling hook zipped back into the gun, and Mabel raised it in victory.
"That's my girl!" Stan proclaimed.
The pile swirled into the ground before anyone else could get another breathe out. Bill's body had dissipated but he was still there somewhere. You could feel the demonic presence in the air; not to mention, smell its musky stench.
A giant shadowed hand rose from the ground and grabbed Mabel. She screamed at Bill, demanding he put her down. "Not until the Moon plummets - - not until the Question Mark is erased - - not until the Pine Tree has fallen!" Bill screeched. He wildly swung his hand about, avoiding Soos' and Stan's attacks.
"LET GO OF ME! PUT ME DOWN!"
"DROP HER!"
Thinking quick, I summoned a fire ball and flung it at Bill's hand. It passed right through him. It hit the ground near Soos' feet and fizzled out.
"Try that again, I dare you!" Bill held Mabel in my direction, egging me to attack again. Mabel and I shared a distressed stare. I couldn't attack again - - I wasn't about to risk her life any further.
I took a tempted glance at the portal as it sparked and shivered. We were so close.
An idea came to light. It was stupid, without question, but it was all I had. I took a deep breathe and faced Mabel again. "Bill, I have a proposal for you," I said calmly. Bill's upper body rose once again as a silhouette from the dirt. He kept a fist at his cheek and the other hugely disproportionate one tightly gripped around Mabel. "You leave my family alone...and I'll get in the portal."
Stan was quick to send me discouraging hand signals.
"You sure, kid? That's a one-way trip. A void you'll never wriggle free from. Stuck in time, destined to die from starvation or something. Just like your goody-two-shoes grandfather, I see."
I slowly took the President's key out from my back pocket and laid it behind me.
"Bravery runs in the family," I stated.
I traced a "13" into the dirt next to the key, or at least I hope I did.
"Newsflash: your family is stupid. Glasses basically killed himself for Stanford, over here. You're just following his footsteps."
I shook my head indifferently. "Do we have a deal, or what? You leave my sister, my great uncle, and Soos alone; and I get lost. I'll be out of your way for good."
Bill sighed and laid down his free hand. "You really are stupid. Why don't you ask for me to disappear forever? Or to bring everyone back in turn of your demise?"
"Why would accept deals that would stop your plans?"
Bill shrugged and nodded understandingly. "You got me there, kid." A familiar blue flame engulfed his hand as he stretched it towards me. I reached to shake it, pausing to see horrified expressions on everyone's faces.
I firmly grabbed Bill's hand, sealing the deal.
The shadow that had imprisoned Mabel dissipated, dropping her into the dirt. Soos rushed to her side. Bill's figure released my hand and rose into the air. With his heels together, he leaned down to me, only bending at his waist. A single eye blinked to life in the middle of his face and a mischievous grin stretched to life. "Any last words, Pine Tree?" he taunted.
I stood up silently and walked into the portal room. The portal was still shivering with sparks, tempting itself to collapse. Everyone was eerily quiet. I turned to them, focusing on Mabel. "You don't need me to grow up. When you turn 13, new doors will open sooner than you'll realize." I took a few steps forward to the portal. "But remember: the door you want is locked. Find the key and you'll find the right path."
"Huh, who would have guessed you would have been so poetic in your final moments," Bill said with a scoff. "Pathetic."
A set of shadow-stairs fell before me, leading to wherever Grandpa and Eliza were. Bill was silently encouraging me, and I went with it for his amusement. I stood a step away from the portal, a vacuum weakly pulling at me.
There was no turning back.
The wheel had stopped on me.
But the Pine Tree had yet to fall.
~
By-the-by, someone drew fan art! It's amazing! @KittyCat0214 is highly and entirely responsible for it! It's actually been my laptop background for several months now! Pay them a visit~! They also have several other pieces of art that are indeed awesome!
P.S. I'm not dead :3
~SF >'-'<