Eliza POV
I hate being in tight spaces anymore. Whatever transportation spell Dipper used is getting ripped out of his little spell book if I get my hands on it.
"WAAAAAAH!" I turned to see Dipper plummet of the ridge edge. Adrenalin rushed through me and I sprinted to grab his arm. Stephen had the same idea, but neither of us got to him in time. I got there a split second before him, but my little arms missed Dipper by a mile. Not even Stephen could grab him. We both screamed out his name in vain but...
I pulled away from the edge and covered my face. I couldn't deal with that, not again.
"I'M OKAY!"
That little turd.
"Haha! Way to go, Stephen!" Grandpa Stephen shouted. "Told ya, the magic's all in the name!"
What a bunch of cute nerd-turds.
I uncovered my eyes just in time to see Ste - - Dipper rising with the same levitation spell he used to help Stephen...Grandpa Stephen. Ah, this name thing is weird. It was adorable that Dip was named after Stephen, but I was beginning to confuse them.
Dipper landed softly behind us with a very exasperated look on his face. If it freaked us out, so it definitely shook him up. "That was close," he muttered as he slipped the spell book into his vest. I didn't let him get another breath out as I glomped him.
"Don't do that again," I whispered.
He awkwardly patted my back. "I didn't mean to do it the first time," Dipper said simply.
"I don't care. I won't have you die on my terms. Stephen slipped through my hands once already, I won't let you do the same thing."
"I..."
"Alright kids, let's get going. My camp's not too far from here," Stephen said awkwardly. He walked past us and I released my grip on Dipper. "C'mon."
__
Stephen's fire crackled as he turned the spit, three squirrel-bats cooking slowly over the flames. Not much had been said between Dipper and I since that awkward hug-thing I did. He and Stephen, though, they had been talking up storm for quite some time.
"Yeah, that spell should wear off here, soon. Trust me, the crash after the energy spell is pretty nasty; You'll sleep for about ten hours straight," Stephen remarked.
"I could use the sleep. Ever since I met Bill, I haven't been able to get a straight eight hours every night."
"Oh, I know the feeling. The real problem is how far along Bill's new body has come, now. It's fleshed out and it looks ready to go. I fear that, even with Eliza and I removed from Bill's minds cape and 'lifted' from the wheel, he'll be able to transfer his body to reality and destroy our world as we know it," Stephen said grimly as he poked at the fire. Sparks flooded up for a second after he shifted a log off another log.
The fire flickered and I saw something change in Dipper's face. Something for the worse.
Dipper exhaled, sounding rather frustrated. "Stan, Soos, and Mabel are back there, though. They can...they can fight him off for a while, I'm sure." He shrugged and laid himself back on the log we sat against with his hands pressed against his face. "I don't know. It'd be great if they could fix the portal and yank us back through, but...but that doesn't... We're not a priority. At least, we shouldn't be anymore," Dipper muttered. His hair flopped back slightly, and I could have sworn I saw some kind of weird acne on his forehead.
"Dude - -" I began.
"'Don't'," Dipper finished. "I know. Just...forget it." He leaned back and ran his hand through his hair, focusing on the spinning squirrel-bats' sizzling flesh. I tossed a concerned glance at Stephen and he pursed his lips as if to say "he's not wrong, you know."
"Dinner's almost done," Stephen said solemnly.
Silence ensued and I couldn't fathom how to break it. So, I figured I'd just cope with it. I uncrossed my legs to sit more comfortably, and something in my pants pocket hit my leg. A rush of stupidity came over me as I realized what it was. Not the pepper spray but my cell phone. My cell phone.
This isn't a detail I should share with them. Not yet.
"Hey, I'm gonna hit the bathroom before we chow down," I said as I stood, my hand firm against my pocket.
"Oh, here." Stephen stopped tending the meal for a second to grab a roll toilet paper from a branch and threw it to me. I nodded gratefully and scurried away into the woods, far enough out of their sight so they wouldn't see the light of my phone.
I pressed the power button in hopes I would actually see the wallpaper of Maurice, my little prickle, and me. Lo and behold, that's exactly the sight that greeted me. In my excitement, I squealed a little. Once I realized what I had done, I slapped my hand over my mouth.
"You okay, kid?" Stephen called out.
Dang it. "Y-yeah, " I stuttered back, "I just saw a snake-thing."
"Okay, just watch yourself and hurry back!"
Back to the phone. I swiped away the lock-screen and opened up the inter-dimensional calling app. I dialed Mom's number and held the phone to my ear. It's ringing!
After what seemed like an eternity, I finally heard my mother's sweet voice for the first time in forever. "E...li...za?" There was a lot of static, but I could hear her.
"Mom, I need your help!" I said only loud enough for her to hear.
"Where...are...?"
"In some tear in the time-space continuum."
The static thickened and I could only catch the end of her next sentence: "- -your ...ordin...ates?"
"Uh, the coordinates are..." I couldn't even begin to guess where we were. I quickly ran everything I could through my head, wondering where and how I could get coordinates in the middle of this limbo. Stephen's watch!
I shoved my phone between my shoulder and my ear and turned on Stephen's watch. I was so jittery, I could barely hold my hand steady. "The coordinates are... 79.9673°S and 8.61°W." I waited a moment and all I got in response was static. "Mom?" I repeated the coordinates into the phone until I practically had them memorized. Eventually, the line died and I set into a soft panic.
She better have gotten the right numbers.
A twig snapped behind me and I threw my phone like it was a weapon. "Ow! Hey!" Dipper? "I just wanted to make sure you were okay, jeez. You've been back here for ten minutes. We were getting worried." Dipper. "What did you throw at me?" I watched him pick up my phone in the dim light and turn it on. The screen lit up his face, revealing the confusion in his eyes. His pupils searched the image of Maurice and me, searching for some kind of answer in it.
A heavy weight pushed on my shoulders. "I...can explain." In that instant, he just got...angry.
"E-explain what? How we're sitting around a fire, hoping the meat is cooked all the way and that it'll keep us alive and you're back here, playing stupid games on your phone!?" Dipper screamed, clutching the phone at his side.
"No, that's not what - -"
"THERE ISN'T TIME FOR THIS!"
"Hey - -" I tried to defend myself and calm him down, but something in him had snapped.
"WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE AND YOU'RE JUST WASTING TIME!"
Then something in me snapped. "NO! I WAS CALLING FOR HELP, DIMWIT!"
"HOW?! PHONE CALLS AREN'T POSSIBLE IN THIS DIMENSION...OR WHATEVER THIS IS!" Dipper made a wide sweeping motion towards his left at nothing in particular. Leaves crunched behind him and I saw Stephen's silhouette running towards us. That didn't stop our argument of course.
I ripped off my headband and threw it to the ground, revealing the cat ears on my head to be my own flesh and blood, not some faux fur cosplay piece. "I'M NOT FROM YOUR DIMENSION AND NEITHER IS MY PHONE! I CAN CALL ANYONE IN ANY DIMENSION! DON'T FREAKING TALK LIKE YOU KNOW EVERYTHING!"
For what felt like a lifetime, we just stared at each other, breathing heavy and faces red from shouting. A thick tension formed between us, an uncomfortable silence accompanying it.
The silence was broken by Stephen's exhausted breathing once he showed up. "Whoa, what's going on here?"
I turned my eyes to the ground and my ears pulled back. "I haven't been honest with you," I admitted softly. My tail readjusted itself, unwrapping itself from my right leg. It struggled to break free from my the fabric of my cargo pants until I awkwardly pulled it up and through the slit where it was always supposed to be when I was out of the rest of the world's eyes. It twitched sadly behind me.
"Oookay, let's all head back to the fire! Food's getting cold," Stephen suggested as he laid a hand on Dipper's shoulder. Dipper shook it off and took a step towards me.
"You lied to me. I thought you were from Pennsylvania," he said hoarsely.
"That wasn't a lie."
"Really?" My tail flicked in a moment of fury in response.
It was time to tell all there was to tell.
"Really. I've lived in your dimension, in your country for almost three years. I was born in dimension 42-3POH, a dimension where everyone is born with some animal aspect.
"My family came here because my father, once a highly respected general, refused to fight in the war any longer. The war had been going on for years and it was going nowhere. He was sick of it and he couldn't find a way to get out of the loop, a way that he could be sure his family was safe.
"Since he had a high rank in the military, our family could have been assassinated at any moment, and that uncertainty nearly killed him. He tried to resign, but the lieutenant wouldn't allow it and she claimed treason. So, he took Mom and I, and fled to your dimension," I explained thoughtfully, almost as if something about it all could make me smile. Maybe it was the friendships I had made in the Pines' dimension. Yeah, that was it.
Dipper looked sympathetic for a moment, but he shook it off with doubt. "What war?" he spat.
"The Mammalian and the Reptilian Civil War; World War II: the Second Effort." Before he could get out his next words, I said, "If you want proof, you'll just have to take my word for it."
He just looked at me, unable to conjure his own opinion. His eyes searched me as if I would pull out a bright, glittery poster that said:
"YES. I AM A FREAK. I PROMISE."
I searched my memory for something else to say. "Remember when I told you that strange things happen where I'm from? When I said that, I was talking about my dimension, but that doesn't mean all that stuff I told you about PA isn't true; I've encountered ghosts and strange creatures there. What I consider strange is that mammals and reptiles are fighting for a reason that no one remembers or seems to care about in my dimension. One side has to win if it hasn't won already, and when it does win, at what cost?"
I stared at them both, and awaited an answer, a blink - - something. Dipper's face scrunched and he took a deep breath. It was like he wanted to believe me, but he couldn't. "Why would I lie? What do I have to gain here?" I asked. He looked away in consideration. "Dipper, you're my best friend... and, as much as I've tried to deny it, I love you. I have no reason to lie to you."
That got his attention.