Dipper collapsed onto his bed face-first, his billowing robes splaying out around him in black folds. His wings sat limply to either side of him, hanging off either side of the bed. He buried his face into the blankets and let out a long sigh, trying to release the tension in his body and sink into the bed.
Today had been stressful.
Every day was stressful, really, when you were infiltrating the enemy by being apprenticed to a demon.
Maybe, just maybe, he could get a bit of peace and a full night's rest.
Tap tap tap.
Dipper moaned and groped blindly for a pillow to put over his head.
Tap tap.
"Dipper!"
Dipper's head shot up. He'd recognize that voice anywhere, muffled or not.
Tap tap tap.
Dipper pushed himself off the bed and onto his feet, his wings folding behind him, hurrying to the window before his visitor made any more noise. He tried shooting her a go away look, but she pantomimed him opening the window.
He shook his head, making shooing motions.
She folded her arms and stared at him.
Fine! She won. Dipper carefully unlatched the window and pulled it open. "Mabel!" he hissed. "What are you doing here?!"
Her wings blew air into his face as she hovered outside the window, a few small lilac feathers coming loose and twirling into his room. "I'm here to visit you, of course!"
Dipper glanced fearfully behind him and braced his hands on the window sill. "Look, Mabel, I know you want to see me, and I want to see you too, but what if he catches you?"
"Nobody is going to catch me," Mabel said confidently.
"Mabel! This isn't the time to be hubristic!"
Mabel opened her mouth to retort and then closed it. "What? Use real words, bro."
Dipper tried to laugh, but it came out as more of a nervous squeak. "Mabel, please, you have to go! As soon as I get the information I need, I can come back to you, but until then, please go. You have to stay safe, and it isn't safe here."
"Well, it isn't safe for you either!" Mabel retorted. "How do you think I feel, huh? Waiting around every day wondering if you've been caught, or if you're even still alive!" Tears were forming in her eyes, right along with the lump in Dipper's throat.
He reached out and took her hand in his. "I know, Mabel," he said softly. "It scares me too. But I promise I'll come back."
"How can you promise that?" Mabel whispered.
"Because you're waiting for me," Dipper said simply. "And as long as you're waiting for me, I'll come back to you."
Mabel smiled through her tears. "You promise?"
"I promise."
The siblings stayed there, holding hands and looking into each other's eyes, Mabel hovering outside and Dipper standing inside. This moment was all they had.
A sudden, booming voice filled the room. "Pine Tree. Antechamber. Now." The voice had multiple layers and sounded like the speaker was right next to Dipper.
Mabel started, dropping Dipper's hand and flying back a bit. "What was that?"
"Oh, that's Lord Cipher," Dipper said tiredly. "I guess I gotta go. Mabel, promise me you'll go home."
"Okay," Mabel said. "What's 'Pine Tree'?"
"That's just Cipher's name for me. Mabel, c'mon, promise." He knew she wouldn't mean it unless he made her promise.
"Dip—"
"Pine Tree, I'm waiting," said the voice.
Dipper looked back and then made a decision, pulling the window closed. "Go home," he said firmly, knowing Mabel could hear him through the glass. He turned to leave, then looked back over his shoulder at Mabel. She was still hovering there, her wings beating the air, watching him.
He had to trust that she would leave and fly to safety. And so he left his rooms, shutting the door behind him, and went to go face his master.
~~~~~
"Mabel, promise me you'll go home."
Mabel watched the door close behind her brother.
"Sorry, Dip," she said to herself. "I can't leave you until I know you're safe."
Her eyes locked onto the window latch. In his haste, Dipper hadn't locked the window, only closed it. It took Mabel less than a second to make the decision.
She pushed open the window.
She didn't enter the room quite yet, though. There could be a detection spell for intruders. But she had stuck her hand in to grab onto Dipper's, and he hadn't warned her about anything. So it was okay, right?
One way to find out.
She turned around and flew away from the window a ways before turning back, horizontal in the air. Her wings flapped on either side of her, flashes of moonlit white and purple in the night sky. Mabel stayed in the air like that a moment before flying forward, straight for the window. As she approached, gaining speed, she drew her wings in around her. Instead of falling from the sky, as one normally would when they stopped flapping, she zoomed in through the window like a bullet and landed on Dipper's chamber floor with an oomph.
Rolling and jumping to her feet in what she hoped was a graceful recovery, she started for the door.
Then she froze.
Duh, Mabel! She couldn't just wander around Lord Cipher's castle in plain sight. Could she turn herself invisible like she'd learned in Self Defense class? She wasn't the best at spells like that. . . But she'd better do it anyway—at this point, her life might depend on it.
Mabel closed her eyes and focused.
C'mon, c'mon. . . I am invisible. I am invisible. I. . . Am. . .
She looked down and saw nothing.
"Sweet! I did it!"
She slapped an invisible hand to her mouth. Quiet, Mabel! There was no point in being invisible if she was loud.
She walked by Dipper's mirror to make sure none of her could be seen. Nope! She was completely invisible. She couldn't see a single hair on her head or feather on her wings.
"I am a ninja," she whispered. She grinned and darted out of the room, wings loosely folded behind her.
She ran down the halls, realizing as she went that she didn't know which way Dipper had gone. She really hoped she was going the right way, but some instinct that had always connected her to her twin kept her going without hesitation. Her wings gave little flaps to speed her up and keep her light on her feet as she ran, not spread out, but not completely folded either.
"There you are, Pine Tree."
Mabel's feet seemed to come to a stop without her telling them to. That voice. . . It stopped her in her tracks. She had heard it just before in Dipper's room, but this was different. It was closer. Even if Dipper hadn't told her, she would've known without question: this was the voice of Lord Cipher.
The voice came from the room just ahead and to the right. Mabel started tiptoeing towards it until she remembered she was invisible. She didn't have to creep around anywhere, as long as she was quiet.
She looked herself over, just to make sure she was still invisible, and stepped lightly around the corner into the room. Woah. It was huge! Mabel's eyes locked onto the vaulted ceilings, and she immediately decided to view this from above. She spread her wings and pushed off the ground as quietly as possible, and hovered over the scene, her wings sweeping back and forth to keep her aloft.
Mabel looked down.
The first person she saw was Dipper, walking slowly and purposefully to the center of the room. He looked tiny, not just because Mabel was up high, but because of the size of the chamber. His red, yellow, and blue wings contrasted starkly against his black robes. Mabel was surprised Dipper didn't look nervous. After all, across the room, waiting for him to reach the center, was. . . him.
Lord Cipher. The demon responsible for this war. The demon to whom Dipper was apprenticed, the demon who was trying to destroy everything Mabel loved.
He floated above a throne, a simple triangle with one eye, a bow tie, and a top hat. He glowed a fierce yellow, casting shadows in the room despite the disembodied light shining from the ceiling. There were strange decorations on his throne, but Mabel couldn't make them out through Lord Cipher's glow. Next to him floated a humanoid demon, blue with four arms and four eyes. That must be Lilith Crypt, Cipher's feared assistant who reveled in destruction.
A feeling of hatred like she had never felt before washed over Mabel in a terrible wave. She was seeing her enemies, the enemies of her entire species, for the first time, and never before had they been so real. And her twin brother was walking towards them!
Mabel fought every instinct she had to swoop down in front of her brother and stop him. Dipper knew what he was doing. He'd been doing this for weeks.
Finally, Dipper stopped walking, dead center in the large chamber. He bowed, his robes sweeping around him, lowering his head and spreading his wings halfway open in deference. "Lord Cipher," he said, his voice echoing around the room, though not as powerfully as Cipher's had.
Mabel's insides twisted watching her brother bow to that monster.
"I like this kid, Lilith," Cipher said to his right-hand girl. "Always so respectful." He turned back to Dipper. "Do you know why I called you in here, Pine Tree?"
The voice. The voice. Mabel couldn't stand it or its multiple layers, like a chorus of Ciphers speaking at once. It filled up the entire space around her, sounding right up next to her and yet far away at the same time.
"No, master," Dipper replied, getting slowly to his feet and folding in his wings. "I thought I was done for the day."
Mabel couldn't help but be impressed with his tone of respect. She'd only heard him give that to admired teachers before, not even their own parents. And yet, he was giving it to Cipher. How? How could Dipper treat the demon this way every day and keep his sanity? How could he pretend to be a traitor to his own kind?
Mabel never, never should've let this happen.
"So did I, Pine Tree, so did I," Cipher said, sounding thoughtful. "And yet, Lilith reminded me of something, something I had nearly forgotten about. Today is an important day."
"Why, sir?" Dipper asked. Mabel half expected him to stutter, but his voice was smooth.
"In just a few minutes, some scientists in another dimension will succeed in a project they've been working on for many years. Until recently I purposefully impeded their progress. Do you know why?"
"No, sir."
"They've been trying to create a portal to come into this dimension. That wouldn't be good for us, now, would it? But a few weeks ago I decided to let them succeed, just for this very night."
A few weeks. About the time Dipper became Cipher's apprentice. Mabel had a very, very bad feeling about this.
"Because tonight, Pine Tree," Cipher began in a normal tone. Then his voice dropped at least two octaves, and his yellow glow took on a tone of red. "You'll get what's coming to you."
"I-I don't know what you mean, sir. Master," Dipper said, his voice losing its composure.
Beside Cipher, Lilith giggled, rising a few inches in the air. "You think we don't know when we have a spy in our midst? Huh, Pine Tree? You thought you could convince us you were a traitor to your own kind, that you wanted to be Lord Cipher's apprentice and help him win the war? Ha!"
Lord Cipher put out a hand to quiet her. "Lilith is right," he said, his eye narrowing. "I liked you, Pine Tree, I really did. You're a bright kid. I would've loved to bring you to my side for real. But you're too sentimental. It wasn't worth trying to turn you against that sister of yours. Too much work for too busy a demon."
Mabel gasped. Everything about this was all wrong. She had to stop this! She had to—
She couldn't move.
She was frozen.
She struggled against whatever force held her back, but it was no use. All she could do was watch. Watch, as her brother cowered under Lord Cipher's fierce, one-eyed gaze.
"I was just going to kill you on Day One, to send a message to your Avem allies," Cipher continued, "but then Lilith convinced me to indulge myself a bit. A guy like me doesn't get much entertainment when he's running a war, you know."
"Please. . . ," Dipper said, panic evident in his voice. Mabel's heart broke. "Please, I can't do anything against you now. J-just let me go."
Cipher laughed. It was an awful, layered sound. "No dice, kid. You knew the risks of this job when you signed up, didn't you?"
If Mabel could see Dipper's face, she was sure it would be pale. Why—couldn't—she—move?
"Mabel. Stay there."
She stopped struggling. That—that was Dipper's voice! He was communicating telepathically with her! It was something they'd done before, but it only worked within a certain range, and she'd never heard his voice so clearly in her mind.
"Dipper?"
"Don't. Move. Don't let them find you. Please."
She looked down at her brother and could see him shaking. From fear? From concentration on keeping her back from whatever force he was sending?
"Dipper, what is he going to do to you?!"
No response. He couldn't listen to her, not while he was bartering with Cipher. He probably only had enough time to send the two messages he did.
"Do you know what I'm going to do to you, Pine Tree?"
When Dipper spoke, his voice was as clear and steady as it had been in Mabel's mind. "No. I don't."
"I'm going to send you through the portal." The thought obviously gave Cipher great pleasure. "You couldn't let go of the people you love. It was the only thing stopping you from being a great ally. So I'm going to make sure you never see them again."
Mabel's wings crumpled. She would've fallen out of the air if not for Dipper's shield keeping her up. Her body was shaking. No. No no no—Dipper—
"Ooh! There it is!" Lilith pointed to a shimmer that appeared to the left of Cipher's throne. The shimmer expanded like a tear in soft fabric, until a swirling circle of blue and green light threw its glow against Cipher's yellow one.
Dipper turned and ran.
With a shriek of laughter, Lilith streaked through the air towards Dipper, cutting him off before he made it even a few yards away. Orange fire snaked from all four of her palms and wrapped around Dipper's arms and wings like ropes. Mabel's wings flared again, and she pushed against Dipper's barrier with all her might, but it wouldn't budge.
"Dipper! Let me help you! Please!"
No response.
"Aww, don't leave now, Pine Tree," Lilith said. "This is just getting good!"
She dragged Dipper up towards Bill. Up towards the portal.
"You want to know the best part, Pine Tree?" Cipher asked. His eye narrowed, and his voice lost some of its layers. "You won't just be separated from your people.
"You won't even remember them."
Dipper thrashed against the ropes, his hood falling back. And Mabel could see his eyes.
They bore into Cipher's, a hardened glare of defiance, lit by a fire of fear, but also of hatred. They were the eyes of someone who was about to lose everything.
"Bye-bye, Pine Tree," Lord Cipher said.
Lilith flew through the portal, Dipper behind her, bound to her by her fiery ropes.
"Dipper! Dipper, no! Dipper!"
This time, he answered.
"I love you, Mabel."
Then he disappeared.
Mabel screamed with every decibel in her small body. The force holding her back dropped.
And she fell.
She watched herself become visible as she fell. She watched her wings snap out from her sides, stopping her abruptly in the air. She felt herself shoot forward, towards the portal. She heard Lord Cipher's surprised, "oh," as she passed him. His yellow glow gave way to the blue until that was all she could see. Blue, with hints of green and purple, swirling, spinning, spiraling.
Mabel kept flying, room for only one thought in her mind.
I'm coming, Dipper.