"You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality."
- Ayn Rand
Fools, Dipper thought as he watched the three people stumbling behind from the fallen debris.
Attempting to stop Weirdmaggedon was an impossible feat, and it was futile to make anyone unaffected by such an event. However, for reasons Dipper could not place, the group behind him believed they could help the citizens regain their lost sanity.
Well, no one was going to stop them believe that ... he doubted that would work anyway. Cipher's work is not to be underestimated. That is the first lesson they would learn later.
They walked.
12 hours left. That was the time he had left to bring the rest of the Pines and their crew to Cipher. Initially, he had six days to spend. However, fate decided to toy with him and make time go differently in Mabel's bubble. How Cipher managed to do that, he had no idea.
"Where are you taking us, Dipper?" Mabel asked.
Dipper winced at her loud voice that could have shattered his eardrums. If she wanted to know, she should have rephrased her question. Dipper sneered. Of course – only she can make it sound as if he was in the wrong.
Mabel, he remembered from his newly regained memories, that she was an imbecile. The most selfish one at that.
He did not have the foggiest idea of why Cipher wanted the other Pines.
Dipper was allowed to leave Cipher's place if he brought the Pines within the specified time period. However, why did Cipher propose this task? It did not make any sense. Cipher was never the one to create a loophole in his words; if he did make a mistake, then that would mean that Dipper was free to leave and forget the deal.
If that was true, he could run away from the selfish Pines and the mad demon.
Dipper looked back at the people. His twin met his gaze and tore from it quickly. The other two people did not notice, as they were both busy glaring at the fallen waffle guards. Dipper could not remember what their names were nor recall any memories related to those people. They did look familiar though.
"Where did you get the suit?" asked Mabel again.
"Where did I get the suit?" repeated Dipper in disbelief. "It is none of your business."
"You do look like a businessman." Mabel laughed.
Dipper simply stared at her as she continued laughing in that high pitch of hers. He vaguely remembered that she was his twin. He hoped it was a faulty memory because he could not associate himself with the laughing idiot.
The laughter turned to giggles, and soon the two older people joined her.
Horrified at the sight, Dipper took a step back. Forget the deal. Dipper owed no one! So without a word, the terrified boy jumped into the hole, leaving three laughing people alone in their world.
•••
Their laughter soon ceased when they noticed the absence of one particular boy in a sparkling suit.
"Where did he go?" asked Soos. He furrowed his brows. "I wanted to talk to compliment him."
"He's not Dipper, I tell ya," remarked Wendy. She frowned. "He did not seem to recognize me."
"He must have had a concussion or created another personality," said Soos. "You know, anything can happen during his time in the prison."
Wendy looked at Soos weirdly. The said man shrugged. "We don't really know, do we?"
"..."
Soos coughed.
"Wendy," said Mabel, breaking the ice. "I can't thank you enough for what you did back there."
Surprised at her sudden statement, Wendy smiled. "Reality may suck and sometimes you want to give up ... but you have us, Mabel. We are here for you and we will fight alongside with you."
Wendy then put her arms around Mabel and hugged her. "So don't worry. We'll find your brother, your grunkles, and your friends."
"And I hope you'll find your brothers and your dad too. And your grandma too, Soos."
As the words left Mabel's mouth, the group fell into comfortable silence.
Neither of them spoke, and neither of them noticed the tears falling from the redhead's eyes.
•••
If there was one word that could describe the boy, it was scary.
If you were a bystander hiding in a shopping mall, you would have seen a small boy wearing a blue suit collapsing onto the ground every so often. And you would have hurriedly scurried off once you see how livid the boy appeared to be, his eyes burning with fury.
Dipper was angry because he couldn't go out.
There was an invisible wall preventing him from moving any further. No matter how much force he applied when pushing the wall, it did not budge at all. Something was blocking him. He could not get out of the boundaries of Gravity Falls.
Dipper was unaware of his glowing arms with flames encircled. He did not notice for there was no heat coming from the flames tangling around his body. He slammed himself to the wall, only to be pushed back by an incredible force.
Dipper sneered.
This was Cipher's doing. The demon could have barricaded all the creatures in Gravity Falls, because it was "fun."
Dipper tapped his chin in contemplation. So there was an unknown force in play ... this meant that any breathing creatures could not break the invisible wall!
Suddenly, a frog croaked and passed the wall just fine. A yodeling man passed through it unscathed as well, seemingly unaware of the wall.
Before Dipper could form a sentence, a screaming gigantic goat galloped past him and slammed into the unseen wall. The goat was now missing a horn.
Dipper closed his mouth.
He had to restate his theory: no magical creatures can leave the town.
Then why can't he leave the damn town like the yodeling man? He's a human!
There was only one creature he could turn to for answers, and he really did not want to return to the horrible place. Dipper shuddered at the thought of being near Pyronica, the demon who seemed to be jealous of him.
He looked back at the wall which pulsed with power, as if daring him to make his next move.
Screw the consequences; Dipper wanted a break from all this chaos. If the demon wanted to kill him for not completing the task, then so be it.
He had nothing to lose anyway.
•••
A new chapter within a month? SURPRISE!
Thank you for all your lovely comments and votes!