Chapter Text
Bill settled himself comfortably on his throne, taking in the chaotic fruits of his labor. It had been a good day. Days? Time had ceased to mean anything in Gravity Falls. He was pretty proud of all that he’d wrought so far. Just as he was about to rouse his crew for another raid, a creature out of a child’s nightmare flew into the Fearamid and screeched news only he could understand. Bill’s eye whipped toward it.
“What?” Bill couldn’t believe what he’d just heard.
Dipper had freed Mabel. The bubble had evaporated.
Bill didn’t understand. The simple brilliance, the devious genius behind that plan! Humans were such vain, avaricious creatures. All you had to do was play to their egos and their ids, and they bent to your every whim.
“Everybody, keep doing what you’re doing. I have to go check on something.” No one paid him any attention, and merely continued their chaos. They didn’t even notice their leader was gone.
Bill teleported to his private quarters to study the surveillance from the Bubble. He couldn’t believe the moment that made everything fall apart.
Somehow Dipper Pines, a twelve year old boy of all creatures, had the will to resist his heart’s dearest wish.
Well, Bill was not about to stand for that. Or even float accommodatingly for it, either.
Since the chains on the bubble were broken, Bill could manipulate what happened within. And with Time Baby no longer in the picture this was a simple rewind and try again situation…
Wendy looked at Dipper with a smile and eyes full of promise. “I bet, if we ask Mabel, we could do it right now! In this place it could finally be just you and me. Come on, man! J u s t t a k e m y……”
The reality inside Mabel’s Bubble hiccuped and rewound.
Wendy looked at Dipper with a smile and eyes full of promise. “I bet, if we ask Mabel, we could do it right now! In this place it could finally be just you and me. Come on, man!” Impulsively, she leaned forward and kissed him, like she didn’t even worry about what personal taboo she could be crossing.
Dipper was startled at first, but quickly relaxed into the moment. Echoes of Great Uncle Ford’s praise for his cool head were overshadowed by his first kiss, and the realization of every dream that summer that hadn’t involved...Bill. Oh no. Was this Bill’s doing? Could he bring himself to resist?
This was the other moment he’d wished for all summer. Besides meeting the Author, and he’d already gotten that. What was the harm in a little completionism?
Wendy pulled back to focus on his neck, and all thoughts of potential dangers were gone.
Wendy Corduroy, the real Wendy Corduroy, was having the time of her dang life. As she and her crew ran through the halls of the high school, she’d never felt so free. The building was entirely empty but for them and the Principal, whom they were currently stalking.
Wendy took point, while Nate and Lee flanked her, running through the connected classrooms as she strode the halls.
This was so awesome.
She hoped Dipper and Soos were okay. She’d go find them as soon as they tracked down the Principal. Oddly, he kept managing to escape every time they cornered him.
He couldn’t evade them forever. Could he?
Mabel looked up from her knitting and realized that she hadn’t seen Dipper in a little while. Her actual brother, not Dippy Fresh, who was skating the halfpipe in the corner. He was really getting the hang of it, too!
But no, since she was happy enough to have Dipper back, she’d wanted to, you know, actually have Dipper back. That was the whole trouble that had started this mess. She finished her row and headed out of her tower. Clapping her hands, Giant Waddles appeared, as well as Craz and Xyler in their convertible.
“Hey Mabel!” They shouted in unison.
“Hi guys! Have you seen Dipper at all?”
“Yeah, we have!” Craz said.
“We’ll take you to him!” Xyler followed up.
“Excellent,” said Mabel, and she hoisted herself onto Waddles’ saddle, as Craz and Xyler drove away. “Follow that convertible!”
They took off in the direction of the park, arriving in time to see a very startling tableau. Mabel couldn’t quite believe her eyes-- was that really Dipper? Was that really Wendy? Whaaaaat? She hopped down from Waddles and walked to the edge of the road that wound through the park. Dipper and Wendy, still caught in their clinch, didn’t hear her approach.
“OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING?”
The two jumped apart from each other, Dipper blushing madly, and Wendy looking like the cat who’d got the cream. Dipper was still having trouble composing himself as Wendy got up, dusted herself off, and made her way toward the road.
“Hey! What’s doing?”
“Don’t give me What’s Doing, Wendy! Did I really just see what I think I saw?
“You sure did!”
Mabel squinted her eyes and knew she had to tread carefully. A development like this would surely mean they’d all get to stay together, but she was sure this couldn’t be the real Wendy...could it?
“You’re not the real Wendy.” No sense in being coy.
“Sure am! Promise.” Wendy held up her right hand in a scout’s honor pose.
“What about chasing the principal at the high school?”
“Eh, that got old. I realized if I was going to be stuck in a paradise sphere for all eternity, I may as well go for a thing I wanted to do all summer.”
“You are definitely not the real Wendy. I don’t believe it.”
Dipper had finally gotten to the road, and he was honestly a little relieved that Mabel was challenging this situation. For all that she knew this chance was something he wanted, she didn’t question lightly the things that happened in Mabeland . And if the Queen of Matchmaking and this Paradise Domain herself could be skeptical, he didn’t feel quite so ungrateful. But if Mabel was convinced, then he knew his plans with Wendy would be full steam ahead. He spoke up, giving Mabel the benefit of the doubt.
“Wendy, do or say something that would mean something to both of us that will prove you are the real deal.”
“I don’t appreciate your lack of confidence, dude, but here you go.” Wendy turned to Mabel, pulling her hair across her face and tucking it into her hat. “TESTOSTERONE.” Mabel gaped, but grimly nodded at Dipper. Wendy flipped her hair back loose and turned to Dipper, miming zipping her mouth and throwing away the key, giving him a slow smile as she did it. He nodded to Mabel. He also briefly wondered if getting a nosebleed from attraction was a real thing, or if it only happened in Soos’s animes.
“See! I’m the genuine article, Real Wendy. So what now, should we eat? I’m getting hungry.” Satisfied that the Wendy in front of them was actually Wendy, everyone agreed that going back to the castle for food was a good idea.
As Wendy and Dipper started towards the convertible, Waddles gave her a suspicious sniff.
No one saw him do it.
Wendy sat alone, crouched in the middle of the cafeteria setting a net trap. They were going to catch this guy if it was the last thing she did. Reality hiccuped, and suddenly she was in the library. Nate, Lee, and Tambry were crouched around a fire in the center of the room. She looked down and found she was mid-stroke in sharpening a yardstick into a spear. She looked at the knife in her hand, confused.
“Guys, wasn’t I just in the cafeteria?”
Tambry looked up from ripping pages out of books to add to the kindling pile “Nah,” she said, “We’ve been here for an hour at least. It started to get dark and you suggested we hunker down here for the night.”
Wendy frowned.
“That does sound like something I’d say.” She didn’t feel super convinced, though. She was, however, starting to feel a little ripped off. For a paradise, this was some pretty thin wish fulfillment. If she’d wanted to stay huddled around a textbook fire, she wouldn’t have joined Dipper to look for Mabel in the first place.
Right about then, the school blinked out of existence, and her friends along with it.
Bright, warm sunshine flooded over Wendy as she realized she was sitting on a hill. The grass was green and sweet, and it felt like that first tinge of summer, right before school lets out.
Oh. Oh no. This wasn’t possible. And it definitely wasn’t any kind of paradise.
Bill hadn’t been out of his chambers since his Brilliant Rewind. Watching what was happening in Mable’s Bubble was entirely too entertaining. He hadn’t gotten to watch pure id manifestations like these in eons, and he’d forgotten how fun it was. He was especially enjoying how the more Dipper indulged in his fantasy, the more susceptible to it he became. Before much longer, Dipper would forget there was even a world outside Mabel’s Bubble.
When he checked on Red to see how her Wild Principal Chase was going, he suddenly realized that the manifestation was weak. Suspiciously weak. Almost like...oh wow, had he underestimated Red! Bill wasn’t sure where these incredibly self-determined adolescents were coming from, but she’d almost thrown him off as well as Dipper originally had. The thing with the principal was just a ruse. That wasn’t her heart’s desire at all! Sure, it sounded like fun, but there were deeper thoughts going on. And curse her, she’d been able to keep him out of them. Well, that wouldn’t last for much longer.
Bill snaked through Wendy’s mind unnoticed until he found what he was looking for. Stan’s mind had been a guided museum compared to the labyrinth Wendy had built. The kid was good, Bill gave her that.
Turning down another passage, he found what he was looking for, and he couldn’t believe his eye.
The coolest, most emotionally detached teenager he’d ever encountered had a decidedly uncool, and very innocent desire.
He couldn’t wait to destroy her mind with it.
Back at Mabel’s tower, Dipper, Mabel, and Wendy were having dinner. Mabel was still trying to wrap her brain around Wendy’s sudden 180 about smooching her brother, but was honestly still focusing on the fact it meant he was staying. She put her pizza down thoughtfully.
“Dipper, you’re staying here with me, I guess, right?”
“Yes. Yes we are.”
“We?” Mabel glanced at Wendy.
“Yeah, uh, Dipper and I kinda wanted to talk to you about that.” Mabel braced for what could possibly come next. She didn’t think anything particularly bad was about to happen, just that no one started any feel-good conversations with “[we] wanted to talk.”
“Okay, what’s up?”
“Well, we were thinking that since we’re all going to be here together, we wanted to know if you’d be cool with Dipper aging himself up a little? It’d mostly be for my sake.” Mabel’s jaw dropped and she stared at her brother and their friend. “We know that you’re kind of freaked out about turning 13, but this would be great for everybody!”
Dipper picked up the sales pitch. “You get to stay 12, I get to be taller than Wendy,” (Wendy affectionately scoffed at this) “we all stay here forever! It’s win/win/win! What do you think?”
Mabel blinked a few more times, trying to get a handle on how she felt about this idea. On the one hand, she’d get to have Dipper with her, for real, and forever. On the other hand, they were twins, and she was the older twin! Giving up that bargaining chip, even just for appearances, was not something she was keen on. But, also, being older and being with Wendy were two of his heart’s greatest wishes. And wasn’t that what this entire wonderful place was all about? Mabel took a deep breath and looked at them both.
“Sure.” Mabel raised her hands and waved them in Dipper and Wendy's direction. "I grant you both the power to create your desires in this world."
A weird energy that sounded pink and felt like bubble gum enveloped them. The other side of the table erupted in whoops of joy, surprisingly loud for just two people. Dipper stood up.
“Well then, I have something to attend to. Ladies, please excuse me.” Dipper walked out of the room towards what Mabel realized would probably be the room he’d share with Wendy. Oh.
She realized this would be the last time she’d see her brother the way he truly was ever again.
“WOW, THIS GOT DARK. Craz! Xyler! Let’s get a rave going in the center of town, I’ll make my grand entrance when it’s in full swing! Wendy? Please excuse me, I’m going to dress for the party. I’ll see you there?”
“Absolutely! I wouldn’t miss it for anything! I’ll go get ready with Dipper, and we’ll meet you down in the square.”
“Great!” Mabel was sure if she sounded super enthusiastic, she’d start to feel that way soon enough. She left to go to her own room, Giant Waddles trailing behind her. No one was there to notice that alone in the dining hall, Wendy ceased to be.
The True Wendy Corduroy found herself in a sun dappled, birdsong filled nightmare.
“What is going on with this place? This isn’t paradise, this feels awful, make it stop!”
“Wendy. It’s a beautiful day, what are you saying?” Wendy’s blood froze in her veins. That was a voice she had finally accepted she would never hear again. Had sworn to herself she wouldn’t even think of it, because to do so would require feeling things she had finally shut down. Wendy spun around, and sure enough, there she was.
“Mom?” Wendy’s voice was a faint croak.
“It’s all right now, sweetie. I’m here.” A tall, slim, redheaded woman opened her arms, and Wendy very almost ran into the embrace. She stopped short, and stared.
“No. This isn’t right.” Fear and anguish echoed through Wendy’s voice. Her mother had died three years before, right as school had let out. There had never been a worse summer.
“I guess it isn’t.” Suddenly Wendy noticed her eyes. They were yellow with vertical pupils. The thing wearing the her mom for a suit laughed his awful harmonic laugh as he moved toward her. “We’re going to have to take you out of commission, Red. I thought you were a pushover, but apparently you’ve been through some stuff! You’ve got more hidden corners in your brain than Stan! I did not see that coming-- And I hate that! So you’re going to take a little nap now. A forever nap!”
With a snap of its fingers, Bill was himself again, Wendy was encased in crystal.
“There, that’s one more piece off the board.”
Bill blipped back out of Mabeland.
Back in her own room, Mabel was putting the finishing touches on her outfit. She’d decided to go for a techno theme, and was done up in several colors of blinking EL wire woven together for a top. Confident that her outfit was complete, she went out into the hall. Maybe Dipper and Wendy were ready to go?
Their door was closed, and they weren’t in the common area. Mabel shrugged and guessed they’d gone on ahead without her. And what was a sock doing on the doorknob, anyway?
Dipper walked into what had been designated his room and sat heavily on the bed. Everything he’d wanted all summer had come to pass. He grinned; he was the luckiest person he’d ever met.
Standing back up, he walked toward the tall mirror standing in the corner. He stared at his own reflection, taking the time to study and remember his young face. After a few minutes, he closed his eyes, took a breath, and aimed for 16. He opened his eyes, almost a foot higher than they had been, to a face he didn’t quite recognize, like deja vu. The shift in height made him stumble slightly.
“Whoa.”
The voice that came out of his mouth was deeper; he sounded a little like his Dad. Huh. Hands crept around his chest, and he nearly jumped out of his skin until he realized whose they were. He turned around and smiled broadly.
“Wendy! I didn’t hear you come in!”
“I’m very stealthy, you know that.”
“It’s true, you are.”
“Let me get a look at you. Wow, I guess you were right about the taller thing. Hmph. I’ll have to get used to that. You look good.”
“I’m glad you think so. It would have been a real kick in the teeth to age myself up only to disappoint you with the results.”
“I don’t think you could ever disappoint me, Dipper.”
“Good. I hope to continue that trend.”
“Did you want to get ready for the rave? I know Mabel is waiting for us.”
“Not just yet. I have some other ideas first.”
“Take an actual nap on that actual bed like you haven’t seen in days?”
“Heck yeah!”
They both jumped on the bed and in a tangle of limbs, passed out exhausted.
Mabel stepped out into the square just as the thumping music reached a fever pitch, and all the attendees cheered their Queen. A single note stretched out as the crowd hushed, then the beat dropped as Mabel danced into the throng.
Many songs later, she saw Wendy, also done up in EL wire, with furry black leggings and a neon green bandeau. She was dancing with a tall boy Mabel didn’t recognize until her heart jumped to her throat: That was Dipper. He’d done it, and it wasn’t until she saw him that Mabel realized she’d been hoping he wouldn’t go through with it.
Mabel set her jaw, grabbed Craz and Xyler by the hands, and danced with both of them as hard as she could. Bad feelings were not allowed in Mabeland.
Soos didn’t know there were this many sports in the entire world. He and his Dad had tossed footballs and baseballs, kicked soccer balls, flung lacrosse balls, and were now moving to yet another location for tennis.
Because Soos had never learned much about his Dad, they hadn’t talked much as they played. Well, his Dad hadn’t talked much. Soos told him everything. He talked about growing up with Abuelita, he talked about starting to work at the Mystery Shack, he talked about meeting Melody, he talked about defeating Giffany, he talked and talked and talked. Best of all, his father listened.
“We are here, mijo! Let me now teach you tennis, a true gentleman’s sport!”
“I always have considered myself to be a true gentleman!”
Soos’s Dad snapped his fingers and a net and regulation lines appeared on the grass. Snapping again, they were both in tennis whites, his luchador mask gleaming white with silver trim. Playing grass court tennis demanded proper attire, of course.
"Mijo, go to the other side, and I will gently hit the balls to you. I’m interested to see if you inherited my hand-eye coordination!”
Soos happily trotted to the other side of the net from his father.
“Are you ready, mijo?”
“I sure am, Dad!”
“Here we go!” Soos’s Dad hit the ball over the net, gently as promised. Soos completely missed as it bounced by him. Not reacting at all, he kept grinning happily at his father, racket held at the center of his body, knees bent, ready to move whichever direction the ball came.
“Good try, mijo. Now again.” Once more, a ball was sent gently over the net, and once more, Soos acted as though he hadn’t seen it.
“Uh. Hm. Is something wrong, mijo? Did you not see the balls?”
“I did, Dad. I’m waiting for the perfect one.”
“Oh...Okay…” Soos’s Dad hit another ball, less gently this time. It soared over Soos’s head and across the meadow, where it landed with the sound of smashing glass. Soos turned around, wondering why there was the sound of smashing glass in the middle of an open meadow.
“Did you hear that, Dad?”
“Did I hear what, mijo?”
“It sounded like that last ball hit something over there. I’m going to go take a look.” Still holding his racket, Soos followed where he’d heard the sound.
“Oh. My. Anime. Gods. It’s Wendy! Wendy, what are you doing here? Why are you sleeping in a smashed glass case, Wendy? Wendy? Oh, you’re still asleep, silly me.” Soos ran back to the court, grabbed his water bottle, then went back to Wendy. “Wendy, it’s me, Soos! Wake up, Wendy!”
The crystal that held Wendy had been cracked, but not fully shattered. Only her head was exposed, the rest of the crystal holding fast. Soos splashed water on Wendy’s face, but she didn’t wake up. She didn’t react at all. Over the course of the summer, Soos had honed his skill at waking Wendy up when she was sleeping on the job. He always let her nap until just before Stan came back from his last tour, or the bathroom, or wherever. He was very, very good at waking her up, and she was not waking up this time. This was Not Good. He headed back to the court again.
“Dad, I’d love to play tennis with you some more, but I have to go get Dipper and Mabel. I found Wendy over there, and she’s not waking up. Something’s wrong.”
"Mijo! You are showing true leadership and nobility of spirit! I have never been so proud! Let us return to Mabel’s tower, surely she will be able to help!”
After what felt like an endless infinity of shaking what her mama had given her, Mabel realized she just needed to sleep on suddenly having a big brother. It wouldn’t be all bad, she figured. She’d have someone to defend her from jerks at high school. Except they would be here, where there was no high school. And then math brain kicked in, and she realized he would only have been around for her freshman year. Yeah, time to cuddle up with a giant pig and think about all of this tomorrow.
Trusting it to go on without her, Mabel slipped away from her own party. Craz and Xyler danced on, not realizing their Queen had departed.
She returned to her quarters and started deconstructing the EL wire she wore. She looked in the mirror and wondered what was so special about being 12? What was so special about being older than 12? Maybe she could be not 12, but still be herself? Did that make any sense at all?
Or was that the actual secret to growing up?
There was never a thing that one twin tried that the other could ever resist. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Mabel, too, focused her energy on being 16. She opened her eyes to a sight just as eerie as seeing Dipper at the party had been. She was taller. Not as tall as Dipper, but certainly at least as tall as Tambry. Her face was thinner, having lost some of the chubbiness in her cheeks. She started to examine the rest of herself, but decided this entire exercise was too weird to continue. This was a process she wanted to experience gradually, not as part of some magic wish. Even if she had greatly enjoyed playing with that size-shifting flashlight that one time. But that had only been height, it hadn’t made her suddenly look four years older. Well, three years and six days older.
She closed her eyes again, and when she opened them, she was back to her normal self. It was honestly a relief. She was no closer to sorting out how she felt about Dipper’s choice, but she was satisfied that it wasn’t the path for her.
Mabel pulled on pajamas and curled up in her giant bed, with her Giant Waddles.
“Hey! It looks like Mabel left! Want to head back, too?” Dipper felt like he’d had enough party, even though time seemed to have no real meaning in this place.
“Yeah, let’s bail!” Wendy took his hand, and they made their way back towards the castle.
Neither of them noticed Soos and his father show up, still impeccable in their tennis whites. Soos noticed them, however.
“Dad, I know you only met my friends for like a second, but I’m seeing this correctly, right? That’s my friend Wendy and some tall...why does that look like it’s almost Dipper but not quite? I am very confused, Dad.”
“I am also confused, mijo. Is that not the same young lady we saw encased in crystal in the meadow?”
“It is. I need to go find Mabel, I think. Uh, maybe you should wait here. You’ll be here when I get back?”
“Of course, mijo.”
“Cool. Be right back.”
Soos took off toward the castle. As he crossed the threshold, his father disappeared.
Wandering through empty common areas, Soos realized that everyone was in their rooms. He found his way back to a door that even had it not said MABEL on it in glittering letters, it would have obviously been hers. Rainbows, kittens, and other brightly colored shapes and whorls covered it from top to bottom. Unicorns were very conspicuously absent. Soos knocked.
“Hey Mabel? You around?”
Mabel came to the door in her pajamas, just as bright and colorful as the door. She looked like she’d been sleeping, or at least trying to. The state of her hair and the tangle of bedclothes suggested she’d been having trouble finding rest.
“Soos! Where have you been! We had a rave. Dipper’s 16 now.”
“I was learning to play all the sports with my father, but I’m sorry we missed the rave! Also, Dipper’s what now?”
“Oh, Soos! Wendy decided she’s in love with him after all, and since we’re in a place where anything is possible, he made himself older so it was less weird. Or whatever. I’m fine.” Mabel hung her head and toyed with the hem of her nightshirt. She didn’t look like what Soos would call fine, but what she’d just told him reminded him why he was here.
“Yeah, about Wendy, dude...I don’t know if the Wendy with Dipper is actually Wendy.” Mabel looked up at Soos so fast he was sure she’d hurt herself.
“I KNEW IT! I knew it I knew it I knew it!! I wanted to be supportive, and I was willing to compromise to have Dipper stay with me but something about it just smelled wrong and--wait. Why do you think that’s not Wendy? The four of us haven’t been together all day!
“My Dad and I were in a meadow--My Dad is SO COOL, MABEL! He was teaching me how to play so many different sports, and we went to a meadow so he could show me how to play tennis. He hit a ball way into the distance and it smashed what looked like a crystal coffin, and Wendy was in it! I think our Wendy is kicking it Snow White style, dude.”
“Soos. Whoa. You are blowing my mind right now.”
“I know, my mind was totally blown, too.”
“I wonder how that happened? Wait, are we all asleep in crystal coffins? Am I really here? Are you?” Mabel started touching her face and patting her hair.
“Dude, I don’t know, but you’re kinda freaking me out. I don’t want to be in the Matrix!”
“I promise that you’re not in the Matrix, Soos. Whatever is going on here, it is definitely not that!”
“How are you so sure, Mabel?”
“In the Matrix, you can’t wish stuff into existence because you won’t believe it and you’ll wake up. Here, you can TOTALLY get that! You met your Dad today! See? Not the Matrix.”
“You are so wise. But we still need to rescue Wendy. And maybe Dipper? I’m still not sure exactly what’s going on.”
“If the Wendy he’s in there with isn’t the real Wendy, Dipper will definitely want to know about it. Let me change out of my PJ’s, and we’ll get this started. Hang on.” Mabel dashed behind a changing screen in the corner of her room, and emerged dressed for battle in pink and purple glittery camouflage. She knew that whatever lay ahead of them, it wasn’t going to be pretty or easy. “Let’s do this.”
Inside their room, Dipper and Wendy were in their pajamas as well, snuggling on the bed and talking. Dipper hadn’t felt so comfortable around Wendy the entire summer, and certainly with no one else basically ever. (Other than Mabel, of course. But sisters, even twins, didn’t really count for this sort of thing.) He still couldn’t believe his luck. If he was going to find himself stuck in a magical pocket dimension where time had no meaning, he was for sure making the best of it. He hugged Wendy tighter and smiled at her.
“I want you to know I’m really happy. This is really wonderful.”
“I’m really happy, too. If we’re going to live through the end of the world, the least we could do was get some joy, you know? My Dad always talked about the end of the world like, well, like it was outside. Scarcity and fear and scavenging for food and never getting a good night’s sleep because you didn’t know what was coming to get you. I’d much rather be in a big soft bed with you, Dipper.”
The name she knew him by coming off her lips in this moment hit him sideways. He thought about how a few days ago, a lifetime ago, he’d shared his most closely-held secret with Ford. Well, if his greatest two wishes all summer were to meet The Author, and something with Wendy that barely approached this, maybe it was time to open up a little more. Saying his given name once already made it that much easier to want to say it again. He took a deep breath, kissed the top of Wendy’s head, and let his breath out again slowly.
“Mason. When it’s just us, would you call me Mason?” Wendy looked up at him and stared.
“Mason. Whoa. I knew “Dipper” was a nickname, but I would never have asked. Thank you for telling me! Huh. Not what I would have guessed.” She leaned up and kissed him, and nothing more was said after that.
In his surveillance pod in the Fearamid, Bill nearly went incorporeal with glee. It had been a very long time since he’d had a True Name to play with. Already very deep in trouble, Dipper Pines had no idea the further danger he’d just set for himself.
Mabel and Soos hurried down the hallway to the room Dipper and Wendy shared. Mabel still cringed internally at the thought, but now it was tinged with a sense of triumph. Or hope for that sense of triumph, anyway. She banged on the door.
“Dipper! You in there?”
Dipper made an exasperated noise. He’d hoped that Mabel would give them some privacy at least for tonight. They hadn’t really spent much time all together at the party, so it made sense that she’d want to talk now, but it also was a jerk move. Surely she saw that, right? He looked down at Wendy, who had dropped off to sleep a few minutes ago. The knock on the door hadn’t woken her, even with Mabel shouting his name at the top of her voice. He gave Wendy a quick squeeze and then extricated himself from the bed as gently as he could without disturbing her. He came to the door with an annoyed air.
“Yes, Mabel, what is it?” It took him a second to remember there was now a significant height difference between them, and looked confused before looking down. Soos was standing behind Mabel with a completely stunned look on his face.
“Dude,” was all Soos could muster. Mabel took point.
“Hey, Dipper. Um, can you come out here for a second? Soos and I need to talk to you.” Dipper sighed, but exited the room and quietly closed the door behind him.
“What is it, Mabel? We were sleeping.”
“Pssh, yeah, sleeping, sure.”
“Mabel, tell me what this is about or I’m going back to bed.”
“That’s not Wendy.” Mabel was almost successful at keeping the “I told you so” out of her voice. Almost.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me. We already made sure it was really her! You’re just mad that I got something I wanted for a change.”
“Dipper, no, I promise. I’m happy for you, well, I was. I was trying to be, I promise, but Soos-- Soos, tell Dipper what you told me.”
“Dude,” Soos came out with again. He was still staring at Dipper’s new look.
“Soos! Tell Dipper what you told me!” Mabel was panicking that if what he’d seen didn’t get explained, she’d somehow lose Dipper further than she already had. None of this felt good at all.
Soos took a deep breath and composed himself.
“Dipper, I was playing tennis with my Dad, and we found Wendy, well, I guess a Wendy, encased in crystal. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, but I don’t know if the girl in your room is the real Wendy.”
Dipper pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Soos, unlike some people” he glared at Mabel, ”I have no reason to think you’d try to ruin this for me. Okay, so let’s say she’s not real, have I been kissing a manifestation of my own mind all day?” Mabel cracked up at this. She turned around and reached her arms across herself, running her hands up and down her neck.
“Look at me, I’m Dipper! I’m kissing a manifestation of my own mind!”
“Mabel! This is not the time. Ugh, great, now I’m getting a headache. That’s just what I need. Look, I’m going back to bed, we can deal with this in the morning, okay?” Mabel sighed and got a serious look back on her face.
“Dipper, please. I know you have no reason to believe me, but I’m worried about you. And Wendy. Also, I mean, if there’s any version of Wendy in danger, you’d want to help her, right? We don’t know who’s in that crystal, but if that is the real Wendy, do you want to take that chance?”
Dipper couldn’t argue with that logic.
“I guess you want to go now, huh?” Mabel nodded.
“If the real Wendy truly is trapped in a crystal, we don’t know how safe she is or for how long.”
“All right, let me go change out of my pajamas. I’ll be right back.”
Dipper went back into his room, where Wendy was awake and sitting up in bed.
“Everything okay out there?”
“Yeah, just, you know, twin stuff. Uh, I mean, sibling stuff, I guess.” Dipper walked over the chair where his clothes had been unceremoniously stashed.
“You’re getting dressed?”
“Yeah, Soos said he saw We…..weird stuff out in a meadow and we have to go check it out.” His sense of self preservation kicking in, Dipper suspected revealing the details would have really bad consequences.
“But it’s the middle of the night!”
“I know, but it’s kinda urgent. I’ll be back as soon as I can, but you should stay and get some sleep.”
“Do you want me to come with? I could probably be of some help.” Wendy pulled back the covers and started to stand up.
“No, it’s cool. Get some sleep. I’ll be back before you know it.”
“You’d tell me if something was wrong, right Dip...Mason?” With his head stuck in his shirt, Dipper didn’t see the yellow flash in her eyes when she said his name. He did, however, notice his headache get worse.
“Ow! No, nothing is wrong, Wendy. Ugh, this headache is going to make this real fun.”
“Okay. I’ll be here, I guess.”
“You’re the lucky one, you get to sleep. Back soon, I promise.”
Dipper kissed her once more, then left her alone in the room.
This time, Wendy remained corporeal, eyes glowing, imbued with the astral projection of Bill.
“Yeah, Mason. Come back soon.”
Neither Soos, Dipper, or Mabel heard Bill’s harmonic cackle come from Wendy’s lips behind the closed door.