Work Text:
Two figures walked on a lonely, worn down street, steps shadowing the others’. The moon showed behind them with the rough concrete under their shoes, both shoulders to shoulder, one shorter than the other. There was one thing you could tell about the pair though, that the shorter one, had a more natural stance than the other brother. He wore a dark blue, ragged hood that his brother had sewn up months ago, but the shorter had a dark secret behind those pointed ears, teeth, and claws.
The younger of the two was actually much wiser, older than the other could comprehend, even if the other couldn’t learn of the truth. At least, not yet. The young teen showed strength in each step, yet there was an unease to his features, glancing to his older brother and then to his feet, lifting to in front of him to keep watch, before rotating his gaze again to his brother. Again and again.
He shook his head, staying confident, it wasn’t just any day after all. The two had mysteriously been sent a letter, an invitation, and an address to a part of town, where wealth was the norm, much different than the boys’ normal lifestyle. They walked for a few minutes in silence, the older looking more aggressive, changing his pace to walk in front of his younger brother, cautious if some assholes would attack once more like they would in high school. Or at least, when the older was in highschool.
The elder sibling stood in front of the younger as they gazed up at the house. Not as creepy as you’d expect from the suspense surrounding the letter that they had received just the night before. The house was a remarkable sight, and the older could vaguely remember being at a party of a house on the same street, the memory was foggy though from the morning’s hangover.
With the elder leading, he knocked on the molding door, staying protective of the younger with one arm in front of the teen. A shuffling was heard from the other side, with a cloaked figure opening the door, a faint smirk was seen on the crooked and slim figure the cloaked revealed. “Blake. Blake Guilding I presume. And hm... Dipper, Dipper Ste.. No. Guilding as well. We welcome you two to this building…” The man croaked, welcoming the two siblings. Blake, the eldest sibling raised an eyebrow, cautious yet gave a small nod, lowering his arm so Dipper could enter as well.
The two stepped carefully, the leading figure showing a confident aura as he stepped on creaking boards of the molding house. Dipper on the other hand winced at the sense of... Something in the air. His pointed ears flicked as his gaze struck from one side of the room they were currently in to the other, becoming more and more on edge as the steps continued. Chalked markings showed on the floor, giving him even more of a suspicious feeling. The thoughts clouding his mind had him zoning out, the man’s explanation of the two being invited to their current location being shut down as everything started to fog up.
A defining screech of his name bringing him back to reality. Blake looked worried as he stopped walking, giving his younger brother a small help with getting back to reality, glancing up at the strange man with a questioning look. “W-Who are you, asshole! What was that, what’s up with that fucking chalk!” The man only clicked his tongue, being dismissive towards the two.
“Don’t.” The man would grunt in that croak of a voice, whenever one of the teens would reach out to something that would catch their eyes. As they continued to walk, Blake could hear their footsteps starting to echo, either that or he could hear more footsteps joining the hollow tune of dusted conspiracies, the horror of long-hidden enigmas. His eyes nervously glanced from creaking corner to corner, trying to identify if the latter idea was the truth or not.
As they reached their destination, the eldest teen was sure that his building dread was going to burst, feeling a sudden sense of panic, trying to slow down his racing thoughts and cautioning himself. He knew what panic could do to someone, bringing out their rawest of emotions in the process. The teen glanced around, wincing.. What would happen? Why were they here? Why... Why...
He glanced back at his younger brother, Dipper seemed on edge but… Was more sure of himself. The older sibling could easily tell the difference between the two of them, sweeping his gaze back towards the guide.
It had felt like hours of walking until they had entered the room that this old man had wanted them to enter, footsteps echoing around the chamber. Blake was sure that this house wasn’t some normal old house or even a haunted mansion. It started with more and more people joining in, causing the oldest feeling even more cautious. There were.. More kids being led into the room, not just human, but of quite a few species.
There had to be around a dozen of them, and as he tried, there were 12, not counting his younger brother. An earth-shattering voice erupted from what had to be the leader of these cloaked men and women... People.
He winced away, putting an arm in front of his brother, but felt a tight grasp grip his shoulders, pulling him back in a sharp pull. Handcuffs were grasped on his wrists, cold, tight ones that rubbed at his skin. Blake could only watch in suspense at what would happen. The leader raised his arms, speaking in only what the eldest teen could tell was Latin, but that was all he could decipher out of the croaked yet sharp and commanding voice.
The chalked lines set aflame, leaving the younger inhabitants of the molding building in fear.
Dipper shook, eyes wide, the aura, the fear, it screamed to him. Oddly enough, through the terror, this… The feeling felt so natural. The robed leader only seconds before had let out a proud yell, “ You all must be curious on why you’ve been brought here! We’ve sensed your power! The potential within your old souls! The oldest soul, The Dreambender is amongst one of you… And he must be destroyed…!” The young teen reeled away in fear, trying to catch a single glance of his older brother, who was screaming out to him through the rising flames and smoke.
The boy was rather sure at this point what was happening. Yet, was so confused, scared, he wanted his mother… He had heard of stories like this, ones of cultists through what Blake would tell him after he had left school each day. Yet he was too startled to consider what the leader had spoken through the sudden screams, the sudden overflow of emotion.
Since the boy had been younger, he could tell what others were feeling, to a degree. But this current moment? He screamed, trying to run towards Blake, the long nails, more like claws gripped at the clothing of one of the cultists, pulling them back down to the ground. The younger gripped the older’s left arm, leaving marks in flesh as they both tried to run out of the collapsing building. Although the boy tried to focus on the way they came out, the screams, the emotion, the heat was getting to him. The lurching heat and smoke started to make him lightheaded, Dipper reeling away from a large wall of fire. His mind was screaming to run, to protect his loved one. But his heart lurched to help the other teens and children alike. He couldn’t… He latched onto his older brother, breaking down, feeling smoke and amber fill his lungs.
Blake shook and tried to break through the handcuffs, wincing only slightly at the claws digging into his flesh, only slightly charred. He could feel the sheer pain showing his efforts, cold handcuffs rubbing at his skin painfully. He soon ditched such efforts as he only hoped his brother would hold onto the arm. The soon adult ran whatever way he could find a way through, the ambers he quickly inhaled slowed his efforts as he was forced to cough every other breath. He gripped onto his younger brother, who was coughing just as much, before the heat got too much and everything went black.
Dipper screamed out for help as he could hear sirens, gripping helplessly onto his brother as he tried to overcome the smoke burning his vision, heaving as he collapsed outside of the burning building, whimpering with a small, “̶̹͚̩̪͖͗̉͊.̷̖̙̾̈́.̸̹̟͙͓̳̈̉̈́̐̐ͅ.̸̢̫̤͂.̴̛̤̹̰͚ ̵̺̪̲̂̓͠Ḣ̸̡̥̗̒ͅe̵̙̿̓́l̶̗͖̺͇̿͋͂p̵̯̀͌̈́̋͠…̷̪̉̀ͅ”̷̢͂̀ Before passing out on the front porch, wings seemingly hugging onto his brother along with his arms, blood and charred flesh showing on both of them.