Work Text:
The weather is getting chilly now and then as the young girl glances up to the bluesiest sky and wonders. A breeze blows right in her flustered face like a way of greeting from the chilly day of the year and to her oddly new life at Reverse Falls.
Time sure flies away when you're in an unfamiliar land.
A whole month of being here and the process of getting out of here was a mess. So it turns out the situation is difficult than the young girl could think while the elders barely give her time to breathe. Workloads still have to do, no excuses and no buts, what a joke. Iustitia pinches the brims of her nose as she gazes harshly over the piles of her own and her friends, piling up and waiting for her to finish up.
Now she understands why her friend needs this vacation that badly.
Finished up one whole pile and send it away, Iustitia glances outside as it appears to be morning again. She must have been working overnight again, which it's not a surprise anymore. Once she sends all the piles away, there's more to come her way as she almost dialed the elder and told them to deal with it themself (most of the report is minor work that doesn't need her help at all!) Stumbling while she tries to walk a straight line, heading deeper to get a fresh start. Cold droplets fell her flustered cheeks as she stared down to the lakes as it reflected her images after a few days of non-stopped working - dark circles under those dull emerald eyes and bruises were all over her face and hands.
What a mess.
Ever since she ignited the tugging war between her and the so-called twins (she preferred to call them the satan more, yet it would offend Satan himself), there are no peaceful days for her as she has to be extra careful when heading to the war zone. Unless they decide to make a massive mountain of bodies piling up in front of the entrance town, she will survive until she finds an exit out of this crazy town. Besides all of the shenanigans from those devil children, the paper works have driven her insane as she can't help but starts cursing in Latin (which the young girl didn't know until Gideon pointed out that she had been talking with them in Latin for one hour). Though they were in awe and excitedly asking her to teach them is so adorable, she had to maintain herself back before they figured out who she was.
A tired laugh echoes in the caves as the young girl slaps herself a few times to clear away all the negative thoughts and promises her - no, them that from now on, she would try to think positive only. Keyword: Try. Grabs the dry towel left beside her, she washes her face once more before heading back to where the remaining piles of files are waiting for her to finish. Staring at it won't help her finish it all before dumping all of them in the backpack, before glancing over the journal been filling up with Latin alphabets, vowels, and some examples.
Well, it's not harmful to teaching them.
The walk to the main road was quicker than before since being isolated for one month without knowing how long she would stay here, so Iustitia took her spare time to explore the town in the night and remembered everything in her mind. When she said everything, it meant everything, such as the dead ends, roads, where to avoid, and where to hide. With only a few minutes, the town's main path is in the vision as the summer heat is getting hotter as soon as she is out of the forest. With an annoying huff, Iustitia headed toward where the usual dinner was, with a fainted hope that she could get some adrenaline booth.
The familiar bell chimes when the young blonde girl cheerfully pushes the door aside as the fainted jazz music playing in the background gives the dinner a warm and cozy atmosphere. As soon as she reaches inside with the young boy following her behind, the first thing he notices is there are few people in there as they all look somewhat similar, with that he knows that something is wrong. Tugging the girl's jacket to stop at whatever she is standing, she seems to catch a hint of the strange environment as well before glancing back with a wary look. He mouthed a reassuring reminder to her: 'It's okay.' yet she knows that he isn't okay based on how his whole body is shaking up badly, though he still smiles at her before standing in front of her and finding a spot to sits down. Before leading the girl to a close-by table, a familiar voice has broken the tensed silences, giving him a shiver down his spine.
Why are they are here in all of the places?
"Gideon~ What a lovely surprise. Come, sit with us. I'm sure that our dearest friend I wouldn't mind."
Mabel's face popped out of the last table that was far away from all eyesight from outside. Gideon frowns at the offer as he knows there's nothing good that came out of the Gleeful twin, especially her, yet does he have any choice left? Slowly and cautiously walking over where she is sitting, he can finally see there're Dipper, who seems to lay back with those irritating grins on his face, and Iustitia, who looks surprisingly calm as there's crimson trail slowly oozing out from her neck. Both their eyes widened at the scene as a horrific gasp came out from Pacifica before those emerald eyes landed on her as the young girl shook her head. Her finger was on the table as she tapped gently, knowing that Pacifica and Gideon would catch up with the message she sent while facing the twin with a neutral expression.
"I would be thinking about it." She gives a firm answer before wiping away the oozing blood that has slowly stained her white shirt. It's her only available shirt as well, oh well.
"It's just a small cut after all. It doesn't do enough to harm a human."
Dipper chuckles as he glances over the silver knife stick on the wall behind her, a little crimson droplet slowly falling to the floor. Hear those words, Gideon clenches up into a fist as he holds back the urge to punch those annoying smirks away, yet his anger only calmed down as Pacifica whispered to him that they should remain silent for now even though she looked against the idea.
"You're right," Iustitia speaks as she takes a small sip of her hot cocoa before licking off the whipped cream at the corner of her lips with a mocking smile. "You barely can singlehanded kill a pest, after all."
Dipper clenches his fist as his face flustered bright red because of those mocking words. The burning gaze lands harshly on her as if looks can kill someone; her body would become small pieces by now. The silent atmosphere made everyone feel suffocated enough before another person came in as Mabel gentle nudged his shoulder to stop him. Dipper grumbled something under his breath before glaring at the girl sitting across from him.
"You better show up, or else." Dipper leans close to her and whispers harshly as those dark emerald eyes stare right back without unwavering. With that, they both leave the dinner and leave others terrific about what they just witnessed, and so many questions that they want to ask but are scared to know the answer.
"Sorry for scaring you two like that. Want to eat something?" Iustitia's expression softened as soon as the twins left as Gideon was hesitant to sit at the table, but her cousin seemed doesn't mind and hopped on next to the young girl and checked out how bad the injures was, yet she only denied it and said it was okay.
"What-What were you thinking?!" Gideon hissed loudly enough for them to hear as he was fuming at her, at the Gleeful twins, at himself. "You can get killed by them so easily! Do I need to remind you that they're not normal??! They have-have a sort of magic power, and I'm feared for your life if you're going to act so recklessly like that!"
Gideon ended up giving her a scold for half an hour about not messing with those twins. Yet she has to thank them, now that she knows how strong they are against her, the young girl can assure that everything will be fine until the day figures out a way (which she wonder if there's another way) to head back to the original world.
"Alright, alright. I'll retrain myself from throwing my life in front of the knife. And to make sure that I won't break the promise, let's make it a pinky promise. Deal?" Iustitia finally spoke up after Gideon finished giving her a lesson and even held up her pinky promise in front of the young boy's face. Before Gideon has a chance to think about it, Pacifica has already hooking hers with the young girl with a beaming smile on her face, leaving him no choice to accept it as well with a frown on his face.
"So, what did they ask you before we came here?" Gideon asks as he takes a bite of the pancakes while Pacifica takes a sip of her cocoa.
"There's a party that they're going to host, a Halloween party. They want me to come, mostly for some pieces of information and some sort."
"We also got the invitation as well! Do you have any ideas about the costumes? I was thinking of dressing as Alice in Wonderland, and Gideon is the white rabbit!" Pacifica replies, excited for the upcoming party, which Iustitia only frowns at the dress code the young girl mentions.
"Iustitia, please tell her that it's a formal party, and it's not a dress-up party," Gideon whines as Pacifica keeps telling him that why did they decide to host Halloween Party and only dress up in boring suit and dress.
"I don't know much about Halloween much, but judging by the places the party is going to host, then maybe we can dress like that? I don't know." Iustitia whines as she still has lots of new things to learn.
"See? I told you that- Wait, you have never heard about Halloween before?" Pacifica asks, looking surprised at her comment.
A shook.
"Never," Pacifica asks again, hoping that she didn't listen it wrong.
"No, I never heard about this Halloween party." Iustitia narrows her eyes at the dreadful expression on Pacifica's face before glancing back to Gideon and wondering what is wrong with her, as he can only shake his head and refuse to understand his cousin's mind sometimes.
"Not knowing Halloween is a serious crime! Don't worry. On that day, I would be your guide for all things you should know about Halloween!" The young blonde declared as Gideon groans in his arms, wishing that he is buried under six feet now. Iustitia lets out a small chuckle at her enthusiastic and kind soul before glancing outside, hoping that day won't be cold like today.
Loud music booms through Dipper's ears as his frown face gets worse every minute, and even her sister can't do anything about it tonight.
His patience is running low now, and she knows for a fact that someone would get another beating tonight. Though it's not her concern that who gets hit tonight, as his dear sister, she should try to calm her brother's short temple down before the perfect and kind-hearted Maison Gleeful would be ruined (and no one wants to face his wrath). Mabel swiftly takes his journal that he has been staring at with her power, takes a look at his chicken-scratch handwriting as she can make out some of the words.
"Didn't flinch when seeing magic for the first time." She read out the sentences out loud as her brother reached out to snatches his journal back, and stubborn as she was, Mabel didn't falter back and rushed to the other side of the room while keeping reading out all his thought about the girl.
"Don't know if she is brave or stupid for saying those things to me. Don't she fear death?"
"Those emerald eyes are disgusting to look at."
Before she can read further, her brother has already snatched the journal back as he lifts her with his magic, eyes filled with rages in it as Mabel lets out a stifled laugh, knowing that he won't dare to kill her.
"Don't ever read my journal without my permission again, Mabel. That is my first, and I hope that it is the last warning for reading my private journal without my permission," he warns her before placing her down and sitting on the sofa with a frown on his face again.
It looks like he is out of patience now.
The door soon swung wide open as the messy blue-haired demon leaned close to the door frame for support, panting as he kept his eyes to the ground, doesn't dare to look up when he spoke.
"They-They-They have arrived, young-young-young master Dipper, Young miss Mabel."
Mabel hums as she glances down to the floor again, seeing that annoying blonde girl has already gone somewhere and leaving Gideon standing there, dressing up all nicely and all by himself. Pat her brother's shoulder as he doesn't need to know what is she going to do next, probably annoying that brat as he takes a sip of the water before heading down as well, the great host always know to greet their guest with a warm welcome.
"And I thought that you rabbits always came up in times. Did you stop for a tea party?"
Gideon dresses up as the white rabbit, turns around to the familiar voice as his face scrunches up in distress, clenches his hands into a ball of fists as he promises that he will try to get along with the Gleeful twin, at least for tonight.
"Ah-Ah, yes. There're some problems gone wrong at the last minutes, so we arrive here late than expected." Gideon fidgeted with his sleeves as those lies came out natural than he thought. The real reason why they're late is that Halloween creatures have appeared in front of them while heading here. So all three of them end up trying to figure out a way to defeat the monster before Iustitita decides to recklessly throw herself into its stomach with a firework in her hand, and the rest was history. In short explanation, he can't say that all three of them were late because Halloween Monster has slowed them down, and Iustitia might have another minor injures because of her reckless acts again.
"I'm sure that it all plays off as you look handsome as ever, my dear bunny." Mabel winks at him as those smooth words come out naturally, which only makes his cheeks heat because of those flowery words as he's sure that she has said it to others as well, yet it didn't stop him from turning himself into a flustered mess. Mabel has seen it and teases him about the flustered state, as he quickly blames it as the lights source.
"Gideon! You have to hear what does Iustitia says to Willy!"
A cheerful laugh came up from behind the twin as both of them turned around to not only see Pacifica in those blue dresses and ribbons on her head, typical Alice in Wonderland style, and she was running up to them with a wide grin on her face. And behind her, it was those familiar emerald eyes beside her as she decided to dress up as a Hogwarts wizard. Once Pacifica run-up to Gideon and quickly hid behind him, out of breath as Iustitia was panting heavily before gazing harshly at the young girl hiding behind the boy.
"Don't you dare to tell him about it, Pacifica! That was an accident, okay?!" she hissed which her plead to seem to fall into deaf ears.
"So we meet Will while heading back out, the first thing she said was -" Iustitia quickly rushes over the girl, covering her mouth and preventing her from talking anymore of the accident. Yet it didn't end there as she licks her hand, making the other girl let out a yelp and has to remove her away quickly.
"Instead of saying he looks cute, adorable, she says he looks like her alpaca plushies!"
Great.
Iustitia silently screamed in her hand as the not-so-little accident had been shown in the daylight as her cheeks immediately heated up about that accident that happened minutes ago. In her defend, she doesn't have any decent sleep for the past few days, so there might be a few words slipped out without thinking. And she doesn't like making people cry as well, remember those teary eyes stare at her in fear and confusion - her heart aches at that familiar expression as she has seen it too many times now, in every age she has witnessed all of it. But these times, there's no blood of her fellow friends on her hand, and there's no war happening.
"It was a slip of my tongue, as I barely have a decent sleep for a few days now. So can we, please - PLEASE - forget what I just said to the poor boy?" Iustitia groans, crossing her arms as gazing at both of them, who is stiffing back laughter now. Gremlins.
"I hope that our dear butler didn't trouble you two or anything. If he does, please do tell us." For a moment, Iustitia forgets why she is here before she turns around to face Mabel, who flashed her one of those charming smiles, yet under those sweet words and bright smiles, those smiles are more dangerous and sinister than those sinners have chained in the depth of Hell.
"I don't have enough words to describe how marvelous butler he was. Being a butler is always busy all day, even when their master hosts a wonderful party like this. Yet William has offered some help to lead us to where we headed and even offered to guide us back to where the party was, even though he had other tasks to do. So I don't think there's any complaining about him." She explained with a beaming smile on her face as Mabel's smile twisted at her replies, her hand clenched tightly beside her dress as she didn't expect a decent answer without any sarcasm or any snarl from the other girl.
"I'm glad to hear it, it takes some time to train him, yet it was worth the effort to see the guests are pleased with his service." Dipper must notice his sister's short temple and decide to speak up for her, as those eyes have never left away from her. Iustitia only titles her head to the side as the smile hasn't left her face, as those eyes spark under the bright lights and only make him irritated more about her.
"Thought, I would love to stand here and talks more. But we have something else to discuss, isn't that right?" Iustitia hums at his words as there's a little tug at her sleeves that is enough to catch her attention. Gideon's hand still clinging to her sleeve, his hand trembles as he narrows his eyes over the young boy, as the young girl must figure out what is going on to him.
"Gideon. Gideon. Look at me."
Iustitia whisper as she places both of her hands on his cheeks softly, gently runs her thumbs over those freckles as those frowning browns have slowly dropped down, yet his hand still clutches to her sleeve like he fears that if he let go, he would regret his decision for the rest of his life.
"Hey. I will be fine, only exchange some pieces of information, and then I'll head back to you two safely. Promise." Those worrying pale blue eyes stare right back at the calming emerald one as he wishes to have a small part of her bravery. Slowly pulling his hand away as defeat, Gideon whisper: 'Be safe, please' as Iustitia nods, quickly giving him a peck on the forehead before following Dipper to the upper floor.
"Take a seat, any seat. So we can finish this quickly."
Swiftly open the door, the young master walks past her frames before flopping down on the large leather sofa with journal #2 beside him. If she learns something from journal #2, those who possess it never show it to other people, yet he leaves it right in the room carelessly like that.
Maybe it was planned from the start.
Maybe it was a bad idea to agree on these trades.
"Before I ask anything, I need to know your name. It's easy to call by name and not by nicknames." He gazes over the still figure as she hasn't moved away from the door, raising one of his eyebrows. "Are you going to stand there for the rest of the night or what?" She flinches at the sudden words before silently walking over where the single couch was and sitting down comfortably, only that she finally answers his questions.
"Iustitia. Iustitia Halley."
"Why did you keep re-appearing in my dream?" He asks.
"Your dream has been swapped with a friend of mine. You must see his dream where I take care of him, which it's normal for a friend to take care of others." She answers, fingers intertwined together.
"But to do all of this, it requires magic." He explains as her finger twisted at the statement. "You're not from this world, aren't you?"
"If you're accusing me of being alien or some strange monster, I'm walking out of the door now."
Shit.
He figures out quicker than she thought.
Before she gets up and is ready to leave now, a blue-ish chain wrapped around her ankle and the table leg as she curses herself for being careless about this situation before glaring over the boy and the bright amulets.
"We have a lot of times, so please make yourself at home." He leaned back to the couch with a yawn.
"What if I said I am? What are you going to do then, blackmail me?" Letting out a low growl as she has no choice but to use the backup plan (even though it's risky), but it's better to stay here any longer.
"Maybe I should tell our dear friends about the kind-hearted Patel is hiding a horrible secret under her best friend's nose. Now, that sounds amazing, isn't it?" he chuckles before placing journal #2 in her face, and in front of her was the page about the parallel world.
"Your freedom but exchange for the secret of your world. Deal?"
Swiftly taking out the wand, the young girl pointed it right at his neck as those dark emerald eyes glare back at him as she speaks in a low, dangerous voice like last time they spoke on the phone.
"If you think I would sell the secret out for my safety, you underestimate me, kid. Here I thought, for a month, you would finally understand your foe, but the result was a disappointment."
Press the wand right under his neck as he grasps her red and yellow striped tie tightly, bringing their face close together as their eyes only show one thing: Wrath.
"Let me give you a lesson when you shouldn't mess with someone who isn't from here. Incarcerus!"
He didn't have times to react before a chain-likes appeared from nowhere and tied him up, making him stumble and fall back to the hardened floor with a cushion already placed behind his head to prevent the harshed fall.
Is she also another dream demon-like Will?
But why did Will didn't mention anything about this? No - more important, why did that slave didn't felt any magic presence around her?
"Right, first thing first. Let's move you to a couch again." Iustitia murmured as she lifted him and threw him on the couch like nothing as Dipper scowls at her, trying to break free with his magic, yet the chain only wrapped around him tighter, probably leaving bruises marks tomorrow morning.
"What exactly are you, Halley?!" he frustrated roar, hoping that someone would hear him.
"Don't bother. Before we head in, I have placed my guard to keep everything outside is under control." Iustitia grumbles as he watches her waving her wand at the blue-ish chain before it breaks into millions of lights.
"Right, second thing." Iustitia kneels in front of his face with his pen in her hand, smiling devilishly. "You didn't think that I would let you go after you throw your knife at my neck, right? Ah, payback time, Gleeful."
It was a struggling battle, honestly.
But she won and drew embarrassing things on his face, as once the young girl felt satisfied and placed the pen back to the original place before holding up her wand again, ignoring Dipper's thread of curses and threats.
"Don't worry. After all of this, you won't remember much besides my name and the only answer you want to hear for one whole month."
"Fuck you, Halley." He spats as Iustitia hums, waving her wand in front of his face with a smile on her face.
"Goodnight, Gleeful." With that, she whispers out a strange spell as he tries to keep his eyes open, but the drowsiness washes over his body as all he can remember is a warm blanket draped over his body.
BONUS:
The familiar bell chimes when the young blonde girl cheerfully pushes the door aside as the fainted jazz music playing in the background gives the dinner a warm and cozy atmosphere. The young blonde girl pushed the door open while glancing around the diner, hoping that she would find those familiar raven hair before a hand raised and waved her over. The blonde beams before holding the door for others behind her, as the raven smile at her kind act before paying attention back to her teaching with the albino boy.
"It's a bit hard to get used to it at first, but I can lend you my journal if you want practices with Pacifica in your free times." Taking a sip of her coffee mug, Iustitia softly smiles at the excitement shining bright in Gideon's eyes when he has the permit to bring this back.
"Are you two starting without me again?" Pacifica flopped down on the opposite side of the seat as she pouts.
"We only speak about bringing the journal back to practice in free time. Besides, today is knowing the alphabets." Gideon shrugs as he passes Pacifica the journal, takes a sip of his drink.
They joke and laugh at their own failed attempt at speaking Latin as there're some eyes staring at them like they're speaking weird languages, but they laugh it away.
It was a peaceful morning for them.
"Ah, fancy to see you two, Mason and Mabel! Are you two coming here for my famous pancakes?" The owner greets the newcomer as Dipper jokes as he misses those pancakes and wants to come here again.
"I bet five dollars that they're here because you kissed Gideon yesterday," Pacifica whispered as all three of them lowered their head and hoping that they would ignore them. Gideon's cheeks soon burned up at the little action yesterday as Iustitia raises her eyebrows at the bet.
" I thought that it's normal? I mean, doesn't your mother do it when you go to bed?"
"Well, that was when we still believe in Santa Claus is real," Gideon whined as Pacifica gasped at his comment and stood right up, alarming the whole diner and even the Gleeful twin.
"He is real!"
Iustitia didn't know if she should cry or laugh in this situation anymore.
"Well, fancy to see you three here. Mind if we join you?" Dipper gives them a kind smile, but they all know behind those smiles is anger underneath it. They have no choice but to let them sit at their table as Iustitia quickly grabs the journal and puts it away.
"Pancakes and coffee? That's all you guys will ever eat?"
"Well, that's called being a normal human having normal breakfast," Iustitia mutters under her breath as she moves over to her left, so Gideon has some space to scoot away from Mabel's embraces like usual.
"Sure, Halley. I can assume that a normal person can also draw someone's face when they're sleeping?" Dipper whispered low enough to her to hear as Iustitia gazes at him before shrugging innocently.
"Well, I would prefer to call it instant karma for what you have done to me." She replies with a smile on her face.
"I start to worry about your brave desire to poke a sleeping lion, Halley." He snarls, which only earns a mocking coo from the girl.
"Aww, do you think of yourself as a lion? Yet, I only see a small and angry cat sitting in front of me."
Dipper's face reddened at the mock as the urge to wipe away those smirks, yet he had to endure it with a twisted smile on his face as his finger dug deep into his thighs. Before they can argue more, Gideon has shut them up with pieces of pancakes as he whispers harshly at both of them.
"All I asking is a peaceful morning having a normal breakfast with my friend and cousin, without seeing blood spills for five seconds! Is that hard to ask for?!"
Dipper glares at him while Iustitia only gives an "Ok" before silently eating the pancakes.
