No Matter What

Chapter 2: The Darker Reality

Terrified, Dipper felt the ground under his feet disappear completely, leaving him to hopelessly fall through space. He yelled, his body twisting and turning as he dropped through the hazy red and white colours surrounding him.

Through his terror, he caught glimpses of the world around him – or lack of. Colours floated aimlessly through the air, the matter around him glitching like a computer screen.

Suddenly, he was no longer falling, colliding painfully with the ground. He yelled out in pain, breathing heavily as he fought to catch his breath. Dipper dared not move, not at first; he simply stayed how he was, watching out of the corner of his eye for any sign on life. The strange, disjointed colours and objects drifted around him as silence fell upon the realm he was trapped in.

The surface underneath him felt like glass, only rougher. Slowly, he ran his hand across the ground, watching how colours were dragged with the movement.

What happened next was so small, yet so horrifying, that Dipper would have missed it if had simply blinked. And yet, his eyes widened as he saw his hand flicker like a glitching computer screen before his eyes.

"No!" Forgetting to be silent, Dipper jumped to his feet, stumbling backwards. His hand was held in front of him, shaking.

Again, for a split second, it glitched like the world around him.

"No!" He repeated, staring around. It was like he was in the middle of nowhere, no exit in sight. Everything looked the same everywhere he looked. He ran an unsteady hand down his face, feeling tears burn at the back of his eyes.

"Oh, we'll meet again..."

Dipper paused abruptly, freezing as he felt familiar piano keys begin to play around him, now accompanied by a voice. It echoed around him in a deliberate, slow manner, dipping with malice.

"Don't know where..."

Painfully, Dipper felt an invisible force collide with his back, sending him crashing to the ground. The glass-like surface shattered beneath the force, and he was suddenly falling once more.

"Don't know when..."

Shards scattered around him as he began to plummet, knifing his exposed skin. Twisting in the air, Dipper looked at where he fell from, eyes widening in horror.

"But I know we'll meet again..."

A scarlet eye was staring down at him, it's red light reflecting onto Dipper's skin. Dipper screamed, but could not hear himself over the booming piano keys that seemed to quake the world around him.

"Some sunny day..."

A blinding pain struck his head, and he was mercifully knocked unconscious.

~

Dipper came to shortly after, waking with a start and staring around. Above him, he spotted a rift closing itself in the sky with a large flash of colour.

Immediately, he sprang to his feet, attempting to grab the small gun Grunkle Stan had given him in earlier years. It was to keep him safe during his adventures, and though he disliked the idea at first, it had saved him from getting torn apart by monsters one too many times.

So he was startled when his fingers only clasped air rather than the smooth metal handle. With a startled gasp, he looked down and found that he had lost the weapon somewhere in the fall.

The fall.

Reminded of the frightening experience, Dipper looked around wildly, ears straining for any sound of slow music. However, he found none – no distorted colours, no singing – he looked down at his hands, relieved to note that they were no longer flickering like colours on tv.