//Freak// *Trans Dipper AU*

24

◭
----------------------------------------------

"Mabel, you can't be serious," Stanford crossed his arms.

"He finally wants to help us, grunkle!"

"Yes, but how exactly? He wants to just talk Bill out of it? Do you realize how stupid that plan sounds?!" Ford raised his voice and Mabel frowned. "Cipher is a heartless demon, Mabel, he won't change his plan on destroying this planet just because we said please."

"I know," Mabel said. "That is why we won't be the ones asking him not to, Alcor will. I know you think Bill doesn't care about him, but I don't think so."

Mabel now stood face to face with Ford, holding eye contact. The room filled with silence as the two stubborn Pines stared at each other, waiting for the other to back down.

"Ford," Stanley placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "It is the only hope we have. The kid won't go against Bill, even if it might cost him his life, but he would like to stop him, which isn't less than what we need."

Letting out a sigh, Ford pinched the bridge of his nose in defeat and Mabel grinned from ear to ear.

"Fine, so what exactly do you want? To let him out?" the last part was a sarcastic remark, not really a suggestion put out on the table, but Mabel nodded eagerly anyway.

"How do you want him to cooperate while being treated like a prisoner?" she had a point, and Ford had never been a person to not take other people's arguments seriously, even when they sounded ridiculous to him.

With a face full of doubt and hesitation, he agreed.

◭
------------------------------------------------

That was how Alcor ended up roaming the earth beneath his feet as a free man once again. Well, not exactly free as Ford would follow his every step and he wasn't allowed to leave the Shack as well as that he had to wear special bracelets on his wrists that would shock him whenever he used his magic.

Only a few days had passed since Mabel had bailed him out of that basement, and Alcor couldn't decide if it had been for the better or for the worst. He felt more on leash than he had felt in a literal cage! His every step was carefully watched and observed, every sound he made was immediately detected and listened to with alert.

He was walking on eggshells, his every move being able to be noted and listed as reasons why he shouldn't be given freedom.

"The cage in the basement sounds better at this point," Alcor stared out one of the windows, his hand cupping the side of his face.

The feeling of comfort and safety that the woods gave him was like no other, and he felt like a bird in a tight cage, hurting his wings.

"Believe me, I would rather have you down there as well," Ford didn't look up from his newspaper.

The silence between them was something that would take place daily, yet still uncomfortable.

Both of them not bothering to bring any light or warmth into the atmosphere, but instead filling it up with frost and ice, ice that they constantly walked on, unaware of when it could break beneath their feet and break all hell loose.

The room was cold, in all the wrong ways.

Until suddenly through the door stepped a ray of sunshine, almost blinding Alcor. Even Mabel started to feel a bit incongruous with her warm presence in this arctic landscape.

"Did I just walk in on something?" her question hung in the void of silence between Ford and Alcor. "Ugh, what is up with both of you?! You obviously don't like each other, why are you always together?!"