Don't Forgive Me

Chapter 48 (updated with artwork)

“Agh”, exclaimed the man as he sat up abruptly in an unfamiliar room. He groaned and ached all over from what had happened a few days prior.

It was difficult to tell how much time had actually gone by considering he had hardly been lucid during the entire debacle of pain. He looked down at his body, inspecting it he did know one thing, it hurt.

He squinted, it was a task to see in the dim-lit room without the assistance of his glasses. The room around him was illuminated by small flickering orange lights, candles perhaps. It was musty, much like dirt, based on his observations alone he would guess he was underground.

A crude sling cradled his right arm, holding it in place to hinder the bones from moving about too much. His ribs had been bandaged as well, someone had been looking after him. Just when he thought he was alone something shifted out of the corner of his eye.

“Hello?”, he called out, just barely being able to make out a fuzzy figure at the entrance of the room.

“I was wondering when you would awake. What is your name, Traveller?”, a woman in a cloak approaches him. She looks relatively normal, for the most part, humanoid. She politely hands him his glasses, he blinks and rests them on the bridge of his nose.

The man gets a better look at her and realizes she has multiple eyes scattered across her face; he’d seen many creatures throughout these dimensions but never anything quite like her.

“My name, oh, of course, it’s Standford Pines.”, his eyes quickly avert from hers. He didn’t want to make it obvious that he was staring in curiosity.

“It's good to put a name to a face.”, she gives a smile and sits down next to him.

“Well, I should thank you. You’ve taken me in and sheltered me. What do I call you?”, Ford asked as he adjusted his sling.

“I am known by many names, but, you may call me the Oracle”, the man cocks a brow at this name but doesn’t want to push the subject.

“What happened? How long have I been here?”, the gruff man asks.

“Only a few days, you were injured badly and collapsed nearby.”, she says looking towards the door.

“I had gotten into a scuffle with the time police. They finally caught up to me. Evidently, I broke too many time laws I wasn’t aware of.” He says with a defeated sigh.

“You’re not from here, are you, Stanford?” the Oracle said, looking at him quizically.

“No, I got sucked into a different dimension through a portal. I haven’t been able to find a way back to my reality. But, so long as I am here I’m also on the hunt for someone…”, his expression becomes grim.

“Whom are you hunting, might I ask?”, the woman says as she goes to help re-wrap Ford’s arm.

“I’m on the trail of a demon named Dipper.”, he says flatly. He seems to be pretty aggravated with himself for getting so badly hurt.

“I know him.”, the woman seems to say with a hint of a grudge in her voice. “He’s nothing but trouble that constellation…”, she said as she tightened the strands of the bandages around the man’s shoulder.

Ford nods, he’s heard that response in some fashion from many throughout his endeavors here. Looks like the entity has caused nothing but a mess for everyone involved. He knows that the creature has bigger plans; twisted ones at that.

“Where did you first meet him?”, asked the woman. She sat back in her chair cleaning off the old bandages in a bowl of water.

“Well, it began when..”, Ford goes on to delve into his past memories.