Semblance

2 ~ Fall

(The song 'Shots' by Imagine Dragons for this chapter.)

Later that evening, everyone was still tense and uneasy among each other. Sharp glances and stiff postures easily expressed the tension. Wendy and Soos had excused themselves early and went home. The family didn't tell each other, but everyone felt close to breaking.

During dinner, no one seemed hungry. Mabel pushed the food around her plate with her fork, Ford stared down, deep in thought. Stan tried to not dwell on days past. Dipper hid his face in Journal 3. They couldn't go on like that forever though, it was only a matter of who broke the silence first.

Stan cleared his throat, Ford furrowed his brow, Mabel glanced up, and Dipper turned a page.

"So," Stan began, "I'm... I'm sorry about earlier Ford. I shouldn't hav--"

"No, you shouldn't have." Ford said, meeting his brothers eyes.

"It wasn't your fault, Okay?"

Hearing his Grunkle's words, Dipper muttered, "Yes it was."

What they didn't know was that he hadn't meant to say that aloud. He hadn't even meant it to them, instead remembering his own faults.

"Bro bro?" Mabel said, aghast.

"What is it Mabel?" He said, turning another page.

Shocked, no one said anything. They had known that Dipper's trust had been shaken when Mabel had left the portal open, but this seemed a bit much. Ford, knowing that it would be bad to start arguing again, decided to speak up.

"I was going through all the possibility on how Bill might have found out about the shield, and I realize that I was probably wrong."

"You're not wrong." Said a voice so quiet, that for a moment they though they had imagined it. It was Dipper.

 
Not sure they had heard him right, no on turned his direction. After a moment is silence, Ford carried on. Dipper didn't listen. No, he knew that he was somehow tied into this is a way that not even Ford would ever understand. Bill wanted something from him. The Dream Demon seemed to always choose to mess with him whenever the time arose.

Surely his nightmares couldn't be tied into all of this? The dreadful feeling in the pit of his stomach did not lessen. No, Dipper knew that the nightmares were more than what he assumed. Bill certainly had other means and ways of getting the information, but sending and invading Dipper's nightmares would only get him further into his plan.

Especially since Dipper couldn't tell anyone about the Rift, in fear of endangering their reality. It wasn't that he didn't trust them, he just... Suppressing a growl of frustration, he ground the heels of his hands into his eyes, massaging his temples. Everything would work out in the end, it would have too. If it didn't, well, then they wouldn't have much time left anyways, now would they?

Silently, he decided to drop back into the conversation.

"We're protecting everything within close proximity to everything inside the Shack," Ford was saying, "but outside, it is a different game. Bill can do whatever he wants outside. Anyone could be a pawn, and no one would know."

"But Grunkle Ford!" Said Mabel. "We have friends out there! What about Candy and Grenda?"

"Look kid," interrupted Stan, "I know that your friends are important. But we have to protect ourselves. Then we can--" He turned to his brother. "What are we gonna do then?"