The new girl in Gravity Falls; by Joona Irene

Deep

By Joona Irene

~~Lilac POV~~

        The water was calm. Around me. The fish had decided that I wasn't a threat and therefore came close. Sometimes they'd nibble on my fingers, but they couldn't draw blood. There wasn't any blood to be drawn.
        Anyways, I had retired to the lake. I needed the calm. I stayed away from the tunnel exit, just in case, and I was sitting on the bottom. The sand felt nice between my toes. I was relaxed. Often, after I left people, I'd go to a large body of water and just stay there for days. Months even. Leaving was always distressful, but unavoidable. It needed to happen.
        Thinking about Dipper and Mabel reminded me of the other people I'd left. Xavier. Jayson. The Smiths. Mr. Poll. Stanley. Lilac.
        Suddenly there was a huge ripple across the water. I looked up at the surface; it was just a boat. Ugh, it had a motor. I rolled my eyes before returning to the serene view I had been enjoying before.
        "Um, excuse me?" I heard a voice say.
        "Wait-" I turned around in the water,
Oh.
        There was a merman next to me. He had dark skin, with brown eyes and dark brown hair. His tail was green and a sea shell hung around his neck.
        "Would you happen to be Lilac?" he asked in a Spanish accent. I nodded, a little surprised since, one, I'd never seen a merman before, and two, this merman knew who I was. Or maybe it was just a lucky guess. But, why would he guess such an uncommon name?
        Also why was he here?
        "Can I help you?" I asked, trying to not stare at his tail.
        "Yes, of course." He said with a toothy grin. "I am Mermando. My friend Mabel sent me a letter saying she wanted me to find you."
        "Well, you did." I said, shrugging.
        "I honestly can say," Mermando said, rubbing the back of his neck, "I did not expect to find you. Much less discover that you were a girl. How are you breathing right now?" He asked, looking at my face intently. "Where are your gills? And tail? You do not look like a fish. Seriously..."
        "I don't have lungs." I explained. He nodded.
        "Well, Mable wanted me to come and find you." He said. "She said to tell you that they know what you are, and they still want to be friends. They do not want you to be lonely anymore. And also, they have a million questions. Like, I could not remember them all, so you should just go and answer them yourself." he tilted his head. "How is Mabel?"
        "Still as crazy as ever." I said, chuckling. He laughed a little too.
        "So, will you talk to her? And also her brother...Dipper?"
        "No." I said quietly. "It's nice that they think they understand, but how can they? Also, how long did it take you to find me?" I asked him.
        "Not long." Mermando said with a shrug. "They told me to check the Gravity falls lake first, and then search the oceans."
        "The oceans?" I echoed. How did they know I'd go there...well, eventually? That's obscure.
        "Yes." he said. "I was not looking forward to it. Neither was my wife. She is not a fast swimmer. She is a Manatee."
        "I see." I said, thinking that he was way too young to be married. But, whatever. Mermaids have different rules I suppose.
        "Lilac, Mabel really misses you." Mermando said. "There were tear drops on the letter! See, look, I have it right here- oh, wait I left it behind. Oops." He smiled awkwardly at me. "Regardless, they miss you. It seemed like, even if you do not want to talk to them, they wanted to talk to you."
        "Thank you Mermando." I said. "I'll think about what you said."
        "You are welcome!" Mermando said. "I am always happy to send a message for Mabel! Even if this was my very first time!"
        "Alright..." I said, waving as he swam away. Then I was left alone.
Well, now I know mermaids exist. Now that that's been cleared up...Dipper. Mabel. They sent a mermaid to come find me. How did they know I'd go to the water? How did they know I'd eventually get into the oceans? It wasn't like that's something everybody does. Sure, people have their quiet places...did I ever mention it? I thought hard, trying to remember me saying something about the ocean. But I couldn't recall anything.
        And it isn't like they could have done research about me. I was careful to make sure there were no records of me. I made everybody promise, I tore apart the internet, I burned every book, every page...
        Stanley...he wouldn't have done that. He wouldn't have. Couldn't have! He promised, he gave me his word!
No, he didn't. I'm sure. Maybe Mabel and Dipper just have lots of friends...strange, obscure friends...who they asked to help fine me. No big deal. Or maybe it was. Mermando didn't have any reason to lie to me. Maybe I-
NO!
No way.
I'm not going to go see Dipper and Mabel. I don't want them getting hurt.
        "But Lilac-" Oh, great, I'm talking to myself again. I mentally slapped myself and chastised my indecisive mind.
        "How about you just explain to them why you can't be friends?" I offered out loud. "They do seem to care...a lot."
It was decided. I wouldn't say anything about what I was, because really, I didn't think they knew a thing about me. I would simply explain that I needed to move on because...it was time to. That seemed legit. Slowly I swam up off the bottom of the lake but stayed underwater, and began heading towards the shore.
        I crawled out of the water only to see Dipper and Mabel heading towards me. They seemed to be deep in conversation, and didn't even notice I was there.
        "I'm absolutely one hundred percent positive that he found her!" Mabel was cheering. Dipper didn't seem so sure until he glanced up, and did a double take.
        "Lilac." He breathed. I shyly waved, and to my surprise, Dipper started running towards me. He tackled me in a hug, with Mabel not far behind.
        "LILAC!" Mabel screamed with delight. "OH MY GOSH I knew you'd come back! I just KNEW it!"
        "No, no," I started. "That isn't-"
        "Lilac we have so much to ask you." Dipper said. "Why did you leave? Why'd you come back? I mean it isn't like it's a bad thing you're here, I really really missed you. Are you...do you...?"
        "I'm not coming 'back'" I said quickly. "I just thought you deserved an explanation."
        "Wait, you're not staying?" Mabel asked. "But why? You're here!"
        "I'm leaving because it's time for me to go." I said, shrugging.
        "No you aren't." Dipper said, his face pulled down. "You can't leave. I won't let you!"
        "You're going to stop me?" I questioned. "Why? We hardly know each other. What, we've hung out like, twice? Three times?"
        "Four if you count the sleepover." Mabel added.
        "I don't care if you've killed people." Dipper said, his face looking more and more desperate. "I don't care if you're from a different dimension." I was startled to hear him say that. How did he know? How is that possible? But he wasn't done surprising me. "I don't care if you are really a black thing and I don't even care if you're not really a girl!" He took a deep breath. "Will you please stay? We have so much to ask you. And we want to be your friend."
        "Best friend!" Mabel added with a huge grin on her face.
        "How..." I gasped. "How do you know all of that? How is this possible? You...you can't know that!" I took a step away from them.
        "No, please, don't go away!" Dipper begged. "We want to know-"
        "Know what?" I asked, glaring at them. "Know all my secrets? Know my powers? Know my knowledge of the entire earth? Or would you like to know just how many people I've killed? Would you like to know how I managed to burn an entire planet with nothing but my fingers? Would you like to know the meaning of the word genocide?" Now I was screaming at them. "How can you ask me that? How can you not understand that I'm leaving for you?"
        They were struck speechless. I stood there, hair still dripping, staring at them, my hands in fists. I deflated, taking in a short breath, and looked away. Then Mabel ran up to me and gave me a hug.
        "We want to know if you want to stop being alone." She said gently. I couldn't speak. I didn't blink, I didn't move. I had given them my best. Everything. My darkest truths, my worst works, not in great detail true, but horrible enough to make somebody cringe. But no, no cringing. After all that, they still stuck around.
        I looked at Dipper. He had the smallest smile I've ever seen, and possibly the best and warmest I've ever seen. Slowly I wrapped my arms around Mabel and hugged her back.