Counting Stars (Mabifica)

Chapter 37

Stanford Pines ushered everyone into a room in the shack that even Stanley, the man who had lived here for over 30 years, didn't know about. It was a dull room, white wallpaper with no pattern and a strangely clean wooden floor. Nobody questioned it though.

There was nothing else in the room, which was surprising because it was very large. There was a piece of chalk in the corner, the only dusty thing in the strange room. Ford picked it up and motioned for Stan to grab journal 3. His twin nodded and left the room, seconds later, coming back with the thick book in his hands. Ford nodded his thanks and flipped to the right page, twirling the chalk in his fingers. He finally found the page and set it down in one corner. He then started to draw on the floor, a careful circle.

It was surprisingly clean, normally circles were wobbly when people drew them unless they used a compass but Ford had experience. He drew the perfect circle, taking up practically the whole room. He glanced back at the journal before drawing another, smaller circle in the middle of the larger one. Then, proceeded to draw Bill. He stood up from his crouching position on the floor, turning to the group standing by the doorway, all gazing curiously at him.

"This is where Bill will stand, his magic will power the wheel" he explained, pointing the chalk at the drawing. He added the bowtie then stepped left, beginning to draw sectors inside the circle.

In the first sector had a shooting star symbol. Mabel's. And next to that, the heart. Everyone turned to Robbie, staring at his hoodie. A little spooked, he stepped back into the other room and made the excuse that he was thirsty. Ford dismissed him and drew out Mcgucket's glasses.

By the time he had finished, Robbie had come back with a tall glass of orange juice. Ford could've sworn they hadn't bought orange juice lately but was too busy to question it. He guided everyone to their spots on the wheel before going to his own. The six fingered hand.

"Now what?" Called a voice to his right. Wendy was standing by the Icebag, shuffling her feet. She looked bored already.

"We wait" Ford said plainly, making a couple of people groan. "Don't worry, the others will come back soon". In the back of Ford's mind, he doubted they would. Whoever this other demon was, he was very, if not more, powerful than Bill had ever been.

∆ ∆ ∆

Dipper Pines stood below the strange triangular temple, trying to find a doorway. Mabel was standing a couple of metres to his left, observing the strange carvings on the stones. Pacifica was with her, they were still holding hands. Dipper wasn't surprised.

The younger twin flinched as he heard a noise coming from behind him. He turned around and raised the gun, charging it up so it would fire a bolt of electricity at whoever was there. It wasn't a monster. Dipper sighed as relief flooded over him, he was grateful to not have run into any monsters during his trip into town. But there was nothing there.

Dipper shrugged it off, turning back around and failing to notice the dark blue figure flying up towards the temple. It opened up, a small door that revealed what looked like a glowing orange room. Then, it closed just as quickly as it had appeared.

∆ ∆ ∆

Tad Strange heard a door open but didn't turn around. He was still facing Bill, who had passed out, still chained to the wall. He was bleeding pretty badly, it didn't seem to want to stop but Tad didn't care.

"Sir" the small blue monster, a floating eye with batwings protruding from its sides, said in a whisper. "They're here".

Only now did Tad spin around, he grabbed the monster and pulled it closer to his face, grinning and laughing. The monster, unsure of what to do, laughed uncertainly with him. Tad dropped the monster, walking over to his throne, made out of the townsfolk of gravity falls, and pulled a lever. A pad with buttons floated up and he scanned over them before finding the one he wanted. The big red one, of course.

He slammed his hand down onto it and a loud scraping sound echoed throughout the room. A door was being opened for the Pines to come in. Tad rubbed his hands together and placed the pin on the throne. This was going to be fun. He walked over to Bill and clicked his fingers...

∆ ∆ ∆

Dipper pines called over his sister and Pacifica, pointing to a slot of light coming from the temple. It grew and suddenly there was a staircase slowly making its way down to them. Dipper hesitated. Was this all planned by Tad?

Before he could say anything, he was pushed slightly. His foot touched the bottom step and his heartbeat quickened. Dipper started walking up the stairs towards the temple, slow at first but then gaining speed. His heart felt as if it was going to explode when he reached the top, panting. He turned to see the others, climbing more slowly, cautiously. He helped mabel up before reaching out a hand for Pacifica. She accepted and was pulled up from the last step.

They were in a room, it was the same dark purple colour as before but now it had little glowing orange lights on the walls, illuminating it in a warm glow. Dipper spotted a passageway, leading to another room. Curious, he walked towards it. He peeked through and almost screamed when he saw Bill. His heartbeat quickened once again, but this time out of fear. Bill was chained to the far wall, blood covered his body, like when Mabel had found him in the woods. His eyes were closed but Dipper could make out the faint rising and falling of his chest and breathed out a sigh of relief.

A hand touched is shoulder from behind him, making him jump. The hand squeezed his shoulder and he turned to see Mabel staring at him. Her eyes were warm, a small smile on his face. For some reason, this reassured him.

"Hello Dipper"

Dipper turned back around, finding himself face to face with none other than Tad Strange.

Another early update for you! Any requests or suggestions for what I can write on my Ao3 account will be appreciated :3

(Edited)