Phantom Justice

12: Accusations

The above artwork belongs to me. It's my take on Dipper as a Dr. Strange style magician, I guess. It's not my best, but also not my worst, so whatever. It has nothing to do with the book or chapter.

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Dipper's heartbeats refused to slow down.

Jazz had administered cortisone to Ford, and he was managing to recover. He had been out for two hours. It would be an hour until the Fentons got home.

Initially, Dipper panicked when Ford had started having trouble breathing. Tucker had to keep him from running up to Ford and shaking his shoulders, which he never would have tried to do had he not been so fearful.

He paced, agitated. Jazz was working on the new boo-merang, but although she was incredibly intelligent, she did not have twelve PHDs like Ford. She couldn't finish it without him.

The grunkle was stirring, but it would take a little while before he became fully aware of what was going on around him.

Mabel sat against the wall, blank-faced. Sam had an arm around the twin's shoulders, trying to make her feel better.

Dipper knew that he should have been the one to comfort his sister, but he was too angry. Danny was missing; possibly captured, wounded, or dead. They didn't have much time to save him, and she had just wasted a large portion of it. Not only that, she had poisoned her uncle, right after angrily snapping at him earlier in the day.

Mable stared at her knees. "I'm sorry," she said in a small voice. It was maybe the third or forth time she'd said it in the last forty-five minutes. "I messed this up. I-- I'm sorry."

Dipper was unable to contain his emotions. He needed a scapegoat; Mabel was the only one to blame. "You mess everything up!" he blurted without thinking.

Mabel looked at his in surprise, her eyes watering. He'd been nothing but nice to her ever since the Danny incident. He hadn't uttered a single word in anger. But now that he had, he just couldn't stop.

"Ford could die! After surviving thirty years in the dreamscape, after fighting monsters and demons, he might die now because you poisoned him."

"Dipper!" Jazz snapped, aghast.

Mabel stood up abruptly, tears streaking her cheeks.

He ignored Jazz. "Was it even an accident?" He was nearly shouting now, Mabel's hands curling into fists. "Or are you so sick of having him around that you wanted to get rid of him? Who's next? Stan? Or Soos? Or me? You already tried to kill Danny."

Mabel's eyes sparked with anger and disbelief.

She struck her brother across the face-- hard.

It took a moment for Dipper's brain to register what had happened. Mabel had slapped him. His kind, sweet sister had slapped him.

"Don't you ever, ever call me a killer again," she choked out. "Never again."

All of Dipper's anger drained out of him when he saw the look on her face. She's never hit him before. She'd never even threatened to hit him before. His words had hurt her deeply. She never would have reacted so violently otherwise.

"M-Mable . . ." Dipper whispered. "I'm sorry . . ."

But she was already gone, running upstairs. Dipper was about to follow her when he saw how everyone else was looking at him.

Their expressions of disgust and anger reflected Dipper's feelings about himself. They found his actions completely repulsive-- and he knew that they should. Tears now sliding down his own cheeks, he moved to climb up the stairs, but Sam stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder. "The worst thing for her right now would be to see you," she said harshly. "You had better apologize when Ford wakes up."

He opened his mouth to protest, then closed it when she realized that she was right.

Dipper sat in a corner, as far away from everyone else as he could get. Tears rolled down his cheeks, his regret and self-loathing growing stronger every second. No one offered any help or consolation; he didn't deserve any.

How could he ever have accused Mabel of murder? He knew no one kinder, no one more precious to him. And there was no one more precious to her than Dipper. His words had cut her to the core. The twins were supposed to trust each other. He was supposed to help and comfort her, not tear her down and reinforce self-doubts that she already harbored.

He had failed as a brother, and as a friend.

After a little while-- although Dipper wasn't sure how long, as he was lost in grief-- Jazz spoke. "I convinced my parents to go take the whole weekend off as part of their date. They're going to visit California."

Dipper said nothing, only remembering his house in California and wondering if the Fentons would drive through his home town. Probably not; California was a big state.

His thoughts faded back to his memories of Mabel, many of them from California. He felt himself tearing up again when a raspy voice was heard throughout the room.

"How long was I out?"

It was Ford. He shakily sat up, grateful to accept the glass of water that Jazz offered him.

Dipper felt relief coursing through him. He had to tell Mabel that Ford was okay.

He made his way up the stairs. The main house was dark. Not a single light was on.

"Mabel?" he called softly.

There was no answer. He tried again. "Mabel? Ford is awake."

A door somewhere in the house creaked open, and a dark shape peaked out, sniffling.

"Look, Mabel, I . . ." He choked on his tears. "What I did was wrong. I'm sorry, Mabel, I'm so sorry!"

She said nothing. All he could see of her was the reflection of her crying eyes.

His words were unleashed like a torrent of emotion, flooding the room. "It was wrong of me to say that! I'm sorry. I was just so angry at everything. I blamed you. I shouldn't have, but I blamed you! You would never hurt anyone. I know you never would! I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm so, so--"

Mabel embraced him, and he sobbed into her shoulder. "Don't be sorry. It's done. Nothing can change what's already happened."

He couldn't speak for a few moments, and every time he tried, he just made himself cry harder. Finally, he managed to blubber, "I don't deserve your kindness."

She hugged him tighter. "And I don't deserve yours. I noticed how nice you were to me after what happened, even when you thought I was being pushy or annoying. Thank you."

Dipper relapsed into sobs again, his soft cries eventually fading into pathetic hiccups.

Mabel gently broke their contact. "Come on, let's go see Ford."

The twins walked down the stairs hand in hand, their faces tear-stained and their eyes red.

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So . . . Did I make this chapter emotional enough?

I try to make my stories emotional, because I like reading and writing about internal struggle. There's just something about it that draws me in. Maybe it's because we can all relate to it. IDK, man.

Question of the chapter:
Most of you probably know that I'm a girl, but my age is not public information. I'm curious. How old do you think I am? I may or may not tell you if someone gets it right. I haven't decided yet.

Until next chapter.

-Leopard