The Unknown

8

The shack was once again filled with laughter and optimism. Mabel had come home the day before. She’d run through the house bouncing off the walls and screaming excitedly about her new vampire boyfriend. Dipper couldn’t help but roll his eyes when she hung her hand-made frame with his number, written on a napkin and glued right in the middle, on the wall right above her headboard. It was a very Mabel thing to do and honestly, he missed it more than he was going to let on, but it was a lot. She was happy and despite her overkill, he wouldn’t have had it any other way. Besides - he looked over to the bunyip head sitting on his nightstand and smiled, a light blush coming to his cheeks - he had little room to speak.

Today, they were laying head-to-foot across the couch and watching the first installment of ‘Believe in Yourself’ at Mabel’s request. Dipper didn’t have any reason to argue, he was just glad to have his sister back home. He reached an arm around her and pulled her into a tight hug, which seemed out of nowhere to Mabel. The girl stuck out her tongue and made a bleating noise until he let go and then she laughed and ruffled his hair in response.

“What’s up, bro-bro?” she said after pausing the movie.

“It’s nice to have you back,” he admitted, casting his eyes to the ceiling which was suddenly more interesting.

“Yeah, but I’m gonna miss seeing Edwin every day.” Dipper shook his head.

“I know,” he grunted. There was a pause where Dipper flicked his eyes back to his sister’s and furrowed his brow in thought before he spoke again. “But taking on that demon was a bad idea without some sort of back up plan. I mean, you got seriously hurt, don’t you think that was kind of a wake up call?”

“Aw come on,” Mabel chuckled, “it wasn’t that bad.”

“Mabel, you could have died back there!”

Dropping her cheerful demeanor, Mabel sat up in her spot and frowned at him. “Dipper, you could have died. We could have died fighting Gideon, we could have died fighting Bill - none of what the Mystery Twins do is ever safe! Why are you making a big deal about this now?”

“I guess because this time, you actually really did get hurt. Mabel, I supposed to protect you and I failed at that. I can’t let that happen again, I can’t lose you. What do you say we get a little insurance?”

“What kind of insurance do you mean? You’re not thinking of making a deal with Bill, are you? You know how he tricked you la-”

“Yes,” Dipper cut in snappily, stabbing her with an icy glare. His sharp tone made Mabel jump. She stared wide-eyed at him and blinked with surprise. “I know how he tricked me last time,” he grumbled, “but I’m not going to make a deal with Bill for this. I’ll look into another demon. But we have to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” He hesitated before continuing. “Because next time… next time you might not make it back alive.”

Mabel’s face dropped, the realization hitting her like a brick. Dipper had to turn his attention away from the look of shock, horror, and sadness in her eyes. She stared at him for a few moments before looking down at her brother’s fidgeting hands and heaving a sigh.

“But what about you? You’ll get protection for both of us, right? I don’t wanna lose you either,” she said, lowering her voice and taking her brother’s hands in her own, but Dipper still didn’t look back at her.

“I’ll be fine, I promise.”

“But Dipper–!”

“–Just… trust me, okay?” He glanced down at his arms where the scars from the protection runes he carved for Bill’s summoning had healed over and left feint discolouration in their place. “I’ll be fine.” Mabel squeezed his hands, giving a short breath of relief. Her trusting nature was a blessing at times like this, he wouldn’t have to explain himself. Where would he even start if he did? He for sure would have to exempt the… explicit details.