It's Where My Demons Hide

Chapter 40

Soos always loved a challenge.

He wasn't brave, really. He only enjoyed the feeling he got when he faced one. It gave him joy, knowing that he could fix the challenge just like he had fixed few before. Ever since his father had left him, Soos was a wreck. He was broken. But as days, months, years had passed, he gradually learned that he could fix himself into a better man, and decided that he would fix others as well, to avoid the same fate he had suffered. So yes, Soos loved challenges.

However, he always forget how tough some challenge could be.

The moment when the sky turned crimson and ripped itself, Soos knew this was the doomsday everyone had talked about. He just never expected it to be so early. He stared at the gigantic pyramid that had appeared out of nowhere, right below the giant X on the sky.

Putting on a black coat, Soos ran out of his house with a staff he had been making over the past years. His abuela often told him to prepare for an apocalypse that would occur when a triangle appears. So, set with his determined mind, young Soos had gone working on his staff. With the best materials he could find, he wrapped around a metal cylinder, increasing its stability and strength. He also used to practice his stamina and some martial arts, but Soos gave up when he enrolled into high school. Fighting was no use when there was no apocalypse, he had thought.

Well, there was an apocalypse now.

Soos wondered if he should feel excited or horrified.

Pushing all this thoughts behind, Soos continued his walk. He knew his abuela would be safe in their house. He couldn't explain why, but he knew it. His worries dismissed, Soos carried on walking, ignoring the cries of people around him.

"Soos?" A familiar voice startled him.

"Wendy?" Soos spun around, facing the teenager that had worked with him for years. She was wearing a ragged white tank top with her flannel shirt tied around her waist, a strip of flannel fabric tied around her head, fingerless black gloves, and two black stripes painted under her eyes. She had indeed prepared herself for the apocalypse.

Wendy left a relieved sigh and grinned. Thy exchanged a few words of gratefulness of having meet together, before turning back to the fighting.

"Whoever thought ..." muttered Wendy, pausing just when she saw a man being paralyzed by a demon. She flinched at the sound of a crunch.

Soos, noticing her discomfort, asked quietly, "Are you ready for this?"

"I'm born ready."

Both raising their own staff and club, they charged into the battle of the demons.

* * *

This was ridiculous.

If they had known there would be an apocalypse that would result in jail break, they wouldn't have spent all their time on scheming a useless escape plan.

But nonetheless, all the criminals stepped out of the ruins of the former jail, and went to their own paths.

The first thing Dipper saw, as soon as he stepped out, was the gigantic bright pink bubble. It was emblazoned with a large shooting star, and had glowing pink cracks around the bubble. Levitating over the railroad bridge, it was covered by chains and a lock. The shooting star on the bubble, Dipper noticed, was similar to the one Mabel worn on her first day in Gravity Falls.

Mabel.

He let out a rather inhuman growl, alerting the other criminals near him. He didn't care as he had a much more important issue. The bubble was clearly formed by Bill, but what was it? What was its purpose? Was it simply threatening Mabel or was it something much more sinister? He hated not knowing.

MaBeL

Glancing at his left, Dipper sent a salute to Finnick and Mike who were busy scrambling away from Gravity Falls. They shared their goodbyes. As they left, Dipper stared at their gradually fading silhouettes, realizing that this would the last thing he had seen of them.

Sighing, he continued walking. However, Dipper didn't notice a humongous bubble – the Bubble of Pure Madness – go through him, its force sending him to the ground. Next thing he knew, he was fully enveloped in the bubble.

His thoughts were being jumbled.

Disappearing.

Fading.

And he felt his old memories being replaced with strange new ones. Dipper slowly realized his mind was being invaded. Shocked, he began to fight away the new unknown memories as it fought back too. When the unknown memories began to retreat, a strong force hit him in the back, causing him to lose focus on the memories. And he fell, fell and fell.

When he awoke, he was a different person.

•••
Greetings.
I am surprised,
And I am grateful.

Thanks for all the comments, the views, and he votes you readers have left! I'm glad you never gave up on this story and grateful when we passed the previous goal! No words could describe how elated I was.

Goal: 59k views , 3k votes , 2k comments
Posted: 2017 . 6 . 20