Hand in Hand || Stanford x Reader

Chapter 13 • Ford

"Y/N!" I screamed, my throat raw. This couldn't be happening, not now!

The portal fizzled out, going dark and empty. I struggled with the master lever, desperately trying to turn it back on.

Fiddleford stayed dangerously quiet. He turned his head to look me straight in the eye, with hatred I didn't know he possessed. "She's gone, Stanford. You know that as well as I. We have no way of knowing what dimension she was sucked into. Heck, for all we know, she could have spontaneously combusted as soon as she passed through."

"F-Fidds, what are you getting at?"

"Don't you 'Fidds' me! I'm asking the questions here! When were you going to tell me?"

"What are you talking about, going to tell you what?!" My head spun, I couldn't take the sudden loss of Y/N and a fight with my best friend.

"You know what." He picked up Y/N's sparking hand and threw it at my chest. Instinctively, I caught it. I glanced at it and saw the ring around the finger. Oh.

"You were engaged?! And you didn't think to let your ol' pal Fiddleford know?"

"I-I was going to tell you-"

Fidds shook his head in disgust. "This is ridiculous. I don't know which thing I'm more angry about, the fact that you insisted on the test when you knew it was dangerous, or that you kept something huge like that secret. Either way, look what happened! Your precious fiancee is likely dead thanks to you. I can't work with someone I can't trust. I quit!" He stomped out of the lab and onto the elevator, muttering, "I wish I could just forget..."

It took only two minutes to lose the partners I had for years.  Things couldn't get any worse than this.  At least I always had my muse to fall back on. 

I tried to clear my mind, it was easiest to contact him when I was relaxed.  Slowly, I felt my consciousness slip to the mindscape, a sure sign my muse was here. I opened my eyes, expecting to see the calm place he inhibited.  I was greeted by a sight much more gruesome.  Books and papers flew around everywhere in a chaotic mess, with my triangular muse in the center.  

I used the swirling tornado of book as a staircase to him.  "Bill!  Where does that portal lead?"

The all-knowing triangle gave me a cold sideways glance.  Something was up.  "Looks like Mr. Brainiac finally got smart! Let's just say that when that portal finishes charging up again, your dimension is gonna learn how to party! Right, guys?"  He pointed to a rip in the minds cape, where shadowy creatures cackled in reply.  

Suddenly, one of the tarot cards Y/N described to be came to mind.  A triangle surrounded by a snake: predicting false allies and eminent danger.  I had been betrayed by the one person I could trust.  

"No! I'll stop you! I'll shut it down!"

"And lose any chance you have of finding Y/N?  Yeah, she's alive, in one of the outer dimensions, if I remember right.  Shut it down, you won't!  You care too much about that skin puppet, and now you're going to pay the price.  A deal's a deal, Sixer.  You can't stop a bridge between our worlds from coming, but it would be fun to watch you try! Cute even!"

I jolted awake into the real world, breathing hard.  Y/N was gone, Fiddleford had disowned me, and my trusted muse was just sweet-talking me into creating the apocalypse.  Things had nose-dived catastrophically, and if I didn't hide my journals, Bill would burn our world to the ground.  I already had hiding spots for two of them, but the first one was the most important.  It had to be taken away by someone I could trust.  Funny how quickly that list had shrunk.  Before I could doubt myself, I sent a postcard to the last person I ever thought I would: my brother.  

***

"Who is it?! Have you come to steal my eyes?!" I shouted at the newcomer.  Thankfully, it was the one person I wanted to see, Stanley.  Or was it?  

He grunted.  "Well, I can always count on you for a warm welcome."

It sounded like him,  but Bill could imitate voices seamlessly when he wanted to.  "Stanley, did anyone follow you? Anyone at all?"

He glared at me, obviously annoyed by my questions.  "Eh, hello to you, too, pal."

I was mostly sure it was my deadbeat brother, but I had to be absolutely sure.  I shined a flashlight into his eyes, making sure they weren't cat-like slits.  

"Hey! What is this?!" Stanley pushed me off of him.  It was definitely him, alright.  

"S-Sorry, I just had to make sure you weren't..."  I shook my head.  I was more paranoid than normal these past few days.  "Just follow me."  I led him downstairs, into the testing lab.  The portal seemed to mock me, turned off I lost Y/N, turned on, it would release armageddon.  

"There is noting about this I understand," Stanley said with his usual tact.  

I sighed.  "It's a punched hole through a weak spot in our dimension. I created it to unlock the mysteries of the universe, but it could just as easily be harnessed for terrible destruction. That's why I shut it down and hid my journals, which explain how to operate it. There's only one journal left. And you are the only person I can trust to take it.  I have something to ask of you: you remember our plans to sail around the world on a boat?"  I handed him the last journal, hating myself for what i was about to do.  "Take this book, get on a boat, and sail as far away as you can! Bury it where no one can find it!"

Stanley looked devastated, then enraged.  "That's it?! You finally wanna see me after ten years, and it's to tell me to get as far away from you as possible!?"  

I wanted to break down crying, but I kept it together.  "Stanley, you don't understand what I'm up against! What I've been through!"  Who I've lost.

"You don't understand what I've been through! I've been to prison in three different countries! I once had to chew my way out of the trunk of a car! You think you've got problems? I've got a mullet, Stanford! Meanwhile, where have you been? Selfishly hoarding your college money, because you only care about yourself."

"I'm selfish?!" I shoved him back into the control board, where he fell down and landed on a red hot symbol.  "Oh, Stanley, I'm so sorry! Are you-"

He got up and gave me a look with as much hate as he could muster.  "Some brother you turned out to be. You care more about your dumb mysteries than your family? Well then, you can have 'em!"

Stanley pushed my journal back into my hand, causing me to step back- and float in the air!  The portal must've turned on while we fought!  "Stanley! Do something!"

My legs had already pulled through, I knew I wasn't going to make it.  I chucked my journal back at him, then the world went white as I was sucked through.