Across Dimensions //Will Cipher x Fem!Reader//

12// Rescue Plans

Suddenly the door to the room opens with a bang. Both you and Will jump and turn towards the noise.

"Oh no," Will says softly.

Stalking across the room is a girl about your age. She's in black-and-white, since she's not in the mindscape, but you can still see her stiff showgirl outfit. She looks like a circus performer — a deranged one, like from a horror movie.

"We can't let Mabel see you." Will snaps his fingers, and everything goes black.

At first you think your dream is over, but then your vision comes back. You're still in the room with Will, but now you're on the outside of the cell, behind the girl — behind Mabel Gleeful. You look towards Will, who is now in his triangle form.

Mabel reaches her hand out and touches the bars. As soon as she makes contact with them, she snaps into color. Like the glass jar, the bars must be an entry point into the mindscape.

"Did you miss me?" she asks Will in a silky-smooth voice.

Will doesn't answer, just glares at her with his single eye. The glare looks weary, though.

"Answer me when I speak to you," she says. A smooth, round stone set in her headband starts to glow a bright teal blue. As it flares, Will spasms as if he's having a seizure. You try not to gasp. It's a little easier to watch because Will is in his triangle form, but you don't know if you would've been able to keep quiet if you'd seen this happen to Will's humanoid form.

The glow dims, and Will stops shaking. "Well?" Mabel asks, each word deliberate. "Did you miss me?"

"C-can't say that I did," Will says through gritted teeth.

"That's better," Mabel says. "Now, I wanted to come down here to have one of our sessions again, but I have a show in ten minutes and Dipper is forcing me to come tell you the news. Despite your abysmal performance last week, we've managed to get our hands on the Pines boy. We have him captive down here as well, and we want you to interrogate him in his dreams. Think you can handle that?"

Will floats up a little higher, his tone indignant. "Of course I can handle that. Just because I got beat out by a fluke doesn't make me a complete failure."

"Really? Because it sure looks that way to me. I never thought an all-powerful dream demon would lose to two dumb kids."

"Neither did I," Will growls, "but I'm here, aren't I?"

Mabel lets out an offended shriek. She leans closer to the bars. "You're lucky I have to go now," she says, menace coloring her words. "But don't think I'll forget about this. You will pay for that remark soon enough."

Will says nothing. Mabel touches the bars and goes grey again, then turns on her heel and stalks out of the room.

Silence falls. That. . . that was Mabel? You shudder. She's terrifying.

Will snaps his fingers again to bring you back into the cage. When your vision clears, he's back in his humanoid form. He leans against the wall, looking exhausted. "Now you see what I have to put up with."

"She's. . . she's not my Mabel."

"No," Will agrees. "I haven't met your Mabel, but if she's anything like your Dipper, then yours and mine aren't anything alike."

There's a beat of silence. But this silence is suffocating, so you rush to fill it. "I — I wish I could do something — "

He shushes you gently. "You're fine," he says, closing his eyes and leaning his head against the wall.

The two of you just sit there for a moment, but then an idea strikes you.

"W-wait!" Will's eyes flutter open at your sudden outburst. You keep going. "Maybe I can help! There's — there's a — "

You stop, suddenly not sure if you should tell him. But then you decide that Will's freedom is more important than Dipper's possible disappointment. "Dipper — my Dipper — has a dimension hopper. L-like a device that lets people travel between dimensions. He hasn't tried it yet, so we don't know if it works, but if it does, would it help to have me come here in person? To rescue you?"

Will stares at you. "I. . . yes," he says quietly. "I don't dare to hope, but. . . yes, it would. I-if you could get me a physical form. . ."

You frown. "How would I do that?"

"I — I have an idea. I have no clue if it'll work, though, and I don't want to put you in danger. . ."

"I'll do it," you say. "You can't stay here. I'm guessing what I saw was just the smallest preview of the horrible things she does to you. I'd be a terrible friend if I let that continue."

Will gives you a stare again, but this time it's one of disbelief. Tears well up in his eyes. "You. . . you'd really do that for me?"

"Of course!"

Will reaches out and grasps your hand in both of yours. "Thank you," he whispers. "I — I don't deserve your kindness."

You're about to say something in protest to that, but then Will and the surrounding room start to flicker. "M-my dream is ending," you say. "How do I come back here? So that there's not another week between visits?"

"I don't know," Will says. "Maybe try thinking, 'I will go visit Will tonight,' over and over again while you're falling asleep. It works for inducing normal lucid dreams, although these are somewhat different."

"I'll try it," you promise. "And if it doesn't work, then I'll do my best to get ahold of the dimension hopper and come here in person."

He says something else, but you can't hear it. His words blur together, and your view of his face goes foggy.

As the dream ends, you just have one thought:

You have to rescue Will as soon as possible.