Gravity Falls Fanfiction: Dipper and the Cipher Medallion

Chapter 19 - Your Time Starts Today

Mabel's eyes snapped open. She took a minute and looked around. Everything had been the same as when she had fallen asleep. Come to think of it, Mabel didn't even remember going to bed. She had been thinking about...

"Dipper." Mabel said, her gaze falling on his empty bed.

She sat up, realizing she had been clutching her brother's hat while she had slept. The second Journal was beside her.

The dream with Bill and Dipper came back to her. But that had just ended. Bill had said it was midnight and time to flip the hour glass. How could that much time have passed?

Mabel didn't know how so much time had passed, but decided to ignore it for the time being. She had more important problems, like saving her brother. One week; all she had was seven days.

Furthermore, how was Mabel supposed to explain this to Stan? And Soos? And Wendy? What were the odds they'd believe her if she said: Dipper was kidnapped by an evil triangle demon who's going to kill him in one week if Mabel doesn't get him the first Journal.

And that's when Mabel realized she was wrong, partially anyway. Soos had gone into Stan's mind too. Soos knew about Bill. He may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but some help would be better than none.

Mabel decided talking to Soos would be her best shot. She was just too worried about Dipper to think straight. She knew her friend wouldn't let her down. However, Mabel still had one problem to deal with. Stan. What was she supposed to tell Stan about Dipper's disappearance?

Pushing that thought from her mind for the time being, Mabel got out of bed and pulled on a sweater. It was white with a blue pine tree, like Dipper's hat. In a way, it helped her feel like she had a piece of her brother with her, even if Dipper wasn't physically there with her. She couldn't wear Dipper's hat without the risk of questions, so a sweater would have to do.

After covering all the morning routine stuff (fixing her hair, brushing her teeth, etc.), Mabel went downstairs. Thankfully, Stan was already opening up the gift shop, giving Mabel some time alone in the kitchen. She wasn't very hungry, but Mabel stuffed a granola bar in her sweater pocket for later.

"Hey girl dude. Nice sweater." Soos said, walking into the kitchen.

Soos had a tool belt around his waist. There were multiple types of screwdrivers on it.

"Stan said there was a flickering light somewhere and asked me to fix it." Soos said.

"Oh yeah, that. It's one of our porch lights."

Mabel jumped up from the table and showed Soos which light it was. Stan still hadn't turned the lights off from the night before so the flickering light wasn't hard to find.

"Thanks dude."

"No problem Soos."

Mabel tried to force a smile, but with what she was dealing with, the smile wouldn't stick.

"Mabel, are you alright?" Soos asked, noticing her abnormal unhappiness.

"Soos... I need your help with something. Remember Bill?"

"The triangle guy?"

"Yeah. He's got Dipper. And the only way we can get him back is to find Journal One and exchange it for Dipper."

"Oh don't worry dude. We'll find it."

"We only have one week..." Mabel added glumly.

"Don't be like that Mabel. If Dipper can find one Journal, I'm sure we can find one too."

"Thanks Soos." Mabel smiled.

"Now how about we start looking after I fix this light bulb?"

Mabel nodded and skipped inside. She was in a much more chipper mood now that she had some help.

~•~

In the Mindscape, Bill was keeping an eye on Mabel. He hated the feeling, but he was rooting for her. He NEEDED his half of the deal with Dipper. If Shooting Star failed, Bill couldn't get what he wanted, and the triangle hated to go against his promise of Dipper dying within a week. If he did that, the Pines twins wouldn't take him seriously anymore, and one of the ways Bill got things done was through provoking fear in others.

Bill noticed that Dipper was watching him curiously through the hour glass. Since the sand had to last for a week, and not even a day had gone by yet, the sand barely came up to Dipper's ankles.

"What?" Bill said to Dipper.

The triangle saw Dipper's mouth lift in a small smirk. Bill couldn't lose the feeling that the kid knew what he was thinking. Ignoring Dipper, Bill turned back to face Mabel, wondering just how she was planning to pull this off.