Brave

Chapter Fifteen

Out of nowhere another will-o'-the-wisp appeared in front of Stanbear startling him. Stanbear, still shocked about almost attacking his nephews and remembering about the curse, began pouncing on the wisps that appeared.

"Stanbear!" Dipper shouted. He didn't listen and kept attacking the wisps.

"Oh, jings crivvens help ma boab!" Dipper muttered and chased after Stanbear.

"Stanbear! Stop, they're here to help!" Bill shouted. At this point Stanbear was far from the boys and traveled inside the forest.

Bill handed Dipper his journal and extra bow and arrows. He slipped his sword into the scabbard and wrapped it around his torso while running after Stanbear.

They leap over fallen trees and boulders, keeping an eye on Stanbear and the will-o'-the-wisp. Slowly fog surrounds them as they travel in an area with carved but fallen stones.

Stanbear leaps and pounces on a will-o'-the-wisp successfully. He looks inside his paws but sees nothing. He looks around with wide eyes, by now all the wisps are gone.

Bill and Dipper catch up to Stanbear. Both bent and put their hands on their knees. Stanbear rolled his eyes and waited patiently for them to recharge.

Dipper looked up and noticed Stanbear raising his brow. "Oh shush! We're archers not runners!"

He looked up and gasped. In front of Stanbear was an arch made of three stones. The top stone laying horizontally displayed a symbol with three axes crossed over each other.

Bill walked through the arch and the fog cleared up. "Woah."

In front of him, uncovered from the fog, were stones and ruins scattered. "Why did the wisps lead us here?" I ask and walk further into the fallen city.

"Whoever lived here has been gone for a looong time." Bill kicks at some pebbles and stones.

Dipper took out his journal and flipped through a few pages. He wanted to draw some of the fallen ruins. Although, he wasn't looking where he was going so he ended up slipping from the loose ground and into a room.

(don't read and walk kids, I've had my terrible experience before)

"Ah!" He slid and dropped on his bottom, his journal falling nearby. He heard Stanbear groan worriedly. He reached for the journal, dusting it and himself off.

"Don't worry! I'm fine." He looked ahead and spotted a split carved stone. "Just fine." He mumbled and stepped closer to the carvings.

He looked to his side and noticed a stone throne. "It's... it's a throne room." He flipped open to the story Stanford has told him countless times. "You don't suppose this could've been the kingdom in that story you were telling us?"

Stanforded roared quietly in agreement. Dipper delicately traced the split carvings. "The one with the princes? One... two... three... four!"

He pointed at the first one. "This one must be the oldest." The split was between him and the second one. So on one split side was only him, the other displayed his three younger brothers. "Split! Like the tapestry back home."

He gasped and backed away from the carvings. "This spell. It's happened before!" He remembered what the one eyed witch said. "Strength of ten men. Fate be changed. Changed his fate. Oh no... The prince became..."

He heard a growl from the darkness. He glanced towards a corner and saw a large bear scattered with scars and arrows on his skin come out.

"Mor'du!" Dipper scrambled and backed away from the bear. It growled and swatted at him. Stanbear's eyes widened and roared for Dipper to come back.

Dipper shot a few arrows which didn't have any effect on the monster bear. He heard a faint yell and someone landed in front of him.

"Back away ya beast!" Bill swung his sword at Mor'du. "Hurry up and reach for Stanbear!"

Stanbear strained his arm towards Dipper and successfully latched onto Dipper's small hand. "Bill!" Bill turned to reach for Dipper's hand.

A grave mistake. The distraction let Mor'du claw at his side. Bill gasped and weakly grabbed onto Dipper.

"BILL!" Dipper grasped onto his arm tightly. Stanbear pulled both boys up, grabbing them by the scruffs of their shirt's collar and tossing them onto his back.

Mor'du tried to jump out the throne room but failed and hit his head. Stanford kept running until he skidded to a stop in front of the stone circle.

Bill slid down and started coughing harshly, trying to cover his side which bleed. He slumped to the ground, Dipper caught him in time and set his head on his lap.

"Oh no, oh no. Hold on, hold on. We're gonna get you help!" Stanbear nudged Bill's head and whimpered softly.

"Stanford collect some large leaves or- or..." Bill stopped Dipper by putting his hand on top of his.

"Tired." He mumbled softly.

"No. NO. Stay awake for me please!" Dipper sobbed out. "I'm sorry you got hurt because of me."

"Fault not yours. Did job... protect you." Bill slowly started closing his eyes.

"No... please don't go! Please! Don't go!" Dipper grasped tightly onto Bill's yellow shirt, now moist and splattered with mud. "Never even got to tell- to tell you that I love you."

Stanbear watched nearby glancing sadly at the ground. Weakly Bill lifts his hand to pet Dipper's hair. Before closing his eyes, he weakly mumbled. "Love you too."

***

Short but sweet am I right?