Gravity Rises (S3)

MV: Part Two

I have to get out of here.

This was the thought that ran repeatedly through Dipper's head. I have to get out of here. I can't stay here. I have to rescue Mabel.

It was Sunday morning, the thirteenth of January. Mabel had been taken Friday afternoon. The last thirty-six hours had been torture. Dipper was so angry that he could hardly think; and when he did think, it was only about how he could get Mabel back. He stayed away from Pacifica — he would probably murder her, at this point, if he had the chance — but Gideon had been interrogating her about how they could save Mabel. Pacifica wasn't being cooperative in any sense of the word; she was too happy that she'd sent Dipper's sister to her death.

Melody had given Pacifica the parlor as a place to sleep, complete with Ford's air mattress. Pacifica had happily informed them that Ford and Lee had been taken captive by Cipher's servants, so Dipper didn't want to give her anything of Ford's, but Melody had given her the air mattress anyway. Pacifica stayed in the parlor most of the time, which was good: It meant that Dipper didn't have to see her.

Still, the very thought of being in the same building as Pacifica was too much for him. He'd spent most of yesterday outside in the cold, warming his hands with magical heat mushrooms, trying to ignore the voice in his head that wanted to go back inside and strangle Pacifica for ever hurting Mabel.

He was outside now, having just finished breakfast. He stood in the driveway, leaning against Ford's car, staring up at the perpetual night sky. Bright stars splayed across the heavens — different stars than the ones around Earth. Dipper had never realized how well he knew the stars in his own sky until they had disappeared. Being under this new, unfamiliar sky just made everything worse.

It was beautiful, though. Mabel would love it.

His gaze moved sadly across the sky. There, hovering high above the forest, was a dark blue sphere. It gave off light, like their own little moon, though it appeared bigger and brighter than the moon that orbited Earth. Its light cast the town and the forest in a constant twilight; Dipper could see by it, though it was dim enough to be less than ideal.

Along its surface were jagged lines that glowed a brighter blue than the rest of the moon. They seemed like cracks in a glass ball, ready to give way in a brilliant explosion. But nothing exploded; the moon just floated there silently.

Among the random lines was the outline of a pine tree. Mabel's symbol.

She was in there.

"Morning, Mabel," Dipper said softly, speaking to the blue moon. "Gideon is still trying to get information from Pacifica on how to save you. But I don't think she knows anything about undoing what she did. She probably never asked Bill, and he probably never told her. Why would he?" he added bitterly. Then he sighed. "I'm going to figure out a way. I promise. I'll get out of here, and I'll come find you. Just. . . hang in there."

He realized his unintentional pun and grimaced at the moon, which was hanging in the sky. "Sorry, Mabes, I wasn't trying to joke around. I know. . . I know there's probably not a lot of time. I won't make you wait long."

He stared at the moon for a few minutes. What was going on in there? Was Mabel in pain? Was she even conscious? Did she know what was going on? Could she see the beautiful, terrible, unfamiliar sky?

The stars suddenly went out, disappearing in an instant. Only the moon, with its blue light, remained. Dipper's breath caught in his throat.

A minute later, stars appeared again in the sky. They weren't the same stars.

A chill raced through Dipper's body, and it had nothing to do with the cold winter air around him. They were in a new dimension. The new stars were the only indication; Dipper couldn't feel any movement beneath his feet, and he didn't know what it felt like to move between dimensions. Only the ever-shifting sky showed that anything was moving at all.