Fight Beside Me Chapter 7

Chapter 7
Dipper didn't know how long he had been asleep when he groggily opened his eyes to see that he was still in the back of Stan's car.
Even with the comfort of sleep, it still didn't provide much for him. Not when he had come to horrid realization that his life was slowly being taken from him. He felt himself almost laugh bitterly to himself.
He should have seen this coming; he should have seen that when Mabel seemed to disappear from existence. Everyone he talked to about seem to act like she was never there at all, not even his parents seemed to acknowledge her.
Sure that was to be expected, Bill had taken her after and must have cast some sort of spell to make it seem like the older twin was non existent so no one would try to hunt him down. Only the problem stemmed that Dipper had woken the next day to find that he didn't seem to exist anymore either. His school his friends, even his own parents didn't know who he was. He could almost feel the tears in his eyes as he remembered that look on his mother's face. The horror that his own mother didn't even know he was.
It was obvious Bill had his sites on him as well. He definitely wasn't going to allow Dipper run around and about trying to rescue Mabel so easily. But what exactly was really going on, even Dipper didn't know; and he really wasn't sure that he wanted to find out.
Stan was still driving the car down the road when he noticed Dipper had woken up in the back.
"How you feeling, champ?" He asked, trying to lighten the mood as much as he could.
"Grunkle Stan... Why...? Why does nobody know who I am...? Why don't my parents know who I am...? How and why...?" The young man didn't know what to say. All he could feel was stress and despair.
"Kid... I promise... We're going to fix this... We're going to rescue Mabel and we're going to get your lives back. I promise that Bill isn't going to get away with this! It would have to be a cold day in hell before that happened!" Stan said, glaring through the rear view mirror.
"But... He already is Grunkle Stan... He already is..." Dipper was starting to feel himself caving into despair.
"Dipper don't think like that! Everything will be okay!"
"NO IT WON'T GRUNKLE STAN! WE DON'T KNOW WHERE BILL IS! WE DON'T KNOW WHERE MABEL IS! AND WE DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH POWER BILL HAS OR WHO HE HAS ON HIS SIDE!"
Pacifica was startled awake by Dipper's outburst and looked back at him.
"Dipper...?" She asked, gently. "What..."
Dipper looked towards the two in the front.
"I... I... I don't know..." Tears were falling his eyes. He couldn't believe it. He was a grown adult and he was shaking and crying like a small child.
"Dipper... I swear we're going to fix this... The minute we get back to the shack we'll see what Ford has found in that book. For now though... You need to be strong... You need to keep it together for yours and Mabel's sake. Bill knows how vulnerable and frightened you feel; and he will do anything in his power to feed off of it. That is a power you cannot give him. Otherwise it's going to physically and mentally destroy you. Promise me you won't let that happen." Stan said, looking deep into the young man's eyes.
Dipper looked down into his lap before he breathed deeply.
"I promise..." He could only whisper.
Stan nodded.
The rest of the car ride remained silent.
It was late in the evening by the time the three managed to return to Gravity Falls. Most of the town was closed up for the night with the exception of a few restaurants and bars in town that were filled with some late night crowds. Not that it would have mattered to Dipper at the moment. All he cared about was getting back to the shack and finding more clues.
The young man actually found himself breathing a huge sigh of relief when he saw the familiar structure of the shack pull up right in front of his eyes. He jumped out just as Stan shut off the engine and quickly darted inside.
"GREAT UNCLE FORD!" GREAT UNCLE FORD I'M BACK! PLEASE TELL THAT YOU FOUND SOMETHING!"
Ford was sitting at the kitchen table with the book in his hand and dozens littered across the table. The old man looked like he hadn't had a proper night's sleep in days but looked up immediately when he heard his nephew's voice.
"Dipper...? Stan had gone down to Piedmont to see if everything was okay. Is everything all right? You came back a lot sooner than I thought."
"I... Bill is making it seem... like Mabel and I don't exist... Everybody we know... Even my mom and dad didn't know who we were... The police were about to come after us... Stan came just in time..."
Ford's face formed a deep frown.
"That's not a good sign... He must have cast some sort of spell to make everyone forget who you and Mabel were. How he is doing that is the mystery. He shouldn't have power outside of the mindscape without the rift's gateway. Then again, he shouldn't be here at all. This is all very worrying, especially since I don't know what he plans to do next."
"Did... you... Find anything new?" Dipper asked, hopeful.
Ford's frown changed into a sad smile.
"Very little... I remember that Latin word servant and tried piecing to together if Bill has someone serving him outside of the mindscape which is a plausible theory, but then I found this inscription that almost reads like a ritual. Almost like there's more... There may be more of these servants out there. Where they are and how many of them are still needs to be seen."
"So there could be more then one?"
"It almost like the ritual is made to be performed by a group..."
Dipper looked out the window. Well he now had something to go by. Apparently Bill had numerous servants. If he could find at least one, then maybe he could find the demon himself.
"All I got to do now is find one of these servants. They can tell me everything."
"That's foolish Dipper!" Ford glared. "They would be well aware of what you would be doing. You would have to be sneaky about it."
"Then what am I going to do in the meantime?" Dipper asked, frowning.
"For now you should get some well needed rest. You're going to need every amount of energy you have."
The young man sighed knowing that Ford was right.
Dipper looked around when he noticed that all he had was the clothes on his back. He needed to get new clothes and toiletries as well.
"I need new clothes..." He sighed, annoyingly.
"We'll get you some new clothes tomorrow, kiddo." Stan chuckled. "For right now you better get some sleep. The entire ordeal of today has probably wiped you out and sleep will do you some good."
Dipper turned towards Pacifica.
"Are you going to stick around?" He asked.
"I better head home... My parents are probably going to have a lot of questions as to where I've been the last few days. Better head back before I make it any worse."
She walked over to Dipper and kissed him on the cheek.
"I'll meet you tomorrow after I get out of school." She smiled.
Dipper nodded blushing.
"Love is the air..." Stan sang.
Dipper shot the old man a dangerous look as Ford rolled his eyes.
Pacifica chuckled as she left the shack.
It would be almost midnight by the time Pacifica got back to the manor.
She quickly went inside worrying that her parents would be enraged by her disappearance, but to her complete surprise her parents were in the sitting room acting normal.
Her mother was lying on a chase while drinking what appeared to be a martini while she was reading a magazine. While her father was casually reading the paper drinking a martini as well.
Pacifica cleared her throat and her parents looked up.
"Pacifica dear, where have you been?" Her mother asked, a little surprised.
"I... I.. I just needed to get away for a little bit..." The young woman lied.
Preston stared at her. He knew exactly where she had gone, but decided it would best not to let her know that. It would best if she remained oblivious to what was happening. It was for her own good.
"Do not run off like that without telling us where you going ever again! Your mother and I were worried sick!"
"I'm sorry... Are you going to punish me..?"
"No... But promise you'll tell us where you're going next time okay..."
Pacifica looked uneasy. Her parents were acting so calm about this, then again her parents had always acted so strange.
"All right." She said, forcing a smile.
Pricilla looked around before speaking.
"Where's that young man that was here this weekend?" She asked.
"He's back at his house. I'll probably meet up with him tomorrow after school."
"I hope to see him again soon." Preston chuckled. "He seems like a fine young man."
"Yeah..." Pacifica said abruptly. "Well I'm going to bed... I'll see you guys in the morning..."
With that she turned her heels and walked back to her room.
Meanwhile at what appeared to an exclusive club several towns away. A group of men were talking at the bar.
"Did you hear..." One man asked.
"Hear what?" Another asked.
"A girl's gone missing..."
"People go missing all the time..."
"But the word on the street is a demon took her..."
"A demon? Demons don't exist?"
"You never heard of Bill Cipher have you?"
"Should I?"
"Word is he's the most powerful of all them. Word also says that he almost took over the entire. Some say he managed to open a portal between a demon world and are world but he was defeated. Word says he vowed to return one day and get his revenge. But then again that's just the word." The first man said.
"That's silly..." A third man laughed. "Demons are not real. It's just a silly scary story."
"How do you figure?" A forth voice piped in from the shadows.
"Come on... You know there are people out there that believe that demon's and monsters and all that stuff exist. It's something people like to think about to get through there humdrum lives. How do you think we have fairytales and myths and Game of Thrones and stuff."
"I believe to find it all quite interesting, especially since I find it quite rude to talk about people who are listening."
The men were in disbelief by the mystery man.
"What are you getting at?" The second man asked.
"Why don't you come closer and you'll see."
The men drew closer and saw Bill himself sitting in one of the plush booths with what appeared to be Mabel, who was dressed in a matching white sweater and leggings, cuddled up beside him. Although from the look in her eyes she wanted to bolt away at any chance she had."
"Who are you exactly?" The third man demanded.
Bill laughed.
"The one guy just told you. Names Bill Cipher."
"You can't be a demon! Demons are not real!" The second man now seemed frightened.
"You think so?" Bill asked, almost amused.
"Of course there's no such thing as demons!"
Bill tilted back his bangs that hung over his right eye away revealing an odd triangle.
"What are you doing?!" The third man demanded.
Bill didn't say a word as he pulled the triangle away from his eye. Revealing a deranged eye that was only filled with a single speck of light and an endless void of blackness.
The two men felt every ounce of sanity being ripped away from them as the continue to stare into the eye. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't look away. Screaming and convulsing in agony as the demon drove them to the darkest corners of insanity. After a while Bill replaced the triangle back over his eye and covered that with his bangs.
But the damage was done and the two men were moaning and sobbing in agony.
"Please... please have mercy..." The second man sobbed.
"We'll do anything... you desire..." The third man begged, grabbing the tails of Bill's coat.
Bill snorted as he shoved the man off.
"And I just had it cleaned too..." He turned towards the other men sitting at the bar."
"I don't think these two will be of any use... Kill them..."
The man came and grabbed the two men.
"NO! PLEASE!?"
But the two men's cries were unheard as they were dragged away to their presumed death.
Mabel had only watched what had happened in a horrified silence. Two innocent men had been tormented by the demon for his own amusement; and there wasn't a thing she could have done to stop them. Scaring her even more was the thought of what Bill could have planned for Dipper.
She shivered as she felt the demon's gloved hands gently graze her cheek.
"Don't worry, Shooting Star..." He purred. "I have something very special planned for your brother."
Mabel only let out a cracked sob. Wishing there was something she could do to help her brother. Wishing she could get as faraway from the demon as humanly possible.
But he only laughed as he snaked his arms around her. Holding her close.
"But that won't matter much longer... None of it will matter once brother dear and your interfering uncles are out of the way."
Mabel only sat in his inviting embrace. She just hoped that Dipper would find her soon.
However she had a feeling that she was also going to have to come up with a plan to escape on her own if it would come down to it.
Even if it was going to be impossible.