Depravity

iguessso12:

<>

When Mabel was twelve, going on thirteen, the world ended.
Her brother went up in blue flames. Not even ashes remained. Her parents came
to get her. Told her she’d never return to Gravity Falls.

But the world didn’t end. It
changed. They called it The Transcendence.

<>

“Dipper!” Mabel called, wiping her hands on a dish towel.
The casserole was in the oven. She’d done up the dishes. It would be another
half hour before it was ready to eat. That gave her a half hour to find her
brother since he wasn’t within hearing range. She wasn’t feeling up to
summoning him. It would be too messy.

He had checked in with her less than an hour ago. She
somehow knew that he was still in Gravity Falls. Over their link there was an
intensity that was only present when he was nearby. He was entertaining
himself, that much was clear.

“Henry.” She peeked in on her husband. He was fully focused
on restoring an old book, glue, paper, and thread littered about his usually
neat workspace.

“Yeah, Mabes?” He tossed her a glance and a warm smile,
“What’s up?”

“I set the alarm on the stove. Can you take the food out
when it’s done? I’m going to find Dipper. He’s out in the woods somewhere.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

“Where are the kids?”

“Stan’s with them. They’re in the attic. I believe they’re
going through some of Stan and Ford’s old things. Spring cleaning.”

Mabel giggled, “That should keep them busy. One time, Stan
told me and Dipper he’d get rid of a body switching rug we discovered in the
Shack. We found it, later that summer, stuffed in a corner of the attic.”

Henry went back to his book, but you could tell the smile
remained on his face, “Stan’s sentimental, even if he doesn’t want to admit it.
But that attic needs cleaned. The kids are getting bigger and they’re going to
need more space.”

“I’ve been thinking about making a deal with Dipper to fix
that.” Mabel confessed.

She didn’t miss the way her husband’s back went rigid. To
anyone else, it would be unnoticeable. But she knew Henry by heart. Every
movement, every expression, every detail. She knew that there were still things
about his brother-in-law that made Henry uneasy. With good reason.

“Are you sure, Mabes?”

“I’m always sure.”

“But you’ve thought it out. Everything?”

Mabel nodded.

Henry deliberately continued with his book, moving steady
hands over the delicate pages. A swath of glue affixed a new spine, held fast
by a clamp while it dried. He reached for the next book, starting with the
frayed stitching in the binding. Long, spindly fingers expertly threaded a
needle.

“I trust you.” He whispered quietly.

Mabel crossed the office, draping her arms around his neck
so they dangled over his chest. He was the perfect height, sitting down. She
rested her head on his shoulder.

“And I trust Dipper.” She whispered back.

“I know.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that. It works for us.”

“I know.”

<>

When Mabel was fourteen, the house in Piedmont was too small
for three people. Her room, even though the attic was the first one they had
shared, was too large. But the space wasn’t just her own. Things moved when she
wasn’t looking. Her television fizzed out at odd moments. The temperature was
always ten degrees colder than the rest of the house.

Salt and iron did nothing to
make it stop. It wasn’t a ghost.

<>

Mabel grabbed her bat, grappling hook, and squirt bottle of
anointed water on her way out of the house. Shack. Whatever. While the world
was a much more dangerous place than it had been when she was twelve, she was
well prepared for it at this point. Not that many magical creatures would try
anything with her. Not when she belonged to someone – something – else.

The days were getting longer. The triplets had just finished
first grade a few days ago. Summer was fast approaching. She was looking
forward to it.

Humming a tune as she navigated the undergrowth, she found a
well-beaten path. All around her, pine trees towered into the burning twilight
of the sky. Their scent wafted on the fresh breeze, bringing back memories as
scents often do. Back then, she couldn’t have imagined things would be the way
they were now. Or how much it would cost to get there.

Memories were peppered with pain and triumph, often at the
expense of others. Expense and sacrifice. She knew too much about sacrifice.
The world did not abide by the golden rule.

“Dipper!” She called.

He didn’t answer. But she knew she was getting closer. It
wasn’t just twin intuition. It was a link, more explicit and inexplicable than
could ever be understood by any other pair. After all, how often did a demon
retain a soul rather than consume it whole?

Mabel braced her knees, arms out, as she slid down an
incline layered in moss. The trees around her sparkled. There were unnatural
hues to the plant life. She would think it beautiful, if it weren’t so
familiar.

“Dipper!”

A puff of black smoke and acrid sulfur was all the warning
she received before luminescent, gold eyes hung in her vision. The rest of her
brother resolved into focus. Face blooming in a smile with jagged teeth and
inky suit sucking the light from the clearing.

“Ah, Mizar! You have perfect timing.”

“What’s up Dip?” She’d had years
to adjust to her brother’s preference for her demon title rather than her real
name. The sting was nothing but a dull ache, easily ignored.

An invisible wind ruffled
Dipper’s hair as he floated above her. A self-satisfied smirk fell into place.
Eyes that conveyed nothing but joy and chaos alit with streams of gold as he
whirled about to lead the way.

“You’ll just have to come see!”

She fell
into step with his pace. Dipper reclined on his back. After all these years,
he’d never once submitted to gravity. The day the portal had upset the laws of
the nature was the day Dipper became everything that went against them.
Absently, her brother picked something from his teeth that looked like white
cotton candy.

<>

When Mabel was fifteen, the
school system finally got its act together and introduced a Transcendence
Adjustment course. At Piedmont High, they received a brief overview of every
known supernatural creature. Surprisingly, there was a section on demons.

Bill
Cipher was common knowledge. He was gone. But another had taken his place.
Alcor the Dreambender.

<>

The gnomes were right were Mabel
expected them to be, in their hidden cove. But finding them, standing, heaving
with exertion, in full battle mode, was unexpected.

“What’s going on, Dipper?” She
queried.

Her brother’s canny eyes
glittered, half-lidded.

The gnome giant quivered.

“Gnomes are such a nuisance.” Dipper scoffed, “The have a two-track mind. Food and finding a queen. When I made a
little deal with them that they couldn’t hold up, there needed to be something
to settle the debt. And I was in the mood for a snack.”

Mabel finally noticed the gaping
hole that was the gnome giant’s left arm. No little men were scrambling to
replace it. How many would it take? Fifty? One hundred?

Dipper grinned again, and the white
fluff was easily identifiable as beard hair. The usually multicolored forest
was even more colorful, painted by rainbow splatters of the innards of too many
gnomes. Stagnant air was choked with the scent of spoiled lemons. She didn’t
know what gnome blood smelled like before. Now she did.

“Remember,” Dipper’s voice purred with pleasure, “Something similar happened last week. That
cult didn’t really have anything equivalent to afford them control of this
continent. Though I do admire how they aim low. How many have asked for control
of this planet? Too many. Pure folly.”

She knew he would go on, so she
reached up and grabbed his bow tie. For a brief moment, Dipper’s eyes swirled
with rage. He wasn’t fond of touching. He wasn’t fond of a gesture that
presumed others were above him. He wasn’t fond of anyone, save her.

Dipper had fought, tooth and
nail, from his inception. Demons dogged his footsteps, hoping to feast on a new
born for an extra boost of energy. Invisible and unheard, he trekked through
the world. Tore apart his foes. And grew. Eyes that burned. Fangs so sharp.
Claws for fingertips. Wings with power.

Viciousness that rivaled and rose
above all others. Every summons was devoutly twisted to afford him the most
advantage. The demon of before whispered into a corrupted human mind, creating
a new demon. Cleverer. More devious. With another goal. Existing on the mortal
plane of his own volition. Reclaiming his sister.

His sister. She was his sister.
His twin. And her soul was his.

It was the only reason he didn’t
rip her apart for such a gesture. Another tug on his bow tie erased the anger,
leaving only irritation.

“What?”

<>

When Mabel was sixteen, her
parents finally hired an exorcist. The centaur shaman had managed to climb the
steps to her room with his equine body. But when the crystals informed him of
measurements the Pines family couldn’t understand, the only thing they
understood was his pale face and his quick retreat.

That
night, a voice whispered, “There is no
use trying to keep me away.” Alcor tore his way through dimensions and into
her life.

<>

“Alcor.” Mabel admonished. Dipper
liked his title. It would get through to him with more force. Internally, she
struggled. Sometimes she felt he was too far gone. Why would he even ask her to
do this?

“What?”

“This is unnecessary and you know
it. The gnomes are harmless. They aren’t a threat to anyone. Not like that cult
at all.”

“So?”

“You asked me to find your
humanity.” She stabbed a finger at the wounded gnome giant, “How is this human?
How is this even fair?”

The demon bristled, blue sparks
jumping over his suit.

“I am Alcor. I do not descend to the level of humans and their pathetic
interpretations of fairness.” A smile tore its way across his face. Irises
blew wide and golden. Energy warped the atmosphere around him, shimmering like
the heat over a highway. Sapphire fire pooled in his palms. “I take what I see fit. And I see no
problem with the souls of eighty-five gnomes. I feel fantastic. Would you like
a taste, Mizar?”

When Dipper got bored, he
reminded the world who he was. With his title came power and prestige. Years with
the ability to maintain corporeality never satiated his need for chaos. His
title was to be feared and revered. The intelligent, curious, and dorky twelve
year old boy was replaced by a creature that deemed to keep his human form.
Memories of his humanity were scattered with his sanity.

Her brother came back. But he
didn’t. This creature was wearing his skin. He wasn’t Dipper Pines. Wasn’t Bill
Cipher. He was Alcor the Dreambender. But even that was nothing more than
another charade.

Mabel wasn’t sure what Dipper was.
But Dipper was her brother. She’d fight, tooth and nail, for him. To keep him
by her side. To keep him from growing any more demonic while she was alive.

Intentionally overlooking the
proffered hand, she answered, “When Forrest asks you to do his homework for him
in exchange for his Halloween candy, what have I told you to do?”

Dipper’s brow pinched together. “Ignore his deal and explain the
consequences of such a thing.”

“Exactly.”

“How is this the same?”

“Because Forrest is too young to understand and gnomes are
too dense to know any better.”

“Gnomes are
delicious.”

“So is the casserole that is about to come out of the oven
right now. If you aren’t too full already, you can join us.”

Dipper’s bared his fangs.

“I’m never full.”

His hand still hung between them. He gave it a shake for
emphasis.

“Conditions.” Mabel admonished, “You mention none of this to
the triplets. You behave yourself around them. And you help Henry with dishes.”

“A plate of food isn’t enough for that, Mizar.”

<>

When Mabel was seventeen, she drove through night, blurred
eyes, and heavy rain to Gravity Falls. All her belongings were packed into the
trunk of her rickety Volkswagen beetle. Her phone rang thirty times before she
simply turned it off. There was no going back.

Dipper had driven mom into an
anxiety attack. Dad wanted to give the government information that would allow
them to magically enslave him. She couldn’t love them all at once.

<>

“Seconds and thirds. Or no deal. I will leave you in these
woods.”

A flash of something. Concern writ across Dipper’s face,
choking the grin. She watched with interest. It was moments like these that she
looked for. For her brother. The real thing.

Pushing his buttons. Trial and error. An elaborate guessing
game. That’s what it took to find her brother. To truly see what he had been
through. Because he told her nothing. She needed to understand the war in his
head. She needed to know how his natures dueled inside him. She needed to
comprehend the clash of instincts and what he chose to act upon.

Why?

One moment he could be cradling baby Willow in his arms,
cooing and watching over her with lamplight eyes. And the next he could snap and
order a three-year-old Acacia by her true name to stab forks in her arm. He
could grin as he and Forrest battled over a Snicker bar with a game of Super
Smash Bros. But on Willow’s first day of school, he thought showing her how the
next ten years of her life played out was educational.

Every time she thought he was getting better, he’d backtrack
twice as far.

“Deal!”

Dipper didn’t give her any more time to contemplate. He
nabbed her arm, unaware of how his claws dug through the sleeve of her sweater
and punctured her skin. He warped them into the Shack. Just in time for the
oven to ding. She scrubbed warm rivulets of blood off with the inside of her
sleeve and slid on oven mitts. Dipper hung around behind her.

She batted his hand away with the spatula.

Something must have clicked within his demon mind. Dishes,
glasses, and silverware floated out of cabinets and rested on the table. All
the while, Dipper floated in circles around the kitchen, on his back.
Unconcerned and eyes closed, he missed out on the fond smile Mabel shot his
way.

Henry had been summoned to the kitchen by the sound of the
timer. A raised eyebrow at his wife and his brother-in-law was the only
indicator that he was surprised. He most likely heard the blip upon their
entrance. The triplets certainly did.

They tromped down the old wooden staircase, Stan following
at a more relaxed pace. Pretty soon, the kitchen was packed with the members of
their family. Three, red-headed children jumped up to nab their uncle’s
coat-tails as he had seemingly dozed off.

“Uncle Dipper?” Forrest asked, “Did you fall asleep?”

A puff of air replaced his floating form, and Dipper
appeared to be lounging at the kitchen table. The triplets were left spinning
in dizzy circles. Acacia fell on her butt.

“Why would a dream
demon need to sleep?”

Willow recovered the quickest, running to throw herself in
his lap.

“We’ve seen you fall asleep
before.” Forrest reminded them all, not impressed.

<>

When Mabel was eighteen, she earned her demon title: Mizar.
Whether she was possessed or acted of her own volition, she learned of the
havoc wrought by a demon. It forever changed her perspective of humanity. To
know that there were people doing things just as depraved as demons chilled her
to the bone.

She grew vicious to match her
brother. Hiding the way it rotted her insides with a smile. Scars littered her
skin and her soul.

<>

Dinner was the same as ever. Delicious, loud, and a little
bit crazy. The triplets told Dipper what they’d been up to all afternoon. Mabel
found herself laughing at all the nostalgia they’d uncovered. Boxes of old
video tapes were sitting in the living room, waiting to be watched after the
meal. No doubt there were copies of ‘Dipper’s Guide to the Unexplained’ and
‘Mabel’s Guide to Everything’ among them.

When they had first moved into the Mystery Shack with Stan,
she had watched them with Dipper to see what he remembered. It was strange to
find that every scene, he could perfectly recall. But he regarded his past self
with upmost contempt. ‘It’s funny how
dumb I was.’

She didn’t mind the triplets watching the videos. But it
would certainly be hard for her and Henry. They understood just what had
happened to Dipper. To make him the way he was now. It was pretty messed up if
they really thought about it.

The triplets were old enough to understand. Mabel and Henry
had never hidden things from them. It was in their best interests to know,
after all. Risk-taking was not permissible with a demon around.

They knew that their uncle had once been human. That he was
a demon now. They knew that their uncle had dangerous mood swings. That happy
wasn’t always good and anger wasn’t always their fault. They knew not to make
deals with him without parental supervision. That the fact he knew their true
names was a serious matter.

But sometimes, the triplets were just six. And sometimes
rules slipped their minds or were disregarded. Sometimes the triplets and
Dipper had terrible lapses in judgement at the same time. And the kids got
hurt. Henry would grow silent. Mabel would race to right the mess as much as
she could.

But fractures, while they can be repaired, are never really
whole again.

Their family sat around the old tube television anyway. Slid
the tapes into the dated VHS player. And pressed play on the console. They
laughed about the past. Dipper added commentary with facts about the recording
and the creatures he’d tried to identify at age twelve, all free of charge.

Willow cuddled in his lap. Acacia stole his hat. And Forrest
asked more questions.

Henry and Mabel sat on the couch with fingers intertwined.
She could feel his contentment as her head rested on his shoulder. Her husband
just wanted his family to be safe, including his often wayward brother. But
when the conflict came from within, he wasn’t sure how to deal with it besides
exercising saint-like patience. Mabel only loved him more for that. Dipper
needed someone to approach him in a way his demon instincts didn’t understand.
Only that would get through to him.

Stan grouched about how
lovey-dovey everyone was getting and went to bed. He was too old to put up with
it.

<>

When Mabel was nineteen, she almost gave up on Dipper. He’d
disappeared for six months before blipping in to drag her off to a cult bust.
It had been worse than anything she’d ever seen before. So much blood.
Everywhere. His laugh as he tore people apart in the most slow, brutal, and
painful way possible. His eyes, so bright with excess energy they seemed white.

She stood off to the side and
watched. And vomited. And didn’t eat or sleep for a week after. How could that
still be her brother?

<>

After everyone else had gone to bed, Mabel and Dipper
lounged on the roof of the Shack. Times like these, Mabel felt no different
than when she was a kid. Just the two of them, sneaking out to drink Pitt Cola
past bedtime, throw pinecones at the totem pole, and watch the stars they
couldn’t see from Piedmont. Only now, Mabel was much bigger and Dipper floated
with his legs crossed.

“I think I’m supposed to say sorry about earlier today.”
Dipper mumbled.

“I won’t say it’s fine Dip.” Mabel responded with a soft
smile, “Because it’s not. But I will remind you how much I love you.”

Dipper shrugged, shoulders and wings rising and falling. He
let out a huff.

“What?”

“You’re just really special, Mabel.” He answered. She could
tell this was Dipper, as human as he could be, speaking when he used her real
name – not her title. “Anyone else would have given up on me.”

“You’re my brother.”

“It’s not that
simple!” He bit out, “You’ve
accepted me. A demon. You know there’s depravity in me and you still let me in
your life, your husband’s life, your kids’ lives. And I screw up all the time!”

She wrapped her arms around him, squeezing even as blue
sparks danced over her sweater. But she felt the wounds from earlier close.
Felt hot, golden droplets soak into the wool.

“Hugs fix everything.” She whispered into his suit jacket.

Dipper sighed, “No they don’t, Mabel. They don’t fix the
fact that I can only do so much of this happy family thing before I lose it. I
can only go so long without razing the world to the ground. That I’ve seen
futures and dimensions so awful I don’t see the point of balance, and chaos
makes more sense. That it’s been over four hours since I’ve killed something
and it’s like an itch I can’t scratch.”

She squeezed him tighter.

“You don’t understand.”

Mabel let him go to look him in the eyes. Crescents of
molten gold met hers and stared into her soul, his soul. He didn’t look away.
Whatever he saw there only made him more miserable. And he didn’t look away.

“I don’t understand. And Dipper, I’ve tried. But in the end,
what matters is that I love you. And I trust you.”

His form flickered. A summons. With the risen, full moon,
midnight rituals were beginning. She grabbed his hand, this time, careful of
his claws.

“I’m coming with you.”

A grateful smile, no teeth or malice, graced his features. A
human and a demon, hand in hand, disappeared from the rooftop of the Shack.
Echoing in her mind, like a broken record player, but infinitely softer, Dipper’s
answer resounded, “I trust you. And I love you. Mabel. I trust you…”

Soon, it was eclipsed by manic
laughter, roaring blue fire, screams of mortal peril. And the scent of blood
wafted on the stale cavern air, bringing back memories as scents often do. Of
too many deaths all brought about by her dear little brother, the demon.

<>

When Mabel was twenty, she was stabbed in the heart. Not in
the figurative sense. In the literal “there is a ceremonial blade sticking
through my chest” sense. It was like nothing she’d ever experienced before. The
knife was ripped free, trailing beads of ruby that splattered over a circle of
chalk. Her heart traitorously pumped her life through the opening, crimson
rivers spilling over everything as she collapsed to the ground. Her fingers
twitched weakly, scratching at runes.

Then darkness. In her final moments, there was blue fire and
proffered hand. She took it. She would do her best replace what her brother had
lost. A soul.

Fin

<>

This is written for
the AU of TAU. I don’t remember the name of it, but it’s the one where Dipper
isn’t visible to Mabel. As a result, he spends two years growing powerful
enough to become corporeal and prove that he is still alive. In that time, he
has to figure a lot of the demon stuff out on his own and he doesn’t have Mabel
to be his moral compass. He ends up becoming more demon-like sooner rather than
later.

A few headcanons to go
with this since I don’t remember the AU overview being super exhaustive: 1) Dipper
prefers to use his title, Mabel’s title, and the triplets’ true names (provided they aren’t in public, but it also doesn’t mean he’s constantly ordering
them around), 2) Given his lack of ability to human, he wouldn’t have the savvy
to rename Forrest to Hank, so that name stayed, 3) Dipper only accepts legitimate
blood sacrifices, 4) He rarely, if ever, makes deals that put himself at a disadvantage
(even with Mabel), 5) He’s more detached from the family than in the main AU,
and  6) Dipper becomes a lot more powerful
a lot faster because of his lack of regard for human life.

Mods, I hope I didn’t
screw anything up. I really liked this idea when it was presented. And it’s a
good excuse to write really REALLY vicious Dipper, which I cannot pass up. Unfortunately,
my story didn’t turn out that way D:

Oh well! Hope you
enjoy!!!

M:��.��