So, the TAU mods created the drift AU and, after reading this fic, I just thought about the time that Mabel finally mets Dipper and this is deeply based on that fic. And it’s not happy.
She
had said goodbye to her brother. She knew it was the best for him and
she was willing to give him something better than wandering around as
a ghost, but still she felt empt inside after saying those words.She
was being haunted. She was sure it was her brother, it could only be
him, but after saying goodbye, whatever was there, still haunted her.
He could be attached to an object, and so she burned his hat, this
one with the pine tree that he used almost the whole summer. She
thought he could have finally moved on. She felt sad, but also happy
for him.But
she was still haunted. Everything that had happened before,
organizing her pencils, her books that way and taking his things out
of place, all those things could only have been done by her brother.
But not the notes, they were weird, it didn’t seem like him.And
then there was the circle, a summoning circle. It was definitely a
demon, it had to be. She knew which one, and she knew that it wasn’t
her brother, it couldn’t be him, he couldn’t do those things…But
she was still haunted.She
went against all sense and her fear and drew the lines with chalk on
the floor and set the candles. Her hands were shaking, but she made
everything carefully. She stood before the circle and hesitated. Then
called him, Alcor.For
a brief second everything stopped, and she breathed in. She asked
herself if it was a good idea after all, and she regretted
immediately giving up to reckless, but she had no more time. The
moment passed and everything seemed to move again, and she breathed
out. The fire in the candles flickered and smoke appeared in the
middle of the circle, just above the pair of stars.The
smoke formed into a person and, during the process, her expression
changed from fear to astonishment and despair. The person standing –
or actually floating – in the middle of the circle wore a suit and
a top hat, had bat wings, claws, pointed ears and black and gold
eyes. She analysed his face and felt sick as she saw how those
demonic features were present in this face. It wasn’t a 12
years old face, but there was no mistake, it was his face.She
couldn’t feel joy for seeing her brother after years, because it
wasn’t him, it wasn’t that adorable dork that she had lost in that
summer. Her brother could never wear such an expression… Or such
lack of it. He was utterly expressionless, giving no trace of
emotion, no happiness, no sadness, no anger, nothing. And seeing his
face like this felt wrong.“Mabel”
. His voice was flat and full of echo. When he spoke she noticed that
he had razor sharp teeth. And she just stood there staring him until
her eyes got blurry, momentarily unable to differentiate the forms.Some
moments passed without anything happening, none moved, none spoke.
Until he, almost as if unfreezing reality, moved forward. She looked
down at the floor and met her eyes with his shadow, following it as
it got closer and closer to the edge of the circle, until it passed
through it with no struggle.It
wasn’t supposed to happen, was it? She sobbed and tried to take a
step back, but instead she bumped into the wall. When did she get
there? She didn’t know, and didn’t care. She closed her eyes and when
she felt hands holding her shoulders she was sobbing again. She
didn’t fight when the hands pulled her closer and he embraced her,
tears now running freely down her face.He
didn’t say nothing and she didn’t hugged him back, she just stood
there feeling his warmth, even with it didn’t give her any comfort.
She knew that his face was as expressionless as before and that he
wasn’t feeling anything.She
wasn’t sure if it was a hug. The action seemed merely possessive,
done with no emotion attached. She let out an struggled sob between
tears and said almost in a whisper “Dipper”. With this word came
the feeling, different from what she had felt all of the times
before. This was the final acknowledge, and now she knew for sure
that she might have lost her brother.She
didn’t care if her brother was a demon, but she wondered with despair
if there was still a trace of Dipper in this person that she didn’t
knew anymore. But, she couldn’t deny that he looked for her. All this
time giving some clues that grew as the time passed. He was always
there, and even when she pretended that there was nothing there he
kept trying to get her attention. He didn’t give up.And
that’s why, if there was still a trace of her brother in him, she
would look for it, she would fight for bring it back to the surface
and would never, never, give
up on him.
Tag: drift au
Goodbye Forever, Bro-Bro
Drift, 1/?
Basically the TAU mods are evil and came up with another AU-AU, the Drift AU. And then a sadder variant of the AU. Which I decided to write.
Read on Fanfiction.Net here.
~
She’d done the research, on the internet and in the school
library’s tiny section on the supernatural. All that she’d seen agreed with her
initial suspicions. The straightened room, her hair moving even when there was
no breeze, the faint scent of pine in her room—it all pointed towards a
haunting.
And there was only one person she could think of that would
be haunting her.
1. To Become: Wings
Dipper’s chest heaved. It was a wonder why. For these past few
weeks, he didn’t need to breathe, or eat, or sleep. He thought maybe he was
going mad.But right now, he felt like he was wearing thin.
Something inside of him warned him that he was low on
energy. That the golden sparks had ceased to run under his skin. That the blue
fire would soon be quenched. That the form he retained, in the dimension of the
mind, would waste away. If he didn’t do anything about it soon.With a frustrated growl, he pushed the warning away. He was
working on it.Rising again, the demon across from him tittered with delight.
Two of its arms dragged, grotesque and bloody behind it. Dipper had severed
whatever served for tendons in those arms. But five more were still
functioning. The surfaces brushed by its working fingers rotted away, reeking
of pestilence. The main mass of the demon’s body was covered with matted hair
and gems of oozing puss. Its smile was fixed in a leer. The long beak that extended
over its eyes shadowed them so they appeared flat and black.Maybe a few weeks ago, Dipper would have trembled at the sight
of the plague demon. But not anymore. Its appearance barely served as a
surprise.“Come here, little
changeling.” The demon’s voice sounded as if it was gurgling through layers
of mucus, “You will be a wonderful
little snack.”With speed Dipper didn’t think the creature had, it shot forward.
Wings. It had wings. Dipper hadn’t noticed those before. Where did they come
from?He grew them. A
nonplussed voice informed him. Most
demons are capable of such a feat. Not you, though. You’re pathetic.Dipper grit his teeth as he dodged. In the past few weeks,
he’d learned the way his gravity acted. He’d gotten quite good at orienting
himself, but there was no good way to control fine movement while maneuvering.
It was like he was an astronaut. Once he pushed off, there was no taking it
back.The plague demon took advantage of that, banking sharply.
One of the slack arms clubbed Dipper about the chest, causing him to roll out
of control. His loss of balance allowed the demon to rake a smoldering hand
across his back.Dipper screamed as furrows opened wide and immediately
molded to black. The stench was disgustingly warm and oppressive. Nothing like
the sharp metallic scent of blood. It shot needles of pain into the surrounding
area. But Dipper found he couldn’t feel his back. Whatever resembled his skin and
nerves were dead.Heat began to sear his muscles as his body attempted to
heal. But demon magic was much more potent than human weapons. It was slow
going. Too slow with his low preserves.You’re pathetic.
“I’m not a demon.” Dipper groused to the inner voice, “Why
even compare us.”The answering laugh was painfully familiar. It was Bipper’s
laugh.“Little changeling.”
The demon ginned, swirling upside down in midair as it spoke, “You won’t need to worry about coming into
yourself. I’ll put you out of your misery.”It lunged again. And Dipper tried to skip back. But with his
injury, he was still sluggish. The demon caught him, one arm for each of his
limbs. The tangle of the two creatures smashed into the ground of the mindscape,
leaving a crater the size of a lake.Dipper’s consciousness blurred between the monochrome of the
mindscape and the black of whatever lay beyond his current existence. The pain
in his back was so intense, he didn’t even have the awareness to cry out.The last arm pinned his forehead, resting directly on his birthmark.
It awakened agony that had nothing to do with his back injuries. The
emancipated hand of the plague demon pushed past the barrier of his skin,
plunging into his head.The shriek that ripped through Dipper resembled a human’s in
no way, shape, or form. It was primal. It was chaos.The noise tore away a layer of the demon restraining him,
exposing molted green skin and black veins. Raw wounds smoked. But the creature
disregarded it all. Its fanged mouth overflowed with saliva. A chuckle that sounded
more like a hacking cough rocked the demon’s frame and spewed drool.“You’ve started with
such a weak form, little changeling.” It rasped, “Given time, you might have developed demon characteristics. No matter,
a demon soul will serve me well. So much power…”Dipper wasn’t certain from where he heard the demon’s
speech. He felt as if he were somewhere outside of himself. The claws of the plague
demon clipped his soul, where it rested behind his forehead, sending spirals of
the most unimaginable sensation into his being. Torture. The kind that would
leave an impression for a millennia.How did he know that?
Suddenly, he was nebulous. Everywhere and not at all. A
universe away, a smiling child waved in his direction, violet eyes canny and
bright. An eternity ago, a cold dark planet hovered in an empty space. A separation
by millions of parts, sub-atomic particles collided and formed an element, yet
undiscovered.“Yesss.” The plague
demon hissed, sounding like a mass of disease ridden insects, “Lucky me, to have caught you so young. You
could have grown to be a hassle. How strange, for a demon to grow.”So, you end up with
all my power and more. And this is what you do with it? Get eaten! Go ahead,
get eaten then.Dipper didn’t feel like there was anything left of him. He
was so thin, ephemeral, he felt like a puff of someone’s breath would disperse
what remained.He didn’t even need to breathe.
Mabel did.
Mabel.
He’d protected her from Bill Cipher. And this was his
payment. He was like this now. That idiot triangle. If only he hadn’t tried to
possess him as a last-ditch effort. What did the demon have to live for,
anyway? Bill Cipher had no one. Dipper had Mabel.Dipper needed to live.
Dipper needed to find Mabel and tell her that he was alive.
With tremendous focus, Dipper threw what was left of himself
back into his body. He channeled himself into his forehead, forming a barrier
between his soul and the demon’s corrosive touch. He pulled himself tight, drawing
upon anything that served as energy in the barren space of the mindscape. The
reactions of the plague demon’s magic fizzled out as Dipper snatched up the wayward
motes of power.The plague demon hesitated, blinking its scab-encrusted
eyes. It sensed a change in the changeling.Feeling raced back into the limbs of Dipper’s form. His
fingers twitched. His body levitated once more. But his eyes didn’t open.Instead, a third eye, in the center of his forehead flicked
open. A bright outline of gold, contrasting his depleted stores of energy. The
eye defied the demon tradition of hiding the soul, their greatest point of
weakness.As if wrenched by a marionette string, Dipper’s hand broke
free of the demon’s one arm to yank the demon’s other arm from his head. Once
his soul was free of its clutches, he grabbed the demon’s beak with both hands.
His fingers closed like a vise, cracking the toughened scales. Shards of black rained
on his face and clothes.The plague demon reeled back in shock, affording Dipper
enough room to kick the creature in its revolting chest. The demon flew back
even farther, still blinking in surprise. A foot shaped print on its front
crackled with golden sparks.If his enemy was going to say anything, Dipper didn’t give
it the chance. He shot forward, taking the offense even though he was at an
enormous disadvantage. It didn’t matter. Something had risen up inside him,
taking control. Something that wasn’t human.His eyes never opened, but he knew everything.
He knew that the plague demon was going to feint, before
dodging to the right. He knew that this area of the mindscape paralleled the
Sonoran Desert in Arizona. He knew that, hundreds of years from now, the desert
would be home to millions, a city called Mortius.It was too much.
It was perfect.
He cackled as he dashed to intercept the demon. Moving too fast
to stop, he snatched one of the creatures arm as he breezed by. The limb came
away with a tremendous tear. Blood, black ichor, sprayed everywhere. Dipper
tossed the arm away before too much could get on his clothes. Within less than
a second, Dipper reversed and shot back toward his foe. Sapphire flames gathered
in his hands.With a touch, the hair that remained on the plague demon ignited
with hot flames. They raced along the creature’s form like it had been dipped
in gasoline. It shrieked, clawing at the burning parts, black mold replacing
the blue blaze. Heaving, the demon turned on Dipper.There was no rush of energy that had accompanied his sudden belligerence.
Just a single, golden eye and a weak, human-like frame remained of him. But,
there was no way he would die here. He had possessed a child to stay in the
world. Whatever lengths it would take. He would continue to exist.The plague demon screeched, flexed its wings, and dove at
Dipper. Four arms outstretched, reaching for his eye, his soul.A grin pulled at his lips. Mocking. Dipper flexed his
fingers, timing his swing perfectly with all the foresight and knowledge that
flooded his mind. He scratched out the eyes of the demon with ragged, unkempt,
human nails. Dull, but with enough force to damage. Dipper jabbed his other
hand, spear-like, between the creatures ruined eyes and ignited it with flames.The demon careened away screaming. Dipper smiled. Hilarious.
Smoking, bleeding, and ruined, it managed to remain upright. It sputtered,
hissed, and growled.“You may take the
appearance of a human. But you are a demon, little changeling. The most demonic
of us all.”“No matter.” Dipper
responded, expending the magic to flick the plague demon’s blood from his
shoulder. “You tried to eat me. Now I will
return the favor.”“Unlikely.”
The plague demon charged. Dipper shifted, grabbing hold of
another arm. But rather than letting the creature past, he held on, kicking off
to swing up onto its back. Its arm, bent around backwards, resounded with a
chorus of cracks. Dipper twisted it into a shattered mess beneath withered
skin.Without hesitation, he pulled back his lips and plunged his
dull, human teeth into the demon’s rancid neck.After weeks without eating, this was like nothing else. The
flesh was soft and juicy. The flavor was terrible. Dipper imagined it might be better
were it not a plague demon. He’d have to give it a try. Because now, golden
sparks rushed into his stomach and nestled there. Fire lit his limbs with
strength. He reached down to rip the demon’s remaining limbs from its body.All the while the creature screamed. One long, drawn out
wail that didn’t require it to breathe. It was a constant note of distress and
powerlessness. The sound was sustained as pieces of its being were torn away.
Its rot was unable to match the pace of Dipper’s destruction. The wayward limbs
decayed and new ones attempted to take their places.Dipper burned them black.
He tilted his head, with predatory instinct. “Where is your soul?” He plunged his
hand into the odd socket of the demon’s seven arms, grinning as it stiffened
beneath him. “That would be it.”The soul pulled free. Cords of power snapped back into the
vessel. The plague demon’s soul dripped with spoiled matter, covering Dipper’s
hands with a sour smelling residue. Unappealing.In the past few weeks, he’d been able to either evade or
destroy the demons that had attacked him. But he hadn’t taken their souls. He’d
always been able to regenerate the energy he expended. But after that brush with
extermination, he wasn’t so sure such a practice was ideal. What if the next
attack succeeded?That was no good.
Dipper shoved the putrid soul into his mouth. Pushed it
farther than humanly possible, down his throat. All eyes now, squeezed shut, as
he swallowed.Beneath him, the demon’s body dissolved into dust. Dipper
floated there, aware of nothing around him. While inside, he was filled with
fire. It roared up like a pyre. Every part of his being was invigorated. Heat.
Hotter than a furnace. So satisfying. Flames licked his hands and traveled up
his arms. Gold sparks jumped along his back and healed the last of his wounds.
His eyes opened at last, and he could feel his gaze searing his surroundings.Now.
He focused inward, siphoning a portion of his newfound
energy into the small of his back. Right below the space where the plague demon’s
fingers had decimated his skin, a new pain blossomed.Sweat beaded on his brow, but he pushed the transformation.
Seconds later, nubs of bone pressed into the skin, punctured their way through,
and stretched into a spindly skeleton. A rivulet of magic coated the new
projections, threading a membrane over the spaces in between. And finally he
stretched, a set of bat-like wings, so the tips touched together.Still new, the wings were raw. The atmosphere of the mindscape
sizzled against them. It hurt. A giggle built up in Dipper’s throat. But there
was no one to hear him. He let it loose. A mad cackle. It echoed in upon itself
and reverberated through space. Terrifying.He’d been different these past few weeks. He’d thought he’s
been simply dislocated from his body again. There was no way that was the case.
Not anymore. Not after that.Thoughts skittered through his mind, disorganized.
Find Mabel. I’m a demon. Wings. I need more. Never enough. Hungry. I’m alive. Arizona is not
Oregon. I need more. Power. Find
Mabel. Hilarious. So hungry. Demons. Mindscape. Invisible.
Find Mabel. Stay alive. Hungry. Hungry.
Hungry. Hungry. Hungry…TBC
<>
Here’s why I like the
Drift AU. I’m a terrible human being.I want to make a
little miniseiries out of this, a chapter for each of Dipper’s demonic
acquisitions. In the main AU, it’s like puberty, NOT HERE! See Mod A for approval. Kill me. I should be
working on other things.(The demon here is
inspired by my recent experience with a rather terrible wound – borderline
gangrene. Not mine. But it was pretty much the goriest thing I’ve ever seen. So
I’m sharing it with you.)
Depravity
<>
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:��.��
Drift AU
Alright everyone, hold onto your butts because it’s time to introduce the Drift AU. Like “Friends with Tax Benefits”, it’s a slightly modified spin-off AU of… this AU. Fair warning: it comes with 30% more suffering.
Please take this with a grain of salt; this is not anything that will be emphasized on the blog or expanded upon much. It’s more or less a speculation of another what-if, but it’s a bit too dark to keep with the general TAU theme in my opinion.
Bill is stopped and the Transcendence takes place like usual – but this time, Dipper is nowhere to be found.
The Pines family (as well as their friends) mourn the loss of Dipper, who died in a last ditch effort to keep Bill from ushering an apocalypse. His body is never found, but unlike in the main story, Mabel never finds his “ghost”.
Everyone still has to deal with a post-Transcendence world where the paranormal is commonplace, and new threats are popping up every day. Mabel is never quite the same, having lost what was arguably a piece of herself when her brother died. She returns to Piedmont in a detached sort of haze, only barely beginning to pick up the pieces of her heart years after she’s come to terms with Dipper’s absence.
Whatever progress she makes is tested however, when she starts noticing odd things happening around her. Things on her desk being rearranged, cryptic dreams, a voice that she swears she barely hears in the dead of night when all is silent. Hair being tugged or flipped in front of her face, scrapbooks falling off off shelves, pens mysteriously breaking. At first, everything is written off as her being paranoid, hopeful even. Some of the things she sees remind her of Dipper to a point that it becomes eerie.
A part of her tries not to think about the possibility of Dipper haunting her as a ghost. She doesn’t want to believe her brother is trapped in purgatory. Besides, there are now plenty of explanations that exist for weird happenings – there are a lot of mischievous creatures that can do things like play pranks.
In high school, when she starts to get some of that old fire back in her, she begins to pick up where the Mystery Twins left off; she becomes a paranormal investigator/adventurer much like she did in the original storyline. Once she starts putting her head back in the game, she starts to realize that it’s not so impossible to think she’s being haunted.
Any attempts to communicate with a would-be ghost only confuses her more. Sometimes the signs she gets point to a classic haunting, possibly poltergeist level. But other times it points to something more sinister, more dangerous.
After a particularly terrifying seance, Mabel starts to question if it’s even a ghost that’s trying to terrorize her. After what happened with Bill, Mabel harbored a healthy fear of demons, and for good reason; they were creatures immediately deemed the most dangerous in the new post-Transcendence world. New ones seemed to pop up every few months, in headlines about summonings gone wrong and grim interviews with paranormal creatures privy to such information.
And in the past few years, no demon was discussed more than Alcor. The pure devastation left in his wake (lives lost, souls devoured, minds tormented) was bad enough, but he also seemed somewhat impervious to binding circles. So would it be possible for him to interact with the physical world?
She shakes the thought off, but continues her search for more information on what could possibly be haunting her, if it’s even possible for demons to do such a thing. Perhaps it’s impossible under normal circumstances… but in theory, demons could be “powered up” over time if given a proper energy source. This leads her to suspect a nearby cult giving demons enough worship to achieve just that.
After weeks of searching, she finally stumbles on a cult just outside Piedmont. Mabel still harbors a sweet temperament, but her anger flares when she realizes these people were willing to put thousands of lives in danger for personal gain. What if they succeeded? Would someone else meet the same fate Dipper did, being killed by a demon? Would more families be torn apart?
Mabel holds little remorse when she storms the cult, wielding a bat and successfully knocking half the cult to their knees – before someone pulls a knife on her.
Unable to move and bleeding out from her stomach, the cult leader continues with the ritual and successfully summons the one demon Mabel prayed wouldn’t appear: Alcor.
The lives of the injured and fallen are used as a bargaining tool for the summoner’s wish of wealth and power. In a horrific spectacle, Alcor easily twists the man’s words so that every life in the room is surrendered to him, which he takes with an enthusiastic and grotesque display of blood-stained claws and fangs. In minutes, everyone is killed and half devoured.
Well, everyone except Mabel.
The mix of shock, fear, and rapid blood loss makes her woozy and unable to concentrate. In her last few moments of consciousness, she hears Alcor offering to save her life. All she can think about is how she can’t die here, she can’t do that to her parents, she has to live on for herself and for her departed brother.
She barely feels his hand encase hers, the blue flames lick her skin.
The next time she wakes hours later in the abandoned warehouse still stained in cultist blood, she realizes with absolute horror that she didn’t just seal a deal with Alcor, but she left it open ended… and he took the most precious thing she had to offer: her soul.
The following weeks are a flurry of terror, knowing that once a demon claims a soul, it’s usually devoured immediately. When Mabel finally hits the point where she can no longer take the suspense, the constant question of what Alcor was planning to do with her, she summons him.
Alcor the Dreambender finally breaks down and reveals to her who he really is, shedding his demonic form to reveal something more human, and horrifically familiar.
In the six years following the Transcendence, Dipper had made every effort to contact Mabel. For a while she even believed it was him, before she started to conclude she was dealing with a demon rather than a ghost. But by the time Dipper reached a point of power that he could pop into the physical realm at will, he’d already made a name for himself and was deemed infamous by his exploits.
Without Mabel to help solidify his pieces of humanity, he became more demonic than in the main storyline. He’s more unhinged, more comfortable with the ways of his kind. He still harbors enough humanity for Mabel to slowly accept him, but his sympathy has a more definitive line.
The only people he cares about are the people he loves. His family, his friends. Everyone else is a stranger, someone he wouldn’t think twice about hurting if it seems fun, no matter how innocent the person in question might be.
Once high school is over, he and Mabel move back to Gravity Falls. But everyone – even Mabel – will openly admit that while they love Dipper, they don’t trust him. It’s like working in a lion sanctuary; you can love and care for the lions there, but wouldn’t dare risk going in the enclosure.
It only takes a handful of bad deals for the residents of Gravity Falls to realize that Dipper will gladly screw them over like any other demon. He only practices moderate restraint with people he likes, but still can still hurt them so long as it’s nothing too terrible. (Pacifica in particular learned this the hard way, with a nasty scar that covers the side of her neck down to her collarbone)
Wendy, already a demon hunter, had the misfortune to meet Dipper as Alcor first. Thus, she probably distrusts him more than any of his friends.
Mabel still ends up marrying Henry, and thankfully, Dipper takes a liking to him. Which is just about the only thing that saved his life – if Dipper hadn’t gotten attached as quickly as he did, he could have easily deemed him a nuisance to be “taken care” of.
As for the triplets… even they aren’t entirely safe from Dipper, but he’s the gentlest with them. He wouldn’t hurt them for fun, but he has little remorse for conning them in deals (the consequences are still fairly trivial, like losing candy or their voice for a day).
It’s important to keep in mind that while this summary is intended to make the stark contrast of Dipper’s personality, he’s still more of a chaotic-neutral entity. He’s not evil just to be evil, but more like “this is what demons do, and I’m fine with that” type of thinking. The lack of social interaction during those crucial six years really changed him, but he isn’t an entirely different person. He does seem to hang around the Shack a lot less however, opting to “play human” only about half the time.
In addition to having “demonic” episodes like in the main plot, he also has “human” episodes, where he’s more acutely aware of what he’s done and who he’s become. He still isn’t as bad as other demons (he may hurt people more often, but he still refrains from killing innocents… most of the time), but he’s certainly a lot more volatile than he could have turned out.
(I also personally see him getting a lot better after being back around Mabel for a few years, perhaps very close to his canon state. But that’s up to you just how much the presence of loved ones heal him.)
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