The One He Protected///Gravity Falls Fanfic///TW in desc.

Haven't You Seen the Horror Movies?

The townspeople didn't even seem to notice anything. Even more unsettling, their eyes were fully white.

Mabel squinted her eyes at them, observing how they kept moving like nothing was happening. Big smiles were on their faces, and everything was in slow motion. That made it even more freaky to her.

Elizabetta released her protective spell and sighed, nearly falling over. That spell drained a lot of energy from her.

"What was that?" Ford asked, looking at her, then to where the marks in the grass had been. The demoness stretched her arms a bit. "Magic immunity spell. I don't use it very much." She responded.

Mabel stepped towards one of the townspeople. She waved her hand in front of his face, trying to get his attention. To her surprise, he walked right through her hand. She yelped and jumped back, looking at her hand in shock.

Elizabetta sighed nervously, shaking her head. "This has seemed to become nothing but an illusion. Under Flintgold's influence, his magic must be so powerful it's created its own reality." She said.

Everyone stared at her blankly, except for Ben. "In other words, they're trapped in a realm between Flintgold's magic and the real world. They can't see you, hear you, or have physical contact with those in the fully realm world or the fully magic world - Flintgold, or Bill's, mindscape."

That seemed to be more understandable.

"Okay, okay, that's helpful and all..." Stand said. He suddenly motioned to something in the center of the town. "Now please explain THAT?"

In the center of the town was what could only be described as a giant heart. Gross veins and all, pulsating like it was living. A morbid interest took over Ida as she walked over to it. "This is..." She tilted her head. "Interesting..." She thought for a moment. Elizabetta racked her mind, trying to remember what the thing could be.

Ida always had a certain draw to things grotesque and creepy. This was most certainly both. Maybe it was because she had always been pushed to perceive herself like that. Better to embrace it than to feel dejected by it, she had told herself.

Elizabetta suddenly stiffened, realizing what the heart was. The entrance to Flintgold's magic. "Don't touch it!" She screamed, but it was too late. Ida had stepped forward, trying to press her ear to hear its beating. Her foot slipped, and as if the heart wasn't really there, she fell right through it. She felt herself falling into darkness, and she tried grabbing at something to catch herself. There was nothing there to grab.

Finally, she landed on the ground. For a moment, her ribs felt like they'd been ignited. Thanks to her accelerated healing, though, the bruises cleared out after a minute. She was just glad they were only bruises. Those and cuts would heal quickly. If they were broken, they'd take a day or two. That wouldn't be very good if she were trying to help Bill.

The others tumbled down after her. Zace managed to use his powers to stop all of their falls, and his flight to stop his own. Ida looked at the oldest Cipher child with a bit of envy, then at her wings.

"Did we have a plan after this?" Stan said, stumbling a bit after being released.

"You guys just followed me down here without a plan!?" Ida responded, looking at the group with disbelief.

Ford rubbed his temples. "We thought you might be in danger." He explained. Ida just looked at him blankly, like she didn't understand that kind of thought process. To be fair, she didn't understand thought processes that had to do with caring about her.

Elizabetta sighed, clapping her hands. Bright, white orbs appeared all around, lighting their surroundings. Four tunnels went in separate ways, all leading... somewhere.

"We need to get to the center of his mindscape. That way, we can repel Flintgold from Bill. Maybe even lock him away." Ida said, studying each tunnel. "One of these has to lead there." She mumbled.

Ben tilted his head, admittedly impressed. "How do you know so much about Dream Demons and the mindscape?"

Ida looked at him with eyes that said 'really?'. "Bill practically raised me since I was eight. I learned a few things from an expert of the mind." Ben nodded a bit.

"I suggest we split up. That way, we'll cover more ground." Elizabetta said. Dipper looked at her nervously. "That never works in the horror movies." He said. All of the demons looked at him in confusion.

"Horror movies?" Ben asked. Mabel gaped. "First, you guys don't have ice cream, THEN you don't have horror movies!? What's next? Flamingos?!"

Zace stared at her blankly. "Flamingos?" Mabel stared right back in disbelief.

"No time for that right now. Zace, you'll come with me. Ida, go with the two small humans." Elizabetta said, shaking her head. "You," she pointed to Ford, "go with Ben. The other one goes with William."

Zace grabbed his mother's sleeve. "Mother, do you really think we can trust the humans?" He whispered to her. The demoness sighed. "It's our best option to trust them."

With that decided, the teams split off into different tunnels.