Going Under (BillDip) ON HIATUS

Chapter 2

Dipper woke up to the sound of the emergency bell. He shot into a sitting position, his quick movement tumbling him out of his hammock, Journal 3 bouncing to the wooden floor below. Dipper buckled his belt and pulled on his boots, making sure his sword was still in it's sheath. Back when Dipper and his sister lived with their parents, their dad had taught them to fight. Dipper had caught on much faster than Mabel, and his father, a blacksmith, had made him his own sword with a Pine Tree engraved in the hilt. When Dipper had asked him why he had engraved such a thing, his dad had just smiled grimly with a hand on his son's shoulder.

"You'll understand when the time comes." Was all he had said. Since then, Dipper had never departed from his sword. Dipper grabbed Journal 3 and tucked it in the pocket of his vest, then ran up the slick steps to the top deck. Soos was the one ringing the bell, and his eyes were filled with horror. Ford came out from the Captain's Room, Stan close behind him. Mabel was at her brother's shoulder, as she often was. Though the two didn't have much time to talk, there was an unspoken bond between them that came with being abandoned. Only when Wendy slid down from the Crow's Nest did Soos stop ringing the bell.

"Soos, what is it?" Ford asked. Soos took a deep breath before he began.

"Sir, I was fixing the railing at the front of the ship, when I saw something in the water. I was going to ignore it when a head appeared. When the...thing caught me looking, it sort of...hissed, its eyes glowed yellow, then it disappeared." Soos said hurriedly. Dipper, Ford, and Mabel looked at each other.

"And here I thought I was going to have to go looking for the thing." Ford muttered under his breath. Suddenly, the entire boat rocked, throwing Mabel off her feet. Dipper steadied her before she could fall, and the twin thanked him with a smile. Stan grabbed Ford by the collar of his shirt, seething.

"If you've endangered these kids, I swear I will not hesitate to run you through." The previous captain threatened, his sword drawn. Wendy and Soos drew their swords as well, but not for or against Ford. They raised their weapons because a rope of seaweed had wrapped around the railing of the boat. Silence settled on the ship like the fog that blocked their vision. Dipper drew his sword, his thumb rubbing the pine tree like he usually did before a fight. He pulled Mabel behind him out of instinct, although he knew she could take care of herself. The silence was finally shattered by an unearthly screech, and more ropes of seaweed latched onto the ship. Suddenly, grotesque creatures seemingly made up of the all the slime of the ocean threw themselves onto the ship, their teeth sharp and in rows like that of a shark. At least twenty of the monsters had climbed onto the ship, and each and everyone of them had eyes that glowed yellow.

"He feels threatened," Dipper guessed, not taking his eyes off the creatures, "so he's sent these monsters after us."

"Threatened? Hardly. The beast is messing with us." Ford countered. A laugh echoed across the water, resonating through the fog. Once the laugh had faded, the creatures crouched low and slunk forward. There was the sound of humming, echoing like the laugh had, and Dipper began to feel numb inside.

"Cover your ears!" Ford cried. Just as everyone did so, the creatures leapt forward, making it impossible to block out the song.

"Don't close your eyes, it isn't safe to dream..." Dipper slashed at another one of the creatures, it's innards spilling on his boots, slime splashing on his face. Mabel drove her sword through the chest of one of them and it exploded on her.

"The fabric of reality is bursting at the seams..." Everything was beginning to blur, the crew was seeing double, swinging at things that didn't exist, bumping into each other like a bunch of newborn puppies. Wendy managed to cut the heads off of two of the creatures, and Soos stabbed one through the back, pinning it to the ground.

"Secrets and lies are the lock to the gate..." Stan and Ford were back to back, cutting down any of the monsters that came their way. Soon, everyone was back to back, surrounded by the few remaining creatures. They were all breathing heavily, their heads swimming, vision blurred. Dipper wiped slime off his forehead, smearing it with blood from a bite mark in his arm. The creatures began advancing, slowly, their eyes shining bright yellow, hissing, nearly invisible in the thick fog.

"Here, in this place, there is no escape..." The creatures leapt forward, but before they reached any of the crew, they dissipated into water vapor and vanished. There was silence again, then suddenly, Dipper fell to his knees, gasping in pain. His head was burning with agony, his eyes glowing yellow as he squeezed them closed.

"NO!" Ford howled, grabbing Dipper and forcing him onto his back. The boy couldn't breathe. He was choking....drowning! Dipper gargled as he tried to scream, water bubbling up out of his mouth. Mabel was calling Dipper's name, crying as she tried to pump the water out of his chest. The boy's eyes were dilated in fear as he swallowed even more water. Ford was on his feet, shouting at the sky.

"You bastard! SHOW YOURSELF!" Ford screamed. Suddenly, lightning flashed through the sky and Dipper gasped, sitting up, all the water gone. Mabel gripped him tightly, tears still streaming down her cheeks at the thought of loosing her brother. Everyone froze when a dark figure appeared at the stern of the ship. It seemed to be made completely out of shadows except for it's eyes, which were white and shown brightly, piercing through the fog.

"So you seek the siren, Stanford Pines?" The thing, a demon, questioned. Shocked, Ford nodded slightly. The demon laughed. It wasn't the same laugh as the one that had echoed across the water, which confused the crew. Was this not the monster that had attacked the ship? "Then I have a gift. Dipper Pines, step forward." No one said a word as Dipper shakily rose to his feet. Mabel whimpered slightly when he stepped away from her, scared not for herself, but for him. Each step felt like fighting against the current as Dipper walked forward. Finally, the boy was right in front of the demon and shaking uncontrollably. The creature made of shadows held out his hands to the boy, a small golden whistle on a leather strap in his palms. Confused but in awe, Dipper took the whistle, wary that it might be a trap. When he looked up at the demon, a smirk of the same white light his eyes were made of appeared on his face.

"Give the monster hell for me, Pine Tree." Then there was a flash and the demon, the fog, and all signs that there had been a fight disappeared. Dipper looked at the whistle in his hands for a moment, Mabel coming up behind him to see what it was. No one said a word as Dipper looped the golden whistle around his neck and turned to face the rest of the crew.

"Well?" Dipper asked when silence greeted him. "What are we waiting for? You heard that demon!" Ford smirked, running up to the helm, pulling out his journals. Wendy climbed into the crow's nest and Soos ran back into his workshop to begin building a trap, and Stan followed Ford to the wheel, ready to help with navigation. Mabel looked at her brother, something in her eyes.

"Dipper..." She began. Dipper waited expectantly for her to say more, but she just shook her head. "Never mind. I'll be in the treasury." Then she ran off. Dipper shrugged off her weird behavior and looked out at the horizon, the sun rising higher in the sky. He sighed and pulled out Journal 3. He flipped open to the page about the siren, his fingers rubbing the cold gold of the whistle. Give the monster hell for me, Pine Tree... A million questions were flying around the young boy's head, but he pushed them aside. First thing was first. They had to find that siren...