Gravity Rises (S1)

NW: Part Six

Mabel opened her eyes to see another grey world.

She was in the forest, but this time it was different. It was fuzzy, like she was viewing it on an old television with bad reception. Craggy trees twisted around each other in all directions, forming a snarled canopy of branches above her. There was light, but it didn't seem to be coming from any particular source. It was just there. It was also quiet — unnaturally quiet. There seemed to be a distant sound of wind, but Mabel couldn't feel anything.

Someone moaned next to her.

Mabel jumped as she saw Wendy, of all people, getting to her feet. Dipper was on the other side of her; he gave Mabel a pleading look, as if to say, "This isn't my fault."

"What. . . happened?" asked Wendy.

Good question! What on earth was she doing here? Mabel tried to remember the scene just moments before, when she was saying the spell. All that came to mind was the blue light and the feeling as the magic took root in her chest.

"Well. . . ," said Dipper, "we're in Robbie's mind. Or something."

Wendy turned on him. "What?"

"There's this demon in his mind, trying to get information, and we followed him in to try to stop him. Trust me, we did not mean to bring you along," Dipper finished, folding his arms.

"How did she follow us?" Mabel demanded.

"She grabbed my arm! I couldn't do anything!"

"Shut up!" Wendy yelled. "I don't know what you're playing at, or where we are—"

"Dipper told you. We're in Robbie's mind," Mabel said. Her stomach swam with butterflies from talking back to Wendy, but they weren't strong enough to stop her from speaking. She had no patience with this jerk of a teenager right now. "We have to find this triangle — Bill — who's also in here, and we have to get him out. While you're here, you might as well help us."

Wendy stared at Mabel, then at Dipper, then back at Mabel. Her mouth opened and shut, and her face was a mask of outrage. She couldn't seem to find words to say, which worked fine for Mabel.

"You guys are all so hilarious!" said a sudden, loud voice.

They turned to see Bill Cipher, who floated down in front of them with a lazy look in his eye. There was a black cane in his hand that he twirled around his wrist.

"That's him!" said Dipper, pointing at Bill. "That's the guy!"

"That's me!" Bill agreed. "I'm the guy!" He landed on a nearby log and leaned on his cane. "Nice of you all to meet me at last," he continued. "Stitched Heart, Shooting Star, Pine Tree. Now we can really have fun!" As he spoke, he gestured to each of them in turn: Wendy, Dipper, then Mabel.

"What do you want with Robbie's mind?" Mabel demanded, taking a step forward. Something about being in someone else's mind made her forget to be scared. She felt only anger at this demon.

"Ideally, I'd want whatever Little Miss Pleasure wants with it," Bill replied. "But you already knew that, didn't you?"

Mabel and Dipper shared a look. Did Bill know that they had eavesdropped on him and Pacifica?

Bill laughed, and the startling, multi-layered sound shocked Mabel into paying attention. "You two don't think you're really that clever, do you?" he asked. "I let you into the mindscape to overhear us! I figured it would make things more interesting!"