Winged Falls

//Chapter Two//

I'm dreaming.

The realization came to Mabel like a sped-up sunrise, and once she knew it, she couldn't remember how it felt not to know it. Hadn't it been obvious, five seconds ago? Hadn't she noticed the way the corner of the rooms blurred and warped, the way she couldn't see herself when she looked down at the floor? She was in a dream, and her mind latched onto that knowledge eagerly. For she was in a dream, and in a dream you could do anything.

"Mabel?"

She turned, and at the sight of her brother's face she nearly forgot she was dreaming.

"D-Dipper?" she whispered, taking a step towards him. He smiled at her, his wings folded behind his back, his arms reaching for her. He wasn't real, she knew. But that didn't mean she wasn't happy to see him. And part of her, a small part, hung onto the hope that he was somehow projecting himself into her dreams—advanced Avem magic that, last Mabel checked, neither of the twins could manage.

She stumbled forward until she was in Dipper's arms. She rested her chin on his shoulder, her eyes level with his red feathers. Strange how real he felt. She was dreaming; she shouldn't be able to feel him so keenly or make out the details of his wings so easily.

"You miss me, don't you?" Dipper asked.

She nodded into his shoulder. If she wasn't dreaming, she'd probably be crying.

"It's okay," Dipper said.

"You're not real," Mabel mumbled.

There was a pause. "No," he agreed. "But it's okay. You'll find me."

Mabel pulled back to look up at his face. He was smiling warmly.

She let out a small laugh. "Thanks, dream Dip."

"You'll find me," he repeated. "Once wE'rE bOtH dEaD aNd GoNe."

His voice warped, and Mabel jumped away. No. No she couldn't have a lucid nightmare, she couldn't—

Dipper's form twisted and burst with static until he had changed into someone entirely new.

"HeY tHeRe ShOoTiNg StAr," said Lilith Crypt, grinning at Mabel with four eyes.

"You!" Mabel shouted. "Where's my brother, demon!"

Lilith laughed, drawing her legs up to sit cross-legged in the air. Her eyes, two black and two orange, were set firmly into the blue skin on her face. "Your brother is here in this dimension, with you. You both went through the same portal, after all." Her voice had multiple layers, but it wasn't as forceful as Lord Cipher's.

"That's not what I meant! Where is he? What happened to him?"

Lilith put two palms out, her other two hands resting on her hips. "Woah there, Shooting Star. Your brother is safe. And happy." She smiled widely before continuing.

"He just happens to be human."

"What?! He's not human! He's avem!"

"Not anymore," Lilith replied. She sounded like an excited child. "Nope nope. Lord Cipher sent me to turn him human, and to tidy up his new life. Pine Tree is a happy little only child, with no wings and no powers. Human."

Mabel stared at the demon in shock, feeling on the verge of tears. This dream body probably wouldn't give her the satisfaction of crying, or of letting her feel the wetness on her cheeks, but it didn't stop the feeling.