Winged Falls

//Chapter Eleven//

"He's never going to trust you, you know."

Mabel whipped her head around, searching for where the eerie voice had come from. Where was she? How had she gotten here? Last she remembered, she was in the attic of the Emporium, on the air mattress—

The realization hit her. She was dreaming.

Knowing that, Mabel also realized who had spoken—although she wished she hadn't. Sure enough, Lilith Crypt popped into existence before her, casually lounged back in the air. She shook her head at Mabel. "Once he finds out you're not who you say you are, whatever trust you've gained from him will be gone. Your brother—" She paused and smirked. "Oh wait, I forgot. He's not your brother anymore, is he? Funny how much a little memory loss can change a person."

Mabel's hands clenched into fists and her wings tensed. "Just because he doesn't remember me doesn't mean he's not my brother!"

"Doesn't it?" Lilith crossed two of her arms behind her head. "Some would argue that our memories make us who we are."

"What are you doing here?" Mabel asked, barely able to contain her anger at the dream demon. Everything was going so well—Dipper seemed to trust her, and when several days had gone by without hearing anything about Gideon Gleeful, Mabel had begun to relax and even halfway convince herself that she might have imagined him being a demon.

So of course Lilith Crypt had to show up in Mabel's dreams.

The demon shrugged. "Oh, you know, the usual. A bit of taunting, telling you you'll never get his memory back, making you feel hopeless. . ."

Mabel's fists tightened, and it took all her strength not to fly at Lilith in fury. It wouldn't help anything, she knew, but man would it feel good. "I'm not going to listen to you."

"Oh, good. Because I've gotten a bit tired of this same old routine." Lilith leaned forward. "I'd like to make a deal with you."

Mabel took a step away from the demon. "You're crazy if you think I'd ever agree to that."

"You wouldn't be the first to call me crazy." Lilith grinned, all four eyes widening, and Mabel stumbled back further. The demon laughed. "But before you refuse, at least hear me out."

Hearing Lilith out was the last thing Mabel wanted to do, but since she couldn't make herself wake up—well, she didn't have much of a choice in the matter; Mabel doubted sticking her fingers in her ears and singing would work.

"Look, I know that you want to get your brother's memories back, but that's just going to be a lot of pain for everyone involved." Lilith shook her head in mock sadness. "He's going to be confused, I'm going to have to do extra work to make sure you two don't get in Lord Cipher's way, and of course. . ." Lilith sighed. "He probably won't want anything to do with you once he finds out about your wings. Who wants to be friends, much less siblings with a winged weirdo?"

Forget whether it would work or not; Mabel stuck her fingers in her ears. "La, la, la, I can't hear you!"

Lilith's voice amplified until it seemed like her words entered directly into Mabel's brain. "But think about it—what's wrong with the way things are now?"

Frustrated, Mabel popped her fingers out. "Dipper doesn't remember me and we're trapped in another dimension, that's what's wrong!"

"But things could be so much worse." Lilith smiled at Mabel, making her recoil from the demon. "You're with him, aren't you? Isn't that what you wanted?"