#ib falls

“We can’t just- Dipper, please.”

Dipper gulped as Mabel continued her pleas, a litany of soft sad words that weren’t really filtering through to him, still unable to really talk or console her in any way. Everything felt like a daze, his feet working on autopilot as they turned him away from the door and up the nearby staircase. It was like another piece in the puzzle had clicked and suddenly everything was stark and real again.

Or perhaps too real, too overwhelming. All so brightly coloured and nauseating. Everything so close and tight as the corridor tunneled around him.

When he’d been hurt the first time everything had fallen into place. This wasn’t a dream, it was real. They could get hurt, they had to get through things, be careful and cautious, and get themselves home.

And then they’d met Stan.

And for a while it had felt like an adventure. The brightness, the daunting nature had all paled slightly. They had an adult with them, someone who knew this place and was happy to encourage them at every turn.

But now? Now Dipper couldn’t get his imagination to stop showing him what had probably happened once the door had closed and sealed him away from them.

Stan falling. Creaking bones and warbling moans as the zombies descended on him. Too many, there’s too many! There’s no way he can fight them all- Claws gouging, teeth gnashing. Blood spattering, s-so much blood. He couldn’t see Stan through the hoard but there’s blood pooling between their feet, rivulets running out to greet him where he stood locked in place. Blood seeping out from under the door to follow them wherever they went-

He shook his head, nails biting into his palms as Mabel’s voice came back into existence through the white noise, reminding him that they still had to move, still had to figure out how to get out of here.

Stan will be fine. He’s been fine for years here, he’ll know what to do. He’ll meet up with us later.

A steady stream of air left him, a breath he hadn’t even realised he was holding shaking out with the thoughts. He glanced at the walls, belatedly taking in the hallway the staircase opened out into with a grimace. Everything was sickly and yellow and he hated how much it turned his stomach. Hated how venomous and suffocating it looked, as if it was striping the hissing words right out of his head and on to the canvas of the walls.

Coward.​ Useless. Spineless. Go back. You can’t, can you? Can’t do anything-

“Dipper! We’ve got to go back!”

“We can’t!” Dipper snapped back, finally finding his voice. He winced at the intensity of it, as it reverberated sharply around the stone to strike back at both of them. Everything was too much, his ears and head ringing, all the things he was trying to deny bubbling up in his hands even as he tried to stop them shaking. He tried to control his breathing, his volume as he took another shaky breath and turned to Mabel with a despondent look. “We can’t…”

“But-”

Dipper shook his head before she could continue, turning away from her plaintive gaze, gleaming with tears as her bottom lip shook. “We tried, Mabel, the door won’t open. We can’t get back to him.”

“But he might be able to get through to us! We’ll wait until he gets through.”

What if he doesn’t ever? Dipper bit his lip, trying to stop the words coming out. If he didn’t say them, then they weren’t true, they weren’t an option. But his mouth betrayed him, words slipping past to hint at that fate, his own stomach guiltily twisting into tight knots in the hope that Mabel would know what to say instead. “How long?”

“What?”

“H-How long do we wait?”

Mabel stared back at him, a few stray tears slipping down her cheeks, as her mouth opened and closed, trying her hardest to figure out how to respond. “He was- he’ll be right behind us.”

Dipper felt his heart sink, her voice still hesitant and pleading and cutting deep into his chest. “Yeah. Yeah he was.”

There was silence for a while longer as they stood, reluctant to move forward and unable to go back, right at the top of the stairwell. A stalemate as they both waited, almost hopeful that there’d be sudden footsteps ringing towards them. Or perhaps a shout. ‘Kids?’ ‘Sweetie?’ bouncing out through the air, panicked and worriedly trying to find them so that they wouldn’t have to make the decision at all.

Something they could respond to. A way to know that he was alright.

Anything to know he was alright.

Silence, cloying and thick swirled around them, bearing down on them as they hunched their shoulders and curled arms around themselves protectively.

There was no answer to their pleas, just the steady constant quiet.

They were alone again.

“He’d-” Mabel started, her voice seemingly snatched up by the quiet angrily, as if the noise was unwanted, unwelcome here. She gulped, trying again, straightening her back as she looked around the room. “He’d be angry at us if we stayed put for too long.”

Dipper felt the tightness to his muscles loosen slightly, his arms unhooking from their clawing hold to grasp at his bag instead, taking one last look down the stairs before following suit. “Yeah, he told us to go, after all.” He slipped his hand into Mabel’s, trying his hardest to school his face into an optimistic expression. “He’ll catch up to us, he told us that, right? You trust him, don’t you?”

Mabel sniffled, rubbing the tears away roughly with the heel of her palm. “Yeah, of course! We found him once, we can find him again!”

“That’s it.” Dipper grinned, before the expression fell, his insides squirming with guilt. “I’m sorry by the way. I didn’t mean to yell at you-”

“I know.” Mabel squeezed his hand once more before letting it drop. “You were just as worried as me, it just came out differently.”

Dipper nodded, relief soothing through the overwhelming nature of everything that had happened.

He still had Mabel, they’d get through this.

“But didn’t he also say to wait somewhere safe for him?”

Dipper blinked as Mabel appeared in front of him again, having been about to shuffle slowly around the room, her eyes determined and distraught. He couldn’t help agreeing with the expression, the contradictions stacking up between them.

“Go!”

“I’ll catch up to you!”

“Wait for me somewhere safe! I’ll find you, I promise!”

Stay or go. Stay or go. It looped around Dipper’s head in a mantra that he knew had to be addressed.

They had to make the decision and cut away the ‘what ifs’ that the other option would contain.

A bubbling laugh, hysterical and harsh left Dipper’s lips, Mabel’s face twisting into panicked fretting at the sound, her hands coming up tentatively towards him.

This coming from you? Not focusing on the ‘what ifs’? Like how Stan might need help and leaving him behind could be sealing his fate? Or how if you decide to stay you could be stuck here forever, waiting and waiting for someone who will never come through that door? Or-

“Dipper? Earth to Dipper. Time to come out of your head now, you’re scaring me.”

Dipper blinked, the fear tinged words instantly snapping him out of it. Mabel wasn’t allowed to be scared, especially because of him. At the same time his mind took the bait and focused wholeheartedly on the distraction, the decision made instantly without conscious effort, to think up a plan that would reassure Mabel in all aspects, instead of thinking about all the intruding possibilities.

“How about we find a way to mark our path?”

“What?”

Dipper nodded to himself, hand coming up to rub at his chin as his eyes finally sparked back to life, the gleam of an idea reassuring Mabel more than he would ever know. “Yeah! That’s it! Let’s find something we can mark a path with! That way we can continue to try and find the exit and if we do we’ll have a route back to Stan to tell him?”

Mabel’s perplexity split into a wide grin, her hands clapping together as she nodded along. “And if- when Stan does get out he has a path to follow to us too!”

“Yeah, exactly!” Dipper felt a weight lift from his chest, the stone of guilt and worry easing as Mabel beamed.

Stan would find them, it would be fine.

They had a plan again. They had each other.

They’d get through this.

“So, which way?”

Dipper finally took in the room properly, back still to the staircase, now not wanting to look down it and have his resolve to continue crumble away. The yellow room now felt fairly standard to what they’d seen so far, pale almost cream, it was actually nice and bland against a lot of the ghastly glaring colours they’d so far been subjected to. A door stood to their left with the room narrowing to a corridor straight ahead. The only difference that had Dipper staring was a rug that seemed to separate the corridor from the room, the royal blue fluff a suspicious contrast to the room and everything else they had seen previously.

He smiled, quirking an eyebrow at his sister in a mocking semblance. “Me? I thought you were the navigator? Though I think I’m getting the hang of it… are we on the white route now?”

Mabel rolled her eyes, her positive energy slowly fizzling back into place as they stood there. “Ha Ha, very funny. It’s obvious we’re on the yellow route now!”

“Oh, right. Of course.” Dipper grinned cheekily as Mabel pushed him.

“Alright, you can stop that now. I say… forward! We should go forward. What’s the saying? ‘Start as you mean to go on’?”

“That’s the one.” Dipper jolted as Mabel skipped forward, eyes trailing to the door. “But what if that’s just a small room and there’s something we can pick up in there to mark our route?”

“I thought you were going to trust in my navigational skills?” Mabel stopped in the room before the rug, hands on her hips and a pout on her face, though it kept twitching upwards into the smile she was trying to hold down. As she stood there though, her eyes zoned back to the gaping hole past Dipper’s shoulder, the dark staircase that seemed to accuse her, to hiss reproachfully at their plan. “I still feel bad leaving Stan behind though…”

“Right, you’re right, lead the way, navigator.” Dipper quickly piped up, moving forward so that her eyes fell on him instead. He could feel it too, the darkness taunting him, resting just above his shoulders and around his legs, ready to trip him at a moment’s notice. It was why he refused to turn back around, glaring eyes burning into the back of his skull, a lashing tongue cursing him for what they were doing. So instead he spoke up, refused to turn and give the voice entry into his head. Anything to keep her from doubting their plan and go back into the looping conversation they’d already had. They had to keep going, they’d come back if they had to.

Mabel gave him a grateful smile before stepping on to the rug, glancing down with a small smile. “Hey Dipper, this is really soft. Like the kind of carpet you wanna take your shoes off of and feel properly.” She shrugged before he could say anything, a soft disappointed sigh echoing through her. “Oh well, not the time, is it?”

“No, not really. Maybe next time.” Dipper chuckled, glad she was ready to go full steam ahead as he caught up to the edge of the rug. He raised an eyebrow when she didn’t move, crossing his arms. “Well, you going to go across or what?”

Mabel hummed, skipping the extra paces to the other side in a few bounds, turning round as she made a joking jump. “There we go! I resisted temptation!”

Dipper shook his head, exasperated fondness seeping through the cracks, opening his mouth to teasingly reply-

A loud grating sound cut him off, Mabel’s smile slipping into shock and worry, a flash of fear glowing in her wide eyes, as the room shook. Metal grated loudly as if a large machine was working around them, spluttering and groaning as unseen cogs whirred to life and filled the air with a metallic hum.

“Dipper?”

Before Dipper could respond, the rug between them seemed to twitch. His gaze locked on to it as the side closest to Mabel shifted upwards slightly, moving towards him. His eyes widened as it continued to move, realising belatedly what was happening. “Mabel!” He darted forward, jumping onto the rug as it continued to move, but the slant had become too great. He slipped back down, his last glimpse of Mabel, her hand outstretched towards him, face panicked.

And then the rug was vertical and solid, a blue wall separating them from one another.

No, no, no. Not Mabel too!

“Mabel!”

Mabel flinched back, eyes closing quickly as the world stopped shaking, suddenly fearful that it was a trap and the now solid stone ‘rug’ would fall back onto her again if she moved forwards. When nothing happened and the ringing in her ears slowly died away, she chanced peeking them open, her heart flying into her throat at what she saw.

There was no way back.

“Dipper?”

“Mabel!”

She could hear him pounding on the wall, the stone thin enough for the motion to vibrate through but strong enough not to crack at his fists impacts. She shuffled close, hands going up to push against it too, even though she knew it was futile. Somehow this was worse. Now not only couldn’t she get back to Stan but Dipper was stuck there too! If she found a way out, how could she get them out too?

She couldn’t leave without them.

“Mabel? Are you OK? Can you hear me?”

She couldn’t leave at all, not when she could practically hear Dipper hyperventilating through the wall.

“Yeah… what do we do, Dipper?”

“S-stay there! I’ll think- it’s got to be another puzzle! There must be a switch here somewhere.”

Mabel bit her lip. She’d already looked around the room, while Dipper had been stuck in his head.

If nothing had changed then the likelihood was that this was just a way to keep them going forward, to keep them on whatever path this place wanted them on. The only problem was they hadn’t been fast enough, hadn’t stuck close enough together.

Maybe there was something important in that room like Dipper thought and this was to make sure we couldn’t go back and get it once we’d made our decision-

Mabel blinked, thoughts shifting to a sharper focus through the bubbling, fizzing trepidation that had been tying them in knots. “Dipper! The door!”

“W-what? What are you talking about?”

“The other door where you are. Does it open?”

“Uhh- hold on.” She waited patiently, or rather impatiently, hopping from foot to foot as she worried at her lip, listening to his footsteps go further away and then come back again. “Yeah, it seems to be another yellow corridor.”

“Perfect. OK, go down there.”

“What? Mabel, we can’t just split up- I mean, I don’t know- that’s not a good option!”

“It’s the only option we’ve got, Dip-Dop.” Mabel wrapped her hands around her forearms, hugging herself tight as she looked down the corridor she had to take, glad that Dipper couldn’t see her. “We need to meet back up somewhere. We have a way to navigate, remember? Get to the most yellow room on this path. So if we both keep heading into yellower and yellower rooms…”

“We’ll hopefully find a junction that we meet up in. Like when we first woke up here?”

Mabel smiled, hoping that Dipper was actually debating it as she leant against the rug wall. Part of her couldn’t help but be irrationally irritated that it still felt soft and fluffy against her, feeling oddly betrayed by something that felt so warm and comforting. “Yeah, that. I mean, as much as I don’t want to split up- I feel like this place has decided for us.”

Dipper didn’t respond for a while. Mabel frowned, wondering if he’d left without a goodbye. As she went to ask though, he suddenly spoke up. “Yeah, we can’t help each other on either side of a wall if anything happened anyway. OK. Right. We’ll meet back up as soon as we can. It’s all we can do. Just…” His voice died away, apprehension and concern ringing through every word a few seconds later. “Just look after that sketchbook of yours, alright?”

Stay safe.

Mabel hummed, gripping her bag tightly, letting the feeling ground and reassure her. “Yeah, same to you. And you remember- go towards yellow, whatever rooms you try they have to be a brighter yellow than the one before.”

Follow the path.

“Right, go towards yellow until it blinds me, got it.” Mabel snorted, glad when a hysterical giggle bounced back at her through the stone. At least they could laugh about this. That was something in her eyes. “See you on the other side, then.”

“See you, bro-bro.”

Mabel waited, still leaning against the wall until his footsteps were too far away to hear and the door shut with an audible click.

Her breath hitched as the silence took over.

She was all alone.

“Hey, it’s not like you and Dipper haven’t done things alone before.” Mabel stood up straight, pushing off of the wall with a determined glint to her face, her small hands brushing down her skirt in a fidget. “You just have to get through a few puzzles alone, no big deal. Just think of it as a story to tell Dipper once you meet back up.” She chuckled to herself, the sound flat and hollow in the room but she took every sound she could get, unwilling to fall into silence in this place. Not willing to let it eat away at her resolve and optimism as she started to walk down the narrow hallway. “He’ll be so proud! A-and it can be a race! I’ll get to the yellowest room first and I’ll be able to crow about it.” She didn’t let the thought in that Dipper would be happy to lose that particular race, that more likely than not he’d just be very relieved to see her again.

She didn’t let it enter her head either that once she saw him again all thoughts of fake competitions might dissipate into utter relief as well, at the sight of him completely unharmed.

Or hopefully unharmed.

Her heart thumped painfully against her ribs at the sudden unwelcome image, glaring at nothing as she strode forward with resolute steps.

“Dipper will be fine. He knows his way around these weird rooms. And I’ll be fine. We can both do this and then when we meet up we’ll… we’ll be that much closer to the exit! And Dipper will have a route back to Stan! Yeah!” Mabel nodded, her heart calming as the optimistic map in her head created a route where everything would work out perfectly. She’d find the yellow room that would lead them to the next path, Dipper would then find her and he’d remember the route back to Stan so they could go back and check on him.

She was sure Stan would have gotten out of the zombie room by then. He must have! And now there was only one route for him to go with that wall having shot up – he’d have to go the way Dipper went!

“See? This was a good thing. This had to happen. Otherwise Stan could have gotten lost later and then he might never have found us.”

Mabel continued her slow cautious walk through the narrow hallway, glancing up at a few doors she passed before continuing down the corridor she was already traversing without pausing to try them. It might not be much but she was sure the cream walls were slowly turning yellower the further she walked and the doors so far had been paler in comparison.

“Follow the path, follow the path. You told Dipper to follow the yellow, so you can’t ignore that otherwise he’ll never find yo- there!”

Mabel beamed as a buttercup yellow door seemed to glow at her, a beacon to where she needed to go. With a small whispered prayer, she gasped happily as it opened without issue, her feet stumbling at the sudden forward shift before she straightened up.

The fact that she was in another similarly small corridor with only one door at the end did nothing to dissuade her rising positivity.

“See? One route. That’s perfect. That just means I’m going the right way!”

She found herself speeding up as she scurried forward, eyes locked on the slightly ajar door at the other end. Another small noise left her as she took to running, unable to keep up her litany of optimism as she started to exert herself.

It must be Dipper! He beat me there! But that’s OK, it’s fine because Dipper-

The door started to close.

“Dipper! Dipper, can you hear me?”

The words bit out of her in a shout, fear and adrenaline keeping her going as she cried out towards the door that slowed at her words.

She was too fixated on the door, too anxious to get there that she didn’t notice anything in the room around her.

If she had been a little more curious, a little more suspicious…

She didn’t notice the familiar image, one that moved and followed her as she entered the room.

A singular slitted eye stared down at her, two inky black, bisecting, shaking lines cutting off what little vision it had as it hung above her darting frame, reminiscent of the one that had been gouged into the desk. It burned yellow as it watched her, life coming to it that had not been there before if only she had taken slower cautious steps and taken in her surroundings.

A series of paintings covered the walls to one side, each one the same eye that rolled as she went passed, her feet pitter pattering loudly around her.

In each one the eyelids fell steadily closer, the black lines painted across the iris smothered by thick gold paint as they descended, until in the centre of the hallway the eye closed entirely. The paintings continued for a second, completely still as if something was holding its breath, before the eye slowly began to reopen again as she got closer and closer to the exit.

The eye gleamed, gleeful and glowing, as it gazed down at the girl that was propelling herself full speed at the door before it clicked shut. Painted lines no longer blocked its vision, blinked away along the route, discarding the hindrance without a second thought.

If she had paused to look, just taken a second to stop, she might have wondered what the eye was laughing at.

Mabel fell through the doorway in a cacophony of noise, the door slamming against the wall in a clatter of plaster as she stumbled into the room. Her breaths came in heaving gulps of air, eyes darting around one side of the now open room.

“Dipper? Dipper, are you in here?”

Before she could turn towards the other side of the room, a shadow fell across her, her muscles holding her in place as she belatedly took in that it was far too big to be her brother.

It wasn’t Dipper that had been closing the door.

A deep booming voice made her breath hitch, catching in her throat, her mind blanking out as she fumbled with how to react.

“You really shouldn’t make so much noise. Do you have any idea where you are?”

Mabel gulped, her heart pounding high in her throat as she slowly shuffled around.

.

.

“You did good there, Mabel.”

Mabel grinned as Dipper nudged into her, whispering under his breath. Neither of them turned towards Stan, not wanting to break the moment. There was a new spring in his age old steps, a soft hum emanating from his lips as they walked up to the dark green door at the other end of the corridor. They could feel the change in the atmosphere around them as if it was something tangible, a warmth vibrating that hadn’t been there before.

It wasn’t until that moment that they both realised that Stan hadn’t actually believed they would escape this place. The hope and belief he had in them had suddenly blossomed once the photo was tightly clenched in his hand, a fizzling spark of memory winging its way through him like nothing else had been able to. Something new. Something different. They knew though, that if they asked anything more about his sudden change in attitude, it would vanish again under a veneer of gruffness.

“So, are we going or not?”

“Yup.” Dipper didn’t even bother looking over his shoulder or making up an excuse for their dawdling, instead opening the door without further preamble and walking briskly inside.

He froze two seconds later as the door thudded against the wall, the sight before him sending ice dripping down his spine, the warmth solidifying into a cold lump that fell into the pit of his stomach.

The room was filled with statues.

Every few paces another one stood, arms raised and mouth slack. Eyes glowed from every corner and recess, a sickening poisonous yellow with no pupils in sight. If there were eyes at all, that is. Fake flesh dripped off most of them, pieces of aged cream bone and glistening brown teeth visible beneath putrid rotting red flesh. Ribs jutted out, and clothes lay torn and muddy across lifeless stretched skin. In fact most of them had mud streaking across them or gathered around clawed fingers as if they had pulled themselves out of the ground even though no holes were visible. The only consolation that Dipper could find in that moment was that the smell that should accompany the decomposition was absent in the scene, rationally reminding him that they weren’t real as he waited, heart stuttering in his chest, for them to suddenly start to move.

“Let’s just take it slow.”

Dipper nodded, a small jittery movement as he began to shuffle around the edge of the room. He kept the entrance of the room in sight, wanting to make sure they could all dart away if need be even as he made sure that he didn’t set off any booby traps.

“I found the exit!”

“Shh-” Dipper hissed, spinning to find his sister had not followed suit and was now visible only between the emaciated legs of the statues as she stood on the other side of the room. He found his way carefully to her, noting that Stan was studying the statues nonchalantly as he made his way to them slowly. “What if you wake them up?”

“I kind of assumed it was like the Gnome room and if we get it wrong they’ll wake up?”

Dipper blinked at Mabel’s logic, thrown off course by the matter of fact statement. “Why’d you say that?” He followed her hand as she pointed towards two human statues residing along the same wall they stood beside. Unlike the clearly dead figures before them, these two appeared healthy, their clothes untorn and tailored to them. They gave the appearance of authority, stony faced and straight backed as they stood upright against the wall.

Stan grimaced at the two statues when he finally caught up to the kids. “Ugh, looks like a couple of suits. What do they want?” He strode over to them, his face a façade of pure unfiltered revulsion that Dipper felt should really be pointed towards the undead statues in the room, not the only two seemingly human ones.

His expression changed halfway through his journey, his steps faltering as he stared off to the side, coming to a halt at one statue in particular. His face split into a grin, his arm raising quickly to gesture them over.

“Hey look! It’s Soos!”

The pair shuffled over, puzzle momentarily forgotten by Mabel. Dipper gave the statue they were staring at a cursory glance before continuing to wander towards the two human figurines, itching to get them out of the room as soon as humanly possible.

He’d had enough of statues when it was the gnomes, the thought of this lot on their tail had his chest tightening and his heart thudding painfully against his ribs.

“So, that one’s Soos?”

“Yeah, he looks-” Stan crinkled his nose in distaste, hand gesturing in a so-so manner. “-meh though. He doesn’t make a good zombie, that’s for sure.”

“What does he normally look like?”

Dipper rolled his eyes as Stan started to describe the statue’s usual appearance, not entirely sure whether he should be impressed or disturbed by Stan’s knowledge of the denizens here. It made him shudder, his teeth gritting as he wondered just how long the old man had been alone down here with only the statues and paintings for company. He decided it was best to stop his wayward thoughts and the conversation before they lost the reason why they were here. After all, he wasn’t quite sure Mabel’s logic was correct and he didn’t really want to find out the hard way. “So, are they likely to start attacking us any time soon?”

“Nah, these are just statues. They’re more…solid? The ones that aren’t really statues aren’t as solid.” Stan scrutinised the figure before him as the two kids watched before his face scrunched up, his arms gesturing half-heartedly. “Hard to explain but you can kind of tell the difference after a while? Plus Soos is here!”

“That makes them less likely to attack us?”

“Yeah, kind of.” Stan shrugged. “I think Soos likes me, he stopped trying to maim me years ago.” He reached forward, tapping the statue in the middle of its chest, with what the kids could only describe as an endearing smile, his voice suddenly almost affectionate and teasing. “Weird less murderous statue.” He leant forward a few seconds later, flicking the statue in the forehead hard enough to make the metal ring. The kids winced, Mabel scurrying back a few paces behind Stan apprehensively. Dipper opened his mouth reproachfully, his eyes narrow and defiant, but he didn’t get a chance to scold him as Stan turned to them smugly with his hands on his hips. “See? Nothing to worry about with this one.”

“Right…” The kids waited for a few moments in silence, just in case Stan was completely wrong whilst he kept his back turned unsuspectingly to the statue he’d just poked and prodded with reckless abandon. Dipper gave the statue one last suspicious look before turning back to the puzzle, running his eyes across the room nervously as he did so. Mabel on the other hand shuffled forward again after a beat of hesitation, giving the statue her own small knuckle tap to the leg, giggling nervously as she did so. “Well Soos, I’d say you’re the handsomest zombie here!”

Stan hummed, beaming proudly at her courage. “That he is, though it’s not exactly hard, is it?” He grimaced at the others in the room before looking over at Dipper. “Well, what do the suits want, kid?”

He sighed a few seconds later, rolling his eyes at a still giggling Mabel when he didn’t get a response, Dipper too engrossed in whatever he was puzzling over to answer. He gave the girl a nudge, gesturing for her to come with as he made his way over to the focus of the room.

His eyebrows raised disbelievingly a few seconds later as he found what exactly the boy was so absorbed by. “‘Are zombies real?’…what kind of dumb question is that?”

“Well-”

“Is it another trick question? Of course zombies aren’t real!”

“Well, theoretically…I mean they’re possible depending on what you think of them as. Actually rising from the dead? Unlikely. But, a disease transmitted through bite? That’s not impossible. Or maybe a parasite? I mean-”

“Nerd.”

Dipper’s mouth shut with an audible snap, a scowl darkening his features as he crossed his arms and turned back to the pair who were grinning and close to high fiving at the simultaneous word. His voice cracked as he tried to prove himself, inwardly cursing at his body for betraying him. “What? It’s true! There are all kinds of things that could lead to zombification-”

Mabel groaned, rolling her eyes. “Dipper, this isn’t asking if it could happen or technicalities. It’s asking if they are real. And they’re not real, end of.” She put her hands on her hips, eyes narrowing. “Don’t make me put on my skepticals!”

“You don’t know that! You don’t know they’re not real!”

Mabel paused, head tilting slightly. “Dipper, have you actually thought about this before? Like actually thought whether it was possible?”

“So, what if I have? There is nothing wrong with being afraid of- of-” Dipper glared as his sister continued to smirk at him. He raised his voice, another resounding high pitch crack emanating in his defence. “It’s a legitimate concern!”

“Hey, no one’s saying it’s not. Just- well, it’s not likely to happen, now is it?”

“Actually parasites have taken over other animals before and made them the equivalent of zombies. Snails, crabs, that kind of thing. And of course, some diseases can-”

“Yeesh, OK, yep, I regret asking.” Stan raised an eyebrow as Dipper’s mouth opened and closed, still ready to keep spewing out the information he had readily stored on the subject. “Gonna have to agree with your sister on the nerd comment.”

“You said it with her!”

“Yeah but now I have proof of your nerdiness.” Stan chuckled at the irritated noises that sprang from the boy across from him as Mabel tried her best to muffle her laughter into her arm. He glanced over at her, eyebrow still raised. Couldn’t be shown to have favourites after all. “But, I am gonna have to agree with your brother on the puzzle.”

“Wait, what?” Mabel’s head shot up, smile disappearing behind a pout. “But-”

“But the question’s asking if zombies exist. It says nothing on them being human. Dipper’s just pointed out that technically- what was it- snails? Snails are zombies.” Dipper looked about ready to argue the generalised point, one hand raised and mouth open until he paused, deflating. After all, Stan had agreed with him at the very least, he didn’t want to argue details when he could just prove his point. Stan smiled cheekily at him, knowing exactly what he was doing. “Plus, we’ve trusted him so far with the puzzles, haven’t we?”

“I guess…still doesn’t seem right to me but Dipper’s been right so far.”

Dipper gulped, feeling the pressure rise as the other two waited patiently for him to decide. He knew he should be happy it was being left up to him, that the pair trusted him enough to make these decisions just like he was happy to let Mabel take the lead in navigation. If anything though it seemed to weigh heavily in his chest, a feeling of doubt bubbling up that sooner or later he’d be wrong and they’d realise he shouldn’t be left in charge of anything.

He let the air whistle out of him as he regarded the puzzle one more time, his mouth setting into a thin line of determination. He did know the answer to this! He was sure of it!

“Alright, here goes nothing.” He pressed the ‘yes’ button with a small amount of trepidation, his determination wavering on the subject as the button sunk inwards, the steadfast feeling not quite enough to stop the rising doubt that perhaps Mabel was right and he was overthinking things.

There was silence for a long moment, all three of them tensing as they waited for something- anything to happen.

There was a metallic click, the twins jumped, Stan tugging them closer to him in preparation as they carried on waiting with bated breath.

A soft creak echoed, movement catching all of their eyes as the door swung open slowly.

Dipper blinked, the realisation taking a few more moments to process through the anxiety. He grinned, victorious and proud as he looked up at Stan. “I was right!” He turned to Mabel, catching her hand and tugging her forward. “See? I know what I’m talking about!”

“Sometimes. Sometimes you know what you’re talking about-” Mabel’s words cut off as she walked into Dipper’s back, feeling him locked up and tense in the movement. “Dipper?”

“Can you smell that?”

Mabel frowned, sniffing deeply. Her face contorted, her hand, that wasn’t being crushed by Dipper’s, raising quickly to cover her nose and mouth. “Ew. What is that?”

“It’s- uhh-” Dipper’s words stuttered to a halt, the looming smell of carrion making him gag. It filled the air like a mist, venomous and all-consuming as it spread.

Or as more statues shifted into something much more terrifying.

A groan vibrated through the air, sending a river of cold water pumping through his veins and his muscles locked further, cementing him in place as his mind span. He could already feel it, breaths of putrid air hitting the back of his neck, hands reaching out to grab him. There were too many- they were surrounded on all sides, it wouldn’t take long for their way to be blocked, forwards and back. And then there would be teeth and claws, tearing, ripping- Pain and blood and he’d done this, he’d pressed the button- There was nothing he could do- Think, just think-

“D-Dipper? Dipper, come on, we’ve got to move!”

There was a snapping sound that made him shake, not quite able to focus on Mabel’s voice against the onslaught. Shuffling bones that had not been used in eons, creaked and cracked under the weight of moving. Slow juddering steps as they inched ever closer, all eyes on them as if there was a spotlight trained above them. He could feel the blood pumping through his veins, the breaths whistling past his lips. You’re all so very human, they can smell it, hear it-

“Dipper, please!”

A hand tugged at his, pulling him forward. For a second his mind closed in, hysterical. The statues are moving! I can’t move! Did we swap, is this how this place gets you- And then the world came into focus again, sharp and bright and far too real as the smell hit him once again, far closer and much more repugnant.

“Mabel!”

Stan’s shout was what really unlocked everything as brown hair took over his vision. He could hear the old man behind them, trying to get through to them, his call a shrill sound of panic.

Mabel was in front of him, panting slightly. Her book bag was in her hand, a zombie lying near her feet. Dipper pulled her back as it moved, trying to crawl towards them even though its head was twisted backwards painfully, neck crooked and twitching at the angle. It took him a second to connect the dots, realising that Mabel had swung her bag to stop it lunging at them. But when the thought hit him, he shook himself, eyes going between Mabel and the zombies before grabbing her hand again and dragging her between legs with quick twists and turns. “I’m sorry- I’m sorry-”

“It’s OK, Dipper, let’s just get out of here!”

Dipper nodded, not wasting more breath as they tried to get through towards the door. He skidded to a halt as a zombie stepped in his way, others closing in to bar a route between their legs. The closest one stumbled forward, arm outstretched to grab at him as he pushed Mabel behind him.

A fist collided with the side of its skull with a sickening crunch.

The zombie fell sideways, falling into one of the others and managing to stay upright albeit dazed. A way opened up in front of them for only a second as a new pair of legs, clad in black trousers appeared into their view from the side. Stan stood before them, eyes scanning them in a frenzy of concern for just a moment until a determined wrath took over and he propelled himself back into the fray. He elbowed the zombie behind him so that it launched away from him before lunging at the zombie that had tried to grab at Dipper.

The opening before the twins grew, the door within sight but neither of them moved towards it more than a few spaces as they waited for Stan to rush up behind them, bodies twisted to look into the room instead of towards the exit.

“You two! Out! Now!”

“But-” Dipper felt Mabel’s hand shake in his as a zombie shuffled between them and Stan. They could still see him fighting valiantly, could see the horde closing in around him as he continued to punch and kick, fighting tooth and claw.

“Stan!” Mabel gasped out, a pained noise escaping her as the sound of tearing fabric reached them. A zombie slashed at Stan, long claw like gouges dragging through his suit jacket as he jumped back out of reach.

He threw another punch, knocking it off course before he panted, eyes hard and angry. He pointed towards the door, his voice a commanding bark.

“I said NOW!”

The twins jumped at the voice, feet instantly following the order without hesitation as they tumbled to the threshold. Dipper’s hand grabbed the door handle, pushing Mabel to the other side as he waited for Stan to catch up. “We’re here!”

Stan looked up, nodding once before biting his lip and continuing to pound at the enemies engulfing him. “Look- I’ll catch up to you! Wait for me somewhere safe! I’ll find you, I promise!”

Dipper shook his head, his hand tightening on the handle. He felt more than heard Mabel’s agreement with him. “You can make it! Come on!” His eyes widened as the door pushed against him, closing of its own accord. He braced his shoulder against it, struggling to slow it down. “Stan! The door! It’s closing- please-”

“Go!”

“Stan! Watch out-”

Dipper let go of the door, his hand almost reached back into the room as Mabel shouted. A zombie was fast approaching Stan’s back, jaw hanging wide and poised above his shoulder, its intent clear as yellow-white teeth flashed in the light above them.

Mabel dragged him back as the door swung towards him, fast and unrelenting. Their vision of Stan vanished, their last glimpse of him being his eyes widening at Mabel’s voice before his head followed Dipper’s pointed hand, spinning just as the zombie fell towards him, both disappearing into the hoard.

The door slammed shut of its own accord, a loud metallic click resonating deep within their core.

They knew instinctively that no attempt at opening it from this side would work.

“We can’t…we can’t just leave him in there. Dipper- we- I-”

Mabel’s voice trailed into a whisper, sniffles taking over where her voice had been.

Dipper stayed silent, arm still raised towards the closed door.

He didn’t have an answer to this one.

.

.

It took a while after that room for any of them to find their feet again, all three of them taking a moment to soak in the fact that they could just sit back or shift around without worrying about booby traps. Mabel had flopped for a second next to Stan, revelling in the carpet beneath her fingers and the fact that she could roll about without a care, even as Stan raised an eyebrow at her like she’d lost her mind. Dipper slunk down the wall beside them, relief still leaving his legs far too jellified to revel in pacing about. He checked and rechecked his bag and the book that resided inside to make sure that everything was as it should be as his heart finally started to settle down. Once he’d done that, he repeated the gesture with Mabel’s sketchbook, shuffling close enough to check her bag over as she continued to fidget and chatter away beside him.

“So, this is nice. I mean, kind of green like all the other rooms but it’s a good green. Like a forest’y green? I feel like we’re sitting outside somewhere enjoying a lazy day after an adventure-”

“You have a vivid imagination, sweetie.” Stan chuckled, sitting up with a groan. “I mean lazing about does sound ideal right about now instead of traipsing around this place anymore. But I’m not sure I’d call that-” Stan gestured back towards the doorway they’d just exited out of. The door hung limply to the side, an oddly sad image as what had once been a route was now almost completely encased in stone. “-an adventure.”

“Well, if you think of it like-”

As loathe as Dipper was to stop Mabel from making light of the situation they had just been in, there were more pressing matters at hand. “Hey, Stan, how’s your sketchbook?”

Stan shook his hand flippantly from his place on the floor, peeking into his jacket pocket before bringing out the tattered book. “Looks the same as ever, kid.” He slipped it back into his pocket after a swift once over, glancing back up at Dipper with a carefree smirk. “Yet again kid, I think we’d both know if I’d gotten hurt in there.”

“That’s not a good thing!”

“What? It’s not like those walls would have coincidentally stopped for us. So you know, really would have been obvious.”

Mabel left them to it as Dipper raised his arms in the air in agitation, deciding that it was safe enough for her to explore as long as she kept them both in sight. Even if it was kind of amusing watching the roles reverse as Dipper pointed out that Stan had done exactly what he himself had done in the labyrinth room, she thought her time might be better spent finding out where they were headed next.

She hummed to herself as she wandered down the straight narrow corridor ahead of them. No doors lined it as far as she could see, right up until it branched into two. Instead a series of large paintings hung along both sides. She hesitated for a moment beside the first two, scared that another person would struggle their way out if she went past. Her head filled with thoughts of getting stuck away from the other two, or worse cornering them between a blank exit and one of the awful creatures that resided here, her stomach twisting nauseously at the notion.

She shook the thoughts from her head, ready to turn back around and grab the other two instead of continuing but the temptation to look at the painting proved just too enticing.

A smile spread eagerly across her face, more relief flooding through her at the picturesque landscape towards her left. Not only was it not a portrait that would have held the distinct possibility of trying to maim them, it instead also added to her earlier comments of what the room had reminded her of.

Inside the large frame sat a small cabin in the middle of a thick wood. Smoke puffed out of the chimney at the top as birds flew above and small woodland animals darted here and there amongst the trees.

She turned her head to the right wall, gleefully hoping for another charming photo only to pause confused only a moment later. The exact same picture stared back at her from the frame that adorned the other side. She shuffled closer to it, finding that on closer inspection a treetop close to the edge had somehow been painted the same colour as the wall, trunk and all. It was almost as if whoever had painted the walls had painted them after the paintings had already been hung and had had to rectify a mistake by pretending that tree had always been that colour.

Mabel decided to test that theory, sliding back to the other identical painting only to realise that the same tree was actually a stark black and white and she somehow hadn’t noticed it. Her fingers trailed across the greyscale tree, a hum of intrigue thrumming through her as she ignored the scolding voice that told her to get the others first, and continued to play spot the difference between the rest of the paintings down the corridor.

Each set of paintings grew steadily different the further she went down the corridor. The image changed, creatures would appear and disappear in amongst the treeline, the chimney stopped smoking intermittently as the birds circled overhead, or a blurry figure would appear at the window looking out at her. But more than each picture in the sequence having subtle alterations, each one grew steadily more and more greyscale or deep green as she went. At first it was just trees dotted throughout, then creatures flitting through them, then portions of the cabin, until finally as she stood at the tee branch of the corridor where two now completely changed paintings stared at her from the adjoining wall.

The right showed the line art of the cabin but where once had been a myriad of colours there was now only an overwhelming block of deep green that somehow did not disturb the lines beneath. The left in contrast had been leeched of all colour, stark black lines against a white canvas.

Mabel had no idea why but something about the white painting drew her forward.

“Mabel!”

She blinked, the pull of the paintings vanishing as heavy footfalls sounded close behind her. Guilt bubbled up as she turned back to them, fretful faces pale and pasty as they caught up to her. She’d promised herself she’d stay in sight of them and keep an eye herself but somewhere along the way she’d forgotten that fact.

“What are you doing? Don’t wander off like that!”

“I wasn’t- I just thought I’d take a peek. I wouldn’t have left the room…” Her words tapered as Dipper looked torn between believing her and panicking. “I promise, I just needed to stretch my legs.”

“R-right, OK. Just- not too far, OK?”

Mabel nodded, bumping his shoulder with her own as she came back to the junction proper. “Promise, bro bro. It’s not like I want to leave you behind.”

“Good plan. We wouldn’t have got anywhere without him.”

Mabel huffed, hands going to her hips as she glared at Stan. “That’s not funny. Even if that wasn’t the case I’m not going to leave Dipper behind!”

Stan raised his hands, a flicker of alarm obvious on his face. “Whoa, easy there, I did not mean to suggest that in the slightest. We’ll all get out together, right?”

Mabel nodded, much more placated by his words. She grinned brightly, throwing him for a loop. “Good, you didn’t say ‘I’ll make sure you two get out’ that time, you said all of us without mentioning that first.”

“Did you just con me-”

“So, Mabel.” Dipper interrupted before the conversation could get any further, trying not to smile along with his sister at her twist. If anything it eased up a tense knot in his own gut that Stan seemed completely fine with being left behind in the end. “I’m assuming we’re going this way?” He pointed towards the dark green landscape, feet already pointing towards the right branch of the corridor.

“Well…yeah…”

“There’s a ‘but’ there, isn’t there?”

Dipper frowned as Mabel nodded, eyes drawn yet again to the greyscale painting. “But you said about how you navigate this place-”

“I know I did! But…there’s just something about that route that feels right? Not to get out of here but, it feels important.”

The other two stared at each other, and if Mabel didn’t know otherwise she’d have been sure they held a silent conversation much like the ones she and her twin usually had. She waited for them to come to a conclusion as to whether to believe her or not, biting at her nails as she hoped they’d give her another chance.

“Well, you haven’t led us wrong yet, have you?” Stan shrugged, gesturing for her to lead the way. “I’ll put my faith in our navigator.”

“But…” Dipper hummed for a few more seconds, his face struggling with the logic before he nodded and stepped towards her. “He has a point, I have no idea where we’re going so I’ll leave that to you.”

“Leave the navigating to me and I’ll leave the puzzles to you!” Mabel beamed, almost skipping down the corridor to a black door at the end, listening as the other two stumbled to keep up with her.

To make up for earlier, Mabel stood waiting at the door until Dipper caught up, letting him open the door first to which he gave her a grateful smile.

Before they could even truly register what lay beyond the door, eyes having only a second to glance at the scene, a voice piped up from behind them.

“You two alright if I stay out here for this one?”

The twins blinked, glancing up as Stan grimaced and shuddered at the room, taking a step back to lean against the wall. “Stan?”

“You said this isn’t the right way and you’re just exploring, right?” Stan nodded his head towards the green door now visible down the other offshoot. “I’ll wait here until you’re ready to continue. Rooms like this one just feel all kinds of wrong to me.”

“What’s wrong about it?” Mabel frowned, eyes drawing back to the room.

“Don’t ask me, my gut is just screaming at me to stay away so if you two still want to go in, be my guest – doesn’t look like there’s anything dangerous – but if you don’t mind, I for one will wait out here.”

“Well, if we find an exit in here, we’ll come back and get you?”

Stan nodded at Dipper with a small shrug of his shoulders. “Sure, kid.” His face twisted, shame biting through as he glanced once again at the room with a small tremor. “Leave the door open, yeah? I’ll break the habit of a lifetime and come running if you need me.”

The twins nodded back, neither of them up for arguing with him. Something about his stance, his shoulders curling inwards, his normal bravado that had even been present around the pit room completely vanishing to something plainer, more vulnerable.

It felt like if they pushed the issue, he wouldn’t lie like with his fear of heights.

This time pride would take the fall.

If they pushed he’d tell them something about this room set his teeth on edge and the hairs on the back of his neck on end. That something deep inside told him to run even when it was obvious by the perplexity on his face that even he didn’t know why.

And neither of them was ready to see him quite like that.

Mabel tugged at Dipper’s hand, pulling him into the room. “We’ll be back on track in just a minute, Stan, don’t you worry!”

“Yeah, yeah, get going then. Sooner you go, the sooner we can leave.”

She could feel the tenseness to Dipper’s entire body as they walked inside. Hearing Stan’s words about the room had not eased his own paranoia about this entire place, but Mabel was sure that there was nothing to worry about in this room.

She didn’t know what it was but something was calling to her, something was telling her that this room was important and she just had to find out what that was.

“Wow, this is amazing.”

Mabel blinked as Dipper slackened beside her, the tense paranoia slipping away to something akin to wonder. She glanced over at him before following his gaze, finally taking the room in for what it was.

It reminded her of the gallery gift shop room near where they had first found Stan. The room was completely devoid of colour but it did nothing to take away from the overwhelmingly detailed scene.

A beach stretched out before them, grey sand spilling over their shoes and shifting under their weight as they stepped on to it. It covered half of the room, meeting stormy dark waves crashing lethargically against the shore, solid and unyielding as stone. Dead ahead of them in the centre of the beach scene stood a tall imposing swing set, the feet set deep into the sand. Metal, rope and wood, all starkly familiar and yet they still sent a shudder of unease through Dipper, as if a storm had come billowing through and left its stamp on everything, grey and cold and cloying on a scene that should have been bright and full of life.

A slow creak rang out around them, the only sound to the room as they stood in complete silence, staring awed over the scene.

Mabel gulped, her eyes locking on to what was causing the sound, the one tiny section of the room that simultaneously made sense to her and left her utterly befuddled.

One of the swings twitched before swinging slowly by itself. The pair watched it, Dipper shivering at the ominous sight before going to walk and check the water instead, blatantly ignoring the ghostly movements. Mabel tilted her head, wondering how Dipper could walk away from the glaringly obvious indication the room was trying to point them towards.

“Hey, Dipper…why do you think that swing is red?”

Dipper froze, turning back to her, his eyes widening as he looked between the swing and Mabel multiple times. His baffled expression made her heart twist, thudding worriedly in her chest.

“Mabel? Nothing in this room is coloured, it’s all this awful grey. Are you OK?” His face twisted into concern, taking a step towards her before she smiled, albeit fakely.

“R-right. Ignore me, must have been my imagination.” Mabel turned away from the swing for a second to instead wander along the wall, feet kicking at the sand and her twisted smile dropping as she went. She waited until Dipper went back to the shoreline before slowly sliding back towards the swing set, eyes locking onto the vivid red paint of the swing’s seat. It moved slowly, to and fro, to and fro and she couldn’t quite get herself to draw her gaze away from its movements in the non-existent breeze.

She reached a hand out hesitantly, stopping the swing from moving as her hand slipped around the rope holding it tightly to the metal. She gulped at the rough course material beneath her fingers, letting it ground her as much as it set alarm bells ringing, almost having expected ink and paper once again. Her hand slowly skidded down, hovering over the swings seat hesitantly. Her fingertips hit the red paint with trepidation, almost worried what she would find.

A small hiss of shock left her just as her hand grabbed the wooden seat. She tried to let go but found her hand stuck in place, a small grey halo of a handprint visible around and between her fingers. The paint bubbled away, grey paint spreading outwards from her hand and bleeding across the red as she watched transfixed.

The grey continued until it reached the ends of the swing, the entire thing now as grey as the sand beneath. There was another creaking sound as the rope on the other edge snapped and her hand was suddenly freed from its tight clasp.

Mabel jumped back out of reach, rubbing at her hand as she watched the swing start to swing again, broken and trailing across the sandy floor. Something about it pained her, deep in her core, as if she’d done something terrible but also as if she had just witnessed something she should never have seen.

“Mabel.” Dipper scurried over to her, eyebrows raised as he looked between her and the swing before worriedly peering over his shoulder. “What did you do that for?”

“I didn’t! It just fell apart.” Mabel shook, deciding it was fruitless to try and convince Dipper that the swing had been painted again and had drawn her to it when he hadn’t even been able to see that. Instead of continuing to defend herself, her thoughts trailed to a halt, her eyes catching yet again on the broken swing.

Something was stuck to the now visible underside.

She shuffled forward again, pointing before Dipper could question her. She grinned as his words died in his throat, just as intrigued as her now he had noticed it. She reached out, pulling the small piece of paper that was tacked to the underside out, she held it aloft as she stood up so that Dipper staring over her shoulder could see it too.

A colour photo met them, two small boys, twins, swinging happily on the swing set before them. The sun shone bright and cheerful down on them, the water gleaming brightly as the boys laughed together, chattering away with beaming expressions.

Mabel could almost hear the waves, the laughter bubbling up from the two boys, could almost feel the heat of the sun as she stared, smiling softly at the image.

“What do you think this is?”

Dipper pulled her back to the present, eyes locked on the image too, though he seemed more perplexed than anything. “It’s a photo.”

Dipper huffed, rolling his eyes at her. “Yeah, I can see that. I mean what’s it doing here?”

“I dunno. But something about it seems important.” Mabel shrugged, watching Dipper sidle over to the other swing and turn it over.

“I’d say you’re right because there’s nothing else in here other than that.” Dipper shook his head, dropping the swing as he turned back to her. “You ready to go back to Stan or do you think there’s anything more in here?”

“No, I think we can go back to Stan, I think this is it.” Mabel kept the photo tight in her hands, following Dipper slowly as she continued to regard it.

“What you got there, kiddo?”

Mabel jumped, not even realising they were already out of the room as Stan stared at her, bemused by her reaction. “Uhh…” She glanced down and up at him a few times, wondering whether to show him. Her heart told her she should, that showing him was a good idea but another part was scared, terrified that he would dismiss the photo and ask if that was all the room had had to offer them.

She took a deep breath as he leant down, face anxious at her warring with herself and received a face full of a photo so close he couldn’t actually see it. “We- I- found this. It was all that was in the room, I know that might not be much but it seemed important and-”

“Easy, kid, easy!” Stan blinked, pulling back enough to pluck the photo out of her hands. He smiled supportively at her, letting her know that he wasn’t going to disregard her before he took a look at the photo she had presented him with.

“Stan?”

Mabel and Dipper scurried forwards worriedly, faces drawn and panicked as Stan’s own went slack, the colour draining from him to leave him pale and pasty. One hand raised up to grip on to the wall as he stumbled, a heaving breath escaping him. Through all of it, he continued to stare at the photo, eyes glued to it even as his body trembled, leaving the kids to grip at his suit to try and draw his attention away from it.

“Stan, please, did I do something wrong-”

“It’s me.”

The twins froze, hands still grasping onto his suit jacket as they waited for him to continue.

“This is me.” Stan blinked, drawing back into the room, eyes locking with Mabel’s and then Dipper’s. “I- I remember this.” He shook his head before either of them could respond, so they waited with bated breath, eyes wide and fretful as they watched the colour come back to him, his eyes sparkling with a new found energy. “It’s been so long! I’d forgotten so- so much, I never thought I’d remember.” He moved to lean his back against the wall properly, his free hand now coming up to trace the other smiling boy in the picture as his eyes glazed over. “I- I have a twin! How could I for- it doesn’t matter. I’ve remembered now!”

Before either twin could register the immense meaning behind what they had found, Stan bent down, engulfing them in a hug, all the while still muttering to himself about his twin. Mabel gripped back just as tightly, a small bubble of giddiness filling her chest as she realised just what her actions had done. Dipper did the same after a moment’s hesitation, though his was more subdued, arms tightening in understanding and pity as his mind instead went to the horrible thought of ever forgetting his twin. It ached to think about how long Stan must have spent alone to have forgotten so much.

For a few moments they just sat in silence, soaking in the comfort each of them gave the others before Stan seemed to snap out of it. He gave a cough, pulling away as his voice went gruff and he refused to look at them. “Let’s, uhh….let’s get back to it then.” He tapped the photo between his hands, expression flitting between emotions before he held it back out to Mabel. “Considering my memory and how lost I can get myself, I think I’d trust you with this more than me.”

“But-”

“No buts.” Stan grinned, his smile wobbling slightly as his voice warbled. If Mabel didn’t know better she’d have thought he was trying his best not to cry at the sudden influx of memories and emotions. “You keep this safe for me, OK? Once we get out of here you can give it back, yeah?”

“OK.” Mabel nodded, feeling a new sense of purpose and pride at having been entrusted with this precious item. She slipped it into her sketchbook, making sure it wouldn’t bend or rip before it all went back into her bag.

“And…you’ll let me know if you find any more…right?”

“Of course!” Mabel beamed, looking over to Dipper as he nodded enthusiastically.

“We’ll definitely keep an eye out for more.”

“Well, let’s get this show on the road.” Stan rubbed his hands together, as If not entirely sure what to do with himself even as he seemed more rejuvenated by this new turn of events. “Who would have thought that after years of being stuck in this disorientating place, that in one day I’d not only have found two kids who seem adamant to find a way out of here but also started to fix this old broken head of mine all in one fell swoop.”

“You’re not broken!”

“Yeah, well, something was definitely missing, now wasn’t it?” Stan ruffled her hair before shrugging. “There’s still a lot missing actually, but it’s nice to have some memories that aren’t of this place. I just- it’s a lot to happen all in one day.”

“Yeah well then it’s a good day, isn’t it?” Dipper puffed out his chest, taking the lead. “Maybe it means that things are changing.”

“Yeah! We’ll all be out of here before you know it.”

Stan chuffed, a small happy noise as the kids walked ahead of him. “I guess I’ll have you two to thank when we get out then. I’m starting to think we might actually have a chance with you two at the helm.”

“What are you talking about? We’d have been stuck by that statue if you hadn’t been around!”

Mabel’s heart soared as Stan preened, rubbing at the back of his neck as he looked away from her.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say kid. Just keep moving. We’ve had enough sappiness to last a lifetime already today.”

.

.

“Found it!”

“Well look at that, you are our little navigat- nope.”

Mabel blinked up as the old man blanched and took a step back from the open doorway. She frowned, utterly perplexed. There weren’t even any monsters in here! She turned back to the room and the large yawning hole that took up most of the floor space. The room’s walls and the small thin strip of floor, barely wide enough to walk around in single file, around the deep chasm were still an insipid green, whereas the walls of the hole were darker, growing steadily obscurer until she wasn’t entirely sure if the paint was still changing or the shadows were just too thick to peer through.

A small luminescent red door on the other side of the room caught her attention, the shade a sharp contrast to the rest of the room unlike anything they had yet seen. Her frown deepened, the cogs whirring behind her eyes as she connected the dots and figured out what it was that made her uneasy about it. She glanced back between the hole and the message that this room gave them in large thick lines painted across the adjacent wall.

‘Going down?’

“Nope, nada, let’s find a different unlocked door.”

“I don’t think it works that way. We haven’t found any other unlocked rooms.”

“Then I will punch one open.”

Mabel blinked back into the conversation, she could practically feel the man closing off as he stepped back from the room. She shook her head, still not comprehending as Dipper continued to speak with Stan, instead sneaking a few steps closer to peek over the edge of the hole and see just how deep it went.

“L-let’s not, sweetie, please?”

A hand went tight around the back of her collar, tugging her back away from the edge. She could only imagine that Stan had plucked up the courage to walk into the room only to drag her back.

She rethought that particular turn of events when she saw the white-knuckled grip he had on the doorframe.

It was suddenly more apparent that he’d leaned into the room to grab her instead of actually coming in.

“Stan, are you scared of heights?”

“What?” Stan dropped her back in the corridor, glaring anywhere but at her, his arms crossed and defensive. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I’m not scared of heights. But if I were it would be a very legitimate fear to have.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“The problem?” Stan let his head turn back to the room, shuddering at the view before scowling further. “The problem is falling to our inevitable and horrifying deaths, that’s the problem.”

“So, you are afraid of heights.”

Dipper interrupted before Stan could even open his mouth. “I think he means he’s scared of falling.”

“Same difference?” Mabel shrugged, turning to him. Stan twitched as the pair spoke about him as if he wasn’t actually there.

“Oi. I am not scared. It’s just a terrible idea.” Stan gestured at the small pathway around the room. “There is no way I am thin enough to get around there without falling, how do you even open that door over there without falling?”

“You don’t.”

“See? You don’t- wait, what?” Stan blinked, his hand faltering from where he’d been about to point it defiantly into the air. He glanced back down, seeing his mystified expression mirrored on the boy’s face.

“OK, I’m with Stan this time, what do you mean we don’t open the door?”

“I mean-” Mabel rolled her eyes as if it was obvious. “That that’s not the right way to go. We need to head down.”

“Oh hel- no. Just no. It’s not happening.” Stan grabbed at the door as he flailed his arms and shook his head fervently. “We are not - you can’t even see the bottom! We wouldn’t survive the fall!”

“But we can’t go through the door, it’s red.”

Dipper scratched at the back of his neck with a wince as Stan made a string of incomprehensible sounds in disbelief at her words. “Mabel, I have no idea what you mean by that and I know that happens fairly often but this seems kind of important to understand.”

Mabel gave a long suffering sigh, shaking her head. “OK, we’re on a set route, right?”

“We are?”

“Well yeah, each level we’ve been on has a colour. And at the end of each route there’s been- something?” Mabel pointed behind them, shrugging as she tried to put her thoughts into words. She spread her hands out before her as she counted them out. “First, me and Dipper were on the blue floor, Gideon attacked us in the bluest area where a statue blocked our entrance up the stairs. So instead we went down that pink staircase and that floor got redder and redder until we found you Stan!” She grinned brightly, as if that confirmed everything. “So the bottom floor was red, the first floor was blue and the floor we’re now on is green!” She pointed back into the room, ignoring the grimace that Stan gave as he followed her finger to the abyss in the centre of the room. “See? The hole is a darker green! The door is red, it’ll just loop us back round to the other floor.”

“But Mabel, the hole is going down. Surely that’s more likely to take us back down than the door is?” Dipper frowned, shaking his head as with trepidation he took a closer look at the floor. He tried not to pay attention to the small distressed noise Stan made as he went out of reach.

“Yeah! That! We’ve been going up! Not down!” Stan nodded vehemently, having paled considerably through Mabel’s explanation.

“But have you paid attention to colour before?” Mabel pointed out, tugging at his suit jacket again to get him to look down. “You said you’ve got caught up in a loop before, right? That you keep going round in circles?”

“Maybe, but-”

“But, I told Dipper that we had to go through the statue door before, didn’t I, Dipper? The red floor was a dead end and we had to backtrack.” Mabel stuttered to a halt with a wince as she looked up at Stan sheepishly. “Not that going down and finding you was a bad thing.”

“No, you wouldn’t have gotten much further without me, now would you?” Stan raised an eyebrow as she smiled, still awkward and turned back to Dipper instead of trying to respond to him.

“But I did say that we had to come this way, didn’t I?”

Dipper hummed the affirmative but still didn’t seem completely convinced, that and the plan was not in the slightest bit appealing. “I mean, yeah you did say this way felt right…but we still might find ourselves at a dead end? Why not try the red door first?”

“We might not find our way back here easily if we do that!”  

“Well, if jumping down that hole is the wrong way then we’ll be in the exact same situation!” Dipper threw his arms in the air, tugging at his hair as he struggled with the contradicting thoughts.

That is, until Mabel made everything infinitesimally more difficult and easier all at once.

“Just trust me on this, Dipper.”

He turned slowly back to her, mind warring with itself- listen to logic, or listen to his sister.

He bit his lip as she stared at him, face honest and pleading.

There was only really one answer in the end.

He sighed, shaking his head.

“You’re going to get us killed.”

Mabel shouted happily, jumping in the air, one hand above her head. “No I won’t, no I won’t! You won’t regret this, Dip-Dop. I promise, this is the way!”

“Well if anyone’s gonna understand this weird world, you are.” Dipper nudged her shoulder, getting a shove back for his teasing tone.

Stan raised a hand, gaining both their attentions as he coughed loudly. “Are you going to ask me what I think? Because at this moment, I don’t trust your judgement. Sorry sweetie, but you are not getting me jumping down that hole.”

Mabel beamed at him. “You won’t follow?”

“Follow…?”

Without warning Mabel darted forward, launching herself with a whoop into the cavernous hole. Dipper shouted after her, unwittingly diving after her as he reached towards her.

Stan blinked, now left completely and utterly alone, the echoing shouts of excitement all that remained of the two kids he had been keeping track of.

He snuck closer, peeking into the dizzying maw, his stomach churning nauseatingly when the kids were nowhere to be seen, just the black hole staring back at him.

“Kids?!”

“It’s fine, Stan!”

“I mean it’s not but- we seem to be falling slower than we should be!”

“You won’t follow?”

Stan glowered at the whispering thought as he paced the side of the hole. She was right. Annoyingly so.

Maybe he would have to have words with her about ‘listening’ too.

For some reason he thought that conversation would be even more problematic than the one with Dipper.

“What have I gotten myself into? Life was easier before I met these two. I should have left them to it as soon as they got me out of that room.”

Dipper tried his best to tune out the high pitch scream that signalled Stan’s entry into the pit with them. He wouldn’t mention it if he didn’t.

Mabel, however, had no such tact.

“Trust me! It’ll be fine!”

“I’m never trusting you again!”

“Don’t, Mabel. Just don’t.” Dipper could feel his sister was about to argue with Stan before she even attempted it, a small huff of air emanating from the blackness to his right.

In all honesty, he was possibly rethinking the faith he had put into Mabel. Sure they seemed to be falling fairly sluggishly, as if air billowing from below was slowing their descent enough that they would be able to land with only some stumbling. But maybe that was his mind playing tricks on him, maybe it felt like they were going at a gentler speed than they actually were because his body was trying to stop him going into all out panic mode.

It was pitch black, he had nothing to focus on to check their speed.

For all he knew they were hurtling down and it just didn’t feel like it.

He felt something shuffle beside him, jumped as much as you could whilst falling through the air as a hand hit him in the chest. There was a quick familiar apology as the hand found purchase and scrambled for his hand, his heart beat calming at the voice and the recognition that it was Mabel that had managed to get over to him through the air.

“It’ll be OK, Dipper, I mean it.”

Dipper nodded, realising belatedly that his breathing was going haywire, loud and scratchy even to his own ears as he tried to rectify it. It helped knowing his sister was beside him and that she’d noticed him spiralling before he had.

“Y-yeah, of course-”

A bright flicker of light caught his attention, his hand gripping Mabel’s harder as he glanced down.

He frowned, head tilting as pitch black met his gaze. He thought they must have been approaching the exit, that the light had been where they were getting closer but it wasn’t, there was no exit to be seen.

The light flashed again, grabbing his attention. It was something on the wall far below them, pulsing on for a few seconds before vanishing to blackness again, leaving a stain on his retinas where it had been. He blinked a few times to try and dispel it, nothing visible in the blur now painted on the backs of his eyelids. “Did you see that?”

“The light? It’s just a light flashing to let us know we’ve got further, isn’t it?”

“I’m not sure…” Dipper waited for it again, the light flicking on again just as they passed.

A glowing stick figure stared back at him.

He shrugged, shaking his head. Maybe Mabel was right, maybe it was nothing.

A small yelp sounded above him a few seconds later as Stan finally noticed the blinking light. He winced apologetically, hearing the small ‘oops’ beside him.

They probably should have warned the already freaked out old man of the sudden change in scenery.

“There’s another one coming up, Stan!”

Dipper jumped as Mabel seemed to have the same idea but his eyes shot to whatever she’d seen instead of helping. Each symbol went past them faster, blinking in and out of existence in a flash and even if he was unsure as to what they meant he tried to keep a handle on each one.

A ‘X’ with a curved line through it-

Three prongs spreading outwards into a triangle shape, circles at the end of each prong-

A ‘T’, semi-circles curling outwards-

Each one went past in a flash of light but they stayed for a few more moments for him to memorise as he blinked away the stains left behind, filing them away just in case he needed to be prepared.

The darkness engulfed them again once the symbols had passed, but now Dipper was sure there was a faint light directly underneath them. Or underneath him, he’d felt Mabel kick him at one point, suddenly finding out she could flip about but the thought of not knowing which way was up turned his stomach too much to join in with her newfound pastime.

The white circle grew closer and closer and suddenly again Dipper’s mind went to spiralling.

Wait, is that how fast we’re going? We’re going faster than I thought- Is there something at the bottom to break our fall? What if there isn’t? What will we do-

The time to panic ended, the circle of blinding white light filtering over them as they fell into open air, the sudden influx of light against the blackness of the tunnel making them both flinch and close their eyes.

This is it. It’s all over-

The pair landed with a soft ‘oomph’ onto the soft matt beneath the large chute, stumbling against each other to keep themselves upright.

“See? What did I tell you? Completely fine, exactly what we were meant to do.”

“True, we’re not dead, so I guess you win this round.” Dipper grinned, far too elated at the fact that they were unhurt to actually question whether it was still the best decision to have made.

He didn’t really have long to question anything if he was completely honest.

With a sudden thud, something hit him square in the back of the head, a small yelp of surprise escaping him as he tumbled forward and something heavy landed on him. Mabel fell with him, a squeak of shock climbing out as she clutched his hand tight and screwed her eyes shut.

There was a pained groan above them, a tiny voice that sounded raw from screaming.

“Are we dead?”

“No, but we might be soon, you’re kind of crushing us.”

“Fu- OK, hold on.”

Stan rolled off the pair with a half-heartedly attempt at getting up, his legs turning to jelly before he could even kneel as he fell sideways.

Dipper sat up, rubbing the back of his head as he stared at the man lying face down into the matt. “Stan?”

There was a muffled response, something neither of them caught as they bent down. “You might want to stop eating the matt before you speak.” Mabel prodded him in the shoulder. “Does it taste good though?”

“No.” Stan popped his head up just enough to uncover his mouth, the only movement he made as he continued speaking, eyes still tightly closed. “Just leave me here, ok? No more adventures for me, I don’t think my heart can take it.”

“But we did it! It wasn’t a dead end, after all.”

“Sweetie, you just made me jump into a bottomless pit. If you think my legs are going to hold me up after that you are sorely mistaken. I thought I was reckless, you take the cake, kid.”

Mabel squatted beside him, prodding at his shoulder. “Come on, Stan! You can do it! I bet you’ve dealt with a lot worse in here.”

Stan groaned piteously, turning his head away from her, though Dipper could see the small smile worming its way onto his face from his position. “Worse than you? Never in a million years.”

“Oi!”

He chuckled at her hopeless attempts to lift him up, tugging at his arms that fell limp as soon as she dropped them again.

“Well, she was kind of right, we are still alive which is more than either of us expected.”

Stan huffed at the logical voice coming from above him, squinting one eye open to share a look of mutual concern for their sanity. “And yet we still followed her.”

“That we did. Are you really done or are you going to see if that irrational impulse leads to the exit?”

Stan glared up at the young boy who feigned innocence as he waited for the obvious answer.

After all, this was further than he’d have- further than he had ever gotten on his own.

He groaned again, rubbing a hand up under his glasses as he continued to lay, now staring up into the gloom they had fallen from.

“I really should have left you two to it when I had the chance.”

“Does that mean you’re coming?”

Stan sat up with a grumble. “Yeah, I’m coming, I’m coming but can I at least get a say in where we go next time?”

“I can’t promise anything. I just go where the colours lead.”

“Yeah well, the colours can go-” Stan coughed, pulling himself up completely instead of finishing his sentence. “Is it really that hard for you two to listen to people? Your parents must be the most patience people in the world.”

Silence reigned at his words, an icy winding atmosphere fizzling through the good humour that had been there before beneath the surface.

“Y-yeah, I guess so.” Dipper gulped, hands once again returning to fiddling as he turned away. Stan raised an eyebrow, a new and more insidious concern sinking in as he turned to see Mabel’s reaction as well.

Mabel bit her lip, her eyes downcast as she scuffed her shoes along the floor.

“Y-you think they’re looking for us?”

Stan cringed as the real cause barrelled into him. Of all the things to bring up, he had to bring up their parents who were probably frantically racing around the gallery for them, not to mention the kids had no way of knowing when they’d ever see them again.

Me and my big mouth.

“We’ll have one big adventure to tell them about when we get back, won’t we?” Dipper shook himself, turning back to the other two, both of them seeing easily through the fake smile he’d plastered there. “You never know, maybe no time has passed at all there and they won’t have even noticed.”

“Yeah.” Stan jumped in before Mabel could speak, her obvious distress outweighing her usual optimism. “And until then, you’ve got a responsible adult looking out for you to make sure you get back to them.”

Mabel’s smile wobbled back onto her face, gulping down the pessimism that had threatened to engulf her. “Y-you? A responsible adult?”

“Well, an adult nonetheless who is trying his hardest to keep you two out of trouble but you just keep making my job more difficult, now don’t you?” Stan grinned, gesturing towards the door. “How about you carry on leading the way, navigator?”

“OK, I’ll try and find a nice room this time! There’s got to be at least one good room, right?”

“I like your optimism! What do you think, Dipper?”

Dipper’s shoulders had relaxed during their banter, his fake smile slipping into something more genuine and less anxious about their future as he nodded. “No point standing around, I guess, so we might as well.”

“See? Optimistic and logical, not just one or the other this time. We’re already on a better track.”

“Well, then let’s go!”

“Oh, and Mabel?”

“Yeah?”

“Just try to skip out any more holes if you can help it.”

“Well this room doesn’t look ominous in the slightest.”

“Still better than the giant hole in the ground?” Dipper couldn’t help the smirk as he looked up at their companion, eyebrow raising in a reminiscent quirk to the old man’s.

Stan grinned waspishly back at him, sharp and narrow. “Yep. Anything is better than that hole.”

“I would have thought the wax figures were the worst thing- all melty and gross.” Mabel stepped up beside them, all three of them yet to pass over the threshold into the next room. The walls seemed to be made of interlocking shapes, emerald rectangles and jade squares overlaid and cut through one another until she wasn’t sure where some of them started or finished but the pattern held her attention purely for being a nice distraction from the sickly green corridor they’d been traversing. Though she couldn’t help but agree with Stan’s initial reaction, the room didn’t give off the most comforting vibe. A myriad of tiles glistened on the floor, each one black and with a small glowing gold symbol at its centre, a light beneath them fading and pulsing as she watched. They were fairly small squares, each just big enough for Mabel’s foot as she held it before her, wondering whether Stan would have to stand on his toes to get across. She could feel Dipper scrutinising the room beside her and just let her eyes pan over it in slight interest instead of trying to solve the puzzle, knowing that Dipper would be quicker and find more enjoyment in the solution.

“Yeah but you see, they’re punchable. Large falls to certain death aren’t.”

“But it wasn’t a fall to-”

“Not listening!” Stan cut in before Mabel could yet again try to convince him that if they came across any more leaps of faith that he should just go for it. In his movement to get away from the conversation he took a large step into the room, hoping that by focusing on the newest puzzle it would get her mind off the last.

“Stan! Wait!” Dipper reached a hand out as Stan stepped forward, fingers missing Stan’s sleeve by a hairs breadth. His eyes had locked onto the small stick figure symbol that stared back at him from a tile just inside the doorway, the puzzle pieces connecting just a fraction too late.

Stan’s foot depressed the small tile, a soft clunk echoing out. The slow grate of machinery followed, Stan wobbling frantically on one foot to stop himself from pressing another tile as he waited worriedly.

The three of them froze, both kids with arms outstretched to help him back if need be as sections of the wall crept inwards.

They all waited with bated breath as separate rectangular chunks scraped against one another, sliding into the room. The grating mechanical sound stopped, a ringing silence reigning as they watched the few pieces come to a halt at differing jutting steps around the walls.

Dipper coughed, his voice breaking as he tried to be nonchalant. “S-so, going to assume you didn’t see the sign over there.”

Stan shuffled where he stood, trying to keep his balance as he turned to where Dipper was pointing. He grimaced, eyes wincing shut as he sighed.

‘Watch your step!’

“You gonna help an old man out, smart guy? Cause this one might fall over soon.”

Dipper bit his lip, eyes scouring the ground around Stan’s feet. “There! Three to your left, that one that looks like a X.”

“This one?” Stan poked his foot towards it, unwittingly falling forwards onto it when he could no longer hold himself up. He gave a sigh of relief as the tile didn’t budge, no booby trap below being set off as he took a second to get his bearings. “How’d you know that, kid?”

“They were the symbols we passed on the way through the giant hole.” Dipper cautiously prodded the stick man before him, he panicked for a second as the walls moved a fraction, hands waving frantically. “Wait! I was sure-”

“Deep breaths.”

“Yeah, the walls didn’t move too much, there’s got to be a reason for that right?”

“Y-yeah, OK.” Dipper gulped, hands shaking as he tightened them around his bag strap in a nervous habit. He glanced at Stan’s foot on the X before a theory came to him, his eyes shifting to the floor at his feet until he found three lines connecting at the centre of a tile within reaching distance. He took a deep breath before stepping forward onto it, eyes closing in anticipation.

Nothing happened.

“Woo! Go Dip-Dop!”

“That’s the ticket! Come on, smart guy, keep it going.”

Dipper let the air he’d been holding out in a shuddering breath. He shuffled his way ahead of Stan as he tested out the series of symbols he remembered seeing, muttering under his breath as he did so. “Stickman, X, Triangle, T, Stickman-” He was rewarded with an accompanying silence as the walls stayed completely motionless. He took himself close to the wall, scrutinising a route for the other two as he found a place to prop his feet between two symbols. “Right OK, so by the looks of it, it’s not just the symbols that we have to keep an eye on, there’s an order to them too. Just stepping on them in the wrong order makes the walls move less.”

Mabel and Stan groaned in unison, twin looks of annoyance on their faces.

“As if this puzzle wasn’t tedious enough as it was.”

“Yeah! It’s going to be difficult enough getting across the right symbols without having to worry about who steps on which one in the right order!”

Dipper nodded, unable to really argue when he knew getting them across safely fell squarely on his shoulders. “OK, Mabel, step on that stick figure one, and then- you see the X with a curve through it? Yeah, that one. Stan, once she’s gone over those two, that one there that has three lines coming out of the centre is the next one for you. Then we’ll look for a T…” Dipper’s eyes started to scour ahead of both of them, as Mabel finished her steps and Stan moved his one foot forward.

“Like this?”

Dipper’s eyes snapped back to Mabel, arm raising up as she pressed forward onto a similar ‘T’ symbol but not exactly the same as the one he was looking out for. “No, Mabel!”

Too late she completed the movement, unable to windmill herself back in time. Dipper yelped as a piece of wall jutted into his back, pushing him forward to stumble onto two wrong tiles. The grating sound grew louder, vibrating through the floor and sending dust out through the moving slabs. The quantity of wall sections pushing out grew exponentially as 3 wrong tiles were pressed in quick succession, all three of them quietly freaking out as they tried to stay completely still.

The vibrations grew less intense, a heavy sigh of relief shaking through each of them as the walls became stationary once more.

The room was considerably smaller now than when they had entered it.

Dipper gulped, eyeing up the routes before him. The wall had pushed him into a dead end with no safe tiles in reaching distance. He glanced up at Stan, seeing the realisation spark behind his eyes, no doubt at the panic showing through Dipper’s expression.

“Right kid, I want you to get yourself to that door first, do you hear me? Then you guide me and your sister through, just like the maze.”

“But-”

“No buts, last time you were the last out of the room, this time you get to be the first.” Stan turned to Mabel, eyes sharp and focused. “Sweetie, I want you to stay still unless Dipper tells you otherwise, you hear me? I don’t care if you think you’ve stepped on that symbol before, we’re going to let Dipper make sure, right?”

“O-OK, yeah.” Mabel’s voice was thready and weak. A small tremor of fear was still shaking through her at the image of what her actions had done to Dipper, having made the wall hit him. “Sorry, bro…”

“It’s alright, I’m not mad, I’m just making sure we’re all on the same page. We’ll get through this. We’re all going to be just fine, you hear me?” Stan smiled reassuringly. Dipper wondered if he even knew that what was left of his gruff façade seemed to be falling fast as he turned back to Dipper, eyes once again serious and concerned. “Hey, Dipper, how about you get me and your sister to the centre of the room first and then you can step on a tile or two as you get to the door without worrying, how does that sound?”

“I can do that.” Dipper nodded fiercely as he stood himself up on legs that felt like jelly after his stumble. “Yeah, I can- I can do that.”

“So, what’s the next one?”

“A ‘T’.” Dipper turned to look at Mabel who was worriedly waiting for him to elaborate. He tried to smile supportively like Stan was but he wasn’t sure it worked. “B-but it has semi-circles at the end of each line?”

“That one?” Mabel’s voice was a small warble, pointing towards a symbol three ahead of her.

Dipper nodded, his breath coming out in a relieved sigh as Mabel listened to him, even if he did just want his bright and bubbly sister smiling as usual. “Yeah, that’s the one.”

It took a while, a few almost missteps for Dipper to guide them to near the middle of the room. His hands had started to shake, a worried shudder running through him whenever either of them got close to slipping up and also at the daunting realisation that soon he’d have to move purposefully onto the wrong symbol to progress and a panicked voice in his head said they didn’t have many more chances.

They should just get out! I’ll get out last and make all the mistakes, otherwise we’ll all get- we’ll all be-

Stan tested his weight on the small stick figure that Dipper had positioned him on before looking over Mabel beside him and turning back to the boy. “Alright, Dipper, your turn.”

“I-” Dipper gulped, clamping down before the crack in his voice became completely obvious.

I don’t think I can do this.

“Come on, kid, what’s the next symbol?”

Dipper blinked, Stan’s hand waved in front of him, dragging him out of his head slightly. The words did more, reminding him he had to think, had to keep figuring out the puzzle. Zoning in on that helped to ease the constant fear trying to claw up his throat. “The…The ‘X’.” His voice came out stronger, a small win in his head as he looked round for the symbol.

“There, dead ahead. Think you can make it in two steps?”

The symbol seemed to come into stark focus to Dipper as he guessed the distance. He nodded, small hands tightening into fists as he steeled himself up for what he knew would happen as soon as he moved. “Yeah, I think so.”

“The next ones the triangle one, right?” Mabel hummed out, questioning and hesitant, the first time she’d really spoken since they’d been focusing on getting to the middle. “Cause there’s one near that ‘X’ before you move forward. It’d be better to get a good footing on two, right?”

“Good point, sweetie.” Stan ruffled her hair, his voice proud, which continued as he turned back to Dipper, grin on his face. “Come on smart guy, get us out of here.”

Dipper followed their gaze to the other symbol, one up and two across from the one he’d been looking at first, too focused on the details to get the whole picture. His mind started to race ahead, creating a path for him across the room.

“Easy, kid. Don’t rush it. Let’s just get you to a safe position first, no need to hurry. Can’t have you trying to get across them all while the room’s shaking about.”

Dipper snapped out of his small reverie, glancing over at Stan who must have seen his need to get out of this room as fast as possible. Thinking on it now though, that kind of action would lead to more mistakes that they really couldn’t afford. He didn’t think he could open his mouth in that moment, too worried as to what would come out, if anything. Instead he took a deep breath and took the plunge, stretching one foot out as far as he could to hover over an incorrect symbol before finally taking the step, other foot coming up in the same movement, as the walls growled behind him, to dart quickly on to the correct symbol now within reaching distance.

The room settled around them again, the walls yet again now encroaching on more of the tiny space they had between them.

“That’s the ticket. Now keep going. Don’t think too much, just keep going towards the door.”

“But I’ve got to think to-”

“Yeah well stay out of that big ol’ head of yours. It’s not good for you. Just focus on the symbols and the door, tune everything else out. You know, unless you want to be able to hear my irritating voice all the way along.”

Dipper couldn’t help the hiccup of a laugh that left him, easing some of the solid tension in his chest. He rolled his shoulders, giving himself a shake and an inward pep talk before doing as Stan suggested and concentrating on the floor.

One step at a time.

Step by step.

One misstep. A string of panicked apologies shut down quickly and comfortingly.

It felt like it took an age until he found himself close to the door, a pulse of warm gleeful relief thrumming through him as he zoned back into the room and heard the muttered encouragements coming from the other two.

He was so close he could taste it.

And then he realised with a sudden biting cold intensity that he wasn’t.

“S-Stan?”

“Hmm?”

“There’s no more- the next one in the sequence isn’t here!” Dipper glanced all around him, eyes wide as he tried to figure out where he could step next without going backwards. It took another panicked gulp, a shake rattling down his spine as he noted with a dawning dread that the next symbol wasn’t within reaching distance from any direction.

“Can you jump it?” Mabel piped up, even as Dipper shook his head.

“Well, are there other ones from the sequence?”

“Yeah but- that will make it harder for you two! The walls are already closing in too much- What if I get through and you two don’t all because I-”

“Alright, alright, easy there kid. There’s got to be a way around it.”

“But there-”

“Look, these puzzles are hard but they’re not impossible. Where would be the fun in that for- whatever it is that’s made them? You just got to think outside…the…” Stan’s words tapered off into nothingness as he stared down at his feet, eyebrows furrowing deeply. “Hey Dipper, what is the next one in the sequence?”

“The stick figure.”

Stan nodded, lifting his foot up as he looked around him, wobbling this way and that for a moment.

“What are you-?”

Before Dipper could finish his sentence, Stan put his foot straight back down on the symbol it had been on before, puffing up slightly as Mabel gave a squeak of approval. “Well, I was already standing on that one. You think that will work?”

Dipper blinked, staring down at his foot before around himself again, spotting the ‘X’ close to the door and just in reach. “Guess there’s only one way to find out, right?” He jumped forward, hopping across like they were stepping stones until he found plush green carpet beneath his feet and victorious silence in his wake.

He didn’t think he’d ever complain about the continuous coloured corridors again as his legs threatened to give way underneath him.

“Alright, one down, two to go.”

Mabel gave an abrupt startled cry.

Dipper flinched, relief forgotten as he spun back to the room, legs only really carrying him enough to lean haphazardly against the doorway. The sight before him caught him off guard, taking a moment to really process it.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting you out next, kiddo.” Stan winced as Mabel fidgeted in his arms, having quickly scooped her up before wobbling worryingly as he tried to lean over as close to the door as he could with her. “Easy there, you’re gonna knock us both flying!”

“Well you could have warned me!”

“Like you would have agreed.” Stan rolled his eyes, ignoring her pout as he turned back to Dipper. “Which ones next?”

“The triangle and the ‘T’.” Dipper bit out, trying to push away the worried knots twisting in his stomach and Mabel’s betrayed and fretful expression.

Stan lowered her slowly towards the right symbols, waiting for her to stretch her feet out correctly before setting her down gently. “There we are, now out you go.”

“Stan…”

“I’ll be right behind you.”

Mabel sniffed, staring at him for a moment before turning back to Dipper. “You better.”

“Well I can’t disappoint you, now can I?”

“No, you can’t.” Mabel huffed, letting Dipper lead her forward step by step without argument, only stopping to look over her shoulder every few seconds. She bit her lip when she came to the same junction Dipper did where the symbol she needed was no longer in sight, realising belatedly that Stan had decided not to move purely so he could make sure that she could get across without incident. Dipper seemed to realise it at the same time though, eyes widening in panic.

“Wait, what about when-”

Before he could even finish the sentence as Mabel jumped beside him, Stan moved. The walls grated instantly, curling inwards every second as Stan jumped across in as little steps as he could muster, as quickly as he could across the room.

“Stan!” A set of twin cries cried out as the sections close to the door started to encroach on the exit, the entryway already barred as sections of the wall came together in the centre of the room.

The old man fumbled at the door as the walls at head and chest height cemented together, sliding underneath and rolling through as the kids darted out of the way before running to his side again.

Stan panted, looking up at the ceiling and the two worried faces staring down at him from above.

“What did I tell ya? Lady Luck loves me.”

.

.

“You actually stopped?” Dipper blinked as he found Mabel at the top of the stairs, the door to the next room open without a thought. He bit back the scolding he wanted to give her- what if something had happened? What if he hadn’t been able to help her? But at least she had waited for him before going any further and he didn’t want to shout at her in case next time she didn’t. His heart thudded painfully, a streak of panic stirring at the thought of them being separated or worse.

Mabel managed to stop that spiralling train of thought before it went off the rails entirely, pointing forward into the room.

“This room gives off a real ‘Alice in Wonderland’ vibe.” Her words made almost no sense to Dipper who stared at her in confusion even as she nodded towards a sign on their side of the door.

‘Don’t lose your head! Just make sure you get the right perspective.’

“Is that a clue to stay calm and collected?”

“Who knows? It’s not just that though… Oh, and to answer the first question - I didn’t want to get lost.”

“Lost-?” Dipper’s voice trailed to nothing as he peered into the room. A dark green hedge barely a metre ahead blocked his view and their path. His eyes followed it to the right as he took a small step passed the threshold of the room, observing the hedge stop and another hedgerow lining the wall greet it, creating a small passage for them to traverse the room through.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the hedgerows probably divided more and more the further into the room you went and that only one path would lead to the exit. Not to mention that without prior knowledge, where in the room that exit was also hindered any plans to find it quickly and quietly without any altercations. Because it also didn’t take much of a jump to let paranoia whisper about what else could be lying in wait for them in amongst the twists and turns.

What will it be this time? More half painting-half living monstrosities? Or more scurrying statues? Or maybe Mabel’s right and we’re going to come across some playing cards-

“Thanks for waiting for the old- old codger, you two.” Stan panted as he got to the top of the stairs, groaning exaggeratedly as he put his hands on his knees. “Don’t ever get old.”

“How old are you?”

Stan paused, frowning down at Mabel’s question. “You’re not meant to ask that, are you? Isn’t that a thing?”

“You’re not meant to ask a lady’s age.”

“Yeah, well it’s rude either way or something. That and I don’t remember. I have no idea how long I’ve been here, I just assume it’s been years on account of aging badly.”

“What if you’re in your hundreds?!” Mabel gasped, eyes sparkling with the thought.

“…Wow, you really know how to charm, don’t you kid?”

“Yep! And until you remember, I’m just going to assume.”

“I’ll make sure to remember soon then, can’t have you thinking I’m that old.” Stan leant against the doorway, eyeing up the hedge before him, just too high for him to see over even on tiptoes. “So what have we got here then?”

“A maze by the looks of it.” Dipper took a few steps forward to the bend where the visible hedgerows met. He sighed, shaking his head. “Yeah, I can see four different routes from here and without knowing where the door out is, we could wander around for hours getting stuck in dead ends.”

“Well, I, for one, have no patience for that.” Stan stepped towards him, scooping him up and on to his shoulders with ease even as the boy fidgeted and fought back for a second. “Come on then, kid, what do you see?”

“Oh! Oh. Right.” Dipper took a deep breath, trying to quell the fear that had arisen from the sudden manhandling. He was pretty sure he heard a tiny muffled apology but he decided not to bring it up and have the man gruffly deny all knowledge. Instead he let his eyes roam the room. The walls and ceiling were a uniform pale green, the dark hedges standing out in thick contrast. There was still not enough of an angle to see the entire route they would need to take but he could see the door all the way in the far right corner. “It’s to the right.”

“So we take as many right turns as possible? Process of elimination?” Stan tried to look up at him unsuccessfully.

“No, that’s still too many possible dead ends, we could still be here for ages-” Dipper clapped a hand over his mouth, biting down on the words. Stan made a small noise under him, as if he was about to ask a question and Dipper kicked at him, getting a grunt for his troubles but he was too pre-occupied to do anything else to keep the man quiet.

Staring out over the hedgerows, he hadn’t noticed a small change in colour, hints of brown just barely visible along the upper edge of the leaves.

But when he had spoken louder, straining to see even higher, he was sure he saw one of them move.

He was sure whatever stood in one of the blocked off tunnels of the maze had turned around at his movements, or maybe even at his voice. And whatever it was, it was big. It stood just taller than the hedgerows, a feat Stan couldn’t pull off even stretching up as far as he could.

“Dipper?”

The voice was quiet and worried, obviously sensing his sudden anxiety. “We’re uhh…there’s something else in here.” He managed to choke out, feeling Stan’s arms tighten around him protectively in response.

“What? What is it?”

“I’m- I’m not sure.” Dipper gulped, trying to pluck up the courage to stand on Stan’s shoulders and get a better view. He looked forward, assessing his options, wondering whether he could run across the top of the maze.

Sharp jagged thorns protruded across the top, stabbing upwards vindictively and in a multitude. He disregarded the thought quickly, even one false move would end up with far too much injury for him to expect just one page to fall out of his journal.

And Stan took care of his first option.

“Nope, if the thing is not sure we’re here yet, you are staying put or I am putting you down entirely.” Stan’s hands clamped down as Dipper went to stand on wobbly legs, refusing point blank for him to be caught like a deer in headlights.

“But-”

“But nothing, you’re smart, aren’t ya? Think of something else.”

Dipper grumbled half-heartedly, even as he felt infinitely grateful at the man’s disruption of his plans and weirdly happy at his challenge of a compliment, it gave him a chance to prove himself as well as the competition to want to do it. He found his eyes trailing again, for any kind of markings on the wall, anything on the ceiling to lead them in the right direction-

His eyes caught on the wall behind them, stretching backwards to catch a better glimpse. Dead centre in the wall high above them, resting near the ceiling was a small alcove, a balcony. His eyes lit up.

Just make sure you get the right perspective.

He nodded to himself, twisting in Stan’s grip and almost overbalancing them as he caught sight of it. He ignored Stan’s curse as he rebalanced them in favour of registering what he was actually seeing. There was another small recess close by at floor level, painted an even lighter shade of green than the room which with the shadows made it almost invisible. He wouldn’t have even spotted it if he wasn’t looking for a way up to the room above.

Stan cursed again, louder this time and earning a disapproving mutter from Mabel as Dipper without warning and without thought, shuffled off of his shoulders and climbed down his back. He scurried over to the small nook, smiling when he was rewarded with a small narrow staircase to the top. He pointed up above them, watching proudly as the pair followed his finger with rapt attention. “There’s a viewing platform up there. If I can get to it, I can lead you two through the maze.”

“Why don’t we all go up and take a look and go together?”

Dipper frowned, shaking his head. “You won’t be able to see where the other things in the maze are from ground level, I can guide you through without meeting any of them.” He didn’t add the ‘I hope’ that his mind tacked on to the end of his sentence. “Besides, I’m not sure it’s big enough for all of us at once.”

“Dipper’s the best at puzzles out of us two so I trust him up there.” Mabel shrugged, looking up at Stan. “Are you good at puzzles?”

“Me? Nah, give me something to punch and I’m your man, puzzles just get me frustrated. Besides, can’t watch you two from the side lines.” Stan nodded, looking towards Dipper worriedly. “You sure you don’t want me to check there’s nothing up there first?”

Dipper felt his stomach tie itself in knots. I hadn’t thought about that. “No, no it’s OK.” He took a deep breath, puffing his chest out. “I can look after myself.”

“Never said you couldn’t, kid.” Stan gave him a satisfied nod, though his eyes betrayed his worry even as Dipper paid more heed to his actual actions. Stan gestured up the steps before putting his hands in his pockets. “We’ll wait down here for you to get up there. No point traipsing around without our navigator and you having to bring us back to the beginning.”

Besides, this way if anything happens, we’ll be right here ready to help.

Dipper had never been more thankful at the very clear yet unspoken message hidden amongst seemingly uncaring words. He slipped up the steps quietly but quickly, taking them two at a time so that he didn’t leave the other two in the dark for long.

He couldn’t resist the fist pump at the top of the stairs, the small hissed ‘yes!’ when he found himself completely alone and safe, the small window to the floor below giving him much needed light. The room didn’t open up much from the small staircase, curtains blanketing the sides of the small balcony to give room for only one to stand at the edge. He took a cautious step forward, the maze not yet visible from the height the room was seated at.

A small chink of metal rang through the enclosed space and made his body lock up in an unsteady position. His foot had scuffed the floor, landing solidly against something hard that tumbled forward to roll to a stop in the small area of light. He let out a long shaky exhale, not realising he’d held his breath as his foot had made impact. The light from the window gleamed off of the small silver object and he snatched it up before he could accidentally kick it again.

Part of him rejoiced, whilst another part hissed a worried litany of ‘what ifs’.

It’s a key! It’s got to be a way out of here! There was nothing to lead us to this room though. What if we hadn’t seen it? What if we’d made the decision to just test our luck in the maze? What if we’d found the door and become trapped? Stuck between the wall of hedges and whatever was out there- Don’t lose your head.

Dipper shook himself as the words rang true, his mind calming. ‘What ifs’ no longer mattered. He’d kept his cool and found the room and in doing so found the key for his partners to use once he navigated them through the maze.

He crept forward again, this time no longer glancing out across the maze but darting straight down to check on his sister and their newly found companion. The pair grinned back up at him, visibly relaxing as they were reassured by his reappearance. He dropped the key down without much fanfare, Stan fumbling it unprepared and Mabel catching it before it could hit the ground.

“Oh, nice one, Dip-Dip!”

Dipper preened under his sister’s whoop of pride before Stan shushed her, eyes glancing back up to him anxiously. “What can you see, kid? Anything in there we should be worried about?”

Dipper’s mouth opened in a silent ‘o’ as he remembered the other part of his job up here. He turned his head to the maze, ready to describe exactly what they were up against when the words caught in his throat.

A stutter of pure concentrated dread travelled through him from head to toe, his mouth snapping shut as his mind screamed at him, his muscles icing over hypocritically. Hide! Run! Do something, don’t just stand here-

But he couldn’t move, couldn’t get his body to register anything other than pure and utter fear.

Sets of glistening soulless eyes stared back at him, a shudder of ice cold water hitting him at being watched so intently and so quietly. It was clear to him now that the figures followed movement instead of sound. Some of the figures were already turned to gaze up at him, as if as soon as he had stepped out into the light of the small balcony, they had sought him out. Another moved with him, his body that had been bent over the small rail to interact with his sister had moved upright as he’d finally registered the gazes, and one figure’s head had moved with him, finally locking on to him entirely. The eyes were jet black glass, the faces lifeless and indifferent as they traipsed back and forth in the maze, heads not moving from their intent glassy stare up at him.

He counted three of them, all various strange humanoid figures. He could only class their appearance as partially melted, which added to his nauseous stomach, their faces drooping and slipping, body parts dripping thick globules down their torsos and along their legs. Their arms hung limp and unresponsive at their sides which at first gave him relief, thinking they were most probably harmless or at least easy to escape from.

The respite died before it even had a chance to manifest, he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck prick up, his teeth suddenly on edge as he caught the glint of sharp spiked metal scraping lines into the floor, gripped tight in unyielding hands as they paced away in their sections.

“Kid?”

Dipper tore his gaze from the figures, his mouth opening and closing as his mind stumbled to a halt.

Don’t lose your head. Easy to say but difficult to accomplish when it’s a struggle to breathe properly.

Dipper gulped, his breaths coming out thick and fast as his mind clouded over with images of what could happen if he led his companions wrong. He tried to shake the thoughts, tried to focus on the pair who gave each other a nervous look before Stan looked up again in concern.

“Not good?”

He shook his head, the only response he could really give. “N-not good.” The words tumbled out as he flinched, one of the figures spinning back around in jolting movements, the axe in his hand skimming the floor and digging into its familiar groove even deeper. “Not good at all.”

Stan hummed, turning towards the maze thoughtfully before back to Dipper. “Alright, let’s take this slow, yeah? No rush, you just keep up from getting near them, OK?”

“But-”

“It’ll be alright. I trust you.” Stan smiled as Dipper grimaced, obviously not comfortable with the added pressure he’d accidentally piled on to him. “Your sis said you’re good at puzzles. Show me what you’re made of.”

Dipper gulped again, pushing down the wave of self-doubt that threatened to bubble out of his mouth. This had been his idea, he could do this- he knew he could! His eyes scanned the maze, tracing backwards from the exit to them and forcing himself not to let his mind or gaze linger on the eyes that he could feel burning holes into his head even now. “Take…take the second left.”

“That’s it, kid. You’re doing great.” Stan gave him a quick thumbs up before turning back to check the route they’d be taking. “Left though?”

“Yeah, it curves around.”

Stan nodded, before turning to Mabel. “Stay behind me just in case, OK, sweetie?” Mabel nodded back, hand already going to clutch at the back of Stan’s suit, face uncharacteristically nervous. “You ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.” She tried her best to smile back at him, rewarded with another hair ruffle for her efforts which soothed her nerves slightly.

“That’s the spirit.”

They started their slow trek through the maze, carefully taking each direction that Dipper gave them without questioning. Once they took the first left turn they waited for his instructions on which route to take next before they began walking forward, knowing full well that creatures lurked unseen around the corners. A low scratching sound was all they knew of the creatures, the noise making Stan’s teeth grit together painfully and Mabel’s hand tighten instinctively around his suit jacket. It got closer every now and then as they traversed the maze but Dipper continued to encourage them forward, promising them that he was keeping them on routes that didn’t cross their paths. Stan could see every time he looked up that the boy was moving this way and that in the small space, short sporadic movements as he was trying to gain their attention, though anytime he stopped and paused to question him, Dipper would shake his head and tell them to keep moving.

Stan’s blood curdled as he realised with a sickening jolt that the boy was keeping whatever was in the maze focussed on him so that they could make their first trek through.

“Wait! Stop there!”

Mabel jerked to a stop, bumping into Stan’s shin as the sharp scraping sound became louder. Faltering footsteps could now be heard alongside the ear splitting hiss that set them on edge the more they heard it. They both held their breath, Mabel glancing back towards her brother as she waited for a sign to go.

Stan, however, had other ideas.

The sound was creeping steadily closer and closer, the footsteps coming up to the blank entrance they had found themselves hidden a few metres back from. He could see Dipper out of the corner of his eye, waving frantically, his eyes distraught as he flailed around in an attempt to get the creature away from them.

Stan gulped, the sound still coming towards them.

Dipper wasn’t succeeding. The creature had found its way to much more likely prey.

He sucked in a deep breath, looking down at Mabel with a reassuring smile as he took hold of the hand that had so far been glued to the back of his jacket.

He wasn’t about to lose her in all of this.

Quick as a flash he bolted forward in an attempt to pass the open entry, Dipper screaming at him in the background as Mabel squawked in shock and fear at everything that was suddenly happening.

He didn’t move fast enough however.

“Stan! Duck!”

“Holy- Belgian waffles!” Stan skidded forwards, ducking at Dipper’s words as an axe embedded itself in the hedge beside him. He suddenly had a face full of one of the figures that had been stalking them through the maze so far. Its blank cold stare held him in place, the melted wax of its face dripping past its snarling maw.

The wax figure growled, tugging at the axe, which had sunk deep into hedge, embedding itself in the wood beneath.

Mabel whimpered, snapping Stan out of the trance the horrifying creature had brought forth, not having seen anything quite like that in all his years of living here.

But, Mabel came first and so did survival.

He scooped her up in his arms, darting the way they had been going before the creature had thrown them off. He heard footsteps again speeding behind them, obviously the creature giving up on getting its weapon back to continue chasing its quarry. “Dipper! Route! Now!”

“Right! The next right! Then take the first left turn.”

“Got it.” Stan didn’t wait for more, darting around the next turn. He could here Dipper in the background still calling out directions but he focused on the two he had been given first in an attempt to put as much distance as he could between him and their pursuer. Mabel fumbled around in his arms, a spark of fear flooding him as she struggled but she soon just propped herself up, keeping an eye on the figure behind them and calling out the directions he’d later missed so that they didn’t have to stop as Dipper repeated himself.

He still did though, repeating the next step as Stan sped around the corners, Mabel relaying the information at his ear as he focused on moving them ever forward.

It was only when a door materialised around the last bend that he skidded to a halt, panting for all he was worth.

“We did it!”

“We-we did…didn’t we?” Stan coughed, hand against the wall as he dropped Mabel to her feet, the wind all but knocked out of him. He shook his head, trying to shake off the sudden and overpowering tiredness, turning slowly to slip into a fighting stance. “So, sweetie, how close is it?”

“You lost it a while back.”

“And…and you didn’t think to-” Stan held a hand to his chest, feeling his heart thudding against his ribs, his pulse beating in his ears as he took deep slow breaths. It was too difficult to argue in that moment. Instead he turned his head to face Dipper again. “Hey, kid? How close-”

“You lost him a while back.” Dipper shouted back, not noticing the way Stan’s face twisted in annoyance.

“Alright, well it got us here quicker.” Stan winced, stretching out and resting against the wall with a groan. “I’m too old for all this.” He muttered before shouting out as best he could given the circumstances. “You gonna lead me back and we’ll both go through together?”

“No, I know the route. I’ve got it memorised.”

“That’s not the poin-” Stan groaned as the boy vanished from view. He glared down at Mabel half-heartedly as he handed her the key to the door which she opened ready in case they had to leave in a dash. “Would it take much for him to listen to me?”

“Dipper knows what he’s doing, he always does.”

“You’re both- wait I don’t actually know how old you two are.”

“Twelve.”

“Fine. You’re both twelve. He’s twelve. No twelve year old knows what they’re doing. For a start you shouldn’t even be here and secondly, I’ve been living here for years. I think I know more than you two.”

Mabel shrugged, glancing back the way they had come for her brother.

Stan’s glare became more heated, following her gaze. He was silent for a while, thoughts ticking away as he grew more troubled and more impatient by every second that ticked past. The worry manifested outwardly as anger as his foot tapped against the ground. “What have I gotten myself into, looking after you tw-”

Before he could even finish the brewing tirade Dipper appeared, much faster than the two of them had navigated the maze, having to stop for his directions. A small spark of approval bloomed inside of him which only added to his irritation at the boy. “You.”

“Stan! Did it hit you?!”

“Wait, what?” Stan frowned, thoughts momentarily derailed by the boy’s panicked expression, concern overruling the panicked frustration. His eyebrows furrowed. “No, don’t you try and change the subject-”

Mabel tugged at his sleeve. “Actually I think we should get out of here before you start telling him off.”

Stan opened his mouth to berate the interruption before realising it was the best decision. He nodded, letting her lead him out of the room. Dipper seemed just as perturbed by the disruption, darting after them and locking the door quickly before he turned again to Stan.

Stan beat him to it, prodding him in the chest as he crouched down. “Right, kid, you have got to listen to me from now on, OK? I can’t have you pulling stunts like that. We would’ve never have found you if you’d gotten yourself caught up in something.”

Dipper visibly deflated, hand raised ready to argue but his mind came up short when looking for a retort. “But if you’d come to find me you would have left Mabel alone.”

“Mabel could have gone through the door if she needed to and locked it behind her. We’d have figured out something to get her to open it for us.”

Dipper’s hand fell, eyes still skirting around for something. “Well…I knew the route best and the figures would have had to bend down to hurt me and I thought you might have already got hurt so-”

“I get it, kid, I do. But I’m telling you that I can fight them.” Stan mock punched him in the shoulder. “I don’t want to think about you kids facing things alone, understand?”

“Y-yeah.”

Stan took pity on him, patting his shoulder. “OK, now that we’ve got that sorted out- you did good in there, kid. We would have never have gotten through there without your guidance.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I mean, I need to listen to you too from now on, don’t I? Almost lost my head!” Stan barked out a laugh, not noticing the nauseous look the two twins shared.

‘Don’t lose your head!’

The fact that the threat was literal no longer went amiss.

“That’s right! Did it hit you? At all?” Dipper darted forward before Stan could stand back up, almost pushing him over in his haste.

“Whoa, kid! What are you doing?”

“I need to check your sketchbook! I didn’t see a page when I ran through but I need to make sure you didn’t lose one! Did the axe hit you at all?”

“Kid, kid, slow down. I’m fine.” Stan trapped Dipper’s wrists, pushing him away gently. He grinned though it was slightly perturbed. “Dipper, I think we’d both have noticed if that axe had so much as skimmed me. That’s not something you can just brush over and pretend never happened.” He held on to him as Dipper seemed to process the information, his eyes losing their wild and frantic glaze. “I’m as fine as an old man who just ran through a maze being chased by a hellish molten monster can be…OK?”

“Y-yeah. Right, OK.”

“Besides.” Stan’s grin became toothier as he dropped his arms and let Dipper take a step back, now placated. “I run on luck. I’m always going to be alright, you hear? You look after yourself and your sister and let me deal with monsters, got it?”

“You run on luck?”

“How else do you think I survived here all these years? You gotta be light on your feet to get out of the way of some things.” He winked jovially. “And between you and me, I think lady luck has a soft spot for me, what with the amount of close scrapes I’ve gotten into.”

“You’d probably have gotten into one less today if you’d listened to me and not been reckless.”

“Point taken, and I will listen from now on, we just promised one another, didn’t we?” Stan stood up with a groan, taking in the corridor they had now entered with a distasteful expression. “But about being reckless, well…that’s just in my nature.”

“It is? From before you got stuck here?”

Stan opened his mouth to agree but found himself pausing and shrugging. He started to lead the way down the hallway before he answered. “Gonna have to assume so from how I’ve acted in here, you know? This place is all a bit too bland and strange if you don’t get into trouble every so often. Much more likely to go stir crazy staring at these blasted colours and staying still than I am pressing forward and getting into a few fights along the way.” He smiled reassuringly, though the look did nothing but concern them. “As I said, you leave the fighting to me, I’ll set these monsters straight.”

“Well hopefully we won’t need to do any fighting. But you can leave getting out of here to us!” Mabel bounded past him, smile glued to her face, checking each door before them in a clatter of rattling door handles before on to the next.

“Yep, great navigational skills you got there.” Stan called out, looking down at Dipper trailing beside him, face more contemplative and still caught on his suit pocket where his sketchbook lay. Obviously the kid was still not convinced about letting any of them get hurt, not that he was thinking of jumping into unnecessary danger if he could help it. “And I’ll leave the puzzles to you.”

“Yeah, OK.” Dipper’s mouth quirked up, a small quick movement before it became worried again and he raced after his sister to stop himself saying something stupid.

Stan shook his head as he watched them scurry ahead, taking a much slower walk and keeping a cautious look out for all of them.

It took a while for him to realise that his thoughts on ‘unnecessary danger’ might have changed recently as his eyes hit the two small backs again.

If he’d have been told only this morning that he’d not only keep an eye on two kids he’d just met but also be feeling the need to keep them completely and utterly out of harm’s way…

He’d have said he didn’t have it in him to care that much anymore.

.