Chapter Text
It was safe to say that Mabel Pines was well acquainted with sadness. It was her closest and perhaps oldest friend–even Dipper was drifting further away. And as she drifted through her own galaxy of oblivion, the warmth of distant friends and family graced her rarely. Mabel Pines had always been a star, recent events had simply thrown her out of orbit. Or was it planets? She didn't know–she sat in lessons wandering elsewhere anywhere.
She was roused from her dark musings by a tap on her shoulder.
“Mabel? Its the end of the lesson…” Her teacher looked up at her, concerned. It was common for her to end up in situations like this: having left her world and wandered off without moving a muscle. She didn't know if this was the calm before her storm, or if it had already passed. Something told her this wasn't it.
“..Able? Table? Fable? Mabl…Mab...Mable? Mabel?? ”
“S-sorry, I’ll pack my stuff…”
“The school counsellor is here if you need anything, remember that…?”
The brunette mumbled out a reply and left the classroom feeling hazy. It was then she saw a glint of yellow in the hall. A figment of her splintered imagination? Or was it him ? Mabel had not forgotten the treatment she had undergone by him and how he had treated her brother–where was he? She had to warn him. She found herself slipping through the corridors to where he always was, he'd always be (she really hoped they'd always be, despite everything telling her they wouldn’t)
It was there she saw his fluffy tufts of brown hair hiding his face, which was bent low, working. Dipper's eyes darted in concentration about the page and he let out little sighs of frustration as his brain ticked–it was something she’d always admired him for: the way he could sink into things he was passionate about and stay there for hours. She hated to disrupt his thoughts but she had to warn him: he didn't like to think or hear about it but it had to be done. There was no telling what he could do, and he was a dangerous individual.
“Dipper…” she said gently, alerting him to her presence.
“Hi? You alright?” He asked. She found it heartbreaking–the way he was always making sure she was okay. He had so much care and concern for her, and this, she decided, was how she would make it up to him–all the long nights she had spent crying into his lap as her entire world crashed and burned around her and all she could think about was him and the fires that raged in her head. He was there for all of it of course; he consoled her and gently brought her back to reality, now, a now where he was gone.
She took a breath...