
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/4487418.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Gravity_Falls
  Relationship:
      Bill_Cipher/Dipper_Pines, Gideon_Gleeful/Dipper_Pines, Minor_or
      Background_Relationship(s), Pacifica_Northwest/Mabel_Pines
  Character:
      Dipper_Pines, Mabel_Pines, Grunkle_Stan_|_Stanley_"Stanford"_Pines,
      various_OCs, Wendy_Corduroy, Robbie_Valentino, The_Author_|_Original
      Stanford_Pines, Gideon_Gleeful
  Additional Tags:
      The_OCs_are_minor_characters_but_still_important_to_the_plot, Plenty_of
      trigger_warnings_for_the_future, Probably_gonna_look_them_up_and_list
      them_out_in_the_first_chapter_notes, Brothel_AU, I'm_so_sorry_for_doing
      this, kind_of_-_because_I_do_like_my_idea, Angst, how_does_one_tag?,
      Origin_Story, i_guess, This_is_gonna_be_a_long_ass_fic, Bill_isn't_a
      demon_and_there_is_no_magic_in_this, not_that_we_really_know_of_anyway,
      it's_not_a_major_thing
  Stats:
      Published: 2015-08-03 Updated: 2015-12-06 Chapters: 3/? Words: 4752
****** Surrender to the Afterglow ******
by Illuminaughty__Confirmed
Summary
     "Rumoured for its supernatural tendencies, Gravity Falls was a place
     that Dipper had dreamed of seeing ever since Mr. Gleeful had thrown
     the postcard away a few years earlier. Dipper was enamoured with
     things that weren’t normal (like the birthmark on his forehead) and
     the postcard had made the small town look so inviting and friendly,
     so surely he and Mabel could find their forever home there."
     Unfortunately, finding a safe haven isn’t as simple as he hoped it
     would be.
Notes
     Welcome one, welcome all! I'm not too new to this fandom and this
     isn't the first thing I've written, but it is the only one I'll post.
     I....honestly have no idea how I came up with the idea of writing
     this, but I did and the more I thought of it, the more I liked it.
     Dipper and Mabel start off pretty young here, but the NSFW won't
     happen until several chapters in. There will be a fair amount of
     angst and abuse in this (especially on Dipper's end). I don't exactly
     know if I can count rape as a trigger warning if it's a job, but...I
     think I will anyway. If I ever think of anything else to say, I'll
     stick it in another note.
     I swear, this is going to have a happy ending.
See the end of the work for more notes
***** Surrender to Freedom *****
“Come on Mabel!” Dipper Pines whispered harshly to his sister as he grabbed the
money he’d so carefully stolen from their foster father’s wallet earlier that
evening. “We’re getting out of here.”
“Wha-?” Mabel mumbled, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. “It’s after midnight-”
she yawned then, blinking sleepily, “-bro bro. Y-you should be in be-d,” she
informed him, yawning again.
“I mean it this time,” Dipper told her determinedly, packing a few pieces of
clothing into a small bag and tucking the money safely in between. “This isn’t
like the last few times. We’re getting out of here tonight. For good.”
Mabel giggled quietly, laying back down and rolling over to face the wall. “Do
you even know what you’re saying Bro Bro?” A moment passed in which she took
the time to wake up, and then she sat back up and looked at him, fully alert.
“Are you crazy?!” she hissed under her breath.
“We’re crazy for staying here for so long!” Dipper hissed back, tiptoeing to
the dresser on her side of the room and grabbing some clothes. “And the system
is so wrapped around the Gleefuls’ finger that they’re obviously not going to
stick us anywhere else anytime soon!”
Mabel stretched, a good sign. “It’s not so bad…” she mumbled, though her tone
betrayed the fact that even she didn’t believe it.
“It could be worse,” Dipper acknowledged, pausing in his endeavours for a
moment. “But not by much. If I have to go one more day putting up with Gideon…”
“Maybe we should leave,” Mabel murmured in agreement, her large brown eyes
narrowing in concern. “But where would we go? What would we do?”
“I’m not sure right now,” Dipper admitted, running a hand through his unruly
brown hair. “But I really don’t care right now, the most important thing is
that we leave.”
“We need a better plan than that,” Mabel argued quietly. Serious as the
situation was, he could detect traces of amusement in her tone. “What about
that one place you always used to talk about finding?”
Dipper shook his head, walking over to his bed and pulling out a worn, faded
postcard from in between the mattresses.
Rumoured for its supernatural tendencies, Gravity Falls was a place that Dipper
had dreamed of seeing ever since Mr. Gleeful had thrown the postcard away a few
years earlier. Dipper was enamoured with things that weren’t normal (like the
birthmark on his forehead) and the postcard had made the small town look so
inviting and friendly, so surely he and Mabel could find their forever home
there.
He stroked his thumb over the faded image fondly, then tucked it into his bag a
moment later. “We might try to find it,” he told his twin quietly, his eyes
sweeping across the room a final time. “Do we have everything?”
“Not like there’s much to take in the first place,” Mabel pointed out under her
breath. She got off her bed quietly, moving to stand beside Dipper. “How are we
going to get there?”
“We’ll discuss that once we’re out,” Dipper breathed, slinging his bag over his
shoulders and creeping toward the door.
Mabel followed him downstairs silently, and for once Dipper was happy that the
Gleefuls chose to focus their money towards their large home and biological
son, rather than on caring for them. In the end, it only served to aid to their
escape.
Except for the front door. Dipper swung it open quickly, wincing as the
offensive lumber emitted a loud creak. Still, it was better to open it quickly
and only get one loud noise, rather than a few minutes of continuous squeaks
and creaks.
Slipping into the chilly night air was so much easier once the fear of the
Gleefuls finding them out vanished, though the bite of cool air against
Dipper’s skin instantly made him wish he’d thought to grab a heavy jacket for
Mabel and himself. The front door closed inaudibly behind them, a first.
For a moment, Dipper wondered if the inanimate object knew that they’d never be
coming back, and that it’s silent closure had been a wish of good luck.
That’s stupid though, he chastised mentally as he and Mabel started off down
the street. Doors aren’t sentient beings, they can’t possibly know anything. It
was just a stroke of luck.
“So, how are we getting out of here?” Mabel questioned once they were a safe
few blocks away from the Gleeful residence. “Once Mr. Gleeful wakes up, you
know he’ll come looking for us.”
“There’s a twenty-four hour bus stop not too far from here,” Dipper replied
confidently. “We’ll get on it and ride all the way to Gravity Falls.”
“But Dipper-” Mabel’s eyes narrowed in concern. “That’s going to cost money. We
don’t have any.”
Dipper grinned wryly, giving his bag a little shake. “I may have nicked some
cash from Mr. Gleeful,” he boasted proudly. “It’s not much, but we should get
by.”
“That’s great!” Mabel whispered, her face lighting up with hope. “So what are
we going to do when we get there?”
Dipper’s smile faded, and he looked down. “I don’t know,” he admitted, kicking
a small pebble. “I haven’t thought that through yet.”
“Don’t worry.” Mabel laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, and he looked up
to see a small reassuring smile on her lips. “We’ll make it Bro Bro.”
“I know,” Dipper replied quietly as they approached a bench. “Do you have an
idea of what time it is?”
Mabel shook her head and sat down, swinging her legs back and forth in a bored
fashion. “No, but it can’t be too long before a bus shows up, right?”
“Surely not,” Dipper murmured quietly, but something in his gut clenched with
worry. What if someone managed to get to them before the bus and sent them back
to the Gleefuls?
He shook his head resolutely and sat down beside his twin, pulling off his bag
and setting it down on his lap. He couldn’t afford to think about the what-ifs
now, not so early in the plan. He’d let himself think freely once they were on
the bus, but for now… now, he’d wait.
After what seemed like forever but really couldn’t have been more than an hour,
a bus finally pulled up to the stop.
“Two to Gravity Falls please,” he told the tired-looking driver as they stepped
on. He opened his bag and took out the money, praying it would be enough.
“That’ll be forty-five dollars,” the driver droned, his gaze flickering to
sweep over Dipper and Mabel. If he was curious about the fact that two young
kids were boarding a bus in the middle of the night, then he didn’t voice it.
For that, Dipper was grateful.
He released a sigh of relief and handed the driver the small wad of bills he’d
managed to nick earlier that day, and received a five in return. He
triumphantly showed the single bill to Mabel, then grabbed her hand and led her
down the narrow bus aisle. They chose a seat about halfway down that didn’t
look too terribly beat up and settled themselves down, Dipper shifting to allow
Mabel to lean her head on his shoulder.
“Sleep for a bit,” he murmured quietly, wrapping his arms around her thin
frame. “I’ll wake you when we get there.” He rubbed a hand gently up and down
her mostly bare arms, frowning at the small tremors wracking her body.
“You sleep too,” she mumbled through a yawn. “The driver can wake us when we
get there.”
Dipper shook his head, beginning to shiver. He really should have thought to
wear warmer clothes… After a few minutes of struggling to stay awake, he
finally allowed his eyes to droop closed, praying that his body would warm up
while he was sleeping or something.
He dozed lightly for the next hour, a soft sigh slipping through his lips when
the air suddenly turned warm around him and the sound of a fan blowing filled
his eardrums. He unconsciously tugged Mabel closer and elicited a soft sigh,
giving in to the temptation of a deeper sleep.
***** Surrender to Worry *****
“Have a good day!” Mabel called to the bus driver cheerfully as she stepped off
the bus, Dipper following her after giving the driver a small wave.
“This can’t be right…” he breathed, gazing up at the skyscrapers around them in
confusion. The postcard had shown a lovable small town, but this…this was a
bustling city, filled with people and the smell of polluted air. “Mabes, we’re
in the wrong place.”
His twin shook her head insistently, grabbing his hand and dragging him down
the sidewalk. “I was awake when we passed the sign welcoming us here,” she
bantered lightly in a quiet tone. “Plus, the driver wouldn’t have stopped
otherwise."
“I don’t know about this…” Dipper murmured thoughtfully, surveying the area
around them. While it certainly didn’t look half as bad as New York City was
said to be, he still didn’t trust it. “Mabel, this looks dangerous.”
“So was running away in the first place,” she countered cheerfully. “So what’re
we gonna eat for breakfast? I noticed that we passed this cute looking diner on
the way in, and-”
“We’re almost out of money,” Dipper cut in, giving his sister an apologetic
look. “I’m sorry, but until we can get more, we need to think rationally. I’m
sure there’s a store around here that carries food for cheap.”
“Fine,” Mabel pouted, though understanding shone in her eyes. Life hadn’t been
the easiest, living with a spoilt brat like Gideon for the past couple of
years, so it couldn’t be expected to get easier right away.
“I promise we’ll figure this out soon,” Dipper swore, shouldering his bag and
gently easing his hand out of his twin’s grip. “It can’t be too hard, right?
There’s gotta be plenty of families here that are looking for kids to complete
them…”
“Of course there are!” Mabel chirped brightly, giving him a wide smile, She
added an extra bounce to her step, dragging him along more enthusiastically
than she had been moments before. “Just you wait bro bro, I bet people will be
lining up for miles around to take us in!”
Dipper bit his lip, frowning absentmindedly. “Maybe…” he disagreed slowly,
careful to keep his tone neutral. “People weren’t so quick to take us in while
we were going through the system though, so I’m not so sure it’ll be much
different here.”
“It will be,” Mabel swore, slowing them down to a relaxed walk. “Someone in
this nice place has to like us! Plus, this town has all the weirdness you’ve
been looking for, so there’s gotta be someone here that’s on the same page!”
An eyebrow quirked skeptically as Dipper once again took in their surroundings.
“Uh, Mabel…this place isn’t the nicest. It doesn’t look nice, nor does it look
anything like the postcard. In fact, this was a bad idea.”
“It was your idea to do this in the first place, stupid.” Mabel teased
lightheartedly. “And there’s no way in heck I’m going back to the Gleefuls!”
“That we aren’t,” he agreed, coming to a stop in front of a small grocery
store. “Are you thirsty yet? Hungry?”
Mabel’s face scrunched in deep thought, and she nodded after a moment. “We need
something to drink,” she commented. “How much do we have left?”
Dipper sighed, worrying his lip. “Five,” he admitted. “It won’t last us long
either. Do you wanna go in here and see what they have?”
“Might as well,” Mabel replied with an offhanded shrug. “Otherwise we’re only
delaying the inevitable, right?”
He nodded, entering the store a moment later. It was blissfully warm in there,
the goosebumps that had been covering his arms since they’d run away finally
melting back into his skin. Shelves towered over them, filled with merchandise
that boasted the lowest prices, though most still over what he was able to
afford.
“Dipper!” Mabel whispered loudly, yanking on his shirt sleeve. “They have
danishes!”
Dipper bit his lip, a small frown forming. “Sorry Mabel,” he apologized gently,
laying a hand over her arm in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. “But we
can’t afford that right now. I promise it’ll be the first thing you eat when
we’re all settled into a new home!”
“Fine,” Mabel agreed with a sigh, turning away from the danishes and walking
instead over to where the bottled water was kept.
The sight almost broke his heart, but he couldn’t allow himself to give in. If
he splurged now, the money would last for less time. And that couldn’t happen.
He couldn’t let it happen…
He bit his lip, and checked to make sure that Mabel’s back was turned before
grabbing one of the seventy-nine cent pastries and taking it up to the
register. He motioned towards Mabel when he got to the cashier, then for the
lady to be silent about it, holding up the five as he did so. She seemed to
understand and quietly rang up the danish, whispering the total amount to him a
moment later. He gratefully paid and gave her a small smile, then stashed the
pastry safely away in his bag.
He hurried back over to where Mabel was carefully examining cases of water,
glad that she hadn’t seemed to notice his brief disappearance.
“Which one do you think we should get?” she contemplated, her tongue stuck out
slightly in concentration. “Personally I think the case of water for about
$2.70 sounds pretty good because there’s 24 bottles inside, but it could be
cheaper to just get a few gallons of water for about seventy cents instead.”
“The gallons do sound like a good idea,” he mused, suppressing a smile. For
being a bubbly girl most of time, he had to admit that he was impressed that
she knew when to be serious. “But I think our options of carrying them are more
limited. The case would be just a bit easier.”
“But also more expensive,” Mabel murmured. “I can carry two, and if we stuff
the food into your bag, so can you.”
“That makes sense,” Dipper finally said with a nod. “Go ahead and grab two for
now, and I’ll go see what food we can get, okay?”
In the end, they were able to buy the two jugs of water and two small cans of
soup to-go. It was less than what Dipper had wanted to buy, but considering
their circumstances and the fact that they needed water more than food, it
would have to do.
They departed from the store after wishing the lady at the register a good day,
pausing when they were a safe distance away to figure out their next move. For
all intents and purposes, they still had nowhere to go.
“We could always break into someone’s house,” Mabel suggested quietly in a
halfhearted tone as she took a small sip of water. “They wouldn’t have to
know.”
“That’s both counterproductive and impossible,” Dipper refuted, looking around
quickly to make sure that nobody around was paying them any close attention.
“We want someone to take us in, and they won’t do that if we break into their
home. And there isn’t any way that they won’t notice if we do it.”
Mabel stuck her tongue out at him, though he knew well enough that she wasn’t
truly upset with him. “It was worth a shot,” she huffed, glancing up at the
sky. “It’s going to get dark soon, and cold. What are we supposed to do then?”
Dipper sighed, already near defeat even though it’d been much less than a day
since they’d run away. “I don’t know,” he told her softly. He glanced around
again, out of the paranoia that somehow the Gleefuls would find them, or
something equally as horrible. “I think we should keep moving though. We’ll
figure it out along the way.”
They both made sure that everything was in order and where it was supposed to
be, then set off along the sidewalk in the direction of the slowly setting sun.
People occasionally stopped and stared at them for a moment before moving on, a
rare few greeting them with what sounded like kindness in their tones.
Dipper wasn’t fooled, though. He’d heard the same sound from the people in the
system before they were shipped off to the Gleefuls. No, adults weren’t to be
trusted. If he and Mabel were going to find a forever home, he’d be the one to
pick exactly who gave it to them.
Astoundingly enough, luck seemed to be somewhat on their side. It never really
made itself known in the daytime, but with the approaching dusk, it granted
them a place to rest for the night. Thankfully, one that was both warm and
devoid of any people.
After a long moment of hesitation, Dipper slowly opened the door of the small
church, expecting an alarm to ring at any moment. One never did though, and he
deemed it safe to continue after another pause.
“You’re sure we should be staying here?” Mabel asked dubiously, a hint of fear
creeping into her voice. “Breaking into somebody’s house isn’t good either,
but...this feels wrong.”
“Here or an alleyway,” he replied, trying his best to keep his tone neutral.
The Gleefuls hadn’t exactly been religious, even though they’d attended church.
False smiles and well-wishes had been their game, and it had been one they’d
played well. Dipper’s and Mabel’s real parents, on the other hand…
Dipper bit his lip in contemplation. Sorry mom, he apologized mentally, setting
his backpack down on one of the pews. Sorry dad. I don’t mean any disrespect.
“Dinner’s served,” he murmured to Mabel a moment later after fishing the two
cans of soup of of his bag. He tried his best to sound cheerful, hoping that
she wouldn’t catch on to the guilt he was feeling.
He sat down on the pew and slowly opened his can of soup, hoping that nothing
spilled on the long bench or carpet. It was bad enough to intrude on the house
of the Lord, even worse to desecrate it.
He sipped slowly on his cold soup, keeping a watchful eye on Mabel. The church
was dark, with only a small light at the front and the streetlights outside to
allow them to see anything. Vaguely, he wondered if there was a bathroom in the
building.
After searching around for a few minutes, he was relieved to find that there
was a bathroom in the church. It seemed like ages since he’d last gone, even
though they’d stopped in a couple of gas stations throughout the day to relieve
themselves.
Mabel had settled herself on one of the pews by the time he returned, somehow
already sound asleep. He stifled a smile at the sight, opting instead to take
out one of the spare shirts he’d packed for her and bunch it into a makeshift
pillow, using the other one to act as a blanket even though it wouldn’t do
much.
Dipper eventually settled himself down onto the pew where his backpack was,
though he wasn’t tired. He thought about everything that had happened
throughout the day, then about what he and Mabel were going to do next.
He sighed, rolling onto his other side to face the wooden back of the pew. Like
the light at the front of the room, it offered no answers.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do Mabes....” he whispered, closing his eyes
in an attempt to go to sleep. “I don’t know.”
***** Surrender to Desperation *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
The air was chilled with the foretelling harsh freezes of winter, and Dipper
was regretting his choice to run away from the Gleefuls’ for about the
millionth time in the seventy-two hours they’d been gone.
Like he’d predicted mentally though, they weren’t missed. Nobody he or Mabel
passed on the streets seemed to recognize them, and he hadn’t seen anything
about them on the newspapers he occasionally managed to glance at.
“J-just stay here Mabes,” he instructed calmly, despite his chattering teeth.
“And k-keep all of those s-sweaters on, no m-matter what. I-I’ll be b-back s-s-
soon.”
“See you soon,” Mabel whispered back hoarsely. She’d developed a cough the day
before, and Dipper was beginning to worry that she’d get sick enough to die if
he didn’t figure something out fast.
Sadly enough, he’d come to the lowest point of the low.
“It can’t be too hard,” he muttered to himself as he walked down a moderately
empty sidewalk. He rubbed his arms continuously in an effort to stay warm,
biting his tongue momentarily to keep from crying. “I-I just… just gotta watch
the area for awhile and investigate the stupid thing when nobody’s around.
Can’t be too hard, right?”
Definitely not, he thought as he glanced around at his surroundings. Just as
long as I don’t get caught, that is. I’ll have to be careful about doing this.
Luckily enough, the ATM was deserted when he got to it. Dipper approached it
immediately, eager to find out how it worked. The buttons obviously weren’t
something that could be manipulated to his advantage unless he had a card,
which he didn’t.
“I could always steal one from somebody,” he mused out loud, biting his lower
lip thoughtfully. “Maybe take a woman’s purse when she isn’t looking or
something.”
After a few more minutes of studying the cold, relentless machine, he made up
his mind. Stealing another human being’s money straight from their pocket would
be way harder than taking money from a machine when nobody was looking, but
perhaps Lady Luck could assist him in this small endeavor. It was, after all,
for a good cause.
He began the slow trek to a better part of the town, convinced that the people
around there would have more money. It made sense, right? After all, it wasn’t
like a rich person was going to willingly live in the slums of a town that had
once seemed so friendly and promising.
Heaving a final sigh, Dipper finally walked into a fast food restaurant,
automatically comforted by the warmth in the building. People happily stood in
a line near the counter in the right, and the smell of food wafted into
Dipper’s nose and made his stomach growl.
Later, he thought, his eyes catching a burger that a little kid, younger than
him, was eating at a table a few feet away. I don’t even need to use the money
machine if I pull this off right. I just need to steal a wallet, and then
Mabel. and I are set for life! It was a bit of a stretch, he knew, but it gave
him hope.
Who to steal from, though? His eyes darted around the small establishment
quickly, ruling out several people in an instant.Not families. I’m not going to
take away their happiness, no matter how desperate I am. It has to be someone
alone.
His answer finally stepped through the doors in the form of a tall man that was
dressed in casual clothes and wore a jacket with a fur hood. He was alone, and
Dipper thought that he didn’t look like a man that had any family left to speak
of.
Aside from Mabel, kind of like him.
He stepped back and pressed himself against the wall of the restaurant, halfway
holding his breath in the hopes that he wouldn’t be seen. Sure, the video
cameras would see, but he’d never return here. The first chance he got, he and
Mabel were out of Gravity Falls and headed somewhere else.
The man that he planned to steal from walked up to the counter and began
speaking in low tones, clearly in a rush. To Dipper, that didn’t matter. The
moment the man was off his guard, it was all over.
He watched as the man finished ordering and took out his wallet, pulling out a
card and then setting it down on the counter.
Now’s my chance! Dipper thought, dating forward. He ran up to the counter and
grabbed the wallet before anyone had a chance to react, then dashed toward the
door. Shouts ran out for him to stop, for someone else to stop him, but he paid
them no mind. This was his and Mabel’s ticket to a better life, and he wouldn’t
let anything get in his way.
To his luck, the door opened right before he reached it, and he ducked under
the arm of the person that was trying to enter and shoved his way past them and
to freedom.
But of course, he should have known that it wouldn’t be that easy.
Before he could even safely get out of the area of the restaurant, the man he’d
stolen the wallet from was after him. He compelled his feet to move as fast as
his heart was racing, but before he could make any kind of a head start, a
large hand grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him off the ground.
“Let me go!” he screeched as loud as he could, clutching the stolen wallet to
his chest. Passersby glanced over and a couple stopped and stared, but none
made a move to help. What’s wrong with you people? Dipper wondered desperately,
struggling to get out of the man’s grip.
“Give me back my wallet kid, and we’ll talk,” the man said in a low, gruff
voice. “Now.”
“Never!” he spat, reaching a small hand up to scratch at the man’s arm
futilely.
The man sighed, and they were suddenly moving off to the side of a building.
“Have it your way then.” Dipper was slowly lowered until his feet touched solid
ground again, but the man’s grip never lessened. He was whirled around to face
the man, but he found that he couldn’t meet the man’s angry gaze.
Tears stung his eyes as he realized that it was over, that all hope was lost.
The police would be called, and then he and Mabel would get sent back to the
Gleefuls where they would surely get punished for their insubordination, and-
He choked out a small sob, screwing his eyes shut.
The man sighed. “Why did you take my wallet kid?”
Dipper shook his head, stepping backwards despite the man’s hold on the back of
his shirt. He found that he could hardly speak, both from not knowing what to
say and the lump that had formed in his throat.
I’m so sorry Mabel.
“Where are your parents?” the man asked again, his tone becoming a bit lighter
and kinder sounding. Dipper knew that trick though, and he wasn’t about to fall
for it. “Look kid, you need to talk to me.”
“Dead,” he finally managed to whisper, using a hand to wipe at his eyes, the
other still encasing the stolen wallet in an iron grip. He sniffled loudly, not
caring what the man would think of him.
A long moment passed before the man spoke again. “Sorry to hear that kid. Do
you have any other family?”
Dipper’s eyes shot open at the question and widened in panic. Mabel. He had to
get back to her, before something bad happened.
“Take your stupid money,” he mumbled, dropping the wallet and kicking it over
to the man’s feet. He attempted to take another step back, despair filling him
when he realized that the man wasn’t letting go.
“Take it,” he pleaded, beginning to struggle again. “Go away, please.”
The man bent down and grabbed his wallet, but he surprised Dipper by staying on
one knee to be eye level with him. “I want to know why you took it in the first
place,” he said slowly.
“I needed it,” Dipper grumbled, narrowing his eyes and looking away. “Now let
me go.” I need to get to Mabel. Quickly.
"Kid, do you need help?" The man's voice was quiet and soft, and it startled
Dipper into looking back at him. Kindness shone in the man's eyes and his
expression was genuine.
He hesitated. This could very well be a trap, as he knew from experience, but
Mabel was sick and he was running out of options. At the very least, this
stranger could take her to a hospital or something before he took Dipper to the
police.
Dipper nodded.
Chapter End Notes
     A wild update appears!
     How many ways can I apologize? This hasn't been updated in forever
     and a half, and I'm so so sorry for that. I've...had some issues I've
     needed to work with and other projects had me at their beck and call
     and this got pushed to the side. I feel so terrible for not updating
     in so long, and I hope that I can get a lot more work on this done in
     the near future and get some more chapters published.
     Thank you all so much for sticking with me and being patient <3
End Notes
     Chapter lengths/updates will be sporadic at best, but I swear to you
     all now, this won't stop being updated until the day I post the
     apology author's note.
     Thanks for reading! My tumblr is: http://illuminaughty-
     confirmed.tumblr.com/, so feel free to drop me a message sometime =)
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