"Ok, so you agree that this has gotten way out of hand, right?" Mabel paced around the attic that night, phone in hand. Every now and then, she stole a worried glance toward the door, even though she knew Dipper wouldn't be back for quite a while. Not when he was so busy spending almost every waking minute practicing his new skills on his own.
"Yeah, it has…" Steven sighed as he sunk into his bed. "When we convinced Pearl to teach Connie and Dipper sword fighting, I thought it was just gonna be a fun, one-time thing. But instead, it's turned into–"
"A disaster," Mabel finished for him. "But it's not like we can just force them to stop. They're both super into it and they've both gotten really good!"
"I know… They really love doing this… a-and I don't want to take it away from either of them, but…"
"But it's all either of them talk about or think about anymore. I don't know…" Mabel sighed, at a loss. "If Pearl won't hear us out, maybe we just need to talk to Dipper and Connie themselves about all this."
"But… what if they don't listen either?"
"Well, they need to! If things keep going like they are, then they could get really hurt, or worse! We need to do something about this soon. Before it's too late."
"...You're right," Steven soundly agreed. "I can call Connie if you want to try talking to Dipper. If we catch them one-on-one like that, we might actually have a chance at changing their minds."
"I sure hope so," Mabel glanced over at her brother's glaringly empty bed. "Good luck–to both of us."
Steven offered her a short farewell, heaving a sigh of his own as hung up. He took a moment or two to steel himself before he dialed up another number, anxiously holding his breath as he waited for Connie to pick up.
"Hello?" she answered amidst a practice session of her own. Her mother would be horrified if she ever brought a real sword into the house, so she used a pencil in place of one as she swung it around her room.
"Um, hey, Connie-"
"Steven! Hi!" she returned, smiling. "I was just working on a few advanced techniques before bed. Tomorrow, Pearl's having me and Dipper fight through an entire horde of holo-Pearls! Isn't that exciting?"
"Exciting, yeah…" Steven let out a halfhearted chuckle. "Um, actually, Connie, I wanted to talk to you about–"
"Hold that thought, Steven," Connie cut him off as she put her phone down. She took to practicing a particularly difficult maneuver, one that required her full attention to master.
Steven waited for a beat or two before he decided to ask, "Connie? Are you still there?"
"Yah!" Connie shouted as she swung her pencil once again.
"Um, ok, well…" Steven hesitated, unsure of how to really go about this. "Mabel and I were talking, and… uh, we think that you and Dipper and Pearl might be getting a little… carried away with this whole sword fighting thing. I mean, you guys have been at it pretty much non-stop for the past two weeks. I guess… I just wanted to say that it might be time for you to ease up? Just a bit? We just don't want to see either of you get hurt, so… what do you say?"
"Ok, I'm ready now, Steven," Connie grabbed the phone again. To his surprise, she hadn't heard a single word of what he'd had to say. "What did you want to talk about?"
His eyes wide with alarm, Steven simply hung up without another word. He'd barely been able to get the truth off his chest the first time around; he didn't have it in him to say it all again. Just like he didn't have it in him to stop Connie or Dipper from doing what they so clearly loved–even if it might hurt them.
Even if it might end up killing them.
Mabel had barely gotten off the phone with Steven before the attic door swung open. She turned, hopeful that Dipper had finally decided to come in for the night, to finally give it rest. Only for those hopes to be dashed when Stan sullenly stepped into the room instead.
"Hey! Where the heck is your brother?! Every night for the past week, whenever I've come up here to check on you two, he's been MIA! He's not out making friends with weird water women again, is he?"
"Uh, no, he's just-" Mabel stopped short as a sudden idea struck her. Maybe they hadn't been able to convince Pearl to stop or slow training down. But that didn't mean she couldn't get someone like Stan to put an end to all this instead. "Actually, Grunkle Stan, Dipper's outside practicing. He's been learning how to sword fight from Pearl, but-"
"Whoa, what?" Stan cut in, surprised. "Dipper's learning how to sword fight? Short, sweaty, noodle-armed, can barely even lift a box of snow globes, whines about a paper cut for two days Dipper? Are you sure you're talking about our Dipper here and not some other one?"
"No, it's true, Grunkle Stan!" Mabel insisted. "He's been at it for the past two weeks, a-and he's getting really good, but Pearl's been teaching him all this really crazy, self-sacrificy stuff, and… I'm just not so sure it's a good idea for him to keep at it…"
"Are you kidding me?" Stan scoffed as a grin spread wide across his face. "Sounds to me like this is a great idea! Learning some kind of self defense like that is exactly the sorta thing Dipper needs!"
Mabel jolted, completely caught off guard. "W-what?"
"Yeah, I mean, have you seen how down he's been lately?" Stan continued. "It's about time the kid got his head out of those depressing clouds and back into the game! Sure, sword fighting may not be as manly as boxing, but at least it's something! I hate to say it, but I'm actually kinda proud of him for stepping up and fighting back, just like I always hoped he would."
"Yeah, but Grunkle Stan, Pearl's been-"
"And he's learning all this from Pearl, of all people, who could've guessed! I knew she had a knack for playing with those glorified knives, but I never pegged her as the kind to teach a 12 year old how to use 'em! Guess I owe her a bit of credit too… Ugh, I really hate to say that."
"Grunkle Stan!"
"Geez, kid, what?!" Stan shot her a confused look. "Can't ya see I'm trying to have a rare moment of appreciation for two total nerds over here? What's so important that you've just gotta tell me?"
"Uh, well, I…" Mabel trailed off as her plan fell to pieces right in front of her. Stan wasn't going to stop this, clearly. And if he wouldn't, and Pearl wouldn't, then who could?
She could. Or at the very least, she had to try.
"Uh, oops! I forgot," she forced out a laugh. "It is getting pretty late; I should probably be getting to bed. Good night, Grunkle Stan!"
"Oh, well, I-" Stan stopped short when Mabel abruptly tucked herself in and turned over, pretending to fall asleep. He simply shrugged her strange behavior off as he flipped the lights out and took his leave. "Good night, I guess."
She waited until she couldn't hear his footsteps heading downstairs any more before she forced herself back up out of bed. She had to do something, even if she wasn't sure exactly what. She couldn't very well go back in time to stop Dipper from picking up sword fighting. She couldn't go back to stop him from making that last-ditch deal with Bill. And worst of all, she couldn't go back and stop herself from being too stubborn and selfish to notice just how much he'd needed her.
So instead, all she could do was try her best to be there now, to make up the difference. Still, she carried plenty of guilt with her as she quietly crept down the attic stairs. For the first time in weeks, Dipper was finally acting like himself again, finally free from the fear and grief that awful deal had left him with. He needed this, Mabel knew that, to keep him from slipping too far under the surface again.
And what was she about to go to? Try and convince him to give it all up, to shove him right back into that same sort of sorrow all over again.
It was for the best, she tried convincing herself as she headed out into the night. Not too far from the shack, Dipper had recruited Soos' help in setting up a makeshift training area, complete with sandbag dummies and wooden targets. For the past several nights, he'd taken to training out there, to further hone his skills outside of his lessons with Pearl and Connie. Anything it took to get better, to get stronger–no matter what it might cost him.
Mabel tucked away behind a tree so he wouldn't see her as he put his skills to the test. And those skills certainly were impressive. Though he'd started off unsteady and uncertain, by now, Dipper was able to handle his blade with confident ease. He fiercely hacked away at one of the dummies, putting his all into every last move he made.
From her vantage point, Mabel almost smiled as she watched him. He'd come so far in almost no time at all, almost as if this was something he'd always been meant to do. In almost every battle he'd ever been in before, he'd only gotten lucky enough to get by. But now, he could do far more than just get by; he could fight, he could win–if he only had that chance.
And the longer she watched, the more Mabel couldn't bear to take that chance away from him. Not until–
A scream, sharp and sudden, slipped out of him as he struck one final, brutal blow on the dummy. His sword dug in deep and stayed put as he stumbled to his knees, tightly covering half of his face. Mabel didn't hesitate to rush out of hiding toward him, refusing to sit on the sidelines while her brother suffered this time–or ever again.
"Dipper!" she cried as she got down to his level. "Are you ok?!"
"Mabel?!" Dipper glanced up at her, alarmed. She couldn't help but wonder why he still had a hand against his face, completely concealing one of his eyes from view. "W-what are you doing out here?"
"Who cares?" Mabel countered. It shook her, the sheer agony written all over his face, so similar to what she'd seen so many times those first few days after he'd gotten his body back. "What hurts? Is it your side? Your shoulder? It can't be the black eye, that's already healed up by now and-"
"It's none of those," Dipper cut in as he looked away. "I-I'm fine, Mabel, really. I just pushed myself too far for a minute there, but I'll be ok in a second. So just… go back inside and go to sleep, ok?"
Mabel narrowed her eyes at him, her lips pressed into a thin line. Everything changed, however, the second she spotted a bright drop of red slip out from under the hand covering his face. "Dipper," she began stiffly, sternly. "Let me see your eye."
"No," Dipper swiftly pulled away from her. "I already told you, I'm ok. You don't need to-"
"If you're so 'ok', then show me your eye," Mabel ordered, refusing to hear otherwise. She'd already caught him anyway, so Dipper found he had no choice but to comply. He sighed as he dropped his hand, letting Mabel see something that nearly made her heart freeze with fear.
His eye was bleeding; there was no other way to describe it. It dripped down his cheek almost like a teardrop, as if he was crying it. Real tears were already starting to well up in his unaffected eye, tears that he quickly wiped away as he averted his sister's gaze out.
"Oh… Dipper…" Mabel whispered, eyes wide with worry. "What happened? Did you accidentally cut yourself or something?"
"Heh," Dipper let out a bitter, joyless laugh. "I wish that's what happened. This has been happening almost every night since Bill, um… you know…"
"Possessed you?" Mabel finished where he wasn't able to.
Dipper only nodded as he sighed again. "At first, I didn't understand why my eye was just… randomly bleeding like this, until I looked it up in the journal. Turns out, this is a side effect that comes along with Bill taking over a human body. It'll stop… eventually. In the meantime, I guess this is what I deserve after being stupid enough to let him, huh?"
Though he wore a grim smile, Mabel couldn't come close to sharing it. Instead, she shook her head, almost in tears herself as she softly said, "You don't deserve this…"
Dipper shuddered as he took in his next breath. He didn't even let Mabel's hand come to rest on his shoulder before he forced himself back to his feet. There wasn't much else he felt like he needed to say as he went to reclaim his sword; Mabel, on the other hand, was far from finished with him.
"Dipper, we have to tell Grunkle Stan about this. Or get Steven to finally heal you or something-"
"No," Dipper barely glanced back at her, his shoulders tensing. "No, we don't. You don't get it, Mabel, I'm-"
"Don't you dare say you're fine 'cause you and I both know you're not," Mabel swiftly shut him down. "You're still hurt–badly hurt, and you keep trying to make it all go away with all this sword fighting stuff, but that won't make you feel better–you know it won't. If you keep training this hard, you'll only end up hurting yourself even more! That's why you have to stop being so dumb and just let yourself heal already, before things get any worse!"
"Stop? Stop?! Are you kidding me, Mabel?!" Dipper harshly scoffed. "I can't stop sword fighting now, not after I've learned so much! What would Pearl say if I just gave up and turned my back on everything she's taught me and Connie so far?!"
"Well, what would she say if she found out that you're still hurt?!" Mabel shot back just as fiercely. "'Cause that's exactly what I'm gonna tell her tomorrow! Then you'll have to stop sword fighting because she'll make you!"
"Whatever," Dipper crossed his arms, turning his nose up at her. "Pearl isn't gonna make me stop because she already knows about all of this. And she doesn't care."
"W-what?"
"She found out the other day when my shoulder tore open again during training. And you know what she told me? That she was proud of me for not letting it hold me back, because that's what a real soldier does."
"Oh, for crying out loud!" Mabel shouted, frustrated. "Dipper, you're not a soldier! You're my brother! And it's time you started acting like you were instead of spending all your time swinging a stupid old sword around!"
"It's not stupid!" Dipper argued as he pulled his sword out of the dummy. "It's really important! For all you know, me learning how to sword fight could end up saving both our lives someday!"
"Or it could end up with you in the hospital, which is where you should have gone after you got your body back instead of you being stubborn just like you always are!" By now, Mabel's face was red with anger, her hands in tight, trembling fist at her sides, but she didn't back down, not even close. Not when everything she was saying was what she knew Dipper needed to hear. "Just admit it already! You're pushing yourself way too hard and you need to step back from all of this and chill for a change instead of breaking the promise you made to me about not going overboard!"
"That dumb promise doesn't even matter anymore," Dipper snapped, every bit as cross. "What matters is that I can protect you now! I can protect all of us! I can keep something like what happened with Bill from ever happening again! Who knows? Maybe I could even use everything I've learned to finally save Lapis somehow!"
"Oh, yeah, 'cause I can totally see you standing up to huge, crazy-mad Malachite with nothing but some dinky sword to protect you," Mabel nearly laughed at such a ridiculous idea. "I'm sure that'll work just great and you won't end up being smashed to an angry little pulp."
That hit hard enough to silence Dipper, but not for long. When he spoke again a moment later, his voice was low and filled with barely held-back betrayal when he said, "I thought you said you were with me on this."
Mabel's own anger quickly fizzled out into something more sincere when she heard that. "I… I was with you on this, Dipper. I was with you on learning how to defend yourself. I'm not with you trying to get yourself killed."
"I-I'm not," Dipper hesitated, but only after the smallest beat of hesitation. Hesitation that spoke as many volumes to Mabel as what he had to say next. "You still don't get it, do you? You think that all this is about me trying to distract myself or prove myself or something, but it isn't. You heard what Pearl taught us just as much as I did: that there's only one thing I'm supposed to be fighting for and that thing is standing right in front of me! Don't you see, Mabel? I'm doing all of this for you!"
"Are you, Dipper?" Mabel glared at him fiercely as she saw him straight through. "Or are you doing this for you?!"
Dipper didn't respond to that; he couldn't, not when he knew Mabel was exactly right. With a sword in his hand, he felt more grounded, more confident, more like himself than he had since he shook hands with Bill. It chased away the nightmares filled with hostile fusions and wicked demons; it gave him something to believe in again, to strive towards, to hope for, to fight for. He clung onto that sword, that feeling, for all it was worth, refusing to let it go for anyone, not even his own sister.
Still, that didn't mean she wasn't going to do all she could to change his mind.
"Dipper, you can't keep doing this to yourself…" she persisted, even as he turned his back on her. "I won't let you."
"Oh yeah? And why not?"
"B-because…" Mabel slowly pulled the crumpled piece of paper out and unfolded it. Her hand was shaking as she passed it over to him, knowing she simply couldn't keep it hidden anymore. "Because of this…"
Dipper frowned, initially confused by the messy script filling the page. His breath soon caught in his throat, however, when he actually began to read what it had to say. A horrific message, one that had been written in his own hand–by Bill.
"Note to self: possessing people is hilarious! To think of all the sensations I've been missing out on—burning, stabbing, drowning; it's like a buffet tray of fun! But the funniest part's gotta be the horrified look on Rosebud's face every time I so much as land a bruise on Pine Tree! The kid was so easy to blackmail into staying quiet about all this that I barely even had to lift a finger! I can't wait to see how much he'll freak out after I destroy that journal and give this body its grand finale by throwing it off the water tower! Best of all, people will just think Pine Tree lost his mind while his mental form wanders in the mindscape forever! Want to join him, Shooting Star?"
Dipper could practically hear the demon's disgustingly delighted voice ringing through each and every twisted word. He gripped the note hard enough to crinkle it even further, and Mabel winced when he did. Still, she couldn't very well take it back now, and she didn't want to either. This had to make him stop, make him see reason. It had to, because if it didn't… then nothing else would.
"I-I found that on the floor of Stan's car when we were on our way back from the puppet show…" she explained, still apprehensive. "I didn't want to show it to you at first because you were just… so miserable over everything that happened. I didn't want it to make things any worse than they already were. But… y-you deserve to know just how close things were to getting really, really bad. Dipper… Bill, h-he… he was gonna… he was going to kill you if he had gotten that journal…"
Try as she might, she couldn't hold back her pressing tears when she finally said the unthinkable out loud. The unthinkable that could still very well happen, even long after the danger the demon brought was gone "That's why you can't keep this sword fighting thing up," she said, practically pleading with him by this point. "You almost died because of me before… I don't know what I'd do if you actually did…"
Even as she choked on a sob, Dipper didn't look up from the note. Instead, he coldly stared down at it, barely even reacting at all. It was all he could do to keep his own fear from creeping to the surface, from overwhelming him again, just like it had so many times before. It was all he could do to silence his doubts that the path he was taking was the right one. Even if it wasn't, there was no turning back from it now.
"Mabel," he began almost tiredly. "Did you read this?"
"Of course, I did… I've read it a bunch of times since I found it. Why?"
"No, I mean did you read this?" Dipper held the letter up, pointing to its frightening final line:
"Want to join him, Shooting Star?"
Mabel nodded, rubbing her arm. She hadn't thought much of it, not when Dipper was so much worse off than she was. But it was still an utterly unnerving implication all the same.
"You know what this says to me? It says that when Bill was finished with me, he was going to try to do the same thing to you. And if he had, then I-I… I wouldn't have… There would have been nothing I could have done to-"
He took in a sharp breath, forcing his emotions back under the surface as he balled the note up and tossed it to the ground. "I wouldn't have been able to do anything to stop it. And that's exactly why I have to do this. For you."
"B-but… but Dipper, you can't-"
"We're done talking about this, Mabel," Dipper picked right back where he'd left off, ruthlessly swiping at his target once more. "Go inside."
"Please, Dipper," Mabel implored, desperate. "This needs to stop. You have to ease up or get some help, or something-"
"I said–" Dipper fiercely cut her off as he brutally rammed his blade into his target. "We're done!"
Mabel flinched as she watched him keep going, fueled by rage and anguish alike. She couldn't stop this–she wasn't sure why she ever thought she could. He was going to keep on throwing himself into his training, just like she threw herself into her foolish puppet show–all in a futile attempt to distract from the pain. Pain that she had no idea how to help him heal from, any more than she knew how to heal from it herself.
And so, without another word, Mabel turned to head inside. Still, she took one last look at her brother as he fought alone in the night, in a battle that seemed like it would never end.
A battle that was slowly but surely breaking them both.
"And then she tried to tell me I was taking this way too far, which is just rich coming from Mabel; she's practically the queen of taking things too far."
Dipper let out another scoff as he and Connie continued their pre-training stretches just outside the temple. He had more than enough to complain about when it came to last night's events, and he told Connie almost everything. Or at least, he told her his version of it, anyway.
"I wouldn't say we're taking this too far," Connie noted with a thoughtful frown. "We're taking this seriously, just like Pearl wants us to."
"Exactly!" Dipper huffed, annoyed. "It's like she just can't see that–or she doesn't want to see that. But sooner or later, she has to realize I'm doing this for my–I-I mean, her own good."
"...Hm," Connie stood as she finished her last stretch. Her frown only deepened as she looked over at Dipper, taking in the earnest anger on his face. She understood the source of that anger, and yet… "You're not going to want to hear this, Dipper, but… I think Mabel might have a bit of a point."
Dipper stopped mid-stretch to raise an eyebrow at her. "What do you mean?"
"You really are taking our training very seriously, even more than I am, to be honest. The only reason I wanted to do this was to be there for you guys when things get tough. I thought that's all you wanted too, but… I feel like there's more to it than that. A lot more."
"T-there isn't," Dipper countered, flustered under her questioning gaze. "I just–I'm not–" He cut himself off with a frustrated sigh; it was bad enough that he had to hear this from Mabel. He didn't want to hear it all again from Connie either. So instead of telling her the truth, he took things in a different direction entirely when he said, "I'm just… really dedicated to the cause. Maybe if you were half as dedicated as I am, you'd understand."
"...Excuse me?"
Almost immediately, Dipper realized the mistake he'd just made when he caught the sharp look Connie was sending his way. "I didn't mean it like that-"
"Care to explain how you did mean it then?" she crossed her arms and scowled at him. "Because if you don't think I'm dedicated enough, I can easily show you how much I am."
She didn't have her sword on her, but if she did, Dipper was sure she'd make good on that claim. And as skilled as he was, he didn't want to go up against her if he didn't have to; Pearl was already making them do that plenty during training. And he'd been pinned down enough by Connie to know this wasn't a fight he was bound to win. "Connie, look, I'm sorry, I just-"
"Forget it," Connie put up a hand to stop him. The look on her face alone was enough to tell him that he'd already lost this fight too. "Let's just go. Pearl's probably already waiting for us inside."
Dipper could only sigh as he followed after her. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to stop doing this. He couldn't seem to stop making things even worse than they already were for everyone. For his friends–but mostly, for himself.
When the pair headed into the temple, they were surprised to find that Pearl wasn't the one waiting for them in the living room. Steven and Mabel were instead. They sat on the couch, worriedly whispering to each other, at least until Dipper and Connie walked in.
"Hi, Steven. Hi, Mabel," Connie briefly greeted them on her way to the warp pad. Dipper only offered Steven a small nod, all but ignoring Mabel as he glared away from her. Still, Steven and Mabel stayed the course with the plan they'd conceived; they had to, it was now or never.
"Connie! Dipper! Wait up!" Steven hopped up first, though Mabel wasn't far behind him. "We need to talk to you guys for a second."
"Sure, what's up?" Connie glanced back at him.
Neither of them had a chance to say a single word, however, before the temple gate slid open behind them. Pearl stepped out, her hands behind her back as she offered her pupils a welcoming smile.
"Ah! You're both right on time, as usual," she stepped onto the warp pad, urging them to do the same. "Come along. We have a lot of important training to do."
"Pearl, wait," Steven protested before they would warp away. "We need to-"
"Oh, don't worry, you two," Pearl said, still smiling. "You don't need to apologize for yesterday. I'm glad to see that you both realized your concerns were completely unfounded. Dipper and Connie are making great strides; they're going to assets to you, Steven. O-oh, and you too, Mabel."
With that, she warped away, taking Dipper and Connie along with her. Steven and Mabel could only watch as they drifted out of their reach once again. "What are we going to do?" Mabel sighed as they both slumped against the warp pad, forlorn. Steven had no answers; instead, he only barely glanced back as the temple gate flashed again and Garnet and Amethyst emerged.
"Ha! Wow, Garnet!" Amethyst said, barely containing her laughter. "That was the funniest thing I've ever heard!"
"Garnet: master of comedy," Garnet smirked as she shifted her shades. Both Gems stopped short, however, when they noticed the downtrodden pair sitting nearby.
"Yo, Steven, Mabel," Amethyst greeted just shy of fiercely demanding, "Why are you two sitting there all sad like that?!"
"Well," Steven exchanged a fretful glance with Mabel. "Connie and Dipper have been taking sword fighting lessons from Pearl, but it's starting to get way too serious. She wants them to do all of this dangerous stuff for us, and when we tried to talk to her about it, she wouldn't listen!"
"Yeah, and she's totally ok with letting Dipper train, even though he's still hurt from what happened the other week!" Mabel added just as anxiously. Even so, neither Garnet nor Amethyst seemed all too surprised to hear any of it.
"That makes sense," Garnet admitted, sighing.
"What do you mean?" Steven asked.
She got down to their level, taking a seat on the warp pad as she solemnly began to explain. "Back during the war, Pearl took pride in risking her destruction for Rose Quartz. She put her over everything; over logic, over consequence, even her own life. Nothing else mattered to her as long as she was able to protect Rose. And because of that resolve, she nearly met her end countless times, with each sacrifice being worse for her than the last."
They could both practically picture it–Pearl eagerly leaping into harm's way, taking the blunt of so many blades, all to rescue Rose. No matter how many times she was taken down, she always came back to continue sacrificing herself over and over and over again. Even worse yet, they could just as easily imagine both Dipper and Connie doing the same for both of them.
But unlike Pearl, they each only had one life to sacrifice in service to them. Lives that could be cut short all too quickly. There was no more doubt in either of their minds anymore. Pearl wasn't simply teaching Dipper and Connie how to sword fight.
She was teaching them how to die.
"Uh… are you guys ok?" Amethyst waved a hand in front of their faces.
"We have to go do something!" Steven stiffly exclaimed. He pulled Mabel up onto the warp pad, knowing they didn't have a second to waste. Not when Dipper and Connie's lives literally counted on them. "Thanks for telling us all that, bye!"
By the time Mabel and Steven arrived at the sky arena, Pearl's latest lesson was already well underway. Her students stood before her, devoutly listening as she passed down another stern, severe reminder: "Connie, Dipper, remember. In the heat of battle, Steven and Mabel are what matter. You don't matter."
"We don't matter," they both echoed in perfect, dutiful unison. In much of the same way, Mabel and Steven shared the same frightened gasp, unnerved by how they both seemed to believe that. By how Pearl wanted them to believe that.
"Good," she nodded as she spread her arms wide. "Now, let us begin!" All at once, white clouds closed in on the arena, casting it in a dense sea of fog. Steven and Mabel rushed straight into that fog, even as the clatter of clashing swords rang through the air. It only made their search all the more urgent when they realized Connie and Dipper were both so close, yet still so far out of reach.
"Connie! Dipper! Where are you guys?!" Steven called. He stayed close to Mabel, to keep them from getting separated–a wise move in fog as hopelessly thick as this.
"Dipper!" Mabel shouted just as loudly. "Connie! Could you guys maybe, y-you know, stop sword fighting so we could talk to you two?! Just for a sec?"
They got no answer from either of them. Instead, they were met with a lone holo-Pearl as it wandered forward from the fog, blade in hand. Two others followed shortly after it, cornering the pair on all sides. "Uh, hi," Steven let out an uneasy laugh as he and Mabel huddled even closer. "Y-you guys wouldn't have happened to see Connie or Dipper… have you?"
Instead of answering, all of the holograms eyes' abruptly flashed a sharp, warning shade of red. "Unregistered combatants detected!" they exclaimed as they all raised their swords high. Before they could strike, however, the first among them was impaled straight through the chest. The other two were taken down just as quickly, allowing Mabel and Steven to see who had rushed to their rescue just in time.
"Connie!" Steven smiled, relieved to see her. Even so, her attention was elsewhere.
"You ok over there, Dipper?" she called to her fellow student, nearly deadpan. "I wouldn't want to drag you down with my lack of dedication."
"For the last time, Connie, I didn't mean it," Dipper scowled back at her before turning it on Steven and Mabel. "And as for you two, why won't you just stay out of this and let us train already!?"
"But Dipper-" Mabel tried to protest before Connie cut her off.
"What are you guys even doing out here?"
"C-Connie!" Steven exclaimed, desperate and determined. "I tried to tell you this on the phone last night, but… I don't want you to do this anymore! Either of you! At least not alone! You might think that you have to be ready to fight for us, but you don't. We can all fight for each other, just like we've always done before!"
"Seriously? You too, Steven?" Dipper groaned, exasperated. "How do you guys still not get it yet!? The only reason we're learning how to fight in the first place is so we can keep you two safe!"
"Dipper's right," Connie nodded, firmly resolved. "Steven, I understand now! Your legacy, your destiny, you are everything! And I… I am nothing. But I can do this for you! I can give you my service! We both can!"
"No!" Steven shook his head. "I don't want you too!"
"And neither do I!" Mabel added, just as distraught.
"It doesn't matter what you guys want," Dipper harshly countered. "What matters is that this is what you guys need! Like I told you last night, Mabel, we're doing this for you!"
At that very moment, Dipper lashed out with his blade, cleanly impaling the holo-Pearl that had tried to sneak up on the group. At the same time, Connie raised her guard, standing before Steven and Mabel just in case another surprise attack was sprung. "We need to be able to protect you!" she glared over her shoulder at the pair.
"But if you're the ones protecting us…" Steven noticed it first–a group of holo-Pearls emerging from the fog that neither Dipper or Connie could see. All ready to strike them down without a moment's hesitation. "Then who's going to protect you?!"
The holo-Pearls descended, only to be knocked back the second they struck Steven's shield instead. Still, several more followed in their wake, their weapons all already poised to attack. Dipper was ready to take them on, only to be caught off guard when a familiar metal hook sped past him. It struck a holo-Pearl squarely before it sped right back over to Mabel just before she took aim once more. As determined as they were to protect their lieges, the last thing Dipper or Connie could have ever anticipated was to watch as those lieges protected them instead.
"We're already been up against some really bad guys this summer," Steven glanced back at them, smiling. "And we're bound to go up against plenty more. And when we do, all four of us should fight together, like the great team we are!"
"Yeah! None of us have to do any of this by ourselves!" Mabel added. "We're all pretty great on our own, but we're only really amazing when we help each other out! People don't call us the Mystery Kids for nothing!"
"Exactly," Steven extended a hand to Connie as Mabel did the same for Dipper. "So please… won't you share this jam with us?"
Connie hesitated as she looked at Steven's outstretched hand, carrying the promise that she didn't have to fight alone. It went against almost everything Pearl had been teaching her and Dipper. She was supposed to protect Steven, not stand on the battlefield beside him And yet… as she met the sincere smile he was sending her way, so filled with hope and care, she found that taking his hand and accepting his help was the best strategy she could ever take.
That strategy proved wise when a new group of holo-Pearls pounced upon them. Their blades slammed into Steven's shield before they both spun around, allowing Connie to cut them down with one swift swing.
"Whoa, you guys were right," she grinned, impressed. "This is much easier!"
"That's the idea. No matter what comes, we can do this together!" Steven said, beaming. Even so, this wasn't over yet.
"Well, bro-bro?" Mabel turned to Dipper with a hopeful smile. He kept his back turned on all of them, his shoulders tensing as he heard her ask, "You're the only one who's not in on this jam session yet. Care to join?"
"No," was all he said as he gripped his sword even tighter.
"Huh?" Steven frowned, confused. "Why not?"
"I don't need your help," Dipper sharply turned to face them. "I don't need anyone's help! I know how to fight now, which means I can take on any threat that comes along on my own!"
"But Dipper, you don't have to fight on your own!" Mabel insisted, but Dipper still wasn't hearing any of it.
"Yes, I do, Mabel! Because if I don't, then it'll be just like-" He quickly cut himself off. Shame flashed across his face, clear for everyone else to see, even if he refused to speak to it.
Connie was the first to step forward, her former anger completely gone as she gently asked, "It'll be just like what?"
"Just forget it," he muttered, despondent. "It doesn't matter anyway…"
"Yes, it does!" Steven earnestly countered. "It matters because it's how you feel, Dipper! Whatever it is, we're all here to help you get through it if you'd let us. So please… just let us be there for you. Let us help."
Though he tried his hardest to keep it all under the surface, Dipper found it harder and harder to do as he met the warm, supportive smiles all three of them were sending his way–smiles he didn't feel like he deserved after all he'd done. He quickly averted their gaze, even as tears started welling up in his eyes as he wrapped his arms around himself and softly admitted the truth. No matter how painful that truth really was.
"I-it'll be just like when… w-when Bill stole my body, a-and I had to rely on you guys to get it back for me. I wanted to help you so badly, but all I could do was float on the sidelines and watch you all nearly die, all because of me. I felt so useless, so helpless, like I might as well have not even existed at all…" A sob slipped out as he shook his head, his sword fully falling out of his grasp before it clattered to the ground. "I-I hated that feeling! I never want to feel like that ever again! And that's why I have to do this on my own! It's the only way I can think of to stop feeling so weak and powerless and empty a-and–and-"
His words trailed off into even more tears. Silence filled the air between them all, only occasionally interrupted by his broken sobs. By now, Mabel was nearly in tears herself as she slowly approached him, as she realized he was in even more pain than she thought, than he ever let on. Pain that none of them really knew how to help him heal from–
Still, that didn't mean they couldn't try.
"Oh, Dipper…" Mabel sighed, reaching a hand out toward him. She stopped short, however, when she noticed a familiar shape breaking through the fog. She gasped as the holo-Pearl raised its blade high over Dipper's exposed back. But before it could even come close, the grappling hook pierced it clean through. As it disappeared, its sword wedged into the ground right in between the twins; just another thing to keep them apart on top of everything else, it seemed.
"See? There you go, saving me again," Dipper let out a bitter laugh between his tears. "I thought that maybe, just once, I could protect you for a change. But I guess it was stupid of me to think that I could do anything like that. Just like all of the other stupid choices I've been making lately, huh?"
"Dipper, that's not stupid," Mabel shook her head as she stepped past the sword. "It was really brave and sweet of you, and I do appreciate it. But… you went so overboard, a-and I've been so scared that I might lose you like I almost did after that puppet show. You can't keep acting like you don't matter, because you do, to me, to all of us! But this? Fighting and fighting until you can't anymore? It's not gonna fix what happened to you."
"Then what will?" Dipper asked, desperate for relief, for an escape, for anything to make it all finally stop.
It still didn't stop when Steven suddenly put his hand over his. It didn't when Connie rested a supportive hand on his shoulder. It didn't when Mabel wrapped him in a tight, comforting hug. And yet…
It was starting to. Because what he felt as he stood in the middle of his best friends' embrace was something he hadn't felt in such a long time. Something he hadn't been able to find simply by swinging a sword around. Something he needed more than anything else in the world. There was only one thing that could chase away the guilt, the grief, the fear, the nightmares, everything that threatened to drag him back down:
Three hands, always outstretched to help him back up. And for the first time in a long time, Dipper finally let them do exactly that.
He smiled, a true, genuine, happy smile as they pulled apart. And yet, he didn't even have a chance to thank them before the fog abruptly disappeared around them all. "Steven! Mabel!" Pearl shouted, furious, as she stormed over to them. "Don't interfere! Dipper and Connie need to take me on them–" She stopped short, confused, when she took in the scene in front of her. "Dipper, why are you crying? Have you been injured?"
"N-no, Pearl," Dipper shook his head as he began to wipe his tears away. "I was just-"
"I don't want to hear it," Pearl coldly cut him off. "How many times have I told both of you? The battlefield is no place for weakness of any kind! So pull yourself together and get back to it! And Steven, Mabel, off the field with both of you, now!"
"No!" Mabel stood firm beside her brother. "We're not going anywhere!"
"That's right!" Steven agreed. "The four of us are a team! We're the strawberry-"
"And we're the biscuits!" Connie finished as she and Dipper both reclaimed their swords.
"And that makes us-"
"Jam buds!" All four of them proudly proclaimed.
Before Pearl even knew what was happening, they all charged at her, weapons at the ready. She was taken aback when Connie's sword clashed with hers, though she still had her wits about her to pull out another blade to counter Dipper's. She narrowly dodged Mabel's grappling hook, only for her own sword to squarely strike Steven's shield. She recoiled, giving Dipper and Connie just the opening they needed to rush in for a finishing blow. Steven and Mabel joined them, but just before they could get close, Pearl put a swift stop to it all with only a single swing.
"ENOUGH!" she forced them all to the ground, disarming them in one fell swoop. "No!" she glared down at the four of them, frustrated. "This isn't what it's going to be like! In a real battle, Steven and Mabel won't be there to help you!"
"Yes, we will!" Mabel countered, resolved. "We're all gonna be there for each other, no matter what!"
"Yeah!" Dipper soundly agreed. "Any battle we fight from here on out, we're going to get through it as a team!"
"But you don't know that!" Pearl protested.
"Yes, we do!" Steven said, smiling. "If any of us are going to fight, we're going to fight together!"
"That's right!" Connie added just as devoutly. "We're not going to fight alone anymore because we don't have to!"
"Yes, you do!" Pearl fiercely argued.. "And Steven, you shouldn't be anywhere near the fight! You're too important!"
"No, I'm not!" Steven shot back, but Pearl wasn't having it.
"Yes, you are!"
"No!"
Something inside of Pearl practically seemed to snap as she furiously shouted, "Why won't you just let me do this for you, Rose?!"
Just as her pressing tears finally started to fall, stark silence fell over the arena. Rose's name continued to echo, even as Pearl let out a shaken gasp over her mistake. "I… I mean… W-why won't—Steven, why won't you let… Connie do this, and… Mabel, let Dipper do this for…" She trailed off as her swords slipped out of her handa, her shoulders shuddering with a barely held back a sob. "T-that's… enough for today…"
Without another word, she walked off to take a seat at the edge of the arena, overlooking the endless clouds below. The kids exchanged a worried glance as they got up to follow her. All it once, it was starting to make sense, exactly why she'd taken their training so far, so drastically. She'd taught them everything she knew, everything she believed in. Everything that had nearly destroyed her the same way it almost destroyed them.
They solemnly sat down alongside her, though she said nothing, her eyes tightly shut to block them all out. Steven was the first to speak up, hoping to help her work through this–somehow. "Hey, uh, Pearl? We didn't mean to mess up your training, but… things were starting to go way too far and we were just really worried."
"Yeah, I mean, you let Dipper keep training even though you knew he was still all banged up from the other week…" Mabel noted, frowning. "We know your heart was in the right place, but even you gotta admit that wasn't ok…"
"It really wasn't…" Dipper muttered as he skimmed his still sore shoulder.
"And then there was all that talk about Dipper and Connie being worth 'nothing'…" Steven continued. "It was really starting to freak us out…"
Connie proposed a question, one that she hesitated to ask, but she did all the same. "Did… did Rose make you feel like you were nothing?"
To their surprise, Pearl let out a bittersweet laugh as she lifted her head to look up at the sunset-streaked skies. "Rose made me feel… like I was everything… When I was with her, it was like the sun never stopped shining, like nothing could ever be wrong in the world… She inspired me to be myself, she gave me a reason to fight, one that I believed in with everything I had… Her kindness, her passion, her love… it made me feel like I could face anything that stood in my way… all for her…"
Her soft smile remained as she slowly wiped her tears dry. Rose wouldn't have wanted this, she knew that. Just like she never wanted it back when the war was raging on. With that thought in mind, Pearl knew exactly what she needed to do right by her–and all four of the kids sitting next to her.
"What was I thinking?" she laughed again, a bit brighter this time. "I can see now how deeply you all care for each other." Her smile widened, filled with pride as she threw her arms around all of their shoulders. "That'll make you all great knights!"
"Wait, what?" Steven gaped, surprised.
"You mean… we get to fight too?" Mabel asked with a growing grin. One that they all shared as they realized they'd all have a chance to grow stronger together from now on.
"But of course!" Pearl happily agreed. "You four are a team, after all! And who would I be to split up such a fine group like you up? Now, Connie and Dipper are practically experts already, so Steven, Mabel, you'll both have a lot of catching up to do. Oh, I'm so excited! I can't wait for the midair and underwater dueling exercises! It's going to be oodles of fun!"
"Are you sure you're ok with this?" Steven asked, worried. His hand sparkled with healing spit as he hovered it just over the ugly scar on Dipper's shoulder. "Because if you're not, we can always just wait and do it when you're ready-"
"No," Dipper shook his head. "No more putting this off. I should have let you heal me from the beginning, but I just… I felt so bad about what you went through that day," he looked back at Steven, his face filled with all of the apologies he'd already said and then some. "A-and I guess… I thought I deserved all this after making that stupid deal with Bill in the first place."
"You didn't deserve this," Steven all but echoed what Mabel had told him the other night. "Please don't ever think that you did. What happened wasn't your fault."
"That's right," Connie chimed in. "It was Bill's. He tricked you, took advantage of how you felt about what happened to Lapis, and then he basically spent the day torturing your body for his own sick kicks. If anyone deserves even worse than what you went through, it's him."
"That's right," Mabel huffed as she plopped down on the couch next to Dipper. "That's why, if we ever see that jerkwad of a triangle again, I'll bash him with my grappling hook so hard he'll wish he was square!"
Dipper couldn't help but laugh, though it soon faded into a stunned gasp when Steven's healing magic finally touched his shoulder. In an instant, all that remained of that awful cut vanished, leaving only clean, unbroken skin behind. "Whoa…" he gently pressed his hand against it, shocked that there wasn't any pain at all. "Why did I hold out on this for so long? This feels so much better."
"Happy to help," Steven offered him a bright smile, one that Dipper gladly, gratefully returned.
"Now that you're all healed up," Connie playfully elbowed his equally healed side. "We can finally head off to training. I'm sure Pearl's already there waiting for us."
"Right," Dipper hopped off the couch to head for the warp pad. Steven and Mabel beat them there, laughing as they all warped off to the sky arena for another exciting lesson.
They'd face that lesson head-on, just like every challenge that might come their way. From the threat of invading Homeworld Gems to a demon as devious as Bill Cipher, there had been no shortage of such challenges lately–challenges they were all slowly healing from even still. But in the end, even though the bonds between them had been tested, they remained unbroken. At the end of the day, the Mystery Kids were still standing despite it all.
They were still standing, ready to take on anything that might threaten to tear them apart. And as long as they stood together, then they knew–
They'd always be standing strong.