#✺-- BILL CIPHER & DIPPER PINES: WE’LL MEET AGAIN

[ouijarat]

Too Weird to Love, Too Scared to Die.

Chapter One

(This was just a silly goofy idea that my partner convinced me to get out of my brain and onto the internet. This takes place in an alternate Weirdmageddon Finale scenario. Btw I hardly ever write and this is my first fic like ever so PLEASE BE NICE TO ME and let me know if y'all like it. Ty <3)

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“I’ll give it to you!” Stanford Pines’ voice echoed from the cage and through the cavernous hall of the fearamid. The world seemed to stop as Stanford’s once beloved Muse-turned-monster’s gigantic eye turned from the two children in his grasp he was about to send to meet their maker a moment ago and onto him. Bill’s gaze was as blinding as the sun. 

“I’ll give you the equation, Cipher! Just… don’t hurt my family… please.” 

Bill stared while Dipper and Mabel’s terrified expressions drilled themselves into Ford’s mind during the stillness. Just as Dipper opened his mouth, seemingly to protest against Ford’s decision, Bill’s shrill, inhuman laughter enveloped their senses; the sound loud enough to rattle one’s skull and make one’s ears bleed should they stand too close. 

“Oh, Sixer! I just knew you’d come around~!” The demon cackled smugly, depositing the young twins on a high up support beam, safe for the time being yet out of their uncles’ reach. The grotesque, gargantuan form of arms and teeth and tongues the triangle had reverted to when angered began to shrink back down to size, the red fading back to yellow as he looked down at Ford with as much sick satisfaction a creature without a proper face could possibly express.

“I’m so happy you’ve finally, finally come to your senses!” 

Stanford looked over his shoulder to glance at his brother, expecting to read contempt, maybe anger at Ford for not thinking of something fast enough; but when their eyes met he only saw fear and uncertainty. He couldn’t bear it, so he averted his gaze. He yelped as his body was lifted off the obsidian palace floor as Bill effortlessly levitated him out of his confinement.

 “I’ve gotta say, IQ,  you really had me going there! I thought you were actually gonna make me kill one of the brats!” He gently dropped Stanford in front of his now much less threatening form, straightening out his bowtie as his little heels collided with the ground with a small click, making himself level with Ford as though foolishly trying to perpetuate the illusion that they were equals here. The laughable notion of respect. 

Ford grimaced, six fingernails digging into each of his palms as he steeled himself, remaining woefully silent. Bill was clearly annoyed that Ford refused to play into his verbal sparring, the demon’s expression souring. 

“Aw c’mon, Fordsie. Don’t be like that. Cheer up! Soon I’ll be free, and I can give you everything you’ve ever wanted!” 

Ford’s eyes darted up to the two children clinging onto each other at least 30 feet above him before he looked back to Bill, his expression flat. “You could never give me anything I would truly want.” 

The triangle looked almost hurt for a moment before he laughed again, regaining his composure.

“And why’s that?” 

Stanford stared at him. “You’re selfish,” He said, his voice tainted with the shadow of disdain. “You couldn’t emotionally fulfill another person if you tried. You’re a monster.”

The demon’s eye twitched, his gaze suddenly distant as his yellow glow seemed to dim. Above them, Dipper squeezed Mabel’s hand in a vice grip, scared that Ford had just signed his own death certificate. Instead, Bill just snapped back to normal in an instant, giggling again. “We’ll see about that. But for now..” He extended a dainty black arm, his hand suddenly engulfed in blue flame awaiting Ford’s palm to complete their deal. 

“Let’s get this show on the road. Eh, Sixer?” 

Ford looked down at the floor below him, too ashamed to meet his family’s gaze as he pressed what was, for all intents and purposes, the big red button for the apocalypse. At least they’ll be safe. He held his breath and grasped Bill’s hand, memories of thirty years ago flashing through his mind as soon as they made contact. The demon’s eye widened maniacally as he cackled, his grasp tightening around Ford’s polydactyl hand as the world around him froze. His surroundings turning to black and white and sensation melting away. In a low, gentle voice Stanford hadn’t heard since he worshiped a god rather than feared a beast, Bill spoke. “You’ll see, Fordsy.” 

And suddenly Ford’s vision went dark. 

…

Stanford woke with a start and quickly shot up, having just woken from the most terrible nightmare. He caught his breath, running a hand through the graying hair that had plastered itself to his forehead with sweat, blinking blindly. His glasses must’ve fallen off the couch as he slept. Only, even for as blind as he was, he could very quickly gather that he was in… a bed. Not his bed. That was odd. He frantically groped around for his glasses, finding them neatly folded on a nightstand beside him. He pushed them up his nose with an index finger and -much to his dismay- confirmed that this was not his room, and this was not the Mystery Shack. 

Ford looked down at himself, noting the red satin pajama set he was dressed in that were also very much not his. Despite how soft the sheets were, he quickly threw them off as though they’d burned him. He stood up carefully, the hardwood floor cold against his bare feet. Taking in his surroundings, he first noticed the room had no windows or interior lamps, and yet was perfectly illuminated in warm, comforting light. Everything about the decor style was so very pointedly… him. The dark oak furniture, the golden constellation map on the wall, the chess set on the desk, the detailed antique globe in the far corner. It was all extremely reminiscent of everything he had wanted to do with his basement study back home, had he had the time. This greatly unsettled him. 

He approached the bedroom door with caution, stopping in his tracks with a hand hovering over the doorknob as he heard the sound of dishes clattering distantly somewhere else in the house. Ford gulped before turning the knob excruciatingly slowly, the door cracking open with a soft creak. Nothing jumped out at him and he wasn’t immediately incinerated, so he continued on, gently pushing it all the way open to reveal… an exceedingly normal hallway. 

The walls were adorned with refined red wallpaper and ornate picture frames, the pictures inside so familiar and yet so violently wrong. Nausea bubbled in his stomach as he stared at the family photographs he had gladly kept hung up throughout the walls of the shack, except now half the family had seemingly vanished, or rather been purposely eliminated from the photos. The only two people present in any of them were himself and Mabel, leaving eerily empty spaces where his brother and grand-nephew should have been. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the image of his grand-niece, her colorful braces on display as she smiled happily with her arms wrapped around nothing but dead air. 

Ford jumped, suddenly ripped away from his horror once more as the loud crash of pans echoed from what seemed to be a lower floor, followed by a soft string of curses in at least five different alien languages, two of which he didn’t recognize. He tiptoed further down the hallway, his right hand itching to wrap itself around the grip of his gun. He distantly wondered what had been done with it, as well as his coat. He’d miss that coat. Ford mentally cursed himself for not simply improvising a weapon sooner in case whatever was downstairs tried to attack, yet he couldn’t stop himself from inching further and further into the house and toward the noise. Damn his curiosity. 

He rounded a corner and was met with a grand staircase leading downward, taking a breath and quietly descending with his back pressed against the wall in an attempt to not risk being seen. Upon reaching the bottom, Stanford froze in place, hearing something sizzling in the next room over, accompanied by the unmistakable stench of burning roadkill. He slowly peeked around the corner, his jaw dropping at the sight before him. 

He peered into what was, he had to admit, a very nice kitchen, complete with stainless steel appliances and black granite countertops. In the middle of said kitchen, holding a pan full of what looked to be a mutilated opossum over the stove, was Bill Cipher in a frilly pink apron. Said apron had the words ‘Kiss the Triangle’ printed across the front in a loopy cursive font, a heart in place of the dot over the ’i’. 

Sensing his presence, the triangular demon turned to look at him cheerfully, eye upturned in a makeshift smile. “Heya, smart guy! I was wondering when you’d wake up, sleepyhead! You’re just in time for breakfast!”

Ford prayed to every god he knew of, earthen, alien or otherwise, that he’d wake up soon.

(Thank you for reading, let me know if you want a chapter two!)

[sabiwabii]

Bill + Human design concept

[briilliance1]

TAG DUMP

[wil-is-done]

When You’re A Mystery Kid - Chapter 35: The Witch & the Seeker

Summary: Norman has something important to say to Dipper.

Word Count: 1.292

-

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a repost.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters featured here.

In the distance, floating high above what used to be central Gravity Falls, composed of dark red-brown stone, with lava-like orange-red glow shining through its cracks, was Bill Cipher’s Fearamid. That’s where Bill and his demon friends reside. That’s where Bill held Ford Pines captive. That’s where the fate of the world will be decided.

For close to a week now, Norman has lived under its shadow. It was the closest thing he’d ever felt to actual Hell, but in only a few minutes, one way or another it will all come to end. Either this crazy plan of launching an all-or-nothing assault on the Fearamid would succeed, and they defeat Bill and save the world, or it won’t. 

Nearly everyone had gathered inside the Shack for the final stages of preparation for the assault. Norman was among the last ones to remain outside. Him, and Dipper, who was only a few paces ahead of him, standing at the edge of the Shack’s magical barrier, silently gazing upwards at the distant Fearamid.

Norman drew a deep, nervous, calming breath, and called out, “Dipper.”

Dipper shifted in his stance, like he was startled out of his thoughts. He glanced over his shoulder, caught one look of Norman’s expression, and frowned.

“How long until we go?”

“Five minutes.”

Dipper sighed. He turned his attention back to the Fearamid for a moment, before he turned on his heels, his lips quirked into a dry, humorless smile.

“Well. Now or never,” he spoke. His eyes looked so tired. He’d tried to hide it, but Norman could still see it. 

It felt wrong to say nothing at the sight of it, so Norman said, “We can do this, Dipper. We’ll get Ford back, and he’ll know how to beat Bill for good. I know we can win.” 

Dipper raised an eyebrow at that. “Weird. I always took you for a realist.”

“If there’s ever a time to be an optimist, it’s now.” Norman hoped he’d said it with enough confidence to at least affect Dipper.

Dipper breathed out the tiniest of laughs. Norman smiled, both in satisfaction and in relief. 

Dipper sighed again, before he began to walk towards the Shack, and towards Norman. “Here’s to the rest of our lives,” he remarked, wearing a familiar dry smile, as he passed by Norman. 

Norman’s smile fell as Dipper passed him. There was a reason why Norman approached Dipper while he was all alone. He’d spent damn near a week psyching himself up for this moment. A lot of nervous pacing, a lot of second guessing, and too many worst case scenarios passing his thoughts to count. After all of that, he won’t let this chance slip away so easily.

“Wait.”

Norman reached out and grabbed Dipper’s wrist. Dipper stopped in his step, looked down at Norman’s hand wrapped around his wrist, then up to face Norman eye to eye. Norman’s heart thundered in his ears. He could feel cold sweat running down the back of his neck. This is it. Finally, this is the moment.

Dipper waited with an expectant look. Norman breathed in, and out, and he began.

“N-Not to doubt us or anything, b-but if we end up… you know, not making it? I just want you to know, I’m…”

He faltered. The words were right there, at the tip of his tongue. He was so close to the edge, so ready to risk it all and take the plunge. All he had to do was to say it, right here and now.

“I’m…”

Fear seized his heart. Doubt tied his tongue. Anxiety muddled his thoughts. The words he had so carefully prepared were gone in an instant. The plunge suddenly seemed too dark and deep. The risk felt too much to face.

“I’m…… glad.”

Dipper quirked an eyebrow. Norman kept talking, no matter how hard he tried to stop. 

“That we got to meet each other. All of us. Even though we get into more trouble than we should, and even though we ended up stuck in this Hell, I won’t have it any other way. You all made this worth it.”

That was not what he wanted to say. That was not at all what he wanted to say.

“I am more than lucky to have you all as my best friends.”

Dipper smiled. Norman faked a smile. 

“Wow, Norman, that was…” Dipper let out an incredulous chuckle. “Well, you’ve always had a way with words.” He rubbed the back of his neck. A soft smile formed on his lips. “I guess I… kinda feel the same way. About this crazy, stupid, amazing team.”

“Y-Yeah.” Norman had kept up the same static smile this entire time. He wondered if Dipper noticed it. “Sorry. For jumping you like that.”

“Hey, it’s fine! I… I needed that. That was nice.” The soft smile Dipper had on his lips then went away. His eyes lit up, his features turning into something much fiercer. He didn’t notice that anything was amiss at all. “Now, come on. Let’s end this.”

Dipper turned around and marched towards the Shack, his hand slipping out of Norman’s fingers. He disappeared under the tarp covering the Shack before Norman could utter another word. Norman’s legs buckled under him and he fell to his knees, his hands hanging limp to his sides. It took everything within him to not cry out in frustration, at his own cowardice, at his own doubts, at the cold that suddenly gripped his heart in an unrelenting vice. His final chance to say what he truly he felt, and he let it slip away, just like that. 

He felt his hands slowly turning into fists. The cold despair inside him churned and shifted, rising and warming until it wasn’t despair that he felt anymore. His eyes lit up, and he rose back to his feet. That pathetic, botched attempt at a confession; that might not truly be his final chance.

He just had to make sure everyone made it out of this alive.

He looked over his shoulder, at the Fearamid that hovered far in the distance, looming high over everything in Gravity Falls. A surge of energy trickled down into the tips of his fingers. 

Up there, he won’t hesitate.

-

The countdown ends. The assault shall soon commence. 

Happy Halloween! I know this isn’t the most fitting way to celebrate Halloween with, but honestly? I’m just glad I managed to actually do something for Halloween this year. Tried to do a thing last year which didn’t really pan out. Maybe next year I’ll take it a step further and have it be something spooky, eh? 

Celebrations aside, now that this chapter’s done, that’s four chapters out of four and eight kids out of eight! And what better way to end it than with some good ol’ Parapines. As always, a fun ship to work with, even though this particular situation is not at all a fun one for them. Personally, I always thought their romance would work best as a slow burn type thing.

Y’all, we are indeed getting very close to the end of this saga! It’s kinda bizarre for me to think that we’ve managed to reach this point, after so long of having this just a fantasy in my head. It’s going to be a long one for sure, which is why I will be splitting it into two parts. Part one will drop sometime in mid-November, and part two will drop at the end of November.

Thank you so much for reading, and see you all in a few weeks for the conclusion of the Weirdmageddon Saga!

[aquaburst3]

You know those fan theories about King being the reincarnation of Bill Cipher from Gravity Falls? I raise you one further. What if both Grim from Twisted Wonderland and King are two halves of Bill's soul?

During the Gravity Falls finale, Bill Cipher sings "We'll Meet Again" by Vera Lynn to Ford Pines. Later on, Bill calls upon the Axolotl (basically a god in that universe) and chants, "My time has come to burn. I evoke the ancient power so that I may someday return." He got his memory erased with the Memory Erasing Gun and died.

In the choose your own adventure book there is a huge canon secert where Dipper and Mabel visit the Axolotl...somehow, and the creature chants in a poem, "If (Bill) wants to shrink the blame, he'll have to evoke upon my name. One way to absolve him of his crimes, a different form, a different time." What would a fitting form for him to be? A less powerful, psychical form where he's constantly underestimated. Like a dog or a cat around a decade later.

While saying they're both reincarnations is a stretch, it is possible if it split in half and went to separate dimensions. Considering what I just spouted out, is it really that unreasonable?

The Round Table already made a video explaining the King side of things, so I'm just gonna focus on Grim.

Yes, Grim isn't a narrcistic sociopath, who wants to take over the multiverse far as we're aware now. He's more like King or Stitch if anything. But they both shares some common traits:

Bill is an agent chaos. So is Grim.

Bill is obnoxious. So is Grim.

Bill is mischievous and a jokester. So is Grim.

Bipper in Sock Opera tuckered out very quickly. Grim loves naps.

Both have 4 letter names.

Both can wield blue flames.

Twisted Wonderland IS a Disney property just as much as Gravity Falls or The Owl House, it isn't that much of a stretch to say they are connected somehow.

Granted, by the looks of things in both series, that either of them will randomly turn back into Bill Cipher if that is the case. It's a fun headcanon to have.

[minijenn]

Universe Falls, Chapter 80, Part 2

AHAHAHAH AND SO IT FUCKING CONTINUES. But yeah Memories is a roller coaster ride of feels and ya’ll get ready to board by bringing the tissues along cause oof. There’s a lot in here. Even so, I LOVE how it turned out so I’ll leave you to it. Enjoy! (but don’t actually read it on here, read it on Ao3 please!!!! (also review, reviews are nice ^_^) 

Previous: https://minijenn.tumblr.com/post/621740517506564096/universe-falls-chapter-80-part-1

***

Chapter 80, Part 2: Memories 

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“Who?”

The question hung on the air for what seemed like ages, echoing through it to the point that it seemed to obscure everything else, even the dull flow of the fountain behind him. Stepper’s already palpable confusion expanded upon seeing the dumbfounded stares Mabel, Garnet, and Pearl alike were all sending his way, almost as if his simple question was one that none of them had the faintest idea how to answer. 

Eventually though, Mabel was finally the first to break the silence, letting out a rather harsh, forced laugh as she kept her gaze on the fusion’s face rather than his still-damaged gemstone. “Ha! Good one, you guys!” she chuckled a bit too loudly, knowing that no one else was partaking in her levity. “You know, I usually love a good joke, but now’s not really the time to be kidding around, so…?”

“I’m… not kidding,” Stepper frowned, raising a curious eyebrow at her. “Are you sure you’re not the one who’s kidding, Mabel? I mean, come on, since when have I been a fusion?”

“S-since... always…” Pearl spoke up, her hands pressed close to her chest as she trembled slightly. “C-certainly, you must… h-how could you not-”

“Stepper,” Garnet interjected, her voice a bit firmer than the white Gem’s, though it was clear she was every bit as shaken. “You must be confused after what you went through. You are a fusion. Between Steven Universe and Dipper Pines. You know that.”

“I… really don’t, because I’m not,” Stepper shook his head incredulously. “I’m pretty sure I’d know if I was a fusion. And if I was, I’d at least know who I was a fusion of to begin with, right?”

“B-but that doesn’t make any sense!” Mabel exclaimed, distraught as she grabbed onto one of the fusion’s lower arms. “Of course you know Steven and Dipper! You have to know them! They are you!”

“Um, I think that’s sort of impossible,” Stepper crossed his upper arms. “I’m me. And besides, I’ve never even met or heard of any Steven or Dipper. Are they friends of yours, Mabel?”

“Yes!” Mabel huffed, frustrated. “More than just friends! Dipper, you’re my twin brother! Steven, you’re one of my best friends! And Stepper, you’re both of them! They’re you! You have to remember them! Y-you can’t just forget who you are! You’re-”

“Mabel,” Garnet suddenly quieted her, placing a steadying hand on her shoulder just as a heavy sob finally escaped her. Stepper was admittedly startled by it, a rush of guilt he couldn’t quite place filling him as he noticed the tears steadily streaming down her cheeks as she resigned herself to Garnet’s consoling embrace. 

“I-I… I’m sorry,” he said earnestly, despite his still very palpable confusion. “I-I didn’t mean to upset any of you, I just… really have no idea what you guys are talking about.”

None of the others had any idea how to respond to this as they all looked to the fusion, equally forlorn. Mabel’s tears were still plentiful and by now Pearl had taken on a few of her own as she quietly covered her mouth and glanced away. Garnet kept her sights set on Stepper meanwhile, essentially begging her future vision to give her some kind of insight as to what might have happened to him only to receive none at all. 

It wasn’t long before this bout of solemn silence was broken by the chime of the warp pad on the other side of the garden. With its bright light, Amethyst appeared, having followed Garnet’s command to retrieve Stan and Ford as both of them rushed after her to check on the fusion with a shared sense of intent concern. 

“There you boys are!” Ford let out an allayed sigh as he approached Stepper. “What a relief it is to see you’re both alright.”

“Ford-” Pearl attempted to interject, though Stan cut her off before she could say anything else. 

“You two kids had us worried sick!” he exclaimed adamantly, though it was clear his frustration came from a place of caring. “What the heck is wrong with you, running off like that on your own for three days?!”

“What?” Stepper asked, not able to recall anything of the sort. 

“Uh, well, actually, they kinda got sucked into some crazy dimensional portal, remember?” Amethyst pointed out.

“A portal that led to the Nightmare Realm, no less!” Ford shook his head incredulously. “You both are incredibly lucky to have somehow found a way back, much less survived in that despicable wasteland against, well... you know who.”

“Um, I don’t--Augh!” Stepper stopped himself short with a startled gasp as the author suddenly shined a bright flashlight directly into his eyes. The fusion was quick to cover them as the others were all quick to turn to Ford to demand an explanation for such a bizarre, untimely move. 

“Ford! What’s the matter with you? What are you tryin’ to do?! Blind the poor kids?!” Stan yelled, sending his brother a harsh glare as he placed a supportive hand against the fusion’s back.

“No, of course not,” Ford scoffed, putting his flashlight away. “I was just… checking something.” He paused for a moment, glancing to Garnet and Pearl as he spoke to them specifically. “Fortunately it seems as though Bill didn’t manage to hitch a ride back through him. But… his gem… Amethyst did mention it was cracked; have you placed him in the fountain yet?”

“Y-yes…” Pearl nodded. “B-but we have no idea why it’s still cracked. Though… perhaps it could explain the apparent issue with his memories…”

“His memories?” Stan spoke up. “What’s the matter with his memories?”

“Nothing, I-” Stepper began, though once again, before he could get much out he was cut off. 

“G-Grunkle Stan,” Mabel rushed over to the conman, hugging his leg tightly, tearfully as she refused to so much as look at Stepper this time. “H-he… he said he doesn’t know who Dipper and Steven are! He said… h-he doesn’t even think he’s a fusion… T-that he isn’t them…”

Stan and Ford were both stunned into silence upon hearing this, their wide-eyed sights settling on Stepper, who was unsure of how to meet them. Unsure of how to meet any of the several sets of eyes all watching him expectantly, searching him for answers he knew he didn’t have for them. 

All the same, he let out a startled gasp as Stan suddenly grabbed him by his vest, pulling him a bit down to his level as he hissed at him threateningly. “You said what?”

“Stan!” Garnet suddenly shouted, pulling the frightened fusion away from the conman as she placed herself before him protectively. “Leave him alone. What’s happened to him is not his fault.”

“Well, then who’s fault is it?” Stan asked, glaring at the Gem leader coldly. 

“Certainly, it must be Bill’s,” Ford said, his tone grave and scornful.

“...Who?” the conman raised an oblivious eyebrow. 

“Oh for crying out loud…” Ford sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You had my journals all these years, Stanley. How could you not know a single thing about Bill Cipher? Dream demon? Usurper of the Nightmare Realm? My primary nemesis, since-”

“Wait,” Stan interrupted as he narrowed his eyes at his brother. “Your nemesis? So you’re sayin’ this Cipher guy has a bone to pick with you… so he took it out on Dipper and Steven?!”

Ford flinched, caught off guard by the sudden fury peaking in the conman’s tone. “T-that… I… I don’t know, I-I wasn’t there to-”

The author was sharply cut off by a sudden blow directly to his jaw. He stumbled back from his brother’s heavy punch, collapsing against one of the fountain’s lower statues of Rose as the Gems, Mabel, and Stepper alike all gasped in apt surprise by this sudden act of violence. “What did I tell you, Ford?!” Stan shouted, absolutely furious as he gripped the stunned author by the collar of his sweater. “What did I say about getting the kids involved in your messes?!”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Stanley!” Ford shoved the conman back hard. “Bill doesn’t just have it out for me, he has it out for the Gems, for the kids, for everyone on this planet! This isn’t about you or me!”

“That’s right,” Garnet stepped between the brothers, pushing them apart to create some distance amidst their rising tension. “It’s not. This is about Stepper.”

At this, everyone turned their attention to the fusion once more. All four of his hands were drawn close to him, his eyes wide and worried as he took a small step forward to address Stan and Ford in particular. “I-I… don’t know why you guys are fighting,” he began rather timidly. “But please, don’t. You all seem so sad and angry, and… I don’t really understand why, but I wish I did so I could help somehow.” 

“I-I think I know how you can help!” Mabel piped up urgently. “You can unfuse! I-if you’re just Steven and Dipper again, then there’s no way you won’t be able to remember them because you’ll be them again! It’s that easy!”

“Well, if you think that would help, I’d be happy to do that, it’s just…” Stepper sighed as he placed a hand against the back of his neck. “I… don’t think I can unfuse? Like I said before, I’m not a fusion, so… yeah.”

“For the love of Newton, this is far worse than I could have imagined…” Ford muttered, immensely concerned.

“You’re telling me,” Stan remarked, aptly baffled. “The kid’s completely lost it!”

“Well, he’s certainly lost something…” Pearl added, shaking her head remorsefully. 

“Let’s go back to the temple,” Garnet said, her tone unreadable as she led the way back to the warp pad. “We’ll be able to make more sense of all this there…. Hopefully.”

Though it only took the span of less than five minutes for the group to warp back to the temple, during the short trip, Mabel happened to notice three very specific things about Stepper that no one else really had pointed out yet against everything else. First was his clothes, once torn and tattered thanks to whatever Bill had done to him in the Nightmare Realm, now repaired to pristine condition thanks to Rose’s fountain. And yet, two prominent pieces were missing: the blue pine tree on his hat and the yellow star on his shirt, both markers, both symbols of who the fusion really was, gone just as much as his memory of the two boys that usually wore them seemed to be. Second were his eyes, a far cry from the usual shade of mostly-matched violet brown Stepper was known to have whenever he was around. Instead, they were pink, bright, bold, and undeniably pink, to the point that his irises were practically glowing with it as they sparkled in the light. But third was what was lying just behind those eyes, a sense of innocence, of oblivious unknowing, so unlike the sharp, eager awareness that had once been there instead. Just another worrying sign that something was off, something was so incredibly wrong that even Stepper himself didn’t understand what that something was. 

“Well, there’s gotta be some way to split them up, right?” Amethyst began as everyone congregated around the couch. “Oh! I got it! If he doesn’t know how to split up on his own, then maybe we can just do it for them!”

“D-do what?” Stepper flinched, especially as Amethyst pulled her whip out. 

“We’ll be doing no such thing!” Pearl scolded. “With his gem cracked like that, there’s no telling what Stepper being forcibly split up--or splitting up in general really--could do to Steven and Dipper! Nevermind the fact that he can’t even remember either of them to begin with…”

“S-so… Stepper is just… stuck like this?” Mabel asked fretfully from her spot on the couch right next to the confused fusion. 

“Stuck how?” he asked, though once again he received no direct answer. 

“Yes,” Garnet replied, her arms crossed and her tone rigid as she averted her gaze away from Stepper almost purposefully. “For now.”

“But hopefully not for long,” Ford said, resolved. “Now, to properly solve this problem, the best thing to do is to get to the bottom of what’s actually wrong here.”

“Oh wow, great plan there, poindexter,” Stan deadpanned dryly. “Never could’ve come up with something like that on our own. What genius thinking.”

Ford largely ignored his brother’s sardonic remarks as he instead took a step forward, pulling a pad of paper out so he could jot down some notes. “Alright, Stepper, why don’t we start with you? Since you don’t seem to remember anything about Steven or Dipper or being a fusion, what are you able to remember off the top of your head?”

“Oh,” Stepper blinked, surprised that someone was actually giving him a chance to speak his own piece for a change. “Well… let’s see… I remember meeting all of you, and fighting Peridot’s robots in the woods-”

“Yeah?” Mabel asked, suddenly hopeful at the recollection of a memory from weeks ago now.

“Then there was the time you wanted to research my shield journal,” Stepper said, keeping his focus on Ford before turning it over to Mabel. “Oh! And then we fused!”

“Yeah! Into Dipevebel!” Mabel grinned, gripping the fusion’s arm excitedly. 

“Right,” Stepper nodded with a smile. “Then there was that street race we were part of and… um… I… think that’s it? I can’t really remember anything else until I woke up in that fountain a few minutes ago.”

“Nothing?” Amethyst asked, dumbfounded. “Not even anything about how your gem got all busted up like that?”

“No,” the fusion shook his head, frowning as he glanced down at his damaged gemstone. “Do any of you know how it happened?”

The others fell silent at this, dread filling their expressions as they realized just how blissfully unaware of the immense trauma he’d just been through he really was. They would have preferred to keep him unaware on that particular front too, if not for the fact that the rest of his memories had faded along with the knowledge of what had taken them away from him in the first place. “Stepper, you’ve… been trapped in the Nightmare Realm for the past three days,” Pearl began to explain as carefully as she could. “We can only assume that it was there that Bill got ahold of you and caused grave damage to your gem a-and your memories.”

For the longest time, Stepper said nothing in response to this, his expression still lacking any sort of real understanding, which became even more apparent when he voiced that lack aloud. “Bill? Who’s that?”

“Y-you… you’re kidding, right?” Amethyst asked, baffled. “You know, Bill Cipher? Crazy talking one-eyed triangle? Tried killing all of us, like a bunch of times? Hijacked Dipper’s body once and wants to steal Steven’s gem? None of that’s ringing a bell for you?”

“N-no…” Stepper admitted apprehensively. “But… whoever he is, he sounds like a really bad guy.”

“‘Bad’ is certainly an understatement when it comes to Bill... “ Ford muttered disdainfully. 

“So the kid doesn’t remember who he’s made of,” Stan spoke up impatiently. “He doesn’t remember how it all happened, he doesn’t seem to really remember much of anything! Are we sure this isn’t some weird sort of amnesia situation?”

“O-or maybe he’s just been fused for such a long time that he’s lost himself…?” Pearl proposed. “Oh, but that wouldn’t make any sense, he’s only been fused for three days at most, after all.”

“It’s not entirely impossible though,” Ford pointed out. “Time moves differently in the Nightmare Realm than it does here in our dimension. It’s unpredictable, non-linear. What’s a few mere hours there could be days here, and vice versa, so there’s really no telling how long Stepper’s stint there might have been for him. Especially now that he doesn’t seem to remember it in the slightest.”

“Ugh, who cares about any of that?” Amethyst huffed indignantly. “How are we gonna fix this mess?!”

“Until Stepper regains his memories, there isn’t much of a chance that we can,” Garnet said, adjusting her shades. “He’s the only one who can tell us what happened after all. Well, aside from Bill, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who’d rather not hear it from him.”

“But we don’t even know how he lost his memories in the first place!” Pearl bemoaned fretfully. “How can we go about restoring them if we don’t even know what happened to them?”

From there, a round of debate over this problem broke out, with everyone largely talking over each other as they tried to form a cohesive plan of action. Amidst all this, Stepper sat in silence, trying his best to listen and understand a conversation that kept on going in endless circles, one that concerned him, yet he didn’t entirely know how. He knew well by now that the others were all upset, worried, angry, and afraid, but the reason why was beyond him, a reason obscured by names and events he didn’t know, things he couldn’t comprehend, no matter how hard he tried. At the very least, he could tell there was one thing they all agreed on: they wanted to help him, even if he wasn’t sure he even needed such help at all. 

At the same time, Mabel lingered close by the fusion’s side, her focus dedicated to him rather than the ongoing argument between the Gems and her uncles. The heightened, perhaps even petty tensions between them didn’t matter to her in the slightest; nothing did really, not as long as something was wrong with Stepper, as long as something was wrong with Steven and Dipper. And while everyone else debated over whatever logical, scientific, or brute force plans they could think of, Mabel began to develop one of her own, one based not on the many things they didn’t know about this daunting situation. But instead, a plan based on what she did know about her brother and her best friend. 

“Everyone, hold on a sec!” she shouted as she suddenly jumped onto the coffee table to grab everyone’s attention. “I’ve got an idea, and it’s a good one too!”

While a handful of the others took pause, exchanging an uncertain glance at this, Garnet was the first to prompt her onward. “Go ahead.”

“Ok, so you guys said we won’t be able to fix Stepper’s gem until he splits up first, right?” Mabel began, her tone intent and determined. “And Stepper can’t split up until he remembers who Steven and Dipper are? So that’s where we should start!” She grinned as she spun back around to face the fusion behind her. “By reminding you of who you’re made of!”

“But Mabel,” Stepper said with a small, exasperated sigh. “I’ve already told you, I can’t split up because I’m not a fusion.”

“You are a fusion, and I can prove it!” Mabel retorted, hands on her hips. “First of all, if you’re not a fusion, then why do you have four arms?”

“Uh… well…” Stepper trailed off with a frown as he looked down at his substantial set of hands.

“And how do you explain how you only remember three totally different days before now?” 

“I-I… I just…”

“And out of those three days, how come you only remember a few things about them?”

Stepper interrupted her with another heavy sigh, a hand placed against his now aching head as it struggled to fill in the gaps she kept suggesting to him. “L-Look, I get that not a lot of things are adding up here, but… I still don’t think I’m a fusion. And like I said before, I don’t know who… what were their names again? Sipper and Deven?” 

“Dipper and Steven,” Mabel corrected urgently. 

“Dipper and Steven,” Stepper repeated, the names sounding completely forign to him even as he said them aloud. “I don’t know who either of them are. And if I don’t know them, then how can I possibly be them?” 

“But you are them!” Mabel protested, practically to the point of pleading. “Here, I’ll show you.” With this, she rushed up onto Steven’s bedroom loft, finding his phone lying by his bed quite easily before she rushed it back to the fusion downstairs. “Look! Look at them!” she pulled up one of the many selfies Steven had taken of himself and Dipper, one from not too terribly long ago. “This is Steven, and this is Dipper. Don’t you recognize them? Can’t you see how much they look like you?!”

Stepper looked between the two boys in the photo for quite a long time, not a single sign of recognition showing up in his face even now that he could see some sort of depiction of his two apparent halves for himself. “N-no,” he said with a sad, yet honest frown. “I… I don’t know them. Either of them.” He hesitated in saying anything else, especially as he noticed tears starting to well up in Mabel’s eyes again, her expression overwhelmed with returning grief that she was trying her hardest to force away for his sake. “Mabel, I-I… I’m sorry.”

In an instant, Mabel rushed to wipe her tears away, pulling her shoulder away from the comforting grip Garnet attempted to put on it. “I-it’s ok,” she said, forcing on a reassuring smile. “Because we’re gonna figure this out. Looking at a picture is one thing, but maybe jogging your memories of them might work even better!”

“Uh, how are you gonna do that?” Amethyst asked, mirroring everyone else’s confusion at this plan. 

“I think you mean how are we gonna do that,” Mabel grinned confidently. “Even though Stepper might not know who Steven and Dipper are, that doesn’t mean we don’t! Same goes for everyone else who knows them. Plus, I don’t wanna brag, but we just so happen to have a bona-fide expert when it comes to Dipper here, someone who happens to have known him our entire lives…” Her smile grew as she pointed to herself proudly. 

“Oh! And we’ve known Steven for his entire life!” Pearl added with a newfound grin. 

“Yeah, exactly!” Mabel nodded zealously. “So between all of us, we can fill in all the gaps and remind Stepper who he’s really supposed to be so he can finally unfuse again!”

“But, Mabel,” Stepper attempted to protest in the hopes of voicing his own thoughts about this plan. “I-”

“Shh, it’s ok,” Mabel quieted him, cutting him off in the process. “There’s nothing you need to worry about, Ste-bro. We’ve all got this. We’ve got you.”

Stepper simply let out a resigned sigh at this, realizing once again that the chance for him to even get a simple word of edgewise had been ripped away from him. So instead, he remained quietly sitting on the sidelines while everyone else continued to discuss what they believed was best for him, what they believed he should remember, even if those were memories he knew he didn’t even have to begin with. 

“It’s a… novel idea, Mabel, but… I fear it might be too simple,” Ford noted with a frown. “After all, we’re still not even sure what Bill did to his memories, much less how to get them back. The case could be made that this is all connected to the crack in his gem, but-”

“Will you shut up already, Ford?” Stan asked with a disgruntled scowl. “The kid’s come up with just about the only actual plan I’ve heard thrown around here could actually have a shot at working. I say we give it a try.”

“Same here,” Garnet agreed. “It’s far better than doing nothing.”

“Yeah, but could it actually work?” Amethyst asked with an uncertain frown. 

Garnet shrugged. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” she said, finally mustering a smile for Mabel to show her confidence in her plan. 

“Well, I suppose in the meantime we could always continue looking further into the situation to see if there’s anything else we can do,” Pearl suggested. “J-just in case, of course.”

“Yeah, that’s a great idea!” Mabel surprisingly agreed. “You guys can keep looking at the sciency/Gem side of things, while I take over as the first official self-appointed Memory Captain?”

“Memory Captain?” Stepper spoke up, raising a confused eyebrow. 

“Yeah, ya know, cause I’m putting myself in charge of getting you your memories back, Ste-bro,” she grinned back at him. 

“Oh,” Stepper took a brief, tentative glance down. “Mabel, I-I don’t-”

“I know, I know, you don’t know what to say,” Mabel said with a knowing wave of her hand. “That’s fine, you can always thank me after you remember everything. Now come on,” she enthusiastically grabbed the fusion’s hand, pulling him off the couch as she headed for the door. “We’ve got a lot of work to do to get you back to normal.”

“Yes…” Ford muttered, fretfully looking over his notes as the pair headed out on their endeavor. An endeavor that had really no guarantee of working when it came to setting things right. “It seems as though we all do…”

“Ok, so you remember the day you first fused, fighting Peri’s robots… the time we fused… and when we raced Kevin and his friends… but you don’t remember what happened to you in the Nightmare Realm... did I get that all right?” Mabel asked, trying to make mental notes as the pair made their way down the hill toward the shack.

“Yeah, but I don’t really see what the big deal is?” Stepper shrugged. “I mean, those are all the things that have ever happened to me, right?”

“Those are all the things that have happened to Stepper…” Mabel mused with a dawning realization. 

“Yeah, which… is me,” Stepper nodded, silently wishing that everyone would stop referring to him as if he wasn’t actually present at all. 

“So, you only remember what’s happened while you were you,” Mabel continued down her newfound train of thought. “While you were fused! So… does that mean… you don’t remember anything that happened before this summer?!”

“I… don’t know. What happened before this summer?”

“Everything!” Mabel cried, spinning around to face him with a desperate, shaken expression. “Our whole lives! Dipper and me growing up together in Piedmont, Steven living here with the Gems. You have two entire lives that you just… don’t even remember anymore…”

Stepper wasn’t sure what to say to this as he glanced down apprehensively. Even if he felt far out of the loop in regards to what Mabel was saying, if there was one thing he did understand, it was that he hated seeing her so dejected and despondent. “Hey,” his voice was gentle as he knelt down to her level. “I may not really get what’s going on here with all of this memory stuff, a-and I may not know who… y-your two friends are. But, at least I still know you. Isn’t that enough?”

Mabel stilled, her pressing tears frozen from falling as she looked to the fusion with another wave of painful realization. “S-Stepper… do you know who I am to you?” she asked, almost scared to hear the answer. 

“O-of course I do,” Stepper stood, though even as he did his expression betrayed his bewilderment. “Y-you’re… um… I… you… you’re… someone really important to me…”

“Yeah, but how?” Mabel pressed. “How do you know me?”

Stepper stammered, shaking his head as he pressed a hand to his head, searching for an answer he couldn’t quite find. “I-I don’t know…” he admitted, his voice almost a whisper as he spoke. “I just… do…”

Mabel forced back a mournful sob at this, yet even so she rushed in to tightly embrace the fusion, who readily returned it, a fact that only served to strike at her aching heart even more than his answer already had. “It’s ok, Ste-bro,” she assured so quietly her voice was barely even audible. “I’ll help you figure it out.”

Even though he wasn’t entirely sure why, Stepper’s first thought was to thank her for her dedication, though he didn’t get much of a chance to before their hug was interrupted as something soft suddenly bumped into him from behind. “Huh?” he relinquished his hold on Mabel, turning to find the large pink beast standing behind him. “Ah! W-what is that thing?!” he exclaimed fearfully, rushing to take cover behind Mabel. 

“Uh, that’s just Lion,” Mabel said, stepping over to scratch the pink beast behind the ear. 

“Y-yeah, I know it’s a lion,” Stepper said, all four of his arms held in front of him defensively as he looked to Lion incredulously. “But why is it here? And why is it pink?”

“Wait,” Mabel frowned, pausing briefly to quiet Lion’s sudden quiet growling before she turned back to the fusion. “You mean… you don’t remember Lion either?”

“Uh, I’ve never seen that thing before,” Stepper said anxiously. “I’m pretty sure I would remember a huge pink lion.”

“But… Lion’s your…” Mabel trailed off before letting out a soft, stunned gasp. “Stepper’s never met Lion before…” she whispered, largely to herself. She was quick to shake the pressing thought of what or who else he might not remember away, instead taking the fusion by the hand once more to expedite their trip down to the Mystery Shack. “Come on,” she said, her tone rather solemn as they continued onward. “It looks like you’ve got more remembering to do than I thought…”

It didn’t take very long for the pair to reach the shack, with Lion trailing not too far behind them as he kept a close, somewhat distrustful watch on Stepper all the while. The fusion returned that watch, unsure of what the pink beast might do, even though Mabel assured him several times over that he was completely tame. Still, Lion was content enough to wait outside as Stepper and Mabel ventured inside the shack through the gift shop, though in doing so, they happened to encounter their pair of employees waiting around inside. 

“Oh! Mabel, you’re finally back!” Soos greeted with a smile as he took a break from sweeping. “How’s it goin’, hambone? Did you guys finally find Dipper and Steven?”

“From the looks of it, I’d say they did,” Wendy said, allayed as Stepper entered right behind Mabel. 

“Ah ah ah, correction, Wendy; that’s Stepper,” Soos pointed out. 

“Finally, someone gets it,” Stepper sighed somewhat wearily before he offered the pair a casual wave. “Hey, Soos. Hey, Wendy. What’s up?”

“Whaaaa?!” Mabel gasped, looking at the fusion in awe at this. “You remember Soos and Wendy but you don’t remember Lion?!”

“Uh… yeah, I guess?” Stepper said, still not sure of what the significance of that fact was. 

Though Mabel was baffled into silence at this, Soos and Wendy had their fair share of questions from the very start. “Whoa, hold on,” Wendy started first. “What do you mean remember?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t Stepper remember us?” Soos inquired, just as curious. “I mean, I know he’s a totally awesome Gem fusion, but he’s still Steven and Dipper, right?”

“Ugh… and there it is again…” Stepper muttered, crossing his lower arms upon hearing this bizarre claim once more. 

“Yeah, but… he’s the only one who doesn’t really think so anymore…” Mabel sighed sadly. “He doesn’t remember either of them. Or that he’s even a fusion at all…”

“What?!” Soos and Wendy exclaimed in shared alarm, both of them looking to Stepper in apt worry as they unloaded their flood of questions at a hectic pace. 

“So he doesn’t remember who he is? Dude…”

“What happened to him?”

“But he remembered us, so… what’s that all about?”

“Oh my gosh! Look at his gem! Who did that?”

“Does that hurt? Is he gonna be ok?”

“H-hey, I am ok,” Stepper finally spoke up to stem the tide of questions he had no answers for. “We’re-”

“We’re gonna get to the bottom of this and fix it,” Mabel cut him off, grabbing his arm once more as she began leading him through the gift shop. 

“Well, if you need any help, just ask,” Wendy offered firmly. 

“Yeah, anything for Steven and Dipper, dude,” Soos solidly agreed. 

But nothing for me, I guess… Stepper thought, not even bothering to voice the notion aloud this time. 

“Thanks, you guys,” Mabel called back as she continued pulling Stepper along. “We’ll keep you posted on what happens.”

Soos and Wendy offered the pair their well wishes as they headed out, with Mabel wasting no time in rushing upstairs to the attic with Stepper following not too far behind her. “Hey, Mabel?” he began tentatively as they arrived in the bedroom. “Can we, uh… talk for a second?”

“We sure can,” Mabel replied as she began looking through her half of the room. “Just as soon as I find--aha! Here it is!” She plopped down onto the rug on the floor with her summer scrapbook, motioning for Stepper to join her so he could take a look. “My scrapbook here is bound to help you remember something. Like this!” she pointed to a picture of Steven helping Dipper look through the journal quite some time ago. “This is the first picture I took of Steven and Dipper this summer. Back when we were trying to stop that red eye thingy from crashing into Gravity Falls. You remember that?”

“No, I… don’t,” Stepper shook his head, though Mabel was quick to continue. 

“O-ok, well, you’ve gotta remember this,” she turned to a page depicting all three of them playing with what seemed to be some sort of antique mirror. “When we found that mirror Lapis was trapped in and saved her? Then we saved the lake from her? Steven healed her and she went back to space, to Homeworld! And Dipper found her when she came back and me and him saved Steven and the Gems from Jasper and Peridot! It was huge, high-stakes, really dangerous, you’ve gotta remember that!”

“Mabel, I really wish I knew what you were talking about, but I don’t,” Stepper sighed, not recognizing a single moment among the countless photos she kept showing him. 

“Malachite! There’s no way you can’t remember Malachite!” Mabel kept going almost manically. “Dipper made a deal with Bill to try to free Lapis from her fusion with Jasper but Bill possessed his body. We saved him, and then it wasn’t too long after that that the portal Grunkle Stan was hiding under the shack opened and we met Grunkle Ford for the first time. Then we caught Peridot after she fused with Bill to make Pyrite; Steven and Dipper were the ones who stopped them! Then Dipper and the Gems stopped Malachite, while Peri, Steven, and I stopped the Cluster. We all saved the day! Everything should be fine now! B-but… it’s not…” She could feel her eyes growing wet with oncoming tears once more as she forced herself to look away from the proof of their triumph. A triumph that felt all but hollow now in light of what had just been lost. 

Stepper was quick to reach out a hand to comfort her, though he stopped short upon noticing one of the several pictures decorating the page of the scrapbook they were on. The same photo Mabel had shown him earlier at the temple, one of whom she had said were Steven and Dipper themselves. 

Carefully, while Mabel was distracted, Stepper lifted the photo out of the book to get a better view of it. He studied it carefully, taking in the pair of boys depicted on it, their shared smiles warm and cheerful as they stood with their arms resting on each other's shoulders. There was no doubt that, whoever they were, they were close, best friends perhaps, though he wasn’t quite sure. And while they did bear something of a passing semblance to him in different ways, even as Stepper stared at the photo for what felt like ages, not a single thing about either of these boys so much as minutely registered in his memories. He didn’t know them. He couldn’t be them. He wasn’t them. He knew that. 

And yet… he couldn’t deny the small burst of longing emptiness that filled him when he looked at them all the same. 

“Y-you can keep that if you want to,” Mabel suddenly spoke up, noticing just how captivated the fusion was by the photo. “Maybe it might help you remember them…”

Stepper didn’t respond to this, instead keeping his sights set on her as he tucked the photo safely away inside his vest. At the same time, Mabel took in a deep, steadying breath as she closed her scrapbook, a newfound smile overtaking her expression as she stood with another new idea in mind. 

“Well, if I can’t get you to remember, then maybe we can find someone else who can,” she concluded, grinning at Stepper as he also stood up. “And I just so happen to know a handful of people who are super important to Steven and Dipper that just might be able to help.”

“But Mabel, I-”

“I know you’re worried, Ste-bro,” Mabel said, taking his lower hands in hers. “T-to be honest, I am too. But I promise you, I’m not gonna rest until you’re back to who you’re supposed to be. Now let’s get going! We’ve got places to be and people to see!”

With that, Mabel ran off, leading the way and leaving Stepper with no real choice but to follow. Still, before he did, he hesitated, taking a moment to pull the photo of Steven and Dipper out one more time as he felt another wave of what almost felt like loneliness washed over him. Loneliness and perhaps, even a bit of bitterness as well. “Who I’m supposed to be…” he repeated softly to the photo, shaking his head before he ultimately put it away.

“Kon'nichiwa! You’ve reached Connie Maheswaran. I’m currently on a week-long vacation in Japan and don’t have international coverage, which is why I’m unable to answer your call at this time. Please leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I’ve returned to the country. Thank you and Sayōnara!”

“Ugh, of all the times for her to be on vacation…” Mabel muttered to herself as she listened to Connie’s voicemail before leaving her message. “Uh, h-hey, Connie. H-how’s Tokyo? Um, look, we’ve kind of got a bit of a… situation going on here, so if you do somehow manage to find somewhere where you have coverage before you get back, could maybe call me back, like… as soon as possible? Thanks, bye.”

Mabel let out a sigh as she hung up just as Stepper caught up with her along the trail that led toward town “Hey, who were you talking to?” he asked, curiously. 

“Connie,” she answered, letting out a sigh of disappointment. “Or at least I was trying to talk to her… It’s sort of hard to do since she’s on the other side of the ocean right now.”

“Connie…” Stepper repeated thoughtfully. “I know her.”

“You do?!” Mabel gasped with a bit of newfound hope. 

“Yeah,” the fusion nodded. “She was there during that race, just like you were, remember?”

“N-no, Stepper, she’s...” Mabel trailed off with a small sigh. “C-Connie’s one of our best friends. The four of us: me, Dipper, Steven, and Connie, we’re the Mystery Kids. You remember being one--or two I guess, of the Mystery Kids… right?”

“Mabel, I know you want me to say yes, but-”

“I-I know,” Mabel closed her eyes, largely in an attempt at blocking away tears. “You don’t. I-its ok. We’ll figure this out.”

“That’s what you keep saying…” Stepper muttered, rubbing one of his upper arms. 

“In fact, we might figure it out right now,” Mabel perked up as they finally arrived in town. Or rather, to the car wash sitting on the nearest edge of town. “Mr. Universe!?” she called as she ran up to the former rock star’s van and knocked on its back door. “Are you home?”

Fortunately, Greg was home as he burst out of the back of the van, disheveled and exhausted after days of a largely fruitless search for his missing son. “Oh! Mabel, it’s you,” he said, running a hand through his messy locks. “A-any word on the boys yet? Have the Gems found them?”

“Well, y-yeah, sort of…” Mabel replied rather anxiously as she glanced behind her to see Stepper joining them. “But…”

“Huh?” Greg looked to Stepper, initially confused before he quickly gathered who was standing before him. “Ohhh... I get it; they fused!”

“Heh, yeah…” Mabel let out an uncomfortable laugh. “Mr. Universe, t-this is Stepper.”

“Stepper, huh?” Greg said with a small sigh of relief as he stepped out of his van. “It’ve heard about you from Steven. Nice to finally meet you in person. And even better to see you’re both safe and sound.” 

At this, the fusion was caught off guard as the former rock star wrapped him into a tight, protective embrace. One that he didn’t really make any move to return. “Um… it’s nice to meet you too, sir,” he said stiffly, awkwardly even. 

“Sir?” Greg chuckled as he pulled away from the fusion, wiping away a few tears. “You don’t have to be so formal with me. I am your dad after all. I-in a way. Partially. I think? Hm…”

“Wait, you are?” Stepper asked, baffled by this information. 

“Yes…?” Greg’s smile was quick to disappear at this. “I mean, I’m definitely Steven’s dad, at least, so-”

“Uh, M-Mr. Universe?” Mabel interjected fretfully, hesitating to even deliver the horrific news to the former rock star at all. Even if she knew she had to. “Something happened and, um… well, Stepper doesn’t really… remember a whole lot right now. He doesn’t think he’s a fusion, a-and he doesn’t remember Steven or Dipper either…”

“W-what…?” Greg balked, aptly distraught as he looked Stepper over. “B-but he’s…” The former rock star let out a shaken gasp as he finally noticed the fusion’s fractured gemstone. “Y-your gem… what… what happened to it? Is this why y-you can’t…?”

Stepper had no answer for these almost tearful questions, though thankfully Mabel spoke to them instead. “It’s a… long story…” she sighed sadly. “Grunkle Ford and the Gems do think it is the reason why his memories are all wonky, b-but we’re trying to fix them, and I thought bringing him to you might help him at least remember Steven, but…”

“D-did it work?” Greg pressed, looking to Stepper with hope and desperation in his voice alike. “Do you remember me? D-do you remember Steven?”

Stepper could easily see the grief rising in the expression of the man standing before him, and though he couldn’t really claim to know this man, he still couldn’t help but feel guilty for that grief all the same. And yet, he didn’t dare lie to him, knowing that doing so, that giving him false hope for something that would ultimately be just an act, a falsehood, a meager attempt at replicating what he didn’t even truly believe he’d really lost. “N-no…” he admitted sympathetically, apologetically. “I don’t… I’m sorry.”

Try as he might, Greg was completely helpless against the heavy sob that escaped him as he collapsed to take a seat in the back of the van. His expression was rife with tearful grief as he averted his gaze away from the fusion that was partially composed of his son. His son, who didn’t remember his father, who didn’t even remember himself, it seemed. “W-why… how…” he choked out another sob, his face buried in his hands all the while. “H-how does he just… not remember who he is? T-that’s not how fusions work, r-right?”

“N-no, it’s not…” Mabel said quietly. “L-like I said, we don’t really know how this happened. B-but don’t worry; we’re all working on a way to figure this out and get his memories back. Aren’t we, Stepper?”

Stepper hesitated to give a proper answer to this, especially as he met Greg’s heartbroken gaze once more. While he had leaned into honesty earlier, the fusion couldn’t help but offer up something of a lie now, all in the hopes of easing that heartbreak at least a little. “R-right…” he said softly as he glanced away. 

“R-right,” Greg added with a small, resigned sigh. He offered the pair a grateful smile, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes, particularly as he regarded Stepper once more. “Uh… I-I...better go check in with the Gems about all this.” He stood to head to the front of the van, clearly struggling to be near his “son” in such a forgetful state. “I-I’ll see you kids around…” 

The former rock star didn’t see much else before getting into the van and driving off toward the temple, in the hopes of getting a more complete picture of what was happening from the Gems. As well as further reassurance that something was being done to fix it. At the same time, Mabel and Stepper set out from the car wash, their manner equally solemn as they began to wander out toward the lake with no real set purpose in mind.

“Mabel?” Stepper began as he stopped, his expression awash in fretful woe. 

“Yeah, Stepper?” 

“I… I feel bad for that Mr. Universe guy…” the fusion glanced back at the direction Greg’s van had gone. “He was so… sad, just like you and the Gems were before. A-and I know you’re going to tell me it’s not, but… I know i-it’s all my fault…”

“Stepper, no,” Mabel was quick to reassure him as she grabbed his lower set of arms. “None of this is your fault; it’s Bill’s! You’re not-”

“I’m not who you want me to be,” Stepper said quickly, firmly as he pulled his hands away. “I’m just not. I’m sorry.”

“N-no, you… you are, you just don’t remember-”

“Mabel, please,” Stepper stopped her, letting out an irritated huff as he did. “Can we just sto-”

“Mabel?!”

The tension rising between the two fell apart as quickly as the conversation itself did as this call reached them from just a short way down the street. “Pacifica!” Mabel shouted back to the heiress as she ran up to her, phone in hand. 

“I-I just got your text,” Pacifica began breathlessly. “You said you found him? You found Dipper?!”

“W-well, yeah…” Mabel began tentatively. “But Pacifica, he’s not-”

“Where is he?!” the heiress pressed, immensely concerned for her boyfriend’s wellbeing. “Is he ok? Is he… he…” She trailed off, her eyes wide and her jaw dropped in awe as she happened to glance over at the fusion. Or, as far as she knew, the strangely four-armed, yet very handsome young man standing alongside Mabel. “H-hey…” she greeted him, her face suddenly feeling hot for reasons she couldn’t begin to explain. 

“Hi,” he offered her a small wave and a smile, one that practically made her melt when she thought about who it reminded her of. 

“Oh, uh… P-Pacfica, this is Stepper-” Mabel filled in, though she was quickly interrupted. 

“Stepper…” Pacifica repeated in the form of a small, almost wistful sigh. “You look familiar…”

“You… don’t,” Stepper replied, his smile faltering somewhat. 

“She should be familiar, Stepper,” Mabel sighed tiredly. “Pacifica is Dipper’s girlfriend. A-and, well, you see, Pacifica, Stepper here is a fusion.”

“Oh?” Pacifica was barely listening, her sights still set on Stepper as she broke out into a soft, fond smile. 

“Yeah, h-he’s actually… Steven and Dipper.”

“Oh,” the heiress blinked, this information finally breaking her out of whatever unintentional trance the fusion had somehow put her under. “Oh! Oh. Ohhhh my gosh, this is… embarrassing.” Her already palpable blush deepened exponentially as she finally tore her flustered gaze away from Stepper. “I… mean, if that’s true, then you are technically my boyfriend, but you’re also not, a-and, ugh, this whole fusion thing is so confusing, I don’t know how any of you manage to keep it all straight.”

“Well, most of the time, it’s pretty easy, but this is a little… different,” Mabel said, biting her lip. “For starters, Stepper… doesn’t really remember who Steven and Dipper are right now. A-and… I don’t think he would know who you are either, Pacifica, since Stepper has never met you for himself until now.”

“W-what…?” Pacifica asked in newfound fear, especially as she met Stepper’s rather oblivious expression once more. That fear only grew as she realized the only boy she’d ever truly liked, perhaps even more than liked, might very well be lost to her forever. “You… don’t know who I am?”

Stepper faltered, seeing that familiar kind of grief well up in the heiress’ eyes. Grief that he kept bringing to just about everyone he encountered, it seemed. “I… no, I don’t…” he answered simply, averting her pleading gaze. 

Those words might as well have been knives for how sharp and painful they were when they hit Pacifica’s heart. She usually wasn’t one to openly display her emotions in public, but right now, there was no stopping the steady tears that fell as she realized her fears were all-too true. “H-how… how did this happen?” she asked Mabel, trying to make sense of something so unimaginable. 

“Well, Steven and Dipper got sucked into a portal to the Nightmare Realm, where Bill-”

“Wait, what?” Pacifica interjected, confused. “Nightmare Realm? Bill? What are you talking about?”

“Ugh, seriously? Dipper’s never told you about Bill before?” Pacifica shook her head, eliciting another exasperated groan out of Mabel as she facepalmed. “How many times have I told him? The key to a healthy relationship is communication. Even if that communication is about a crazy, vengeance-driven dream demon who stole his body and tried killing all of us!” Her manner was still quite severe as she turned to Stepper, who was every bit as out of the loop as Pacifica currently was. “As soon as you remember yourself, you’re getting a stern talking-to about this, mister!”

“Um… what?” Stepper asked, absolutely lost.

“Anyway,” Mabel took in a deep breath as she turned back to Pacifica. “The whole thing’s kind of a mess, but-” She stopped short as she heard a sudden loud choke of a sob escape the heiress. “P-Pacifica?”

For her part, Pacifica had taken Stepper’s lower hands into hers, her expression awash in misery as she stared up into his sympathetic, but unknowing eyes. Eyes that were a far cry from those of the boy she had fallen for, and yet... “Y-you… look so much like him…” she whispered mournfully. “B-but you’re not him… are you?”

Stepper nearly answered this, but just before he could, Mabel was quick to step in with some much-needed reassurance. “He is Dipper. And Steven,” she said firmly, almost as if she was trying to convince herself of that fact too. “And I promise that I’m doing everything I can to help him remember that. To help him remember everything.”

This promise did serve to ease Pacifica’s frayed nerves a bit, though far from entirely when she thought about the possibility that there was still a chance, however unbearable, that Dipper might be gone for good. “I-is there anything I can do to help?”

“I’ll let you know if there is,” Mabel said, pulling the heiress into a comforting hug, one that she surprisingly accepted in her dejected state. 

“Thank you…” Pacifica whispered as she parted from Mabel, only to catch Stepper by surprise with a sudden embrace before she left. “Come back to me…” she whispered to him, or rather, to Dipper, someone who couldn’t even hear her to begin with. “Please…”

Stepper had no idea what to even say to this, even as Pacifica pulled away from him, tears still in her eyes as she silently began to walk away. He felt guilty as he watched her go, and though he would have even liked to have said that he felt longing, he didn’t. Because he didn’t know her. Because he didn’t know them. Because he didn’t know much at all, it seemed. 

Mabel said nothing to him as she turned to continue on her way. And once again, Stepper found that he had no choice but to follow. 

The next part of Mabel’s plan wasn’t exactly the most solid, but it was still a plan all the same, one that involved taking Stepper around Gravity Falls in the hopes that familiar places might somehow jog his missing memories. They started downtown, passing by spots Steven and Dipper had once frequented, from Funland Arcade to Greasy’s Diner to Gravity Fries to the museum. For his part, Stepper hardly noticed any of the peculiar glances that were sent his way over his extra set of arms. Instead, he went along for the ‘Grand Gravity Falls Tour’ as Mabel put it, quietly appreciating the sights she showed him and the stories behind each one. Stories that she claimed he had been a part of, or his supposed halves had, rather, even if he didn’t remember a single one. 

The lake and the forest were by far his favorite stops along the tour however. The lake’s peaceful waters were a much-needed comfort after the hectic day he’d been having. If it had been up to him, he would have spent the rest of the afternoon soaking up the warm summer sun on their soft, sandy shores, staring out across the glistening water all the while. But then Mabel pulled him into the forest, filled with secrets and magic and surprises at every turn, or at least that’s what she told him. Stepper, however, felt a different kind of magic wafting through the trees, one that was perhaps a bit mythical, but every bit as special all the same. The easy summer breezes were gentle as they blew through the trees, lightly skimming his face every bit as much as the small specks of sunlight spilling in through the trees above did. And for what felt for the first time amidst the few memories he had to his name, he actually noticed that breeze, noticed the birds chirping on the branches above him, noticed the sweet scent of summer blossoms, notice the bright blue vibrancy of the handful of forget-me-nots he casually picked along the way. 

And as he noticed it all, he couldn’t help but think how lucky he was to be there amidst it all. To be himself, even with barely any memories to speak of, even with gaping, glaring holes in what few memories he did have. To be someone somewhere as beautiful as this. Each new moment he lived in, each new memory he created he couldn’t help but treasure between the far too few he’d had before. And the more memories he made, however minute and minuscule they might have been, he couldn’t help but want to make more. He couldn’t help but want to be more, to show everyone that he was more than just two faces he still couldn’t quite place. Two faces that everyone kept telling him he was when the only glimpse he’d ever had of them was by way of a simple faded photograph. 

Despite what everyone kept telling him, what everyone wanted out of him, Stepper couldn’t help but want to be nobody else other than himself. 

The sun was setting by the time the pair found themselves arriving back at the Mystery Shack, though they soon found that they weren’t the only ones doing so. For just as they were approaching the shack, a certain green Gem happened to suddenly faceplant right into the lawn before them. Peridot quickly recovered, however, pulling herself to her feet as she rushed over to Mabel first. 

“Maaaaaaabel! I received your textual communication via the ‘interweb’,” she frantically explained, pulling her tablet out. 

“Uh… you mean the email I sent you?” Mabel frowned, confused. 

“Yes!” Peridot nodded vigorously. “And it looks like it’s true. You really did find Steven and Dipper after all! Though do they really need to be fused into, ugh, the Stepper?”

“It’s good to see you too, Peridot,” Stepper regarded the green Gem almost dryly. 

“W-well, at least you remember Peri,” Mabel said to the fusion with something of a forced grin. 

“Remember me?” Peridot raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

Before Mabel could get a chance to explain, Lapis suddenly flew in, her manner tense and anxious as she let her aquatic wings disappear the moment she landed. “You said Dipper and Steven are back,” she grabbed Mabel by the shoulders, her eyes wide as they betrayed her clear worry just as much as her tone did. “We’ve been out looking for them all day and night. Are they ok? Where are they?!”

“Uh, well…” Mabel trailed off, unsure of how to explain the situation to Lapis, of all Gems, as she briefly glanced over at Stepper. 

“Wait, w-what?” the blue Gem’s gaze jumped to the fusion as well. “Who is this? What’s going on?”

“That’s the Stepper,” Peridot remarked, crossing her arms. 

“Stepper?” 

“H-he’s a fusion,” Mabel explained apprehensively. “O-Of… Dipper and Steven.”

Lapis gasped, taking a stumbling step back away from Stepper upon hearing this, even though her focus remained on him all the while. “W-what? D-Dipper and Steven can fuse? B-but how? Wait… w-why is their gem cracked?! Can’t they heal it like Steven did for mine?! Does it hurt? C-can you unfuse?! Can you-”

“Um… a-actually, Lapis,” Mabel winced, well aware of the panic welling up in the blue Gem’s eyes. “S-Stepper can’t unfuse right now. N-not with his gem like, well, t-that…”

Lapis shuddered, gripping the fusion’s upper arms tightly as she pleaded with him almost painfully. “C-can either of you hear me in there?!” she asked tightly, desperately as Stepper met her anxious gaze with startled surprise. “It’s ok! You can unfuse! You don’t have to be stuck together like I was stuck to-” She cut herself off, shaking her head against the remnant terror even just thinking of Malachite always managed to bring her. “P-please, just… unfuse, for me. I need to see you, both of you. Please.”

Stepper frowned at this, faced with another pang of guilt he had no idea how to ease as he pulled himself away from the frantic blue Gem. “I-I’m sorry but… do I know you?” 

“Oh no…” Mabel whispered worriedly as she watched Lapis freeze up in shock over such a piercing question. 

“W-what… what are you talking about?” the blue Gem asked, her entire body trembling with dread by this point. “O-of course you know me. Both of you do! It’s me: Lapis! R-remember?!”

“I-I don’t, but please, d-don’t feel bad about that,” Stepper tried to ease her obvious despair. “I’ve been meeting a lot of new people today, so-”

“I’m not a new person, NOT to either YOU!” Lapis shouted at him, suddenly furious as she turned to interrogate Mabel. “What’s the matter with them!? What happened?!”

“I-it was Bill,” Mabel answered, flinching over just how enraged Lapis was amidst her grief. At the same time, she heard Peridot let out a poignant squeak of fear the moment the dream demon’s name was so much as mentioned, understandable after what he’d put her through before. 

“T-that demon Dipper told me about the other day?” Lapis asked, her eyes narrowing. 

“Y-yeah,” Mabel nodded gravely. “Steven and Dipper got sucked into his dimension a-and they must have fused to try and fight him b-but… he cracked Stepper’s gem and we’re thinking that might have done something to his memories? But… we’re not sure. I’ve been working on helping him remember stuff all day, but-”

“H-he did this to them…” Lapis suddenly spoke, her voice but a low, intense whisper as her hands tightened into tense fists at her sides. “Wasn’t it enough for that… that monster to steal Dipper’s body?! He had to crack Steven’s gem too!? And now he’s got them both trapped... in a fusion of all things, without any of their memories?!” Lapis’ breathing was harsh and heavy as she paced around hotly, her hands pressed against her head as her anger only seemed to rise toward a rapid boiling point. 

“L-Lapis?” Peridot dared to speak up, reaching a trembling hand toward the blue Gem, though it never reached her. 

“We have to get their memories back,” Lapis said rigidly, still absolutely livid as she spun around to face the others. “And we have to make him pay for what he’s done to them. I wasn’t around to protect them from him before but I am not about to let him get away with hurting either of them any more!”

“L-Lapis…” Mabel attempted to interact before Peridot spoke up in her place. 

“A-are you crazy?!” she asked, terrified and incredulous. “You can’t just go up against someone like…” she hesitated, letting the dream demon’s name out in a feeble whisper, lest he was somehow listening in. “B-Bill Cipher. He’s a madman! A lunatic, who-”

“I don’t care!” Lapis snapped fiercely. “I told Dipper that I would never let that guy mess with him again, and I meant that. I don’t care if I have to go face him all by myself, I will, for them, to get back what they lost. Wouldn’t you?”

Peridot flinched at such a harshly asked question, one that she was hard pressed to answer given her prior daunting experience with the dream demon in question. “I-I…” she hesitated, and that was all the ammunition Lapis needed. 

“Don’t you care about them?!” she accused, overwhelmed by her fury more than anything else. Fury that she had to place somewhere, even if she couldn’t actually fire it at the one who really deserved it at the moment. “Don’t either of them matter to you?! Why wouldn’t you want to do anything in your power to help them!?”

“I-I do!” Peridot protested earnestly. “O-of course I do! I-I want to help them, just like you do, but I-I just… I… I can’t…”

“Why not?” Lapis hissed between gritted teeth. 

Peridot paused, her eyes wide with fear as she glanced over at Mabel. For her own part, Mabel was quite shaken by the intensity of the ongoing argument, as was Stepper, even if he was largely lost when it came to its subject. Still, Mabel offered Peridot a silent nod of solidarity, prompting her to finally have a discussion with Lapis that she’d been trying to avoid since they’d moved into the barn together. A discussion she’d been trying to avoid having with anyone, really. 

“S-Stepper, it’s… getting kinda late,” Mabel whispered to the fusion as she began to lead him back toward the shack. “W-we should head inside…”

Stepper didn’t argue, though as he left with Mabel, he did cast a silent, sympathetic glance over his shoulder at the pair of Gems that remained outside as Peridot began to weave a story of woe that she believed was best left forgotten. “I-I… suppose I just come right out and say it…” the green Gem glanced down guiltily. “I’ve… fused with… with Bill Cipher before…”

Needless to say that Lapis was stunned upon hearing this, her former fury stalled as an entirely new type of anger filled in its place. “You… what?” she asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper. 

“I-It was a mistake! A-a complete and total mistake that I’m incredibly ashamed of, you need to know that above all else!” Peridot implored her anxiously. “H-he promised me he’d get me back to Homeworld, h-he said he was working in league with the Diamonds (and he is by the way, that’s just about the only thing he wasn’t lying about). But he-””

“A-and you said yes?! You let him fuse with you?!” Lapis asked, baffled. 

“I-I understand how foolish it sounds in retrospect, b-but at the time, Pyrite seemed like the perfect proposition!” Peridot took a nervous step back. “I-it wasn’t of course, e-especially after he took control a-and forced me to the wayside. H-he essentially trapped me inside my own gem with him! T-that’s just what he does, from what I’ve heard. He traps you in situations you can’t get out of, n-not without having to ask him for his “help”. That’s what he did to me, a-and I’m willing to bet that’s what he did to Steven and Dipper too…”

Lapis’s anger finally cooled somewhat at this, her expression falling into sudden solace at this as she let out a long, remorseful sigh over her previous thoughtless behavior. “P-Peridot, I… I had no idea…” she said quietly. “I’m… I’m sorry…”

“You’re not the one who needs to be sorry,” Peridot’s manner turned resolved as she offered the blue Gem a supportive smile. “I-I may not be strong or brave enough to face Cipher again, but Lapis, you… I know you are, for both of us! If there’s anyone who can help Steven and Dipper now, it’s you. Well, and Mabel and Garnet and Amethyst and Pearl and Ford and--”

“Ok, ok, I get it,” Lapis said with a small chuckle. 

“B-but I also want you to know that I’m willing to do whatever I can to help on this end of things,” Peridot affirmed. “So, what do you say we figure out how to take a dastardly demon down a peg?”

“I’m in,” Lapis readily agreed, calling upon her wings before she took Peridot’s hands and hoisted her up into the air. And together, both Gems headed off toward the Crystal Temple, hoping that they weren’t too late to join the cause to stop Bill and save Steven and Dipper in the process. 

For the rest of the evening, neither Stan nor Ford were anywhere to be found; the same could be said of the Gems, and though Mabel half wanted to look for them, she knew she had nothing new to report to them anyway. Stepper’s lack of memories was still just as apparent as it had been from the time they’d found him earlier that day. A painful reminder that only got all the more agonizing whenever she happened to bring up something the fusion had no recollection of, only to receive yet another blank stare, another question of confusion, another piece of proof that he had lost touch with who he really was. 

So eventually, Mabel stopped trying, at least for tonight, as exhaustion finally began to catch up with her. After all, while Steven and Dipper had been missing, she hadn’t exactly been getting the best sleep, if any at all. And though she still felt incredibly restless and anxious, she knew weighing herself down by tiredness would do nothing to help Stepper, Steven, or Dipper alike. So she decided to turn in early for the night, encouraging Stepper to do the same as she led him back up to the attic. 

“S-so… it’s been a pretty long, less than successful day, b-but that alright,” Mabel let out a sharp breath as she jumped up onto her bed. “We can always keep trying tomorrow and who knows? Maybe a good night’s sleep will help you out in the memory department.”

“Uh… right…” Stepper said halfheartedly as he took to the empty bed across from her. He slipped off his vest and cap and made an attempt at laying out on the bed, only for his legs to end up dangling over the edge rather substantially. “Huh. Bed’s too short…”

“Ha! That’s exactly what we said!” Mabel chuckled as she began to tuck herself in. 

“What who said?”

Mabel’s fond smile was quick to fade at this, not even really needing to ask herself whether or not Stepper would even remember Maven in his current state. After all, the only thing he really seemed to remember in any sort of detail was himself. “N-no one…” she said with a small, sad sigh as she rolled onto her other side to face away from the fusion. “It’s... no one…”

“Mabel?” Stepper pressed, though he received no answer from her this time. So instead, he let out a soft sigh of his own as he turned the desk lamp off and laid down, his feet still hanging off the edge of the bed as all four of his hands rested against his chest. Briefly, he glanced down at the cracked gemstone on his stomach, its fractured, dull pink looking paler than ever against the moonlight shining in through the window above him. 

He wasn’t sure he entirely believed in his connections to the people who claimed to know him that he’d never even seen before and he sincerely doubted the idea of him being a fusion between two boys he didn’t know a thing about. But if there was one thing Stepper was certain of, it was the deep, unhealable crack in the stone on his gut. A crack that he hadn’t the faintest idea about where it came from. Everyone claimed that “Bill” person was responsible for it, but Stepper didn’t know him, didn’t know anything of him other than the claim that he was bad news and everyone who knew of him seemed to hate him relentlessly. And even if that was what everyone was claiming, Stepper still wanted to know for himself, still wanted to reclaim that apparently missing memory above all else. Because unlike his supposed identity as “Steven” and “Dipper” there was at the very least, actual proof that crack actually existed--he didn’t need to look any further than his stomach for that. Yet for as present as the crack itself was, it was still such a mystery to him, a mystery that he wanted to solve, that he felt like he needed to solve to fill that lingering, aching sense of emptiness within him. Far more than he needed to know the two boys everyone kept telling him he was. 

And then, suddenly, completely out of nowhere, a flash. A sharp and sudden gasp he took in as a burst of unknown, yet somehow familiar pain seized him. And with that pain, with that gasp, came that flash, like a dream, no a memory of something he didn’t recognize, something he didn’t know. Something sharp and dark, plummeting toward him, toward his gem as it touched it. As it slammed into it. 

As it cracked it.

And that was it. That was all he saw, all he was allowed to see. Because just like that it was over and he was back in the present, back in the bedroom, back in the mystery that left him perplexed and distressed and confused, feelings he’d been awash in all day. The only positive he could see was that the brief bout of pain he’d felt faded as though it had never fallen upon him whatsoever. But that hardly left him comforted when he considered where it had come from to begin with. He noticed that a few more cracks expanded over his skin surrounding his gem, thin pink lines tracing across his stomach as they further fractured a story that he only had the sparsest of pieces of. 

A story, a mystery he wondered if he’d ever truly be able to piece together to create the complete picture to.

Staying up all night was hardly anything new to either the Gems or Ford; it was something they had used to do together quite frequently back in their days of working on the portal together, however ill-fated that work ended up being. But their latest all-nighter had been spent on a much more important cause to all of them; namely, figuring out exactly what had happened to Stepper and how to fix it. 

“What do ya mean you don’t know?!” Amethyst huffed in extreme annoyance. The Gems stood anxiously by while Ford paced around his lab in the shack’s lowest level, his intensive search through all of his notes proving to be rather fruitless by most accounts. “Aren’t you supposed to know like, everything there is to know about Bill? You guys were good buddies back in the day after all, right?”

“I would hardly say that,” Ford scoffed bitterly. “And besides, Bill is an enigma, his true intentions in any given situation are anyone’s guess--well, aside from the fact that they’re always self-serving.”

“But what would Bill have to gain by doing this to Stepper?” Pearl asked, desperate for any sort of answers at this point. 

“His gem,” Garnet guessed. “Steven did say Bill tried taking it from him in his dream once before. Though we still don’t know why he’d want it in the first place.”

“But if Steven’s gem was what Bill was after, then certainly he would have taken it while he had the boys alone, without anyone to protect them,” Ford shook his head. “And I hate to even think about it, but it would have been easy for him to do so in the Nightmare Realm. He isn’t confined to the immaterial plane there like he would be here.”

“But he didn’t take the gem,” Pearl mused worriedly. “He cracked it… If he wants it so badly, why would he damage it on purpose? It doesn’t make any sense! Then again, considering this is Cipher we’re talking about, that’s hardly surprising…”

“Ok, so let’s just say Bill doesn’t want Steven’s gem after all,” Amethyst interjected, her arms crossed as she leaned up against a wall. “Why would he mess with Stepper’s memories and then just send him back here? I mean, the guy totally hates all of us, including Steven and Dipper. If he really wanted to mess with us in just about the worst way possible, he could have-”

“We know, Amethyst,” Ford interrupted, raising a hand to stop her before she could even voice such an awful thought aloud. “We know…”

“The crack in his gem must be connected to his lost memories and sense of identity,” Garnet theorized carefully. “But a fusion forgetting they are a fusion… it’s something I’ve even heard of before. The only explanation for that I can think of could be that Stepper’s mostly human. And that the crack is no longer damaging him physically only thanks to Rose’s fountain. But his mind… his memories… are still every bit as fractured as his gem itself is…”

“So… all we gotta do is figure out a way to heal his mind then?” Amethyst proposed, hopeful. “Easy.”

“So far that’s turning out to be easier said than done based on how Stepper was acting earlier…” Pearl noted fretfully. “As far as he was apparently concerned, Steven and Dipper might as well have not even ever existed!”

“He’s got to remember them eventually,” Garnet sighed, adjusting her shades. “That could be first and the only key to solving this.”

“A-and if it isn’t?” Amethyst dared to ask. It was a question none of the others even had an answer to however, for the possibility that Stepper simply remembering who he truly was not being enough to save him, to save them, was almost just as unimaginable as him not remembering them at all. 

“Regardless, I’m still troubled by Bill’s role in all this,” Ford continued with a sigh as he sank into his seat at the desk before where the portal had once sat. “He’s an absolute sadist, sure, but I don’t think he would have cracked Stepper’s gem without a reason, especially if he considers that gem to be a prize for him to obtain eventually. He had to have an ulterior motive, something else that he wants to…” The author trailed off, his eyes growing wide as he glanced up at the small desk cabinet just in front of him. A cabinet which was currently home to something else he knew without a doubt Bill wanted to get his hands on. 

“Stanford?” Pearl inquired, concerned. 

“I-I… I think I know why Bill did this…” Ford muttered, his tone shaken as grief started to slip into it. Grief over a secret he found he could keep no longer, at least not from the Gems. Not after what the burden of that secret had apparently done to two boys he cared so deeply about. “A-a few weeks ago I decided to entrust both Dipper and Steven with the knowledge of something I haven’t told anyone else about… until now…”

The Gems exchanged a confused glance as they watched Ford unlock his desk cabinet, only to pull out something that stunned all three of them alike. “Whoa…” Amethyst’s jaw dropped at the sight of the small, contained mass of moldable space. 

“F-Ford…” Pearl gasped, shocked by its sheer radiance. 

“That’s…” Garnet trailed off, shaking her head in disbelief. 

“I-its an interdimensional rift torn in space time,” Ford explained solemnly, his grip on the rift tight and secure. “I discovered it after dismantling the portal a-and of course I immediately did my best to contain it but… it still stands as a way, however small, for Bill to get into our dimension, just as much as the portal was before it. And, well… I don’t put torturing Steven and Dipper to get information as to its whereabouts out of them past Bill, quite frankly. So-”

“So you just knew about this incredibly dangerous rift all this time, and you didn’t even think to tell us about it?!” Pearl asked hotly, Garnet and Amethyst clearly sharing her frustration right off the bat. 

“Of course, I thought about it,” Ford countered as sternly as he could, though he knew defending his decision was going to be difficult. “I just… didn’t. Obviously.”

“But you told Steven and Dipper about it!” Amethyst pointed out harshly. “You know, two kids. What did think they were gonna do to protect this dumb thing if Bill ever came after it? Yeah, I know they can both fight and fuse, but come on, man, what were you thinking?!”

“I was thinking it was the right thing to do,” Ford said, desperately trying to believe that was still true, that it still was. But considering Stepper’s current condition… he didn’t entirely think that was a conviction he’d be able to hold onto for much longer. “I-I… I just thought that the fewer knew about it, the less danger it would pose.”

“You thought wrong,” Garnet finally spoke, her tone rigid, livid. She took a sudden step forward, catching the author off guard as she grabbed him by the collar of his sweater to hoist him up out of his seat. “Because look at where we are now, Stanford. Look at what’s happened to Stepper, to Steven and Dipper! He’s cracked, broken, stuck together; he doesn’t even remember who he’s made of! By burdening those boys--our boys--with this kind of dangerous information, you forfeited their safety. By not telling us about the rift in their stead, by not trusting us like you should have, you kept us from protecting them. And in doing so, you showed how little you really care about either of them. And how selfish you really are.”

With this, Garnet shoved Ford back into his seat, leaving him stunned and speechless as she began to make her way toward the elevator with Pearl and Amethyst following right behind her. None of the Gems had anything more to say to the author, yet he still wasn’t quite done as he carefully put the rift away and began to trail after them. “W-wait,” he implored, his voice weak and weary. The Gems did stop just as the elevator opened before them, each of them sending a cold glare back his way. Ford didn’t make much of an effort to apologize, knowing that such an effort would be meaningless against what they were facing. So instead, he made a request that he knew he had no business even asking of them, especially not now. Yet for the sake of the greater good, that’s exactly what he did anyway. “I… Please, d-don’t tell anyone else about the rift. Until we figure out a way to neutralize it for good, like I said before, it’s safer, less exposed, if fewer people know about its existence…”

For what seemed like ages, the Gems didn’t respond to this plea, but in the end, Garnet simply nodded her cold affirmation to it. “Whatever,” Amethyst also agreed with a quiet scoff. “Guess your stupid secret’s safe with us.”

“Yes,” Pearl said bitterly as all three of the Gems piled into the elevator to leave the author behind. “At least then, no one else can stand to get hurt simply from knowing about it like Steven and Dipper already have…”

And indeed, they already had been, something that Ford lamented as he was left alone in the empty darkness of his lab. The boys had been hurt, damaged, forgotten, possibly even beyond the point of remembrance by the very fusion they were both a part of. And for as much as Ford would have wanted to blame Bill for all of that, at the end of the day, he knew the Gems were right; he only really had himself to blame. 

“Okey-dokey, Ste-bro,” Mabel was bright and cheery as ever the next morning as she bounded downstairs, with Stepper following a decent pace behind her. “We’re officially back on what I like to call “Memory Patrol”. I’ve got a whole day planned out that’ll get you back to remembering everything in no time. And that day starts with a delicious morning meal with all of Steven and Dipper’s favorite breakfast treats! Grunkle Stan!” 

This call was easily enough to startle Stan awake from his spot in the recliner in the living room. The book he’d checked out of the library the previous day entitled “Memory Loss: Treatment and Talking About It With Loved Ones” fell off his face as he bolted upright in alarm. “Ugh, huh…? What is it? You need somethin’, pumpkin?” he asked Mabel as she poked her head into the den. 

“Yeah! I need you to help me put together the best breakfast ever,” she grinned as she ran over to pull him out of his seat. “One that’s gonna be the trick to getting Stepper to remember everything, I just know it!”

“Wait… you mean the poor kid still doesn’t remember who he is?” Stan asked incredulously, sparing a worried glance at the aforementioned fusion as Mabel dragged him toward the kitchen. “...What the heck am I gonna tell your parents?” 

“You won’t have to tell ‘em anything ‘cause we’re fixing all of this today,” Mabel proclaimed, confident yet largely more hopeful that they would. Because if they didn’t, if they couldn’t… she couldn’t even stand to think about what would happen. “Now c’mon. Let’s get cooking!”

For his part, Stepper didn’t join the pair in the kitchen as they began prepping breakfast. Instead, he took to casually wandering around the shack, not having any real destination in mind, even as he eventually made it to the gift shop. He couldn’t help but smile a bit as he looked over the various nick-nacks and chachkies stocked up on display, though he did stop upon finding one certain shelf containing several hats, caps to be precise, much like the very one he was wearing. One of those hats in particular happened to catch his eye, one that, instead of being noticeably blank like his was, bore the prominent image of a blue pine tree upon it. Stepper picked it up, examining that pine tree with a sense of what almost felt like nostalgia, that persistent feeling of emptiness starting to spark within him once more. 

And then, another flash, this time in sound that seemed to echo from nowhere and everywhere all at once as pain flushed out from his gemstone once more. 

“Pine Tree.” “Rose Bud.”

“Pine Bud.” “Rose Tree.”

He stumbled back, the hat falling out of his grip as he pressed a hand to his head. The sharp, vibrant pain was gone but he remembered it vividly, though what had come along with it was still nothing more than a mystery covered by a mist that was far too thick for him to even try to see through. Just as so many things seemed to be for him, really. 

Stepper was startled once more, this time by the vending machine on the other side of the gift shop opening up almost like a door. As confused by that alone as he was, Stepper watched as the Gems emerged from that doorway, their expressions mutually exhausted and frustrated, for reasons the fusion could only really begin to guess. “H-hey, you guys,” he greeted the trio with a small smile. “Is everything ok?”

The Gems let out a shared, tired sigh at this as they all looked to Stepper sadly. “Eh… gotta admit, it would be a little better if you could actually remember anything about Steven and Dipper,” Amethyst admitted, catching a glare from Pearl for being so overt and tactless. “Any luck with that, dude?”

Stepper frowned, taking in the Gems’ weary manner as he wished there was actually something he could do to ease it instead of add onto it for a change. “...Would you all feel better if I said yes?”

There was another sigh, namely from Pearl and Amethyst this time as Garnet shook her head, placing a consoling hand on the fusion’s shoulder. “You don’t need to lie to appease us, Stepper,” she said, offering him a small, encouraging smile. “If nothing else, we’re just happy to have you safely back from the Nightmare Realm.”

“The Nightmare Realm…” Stepper repeated, his eyes wide with newfound curiosity. “That’s where you guys said my gem was cracked right? Could you maybe tell me more about what happened there?”

“We really… can’t, Stepper, we weren’t there…” Pearl began, though her eyes grew wide as a sudden pertinent realization struck her. “But YOU were! And if you can remember everything that you’ve been through as a fusion, then certainly you must at least still have some memories of what happened to you there!”

“B-but… I already told you, I don’t-”

“Stepper,” Garnet interjected as she placed both of her hands firmly on his shoulders, following along with Pearl’s plan. After all, in light of everything else, it was really the only thing they could possibly attempt at this point. “Listen carefully. We need you to try to remember what happened to you in the Nightmare Realm.”

“W-what?” Stepper asked, daunted by such a task. “I… can’t, I don’t even know what that place is, much less what might have happened there.”

“You do,” Garnet insisted, her grip on his shoulders tightening out of the slightest bit of desperation. “Somewhere deep in your mind, the memory of it still has to exist. And that memory might be the only way we can figure out what happened to you, to your gem, and to your memories. So please, try to think about what happened… so we can help you.”

While Stepper largely believed what the Gems were asking of him to be impossible, he was hard pressed to say no to their pleading gazes. Almost as if all of their hopes for answers rested solely on his shoulders. And really, seeing as how he was looking for many of the same answers too, he knew he at least owed it to them and to himself to at the very least make the attempt, however difficult it might be. “O-ok… I’ll try…”

Unsure of how to proceed, Stepper opted to close his eyes and take in a deep breath, blocking everything else out as he only focused on thoughts of the Nightmare Realm, a place he didn’t know, didn’t remember. And for what seemed like ages, no memories were seeming to come to him until… 

Another flash, another burst of pain, far more intense than before as his broken gemstone seemed to pulse with agony both internally and externally. And with that flash and that pain came the memory he’d been searching for, for the first time clear as crystal as it played out in beats, like a song without a melody. Like a tune his heart had forced him to forget. 

“What I want is something only you can give me, Rose Tree…”

Shield-

“W-why would you want that?”

-Journal.

“I just wanna see you lose your prized, precious weapon for good."

Shield-

“Sounds like a small price to pay to see your friends and family again and NOT die a slow, painful death in a literal nightmare dimension, dontcha think?”

-Journal.

“I'd rather lose that book forever then lose you forever…"

Shield-

“That's it, right? Nothing more along with it? No strings attached?”

-Journal.

“None at all, Rose Tree! You’ll be home before you know it.”

Shield-

“But… if all I stand to lose is my shield journal for a chance to go home and get as far away from you as possible, then… I’ll take it…”

-Journal.

“I knew we'd be able to work something out, Pine Bud. Now… pay up."

And he did. He paid the price for his return. A price that cost him far more than he ever could have imagined…

“My shield journal!” Stepper gasped, practically falling onto the floor as he was forced out of that horrific memory. Garnet caught him just in time to keep him steady, but even so, the fusion was trembling, the cracks across his stomach expanding even more, just as they had last night, though he was really the only one to notice. “M-my journal…” he repeated, his eyes wide with panic as he continued reeling from what he’d just seen. “I-it’s gone…”

“What?!” Pearl and Amethyst exclaimed in baffled unison. 

“But… how? Can’t you just summon it like you always do?” Amethyst asked incredulously. 

“N-no, I… I don’t have it anymore,” Stepper explained hectically as Garnet helped him stand properly once more. “I gave it away to some… triangle guy. H-he only had one eye and he-”

“B-Bill…” Pearl interrupted, terror and disdain mingling in her tone. “You… you gave your weapon away to Bill?”

“That was Bill?” Stepper asked, still largely unfamiliar with the being his memories had shown him. “But… he said he’d help me get home if I gave him my journal, and… I am home, right? So… he did what he said.”

“No, he didn’t,” Ford suddenly broke into the conversation that he’d been listening in on from the other side of the vending machine door. As he emerged from it, the Gems all offered him brief, bitter glances, though he didn’t speak to any of them as he kept his focus on Stepper, hoping to at least try to set right all of the things he’d done wrong. “Bill lied to you, Stepper, just like he lies to everyone. He may have somehow gotten you back to this dimension, but by taking your shield journal away from you, I fear he might have stripped you of your very identity in the process.”

“My identity…?” Stepper asked, confused. “Uh… how? It’s just a book, right?”

“...Stepper, tell me, what do you remember when it comes to your shield journal?”

“Uh… well, I know how to make shields using it… and… um…”

“Do you happen to remember what’s actually on the pages of that journal?” Ford pressed, though unfortunately, Stepper had no answer other than a small shake of his head. “Just as I feared… Stepper, your shield journal is very unique when it comes to other fusion weapons. Based on what I was able to study of it before, it’s pages are composed entirely of information about you, or rather, about who you’re made of. Half of it is about Steven, while the other half is about Dipper. I have reason to believe it’s tied not just to your gem, but your mind, your very existence as a fusion.”

“But I’m not-”

“I don’t know how we didn’t think of this before…” Ford interrupted, still intent on his developing theory as he delivered his final, grim verdict. “Don’t you all see? That journal tells the complete story of who Steven and Dipper are on their own, and joining those stories together makes them Stepper. So when Bill took the journal away from him, he also took away all those stories, every ounce of knowledge Stepper once had of either of his component halves. He didn’t just take away Stepper’s memories of Steven and Dipper. He took away their very identities altogether.”

This information hit all three of the Gems hard, each of them stunned into silence as they tried to make sense of such a horrific thought. The thought that Steven and Dipper were far more lost than they ever could have realized. 

“His gem,” Garnet spoke first, her tone tight and barely restraining the tranquil fury she was feeling. “That’s why it’s still cracked. The fountain may have healed the worst of it, but it couldn’t restore what he’s lost. Without that journal, without Steven and Dipper… Stepper is incomplete.”

“I-Incomplete?” Stepper interjected, alarmed by the very implication. 

“That’s bound to be what’s keeping him from unfusing too…” Ford noted gravely. “There’s nothing left for him to unfuse into.”

“But I already told you all,” Stepper attempted to speak up. “I can’t-”

“But,” Ford cut him off as he began running with another, much more hopefully theory. “If we were to get his journal back to him, then there’s reason to believe that might be enough to restore his knowledge of his halves, fix his gem, and help him unfuse all in one fell swoop.”

“Whoa, hold on-” Stepper tried to break into the conversation once again, but by this point he’d all but been forced out of it entirely. 

“So what?” Amethyst asked. “Are we just supposed to take a trip into the Nightmare Realm and beat the bricks outta Bill until he hands the book back over to us?”

Ford sighed, far from keen on the idea of venturing back to a place he had such awful memories of, even if he knew such a trip was extremely necessary now. “At this point, I’m not sure what other options we have…”

“B-but… how would we even get to the Nightmare Realm?” Pearl asked, daunted by the very thought of facing off against Bill in his domain. “The portal’s gone, a-and that rift…”

“We can’t risk that,” Ford quickly shot the idea down. “But we could always use the rift’s energy signature to lock onto the Nightmare Realm’s location… All we’d really need to get there is a makeshift wormhole stabilizer to create a temporary portal that would be up just long enough to get us in and out of Nightmare Realm, a few hours in our time at the very most.”

“Well… that shouldn’t be completely out of the question…” Pearl mused. “After all, we did send Peridot and Lapis back to the barn to salvage whatever materials they could from the drill, right, Garnet?”

The Gem leader nodded, her future vision, even as spotty as it had been during this entire situation, thankfully proving serviceable and spot-on in this instance. “I knew doing that would come in handy.”

“W-wait, can we just… slow down for a minute?” Stepper asked, taking a step forward in the hope that he wouldn’t go unnoticed this time. “Didn’t you say this Bill guy is really dangerous? If that’s true, then why would you want to go and pick a fight with him?”

“Uh, weren’t you listening, dude?” Amethyst asked, hands on her hips. “We gotta get your journal back!”

“That’s right,” Ford nodded, resolved. “It might be the only way for us to help you, Stepper.”

“Help me?” Stepper asked with a small scoff. “How would any of you risking your lives help me?!”

“It could help you remember who you are,” Garnet explained evenly, even though she was the first to pick up on the fusion’s rising frustration. “Who you’re supposed to be.”

As the Gem leader reached out a hand to place on his shoulder, Stepper harshly pulled himself out of her reach. “I am who I’m supposed to be!” he protested hotly. “That’s what I keep trying to tell everyone, but none of you will listen to me!”

“S-Stepper, please, don’t get upset,” Pearl said cautiously. “We know you don’t remember who Steven and Dipper are right now, but if you did, then you’d understand that they’re what makes you you.”

“No, they’re not!” Stepper countered, all four of his hands in tight fists. “How many times do I have to tell you? I am not a fusion! I’m especially not a fusion of two people I don’t even know!”

“Uh, yeah, you are,” Amethyst argued with a scowl.

“I’m not!” Stepper retorted bitterly. “Do any of you realize just how unfair all this is to me?! You all are asking me to be someone I know I’m not! Someone I can’t be because the only thing I know how to be is myself!”

“Stepper, that’s enough,” Garnet said, her tone as cold as ice. “You’re being irrational. You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“I don’t think you know what you’re saying!” Stepper accused, absolutely livid by this point. He knew he was going too far, he knew the ground he was standing on was shaky at best, but he couldn’t help it, he wouldn’t stop. He was tired of being silenced and refused to let his own voice go unheard any longer. “Even if I ever was a fusion, which I’m not, I don’t know who Steven and Dipper are! And I won’t let you all sacrifice yourselves just so you can force me to become who you think I should be! Why won’t any of you just let me have a say in what happens to me?!”

“Because, Stepper, you just… don’t understand,” Ford shook his head dismissively. “You don’t have the complete picture, you don’t know-”

“I know plenty,” Stepper hissed intensely. “I know who I am. I know who I want to be. I may not have a lot of memories right now, but I want to make more! I want to see so many things, I want to do so much, I want to become someone on my own. I-I don’t want to be Dipper or Steven or whoever else you keep trying to tell me I am. I want to be Stepper. I want to be me.”

“Stepper, you can’t stay like this,” Garnet insisted, her tone severe and stern. “You’re cracked, damaged, in gem, body, and mind. You will never be whole as long as you exist as you are now.”

“You’re wrong!” Stepper shouted, furious as he felt like the others were all backing him into a corner. A corner he would not let them trap him into, not anymore. “I can be whole, I am whole! Why can’t any of you just see that?! Oh, I know, it’s because you’re all so obsessed with Dipper and Steven, whoever they are, to the point that I don’t even matter, right?!”

“Don’t be absurd,” Pearl chastised, though her voice was trembling even as she said it. “You do matter to all of us, Stepper, but-”

“But only because you think I’m them,” Stepper surmised crossly, glaring away from all of them. “Well, I’m only going to say this one more time: I am not them. And even if there’s a chance I ever was them, I’m not going back to being them, ever! I’m staying just like I am, and if that means Steven and Dipper are gone, then… then I guess they’re just gone! For good!”

Before any of the others could even try to argue with this, the sudden clamor of shattering glass abruptly cut through the tension of the room. Everyone was quick to turn to the gift shop entrance, only to find Mabel standing in the threshold, the spilled remains of the now broken breakfast plate she’d dropped on the floor lying at her feet. Yet even so, her sights were set on Stepper and Stepper alone, tears brimming in her eyes as even more continued to fall over everything she’d just heard. Her grief-stricken expression alone struck Stepper with more guilt and remorse than he could have ever thought possible, especially since he knew there was no way he could take back what Mabel had just overheard now. Even if he actually wanted to. 

Even so, Mabel didn’t say a single word, instead choking out a heavy, sorrowful sob as she turned and ran, rushing down the hall to get as far away from the fusion as possible. Stepper gasped, making an instinctual move to hurry after her, though he stopped short before he could even leave the gift shop upon noticing all of the other sets of eyes watching him all the while. By all accounts, Ford seemed completely shellshocked, Amethyst sharing the same speechless sentiment. Garnet’s mouth was pressed into a tight, thin, clearly angry line, while Pearl clung onto her arm, her own mouth covered to suppress a mournful sob to match the tears streaming down her cheeks. Stepper tensed, unsure of what to say to any of them at a moment like this. Because really, he’d already said more than enough by now. 

So instead, he did largely the same thing Mabel already had and retreated, pressing past the group as he ran out of the shack entirely. He had no idea if any of them tried to stop him, and he largely didn’t care. He just needed to go, to escape, to get away from all of the expectations, all of the pressure, all of the guilt he couldn’t bear to shoulder any longer. 

He found himself heading up the hill toward the temple, not on purpose, but out of a simple desire to be alone. He had thought to go after Mabel, though he had a high suspicion that she was just about the last person he’d probably want to see right now. So instead, he went off on his own, his thoughts constantly washing over each other like waves lapping onto a shore. As much as his guilt still overwhelmed him, so too did plenty of other emotions: confusion, sadness, concern, exhaustion, but above all else, there was conflict. A sense of uncertainty that plagued him almost constantly now as he continued to wonder what came next. Or rather, what might become of him. 

He wasn’t a fusion, he wasn’t Steven or Dipper. He knew that. He was certain of that. And yet… that certainty still left so many gaps in who he actually was compared to who he wasn’t. He knew he was Stepper… and that was about it. An undeformed identity that he wanted to claim as his own, even if he didn’t know how. A life that he wanted to lead, even if he couldn’t see where that life might be going. Someone who he wanted to be, even if no one else wanted him to be that. 

The mid-morning sun was crisp and warm as it shined upon his face, yet even in its radiance he felt strangely cold. Empty. Incomplete, just as they’d called him before. Something was wrong, something was missing, he knew that. He just didn’t know exactly what that something actually was. And amidst that conflict, amidst all of the countless thoughts washing up onto the shore of his unsettled mind, he strangely found himself compelled to voice those thoughts in a way that felt undoubtedly familiar, even if he had no memory of doing so before. Still, he sang anyway, his mind aching and his heart breaking with each and every word of his melancholy tune.

“I’m someone, I’m no one, I’m me,” he began, his voice smooth yet sad as he strolled up the hill ahead of him. “I don’t know who I’m supposed to be… They want me to give up myself, and then just become someone else…”

He let out a small, bitter sigh at this, the arguments Ford and the Gems had put forth stinging him even still. Even so, he couldn't help but feel some form of sympathy for their plight. Whoever Steven and Dipper actually were, Stepper could tell they were important to the others based on how adamant everyone was about getting them back. Certainly, if anyone he cared about that much had been ripped away from him, he would have likely felt the exact same way as they did. Though perhaps not to the extent of forcing someone else to become someone they weren’t. 

“I wish that I knew them, I do.” And it was true. He would have loved to know who those boys actually were, perhaps even befriended them based on how highly everyone seemed to think of them. Even if he felt like he barely knew a single thing about either of them. “They’re sorry they lost them, me too. But someone else is to blame, for memories that I still can’t claim.”

Memories of people, of places, of events he hadn’t been a part of, of things he had no context for. People like Greg and Pacifica and Lapis, all of whom seemed quite nice, but he didn’t know, or at least he hadn’t until now. Places like the Nightmare Realm, of what happened there, something that, even for as filled with as many holes as it was, what holes had been filled shook him to his very core with fear. Events that Mabel tried telling him about, weaving together into a grand, epic story he wasn’t a character in, but he wanted to be, he strived to be. And yet, no one else seemed to want that along with him. 

“I’m no one that they want around.” By now, all four of his arms were wrapped around him in a loose hug as he continued to approach the temple, knowing he’d find some much-needed solitude there. “They’re someone I still haven’t found. I’m me but I’m not what they need. ‘I’m them’ but I’m not sure I agree.”

He entered the house, his song still spilling out of him as he stepped into its quiet atmosphere, bereft of any of the Gems as they remained down at the house. Unsure of what else to do there, he climbed onto the loft, finding a small bedroom setup there, decorated with plenty of personality to spare. What caught his eye however, was the collection of photographs resting above the bed, each of them framed as they depicted several faces Stepper recognized, from the Gems, to Mabel, to Connie, and then of course, there was Steven and Dipper, just like they were in the photograph he pulled out of his vest to compare. Their smiles still bright, their eyes brimming with life, their identities a complete and utter mystery to him, just as they’d always been from the very start. 

“I want to be someone, but I can’t keep pretending to try,” He continued examining that photograph as he laid out on the bed before him, one that, just like the one he’d slept on last night, was far too small for him to fully fit on. “That their pieces fit into mine. Pieces I’m trying to find.”

He sighed in resignation, his sorrowful song starting to come to an end as he laid that photograph on his chest and closed his eyes in contemplative reflection. Reflection over an identity that still evaded him, a mystery he still hadn’t solved and likely never would. 

“I don’t know who I’m supposed to be-”

“So I’m someone, I’m no one…”

“I’m me…”

He opened his eyes, letting out another solemn sigh as he did. He held the photo up again, staring at the boys depicted in it almost as if they were his own reflection. And if what everyone else kept saying was actually true, then they might as well have been. “...What am I going to do…?” he whispered to the picture, even though he knew it couldn’t possibly give him the answers he was seeking. 

And yet, that didn’t mean something else couldn’t. Stepper gasped in alarm, bolting upright on the bed as his gem, even as fractured and dull as it currently was, suddenly began to gently glow. That same glow overtook the large, star-bearing door on the far side of the house, and in an instant, that door slid open to reveal whatever lay beyond it. Confused, Stepper climbed down the loft, taking in first glimpses he got of the strangely pink expanse on the other side of the door, one that he couldn't help but step through to get a better look. 

“H-hello? Is anyone in here?” he called as he emerged into what looked like an endless forest, though by far the strangest one he’d ever seen. The trees towered far beyond what he could see, creating a canopy of leaves that were all inexplicably pink, just as much as the trunks of those trees and the almost cloudlike ground at his feet were. The entire wood was dead silent, yet mystically calm and peaceful, coming across as some sort of safe haven he couldn’t help but step further into, not even noticing as the temple gate sealed itself shut before disappearing entirely behind him. 

For a while, he simply walked around aimlessly, weaving between the towering trees as he listened to that void of silence echo all around him. Yet even still, that silence gave him no reprieve from his endless torrent of raging thoughts, each of which consumed him, taunted him, tore away at him to the point that he could see no semblance of peace, not even here, away from it all. 

He shook his head, glancing down at the photograph in his hand once more. And as he did, he couldn’t help but wonder what those boys were really like. Who they really were to begin with. Because maybe if he knew them, then perhaps he’d finally understand exactly why everyone was striving and struggling to get them back in the first place. “...I just wish I could actually meet both of you…” he muttered despondent as he began to put the picture away. 

Yet as he did, the pastel pink clouds at his feet suddenly began to shift, several of them swirling in from between the trees to take some sort of shape before him. Or rather, two shapes, each becoming more and more distinct with each passing second until they took on the fully-formed, fully-colored appearance of two boys: one with dark curly hair and a pink shirt bearing a large star and the other clad in a pine tree cap and a dark blue vest. 

Stepper gasped, stunned as he took a small step back from the pair, even as they both opened their eyes and offered him mutually friendly smiles and a unified warm greeting. “Hi, Stepper!”

At first, Stepper had no idea what to say as he looked between the two boys standing before him, the photograph he had of them finally slipping out of his hand entirely as he somehow managed to speak to them. “S-Steven? D-Dipper?” 

“Yeah!” Steven chimed, his tone bright and warm. “Who else would we be?”

“Are you ok, Stepper?” Dipper asked, his smile less wide but still apparent as he raised a curious eyebrow. 

Stepper shook his head, running a hand through his hair as he leaned up against the nearest tree. “I… I can’t believe it…” he whispered. “You’re… both actually here…”

“Yeah, we are!” Steven chuckled, as if what Stepper had just said was the funniest thing in the entire world.

“Why wouldn’t we be here?” Dipper asked, his hands in the pockets of his vest. “You wanted to see us, after all.”

“R-right…” Stepper nodded weakly, though he was quickly reinvigorated by a newfound idea. “Wait… you’re here. You… you aren’t gone! I-I could take you both back and I could finally show everyone that I’m me and not you!” Without any warning, Stepper grabbed both boys by the arm and began to drag them along through the woods. “C’mon! They’ll all be so glad to see you again, especially Mabel. She-”

Stepper froze as the boys’ hands fell out of his grip simultaneously. And at the same time, another flash, pain sparking from his gem, all throughout him as his thoughts went wild, rampant with things he had once said, with senseless sentences he didn’t understand. 

“We could do this--we could win this!” “I’m sorry!” “Maybe you should just break things off with me…” “I don’t want to break away from you!” “You mean so much to me!” 

“You stayed with me… so I’m staying with you…”

Once again, it was over far too quickly. There were pink cracks spreading to his lower hands now, but he hardly noticed them as he turned to see the boys standing behind him, both of their bodies glitching out even as they retained their upbeat smiles. “W-what?” Stepper reached toward them both, only for his hands to pass right through them as immaterial as they both currently were. With a gasp, he pulled away, and sure enough, both boys finally stabilizing as if nothing had even happened, to give him another refrain of their first hello. “Hi, Stepper!”

“Y-you… you’re not… real… are you?” Stepper guessed, his heart sinking as he already figured out the answer. 

“Uh… of course, we’re real,” Dipper said, apparently confused. “Why wouldn’t we be?”

“Yeah, we’re you, remember?” Steven asked, still wearing that constant knowing smile. 

“N-no,” Stepper began, his voice shaking as he collapsed against the tree once more. His upper hands were pressed tightly into his hair, his mind and heart both raging against each other in a storm, a hurricane he had absolutely no control over. “No, I don’t remember. I don’t remember you, I don’t remember being you!” With a heavy, agonized sob, he fell to his knees, to the soft, cloudy “ground” below him, his lower hands covering his face as he wept miserably. “I… I’m not you… I’m NOT… I’m… I…” His tears fell onto all four of his hands as he held them out to look at them mournfully, scornfully really. “I don’t know who I am… I don’t even know what I am...”

For what seemed like ages, the only thing that could be heard echoing through the pink trees was the sound of Stepper’s continued sobs, each one wracked with despair over an identity he’d never get to have, over the life he knew he’d never lead. When those sobs were finally interrupted however, Steven was the first one to do it. “We know what you are…” he said, his voice soft as he took one of Stepper’s hands and held onto it gently. 

“You’re our fusion,” Dipper added as he grabbed another hand. 

“You are us…” Steven agreed just as affirmatively. 

“No…” Stepper whimpered as he averted the pair’s intent gaze. “I… I’m not, I… I can’t be, I don’t even know who either of you are, I’m not-”

“Stepper,” Dipper spoke up as his grip on Stepper’s hand tightened. “Look at us. You may not remember us, but… deep down, I think you do know the truth.”

“Don’t you see?” Steven whispered warmly as he lifted his shirt up a bit. And there, resting squarely on his stomach, was the exact same pink gemstone that was sitting on Stepper’s own. “We’re the same. We are you. And you’re us.”

“I-I… I’m your fusion…” Stepper repeated with a dawning sense of realization as he looked at Steven’s gemstone. As he looked at Dipper’s clothes. As he looked at both of their faces and finally took note at just how similar both of them looked to his own. As he finally figured out that he wasn’t his own person at all. He never had been, not even for a single second. “A-and that’s all I am…” his sobs were softer now, still sad, but largely resigned to this fact. To the loss of any hope he might have once had that he could have been something more. “That’s all I’ve ever been… Only a fusion… all this time…”

“Only a fusion?” Dipper asked, incredulous. “You’re way more than just a fusion!”

“That’s right!” Steven readily agreed. “Whether we’re fused or not, you’re a part of us, Stepper. A very special part of us!”

“Yeah, you’re like… the living embodiment of our friendship,” Dipper explained as both him and Steven took a step closer to their fusion. 

“You represent the bond between us,” Steven added kindly. “And that’s not nothing. It’s something so important to both of us! It’s what makes you who you are!”

“B-But… I don’t even remember that bond…” Stepper muttered, tears still in his eyes as he shook his head remorsefully. “I don’t remember your friendship, I… I don’t remember either of you… I-I… I feel like I barely even remember me…”

“You will,” Dipper assured with a confident smile. “And don’t worry about what happens after you do. Because as long as we exist, then so will you.”

Stepper sighed, his tears finally stilling themselves as he suddenly pulled both Dipper and Steven close in a much-needed hug, one that they gently returned. Because even if neither of them were actually real, this had been all of the proof he needed to know that they once had been. That they could be real again. “And as long as I exist,” he promised, knowing that wherever the real Dipper and Steven were, whether locked tight away inside his mind or somewhere else entirely, they’d hear his newfound vow somehow. “Then you will too.” 

And then they were gone, dissipated into the very clouds they had both been composed of, nothing more than an empty memory he didn’t have. A memory that he at last knew was actually his, a memory he knew he had to reclaim. A memory he was going to reclaim.

Even if he had to rip his shield journal out of Bill Cipher’s hands himself. 

He found Mabel in the woods, not too far away from the Mystery Shack. She sat against a wide tree, her legs and her face both buried into her sweater as she wrapped her arms around herself tightly. Stepper knew she’d been out there for a few hours, at least, and even still, she was inconsolable, understandably so after the horrible things he’d said earlier. Still, he was resolved to set this wrong right first, in the hopes that it would be the start of fixing many more on the difficult road ahead. 

“M-Mabel?” he began, carefully taking a seat on the ground next to her. She didn’t even bother to look up at him as she instead pulled her sweater tighter around herself, hoping to block him out even more than she already had. Yet even so, he was determined to reach her all the same. “I… I’m sorry…” he said with a remorseful sigh. “What I said before, I… I wasn’t thinking, I-” He cut himself off, realizing just how insufficient his apology was really proving to be as Mabel showed no signs of responding to it. So instead, he opted to go in an entirely different direction instead. “Mabel, can… can you tell me more about them?” 

Caught off guard by this question, Mabel finally glanced up, tears streaking down her cheeks as she looked to him curiously. “A-about who?” she asked softly, sadly. 

“Dipper and Steven,” he answered, managing a small smile as he said their names. “You’ve already told me so much about who they know and what they’ve done, but… I still don’t feel like I really know much about who they are. So…?”

“Y-you want to hear about them?” Mabel sniffled, wiping away a few of her tears on the sleeve of her sweater. “Really?” Stepper nodded, his smile widening just a bit as he urged her onward. And so she gave him what he asked for in the best way she knew how. “W-well… Steven is… h-he’s just about the nicest person you could ever meet. He’s friendly and helpful and so much fun. He likes Crying Breakfast Friends and Ducktective and donuts and Lion and… he always helps people whenever they need it, no matter who they are.”

“He sounds like a pretty great person to know,” Stepper mused fondly. 

“Yeah…” Mabel glanced away, her cheeks warm with an affectionate blush as she thought of the young Gem. “He is… He’s… one of my best friends… I kind of wish he was maybe a bit more than that, but… that’s fine… we’re fine...” 

“What do you mean?” Stepper asked, confused. 

“N-nothing, it’s nothing,” Mabel shook her head with a small, wistful sigh. A sigh over what she knew could never be ever if they did manage to get Steven back. “Still, Steven is… well, he’s a real gem. Get it?”

“Yeah,” Stepper chuckled. “I think I do. So what about Dipper then?”

Mabel’s smile faded into returning grief at this. “Dipper…” she whispered, her tears coming back in full force as she suppressed a mournful sob over the brother she’d lost. 

“You said he’s your brother… right?” Stepper asked, hesitantly. 

Mabel nodded, holding back her tears to at the very least honor him by telling his story. “H-he’s my twin,” she corrected quietly. “My one and only bro-bro, the best one I could ever ask for… He’s a total nerd, but he’s brave, great with a sword, and he’s stubborn, oh gosh, is he stubborn! He’s probably the smartest person I know, or at least I think he is, and that’s saying something since I know people like Grunkle Ford and Pearl and Peri. But most of all… I know that no matter what… Dipper’s always there for me. He’s always got my back. Dipper and Steven both do… I-I… I miss them…”

Mabel finally broke down into another heartbroken sob, pulling her knees close to her chest in a renewed hug as she fruitlessly tried to chase that heartbreak away. And while Stepper wanted to comfort her with a secure embrace of his own, he decided to offer her another form of comfort instead. “I… I want to remember them…” he admitted, his voice soft, barely even a whisper as he said it. 

“W-what…?” Mabel asked, not sure if she’d heard him right. 

“I want to remember them,” Stepper said again, his tone firmer this time. “I want to be them again. For you, for them, a-and for me.”

“But, S-Stepper, I… I thought you wanted to be… you know… just you,” Mabel pointed out, briefly glancing away from the fusion. 

“I do,” Stepper confirmed with a warm, confident smile. “And Steven and Dipper, well… they’re who I am. So as long as they’re together, then… I’ll always be me. Right?”

Mabel nodded, choking on a small, yet happy whimper this time as she leapt at the fusion, pulling him into a tight, grateful hug. “Thank you, Ste-bro,” she whispered, practically dreaming of the moment she’d get to see Dipper and Steven as they truly were once more. 

Stepper smiled, easily returning her embrace as he solidified his resolve. He would do whatever he had to to keep that genuine smile on Mabel’s face. He would do whatever he had to go back to being who he had always been meant to be. “You’re wel-!” Stepper cut himself off with a gasp that bordered more on a scream, a sharp wave of sudden agony overtook his entire form. And this time, it was no mere flash, it was a torrent, a flood that overwhelmed his ever sense as pain flushed out from his gem to every single fiber of his being it seemed. 

“Stepper!” Mabel cried, terrified as the fusion suddenly collapsed out of her arms onto the forest floor. His body seized up with yet another burst of unbearable anguish, the cracks that had once only surrounded his stomach expanding their reach to the rest of his body as his vibrant pink eyes flashed brightly, erratically. His gemstone also flashed, dangerously so as even more color seemed to drain from it, as his face grew pale and beleaguered by the intense, yet strangely familiar anguish he had found himself engulfed in completely out of nowhere. “Stepper, w-what’s going on?! What’s wrong?!” Mabel asked, gripping one of his arms tightly as he wrapped them around himself. 

“I-I… I don’t know…” Stepper breathed tensely, another paid groan escaping him as his gem shot another burst of agony through him. “I-it… it won’t stop…”

Needless to say Mabel was panicking every bit as much as Stepper himself was, but even so she knew there wasn’t any time to waste. “C-come on,” she urged, slowly and carefully helping him properly sit up. “We gotta get you back to the shack.” Stepper didn’t argue, largely because he couldn’t as burdened by his lingering pain as he was. It was an immense struggle for him to even stand, but with a bit of doing he managed it, largely leaning against Mabel for support as they both began to inch their way back toward the shack, both of them awash in fear and dread for whatever could possibly befall the already tormented fusion next. 

“Is it finished yet?” Lapis asked impatiently as she continued pacing around the author’s room. Garnet, Amethyst, and Stan also stood by, anxiously watching as Ford, Pearl, and Peridot continued tinkering away at their latest invention. An invention that could, if all went right, get them to the Nightmare Realm and back with an all-too-important journal in hand. 

“It’s almost there…” Peridot noted as she checked over the readings on her tablet once more. “It seems as though we’ve locked onto the exact location of Cipher’s dimension after all. Where exactly did you get these coordinates from, Stanford?”

Ford flinched at this, looking to Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, who only glared away from him bitterly in response. “Uh… l-lucky guess,” he answered quickly, falsely. “Now, let’s review the plan. Peridot’s going to stay behind to monitor the machine in case anything goes awry. Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and I will venture through our temporary displacement portal into the Nightmare Realm and-”

“Not without me, you’re not,” Lapis interrupted rigidly. “I’m not about to stay behind and let that Cipher guy get away with what he did to Dipper and Steven. He’s going to pay, I’ll make sure of that.”

The others all looked to Lapis in sligh concern at such a vicious threat, though it wasn’t really one any of them could argue with. After all Bill had done, there was no denying they all wanted to see him finally be brought to justice too. “V-very well then,” Ford nodded. “Then myself, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Lapis will-”

“I’m coming too,” Stan suddenly spoke up, his expression solid and resolved as he stepped forward. 

“Stanley, no, you can’t-”

“Can it, Ford,” Stan cut his brother off with a scowl. “Dipper’s my nephew too, you know. And neither him or Steven deserved what that creep did to ‘em. So I’m with frills here,” he nodded over to Lapis. “Let’s make this guy wish he’d never messed with our boys.”

“Yeah! Let’s get him!” Amethyst cheered in uproarious support. 

Garnet and Pearl also nodded their consent, leaving Ford with no choice but to agree. “Fine,” he said, stepping away from the now-finished machine. “I think it’s ready. But we still need to-”

“Help!” Mabel’s urgent cry rang through the shack, catching everyone’s attention instantly. “Please! I-it’s Stepper! Something’s wrong with-” Before she could even finish, the Gems were all already at the door she’d barely managed to pull Stepper in through before the fusion completely collapsed in pain, far too weak and worn to keep himself upright anymore. 

“W-what’s wrong with them?!” Lapis asked in apt alarm as Garnet rushed in to lift the languishing fusion into her arms. “What happened?!”

“I-I don’t know!” Mabel shook her head fearfully. “He was fine one second and then-”

“T-the cracks on his skin are back…” Pearl noted anxiously. “Could that mean his gem’s condition is getting… worse somehow?”

“Uh, his gem still looks like it did before,” Amethyst noted worriedly. “Ya know, aside from the whole flashing thing. T-that’s pretty new.”

“A-and concerning…” Peridot agreed with a fretful frown. 

“It’s not his gem,” Garnet theorized as she properly picked Stepper, who was largely out of it by this point, up. “It must be his memories.”

“His shield journal!” Ford interjected as him and Stan joined the group that was already making their way back to the author’s room. “I’ll bet anything that Bill’s probably doing something to it even as we speak. I hate to even think about it, but for all we know he could be… damaging it, and who knows what that might be doing to Stepper in turn.”

“Then that means there’s no time to waste,” Garnet said as she began to set Stepper’s listless form on the nearby couch. “We’ve got to go get that journal back now, before it’s too late. Peridot, open the portal up.”

“B-but we haven’t even had time to test it yet!” Peridot protested apprehensively as she lingered near the machine’s controls. 

“Who cares?!” Lapis shot back. “Dipper and Steven’s lives could be at stake! We’ve just gotta risk it!”

“Y-yeah!” Mabel agreed as she stayed close to Stepper’s side. “W-we’ve gotta go get his journal! We have to help him remember! He wants to remember now, r-right, Stepper?”

At this, Stepper opened his eyes, still dully glowing pink as he forced himself to sit up, even though his body protested with pain that still refused to go away. “Y-yes…” he said, his voice rough and tired, yet somehow firm and determined all the same. “I-I… need to remember them… I need my journal back…” He was shaking as he stood, though as he nearly fell one more, Garnet barely managed to catch him and hold him upright just in time. “W-we have to go… I… I have to go…”

“No, absolutely not,” Ford resiliently rejected the fusion’s resolve. “That’s completely out of the question, Stepper. You can’t possibly go back to the Nightmare Realm after what Bill-”

“I-it’s my journal,” Stepper protested, refusing to wait on the sidelines any longer. “Those are my memories… D-Dipper and Steven are me… a-and I’m going to get all of them back… n-no matter what happens…”

“That’s right,” Mabel solidly agreed, grabbing one of Stepper’s lower hands in complete support for this mission. “And this time, I’ve got your back, Ste-bro.”

Stepper offered her a thankful smile at this, though even so, the pair was still met with resistance from the others. “Kids, we appreciate your bravery, but this is far too dangerous for you,” Pearl shook her head. “You both need to stay here with Peridot where it’s safe. We’ll be back with the journal before you know it.”

“But-”

“No,” Garnet cut both of them off as she went to join the others near the machine. “You’re both staying here. That’s final.”

Neither Stepper nor Mabel had time to argue as Peridot flipped the switch on the machine, a bright light sparking around its central hub. From that light, a portal was quick to open up, bright and vibrant even as it connected to the dreadful place they all knew that had to go: the Nightmare Realm. “Is everyone ready?” Ford asked the others, all of whom had either taken up or summoned their weapons for whatever fray laid before them. “Good. Then let’s go.”

Knowing the portal would only remain open for a short window of time, the group marched onward into it, all six of them unflinchingly ready to face the dream demon and retake what he had stolen. However, as the last of them passed through the portal, Stepper and Mabel exchanged a brief nod, both of them prepared to act on the exact same idea as they ran forward toward the portal as it began to close. 

“W-wait!” Peridot shouted the moment she realized what the pair was doing, but by then it was too late. 

Because just before the portal could disappear out of existence entirely, Stepper and Mabel both leapt through it together, disregarding any sort of orders the adults had given them. They were going to face the Nightmare Realm, to face Bill Cipher himself, no matter how daunting or dangerous such a struggle might become. 

And as far as Stepper was concerned, he wasn’t about to come back until he had finally remembered exactly who he was supposed to be. 

To be continued...

Next: 

[legendary-defender-of-fandoms]

Anyone else notice the similarities between Filbrick Pines & Bill Cipher?

Exhibit A - Design

Yellow color scheme, always wearing a hat, fancy tie. Heck, Filbrick even has a checkered, brick-like pattern in his jacket.

Exhibit B - Occupation

Filbrick was a pawnbroker, construction worker, concrete pourer, and comic censor (I’m not sure if he was the ass who killed Stan’s dreams of being a cartoonist, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he was). Bill Cipher was a demon who made all sorts of twisted deals & had reality-warping powers. While the “demigod with the ability to literally mold the world to his whims to manual construction worker” transition may be a bit of a stretch, there has been precedent in Disney lore for a deal-making monster to be reincarnated as a pawnbroker (Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold in Once Upon a Time).

Exhibit C - Their Dislike/Dismissal of Stanley

While these two are not the only ones in the show who underestimated Stanley, they seem to share a desire to keep him as far away from Stanford as possible. Plenty of fan comics, fanfics, and whatnot have speculated that Bill would use his trips into Ford’s mind to manipulate his dreams & memories to make Ford less likely to reach out to Stan for help (as illustrated by @hellmandraws in this comic and this comic). And in the Lost Legends comic, Filbrick punished Ford for standing up for Stan by grounding both of them for the summer - there could’ve been other instances when Filbrick tried to drive the brothers apart.

Maybe Filbrick saw too much of himself in Stan (the cheating, the scams, the rough attitude, etc.) and thought treating him like dirt giving him “tough love” would help him become a better man (similar to Stan being tough on Dipper so he’d be ready for whatever the world throws at him).

Maybe Filbrick just saw the aspects of himself that he hated in Stan & took out his self-loathing on him.

Maybe Filbrick had some strange, inexplicable feeling that Stan would be his downfall someday, or an irrational hatred born of being defeated by him in a past life (like Meteora’s hatred of Marco even after losing all memories of her life as Miss Heinous).

Or maybe Filbrick was just an asshole.

Exhibit D - Stanford’s Misplaced Hero Worship

While we don’t know much about Filbrick & Ford’s dynamic, we can assume that Ford was just as desperate as Stan to earn their father’s respect & approval. Ford even started dressing like Filbrick when he was in high school, donning a yellow sweater (though the yellow sweater could just denote his status as “the golden/prodigal son”). And Ford basically worshipped Bill until he found out everything Bill ever told him was a lie. Perhaps the two shared certain traits that Ford thought were worthy of admiration (confidence, praising Ford’s intellect, refusal to bow to anyone, etc.)

Exhibit E - The “Same Coin” Theory

There’s a theory floating around that Stan and Bill are one & the same - that Bill is either still alive in Stan’s head, slowly taking over, or when Bill invoked the power of the Axolotl his whatever (soul, essence, consciousness) was transported through time & space so he was reincarnated as Stanley Pines. There’s plenty of evidence to support this theory (both voiced by Alex Hirsch, Stan’s inexplicable mastery of the Mindscape, “eeney, meeney, miney, YOU!”, both promote buying gold, both are conmen, both call Stanford “Sixer,” “We’ll Meet Again,” etc.), but my biggest issue with this theory is it means someone else would’ve had to have defeated Bill the first time to start the cycle. But all of the overlaps could also have been things that Stanley picked up from observing his father. We know Stan inherited plenty of other “quirks” from Filbrick - his business model, his tendency to call the kids “knuckleheads,” his love of gold chains.

Exhibit F - We NEVER see Filbrick’s Eyes!

Has anyone else noticed this? No matter where you look - Dreamscaperers, A Tale of Two Stans, Lost Legends, Journal 3, even in fanart - his eyes are always hidden behind his glasses! How? Why? Does he wear specially tinted lenses so no one will notice the telltale pupils? It wouldn’t be the first time Bill Cipher hid his presence behind conveniently opaque eyewear.

In short, Filbrick Pines was a literal monster.

[nautiscarader]

Wendip Week day 7 - I guess we’re both freaks

(Ao3)

Dipper and Wendy knew this was going to happen at some point. They dreaded that day, but in the end, they could protect their child, but not change other people.

Wendy gently knocked at the door to their son's room, and asked if they can come in. They heard the quiet "uh-uh" in reply and opened the door.

Tyrone was sitting on his bed, his legs curled against his body, his face red from the recent tears. His parents sat around him, and the young boy gravitated to his mother's chest.

- Ssh, it's okay, honey.

Dipper put his arm over his shoulder, and placed a gentle kiss on his head.

- We've talked to the Mrs. Perkins, and she has told us who those kids were that picked on you. - And we've had a talk with their parents. - Dipper added.

The two heard only a grunt in response.

- Hey, maybe you'd like to draw something? - Dipper asked - Maybe we can sketch some leaves, or...

Dipper's son shook his head.

- I don't want to use my hands. - he mumbled and pressed his legs against each other, squishing his hands between them. - Honey... - Wendy gently took his hand in hers and gave it a kiss - But how are you going to play, or eat then? - I don't know, they're freaky.

She sharply tucked them between his legs again. Wendy and Dipper exchanged nervous looks. From the moment he was born, they knew he'll have some problems with the polydactyly he inherited. The sixth fingers on his hands stood out, and though Dipper and Wendy did everything in their might to make sure he doesn't feel odd, they knew other children will not be so considerate.

Ford has helped them, of course. Aside from Dipper and Wendy, he was probably Tyrone's biggest figure to look up to, and he spent lots of time with him, playing and tinkering in his underground shop, to infuse little Tyrone that his extra digits are nothing but beneficial in the career of scientist.

But it turns out nothing could win against a simple "you're a freak".

- Son, you know you're not a freak, right? - Dipper leaned in to meet his son's eyes. - You know that, right? - You... think so? - Of course!

Dipper and Wendy at once turned towards him, when Tyrone took his head out of his leg-and-arms prison. Their beaming smiles gave Tyrone chance to smile back.

- Ty, other kids are not as smart as you. They don't get it that people can be different. And when that kind of people encounter something they don't understand, they are either afraid, or they laugh at it. It's mean, but it's kinda... natural. - But their parents will teach them a lesson. - Wendy quickly added - Come on, Ty, show me those hands that are so good at building and drawing.

Tyrone took them from between his legs, and Wendy was quick to once again caress them.

- You've got huge advantage over those bullies, son. - Dipper said - In a few years they will be struggling to type anything on a keyboard, and you'll be using it as a piano.

Tyrone giggled.

- Or heck, maybe you could be a pianist. - Wendy added - I think we still have my mom's old one in the basement. - The point is, Tyrone, you are most definitely not a freak.

The two leaned in and kissed Tyrone on each cheek, and they laughed, while Tyrone tried to wriggle out.

- Mom! Dad! Stop it... - No, no. No son of ours will go to bed without tons of kisses, especially after a long day at school like this one. - And guess who's gonna come to dinner tomorrow?

Dipper raised his brow, and watched as his son's eyes widen when he counted fingers on his tiny hand.

- Grunkle Ford? - That's right, and auntie Mabel too.

Tyrone looked back and forth at his parents, wriggling in place, as if he tried to physically make tomorrow come faster.

- Soos and Melody will be there too with Pedro and Maria. - Cool! - Yeah, we're having a huge feast tomorrow. - Wendy took Tyrone into his arms - But we won't have it if you don't fall asleep.

Tyrone groaned, and walked out to get to the bathroom, leaving their parents together. They let out a deep sigh, and embraced each other.

Half an hour later, they stayed by his son's bed when he was drifting off to sleep.

- Remember, son, you always have us, if something happens to you. - And your friends - Dipper added - You'll see them tomorrow, and they can always come to help. Pedro seems to be growing into the macho man Soos always wanted. - he put fist into his open palm in a aggressive gesture. - Yes, but violence isn't the answer - Wendy quickly added, throwing concerned look at Dipper. - Always try to make people understand your point of view, got that? - Uh-uh! - Tyrone said.

Dipper and Wendy kissed him one more time and walked out of his room, listening to his gentle snoring.

- Another crisis gone? - We'll see tomorrow. - Dipper kissed her - But I think the worst is behind us.

Dipper could not be further from truth.

- Hospital?! - Dipper screamed into the receiver, clutching the end of the table - Wha-what you mean hospital? - *Those kids, mister Pines...!* - said the distressed teacher - *They, oh god, they've been taken to the hospital, you should get there quickly...God, it's unnatural!* - What about Tyrone? - Wendy screamed, taking the phone from Dipper - Is he alright? - *He's not with them... I don't know where he is.*

The voice from the speaker terrified all people present in the dining room, both adults and children.

- I'm coming. - Dipper said. - And you guys, you should start searching. - I'm coming with you - Ford added - This sounds like something serious.

The two were not prepared for what they were about to see when they arrived at the E.R. the visibly shaken doctor took them to the ward where the two bullies were held, and when Dipper and Ford's eyes lay upon them, they nearly fainted.

The two boys' arms were propped on system of ropes and pulleys as if they were broken, but the arms themselves were not damaged. Their hands, however...

Each finger of their hands were unnaturally elongated and twisted, looking like branches of an old tree that no one cared about. And just like branches, their digits split into more, creating a sprawling, nightmarish, labyrinthine mess of intertwining fingers at the end of each hand.

Ford and Dipper looked at each other and the older man nodded.

- Uh, children - he stepped forward - Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you...

He lifted up his hands in a would-be-peaceful gesture, and by doing so, he made the situation worse. The boys cried at the sheer sight of a man with six fingers, trying to wriggle out of their beds and run away in panic, forcing Ford to step back in shame. Their parents tried to calm them down, and only when Ford put his hands in his pockets, they stopped panicking.

- That's him! - one of the boys cried - That was Tyrone! - Tyrone? - Dipper asked - Tyrone did that?

They boys both said "yes", through tears.

- But how? How could he have done that? Did he have anything with him, like some odd object, or... - He... - one of the boys sniffed - He said his friend helped him. - Friend? From his class? - No, "the forest friend" the freak talks about... - You shut it! - the other boy scolded the first one at once - Or he'll twist our legs next.

The coldest of sweats rushed through Dipper's back, as he turned towards Ford. The men didn't have to share a word to know they were right.

Dipper took his phone, and with trembling hands dialed Wendy to give her the news he's been dreading his whole life.

==================

- They won't have it permanently, will they? - Tyrone asked, drawing in his sketchbook - I don't want them, you know, have trouble because of this... - Of course not! - his friend replied - They won't be suffering long. Just long enough to remember you. - My dad said that if people don't understand stuff, they either laugh or are afraid... - Well, they have done the first one, now comes the second part! - But I don't want them to. My mom said that I should make them understand my point of view... - Now they do! Now they do... - I want them to know, that... you know, I'm not a freak...

Tyrone took his pencil, and made the contours of the leaf darker, nearly punching through the page as he drew in frustration.

- But you are! - his friend was quick to assure him - And I am too! But that is okay... Those "normal folks" don't know what we can do... - Heh, I guess we're both freaks.

Young Tyrone Pines chuckled and shook his six-fingered hand with his oddly-shaped, polygonal friend.

If Bill Cipher had a mouth, he would be smiling the widest of grins.

[ddp456]

“It’s quite simple, really...”

So, Wendip fans - I have good news and bad news.

Bad news first - My Wendip surprise has hit a snag.  (yes, again this year, too!)

I’ll give you all an update ASAP.  In the meanwhile, I whipped up this little yarn to serve as an appetizer until then.  Same deal goes as the last fic - if someone cares enough to make a cover art for this, I’ll throw it up on Fanfction.net as well.

Enjoy!

“This isn’t going to hurt, is it?”

Wendy Corduroy squirmed in the rigid seat.  The oddly-shaped helmet strapped to her head matted her poofy auburn hair against her brow, leaving it covered with beads of sweat.   Her eyes raced around the secret laboratory beneath the Mystery Shack as dials clicked and spun, machinery hummed in different decibels, and vials of unknown liquids slowly boiled and bubbled beneath their heated test tubes.

Huge libraries of hardcover research books decorated the walls next to the exit.  A spiraling stairwell led to another floor of boring-looking tomes. A number of end-tables and shelves displayed a lifetime’s worth of knick-knacks and souvenirs from untold adventures.  An old, chipped worktable sat at the middle of the room, filled to the brim with clutter and unfiled paperwork.

“Absolutely not!” Stanford Pines double-checked the computer monitor across from her.  He tapped away at the keyboard, inputting new commands at lightning speed.  “In fact, it might just do the opposite.”

Wendy winced confusingly, “T-Tickle?”  Her hands tightly gripped the sides of her chair.

Ford shook his head, “No, not that either.”  His harden eyes moved upwards.  “But don’t worry – we won’t be going anywhere near your feet, I assure you.”

Wendy’s freckled face turned white.  “Huh?! How did you know I was thinking – “

The scientist chuckled. “To be honest, you told me.”  He pointed to the giant video screen mounted behind Wendy.  “Part of the procedure is that your thoughts will be shown on this display.  The smaller televisions above it can provide collaborating videos and audio as well.”

Wendy turned around to see a series of green, flowing texts flying across the largest screen:

“HOW DID HE KNOW THAT? ISN’T THIS LIKE AN INVASION OF PRIVACY? HEY, AT LEAST I DON’T HAVE TO WORK NOW!”

The sound of laughter made Wendy switch screens.  One of the smaller ones played a somewhat faint image of Dipper and her wrestling around on her bed.  Wendy had her arm wrapped around his head as she gave him the ultimate noogie.  On the other end, Dipper had an orange-and-yellow socked foot in a death grip as he mercilessly tortured its sensitive underside.

“Say it!  Say that you give up!”

“NEHEHEHEH! Never!  You – You first!”

Wendy smiled briefly at the memory before turning back around towards Ford.  He silently watched the scene, itching his beard stubble with curiosity.  “Hmm…”

She forced an uneasy laugh out of embarrassment.  Ford’s silence only added to Wendy’s nervousness.  Her fingertips tapped the armrests of the chair as the helmet seemed tightened around her head.

“This is so freaky!  Why I’d even agree to this in the first place?”  

It had only been less than a half-hour ago that the teen had been sitting at her post at the Mystery Shack’s Gift Shop.  Wendy sat back on her stool, her shoulder-blades resting against the cracked wall as her mud-covered boots rested on the countertop.  Her nose buried in the latest gossip magazine. The world was peaceful and quiet until…

“A-hem!”

“Whoa!”  Wendy was jolted out of her zen.  Her balance lost, her arms flailed in mid-air until she slipped from her seat and landed hard to the floor.

“OW!”  She rubbed her sore backside as a hand reached out to help.

“Thanks, Dip.”  Wendy accepted the help back to her feet.  “You really scared the living – “

Her words faded as she was pulled upwards to meet Ford’s stern, broaden face.  He adjusted his cracked glasses with his six-fingered hand as he cleared his throat once more.

“Sorry about that.” Ford apologized.  “I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind assisting me with an experiment.”

“Oh, okay…”  Wendy placed her fallen trapped cap back on her head.   This had been the first time the long-lost Great-Uncle of the Pines twins had addressed her.   “What’s up?”

“Not here…”  To Wendy’s surprise, Ford walked towards the vending machine across from her desk and dialed a combination of random numbers. A second later, the ground shook beneath her feet.  The machine itself slid away from the wall, revealing a hidden staircase leading deep into the earth.

“WHOA!”  Wendy’s green eyes grew wide.  She had heard Dipper mention something about secrets literally built into the Mystery Shack itself, but she never expected anything like this.

Ford walked down the steps as a series of lights hanging overhead instantly sprang to life.  “Now, if you’ll follow me, we’ll be at my lab – “ He paused, noticing there wasn’t a second set of footsteps behind him.  The elder spun around to see Wendy standing at the entryway with an unnerved expression.

“On second thought,” Wendy pointed towards the family entrance to the parlor.  “Stan – I mean, the other Stan, will probably need me to stay here at the counter…”

“Oh, please!”  Ford waved away in disgust.  “Stanley’s been asleep in his recliner for hours!  He didn’t care enough to put on pants today, yet alone properly manage a business!”

Wendy giggled and covered her mouth.

“I know things look odd and even scary. “  Ford held a hand against his heart.  “But it is dire that you come with me.  Your life, as well as that of your family and friends, may depend on it.”

Wendy’s guard dropped as the old man’s façade fell.  His frown twisted into an all-too-familiar tiny beam.  “Please…?”

“So, that’s where Dipper gets his smile from…”

Before she knew it, Wendy followed along the coat tails of the sage explorer down the staircase and onto an old-fashioned service elevator.  Ford threw a nearby switch, closing a gate shut behind Wendy, making her flinch slightly.  There was no going back now.

The elevator slowly descended down the shaft, its wheels noisily squeaking the entire way.   The landing violently shook beneath their boots.  An awkward silence filled the narrow passage.  

“So…”  Wendy broke the silence as Ford stared into the distance, seemingly lost in his own thoughts.  “I never would have guessed that something like this was hidden beneath the Shack.”

Ford nodded, “It’s actually ironic – your father was the one who designed and built this very cottage.”

“Get out!”

“I will – “  He paused and let out a nervous laugh, “I see.  You were using an euphemism.  My mistake.  But it’s true.  Dan Corduroy helped create what you now know as the Mystery Shack over 30 years ago.”

“Wow…”  Wendy absorbed her surroundings outside of the caged elevator. She looked on with a sense of pride, knowing that her family had lent a hand in creating such an extraordinary marvel. The redhead turned towards Ford. “Dad doesn’t about any of this junk, does he?”

He broke eye-contact. “Not...exactly.  Let me put it like this: your old man thought I was putting in one hell of a den.”

“HA!  Sounds about right!”

The elevator eased to a gentle stop.  They were now in front of a sturdy redwood door.  Golden marking wrapped around at the top and the bottom in half-circles as a jewel-encrusted keyhole lied in the center.

Ford reached into his coat pocket and retrieved a long, aged key.  He inserted it into the opening and rotated it tightly.  The door sprang open with a slow creak.  He opened an arm towards the new room shrouded in complete darkness.

“After you…”

Wendy’s body grew sore in thanks to the awkward chair given to her.  Proper posture wasn’t exactly her thing.  She couldn’t decide if it was the seat or the uncomfortable atmosphere that added to her anxiety.

“I know this guy is Dip’s uncle and all, but why do I feel like it’s one of my old B-movies, where he’s going to hit a button, and shackles are going to pop outta this thing and grab my wrists and ankles?”

“I wouldn’t be too worried.” Ford reassured the worried girl with a sly grin.  “I’m more of an “angry scientist” than I am a “mad” one, so I’m not exactly one to have deathtraps lying about the lab.”

“Huh?”  Once more, Wendy glanced over her shoulder, finding her fears displayed for the world to see.  She groaned aloud and pinched her nose in embarrassment.  “Oh, man…”

“Secondly,”  Ford walked to his desk and took hold of the roller chair placed there.  “Unlike my brother, I do recognize the fact that child endangerment and imprisonment is a serious crime in the state of Oregon.”

Wendy bit her lip to stop chortling.  Seeing her growing calm, Ford rolled the chair in front of her and took a seat. “And lastly, if anything, I asked you here for your own protection, Gwendolyn.”

“It’s “Wendy…” if you don’t mind, Mr. Pines.”

Ford glanced up at the large television for a split second.

“I HATE THAT NAME SO MUCH! WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS, MY MOTHER? I WISH I HAD A COOL NICKNAME LIKE DIPPER DOES.”

“My mistake, “Wendy.” Ford rubbed his chin with curiosity. “And I’d prefer “Ford” as well.”

“It’s a deal, Ford.” Her smile faded as she rubbed her hands together.  “Um, going back to what you said earlier.  This machine is supposed to “protect me?” She gently tugged on the black cord stemming from the helmet that led back to the series of screens. “And from what exactly?”

“Let me explain.”  The man sat back on his padded chair, much to Wendy’s chagrin.  “The machine that you are attached to is my own creation: Project Mentem mk-2.”

“That’s a mouthful!”

“You’re telling me. As that machine scans your mind, it will also shield it from being controlled by outside forces.”

“Outside forces?”

Ford leaned forward, “Have you ever heard the name “Bill Cipher?””

Wendy hesitated.  “Uh, I…think so…”

Once more, Wendy’s thoughts betrayed her as they ran across the computer screen for all to see.

“THAT’S THAT TRIANGLE GUY, RIGHT?  I THINK IT’S THAT TRIANGLE GUY.  HE’S THE ONE THAT MADE DIPPER ACT ALL FREAKY A FEW WEEKS AGO.  I KNEW SOMETHING WAS UP WHEN HE THREW HIS ARM AROUND ME AND CALLED ME “TOOTS.”  AND HE WOULDN’T STOP STARING AT MY CHEST.  EW!”

Ford placed his hands on the armrests of Wendy’s chair, missing her fingertips by inches.  His tone grew utterly grim.  “Bill Cipher is an interdimensional being, made of pure negative energy.  He lives for complete and utter chaos!  And he will not stop until he unleashes such horrors onto this very world!”

Wendy gulped, as another thought was splashed across the screen:

“I SAW THAT DRAWING IN DIPPER’S BOOK.  THAT CREEP DIDN’T LOOK SO TOUGH TO ME.  HE LOOKS LIKE SOME DEMENTED FLYING CORN CHIP.  I BET I COULD TAKE HIM ANYTIME!”

Enraged, Ford rose to his feet, forcing his chair back.  “THIS ISN’T SOME KINDA JOKE, KID!”  He marched back and forth across his lab as Wendy was helpless to do anything but watch. “Do you even know what you’re dealing with?”  He continued on lecturing.  “This thing destroyed his own universe without an ounce of regret!  He hunted me endlessly across countless dimensions and realities for the last 30 years!  He’s responsible for the demise of several civilizations, and you think you stand a chance against him?!  He’d destroy you in a blink of his eye!”

“I’m – I’m sorry, okay?” Wendy shut her eyes and turned her head. “I-I didn’t mean – “

Ford lowered his guard as his sights came across the master computer.  His heart sunk into his knees as he quietly read the thoughts displayed:

“I HATE IT WHEN BOYS FIGHT. I HATE IT WHEN BOYS YELL AT ME. IT’S LIKE HOW STAN AND MY DAD ALWAYS YELL AT ME.  I REALLY WISH HE’D STOP YELLING AT ME…”

He looked ahead to the teenaged girl shivering in her seat.  Ford opened his six-fingered hands, wondering if he was any better than the monster he was trying to defeat.

“Wendy…”  The scientist reclaimed his seat, but made sure to keep his distance.  “I…I apologize for my outburst.  But you have to understand, please; any matter that involves Bill in even the slightest capacity has to be taken seriously.”  He ran a hand through his salt-and-pepper colored hair.   “In the last few decades, I have born witness to the outrageous atrocities that he has committed across time and space.  It is something that no one deserves to see.  It is something no one deserves to fall victim to.  For that, I implore you again:  will you continue to help me keep not just this world safe from Bill’s influence, but my family as well?”

“It’s – It’s okay, man.” Wendy agreed with a shake of her head. “I’m still game if you are.  So, what’s the plan?  How can I help?”

As both persons calmed, Ford sunk back into his seat comfortably.  “You already have.”  He highlighted another computer monitor.  “As the Mentem mk-2 scans your thoughts, it has been applying a shield to your brainwaves. See for yourself.”

Wendy spun to her right, finding a black screen with bright, dark-green text displaying a progress bar:

SCANNING THOUGHTS – 35%

“Within a few minutes,” Ford clarified.  “The process will have scanned the entirety of your mind, protecting it from any possible threat from Bill.”

“Oh…okay, then…”

The two sat and peeked around the room without saying another word.  The only sound to be heard was the occasional blip coming from the progress bar.

“Hey, Ford?  Can I ask you a stupid question?”

“There are no stupid questions, but yes, proceed anyways.”

“Alright.”  Wendy itched the back of her slender neck.  “Why me? Why do you think this Bill guy would try to possess my mind like he did to Dipper?”

Strangely enough, Ford’s face lit up with interest.  “It’s quite simple, really.  I believe you would be the perfect selection for Bill simply because of who you are.”

“Who I am?”  A dozen new thoughts raced through Wendy’s mind.

“WHAT DOES HE MEAN BY THAT? IS IT BECAUSE I GREW UP HERE IN GRAVITY FALLS?  OR BECAUSE I WORK AT THE MYSTERY SHACK?”

“My mistake.  I shouldn’t have been so coy.”  Ford stood back up and began to pace with his arms tucked behind his back.  Another “Pines family” trait that easily reminded Wendy of “her boy.”  The adventurer paused for a moment, “It…wouldn’t be too forward to say that you and my great-nephew have grown close this summer, would it?”

Wendy found herself stunned for a split second.

“CLOSE?  OF COURSE WE ARE.    HE’S MY BOY.  THIS SUMMER WOULD HAVE TOTALLY BITE WITHOUT THAT LITTLE GUY.  AFTER EVERYTHING THAT WE’VE BEEN THROUGH, HOW COULD WE NOT?”

“Eh.  You could say that…”

“I see…”  Ford nodded along with both forms of testimony.  “But the question is how close are you two?”

The lower-right screen displaying Wendy’s heart-rate instantly spiked.

“Only a fool wouldn’t be able to see that you share a sort of…”  Ford waved his hand around in a circle as he attempted to find the correct term.  “…a special bond.  In fact, when Dipper sat in that very spot, you were a constant topic in his thoughts.

“Time out!”  Wendy tried to switch the conversation around. “Dipper had this mind-mumbo-jumbo done to him, too?”

“Not exactly.”  Ford confessed.  “There was an…incident when we attempted to use the machine on him.  It was only recently during some spare time that I was able to repair Project Mentem.   Hence, the mk-2 at the end.

“SO I’M THE GUINEA PIG TO SEE IF THIS HUNK OF JUNK WORKS?  GREAT, JUST GREAT.  MAYBE IF MY BROTHERS DIDN’T MESS AROUND WITH THAT UNICORN HAIR DIPPER GAVE ME, I WOULDN’T HAVE TO SIT THROUGH THIS.  I REALLY HOPE THIS DOESN’T BACKFIRE AND LEAVE ME WITH MY MIND WIPED LIKE WHAT THOSE BLIND-EYE JERKS TRIED TO DO TO US.”

Wendy gasped.  She forced a cheesy grin and pointed at the big screen behind her.  “Say, do we really need to have that thing on the entire time?”  The lumberjane gently tugged at the wiring binding her to the circuity.  “There isn’t a sleep mode or something we can switch on?”

Ford waved away her concerns.  “It is more than all right, Wendy.  I already know about the adventures you and Dipper have gone on these last few months.”

“You…do?”  A sense of unease formed in the pit of Wendy’s stomach as her fears turned to anger.

“THAT LITTLE DORK!  HE RATTED US OUT!  ZIPPED LIPS, MY BUTT!  JUST WAIT UNTIL I GET MY HANDS ON HIM!  WHAT ELSE DID HE SAY?  WAIT. THE MACHINE.  WHAT IF THIS THING MADE HIM SQUEAL?”

Ford could see a new memory forming on the secondary monitor.  Wendy and Dipper were standing with Mabel on the top of the Mystery Shack’s roof as the sun shined high in the clear blue sky.  Meeting eye-to-eye, they each made a zipping motion over their lips simultaneously.

“Zipped lips, eh?” Ford noted.  “But nevertheless, I can assure you, Dipper didn’t betray your trust in any fashion.”

“He didn’t?”

“Of course not.”  The researcher went back to his desk and took an item with him before sitting down before Wendy.  “In fact, I learned about your journeys the same way he did about mine here in Gravity Falls: though documentation.

Wendy looked to see the all-too-familiar hardcover book marked with a golden six-fingered insignia lying in Ford’s lap.

“Hey!  That’s Dipper’s journal!”

“You mean my journal.”  Ford proudly patted the front cover.  “It makes this old man proud to see Dipper continuing in my researching the wonderful oddities inhabiting this town.”  He opened the Journal 3 and scanned somewhere towards the middle portion.  “You certainly had your hands full in the last few weeks, if I can say so.  It’s all right here:  ghosts in the convenience store, clones amongst party-goers here at the Shack, time-traveling shenanigans …”

“Uh…”  Wendy held up a finger to object.  “Kinda lost on those last two, Ford.”

“In that case,” Ford closed the journal.  “What about the fact that when I went to check on my abandoned bunker in the woods, every trap I had set had been disabled and I found the captive alien shapeshifter frozen in an effigy that looked exactly like Dipper?”

“Uh…”

“Plus,” he reached into his oversized slicker and pulled out a dainty-sized lumberjack’s belt and a sheath for a hatchet.  “I found these inside the bunker.  I believe they’re yours?”

An uncomfortable laugh sailed pass Wendy’s throat.  “You’re pretty mad about that, aren’t you?”

“Maybe at first, but after things came together, I was more amazed.  Especially by what was captured on film.”

“We were taped?!”

“Wendy,” Ford said.  “One does not hide thousands of dollars of equipment as well as one-of-a-kind alien technologies deep in the Oregonian woods without having some type of surveillance equipment at the ready.”

She shrugged.  “True that.”

“And don’t get me wrong; all of you kids worked wonderfully as a group to recapture the shapeshifter, but it was the brief period in which you two were separated from Mabel and Soos that stood out.  I could easily see marvelous examples of teamwork being displayed.  I think it can go without saying how well you complement each other.”

“Thanks, I guess…” Wendy went to scratch her head, finding it blocked by the massive helmet.  “Sorry if I seem rude, but what’s with all these questions about Dipper and me?”

“To be frank,” he explained. “I’m simply trying to fill in the blanks to a lot of uncertainties that I have.”

“Such as?”

“Perhaps, it would be best if I were more forward.”  Ford lowered his crossed leg and hunched forward.  “So, I’ll come out and ask:  what are your intentions towards my great-nephew?

Wendy’s brow rose, pinching the tip of her head enclosed by the helmet.  Her heart-rate monitor went into full-blown overtime.

“OH MAN! OH MAN! OH MAN! THIS IS LIKE HOW MY DAD GRILLS ANY BOY I BRING TO THE HOUSE.  THIS IS KARMA PAYING ME BACK, RIGHT?!  WHAT SHOULD I SAY? HOW – “

Unfortunately, the middle monitor provided the answer for her, as Wendy could hear her own voice playing through the speakers:

“But, I'm too old for you. I mean, you know that, right?”

Both watched the scene played out, as Wendy and Dipper sat on a log deep into the Gravity Falls Woods just outside of Ford’s hidden bunker, as she tried her best to calm his anxiety and over wrecked nerves.

Wendy lowered her head to see Ford still studying the screen with great interest.  His face reminded her of Dipper’s as she had left him wondering on that log as she rode away on her bike.  Wendy would give anything to be free of the embarrassing and awkward situation.

“Ford…”  The teenager struggled with her words.  “It’s not – I can explain…”

Her random thoughts spread across the main television at neck-break speeds.

“I WISH THINGS WEREN’T COMPLICATED.  IT’S NOT LIKE DIP’S A BAD GUY.  I HOPE HE UNDERSTANDS.  I HOPE I DIDN’T HURT HIM.  HE SEEMED FINE AT MOVIE NIGHT.  WHAT ELSE COULD I DO?  THERE’S NO WAY IT WOULD HAVE WORKED.  MAYBE WHEN HE GETS OLDER…”

At long last, Ford finally spoke, “Well, that explains a lot.  It’s not as serious as I thought.”

“Ford, you don’t understand – “

He looked straight at her and removed his glasses, wiping them off with his sleeve. “Let me tell you something,” Ford said without an ounce of emotion in his voice.  “The more the things change – the more they stay the same.  In Dipper’s case, it’s “you’re too young.”  For me, an entire lifetime ago, it was “Sorry, Ford.  But you have six fingers on each hand.  What would people think?”  He held up one of his unique hands for Wendy to see.  “So, believe me, Wendy, when I say I understand perfectly.”

Wendy remained completely silent as a single thought forced on the screen behind her:

“DOES DIPPER THINK THE SAME WAY, TOO?”

The strict professor put his damaged spectacles back on.  “But in all honesty, I am actually relieved by this revelation.”

Wendy shook her head in astonishment, “Wait?!  You are?!”

“Of course.”  Ford stood up, holding the Journal 3 in his right hand, and placed it back into a slot in his work desk.  “After all, you are only a child yourself.  I’d be shocked if things had played out any differently.”

The demeaning comment struck Wendy unexpectedly.   It had been a long time since anyone had referred to her in such a way.

“Oh…kay, then.  But I still don’t understand.  What does all this Dipper-talk have to do with me and that triangle guy?”

“That’s precisely the point.”  Ford walked back.  “It’s all related.  Other than myself, there isn't anyone else that Bill Cipher had more interactions than with Dipper.  Like me, Bill has invaded Dipper’s dreams on occasion, and went as far as to trick him into giving him control of his body.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that maybe with the exception of Mabel, there is no one closer to that boy than you, Wendy.  Over the last few weeks, Dipper has become more involved in my experiments and my research.  It’s to the point he’s serving as a pseudo-apprentice of sorts.  He now has knowledge that would allow Bill to conquer this world with ease.”

“Jeez…”

“…is quite the understatement.  For this, I believe that if Bill couldn���t possess Dipper, he wouldn’t hesitate to use those closest to him as a bargaining chip.  For some reason, he doesn’t bother Mabel.  Maybe her dreams are so chaotic, they frightened even him. That leads me to believe that…”

“…he’d come for me instead.” Wendy finished.  “So, when you said earlier that this mind-thingie is for my protection, it’s really more for Dipper’s.  You think I’m some kind of…”

“…liability.  It might seem harsh, but after everything I’ve seen in the footage from the bunker, I couldn’t be more certain.  You both would stand in the face of danger for the other’s welfare.  I truly think that if your life was in jeopardy, Dipper would be willing to sacrifice the entire universe to save you.  And with all due respect, that scenario cannot be allowed to happen.”

Wendy didn’t know what to say.  How could she feel so important and yet, so very small at the same time? As she thought about it a bit more, the redhead came to a new realization.

“Dipper – he doesn’t know I’m here, does he?”

Ford didn’t answer her question.  His eyes rose over her head.  “And we’re…just about…”

*DING!*

A bell sounded through the laboratory.  The helmet finally released its death grip on her temples, as a drained Wendy nearly slid off her seat.

“Finished!”  Ford rose to his feet and went to help Wendy up onto hers.  He proudly patted her back, nearly knocking her off-balance.  “How are you feeling?”

Wendy tried to find her center as she replaced her trapper hat on top her crown of copper hair.  She grabbed her forehead.  “My brain is throbbing.”

“All perfectly normal,” he declared.  “Now, you want to be wary of any other side effects.”

“Other side effects?”

“Yes.  This is my new prototype, after all.  There wasn’t time to work out all of the kinks.”  Ford began to count off on his fingers.  “So, if you experience leaky eyes, bloody nose, oozing out of certain orifices, and/or itchy palms or soles, don’t hesitate to let me know immediately.”

“T-Thanks.  Appreciate it…”  Wendy was thankful her mind wasn’t being monitored any longer.

“Only the best for the liability.  Isn’t that right, old man?”

As Wendy staggered towards the exit, Ford returned his chair to his desk and took a seat.  He started to scribble all sorts of follow-ups into his notebooks.  “I’m going to record my latest findings, so I’m afraid I’ll be a while.”  He pointed towards the door, “If you want to go on ahead, simply throw the switch to bring the elevator back to the surface.  You’ll find a button at the end of the path that’ll re-open the vending machine leading back to your work station.”

“You got it, Ford.  I guess…I’ll see you around.”

Just as Wendy started to turn the door knob, she heard Ford call out, “Wendy, wait?”

She paused and looked back to see Ford with his chair spun towards her.

“For what it’s worth,” he anxiously adjusted his collar.  “I wanted to thank you for everything that you do for Dipper.  I, above all people, can understand how lonely and awkward things can be at his age.  I’m glad that he has someone like you to help him along.”

Wendy let out a sigh of relief.  “It’s no biggie, really.  Like I said before, he’s fun to hang with, and – “

Ford continued on, as if he didn’t hear Wendy at all, “With that said, I figure that it’s only a matter of time before things return to normal, and your life will go back to how it used to be.”

She raised an eyebrow, “I’m not following you here…”

The senior went back to writing in his research, “It’s more than obvious that Dipper is extremely interested in following in my footsteps, and to be honest, I’d be more than honored to train him to do as such.  However, if there’s one thing I’ve learned through the years, is that in this line of work, relationships, rather they be emotional or physical, romantic or platonic, are fleeting.  In the end, they serve to be nothing more than a distraction from what’s really important in life.”

“What – What are you saying?”

“That in time, I’m more than positive that Dipper will grow out of this little fascination he has with you and focus on something that actually has substance in reality.”

“You think Dipper will just forget about me?”

“Or you about him. Whichever comes first.”

Wendy was left dumbstruck. Her stomach felt twisted by the man’s lack of empathy on all fronts.  However, she couldn’t leave on this note.  There was still one worry weighing down on her mind.

“Listen, Ford.”  The ginger rubbed her elbow fretfully. “Before I go, I wanted to ask you one last thing.  Let’s say that this little experiment didn’t work, and this Bill guy does find a way to take control over me.  What would you do then?”

Ford stopped writing in his notepad, but didn’t show Wendy a speck of his attention.  Another eerie silence filled the lab.  Mere seconds passed like hours before he finally gave an answer:

“We’ll…worry about that if and then the time comes.”  He returned to his studies as if nothing had transpired.  “Please make sure to close the door behind you.”

It took nearly all of Wendy’s remaining strength to respond.  “Yeah, I’ll do that…”

As Wendy slowly shut the door, she took one last look at the seemingly-disconnected old man focusing solely on the isolated world that he created for himself.  As much as she hated to admit it, this also reminded her of “her boy” as well.

The exhausted clerk pulled the switch back, making the elevator creep back up the way it had come. She leaned against the gated wall with folded arms as her mind raced over the recent experience, and all that came from it.  A glimpse of natural light offered little comfort from the gloominess of her current surroundings.

One thing was for certain: When Wendy reached the surface, she was definitely going to have to stare at a wall for a while, and rethink everything…

[andrewmoocow]

Gravity Soul chapter 11: Escape to Death City, Home of the DWMA? (originally posted on October 28, 2018)

AN: Hello again ladies, gentlemen and every other rainbow in-between, welcome back to Gravity Soul! Last chapter our heroes were forced to flee after losing to Kishin Cipher, and their chosen hiding spot? None other than DEATH CITY! New bonds are built and our heroes decide to get stronger in order to properly take the monstrosity on. Some of these I've been wanting to tackle for a while ever since I even started conceptualizing so I hope you'll love them as much as I do.

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All was quiet in Death City, Nevada. The 1800s-esque cobblestone streets were empty for mere moments until a green portal decorated with various arithmetic symbols shined into view and out of it came the Mystery Meisters, now fresh off their departure from Gravity Falls. "So this is Death City!" Ford declared in amazement. "Have to say, really admire the rustic feel of it."

As the crew gazed around the city with wonder, Dipper on the other hand was more mindful of the suddenly anthropomorphic sun, which sported a wide smile emitting a booming laugh. "Hey, I got a question!" he exclaimed. "Why is the sun suddenly alive here yet normal in Gravity Falls? Is it some kind of magic or something?"

"It's best that you not think about it." Death the Kid stated before he looked onward. "Let's get going everybody, the Academy shouldn't be faraway." He led everybody else through the streets of Death's turf, giving them a tour of it along the way.

"Whoa, everything looks so creepy!" Mabel exclaimed gazing through a shop window. "Makes me wish we brought some cameras to take pictures of the place." Wendy added joining her in staring through the window. "Lord Death's face is everywhere. I know he owns the place, but I feel like this is too much." Dipper stated before his eyes wandered to find a nearby ice cream shop. "And is that some kinda parody of Baskin-Robbins?"

"Here it is, our faithful school!" Maka declared after some more sightseeing gesturing towards the school itself high above the rest of the city with flights of white stairs below. It looked more like a macabre funhouse once again with Death's face with red spire roofs, candles jutting out of the building and a group of three skulls anointing the entrance. And above the school was a group of three black orbs mysteriously floating in the air.

"Talk about some bizarre architecture dude! This is definitely going up on my list of inspirations for my dream house!" Soos remarked pulling out a piece of paper with some crude drawings of buildings on it. "It's gonna have a water slide, a bouncy house for an elevator, and trees that can turn into giant super fighting robots!"

"So do we have to climb all these steps?" Pacifica wondered putting a foot on the first stair. "Yeah pretty much." Patty said just as she immediately bolted for the entrance. "RACE Y'ALL!"

"Patty, this is no time for games!" Maka exclaimed racing after her. "We still need to talk with Death and get his help in stopping Kishin Cipher!"

"We literally just got back from nearly dying Maka, can you lighten up a bit?" Black Star said zooming up the stairs. "How can I lighten up when I just-"

"Lost Soul, we know." Tsubaki interrupted her. "We all miss him too but I don't think that's a very healthy way to express your feelings." she stated. "Speaking of losing someone, where's Mr. Pines?"

"How much longer Soos?" Ford moaned as he, Soos and Pacifica became tuckered out from climbing the stairs. "I think we're still in the tens Mr. Pines." the manchild answered. "Well by the time we join the others, I'm going to punch whoever constructed this place. After I throw up."

The hallways of the Death Weapon Meister Academy proved themselves to be very grandiose. As far as the Mystery Meisters could see, they were surrounded by fancy corridors with arched ceilings that almost seemed like a maze.

"Wow, this place is so fancy!" Mabel exclaimed in awe. "And these must be all your classmates too!" She began waving to everyone that passed by until she unexpectedly bumped into a strange blue man. "Oh sorry mister! Didn't mean to run into you like that."

"It's fine missy." the man answered turning to meet the Pines twins, revealing his pupil-less eyes and piglike snout. "Say, aren't you those kids Death was talking to a while ago?" he asked. "Oh my gosh, it's a zombie!" Dipper exclaimed. "Quick, did we pack any formaldehyde and cinnamon in case we run into situations like this?!"

"Hey calm down guys, he won't eat your brains!" Black Star calmed them down. "Speaking of which, we'd like you to meet Sid Barrett. He helps out Lord Death round these parts and is also my dad." he introduced the zombie. "Wait, he's your father? Guess your mom must be some kind of necrophile!" McGucket remarked, which earned him a smack on the head. "Okay I'm sorry! Maybe she's a necromancer instead!"

"Actually, I'm his adoptive dad." Sid answered. "His real dad was a maniac who had to be put down." he added. "I would later raise the kid as my own until I died and came back to life. I couldn't bring myself to kill a baby, cause that's the kind of man I was."

"Y'know, I actually was a zombie once!" Soos remarked. "But I'm not sure if I looked anything like you sir." he stated. "Thanks for your observation, but this is no time for chit-chat. Shinigami said he wants to see you." Sid declared. "Especially the kids."

"Thank you very much Sid, we'll make a note of that." Kid stated before starting to move again. "Come along everyone, his room should be close." he said leading the others away.

Many steps through the labyrinthian halls later, a strange door with a skull face at the top stood before them. "This should be the place." Stein announced beginning to open the door. "Now right this way."

Within moments, the denizens of Gravity Falls found themselves underneath a series of guillotines lined up like a tunnel. "Are any of these going to chop off our heads?" Dipper wondered fearfully gazing up at the tunnel's ceiling. "No it won't you guys, you just still need some adjusting to things!" Spirit claimed. "Now come on, Death shouldn't be kept waiting."

A strange looking room greeted them at the end of the guillotines. The walls almost looked like the sky and a large platform where Death's mirror was situated was surrounded with many crosses planted into the ground that resembled a desert. "Hello, Lord Death? It's us, the Pines family!" Dipper called, but he received no answer. "Where is he anyway? Sid said he should be here to greet us."

"Salutations kiddos!" Lord Death loudly greeted them suddenly appearing on the mirror, shocking them all. "Oh I am terribly sorry, please forgive me for startling you." he apologized exiting the mirror to see them all face to face. "No, we should apologize for being so impatient!" Dipper exclaimed dropping to his hands & knees and bowing his head. "And also failing to stop Asura & Bill."

"Greetings Death, it is a pleasure to meet you face to face." Ford greeted the Shinigami with a respectful bow. "It's good to meet you too Stanford." Death gingerly greeted back before his tone became solemn. "And I am also terribly sorry about what happened to your brother."

"Hey there man!" Wendy casually greeted Death much to Maka's displeasure. "Shouldn't you be more respectful?" she chided the cashier. "What, you mean like this?" Wendy asked before she bowed as well. "Yeah, that's good enough."

"And I assume these must be your friends as well!" Death exclaimed. "So let me get this straight. This place is run by the literal Grim Reaper itself?!" Pacifica gasped in shock. "Why yes indeed young lady." the Death God answered before making his voice deeper and more menacing. "And I should be expecting your soul very soon."

The blonde girl trembled in her boots before Death chuckled in his regular voice. "Just kidding miss!" he assured her with a pat on her head, making her shiver. "So what is this place anyway? I know it's some kinda school but what's it for?" Gideon wondered. "That is a very good question little one!" Lord Death answered before clearing his throat. "Allow me to explain."

"Welcome to the Death Weapon Meister Academy, also known as the DWMA or Shibusen." he began expositing in an announcer's voice. "It stands as a defense against the forces of evil, which would plunge the world into darkness & drag humanity to the very depths of fear and madness, the demons known as Kishin and their insatiable hunger for destruction."

"To ensure the Kishin never regained their hold on this world, this academy was founded by the Grim Reaper, Death himself!" He then switched back to his normal voice. "So basically, we're an organization that exists to protect & preserve peace!" Death exclaimed. "I guess it's not exactly a typical school. Oh well, that isn't important!" he said forming his hands out of his cloak, clasping them together and pointing at the Mystery Meisters. "For now, let's roll up our sleeves and get to work!"

"Work on what sir?" Soos asked as the speech ended. "Why, getting you all ready to face Kishin Cipher! That's why I plan on temporarily enrolling you all at my academy." Death announced to the shock of the party. "We're actually going to become students here?! That sound awesome!" Mabel exclaimed hopping up and down but Wendy only groaned. "Aw man, I seriously wanted to get away from school. Well, at least this place will be less boring."

"Which reminds me, you should all be assigned students to room with." Lord Death said pulling out a tall stack of paperwork and examining it with a pair of glasses. "Let's see, the Pines shall share Maka's apartment. Ms. Corduroy & Mr. Ramirez shall sleep with Black Star & Tsubaki and finally Mr. Gleeful, Ms. Northwest and Mr. McGucket shall move in with my son."

"Uh how did you get our names? We didn't even introduce ourselves yet!" Dipper wondered. "That's also unimportant. Now go along and retreat to your assigned living spaces." Death answered. "I'll see you all soon for your first classes!" With that, the Death God vanished back into his mirror leaving his platform empty.

"Guess that's his way of saying we should get moving." Stein stated with a puff of his cigarette. "I'll see you later. Gonna need to take care of some business." He began leaving the Death Room as the party began going their separate ways. "I'll have you know I live in a very fine & symmetrical mansion." Kid warned Pacifica, Gideon & McGucket. "So if any of you dare disrupt that symmetry, there will be serious consequences."

"I hope you can make yourselves comfortable at our place you two." Tsubaki said to Soos & Wendy. "I can only assume you have some sorta Japanese aesthetic goin' on?" the rotund ex-handyman asked. "I'm asking because y'know, you're both ninjas."

"I wonder if your place is large enough to hold two young girls, two boys, a cat lady, a pig, a sword and an old man like myself." Ford mused preparing to leave as well. "Just make yourselves at home while I take care of my own business." Maka muttered before Spirit suddenly appeared behind her. "Have fun with your new roommates sweetie! And if Dipper tries to make a move on-" Without another word, Maka chopped her father in the face.

"You know what, you can go on ahead kids. I'd still like to speak with Death about Bill." Ford suggested. "Okay, see you soon Ford!" Dipper exclaimed as the children finally exited the Death Room, leaving the scientist alone with the Shinigami, who popped out of his mirror to speak. "Is there any thoughts you want to share with me Mr. Pines? I'm all ears!"

"It's about Bill Cipher sir. You claimed you faced him hundreds of years ago, but how did he manage to find you?" Ford asked as the two of them sat down to some tea. "You almost seem bound to this place, so there's no way you could've gone outside of it to meet him."

"It was actually eight centuries ago when I had first come to blows with Bill." Death explained sipping his tea. "He had actually originally appeared to me, claiming that if we struck a deal, he could help me purge the world of all evils forever and ever. But of course, that was all a lie."

"You did what?!" Ford exclaimed in terror, spitting out his tea. "Sincere apologies for startling you Stanford. I suppose you may have dealt with Cipher as well." Lord Death contemplated. "Indeed I have Shinigami," the six-fingered great uncle confirmed. "for similar reasons as you. He called himself a muse that said I was one of many brilliant minds I chose each century to assist. But obviously, he used me for his own plans as well."

"And according to you, he has returned and fused with Asura as well." Death continued on. "Oh yeah speaking of which, when we left Gravity Falls I heard Asura call your son his 'pesky little brother.' What did he mean by that?" Ford asked again, this time the question made Death nervous before he finally accepted what has now happened. "I've been keeping this secret for ages now, in which only a very small few know it as well, but it's finally time I admitted it." he sighed. "Asura is actually my son."

"My God, it cannot be." Ford gasped. "Though I guessed there may have been some form of connection between him and Kid beforehand, especially due to the similar stripes in their hair, but I never guessed they would be your actual children." he stated. "And another thing, if you're their father then who's the mother?"

"I actually never married. Asura & Kid are just chunks of myself I pulled out and made their own beings. Asura represented my fear while I just wanted a free-roaming Death God which resulted in Kid." Death continued on. "I worry that if I reveal this to him, he wouldn't trust me anymore since I'm basically the father of the ultimate evil. And as for Asura, while I detest him for what he's done in the past, I'm also concerned for what Bill could do to him since he's a completely insane monster."

"I see." Ford commented looking up at one of the windows in Death's room, noticing that the sky was turning red. "I hate to run sir, but the kids should be expecting me to return soon." he stated preparing to return to his great-nephew & niece. "But I promise that your secret is safe with me."

"Good on you Ford. The only others that know it are Sid, my Death Scythes, Excalibur and a few others associates of mine." Death said as Ford finally left. "But I feel the secret won't be kept between us all for long."

"I'm back everyone!" Ford announced stepping into Maka's apartment. "It took me a while to actually find this place, but thankfully Spirit was there to lend me a hand." he stated. "So kids, how are you adjusting?"

"We're doing great Grunkle Ford, this is a great new experience for us!" Mabel exclaimed stepping out of a bedroom. "By the way, you're gonna get Soul's room while Dipper & I sleep on the couch." she added. "Plus Dipper & Maka are already doing nerd stuff in her room."

"Well it's good you're getting used to things. Now what's for dinner?" Ford wondered. "I know, why don't have some smoked sausages?" Blair asked suddenly appearing wearing only an apron with a wiener dog in her hand, much to Ford's alarm as he covered Mabel's eyes. "Don't you have any form of decency furball?!"

"Oh cut me some slack Sixer, with Soul gone I gotta have someone to have fun with." Blair stated defensively. "And besides you are a bit of a silver fox yourself." she playfully cooed before going her own way, leaving Ford aghast and Mabel's innocence preserved. "Seriously, what is a silver fox?!"

Meanwhile in Maka's room, Dipper & Maka were busy chatting and looking through her various books. "Wow, so you have your own weapon form as well? That seems utterly ridiculous and impossible." Dipper commented now sans his vest & shoes while Maka was also dressed more casually in a tanktop and sweatpants. "I agree, but it seems it can only appear when I'm knocked unconscious."

"Ooookay then." Dipper nervously replied before he spotted a framed postcard sitting on her desk. "Hey, what's this supposed to be?" he asked picking it up. "This actually came from my mother, which what inspired me to defeat Asura once and for all." Maka explained. "Everywhere she went, she made sure to send me a postcard of whatever destination she was in. This one in particular contains the Persian word for courage."

"Your mom must've really meant a lot to you if she keeps sending you postcards. Speaking of which, what caused her to not be present in your life?" the boy continued. "My dad was simply too much of a pervert, lusting after far too many other women which worsened our relationship." the Scythe Meister said. "In fact with Soul gone, he's probably the only Demon Scythe that I can use right now."

"Aw chin up, I'm sure you and your dad can patch things up somehow." Dipper assured Maka before Ford came calling for them. "Soup's on everyone! We're having smoked sausages tonight!"

"Let's just eat and later get ready for bed. Tomorrow's going to be your first day at the Academy." Maka stated hoisting Dipper onto her shoulders and carried him to the main room. "Wow, you're really strong for someone your age!"

"Thanks for the sushi dawg, feels like I haven't eaten anything in hours!" Soos thanked as he, Wendy, Black Star and Tsubaki sat down to some sushi she made. "Why thank you very much Soos. It's the best I can do for our guests." Tsubaki replied. "Yeah, make yourselves at home I guess." Black Star added. "So what are your lives like back at your home?"

"Well you probably know how my family is. I'm living with my abuelita, my dad just up & disappeared and my mom died too. But look at me now, still a jolly dude who's everyone's friend!" Soos exclaimed.

"And as for me, I got my dad and three bros, Marcus, Kevin & Gus." Wendy said pulling out a picture of herself and her aforementioned brothers when they were young. "We may get on each other's nerves a lot because manliness and all that, but we all still love each other."

"At least none of your brothers ever felt inferior to you to the point of wanting to become a Kishin!" Tsubaki nervously laughed before her expression turned somber, mourning the fall of her own brother.

"Good lord, look at you in that picture!" Black Star exclaimed staring at the picture, particularly the younger Wendy's hiked-up pants, pigtails & braces. "I'd say the years have been very kind to you Wendy." he complimented, making the lumberjack's daughter blush. "Oh, uh t-thanks Black Star."

"Oh, is that blush I spy Wendy? You got a thing for him?" Soos playfully mocked. "What, no she doesn't!" Black Star screamed. "My heart only belongs to one woman, and her name is The Path to Godhood!"

"Can you not Soos? I know you're only joking, but you're making everyone else nervous." Tsubaki gently scolded him, beginning to blush as well. "Sorry about that Baki." Soos retracted his earlier joke before he made an observation. "Hey, you're getting all red too! You perhaps jealous?"

"Oh just shut up already Soos." Wendy giggled with a sigh. "So you got any places for us to sleep here you guys?" she asked. "Oh I'm sure we could pull out a few spare mats." Tsubaki answered. "Wait, you're being serious? We're actually going to sleep on the floor?"

"It's okay Wendy, it's kinda like being in a sleeping bag. I looked it up on the Internet, and it says the Japanese always sleep on the floor." Soos assured her. "Which reminds me, you got any that can fit me?"

At Death the Kid's mansion, Pacifica, Gideon and Fiddleford were busy making themselves at home as well, sitting down in the dining room with Kid and the Thompsons. "Let us set some house rules everyone. Rule #1, everything must be kept absolutely symmetrical no matter what." the Immature Death God announced. "That especially goes for your Mr. McGucket, with your very looks and all."

"Well if you say so Kiddo, imma keep myself as sym-meteorite as possible!" McGucket claimed boldly, though the children he was now living with weren't so sure of it. "Now you got anything to eat here? I'm starving!"

"Pretty sure I can cook something up." Pacifica stated. "You can trust me, I've been working at Gravity Falls's local diner so I know my way around the kitchen."

"Yay, thanks Pazzy!" Patty exclaimed cheerfully. "It's honestly felt like ages since we had that gumbo at the Shack, I'm famished!" Liz added patting her stomach. "We are truly grateful for you offering to help us with dinner tonight Pacifica." Kid stated leading the younger girl to the kitchen. "So what do you think we should have anyway?"

The next day, far away in the outskirts of Death City, a young man dressed as a clergyman wearing a pair of headphones with Death's face on them bobbed his head to the music playing in them pulled up before the city in a dune buggy resembling a hearse and gazed at the Academy.

At the same time, a man wearing a large bear head appeared out of a coffee shop with a monkey wearing a backwards baseball cap clinging onto his shoulders.

A tall & large Russian man with a large nose wearing heavy winter clothes stepped out of an alleyway followed by another slimmer man with a bearskin hat and duffle coat.

A darker-skinned fellow stepped toward the Academy as well with white war paint on his face in the shape of a keyhole. Along with him was a taller man with a large afro, a pleated sarong and nothing covering his torso.

Another man appeared, his clothing much more loose and a turban covering his entire face. Beside him was a beautiful young woman dressed as a belly dancer.

Finally another lady made herself known, an Asian woman in formal attire who pushed up her glasses with a stern look on her face.

"Lord Death, all your weapons have arrived." Stein confirmed to Death in his room. "And this time, everyone is here."

"Excellent Stein," Lord Death replied. "tell everyone to meet here and we shall make preparations for Operation: Apple of Discord."

Meanwhile at Maka's apartment, the Pines were getting ready for their first day as temporary students at the DWMA. Mabel put the finishing touches on a scabbard she had made for her brother, which was pink in color with a silver metal tip, various ornate gold decorations and a pine tree symbol in the center. "C'mon Dipper, we don't wanna be late! Plus I got a surprise for you!"

"Be with you in a bit Mabel, just gotta do a few more pushups for Excalibur." Dipper groaned struggling to do more warmups under the guidance on the Holy Sword while Blair innocently waved a flag around. "Keep moving Dipper, I don't know what I've been told but all that glitters isn't gold!" Excalibur barked. "You do realize that those two sayings don't make any sense together, right?!" his new Meister panted before his arms finally gave out. "Can we please be done now?"

Pulling out a stopwatch, Excalibur examined it for a bit before giving his answer. "Yes indeed, you have completed all exercises in the allotted time." he answered. "Great, cause lookie what I got for you bro-bro!" Mabel exclaimed revealing her scabbard to Dipper. "Oh yeah, that looks uh, great Mabel."

"FOOL!" Excalibur cried smacking Dipper with the end of his cane. "I sense a bit of nervousness in your tone my boy. Could it perhaps be the color?" he suggested. "Don't let any gender stereotypes bring you down, just accept that your sister has made you a lovely gift."

With that, Excalibur changed into his weapon form to allow Dipper to insert him into his new sheath, which he hung over his shoulder. "Come along kids, the Academy can't be kept waiting!" Ford called about to step out of the door. "Trust us, you're going to love it there!" Maka added and the twins joined them and Crona on their way to the school, leaving Blair and Waddles behind.

Much later, the group had arrived at the front doors of the Death Weapon Meister Academy. Each of them, especially the Pines, knew this would bring them one step closer to stopping Kishin Cipher, rescuing their loved ones and saving Gravity Falls.

Just then, Kid & the Thompsons stepped towards them with Pacifica, Gideon & McGucket in tow along with Black Star, Tsubaki, Soos & Wendy. "Mornin' dudes, you ready for your first day of school?" Soos asked them. "Well since we're coming here during the summer, I guess this would sort of count as summer school."

"You're going to be in the EAT class with us." Black Star stated. "Just as a fair warning, things can get pretty crazy in there so try to keep your heads down."

"Thank you very much Black Star." Ford said pushing open the doors. "Now come along children, we've got work to do!" Suddenly he was interrupted when he opened it to find Stein already inside waiting for him. "Death wants to see you Stanford."

"Oh, me?" Ford wondered. "I am terribly sorry to come and go everyone, but I am needed elsewhere. I'll see you all later!" he quickly apologized stepping through the entrance and walking away with Stein, leaving the kids, Soos & McGucket to wonder what he was needed for.

"So what is your reasoning for pulling me aside Franken?" the author wondered as he was led by Stein back to the Death Room. "Lord Death wants you to join in on a little meeting he's holding with some of his colleagues." the Meister answered letting him inside the room where the Death God was standing before Sid & Spirit along with a host of other colorful characters. "I can only assume these are the other Death Scythes?"

"Indeed they are Stanford." a dark-skinned woman covered in bandages replied. "Mira Naigus, school nurse and DWMA CIA commander at your service Mr. Pines." she introduced herself shaking the scientist's hand. "They are Justin Law of Western Europe, Tezca Tlipoca & Enrique of South America, Tsar Pushka & Feodor of Russia, Dengu Dinga & Alexandre of Africa, Djinn Galland & Zubaidah of West Asia, Azusa Yumi of Oceania and finally...alright, where is she?"

"Where's who?" Ford asked. "Let me guess, Marie is lost again?" Tsar Pushka wondered as if he had experienced this before. Enrique the monkey chattered excitedly while hopping up & down which made Tezca cackle rolling on the floor. "You're right little buddy! Maybe it is because of that eyepatch!"

"Sorry I'm late everyone!" the voice of another young woman cried rushing into the Death Room. This woman in particular had blonde hair & was clad in a black dress with a large yellow zigzag pattern on it and an eyepatch with a lightning bolt symbol. Just the combination of the color scheme and choice of accessory alone made Ford both suspicious & nervous. "Again, sorry I'm late Death! Just got a little lost, as usual."

"Oh don't be Marie." Death stated. "Now then, we have gathered you all here today to discuss a new threat that has emerged and wreaking havoc upon the world. To further elaborate, I'd like to introduce you all to our guest Stanford Pines." he explained introducing Ford to the Death Scythes. "Greetings everyone. As you may know, I hail from a town in Oregon known as Gravity Falls that is currently undergoing serious peril."

"Could you please explain more about this threat Stanford?" Azusa asked. Before Ford could answer, Spirit hurriedly rushed to his side. "I'd try to keep my mouth shut around her if I were you." he whispered. "While she is very respectful, she's also a total bossyboots as well, which earned her the title Queen of the Committee Chairman."

"Excuse me Albarn, but Mr. Pines is trying to speak." Azusa scolded Spirit with a snap of her fingers. "Now please, return to your spot." Much to his chagrin, Spirit obliged as Ford continued to speak. "Anyways ladies and gentlemen, I'd like you to meet Bill Cipher." he announced making the triangle appear on Death's mirror. "A powerful dream demon originating from the second dimension, Bill is currently merged with the Kishin you may know as Asura and the two have made Gravity Falls their domain, hoping to extend their madness across the globe and potentially the rest of the universe as well."

"Are you serious, we're going up against some triangle?" Djinn Galland commented. "Do not be fooled by his simplistic appearance. Bill is a conniving, sadistic monster who can trick or possess anyone to get his way." Ford stated. "He is also highly intelligent, preferring to make deals with his victims to further his own evil deeds."

"Although he can't do much in the mindscape, in our physical realm he is pretty much omniscient. Telepathy, manipulation of things like time & matter, reality warping, the whole nine yards!" Death added. "Combined with Asura's own abilities and godlike Soul Wavelength, the two of them combined are nearly unstoppable."

"What do you mean by nearly sir?" Dengu Dinga asked. "Through some careful research, I was able to deduce that only a zodiac made up of twenty symbols representing 23 souls can create a force strong enough to terminate him." the polydactyl professor stated. Just then he noticed Justin Law barely paying attention and instead listening to his music. "Excuse me young man, we are currently having a discussion that we'd be happy to have you join in on."

"What?!" Justin shouted in Ford's face, much to his surprise. "I said, please take off your earphones and pay attention!" Ford shouted back. "Oh, I am terribly sorry, please proceed." the young Death Scythe politely apologized removing his earbuds. "As I was saying, we must organize a plan of attack on Cipher. One group shall go on ahead & distract him while another shall progress and finish off both him and his four Madnesses, Sloth, Wrath, Greed & Envy."

"Horosho, should be easy." Feodor remarked. "We just go in, wait for you to go after us and everything will be all fine and dandy." he stated. "Don't be so casual. As I stated, Bill can do pretty much anything when in the physical realm, so we must keep ourselves sane if we want to survive." Death said. "However there aren't many ways to keep him from going into our minds."

"I would suggest outfitting our skulls with metal plates since it's the only method we have on hand, but it's very painful." Ford stated. "Are you serious?" Sid wondered and the scientist only replied by knocking on his head, producing a loud clanging noise. "Okay, maybe I could use one of those."

"Oh great googly-moogly, it's almost time for class!" Ford exclaimed looking at his watch. "I hate to come in and run folks, but the twins should be waiting for me!"

"Very well then. Everybody here is dismissed!" Death declared clapping his hands, signaling for his weapons to disperse. As they began leaving the Death Room, Stein stepped up next to Ford. "Hey, I've got an offer for you." he said. "How do you feel about becoming a guest teacher today?"

"Why I'd be delighted Stein!" Ford exclaimed cheerfully. "I actually do have a few degrees so I might know my way around things." he added. "Excellent, I'll be there to assist you along with Marie here." Stein stated introducing him to the blonde woman.

"Oh hey, don't think Mira introduced me! I'm Marie Mjolnir from Oceania, pleased to meet you." Marie greeted, but Ford only returned her greeting with a cold glare. "Are you okay? Why are you giving me the stink-eye?"

In a large classroom filled with multiple academy students, Dipper & Mabel took their seats waiting for the teacher to appear. "What's taking Ford so long? Whatever business Death's got with him, I hope he isn't too preoccupied." Soos wondered sitting down with the twins. Just then a door opened and Stein appeared sitting backwards on a swivel chair and rolling backwards before he fell over. "Good morning class."

"Good morning Professor Stein." the students replied in unison. "Hiya Mr. Stein!" Mabel cried before she was met with a scalpel launched in her direction, only managing to hit the desk behind her. "Oops, sorry sir."

"Anyway, today we have a special guest to lead the class today." the Meister announced. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like you all to meet Mr. Stanford Pines." Ford then stepped into the room waving as the class applauded, with Soos cheering loudly. "Woo, we love ya Mr. Pines!"

Another scalpel flew in Soos's direction, again only managing to hit a nearby desk. "I'll keep my mouth shut." he squeaked ducking down. "Now then, let's get down to business." Ford announced writing his name on the board. "My name is Stanford Pines, a professional in the field of investigating cryptids and other oddities."

"What kind of cryptids did you meet sir?" a young man with thick glasses and horn-like hair asked. "Well that is a very good question young one." Ford answered. "Among the creatures I have researched are gnomes, unicorns, vampire bats, a squash with a human face & emotions, leprecorns, the Hide-Behind and cursed Egyptian super-termites."

As Ford continued speaking, Dipper & Kid decided to strike up a conversation. "So what did your father want my great uncle for?" Dipper asked. "I do not know, but I feel this requires some investigating. Want to join me after class?" Kid offered. "Are you kidding, I'd love to!"

"Hey, don't you want to train with me & Tsubaki on how to swordfight?" Black Star asked. "I would like to do that as well, but I think I'm gonna have trouble balancing it all." Dipper answered. "I could find a way to make another me to do one thing while I do another, but the last time I tried that went horribly wrong."

"And that's how I wound up who I am today." Ford concluded a speech. "Now then, are there any more questions?" he asked. "I got one." a somewhat familiar sounding voice said. "Yes, what do you have to say sir?"

"You ever tried giving up?" Suddenly the classroom turned monochrome as the voice began cackling. "I know that laugh." Ford angrily declared. "Come on out Bill, or keep hiding like a coward if you like!"

"Try turning around to your right Sixer." Ford did as Bill said and much to his horror, he found Marie taking off her eyepatch to reveal the eye of someone who would be possessed by the dream demon. "Did you really think you could escape me old chum? I thought we were best friends!" he exclaimed with a loud "OHOHOHOHO!"

"Quit laughing Bill! You've made my family suffer for far too long!" Ford screamed angrily grasping Marie's shoulders and shaking her back and forth, though Bill only laughed again. "Quit your fighting Stanford, even if you move yourself away from Gravity Falls I'll always be watching you!"

"No you won't, because I've got help!" Ford declared preparing to strangle Marie. "But how can you say that when you're already choking one of your "little helpers?" Toodle-oo!" Suddenly Bill disappeared leaving only the Death Scythe hailing from Oceania in his place, choking as the scientist tightly grasped her neck. "W-what are you d-doing?"

"Come back here you bastard and fight me! I could do this all day!" That was the last thing Stanford would say before he felt Stein punch him in the back. "Three-Fold!" the mad Meister exclaimed. "Gi, Go, Shoku!"

After being punched three times, Ford started bleeding from the mouth and lost his grip on Marie's neck before falling down in front of the stunned students. "Class dismissed." he coldly announced turning his screw and slinging Ford over his shoulder to carry him off, the classroom still deathly quiet.

Minutes later, Dipper and Mabel patiently waited in the school's dispensary for any news on their grunkle's condition. He laid there unconscious in the hospital bed, blood spilled from his mouth and his eyes shut. "What do you think prompted Ford to attack the eyepatch lady?" Mabel asked her brother, who stopped jotting down all he had learned in class to answer. "I don't know. But come to think of it, she does kinda remind me of Bill."

"What do you mean by that?" Mabel continued. "Well her primary colors are yellow & black and she has an eyepatch; but she looks in no way the type that would affiliate with him." Dipper analyzed. Just then, Maka opened the door to find the twins already in the room. "Hey guys, sorry about what happened with Ford."

"It's all right Maka, it's just that Bill hurt him so much that anything reminding him of the guy might trigger him now." Dipper said before Stein & Mira appeared as well with notes on his condition. "Good news children, your great-uncle shall be fine." the bandage-covered nurse announced. "Bad news, we may have diagnosed him with a mild case of PTSD."

"Tell us something we don't know! He's already suffered enough at the hands of Bill before, but what happened when Kishin Cipher has made things even worse for him!" Dipper exclaimed just as they heard moaning coming from Ford. "Hey, he's waking up!"

At the same time, Marie suddenly barged into the dispensary. "I am so sorry about what happened to Stanford! I didn't realize I would make him so mad, yet I don't know how!" she exclaimed before she suddenly tripped over and fell on Ford's body as he awakened. "Oh my back. What happened?" he groaned. "Kids?"

"Ford!" the twins cried in unison hugging their great-uncle. "Kids! Please tell me what happened." the genius said. "You were just standing there talking nerd stuff when you started rambling about Bill before strangling the eyepatch lady." Mabel explained. "Then Mr. Stein punched you so hard that you started bleeding from the mouth!"

"Wait, I did what?!" Ford exclaimed trying to comprehend what his great-niece had said. "Like I said, I'm truly sorry if I made you mad Stanford." Marie said getting up and dusting herself off. "And I assume you must be his great-nephew & niece?" she asked the twins. "Yes m'am! I'm Mabel and this is my brother Dipper!" Mabel introduced her and Dipper. "What's your name eyepatch lady?"

"My name's Marie Mjolnir. Very nice to meet you." Marie said shaking the kids' hands. "I have some apologies myself Marie. I am deeply regretful of what I've done earlier." Ford apologized. "Hopefully you can find a way to forgive me as well."

"Oh it's all right Ford." Marie replied before a crow suddenly flew by the window, squawking "Ahou! Ahou! Ahou!" much to the confusion of everyone in the room. "What the hell is that crow doing outside?" Ford wondered. "We have no idea either." Mira said. "It's been flying around the Academy for weeks, often appearing whenever someone would make a fool of themselves."

"Unrelated topic, but shouldn't you be assembling with Sid, the Scythes and Mifune to move out to Gravity Falls?" Stein wondered. "That's right, I just wanted to make some last arrangements before departing." Mira stated before walking out of the dispensary. "I shall see you all again soon."

With the nurse now leaving the room, the Pines then turned to meet Maka's gaze. "So what brings you here Maka? Well, other than my condition of course." Ford wondered. "I actually came to tell you about a big party Kid is throwing at his mansion to welcome you all to Death City." Maka announced.

"The whole school is invited actually, faculty included!"

"That sounds delightful Maka, I'll make a note of it." Stein commented turning to Ford. "And as for you, I think we should get you back home to recover. Which might mean you can't go to the party."

"Aw man, this could've been the perfect chance for you to find someone to love!" Mabel groaned in disappointment before she felt Marie tap her shoulder. "Did you say love? Are you like some expert matchmaker or something?" the Death Scythe asked. "All I ever wanted to do is find a man to love and we could retire together & have some beautiful children! I'm so desperate I might as well marry a toilet!"

"Well you could find a plumber to hook up with." Dipper snarked. "Preferably one who doesn't wear a tie and beats up evil turtles for a living."

"Mark my words Marie, I'm going to find you a man tonight or my name isn't Mabel Danielle Pines! And it is!" Mabel heroically declared. "Now then, gimme some info. For an possible dating site profile." she said leading Marie out the door. "Well I was born on June 8, 1984 in Oceania. I'm interested in surfing, Norse mythology, kangaroos, biking..."

"I can already tell they're going to be an unstoppable duo." Dipper declared as the two's voices grew fainter. "Speaking of teams, I have some business of my own to do." he said leaving the room as well. "Which one, training with Black Star or investigating with Kid?" Maka asked. "Both of them. We all decided to reach a compromise. See you tonight Maka!"

Soon Maka departed as well leaving Stein & Ford alone in the dispensary. "Okay, now that the children are out of the way, let's get to bringing you home." the stitched-up scientist declared helping Ford out of the hospital bed and leading him by the hand to the exit before Spirit suddenly appeared on the other side. "Hey Stein, you done with your business yet? I've been thinking we should go to Chupa-Cabra's later and-what are you doing?"

"He's simply helping me up, don't take it the wrong way Spirit!" Ford exclaimed nervously taking his hand away from Stein's. "And what is this Chupa-Cabra's place?" he wondered. "Oh it's just great Pines! I mean, you won't find any other place in Death City with babes and booze!" Spirit explained. "You gotta come with us!"

"Okay I'll bite." Ford gave in. "I think I might need a break from all this emotional suffering."

"Thanks for clearing up your schedule and helping us compromise on how to spend your time Dipper." Tsubaki said gratefully as they, along with Black Star, Excalibur, Kid and the Thompsons traversed the halls. "You're welcome Tsubaki. But is there anyone in this school that could tell us where to go from here?" Dipper wondered. "There actually is, and he should be coming up right now." Kid stated just as they came across a tall man with a chin-curtain beard, closed eyes and a rather large forehead drinking some coffee. "Hello again Joe."

"Oh hey kids, good to see you again. How's Oregon been?" the man asked them. "We actually brought something home from there!" Patty exclaimed bringing Dipper to his attention. "We'd like you to meet Dipper Pines!"

"What's up kid, name's Joe Buttakaki." Joe introduced himself shaking the boy's hand. "So what brings you here to Death City?" The Pines brother was silent for a moment before he answered, his voice firm with resolution. "I want to know about the Kishin Asura, and Lord Death's relationship with him."

Joe was silent and then he turned around. "Follow me." he simply stated leading the party away. "I knew the day when someone would ask about them would come. I just thought it would've been just Kid instead of you."

"Well that's the thing Joe, Asura called him his pesky little brother. What the hell is up with that?!" Black Star exclaimed as they moved from the academy interior to its underground hallways. "This was a secret Lord Death has sworn me to keep since I graduated from the academy." the DWMA's tech expert explained. "But word on the street is he's roped another person into his little inner circle of secret keepers."

"Another person?" Dipper wondered scratching his chin to deduce who this individual could be before Excalibur smacked him upside the head. "FOOL! It's most likely he's talking about your great-uncle." he declared to his new Meister, to his shock and exasperation. "Seriously?! We've already kept enough secrets from each other last summer, but this is getting ridiculous! I mean, what other stuff could we be in the dark about?!"

"I-I don't know, I'd prefer t-t-URP-to put the lime in the c-c-coconut and then eat the candle." Ford drunkenly remarked as he sat in Chupa-Cabra's with Spirit & Stein along with Blair, a pair of beautiful women and stacks upon stacks of beer mugs. "Very glad you're enjoying yourself Mr. Pines! Terribly sorry about what happened to your brother too." the first woman, named Risa, said comforting the elderly genius. "Yeah, I can see you're just utterly heartbroken by that." her partner Arisa added pouring Ford another drink. "Here, have another."

"Thank you ladies. You're such nice people." Ford thanked them putting his arms on their shoulders. "You're both absolute babes, but you Risa are just a beautiful butterfly." he slurred putting their faces uncomfortably close to one another and lightly gripping her chest. "I can definitely see that age has been insanely generous to you."

"Hey Ford, buddy?" Spirit interjected putting a hand on his shoulder. "I think all this booze is getting' to you. Listen, I get you're still super depressed over what happened to Stan, but you can't just waste your time just drinking your troubles away."

"You're one to talk scarlet, you'd rather waste your time here than be a good father!" Ford spitted at Spirit, much to his chagrin. "Dude, harsh!" he exclaimed in defense. "But I'm gettin' ahead of myself you're all the best people God ever crapped onto his dumpster fire of an asteroid! Drinks on me ladies and gents!" Ford shouted, leaving everyone stunned and concerned for him. "But how are you going to pay for all this?" Stein wondered. "You probably don't have that much money."

"OfcourseIdoKarloff!" Ford stuttered, his statement barely understandable as he fished some odd currency out of his pockets. "Lemme see I got zeni Beli woolongs Bison dollars bits bells gold rings gil munny rupees bolts lien schmeckles bottle caps all that jazz!"

"Wait, as in literal bottle caps? Where did you get these?" Stein wondered picking up a bottle cap. "Just another post-apocalyptic wasteland that I ran into across the multiverse somewhere!" Ford exclaimed spreading his arms wide. "There were giant roaches everywhere and I was accompanied by the cutest little dog who loved running into forcefields!" He then suddenly dropped to his knees with a crestfallen look on his face as he raised his arms up and screamed "DOGMEAT, NOOOOOO!"

"Seriously Fordsy, you need to chill out!" Blair sternly declared trying to stop Ford's drunken ranting, but was met with being lovingly gazed at by the great-uncle. "Can you hear my thoughts?" he began monologuing to himself. "My buddy from a distant star, I'm not sure I even know who you are. Look at me, like a kid out of school hanging out with a fool. A fool who I think is actually kinda cool."

"Are you okay there Stanford? You're slobbering all over the floor." Stein asked. "Why am I starting to drool?" Ford mused as saliva began pouring from his mouth before he finally fell over on his face, on the verge of a hangover. "We're trying to help you, you've had enough!" Spirit tried to pull him up but his hand was slapped aside. "I KNOW WHEN I'VE HAD ENOUGH YOU BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS!"

With that, Ford slipped into unconsciousness in a pool of his own drool and the stacks of mugs about to fall on him. He could barely make out the sounds of him being picked up off the floor and a door opening.

"Will this give us the answers we've been looking for?" Dipper asked as their group stood outside a large door deep within the academy's underground. "Yes indeed Dipper, welcome to the academy's Secret Vault." Kid declared pushing the door open to reveal a plethora of bizarre machinery lying around. "This is where we keep the various Demon Tools created by Eibon, whom as we discussed a long time ago during our rescue mission, created the Demon Weapons inspired by Excalibur."

"Whoa, Ford would've loved to see this place! Can't wait till I tell him at the party!" the younger boy gasped in amazement examining the various devices the sorcerer created. "There's just so many of them, I probably can't think straight over what they can do!"

"I know what'll help you think, some much needed sword training!" Black Star declared. "Once Tsubaki & I show you the ropes, you'll be an ace in no time! Though obviously not on par with yours truly."

"I'll give him the basics and you'll deal with some of the more complex stuff." Tsubaki suggested picking up a wooden bokken and taking a stance while Dipper prepared as well, summoning Excalibur to his side. "Now then Dipper, everything starts with your stance." she instructed her student as their weapons lightly tapped each other. "Keep your stance wide and your body lowered as you're moving forward."

"Balance is the key, right?" Dipper asked. "Correct." the shadow weapon answered. "Next is your right foot, then your left foot." she continued lecturing as they sparred. "Now go even faster. And as you're moving backwards, keep your eyes on me."

"Hey guys, I think I found something!" Patty shouted from afar, popping up with a large key in hand. "Doesn't this seem a little familiar to you guys?" she wondered turning it around to reveal that the teeth were in the shape of an E. "How can this be possible?! It disappeared along with him!" Kid exclaimed in shock taking the key out of his weapon's hands. "This has to be some kind of trap devised to keep intruders away from the Vault!"

"Nope, looks like the real deal to me." Joe guessed gazing at the key as well. "What are you guys talking about and why is that key so perplexing to you?" Dipper asked. "Let me take a look at it."

With the mysterious key handed to him, Dipper observed it looking for clues on what to do. "Maybe I should try rubbing it?" he suggested doing just that. "Sorry kid, but this doesn't look like any magic lamp." Liz snarked. "Or maybe it can open a door to the heart of all worlds!" Black Star chirped. "And it can also be used as a weapon to fight evil shadow creatures with no hearts!"

"Wait, I think I know one thing it can open." Kid announced looking towards a strange cube with ancient writing scribbled on it placed on a pedestal. "What is that thing?" Dipper wondered walking toward the cube. "That my friend is BREW, the legendary Demon Tool that can merge two things into one or create whatever the user desires." Excalibur answered. "If used incorrectly, it can bring about utter destruction as we know it."

Dipper then slowly inserted the key into BREW but unfortunately, nothing happened. "Is this going to be like in the movies and shows where it seems like something doesn't work but then after a few seconds it actually does?" Patty wondered and she was indeed proven right as BREW began to glow and flash wildly, causing debris from all around the room to fly around it. "Called it!"

"Everybody get down!" Dipper screamed before everyone ducked their heads down, all except for Excalibur, who only said "Fool." before BREW stopped shining and dust began forming, leading a large silhouette to appear.

When the dust settled, all that was left was a humanoid man whose appearance was concealed by a simple mask and extravagant robes. "What happened? Where am I?" the man wondered in a panic, unaware of his current surroundings. Just then he heard footsteps and found a young boy standing before him, looking up at his mask. "Excuse me sir, but are you Eibon?"

"Yes, indeed I am little one." Eibon answered quietly. "And you are?" he asked back, though the boy only replied by collapsing on the ground. "Dipper!" the Sorcerer heard a familiar voice. 'Dipper?' he thought. 'What an odd name.'

"Wake up Dipper, are you all right?!" Kid exclaimed trying to wake his younger companion up. "Why yes Mrs. Lincoln, and how was the play?" Dipper woozily asked barely putting his train of thought back on track. "What just happened?!"

"Hello again, old friend." Excalibur greeted Eibon. Although they couldn't see it through his mask, he was most definitely making the Excalibur face.

"Am I in the Secret Vault? How long was I out? Did we win?" Eibon asked still in the dark about current events. "Yes you are, about a few weeks and yes we did." Joe answered all three of the Sorcerer's questions. "That's quite a lot to take in. And who is this boy still?" Eibon continued. "Very few people are allowed in the vault!"

"My name's Dipper Pines Mr. Eibon." Dipper introduced himself shaking the giant's hand. "Very nice to meet you."

"Pleased to meet you too young man." Eibon replied accepting the child's handshake. "But still, what kind of name is Dipper?" he wondered. "Oh yeah, that's what most people call me because of this." Dipper replied taking off his hat and pushing aside some hair to reveal his birthmark. "My word, the Big Dipper! Now it makes more sense!"

"That would explain quite a bit. I just thought your folks hated you or something." Black Star added. "So tell me Dipper, what brings you to this vault?" Eibon asked. "I simply came because I want more info on Lord Death and Asura."

"I knew the day would come when someone would ask." the Sorcerer muttered. "Yes the rumors are indeed true, Asura is Death's son." he stated. "Which would make Kid here..."

"My-my brother." the young Death God finally realized. "How has Father kept this from me for centuries?!" he screamed, desperate for more answers. "He simply didn't want you to feel betrayed!" Eibon stated. "I am sorry we couldn't tell you all this time, not just me and your dad."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Black Star wondered. "It wasn't just me that held his secret. All his Death Scythes were in on it as well, and Excalibur too." Eibon revealed, causing everyone to look at the Holy Sword in annoyance. "What, I suppose you're going to get mad at me for keeping quiet as well?"

"What else is he keeping from us? I suppose something related to a certain triangle." Dipper asked, writing in his journal. "I presume you've encountered Bill Cipher as well. As have Death and I." Eibon continued preparing to reminisce on that time. "He came to us claiming that he can help him purge the world of evil, but of course it was all a lie."

"Aw come on Death, we can still work things out! Honest!" Bill Cipher urged the Shinigami as they fought in the Nightmare Realm. "Silence you three-sided scum, or I'll dip you in magma and eat you alive!" Death threatened in a much more menacing voice glaring at the demon through his realistic mask. "You thought your wily words could swindle me, but I shall be tricked no longer!"

"I know you're in there somewhere best buddy! The four of us actually made a good team." Bill stated with a chortle. "You, me, Eibon and Arachne, we would've been unstoppable together! But NOOOO, that little tattletale of a Holy Sword just had to rat me out!"

"It was for the greater good!" Death shouted before he felt his cloak being incinerated by Bill's azure flames. "AAAAAGGGGHHHHH!"

As the Shinigami screamed in pain, Bill pulled out a stopwatch counting down how many seconds it took for his anguished crying to stop. "Wow, 42 seconds! That's gotta be a new record!" he commented applauding as the Death God's cloak regenerated, Death himself looking more furious than ever. "Death Claw!" he screamed summoning four black tendrils bearing his face to grab Bill by the arms and dragging them towards each other, allowing Death to deal the final blow. "REAPER CHOP!"

With a mighty slap, Bill shouted in pain clutching his eye. "You damn idiot, that was one of my weaknesses!" the demon screamed. "All right, you win you idiot!" he added finally surrendering. "It's about time you golden beast. Now leave this realm and never return, unless you want me to tear you to shreds." Death snarled menacingly sticking his bony hand toward him. "AM, I, CLEAR?!"

"Oh you may have won this time bonehead, but I'm not done with your puny world yet!" Bill cautioned him casting him out of the Nightmare Realm. "And when that day comes, I won't be the only one you'll be worrying about. Until then, I'll be watching you! I'LL BE WATCHING YOU!"

"So you and Lord Death actually worked together with Bill at some point? Gee that totally doesn't sound familiar!" Black Star exclaimed rolling his eyes. "Hey speaking of which, I wonder how Ford is doing?" Dipper wondered before his phone started ringing. "Well speak of the devil." he muttered picking it up. "Go for Dipper!"

"Who is it? And what is that strange contraption you're holding?" Eibon asked as the boy hung up. "It's Mabel sir, something's wrong with Ford!" Dipper exclaimed. "Ford? My word, we've been down here so long I've lost track of time!" Kid fretted exiting the Secret Vault. "We need to get ready for tonight!"

"Aw geez you're right! C'mon Tsubaki, let's get cracking!" Black Star shouted, the two racing ahead of them. "A party, you're having a party? Can I come!?" Eibon asked getting excited. "As much as I hate to say this, but it's best that you stay down here for now." Joe answered. "Hopefully we can meet each other again!"

When the door finally closed leaving Eibon all by himself in the vault, he took a moment to look around, examining all the various Demon Tools he created being stored there. Stepping toward a large machine with a clockwork key inside it, he opened it and found a small plaque with his and Death's signatures on it. "Why must there be so many secrets?"

By the time Ford began regaining some form of thought, everything around him was still incredibly blurry. It felt like he was submerged in some nice-smelling liquid and something round & soft was right in front of him. He could also hear a female singing about pumpkins and magic.

"N-no wire h-hangers, ever." he slurred finally coming to. Slowly opening his eyes, he found himself in a bathtub with Waddles right in front of him. "Waddles? What are you doing here? Where am I?"

"Oh goody, you're finally awake!" a familiar cadence exclaimed. With a rub of his eyes, Blair sat right before him in the tub completely nude. "Goodness gravy!" Ford screamed stumbling out of the tub before unfortunately falling on his face, causing his nose to bleed. "I have asked this once, I've asked this a thousand times! Is shame just nowhere to be found in your dictionary?!"

Waddles oinked twice turning his head in amusement. "Oh don't you start!" Ford scolded the swine. "Look at me, I'm a mess!" he exclaimed. "Then what state were you in earlier?" the Monster Cat snarked, making the scientist realize just what he had become. Gazing deeply into the bathroom mirror, staring back at him was a man completely broken by loss, desperate to relieve himself of his grief even though it was completely fruitless.

"Stanford Filbrick Pines, what happened to you?" he groaned in regret before he pulled a drenched photo of him and Stanley as children posing with their shipwreck the Stan O' War. It wasn't long before all those times where he had begged to relieve himself of the pain, first losing his brother, then making a scene in front of an entire class and finally falling into a hangover, came crashing down and he finally broke down in tears. "Why me?! Just why?!"

"Oh don't cry Forddy." Blair said getting out of the tub to comfort him. "And yes, I am wearing a bathrobe this time. Now come on, let's get you some coffee."

One towel over the scientist's head and a cup of coffee in his hand later, Ford sat down on the couch utterly miserable while the Monster Cat gently massaged his back. "Thank you very much Blair, but I feel it's pretty much hopeless for me. My family's torn apart and Kishin Cipher is running amok back in Gravity Falls." he sighed deeply. "Hey I've always wanted to know, what's your story? Well, other than being a promiscuous cat with magic powers that happens to resemble a witch."

"I wasn't able to tell anyone about it my entire time in Death City, but my past isn't all sunshine and rainbows." Blair answered lying down and resting her legs on his lap. "I did originate from the Witches' Realm, but their destruction loving ways are seriously boring. I just love ditching them and hanging out in Death City, which is where I first met Maka & Soul."

"Interesting. Could you perhaps further elaborate on Witches?" Ford wondered beginning to show a bit of his old self pulling out a notepad to jot down on. "Well, they're like super powerful when it comes to magic and also can live a really long time!" Blair explained. "There are also maybe a few wandering around in Death City keeping themselves hidden using Soul Protect, which they can use to disguise their souls as normal humans."

"Disguising their souls. Gonna have to look further into that." Ford mumbled writing down notes. "Speaking of which, where did the kids run off too? I'm sure they couldn't have gone far." he wondered. "Oh yeah, they went to a party at Kid's place after coming back here to check up on you." the cat answered, to Ford's alarm. "My goodness, the party! I should best get ready! Blair, is there anything around here I can wear?"

Just then, Waddles oinked as he waddled in, wearing a small hand towel on his head as he pointed to Soul's room. "Thank you oh so much Waddles. And I should really dry out my clothes too."

Stepping into Soul's empty bedroom and closing the door behind him, Ford came out moments later in a simple suit with a black jacket with matching shoes, tie & pants and white undershirt. When he turned around to examine himself in the mirror, Blair's slender hands grasped his shoulders. Turning around, the author found the cat dressed up for a night on the town herself in a purple dress with a single slit on the side showing some leg and her hair in a ponytail. Waddles on the other hand wore a tiny bowler hat and a bowtie.

"I suppose you're coming along as well?" Ford asked. "Of course I am, just to keep you grounded. And Waddles is coming too!" Blair answered, and Waddles added with an oink. "That'd be delightful. Now let's get moving!" While opening the door, Ford felt Blair start holding his hand and he held hers with a grin, the three of them finally walking out together.

"I can't believe it, we haven't found you a man all day!" Mabel exclaimed as she and Marie helped themselves to some punch at the buffet table at Kid's party. "And to add insult to the coffin, no hits on your dating profile yet!"

"I know right? At this rate I might as well marry a toilet!" Marie replied. "But which kind would take me, cause I'm leaning toward a porta-potty. At least we can go anywhere together!" Just then Dipper walked up to the buffet table. "What was that about toilets?" he asked with a nervous look. "Oh nothing broseph, we're just talking about Ms. Marie's love life."

"Hey everybody, I got some more mineral water for you if you're thirsty!" a blonde young man with bright blue eyes exclaimed racing into the main hall with platters of wine glasses filled with water. "Hey thanks Hiro, I was getting thirsty!" Marie thanked the boy taking a glass. "And how are those lambchops with applesauce coming along?"

"Doing good, I'll bring them out in a sec!" Hiro replied before he began groaning to himself. "If only I had my own weapon that would make people stop pushing me around. Well other than Excalibur anyway." he muttered. "What's his problem?" Dipper wondered beginning to snack on some hors d'oeuvres. "TL;DR, he's a total wimp that people treat as their servant because he doesn't have a weapon." Mabel answered. "But where can we find a good one for him?"

"Maybe he'd match up well with Mai Thi Hoang from the NOT class over there. She's real nice and could probably treat him well." the Death Scythe suggested pointing to a young Vietnamese girl with red-framed glasses making small talk with Gideon. The two of them then put on their own glasses before menacingly tenting their fingers and declaring "Jackpot." while their lenses shined.

"For the last time Fiddleford, stop pigging out on all that spaghetti! Were you raised on a farm or something?!" Kid complained to McGucket. "As a matter of fact Stripes, I am!" the genius hillbilly replied. "And this ain't spaghetti, it's linguini!"

Kid only responded by briefly gazing at the plate before he snatched it out of Fiddleford's hands and chucked it at the wall. "Now it's garbage." he coldly declared just as he realized the mess he made and hastily cleaned it up, desperate to keep the symmetry of his home intact. "Whew, close call!"

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. "Oh, that must be Ford! Wonder what took him so long?" Maka said opening the doors to find not only Stanford, but also Blair & Waddles as well. "Hello there miss, sorry I took so long." the author sheepishly said stepping inside. "And I've also brought a few plus-ones."

"Oh my gosh, you all look amazing! And Waddles is dressed like a little man out for a night on the town too!" Mabel squealed racing towards the three of them. Maka on the other hand couldn't help but find Ford's suit familiar. "That's the same outfit Soul wore to the Anniversary Eve celebration."

"Oh, I didn't realize! If it's okay with you, I could go back and find a different suit." Ford stated before Maka stopped him. "It's fine Mr. Pines. It's fine." she sighed, still hurting over losing Soul. "Aw don't feel so blue Maka, mama Blair can make you feel all better!" Blair assured the young Meister. "Thank you Blair. I can't believe I just said that."

"Yo old man, how are you recovering?!" Black Star exclaimed rushing up to Ford. "I'm doing fine Black Star. And please don't call me old man!" Stanford said. "Okay then old man." the young ninja replied. "Good grief."

"Black Star, Mabel, can I pull you two aside for a bit?" Dipper asked them. "I want to talk with Ford and I don't want anyone to notice us." he said. "Oh, you mean that stuff about Asura?" Black Star said. "Wait, what's this about Asura?" Mabel wondered. "We'll explain later. Right now, I'm gonna need you to provide a distraction." her brother ordered. "Any ideas?"

"Ooh, I got one!" Mabel chirped. "Why don't we get the orchestra to play a new song, one that's less boring?" she suggested. "Okay, which one?" Dipper wondered to which she replied by pulling out a music sheet, making the boy facepalm. "Seriously, that one? That is just so 2004!"

"Oh man, I love this song!" Black Star exclaimed. "And yes, I know it's hilarious that I, a super manly man, adore a song written by a boy band loved by young girls at the time." he added. "Now what are you waiting for, get them to play it!"

Mabel stepped up to the orchestra with the sheet in hand and shoved the piece they were playing aside in favor of hers. "Hey, can you play this instead?" she asked. After some careful consideration, the orchestra shrugged and played the new song, which Mabel & Black Star began singing along to. "Quit playing games with my head! I'm a sport but I'm not a toy," they harmonized to the high-class remix of their song. "Let's not analyze what I just said! I don't want to be a complex boy!"

Faster than anyone could notice, they all started dancing before Patty leaped onstage with the two and joined in. "I can't tell if you're serious when you are so delirious! I'm just playing it baby, is that a yes, no or maybe?! YES!"

As the trio continued, Ford sighed sitting by the punchbowl. "I swear, youth is wasted on the young." he mused taking a sip. "Indeed, look at them so young and naïve." Azusa Yumi added standing next to him. "And yet sometimes I feel the adults are guilty of this as well, like your hobo friend for example." She then pointed to McGucket pigging out on finger sandwiches while Marie desperately tried to get Hiro & Mai to chat. "He's just too busy absorbing the entire buffet table."

"Now for your information Yumi, my friend is a scientific genius! He helped me build my portal and also constructed various machines that he mostly used to wreak havoc whenever someone wronged him!" Ford hotly argued. "And what do you have to accomplish, aside from being a Death Scythe?!"

"I actually helped defeat Asura for your information sideburns!" Azusa shouted back. "How so, did Death find a way to weaponize your bitc-" Ford prepared to insult right back at her before Dipper pulled on his leg. "Excuse me for a moment, great-nephew."

The two stepped into another room far from the festivities when Ford finally decided to ask what was up. "So what did you pull me aside for?" he wondered. "It's about Asura." Dipper sternly answered crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes. "Is it true that you've been told about his relationship with Lord Death & Kid yet didn't tell anyone else about it?!"

"Look, Death has sworn me to keep this secret; and I'm not the only one either!" Ford exclaimed. "Tons of people were in on it, Stein, Spirit, Sid, the other Death Scythes, even Excalibur!" he added. "The last one I know about, but seriously! Remember the last time someone kept a secret from the rest of their family? The entire universe was nearly destroyed!" the boy argued. "Twice even, all because Stan made the stupid decision of ruining your science project!"

"I'm not even sure Stanley was the one who broke it! He said he fixed it yet when I presented it, it was an utter mess!" Ford yelled. "And speaking of family, you don't have to bring Stan into this especially after we just lost him yesterday!"

"Gee, this is totally sounding familiar!" Dipper screamed. "Someone keeps a dark secret from their family which tears them all apart!" Suddenly they heard a knocking on the door before it slightly creaked open. "Mabel, I can see you from the other side. Come on in."

"You too Blair." Ford added and Blair stepped into the room carrying an exhausted Mabel in her arms. "I'm sorry Dipper, I couldn't keep singing forever!" she panted before being dropped on the floor. "But silver lining, everybody loved it when I sang with Black Star and Patty."

"You heard everything, didn't you?" Dipper asked folding his arms. "Yeah pretty much! And I gotta say, what a twist!" Blair answered brightly. "I mean, the whole 'villain is secretly related to the hero' thing has been done everywhere, yet I still didn't see it coming!"

"So was that the reason why you told me to sing? You could've easily done without it." Mabel asked. "I know sis, but that still was a good distraction." Dipper replied spreading out his arms. "Awkward sibling hug?"

"Awkward sibling hug." Mabel accepted and they hugged before saying "Pat pat!" in unison. "Dipper, I am truly sorry about not telling you about Death and Asura beforehand." Ford apologized getting down on a knee. "Let's promise that there be no more secrets within our family, no ifs ands or buts!"

"No ifs ands or buts indeed!" Dipper answered. "Now come on guys, the party's still going on!" he shouted walking back to the shindig. Ford and Blair soon followed behind, but not Mabel as she gazed at the wall. "Aren't you coming back with us Mabel?"

"I'll be with you in a bit." Mabel answered not even turning to her brother. She continued staring at the wall in front of her, still conflicted on whether her own secret should get out. On one hand, she'd finally get some closure but on the other, her family would be furious for her playing an important part in the beginning of a certain event.

"I will tell them, no matter what." Mabel solemnly declared, her fists clenched in determination before she turned around and returned to the party, adamant on her decision.

And that's it for this chapter! Now, I was originally going to end off on a fight between Dipper, Mabel & Wendy against Ox, Kim & Kilik, but then I decided to just reduce it to a scene where Ox challenges the three of them because the chapter was packed enough already until I finally decided to save it for next time. Speaking of which, next time Mabel gets stuck in the feels wringer as Kishin Cipher plots to drive the Pines apart for his own misdeeds. But just what does he have planned for her, and who knew emotionally torturing your favorite characters was so much fun?!

[ibelieveinahappilyeverafter]

deCIPHER

Bonjour, mes chers! Quite a bit late due to being distracted by that terrible eye surgery of mine, but here’s the first released drabble that was my Patreon Exclusive drabble last month!

Consider supporting me to see more stories like this one! $97/100 down for the podfic goal!

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Title: DeCIPHER

Alternate Universe: Post Show / Dipper age ~16

Rating: G+

Inspired By: deCIPHER - Madame Macabre

Summary: Dipper is sixteen and the mess that was Bill Cipher was supposed to have been left behind and yet, here he was, hearing that voice in his head. It would be fine and easy to ignore if Bill Cipher wasn't so good at telling the truth.

::

"Come on, kid, I know you can hear me." Taking a steadying breath, Dipper firmly ignored the words, staring at the board and trying to focus on using the square root completion method to solve quadratic equations. It was getting harder. "Hey, kid, I know you can see me."

Biting the inside of his cheek, Dipper refused to look at the golden glow that drifted by his vision, instead sliding his gaze over to where his sister was sitting at her own desk and taking notes in gel pens. She didn't seem to have any worries and wasn't looking towards the gold at all. "Don't be jealous, Pine Tree. You're the only one who can see me."

Just pretend he wasn't there. He just had to pretend he wasn't there. It had been three years since that summer in Gravity Falls. Dipper was now sixteen, Gravity Falls was completely normal (at least for Gravity Falls it was normal), and he was still nothing but stone. Whatever Dipper was seeing, it was probably just stress brought on by a new school year.

"Piiine Tree. I know you're not an idiot." Dipper could feel the cool touch against his cheek, but he did his best to not flinch and instead looked resolutely at the board. "You can feel it. You're probably the only one in your family that can, thinking on it. I bet not even Shooting Star is feeling it like you do."

Yes, just a normal mental breakdown. That sounded about right, honestly. He had been due for one of those for a while now, so he was sure it would all be back to normal in the next few months. "Hey, kid, things are 'bout to get crazy."

"Ma'am, may I go to the bathroom!" Ignoring the odd looks thrown his way, Dipper waited only long enough to get a hall pass before he was speeding out of the classroom and straight towards the bathroom, throwing cold water on his face as soon as he could. Maybe this was a dream. It would make sense for it to be a dream, right?

"Aha, nice thinking, kid! Shock to wake you up, right? Maybe you should try jumping, next. I heard you can't jump in a dream!"

Bracing himself on the sink, Dipper looked up into the mirror. The only reflection was him, but there, just out of the corner of his eye, was the creature that he still had nightmares about. Maybe this was just another one of them.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry for trying to kill your family and take over the world. There, are you happy?" Definitely a dream. "Right, you just sit right there and listen to me then. As I was saying before you ran off, things are about to get pretty crazy for you humans! You felt it, after all, didn't you?"

Felt what? Life was always crazy! Dipper had thought that Gravity Falls was the only place to attract the weird, but the weird was everywhere in the world. He had seen some pretty strange creatures just here in Piedmont, although granted they were harder to track down and even harder to see.

"Oh, kid, I ain't talking about those run-of-the-mill gnomes you see every summer! I've seen more than you can imagine, kid, and this is going to beat it all." Okay, right, Dipper would just go and trust the liar. That would be great.

Running his hands under the water some more, Dipper shook his head as if trying to dislodge the demon from his mind entirely. That would work, right? "Yeesh, you're so stubborn. C'mon, Pine Tree, you're the only one who can hear me! You've felt it, I know you have. It's there every time you go down one of those kitchy suburban streets of yours."

Kitchy? He was eighty percent sure that was just another word for cheesy and he was a hundred percent sure he only knew that because of Mabel- Ninety-nine percent. It could've come from Soos. "You feel it, don't you? Warm summer day, the air's all hot and sticky, you're walking down the street, all the cars are gone, you hear those stupid bugs, and that haze that comes down… That's not a normal haze, Pine Tree."

Don't listen. He was a liar. A conman. A thief. A poet. A psychic. A thaumaturge. He would only tell Dipper what he wanted to hear and what he already knew. Except… Except Dipper hadn't had the words to explain that feeling until now.

There were no words to explain the feeling he had when he had just been walking around their block after they had gotten home and it had still been so hot. Dipper was sweating and huffing for breath even as he smiled at being home, thoughts and heart still full of Gravity Falls. He had wandered into the middle of the road because, well, because it was empty. There was no one in sight and his mind was still full of Gravity Falls where people walked in the road all the time.

He had walked straight down the middle and he remembered the sweat dripping down the back of his neck. A dog had been barking a few streets over and one of those sprinklers to water the lawn had been going. It was a scene straight from a movie or something, but Dipper had felt this sense of…

The haze had felt like a physical presence against him, the heat powerful and strong and his breathing the only sound that seemed to matter in that moment. He had stopped in his steps and just breathed and felt something. It was like a missed step. Something that should have been there but wasn't and the realization sent the mind reeling.

"I've heard things that could torture your soul to that hell of yours and back, kid, but that sound is something that beats even me." The sound of something big. Something massive in a space where there should have been nothing. "Come on, Pine Tree. If you join me then we can both get ahead in what's about to happen. We'll be on top of it all and ready for what's going to come."

Yeah. At what price? Pushing himself off the sink, Dipper spun around and stared straight into the single eye of Bill Cipher.

"Go to hell." Instead of being taken aback, the demon looked nothing but pleased. "Go to hell." After everything he had done- He thought it would be that easy?

"So you can hear me, then." Meeting Bill's gaze, Dipper didn't draw back as the demon floated closer. "Oh, you're going to be something else, kid."

Just like that, Bill Cipher was gone and Dipper was alone in his head. Thrown off balance, Dipper spun around, expecting to see gold and black and instead seeing nothing but a high school bathroom. It… It had been that easy? That- It couldn't have been that easy. Could it have?

Shaking his head again, Dipper took a breath before leaving. He had a math class to get to and he needed to tell… No. Not yet. It had probably been a one time hallucination due to stress. He didn't need to tell anyone.

He was fine.

::

"I told you, Pine Tree, something big is coming." Twitching at the words, Dipper forced himself to not look up, instead staring down at the research he was doing instead of homework. The supernatural side of Piedmont had been growing in the last few weeks - well, maybe not growing, but there were more wild stories in the news than there should be. It was probably just some eclipse coming up or something. At least, he had thought that. "They all sense it too, that's why they're getting so restless."

"What, exactly, are they supposed to be sensing?" Okay, Dipper hadn't quite meant to actually acknowledge and talk to Bill, but, well. The demon was good at getting under his skin. "Nothing in my research-"

"Pine Tree, you're thinking too much like old six fingers! This isn't something you can just read about. You have to feel it." Yeah, well, he was pretty sure the only thing he was feeling was that fifth brownie he had. In his defense, Mabel had made them with chocolate chips this time. "You really think those three books were the biggest mystery in the world? You think this dimension is the only one?"

Well- Of course not. Ford had told Dipper all about his crazy adventures in the other dimensions. Dipper had seen the creatures from the other dimensions! He knew there was more to all of this than just what was here in their world, but he didn't see- "You think this dimension is without magic?"

That… "Oh, Pine Tree. You raised the dead when you were a child and united a town to fight against demons. If you hadn't ruined my plans then I might have been almost proud! The thing is, though, is that you didn't quite ruin all my plans-"

"You're a stone statue in the middle of the woods where no one can ever find you. If you still think you won then I have some news for you." Snapping his book shut, Dipper climbed out of his piles of books and papers before grabbing his shoes and jacket. A walk sounded great right about now.

"Pine Tree, I can help you! Really, I'm impressed with how far you've come, and you seem to the be the best bet to fight off what's about to happen to your little dimension." Ignore him, Dipper, just ignore him. "It's been such a long time since the magic left."

"First you tell me magic is real and now you're telling me it left- It's one or the other, Bill!" Ignore him, ignore him, just ignore him. "Just leave me alone!"

Getting out onto the night streets, Dipper walked as fast as he could, breathing in cool fall air and feeling himself start to relax. "Pine Tree!" Well, there went that. "I'm offering you everything you ever wanted!"

"Yeah, funny, but I've heard that before!" A blur of everything and Bill was suddenly in front of him, Dipper trying not to show his fear as he saw red instead of gold for a moment. "Go bother someone else."

"Trust me, kid, I would if I could." Great. His luck to be forever stuck with a demon in his head. "Kid, if you side with me then you could have everything!"

"Mm, no thanks. Doesn't really sound like something I'm interested in." Walking past him, Dipper looked up at the night sky and shivered.

"You can sense it coming."

"It's fall and night. I'm just cold."

It had been weeks since Dipper last saw Bill and as much as he tried to put the words out of his head… Something was coming. Whatever it was, it was enough to make Bill afraid. That couldn't be good for them.

"It's night, of course I'm a bit cold. It's September!" Dipper kept walking, trying to keep his breathing under control. "It's just the weather. Just like it was in summer. It's nothing but the weather."

"Just keep thinking on my words, Pine Tree." Yeah, right. That was all Bill could do was put words in his head. Dipper would be better off forgetting them as quickly as he could. He would just forget them.

Simple.

::

"You really shouldn't let go of this opportunity, Pine Tree. It won't last for very much longer." Staring out the snow covered forest of Gravity Falls, Dipper absently listened to his family laughing and partying down on the first floor of the Shack. "All you have to do is shake my hand - my real one - and we can both deal with what's about to come."

"Been a while since you brought this up." Ever since that autumn night, Bill had completely dropped his menacing comments and had instead made sarcastic remarks at school and sometimes helped him with his homework. Sometimes. Usually he cost Dipper a letter grade. "Is it because I go back tomorrow."

"Next summer will be too late. I could spend the next few months convincing you, but by then we'd both be out of time." Rolling his eyes, Dipper looked to the floating demon that was hovering over his shoulder, gaze out the window as well. "If that statue is destroyed, then I'll never be able to come back."

"Oh, no." Smirking as the slap phased through him completely, Dipper looked back out the window. "Guess that means we'd be stuck together a while longer, then-"

"No, kid, I'd never be able to come back." Oh.

"Well, good, then. You tried to destroy the earth." He also made funny comments about the teachers Dipper hated, though. "You almost killed my family." He helped Dipper with his math homework when he forgot how to clear the fractions out of a problem. "You were almost the reason Stan lost his memory." Dipper hadn't had a nightmare in months.

"Eh, it turned out alright in the end." God, no amount of 'human' gestures could ever redeem what Dipper was talking to now. This was a demon, plain and simple. There was no reason to feel guilt or pity. "What if I change the deal?"

"Nothing you say could ever make me release you, Bill. Just drop it." Standing up, Dipper stopped with his hand on the door when he heard the next words spoken into his mind.

"If you agree to work with me to face what's coming, then after it's all over I'll return to being stone and stay out of the thoughts of you and all your friends and family for the rest of eternity."

"You said I'm the only one you can talk to. Unless you were lying, then you'll never be able to trick someone else into setting you free-"

"I wouldn't be able to if I was dead, either." To face what was coming… Dipper could feel it. Something in the air was different and the tenuous peace between normal and weird was about to shatter. "Come on, Pine Tree, be smart about this… You know you've always been different. All those wild hunches and theories of yours back in that first summer? They were all right."

They… They had been, hadn't they? Dipper had been right about all of it. Some of it had surprised him, yeah, but he knew from the start that there had been something lurking in those woods. He had been right. "You were right from the start, Pine Tree. Don't start being wrong now."

Not responding, Dipper was quiet as could be as he walked through the Shack, passing by the den and instead donning a coat as he slipped out into the cold air and falling snow. Taking a shuddering breath, Dipper shivered as he felt that pressure that had been growing since summer.

The two were silent as they set off through the woods, Dipper refusing to speak first as he trudged through snow and stumbled over fallen trees. He knew where to go - he made sure to always remember where he was.

Dipper was half uncertain as to what he would even do once he was there, but he didn't stop until he stumbled upon a picturesque clearing with a familiar stone statue covered in a fresh layer of snow. The area around was completely untouched and Dipper felt like he would be disturbing something if he were to take a single step forward.

"You can't ever hurt them. You can hurt them ever or the deal's off and you go back to being a statute immediately." Silence. There was no trying to argue or twist the words around. "A-And it's only until this threat or whatever is dealt with. Once it's not a threat, that's it, you go back in the stone."

Dipper took a shaky step forward when he heard nothing yet again. He paused in his steps for a moment, shaking fiercely. He shouldn't do this. It didn't matter how great the danger was, he shouldn't be doing this. He stepped forward.

"If you get a physical form back then you can't use it to hurt anyone unless they really deserve it - like they've physically hurt or killed another person deserved it. You can't be seen by anyone in my family and you can't tell them what I did." Dipper was rambling off everything he could think of, trying to close each and every loophole he could. "Got it? You can't use this as revenge or another chance to destroy this town or anything else in any of the worlds or dimensions. You're just here to help protect them."

"Well, what are you waiting for, Pine Tree? Shake my hand." Wrong. Dipper had such a strong feeling of wrongness. He knew he was being played. This had to be Bill's plan from the start. It was a plan to get him out and there probably was no danger and since there wasn't that meant Bill could get out of the deal and he would be physical and for them to work together, it-

"Don't worry, Pine Tree. They won't see it coming." The stone was warm beneath his touch and Dipper felt like he had just damned them all with the laughter he heard. Laughter that bounced off the trees and was as real as his breathing.

What had he done?

[timmyrx2000]

Dipper Steps Up: Chapter 6

Chapter Index: (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)

Chapter 6

When Wendy and Dipper left the Shack, the sun had just set. The night insects had not yet tuned up, but bats twittered overhead and out in the forest the woodpeckers, who didn't give up until the light was almost gone, drummed away. "Where are we going?" Dipper asked as they stepped off the trail.

"Into the woods," Wendy said. "You bring a flashlight, dude?"

"Yeah, I have one of the prototypes Grunkle Ford made."

"Good deal. I got the one I use camping. We'll need light on the way back."

In the gathering twilight they hiked on, uphill and down, skirting thickets of huckleberry, boggy growths of cobra lily, and stands of trailplant, threading their way through second-growth fir and pine forests, passing expanses of tree stumps and seedlings. "Dad logs all through here," Wendy said in one clearing, the air sharp with the scent of freshly-cut wood. She switched on her own flashlight and said, "Not far now."

Finally, they reached the cleared crown of a domed hill. Stars spangled the sky overhead, lots more than Dipper had ever seen in Piedmont, where the light pollution from Oakland and San Francisco dimmed them. No moon yet—it was gibbous and waning and, because of the recent change to Daylight Saving Time, it wouldn't rise until nearly eleven.

Creatures howled in the distance. Like the panda duck that Dipper had tried to win for Wendy, the species were indeterminate. In Gravity Falls, they might be anything. Wendy stood beside a stump and took a deep breath. "OK, dude, I know you won't freak out, but this might be rough on you. Remember I'm here for you, though. Wanna hold my hand?"

"Anytime," Dipper said. Her hand was warm in his.

"OK, Gramps, I brought him!" Wendy yelled into the night.

Dipper looked at her, but she had turned off the flashlight and he saw only her silhouette against the stars. "Huh?"

"He said not to tell you till he got here. Gramps! It's me, Wendy!"

In front of them, a greenish fog coalesced. Floating a couple of feet above the ground, it pulsed and brightened and then shrank in on itself, transforming into a hulking, bearded human figure.

"Oh, my gosh!" Dipper said. "The ghost from the Northwest mansion!"

"Dipper," the apparition moaned in its deep, rumbling voice. "I have to talk to you. I mean you no harm!"

Dipper almost sagged with relief. "No problem, sir! Wendy, I'm not afraid of him. You look a lot better, Mr. uh, Lumberjack. Your beard's not on fire, and your missing eye seems to have healed up. And the, uh, axe in your head's gone."

"I'm not haunting anyone now," the ghost explained, self-consciously straightening the blow tie it wore on its . . . beard. "I have no wish to terrify. When you're a ghost, you can take many forms."

"Dude," Wendy said, squeezing Dipper's hand, "this is Archibald Corduroy. He's, like, my great-great grandfather!"

"I wondered about that!" Dipper said. "I saw his picture in your house—uh, it's nice to meet you, Mr. Corduroy."

"You treated me well," the ghost said. "I regret tricking you and then turning you into wood."

"That . . . was sort of scary," Dipper admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

The apparition shrugged modestly. "Well, I am a ghost."

"Yeah. Uh, excuse me, but I thought that after Pacifica let everybody in, you had gone on to, you know, your reward."

"I could not bear to leave this forest that I loved so much in life," the ghost said, gesturing with a sweep of his glowing arm that took in all the surroundings. "Also, once free of haunting the hated Northwest house, I wondered what had become of my family. I soon discovered I have a mighty descendant in Daniel, and a beautiful one in Wendy." The ghost floated next to Dipper and confided: "She likes you, boy!"

"Aw, Gramps!" Wendy said, laughing. "Cut it out, dude! Look, I brought Dipper, like you asked, so just tell him what you've got for him, OK?"

The ghost backed away from Dipper, towering over them both. "He's a brave, intelligent boy, Wendy. You could do a lot worse."

"I really like your great-great granddad," Dipper said to Wendy.

Wendy giggled. "You guys! C'mon, Gramps."

"Very well. Dipper, the root of your friend's trouble is another ghost from the past. An evil one. Well, I say 'evil,' I suppose I went a little overboard myself, but my anger branched out from the betrayal the Northwests committed against my friends and me—no, no, I'll cut that short. Forget it. I'm sorry for the bad things that came from my long hatred, leave it at that. But now an ill-intentioned spirit is trying to possess your fiend Taylor. If he succeeds, terrible things will happen. You have to stop him."

"How?" Dipper asked, his throat feeling tight.

"I'm a lumberjack, not an exorcist," the ghost said a little irritably. "You must discover the way to help. Speak to the boy's family. Seek out his mother. Tell her. She will sense the truth of what I've told you. And beware! The spirit that threatens your friend is implacable, his grip as strong as cypress roots!"

"Dude," Wendy said, "you have, like, a really good vocabulary for a nineteenth-century lumberjack!"

"Being an outdoorsman doesn't mean you have to be illiterate, girl." The ghost started to dim.

"Wait, wait!" Dipper said. "Uh, sir—who is the ghost? That would help!"

"You already know in your heart," the fading ghost said. "It is a spirit that wishes to reincarnate—for revenge!"

"Bill Cipher?"

For just a second the ghost became a little brighter and clearer. "Who? No! Think human!"

And Archibald Corduroy went out like a candle flame in a wind.

"Who did he mean?" Dipper asked in the sudden darkness.

"I'm stumped," Wendy confessed. "Man, Dipper, you took that whole thing a lot better'n I expected! First time Archibald appeared to me, I totally freaked!"

"When was that?"

"Fall, two years back, after you an' Mabes went back to California. Along in October. I was in the woods behind our house cuttin' down some deadwood for the fireplace, and there he was, floatin' right in front of me. I kinda attacked him with my axe, but that went nowhere fast. He eventually calmed me down and told me who he was and all, and said he was gonna watch over our family and protect us, and since then I never saw him again—until I started asking around about the Northwests. Few days ago, he appeared to me in a stall of the girls' bathroom at school. Now, that was awkward. Anyhow, he seemed to know you were gonna come to Gravity Falls and said I needed to get you an' him together so he could tell you something, and he said you might be scared, so not to let you know who I was takin' you to see. You weren't scared, though. Good for you, dude!"

Dipper shrugged. "Those first ghosts I ever saw, the ones in the Dusk 2 Dawn, scared the heck out of me. Mainly because of what they were doing to Mabel and your friends. But I've kinda learned that most ghosts don't want to hurt you. Who could be haunting Chuck Taylor, though?"

"Dunno, man," Wendy said. They'd both switched on their flashlights and were headed back through the woods.

They didn't talk much. But when the lights of the Mystery Shack gleamed through the trees ahead, Dipper stopped in his tracks and said, "Reincarnate. Oh, no!"

Wendy stopped too. "What's wrong, Dip?"

"No," Dipper said. "No, no, no. I hope I'm wrong."

"About what?" she asked.

He swallowed hard. "Nathaniel Northwest."

The rest of the week flew by without any substantial developments in the case. Grunkle Ford lent Dipper a few detection devices and taught him how to use them, and then Grunkle Stan drove the kids home the next Saturday.

They spent Sunday and Monday brushing up for the CAHSEE that the school would give on Tuesday and Wednesday, and to their relief, the tests didn't seem all that hard. "I hope you didn't get bored and start putting down random answers," Dipper told Mabel after the last exam ended.

"Nope!" Mabel said. "I learned my lesson after the test I took in fifth grade that said I should be busted to kindergarten."

Chuck had seemed OK, and that afternoon, their first practice since the early spring break, he recovered his playing form again, pitching hard, hitting hard, running full-out. The Thursday practice was good, too, and Dipper began to think that everything was all right again.

Saturday brought a big game with the Bay City Blues. Their win-loss record tied Piedmont's, and Coach said that the teams were a pretty close match in ability, too. The Blues had a good pitching staff, some good hitters, and typically racked up scores of five to ten points in a game. They weren't the most spectacular team, but like the Panthers they played a steady, relentless game.

Saturday morning, the game started out well. Bay City won the toss and chose to take the field. Their pitcher had game: he struck out both Mike and Petey with three pitches each, and Dipper began to think the Panthers were doomed to an early loss.

However, Chuck, looking healthy, belted out a solid double, and following him at bat, both JD and Barb managed singles, sending Chuck home for the first run of the game. Unfortunately, Jon J sent a sweet high fly ball deep into left field—and right into the fielder's glove.

Chuck's pitching began unsteadily. The first batter racked up one strike and three balls before hitting a single. The second man up got a double on the first pitch, putting the runner on third and ready to score. From the bench, Tripper watched Chuck wipe sweat from his face, kick at the mound, and then lean forward, looking determined.

Off on the sidelines, Mabel, in her cheerleader costume, acted subdued. The Panthers had a bigger crowd than ever—their away games had frankly pitiful attendance, just the kids' parents and maybe five or six students—but now the bleachers were nearly full of cheering kids and adults. Except Mabel's enthusiasm had ebbed. Dipper knew she was worrying about Chuck.

However, Chuck promptly struck out two Blues in a row. The next two batters both got on base, though, one single, one double. Then when Vance McCall stepped into the batter's box, Chuck took his time considering his first pitch. McCall was the Blues' best hitter by far.

And he proved it by pulling a low fly to far right field, where it hit and bounced, for a moment looking as if it would go straight to Petey DeFoy—but then it bounced again, taking a bad hop deeper into fair territory, making it hard to field.

McCall wound up standing on second base. The first two Blues scored, and there went Piedmont's lead. As though to apologize to the fans, Chuck struck the next guy out with three fast pitches.

Second inning began with X-Man getting a single, trying to push it into a double, and getting tagged out. However, then both Hi-Ho and Bobby made it to base—Hi-Ho successfully stealing second before Bobby's single put him on third. Dub struck out, and it was Dipper's turn.

He'd been working hard on his batting. He let a ball go by, choked up on his grip, and took a swing at the next pitch—and connected. It was a grounder, skipping just past the third baseman and running right along the foul line.

Miracle of miracles, it didn't cross the line, and Dipper made it to first! More, it took Hi-Ho home—Dipper's first RBI. For a moment, it looked like a Piedmont rally, but Big W's hard grounder was snagged by the Blues shortstop, who fired the ball home just in time for the catcher to tag Bobby out.

The Blues couldn't get anything going in the bottom half, and the second inning closed with a 2-2 tie.

The Panthers came to bat for the third inning. Coach sent Dipper and Krenk in as subs and asked Chuck how he was feeling. "I'm OK," he insisted, though Dipper thought he was sweating harder than usual. It was a dismal inning, three Panthers coming up to bat, two being put out, one getting on base, and then with Jimmy in scoring position on third base—Krenk went down swinging, one, two, three, to retire the side.

In the bottom, Chuck's pitching was noticeably slower and less accurate. Still, he held the Blues to just one run, though that put them ahead again, three to two.

Before the turnover, Coach walked out and asked Chuck, "You gonna be OK? I can pull you."

Dipper saw Chuck shake his head and heard him mutter, "I think laying off practice last week put me off my game. I'll stay in."

In the top of the fourth inning, Mike, first up, got a single, and Chuck matched it. Coach called for time out and said, "Pines, you're faster. Go in as a pinch runner for Monohan."

Though he felt a flutter of anxiety, Dipper did. He led off second, tense, ready to jump back if the Blues pitcher suddenly turned and threw to the second baseman. Like Chuck, the Blues pitcher seemed to have lost some steam, and JD blasted his first pitch into a hard liner into the gap and dug out on what looked to be a double—but the right fielder scooped it up and got it to first in time to hold him.

But Dipper, running full out, tagged third, saw the coach motion him, and, imagining the Gobblewonker nipping at his heels, blasted for home. He could hear Mabel, not leading a cheer, but just screaming "Go, Bro, go, go, GO!"

The catcher stepped up, mitt raised, and Dipper fell into a slide, raising dust. The ball smacked the mitt. Dipper's cleats touched home plate, the catcher tagged his calf, and the ump yelled, "Safe!"

The crowd went wild. Well, mostly Mabel went wild, but still. He had tied the game again, 3-all.

There the Panthers lost their luck. One man out on a pop fly, and then a double play ended their chance to pull ahead.

Chuck didn't look as if he felt well when he stood on the mound. But he bore down and struck out the first two Blues at bat—the second out was actually their first man in the rotation. Then he got two strikes past the third batter—and as he wound up for the third pitch, all at once he tottered and went down on one knee, the ball on the ground, his right hand going out to brace himself. He croaked, "Coach!"

Waylund, Dipper, and the other Panthers hustled out. "What's wrong, Chuck?" Coach asked.

"Real dizzy," Chuck gasped. "Better take me out."

The crowd applauded as Waylund helped Chuck to the dugout, and Dipper saw Mr. and Mrs. Taylor coming down from the bleachers, looking anxious. Waylund sent in Jon J as replacement pitcher, and he did his best, but Chuck's second near-faint had shaken up him and the other Panthers, and Jon J let another two Blues batters on base before the next one got a single, pulling the Blues ahead by one run. Then he pulled it together and struck the last man out.

Dipper hastily trotted in to ask Chuck how he was feeling. Chuck, huddled on the bench, shrugged miserably. "We'll take him back to the doctor," his dad said.

"Not until the game ends," Chuck said firmly. "Just a little dizzy."

It might have gone better if he'd gone then. The Panthers, keenly aware that Chuck was sick and was watching them, lost their concentration. They fought the game out, even managing another run in the top of the seventh, but it ended with a Blues win, 9-4.

Dipper had missed an easy catch and had fanned three pitches, striking out in the worst way possible. As soon as the game ended, the Taylors took Chuck away—he was walking under his own power, at least—and the team morosely apologized to the coach.

"Forget it, men," he said. "I'll stay in touch with the Taylors and get word out to you if it looks serious. Let's hope it isn't."

"We're all hoping," Mabel said. She had come into the dugout, and tears stood in her eyes.

In the back seat of the family car, as their mom and dad stood outside talking about the game—and probably Chuck's illness—Dipper said to Mabel, "I'm going over to the Taylors' this afternoon."

"I'm coming too," she said.

"If you want. Listen, do me a big favor. You get Chuck and his dad aside somehow. I have to talk to Mrs. Taylor."

"About what?"

Dipper's voice was grim: "About a family ghost."

To be continued

Note from the Authors: This was just an idea I had but the one who really worked his magic and wrote almost all of this is none other than BillEase. He’s an amazing author who usually hangs out at fanfiction.net. Don’t pass up on a chance to check out his stuff. This guy is AMAZING. He wrote the story, I just gave the plot.

[zonerobotnik]

Dipper had been meeting producer after producer, with each meeting ending with a "No". It seemed like no one would take on his Real Supernatural of the World show. He really didn't want to have to put it on YouTube, he wanted to be on TV!

"Cheer up, Pines." His manager said cheerfully. "We'll find someone, for sure!"

The days dragged on, and he was growing disheartened. Then a phone call aroused him from his sleep and he was told to get dressed in the nicest clothes he has and make sure to shower and shave. He'd finally found a producer that was interested in Dipper's show.

After hanging up, he quickly cleaned up and dressed and then rushed past Mabel with his portfolio case. "I'm going to see a new producer, tell you more when I get back!"

"Good luck!" She called, looking up from her knitting.

Dipper got in his manager's car and buckled up, and then they were on the way. He couldn't help but feel nervous. What kind of producer would he be meeting? Someone also interested in the supernatural? He was so jittery that he missed the sign that stated the name of the studio and it took all of his willpower to not rush out ahead of his manager.

They entered the main building and took the elevator up. Dipper took deep breaths to calm himself down, and then they walked up to the office of the producer. The blond secretary grinned at him before pushing a button on his desk. "Dipper Pines is here, boss."

The door unlocked and then swung open. Dipper looked up, surprised, and then followed his manager in.

And then promptly stopped short. There, behind a desk that was adorned with his insignia, was Gideon Gleeful. Older, thinner, and taller, he still had that sly smile and those freckles under his eyes. At least his hairstyle was tamer.

"Well? Come on in." Gideon beckoned to them. "Well, just Dipper, actually. I prefer the manager waits outside. He's intelligent enough to do this by himself."

The manager pursed his lips and looked at Dipper. "Well, I guess I'll see you in a--Dipper?" He turned as Dipper walked back out. "Dipper, wait!" He followed him out.

"There isn't anyone else? Anyone?" Dipper asked, looking at his manager.

"No, Dipper. He is the only one that showed interest in your show." His manager shook his head.

"But, I can't work with him! He terrorized my sister and me when we were kids!" Dipper protested. Gideon's secretary looked up at them with interest.

"Dipper..." His manager placed his hand on Dipper's shoulder. "Look, kid. We all have to do things we don't wanna do to get famous. He's the only producer that will make your show, so you're just going to have to suck it up and work with him or give up on your dream."

Dipper pursed his lips. All the years of practice with a camera, all the plans, the ideas...would he really let Gideon Gleeful stand in the way of him again? They almost lost the Mystery Shack to him. He'd almost lost his sister to him. Would he really let him take this away from him?

"...I can do it." Dipper nodded firmly.

"Great! Let's get you back in there to sign that contract! I'll be right out here if you need anything." He patted Dipper's shoulder and then gestured for him to go inside. Dipper walked in and the doors shut behind him, startling both Dipper and the manager.

Dipper looked at the doors and then took a deep breath before looking forward. He noticed a painting of Bill Cipher on the wall behind Gideon, and it seemed to be...watching him. Great. As if he wasn't unnerved enough. He walked over and took a seat, setting his portfolio next to him. "Okay...let's get started."

"Great." Gideon grinned at him and then pushed a folder his way. "I trust you will understand all the legal terms in this contract? Feel free to tell me if you need anything amended, I can easily type up a new one."

Dipper opened the folder and begin to read, trying not to think about how this was the first time in so many years that they had been this close. The last time they got this close, they had been fighting. Then Gideon was almost arrested for wire-tapping the entire town, but disappeared in a strange fog. And now he was a producer? What had happened all those years? Looked like he was still associated with Bill Cipher...

"Kindly focus on the contract, Dipper. I can see you constantly glancing around." Gideon said calmly.

Dipper sighed and focused on the paper. "I just...it's been years since we saw each other--"

"Yes, it has. Long enough to bury the ol' hatchet and move on." Gideon said, cutting him off. "I am very interested in your show, and I believe it is time the world knew about the supernatural. However, I have a few terms and conditions we must be sure you understand."

"Like what?" Dipper asked.

"To put it simply, though I really advise you actually read the contract, every creature and location must be cleared with me before you and the camera crew will go out." Gideon said calmly. "This means that for every episode, you will be meeting me here in my office to discuss what you are going to be showing to the general populace next. Do you have any questions or concerns?"

Dipper pursed his lips. It wasn't...unreasonable. "I guess that's okay. I'll get back to you on the 'questions and concerns' part after I finish reading."

"Take your time." Gideon smiled and clasped his hands together. "My schedule is clear today."

Dipper glanced up at him before focusing on the contract again.

--

After joking about the scene I drew where Gideon is pinning Dipper to his fridge when they're older looking he's his boss in an office, me and @sugarpea7 were talking and I on a whim decided to make an AU where Gideon was never arrested and Weirdmageddon never happened and years later Dipper is trying to find a producer for his show and finds out Gideon is a producer and is interested in his show. So he ends up with Gideon as his boss.

I thought it was too much of a shame for them to cover up his beautiful office so I saved a couple extra pictures to showcase his office. And also his gorgeous armchair. I love how it came out. <333

[bxll-cxpher]

⭐️⭐️⭐️  300 Follower Giveaway   ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I can’t believe this blog is going to be a YEAR old in a month. I know I dropped off the face of earth for a few months but I’m back and plan to stay back. A lot of my old partners aren’t here anymore BUT I have met so many wonderful people in the last week since I have returned. This is a little thank you/half assed promo post for those special people that I particularly enjoy writing with and that Bill is absolutely nuts for. Not to mention a little giveaway, too~!

⭐️⭐️⭐️ FOLLOW FOREVER  ⭐️⭐️⭐️

⭐️⭐️⭐️ THE PINES FAMILY  ⭐️⭐️⭐️

@pinetrce - Holy heckaroni. I LOVE your Dipper so much. I love the thread we have going on for the We’ll Meet Again AU/verse/whatever. Bill and Dip’s interactions make me laugh so much and I always enjoy seeing you on my dash ALL THE TIME and I await each and every reply from you! Quality!

@theglitterytwin - YOU HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR SO LONG OF THIS BLOG’S LIFE AND I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. You are such a positive person and I love your portrayal of Mabel beyond reason. She’s so bubbly and happy and it’s addictive. I love every thread we do because it flows so well with our muses.

@bannedinmoststates - This Stan. This Stan right here. We need to do more threads together but I already super adore your Stan. “Staniel” and Bill fighting? Give me more of that! Punch him in his stupid eyeball! Also I am a Big Fan of your Mabel cosplay. A+++ stuff, my friend. 

@sufordtive - Let me tell you about this Ford right now. It’s been TWO fucking days since we met and I messaged them on a whim. It was such a great decision because talk about immediately clicking. Headcanons and memes galore! I cannot WAIT to do a serious thread with you because DAYUM. Even with our crack/Dicksword conversations, I LOVE your Ford soooooo much. Bill, too.

@bolotiesandjournals - The sassiest Dipper ever. I know we have yet to do the werewolf AU/where Bill and Dipper share a body but... I love talking to you on Discord so much. You are super amazing and Bill is already So Attached to your boyo. The hijinks they would get into in both of these situations is hilarious and I think about this a lot. Thank you for messaging me out of the blue. Friendship made. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️ DEVOTED WORSHIPPERS ⭐️⭐️⭐️

@wxll-cxpher - This is Bill’s demon bf. They have a beautiful baby triangle daughter named Lilith Guacamole and the mun is absolutely wonderful. I have been sending her snapchat doodles of Bill doing silly things over the year and she replies with Will drawings and it always cheers me up. Also our URLs match. We’re fuckin’ twins, okay?

@useless-stereotype - I LOVE YOU AND I LOVE PAZ. I swear to God, Paz is the cutest angel I have ever seen and the way you write is beautiful. I have seen threads where she’s an energetic ball of love and others where she’s super murderous and loyal. Which is awesome and I love seeing that in a character. Bill’s on and off girlfriend ( mostly on ) and he loves her deep down. He just doesn’t show it because he’s a fucking triangle. <3

@bezazzled - I know we’ve been out of touch for a while but hell. You are a Mabel that makes me laugh so hard and every interaction we have puts a big grin on my face. My new favorites are “I can’t believe Bill sent a nude to Ford” and “Great Aunt Bill Cipher”. Keep being you and never change. To more RPs in the future!

@flannelandchill - I know you haven’t been active for some time but hey, I wanted to mention you here, too. I LOVE your Wendy. She’s so chill and she is Wine Mom’s favorite kiddo. I will always remember the thread where Bill takes over and texts her “dates” with ridiculously violent and insulting things. That was the best ever. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️ HONORABLE MENTIONS  ⭐️⭐️⭐️

@ted-audrey-blog - No offense but Bill hates Ted. Me on the other hand... I love that you always send me asks to answer! It’s a lot of fun and it makes me very happy that I can deliver quality that makes you keep coming back. 

@wxrstliink​ - I haven’t really interacted much with you but damn. The sass-off with Bill and Pacifica had me in tears. I hope we can do more threads in the future! Thank you for giving me a chance!

I am sure I’m missing people but those are the ones that REALLY stand out. It’s such a short list ( and I’m sorry ) but please know that I appreciate the hell out of everyone. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sticking with me all this time.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ GIVEAWAY  ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Okay, okay. I’m a poor as fuck girl with two jobs and some passable artistic talent. One ( 1 ) reblog and you’ll be put into a list that will be randomly generated with random.org for a prize. This time there will be three winners and the prizes are the following:

First place winner: A fully colored/shaded/highlighted drawing of your choice! If you have an OC you want me to draw, provide references.

Second place winner: A flat colored drawing! Same thing applies with OCs.

Third place winner: An uncolored drawing. Same as above for OCs.

I’ll be deciding the winners on Tuesday! Good luck and thank you! 

[skeletorific]

The Death and Deals of a True Lumberjack

You guys probably forgot I do Gravity Falls stuff, didn’t you? Well, @waldorkler didn’t. They requested this fic a few months ago, and have been ultra patient about wating on my slow ass to get this over with.

Prompt: Set shortly after “Roadside Attraction”. Bill, seeking a way into the Mystery Shack, encounter opportunity in the form of a certain redhead....

Warnings: Gore, character death, angst. Could be read as Wendip? I don’t go any farther than the canon, and I don’t intend to write the ship, but I guess it could be seen as that. A couple of swears.

Word Count: 7641

Put under the cut cause this is long as fuuuuuuck

There were a lot of chores Wendy had taken on since her mom passed, but the one she had always hated the most was laundry. Between her, the three boys, and her Dad, there were a lot of completely destroyed flannels around the house. Not to mention the fact that her dad abjectly refused to buy a dryer. While literally everyone else lived in the twenty-first century, the Corduroy’s still hung their laundry on a line. A total pain, but she had to admit it made her clothes dry in interesting forms. She could get the crumpled but not too crumpled look she wanted.

“Alright, I finished laundry, so if I see one left out shirt, I’m gonna kick your butts!” she yelled upstairs. No response from any of the boys: chances are they were still zonked out.

True to form, though, there was a sock laid at the bottom of the stairs, draped almost delicately. “GUYS!” she moaned, stuffing it in her back pocket. Whatever, not worth doing a separate load for one sock.

Outside, the air was warm and close, with all the trees surrounding, but there was a faint chill in the air that promised fall was coming. Wendy wasn’t ready, really, to go back to school, but who ever was? She shivered slightly in her tank top but set back to work.

She started pinning up the shirts on the line. Green flannels, red flannels, blue, as far as the eyes could see. The only way you could tell them apart was by the shape, and given how fast some of her brothers were growing even that kind of sorting was getting difficult.

Well, not like she had much to do lately. The Shack had been closed for a few days recently. Mr. Pines....long lost brother? Honestly, she had gotten most of her details from Soos, and then only in a lengthy three am call that she only remembered like a third of. Either way, despite the fact that it was no longer crawling with feds, Stan had told her to take a day or two off while they sorted out whatever family mess they were going through. What was weird is that it was a paid vacation. Something really big must be going down.

It was funny. She’d’ve thought she’d have been thrilled to finally be getting a legit vacation, but she was just bored. The group wasn’t as much fun these days. Robbie and Tambry just spent hang outs making goo-goo eyes at each other. Nate and Lee were on some last minute vacation to the coast to try and finally make good on that surfing resolution they’d had since New Years. And she couldn’t hang out with just Thompson. She hadn’t sunk that low.

So yeah, she kind of missed work. It was definitely a little awkward now that the kid had finally just confessed his feelings for her, but things were always happening around Dipper and Mabel. It was never boring or just the same old routine. She honestly found herself staring at her phone, waiting for it to ring and have it be Stan telling her to get her ass to work, where was she, or Soos telling her the golf cart had gone haywire again, or Dipper to ask her to come on another monster hunt with him and his sister....but nothing.

The laundry all hung up, there was only one chore she had left: wood chopping. For the stove. Dad once again insisted on a woodburning stove in addition to the more modern one. Lumberjacks should always use the product of their labor, he insisted. Wendy didn’t mind this one as much. The axe was propped in it’s usual corner and she grabbed on her way out to the clearing where Dad had them drag all the trees that weren’t specifically business.

The rhythm of the chopping and the satisfying chunk as it connected with and severed the wood had always been pretty relaxing to her. In her blood, she guessed. Some girls did facials and manicures. She did axes. Once she got into a pattern she could practically zone out. She did some of her best thinking here. Slowly, she got more and more into it, lift, swing, thunk, kick it to the side, lift, swing, thunk, ki-

“HIYA RED!”

The shrill voice startled her and she whipped around, axe gripped tightly....

Face to face with one of the weirdest things she’d ever seen.

It was a little triangle guy, with one eye and yellow skin, with a top hat and a cane held in spindly little black arms, floating in midair. Not knowing what it was, she decided to make the safe move, and approached it with the axe poised to swing.

“WOAH, EASY THERE, HOT STUFF.” No mouth formed, but the voice seemed to echo all throughout the woods, bouncing off the trees in every direction as he floated above and behind her, coming to rest on the chopping block. His posture was laid back and easy going, clearly without a care in the world.

“Who are you?” she said, not as aggressive now, but still holding tight to her weapon.

“NAME’S BILL, BILL CIPHER. NICE TO MEET YA. AND YOU’RE WENDY CORDUROY, THE GIRL WITH AN AXE TO GRIND!” A long pause. “WOW, TOUGH AUDIENCE.”

“How do you know my name?”

“I KNOW LOT’S OF THINGS, KID. FOR INSTANCE, I KNOW THAT IF YOU WANT TO HELP OUT THOSE POOR PINES KIDS, YOU’LL GIVE ME A HAND.”

“Dipper and Mabel? What’s going on?”

“NOTHING YET, BUT TRUST ME, SOMETHING’S COMING. SOMETHING BAD. AND I NEED YOUR HELP TO GET THEM OUT OF IT.”

Wendy raised an eyebrow. “And I’m just supposed to believe you because....?”

“LIKE I SAID, KID, I’M OMNIPOTENT.” He said. “FOR INSTANCE, I KNOW PINE TREE PRACTICALLY KISSES THE GROUND YOU WALK ON. I’VE BEEN TRYING TO WARN THEM ALL SUMMER, BUT UNFORTUNATELY THEIR UNCLE AND I HAD A....BIT OF A MISUNDERSTANDING. HE DOESN’T TRUST ME, BUT I REALLY AM ONLY TRYING TO HELP. I THINK THEY MIGHT LISTEN TO ME IF YOU BACK ME UP.”

“Still not hearing a reason why I should trust you.” she said, crossing her arms.

Bill sighed. “YOU’RE A SHARP ONE, I’LL GIVE YOU THAT. ALRIGHT, ALL I CAN TELL YA IS IT HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE RETURN OF THE AUTHOR.”

“Dipper finally found the author?!”

“SO HE DID TELL YOU ABOUT THE JOURNALS THEN. ANYWAY, THE AUTHOR’S AN ESCAPEE FROM A DIMENSION FULLA BAD. I SHOULD KNOW: IT USED TO BE MY HOME TURF.” His hand waved, and a moving image, a bit like a projection appeared. Monsters made more of teeth and claws than flesh danced in the vision, snarling and snapping. “THE AUTHOR MADE IT OUT OKAY, BUT IT LEFT BEHIND A TEAR ONLY I’M POWERFUL ENOUGH TO FIX. THEY WON’T LET ME IN TO SEE IT, BUT IF IT’S NOT DEALT WITH SOON...MY OLD DIMENSION’S GONNA COME SPILLING INTO THIS ONE. NOT GOOD FOR YOU GUYS AT ALL.”

Wendy stared at the images, hand tightening around her axe as she imagined those creatures in the burning wreck of the Shack, her school, the house. “So why do you care? If they really are from your old world.”

Bill was quiet for a minute, and made a small movement with his shoulders that looked like a shudder. “LIKE I SAID, ME AND THE AUTHOR BOTH ESCAPED FROM THAT DIMENSION. I DON’T WANNA GO BACK FOR ANYTHING, RED. SO WHAT DO YA SAY?” He stuck out a hand to be shaken. “WANNA HELP ME OUT?”

Wendy thought for a minute. “What do I have to do?”

“EASY, JUST LET ME POSSESS YOUR BODY!”

“What?!”

“RELAX, ONLY TEMPORARILY. LOOK, KID, I ONLY REALLY EXIST ON THE DREAMSCAPE RIGHT NOW. TO PUT IT SIMPLY I CAN’T FIX THE RIFT UNLESS I HAVE A BODY. YOU WORK THERE, SO NOBODY’LL THINK ITS WEIRD IF YOU GO DOWN TO THE SHACK. ONCE I’M THERE YOU AND I’LL EXPLAIN WHAT I NEED TO DO TO PINE TREE AND SHOOTING STAR, AND WE’LL GET THE JOB DONE.” His hand ignited with a blue flame that somehow didn’t feel hot. “COMPLETELY PAINLESS, I PROMISE YA.”

Wendy hesitated for a second. Give up her body....but thinking back to the nightmarish images....Her mouth set in a thin line. “Alright. Deal.” She said, clasping his hand in hers.

There was a sensation like a strong static shock throughout her body. The world flashed black and white, back to color, and to monochrome again, and there was a peculiar sensation of weightlessness. Suddenly she found herself floating as light as the air in the clearing, staring at her stock still body that had gone slack in her absence.

Her hands and arms began to flex, and her head rolled almost eerily back into a raised position. He eyelids slowly opened to reveal two long black pupils, almost reptilian.

Creepy.

“You in, buddy?” she said, floating towards him. It felt weird, but kind of cool.

“SURE AM. WOW, HUMAN FEMALE THIS TIME. WEIRD.” He...? said, examining her hands and arms. “THIS ONE IS WAY STRONGER THAN THE LAST BODY!”

“Um...thanks.” Wendy said. “We should probably get going, though.”

“SURE, SURE.” Bill said, picking up the axe and swinging it back and forth, testing the weight. “THANKS FOR THIS, KID. NICE TO KNOW THERE ARE STILL PEOPLE LIKE YOU AROUND.”

Wendy shrugged and smiled slightly “No bi-”

“AND HERE I THOUGHT NOBODY ELSE BUT PINE TREE COULD BE THIS GULLIBLE. GUESS HUMANS REALLY DO NEVER CHANGE!”

“Wait, what?!”

“WOW, YOU ACTUALLY BOUGHT IT!” He said, clapping a hand to his forehead and laughing wildly. “I’LL ADMIT, I DIDN’T THINK YOU’D SWALLOW IT THAT FAST, BUT OH-HO-HO BOY DID YOU!”

“Get out of my body, you creep!” She said, diving towards it...only to phase right out the other side.

“NICE TRY, DOLL, BUT YOU’RE STUCK IN THE DREAMSCAPE NOW!” Bill said, gleefully swinging the axe from side to side. “ONLY I CAN SEE OR HERE YOU, AND YOU NEED A PUPPET IF YOU WANT TO AFFECT ANYTHING. NOW, LET’S GET PINETREE OUT HERE, SHALL WE?” He pulled out her cell phone, dialed it.

“I’m gonna kill you, you three-sided asshole!” she said, flying back and forth across the body, swinging, kicking, trying everything she could think of....but every time, she might as well have been a light breeze for all the effect she was having.

“Hey, P-....Dipper!” Bill said. His voice sounded close to hers, like a tinnier recreation of it. Over the phone, there would be nothing to notice. “Can you meet me out by my place? I’ve got something big to show you. Right. See ya.” He slapped the phone shut with a wicked grin. “HE SEEMED PRETTY EAGER, RED. LOOKS LIKE PINE TREE HAS A LITTLE CRUSH.....WELL, SHOULD MAKE MY JOB EASIER.” And he laughed, low and loud slowly travelling up to high and manic, as Wendy stared with horror at the axe, her mind racing to find a solution...

“Grunkle Stan, Great Uncle Ford, I’m going out!” Dipper yelled, shoving the journal in his backpack.

“Are you sure that’s wise, Dipper?” Ford said, poking his head around the corner. “Remember, I said Bill will be looking for any opportunity to-”

“I know, I know.” Dipper said. “But Wendy said she had something important to show me. I should be back in a few minutes.”

“‘Sides” Mabel said from her perch on the counter. “It gives him an excuse to stare at Wendy’s pretty face!

A bobblehead soared across the room and made contact with her head. “OW!”

“I told you, I’m over her.” Dipper said, pulling his pack on his shoulders. “She just....she sounded like it was important.”

“Heh,” Stan said, grinning and leaning against the doorframe. “Kid, when it comes to Corduroy, her wanting a soda sounds important to you.”

“Shut up!” He said, going toward the door. “I’m over her, we’ve laid out the boundaries, I just want to make sure nothing’s wrong.”

“WENDY AND DIPPER, SITTIN IN A TREE” Mabel screamed from the counter. Stan joined in “K-I-S-S-I-N-”

Dipper closed the door, rolling his eyes. Then he started running down the path towards Wendy’s house.

Okay, so he had lied a little bit. Because, yeah, he knew now that he would never have a chance with Wendy. In a way, it was almost a relief to have that spelled out. Less time and thought he had to spend dancing around it. But he couldn’t deny, when he saw she was calling....his heart had beat just a little faster. It wasn’t quite hope, what he felt, but it was something similar. Like, maybe she had missed him. Maybe she had wanted to see him again. Maybe she wanted to make the terms a little more ambiguous. Like, they wouldn’t date now, but maybe in a few...?

Dipper, don’t be an idiot. He told himself. She’s made it clear how she sees me, now let’s just go over and get ready to...to....STOP THINKING ABOUT HER HAIR AND FOCUS ON THE JOB

Finally he arrived at the clearing. Wendy was leaning against a pile of newly chopped wood, looking as cool as she always did.

“Hey, Wendy.” He said. “N-nice shades.”

“Thanks, man.”

“Um....your voice sounds weird, are you alright.”

A thick wretching noise came from her mouth. “Yeah, yeah, sorry, dude, just a cold.”

“Oh,okay.” He shook off the backpack and held it in front of him, ready to pull out what they needed. “Alright, what did you need to show me.”

“Dipper, I saw Bill.”

“.....who...?” No, she couldn’t, she couldn’t know-

“Bill? Bill Cipher? Come on, man, how many other triangle demons do you know.”

He almost dropped his backpack. “How do you know about Bill?!”

Wendy, meanwhile, had been searching desperately for a solution. Everything she tried to pick up just phased right through her. When Dipper appeared in the clearing, she tried screaming. No response from Dipper, but she could swear she saw Bill grin in her direction for a half second.

“He came to me.” Bill said. “Told me he was looking for a way into the Mystery Shack. He said he wanted to protect you or something from a Rift.”

Dipper snorted. “He wants to do something  with the Rift, alright. Did he offer you a deal?” What had he said, a puppet? Maybe....she tried diving into birds, but it seemed like it required a deal to enter the heads of stuff with brains.

“Yeah. Kicked him to the curb: the dude looked like bad news.”

“Really? You saw through him?”

“Course, man, do I look like a moron to you?”

“Oh, you���re dead!” Wendy growled, desperately wracking her brains.

Dipper looked a little shy....”Yeah, no, you’re definitely way too smart to fall for Bill. I mean, what kind of moron would fall for that ahahaha!”

Puppet, puppet, why did that word ring in her brain, like something from the not-so-distant-past......

“But it got me thinking.....suppose he goes after Soos? Or, y’know, just some random customer? He could sneak into the Mystery Shack, grab the rift, and be out in a minute. I don’t know what he’ll do with that but if can’t be good. So I was thinking.....what if you gave it to me?”

“What?”

Pu- Mabel’s show! Sock puppets. And she could see the sock from the stairs, still sticking out of her back pocket. Bill hadn’t noticed it. There were no eyes or hair attached to it, so it might not count, but....

“Think about it. He already knows I’m not gonna fall for it. If I hide it somewhere and never tell you guys where, even if he gets into the Shack, he won’t be able to find it, and he won’t be able to find out from you guys where it is.”

Dipper looked from side to side, unsure. “I....I don’t know.”

Wendy quietly floated behind Bill, staying out of his sight line. Fortunately, he was too focused on Dipper to notice her hand creeping towards her back pocket, praying to whoever was in charge of this kind of thing that this would work.

“Come on, man. Give it a trial run. And if you ever change your mind, I’ll go get it and bring it back to you.” He extended her hand and smiled. “You trust me?”

Her fingers were right up by the sock....and it stayed solid! She picked it up, quickly shoving her hand inside it before the universe could change its mind on this technicality. She shoved the toe of the sock between her fingers and her thumb, forming a rough mouth.

“Well.....” suddenly Dipper’s eyes were arrested by the sight of a crude sock puppet rising over Wendy’s shoulder.

“DIPPER IT’S NOT ME!” The sock puppet spoke with Wendy’s voice. “IT’S NOT ME, RUN.”

He froze as Wendy’s body jumped to the side. “It’s Bill!” she said. “He’s trying to-”

Suddenly the sock puppet flew forward and knocked the sunglasses off her face, revealing yellowed eye with slit-like irises.

Dipper picked up his backpack and slowly backed away.

Bill-Wendy sighed. His shoulders began to shake with, and slowly a high and manic laugh came, twisting the mouth and throwing the head back as it rang out louder and louder in the clearing. Dipper wanted desperately to run but he was frozen in fear.

Bill/Wendy wiped a tear from his eye. “OH, WELL DONE, RED, WELL DONE. I ALMOST HAD IT TOO.” He turned to face Dipper. “STILL, I GUESS ITS NOT A TOTAL WASH.” He swung the axe onto his shoulder and began to approach, a menacing smile twisting Wendy face. “MAYBE FORDSY WILL BE A LITTLE EASIER TO CONVINCE IF I START SENDING HIM BITS OF HIS FAVORITE NEPHEW.”

“Dipper, run!” the puppet yelled.

He didn’t have to be told twice, and he took off, running blindly through the forest.

He could hear the laugh again, low and menacing. “WHERE YOU GOING, KID?”

Suddenly he saw the puppet zooming beside him, somehow keeping pace. “I’m here.” Wendy said.

“I just need to get to the Shack, we should be able to find a way to get him out once we’re there.” He said in short bursts. The running was already beginning to take its toll, but he kept pushing.

“OH, PINE TREE, PINE TREE, PINE TREE.” Bill called. “YOU FORGET SOMETHING? I’VE GOT A HOLD OF RED’S BODY! I CAN DO WHAT A WANT TO IT WHILE I HAVE IT.”

Dipper felt something pang in the back of his mind. What was he-

“HM, WHAT DO YOU THINK, RED, THINK YOU COULD LIVE WITH ONE LESS LEG? CAUSE I CERTAINLY FEEL THAT WAY.”

His heart stopped.

“Keep going, he’s bluffing.” Wendy said tersely.

“OH AM I, RED?”

Dipper turned to the puppet, eyes wild. “Wendy, I don’t-”

“Just go, Dipper!”

Suddenly there was a grunt from within the woods, and then a deep laugh. “WOW, I FORGOT HOW INTERESTING HUMAN BLOOD IS!” Bill said. “IT LOOKS LIKE YOUR HAIR, KID!”

Dipper froze, and for a moment so did Wendy. “OH, DON’T WORRY. YOU’VE STILL GOT ALL YOUR LIMBS. FOR NOW......”

Dipper turned and bolted back towards the voice. “Dipper!” Wendy called, before grunting frustratedly and following.

Dipper saw Bill before Bill saw him. On Wendy’s arms was a deep, visceral cut, the blood dripping behind her in a gory trail. It also coated the edge of the axe, which was returned to her shoulder. Shit, how could he get Bill out....last time they had gotten lucky with the host, but Wendy was healthy and well-rested. But they couldn’t afford to...Suddenly Bill froze, turned, and looked right. At. Him.

“WELL, FINALLY!” He started approaching, eyes wide and smile wider. “HEY, GOT A RIDDLE FOR YOU. WHAT ELSE DO YOU HAVE IN COMMON WITH A PINE TREE, BESIDES THAT STUPID HAT?”

Dipper backed away, eyes widening with horror.

“YOU GIVE UP?”

“Please....get out....get out of her body,” he said, his voice hoarse and squeaking. “Please, Bill, I’ll-”

“YOU BOTH FALL DOWN WHEN I USE MY AXE!” Laughing manically, Bill lifted the axe back, swung low, towards his feet, and suddenly he felt himself being lifted up, off the ground, out of Bill’s reach.

“Dang, man,” Wendy’s voice came from above him, strained with effort. “You have bricks in that backpack or something?”

She was using the socked hand to hang on to the edge of his backpack and pull him up.

“Wendy! What are....Oh.....That’s-actually kind of cool.”

“Yeah, you can be impressed with my lifting later, dude, we gotta get to the Shack.” She said.

Bill gave a loud, exasperated sigh about fifteen feet below them. “YOU JUST DON’T GET IT, DO YA, RED? I’M IN YOUR BODY! I CAN DO WHAT I WANT TO IT, AND I DON’T THINK YOU’RE GONNA LIKE ANY OF IT.” And suddenly he took off into the woods.

“Wait, Wendy, turn around!”

“Are you serious?!” Wendy said. “When are you gonna get it in your head, man, I don’t care what he hurts, I can walk it off. I can’t walk off the freaking apocalypse!”

“I’M NOT JUST WORRIED ABOUT YOU!” He said, frustrated. “What if he goes to attack your family? What if he goes after your friends? What if he kills you?!”

They froze in midair. And were suddenly going after Bill at a quick pace.

“Oh, thank hell” she said in a partly relieved voice. “He’s not going toward the house.”

“What about your dad?”

“He’s not working today, he went to go get a part for...for the.....” she stopped. “Oh gods...”

“What, part for what?!”

“WOW, THAT’S A LOT OF BLADES!”

A sudden machine roar that came from a few feet distant, and Wendy was booking, so fast she almost dropped Dipper, but they were too late.

Bill was standing on a boulder, about twenty feet tall, standing on the edge with the toes of his boots over the edge.

Below him was a running, open-topped woodchipper.

“WELL, WELL, THAT GOT YOUR ATTENTION.”

“Bill, you don’t want to do this!”

“AH, WHY NOT?” Bill grinned and looked down. “LOOKS LIKE A LOT OF FUN, AND YOU KNOW HOW FUNNY PAIN IS TO ME, PINE TREE. MAYBE I’LL LET HER BACK IN JUST BEFORE SHE HITS THE BLADES, SO SHE CAN GET THE FULL EXPERIENCE.”

“I’M GONNA KICK YOUR TRIANGLE ASS” Wendy was yelling.

Bill smiled and raised an eyebrow, clearly amused. “WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO, DOLL? I’VE GOT YOUR BODY, AND AS WE’VE CLEARLY ESTABLISHED” He leaned her body dangerously over the edge, pinwheeling his arms almost comedically, pulling back at the last possible second. “I DON’T REALLY CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO IT.”

“Alright, just....just back away from the edge.” Dipper said, his voice cracking under the stress. “What do you want? Okay, we can talk!”

“WE STILL ON THIS, KID? THE RIFT!” Bill twisted Wendy’s features into an exaggerated “duh!” facial expression. “WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS IS ALL FOR?”

“Don’t you dare!” Wendy said, turning the puppet on him. “Don’t give it to him, Dipper!”

“But-”

“TICK TOCK, PINE TREE.” Bill playfully lifted a leg, dangled it over the edge. “ITS AWFUL SLIPPERY UP HERE!”

“Wendy, I-”

“Do it and I will never forgive you, Dipper!” Wendy sounded furious, more fired up than he had ever seen her.

“I CAN’T JUST-”

“WHAT DO YOU THINK HE’LL DO TO ME AND MY FAMILY, DIPPER? TO YOU AND MABEL AND EVERYONE?!”

“YOU’VE GOT FROM ONE TO FIVE, OKAY?”

“Wendy-!”

“ONE......TWO......FIVE!”

“NO!”

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Bill fell backwards, laughing as he fell closer and closer to the roaring blades, Dipper screamed and reached out a hand, Wendy zoomed towards him to shove him out of the way, but it was too late.....and suddenly the clearing was red with blood and viscera, and the puppet dropped limp and handless to the ground..

A high cackle rang out in the forest, though he couldn’t see Bill. “TAKE THAT AS A LITTLE GIFT PINE TREE. MAYBE NEXT TIME YOU’LL LISTEN A LITTLE MORE TO MY DEALS.....CATCH YOU LATER......” the voice faded.

Dipper stared at the horrific scene in front of him, frozen in horror. Wendy.......

Manly Dan heard the screams all the way back at the cabin, and found the Pines boy on his knees, surrounded by gore and screaming like his insides were being ripped out by his worst nightmare.

Dipper sat up in his room, his arms wrapped around his knees in a pseudo-fetal position as he tried to stop shaking all over.

It was the middle of the night. He had been staring at the wall for hours now, trying to fall asleep, knowing he probably wouldn’t

Maybe not for the rest of his life.

Mabel had offered to stay up with him like half a dozen times, but....he couldn’t handle people right now. He thought she might have sensed that, because she agreed pretty readily to spending the night in Great-Uncle Ford’s room. Ford was out securing the perimeter, checking and double checking the enchantments. Now that they knew for sure Bill was in the area....well, they couldn’t take anymore chances.

So he sat alone in the attic, as the minutes ticked on in agonizing procession.

The others had tried, tried to say something, but....in the end the wound was still too sore, too open. None of them could really believe it. Wendy had always been so....so full of life, and now she was gone, so brutally, so...quickly. Stan had actually let Soos hug him. Mabel had been crying ever since she got the news.

Ford was doing the best he could to hold everyone together, but he had never met Wendy. He didn’t have the right words to say, and in the end, all he could do was try and take control of the situation, prevent any further damage.

And Dipper...

He had blacked out just after it happened. When he woke up, Dan had been shaking his shoulders and yelling for him to snap out of it. He had been screaming for the past ten minutes.

The next few hours had been like something out of a nightmare. He had had to explain to Dan whose.....insides.....were plastered all over the trees, the grass, the machines. The lumberjack had looked like he was going to pass out, but had somehow managed to hold it together long enough to use his phone to call Stan, so he would pick Dipper up. If he had been in his right mind, they might have gone back to the house, but he got the sense Dan was unwilling to face his kids at the moment. So they sat in the clearing. In silence. Dipper picked up the sock from the ground. There were only a few drop of blood on it, and he kept turning it over in his hand, mind blank and frozen solid.

As they waited...they would have looked odd to any passerby. Dipper’s emotions occasionally rose out of his throat like bile, and he would scream again, before stifling it. At some point Dan stood up and just started punching a tree. Repeatedly. It fell over. It would’ve been funny if not for the tears streaming out of his eyes.

Stan didn’t see the site of the accident (they had walked a little ways away), but the smell....he had dry-heaved against a tree for a minute or two before he could drive Dipper away.

And then he had to tell the story all over again to the rest of the family.

Dipper still had the sock. He pulled it out of his pocket, stared at it. His mind was blank, blank, blank, and then the dam broke, and tears were pouring out unstoppably and he was wretching, practically yelling as his chest heaved up and down and he couldn’t breathe, he didn’t want to breathe he wanted it to stop he wanted her to come back he wanted to sleep he wanted to not wake up he wanted to break something he-

He kept crying and crying, mentally begging someone to find him there in the dark, and at the same time praying that no one would see him like this.

Eventually, his consciousness had to surrender to his body, though, and he fell asleep, face dried and cracking and his blankets soaked. He fell into a confused, feverish black where thought floated disjointed and unrelated, but menacing, filling him with dread.....until he felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Hey man.”

Dipper jerked awake. It couldn’t be...and yet it was.

“....Wendy?”

The redhead did her familiar half-lidded smile and nodded. She was translucent and blue, like that lumberjack ghost. Across her body were a few nicks that looked like they were still bleeding. But it was her.

Dipper froze for a second, the tears reforming in his eyes. And then he tackled her in a hug more massive than any he ever would’ve allowed himself while she was alive. “I....I don’t understand, how is this....wait....” he let go, backed up a step. “Is this a dream?”

Wendy laughed softly. “Nah, man, its the real deal.”

“But....how did you-”

She shook her head. “I’m not still alive, dude. I definitely died today. But....” she rubbed the back of her head. “Wow, this is hard to explain....I guess it’s kind of a last wish thing? I can’t explain it, but I somehow knew I’d get the chance to visit one last person before I left for good. Sorry I took so long. Kind of took me a while to figure out the physics of it all.”

“Wait, so you....I’m your last visit?” He frowned with concern. “What about your family?”

Wendy shoved her hands in her pockets and turned to the side, face mostly blank. “Thought about it. Wanted to. But...they don’t know about all this.” she gestured a hand in a broad movement. “Not really. They’ve seen the weird stuff around Gravity Falls, but they don’t really question it. If I came back, I’d have to explain it all to them, what I was doing, how I died, how the whole town works, and....I figured they were safer not knowing about Bill. Because they would a hundred percent go looking for him, and if one of them died trying to avenge me....” she shook her head. “This was safer. Had a few things to talk to you about. Plus,” she smiled ruefully. “Guess I didn’t really like the idea of the last thing you saw of me being a demon controlled puppet, or a pile of mulch.”

Dipper paused, and then nodded. He still couldn’t believe it, she was here and yet....in a few hours he was going to have to say goodbye again. “Alright.”

“Gonna be honest.” Wendy said, “If I hadn’t become visible when I did I was gonna try the sock puppet thing again, I’ve been hanging out up there for hours, trying to make myself visible in the physical world.”

“Yeah sorry, I-” Dipper stopped talking, flushing with embarrassment. “Oh, you saw....all that?”

“Don’t worry about it, man. I was the same way when my mom died. Worse.”

Wendy floated over to the window, staring out into the night, sighing contentedly.

“I’m gonna miss this.” she said.

Dipper looked down, hand on his knees. “Do you have to go?”

“Hey, smart guy, you know I do.” she said is softly, gently. “It’s okay, really. I’m not scared.” she paused, then laughed softly. “Well, maybe a little bit, but, it is what it is.”

“Wendy I-...” He felt the tears rising up again, and he wanted to control it, but he couldn’t, he couldn’t....”I’m s-so sorry...I’m so sorry...’ He started sobbing.

“Hey, hey!” she said, startled and wrapping an arm around him. “It’s okay, dude, its not your fault.”

“It is though.” he said, the tears flowing freely, and he hated himself for being this weak. “It is, if I had just told you about Bill-”

“You couldn’t have known he would come after me.” she said it firmly, looking him square in the eyes.

“But-”

“Look. I made the deal, okay? My choice. And I’ll live with the consequences.”

“Wendy...I-I”

“I don’t blame you, Dipper. I was a dead girl walking from the second I shook his hand, but looking back I’d do it again. I did it because I thought I was protecting you guys and my family, and I wouldn’t go back on that idea. Sure, turned out to be a lie, but....right reason, wrong thing, you know?”

His tears still poured out, but a shaky smile came on his face and he pulled her into another hug. Maybe it was selfish, but he couldn’t help feeling relieved.

Wendy stiffened under the hug, but then returned it before letting go.

Dipper’s eyes drooped involuntarily, and she chuckled. “You should probably get some sleep.”

“No! No, I’m fine.” he rubbed at them fiercely.

“Dipper....”

“I can’t fall asleep!” He said desperately. “I fall asleep, and....and you won’t be here when I wake up. I....I’m not ready for it to be over yet.”

Wendy paused for a second, deep in thought. “Close your eyes.”

“What?”

“Trust me, close your eyes and try and drift off.” A long pause. “I’m not going anywhere yet, promise.”

Dipper bit his lip, but obliged, lying down.

He must have been more tired than he thought, because in no time he was dead to the world, his mind wandering into shadowy realms, ones that looked vaguely like his old elementary school.

“Cool place. That desk yours?”

He turned. It was Wendy.

“I can enter the Dreamscape too. We can chill out here for a bit, until....” they both decided that sentence was better left unfinished.

They spent hours together. Dipper showed Wendy around the school (the parts that had been accurately recreated, anyway). Wendy experimented a bit with her ghost body, possessing the dream form of the class hamster, Mr. Snuffles.

Mostly, they just talked. About everything. Dipper shared his aspirations of becoming a paranormal investigator, and his apprehensions about how Uncle Ford saw him. Wendy gave him her survival tips for high school, told some stories about her mom, even talked about her brothers, which she almost never did with him. It was the closest he had ever felt to her. It was like now....there wasn’t any need to pretend, to play games. There would be no consequences for the things they said there, and they had a lot they needed to get out before the end they knew was approaching inevitably

“Part....part of why I chose to visit you, Dipper,” she looked off into the distance again. “is I knew you were gonna be blaming yourself. And....well, you shouldn’t anyways, but you really can’t now.”

“Why?”

“Cause people need you.” She lifted a knee to her chest, remained silent for a minute. “Look, Dipper, Bill’s got big plans. The way he talked, I think they’re coming soon. And if something happens to this town, I think you’re one of the few people who’ll be able to stop it.”

Dipper froze for a moment, and then laughed kind of awkwardly. “Heh. I mean, you know, I’ll help, but I’m pretty sure my Great-Uncle Ford’ll be able to handle it.”

“Well, I don’t know much about your uncle, but I don know he’ll almost definitely need you there too.”

“What are you talking about?” Dipper averted his eyes. “They don’t need me.”

“You kidding man?” she turned to him. “The family would fall apart without you. Like, I don’t even want to imagine it.”

“Well, I guess the journal-”

“It’s not just that.” she shook her head. “You’re a problem solver. You think fast on your feet, and you’ve got more guts than most people I know. Come hell or high waters....whatever that means, you’ll fix whatever is hurting your family. If Gravity Falls goes head to head with whatever Bill brings, they’re gonna need you on the front lines.” she turned to face him again. “So promise me you’ll keep going. Because I don’t think they’ll make it without you.”

Dipper looked her in the eyes, and smiled slightly. “Okay.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” He wasn’t sure if he believed her, but...the fact that she believed it meant a lot.

“Alright. Second thing.” she focused the intensity of her gaze. “Look after my family. Please, they...they don’t know what they’d be getting into. Keep them safe, and keep em from going after Bill. That goes for the group too. Promise?”

He nodded. “Promise.”

“And last thing....don’t go looking for Bill yourself either.”

“What? But I thought you said-”

“I meant it, I do really think you can beat him. But not before its time. Not before you have to. Like I said, whatever he’s got planned is coming soon, and the town won’t make it if you get taken out trying to avenge me.”

“I-”

“Dipper.” She looked him in the eye. “Promise.”

He sighed and then nodded again.

“Good.”

Suddenly wind kicked up, blasting their hair to the side (some of Wendy’s getting in Dipper’s eyes). It didn’t seem to affect anything else around them. No trees, no leaves, not even the grass turned under it, but Wendy looked to it with understanding growing in her eyes.

“It’s almost time....” she turned to look at Dipper again. “Dipper, I have to go soon.”

“Wendy-”

“I just wanted to tell you one last thing before I go....” she suddenly couldn’t look him in the eye. “Look, I know that things have been weird between us since...you know, your confession, and I know it must’ve hurt to be rejected like that.”

Dipper flushed. “Uh....” he swallowed hard. “No, no it-...okay, yeah it hurt a little bit, but....it was your choice. And you were right,” he sighed. “I am too young for you, and it totally makes sense.”

Wendy rubbed the back of her head, looking uncomfortable. “Well....I’m glad you were able to take it that maturely. There are a lot of guys who would be bitter, and I wanted you to know that I appreciated it.”

“N-no problem.” His voice came out in a squeak, and he blushed again.

“But I also wanted you to know.” she smiled, and looked directly into his eyes. “You’re definitely someone worth loving. Maybe not by me. But someone. Definitely.”

Dipper’s heart roared in his ears. He felt tears stinging at his eyes again, but his face split into a grin, and he pulled her into a hug. One that she returned more readily this time.

“Please, don’t go.” He mumbled into her shoulder, as the tears poured down his face. “Please.”

She pulled a little out of the hug. Wendy was smiling slightly, but there was a nervousness in her eyes she couldn’t hide. “It’ll be okay, man.” she stood up as suddenly a bright glow opened up behind her. “Tell my family and everyone that I love them, okay? Tell them....tell them I said it before I died, or something. Oh, and Dipper? Steer clear of wood chippers, man, they seriously hurt.” And with another lazy grin, she walked into the light....and everything vanished for Dipper.

Epilogue:

The afterlife was a lot.....emptier than Wendy thought. Based on the preachers her dad was always listening to she had always thought it would be pretty packed up here. Also, a lot more harps and winged guys floating around. But all she could see was a blank white expanse in every direction. There was a smell though, faint and lingering, like....wood chips and tobacco....why was that so-

“Hey kid.”

Wendy whipped around.

A woman stood in front of her, pose casual. She looked young, mid-twenties, but a couple of lines around her mouth and a certain assurance told that she was older than she looked. A pair of glasses perched on her nose and she had a gold cigar, the tip glowing white and the smoke floating in a formless cloud. She had a familiar lazy grin, and long hair the same color as....

Wendy’s eyes welled up with tears. “Mom?!”

Carolyn Corduroy grinned, and held her arms wide open.

Wendy crashed into her. Gods, she even smelled familiar. Her mom had always had a cigarette on her (she used to use em to light up sticks of dynamite when they need to blow out a stump), but when she had the time she would roll her own cigars, lacing the tobacco with woodchips. She had always loved that smell. It mixed with gunpowder that would get stuck in her hair and smoke.

Carolyn back up, taking in her daughter. “Look at you.” she put a hand on top of her head. “Still a short stack, huh?”

Wendy laughed, shoving her hand off. “Just not a tall freak yet.” she wrapped her arms around her mom again. “I missed you so so much.”

“I’ve missed you too.” Tears laced the edge of her mother’s voice, and she sniffed. “You’ve been....so brave.”

“Dad misses you too.” Wendy said, full-on crying now. “And the boys, and....I’ve been trying but-”

“You did so well.” She cupped her face in her hands, smiling softly. “Come on, walk with me. I’ve got a lot to show you.”

They each kept an arm around each other as they walked on. Carolyn held her cigar in the other hand, lifting it occasionally to her mouth and blowing out massive puff of smoke. “Don’t think I have to worry about you catching lung cancer now.” she winked at Wendy. Wendy smiled, and watched the puffs. They seemed to almost form shapes. Small hearts. Tree symbols, not unlike the ones on Dipper’s hat. A couple of times an axe.

The ground beneath their feet faded from the featureless white to springy grass without Wendy noticing where it began. A familiar clean smell washed over her, and it felt pleasantly cool, like the best fall day. Massive trees stretched to the sky. Somewhere birds were singing.

“Afterlife looks more like the woods back home then I thought.”

Carolyn grinned. “There’s a lot of different areas. This place can be pretty much anything you want. The Axolotl’ll show you around later.”

“Wait, Axolotl? Like the lizard think Stan has?”

Carolyn laughed. “Long story, one I’ll tell later.” She climbed up on a nearby boulder, sitting cross-legged. “This place is one of my favorite though. Like you said, its like home. And hey.” She flexed her arms, causing the tattoo on her shoulder of crossed axes to ripple. “We Corduroys never feel more at home than with the trees.”

Wendy laughed, sitting down beside her. “Damn, I forgot what a dork you are.”

Carolyn flicked her forehead. “Don’t use language like that in front of your mother.” She grinned, leaning back against the rock and blowing smoke into the air. Slowly her face sank and became a little more serious. “So....wanted to talk about something.” she looked at Wendy, smiled bittersweetly. “I mean, yeah, there’s a lot of things we have to talk about, but one thing, specifically right now.” She stuck the cigar back in her mouth. “I can’t keep as good an eye on you guys as I’d like. I can mostly just see stuff in the area when you buried me. Means I miss a lot. But.....” She blew out a puff of smoke, that formed a triangle above her head. “I saw how you went just fine.” Carolyn swallowed hard. “I.....I don’t know who that Bill Cipher creep was. And I don’t know much about that Dipper kid. But....” Tears started to pour out of Carolyn’s eyes, and she wiped them away, smiling waterily. “Shit, kid, I’m so proud of you.” She took a deep, shaky breath. “You’ve grown up to be....so so brave, and....I....” she laughed slightly. “Look, gonna be honest, not thrilled you’re here so soon, but....you’re incredible, kid. Sacrificing yourself like that, for the kid, for your family, for, I don’t know, the world, apparently. And....I can’t imagine having a better daughter. You’ve grown up to be better than I could ever imagined, and that’s saying a whole damn lot, because I already thought a hell of a lot about you.”

With those words, it was like a dam broke somewhere in Wendy’s chest. Tears came drizzling down her cheeks and she wrapped her arms around her mom. All the fear, frustration, pain that she had been filling in the past twelve hours....it was like it had been a knot deep in her chest and her mom had tugged at the one string that made the whole thing come undone.

For a moment the two women just held each other, crying hard as they could. Finally, Carolyn sniffed, smiled and patted Wendy on the back. “Alright, nuff with the waterworks.” She slipped off the boulder and held out her hand to Wendy, grinning. “Got a lot to show you kid. And you’ve got a lot to catch me up on.”

Wendy smiled, hopped down, and linked her arm with her mom’s. “Sure thing.”

They started walking off through the woods. “Alright, first things first: has that guy Robbie stopped coming around? I didn’t like the look of him....”

[andrewmoocow]

Gravity Soul chapter 8: Last of Medusa’s Minions, the Pines vs the Witches? (originally posted on June 15, 2018)

AN: Well after some fun with Excalibur, why don't we follow it up with some of our characters being put in mortal danger by being pitted against Medusa's minions?! Yeah, I won't be very kind to our ragtag group of heroes going forward and trust me, it won't be pretty. 20-8-5 6-18-15-7 9-19 1 3-15-23-1-18-4 20-8-5 23-15-12-6 9-19 1 13-15-18-15-14 20-8-5 13-9-3-5 1-18-5 19-9-14-7-12-5-13-9-14-4-5-4 25-5-20 1-12-12 15-6 20-8-5-13 1-18-5 5-1-19-25 20-15 3-15-14-20-18-15-12

"I usually start off my mornings with a cup of coffee with cream." Excalibur stated as the Mystery Meisters continued on their way to Kishin Cipher's lair, much to their displeasure. "Then in the afternoon, I sit down with a cup of tea. And then in the evening-" "Booze? Seems right for an old guy like you." Stan snarked before he was cut off. "FOOL! For your information, I change into my pajamas and settle down for some well-deserved sleep." Excalibur cried. "Does he ever shut up?" Soos asked Black Star, who simply replied by putting on the Excalibur face and declaring "Unfortunately, no." "So what is Excalibur exactly?" Dipper asked Stein. "He can switch between a sword and some weird looking animal thing, but is he a demon weapon or not?" Stein simply mused for a moment before giving an answer. "Why it's simple Dipper, he actually inspired their creation and modeled after him by the sorcerer Eibon." "Who's Eibon?" Mabel added just as inquisitive. "Another one of the Eight Shinigami Legions and the Great Old One of Knowledge." Maka stated. "He once helped us against Asura but now it seems he's gone MIA." Kid added. "One has to wonder where he's gone now." "Wait guys, be quiet!" Wendy shouted making everyone stop. "Did anyone else hear a frog croaking?" They all scanned the area for any amphibians before the chittering of mice was heard along with a wolf howling. "I don't like the sound of that." Liz stated before she felt Blair's cat form clinging to her leg. "I'd remember that chittering from anywhere!" the Monster Cat cried before a small childlike person with pink hair, black-and-white striped clothing and a hat resembling that of a mouse's head stepped into view, followed by three similar looking ones. "Are those the Mizunes?" Soul wondered. "Then that must mean the others aren't too far behind!" Crona added before two more people came out. One was a girl with silvery hair, a black dress with a white polka dot pattern & an orange hat and the other was a muscular man with fangs, black-and-white striped pants and a red glow in his eye. "Well look who we have here. We've been following you all for quite a while." the girl said. "Yeah, what she said!" the taller man cried. "Don't think you're gonna get away so easily!" "Hey, isn't that the big muscly man from the Skull Fracture?" Mabel asked. "What do you want with us now?" Tsubaki demanded answers as to why they're here. "Simple, after Kishin Cipher fired us we decided to win his favor again by getting rid of you!" Free declared. "Not all of you, but the two kids and the old guys." "Is-is he talking about us?" Mabel fretted clinging as she and her brother clung to one another. "Well if you want us, then no dice big boy!" Stan declared putting up his fists while Ford pulled out a magnet gun. "Don't worry Mr. Pines, we'll stand by you!" Soos added. "We already said we only want the Pines!" Eruka reiterated her comrade's demands. "Now Free!" "You got it!" the werewolf shouted and began to wave his arms around. "Wolf, wolves! Wolf, wolves!" he chanted before clenching his fists and spread them out. "Frigid Jailhouse!" With those two words alone, the very air around everyone sans the Pines turned cold and began forming into some sort of a prison cell. "Well what do you know, trapped behind bars again." Gideon snarked. "This is no time for jokes Gleeful, we have to help Dipper & Mabel before we're put in cold storage!" Kid reprimanded the boy unaware of his own pun. Looking around, the Shinigami spotted Excalibur and picked him up by the torso. "Dipper, catch!" Kid then tossed the Holy Sword over to the young Pines twin before Free's attack completely froze them all solid, only leaving the family and the weapon to face the minions of Medusa. "Wait, Excalibur?" Dipper wondered staring at the annoying sword. "Didn't you say you wanted your own weapon like a sword?" Ford reminded him of Stein's explanation of Demon Weapons. "Besides, we might need him more then ever, regardless of how annoying he is!" "FOOL! You are indeed right Sixer, I might be an valuable asset to your crusade against Bill and Asura!" Excalibur shouted in his usual loud arrogant tone to which everybody in the area, even those frozen in the Frigid Jailhouse, responded by making the Excalibur face. "Well what are you waiting for boy, grab onto me!" the Holy Sword demanded leaping into Dipper's hands. "But don't I need to be worthy to wield you?" "It doesn't matter now, do it!" Dipper finally relented and grabbed Excalibur by the hat and he transformed into his weapon form. The other Pines gazed in awe before turning to face the witches. "Before we begin, why don't we make things more fair?" Eruka offered before looking at the Mizunes. The mice witches started snapping their fingers & chittering in harmony before two of them stacked on top of each other & forming a child-like figure around Mabel's height while the other three took on the form of a girl wearing clothes patterned after the Mizunes' attire and still wearing their mice hats. "Wait, they can do that?" Ford exclaimed scratching his head. "Now then, charge!" Free ordered and the two groups ran at one another ready to fight, Dipper against Eruka, Mabel against Free and the Stans against the Mizunes.

Meanwhile high in the treetops sat Giriko and Mosquito spying on the action. "Didn't Bill already fire those losers? What are they doing here?" the chainsaw wondered. "I suppose this is their attempt at winning the master's favor, especially at how they managed to contain the rest of their party." the former steward of Arachne pointed out staring at the subzero prison of the remaining Mystery Meisters. "Who knew such a fool could be strong enough to contain the son of Death and some of his strongest Meisters?" Giriko commented. "In fact, why did we need to be here? Let's just get outta here and let those guys murder them!" He was then quickly shushed by Mosquito. "Of course you gotta ruin my fun." "It's likely those five will lose anyway, especially when the boy has Excalibur in his hands." Mosquito stated eyeing the sword in particular. "Wait, that's Excalibur?!" Giriko gasped as the battle finally began. "Don't they know that he's too goddamn annoying to fully synchronize with?!" "I suggest we save the conversation for later my boy, but right now we watch." the Bloodsucker declared ending their debate and watching the witch's lackeys face the Pines. Returning to the fight, both groups were evenly matched. Dipper & Excalibur faced Eruka, Mabel against Free and the Stans versus the Mizunes. "Why are you even after us? Do you have something to gain from working with Kishin Cipher?!" the boy cried clashing the sword with the frog witch's tadpole staff. "He promised us freedom from Medusa when we originally met him in exchange for taking you out." Eruka explained smacking her foe in the face with her staff. "But we were wrong. He was just so utterly cruel and petty that he fired us just because Free lost an arm-wrestling contest." "Hey, that ninja kid was tough!" Free exclaimed as he tried to grab Mabel, who dodged him by swinging in the air with her grappling hook. "But how did you meet him anyway?" Ford asked while he and the tall Mizune fusion tried to push each other back while gripping each other's fists. "It all began one day..."

Gravity Falls, May 2013 It has been a few weeks since Maka Albarn had defeated Asura with the power of courage and now with Medusa potentially deceased & nowhere else to go, Eruka Frog, Free and the Mizunes decided to travel the country in search of a new purpose. Their newest destination was a town in Roadkill County, Oregon surrounded by a large forest that proved to be the perfect hiding place. "So glad we're all getting into nature." Free said roasting a kebab made out of acorns, mushrooms and a few dead squirrels over a campfire. "Yeah, the scenery really brings a nice atmosphere, wouldn't you agree Mizunes?" Eruka remarked and the Mizunes chittered in agreement. "But I just don't know what that thing is doing here." She pointed to a nearby statue of a triangle object wearing a top hat and sticking its arm out. "Probably just some dumb tourist attraction." "Why does it have an eye?" Free wondered also looking at the triangle while munching on his dinner. After a while, the group decided to turn in for the night. "So who gets to put on the fire?" the frog witch asked. "Allow me!" the werewolf made the campfire go out with his ice magic before closing his eyes and laying on his back. "Night gang!" And so the former witch's goons all fell asleep as the stars shone brightly over them. But mere hours later, Eruka woke up and glared at the statue of the triangle still with its arm out. "Okay, what is up with you?" she exclaimed trying her best to not awaken the others. She marched over to the triangle and took a knee to face its eye. "Seriously, what's your deal? Are you some kind of ancient relic or just some tacky photo op? Give me an answer!" "I'm sorry, what did you just call me?" a deep voice furiously rung out scaring the witch. Suddenly, a pale-skinned figure with golden hair and three eyes appeared in front of her and she started screaming in fear of this new being. "Hey, you got some nice pipes there girly! Perfect screaming volume!" the stranger complimented her. "And those shrunken pupils are a nice touch too!" "Free, Mizunes, help me!" Eruka ran away & cried out for her comrades but they couldn't hear her and continued resting. "Sorry Kermit, they can't hear you! Wanna know why?!" the monster said. "BECAUSE YOU'RE ON MY TURF NOW!" The entire area turned monochrome and Eruka was pulled back. "I suppose you must be wondering who I am?" "You're Asura, aren't you?" the witch whimpered. "Close but no cigar Slippy, call me Kishin Cipher!" he proclaimed. "While Asura was in some random void after Scythe punched him with courage, he ran into yours truly, Bill Cipher!" Kishin Cipher then transformed into that exact triangle statue only it was yellow and had a bow tie. "You may remember me from when Lord Death and his eight butt buddies beat me up and locked me in the Nightmare Realm or when I unleashed the apocalypse on this little town. But sadly all good things had to come to an end when some old man punched me in his mind." "So you both came back by fusing?" Eruka asked. "Exactly cheeks, and I've got a plan." Cipher stated putting an arm around her neck. "You see, there are these couple of kids that I want dead so that they won't interfere with my schemes. So I want you and your idiot friends to find me one of these three journals and bring them to me." He then spawned a flaming image of a damaged book with the number 3 on it. "So do we have a deal?" "But wait, what do I get out of it?" Eruka wondered contemplating Kishin Cipher's offer as he shifted back into his regular form. "Simple Michigan. Freedom." he declared. "Think of it, no longer will you have to be Medusa's punching bags, I can give you anything you want! Money, fame, riches, infinite power, even your own galaxy!" "Come to think of it, that does sound enticing." the frog mused tapping her chin in deep thought. "Okay, it's a deal." She finally took Kishin Cipher's hand and they shook, sealing the deal. "Welp, that takes care of it! Well what're you waitin' for?! But if you fail me, there will be consequences!" he exclaimed preparing to disappear before stopping to make one final statement. "Okay just a second. Strike that, reverse it. Thank you." He finally disappeared leaving Eruka standing alone in the dark forest before Free appeared from behind, spooking her. "Hey, what're you doing up and out here so late?" he asked. "Was it about the triangle?" His cohort sighed and finally confessed. "I made a deal with the guy that statue was supposed to be. It turns out he was some kind of demon that unleashed some kinda bizarre Hell on Earth last year and fused with Asura." "So wait, you actually shook hands with this thing?" the Immortal Man asked stepping up to the statue and touching it. "Yoohoo, Mr. Statue Man! You awake in there? My name's Free, a friend of the girl you made a deal with!" he cried tapping on the stone shape and accidentally cracking its eye. "Oops, I am so sorry Mr. Statue Man! Let me fix that for you!" He used his own saliva to fix the crack, but to no avail. "Apologies for using that to help you out there." "Can you pay attention Free?!" Eruka shouted. "When I spoke with Kishin Cipher, he told me he had a plan that involved a book he needed to gain more power." she explained. "Oh, you mean the one Doug has?" Free remarked. "Wait, who's Doug?" the witch asked. "He's just some guy I met that got that book from a bake sale. Reviews movies in his spare time." "Well, let's go see this Doug then. C'mon Mizunes, we got a job to do." Eruka woke up the mice and went on their way to perform their mission.

"So you actually made a deal with him?!" Dipper cried continuing to clash Excalibur with the frog's staff. "It was the only way we could finally have freedom!" she responded. "Besides, I wished we could be as tight-knit as you are." "Get back here you!" Free cried trying to catch Mabel, who kept swinging away from him with her grappling hook. "Try and catch me first!" she shouted pulling a candy bar out of her sweater pocket and throwing it in his face. "Oh hey, I was getting' hungry. Thanks kid." "You're welcome, but I'm still gonna have to beat you anyway." Mabel answered walking up to him and delivering a small punch before taking notice of his unique eye. "Hey, why does it say 'No future' above your eye, and why is it a different color from your other eye?" she asked. "Oh yeah, that." he stated sitting down. "This eye actually used to belong to the Grand Witch Mabaa and I stole it because a bunch of my friends dared me to." "So what happened? C'mon, you can tell me." Mabel asked smiling sweetly at him. "Wait, why you being so friendly with me? I mean, I froze your friends solid and I think my co-workers are gonna kill your family." Free said with a surprised expression. "I just want to be a nice person, even if some people are jerks to my friends." the girl stated sitting down next to him. "Now tell me more about that Grand Witch lady." "Okay, so I did succeed in stealing that eye but instead of killing me, since I was an immortal werewolf, Mabaa instead locked me up for the next hundreds of years where I even forgot my own name until Eruka freed me under Medusa's orders." Free explained. "And before that, I tried to escape by digging my way out with spoons like in the movies!" "It didn't work?" Mabel remarked. "It didn't work because they all served chopsticks." Free responded. "Now anyway, after I was bailed I served Medusa for quite a while until she bit the dust. We all thought she was gone for good until she came back in the body of a little girl, long story, and we were all forced to work for her again until she died again." "I know Medusa's a pretty terrible mother from Crona but how terrible of a boss was she?" Mabel wondered. "Just as awful. Makes me wish I was indebted to someone else now, preferably less abusive toward their minions." That was when Mabel got an idea. "I have a suggestion, why don't you hang out with us? I promise we'll be much kinder to you guys." "That sounds like a great idea! But I'm not sure about it since you're friends with the Academy's brats." Free remarked. "Promise me big guy, we can make it work."

"Tiny little bastard, ain't ya?!" Stan cried trying to dodge the two-body merged Mizune while Ford clashed with the three-body merged Mizune. "We need to create a diversion so that one of us can melt our companions' ice prison. Got any ideas Stanley?" Ford asked. "Okay, how about I face these Mousekewitzes while you do the melting part?" the con artist suggested. "But that leaves the question of how." "Simple, I crank my magnet gun up to eleven to meddle with its melting point." Stanford stated. "Did you simply get that off the Internet? That sounds like something out of one of those fact sites that says can openers are good for opening doors!" his brother commented. "Just trust me on this one Stan, our friends might catch hypothermia if they're stuck in there longer!" "Well, if you say so Sixer." Stan gave in before facing the pair of Mizunes. "Hey Speedy, Itchy!" he called distracting the mice witches and beginning to run around in circles. Meanwhile Ford got to work on melting the Frigid Jailhouse by stabbing the bars in the opening into the ice and cranking its power to its highest level. Pulling the trigger, Ford activated the gun's magnet pulse and it began to make quick work of the ice, to the point where he could barely see Waddles wiggle his snout. "Bingo, it's working!" "Wow Ford, guess the web is useful for something after all." Stan commented before he suddenly started screaming in pain, looking down to notice a thin, small laser jutted straight through his chest coming from the Mizune's face. Covering his wound, the great uncle turned to notice that the two fusions were no more and in their place had merged into something taller and dressed more revealing. "One of the old men is down. Now onto the rest of the family." "Stanley no!" Ford cried rushing to his brother's side. "Please speak to me, did that thing shoot you through the heart?" he asked. "No, none of my organs were stabbed." Stan said weakly while his older brother cradled him in his arms. "Just keep melting 'em Sixer and hopefully the kids will come back to save us." He finally passed out just as Dipper rushed to his side as well. "What's happened to him Ford?!" "That mouse thing struck him down while his back was turned and he's bleeding out! But thankfully she missed his vital organs." Ford stated beginning to shed a tear for his brother. "But still, if only it were me that took that laser." Dipper put a comforting hand on his shoulder as Eruka stepped forward. "So you care for each other that much?" "More than anything. What about you guys?" Dipper answered. "We only saw each other as coworkers, barely having enough time to relax especially when working under Medusa." Eruka stated. "Makes me wish we could have someone that we could call a family." She remorsefully looked down at the ground before Dipper took her hand. "How about we be your family?" "You really mean it? But we tried to kill you guys!" Eruka and Mizune were both taken aback by the boy's offer. "You did tell us about how bad of a boss both Medusa and Bill were, but Soos is a much better boss than they ever will." Dipper explained. "Speaking of which, think you can help us unfreeze our friends?" "We'd be happy to help, but we're gonna need to wait for Free to come back, since this is his doing." Eruka answered before suddenly, they heard bushes rustling followed by the Immortal Man stepping out with Mabel on his back. "Hey guys, sorry to keep you waiting!" "Meet my new friend bro-bro!" Mabel exclaimed jumping down to hug her brother. "Let me guess, is it because he's a big muscular wolfman?" Dipper snarked. "Kinda actually, but despite being an evil minion he's actually a total dork." the sweater girl stated. "And he loved that candy bar I threw at him as well!" "Who doesn't love chocolate?" Free added munching on his sweet. "So anyway, think you can help us get our friends out of that ice?" Dipper asked the werewolf. "Sure, just give me some time on this one." Stepping up to the partially melted ice block. Free wound up his fist and shattered it with a single punch, freeing its prisoners who were now shivering as a result. "Oh man, thought we were all gonna become ice sculptures in there!" Wendy exclaimed before spotting Free. "Hey, you look familiar." "Hands, or paws, in the air Free. We have you surrounded now that you've sealed your own doom." Kid coldly stated aiming Liz & Patty at the wolfman while the others took up arms when Dipper & Mabel rushed to defend their new friend. "No wait guys, don't fight them!" Mabel cried. "Are you kidding us Mabel, he tried to freeze us!" Black Star exclaimed before Dipper shushed him by pointing Excalibur at him. "Let us explain."

"So you're saying they all got screwed over by Bill and want to join us for revenge?" Spirit wondered as the crew were gathered around a makeshift campfire to warm themselves. "Yes, I originally made a deal with him to give us freedom in exchange for a journal he wanted but we were fired thanks to a certain someone!" Eruka stated before glaring at Free. "Oh come on! I just wasn't trying that hard!" "Incredible, a witch and a werewolf!" Ford muttered to himself writing down about the two in Journal 4. "One swiped the eye of a being known as the Grand Witch and the other is gifted in some form of mathmatics-based spells." Finishing his entry, he looked forlornly at his brother who was being taken care of by Stein. "Now hold still Stanley, this injury went pretty deep." "Yeah I know Frankenstein. Just be gentle, will ya?" Stan asked. "So sorry, this happened to you Mr. Pines. When I heard about it, I thought you would've died!" Soos cried feeling concerned for his father figure. "Yeah, must've been pretty nasty." Wendy added. "Thanks guys, nice to know you're still sticking by me." the con-artist thanked them with a hug. "I still can't believe it! Have we all gotten weaker or our enemies stronger?" Soul wondered aloud. "It's most likely the latter Soul. Kishin Cipher is not holding back from here on out and we're going to need to try our hardest to stop him." Maka answered. "Which would also explain why that taxidermy monster from the Northwests' home was able to knock me out mid-resonance." "FOOLS! We can't say for sure whether he is getting stronger, but I can assure you his forces definitely are." Excalibur commented. "Besides, have any of you ever seen Free pull off a move like that?" he asked the DWMA students and they replied with a nod. "Excalibur's got a good point everyone, we should watch ourselves." Kid reiterated the Holy Sword's point before grimacing. "I can't believe I just said that about him." "We can only camp here for a few more minutes, then we can get back on track." Tsubaki announced walking over to the fire to put it out. "Tsubaki's right, if we stay out here longer Bill could be invading our minds." Ford agreed. "Now then, let's get moving!" "Not so fast friends!" Mosquito announced with he and Giriko stepping into view. "Well, it seems Medusa's flunkies have finally betrayed them. I'm honestly not surprised given her personality." the Bloodsucker commented before a large golem rose up from behind. "Just when we thought tonight couldn't get any worse, of course more of you guys had to show up!" Stan exclaimed as everyone took up arms. "Now what do you want?" "Simple, to eliminate you all and take the old man & the scythe." Mosquito proclaimed. "We have been watching you all this entire night, particularly your battle earlier." he explained. "Now then, shall we begin?" "We won't back down this time Mosquito, and we aren't going to be detained like last time!" Maka shouted grasping onto her weapon and the Mystery Meisters began charging at the duo, ready for another battle.

Sorry to keep you waiting! Again, writer's block. Hopefully this will keep you tided over while I get back on one of my other stories that I've kept under the bus for a while. Oh yes, we're finally returning to my One Punch Man/Villainous crossover Black Fist! Until we meet again Fanfiction, take it easy.