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darkspine10 · 1 year ago

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GF Fanfic - Past Made Present

Dipper and Mabel Vs. The Past (20,707 words) by darkspine10

Chapters: 4/9

Fandom: Gravity Falls

Rating: Teen and Up

“So, just to make sure I didn’t miss anything,” Zera said. “The twins’ parents? Their names are-”

“Marc and Mary?” Pacifica said, lifting her coffee cup to her lips. “Yep.”

“No way.”

“Well, Marcus and Marianne if you want to get technical.”

“You’ve gotta be shitting me.”

Pacifica spluttered out her drink, trying to hold back the laughter. She put a palm over her chest. “Dead serious, honest.”

Zera wrinkled her nose. “And they gave their kids the names Mabel and Mason? Seriously?”

“Is it any wonder my husband goes by Dipper? Then again my family are hardly paragons when it comes to alliteration either. Thank the stars that Wendy breaks the trend.”

“Hear hear,” Zera said, raising her cup in mock toast. In her highchair, Wendy giggled and slammed her sippy cup on the table repeatedly.

After parting ways with the others, Zera and Pacifica had wandered down through the suburbs to the shopping district on Piedmont Avenue - which Zera was confused to discover was actually outside of Piedmont’s borders in the wider city of Oakland. Along with Wendy they’d found a small coffee shop. The square tables covered with wide umbrellas that shielded the afternoon sunlight gave them an ample view of the drying asphalt.

A thin layer of sweat had already built up on Zera’s skin. “It’s crazy how warm it is after this morning. I might need to take a dip in the bay to rehydrate.”

“You just wait for a real California summer, sister. Remember, I lived with the twins for a while, I know how bad the heat can get.” Pacifica delighted in squinting and blurring her vision. Before her eyes Zera morphed from her human disguise to her true self. Pacifica was amused by the incongruity of a blue fish alien sitting casually next to all the oblivious patrons of the coffee shop “You’re partly amphibious, yeah?”

Zera nodded. “At least this drink will keep me from drying out completely.”

She took a sip but Pacifica audibly scoffed. “How are you this basic? I thought, given all the globetrotting Mabel gets up to and the spacehopping you do, that you’d have a more varied palette. I was expecting you to like some weird mixture of grass smoothie with specially blended icing, or a rare middle-eastern tea. Something a tad exotic. But no: Pumpkin spice. Sometimes I forget you’re an actual alien.”

“Oh yeah, Miss High and Mighty, what’s your drink then?”

“It’s some kind of festive macchiato blend. I don’t know.” Pacifica scrunched up her nose. “Anyway, it’s beside the point. It’s an excuse to get a break from all of my husband’s tedious hand-wringings. Plus I thought it was high time the two of us had a proper conversation.”

“Really? That’s a new one,” Zera said, sitting back in her chair. She sipped her coveted latte for a moment, slightly frowning. “I always got the impression that you and Dipper didn’t like me very much.”

Pacifica raised a single eyebrow, as if challenging the statement. “Oh? What gave you that idea?”

“Well, the first time we met, when I tried to, you know: scam the three of you. Mabel was smitten and all, but you two - man, you sussed me out right away. After that… I guess I felt like you treated me as some hanger-on with May.”

Pacifica flashed a reassuring grin. “Eh, that stuff’s all water under the bridge. Uh, not that I meant to make a pun on the fact you’re aquatic.” Zera reacted with her lip set in a line. “I’ve said it before, we’re sister-in-laws now,” Pacifica said in an attempt to mollify the alien. “That means we’re family, no matter how strangely we all came together. Mabel may have unique tastes, but she chose right with you.”

“Thanks,” Zera murmured. “That makes me feel a bit less like an outsider.”

“Trust me, you’ll settle in fast. Wait until Marc reads his Christmas cracker jokes over dinner. We’ll all be in the same boat, cringing.”

“Except May. She loves cheesy jokes.”

“Ha, fair point.” Pacifica blew on her drink and took a sip, careful not to get foam all over her mouth. She idly stirred the liquid. “You know, I had coffee like this once with Wendy - Corduroy I mean - back before our portal quest. After motherhood that feels like a very long time ago.”

“You named your daughter after someone you only had coffee with once?” Zera asked, almost impressed.

“It was complicated, and mostly Mason’s idea. She did save my life, but tried to kill us several times, and saved the entire multiverse with her sacrifice. I dunno, there are complex feelings. Lately I’ve been taking to calling her Leah; that’s her middle name.” Pacifica tickled her daughter’s face. “You’re gonna like high class things when you’re older, aren’t you Leah? Aren’t you? You won’t have basic tastes.”

“Ha ha,” Zera deadpanned. “That’s a nice name for her though, Leah Pines.”

Pacifica frowned. “Although it is another in-joke technically. Mason wanted a subtle reference to his Great Uncle Stan.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Stanley. Leah. See? It’s kinda silly but Mason was keen and I didn’t feel like objecting. Kind of regret that now. He was naming her like it was the epilogue of Harry Potter, talk about tacky.”

“I’ll have to remind myself to ask Mabel what that means, since I’ve never heard of it.”

“She’ll probably say you’re better off not knowing. Like this whole debacle with their parents. Let them figure it all out, I don’t care.”

“You’re not tempted to intervene? Not even a little?” Pacifica gave a tiny shrug. “And here I was told you used to be a gossip magnet.”

“You couldn’t pay me to wade into this debate.” She slouched back in her chair. “It reminds me too much of my own parents. All that tiptoeing around, keeping part of myself hidden. It was hell. Everything was so much better after I actually got angry with them. The twins will be the same, as soon as they get this off their chest they’ll stop being so useless with worrying about it.”

Zera paused for a moment, then whispered. “So, Marc and Mary? Go on then, tell me the story.”

“There’s not much to tell: That’s the point, they’re average. Mary works as a receptionist in the twins’ old elementary school and Marc is a computer programmer. Has a job in some high-rise over in the financial district, strictly on the low end of the totem pole sadly.”

“There’s gotta be more to it than that though. Come on, you’ve known them for years. Why are they so… unlike the twins?”

Pacifica mulled this over, watching steam float off her drink. “Well, they had kids pretty young, like barely out of their teens. No-one ever plans for twins. Hell, they didn’t even know it ran in the family back then. And once you’re a young couple burdened with an over-imaginative bundle of energy like Mabel and a socially-awkward know-it-all like Mason you’ve got a recipe for chaos. Add in the fact those kids were fiercely protective of each other and it’s no wonder this divide grew to such big proportions.”

“It all sort of… happened by accident then? A mix of personality issues and different paths in life?”

“When you put it like that, pretty much. They did a good job handling the twins though. Raised them right with strong morals, even before their Grunkles got a hold of them. Although I’m not sure morally upstanding is a phrase that could ever describe Stanley Pines.” Zera was processing all this when Pacifica continued. “Look, if you really want a root cause to everything that led the twins apart from their parents then it goes back to my husband. He had an anxious moment all those years ago and has been carrying it around with him ever since. Mason’s had a thing about blindly trusting people ever since he found Journal 3. It might have made sense when he was 13, but now? He’s a husband and a father, with adult responsibilities and a life of his own. But we can’t force him to say anything. He and Mabel have to confront this on their own terms. Talk about a messed up family.”

“Not like you,” Zera said. “You’re completely different of course, with your adopted war orphan, newborn baby, and no steady income. All perfectly stable.”

“Low blow, S’aren, low blow.”

“Careful, better not buy another croissant or you might go bankrupt.” They both laughed. “You think Dipper and Mabel will get through it ok?” Zera asked, serious again. “They were split apart before, right?”

Pacifica chewed her bottom lip. “I think this time they’re united well enough. They certainly aren’t about to fall out like they did in the past. Who knows honestly. Like I said, what happens between them and their parents is their business. We’re here to support the twins and give advice, but I’m not about to get in the firing line once Mason finally opens up about magic and junk.”

“Hmm, I guess they are very close.”

“Take it from one Pines to another, there are only three topics you can bring up that will guarantee the twins will argue non-stop for a few hours: Whether direct action is more effective than protest marches, the pros and cons of nuclear power, and live-action Disney musical remakes.”

“Wait, what’s with the last one?” Zera asked.

“Trust me, don’t ask. I’ve seen the debates. Heated doesn’t begin to describe it. The fiery heart of the sun would be a cool winter’s day in comparison.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Zera stirred her latte. “With all this talk about parents, I was wondering. Have you ever thought about reconnecting with yourparents?” Pacifica choked on her drink for the second time. “Ooh, sore subject.”

“Now who’s joking?” she gasped, reaching for a serviette. “There’s a reason Marc and Mary had to take me in at 17. They’re saints compared to my dear old mom and dad.”

Zera smiled to herself. “Ok, drama queen. Sorry I brought it up.”

Pacifica tapped a finger repetitively on the table, before deciding to answer. “My parents made a lot of mistakes when I was growing up. Trying to introduce them to my family is a hassle I don’t need. I don’t know which of my kids they’d be more offended by, the full-blooded alien or the one with 50% of Mason’s genes.” She ruefully laughed. “Now there’s an irony. I couldn’t get my parents to care even when the supernatural was staring them right in the face. If they couldn’t make a profit off it it might as well not exist. What I wouldn’t have given to have parents like the twins, they’re actually there when they need them. I’m sure you can relate, growing up in space nursery with a million other tadpoles.”

“It was tough, yeah. I suppose it’s a good thing you and Dipper stepped up for Merrise, made sure she has a roof over her head and two people who love her unconditionally.”

“Uh, thanks,” Pacifica said, blushing a little from the praise. She’d always seen it less as something she had a choice in and more a duty. Merrise had shown up in their lives with nowhere else to go and they’d quickly come to adore her. Leaving her behind seemed absurd.

“See, you were right, we can be friends,” Zera teased. “Genuine praise makes both of us feel embarrassed.”

“Cheers to that,” Pacifica said, grinning and glad to have finally made something of a connection with the alien whom Mabel so adored. She was about to take another sip of her macchiato when a faint ripple danced across the surface of the liquid. “Uh oh.”

“What?” Zera asked, none the wiser.

A second, larger ripple shook her drink. “I think we’re about to have some trouble.” The table began to shake, rattling the cups and cutlery. The pine tree shaped pendant Pacifica always wore began to spin and she sighed. “I can’t go one day without them somehow-”

The monster seemed faintly ridiculous, cantering down the high street on narrow legs which supported a bulky upper torso and arms as thick as oak trees. Golden orbs trailed slightly behind, hovering above what passed for the creature’s neck. Pedestrians began running from their tables in panic. The chimaera picked up speed, rocking Pacifica and Zera’s table so hard it nearly toppled over.

A second later a bright pink car sped past the coffee shop, engine revving loudly. Pacifica leapt up from her seat, slung Wendy into a pouch across her chest, and set off after the car, all in one fluid motion. Zera did a double-take, blinking in confusion, before setting down her cup and flailing to her feet. “Wait for me!”

The Mini hurtled along the streets of San Francisco in hot pursuit. Mabel was no stranger to hairpin turns and insane acceleration, but her brother, parents, and niece were being juddered around constantly. She was worried they’d lose the chimaera when they veered near to Lombard Street, but the creature avoided the steep turns. The dense traffic in the city centre forced both the car and its quarry to slow. Self-driving vehicles littered the road at odd angles, having been unable to process the danger in time to swerve out of the way before being knocked aside in the chimaera’s wake.

Honking the horn, Mabel watched the creature weave through the slowly moving cars ahead of them. “Forget the car,” Dipper said, undoing his seatbelt. Merrise and Mabel leapt out of the car, while his parents were still reeling from the chase and struggling to release themselves. “Stop!” Dipper cried at the creature.

He was self-conscious of all the eyes on him. They hadn’t quite reached the most populated part of the city, but there were still countless passers-by along the street staring in disbelief at the Frankenstein’s Monster wildly careening around. Revealing the supernatural to his parents was one thing. Winding up on local news was another. The truth about weirdness wasn’t entirely clandestine - after all he’d encountered many individuals who’d independently stumbled onto cryptids and magic outside of the Falls. But broadcasting it to the world still felt like a transgression.

He had to end this quickly. He began to march determinedly down the street after the slowly trotting monster. Mabel called out to him. “What are you doing Dipper, are you nuts?”

“I have to go talk to that thing!” he said without turning. “It isn’t evil.”

“Uh, did you miss when it rampaged through the world’s greatest monuments!?”

“This thing only coalesced today. It’s probably confused and overwhelmed. If I talk to it I might be able to calm it down.”

Mabel seemed indecisive, but nodded anyway. “Ok bro. If you think you know what you’re doing.”

“I’ll come too”, Merrise said, trying to follow her father. She was still hobbling slightly on her grazed knee.

Mabel held out an arm and nudged her back in. “Nuh uh missy, you’re staying with me where I can keep you safe. Let your dad have a go first.” Merrise pouted and feebly slunk into her seat next to her grandparents. Unlike Merrise, who knew the dangers ahead of them, Mr and Mrs Pines had no such hesitations in going after Dipper. This may be a startlingly unexpected set of circumstances for them but they weren’t about to let their son stroll into the midst of the action without any guarantees of his safety.

“Son!” Mr Pines called. “Don’t stick your neck out for nothing!”

Mabel now had to contend with the unenviable task of keeping her parents back from the danger zone. She held her arms back and had to physically hold them at bay. Her mother stood back and gave her sternest glare. Somehow even Pacifica’s hardest stares paled in comparison to the ‘Mom Glare’. “Mabel Jessica Pines, you get out of my way right this instant.”

“Can’t do that Mom, really sorry.” Mabel grimaced and snuck a look over her shoulder. Dipper was right in front of the beast. “Someday we’ll look back at today and see it as a real turning point.” Neither of her parents were impressed by that.

Squeezing through the stalled traffic, Dipper yelled towards the back of the vast chimaera, which was forcing cars out of the way to get through. The golden stars that sufficed for the creature’s eyes turned to consider him. “Hey, Journal Man… uh, Llama-Tree-Star-Centaur… thing. Ugh, Mabel was always better at coming up with the names.”

The creature regarded him with a look that might almost have been quizzical, before letting out a roar of anger. It wrenched the nearest streetlight out of its foundations and hurled it towards Dipper. He wanted to appear on top of things, both to intimidate and pacify the creature and to make himself seem self-assured for his parents’ sake, but he had to dive out of the way in an undignified manner, tumbling onto the ground and landing hard on his journal.

“Right, that’s it.” He stood back up and dusted the grit off his jacket. He pointed at the scowling chimaera. “You might act tough, but I need answers.” He flipped through Journal 9 and clutched it in his palms. A certain incantation was written on the page he’d selected. Mabel might be the more accomplished spellcaster, but on this occasion he was willing to give it a go. He placed one palm on the open page and shouted at the beast. “Ipso Facto, Lorem Ipsum!”

A hurricane of words spiralled off the page and slammed into his enemy. The incandescent letters coiled around in the air, before merging into the monster’s flesh and bark. The creature coughed a few times, struggling to form sentences. The spell Dipper had read out was meant to translate specific languages, very handy for deciphering ancient codes. In this instance he was hoping it would make the creature a bit easier to understand, as well as making it stick around, awed by his powers.

Feeling quite impressed with his attempt at the spell, Dipper allowed himself a moment of smugness. “Now, are you going to explain what you want?”

“Must… catalogue all unique incidences and occurrences. Unusual artefacts, creatures not found in any bestiary, sacred sites and technological wonders beyond man’s wildest dreams.” Dipper felt momentarily wowed by the creature’s eloquence. It was embodying the journals to a tee and as before spoke with a multitude of voices juggling for dominance. Right now the chorus favoured Pacifica’s tones. “I am diary, journal, epistolary, record, and scribble. I am what’s hidden between the lines, confined to the margins, buried in subtext! I am Errata!” The sigil acting as the creature’s mouth twisted into an approximation of a smile.

Dipper opened his journal and scribbled a note. “Errata… is that with two T’s, or-”

“Silence!” The sigil curved into an ugly expression. Dipper’s attempt at levity had evidently failed to be appreciated. The creature wrapped its arms over its chest and shivered. “Mason Pines, you are prolific in my tapestry. Amongst the rest you imbued so much of your essence into me. You could say I’m an open book.”

“Ha,” Dipper said without humour. “So, you have intelligence, you can recognise me. Do you, I don’t know, revere me or something?” He resisted the urge to lift up his hair to show the constellation birthmark as if it might sway the beast over to his side.

Errata laughed with the mocking guffaws of Stan Pines. “No thank you, human. I am an independent entity now, not some puppet.”

“What do you want then? Just to wander around causing havoc?”

“I hunger for esoteric knowledge. I must consume that which is forbidden or arcane and feast on the ignorance of fools. Perhaps I will take some of your secrets, Mason.” Dipper took a step back. He was starting to suspect his hypothesis about the creature’s innocence was misplaced. That sounded like deliberate malice.

“Hey, we can help you. My family knows all sorts of stuff… although I suppose you’re probably made out of all of it already.” Dipper felt like he was running out of options. The creature didn’t seem swayed by his words.

Sniffing the air, Errata winced with pain, as if suffering from a headache. “This place is so mundane, so trivial. My apotheosis is incomplete. Perhaps I can speed things along.”

“Woah woah woah, you don’t have to do anything rash-”

The chimaera ignored him and spread his hands wide towards the sky. Columns of steam shot out and Dipper started to sweat. The creature screamed in a mix of pain and pleasure, a single great exaltation. Then it was gone, melting away like a ghost. In its place, more of the golden aura, a sight Dipper was growing to greatly dislike squinting at. Unlike the painstaking birth of the chimaera, this aura formed a recognisable shape almost instantly.

Dipper had to do a double take. He shouldn’t have been surprised. Errata had come from the journal after all.

Standing before him was a Mishipeshu, a fur-coated mix of catfish and tiger. This was his most recent find recorded in the journal, which they’d helped rescue in Salem. But as soon as the water-panther tried to bound away it melted back into plasma. A second later it reformed into a gangly legged, stalk-like alien with a bulbous cranium and protruding whiskers. Dipper recognised this as one of the Grown, a colonising fungus species Pacifica had extensively detailed in her journal after an encounter on a far-off planet.

Even this didn’t last, with the apparition morphing straight into a familiar pack of pointy-hatted gnomes, then a moustache-wearing hexagon and a flying phoenix he knew as his daughter’s pet. On and on it went, unable to fix on a single appearance and drawing from the collection of journals his family had contributed to in the last half a century. Even human beings appeared in the mix - if a Pines had written about or sketched someone then they were fair game.

Eventually the mass of energy split apart. Two or three distinct constructs began to run off into the city, each one morphing between different shapes from the journals and retaining that unmistakable golden hue. Dipper watched as a cackling hand-witch sprinted off in one direction, a hairy Standyak leapt off onto the nearest rooftop, and a herd of manotaurs charged down the street towards the Mini. Mabel climbed onto the nearest car to avoid the stampede, and Merrise was buffeted in the car.

Mr and Mrs Pines were directly in the path of the manotaurs. Dipper fruitlessly reached out a hand but they were too far away for him to do anything. Utterly lost, his parents stood there frozen like deer in headlights. He winced and fell to his knees, unable to prevent the collision.

Until an orb of orange fire consumed them first. Dipper’s jaw dropped, as the stampede thundered on. A second later his parents re-emerged on the sidewalk out of another cone of fire. Dazed, they were both shaken but otherwise unhurt. Dipper breathed a sigh of relief. As the clatter of hoofbeats faded away he saw Zera, deep in concentration just up the street.

Running up towards him, Pacifica was carrying Wendy in a sling. She helped him to his feet. “Easy there. It’s over.” Dipper stared around at the chaos. It was just like the golf course, with cars strewn about and people hiding behind cover, scared to come out.

“Oh Paz, it’s only just begun- ow!”

She’d punched him in the arm. “Don’t give me that over-dramatic crap. That’s for summoning up a magical demon in the single hour we were apart. C’mon Mason, that’s rule number one of good parenting.”

He could only laugh at the absurdity of it all. “I’m just glad to see you guys. We’re going to need all hands on deck to deal with this. A creature infestation is about to be let loose all over the city!”

“One thing at a time.” Her eyes flicked over to the Mini, where Mabel and Merrise had reunited with Zera. The alien was helping Mr and Mrs Pines after their near-impact. Mabel came over and led her parents to a nearby bench.

“That was… I don’t know what that was,” Mr Pines said, slightly crazed with adrenaline. Mrs Pines was staying silent for now, processing all that had happened in the last few minutes. “Zera, what on Earth just happened?” He had seen the magical aura surrounding her when she’d cast the teleport spell, a special technique favoured by her teacher in the mystic arts.

Zera kicked her heels and remained tight-lipped, unsure how much to reveal even now. Mabel’s face was full of indecision, so Zera caved. “It was a teleportation vortex. I moved you out of the way of the herd using… magic.”

“Ha, of course,” Mr Pines replied, laughing hysterically. “Next you’ll tell me you’re from another planet. What, do you, ha, have your own spaceship or something?”

“No, I don’t have a spaceship,” Zera deadpanned, and Mabel drew a sigh of relief. The true nature of her wife’s identity could stay hidden for the time being. “Not my own anyway. If I put out a beacon or something I could probably hitch a lift off world.”

Her father’s laugh died in his throat. “You’re… you’re serious.” He was now staring agog. Zera toyed with her earring and Mabel knew this was it. If she switched off the filter there was definitely no going back. This was the last possible moment they could backtrack. They could paper over all of this, maybe claim it as some kind of massive joke gone way out of hand. It could all be wrapped up and hidden again just like Dipper wanted.

On the other hand… in one simple second it would all be over, the charade, the lies of the last 20 years, the anxious waiting for the bubble to burst. So Mabel stood there and let her wife deactivate the illusion. No putting the genie back in the bottle now.

Zera tapped her earring. A brief ripple passed over her body. Her tanned skin became iridescent scales tinged aqua and turquoise, and the fins on her head and arms unfurled. “This is me,” she said, flashing a toothy grin and giving a thumbs up to Mabel. She could only shake her head at her wife’s innocent naivety.

“Holy cats…” her father began, but Mrs Pines interrupted.

“You really are an alien. A real life, actual alien.” Tentatively she reached out and brushed against Zera’s scales. They were smooth and slightly moist. Her fingers recoiled. “Let me guess,” she said somewhat bitterly, “My daughter fell in love with your human form then found out the truth?”

“Not exactly. Mabel fell in love with the fish part first.” Mrs Pines gave a small whimper. Zera smiled weakly. “You know, I was telling the truth about the magic as well. I suppose you could call me a space witch.”

“Z?” Mabel said.

“Yeah?”

“Not helping.”

“Oh.”

Pacifica was suddenly beside them, snapping her fingers. “Yo, ‘shape of water’, let’s focus. You can destroy all semblance of your perfect family life later. Right now we’ve got a bigger problem.”

Dipper was already strapped in and starting up the car with Merrise in back. She was gesturing for them to get in. There was only enough room for three more passengers and Mabel decided she couldn’t bear the thought of enduring the car ride back with her parents. “Zera? Whoosh us up another portal, would you babe?” Zera nodded, realising what she wanted. She flashed an apologetic look at her in-laws, then started speaking the words of the incantation.

Mabel hugged each of her parents, one after the other. “I promise, we’ll help you understand all of this when we get home. Or, at least Dipper will. This was all his bright idea in the first place.”

With that she stepped into a column of blinding fire and was whisked away, leaving her befuddled parents staring speechless.

#gravity falls #gravity falls fanfic #pacifica nortwest #dipper pines #mabel pines #dipper and mabel's parents

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