A/N: Someone requested an alternative ending to Over The Bend just when I was working on one and on the fence about posting it, so. Here you go.
Dipper had been hacking away at the branches trying to take over Wirt's mind when there was a sudden surge of them. Wirt had been talking to the beast and then, their surroundings went black with roots and tree arms.
He woke up to a stilling chest beneath him. Dipper sat up. There was a moment of panic before Wirt gasped for breath, rising up from the bed. With a hand's width between their faces, Dipper got a close look at Wirt's new eyes.
A light catching on the pupil, it appeared blue and the warm brown iris bled more towards red. Dipper scooted back a little before Wirt's unblinking stare.
"Wirt?" Was this the person he knew anymore?
Wirt shifted to follow, placing a hand on Dipper's cheek. He flinched; the hand was cold.
"Wirt, I'm so sorry," Dipper whispered. In the back of his mind he was trying to come up with a way to deal with the new development. Something had gone wrong in Wirt's mind but he didn't know the extent of it. He needed more data.
Wirt's mouth stretched into a smile. It looked so much like how Dipper remembered but didn't quite reach his eyes.
"Why are you sorry? You did great, coming to my rescue," Wirt, or whoever this was, said, and it sounded like him but somehow lighter. Like the burdens of the world could touch him anymore.
Dipper was about to reply when an echo from his mind stopped him. 'Heya Pine Tree, don't freak out yet,' Bill said. 'This is still Pilgrim. Kind of.'
'What do you mean kind of?' Dipper thought back at him. Kind of Wirt hadn't moved an inch. No human stayed that still.
'As you're well aware, I know a thing or two about possession and that's not what this is,' Bill explained. Dipper resisted the urge to nod. 'It's more... This is the piece of the beast and Wirt, combined.'
"What?" Dipper said aloud.
Wirt tilted his head, assuming the question was for him. Dipper was just relieved that he finally moved.
"If you hadn't pulled me out of that room, I'd be lost," Wirt said. Dipper realized that, yes, if Wirt had remained in the snowstorm, the chances of him getting out would have been slim. The body would have fallen into a coma, but with the second consciousness already there... Dipper would be having this conversation with the beast right now.
He relaxed a fraction, despite Wirt's unblinking stare.
'What I mean is,' Bill spoke. 'This is Pilgrim, but it's also someone new.'
A whole new waved of nervousness washed over him. This was uncharted territory. "Wirt?" he tried.
"Yes?"
"Is that, is that still what you want to be called?"
Wirt went back to an unnerving stillness. For a moment, Dipper was concerned that he had messed up. Then, "That is my name, yes."
Snark. That was a good sign. "Alright. How are you feeling?"
"I want to go outside."
"Let's wait until morning, ok?" If Wirt had had a worrying knack of disappearing into forests before, Dipper didn't even want to think about what it would be like now. He wasn't about to let this new Wirt out of his sight before he knew the extent of the changes. So far there were the eyes, the strange stillness, and the lowered body temperature.
"I mean, how are you, physically?" Careful, he touched Wirt's forehead. "You're cold." Unsure if the touch was welcome, Dipper was about to retract his hand when Wirt leaned into it, his new bright eyes becoming half lidded. The eyes glowed in the dim room.
"You're warm," Wirt said with a pleased hum. "And I feel fine, I feel," he paused to think, "connected. There's so much forest here."
"What do you mean?"
"It's like I can feel it, here." Wirt took Dipper's hand and guided it to his chest. "It feels whole."
Dipper didn't understand but it was nice, touching Wirt. He always liked touching Wirt. Even though this Wirt was foreign.
"What is it?" Wirt asked, still and content holding Dipper's hand against him.
Instead of bringing up his new insecurities, Dipper went with, "Your eyes glow."
"They do?"
"Yeah, hold on." Dipper dug out his phone, switching on the front camera, and handed it to Wirt.
"Huh." Wirt held the phone farther from his face so the glow of the device didn't reach his face. "So they do." He studied them for a moment, lack of surprise in his face. He didn't look worried and that worried Dipper.
"Are you sure you're fine?"
Wirt gave the phone back and moved his mouth into a smile, stare unwavering. "Yes."
Dipper waited for him to elaborate but when Wirt didn't move and just looked, he started fidgeting. "Hey, um, Wirt?"
Wirt tilted his head.
"Can you do me a favor and blink, every once in a while?"
Wirt shut his eyelids and opened them again. "Better?"
"Yeah," Dipper smiled, forced, and couldn't deny the tiny sense of relief when Wirt looked away from him.
"I, um, I'm making you uncomfortable, aren't I?"
"Well, it's," Dipper wanted to reassure him that no, of course he wasn't. The familiar discomfort, the fact that there was emotion in Wirt's voice made him feel conflicted. "Look, just, this is new, to me, I don't." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know if you're... you."
"Who else would I be?"
"I mean, I don't know how different you are from how you were before." Saying it hurt. From the stilted way Wirt recoiled from him, hearing it hurt, too.
"I can't give you an answer." Wirt stood, careful, like he was testing the movement. "I need some time to think. " And before Dipper could process what was happening, Wirt was down the stairs and out the door.
Days passed without a whisper of Wirt. Dipper searched the surrounding forest, checked Wirt's apartment several times, asked Bill. The demon had a difficult time honing in on Wirt but said that he was somewhere in the general area of Gravity Falls. Dipper found it suspicious, like Bill was covering for Wirt somehow, but let it slide. Letting go of the search as hopeless was hard, but if Wirt wanted to stay gone, and Bill agreed that he should, there wasn't much Dipper could do except wait.
Then, rumors started to tickle in. How there had been a lost child found near the highway who claimed that trees had chased her there. A hunter, disappeared and found by the rest of his party, asleep, surrounded with branches. Nothing too weird, by Gravity Falls standards, just little things that caught his attention.
One morning, twelve day, six hours and twenty minutes after Wirt's disappearance, Dipper was drinking coffee on the porch. The weather was getting too cold for it but he didn't care. Silent, almost blending in with the tree line, stood Wirt. Dipper dropped his mug in shock, uncaring of the contents spilling on the porch and on his slippers.
Wirt looked like a wild thing, fall leaves in his hair, twigs stuck on his clothes and his bare feet dirty. Dipper wanted to run to him but, scared of chasing him off, stayed still and let Wirt come to him.
Wirt blinked when he reached the house, more natural this time, like he had been practicing, and the upward tilt of his mouth showed in his eyes if Dipper looked carefully enough.
"Hello," Wirt said, after a while.
"Hi," Dipper managed to choke out, voice rough from sleep. He had so many questions but more than anything, he wanted to jump of the porch and hold Wirt. He had missed him so much.
But he wasn't sure if he was allowed.
"Do you, uh, do you want to come in for coffee or tea or, you know, breakfast?" Dipper asked.
"I'd like that."
They went inside, to the kitchen, and Dipper poured Wirt coffee and shared some of his eggs.
Wirt took a slow sip from his drink before speaking. He sounded like he hadn't spoken to anyone in a while. "I'm sorry I just ran off on you like that."
Dipper nodded in acknowledgment, too caught up on Wirt being back to produce reasonable sentences yet. He stared. The eyes were still startling but now that he had had time to process, he found the change more fascinating than frightening. This was the first case he had seen where the foreign influence, a demon for example, just melded into the host. The way Wirt grasped the mug and looked at Dipper with concern were so familiar. Dipper was relieved Wirt had some facial expressions again, even though he still forgot to blink. The way the morning light danced in his eyes had Dipper mesmerized. His mouth went dry.
"I needed to sort myself out," Wirt continued. "I kind of went on a journey to self discovery." He gave an awkward laugh, self conscious. "Um, you're staring."
"Your eyes are pretty," Dipper blurted out before he had time to think it through. "I, uh," he looked down at his hands on the table. He needed to get his mug from the porch.
"Oh. I thought you didn't like them."
"No, no, I do. I was just," he chanced a look at Wirt, "surprised and worried. I didn't know how to react."
"Understandable. I had something of a breakdown myself, there. Spending time alone out there and talking to Bill helped."
"He told me he couldn't find you." Dipper fought hard to keep the accusation out of his voice. He lost, but only by a small margin.
"I asked him to. I didn't," here, Wirt looked down, voice small, "I didn't know if you still wanted me around."
"Why would you think that? I searched for you like crazy."
"I just, I guess since I'm not quite human anymore..."
"Bill is a triangle," Dipper stated. It surprised a laugh out of Wirt.
After, they settled into a routine of sorts. Dipper did his writing and investigating while Wirt alternated between staying in the Shack, doing his own writing and spending time with Dipper, and disappearing into the woods. He made an effort not to be gone for weeks without checking in, something Dipper appreciated. They got Wirt some colored contacts to avoid unwanted attention in town. Life went on.
Something that Dipper caught onto fast was that Wirt didn't talk about what he did in the woods. Sure, he shared stories about the interesting spots he had found and talked about his new, strange affinity to trees but there was things that just didn't add up. Gaps in Wirt's accounts.
A large part of Dipper's job was detecting lies and half truths so he knew he wasn't being lied to, except possibly by omission. He also knew, from his long involvement with Bill, that the fact Wirt treated him well and was close enough to the old Wirt to not raise any serious alarms, didn't necessarily translate to good will to all. And there were stories about people going missing and showing up blathering about trees. Or not showing up at all. It worried him.
What also should have worried Dipper was how none of the resent developments lessened the way he felt about Wirt.
So he got some potted plants for the Shack in an effort to make Wirt more comfortable there and mentally prepared himself for any answers he might discover.
The plants were a success.
Wirt went around the Shack, smiling and touching the flowers and the small trees and the vine things he had gotten on a whim. After inspecting all of them, Wirt turned to him.
"I thought you didn't bother with house plants because you always forgot to water them."
"Yeah, well," Dipper rubbed the back of his neck, awkward under Wirt's undivided, unblinking attention. "I know you feel more at home out there these days so I wanted to make sure you're also comfortable here. With me."
Wirt closed the distance between them in two long steps and kissed him. It was just a press of lips against lips but it had Dipper follow Wirt up when he pulled away.
"Thank you," Wirt whispered. "For making the effort."
"So you like it, then?"
"I do." He pulled Dipper closer and for a second it seemed like they would kiss again but instead Wirt's head landed on Dipper's shoulder with a heavy sigh. It was nice, to be held, but not what he was after. "I need to show you something," Wirt said, moving back a step without letting go.
Dipper arched a brow. "Alright." Despite the million questions bouncing around his head, he allowed Wirt to lead him outside and into the forest. They walked in silence, Dipper glancing between Wirt and the trees around them. Wirt looked like he knew where he was going. He looked like he belonged. There was a slight tension about him but it had more to do with what he was taking Dipper to see than their surroundings.
They approached what looked like a part of the shrubbery but on closer inspection was a human form covered by branches. Wirt stopped in front of it, eyes on Dipper.
Dipper stared at the man being encased in wood. His brain short circuited, and for a moment he could only switch his shocked gaze from the man to Wirt and back. When their eye met and held, Wirt looked unconcerned.
"He's becoming a part of the woods," Wirt said. Dipper didn't hear and infliction but at least he didn't sound happy.
"Is he dead?" Dipper asked once he got his words back.
"No. I'd argue that he's safer now than he was before."
Dipper took a couple of steps back, careful not to trip on the branched sprouting from the ground. "What does becoming a part of the woods mean, exactly?"
Wirt followed him, watchful and measured. "He won't be lost, alone and starving out here anymore."
"But you let some of them get away. I mean, the lost people that were found before, they-," he was grasping, trying to make sense of all this. He had known that finding something he didn't like was a possibility. The beast wasn't a stand up guy and a part of him was a part of Wirt now.
Wirt tilted his head. "Let them get away?" he repeated, like he was confused about the word choice. "Whether they leave the forest or not is up to them. Some find their way, other," he gestured at the man. "Well." He looked saddened for a moment. "I'm not chasing them down to encase them in wood, if that's what you're thinking." He paused, to give Dipper a chance to contradict him. When nothing came, he looked away. "Ah."
'You should've lied, told him what he wants to hear,' Bill whispered in his head. "Shut up."
Wirt looked back at him at the hiss.
"Not you. Bill," Dipper explained and got a bitter smile.
"The literal demon you trust, when I can't even get the benefit of the doubt."
It stung. "I know what to expect with Bill, but you," Dipper trailed off. "I don't know what's going on with you anymore."
The trees around them shook. "I'm trying to show you and you suspect me of murdering innocent people in the woods."
Wirt wasn't raising his voice but it was the angriest Dipper had ever heard him. He took a step back, tripping on a tree root he hadn't noticed was there. He fell with a yelp. Covering before him, Dipper was faced with just how tall Wirt was. Somehow, he hadn't acknowledged that before, maybe because Wirt slouched. Caught by Wirt's stern gaze, he didn't dare move, except for the tremors that traveled through him. Wirt seemed to notice because something about him softened. He crouched down so they were more level.
"Please don't be scared. I don't want to hurt you."
Dipper swallowed. "I just... get the feeling you're a bit more dangerous now-a-days."
Wirt leaned in, trailing his fingers down Dipper's cheek. "Generally? Perhaps. To you?" There was more affection in his strange new eyes than Dipper knew what to do with. "Never."
In awe and a tiny bit afraid, heart bounding like it was trying to break free, Dipper grasped the front of Wirt's shirt and pulled him in.