Word count: 5,419 not counting the title, summary, etc. What have I done.
AN: I haven't written in years. Seriously. And when I did write, I maybe wrote one or two fics? So I am a beginner at all of this. No idea what I'm doing. So please keep that in mind while reading this; I would greatly appreciate constructive criticism. C:
Warnings: Possession, some suggestive content.
Being possessed is a truly awful experience. Sure, it's not exactly uncommon for me, but that doesn't make it any better. It makes my body feel heavy, like an anvil has landed on me and I can't get it off no matter how hard I try. I'm not sure how to stop it. Obviously, there isn't some book in the Gravity Falls library about how, as ghosts/demons/poltergeists/what-have-you tend to be under the radar for most people. So far, the only way Mabel and I can try to find out how to stop it is simply resisting while the thing is trying to hop in. Let me tell you something; it sucks. It hurts a fair amount, having another soul shove yours out of the way and all, and it requires insane amounts of concentration. However, as Mabel and I have gotten older, we've gotten better at it. We can't completely stop them yet, but we can delay them for about a minute and a half. Not very impressive sounding, I suppose, but it's better than nothing.
Possession doesn't just suck because of the pain, though. It's really frustrating when it happens in school, and I've lost count of the times that Mabel or I have had to run out of the classroom as fast as possible because some janitor or something wants to write a letter, an email, or they want to talk to someone, using our mouths. Luckily, the kids at school have gotten rather used to it and think that we just have really weak stomachs or something.
True enough, as we usually end up losing our lunch after the fact.
Of all the problems possession presents, the one thing we've never worried about is other people finding out; they always find ways to explain things away, even if they see something pretty dang obvious.
…Well, it didn't use to be a fear for us.
When we were fourteen, a boy named Norman moved into Gravity Falls. He was thin, pale and had hedgehog-like hair. Still does, in fact. He is a year younger than us, and one of the nicest guys I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.
The problem with Norman – or the amazing thing about him, depending on how you look at it – is that he can see ghosts.
When Mabel and I found this out, we were extremely excited. Finally, someone who could help us with investigations and would understand us and the things in this town! (Norman seemed surprised that we didn't try to throw him out of our house or something. He always seems scared of people; I guess he didn't have a great experience in his old town with all this.)
The said problem with Norman seeing ghosts is that if we ever started getting possessed around him, he would know. We didn't ever want him to know; he's a great guy, but he tends to freak out when ghosts choose to come into contact with other people. Therefore, Mabel and I promised one another to never tell Norman about our possession problem. He had enough on his plate, and we could deal with it.
And so, life continued on. I'm seventeen now, and Norman is sixteen. We get along, solve great mysteries together, and help a lot of the good creatures in this town.
Now is a good time to mention that about a year after meeting Norman, I developed a pretty nasty crush on him.
Yeah, I know, cliché and cheesy, but it happened. I'm not really sure how; we were out and about, kicking some serious butt in the forest, when he just turned to me and said, "I'm glad to have met you, Dipper; I could never have done any of this without you." And then he just smiled, and I wouldn't have been surprised if my heart had fallen out of my chest. Sure, I teased him, called him a sap, but my mind definitely wasn't focused on what we were doing anymore. It was then I realized that I cared for Norman a lot more than I should.
So I carried this crush for the next two years, and it grew every minute I was with the spikey-haired kid. After a while, I resigned myself to the fact that I was in love with him (which led to Mabel teasing me endlessly, unsurprisingly), and I decided that I wouldn't tell him yet; not until the right moment.
The way he found out certainly wasn't 'the right moment' in any sense.
I should start from the beginning of that day, shouldn't I? Here goes…
"MORNING, SLEEPYHEAD!" A voice shrieked into my ear. I practically did a pirouette off of my bed in surprise, and ended up slamming my face into my wall.
"Ouch!" I yelped, grabbing my forehead and curling up. "Mabel, couldn't you think of a better way to wake me up?" I glared in her general direction, my hands still over my face.
Mabel just giggled. "Come on, breakfast is almost ready! We're having pancakes!" Mabel hopped to her feet and spun out the door – literally.
I continued my aimless grumbling and swung my legs onto the floor, curling my toes into the fabric and walking like a zombie to my wardrobe. I really hate mornings, even if they are on Saturday. After throwing on the first clothes I saw – jeans and a T-shirt, imagine that – I walked downstairs and plopped down onto the table. A plate of fresh pancakes was slid in front of me by my sister, and I didn't hesitate to start shoveling it into my mouth.
"So, whatcha wanna do today?" Mabel asked, sliding into the chair across from mine with her own plate of breakfast.
"I was going to check out that old house a few blocks away. See if there's anything we need to clear out of it. I've been meaning to look at it for a while," I answered after swallowing my horrifically large bite of pancake, butter smeared across my cheek.
"Coolio! Norman and I need to buy a couple things of paper for our notebooks; we can meet you there a bit later, 'kay?"
"A'ight," I mumbled past my fork. After finishing, I put my plate in the sink and went upstairs to grab my pack.
It was only a few minutes' walk to said abandoned house. The house had to be at least a few decades old, and it was rotting pretty badly. It wasn't unlocked, but it was easy to kick the door in. I stepped inside, padding through the musty front room. I flicked my flashlight around, hoping to find some sort of tracks in the dust. There wasn't much other than some old moth-eaten furniture and a broken table, all of it coated in a rather shocking amount of dust. I was simultaneously relieved and disappointed with how undisturbed everything looked.
I sighed, running my hand through my hair. I froze when a soft sob echoed through the house. I moved my flashlight beam around the room, hoping I could get an idea of where it was coming from. A set of stairs could be seen through a door that had fallen off its hinges, and I went to investigate.
I was rather afraid that the stairs would collapse underneath me – there was an unhealthy amount of creaking, and at one point there was a bit of a crumbling sound. Once at the top, I breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn't fallen to my death and snuck through the hall to where I thought I heard the sob coming from. I opened a door at the end of the hall, peeking inside.
I didn't immediately see anything in the room other than the usual furniture. I went in anyway, trying to find signs of anything up here, convinced I hadn't imagined the sound. I glanced under the table in the room, moved the couch around, and searched similarly around the room.
It was then that I felt a familiar trickle that started at the top of my head and went down to my spine.
"Oh, no…" I whispered. Why now? Norman was going to be here later, and I had no idea how long this thing wanted to use my body!
I grabbed my phone out of my pocket, starting a text message to Mabel. I began typing a message, but I was already losing control of my hands, my fingers stubbornly sliding across the keyboard. Possessions had never happened this fast before. What on earth was going on?
I had absolutely no idea how my intended message of "Being possessed, don't bring Norman up here," had finalized itself, but I had barely hit 'send' before I collapsed, my phone skidding across the room and my knees slamming into the floor painfully. I felt my body spasm, my arm hitting the table leg, and my breathing stuttered, my heart beating irregularly.
It was only a few moments before my body stilled, and I felt myself sit up. Whatever was in my body raised my hands up, looking at them curiously, and drew in a deep, exaggerated breath.
"Wow, it's been so long since I've breathed," I heard myself say, a feminine voice echoing after my own. At least that cleared up one of my questions on what was inside of me.
What are you doing and what do you want? I immediately asked, my voice echoing inside my head. I didn't receive an answer at first, and just before I repeated my questions, she answered me.
"I'm not doing much right now but sitting, can't you tell? Aren't you a dramatic one?" I felt myself stand, and seeing this through my uncontrolled eyes making me feel rather nauseous. "As for what I want… I guess a good answer would be 'the truth'."
I internally frowned at the answer. And she called me dramatic? She sounded like a character from a drama show.
"No need to be so rude. I gave you an answer." My body started to walk through the room, in what seemed to be an aimless fashion. "Truthful answers are nice, aren't they? Lies… Lies just hurt. They tear you down, making you believe things that will never be true. Lies are awful." The previously calm manner of the spirit made a surprisingly quick retreat, the words being more snarled than spoken as the sentence went on.
What do you want me to do about it? You can't magically erase all lies by possessing me. I sniffed sarcastically, not really in the mood for this right now. I ask again – what do you want?
My body stopped, and I felt my eyebrows furrow. "What do you want me to say? I want to send a message, I want someone to talk to?"
Well, yeah. That's what you guys usually want… I answered, starting to become confused.
"You want to know what I want? Fine. I want those people who lied to me. I want them here. I want to be able to look them in the eyes and see their fear when they see what I've become. I want them to burn." The sentences hissed out of my body, my hands clenching and my nails cutting my palm open. I couldn't flinch at the pain I felt, so I settled on mentally hissing in pain. I was starting to get really freaked out by this chick; she certainly wasn't like any of the ghosts I had encountered before.
I don't get it. How will possessing me solve anything?
I would have jumped if I could when a lamp flew across the room and shattered. "You don't get it? No one gets it! No one gets how much it HURTS!" My arms snapped out straight, an end table now skidding into the wall. Everything in the room started shaking, and I could feel energy start to grow inside my body. Everything started moving faster, starting to slide, and my body glowed, my feet losing contact with the ground as my body floated.
This was terrifying. This had never happened to me – it had happened with Mabel when she was possessed by that old couple in the abandoned store, but I had never experienced it. It was like weight wasn't just pressing on me anymore – I could feel it trying to burst out of my skin. It hurt, oh, it hurt…
Stop! Please, stop! I cried, the pain intensifying. It felt like my skin was going to explode, split at the seams, and it hurt it hurt it hurt
"Dipper? Are you there?" Norman's voice echoed up from the staircase.
Are.
You.
Serious.
As if my day couldn't get any better.
Furniture was flying freely through the room now, slamming into walls and circling my body rapidly. Everything was now producing that bright green glow. A ghostly screamed ripped out of my throat, and I wasn't sure if it was my own or the spirit's – the poltergeist, as I was finding out. I heard a set of feet pounding up the stairs, and saw a familiar spikey head burst through the door, followed closely by an equally familiar bright headband.
I saw the room turn as my slowly spun to face the two newcomers. My vision narrowed as my eyelids closed half-way, the poltergeist glaring at them before a wide smile broke across my face.
"Well, well. Come to marvel at the freak show?" My arms spread again, a mocking grin spreading across my face. A broken table leg flew past Norman's face, and he had to jump back to avoid his nose getting broken.
"Dipper? What…?" Norman's eyes were wide, shocked, and I could tell he was having a hard time processing this. I mentally shook the pain off, because I had to protect Norman, I couldn't let anyone hurt him, he had to be safe, he had to…
I felt my eyebrows raise and my thoughts stuttered to a halt. That, of course, didn't do any good – she had already heard. Damn.
"Ooh, so your name's Norman, huh? Isn't this… Interesting." A cruel smile made its way onto my face, and suddenly it felt like something was going through my head, sifting through what it saw. It was a completely bizarre sensation.
"W-what do you want? What are you doing to Dipper?" Norman yelled, Mabel grabbing his arm to stop him from coming closer.
"Norman, don't go closer, she might hurt you!"
The spirit cackled. "Oh, isn't this just delicious! Look at you, trying to help this boy, not caring if he hurts you." She smirked widely at Norman. "Oh, if only you knew how much he wanted to hurt you."
"What? Dipper wouldn't hurt Norman! You're so stupid," Mabel huffed, trying to pull Norman behind her a bit more. Norman wasn't having any of it, pushing Mabel out of the way.
The poltergeist changed its position so that it was almost lounging in the air, fully enjoying this situation. "Oh, certainly not in the way you're thinking of, darling." She floated forward and placed my face directly in front of Norman's. "Oh, if only you could see what he wanted to do to you. How much he wanted to make you scream." This was stated in a purr, and she dragged one of my fingers down Norman's cheek.
Norman batted my hand away, glaring up at her. "What are you talking about? He'd never – oh. Oh." I heard an intake of breath from him and his eyes widened dramatically. It took a moment for his face to turn a brighter red than his jacket, and his hand came up to cover his mouth in surprise.
I wasn't overly focused on that on the time, though. I was too busy focusing all of my energy on dragging my hand back, snarling to the ghost, Don't you DARE touch him!
My hand snapped back, the poltergeist gasping in shock as my body stumbled back. She gritted my teeth, grabbing my head in pain as I fought. "Will you stop?" She screamed. I redoubled my efforts, fighting as hard as I possibly could, pushing and shoving as hard as I dared.
If I thought fighting a ghost from coming into my body was painful, trying to shove it out was infinitely worse. I felt like my skin was going to split, or that I would simply shatter into a million pieces. It was also incredibly tiring; I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep it up long, at least without serious consequences.
I heard my name being yelled, and could see some sort of scuffle between Mabel and Norman out of the corner of my eye. I couldn't really focus on them, what with the fight going on between me and the poltergeist and all. I was vaguely aware of my body as it twisted and shook in the air, two souls wrestling for control inside it. Furniture in the room was flying around wildly, and I heard a couple things shatter, a few stray pieces of glass flying through the air.
I was getting tired. The poltergeist was winning, my body falling under her control more and more every second. I wasn't sure that I would be able to win, honestly.
But then Norman's face appeared in front of me. He looked horrified, his eyes wide and watery, and I felt him grab my shoulders and try to pin me to the floor, probably to stop the convulsions. I heard Mabel yell at Norman to get away from me, and I really wish that I could have said something to the same effect. I was so tired, wanting to just stop fighting and give in to the spirit's demands, but Norman wasn't having that; I could hear him screaming at me to fight, and so I did just that.
I saw something skid off to my left, heading towards us. I wanted to warn Norman, say something, pressing for control even harder, but I wasn't fast enough. Norman flew out of my field of vision as an end table flew across the room and slammed into his side. I heard him yell in pain, and saw Mabel run across the room in his direction.
I froze in horror, and the poltergeist cackled in triumph, beginning to re-assert herself into my body. In only a few moments, my horror turned to anger. It wasn't a process; more like 'zero to sixty', or whatever the saying is. It felt like my anger was boiling inside me, burning everything in its path. Norman was hurt. My sister might get hurt too, if this doesn't stop. So I knew in that moment that I was going to make it stop.
I didn't care what happened to me anymore, or what would happen if I fought too hard. I poured every single bit of my effort into shoving the spirit, pushing harder than I ever had, using the pain to bolster my efforts. My body slammed into the ground and twisted horrifically, and I felt my mouth open and let out a scream. I didn't care. I kept fighting.
I'm not sure how long it lasted; it felt like I had been dropped into a pit of acid. I felt like I was on fire, like I was exploding, like I was dying. But I fought anyway. I could feel the spirit trickling slowly out of my body, a numb feeling left behind. She was screaming at me, fighting, clawing. But I did it anyway. I won.
When it was over, the spirit flew out of the room, screaming and sobbing, but I wasn't really focused on her. I knew I should feel in control over my body again, but I didn't. I felt foggy, like I was floating, and I was really tired…
I heard someone running to my side, and suddenly Norman was there again, cradling my head, tears streaming down his face. I wanted to smile at him, tell him I'd be fine, that I did it, I won, but I was didn't have the energy. I felt myself slipping away, my heart slowing, and everything was going dark and foggy, the pain lessening; I was pretty sure I was dying, and that should have terrified me, but I was too tired…
Apparently, that wasn't going to happen, because I saw Norman move, one of his arms rising, and a flash of gold appear in his hand. The pain exploded again, and I felt my soul slam back into my body as his arm came down on my chest, over my heart, and I heard him scream, "Don't you FUCKING DARE!" before I blacked out.
…
Waking up was a slow, sluggish process. The first thing I was aware of was a very annoying bunch of beeping sounds that were disturbing my sleep. It took me a few moments to force myself to open my eyes through my half-awake haze, and I blinked away the last of my sleep when my eyes opened to a wide, white room. Looking around, I was met with the sight of a sleeping Mabel in the chair next to my bed. She looked incredibly uncomfortable, curled in that hard chair, and I had to smile. Looking around again, I saw a couple monitoring machines around me and not a whole lot else that I could recognize, but the machines at least let me know that I was in a hospital. I shifted in my bed, not overly fond of the sensors attached to me, and that seemed to wake Mabel up from what was apparently a very light sleep. She glanced at me and her eyes widened, before she grinned wildly and jumped up to grab my hand.
"Dipper! Welcome back to the being-awake club!" She giggled, squeezing my hand affectionately. I could tell she had been worried about me, even with her unaffected attitude. I smiled.
"Yeah, it's nice to be back. How long was I out?"
"A little more than a day. The doctors were super confused 'cause they couldn't figure out what was wrong with you, but they said you looked fine. How are you feeling?
"Like I could sleep for a week and still not be ready to face the day." I chuckled, squeezing her hand back. I frowned as last night's events came to my mind, and my eyes widened as I remembered Norman flying across the room. "What happened to Norman? Is he okay? Is he hurt? Is he in this hospital?"
Mabel laughed. "Slow down, lover-boy. He's… Well, he is hurt. The nightstand that hit him broke his arm. But other than that, he's fine!" she assured me, but my gut still twisted.
"Is he gonna be okay?"
Mabel nodded. "Well, yeah, it's just a broken bone, he isn't gonna die from it. But he is gonna be in a cast for a while."
I leaned back against the pillows and sighed, removing my hand from Mabel's grasp to rub at my face. I had gotten myself into trouble again, and because I couldn't get rid of that thing fast enough, Norman had his arm broken. I felt completely awful. Wasn't I supposed to be better than this, to be stronger than this?
Apparently not. My hand dropped and I smiled sadly at Mabel. "Guess I screwed up big time, huh?"
Of all the things I was expecting, being smacked upside the head was not one of them. I yelped and glared at my sister, but she glared right back. "Dipper Pines, don't you dare blame yourself for this. There is nothing anyone could have done, and you almost died shoving that thing out of you."
I frowned a bit, but didn't argue. I knew from experience that neither of us could win an argument with one another.
"Now that you're up, I'm going to get something to eat. I'll call Grunkle Stan and Mom and Dad when I'm down there, too." Mabel grinned and turned, before glancing back. "Need anything before I go?"
I waved her away and she skipped out of the room. Alone with my thoughts now, I remembered what the poltergeist had said to Norman. If only you knew how much he wanted to hurt you. That's one hell of a way to have my feelings revealed – I had thought it would be more soft and sweet, something out of a romcom, not wow-can-I-please-bend-you-over-the-nearest-flat-surface. With how things had played out, there was little doubt of rejection, and a possibility of me losing my closest friend. I groaned and buried my face in my hands.
I moved my hands and glanced toward the door when I heard it open, expecting Mabel to be back early or something, but I was met with the sight of a spikey head of hair and a bright blue cast. I turned my head more and stared slightly in shock as Norman softly shut the door behind him and turned to me.
"H-hey, Dipper." He smiled a bit nervously. "You okay?"
"Norman?" I intelligently asked.
He laughed. "Well, at least you remember me." Norman walked over and sat down in the seat Mabel had been occupying. "But you never answered my question."
"Oh, sorry. Um, yeah, I'm great." And oh-so-eloquent. "How're you feeling?"
Norman tapped the cast on his arm. "This is pretty frustrating, but I'm pretty good."
We stared at each other for a few moments, neither of us sure what to say, and I blurted out, "So I apparently almost died. What exactly happened?"
Norman hunched a bit and dropped his gaze to the floor, his eyebrows furrowing. "Y-yeah, I'm not entirely sure what happened. I think that your spirit didn't know how to re-acquaint itself with your body or something."
I watched him before responding, "So nothing too big of a deal, then." I smiled a bit, trying to lighten the mood.
It didn't work. His gaze snapped up as he glared at me. "Dipper, you almost died. I watched your soul start to float out of your body! I-I thought I was going to have to t-tell Mabel that I was now the only one w-who could talk to you, or see you, I thought that y-you were going to die!" Norman was shaking, his hands curled into fists as his eyes seemed to fight back tears at the memory. "H-how is that not a big deal?!"
My hand reached out to him, trying to comfort him. "Hey, man, I'm sorry, I just…" am a massive moron. My hand dropped back to my side. "It is a big deal. It's a huge deal. And I know I could have died." I hesitated before continuing in a quiet voice, "But you stopped that."
Norman's eyes widened fearfully, and his arm came up to wrap almost protectively around himself. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that- I didn't mean to- I just-"
"Hey, hey, I was thanking you. What's the matter?" My arm reached out again, and I had to push myself up with my other arm a bit to be able to grab his shoulder.
He tensed when I touched him, looking away. "I… I really didn't know I could do that. I thought magic like that was just something she did."
I simply looked at him for a moment before it dawned on me. "Do you mean Agatha?"
Norman nodded after a moment. "Y-yeah."
Wow, his nervous stutter was the most adorable thing in the world.
And now is really not the time to be dwelling on that. "Doing something like that isn't bad, Norman; unexpected, yes, but not bad. It's actually pretty awesome!" I rubbed his shoulder a bit in a comforting way.
Norman looked up at me. "…But… If I can do this… What if I become like Aggie?"
My hand stilled and my eyebrows rose in surprise. It was a reasonable conclusion in a way, but it was such a ridiculous concept for me to consider that I hadn't even thought about it.
"Norman, if you told me your story correctly, then she became like that because she was angry, not because she was born like that or it somehow grew on her. And if you think about it, your uncle's ghost didn't turn out like that, so I don't think you have much to worry about." I grinned at him.
Norman looked unconvinced, but he did relax a bit. "I guess that makes sense. …But I'm still a bit worried about it."
I couldn't help but smile a bit wider at that. "I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Norm." I punched his shoulder affectionately when he huffed at the nickname. "Maybe with practice, you could help me with the whole possession thing."
Norman looked a little more pleased with that idea. "Yeah, that would be perfect. I hope I can help you."
We descended into silence, neither of us sure how to broach the subject of what the poltergeist had said. After several minutes of awkward silence, I glanced at him and said simply, "I'm sorry about… What she said." I thought for a second before frowning. "Well, no I'm not; I'm sorry for how she said it."
Norman and I glanced away from each other, both of us turning red. I sat up, placing my hands in my lap and doing my best to keep the slight fear off my face. "It's fine if you… You know, don't like me back. I'll understand."
Norman looked back at me and smiled a bit. "Well… what if I do?"
My mouth opened and closed for a moment and I managed to squeak out, "Huh?" That's me, showin' my good old intelligence at its best. Just look at that mastery of the English language.
Norman nodded, his smile spreading as he laughed quietly. "Yeah. I like you. A lot. And I'm sorry that I didn't get to tell you at that house, but I think we were both kind of preoccupied."
I continued to stare a moment before chuckling. "Yeah, I suppose we were." We sat there smiling like the idiots we are at each other for a few moments, before I beckoned him closer.
"I'd move, but I'm kind of connected to this stuff." Norman laughed and stood, moving next to my bed, smiling at me. His smile slid down and his eyebrows rose in surprise when I moved my hand to the back of his neck, before sliding it into his hair. I tugged lightly, making him lean down until he was only an inch away from me. Neither of us moved for a moment, our hearts beating fast, our breath speeding, and I still don't know who moved first to close that distance between us.
His lips were soft and warm as they pressed into mine, both of us shy to move the kiss any farther. We simply pressed against each other for a moment, before I started to move a bit. His breath hitched, and I felt him gasp against me. I didn't shove my tongue down his throat – this obviously wasn't the time or place for that. I simply moved against him, keeping my hand in his hair and encouraging him to move with me. It took him a moment, but when he started to respond, sparks flew down my spine and my hold on his hair tightened. I'm not sure how long we were kissing; we pulled apart and pressed our foreheads together, grinning like loons.
"We should have done that years ago," Norman murmured.
I had to laugh. "Yeah. We really, really should have."
"Hey, boys!" Mabel's voice caused us both to jump, and Norman straightened up faster than I had ever seen anyone move before. It was actually pretty funny.
I turned to Mabel and grinned. "Hey! How is everyone?"
Mabel walked over and plopped herself down into the chair. "Everyone's great, and super excited that you're up! Mom and Dad are gonna come over tomorrow, but by then you should be out of here, so Grunkle Stan is coming over pretty soon to pick you up." She turned to Norman and grinned at him, while he leaned backwards against the bed and tried his best to look unaffected. He was failing miserably; his hair was disheveled, we were both still slightly red and he was looking everywhere but at me and Mabel. Mabel just giggled. "Sooo, I guess everything worked out for you guys, huh?" she sang, winking at us.
Norman and I glanced at each other before turning to her and smiling. "Yeah. I guess so."
"Do you know when I figured out he liked you back, Dipper?" Mabel asked, grinning wildly. I raised an eyebrow in question. "He swore for ya." She was extremely proud of Norman because of this, apparently.
I had to laugh. "Like the F-word?" I teased, nudging Norman with my elbow.
"Exactly like the F-word." Mabel nodded sagely. We all laughed.
Things weren't perfect. Mabel and I still were vulnerable to possession, and there was a chance that something like that would happen again sometime. But all things considered, things were a lot better.