All right.
Before we begin: UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES ONE YEAR IS NOT ENOUGH TO ALLOW PEOPLE TO RECOVER FROM 600 YEARS OF TRAUMA. THAT SHORT OF AN AMOUNT OF TIME IS STUPIDLY SHORT AND THE REPERCUSSIONS OF PUSHING SOMEONE THAT FAR ARE FAR TOO GREAT. THAT SAID, I AM TAKING NARRATIVE CONTROL TO HAVE THAT TAKE PLACE. DO NOT THINK I KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT THERAPY BECAUSE OF WHAT HAPPENS IN THE FOLLOWING CHAPTERS. THAT'S STUPID. I AM AN ENGLISH MAJOR WHO KNOWS VERY LITTLE ABOUT HOW PSYCHIATRISTS OPERATE.
DO NOT MIMIC WHAT I AM DOING HERE.
And now, with that out of the way...
Chapter 1 – New Masters
"Ford?"
Ford opened his eyes.
He was met with the slightly-frowning, blue-eyed gaze of a brown-haired young woman, with gray hair at her temples, kneeling on the ground in front of him.
"You okay?"
The girl moved back a little as Ford quietly pushed himself up into a kneeling position. His hands rested on his knees. "I am fine, Guildmaster."
He kept his voice quiet as the Guildmaster's brow furrowed. Something about the look on her face seemed familiar, vaguely, but after having been under the Mas—
-No, under Cipher's –
-control over the last six centuries, he'd…forgotten, that people could look like that.
In fact, he'd forgotten that he could be…could be disconnected from Cipher at all.
The Guildmaster turned her head and looked around the clearing as the others started moving – Stan pushing himself up into a sitting position and rubbing his head with a scowl on his face as his counterpart did the same. Stan's counterpart looked at the suit Stan was wearing – covered in bright colors that seared the eye and made him look sleezy in some form – and winced back.
"Yeah, we're burnin' that," Stan's counterpart rose to his feet and offered Stan a hand. "Hope ya don't mind."
Stan blinked, looking surprised, then shrugged as his expression became more neutral and took the offered hand. His counterpart pulled him to his feet. "If that's what you plan ta do with it, it's yer choice."
Across the clearing – and the circle burned into the grass – a sphinx-like Ford with multicolored wings sat back on his hind legs as Mabel looked around, rubbing tears away from her eyes as butterfly-like, translucent pink fairy wings shimmered in the sunlight. Her hair also shimmered with caught starlight, but less so.
Right. Ford was going to have to get used to proper sunlight again, too.
Dipper clung to a teenage Mabel's pink sweater as she sat near the sphinx and Mabel. She had one arm wrapped around his shoulders as Dipper rubbed at his own face. The branch-like antlers on his head nearly brushed against Mabel's counterpart's face, but she was able to lean back and avoid getting hit by them.
The Guildmaster sighed, then rose to her feet and held out her hand to Ford, who blinked at it blankly before taking it in his and rising to his feet as the Guildmaster pulled him up.
"Okay." The Guildmaster turned and looked at the rest of the group, looking at each person in turn. "You guys got them, too?"
"Weird way to word it," Stan's counterpart muttered. He leaned to one side and frowned at Ford. "You get the same story from him?"
"About the fact that he's missing his will? Yeah." The Guildmaster's tone was grim. "And you guys?"
Ford's counterpart and Mabel's counterpart nodded as Dipper and Mabel looked up at her with cautious expressions.
The Guildmaster sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You're all making me wish I'd physically punched that demon instead of just blasting him with a White Flare." Her hand dropped from her face; she shook her head before looking back at Ford. "For what reason did you guys end up in this dimension?"
"He sent us," Ford replied, "with the intent of preparing this dimension for his coming."
He had a new master now, and that meant any rules held over him before no longer applied. If the Guildmaster wanted him to speak of things the Mas – Cipher would have wanted secret, he would do so.
The Guildmaster's gaze sharpened, and Ford found himself on the end of a glare that did not hide any of the Guildmaster's anger. "So he got a little greedy and decided to branch out after taking your dimension? Is that it?"
Ford nodded quickly. "Yes, Guildmaster."
The Guildmaster growled and turned to look away from Ford. "Well, this day just keeps getting better and better."
She looked down at the circle that had been burned into the ground, with the Mas – Cipher's symbol in the middle and the changed Zodiac symbols running around the edge: the pine tree, coated in vines; the shooting star, its trail looking more warped; the crescent fish, covered in eyes; and Ford's six-fingered hand, with a pinwheel of six fox tails behind it, matching the number that he himself had.
The Guildmaster lifted a foot, and Ford watched as she slammed it down on top of Cipher's eye and slid her foot over the symbol, destroying it.
"He already knows that we've rescued you from his control," the Guildmaster said, turning to look at the others. "Although, I don't think that's quite the right word yet, since you're not free."
Ford blinked. Rescue? Had that been the Guildmaster's intent?
But freedom - that was impossible. Without what had been taken from them….
Ford doubted that the Guildmaster would be treating him any differently than Cipher had when she found out how impossible it was to return what they'd lost.
He turned his gaze away from the Guildmaster as she looked over at him.
"Hey, Ford, you mind taking that coat off?"
Ford's fox ears twitched, and he looked over at the Guildmaster with a confused expression.
"Your coat," the Guildmaster repeated. "It's got Cipher on the back of it. Where we're going, you probably shouldn't be wearing that."
Ah.
Ford nodded a little and slipped out of the black trench coat. When the Guildmaster motioned for him to hand it over to her, he did so.
"Okay, this thing should be flammable now that you aren't wearing it." The Guildmaster dropped the bundle of fabric over where Cipher's symbol had been on the ground, then summoned a red-orange fireball onto the palm of her right hand.
Ford blinked. So that's how she had been able to absorb his fire before – she was equipped with fire magic as well.
"Hang on, kiddo," Stan's counterpart spoke up. "I wanna get this guy's suit burned too, and we don't exactly have anything else for him to change into at the moment in case you haven't noticed."
The Guildmaster paused, then nodded and crushed the fireball in her bare hand, not so much as flinching. "Yeah, that sounds like a better idea." She picked up the bundle of coat again and made sure that there was no yellow visible before tucking it under her arm.
Ford blinked. He'd expected her to hand it back to him to carry.
"Alcor went back," Mabel's counterpart spoke up. "I think he's going to warn everybody else about what just happened so that nobody points a gun in our face when we get back."
"That bad of a reputation, huh?" The Guildmaster sighed as Mabel's counterpart nodded. "Thanks for the heads-up, Mizar."
Mabel's counterpart – Mizar – gave the Guildmaster a thumbs-up, then looked down at Dipper. "Come on, Dipdop. Let's head back to the Shack – one of them, anyway. We can explain what's going on on the way."
Dipper nodded. "Okay." His voice was quiet.
Ford's sphinx counterpart got down on all fours and motioned for Mabel to climb onto his back. "Come along, my dear. I'd rather not exhaust you more than you probably have been already."
Mabel scrambled up onto his back, avoiding his wings with a gentle care. She sniffled a little as she lay on Sphinx's back, wings up, but she didn't sound like she was going to be bursting into tears anytime soon.
Sphinx adjusted his wings around her as the Guildmaster breathed in deeply. Then she started walking out of the clearing.
Ford immediately fell into step behind her as Sphinx moved to walk next to her.
"So, I don't know the full story myself, but four different versions of Gravity Falls got merged together in this one dimension," the Guildmaster said. "I got here about fifteen minutes ago, helping a Stan and a Ford back to their dimension." She looked back at the rest of the group. "They got sucked into the portal together."
Ford blinked. She was not from this Gravity Falls?
"If you guys have any questions, I'm not against answering them," the Guildmaster added. "I'm Maria. I'm not related to the Pines and I'm not a native to any Gravity Falls." She gave a small smile, then returned her attention to where she was going. "Anyway, it's apparently August in this dimension."
Right. Ford was going to have to get used to the passage of time again.
"Is, not apparently," Sphinx corrected. "And our dimensions have been merged together like this for the entirety of the summer."
Dimensions merged together? Mas – Cipher had said that he had prepared something….
"If that's the case, then I think Cipher's missing his chance to get in and wreak havoc," the Guildmaster commented.
Mabel made a small noise.
Sphinx turned his head to look at her; Ford expected him to tell her to shut up. "What is it, my dear?"
Ford blinked. That…was not the reaction he had been expecting.
"Mas – H-He said the wait was gonna be a y-year this time." Mabel's voice wavered as she spoke.
The Guildmaster stiffened. "I'm gonna kill him."
Sphinx looked at her sharply. "Maria—"
"He enslaved them for five hundred and forty years at least, if he didn't decide to wait a hundred years after taking them to let Ford's tails start to split!" The Guildmaster motioned sharply back to Ford. "Considering the state they're in, the more I learn the more I feel my anger going up! First Ford's not like himself, then this – this forced connection, then the fact that Mabel nearly called Cipher Master! GAH!" She tugged at her hair with one hand. "If I see anything that's yellow and has three sides ever again he's not just getting a 100 percent – he's getting 150! And every last ally I've made in the multiverse on top of that!"
The forest felt…unusually quiet after the Guildmaster's rant. Ford's ears were pressed down against his head from the volume of it. He watched her cautiously as she caught her breath.
"So, yeah," the Guildmaster said. "That's what's going through my head right now. I'm not mad at any of you, I'm mad at the triangle. Burning this –" She held up Ford's coat "—will help me get some anger burned off. Before that, though, we have to get you guys settled in." She moved the coat back under her arm and added, "And nicknames, too – to tell you apart from your counterparts."
Ford's head was whirling. The Guildmaster was throwing curveballs he wasn't expecting.
Not mad at them? But they were heralding Cipher's coming with their presence alone.
Threatening the demon? Even after knowing what had happened to him?
Stan shifted a little behind him and asked something under his breath. "Mind if I say what that demon called us?"
"If it'll help us narrow down things, sure," his counterpart replied.
Stan grunted, then raised his voice. "He called us Fez, Shooting Star, Pine Tree, and Fordsy."
The Guildmaster gagged immediately. "Scrap no. Scrap. No. I am not calling your brother that. I knew he went for the Zodiac symbols but that's where I'm drawing the line! Primus above and below, just…just no." She looked back at Ford, looking like she'd just swallowed something terrible. "Is it okay if you go by Sixer instead? For now?"
Ford bowed his head. "If that's what you wish, Guildmaster."
The Guildmaster winced at his answer, but, after a moment, she nodded. "Okay. Sixer it is. That doesn't mean your name is permanently Sixer; we just need code names to tell you and your four other counterparts apart when we're trying to get a specific person's attention. You might still get addressed as Ford sometimes though, okay?"
Sixer nodded quietly.
"You got any ideas?" Stan's counterpart asked him.
Stan shrugged. "What do you want me to say? We've been stuck for who knows how long; I can't just start…doin' what you can do right off the bat. I can pretend I got ideas, but I can't guarantee you're gonna like 'em."
"Stan being called Fez doesn't make any sense," Sphinx muttered, getting the Guildmaster's attention. "Stan, your symbol is on the fez, not the fez itself. And it seems you no longer own that. The crescent fish is what your symbol is usually called, but I've heard other suggestions."
"So…Moon? Crescent?" Stan's counterpart looked at him.
Stan shrugged. "Whatever you feel like."
Stan's counterpart frowned and poked him in the chest. "Choose. One. Aesthetic, gut choice, I don't care, but you choose your own nickname. Think it over."
Stan looked surprised at that.
Sixer's confusion was only increasing. Leaving the decision to…? It didn't seem right.
"Hey, Grunkle Sphinx, would it be okay if Mabel, Dipper, and I brainstormed for their nicknames?" Mizar spoke up.
"That sounds like an excellent idea," Sphinx replied. "I think it might be a good idea if I was somewhere nearby, however – just in case something might happen."
"Sure! Maybe you'd be able to help, too!"
Sphinx chuckled nervously. "Well, I'll…I'll see what I can do."
Sixer's gaze moved back to his coat, bundled under the Guildmaster's arm, as she tightened her grip on it. The stiffness in her shoulders and the way she was walking suggested that she was still angered.
Sixer knew there was a likelihood that the Guildmaster would be taking that anger out on him. M—Cipher had done it before. When he wasn't doing…other activities, or waiting for orders, that was usually what happened to him.
However…the Guildmaster wasn't identical to Cipher in temperament. That meant that she would do things differently.
He would have to be prepared for that.
The Guildmaster murmured something, causing Sixer's ears to flick forward.
"…set things right. We have to."
Sixer blinked at that. Set things right? What was the Guildmaster talking about?
Well, whatever it meant, he was sure that he would end up being given a part to play.
