Color the Dark
Chapter 1: All Seems Well
Dipper sighed softly as he looked out the window of the bus and gazed over the familiar blur of scenery. Mabel sat beside him, texting some friends, most likely Candy and Grenda that they were on their way to the sleepy town of Gravity Falls.
It wasn't long before they were dropped of at the Mystery Shack where their Grunkle Stan met them with a grin. "Welcome back kiddos!" he said, pulling them into a hug. Mabel giggled happily and hugged Stan back, "It's always good to be here!" she smiled. Dipper smiled a bit, agreeing with Mabel. But in his mind, this was home to him. He felt better being back in Gravity Falls…but he felt…strange. It felt as though he was being watched. He'd had this feeling, ever since he was a kid, and ever since they'd faced the dream demon himself, Bill Cipher. He remembered the words he'd said, that he'd be keeping an eye on the human. He shuddered thinking about it, but decided to calm down since he now had stares coming from his twin and grunkle. "Something wrong, kid?" Stan asked, raising a brow. "Oh yeah! Everything's…fine." Dipper laughed nervously, and Mabel gave him a look of 'we'll talk later'.
Mabel made good on her promise as they unpacked. "So, what's up Dip Dop? Something was bugging you earlier, I know it." She said as she put some sweaters into a drawer. Dipper sighed a bit as he put away some shirts. He looked at Mabel seriously. "I think it's Bill." He said after taking a breath. Mabel's eyes widened a bit before narrowing in confusion, "But what would he still be doing, lurking around?" she asked. "Well, we know he's got plans for this place. He probably hasn't made much progress, and he did say that he'd be watching. As to why he's watching…well I don't know." Dipper said, rubbing his temples a bit, trying to think.
Why would Bill still be watching them? And why did Dipper feel it more than Mabel? Dipper pulled out Journal 3 and looked at it as though he expected it to give him answers. After a bit of staring, he put the journal away again and resumed unpacking. Since he finished earlier than he expected, he decided to walk around town for a bit. Gravity Falls was pretty small, so he just wandered around, greeting people that he knew if he saw them. He thought it was a bit strange since he hadn't seen Wendy or even Soos yet, but he brushed it off. He'd see them soon.
After a bit of walking, he noticed something. A crowd of people seemed to be gathered around someone. It wasn't Pacifica, this person was a man and rather tall at that. Dipper blinked a bit as he walked closer to get a better look. The man appeared to be young, only 21. He had tan skin and hair that was mostly blond but had black on the bottom in the back. His hair was short, but his bangs didn't obscure his golden eyes. He wore an absurdly bright blue sweater with a white undershirt, dark skinny jeans, and black boots. He also wore a bow tie, and had tattoos, along with one that was oddly placed on his forehead. Dipper turned to the person nearest to him, "Who is that guy?" he asked, though the guy seemed very familiar. He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew who it was.
"I'm not sure, he says he just moved here." The person responded, keeping their eyes on the man. Dipper hummed a bit, squinting at the man everyone surrounded before leaving the area. He talked to himself as he walked since no one was really around, too preoccupied with the sleepy town's 'new resident'. "He can hardly keep himself in reality, he's always used the mindscape….unless he possessed someone, but that seems unlikely…" Dipper mumbled as he kicked a rock out of the way. "Then how did he manage to do it? And why? What could he accomplish by being a human?" Dipper groaned a bit as he tried to work out the answer. He headed back to the shack to see what he and Mabel could come up with.
"He's got a human body?!" Mabel exclaimed when she heard the news. "Yeah, and he's apparently moved here. We need to figure out how and why because this can't be any kind of good." Dipper said. "Well duh! Let's see…well, we don't know how powerful he is. Maybe the human body would limit his powers?" Mabel thought aloud. "That would take a test, and I really don't feel like going up to him." Dipper said blankly. "Well, at least it's an idea, Dip." Mabel sighed. They really didn't have much to go by. Bill was a powerful demon, so why would he put himself into something that would restrict him?
Mabel seemed to be thinking about something. She looked at Dipper and spoke a bit hesitantly, "Maybe we should talk to him?" she suggested. Dipper stared at Mabel for a bit, waiting for some kind of punch line. "I'm serious Dipper! Maybe if we talk to him we could find out more. He usually tells us something, and even if he tries to code it, we can figure it out." Mabel said. Dipper stared at her still, but she had a point. The dorito had a nasty habit of giving things away. Very small clues that he usually thought were too cryptic to figure out, but clues nonetheless. Maybe it was worth a shot. Maybe. "Well….you have a point. He'll probably seek us out sooner or later, so we should get the advantage." Dipper said after a few minutes. Soon enough, Dipper and Mabel were both in town searching for the dream demon. And they found him. Or rather, he found them. "Hey there squirts." Bill said as he walked up behind them and snatched Dipper's hat. "Hey! Give that back!" Dipper hissed, turning around to face Bill, who was absolutely grinning at the rise he got from Dipper.