Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls.

WARNING! THIS IS RATED M FOR A REASON! THERE WILL BE DETAILED GORE, TORTURE, DEATH, PSYCHOLOGICAL MANIPULATION AND EMOTIONAL MANIPULATION

THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING

VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!

My Sincerest Apologies

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Chapter 1:

Is This The Real Life?

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"Please don't do this."

"Angel, you know I have to."

"Yesss, he must, he must!"

"No, you do not. Please, I beg of you. You know you will regret this. You know you will. Please, don't do this."

"Shut it! Shut it! Shut it! Don't listen to her! Listen to me! Me! You want to do it, you know you do! So do it!"

"I-I... I don't know...I mean..."

"Please don't..."

"Do it now. You know you want to. We both do. She knows it too. She's trying to hold you back again."

"Please! Listen to me! Don't! I beg of you, don't!"

"...I have no choice, do I?"

"There's always a choice."

"Free will is an illusion."

"I know."

He stabbed the knife downward.

~~0~~0~~0~~

"Another one?!"

"I'm afraid so."

"That makes up a total of fourteen different murders all across the country, second one in Nebraska. We still don't have a lead on this guy and he's probably already in a different state."

"Sorry, Detective."

Wendy Corduroy, long time detective, scowled at the man before her, mind working a mile a minute. It's been a year, an entire year since she agreed to this case and started tracking this guy down. But over those three hundred and sixty five days, nothing had changed. As it always happened, it seemed. After crossing six state lines, following a trail of blood and gore and "I'M SORRY" written out, she was tired. Tired with this case, tired of people dying.

"This guy...is like nothing I've ever seen. I mean, you have your murders and your rapists and even your normal serial killers. But this? This is twisted."

"I know." The redhead moaned. The woman bent over the documents before her, flipping through the pages once again for what seems like the hundredth time, trying to find connections, trying to find clues, but there was nothing. Nothing at all.

Page after page she flipped through victims and their crime scenes. Even after all this time, looking at the photos caused a knot to tighten in her stomach.

There had to be some correlation, some sort of pattern to this senseless. There always was, after all. At least, normally.

But this guy...he wasn't normal. Not by a long shot.

But she had to find something.

"-duroy?"

"Hmm?" She answered, not looking up at the cop.

"I'm going home for the night. You should too. I assume you'll be leaving early in the morning; you'll need your sleep."

"Yeah...I'll make sure of that." The redhead replied, bitter nostalgia taking her up.

The man bowed out.

Wendy sighed, letting the documents drop back onto the table, rubbing a hand across her face.

Leaning back in her chair, the woman slowly slid her other hand under her jacket, retrieving something that always calmed her and reminded her of what she was doing in the first place.

A battered journal with a three written inside a golden hand print.

~~0~~0~~0~~

He could never keep track of how many times he stabbed downward. Or swung downward. Or cut.

It was hard to keep track of a lot of things nowadays.

With every swing of the knife, every soundless sob that echoed around his friend, every wet noise that came from metal forcing flesh apart and letting red run free, he felt...

Not better.

But not worse either.

He didn't feel all that much anymore though, so that fact was hardly surprising.

But during these times, at least there was something.

"Yes. Yes! You're so good at this, has anyone ever told you that? So good. And doesn't it make you feel better?"

"Yes." He lied.

"That's another thing I like about you, you always keep it short and simple, well nowadays at least. Before you always-"

His voice was cut off by a large spray of blood from the friend below him. The knife had split the friend open chest to sternum, stopping before the stomach. Shiny bone peeked out between the bloody folds of flesh.

"Beautiful. Simply beautiful. You always create the best art."

He grunted in response.

The Angel cried.

~~0~~0~~0~~

They were sitting.

Laughing.

On the right was a warm girl, clad in a playful sweater, grinning with a metal filled mouth. Her soft brown eyes sparkled as she let another pine cone fly, hitting the edge of the target on a large, plastic totem pole.

To her left was the girl's twin.

The two were as similar as they were different.

Like his sister, he had a large smile dancing across his face, skin pulled tight. Despite the heavy bags that hung under his eyes perpetually, he still had a certain cheer about him. Gripping a pink can, the boy joyfully sipped on his Pitt Cola while watching the pine cones fly with tired but warm eyes.

Hey turned to her and cracked a small joke, eyes crinkling.

Despite the corniness of it all, she laughed; a loud and clear noise that rang, bouncing off the intimidating pines that surrounded them. It was a pure noise, born of hot summers, cold ice cream, and good friends. Filled with love and no expectations of what the future may hold.

The two twins laughed along, their own distinctive vocals echoing with her, blending and clashing into a glorious sound that couldn't be recreated.

She stared up at the sky, red strands frolicking in her vision, staring up at the deepening ocean blue of the the streaks of orange, and the splashes of a rich blood red.

The laughter was cut off.

Wendy woke with a screaming sob.

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First of all, thank you for clicking on and reading the first chapter of this fic! I'm really excited to write and post it and I really do hope all of you guys like it.

This is my first M rated story, so I'm a bit nervous on how well I'm doing. Constructive criticism would be great and very helpful if anyone has any yet!

I am aware how short this chapter is. The first two chapters will be the shortest, but the others will be much longer, so don't worry.

Though there is no gore or violence right now, there will be. If you are squeamish, I suggest you NOT read this. I placed a general warning up top and that will be the only warning. It goes for the entire story, so...yeah. Don't complain.

Okay, I only have two major things to say, really before ending this A/N. For one, I won't be answering any questions pertaining to the plot. This is a mystery and all questions will be answered in the story. I promise.

Secondly, please solve the beginning and ending ciphers!

They are important to the story and are easy to solve. If you're too lazy to type them out, this fic is also on AO3, which does have copy/paste and will eventually be on my Tumblr (URL is Lanx Borealis)

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter! I'll be updating once a week, so I'll see you guys next time!

Thanks for reading!