Bill Cipher felt empty. Not that he knew that he did, as he would probably never admit it to himself. He had just destroyed the Flannel Dimension and was feeling pretty great, but deep inside of him where his heart should have been, he felt weird. Not chaos-fun-death-killing-meatbags-Weirdmaggedeon weird either. Just bad weird. He floated around, laughing emptily at the remains of a lumberjack's cabin and family. Their cabin was on fire and had turned from wood to cotton candy. Bill watched as the wife and son screamed at the hand of the lumberjack walking towards them, trying to strangle the son. It reminded him of the time he had sent a dream hipster to go give Sixer a particularly awful dream. He suddenly wondered what Pine Tree was doing. Was he perhaps back in Piedmont, going on with his inevitably boring life? Bill felt the hole in him grow a bit wider. At least Pine Tree would feel dead too. What about Shooting Star? He found her less saddening than Pine Tree though.
"How odd," he whispered to himself.
Realizing the family was getting away he raised a skinny black hand and turned them into plaidypusses. How fitting.
Dipper Pines was bored. Very, very bored. He still couldn't seem to focus on his school work, but summer was long gone. It was like the more time in between him and his trip to Gravity Falls, the less he felt... alive. Like his very soul could die. Which it probably could, if... if Bill was here. And them he thought of Grunkle Ford, out on his unending quest to find weird and explain it. And Stan, who was with him, rebuilding the bridges he burned so long ago. And Soos and Wendy, who were manning the Mystery Shack. And Bill, who had really just tried to kill him - wait, Bill?! Why did he miss Bill? All he had done was try to destroy the journals, try to kill him, and call him a disconcerting nickname. 'Hey Pine Tree!' Their dendrology unit in biology class still gave him goosebumps.
"Dipper! Me and your father need to talk to you!" His mothers melodic voice flowed out from the dining room into his.
"Okay!" He shouted back, walking down a flight of stairs and turning left into the former room.
"Your father and I are just a tiny bit... worried," She said, gesturing for him to have a seat at the table in front of her and her husband, "We think you may be having some trouble with your classes. You seem distant and unfocused when we try to talk to you and you are not responding well to homework. We emailed some of your teachers and they thought similar things," She continued,waiting for a sign of acknowledgment. When Dipper nodded, she started again. " Your social life can't be doing well either, you haven't been to any parties and I never hear you talk about friends," The words echoed hollowly in Dipper's head, not sticking. It took him a second to process what he just heard.
"Wait, mom I'm doing fine! I don't have any friends, but that's not that bad, right? And my grades are fine! I don't have straight A's, but that's normal!" Dipper cried out after a minute of thinking. "Pine Tree" echoed in his head and he shivered. His mom obviously took note.
"Dipper, you are failing 2 classes. That is not normal, not for you. You are a smart kid, and you're gonna go far, but you have to try," His dad's deep voice thundered out.
"But I am!" He squeaked out, hoping they weren't thinking what he thought they were.
"Dipper, we were thinking maybe you'd do better in a smaller setting, with more one-on-one attention," his mom said gently, she took a deep breath and said "Please Dipper, we think this for your own good, so don't get mad, but we are sending you to-" She was cut off as a scream electrocuted the air.
"Mabel!? Was that you?!" Dipper jumped up and started running before either of his parents even began to react. He had gotten paranoid from the gnomes attacking Mabel. As he reached her room, he panted, out of breath, "Are you okay?"
"No, no, I am not okay! My favorite pen just ran out and I am writing Mermando!" She screeched.
"Hush, do Mom and Dad know?" He asked, referring to Mermando.
"Come on Dipping Sauce! I wouldn't be yelling if they didn't!" Mabel yelled "They think he's from Mexico," she whispered.
The twins parents trailed after Dipper, walking and not at all worried about Mabel.
"Dipper, can we finish our... conversation?" His mom asked slowly.
"Of course," Dipper said, sounding defeated.
"Wait, what? Whats happening?" Mabel asked, sounding ready to cry. Not often was something not discussed with both of them.
"Well, Dipper is not doing well. We're thinking of sending him back to Gravity Falls for the year. He seemed so healthy when he came back, and Stanford seemed to be a great role model and character builder. And the smaller setting with more one-on-one attention in school might do him well," His mother explained, the pair of twins looking at each other in shock.
"Am I going to then?" Mabel asked, looking fearful of the answer, like she almost didn't want to hear it.
"Well, that's what we need to talk about..." His mother trailed off and his father picked up "You have friends and are doing well here, Mabel. We didn't know if you'd want to go or not. Dipper has never seemed to get a hold on his life here,"
"I'll go! I'll go! I couldn't leave my Bro-Bro to fend for himself in the world of romance with those noodle arms!"
"Mabel!" Dipper shouted awkwardly, but really he was thankful she wanted to come.
"Then it's settled. You two will leave next weekend," His dad said. The siblings looked at each other with pure delight.
That week passed, slower than anything else in Dipper's 13 year old life. He began to realize, as the shock faded from his mind, that he felt like Gravity Falls was home. His house, this stupid town, even his beloved family (save Mabel, of course), they never seemed right. He had never fit quite right. Now, now he knew. He could love this place, and it could love him, but he'd never feel right. Because Gravity Falls is the place for the people who are a little messed up, a little crazy. Gravity Falls is where his heart should have been.
Soon enough he and Mabel were on the same bus that they took last summer. Mabel fell asleep making one of her famous scrapbooks, but Dipper was wide awake during the 3 hour bus ride, even though it was early in the morning. He stared out the window, letting his mind wander aimlessly.
Bill started. He was in the mindscape, looking at everyone's dreams. And he saw Shooting Star's dream. Shooting Star! That meant she was in city limits! Were they coming back to Gravity Falls? And wherever Pine Tree went, Shooting Star was sure to follow! Her dream was quite ugly, with double rainbows in the sky and trees made of cotton candy. She was wearing a sweater with a shooting star on it, but it was summer. He had missed Mabel's logic. Pine Tree was making out with Candy in the corner. Ehg. He felt an odd sense of disgust when he looked at that picture, and a odd want to get out of the dream and forget the scene he just witnessed. He left quickly, not quite used to jealousy. He explored the mindscape some more, looking at Tadd Strange's dream, and was completely amused. His dream was of a giant spider chasing him. So very normal, so of course Bill needed to make it weird. It was his job as a demon of dreams. He made the giant spider grow wings and a tail, and just as it was about to catch him, Tadd's dream disappeared. He must have woken up.
Dipper shook Mabel awake as they reached their stop.
"Mabel, Mabel! We're here!" He nearly yelled, unable to contain his excitement.
"Wha- OMIGOSHWEREHEREDIPPRWEREBACK!" She literally screamed at the top of her lungs.
They ran off the bus, adrenaline racing through their veins and powering them. They ran and ran, all the way through town, until they reached the Mystery Shack.
"SOOS!" Mabel screeched.
A tallish man-baby with an eight-ball staff came out of the Mystery Shack. "Mabel, Dipper! Wassup, dawgs?" He sounded happy and somewhat surprised.
"Hey Soos!" Dipper exclaimed "Where's Wendy?"
"Ohhhhhhhh. You cut to the chase fast, ladies man!" Soos said as Dipper blushed "She's still inside, I'll get her,"
He came back a few minutes later, a tall, red haired girl trailing behind him.
"Hey guys, why you back so soon?" Wendy asked, staring at her smartphone.
"Oh... heh. Long story," Dipper said, but Mabel took the job of filling them in.
"He was, like, dying, back at Piedmont. It was really pitiful. Mom and Dad freaked out, so now we're here, cause they think Grunkle Stan is still here. I guess they don't know he left with Grunkle Ford,"
"Wow, Dipper. I guess I didn't know how much you loved this place," Wendy commented, finally looking up from her smartphone with a smile on her face. Dipper blushed harder.
"Well, Soos, the first question I need to ask is if we can have our old rooms back. I don't think there's anywhere else for us to stay," Dipper said matte-of-factly.
"Of course, pal, no ones touched em' since you guys lived in them," Soos answered cheerfully.