Gravity Falls: The Not So Long Goodbye
By Kairi Taylor
AUTHOR'S NOTE
So, it's been a while since I did something proper as far as storytelling goes. And, like many folks who enjoy watching Gravity Falls, I am somewhat guilty of doing some shipping of my own. In my case, the preferred choice for me happens to be the good ship Dipcifica. I regret nothing.
Anyway, while the actual finale of the show does not really help to push it along (aside from a tiny little hint in the very end) the tie in book, Journal 3, manages to keep the flame alive. As a kind of public service, and because I have a actively wild imagination sometimes, the following short tale is a little peek into what could have happened before Dipper and Mabel departed for home. So enjoy.
He sat on the edge of the bed in the attic and sighed. It was quite an eventful 13th birthday party indeed, but all good things had to come to an end.
Dipper Pines, over the past summer, had some of the most harrowing, bone chilling, hair raising and awe inspiring adventures no normal teen could ever have. Who else on the planet could claim to have encountered gnomes, discovered dinosaurs hidden in an underground valley, or fight a child fraud in a giant robotic suit and survive? And not only did he take on supernatural threats like giant vampire bats, living cursed wax figures and ghosts, he and his sister discovered that they had a long lost uncle, trapped between the multiverse, who was the twin of their shyster uncle. Of course, there was also one other huge matter, that being that they survived the 'Weirdmageddon', brought on by a chaos demon with a very killer sense of humor.
Bill Cipher's influence on the town was fortunately contained within the confines of Gravity Falls and the the level of weirdness that lay within went back to normal. Ok, as normal as any town with gnomes that steal pies can get, but no one really wanted to question it. Oddly enough there was one other interesting side effect: the journals of Stanford Pines, which Dipper thought were burned to cinders by Bill, were restored to the condition they were in when Weirdmageddon began. Stanford could not precisely explain why they were restored, but he was grateful they were. However, he decided that it would be best if the journals were locked away, in case anyone ever decided to misuse the information that each one contained. The 3rd journal was currently in Dipper's hands, as he wanted to look through all of the notes he, his sister Mabel, and even Soos, entered throughout the last few weeks.
There was one particular area of the journal that Dipper had laid eyes upon. It was the entry that recounted the events at Northwest Manor a few weeks prior. Dipper had been requested by the then owner of the mansion, Preston Northwest, to exorcise a particularly nasty ghost from the home via his daughter, Pacifica. The young man was not too eager to fulfill her request; the girl was not really the nicest of people and he had taken great pains to not rub in the fact that it was he and Mabel who exposed the truth about the founder of the town. However, at Mabel's insistence (partly because of the party and partly because she and Pacifica had managed to quell their rivalry) Dipper took the job. But doing so however changed both of them in an unseen way; the ghost's attack had exposed both Dipper and Pacifica to a long buried secret history involving her ancestors. They had come across a room where recorded details of the misdeeds her forefathers engaged in had been locked away. It hurt Pacifica the hardest, as she felt as though she was destined to follow in the same footsteps as her father. But Dipper, who had previously believed she was in on the cover-up, gave her the words she needed to hear to change her fate. And, ironically enough, it was Pacifica who saved everyone by living up to her ancestor's promise.
As he looked at the drawing of Pacifica (and the hastily scribbled out text underneath the paragraph), he made an observation. "Ok, maybe it's me," he said to himself, "but did I draw this in the same way I drew Wendy?"
"Drew what?"
His heart jumped when he heard the voice pierce the silence in the room. Standing in the doorway of the attic was Pacifica, arms folded and toe tapping on the hard wood floor. Coughing, Dipper blurted out "Nothing nothing! Just, um, going through some old memories and other junk."
"Somehow, I thought I'd find you looking through some musty old book." Pacifica sighed. "You'e kind of predictable you know."
"Hey, predictable I may be but me and my sister did save the world." Dipper pointed out.
"Ok, you got me there. Just don't let it go to your head." She warned.
"Fair enough. What brings you here?"
"I just wanted to make sure you got the other gifts I wanted to get you before you left town. Just to be clear, this was pretty hard to get so you better appreciate the trouble I went to." Walking over to the bed, Pacifica handed over a small box. Taking it into his hands, Dipper unwrapped the hastily wrapped package and stared in shock. "Oh my god…a rare special edition copy of Phantom Bust-ifiers! Great uncle Stanford told me these were out of print!"
"Not exactly. Turns out that my dad's new place also seems to have a storehouse full of lost movies. I kind of figured if you were going to be entertained by cheesy special effects and dry sarcasm mixed with horror this would do it."
"Good call." Dipper agreed. "But you said other gifts."
"Yeah uh…look don't take this the wrong way but…"
It all happened so suddenly; within an instant, Dipper was yanked down from the bed and placed face to face with Pacifica. She placed her arms around his waist, blushing and before Dipper could ask "What just happened?", she firmly planted her lips onto his and kissed him. Various thoughts raced through the mind of the trucker hat wearing boy, the primary one being FINALLY, I KISS A GIRL! AND IT'S PACIFICA! OK, I'M OK WITH THIS!
But maybe we should look back a couple of minutes prior to this…
ABOUT 10 MINUTES AGO
"A letter for him? Sure why not, I think he more than earned it." Pacifica said as she signed the paper that Wendy presented to her. Handing it back to her, she watched as the teen looked at the signature and noted "Hmm, that's a particularly interesting way of signing."
"It-it's nothing really!" Pacifica blurted out nervously. "I sign all my letters with a heart!"
"Oh really?" Wendy winked as Pacifica sighed. "Alright, fine. Maybe I DO spend a couple of nights laying in my bed thinking of the dork, ok? But I'm not too sure about—"
"Trust me, the guy digs you whether he wants to admit it or not. What happened at that party must have did it for him."
"Did Mabel tell you?"
"Yup."
"Damn." Pacifica whispered underneath her breath. "Right, then what do I do now? I mean I kind of want to tell hi but—I'm a little shy if you haven't noticed. I already touched a hillbilly, public displays of affection mortify me."
"I got the solution to that. And by solution, I mean I'm going to distract Mabel for a few minutes with this album of kittens while you give him a proper send off."
AND LET'S HEAD BACK
They stood there for about a good minute, embracing each other before reluctantly breaking the kiss off. The two stood now, staring into each other's eyes before Pacifica coughed. Taking a $500 dollar bill out, she whispered. "I'm paying you to NOT pretend this never happened. But do not tell your sister, she will NEVER let me live it down."
"Trust me, it wouldn't be the best experience for me either." Dipper said to her. She chuckled lightly as she stroked his cheek and gave him one last peck on the cheek before she turned and ran off, hiding the large blush forming on her face. Dipper looked at the retreating figure and sighed.
"You're not the worst. And I will miss you too." Dipper whispered under his breath.
Final Note: Well, that wasn't such a chore now, was it?
I will be doing another GF story soon, but I need to read all of the journal first as the story will need to focus on some of Stanford's notes concerning certain town lore. If you get a chance, read that book! It's fun.
…
…
OH DID YOU THINK I WAS DONE?
THE STINGER SCENE
"Well now, this looks like a good as any room to start!"
Fiddleford McGucket, or Old Man McGucket as the town had known him, set his tools down in the large and spacious den that once belonged to Preston Northwest. It had quite a collection of various stuffed animals contained within, and as he snapped his fingers, the movers that Fiddleford brought with him hauled them all away. His son, looking through the tools and gear that he brought with him, asked his father "Uh, what are we going to do with this place anway?"
"Son, I've got more than 20 years of inventin' to catch up on. And this here government grant will be put to good use! No more killer robots or other doohickeys of mass destruction! Now lets get the workbenches in an' get rid of some of these odd paintings. I got some blueprints that need a hangin'!"
If anyone was to pay closer attention though, they would have noticed something else that was occurring within the confines of the den. That being the portraits of Nathanial Northwest and Auldman Northwest, Preston's father.
The eyes were glowing blood red. And moving.