WARNINGS: I do NOT own Gravity Falls, the characters, or the AUs I use in this fanfiction. This fanfic doesn't entirely follow the AUs I use. There may be violence or swearing in any of the chapters in this story. Grammatical and lore errors may be present.
GUIDE:
Drei – Journal 3
Zwei – Journal 2
Eins – Journal 1
A/N: Yeah, sorry I'm not really the best writer… Anyway, I haven't really WATCHED Gravity Falls since the ending in 2016. I watched the show when it first came out and watched it all the way to the finale. I couldn't really leave this story alone in my mind so I decided to write it out. Hope you enjoy! :D
Chapter 1: Her Arrival, His Founding
"Another sunny day of summer in the little ol' town of Gravity Falls." Gideon Pines stood proudly on the porch of the Mystery Shack, gazing out at the forest of tall pine trees and watching as small squirrels scurried across the grassy ground of the wilderness. In all his twelve years of living, he'd never dreamt of staying here for the rest of his life. Why you ask? Well, first off, there are the Gleeful twins. Honestly, Gideon could go into painstaking detail about all the reasons these twins were so out of the ordinary… but he had an important visitor today.
Gideon jumped from the porch steps with a thud on the grass and dirt. His height of 120cm often proved as a challenge when exploring the supernatural town, but he manages. Shouting his words of goodbye to his dad before he left for the bus stop, he sprinted down to the "bustle" of the town just in time to see a familiar blond stepping down from the bus step.
"Paz!" he yelled, waving his hands in the air before coming to a stop in front of Pacifica Southwest—his closest cousin. She dropped the duffle bag to accept Gideon's hug.
"Good to see ya' cousin," she nuzzled her face into Gideon's signature hat before pulling back from the hug. "So, where's Uncle Bud?" she questioned and picked her dropped luggage from the asphalt street just as the bus pulled away.
"He's back at the shack." He stepped away and started heading off in the direction of the Mystery Shack, one of Oregon's many tourist traps. Pacifica followed close behind him and admired the wildlife she'd known from every summer vacation spent here with her cousin.
By the time they reached the shack, Bud Pines stepped out carrying various signs all advertising their home/Gravity Falls gift shop of pseudo mysterious items.
He waved them over with a warm smile and greeted Pacifica. "Paz, welcome back," he said as he rested his hand on her head and ruffled her hair. "I'm gonna need you to do me a favor while you're here with Gideon." Bud shoved some of the signs into Pacifica's arms and the rest into Gideon's and handed placed a hammer with some iron nails atop their pile.
"Would you be so kind as to hang these up 'round the woods for me?"
Pacifica awkwardly accepted with a half-hearted and drawn out "Sure" before turning to Gideon who gave her an apologetic look. After unloading Pacifica's things on her side of their shared room in the attic, the two set out to hang the signs. The mosquitos had gotten completely unbearable and the heat was getting to them. Gideon wiped at his forehead to clear the existing sweat—it didn't help.
Pacifica walked to the next tree in the same routine she created when she was met with a clang sounded from the tree. Gideon looked to her and quirked a brow in confusion at the sound; she looked back at him with a similar look and discovered a disguised panel and she tugged it open, revealing an unfamiliar device in the middle of the dust and various webs. A couple of switches caught her attention and she fiddled with a few of them as Gideon approached.
Gideon screeched as a normal patch of grass somehow opened in the ground he stood upon. He stumbled backward just as Pacifica turned and ran to him. She helped him up before they both gazed at the opening in the ground.
To their surprise and horror, a hand reached out of the opening and grasped the edge before a brown-haired man pulled himself into a sitting position and taking a big breath of air. Despite his old-fashioned look with the oversized brown vintage suit and the golden monocle over his left eye, he looked young. He stretched his arms out and yawned. His eyes were a bright yellow and they gazed around the forest before focusing on the two shocked kids in front of him.
"Hello," he waved in greeting and smiled, his sleeves handing over his hands. The two of them shrieked before running back and ignoring the cries of 'wait, wait!' from behind them.
Once the blonds thought they had run far enough, both stopped and rested against a tree, both gasping for air from the distance they ran as they attempted to get their frantic heartbeats under control.
"Who the heck was that?" Gideon risked a glance in the direction they ran from, hiding behind the safety of his favored pine tree. Pacifica shared his fear and ran a hand through her sunflower blonde bangs before swallowing her panic.
"I have no idea," she grits her teeth before looking back at Gideon. "Should we… go back?"
"Are you crazy?" he asked incredulously.
"I'm just saying, I mean, he could've been locked in there by someone. Maybe we should help him." An expression of guilt flashed over Gideon's face before he looked back.
The two made their way back to the site and found the stranger out of the container in which they found him. He was watching as two sparrows flew by in a beautiful dance.
Pacifica was the first to approach him. "Um, sir…?" she toyed with the ends of the hair she had tied back with a purple scrunchie. He turned to them and smiled before waving. "May I ask… who you are?" Gideon hid behind her and stood on the tips of his toes to peer over her shoulder.
"I'm Journal Three, also known as Drei." He spoke so gleeful… and that's not a word they often used to describe things due to its similarity to the Gleeful twins' name.
"Okay, Drei… how did you get in there?" Gideon asked from behind his human shield.
"Heh, great question, you see I was—" At that moment they heard a voice shouting their names from the route of the Mystery Shack. The two quickly deciphered it to be Bud Pines, Gideon's dad and Pacifica's uncle. The two looked at each other and clenched their teeth before turning back to Drei who stared innocently back at them.
"Look, we gotta go," Pacifica motioned at the dirt path leading back to their home. Gideon already set out on the path back and was casting worried looks behind them.
"Oh, where are we going?" Drei quickly caught up with them and walked uncomfortably close to them.
"No," Gideon around and held him back. "We are going home. You are going to find your way home, or we can help you find where."
With that, Drei followed them to the Mystery Shack. Of course their guardian wouldn't allow them to carelessly associate themselves with a stranger they'd met in the woods, so they brought him upstairs into the attic without his knowing. It seemed like a great idea at the time, until Drei had to stop and ogle at every little thing he passed. The cousins shoved him up the stairs and then asked him where he needed to be.
"What do you mean 'here'?" Pacifica asked with a little frustration.
"I mean I'm supposed to be here, with you two." Drei took a seat on Gideon's twin-sized mattress and gazed up at the two confronting him, still grinning like someone who just won the lottery. Gideon massaged the bridge of his nose in irritation from their current situation.
"My author told me I was to hide since he was being hunted." Drei relaxed on the bed as Gideon paced.
Pacifica looked puzzled and she continued her questioning. "And who is your 'author'?"
"I don't think I'm supposed to reveal—"
"Gideon, Pacifica, dinner is ready!" Bud called from downstairs. Pacifica bit her lip and reluctantly ran down the stairs followed by Gideon who already warned Drei to hide his presence.
"Pancakes for dinner, Uncle Bud?" Pacifica sat on one of the table's outdated and cheap chairs and poked at the plate of stacked pancakes and giving a confused look to Gideon who just shrugged and took up a seat beside her.
This was going to be a long summer.
Dipper and Mabel Gleeful were the town psychics, the main attraction of the Gleeful Tent of Telepathy. Unlike their opposing tourist attraction the Mystery Shack, the Gleeful family made a proper living out of their profit and easily became somewhat of town celebrities due to their performances. Not only this, but their Grunkle Stan had taken over as mayor of the town, solidifying their power and rule over the town. Believe it or not, they only considered themselves to have two enemies or threats in the town—Gideon Pines and Pacifica Southwest.
Unbeknownst to the townspeople of Gravity Falls, these twins had many secrets. One of these secrets being the mystery behind their 'psychic' abilities; though that was a small part in comparison two things—or rather beings—they had in their possession. A discovery the two of them made was the Second Journal, a valuable piece of information. Even though it held a lot of priceless details, it was one piece of a puzzle. This puzzle would be able to give them almost ultimate power. Enough on the journal though, the other interesting being they held, was Will Cipher. The demon wasn't the scariest being you could come across, but it had surprising power—power that belonged to the Gleeful twins.
"Zwei, give me the possession incantation once more." Dipper paced across the cold floor as he awaited the response.
"What's this for again?" Zwei turned in his comfortable position on the couch to hang over the arm rest and gaze at Dipper and watch his annoying habits.
"Don't question, just tell me!" Dipper glared at him and Zwei sighed.
"Is Mabel apart of this?" He laid back down on the couch and rested his hands behind his head for more comfort.
"Yes, now just tell me." Dipper rolled his eyes at Zwei's attitude and continued to pace. Zwei listed what instructions he remembered and quickly fell asleep as Dipper plotted.
Mabel briskly walked in, her brown hair bouncing with every step she took, the front door slamming behind her. Dipper gave her one look and a wave of acknowledgement before continuing to write on his parchment at his desk. Mabel took a seat at the couch opposite of the one Zwei occupied and promptly turned on the TV and switching it to the Gravity Falls news station to see Shandra Jimenez reporting normal news that you'd see airing on every other news station. They were all so oblivious to what really went on in Gravity Falls.
"She's back," Mabel said with annoyance evident in her tone. Dipper paused his writing and set down his pen, swiveling his chair to face Mabel.
"Well, it is summer." Mabel shot him a glare and he returned to his writing. "Do you want me to summon Will?"
"That sensitive demon? I don't really think he's necessary, yet."
"Then what do you want me to do?" Dipper's eyes followed his pen as he wrote.
"Nothing." She kicked back on the sofa and watched the television in mock interest as Dipper relaxed into the chair and massaged his temples. She can never be happy, can she?
"We need that shabby shack."
"I know," Dipper hissed. "I'm working on it."
"Zwei!" Mabel yelled and successfully awoke Zwei. His eyes snapped open and he nearly fell off the couch upon realizing her return.
"What news do you have on your brother?"
"Which one?" he adjusted himself in a sitting position before giving her a glare for waking him like she did; she gladly returned a heated glare right back. He scratched the back of his head after giving up on the stares of death. "Nerd or happy-go-lucky?"
"Gee, I don't know. Maybe the only one we have a hint on finding? The one we've been trying to obtain this whole time?" Mabel's statement practically drowned in sarcasm and Zwei rolled his eyes and closed them. His face scrunched up in concentration.
"Drei is… somewhere else." This stopped both of the twins' hearts for a second.
"Well, where is he now?" Dipper stood from his seat and walked over as Zwei's eyes snapped open revealing his familiar golden eyes.
"I don't know. Just like before I can't exactly track him. I only know he's been moved." Dipper threw his hands up in frustration before taking up his old seat. Mabel gave Zwei an unimpressed look.
"What?! I told you I wouldn't be able to know his location every second of every day." Mabel turned her attention back to the TV and Dipper resumed his work and poured over his notes. Zwei cast glares at the two of them before returning to his nap after mumbling about certain ungrateful children, earning him a smack from Dipper and Mabel.