Biding My Time
I was ready and waiting when the Portal opened, of course.
I stepped through into a room full of chaos. The gravity disruption had done its work. Everyone was lying stunned on the floor. Behind me, the Portal sputtered and went out.
One of the Journals was on the floor. I picked it up with my six-fingered left hand and put it into my coat pocket. Keeping calm, stone-faced, not looking too eager.
"What... Who is that?" asked Pine Tree.
"The author of the journals. My brother," said Crescent Moon.
"Is this the part where one of us faints?" asked Shooting Star.
"Ohoho, I am so on it, dude," said Question Mark, and he fainted.
Yes, the body of the real Stanford Pines is back, but this Stan is not what he seems. He tricked me, made a deal with me so that I possessed his body. But then his two assistants, Fiddleford and Ivan, pushed me into the Portal and shut it down. They ran off with two of the Journals. The books had too much valuable information to destroy, but they thought keeping them separated would keep the Portal safely shut, locking me out.
It was a setback, but I was prepared for that future. When they scattered the Journals, I knew that Fiddleford would pass his Journal 2 along to his fellow Blind Eye Society member, Bud Gleeful, for safekeeping as his own mind started to fail. After a few memory losses Bud himself would get careless and lose the journal to his bratty young son Gideon, the All-Seeing Star. When the little dummy summoned me, that allowed me to project a piece of myself back into the Dreamscape in this world, able to watch and affect Gravity Falls once again.
Stuck in this body in the other dimension, the rest of me couldn't affect the real world... until now. Because Stanford's misguided twin brother, Crescent Moon, wanted his dear sibling back so much. He had arrived late to the party and didn't have any idea what went on that night when his brother disappeared.
I sense the spirit of Stanford is still hanging around the Mystery Shack, haunting the place like a ghost, or an invisible wizard. Sometimes he tries to communicate, but the best he has been able to do so far is untie Pine Tree's shoelaces, and the kid hasn't noticed. Even that time the loose shoelaces tripped his sister who was in his body, right after she had just put the shoes on and tied them nicely.
All the pieces of my Ring are falling into place. The invisible spirit of Stanford will play his part as the Glasses, while his body is the Six-Fingered Hand. Pacifica will be the Llama, the firstborn child the Northwest family promised me long ago in return for my help in gaining riches. Once Gideon has broken out of jail I'll have them all, and my world-wide nightmare reign can at last begin.
For now, I'll just act the part of the long-lost brother. This will be fun.
I'm biding my time.