Full Summary: Dipper Pines spent years going back and forth between his home in California and his summer adventures in Gravity Falls. Mabel Pines spent years trying to tame her bipolar disorder and live a mostly normal life. For years their lives seemed destined to stay eternally separate from one another. That is, until Dipper is found murdered in his home.

Now, Mabel must piece together the remains of the life her twin once lived if she hopes to figure out who killed him. But Gravity Falls is not a town for the normal and, as Mabel delves deeper into the life Dipper once lived, she has to wonder if she really knew her twin at all.

AU in which Dipper went to Gravity Falls alone. BillDip


Prologue

16-18-15-12-15-7-21-5

16-15-19-20-5-4 18 10-21-14-5 2015


Arjun stepped onto the porch of the Mystery Shack, his boots thumping on the damp wood. His breath turned white around his thin-lipped, chapped mouth. Anyone huddled around the police barricade surrounding the property could see that the brown skinned man was shaking, though it was hard to tell if it was from the frigid January air or from the sight he witnessed within the shack. Either way, he pulled his black coat tighter around his body and buried his stubbled face in his wool scarf. The cold fogged his oversized, round glasses.

Other agents and a few local police men eyed him warily as the crowd of Gravity Falls citizens shouted their questions at him—"What's going on?" "Is Dipper in there?" "Is Dipper alright?" Arjun turned his caramel colored eyes towards the dismal snow, feeling a lump in his throat. He was glad Agent Trigger had ordered him not to talk about the crime scene. He didn't think he was capable of telling the good people of Gravity Falls that their most beloved citizen was dead.

"Arty!" Another man rushed out of the front door of the Mystery Shack. Like Arjun, his prim black suit was covered by an equally black coat. Unlike Arjun, he was pale and baby-faced. The man stopped a safe distance from his coworker, observing him with a careful stance. Arjun watched him chew his lip for a moment, considering his options. "Agent…" He started slowly. He never had to do the check before. "Who am I talking to?" he asked.

Arjun closed his eyes. It had been years since his last attack, but his coworkers still felt the need to do the check every time Arjun so much as looked at someone wrong. He held the rail, feeling the cold wood chill his blood. They did this because they care, he told himself. Steering his patience, he was able to give a sincere look of peace as he replied, "Agent Arjun Nalluri."

The man's shoulders dropped as he relaxed. "Thank Jesus. You gave Gomez a heart attack running out like that," he said.

Arjun strained a smile, but it was lopsided. "I just don't like gore, Cooper."

The man, Cooper, waved the concern away. "Yeah, yeah," he said as he dug through his pockets. "Be more considerate next time, would ya? Here." He pulled out an orange pill bottle, tossing it to his coworker. "Trigger says you gotta take some, just in case."

Arjun nodded, playful annoyance showing on his face as he unscrewed the cap. "It's almost like you guys don't trust me," he muttered.

Cooper shrugged and leaned against the wall of the shack. "We trust you, Arty."

They were silent for a long moment. The demands of the crowd were beginning to die out. The Oregon cold was starting to freeze the concerned fire in their chests. As Arjun swallowed two of the pills dry, he watched chunks of the crowd break off and meander back to their much warmer homes. A few officers reminded the more stubborn ones that everything was under control, that an official statement will be released to the press soon.

Cooper pulled a box of cigarettes from his pocket. Watchful eyes scanned the horizon of powdered trees as he lit a cigarette and stuck it in his mouth. "I feel sorta bad for them," he said suddenly. Arjun looked back at him, brow raised. "The Pines punk was a pain in the ass, but he wasn't a bad guy. He didn't deserve to go like this."

Arjun nodded, a morose visage consuming his face. Dipper Pines—the Pine Tree, as some called him—was a government's worse nightmare and the people's greatest hero. Ever since he had been assigned to Gravity Falls, Arjun had to deal with the man's constant meddling in paranormal forces over and over again. Beyond the demands to cease hindering government work (and the Pine Tree's refusal to comply), they never had a real conversation. Arjun emptied his lungs. If he knew things were going to turn out like this—Dipper Pines murdered in his own home—he would have tried to make friends with the guy. Instead, he had been so wrapped up in his work that he never stopped to wonder…

"Did he have a family?" Arjun asked.

Cooper thought about it for a moment. "I remember he once mentioned something about a sister, but I'm not really sure."

A pang shot through his chest. "Someone's going to have to break the news to her," he said.

Cooper pulled the cigarette from his mouth, blowing a thin stream of gray between his lips. "We already got someone on that."

"I just feel bad," Arjun continued, sounding as though it pained him to even think it. "He really wasn't a bad guy and everyone seemed to like him. Who would hate him enough to do this to him? We're his mortal enemies! Who else could have done it? Do you think it could have been the Heart Stealer? I know she only hunts demons, but maybe she could have—"

"Arty, you're rambling."

Arjun clamped his mouth shut. Feeling his blood race to his cheeks, he turned his attention back towards the diminishing crowd. He scanned the familiar faces of the residents before landing on one strange one. This man he had never seen before—dark skinned, gold locks, vivid blue eyes. He leaned against a tree, a few feet from the police line, shivering in a torn pair of jeans and hole-filled shirt. His hands were wrapped in dirty rags and they clung to his arms in a vain attempt to mimic a jacket.

Arjun watched him for a long moment, noting the conspicuous way he kept his left eye closed. The agent pressed his lips then, with no other words, walked down the steps, ignoring Cooper's demands to know what he was doing. "Excuse me?" The man looked up at Arjun with a cocked brow as he ducked under the police line. "Are you alright?"

Up close, Arjun could see that the man barely scraped out of his teen years. The one blue eye regarded him with a sad kind of annoyance as he huddled closer into himself. "Fine," the teenager spat. Arjun never would have suspected such a high-pitched voice from anyone over the age of thirteen. "Just peachy."

Arjun flinched. He hated when people were upset. He never knew what to say. A moment pasted as he considered his actions, finally deciding to not do the comforting with his mouth. Instead of speaking, he unbuttoned his coat. "You look cold."

The man snorted. "Really? I never would have—"

Arjun pulled his coat from his shoulders and held it out. "Take it."

The blond teen stared at the coat as if it was made from toxic material. "What's your deal, kid?" he asked, poison still lacing his scratchy voice. "What do I look like to you? Dylan Thomas?"

Arjun kept the cordial look on his face. "You look cold," he repeated, seemingly unaware of the unpleasant spats being thrown at his face. "You're not dressed for this weather, so please just take it."

"And what do you want in return?"

He shrugged. "I don't know," he said. He pulled his scarf closer to his face, feeling a new shiver run down his spine. There was something off about the air around them, something that he couldn't place, something not part of the usual strangeness of Gravity Falls. Arjun felt the pain of someone holding his frozen hands over a raging fire as the hot flames melted the ice and wintry air bit his skin raw.

Arjun was not sure how he knew this—or if he was even right—but the feeling seemed to be coming from the electric blue iris of the man leaning against the tree.

Arjun buried hands into the pockets of his slacks, nuzzling his nose deeper into the wool of his scarf. The United States Government didn't make him a special agent for nothing. There was something concerning about the teen before him and Arjun intended to find out. "So—" The teen turned his attention away from the aging building, brow raised at the speaking agent. "—Why don't you tell me why you're here?"

Arjun watched as the teen's eye widen. He saw the one close lid start to open, but one of the bandaged hands quickly covered that half of his face. He leaned more of his weight into the old bark, turning his gaze to the Mystery Shack. "Is what they say true?" he asked. Somehow, his voice lost its grating quality. It was quieter, spoken in a fearful whisper. "Pine Tree's dead?"

Arjun glanced back at Cooper, thinking back to his instructions. Trigger said he wasn't to tell anything about the crime scene to any of the civilians, but this felt different. The very possibility that Dipper Pines was dead seemed to steal the teen's attention from this world and fling it into another. It was a whole new breed of sorrow, one so pure that Arjun had never seen it before.

Then there was the fact that the teen had referred to Pines by the name only members of the paranormal community used. Stranger yet, he didn't say it like it was his title. It sounded like a pet name, the kind that is only exchanged in hushed, intimate whispers. Just who was—

"Forget it. Give that to me." The teen snatched the coat from Arjun's arms and pulled his arms through the sleeves. Arjun noticed how awkwardly he moved, like he wasn't quite sure how his limbs work. As the teen buttoned the coat, Arjun's eyes traveled down the length of his body. They rested on his leg. Beneath his jeans, it looked like it was curled in on itself. "What are you gawking at?"

Arjun looked up, blinking as he registered the scorn on the now covered teen. "Sorry, I didn't mean to stare," he apologized. He scratched his chin, feeling his stubble on the pads of his fingers. He could feel Cooper's prying eyes on the back of his head. He wanted to stay with this teen, but he had a job to return to. "I better be going now," he said, starting to turn. He paused. "What did you say your name was again?"

The teen blinked, looking as if he never considered that detail before. He looked down at the snow, then back at the shack. "Will," he said at last. "Will Pinus."


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Happy Birthday Alex and Ariel Hirsch! I like to imagine that this fanfiction is a worthy present, but you will probably never see this or even bother reading this.

Anyway, welcome to my new story! I'm switching up my fandoms here, so let's see how well this goes. This story is sort of this combination of various plot lines that have been flying around my head for a while now, the main one being inspired by the artwork of caramelkeks so even if you don't like this story, you should totally check them out on tumblr/deviantart.

Since I always hate it when people post short prologues, I will come out with the actual first chapter sometime tomorrow. In the meantime, check out my writing blog miamaroo on tumblr.

Thank you for reading! I'm always opened to inputs from the readers, so please make sure to share your thoughts and critiques!