*/- GRAVITY FALLS -\*
It's over. No more. You are gone. Give up. They are gone. The world has ended. Burn your hope. It's useless. Stop. Don't bother. Trying is useless.
Dipper jerked awake, sweat dripping down his face. He looked over at the clock. It was only 1:23 in the morning. He groaned and rubbed his face. He last saw it was 12:58. This was even less sleep than the last night, about a week ago. He ran his hand through his ruffled messy hair as he sat up. 'Another sleepless night for world-class paranormal investigator, eh?' He rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone.
"Hey, bro-bro! I hope you're sleeping right now, but don't forget we rescheduled tomorrows plans to Sunday! Love ya!"
He dodged a bullet there. He had totally forgotten about the plans in the first place, meaning he had accidentally scheduled a chase. Next he pulled out his laptop to check his emails. He normally gets about 10 a night asking for help, tips, or some random bullshit. As much as he would like to go through and block them all, he can't. God knows what would happen if he were to miss something real, or something in Gravity Falls. Dipper smiled at the thought of that old sleepy town. He hadn't been there in years, and he was more than nostalgic. He stopped going when he was 16. He wanted to go, but the… incident… had happened. He hasn't been back ever since. Now he's a 23 year old living his dream of being a paranormal investigator. Something still felt so off about his life, though, and he simply didn't know what it was.
Buzz! Buzz!
Dipper's phone was ringing. He was prepared to answer it thinking it was Mabel, when he saw it was an unrecognized number. This had to be big. Dipper made sure people knew how to contact him through email, but no one besides Stan, Ford, Mabel, Wendy, Soos, and his parents have his number. They were all sworn to never give it away.
"This is Dipper Pines, Paranormal Investigator. What is your problem? I'll be there as fast as I can."
"Dipper! Thank God you answered! Come quick! Something's happening and I don't know what!"
Dipper scrunched up his face. This voice sounded oddly familiar. It was female, but he had no clue who he would know that wasn't in his contact list. "Ma'am, I need your name, and I need to know where to go."
"D-Dipper? Do you really not recognize me?" It clicked in Dipper's head, and he almost dropped the phone. "Dipper, its Pacifica Northwest, and I'm outside the town limits of Gravity Falls."
*/- GRAVITY FALLS -\*
"Mabel, I have big news."
Mabel rubbed the sleep from her eyes and checked the time. It was almost 2 in the morning. She opened her messages and texted back. "Dipper? It's really late. You should be sleeping."
Almost instantly, he replied. "It's about Pacifica. I'm on my way to Gravity Falls. There's some kind of emergency. I wanted to tell you so you didn't freak out in the morning. Call me later."
Groggy with sleep, it took a while for Mabel to put the pieces together. She realized what was happening. "Dipper Pines, you are not going to that hick town! Everyone has forbidden it! Now lay down and go to sleep!" Mabel couldn't believe him. Even after what happened last time they were there, he still wants to go back. He is supposed to be some kind of genius, yet he can't put two and two together. He could die there.
"Sorry, Mabel. It's got to be big, because Pacifica tracked down my phone number to reach me. Unless someone wants to fess up to handing out my number, this means there is a huge problem. Don't worry, I'll stay out of the problem area. Just trust me this time. Please?"
Mabel sat there for a minute and thought. 'I mean, this could be a blessing in disguise. This could be some kind of sign to say, 'Hey! This is over! You can come back now? ', right? But what if this is a big trap to get him there. Last time he got pulled into a big mission, that thing happened.' Mabel made up her mind.
"Sorry, but you can't go. I'm leaving now to stop you." She grabbed her car keys and slippers and started for the door when she got a text.
"Too late." It had a picture attached of Dipper driving.
"Damnit, Dipper, fine! Just don't hurt yourself! If you die, I will kill you. I'll cover you for a week. After that, everyone knows. Got it?"
"Thanks, Mabel, you're the best.J"
'Fuck, yeah, I'm the best. I'm the best at sleeping,' she thought to herself as she peacefully lulled into the black bay of sleep.
*/- GRAVITY FALLS -\*
Dipper got onto the freeway ecstatic. When he knew there was nobody nearby, he couldn't help but roll down the windows, blast the radio, and whoop as he drove. He couldn't help it! He was finally going back to Gravity Falls. His life changed when he got there that first summer, and now being away from it was like being away from his heart. He solved his first real mystery there. He even found his first love. He let out a happy sigh at the thought of Wendy.
Wendy Corduroy was amazing, and now he was technically of age to date her without it being too awkward. That would be one of the highlights of returning. He couldn't wait to go and see her after… he can't. She can't know he's there. She won't be as easy to convince to keep this a secret. Dipper crumpled a little at the thought of not seeing Wendy. That was supposed to be the highlight of the trip. Seeing his love again. He let out a melancholic sigh. As much as he wants to see her again he has a real mission to focus on. He shook of the small amount of tiredness he felt and drove on. He was an hour away from arriving.
He decided he should call Pacifica again. God, Pacifica Elise Northwest. He never thought he would have to hear her name again. Last time he saw her was on his thirteenth birthday, and they were friends at the time. She ended up moving a town over, and, from what he had heard, she had only gone back to her treacherous, selfish ways. He couldn't help but wonder what she looked like, or what she was up to these days. What even made her go back to Gravity Falls?
"H-H-Hello?" Her voice was at a low whisper, She sounded raspy and on the brink of tears. Dipper frowned.
"Pacifica, it's me, Dipper. I can tell you're in a lot of trouble right now, and I need to know what is happening. Just breathe, and stay calm." Dipper very rarely used that voice, and he was surprised he did now. He used it mainly when someone close to him was at risk.
"D-Dipper, I don't know what it is. It wants y—I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please, no!" Pacifica yelped in pain. "P-P-Please just come as fast as you can. I don't think it wants me alive much longer."
Dipper stared out the windshield as she hung up. She was in real trouble, and he needed to get there fast. He adjusted his grip on the wheel, and pressed down on the pedal. His speed soared above 100. Good thing he had it modified to go past 300.
*/- GRAVITY FALLS -\*
He's dead. He's gone. It was a trap. He's a goner. She's our slave. He loves her. You will be the only child. You will lose your only brother. His blood shall release us. We shall come for you.
Mabel ripped off the sheets and grabbed her slippers and keys. She had known it was trap! Why hadn't she seen it sooner? Now he was going to die! Now she was just worried about who was behind this. They had killed it, hadn't they?
She pulled out her phone and dialed Dipper's number. 'Desperate times call for desperate measures,' she thought to herself as she realized what she was going to say.
"Hello?"
"Abel Tristen Pines, turn your car around now!" She blinked when she said his name. She hadn't called him that since before they started school. She had no doubt gotten his attention.
"W-W-W-W-What is it, M-M-Mabel?" Apparently she had shocked him a lot more than she thought. She felt a twinge of guilt, but she quickly shook it off. He was about to die.
"Dipper, this is a trap. Pacifica is being held prisoner by someone, and they are using her to get you. You need to turn around, right now. This is life or death, Dipper! I'll go and rescue her. Just save yourself!" She noticed tears coming into her eyes and brushed them aside. She couldn't lose her brother. She couldn't. Not when they had so much more to live for.
He sighed on the other side. "I'm sorry, Mabel. I have to. If what you say is true, I can't let another person die for me. Too many people have, Mabel. Too many. Please turn around and don't come looking for me. Stay safe, and please forgive me."
She started crying harder. He had a second chance, and after all those years, he is willing to give it up? Not on her watch. "Dipper, you can't go! Dipper, please! Stay home! Don't leave me! I don't want to lose you again!" She heard the click, signaling his departure. Still she screamed. "Dipper, you promised you'd stay! You promised to never leave me! You promised to never ever ever do something crazy and stupid like this again! You can't die!" She pulled the car over to the side of the road and cried. She was about to lose her brother, and not even for the first time.
She knew what she had to do. She turned the car around and sped for the only people who might be able to convince him to stay. It was time to see Stan, Ford, and Wendy again.
*/- GRAVITY FALLS -\*
"Hush, now. Don't cry, doll face. You will be free soon. We just need the prize." A chorus of hisses filled the tunnels in every way, sounding like laughter. It also meant Pacifica was trapped, which didn't matter, anyways. If she tried to run they would just spit the acid again, and she would have to see their boss. Last time had been her warning. Next time would be her death.
"Why do you want him anyways? He's just a big nerd who reads books and captures 'magical' things. It's quite obvious he's only crazy. I thought you would know, since you're obviously crazy, too!" Pacifica felt her inside curl up a bit. That insult was worthy of punishment; punishments from her captors were not easy to shake off. She would have scars for the rest of her life, and they would be everywhere. Not an inch of her was completely scar-free. Some were small, and other looked as if she had been tested on.
The hisses began again, once more in that laughter rhythm. "You do not actually believe so, darling. After all, you had lived through the fool Bill Cypher's Weirdmaggedon. You know better than most just how dangerous and weird the world truly is. The only person posing a risk is that boy, which is why we must find him. But, if you truly believe he is crazy, dear, that makes you crazy, too."
Pacifica shuffled uncomfortably in her spot. She could have easily retaliated, but she knew that that would guarantee punishment. Her previous comment had been pushing the line, and she had only gotten lucky. 'Come on, dorkasaurus. Aren't you supposed to be saving me? You can get out of this mess, right?' Then it dawned on Pacifica that she didn't know why they were after him.
"I had asked you why you want him. Can't you do I this small favor and answer me? I mean, that's the least you could do after everything." She braced herself for her next punishment, only to be greeted with muttered hissing. She knew this meant they were considering her request, and she was belated that she might finally know something.
"Very well, child. As I had previously said, Dipper Pines knows an exceedingly large amount of the world's abnormalities, and that poses as a risk. Not just for us on this dimension, but also for others in different dimensions. If he were to find the true heart of your planet Earth's weirdness, he would find a portal, impossible to shut down. That portal could take him anywhere he wished, giving him a staggering new mountain of things to discover. Not all strange things are like what you see here. Here, you have your friendly, mildly evil, tad bit eviler, and straight up strange ones. Alas, in other, darker dimensions, you have chaotic evil gods. If you had thought Bill Cipher was horrid, your path has never mingled with the sheer aura of these gods. They contain evils like no others. Luckily, our kind has trapped and conquered them all, so they can never do us harm again. If Dipper were to find one, he could become its master, giving him all cosmic power, he could accidentally set one free, causing the end of multiple dimensions, or he could kill it, putting an end to whatever cosmic body its life force is tied to. If he were to kill it, he could accidentally kill matter, which you humans thrive off of, or space, or absolutely anything. To ensure our kinds safety, we must kill the child. He must be sacrificed to one of the other greater beings of good in the cosmos. That is why we need him."
Pacifica stood there, slack-jawed. They were going to kill him. She had only thought they were going to get some information from him. 'Why do you care so much, Paz? You haven't even seen him since his thirteenth birthday. He's probably been busy living his little monster-hunting life. I mean, he didn't even know it was you when you called! He's just a little twerp.'
"Why not, just, tell him to stop? It makes a lot more sense than this plan of yours. Do you know how much harder you're going to make it?" She was really going out on a limb here. Everything got very quiet all of a sudden. She knew what this meant, and she braced herself.
The cave shook with an earsplitting shriek, and the torture started.
[AN: As you all know, this is my second story. Yes, I am aware that I haven't finished the first one yet, but I needed to take a break. Writing my own ending is a little harder now that there is an official ending. Huge shout out to the amazing Jack Coffison, author of Welcome to Lovecraft. Reading that fic helped me find how I wanted my stories to go and be formatted. Definitely check out his works, they are worth it. I hope you like the story so far!]