December 2012

"Ugh! I hate the cold!"

"Quit complaining. You're the one who volunteered to come here." The women got out of the car, and took in the snow covered town. It appeared to be mostly abandoned, save for the occasional townsperson going about their day.

"Not even the locals are willing to brave the snow," Grace observed. "And here I thought the west coast was supposed to be sunny."

"Damn it, Grace! Would you please shut up?" said Beth, scolding her younger colleague. "The sooner we investigate… whatever it is we are supposed to look into, the sooner we can leave. Get Aris. He's talking to himself again."

Opening the rear door, Grace saw her pale friend was lost in a trance. Snapping at him and shaking him did nothing.

Do you feel that?

Yes. Something happened here. Something is interfering.

Hmm. What could cause a fracture like this?

If we find out, we could build a way home.

"Hey, Albino boy!"

"Hu?" Aris woke from his daze to find himself lying in the snow. "Sorry. I got lost in thought."

"Sure. When you are done talking to the brain worm, I would like to get on with the job," said Grace, offering him a hand.

Why did we bring her again?

She's smart and reliable. That should be enough for the brain worm.

Don't call me that.

Brushing off the snow, Aris turned to his coworkers. "We will split up and ask the locals about anything unusual happening here. We detected the anomalies four months ago, so the more recent the better. With that said, all information could be important. If it's not related to small town gossip, write it down."

"One question, sir," said Beth. "Is there any particular reason we are here now? Why didn't we investigate the anomalies when they appeared?"

"That's two questions," giggled Grace, earning her a light smack from the older woman.

"You know how the Board is about these kinds of things, Beth," Aris sighed. "Plus, the government was rumored to be involved at the time, and that always makes Huffman squeamish."

"Were they?"

"I found no evidence to suggest they were. It was just paranoia. Now, let's get moving. I don't want to waste what little time we do have."

I swear, if I hear 'Never mind all that' one more time…

They are afraid of something.

I noticed, and now we've wasted an entire day. I doubt anyone will give us the time of day if we try again tomorrow.

There are always the tiny men with pointed hats.

I am NOT going gnome hunting!

It's our only lead!

Aris sighed and took another sip of his hot chocolate. The three of them had come across the diner after a long day of fruitless interviews. Seeing as none of them had lunch, it was unanimously decided that an early dinner was in order. Nibbling on a fry, Aris took a quick glance at the booth Beth and Grace were sitting at. They were chatting and smiling like normal coworkers. He looked forward again, content with his lonely barstool and the voice in his head.

"Hey there, Handsome!"

Aris looked up to the grey hair waitress giving him a sweet smile. "Handsome? No one has called me that in a long time."

"That's a damn shame. The young ladies don't know what they are missing out on." She poured him a second hot chocolate and added whipped cream. "On the house."

Aris started at the mug, his eyes drawn to the whipped cream. He can only assume the waitress was referring to his snow white skin and hair that was only a few shades darker than the cream. Along with his glowing emerald eyes, Aris stood out in any crowd. He had long since learned to ignore any staring, but sometimes a person would draw attention to the fact, making him self-conscious. Like that group of teens he just noticed staring at him.

Gee, thanks Grandma.

You know she meant well.

Intentions don't mean much if you don't reach the desired outcome.

Aris ate another fry as he pulled his black hood lower on his face. He would pull up a second hood if his coat had one. He just wanted to eat his meal and get out. He focused on his food so intently; he didn't notice someone approaching him.

"Hey, dude."

"What?" Aris sighed, without looking up.

"I heard that you were…" she stopped, getting uncomfortably close to his ear, "a paranormal researcher."

Aris's eyebrows shot up. Turning to the girl, he saw it was one of the teens that were staring. The one with long, red hair and a baseball cap. "That's not entirely accurate, but I would be glad to hear what you have to share."

The girl took a glance around the diner. "Not here. Follow me." Aris did as he was told, being sure to tell Beth and Grace to watch his food.

The redhead didn't stop till they were a full kilometer down the road from the diner. Whatever this was about, it was either dangerous information, or Aris was about to get mugged. Jokes on them if it was the latter.

She turned to face him. "You're right," she said.

"Right about what?"

"Gravity Falls isn't normal. A lot of weird shit lives in these woods, and for whatever reason, none of it can leave."

"And what about everyone else? I've been dismissed all day."

"You can't blame them. They're scared. Something… bad happened in August. Most people are trying to forget."

The last anomaly was in August.

Maybe it's related.

Aris was quiet. He almost looked to be hypnotized. The girl was about to ask if he was okay, when his head shot up. Aris walked closer, intimidating the girl a little.

"What's your name?"

"Wendy Corduroy," she responded proudly, trying to intimidate him back. He almost found it cute.

"Can you prove any of this, Wendy?"

"All of it." A brief silence began to creep in.

"Why are you telling me this?" Aris asked.

"I… I kinda got into this weird stuff over the summer. But then it just ended… I miss it." Wendy looked away. Aris couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment or sadness or both. Perhaps they could help each other.

"It's okay to be a freak, kid. I should know." Aris held out his hand and a small green flame appeared in his palm. Wendy looked on in awe.

"How did you do that!?" she asked, temped to touch the flame.

"Oh, I know lots of tricks. And by the sounds of it, you know a lot about Gravity Falls."

This caught Wendy's attention, causing her to look at the man with skepticism. "What are you getting at?"

He offered his hand to her as it was engulfed by the green flame. With a fanged smile, he asked her, "Miss Corduroy, how would you like to help me change the world?"

June 2015

"The Mystery Twins are back, baby!"

"Another summer of adventure awaits!"

The 15-year-old twins cheered as they hopped off the bus. Mabel and Dipper had just finished their sophomore year of high school, and were more than ready to begin their forth summer in Gravity Falls.

Soos and Melody were waiting for them at the bus stop with grins on their faces. "How's is been, dudes?" Soos said, giving the twins a bear hug. "Man, you guys have gotten tall. Looks like you're falling behind, Dipper". The twins had grown over the past year, as both of them were only half a head shorter than Soos. But puberty had hit Mabel a little harder, giving her an extra inch on her brother.

"Did you honestly expect anything less from the alpha twin?" she boasted, drawing a sigh out of Dipper.

"Mabel, please don't start that again."

"ALPHA TWIN! ALPHA TWIN!"

Soon, they had begun another one of their sibling squabbles. Melody giggled as she surprised them with a hug of her own. "That's enough you two. You can fight later." The twins laughed and returned the hug.

"So, Melody… is it true?" Mabel asked, trying to hide her excitement.

"Is what true?"

"Did Soos ask you to marry him?"

"Of course he did, silly," said Melody as she held out her hand, showing off a silver engagement ring. Embedded on top was a navy-blue gem of impressive size.

"OHMYGAWD! OHMYGAWD! OHMYGAWD!" Mabel grabbed Melody's hand and gazed longingly into the gem. "It's beautiful," she said. As Mabel continued to stare at the ring, Dipper couldn't help but wonder about the size.

"Soos, how did you afford such a large diamond?"

"Funny you should ask," Soos said. "I didn't buy it. I got it from the gnomes."

"Yuck," Mabel said, letting go of Melody's hand and turning away. "Who in their right mind would work with the gnomes?"

"Dude"

"I said right mind, Soos"

"Alright, guys," Melody said. "We need to get back to the Mystery Shack. Soos can tell you all about it on the way there."

"Wait, what?" Dipper had an expression somewhere between shock and confusion as he met Soos' eyes in the rear-view mirror. "You ACTUALLY found someone crazy enough to marry the gnomes?"

"Yep. And it only took seven weeks of searching the weirdest blogs and message boards I could find," Soos said.

Mabel shared a glance with Dipper. "Is it normal to feel sorry for someone, but also be terrified by the very thought of their existence?" she asked.

"Don't worry sister. I feel the same".

"Oh, stop it you two", Melody scolded. "She's a really nice lady. She just occasionally shows up at the shack wearing a gnome hat and… demanding the customers to… bow down to… her." As she trailed of, Melody was forced to look away from the deadpan twins' gaze.

"Honey, the twins have a point," Soos said. "I had to ban her from visiting during business hours so she would stop scaring people off before they bought tickets. Looking back, I probably should have just saved up and bought a ring".

"Well, it's too late for that. Not that I'm complaining. This ring could make a Northwest jealous".

Dipper gazed once more at the gem as Melody held it up. "That thing doesn't have magical properties, right? I would like to avoid any and all death curses this year".

"Nah, dude. It's all good," Soos reassured him. "The gnomes did mention something about a protection spell, but we haven't run into any danger to test it with yet."

"And I plan on keeping it that way," Melody said.

"Have you guys decided on a wedding date?" Mabel asked, bouncing in her seat. She stopped when Dipper elbowed her in the side.

"Quit it. You're shaking the car."

Melody ignored their quarrel, happy to daydream about the big day. "We haven't decided on an exact date, yet," she said. "Sometime this summer, before the baby starts showing".

Dipper and Mabel went slack jawed. "Baby?!"

"Melody, you spoiled the surprise".

The woman looked away from Soos, embarrassment showing on her face. "Sorry, hon".

Mabel resumed her bouncing, barely containing the scream building inside. "Is it true? How far long are you? Was it romantic or spontaneous? Tell me EVERYTHING!"

"Mabel!" Dipper yelled at his sister. "Could you be anymore inappropriate? I doubt Soos and Melody want to tell us about their love life".

Mabel's questions had caused the young couple to blush. Melody was lightly pulling at her ponytail while Soos maintained a blank stare, trying to focus on driving. He eventually cleared his throat, causing the teens to quiet down.

"If you dudes must know, it happened on April 18th. So, ya, we got awhile," Soos said with a strained voice.

Mabel grew a look of skepticism at his response. "April 18th? That's oddly specific," she said, throwing a look to her brother. Dipper caught on, taking off his red baseball cap to scratch at his scalp.

"Hey, didn't Dragonborn 2 come out that weekend?" he inquired.

"I love that game," Mabel said. "Remember when we took, like, eighteen tries to kill the first boss because we both played rogue. You even hacked the AI files to figure out the best strat- ". Mabel gasped at the sudden realization of what Dipper was hinting at. "Oh my god! You guys are total nerd lovers! That's so cute!"

"Mabel! Seriously, I'm going to need hearing aids before graduation."

Melody was starting to pull at her hair harder, her embarrassment beginning to mix with a tinge of annoyance. "Did you have to give them the exact day?"

"They would have figured it out eventually," Soos sighed. Checking his watch, Soos decided to push down a little harder on the throttle. The sooner they got back to the Mystery Shack, the sooner they could decide on what to do for dinner. And the sooner they could put an end to the antsy twins' bickering. "You don't have any twins or anything in your family, right".

Melody stole a quick glance at the backseat before turning her eyes to the road. "Nope".

"Gracias al cielo".

Eventually, Dipper and Mabel stopped talking, opting to relax due to travel fatigue. The remaining drive to the Shack was uneventful. Dipper watched the trees go by, smiling when they saw the sign that said Welcome to Gravity Falls.

Thought I would take another crack at this story in my head. If you read my first rendition, then you might recognize a few bits. After this, is will be all new. All thoughts, comments, and criticisms are welcomed.