Greeting readers! Welcome to my newest fic.

This is just the prologue and I promise Bill will come in next chapter when the story really begins. Also, I'm dpshrineinclosetgirl on tumblr if you want to follow me on tumblr for updates on this fic and maybe extra scenes and such. There is a link in my profile.

And I really want to thank my beta, cubot, for editing this story! I definitely feel better about posting this because of you!

All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.

-Edgar Allan Poe

Prologue: Back to Gravity Falls

She was crying.

She had her sweater pulled up over her head just like she always used to do when she was little. She was in Sweater Town again.

Dipper sighed. He had just managed to get her out of Sweater Town two weeks ago, and now they were back to square one.

"Mabel, are you going to come out and talk to me?"

She shook her head.

"Mabel, what am I going to do if you permanently move into sweater town?" Dipper joked to lighten the mood. "We're not supposed to be separated like that until college."

Dipper saw her tense. "D-don't talk about that," she croaked.

Dipper bit his lip, quickly realizing his mistake. Now that they were sixteen and getting older with every passing year, any talk of moving away from each other when they went to college was off-limits.

They just didn't want to think about it. Dipper didn't know why his brain thought this was a time to bring it up.

"Sorry," he apologized. "Now will you come out and talk to me already?"

"Dipper..." he heard her whisper, and he had to lean in to hear the rest. "Is there something wrong with me?"

Dipper leaned back, stunned.

"What? Of course not! What are you talking about, Mabel?"

She shifted so her eyes peaked over the neck of her sweater.

"Come on Dipper, isn't it obvious?" Her voice was thick from crying, and she sounded like she was on the verge of breaking down again.

Dipper shook his head. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Everyone leaves me, Dip!" Mabel exploded, her head finally emerging fully from her sweater, and tears were leaking down her face. "I can't keep a boyfriend! Ryan broke up with me two weeks ago, and Nick cheated on me! What's wrong with me? I think I've had a boyfriend barely longer than a month one time?" She started crying again, her shoulders shaking with every sob.

Dipper sat there, stunned at first, unsure about how to react, and then his instincts from years of being a brother kicked in.

"Oh, Mabel," he said softly as he wrapped his arms around his sister. She curled into him, crying heavily on his chest as he hugged her close. "There is nothing wrong with you. It's not your fault he cheated on you." His grip on his sister tightened protectively as he thought of that jackass. "He was a jerk and it's his loss. Don't blame yourself for his mistake."

She sniffed. "I-I know, but it's not just him… it's everyone I've dated! No matter how much I like them, they leave me."

Dipper frowned. He understood what his sister was talking about. Mabel had horrible luck with attracting guys who didn't stay around for very long, either because they turned out to be jerks or because they changed their mind about the relationship. There were a few times that Mabel had to break up with her boyfriend, but more often it was the other way around, and it always came as a shock to his poor sister, because Mabel was the type of person that when she fell for someone, she fell hard.

It wasn't like Mabel felt like she needed a boyfriend either. There were times when she declared that she wanted to be single for a while. However, a week would go by and suddenly a new boy would catch her eye. The problem was Mabel loved people too much. Mabel was the kind of person that could find the good in anyone, and because of this, her caring and trusting nature caused her to become romantically involved with some characters that Dipper found to be less than deserving.

"Mabel, none of those guys were your fault! You thought they were good people and they let you down."

"Do-do you think I date too much, Dipper?" Mabel asked, looking up imploringly to her brother, her brown eyes that matched his perfectly were wide and worried. "You were with your ex for two years before you guys broke up; I can barely go a month! I wish I was more like you and I could find someone who will like me for more than just the first week. M-maybe what Pacifica said last summer was right… maybe I date so much because I know no one likes me for very long. Maybe I am a slut."

Dipper couldn't believe what he was hearing. He pushed his sister away from him slightly so he could talk to her properly.

"Now you start listening to Pacifica?" he questioned incredulously. "Now?"

Mabel adverted her eyes to the ground.

"Mabel, you are not a-" Dipper struggled with the word slightly. Even putting his sister's name next to the word 'slut' made his insides crawl. "A slut," he finished finally. "So what if you date a lot? You liked every single one of those guys, didn't you?"

Mabel nodded. "Yeah… a lot… even though you said they gave you a weird feeling… Dipper," Mabel said miserably, "I should have listened to you."

"It's okay, Mabel," Dipper soothed. "I'm used to you not listening to me so why start now?"

That joke succeeded and made her smile, even if it was for just a second.

"Really, Mabel," Dipper stressed. "I might not like every guy you date, and I honestly I don't think any guy is good enough to date my sister, but who you date is your choice and it's not like I can stop you. There is nothing wrong with dating a lot. That's just how you do things, and you and I have always done things very differently, haven't we?"

Mabel nodded silently.

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with you, Mabel! You are just doing things your own way, and for you, doing things your own way sometimes means getting your heart broken. I-I'm different. I'm afraid of getting hurt," Dipper admitted. "I don't open myself up to many people, but Mabel, you've always been so much braver than me. You put yourself out there and you date even though the world tells you it's not going to work. And yeah, that means you get hurt more, but Mabel, that's something I've never been able to do and it's something I've always admired you for."

"What? Getting hurt?" she asked in confusion, her tears finally drying.

"No, trusting people! You trust them so easily, and sometimes a little too much. You're brave… the bravest person I know, and you go with whatever your heart tells you. Yeah, sometimes your trust is placed in the wrong person-"

"Sometimes? Try all the time," Mabel scoffed.

"That's not true," Dipper reasoned. "Some of those guys were really good people, and it just didn't work out. Your relationships might not last for very long, but one day you will find the right person and it will.

"Sometimes I wish I was more like you Dipper…" she mumbled into his shirt, disheartened.

Dipper sighed and closed his eyes. "And I'm so glad you're not, because sometimes…Mabel… I wish I was more like you."

Mabel hugged him tightly and they stayed like that for a long while until her breathing returned to normal and Dipper could tell she had calmed down.

"But hey," Dipper said cheerfully, causing her to look up with her tear-stained face. "Tomorrow none of this will matter, because guess where we'll be?" He prompted and she grinned like all her troubles where suddenly washed from her mind.

That's what that place did for them. It was their escape.

For the fifth summer in a row, the Mystery Twins were going back to the place where it all began.

Look out not-so-sleepy town of Oregon, the twins are coming back to Gravity Falls.

I love reviews so feel free to share any thoughts you have. The next chapter will be out soon.