A/N: My laptop has been doing this weird thing where the keys won't work when I press them every now and then (Mostly the area around 'N' and 'M'). Maybe I've been putting too much pressure on the keyboard? Or there's a sinister force that doesn't want me to write anymore stories….

WARNING: This chapter contains some slight horror elements.

…

Chapter 1: Six Years Later

"Merge right onto Exit 219, entering Gravity Falls, Oregon," the GPS voice said.

Once they had passed the familiar billboard, Dipper shut off the system. He knew the way there without the GPS' help. The boy let out a sigh of relief. "I thought this trip would never end!"

"We would've gotten here sooner if you let me drive," Mabel chimed in as she shoved her magazine back into her purse.

The male twin shook his head. "Mabel, you drove up here last year, and as I recall, you ran over a deer."

"An already dead deer," she clarified and added, "and it was only half of a deer left."

"You still freaked out and almost ran off the side of the road."

"The car bumped!"

"That's what happens when you drive over things!"

Mabel groaned, dropping the argument immediately. She looked out the window as they drove through the town square. There was a lot of damage done to the town when Bill took it over all those years ago, and the citizens spent a lot of time fixing all that had been ruined. Gravity Falls still looked like your run-of-the-mill small hick town, but at least the buildings looked a bit nicer. To the twins, this was home.

"This is all weird, don't you think?" the female twin mused.

When they stopped at a stop sign, Dipper looked at her confused. "What do you mean?"

"You know, how we only used to come here during the summers, and now we're moving here to live permanently," she clarified.

"It is," he agreed, feeling the excitement in his stomach. He felt just as nervous as Mabel was feeling – especially since he has to do his own laundry now – but he was more excited to be out of the house and to have the freedom to study the supernatural and conspiracy theories as much as he wanted without his parents getting on his case about it.

"It's hard to believe that everything is changing so fast!" Mabel exclaimed, bringing Dipper out of his thoughts. "It seems like only yesterday when we were starting high school, and I thought that was gonna be crazy. But this is insane compared to that! We're adults now! We'll be living on our own and everything!"

"Mabel, you and I have faced crazier stuff than this," the male twin assured her. "You and I will do just fine in the adult world. We're gonna have a great summer together, and afterwards, you and the girls are gonna go to Portland State and have the time of your lives!"

That calmed down Mabel a little bit. It was true she was happy about going to college with Candy and Grenda, but it never stopped her from overthinking and getting nervous about everything – especially since Dipper was forgoing college to study as Grunkle Ford's apprentice. She gave her brother a small smile and went back to looking out the window.

It wasn't long before the twins finally made it to the woodland trail that led to the Mystery Shack. Both of them smiled as they drove through the uneven road, memories of their preteen years coming back to them and all the adventures they had there. It was hard for them to remember the summers before they started coming here.

The twins never told their parents about the dangerous stuff that went on in Gravity Falls, nor that they almost brought upon the end of the world. For one, they wouldn't believe them since the Weirdmageddon never went past the borders of the town. And even if they did believe them, there would be no way they'd ever let their children spend one more summer – let alone six – with their Grunkle Stan.

The reappearance of Grunkle Ford complicated things a bit. It was hard enough trying to come up with a logical reason for their 'dead' uncle Stanley to show up after thirty years. Since their grandpa Shermie had never told them about their other uncle (Mostly because he was only a baby when Stan was disowned), they were reluctant to let Dipper and Mabel go back there again. It took a lot of convincing from both Stan and Ford to let them visit for another summer. Once they saw how (mostly) behaved Stan was and how he treated the twins, they obliged.

They pulled up to the side of the shack right by the golf cart. There weren't that many vehicles there with the exception of Stan's Cadillac and Soos' pick-up. At that, Mabel rushed to get her seatbelt off. "Soos and Melody are here!"

The girl jumped out of the car before her brother could say anything. She ran right up the porch and to the screen door. However, instead of easily swinging open, Mabel crashed into it and fell back onto the ground. "Ow!"

Dipper held back a laugh as he started unloading the car.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Stan quickly apologized from the other side of the door. "Forgot to unlock it!"

Once he flipped the metal hook, the door swung open, but not by their great-uncle. A massive pink blur ran right past his feet and straight to the young brunette lying on the ground.

"Waddles!" Mabel exclaimed, hugging her pet pig.

"I swear that pig only ever runs that fast when you come up here," said their uncle as he walked towards them. "Any other day he's lying around or trying to chew up my clothes."

Mabel eased the pig off of her as she got up and gave Stan a hug. "Oh, Grunkle Stan! It's been forever since we've seen you!"

"What are you talking about, kid? Ford and I were at your kid's graduation two weeks ago."

"She's probably relieved we didn't die on the way back up," Ford said bitterly as he joined his family, "what with your bad driving and all."

"Hey, my driving is perfectly adequate for my age!" Stan argued as Mabel let him go.

"We almost went to jail for speeding, and you ran over a raccoon."

"You're still alive, aren't ya."

"Hey, dudes," Soos came out an intervened. "I thought you both agreed to hold off on the fighting when the twins came back."

"He started it," Stan accused, pointing at his brother.

Mabel shook her head at the three grown men. Neither of them had changed much in the last few years, except that the Stan-twins had a few more wrinkles than normal on their faces, and Soos had started shaving off his sort-of moustache more often. Eventually, the two brothers begrudgingly shook hands and apologized for arguing. Soos wanted them to hug it out, but they both said no.

"Would you guys mind helping us with our luggage?" Dipper asked once he was done unloading the car.

"Sure thing, dude," Soos smiled. He walked over and gave his friend a fist bump before grabbing two suitcases and bringing them into the house.

Mabel ran up behind him with her pink duffel bag. "Where's Melody and the new baby?"

"Sorry, hambone," the older man frowned. "The doctor says Felix has to stay home. He's only a week and a half old and is still building up his immunity to diseases and such. No other human contact except for the parents and my Abuelita."

"Oh, okay," Mabel nodded sadly. She was looking forward to seeing the new baby. "Do you at least have some photos of him?"

"Of course, dude," the handyman confirmed.

The two made it up the attic with the other three men following behind them. By the time the car was unloaded and all of their stuff was in their bedroom, everyone was starting to feel hungry. Normally they would've gone out to Greasy's Diner, but the twins were still exhausted from the nine hour drive it took to get here. Stan decided to order some pizza and the gang made an evening of sitting in front of the television set and watching the video the Grunkles took of their graduation.

"And here we are driving across the Golden Gate Bridge!" Stan's voice was heard as the TV showed the arches of the bridge zooming by. Suddenly, a horn honked nearby and the camera turned to a blue car that zoomed by them. "And this jerk just cut us off!" He angrily yelled, then turned the camera to his brother. "Ford! Let's show this guy what for!"

Ford, who was driving the vehicle, refused to look at the camera. "We are not going to get into some kind of crazy street fight," his brother said. "We are gonna be late enough as it is!"

"Hey, we would be there faster if you let me drive!"

"It was either me driving, or getting banned from the state of California."

"Which would bring my count to thirty-three!" Stan proudly proclaimed.

Ford shot a quick look at his brother. "Shouldn't you wait to use that camera at the graduation? You'll waist all of the film!"

"This is the first time you and I have been on a road trip together," he reminded. "I want to capture every moment of it! I also packed a bunch of extra cassette tapes. Soos said he could edit them all together like some kind of film and put it on a disc or something like that."

On cue, a tiny graphic popped up in the corner of Soos giving a thumbs up and a caption next to it reading "Soos Approved".

The twins laughed at their uncles' antics, making their own road trips here look tamer by comparison. Luckily, Soos didn't spend as much time keeping in the road trip clips as Stan did filming them, so it wasn't long before they got to the actual graduation.

Mabel had a smile on her face when her brother came on the screen, walking across the stage to accept his diploma. She remembered how nervous he was that day, thinking he was going to trip on stage and fall into the orchestra pit. As his sister assured, everything went off without a hitch. The boy smiled and waved at Stan's camera as he walked off the stage.

When Mabel got on stage and accepted her diploma, she bent her head towards the audience, and her cap lit up with rainbow lights that spelled out "Mabel: Class of 2018". A few people (and Stan) could be heard cheering in the background.

"How did you manage to do that Mabel?" Soos asked excited. "I can't even see the wires!"

"Just a few LED lights and a hole punch," the brunette explained. "The tiny wires were duct taped to the inside."

After Mabel had left the stage, the rest of the ceremony was pretty uneventful. The valedictorian gave her speech and all the graduates had thrown their hats up in the air. After that, it cut away to the twins' parents trying to get pictures of them together, their uncles, and a few of their friends. Then it cut away to the graduation party.

As Mabel watched the video, her eyes were starting to droop shut. She did have a long day, and didn't get much sleep on the drive up. She looked over at Dipper who seemed to be half awake himself. Not wanting to disturb him or anyone else, she scooched closer to her brother and laid her head on his shoulder. Her eyes shut as she started to get some rest.

…

The next day, Mabel went on a mystery walk with Dipper and Ford. The three were trying to hunt down one of the creatures their Grunkle had recorded in his new set of journals. He had only seen it in passing and managed to draw a quick sketch of it before it scampered off. The photo looked like a cross between a rabbit and a horned lizard.

"Were there any other features you noticed about this creature, great uncle Ford?" Dipper asked as he looked at the journal. "Noises it made? How it smelled? Something that could help us track it?"

"Not much," the older man admitted. "The only time I ever saw it, though, was when it would bounce around the trees."

"Well, looks like we'll have to go into the woods to find it then," Dipper concluded.

Mabel gave a cheer. "It's a good thing I wore my woodsy sweater!" For emphasis, she twirled around to show off her green camouflage sweater with plain brown skirt and hiking boots. She also wore a headband that had fake leaves sewn into it.

"I… guess so," Dipper replied. He always thought Mabel put too much emphasis on her wardrobe. But then again, maybe the camo get up would help conceal her from the creature they were tracking and not frighten it too much.

Once the three had their hiking and tracking gear all set up, they headed out. They invited Stan to join them, but he declined saying that someone had to run the shack. He wasn't much for discovering the supernatural anyway.

Once the trio were in the forest, they began their tracking. They noticed a few clawed footprints in the ground and started following them. "These prints look similar to lizard feet," Dipper noted. "And the sketch you drew had scaly paws."

"True, but I don't think they are the same shape," said Ford. "These look more like chicken prints."

As Mabel listened to their musings, a light caught shone in the corner of her eye. She tried to block it, thinking it was the sun, but then she noticed the light flapping back and forth. She looked to see a butterfly balancing on a big leaf. It had golden wings that seemed to reflect the sunlight. They sparkled like gold dust.

The girl was amazed by this. She had never seen a butterfly this beautiful. "Hey guys," she called back to her team. "Come look at this!"

She looked at her comrades, but neither of them seemed to be paying attention to her. They were still pointing and analyzing the footprints.

Figures, the girl thought bitterly. She turned back to the butterfly, but it started flying away from her. "Hey!" She called out.

She chased the butterfly as it flew further into the forest. Mabel pulled the butterfly net out of her sack and started trying to catch it. Every time she tried to swipe at it, it just seemed to fly faster out of her reach. She tried hiding every time it stopped at another plant and then jumping out to surprise it, but it still didn't work. It's like the insect knew her every move.

Eventually, Mabel got frustrated with the thing and let it fly away. She sat by a tree, catching her breath and getting a drink of water from her canteen. As she rehydrated, she noticed the forest looked slightly darker than before. She looked towards the barely seeable sky and noticed the sun was starting to set.

"Oh no," she groaned. "Dipper and grunkle Ford are probably looking for me."

She got up and started walking in the direction she just came. It was pretty hard to see without the sun, but it was still too light to pull out her flashlight.

"Dipper! Grunkle Ford! Where are you?!" she called out.

She got no reply. She called out their name a few more times, and there still wasn't no answer. Where were they? She fished through her bag and pulled out her cell phone, cursing herself for not doing this in the first place. She dialed her brother's number and pressed the phone to her ear. The phone rang a few times before she heard a clicking and scratching sound on the end. There was no hello from her brother. Just the sound of his breathing.

"Dipper? Are you okay?" she asked, slightly concerned.

"I'm sorry," said a voice that obviously didn't belong to her twin. "Pine Tree can't come to the phone right now."

Mabel froze, a chill running down her spine. There was only one person she knew that ever called Dipper that.

"He's too busy… decomposing."

"W-What did you do to him!" she said angrily, trying to keep her voice steady.

"What I should've done years ago!" Bill exclaimed through the phone. "If I had known I was going to be defeated by a couple of twelve year olds, I would've done away with you a lot sooner!"

Mabel had a hard time getting her thoughts straight. Did Bill say he just killed Dipper? He couldn't have! They destroyed him with Ford's gun years ago! There should be no reason for him to be alive! And no reason for Dipper to be dead.

"What's the matter, Shooting Star? I thought you'd be happy with this!" the demon taunted. "With your brother gone, there's no more shadow for you to be forced behind. Not to mention Sixer won't be picking him over you anymore… Mostly because I killed him, too."

"YOU'RE LYING!" she screamed through the phone. She threw it at the tree and it shattered into pieces. She started running as fast as she could through the forest. She had to find her brother and uncle. They weren't dead. The triangle had to be holding them hostage just to bait her. She would find them, and they would defeat Bill together.

She quickly found herself out of the forest and in front of the Mystery Shack. She felt a quick sense of relief. Surely grunkle Ford still had the demon slaying gun hidden away in his office. She ran into the shack.

"Grunkle Stan!" she called out. "I need you to find the demon slaying gun! Bill is-"

She stopped, noticing that Stan wasn't in the shop. It was completely empty, it gave the girl the creeps. Mabel looked towards the entrance to the hall of fake taxidermy creatures and saw a streak of blood in the middle of the doorway. The girl cringed, her heart beating fast. She began walking towards the entrance. Once she was fully inside, the streak had turned into a trail, which she reluctantly followed. It took her past the unicorn-on the cob and the Thighclops until she was at the back of the store. She looked up at the main display and screamed.

Stan's head was sitting in a glass display case, his face set in a permanent expression of fear and wet blood soaking the bottom of the display case. Next to him was a sign that read "The Cheapskate".

Horrified, Mabel started backing away slowly until she bumped into something behind. She jumped and turned to see she bumped into a pedestal. On top of it was a bloodied hand screwed onto a metal stand to keep it upright.

The hand had six fingers.

Mabel let out another scream and ran as fast as she could out of the display room. She had to get out of that shop. She threw open the front door, but something else bumped right into her, causing her to fall to the floor with another scream.

In front of her was Dipper, hanging from the porch roof by a rope tied around his neck. Mabel looked at him in horror, tears running down her face and limbs shaking in fear. Bill had been telling the truth. Her family was dead. She had no one left.

Suddenly, another flash of light hit her eye. She blinked back her tears and noticed that the shiny butterfly she was chasing earlier was sitting on Dipper's shoulder.

Before Mabel could process what was happening, the butterfly flew right past her and into the center of the room. It floated in midair, its wings growing brighter than it had before. It glowed until it was nothing but pure light. Then the light began to morph into a larger shape. Almost instantly the light popped out like dynamite, causing Mabel to cover her eyes, fearing she'd go blind. Once the room was back to its normal lighting, she looked back up to see there was no longer a butterfly.

Floating in its place was Bill.

The girl was frozen in shock and fear. She could barely utter a word. Bill was the butterfly the whole time. It led her away so he could kill her brother and uncles.

"Long time no see, Shooting Star," the triangular demon greeted in a too-friendly manner. "Last I saw you, you were a wee bit short." He pushed his fingers together to emphasize his point.

"I-I grew up," the girl stammered out. She mentally berated herself for choosing such stupid last words.

"That much is obvious," he taunted, "but I think today's the day your growth spurt ends."

At that, the door behind Mabel slammed shut, and two long branches jutted out of the walls on each side of her. They entwined themselves around Mabel's arms and pulled her up to a standing position. The feeling in her limbs were returning as she tried to struggle against the grip of the foliage, but the restraints were just too tight.

"It's just as you thought, Shooting Star," Bill said menacingly. "There is no one left to protect you."

The demon held up his hands and a gun materialized out of thin air. She quickly saw that it was the same gun Ford had built to kill Bill before.

"This gun could do nothing but stun me," he proclaimed, aiming the gun right at her. "Imagine what it can do to mortals!"

"No! Please don't!" Mabel screamed desperately, pulling on her restraints again.

"Time for this star to turn into a black hole!" the demon laughed at his own joke.

Without a second thought, Bill pulled the trigger. The last thing Mabel saw was bright red light…..

…

"Mabel!"

Her eyes snapped open. She was breathing heavily and could feel cold sweat all over her body.

Dipper was sitting right in front of her, worry written all over his face. Ford was kneeling next to her brother on his left, and Stan and Soos were standing behind both of them, all with the same concerned expressions.

Mabel looked at her surroundings. There was no sign of Bill or blood anywhere. There was only some boxes of pizza on the end table and the sound of Stan and Ford's road trip on the television.

"D-Dipper?" her voice was shaky and weak with fatigue.

"It's okay, Mabel," her brother assured her. "It was only a nightmare. You're safe."

The girl wasted no time in hugging her brother as tight as she could. She didn't care about her own well-being at the moment, as long as her brother was still alive.

"Mabel, what was the dream-" Ford began to ask, but Stan placed a soft yet firm hand on his shoulder.

"Let her be," he said gently.

Dipper comforted her sister as she cried into his chest and silently meowed to herself, which started to calm her down as usual. It was only a dream, she kept herself thinking. It was only a dream.

(GSV MRTSGNZIV SZH LMOB QFHG YVTFM!)

….

In the book Dipper and Mabel's Guide to Mystery and Nonstop Fun, one of Bill's hidden codes explains that Mabel meows herself to sleep after having a nightmare. I thought it was interesting and heart breaking, so I added it to the story.

So, what are those jumbled up numbers, you ask? Well, I've been getting into codes lately, and I thought it'd be fun to leave you guys codes to solve at the end of every chapter. Just like Hirsch does in the credits of the show. The codes will either be a favorite quote from the previous chapter, something goofy, and I'll try to sneak in a few hints about what's to come in future chapters. The code is an Atbash cipher (meaning A = Z, B = Y and so forth). You can find the full code in the book mentioned above, or on the Gravity Falls wikia under the List of Cryptograms category. I will publically reveal all codes in the epilogue of this story.

Thank you for reading! Be sure to leave a review on the way out ;)