Chapter 1: Enter Summer of 2014
Dipper and Mabel could hardly suppress their excitement. It had been almost a year, precisely nine months, since they'd last been to Gravity Falls. To return now was a reminder that they only had to say goodbye to their life of mystery and wonder for nine months out of the year, pleased with the fact that soon they'd be seeing both of their Great Uncles again, along with hopefully all of the other friends they'd left behind nine months ago.
"I bet they won't even recognize us!" Mabel practically screamed, giggling as she stared intently out of the bus window. Dipper rolled his eyes.
"In that pink cat sweater? They'll definitely recognize you Mabel. Besides, we're only like three inches taller than the last time we were here. A year hasn't changed us that much."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Mabel said, squeezing Waddles closer to her chest. The pig gave out an affectionate "oink". Their parents hadn't been happy to see her bring home a pig of all things, but upon seeing how much she loved the pink sack of flesh, they couldn't make Mabel get rid of it; it would clearly break her heart. Dipper knew exactly how that felt.
"Honestly, besides maybe a bit of maturity and more ease around strangers, I don't think eighth grade has even changed me that much. Yeah we have electives now, but High School Will have way more."
"Says you!" Mabel laughed. "You were always too mature, studying instead of hanging out with friends. Now there are just more people like you who focus on grades. I personally think it's been great having, like, ten times as many people around to make friends with every day!" Dipper smiled. If there was one thing eighth grade had provided Mabel, it was an overabundance of friends. She didn't always do her work, but teachers still loved her, and she was now in more clubs than you could count, most of them small, like knitting-club, a couple of them larger like Junior Student Council, the Middle-School branch of the High School Stu. Co. At their middle school, almost all of the clubs only allowed eighth graders in. Dipper himself had tried to found a Paranormal Investigations Club, quite unsuccessfully, and had settled instead for UIL Math and Science. He would have done History too, but most people didn't appreciate his views on ghosts and, more precisely, his insistence that the triangle atop the pyramid on the back of a dollar bill was, in fact, a depiction of Bill Cipher, the Demon of Dreams. People both laughed and looked terrified for weeks after he'd said that…. Maybe some part of them could sense he was right?
Dipper opened his mouth to speak again, but was cut off by Mabel's shrill shriek. Yeah, teen-hood had brought on an overabundant amount of those, too. Dipper turned to see what she was yelling about and couldn't help but grin happily too as a sign passed by outside the bus, boldly reading "Welcome to Gravity Falls! Nothing to see here folks." He and Mabel grinned at each other before abruptly standing as the bus came to a stop near the Mystery Shack.
The twins lugged all of their necessary possessions behind them, Dipper carrying a couple of his own bags and one of Mabel's while Mabel struggled with her own three duffle bags. Upon seeing the Shack, giant grins broke out on both of their faces, impossible to surprise even if they'd wanted to. They came up to the front and stopped abruptly on the front doorstep. Mabel considered just bursting in the door, but Dipper was already knocking on the wooden frame.
No sooner than he'd knocked was there a scuffling noise from inside and moments later, the door was flung wide open.
"Kids!" Their Grunkle Stan greeted them with open arms. They happily accepted the brief but tight embrace before being let inside, Ford clamping a hand on Dipper's shoulder and patting Mabel's head.
"It's great to see you kids again! Wait 'till Stan and I tell you what we've been up to these last months, traveling the world, tracking down abnormal phenomena!"
"That's great Grunkle Ford!" Mabel said. "And Dipper and I can tell you about eighth grade!"
"It was considerably boring," Dipper deadpanned. "I'm so glad to be back here!"
Grunkle Stan laughed. "Well, you two go put your things upstairs, Soos should be back by the time you come down." The twins nodded and rushed upstairs to begin unpacking their things. Not twenty minutes later they came scurrying back down, Mabel's stuffed animals littered across her bed and Dipper's books on the desk, and true to his word, Stan was standing next to Soos in the kitchen, Ford tinkering with something at the kitchen table, when the kids came in.
Soos held in his hand a brown box, pointing at it enthusiastically. "Dudes, look!" He opened it up and set a cake on the kitchen table by Ford that read in rainbow colors "Welcome Back!" Mabel's eyes widened and sparkled, but her and Dipper both still gave Soos a tight hug before setting to grabbing plates while Stan cut the sweet spongy bread that sat on their kitchen table.
"So, uh, where's Wendy at?" Dipper tried to ask casually as he scooped up another forkful of cake.
"She went out of town for the first couple of weeks of summer to see her Aunt, but she'll be back in a few days," Stan said. "Hoping to get your cap back?" Dipper blushed a little.
"I guess," he said, stroking the soft brown cloth of his current hat affectionately. Truth be told, he kind of adored the hat Wendy had given him, mostly because he still thought of it as Wendy's hat, and her promise that they'd see each other again to switch back this summer.
Mabel interrupted the conversation by scooping a few handfuls of sprinkles that appeared to have come from nowhere in particular onto her cake. She bit into another forkful, this time a "crunch" sound accompanying her every chew.
"Man, you two haven't changed a bit!" Soos said with a smile.
~Meanwhile Deep In The Forest~
Bill Cipher moaned, slowly sitting up. A wind blew through the shadowed forest and he instantly shivered, the tendrils of cold weather lasting even into the beginning of summer in the far-north state of Oregon.
He blinked a few times groggily, letting his two fresh eyes adjust to the dark environment around him. A quick glance to the right confirmed his location, the statue that was his old body resting halfway sunken into the ground, moss growing in random spots upon it. Bill reached out and touched it, mostly wishing that he would be magically transferred back into his original form, but all he met was a smooth cold surface brushing his fingertips.
He sighed. "He said time and form, I guess Axolotl never specified that he could chose the place," he said aloud to himself. He winced at his own voice; it was as high in pitch as ever, but now it cracked a little, and his throat was sore. For the first time he looked down at himself.
His body was young, maybe about eight years old by appearance, he couldn't tell exactly. Bill had never cared too much for how time effected the oh-so-short lives of humans…. His hair fell in his face as he looked down, blond, straight, shaggy strands that glowed a youthful golden appeared like silk before his eyes. He reached up a slender pale hand to brush the hair away, observing his thin small form. He wore soft black pants, a simple yellow button-down long-sleeved shirt, and a pair of black socks but no shoes. All things considered, The Axolotl had chosen well. Bill didn't appreciate the age of the body, but didn't doubt that it was because young minds were more susceptible to change and outside influence that this body had been created for him at this particular age. Bill imagined that the body had, in fact, been formed for him and was entirely his own; taking another person's body, even a corpse, didn't seem like something the ever-benevolent Axolotl would do. Besides that, where he was a creature of destruction, a demon, The Axolotl was naturally a god of creation and healing. Bill imagined that he may be The Axolotl's biggest reform project yet to date.
Bill shivered again as another gust of wind whipped through the trees, making them whisper. He missed being able to hear the song that they sang, the secrets the trees would murmur. With luck, he'd either come out of this exactly the same as he's been before Weirdmageddon, powers in tact, or he would in fact find redemption and regain his powers in that way. Either way, staying out in the woods of Gravity Falls wasn't an option, so he stood on shaky legs, glancing around him.
Likely, if he was still in Gravity Falls, he was supposed to seek out the Pines family. Surely no one on Earth was more fit to decide his punishment and, if it was destined, help him "change his ways". If Bill had his every hope come true, he would find a way to unlock the powers within him without having to be either punished or redeemed. This was, at this point, a very unlikely outcome. In fact, the Pines were probably going to start dishing out the punishment as soon as he knocked on their door.
Part of him, deep inside, secretly appreciated the whole situation he was currently in. He hadn't, after all, ever really wanted to be a demon….