The two siblings took their time getting home, taking their usual morning walk around the neighborhoods. There wasn't much conversation between the two of them as Mia had her head filled with worry and didn't have much to say regardless. Thinking back to what she decided last night, it would be a good idea to figure out her words for when she approached her father.
They seemed to have arrived at their house sooner than they both hoped. Mark set a hand on her shoulder. "You'll be alright. You can't disappoint him worse than I have." He gave her a smile and unlocked the door, holding it for her to go first.
Unfortunately, they had to walk in front of his office. Mia gave a peek through the glass and saw him busy at his computer. His eyes flicked over his glasses to her, making contact for a fraction of a second before going back to his computer.
Her pace picked up before slowing down into the kitchen. Her mom must've already gone to work seeing how she wasn't around the area. Cold rushed over her body making her hairs stand on end. Mark shuffled through the freezer and grabbed a frozen meal and set off to microwave it.
Mia figured she'd do the same for now, grabbing one for herself as well. While Mark's was being nuked, she studied hers. Their dad only wanted them to eat healthy and only the best, even if it was frozen. At least he understood their mom couldn't be there all the time to cook.
"Mia-" his sharp voice made her jump out of her trance "-when you get done eating, meet me in my office." She looked up to see Jack looking to her before moving down the hallway. She took a deep breath and set a hand on her chest. The beating organ nearly jumped out of her at that. It was now or never, she thought.
"Close the door behind you," her father instructed. Mia took a deep breath before doing so. She didn't need to be told to take a seat. Her hands folded themselves on her lap while she forced herself not to chew on her own tongue. It was a few moments later before he turned his attention from the monitor to her. He removed his glasses before setting them on the desk.
He opened his mouth to speak but Mia cut him off, "May I speak first?" She hadn't intended to be the first to speak, but her nerves were getting the best of her. Jack gestured his hand to her, giving her the permission. Another deep breath filled her lungs. "I am fully aware of my actions as of late. There isn't an excuse. I was acting out, more than I should have. I understand you think business is my future and I should be more aware that it can be very important one day. However, I need you to understand my passion lies elsewhere. I give you my word, I'll bring up my business grade if you meet me halfway."
Jack took his time to listen and to think of how to answer. His eyes fixated themselves on something else, as he usually did when thinking. Finally, he spoke, "If this is what it takes to get your grade up, so be it. I will bother you only if I must, but do not expect to try and stray from your future."
Well, it was close enough, she supposed. Probably as good as it would get for now. It was a relief for her to hear. "Thank you."
"Now, I need to talk about your friends: those Pines twins." The relief was nice while it lasted. "I do believe that having associations during school is important for someone growing up. It provides them with building social skills and learning about others. However, I believe those two aren't going to be any help for your future. They may have their futures planned out, and they may go places, but they won't take you places."
Mia wanted to snap a response at him but swiftly thought against it, not wanting to provoke him. "Can I still go to Gravity Falls this summer?"
"Only if, when the summer ends, you use all the time you can for your future. Friends won't get you anywhere in life."
She bit her tongue. "Yes, sir."
"Glad to hear. I don't have anything else to talk about. Close the door on your way out."
Mia let herself out and took a sigh of relief with the door shut behind her. She made her way to her brother's room, letting herself in, and promptly planted herself onto his bed. One of his pillows now occupied her face.
Mark rolled his chair across the floor and shut the door with his foot. "Went as well as it could?" he guessed. He rolled back to his desk, jotting down things in a notebook.
Mia pulled the pillow off. "I sucked up and he calmed down for now. I'm still able to go to Gravity Falls this summer. And if I bring up my grade, he'll stay off my case."
"For him, that sounds like a win."
"Rather a good start."
Mark sighed through his nose in sympathy. "I doubt you're going to get any better than that, Mia." He flipped a couple of pages through the notebook. "However, I think by the time summer is over, I should have enough to where we can officially move out."
His sister perked up at the news. "Really?" His smile assured her that he was being sincere. With his job, Mark had been saving up for years now, planning ahead for him to be able to move out and bring Mia with him. Their dad didn't want her getting a job and to focus on her studies, so she is forever grateful to him for looking out for her. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Couldn't have done it without mom." This was true. It was her idea, as Mark had revealed some time ago. She has contributed to the funds, but was hard to when their dad controlled where her paycheck went. She always had them in mind.
Mia sat up with a thought going through her head, something she didn't think about before. "I've been having weird dreams the last couple days." Mark didn't say anything and let her continue. "Dipper suggests that it may be a demon or ghost or something of the sort."
"What makes him think that?"
"Oh, the thing says he wants to help our situation and to teach me more math and science. And he states that he wants my help with something, but is going to let me decide whether to help him or not."
"I would believe Dipper to be right. Sounds like something a demon would do. What's it look like?"
"I have no real idea yet. It's just been a shadow with an eye. If he appears again, I'm going to try to persuade him to showing himself."
"I know you'll be careful, but I need to say it anyway."
"Always am."
He accepted the reassurance. "It's still pretty early. Your homework is done, right?" She nodded. "Wanna spend the day at China Beach? I'm almost done with this." He tapped on his notebook.
"Sure. Sounds like a good time killer." When Mark was done, they headed down the stairs. Mia wanted to snag a couple bottles of water for the road.
"Where do you two think you're going?" Jack was sitting at the table eating. His glasses rested near his plate while he scrolled through something on his phone.
"China Beach," Mia answered. "Would that be acceptable?"
It was always hard to tell what he was thinking, especially when he looked at them through his narrowed eyes. "Be home by dinner or there will be consequences." This was mostly directed to Mark.
"Sure, dad." The two of them walked out of the house and headed to get Mark's car. "Sure as hell wouldn't want to keep disappointing him." Mark pulled out a cigarette and promptly lit it. "I think I stress him out."
"I think everything stresses him out. Might explain that stick up his ass."
"No kidding."
Mabel answered the door soon after the chime of the doorbell. "It's only been two hours, guys. Do you have that hard of a time staying away?" the girl teased, moving aside to let them in.
"I'm just here to pick up the keys." Mark stepped to the key rack and plucked his car keys off it.
Mabel's eyes lit up. "Where are you going?"
Mia answered, "Figured we'd take a nice day to go to China Beach."
"You think we'd be able to tag along?"
Mark ruffled her hair a bit. "If you think your brother would be up for it."
"He in his room?" Mia asked, bending a little to glance into the hallway. When Mabel gave her an 'mm-hm,' she volunteered to get ask him.
She made her way to his open door and took a look inside. Dipper was knelt down at his closet going through some things in a box. She recognized most as being items and memories of Gravity Falls, be it gifts or journals. A slip of old paper was in his hands. One that he choose to preserve and laminate for two reasons, good and bad. The better reason was that it was the letter from his family and friends right as the summer ended on their thirteenth birthday. Dipper had shown this to her a couple years back when she first met him and expressed her own interest in mythology and the paranormal. However, he never intended for her to see the second reason. The dreadful words on the back that he was staring at in that moment, the ones that even gave her chills. 'We'll meet again some sunny day.' It was a harsh reminder that kept their fears lit, worried for the day when, not if, he returns. Dipper and Mabel were always worried if they would be more prepared this time, no matter how much their Grunkle Ford assured them.
She gave a soft knock on the door, spooking the boy out of his hypnotic state. "Hey, we're gonna head to China beach. Would you like to come with?"
Dipper turned back to the paper and set it back in the box. "Uh, sure. Maybe that will be good for me."
Mia stepped in and knelt down with him. "You're here now, Dipper. Things are better, you've made so much progress over the years. You've both come so far and have come out so much stronger. No matter what happens, you're not alone."
His eyes looked back to the box. He covered it up and slid it back into the closet. "But how will I know if we'll be ready? After all that he caused between us, how will we know we'd be mentally ready when he returns. How are we so-"
Mia cut him off with a finger to his lips. "It's hard to say what we would do in the moment. The only thing we can do right now is be trust those around us and trust yourself." Mia took her finger away. "Now what brought this up?"
"Honestly, your dreams. I know it's little to go off of, but when you said the voice was high pitched and it had one eye. It's starting to make me worry."
Mia felt a twinge of guilt pulse through her being. Knowing this would make it harder for her to tell him anything. On the other hand, she couldn't help having these problems. Worst case scenario would be Cipher. What would she do then? She didn't realize she was chewing on her tongue until she snapped out of it with a question. "Hey, worst case scenario, it is Bill. What should I do?" She hated to ask it, but she needed to know.
An old determination lit up behind those brown eyes of his. "You tell me, all right? Doesn't matter what I just said. It's too important of a matter to keep it secret. Understood?"
Mia gave a smile at him. "Will do, Captain." She tapped his shoulder and stood up. "Let's head out to the beach. We don't have all day."
Mia and Mabel walked together on the warm, white sands. Both had their shoes off wading ankle deep in the water. Both pairs of eyes scanned around looking for anything interesting that may have washed ashore. Mia looked to Mabel, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose and took out the plastic ring from the water bottle she was chewing on. She wanted to speak, but really couldn't find the right words to say.
Mabel bent down and snatched a shell out of the water, happy with the find. "It's too bad we don't get a lot of shells around here," she remarked, looking over the shell and smiled seeing as the shell was mostly intact.
"It's a real shame we can't go very far to be able to find some good ones."
She dried the shell off on her shirt and pocketed the small treasure. "I couldn't agree more! Maybe we can convince Grunkle Stan and Ford to take us to the beach this summer."
"Oregon might have better beaches than California. That would be really nice."
Mabel giggled at the current thought running through her mind. "Maybe we'll even find some cute guys to look at. Huh, huh?" Mabel elbowed Mia and her giggling turned into a laugh.
Mia almost snorted at the idea. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to look, right?"
"That's the idea!"
"Wouldn't he get jealous, though?"
Mabel smiled wider at the thought of him. "That's why I said to only look. I'm still keeping my promise to him."
Mia knew how hard it was, having to wait for someone. The summer before she turned 18, Mabel had spent some time with an old acquaintance of theirs in Gravity Falls. They spent the summer together before she promised to wait for him to come of age as well. "He turns 17 next year, right?"
"Yep, then I'll only have to wait one more year. That reminds me, how is Mark's relationship going?"
"Still going really well. He visits when he can, though they video chat almost every spare moment they can at home."
"Does your dad even know?"
"No. He thinks that if our dad found out, he'd kick him out or do something to rule over his life again."
"I don't blame him if that's the case." The twin took a look back behind her. "We got pretty far. Should probably return to the guys.
Smoke exhaled with the hot breath of the man that gazed over the waters. He was enjoying the peace and quiet while the younger was jotting notes and script down in his journal. "So what can I do to help?"
Dipper's pencil stopped, giving him time to think. He had already expected Mia to tell Mark about the dreams. "All we can do is be there for any events and wait. She's smart enough to know not to make a deal with something like that. The only thing we have to worry about right now is that demons are very manipulative. They'll say anything and find any way to get you to make deals with them. However, if it's who I'm worried it is, then we may have time to really think of something."
"Why is that?"
"If it is… him… Then he can't do anything outside of Gravity Falls. Even if he can contact someone, he'd be unable to do anything." Dipper began to lightly shake and he set his forehead on the book. "At least I still hope so."
Mark set a hand on Dipper's back and rubbed. He didn't say anything, there was no need to. Sometimes someone's company is all that was needed.
The smell of pork hit Mia's nose along with the sizzling of the skillet. The smell almost made her sick. Why couldn't they have something new for once? "We're home!" she called out to the house.
Mia made her way to the kitchen where her mom was busy cooking. "Where did you two go and enjoy your day?" she asked in a caring tone, a smile on her face mirrored that.
"China Beach. Just wanting to relax before the weekend is over."
"How did the party go?"
"Well enough," Mark answered, coming around the corner.
Their mom, Iris, quietly gestured for Mia to watch the food for a moment. She then went over to her purse hanging off one of the chairs. "That's really good to hear. I'm glad you two are enjoying your time." She quickly pulled something out and handed it to Mark, mouthing a couple words to him. He nodded and looked at it. Two 100-dollar bills were curled up in his hand before he shoved them into his pocket. He mouthed a 'thank-you' to her.
"How long before dinner is ready?" Mia asked, moving around the chops.
"A few more minutes, not too long."
Mark and Mia were very grateful of their mom. She always looked after them as much as she could, even if it meant distracting their father away from them. As Mark went to his room, he smiled to Mia. It was only a matter of time now.
Mia laid in bed, the day behind her and school to come in the morning. A soft light from her phone lit her face. She was absentmindedly playing a simple app on her phone, waiting for her eyes to tire out. Luckily, it wasn't long until they did. She plugged her phone in the charger and rolled over to get comfortable.
"Good evening, Mia!" That familiar voice resounded in her mind before she even opened her eyes.
The familiar scene of the void welcomed her. That was a more ominous than it should have been. She glanced around for where that annoying voice was coming from. "Good evening."
It appeared as the usual shadow it was. "So! Ready to learn anything?"'
She only had a few moments to think. "Quick question, can I get a name from you? I refuse to call you a friend."
The creature's eye looked around, figuring something out. "Hmmm, I've got a better idea! If you let me stay longer tonight, I'll show you what I look like. All you gotta do is want me to stay here longer."
She bit her lip. This was almost too easy. "Sure. I want you to stay here and teach me longer."
"Cool! I can't stay a full eight hours, but this time will be more than just a short conversation." The shadow burst into blue flames without hesitation. Mia had to shield her eyes from the flash. Peeking over her arm, she saw the figure step out. He was humanoid, tall and slender. When the flames died down, her breath hitched in her throat.
The man stood there, leaning against his cane. One vibrant yellow eye pierced her accompanied with a cocky and knowing smile. Tipping his top hat to her in greeting, he said, "Nice to formally meet you, Mia."
Out of all the things she was expecting, this was not one of them. He was not one of them. She was stunned in shock, the fear would set in later. "Bill-"
"-Cipher. You guessed it, kid!" He propped his hat back on top of his striking blonde hair, the black roots showing through with enough attention to detail. He twirled his cane around and adjusted the bowtie that adorned his yellow suit. He tilted his head to the side for a moment, the blonde locks falling away to show his right eye covered with a black eyepatch. In the moment, it was very fitting, but that was the last of Mia's thoughts right now. "So, what would you like to begin with? Theoretical physics? Number theory?" He smiled at the next one, almost knowingly. "Quantum mechanics?"
This really caught her attention. It was something she dreamed of, making a breakthrough in science in some fashion. The temptation only made it harder for her to decline. "There's no way in hell I'm going to let you teach me! Not after everything you've done to them."
"So it seems you have paid attention to what Pinetree has told you. Doesn't matter how long you ignore me, I'm still here. Just like you wanted."
"Then can't I will you away? What's stopping that?"
"The fact that I'm already here. You may as well have invited a vampire into your home."
Mia mentally cursed herself. She couldn't believe what she had just did, but on the other hand, how was she to know? The first thought that came to her mind was to immediately tell Dipper about this. Memories flooded through her from over the years. Flashes of having to be there for Mabel and Dipper through their anxieties and PTSD they gained after the events of Weirdmageddon. The nightmares, the regrets, all the therapy for the both of them. They have been doing so much better, could she really bring it all crashing down?
"Hey." This snapped her out of the struggle for the moment. She met Bill's eye, his yellow complementary to hers. "How about we just take the time to talk instead?" He summoned a chair and threw his coat tails back before sitting down. Mia heard one summoned up behind her. "Have a seat."
