Hello everyone! Sorry for taking so long on this chapter. This week was quite busy for me.
Two things before we start:
The first segment of this chapter is a flashback to one character's POV as Weirdmageddon begins. The second segment continues the end of the previous chapter.
Also, I forgot to give a shout-out to Big-Sister-K on deviantART last chapter, who gave permission for me to use a wonderful piece of art by her as this fic's cover. Completely slipped my mind in mentioning her in the Author's Note.
Plus, I haven't been adding a disclaimer since Chapter 1! What is going on with me?
Anyways, we all know that I don't own Gravity Falls or its characters. Alex Hirsch and Disney does.
It was about a quarter past seven. The sun shone its setting red-orange colors while it sank in the distance under the horizon of the valley's peaks. A peaceful lull hovered over the small downtown of Gravity Falls, Oregon.
The town's center had drawn a small, intermediate buzz of activity. It had been a quiet night for Susan Wentworth, who had been serving dinner to the few regular customers at Greasy's Diner. By seven o'clock, the benches and tables were empty and she didn't expect anyone else to arrive for a quick bite. Tourist numbers had already begun to dwindle as the summer season was now winding down.
Wiping down the ketchup-mustard stained tables, she decided that she would close the place early tonight. The diner's owner, Gertrude, had left her in charge of the restaurant while she went to go visit her family in Vancouver, Washington for a few days. Looking out the windows, Susan could see the beautiful orange painted sky out of her one open eye. Folks passed by the diner outside, seeming to enjoy the calm that had swept the town this evening.
She continued her routine of wiping the tables, grill, and setting the kitchen in order for tomorrow morning. The woman was putting away coffee pots when she heard somewhat of a muffled explosion that came from outside. The floor began to rumble and she lost her balance, accidently letting go of the coffee pots she was holding on to. The glass pots shattered as they hit the floor, Susan grabbing onto the counter to keep herself upright while the ground continued to vibrate.
Before she could even guess what was happening, the shaking stopped. She stood in embarrassment, looking down at the glass shards that now lay scattered across the kitchen floor.
She stumbled out of the kitchen and headed towards the door, hoping someone outside could explain what was going on. Some of the windows by the booths were now cracked, while some managed not to split apart in what she thought was an earthquake. But the waitress swore to herself she heard some sort of an explosion before the ground quaked all around her. Whatever had occurred though, Gertrude would not be happy about the broken pots and windows.
She pushed the door outwards, almost falling down as she forgot about the few narrow steps that led to the diner's entrance. She caught herself before she tripped and slowly made her way down the stairs and onto the sidewalk. Susan could feel that a wind had picked up and her surroundings glowed in dark red-orange, much darker than the lighter shade that she saw out the window a short time ago. She could see some people standing by the Gleeful car dealership a few shops over, including the town's two cops. Hoping she could get some information on whatever was going on, the diner worker ran to join the few congregants standing by the car lot.
By the time Susan had joined the group, Mr. Gleeful himself had also stepped out of his office to see what was happening. She was so wrapped up in wanting to ask what was going on that she didn't even notice the anomaly that lay above them.
"What's going on, Sheriff?!" Susan desperately asked the two shell-shocked officers.
Blubbs' answer was interrupted by a sound no one expected.
Laughter rang through the air. The cackling, maniacal laugh stung everyone's ears.
Blubbs took off his sunglasses in horror. All he could muster as a response to the waitress' question was a raised arm, pointing to the sky behind her.
Susan slowly turned in fear, wondering what could be the source of this craziness.
Even when she saw it, she had to raise her lazy eye to make sure she wasn't imagining what was above her.
A giant 'X' shaped rip had torn through the sky and a rotating black pyramid floated at the center. It seemed the pyramid was laughing.
In her fear, all she could speak was one word.
"Wha?!"
Dipper and Blendin sat in silence. The time traveler had just revealed the story of how the demon that they could hear wreaking havoc on the town of Gravity Falls had tricked him into possessing his body in order to get the Rift from Mabel. Bill had played Blendin using the one thing that he wanted to know the truth about so badly: his family.
The triangle had only one gift; which was using people's emotions and secrets to get what he wanted. He used Blendin's family to possess his body, and then used Mabel's desire of a longer summer to get the Rift and become a physical form. The young man could only look down in guilt, knowing that it was his selfish actions that put this dimension on the path to destruction.
The blast of energy that made the rip in the sky grew extinguished. Both could now see the shattered glass and base of the Rift's containment unit.
"Blendin, I-I," Dipper began to speak. Deep down, he knew nothing he could say would make the situation better.
"I-I'm sorry about what happened," was all Dipper could finish his sentence with. While Blendin thought the end of the world was his fault, the boy couldn't disagree more with that opinion.
It was his own fault.
He had accepted Ford's apprenticeship before he even got home this evening. Why had he accepted so quickly? Sure, he had thought about it through the afternoon, but he didn't even ask for Mabel's thoughts on the topic. He guessed it must have been the high of showing no fear to the alien probe to save his great-uncle. Ford said that this town brought them together for a 'purpose', as he called it. He even remembered what Stanford was going to say before he grabbed his hand to accept.
"Don't let anyone hold you-" was Stanford's comment just before he coughed and his nephew accepted.
Ford thought it was Mabel that was holding his 'wannabe' apprentice back. Ford didn't know it was because of her that he was back home. Ford had even called being around Mabel 'suffocating'.
It was that last comment really started to piss Dipper off every time he remembered it.
"Um, Dipper?" Blendin questioned, interrupting the 12 year-old's thoughts.
"Yeah, Blendin?" Dipper responded.
"W-why is Mabel floating?!" Blendin asked in fear, pointing behind the thinking boy.
Dipper spun around to see what Blendin was talking about. He had left Mabel against a tree a few minutes ago to go and confront the dazed time traveler. Well, she was no longer leaning on the tree.
Mabel was now floating a few feet off the ground, still unconscious. The girl seemed to be lifted by a pink-glowing force. She was gaining altitude every second that passed.
"MABEL!" Dipper screamed, scrambling to his feet to try and bring her back down. By the time he arrived, she was just above Dipper's height. He jumped and was able to grab her lower leg, near her foot. Her progress slowed down a bit, but she continued to hover higher. He didn't want to let go, yet his weight didn't seem to be doing anything to stop her from rising. Amidst the chaos between Dipper and his floating sister, Blendin stood below in confusion, wondering what to do.
"Dipper! I'm going t-to get help-p!" Blendin exclaimed from below, turning to his watch. "G-guys, we've got a situation!" the time traveler yelled into his watch before dissipating into the air.
Dipper grunted in frustration while struggling to hold onto his twin's leg as they rose higher. His hold was slipping and he was at least 20 feet in the air now. In desperation, he spotted a tree a few feet away with a thick branch coming up above him.
He began to swing himself, jerking the two closer to the branch. The boy was planning to snag Mabel's foot underneath a branch to stop her from rising any higher. What he wasn't planning for was a barrier to form around her and separate his hand from her leg. But he was soon faced with the latter.
The pink force that caused Mabel to start floating now began to surround her in a sphere. Once it fully encased the girl, it began to contract, causing Dipper's hand to be separated from her leg. Knowing he was about to lose his grip, Dipper jumped mid-air towards the tree he planned to use before, hoping he could grab a branch.
Dipper screamed as he fell towards the tree he aimed for. Sadly, he wasn't able to grab anything as he plummeted through the twigs and weak branches. His fall was delayed by the branches he broke through but he still landed hard on his back just at the foot of the same tree he set Mabel beside earlier.
He struggled to get to his feet after such a hard fall. Ten seconds passed before Dipper regained enough strength to crawl out under the tree and look at the bubble that contained Mabel. He could only see her silhouette through the pink shell. A shooting star symbol appeared on the bubble before being locked up by chains that came out of nowhere.
Dipper sniffled in hopelessness, realizing he had a bloody nose as of result of a few branches to the face. As he began to shed tears, he heard a voice calling from farther within the forest.
"Dipper! Mabel! Where are you?!" the gruff voice howled from a distance. Dipper could recognize that voice anywhere.
It was Grunkle Stan.
"Stan! Over here!" Dipper called back, hoping his great-uncle would be able to pick up his reply. A few moments passed before Dipper could finally make out the figure dashing through the trees.
Dipper growled to himself as he tried to get to his feet. The figure behind the trees came out of the forest and into the clearing.
Stan's face was a mix of horror and worry until he saw him, groaning to stand up. Stan ran over to him and pulled him into an embrace that Dipper had never felt from Grunkle Stan before. He and Stan never really hugged much over the time they'd spent together. The only time that they had done that was when he and Mabel saved Stan from Bill, after the demon was unsuccessful in getting the code to the safe that contained the Mystery Shack's deed.
In the Dreamscape, Dipper had seen through one of the memory doors why Stan was so hard on him throughout the summer. He wanted him to toughen up, just like his father did when he was younger. It was that event that gave Dipper the appreciation for Stan that he never had at the beginning of his and Mabel's stay in Oregon. The hug itself wasn't much either, more of a one-sided embrace on Dipper's part.
But now, Stan was almost tearing up into his shoulder as he pulled him tighter. Stan choked as he tried to talk to him.
"K-Kid, thank God you're alright! Where's your sister?!" Stanley said, finally pulling himself away from Dipper to look around the clearing.
Dipper looked straight into his great-uncle's pleading eyes. He really didn't want to answer the question. But he raised his hand towards the sky above them' pointing his finger to the floating orb that was now moving away from the two of them.
Stan gazed at the sight and watched as the shooting star emblazed sphere strolled out of view. He looked back down to Dipper, who struggled to remain calm while his twin sister became trapped and taken away.
"Let's get back to the Shack," Stanley said, giving his hand to help the boy stand up. Dipper ignored the gesture and continued to watch the empty sky where the bubble used to be. Stanley grabbed Dipper's shoulder to face him.
"Dipper, we will get Mabel back," Stan vowed; trying to not sound angry. "I swear my life on it."
Dipper stared back for a moment before taking his great-uncle's hand, while groaning as his leg muscles stretched to help him stand on his feet.
He straightened his now dirty pine-tree ball cap and nodded at Stan to agree. The man gave a weak grin and patted his nephew on the back while they walked out of the clearing.
"We need to be careful heading back to the Mystery Shack," Stan warned.
"Why?" Dipper asked.
"A giant goat almost stepped on me coming out here," Stanley explained. "You don't want to know the rest."
I might be trying to incorporate some references to the actual Weirdmageddon story-arc, nothing major though (little things like Gompers almost stepping on Grunkle Stan). I hope my creativity is strong, because I don't want to steal actual plot-points of the real show.
-ThatGuy
