Hey guys, here's another chapter. Hope ya'll enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls but I do own the plot and the OCs.


Chapter 9: Hopes and Ashes

Meanwhile, at the Mystery Shack….

The wind is blowing eerily through the day and the sky is starting to darkened and it showed a few signs that it's going to rain. The howling sound that's caused by the wind is scaring the critters of the forest as they could be heard running. But the strange thing is it felt like they were running away from someone.

A tired Grunkle Ford is trying very hard to fix his machine. He let out a couple of yawns before picking up his cup only to see it's completely empty. He gazed upon the window only to see some trees shaking violently. With a lazy groan, he picked up his cup and head his way to the kitchen.

Once he arrives, he saw Stanley cooking some grub and he proceed to pour himself a fresh cup of hot coffee. As he started to pour his drink, a loud sound of thunder followed by a flash of lightning startled him greatly thus making him spilled his drink. A fed up Stanford lets out a groan of dissatisfaction as he grabbed a worn-out cloth to clean up his mess. As he's wiping, he peek through the window only to find that the whole shack is surrounded with dark clouds. Purple spark could be seen above the skies and static noises could be heard every now and then.

"Stanley, are you seeing this?" Grunkle Ford asked.

"See what?" His brother replied.

"The clouds and the purple lightning?"

"Oh yeah… I don't know, Sixer. But what can you expect from a weird town in the middle of nowhere?" Grunkle Stan replied with a hint of sass.

"I know that. But seriously though, I've stayed in Gravity Falls for a long time but I've never encountered an odd phenomenon like this."

"Ugh, you and your use of big words again… You're not going to quit being a nerd, aren't ya?" Stan stated with a smirk.

Before Ford could even sarcastically give an answer, lightning struck an area inside the woods nearby, and the after effects left them both flying to the walls of the kitchen. The explosion was so loud even the gnomes and many more critters evacuated to safety. The Mystery Shack shook violently and left the old gentlemen groaning in pain.

"Stanley, are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Urgh." Stan replied as he coughed slightly.

"Come on, we need to find out why is this all happening."

With that, Stan and Ford got out of the shack to investigate what's truly happening in the weird town of Gravity Falls. Things are getting weirder than usual. They stood outside of the shack only to see the skies getting darker and the wind blowing harsher.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a lightning struck another area that was really close to where they are. Once again, they were thrown away by the impact and were sent flying. The sound of the explosion was deadly, it was so abnormally loud. When things were already bad, it grows much worse. The event repeated around five more times, with each explosions sounding dangerously louder than the last.

At least, twenty-five minutes has passed and things were starting to calm down a bit. The skies were still dark but the winds are blowing a little bit softer now. A weakened Stan coughs repeatedly while struggling to stand up. He picked up his signature fez and brushed himself off and looked at the scenery.

Everything was a mess. Lots of trees fell down to the ground, countless twigs, branches and rocks were stuck at places they shouldn't be and the strangest thing ever is, monstrous claw marks could be found nearby. When they thought all of that horrifying train-wreck was gone, they felt so relieved. But dang, were they wrong. So wrong. Peculiar lights and extraterrestrial roaring could be heard from the woods. The duo stood there, in the open fields in confusion as the roaring continues.

"Stanley, I think we need to get back to the shack."

"Ya don't have to tell me twice!"

As they tried to head back to the shack, Stan felt a cold and painful sensation by his legs. He slowly turned back and looked down, only to see a long, shadowy hand gripped him by his ankle. Before Stan could even scream, he had been dragged by the shadow hand roughly.

Stanford turned around to see what's happening but he is left paralyzed after seeing a horrifying hand brutally dragging Stanley through the dirt and mud. After finally managing calming himself down, he grabbed his magnet gun that he always carries around with him from his coat and chase after the creature that's hurting his brother.

"Ford, help!" Stanley screamed at the top of his lungs. He can't even breathe properly let alone fight off the dark hand. After all, being attacked so unexpectedly could leave quite a shock. Wounds and burn marks are starting to appear all over his body due to the friction of being dragged so badly.

"I'm coming, Stanley! Please, hang on tight. I need you to be okay!" Ford shouted as a reply.

The winds are blowing harshly onto his face as he's running after his brother. As they went deeper into the woods, Ford took aim at the mysterious creature's wrist and shot a powerful pulse from his magnet gun. A direct hit! The creature finally let go of Stanley after being shot by the pulse. Roaring in pain, the hand immediately pulls back into the deeper parts of the woods. A weakened Stanley is rolling in a series of random directions after finally landing on a mud patch.

A worried Ford arrived at the scene only to see his brother lying on a mud patch covered in bruises and wounds.

"S-Stanley… I'm so sorry… I fa-failed to p-protect you…" Ford said as he picked up his brother.

"Come on, let's head back to the shack." Ford continued in a sad tone.

Stan only coughs in response, as his brother tried his best to carry him back to the gift shop. As they're walking, the duo heard a series of laughter; sinister laughter. They looked around only to see that they've been surrounded by glowing eyes.

Ford tried to speed up but this time, those eyes showed their true forms; demons, to be specific shadow demons. They had them completely surrounded with every passage being blocked with their dark, huge bodies.

Ford didn't even have a chance to pull out his magnet gun.

"The second sign… It couldn't be…." He whispered in the most silent of tones, before getting punched by one of the shadow demons. The last sight he ever saw was his brother sharing the same fate as him before everything turned pitch black.


I would like to apologize in advance for the *upcoming* late uploads. I mean I know I already said sorry plenty of times before, but this time, I mean it.

I know that it would get annoying and exhausting waiting for an upload so I can't make any promises when the next update will be. Tbh, even I don't know.

I mean you guys understand, right? Exams, school and other distractions that slows me down. But hopefully, we'll manage to finish this story in time.

Across the sky like shooting stars,

Stan is covered with bruises and scars,

The cost of comfort is way too high,

Is it a new beginning or a sad goodbye?