Chapter 9: Rising

Fiddleford McGucket watched as his friends entered through the large portal, a sense of dread in his heart.

I sure hope they make it…

Despite all of the therapy and medication he takes the past still haunts him greatly. For years he had relied on the Memory Gun he had personally invented. At one point he barely remembered his name, the fact the he was married and had a son, and worse of all it was as if he forgot he was human, Night terrors still wake him up in the middle of the night, him seeing vivid images of Bill Cipher for that brief moment.

That demon… literally ripped his outer layer apart and fed off of some poor creature…

It was the most frightening thing that he had ever seen. Growing up in the south he had regularly went to church with his family, he had read and seen paintings of Hell and the tortures to the sinners. But what he had seen that day when he accidentally went through the portal made those transcripts and art look tame.

He's much older now, so he knows that if his mind can no longer truly be fixed, then that was okay, he had accepted it. The least he could do was try to do is help a young kid going through something similar to himself.

McGucket had always liked Dipper. Before he gained some of his memories back he knew there was something familiar to the boy, and afterwards it was so obvious. Dipper was a lot like Ford, but it seemed that the kid was absent of the pure arrogance that had once taken a great of Ford. He had to help Dipper in some way, the kid and his sister had done so much for him.

So, the old man sat at the console, watching his monitor and flashing lights, ready to help bring them all home with only the comfort being the most soft of hums from the portal.

"I sure hope those dudes can do it!" Soos positively said. "I mean, if anyone can help save the world again it's the Pines family!"

"Ditto on that," Wendy agreed, her lifting a fist in the air and collided it with Soos' for a fist bump.

Gideon then approached McGucket, a worried look on his face. "How's everything doing…?"

"I just have a very bad feel'n about this…"

There was a low rumble from overhead, dust and small debris falling from the ceiling. Both Gideon and McGucket looked up confusedly, both knowing that they were at the second level of the basement.

Something then fell from the top of the elevator shaft with a loud thump and snaps. A low groan echoed through the room, then another thump. Then another… then another…

"Um… guys…?" Melody called out worriedly. "I think something is over there…"

The sound of shuffling came toward them and low moans. Soon they came into the light, their bodies flushed in blue. They were humanoid-looking creatures that was well over seven feet tall, their skin sunken in and appeared to have large gashes. No clothing was seen, just ripped, sunken, dry-looking skin clung to them.

"Looks like somethin' from a video game!" Soos shouted as he pointed at them. "Except you know, real!"

"We got to stop them!" Wendy screamed as she took her axe off of her belt loop, her giving it a little spin in her hand. "If they do something to the console then the others can't get back!"

The redhead charged at the creatures, her axe raised and ready to strike. Shuffling stopped and it was if they were startled animals, the creatures suddenly bearing razor-sharp teeth stained black and brown. Wendy didn't hesitate, she kept on charging. When she got close the monsters then pounced, bounding toward her with aggressive speed.

One nearly grabbed her, but she then quickly axed its neck, a dark red splattering from the wound. The blood was thick and almost sludge-like, her axe almost getting stuck in the wound she created like it was tar.

Flashes exploded in the room, the small thundering sounds of rounds exiting a chamber filling the once calm atmosphere. Soos and Melody were standing by the console with McGucket, the engaged couple both holding pistols in their hands. Their rounds pierced the flesh of the creatures, the sludge of their blood pooling beneath them as they continued trying to run and pounce at Wendy, but the bullets seemed to have no effect.

"What the hell are these things!?" Wendy screeched, her grunting with effort as she swung the axe. One by one she hit the necks of the monsters, them falling down to the ground only to get back up again.

One grabbed her leg and knocked her to the ground, her yowling in pain as the back of her head cracked against the ground. Her axe was knocked of her hand and it spun away from her reach. The monster was on top of her, it bearing its teeth with a breath that was so foul it was almost like knock-out gas. The eyes were black and hollow, nothing was there until she looked directly in them.

Glowing scarlet eyes met her green and she screamed, seeing visions of tortured souls within its eyes. Wendy tried to struggle away, but she felt her body getting weaker and weaker, her feeling as though something was being ripped from her.

"Wendy!" Gideon shouted as a blue glow appeared over the creature. The glowing of its eyes stopped as it was lifted from Wendy and thrown against the other creatures, the monster being forced into a wall. "Stay away from my friend, you heathens!" Gideon himself was covered in a blue veil, a small blue stone gripped tightly in his hand. "For once I'll use the power of this stone to help people!"

"Woah!" Soos gasped in astonishment. "When'd you get another one those, dude?"

Gideon quickly explained, "I memorized a few pages of the second journal. The one that talked about the magical amulet told of where they were found and how to infuse it with power. I simply returned to the deepest caves of Gravity Falls and got one again." He then raised a hand and the blue veil went of the monsters, them becoming unmoving as though they were frozen.

"Thanks, Gideon!" Wendy thanked as she got up and grabbed her axe. "Now… how do these things get killed?"

"When you strip them of the souls of their victims," a chilling voice answered her. Stepping from the shadows was a tall figure, it with gray rubbery skin and a bald head. There were no color to its eyes, just a stark white that seemed to be soulless eyes. It wore a pure black business suit, it looking as though it just stepped out of a meeting. "But unfortunately for you humans, it is impossible to kill them. The only way to kill them is to become one of them and suck their souls out. Very nasty to be honest…" It then gave a wolf-like smile.

"Who the hell are you!?" Wendy shouted furiously. "Why are you attacking us with those freaks!?"

"Miss Ice Bag, they are called Wendigo Soul-Eating Demons," the figure sharply told her, ignoring her question about who it was. "I'm sure you humans have your own myths about these things as there are many and many different kinds, and these ones are actually from here from the very bottom of Gravity Falls."

"Those things are from here!?" Gideon cried out in shock. "Wh-what!?"

"Pity, these things used to run this town… No one has resulted into cannibalism for years and that's why they haven't been around…" the figure mused. It then looked as though it has forgotten something. "Oh, yes, I have forgotten to introduce myself…

"My name is Magum Cerebrum, and I am here to be the ruler of the entire multiverse."

"You're Magum?" Wendy sputtered with disbelief. "You look no more impressive than Bill Cipher."

The white eyes suddenly turned black with rage. "Don't you DARE compare me to that bumbling fool, you useless animal!" he snapped. Red flames licked his body

"I'm human."

"No… humans are animals and will be treated as such!" Magum stated, him brushing off dust from his suit.

"Oh, come off of it you ass!" Wendy taunted him. "You are just some cowardly asshole that sends minions to do the dirty work!"

Magum coked his head to the side. "Oh…? Really, now?" He then took a step forward threateningly. He gave a low chuckle when he saw that Wendy raised her axe. "Who is the coward?"

Wendy charged, her cry of determination filling the room. Her axe was raised overhead and when she got to Magum she used whatever strength she had to force the axe into him.

But the axe was still in midair, Wendy fighting trying to get past some invisible barrier.

"Hmmm…" Magum hummed. "Trying to force your way to me, eh?" He raised a hand and with a flick of his wrist the axe was yanked from Wendy's hands and flown away from her.

"HEY!" she screamed furiously.

"I must say, I am quite impressed with you humans," Magum complimented. "Your survival skills are quite advanced. I'll keep you all alive… For now. I need that portal open so that Stanford Pines can deliver Cipher possessing that boy to me. There is unfinished business to attend to."

Wendy charged again, no weapon but a fist. "You leave them all alone!" she screeched as she tried to throw a punch at him.

"Well… someone needs to be punished…" Magum laughed darkly as he flicked his wrist again.

A flash of silver and then a spray of red, a piercing scream filled the room.

There was a thump as a pale severed arm fell to the floor, the bend of where an elbow used to be nothing but a sickening tear of jagged flesh, the bones of the ulna and radius splintered and cracked from where they would've connected to the joint that would've attached to the humerus. Blood pooled from the end, it soon emptying and the arm looked sunken and shriveled.

Wendy screamed and wept in pain as she collapsed to her knees, her right hand trying desperately to cover the opening of her left arm, the bright scarlet slipping through her fingers. Tears, snot, and sweat fell off her face and mixed with the blood, her face becoming whiter than a sheet of paper and soon taking on a grey color scheme. Soon, her body fell to the side, her breathing heavily.

"Animals get punished when they don't behave," Magum told the dying redhead gravely. "If you live from this I highly suggest to you that you learn how to watch your tone with someone with power." He then began to walk away, him snapping his fingers and wendigoes that Gideon kept at bay for so long burst into flames.

Gideon had been concentrating on keeping the monsters from attacking, his body finally giving out as he fell to his knees. He fully saw Wendy in her pain, him feeling guilty that he didn't try to stop her from attacking or somehow stopped Magum.

"I'll leave you to the portal, I'll soon be back to have a good ol' chat with my friend Cipher," Magum practically purred as he then left through a newly opened red portal, the portal shutting behind as he exited.

Melody sprang into action, her rushing to Wendy's side. The teenager's eyes were glassy and her breathing was ragged. Immediately Melody took off the hoodie she was wearing and began to make a makeshift tourniquet to stop Wendy's bleeding. Melody glanced at the arm, her giving a small shake of her head.

"There is no way the arm can be saved now…" Melody stated gravely. "Soos, Gideon, I need you two to rush to the hospital and try to bring me back sterile needles and gauze so I can try to stitch the wound closed… there isn't a lot of skin to work with unfortunately…" She finished the tourniquet and the blood flow from the wound stopped.

"Alright, we'll head out right away!" Gideon assured her. "C'mon, Soos!"

"Right behind ya, hambone!"

As the two left her to get the supplies Melody tried to keep Wendy awake. "You don't sleep, okay? No matter how much you want to," she told the redheaded teenager sternly but worriedly.

A dark chuckled escaped Wendy's blue lips. "Not… a chance… I'm g-gonna… g-get that… bastard…" she rasped.

Melody gave a small smile. "I know you will."

McGucket watched from the console, his whole body feeling as if it were made of stone. He had frozen when he saw Magum, he had the same sense of power like Bill did. Even if McGucket wasn't watching over the console and was sane in mind, could he have possibly helped with anything?

During his research days with Ford he had been terrified at every new thing. He was glad that they never had come across any lore of wendigoes in Gravity Falls or Ford would've dragged him into that as well. He was an engineer and inventor, not some kind of monster hunter!

I should've helped… now Wendy is suffering and possibly will die…

"Why is there no rope!?"

Gideon looked up the elevator shaft, his blue eyes wide. "There is no way we can get up there!" he cried out.

"We'll have to climb up," Soos said. "While we are out there we'll find some rope to get us down."

"How're we gonna climb up there!?"

Soos then pointed at the loose wires and cords that hung from the very top. "We'll have to climb… we're chubby dudes, it's gonna take some effort but we gotta do it!"

Gideon then gave himself a face-palm. "I'm so stupid!" he groaned. He then took out the stone amulet from his pocket and held it up. A soft blue glue went around them and slowly they were rising up the elevator shaft and the up the broken stairs to the main part of the Bartek cabin. "I don't know why I was freaking out…" Gideon muttered. "I have the amulet."

"Oh, right!" Soos chuckled. "I forgot about that!"

Once they made it to the main house they ran out the door. Overhead the sky was a mix of orange and pink, the sun rising above the horizon. Had they really been down their all night? It didn't seem like it. They saw the cart that Mabel and the others had driven there with the metal from the recycling center and hopped right in with Soos in the driver's seat.

Soos floored it and the cart sped forward, the cart bumping and shaking as it went over the uneven terrain. They made it to the hospital as fast as they possibly could, them avoiding whatever monsters and demons they saw in their path.

Inside the hospital it was humming with backup generators, a few doctors and nurses around wheeling sick patients to safe zones within the hospital. One of the people wheeling a patient wore a candy striper apron that was filled to the brim with the stripes with her bronze colored hair tied up in a tight bun with a few strands framing her face. Gideon had recognized her immediately.

"Shannon!" Gideon cried out, the girl snapping her head over.

"Gideon? Are you guys hurt!?" she asked frantically, her brown eyes that reminded him of melted chocolate wide with worry.

"Wendy is hurt!" Gideon shouted, his breathing becoming panicked. "The demon Magum came and-"

"Her arm got chopped off!" Soos finished frantically.

"Oh my God…!" Shannon squeaked. "H-hold on… let me get Mrs. Smithins to the safe zone and I'll get my mom! She's a doctor!" She then rushed the patient to the safe zone that was down the hallway, her body looking as though she were a caramel candy zipping through the white hospital.

Shannon came back within a couple of minutes, her towing a woman that looked similar to her with the bronze hair and with cocoa colored skin. "They're right here!" Shannon frantically told her mother. The doctor was carrying a semi-large bag, almost like a carryon for a plane, most likely filled to the brim with supplies.

"Okay…" the woman replied. "Hello, I am Dr. Elizabeth Clover-Brown, please take me to your friend."

"O-Of course!" Gideon stuttered as he led them to the cart outside.

"Now, she was forcibly amputated?" Dr. Clover-Brown asked, her trying to get the full story.

Soos replied, "Yeah. It looks pretty bad. My fiancé is there right now trying to help."

"Is there a tourniquet in place?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I can try to stitch her up and keep her stabilized long enough for us to bring her back to the hospital."

Soos drove past various monsters as fast as he could, him swerving the cart. They didn't have time to fight any monsters if they got caught. The sun was high in the sky by the time they had gotten back to the Bartek cabin, the doctor's brown eyes widening.

"Wh-what place is this…?" Dr. Clover-Brown asked.

"You've heard of a Dr. Bartek, right?" Gideon asked her curiously.

"A stem cell researcher that wanted to play God too much," the doctor replied gravely. "Who knew he ended up in Gravity Falls… I can only imagine the horrors in that home…"

"Welp, you're gonna see it for yourself!" Soos told her cheerfully.

Time was not wasted as they rushed inside the house. Gideon used his amulet to levitate the group down to the depths of the underground. The doctor and her young daughter gasping at some of the horrific sights that hung around in the basement. Soon, the group made it back to the second floor of the basement, Melody putting a hand to Wendy's forehead.

"She's very cold…" Melody stated when she saw Dr. Clover-Brown rush to the teenaged girl. "She definitely went into shock… I've tried to keep her as stabilized as best I could…"

Dr. Clover-Brown opened up her bag and took out a stethoscope and put the buds in her ears as she placed the resonator on Wendy's chest. After a moment she took them out and placed them back into her bag and grabbed out sterile equipment.

"For what little you have you did amazing, miss…?" Dr. Clover-Brown began to praise but stopped when she realized she didn't know Melody's name.

"Melody," the woman replied.

"You were a big help," the doctor continued, her taking out what looked to be some kind of disinfecting solution. "I just need to stitch her up long enough to get her back to the hospital…" The doctor poured the solution over the wound, Wendy barely moving, and poured some over a needle and thread. She began to sew the jagged skin closed, although it looked quite sloppy and uneven as there was little time and not much skin to work with. "She's good, let's move!" Dr. Clover-Brown announced.

"Okay, I'll go with you to help." Melody volunteered. "Gideon, come assist us out of here, I'll drive them back to the hospital and you and Soos can stay here with McGucket and the portal."

"Yes, ma'am!" Gideon confidently replied. He did what he was asked and assisted the girls back up through the underground levels. He watched as they loaded up Wendy into the cart, the girl's head resting on Shannon's lap.

"We'll take good care of her, Gideon!" Shannon assured, her giving a thumbs up. "Don't hesitate to come get us if you guys get hurt!"

"I won't hesitate!" Gideon promised, the cart beginning to drive away as Gideon gave a small wave.

Those fools… helping each other. How pathetic.

Magum watched as two new humans drove the Ice Bag in a primitive vehicle. In a way it amused him that these animals were clever enough to try to help the foulmouthed brat.

The power demon then waked away from the hill that he watched the humans from. He saw no reason to disrupt their little "heroism". The demon decided that he should make sure his minions didn't disrupt the portal anymore, after all he needed Stanford Pines to deliver Bill to him personally.

And when I see that insignificant girl I don't care what deal I had made with Layla… she will be severely punished.

Magum had always hated the girl that was named Annabeth Fordley Bartek-Pines. Although the girl shared some of her mother's features, when he saw the girl all he saw was Stanford. The same dark, curly brown hair that man had in his youth, the big brown eyes, and of course the polydactyl. He absolutely hated that girl, sometimes he went over his decision about letting that girl even be born.

But he hated Stanford Pines even more, and he could somehow use her to his advantage of hurting the human man.

The demon gritted his teeth, him feeling his red flames lick over his hands. As he walked down the roads of Gravity Falls, the ground cracked and split, surviving wendigoes crawling up and pouncing to buildings just wanting a new victim.

I must bide my time… he will deliver Bill Cipher to me.

The boy that called himself "Dipper" was an unusual human. For some reason Bill was letting that child had control of his body, something that irritated Magum to no end. He just wanted to kill that triangular bastard! He could just kill the boy, but to Magum that wouldn't be much of a satisfaction.

Just what are you planning, Cipher?

Finally, Magum reached the center of town, him looking around the open space of the town square. He gave shrug. Surly this will do.

The demon raised a hand as though he was lifting something with his palm. A low rumble from beneath the surface shook the buildings around, some windows shattering. Cracks began to spider-web across the ground, the concrete splitting apart as something rose.

It looked to be like a sharp point, but as it rose higher and higher it was revealed to be a large spike that was part of a design of a throne. The throne was large and made of solid black stone, Magum had using his telekinesis to use the earth's precious metals to form such a glorious sign of his rule of the multiverse. Designs were etched into the stone, them being identical to the ones on his horns for when he was in his true form: All depictions of others' misery, war, apocalypses, and death.

Magum gave his infamous wolf-like smile as he went up the steps he had crated to sit on his throne. He gave a sigh that he was satisfied and watched as a few wendigoes pulled out a few hiding humans from inside a small bakery. He watched with great amusement as one wendigo took the soul of one human and once done the other ripped the head off the human's body, bright scarlet becoming almost like a fountain.

Now there is an idea… a fountain of human blood, which would look quite nice in my new world…

A dark laugh escaped him as the wendigoes crawled over the town and over the lower part of his throne, the sky darkening to a dark red.

Oh, Stanford Pines, please do deliver Bill Cipher to me… because once I am done with him I'll surly enjoy annihilating you. Then… my Rising will surely and truly begin.

A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry this took a little dark turn, but we know my style at this point. I enjoy playing survival horror games such as "Resident Evil" and "Silent Hill", so some of the monsters and scenes I describe can become quite gruesome... oops.

So yeah... Wendy... She'll be fine, don't worry!

QUICK THINGS!

- The wendigoes are based off the game "Until Dawn" for the PS4 with a few little things different about them. I was going to make them zombies, but I already used them in "Cipher's Reign" when Mabel and George were getting Robbie's tapestry.

- I wanted to bring back Shannon, first seen in the short story "Gideon: Normal Kid" from "After Cipher's Reign: Short Stories". She is a mixed child that is the result of a biracial relationship. Her mother has a hyphenated last name as she had already done research work under her maiden name and didn't want herself to be unrecognized for her work.

- Wendy getting her arm cut off in the violent way is actually based off of *RWBY SPOILERS IF YOU HADN'T SEEN VOL. 3!* the character Yang Xiao Long getting her arm cut off by Adam while trying to save Blake toward the end of the volume.

Hope you guys enjoyed the new chapter! Thanks for reading and all of the support and reviews! Remember, you guys can always ask questions on either one of my tumblrs jlandersen01 or layla-bartek Possibly under the layla-bartek if you give writing prompts about her/or the fanfic universe I am writing I'll post a little quick-fic or two or have "Layla" respond to some questions if you ask ;)

~ Skye Hendersen ~