Remember your dreams...

...your dreams..

Dipper's eyes fluttered open, and proceeded to squint as sunshine blinded him. He raised his arm, rolling off of the bed. Quickly, he grabbed a simple notebook and flipped it open to a random page. Snatching a random pencil, he gripped it tightly and held it like he was going to write something but..

He groaned. Nothing. At all. Usually he could write the last thing he remembered from his dreams, but now he couldn't. And his head really hurt. Throwing the two materials on the bed, he got up and stretched.

How could that be possible? It's not like he was super good at recalling his dreams, but this was just ridiculous. And the odd thing was that when he tried remembering, an image, a name, anything, it felt like a huge mental brick wall blocked him off. Was Bill messing with his head? The thought frightened him. Bill was a demon sure, and they had their past quarrels, but this was creepy. Dangerous even.

As he walked downstairs to the kitchen, he wondered if the library had any books on demon repellent charms.

He froze by the door way, gaping at the scene before him.

"Chug! Chug! Chug!"

Mabel and Wendy were chanting, pounding the table with their fists. Sitting beside each other, Soos and Dana were gulping down a pinkish, looking Kool-Aid juice with ice cubes, stars, a dinosaur toy? and glitter in it. Stan was staring at the two in disgust. Soos spluttered on his, and Dana looked like she wanted to throw up. She squeezed her eyes shut as the last drop went down her throat and slammed the long glass on the table, Soos finishing seconds afterwards.

Mabel cheered, and Wendy patted Soos' back. "I don't-" He hiccupped, "-feel so good." His face turned green, and he held a hand over his mouth. As fast as a man-child could go, he leaped over the table and rushed to the bathroom.

"Hey! No no no! You're cleaning that up!" Stan yelled, running after him.

Dana's stomach rumbled, and she belched, a dinosaur toy flying out. "You call this a drink?!" She moaned out, wiping her mouth.

Mabel nodded, a big smile on her face, "Yup! It's my Mabel Juice! It's 100% organic."

"I somehow doubt that." Dana mumbled, and spotted Dipper by the doorway. The two stared at each other awkwardly.

"Whoa, weird awkward silence right here." Wendy said, waving her hands.

Dipper scratched the back of his neck, "Uh, hey."

"Hi."

"Oink!" Waddles oinked as Mabel raised him in the air.

"Mabel!" Dipper and Dana said simultaneously, and Dana shoved the pig away. She scooted out of the seat and went to Dipper.

"Um.. so, about last night." She said, looking anywhere but to the boy.

"No, no yeah, right. I uh, let me get changed." He was still in his t-shirt and boxers, and a blush spread across his face.

"I'll be waiting for you outside. And bring the journal!" She said as Dipper zoomed up the stairs and back into his room. Instinctively, he grabbed the same pair of clothes he always wore, but stopped. He couldn't go out with Dana wearing the same clothes as yesterday (and the week before). Usually he wouldn't care what he wore around girls (aside from Wendy) and he didn't care what he wore around Dana. Used to. For some reason, he felt like he had to wear something else.

He sorta-ish cared about what she thought. Or maybe she didn't care at all.

So instead of wearing his usual orange tee, he ruffled through his pack and pulled out a white one, with a pair of jeans. Honestly, he forgot he even packed that. Slipping on his blue vest, he adjusted his signature hat in the mirror, and looked himself over. Not too shabby, if he says so himself.

He glanced at the door nervously, and cautiously made his way to Mabel's side of the room. Ruffling through her pack, he pulled out an un-used cologne bottle. Mabel had brought it along, incase he had a "summer love" thing, or so she liked to put it. And no, no Dana wasn't his.. summer love, but he wanted to smell nice, alright?! Nothing weird about that. Nothing at all.

He sprayed it on him twice, fixed his hat, and ran out of his room. Flying down the stairs, he zoomed past the kitchen and out the door. "I'll be back!" He yelled behind him to anyone that was listening.

Dana was waiting for him by the trees, and he jogged to her. She gave him a small smile when he slowed down next to her and together they walked into the woods.

She sniffed the air, "You smell different."

Dipper flushed, "Oh yeah, it's uh Mabel got a new shampoo and all." He started laughing, and oh no it was that laugh. She looked at him oddly and slapped his arm.

"Relax. I'm not some kind of creature."

Ow, he was really never going to get used to that. "Wait what creature?"

"Wow, you freaked out about that last night."

Oh yeah. That. He glanced at her. She didn't look like a creature, or whatever. But she certainly wasn't human. Was she immortal somehow? Never aging. Could she be a vampire?

A break in the trees, and she walked into sunlight, and other than squinting, she didn't burst into flames. Ok so she wasn't a vampire.

"What.. are you, exactly?" Dipper asked hesitantly.

"Not here. I'll tell you when we get inside the cave. By the way you don't have anything on you with a triangle, or something Bill can get in with?"

He checked himself over and shook his head. "Nope."

"Good."

They walked through the forest again in comfortable silence. The trek was still long, and by the time they arrived at the waterfall, his legs ached. The dove through the water, and walked down the long tunnel to the cave. Inside, he sat down on the mattress as she got water from the fridge. Tossing him a bottle, she plopped down across from him.

"Read this." She said, placing a book between.

He placed the bottle down, and read the title aloud. "Hypnopedia. A Guide to Sleep-Learning." He flipped the book open to the first page, and noticed a library slot glued to the page. "Is this a library book?"

"Yes."

"Did you check this out?"

"No.. Aw come on she won't even know it's gone." Dana defended, seeing the look on his face.

"That's stealing!" Dipper said.

"It's for a good purpose."

"It's still stealing."

"Fine! I'll return it later. Now can you just read it."

Dipper pouted at her and flipped to the introduction page.

"Hypnopedia, also known as sleep-teaching or sleep-learning. It is a process to convey information to a sleeping person by playing a sound recording to the subject. In 1927 Alois Benjamin Saliger invented the Psycho-Phone for sleep learning: "It has been proven that natural sleep is identical with hypnotic sleep and that during natural sleep the unconscious mind is most receptive to suggestions."

Suggestions?

"You think Bill is doing this to me?" Dipper asked, placing his fingers on a drawing of the human brain.

"Think? I know he is." She said bitterly. "Hand me the journal."

He pulled it out of his vest and gave it to her. She opened it, flipping through pages and settled on the demon page. She stared at the blood splatters that covered what the rest of the page had to say.

"Dipper, I'm going to have to go inside your head."

"What?"

She got up and walked to a bookcase. "I'm going inside your mind. To get rid of whatever Bill is feeding you I have to kill it from the source, which would be in your sub-conscious."

The boy laughed nervously, "Is that really necessary..?"

She pulled out a dusty book and raised a brow at him, "I'm not gonna go looking at anything else if that's what you're afraid of."

"No I know, it's just.." How could he put it. "It's weird." Having someone in your head. Dipper didn't have a lot to hide, well he had a lot of embarrassing stuff. But aside from that, he didn't know. It was just weird. Like an invasion of your inner most sanctum.

Like he did to Grunkle Stan?

But that was different. He had to save his Grunkle from a demon. And yes maybe he did abuse that power. A little bit. But everything turned out all right in the end. She sat back down, brushing dust off the cover of the book.

"What is that?" Dipper asked curiously, and his eyes widened in shock. In her hands was an old, beaten down journal, a familiar six-fingered golden hand on the cover, and a bold number 4 in the middle of the hand.

"Is that.. Journal 4?" Dipper breathed out. He couldn't believe it. Another journal?

"Yes. Despite what he claims, Cipher isn't omniscient." She opened the journal, and automatically turned to a page. What, she memorized the journal.

It was like walking into a candy store. Dipper wanted to see all the pages, soak it all in.

She skimmed the page, and nodded her head. "Ok, I think I remember how to do this."

"You've done this before?" Dipper asked confused.

"Yeah. For the author. You're not the only one Cipher wanted to control." She set the journal down beside number 3 and cracked her knuckles. "Alright. I need you to lie back for me."

"You sure this is a good idea." His stomach was doing flips.

"You want a demon mind-controlling you?" She deadpanned.

"Eh, he already took over my body once-"

"Dipper, shut up and lie down."

He did so as she got up and collected the materials for the ritual. Placing candle sticks around them, she lit them all. Sitting beside him, she turned back the alarm to ring after 20 minutes or so.

"What's that for?" Dipper asked, looking at the timer.

"It's for you to wake up. When I'm inside your mind, I can't wake up myself. The person going into the subjects mind is put in a coma-like sleep. I need the subject to wake up first, which will kick me out of your head."

"Oh.. So even if you destroy whatever, weird mind-controlling thingy in my head, can't Bill just send me more in my sleep?"

"That's the hard part. The author read a lot about demons, and ancient beliefs, like charms and wards. I'm going to try to place a protection ward around your mind, so that no matter how much Cipher tries, he'll never get inside. Unless, you summon him and give him consent but I think that won't happen."

She laid down next to him and set the alarm between their heads. "Alright, you ready?"

"Wait, um what about me? Will I be in there with you?"

"No, you'll just be asleep."

She took of his hat and placed her hand on the side of his head. "Just close your eyes."

He did, and he couldn't help but feel anxious. He knew she wouldn't invade his privacy but... still.

"Fidentus omnium. Magister mentium. Magnesium ad hominem. Magnum opus. Haebeas corpus. Inceptus Nolanus overrates. Magister mentium. Magister mentium! Magister mentium!"

Despite the hole in the ceiling allowing light into the cave, it grew dark, and a blue light glowed in the dark where they lay. Dipper's eyes snapped open, and rolled to the back of his head until it glowed blue.

Her eyes started to glow blue as well, and she felt herself slipping away, getting sucked in by an invisible force. Instead of fighting it, she let herself go.

0000000000

Cawing.

She opened her eyes, and found herself laying on sand. Picking herself up, she brushed it off her. From up above, a seagull cawed over her and she looked up at it. It circled around her a few times before flying off. She followed it with her eyes, turning around to see it go off in the distance. A cool breeze blew against her face, and she smelled something she's hasn't smelled in a long time.

Salt. Sea salt.

Before her was the ocean. Small waves rolled onto land, and she closed her eyes, listening to the sound of it.

California. She forgot Dipper lived in the golden state.

She was sort of disappointed that this wasn't the real thing. The vibrant colors of life were muted, almost grey-ish, and everything moved slower than normal. She stared at the sea a bit longer, before turning around and spotting a single house in the distance.

It was eerie, walking in someone's mind. Everything was silent. Like no other life was present. Pure isolation. She remembered the other time she went into a Pine's head. She could say that place was more scarier than this. It was almost chaotic in his mind. Bill did a number on him.

She shook the thought away. There was no point in thinking about that now.

She trudged through the warm sand, and up the grassy hill. Surprisingly, a road lay across the modern looking house. She glanced at the street sign, which read Big Dipper St.

She raised a brow at the name, and walked across the gravel road. The house was two stories, and it looked nice. To be honest, she couldn't compare the house with others. She's been stuck in Gravity Falls for a long time.

So much for salvation.

Walking up to the white door, she didn't bother knocking and just went in. Now inside she could familiarize herself with. It started with long hallways, leading off into different directions, and she followed the one with rotten wood. The more she walked down the long twisting hallway, it opened up, and somehow pine trees started appearing until it turned into an actual forest inside a house.

She did a mental check on her countdown. 18 minutes left. Right she still had time. Now, to make this easier.

"Animum Tenebris." She said, and the whole scenery zoomed forward, rushing past her feet. Being 'friends' with a demon who specializes in the mind comes in handy. Sometimes.

It stopped abruptly, leaving her in the middle of a wide clearing. A single, wooden door stood in the middle. She walked up to it, and looked down. A floor mat laid on the ground, which read SUBCONSCIOUS.

Well that was easier than she thought. Knowing Bill, she expected to fight her way through mental barriers or something else. But maybe the demon didn't think anyone would figure out what he was doing to Dipper. Cocky bastard.

She twisted the knob and flung open the door.

And promptly started to fall. It was like gravity suddenly shifted, and she fell through the door and into darkness. It was like falling into the Bottomless Pitt. It was dark, and there was no wind rushing past her face. She guessed this made sense.

The subconscious was the part of the mind that was unknown. Non-existent.

It felt like forever, and she did a mental check again on the time. 15 minutes.

She yelped when her body plunged into water. She sank like a rock to the bottom. What was with this kid and water?! Un-surprisingly, she was able to breath. Walking/floating through the clear liquid, she realized she was in a long tunnel. Despite there being no light source, it was bright enough for her to see everything, and at the end of the tunnel was another door.

She made her way as fast as someone could in water, and twisted the knob-

The pressure of the water pushed the door open and rushed out, taking her along with it. It swept her along, and left her beached on the ground. Picking herself up, (and surprise surprise she wasn't wet at all) she looked up and saw what she came here for.

A large, sparing and shifting green ball hovered in the middle of the dark room. It was like a pent of electric ball of mass energy. As she grew nearer to it, voices started whispering around her.

Trust her...

She is your friend...

You're lonely..

She sneered at the whispers. Really, was this what Bill had been feeding him. At least this was better than what Bill fed the Author.

Innocent...

Daughter...

Save her...

A pang of guilt hit her. He treated her like his daughter. He trusted her. He wanted to help her.

She closed her eyes and raised her arms.

"Nec Somnus! Scutum Spiritus sanctus innocens! Custodi impios!"

A bright blue light exploded in front of the green electric ball, and she stared in shock as Bill appeared.

But how was that possible?! They were inside the cave! Bill couldn't be here!

She held her breath, horror freezing her to the spot. She was dead. Or maybe not dead but holy shit he was going to make her wish she was dead.

But instead of turning red and setting her on fire, Bill hovered where he was.

And then he spoke, "Property of Bill Cipher. Don't touch. That includes you Sheogorath!"

What? "Bill?" She said cautiously. He didn't even blink. Relief washed over her. This wasn't the real Bill. It was a hologram, or some kind of message machine.

"If this is Stan Pines, get out or I'll burn all your money." The fake Bill machine hologram thing roared and turned back to normal. "If this is Shooting Star, I suggest turning around. Wouldn't you like to get more black-mail over your brother?"

"And if this is our sweet Toots, ah ah, don't look so surprised. I knew one way or another you'll try to help the poor kid out because you have, what is it, humanity? Guilt? Morals? Eh, those things. Anyways, if I ever find out you were the one who destroyed this baby behind me, I'll make you regret it."

Even though this wasn't the real demon, it still sent shivers down her spine. Alright, enough of this. She focused her mind on the fake Bill, and made him disappear. With the demon gone, she raised her arms again.

"Nec Somnus! Scutum Spiritus sanctus innocens! Custodi impios!" She chanted, over and over again. The green electric ball started to pulse, and the whispering voices grew louder, but she didn't stop.

A lightening spurted from the ball and struck her, but she imagined an invisible force-field around her, protecting her from the attack.

"-CUSTODI IMPIOS!" A blast blew her back, and the green ball inflated and a black hole started sucking the thing inside, including her. She quickly imagined her hand morphed into the floor, just in time as her body flew upwards, the black hole pulling her in. Pieces of the ground cracked, and chunks broke off, flying into the black hole. The ground she was morphed to started to crack.

Oh shit.

The ground ripped off, wrenching her arm back and taking her with it. At the same time, the black hole vanished just as she flew right through it and landed on her back with a loud SMACK! She groaned in pain, taking back her hand from the piece of rock. Ouch, ok the first time went better than this.

She got up, rolling her aching shoulder. Where the green energy ball used to be left a crater in the ground. Gone. She rubbed her face in relief. Never again. She was never doing this again. Now that her mission was complete, she turned to the new problem now. Bill will obviously find out that someone destroyed the brain-washing thing in Dipper's head. He'll suspect her, for sure.

She bit her lip. So she'll just have to make it seem like The Royal Order did it. They found out about it, and with the help of Stan destroyed the thing. And placed a ward in the boy's head. It was pathetic, but it's all she had to go on. She was still on Bill's side, or that's what she's been showing. Hopefully, he'll believe her story. But just in case, she'll have to make sure this memory is wiped away. She could pay the Society of the Blind Eye a visit. Or.. you know just steal the device.

Ok. Now what? She did a mental check again, but with all the commotion and almost getting sucked into a black hole to another dimension, she could say she had a reason to loose track of time. But if she had to give an estimate guess, she probably had 5 or 6 minutes.

Standing in the destroyed room, she looked around.

...

This was boring. A sudden thought popped into her head, and she bit her lip. She couldn't. But she wanted to see.. she wanted to know..

"Jupiter." She said, and once again, the scenery changed, zooming past her until it stopped abruptly. She stood before a white door, breathed in, and opened it.

She stepped into a white, spacious hallway. There were two white doors on the side, and a door at the end, totaling to three doors. She didn't know which one to pick, so she chose the left one. Creaking it open halfway, she saw two kids by what looked like a school playground. Her eyes widened when she realized she was looking at a young Dipper. Young Dipper held out a flower to a blonde girl. But instead of taking it, she ran away.

Ouch. The kid looked like a kicked puppy. She closed the door and turned to the one across from her.

When she opened that door, she laughed as she watched an unrealistically tall Dipper waltz with Wendy, Soos playing a trumpet in the background. She closed the door, shaking her head grinning.

Her grin faded away when she approached the last door. She destroyed Bill's influence thing. Whatever was behind this door, it would be from Dipper, and him alone. Slowly, she turned the knob and the door swung open.

It was them, on the ferris wheel. Dipper was looking at her, and she was looking at the moon. His eyes flickered to her hand, and she watched him slowly wrap his hand around hers.

He really did like her.

She didn't have time to process the new revelation when she felt a sudden, harsh pull. It shifted her back, and she steadied herself. Another pull, but this she flew back, and back and back through hallways, out of the house and into the sky over the ocean.

0000000000

Dipper woke with a start. The loud ringing of the timer stopped, and Dana gasped awake next time him. He rolled off the mattress and got up, backing away from her.

She too got up, "Dipper?"

"Who are you! How- how do you know so much about me, Gravity Falls- every- everything?!" It felt like a shroud had been lifted off his eyes, and he could finally see, think clearly. And the girl before him.. he didn't truly know who she was. Her story, it all didn't fit into place. There were so many holes, and he had a feeling she wasn't telling him the whole truth.

"And what about the portal huh?! That was the very first thing you told me. What is it really? Why did the Author of the journals built that machine. And- and talking about the Author who is he?!" Dipper couldn't stop. There were so many questions left unanswered. "You told me you were going to help me solve the mysteries of Gravity Falls! But all you've been doing- all we've been doing-" Nothing. They've been doing absolutely nothing. Dipper was so focused on his new friend that he lost sight on what he was supposed to be doing.

"Can I even trust you?" He whispered. Tears brimmed in his eyes. It hurt. He thought, for once in his life, he had a friend. A true friend.

Something landed on his head, and he looked up to see Dana standing close to him, pulling her hand away from placing his hat back on his head. She was looking down, away from his eyes.

".. Dipper.." She looked at him, "I'm sorry."

How could two small simple words mean so much.

She bowed her head, a tear slipping down her cheek and dripped down on the floor.

His arms moved with their own accord. He pulled her in, wrapping his arms around her and held her tight. He felt her hold him back, resting her forehead on his shoulder.

And she wondered how a simple hug made her feel better.

It was like something cracked inside her and all those years of pain, despair, and loneliness washed out of her like a river.

She sobbed, holding on to his shirt and she couldn't stop.

They sank to the ground, Elizabeth pulling her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth crying.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry, I'm sorry.."

Dipper didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. So he stayed silent.

He held her until her cries softened. She wiped her wet face, and breathed in shakily.

"Dipper?"

He looked at her.

"Do you hate me now?"

His lips parted, and he looked down. "No.. I don't think I could ever hate you. You're my friend. I.. I really like you."

She sniffed and looked him with sad, searching eyes. Slowly, ever so slowly, she wrapped her hand around his.

"I really like you, too."

Dipper gazed at their entwined fingers, and he looked at her, a small smile on his lips.

And for the first time in a long time, she felt warm inside.

0000000000

They arrived back at the shack by late evening.

Dana stopped and let go of his hand. She glanced at the shack, pushing her hair behind her ear. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

Dipper felt disheartened by her words. He didn't want her to leave. "Why don't.. why don't you come in? I mean, we can order pizza and, just.. watch tv."

She looked at him, glanced back at the forest, and smiled. "Ok."

He didn't bother hiding his pleased smile, and they started up the small hill. Half-way, she took his hand in hers.

"I think tonights Duck-tective." He said, opening the door for her.

She shook her head frowning, "I was wondering about that. A duck. Why in the world is it a detective?"

"I think that's a mystery we'll never find out."

The door swung shut behind them, just as the sun touched the very tips of the tall trees.

"Oh and Dipper? Remind me tomorrow of what I did today."

0000000000

Somewhere in Idaho...

A large, grotesque figure stood at the edge of a cliff, the moon big and bright in the night sky. It changed, bones cracking and shifting.

Conner took a bit out of the cougar's head, and flung it behind him.

Licking his lips, he pulled out an old, crinkled map. He circled a bloody finger around Oregon, leaving a bloody circle. He stuffed the map into his pocket, and pulled out a smaller paper.

Unfolding it, he held up an advertisement poster, a picture of an old, falling apart shack and an old man wearing a fez standing in front of it. In bold letters it read:

MYSTERY SHACK!

The only place in the world that will

show you wonders and mysteries beyond

your most wildest of dreams!

VISIT TODAY!

no refunds

The teen grinned, and his eyes flashed yellow.

Elizabeth..