Depravity Falls

by The Infamous Fly

The show we all know and love depicted in my own twisted style. Will contain violent and disturbing imagery, extremely adult content/language, drugs, death, and mental illness. Season 2, Episode 12 (Series Finale): The final battle begins.

21. S2, E4: Fluid Shapes

Episode 4: Fluid Flesh

"Hunger knows no friend but its feeder." –Aristophanes

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(June 15th, 1981, Serenity Falls, Oregon)

Ford's boots slapped against the stone as he dropped from the seventeenth hole which they had encountered yet. Fiddleford called after him, disturbed by how quickly his partner was moving through the cavern system.

Ford didn't have time for recommendations, however, he was static to return to the ship. It always filled him with a nervous energy, the same inspiring kind which Bill always gave him whenever he graced his dreams.

It had been Fiddleford's idea, even though the father of two hated spelunking. He had wanted to know where Ford was getting the technology which he brought into their shop, and why it required so much money and time to retrieve.

Well, he was about to have his mind blown.

Ford helped the shorter scientist down and gestured towards the darkness. "It's just down this tunnel and then we'll be there."

Fiddleford nodded, although, clearly freaked out by the idea. He had accepted the idea of the technology originating from beyond Earth only after Ford revealed more information to him. He still didn't know about Bill; which Ford thought was for the best. It was one thing to accept that there was life in the infinities of space, a concept not absurd considering their current project and some of Ford's old inventions.

It was different thing to accept that there were beings older than this universe, made out of energy, who preyed on mental energy ("Brilliance is what I eat!" Bill had explained in that happy-go-lucky way of his when he revealed himself not to be a childhood creation, but a living thinking being).

As well, Bill was his. His secret, his friend. And the self-described angel had explained that few people besides Ford could comprehend his true form.

Ford removed the gas mask from his bag and gestured for his partner to do likewise, before marching into the darkness. Fiddleford scrambled after him, no doubt afraid that the tunnels might contain some of the local legends which had begun to seep into his mind.

The two shared a look when they reached the glowing aqua light of The Ship, and Ford gave Fiddleford a concealed smile.

"And you thought it wasn't real." He stated smugly as Fiddleford found himself at a loss for words.

The ship, or rather, the bit of it sticking out of the ground, was surrounded by green-blue neon pools which Ford had discovered to contain less radiation than expected (about as much as a cellphone). The revealed bit sticking up out of the ground, extended fifty feet up, before being consumed into the dirt. By his estimates, the hundred ton, solid titanium structure, roughly larger than the abandoned Fair Mansion, was merely one sixth of the actual ship.

That should have made him feel small, made him feel like his species was inadequate by comparison to the craftsmanship of the race who crashed there. However, it actually just made him more invigorated.

He moved to the hatch which he'd been using to scout the ship through, and tore it open. No longer was he the weakling which Fiddleford had known in college, he had become very fit ever since moving to the strange town.

He stood aside and watched Fiddleford step inside, eyes wide. His expression was lit by the bioluminescent crystals which clung to the ceiling and walls of the ship, which illuminated the well-polished walls, now crusted with vines and rust. Ford gently closed the hatch behind them and found that Fiddleford was staring down the right-side hall, which led to whatever teleportation system they had created. Ford jerked a thumb in the direction of the engine, and Fiddleford followed reluctantly, if only to see what Ford had described as being the "most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

It too, was encased so not to release radiation into the air. Ford was quite sure that all the soil would be infertile if the engine was not encased.

Ford took the lead, having by now marked the three turns required to reach the engine room. Fiddleford gasped when he saw the mess of disassembled flesh on the floor, having already been warned of the corpses (if they could be called that), but not having the stomach to prepare himself.

He jumped from disgust to fascination when he realized that the engine lay above, and illuminated this room as violet rather than indigo.

He too, found it beautiful. It was the ever expanding, ever retracting, energy of a utilized particle, magnified for the engineer's pleasure. It changed colors every few seconds, and Ford could see patterns in the energy which he knew did not exist, but comforted him all the same.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" He asked without looking away.

Fiddleford nodded, and then stammered something. When Ford turned to him, he discovered that the other man was observing the platform above with terrified and wide eyes.

"I'm sorry, what was it you were saying?" Ford asked.

"There was a noise." Fiddleford answered and pointed towards the platform.

Ford readied his gun and claiming that the noise was most likely a product of broken machinery or a lost bat trying to escape as he climbed the ramp which lead to the control panel above. Still, both were tense as they approached the product of their paranoia.

The control panel was massive, like everything else in the ship, designed for beings twice the height of the average man. After glancing at the shining panel which lay just out of reach, Ford gave Fiddleford an unexpected boost and asked him what he saw. The man squirmed for a second, off put by the suddenness of being grabbed and lifted. Then he spotted the source of the noise.

"Oh god Ford…it's alive…it…it's trying to escape?"

Ford groaned and tried to steady himself. Fiddleford was only able to just glance over the top of the panel and had not grabbed the edge yet to steady them both.

"What is it?" Ford called up, his heart thudding at the prospect of facing an actual, living specimen.

"It is in some sort of…crystalline jar. It's almost see-through, and it's mostly slime… I think it's one of their young…Ford…we should get out of here."

Ford shook his head. "Grab it. If it hasn't broken out yet, then it isn't going to all of a sudden."

Fiddleford wanted to protest, but probably knew he would not be let back down until he grabbed the new specimen for Ford's ever growing collection of abnormalities. He gripped the jar with sweaty palms and Ford slowly lowered him to make sure that the specimen did not break free.

He smiled as he took the jar from Fiddleford (who was more than willing to rid himself of it). "Now…little fellah…" He said as he raised the jar to face the booming light of the engine, eyes widening at the movement of the creature. "…just what the hell are you?"

As if to answer his question, the creature shook and then became an exact replica of the goggles he was wearing. Ford stifled a gasp and then turned towards his lab assistant, and insisted that they bring it to their laboratory, as if he was still a little boy holding the carcass of a horseshoe crab down on the beach and addressing his brother.

Fiddleford, was inclined to agree.

[0]

Dipper's knuckles rapped lightly on the splintery door, and when he received no reply, he eased open the door.
"Mabel? Are you alright? I just wanted to know if you wanted to come to the barbecue with me and Wen-"

He paused when he saw his sister, still sleeping despite the fact that it was four PM in the afternoon. He sighed and gently touched her shoulder. Her eyes flickered open, and her immediate expression, annoyance, caused him to jerk his hand away, as if he was touching something about to be red hot.

She sat up, not even having bothered to get into her pajama pants, she was in the same black sweat pants and being tee shirt from yesterday, and he realized that she had worn them all through school today. She had not put on a sweater since their visit to Norwood Estate. Neither had she said much. Her grades had not been damaged, and it wasn't as though she was despondent towards his and Stan's attempts to cheer her up.

But it was clear that there was something afflicting her, something which neither he nor Stan knew how to cure. Something which he was afraid they might never.

"I just wanted to know if you wanted to come with me and Wendy to her family cookout," Dipper explained when she gave him a questioning glare.

She had no doubt planned on spending the weekend (starting with this Friday afternoon), sleeping. Having read more about the symptoms of depression than the average teen, he knew that her lethargic attitude was about as unhealthy as how sleep deprived he became when stressed out.

Mabel blew a strand out of her pale face. She had not bothered to fix her hair since the party either.

"No thanks." She responded, before standing and moving to her wardrobe.

A little relieved that her tone sounded neither defeated nor aggravated, Dipper pressed the subject. "Why not? I mean ummm, Stan's out with McGucket…bar hopping I think. Heh. And I don't want you to be all alone here…no matter what."

She shook her head and gave a cheesy smile. "I won't be alone…" She scooped up Waddles, who had been snoozing at beside her and awoke with a startled grunt, before relaxing at her touch. "I've got this little angel."

If he didn't know better, Dipper would have said that the pig was actually terrified into silence.

"Listen," He responded, himself shaking when her distaste for the discussion showed as she placed Waddles on her bed and folded her clothes on it. "I just…it'll be fun. Wendy said that they'll have a pool table, and her brother loves crazy eights…and you can take Waddles if you want."

Mabel removed her cellphone and pressed it into his hands. "Dipper…check my text messages. Brenda's going to be here in half an hour to pick me up. Candy rented a cabin for us to stay for the weekend, one a couple towns over. I already told Stan."

Dipper frowned, the paranoid in him jumping up at the notion of being kept out of the loop. He managed to stop that paranoid, however. This was Mabel, she wouldn't lie to him. And Stan wasn't conspiring with his sister to strip him of any power in what decisions got made.

He smiled as he read the text from Candy and then handed the phone back to Mabel. He wanted to hug her, how happy he was that the paranoid had been wrong and that his twin was returning to normalcy (relatively speaking).

Instead, he apologized for bothering her ("No biggie, you're just looking out for me,"), and asked her to wish him good luck at impressing Wendy's father ("Beat him up, that's sure to get him on your side!").

Then he heard Wendy call, Wendy, the girl who was unraveling that paranoid a little more every day. Who was killing the cynic in him and making him feel things he didn't even know possible more each day.

He bid his sister farewell, did likewise for Waddles, and then headed down the stairs. When he saw his girlfriend, dressed in a skirt and blushing beautifully in embarrassment at being dressed in the opposite manner which she typically was, Dipper ran to her and pressed her up against the front door.

After a couple minutes of making out, Dipper called to Mabel, telling her to remember to lock up, before following his amazing partner down the stairs and into her truck.

He never once became aware that, after Mabel showered, applied deodorant, and re-dressed, she got back under the covers and tried to sob herself out of her slump, so that she did not ruin Candy and Brenda's weekend with her unshakable dread and regret.

[0]

When she awoke from her nap, Mabel discovered that she was five minutes away from Candy's arrival. She wasn't sure how the shorter girl was affording this, how she got permission from her parents, or what incident had caused the other to turn what should have been a romantic getaway into a "let's cheer up the third wheel slumber party." But she knew better than to argue with Candy when she was determined.

She moved into the bathroom, inspecting herself as Waddles trotted in. She grinned down at him after applying lipstick and make-up, brushing aside the fact that Pacifica had taught her how to best use the make-up, and that every time she glanced at the toilet, she felt like vomiting.

In a few moments, her face was paler, her lips were pinker, and her cheeks were more flushed. Mabel's eyes were lightly enhanced, and her hair was in a ponytail. Her stomach felt an awful lot better, however.

"I look nice, don't I?" She asked the pig with a condescending smile.

The expression was used a lot in literature and TV, but Mabel swore that her heart actually skipped beat when she saw the pig smile back at her with malignant glee.

"Pretty as a pin-up." The pig replied, still smiling and still staring at her with eyes which were far too intelligent.

As it spoke, its mouth didn't move. But she knew it was Waddles speaking, because it was the same voice he'd used during those weeks that Dipper had been in a coma and she had begun to lose her mind.

Trying not to act like she felt betrayed by her pet speaking, Mabel willed herself to move and stepped over it. waddles remained silent, whatever intelligence behind his eyes no doubt keeping quiet so that she would blame her own sanity. She knew its game. It wanted her alive for now, it wanted her alive and kicking until it brought the blow down and finished its game.

And as long as she was alive, she might as well be hysterical. She'd known better than to tell anyone about the voice before, but now she had twice the longing to request help. Before, Waddles' words had always been comforting, in a strange, disorienting way. Now, they were spoken with sarcasm and perverse implication.

Mabel took one last look at the innocently blinking animal, before darting downstairs. When she bumped into Brenda, she nearly hugged the other girl. Instead, she calmed herself and pretended that everything was fine. Brenda knew better than to believe her smile, but Mabel knew that she would assume the act was put on to mask the scar which Pacifica had left, rather than to disguise her slow descent into irrationality.

She cast one last glance at the staircase, before following Brenda into the humid, hot air (weather conditions up here had the consistency of Mabel's mental state), and Mabel locked the door with some barely hidden desperation to entrap the demon upstairs.

"Don't you want to bring Waddles?" Brenda asked with surprise.

Mabel stuffed the key into her pocket as she replied. "Nah, he might wander off in the woods and get lost if I take him with us. Dipper and Stan will take great care of him."

Brenda wasn't prepared to argue and led her to the green compact car which Candy must have rented, Mabel glancing over her shoulder and trying to take deep breaths all the while.

[0]

Dipper was greeted by Eddie and Emmet when he reached the little white gate between the dirt parking lot and the Corduroy household. Wendy had run out of the car the moment she saw her brothers, and scooped them up in both arms. It was at that moment, watching her laughing and cradling them both (despite their demands to be put down), that Dipper realized she would make a wonderful mother.

That observation came along with some very powerful implications, many of which he preferred not ot think about, since fatherhood felt like lightyears away. However, as he joked with Eddie and Emmet, secretely watching the oldest Corduory boy greet his girlfriend, Dipper decided that, despite his fears of traumatizing or losing his non-existent child, he could hold his own in a position of authority.

"Are you Wendy's new boyfriend?" Eddie asked. It was innocently said, but it set him off balance nonetheless.

Before Dipper could answer, Emmet corrected his brother in a high pitched tone which indicated that he had probably heard this joke in school and considered himself masterful for re-telling it. "You mean, latest boyfriend."

Eddie frowned and told his older brother to shut up, before returning his eyes to the now uncomfortable and ashamedly worried Dipper. "So…are you?"

Dipper pursed his lips and nodded.

Emmet spoke up immediately. "Dad's going to break your arms."

Eddie told Emmet to shut up again, and this time, the taller redhead retaliate and shoved Eddie to the ground. Within seconds they were at each other's throats, and Dipper grabbed them each by the collar and separated them.

"Stop it, right now! Both of you." He commanded, glaring between their red faces. Eddie has a bloody nose.

"Now, both of you apologize." Dipper insisted.

Before either could refuse, a shadow was cast over all three of them. Dipper looked up from his crouching position and felt dwarfed.

Wendy's father was towering over them, his face a sneering mountaintop high above. He was dressed in jeans and a brown-orange button up, and was clearing unamused by his son's activity.

Dipper stood up. "I'm sorry, I wouldn't have humored them if I knew they were going to be so violent."

Wendy's father snorted and ignored Dipper. He turned his disapproving eyes onto his sons, who were both cowering behind Dipper's legs. Bending to his knees, he scratched beneath his beard and gave them a lopsided scowl.

"Edward, come here." Wendy's father ordered, his dark emerald eyes reminding Dipper of the man he had seen drowned when The Poltergeist showed him all the terrible things which had created its existence.

Eddie shook, but, detecting the gentleness in his voice and still too young to respond with rebellion when caught in the act, moved to his father's side.

Wendy's father wiped the blood from Eddie's cheek with callous hands. A somber tone overcame his face, all the wrinkles apparent and the muscles less so.

"Go wash up."

Eddie did as commanded and disappeared into the house as fast as he could. He clearly didn't want to be around for when his brother faced his father's wrath.

Wendy's father stood to his full height and spoke with grim instruction. "Emmet, apologize to our guest."

Emmet cleared his throat before doing as commanded. "I'm sorry Mr. Pines. I shouldn't have acted like that in front of you."

Wendy's father pointed to the porch. "Go to your room and prepare yourself for the belt."

Emmet's eyes widened. "What? But Eddie started it! If he gets off without a scratch…so should I!"

Wendy's father only grew angrier by a decimal. "That's double the lashes. Now go to your room. Now."

Emmet stuttered for words and Wendy's father looked about ready to chuck him across the lawn. The child gave in and nodded, before lowering his head, shuddering and moving past the confused Wendy and Danny.

Wendy's father watched his son retreat, before turning to face Dipper and offering a meaty hand. "Daniel Corduroy. You can call me Dan. I apologize for my son's behavior."

Dipper, both taken a back and a little sickened, took Dan's hand and tried to speak in a manner that didn't incriminate him as a spineless idiot. "Uh, Di-Dipper Pines, at your service, sir."

Dan nodded. "I know who you are."

Dipper frowned and was prepared to ask why, when Dan turned away and moved to Wendy's side. She looked distraught. A man of few words, Dan shared a few with his daughter before gesturing for his eldest son to follow him inside.

Dipper moved to Wendy's side and when he placed a hand on her shoulder, she just about jumped. "Is…is everything alight?" He asked as he searched her creased face.

Wendy shook her head and brushed off his hand. "My father's just a little…abrasive. Don't worry, he'll warm up to you."

With that hope offered, she took his hand and insisted on giving him the grand tour. Even as she posed funny anecdotes about the last family fishing trip which she had been part of, Dipper could not get the sense of unease which a home intruder must feel out of his head. He felt like he'd entered a bear's cave, and discovered it was even more intimidating than anticipated.

[0]

Mabel watched the trees blur by from her position in the backseat of the car, the three-quarters to setting sun shedding orange light across the ocean which they passed, and causing the window to grow warm to the touch.

Candy was driving, with Brenda snoozing in the passenger seat. Mabel had spent the last two hours just thinking, just piecing it all together and reflecting. The hope was that, with the inclusion of consideration, she might fall upon some epiphany which made her situation feel better.

It wasn't helping, however.

"When did you know?" Candy asked, eyes locked on the road.

Mabel frowned. "What do you mean?"

Candy turned off the radio, which previously had been playing some local news/weather station. "When did you know that you…you know…felt attracted to girls?"

Mabel's frown deepened. She had never thought of this even being a topic someone might be interested in. Especially, since she didn't consider her "story" interesting, or telling.

"I don't." She replied, trying to figure out how she could get across what she wanted to convey.

"But…you and Pa-"

Mabel interrupted her before the name could get near being finished. "Yes, but only her. I never…I still don't feel anything for girls...except for her."

Mabel winced when she realized that she had let slip that she still thought about Pacifica. Well, it was only natural to think about the person who could be contributed with ruining your life. Candy knew that Mabel still thought about Pacifica because no one lost their feelings for someone that quickly.

What Candy, did not know (unless she'd recently gained telepathy) was that Mabel had spent every night in the past week, masturbating to thoughts of Pacifica and the various things which she wanted to do to her.

"I never did." Mabel continued, hoping that if she spilled the beans (as Candy clearly believed would be cathartic) she would not let anything else slip and allow those nightmarish moments of weakness return to memory (vividly). "I only…she is the one who made me feel that way. I knew that she was…different…from the moment I saw her. But I didn't know until…until she gave me that cream…tuh-tuh-to cover my scuh-scuh-scars…that I realized I-I luh-liked her."

Mabel swallowed and Candy cast a glance to her friend, before suggesting that they didn't have to talk about this if Mabel didn't want to.

Mabel shook her head. "I…I always imagined…as a little girl…getting married to some charming, handsome guy who…luh-loved me. And then…I realized that she…" She took a deep breath. "Pacifica…actually…loved me. And I thought I was going to get my happy ending after all. But I didn't realize until after she…luh-lied to me…that it wasn't love for me…it was obsession…and now I'm juh-juh-just like her…I can't stop thinking ah-about her and-and what I want to do to her and…cuh-cuh-Candy? I thuh-think that I'm suh-suh-sick."

Candy parked the car on the side of the road, and took a deep breath before launching into her own recounting of events. "I knew since I was a small child, it just never appealed to me to be a guy. But Pacifica was the first person who I…I pursued. I ah-asked her you know…I got up the courage to ask her if she would…duh-dance with me. She…she spat in my face and I…heh, I got beaten up pretty bad for that."

The way Candy said that last part, as if the bullying was natural and diffusing its effect with vacant humor was acceptable, felt almost worse in Mabel's mouth than the mental images of Candy being subject to attacks.

"And I…I don't blame you for getting tricked. What I did…taking those photos of Pacifica. That wasn't right. It was selfish and…twisted."

Mabel wiped her eyes and sniffled.

"But what she did to you. That was unacceptable. Brenda wanted to attack her when she first heard about it. I wanted to…do worse Mabel. There are people in this world…" Bitterness filtered through Candy's words and she closed her eyes. "There are people like me and you who have done…ambiguous, wrong things. And then there are people like her…people who can't do better. They…they find people like you Mabel…beautiful people, with good intentions, and they do their best…" Candy turned in her seat and met Mabel's eyes. "But they can never ruin you. You are too good for that and I don't want to hear you ever call yourself sick again. Understand?"

Mabel swallowed and realized in that moment, that Candy had a crush on her. It explained a lot, the original question, the shorter girl's demeanor. And the idea that Candy had invited her to the cabin, perhaps with some inner goal of getting drunk enough to concede to some kind of three-way, well, that was more flattering than offensive to her tender ego.

Mabel nodded and Candy returned to the wheel and Mabel wondered what it must have been like to watch her and Pacifica kiss, for Candy, when she felt attracted to them both. As she glanced back out the window, she wondered where the time had gone, and hoped that the distant clouds didn't forewarn the arrival of rain.

[0]

"Mr. Pines, can you cut my steak?" Eddie asked, snapping his attention away from Wendy, who sat on the opposite side of the Corduroy dinner table, picking at her food and occasionally glancing at her stewing father.

At least he's eating, Dipper thought as he considered that none of the man's children seemed interested in the food which they'd been forced to bring inside from the barbecue due to the incoming rain.

"Sure thing," Dipper assured, eyes still on Wendy as he cut Eddie's steak into neat pieces.

Eddie smiled and drowned the meat in barbecue sauce as Dan wiped his mouth and focused his eyes on Dipper. "So…do you have a job?"

Dipper shook his head. "I help out a lot at my uncle's house," Mention of Stan appeared to have a negative influence on the red-bearded man. "But otherwise, I'm focusing on school right now."

Dan raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" He asked, the question mark feeling so much like a fish hook that Dipper just nodded instead of expanding on the thought.

"What is it that you are interested in?" Dan asked as he finished off his steak.

Dipper relaxed a little. "Journalism mostly."

Dan sniffed humorously and Dipper's demeanor dampened at recognizing the disapproval.

"Like those crooks on TV? Or in the dying paper industry?"

Wendy raised her head and yelled at her father. "Cut it out, dad! He never said that's what he's going to end up doing!"

Dipper swallowed and attempted to diffuse the situation. "I don't mean to brag suh-sir, but I think I have a fairly good uh, future ahead of me."

Dan's eyes narrowed. "I bet your uncle thought the same, didn't he?"

Dipper froze and Wendy stood up, commanding her brothers to leave the room. Danny was the only one who hesitated, and even then he moved quickly with a glare sent in his direction.

Apparently, they feared Wendy almost as much as they did their father.

When they were out of earshot, Wendy turned her glare on Dan. "Dad, I asked you beforehand if you were alright with Dipper coming over. You said yes. What the hell is the matter now?"

Dan stood up, his knuckles cracking against the table (which jolted with the application of his weight) as he spoke. "I thought you were friends. I didn't know that actually…you know…with him!"

Teenage defiance reared its head in Wendy and she pushed her chest out as she completed his sentence. "Having sex, dad? Was that what you meant? Fucking?"

This was a nightmare. Dipper could not imagine meeting Wendy's father reaching any worse conclusion then it just had.

Dan slammed his fist down on the table. "Watch your language, young lady! This is still my house and I won't have you cursing in it!"

Wendy sucked on the inside of her cheek as she responded. "Really? Don't you want to ask Dipper if I was his first? Maybe ask if we intend to settle down and have any kids after I'm done with college?"

Dipper jumped to his feet. "Please stop, I don't want you to-!"

Dan jerked his fuming sight in Dipper's direction. "Shut up, this doesn't concern you."

Wendy leaped between Dipper and her father, poking er fingers in his face as she spoke. "Oh really, because I'm pretty sure you asking him humiliating questions, concerns him!"

Dan snarled. "I don't know if this is some way to…get back at me…or if it's just a phase, but he is danger-!"

It was at that point Wendy lost her mind. "WHAT? WHAT?! DID IT EVER OCCUR TO YOU THAT I MIGHT HAVE AN ACTUAL CONNECTION WITH HIM!? WELL? DID IT!? OR DID YOU JUST ASSUME THAT I'M STILL A CHILD AND CAN'T MAKE DECISIONS FOR MYSELF?" She screeched.

Dan remained silent, and Dipper touched Wendy's shoulder, his expression begging for her to stop before she said something which she couldn't take back.

But she wouldn't turn his way.

"OF ALL THE GUYS I'VE DATED, DIPPER, THE PERSON WHO HAS SAVED LIVES, WHO IS THE SMARTEST, MOST MATURE ONE OUT OF ALL OF THEM, HE'S THE ONE YOU DECIDE TO PICK ON?!"

Dan could not contain his response a moment longer. "HE IS A PINES, GWENDOLYN! They are worse than the Norwoods, they're fucking insane! And he's going to get you killed if you don't quit this nonsense with him, THIS INSTANT!"

"Oh really?" Wendy replied, Dipper gripping her shoulders with both hands and begging for her to turn away. She couldn't hear him, though; she was already diving into her comeback. "I didn't realize! What the hell did Stan ever do to you anyway, dad? Did he sell you some piece of junk? Did he steal your parking space?"

Dan answered with flame in his eyes. "HE'S THE REASON YOUR MOTHER IS DEAD!"

Dipper stopped his attempt to end the argument, his stomach dropping from an atmospheric height at the accusation. He wanted to break the sudden silence, to tell this angry bully of a man that his great uncle had done everything for family, with good intentions. He wanted to say that no, Stan wasn't normal, but he was more heroic on a daily basis then most people ever would be.

But he could not refute the claim that Stan had been involved in Wendy's mother's decision to commit suicide. Stan had labeled most of his actions as "bad things", assuring them that he hadn't burnt anything down or murdered anybody. But most other things were easy possibilities.

And Dipper could tell, from Wendy's breathing that she was panicked that Dan might be right, and she might have worked for weeks, for the man responsible for her mother's death.

Then she spat out her last say. "No, dad, you are the reason. You are the one who wouldn't take mom to therapy. You are the one who refused to accept that she had a problem. You are the reason she's dead, not Stan, and certainly not Dipper!"

Wendy grabbed Dipper's hand and marched him to the exit. Dan called something after them, informing Wendy that she was not welcome back. And she shot back something along the lines of "I hope you're happy."

Dipper wasn't really listening. His mind was on Wendy's expression, at the possibility that he'd failed terribly, that he was going to drag her down with him.

Then, in the front yard, with the rain pouring down, she broke into tears. Dipper's arms were around her in an instant, and he soothed her back as they walked to the van. Dipper drove them to a nice little spot where a nature trail began, and they sat there in silence, watching the droplets collect on the windshield and roll onto the hood.

"I'm sorry." She finally said, head still in hands.

Dipper reached over and fumbled for her left hand. When he finally gripped it, she looked up and he spoke, his numb eyes meeting her wet ones. "Don't be. He was being an asshole."

Wendy hiccupped and then offered a little smile. The smile faded and she moved onto him, pressing her lips to his and wrapping her hands around his neck. There wasn't the same playfulness as every other time, the same self-assurance.

Now the gesture of passion felt a little frantic and very confused. And that made Dipper wonder if she was trying to reassure him or herself, that no, he wasn't some phase.

"Dipper, what do you want to do?" She asked after they'd kissed a little more and she had retrieved the weed from the back of the van. She currently had a joint between her index and middle finger, and the stench collected above Dipper's slouching head.

He shrugged, eyes pinned on the fly which danced on the ceiling of the van.

"Seriously, anything that you want to do…we can do it. I'm not going to have this day ruined because of my dad."

He turned his eyes to her and raised an eyebrow in a manner which was more humorous then suggestive, but still frisky. "Anything?"

She nodded, a dull gleam behind her eyes.

Dipper returned his eyes to the ceiling of the van. "Well…there is this one place which I've been really wanting to visit…"

"Then let's go!" Wendy stated, her determination to salvage the night more admirable than the gesture itself. Dipper nodded and switched positions with Wendy, her driving them as he gave directions and puffed the joint.

He wanted to say something as they drove through the darkening town, but found that he couldn't summon the correct question or the correct words to phrase it with.

So, instead, he stayed quiet until they came stop at the end of a dirt road, the headlights illuminating the red and white sign which read "WARNING! KEEP OUT!" The sign hung on the locked metal doors of a moss-coated shed which looked half-way to falling over.

After sharing a look with Wendy, he grinned.

[0]

Candy halted the sedan in front of the cabin, awakening Mabel, and causing Brenda to look up from playing with a pen.

"We are here!" She informed them with a crowd winning smile.

[0]

Wendy had been essentially prepared for anything, with industrial bolt cutters and flashlights piled in the back of her van. Dipper applied the cutters to the chains which kept the doors from being opened and with a "CHINK" they broke and allowed entrance.

"Ladies first," Dipper informed as he made a sweeping gesture towards the inside of the shed with the hand in which he clutched his flashlight.

Smirking, Wendy climbed inside, gagged at the smell of mildew which immediately struck her. Dipper followed, coughing and wheeling a couple times before adjusting to the smell. The shed was bare except for the rusty metal hatch in the center of its concrete floor. It too was locked.

Opening that lock took less time than the last and exposed a narrow, copper ladder which burrowed deeper than the beams that their flashlights could reveal. This time, Dipper was the first to go, as he began descending the moment he could drop the bolt cutters down the hole.

"What is this place?" Wendy called after him, uncertain about the descent.

Dipper's voice echoed as he called up to her. "It's a bunker which Ford made to hold all his important findings. I located it the other night and I was waiting for someone to come with me."

Wendy frowned. "Are you sure it's safe down there?"

When Dipper answered, his voice was distant, and that distance made her feel like she had not dressed warmly enough for the cold, damp air.

"Any animals which he was keeping, would be long dead by now."

Wendy scrambled after him, her boots making clanking noises against the rungs as she called after her boyfriend and told him to slow down.

The hallway which they were dropped into, was even more overgrown than the area above. The walls were covered in vines, so much so, that Dipper almost couldn't make out the blue steel shell which circled the nine-foot-tall tunnel, from which the ladder dropped into. Their three-foot drop had been cushioned by the moss which formed a blanket disguising the floor, although, Dipper still made sure that Wendy had not sprained her ankle before he began inspecting the area.

As he pressed a hand against the lump of vines at chest height in the wall. As he tore back the vines, Wendy readied the gun which she had begun carrying on her person since Dipper had been kidnapped by the government agents.

"Wendy! Come look at this!"
She turned and found that he was struggling to make what looked like a vault hatch open. It was coated in rust and she warned him not to get tetanus she approached, her vision illuminated solely by the blue-white beam of her flashlight.

"I won't, but it…I think it's…uggh! Stuck." Dipper commented as he put all his strength into pushing the door open, and, when faced with defeat, sighed.

He felt more than a little ashamed he was not strong enough to accomplish this simple act in front of her. Noticing his expression, Wendy placed her flashlight on the floor and returned her gun to her pocket.

"C'mon, let's try together?" She offered, as she placed her hands over his.

Smiling, he nodded and they both heaved against the metal. The hatch turned, first in jerky, unsteady movements, and then completely around twice, before a click came from the other side.

The door opened and they both took a step back, Wendy picking up her flashlight, while the door smacked against the wall.

A hiss came as cold air exited the room like a sudden breeze and Dipper shivered. Smiling, Wendy removed her coat and handed it to the protesting Dipper.

"Just take it." She suggested as he clutched his forearms and tried to prevent his teeth from chattering around.

Admitting defeat, Dipper slipped on the coat and grabbed the fallen bolt cutters before following Wendy into the next room. It was lined with two metal shelves, each holding three-foot long, cardboard boxes, which were duct taped shut.

Dipper removed one (labeled 2012-2014) with some difficulty and opened it with the cutters, to reveal around sixty cans of assorted beans and canned fruit. Wendy opened the next box (2015-2016) to reveal the same.

The boxes on the other shelf were labeled identically and were full of bottled water, much of which appeared to have been packaged at some point in the nineties.

After sharing a look, they returned the boxes to their places and moved to the next door. This one actually resembled a vault and had a number pad to input the code.

Wendy leaned against the cold door, eyes on the vents above them which flushed frigid air from whatever lay on the other side of the door and into this room as she spoke. "Any idea what the combo is, Agent Pines?"

Dipper chewed on his lip and took a moment. Then a number which had come up consistently in the codes of the Journal returned to mind and he punched it in.

.

He stepped back and grabbed the cutters, as if ready to attack whatever lay on the opposite side.

A light flickered on, showing off the dozens of pipes and tubes which filled the room and led down a distant hall. Blue bulbs had been installed in the walls, but the room was mostly illuminated by the computer which lay a level below them, and which cast a glow which poured from the window directly ahead, which illuminated the area.

Pools of purple chemical matter had collected along the edges of the grated pathway, and both teens were careful as they stepped into the room. The blue light of the bulbs and the green of the billboard size computer monitor reflected over the spills, and if Wendy didn't know better, she would say that there was blood mixed with some of the puddles and stained many of the walls.

There was a keypad on this side of the door, but someone had destroyed it. To make sure they didn't become locked down there, the two propped a couple crates between the door and the doorway.

A feminine, automated voice crackled over the speakers which dwelled in the corners of the dimly lit hall as they took a few steps inside, their freedom now assured. "Wuh-wuh-wuh-welcome huh-huh-home, Stanford…and guh-guh-guest."

Dipper and Wendy shared a look, before both grinning from ear to ear and rushing down the hall without a second thought.

Neither noticed that one of the chemical puddles was beginning to shudder. Neither could have been aware that they were just heated signatures in the vision of the creature which had spent the last thirty years believing its Father to be dead, alongside all other skin-bags. It believed that Father's bunker had worked as intended, protecting it from the inevitable entropy collapse.

Now, proved wrong, it transformed into a moth, and followed the investigating duo, with peaked curiosity.

[0]

Mabel curled up on the couch, staring out the window to the left of the television set and the table it balanced upon. Brenda was chopping the logs behind the cabin, to make them a fire.

Candy sat down beside her and offered a cup of tea.

"Brenda really sprung for this…" Mabel commented as she blew across the black tea.

Candy shook her head. "I paid for this. That is why it is my car we take here…"

Mabel frowned. "I…did not know that you had a car."

"It is my father's car. My parents gave me the money to pay for our stay." Candy clarified as she sipped the hot tea, her eyes drifting past Mabel.

Mabel tried not to drop her mug. "Candy, why would they do that? They…they haven't trusted you with anything for as long as I've known you."

Candy swallowed. "Well, they…they hired somebody to follow me."

The rhythmic chopping from the backyard suddenly felt a little sickening.

"Me and Brenda…I threatened to tell the police, to…ruin their careers when I found out. They…promised they'd stop and offered me the use of the car and some money so that I could be independent like they wanted."

Mabel put down the mug on the coffee table. "Candy…I…I don't think that's healthy. I mean, if they can just…buy their way out of doing that to you and…does Brenda even know?"
Candy nodded.

"I just…I feel like they're manipulating you."

Candy swallowed. "Mabel…can I tell you a secret?"

"Of course," Mabel responded as soon as the words left the shorter girl's mouth.

Candy was about to speak when the kitchen backdoor opened, and Brenda walked into the living room. She glanced between them before removing her baseball cap and placing it on the kitchen counter.

"You guys alright? What did I miss?"

The brunette tried to say it casually, but Mabel could tell there was an underlying hint of paranoia beneath it. Out of all of them, Brenda might have been the most traumatized by their encounters with the supernatural.

Then again, only Mabel, Dipper, and Brenda had ever met Bill.

Seeing that Candy clearly did not want to share the secret with her partner, Mabel coughed and launched into the first excuse which popped into her head. "We were trading camping stories…I was just telling Jae about the time that Dipper burnt his marshmallow black and then threw it at me."

Brenda smiled and began recalling her own anecdote as she piled the wood in the fireplace. "Oh yeah, I remember when my dad took me camping near Tennessee. We used to tie up our luggage and tie rocks to the other side of the rope. Then we would sling the whole thing over a branch, and the bears wouldn't be able to get to it."

The fondness in Brenda's voice was enough to ease Mabel's discomfort. Whatever it was that Candy was hiding, it was not and should not be her business.

"Oh? Did you guys ever cook marshmallows?" Mabel asked as she sipped her tea.

Being close to Pacifica had taught her a disturbing amount about lying and subversion.

"Totally! I brought a big bag of them for if we want to use the grate out back." Brenda replied, standing to retrieve the bags of newspaper by the back door, and kissing the deflated Candy on the head as she continued. "I was hoping we could all tell scary stories. I bet mine are the best!"

As the tallest girl stuffed the paper between the wood and lit the kindling with a match, Candy mouthed the words thank you, and Mabel cradled her mug, hoping that Dipper was having a better night then she was right now.

[0]

The computer room was immense, as it had to make room for the ten-foot-wide, eight-foot-tall monitor. The screen was on when they reached it, apparently the whole bunker had been set up for the computer to turn on whenever someone input the correct code in the keypad.

Initially, Dipper was enamored with the computer, pressing buttons like a small child and taking in the low-res photos of cryogenic tubes and sketches of strange creatures. Then he noticed that there was a "database of paper files" just down the hall to his left.

He wished Wendy luck and rushed off in the direction of the physical information.

Frowning, Wendy moved to the computer and opened the "LAST INPUT" page, which brought her to a white screen with black text reading EXPERIMENT 210.

The screen flashed, and the automated voice crackled to life, hurting Wendy's ear. "Accessing all footage regarding experiment #210…accessing…accessing…revealed."

Wendy stared at the dozen videos displayed. She moved the cursor to the earliest and a low-quality video of a man, sitting at a metal table, holding a jar, and looking nervous.

"Hello…my name is Fiddleford McGucket…" The man said as the person holding the camera adjusted it. "And I am being filmed by Stanford Pines. The date is September ninth, 1980, and today, we are going to display Experiment #210, who was found in the excavation of an abandoned craft, which we found several months ago…"
Surprised that the young and somewhat handsome man was the stuttering mess of lunacy which she knew, Wendy winced as he cast a charming smile towards the camera and told Ford that "if this doesn't work, lunch is on you."

Then he unscrewed the jar, and dumped the contents, a smudge of yellow onto the table. At first look, the smudge was an octopus. Then she noticed that it had stalks, like an immense snow crab or a terrifying tarantula.

Removing a small baseball hat from beneath the table, McGucket cooed to the apparently shy creature, as he placed the bat on the table.

"Here you go, little buddy…go ahead…do your thing and I've got a cracker with your name on it." Fiddleford coaxed.

The mess of stalks and tentacles shuddered and then, it was gone. In its place, sat a baseball bat, identical to the first. Down to the last detail, do every splinter and infraction.

"IT WORKED! IT WORKED! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" McGucket stated, jumping for j0y ad grinning at the camera man as he placed a cracker next to the left bat. It transformed back into the blob and absorbed the cracker with startling speed.

"Ford, we're going to be ri-"

The clip cut off and Wendy felt a chill run down her spine. One of the men in that video was on his way to a recovery from dementia, while the other was dead. And experiment 210? God knew where that was.

She turned on the last clip, to see just how their plans had ended.

What she saw, made her want to run to Dipper's side and demand that they leave. The clip was nothing but distorted voices and a running shot of any empty cage and a trail of slime moving out of it and leading up to the doorway of the cell-like room. The same metal table lay in the center, but it was now tipped over.

"No! Don't touch him, he doesn't like to be touched-oh god…Abe! STOP IT! STOP IT NOW!"

"AHH! GET IT OFF ME! PINES! GET IT OFF ME-AGH!"

"Up the stairs, quick, up the stairs and to the door…nobody let it touch you…Abraham, it's time to go back in the tube…understand? It's time to go back to sleep…"

In the last few frames of the video, before the feed cut out and flashed to static, a man with a cattle prod could be seen forcing a huge, yellow blob, back into the cage.

Wendy's eyes were torn from the final, chilling transmission when Dipper yelped. The sound jumped on her and made the gun in her pocket (and the ax at her belt), both feel like blessings.

"Dipper?" She called, the possible scenarios spinning inside of her head as she searched the darkness for his form.

He chuckled. "I'm fine…I just fell…there's a hole in the floor over here. Be careful."

Frowning, she raised her flashlight to the drifting smoke which obscured the darkness between herself and him. Twenty feet away, a deep gash in the floor, dropped six feet, leaving Dipper unable to climb up on his own. Lying behind him was some large, damaged canister.

Wendy placed her flashlight onto the floor and bent to one knee. She offered both of her hands. "How did you miss a hole this big?" She asked, unable to stifle her smirk.

"My flashlight malfunctioned." He answered on handing her the supposedly faulty device and then taking her hands.

She lifted him as far as possible, and he grabbed the floor to help himself up. They both shared a smile, and she was about to kiss him, reliving the stress of the musty, foreboding area, when in the corner of her eye, she identified the large metal canister which must have broken when the floor gave way under rot.

It was a cryogenic tube. A cracked, empty one.

It was at that point, that Wendy heard a skittering and then hissing sound behind her. She told Dipper to stay put and stalked in the direction of the sound, her gun in hand.

[0]

Brenda and Mabel talked long into the night, with Candy heading to bed early. It occurred to Mabel that she and Brenda had not talked in quite a long time, as both of them had been busy with separate affairs. Mabel became more than a little tipsy by the time that the clock struck eleven, but she could still tell that Brenda was dancing around a couple subjects.

The first being why she had come to Gravity Falls. The second being Candy. And, from that Mabel could tell that the stronger girl had known from the beginning what Candy had been discussing with Mabel, but had chosen not to bring up the subject.

"Brenda," Mabel finally asked. "Is something wrong with you and Candy?"

The other girl shrugged and stood. She picked up the metal poker, stabbing the embers with it as she spoke. "I have my issues, she has hers. She doesn't want to talk about hers. I am respecting that."

Mabel licked her lips. "But…I mean…I think she wants to talk about it. It feels…important to her, she just doesn't know how."

Brenda sighed and collapsed on the couch. She put a hand to her head. "Mabel, I know…that it's not something I can avoid forever. But it's something I can live with for now."

Mabel searched her companion's face and turned away. There was love in those eyes, devotion and acceptance. But there was also guilt, and that acceptance could be attributed to a familiar relationship with manipulation.

Nodding, Mabel stood and removed her sleeping bag from the duffel bag she'd packed.

"Well, don't wait too long." She suggested as she opened the bag and crawled inside.

Brenda stayed up a little while to watch the fire.

[0]

"Dipper…I think we should get out of here…" Wendy said as she reappeared from the darkness. The redhead had scanned every nook and crevice of the room for movement, while Dipper looked through the files.

"Alright. Let me just get these back in their box." Dipper replied as he riffled through the boxes of beige folders, trying to get all the important notes in one place.

Wendy turned towards him. "Dipper, we need to go. There's something alive down here..."

"Alright, alright…I just need all of these together…they'll help with figuring out Bill's next move." He picked up a box and turned towards her, his eyes glinting in her flashlight. "We can go now."

Wendy nodded and turned towards the stairs, her right hand tight against her gun, while she aimed her flashlight with the other.

She swallowed. "Dipper, I think there was some kind of…shapeshifting alien down here."

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it might be dead but…I was just hoping that you could be on the lookout for anything suspicious." She replied, her palm sweaty against the flashlight.

"Anything suspicious. Got it."

They were almost to the top of the stairs when a moan echoed from the back hall and reverberated throughout the control room.

Wendy froze.

Dipper glanced back towards the sound and then locked his eyes on hers. "That must be the shapeshifter. C'mon, let's go before it catches up."

Wendy removed the gun from her pocket. "It sounded like you. It sounded like Dipper."

Dipper nodded. "It must be trying to trick you. C'mon, we need to go…your letting it get in your head."

Wendy swallowed. "What's my middle name?"

Dipper frowned. "Wendy now isn't the time, we need to go!"

"What. Is. My. Middle name?" She asked, her gun pointed at Dipper's chest.

"Wendy, I know what you're thinking…but I'm not…" She turned off the safety. "…I'm not the shapeshifter. You never told me your middle name, though. Please, you have to believe me."

Wendy swallowed. Unfortunately, she didn't know if he was telling the truth.

"Fine. What was the passcode on the door?"

"1984!" Dipper replied with an easy smile, his hands first relaxing and then shooting back up above his head. "Wendy, please put down the gun."

Wendy lowered the gun and took a deep breath.

Dipper moved to her side. "Are you alright?"

Wendy nodded. "Let's just get outside."

Dipper nodded and climbed the stairs, Wendy, right behind him as she slid the gun into her coat.

As they walked past the chemical puddles and into the food storage room, Wendy offering to hold the box of files and Dipper refusing, the taller of the two asked if Dipper knew what happened to Ford after he built this place.

"Didn't Stan tell you? Uh, he died. One of Bill's cultists killed him."

Wendy's head bobbed up and down as she repeated the words "Stan" and "Bill", over and over again.

She removed her gun and placed it to his temple. "If Father is really dead, then I have no need for you."

Dipper's eyes widened and the box of files collided with the flood in a sickening "THOOM." He raised his hands again, and Wendy's smile extended wider than humanly possible.

"You really are as idiotic as Fiddleford. He thought I was his wife when he first let me out…stupid…stupid…stupid…"

Dipper's eyes welled. "What…what did you do with Wendy?"

The Shapeshifter pointed towards the doorway. "In there hotshot. You two can fornicate as much as you please, while you starve to death…just like Father tried to do to me."

Dipper frowned as he backed into the doorway. "You have Wendy's gun, why not just kill us?"

The Shapeshifter morphed to become identical to Dipper and adjusted his hat. "I'm saving bullets. If I couldn't escape this vault, then a couple teenage idiots aren't going to. Now stop asking questions…and get in there."

Dipper did as commanded and watched the door slam close in front of him. The Shapeshifter thanked him for the combination, before pressing in 1984 and locking him and Wendy underground.

He immediately ran towards the moaning, and discovered Wendy, her clothes torn, and her entire body quivering. She was coated with a thin layer of slime and unable to make more than unintelligible noises.

Dipper dragged her to the spicket in the room where there was no floor tiling, only dirt. He used the water to wipe the slime off of her, and she started breathing normally. He clutched her as she apologized for being caught off guard, and himself apologized for being fooled as he ran his hands through her hair and hoped that there was some way out of the bunker.

[0]

Abe liked the feeling of the rain, running through its new hair, across his mimicked clothes. It took a moment to do a little twirl. It had expected that freedom would never come. When the last cryogenic tube shut down, it had been afraid that he would never be able to feed again, and would waste away as Father intended.

But now it was free…free as a bird.

It glanced at the van which was parked in front of the shed. Then, it smiled. With no effort, pushed the van all the way back up the hill, onto the highway. Then it pushed the vehicle off of the road and watched it burn.

It wasn't long before a trucker stopped right next to the wreck.

A man in overalls with a round beard dropped out of his car and ran over. "Kid, are you alright?"

Abe nodded. "Yes. My car crashed…I…I'm a little shaken…I need to get home."

The man patted Abe on the shoulder. A sign of human affection. It reminded Abe of Father and Fiddleford. That made it angry. This human would have to die.

It was hungry besides. The attempt at affection just gave it further motivation for feeding on him.

"Well, thank goodness your safe…I'll call the police."

Police. Sirens. Bars. No police, no authority. They would put it in a lab, feed it pigs and mice, instead of people. People were so much tastier. They would poke it, it would be worse than when Father and Fiddleford messed with it.

Abe smiled. "That would be for the best. Tell me first…what is the direction of Stan Pines?"

It didn't know who this impostor was if he had told the truth about Father being dead. But it was going to find out.

"You mean the charlatan? What do you want with him?"

Abe widened Dipper's eyes to look pathetic. "He's a friend of the family. My parents are currently unavailable."

"Well, he just lives down this road. If you follow the signs…you can't miss him. Say, is your head alright kid?"

Abe glanced back and forth, before giving its next meal an extra wide smile. "Right as rain."

[0]

Abe knocked on the door of the Mystery Shack, and when the man who resembled Father saw it, he hugged it.

"Why did you answer your phone? Your sister and I were worried sick!"

Behind him was Fiddleford. Old Fiddleford. Still Fiddleford. Abe recognized by scent first, then sight.

And this man was not Father. This man was not Stanford Pines.

"I was attacked." It said in the most pathetic voice it could manage. "They…they killed, Wendy."

Stan broke the hug. "Wait, who? Who…was it Bill's people?"

Abe shook its head. "It was two doppelgangers…they looked just like me and Wendy. They were evil. They crashed Wendy's van and…" It caused some of its flesh to dribble down its face in a manner resembling tears to the human eye.

"…they killed her. They ate her and killed her. I fought them…but they were too strong. They killed a trucker too. I'm so sorry Stan…I wish…" Its voice cracked and Stan hugged it, while Fiddleford stared at the floor, most likely blaming himself for this.

"It's not your fault, kid. It's not your fault."

After that, they packed it a bag of human food and clothes, and Fiddleford offered to drive it to Dipper's sister, while Stan used his "connections" to find out what "these things" were.

Stan thanked him immensely. He obviously cared deeply about Dipper.

That meant he must be the weak brother who Father often talked about after intoxication.

Fiddleford was quiet most of the trip, and Abe took advantage of this.

"Fiddleford, do you think Mabel will cry a lot…about Wendy, I mean."

He frowned. "I expect so. You three have been quite tight and well, considering what she's recently gone through…I'd hate to be her at the moment."

Abe wondered what it would be like to be her. To assume her role. But it would have to fake Dipper's death. That was too much work.

Besides, it might be nice to feel what it was like to have a sibling, to have companionship. This "Mabel" might actually provide quite a lot of entertainment, if she was as sentimental as most humans were. And as long as it was gathering information like Father would want, then it might as well be entertained.

Even if she became annoying, Abe could always just kill her.

[0]

Dipper wiped his mouth. Despite the humidity of the air down in the bunker, he still was becoming thirsty quicker than assumed. He had already removed his shirt and draped it over Wendy, along with her coat, to bring her warmth.

The slime which The Shapeshifter had covered her in, had apparently paralyzed her and lowered her body temperature. Her face was pressed against his stomach as she shivered and fought back more moans.

He had spent the last three hours searching for escape, to no avail. Now he just lay against the wall.

"Wendy…" He called out into the air, more than to the woman beside him.

"Yeh-yes?"

Dipper wrapped his arms around her chest. "I'm sorry. If we don't make it out of this…I'm sorry."

Wendy shook her head. "This was my idea."

"No. You wanted to cheer me up…I chose this place. I knew it might be dangerous." Dipper replied, beginning to feel a little weak.

Wendy remained silent for a long moment.

"Dipper?"

"Yes?"

Wendy shifted a little. "You love me, right?"

"More than anything."

The words came out crushed and engorged.

Wendy opened her eyes. "So…if it comes down to it…if I die first…"

Dipper tensed, able to see the destination of this train of thought.

"No. Wendy, I'd never-!"

"If you really love me…then you would. I can't help you if I'm dead…" Dipper looked away, but she continued talking. "…except as…food."

Watching the tears pool in his eyes, Wendy reached up and brushed her hand against his cheek. "It's alright. You're going to be alright, even if I'm not."

[0]

Mabel embraced Dipper the second that she saw him. She knew how much Wendy meant to him, from the moment that they had met her.

To lose someone like that, in such a traumatic way…Mabel could only relate to that when she thought about how she felt, when Dipper had fallen into a coma.

As well, she had been terrified of what had happened to him, when she texted him around midnight (feeling particularly awful) and received no reply. She had told herself over and over that she was being paranoid, but considering how close to death he frequently got, Mabel wasn't sure there was such a thing.

It was when Stan confirmed that he had not returned home yet, that Mabel began to panic. A call to Wendy had been unsuccessful, and she had begun to wrack her brain for the last words which she had shared with Dipper. Hadn't they been a lie? Hadn't she insisted on not going with him and Wendy?

Wasn't this her fault?

That was the question which had consumed her until Stan confirmed that her twin was alive. Better yet, he had sent Dipper her way, so that she could be sure nothing would take him from her.

"I'm so sorry." She said as he remained silent, his hands gentle against her back.

"It's not your fault. It's mine." Dipper replied distantly.

McGucket entered behind him, placing down his bags, wishing her "Good luck" with his eyes, and turned away.

Mabel broke the embrace. "Why don't you sit down and tell me…what happened? I'm sure that it isn't your-"

Dipper re-embraced her, and Mabel felt herself being lifted far, far above the world. Into some grassy meadow, where the two of them knelt and inspected the bugs which crawled by. Dipper felt so warm, so comforting. She couldn't remember the last time being in his arms was this comforting.

Disgust grew in her stomach at the realization that his hug was bringing her solace, instead of the other way around.

"We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. What's important is that your still alive." She told him as she ran a hand through his hair.

Candy and Brenda offered the bed, but Dipper shook his head, and Mabel recognized the look in his eyes. He wanted to be near her, in case he had another nightmare (something Wendy had mentioned to her, Mabel felt the full blow of the loss with that memory).

"He prefers sleeping bags." Mabel lied.

It was clear they didn't believe her, but neither was prepared to argue and they knew that the explanation was given to excuse some deeper one, something which Dipper was too drained to reveal himself.

They both retreated to the bed, no doubt exhausted from having been awoken in the middle of the night.

Mabel crouched down next to Dipper. "Dipper, I never want to hear you say that it's your fault someone died. Understood?"

He tried to protest, but she shook her head. "You always try the hardest that you can. And that's all that anyone can do."

This time he nodded, and rested his head against the couch cushion. "Thank you, Mabel." He murmured in a sleepy tone.

She smiled. "You are more than welcome."

[0]

Dipper had a nightmare about waking up to find out that Wendy was dead, and being too weak to get her dead body off of him. He awoke gasping for air. Wendy had to calm him down enough to cease shaking, but he didn't fall back asleep.

Mabel dreamed about that meadow. About have always been there and always being there.

Abe didn't dream. He physically could not sleep, that's why he had to feed so many times.

Instead, he feigned sleep (he was good at feigning), and searched through Mabel's phone as she slept. She reminded it of Fiddleford, before he had gotten all dark in the face and nasty in his lectures. Before the things had begun to whisper to in his ears and peripheral vision.

Stan didn't sleep. He spent all night searching the streets to no avail.

[0]

Candy was frying eggs when Mabel awoke. She was also wearing Brenda's coat. Said owner of coat, kissed the shorter girl, before placing her plate on the kitchen counter and picking at it with a fork which had a bent prong.

Mabel found Dipper awake and reading one of the books which the cabin had provided. It was about the landscape of the area.

Dipper looked up and, on seeing her face, asked with more than a little concern. "We're quite far away from everyone else, aren't we?"

Mabel nodded and Brenda handed her a plate of eggs, before speaking as she cleaned her hands at the sink. "Would you guys like to take a walk after breakfast? There are a lot of scenic trails around here."

"I would love to." Mabel admitted.

From the screen door at the back of the kitchen, she could see that it was a beautiful day outside, and some fresh air felt like just the thing to clear her head.

Dipper, agreed.

[0]

Stan stared at the dozens of the notes, his head on his knuckles. For the life of him, he could not figure out what was the cause of these "doppelgangers." There were no public records about them, and no one he asked had seen Dipper or Wendy.

As well, this crashed truck which the firefighter's had been forced to come put out, had to have something to do with all of this.

Sighing, he opened up his brother's notes, the ones which lay in the bottom right drawer of his desk, and flipped through them one more time. He stopped when his eye flickered over "The Shapeshifter."

One of a kind. Very manipulative. Can assume someone's personality without very much information about them. Feeds on human cognition, leaving behind husks. Class 4/5 threat if freed from my bunker.

A pounding came at his door, and Stan raised his head, before stuffing the scrap of faded paper into his suit pocket.

"We're closed." He called as he came to the front door.

It swung open, Agent Lockhart stepping inside. "Good. I'm not here to buy your crap."

Stan instantly had his gun out. "Get out of my house. Now."

Lockhart shook his head. "I'll leave as soon as you answer a couple questions of mine."

Stan grinned. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't shoot you, right now, for attacking my brother and kidnapping my cousin."

Lockhart shrugged. "I have a lot of resources at my disposal. I've taking a break from attacking you people. You clearly possess dangerous and unstable knowledge. For now, it's best to observe and record." He reached into his pocket. "Speaking of."

Stan turned off the safety. "I'm going to give you one last chance."

Lockhart opened his trench coat, revealing that he wasn't reaching for a gun, but instead removing a cellphone.

He turned it on, pressed a couple buttons, and then turned the screen towards Stan as the video began to play. "Care to explain this, Mr. Pines?"

Stan watched as black and white footage, of Dipper talking with a man in overalls, next to a truck played. Then Dipper turned into…something unimaginable. Stan watched in horror as the creature, resembling the sketch in his brother's notes, invaded the man through his orifices and shook his bloated body back and forth. When it crawled back out of him, the man lay on the ground, unwilling to move, let alone breath.

Then Dipper pushed the truck into the trees as if the weight was nothing, starting the blaze. He kicked the body of the trucker into said fire and then walked off, in the direction of the mystery shack.

Lockhart turned off the video. "We captured that…a full minute before your 'nephew' showed up at your door."

Stan raised his gaze and then licked his lips. "I know what's happened, and if you trust me…then you will get a very interesting specimen for that lab of yours."

Lockhart raised an eyebrow. "This had better be good Pines."

[0]

Dipper craned over the control panel, his hands working furiously to repair the keypad on his side of the bunker door.

Wendy sat beside him, having regained most of her limb control by now, and only "lightly numb" by her account. The metal was cold against his fingers, and they danced back and forth as he visualized the wires which needed to be re-wired, repaired, and replaced.

They had broken open the computer and turned it into scrap to get those repairs, something which he might have regretted in a different situation. The computer had no doubt contained useful information.

However, the computer had failed to supply an alternative route out of the bunker, and as such, he had been given no choice. He pinched the fingers of the worn latex gloves heh ad discovered in the back, over a fried wire, and tore it from its socket, depositing it in the bucket which Wendy held.

Then he grabbed its replacement and slid the connector into the socket, before plugging the other side of the wire in. He moved to a red, frayed wire. Then a snapped, yellow one. Then a scorched blue one, and a couple tangled red ones.

It was around the seventh wire replaced, that Dipper realized that they did not have the correct wires to make sure that power was flowing into the keypad. As well, all the buttons had been fried by the explosion which the gunshot had caused.

He turned to Wendy and gave her a mournful look.

She sighed and lay back, her head resting against the frigid metal.

"Dipper?"

"Yeah?"

Her eyes dimmed. "I still haven't told you everything. I…Stan hired me…"

"I know."

She turned towards him. "Wait…what?"

Dipper slid into a sitting position and stared back at her with no less love. "Stan had some kind of machine, right? And me and Mabel were going to help him repair it, by following the trail of the journal. You were supposed to protect us…up until a certain point. You couldn't bear to watch that happen to us…and you knew that Stan would track you down, if you tried to leave with us…so you ran."

Wendy leaned her head against his shoulder. "I should have known you'd figure that all out."

Dipper stared at his feet as he responded. "Yeah, well…Tobias helped."

A sound reverberated from the other side of the door, and both of them scrambled to their feet. They began yelling the password to the person on the other side, banging their fists against the door and hoping beyond hope that their noise carried over onto the other side of the great steel door.

Some buttons were pressed and both Dipper and Wendy scrambled to their feet, to find the person they least expected was standing over them, with a confused look on their face.

[0]

Dipper appeared to be doing better. Every few minutes on their hike, he would stop to look at a new plant or a new bird. Strangely enough, those birds did not move when he reached out for them. Instead, they grew stunned, unwilling to move as he stroke their feathers and looked into their eyes.

He was also very quiet, only speaking once (and that time to a bird). He had said "There, there, pretty birdy."

Candy had stayed back at the cabin, while they hiked, so Mabel spent most of the time either watching Dipper's demeanor, or asking Brenda if she thought that he was doing better.

Dipper only moved from passiveness to alertness when they came across a ranger.

"Hey there!" She said as she finished moving a log from the path. She offered a hand, and Brenda took it, shaking it heartily as Dipper moved to Mabel's side, almost hiding himself from the ranger.

She had arctic blue eyes and dark red hair, with a smile that crinkle the skin around her eyes and showed off all her teeth. Brenda introduced herself, as well as them, and Mabel realized that Dipper might see Wendy in the ranger, given the physical similarities. She gave the woman a smile when Brenda gestured to them.

"Well, you all have a nice day. You should be careful, it's nice now, but we've got reports of snow latter in the week." The ranger informed as she returned to her golf-cart-like vehicle.
"We'll be gone by Monday." Brenda informed with a smile.

Dipper watched the ranger go and licked his lips.

"You hungry? We should probably head back for lunch." Mabel said.

He nodded. "Lunch sounds nice."

Dipper didn't actually eat very much, but that was to be expected. He asked if he could be alone, and they all gave consent, Candy with vigor. She clearly wanted to share whatever it was that had been bothering her.

As soon as Dipper had closed the back door, Candy turned to Brenda.

"I…I have something important to tell you."

Brenda's face grew peaceful, standing up from the dining room table.

Candy took a shaky breath, before folding her hands over her stomach. "Brenda I…I…"

Mabel took the moment to stand and exit as quietly as possible from the front door. She watched for a moment, from the window as Candy broke down nad Brenda embraced her.

Then she turned away and sat down on the front steps. She hated that seeing someone else being happy now made her feel like shit. That seeing her friends having a (relatively) healthy relationship, made her hate Pacifica all the more.

"Mabel?"

She raised her head and terror filled her heart.

Pacifica stood over her, one arm pressing the string of her ivory leather purse.

[0]

Ranger Kelly sat down in her office, and opened the drawer beneath the more noticeable one. She lit a couple candles, and held her cellphone to her ear as she clutched the idol of B'ylb'zfi'r, the Eye of Dreams.

"Report?" Asked her superior.

"They are at the cabin, and they are unaware of my worship towards B'yl." She replied, eyes locked on the photos of Mabel and Dipper which had been shared with her via the network of other cultists.

"Fantastic. Keep an eye on their activities…B'yl may contact them at some point."

"I-" Kelly never got to finished her sentence, because the hand of Dipper Pines closed around her mouth, while the other one crushed the phone in her hand.

Then Abe proceeded to show her something more terrible then the visions which Bill Cipher had infected her with.

[0]

Pacifica looked fantastic, better than ever. Her skin was twice as tan, and her teeth were twice as white. Her lips looked full and luscious, almost as full and healthy as her hips and breasts. That broken thing which had been hiding in her eyes from the moment that Mabel met her.

The sunshine gleaned off of her platinum blonde hair, making her look somewhat angelic.

Mabel had to grip the railing to get to her feet.

"Pa-Pa-Paz…luh-leave me alone…"

Pacifica shook her head, worry instantly crossing her perfect face. "Please, don't run away…I just want to apologize."

Mabel's fear was replaced by rage. Apologize? She didn't think a moment longer. She just started shouting.

"Apologize? APOLOGIZE?!"

"Mabel, please just-!"

Mabel came right up to the blonde, Pacifca stumbling backwards to prevent being in throttling distance of her aangered ex-girlfreind. "My brother got the shit beat out of him, because of you. He could have ended up in a wheelchair, he could have ended up dead, and he risked it, for you."

Pacifica raised her hands. "I know and I-"

Mabel felt a familiar itch begin in her right hand. She didn't bother to silence it. "You-you used me…you could have asked, you could have done anything but what you did and-and…"

A distant woman's scream rang out and the rage fled from Mabel's face. She glanced around, and found that something was moving in the trees nearby.

Pacifica reached into her purse, and fished out a pistol. The kind that FBI agents use. "Mabel…what was that?"

Mabel couldn't speak, she could only worry that Dipper was in danger.

Her prayers were answered when Dipper ran out of the forest, his lip bloody and his face pale as he glanced over his shoulder every few feet. He stumbled and fell to his feet, at which point, he noticed the two of them.

"Mabel, Pacifica, we have to get inside! The…the doppelgangers are out there…they killed Ranger Nelly!"
Mabel nodded and moved to take his hand. Pacifica stopped her.

"That isn't Dipper." She said, her gun still pointed at him.

Mabel snarled. "What are you talking about? I think I would know my own bro-"

"Dipper, is at the hospital with Wendy. I found them, this morning, locked underground. They said that a shapeshifter had locked them down there." Pacifica informed, her eyes not moving from Dipper's.

Dipper shook his head. "They must have been the dopplegangers…they must of tricked you…"

Pacifica held the gun taught. "Stop lying. Who and what are you?"

Mabel gripped Pacifica's arm. "What are you talking about? Why would they be down there? How did you even-!"

"I was following you, alright! I was following you and your brother because I'm obsessed with you Mabel…I saw Wendy and Dipper go underground, and only Dipper come back up. I didn't think anything of it until I saw Stan asking about the two of you."

Mabel yanked the gun from Pacifica's hand, causing the other girl to become hurt and frightened. "This is ridiculous, why wouldn't Stan call me and tell me?"

Pacifica answered as she locked eyes with Dipper, who was shakingly getting to his feet. "Because I didn't tell Stan. Dipper didn't want me to, he said that The Shapeshifter mgith be impersonating Stan."

Dipper removed his hat, and then his vest. "Smart kid. If only he had contained the decency to tell you not to come out here and warn his sister." He said, in a voice a few octaves lower then Dipper was able to manage.

Mabel's eyes widened. "Duh-Dipper?"

Dipper licked his lips. "Mabel, dear sister, just shove this ditz within arm range, and I'll take her out of your life forever. Hey! I'll even leave this country. Scouts honor, I'll feed on her…and then leave. You and your brother, your friends, you'll never have to worry about me, and I'll have the freedom I desire." He licked his lips with a forked tongue. "All you have to do is give me a meal for the road."

Mabel glanced between Not-Dipper and Pacifica. The former's eyes were now a translucent pink. Pacifica shook her head, begging Mabel silently not to do as the being commanded.

"C'mon Mabel, I'm not evil. I'm just hungry…and I will not have my freedom threatened by some teenagers. So please…do the thing which I know you've been dreaming of ever since she ruined your life…and let me kill her."

Mabel fired. The bullet punctured The Shapeshifter in the chest, and it glanced down at the wound. He giggled, as instead of a stain of blood appearing, only a thin yellow slime began to stain his orange shirt.

Then, it morphed into Pacifica and gave Mabel a flirty wink. "You shouldn't have done that..."

Mabel fired again, and grabbed Pacifica's hand, dragging her into the house as The Shapeshifter stood and marched towards them. Candy and Brenda were at the door asking questions, but Mabel told them she would explain when the doors were bolted and reinforced.

The Shapeshifter, kept walking and punched the front door when it finally came to it. The result was that splinters were sent flying everywhere, but the couch prevented it from coming further inside.

"You girls need to stop being so hysteric." It called, in Pacifica's old haughty tone that informed them how stupid they were compared to it. "I wouldn't need to do this if Mabel hadn't shot me and weakened me…now I need a meal."

They all glanced towards Mabel, who was having trouble breathing.

"Now, she's a murderer, right? So, just send her out to me…I promise I won't kill her. I just need her for a little thing that my species does."

Brenda grabbed her shotgun and ran to the front door. "Get the fuck out of here!" She commanded as she fired at the shapeshifting being.

It stepped out of range, pouting. "Fine. I'll feed on your girlfriend instead."

Brenda's eyes widened.

"I got it! I'll paralyze you…and then you can watch as I feed on her!" The Shapeshifter muddled out, snapping its fingers at reaching this conclusion.

Brenda snapped. She tried to climb over the couch and take the creature on head first. Mabel, Candy, and Pacifica had to all grab her arms and prevent her from charging into the monster's grip.

The Shapeshifter locked eyes with Pacifica and transformed into the blonde's dead father (it had gotten his picture through some searches on Mabel's phone). "You should send her out, she clearly has the lowest IQ."

Pacifica froze and Brenda broke their grip, climbing out of the cabin and screaming as she charged.

The Shapeshifter grinned and Mabel's fingers on its right hand extended to be twice as long on its appendages. With these it gripped Brenda, squeezing the air out of her and then tearing the shotgun from her hands. It tossed the weapon to the side and its eyes became covered in that vague filament of pink and milky white as its (Mabel's) cheeks began to deflate and its jaw began to disappear, the skin hanging forward in a grotesque trunk.

"Not the one I was hoping for…" The Shapeshifter admitted as Brenda kicked. "…but you'll do…"

Mabel shot it in the head. Yellow goo oozed from the wound and it turned its eyes on her. It threw Brenda to the side, the porch railing breaking under the thrown girl's weight and causing her to strike the ground, and turned to Mabel.

It was then that Mabel understood why the creature had been able to give her such visions of comfort with Dipper. It emitted pheromones, probably the same that had goaded Brenda into placing herself in harm's way. Now it slunk towards her, its own lifeblood dribbling down its sun-deprived, see-through skin as its eyes began to consume all that she knew.

She could not have known that even as she stared at it, The Shapeshifter began to feed on her every want, her every memory, her tastes and smells, her sight and her hearing. It sucked the information out of her mind, one piece at a time.

Pacifica grabbed the gun and shot the monster again, this time in the eye. It screeched and charge at her, by now, only resembling Mabel in the clothes that it (appeared) to be wearing.

Great stalks sprouted from beneath it and it flicked Pacifica with one of these legs, sending her through the cabin window and causing the gun to fall lifelessly to the floor. It turned its vision back to Mabel. She was interesting, she had a damaged memory. But if it were repaired…it might contain more information, more possibility then it had ever experienced before.

Candy shot it in the leg with the shotgun.

The Shapeshifter toppled, knocking over the railing, and then transforming into a rabbit, to hop into the forest and out of sight. It whimpers sounded terrible and foreboding, like a ship creaking under an arriving storm.

Candy did her best to get Brenda to her feet, while Mabel checked on Pacifica. The blonde had blood oozing from her head, due to the glass having cut a long blow down the side of her skull.

She quickly retrieved the first aid and told Pacifica to remain still as she bandaged the wound.

Pacifica swallowed and winced as Mabel stitched up the wound. "Thank you. For…for not turning me over…when it would have been easy."

"Just because I hate you, doesn't mean that I think you deserve to die." Mabel responded, as Brenda climbed inside and collapsed on the floor.

Pacifica nodded. "I know but…I'm not sure anyone in my life would make that kind of sacrifice, putting themselves and their friends in danger to save me."

Mabel let out a long breath. "Don't thank me just yet, we're not out of the woods yet."

[0]

Dipper sat beside Wendy's bed, watching the rise and fall of her chest.

"Boy, you sure are into this infatuation thing, aren't you?"

Dipper nearly fell out of his chair at the familiar voice and Bill cackled.

"Relax PineTree. Don't you think if I sought you and your fuckbuddy to be corpses, you'd be brutalized and nailed to the town welcome sign by now?" Bill questioned, his eye briefly glowing blue at the morbid image.

Dipper staggered to his feet, having trouble with approaching the mood swinging demon, as the entire room had begun to warp. He couldn't tell if he was standing on the ceiling, and Bill was upright, or the other way around. The light filtering in through the window had grown purple and then floor had become treacherous.

"Sta-sta-stay away from us! Leave us alone!" Dipper ordered, trying not to show how utterly terrified he was that Bill was about to take Wendy from him.

Bill raised his hands. "Calm yourself, I just arrived to propose a deal."

"I'd never…ever…take a deal with you. You…you…you've been torturing me…with all those dreams about Mabel."

Bill shook his head. "That wasn't me, PineTree. Those visions were your anxiety, not my instigation. Anyway, I promise to keep you and Red thriving and secure, in exchange for a favor."

"No! Why would I do that? You…you're a monster! You put me in a comma, you tried to kill my uncle!"

Bill leaned on his cane and the light turned from purple to aqua. "I didn't make you go catatonic, PineTree. That was Gideon, I was the one who woke you up."

Dipper wanted to refute this suggestion, but realized that he had no proof as to contrary what Bill described. Why would Bill put him in a coma in the first place, only to make a deal immediately after to get him out?

"And yes, I tried to make your uncle shoot himself…but that was only because if his machine ever started working, the entropy levels would go through the roof, and I wouldn't be able to have fun with you guys if you all turned into golden ice cream cones. If you knew what I do about him, you would want him dead as well."

Dipper covered his eyes as Bill began to glow to the point of inducing a migraine.

"I want you and your sister alive and in a good condition…but if you think you can handle Old Abe without my help…do as you please."

With that last suggestion, Bill warped out of the world and Dipper's eyes jumped open. He discovered that Stan was shaking him and telling him that he needed to go home with McGucket while he watched over Wendy.

"What…what about Mabel?" Dipper asked as he rubbed his eyes, remembering that Pacifica had insisted on driving to where Mabel was to warn her.

"Don't worry kid, I have someone on it.

[0]

Once they discovered that Candy's father's car had been sabotaged by The Shapeshifter, they tried the park office, and discovered that there was no answer.

"Just, stay where you are." Stan insisted as Mabel stared out the kitchen window, the dining room table pressed against the back door to prevent the Shapeshifter from getting inside so quickly from that position.

"I've got people headed your way to help."

Mabel swallowed. "Stan, when are they going to get here because-!"

WHACK!

The hatchet which had been used to cut logs, embedded itself in the back door.

WHACK!

Mabel dropped her phone and ran to the side of the others. Brenda lay against the wall, while Candy had handed over the shotgun to Pacifica (since she actually knew how to shoot). The pistol which Mabel had held, was out of ammo.

Mabel picked up a large splinter of wood, raised towards the slam of the ax against the door.

WHACK! WHACK!

The attack doubled in speed, and The Shapeshifter laughed as the door and the wooden table began to fall into bits.

"Negotiation times are out…" The Shapeshifter spoke as it lurched inside, resembling Wendy only in the basic details. Otherwise, it was pale, a bit too tall, and a bit too thin.

Its eyes were red and its lips were practically nonexistent. Apparently, its injuries had weakened its abilities. It staggered towards them, laughing as it moved in a zig-zag fashion and swung its hatchet back and forth in front of it.

Pacifica aimed, and The Shapeshifter's hand lurched out, striking her chin and sending her out the window. The eleven-foot-long arm swung and slapped Candy to the floor. Brenda charged it, and it slapped her upside the head with the ax. She collapsed onto the floor, as it turned its red eyes onto Mabel.

She huddled into the corner of the room, her shard of wood poised towards its stomach area. It giggled and threw the ax. It embedded Mabel's hair against the wall, and The Shapeshifter gave her a hungry look, before turning towards Brenda.

It had discovered in the few seconds it had been given to feed on her, that she had much greater knowledge than anticipated. She didn't have those blank spots like Mabel, but she was connected to something much, much larger. Something which knew more than all the human beings in the world, put together.

Its wounds were healed as it began to devour her mind, piece by piece, her screaming all the way as its true, crustacean-like face was revealed to her. She began to resist and it covered her in paralyzing slime, refusing to lose another meal.

"NOW! SHOOT NOW!"

Darts and tasers struck Abe, and its mind was fried, as the tranquilizing solution filled its veins. It shook, and then collapsed, nearly suffocating the paralyzed Brenda.

A team of men, in hazmat suits, carrying the tranquilizer guns, ran onto the scene. It took six of them to hall the monster onto the van, as Agent Lockhart called Command and informed them of how successful they were. He then noticed the utterly terrified Mabel, and removed the hatchet from the wall, confiscating it as evidence.

He gestured to the injured teenage girls and commanded half of his forces to take them to the nearest hospital. Then he called Stan Pines and assured him that no one (he knew of) had died and that the monster was in custody.

It's a shame that the SBE had not used quite enough tranquilizer to prevent the monster they had just captured, from breaking out of its transport truck thirty minutes later and consuming the entire team responsible for carrying it…

To be continued…

---

Message: Deirub niamer dluohs sgniht emos.

Comments:

IsmaelParica:

Okay, I'm gonna ignore the fact that Dipper's about to have the huge breakdown (or time to shine) my gut is telling me he'll have, only to say that I'm not surprised of Preston's death nor Mabel's "each-time-shorter" path to insanity and madness (which personally, I think is the good stuff, if you know what I mean).

Do you know what surprises me? That Mabel still hasn't paid the price (yes, the agonizing and terrifying price which makes my inner self dance in joy), I wonder... what will it be? Or even better, who?

If Bill just wanted someone killed, he would have one of his many, many servants do it for him. What he wants from Mabel is much, much more important.

Blind-Eyephone:

Anyway, I have um, one request, although I know that it probably won't make an differences lol.
I'm well aware Bill's comforting to Dipper was likely just Bill being the sick fuck he is, but please oh please don't add Billdip if that's what was really being implied
I can read any ship but that right there would kill me lol
Anyway, I love this a lot, and I don't think some crappy review can suffice, but it's the best I got lol.
This fanfiction has gone as far as making me wish this was a live action TV show.
Child actors are often not good, but I think children characters are honestly the most interesting, and it's so disappointing how many shows lack a main cast of kids in a dark environment.
I'm getting off topic, ha-ha, just so many thoughts going through my head
Please update soon.
The suspense is killing me. X3

Bill doesn't feel sexual attraction to any human beings, it's physically impossible for him. It would be like a human being attracted to an ant. Instead, he sees humans as being playthings, and thus, only shows himself to those he finds interesting.

I wish there were more dark shows with kids. I loved "Stranger Things."

Coldblue:

Questions

1) Should we expect some Pinecest in "Depravity Falls" if anything goes in this story and pairings could change? Any WARNINGS we should expect in future chapter for other readers to take notice?

There is a warning in the story description and a warning on the first chapter. Also this story is rated M, so…I think that's enough warning. People should know what they are in for.

2) Does Bill Cipher want to brand Dipper Pines with his Demonic Brand next? What will Bill Cipher plan with Dipper and Mable that are so important to him?

This chapter should answer that first question of yours.

4) What going on with Dipper and Mable parents? Any hints if there dead, alive or just sort of left their kids and separated from each other to pursue their own goals?

There will be more hints, although, I've already left many.

6) What your plan for Dipper and Mable Pines at the end of Epilogue of "Depravity Falls" for job wise? Would Dipper and Mable take over the Mystery Shack and pursue their own goals of high education or business?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but did I ever say there would necessarily be an epilogue? Maybe don't get your hopes up.

7) Is there a chance Pacifica Norwood will redeem herself still or is she done in this story?

When a character is done in my story, they will typically have a more definite end.

Suggestions

3) Yeah, I figure it almost time for them to make a move. Of course, it would be awesome if Bill Cipher cult appeared and started to make all forms of hell happen in Gravity Falls. I could read Priscilla and Tate sort of killing off other cults or damaging them that they would try to convert others to their little 'family'. Would they control Gravity Falls? No, because it seems that NOBODY can control Gravity Falls and that also might mean ANYONE. Even Demonic or non-human beings. I could read that they do cause the next issue. Maybe read Tate and Priscilla conflict with Fiddleford McGucket with his Society of the Blind Eye and probably work with Bill Cipher Cult to stop them. In the middle of it all Dipper and Mable Pines have to deal with the issue of what they want with them because everyone interested in the Pines Twins to further their own goals.

More worshippers of The Eye of Dreams will appear in the story quite soon.

4) I keep forgetting about them like in the Cartoon. We need to know what going on with them. We know that they are missing and that they disappeared. They're either dead, held hostage or maybe that they are such bad parents/people that they divorce each other and both parents abandon Dipper and Mable now because they are sixteen years old. It could be whatever you decide, BUT out of most the Mysteries that "Depravity Falls" gives us we need to solve the issues of Dipper and Mable parents. Where they went and what happened to them? It rather interesting to read your take on Dipper and Mable's parents in "Depravity Falls". I either want them Dead or be the shittiest people they which is basically divorcing each other and abandoning their own children. I'm leaning towards the later, because that way Dipper and Mable lean on each other more for trust and yet find out how BAD human beings can be and their parents can be one of those examples, next to the Norwood and McGucket family issues.

6) Yeah, I'm just having fun with this Question and Suggestion. I could read Dipper and Mable keeping the Mystery Shack if Grunkle Stan Pines actually dies or decides to go into retirement with the Money or Connection he earned over the years. Dipper, I could read going to community college to take classes and also turning part of the Mystery Shack into a Bookstore that has wide knowledge that can be useful in Gravity Falls. Mable, I could read her actually keeping true to the Mystery Shack and scam people out of their money, but also sell good quality Sweaters/Clothing to survive in Oregon weather in Gravity Falls. Just an idea I thought you.

Dipper has the kind of feverish ambition which Ford did. He would not be very happy in a simple job.

Mable Pines:

Okay, as the story progressed I thought Dipper Pines was my favorite character in "Depravity Falls", but it looks like Mable coming in and tying with her brother as my two favorite characters of this story. I have to admit the development and the layers you gave Mable Pines is great to read about in "Depravity Falls". She experiences love, betrayal, anger, sadness, comfort, and hurt throughout this story. Not only that but it seems that Bill Cipher seems to favor Mable Pines with his brand. Though I can guess Bill Cipher wants both of the Pines Twins, so Dipper not far away from his plans/thoughts. Mable demonic brand seems to give her supernatural abilities to being able to use Super Strength, Telekinesis and accelerate her atoms to increase her Body temper to creating Electricity. Hell! After Pacifica Norwood betrayal, Mable Pines got back at the Norwood family or Preston Norwood by actually killing him in a fit of RAGE! Damn. That was something else to add to her character, a sense of insanity. Mable realizing that Pacifica betrayal looks to herself for comfort, but also longing for Dipper to be near her to help her pain. I don't know what this means. This is not a Dipper/Mable love story; this is a story of a DARKER "Gravity Falls" that explores a lot of the wish fulfillment that the fans wanted. Even I remember your original outline had a bit of Pinecest, so I don't think it matters. I think Bill Cipher fucked up enough to get Dipper and Mable to actually have intercourse for whatever plan he has for them.

Bill would consider it humorous to cause that, but he considers all human intercourse pathetic.

Dipper Pines:

Well, he was really a hero in this chapter or story than he was in "Gravity Falls". It just seems that way.

He is coming into the role.

Pacifica Norwood:

I hope that Pacifica does try to redeem herself and I wonder what her relationship with Dipper and Mable will be from now on.

You are correct that it will take a lot of time for Mabel and Pacifica to be back on a level field, just as it will take a lot of time for Dipper to forgive her for betraying his trust.