Those who read my works should notice by now I don't do author's notes too often.

I want to assure many people who asked... last chapter was NOT the last chapter of Emersus... but after reading this one... you may wish it was.

I'm redoubling my efforts to finish this before the 13th of July. I want everything resolved. I'll add more Secret Files later, and I have plans on revising this and re-posting the finished product.

I want to thank you for all your support and ask please ride this out with me! I look forward to your comments and I will update as fast as I can!

September 24, 2095

Dipper waved goodbye to his kids after reading them a story on video-chat. He wished them goodnight and closed the lid. He felt the slender arms of Billeah wrap around behind him, her warm face nuzzled the crook of his neck.

"Did they like that one?" She asked.

"Yea, Dharma loved that she was a Lamia." Dipper said.

"I'm going to go take a shower." Billeah whispered. The hair on his neck tingled when she coyly ran her nails across the back of her neck and swaggered to the bathroom. The new Billeah had been dropping innuendos left and right and Dipper had to hold on with both hands to weather the storm. He remembered being that age and how bad it was for him. They may all technically be in their 90's but Mabel was the only one who looked like it. He'd grown out of that phase a while ago and Pacifica had been more than willing to help him with that.

Billeah's only target was him, and without her overmind oppressing her day to day thoughts, she's just now a normal teenage girl who is trying to find herself.

"Do you like the new Bill?" asked a voice in front of him. Dipper looked down at the kitchen table and saw a square with a mouth grinning at him. "Oh, I'll tell you a secret… I've added a few things… maybe whispered some thoughts to flame certain desires. I thought it might make things more… distracting."

"What do you want?" Dipper demanded. He was going to keep his emotions in check.

"Oh… I was checking in on you. You seemed to have made it a point to get my attention. Preston, Poolcheck, Blubs… you've been a busy beaver." Rick cooed.

"So I have…" Dipper said.

"Well… I was going to offer you a truce… say, let you live your life until you die if you don't bother any more of my people." Rick chuckled. "But I thought otherwise of it."

Dipper's hands grew cold.

"What are you talking about?" Dipper choked.

"It seems you've taken a shine to the little carbon copies. You think I didn't notice them? I keep a close tab on anyone associated to you four times out."

"If you hurt them I swear to god I'll…" Dipper threatened. His body grew cold at the sight of the mocking square.

"You'll what? Kill an all-powerful being who has realized his full potential on this earthly plane? With a single word, I can have you drive a knife through your sister's heart." Rick said. "Or do you think your willpower is stronger than mine?"

"Why don't you do it then? Why do you keep playing with us?" Dipper slammed his fist into the wood where the mocking face was.

The cabinets and floors turned into squares with mouths whispering. Dipper's mind was screaming from the bombardment on him. He could barely hold himself together and could feel something running out of his ears. He felt like he was crying, and wiped away the moisture from his eye.

It was blood.

His arms shook and legs trembled. He was forced to stand and was horrified to find himself walking to the knife block, pulling out a butcher knife.

"Don't…" Dipper choked out. "Don't do this…."

"You forced my hand." Rick said through the sonic bombardment. He used every ounce of will to drag his feet. He tried to force the knife into his own stomach as each step took him closer and closer to her bedroom.

Mabel had been tired and wanted to sleep. She had kissed him goodnight and he tucked her in so he could call the kids. Each step was one step closer to the half closed door of her room.

"Please… I'll give up. I'll quit…" Dipper choked, the blood tears flowed even harder and he could taste copper from his gums. "Just take me instead."

"What's the fun in that? You think I don't control the world around you?" Rick said. "You think… that this world you wished into being is solely yours? I lay claim to this existence, and it will be forged into my perfection. And I wish for its creator to see how useless he truly is."

Dipper's shaky hand opened the door and walked to the sleeping form of his elderly sister. Her breathing was slow and methodic. He stood over her and sobbed as his trembling hand pulled down the covers.

Where was Billeah? She could come in and stop him! Why wasn't she here?

Stay asleep… he thought to himself. Just… stay asleep… for the love of god… don't see me!

"Brobro?" said a sleepy voice. Dipper had the knife hovering over her. He held back as hard as he could. The force of Rick's influence felt like he was holding back the ocean. Mabel looked into his eyes, and smiled at him.

"Dipper… I need you to look at me and listen." Mabel said. Dipper held onto her words. She sat up and put her hands on Dipper's cheeks. "I love you… and I trust you."

Dipper fell to his knees and let out a sob, the force redoubled its efforts onto him.

"It's okay… don't fight it." Mabel said. "I'm here for you, I'll always be here for you."

"I… Mabel… I can't… he's… he's too strong." Dipper sobbed, he held the knife with both hands, trembling with rage and fear. Mabel put her hands on his and guided the knife to her stomach and pressed the blade to her skin.

"If you don't... you'll die." She said. "He won't let go until you do."

"No... no no..." Dipper sobbed.

"You've sacrificed so much for me." Mabel said. "It's my turn."

Like a broken dam, the force Dipper held back released. He felt warm fluid over his hands and looked down in horror as the knife was buried up to its handle in Mabel's stomach.

"Mabel… Mabel…" Dipper said.

"Dippingsauce… there's a box in my closet." She whispered. "Don't be sad… I miss Gideon, and I'll tell Pacifica how much you miss her. She'll be happy to know how good a dad you are."

"I can't do this without you..." Dipper whispered.

"I'm always with you silly." She said. "Give me one more awkward sibling hug."

Dipper held his sister; the squares gave a silent chuckle and disappeared.

"Pat… pat…" she said, and her arm slid from his back limply to her side.

"Dipper? Harmony's on the phone! Something's wrong…" Billeah shouted as she barreled through the door. "Dipper? Dipper what's wrong?"

Dipper laid his sister in the bed and covered her. He closed her eyes and turned to face Billeah.

"Get dressed." He said coldly. "Fiddleford, prime the portal!"

OoOoO

Dipper looked over to his cousin, her face was stone. He could feel the indignation and rage at what Rick had done.

"I thought the portal didn't work." She said, as Dipper put on his tactical vest.

"It won't work for inter-dimensional travel without the piece, but for local hops its fine." Dipper explained. "Portland's only two hours away, we need to be there NOW to get Harmony and the kids."

"Everything's prepped on my end." Fiddleford said. "We should be able to get them underground as soon as you grab them."

"What about me? I want to help." Billeah said.

"You watch my back." Dipper said and handed her a shock stick. Billeah eyed the gun rack and raised an eyebrow. "I got enough blood on my hands for the both of us."

The portal exploded in a pool of radiance. Dipper's mind raced back to the day his sister floated in the middle of it. Her words echoed in his mind.

I trust you

If only he trusted her…

"Portal's ready, boss!" Fiddleford said. "Give me a holler and I'll get you scooted."

Dipper and Billeah ran into the portal. Dipper was expecting a more dramatic transition, but before he knew it, he was in a hallway in some building. Billeah arrived next to him and pointed to door 23.

He heard something crash against the wall. Without thinking he kicked in the door and stormed in.

"Where are you naughty children?" Harmony screamed. She was holding a baseball bat, and had a wild look in her eyes.

"When she called, she was freaking out about squares showing up everywhere… then she hung up." Billeah whispered.

"Look for Rick, you see him, use the stick. Maybe we can break the hold on her mind." Dipper said. Billeah nodded and ran into the other room.

"COME OUT CHILDREN!" Harmony screamed. To re-iterate her point, she swung the bat and smashed an expensive looking vase.

"Harmony!" Dipper shouted. "Harmony, what's gotten into you!"

"Oh, your little monsters are dead! They've tested me one too many times! The girl is so flippant, she never respects me! And that boy… I think he's not right in his head!" Harmony said, she was looking left and right and shaking all over.

"Harmony… listen to me. You don't want to do this. This isn't you. You love them." Dipper said, holding his hand out. She looked at Dipper and jerked her head side to side as if trying to shake something out of her ears.

"Yes… I love them… they're my babies… lesson… must be taught a lesson." She said.

Dipper heard the sound of an electric jolt from another room. Immediately Harmony's face slacked. She looked around her destroyed living room with new eyes and dropped the bat in horror.

"Oh my god…" She whispered and fell to her knees. "Oh my god… what have I done?"

Dipper rushed over to her and gathered her in her arms.

"We need to get you out of here." Dipper said.

"Kids! Get your bags!" Dipper shouted.

"Bags?" she said with a confused look on her face.

"I plan for everything…" Dipper said with a smile. "We're getting out of here now."

DJ and Dharma ran into the living room and tackle hugged their father. They were wearing the wolf cloaks he made them and had a backpack strung over them.

"We're ready!" DJ said.

"We going back to the Shack?" Dharma asked.

"No… It's too dangerous." Dipper said. "Fiddleford, open it up."

There was a rumble from outside the door. Dipper opened the front door to a white swirling portal.

"You three go through there. Fiddleford will instruct you from there. We designed a safe house that should keep Rick out. I'll check on you later!" Dipper shouted over the rumbling of the vortex.

"Come with us, Daddy!" Dharma said and clung onto his leg.

"I can't it's too dangerous!" Dipper said sadly. "You two were very brave! I want to give you this!"

Dipper handed his Journal with the pine tree and the number 1 on it to the twins.

"This is yours now! Know that I love you, and your mom loves you, no matter what happens!" Dipper said and held his children. Harmony seemed to have gathered her wits and grabbed a few items during his exchange with his kids.

"Come on kids, let's get going!" she said. She took their hands and led them to the portal. The twins pulled back the wolf masks and looked longingly at their father. He felt like that will be the last image he will see of them.

Wordlessly the trio stepped through the portal, and it snapped shut.

OoOoO

Dipper had laid to rest his sister next to his old enemy. The headstone was already carved, and it took little effort to carve the final date in its place. She must have taken a note from his book, because he found her coffin in the basement of the shack. Fiddleford filed her coroner's report and cause of death as natural causes and all the traces back to the events that day were covered up.

He sat in front of the headstone, looking at his work. He head soft footsteps behind him.

"I can't cry anymore." He whispered. "I feel dead inside."

"Let me cry for you." Billeah said. She wrapped her arms around him and put her face into his back. He could feel her shake and cling onto him and felt his back moisten with her tears.

"I promised her to stop. I gave up for Pacifica… I gave up for her… every time I give up… he pulls me back in." Dipper said, holding her hands.

"This is all my fault." Billeah whispered. "I should have been more careful back then… I should have never allowed him near our world."

"You couldn't have known this would happen." Dipper said.

"Yes… I should have. I see… used to see... everything! I knew every possible outcome of this world, and I never even thought of Rick being a threat!"

"Not even the omniscient can think of everything." Dipper chuckled. "Who'd of thunk?"

Billeah just signed.

"He only has two strings left." Dipper said. "What happens when all of his strings are cut?"

"I… I don't know… I know something happens, but I can't be sure what." Billeah said.

"Would… would you use GTB's ice crystal?" Dipper asked. "I've used it a few times, but it's too much for me."

"I'm scared to go back to that world." She whispered. "I feel… normal and if I link back to that kind of consciousness…"

Dipper turned around and held her.

"I won't tell you to do it, but I will ask. We need to know what we can do to beat him." Dipper said.

"I'm scared." She said.

"Here…" Dipper said softly, he pulled her chin up to look at him and pressed his lips softly on hers. He felt her inhale sharply. She pulled him to her and could feel her tremble all over as she wrapped her arms around him and clung onto him. He pulled away with a smile. "Please?"

"That's… not fair." She said, out of breath and clawing his arm.

"I thought that was our established barter. A kiss for a favor." Dipper said. He felt terrible for manipulating Billeah like that, especially where they were, but he needed to know and needed her cooperation if they're going to fight back.

OoOoO

"I'll wake you up in an hour." Dipper said and kissed her forehead. His gloved hand produced the cold crystal he acquired from the Great Time Baby and held it out.

"I know you manipulated me." Billeah grinned. "I'm rubbing off on you."

She took the crystal and slumped on the bed, with her eyes rolled back in her head. He watched her for a few minutes to be assured she was okay and went to his sister's room.

Her words echoed in his mind, about the box in her closet. It took a few minutes to find one with a pine tree drawn on it. He pulled it out and set it on the bed. He looked to the side where blood still stained the floor and pushed the image out of his head.

He opened the box and found brown paper covering the contents and a letter initialed "D" on the cover.

The date on the letter was ten years ago.

Dipper,

If you're reading this, then I'm sorry for whatever happened. I know we planned to leave this world on the same day holding hands. We were going to grow old and yell at children from our shared porch and I was going to be the crazy grandma who tormented her grandkids with terrible clothes. We'd laugh as they lied to us about how nice it was and it's the thought that counts. You'd force them to do the Lamby Lamby dance and we'd all laugh about it when they were older.

Sadly, we can't do that.

As I write this, I don't know if you're ever going to come back or not. I may die of old age in my bed and you'll find my bones long forgotten a thousand years from now… or you may show up next week, the one thing I know in my heart is that you will be back.

Gideon, oh bless him, he was obsessed with figuring this out. We got the portal almost fixed, but the fool made too many bets he couldn't cover. It's funny for me to say that I loved the creepy little boy from our youth, but he was there for me and he always believed.

One of the things he did for you is what's in this box… go ahead and take a look!

Dipper pulled back the brown paper as gasped. Immediately he saw Journals 1, 2, and 3, the glasses, His pine tree hat, Mabel's pink shooting star sweater, Gideon's bolo, Stanford's hat, and all the other items!

We never figured out what the Ice was, but Gideon thought you might have figured it out wherever you were. He broke into Cubed Consolidated to get the journals back and blew up the building. He was quite the terrorist!

I have a confession to make. I suspected the items were more important than Billeah ever made them out to be. It was too odd how no one seemed to be able to 'claim' them back. I tested this out with Robbie to confirm it… I never gave him his hoodie when you left for Antarctica. The one I gave him was a replica I made. I felt terrible after what happened there. If you haven't seen the videos, Fiddleford will be able to fill you in on them. Someone is waiting to see you.

This box is my last gift to you, the culmination of our lives in Gravity Falls. Everything we've worked so hard for is in here. Each piece is us, our soul that bound us together in friendship and family. I think there's a deeper mystery with these items that you can discover.

Just remember:

I trust you.

Mabel.

Dipper checked the time, noting he had 15 minutes left to wake Billeah up. He secured the items in his lab and made his way to see her.

She seemed relaxed and sleeping with the crystal over her heart. He deftly plucked it from her fingers and she sat up with a gasp

"Hey, it's okay." He whispered. Billeah locked eyes on his, flung herself from her bed and latched onto him. He almost touched the crystal to her again, but he was able to drop it on the bed. Her arms were like a vice and she wrapped her legs around him and clung onto him like a scared child.

"No… never again… please… never again." She whimpered. Her whole body quaked in fear and she couldn't seem to cling to him tight enough. He carried her to his old bed and laid down to comfort her, she moved one leg so he wouldn't lay on it, but wrapped it around his free leg and entangled it.

"What happened? What did you see?" Dipper whispered and ran his fingers through her hair.

"Everything… I saw you die over and over again. You always die… I always die… we can't stop it." She whispered. Her face scrunched up as she sobbed. "I don't want you to die."

"I'm here… that's okay." Dipper said.

"No it's not… there's no way to stop him. Even if we cut all the strings, there's no way to push him back out. This is his world now." She whispered.

"We have all of your strings." Dipper said. "Mabel gathered them up. The crystal was the last one."

Billeah looked up at him, reading the truth in his face.

"No… it won't work." She said.

"Because it won't or you don't want it to?" Dipper asked. She burrowed her face in his chest and dodged the question.

"The strings… they never were the person were they?" Dipper said. "They were connected to the person and drew power from them, but they were the items the whole time."

Billeah shook her head no, but never looked up at him.

"Nothing will work. Just stay with me and keep me safe." She whispered. "You promised to shelter me"

"Billeah… are you lying to me? Tell me the truth." Dipper said and moved to push her away from him. She frantically grabbed at him, a look of terror on her face.

"No… please... please… yes!" she sobbed. Dipper paused, and let her latch back onto him. "You're right about them."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Dipper asked. "We could have used them so long ago."

"The last one was with the Time Baby, the risk was too much to retrieve it." She said. "That's how I planned it. They were never meant to be brought together."

She looked up at him and put her hand on his cheek.

"Even if we sever his last two strings… there's no way to remove him from this world unless he leaves willingly. We have nothing he wants."

"There's always Plan B" Dipper said coldly.

Billeah looked up at him with horror in her eyes.