WARPED

Epilogue

One and a half years later

Hmm...ponytail or braid?

Jocelyn pursed her lips. She felt like Tyler trying to decide between a Puma shirt or a Panther shirt. She made up her mind and pulled her mass of curly brown hair into a ponytail, scrutinizing a map that had been hand drawn from memory by Hazelle. It was based on a map they'd seen in Stan's lab, but by now the map their map had expanded, riddled with notes and x's and other markings, details taken from their...excursions.

She couldn't believe it had been so long since she'd first seen that map. That fateful night, so long ago, when she and Hazelle had paid Stan a late-night visit. They'd left with some answers, but also with even more questions, along with a betrayal already set in stone.

Jocelyn glanced at herself in her bathroom mirror. There were dark circles under her eyes, but she'd gotten used to it: they could only really portal jump late at night, to avoid suspicion from their friends and family. She'd lost a lot of sleep in the year and a half since her and Hazelle's adventure began, but the nightmares haunted her whenever she climbed into bed, anyway. She figured she might as well be productive.

A text lit up her phone on the counter: HERE.

Nodding, Jocelyn bundled up her coat and snuck out of her house, locking the front door as quietly as she could. Waiting in the three AM darkness was Hazelle, bundled up and equipped with her usual flashlight.

"You're late," Jocelyn teased.

Hazelle huffed. "You always make me wait out here for five minutes while you get your life together, don't you talk."

"What was that?" Jocelyn asked, putting a hand to her ear. "Did you want cheese with that whine?"

"You're lucky you can make portals," Hazelle grumbled, messing with her hair. It had grown since they started their nightly adventures, and she was constantly flipping it out of her face. "Do you have my map?"

Jocelyn handed it over, eying the x's and notes in the margins. "I can't believe we made a map of alternate realities."

"Tell me about it." Hazelle stuck it into her stuffed notebook with a paperclip. Various other paper clips, staples, and ruffled papers stuck out from the top of the book due to all the notes she had taken over time. "Where should we look tonight?"

"Preferably a warm alternate reality," Jocelyn complained, rubbing her hands together. "Jesus, it's almost frickin' April. Why does it still feel like December?"

"I'm not complaining," Hazelle said, taking a pen out of her backpack. "I love the cold. Forget spring."

"You would prefer a tundra over a field of daisies," Jocelyn joked.

"Pfft, yeah, you of all people know that," Hazelle replied with a laugh. "You're the one who gave me a daisy chain to wear, fully aware that I'm allergic."

Jocelyn smiled as she thought back to that night on the Mystery Shack's roof, when she and Hazelle had decided to sneak into Stan's lab. It felt like a completely different lifetime ago. "How do you think they're doing?"

"Well…" Hazelle wrinkled her nose. "Northwest Manor Mystery was kind of terrifying, and apparently the apocalypse happens in the next episode, so I'm gonna say not as great as we'd like."

"I'm so freaked out for it," Jocelyn said. "Haze, it's titled Not What He Seems. What could that mean?"

Hazelle hesitated, biting her lip. "Do you think...Stanley?"

"No way," Jocelyn cut in, shaking her head. "I don't think Alex'll ever do it. But God, could you imagine if he did? The fandom would explode!"

"As if they already haven't, considering that the apocalypse is in a couple weeks."

"Ugh. This show-alternate reality-thing," Jocelyn grumbled. But she couldn't help but grin at Hazelle: they truly loved Gravity Falls and its inhabitants.

"We'll go back one day, Joss," Hazelle said, stepping forward. "You know what Stan said: we should just stay here until things calm down. And after watching already half of season two, I can't blame him, although I doubt even he knew about what they'd be facing. Zombies, crazy boy-obsessed computer programs, time traveling colosseum games, love gods, ghosts, amazing Pacifica Northwest character development. Not to mention all this stuff with the author."

"Yeah, he also said we probably shouldn't portal jump," Jocelyn quipped. "And we haven't exactly been listening to him on that front."

Hazelle was quiet, hugging her notebook close to her chest, as if afraid to lose all the progress they'd made. "Do you think he'd be mad at us for disobeying him?"

"Probably," Jocelyn replied, shrugging. "But all's fair in love and Gravity Falls. Plus, he's always mad at us for something. Hopefully, this won't be too different to him. He just...he doesn't get it. He doesn't know what it's like to lose someone you care about and feel as if it's all your fault. He doesn't know what it feels like to need to do whatever necessary to get them back."

"Staaaaaaanley," Hazelle sang pointedly.

"Not gonna happen," Jocelyn laughed. Now serious, she took the map from Hazelle, and spread it out across her raised knee. "How about here?" she asked, pointing to an uncharted area of their map.

Hazelle nodded, massaging her knuckles. "Let's get this show on the road."

She made some distance and Jocelyn lifted her hands to the air. The familiar surge of power rocketed through her veins, the wind shifting and rustling her ponytail off her back. With an electric blue zap, a portal formed in front of them, swirling with a pulse similar to a heartbeat.

Jocelyn took a deep breath, her power draining as she relaxed. This had become a cycle for her: opening portals, closing portals, controlling portals, strengthening portals. For a year and a half, she and Hazelle had spent night after night scouring the universe. So far, they'd returned home every night with nothing to show for their efforts. But they refused to give up. There was a tiny sliver of hope there that they clutched onto and would never release.

Sure, they lived a darker alternative life they hadn't been expecting. A life they surely had to keep secret. And maybe they'd had it coming all along, messing with concepts they didn't understand. But they wouldn't let their mistake go without making up for it.

Hazelle looked as fretful as ever upon seeing the creation of the portal, and Jocelyn couldn't help but roll her eyes. Typical Hazelle, worrywart of the century. But she couldn't blame her: with such a huge universe, who knew what they would run into next?

"We'll find her," Hazelle proclaimed suddenly, staring into the portal, as if trying to reassure herself.

Jocelyn nodded. "We'll find her."

She tucked a stray hair behind her ear and turned to her friend. "Ready?"

Hazelle nodded and faced the portal.

"Here we go."

Hello readers! This is officially the end of Warped! Thank you so much for coming this far with me and my writing partner/partner in crime! We're very happy with this story and we're so pleased so many GF fans enjoyed it, too. We're going to do a Q&A and a trivia section for this story, so for the next week, leave any and all questions you have for me, my writing partner, the story, or our opinions on GF in the comments or send me your questions via PMs! The next installment for this story will contain the trivia and the answers for the questions. The answers and trivia will be posted in a week or so!

Thanks so much again! We're so excited to answer your questions! Send as many as you want!

- TwistingMoonbeam