(A/N: I am updating ridiculously fast right now. Maybe it's because I have to make up for three months' worth of no updates and it's summertime in the Philippines right now.
Anyway, enjoy what I have in store for you guys!)
Gideon, Pacifica, Tiffany, and Alice stared at the roof for a little while, before Pacifica said, "So that must mean the legend Robbie told us about was true after all!"
"What do we do now?" Alice asked, looking around, as if searching for something that could help.
At that moment, Robbie walked out through the door, looking around as well. "Hey, what's going on?" he asked. "I thought I heard a ruckus out here." Then he laughed a little. "Man, 'ruckus'. Saying that's fun."
"Robbie!" Gideon said, running up to the teenager. "We met the Summerween Trickster, and he cursed us! We have t'trick-'r-treat, or else he'll kill us!"
"I even got a picture!" Alice said, pulling out her phone and showing Robbie the picture that she had taken earlier. It had a rather pink and fluffy frame about it, but Robbie looked shocked nonetheless.
"The Summerween Trickster? But how?" Robbie said. "I thought he only cursed kids who were bad on Summerween!"
"Well, I might've...said some bad things," Gideon admitted, looking down in shame. But Robbie didn't seem to blame him. He just put his hands on his hips, and sighed. "It happens to the best of us, I guess," he said. "But now what do we do?"
"I know!" Gideon threw his hands up. "How're we gonna collect that much candy in one night?"
"Alright, everybody, listen up!" Pacifica called, clapping her hands and standing herself on a soapbox that had been lying around. The others gathered around her as she continued, "Being cursed by a strange Summerween monster doesn't sound like a lot of fun, I know."
"I had better plans for spending my evening." Tiffany said.
"But we have to show that monster that he's totally messing with the wrong group of friends," Pacifica said. "With Alice's spirit, Tiffany's sass, Gideon's cleverness, and Robbie...here, we can get five hundred pieces of candy in one night, and enjoy doing it, too! Even if it takes us all night!"
Everyone cheered, except for Gideon, who looked a little nervous. His eyes darted around, before he decided to speak.
"Wh-what about 'yer hat, 'Cifica?" Gideon asked. "I mean, isn't that important?"
"Not as important as my life, Gid!" Pacifica said. "Also, what really matters is the joy of trick-or-treating! What could be worse? Getting eaten, or getting candy with me?"
Gideon pursed his lips. "Gettin' eaten," he responded.
"That's the spirit!" Pacifica said.
Once he heard the sound of footsteps walking away from the Magic House, Bill knew that his niece and her friends were finally leaving. Now he had the whole house to himself, and a whole night of scaring children witless ahead of him.
He applied the finishing touches to his make-up, making himself look as pale and gaunt as possible, and smiled at his reflection.
"Look at 'ya, William!" Bill told himself. "With a get-up like this, those kids won't even know what hit 'em!" He checked himself one last time, and then stood up just as the doorbell rang.
"Trick or treat!" a group of kids said outside the door, and Bill opened it cordially.
"Well, if it isn't some cute little trick-or-treaters!" Bill said, putting his hands on his knees. "What can I do for–!"
Bill froze. He jerked and twitched, and clawed at his face. "What's happening?" he yelled, just as something emerged from under his eyepatch. A bunch of tentacles knocked his eyeball right out of its socket, causing blood to drip down his eye hole. The same tentacles emerged from the other orifices in his face, and blood oozed out of them as well.
At this sight, some of the younger children screamed and ran away in fright. Hearing their screams, Bill stopped convulsing and took his rather realistic mask off, laughing triumphantly.
Then he cut himself off yet again, as he realized that two kids were still standing there. And his second realization – he knew those kids.
"Uh, nice going there, William," Dipper Pines said in a condescending tone.
"Can we have our candy now?" Mabel Pines asked, holding out her bag.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the burger-and-fries combo," Bill said, referring to their costumes. "That's gotta be the scariest thing you sheltered little pipsqueaks have seen, right?"
Mabel and Dipper shared a look, and Mabel shrugged. Then they both turned back to Bill. "That all you got?" Mabel asked.
Bill pulled out his prop sword. "Well, have you seen...this?" Bill cut himself in the stomach using the prop sword, and out of his shirt poured fake blood and sausages. "Agh! Real guts! Very real guts!" he screamed.
Dipper and Mabel couldn't look less moved. "Uh, we've been watching horror movies since we were, like, two years old, man," Dipper said.
"Yeah, you couldn't scare us even if you tried, William," Mabel said.
"Oh, I will scare you two! You'll see..." Bill said, sheathing his prop sword. He narrowed his eyes. "You'll see."
Gideon, Pacifica, Tiffany, Alice, and Robbie had already hit the streets of Gravity Falls, walking around with their wagon looking for a good house to start. Gideon looked around and saw Manly Tyler dressed as a warrior angel, while Sheriff Powers and Deputy Trigger were dressed as each other (and complimenting each other's costumes to boot). He didn't see Dipper and Mabel anywhere, though. That was a relief.
"Do you think we could just buy our candy?" Alice asked, keeping an eye out for a house. "I mean, five hundred pieces of candy is no easy task."
"Aw, that sort of takes the fun out of trick-or-treat-or-die," Pacifica told her friend.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Alice said.
"We've probably gotta play by th'rules, too," Gideon added. "Who knows what that Trickster's gonna do t'us if we don't."
They stopped in front of an apartment building, where a group of trick-or-treaters were already gathered. They rang the doorbell, and Carla McCorkle opened the door, dressed as a cat and accompanied by her many cats.
"Trick-or-treat!" The kids said, holding up their bags, and Carla put a hand to her chest.
"Why, aren't you guys adorable?" she said, taking out a large candy bag. "Is everybody in costume?"
The kids nodded, and Carla beamed. "Excellent!" she said, pouring candy into their bags. "Have a nice one!" she said, as they walked away and thanked her.
"Cats?" Gideon asked. " 'Cifica, I'm not so sure about this..."
"Come on, Gid, the sooner we get this over with, the better." Pacifica said. "And we have to get to every house to get five hundred pieces of candy."
"Well...okay..."
The five of them walked up to the apartment building, and called, "Trick-or-treat!"
"Oh, look at you all!" Carla said, as one cat hopped onto her shoulder, while another one stepped dangerously close to Gideon. Oh, no. "Is everybody in costume?"
She pointed at each one of them, and began to rattle off what she probably assumed they were. "Dark rabbit," she pointed at Tiffany, "tin man," then at Robbie, "furry," now at Alice, "lampshade," and then at Pacifica, before Gideon, "and my dad on weekends." She nodded. "Nice costumes."
"Thanks," they all said in unison, and that was when Gideon sneezed.
The cat that had been standing near him hissed, and Gideon sniffled. "Ma'am, 'yer cat..." he tried to say, before sneezing again.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Fluffy gets really friendly with neighbors, I don't know why," Carla said, picking up the cat and petting it. "I apologize; you're allergic, right?"
"Yeah," Gideon said, wiping his nose, and the cat hissed at him again. He frowned. "Please just leave me alone, okay?" he asked, none too politely.
"That's no way to talk to my cat!" Carla said, before sticking her hand in the candy bag. She pulled out five candies, before popping only one candy into each of their bags.
"Enjoy," she said coldly, before closing the door.
"Ugh, one piece of black licorice?" Tiffany asked, looking in her bag.
"One toffee peanut?" Alice asked as well, pulling out the candy from her bag. "This is loser candy."
"I'm sorry, guys, this is all my fault," Gideon said, sitting down on the sidewalk.
"No, it's fine; how was I supposed to know your allergies would act up so soon?" Pacifica asked, sitting down with him. "But we've gotta up our game next time!" She pushed a fist into her palm. "Gideon, we've gotta find my hat; otherwise, I really am a lampshade!"
"I told you, 'Cifica, I lost it," Gideon said. " 'Ya can just stay home if you don't wanna be mistaken 'fer a lampshade."
"Is that so?"
The streetlight above them flickered, and the five of them looked up to see a shadow. It laughed, and that was when the Summerween Trickster jumped down onto Robbie's shoulders. Robbie shivered as the Trickster reached into his bag and pulled out the single piece of candy he received, before putting it back into Robbie's bag.
"I've seen better," the Trickster said coldly. Then he jumped off, and grabbed a lit jack-o-melon outside the apartment building, before he jumped onto the roof of a nearby house.
"Tick-tock," was all he said, before blowing out the jack-o-melon, and jumping away.
The five of them stared after the Trickster, and then Pacifica turned to Gideon.
"We've got to find that hat, Gideon." she said.
Gideon sighed. "I'll go look 'fer it."
Outside the Magic House, Dipper and Mabel had gotten tired of waiting. Dipper checked his watch, and sighed.
"Geez, when is he gonna come out with our candy?" he asked, shifting his weight to one foot.
"Yeah, considering he already failed to scare us twice," Mabel noted, adjusting her burger costume.
They turned back to the door, and were probably thinking of shouting for their candy when Bill opened the door and walked out, no longer in his pirate costume.
"Alright, you got me, kids," Bill said, throwing his hands up. "Guess I'm not as scary as I used to be after all, since–"
He twitched again, and this time clutched at his stomach, before he arched his back, and out of his shirt emerged Feathers, covered in fake blood and flapping its wings madly. Bill screamed, wearing out his vocal cords.
"Why?! Why is there a chicken coming out of my chest?!" he yelled.
Dipper and Mabel simply stared at him.
"Dude, really?" Dipper asked.
Bill stopped, and Feathers dropped out of his shirt, before clucking and walking away.
"What the heck?!" Bill asked in disbelief. "What scares you two?!"
Dipper and Mabel shared a look again, before Mabel pulled out her phone from the pockets in her meat patty. "Well, some might say this is a little scary," she said, tapping away at the phone until she found what she was looking for, and showed it to Bill. The phone was showing a video, the title of which was "WATCH CLOSELY".
"What?" Bill asked, as the video began to play, showing a puppy running around a room chasing a ball. "How's this scary?"
Suddenly, the bloody face of a ghostly woman showed up on the screen, along with a scream tape. Bill did a little screaming of his own as Mabel shoved the screen into his face, and Bill backed up before scurrying back behind the door and slamming it. All the while, Dipper and Mabel laughed at his fright, before high-fiving.
Behind the door, Bill panted, putting a hand on his chest, before sighing and sinking to the floor.
"What happened to 'ya, William?" he asked himself. "What happened?"
Gideon hid behind one of the fake tombstones planted near the Magic House. Were those the Pines Twins outside the front door? No wonder he hadn't seen them anywhere else around town. Guess it was a good thing that Robbie had given him his own copies of the keys to the Magic House. Gideon walked around the back to the door leading to the indoor stage, and inserted the key before going inside.
The darkened indoor stage seemed a little creepier than usual. Maybe it was the Summerween vibe getting to him. He walked up onto the stage, and to the backstage, before walking up the stairs to the attic.
Gideon wasn't normally afraid of the dark. It just seemed now that something was waiting in the dark, out to get him...
He made it to his and Pacifica's room, before opening it, and turning the lights on. That's a little better. He walked inside, and bent down to the space under his bed. He looked under, and grabbed Pacifica's crown-slash-hat from under the bed. Brushing the dust bunnies off it, he sighed.
So the plan to keep Pacifica home hadn't worked. Well, it was a long-shot, anyway.
He went back out the way he came, a little quicker than the way he had come inside. He heard scratching on the floor, and froze – but then he looked over his shoulder, and found that it was just Feathers wandering around. (Was it covered in blood? That had better be fake.)
Feathers seemed to be fine, so Gideon felt no need to investigate further, and he went on his way, locking the door to the indoor stage behind him.
He went back around the House, where Pacifica, Tiffany, Alice, and Robbie were waiting for him.
"You found it!" Pacifica said, taking her hat from him and putting it on. "Thanks, Gid! You're the best!"
"Heh, yeah..." Maybe not.
Pacifica turned to them. "Alright, back into town!" she said, and they followed the trail back into the main part of Gravity Falls.
Soon, Gideon and Pacifica found themselves standing outside another door, ringing the doorbell. Gideon smoothed over his shirt, before quirking an eyebrow at Pacifica.
"D'you think something different'll happen this time?" Gideon asked.
"Relax, just do as we practiced," Pacifica replied as the door opened. The bartender of the Cranial Injury joint opened the door, with a bowl of candy in his hand.*
Gideon grabbed his belt buckle, and spit on the ground. "Howdy, partner!" he said.
"We've got..." Pacifica continued, before she and Gideon posed, saying in unison, "...matching costumes!"
The bartender stared at them for all of one second before a tear appeared in his eye. He smiled, as if nothing sweeter could have greeted him that night. So when Pacifica and Gideon extended their sack to him, he emptied the bowl into said sack.
"Bye! Thanks!" Pacifica called after them as they ran back to the wagon, meeting up with Tiffany, Alice, and Robbie.
"How'd it go?" Tiffany asked, as she and Alice emptied their sacks, filled with lots of candy as well.
"Perfectly!" Pacifica said. "Told you people just love matching costumes!"
"Now, let's go get that candy!" Gideon exclaimed, and everyone cheered.
Such fruitful (or rather, candy-ful) encounters marked their evening, as they went to each and every house and establishment in Gravity Falls and got the candy that they were looking for. There had been a little panic when they had seen people blowing out their jack-o-melons for the night, but with his calculator Gideon assured them that they were getting closer and closer to their goal. And so, Gideon and Pacifica played up their matching costumes, and Tiffany, Alice, and Robbie were no slouches either. And by 8:30 in the evening, they hadn't even been to the final house yet, and they had already come so far.
"Four hundred ninety-eight...four hundred ninety-nine!" Pacifica counted. "We did it!"
For what felt like the fifth time that night, they cheered, but Gideon was sure it was worth celebrating this time.
"Now all we need is one more candy!" Pacifica exclaimed.
"And it's only eight-thirty in th'evenin'!" Gideon added. "Just the perfect time!"
Pacifica put an arm around Gideon's shoulder. "And you've got your Summerween spirit back, too!" she said.
"And with that, I'm going to go around and grab my van!" Robbie said, before running out. "Robbie, away!" he called in the distance.
Pacifica went up to Alice and Tiffany, before saying, "Last one to the last house is a pair of wax lips!" Then she and her friends ran over to the last house, with Alice calling about how she didn't want to be the pair of wax lips. Gideon, however, stayed behind, feeling that he should watch the candies.
Well, that didn't feel so bad. And Melody didn't have to know that Pacifica had been going trick-or-treating with him, either, to save Pacifica the scrutiny of the older people. He leaned on a nearby tree, and was almost tempted to eat some of the candy – but he knew he couldn't. All he could do now was revel in their soon-to-come victory.
(He heard his mother's voice in his head, don't count your chicks before they're hatched, but he ignored it.)
From the corner in front of him, he saw a familiar pick-up truck cruising down the road. He took one look at the plate number, and raised his eyebrows. Speak of the devil – it was Melody and Soos coming by. The truck stopped in front of him, and Melody opened her window.
"Hey, Gideon!" she said. "Have a good night trick-or-treating?"
"Yeah, I did," Gideon said.
"I can see that," Melody said, her eyes falling upon the full wagon of candy. "Well, it's been a good night for me too, but I'm pooped. So, I'll see you back at the house with Pacifica! Hope you aren't too lonely back here."
"Oh, no, I'm fine, all alone," Gideon said, though he was barely processing what was coming out of his mouth.
"Really? You aren't afraid of the dark like some chump, dude?" Soos asked from the driver's seat.
"No, no, it's actually nice bein' alone here," Gideon replied. "This feels nice, bein' on my own."
"Well, if you say so," Soos rolled his eyes.
"Bye, Gideon!" Melody said, and the pick-up truck drove away. Gideon watched it leave – just as footsteps came behind him.
"What was that, Gideon?" Pacifica asked, the suspicion in her voice growing, and Gideon turned around to face her. "You're all alone, huh?"
Pacifica gathered up her dress and stomped over to him, throwing a piece of candy to the ground. "I can't believe you would say something like that, Gideon!" she said. "And–" she gasped, "–is that why you wanted me to stay home? Because you were embarrassed by me?"
Tiffany and Alice made shocked noises as well, and Gideon help up his hands. "No, I'm not embarrassed by you!" he tried to say.
"Well, look at me! I'm a twelve-year old, going trick-or-treating instead of hanging out at home with other people my age!" Pacifica said. "I thought you actually wanted to have fun with me, but no! You just wanted to tell Melody that you could trick-or-treat without me! Is it because I'm twelve now, huh? Is that it!"
"Pacifica, I can explain!" Gideon said, backing up, his heel hitting the wagon.
"So you can explain, huh?" Pacifica said. "Well, you better explain what happened to the Gideon who used to love spending Halloween with me!"
Gideon was now close to tears, his face pale with panic. " 'Cifica, just let me talk!"
In Pacifica's anger and Gideon's fright, only Tiffany and Alice noticed the wagon full of their candy rolling off to behind the bushes.
"Wait! Our candy!" Alice said, running over, followed by Tiffany.
But it was too late – they had parted the bushes to find that the wagon had fallen into a sewer, all their candy floating away on a stream. Pacifica and Gideon went over to see what had happened as well, and gasped.
"Sweet mercy," Gideon cursed, turning even paler if that was possible.
"What happened?!" Pacifica asked, grabbing her head.
Tiffany turned around, and her eyes widened. "Uh, guys..." she said, and all of them turned around to see a jack-o-melon getting blown out by the wind, plunging the street into total darkness.
Great, Gideon thought. Now I'm afraid of the dark.
"All the jack-o-melons are out!" Alice said, looking around in desperation.
Gideon did the same, searching for any hint of light, before pointing at a lit jack-o-melon sitting the length of a street away – near Crazy Quentin, who was about to put it out.
"No! Stop!" Pacifica called out, and all four of them ran over to Crazy Quentin.
"What? What's happening?" he asked, looking at the kids who were now running towards him.
The four of them surrounded him, each saying a different variation of "no," and Crazy Quentin had to pull out an ear trumpet to understand them.
"What?!" he asked, pointing the trumpet straight at Gideon.
"Don't blow out that candle!" Gideon said, slowly and clearly.
"...I'm Crazy Quentin, child!" Crazy Quentin said, throwing away the ear trumpet and inhaling deeply, right above the candle of the jack-o-melon he was holding.
Seeing that he must be stopped, Tiffany tackled Crazy Quentin, and grabbed the jack-o-melon. As for Crazy Quentin, he went away unscathed into the Gravity Falls dump, and disappeared behind a pile of old cars.
"Sorry," Tiffany called after him.
Gideon, Pacifica, and Alice walked over to Tiffany, and smiled at her.
"Well, that could've been disastrous," Pacifica said, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Then that relief was short-lived as they realized that with that sigh, they had blown out the candle.
"Oh, dang it," Gideon said, and then they all huddled together as the streetlight above them began to flicker.
A shadow crept out from the darkness – it was the Summerween Trickster, who paused under the spotlight of the streetlight, and raised his hand.
"Knock-knock," he said threateningly, his hand moving as if he were knocking on something.
Tiffany dropped the jack-o-melon.
(A/N: * - Cranial Injury is that joint from Headhunters (see Headhunters Part 2). Or rather, it's what that joint from Headhunters is named in this AU.)
(Yes, I made those kids that Bill's trying to scare Dipper and Mabel. I just wanted to poke fun at the fact that those two are basically edgelords in many sources of Reverse Pines.)
(Also, do you guys think I should make a forum here for you guys who want to learn more about this fanfiction? I could do some AMAs or something! But I need your feedback!)