Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls
Author's Note: In this chapter, Dipper and Mabel, along with Ford, Adeline; Isaac; Fiddleford; Tyrone; Carrie and her brother David; Tate; Soos and Wendy confront the Society of the Blind-Eye once and for all. Will Fiddleford find forgiveness in Ford and Adeline after thirty-years of trying to avoid them? Can Tate and Fiddleford mend their bond? We'll find out here in Chapter 52: Society of the Blind-Eye AU.
Family Tree:
Stanley and Carla - James and Jessie Pines
Stanford and Addi - Shauna, Shannon Pines and Shifty Pines
James Pines and Tara Grayson - Cormac (19), Arya, Aria, and Anais Pines (15)
Jessie Pines and Lillian Prescott - Tanya (21), Stanley Jr aka Junior, (16) and Tyrone Pines (14)
Shauna Pines and Marcus Valdez - Quincy Pines (7)
Shifty Pines and Tate McGucket - Isaac McGucket (14)
Shannon Pines and Clyde Bone (dating) - Drake Bone (5)
Tanya Pines, Frederick "Fred" Palovich, and Kyle Harper - Cadence Pines (unborn)
Enjoy Fellow Gravity Fallers!
Late last night at Greasy's Diner….
Lazy Susan was closing up the establishment for the night, but first, she had to take care of a few things before she were to leave herself. She sweeps the floor while humming a tune, making sure to kick out any critters in the place. It wasn't long before she spots two possums scurrying on a pile of plates in the kitchen sink.
Lazy Susan then performs the task of shooing them out with the broom she's using, "Shoo, possums, shoo!" The possums chitter and scurried off near the diners exit. When that was done, the ditzy waitress made her way to the dining tables at the front, spotting Fiddleford underneath one of the tables. She shoos him away too, "Git, McGucket, git!" Fiddleford does run off himself on all fours, mumbling incoherently. Lazy Susan shook her head disapprovingly as she watched the possums and the old man leave the diner. Now she can lock up for the night as she leaves her workplace to bid it goodbye, "Good night, diner. Good night, trees." She then passes by four gnomes trying to steal a pie on the windowsill, three of the four doing the work while Jeff instructed them. Lazy Susan bidded the gnomes a good night too, "Good night, tiny men stealing my pie." However, she came to a quick realization that those were actual gnomes, saying in shock as she lifted up her eyelid for a better look, "Wait, WHAT?!"
Jeff lets out a frustrated sigh as he sees his fellow gnomes not having gotten the pie yet, telling them, "Lift with your knees. No, your knees." He then threatens them, "If I go one more hour without eating, I'm gonna resort to cannibalism." He thought about his father, the Gnome King, when he adds, "And save a piece for our king, he'd want one later," He then notices Lazy Susan, tipping his hat with a small smile to say, "Ma'am," to her.
It freaked Lazy Susan out enough that she shrieks in bewilderment, "Little magic men! What does it mean? What do I do?" She thinks the best course of action would be to call someone about it as she hastily goes to the payphone, dialing 911 and saying in fright, "Yes, hi. I'd like to report something. I'm at Greasy's Diner. You won't believe what I've witnessed." Lazy Susan was completely unaware that two members of the Society of the Blind Eye, wearing red robes with a crossed-out eye, sneaking up from the nearby bushes as she continued to express her distress, "It's unbelievable! It's indescribable! It's- AAAAAAAH!"
The two hooded figures sneak up on her, placing a brown sack over her head to kidnap her, making her drop the corded phone.
Blind Ivan appeared as he follows his fellow members to say as he completed drawing the "Blind Eye" symbol behind him, "It has been unseen."
Jeff and the other three gnomes were baffled by what happened to the human woman, but they didn't dwell on it as Jeff tells his fellow gnomes, having successfully stole the pie, "Welp, back to pie. I was this close to eating you, Steve." Jeff didn't entirely meant it when he said he was going to eat his fellow gnome; it was more of an intimidation tactic to keep Steve and the others in line like his father taught him. Or was it? Jeff and the rest of the gnomes scamper off with the pie back to their forest home in the night.
The next day in Dipper and Mabel's room….
Dipper and David were spending time together playing a game they both came up with: "Can You Decipher?" is what the boys called it. It was where they both come up with creative cryptograms for each other to try to solve; they can say anything they so desire. Some more challenging than others. The two boys were on the bed writing cryptograms on sheets of paper with their pens.
David shows his cryptogram sheet that read, "Lx obnf jt Bzbooupr" in Caesar with a grin, "Try decoding this one and I'll try to decode yours." He then glanced over to the wall by the bed, seeing Dipper's conspiracy board that depicts some of his family members pictures as well as some other people he's seen before, connecting some with yellow string.
"Cool, dude!" Dipper said, smiling as he took a look at the letters, remarking, "Ah good old Caesar - not the guy but the cipher. Very interesting it seems." He then gave David his sheet that read, "23-9-19-8 11-5-22-9-14 23-1-19 8-5-18-5," to him to decode.
"I know, man." David said in acknowledgement. He read the code as he said, "Substitution ciphers are my favorite ones to decode. Real easy and don't have to think too hard."
The two boys take a moment to decipher each others messages, Dipper chewing on his pen too hard in thinking that he made it burst ink in his mouth and cheek, spitting it out as he groans, "Blech! Not again." He then tossed the broken pen in a cardboard bin with his other broken "thinking pens," getting another one to replace it.
David nodded after deciphering the cryptogram, "I miss Kevin too. Too bad he couldn't come over, due to being sick and Taro needed a recharge from the energy rush it had last night." He thought back to Taro having hooked itself up to the "Fight Fighters" game and applied power boosts that carried over to reality. Taro having darted around and cried out in a screechy voice, "I'M A SPACESHIP!", and repeated the phrase a few more times unit it started to run low on energy to exhaust. It woke up everyone in the home and Carrie was none too pleased as it was three in the morning.
"Yeah," Dipper agreed. Kevin would've humored them on their game, and maybe played a bit. Dipper then asked the meaning behind the cryptogram to David in curiosity, "Is Ayanntos your real name or...?"
"It's my middle name," David rubbed behind his neck, seeming to be embarrassed about it, "my parents wanted something more… unique when naming me and my older sis."
Just then, Mabel comes into the room holding green bottle with a message inside from Mermando, her being happy to have received it as she runs up to the two, landing on the bed, "Hey, bro-bro, David. Look what I got!"
"A bottle with a message inside it," David pointed out with a smile.
Dipper responded sarcastically, "Yay, a filthy green bottle!"
Mabel grinned to David for being correct as she tells, "It's a bottle message from Mermando, remember? He was part fish, part shirtless guy. I know you wouldn't remember him, David."
"You've shown me his picture," David nodded, gathering up the sheets of paper and codes so they wouldn't fall off the bed.
Mabel gasped in hoping, "What if he wants to get back together?"
Dipper shared his doubts in concern for his sister, hating to see her brokenhearted, "I wouldn't get your hopes up, Mabel."
"Too late! Hopes are way way up!" She sits on the bed next to Dipper, pulling off the cork in the bottle to take out the message, squealing in glee as she unfolded the paper to read it, ""Dear Mabel..." So far so good! "It is with a heavy heart..." So far so good! "...that I must inform you, I'm getting married"?!" Mabel was dismayed by what she read, wearing a shocked expression as did David.
"Whoa…. Isn't he, like, twelve?" David questioned, remembering Mabel telling him and their friends much about him.
Dipper adding, frowning when he says his correct assumption, "And there it is. And yeah, David."
Mabel continued to read the message, getting more disappointed, ""In order to prevent an undersea civil war... arranged wedding... Queen of the Manatees?!"" She looks at the photo of Mermando with a distressed expression, and the manatee wearing a pink dress and crown. Mabel remarking, "And she's so beautiful!" She sighs in sadness, dropping the message and photo that fall to the floorboard, "This can't be happening!"
Dipper tries to console his sister, knowing where she's coming from, "Oh, Mabel. You'll get over him eventually."
Mabel had her own doubts about it, her hopes crashing down, "You don't understand, Dipper." She moved aside her sweater on the floor to pick up her scrapbook, showing her brother and David her page of "summer romances" that ended in disaster one way or another, "On my first day here, I made this page for summer romances. Look at my luck." She points at the pictures of Norman, Gideon, Sev'ral Timez and Gabe Benson, "Turned out to be gnomes, child psycho, made out with his own hands. And now…" adding Mermando's picture to the book and writes "FAILED" at the top of the page, "I wish I could just forget about them forever."
Dipper then tells her his own failed chance at romance, "Hey, if it's any consolation, my chance with getting together with Wendy has ended. I've been trying to accept that rejection, but hey, at least we're still friends." He smiled to his sister, "You can say we both failed at summer romance thus far. Remember what Aunt Shannon said?"
"Keep the heart open," Mabel said, making her feel a bit better. She then looked at the conspiracy board Dipper made about their family members and of other people in town, noting one about Dani and her relatives, "So this is what you've been up to, still?"
Dipper nodded to his sister, "Oh yeah." He points to the picture of Dani, Dante and Li, "Yesterday, I snuck into the Jade Dragon to see what secrets they have that prove they aren't as human as they appear. Dani eating that ghost pepper raised my suspicions…." He shows the picture of Dani's brightly colored pet bird, Fei, he managed to take that he adds to the board, "And she has this strange kind of baby chicken I've never seen."
Mabel cooed at the image of Dani's pet, "Aw! It looks so cute and pretty with its gold and red feathers!"
"You broke into their living space?" David questioned with a raised brow, not entirely approving of his friend's breaking and entering, "You could've been in major trouble, dude." Ever since his experience in prison, he'd rather be safe than sorry.
"Thankfully I escaped before anyone saw me. It was really warm up there," Dipper grinned a bit in satisfaction.
Mabel had an idea of how to unwind, "Say let's head down to the gift shop and see if we can't snag any ice cream. I could use some right now." Dipper and David couldn't agree more.
Down stairs in the Gift Shop….
Soos, along with Ty, Isaac and Carrie were listening to "Straight Blanchin," by Little Big Dog, the four enjoying the song. Doing so while Soos swept the floor, Ty organizing the Mystery Shack's products, Isaac placing ice creams in the freezer and Carrie leaning against the nearby counter. It had been a slow day.
The boombox playing the song from the CD Soos bought, "~Am I blanchin', Girl we blanchin',I live up in a mansion, Am I blanchin', Girl we blanchin, I live up in a mansion!~"
But Wendy wasn't too into the song herself, finding it more annoying than enjoyable as it's now stuck in her head. Wendy would surprised that someone like Carrie, being more reserved and quiet as she is, dancing with the boys to the song.
The four singing along to the lyrics, "~Am I blanchin', Girl we blanchin', I live up in a mansion!~"
Wendy lets out a groan in frustration, expressing grievances about the song, "Ugh! I can't get that terrible song out of my head." She covered her ears to muffle the music, but it did little to remedy her issue.
Soos and the other teens stopped singing for him to say, "Oh, you mean "Straight Blanchin'" by 'Lil Big Dawg? It's the catchiest song of the summer."
"I like the beat to it, that's all I can really say," Carrie said in a deadpan manner.
"I enjoy it alright," added Isaac.
"Some rap music like Little Big Dog is my jam!" Ty said with a smile on his face.
Wendy complained more, "What is "blanchin"? Rappers can't just make up words!"
Soos then said, "Rappers are visionaries, Wendy. If they told me to eat my own pants, I would do it."
As if his request has been granted, the song sings the lyrics, "~Eat your own pants. Eat your own pants, yeah!~"
Soos shrugs and agreed with the lyrics, "I guess I have no choice." As Soos was about to unzip his pants, Ty stops his friend, shaking his head for him to not do it.
"Rappers don't exactly make up words; they use 'em differently to fit the song," Isaac said as he got done with his task.
"I second that," added Carrie.
Ty was quick to defend, "Blanchin is not a made up word, Wendy." He took out his phone to look up the meaning, repeating the result he found, "It means, as this puts the word, to live a luxurious lifestyle with a partner or spouse. Then "Blanching" with a "g" means to bleach til it's pale or white, or the expression when frightened."
It blew Wendy's mind having been proved wrong, her expression shocked. She felt stupid now. She acknowledges they were right about the meaning of the word, "blanchin," but the song still sucks to her.
"Um, I think you broke Wendy, Ty," commented Soos.
"Oops," spoke Ty.
Dipper, Mabel and David casually enter the gift shop to get some ice cream treats. The three greeted five and went to munching on their snack.
"You know you gotta pay for that, right?" Carrie said to her brother, David.
David sighed, "No duh, sis, but you're holding the money. Can't be trusted with money, remember?" He wore a snarky grin on his face.
Carrie groaned and placed two dollars on the counter. It got Wendy to wonder while putting up the money.
"Why can't your brother buy things himself?" asked Wendy.
"Well… let's just say he's made some impulsive purchases that he ends up regretting later. David asked me and our parents to hold onto to money so he wouldn't go on a spending spree, unless he for sure wants it," explained Carrie in a blunt manner.
"Like the ice cream I'm eating," David said as he was about to bite into one with nuts that he's allergic to.
Dipper took notice and said, "Dude!" He slapped the ice cream bar out of David's hand that ended up landing on the floor. He looked at the fallen ice before pointing it out to David, "It had nuts in it."
David sees the melted ice cream having nuts, thankful that Dipper seemingly saved him from having a more severe reaction, "Ah thanks, Dipper. Thought I was a goner or…." The moment he took a look at his own hand, having merely touched the nuts seemed to make his hand have a reaction he'd rather cover up as he internally panics. Not wanting anyone else to see, he excused himself, "I gotta go to the bathroom. Be right back!"
They all see David run upstairs to the bathroom in some concern for him, especially Carrie, seeing that he could have touched the peanuts in the ice cream. To which her assumption was true and was about to head upstairs to give him his ointment for it.
Ty cleans up the ice cream as he asked Carrie, "Your brother gonna be okay?"
Carrie simply nodded, "He will be." She headed upstairs to find the bathroom, knocking on the door to let him know, "Hey, it's Carrie, doofus. I have the ointment on me."
David opened the door slightly, accepting the tube of the purple colored substance to cover up the dark purple blotch on his hand, cleaning the residue fully, returning to its fleshy color as he thanked his sister, "Thanks Carrie, I got careless back there."
"No problem. Read the labels before picking anything up next time," advised Carrie and her and David head back down stairs.
All of them were relaxing in the almost empty gift shop when Isaac needed to be elsewhere. Isaac wanted to visit his grandfather, Fiddleford, and to make sure he's doing okay.
Isaac checked the time on his phone and said, "Welp, see ya guys, gonna go check on Grandpappy at the junkyard if he's there." He then turned around to say, inviting them with a smile, "If y'all wanna come along. Grandpappy would like more visitors."
Wendy shrugged with a grinned, wanting an excuse to leave work early, "Sure, bud! Hopefully Stan and Carla won't mind."
Soos had to think for a moment, not really been the one to ditch work for fun, "Well I don't know, dudes."
Ty reasoned, seeing a point in suggestion to leave, "It's been slow, Soos. I'm sure Gramps and Granny won't fuss too much over it. Plus, Isaac's grandpa is fun to be around for the most part."
Dipper thought up an idea, "I'll go get McGucket's portable computer and see if he can fix it." David and Mabel give Dipper a look, thinking he'll just want to try and crack the password again. Dipper assuring them, "I'm not going to bug him about the password. Thought to give back what belonged to him - I swear!"
Isaac nodded approvingly, "Grandpappy would know how ta fix it. If he can build a multi-tin aquatic robot, then I'm sure he can make his invention work again through some tinkering. Seen him do that with a lot of things."
"Awesome!" Dipper said as he ran upstairs to go get the broken portable computer. He also thought perhaps Fiddleford would be willing to share what contained in the thing; if the data was still intact, but he doubts it. He accidentally dropped Journal 3 on the ground while getting the broken portable computer, the journal landing on the page where it details about the Society of the Blind Eye, mostly of what Ford was able to detail from a distance. "Oops, dropped you," Dipper said as he picked up the journal and went off to join his sister, cousins and friends to Fiddleford's place.
At the Gravity Falls Junkyard….
Dipper and Mabel, along with Isaac, Ty, Carrie, David, Wendy and Soos began looking for Fiddleford, calling out for his name as they pass by busted up cars, trash and other debris lying around the place.
"Grandpappy, you around?" Isaac hamboned the message for his grandpa, but got no answer.
"Old Man McGucket, are you here?" Dipper said to call for Fiddleford.
"Here hillbilly-billy-billy-billy," said Soos in his attempt, but still no answer from the old kook.
They move around the corner to find Fiddleford's makeshift metal hut, though Nate and Lee were graffitiing the pink words, "McSuckit" on the surface on it, finding it funny as the two teens laugh. Isaac was none too pleased to see the teens mess with his grandpa, letting out a low growling sound.
"That's good," Nate said.
"Took an hour to think of this, but it was worth it. Ha!" remarked Lee, high-fiving his friend.
Moving aside his raccoon skin rug that acted like a door, Fiddleford comes outside to investigate the noise, carrying a long stick as he sees Nate and Lee having graffitied his home. The teens run off laughing as Fiddleford chases them a bit, waving his stick to express his discontent, "Get outta here, you salt lickin', hornswagglin!..." he then frowned and said, "McSuckit, they got me good."
"Gonna be okay, Grandpappy?" Isaac asked him, catching Fiddleford's attention.
Fiddleford smiled and greeted, "Isaac! Tyrone! Carrie! And Visitors! Come, come." He guides them all inside his metal shelter full of rusty scrap metal, skinned possums and blankets as he says, "Pull up some rusty metal. You're just in time for my hourly turf war with the hillbilly what lives in my mirror." He looks at his reflection angrily as he protests, "Quit starin' at me when I bathe!"
"It's just your reflection, Grandpappy," Isaac said as he took a seat on a blanket. He planned to help his grandpa clean off the spray paint when he can get soap and water soon.
The others try to get comfortable with what soft cushion they could find in the place. It was much better than sitting on rusty metal.
Fiddleford put on a grin and said, "I'll be right back, gotta go get the missus to introduce y'all to her!"
"Missus?" Dipper, Mabel, David Wendy and Soos questioned in unison to Isaac, Ty and Carrie who weren't all surprised.
"My step-adoptive-grandmammy, Nancy Rainwater," Isaac said, seeming to be embarrassed about meeting her and how she can be with people. "They got hitched recently and I'm still gettin' used to her being around. She has a daughter named Joy my Dad's age, from a previous relationship, a daughter-in-law name Zeal, and a granddaughter named Nicolette; who's around my age. I can say they're nicer and not as cranky as Grammy Nancy."
"That's unexpected. About McGucket actually finding someone," Soos remarked.
Ty nodded to agree with Soos, having thought the same thing at first.
Mabel beamed, "Oh really?! I'd like to meet the nice old lady."
"Yeah, congrats," Dipper said, yet questioning who would be the type of woman to put up with someone as idled in the head as Fiddleford.
In his arms, Fiddleford brought out a old grumpy-looking, female raccoon named Nancy, but she was more than what she seemed. Fiddleford settled her down when she started to let out demanding chirps from being disturbed while sleeping, "This be my raccoon wife, Nancy! Nancy say howdy to our guests." Nancy let out a loud cranky hiss at them, making Dipper, David and Soos recline back. Fiddleford telling Nancy in a terse manner, "Nancy don't be rude! Though I am sorry for wakin' ya, honey." He patted the raccoon's head that seemed to please her a bit.
The only one not entirely put off by Nancy was Mabel, finding the raccoon more adorable, "She's precious with her grumpy face like those fancy cats!"
"Hopefully she's got her… shots…." commented Wendy being greatly concerned.
Dipper then thought of showing the broken portable computer to Fiddleford, thinking perhaps it'll jog some of his memory of when he once worked with Ford and Adeline. The boy happily took out the broken device and presented it to Fiddleford, "Um, McGucket, got something with your literal name on it. It once belonged to you." He shows the name to Fiddleford, perplexing the old man as he closely examines it.
"You were like a genius!" Wendy remarked, "You made the laptop long before it became a thing."
"Oh really? This scrapdoodle was mine? Well, I think I can shimsham this whatchadoodle back to functionin' capacity!" Fiddleford frowned as he looked at the damaged device, doubting that he ever was an intelligent man, "Uh, Genius? I'm no genius. I've never done nothin' worthwhile in my life." He looked at the embarrassing newspaper articles about himself and his crazy, destructive antics over the years. Some being where he had Isaac and Ty involved causing trouble. And an article about Tate being too embarrassed of his father to give any comment. "Everyone knows I'm no good to nobody. I can't remember what I used to be, but I must've been a big failure to end up like this." The kids, teens and Soos felt sorry for him.
Isaac telling Fiddleford to reassure him, "I… I don't think yer a big failure, Grandpappy. Not in my eyes."
"Yeah, the crazy stuff you make is destructive and morally grey, but awesome when applied appropriately," remarked Ty in earnesty.
Carrie sighs, not having known Fiddleford for long, she does have words of her own reserved way to say, "For a senile old man, you're an expert on making junk work. Effectively, if I may add."
It made Fiddleford smile some to know that he's at least valued to some people.
Dipper then decided to show Fiddleford Journal 3 if he remembers anything, "Check out this journal and see if you remember anything. Here, look closely." He flips through the pages for Fiddleford, but Isaac wasn't sure if it was a good idea, yet curious to see what'll happen.
Fiddleford squinted his eyes to look at each page Dipper shows him, "told you, I don't recall. Everything before 1982 is just a blur. Just a hazy…" The moment the page turned to detailing the Blind Eye, he shrieks and falling back in shock as he says in fright, "The Blind Eye! Robes, the men, my mind! They did something!"
It took everyone by surprise seeing Fiddleford's reaction to bringing up the Society of the Blind Eye. Isaac rushing over to Fiddleford to help him up as did Nancy when she nudged him.
Dipper asking, "Who did?"
Fiddleford still didn't know, "I... oh, I don't recall."
Mabel shows her sympathy for him, "Oh, you poor old man! No wonder your mind's all.." She blows a raspberry with making a thumbs down to make her point, "You've been through something intense."
Dipper turned to face the rest of the group to go through theories to find out more, "What if McGucket learned something he wasn't supposed to know, and someone, or something, messed with his mind? We've got to get to the bottom of this."
Wendy then asked Fiddleford, "Think, dude. What is the earliest thing you can remember?"
Fiddleford turns to one of the newspaper articles about himself, showing Dipper and the others the earliest one, "Uh, this is, I think."
"The history museum!" Wendy and Isaac said in unison.
Dipper confirms what they plan on doing, "That's where we're going."
As soon as everyone left to head for Soos' pickup truck to get to the museum, Nancy seizes her moment to unwind and muttered in a cranky manner, "Finally they're all gone…. I didn't feel like explainin' myself and my whole life's story today to the youngin's. I'm gonna nap, but not before stretchin' myself out. That dumb, cheery man woke me up while I was snoozin'." She shifted into a small elderly woman with long white, messy white hair that draped over her back. Nancy wore a leafy cloak that concealed her lavender shirt with long baggy brown pants, kept on thanks to a black belt. Nancy was wearing weaved sandals she made herself. Nancy was a shifter that's able to change into a raccoon and human at will. Nancy only had a few wrinkles on her face, but still looking young enough to be mistaken being forty-something. Her arms had markings similar to a raccoons in the form of rings.
Nancy wasn't sure what made her decide to be with Fiddleford. It was either she was done being alone after over twenty-years being single, or she genuinely loved Fiddleford for the more positively qualities about him once she got to know him. It's possibly both. The accidental kiss was so sudden, yet felt right in the moment awhile back over fighting for a piece of meat. Nancy shifted back to being a raccoon again, curling up in her favorite pink blanket she was sleeping on earlier.
In Soos' pickup truck….
Soos drives while Dipper, Mabel and Wendy ride at the front, while David, Carrie, Isaac, Ty and Fiddleford sat in the back. David holding onto his sister to keep from sliding and jumping up in case of bumps in the road, knocking lightly on her left prosthetic metal leg out of boredom, concealed by her black jeans. Carrie not seeming to mind it. Isaac liked his shaggy dirty blond hair flowing in the breeze from the moving truck, keeping his red beanie down from the wind. Ty was holding tight in the back of the truck himself.
Almost everyone was content, except for Wendy when she groans from listening to, "Straight Blanchin," on the music player Soos brought with him. Wendy decided to do something to make the music stop, "Ugh, Soos!" She punched the button to take out the CD, then throwing it out the window to possibly break. Soos looked at Wendy in disappointment, having liked the song. Wendy realized what she did and reassures Soos, "I'll buy you a new one."
Meanwhile in Greasy's Diner….
Ford, Adeline and Tate were having a late lunch when they saw Soos and the rest of the gang drive by the diner. The three adults noticed but thought nothing of it.
Ford mumbles to himself as he drinks his coffee, "Wonder what all of them are up to…."
Meanwhile, Adeline asks Tate, having noticed Shifty didn't come along and she wanted to know why, "What's Shifty been up too?"
Tate raised his head from the newspaper and answered, "He said somethin' about needing to negotiate with some mole-men over playing cards. He said don't worry, the cards are in braille."
Inside the Bunker….
Shifty was in the middle of playing Poker with three large mole-men at a square metal table. At the center of the table was a pile of gemstones, squirming worms and a ring with a black-gold band and a chunk of malachite setted on it. The four where in the room where the cryogenic pods once were, the mole-men having entered through a weakened part of the earthy wall. The three mole-men were of course blind, covered in gray-black fur with long sharp claws for digging, fangs protruding from their maws, and greatly squinted eyes. Shifty was focused and sure to win the pile.
Lazy Susan comes by with a full pitcher of fresh coffee as she asks, "Would you like a refill, Stanford?"
Ford nodded with a small smile as he accepted and held up his mug, "Don't mind if I do, Susan."
As soon as Lazy started pouring, she ended up overfilling Ford's mug when she looked away for but a moment. It prompted Adeline and Ford to act as they tell her, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop!" Some of the coffee got on the table, soaking the newspaper and Adeline's plate of almost an almost finished meal.
Lazy Susan steadied her hand that's holding the pitcher, apologizing for her absent moment, "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry! I've been feeling a tad more ditzy than usual." She quickly gets a rag and a starts cleaning the spilled coffee. Thankfully no one got scalded by the hot coffee.
Adeline gave her old friend a sympathetic expression, helping Susan out with cleaning up the mess, "We all have our days, Susan. It's no trouble."
Ford started to add two and two together, figuring it couldn't be a coincidence. He could tell that Lazy Susan's mind had been wiped most recently and Soos having McGucket in his pickup truck could mean something. After over thirty-years, Ford and Adeline may possibly find the hideout of the Society of the Blind Eye and end their hold on the town. However, Soos and those with him could be in great danger.
Ford looked to Adeline and whispered to her as he placed the money on the table to pay their check, "We need to leave and find Soos' truck. The Society are behind this and our family and friends are going after them."
Later at the history museum….
The sun was beginning to set as Dipper and Mabel, along with the rest of the group sneak inside the museum through the window they opened.
Each one of them crawled inside as Soos calls out, "Hello? Anyone here?"
Carrie shushed Soos and warned him in a hushed tone, "If there are others here, we can't give out our location and be surrounded."
"Oh, okay," Soos loudly whispered.
Dipper tells everyone as goes looking around, "All right, keep your eyes peeled for anything suspicious."
Mabel sighs in a depressing manner, still thinking about her failed summer romances. It still hurts. Wendy takes notice of Mabel's issue and asks her as the girl walked by without petting the stuffed cougar.
"Mabel, are you okay? You just walked by a cat without petting it."
Mabel laments about her troubles to her friend, "Oh Wendy, everything I look at reminds me of failed romances." She points to the nearby objects that acted as bitter reminders to her, "That formaldehyde heart. That romantic diorama. Even this poster of my most recent ex-crush." She pulled off the poster of Gabe Benson, revealing underneath the poster was another one but with Sev'ral Timez on the cover, making her groan in frustration, "Aw, come on!"
Isaac looks at the miners exhibit, then turning to Ty, David and Carrie to see if they found anything suspicious. He hamboned them a message saying, "Found anything, y'all?"
Ty hamboned to Isaac back, "Nope!"
David asked his sister, "What did they say?"
"They haven't found anything worth noting," explained Carrie as she scanned the space exhibit, letting out a, "Hmm," when she sees the depiction of aliens, looking amorphous and cartoony.
"You gotta teach me hamboning, sis," suggested David.
Carrie simply responded with, "Maybe."
David pressed his sister's buttons, "Maybe yes or maybe-"
"It'll be a maybe-no if you keep asking," said Carrie with an annoyed tone. David mocked his sister's stone-faced expression.
Dipper inquired to Fiddleford, wanting to know if he's remembering anything, "So your last memory was here. Anything coming back?"
"Guys, look!" Soos alerted before Dipper could get an answer out of Fiddleford, all of them now seeing a hooded figure down the hall of the museum, running away from the whole group. All of them gave chase for the person, running towards the person until they enter a room full of disembodied fake eyeballs. All of them were confused as to where the person went, seeing no way they could have escaped through.
"Well kettle my corn. He vanish-ified," said Fiddleford.
Suddenly, they all hear a familiar voice coming from the outside of the room, "Hey, you all in there?" It was Ford's voice, much to Dipper and the other's surprise. Himself along with Adeline and Tate enter inside the room. Ford sighed in relief, "Glad to finally catch up to all of you."
"Grunkle Ford!" Dipper and Mabel smiled to their great-uncle, and to Adeline and Tate.
Fiddleford crossed his arms and turned away from Ford and Adeline, trying to pay no mind to them, yet he did smile to see his son, Tate.
"Out of curiosity, how come you're here? We swear we're not planning on stealing anything," Ty said to them, fearing he and the others will be in serious trouble for intruding in the museum.
Adeline assures him, "Oh no, Ty, that's not the case." She laughed a little to say, "I mean, scolding you all would be the usual response, but in this case, it's different." She got to the point when she asks, "Tell us, did any of you see a person in a hooded robe with a crossed out eye?"
Soos being the one to admit, "Maybe. We did try to follow the guy to this room, but they seemed to disappear as if they were some kind of ghost."
"Better not be a ghost; don't wanna deal with that mess again," Ty muttered under his breath.
Dipper could see Tate, Ford and Adeline knew something they all didn't, prompting him to question, "Do you know about those Blind Eye people?"
Tate, Adeline and Ford nodded to each other, confirming their suspicions that the Society of the Blind Eye's secret base is in some part of the museum. None of them were going to let anyone's mind be wiped, except for the Society members of course. Ford and Adeline can only hope that they can stop them.
Adeline affirmed to her nephew, "Yes, and we plan to put a stop to them once we find where they are here. They're dangerous so we have to be really, really careful. I suggest we find clues of sorts to trigger a hidden door; there's usually one."
Dipper and the others looked around the room, seeing if they could find something to indicate a mechanism to hint at some secret passage way. That would be the most reasonable explanation for the hooded person to disappear the way they did.
Fiddleford was getting uncomfortable by the staring eyeballs, backing towards the wall where the eyes looking directly at, "I feel like all these eyeballs are a-watchin' me."
Ford and Dipper noticed too, but it hit the two as they both say, "They are!" The two in delight that they thought the same thing.
"Move aside," commanded Dipper. McGucket moved out of the way, revealing a triangle-shaped tablet with an eye symbol on it. Bingo! Dipper was the one to go up to the central eye, pressing it and everyone watching in anticipation and worry. The button recedes as the nearby fireplace slides aside the secret passageway that leads further down. Just as Ford and Adeline thought there be.
"Jackpot!" said Wendy in eagerness.
"Well I'll be damned," Tate said under his breath.
"A secret passageway!"
"We'll have to be stealthy. I'll hambone a message if there's trouble." Fiddleford proceeded to slap his arms and legs in fast succession that only Isaac, Carrie and Ty could understand when he hambones, "Coyotes are coming for our sweetbreads." Isaac, Carrie and Ty nodded.
Dipper saying, not having understood it at all as well as the rest of the group, "I have no idea what that means."
Ford immediately takes charge and orders everyone, "Everyone single file line and don't make sound."
Ford walks ahead while the others follow him down the steps, where two torches lit the way to two concealing curtains. All the while, they all hear people chanting the latin words, "Annuit coeptis novus ordo seclorum," in unison coming from the other side of the curtains that the group take a peek through.
What they find was a small group of red cloak people with the same crossed-out eye symbol on their hoods that Ford told them about. The Blind Eye members stopped chanting the moment they touched the small wooden chest in the center of the room on a pedestal, with a red cushion chair with straps to restrain the victim by their wrists in the armrests.
The leader of the cult, "Blind" Ivan Wexler, stood beside the chest in front of the chair to ask of his followers, "Who is the subject of our meeting?"
Two more of the cloaked cultists brought in what looked to be a young man with a brown sack over his head, making him sit on the chair and having his wrists tied down by the straps in the armrests. The victim looked to be the same size as a teenager, wearing overalls, dark boots, and reddish cultists announcing the person when they removed the sack over his head, revealing to be Marcus Corduroy, "This boy!"
"Marcus?!" Wendy gasped, quickly covering her mouth so the cultists wouldn't hear. Ty, Isaac and Carrie visibly shocked themselves to see their friend having been captured. What did he see to warrant the capture, they all wondered. Wendy wanted to act to save her brother before something terrible were to happen, reaching for her ax to her side.
Blind Ivan asked the teenager, "What is it you have seen?"
All the members of the cult order in unison, "Speak!"
Marcus tells what he saw, "So I was going to the store to get soup for my bros; they're both sick you see and my dad is out right now. I was passing by the park when I saw this large white wolf with red eyes as it took off into the woods with four others. I was like, "Whoa….""
Blind Ivan says, "There, there." He reaches for the chest, opening the lid to reveal the memory gun that he takes up in his hand, planning to use it on Marcus to make him forget. The members pulling down their hoods by the string to shield their eyes from was about to happen "You won't be like "Whoa," for much longer."
Wendy whispered urgently to the others, practically begging, "We gotta stop them!"
Carrie nodded, seeming to know what to do when she looks to David, "David, go create a distraction. Can you do that?"
"Mmhm!" David nodded as he was about to perform the task, but not without being stopped by Ford who urged him.
"No it's too dangerous. That gun is capable of wiping any memory the user chooses. I will-"
David freed himself from Ford's grasp as he sneaks into the chamber. He made sure to stay close to the shadows to not be seen. David gets out a sheet of paper, crumpling it up into a ball, aiming to throw it at Blind Ivan's head. He was incredibly nervous and scared, but managed to throw the paper ball across the room, hitting Blind Ivan before he had the chance to wipe Marcus' memory of the white wolf.
"GAH!" Blind Ivan felt the paper ball against the back of his head, turning around to see the paper ball. "Who did this? Think this is funny?!" demanded Ivan, none of the cultists answering.
Blind Ivan gets is answer when David gives away his position to taunt at them, "Hey, dummies! I'm a stupid kid that shouldn't be here! Come get me!" David took off in a sprint into the hallway that lead back to the main floor of the museum.
"After that stupid kid who shouldn't be here!" Blind Ivan ordered as he sets the memory gun back in the chest, telling Marcus, "I'll finish the job after this." Ivan and the rest of the cultists took off after David into the various exhibits in the museum.
Wendy and the others took the chance to free Marcus from his restraints. Ford taking the memory gun and putting it in his coat.
"Don't worry, bro, you're safe," Wendy assured Marcus.
Marcus rubbed his wrists when he started to ask, "Who are those people? And what was that thing they were going to use on me?"
"Tell you about it on the way. I'll get you to safety out of the museum. Then I have to save my brother from those guys," Carrie said, offering to guard Marcus for him to escape the place. Wendy and the others nodded approvingly as they see Carrie and Marcus leave the chamber from where they came. However, Ty and Isaac wanted to help the two with that plan.
"I'll come with you two," Ty offered.
"Count me in too. Safety in numbers," said Isaac with a small grin.
"Y'all be careful. Text any of us a message so we'll know you're safe," Tate said to Isaac and the teens in parental worry. Isaac smiled some with a nod.
Carrie and Marcus agreed, silently accepting Ty and Isaac's help with an approving nod as the quartet make their way out of the secret passageway. All that needed to be done was to put an end of the Society of the Blind Eye, and get Fiddleford's memories back.
Ford turned to the others as he explains in a frank manner, "If we hadn't done something, Marcus could have lost his memories of what he'd seen. Adeline and myself have been investigating the cult for years, but we never could get the information out of even one of them. I was close with getting something out of Bud Gleeful, but I realized Mabel's wellbeing is more important than learning those secrets."
Adeline added, remembering the incident from a year prior involving Bud, "But it did give us a great lead that the Blind Eye members are some of the townsfolk here. Bud made the big mistake of attempting to erase our family members memories when we confronted them about Gideon possessing Journal 2 at the time."
Mabel smiled at Ford, thankful that her great-uncle ended the deal with the Gleeful family. However, it surprised Dipper and Mabel that Bud Gleeful is a member of the cult.
Dipper remarked, "Amazing. A secret society of evil mind erasers, and Bud Gleeful being one of them." He turned to Fiddleford, "They must have a place where they store your memories as well as others. If we could find where your memories have been hidden," Dipper glanced over to Adeline and Ford, knowing that they used to be good friends with Fiddleford, "then maybe you can start gaining what remains of your old self again." He thinks perhaps when Fiddleford recovers his memories, he could be friends with his great-uncle and aunt again like many years before. Ford and Adeline were almost hopeful at the thought once Fiddleford regains himself, they could start mending the friendship they once had with him, but they don't expect it to happen; not when so many years have passed.
Ford suggests a course of action, "Mabel, Wendy and myself can stay here to make sure any of the members don't come back to ambush us."
Wendy grinned, getting to hangout with Mabel and Ford, "Whoo! Almost girls club!"
Adeline smiled as she says, "Then that leaves me, Dipper, Soos, Tate and Fiddleford are gonna go find the Hall of the Forgotten."
As if on cue, Soos' brown cap gets sucked up from his head through the vacuuming tube. They all see the hat move inside the long tube, giving them an idea of where it may go off to.
"Follow that hat!" Dipper said as he, along with Adeline, Soos, Tate and Fiddleford go after the hat, following it out of the chamber and out onto the main floor of the museum. It did concern Dipper he sees David nowhere in sight, but they all kept moving until they hear the voice of a Blind Eye member.
"Halt! Is someone there?"
Fiddleford panics as does everyone else try to find a place to hide, "Aah! What do we do? Where do we go?"
"This way, Dad!" Tate whispered loud enough for him to hear, pointing at the settler diorama they could use the clothes from.
Soon enough, the five find a empty pioneer diorama, putting on nearby outfits to disguise themselves as pioneers and stay perfectly still like mannequins. Fiddleford only needing a pickaxe to pose. Dipper posing as a baby in Soos' arms, dressed as a woman. Tate having been dressed as the person riding the front of the wagon next to Adeline.
Two of the Blind Eye appear, looking around the dimly lit museum for anyone that may be linger, as well as keeping an eye out for David and Marcus, but they lost track of them a little while ago. They examine Fiddleford and the other four, seeing if there was anything off about them. One of them moves Fiddleford's eyes to appear more focused, only for the pupils to move to the opposite direction.
Thinking it's nothing more than a poorly made display, one of the Blind Eye expresses his thoughts, "Man, these are really poorly made. I could've sworn I heard someone. Lost those kids awhile ago." Dipper held back from smiling, finding relief that David hadn't been caught and Marcus, Carrie and his cousins weren't either.
The second member commenting, "Probably just the janitor kissing that wax settler woman again."
The member cringed, making a comment, "Whoof! Remind me to erase that from my memory."
When the two Blind Eye members left, Dipper and the others took off their disguises and proceeded to keep following the hat down the tube.
"There it is. Hurry!" Dipper urged.
"Goin' as fast as these legs can carry!" said Tate, trying to keep up.
They had no idea what they may find, but it was the only way to know for sure, racing to catch up to the hat. They find the tube trailing down into a large enough hole where the five can slide down and get to the bottom. Once they touched down, the hat in the tube went through the otherside of the large double doors with the Blind Eye symbol painted on the front.
Adeline and Dipper pushed open the doors to reveal the Hall of Forgotten before their very eyes. At the very end of the lit room was a statue of a hooded man with canister of more important memories standing upright at the base of it, and behind on the shelves. The brown hat landing perfectly on the statues head. Above the statue wasn't just one tube pathway, but multiple others where the canisters dropped into crates full of the townsfolk memories the Blind Eye managed to have erased. They all see even more canisters stacked in mounds, lying around. The five were in awe of what they found.
Adeline sighs as she says, "So this is where they've kept all the memories…."
Fiddleford utters a swear in astonishment, "Honey fogelin', saltlickin' skullduggery."
Soos chuckles and remarks, "Man, you have got to teach me some of those old-man swear words."
The five got started searching through each canister, needing to find Fiddleford's memories as their priority.
Tate gritted his teeth for but a moment, everything making sense to him now. How his mother couldn't remember why she came to Gravity Falls in the first place, and why she'd forgotten all about his father. He hopes he can find his mother's memories as well; even if for his own closure to what he'd be wondering for thirty-years.
Meanwhile in the main chamber….
Mabel laments about her ex-crushes once more, hoping Wendy and/or Ford would understand her plight. She lies on the steps next to Wendy as she sighs while wearing her hat, "I just don't get it, Wendy and Grunkle Ford. I hug a lot, I can burp the alphabet, I have scratch and sniff clothing. Why does every boy leave me?"
Ford could definitely relate to Mabel's issue. Before meeting and eventually falling for Adeline, he had his own troubles with finding romance himself. Even with his brother's help, nothing ever seemed to have the women look past his awkwardness and the six fingers and toes. Thankfully, he found Adeline of whom accepted and love all he is and so forth. Before he could share his input, he let Wendy give Mabel some words of wisdom from a teen who's been with more than one boy in the past.
"Pfft, who cares? Boys are the worst. You shouldn't get hung up, man." Wendy laughs for a moment from her own inaccurate comment about boys, telling Mabel more as she thought of one teen boy in particular, "Actually, scratch that, not all boys are the worst. Same can be said for girls too from what I've learned in lady-side prison. Listen when I say to look for a boy who's sincere, respectful, kind and considerate of your feelings and do the same for him. Making connections with them definitely helps in the long run. Forge those lasting bonds, girl! Really know a guy before diving head-first into those serious waters that could wreck you up if you're not careful."
It surprised Mabel and Ford from listening to Wendy's much more insightful outlook than just her more casual demeanor implies. Ford can get an idea of who Wendy may be thinking of, making him smile a bit.
"That sounds… really, really good advice, Wendy!" Mabel looked to her great-uncle, "Did you ever had any dating troubles in the past, Grunkle Ford?"
"Oh definitely, Mabel!" Ford stopped fiddling with the memory gun to share his stories of rejection and self-esteem, "For years it seemed like I'd be single for the rest of my life. Not that it's an entirely bad thing, but thankfully, I met the woman I came to love and eventually call my wife; of whom I cherish greatly and the family we've reared. Adeline wasn't put off by my own quirks, but rather she was fascinated from seeing my fingers - and eventually toes - and the kind of person I am." Ford knelt down to her height, "If any boy can't see how truly remarkable you are to them, and to your family, send him my way and I'll make him run for the hills." He winked that made Mabel and Wendy chortle together. Ford only wants for what's best for his great-niece, he can say the same for his other great-nieces and daughters.
Mabel nods approvingly to Ford, finding it great she can relate to him in that regard, gaining some newfound respect in him. From what she can find from what Ford and Wendy said, perhaps there's another chance for her yet. She then thought to just forget about her ex-crushes entirely with the help of the memory gun.
"Grunkle Ford, can I used the memory gun to-"
"Out of the question, Mabel!" Ford spoke sternly as he advises her when he pinched his nose, "I'm sorry, I know how hard it can be to live with heartache and failure. Believe me." Ford shows the girls the memory gun, explaining more, "Let me tell you girls when I say it's better to learn from past mistakes than to be blissfully ignorant about them having happened. Every memory, good and bad, are incredibly important to hold onto and learn from." He sees the frown on Mabel and Wendy's face, "Trust me, I know it's easy to dwell on the past, but you'll come out as a stronger, better person from them. Plus, the more this memory gun is used on a person, the more their mind degrades over time. Like what happened to Fiddleford, Susan and many of the people in town."
Mabel sighs, seeing that it makes a lot of sense, having gotten to know her great-uncle and his past mistakes and how he's been a better person than he was in his past. She's decided she should learn as well, smiling at Ford and Wendy, "You're right, Grunkle Ford. You and Wendy have taught me something really important. Plus, I've been keeping Shannon's advice into consideration too."
Wendy's cell phone vibrates, getting a text message from Ty that reads when she checks it, "Hey Wendy, your brother is safe back at your place. We're coming back to the museum to check up on you guys. Also David is safe too and with us. ~Tyrone."
"Awesome," Wendy said with a smile, setting her mind at ease. Her brothers and dad may drive her crazy, but she loves them regardless.
Back in the Hall of Forgotten….
Dipper, Fiddleford, Tate, Soos and Adeline were going through many canisters, each with the victim's name written on them in red ink. The five tossing aside the ones they weren't looking for.
Soos saying, astonishing him with there being hundreds of labeled tubes, "People must've been getting their memories erased all over town. Thankfully I don't see any of the Pines family on my end here."
"That's exactly what's been happening for over thirty-years. Great, Soos, otherwise I'd really want to give those Blind Eye a piece of my mind," Adeline added as she looks through each tube, frowning to see so many of those she'd come to know well. Especially Lazy Susan when she found hers.
Dipper searched through his pile, finding one with Robbie's name on it. He holds it up and gets everyone's attention, "Whoa, look at this." Nearby, Dipper finds a machine to view the memories with, moments before Robbie's memories were erased.
The screen plays the footage of Robbie strapped to the chair like Marcus was earlier. It was the moments before getting his memory erased and stored in the tube.
Blind Ivan asking Robbie what he'd seen offscreen, "Yes, Robbie, what is it that you have seen?"
Robbie tells him, though only part of the truth to make himself look better, "So I was attacked by this magic kung fu guy that was throwing, like, balls of fire at me. I kicked his butt though."
Blind Ivan didn't buy it and said, "Robbie, speak honestly."
Robbie frowns and spoke in all honesty, "I was saved by a twelve-year-old, and his twelve-year old friend's robot dog."
The memory ends and it left Dipper with more questions, but he understood why Robbie seemed to forget about the whole incident, "Why are they erasing people's memories? I still don't get it."
Over by the statue, Fiddleford tells his son and the others, pointing at his tube right next to Preston Northwest's memories, "Looky, fellers. It's those words what people call me."
Soos remarked while reaching for his hat to place it back on his own head, "Oh, dude, your memories. We did it!"
Upon closer inspection, Tate sees his mother, Annabelle McGucket's memory tube too among the important tubes, sending him waves of emotions in his mind, "Mom's memories are here too…." All that grief he endured in his childhood, caused but the man who stripped his parents away from him when he needed them most. The next time he sees Blind Ivan, he wants to deliver what's coming to him.
Adeline had the McGuckets stop what they're about to do, "Guys wait-" She didn't speak soon enough. Tate grabs the tube with his mother's name labeled on it, while at the same time, Fiddleford grabbed his own memories, triggering the alarm.
"Sonuvabitch…." mumbled Adeline, having known something like that was going to happen.
Inside the main chamber….
Ford was beginning to rightfully worry about Adeline, Dipper and the rest of them. They were taking awhile. He makes a suggestion, "I say we should check up on them to make sure-" Suddenly, they all hear the alarm go off and the blinking red light. The girls huddled together as Ford cracks his knuckles, preparing for a fight with the Blind Eye, "Girls, brace yourselves for a fight!"
Wendy pounds at her palms, prepping herself, "You bet, Dr. Pines!"
"Yeah!" grinned Mabel.
Throughout the whole lower half of the museum, just as soon as Blind Ivan and the rest of his members returned, everyone hears the alarm beeping loudly. It caused Fiddleford and the rest of the group to panic.
"The alarm in my brain is a-ringin' again." Fiddleford screamed when he sees the stone eye looking right at him with a blinking red light, motioning detecting him, "Ah!"
The moment they see a few Blind Eye enter the room and yell, "Halt! Who's there?"
"Crud," Tate said before his father pulls him over to hide with him behind the statue.
"Run!"
"Oh no!"
Dipper, Soos and Adeline took off as the Blind Eye gave chase after them. Meanwhile, Fiddleford and Tate felt terrible for setting off the alarm and putting them all in danger. Tate wanted to know what really happened to his mom that he overlooked the tube being rigged to set off the alarm.
Fiddleford frowns when he says, "Oh, you've really tarred it up now, Fiddleford. This is all your fault." He paused to look at his beard for a moment, finally noticing the bandage on his beard, "Why does my beard have a bandage? Does that even make sense? Why has no one pointed that out?" He takes it off and flings it away.
Tate letting out a sigh, "My fault too. I wanted to know what really happened to Mom." He shows the tube labeled, "Annabelle McGucket," to his dad.
"Me too, son," Fiddleford said.
"Get back here!" yelled one of the Blind Eye while chasing the three intruders.
The three Blind Eye members pass by the sarcophaguses where Dipper, Soos and Adeline were hiding behind. The three peaked from behind their hiding places to see if they lost them, sighing in relief.
"I think we're safe," said Dipper.
To their dismay, other Blind Eye members managed to cover their eyes, capturing them.
Before they were pulled into the darkness, Soos thought it was Dipper as he says in humor of it, "We playing "Guess Who"? Dude, I know it's you, Dipper. Such big... strong hands..."
Soon afterwards in the Hall of the Forgotten….
Ford, Adeline, along with Dipper, Mabel, Wendy and Soos were tied against a stone pillar by red rope, huddled together. Ford, Wendy and Mabel were overwhelmed by the Blind Eye that came after them, having fought as many as they could before succumbing to their numbers, capturing them as well. Each struggled to break free, but it was no use as all the Blind Eye members surround them and chant the same phrase they were doing earlier, "Annuit coeptis novus ordo seclorum."
Blind Ivan takes away Fiddleford's tube from Dipper hands, having picked it up the moment McGucket dropped it. Blind Ivan also took the memory gun from Ford's coat pocket, the man glaring as he tells them, "You shouldn't have come here. We do not give up our secrets lightly. You've been a real thorn to our side over the years, Stanford and Adeline Pines." He looked over to the beaten up Blind Eye members, having been roughed up and placing tissues where their noses are to plug the bleeding.
"You didn't have to hit so hard," one of the Blind eye said.
"Who are you bathrobe-wearing freaks?" asked Wendy in an angry tone.
"Why are you doing this?" asked Dipper, being irked as well.
"What's with your creepy British accent?" asked Mabel to Blind Ivan.
Blind Ivan might as well tell them, "Well, I suppose we are going to erase your minds anyway."
One by one, each member removed their hoods to reveal their identities. Didn't surprise them that Bud Gleeful was part of the Blind Eye, but it did surprise them to see Toby Determined, Tats, Farmer Sprott, and the creepy guy who married a woodpecker among the other familiar faces of the town. It didn't really surprise Ford and Adeline in the slightest, but it did surprise the twins, teen and young adult.
"Not surprised in the slightest to see you, Bud," Adeline glared at him.
"Toby Determined?" questioned Mabel.
"That farmer guy?" wondered Wendy.
Soos acknowledged the guy with the woodpecker, "Creepy dude who married a woodpecker? You too? How's that marriage goin, by the way?"
The woodpecker guy tells him, "Oh, great, great." He whispered to him, expressing his disappointment in the union, "Not great."
Blind Ivan was last to unveil his identity, "And you've never met me before. And if you had, you wouldn't remember." He unhoods himself, showing a face no one but Ford and Adeline, recognized. He was an older man with one functioning eye while the other was blind - hence the nickname - with two scars placed over his sunken face. He was completely bald with his head covered in tattoos meant to be sections of his brain that resemble the phrenology maps for: color, size, form, weight -the four of which make out his brow ridge-, stress, time, fear, bias, knowledge, morals, snacks, hope, the ladies, mom, denial, dreams, creativity, reflex, ID, and cats. "I am Blind Ivan, and we are the Society of the Blind Eye." He including the other members waved their hands over their face in unison. "Formed many years ago by our founder…" Even he can't truly recall who the founder was, having erased it from memory long ago, "our founder... Does anyone remember who he was?"
Bud Gleeful was one to admit, "We've been usin' that ray on our own brains an awful lot."
"That carnie from all those years ago," Ford spoke, glaring at Ivan.
"That makes a lot of sense, Grunkle Ford," commented Dipper, proceeding to ask Blind Ivan, "Why would you do all this? What do you have to gain?"
Blind Ivan was eager to explain everything, figuring since he'll be erasing their memories soon enough, "As you have no doubt discovered, Gravity Falls is a town plagued with supernatural strangeness. No one knew how to stop the things that went bump in the night, so our founder invented the next best thing: a way for us to forget. We took it upon ourselves to help the troubled townsfolk by erasing the memories of the strange things they've seen. Now the people of Gravity Falls go about their lives ignorant and happy, thanks to us. And as a perk, we help ourselves forget things that trouble us. Everyone has something they'd rather forget." He looked directly at Ford and Adeline when he adds, "You Pines have a knack for attracting weirdness that it has grown most troublesome for us over the years. We did our best to avoid capturing any members of your family and erasing their minds, it would have been suicide knowing how vengeful you can be. The fact that most, if not all of you cause weirdness to occur."
Ford struggled to reach for his coat to grab his cell phone, keeping his eyes peeled on Ivan, threatening, "You've been ruining lives for far too long! Addi and myself have been trying for years to find you and the Society. Of course there are things that have come up."
Dipper adds to it as he makes Blind Ivan question, "What about Old Man McGucket? He lives in a hut and talks to animals, thanks to you. Don't you feel bad about that?"
Blind Ivan thought for a moment as he says, "Mmm, maybe a little." He then shoots himself with the memory gun, making him forget the guilty feeling, "But not anymore. You won't be telling anyone else what you've learned here. Say goodbye to your summer." He aims the memory gun at the six of them.
They panic as Soos wanted to confess something that's been on his mind, encouraging others to do the same, "Guys, if we're gonna forget everything, I got some stuff I wanna get off my chest. Mabel, for half the summer, I thought your name was Maple, like the syrup. No one corrected me!"
Mabel decided to do the same as Soos and confessed, "I only love some of my stuffed animals, and the guilt is killing me!"
"Sometimes I use big words, and I don't actually know what they mean. I mean, I'm supposed to be the smart guy. If I'm not the smart guy, who am I?" admitted Dipper in panic.
Wendy sharing her thoughts, "Okay, I'm not actually laid back. I'm stressed, like, almost 24/7. Have you met my family? But I will say ever since they started hanging out with friends, the craziness lessened considerably. A bit."
Ford and Adeline didn't say anything, feeling terrible the kids got wrapped up in the whole mess they're in. The couple felt Soon enough, their memories will be erased as they all began to grow scared.
The members covered their faces with their hoods like before as Blind Ivan growled, "Oh, stop being a bunch of babies."
To much of their great relief, Fiddleford comes in a throws a metal saucer at Blind Ivan's hand, knocking the memory gun and the memory tube out of both hands and fell to the ground, stinging the leader. Tate comes in and punched Ivan's face, knocking the man to the ground as Isaac, Carrie, Ty and David come in with mining equipment to use as weapons. Their saving grace has arrived!
"The cavalry has arrived!" David cried out, holding up a flagpole.
"Yeah!" all those tied up cheered.
Fiddleford used a pickaxe to cut the rope off them, setting them free as he tells them, "I raided the mining display for weapons. Now fight like a hillbilly, fellers!"
Soon enough, everyone had a weapon on them to use against the Blind Eye. Wendy using a banjo. Dipper holding a stuffed raccoon on a log. Isaac wielding a chunk of fool's gold. Adeline picking up a square shovel to defend herself. The rest just needed their fists and legs to deliver some beatings.
"Thanks for coming through to us," Ford said, taking up a shovel to use as a weapon. He aims to retrieve the memory gun.
"Oh, nobody better mess!" Soos said picking up a informal display about dysentery.
Blind Ivan ordered his men, "They know too much. Don't let them escape!"
Wendy attacks two members with the banjo she wielded, "Get this song outta your head!"
Soos chased one Blind Eye with the dysentery chart, "Dysentery's gonna get you, dawg!"
Adeline hits one of the members with her shovel, "Back off, Toby!" She sent him flying until he landed in a pile of tubes. She trips one of the female members with her shovel and hits them over the head to knock her the fuck out.
Toby letting out an, "Oh marbles…." as he rubs his head.
Carrie displaying skill in hand-to-hand combat as she delivers not only punches, but kicks as well against three of the members, kicking one over to David, "Heads up, bro!"
Surprising Dipper and Mabel, David displayed some skill in combat as well when he leaped high enough to punch the Blind Eye member out cold.
Dipper sees Fiddleford's tube, aiming to get it, handing the raccoon to Mabel "McGucket's memory tube." He picks it up, but Tats aimed to stop him.
"Oh no you don't!" Tats said, seeing Dipper put the memory tube into the transport tube. Tats was about to punch Dipper when Ford comes in to stop him.
"Don't lay a hand on my great-nephew, you dumb fuck!" Ford proceeded to hit Tats over the head, knocking him out cold. Dipper smiled up to Ford in thankfulness for a moment before racing after the memory tube, having bought him some time as it gets to Mabel.
"Mabel catch!"
Mabel was about to get the memory tube from the slot until Sprott caught it when he intervened, "I'll take that, thank you." He takes off, but stops in his tracks when Soos blocks his way, "Give it up, boy. You're no match for the unstoppable power of-" Mabel turned the transportation tube with a sly grin, sucking up Sprott's robes til he was wearing nothing but his underwear and having lots of gross gray body hair, "That's right, I don't wear nothin' under my robe. Not gonna apologize for that. Maybe y'all should apologize for bein' a bunch of prudes."
All of them went, "Ew," at the unsettling sight.
Soos holds up the memory gun to his head, "Well, time to erase that forever." Before he could shoot himself, Blind Ivan knocks him down to get the memory gun back in his possession.
Blind Ivan demanding, "Give me that tube."
"Never!" proclaimed Dipper, throwing up the memory to enter the transportation tube that makes its way to the statue. Dipper ran for the memory with Blind Ivan in toe, "That memory belongs to McGucket."
"The Society's secrets belong to us." Blind Ivan trips over Dipper and retrieves the memory tube at the end. Dipper slowly gets up, finding himself being aimed at by Blind Ivan when the others catch up to him. "End of the line. By tomorrow, this will all seem like a bad dream. Say goodbye to your precious memories." Blind Ivan shoots, aiming directly at Dipper.
The others were scared just as Dipper was when he lets out a, "NO!"
"Dipper!" cried out Ford and Adeline.
Dipper shields his eyes and braced for the ray to hit him, but Fiddleford jumped in to take the ray in his place. Dipper was in relief, yet concerned for Fiddleford.
"Dad!" cried out Tate.
"Grandpappy!" Isaac too cried out in fright.
"McGucket, you took a bullet for me." Dipper said, seeing Fiddleford get shot again by the ray, making the boy concerned, "Oh my gosh! Are you okay!?"
Fiddleford blinks one eye at time for a moment before he smiled, "Okay as I'll ever be!" He laughs, his already broken mind being impervious to the memory guns rays.
"What?" Dipper and Ford questioned in unison. Not even Ford anticipated that to happen.
As Fiddleford walks toward Blind Ivan, getting shot at more than once by the memory gun, not stopping him in the slightest when the cult leader began to grow more frightened, "Why... isn't... this... working?"
Fiddleford gave the short answer, "Hit me with your best shot, Baldy. But my mind's been gone for thirty-odd years. You can't break what's already broken!" He knocks the memory gun out of Blind Ivan's hand, proceeding to grab his shoulders when he says, "Say goodnight, Sally!" He headbutts the leader, knocking him out cold in the pile of memory tubes, dropping Fiddleford's memory tube. Dipper and the others smiled as they made quick work to gather up the Society members, having won.
Soon afterwards….
Blind Ivan and all the other members of the Society were tied against a pillar by Soos. Of course, Ivan and the rest of his fellow members were agitated by the act.
"Unhand us!" demanded Blind Ivan.
Mabel mocks him, "It isn't so fun being tied up, is it? Hey, wanna draw on their faces?"
"What?" questioned Blind Ivan.
"Tra-la-la…" Mabel says while she took out a marker, crossing out the word "knowledge" on Blind Ivan's head, ignoring his protests as she wrote "butts" in its place, making everyone laugh.
"Hey, stop that! That's not funny," growled Blind Ivan.
Dipper smiled and remarked, "It's pretty funny."
"It's, like, objectively funny," Soos added.
"A deserving amount of funny," said David with a grin.
"Hey, we could have done worse," Tate said, cracking his knuckles.
Blind Ivan looked to the rest of the Society members, then back at Dipper and the rest of the group, "We'll have our revenge. We'll never forget what you've done."
Dipper grinned, being given the honors to perform the task of wiping out the Society's memories of the whole thing, including ever associating with the cult in the first place, "Oh, I think you just might." He holds up the memory gun and takes aim, "Say cheese!" He fires at all of Society members squirmed in panic, having their memories erased. The Society of the Blind Eye was no more.
Soon outside of the museum….
Dipper and the others let out the former Society members out, making them believe they were all at the museum for a completely different reason when Dipper tells them, "Thanks for visiting the Museum for Gold Miner Appreciation Night. Be sure to tip the gold miner on your way out."
Out of his robe, Blind Ivan wore a red shirt with black shorts and black and white shoes, turning around to ask, "I'm sorry, but what's my name? Where am I?"
Dipper frowns, having erased much of Blind Ivan's memories, "Oh, might have overdone that one."
Ford whispers to his great-nephew and niece, "It's best for him not to know. It could trigger those worst memories possibly returning. Can't risk him starting the Blind Eye again." He puts the memory gun in his coat pocket for safe keeping, seeing how it could be handy in the future.
Mabel nodded with a smile, going up to Blind Ivan to give him a banjo as she lies to him, "Your name is Toot-toot McBumbersnazzle. You're a traveling banjo minstrel, with a song in your heart, and funny tattoos on your head."
Blind Ivan smiled, seeming to contently go with Mabel's made up identity for him, "Yes, I am Toot-toot McBumbersnazzle. Cheers!" He leaves as he sings while strumming the banjo, ""Toot-toot is my name...""
"I'd say he'd be better like that than who he was," Adeline said, approving Mabel's lie to pacify him.
Back inside the Hall of the Forgotten….
Dipper turns on the memory machine, the screen turning on as Fiddleford says to Fiddleford, "All right, McGucket, are you ready to see your memories? Find out who you really are?"
Fiddleford was nervous, he's afraid of what he may see as he expresses, twiddling his fingers, "I'm not so sure. What if I don't like what I see?"
Tate encourages his dad, "You have every right to know what happened. I'd like to know as well."
Mabel nods as she encourages too, "We've come all this way. Go on."
Fiddleford takes a deep breath, bringing his memory tube to the machine, inserting it into the slot where the machine shows an image of himself thirty-years younger. It was a blast from the past in Tate, Ford, Adeline and Fiddleford's eyes. Tate was already getting emotional, seeing how his dad used to look like before everything went to hell for him.
They all watch as the Fiddleford on screen details his accounts of what happened thirty-years prior, and the many days leading up to becoming the man in present day, "My name is Fiddleford Hadron McGucket, and I wish to unsee what I have seen." In the background was the old lab he used to have, detailing what appeared to be a tape measure.
The kids and Soos gasped, except for the adults of course.
The current Fiddleford saying, "Sweet sarsaparilla."
The past Fiddleford on the screen continued to speak in nervousness in his voice, "For the past five years, I have been working as an assistant for a college friend of mine, Stanford Pines, a visiting researcher, and Adeline Marks, a fellow assistant. He has been cataloging his findings about Gravity Falls in a series of journals. I helped him "improve" a device which he believed had the potential to benefit all mankind, but something went wrong. I decided to quit the project. But I lie awake at night, haunted by the thoughts of what I've done. I believe I have invented a machine that can permanently erase these memories from my mind. I made it not long after the… Gremoblin incident and it has helped my with my anxiety! Stanford and Adeline didn't approve, but not to worry, I had them thinking I destroyed it. Now watch as I erase the intrusive memory of Him…." Fiddleford shoots himself with the memory gun, the screen turned to static before coming in clear again.
Fiddleford seemed relieved of what memory he erased, the date having moved forward four days after the first, "It worked! I can't recall a thing!"
After another static screen on day twenty-two, he looked fine as he tells, showing a notebook with the symbol of the Blind Eye, "I call it the Society of the Blind Eye. We will help those who want to forget by erasing their bad memories!"
On day seventy-four, Fiddleford looked worse for wear, the background behind him messed up something fierce with crossed out eye symbols and the words, "help me" on them as he shares, "Today, I came across a colony of little men, very disturbing. I would like to forget seeing this." He used the memory gun on himself again, the screen fading to static again.
It was day seventy-six, showing Fiddleford being restrained by the Society's men, being dragged and taken to the main chamber of the lair. A younger Blind Ivan having used the memory gun on Fiddleford while he kicked and screamed, "NO…. NO PLEASE! DON'T MAKE ME FORGET HER!" The screen faded to static once more.
It was day hundred-eighty-nine where Fiddleford looked even worse than before, beginning to bald from the hair-pulling, his arm in a cast, and stubbles appearing on his face, having neglected to shave. His lab being in disrepair, "I accidentally hit another car in town today. I feel terri-bibble! Terrible. I've been forgetting words lately. I wonder if there are any negative side effects…"
The static comes up again, time have moved forward to day two-hundred-seventy-three. The location changed to a motel room in winter, Fiddleford had a bushy white beard, his arm still in a cast. He cries out in fright, "I saw something in the lake, something big!"
Again, the screen statics and came back clear, now being day six-hundred-eighteen where Fiddleford was losing himself, donning on a scarecrow hat, "My hair's been a-fallin' out, so I got this hat from a scarecrow. Hey, are my pants on backwards?" It faded to static once again.
The final image they see was Fiddleford in his current state, having completely lost his sense of self. He was wild-eyed and seen at the junkyard, laughing maniacally and speaking what seemed to be gibberish, "Yroo Xrksvi! Girzmtov!" He makes the symbol of a triangle over his eye as the screen fades to static one final time.
Everyone didn't know what to say of what they witnessed. Fiddleford was at a loss for words himself, beginning to remember much of who he used to be. However, he doesn't know if he could go back to the more sane man he was.
David repeated what Fiddleford said in the footage more than once under his breath. He figured out quickly that it wasn't gibberish at all, but in code - Atbash to be precise. He said in whisper to Dipper, "Bill Cipher! Triangle! That's what he said in code."
Dipper's eyes widened from the revelation, having no doubt what his friend said was true.
Tate had been quietly crying the whole time, resisting the urge to sob from having watched his father go insane before his very eyes he kept hidden with his hat. Isaac tears poured from his eyes himself, squeezing his dad's hand to assure him that things are okay. Tate takes out his mother's tube, not sure if he even wanted to see the moments before Blind Ivan erased her mind, possibly having caused the brain tumor to occur that ended her life too soon. He pretty much figured out how and why she completely forgot about his father, seeing no sense to hold onto the tube as he lets it go.
Ford and Adeline felt much remorse for their old friend, seeing him get closure with finding out who he is does bring closure at least. Whether or not Fiddleford wanted to forgive was up to him.
Mabel was crestfallen, telling Fiddleford how sorry she was, "Oh, McGucket, I'm so sorry."
Fiddleford didn't say anything for a moment when he took out the tube. He smiled and looked at not only Mabel, but to Ford and Adeline as well as the others. For a moment, he saw a flash of what Ford and Adeline used to look like thirty-years prior, remembering some of the best and worst times they had exploring Gravity Falls and documenting the secrets of the town. He tells them, "Aw, hush. Y'all helped me get my memories back, just like you said."
Ford slowly walked up to Fiddleford when he says, "Fiddleford, I'm so, so sorry for what happened in the past. You must hate me…." He'd understood if Fiddleford still harbored those resentments.
Fiddleford, for the first time in thirty-years, didn't view his old friends with hostility like a cornered animal, but with a more friendly smile when he says, "I've tried forgettin'. Maybe I should try forgiving. Come here, old friends." He gives Ford and Adeline both a warm embrace, the older couple being almost overcome but such positive emotion. They had their friend back again. It really touched everyone else's hearts to see forgiveness. It was just the first step to repairing the bonds to their friendship. "After all these years, I finally know who I am. Maybe I messed up in the past, but now that I seen what happened, I can begin to put myself together again." He then hamboned after he let go of Ford and Adeline, "Thanks for opening my eyes."
"Still don't know what that means," Dipper said.
Ty telling him, "He's saying, ""Thanks for opening my eyes.""
"Aw," Dipper, Mabel and David say in unison.
"I've missed you, Fiddleford," said Ford as he chokes up as tears stream down his face.
"I missed you too. I should be the one apologizing. I made the dang thing in the first place and did this to myself. It's my burden to bare, not either of ya," Fiddleford assured to his old friend. He then looked to Tate who looked like he needed his father, "Come 'ere, Tater Tot. Sorry I wasn't exactly there in the past for you. Perhaps, we can make up for lost time."
Tate knelt down and hugged his dad, saying with feeling guilty of how he's treated him over the years, "I'd like that a lot. I'm sorry for how poorly I treated you, Dad. I'll make it up to you, I swear…."
"You owe me nothin', son. I'm the one who owes you everything," Fiddleford smiled, wiping away Tate's tears. "Say, how 'bout tomorrow we do lunch. Do something catchin' up."
"Can be at our place if you like, Fiddleford," offered Adeline as she held Ford close to her with an arm wrapped around his waist.
"That'll be swell! I'll bring the missus with to introduce ya to her!" accepted Fiddleford that surprised the older couple, not having known he got remarried. He then goes over to the machine to say, "It's beginning to come back, but I need more time. And reading glasses. Heck!" He picks up a pair of glasses with colored green lens, one of them falling off as he says after he spits into a nearby pot, having used to chew tobacco, "I got some rememberin' to do." He smiled to Ford, Adeline, Tate and the kids to add, "I know I can count on all of ya to help me along the way."
Mabel remarks, wiping away the tears as she says, "It's so beautiful! And I learned a lot today. It's better to remember the bad things and learn from them than to go all denial crazy trying to forget."
Wendy and everyone else couldn't agree more, "That's some mature junk right there, Mabel," she remarked.
"Yep. Miss Mature. That's me. Hey, you wanna help me vandalize this picture of my jerky ex-crush?" offered Mabel as she held up the poster of Gabe Benson. Everyone doodled on the face with buck-teeth, a moustache, and an eye-patch for him and the book puppet. Wendy writing, "I kiss puppets!" in a speech bubble. At the end, the poster was covered in black marker to vandalize the poster.
Meanwhile, Carrie gets the time to take a look at the memory tubes as she crouched down, finding them intriguing as she stows a few away in her pants where her metal prosthetic leg holds onto them, with small metal claws, to examine later in a discreet manner. It was for an agenda only herself and her parents know. She'll be sure to be back later to collect the rest of the tubes the others seem to have no interest in. There was more than what her and her family seem.
Ty goes up to Carrie, seeing she was away from the others to ask, "How you holding up?"
Carrie makes up an excuse, smiling his way at him, accepting his hand to get back up, "I think during the fight, my leg went a little wacky. It's not suited for fighting so I had to check on it."
Ty bought the excuse and said, "Alright. Let's get out of here."
Outside….
Fiddleford gets inside the pickup truck to be taken home, along with Dipper, Mabel, Wendy, Soos, David, Carrie, Isaac and Ty. Ford and Adeline getting in their own car while Tate drove his own truck.
Before heading for home, Wendy remarks, "Hey, you know what? Going on this big adventure actually made me get that stupid song out of my head."
Soos smiled, "Nice." However to Wendy's dismay, he plays the song, "Straight Blanchin" again, getting on the teen girl's nerves once more.
"Oh come on!"
Fiddleford reads through Journal 3, beginning to remember more as he says to himself, "Can't believe I've forgotten so much." Fiddleford realized he needed to tell Ford something important, "Wait just a sec, fellers, I gotta tell Stanford somethin' before we take off."
"No problem, dude," Soos said, seeing Fiddleford exit out the truck.
Fiddleford knocks on Ford's car window, prompting him to roll it down to talk to his old friend, "Something wrong, Fiddleford?"
"Not really," Fiddleford rubbed his head, "just want to apologize fer what I said a while back at the lake. That you'll bring doom upon the world, but I can see it seems not to be the case anymore. You've changed a lot for the better, my friend, and that's admirable." He smiled brightly.
Ford nervously laughs, rubbing the back of his head as it was partially true, "Thank you, Fiddleford…. Addi and myself have been trying to do good after all these years." He didn't have the heart to tell his friend about the rift and neither did Adeline.
"Well I ought to let you two be and get back home. Later, fellers!" Fiddleford bidded, walking back to the pickup truck.
"Let's not bring up the rift at lunch," Adeline suggested.
"Agreed." Suddenly, Ford gets a text message from Stan and Carla, informing him that something's wrong with the rift, causing reason for alarm.
A/N: Another long chapter done! Loved the references to Journal 3 and more? Sure as hell we did! This does divert from canon of course, but we'd like to say we wanted to do more with Fiddleford's raccoon wife than just comic relief, so we have her be a shifter that can turn into a raccoon at will. Her and her family consisting of her daughter, Joy, daughter-in-law, Zeal, and granddaughter, Nicolette Rainwater will be explained more as the chapters go on. Join us next time where Fiddleford starts reconnecting with Ford and Adeline, along with Tate. Will things go along smoothly when Fiddleford brings his raccoon wife with him? Find out in chapter 53: Mending Broken Bridges!
