The pyramid just kind of… disappeared. Dipper and all of the other inhabitants of Gravity Falls were all teleported to the town square. After a brief period of mass hysteria, everyone decided it would be best just to go home and try again another day.
The mayor issued a formal address the following day, declaring the past few weeks would best be forgotten. If anyone from outside the city came asking around, it would be best to tell them to "never mind all that". Dipper thought it was pretty smart and sure enough within a week everything was almost back to normal.
Star regained consciousness an hour or two after the pyramid and all the other weirdness disappeared. After realizing that Bill was no longer a threat, Star took the force field down. Dipper tried to explain to Star what they'd done to Marco, but he only got a few words in before she grabbed him and left. She'd said that she needed to get him to a mewni healer as fast as possible.
Dipper and Mabel both felt really guilty about how things had turned out. They wouldn't even be there when Marco regained consciousness. Star would find out on her own what they'd done. Star had done everything to protect Marco, even betraying them. Would she be happy or sad that he would have no memory of anything?
"Come on Dipper, it's time." Mabel punched him in the shoulder to shake him out of his thoughts. She was right, today wasn't a day for cloudy thoughts. It was their Birthday after all.
"You're right, lets do this." He grabbed her hand and they walked out of the Mystery Shack. The crowd cheered as they appeared. Dipper was shocked; it looked as if the whole town had come out to their birthday party/farewell party. It brought tears to his eyes, for multiple reasons. On the one hand, it meant so much to him that everyone would take the time out of their busy days to see them off. On the other hand, Dipper still felt an unbearable amount of guilt of being a part of what happened to Marco. It didn't matter that they'd only actually talked to each other for a total of five minutes; he had the bravery to stand up to Bill and Great Uncle Ford abused it. It went against everything he stood for.
"Wow! Thank you all so much for coming here!" Mabel didn't appear to have the same hesitations as Dipper, she was 100% focused on the party. "I can't believe so many people came. For once my now thirteen-year-old brother is speechless, so I'll just say thank you again from both of us!"
Everyone cheered as Dipper and Mabel waved at them all. They stepped down from the little platform so they could mingle with the crowd.
(line break)
"So, you're telling me that you want to go fight monsters in the Bermuda triangle?" Stan and his brother were off to the side at the party.
"There has been an influx of monster sightings ever since Bill crossed into our dimension. I think that just his very presence was enough to set off a chain reaction in our universe." Ford sighed and took off his glasses. He took his time rubbing them clean with his shirt.
"But you're right, fighting monsters in an ocean by myself is insane. I'm too old for that now. That's why I was hoping that you would come with me."
"What? You can't be serious. Who would look after the Mystery Shack?" Even as Stan said that, he was coming up with suitable candidates. He couldn't deny that being real life pirates with his brother was appealing. It was their childhood dream, after all.
"We could finally be twins again, Stanley. We could even make the Stan O' War 2." Stan wanted nothing more than to finally bury the hatchet between them. His mind was made up when he saw a certain employee in the crowd with his girlfriend.
"Okay, I'm in. just let me take care of some business." Stan walked up the stairs and tapped lightly on the microphone to get everyone's attention.
"I hope everyone is enjoying the party." He paused as the crowd sent a chorus of appreciation. Someone even whistled. It had taken all of Stans willpower not to pull a scam on these people. Dipper and Mabel had insisted on it.
"I don't want to steal their thunder, but I have some news. I will no longer be running the Mystery Shack." The crowd gasped. The Mystery Shack had helped the city bring in tourists. The town would definitely be hurt without it.
"HOW COULD YOU!" Soos shoved his way onto the stadium. "This place is a part of the town! You have no right to just shut this wonderful attraction down!" Stan smiled. He knew he found the perfect candidate.
"I never said anything about shutting down. I just won't be the one running it anymore." Seeing the look of confusion on Soos's face, Stan couldn't resist drawing it out a little bit. "I will need a suitable replacement. Someone who loves the Mystery Shack just as much as I do, if not more.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you all to the new man of mystery!" Stan took off his fez and tossed it too Soos. "I can't think of a better successor. I know you will be amazing."
"St-Stan, I don't know what to say." Soos was tearing up. He'd always imagined Stan as the father he never had. To hear those words was almost too much for him to comprehend. "I won't let you down."
"I know you won't." Stan patted Soos on the shoulder, but the teen wasn't having it. He pulled the old man into a backbreaking hug.
(line break)
Star was worried.
Marco had awoken the second he crossed through the portal. He gasped, as if he had been holding his breath on earth. She rushed him to the castle hospital as fast as she could carry him.
She could only remember bits and pieces of what happened there. She remembered Bill hitting her head really hard in the final battle, maybe she had brain damage. Star thought it would be best to check herself into the hospital as well.
It was probably for the best that her memory was damaged. What she did remember, she wanted to forget. Horrible things had happened over there. That demon had played with her emotions. At least they were safe, Dipper had told her that much before she took Marco and ran off. Apparently whatever Marco did worked. She'd have to ask him what he did when she saw him again.
She wished that she stayed just a little longer. Dipper and Mabel had become her friends. Star just didn't want to handle their rejection. They didn't need her now that Bill was gone and she'd betrayed them anyways. She doubted they ever wanted to see her again. Maybe she'd go back when she was feeling better and beg for forgiveness.
"Star! There you are." Queen Moon came bursting into the hospital room. There were bags of worry under her eyes and her hair wasn't a perfect big heart-shaped bun. She must've been pulling at her hair in worry because there were a lot of stray hair strands sticking every which way. Even her dress was slightly wrinkled, and that spoke volumes. She'd obviously noticed that her daughter and friend had gone missing. "What were you thinking!"
"Hey mom…" Star hadn't meant for her mom to be this stressed. She had only meant to be gone for a few days, not weeks. "I'm sorry we disappeared for so long."
"Where did you go?"
"To defeat Bill Cypher."
"WHAT!" All of her mother's worry was replaced with surprise, which was quickly overtaken by rage. "That beast is a dangerous foe, more powerful than anything either of us has ever faced."
"I know mom. It was terrible, but Marco and I were able to defeat him with some help from the locals."
"You… you defeated him?" Stars mom was stunned. Eclipsa was terrified that Bill had gone rogue, and that wasn't something to be taken lightly. She had said that the being was of near infinite power. And her little daughter had taken him down. Moon wasn't sure whether to be worried or proud.
"While I will admit that I am… impressed by you, I am still your mother. What you did was foolish." Oh boy, Star thought. Here it comes. "You could've been killed! The whole kingdom was sent looking for you! What if you never came back? How would I be able to live with myself?"
Star didn't know how to respond. Sure, she had upset her mother before. More times than she could count. But this time was different. Her mom hadn't expected for her to come back this time.
"Mom… I'm sorry, but you guys refused to do anything about him. I wasn't going to let him destroy Earth. If he succeeded, then you know that Mewni would be next and he would've been much stronger then."
"You're right. I should be mad at your recklessness, but you stopped a real threat to our friends and family." Queen Moon pulled her daughter into a hug. "You're still grounded, though."
Star decided it was best not to argue. All things considered, she was getting off pretty light.
"And," Her mom said, "You must never go back to that town. Some things are best left in memories." Star groaned in protest, but one look from her mother shut her up. She was just worried about losing her daughter again.
Queen Moon gave her another motherly hug and excused herself a few minutes later. She was a very busy woman, especially with all the political turmoil happening right now.
Star rolled out of her bed to find Marco. He was lying in one of the infirmary beds a few rows down. He looked happy. He must've taken a shower since the last time they saw each other. His hair lacked any of the dirt and grime that had built up.
"How're you feeling Marco?" Star almost pulled him into a hug, but decided she didn't want to embarrass herself. Unlike Marco, she hadn't had time to take a proper shower in the past few days. Her face was covered in dirt and her usually silky summer blonde had turned a few shades darker with grime and sweat. To top things off, she was sure that she smelled worse than her dad after they went on that hunting trip to defeat the Bogbeast of Boggabah.
"Hey Star! I'm doing great, these people here are super nice." His smile looked genuine, and while it made Stars heart melt a little, it was wrong. It lacked any traces of the horrors he must've gone through. "Say, do you remember why I'm here? All I can remember is eating some delicious nachos before movie night and suddenly I'm here."
"You… you don't remember what happened?"
"Did something happen? Don't tell me I fell asleep and hit my head on the floor, that'd be embarrassing." Marcos attempt at a joke quickly turned into an awkward silence since Star didn't laugh, or even smile. His smile turned into a look of concern.
"What happened, Star?" Suddenly it all made sense. Stan and Ford had talked about erasing someone's memory and then wiping it. They didn't have the tool to do it, but maybe Dipper or Mabel did. Marco must've volunteered to be the candidate. If she reminded him about it, would his memory come back? Would he even want to remember? Marco had been tortured by Bill, maybe some things were better left alone.
"Nothing, you just hit your head during one of our adventures. Apparently, you lost a little bit of your memory." Marco looked at her skeptically and Star thought he was going to call her out for lying, but instead he seemed a bit embarrassed.
"I'm assuming you saved me. Star – 342, Marco – 0." Star couldn't let him think like that. Marco saved the world, the least she could do was make him feel better.
"Actually, Marco, you saved me." Marcos eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"Really? Awesome!" Marcos eyes widened at how loud he just yelled and tried to play it off. "Ahem… not that anyone's keeping score or anything." He leaned back and put his hands behind his head, basking in the knowledge that he'd saved his friend. How could Star take that peaceful look away from him?
She decided it would be best if he never remembered what happened in Gravity Falls. He looked so much happier than before Bill had got a hold of him.
Besides, Mewni had enough adventures to last them a life time.
AN: And that is it! I'm super proud of myself for completing my first fanfic. I really hope you guys enjoyed reading it, let me know what you guys thought.
I know what you guys are all thinking, what's next? I'm going to be going over this story and be doing a bunch of editing over the next few weeks. There are a lot of small details I want to add and hopefully make it a better story in general. I don't know when that will be done, but I will upload all the changes at once. While you guys are waiting for that (if you decide it's worth rereading to see what I've changed), I will start a new story in a week or two. I've got Christmas coming up and I'm flying up to Canada afterwards to visit family so I'll be pretty busy for the next little bit. The next story I work on will either be a How to Train Your Dragon fanfic, the sequel to this story (which I've already mapped out), or an original story that would be on Wattpad (Because, well, is for fanfics only).
I'll make sure to keep you guys updated. Thank you so much for getting through this story!