Mabel was the first to wake up, still in her flannel pajamas, and padded downstairs as she poorly stifled a yawn. Wirt was already awake, watching the ticker going crazy across the newsreel. Mabel didn't even ask what was wrong, sitting beside him on the couch, Greg idly poking at a bowl of cereal in the kitchen as he pretended disinterest.
Wirt unplugged his headphones from the TV, so Mabel could hear the male announcer who was visibly fighting nausea as he tried to report.
Tad Strange, the newscaster, forced a smile as he put on his television voice, "-as I said before Jan, another victim found this morning by a jogger. The body was found in the woods nearby the Northwest estate, leading some in town to notice the odd connection of the large expanse of woods all being part of or nearby Northwest forest land. The body was dismembered, although the torso and pelvis are missing, a female head with a pair of arms and legs were found arranged in an unusual pattern. There has been a sketch made of the symbol, here."
The camera zoomed in on the page, a symbol outlined in marker that looked like a crudely drawn circle, with a circle in the center.
The caster pointed to the outer circle with his finger, "This outer circle is made up of two arms and two legs from a single individual formed in a circular shape, with the victim's head face-up in the center of it. It is too early to say, but this vicious murder calls into question if the other murders recently were not animal attacks, but of a serial killer. More on this story as we learn more. Back to you-"
Wirt clicked off the TV with this, his stomach wrenching, standing shakily, "I need to make a phone call."
Mabel watched him leave the room and debated whether she should wake her friends upstairs with the news or tell them over breakfast. Neither seemed like a fun idea. She figured it wasn't exactly meal-conversation, at the very least. As she thought about it, she wondered if she could mentally call out to Tezzy and he would come running. She assumed no, he wasn't a dog or likely a telepath, and (god or not) he was surely bound by at least some laws of nature. She went to the room next door and flopped into a dining chair next to Greg, tousling his hair.
"Heya, Greggers. Whatcha thinking about?" Mabel asked, watching his face with interest. She was desperate to put off the inevitable.
Greg seemed distant, mature, "I heard you on the phone yesterday-" he sighed to interrupt her, "the bathroom on this floor backs to my room."
"Shit," Mabel cursed, then was shocked by herself and apologized. "Sorry, uh, language. Uhm... How much did you hear?"
"All of it," Greg muttered. "After I heard you lock the door and start pacing I put my ear to the wall."
"Eavesdropping is very rude," Mabel scolded, tight-lipped. "Also gross, considering it's a bathroom."
"I've had this lecture before, clearly I don't listen. Besides, you keep your call volume way too high. Now, what's going on with this Gideon guy? He said he saw the murder." Greg muttered like a parent who caught a child in a lie, cheek in his hand as he looked at her with an annoyed expression that rivaled his half-brother's.
"He called the station in a panic, got a hold of Wendy, and convinced her to give him my number. He was conscious, with Xototl commanding his body to do his bidding as a vessel. He couldn't fight it but wanted to warn me of what was going on before Xolotl woke up again. I thought he was having a nightmare or something, or payback for the borderline kidnapping. I guess not." Mabel ran her hands through her hair, "The well just keeps getting deeper."
"And you didn't tell the others, did you?" Greg asked, already knowing the answer.
"I thought it was a joke," Mabel defended weakly.
"Denial, more like," Greg groaned, getting up to dump out the contents of the rest of his bowl.
"I wanted one day of peace, of normal again, is that so bad?" Mabel groaned, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Dipper and Norman may thrive on all this, but I hate it! I don't like feeling helpless! I don't like feeling like every minute I eat, sleep, or go to the bathroom I am killing someone because I can't be everywhere at once! You're a kid, anyway, what the hell do you know?!"
"I almost died years ago protecting Wirt," Greg got a rotten, angry look on his face. The rare sight curdled Mabel's resolve and made her actually shiver with fear. He looked pissed and seemed twice as old with such a volatile mood. "What sympathy do you want from me? No one can save these people but you guys, stop whining and go tell the others."
Mabel wiped her tears with defiance, ashamed of herself, "Fine, but stop being so bossy. You're the kid between us."
"Then act like it," he growled, going off to his room, slamming his door.
Mabel took a deep breath and took the stairs up two at a time to hurry and wake the others. She felt bad she talked down to Greg, she thought he was a sweet kid. However, she hated being a package deal with her twin at times like these. All she wanted was normalcy; making her sweaters and naïvely reading costuming magazines; living as though gods, spirits, gnomes, and weird-Gravity-Falls-shit, as a whole, did not exist.
Mabel began the ceremony of bad news by opening the curtains and turning on the light, which was met with an immediate barrage of groans.
"Can no one get a decent night's sleep in Gravity Falls?" Dipper moaned irritably and pulling a pillow over his head, "I wanted to sleep in."
"There's been another body. We need to go pick up Gideon." Mabel sighed irritably, dishumor in her eyes as she tore the blanket off her brother, looking to Wybie. "Can you go outside and get Señor Black-Eyes? Scream his name to the sky or something?"
Wybie sighed deeply and nodded, rubbing his eyes sleepily as he went downstairs, wondering to himself how that was going to work. He yawned, blinking slowly as he stepped towards the front porch. He sat on the porch and started calling out the god's name in futility.
The rest of the group were in varying stages of wakefulness at the news. Coraline seemed really upset and instantly awake, grabbing something out of her bag before shutting herself up in the bathroom and locking the door. The remaining three looked between themselves in confusion and unanimously decided, without a word between them, not to discuss it. Just Coraline being Coraline, they reasoned.
Mabel looked to Dipper and Norman, explaining herself and over-gesticulating as a side effect of her disbelief, "Gideon called me last night, you know, after it happened. When I got up to go to the bathroom, he called. He kept saying all this crazy stuff! I-I, well, I thought he was just getting back at us for the hogtie-kidnapping-thing, you know, but he was clearly telling the truth as I know now. Xolotl used this victim as a challenge or something to summon his brother, Quetzacoatl."
Dipper interrupted, a mixture of confusion and disbelief, "Wait wait wait," the words tumbling out his mouth, holding up his palm and a wait-just-a-damn-minute expression on his face, "how does he know that?"
"Apparently at some point when Bill was using him as a vessel, he woke up or something when he was muttering to himself? I don't remember the details- Anyway, Gideon said he was concerned for his safety, our safety too, but... I basically told him it sucked to be him and we were busy." Mabel crossed her arms, eyes downcast, and her entire form shrunken in anticipation of Dipper yelling at her.
To her surprise he didn't, he just took a deep breath, and replied sternly in a voice that chilled her when she realized he sounded like their dad, "We were having a game night, Mabel. It can be put on hold to keep Gideon from being a human meat puppet that kills people and dismembers their corpses!"
"I know! I get that!" she defended, her voice pitching. "I-I just wanted things to feel normal again for a little while! It hasn't even been two weeks in Gravity Falls and we have to take up the mantle again! It sucks, and I hate being responsible for other people's lives." Mabel curled in on herself more, but her voice was steady. "You may get off on being the hero, but I just want to be mundane and blissfully ignorant that we could die at any moment. I can barely take care of myself, let alone a whole town!"
"Remember Shakespeare? Well, uh, 'Some have greatness thrust upon them'? Whether you like it or not, you have the means to save others." Norman yawned, stretching with a sage and unfazed expression. "Deciding not to take it is not only cowardly but cruel."
Mabel hated that Norman was right, but after a moment of warring with herself, reached out and hugged him, "Just what I needed to hear. Thanks, Norman."
Norman, wide-eyed and somewhat awake now, looked at Dipper from the corner of his eye and whispered, "Is she being sarcastic? I can't tell."
Dipper shook his head and patted his sister on the shoulder, "Okie doke, you have surpassed the friend-zone hug meter, please detach."
Mabel stuck her tongue out but conceded and let go, pulling out her phone, "Right. So... I'll text him, then. Let him know we're coming. Norman, can you drive us? Wirt seemed... um, preoccupied when I spoke to him before."
Norman nodded, "I'm sure Wirt wouldn't mind. I'll go get the keys, we won't be able to drive the whole path there- since it's unpaved and all- but it'll shave off a while of walking time."
Norman left the twins alone to talk, speeding down the stairs and holding on to the railing. He would catch Wirt if he could before taking the van, and leave a note if he couldn't. Expediency is key, after all, he told himself.
Dipper sighed again, this time with a hint of disbelief, "I can't believe you kept that a secret. You even slept on it. You didn't even plan on telling us unless it came up, did you?"
Mabel flushed with shame, twisting the hem of her shirt in her fists, "Like I said, I thought it was a joke-"
"Even if it was, now is not the time to take risks like that. People's lives are at stake. While I'm sure we probably couldn't have saved the past victims without superhuman powers, we have to at least try to minimize the damage here, May. You get that, don't you?"
"Of course I do!" Mabel's voice squeaked, causing her to wince at the lie. Her brother still knew her well enough, it seemed. "O-of course I get it. I just, I like being a normal teenager. I wish you liked it too." She sighed, her breath shaky and wet, she cleared her throat. "This trip has been the most time we've spent together in a year. All you seem to do anymore is hole yourself up in your room. I-I never see you, you never seem to want to talk to me or hang out with me-"
Dipper stopped her with a scoff, then inwardly cursed himself and he tried to quash his bitterness before speaking, "You have a life, is the problem, Sis. You have this bustling social life, good grades, hobbies, interests- but, for me- outside of Gravity Falls- my own life is just a footnote in a story about you. At least when we were younger, people thought I was the smart twin for all that useless knowledge I gained over the years- but you always were the more talented twin, the friendlier twin, the more well-adjusted twin.
Even Mom and Dad think so! You realize the last time I talked to them in person they asked me why I wasn't more like you?- More sociable, better grades, more ambition, whatever- I'm used to feeling like shit now compared to you, Mabel. I like feeling like I'm good at something, sometimes! Unfortunately..." Dipper laughed dryly, shrugging, "this just happens to be my strong suit."
Mabel apologized, looking at her shoes, "I'm sorry. I didn't know you felt that way. We should... talk about this later, okay?"
Dipper agreed with a single nod, "I'm going to go check on Coraline."
Mabel sighed before heading downstairs to check on Gideon via text. She'd fix things with her brother later, getting that white-haired brat over was a little higher on the list of things to do at the moment.
"Coraline? You okay in there? Didn't fall in, did ya?" Dipper asked, knocking every few seconds.
Coraline opened the door with an unamused expression and the tarot card deck in her fist, "Sometimes I hate this fortune-telling stuff! Beating 'round the bush, riddles, diversions- gah!" She yelled in irritation, mussing up her hair with her nails, "Sometimes I feel like I'm better off with a Magic 8-ball or something!"
"What'd you get?" Dipper asked, half amused and fully prepared to not understand a single word of any explanation that would follow the question.
"I won't bore you with the details, just a whole lot of words on a dartboard, so to speak." Coraline rolled her eyes, simmering down enough to explain, "Too many conflicting futures in play, even the Clairvoyant Cards O' Doom don't seem to have a clue."
"That's... unsettling," Dipper deadpanned, "Well, onward and upward I guess. Let's head downstairs."
"Onward to an early death," Coraline jeered. "Yee-haw."
"Ever the optimist," Dipper commented sardonically.
Coraline fought back a laugh.
Mabel was typing as quickly as she could send one long correspondence message to Gideon to start the conversation but, halfway through, growled in irritation and started calling him instead.
He picked up after only three-and-a-half rings.
"M-Mabel? I guess the news reported it, huh?" Gideon asked, unsure. His side of the line had various noises of pausing mid-task, switching ears to lean the phone against his shoulder as he continued cooked on the stove.
"Just to get it out of the way," Mabel took on a reluctant voice of apology, "I'm sorry I didn't believe you. That was crappy of me. Regardless, we'll be coming to get you within a half hour or so."
"What are you planning, exactly?" Gideon asked with a voice clearly skeptical, moving the pan to the side and eating his egg off it with a fork. "Not that I don't have faith in you, but after the whole being-tied-up thing I'd at least like an idea of what's going to happen with me."
"We haven't gotten that far," Mabel admitted. "We're still rousing the troops, so to speak. How much control did you have when he had the reigns?"
"Can we save this conversation for in person? I'm eating breakfast." Gideon asked petulantly, drawl even more prominent with his mouth full.
"Just sit tight Powderpuff, okay? If we show up and you aren't there, I will be even less kind when you get bound. Got it?" Mabel hissed, Norman gesturing for her to hurry along.
Gideon clicked his tongue, "If I didn't know any better-" he started, a smirk in his voice.
"If you finish that thought, I will feed you to the Beast myself." Mabel huffed, "We're on the way."
"Right, see you soon," Gideon answered cordially, ending the call. Gideon chuckled to himself, taking a sip of water. "I suppose people can change for the worse."
After everyone dressed, as quickly as they all could, the house was locked behind them and they headed to the van. Mabel huffed to herself the whole time she walked to the car, everyone back to business once they all piled in. Wybie joined last, taking a seat closest to the door. As they got on the road, Coraline spoke first.
"Hey, Wy, any luck with Tezzy?" Coraline asked.
"Yeah, uh, he's here," Wybie stated, pulling away the collar of his button-up shirt to show a snake coiled around his neck like a thick twine necklace. The black and yellow stripes were unmistakable.
The shock was evident in the group, even to Norman who saw in the rearview mirror before yelling an explicative and looking back at the road to swerve back into the lane.
"Your words are quite crass, young man, you should show respect in the presence of your elders," the yellow and black snake spoke, humor in his tone.
"A talking snake," Coraline moaned distressingly, quite afraid of snakes. "Now I've seen everything."
"You're very boring humans," Tezcatlipoca sighed, "I was hoping for a more stunning reveal. At least it is quite warm here." He nuzzled his face against Wybie's skin, tickling him and causing the boy to giggle.
Dipper, sitting in the front with Norman, turned back and asked what everyone was thinking, "So the yelling to the sky worked?"
Tezzy felt the urge to say something pretentious, to state the old tired saying of a tree falling in the forest, and responded with, "Intent to see me, as well as knowing what happened last night, brought me- not being howled at like some dog. While you all played your games, I watched my mirror for anything new."
"And?" Mabel asked, sighing, and beyond the point of exasperated.
"And" he muttered irritably, "he's nearly there. He's so confident of his power that he wants to challenge his brother to battle. Of course, that would be disastrous, since two gods- some of the eldest of all, no less- in a physical battle can end in great tragedy and destruction."
"Peachy, just great," Norman groaned with a whine. "Ol' George and Ralph are gonna wipe us all off the map. Just what we need, a rampage of godly proportions."
The van went silent, no one bothered to laugh at the obscure reference, even Tezcatlipoca seemed to ponder the consequences among the group's silence.
Mabel watched out the window with a slew of mixed feelings, arguably the most resistant of the group to get with the program but the most intent to finish it quickly. She wondered if the time she spent at the library was even useful. As the scenery passed, she mentally reviewed all the information in hopes of a eureka moment.
None came.
They arrived at the end of where they could drive and discussed who would get him. Mabel and Norman volunteered. The two hopped out of the car and walked together, Norman looking back once to the van before they turned a corner and couldn't see them anymore.
"So the bringing him over to the Inn, do you think the wards can keep a god out?" Mabel asked, biting her lip, "I mean, surely, the stuff Wirt prepared for is nothing like this."
"You may be right." Norman admitted, "We can't know for sure. But taking away Xolotl's human vessel may be our best shot. He can't hide among normal people, then. We don't know if they were lured by Gideon, under possession by him or something, before they were killed. It's a possibility- much easier to lure a rabbit if it thinks it's approaching another rabbit."
Mabel bit her nail, she was afraid of that. "I hate talking about it without Wybie around, but they seem pretty buddy-buddy right now. What if Tez drives Wybie while we figure out everything? He can protect us, temporarily, at least."
"But what about Wybie's safety?" Norman asked, "He was able to scare him off before, but who's to say he can end it? He could get Wybie killed. We don't even know if these gods are completely immortal- if not, Tez can die too, and then what happens?"
"You're right," Mabel smiled sadly, "Forget I mentioned it. Nice to have my own Jiminy Cricket. Thanks, Norman, seriously." Her expression changed as she exhaled deeply, "So... you and my brother, huh? I'm glad you guys are getting along. He... doesn't have many friends. Maybe you can break him out of his shell again."
"Neither did I," Norman admitted, "before you two- and Coraline and Wybie, of course. I moved away from the few friends I did have, and we didn't really stay in touch."
"I know how that is," Mabel smiled wistfully, "I saw you around school though, sometimes. Your hair makes you stand out."
He laughed, "You should have seen me in my punk phase. For a while, when I first started hanging out with Alvin, we went to concerts and stuff and I would liberty spike my hair. My hair seems to only cooperate if it remains spiky. Try parting it? No dice. Liberty spikes worked, though." Norman sighed, shrugging, "It was honestly pretty fun, while it lasted. Neil even got into the scene with me, as soft as he is. Alvin ditched his cronies and hung out with us after everything, didn't pick on us anymore. It was nice. Of course, my parents eventually got sick of everyone knowing my 'dirty little secret' and moved us to be closer to my sister's college, regardless of what I wanted."
"Sorry," Mabel apologized out of obligation, catching sight of the shack.
"I'm just glad for you guys, that's all," Norman smiled meekly, "Thought I was going to be hanging out with Greg all summer. He's nice, but the age gap makes it hard to relate sometimes."
Remembering her talk with Greg that morning made her chuff out a laugh, "I think you underestimate him, I know I did."
"Maybe... Anyhow, I'm glad you two are my friends. It's nice to have people who understand the oddly specific trauma of having supernatural problems thrust in your lap, forcing you to save others." Norman admitted, "You may not like that responsibility, I have mixed feelings about it myself, but in the end who would we have been without it?"
Mabel was going to comment until Gideon- waiting on his front stoop in a grey T-shirt, a cap with his old pentagram logo on it from his conning days, and muddy jeans- did she remember they weren't taking a nature stroll and picking up an accessory to murder.
"Mabel Pines! and- hm, Norman, right?" Gideon smiled, picking up his duffel bag and slinging it over his shoulders. "You're late. Let's get going."
He passed the two briskly as they had walked toward him, the two proceeded to turn around and catch up to him.
"In a hurry, Gleeful?" Mabel sniped, matching his pace.
"Garrett," he grumbled.
"What?" Mabel huffed.
"My last name is Garrett."
"Gideon Garrett?" Mabel asked amusedly- as if it was the dumbest thing she'd ever heard.
"Gleeful isn't my last name, it was part of the act." Gideon rolled his eyes, "Gleeful isn't a real last name, obviously. Who would call themselves that? Anyway, I changed it back after all that mess."
"Gideon... Garrett?" she asked again, this time in disbelief.
"My god, is there an echo in these woods?" Gideon asked, pretending to clean his ear with his pinky.
Norman followed from a distance, watching the exchange with a hint of amusement. It was always interesting to see the relationship dynamics of people, especially if you didn't know the context of their relationship, and clearly, this one was complicated. The elephant in the room wasn't being addressed, sure, but the time would come for that eventually. He savored the few minutes of peace before reaching the van.
After Mabel and Gideon got in the back, Norman got in the front and started the car, and drove off toward the Inn, the silence was (of course) broken by the god disguised as a talking snake.
"So, we've been thinking-"
Gideon screamed a high-pitched wail upon seeing the snake, his accent thickening in his fear, making him sound much like a southern dame in distress. "Oh, Lord, why is that snake talkin'?!"
Tez looked as unamused as a snake's face could muster, "I see now he chose you; for familiarity and not skill," referring to Bill's taking of Gideon again.
"As Tezzy was saying," Wybie clarified, trying to stay on track. "We agreed while you two were gone, it may be best to let Tez get a handle on things for the time being. He can't do much in his animal forms, so he will borrow me."
"I mean can't he do anything useful in that form?" Mabel asked, earning a grimace from Coraline.
"I can do a lot of things, young lady, you ungrateful little-" Tezcatlipoca lashed out indignantly.
"Get to the point!" Norman snapped.
"I can cleanse the boy," Tez gestured his snake-head to Gideon, "make him pure enough that Xolotl may not use him as a vessel again. In my form as a fowl, I can cleanse even the evilest of men their contamination of what you humans call 'sin'. I can absolve them of guilt and, thus, help them overcome their fate."
"No one has explained to me why the snake is talking-!" Gideon murmured with fear.
"Oh shut up, Gideon." Dipper groaned, "Priorities."
Gideon swallowed thickly and chose to pretend the snake did not exist as the group continued to discuss him as though he was not there. He chose instead to watch Mabel. She got an angry look when she met his eye, but he laughed it off. Their two year age gap seemed bigger now, he thought to himself dramatically, but he still felt the same. His feelings just matured when he did.
"Hey, uhm," Gideon interrupted, feeling it better to rip off the band-aid. "I know this is a bad time and all, but I've sorta been kicked out of my shack."
"You mean other than us relocating you?"Mabel asked.
"Yeah," he cleared his throat uncomfortably, "when Bill was in control I heard something I thought the Northwests should know, and they promptly fired me. Not that I blame them."
"Which was?" Dipper asked, the fear in his eyes clear he already figured it out.
"Pacifica's dead. She's been dead this whole time. She was the first victim, just was never found." Gideon's voice shook as he said it, his hands beginning to shake as he tried to force a smile, "Even back then he had me under... he uh, I-uh," he burst into tears, his hands tremoring as his laced fingers looked like begging for mercy. "She's buried just behind my house. I thought her parents should be able to give her a proper burial so I-" he covered his face with his hands, "Oh, God, if you'd seen her. I didn't even recognize her at first, her face was-" Gideon looked so disgusted and scared, his lip shook as he swallowed. "All I could really recognize was her hair, it's so light blonde that it's unusual around these parts-"
Norman gagged from the front seat, veering the car of the road and throwing himself out of the van to vomit on some stranger's lawn. Dipper ran around the car to check on him, Gideon opening the door on the van with a knowing look on his face, "You saw her too, didn't you?"
Dipper's eyes widened as Norman turned to Gideon, wiping the bile from his chin, "Her throat was torn open, wasn't it?"
When Gideon nodded, Norman felt his stomach heave but no bile came, wiping his eyes with his arm, "The day I saw the news report, there was a female spirit outside the Inn. She looked chewed up, it was awful. I guess she was trying to warn me somehow." Norman stook shakily before lumbering back into the van, "We need to get back. Not much further."
Dipper got back in, and Gideon shut the door on his side. The rest of the ride was in somber silence. After their arrival, everyone except Wybie and Gideon were sitting on the porch steps.
"Once you're cleansed, Gideon, you can go in. The rest of you need to go inside and stay there." the snake looked around at Wybie, uncoiling from his neck and slithering into the grass. "Wybie, you need uninterrupted sleep until sundown if I'm to watch over the house after nightfall."
So, everyone went inside except for Gideon and Tezzy, who watched the boy with interest. "You will be absolved, as what you did under his control was not your doing- however, those lives taken cannot be brought back. I cannot erase those memories, for they will be your moral guide. You cannot slip again."
"I know," Gideon nodded sagely, "I understand."
In the blink of an eye, the snake was replaced with a fowl, eyes sharper than a normal bird, "Go forth, turn your back on me."
As Gideon turned, he felt the sensation of weightlessness travel from his chest in pulses like a heartbeat reaching his fingertips, then his feet, then his head. Once he reached the side door, where he had been instructed to enter, he turned to look behind him and Tez was gone. Gideon inhaled then exhaled deeply, closing then opening his eyes before entering the house. For the first moment in a long time, he felt confident in his safety. He would not have this chance again, so he made a vow to strive to hold onto that feeling.
The group, sans Wybie asleep upstairs, sat in the living room quietly save for a suggestion to watch TV to fill the time. The TV was turned on, they all had their eyes on the TV watching, but their minds were elsewhere. Gideon was the only one half-watching the program, balancing it with the amazement that- despite his inability to fight the situation- he was actually on the same side as the Pines twins for once. It was a nice thought.
Then he remembered Pacifica, and he turned his thoughts back to the show.
A.N.
So I actually have valid excuses for why this one took so long! 1.) I'm determined to be better about making the chapters less choppy, thus longer and 2.) I had to fiddle with the timeline I had for the story a tad. I changed some elements, so it was necessary to reorder some things. Minor stuff, probably, but it helps now that it makes more sense lol
Also, I had the Pacifica thing planted for a loooong time (ch. 5, to be exact) and purposely mentioned she was missing early on and even hinted at this (ch. 12) so don't come at me and say it was a curveball lol