Hi everyone, sorry for the late upload, quick update on this one, as the previous chapters were done by my friend NighttimeWrites, but I've decided to come back myself, so we changed things around, and I changed the first chapter to avoid any confusion, luckily this was before she posted any of her own stories but when she does be sur1e to check her out, anyway the next chapters should be coming fairly quickly. Thanks for reading, everyone :)
Both Stan and Ford had knowledge of how to get around Gravity Falls without being detected, it took a while but they finally managed to make it back to the Mystery Shack. Mabel was starting to stir in Stan's arms; Stan sighed and laid her down on the couch, while Ford got some rope.
"Whoa, what are you doing?" Stan demanded.
"Well she may not entirely remember who she is, as sad is it to say, we may need to keep her from running away while we try to remind her, I'm sure once she remembers she will forgive us" Ford said, Stan didn't like the idea, but Ford was usually right about these sorts of things, so he let him tie Mabel's wrists together and her feet to the leg of the couch.
After a few minutes Mabel eventually awoke with a loud "GAHHH!" she of course panicked and flailed about, trying to undo her bindings. "Mabel, calm down" Stan said softly. "What do you want from me?!" she demanded.
"We told you, we're your great uncles, we just want to help you remember who you are, because you're not a criminal" Ford said. Mabel glared at him "and what am I supposed to be remembering, if this is the kind of stuff you've done during my childhood I'd rather it stay forgotten" she said.
"Mabel it's not like that, we just want you to hear us out, please look at this" Stan said handing her the picture she had sent them earlier. Mabel didn't want to but as soon as she saw it, she grabbed it, almost mesmerized by it. "You're not a criminal; you just graduated high school and are on your way to an arts college, you're not alone, you have a family, people who love you, me, Ford, and Dipper" Stan said handing her Dipper's picture as well. "He's you're twin brother, Bill Cipher cursed you both, along with everyone else in Gravity Falls, you need to remember because he's out there somewhere, and we need to save him" Stan also handed her the letter she and Dipper wrote together hoping it would help her remember.
Mabel read the letter and looked to Dipper's picture, "Dipper" she said softly "we-at graduation-" she stumbled a bit as images started to come back, the two of them in their caps and gowns as their parents took numerous pictures, Dipper telling her things were going to be okay when she told him her fears of the future, and Dipper's speech that he gave as valedictorian.
"Yes, good, try to remember" Ford said as Stan slowly untied her.
Mabel held her head as some memories came back to her, it was overwhelming, "I'm remembering, Dipper and I did come here, and you-" she smiled and Stan, to which he smiled back, he was just happy to have Mabel be back to normal, though she wasn't entirely back, as she then turned to Ford. "You ruined it!" she yelled and tackled him, going for Ford's throat.
"Mabel stop!" Stan yelled trying to pull her off him.
"You ruined everything!" Mabel yelled starting to cry.
Stan did eventually pull her off and to the side, Mabel just looked at them both, she quickly snatched up the pictures of her and Dipper and their letter and ran out of the door as fast as her legs could carry her.
"Uh, what just happened?" Stan asked.
"Mabel is getting her memories back, which is good, though she's probably only remembering broken fragments at a time, and I'm sure at some point when I came back into the picture, she might of saw me as some kind of antagonist that messed up her relationship with you" Ford said rubbing his neck. He suddenly felt a twinge of guilt, because in truth he really didn't think much of Mabel when he first met her, he connected so well with Dipper that he saw Mabel as similar to Stan, whom at the time he was furious with.
"Think she'll come back?" Stan asked softly. "I'm sure she will, just give it a little time, she'll remember more and more then be the Mabel we know and love" he said.
Stan seemed unsure, he wanted to chase after Mabel but it was already dark, it would be too hard to find her, and maybe it was for the best that she had some alone time to remember things so that she could put the pieces together herself, that didn't mean Stan liked it though.
"Let's just get some sleep, Mabel will come back soon, I'm sure of it" Ford said. "Alright" Stan agreed, but he didn't seem happy about it.
Ford couldn't sleep, he couldn't help but feel guilty about this whole thing. Opening a new page in his fifth journal and started writing:
Mabel = Shooting Star
"Had a hard fall"
Meaning she she has fallen mentally and believes she is a harden criminal
Soos = Question Mark
"Won't believe anything you say"
He believes he created Stanley, so he won't listen to him, and won't listen to me because he thinks I'm a threat to his creation
Fiddleford = Spectacles
"Can no longer see"
Physically blind? The spectacles mean to represent someone scholarly, maybe he can no longer see reason? It's happened before
Llama = Pacifica Northwest
"is left with nothing"
The Northwest was a rich family that went poor, is most likely homeless
Pentagram = Gideon Gleeful
"can't predict anything"
Possibly believes he's a failure? Maybe?
Ice = Wendy
"is slowly melting"
Ice was supposed to represent someone cool under pressure, obviously she's having a mental meltdown, not physically melting
Stitched Heart = Robbie
"is hanging by a thread"
"Yeah I got nothing" Ford muttered to himself, he didn't know much about the angsty young man to predict what could be going on with him. Of course he left out a big one and slowly wrote:
Pine Tree = Dipper
"belongs to me"
Ford could not begin to imagine what kind of cruel illusion Bill had set aside for Dipper. "If you want to get to me, you'll have to go through your own family" those were his exact words. No doubt Dipper would've been manipulated to hate them, though if push came to shove, could he fight Dipper if he had to? Well he could try to at least incapacitate him without hurting him like he did with Mabel, but something in his gut told him that wasn't going to be as easy.
Just as Ford tried to close his eyes to sleep, he heard a noise in the kitchen, and went to investigate it. "Stanley is that you?" he called out, however he then saw a light coming from a flashlight, Stan wouldn't use a flashlight he'd just turn on the light. Ford slowly reached for his stun gun as he went to the kitchen "Mabel, did you come back?" he asked quietly as he turned on the lights. Ford wasn't sure what to expect, but this wasn't it. It wasn't Mabel who had made her way back.
It was Dipper.
"Great Uncle Ford?" Dipper asked, with a mix of emotions on his face, shock, fear, relief, apprehension, and anger. Meanwhile Ford felt his own mix of emotions seeing Dipper, relief that he was here, but worry as he did NOT look okay. Dipper looked like he had lost weight he couldn't afford to lose, his hair was a mess, he had bags under his eyes, but most disturbing of all was a gold collar around his neck, with a triangle on it, Bill's design.
The two stared in silence for a moment but Dipper backed away when his eyes drifted to the stun gun in Ford's hand, which Ford had forgotten he was holding, he instantly dropped it when he realized Dipper's fear. "Dipper, what did Bill do to you?" he asked, taking a step closer to him but Dipper recoiled.
It was then that Stan came in "Kid! You're alright!" he smiled, but it instantly faded when he looked closer and realized the state he was in. Dipper tried to subtly reach for one of the kitchen knives behind him. Ford let him if it would make him feel safer.
"Dipper, do you remember us, we're you're great uncles" Stan said. Dipper slowly nodded, "I remember that, in Bill's prison, I could see you . . . sometimes, sometimes you help me . . . sometimes you taunt me" Dipper said now looking particularly at Stan with anger. "Dipper you have to understand, you know what a monster Bill is, I can't begin to imagine what he's put you through, but this is real, we want to help you, but please talk to us, what happened?" Ford asked trying to keep Dipper calm, Bill had obviously messed with his head far worse than anyone else.
"You can keep holding on to that knife, but we want to talk" Ford said.
Dipper was hesitant but reluctantly agreed as they all moved to the couch, Dipper clutching the knife, but it was pointed downward. "I remember beating Bill for the first time, I remember, I remember celebrating, I remember your sacrifice Grunkle Stan" he said, "everything up to . . . a certain point, is solid" he said.
"What point?" Ford asked, however Dipper looked defensive. "If you guys are really here, if you're not illusions by Bill, what's your version of events?" he asked. The two looked to each other and explained their adventures, how Dipper and Mabel went to high school, he wished he still had the letter and the picture to show him, but Mabel had snatched them up when she left, they tried to explain the illusion Bill had on Mabel, and on Soos and how they were trying to find the others.
Dipper looked to them and gently grabbed Ford's wrist with his free hand, Ford was calm, even though Dipper had a knife in his other hand, he didn't think Dipper wanted to attack, but rather must want to make sure that they were really here. He could tell Dipper's mind was fragile and vulnerable, obviously instead of a just casting an illusion on him, Bill must've had time to actually torture Dipper and overload his mind.
"Dipper, please, I know you must be going through a lot, but you have to trust me, you have to let us protect you, we'll do everything we can" Ford said.
"How can I trust you?" Dipper said coldly.
"Kid, we need you, we have to put that zodiac together to beat Bill once and for all" Stan said however that seemed to send Dipper into a rage "oh you need me! What happened when I needed you!" he yelled, and the table between them went flying as the triangle collar around Dipper's neck started to glow.
"Dipper, you said you remembered everything up to a certain point . . . what point was that?" Ford asked softly.
"Like you don't know, I don't know what your game is but there is one thing I do remember, how dare you say you need me AFTER YOU SOLD ME TO BILL IN THE FIRST PLACE!" he yelled. "What, we would never do that!" Stan gasped nearly dumbfounded.
However, before Dipper could respond his entire body turned to stone, as bill appeared and perched himself on Dipper's head. "Oh I've been waiting for this!" he laughed. "So Fordsie, feel like giving up the secret to letting me leave this hick town yet?" he asked innocently.
"Never, and what did you do to him!" Ford demanded
"Well since you two were late getting here, Pine Tree and I got to have a whole two weeks of fun together! And as fun as taking him apart, tinkering with his mind, and turning him against you was, I have more important matters to attend to, such as getting the answers out of you, so are you sure about not giving me the secret? Hmm?" he teased.
"I-" Ford looked from Bill to the look of anger on Dipper's frozen face, he'd give anything just to have him back, to have Mabel back, and for everything to be normal, for a brief moment he almost wondered if he could, however the more sensible part him was happy Stan answered for him. "You're not getting anything out of us! We won't let you win!" He yelled, giving Ford a the confidence boost he needed.
However Bill seemed unimpressed. "Alright this is more fun anyway, but I did warn you if you wanted to get to me you'd have to go through your own family" he then unfroze Dipper and looked to him "Pine Tree, you can kill Stan if you want, but I need those answers out of Ford by any means necessary! Get them for me, and you'll have earned your freedom!" Bill then moved to the couch eager to watch this showdown.