The music for this chapter is 'The World is Ahead' from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Deluxe Version), and 'The Riders of Rohan' from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Orginal Motion Picture Soundtrack) for the final scene.

The wind of the Gravity Falls valley was cold and damp, whistling past Dipper's face as he trudged through the depths of the Old Forest. His hair rustled in the breeze and his legs shivered in the cold. He was no longer wearing the hospital gown – he'd discarded it in a bush a little off his main path after stealing some clothes from a clothesline that someone had left out, even though it had been raining the day previous. He was now clad in tan cargo trousers, a black shirt with a trigonometry joke on it (it was a triangle with the phrase 'find X' above it, with the angle X circled saying 'I found it!'), and a grey hoodie. Needless to say, it wasn't exactly enough to keep him warm. It had only been about a half hour since he had left, and he began to sense rain coming on. The blackened clouds in the sky didn't exactly hint that it would be a light one, either. He knew the dangers of hypothermia – so he was in quite a rush to get to shelter. By the time rain started lashing down, he wasn't having any luck. After what seemed like hours of searching (which had in fact been about ten minutes), he managed to find a rocky alcove at the edge of the Old Forest with a rising cliff edge that blocked off the rain, for the most part. He sat in the alcove for about twenty minutes, huddled in his pillowcase and waiting for the storm to subside. After it did, the clouds parted ever so slightly, allowing him to catch a glimpse of the night sky for the first time he could remember; thousands of stars that seemed so small and insignificant, even though they were actually anything but. He smiled at the fact that he was basically looking into the past – those stars could've died years before, but he was seeing the light from them from what would amount to centuries ago. As he packed his gear back into his pillowcase, he glanced up one last time, seeing a cluster of stars that resembled a digger's arm – a plough, if you will. It struck a chord with him for some reason, but he didn't know why. Pushing the thought aside, he unfolded his map and made off back into the Old Forest, not looking back.

The vent grate clanged onto the floor, far too loudly for Mabel's liking. She dropped down a moment later, and was greeted with a rather unpleasant sight: Dipper was gone. At first, she assumed he was in the bathroom, but as she took in more of the room, she slowly began to realise that that wasn't likely. Dipper's pillowcase was gone, his duvet strewn across his bed. Slowly, Mabel began to panic. What if he had been kidnapped? What if he'd been attacked and had to escape? Just at that moment, Waddles jumped out of her arms and ran over to the bed, biting the duvet, which gave Mabel an idea.

"Does that smell like Dipper?" she asked. "Smell it. Does it?"

Waddles tilted his head slightly, before running towards the back wall and pawing at the window. Mabel smirked. Waddles could lead her to Dipper.

"Come on," she said, bundling up the duvet and holding it up to the pig's nose. "Is he that way?" To confirm it, she opened the window and pulled herself through, dragging Waddles with her. He almost immediately ran away, into the Old Forest. "Good boy," Mabel chuckled.

Ford, Stan, Soos and Wendy arrived at the hospital about five minutes after Rambeau had called them, which was… interesting to say the least, as the hospital was ten minutes away from the Shack (Stan had violated almost every road safety law that was known to man, and even some that weren't). This was a fact that Rambeau decided not to bring up – even though it was fairly easy to figure out the reasoning behind it – simply because she had more pressing matters to deal with, one of which being the very angry con artist currently standing in front of her, shouting and screaming that she'd lost his kid.

"I didn't lose him!" Rambeau retorted. "He was gone when I got here."

"Stop talking back to me!" Stan snapped.

Rambeau rolled her eyes. "That's how conversations work you pillock!"

"You know what I mean!"

After this went on for about a minute and a half, Ford began to get irritated. In his hands he held a long staff made of oak which he often used on woodland expeditions – he was fairly sure that if Dipper had run off, he would make for the forest. After shouting Stan's name several times, Ford lifted his stick up and slammed its end onto the floor, startling the two out of their shouting match.

"Now is not the time for petty conflict," he warned sternly. "Now is the time for action. Both of the twins are M.I.A, so we have to do something about it."

"Ford's right," Wendy backed. "This isn't gonna solve anything."

"Yeah, violence is never the answer," Soos added.

"Not… quite true, but yeah." Wendy crosses her arms and hung her axe over her shoulder, popping some bubblegum into her mouth and chewing.

"Don't be so handy with that thing around here," Rambeau said.

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing."

"We're getting off topic," Stan said. "Look, where would they have gone?"

All eyes immediately went to Ford.

"Well," he began. "With the information Candy provided, we can safely assume that Mabel was worried about Dipper – to the point that she felt the need to check on him. I've also observed that over the past few weeks, Dipper seemed distrustful. I believe he thinks that we are not who we say we are, and has made a daring escape, which Mabel arrived – most likely through the vent – to the aftermath of, and went to follow him."

"Did she have her phone on her when she left?" Wendy asked.

Candy shook her head. "I already called her, but I think she left it at the Shack. She didn't answer."

"Then we have to visit the scene of the crime," Stan concluded.

The sun glared down through the woods of Gravity Falls, the horizon as red as blood. Dipper guessed that it was about seven in the morning by this point – he felt like he'd been walking for days. He took a breath and sat down on a log at the top of a small rise, holding his chest in to relieve him of a stitch. He took in the horizon quickly – Gravity Falls really was a beautiful place. Of course, he didn't have anything to compare it to, but it was still gorgeous. The thought served as a reminder of his current predicament. It unnerved him to know that he had lived a life before all this – one that he might never be able to know about. You are your memories, in a sense, so getting your memories wiped away also wipes away your identity, your sense of self, what makes you you. If it took him too long to remember, then it wouldn't end up mattering if he did or not. He would've created new memories by then, and the person he was before whatever happened happened would essentially be dead.

Dipper's wondering was cut short when the log he was sitting on rolled out from under him. He let out a yelp as he tumbled down the hill, eventually coming to stop where the ground levelled out. His vision had gone blurry, and his head hurt even more than usual (it hurt most of the time, probably due to the 'brain damage' the doctors kept talking about, but this was different). He picked himself up, his vision clearing after a couple of seconds. He'd bent his ankle slightly the wrong way, but it seemed that he hadn't suffered any serious injuries. That thought was immediately nullified when he felt some blood seeping out of his forehead. It seemed that he'd cut it on a branch whilst falling, and in almost the exact same place it was cut open when he first woke up, all those months ago.

"Damn," he muttered. Silently cursing himself, he picked up his pillowcase and was about to run off, when he caught a glimpse at the woods he'd just fallen into. The tree leaves were various shades of turquoise and blue, the trunks varying from burgundy to navy blue. Bright, sky blue bulbs hung from each branch and leaf, which upon closer inspection seemed to be not only organic, but house some weird bug. As Dipper saw one climb out of its hive, he took in it's appearance: it had three legs covered in a thick exoskeleton with bright, shining red eyes making it stand out from the rest of the forest. The rest of its body was similar in colour to the foliage, with the only exception being a bright green streak going down it's back. It looked like something straight out of a science fiction movie, and a fantasy movie at the same time. Quickly, Dipper pulled his map out of his jacket pocket and unfolded it, laying it out on a nearby stone. He gently plucked the bug from its spot on the hive and held it up to his eye, studying it closer. He spent about twenty minutes sketching it on the back of the map, and making notes about its habitat and colour. Sadly, he couldn't think of what to call it. He opted to wait, knowing that he'd think of something eventually. He picked himself up turned the map back over, attempting to figure out where to go next.

"The Passage of the Deep Woods," he read aloud. "And I need to get to Bannock Hill." He drew a thick black line from his current location to his destination. It was a rather squiggly line, as he didn't have a ruler, but also due to his lessened control of his hands. After thinking on it for a moment, he decided to change his route. Originally, he was going to travel through the Old Forest, pass by the Rocky Mountains, and rest at the peak of Bannock Hill. It would only take him till the end of the day if he was fast, but he was well aware that his so-called family were most likely following him. If he were to instead journey through the Deep Woods, it could hide his tracks, although at the cost of adding another few hours to his travel time. It was a risk, but it could help lose them. He noticed that at the right edge of the Deep woods was the Gnomelands, which shared a border with both Casa De Hadas – the home of the fairies – and Cavalier – the home of the Unicorns. He wasn't too keen on going through either, so instead opted to travel through the Gnomelands. The map said that there was a tavern there, so he shouldn't have any trouble finding a place to lodge for the night.

Stan's face was contorted into a grimace as he glanced around Dipper's room. "Remind me again why you didn't tell us that Mabel was missing?" he asked Candy.

"Because I didn't want to get her in trouble," Candy squirmed. "But I also wanted her to be safe."

"We should call the police," Wendy said.

Ford shook his head. "They can't go looking for them until they've been missing for three days. We're going to have to deal with this by ourselves." He pulled another map of Gravity Falls out of his pocket, unfolded it, and placed it on the bed (he always kept a spare). "It's easy to assume that Dipper would be going to the edge of town, and I'm also pretty sure he stole my other map.

"If he were canny he'd go through the Old Forest, then pass through the valley of the Rocky Mountains. That would take him about a day and a half, but we also have to remember that he's not thinking straight. He knows we're going to come after him."

"If you were trying to shake a tail, where would you go?" Rambeau asked.

"Well," Ford continued. "Personally, I would go through the Deep Woods. It will add some time onto the journey, but it's far more difficult to traverse, meaning that he'll be able to stay ahead of us. He'd have to stop for rest, most likely at the gnome tavern Candy and Mabel visited not too long ago. Then he'd make for Bannock Hill, a vantage point with an old fort at its peak. Once he realises that there's no way to get out of the Falls, he'll go hide in one of the nearby caves, trying to lose us."

"So basically, we gotta do a lot of walking," Stan concluded.

"Yeah," Ford said, picking up his stick. "Now let's get a move on."

Mabel had been ecstatic in her moment of triumph. Knowing that Waddles could lead her to Dipper comforted her. What she hadn't counted on was that Waddles, well – waddled. He wasn't exactly the fastest, so she kept accidentally overtaking him, even when deliberately walking slowly. Another thing that hadn't crossed her mind was that despite having an unnaturally good sense of smell for a pig, it wasn't like Waddles was a police dog. They'd been walking non-stop for about five hours now, and had gotten lost too many times to count. When Mabel saw footprints in the mud, she was excited. Only, after following the prints and ending up in the exact same place as before, she quickly realised that they were her own footprints (and she was slightly embarrassed that she hadn't noticed Waddles' hoof prints earlier).

"We're lost!" she shouted, stamping her foot in the mud. "We've been going round in circles." She clenched her fist, then turned around and booted a nearby log as hard as she could, letting out a bloodcurdling scream as she did. It was mainly caused by frustration, but also because she'd kicked the log harder than she expected to, and now her foot hurt like hell. She sank to her knees, wallowing in her anger. Beside her Waddles began rolling around in the mud, oblivious to his master's rage.

"Waddles, stop it," Mabel snapped, now at the end of her tether. "I said – oh, what's the point." She hung her head in shame, there was no way she was going to catch up to Dipper now. She contemplated staying like this; just huggling up next to Waddles and laying there until nature took it's course. She couldn't deny that she'd been having similar thoughts to this many times within the past few months – hell, she'd even gotten a knife out to do it one night, even held it to her throat, but she didn't have the strength to go through with it. She'd just resorted to cutting her arms instead, it made the pain go away, ironically. She'd been about to do it at the cliff side, but Ford had gotten there just in the nick of time. That was the first time anyone had voiced their concerns that she'd been having those thoughts, and it was fitting that it was Ford. He tended to overanalyse social situations to the point of ridiculousness, but it also had the side effect of letting him notice odd behaviours very easily. But this, this was the first time she'd even considered it since Dipper had woken up. No matter how much him not remembering her broke her heart, she kept going. She'd stopped cutting herself when he woke up, but with some difficulty. It hurt to know that this was far from her lowest moment – for most people, it would be rock bottom. The stuff she'd been through recently would be enough to break any adult – let alone a child. She'd lost her brother, been cut off from her parents, nearly died multiple times, and was still struggling with the full effects of intense PTSD.

If there was a silver lining to Dipper's memory loss, it would be that. He hadn't been the same since the sock opera; it had scared him in a way most people could never know. He was different. Withdrawn, skittish, and shy. Nothing frightened him more than Bill, and Mabel knew she would never forget the way he looked at her when he woke up in the hospital right afterwards. It was the type of look war veterans had, like they were screaming with their eyes. Nothing but silent terror. She'd remembered after they'd gotten back from the prison bubble, when they were building the Shacktron. He'd had a bit of a breakdown, and in a way, she was glad he could be free of that for a while. She knew it would be a side effect of his memory returning, but at least Stan and Ford had some kind of an idea of how to deal with it now.

Mabel was pulled from the depth of her mind by the sound of Waddles snorting. She looked up, seeing him paw at the log she had kicked earlier.

"What?" she said, exasperated.

Waddles poked at the log again, and when Mabel got in for a closer look, she could see that there was very clearly a bloodstain on it. There weren't any animals with red blood in the Deep Woods, and it looked fairly recent. That could only mean-

"Dipper…"

Reinvigorated, she stood up and patted Waddles' head. "Good boy," she soothed. "Now lead the way, Pigdiana Jones!"

Dipper kicked the door of the gnome tavern open, the sound of it banging against the wall echoing through the room. He stood up straight – well, tried to, as he bashed his head on the ceiling as he did. The floorboard creaked when he stepped on it, and slowly, all the gnomes in the bar turned to look at him. The music stopped playing, and you could hear a pin drop. Slowly, he walked over to the bar and sat down. He wondered why everyone was giving him a death glare, so he tapped the bartender on the shoulder.

"Hey," he said. "W-why does everyone look like they wanna kill me?"

The gnome turned around, arching his eyebrow. He had the typical gnome garb on, pointy red hat, navy overalls but with a long black beard and hair going down to his knees.

"We don't get many humans round 'ere," he replied. "But to answer 'yer question, there's a creaky floorboard at the door. If anyone steps on it, everyone's drinks cost ten percent extra. The regulars know to avoid it, but that's how we can tell if you're a newcomer."

"Wow," Dipper murmured. "That's actually pretty smart."

The gnome chuckled. "Anyways—" he picked up a flannel and started cleaning the inside of a glass—"What brings you to the Gnomelands? We haven't had any humans round here since some odd thirty years ago, barring… the incident."

"The incident?" Dipper repeated, putting his arms up on the bar top. "W-w-w-what do you mean?"

"A few months back, four girls came in lookin' for some fairy dust. One of our patrons offered to get it for 'em, but only for a price. Butterflies. As it turned out, the guy was peddlin' a butterfly black market under this very building, and when he got busted, it was found out that over half 'o our own employees were 'elping him. Can you believe that?"

Dipper looked around the tavern once more. The grimy, blackened walls were stained with beer and shattered glass, the rickety wooden floor wet and rotten. "Honestly, yeah."

"Sir, I can't help but notice that you haven't answered 'mah question," the bartender said. "What brings you here?"

Dipper cringed slightly, realising that his sleeve had been coated in leftover beers from the bar top. "I need a place to stay for the night," he said, pulling his hoodie off and tying it around his waist. This had the unintended side effect of exposing his arms, with were still littered in scars and carvings.

"I dunno. What're you gonna do for me?"

Dipper sighed, before remembering the common side effects his scars had – they intimidated people. "Listen here, you little crotch goblin," he hissed. "What I'm trying to do I really important – and if you don't let me stay here, I'll cut off your leg and beat you to death with it. Understood?"

"Y-y-yes. As you say… b-b-boss."

"I know you said you knew where this 'Bannock Hill' was, but you're really starting to test my patience here," Wendy drawled. "And I'm bored. Are we nearly there yet?"

"I'm thinkin' something similar," Stan added. "We've been walking around this same patch of wood for, like, an hour."

"You just want me to admit that I'm lost, don't you?" Ford snapped. "Well, I'll have both of you know that you're… right, fine, we're lost."

"Wait!" Candy said, dropping to the ground. Soos, Wendy, and Stan looked on in confusion, whilst Ford smiled.

"He's that way!" Candy shouted, jumping up and running off.

"What the hell just just happened?" Wendy asked.

Ford smirked. "She paid attention. Everyday's a school day, after all."

For a few hours, Dipper rested. He knew he was being followed, so he ordered the bartender to wake him up by midday. After he'd gotten up, he was well-rested, and once again set off to the edge of town. He walked for about four hours, eventually stopping to take a breather at the bottom of Bannock Hill. After he'd gotten to the top, he set up camp in the ruined castle. He knew he'd need food, so after depositing his bag in the castle, he set off back into the woods. About a half hour later, he found a rabbit and – despite his best instincts telling him to spare it – he knew he had to eat it. Using the hunting knife (which was really more of an oversized dagger), he gutted it. He set a fire fairly easily, it seemed to come naturally to him, although he didn't know why. After he'd fed himself, he decided that he could do with a wash, as his face and hands were utterly caked in dirt from his tumble down the hill. He walked down the rise quietly until he got to the lake. Quickly, he undressed, had a bit of a clean, and got out as fast as possible (the water was freezing). After he'd dried off, he huddled up in a blanket the bartender had give him next to the fire, finally taking the chance to examine all the scars on his body. He'd never taken too close a look before, but only now did he see the extent of the damage done. There were two long lines running down his shoulder ladies, presumably caused by some sort of fall. There were burn marks on his abdomen, and a long scar skirting round it. He another cut on his back, and decided to go down to the lake to see what it was. In his reflection, he saw that there was in fact a triangle in a top hat carved into his back. Just seeing it sent shivers down his spine. After he got back up the castle and got dressed, he prepared to head off. The sun was slowly setting behind the clouds by this point, creating a brilliant red aura. He knew that the walk to the border of town was a mere hour away, nothing too long. As he stood at the top of the castle, he looked at the evening sky from behind the battlement.

"Alright, Dipper," he said. "Back to work."

He turned around to leave, but was confronted by another instead.

"Mabel," he wheezed.

Mabel looked… well, terrible, in all honesty. Her hair, face and clothes were dirty, and she was sporting some impressively large bags under her eyes. Even so, she stood tall (ever so slightly taller than him), her shoulders arched. The two stood in silence for a few moments, each pondering their next situation.

"Why are you doing this?" Mabel asked, breaking the silence.

Dipper remained silent.

Mabel took a step forward, only for the tip of Dipper's hunting knife to be prodded against her chest.

"Stay back," he commanded, icily. "Stay back or I'll do it." In truth, he didn't want to do it. He didn't want to hurt her. He just wanted to know what the hell was going on.

Mabel stood still for a moment, before she acted suddenly. She lifted her leg up and pushed the dagger out of Dipper's hand, letting it clatter to the ground. Dipper responded by swinging his leg into her shin as hard as he could, causing her to double over in pain. He quickly went for his dagger and charged at Mabel. She'd mostly recovered by this point, but was still caught off guard by the sudden attack. Losing her balance, she fell back – with Dipper still holding onto her – and rolled down the steps of the fort. The two landed hard on the ground, but Dipper recovered first. He was on top of her in an instant, letting out a scream and pointing his anger directly at Mabel's throat.

Mabel froze immediately; this couldn't be how it ended. It couldn't. In a way, Bill would've won. He would have ruined everything.

"Dipper," she panted, the dagger poking into her throat. "Dipper, it's me, Mabel. Your sister.

"You remember me, right?"

Dipper's hand shook slightly, but he stayed steadfast nonetheless.

Tears welled up in Mabel's eyes as she spoke. "You can't forget me."

Dipper's expression wavered, before it broke out into full-blown shock. Slowly he tipped back, dropping the dagger. He leant against the stone wall, panting for breath.

"Mabel?" he asked. "Remember what you s-s-said… in the forest. When I first woke up?"

"Yeah…"

"You said t-that I saved you." Dipper looked her dead in the eye, nothing but regret filling his face. "Did you mean it?"

Mabel smiled slightly, reaching out to grasp her brother's shoulder. He flinched back involuntarily, then loosened up.

"Yes," Mabel soothed. "I meant it. You did save me. But you have to remember. You have to save yourself."

Dipper looked out at the evening sky for a second, before looking, back at his sister, wide-eyed and… scared.

"Mabel?" he asked. "Is it – is it – you?"

Mabel smiled widely and nodded, moving her hand down to hold his hand. "Yeah," she breathed. "Yeah, it's me."

At once Dipper stood up, and as he did, the sun peeked through the clouds. He walked out of the castle and looked at the evening sun once more, back into the cycles of an old life. Tears sprang from his eyes as more and more came back to him, but his mood quickly changed to a more dour one as he remembered. The more he remembered, the more impactful what he'd nearly done was. He sank to his knees, tears flowing down his face, his body wracked with sobs. Mabel ran over to him and held him tightly, waiting for the tears to pass. She heard footsteps behind her, and could see Stan, Ford, Candy, Wendy and Soos coming up the hill at a fast pace. She looked at Stan and smiled brightly, before nodding. But as triumphant a moment as this was, it still ended with both twins curled up next to each other, bawling their eyes out, both from happy and sad tears.

It seemed that they just couldn't get a victory that wasn't tainted with loss these days.

I'm evil, I know :)

Quick side note: no, Dipper hasn't remembered everything. Just the really prominent and recent stuff. Also, sorry that it took me this long to get this out.