Dipper opened his eyes slowly. Where am I? He wondered. He was on a bed. Getting up, he walked out of the creaky wooden door. He was on a boat. A pirate ship, to be exact. It was swaying in the wind like a piece of wood drifting across an open sea.

"Ehh, Captain?"

Dipper turned to look. Mabel was standing there, looking sufficiently pirat-ey. "Mabel? What are you doing in my dream?"

"Dreamy-things, I guess."

"Like what?"

"LIKE THIS." Suddenly, Mabel and all the other crew members morphed into the abominations that were inside the bubble.

"YOU THINK YOU ESCAPED MY TRAP PINETREE?" Dipper didn't even have to turn around to know who that was. "'COS IF 'YA DID, YOU'RE EVEN DUMBER THAN I THOUGHT YOU WERE! AND THAT'S SETTING A PRETTY HIGH BAR, I'VE ALWAYS THOUGHT YOU WERE AS THICK AS A BRICK. I MEAN, YOU TRUSTED ME? AND YOU ACTUALLY THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA? OH, OH THIS IS JUST TOO GOOD!"

"You're not real…" Dipper muttered, trembling.

"NO, BUT HE IS!" Bill pointed at the ladder at the side of the ship and Dipper turned to look. Suddenly, a hand appeared and grasped the ledge. It was a horrifying creature. Its eyes were yellow and slitted, its right arm was held on only by stitches and there was a gaping hole through its chest. It held a charred book, with Dipper recognised to be journal three.

"The hell?" He muttered.

"HE'S YOUR FEARS MANIFESTED, NUMBSKULL! JEEZ."

The creature walked towards Dipper. As it did, a head appeared in its hand.

"You killed me." Aida's disembodied head moaned as blood spilled out of it's mouth. "I was only trying to help. Did you kill my henchman too?"

Fearper. That's what Mabel would call him. Dipper thought. Fearper dropped the head, produced a knife and lunged at his real-life counterpart, slitting his throat.

Dipper shot awake, panting and sweating. He was on a bus. Oh right. He was going back to Gravity Falls.

"… Dipper?"

"Mabel? You're okay!" Dipper hugged her.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"B-because y-y-you d-died."

"He's dead, remember? We're gonna be fine. This summer's gonna be great! Remember, Lance is gonna meet us there. I can't believe his mum let him come."

"Yeah, I think the whole 'seeing the truth about the world thing helped a lot. She's a total conspiracy nut."

"We're here! Come on Waddles! Wwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaddddddddlllllleeeeeeeessssssss!" Mabel shouted as she ran off the bus. "Hi – Grunkle Stan? Grunkle Ford? Anyone?" There was no one there.

"Something's wrong." Dipper mumbled. "They'd never miss us arriving otherwise." He pulled out his phone. "Grunkle Ford? Where are you?"

"Dipper," Came Ford's voice. It was shaky. "Come to the town centre. You need to see this."

Lance looked around the Gravity Falls high street with a confused look on his face. He couldn't find anyone. It seemed like a nice town, but he was wondering when he was going to see some weird stuff. He'd been to an actual haunted house with Dipper back in Piedmont, but that was the extent of his supernatural experience. To be honest, finding out about that stuff wasn't really that surprising for him. The hardest part was trying to avoid triggering Dipper's PTSD. It was really hard for the first few weeks, but then he got the hang of it. No triangles, no yellow, no bow ties or top hats and no handshakes. Of course, there was no way he could know everything. One time he said 'well, well, well' and nearly sent Dipper into cardiac arrest.

"Lance!"

He whipped around to see Dipper and Mabel running past his clutching a lot of luggage.

"Come on!" Dipper shouted. "Something's wrong." As they rounded the corner, they saw Ford and Stan shouting at a tall man with coal black hair wearing a long black coat. They were standing in front of a large crater and were wearing their 'action gear.'

"I can assure you," The man said. "We have everything under control."

"We're experts. You're an ambassador." Ford remarked.

"… ehhhhh, Great Uncle Ford?" Dipper tried.

"Dipper! Mabel! I'm so sorry we couldn't meet you at the stop, something terrible has happened!"

"What?" Both twins asked at the same time.

"That." Ford pointed at the crater. In it was a glowing blue crack.

"It's another rift…" Dipper mumbled, almost incoherently.

"So who's that?" Lance asked.

"Oh, you must be Dipper's friend. I'm Ford. That is the town's new supernatural ambassador. His name is Nexus. Stanley doesn't trust him."

"Neither do I." Dipper agreed. "He even looks like a bad guy."

Stan walked over to them. "Hello 'ya little gremlins. This jackass over here thinks he knows better than we do. Mayor's been actin' strange too."

"He wasn't here for Weirdmageddon. And I'm worried that the rift could bring Bill to our dimension."

Dipper's expression darkened. "We need to get to the UFO. We seal it."

"I've already tried that. The adhesive would have worked on our rift because it was small."

"'Lemme guess poindexter, it's 'cos this one's big."

"Yeah. We'll need to create a device to hold the adhesive. But we need something else to seal it. You see, this was created by Weirdmageddon, it was a side effect. It was started by Bill and the Quantum Destabiliser could kill him. It was powered by a unique element called NowUSeeitNowUDontium. I believe it could be our missing component. I found it in the better world."

"So we need to use Edmund's portal to get it." Dipper finished.

"Yes. Great minds think alike and all that. Now we-" Suddenly, the rift bulged and opened. A scream could be heard as a boy tumbled out of it. He was wearing a raggedy old leather jacket and a torn red scarf.

"Ow." He muttered. "My face."

"Hey." Mabel picked up a stick and poked him with it. "You alive?"

"Sadly." The boy said as Mabel helped him up.

"I'm Mabel!" The female Pines twin said. He's hot Mabel! Go for it!

"Carter." The boy said. "John Carter." He walked out of the pit. "Oh my god."

"Ahem." The ambassador cleared his throat. "Can you come with me please?"

"Okay?" Carter responded as he was led away.

"It's getting stronger." Stan murmured.

Ford panicked. "Crawlspace, now!

Brandt sat in his study waiting as a henchman appeared.

"Lord Nexus wishes to speak with you."

"As he wishes." Brandt said as he walked into the communications room. "What is thy bidding, my master."

"The ones to stop us have returned. Your surveillance work was… sloppy." Brandt suddenly felt his windpipe getting crushed. "However, your undercover mission to the future was a success. This proves that you're still useful. So if you want to live, I suggest you find me a portal so my kind can come through and take this dimension. Understood?"

Ford stood at the control panel of Edmund's portal. "We can't risk me running into my parallel self. Dipper, Mabel and Stanley. You know what to do. I will go to the UFO to get the adhesive. I've contacted Fiddleford to make the device. Good luck."

"So we're going into the multiverse again?" Stan asked.

"Yep." Dipper responded.

"Can I just – be careful." Lance asked.

"Yeah, yeah. Come on Mabel."

"You got it Dipping-Sauce!" Mabel said as they ran through the gateway.

Carter sat looking at the tall man who had brought him to this… strange room. He was confused. The apocalypse obviously never happened in this dimension. Bill was unkillable. "The hell are you supposed to be?"

"My name is merely Ducard, but I speak on behalf of all supernatural beings and people. An ambassador, if you will." He walked over to the teen. "Name."

"Why do I have to tell you that?"

"We're just trying to help."

Carter sighed. "Fine. Johnathan August Carter."

"Date of birth?" Ducard looked at his clipboard.

"I… I don't know." The boy admitted,

"How do you not know?"

"That's not a very useful bit of information when you live in the end of the world, you know."

"Can you at least tell me what age you are?"

"I know I'm thirteen. I think."

"Gender… male." Ducard muttered. "Short brown hair…" He looked back up. "Hazel eyes." He snapped his fingers. "I'd like you to tell me about the dimension you came from."

"Well, it's been ruled by a god named Bill for about seventy years."

Ducard looked up sharply. "Seventy years? In our dimension it happened a year ago."

"Wait, you killed him?" Carter asked, obviously shocked.

"Not me. The family you were greeted by, actually. The Pines."

"They killed Bill!? Wow. I am not going back that horror show of a dimension. I am staying here." To be honest, he'd very much like to get to know them. If they killed Bill they must be incredibly powerful. Like, able to shrug off a nuke strong. He'd never actually seen a nuclear bomb, but he'd heard stories.

"That's fine. So… you were born in the apocalypse, correct? Got any parents?"

"They died when I was nine."

"… oh. How did they die? You don't have to share that if you don't want to."

"They got taken to the chair."

"Friends?"

"No."

Ducard sighed as he sat down. "You want something to eat?"

"The last time I ate was like, three days ago. And it definitely wasn't a dead rat. Definitely not." He watched as his interrogator cringed in disgust.

"I am going to get you some water," Ducard said as he walked out of the room. "And a fucking ice cream!"

Dipper peeked his head above the bush they were hiding behind. "All clear."

"So, what's the plan exactly?" Stan asked.

"I don't think he has one."

"Of course I have a plan, Mabel!" Dipper snapped.

"Okay, how much of one?"

"… twelve percent."

"Twelve percent? That's not a plan, kid! That's barely an outline!" Stan roared with laughter. "Even I know that!"

"Right. Mabel, there should be a vent on the roof, if we're lucky. Grapple up there then send the rope down so we can climb up. Me and Stan will distract all those people so you can do it undetected. You go get the element, you know where it is. Meet us at the town hall."

Mabel nodded and ran off.

"Kid, how're we gonna distract that crowd?"

"Come on." Dipper tugged him out of the bush and walked him to into the middle of the crowd. "Pretend to have a heart attack."

"Wait wha – son of a bitch!" He yelled as Dipper kneed him in the crotch.

"My uncle!" Dipper yelled, faking a southern accent. "I think he's having a heart attack!"

"Oh, uh… yeah! Heart attack!" Stan stammered, copying Dipper's accent. "My old man heart is giving out like a deflating balloon! Oh, the pain! It's unbearable! Death! Death!"

"Is anyone of ya'll a Doctor?"

The crowd stayed suspiciously silent. Wait, what am I supposed to do know? Dipper thought. I didn't think this far ahead. Wait, what if I… He discreetly pulled out his gun and shot his uncle with it, making sure it was on stun. He dragged Stan's unconscious body over to the wall and sat him up. "He's breathing!" He shouted as an ambulance approached. Three paramedics got out and lifted Stan onto a stretcher. "He's my uncle and I'm the only family he has. He's very weak, is it okay if I ride in the back with you? I just want to make sure he's okay."

"Sure, kid."

Dipper got in as the vehicle drove away. Dipper looked out of the window. There weren't many people around. He quickly drew his gun and plugged all three of the paramedics in the chest. "Hey! Something's happened!" He shouted to the driver. "We need to stop, these guys just died! I think?"

The driver slammed on the breaks and turned around only to be shot by the teen and dragged the man out of the driver's seat. Dipper sat down and reached for the pedals. Right, the town hall. Ehhh, this can't be too different from the golf cart, right? Put it into neutral, check. Clutch? I think? The bite point, then… gas! He jerked back as the car zoomed towards the town hall.

Stan opened his eyes slowly. "You shot me." He murmered.

"While you were out, we sealed the rift." Dipper responded. "Sorry for that, by the way."

Stan got up and looked around. They were still in Edmund's portal room. "My head hurts." He moaned as Dipper led him out.

"Inform Lord Nexus." Brandt smiled as he watched the two Pines pass him by. "I've found it."

Carter sat in the interrogation room waiting. The door opened and a short boy with chocolate brown hair walked in. Carter recognised him as the boy at the rift.

"Hi." The boy said. "I was told that you wanted to see one of us?"

"Yeah." Carter got up. "You defeated Bill!" He knew he'd made a mistake when the boy jerked back and went as white as a sheet.

"Don't… don't you say that name."

"Ooh, sorry. Did I hit a nerve there? I'm not that good with… people and the such."

"Me neither. I'm Dipper, by the way.

"So… do have, like god powers and stuff?"

Dipper looked confused. "Well, other than the robotic hand, I'm just a regular guy. We all are. We outsmarted him."

"Well, I don't much like him either. He can't come through like I did, can he?"

"We sealed the rift. Bi-he can't come through. But you can't go back. So, sorry about that."

"Why would I want to go back? I came from the end of the world, this place is a paradise!"

"You know, if you wanted to get a grasp of the world you could get a job at the Shack."

"The what?"

"The Mystery Shack. It's my friend's tourist trap. I think Soos would love a new worker. Also, I think Mabel likes you."

"I can take a guess as to who that is."

"If you mean the girl with my face that stared at you like you were as hot as magma, then yes, that's her."

Carter smiled. He'd escaped. Finally.

"Sorry." Dipper said. "I don't think I caught your name."

"John Carter."

"So, John then?"

"It's just Carter."

Dipper nodded as he looked at the boy sitting in front of him. He looked like the type of person who was a survivor, like he could shrug off a gunshot wound like it was nothing. He could be useful.