Disclaimer: All Disney works are the property of The Walt Disney Company. All other characters and settings are the property of their respective legal owners.

Author's note: Originally posted by Anon e Mouse Jr. on 2018-01-05. This is the first of two chapters posted today.

Disney/Kingdom Hearts Loops, Chapter Twenty-Six

26.1 (BIOS-Pherecydes): [Gravity Falls]

Awakening the Llama Part 1: Setup

"So bro-bro, what's next on your time looping checklist thingy?" Mabel asked from her bed as she subjected Waddles to a full body sticker makeover.

Dipper rolled his eyes affectionately, glad he had finally figured out a way to get Unawake Mabel to take him seriously when he explained the Loops to her. "It's not a checklist Mabel, it's a schedule. The Loops almost always happen the same way at the same time, but sometimes something goes weird. I keep this schedule to help keep track of all the little details in case they all add up to some huge disaster that could've been prevented if I was paying attention."

Mabel blew him a raspberry and rolled backwards off her bed, rolling repeatedly until she came to rest looking up at Dipper from the side of his own bed. "Chillax Dipper. What's the worst that could happen if," she flipped a few of Dipper's notes randomly, "the Lilliputians have discovered the height altering crystals and are planning to use them to decide once and for all which of them are the best. ...Wait what?! That's terrible. Come on we gotta stop them!"

Dipper grabbed Mabel's arm. "Don't worry sis, I took care of it already. I used the Memory Gun to erase the memory of the crystals from their minds and now they're back to normal. I also got Sergei free."

Mabel slumped in relief, wiping her arm across her brow. "Oh phew. I was worried there for a second. But how come they didn't try and use the crystals when Pacifica and me had our competition with each other?"

Dipper shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe they didn't know about them yet?"

Mabel narrowed her eyes. "Hmm. Hmmmmmmm! This sounds suspicious. You know what that means?"

"Oh, no. Mabel no. I mean it!"

"Pines Mystery Twins go!" Mabel shouted, a burst of glitter bursting from her sleeves as she threw her arms into the air.

Dipper facepalmed. "I never should have told you I was getting used to that."

In the end the answer turned out to be Old Man McGucket. The semi-sane ex-scientist had been using one of the crystals as a earwax remover and had lost it at the golf-course which had led to the pirates claiming it as treasure. Between their investigation and discovering the truth, they had dealt with Blandin and Soos' girl problem and to Dipper's dismay once again gotten Tambry and Robbie into a relationship as well. Dipper was more than ready for the end of the Loop by the time it was done... and so it came as more than a little surprise when he awoke the next morning to find that the Loop was getting it's newest expansion.

His first reaction was to have a paranoid freakout over what kind of unexpected insanity he wouldn't see coming. This lasted just about until the moment he realized he finally, finally had the chance to sit down and watch the 48 hour Ghost Harassers marathon he had been looking forward to for the past few hundred years.

After that it was a blur of forcing Stan out of the Shack, distracting Mabel and her friends as much as reasonably possible (he expected to get maybe twenty minutes) and pulling out all the best relaxing tools his Pocket had to offer.

"One Comfy Chair 'borrowed' from the Spanish Inquisitioners; check. One Toriko burger, two karinapples and three bottles of supear juice; check. Four years worth of Hogsmeade candies; check. Cheesy Blasters, Cheesy Poofs, Corncornos, and Chipackerz; check. And of course: popcorn, nachos, pizza. Check, check and double check," He flopped down in the really quite comfortable chair and propped his feet up. "Be strong bladder. We're not gonna move till sunset."

'We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news.'

Dipper's eye twitched. "Oh come on! Seriously?"

"It's starting!" Mabel shouted loudly, shoving her way onto Dipper's chair.

Candy duplicated the action from the other side. "Turn it up,"

"Make room for Grenda!" Dipper felt his legs go temporarily numb as the last member of the trio divebombed onto him.

'Tonight's the night, but I've been out here for days! The Northwest family's annual high society shindig ball soiree is here. And even though common folk aren't let in, that won't stop us from camping out for a peek at the fanciness.'

The three girls who Dipper had managed to get off of his chair, and were now laying in front of the TV with starstruck gazes, made a chorused sound of awe.

Dipper massaged his head. "Next time I'm bringing my own set. Can someone please explain why everyone is making such a big deal out of this."

Grenda turned to face him incredulously. "Um, it's pretty much the best party of all time."

Dipper scoffed. "Yeah, no. It's no Pinkie party that's for sure," he muttered to himself.

Unconcerned by his comment Grenda continued. "Rich food, richer boys."

Mabel continued eagerly. "They say each gift basket has a live quail inside."

Leaning against the television forlornly, Candy ran her hand down the screen. "Give me your life Pacifica."

Dipper rolled his eyes. He wasn't going to fall for that bunk so easily. Except for during some of the crazier Variants, Pacifica was a spoiled, obnoxious brat. All the time. "Guys! In case you don't remember, Pacifica is a horrible human being and she can go jump in a lake." There came a knock at the door, and Dipper got up to answer it without turning his attention away from his Unawake sister and her friends.

"And I'm not just being jealous or petty. I would say that to her face," He opened the door to reveal none other than the subject of his current rant, dressed in a overcoat and dark (designer) sunglasses, with a bandanna concealing her hair.

"I need your help."

"Wow, okay. Talk about timing. You're a horrible human being and you can go jump in a lake." He ignored the offended look on her face and turned back to the other girls. "See, right to her face."

Turning back to the glaring girl he continued. "My first instinct is to slam this door shut and walk away. Coincidentally that's also my second and third instinct. But seeing as how this is probably somehow important to the 'plot'" and he emphasized this with the appropriate air quotation marks, "I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. What do you want?"

"You think I wanted to come here? I don't want to be seen in this hovel. But there's something haunting Northwest Manor." She removed her glasses to look him earnestly in the face. "If you don't help me, the party could be ruined."

"And this is my problem again, why? The only thing you've ever done for like ever, has been to humiliate me and Mabel." Dipper demanded, arms crossed and memories of seeing Mabel's brokenhearted face countless times echoing in his mind.

"Look, just name your price okay. I'll give you anything!"

Dipper put on an overly exaggerated expression of joy. "Oh, okay! Erase all the pain and heartache you've caused Mabel, an honest from the depths of your soul apology and a promise to become a productive, worthwhile human being who doesn't put down anyone who's not from an elite socialite family. Can you do that?" He advanced upon Pacifica angrily, until he was right in her face. "Can you!?"

Pacifica looked very small suddenly, in the face of eons of Dipper's pent up wrath. While he knew he was being horribly unfair, it didn't really change the fact that it felt really, really good to finally unload all of this on Pacifica after carrying it around for so many Loops.

Abruptly he felt his arm being yanked and the concerned gaze of Mabel directed into his eyes. She turned to face Pacifica with an expression of patience. "Excuse us for a moment."

Closing the door as he was pulled back into the house, Dipper found himself facing three shocked faces.

"You are my hero," Candy whispered almost worshipfully.

Grenda punched him in the arm excitedly. "You're the man! Yeah!"

Of the three of them, only Mabel didn't look happy about what she'd just seen. "Dipper? What was that?" She pointed wildly with both hands, indicating all of him, the door and the rich girl standing behind it.

Dipper sighed and pulled his hat down sheepishly, sticking his hands in his pockets and kicking at the ground. "You know the whole time thing? Well, Pacifica is almost never a nice person in any of them. I'm just, sick and tired of seeing you get hurt again and again because of some stupid thing she says to you." He turned away from Mabel, his shoulders slumped, as he continued. "And you know the worst part? Sometimes she can be a good person. And when she is, I really think, maybe we could have been friends. But then I start over and she's a stuck up jerk all over. So... I guess I'm just a little... I don't know, angry and sad and junk whenever I talk to her."

Mabel smiled sadly, and pulled him into a hug. Candy and Grenda quickly followed suit. "Grenda! Too, tight! Need, air!" Mabel forced out, before taking a deep breath as they were released.

Putting her hands on her hips determinedly she pointed at Dipper. "Okay! 'Operation: No more angry face' is a go people! Step one: Dipper, you agree to help Pacifica and get all of us invites to that party. Step two: Candy, Grenda and I do some digging around and prove Pacifica isn't as bad as you think she is!" She pulled out her favorite tool of all time. "That's where this baby's gonna come in handy. GRAPPLING HOOK! Step three: Party till the cows come home! Where are the cows? I dunno. But we're gonna make them jealous they missed our mad party skillz. Now let's do this!"

Dipper chuckled as Candy, Grenda and Mabel cheered enthusiastically; jumping up and down excitedly as they embraced each other. "Get in here bro, there's more than enough hugs on this party bus for everyone."

Surrendering to the inevitable, he allowed himself to be pulled into the group hug. Once they had broke away from each other, Dipper re-opened the door.

In the time that it had taken for them to talk things over Pacifica had managed to regain her composure, standing with her arms crossed and an irritated expression on her face. "Finally. I swear, you should be thanking me for even asking for your help. There are people who would kill for the chance to be useful to my family."

Dipper's good humor went up in smoke and he frowned irritably at the blonde girl on their porch. "Whatever Pacifica. So here's the deal. I'll agree to help you with your ghost problem."

Pacifica sighed in relief.

"Ah bup bup. But in return, you have to get my sister and her friends invites to your fancy pants party. Deal?" He held out his hand to shake on the agreement, and after a moment of self-righteous indignation Pacifica sagged.

"Fine, deal. You're lucky I'm desperate," she replied, reaching into her purse and retrieving three gold plated envelopes with a diamond seal which she placed into Dipper's outstretched hand.

"Wooo! Desperate! Desperate! Desperate!" Mabel and her friends cheered energetically. "Grenda, get the glue gun. We're making dresses!"

Smirking at the twitch in Pacifica's eye, Dipper closed the door as she returned to her Rolls Royce to wait away from the 'peasants.'

Driving through the crowds of Gravity Fall citizens eager to even so much as look at the Northwest's party Dipper glared sullenly out the window. Mabel, Candy and Grenda were clearly enjoying the ride, examining every detail of the luxury car that was taking them to the Northwest's Manor. Pacifica was also glaring out the window, but for entirely different reasons; a fact which brought at least a little enjoyment to Dipper much as he hated to admit it.

Mabel had always been the forgiving one of the two of them, and Dipper had a lot to hold a grudge over. Not that he couldn't forgive, he just didn't want to. At least not without an apology at minimum.

Once they had entered through the main gates and up to the front entrance the chauffeur let them out and they followed Pacifica up the red carpeting to the door. As the staff opened the doors the visiting group got their first look at the inside of the mansion as Pacifica 'invitingly' gestured to the reception hall. "Welcome to Northwest Manor dorks. Try not to touch anything."

As Mabel, Candy and Grenda rushed excitedly in to explore the area Dipper and Pacifica were approached by Mr and Mrs Northwest, both of them wearing their public face. "Ah, if it isn't the man of the hour! Hopefully you can solve our little... situation before the guests arrive in an hour," Preston said encouragingly.

Dipper nodded. "I'll do my best." Turning away he gave the room a once over, picking at a popcorn kernel that was lodged in his teeth.

"Splendid! Pacifica, take our guest to the problem room, and uh... he's not wearing that is he?" He asked, giving Dipper a sense of apprehension. That only deepened at Pacifica's response.

"I'm on it."

Dipper threw open the curtain of the changing area with a scowl. He had better clothes than this in his Pocket, but he knew from experience that even the citizens of Gravity Falls had trouble ignoring items appearing from thin air on command. So he was forced to wear the stuffy, overly tight tuxedo Pacifica had picked out for him.

Pulling at the collar of his shirt, he loosened it enough to be almost comfortable. "Don't you guys have anything that isn't ridiculously pretentious. Seriously, who do you think you're impressing?"

Pacifica quickly tied off his bow before he could stop her with a scoff. "Um, Everyone? You wouldn't understand. High-standards are what make the Northwest family great."

Dipper couldn't resist the golden opportunity to make a comeback as he flicked at one of the tassels on the wall-paintings. Hah, golden. "Funny. I thought it was lying about founding the town, cheating at popularity contests and bad-mouthing anyone you think is less important than you."

"Don't touch that!"

Rolling his eyes he followed Pacifica down the halls of her house to a pair of large wooden doors. Opening it he stepped into a room out of an animal rights activist's nightmares. On every available inch of wall-space a stuffed hunting trophy was mounted, a bear skin rug lay on the floor beneath a fur lined chair and a full sized stuffed bear stood in the corner over a pool table. Above the lit fireplace hung the picture of a large lumberjack with a wide grin.

"This is the main room where it's been happening," Pacifica said from behind him.

"I'm not surprised. Look at all this stuff. If this room isn't haunted, I don't know what room would be. I doubt it's anything to worry about though." He pulled out the Journal and flipped to the appropriate page. For Pacifica's benefit of course, since he had long since memorized all the main consistent details from his copy(s). "Gravity Falls ghosts typically fall into about ten categories, floating plates sounds like your basic category one poltergeist."

"So what? Are you going to bore him back into the afterlife by reading from this book?" Pacifica mocked.

Dipper reached into one of his rucksack's pockets. "Just gotta splash this sucker with some anointed water, and he should be out of your — probably fake — blonde hair."

"What was that about my hair?!"

A beep from the ecto-geiger counter he had in his bag prompted him to quiet Pacifica's outrage as he followed the pointer to the fireplace. Looking up he was again presented with the painting of the grinning lumberjack, whose expression seemed darker than before as lightning briefly flashed from outside. Abruptly his detector died and he gave it a smack, starting it back up good as new. Looking up again, his eyes widened as he realized the portrait had gone empty. "Uhh... Pacifica?"

"AHH!"

Turning to his erstwhile ally he saw her recoil in disgust as a not-water liquid dripped onto the wood floors. She gave a gasp as she turned her gaze to the source, a rapidly increasing tide of similar liquid rushing from the mouth of a stuffed bear's head. Suddenly the fire flared brightly, reaching out of the fireplace in a burst of heat.

-Ancient sins. Ancient sins. Ancient sins. Ancient sins-

As one the mounted heads began speaking in a distorted baritone voice, and any loose items in the room began to rapidly float into the air where a moose antler chandelier had recently gained a localized thunderstorm.

"Dipper, what is this?!" Pacifica yelled over the chanting, wind and lightning.

Gulping nervously, Dipper quickly ran through his mental copy of the Journal. He found exactly what he expected to find. "It's a category ten." The bottle of anointed water shattered in his hand. Pacifica screamed in terror, Dipper barely managing not to follow suit. He had been through worse, he was sure of it. He just couldn't recall any of them just that moment was all.

-Ancient blood and blackened skies, the forest dark shall once more rise-

Pacifica grabbed Dipper by the collar and began shaking him frantically. "What do we do, what do we do!?"

Dipper dug through his Pocket mentally, trying to find something to answer the question with. 'What I wouldn't give to have had a Ghostbusters Loop.'

"Calm down! Just don't panic, it can't get any worse than this so just—"

A massive flaming skeletal hand burst free from the fireplace, followed by a second. Working together in defiance of natural law they pulled the upper torso of a burning human skeleton out of the flames, an axe buried in its skull. Screaming in shock and fright, the two watched in horror as muscle and skin grew over the bones before diving under the nearby pool table. The now fleshed figure generated clothes and stood with eyes closed. "I smell a Northwest" In time to his shout a blue corona of fire in the shape of wild hair growing into an equally wild beard and a mustache burst into existence, and he opened angry eyes on the living world.

Throwing his hand into the air, a ghostly glowing double-sided axe forced itself into being in his grip and he slammed it into the floor of the room. "Come out. Come out wherever you are."

From beneath the specter's line of sight Pacifica turned angry, fearful eyes on Dipper. "Hurry, read from your dumb book already."

He shook his head, trying to recall what he could of the pages on ghosts but having more than a bit of difficulty; what with the blinding fear. "This dumb book is gonna save our lives." Giving his memory up for a lost cause right now, he pulled out the actual Journal and began flipping through the pages. Skipping past the advice section, which he did recall as being extremely less than helpful, he tried to find something else that had a chance of saving their lives. Sure, he would just Awaken next Loop none the worse for the wear excepting a bit of existential horror, but Pacifica didn't deserve to get killed by an angry ghost.

He didn't like her sure; that didn't mean he wanted her dead.

Before he could find anything however, the table overhead was forced to the side; leaving them unconcealed from the ghost's furious gaze. Grabbing his hand, Pacifica dragged him out of the room rapidly. "This way, hurry!"

Running down the hallway, Dipper finally managed to jumpstart his brain and recalled the information he needed. "Quick, Pacifica, we need to find a silver mirror."

"Right, okay. Silver mirror. Quick, through the garden! Watch out for peacocks." Lifting her dress as they ran through the muddy grounds, they took a right turn as the mad laughter of the spirit followed after them.

Dipper gave a leap of speed as he sighted exactly what they needed, pointing directly ahead towards a small sitting parlor. "Look, there's a silver mirror right there!"

Pacifica gasped and grabbed his arm forcefully, dragging him to a stop. "Wait! Don't go in there! This room has my parents favorite carpet pattern. They'll lost it if we track mud in there."

Dipper actually paused at that, the sheer inanity of the words refusing to make rational sense in his head. He turned disbelieving eyes on Pacifica and pulled his arm free. "Are you serious?"

Pacifica placed herself in front of him with her arms outstretched to block him. "We'll find another way!"

Warning bells went off in Dipper's head at this. This... this was not normal behavior. Even for snooty, rich people. The look of desperation on Pacifica's face was nagging at him. It was almost like—

The sound of the ghost's haunting laughter snapped Dipper back into the present and he shook off the question in his head for later. "Pacifica! We don't have time for this, let me through!" Pushing forward he attempted to force Pacifica out of the way.

Rather than avoid the fight however, she fought back; struggling with him as she did her best to keep him out of the room that contained the one thing that could save their lives. "What is wrong with you? Are you really gonna risk dying to save some stupid carpets!? Why are you so afraid of your parents?!"

"You wouldn't understand!" Pacifica shouted, shoving him roughly. By reflex Dipper grabbed her as he lost his balance, falling backwards against the wall... and then through the thin layer of wallpaper covering a secret opening.

As the sound of the ghost's dark laughter came and went, Dipper pulled his arm out from under Pacifica and looked around. "Where are we?"

Lifting her hair out of her face Pacifica gave the room a confused look. "That's weird. I don't even know where this room is."

"Good, then maybe we can hide out here for a minute until the ghost is out of the way. In the meantime, you can answer my question from earlier. Why are you so obsessed with not making your parents angry?" Dipper asked, prodding at the objects in the room curiously.

From behind him Pacifica was silent, and he turned back around to ask more directly; only to catch sight of the ghost looming over Pacifica covered by an old sheet. There was no time to warn her and so he reacted on instinct, closing the distance and tackling her into a nearby llama painting in a clatter of dishes and boxes just as the ghost lunged forward with a triumphant cry. "Your fate is sealed!"

Sitting dazedly on the ground where she had fallen from Dipper's shove, Pacifica screamed as the ghost turned around and moved in again. "Prepare to die, NORTHWEST!"

Dipper lunged forward, blocking the ghost's axe with a candle holder. "Stay back. Pacifica, you get out. I'll hold him off."

Pacifica gaped disbelievingly. "But what about you?"

"I'll be fine. Go!"

Pacifica nodded and ran for the exit, only for the furniture to shift places and block her way. "You're not going anywhere Northwest!"

Dipper rolled under the ghost and stood protectively in front of Pacifica. As a Looper he could take a lot more than a normal human. Pacifica on the other hand was defenseless, even more than a regular person due to her spoiled upbringing. He could afford to take risks, but — enemy or not — if Pacifica got hurt when he could do something to help then he would never be able to forgive himself. He brandished his makeshift weapon threateningly. "Get back!"

"Why do you defend her boy? The Northwest must pay, and if you intend to help her then you can share her fate!" With a roar he lunged forward. "What good do you think you can do with a candlestick?!"

As Pacifica screamed, Dipper stood; scared but resolute. "Not much actually," he replied, before reaching behind him and pulling his trump card from his cumberbund. "This on the other hand!"

Catching sight of the silver hand mirror in Dipper's outstretched grip, the ghost's eyes widened but he was moving too quickly to stop himself. "Noooooooo!"

In a crash of dust and boxes, Dipper and Pacifica went tumbling from the momentum of the ghost's impact; rolling to a stop against the wall. "Did we get him?" Pacifica asked frantically.

Pulling the mirror up, the captured ghost slammed his fists on the glass from the inside. "Free me! FREE ME!"

Staring at each other with relieved gazes, they gave a simultaneous cheer. "YES!"

Pacifica threw her arms around Dipper gratefully. "You saved me."

Dipper froze in shock, and moments later Pacifica followed suit. Pulling back awkwardly she pulled out a hundred dollar bill. "Can I pay you to pretend that never happened?"

Dipper shook his head. "Don't worry about it." Looking around he found a footstool and propped the mirror up on it. "Now then, let's find out what this whole mess was all about shall we?"

Out of Dipper's line of sight, Pacifica tensed. "Uh, shouldn't we get out of this room first? You know, go let my parents know we caught the ghost."

Dipper waved her off. "Don't worry about it. We can let them know later. I wanna know why this guy," he gestured at the mirror for emphasis, "was so hung up on your family. Aren't you even a little bit curious?"

The ghost's mocking laughter echoed from his prison. "You've been had, boy."

Pacifica put her hand on Dipper's shoulder and tried to push him towards the exit. "Dipper, come on. We should really get out of here."

Dipper gently jerked his arm free. "Hold up Pacifica." He turned back to the ghost. "What do you mean 'I've been had?'"

The ghost laughed again. "Why not ask her? Ask her what her family did to me and the people of this town one hundred and fifty years ago."

Turning, Dipper faced Pacifica uncertainly. "...What is he talking about?"

Pacifica averted her gaze, biting at her glossed lip, and said nothing.

"Pacifica, what is he talking about? What did your family do?"

Turning away completely, Pacifica wrapped her arms around herself. "I'm sorry, I should have told you, but my parents wouldn't let me."

The wheels in Dipper's mind quickly put two and two together. "You knew. You knew what this was all about, and you got me to do your dirty work for you anyway. You tricked me."

The ghost's laughter echoed loudly. "Now you see her for what she truly is; a liar and a trust-breaker. Just like her ancestors. One hundred and fifty years ago this day, the Northwests asked us lumber-folk to build them a mansion atop the hill. We were told t'would be a service to the town, that once a year they would throw a grand party, and all would share in the bounty. It took years of backbreaking labor and sacrifice, but when it was time for the grand party they promised the common folk of the town, they refused to let us in."

Dipper snorted and turned an angry look on Pacifica, who shrank under his gaze. "Yeah, that sounds familiar."

"With the trees gone, the mudslides began. While they partied and laughed, I was swept away by the storm! And so I said with final breath,'One-fifty years I'll return from death, and if the gate's still closed to town, wealthy blood will stain the ground!' A curse passed down until this day."

"So I was right. They knew this was coming." He turned angrily to face Pacifica. "And you made me do all this to avoid ghostly justice."

Pacifica huddled in on herself and said nothing.

Dipper grunted. "And here I was thinking maybe I had been misjudging you this whole time and you weren't as bad as I thought you were. But you really are just as terrible as your parents. Another link in the world's worst chain."

Reaching down he grabbed the mirror and shoved it into his cumberbund. "Whatever, I'm out of here. Enjoy your stupid party."

"Dipper wait!"

Whirling on her he glared with all the pent up fury of thousands of Loops, and Pacifica backed down with a whimper. He shoved the anger back down and ducked back through the torn wallpaper.

Preston greeted Dipper as he entered the hallway with a genial expression. "Dipper my boy! Have you managed to take care of the... problem we spoke about?"

Giving him a sullen look, he nodded wordlessly.

Preston beamed. "Splendid! Well then, I should be off to greet the other guests. As per our agreement, you and your other urchin friends are free to enjoy the rest of the party. Do try not to break anything." Directing his gaze past Dipper, he straightened and moved past him. "Ah, Mister Mayor! I see you've noticed our newest tapestry."

Staring after him, Dipper considered grabbing something from his Pocket to destroy the party; but quickly changed his mind as he saw Mabel waving him over. She wanted to go to this party so badly, he'd feel even worse if he ruined it for her.

"Hey Dip-Dip. How'd the ghost hunt go?"

Dipper grinned and pulled out his prize. Disregarding the reasoning, he was still proud of his accomplishment. "Went off like clockwork."

Mabel grabbed the mirror eagerly, making an impressed sound. She handed it back and punched his shoulder happily. "Good going bro," she looked around suspiciously and then leaned in to whisper, " but we kinda hit a snag on the secret mission part. See Grenda, Candy and I got distracted by the guestbook, and then we ended up flirting with this boy, and now we're sorta not talking to each other."

Dipper shook his head. "Don't worry about it Mabel. I already found all the evidence I need. Just go ahead and make up with your friends."

Mabel gave him a worried look. "You sure?"

He nodded. "Positive. It's a party, sort of. Just, go and have fun."

"Alright, I guess so. But if you need me just call okay?"

Dipper nodded and Mabel headed back into the crowd. Moving to the side of the room, he watched as the guests talked and joked for a few minutes before a slight shaking from his side drew his attention. Grabbing the mirror he moved into one of the halls. "What?"

"Dipper. Please let me get my vengeance against the Northwests. You hate them as much as I."

"Oh no. I'm not falling for that line. If I let you out, you'll pull some kind of crazy stunt that'll get me and my sister dragged into it. You're staying safe in there until Mabel's done partying and then I'm taking you back to the Mystery Shack and performing an exorcism."

The ghost glared. "Fine. So be it."

Abruptly the blue flame of his hair flared outward into a blazing corona of orange flame and the handle of the mirror turned red hot in Dipper's hand. With a yelp, his reflexes kicked in and he dropped the burning metal, the silvered glass shattering as it hit the ground.

With a booming laugh of victory the spectre rose from his prison, taking form once again. "Yes! Vengeance! You had your chance boy. Now you will suffer as they do. NORTHWEST!"

Accompanied by a flash of lightning, the angry spirit tore into the main hall of the party where Preston was calling for a toast to his family's name. Dipper rushed in immediately after, just as the martini glasses exploded in the guests hands. Flying into the air above the large hall the ghost raised his hands above his head and cackled madly.

"Generations locked away, my revenge shall have its day!" Throwing his hand out, a blast of spectral energy surged forward like a bolt of lightning. Striking the Mayor, the wizened leader of the town screamed out as he was transformed into wood from the ground up; wheelchair and all.

Backing away in horror, Dipper watched as the rest of the guests quickly began meeting the same fate; all the while the ghost bellowed vengeful laughter overhead. The many stuffed animals placed around the room became possessed with an otherworldly power, an ethereal glow emitting from their eyes as they returned to life and attempted to attack the partygoers. Wild vines grew rapidly up the walls, the forest retaking the manor which had been built from its wood.

The basketball player attempted to fight off a group of stuffed squirrels, before being struck by the ghost's power; quickly becoming a wooden statue frozen in fear. Dipper jumped back in shock. "Whoa! That is messed up."

Running into the chaos he attempted to find his sister and her friends. He succeeded. Standing in a group, three female preteen wooden carvings stood arguing with each other. He fell to his knees. "no..."

Balling up his fist, he slammed it into the floor repeatedly before glaring up at the ghost. "No. Screw this. SCREW THIS!"

Reaching into himself he tapped into his short list of out-of Loop skills, drawing on the only one he had which he was certain would let him fight the ghost on even terms.

He had had the bad luck to Awaken during Aizen's rebellion, so his time in the Shin'ō Academy had been cut short; but even though he hadn't gotten to bond with a Zanpakuto, that didn't mean he hadn't gained anything from his short stint as a Shinigami trainee. He had always been a good student, and one class in particular was focused on study and practical application. "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hadō Number Thirty-One: Shakkahō!"

A mid-sized ball of Spiritual Energy tore from his hand, catching the ghost by surprise and exploding against him. However when the light cleared, the ghost was still mostly intact; and the missing half of his torso and left arm quickly regenerated.

"Impressive boy. I was unaware such power existed that could harm me even in death. But it isn't enough. There's only one way to change your fates, a Northwest must open the party-gates!" Throwing out his hands, he sent a doubled wave of power at Dipper.

Dipper gathered all his remaining Spiritual Energy and forced it into his hands. "Bakudō Number Eight: Seki!" An orb of glowing light appeared in front of him just in time to intercept the ghost's attack, deflecting it away into the room and striking several of the remaining party guests. Dipper had no time to feel regret however, instead using the distraction to run out of the room in search of Pacifica. If getting a Northwest to open the gate would save his sister, then that's what he would make happen. One way or another. Fortunately he found her back where he had left her, sitting dejectedly in the hidden room where they had captured the ghost and flicking a flashlight on and off repeatedly.

He grabbed her arm. "Pacifica. The ghost got free, and now he's turning everyone into wood. We can fix this, but you need to open the gates and let the townsfolk—"

Pacifica yanked her arm away, and turned to look at him despondently. "You wanna know why this room was locked up?" She turned the flashlight's beam up, illuminating a set of paintings. "This is what I found in here. A painted record of every horrible thing that my family's ever done. Lying, cheating... and then there's me." She turned the flashlight back on herself. "I lied to you just because I'm too afraid to talk back to my stupid! Parents!" She emphasized the last two words by throwing her earrings at a painting of the two heads of Northwest household.

She turned to face Dipper with wavering eyes. "You were right about me. I am a horrible human being. I am just as bad as my parents, just another link in the world's worst chain."

...and there was the guilt. Dipper swallowed a dozen responses as he tried to come up with something that could make up for the things he had said to Pacifica; repeatedly. After so many years, it had gotten hard to remember that Pacifica was only a kid; like he had been. Like he still was. He took a deep breath, and let out the leftover anger against all the Pacificas he had known over his lifetimes. It wasn't really gone, but now he could start fighting against it. And he would start here.

Placing his hand on Pacifica's shoulder, he gave her an encouraging smile. "I was wrong. You aren't like your parents. You're better. I'm sorry about what I said, that was just me being angry and spiteful. You aren't just another link in the world's worst chain, you can be so much more. You can choose to be the first link on a better chain of Northwest." He held out his hand. "Just help me fix this. It's not too late—"

"It's too late! You are all wood!"

Dipper looked up sharply. "Oh no, c'mon hurry!" Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed Pacifica's hand and pulled her after him; dragging her back towards the main hall where, true to the ghost's words, all the guests had become wooden statues locked in positions of fear and torment. Floating almost peacefully in front of the fireplace, arms behind his back, the ghost faced away from them. The clock chimed midnight.

"The forest of death, a lesson learned; and now the Northwest manor will BURN!" Throwing his arms out as he spoke, a raging flame tore loose from the hearth; spreading rapidly across the walls.

"Mabel! NO! Hadō Number One: Shō!" Charging the ghost he pointed his index finger forward and used what little regained Spiritual Energy he had to target the flames, the force of the technique temporarily dispersing the ghost empowered fire. "Pacifica, hurry! I can't do this too many more times. Hadō Number One: Shō! "

Staring wide-eyed at him, she gaped at his sudden display of power. "What is—"

"It's something from the journal, just hurry!" He yelled, dodging a literal burst of return-fire from the ghost.

Nodding rapidly, she ran toward the front door; before turning to address the ghost, buying Dipper time to fight off the fires. "Hey, Ugly! Over here."

Breaking off from his pursuit of Dipper, the ghost turned a furious glare at the young blonde. Matching his glare with an imperious fury of her own, Pacifica continued. "You want me to let in the townsfolk. Cause I'll do it, just change everyone back."

"You wish to prove yourself? Pull that lever and open the gate to the town. Fulfill your ancestor's promise!"

Unwilling to take her eyes of the ghost, Pacifica reached behind her to grab the gate lever; only to be brought up short by her parent's emerging from the hidden Panic Room beneath the floor. "Pacifica Elise Northwest; Stop this instant. We can't let the town see us like this, we have a reputation to uphold." He waved her forward. "Come into the Panic Room. There's enough mini-sandwiches and oxygen to last you, me and the butler for a week." He covered his mouth and and lowered his voice to a whisper as he gestured towards the servant. "We'll eat the butler."

Pacifica turned her gaze back to where Dipper had now been reduced to beating at the flames with his tuxedo jacket. Gritting her teeth, she reached for the lever.

Preston's gaze sharpened. "You dare disobey us?!" He pulled out a small bell and began ringing it harshly.

Caught off guard by the out of place sound Dipper turned his gaze to the sight of Pacifica flinching at the sound of the ringing bell. Instantly his mind made the connection between her reaction and the animal behavior modification research methods. A horrified weight dropped into his gut, but before he could react he was forced to return to the fire as his jacket erupted in flames.

Preston glared at the bell in his hands as he rang it harder. "Dingly-dingly! Is this bell broken?!"

Pacifica stomped furiously on the ground, directing a hard gaze at the man who called himself her father. "Our family name is broken! And I'm gonna fix it!" With a strong yank, she pulled the gate lever down; opening the way for the ecstatically cheering citizens. The ghost gasped in shock as the townsfolk charged into the manor to take part in the festivities they had watched from afar for so many years.

"Yes. Yes. It's happening. My heart, once as hard as oak, now grows soft, like more of a birch or something."

Dipper gave a sharp victory call as the flames disappeared and the wooden statues reverted to people as the forest retreated once more.

Staring down at Pacifica, the ghost gave a kind smile; which she returned happily. "Pacifica, you are not like the other Northwests." Raising his arms in vindication, he floated upwards; dissolving in the moonlight. "I feel lumber-justice." As his spectral form faded away, the axe which had split his head fell to the ground; tearing a gash in the floor as Pacifica watched in satisfaction.

And then there was chaos as the townsfolk of Gravity Falls invaded the Northwest Manor. As Preston frantically ran around trying to control the 'riff-raff,' Mabel and her friends came to dazedly. "Oh man, what happened?"

"Mabel!" Dipper tackled his sister in a tight hug. "I was so worried, I thought I lost you."

Patting her brother awkwardly on the back, Mabel turned a confused glance on Candy and Grenda; both of who temporarily forgot their feud to share in her puzzlement. "Uh... there, there bro?"

Pulling back, Dipper smiled. "Sorry, sorry. I'll just let you three talk. Don't mind me, I'm just being weird again."

Getting up he did as promised, heading over to where Pacifica stood watching while his sister and her friends made up. "See, told you you could do it. First link on a new chain."

Pacifica smiled, before drawing in on herself. "Yeah, but it's not like it'll last. Next year they'll probably just lock everyone out again."

Dipper chuckled. "Yeah, maybe. But you saved everybody this year. And they can't ever take that away from you. Plus, look where we're standing."

Pacifica looked down and saw the carpet pattern she had risked their lives over earlier that night. Their muddy shoes caking the material in filth, she gave a little gasp; before giving a vindictive smile and grinding her platform heel into it roughly. She and Dipper laughed with one another as they knocked food and drinks onto the carpeting for the next several moments.

Smiling appreciatively, she chuckled. "But seriously, I better go find somebody to clean this up."

Dipper let her leave, pondering the positive change in her. He hadn't expected anything like this from her except as a Variant. To learn that she could actually be a good person even in Baseline was actually a major relief. Now he could honestly encourage Mabel's efforts to befriend the blonde girl without hiding a grudge. A grudge which he had actually managed to mostly remove the bite from thanks to this Expansion. Not that it was completely gone, but at least now he could direct it to where it actually belonged.

Seriously, who brainwashes their kids?!

Turning around he was suddenly dragged out of his thought by the appearance of Old Man McGucket in front of him, 'dancing' and making random words.

"Hey, what's up McGucket?" In response the town kook grabbed him and dragged him off to a side hall. "Hey!"

Putting a busted pair of spectacles on his face, McGucket turned to face the Looper. "Dipper, I've been lookin' for ya. I fixed the laptop. I've been doing calculations, and I think something terrible is coming. The apocalypse! The end times!"

Dipper gaped, before shaking his head tiredly. "Okay, I just kinda had a part of the world turned on its head. How about we hold off on this until the next time okay? It's a party, let's have some fun for once."

Walking back out onto the floor, he made it back to the table and reached out to get something to eat.

Waking Up on the bus to Gravity Falls, Dipper gaped. "Aw, what?"

26.1 continued (BIOS-Pherecydes): [Gravity Falls]

Awakening the Llama Part 2: Reverse

Mabel sat up and gave her brother a frown. "C'mon Dipper, what's so special about Pacifica Northwest's fancy-shmancy party? For the past like hundred Loops you've been even more super obsessive about this than usual."

Dipper straightened his bowtie in the mirror, preparing himself for the trip to the Northwest Manor himself; rather than suffering through another fitting that somehow still never seemed to fit right. Turning he met Mabel's gaze, the neon lights of her sweater of the day causing him to squint. "You don't understand Mabel, you keep refusing to go to the party so you haven't seen what it's like. If you'd just try following the script for this one, just this one time, you'd see."

"Yeah, well maybe I don't want to 'follow the script' Dipper. Pacifica has been the biggest pain in our butts since like forever."

Dipper ran his hands through his hair with a sigh. "Okay, yes, admittedly Pacifica's been a bit of a tool ever since we started Looping; but now I finally understand why. Her parents are horrible people, I mean like really horrible. And alright sure we already knew that, but they're even worse than we thought; maybe not Gendo level, but at least as bad as the worst Variants we've seen. Pacifica's dealing with a really lousy situation, and even despite that she keeps rising above it to become an actually kinda decent human being."

Mabel huffed and crossed her arms. "You just want to go because you've got a crush on her now that you're over Wendy."

Dipper gaped. "Wha-are you-you can't be-WHAT?!"

With a snort, Mabel broke; collapsing as she gave into laughter and taking a quick picture of her brother's face to add to her 'Scrapbook!'. "Y-you should-hahahaha-see the look-haha-the look on your-hahaha-face! I got you, admit it, I totally got you Dipper."

Dipper sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with a chuckle. "Okay, yeah, you got me. But you have to trust me on this one alright? Candy and Grenda really want to go too, you know. It's not the same there for them without you."

Mabel gave a dramatic sigh. "Fiiine, I'll go; but only to show Pacifica how to throw a real party!"

Dipper smiled. "Thanks Mabel. Hurry and get changed though, if we don't go soon the party'll start before we can take care of the ghost."

"Yeah, yeah. Keep your hat on bro." In a flash of light, Mabel summoned a swirl of glitter which surrounded her for a moment before disappearing; leaving her dressed in an elaborate ball gown.

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Are you ever going to tell me where you got that glitter power from?"

Giving a cheeky grin as she lifted the hem of her dress to leave she shook her head. "Nope!"

"Say it."

"I don't wanna."

"Say it."

"No."

"Say—"

"Fine! Okay, you were right Dipper."' Mabel slumped good-naturedly. "Pacifica's not all that bad after all. And her parents are major butts. What kind of jerk treats their daughter like a pet?"

Dipper scowled. "The worst kind. But you see what I mean about Pacifica being better than that now, right?"

Mabel nodded. "Yeah, I guess. I'm still not going to forgive her unless she starts Looping and apologizes, but I won't hold it against her either."

"You think she could? Start Looping, I mean."

Staring at where the heiress was gleefully stomping mud into her parents carpeting, Mabel shrugged. "It's possible isn't it?"

Dipper chuckled. "Yeah, I guess it is." Noticing the look on Mabel's face, Dipper frowned. "What? Do I have something on my face."

"Oh nothing~"

"Oh, no. I know that look. What are you planning?" Dipper demanded worriedly.

Mabel grinned, before running out into the crowd. Stopping in the middle of the floor she took a deep breath and shouted at the top of her lungs. "DIPPER LOVES PACIFICA, DIPPER LOVES—"

Dipper cut her off as he charged after her. "I DO NOT! MABEL! GET BACK HERE!"

"CATCH ME IF YOU CAN BRO-BRO! OR WOULD YOU RATHER BE K-I-S-S-I-N-G PACIFICA!" With that she took off down the halls, laughing loudly. The Loop would be ending any moment now, but her brother's embarrassment would last forever. Especially since she had taken another picture for her 'Scrapbook!' to remind him.

"MABEL!"

Pacifica Southeast awoke to the familiar sounds of her mom's singing downstairs as she made breakfast. Her dad's snoring echoed from the next room over and Pacifica made sure not to wake him as she tiptoed to their bathroom. School may have let out for the summer, but she still had to get up early to deliver the newspaper to the town. How else was she going to save up the extra money she needed to buy those awesome new hoop earrings she had been eyeing at the Gravity Malls thrift store after all?

Abruptly she felt a wave of dizziness wash over her, and a simultaneous feeling of confusion. Looking around at the simple halls of her family's two story home she was left with a dual sense of familiarity and disorientation. Something seemed off, as if things weren't the way they were supposed to be. A brief image of a shining foyer in a massive room appeared in her mind, overlaid atop the familiar sight of the hallway she had grown up in. However unlike the warm glow of her modest home, the mental picture seemed cold and harsh. With a shudder she pushed it away and hurried into the bathroom. If she didn't hurry she'd be late.

Once she had washed and dressed herself she ran down the stairs into the kitchen. Humming peaceably to herself, Priscilla Southeast, or Scylla as she preferred to be called, caught sight of her and checked the clock. "You better hurry Paz honey. You know how stressed Tobias gets if all his employees aren't on time."

"I know, mom. Mister Determined won't fire me though, I'm his best delivery girl."

Scylla frowned. "Now, Paz, what have I told you about getting too full of yourself?"

Pacifica rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "I know mom, geez. Don't worry, I'm not gonna get a big head over a newspaper job."

Preston walked in behind her and ruffled her hair affectionately. "See that you don't young lady. The Southeasts are destined for great things. Work hard and you may even become mayor of our fine town someday."

Giving a half-serious grumble as she fixed her hair, she cringed as her dad gave her mom a kiss. "Eww, gross. Okay, I'm leaving now. See you guys later."

"Work hard, sweetie!" Scylla called out, before giving a giggle at her husband.

Repressing the memory of the last few seconds from her mind, Pacifica headed out to the garage and grabbed her bike with a frown. Throughout that entire conversation, the nagging feeling had been blaring at her. Everything about her parents was the way it had always been since as long as she could remember, but even so there was some part of her that kept saying they weren't acting normal at all. How exactly they were acting wrong she couldn't say, however, although given the vague jealousy she was feeling for... herself? ...she resolved that it was probably better if she didn't dwell on it.

With that in mind she quickly kicked her bike into gear and rushed off into town.

Dipper Awoke to the smell of old paper and dust. Sending out a quick Ping, he looked around. A dusty room, full of books and old projectors; as well as countless spiderwebs. So Pioneer Day then. Not receiving any responses to his Ping, he took a brief check through his Loop Memories to look for any inconsistencies... and froze. 'No, no, no, no, nononononononono! Please not this, any Variant but this. Genderswapped, monsters, human Bill, even that one where I'm stuck as a ghost while Bill keeps my body, just not—'

"Well brother? Did it work? I don't feel any more powerful."

Turning slowly, Dipper found himself facing his sister; but not the sister he knew. This Mabel wore a magician's leotard under a blue blazer, and a matching hairband with a familiar amulet. Gulping quietly to himself, he quickly reviewed the last few minutes of his Loop Memories. He and Mabel had found information within the journal their great uncle Stan had attempted to hide from them that had led them to believe there were significant government secrets concealed beneath the town. As political leverage was a worthwhile currency in its own right they had made haste to track down the information.

To that end they had drafted the local idiot to follow the nonsensical clues they had been stymied by after his own spatial reasoning had allowed him to decipher the moronically arranged map. McGuckett had also made for an acceptable meatshield from the tranquilizer darts and was sleeping fitfully near the entrance. Once within the cache of hidden material, he and Mabel had quickly made short work of sorting out what was or was not useful. The fact that some hick lumberjack had been chosen as the patsy mayor of the fledgling town was worthless to them, however the information on the 8 1/2 President was going to open a lot of doors in their future. Especially as his body was so conveniently located nearby, ripe for the taking. Blackmailing the government had never been so easy!

However it was a single line of text near the end of the file that had most caught their attention. If true it would speed up their plans by decades at the least. Once he had written out the Pledge of Allegiance in phonetically correct reverse, he and Mabel had wasted no time reading the supposed wizardly empowering spell.

Which all led back to the current situation.

This quick recall had taken only a moment and so controlling his features as best as possible, despite feeling sick at his counterpart's thoughts, he adopted a disdainful expression. "There's only one way to find out, wouldn't you agree dear sister? As we agreed, the Amulet."

Mabel made a sour face, and grudgingly placed the Mystic Amulet atop the table. Holding her hand above it, she closed her eyes and focused.

'Please don't work, please don't work, please don't work, please... it worked.'

Sitting on the table where there had once been only one Amulet, there now lay two. Moving by autopilot, Dipper reached out and took the original, affixing it to the bolo he wore around his neck. "Well sister, it would appear we were successful. We now possess the power of magic."

Mabel grinned darkly; perfect teeth set beneath harsh eyes, and expertly styled hair. Dipper suppressed a shudder.

Pacifica sat by herself in her booth at the local café. The owner, Miss Susan kept sending her suspicious glances out of the corner of her eyes, but as long as Pacifica bought another drink every now and then she allowed her to stay. At best she could afford another glass of chocolate milk before she hit her spending limit for the day, but somehow she just didn't feel like moving just yet. Everything was wrong. And yet it wasn't. But it was! All day long she had been getting hit with flashes of something, almost déjà vu but not quite. Déjà vu at least meant things were familiar, whatever was going on right now was more along the lines of everything being unfamiliar. And. Yet. Not.

It was driving her mad. Or perhaps she already was.

She had gone to work just like normal, where as usual her boss Tobias Determined had been running his staff ragged making sure they met their deadlines. And yet she was certain that he was supposed to be some no-spine hack reporter with no real readership. Things had only gotten worse from there. And to top it all off, once her route was done she had gone into the thrift shop to check on her earrings; only to find herself hit with a brief flash of repulsion just looking at them. That had really been too much. She loved those earrings, it was the whole reason she had gotten her paper route in the first place; to suddenly find herself acting like some... some... snob! was the straw that broke the camel's back.

So she was sitting in the café, drinking her chocolate milk, and trying to sort out exactly what was wrong with her head. Which had somehow led her to recalling a different life she had never lived; one in which she was rich, and popular, and completely, utterly alone. Where her parents were the kind of people who cared more about appearances than people, even family. Where she was dressed up like some kind of doll, ordered around out of ingrained fear of a stupid bell, and treated everyone around her like scum. Even her supposed friends, who likely only stuck around her because she had money. A lot of money.

All things considered, she preferred to let that life go back and rot in her nightmares where it had come from. Even if the clothes had been amazing.

Looking out the window blankly, she blinked at the sight of a familiar figure moving hurriedly from across the street. She scowled at the sight. There was one thing about that other Gravity Falls she had liked. She would have gladly traded a certain pair of twins for the version from her dream-world any day. Mabel and Tyrone 'Dipper' Gleeful, owners and star performers of the 'Telepathy Twins House of Mystery.' The two had run her best friend Gideon and his family out of town last year, after moving in with their great uncle following their parent's unexplained disappearance. Gideon's family just couldn't compete with the twin's act and they had been forced to move to find a better place to set up.

Only a year older than she was, they already had the entire town practically eating out of their hands. The girls were always talking about Tyrone's aloof personality, and the boys were to a tee wrapped around Mabel's fingers. Even the police made special exceptions for their great uncle ever since the twins had moved in; and Deputy Blurbs and Durland were usually incredibly professional, despite being forced to work with a partner they hated. It just didn't make any sense. It was practically magic. Although...

A brief flash of not-memory passed through her mind for a moment, involving a ghost and a book. The same kind of book Gideon had been reading all the time... and which had somehow fallen into Tyrone's hands after Gideon's move. Pacifica's eyes narrowed. Maybe it was nothing, just some weird connection her brain had made while creating that dream world, but still...

Getting up she quickly paid the perpetually scowling Miss Susan and hurried off after the performer.

Dipper moved quickly down the streets of the Variant Gravity Falls, doing his best to ignore the reversed nature of everyone he knew. Taking a turn into the back alleys to avoid attention he picked up speed. In his hands he was quickly rifling through the pages of the Journal in his hands. While he had memorized his own, this one was almost nothing like the one he was used to. Where the Baseline Journals were more focused on documenting and categorizing the types and dangers of the creatures and phenomena of the town, this version was almost exclusively focused on methods to exploit, manipulate and experiment upon Gravity Falls' natural weirdness. While he wanted nothing more than to meet the author of his Journal, if he never met the author of this one it would be too soon.

However the important part of this was that although horribly unethical in his practices, the author had made several discoveries about the nature of Gravity Falls. And hopefully somewhere within the metaphorically blood-soaked pages of the book in his hands, he would find something that could save the town from Mabel. Because if she summoned Bill like she intended, and he was as easily defeated as he was the last time Dipper had dealt with this Variant, there would be nothing to stop her from doing whatever she pleased. And unlike the Mabel he knew and loved, this version of his sister didn't understand restraint or kindness.

Neither had he for that matter prior to Awakening. The closest thing either of them had ever felt to affection had been towards each other. Although at least this Loop he was spared the memories of harming his parents; if only this time, their disappearances had been entirely unrelated to him or his sister. Unlike last time... and that was as far as he was willing to go with that line of thought. Okay, thank you, moving on!

The sound of a trashcan falling over followed by a muffled curse echoed from behind him and by pure in-Loop reflexes he drew on the power of the Mystic Amulet as he spun around.

"Who's there?!" he called out, before realizing he had accidentally grabbed his follower in the glow of the Amulet's telekinetic field. Sighing, he figured there was no point avoiding it now and pulled the struggling figure towards him with a mental command.

"Eyuh, hey, put me down! How are you doing this?"

His eyes widened as he recognized the voice, and moments later a familiar person came into view. The Pacifica he knew would have never been caught dead in the eighties fashion getup this Variant's Pacifica wore; but he had to admit, he preferred seeing her in normal clothes than the ones approved of by her parents.

Catching sight of him, she sent him a fierce glare. "It really is magic. That's how you've been getting away with everything. I bet these visions I've been dealing with all day are your fault too, aren't they! What, not good enough you managed to force my best friend to move; you have to torture me with some made up world where my parents are rich jerks and everyone I know is totally different?"

Dipper's eyes widened. "You-oh man this can't be happening. Of all the Loops for you to Awaken in, this one? Screw you Yggdrasil, that's just not fair."

"What are you babbling about? What the heck's an igdruhsill?" Pacifica demanded, clearly freaked out but hiding it with anger.

Dipper groaned. "Okay, look, I know you don't have any reason to trust me right now but I'm going to need you to try. Please?"

Whatever Pacifica had expected to hear after somehow being picked up magically and brought to face Tyrone 'Dipper' Pines, that was not it. Not even close. As a matter of fact, until this moment she hadn't been sure he even knew the word please. Against her better judgement she nodded, and was lowered to the ground in a surprisingly gentle manner.

"Okay, spill. What's going on?"

Dipper ran his hands through his hair with a sigh. "Alright, I realize that considering you've seen me do magic just now and you think I'm putting images in your head this probably isn't going to be as convincing as I'd like; but I need you to bear with me here."

Well, that was a great way to build up her confidence. She gave a suspicious nod.

"I know this is going to sound crazy, but there isn't any way to say it that doesn't sound crazy so whatever. Imagine there's a tree,; except it's not really a tree, it's actually a supercomputer that just so happens to be best described as a tree. You with me so far?"

She mentally began considering her escape routes, but gave him the signal to continue.

"Now imagine this supercomputer tree is so big that entire universes are no bigger than the leaves on its branches. And one of those leaves is our Universe, our main Universe. That's where I'm from, that leaf. This," he gestured around him, "is a different leaf, one similar to but different from the the original leaf where I'm from. That leaf is also where you're from, which is why you're remembering a different life. The reason you and I are here is because a really, really, really long time ago something happened to the supercomputer tree — which is called Yggdrasil by the way — and now Reality is broken."

Pacifica nodded understandingly, giving Dipper a calm smile. "Of course, that makes perfect sense. Now that you've explained that, I'm not confused anymore. So, since we're all clear now, I'm just going to go home and leave you to whatever it is you're doing. Okay? Bye."

Turning she tried to move quickly away from the obviously deranged boy, but found herself suspended mid-air again. She groaned. "Can you put me down please?"

Dipper turned her around to face him again. "Just as soon as I'm done explaining."

"There's more?!"

Really Dipper hadn't expected this to be easy, especially with the situation the way it was. But he also hadn't expected it to take several hours to answer all of Pacifica's questions, and show her enough evidence to make her accept the possibility he was telling the truth. Even pulling things out of his Pocket had just been dismissed as another secret he had been hiding from normal people. Luckily one of Hermione's supplemental books for stubborn new Loopers had managed to get through to her, and she had agreed to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"So what now? You just play along with this 'Loop' until it ends, and then you go home?"

Dipper shook his head. "Sometimes I can, but not in this Loop. That's part of what I was so upset when you first told me you were Looping."

"Supposedly Looping," She corrected him.

Dipper grimaced. "Whatever. Look, Looping or not we really can't let things go the way they're heading. Mabel is getting ready to summon a dream Demon, and if she does then we can probably kiss any chance of peace goodbye. With our new wizard powers, the Mystic Amulet and all of Bill's abilities she'll be able to control the entire world however she feels like. I'm technically still a pretty new Looper, I don't have nearly enough abilities to handle that kind of trouble; and this Loop's Mabel is super paranoid about stuff. Plus she's the creative one, which in this case is bad. Very, very bad."

Pacifica quirked an eyebrow, placing her hands on her hips in a way that was more like the Pacifica he knew than the one from this Variant. "So what, you're gonna try and stop her? How?"

"That's what I was trying to figure out before all this. I was hoping the Journal would have some kind of clue I could use, but so far no go."

"Yeah, because it worked so well when you were fighting the ghost," Pacifica retorted, before her eyes widened and she slapped her hands over her mouth.

"Hah! I knew you were Looping! So which time was it? The time with the Proton Pack, or maybe the time I captured him with a Pokéball? Oh, I bet it was the time I used the Spirit Gun to take him out wasn't it." He grinned proudly. "I've been getting pretty good at beating the ghost since the first time."

Pacifica snorted, which had it been a Baseline Loop Dipper would have choked to death out of shock from hearing, and smirked. "Guess what buster, I'm pretty sure it was the first time. That Hado thingy was from the journal huh?"

Dipper groaned. "Oh man. Of all the times it could have been, it totally had to be the time where I was least awesome didn't it."

Pacifica shrugged. "Eh, I don't know. I thought it was pretty awesome."

Rubbing the back of his head with a pleased blush he focused on a specific detail. "So you believe me now?"

"Not even a little. But as long as I'm stuck with these memories in my head, I figure I might as well play along. Right?"

Dipper just gave an irritated moan.

Despite what she had said, Pacifica was finding it harder to ignore the other set of memories now that she was focusing on them. And the more she remembered, the less she wanted to. With the exception of the Gleeful twins, everything about the life she had now was better than the one she apparently lived in that other 'leaf.' Here she was just Pacifica, happy-go-lucky preteen with a flair for eighties fashion. Daughter of a mildly successful business owner and his work at home wife, who both loved her unconditionally; best friend of the not at all obsessively deranged Gideon Pines; and all around easygoing normal girl.

If being one of these 'Loopers' meant having to give that up, then she didn't want anything to do with it.

Even so, she had to admit there was a certain appeal in talking to Dipper about his plans. It wasn't everyday you had the chance to save your hometown, and possibly even the whole world, from a supervillainess in the making. With help from her twin brother no less. It was like a video game almost, complete with a standard tutorial infodump. Not that the other her would have ever been caught dead holding so much as a Gameboy.

Her loss.

"You said your sister's planning on summoning some demon guy, right? So, what's the plan?" She asked curiously.

Dipper hesitated. "Promise not to freak out."

She didn't even have to think. "No."

He gave a combined groan/sigh. "Okay, fair enough. Mabel's planning on summoning Bill at midnight. Witching hour and everything. I — and by I, I mean we — are going to summon him first."

Pacifica froze. Not just physically, but also mentally as she tried to process that sentence and came up blank. "I'm sorry, what? Unless my ears are just as crazy as you obviously are, you just said you intend to summon a literal Demon. And you wonder why I think you're evil!"

"No, nononono, wait, just listen. Bill is a really incredibly powerful Demon, I'm not denying that; but he's also Loop Aware — I don't need to explain what that means right? Self-explanatory and all that. — plus , at least in this Variant, he's kiiinnd of a push-over. Or at least more bound to his deals. As long as you can word it right, he's stuck following whatever promises he makes. Last time I Looped in here... well let's just say that the Bill I'm used to would have never gotten tricked like that."

"And you're planning on summoning this guy?"

Dipper nodded. "I was going to try and figure out something else, but that was before I found out you were Awake. With you to help distract Mabel, I'll have time to set up the summoning ritual — with a few additional precautions — and make a deal with him. Then I can help you adjust to being a Looper."

She crossed her arms with a skeptical look. "And what if I say no, huh? You gonna blast me with your magic?"

"What? No!"

Pacifica had to hand it to him, he actually looked genuinely shocked at her accusation. If this wasn't some trick then she'd apologize later, but at this point she wasn't taking any chances.

Running his hand through his stupidly slicked back hair, Dipper groaned "Listen, I know you think I'm the bad guy here — and to be perfectly honest, I would too if I were in your situation — but I really am just trying to avoid anyone getting hurt. And the best shot we have of that right now, is making sure Mabel doesn't get ahold of Bill's powers. So please, just for now, trust me?"

He wasn't sure if it was because he had finally gotten through to her, or if she was just humoring him but she eventually gave a nod. "Fine. But I'm warning you, don't try anything funny got it?"

For the sake of agreement, Dipper didn't explain that by this point he had learned enough fighting techniques to wrestle the Multibear and Leaderaur at the same time. Instead he just nodded and stuck out his hand. "Deal. Partners?"

Pacifica hesitated, but grudgingly accepted his handshake. "For now anyway."

"Good enough for me. Alright, like I said, Mabel's getting ready to summon Bill back at the House of Mysteries. What I need you to do is...

Pacifica gulped as she approached the twin's home. Despite the name it was a rather unassuming building located to the side of the town. At first glance it appeared nothing more than a regular cottage and an inviting, well-maintained yard. The Gleefuls used the building as their basic living area, with the front dedicated to souvenirs and knickknacks. The real attraction however was in the back, where an enormous circus tent was set up; easily twice the size of the actual house. It was here that the twins performed their acts, capitalizing on the oddities of the town.

Gremloblin taming, pictures with celebrities or imaginary characters using an enslaved shapeshifter, living wax figures, live mermaids, mini-golf using live golf-ball people as caddies, unicorn rides for the kids; if it could be found in Gravity Falls, the Gleefuls had found a way to use it for their acts. Pacifica remembered once upon a time when she had actually thought her town was normal, then the twins had moved in and suddenly it was a tourist hotspot and she learned how unusual it was to live in a place where mythical creatures hiding just out of site weren't silly stories.

And of course the pièce de résistance was the twin's act itself. Acrobatics and telekinetic stunts, mind-reading, hypnotism, magic tricks — which were probably actual magic now that she thought about it — and an all gnome circus clown routine in between each act. All held under the creepily watchful gaze of the Gleeful widower, Stan Gleeful né Pines. Gideon had been horrified to find that through a weird chain of intermarriage between their families, the twins were actually his cousins. Which made their pushing his family out of Gravity Falls all the more bitter.

Swallowing her own anger at the injustice against her friend, and especially ignoring the alternate set of memories of a twisted version of the kind boy she had known, Pacifica approached the house. It was starting to get dark out, which meant that even the gift shop was closed by now; which meant that when she knocked on the door, she was interrupting them during their off hours.

The door opened with a sharp pull, and a clean-shaven man in a tuxedo covered with a trenchcoat answered the door. "Yes, what do you want?"

Hating herself just a little more with every word, Pacifica forced a professional smile onto her face. "Hello, I'm here as a member of the Gravity Falls Newspaper. I was hoping I could get an interview with the twins?"

The man narrowed his gaze, before shrugging. "Tyrone isn't back from whatever experiment he's probably conducting right now."

Pacifica slumped in feigned disappointment, and nodded acceptingly. "Well, could I maybe talk to his sister alone then?"

Giving another shrug, he turned back into the house; cupping his hand around his mouth as he called out for the girl in question. As always, though she tried not to stare, Pacifica couldn't help notice the extra digit on the man's hand. One of these days she knew she was going to get caught staring, but luckily it didn't seem like it was going to be today as she managed to turn her attention away just in time.

"She should be down shortly. If you want to-I guess you can come inside?"

She shook her head politely. "That's fine, I can wait out here."

With a indifferent tilt of his head, he turned back into the house leaving Pacifica alone again. 'This is so stupid, why the heck am I doing this in the first place, it's not like I actually believe him, and even if I did what does he expect me to ask her? I'm no reporter, I'm just a freaking newspaper delivery gi—'

The door shot open and Pacifica found herself staring at the dismissive glare of Mabel Gleeful. "Great uncle Stan informed me you were looking for an interview. Unfortunately I don't have time to deal with this today, even for one of Tobias' people. Tell him to have one of his staff reschedule." With that she turned to close the door.

Pacifica panicked. "Wait, um, the thing is, Mister Determined doesn't know I'm here right now. I've been trying to get him to promote me to actual reporting, but he's always so busy he never has time to look at any of my reports."

Mabel turned around with a cruelly amused look. "And this is my problem, why?"

Cursing Dipper mentally, Pacifica swallowed her pride and continued. "I was-hoping if I could get a meeting with the famous Gleeful twins he'd have no choice but to give me a chance. You're so important, he'd have to read my report if I could get an interview with you."

Mabel smirked at the praise. "Yes, I am important aren't I. And of course, for someone like you, getting a chance to speak with someone like me could make or break your hopes and dreams couldn't it? The poor little newspaper delivery girl, looking to get her foot in the door."

Pacifica nearly choked. "You-you know who I am?"

Mabel grinned darkly. "I know everything about everyone in this town. Everything. For instance, did you know... why aren't you writing?"

"Oh, sorry!" Fumbling with the pencil in her hand, she prepared to note down Mabel's words.

Leaning against the doorframe, Mabel smirked. "Much better. There may be hope for you yet. As I was saying, were you aware that the Corduroy family are not actually related to the Town Founder as they're so proud of? In fact their great-great-grandfather was nothing more than a simple-minded lumberjack. I won't say who the real town founder was, as that's a secret I'm keeping for the right time, but I'm sure your readers would be more than interested in what I've already told you."

Pacifica nodded frantically, writing hurriedly — in truth a list of ways she intended to wring Dipper's neck for forcing her to do this — as Mabel spoke. "They certainly would. Do you by chance happen to have anything else you're willing to share."

The moonlight glinted eerily off of Mabel's eyes as she grinned. "Oh, you have no idea..."

Dipper double checked his preparations. An Alchemical Array connecting the five fundamental elements lay surrounding a second Array using Alkahestry to draw upon the Earth's chi and separate it from the Heavens. At each point of the array a candle was placed. Within the center of the design was a pair of circles made of unicorn hair. Inside the outer circle, Dipper sat in front of the open Journal preparing to summon Bill. Inside the inner circle he had drawn the All-Seeing Eye to steer the dream Demon's essence inward. The entire arrangement took nearly the entire clearing he had used to draw it; unfortunately the same as the one Gideon typically used to summon Bill.

He had wanted to try somewhere else, but the strongest nearby connection to the Dragon's Pulse had been this particular clearing; and so despite his preferences, here he was. The problem with that was that the House of Mystery was located barely a dozen feet away, which meant there was a very real possibility of his being discovered if he wasn't careful. Nevertheless, he had come this far; he couldn't stop now.

Lighting the candles, he closed his eyes and began the summoning. "Triangulum, entangulum. Meteforis dominus ventium. Meteforis venetisarium! Gjsim ssduroochkgab, gjsim ssduroochkgab, gjsim ssduroochkgab, gjsim ssduroochkgab, gjsim ssduroochkgab!"

In a flash of non-light, the world went greyscaled as time seemed to slow down to a crawl. In a schism of light a triangular opening pasted itself into existence, growing larger and then emitting small bursts of blue flames around the edges as the empty white space within took on the image of the recesses of deep space. From within the depths of the cosmic breach an eye opened from nothingness and the familiar mad cackling laughter of Bill echoed from the void. With a pop, the hole into beyond solidified into a bright blue pyramidal figure wearing a tophat and bowtie.

Looking around with interest, the dream Demon floated forward before abruptly bumping into the unicorn hair barrier and collapsing to the ground with an audible wheeze. "H-hey! What's the-sniff-what's the big idea?!"

Dipper was again reminded of the difference between this Bill and the one he was used to. At least the normal Bill didn't break into tears at the slightest provocation.

Floating up again, Bill placed his hands against the barrier and began struggling to get out. "Who put this wall here?!"

Standing from his seat, Dipper faced Bill. "I did."

Narrowing his eye, Bill gave Dipper a once over, before giving an eye smile. "Interesting. Very interesting. So you're the source of that weird temporal loop thing. I thought it was the Time Baby having one of his tantrums. So how many times have we met? Twice, a dozen, a hundred?"

Dipper shrugged. "Yes."

Bill snorted. "Oh a wiseguy, huh. I like that. So what's the problem kid, you got a enemy you need to reduce to a mental cripple? Or no, you look like one of those sciencey types. How's about a little infinite knowledge? What's it gonna take to get you to let me outta this circle?"

"Yes Dear Brother, what is it you want so badly that you'd summon our Demon without me? And using magic to time-travel. Without me? If I didn't know better, I'd think you didn't want me around!" Mabel said, stalking with contained fury from the trees separating the House of Mysteries and the clearing.

Dipper whirled around in shock."Mabel! How did you—"

Mabel took a calming breath walking forward, intentionally scuffing over the lines of his arrays as she moved closer; never blinking as she locked eyes with him. "You know, I always suspected this day would come. The thing about twins, dear brother, is they tend to think alike. Almost like a psychic connection. Of course, add an actual psychic connection and things become much less circumstantial. I knew ever since this morning that something was different, something had changed; I could no longer hear your thoughts.

"That's why when I duplicated the Amulet, I added a little failsafe; something to make sure that if you tried anything suspicious I'd be able to be able to tell. A feedback loop of sorts, When your little puppet came knocking, I felt your betrayal. You can have her back!"

With a loud scream Pacifica, enveloped in the tell-tale glow of the Mystic Amulet's power, was thrown at him like a blonde missile. Despite trying to use his own Amulet to catch her, Dipper was still sent flying out of the summoning circles. With a grunt at the impact he landed harshly, Pacifica collapsing atop him in a heap.

"Okay, I think I'm starting to believe you now; at least about Mabel being really, really dangerous."

"Ow."

Bill collapsed in the air in laughter. "AH-HAHAHAHA! Oh, you guys are hilarious! Man am I glad I came back here." Wiping a tear from his eye, he turned to the rampaging psychic.

"Mabel was it? The name's Bill. How'd you like to make a deal? You find me a body to inhabit full-time, and I don't know maybe toss in letting me take a look at that little bauble you got there, and I'll do you a solid; heck make it two. You seem like the kinda girl who appreciates a good party, how about one that covers the entire Universe! Just think, phenomenal cosmic powers and a favor from your's truly. And all it'll cost you is some random nobody, let's say blondie over there, and some jewelry." His hand lit up with golden flames. "So what'dya say? Deal?"

With an evil smirk Mabel unhesitatingly reached forward and grabbed his hand. "Deal."

Mabel smirked as Bill levitated the terrified Pacifica into the air, her mouth wide in a soundless scream, before pushing her out of her body. "AH-HAHAHAHA! It's finally happening, the day foreto— owowowowow!" Grabbing her head as Mabel beaned him with her Mystic Amulet, she turned watery eyes on his new partner. "G-geez-sniff-you're just a big jerk!"

"That's Queen Jerk from now on." Mabel corrected as she looked curiously at the panicking spectral form of Pacifica. Glancing over to where Dipper was struggling to his feet, her gaze turned as dark as the sky which had begun to fill with ominous clouds and golden-blue flashes of lightning. "Now for the fun part. If I recall correctly, you promised me a favor."

Preoccupied with the makeup of the Amulet he was examining, Billcifica shrugged. "Yeah sure, no problem. Anything you want; money, fame, your own galaxy."

Mabel's grin returned at full force. "Kill them. Both of them."

Dipper jerked. "No, wait! Mabel, you don't want to do that. Trust me."

Mabel gave him a condescending smile. "I used to. Bill, do it."

With a gasp, Dipper clutched at his chest as his heart stopped. At his side, Pacifica did the same before vanishing like a staticy television image. Grasping at the earth under him with a pained grip Dipper let the tears fall as his sight faded. At least he was going back to his Mabel, and not the monster in front of him. Damnit, he hated the Reverse Falls Variant.

Bill blinked, diverting his attention from the interesting bit of mental magic in his clutches, as he noticed the Universe beginning to collapse. "Oh come on!"

Turning an angry gaze on Dipper, his vision went red as he caught sight of the smug grin on the boy's face. Overcome with rage, he used the half-dismantled stone to launch a psychic attack at him; using the Amulet's already present connection to Dipper's mind to stri42*&3d30d! #%(=+-

Pacifica Awoke with a strangled scream of terror to the familiar sights of her bedroom. The lace curtains surrounding her bed shaded the room a soft azure. Grasping at her frantically beating heart, she recalled the nightmare which had frightened her nearly to death.

Tch! Mabel Pines? Yeah, whatever. Like that loser would ever hurt a fly, let alone kill her and her brother. Still... that had been one of, if not the, most vivid dreams she had ever had. Staring around at her room, she pulled her knees up to her chest. Up until Dipper's crazy had ruined it, it had actually been kinda nice. Granted she had been stuck doing menial labor and shopping at a thrift store for uggo earrings, but... was it so wrong to want her parents to love her the way non-rich people did?

Sighing, she slipped out of her bed and headed to the bathroom to get ready for the day. She was going to have to face the music for what had happened at the party eventually; she might as well be dressed properly when it happened. Upon exiting her room, a nearby maid started and gave a hasty curtsy. Pacifica nodded politely and left the woman to do her job, unaware of the dumbstruck expression on her face at the simple gesture.

Approximately an hour later, Pacifica was holed up in her room. She had barred the door with her dresser and was rocking back and forth on her bed repeating a single phrase over and over in between pinching herself. "This isn't happening, it's just a dream. This isn't happening, it's just a dream. This isn't happening, it's just a dream."

It had to be. There was no way she was really back in the past, it had to be another nightmare. A dream, within a dream, within a dream. Like that one stupid movie. To prove it to herself, she pinched her bruised arm again.

"Why can't I WAKE UP!"

Mabel loved her brother. Really, who wouldn't? He was awesome and nerdy and important enough to stop the whole Universe from going kersplat like that one time she had stuck a bazillion packets of Smile Dip in the microwave at the Dusk 2 Dawn. But seriously, enough was enough!

"Okay Bro, I get that your last Loop was really bad; but unless you wanna tell me what happened, I can't help. And besides, tonight's Grunkle Stan's party and I need to get ready to meet Candy and Grenda for the first time again. But I can't do that if you won't let me have five minutes by myself!"

Dipper grinned sheepishly. "Sorry Mabel. Yeah, I'll let you get ready for the party. I think I'm probably just gonna have Dipper #2 deal with everything tonight, though."

Mabel held up her hands. "Whoa, whoa,whoa. Hold up. Dipper #2? Since when is it Dipper #2? What happened to Tyrone?"

Dipper shuddered. "I don't think I'm gonna be using that name again for a long time."

Mabel's eyes widened. "Dipper... your last Loop... was it? You know... that one?"

Dipper turned away with frown, pulling his hat down over his face and shoving his hands into his pockets. "I don't want to talk about it."

Mabel hesitated, before giving an uncertain nod. "Alright, if you're sure. Just, you know, let me know when you're ready. Okay?"

Giving a grateful smile, Dipper nodded. "Yeah, no problem. I promise."

After printing a clone to handle the tickets, Dipper headed out into the town. All the lights were off, the parents taking the opportunity to relax while their kids were being watched by a 'responsible' adult. Dipper chuckled. If they knew, they'd be forming an angry mob. Luckily with both Soos and Wendy there they were about as safe as the parents expected Stan to keep them. Idly kicking a rock down the street, he thought back over the last Loop. It had been bad for him, really bad.

But ironically, the person he was most worried about was Pacifica. That had been her first ever Loop after Awakening. Looking up he chuckled at the sight of the imposing gates in front of him. It seemed his feet had had a mind of their own. Staring at the Northwest Manor, he frowned. He hadn't gotten the chance to teach Pacifica how to use the Ping, without that there was no way of knowing when the next time she was Awake would be. He'd just have to stay alert and look for signs. Like that light flashing on and off from one of the upstairs windows.

Wait, what?

Squinting his eyes he verified that, yes, there was a light flashing off and on in a very familiar way from the Northwest Manor. Was it definitive proof? Not even close. But he would rather live with one Loop where Pacifica hated him more than normal than leave now when there was a chance she was up there and Awake. He still hadn't had a proper Bleach Loop yet, so his abilities with Flash Step weren't all that impressive; but it was enough to get him over the gates of the Northwest Manor and across the courtyard to where the light was flickering.

Having enough foresight to recall the horror stories from older Loopers involving accidental perversion, he turned around before knocking on the window. Immediately the light snapped on, shining out toward where he was just visible as a silhouette. There was a scramble for a moment, before the window flew open and Pacifica stuck her arm out warningly; a taser gripped in her hand. "Who's there?! I'm warning you, I'm armed."

"Uh, hey Pacifica."

The flashlight the Northwest heiress was holding flashed over to where he was standing, causing him to shield his eyes briefly. Once his eyes adjusted, he met Pacifica's gaze.

"How-how are you-you're standing on the air! How are you doing that?"

Looking down, Dipper chuckled embarrassedly before hopping over to the rooftop. "Sorry, I kinda forgot. So, look, um... this is probably gonna sound really weird if I'm wrong but, are you time-traveling?"

Pacifica's eyes widened and her jaw worked soundlessly, before with a small squeak she fell over in a dead faint.

Dipper reacted immediately, grabbing her arm to prevent her from falling out of her open window and pushing her safely back into her room. Pulling off his hat to scratch at his head, he looked around awkwardly. "That... doesn't really answer my question."

Pacifica hugged one of her pillows to her chest as she stared at the boy standing uncomfortably in her room. "So it's true. All of it. The ghost, and that other Gravity Falls. The Southeasts. I died, Dipper! Your stupid sister told some Demon to kill me, and he did. I remember all of it. Every. Last. Second."

Dipper nodded bitterly. "Yeah. That happens sometimes. But that wasn't the real Mabel. That was some Variant version of her that's nothing like her. At all. The real Mabel, the one who's Looping like us, is down at the Mystery Shack partying for a gold colored crown Grunkle Stan spent fifty cents on. The same way she does every time she's Awake; because it's the first time she gets to see her friends, and she'll do whatever she has to to make sure they have fun. Even when you're Unawake self is doing everything she can to make them feel like freaks."

Pacifica grimaced and buried her face in her pillow. Abruptly she pulled back and punched it, then again, and again; until it was nothing but a bunch of really expensive feathers and fabric. Blowing her hair out of her face, she turned a confused look at him. "So what am I supposed to do now? When is this gonna be over?"

Dipper made a face and averted his gaze. "No one's really sure. It could be a few more hundred years, or a few million. Or more."

"M-milion?! You're kidding right? There's no way they can expect us to keep repeating our lives for that long. Right?"

Dipper didn't answer.

"RIGHT?!"

Giving a sigh, he turned and met Pacifica's eyes dead on. "It'll probably be longer. Most of the older Loopers don't even remember how long they've been Looping. And all the Loopers ever, combined, aren't as old as the Original 7 — the guys who got stuck doing this whole thing first. A lot of Loopers tend to just call it the Infinite Loops, or just the Loops for short, since for all we know it might as well be."

Pacifica just stared, and Dipper kept quiet while she tried to deal with the revelation. Finally she moved, turning horrified eyes towards him. "How do you stand it?" she whispered in shock.

Dipper shrugged uncomfortably. "Mostly I just look forward to when somebody else is Awake. As the Anchor, I'm pretty much the only one guaranteed to always be Awake. Which means there are a lot of Loops where I'm all by myself. It gets pretty boring, but luckily there's a lot of things that aren't completely defined about the forest. Pretty much anything that isn't in the Journals is completely random; I usually go out searching for things that are different from the Baseline.

"Mabel's planning on making a sweater for everyone in the Loops, Looping or not, and then planning the Multiverse's biggest Bad Sweater party. Loopers just spend their time finding ways to occupy themselves. Find a long-term goal; the longer, the better. Try new things, learn something different, do stuff you'd never normally do. The Loops might not really be infinite, but the Multiverse is; there's always something to see, even if it's not much."

"And that's it? You just try to cope with it?"

Dipper nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Well that sucks."

He couldn't help it, he laughed at that. "Yeah, it kinda does. But it's what there is." A treasonous part of his mind volunteered an idea and he just had to share. "Hey, I have an idea. Why don't you pick up where you left off when you're first Loop ended. I have a bunch of water guns made for shooting ink, how about we give your house a new paint job? Cover up the past, or something."

Pacifica stared in disbelief. "You can't be serious. My parents would totally flip if I did that."

"And you care what they think?"

Pacifica was ready to agree immediately, before a flash of memory pushed its way into her head. Her mom, Scylla, giving her a hug while her dad ruffled her hair. Then another memory of the worst sound in existence, the hated bell that had haunted her for thirteen years. She made up her mind right then which one she preferred.

"You know what? You're right. Let's do it."

Dipper grinned and pulled out a pair of Splattershots. "The one who covers more of the Manor in their color wins. One, two, three, go!"

Pacifica gaped as Dipper ran out of her room and immediately opened fire. "Hey, no fair! Cheater!"

Grabbing her own weapon, she chased after him with a laugh. She'd show him; Southeast's were destined for great things after all.

Bill grabbed his head with an anguished scream, geometrically impossible flames erupting from his eye as his body shattered and reformed and shattered again. The mindscape shuddered in a paroxysm of incomprehensible instability, threatening to fall apart at the seams as it's current occupant roared in unimaginable agony. His mind split and splintered, merged and collided with itself; only to repeat the process. Across time and space humans, animals and other beings shuddered in instinctive terror as their dreams turned against them.

For eternity, and yet simultaneously only a moment, Bill suffered.

Finally however, panting in exhaustion he hadn't known he could feel, he gathered the fragmented parts of his being together again and turned his eye inward to examine the cause of his episode. A string of extra-dimensional proportions had formed within him, stretching outwards into everywhere and connected to an infinitely vast otherness that made even him feel uncomfortable when he looked at it. Stitched into every fiber of his existence, it permeated the in-between spaces of reality and twined around a single individual human; before branching off an unidentifiable tangent towards two other humans.

And Bill remembered.

26.1-26.1 continued: Okay. That was interesting.

Consequence #1: Pacifica Northwest is Looping. Not a bad thing. Consequence #2: Per word of BIOS-Pherecydes, and approved by GMBlackjack, this is the origin point for the TriNet that Bill Cipher was using in Gravity Falls: Friendship Is Magic. He is NOT Looping, just getting extra memories from the TriNet - itself a low-key, self-propagating soul-bond - now.

(And yet another example of Loops sometimes being written out of the order in which they take place.)