Mabel found herself floating through her barren dreamscape once again soon after falling asleep. Again it was a empty realm, purposefully suppressed during the years since that first summer to hold back the night terrors that left her awake and screaming for the first few weeks back in California.
Mabel's aimless drifting was abruptly interrupted when something rough and wet latched onto her leg and began to drag her though the endless darkness, eliciting an unheard scream from the teenage girl. She was dragged through forever then deposited onto a fancily embroidered tea table, where a warm cup with five sugar lumps sat dissolving in front of Mabel's chair.
She continued screaming for a few seconds, then abruptly stopped and admired the table setup in front of her.
The world around her had changed to perfectly square organic room, pulsating biological matter from organs Mabel didn't recognize making up all four walls, the floor and the ceiling, her tea table a stark piece of normalcy. The wall directly across from her folded back with a sickening wet noise, revealing that a long eyeball on top of a stick was inside the wall. The bloodshot eye stared down at the girl, and the entire room shook when the voice of Bill Cipher reverberated from all sides.
"SO YOU FINALLY OPTED TO SHOW YOUR FACE IN TOWN AGAIN SHOOTING STAR? WELL LET ME BE THE FIRST TO WELCOME THE RETURN OF MY HERALD!" The voice called out mockingly as a puff of confetti was ejected from an orifice in the ceiling, falling limply onto Mabel's unamused face.
"This is just a bad dream." Mabel said to herself, working to remain calm. "Bill Cipher is dead, he can't be talking to me, so this must just be my brain responding to being back in Gravity Falls, and I'm not going to let my brain tell me what to do."
"OH, HAS SHOOTING STAR TRIED TO PICK UP A LOGICAL SIDE IN MY ABSENCE?" Bill asked sarcastically. "WELL THAT ALONE ISN'T ENOUGH TO MAKE PINE TREE LOVE YOU AGAIN."
"Good thing then that I don't need to MAKE Dipper feel anything, our twin bond is as strong and secure as ever!" Mabel spat back, angrily dismissing the voice around her.
"YOU'RE STUPID AND THAT'S WRONG!" Bill Cipher's voiced answered in a bluntly cheerful tone, drawing a frown out of Mabel. "EVEN YOU CAN TELL PINE TREE HAS BEEN HAPPIER THEN HE'S EVER BEEN IN LIFE AFTER LEAVING YOU BEHIND AND LIVING IN THIS TOWN! BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS, I CAN HELP YOU HAVE YOUR BROTHER ALL TO YOURSELF AGAIN, AND ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS WORK AS MY HERALD! IT'S NOT A HARD JOB, YOU HAVE PRIOR EXPERIENCE..."
Mabel tensed up at Bill's latest line of taunts, but quickly picked up her tea cup. "Sorry adorable kitty." she whispered to the design of a cat chasing its own tail around the cup, then hurled the drink into the bloodshot eyeball nestled among the organ material walls, the ceramic shattering on contact into the squishy orb, sharp edges drawing out spurts of black blood and agonized screaming.
"You can't hurt my family ever again Bill! Rot in hell where you belong!" Mabel screamed out as the world around her began to die and she aided it by stomping on any part of the floor that looked sensitive. The thick black blood that pulsed out of the cuts to the giant eyeball was now gushing out of the walls, bursting from veins in the organ layers with sickening snaps. The room filled up rapidly, until Mabel was submerged and drowned, screaming defiance at the dream demon all the while.
The second the dark goop strangled her throat and blocked out her eyes, Mabel awoke in her attic bedroom, soft morning sunlight illuminating her shivering form underneath her covers. "It was just a dream Mabel." she said to herself, trying to calm down. "You're just a little freaked out by that... that mass grave you saw yesterday formed from people you got killed and had a bad dream. Perfectly normal thing to have happen." She rationalized, full aware of the absurdity of the statement. "But Bill is dead and your secret is safe. Just push it all out of mind and get on with the day."
Stanford Pines was taking a morning walk through the woods. Though today was the day off for the researching family, he kept his senses open as he walked through nature, the gentle mixing of the natural and supernatural world dancing on the edge of his experienced ears.
There was much beauty in these woods that couldn't be replicated anywhere else on earth, and even with the decades of torture and hardship he suffered because of his research, Ford still loved this place and the untold secrets it held, ready to revolutionize mankind.
Indeed, his private war against Bill Cipher eventually came to strengthen Stanford's resolve to push the boundaries of human understanding. It wasn't just a world of undiscovered whimsy and wonder beyond the veil, there was danger lurking in the dark reaches of the world, danger the human race was totally unequipped to protect itself from! How many, across the ages of history, had lost someone to, or been blamed for the actions of an elusive monster than no one believed in and could not be caught?
Such creatures defied the understanding of the humans they preyed on, and to that end Ford intended to expand that understanding, carefully gather results for decades until the time was right to enter the world stage, irrefutable proof in hand! For the sake of the human race, for those who had suffered in silence! For his family...
Stanford stopped for a second and smiled. His family, the ones he's proud to acknowledge relations to, were all together again. Stanley, though still carrying a great many personal flaws (the final straw convincing the twins to relocate research back to Gravity Falls indefinitely was a bar brawl that started over someone trying to stab Stanley to death over cheating at poker), felt like a brother again, content to live out his old age his twin's side, no matter where that took them. There was newly returned Mabel, who held many of Stan's positive traits but had a young, bubbly cheer to her in addition. And Dipper...
Not a day went by when Stanford Pines didn't feel proud of Dipper. Of course the boy was admirable for his natural curiosity and dedication to truth, but Ford ultimately admired him for his wisdom. Though the two walked the same path, Dipper had avoided many of the same pitfalls Ford had, and when he did succumb he learned quickly. The master teaches the student, and the student teaches the master.
Stanford's musing were interrupted when he heard a twig snap nearby. Though his first instinct was to hide in a nearby bush, he held himself in place. He was in Gravity Falls among family and friends, and that was simply one of his paranoid habits he was trying to break. "Hello? Anyone else out here today?"
Dread began to build inside Stanford as not only was there no reply to his query, but that the forest grew unnaturally silent in response while a heinous scent had blown in on the wind. The scientist discreetly felt through his coat to see that one of Stanley's "anti-ladder wielding maniac" firearms, this one a deceptively high powered handgun, that technically was actually Stanford's, was still there, which it was.
He wasn't working to break ALL his paranoid habits, after all.
Now cautious and verging on gagging from the smell, Ford began to move slowly and softly, senses open wide. The silence was deafening out here, a far and unnatural cry from the usually vibrant background hum of forest life. It had been like this in the first few weeks after Wierdmaggedon, when everything living had fled or been killed by Bill's rampaging forces. Even the trees and the grass had seemingly shrunk and stunted in vain attempts to escape notice, while the stench of death permeated every inch of land.
After a short sweep of the area, Ford made a discovery that made his blood run cold.
Painted in blood to the trunk of a tree was an effigy Bill Cipher, drawn perfectly from the tip of his hat to the end of his feet. Sitting at the base of the tree was the creature whose blood had been collected for the drawing, a black bear with its throat savagely cut and its chest cavity torn open, guts spilling out upon the forest floor, curiously short of swarming insects, which would normally be upon such a carrion feast in moments. Despite the immense amount of gore scattered over the forest floor, the tree trunk was immaculate besides the finely done blood painting, free of splatters and running lines.
On instinct Ford waded into the guts of the slaughtered animal and began recklessly striking the trunk of the tree, bloodying his knuckles in the process of knocking loose the chunk of bark the blood was painted on then stomping it to splinters when it was on the ground, rupturing a spilled bit of bear intestine in the process.
Once the wood had practically been reduced to sawdust by his manic stomping, Ford came to a stop and set his hand against the tree, trying to catch his breath and calm his body, which burned with fight or flight instincts and chemicals.
"Calm down Stanford, be logical about this." the scientist thought to himself. "We cannot panic and make a mistake... like last time."
Stanford was thinking back to an incident that occurred roughly a year into Dipper's apprenticeship, one he still carried regret for to this day. Bill Cipher imagery had been turning up around town, first as crudely drawn back alley graffiti, but slowly became bigger and more public over time, while being joined by increasingly creatively butchered stray cats. People were scared, and the Pines promised to investigate.
Stanford, despite his own certainty that the memory gun had killed Bill for good, had failed to control his own fear of a possible return to life by the demon, and to his great shame, that fear infected Dipper. The boy had been relentlessly frightened and paranoid over this possibility, refusing to sleep and staying close to Ford at all times, calling his side "the only place I'm remotely safe if Bill has returned."
Ford would look into Dipper's eyes when they journeyed together to investigate the clues, and saw a mirror to his own pain.
Eventually the trail had lead to a scrap hut out in the woods, inhabited by a single man whose name they never managed to learn: he had no identification and no family or friends could identify him. It was an unsettling thought to all members of the Pines family, and a reality Ford had briefly lived.
Based on a collection of scattered personal journals, he had been dragged under the earth by one of Bill's friends during Wierdmageddon, trapped in a completely dark underground space he just barely fit in, unable to move, and viciously tortured from the dark by things he couldn't even see. Though his writing was scrawled and incomprehensible when it came to the subject of his suffering, gleaned points included rats devouring his legs (which a medical examination found fine), an appendage from the dark plucking out his eyes (which were still there) and his skin peeled back so his nerves could be burned with a heat source, which disturbingly came across as the most possible due to scarring on both arms.
As his writings detailed, terror and hopelessness so controlled this man that he forsook the god he'd been raised to believe in, spewing hatred at Him for not even allowing him to die from this torture, and desperately began calling out to Bill Cipher, whose entrance to this world demonstrated his great power, and endlessly prayed, begged and bargained for even momentary freedom from his torture until his throat went raw, then continued screaming in his head.
The unknown man never truly escaped the hole. As the town returned to normality, he bore deep psychological scars from his experiences (as many residents did) and eventually began to hallucinate his tortures again, and after discarding his identity and fleeing into the woods did not let him escape the monsters in his head, he began worshiping Bill, hopelessly appealing to the only deity with dominion over these monsters. The symbols he scattered across down and the cats he slaughtered were monuments and sacrifices to Bill's glory, material offerings meant to inspire divine intervention.
Of course, the two didn't know all that until well after everything was done, and upon breaching the forest dwelling scrap metal hut, a wildly disheveled and dirty man who'd painted rough pictures of Bill all over his house in bodily fluids attacked them. Noting numerous self-inflicted wounds and a willingness to ignore pain when Ford tazed him, the two assumed he was possessed by Bill, and to save his Grunkle and himself, Dipper found a shovel leaned against and wall and bashed away at the man, who was distracted hitting Ford with a bottle that wouldn't shatter.
Running on rage and fear, Dipper continued striking the man even after he'd been driven away from Grunkle Ford and forced to the ground. In the end, the older man had to pull the shovel from Dipper's grip as he was winding up for another hit, causing Dipper to jump out of his own skin in fear before collapsing from guilt. In the end, they figured out the man wasn't possessed and Bill was still dead. He was taken to a hospital, and eventually a mental institution.
Dipper and Ford had spent a long time talking about this, Dipper's feelings of guilt and pain eating him alive, awful memories of being possessed and tortured that one summer. They hugged, and Ford spent a long time assuring his nephew that Bill was dead forever.
These memories, though painful, filled Ford with resolve. He pulled out his smart phone (unlike Stanley, he had acquired one as soon as he learned about the concept) and shot Dipper a quick text message saying he was going to have to miss game night due to working late. He resolved to determine the nature of this disturbance and close the book on it quickly, and spare Dipper's peace of mind.
Set on this course of action, Ford began searching the area for more clues.
It was around 3:00 PM when Pacifica arrived at the Mystery Shack, giving a small greeting to Soos running the front before descending down to the lab. Upon turning into the room where the messy game table was and small library of source books was kept, she experienced a small surprise.
"Hey Pacifica! You ready to play?" Mabel asked from her seat on the table while Dipper sat at the head, getting papers ready behind the divider screen.
"Mabel, I take it you're joining us tonight? I didn't know you knew how to play." Pacifica replied calmly, sensing something amiss in Mabel's intensely friendly greeting.
"She spoke up about wanting to give it a try this morning, so I've spent most of the day explaining the basics." Dipper elaborated, "And Grunkle Ford is staying out late looking at Bigfoot tracks before they vanish, so I figured tonight would be perfect for a little oneshot I've been making."
"Sir Thimble-Bob the Sweater Knight of Lollipop Land is ready for action!" Mabel exclaimed in cheer, then got an extremely serious look to her face. "He's a loose cannon who doesn't play by the rules, hunting down the bugaboos who killed his wife."
"Bugbears, Mabel." Dipper gently corrected. "You're dealing with Bugbears."
"Whatever they are, they ain't prepared for the Mabel!" The twin sister exclaimed as Pacifica took a seat across from her, and the game began.
It started off well enough, Mabel's fighter and Pacifica's rogue working well together mechanically. The adventure began simply,with large monsters raiding outland farms that need to be stopped, but took a turn for the worst when they pursued the monsters into the depths of an abandoned mine.
The first sign of trouble was a sealed door a short ways into the mine, barring further travel down but which could be opened by answering a riddle. "I depart with the morning and arrive with the night. I am all around you but hide in your sight. I can survive buried underground for decades, but can be killed with a single pick. What am I?"
"The moon!" Mabel called out really fast, then tapped her chin. "No, wait, that's not right, third sentence. Nighttime stuffiness? Crushing fear about your future? No that's harder to kill then that. Is the answer Grunkle Stan? Are you metagaming Dipper? You said that was bad!"
"Darkness." Pacifica spoke up with a smile on her face, after letting Mable run her mouth a bit. Dipper smiled at her.
"Correct." He said, and began drawing the rest of the map while Pacifica shot a smug smile at Mabel and the other girl frowned back.
The adventure continued to the bottom of the mine, where they came upon a central pit where Lord Bosscrime (as Mabel had taken to calling their Robber Baron adversary) was holed up. Pacifica wanted to circle around and prepare an ambush through a smaller passage, but as Mabel observed the map Dipper had meticulously drawn, she came up with a better idea.
Over Pacifica's objections (Dipper asked if his sister was sure, but she was doing it all in character) Mabel used the fireworks she spent her starting gold on to blast a mine cart down the tracks into the central pit, and with some exceptionally good rolls pulled of a quadrupedal rolling decapitation on the boss and his flunkies, while Pacifica cleaned up the only survivor with piddly arrow shots.
"Clever thinking there Mabel. I think you'll have the hang of this in no time." Dipper complimented, causing Mabel to bask in the praise while Pacifica crossed her arms.
But then, as they were digging through the loot, the Apple of Discord was uncovered. "...And one Dancing Blade, a finely sharpened light blade with a jade dragonfly decorated hilt." Dipper finished, describing the loot from the encounter.
"Ooh, ooh, dibs on the fancy sword!" Mabel called out.
"Mabel, you don't even know what a Dancing Blade is, much less what it does." Pacifica interjected dryly. "If you did, you'd know it would work best in my hands."
"Well, sor-ry that I don't have every little detail of your guy's nerd game memorized to the letter." Mabel replied flippantly, leaning back in her chair.
"Well since you don't, I'll tell you. Dancing Blades are magic weapons that can fly and fight independently of the wielder, and use that persons mental stats as the controlling attribute. Which means my character will get the most out of it..."
"Not so fast, Northwest!" Mabel interjected. "My character's raw weapon fighting skills outnumber your mental advantage!" She said energetically, then glanced down with a frown. "...I think."
The two girls poured over their character sheets, crunching the numbers as Dipper just sat at the edge of the table, growing a little nervous and looking for the exact rules on Dancing Blades to have somewhere to put his attention.
Both the players completed their math at roughly the same time, revealing that their two very different stat blocks added up to make them exactly equal in using the Dancing Blade. As a result, the arguing got more intense.
"Mabel, just pass it to me. You're new and won't use it properly." Pacifica said in a demanding tone, drawing a curious frown from Dipper. She was normally very laid back and informal about the game, and her sudden bout of seriousness was out of the norm.
"I'm the one who took out the boss holding it AND I found it, so it's mine to do what I want with!" Mabel argued back. The two girls stared daggers at each other, before breaking into smiles as it seems they hit on the same solution simultaneously. They turned in unison to look at an increasingly awkward feeling Dipper.
"Dipper..." Pacifica asked softly, widening her eyes at him. "Who do you think should have this?"
"C'mon Dippen-Dots, show some faith in your sister here!" Mabel spoke up cheerfully. "I can handle it!"
"Don't drag me into this argument!" Dipper cried out, clearly nervous now. "This isn't the DM's job to rule on things like this, you guys need to sort it out within the party."
"Are you sure you can't sort this out for us just this once?" Pacifica asked him, but Mabel abruptly cut in.
"Hey, cut it with the puppy dog eyes you meddlesome hussy!" Mabel yelled at her, provoking immediate anger from Pacifica.
She breathed out a shocked "You little brat..." but quickly suppressed her anger, balling her fists and scooting her chair back while glaring at the other girl. "I'm going upstairs to get some cold water."
"You have a bottle right next to..." Dipper stated, but trailed off as the blond pushed the bottle to the floor without even looking at it and walked out. As soon as she was gone, Dipper buried his head in his hands while Mabel perked up.
"So, that was unpleasant, on with the game?" She asked.
Dipper simply let out a groan. "I thought you guys were cool with each other after the whole golf thing." He said in a low tone, audibly disappointed but not directed at anyone besides himself. He pulled his hands from his eyes and looked at Mabel with genuine bafflement. "Is this some kind of girl thing I'm just not getting?"
Mabel waved her hand dismissively. "Nah, I guess Pacifica was still just a mean girl after all. Don't worry about her though Dipper, you sis will keep you safe."
Dipper was actually frowning at this, unnerving Mabel somewhat. "I know you mean well and just want to look out for me Mabel, but you're wrong about Pacifica though I don't blame you for that, you haven't been here to see how she's changed." He described, passion building in his voice. "She genuinely wants to change herself and be a good person, and she's made a lot of genuine effort in that regard! She's a really good friend, and tonight just kind of came out of nowhere."
Mabel was growing increasingly worried the more Dipper talked about her. She was detecting some strong feelings coming off her brother. "And... well, you did kinda start on the wrong foot when you two first met again back in town." He added reluctantly, then asked very seriously. "So Mabel, please, as a favor to me, could you go upstairs and try to talk this out with her? I'm sure Pacifica will apologize if you guys work out whatever is wrong between you two."
"Of course Dipper." Mabel said reassuringly as she got up, then did a little dance of victory as soon as she was alone in the elevator.
"I've made my move and successfully drawn the backwards 4 space card right out the gate! I'll sink my little plastic green piece and promote him to checkmate in no time!" Mabel thought with glee, remembering a simpler board game the family would play a long time ago. "I'll uncover this Northwest's true angle soon enough!"
As Mabel walked out from behind the vending machine, she found her rival standing in front of a sink, holding a glass of ice water in her hands but not really paying attention to it. "I'm guessing Dipper asked you to try and patch things up between us?" Pacifica asked without turning around, as she heard Mabel's soft but quick footsteps approach.
"Oh, so you think just because I'm out of the picture for a couple of years and he gets all sweaty when you bat your eyelashes at him, you suddenly know Dipper better then his lifelong twin sister?" Mabel asked pointedly, finding a spot on a nearby wall for what she could tell was going to be a heated argument,
"I know Dipper better then his twin sister because I actually listen to him!" Pacifica shot back. Mabel was a little surprised, that wasn't one of the several responses she'd guessed was coming. "That's how I also know you so well, Mable Pines. Dipper is always talking about you, about the adventures you two shared together when you came to this town the very first time. He was so excited to have you finally coming back." She finished derisively.
Mabel's brow furrowed in confusion. "Right, this is not where I was expecting this conversation to go. Was expecting more evil cackling and proclamations of her charms having hopelessly ensnared Dipper's heart."
"He's so hard on himself in conversation, but once you actually get to know him it's obvious Dipper is such a strong person." Pacifica described, a bit of a far away look creeping into her eyes as she remembered talks and adventures. "He knows what his dreams are and refuses to compromise them, he's harshly intolerant of injustices, and he refuses to let anyone have power over him or those he loves. He's shown me an entirely new way of life, how to be able to live life without being controlled!"
Mabel gave a small snort and rolled her eyes. "Geez, you make him sound like some kind of badass action hero. Pacifica, my brother is an adorable nerdy cinnamon roll who sneezes like a kitten."
"That's because you're his blindspot." Pacifica replied, her voice low and cutting. "Unlike with everyone else, he lets you and you alone control and belittle him. I've heard all the stories: You pick at his insecurities, like his height or his voice. You offered him support over his crush on that lumberjack girl then insulted him over it! As a reward for helping save your mermaid boyfriend, you humiliated him over the internet! You always have to have things your way, and try to destroy Dipper's things when he wants a even a little bit for himself, from his disposable camera to his dreams here in Gravity Falls! But worst of all, you abandoned him when he was possessed by the devil purely to satisfy your own petty, selfish crushes."
"You're wrong! I saved Dipper from Bill Cipher when he was possessed!" Mabel shouted back, but with a twinge of uncertainty in her voice, her own memory of the incident reminding her of her own failings there.
"After he had begged you for help previously, and you left him behind to wander as helpless ghost while his body was relentlessly tortured. You didn't even take him to a hospital after!" Pacifica spat. "Do you have any idea how much that single incident hurt him? Did he ever bother to tell you, or did even he known on some subconscious level you wouldn't care?" She continued, the anger beginning to crack with a tone of worry. "We had a scare here in town a year or so ago, when some lunatic was spraying Bill graffiti everywhere. Everyone in town was terrified he was coming back, and Dipper and Doctor Pines worked night and day to see if it was true, and if Bill could be stopped."
As Pacifica reached the painful part of the memory, she stopped to breathe for a moment. "Dipper stayed so strong for the entire thing, never taking a moment to panic or cry, just kept working no matter what. When they finally figured out it was just a lone lunatic and announced it, the whole town was ecstatic! I ran over to give Dipper a hug in relief, but then... he just, fell apart on me." Mabel was growing increasingly sick to her stomach as she heard all this.
"It started with just some tears rolling down his face, but as soon as I asked him if he was okay, weeks of emotional exhaustion just hit him all at once. He was sobbing, shaking and smiling all at once. He was so scared the entire time that Bill had returned and would take revenge on him, but he kept going even when it was eating him alive because he knew if Bill was back he'd come after you next. He didn't care if he fell apart as long as YOU were safe." Pacifica spat out, her contempt for the other girl dripping from every word.
"Oh Dipper..." Mabel breathed with regret as a crushing weight settled on her, shoulders falling and her eyes clouding over as she began to understand.
Now a little calmer and her face growing harder, Pacifica finished her tirade. "A week or so later, he confessed besides me, only Doctor Pines had ever seen him in that state, and he was hoping I didn't think less of him for it. I told him of course I didn't, and though he didn't say anything, it was obvious he'd been expecting me to mock him over it, like you and Stan do, and was surprised I wasn't." Then, she got rather quiet and practically spat her next few words out. "And that's the worst part. He's never come to realize how terrible you are. You have him wrapped so far around your finger that he blames himself for problems YOU create."
Pacifica was quiet for a moment, unsure if she should be angry or victorious feeling at Mabel's inability to respond. Then, in a much softer tone, she said "I see things in you Mabel, things I was raised to be and want to get rid of. But where Dipper showed me why those things were wrong for me to hold, he still thinks the world of you."
Mabel was speechless after the dressing down she'd received, it's length and passion indicating this was clearly something Pacifica had been seething over and putting into words for a really long time. Conflicting emotions raged inside her, but before she could even begin to think of something to say back, a commotion from the front of the Shack broke the uncomfortable silence.
"Dude, we're closed right now! And even if we were, that's an employee's only door!" Soos shouted up front over the sounds of somebody pushing past him. A moment later a tall man broke threw open the door leading to the back of the building and locked his eyes on Pacifica, whose blood ran cold at the sight.
"Daddy?" she asked quietly, fear having taken over her voice.
AUTHORS NOTE
So, here we are. If this fan fic is even even slightly internet famous (got a mention on "The Reason You Suck" Speech page on TVTropes, wooh!) it's for this. Anyone whose a dedicated enough fan to read Gravity Falls fanfiction is doubtlessly aware of Mabel's status as the most polarizing character on the show, and it's pretty obvious what side of the debate I fall on. I don't hate Mabel as a person, but I am disappointed in her as a character. Nothing, at this point, can actually change the fact she was written pretty poorly, so I want to jump headfirst into the unsympathetic mess the show made her by accident, and see if something salvageable is on the other side.
...Right, now that I've made sure the review page is going to be a war zone, also, gore warning! This story gets bloody in some places! If you could not stomach the more gruesome sections in this chapter, this story may not be for you.