Blood of the Forgers

Chapter 1

Bombshell

I slowly blinked my eyes open, sitting up in the clearing I had dozed off in. I stared ahead sleepily, not really noticing anything in particular. I yawned in persistent drowsiness, and laid back down, only to find a girl suddenly staring down at me. Shocked fully awake, I jolted up, turning around to glare at her as she laughed to herself.

"Jeez, give me a break, Mabel," I protested to her prank.

"Dipper, Dipper, Dipper…" she chided softly. "I was wondering where you were…"

Yeah, before we go any further, I should probably introduce myself. My name is Dipper Pines. The girl standing in front of me, is my twin sister, Mabel. Yeah, we're pretty tight, the two of us. I can say that with absolute confidence after what happened last summer.

That year, our parents had shipped us to the sleepy town of Gravity Falls, Oregon, to live with our Grunkle (Great uncle) Stan in the woods for the summer. It looked like it would be a pretty boring summer… until one day, I found a strange journal in the woods, written by a person unknown. The journal detailed all the strange, supernatural things that resided in the town, and because of that journal, every day of that summer, Mabel and I had some pretty weird adventures.

Eventually, there came a day when Mabel and I learned something shocking about Grunkle Stan: he had a twin brother, who was the author of the journal I found. From then, the summer had turned into a desperate struggle to stop Bill Cipher, a dream demon that looked like the Eye of Providence with a cane and top hat, from opening a portal connecting our world to his, which would allow him to change reality as we know it as he pleases. He had almost succeeded, having devised a plan that would have driven a wedge between me and Mabel, but Mabel decided that she didn't want us to end up like our great uncles. She declared that no matter how far apart our lives took us, she wouldn't let anything destroy the bond we share. I realized shortly after that I felt the same way, and this gave me the strength I needed to finish a charm that would lock away the rift created by the author's dimensional gate, sealing Bill away… for a time, anyway. After that was over, Grunkle Ford decided to let his brother keep his old home, instead moving into an old lab a little further into the woods where he could continue his research.

It's been almost a year since then, and… well, quite a bit has changed since then. Mabel and I had both hit a growth spurt during the year (though Mabel is still one lousy centimeter taller than I am). I had stopped wearing my old vest in favor of a light green, sleeveless jacket with a white undershirt and blue jean-shorts. I still had that pine tree hat I got from the Mystery Shack last summer.

Mabel had changed her attire as well. She had gotten her braces out shortly after we had gone back to school, and started wearing her hair in a ponytail. Today's sweater was the red one with the shooting star on it.

Now, how about we get back to the present.

"Well… here I am. Sorry for worrying you." I turned away from her, sitting back down to stare off into the distance, thinking about that dream I just had. "What was that place? It felt so real…"

"Yeah, sure…" I heard Mabel comment behind me. "Vivid dream or not, we still need to pack, bro-bro."

I jolted to my feet at her words. I almost forgot; tomorrow, we're leaving back to Gravity Falls! I spun around to face her.

"Well, what are we waiting for!? I'll race you back home!"

"You're on, brosif."

We both crouched down, getting ready to make a mad dash back to our house here in Piedmont. At and unspoken signal, we took off running, and all thoughts of that weird dream escaped my mind. All I thought about was the friends and family we had waiting for us at Gravity Falls… Soos, Wendy, Candy and Grenda, Stan and Ford… even Robbie and Pacifica.

The trip back home seemed to go by in a blur, and before I knew it, Mabel had beaten me there, opening the front door with a look of triumph on her face. Waddles, her pet pig, ran up to meet her, squealing happily. I looked on from the porch, just watching my sister cuddle with her beloved pig for about a minute before heading up the stairs to our room.

I paused briefly as I past our parents' room, hearing Mom and Dad talking inside. Curious, I peered through the keyhole in the door, seeing my parents, Sandra and Jacob Pines, inside. Mom looked ashamed of something.

"Well, what is it, Sandra?" Dad halfway demanded of his wife. "What is it that you wanted to tell me?"

"Jacob…" Mom seemed almost hesitant to speak, and I half suspected guilt was the main reason she was telling Dad about this at all. Rather than say anything, she handed Dad a set of papers. He looked through them with an oblivious expression on his face.

"What are these?"

"DNA test results for the kids. You notice that a certain sequence is absent from one of the subjects of the test."

"And… what does that mean?"

"It means… you're not Dipper's father."

Dad recoiled in shock at Mom's statement, and I felt about ready to drop dead then and there. Dad isn't… dad? Mabel and I are only… half-siblings!?

"What? Sandra… what are you saying!?"

"I'm sorry, Jacob. The truth is… around the time the twins were born… I had an affair with another man!" I could practically hear Dad's heart shattering into a million pieces at her words. I backed away from the door in shock, somehow still hearing Mom's confession. "It was the day after that party you took me to. I was still somewhat dipsy from the night before, and I stumbled upon him. I don't remember much about him, just that he had a tattoo of the constellation of Orion the Hunter on his right shoulder… then he invited me to a hotel he was staying at… we… had the affair… then he just left, and I never saw him again."

I ran off before anything more could be said, hoping to make it to the bedroom I shared with my sister before I was caught eavesdropping on my parents. I closed the door just as I heard Dad storm out of his room, Mom crying out behind him. Why do I get the feeling he's looking to file for divorce over this?

I moaned and went ahead with packing for the trip tomorrow, but my head was still on the bombshell that just dropped… I'm a bastard child of some sleazy two-timer who sank his teeth into my mother for a one-night thing… Dad is more than likely going to file for divorce because of me… I just didn't want to believe it… but there's no denying the hard evidence she presented… I felt so ashamed…

I was broken out of my thoughts when I heard the bedroom door open, yelping in shock as I whirled around, only to see Mabel standing in the door, Waddles in her arms.

"Yeesh, sorry for barging in," she muttered, setting the pig down, and going about her own packing. "Hey, before I forget, you might want to stay away from Dad until we leave. I saw him a little earlier and he seemed pretty upset."

I stiffened slightly as she mentioned Dad being upset. "Over what?" I asked needlessly; I knew exactly what he was upset about.

"I don't know… He just stormed past me with saying anything… then I heard him start the car and drive off…"

"L-look, Mabel, let's just get our bags packed and go to bed, okay?" I hastily went back to stuffing clothes in my bag. Mabel just stared at me for a few seconds, before deciding to drop it, and doing the same as I was. She would bring this up again tomorrow morning, I was sure of it. Well, hopefully, once we actually get to Gravity Falls tomorrow, we'll forget all about it. After all, with a place as supernaturally rich as Gravity Falls, there are bound to be a lot of distractions. Furthermore, Bill is still sealed, so nothing life-threatening could possibly happen…

I had no idea how wrong I was there…