Disclaimer: Gravity Falls is property of Alex Hirsch and Disney.

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Chapter 3: A New Day

"Wendy, get up, you're going to be late for work!" Manly Dan bellowed. Startled, Wendy's body tried to leap out of bed, but the entanglement of her legs in the sheets caused to her trip and fall. Wendy lay there silently breathing in the woody scent of her bedroom as her face throbbed from its meeting with the floor. She vaguely heard the front door shut, meaning that her family had left for a long day of chopping down trees, leaving her home alone.

After extracting herself from the sheets, she sat on the floor as she tried to puzzle out everything that had just transpired. "Ok, clearly it was all just a bad dream. I mean, demons and time travel, this isn't one of Dippers fantasy books." She told herself uncertainly. It had all felt so real, more vivid than any dream she had ever had before. Wendy punched her fist into her other hand.

"I can't take any chances; I'm going to have to act like it really happened." Wendy determined, "So I'm going to go to the Mystery Shack, find Dipper, and tie him up so that he can't hurt anyone. Oh hey, my hand's back."

Twenty minutes later, after wasting 10 minutes looking for clean clothes when Wendy could have sworn that she had done her laundry the day before, Wendy arrived at the Mystery Shack.

"What's going on?" she remarked to herself. The Mystery Shack looked like itself, but it felt alien to her. Especially with all of the construction workers swarming around it appearing to build some sort of pavilion near it. But it was all of the little things about it as well. The 'S' was still attached to the building and there was a noticeable lack of Mabel running around in preparation for her Sock Opera. Wendy only waited a few moments before going down to figure out what was happening, heading straight for Stan, who was busy talking to the foreman of the crew.

"Sup, Mr. Pines." Wendy greeted him with a wave. Stan waved her off as he continued to talk with the foreman, gesticulating widely. Wendy shrugged and went off to find Dipper and Mabel, or maybe Soos; someone had to know what was going on.

"And this Mister Coder, is the gift shop."

"I know, Qu-Soos; this was the first thing you showed me on the tour." A voice chuckled.

"And so it is, for all journeys must end at their beginning."

"I don't know how to respond to that."

This was what Wendy heard as she walked into the Mystery Shack. Soos was talking to a blonde-haired man with a beret she had never seen before, though she felt that she knew him. Soos waved at her, before gesturing to the blond beside him.

"Hey Wendy, come meet our new co-worker, Will Coder. He's going to be in charge of the new attraction Stan's building, Mystery Eats." The man raised his hand in greeting.

"Hey Red, how's the hand?" Wendy gaped at him in shock, suddenly realizing where she recognized him from. She lunged forward, punching him in the nose.

"I don't know, why don't you tell me?" she mocked. Will, no, Bill, giggled from behind his hands. Soos glanced between the two of them.

"So, uh Wendy, is this another one of your exes? Because if he is, this is going to be awkward, not to mention against Stan's rules." Soos asked. Wendy glared at him, causing Soos to step back.

"No, but let me borrow him for a minute." Wendy said, gritting her teeth. She grabbed Bill by his sleeve and dragged him into the employees' only area, ignoring the man's complaints about her damaging the shirt. Once the door had closed behind them, Wendy pressed him against the wall.

"What's the deal, Bill. Are you here to destroy the Mystery Shack, because I won't let you. And where are the Dipper and Mabel?" Wendy pressed. Bill chuckled as he adjusted his black beret back into its proper position.

"Me, destroy the Mystery Shack? Where would you ever get that idea toots?" Wendy growled, slamming him against the wall.

"I don't know, maybe when you killed my friends and family?"

"Oh you mean that. That's all in the past; oops, I mean future." Bill joked. "Besides, I'm here for more important matters."

"What could be more important than the fact that you killed an entire theatre filled with people?" Bill grinned at Wendy's question, his lips pulling back to inhuman lengths, revealing all of his teeth in an eerie grin. It reminded Wendy that the person she was dealing with was not human in the slightest.

"Surely you haven't forgotten our little wager regarding the lives of all of those people?" Bill chortled. Wendy frowned, remembering the deal the two had made in that blood stained theatre.

"Of course not, but that still doesn't explain why you're here."

"Don't worry about it Red, I'm just here play referee. You know, make sure that you FOLLOW THE RULES." Bill's eyes flashed from obsidian to gold for a few moments, before returning to black. "I suggest that you tread carefully here, Red. Time travel can have some serious…ripple effects when you go back. Not everything is as you remember. And here's a tip before you start enacting any plans you might have. Dipper wasn't the one who summoned me."

His face fell flat, returning to a human look just as the employee door burst open.

"Wendy, if I told you once, I've told you a thousand times, no sex with your boyfriends on my property." Mr. Pines declared as he stomped in. Wendy stared at him in shock, not only had Stan used a tone she had never heard from him, but his statement had surprised her. Mostly because she had not had sex yet, she had been too busy helping her father to raise her three brothers when they were too young to chop down trees, and the closest she had gotten after they became old enough to help her father was Robbie on that night with the mind-control song he stole.

"Mr. Pines, you know I wouldn't do that." Wendy replied, shocked. Stan stared at her for several long moments.

"If you say so. Now what's this I hear about you harassing my new cash cow, er…employee?" Stan questioned. Wendy was saved from having to make up a story on the spot by the new employee himself.

"Just a case of mistaken identity, Mr. Pines. How's the project coming along?" Bill asked as he freed himself from Wendy's hold.

"The foreman said that it would all be finished tomorrow," Stan smiled, "with your food truck and my showmanship, we're going to make more money than ever before." He turned to Wendy, "Why are you still standing here, don't you have cashier duty."

"Er, I was just wondering where Dipper and Mabel are." Wendy questioned. Stan glared at her for several long moments.

"They won't be here until tonight; they had to get on a later bus since Mabel was caused them to miss it when she took too long saying goodbye to one of her friends. Try to keep yourself clean around the twins, and for that matter, no side jobs, while they're here." Stan answered shortly, poking her in the chest with his cane. Wendy felt dizzy, sure Stan had treated her a little shabbily at times, but this was downright mean.

"Sure, whatever you say Mr. Pines." Wendy murmured as she walked out of the room to her post at the register.

The next few hours were a blur of outward boredom, but an inward churning of emotions; so not much different from before in Wendy's case. Wendy spent the down time during her shift planning her next steps in "Plan: Stop the Massacre". Despite Bill ignoring her question about where the twins were, Wendy wasn't stupid, she got the lay of the land when her boss informed her that the twins weren't going to show up until later. Clearly, when Bill had said that she would be going back to before the Sock Opera even started, he took advantage of the wording to send her back to the beginning of the summer. While she wanted to question the wisdom of giving her more time, she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. She would figure out a way to stop Bill's plan. The big question was how. She initially figured that if she stopped Dipper from getting the Journal that he was always reading, she could prevent a lot of things from occurring, but if what Bill said was true, then Dipper would need the Journal to defend himself from the creatures in Gravity Falls.

'Bill said that Dipper only made the deal because I turned him down,' Wendy felt her stomach churn uncomfortably as her thoughts began to take a slightly darker turn. 'if I don't have that conversation outside the bunker, and let him think that he has a chance…then Bill won't have a vessel to use during the sock opera. And if I let him think that even earlier, Dipper will probably bring me along on some of those adventures of theirs, and I could steer them clear of some of the dangers. Maybe I could even prevent Bill from being summoned to begin with.' Wendy nodded to herself, her plans set. While she was certain that her actions would result in her losing one of the best friends she'd ever had before the summer was over, the lives of the people in that theatre would have to outweigh her wants.