So I've decided that I will not condense the chapters into their appropriate arcs, mostly because it was a tie in the poll. Maybe when I am on the last few chapters of this story I will do some condensing, but for now I'll leave it. I'd like to thank the various people who have read this story, especially Puppeteer of Chaos. He has shown an interest in trying to figure out the mysteries of this story since he realized that something was going on. Thank you.
In response to your review Puppeteer, you'll find that when it comes to Revelations, the metaphorical reigns supreme over the literal. Keep looking at the clues, take a walk down memory lane, and I'm certain that you'll get one step closer to solving the mysteries in this story.
On another note, I will not be making any updates for the next several weeks. It is not the fault of any of the readers, but I need to take this time to work on some projects that I have been assigned in my classes. I will be back in May, just in time to make Star Wars jokes.
Disclaimer: Gravity Falls belongs to Alex Hirsch and Disney.
Chapter 8: Time Traveler Trapped Epilogue
The darkness was chilly, there was tightness along several points on her body, and there was a gentle, rhythmic tugging along her ribs.
"You said that a bear caused this?" an unknown voice spoke. There was a mild whine in the background before the sound of someone making soothing noises silenced it.
"I don't recall paying you under the table to so that you could ask questions." A gruff voice responded.
"Just trying to decide whether or not I need to prescribe 250 mg of antibiotics three times a day for a week or 875 mg twice a day for ten."
"Let's assume that she got attacked by a bear."
"875 mg it is." – The tugging stopped, followed by a snip. – "She'll live, but some of these wounds will scar permanently, particularly the ones along her ribs, neck, face, back and on her forearm. The rest will leave minimal scarring, and probably fade with time. She's lucky that she didn't break anything; otherwise I'd have to insist on her going to Canyon City General. Gravity Falls clinic is not properly equipped for injuries worse than this."
There was a grunt of acknowledgement, "How long until she wakes up?"
"Well, since she doesn't have any of the external signs of a concussion, she could wake up at any moment, but I'd recommend letting her wake up on her own."
"Thank you for your help."
Wendy sank back into the darkness.
When she woke up, it was dark outside, and the flickering of the TV was the only light in the front room. Wendy groaned as she tried to sit up. Her whole body erupted in pain, causing her to hiss, falling back into the chair.
"Wendy?" Wendy looked over to the side to see Dipper sitting at the table, his hair a mess and bags under his eyes. He slowly blinked as he woke up.
"Wendy, you're awake!" – Dipper jumped out of his seat, and darted over to her, stopping short of her seat. He leaned over and shook Mabel, who was leaning against Wendy's chair, awake. – "Mabel, Wendy's awake."
"No, Bear-O, don't eat Kelly's shirt." Mabel murmured before turning and resuming her sleep. Dipper shook her again. Mabel snorted.
"What it is?"
"Wendy's awake?" Mabel shot up at this, standing next to Dipper as Wendy observed them. Normally by this time Mabel and Dipper would have been crawling all over whoever had been injured out of their small group, but instead they were just standing beside her.
"Are you okay?" Mabel asked.
"I'm fine, are you guys okay?" – Wendy replied. Mabel and Dipper nodded their head, their eyes misty. Wendy beckoned them. – "Then what's up guys?"
After several moments of silence, Mabel answered her, "We thought you were dead."
"Well it's a good thing lumberjacks are hard to kill, huh?" Wendy teased them. She winced as she shifted in her seat, the pain in her body protesting her awakened state.
"Now why don't you guys stop standing so far away and come give me a hug?" Wendy asked as she beckoned to them. Dipper turned an unhealthy shade of red while Mabel simply stood there.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Dipper answered, "You're not exactly wearing any clothes."
Wendy scanned herself warily, worried that she had been sitting there naked, but she looked more mummy than person with her midriff being one of the only uncovered parts of her and it was nasty shade of purple with some mild scratches, not to mention she was still in her boxer briefs from earlier. "Well, all of the important bits are covered, and I'm certain you'll feel better if you give me a hug."
Mabel did not need any further encouragement; she eagerly climbed up into the chair to cuddle up to Wendy. It caused some twinges of pain to go through Wendy as the younger girl moved around, but she kept it to herself. Dipper remained where he was, still uncertain.
"Hey, what's matter?" Dipper gave a small sniff.
"You wouldn't have gotten hurt if I hadn't been so stupid about the journal."
"People do lots of stupid things for stuff they care about. You certainly won't be the last."
"But it wasn't people, it was me, and you nearly got killed because of it."
"But I didn't get killed Dipper, and that's the most important part." Wendy stated firmly. "Now, if you don't come over here and give me a hug, I'm going to go over there and give you one."
He reached over to give her a gentle hug, but Wendy was not going to have that, so she wrapped an arm around his waist and lifted him into the chair despite his protests.
"That's better, isn't it?" – Wendy asked. Dipper tucked his face against her shoulder before nodding. The three of them sat there in silence for several moments before Wendy spoke back up. –"So, once I heal up enough, what mystery are we gonna solve next."
"What? But you almost died on the last one." Dipper protested. "I was thinking that we can just set the journal aside and have a nice boring summer."
Wendy shrugged, "Maybe I almost died, and there are certainly merits to having a nice boring summer. But do you really think you could set the journal aside for the entire summer?"
Dipper sat there silently as he contemplated her question. Mabel answered the question for him, "I think Dipper could resist it for a little while, but he really likes mysteries like I like stickers."
Dipper opted not to respond, instead burrowing his face deeper into Wendy's shoulder. Wendy for her part started rubbing Dipper's back. "Look, I'll leave the decision up to you, but whatever you decide to do; I want you to involve me. I couldn't stand it if you got hurt when I could have helped to prevent it."
"Ok, Wendy." After several minutes of silence, just when Wendy was starting to drift off, Dipper spoke back up. "Wendy?"
"Yeah Dipper?"
"I wanted to apologize, for the way I've been treating you. I mean, you've tried to be nothing but nice to me, and I've been a jerk."
"That's okay Dipper. We're all entitled to a few jerk moments in our life." – Wendy answered, before turning to Mabel. – "You okay over there Mabel?"
Mabel sniffed, "I just wished my fantasies didn't have to end."
"What fantasy?"
"The fantasy that you actually had bigger boobs than these tiny ones." Mabel groaned.
"Hey, I worked hard and waited a long time to get these A-cups." Wendy responded in mock outrage.
Dipper snorted, "Considering the amount of work you do around the Shack, I'm surprised you got that much."
"I'll show you how hard I work." Wendy growled, as she started to tickle the twins that were in the chair with her. The twins gave as good as they got, despite being careful to avoid aggravating her stitches.
In the hallway, unseen by the trio, Stan smiled as he watched them before he went off to bed.
Wendy stirred as she felt her bladder wake her up. It was still night, so the twins were asleep. Carefully adjusting Dipper and Mabel as she stood, they groaned, but stayed asleep. Wendy hobbled off to the employee bathroom, trying to ignore the pain from her body as she finished her business. When she got ready to head back to the front room, she saw a light was on in the kitchen. Tiptoeing over to the doorway, she peeked in to see who was in the kitchen.
It was empty except for a steaming bowl on the table. The smell of the bowl was tantalizing, and her stomach growled in response.
"I made that for you." A voice chortled from beside her. Wendy was thankful that she kept herself from making any noise. She didn't want to give the being before her any further reason to try and startle her in the future.
"Hello Bill, don't you have some poor innocent animal to terrify?" She replied flatly. Bill cocked his head in a quizzical manner, before smiling at her.
"Oh, but I have one already." He snickered before walking past Wendy, stretching out a finger to skim her abdomen, a ghost of a touch that sent chills up her spine. Standing in that kitchen, covered in little more than gauze and her boxer briefs, she suddenly felt vulnerable in a way that she never had before.
"I'll admit, being in a human body for so long presents so many…possibilities and ideas." – Bill opened up the silverware drawer, pulling out a spoon and a knife; he examined each of them before tossing the spoon onto the table. – "I mean, this body has so many desires and urges, that it's difficult to keep track of them all. I'm thinking I should write a list and mark them off as I do them."
"What do you want?" Wendy snapped, not liking where the conversation was going.
"I want you to try this new soup that I'm going to be serving tomorrow. I call it Six-Pack O'Lope Stew."
"Why should I eat something questionable that you made?"
"Because if you don't you'll be dead by noon." Bill replied as he began playing five finger fillet with gusto.
Wendy stared at him for several moments, "Is that a threat?"
Bill's rhythm was thrown off, causing him to cut into the space between his thumb and forefinger rather deeply. Bill's eyes rolled back in rather orgasmic fashion as he hissed. He paused for several moments before calming down, his golden eyes focusing on Wendy's as a blue flame healed the wound.
"Aren't you curious why you survived?" - Wendy stopped, not certain where the demon was going. – "I mean, you were hit rather hard, and flew several hundred feet through the air before slamming into a tree. Anybody else would have died. Anyone except someone who was protected with magic."
"You're saying you had something to do with this? I have trouble believing that, how does protecting me do anything for you? I'd think that if I died, you'd win the wager. And for someone with your power, you could fix my body automatically." Wendy retorted.
"But that would be boring, a game that ends at the first real task. So I put just enough protection on you to keep you from dying immediately, but not enough to keep you from dying from internal bleeding. That's what the soup is for; it has some added ingredients that will keep you alive, fix you up a little. Also, as thanks for your…earnest participation in this game of ours, I'll grant you a boon."
"A boon?" Wendy asked as she cautiously sat down at the table.
"Yes, a boon. I'll answer a question, any question you might have." The eccentric demon stated, staring at her as he idly twirled the bloody knife in his hand. Wendy's suspicions were immediately raised, how could giving her answers help him? She suspected that it was some sort of trick, so she'd play along for now, just until she could figure out his angle.
"Any question, that's quite a…boon." Wendy spoke carefully, trying to avoid saying something that might be construed as a question as she picked up the spoon.
"Of course it is, because I'm a generous guy. I mean, the only way I could possibly be more generous is if recast the protection that you used up earlier on you." There was a gleam in those eyes of his as he spoke, inviting Wendy to walk into the obvious word trap that he laid. Wendy wasn't going to fall for it.
"Well, it's a good thing that I'm not going to need it after today." Wendy murmured, slowly stirring the soup. It did smell good, she just felt like she'd be indebting herself to the demon if she allowed it to help her heal. The question now was whether or not he was telling the truth when he said that she would be dead by noon. Silence ruled the kitchen as the two forces stared each other down. Wendy was carefully considering what question she might ask. She didn't know what Bill was thinking, probably considering ways to make her miserable. As she scooped up a little bit of soup into her spoon, an idea came to her. In any other game, it might be cheating, but when it came to dealing with Bill, she'd make the exception.
"Tell me, in a step by step fashion, how I win this game of ours." Wendy asked. Bill stared at her, his golden eyes glittering. He smiled at her, taking a moment to set down the knife he held, and Wendy felt nervous. Having a demon smile at you could not mean anything good.
"Well done Red, I didn't think you had it in you to be so devious. I mean really, that lazy teen act of yours could really be underestimated. I commend you, so I'll answer your question." – He chortled, bringing his hands together in a single clap. – "You can't win as you are, don't bother trying. Just give up now and let me have control of your body."
Wendy glared at the demon. "I don't think so, and you didn't answer my question."
"No, I did answer the question, it just wasn't an answer you wanted," - Bill answered. He then stood up, walking past her and out the back door. – "Don't forget to eat up."
Wendy frowned as she considered what just happened. Bill had promised to answer any question she had, but he had not promised to tell the truth. It rankled, that she had wasted an opportunity to get all sorts of questions answered, but the one question she picked got a non-satisfactory answer. She would have to figure out new plans to stop Bill, but for now, she'd rest. She ate a spoonful of the dish Bill had prepared, and didn't want to admit, but the soup was quite good.