A/N: IK it's kinda hard to link the timelines but I think I did ok. As usual, read and review! Hope ya enjoy! (Youtube 'Kalamity Music' for some background music to read to! :D )
Eyes surrounded them. Glowing red and orange against the pitch black around them. Familiar, yet different, he was still terrified, as was his sister.
"Dipper…?" She asked, "What's happening?"
"I don't know, Mabel…" He answered before addressing the darkness.
"Who are you? What is this? What do you want?" He shouted, his voice seeming to echo.
Something answered… or somethings, as more than one voice answered in unison.
"We are ancient. We are many. You have attracted our attention. Unlike that bothersome trio, your minds will join us in intellectual bliss…"
"What… What are you?" Mabel asked, sounding more annoyed than scared now, but to no response.
The eyes seemed to move of their own accorded, toward each other, like changing the angle on a kaleidoscope, before merging into one massive shimmering eye, casting them in a slowly intensifying red light.
"THERE IS NO ESCAPE!" The voices shrieked before Dipper's vision turned completely red…
And he shot up in bed, heart racing…. Followed not a second later by his sister across the room.
They were safe and sound, in their one bedroom apartment in Piedmont, California.
"What the heck was that?" he breathed, feeling his chest. He was sweating too. And not just because of the heat outside.
"Did you just… have a really creepy dream…" Mabel began.
"With a bunch of red eyes and voices?" Dipper finished the sentence, driving home how concerning it was.
Images flooded both their minds.
A dark hall. Uncles Ford and Stan shouting. A giant geometric shape bearing down on them. "I've got some children I need to make into Corpses."
"...We need to call Grunkle Ford. Now." They said in unison.
"Amity? King? Eda?" Luz shouted.
She'd woken up alone in a weird forest… noticeably a forest on Earth. She could tell by the brightening blue sky and the feeling of cool dew beginning to set in.
The Boiling Isles were called 'Boiling' for a reason. She'd learned that the hard way… involving much too many burn lotion potions and Hooty-provided bandages.
'Focus, Luz… Where are you?' She thought to herself, looking around for her palisman, but unable to locate her.
Suddenly, there was a snapping sound behind her, suspiciously not unlike a spotlight being turned on.
"So… You're the Witch girl I've heard so much about… Eh. I've seen worse." A weirdly familiar voice spoke behind her.
She spun around, automatically reaching for her glyph bag before remembering they weren't there… and even if they were they wouldn't work. She froze in shock, however, upon seeing who… or rather what, had addressed her.
It was a triangle. A weird little pyramid guy. With a tall top hat, stick arms and legs, a bow tie, and one large white eye with a vertical slit pupil. She was offput, sure… but she was able to keep her expression under control, however… as she too had seen worse.
"Who are you?" She asked.
"Really? That's it? Usually people are more… whatever. Makes this easier. My name doesn't matter much… yet… Let's just say I'm on your side. The other two… or more?... The others are dead set against killing everyone… but that's boring." The being said, standing up, a cane appearing in its stubby arms seemingly out of nowhere.
"They're bent on world domination. Kill everyone who wronged them, blah blah blah… I'm not like that though. I just want to be free of this." It continued.
"Free of what?" Luz asked, a familiar feeling washing over her… a good yet bad feeling.
"I'm trapped you see. I was tricked. I didn't mean to hurt anyone… I was just trapped for so long… And they tricked me… Now I'm stuck. I can only appear in dreams. Sometimes more, if I focus really hard… but…" It shrugged its arms.
"What? Who trapped you? What did you do?" She asked, the Collector's story echoing in her mind… this story was similar, yet different. She had to know more… if not for information's sake, she was a sucker for backstories and this being seemed very interesting.
"I don't have time to get into that now. I was bound to a small statue of myself. I just need someone to break me out and I can finally be free!" He said, his one eye staring at her, unblinking, "And the only way to do it is with your magic!"
"I…" She started to answer, before realizing something, "Wait you said you could only appear in dreams… does that mean-"
"GO TO GRAVITY FALLS! I NEED HELP! BUY GOLD! BYEEE" It shouted before Luz was slammed into conciousness.
She rubbed her head, wondering what happened. She couldn't remember much from the dream, only snippets.
Triangle man, trapped like the Collector, and a place called Gravity Falls.
She stared at her wall, putting her thoughts into order before a smile crept onto her face…
She grabbed her phone, calling the first person on her contacts list.
"Buenas Dias, Batata! Do you wanna go on a road trip in the Human Realm?"
"What the-?" Was all she could say as she jerked awake.
Why had she just had a Pilgrim dream about Marcy, Sasha, and some weird old guy?
Moreover, why did the old guy turn into a freaky swamp monster halfway through?
"I don't have the time or patience for this like the others do," Old creeper had said, "My name is Philip Wittebane. I am a human who was trapped and cursed in a horrid place for hundreds of years… cursed to do horrible things… and when I finally escaped, I was… forced back. I fought my hardest to escape again, and defeat those who imprisoned me but… alas I could not overcome them. I begged them to let me be, and they laughed in my face and attempted to crush me with glee. I am still trapped. I am still cursed. Please, I beg of you, now. I've heard of your exploits and adventures. I implore you to help the one being who can save me. In a small village called Gravity Falls." Then he turned into the swamp monster, gurgled something about the curse, and chased them before she woke up.
Something about that dream was so… real. She'd had dreams about her friends before, but this was different.
Ding
She turned to look at her phone screen. A text from Marcy.
Ding
A text from Sasha
DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING
More from Marcy.
She picked up her phone, reading the first two.
I just had the coolest dream! - M
I just had a weird dream too… you rocked some Thanksgiving era threads! - S
She responded to the group chat, I don't think that was a dream… not really. Facetime me.
In the few minutes it took for the text to go through she laid back, thinking.
"A human. Trapped in another world. Escaped but forced to go back… Why does that have to be so damn familiar?" She asked herself aloud, "And why am I kind of excited?"
Ring Ring Ring
She answered, smiling as the groggy faces of her friends appeared on her phone.
"Did we all just share a dream?" Marcy asked, wide-eyed with excitement, "Do you know what that means? We're getting another 'Call to Arms'!"
"Call to Arms?" Anne answered, raising an eyebrow.
"It happens all the time in books. When someone needs saving, they seek help… and the heroes get their 'call to arms!'"
"...Are we really discussing this?" The blonde answered, "We already went through hell and back. You almost died, Marcy. And Anne… you did die. Mar-Mar, we talked about this. We don't want to get trapped in another land again, right?"
"I know, I know… but as long as we don't actually go to the place the Old Guy mentioned, we should be fine on Earth, right?"
"I don't know… We already did our Last Hurrah or whatever, right?" Anne asked, unsure of her own resolve.
"Ugghh… Fiiiiine. It doesn't hurt to go look. Ok? Just to look. If any dimension hopping happens, we get the hell out. Agreed?"
Marcy squealed in excitement, "Agreed! Worst case scenario, it's just a vacation with the girls! I promise," She took a couple breaths, calming herself, then counted to five on her fingers, "I promise. If anything like that happens, I'll be the first one to call it quits."
Anne nodded, "I won't say no to seeing you girls again… I guess it won't be in LA, though. Where'd he say to go again? Gravity Calls?"
"Gravity Falls, Oregon… least it's not that far of a drive, I guess." Sasha said.
"Well… let me set some stuff up at Work and I'll meet you there in… say a week?"
"It's a date!" Marcy said before leaving the call.
"Sasha… do you still have those swords?" Anne asked, catching the blonde before she left the call too.
"Of course! You think we'll need them?"
"I have a suspicion we will. Something about that guy was… way off."
Sasha winked, fired a finger gun at her, "You got it! See you then, Anne!" then left the call.
'What am I getting us into…' She asked herself before getting out of bed.