Chapter 6: Reunited

Day 5:

I'm going to stop writing these for a while. We're going out into town to find out how bad it's gotten out there. After that, I'm going to put all of my focus into finding a way to reverse this. Mabel still wants to wait for Rana to come back and help us, but I just don't think she will. She came for the summer, made us trust her, and left us for dead. We don't need her. I can fix this on my own.

And if she ever does come back, I'll have to protect my family from her. She is a demon, after all. I shouldn't have expected anyone related to Bill Cipher to be anything but evil.

-Rana POV-

I sat on the front porch of the Mystery Shack, staring at the stars. It was probably past midnight, but I didn't notice or care. Of course I couldn't sleep. There were so many things going through my head at the moment. It felt good to look at the stars. All of that space out there was proof that there would be something after all of this. There had to be.

I stared down at my bare feet. It was getting sort of cold out, but I didn't want to go back inside. That was where all of my failures would be able to look me in the eye. I thought of going back for some slippers, but quickly rejected the idea in favor of simply putting my feet underneath me.

The black leggings I wore were warm enough, and the dark red robe I had slipped on over my black tank top would keep the cold out for another hour or so. Once I was perfectly satisfied, I looked up at the stars again. I let the flood of emotions and memories flow free for a while. It was getting stressful to hold it back all the time.

The thoughts all came at once, yet they stayed for a lifetime. What if I failed? What if I was wrong? I probably was wrong. Mrs. Pines was probably not enough. I'd come to Gravity Falls to save these guys, not ruin their lives. I'd been reading Dipper's journal from the past year. I knew what he thought of me. He was right, too. There was never any chance that things could go well.

All I could feel was a burning hatred, not for myself, but for whatever I had become. Soon, that feeling washed away, leaving behind a trail of regret. I didn't hate what I was, but I despised what I had done. I finally let myself feel all of the emotions that I'd been holding back for as long as I'd been back. For the first time since who-knows-when, I was letting myself be my unfiltered self. And for the second time in Gravity Falls, I showed the reason that my brother had called me "half note".

I sang with all of my heart.

I've failed you

I know

I want to make things okay

But I know that it will never be

And I know that we will never see

The day when joy will prevail

The moment evil will fail

For the first time

In a long, long while

I apologize

For the times when I

Was oh so wrong

I apologize

For the times when I

Failed miserably

I apologize

For the fact that I

Was oh so wrong

I apologize

For the fact that I

Failed again

And as the new evil comes

I fail to see

Why you still seem

To care for me

I apologize, my friends

As this round comes to an end

I shouldn't have let it come this far

"I haven't heard you sing in a while. It's been a little over a year, as far as I can remember."

A soft voice from behind caught me by surprise. I jumped to my feet and turned towards the voice, instinctively assuming a defensive position. When I saw who it was, I took a deep breath and let my guard down. Serena stood there, her red hair draped down her back, still wearing the ripped jeans and T-shirt she seemed to always be wearing. I sat back down on the steps, and waited for her to do the same.

Once we were both on the steps, I took a deep breath.

"Serena, what if this doesn't work? How am I supposed to live with myself if this doesn't work?"

She paused for a moment, looking thoughtfully at the stars above us. She stared for a while, humming as she thought, and soon her expression hardened into determination.

"You don't. This is going to work. Even if our plan miraculously fails, we will find another way. You got that, Rana? We're going to win this."

I closed my eyes and nodded. If I gave up, we'd never get anywhere. I let a sad smile race across my face for a few short seconds. I opened my eyes and found them staring right into Serena's. A tear slid down my cheek. Serena flashed me the most sincere smile she could muster and looked back towards the door.

"Hey Mrs. Pines! You can come out now."

My confusion was obvious. I looked to the door and saw Mrs. Pines standing there, her expression unable to decide whether it was overstressed or overjoyed. She was wearing a pair of sky blue leggings and a sweatshirt of the same color. As I stared, slowly trying to process what was happening, Serena disappeared inside as Mrs. Pines took her place.

"That really was a nice song, Rana."

I smiled and muttered a quiet "thanks".

"You know you don't have to try to handle this whole situation on your own, right?"

I looked down at the grass, which looked a little less green and more of a dull gray in the pale moonlight. I stared at the colorless ground for a while until I found the words to say what I kept on thinking. I looked up at Mrs. Pines and nodded.

"Yeah, I know. I just can't shake the feeling that it's all because of me. I mean, it's not like I'm wrong. I caused this. I don't even know if it's possible to reverse it. I'm going to lose your kids, Mrs. Pines. Are you not the least bit angry about that?"

She seemed to consider this for a while, before looking me directly in the eye with this intense stare that you could tell she'd gained over her years of being a mother.

"No. You know why? I understand you. I've felt this before. I've done this to people myself. I know exactly how awful that this guilt feels. I know that you're not going to feel okay unless and until this is over. Don't worry, Rana, you're not alone. We're all here with you."

The two of us exchanged smiles. Once mine had faded from happy to slightly okay, though, hers had extended into a huge grin.

"Oh, and you're welcome for that escape portal last year. I don't think you'd have survived this long without it. What have you been using my remote for lately anyways? You've probably just been travelling recklessly. Then again, who could blame you?"

As her grin became more and more mischievous, my confusion began to morph into awe.

"Call me Lily. And don't tell Mrs. Matthews you saw me. I'm not sure she likes me very much right now."

My jaw dropped to the floor. No, it dropped past the floor. It probably hit the center of the earth before I gathered my wits and found my words again.

"You're Lily Wood. You're the one who gave us that remote? You were here this whole time? People think you're dead!"

She nodded, her grin never fading.

"You can't really blame me for that. Well, you sort of can. I'm pretty sure I've broken three laws of magic. Therefore I've gotten three severe consequences. One of them just happened to be getting trapped here."

I nodded slowly. I was starting to understand, barely.

"So you've broken the laws of magic before? Does that mean you have magic?"

She tilted her head a little.

"No, but I did for a while. It's complicated. And it happened a long time ago. I'd give anything to see the guys from that world again."

The questioning look I gave her was all she needed to answer.

"It's the first world that I ever went to; the first portal to ever be opened, or at least to be used. I've been through a lot too, Rana. Don't you forget that."

I smiled a rare and genuine smile.

"I promise I won't."

And we both knew that we could trust each other. We both knew that we had hope.

A/N: I swear I'll try to update more often but school is pretty much my life right now sorry.

Riddle: Rules are broken, time is bent. Nothing will ever be right again.