Authors note: I gots a new chappie guys, cheers! This chapter is slower than the last one, so don't expect action until later on, which is not too far away. I just want to thank everyone who reads this story, you guys are the ones who motivate me to write stories for you, especially the people who reviewed the story so thanks OMAC001, Omega Ultra, and Hylianbattlefront for reviewing and everyone else who favorited, followed, or just views this story. So I hope you enjoy the new chapter.
P.S. - Expect me to not upload a new chapter for a while, I have finals coming up earlier than expected for college so be patient for new chapters this month.
Chapter 10: Union
O-O-O
The group had been traveling down under for a while, traversing through the secret passageways that led to several other parts of Gravity Falls, whether they led inside the town itself or somewhere in the wilderness close by, it never failed to amaze everyone. Wendy was still impressed with the complex tunnel system even after several times using it to sneak inside the town, always coming in handy whenever it was needed, especially when the group needed a quick escape from CSF.
Even though the underground complex was darker than the night outside, it provided the group relief and even safety, especially to Soos and the Pine twins, who haven't felt this way ever since the Slegs came to earth, always having to be on their guard for Slegs that would hurt or even kill them, but now they could escape from that in the brief moments they walked through the tunnels, the best part being that CSF weren't right behind them trying to gun them down, they could live in these tunnels if they wanted to.
But they knew better than that, after the whole ordeal with CSF and Stan, they couldn't do that. If Stan were here, he would want Soos and the twins to keep going and follow Wendy out of here to get out of town, wherever they would go after that they didn't know, except for Wendy.
"You guys almost passed step one, by the way," Said Wendy in her old laid back attitude.
"Step one?" Asked Dipper curiously, not getting what Wendy meant.
"Leaving Gravity Falls." Replied Wendy. "After that, there's two more steps."
"Which are?" Dipper asked curiously again.
"I'm gonna warn you guys now. What we just had to go through back in town, is NOTHING compared to the journey ahead of us." Said Wendy in a more serious tone before going back to a calmer manner. "So uh, no pressure."
Dipper frowned. "Step two sounds fun already." Said Dipper in a sarcastic manner.
"If dying sounds fun, probably." Quipped Wendy in response. "Just stick with me and my friends, and we'll make it out alive."
"Friends?" Asked Soos.
"You'll see them soon enough. We just need to go through there." Said Wendy pointing her flashlight at some closed red curtains down a stone hallway. "There's some steps we need to go up and then we'll be at the waterfall entrance."
The group went past the red curtains and walked up the steps, while hearing muffled sounds of rushing water, each step they took the sound got louder until the group stopped at what looked like a dead end, a natural rock formation was blocking them from their exit, but they could still hear rushing water from the other side. Wendy then pulled down a lever on the right side of the wall, causing the rock formation to move forward slightly and slide left, revealing the inside of the waterfall as the rushing water roared louder than ever. Wendy put away her flashlight back in her vest and stepped outside with the group onto the rocky ground, and pointed at a rocky wall next to her, which appeared to be climbable.
"We got to climb this up!" Shouted Wendy over the loud sound of rushing water. "Just watch your step!"
As Wendy began climbing the rocky wall, the rest of the group looked at their new challenge and began climbing as well.
"We'll never get a break, will we?!" Mabel shouted her complaint to Dipper.
"Nope!"
O-O-O
It was dangerous work for the group, having to climb the tall rocky wall up the waterfall, as if running from CSF wasn't exhausting enough for them, now they had to navigate up the rocks without falling down, trying not to slip on the moist rocks while trying to hold on to stone grips and making careful jumps from narrow ledges, it was not only dangerous and exhausting, but also tedious. But the group's effort paid off well in the end, no major incident occurred during the climb and the worst that happened was a few missteps, the group was rewarded with reaching the top of the waterfall without dying, Wendy was the first to make it and stayed close to the edge to help up her companions until they all made it okay.
The rest of the group were now waiting for Dipper, who was at Wendy's reach now.
"Heads up!" Shouted Dipper as he tossed his shotgun to Wendy, catching it with ease and set it on the ground beside her, and held out her hand to grab Dipper's and lifted him up. "Thanks."
"No problem." Nodded Wendy as she handed the shotgun back to Dipper, and wore its weapon strap around himself.
The group looked at Gravity Falls from their great height to see the town one last time. The sight on top of the cliff would have been beautiful ten years ago, it would have looked over a peaceful town with forest surrounding it, but now it was nothing more than a cesspool of hate, the forests gone and the peace shattered, all because of bad luck to be chosen for an invasion. The whole town was in a state of disarray as well, the group could still hear the large amounts of sirens despite being close to the waterfall, helicopters whirred in the distance, still searching for their fugitives if they were still in town, it saddened everyone that Gravity Falls was in such a state, and even though they had to leave, it still hurt to leave all the good memories in the town.
Gravity Falls had its ups and downs even before the invasion, the residents weren't always the most normal people around, ranging from child psychics to old men with secret underground portals in their basement, and the people who were actually normal in the town had a hard time adjusting, not just because of the residents, but because of the most fascinating thing about Gravity Falls, the supernatural. The more abnormal residents of Gravity Falls were something no one would have thought was real, gnomes, manotaurs, gremoblins, and even demons, along with the mysteries that Gravity Falls had that other places in the entire world didn't. But that was in the past.
Everything special and unique about Gravity Falls was gone, in the blink of an eye, the mysteries it once held were solved just so they could be destroyed or used for more sinister purposes, and the supernatural residents that once inhabited the town truly have become nothing more than myths. So it just made it sadder for the group when they stared at their town from the great distance.
"Come on." Said Wendy, breaking the silence to get the group's attention. "We should leave before the choppers start searching here."
The group complied and followed Wendy into the woods behind them, finally leaving the town behind and never looked back.
O-O-O
"Where is she?" Said a dark skinned man with tattoos on his arms, looking through his binoculars at Gravity Falls, which was highly active now. "Shit is going down there."
"She'll be fine." Replied his friend next to him, who was lighter skinned and had blond hair.
"Fine? What I'm looking at doesn't look fine to me." Said the tattooed man, referring to the town he's looking at.
"Maybe she got spotted, but Wendy's a fighter. She'll be here." Replied the blond casually before turning his attention to a group of four people behind him. "Speak of the devil."
The tattooed man also turned to see the group, which was Wendy, Soos, and the Pine twins, sighing in relief at the sight and went up to Wendy with his blond friend to speak to her. "Thank god you made it out."
"I told you I could handle it." Said Wendy as she began introducing the twins and Soos to the two other figures in front. "And guess who's here."
The two figures stared at the twins in shock and realized who they were. "Doctor Funtimes!" Said the blond figure as he went up to Dipper and gave him a fist bump on his shoulder, making Dipper realize who Wendy's friends were.
"Lee? Nate?" Said Dipper, surprised to see his old friends, with Mabel sharing his reaction.
The twin's eyes didn't deceive them, it really was Nate and Lee. The last time they saw them was ten years ago when they were transferred out of town with Wendy and the rest of the old citizens. The twins could see that their two friend's appearances didn't change much over the years, with Nate having a thick beard stubble and a green wool cap, while Lee still looked clean shaven and cut his blond hair to be shorter, they still wore ordinary clothes like most people, but had the same tactical vests on like Wendy did. The two were also more heavily armed than Wendy, Nate had an assault rifle which was an AK-47, while Lee had a bolt action hunting rifle with a scope, both weapons slinged around them with a weapon strap, and although their weapons may not be of Sleg design, they served their purpose well enough.
While the twins were happy to see Nate and lee again, Dipper started to wonder what was up with Nate, Lee, and Wendy, especially after observing their equipment, and seeing his red head friend knock out two CSF officers with her bare hands, and kill SWAT officers with pinpoint accuracy with a pistol, it raised questions that he really wanted to ask the three friends. Dipper decided to wait until they were far away enough from Gravity Falls to ask his questions, which Wendy promised that she would explain to everyone.
"It's so good to see you two again." Said Mabel as she happily hugged Nate and Lee, cheering up the girl with the knowledge that not everyone she knew was dead or missing.
"Same here." Replied Nate as he looked at Soos and extended his hand. "You're Soos right? These two used to tell us how cool you are years ago, good to finally meet you."
Soos smiled at the compliment and shook Nate's hand. "Oh its nothing dude. I'm just an ordinary guy."
"No way man. Doctor Funtimes and Miss Awesome always know what they're talking about." Said Lee as he gave a fist bump to Soos instead of a handshake.
"Some courtesy you gave him." Commented Nate before Lee playfully punched his best friend in the arm.
"Same courtesy I gave your mom." Quipped Lee, making Dipper grin at the two friends.
"Good to know you two haven't changed much." Said Dipper seeing Wendy's friends act the way they did ten years ago.
"Hey, wait a minute." Said Nate, noticing something was off about the group. "There's supposed to be five of you."
This made the rest of the group go into an awkward silence, confusing Nate and Lee. "Yeah. He's supposed to be that old geezer of yours." Said Lee to the twins. "Where is he?"
Wendy spoke up softly. "He didn't make it. CSF."
This made Nate and Lee go silent and feel sympathetic for the twins before Nate spoke to them. "Damn. I'm sorry for your loss." Said Nate before he shoved his arm at Lee.
"Ow." Said Lee before understanding the message Nate gave him. "I'm sorry too, I take back what I said earlier."
"It's fine." Said Dipper calmly. "You didn't know."
"He didn't die in vain." Lied Wendy to Nate and Lee. "He fought off CSF officers to save me and Soos."
"At least he fought off CSF to save you guys." Said Lee with Nate nodding in agreement. "Wish I killed those bastards myself."
"Speaking of those bastards, what happened down there? I thought you said you were going to keep things quiet?" Nate Asked Wendy, wondering what happened in Gravity Falls.
"We ran into some… complications." Said Wendy, who didn't want to put Mabel on the spot and decided to lie. "I ran into a CSF officer and he managed to alert his buddies before I put a bullet in his head. After that, it just got worse."
Wendy then winked at Mabel without Nate and Lee noticing, which made Mabel smile back.
"You should have let us come with you." Said Nate, with Lee deciding to have his share on the matter.
"Yeah man, we could have kicked some Sleg ass." Said Lee before Wendy held up a hand in protest.
"No, no. I didn't want to risk losing you guys." Argued Wendy. "Trust me, it would have been worse if everyone was there."
Nate just sighed at Wendy's response before nodding his head understandably.
"We should get going now. I don't want to get spotted by CSF so soon." Said Wendy to the group as they began walking back into the forest behind them, and descended down the cliff through the woodlands ahead.
O-O-O
The group was lucky that the Slegs did not cut down the forest on the cliff they were on, mostly because the Sleg government thought that they had no reason to, and were more focused on putting more defenses in the town rather than chop down every tree they saw. This gave the perfect vantage point to Nate and Lee, who with Wendy, could get a good view at Gravity Falls without being spotted as easily by CSF, and the fact that a secret entrance to the town was close by, the Slegs could get intruders in their town without even noticing.
"Are the horses alright?" Asked Wendy, getting Soos and the twin's attention.
"Yup. I just checked them half an hour ago." Replied Nate as Mabel's eyes gleamed with excitement.
"You have horses?" Asked Mabel, eager to see the horses.
"We have horses." Repeated Lee, noticing Mabel's excitement. "It's a lot easier to climb a steep hill with horses than cars."
"Do you also have cars?" Asked Soos. "Just wondering, you know. I'm good with tools but I can't fix horses."
"With us? No. They're back at the base." Replied Lee, making Soos and the twins look at Lee in confusion.
"Base?" Asked Dipper, wondering what Lee was talking about. "You have a base?"
"Yeah. Base. Yo- you know, the base." Said Lee somewhat confused at Dipper's question, making Nate face Wendy with a raised eyebrow.
"You didn't tell them, did you?" Said Nate to Wendy, who rubbed the back of head nervously.
"Well uh, we were busy getting shot at so… no. I didn't." Wendy replied, somewhat embarrassed at the question. "But we can tell them after we get to a safe place away from here."
Dipper then frowned at Wendy, disappointed that he had to wait more. "Oh come on, now I REALLY want to know."
Wendy chuckled at Dipper's response. "Still the little mystery hunter, aren't you?"
Dipper smiled back at Wendy, despite wanting to have his question answered now instead of later, but he decided before that he would ask questions later. He then looked at Mabel who seemed genuinely happy, talking to Nate and Lee in front about the horses and even laughed with the two at their banter, warming Dipper's heart to see Mabel enjoying herself, which he hasn't seen in a long time with Mabel.
While everyone was distracted, Soos and Wendy stayed a little further back from the rest of the group to have a more private chat, mostly because Soos wanted to talk about Wendy's recent actions.
"Mabel told me what really happened back at town, while she was crying about Stan." Said Soos in a serious tone.
"What Mabel did back there, I forgave her for it. It was the heat of the moment." Said Wendy, in a somewhat less serious tone that Soos. "You want Mabel to get a shitty welcome?"
"You didn't have to lie to them about that. I may not know much about your friends, but I can tell that they would forgive Mabel in a heartbeat." Said Soos as he looked at Mabel with Nate and Lee, who were enjoying each other's company right in front of them. "And you definitely didn't have to lie about Stan."
"I'm doing it for their own protection." Replied Wendy, expressing concern for the twins. "Sometimes you have to lie to protect the people you care about."
"I know you're trying to protect them, but they're not twelve anymore." Argued Soos. "They've seen things that no twelve year old should ever see. But now they're twenty two, adults. You can't just keep lying to them and hide them from the truth."
"Look at you trying to be the moral crusader." Wendy argued back. "I understand that the truth can hurt people, I've had experience with it, and as sinful as a lie can be, I can safely say that the truth does more harm than good, no matter how old someone is, there are people that can't handle the truth."
Soos continued to argue. "They have seen people die in front of them, tortured on the streets while they walk to work, they've been beaten themselves for doing literally nothing wrong, just for the amusement of CSF, and not to mention that they've been recently shot at and almost died, all in a matter of a few hours. They-
Wendy then angrily interrupted Soos. "There's a difference between feeling pain from assholes and feeling pain from people close to you. When you feel pain from people close to you, people who care about you more than anyone else, it can break you, and in the world we live in now, the last thing you want is to destroy the bonds with the people closest to you."
Before Soos could argue the rest of his point to Wendy, Dipper interrupted the two.
"We got to the horses." Said Dipper to Wendy and Soos as they looked in front to see four horses, while Mabel stared at the horses in awe and even petted one of them.
Dipper noticed that Soos and Wendy looked tense and grew concerned for the two. "Are you guys alright?" Dipper asked worryingly.
"We're fine. We just had a little argument about something dumb." Lied Wendy in a more lax attitude as she gave Soos a quick glance and a fake smile for Dipper. "It's fine now."
"Yeah, we're good now." Said Soos, giving a quick glance back at Wendy, furrowing his eyebrows at her before going to Mabel, Nate, and Lee. "I'm going to the others now. I think I should get to know Nate and Lee anyways."
"Alright, we'll be there soon." Said Wendy as Soos went to the rest of the group close by, leaving Dipper and Wendy to themselves.
"So, what were you guys talking about?" Asked Dipper, wondering what could have set off Wendy and Soos.
"It's nothing Dip, we were talking about something dumb and I made a big deal about it. Then we argued for a bit and Soos told me off, I deserved it so don't get mad at him." Replied Wendy calmly.
Dipper then let out a yawn and starched his arms. "I think we're all just tired after what happened today, and with, you know." Dipper then lowered his head sadly when he thought back about Stan.
Wendy was about to tell Dipper about Stan's last words, but stopped herself when she realized something about the lie she told, she said that Stan died while in a struggle with a Sleg, and mentally cursed at herself for not thinking of a better lie at the moment, now unable to respect Stan's last words.
"Can I ask you a question?" Asked Wendy, which made Dipper lift his head back up.
"Ask away." Dipper responded softly.
"If you had to protect someone by not telling the truth, would you do it?" Asked Wendy, which made Dipper ponder an answer.
"It usually depends on the situation. But even then. I'm still not sure what I prefer, a lie to shield me from the painful truth, or the truth to make everything clear." Answered Dipper.
Wendy just frowned at Dipper's answer, not expecting it to be so neutral. "That's an interesting answer."
Dipper just shrugged his shoulders. "It's a tough question to answer, mostly because I've never had to do that, nor has anyone ever done that to me."
Wendy's pupils slightly dilated at Dipper's response. "Oh Dipper." Wendy said softly as she gently pulled Dipper into a hug. "I know you don't like being called adorable, but you really are."
Although Dipper felt slightly insulted at the comment, he knew Wendy didn't mean it and just blushed at her affectionate hug as he returned it. The pair then broke away from their hug when Lee called out to them.
"You two love birds done!?" Lee shouted to the pair, making them blush out of embarrassment. "Or am I interrupting your make out session!?"
"We're coming!" Replied Dipper. "And we're not making out!"
Lee then said something inaudible to Nate and Mabel, which made them break out in laughter.
Wendy then sighed as she smirked at Dipper. "Some people never change."
"I'm glad that they don't." Said Dipper smiling back at Wendy as the two walked to the rest of the group, who have already set up sleeping bags to sleep off the rest of the night, yet they chose not to build a fire for safety reasons since they were still somewhat close to the Slegs.
"CSF won't find us down here, so we can rest until morning." Said Nate as he finished setting up the rest of the sleeping bags.
"Nate and I will take turns being guard, the rest of you can get some shut eye." Said Lee as he went over to a tree to lean on. "We'll reach the base in a few days."
"That's something I'll tell you guys about in the morning. Sleep is important now." Said Wendy as she, Soos, and the twins all got into their sleeping bags for the night. "Nite guys."
"Nite." Responded everyone in the group as everyone drifted off into sleep while Nate stood guard, looking out for any potential threats that could come at them.
Wendy still had a hard time sleeping though, she stayed awake staring up at the starry sky, thinking about what Soos said to her earlier before finally drifting off to sleep, but not before mumbling to herself.
"Can't hide them from the truth."
O-O-O
Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls, but I do own the Slegs.