It was only the unkown gravity of the situation that kept Mabel from kidnapping one of the Northwest's peacocks as the mystery twins walked through the manor grounds and up to the front door. It opened smoothly before them as they approached it.

"Good afternoon Sir and Ma'am," The Butler gave a slight bow, and welcomed them in. "Would you like one of the maids to take your coats?"

"Ummm" Dipper was going to say that neither he nor his sister had brought a coat when Mabel tossed one of hers to the waiting staff. "I am not going to question where or how you got that."

"Dipper, you came!" Pacifica Northwest ran into the room, nearly running over the maid holding Mabel's jacket. Instead of her usual attire she wore a light-green dress. Although, Dipper mused, considering their reaction to his normal outfit this probably was usual for the Northwest's inside their manor.

"It wasn't exactly easy," Dipper said, honestly more worried than he would admit to his sister about his Gruncle's finding out. Much as Ford kept hidden, Dipper liked and respected the man, and hoped it would someday be returned. "But Mabel and I wouldn't leave a friend hanging like that."

Pacifica's lip quivered, it was fairly clear that she wasnt used to someone caring enough to do something like this for her, especially considering last time she had had to bribe Dipper and Mabel with part invites to get their help. Mabel put her arm on Pacifica's back, "Don't worry Pacifica," she said soothingly, "My bro-bro is an expert and the weirdness here, hes got your back. And I've got the grappling hook."

Pacifica didn't question that last statement, just welcoming the unusual sensation of someone comforting her.

"So what is the problem?" Dipper cut straight to the heart of the matter, uncomfortable seeing the usually strong Pacifica like this. He had seen her like this before, and it always struck him as a depressing thing. "You mentioned your father." Dipper kept his thoughts about Preston Northwest to himself, not even sure if he actually wanted to help the man with anything.

Pacifica motioned the twins to follow her, and dismissed the staff as she did so. Soon it was just the three of them walking through the halls of the manor.

"It started just about a week ago," Pacifica began, a far off look in her eyes. "It seemed so small, yet so strange... Looking at my father and seeing his hair messy. And he just didnt notice throughout the day."

"Messy hair? Blah! My hair is always messy!" Mabel grinned, trying to bring some levity to Pacifcas mood.

Pacifca glanced at Mabel but otherwise gave no indication of even hearing the attempt at cheering her up. "From there, things just got worse. He became a mess, refused to let the servants dress him. We had to lock him in our personal quarters when he tried to head to town in his underwear."

Dipper frowned, having met Preston Northwest, he couldn't see the man letting his hair go, much less slipping this far.

"My mother is worried sick over this whole thing," Pacifica continued, tears welling in her eyes. "Ever since the doctors told her nothing was wrong with Father, she wont even leave her bed anymore. But I don't think this is anything a doctor could fix... My family, since moving to Gravity Falls, has a history of this."

"Yeah," Dipper said slowly, his mind working through his knowledge of Gravity Fall's history. "Your ancestors obtained the town after President Trembley disappeared and grew the land by tricking the Native Americans that lived here. But the way he died..."

"Nathaniel Northwest, my great-great-grandfather, died trying to eat an oak tree to prove he was a powerful wizard." Pacifica finished for him, "Even before then he was thought of as an idiot, but that is just part of the hatred against my family. It isn't undeserved hatred, but he was a shrewd man until his later years. And this pattern has gone through the head of my family for generations, but my grandfather was not affected by it."

She stopped, sniffling. "I didn't think it was real. Its like my family is cursed, by something far worse than a disgruntled lumberjack."

"From what I have read of curses," Dipper said slowly, "if they are passed down through a family, they usually don't skip a generation. Can I see your father?"

Wiping her eyes again, Pacifica nodded. "That's why I've brought you here," she gestured to a door across the hall and produced a key, fitting it into the lock and pushing the door open.

Inside was chaos. A once fine room torn apart, the furniture upturned every which way and even scratches on the walls, in the middle of this visual madness was a shivering Preston Northwest. To the young twins horror he wasn't wearing much, Mabel at least had the option of averting her eyes. But Dipper steeled himself and took a closer look.

"Father..." Pacifica's voice was soft, struggling with the unfamiliar task of comforting her parent. "I've brought someone here to see you. You remember Dipper? He helped us with the ghost not long ago..."

The messy, wild eyed man focused for a moment, honing in on his daughters voice. "Ahhhh Pacifica," Preston Northwest sounded nothing like himself, breaking out into giggles and changing tone without any sense at all. "Don't you know the greatness I am about to achieve? I am on the cusp of victory!"

"Mr. Northwest," Dipper said nervously, a little frightened by the mans antics. "Do you remember me? Dipper Pines?"

Preston didn't respond, his second of almost lucid thought gone as he began gibbering again about victory and greatness.

"Dipper," Mabel said, her normal exuberance muted by the scene. "look at this."

Dipper went to where his sister was and gasped. An entire wall of the room was covered in writing, all carved into the wood with a broken piece of a vase.

Pacifica, unable to take her eyes from her father, walked up behind the twins. "He wouldn't stop talking about these things," she glanced at the wall, "nor writing. Before we realized how far he had gone, he sent many letters to various business partners. All of them like this wall here."

"We are so close to victory," Dipper began reading the wall under his breath. "My great grandfather paved the way for survival. The end is coming and the Northwests will survive and thrive. They shall all serve us..."

Dipper went cold. To be sure, this was madness, but there was more warnings of the end than just these ramblings. Dipper wondered if the events surrounding Ford's return through the portal may have preempted this...

"Dipper," Pacifica turned to him. "Can you do something? Please."

Dipper snapped out of his thoughts, turning toward to look Pacifica in the eyes. The desperation and sadness was too much and he turned back to the shivering wreck of Preston Northwest.

"He hasn't lost his memory," Dipper began reasoning aloud slowly. "And moreover still speaks about magic, so this isnt the work of some remnant of the blind eye society."

"And he is awake," Mabel chimed in. "So its probably not Mr. Triangle Dude."

Dipper shifted uncomfortably at the mention of Bill. He still was terrified of the demon after losing his body to him, he was only lucky that Bill had left the body in one piece.

"So what is happening?"

"I don't know." It was something Dipper hated to say, though so much in Gravity Falls defied knowledge.

Pacifica broke down then, sinking to the floor crying. Mabel put her arm around the crying blonde and glanced at her brother. He could see in her eyes that she didn't want Pacifica to go through this pain. Regardless of her opinion of Preston Northwest, she wouldnt let her friend suffer like this.

Dipper tried to tell himself that he wanted to know what Preston knew about the possible 'end of the world,' but looking at Pacifica he knew that he couldn't leave her like this either. Dipper would sacrifice anything for his sister, but had difficulty trusting others, but seeing Pacifica like this he steeled himself and made his choice.

"I don't know what is wrong with him." Dipper pulled out of his backpack Journals two and three, flipping through them to different pages and laying them out. "But I do know a way to find out."

"Thank *hiccup* you," Pacifca smiled at Dipper, and he coughed and put his head into the books, warmth flooding his face.

Dipper sighed to himself, mentally adding another person to the list of people he would sacrifice for as he began to outline his plan.

-notes-

So... I wrote another chapter today. Don't ask me why, I don't know. I get a day (mostly) to myself and instead of playing Planetside 2 or Starcraft 2 or something else with a number in it I wrote another chapter. meh. Some of the next chapters will refer to cut content from Gravity Falls and rely on some of the twitter posts by the shows creator, Alex Hirsch. I personally regard all of these things as canon, since it is what the creator says. However, if you haven't seen that content, i do admit that the next few chapters may become confusing and one joke will most definitely fall flat. Also, I really feel like I don't capture the talkativeness of the siblings very well. It isn't like Mabel or Dipper to stay as silent as they do in my fic. Kind of bothers me.

facilis descensus averno, sed revocare gradum superasque evadere at auras, hoc opus, hic labor est