Birthday Weirdness In The Rose City: A Shooting Star Falls Story

Part Four

Wendy rolled over in the large bed where the two had passed out from physical exhaustion earlier in the evening. Sitting up, she reached for her discarded pair of jeans, which lay in a heap on the floor of the penthouse. Retrieving her phone from the pants, the young woman pressed the power button and much to her surprise, saw that the night was still relatively young. "Hey Dip…" she softly said to the brown haired man beside her. As she expected, the teen did not respond to her first request. "Hey Dipper… Honey… Do 'ya wanna get up an-" was all she could get out before he shot up out of the bed in panic. "No! You won't take her too! I won't let you!" Dipper shouted as his eyes opened wide and tears began to escape. It became clear to Wendy that the young man was having some sort of nightmare. "Dipper… Dipper… I-It's alright… I-I'm here…" the still nude woman said in a calming tone of voice as she grasped him and held the upset man close; running a hand through his dark brown mane of hair as he breathed heavily. "I-I'm sorry Wendy… I-It's just… I-I must have had a nightmare… A bad one… I-I'm sorry…" the young man tried to apologize as he began to catch his breath. "For what? You had a bad dream… It happens… It's okay… You're okay now…" the redhead continued to assure Dipper as he settled into a much more calm state. "I-I'm just… It's just that sometimes… I get bad dreams about Bill…" he said as fresh tears escaped his almond colored eyes and crashed to the chocolate colored sheets below.

"It's okay… H-he's dead… Your Grunkles tricked and defeated him… It's alright…" the alabaster skinned woman said once again in a calm manner as she moved her hand from her lover's hair to his upper back. "I-I know… I know that… But… It's just that I can't help shake this feeling that he may have been behind what happened to Mabel and Pacifica… I know Robbie was a jerk and all… But I still don't buy him doing something like that…" the eighteen year old explained to his girlfriend. "Dipper… Dude… I was there… I-I know that it's hard to believe, but sometimes when people get desperate they do things that are out of character for them. I-I knew Robbie pretty well… And I was shocked by what happened… Still am… But the more I thought about it… It just made too much sense… He wanted out of this town so bad for whatever reason that he stooped to doing something like that… Now, did he intend on it going the way it did? I'm gonna guess probably not… He was a lot of things, but a coldblooded killer wasn't one of them… But he got scared… And mistakes happen when people get scared…" Wendy explained as Dipper looked on with intent eyes. What she said was making sense to the upset teen, but it still didn't make his dream any less frightening. As much as he wished that he could keep it to himself, he knew that Wendy would keep prying until she found out what in the nightmare got him so upset.

"So… About the nightmare…" the brown haired boy began as he cleared his throat. It was Wendy's turn to listen and she was eager to figure out what had distressed her lover so much. "Well… It was weird… I think… I-It was a couple years from now… Actually… Kinda a whole bunch of 'em… An-and… You were up on the water tower…" he continued as his girlfriend intently listened to the emotion he put into every word. "I-I could tell something was wrong… I-I think you were going to jump… Yeah! You were going to jump… Only it wasn't really you…" Dipper explained as the redhead's face formed a confused expression. "Wasn't really me? Like a doppelgänger or somethin'?" she asked with intrigue. "Nah… It wasn't the shapeshifter either… It was… It was Bill Cipher… He… He somehow was alive again and had… I guess… Possessed your body… Yeah! That was it… He possessed your body and was threatening to make you jump…" he hesitantly continued. "Wh-What would he have to gain from that? I-I know I helped bring him down last time… But I think I was low on his lists of concerns…" the young woman pondered. "Th-That's just it… I don't think he was trying to get something from you… O-Or even me for that matter… I-I think… Th-There were two girls there… Yeah! There were two girls there… They looked to be about thirteen or fourteen if I had to guess… One had red hair like you… Th-The other… Sh-She had silver hair with a single black streak in it… I think they may have been sisters… or twins… I-I couldn't tell. All I know is… I-It was odd…" Dipper continued as he tried to recall as many details as possible.

Wendy was amazed by what her boyfriend had revealed. "So, he basically just told me that Bill Cipher was back from the dead, possessed me, was threating to kill me, and was trying to get two girls to give him something to in order to stop it? That has to mean something…" the young woman thought to herself as she pondered how to pose a question she had to him. "So… And I know this is gonna sound hella weird here… But do you think that you might have seen into the future? A prognostication of things to come if you will?" she inquired. The brown haired teen put his hand to the stubble of his chin and entered deep thought. His Grunkle Ford had mentioned that the mindscape did occasionally develop slight breaches and that could cause a person to glimpse into the future. It usually happened while people slept, because that is when the mindscape is most active. Ford explained that it was what people often expressed as déjà vu. The reason the events seem like they've already happened is because they did. He went on to explain how everything has already happened and that we are like trains on a track. The train has to stay on the tracks, but every so often, the train can be switched onto another set of tracks that bypasses certain events. All he could recall is that after a while he had to excuse himself to get an ibuprofen and some water to ease the headache it gave him by thinking about it.

Wendy got up and Dipper took in the sight of his completely nude girlfriend walking over to her still packed duffle bag. She removed the two journals that she had remembered to grab at the last moment before they left for Portland and brought them over to the king sized mattress. "What'd you get those for?" asked a confused Dipper. "I-I think this is super important… We need to write all this down while it's fresh in your mind. Who knows if it might come in handy someday" she explained herself. "Oh… Yeah… That actually makes a ton of sense…" he replied as Wendy retrieved two pens from a side table in the large bedroom. The redhead also grabbed Dipper's navy blue boxers and flung them at the unaware teen, causing them to land atop his head. "What the?!" he yelled before realizing what had fell onto him. "HaHaHa… Very funny…" he quipped to his girlfriend, who was doubled over in laughter. "After we write all this down, I was thinking we could hit up a club… Get a few drinks or something… So I figured we'd get dressed… Plus… It's kinda weird to talk about Bill and all that weird shit while we're naked…" the ginger woman explained. "Yeah, that sounds like fun… Only one problem…" he replied. "And that would be?" Wendy quipped back. "Well… until the stroke of midnight, you're still twenty and I'm eighteen… So it's gonna be hard to have that kind of fun while we're wearing bright colored wristbands that scream that we're underage…" Dipper said. "I figured that may be a problem… So, I have a solution…" the redhead confidently stated as she once again walked over to the green nylon bag and dug through its contents. The pale skinned woman stood up and turned around, displaying a large smile on her face. In her hands were two plastic cards, which she had received from Nate a few weeks ago in anticipation of such an occurrence. While the bartenders at Skullcrusher's in Gravity Falls had let her sit at the bar and become intoxicated for several years now, she realized that the establishments in Portland may be a bit more on law-abiding side. "Here… I got these from Nate…" she explained as she handed him his card. "F-Fake ID's?! I-I know this may seem like a good idea, but if we get caught we could get in big trouble…" the brown haired boy said in a flustered voice. "Sounds to me like you're chicken…" the young woman teased as she began to make the familiar barnyard sound. "I-I'm not chicken! FINE! We'll do it… But if we get in trouble… You have to explain to my parents and my Grunkles that it was all your idea…" he dejectedly said. "Dude… We're not gonna get caught… If I thought this had any chance of not working, I wouldn't do it… You remember who my dad is, right? He'd kill me if I got in this kinda trouble… Plus, this is, like, the last time I can ever do this" she dismissed.

He took a long look at the rectangular piece of plastic. Sure enough, it did look like an official state issued driver's license. "Alexander Hirsch? That's the coolest fake name that Nate could find for me?! What about, geez, I dunno… Max Fightmiester or Devin McCool?" he incredulously asked. "Pshh… Like mine's any better…" Wendy said as she held out her card so he could read it. "Dana Terrace?" he asked. "Yeah… Was May Patio or Emily Sundeck already taken?!" she chuckled. "Anyway… What else do you remember about the nightmare?" Wendy said as she placed her pen to the first blank page of the blue journal that had been gifted to her. "Just what I told ya… You were going to jump off the water tower, but it really wasn't you… It was Bill, who'd possessed your body… He was using you to get something… But not from me… Those two girls… They had something that he wanted… But I can't remember what…" he said as the teen began to fidget with the bronze necklace that hung around his neck. True to his promise on his birthday, he had not removed it since. He held the piece of jewelry up and examined it once again.

Closing his eyes, he tried to recall as many details about the end of the dream as he could. "Th-That's it!" he yelled, causing Wendy to jump a bit. "What? What's it?" the redhead asked. "Remember when I got this necklace and I couldn't figure out the last two pendants that were on it?" the brown haired man began to explain. "Yeah… An axe and a flame…" she replied. "I-I remember now… What Bill wanted were the journals… H-He needed them to regain his full power… Or something…" he began as Wendy listened intently. "Well… He had ours… These journals… B-But the girls had the others he needed…" the brown haired man continued as he stood up and began to gather his clothes that were lying on the floor. "Woah… So… What you're saying is that these girls had journals too… But what does the necklace have to do with it?" she asked her lover in a confused tone. "Well… The journals were purple and pink. On the pink one, there was an axe… A golden axe… The purple one had the flame… My necklace has an axe and flame on it… That mea-" he extrapolated before being interrupted by his girlfriend. "That those girls are important to defeating Bill if he comes back" Wendy finished the thought. "Yeah… Their symbols are on my necklace, along with a few others that I'm not familiar with… When we get back to Gravity Falls I'll try and get in touch with Grunkle Ford and see if he has any ideas on what they could mean. Until then, I say we just forget about all this weird shit and go out. This weekend is about you... Not this supernatural bullshit…" he said as he pulled up his jeans and fastened them. "Dipper… It's not bullshit… Last time, we barely stopped him… This time… This time he could take over the whole world… Maybe even the galaxy…" the young woman said in a concerned voice as she too began to get dressed. "You're right… It's not bullshit… But there's nothing that we can do until Monday at the earliest… So let's go enjoy ourselves… The future… The end of the world… It can wait… Right now, I'm gonna enjoy my present…" Dipper said as he leaned in to kiss his girlfriend. "Sounds good to me…" Wendy replied as the pair finished preparing to go out and begin the wild weekend of birthday celebration in the Rose City.

Author's note: So, this was gonna be a whole part of the story where they ventured out into the city and got into all sorts of adventure, but much like Dipper, this chapter came to me in a dream. This chapter kinda begins to set up to my next big story. Any guesses on what it may be about? The next chapter will be what I had originally intended this one to be, but it may be a little bit of a wait, as I'm going on vacation for a bit. Don't worry though… All this will pay off in the end. The next story I have planned after this will be a one shot and then the new main story begins… Until then, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

My playlist for this chapter:

Katy Perry/Nicki Minaj –"Swish Swish"

Drake/WizKid – "One Dance"

DJ Snake/ Mr. Hudson – "Here Comes The Night (NGHTMRE Remix)"

Gareth Emery & Standerwick/HALIENE – "Saving Light"

Alan Walker – "Alone" What I kinda imagine as Wendy theme song in this AU… She may have troubles, but as long as she has Dipper, she'll never be alone.

Marshmello & Ookay/Noah Cyrus – "Chasing Colors"

Bleeker – "Where's Your Money"

The Wombats – "Greek Tragedy"

Arcade Fire – "Everything Now"

Beth Ditto – "Fire"